Passport & Plate - Ticinese Pasta Sauce
Switzerland | Monday, March 10, 2014 | 5 photos
INGREDIENTS
Serves 4-5
-Olive Oil - (tablespoon)
-1 Large Head of Garlic, or 2 smaller ones
-1 Large Onion - (red or white)
-10 - 12 Tomatoes, if using Roma (in general, aim for 3 to 4 times the amount of the onion, depending on type/size of tomatoes) *Add 10-15 Cherry Tomatoes for additional flavor
-Handful of Sun-dried Tomatoes (approx. 1.5 ounces), julienne cut into strips
-Small handful of Oregano - (di Calabria--Italian oregano from Calabria, preferred)
-10-15 Black Olives - (alla greca--Greek style, preferred)
-10-15 Green Olives - (alla greca--Greek style, preferred)
-Dash of Salt
-Fresh Basil (a small handful to slice, and a few whole leaves to garnish)
-Parmesan Cheese
*Your favorite type of pasta noodles.
HOW TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE
1. Peel and dice the onion and garlic cloves.
2. In a large frying pan, with tall sides, line the pan with olive oil then mix and sear the onions and garlic until they are a little brown. Mix with two spatulas for best results.
3. Dice the tomatoes (including cherry), then add to the pan and mix.
4. When the tomatoes start to produce a little liquid at the bottom of the pan, add the sun-dried tomatoes and mix.
5. After a bit, when more liquid appears, sprinkle a small handful of oregano on top, then the dash of salt, and mix.
6. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook until some of the liquid starts to leave.
7. Slice the olives and basil, then mix with the sauce and turn off the burner.
8. Allow the olives/basil to cook slightly in the pan after the burner is turned off.
9. Serve warm over pasta. Add Parmesan cheese and garnish with whole basil leaves as desired.
For best results, begin with an appetizer of "Prosciutto con Melone" (cantaloupe wrapped in Prosciutto di Parma ham). Pair the pasta with a side salad, mixing lettuce with two spoonfuls of olive oil, one spoonful of balsamic vinegar, and a small dash of powdered curry. Enjoy your favorite Italian beer as you cook (Moretti or Peroni are recommended), a Prosecco white wine to accompany the appetizer, then red wine, like the popular Nero d'Avola coming out of Sicily, with the meal. For dessert enjoy a scoop of chocolate gelato followed by an Italian espresso.
For atmosphere while cooking/dining, listen to a compilation of Italian pop music like "Momenti Italiani," or musical acts like "Neri per Caso" or tenor Andrea Bocelli, depending on the level of romance.
THE STORY BEHIND THIS RECIPE
When my Swiss host mom handed me salad dressing to garnish my steak, I knew something had been lost in translation. I couldn't get upset at our miscommunication, though. I was the one who had asked to live in her home so I could finally practice the Italian language I'd studied in school.
I don't think my host mom ever expected to teach basic food vocabulary to a 23-year-old, but after I muttered out a bunch of adjectives, she handed me a bottle of balsamic vinegar and graciously explained the appropriate word.
My time with this Swiss family was part of a summer spent interning at the US Embassy in Bern, Switzerland. When I arrived in Bern, I was surprised to find that the hardest part of my day was not working at the Embassy, as I'd expected, but eating dinner with my host family.
It wasn't their blend of Italian/Swiss food that was difficult to swallow; it was the conversation that accompanied it. As this was an Italian household, the requirement for dinner was not only that it include red wine, but that it was a time to be present with family. For me, that meant hours conjugating new verbs, frantically searching my Italian-English dictionary, and describing everything else with vivid hand motions.
However, over three months of meals, I not only began to grasp the Italian language, but was unofficially adopted by my host family. As their "American son," my favorite family tradition became our Spaghetti Fridays--where my Swiss mom would make her famous sauce and we'd share an especially deep conversation into the wee hours of the budding weekend.
Now, five years later, that Ticinese Pasta Sauce serves as a reminder of my second family. Every time I make it, it transports me right back to Switzerland: sitting on the porch of my host family's Ticino vacation home and overlooking Lake Lugano--a body of water which straddles the border of Italy and Switzerland, the same way my heart now straddles two countries.
