{"id":32,"date":"2023-06-10T09:55:07","date_gmt":"2023-06-10T13:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/?p=32"},"modified":"2023-06-24T21:09:50","modified_gmt":"2023-06-25T01:09:50","slug":"now-we-are-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Now We Are Friends!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Often, travel to Italy or any other country in the world is an opportunity to indulge. Eating in restaurants, seeing the sights, and spending your budget on experiences where you are treated like royalty. Rarely in my opinion does our focus center on building relationships. Why? Because we have relationships at home, and something tells me that we want to escape that to some degree. Even less do we look for the opportunity to hear someone say the words \u201cNow we are friends!\u201d <\/p>\n

This is not that kind of story. As a pastor, who is also a chef, believe me when I say that it would be easy to sink into that mindset. Getting away, disconnecting from expectation is something that I need. It\u2019s incredibly difficult however, and I find myself craving the opportunity to dive into someone else\u2019s story. Even Jesus needed time to Himself, but you can see that it was also impossible for Him not to be pulled aside by the opportunity to engage people in all of their honest, real and messy lives. How could He not? He found so much joy stepping into someone else\u2019s life. I relate to that so much. And on this special trip with my family to the south of Italy, I especially related to the man I\u2019m about to introduce you to.<\/p>\n

A CHEF \u2013 A COOK \u2013 BUT REALLY A CHEF!<\/strong><\/h3>\n Let me tell you about a professor who is a chef but will only refer to himself as a cook. An amazing man, born out of the red dirt and olive groves of Matera<\/a> in Basilicata Southern Italy. A man whose passion for peasants who till the ground and give us the very best produce resounds in the food he puts in front of you. Who would rather lose his own sense of taste than to see another fast food restaurant break ground. <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n This is Francesco. A man of the earth. A man of Matera. And a CHEF whose heart is bigger than the Italian meal he presented us as we traveled through Southern Italy. And that says a lot! It was with great honor, that we received an invite to dine with him in his humble apartment in Matera.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A FIRST COURSE<\/h3>\n After Francesco welcomed us into his home, we began the evening by enjoying his roasted sweet Matera onions with herbed\u00a0Gorgonzola, figs from the tree, sweet tomato passata, ricotta with pink peppercorn and caciocavallo<\/a> cheese. The olive oil was the best Matera had to offer.<\/div>\n But this first course wasn\u2019t without him showing me around his kitchen, explaining his collections of balsamic, wine, beer and his mother\u2019s jarred tomatoes. Most exciting to me was a pungent vial of what almost looked like soy sauce. As I took a sip from the small spoon he handed me, a burst of umami that almost fooled me into believing it WAS the Japanese condiment exploded on my palate. But it wasn\u2019t Asian. It was anchovy. He told me about this liquid called colatura<\/em><\/a>. A delicious experiment by ancient Roman fishermen meant to help them preserve anything else from the fish that they could, and add depth to any number of dishes. This was the equivalent of Asian fish sauce. But honestly? So much better. <\/span><\/p>\n Francesco explained how the fish are gutted, and then layered with salt in barrels for aging. After several months, a small hole in the bottom of the barrel is opened, and out comes the salty liquid, drop by precious drop. This will certainly be a weapon I\u2019ll be tracking down to put in my culinary arsenal. <\/span><\/p>\n After enjoying a few moments of aperitivos with new friends, Francesco retreated to the kitchen again with my son Asher in tow. I followed behind, excited to catch more of the stories he\u2019d be sure to gift us as he prepared this beautiful food.<\/span><\/p>\n A SECOND COURSE<\/strong><\/h3>\n The next course would be a tribute to the one dish most Americans think of when they imagine Italian food: spaghetti.<\/div>\n******* ** But please understand. You\u2019ve never had spaghetti until you\u2019ve had it prepared for you by an Italian in Italy in their home. It\u2019s different. I\u2019m sure that what you\u2019ve had is good. Maybe authentic even. But different. <\/span><\/p>\n ** *******This dish is in honor of the produce of Matera. Simply, it was quality spaghetti that you could feel in the rough texture of every strand. Cut from bronze dyes as it should be. Followed by a very slow cooked tomato sauce, the skins having been peeled, with no base other than olive oil and garlic. Trust me \u2013 if you cook it long enough, it\u2019s all this dish needs. The special addition and gift from Matera was the fagioli verdure<\/em> \u2013 green beans!<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNOW WE PRAY\u201d<\/h3>\n********* ** *********When it was time to eat the dish, The Professor stirred the spaghetti into the sauce. And then he\u00a0<\/span>looked at me and said, \u201cnow! As my mother always says, it\u2019s time to pray! You say one prayer, in order to give the pasta the time to marry with the sauce. Many times you eat sauce with spaghetti and you have two different tastes. But they have to be married! So we pray!