Little Secrets Everywhere

I have to tell you a secret. I am and have been for many (many, many) years obsessed with podcasts. And my newest addition to this, well let’s call it an addiction of sorts, is the British podcast Table Manners with Jessie Ware and her mother. Listening to them chat with their guests, it feels like you are sitting at their very warm, loud, and funny (very funny!) dinner table. And I am in love with them. One of their infamous questions is what you would eat as your last meal on a treasure island and all I was thinking was: p.a.s.t.a.

I have to tell you a secret. And the secret is that I sometimes, when my wife is out, treat my self to a really, really good glas of red wine and make myself a huge plate of glorious … pasta. When it comes to food, nothing screams „me-time“ (for me, at least, ha!) like a really well-made and simple plate of noodle goodness, with fragrant garlic, herbs, and a salty punch, delivered through bacon or olives or capers and definitely parmesan. When you take a first bite and realise that the pasta is perfectly al dente, slightly soft on the outside, but nice and firm on the inside, and that the sauce is a treasure, coating each pasta bit, and you have a sip of that scrumptious wine that hits you with some acidity; all that is just a very special experience.

And if you would like to join me in this experience, here comes one of my summer-go to pasta recipes. Summer, because it needs ripe & sweet cherry tomatoes. This secret pasta is almost a spaghetti puttanesca, but without the anchovies and onions. I think this dish is a real jam and I hope you like it too. The recipe is for one person.

Secret Pasta

150 g good quality dried linguine (or any other desired shape), reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 gloves of garlic, peeled & finely sliced

1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (adjust amount for different heat levels or chilli)

1 teaspoon capers, finely chopped

2 tablespoons of black calamata or Tunisian olives, sliced

a hand-full of cherry tomatoes, quartered

fresh herbs, such as parsley & oregano

salt & pepper to taste

parmesan shaving s to taste

Bring a pot of pasta water to a boil and salt it generously. The water should taste like the ocean. Cook the pasta until al-dente.

In the meantime, heat the olive oil to medium heat and slowly fry garlic. Turn up the heat and add the chilli, capers, and olives and give everything a god fry for another 2 minutes. Now, throw in your cherry tomatoes, fry for another minute, and the pour in the pasta water and allow for everything to cook for another 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and Pepper. Drain your pasta. Add pasta & fresh herbs to the sauce, stir, and cook for another minute. Plate, cover in parmesan, drizzle some olive oil over the pasta, and eat.