20 Questions with Luisa

Luisa DiTrapano came back to her hometown of Charleston, West Virginia after college and adventure and opened her catering and gourmet take out business, Cucina Luisa, in the popular Bridge Road shopping district. Twenty-eight years ago, I was the new girl in town and wandered into her shop, first meeting her pastry chef Janet Wakefield. The rest is history and when I described how I met my dear friend Luisa to my daughter’s boyfriend he said, ‘ah, that sounds like a fairytale!’

Luisa and Janet created gourmet spreads for events all around Charleston and I eventually  joined them for catering fun. About 10 years later when Luisa started teaching cooking classes in a kitchen design showroom, I enlisted as her assistant, then added my own teaching topics into the mix. Such was the launch of our hundreds of cooking classes in three different showrooms and in home kitchens in Charleston.

Luisa hung up her chef’s coat a couple of years ago for a career change. Now she works at the Charleston law firm Calwell  Luce di Trapano as the facilities and events manager and says, “Everything I’ve done my whole life has all come together. I manage the building, plan all the events, book all the travel and do all the cheffing. I love it!” Booking travel is as natural to her as cooking Italian food. She has combed the globe and is eager to book a table on another continent the moment the current situation allows.

What’s your 20 minute recipe? Probably Amatriciana sauce because I usually have all the ingredients. I alway have guanciale or pancetta in the freezer, Pomi tomatoes, onion, Italian crushed pepper flakes. I hit it with a little wine before adding the tomatoes. Fresh parmigiano reggiano. I never do the right pastas with the right sauce. I use what I have in the pantry. My grandmother used the classic pairing with bucatini but I prefer other shapes. Spaghetti or linguine is a good substitute. 

What’s your favorite city? Roma! Certo! I was 18 when I first went and have possibly been every year since then. I lived there for a year after I sold my first catering business in 1998. It was wonderful.

What’s the best meal you’ve ever eaten in an airport? I would have to say it was sushi in Tokyo. 

Treasured find in the back of your fridge? My cooking wines, marsala. It’s not in the fridge, it’s in the pantry. My italian grandmother put marsala on everything! When she made peas or sauteed green beans, or cooking a steak. Everything! A nice dry one. You use the sweet ones for zabaglione and I love to make that to put over fresh fruit for dessert. I really love that. Florio from Sicily makes a really nice marsala.

Who taught you to cook? My love of food started in both my grandmother’s kitchens. I was fortunate to have two grandmothers who were fantastic cooks, one from England and one from Italy. My English grandmother taught me to bake. Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.  We had dinner every Sunday at my Italian grandmother’s house. She made a ciabatta style bread every Saturday. She made enough for her children and all their families for the week. With the same dough she would make the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life. She squished San Marzano tomatoes over the dough, put Italian sausage, fresh basil and mozzarella. My father’s friends used to beg him to take them over for Saturday pizza. It was an event!! Also, my mother is a fabulous cook! She can cook as good as any Italian.

I had some really good friends at college in Miami who were from Italy and relocated to Caracas, Venezuela. She’s from Florence and her mother taught me her amazing sauces. That’s when I really started loving to cook.

What’s your go-to dish for company? You know how organized I am, it’s not like anyone just shows up here on the fly! Everything is planned. I do love to make Thai food! Beef panang is always a favorite with lime leaves that I always keep in the freezer.

What’s on your cooking playlist? Sade

What’s your go-to olive oil? Villa Di Trapano made from the olives at my family’s property in Sezze.

Coffee, tea, or Kombucha? Coffee! I froth skim milk with my mocha crem, a little frother device and put in some sweetener. I pour in very strong coffee.

Date night--at home? or out? Out, especially when traveling.

Most stained cookbook? My Marcella Hazan The Classic Italian Cookbook. It’s my only cookbook that the cover is torn to shreds. Janet Wakefield and I call it the Bible. It is the best, most complete Italian cookbook ever written. She is the queen, in my mind anyway.

Surf? or Turf? Turf! You know, I really like T-bones, preferably in Florence, Italy. Bistecca alla Fiorentina. I’ve always loved T-bones, best of both worlds. You get the New York strip side and a bit of the filet.

Indispensable kitchen tool? Besides my chef’s knife, I use my kitchen shears a lot. I replace them regularly because they are hard to sharpen. 

