thoughtful consumption

From Summer Express: 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less

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51. Put a stick of butter and a handful of pine nuts in a skillet. Cook over medium heat until both are brown. Toss with cooked pasta, grated Parmesan and black pepper.

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Ta-da!

Don’t believe me? Try it. Oh, and I only use half a stick of butter for three of us. The fresh Parmesan and cracked pepper are not optional. Somehow it all comes together perfectly.

Why I love this recipe

Its haiku-like simplicity. I’ve threatened to decorate my kitchen by painting the recipe on the wall.

It times itself beautifully. The butter and pine nuts brown at the just same time – about ten minutes. And that’s if you just take the butter out of the fridge and literally throw it on to the skillet with the pine nuts. But make sure to keep tossing the pine nuts during the ten minutes so they brown evenly.

Ten minutes, you say? Why, that’s how long it takes to cook up a mess of spaghetti! So you boil the water for pasta, put the pasta in, set the timer for ten minutes, put the butter and the pine nuts in the skillet. That way the pasta comes out just before the pine nuts are ready.

It’s got butter and pasta, for Pete’s sake! So maybe you can’t eat it everyday unless you’re training for London in 2012. But if you’re eating good vegetables from your CSA all week, why not splurge? We also eat less meat now that we eat more vegetables. I intend to make up for that with butter and pasta.

So, what’s your favorite recipe of all time?