40 Years Later, This Is Still the Best Recipe for Surviving Heartbreak - WSJ

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Make the sauce: Set a saucepan over low heat. Add enough olive oil to cover bottom of pan generously. Add garlic and onions, and sauté until soft and translucent but not at all brown, 4-5 minutes. Stir in tomato purée, basil and water. Season with salt, pepper and chile flakes to taste. Let sauce simmer 20 minutes, then add ground beef. Use a wooden spatula or spoon to break up ground beef in sauce, cover and let sauce simmer, stirring occasionally, 25-30 minutes more. If the sauce gets too thick, simply add a bit more water to loosen it up. When sauce is finished cooking, fish out basil sprigs and discard.While the sauce is simmering, cook the pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Cook pasta according to package directions until just shy of al dente. Drain pasta.Return drained pasta to pot. Add sauce, a ladleful at a time, giving a good stir between ladles to coat pasta.Add half the mozzarella and half the Parmesan, and gently fold into pasta and sauce. Assemble the baked pasta: Pour sauced pasta into a deep 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.Bake in oven until top layer is brown and bubbly, 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil.

Step 2

Make the rosemary simple syrup: In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine rosemary, sugar and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves, 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep 30 minutes.Strain syrup into a heatproof glass jar or another heatproof container with a lid, discarding rosemary. Rosemary simple syrup will keep in refrigerator up to 1 month.Make the cocktail: In a wineglass or other stemmed glass, combine gin and 1 tablespoon chilled rosemary simple syrup. Add enough ice to fill ⅓ of glass. Top with prosecco and a splash of sparkling water. Garnish with rosemary sprig.

Step 3

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs until pale. Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, and stir to combine. Stir in olive oil, milk, and lemon juice and zest.Coat the bottom of a 9-to-10-inch round cake pan with olive oil and a light dusting of flour. Pour batter in slowly and let settle 2 minutes.Bake until a toothpick inserted at center of cake comes out clean, 50-60 minutes.Let cake cool 15 minutes. Run a knife around sides of cake, invert cake onto a plate and then flip onto another plate. Let cake cool completely, uncovered, 20-30 minutes. Decorate and serve.