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n His prayers are extremely effective. At plating time, he made one last addition. Beautiful stracciatella affumicata<\/em><\/a>. Lightly smoked creamy mozzarella \u2013 but the wet and stretchy kind. It looks thick like milk, but as soon as you raise your spoon to add it to the dish, it pulls and stretches, like the most beautiful ballerina slowly warming up before the dance.<\/div>\n********* ** No pecorino or parmiggiano here. Just the stracciatella. How perfect. <\/span><\/p>\n ** *********The taste was enough to bring tears to my eyes. It wasn\u2019t just delicious. This dish was telling the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI KNOW IT\u2019S TOO MUCH!\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n In truth, the thought of dessert was a bit unnerving. We had already eaten plenty. But Francesco removed that fear and planted a new one by arriving at the table with an entirely new course \u2013 eggplant parmiggiana<\/em>. Not fried, but simply baked with more beautiful red sauce, fresh basil and finished with melted scamorzza. More smoke. Yes please.<\/div>\n*********** ** While my stomach begged for mercy, my tastebuds screamed for more. Francesco was right when he said \u201cI know, it\u2019s too much! But you have to try!\u201d Just keep doing you, Professor. These are the moments I live for. <\/span><\/p>\n ** ***********After resting and talking about life with our new friends, sharing stories of what we all do when we\u2019re not eating in broken Italian and English, Francesco said \u201cnow! For the dessert! My invention!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMY INVENTION!\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n************* ** He led Asher back to the kitchen, and together they began laying out bowl after bowl of different ingredients for the dish. And like a master composer, he began layering them together to form this so-called invention of his. I asked him what it was called and he said that there was no E<\/span>nglish translation. The dish simply means The Cup Of The Big Pleasure.<\/em><\/p>\n ** *************Again \u2013 he cooks\u00a0<\/span>and spea<\/span>ks the truth. <\/span><\/p>\n The bottom <\/span>layer w<\/span>as thick crumbled biscotti. Next came the diced peaches that must have been marinating in a complimentary liqueur, but without the intense sting of alcohol. The freshness and sweetness of the fruit still won the day. After this, it was freshly whipped cream with crumbled almonds. At last, the piece de resistance<\/em> \u2013 homemade preserved amarena cherries<\/a>. You could hire me to wash dishes at any restaurant and pay me in these cherries and I would be your lifelong servant.<\/p>\n Match this all together and welcome to what should be the official dessert of Matera \u2013 maybe even\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n all of Southern Italy. It was truly that good.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNOW WE ARE FRIENDS\u201d<\/h3>\n At the end of the night, I did my best to give a strong statement of my gratitude and appreciation for the way Francesco had welcomed us into his world. With an enormous smile, he jumped from this chair, threw his arms around me and kissed me on both cheeks. I think I saw a tear in his eye as he said \u201cnow we are friends!!\u201d<\/div>\n*************** ** This was an incredibly special moment. I hadn\u2019t just been fed a meal. Francesco was welcoming me into his life. Into his culture. Into his story. There is no chu<\/span>rch service I\u2019ve ever been a part of that could feel so holy. Relationship has a tendency to do that.<\/span><\/p>\n ** ***************And there\u2019s not m<\/span>uch in my life that makes me happier than feeling the deep connection that takes place when the food is honest, sitting around a table with open hearts. I hope to be with Francesco again some day. The professor. The cook. But really? The chef!<\/span><\/p>\n Follow me for more content at The Fat Pastor<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Often, travel to Italy or any other country in the world is an opportunity to indulge. Eating in restaurants, seeing the sights, and spending your budget on experiences where you are treated like royalty. Rarely in my opinion does our focus center on building relationships. Why? Because we have relationships at home, and something tells […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5132,"featured_media":44,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[32,11,29,35,26],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion-travel","tag-connection","tag-food","tag-friendship","tag-italy","tag-travel"],"yoast_head":"\nNow We Are Friends!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Often, travel to Italy or any other country in the world is an opportunity to indulge. Eating in restaurants, seeing the sights, and spending your budget Now We Are Friends!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Now We Are Friends!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Traveling and eating and building relationships through Southern Italy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Fat Pastor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-10T13:55:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-25T01:09:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1886\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-10-at-8.54.33-PM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"395\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shawn Niles\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shawn Niles\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/\",\"name\":\"Now We Are Friends!