Recipe: Charred Corn + Asparagus Rice Noodle Salad

The first time I ate this salad was one of those nights my mom 'didn't feel like cooking'. So, as someone who doesn't feel like cooking does, she whips up a vegetable and rice noodle salad, grilled BBQ chicken, and watermelon with feta and mint. Another one of those nights (this past weekend in fact) she served homemade gluten free mac and cheese with tomatoes, grilled lemon-pepper tilapia, and charred asparagus. Pssht but of COURSE you made homemade mac and cheese, Mom. That's practically convenience food. 

I'm not sure about you, but when I don't feel like cooking it's my faithful friends Ben and Jerry or my local sushi joint that end up doing the work. Perhaps one day I'll be on Barb's level and a 3-dish homemade dinner will be NBD. For now, Seamless.com and the freezer it is.

All housewife-aspirations aside, this noodle salad IS easy enough to throw together with little effort. (Little-to-no effort if your boyfriend grills the asparagus and corn on your behalf.) The rice noodles, which take a whopping 3 minutes to cook, are quickly dressed with gluten free soy sauce and sesame oil, and the rest is just tossing all the ingredients together. 

My favorite thing about this salad though (because obviously everyone has favorite things about salads) is that it can be eaten/served at any temperature - warm, straight from the fridge, or room temp. This makes it perfect for a continuous supply of leftovers, or for bringing to a get-together, barbecue, pool party, day-long rager, etc. Awwww yeah, rice noodles. Keepin' it summer-y.

Recipe: Charred Corn + Asparagus Rice Noodle Salad

Notes

-I love the combination of asparagus and corn, but you could experiment with other grilled veggies like red bell peppers.
-Add firm, cubed tofu or grilled shrimp to make this a meal.

Ingredients

-1 8-oz. bag gluten free rice vermicelli noodles
-canola or vegetable oil, for rice noodles
-1 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed
-6 ears corn, shucked (or ~3 cups frozen corn)
-olive oil, for veggies
-salt and pepper, for veggies
-1/2 cup sliced scallions (green and white parts)
-1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
-1/4 cup gluten free, low sodium soy sauce
-1.5 tsp sesame oil

Instructions

Cook the rice noodles according to package directions. (Typically about 3 minutes in boiling water.) After draining, transfer noodles to a large bowl or serving dish and toss with enough canola or vegetable oil to lightly coat the noodles.

Evenly coat the asparagus and ears of corn with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Grill until the vegetables are charred. (Alternatively, you can roast the asparagus in the oven and use thawed, frozen corn.)

When the vegetables are cool enough to handle, cut the asparagus spears into thirds or quarters. For the corn, use a serrated knife to cut the kernels off the cobs. Add the asparagus pieces and the corn kernels to the bowl of rice noodles. 

To the same bowl, add the scallions, sesame seeds, soy sauce and sesame oil. Using tongs, toss all of the ingredients together so they are evenly distributed throughout the rice noodles. Add more canola oil, soy sauce, and/or sesame oil to taste. 

Serve room temperature, cold, or warmed through.