April 11, 2002

Today is the day to think, "This is not my beautiful wife."

I have a new book review on Popmatters today of a book called Henderson's Spear, and unlike the last book I reviewed for them, I actually liked it, so check it out.

Some of you may know that my junior year of college I studied abroad in Florence, Italy, and I stayed in this magnificent villa in an outlying city called Fiesole. It was basically heaven on earth, plus, we had these wonderful chefs, Sandra and Sahna, who would cook for us. At the end of the year, we students were lucky enough to receive a cookbook of the Villa's finest recipes. I made one of these dishes for dinner the other night and it made me so happy I thought that I'd share it with the rest of you. Make it and love it: even vegetarians can enjoy it. Vegans: no, but what's really left for you to enjoy, anyway?

Pasta San Tropez

Ingredients:
1 medium to large onion, finely minced
5 tbls. olive oil
3 tbls. butter
15 oz. canned crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt & pepper
1/2 cup swiss cheese, grated
1-1&1/2 lbs. penne

In a heavy saucepan, put onions, olive oil and butter. Set over a low flame and cover. Cook for 20 minutes, checking occasionally to prevent onions from burning. When onions are lightly browned, add tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook, covered, for 20-30 minutes over medium-low heat. Add cream and adjust seasoning. Toss pasta with sauce and grated Swiss cheese.

Now, it says that this is supposed to serve six to eight people but what I would do is just stick half of it in the refrigerator because you're going to want more later, it's almost just as good cold, and you'll never want to share this with anybody, anywhere, ever.

Enjoy!