Rudolph Valentino's Secret Spaghetti Sauce

My lovely friend Gary C is coming to stay for a couple of nights next week so I have made a batch of Rudi's spaghetti sauce for us to have one night for dinner. I couldn't get the Italian sausage I usually get for this dish so bought Sicilian sausage instead. I hope that won't make Rudi turn in his grave...

There is a big weekend ahead. I've been preparing for a big gig tomorrow night, I am DJing solo - without my sisters - at a big house party in Islington. It's a blitz themed party so I'm going with two gramophones, two boxes of 1940s records and my new gorgeous red and gold guitar amp. I don't have enough shellac from the actual blitz period (strictly speaking 1940 and 1941) so I'll be treating the rug cutters to some futuristic sounds right up to 1949. I'm being paid in champagne and canapes - have they any idea how much fizz I can put away during a set?!

Then on Sunday night I am going on a DATE. Yes, another one, but this time with somebody brand new. A friend of Ava's who my desk mate thinks looks like George Clooney... Intriguing.

By the way, quick update on the moth box situation - moths in the bedroom moth motel - zero (good) - in the lounge moth motel NINETEEN! The swarm continues...

Rudolph Valentino's Secret Spaghetti Sauce

Last night I took some of Rudy's Spaghetti Sauce over to Hackney where Ava is convalescing after a double foot operation. YIKES. Her account of the ordeal they put her through has almost put me off wearing high heels, absolutely horrific!

We had two bowls of Rudy's special each whilst watching Sunset Boulevard. Ava hadn't seen it before and as I'm planning to write the Sunset Boulevard article this weekend it was good to see it again. We laughed when Gloria observed about her shiny dance floor, "Rudolph always said that tile was best for the tango" (or something approximating that).

The sauce was just as good as it was first time around so this is one for the book for sure. Absolutely no change in flavour or texture after freezing. Excellent!

Rudolph Valentino's Chicken from Parma

Early morning in the Russell-Stewart household after a late night watching the Grey Gardens double bill. Rosalind and I amused ourselves by sitting on the sofa in headscarves enjoying the antics of Big Edie and Little Edie. My favourite quote was, "I'm pulverised by this latest thing!" and will attempt to use it in some context today. I may also keep in reserve the "Marble Faun" nickname for any new man that comes my way and seems to deserve it.

It is TEEMING with rain but the view from the 9th floor still rocks. I love the fact that at night I can see the pink lights of the Paramount Club from the spare bed and wonder if the New Yorker is up there looking at Rosalind's fairy lights.

Jimmy is telling me that Helvetica and Avant Garde should never be seen on the same page. Never! We are fast approaching the madness of a Grey Gardens lifestyle here ourselves. This is what it will be like when we are all in the home together. Jimmy is complaining about the rain so I just gave him a Big Edie impression: "Will you shut up! It's a goddamn beautiful day. Shut up!"

I made Rudy's chicken last night, here in Rosalind's kitchen and it was - as usual - absolutely delicious. It's good to break the spell of only having made it as a romantic dinner for two for Sidney. It can be made to serve 3 - easy!

Rudolph Valentino's "Secret" Spaghetti Sauce

“To generalize on women is dangerous.
To specialize on them is infinitely worse.”

I have given up trying to fathom it out myself Rudolph. It's just a ZOO PARK!

I'm back from the wedding of the century. My sister of the skillet is hitched. It was such a lovely affair and a whistle-stop tour of Austin for Edmund. Even though we were only there for a week we managed to squeeze in some of the best, best spots of the town. Highlights for me were: getting my first glimpse of the diamond as big as a bath math on Ruth's finger, two-stepping with a Hot Rod Spare Parts Dealer at the Broken Spoke and the moment Lawrence stamped on the glass at the wedding - MUSELTOF! I'm so happy for them both and wish them every happiness in their new life.

Another great thing was meeting some of the test cooks who have been cooking up a storm in the US. Dale (our "Star Spangled Rhythm" party thrower) was there. As was Gene (great to meet her, Edmund's favourite!), Irene - the wonderful and generous mother of the bride, the two beautiful cousins and many, many, many assorted Frick, Bush and Page relatives. How utterly wonderful to be a part of such a humdinging event.

So now I return to my little garret in Crouch End. New Years Resolutions are kicking in and test cooking has resumed. Tonight's cookathon has put me in a quandary. Rudolph's Chicken From Parma is such a favourite BUT, his "Secret" Spaghetti Sauce is (to copy one of the Bush cousins) AWESOME so a decision will have to be made. As Valentino was famously a superb cook - always rustling up pasta for his fellow film stars - it may have to be this one...

There is a Shahrukh Khan movie on C4 and I am watching it in Ruth's honour (Shahrukh is her own Ricky Whittle). At her hen night we had a Bollywood dance lesson so I am waiting for a big number so I can do the "snake" and the "lightbulb" moves here all alone to try and work off some of this pasta... Must remember to pull the blinds though so the neighbours don't have to witness it...

Rudolph Valentino's Chicken from Parma

"To generalize on women is dangerous.
To specialize on them is infinitely worse."

Back from the seaside after a week of intense recipe-wrangling. My mind is reeling with all kinds of nonsense - is a frying pan the same as a skillet? What English cheese would be roughly equivalent to Asederos - the Mexican cheese used in Lupe Velez's Enchiladas? And of course the continuing conundrum of how much fat salt pork would Gary Cooper have been able to buy for 15 cents in 1936?

Returned to my new home in Battersea with renewed vigour for recipe testing. Planning to test every one of the metric-ified recipes in the next few months. I will be very fat indeed by Christmas. It's definitely worth doing though, the very first test revealed that although there was flour in the recipe ingredients for Rudolph's dish, I hadn't specified when to add it. Rectified!

Sidney's verdict? "Very succulent. The sauce was to die for..." Better to die of a delicious chicken sauce than a perforated ulcer and blood poisoning at 31 like Rudolph I would say.

Sidney's local Somerfield supermarket is closing down in a couple of weeks, so the sherry for the sauce was HALF PRICE! So were many other things, so we had a bit of a spend up. The kitchen is full of booze, cleaning products and extra virgin olive oil...

Rudolph Valentino's Chicken from Parma

“Women are not in love with me but with the picture of me

on the screen. I am merely the canvas on which

women paint their dreams.”

It helped that he was the King of the tango... Grrrr.

Rudi's Chicken was a big hit. Secret ingredient? A big mug of sherry. I made it for Sidney on Sunday for our quiet night in. I am so very, very, very happy that he turns out to be a man not averse to fiddling around with a jigsaw.

Next morning in bed he kept pursing his lips with a faraway look in his eyes and I said, "what are you thinking about?" to which his response was, "last night's chicken". Ha ha – it’s a winner!