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-10T13:55:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-25T01:09:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/#\/schema\/person\/29f87566224a0eb575f60de904493693\"},\"description\":\"Often, travel to Italy or any other country in the world is an opportunity to indulge. Eating in restaurants, seeing the sights, and spending your budget Now We Are Friends!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Now We Are Friends!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/\",\"name\":\"The Fat Pastor\",\"description\":\"Shawn Niles' column The Fat Pastor explores food and faith from the perspective of a 20+ year ministry veteran turned celebrity chef.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/#\/schema\/person\/29f87566224a0eb575f60de904493693\",\"name\":\"Shawn Niles\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03a0a4973aa63365fe70edab5e9e2bb1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03a0a4973aa63365fe70edab5e9e2bb1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shawn Niles\"},\"description\":\"Shawn Niles, A.K.A. The Fat Pastor, is a former pastor turned celebrity chef from Eastern Washington's Yakima Valley. He is the executive chef and co-owner of Fat Pastor Productions which includes a restaurant, dining club, catering arm and free business and culinary school for at-risk teens. He is known for his appearances on Gordon Ramsay's MasterChef and Netflix's Best Leftovers Ever. Shawn is currently producing local television programing called \\\"The Wine Country Table\\\" and planning for future national television appearances. He served in full-time ministry roles from 2002 to 2022, until realizing that the culinary industry was demanding more and more time, and that his influence there had outgrown his influence within the walls of the church. Simultaneously, Shawn's passion for Jesus, theology, and Christian philosophy has never waned, and he continues to enjoy speaking out about these concepts, combining them with his love for all things Global Comfort Food.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/author\/sniles\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Now We Are Friends!","description":"Often, travel to Italy or any other country in the world is an opportunity to indulge. Eating in restaurants, seeing the sights, and spending your budget Now We Are Friends!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Now We Are Friends!","og_description":"Traveling and eating and building relationships through Southern Italy.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/","og_site_name":"The Fat Pastor","article_published_time":"2023-06-10T13:55:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-25T01:09:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":525,"height":395,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1886\/2023\/06\/Screen-Shot-2023-06-10-at-8.54.33-PM.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Shawn Niles","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shawn Niles","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/","name":"Now We Are Friends!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-06-10T13:55:07+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-25T01:09:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/#\/schema\/person\/29f87566224a0eb575f60de904493693"},"description":"Often, travel to Italy or any other country in the world is an opportunity to indulge. Eating in restaurants, seeing the sights, and spending your budget Now We Are Friends!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/2023\/06\/now-we-are-friends\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Now We Are Friends!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/","name":"The Fat Pastor","description":"Shawn Niles' column The Fat Pastor explores food and faith from the perspective of a 20+ year ministry veteran turned celebrity chef.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/#\/schema\/person\/29f87566224a0eb575f60de904493693","name":"Shawn Niles","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03a0a4973aa63365fe70edab5e9e2bb1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03a0a4973aa63365fe70edab5e9e2bb1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Shawn Niles"},"description":"Shawn Niles, A.K.A. The Fat Pastor, is a former pastor turned celebrity chef from Eastern Washington's Yakima Valley. He is the executive chef and co-owner of Fat Pastor Productions which includes a restaurant, dining club, catering arm and free business and culinary school for at-risk teens. He is known for his appearances on Gordon Ramsay's MasterChef and Netflix's Best Leftovers Ever. Shawn is currently producing local television programing called \"The Wine Country Table\" and planning for future national television appearances. He served in full-time ministry roles from 2002 to 2022, until realizing that the culinary industry was demanding more and more time, and that his influence there had outgrown his influence within the walls of the church. Simultaneously, Shawn's passion for Jesus, theology, and Christian philosophy has never waned, and he continues to enjoy speaking out about these concepts, combining them with his love for all things Global Comfort Food.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/author\/sniles\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefatpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}