Usually we are in Iowa for Christmas, which suits me just fine--a couple of days of snow and horrible sub-freezing temperatures to give me just a fun taste of winter, but not enough to make me thoroughly miserable. But this year we decided to do it Southern California style, and the whole clan has invaded San Diego where Josh's sister, brother-in-law, and niece and nephew live--which also suits me just fine. After all my years of moving all over the place, there is something very comforting about living somewhere where you have family just a two-hour drive away.
Additionally, the drive to/from my sister-in-law's house is enhanced by the fact that my old roommate, Matt, and his wife Elisabeth live about half way between San Diego and LA, which means I always have a nice excuse to see them when we come down. Given how much we all like each other, one would imagine we would see each other more often given that we live so close. One would be wrong. About 50% of the time (at least) that Matt and Elisabeth and Josh and I make plans, invariably one of us gets sick and we have to cancel. Someone always gets hungover or a cold or something (If you guessed I was supposed to see Matt & Elisabeth two weeks ago when I got food poisoning, you would be right. Clearly I was tempting fate by making the plans in the first place).
Matt is an interesting character. We first met in college when he began dating one of my roommates sophomore year, but I actually remember having him pointed out to me well before that in an anthropology class when I was a freshman. At a school with over 25,000 undergrads, that's a big deal. But then again, a redheaded white guy with dreadlocks does tend to stand out.
Over the years, Matt and I stayed friends. Senior year he joined six of us girls in a house and lived in our basement, ultimately landing me with the honor of having the entire men's lacrosse team mulling around the house naked before we all left to run The (sadly now defunct) Naked Mile. Ah, college.
After college, we lived in Boston at the same time. Then Chicago at the same time. And now we live in Southern California at the same time. For someone who was first described to me as, 'That guy's in my Italian class,' I sure have known Matt a long time.
In recent years, the most fun thing about Matt I think is how much he and Josh like each other. I don't know why it surprised me so much, but these two were just peas and carrots right away. It turns out that Josh and Matt have a ton in common and, if left to their own devices, will happily spend an entire afternoon discussing the high points of Planet Earth. The cuteness of it just kills me.
Last June Josh and I made the pilgrimage back to Chicago for Matt and Elisabeth's wedding, but three years ago he and Elisabeth both contributed a recipe to my book. I know this because the two recipes attributed to them have different handwriting, and being the smart girl that I am have deduced that one is from him and one is from her.
The Matt-given recipe is his Spicy Tuna Pasta, which, I will tell you right now, does not sound good. I mean, basically it's spaghetti with tuna-laden tomato sauce. Doesn't exactly make the heart quicken with anticipation.
Looking at the recipe, it appears to be a bachelor-type staple. Slightly dressed up pasta, and almost without exception the ingredients don't have quantities specified. Just the sort of straightforward thing a guy would pull together to impress a date. But the Recipe Book wants what the Recipe Book wants, so I gave it a whirl.
As it turns out, I was wrong on two accounts: 1. This is not just some rag-tag bachelor throw-together; Matt actually got the recipe from an Italian friend (like Italy Italian, not Jersey Shore Italian). 2. It's good.
Yup. You heard me. It was good. Not, like, 'I had to take my pants off and roll around in it' good, but good enough that I'm looking forward to the leftovers and that Josh ate so much of it he gave himself a stomach ache. I think this is one of those cases of a few simple ingredients done well, plus the surprising fact that tuna--stinky canned tuna!!--actually tastes good in tomato sauce. You'd think the two tastes would clash horribly, but instead the fishy parts of the tuna somehow get neutralized so it's just like a nice, dare I say almost subtle meat in the sauce. And the red pepper gives it a nice fra diablo-type kick--and smell. Simple, yet fancy! Color me impressed.
Who knew?Pasta
tomato puree (14.5 oz)
olive oil
garlic
tuna (6 oz)
salt/pepper/basil/oregano
crushed red pepper
Heat oil in saucepan or skillet (enough to cover surface of pan), press garlic into oil (garlic press gadget!) and saute. Add puree, which it turns out you were unable to find in the 14.5 oz size at the ghetto grocery, and after much searching, gave up and got it in double that size. Then decide you can just estimate around half the tin of tomato puree in lieu of measuring it out on the scale because, hell, the rest of this recipe is non-specific proportions, so why should this part be so different? Mix.
Meanwhile, prepare pasta, which you decide will be spaghetti although you imagine could be anything. That's why it says 'pasta' and not, say, 'rigatoni'. Although perhaps using lasagna noodles would be weird.
Salt, pepper, red pepper sauce to taste, which is amusing because you never actually taste sauce that you are cooking what with the fear of burning your mouth and all. So you just dump in a random bit of these things with no real idea what is good or not. Also deduce you should put in the basil and oregano at this point, even though it doesn't say so, because it doesn't say so anywhere, so now must be the time.
When pasta is done, drain it. Add tuna (drained) to sauce and serve over pasta. Be shocked at how good canned tuna is in pasta sauce. Matt, I never should have doubted you. Score.
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