What I love about food is how a particular dish can evoke lovely memories. I can never see tripe on the menu without thinking of Portugal. Chorizo brings back Spain and every time I take a bite of bitter-ballen or kroketten I am back on the streets of Amsterdam.

Closer to home a pot of bean soup simmering on the back plate on a cold winter's day, transports me right back to my childhood days in Gran's kitchen in Bredasdorp.

And chicken curry will forever remind me of The Crescent restaurant in the old District Six.

Memories of me old mum live on in oxtail stew, "soet patats", yellow rice (or "begrafnis rys" as we knew it) and traditional slow-roasted leg of lamb cooked to fall-off-the-bone tender.

All of which brings me to today's Pasta con fungi, one of the signature dishes of a now popular chain of eateries called Carluccio's Caffes.

I first had this simple pasta dish in his intimate deli-restaurant at Covent Garden in London years ago and immediately fell in love with it. To me it portrays the heart and soul of simple, great-tasting Italian food without any unnecessary frills.

To serve four portions you need:

Ingredients:

  • 400g sliced button, oyster and shiitake mushrooms

  • 30g dried porcini mushrooms

  • 1 finely chopped onion

  • 6 tablespoons olive oil

  • 40g butter

  • 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

  • ? cup dry white wine

  • 400g egg pasta

  • 90g finely grated Parmesan cheese

  • 2 tablespoons chopped flatleaf parsley

    • Method:

    Soak the porcini mushrooms in 500ml warm water for about 20 minutes. Drain, set aside the mushrooms and chop finely. Retain the water in which the mushrooms were soaked.

    Heat the oil and butter together in a frying pan and over medium heat fry onion until just soft. Add garlic, porcini and wine and simmer for four to five minutes.

    Add the sliced mushrooms and the reserved porcini water and cook for about eight minutes until the sauce thickens.

    Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

    Boil the egg pasta according to instructions on the packet (usually about 8-10 minutes) and drain.

    Scoop the pasta into a large warm serving dish, add some of the sauce and toss well to coat.

    Spoon the rest of the sauce over the top of the pasta and sprinkle with the Parmesan and parsley.

    Serve immediately on to warm plates or bowls.

    Don't forget the crusty bread and the wine.

    Slide the latest Paul Potts album, Passione, into the CD player, select La Prima Volta, crank up the volume and you could be somewhere in Tuscany?

    Wine recommendation:

    Mike of Wine Concepts suggests the Havana Hills Sangiovese 2006 (R73.50) to go with this week's dish.

    It has succulent flavours of ripe plum and black cherry, enhanced by firm acidity and soft tannins with a subtle hint of dried herbs on the finish.

    To order this, contact Wine Concepts.