Cold soba noodles with sesame seeds

From Nigella Lawson, via Slashfood:

Nigella’s Cold Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds

1/3 cup sesame seeds
salt
8 ounces soba noodles
2 teaspoons rice vinegar (the sweetened kind is just fine)
5 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons honey (I use buckwheat honey for a little added depth of flavor, but any variety works)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
5 scallions

Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan over a high heat until they look golden brown, and tip them into a bowl.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add some salt. Put in the soba noodles and cook them for about 6 minutes (or according to package instructions) until they are tender but not mushy. Have a bowl of iced water waiting to plunge them into after draining*.

In the bowl you are going to serve them in, mix the vinegar, soy sauce, honey and oil. Then finely slice the scallions and put them into the bowl with the cooled drained noodles and mix together thoroughly before adding the sesame seeds and tossing again.

Leave the sesame seed noodles for about half an hour to let the flavors develop, although this is not absolutely necessary or sometimes even possible. Serves 4 as part of a meal; or 2 when eaten, gratifyingly, as they are.

*I readily admit that I always skip this step, as I like to avoid having another dish to wash. I dump them into a colander and just run cold a water over them for a moment or two.

UPDATE: Made it exactly according to the recipe except (1) I added a few ounces of Kona kampachi sashimi for more protein, and (2) I used agave syrup (low glycemic index) instead of honey. It was excellent. I’ll make it again.

UPDATE 2:  Made it again, and the dressing this time includes:

1 clove crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice

I also again substituted agave syrup for the honey. And this time ocean scallops sashimi (cut each scallop into quarters) instead of the Kona kampachi.