15-minute pasta with mushrooms and broad beans

I sometimes wonder what the point is of ready meals, when you can make something far more tasty in 10 or 15 minutes. Pasta, of course, is one of your best friends in a time-critical situation. On this occasion I'd come back from a 17-mile walk, tired and hungry. This dish hit the spot.

Some mushrooms, some broad beans from the freezer - oh, and the last of the season's wild garlic. But some fresh spinach with the addition of a couple of finely chopped garlic cloves would have worked just as well. (Once the starry white flowers of wild garlic have appeared and are starting to die back, the leaves lose their vitality, and then turn yellow. You want to get your leaves before this stage, while they are still lush and green.)

This dish is so simple it hardly needs a recipe, but here you go:

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil, or a knob of butter
250g mushrooms, sliced (I used chestnut mushrooms, but whatever you prefer)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (if not using wild garlic)
100g fresh spinach or wild garlic leaves, chopped
250g frozen broad beans
1 tbsp ready-made pesto
200g dried pasta shapes of your choice
Lemon wedge (optional)
Parmesan, to serve (optional)

Method

Heat the oil or butter in a frying pan (preferably one with a lid) over a medium heat and add the sliced mushrooms. Put the pasta on to boil while the mushrooms start to cook.

Stir the mushrooms  a few times. Once they are starting to brown (about five minutes), add the spinach or wild garlic. Cover the pan and cook for two minutes, then add the frozen beans. Cook for another three minutes or until the leaves are wilted and the broad beans are hot. Stir together with the cooked pasta and pesto, plus a squeeze of lemon, if you like. Eat just as it is or with some grated parmesan.