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Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Puttanesca
By Rene Lizada
"MAN can learn nothing except by going from the known to the unknown." -- Claude Bernard
My wife Chona does not like to cook but that does not mean that she does not want to try. I think she has bought a gazillion of cookbooks and as far as I know she has never gotten past the Foreword. I have this feeling that she is a frustrated cook. So when she announced to everyone that she was going to cook something we all had mixed feelings, Gabo especially. She said that she was going to do my favorite pasta dish, puttanesca.
So off we went to the grocery looking for the puttanesca ingredients. We bought capers, tomatoes, black and green olives, anchovies, garlic and other things. I could see in her eyes that she was determined to cook puttanesca even if the puttanesca turned out tasting like luglug. Or worse, arroz caldo. But I could see the intensity and the fire. She really wanted to do this.
Sunday came, the day that she was going to cook for all of us, including Gabo who really had doubts. I purposely did not eat merienda that afternoon so I could have an empty stomach when dinner came.
And so at 6:02 on a Sunday, Chona stood and then marched off to the kitchen to do puttanesca. At about 6:08 I stepped out of the room. The kitchen smelled nice and just to egg her on I said, "Wow that smells good." She looked at me and said " Rene, garlic lang yan."
I looked at Gabo and he whispered, "Papa, pagkatapos natin kain, baba tayo. Kain tayo ulit." And he winked. Raphael just smiled. I went back to the room. I was getting hungry. I sat down and wondered, what if, what if Gabo were right. I mean what would we do?
After sometime, she came in, Chona did. She told me that it was ready, the puttanesca was. On the way out Gabo winked at me again. Raphael was smiling again. I called out to them and we gathered to have Sunday dinner.
The sauce was there in the middle of the table ready to be judged. It looked like puttanesca. It smelled like puttanesca. The question now was, would it taste like puttanesca?
I peered closer. The sauce was dotted with capers and olives. The anchovies, because we only got one itsy bitsy can got drowned in the sauce. If there were anchovies they were now extinct. I took a whiff at the sauce and it smelled promising. Gabo was staring at me in almost silent panic. Raphael was about to jump in and eat everything in sight. I got some noodles, placed them in my plate, asked for the sauce and smothered my plate with a generous serving, mixed it with the noodles and was about to slurp it down when an idea popped into my head. I turned to Gabo and Eps who were busy preparing to eat the inevitable when I told them that in honor of the occasion, we should all take the first bite together. They agreed but Chona said that only the three of us should taste it. I think she just wanted to look at our expressions when we took the first bite.
And so with great trepidation but with heavenly hope the three of us, forks in hand, twirled the noodles permeated in puttanesca sauce, gently, ever so gently put the forks in our mouths. We chewed. We savored and we swallowed. We looked at each other. There was no sound except the sound of puttanesca.
I guess Raphael liked it because he did not say anything; he just took another swirl and ate. I looked at Gabo. He was quiet, which was a good sign. As for me it was pretty good actually. I looked at Chona and she asked how it was, and I said that it was good puttanesca. A little salty but it was good. She smiled a little. Gabo said we should open the wine.
No one was complaining and it our family when all is quiet it means only two things. All is well and all is not well but in this case the silence was appreciative. The sauce was good that while we were eating we found ourselves speaking Italian! Mama Mia! And suddenly our surroundings changed. We were in Rome and our home looked like a palace in Naples. The road outside looked like the Appian Way. The sink sounded like the fountains of Trevi.
Our household help strangely looked like Italian maids. They bought soda for puttanesca. Even our multi breed dog, Sydney, looked like a pedigree. Suddenly we all wanted to watch Cinema Paradiso. All of a sudden I felt like a gladiator! Mama Mia na pud!
The kids and I had another serving and with the fear of failed puttanesca laid aside we enjoyed dinner.
Conversation was somewhat subdued because it is difficult to eat with your mouth full. I added more sauce and noodles.
Drank lemonade and as fitting finale, swiped my plate clean with a piece of toasted bread. Dinner was good. And the only thing lacking was dessert. I mentioned that this was a good time for ice cream and all agreed. So I said "hala baba tayo lahat. Kain tayo mcdip." And cheers were everywhere. Bravo!
We first went to Victoria Plaza because the kids had to buy something and then off we went to Mcdo. Perhaps he got carried away by the puttanesca, because Gabo took out his wallet and said "ako libre." And we had hot fudge sundae and fries and we talked and laughed.
When we got home we were so stuffed that the only thing we could do was lie down and swap stories. We laughed again. After sometime Chona decided to sleep. Gabo too. And finally, Raphael. I could not sleep yet so I watched TV. Then drowsiness took over and I turned the TV off. I kissed all of them goodnight including Miguel. I switched off the lamp, punched my pillow and pulled the blanket over me. I closed my eyes and thought of puttanesca by Chona.
(August 6, 2003 issue)
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