Mandeville, LA October 2025 by City Lifestyle

Hello, October!

This October, the first cool fronts slip across Lake Pontchartrain, carrying with them the promise of local flavors, family traditions, and the joy of gathering. We invite you to savor the season with us as we share stories of neighbors whose work strengthens our community in meaningful ways.

In “Saving You Money,” we meet Stephen Hammond, one of the Northshore’s most trusted health insurance advisors. As Open Enrollment approaches, he offers clear, practical guidance on cutting costs and finding the right plan. Talking with Stephen is less like sitting through a sales pitch and more like sharing a warm Italian meal at his grandmother’s table—a reminder that the simplest conversations often hold the greatest value.

In “Charlton Ogden: The Man Who Was Saved to Save Others,” we find the remarkable story of a man whose narrow escapes shaped a life devoted to saving others. Drawing from his family’s centuries-long legacy in law, Ogden shares lessons on faith, family, friendship, and the enduring importance of legacy planning.

Finally, our cover story spotlights Laura Cayouette, whose distinguished acting career arcs from Quentin Tarantino films to the red carpets of Cannes. Yet what sets her apart isn’t only the company she keeps—it’s the grace with which she moves through every scene and season. Posing at New Orleans’ famed Commander’s Palace, Laura reminds us that presence itself is power, and only by daring to fail can we truly grasp our hopes and dreams.

So here’s to celebrating the tables we gather around, the friends who anchor us, and the community that makes this season worth savoring.

Warmly,

October 2025

PUBLISHER

Rebecca George rebecca.george@citylifestyle.com

CO-PUBLISHER

Christian George, PhD

christian.george@citylifestyle.com

PUBLISHER ASSISTANT

Akifa Ashraf

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Christian George, Don Seaman, Amy Bailey

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Christian George, Katie Patterson Photography, Austin Smith of POLA Marketing, Andrew Cooper, James Kong, Laura Cayouette, Amy Bailey, Trent Spann of Images by Robert T.

Corporate Team

CEO Steven Schowengerdt

COO Matthew Perry

CRO Jamie Pentz

VP OF OPERATIONS Janeane Thompson

VP OF SALES Andrew Leaders

AD DESIGNER Matthew Endersbe

LAYOUT DESIGNER Lillian Gibbs

QUALITY CONTROL SPECIALIST Hannah Leimkuhler

Inspiration

Locally-inspired food & drink recipes.

Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic Church Mandeville, LA

Charlton Ogden

ARTICLE BY CHRISTIAN GEORGE, PHD

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TRENT SPANN OF IMAGES BY ROBERT T.

The Man Who Was Saved to Save Others

Charlton Ogden III carries his ancestry like a tailored suit: stitched with lineage, lined with resilience. He is the thirteenth generation in a family of attorneys, stretching back to Robert Nash, the first governor of North Carolina. For centuries, the Ogdens practiced law in New Orleans; they were judges, speakers of the Louisiana House, men who etched their names into history.

Lucy, Nash, Laura, Charlton, Beazie, Lynne, Marnee, Jo Jo, and Erik at First Baptist Church, Covington

And now, here on the Northshore, sits as the caboose of that legal train: Ogden himself, an attorney whose life has been less a straight line than a series of narrow escapes.

“I’ve had ten lives,” he tells me, grinning.

But behind the quip are moments when survival was anything but certain.

NARROW ESCAPES

Once, as a boy, lightning struck so close on a golf course that the air around him crackled and his arms bristled with static.

Another time, racing a sailboat through the Gulf, storms whipped the mast and rolled the vessel on its side, water rising into the cabin while a twelve-yearold Ogden prayed to see shore again.

As a young man, two cars flipped, leaving him dazed but alive.

Each brush with fate carried the same refrain: You’re still alive for a reason

A LIFE OF SAVING

But Ogden’s story isn’t just about being spared. It’s about saving others.

At sixteen, on Lookout Mountain in Tennessee, he pulled a friend from a freezing river moments before the current could claim him.

Years later, in a crowded restaurant, Ogden wrapped his arms around a choking friend and performed the Heimlich.

And at a wedding, he met the woman who would, in a sense, save him . Lynne, his wife-to-be, took his hand on the dance floor and declared, “You’re not going anywhere. You’re staying with me.” Nearly four decades later, she remains the center of his life, proof that salvation sometimes comes with music and a smile.

FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDS

The words that define him now are simple: faith , family, and friends

“I should have been gone ten times over. Lightning, storms, accidents—you name it. But I believe God left me here for a reason: to serve, to save, to guide.”

