Pomodoro Pen Pals

Recipe: Mỳ Ý -Spaghetti Sai-Gonese

Deeply into the boy band Bros in the late 80s and early 90s, I accumulated a forum of penpals from all over the world. My favourite penpal was from The Seychelles, whose name has slipped my memory but I can picture the Kodak portrait she sent me of her standing by a small shed on a sunny day with white ankle socks, a short floral skirt, a white polo top and tight brown curls tied to both sides of her head. We wrote to each other at least once a week immediately upon receiving letters after school. I loved her stationary, sometimes on buttermilk coloured paper with primrose trimmings and forget-me-nots inside Airmail envelopes. I updated her on the where and whatabouts with goings on with Bros. My reportage contained magazine cutouts, gifted from Smash Hits.

I was a moody swot at a Highgate secondary school with the occasional angry outbreak of spots and boils on my oily Asian skin. Still a good communist, I was quietly terrified of authority, fearing the cane from teachers like we suffered in Vietnam and punishment if I didn’t write neatly along the lines. I was tingeing of simmered beef, lemongrass and lime, my hair filmed with grease and I gave hard stares. I was constantly hangry, my mother never being able to afford us more than one meal a day (which was dinner). I did not have many friends there and relied on my own solitude in the art and darkrooms with lengths of celluloid for companionship. I still have creaky nightmares about being in the beautiful Victorian convent, embued with pre-historic Irish nuns walking up and down the black and white checker corridors to the chapel, cursing beneath their breaths to the fragrance of frankincense, myrrh and boiled away cabbage and carrots.

Living in a world of my own, I turned to my penpals, another confidant was a beautiful German/ Italian girl, a few years older than me, called Claudia Martello, she was beautiful. Even her name is gorgeous. Twice a week, I was greeted with letters after my brisk journey home from school. My mum sat them on the kitchen table next to a bun or fruit. She lived in West Germany at the start of our penpal friendship but after the fall of the Berlin wall, it was exciting to write to a new address even though she lived in the same place. One day, she came to visit me in London.

Claudia and me, circa 1995

She was the most beautiful girl I had ever met with her charismatic smile and big magnetic eyes. I showed her off to the girls at school. Look, see her? She’s my friend, older, cool and beautiful. I was so proud. I wondered what she thought of the place she landed upon, a council estate somewhere in Hackney with pissy lifts, screaming neighbours and flickering corridor lighting. I wondered if she was ok sleeping on the floor or if she was scared of being around my shouty mother. I wondered if she was going to like my mother’s cooking and be put off by fish sauce and fermented shrimp paste.

In her suitcase, Claudia pulled out a packet of Barilla spaghetti, I like number 5 she said in a German accent, its really good, you want some? Always with urgency in her actions, Claudia unravelled single portions of tomato sauce packeted in rectangular foil pouches. We just need to heat this and it’s done. I also bought some parmesan cheese too. Do you have a grater?

I scurried around, opening clanky drawers where cheap stainless steel shuffle in their compartments and banged echoey cupboards only to find Claudia frowning at my presentation of a box grater. It doesn’t have the right grate, the holes are too big, do you have another one? No, I said, feeling sorry to disappoint.

Always put a good pinch of salt into the pasta water otherwise your pasta will be tasteless, she said as she rolled her eyes around the red cylindrical box of Saxa. We both gathered around the stove watching the pasta boil, she gave the sauce an occasionally stir, sweeping the sauce off the wooden spoon with her index finger for a taste. It was as if she was embarrassed about the time it took for the spaghetti to cook or found awkward, the silence that stood between us and the steaming, bubbling pot. Have you had spaghetti before? She asked. We have spaghetti hoops at school. I said. Okaayyy, thats not the same, she laughed. Do you have any olive oil? I handed her sunflower oil to which she snubbed and said, what about butter? I looked in the fridge and handed her a box of Flora.

I watched Claudia drain the noodles in our colander, noticing she left a bit of water behind. She returned it to the pan, scooped a lump of margarine onto the contents and tossed the margarine into the strands in a circular motion to cover all the strands. My mouth was salivating at the smell of freshly cooked pasta as she plated and portioned the pasta onto our plates, steam rushing to its end and spooned a perfect traffic light red tomato sauce right in the centre, using the spoon’s back to flatten and enlarge the circle.

She sprinkled the large grated flakes of cheese from the height of her face, hurriedly, tapping out excess cheese at the end. She handed me the plate, it was the first time I had spaghetti pomodoro. I fell in love with Italian food instantly.

Claudia and I have remained close friends since 1989. More stories to follow.

---

The most similar find to this tomato sauce she had is Mutti Rossoro Tomatoes with Parmigiano Reggiano. This is the dish I would cook for myself frequently, sometimes with rigatoni or if I am travelling or coming home.

