Deborah Cooke: Author

Once upon a time, I read an interview with the chef, Jamie Oliver. It was around the time that he was trying to get schools to sell healthy food in their cafeterias, and he was quite negative about fast food. The interviewer was skeptical and insisted that JO must eat fast food once in a while, for the sake of convenience. But JO was adamant that he never ate it – and here’s the part that stuck with me, although I’m paraphrasing – because he said it isn’t actually that fast. He said it would take him about 30 minutes from his home to drive to a fast food place, order, get his order and come home to eat it. In that amount of time, he said he could cook something better.

That’s when I started to think about how long it takes to make something good.

Mr. Math and I both work from home, which means that both lunch and dinner need to be solved every day. I could just eat salad or something quick at lunch, but Mr. Math likes something more substantial. So, here’s a recipe that I use three or four times a week. It’s quick. It’s nutritious. It’s different every time. Maybe it will become one of your staples, too.

Mr. Math calls it Pasta del Giorno, which is a bit more upmarket.

Pasta del Giorno

The idea here is that you make the topping for the pasta while the pasta is cooking. This is typically a meal that takes 15 minutes or less to prepare. Mix and match from the lists below, based on what you have and what you like together, and base quantities on the number of servings desired.

• allium – garlic, onion, shallot, leek, vidalia onion, garlic scapes or any combination thereof (diced)

• savoury – sundried tomatoes in oil (chopped), celery (chopped), any herbs (oregano, thyme, fennel seed, etc.)

• vegetable – red or yellow peppers, green peppers, bulb fennel, asparagus, diced tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, summer squash, zucchini, etc. (chopped)

• protein (optional) – leftover chicken or sausages (chopped), crumbled sausage meat or ground meat (browned and set aside), cooked shrimp, cooked scallops, cooked bacon, sliced ham, sliced cold cuts, etc. If you use canned Italian tuna (drained), treat it like a garnish and add it at the end – it’ll be warm.

• piquant – capers (the salt-packed ones are best), roasted red peppers in oil (chopped), artichokes in oil, pickled peppers (chopped), etc.

• garnish – fresh parsley (chopped)

Method:

If the meat is not cooked, cook it first and set it aside.

Put the water for the pasta on to boil.

Put olive oil in the skillet and begin to brown the alliums. Once they’re soft, you can start the pasta. (Most pasta shapes take 7 to 10 minutes to cook. If yours take longer, start sooner.) Add the other ingredients to the skillet in order, stirring and heating them through. Turn the heat up or down to ensure that the topping is done when the pasta is done.

You may wish to garnish with ground black pepper and grated parmesan cheese at the table.

If you want more of a tomato sauce, put a diced tomato in with the onion and cook it to mush. Then add a squirt of tomato paste (the kind from Italy in a tube is good because you can use as much or as little as you like.) then stir it into the oil to mix it.

So, there you have a quick meal, one that can change every day, depending on what you have in the fridge. Enjoy!