Let’s Eat — A Writer’s Guide to Cooking

Some days are just too busy for us to do much cooking. We’re all familiar with the troubling realization that meal time is fast approaching and, lo and behold, there is no meal. What should we do? Pick up the phone and call for a cardboard-and-olive pizza? Go to an overpriced restaurant? Visit one of the kazillion grease-belching fast food joints in the neighborhood? No, because that would be admitting defeat. And why admit defeat when all you really need is fifteen minutes, a twelve-ounce bag of wide egg noodles, and a handful of simple ingredients to turn a potential disaster into a hot and comforting homemade meal?

The recipe for victory is simple. First, put on a large pan of water to heat. Sprinkle in some salt and add about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil (my preference) or canola oil. While the water is heating, melt a cube of butter in a sauce pan. While the butter is melting, finely chop a good-sized clove of garlic, a little bell pepper, a little parsley, several mushrooms, and half of a zucchini. Add to the melted butter and mix everything together. Put in some salt and pepper, then some oregano, Italian seasoning, and basil. Use plenty. Simmer. By now your noodle water should be boiling, so go ahead and dump in your noodles. While the noodles are cooking, stir the sauce and add more seasonings as you see fit. I go by how it smells. When the noodles are done, so is the sauce. Strain the noodles, dump them into a serving bowl, pour in the sauce, then mix everything together.

Now that your last-minute supper problems have been solved (this once, anyway), here are a few miscellaneous “food facts” I found in the February 2003 issue of Food and Wine magazine while I was trapped in a waiting room recently: