'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!

Breakfast, on the go, please...

Breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal of the day. We get it told from a very young age, we all know it and we all try to have something in the morning. Even if you only eat something at 10 am, after you have downed three espressos to 'get you going'. The most-heard reason for not having a 'sit-down' breakfast is time; 'It takes too long to make', 'I rather have half an hour longer in bed', 'Everything is just soo hectic in the morning'. Me? I need something 'proper' and will get up earlier than necessary to make sure I do. Usually that will just result in some toast with (ginger) preserve or cheese but it could just as easily be a full English, or eggs and soldiers, or porridge: it depends on what takes my fancy.

An entire industry has grown for those of us who do not have the time at home to eat breakfast. McDonald's and Subway, for instance, are very happy with our lack of time in the morning and have a range of products to 'help' us. But, I don't get it; it takes me anywhere from five minutes (toast) to maximum half an hour (full English) to make my breakfast. It would take me much more than that to get myself to either of the two places mentioned (and several others to boot), decide what I want to eat, order, wait for my order and then eat it. Forget about the fact that it has cost me an arm and a leg; it tastes like cardboard, soggy cardboard at that. It always looks so promising on telly and on the big billboards but what you receive is uninspired, flavourless, unhealthy, tough or spongy and has more 'work' done to it than Lolo Ferrari.

So, how about something to spice up your breakfast?

Quick Huevos Rancheros (or Ranch-style Eggs)

Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 2 to 4 (depending on your appetite)

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 1/2 medium sized onion, chopped
• 1 tin (400 gram) whole tomatoes
• 2 or 3 fresh green chillies (more or less, to taste)
• (chipotle) chili powder, adobo sauce, ground cumin (all optional)
• 4 tortillas or wraps
• butter
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons fresh, chopped, coriander (optional)
• grated cheddar (optional)

Method:

1. Make the sauce first by softening the onions in a little olive oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Once translucent, add the tomatoes and the juice the tomatoes are packed in. Break up the tomatoes with your fingers as you put them in the pan. Add chopped green chilies. Add additional chili to taste, either chipotle chili powder, adobo sauce, regular chili powder, or even ground cumin. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium, and let simmer while you do the rest of the cooking, stirring occasionally. Reduce to low after it has been simmering for 10 minutes. Add salt to taste if needed. If the sauce is too acidic, add half a teaspoon of sugar.
2. Prepare the tortillas/wraps. Heat the oven to a warm 50°C, place plates in the oven to warm up. Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan on medium high, coating the pan with the oil. One by one (or more if your pan is big enough) heat the tortillas/wraps in the pan, a minute or two on each side, until they are heated through, softened, and pockets of air bubble up inside of them. Then remove them and stack them on one of the warming plates in the oven to keep warm while you continue cooking the rest of the tortillas/wraps and the eggs.
3. Fry the eggs. Using the same pan as was used for the tortillas/wraps, add a little butter to the pan, about two teaspoons for 4 eggs. Heat the pan on medium high heat. Crack 4 eggs into the pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes for runny yolks, more for firmer eggs.

To serve, put a tortilla/wrap on a plate and spoon on some of the sauce, then a fried egg (or two). Top with more sauce, sprinkle with coriander and/or cheese if desired.

On the go? Place the tortilla/wrap on a piece of tin foil and put the filling on the tortilla/wrap as before but try to keep it more along the middle and fold it up, burrito-style. Wrap it up in the tin foil and off you go.

To make life easier (and the recipe even quicker), you could use a jar of your favourite salsa, gently warmed up in a small sauce pan.

Fancy a bit of a difference?

• Try adding some re-fried beans, some soured cream or some finely sliced avocado (or a combination).

Or, if you fancy something 'meatier':

• Try adding some crispy fried bacon; at the end of step 2: fry the bacon 'till crispy in the same frying pan you used for the tortillas/wraps and place in the oven to keep warm. Continue with step 3.

Enjoy, and do let me know how you get on.