If you’re blessed enough to be called Ogden’s friend, you know that these three words are more than private comforts; they’re guiding principles.

As an usher at First Baptist Church in Covington, he greets hundreds each Sunday, sending them back out into the week with a blessing. As a father and grandfather, he speaks with tenderness about two daughters and four grandchildren, including fiveyear-old Nash, born with half a working heart and saved by surgery and prayer.

WHERE THERE’S A WILL…

That rhythm—of being saved and saving— threads directly into Ogden’s law practice. Estate planning, he insists, is less about documents and more about rescue.

“People don’t understand the necessity,” he says. “Without a will in Louisiana, the law may hand part of your estate to children or siblings you never intended. A surviving spouse doesn’t automatically inherit. Families fracture. Court battles drag on. All of it is preventable.”

Louisiana’s civil code offers no automatic safety net. Here, if you pass without a will, your estate belongs not to your spouse, but to your children. The surviving spouse only has use, not ownership. If you have no children, your siblings will inherit your estate—even those you might never have chosen.

A single piece of paper could prevent years of grief and litigation.

THE GIFT OF RELIEF

Ogden has seen it both ways: families torn apart, and families carried smoothly through succession because someone took the time to plan. The relief on their faces is what keeps Ogden practicing.

One widow wrote, “Ogden is not just a lawyer, he became a close friend when I needed one most.” Another reflected, “He guided me with compassion and made a painful time feel bearable. I was at peace knowing my family was protected.”

The thirteenth generation of Ogden lawyers may be the last, but his practice is less about legacy and more about service. Each client who walks through his Covington office is, in a sense, another soul pulled from rushing water and brought to safe harbor.

To connect with Charlton Ogden III, call (985) 892-8592, email cogden@ogdenlawllc.com, or drop by his office at 71206 Hendry Street, Covington, LA 70433. Or, come see Mr. Ogden at Abita Fall Fest on October 10-11!

“Estate planning is just another way of saving families, giving them peace when they need it most.”

It’s Pumpkin Bread Season

The Perfect Recipe For Some Autumn Comfort

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon ginger

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

• 1 1/2 cups sugar

• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil or canola oil

• 1/2 cup melted butter

• 2 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda and baking powder, spices, and salt. Set aside.

3. Combine the oil, butter, and vanilla in a liquid measuring cup.

4. In a mixing bowl (with a paddle attachment), beat the pumpkin, sugar, and eggs until combined.

5. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the liquid ingredients. Let this process take about 1 to 2 minutes so the mixture becomes light and fluffy.

6. Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet and slowly fold until the ingredients are blended.

7. Prepare a 10 x 5 loaf pan by buttering it really well and then adding a strip of parchment paper to the bottom and up the sides for easy removal.

8. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 1 hour. The bread will be fully risen in the center, like a loaf. Make sure it’s fully cooked and brown on the top otherwise it will fall in the middle once removed from the oven.

ARTICLE BY DON SEAMAN

Saving

ARTICLE BY CHRISTIAN

GEORGE, PHD

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KATIE PATTERSON PHOTOGRAPHY

How Stephen Hammond’s Italian Family Dinners Prepared Him to Serve His Clients Well … and Seek

Out Cost-Saving Options We Never Knew We Had

You Money

When I met Stephen at PJ’s Coffee in Mandeville, I didn’t expect him to look me straight in the eye and tell me he’d rather eat Vienna sausage for a week than sell someone the wrong insurance plan.

I did expect a pitch, charts, jargon. But what I got was a conversation with a friend I never knew I had.

Stephen is one of those rare professionals who genuinely cares about helping you more than he cares about making a sale. It’s a virtue passed down to him through his large Italian family.

“I

love helping families free up budgets for more vacations with family—for investing in what

matters most”

— STEPHEN HAMMOND

He proudly tells me about living on the “Hammond compound” in Mandeville with three generations of family sharing the same street, the same backyard, and even the same meals where his grandmother, at 95, remains the centerpiece of every evening.

“We all go to her house every night for Italian dinner,” Stephen says, smiling.

About fifteen minutes into the interview, I felt something I wasn’t expecting—that I was part of Stephen’s family. As if, for the whole conversation, I’d been sitting across the table at his Italian family dinner.

And if you’re fortunate enough to cross paths with Stephen Hammond, you’ll see what I mean.

Stephen is a US Health Insurance Agent, and he helps Northshore families save money.

