We covered cooking with spirits in another article of Archie’s Journal this month and are now delighted to present Dirty Martini Pasta Sauce created by Elizabeth (Lizzie for short) Hewson, featuring Archie Rose Native Botanical Vodka. Anything but ordinary, this is a sauce that is being created for the modern-day food lover to compliment even the most simple of pasta recipes.

Made with love by Lucia’s, the family-run, Italian pasta sauce specialists in Adelaide, South Australia, this sauce is being slow cooked in small pots and then hand bottled to ensure the highest quality. And if your mouth isn’t watering yet, this Dirty Martini Vodka sauce is jam-packed with Australian talent - summer ripe, Australian roma tomatoes, Archie Rose Native Botanical Vodka and Toolunka Estate naturally fermented olive brine.

In light of this upcoming release, we thought it would be worth sitting down with Lizzie to learn more about connecting through cooking, how her love of home cooking made way for the passion project that became Saturday Night Pasta and all about the sauce she has lovingly made for Australians everywhere to add to their next meal, coming soon to the Archie Rose website.

Hey Lizzie! Tell us a bit about yourself and where the idea for Saturday Night Pasta came along.

My name is Lizzie and I am the author of Saturday Night Pasta, a cookbook that was published in October 2020!

It’s a book that focuses on (you guessed it) pasta, but how it all really came about was as a way for me to deal with my anxiety, so the subheading ‘recipes and self-care rituals’ for the home cook is very fitting. There was a period of time when I was going through a particularly rough patch and I really needed to find something to take me out of that anxious space. During this time I was desperately trying to find a way to switch off, beyond the usual yoga and meditation (it wasn’t working) before one day I decided that I wanted to make pasta.

So I just started kneading pasta and cooking sauce that required very minimal effort and when I was done, I realised for the first time in a really long time that I had switched off, I was just completely in the moment! That’s really how it all started, I just kept doing it and it became a ritual every Saturday and then slowly friends would join, I started sharing it on Instagram and other people would start making pasta and it just evolved into this really authentic movement. Using the idea of being present and just slowing down through this ritual in this moment for yourself is what at its core Saturday Night Pasta is all about.

Was this when your love affair with pasta began then?

I have always loved food, and have written two books ‘Moving Out Eating In’ for home leavers and more recently ‘Saturday Night Pasta’, both of which are expressions of my love of storytelling through food and recipe writing.

There was a time when I also lived in Italy for a year and studied for my Masters and Communication at the University of Gastronomic Science in a small town called Piedmont in Northern Italy (also known as the birthplace of the slow food movement), where I really immersed myself in Italian life. I think I have always hoped there was some part of me that was Italian because the way that they talk and connect and really value food was something I really resonated with. Italy is where my love affair for pasta began.

Saturday Night Pasta exploded during lockdowns! Did that come as a surprise to you?

I had been doing my Saturday Night Pasta ritual for three to four years and had written my book before COVID, but during the many lockdowns that Australians went through, people were really looking for something to immerse themselves in, more open to trying new things and had more time to do things for themselves. It was wonderful to see how Saturday Night Pasta was helping people connect as they gave hand making their own pasta a go.

Why use vodka as an ingredient in pasta sauce?

One of my favourite pasta sauces is Penne Alla Vodka, it’s packed full of flavour and I love it because it is luxurious and has this beautiful silky finish. Vodka acts as an emulsifier, basically, the booze helps to bond the water and the fat together (even though you cook out the alcohol) which is why you end up with such a delicious finish in the sauce. This is why I am particularly excited to partner with Archie Rose and use Native Botanical Vodka in a vodka pasta sauce of my own, it has such strong botanical aromas that shine through!

Tell us more about the pasta sauce you are creating with Archie Rose!

When I was exploring the idea of creating my own pasta sauce and what it would be, a vodka sauce seemed like the best option as there aren’t many sauces on the market in Australia like this! When I was thinking about a great spirits brand to partner with I wanted them to be distinctively Australian, which Archie Rose fits to a tee.

When working on this project I also wanted to make sure I was doing it the right way which has led me to work with Lucia’s Fine Foods in Adelaide to produce the sauce. I really wanted to find a partner that uses really high-quality Australian ingredients on a small scale. It was really important to me that there were no preservatives, long shelf life as well and Australian tomatoes that were only picked in summer because they are full of flavour. The whole process of working with them has been really great.

What makes this sauce stand out in comparison to pasta sauce you can buy at the supermarket?

When thinking about what makes this sauce truly unique you only have to look at the inclusion of olive brine, which of course is delicious in a dirty martini. The brininess is what I felt the sauce was missing because sauces do have that sweetness sometimes and the olive brine balances that out. Paired with the Archie Rose Native Botanical Vodka, we are left with beautiful botanicals that work together with the other ingredients to make uniquely Australian pasta sauce.

Last but not least (and perhaps most importantly) what is your all-time favourite pasta?

Oooooh this is tricky! My all time favourite pasta is Annelotte De Plin which is a delicious stuffed pasta from the town I lived in Italy and its made using a whole lot of different boiled meats and then it’s served in the roasting juices and it is sooo delicious every time I have it I am just transported back to that really great year in Italy. It is quite laborious to make so I made sure to create a shortcut recipe in my Saturday Night Pasta Cookbook.

To stay up to date with Lizzie and all things home cooking, pasta recipe inspiration and more you can visit her at https://www.saturdaynightpasta.com.au/ and on Instagram @elizabethhewson

THE SATURDAY NIGHT PASTA X ARCHIE ROSE DIRTY MARTINI VODKA SAUCE LAUNCHES OCTOBER 2022. WATCH THIS SPACE.

ABOUT LIZZIE

By day, Lizzie is Head of Creative for one of Australia’s leading restaurant groups, Fink, working closely with celebrated chefs including Peter Gilmore and Lennox Hastie. By night, she documents her pasta-making on Instagram using the hashtag #saturdaynightpasta.