3 days Ago
He loved to see wine lists from different restaurants and would dissect them, explaining their strengths and weaknesses. He showed me that wine lists should include vintages, which change from year to year and are priced according to quality. Wayne loved to cook and did it at a high level.
We met by chance, and by chance we both had many interests in common. We both loved to travel with our spouses to places with good food and wine. They favored France and visited many wine regions in the south.
They also loved Guadeloupe for its warm weather and French bakeries. He didn’t eat beef, though he’d happily listen to a story about cooking a Chateaubriand. He also loved foie gras, which we don’t.
But there was enough overlap that there was always plenty to talk about. And he absolutely loved my butter cookies. Whenever I gave him some he’d stop what he was doing and say, “Mind if I have one now?” Here is one of Wayne’s signature recipes.
He remembered it from growing up, and there is a similar recipe on the New York Times Cooking site. It is simple, flavorful and adaptable. “A can of tuna is a wonderful thing,” he wrote about it, including directions in narrative form.
I created a recipe when I cooked it. The genius of it jumped out right away. Start by using the oil from the tuna to sauté garlic.
Add a can of tomatoes and simmer. Add capers and tuna, breaking up the fish. Season with oregano or parsley.
Sometimes, he wrote, he added black olives when they wanted a slightly stronger taste. Cook the pasta a little less than necessary and save some water, then finish the pasta in the pan of sauce, adding more water back if needed. This recipe can be made anytime with pantry ingredients, using dried herbs if you don’t have fresh.
I used good-quality yellowfin tuna packed in olive oil that comes in a jar, sold under the Zoe or Tonnino labels. I liked using whole tomatoes for the texture. Wayne liked using wild oregano from the import store or fresh parsley.
I used both, fresh. Wayne was still cooking near the end of his illness. I stopped by to drop off cookies in an enclosed back porch to avoid contact (and thieving squirrels).
Carefully laid out on sheet pans in the cold air were halved game birds for a holiday meal. They were uncovered to allow the skin to air dry. Always, he strived for excellence.
Serves 2 Caroline Lee's friend Wayne, the originator of this recipe. The finished version of the dish. The finished version of the dish.
Cooked pasta in the sauce. Simmering tomato sauce and garlic. Ingredients for the pasta sauce, including the jar of tuna.
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