“Self-employed entrepreneurs, business owners, 1099s—those are people I can help most,” he explains. “But people with employer coverage should also pay attention. If you add a spouse and family, those premiums can get pretty high, and you’re often paying more than you should. Most people don’t know that.”

Open Enrollment, in the health insurance world, typically runs from November through mid-January, providing a window for all of us to renew, enroll in, or re-evaluate our health plans for the upcoming year.

“If you’re not offered health insurance by your employer,” Stephen tells me, “or if you’re paying astronomical fees to cover your spouse and kids, Open Enrollment is a great time to explore your options.”

TEN MINUTES THAT MATTER

Stephen tells me about a family paying $1,800 a month for insurance.

“They called me and I showed them better options. We found one for $1,000. Same coverage. But I saved them roughly $9,600 a year. What could you do with an extra $800 a month?

“Why not spend ten minutes to see if you can find something more affordable? It’s not a sale. It’s a conversation.”

NO EMPTY PROMISES

The Open Enrollment period often brings floods of promises and upselling.

But not for Stephen.

“I’ve turned down multiple clients because I knew they could get better coverage from another agent,” he says. “And if I have to eat Vienna sausage for a week because I didn’t make that sale, that’s okay.”

By the end of our conversation, I came to understand why Stephen has become one of the best agents in the business.

Yes, he’s sharp as a tack, super knowledgeable, and leads with an uncanny amount of empathy. But that’s not what makes him unique.

These days, it’s a rare thing for a perfect stranger to treat you like family. But that’s what you’ll experience when you pick up the phone to call Stephen. You’ll get someone who believes that family is the truest kind of coverage.

INVEST IN WHAT MATTERS MOST

In a city where hurricanes, setbacks, and unexpected what-ifs are part of life, the Open Enrollment season is more than an invitation to save costs. It’s also an opportunity to meet one of the most helpful people on the Northshore.

You won’t get spammed or pressured. But you just might discover, as many Mandeville residents have, what it feels like to save money on health coverage.

“More than anything,” Stephen says, “I love helping families free up budgets for more vacations with family—for investing in what matters most.”

To talk about your options, you can reach Stephen Hammond by phone (985-773-2403), email (stephen.hammond@ushadvisors.com), or Instagram (@StephenHammond_USHA). To contact Katie Patterson Photography, please call 225-301-6387.

ARTICLE BY CHRISTIAN GEORGE, PHD

PHOTOGRAPHY BY AUSTIN SMITH OF POLA MARKETING, ANDREW COOPER, JAMES KONG, LAURA CAYOUETTE

LAURA CAYOUETTE

Hollywood Lights to Louisiana Roots: Commander’s Palace Welcomes a Queen

Laura Cayouette, Commander's Palace,

Photo by POLA Marketing

INTERIOR – COMMANDER’S PALACE – MORNING

A woman in towering heels stands in front of Commander’s Palace. Her dress, a psychedelic dragon print, dares the morning traffic to look away.

We’re shooting a cover.

Oak trees offer shade, but the humidity laughs. It’s the kind of wet heat that melts makeup and fogs diamonds.

She twirls, then lifts an arm. This isn’t a woman posing. This is an actor commanding.

And she’s holding court in the street like she’s the one who paved it.

ACT ONE: WALKING THE LINE

Before Quentin Tarantino changed the course of her career, before she stole a scene from Leonardo DiCaprio, before the velvet gloves and the lights, camera, action

There was a balance beam. Four inches wide, shellacked wood, not suede. Falling was part of the deal.

Laura Cayouette, For the Love of the Game Premiere, 1999,

Photo by James Kong

Leonardo DiCaprio and Laura Cayouette, Django Unchained set, Photo by Andrew Cooper

Laura Cayouette, For the Love of the Game Premiere, 1999, Photo by James Kong

Laura Cayouette, fourteen years old, stands four feet off the ground in a leotard, arms stretched for balance.

“My whole childhood was performing and storytelling,” she tells me between bites of salad. “I didn’t know I was preparing to be a performer, but I was.”

Laura wasn’t chasing applause; she was studying stillness. Learning how to move with precision, how to fall and recover. How to keep her eyes forward even when the room tilts.

She grew up “too tall” for most boys. By freshman year she was already 5’8”, with movie-star posture, still growing toward just over 5’10”—and still not quite feeling she belonged.

“They thought I was confident,” she says. “But I was just surviving.”

