- Keira Knightley’s favorite childhood meal is her mom’s creative pasta sauce.
- Knightley’s mom would use spare ingredients out of the fridge or cupboard to bring the sauce together.
- Use this clean-out-the-pantry method for a quick dinner.
British actor Keira Knightley has played a lead role in quite a few movies about the holidays, from the 2003 classic Love Actually to the slightly darker Silent Night. But when it comes to celebrating the holidays with her own family, Knightley takes on a more supporting role.
It’s Knightley’s husband, musician James Righton, who cooks Christmas dinner in her home, not only because he loves doing it, but also because Knightley admits cooking isn’t her strong suit. “I used to cook and used to really enjoy it, but can’t say I was ever really good at it,” the The Woman in Cabin 10 actor shares during an episode of the Dish podcast. “I get very distracted.”
“I have a chat right as everything is ready and everything burns,” she continues. “Whereas he’s got one of those brains that’s methodical. It just kind of got to the point where it was just disappointing when I cooked and it was always really good when he cooked.”
Knightley’s ideal Christmas dinner includes delights like turkey, roasted potatoes, brussels sprouts with lardons (fatty bacon or pork fat) and chestnuts, plus sticky toffee pudding—which her mom makes. On the big day, it’s all about time spent with family. “We’ll go for a walk,” Knightley shares. “If we’re somewhere where you can jump in the sea, I’d totally do a cold swim on Christmas Day.”
In the podcast interview, hosted by broadcaster Nick Grimshaw and Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett, Knightley also shares some of her year-round food likes. Her favorite way to eat eggs? Scrambled. Favorite form of potato? A baked potato. Favorite herb? Basil. Favorite potato chip flavor? Salt and vinegar.
But it was a question about her favorite dish from her childhood—one her mom used to make—that brought a major sense of nostalgia to the interview. “She was a really good cook,” says Knightley. “She made amazing fish cakes with some kind of green sauce.” (The green sauce was a lemony sauce made with leafy, green sorrel, she later shared.) “But mom’s bastard sauce,” Knightley explains, “it’s anything she’s got in the house that will go in the pasta sauce, and it’s always completely delicious.”
What exactly is bastard sauce? It’s a clean-out-the-cupboard pasta sauce made from anything you’re hoping to get rid of from the pantry. It sounds like a risky move, but Knightley swears by the meal. “It makes no sense,” she admitted, “it’s what she puts from the kitchen cupboards and it’s always completely amazing.”
We love this idea, especially when days are busy and a cupboard or fridge could use a good cleaning out. In fact, a bowl of pasta with some Knightley-inspired sauce could be a great way to avoid wasting any food you’ve tucked away in the back of a cabinet. Many pantry staples make fun additions to pasta sauce—just ask Stanley Tucci’s tuna with red sauce and cannellini beans. And if you need something to do with the half bag of frozen spinach in your freezer or the glass of red wine still left in last night’s bottle, a pasta sauce could be a great home for those ingredients, too. Just pair it all with your favorite pasta shape and prepare to taste and adjust flavors as you go.
Looking for some other pasta sauces to try over the holidays? Try our Quick Bolognese Sauce or our Rigatoni Amatriciana. Or give bastard sauce a try. After all, it just might become a new family favorite, and we love a good family holiday food tradition.