Staple childhood comfort food? My mom is such a fabulous cook, I loved her leg of lamb with our family’s Veazey sauce. It’s a family recipe from when my mom’s father was growing up. Stick of butter, jar of apple jelly, ketchup and whole cloves. You know how delicious it is! I’m talking a long time ago, probably 100 years. Oh and her mashed potatoes which are phenomenal! I think I’ll call Luisa's mother to score her secret to phenomenal mashed potatoes!

Who would you most like to share a meal with? past, present or fictional? That’s a hard question! Maybe my grandmothers. They used to go on vacation together. They never knew I learned how to cook,  didn't know I became a chef. I would like to cook dinner for my grandmothers since they never had a chance to eat my food after I became a chef. She got emotional 

Ideal grilled cheese? I make them all the time especially since I don’t have a lot of time to cook right now. Ezekiel bread, lots of butter, Swiss, honey mustard and hot sweet jalapenos. Made it for dinner last Thursday night. I may not have much in the fridge but I always have all those things!

Favorite pizza topping? When I'm in Sezze I get a pizza margherita. The best mozzarella di bufala is made right there. 

Where would you want to take a cooking class? Bangkok!

What’s your Counter Intelligence cooking tip? One thing I always said in my cooking classes, everything needs salt & pepper. There’s not a lot of things that don’t. With salad, kosher salt. For finishing, JQD salt,  and always fresh ground pepper from my favorite pepper mill

Three things next to your stove? Villa DiTrapano olive oil, JQD salt and my favorite pepper mill. And a bottle of good balsamic from Modena.

Favorite Sports Team? When I lived in Miami I loved the Dolphins and Hurricanes. And because my dad was a Notre Dame Double Domer, the Fighting Irish. 

Flecked with tomato and pancetta, Amatriciana sauce with pasta is a weeknight winner.

Amatriciana Tomato Sauce with Pancetta and Chili Pepper

Through her extensive cookbooks, Marcella Hazan brings classic Italian food into our kitchens and I will forever cherish making many of these recipes with Luisa! Guided by her ‘queen’ Marcella, Luisa has served delicious Italian dishes at hundreds of catered parties and has taught these recipes in her celebrated series of cooking classes. This one is close to 20 minutes. Marcella suggests simmering the sauce for 25 minutes. I used a deep pot so it could simmer with some vigor for 15 minutes and called it done. And delicious! Buon Appetito! 

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• A ¼-inch thick slice of pancetta, cut into strips ½-inch wide and 1 inch long (I used a 4 ounce package of diced pancetta)

• ⅓ cup wine, optional (I splashed some Sauvignon Blanc into my pot to deglaze, Luisa uses red wine)

• 1 ½ cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, drained and cut up (I followed Luisa’s lead and used half a box of Pomi chopped tomatoes with their puree)

• Chopped hot red chili pepper, to taste

• Salt

• 3 tablespoons freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

• 2 tablespoons freshly grated romano cheese

• 1 pound pasta

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for pasta. Time the cooking of the pasta to correspond with the sauce being finished. It is most important not to leave the cooked pasta waiting...so if the sauce is done, it can wait a few minutes for the pasta to finish. 

HEAT the oil and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion when the butter has melted and saute until it becomes pale gold, about 7 minutes. Add the pancetta and cook a few minutes to render its fat. Add the wine, if using, and stir to deglaze the pan. Stir in the tomatoes, chili pepper and salt and cook in the uncovered pan at a steady simmer for 25 gentle minutes, or 15 vigorous minutes. Taste and add chili pepper or salt if needed.

DRAIN the pasta and toss with the sauce. Add both cheeses and toss thoroughly before serving in heated bowls. 

20 Questions with Katie

Katie McKenna makes me laugh. Sometimes I make her cry. We met literally by accident, our paths crossing in the post-trauma arena. Her book, How to Get Run Over By A Truck, which she reads on Audible, is a MUST. Somehow, the softcover edition landed in my daughter’s ICU room in Manhattan last May. I could only glance at the book’s colorful cover and imposing title and slide it back into my tote bag for later. 

By late January, a mutual friend implored us to meet Katie, “a woman who got run over by a truck wrote a book about it. You should read it.” In the throes of trauma timeout, I finally screwed up the courage to give the Audible version a listen and here is where the laughter comes in. Katie’s story as she reads it grips you like a nightmare then shifts you into knee slapping. She has a rare gift.

We started with a phone call in February when the world was mostly right. My daughter Sara met Katie for coffee in New York and then...Quarantine. Or as Katie calls it: Quaran-TINE (like Valentine). She’s been married for a year and a half and says “yep, half of our marriage we’ve been living with my parents, our Quaran-Team!” 

