I fed Amy tonight. She inquired into the recipe, which reminded me that I wanted to post it sometime, because I'm inordinately proud of it. Though it's the simplest meal known to man, it's the only thing I have ever cooked that didn't come from a recipe. I am not an innovator in the kitchen. I am not a Good Cook. But I invented something!

Though when I say it's the simplest thing... the process is. The ingredient list is slightly complicated. In fact, the whole thing is just a by-product of our lifestyle, really.

Dee's Badminton Night Spaghetti

Ingredients:
- onion
- carrot
- garlic oil (buy a head of garlic, separate and peel the cloves, shove them all in a jar, fill the jar with olive oil, refrigerate. Now, any time you need garlic, it's ready and waiting, and also, the oil is delish)
- tomato paste
- olive brine (the sort of kalamata olives we buy come suspended in a generous quantity of brine - never throw stuff like this away!)
- pasta of your choice, but you'll feel stupid calling it "badminton night spaghetti" if you use penne, now won't you?

Method (to her madness):
1. Slice carrot and onion. Throw into a saucepan and saute with garlic oil (and butter, if you like).
2. Saute a little longer. Caramelising never hurt anyone, and besides, you're busy checking your email.
3. Mix up a teaspoon or so of tomato paste (your tastes may vary) with some olive brine. Enough so that it's not so sludgey. Around a third of a cup, all up, maybe up to half.
4. Tip the goo into the saucepan with the caramelisey veggies. Stir well, and leave to simmer. This is a good point to remember that you should have had the pasta on five minutes ago.
5. Let the sauce simmer down while you cook the pasta. (Sometimes it's fun to add a little olive brine to the pasta water.) Add more liquid to the sauce if it starts looking dry or pot-sticky. I find spooning some water from the pasta saucepan works fine.
6. Basically, it's impossible to simmer the sauce too long, though I haven't experimented with this. Usually I'm too hungry. When the pasta is ready, tip it all out into a bowl, stir, and chow down.

Serves: usually just me, but occasionally Amy too!