- [Sara] "Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by... - [Announcer] Aboard Oceania Cruises, we share a journey of culinary discovery, from shore excursions dedicated to local food traditions to our hands-on cooking school at sea.

Our master chefs take inspiration from vibrant markets and flavors as they create the international dishes served to guests each evening.

That's the Oceania Cruises epicurean experience.

- [Sara] And by U.S.A.

Rice.

(upbeat music) If you like your pasta fast and easy, you've come to the right place.

We've got two pantry recipes that are done in a snap.

- Because, you know, the Italian people drive home to have a lunch.

You have to prepare a very fast pasta.

- Right.

First up, we go to Parma, Italy, ground zero for good stuff like... - Tagliatelle with three of the most important product in Parma.

The Parmesan cheese, the Parma ham, and the tomato.

- Mm, mm, mm.

So good.

You know what else is good?

Grannies.

So many grannies.

The Pasta Grannies of Italy and their slow-cooking ways.

- Mm.

Mm-mm.

- [Granny] Bon appetito.

(laughs) - My new friend, Jean DesBarres.

Back in the US, we've got grannies too.

This one shares her secret for feeding drop-in guests.

First, frozen homemade bread.

And then... The most perfect pantry meal.

I think it's a pasta with tuna sauce.

- [Jean] It's pasta with tuna.

I added beans, just for a little bit.

- [Sara] Just a little more.

This is a very quick dish.

We made it in the time that basically that the pasta water boiled.

Speedy pasta?

US versus Italy?

Which is better?

You don't have to decide.

Try them both.

(bright music) You know, I love it when you all share your favorite home-cooked meals for the weeknights.

It's just so exciting.

And today, especially exciting, because it's a stellar recipe with a stellar guest.

My new friend, Jean DesBarres.

Now, did I say that right?

- Yes, you did.

You said it perfectly.

It's a French Canadian name.

The way to remember it is just to pretend you're going to "de bar" for "de drink."

- I love the way you think.

Yes, yes.

It's not fancy French then.

- No, not at all.

- Tell me about yourself.

- Well, I'm retired.

I retired to Amelia Island, Florida.

- Beautiful place.

- Beautiful.

I'm currently 86 years old.

- No!

- I play a lot of golf.

- That's why.

- Uh-huh.

I make my own homemade bread.

We're going to start with that.

And then we're going to make a tuna and bean dish.

- Okay, sounds yummy.

So we start with the flour.

- [Jean] Four and a half cups unbleached, all-purpose flour.

- Okay, I'm gonna dump it in here.

This is our bowl where we're gonna make the dough.

And then what goes in next?

- A tablespoon of kosher salt.

- What kind of yeast is that?

- Instant yeast.

I buy it in bulk and keep it in a container in the freezer.

- If you keep it in the freezer, it lasts a lot longer.

- And then, when you buy it in bulk, this handy little spoon comes with it, and it's the exact measurement which is two and a quarter teaspoon.

And then you sprinkle that in.

- Because that's the same as a package, if you just bought a package.

- Because I buy the yeast in bulk, I always have it.

And I had a lot on hand during the pandemic, and I became the neighborhood yeast dealer.

- Oh my God, of course.

Okay, so you just need to basically stir it up.

- That's enough.

- Okay.

What's next?

- Next, it's two cups of warm water.

I like it between 109 and 112 degrees.

Okay.

Then this will take a little bit of time to become the dough.

This bread recipe is incredibly forgiving.

- The reason it can be so forgiving is 'cause you know what it looks, smells, and feels like.

- And I put it right on the counter.

- Okay, and you just tumble it out.

- And then start kneading it.

And this is where I don't have to time it.

I just do it until it looks and feels right.

- Do you want me to oil the bowl while you're doing that?

- Oh, that would be great if you could.

- With grape seed oil.

- Well, I learned that from "Sara's Weeknight Meals".

- Oh.

- Because it's flavorless.

- You know, this would be a great thing to do with kids.

- It is.

- 'Cause of all the tactile activity.

- Then I lift it up and put it in the oiled bowl.

- And it's in an oiled bowl so that it doesn't stick.

And a little towel.

- And a towel, I use a dish towel just like that.

- Okay.

- And let it rise for two, two and a half hours.

And then I go play golf and come home.

And the bread is perfect.

- Well, I think we have some that we had to make ahead of time.

I did not go play golf while this was rising.

I'll be honest, I don't know how to play golf.