She’s a fifth generation New Yorker and when she’s talking tough, calls herself McKenna. Her friends call her Katie Mac and her dad describes her as “this is my daughter Katie. She will bust your balls like a Wall Street Trader in the 80’s, but she will hug you so hard you can feel her heart beat.”

Thriving as a trauma survivor, Katie is a life coach and professional speaker who can cheerlead anyone away from the blues.

What’s your 20 minute recipe? My favorite thing to make is a pasta dish with julienne carrots, red onion and red bell pepper sautéed with garlic and olive oil, s&p. Turn it all into the pasta pot with some soft goat cheese and some of the pasta water. Minimal dishes is my goal in life. My older brother’s girlfriend introduced this to us. It’s a fridge cleaner and the goat cheese makes a nice silky sauce.

What’s your favorite city? Ummmmmm is it bad to say New York? I guess I’ll say Dublin. It’s a real sweet city.

What’s your Favorite restaurant in your current city? My comfort restaurant is Il Pasatore, a northern italian restaurant in Williamsburg. They have a shaved Brussels sprouts salad with apples, walnuts and parmesan with a lemon vinaigrette that I just love. I love their carbonara with the egg, pancetta and cheese with beautiful homemade spaghetti. 

Treasured find in the back of your fridge? You mean if I found something and was just over the moon?! Some of my mom’s homemade pesto. 

Who taught you to cook? Is it bad to say myself? My mom taught me the beauty of chop a bunch of things up and put it in balsamic vinegar and everything will be fine. 

What’s your go-to dish for company? It is Allison Roman’s garlic braised short ribs with red wine.

What’s on your cooking playlist? I’m a podcast person! I love This American Life while I’m cooking. I listen to Brene Brown’s Unlocking Us, and Hidden Brain or How I Built This

Coffee, tea, or Kombucha? I like to make myself every morning: Coffee, 2 scoops of Bulletproof collagen, unflavored, I put in a glurp/ about ¼ cup coconut eggnog and then i put in a dash of ginger, turmeric cinnamon and ground clove and some oat milk. Yeah, there’s only a little bit of room for coffee. Then I froth it and we are good to go.

Date night--at home? or out? If things are normal, date night out

Most stained cookbook? The New York Times cooking app.

Surf? or Turf? If it’s lobster, SURF!

Indispensable kitchen tool? I do use my frother every single day. 

Staple childhood comfort food? Probably truthfully whole wheat toast with butter and jam. I do bake the no-knead bread from the New York Times.

Who would you most like to share a meal with? past, present or fictional? Right now I would love to share a meal with Elizabeth Gilbert. 

Ideal grilled cheese? Oohhhhh heavily buttered white toast, it would have to be cooked open face so the cheese melts fully, then you put them together. I want straight gooey and this way It’s done faster, I’m a fast kid! I’m a bit of a grilled cheese connoisseur. My brother says I’m the best at grilled cheese, flattery will get you everywhere! White cheddar, Cabot sharp and bacon if I’m allowed.

Favorite pizza topping? Sausage, red peppers and onions is my favorite, I mean if I’m gonna do it. I’d get it at Williamsburg Pizza in Williamsburg. With a side of garlic knots because I’m not an idiot!

Where would you want to take a cooking class? I have actually taken a really great cooking class at Brooklyn Kitchen, they do really great classes. 

What’s your Counter Intelligence cooking tip? Everything will taste good if you chop it up really small. Think of an area of the world, say Mexico: chop up tomatoes, jalapeños, onion, squeeze of lime. Same same, pick a region...all that stuff. Add the appropriate acid.

Three things next to your stove? Olive oil, kosher salt, crushed red pepper and probably like a head of garlic 

Favorite Sports Team? New York Giants. 

Continuing with the sunshine theme, Katie’s pasta dish is so much sunshine in a bowl!

Katie’s (Game Changer) Goat Cheese Pasta

A few ingredients from your produce drawer do a delightful dance with goat cheese and pasta. Prep the veggies while the pasta pot comes to a boil. Sauté them while the pasta cooks. Toss them all together and you have delicious kitchen heroics in honestly 20 minutes.

Get a big pot of salty water going for pasta. I cooked a pound of thin spaghetti and kept about one quarter of the cooked noodles plain to make buttered noodles in case there was a request (and yes of course there was!) While the water comes to a boil (hello turbo burner!), julienne/matchstick cut a big peeled carrot, a red bell pepper and a red onion. Mince or crush a couple cloves of garlic. Take a 4 ounce log of goat cheese out of its wrapper. Timing is kind of key here…My thin spaghetti said ‘al dente in 7 minutes’ and al dente is a good time to drain it since it will cook a bit longer back in the pot with the veg, goat cheese and pasta water.

As you drop your pasta with a good stir into the boiling water, heat a large skillet over medium/almost medium-high heat and drizzle in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Add the julienned carrot, bell pepper and onion, season well with s&p. Stir your pasta and if you’re feeling cheffy, give the skillet a nice toss with a flick of your strong wrist or stir. When the veg are just softening, add the garlic. When the pasta is done, use a large mug or Pyrex measuring cup to scoop up at least a cup of the hot pasta water (I like to set the heatproof cup in my colander, that way I won’t forget!). Drain the pasta and return it to the pot over the still hot but turned off burner. Add the veg and use about a half cup of the pasta water to ‘deglaze’ the skillet. Swirl the skillet and add this flavorful liquid to the pasta. Crumble in the goat cheese, scattering it around, and stir. Add more pasta water to make a silky sauce that just coats the noodles. Lift into warmed bowls (stack them on the back of the stovetop while you’re cooking = warm:) ) and serve after taking a bow. Happy Cooking!

20 Questions with Cosima

Half a dozen women convened on the phone for Molly O’Neill’s Cook N Scribble, an online food writing workshop. A chime announced someone new on the line. “HI! It’s Molly! Did everyone get their pieces done?” For this inaugural call, the assignment was a taste memory, one single taste. A voice said, “this is Cosima” (the ‘s’ sounding like a soft ‘z’) and she read her piece, describing a melon she ate in Italy every summer when she visited her relatives, honey sweet and not available in any grocery store in the U.S. 

When the six-week session ended, Molly hosted an in-person food media bootcamp and I cleared my calendar to attend. Thrilled to meet my idol, I wasn’t sure who else would be there. It was the phone calls coming to life! Cosima Amelang, Judy Allen, Kim Dolan, Cathy Branciaroli and me.  Molly ushered us around her upstate New York town, visiting the who’s who of farmers, beekeepers and potters. Then the experts arrived at Molly’s barn-turned-kitchen to teach us photography, food styling, recipe formatting and cooking with the season’s bounty. it was a blissful weekend for food lovers and aspiring bloggers. Cosima and I dream about perpetuating the writing, gathering and inimitable networking that Molly initiated.

Visit her blog for more of Cosima in the kitchen and beyond.

What’s your 20 minute recipe? My go-to is sort of spaghetti with pantry sauce. Extra virgin olive oil, smashed garlic, red pepper flakes, capers, canned tomatoes/crushed or whatever I have in the pantry. Cook that super simple sauce and boil the spaghetti, that’s my kind of comfort food when I don’t want to think. It hits the spot! I don’t even strain it, just pick it up with a pasta fork with some of that salty water clinging to the spaghetti and put it over in the sauce. Maybe if I have some parsley I’ll put it on top. If you like cheese and you have it, grate some Pecorino or Parmigiano. 

What’s your favorite city? This is so hard! I’m gonna say Montreal. I went to McGill for four years. Those were some of the best years. If Minneapolis and Paris had a baby, it would be Montreal. It was cool before other places became cool. Tons of good music and tons of good bars. I love the history of the city! It’s very diverse, all the layers upon layers. It’s a great three day weekend spot. 

What’s your favorite restaurant in your current city? These are all hard! That’s tricky, I don’t know if I can pick a favorite. I haven’t even gotten takeout at all lately except for this one place. Lucy in Silver Spring, Maryland. I love Ethiopian food! I love how tasty it is and no nonsense. I got the vegetarian combination because I can’t decide on just one thing. It is so good! They make this really fresh salad with tomato, cucumber, onion and jalapeno. It packs really well for takeout. I miss going in person, too.

Treasured find in the back of your fridge? Laughing! Good question! Capers are definitely one of them, and miso. Anchovy, miso and capers. I’m more of a salty girl than a sweet girl.

Who taught you to cook? My mom for sure. You cannot take the Italian out of her. She’s a good effortless cook. Oh and the relatives in Italy! Growing up we went every year to see my grandpa. A lot of my food memories are attached to him. A lot of my love of food comes from him. It was really great to have a male presence in the kitchen. His gnocchi alla bava (translates to ‘drool gnocchi’) with tomato sauce and Fontina cheese!

