Name: Five Minute Salmon Noodles
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 nest egg noodles; 2 spring onions (sliced); 1/2 red pepper (sliced); 70 g hot smoked salmon (with sweet chilli if you like); 1 tbsp soy sauce; 1 tsp honey; 1/2 lime (juice only); 1 tbsp sesame oil; 1/4 tsp fresh ginger (grated); 1 tsp sesame seeds; Small handful fresh coriander (leaves roughly torn)

I blinked and it is the end of January! I can’t believe this is my first post of 2021. But these five minute salmon noodles are quite an apt recipe for now. I’ve been working from home and the appeal of toast and sandwiches has worn pretty thin. However, I don’t want to be making a time consuming lunch each day. So I started to think about food I could make in a few minutes; a few basic recipes which will add variety to my working week and be a doddle to make.

I used some sweet chilli hot smoked salmon for these noodles. It was reduced and I used it for two lunches (the other of which I’ll tell you about below). A handful of fresh vegetables, dried noodles and a soy dressing made from store cupboard ingredients are all you need for a delicious lunch in minutes.

If you’re stuck for other lunch ideas I made a salmon quiche which freezes really well so you can defrost and heat slices as and when you’d like to. I also often have soup in the freezer as another lunch option.

Top Tips

This bowl of noodles is about flavour, not precision. Everything is prepared while the noodles cook so don’t worry about how you hack up the vegetables, as long as it makes it easier to shovel into your mouth.

I can’t remember where I first found out about this method of cooking noodles but I use it every time I cook them. Just make sure you drizzle some sesame oil over once you’ve drained them to stop them sticking together.

Variations

Whether you’ve got egg noodles, rice noodles or maybe some leftover pasta you can pop in the microwave, you can really use whatever you like to make this five minute lunch.

Any leftover meat or fish would be great additions. Add whichever veg you have in the fridge, and any veg you like. I used pepper and spring onion because they’re easy to eat raw but finely chopped carrot, cabbage, courgette ribbons, tomatoes or similar would work really nicely too.

The second lunch I made with the salmon used almost the same ingredients as these noodles. I fried the spring onion and pepper in a little oil then added two beaten eggs and some soy sauce. I cooked the egg to make a sort of omelette. Once it was cooked I popped the leftover salmon on top with a few extra spring onions and sesame seeds. Another five minute lunch!