Fettucini Amatriciana

Though I've been cooking regularly for five months now, there's one relatively simple concoction that continues to bedevil me -- pasta sauce.

For as much as I've become adept at following (and where necessary modifying) recipes, I can't seem to prevent my sauces from thickening too much. It's happened to me with bombolina, bolognese and, now, amatriciana.

Once again, I turned to Glamour Magazine's 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know, my sentimental cookbook favorite these days. The instructions were simple enough -- heat up a few tablespoons of olive oil, add in a garlic clove, 4 ounces of crumbled bacon and 28 ounces of canned chopped tomatoes.

Woops. Did I say 28? Actually, that's what Glamour said but I somehow ended up with only a 14-ounce can on hand when the time came to cook.

Needless to say, doing without half the amount of liquid recommended here probably contributed to the paste-like consistency. But that doesn't explain why other perfectly proportioned sauces have gone all goopy on me.

My good friend Caroline maintains that my amatriciana attempt was a tasty one (I think it helped that I threw in some diced chicken breast) . I give it a B minus.

Seared Salmon Steak

Like everything else in life, learning how to cook is made much sweeter with the support of fabulous girlfriends. My friend Lisa recently reminded me of this when she surprised me with 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know, a cookbook from the editors of GLAMOUR that’s been on my shopping list since it came out a few months ago.

Craving something healthy after a weekend of gastronomic indulgence in Boston, I turned to the seafood section and a recipe for Simply Sophisticated Seared Tuna Steak. When a trip to the supermarket revealed a $16 differential between tuna and salmon, the recessionista in me opted to go with the latter.

One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it taught me something I didn’t know – namely that seafood can only be marinaded (in this case, an hour) for a limited amount of time before it starts to cook. My other favorite part – the exquisitely simple but delicious marinade itself: ginger, soy and brown sugar mixed together. Combine that with olive oil in the pan and the result is yum-ola!

“Glamour.com assistant editor Meredith Turits calls this her go-to dish anytime she wants to make something easy and impressive,” says the recipe intro.

Simply Sophisticated indeed.

Prep Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 8 minutes

Here’s the complete recipe:

A Neophyte Chef Is Born

When you live in New York, it’s easy to put cooking on your to-do list but never actually do it. After all, Gotham is a mecca of gastronomic convenience, with enticing restaurants and delivery and takeout options on every block.

This year, though, at the tender age of 37, I've decided it’s time for me to use my kitchen for more than microwaving. Actress Billie Burke (best known as Glinda in “The Wizard of Oz”) once said age is something that doesn’t matter unless you are a cheese. Bearing that optimism in mind, I’m on a mission to develop my culinary skills as a neophyte chef. Hope you’ll join me in the adventure.