'Keeping it real'

When I think of comfort food, my immediate thought is pasta. From there on in I don't really mind what type of pasta; any will do... Spaghetti, lasagna, macaroni, or any other type you can think of.

What goes with the pasta is more difficult. There just are so many choices. Just the base of the sauce can provide me with a delicious challenge. Which is quickly followed by: 'Do I want a lot of sauce or just enough to coat that pasta?'. In the end there are only three pasta dishes that really bring me the comfort that I want. And one of them makes most people question my sanity.

If I am 'down and out' and all I want to do is curl up in a ball and cry, one pasta dish is sure to save me. And yes, I am quite sane. Don't knock it till you tried it. Macaroni with sugar, butter and cinnamon. Boil the macaroni, drain, add a decent knob of butter, sugar and cinnamon to taste, mix and let the butter melt to create the 'sauce', get the biggest spoon that fits your mouth and start shoveling... Okay, I might just have lost some (more) of my sanity...

The second one will help me when the days are turning grey, when I am not quite feeling myself and when work is starting to get to me. Pasta Romesco; a sauce based on roasted red peppers. The last one, however, will get me over just about anything: work, heartache (haven't had that in a long time), general sadness, dreary weather. But I will eat it whenever I fancy. No 'special' occasion required... Spaghetti alla Carbonara.

Now, I would love to tell you that this is an ancient dish eaten by the lonely shepherds in Italy how would carry pasta with them, make the cheese there and then and only used bacon, pancetta or guanciale if they had it. I can't. I would love to tell you that it is an 'ancient' dish that was eaten by the carbonaro (charcoal miners) or that it was created as a tribute to the Carbonari (the secret society of 'charcoal men'), but I can't. Most likely it was just an urban dish from Rome. Nobody knows for sure. The romantic in me says the lonely shepherds or the charcoal miners. The more sensible part of me says: 'I don't care, I'm just glad someone gave me a taste of it.'. You can make up your own mind.

So, however you are feeling at this moment, have a go at one of my most favourite pasta dishes. It'll lift the spirits! And with the recipe below, you are hard pressed to create a dish that disappoints. Authentically you use Spaghetti for this but I like to use pasta like Rigatoni as the sauce holds better because of all the ridges and Conchiglie as this can hold the sauce and pieces of bacon...

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Ingredients:

• 225 gram (uncooked) pasta
• 4 large fresh eggs (you can use only the yolks for a more intense flavour or use 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks or use all 4 eggs whole)
• 225 gram pancetta, bacon or guanciale (Italian cured pork cheek or jowl), cut into 1 centimetre cubes
• 180 gram grated cheese (parmesan, pecorino, cheddar - which ever one, two or combination you have or like)
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• Salt (to taste, if necessary)

Method:

1. Bring plenty of salted water (it should taste like the sea) to a boil
2. Add the pasta, return to the boil, and cook for 8-10 minutes or until 'al dente' (cooked but still firm when bitten)
3. In the mean time, heat a large frying pan or skillet over medium heat
4. Add the bacon to the frying pan and fry for about 3 minutes or until the meat is crispy and most of the fat has rendered out
• remove the frying pan from the heat
5. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and the cheese until well combined
6. As soon as the pasta is cooked, reserve about 100 millilitre of the cooking water and drain the rest of the water off
7. Return the frying pan to medium heat and add half of the reserved pasta water to the pan when the pan is hot
8. Toss the pasta into the frying pan and, whilst moving the pan continuously, wait until the bubbling subsides
• most of the water will evaporate
9. Remove the pan from the heat and add the egg mixture, stirring quickly until the eggs thicken
• the residual heat in the pan will cook the eggs but work quickly to prevent the eggs from scrambling
• if the sauce seems too thick, thin it out with a little bit more of the reserved pasta water
10. Season liberally with freshly cracked black pepper
• taste before you add any salt: depending on the kind of pork used, it may not need any salt

Following this recipe you should never have any problems cooking the perfect pasta dish. 

Although traditionally nothing else is added (and in my book you never add cream) you can fry a little onion and garlic with the bacon if you so desire. The best eggs to use are free range, organic eggs - in this case I would only use the yolks to really taste the eggs. If you can find guanciale, please use it: you will be surprised at the difference this will make. Use whatever type of pasta you want (have lying around) but try to avoid fresh pasta as the sauce will not stick to it as easily as to the dried varieties.

Whether you use bacon or pancetta, free range or dozen-a-dime eggs, cheap or expensive pasta; this dish is great!

As they say in Italy:

Mangia Mangia

Or as I like to say:

Please, eat!

The way to someone's heart

My mother used to tell me that the way to a man's heart was via his stomach. Over the years, I have found that she was right in this. She just forgot to mention that the same was true the other way around: the way to a woman's heart is via her stomach. The only problem is that you first need to find out what he/she likes and dislikes. It might also be helpful to find out if there are things that they are allergic to. And then, if you do wind up cooking for them it is important to make sure that what you present him/her with is safe to eat...

Quite some years ago there was this man I really fancied. He wasn't the most gorgeous bloke you could ever come across but he had a twinkle in his brown eyes, was prone to laughing, was tall and had hands the size of coal shovels. We played for the same rugby club and had been chatting for quite some time when I learned that he was single (call me old-fashioned but I do not chase men that are in a relationship). So, on Saturday (after his match), I decided to take the bull by the horns; I invited him over for a meal with the excuse that I had made a chicken pie that was much too big for one. Especially as I had also made a massive apple pie (I was trying to work through a glut of apples at the time, that's my story and I will stick to it) (and a dash to the shop after the match made sure that I indeed had a glut of apples). He took me up on it and later that day he showed up, with flowers. Not sure what to make of that, I blushed when he passed them to me in the hallway. I am a hopeless romantic but never know what to do when a man gives me flowers or something of the sorts. I showed him to my front room and offered him a beer. The smell of the chicken pie was wafting from the kitchen and I told him I would be right back. I dished up the chicken pie, shoved the apple pie in the oven and took the plates to the front room. Two bites into the chicken pie, I realised that the chicken was underdone... Not just a bit pink, I wouldn't have been surprised if the beast had jumped of off my plate, clucking and well. Just thinking back to it, I can still feel myself go red as I tried to take the plate away from him. He, however, was determined not to say anything and pretend all was well. To cut a far too long story short; we moved on to the apple pie (which was fully cooked and delicious, even if I say so myself), had a nice chat and two hours later I let him out the door.
It wasn't until the following day that I found out he had been horribly sick. Partly because of the chicken but mainly because he was allergic to almonds. I had used almonds in the pastry and in the filling of the apple pie... I never did make my way into his heart, although we did become good friends. He just never ate at my place again...

In my defence, I was only 18 at the time and rather surprised that he had shown up. Oh, and it was the first time ever that I had cooked for someone I really fancied... All I could think about were those massive hands and his strong legs...
But I learned from my mistakes and have since not tried to poison anyone again. It was the day that I learned to enquire first into any allergies and likes/dislikes and to make sure that meat is fully cooked before serving... It must have worked because I married a lovely fellow who won my heart via my stomach. He didn't even have to cook, he just told me what he would cook for me if he ever got to meet me. Mind, I am easy to cater for; there are not a lot of things that I don't like and I am not allergic to anything... I won his heart by making a Risotto using plain rice, a can of chicken soup and frozen peas (I don't like peas but used them because I knew he loved peas). Doesn't sound great but it tasted wonderful and it was all we had in the cupboards at the time.

