Earthy, elegant and possessed of a Zen-restraint, this is an ideal — perhaps the ideal — last-second, I-can’t-cope-with-the-stress recipe. It even works for dinner parties. Everyone will like it and have thirds. Serve with a salad and a baguette. Crack a few good chocolate bars into pieces on a plate for dessert. Keep an eye on the walnuts while you are roasting them in the oven. They go from golden to burned in seconds. This meal is worthy of nearly any bottle of red wine.

Sage and Walnut Pasta Nada
Ingredients:
• Pasta
• Salt
• Olive oil
• Walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
• Fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
• Freshly grated Parmesan

Directions:
Cook the pasta in salted water until just tender and, before draining, save some of the cooking liquid.

Toss the drained pasta with olive oil and a splash of pasta water to coat. Salt to taste. Serve scattered with walnuts, sage and a generous amount of Parmesan.

Total time: 30 minutes, makes as many servings as you want.