Maybe sometime you'll have to teach me, but that is a thing of beauty.

Ta-da!

- Yay.

- It's exciting.

It smells okay.

Now we're gonna shape it.

It needs a second rise.

- Yes, and I like to put it in molds, and I did bring one.

- This is fun.

- This is a bread form.

That has to be oiled a little bit.

- Oh, let me do that, let me be useful.

Okay.

- And meanwhile I'll shape the dough.

- I find making bread very therapeutic.

- Oh, I do too.

- You know, it's very calming.

And then, when it comes out of the oven, you're doubly happy, that smell.

- It smells so good.

- That is wonderful too.

- There.

- Oh, that's beautiful.

- A real pro is able to cut this into three-- - Exactly equal pieces.

- Not I. So I'm just gonna eyeball it.

- We're just gonna live dangerously.

Okay.

- And see how close I can come to getting three equal.

- Don't worry about it.

As long as they're the same thickness, it really doesn't matter.

- It doesn't affect the cooking time.

- Just roll it.

- Yep.

It'll be fine.

- At Gourmet Magazine, when something wasn't picture perfect, we would just say, oh, it's rustic.

Am I gonna tuck them in again?

- I do, using the same towel.

- It rises two and a half hours.

Well, we have some that we've let rise.

I think what we did here, in case you didn't go to the kitchenware store to get those really fun molds, here's what you do.

Simply lay all three loaves on parchment, on a sheet pan.

- Pop it in the oven at 450 for 30 minutes.

(gentle guitar music) - Well, I'm excited, 'cause I believe you're about to make the most perfect pantry meal.

I think it's a pasta with tuna sauce.

- It's pasta with tuna.

I added beans just for a little bit more.

- Just a little more.

Yeah, and so we start with the tuna.

- I'm going to drain it.

I'll put some of the oil in the pan.

- So tell me about this tuna.

It doesn't look like my usual.

- I like this dish with dark tuna in oil, because it has so much flavor.

I usually start with a cold pan.

- Okay.

- Put a little bit of the tuna oil in, just for flavor.

- Yes, of course.

- And then a lot of olive oil.

- How much?

Just a lot.

- Just a lot.

- How many cloves?

- I use one clove of garlic per person.

- So we're making a dish for four people, then.

- Four people, right.

- So, while this is getting there, do you wanna get the pasta on?

- Yes.

I use about 12 ounces.

- For four people.

Going on the parsley.

Yeah, wow, that smells good.

- This is the time to do tuna.

- Okay.

So you let the garlic get sort of fragrant.

- Yes.

'Cause it's gonna keep cooking in there.

- And you just break it up.

My husband would love this.

- Everybody seems to love it.

I had my two grandsons and one of their friends last week, and I doubled this recipe, and there was not one shred of anything left.

- How old is your grandson?

- Oh, they're in their mid twenties.

- Okay, so those were white beans that we drained.

That's a 15 and a half ounce can.

- So I'll put the capers in now so they can get warmed up.

- It's a quarter cup of capers.

Drained.

Do you want me to cut up some lemons?

- Yes, thank you.

- Okay.

Some wedges and some for squeezing, right?

- Yes.

- Okay.

- Then we take the-- - Right out of the pan, huh?

- Right out of the pan.

- Drop it.

- And it's good to have a little pasta water.

- Yes.

Meanwhile, we're getting a little steam bath here, huh?

- Yeah.

- I think what you're doing there is really getting the sauce into the pasta and coating it.

It looks so wonderful.

Do we need black pepper?

- Oh, that would be great, yeah.

- Because we got a lot of salty ingredients in there.

- Yes, we do.

One of the last things I do is I just take a little lemon, squeeze it in there, drop that in.

- Oh, I like that you put it right in there.

- Yeah.

- That's lovely.

- And then.

- So you want me to just sprinkle a little parsley and then, that good?

- A little more.

- I mean, really.

We may not be teenage, well, or 20-year-old boys, but come on, we're hungry.

Yay.

- Okay.

- I'm thinking you're Italian, even though you're not, because I'm always half sauce, half pasta, which is such a no-no.

So, you're doing it the right way.

All righty.

Well, this means we can just about sit down and eat.

However.

- Oops, our bread.

- Bread.

- What do you think?

Should we take a look?

Think it's ready.

(light, pleasant music) Oh boy, the fun moment.

Not that we haven't had fun, but this is very exciting.

