When I went for dinner chez my chum Cathy (aka Battenburg Belle of Kitchen Confidence) for the first time since the pandemic began, I was thrilled that she was cooking up a marinara sauce to a Stanley Tucci recipe. I am mildly obsessed with Stanley Tucci and I was excited to find out that Cathy had just finished reading his brilliant memoir Taste
and we immediately hatched a plan to cook EVERY recipe in his book. Of course, this is particularly apt for me, as the book that started me on this bonkers project was Julie & Julia (here’s a link to my first post written in May 2006)
and the movie adaptation features the divine Stanley who plays Julia Child’s husband Paul.
Cathy’s daughter Ringo joined us for dinner and tossed a coin to see who would begin this exciting cooking challenge and it’s ME, I got the Negroni, hurrah!
I did also get the recipe for cooking a whole pig though, so watch this space…
I’d kind of forgotten that I’d made a video all about Stanley’s Negroni recipe, but here it is if you fancy watching it.
and here is a link to the video that I watched about one gazillion times during lockdown of Stanley making a Negroni. If you have never seen this, treat yourself!
The Stanley Tucci Negroni recipe described in this video is 2 measures of gin, one measure of Campari and one measure of Italian Vermouth. Cheers! #Tuccitime
Funny, I just watched a season of ‘ER’ with him in it this very week. (He was a dr. who took advantage of Abby who was blacked out, and he got punched out by Luka (the divine Goran Visnjic).
Oooh, I didn’t know he’d been in ER. Thanks for reminding me about that dreamboat Luka! I’d forgotten about him. I’m going to see if I can get ER on some kind of streaming service…
Who’s doing the Timpano !? Sounds a nightmare, but great film. Never been a great fan of the Negroni, but I want one of his Martini’s and with him on the Old fashioned . But what can you say about a man who lists three of his addictions as ‘exercise, martinis and Marx Bros. movies.’ Ok, two out of three’s not bad . I came home the other night too late to cook the chili I had planned to make – quel surprise. Having nothing else I quickly went to his book and in no time had adapted his Ragu Tucci with mince instead of spare ribs and stewing beef ! Delicious. Coincidentally having wandered into the same small branch of Waitrose almost every day on my lock down walks, I’ve gotten very chatty wth one particular member of staff who is married to an Italian. Post reading Stanley’s book we’ve been having some fine Italian foodie talk when she’s not to busy. She recommends the ‘Polpo’ brand of tomatoes and DeCecco Pasta . Maybe our next cook off should be Rudolf Valentino’s Spaghetti Sauce vs Stanley Tucci’s Ragu !
MARK! That is a BRILLIANT idea. Let’s get a date in the diary for you to come over when Cathy is back from her THREE MONTHS at the Ballymaloe Cookery School (jealous, moi?!). I love DeCecco pasta and will be on the look out for Polpo from now on. Cathy has got the Timpano! To my shame, I haven’t seen Big Night. It’s a bit like having a birthday present I am putting off opening because I want to savour it…. JX
Deal . Shall we invite Stanley ?
I would be beside myself…
I am definitely up for that plan! Love DeCecco and Polpo And I’m sure Stanley would be delighted to join us…. I am loving this project so much!!
Me too Lady S! I don’t think we’ll get it all done by Christmas but we’ll have fun trying xxx