Pesto Pasta

At least once a week I'll cheer myself by having a lunch of green pesto pasta - a meal that is quick, very tasty, and only has two ingredients - dry pasta and basil pesto from a humble supermarket jar. Of course, you can make it much more complicated by making your own basil sauce or even fresh pasta, and adding stuff like olives, bacon, olive oil, cream, herbs etc. etc.

For some reason I have no liking for the red version of this paste; the primary elements of the delicious green are: basil, olive oil, pine nuts, parmesan and garlic. If you've had a weekend of fried eggs and bacon and an enormous Sunday roast this vegetarian delight is both pleasurable and very filling, which means no need for a large Mars bar at three in the afternoon. Simply boil some water, cook the pasta for ten minutes, drain, and mix whatever shape of pasta you have chosen with a few spoonfuls of pesto. It is made even better with a grated Italian cheese sprinkled on the final dish, or even a good quality mature English with a nice kick of flavour.

I find that pesto pasta is a bit like Marmite - not that you either love it or hate it, but that however many times the meal is served it's impossible to tire of the unique concoction, particularly if you toss in some scraps of bacon or olives to vary the recipe. Our Tibetan Terrier is also a big fan; I'm not sure if this goes against veterinary advice - at least an Italian vet is unlikely to object, and it's much better than giving them chocolate or chips.

I then try to prolong my period of pleasure by preparing a strong mug of tea and sitting in a comfortable chair to read a book - currently Smith's Gazelle by Lionel Davidson, the author of the wonderful Rose of Tibet and Kolymsky Heights. After a while I will feel the urge to nod-off, mimicing the siesta time indulged in by our hotter European neighbours.

A chance to drift off into the dream time, having satisfied the primitive urges of hunger and thirst; more shadowy needs and desires can now take control of the snoozing mind as one slips away from the petty demands of the conscious world.