I believe people come into your life for a reason – or a season as the saying goes. But I for one get particularly annoyed when friends / family members break up with their partners before I had the chance to lay my grubby hands on a recipe of theirs I fancied.

ME: “Oh I am so sorry she left you! And she took Mittens the Cat!? … AND your Depeche Mode collection? How awful! …. OK, so … um …. did she by any chance leave the recipe of that pasta dish we all loved?”

You see, people enter our lives, and even though their culinary skills (albeit some rather unrefined) are long gone; I am still left with the unfinished business of having to figure out their dishes which were winners – all by myself. (This comes from my unrelenting obsession with food – not relationships).

Of course, nowadays I am so much more on-the-ball. If I met you at a party and you served a dip I couldn’t stop thinking about, you will more more than likely get stalked by me on Facebook until you have surrendered the secret. Just in case our paths never cross again.

I once went to a 21^st and hounded the mother (who catered the event) so much about her delicious chicken pate (I was only 20 at the time) that she sent me home with a tupperware full of it. After a night of dancing, I walked happily to my car with my high heels in one hand and the Tupperware in the other!

So, back to the dish today > I have had to tweak it slightly to make it easy on our hips, but this recipe is my attempted recreation of a pasta I loved dearly by someone I once knew – who in turn dated someone I still know. Seasons-and-reasons aside – I am just glad I got it right. It’s marvellous. Enjoy!

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