High Noon

Ragu from Common Pasta, Madison Wisconsin.

High Noon, 1952, directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Gary Cooper and the beautiful Grace Kelly. Anything I could say about this movie has been said scores of times. My only footnote is that Gary Cooper had the good sense to marry Grace Kelly, unlike that knucklehead Jimmy Stewart (fictionally, of course).

A critique of the pasta. Common Pasta's ragu is an oddity. It is sweet, more than a little sweet, and it interferes with the overall balance of flavors in the dish. I've encountered this once before. It was a sauce made by my girlfriend (circa 1984), Nina. She said she had a family recipe calling for a copious amount of honey to be added to the sauce. I stood next to her as she raised the jar. I said, "Are you sure about this." She was insistent. So in went the honey. As our guests tasted the dish, I could see confused and dismayed expressions around the table.

Back to the Common Ragu problem. I needed to kill the sweetness. I decided to add some San Marzano tomatoes. That did the trick.