- Oh, it looks so good.

- Really, this is a very quick dish.

We made it in the time that basically that the pasta water boiled.

- Is it okay to twirl?

- Yes.

I'm terrible eating pasta.

Don't look.

I'm gonna try some of your bread.

We have it with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

- Yeah, that's really good.

- When you do this, you make three loaves at a time.

- I do.

- Do you eat them all at a meal?

- No.

Sometimes I put all three in the freezer.

But if I've got guests coming, I like to have the bread right out of the oven.

Put the other two in the freezer.

- Brilliant.

I just have to say thank you so much for cooking for me and sharing this wonderful recipe that I know everybody's gonna make.

- It has been so much fun for me.

- Thank you.

- Same here.

- Thank you.

- Good.

(bright, regional music) - [Sara] Vicky Bennison is a filmmaker, foodie and author whose passport is incredibly impressive.

- Another one?

- Another one.

- [Person] Yeah.

- [Sara] Born in Africa, she landed in London.

Then she found her way to Italy, where her culinary curiosity led her to create a social media sensation called Pasta Grannies.

Her mission, to preserve the tradition of making homemade pasta from scratch by those who know how to do it best.

(speaking native language) - We're shopping with Senora Mirella for the ingredients.

She's gonna make tortelli with an asparagus sauce.

I've always loved food.

I've previously written several cookery books, food guides, books on Pasta Grannies.

This was my first effort at picking up a camera and doing videos.

My inspiration was discovering that it was only all the women that made pasta by hand.

And I thought, someone has to make a record of this.

And that turned out to be me.

I started a YouTube channel, then it went viral.

- [Sara] Over two and a half million followers later, she was clearly onto something.

One of Vicky's secrets to success is her talented team.

- This is Olivia, my granny finder, and she's my right hand woman.

And her job is to persuade women like Mirella to say yes and to be filmed.

(Pasta Granny speaking Italian) - [Vicky] The women we film are quite often over 85.

And with that generation of women, they had to leave school early to work on the farm to help, because in those days there wasn't machinery.

They were told they had to learn pasta to find a good husband.

(speaking Italian) - Thank goodness Mirella is only 78.

So we have a few years of filming her yet.

- [Sara] Aside from their amazing pasta making skills, what life lessons do these ladies share?

- [Vicky] To be grateful for what you have, I think is the main lesson that we have learned from the grandmothers.

And also to eat frugally and joyously.

- Bon appetito.

(speaking Italian) (both laugh) (speaking Italian) (chill jazz music) - [Sara] They call it The Food Valley, this area of Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

Home to a small and charming Italian town that has an outsize culinary reputation.

Parma is famous for Parmesan cheese and Prosciutto di Parma, but also for its fields of world-class tomatoes.

Italian Chef Carlo Casoni and I will cook with all three today, an Italian triple threat.

You know, I just cannot imagine Italy without tomatoes.

But that hasn't always been true.

- No.

We start to import the tomato from the South American in the 15th century.

Just like a beautiful plants, but nobody eat them.

And after 200 years ago, the Italian, they perfect them, yep.

- Oh well, geez.

And now look at these huge tomato fields.

It looks like you're gonna send 'em all back to us in America.

- [Carlo] Yeah.

And now I have a pleasure to introduce you, my friend Luca Cotti, this is the owner of the field.

- [Sara] Luca Cotti is, appropriate for an Italian, a kind of a renaissance farmer.

He grows tomatoes, tons of them.

But he also has a kids farm camp, which might explain his incredible menagerie.

(rooster crows) None are more important than his cows.

From their milk, he produces Parma's most famous export, Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Each wheel sells for 500 euros.

(hammer pounds) And in kind of a circle-of-life moment, who knew cows are essential to tomato growing?

(speaking Italian) - Most important is every farmer, they plant the tomato.

They have to have the cow.

- Oh.

- Because during the rotation, the three, four years, the rotation, they produced the alpha alpha.

They feed the cow, and the manure from the cow they put on the field for fertilization.

That is very important.

- I get that.

- Extremely important.

- Okay, all right.

Which means I'm standing in-- (cow moos) (mule braying) Next question.

So how are these tomatoes different than the ones I get in the supermarket in the winter time?

- [Carlo] These ones, they are picked very fresh.

That's the difference, in the summer season.

- [Sara] And then, how quickly are they canned or bottled?

- Maximum six hour.

- What?

