Writin' Rations™

I'm finding it's a really good idea to keep a little bit of extra cooked pasta in the fridge for times when you want a nice dinner but don't feel like taking a lot of time. It's also good to keep some pesto around -- I made my own the other day when I did have some time, but stuff in a jar is not morally inferior. And the other day I got some mushrooms at the supermarket. And I had just a tiny bit of cream left over from something I made three days ago. Et voilà!

Restaurant-quality pasta and mushrooms in creamy pesto
(takes about 10 minutes all up)

• Put a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a saucepan and start it heating.


• Meanwhile, wipe and chop the mushrooms.


• When the oil is hot, chuck the mushrooms in and give them a good ol' cooking.


• When they're the way you like them (and I like them more cooked than less in this sort of dish), put enough cooked pasta in the pot.


• Add a generous amount of pesto, and about two tablespoons of cream per serving. Extravagant, I know, but you're writing. You're working hard.


• Heat it through. Put it in a bowl and, if you have any pine nuts (maybe they're left over from when you made the pesto), sprinkle them on top.

Quick! Simple! Can be way fancy (homemade pesto — hell, maybe even homemade pasta) or less so (storebought everything). The pesto makes it slightly not-so-cheap-per-serving, but it's still about one-quarter the price (or less) of the same thing in a restaurant. And that makes it taste even better.