But, if you ever find yourself in the place where you want to find your way to a strapping lad's heart, here is my (now safe) recipe for

Chicken and Sweetcorn Pie

Ingredients:
For the filling:

• 1 chicken breast per person (you could also use 1½ chicken thigh)
• ½ tin of sweetcorn per person
• 50 gram bacon lardons per person
• 25 gram butter
• 35 gram flour
• milk
• salt, pepper and nutmeg
• (a little butter, lard or oil for frying, if needed)

For the pastry:

• 300 gram plain flour
• 175 gram cold salted butter (cut into cubes)
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon cold water

Method:

For the pastry:

1. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the butter
2. Quickly rub the butter into the flour
3. Whisk the egg yolk loose with the water
4. Stir in enough of the water and the egg yolk to form a soft dough; if the dough is too dry add a little water at a time until it comes together into a ball
• Do not knead the dough too much or the crust will be tough but this is a rather forgiving dough so don't worry too much
5. Wrap the dough in cling film and rest in the fridge until needed

For the filling:

1. In a dry frying pan, fry the bacon until crispy
   
2. Use a spoon to take the bacon out of the pan and set aside but leave the bacon fat in the pan
3. In the same pan now quickly brown the chicken on all sides, add a little butter, lard or oil if there is too little fat in the pan
4. Once browned, turn the heat down to low and cook for a further ten minutes with a lid on the pan
5. Take the chicken out of the pan and cut it into bite size pieces
• The chicken is not fully cooked at this stage but will cook through in the oven. This way the chicken will stay moist after it comes out of the oven
6. Put the butter in a sauce pan and let it melt, making sure that it doesn't brown
7. Add the flour and whisk until well combined and the flour starts to smell of biscuits
8. Whilst whisking, add milk until you have a thick sauce
9. Add the cheese to the sauce and let it melt
10. Stir in the bacon, chicken and sweetcorn
11. Season the filling to taste with salt, (freshly cracked) black pepper and nutmeg

For the pie:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C
2. Butter a pie tin
3. Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll out on flour dusted work surface
4. Place the rolled out pastry into the tin and cut off the overhanging pastry, bring the leftover pastry together and roll out to form the lid
5. Pour the filling on top of the pastry and cover with the lid
6. Crimp the pastry together, brush with a little egg wash and cut a steam hole in the top
7. Place the pie in the centre of the oven and bake for 30 minutes

Variations:

• If you don't like the flavour of nutmeg, leave out the nutmeg and
• fry some fresh sage leaves in the bacon fat
• take the sage out of the pan and set aside
• follow from step 3
• If you find the taste of nutmeg or sage too strong, use some fresh tarragon
• make the filling as above but when seasoning the sauce add some finely chopped tarragon with the salt and pepper
• Pie crust: in this recipe I have used just plain short-crust pastry but you could use (rough) puff pastry or suet crust
• If you choose to use (rough) puff pastry or a suet crust put the filling directly into the pie tin and roll the pastry out to form a lid (don't forget to crimp...)
• In stead of using butter in your pastry, you could use lard or margarine

I wish you all the best for your endeavours, and a safe journey into your chosen one's heart. If he/she has a gluten intolerance, this recipe works well with gluten-free flour. If he/she is looking after the waist line: find yourself someone else. Set on winning the heart of the dieter, even though my recommendation is to let them go? Try the following for a healthy option:

• Fry the chicken in some rapeseed or olive oil
• you can also boil the chicken in some unsalted water (for an even healthier option)
• Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces and set aside
• In a sauce pan, warm up 1 tablespoon of oil (of your choice) and add the flour
• Whisk as if your life depends on it
• Make chicken stock from a cube and add this to the pan, whisking like mad to prevent lumps, until you have a thick sauce
• Stir the chicken, sweetcorn and any other veg they like into the sauce and season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg (or sage or tarragon)
• Make a pastry with the lightest margarine you can find
• Assemble the pie and bake as above

This does taste very good but I stand by what I said; don't bother and find yourself someone who knows there is more to life than a slim waist. Oh well, can't say I didn't try...

It might all not sound like the most romantic meal but set the table with your best linen, and your finest plates and glasses. Bring the whole pie to the table and let nature take its course. The first time you cook for someone, the last thing you want to worry about is whether it is romantic enough or not.
So, stop fretting and

Enjoy