I’ve known about Sara Jenkins since she was quite young, as her mom Nancy Harmon Jenkins — a noted food writer/authority and professional colleague — had boasted about her daughter as all mom’s do.

Following in Nancy’s love of Italian food, Sara opened two restaurants in Manhattan. Porchetta, a storefront in the East Village focusing on the Italian roasted pork, typically sold as street food, and Porsena, a sit-down casual-style restaurant with a changing menu focusing on authentic Italian pastas.

Sara grew up all over the Mediterranean — as her dad was a foreign correspondent — spending much of her time in Tuscany where her family still has a home. When I chatted with her recently, Sare was just back from her yearly jaunt there to pick olives and press just enough oil to divvy it up in the family.

Sara wrote her newest cookbook, The Four Seasons of Pasta with her mom. Like all teams, they had their moments but with their mutual respect for what they each bring to the table the resulting book is a wonderful salute to the versatility of pasta seasonally. The recipes are mostly so simple that you can come home and “just make it.”

We’ll be offering a couple of those seasonal pasta recipes here on BiteoftheBest.com in the next few weeks. 

– bonnie

BonnieBOTB

Which food product or gadget would you never give up?
Extra virgin olive oil because it makes everything taste delicious.

What do you like to serve when you entertain?
I always serve pinzimonio an Italian dish of crudites with seasoned sea salt and extra virgin olive oil, labne (thickened yogurt) with za’atar (a Lebanese spice mixture) and extra virgin olive oil plus a mix of olives that I marinate with wild fennel pollen, thyme, chili and lemon or orange zest. If we are serving dinner I do some sort of roast because it can be cooking as you entertain. I always serve rose wine (ideally my favorite Italian rose by Montenidoli) and water.

If you got to choose what you ate… describe your “last meal?”
12 pristine oysters followed by tagliolini with butter and a decadent amount of white truffles shaved over it and a great garden salad of bitter greens doused in olive oil.

What food is your secret guilty pleasure?
Grilled cheese and tomato sandwich made with American cheese on white bread.

What is your go-to neighborhood restaurant?
Diner in Williamsburg because I have been going since I first moved to New York and they opened and I have watched go from a fun neighborhood secret to a place everyone comes to for a “Brooklyn experience” and the food it has really just gotten better and better over the years whether I know everyone who works there or no one at all.

What is one food product most people don’t know about, but should?
Bottarga – the salted dried roe of tuna, grey mullet and occasionally other fish. I don’t eat the tuna because I don’t eat blue fin tuna due to over fishing. It is great as a snack on dark bread with butter. It is great over white beans and it is a great addition to a lot of simple what I call pantry pastas such as aglio olio or lemon butter or even spicy tomato sauce.

Describe your worst kitchen disaster and how (if possible) you saved it: Failing to notice that the oven wasn’t on while slow cooking a pork roast for Thanksgiving one year. In the end I turned the heat up to high and quickly cooked it to medium.

Who was your most influential mentor?
My Tuscan farm neighbor growing up Mita Antolini.

To follow Sara Jenkins on Twitter, click here.