RECIPES & REVIEWS: 4/23/25
FROM THE POPE TO POTIONS: PORTO PASTA for PAPA, A TOUR of MY AIRBNB ROOM, and SOME THOUGHTS on "THE STUDIO," "THE RESIDENCE," and "A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES"
I am going to write more about Pope Francis in this week’s upcoming LETTER FROM PORTO and although I named this pasta above for him, I wanted to honor him before I move on in this column with a recipe for his favorite Italian dish which is known for its simplicity because he himself personified the first spiritual tenet of recovery as well as his own faith: Keep It Simple. Such a concept was incongruous (but deeply felt by him) within the elaborate context of Catholic ritual and the many rooms within the Vatican and cathedrals throughout the world laden with riches and too gussied up for my taste (and my own spiritual beliefs) with the gilt of guilt. God blessed his simple soul. God bless him still. Rest in peace, Papa. He rose to the position of pope but his life was a lesson in humility.
His favorite Italian dish was reported to have been Bagna Cuada, which translates as "hot bath.” It is a dipping sauce for vegetables and is often part of the Christmas Eve meal in Italian homes. The sauce is served warm in a communal dish and usually over a flame to keep it warm and melted. The ritual, yet another: a vegetable is dipped into the sauce and then eaten with a slice of bread held underneath it to catch the drippings. Once the bread is soaked with the dipping sauce, it too is eaten. Then another ritual is practiced: repeat the ritual.
I found the recipe for this Piedmont region dish from lacucinaitaliana.com:
“Ingredients
12 heads of garlic
3 cups extra-virgin olive oil and, if possible, a small glass of walnut oil
6 ounces of red anchovies
The Piemontese usually prepare bagna càuda in a terracotta dian. It's usually served in an earthenware pot with embers that keeps it hot, but a saucepan and fondue pot will do.
Peel the garlic cloves then cut each clove in half lengthways and remove the green bud. Place the garlic in the pan, add ½ cup oil and start cooking over low heat. Stir with a wooden spoon, making sure the cloves don't change color. Desalt the anchovies, wash them with red wine or water, then add them to the pan and stir gently with a wooden spoon until they dissolve completely. Cover with the remaining oil and let simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, making sure the sauce doesn’t fry. At the end of cooking, add a pat of butter if necessary to smoothen the consistency.
Rest the pot on an alcohol burner or pour the bagna càuda into a fondue pot, and serve alongside crudités.
Fun fact: The Piemontesi usually collect the leftovers at the bottom of the pot, known as the spesso della bagna, to make scrambled eggs.”
I’d like to think that Pope Francis enjoyed these eggs in the morning, too.
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Francis lived in a simple room in the Vatican and not in the ornate trappings of the pope’s apartment and what I assume is its suite of rooms. I also loved that about him - even his aesthetics matched the foundational simplicity of the man’s spiritually humble being.
I have thought a lot about simplicity and humility and what we really need to live our lives since his death the other day. Almost three years ago, I set out on this pilgrimage and although I settle for weeks in different countries and different cities - there is a kind of geographical grandness to that - the through-line of it all is the simplicity of so many of the small room where I land to live such a life. I am far from spiritually evolved, however, so there are times I do miss my own aesthetics and having possessions and an art collection and the midcentury furniture I cherished and the carefully chosen wardrobe it took several closets to hold. I no longer have any of that having let it all go to live this grander life in its simpler way, my own version of spiritual incongruity if not enlightenment. So I often go on YouTube and find those Architectural Digest visits with celebrities with beautiful homes. At first I found it frustrating and it sort of made me sad. But now I find comfort in it. My latest favorite is the one I discovered with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard at their Brooklyn brownstone.
My time in Porto is being spent in a brownstone itself that is atypical of my usual accommodations. Indeed, I canceled the tiny simple garret in Paris where I stayed last spring - with its toilet down the hallway - when I happened upon the high-ceilinged two rooms here in Porto with a private bath for less than the price of the garret when I was scrolling around on Airbnb and checking out Porto for a future visit. I also love a great midcentury desk - something I haven’t had in my life since I set out on this pilgrimage - and fell for the Dociano da Costa original one with its original chair in a photo of the anteroom/study and actually traveled to that desk this month instead of Porto, although I have certainly fallen for this northern city in Portugal and its artistic vibe and riverfront and beaches. Last week was rainy and cold here. But I had the beauty of my rooms as a refuge which is something I have missed on this pilgrimage since I usually set out no matter the weather to live my life outside my small rooms within the life I carve out in cafes and museums and theatres in the cities where I find myself for months at a time. I told my lovely host, Sandra, the other day that sometimes I find it hard to leave my rooms because of the light and beauty in which I luxuriate. I had forgotten that feeling: to luxuriate in a design aesthetic that feels like home (even though now it really isn’t).
This summer I have been lucky to be offered a friend’s lovely place as well in Tangier which will be different than staying in the tiny little single room at the youth hostel where I stayed last time - except for one week when she needs the place to herself in July when I’ll return there. In September I have booked a new little room in Paris and in October I will be returning to my beloved basement bedroom in London that I rent from a woman who is now my friend. But right now I have the beauty and comfort of this Porto place. So here’s my own little tour of it before I get to the other videos this week and the recipe for the pasta above.
[TO READ THE RECIPE FOR PORTO PASTA AND MY THOUGHTS ON THE THREE STREAMING SHOWS IN THE SUBTITLE AND VIEW THREE MORE VIDEOS, PLEASE CONSIDER JOINING OUR PAID SUBSCRIBER COMMUNITY FOR ONLY $5 A MONTH OR $50 A YEAR. THANKS.]