Surf? or Turf? SURF! I do love blue crabs, I’m from Maryland. I also love octopus and squid, all that fun stuff.

What’s on your cooking playlist? I love listening to soul music. The Staple Singers, Otis Redding. I just see where Spotify takes me. 

Coffee, tea, or Kombucha? I definitely need a coffee to get started in the morning. I make an espresso on the stove in my Moka pot.

Date night—at home? or out? Depends. Half and half.

Most stained cookbook? The Silver Spoon, one of the Phaidon books. It’s one of the Italian bibles, sort of. The recipes are written in paragraph form. And do you remember Ian Knauer who we met at Molly’s? I LOVE his cookbook The Farm.

Indispensable kitchen tool? My big skillets, I have a big All Clad nonstick and a cast iron. I would be lost without them.

Staple childhood comfort food? Gnocchi, with peas, tomato sauce and Fontina cheese.

What’s your go-to dish for company? Depends on the season. Risotto is a fun one. It’s special and luxurious. You can do it while your guests are there having a glass of wine. Serve it with a nice salad or fresh vegetable side.

Who would you most like to share a meal with? past, present or fictional? There’s so many people! I’ll say Padma Lakshmi. I’d love to just chat with her. Have you seen her new show Taste the Nation? It’s fascinating!

Best thing you’ve ever eaten in an airport? You know what I eat at airports? Caesar salad. I crave something healthy when I travel and it’s not really healthy food, but it makes me feel like I’m being healthy.

Ideal grilled cheese? Very simple. Sourdough with Gruyere. I don’t want much in it and then I love to dunk it in tomato soup.

Favorite pizza topping? Mozzarella. The fresh fresh kind. It’s so good!

Where would you want to take a cooking class? I would love to learn more about Japanese knife skills, so maybe I’ll say Tokyo. Everything is so well executed and intentional.

What’s your Counter Intelligence cooking tip? Maybe people know this already? I don’t really drain my pasta. I don’t use a colander with pasta at all. I have a horrible memory and I never remember to save this bit of pasta water you need to thin out your sauce. I just lift the pasta out and the water is clinging to the noodles when I add them to the sauce.

Three things next to your stove? A hand painted fish plate from Italy, it’s my spoon rest. I have a catch all vase thing for all my utensils and I have a quartet of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper.

Pasta sauce so simple you hardly need a knife.

Cosima’s Super Simple Spaghetti with Pantry Sauce

A recipe in paragraph form. Freestyle for your taste and number of diners.

Boil a pot of salty water for your spaghetti. Heat some good olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold the sauce and cooked spaghetti. Add a couple of anchovies, as many smashed fresh garlic cloves and red pepper flakes as you like. When the garlic is just golden, stir in some canned tomatoes and a spoonful or so of drained capers. Let this sauce simmer enthusiastically while the spaghetti cooks to al dente. Lift the cooked noodles from the pot with some of the salty water still clinging and add to the sauce. Give it a nice stir and serve with chopped fresh Italian parsley and/or fresh grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano.

20 Questions with Gabby

Gabby McGlynn is the consummate hostess, whether she’s teaching a yoga class or entertaining a houseful of friends. She is grace in the kitchen. I met her at a couple of neighborhood gatherings when I first moved to Baton Rouge. She is so enviably fit that I assumed she adhered to a strict food regimen and when I inquired, she answered, “I’ll eat anything. Well I’d rather not have nutria or frog.” It’s fun to see her lighting up the kitchen with a flaming flank steak.

The McGlynn home has a revolving door with four kids and always space for more. They opened their home to neighbors whose home flooded in 2016, housed an NFL football player in the offseason and entertain the entire neighborhood with a skyscraper-sized Spartacus sculpture who is festively dressed for every occasion. He currently wears a surgical mask.

What’s your 20 minute recipe? We eat a lot of pasta! I make a quick tomato sauce with olive oil, onion, garlic and shallot. I love shallots! And I use Alessi crushed tomatoes and a can of whole tomatoes that I puree. I rinse the can with some white wine, whatever’s in the fridge. Fresh cracked pepper and a teaspoon of chicken Better Than Bouillon base. I love to add a drop of fish sauce, it just gives it depth. Without it there’s a little something missing. It’s done in 15 minutes. Right before serving I add tons of fresh parsley and basil. My boys love it on rotini or bowtie pasta.

What’s your favorite city? I LOVE Lake Tahoe. If Danny said we could move anywhere in the US I would pick Lake Tahoe. It’s small town, nature, mountains, the big lake and rivers running through everything and all four seasons. It’s awesome!

What’s your favorite restaurant in your current city? That’s really tough, we never eat out. I do love BLDG5. The food is so fresh and I love the atmosphere. I just feel like I’m tucked away in Austin.

Treasured find in the back of your fridge? Homemade seafood stock in the freezer.

Who taught you to cook? Both of my parents. I grew up in the restaurant business. My dad had three restaurants in New Orleans. I grew up in those kitchens.

What’s your go-to dish for company? Probably Bouillabaisse. It’s visually appealing and it’s just so good! I never make it the same.

Surf? or Turf? Oooohhhh can it be surf AND turf? We do a lot of surf and turf.

What’s on your cooking playlist? A lot of times I put on Amy Winehouse radio and my daughter has a nice playlist on Spotify with some blues and jazz, R&B.

Coffee, tea, or Kombucha? Coffee! Really dark coffee with a splash of Trader Joe’s hazelnut creamer. We have a Nespresso machine, it’s heaven.

Date night—at home? or out? At home, we are homebodies.

Most stained cookbook? Oh I have so many stained ones! Probably Cookery New Orleans Style, one my aunt wrote. It has a lot of recipes from our restaurants.

Indispensable kitchen tool? My little mini food processor-chopper. I couldn’t be without that. And my apron. I can’t cook without my apron.

Staple childhood comfort food? Oh gosh it’s pasta! Gnocchis and pesto, makes my eyes roll. We just had a gnocchi night.

Go-to butter? Kerrygold Irish butter. When my kids see it their eyes get big. It never makes its way to the back of the fridge, it’s always up front.

Who would you most like to share a meal with? past, present or fictional? Maybe Gwyneth Paltrow. I love her cookbook. That’s another one that has torn pages.

Ideal grilled cheese? Alpine multigrain bread (we call it yummy bread) with Havarti cheese and a slice of tomato. Heaven.

Favorite pizza topping? Whipped ricotta. I can’t eat a pizza without it.

Where would you want to take a cooking class? In Italy.

What’s your Counter Intelligence cooking tip? We like to travel the world from our kitchen. The boys will ask, “what country are we going to tonight?” It’s a fun way to explore and introduce new ingredients.

Three things next to your stove? My Google Home, the little mini chopper and my good wooden cutting board.

What’s your favorite sports team? I mean, the Saints! Am I allowed to say anything else?

Just add parmesan! A quick homemade tomato sauce is hard to beat!

Gabby’s Quick Tomato Sauce

a couple of secret ingredients make Gabby’s quick sauce taste like it simmered all day. Keep a batch at the ready to serve with your family’s favorite pasta.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 1 medium shallot, finely chopped

• 3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

• 1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes

• 1/2 cup white wine

• 1 (28 oz.) can whole tomatoes, pureed*

• a few drops of fish sauce

• 1 teaspoon ‘Better than Bouillion’ chicken stock base

• Salt and cracked black pepper to taste

• heaping handfuls of flat leaf parsley and fresh basil, chopped

Before you chop a thing, heat the olive oil in a wide bottomed sauté pan or preferably a stockpot (the deeper pot allows for some aggressive simmering and less mess) over medium-low heat.

ADD the onion to the hot oil, increase the heat to medium and toss to coat. When the onion just begins to soften, add the shallot, then the garlic. These ingredients will be singing in the hot oil. When you feel tempted to taste a spoonful of this, add the full can of crushed tomatoes and crank the heat a bit. You want to have a lava-like soft boil. Rinse out this can with the wine and add it to the pot.

STIR in the puréed whole tomatoes (*if you have an immersion blender, tip the juice from the whole tomatoes into the simmering sauce, then quick blend the tomatoes right in the can with the immersion blender. Alternatively you can hand crush them or blitz them in batches in your mini chopper or even use a second can of crushed tomatoes. The puréed whole tomatoes add a nice texture.)

ADD a few drops of fish sauce, up to a teaspoon (fish sauce = pantry staple) and the chicken stock base. Give it a good stir and taste.

SEASON with salt and lots of cracked black pepper as desired. Add the fresh herbs and you are ready to spoon this sauce over your freshly cooked pasta. Break out your parmesan grater!

Depending on your sauce level preference, you will likely have some extra for later. When the sauce is cool, spoon it into one or two cup containers and refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for up to six months. Don’t forget to label with the contents and date, could become a treasured find in your fridge or freezer!