Generosity
Tomatoes from our neighbour, José António. Photo by Filipe Gill
““But I give best when I give from that deeper place; when I give simply, freely and generously, and sometimes for no particular reason. I give best when I give from my heart.””
A hot day in August. After an early morning stroll with Flora, the dog, I pass by our neighbours’ house. José António comes to meet me with a bag. “Take these tomatoes. I’ve picked them from the “horta” and thought of you”. “I can’t accept it, it is too much…”. If you don’t take them it goes to the chickens” He says with a grin. It is his way of telling me, it’s ok don’t feel bad about taking it.
So I did.
It was a big bag containing 7 or 8 kg of freshly picked tomatoes of, at least two types: “Xuxa” and “Coração de boi”.
A got a big pan and softened in olive oil all the garlic I could find in the house. Then started to cut the tomatoes into the pan. This took more than an hour. Meanwhile, the heat was doing the magic: turning these beauties into bright red/orange sauce. Later added sea salt, massa de pimentão, a little brown sugar, and more olive oil.
A few hours later, the sauce was in a jar. Photo by Filipe Gill
Generosity is a noble virtue. And in Portugal, you get gestures like this quite often, especially in the countryside. Ironically, humble people tend to be more generous. Not only sharing their food or wine, but also their time.
In the evening I prepared my favorite dish for my Mother: pasta with tomato sauce.
Sometimes I add fresh basil or a tin of anchovies for extra umami.
This time it was simply added to hot macaroni al dente and finished with freshly ground back pepper and freshly grated Grana Padano.
Thank you José António and Clara for your generosity.
The simple things in life: a bowl of pasta. Photo by Filipe Gill
Suggested music: Bairro do Oriente, Rui Veloso
