Rocket harvest from the garden.

The end of January is on its way, bearing relief for those with salaries, but things are still terribly tight for the freelancers I know; and all over the country, students with little dosh are wondering what to do about supper.

So here I present variations on a meal that’s cheap (mostly); quick (mostly) and easy to prepare (unless you decide to handcraft your own zucchini noodles). I’ve been eating all these variations because one of my Januworry resolutions was to eat the stuff lurking in my pantry, where I found two packs of buckwheat spaghetti (much nicer than it sounds — also: how did that happen?).

These recipes follow the principles of almost everything I cook: get a handle on the basic technique or process, then adapt, adapt, adapt, according to pocket and taste.

Variation #1: Get a pot of water to a rolling boil (you need a stove, alas — tricky to try this with a microwave). Note that you need much less water to cook pasta than you think you do. Drop in some sort of strand-y pasta (spaghetti, tagliattelli, fettucine, noodles), add a teaspoon of salt. How much pasta? If you’re moderately hungry, touch your thumb and forefinger together. The amount of dry spaghetti that fits through the circle you’ve made will feed you. If you’re ravenous, use middle finger and thumb. Cook for three mins if the pasta is fresh, eight minutes if it’s dry. Drain. Return the pot with the drained pasta to the heat (but switch off the plate if it’s an electric stove, or turn the gas flame right down). Add a dessert-spoon of oil per person (preferably olive oil, but cheaper alternatives are fine — you can also use butter or even, grrr, marge), and one smallish crushed clove of garlic per person. Stir gently around the pot for a minute so that the garlic cooks slightly and the remaining water evaporates. Add at least a handful of fresh herbs (you can use dried herbs, but then add them with the garlic — also: not quite as good). Rosemary, basil, thyme, mint, sage, alone or combined: whatever floats your boat. This is what will make this dish. Add LOTS of salt and black pepper. This is also when to add a few flakes of chilli, if you like it (I do). Eat while hot — this will turn to glue if you let it go cold. (This is the CHEAPEST variation. If you make it with fresh pasta, it’s also the quickest to make.)
Troubleshooting: What if my family hates garlic? You have my condolences. The best I can suggest is that you grate the zest (skin) of a lemon into the pasta in its place.

But, but: I’m not doing carbs! Okaaaaay, here are your options. You can buy noodles made from cauliflower and spinach and courgettes, etc (I love these, but they sure are costly); or you can use a spiraliser or vegetable peeler to turn baby marrows/courgettes into pasta strips or noodles, then cook as above (cheap — but fiddly). Note that these are also gluten-free options. When I do these versions, I save all the drained-off water, supposedly for stock, but tbh, it’s so good, I drink it.

Variation #2. This is my personal favourite. Proceed as above, but to the pasta, add a quarter cup of frozen peas for each person. It is now essential that you add a big handful of torn-up fresh mint at the herb stage. I then sprinkle the lot with parmesan cheese (the cheap pre-grated kind) or crumbled feta cheese. Variations: instead of (or alongside) the peas, add roughly chopped broccoli or mushrooms. Or add chopped spinach one minute before serving. I personally add fresh wild rocket every time, but that’s because it’s threatening to take over my garden, and eating it is a defensive move. Another cheap addition that always perks this up is the snipped-up green tops of spring onions, chives, or garlic chives.

Variation #3: This from my friends Gail and Leonard, who cycle everywhere and need FUEL. This is good if you have hollow-legged teens in the house. Peel a large sweet potato (this will do two hungry people) and dice into bits the size of the tip of your thumb. Add these plus macaroni (or other shell pasta) to the boiling water. The sweet potato and macaroni take the same amount of time to cook, c’est voila. In this case, put some grated cheddar cheese on the table for everyone to sprinkle over their helpings.

Variation #4: It’s pay day! Depending on how much you want to splurge (or what you might still find lurking in the kitchen cupboard), to the cooked pasta, you can add: olives; fried crumbled bacon or fried sausage, well chopped; salted almonds; proper hard parmesan grated with your own hands; peppadews; toasted sunflower seeds; fried aubergine rounds. Artichokes are sensational, if you can afford them.

Variation #5: The fishy one, and it’s not my favourite, but a great way to stretch a tin of tuna. Once the pasta is drained, add a WELL-DRAINED tin of flaked tuna, an extra spoon of oil (if you’ve used tuna in brine), and stir it around until the tuna is warm through. This needs a squeeze of lemon, or the lemon zest trick, and capers take it to the next level. Pricey, but you can achieve the same effect by adding a few finely chopped nasturtium leaves.

Variation #6: Make Variation #1. Pour my squidgy tomato sauce aka Luscious Magic Tomatoes over it (recipe at the bottom of this post here). This also works well stirred into Variation #3. Accept compliments.

My one slight worry is that these all taste good to me because of the cupfuls of fresh wild rocket I chuck in, so bear that in mind for the veg garden, even if yours is pocket-hanky-sized. Also: now you see the importance of having a row of herbs on the kitchen windowsill.

It should also be clear that these variations cover every kind of eater: vegetarians, vegans, carnivores, pesckies, gluten and/or dairy avoiders, the carb-aversive — you’ll find one for them all.