An hour in the kitchen with a baker who stopped rushing. The sauce will look too thin when it comes off the heat. Give it five minutes: starch and fat settle, and it thickens into something glossy and clinging.
Leftovers improve overnight. Cool the dish quickly, refrigerate, and reheat gently with a splash of water. It tastes better on the second day, which is its own small reward.
What stayed with us
Adjust the heat to your liking. The chilli here is a background hum, not a headline; add more at the table if you want it to shout.
The details are never the small part.
Start with good ingredients and a hot pan, and resist the urge to move things around. Most of the flavour in this dish comes from leaving it alone for the first three minutes.
Salt in layers: a little when the onions go in, a little with the tomatoes, and a final pinch at the end. Each addition does something different, and tasting as you go is the whole technique.
Before you go
- Take your time with it.
- Notice the small things.
- Write down what you want to remember.
If you can only buy one new tool this year, make it a thin, flexible fish spatula. It slides under delicate things, flips pancakes cleanly and costs less than a takeaway.
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