She dated a boy from Uruguay. “He was loyal and saw me as beautiful before others did,” she says. At seventeen, she saved enough money to visit his family in South America. While there, she entered into an international beauty pageant in Uruguay, landing second place.

“The hardest part was giving TV interviews in Spanish,” she laughs.

Not her first rodeo.

By eleven, she’d already been interviewed on TV by Richard Sher and a young Oprah Winfrey, co-hosts of People Are Talking.

Laura Cayouette, Commander's Palace,

Photo by POLA Marketing

The beam of the spotlight flickered early, but it would be years before Laura followed it west.

Her path to Hollywood was an elaborate floor routine that stretched across the country. She began with an English degree at the University of Maryland, completed a master’s in creative writing at the University of South Alabama, and trained at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.

Then came the pull of Los Angeles.

The City of Angels didn’t open its arms; it cracked its knuckles. So Laura stretched out her own wings.

ACT TWO: STEALING THE SCENE

Turns out, L.A. doesn’t hand out auditions. It hands out aprons.

Laura did wait tables for three months, but not out of necessity.

“So I could have some version of the experience everyone talked about as actors,” she says.

But her primary income came from private SAT tutoring and working for eight years tearing tickets at Universal Studios’ CityWalk, the largest movie theater in the world at the time.

“Matt Perry and his clique used to come all the time and involve me in their practical jokes on each other,” she says. She even tore tickets for screenings of her own movies—The Evening

Star, Krippendorf’s Tribe, and Enemy of the State.

It was the kind of glamorous grit Los Angeles is known for: just enough flash to make you stay, and just enough grind to test your mettle.

Laura wasn’t there to orbit the dream. She was there to learn its gravity.

FLASHBACK – AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DRAMATIC ARTS –NEW YORK CITY

The building smells like ambition and disinfectant. Every day, Laura climbs the school’s grand staircase, passing class photos on the walls: Spencer Tracy. Lauren Bacall. But one photo holds her gaze.

Danny DeVito.

If you could do it, I can do it. Height doesn’t matter, Laura. Just be as good as Danny DeVito.

She studies with elite coaches, sitting in rooms where nerves hum louder than dialogue.

BACK TO SCENE

New York taught Laura her craft. Los Angeles tested it. And on set, she received her second education.

Shirley MacLaine.

“She stole the scene by clapping,” Laura says. “That’s it. She turned her no-lines background moment into an entire story and involved everyone around her without adding one word.”

Laura Cayouette, Commander’s Palace,

Photo by POLA Marketing

Norma Dupont

Aunt Norma’s famous dinner table, Beau Chêne, Mandeville

She’d visit her Aunt Norma in Mandeville, the woman who taught her never to interrupt a compliment and to hold her head high. They’d sit on the porch in Beau Chêne, facing the golf course, calling out to neighbors by name.

She pauses, forks a sliver of avocado, then adds, “It wasn’t about stealing focus. It was about shifting the energy. Emotionally. Invisibly. With impact.”

MAKE IT SO THEY CAN’T SLEEP

Early in her career, friend and mentor, Richard Dreyfuss, gave Laura a piece of advice that sounded impossible: Make it so they can’t sleep. Make it so they can’t sleep at night figuring out how to put you in their movie.

The line landed like Zen.

The advice was regarding an audition for The Evening Star, the sequel to Terms of Endearment. She walked in to read for the role and gave casting director Jennifer Shull goosebumps. She left certain she’d booked it.

A month later, her agent called. She didn’t get the part; it went to Jennifer Grant, daughter of Cary Grant.

Minutes later, her commercial agents called: eight days in Paris with five-time César-winning director Bertrand Blier. Laura packed, flew to France, shot, and tried to enjoy the view. But the certainty nagged.

Back in Los Angeles, her agent phoned again. “You remember that movie you didn’t get?” she said. “The director couldn’t sleep He wrote you a part.”

Laura landed a role in The Evening Star.

“I was twenty-five when I started studying and thirty-one when I got my first movie,” Laura says, “so I figured I had to be really good. Better than people who had been working since they were in diapers.”

Somewhere between the grind and the glimmer, Laura found her rhythm. Her big break came with Tony Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer’s Enemy of the State with Will Smith and Gene Hackman, and Hollywood soon vaulted her to the big leagues with For the Love of the Game opposite Kevin Costner.

THE SUPPORTING CAST

What sets Laura apart in her field?

Her presence. The way she stills a room without saying a word. Laura didn’t just land the parts; she stuck the landing. And somewhere along the way, she started keeping the world up at night with her understated talent.

