Friday, July 24, 2009

Exboyfriend's Pasta Sauce


I don't know too many people who got married to the first person they dated. So, that means most of us have exes. Having "ex-files is inevitable. Mine is not insanely long; probably around a few pages depending on the font size, or if it is single or double spaced, . Actually, there might be a few people who I can use as "references" if there is a such thing called "dating resume". But when it comes to opening the ex-files, have to handle with care. Otherwise, one seven letters word; "A-W-K-W-A-R-D!"

One time I was making pasta sauce from scratch. R is a big fan of Trader Joe's. To him, pasta sauce is always from a jar. He asked me where did I learn how to make it. The romantic answer would be , "oh I learned from my grandmother." But my grandmother is Chinese. This answer is highly unbelievable. I guess the uncomfortable ex-file moment has arrived. "I actually learned that from an ex-boyfriend." I said.

Usually, at the end of a relationship, we always try to console ourselves that we learned something from this experience. You get to know yourselves better, especially when it comes to what you hate. For me, some examples would be when I and some guy went to a cafe to hang out, and all of a sudden he just pulled out the newspaper like I was not even there, or canceling on dinner with me because of a basketball game or a poker game, and even had the balls to ask me to buy him beer and chips...There is always the time you just have to remember the magic word with 4 letters, not "fu_k", or "sh_t". It is "NEXT"! Then you take all this knowledge to the next relationship. Some might call it baggage. Baggage is not always bad. At least this time I ran away with a $475 dress by Diane Von Furstenberg, and a delicious, authentic Italian tomato sauce with me. I'm going to share with you without you finding it out from the hard way.

Recipe:

Tomato Sauce with Onions, Olives and Oregano

Ingredients:

1 can of whole tomato (prefer San Marzano)
1/2 medium onion,chopped
10 - 15 olives pitted, such as Kalamata
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup red wine
1 glove garlic, peeled
1 tsp Oregano
2 pinches salt

Heat olive oil in medium heat in a sauce pan. When oil is hot, put the whole garlic in the pan or 1-2 mins. Discard garlic. Put onion in sauce pan, add 2 pinches of salt and Oregano. Cook onion until caramelized and becomes transparent. Pour in red wine, juice from the can tomato and olives. Reduce heat to simmer,until sauce is reduced and thicken, for about 10 minutes. Put the tomatoes in the sauce pan. Use a spatula to smash them. Simmer for another 15 - 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

3 comments:

  1. It seems easy to make. Is it ok to skip olives?

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  2. Thanks for sharing and I will definately give it a try.

    Can I label this as the EX sauce, as opposed to the famous Chinese XO sauce?

    Just a thought.

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  3. Wow... it's posts like this that make me not want to share and open up with girlfriends...

    ReplyDelete