I arrived in Britain in December 1978 and lived in
East Anglia. In 1980, I met my
partner, Nicky Stephens, who lived in Telegraph Hill at the time. On 7th March 1982, we bought
and moved into our house in Nunhead.
The original owners of the house from when it was built had raised a
family of 7. There was an
outdoor toilet, a tin tub for bathing and 1 source of water in the house in the
scullery over the sink and next to
the copper. The house had a warm,
happy feeling despite the 60’s & 70’s wallpaper and a holographic picture
of Jesus looking at the New York skyline.
Obviously, a souvenir. We
have now lived here for 32 years and seen so many changes over the years, but
there has always been a feeling of community here which helps London feel much
less intimidating and isolating.
We love our neighbourhood and shopping in Evelina Road where you can
find most things you may want.
Basic Pasta Sauce
Pasta was
something that featured quite a bit in our family. Especially when the whole family was together and we were large
numbers. My grandparents taught us
all to cook, but every family has their own version of the sauce, although they
are all similar. There are even
different versions within the family.
My
grandparents used to bottle their own tomatoes every year, so I have adapted to
use tin tomatoes and puree. This
is for the basic sauce and there are a couple of other options at the end of
the recipe.
Buon Apetito!
Mangia!
Ingredients
Serves 6
Serves 6
3 tins
tomatoes
1 tube
tomato puree
3 cloves
garlic (finely chopped)
1 large or 2
medium onions finely chopped
1 Tbs
Oregano
2 Tbs Basil
1 tsp Thyme
2 Tbs grated
pecorino or parmesan
1 Bayleaf
4 good Tbs
Olive Oil
Salt and
Pepper
Method
Method
Heat the oil
in a medium saucepan until a bit of onion dropped in sizzles. Fry the onions until they are
transparent but not browning on the edges. Empty the tomatoes and puree into the pan and give a
good stir and cook gently. Put in
all the other ingredients and, using a potato masher, mash everything together
and bring to the boil. Cook for at
least 1 hour and then leave it overnight for the next day.
If using
meat, brown the meat with the onions at the end of their cooking. Only needs about 2 minutes just to
brown and separate.
During Lent,
there was no meat, and another version was used. When you add the other ingredients, add a handful of raisins
or sultanas, some pine nuts and about a handful of walnuts, chopped.
In Sicily, there is always a bowl of
breadcrumbs as well as a bowl of grated cheese to put over the pasta.
Heat some olive oil in a small
frying pan. Fry about ½ cup of dry
breadcrumbs, oregano, salt and pepper and fry the crumbs till the oil is
absorbed and crumbs start to brown.
