It's Eat-Boozy-Pasta-and-Hand-Wash-Your-Sweaters Season

Forever New laundry powder gently cleans all your cashmere.

I am christening the upcoming four months of cold weather and Covid isolation “the winter of rigatoni alla vodka. ” To make that happen I’ve laid in lots of vodka, Calabrian chili paste and dried rigatoni (which is superior to penne. Ask anyone.) Just as important, as the temperatures drop, is stocking up on the best gentle laundry powder ever, Forever New, because I refuse to take anything made of cashmere to the dry cleaners.

Dry-cleaned sweaters feel weirdly stiff and not particularly ‘clean’. The thought of putting one against my bare skin (especially after it has rolled around in an industrial drum full of perchloroethylene and the dirty clothes of strangers) gives me hives.

Forever New was pressed upon me in the 80s by a saleslady in Eaton’s lingerie department (underwire bras being way too tricky and pricy to just throw into the machine.) It gently gets things thoroughly clean and rinses out easily, because rinsing laundry in the sink is a pain. The scent is subtle and nicely laundryish. And, according to back of the jug, you can even use it in the laundry machine. I would never do that, because I am way too attached to my White and Warren travel wrap to ever trust it to a Whirlpool. But you might be braver.

Weekend Dinner: Summer Pasta Lets the Sun do the Cooking

These simple ingredients mean dinner is almost ready.

Summer pasta is the best sort of recipe. A no-cook sauce that uses the heat of the noonday sun to infuse roughly chopped tomatoes with the flavours of basil, garlic and olive oil, you prep it in the morning, so when dinner time rolls around you only have to cook (and drain) the pasta and add it to the bowl. Plus all the tedious (and potentially dangerous) chopping was done hours earlier, which is great if you’ve now consumed a glass or more of rosé and shouldn’t be allowed near knives.

A 1980s artifact from The Silver Palate cookbook, Summer Pasta bears the hallmarks of that more-is-more decade. The original recipe went heavier on the olive oil and called for an indulgent, entire wheel of camembert. Sure it’s a whole wheel, but if you’ve removed the rind, that has to reduce the calorie count too, right?

But maybe I’m just rationalizing. If it still seems like too much, you can use less cheese, but I wouldn’t recommend it. This is not the time to be mingy.

Summer Pasta

Ingredients (serves four)

·       5 fist-sized tomatoes or 7 roma tomatoes, cored, seeded and cut into ½ inch cubes

·       A half-pound wheel of very ripe camembert, rind removed (don’t substitute a strongly flavoured brie, because the sharpness will dominate. You want bland creaminess.)

·       ½ cup basil leaves, torn up or chiffonaded (rolled up and cut into thin strands)

·       2 medium cloves of garlic, finely minced

·       ¼ to ½ cup of olive oil (the original recipe called for 1 cup. Ugh. No.)

·       1 box (450-500 grams) of spaghetti or small pasta shapes

·       Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Dice the tomatoes into a bowl and add the torn basil leaves, finely minced garlic cloves and a healthy glug of olive oil (a quarter cup is more than fine.)

Remove the rind from a half pound wheel of ripe camembert and put its gooey interior into the bowl along with everything else. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place it in direct sun for the flavours to meld. And finally, while you’re still feeling all briskly industrious, put a lidded pot of salted water on the stove, ready to go. (Obviously, don’t turn the stove on yet.)

When everyone starts thinking about dinner (and when you feel least like it), drag yourself to the kitchen. Cook your pasta as directed and then drain (reserving maybe a quarter cup of pasta water) and place back into the warm empty pot.

Add the very warm, sun-melded tomato and basil sauce and fold in quickly with a wide spatula. The cheese will melt and vanish, coating each pasta strand. You will not need parmesan. Divide into bowls and garnish each with fresh basil leaves and then take them outside to join your friends.