Nigella in Manila
The domestic goddess samples our best dishes and shares a few ideas on how to make your own easy recipes
Nigella Lawson, domestic goddess, international TV food personality, prolific cookbook author, food writer, and all-around good eater, is crazy about calamansi and obsessed with our adobo. “I had been trying to cook it even before I came here, but I didn't know what I was aiming for!” she explained as she talked about the many variations of adobo that she tried while in the Philippines. She also feasted on sisig, chicken inasal, and tocino del cielo. Nigella, because to her legions of fans she cannot possibly be “Ms. Lawson,” is the brand ambassador in the Philippines for Contandina, a range of premium products that is the latest addition to Del Monte Philippines' portfolio. The brand, well known in the United States and Latin America, has an extended range of Mediterranean cuisine essentials specifically for the Philippine market, among them, olive oils, pasta, pasta sauces, and canned tomatoes.
Before agreeing to be Contandina's brand ambassador, Nigella needed to taste everything first, so the products were sent to her home so she could put them through their paces. “I used the products the way I cook,” she told us during an exclusive media brunch, as she described making her meatballs in tomato sauce, chocolate olive oil cake, salsa, and bruschetta. The quality of the brand's tomatoes is so good, she said, that making salsa is as simple as opening a can of diced tomatoes (she described them as firm and meaty), and adding some olive oil, garlic, and chilis. “My idea of absolute heaven after a busy day is lying on the sofa with a big bowl of chips or vegetables, dipping them into salsa,” she said. And that, in essence, is how Nigella Lawson cooks, and eats—fuss-free and with joy.
“It's about making flavors and ingredients accessible. People feel that cooking is more complicated than it needs to be, when for me, it's all about simplicity and flavor. I'm sometimes asked if my recipes have a secret ingredient, but I don't have one. The secret is in what I'm using, and I use the best products available. Good ingredients will always inspire you to develop new recipes. There's no anxiety when I use the Contandina sauces because I know that these come from a family concern in Italy. So there's an Italian nonna and all her family sitting around the table eating the same sauces that I'm eating too.”
As she talks, we get the feeling that cooking doesn't have to be difficult, or fancy, and that domestic goddesses don't always have to make everything from scratch. It's reassuring
Life and cooking are about conversations and relationships. In the end, that’s what is important.
to know that that she also cooks from cans and bottles, and that it's perfectly okay to heat up the bottled Contandina Formaggio Sauce and serve it over pasta, just like that. “You can be short on time,” Nigella said, “but never be short on flavor. In Italy I learned that they didn't go in for fancy tricks, it was very simple, and all about a respect for the ingredients and flavors.”
One of the dishes Nigella fell in love with in the Philippines is sinigang. “I do love sour, and the sinigang, I have to say, I could have had a bucket full of it! It was wonderful.” She went on to say that what she loved about calamansi was its balance—the sharp sourness that is mellowed by a bit of sweetness. It is the same balance of sweetness and acidity that she has found in Contandina's
canned tomato products. If one overwhelms the other, she tells us, you lose that flavor. At brunch we were served dishes made from her recipes—chicken alla cacciatore, squid spaghetti, penne alla vodka—that showcased the flavor of Contandina's products. True enough, the chunks of tomatoes in our penne alla vodka were firm, meaty, and could have been mistaken for fresh. The sauce was rounded, with no sharp, sour edges, or cloying sweet notes. It was, just as she described, balanced.
As she spoke about her impressions of Filipino food, she admitted that she hadn't expected it to have such a broad array of flavors, and didn't expect our cuisine to be so diverse. Flavors like pandan and calamansi have inspired her, and she has plans to go home and see what she can do with the new tastes she has discovered while here in the Philippines. “When I taste something, I ask them to send me the recipe!” With her new cookbook coming out next year, it is quite possible that a Filipino-inspired dish may just make it into the list of recipes.
Contandina's line of Mediterranean cuisine essentials will be available in supermarkets by Oct. 7.
I swirl some water into the empty can of tomatoes and pour it into what I’m cooking so I don’t waste the last bite in the can.