When I visit my cousins in Vietnam, I cook my Vietnamese version of Spaghetti Bolognaise for them but I also cook it on rotation at home. I also cook this for New Year’s parties or have ready for those too-much-to-drink-lunch-was-ages-ago parties to soak it all up towards the end of the evening as well as sorting the kids out with ease. The fish sauce, which is made from fermented anchovies is like garum and adds wonders to the sauce. Try it with garlic and butter.

Photography by Clare Winfield - My Vietnamese Kitchen by Uyen Luu.

Ingredients Serves 4-6

I onion, diced

150g (about 2 stalks) celery, sliced 1cm thickness

1/2 fennel, diced

2 - 4 cloves of garlic, crushed

500g minced beef, grass fed if possible

200g carrot, cubed 5mm

150g chestnut or any kind of mushrooms, sliced

400g Mutti tinned chopped tomatoes

A glass (About 150ml) of good white or red wine (optional) or water

1 chicken or beef stock cube or 3 tbsp of shio koji or 1 tbsp mushroom powder

3 - 4 tbsp premium quality fish sauce

25g salted butter

celery leaves, basil and/or parsley

In a large frying pan or Dutch oven, fry off the onion, celery, and fennel until soft and golden (this takes about 10 minutes) then cook the garlic for a few minutes until golden. Move all the contents to the sides of the pan.

Add the minced beef to the middles, spreading it out with a wooden spoon. Give the beef a few minutes to sear then turn over and mix everything together.

Then add the tinned tomato, wine or water and a stock cube (or mushroom powder or koji). Mix well together, then add the mushrooms and carrots, mixing well to combine.

Turn the heat to the lowest setting, put a lid on it and cook for at least 60 mins, ideally 90 -120 mins, stirring occasionally because some of it will catch at the bottom (which in my mind also adds flavour but don’t let it burn).

When ready to serve, add fish sauce and butter, give it a stir and flavour further with celery leaves, basil and or parsley. Serve with buttered spaghetti or bucatini and parmesan cheese.

---

Books I have been reading (listening to) and highly recommend

I am trying to target 40 books this year, (on track with 10 so far). In order to do so, I fill the time I am unable to read with audiobooks, like when I am commuting, cooking or walking the dog. Audiobooks have to grab you with the narration or it could be a painful experience. I once tried to listen to Ann Patchett's novel "Tom Lake" because it was narrated by Meryl Streep. It was a mistake! Is the book boring or was her sleepy voice drawing me to boredom?

Last week, I listened to two great stories that are very different from each other with great narration. I highly recommend them. They are books that when you finish them, you are not sure what you are supposed to do with yourself and that you are suddenly ripped apart and away from their worlds, how you’ve become so attached to them. In my opinion, these are so well crafted and well written, well structured and well gripping. They are well good! You can easily find out what they are about on their blurbs if you choose to have a look so I will just be brief with them. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I did.

(Audio) Books I recommend:

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

It took me a bit of bearing to get into this story as the protagonist, Isabel is not a very nice person and complained a lot about everything. I appreciated the writing immensely which was why I carried on.

I was completely gripped by Isabel watching Eva eat a pear, that I had to immediately buy pears. The book is infused with intrigue, sensuality and tonnes of evocative atmosphere. I did not expect the twists and turns here at all. This is overall a very gripping tale, a page turner and a great story. There is so much to appreciate about this book but don’t want to spoil it. Feel free to have a chat with me if you’ve read it.

James by Percival Everett

This is a re-telling of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told through the view point of Huck’s friend Jim who is carried by his love for his wife and daughter. The narration in this audiobook is fantastic because the writing is absolute gold. I wish to come back and actually read the tale. Prose and dialogue are kept simple, woven with innocence and humour; interlaced with so much heartbreak for humankind in the time of slavery. I cried, laughed, held my breath and stopped in my tracks to listen.

SOME NEWS

Things have been pretty quiet for me lately, low on supper club diners and photography shoots. It has been tough. Life is telling me, it is perhaps time to move on soon…?

It would be wonderful if you would like to eat my food at the supper club and/or learn how to cook Vietnamese food then do book a place to support me with the current overheads of having a studio space and support me while I set something new up and continue to write on this lovely platform.

Here are the dates - just get in touch to book uyen@uyenluu.com

Supper Club Dates

10, 17, 24, 31 May

7, 21, 28 June

Cooking Class Dates

11th May / 1st June/ 6th July

Thank you so much for reading me on Substack, if you would like to pledge a subscription, please kindly do so. Please forward the newsletter to your friends, press the LIKE button, send a comment or let me know what you would like to hear about and I will write about it.

You can still listen to me on the radio, its a good one! Listen here on BBC Sounds, on Robert Elm’s Listed Londoner from 3hr 14min - only available for another 2 weeks.

If you would like to buy a copy of my book, just ask and I will send signed copies. Or here on Amazon (Vietnamese is sold out ((was it because I was on Robert Elm’s show?))- I still have signed copies).

See you next week!

Here are some popular posts you might like to read: