The 15-Minute Dinner Audrey Hepburn Made When She Craved Comfort

It's a surprising find from the book, "Audrey at Home."

The refinement and almost ethereal onscreen presence of the late actress Audrey Hepburn would barely indicate she ate at all—it’s far too earthly of an act—but dig a little deeper into Audrey Hepburn the mother, wife, gardener, and activist and you’ll find all sorts of surprises.

She always kept a stash of chocolate nearby. She gave tons of dinner parties. She carried pasta in her suitcase on visits to Japan. She grew her own tomatoes. And one of her favorite comfort foods was penne with ketchup. It’s actually pretty good.

I came across this tidbit in Audrey at Home, a delightful remembrance by her youngest son, Luca Dotti, that’s more or less a scrapbook packed with lots of personal photos and dotted with recipes. Despite not being particularly text-heavy, it taught me more about Audrey Hepburn than multitudes of more traditional biographies ever did.

A Recipe You Have To Try To Believe

Penne with ketchup was not Audrey Hepburn’s default mode of eating. Though Audrey at Home offers plenty of recipes that entice on legitimate culinary merit (for example, baked potatoes topped with smoked salmon slices, and her favorite flourless chocolate cake), the penne with ketchup snagged me.

It sounded comfortingly gauche, the perfect meal for nights when, as the saying goes, you can’t even. A tad more noble than a can of Spaghetti-Os, penne with ketchup smacked of fuel for the weary of body and soul when the pantry is slim.

A Screen Legend’s Delightful Food Legacy

Though penne with ketchup may seem like a practical joke, it reveals a lot about Hepburn’s vulnerabilities. She came of age in German-occupied Holland during WWII and experienced the deaths of several family members who were active in the opposition. Food was scarce. This all casts penne with ketchup in a surprisingly poignant light.

“She had grown up during wartime and as a child she was allowed no indulgences,” Dotti writes. “When the bombs were a thing of the past, Mum resumed her strict ballet studies and then adjusted to her new career as an actress. Now she could finally let everything slide, and her very personal view of a good life included relaxing in front of the TV with a plate of penne and ketchup.”

Why I Love Audrey Hepburn's Penne With Ketchup

Lo and behold, there arose an evening when it was all I could do to boil water. Penne with ketchup to the rescue! Fortunately, Audrey Hepburn was married to an Italian and lived in Rome for years, so her penne with ketchup also involves a little butter, olive oil, and grated hard cheese. These crucial minor ingredients transformed what might otherwise be sad sack food to a soothing carb hug in a bowl. Besides, you don’t drown the pasta with ketchup—you only add a few dabs, enough to make a rosy tint.

“Mum loved penne with ketchup even more if she ate it while seated in an armchair in front of the TV,” Dotti writes. Hart to Hart and variety shows were her favorite programs; as a former ballerina, Hepburn enjoyed the talent and rigor of the dancers. In honor of Hepburn, I plonked myself on the couch and fired up my Roku.

Penne with ketchup (I used whole wheat penne in a concession to health) reminded me of tinned baked beans, that slightly tart sweetness evoking mild barbecue. Feeling it was missing something, I added a few small splashes of soy sauce and was treated to an umami blast. I liked how it added a more adult dimension to the dish.

Dotti writes that his mother would make penne with ketchup for the two of them after busy Sundays, and I imagine one day in the future I’ll share it with my daughter one tired evening when we move our usual dinnertime operations from the dining table to the rec room, honoring this tradition. Can you stream Hart to Hart?

How To Make Penne With Ketchup

Bet you never thought you’d read those words! I adapted this already highly adaptable recipe from Luca Dotti’s, Audrey at Home.

Start with eight ounces of penne or pennette. Bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil and drain the pasta when it’s al dente, reserving about a quarter cup of the pasta water.

Return the hot drained pasta to the pot and add two tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter. Put the pot back over very low heat and stir for a minute or so, until the pasta is glossy. Then put on the lid and push the pot off the burner to rest another minute or two. ”This is called ‘mantecare’ and leaves you pasta as smooth as silk,” Dotti says.

Add a few squirts of ketchup to the pot (only enough to make the sauce rosy), along with a few tablespoons of grated hard cheese. Audrey Hepburn used Emmentaler, but I used Parmesan. Stir everything together, and add a tablespoon or two of pasta water to help slick up the ketchup. Taste and add a dash of soy sauce if you’re feeling sassy.

Serve the pasta in bowls topped with more grated cheese and, if you like, a few more dabs of ketchup. This recipe serves two.