Do you love pasta but wish your touring menu had a little more variety? Then give pasta with peanut sauce a try. It’s easy to make and it packs a flavor punch. Best of all, it takes very little time to cook. It also relies on easy-to-find staple foods—pasta and peanut butter—which you can then embellish with fresh vegetables picked up at a grocery store or roadside stand along the way. Here’s what you need (optional ingredients in italics):

• Angel hair pasta
• Peanut butter
• Peanuts
• Soy sauce
• Plum or duck sauce
• Fresh ginger root
• Fresh garlic
• Green onions or sliced scallions
• Sesame seeds

Plan on one-quarter to one-third pound of pasta and a tablespoon or so of peanut butter per person. Total cooking time? Less than 12 minutes. I call it pasta pronto for a reason!

Here’s how it’s done: Begin by breaking angel hair pasta in half so it fits easily inside the pot, then cover with about one inch of water and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. (Add more water as needed to prevent the pasta from boiling dry and sticking to the pot.) When the angel hair has cooked to your liking—or, ideally, a little bit before—take the pot off the stove. Now stir the peanut butter into the pasta. (There should be just enough water left to make a creamy sauce, but this is one case where you can have too much of a good thing. So if the pasta is swimming, pour off all but a little of the cooking water.) It will take a minute or two for the peanut-butter-and-water sauce to reach the right consistency. Keep stirring.

That’s all there is to it. But feel free to ring the changes for extra flavor or crunch. Add any (or all) of the optional ingredients. Some hints: Cut the broccoli into small pieces so it will cook quickly—and drop the broccoli into the pasta and water before you put the pot on the stove. If you have fresh ginger root, cut it into pieces the size of split peas, then drop them in as well. The same goes for the garlic. These vegetables will then cook along with the pasta. The other embellishments—peanuts, soy sauce, plum sauce, sliced green onions, and sesame seeds—should be added after cooking, when you stir in the peanut butter.

Does this sound good to you? Then why not give it a try today? It makes great road food for hungry cyclotourists, but it’s perfect at the end of long day at the office, too.

 
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