Pasta Salad Is Great. These Nutty Noodles Are Even Better.

Pasta salad is a staple of summer: easy to cook, open to improvisation, crowd-pleasingly reliable. But cold peanut noodles are what summer really deserves.

Bouncy, creamy and deeply satisfying, they are as painless to throw together as the simplest of pasta salads, yet they pack much more of a punch. And peanut noodles tend to hold up better after several days in the fridge, at the ready when it’s too hot outside to cook.

Such is the case with my recipe for cold peanut ginger noodles, which is savory, spicy and surprising in all the right ways.

The dressing starts with crunchy peanut butter and toasted sesame oil, a combination that builds an earthy depth sharpened by chile crisp, soy sauce and a bright dash of lime juice. There’s also plenty of grated fresh ginger, adding its own inimitable bite. A splash of starchy pasta water turns the whole thing glossy, thinning the sauce just enough so it coats the noodles without sliding off.

Now for the surprise. Scattered throughout are bits of chopped crystallized ginger, little pockets of sweet-hot chewiness to catch you off guard as you eat, impelling your chopsticks or fork to go back for more.

Although cold noodles aren’t quite a salad, this one has plenty of green things in the bowl: cucumbers for their juicy crunch and an entire bunch of scallions for an allium funk. Feel free to vary the vegetables, substituting sliced sugar snap peas, celery or raw zucchini for the cucumbers, and red onion or shallots for the scallions. I like to add cilantro, but that’s purely optional. If you think it tastes like soap, leave it out, or use a little basil or some celery leaves instead.

What turns these cold noodles into a truly satisfying meal is the generous amount of peanut butter that anchors the dish. I stir in a full cup, enough for protein, heft and plushness. Using crunchy peanut butter eliminates the need for extra peanuts, though you could scatter some on top for even more texture. Salted, roasted cashews work nicely here, too.

Perhaps the best argument for peanut noodles as the cold dish of the season is how well they keep. Whip up a batch on Monday and eat it all week long. Just give everything a stir to redistribute the dressing. They’ll taste as good as the day you made them -- sometimes even better.

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RECIPE:

Cold Peanut Ginger Noodles

This is a simple, streamlined version of the classic cold noodle dish. A combination of crunchy peanut butter and sesame oil gives the dressing an earthy nuttiness, which contrasts with the heat of chile crisp and tanginess of lime juice. But the real draw is a sprinkling of chopped crystallized ginger, which adds sweet-spicy chewiness amid the noodles and cucumbers. You can make this a few days in advance: It holds up very well in the fridge. Just toss well before serving since the dressing tends to pool at the bottom of the container.

By Melissa Clark

Yield: 6 servings

Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

Salt, for the pot

16 ounces Chinese egg noodles, spaghetti or linguine

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

3 tablespoons soy sauce, more as needed

2 tablespoons chile crisp, more to taste

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger

1 1/2 cups thinly sliced cucumber

1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger, more for garnish

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, more to taste

Chopped cilantro or basil (optional), for serving

Preparation:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook according to package instructions. Drain, reserving about 2/3 cup of starchy pasta water.

2. While the pasta cooks, in a large bowl, combine peanut butter, soy sauce, chile crisp, sesame oil and ginger. Whisk in enough of the pasta water to make a loose, smooth dressing.

3. Add the cucumber slices to the bowl on top of the dressing, but don’t mix in. Drizzle cucumber lightly with a little more soy sauce.

4. Add the drained pasta, scallions, crystallized ginger and lime juice to the bowl and toss well, adding more pasta water if needed to make a glossy dressing. Taste and add more chile crisp, soy sauce and lime juice as needed. Top with cilantro and extra ginger if you like, then serve.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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