Bikers' Pasta Recipes

As all long distance travelers know, walkers, bikers or any others, food is of the utmost importance. And you consume it in different ways and in much larger quantities than normal people. For many of us, the weight is also of much importance. You try to optimize the calorie per weight ratio.

For long distance bikers the weight is not of the utmost importance, but still, if you have to buy in the morning your food for dinner, you do take it into account. At least we did, not that we always succeeded. Together with our appetite for Italian food, we often ended up with a pasta dish. But depending on where we were, the dishes were of course different. We really believe in the recipe to be decided by what is easily available during shopping. Therefore the recipe depended on the country we were in. To give you a flavor of what we have eaten and maybe some inspiration, here follows one recipe for every of the six countries we passed through.

Pasta à la Norwegienne

Enough for two hungry bikers. Can be cooked on two stoves with limited ingredients and tools. Filling and well tasting.

500 gram smoked salmon (the only food that is really cheap in Norway: US$10)
1 onion
350 gram tagliatelli (or penne, or ...)
salad as available in the supermarket

Boil the water for the pasta. Put the salmon 30 secs in the water and peel off the skin. Cook the pasta al dente. In the second pan fry the onion. Add pepper and thyme. Cut the salmon in cubes and add to the onion. Serve with a fresh green salad (that's how the newspaper recipe always calls it :-). Dig in! (that's how we eat after a day of biking).

Danish pasta

Because Denmark is rather similar to Norway, again a fish based pasta recipe. But IMHO very different. And easier to get the ingredients in Danish supermarkets.

Lots of shrimps, in Denmark also called "rekers"
Sour cream
400 gram penne (you see, we get more hungry, the further we come)

Cook the pasta as you normally would. In another pan heat the sour cream and the shrimps. When the pasta is ready, add all together. Very nice, if you take enough shrimps of course. The whole salad issue is of course similar to the Norwegian recipe.

Pasta à la Alamagne

And now for something really different. After 3000 km you must be hungry, so pasta alone is not enough anymore. And after 2500 km of fish in Norway, you must be envying some meat.

Bockwurst, let's say 12
Can of beans, any variant you like, we go for kidney beans
A can of peeled tomatoes
Again pasta of the type that is your preference. By now 500 grams?

Cook the pasta as normal. In the second pan, rinse the beans and heat them with the tomatoes (cut into pieces) and the würstchen. Yes, I said it would be simple. When the pasta is al dente, throw it with the beans side by side on your plate and ..... dig in! After that, still hungry?

Pasta Francais

This is for vegetarians. But I think all others will like is at much. The list of ingredients couldn't be simpler.

500 grams of pasta. Yesssss, penne are available in a French hypermarché
300 grams of Roquefort cheese. For two persons. At least.

Well, you can imagine the way of preparation. Cook the pasta, cut the cheese into cubes and add it all together. The secret lies in using the proper Roquefort and not some cheap blue-cheese.

Spanish pasta

We discovered this recipe on our way along the Costa Verde. Some chorizo sausage was left over from lunch and there we went:

500 grams of pasta. Still going strong.
A large piece of the real Spanish chorizo sausage, don't remember the weight
Big onion

Cook the pasta and at the same time, softly fry the onion in a second pan. Yesss, softly! Then add the sausage, cut into slices, to the frying pan and fry it some more. When the pasta is ready, add the two pans together and heat it up. That's all.

Pasta à la Portuguese

The "Classic" under the pasta recipes for trekkers. But it can get only real nice with the proper Portuguese olives.

500 grams of pasta.
2 cans of Tuna fish. As pure as possible, not with pies, or such like.
Olives, black or green, as many as you like..

Again, for the last time, cook the pasta. In the second pan, heat the tuna fish and add the olives. Let it simmer, not burn :-). When the pasta is ready, add the two together. This must be the cheapest of all six recipes above.