Creamy pesto pasta

photo by Britt Kiser | crumbs…
This pesto pasta is a light option with some staying power, so prepare to be well fed. If the pocketbook permits, some sautéed chicken is an obvious addition.

Dylan Brown | crumbs…

Welcome back to Moscow and the never-ending cheap pasta feed that is college living. Miss mom’s cooking yet?

The constraints of your book-bashed budget mean lots of noodles from the bulk food bins and not a lot of meat. Never fear, there is no need to live in the ramen rut. Pasta is simply a vehicle for a great, gourmet and easy sauce – even if it ends up being the vegetarian option.

After a sweltering afternoon in Washington D.C. heat this summer, my starving girlfriend and I were very impressed with this fast and tasty pesto-cream sauce. It is a light option with some staying power, so prepare to be well fed. If the pocketbook permits, some sautéed chicken is an obvious addition. For college students of age, the wine choice pictured is a zinfandel but any number of whites would be the conventional choice.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup heavy cream (Substitute lighter dairy here if you lack any sense of romance for food.)
• 2 tablespoons butter (Not margarine, butter. It is two tablespoons for goodness sake.)
• Pasta (any short, Italian-sounding pasta.)
• 1 or 2 cups pesto (The adventurous with a food processor should try homemade.)
• 2 whole diced, fresh tomatoes (Fresh, not because I want to sound like a Farmer’s Market snob, but because it is essential to the dish. The Farmer’s Market does have great tomatoes though…)
• Parmesan or feta cheese (Enough to suit your taste. If no cheese, I am sorry, you have no taste.)

How to

Two pots at once now Iron Chefs, or the sauce first for the adventure averse.

1. In the first pot slowly heat butter and heavy cream.
2. Stir in pesto.
3. In the second pot cook and strain pasta (if you need directions here, you have failed your mother.)
4. Dice the tomatoes. Dice means little cubes.
5. Combine both and the tomatoes in a presentable dish — remember it is about the romance — mixing until pasta is sauce smothered.
6. Add cheese choice to the top. (We chose feta because it was in the fridge. Romance met practicality.)