Yikes!

- Yep.

- And those other guys travel for days and days and days and days.

So, he grows so many different kinds of tomatoes here.

Why?

(Cotti speaks Italian) - Every variety have a different characteristic.

- So different flavor profiles and also different uses in different recipes.

- Yeah.

- Got it.

- [Sara] Oh yeah, recipes.

Carlo has a great one with three products of Parma.

That's next.

(pleasant guitar music) Here I am in the countryside at the Cotti farm just outside of Parma with this delightful chef, Carlo Casoni, who has been a chef for years.

But you took a detour for five years to do something else.

You were the chef to the Formula 1 guys.

- Yeah.

Many years ago I worked with the Ferrari Formula 1 teams around the world.

- Wow, and how'd they do?

- We won five times the world championship.

- What did you serve them?

(Carlo laughs) - A lot of traditional Italian food.

- So tell me, what are we making today?

- Today we make traditional recipe in Parma, tagliatelle, with three of the most important product in Parma.

The Parmesan cheese, the Parma ham, and the tomato.

- Oh, of course, all right.

- Now I have five ounces of Parma ham prosciutto and I'm cutting the stripes.

- So let me just say what he's doing that's amazing is he's crisping up.

- Yep.

- Getting a crisp.

The prosciutto di Parma.

And you're gonna talk about what does prosciutto mean?

- Prosciutto means ham from Parma, is made with a hind leg of the pork.

- The pig.

- Got it.

- And cheese on it and dry for minimum one year.

- And longer?

- 25, 24 months is amazing.

- Oh, I can imagine.

- Amazing tasting, yeah.

- And so, we're cooking it in a dry non-stick pan.

That's beautiful.

- Ready to go.

- Oh, oh geez.

- Yeah.

- Okay, so what's next?

- Next is to prepare the bechamel sauce with Parmesan.

- Okay.

Oh, I better speed up, okay.

- Rich of flour, we put a little bit of butter.

- So, you're using equal amounts of flour and butter, about a third of a cup each.

And we're using this kind of flour.

- Double zero flour.

Very powdery.

- Very powdery.

- Yeah.

- Ground fine.

I imagine, because it's finer, it doesn't lump up.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Is that salted or unsalted butter?

- Unsalted.

- Okay.

And you're just cooking it to get some of the rawness out of it?

- Yeah.

- The raw flavor.

- Yep.

I have three quarter cup of milk already heated.

- [Sara] Heated it, why?

- It's simple and fast to prepare the bechamel sauce.

- Oh, I see, so it's just much quicker.

- Yep.

Next is to put the Parmesan.

- This is roughly a cup.

Here we go.

- We mix a little bit.

And next is the tomato, the passata.

- Now, I have to ask you about this.

What is passata?

- Is a simple tomato sauce made with round tomato seeds and skin.

And we leave just a little bit of part of the water, and we put in the bottle and pasteurize, that's it.

- Oh, so these are fresh tomatoes.

It's so thick.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Now, interesting.

Who came up with this idea?

- The legend says a madam invented the passata to help the housewife to prepare a very fast sauce.

Because, you know, the Italian people drive home to have a lunch, you have to prepare very fast pasta.

- Right.

- And in the same time you cook the pasta, 10, 11 minutes.

With the passata, you prepare a very nice sauce.

- We don't come home for lunch.

We don't have an hour.

We don't have these kind of yummy meals.

You know, peanut butter and jelly, you know, desk side.

But this is a terrific weeknight meal.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Easy, easy, yeah, yeah.

I just put a little bit of salt.

- Okay.

And that was about 250 grams of passata.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That is for maybe two, three portion of tagliatelle.

It's time to put a small part of the half of the Parma ham in the sauce.

- Right in, yeah.

- Yeah.

We take the rest to put on the tagliatelle.

- On the top.

- Yeah.

- Oh, yum.

- I mix a little bit.

- That looks so good.

- And now it's time to cook the pasta.

- Okay, well, while you're doing that, I will get started on the salad.

I'm making a flat leaf parsley and asparagus salad with just olive oil and fresh lemon juice.

Can you slice these asparagus very thin on the angle?

I'll show you how.

- Yeah, it's sliced like a salami.

Italian way.

- Of course, of course.

Okay.

I'm gonna just do about a tablespoon of lemon juice.

We're only using the best ingredients today.

I love this.

Italy's known for its Sorrento lemons, and they're so beautiful and so juicy.

