People and Places
Something Cooking
Paula Robson is really making waves. She is a freelance cook and I was delighted to meet her on board the Superyacht Lady Christina at the Monaco Yacht Show.
Her career as a Yacht Cook spans over twenty years and fell into the yacht scene by accident. Paula had planned to drive to Casablanca from London in a Land Rover. Her journey took her via Antibes and that is where she took her first post which was offered to her by Peter Insull's Crew Agency aboard the sail boat 'Wind drift' back in the late 1980's. From that day forward she never looked back and found her passion for cooking on some of the most beautiful yachts in the world.
She had trained privately as a cook in London and was soon at home in a galley cooking for yacht owners and her fellow crew members. She makes the distinction between being a chef and being a cook, which she prefers to be known as: "Id rather be more of a cook that can be bothered to reduce the roast chicken carcasses than a chef that reaches for the catering size tub of powdered stock.."
Aboard one yacht, owned by Italians, Paula was sent to a taverna in Portofino which is just south of Genoa to learn some of their favourite dishes.
I asked Paula what style of cooking she perferred: "I love cooking with seasonal produce which is essential for Mediterranean and Sea Food cooking and one of my favourite vegetables is Asparagus.
Paula has given The Riviera Woman a recipe that she has used time and time again. The dish was created by the small family run Taverna restaurant in Portofino where she worked for a week.
Italians stick strictly to the right pasta shapes for sauces, as the shapes are, in fact, designed to hold certain sauces. Fusilli is used for Pesto Genovaise, a much stockier version than the miserable olive green excuse for pesto that comes from a jar. The grooves hang on to the sauce to create the right concentration of flavours.
This recipe uses Penne. Italians are often loyal to only one make ..capable of debating its qualities like we do with tea..
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Penne Taverna
For a 500g box of Barilla penne or bag of De Cecco penne use aproximately the following:
Lots of olive oil
6 large cloves of Garlic
A Large bunch of parsley
A large Aubergine . diced smallish.
A small glass of Brandy with no sips taken from it..
Quality RAW shelled prawns, chopped a little.
About 200g Parmasan that you've grated and extra for the table.
Cream, as little or as much, but it doesn't need much, its simply a flavour combiner.
Ground Pepper.
Instructions:
Make the sauce first.. poke the garlic with a knife and pop the cloves in the microwave for 15 seconds on 600 power or low-mid power. This will release the skins. Then chop finely.
Chop the parsley - ideally in the herb chopping attatchment of your 'soup blender' if you have one or use a rocker knife. Chop the aubergine into cubes.
Heat lots of olive oil with the garlic in a pan, don't let it brown, it should be just turning. Add the aubergine and half the parsley and let it reduce slowly.
Meanwhile, prepare everything else for your meal; the bread, table, extra parmasan..wine.. because once the sauce is combined with the 'Al dente pasta', the dish will ruin if it sits, the pasta continues to cook and the whole thing goes cloggy.
A good tip: Your friends should be waiting for the pasta, not the other way round...
When the aubergine cubes are slightly crisp, add the prawns and cook very briefly, but hot. This is where the chef at the Taverna threw the brandy in, and flamed it.. which I don't recommend.. but put it in when the pan is hot so it sizzles.. then remove from the heat.
Add the cream and black pepper. Pour the sauce into your warmed serving bowl.
Boil water in a large pan.. DON'T add the pasta until the water is boiling. Put a drizzle of olive oil in the water. Be sure you're ready, you've got 1 minute less than the packet states before your meal is ready.
Boil pasta for one minute less than the instructions on the packet.. strain, sprinkle with some oil and toss in the colander. It must be hot when its added to the sauce.
Stir and serve .. "Sans Delai" (without delay) with a robust red wine.
Garnish with remaining parsley if you like.
