There wasn’t enough pulled pork left to make a meal from, so it became the base for a pasta sauce: herbs, onion, garlic, and a can of tomatoes cooked together for a couple of hours to integrate the deep BBQ with the fresh new flavors. Milo and I rolled out some fresh fettucine- half white, half whole wheat flour- and cut turnip greens and mesclun in the garden. There’s a fabulous chewy density to fresh pasta, and it takes me right back to the “green door,” the unnamed restaurant in Rome behind the school where I would go for artichokes and fettucine on a regular basis. Unlike the cheap red I enjoyed so much back then, this time around we had a 2003 Moreau Saint-Aubin “en Remilly.” It’s hard to believe that nearly 20 years has gone by since I first lived in Rome, but there’s no doubt that that year was the beginning of my trajectory as a self-taught cook; penne all’arrabiata and carciofi alla Romana were the first dishes I ever duplicated without a recipe at home after eating them at restaurants, and they’re still two of my go-to specialties.
