It’s hot out, and cold noodle salads are seriously underrated.

A little summer salad, with a vierge sauce full of flavor that elegantly complements a lobster. In salads it’s usually the sauce that does all the work, here… the lobster still gets plenty of the credit.

Serves 4

• 2 lobsters
• 320g ultra-thin fresh pasta (spaghettini #3 type)

or if you’re making it yourself

• 200g semolina
• 2 fresh eggs

for the garnish

• 1/2 yellow zucchini
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• 1 spring onion head (20g without the greens)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 15g fresh ginger
• 1/2 mini red pepper
• 1/2 green jalapeño
• enough olive oil to cover the vegetables

What’s going to take time is mostly chopping the vegetables.

EVERYTHING needs to be finely diced between 1.5 and 2mm.

That’s really the only thing worth noting, the rest is intuitive:

lobster poached in court-bouillon, noodles cooked at the last minute, rinsed in ice water, then well drained.

if you’re making your pasta by hand, go with spaghettini or capellini for the shape, nothing thicker.

The ‘sauce vierge’ is simply made of the small pieces of vegetables and aromatics and olive oil — ah, and a bit of coarsely crushed grey salt to bring out the briny, iodine-like side of the lobster in the sauce.

No need to overdo the olive oil — a slightly rustic ‘Tunisian’ variety will do just fine with its very light natural bitterness, it’ll make a perfect bridge between the lobster and the vegetables.

In this version, the remaining pieces of lobster are set aside to be used cold later, and the tail is split in two along the spine, then cut into pieces following the joints of the shell.

Plate in a bowl, pasta on the bottom, lobster tail arranged in a crescent with its back toward the far edge of the bowl, then season generously with the sauce. Serve chilled, but not ice-cold.