And then I'm gonna add some salt.

I wanna whisk it in the acid 'cause it dissolves better.

And here I've got three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Okay, I have about two cups of flat leaf parsley leaves.

People don't know that a flat leaf parsley is really delicious in a salad.

And then, Carlo, you can add the asparagus.

And I have a half a cup of walnuts that were toasted at 350 degrees for about seven to 10 minutes and then chopped coarsely.

The Parmigiano-Reggiano.

And as you said, you wanna use the real stuff.

So how you know at home is on the label, it's literally stamped.

And when you see the stamp, it means it's DOP.

Do you wanna explain that to us?

- DOP is a certified cheese, because need the milk from the cow in a specific region.

- The cow.

- The cow, yes.

- The cow in a specific region.

The preparation is very important to follow the agreement to prepare the Parmesan.

I just mix the salad a little bit.

- That's nice, and some pepper.

- The smell is very good.

- Oh yeah.

- Looks like very fresh.

- Okay.

And then we'll just put this on top and serve it later.

I'll just leave it like that.

Salad's done.

How about the pasta, you think the pasta's done?

- Yeah, it's time.

I put first a little bit of water.

- That's a good point because this got a little thick.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Pasta cooking liquid is very valuable, right?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Here's a very old trick.

- Yes.

- I just mix to be little bit more creamy.

- Lovely.

- Time to do the pasta.

- Now, that's a brilliant way to take the pasta out.

'Cause you don't need a whole colander and a sink.

For people with small kitchens, this is a good tool.

- Yeah.

- You can buy them in kitchen supply stores, but also in Chinese stores also sell them.

They're like spiders.

They're for deep frying also.

They're wonderful tools.

So that's it?

- [Carlo] Yeah.

We are ready to prepare.

- I'm so excited to taste this.

- We do a small-- - Ah.

That is very Italian.

- A new style of to serve the tagliatelle.

- Oh, that's so beautiful.

Is now second one?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

And we put a little garnish on top?

- Yeah.

- The more the merrier.

Okay, that is so beautiful.

- Yeah.

Parmesan is, I think the Italian people put Parmesan everywhere.

- Okay, I'm just gonna give it a little bow.

Wow, that is gorgeous.

All right, I think we need to go eat.

- Yeah, it's time to go.

- Yeah.

(peaceful guitar music) - Whoo, is that beautiful?

- Yeah.

- So, we gotta dig in here.

- Yeah.

- I can't wait.

- We have to try it.

- Yeah, see, look at you.

You're so good at that.

Mm, mm, mm!

Oh, so good.

- Very nice.

- So good.

Mm, wow.

- This is the Italian way to eat tagliatelle spaghetti.

Look at this.

- Okay, I'm watching.

- Okay.

- With a spoon.

- And you twirl, twirl, twirl.

- You put a little bit on top and-- - There you go, and then you eat it on the spoon.

- Yeah.

- Oh, okay, lemme try.

- [Carlo] Just a little bit.

Just roll on the spoon.

- Okay.

Then how do you get it off the fork?

It's not behaving.

Okay, there we go.

- Yeah.

- I think you did much better than me, but don't tell.

Mm, mm, mm.

So good.

So I have a question.

- Yeah.

- What do you make yourself for lunch?

- Normally pasta.

- Do you ever get tired of pasta?

- No.

Yeah, yeah, Italians love pasta.

- Yeah, I noticed that about you.

- Particularly the tagliatelle and the fresh pasta.

- Yeah.

So, I just wanna say, I just had such a lovely day with you here in the countryside, outside of Parma, eating the three best ingredients in pasta, pasta, pasta.

- Thank you very much, it was my pleasure.

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

A joint venture between USA and Italy.

- That's it, that's it.

Now we need to bring you to our country so you can help all the race car drivers, okay.

- Okay.

- Italian food.

- No problem.

- Yes.

- Salute.

- Mm.

(gentle guitar music) - [Sara] For recipes, videos and more, go to our website, saramoulton.com.

"Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by-- - [Announcer] A journey aboard Oceania Cruises is designed to cultivate curiosity.

Guests can explore local treasures and epicurean traditions.

Staff and crew are dedicated to guest interests, relaxation and entertainment.

Evenings offer craft spirits, international wines and dishes prepared by our master chefs.

That's the Oceania Cruises small ship experience.

- [Sara] And by U.S.A.

Rice.