Lemongrass Vermicelli Salad – a summer showstopper! A twirl of vermicelli noodles, pan-fried tofu, fresh herbs and veggies, and a lime-and-lemongrass-based sauce that just slips all over the plate.

Holy moly. This salad is a summertime flavor showstopper for your mouth, and it's all thanks to the simple but incredibly lime-and-lemongrass-based sauce that just slips all over the plate, coating every bite and putting flavor into every last delicious corner and crevice.

And as a person who really enjoys big, savory-sweet, nuanced flavor, even though I always always question the fish sauce, I really cannot say enough how much I love this salad.

Like most of us, my favorite kinds of salads are based around noodles. In this case, thin, delicate skinny little rice noodles called vermicelli. Team carb salads!

But listen – I also live a real life where I don't always have time to FIND something to eat for before 3pm much less assemble beautiful salads? Know what I mean?

So I wanted to give you two options for this salad.

• Pretty Method: that's what's pictured above.
• Meal Prep Method: that's what I most often use and it's what's pictured below.

With the Meal Prep Method, we cut our losses with a slightly less beautiful bowl, but we embrace some advance assembly and have a really quick way to throw a meal together come lunchtime.

Or breakfast? And I'm not just saying this: I woke up the next day and craved this salad for breakfast.

I hope you love your lemongrass-loaded, sauce-slicked summer showstopper as much as I did.