Over the years, Laura has worked alongside leading actors, including Dick Van Dyke, Christoph Waltz, Christopher Lloyd, Ruth Buzzi, Malcolm McDowell, Woody Harrelson, Kate Bosworth, Matthew McConaughey, Scott Bakula, Jamie Foxx, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elizabeth Banks, Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, Arsenio Hall, Johnny Knoxville, Hayden Christensen, and Abigail Breslin, as well as a constellation of other Hollywood stars.

She’s worked with directors like Jake Schreier, Sam Raimi, Anthony Hemingway, and Martin Campbell, and made television appearances in True Detective, Queen Sugar, and Friends (Season Three, “The One with the Screamer” alongside Ben Stiller and Jon Favreau).

Quentin Tarantino worked with her on five movies, casting her in roles alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained and Michael Madsen in Kill Bill: Volume 2 .

Tarantino collaborated with her on several additional projects. They produced Hell Ride together, with Laura playing Dani, a biker-bar owner. He also produced Daltry Calhoun, where she appeared alongside Johnny Knoxville and Elizabeth Banks. When Laura directed her award-winning first short, Intermission, starring Joanna Cassidy, Danica McKellar, and Julie Brown, Tarantino did more than lend her his guidance—he lent her his personal camera.

These weren’t just names on a call sheet. They were collaborators, confidants, and fellow pilgrims in the strange, shimmering world of film.

Sure, the inspiration from Danny DeVito, the golden clap from Shirley MacLaine, and the priceless advice from Richard Dreyfuss might have opened the door. But it was Laura’s quiet magnetism that kept her in the room.

“The biggest value of being an actor is that I get to walk a mile in everybody’s shoes,” she says. “And if you judge it, you can’t play it. And you must dare to fail if you will ever succeed.”

ACT THREE: COMING HOME

Laura Cayouette never left Hollywood. But at some point, she did come home.

“I just thought, What am I doing in L.A.? ” she says. “Everything I love is right here.”

Summer afternoons on the Tchefuncte River. Sunlight filtering through the Spanish moss. These experiences gave permission for something within Laura to exhale.

“We used to go knee-boarding or just drift along on the boat or pool noodles and inner tubes,” she says. “But it wasn’t just the river. It was the people. People in Louisiana value happiness. They value community. My family has been in this state since at

least the 1700s. If home is where the heart is, Louisiana has always been home.

She’d visit her Aunt Norma in Mandeville, the woman who taught her never to interrupt a compliment and to hold her head high. They’d sit on the porch in Beau Chêne, facing the golf course, calling out to neighbors by name.

“I have so many wonderful memories inside that house,” she says. “We were one of those loud Louisiana families that laughs a lot, and that house used to be filled with laughter.”

QUIET ON SET

Laura still takes roles, but these days she’s walking a different kind of beam—a higher one, stretched between doing and being.

Still determined and resilient as ever, Laura continues to overcome obstacles.

When she was forty-eight, she suffered a hip ailment that limited her flexibility. But instead of thinking, I’m going to do my best with my frozen hip, she declared, “I’m going to get my splits back by fifty.”

First came the right leg, then a full decade later, the left followed. “I got my left leg split back at sixty,” she grins.

Don’t believe it? Check her Instagram: @thelauracayouette.

Laura isn’t one to stop doing. One month she’s on the red carpet in Cannes, the next at a Saints game or a backyard crawfish boil. She writes screenplays, produces films, and pens essays about navigating the industry without losing your soul—or your accent.

“I think that if everybody on planet Earth took three acting classes, it would change the world. Because acting asks you to look inside yourself to find everybody else.”

Laura is also a member of the New Orleans Pussyfooters, an iconic women’s dance krewe. Composed of more than one hundred women over thirty, the nonprofit participates in over fifty events each year for fellow charities, and, with their signature Blush Ball, they raised $62,300 this year to aid survivors of domestic violence.

Laura Cayouette, Commander’s Palace, Photo by POLA Marketing

These days, Laura is giving more oxygen to her inner philosopher, staying up late to write books like Know Small Parts: An Actor’s Guide to Turning Minutes into Moments and Moments into a Career, a title that doubles as autobiography.

She blogs. She coaches. She teaches. She hosts panels for actors who come not chasing fame, but truth.

“In this culture,” she says, “we really, really put a high value on youth. And I’m not entirely sure why. Because as you get older, you’re going to see how ridiculous youth can be. I think most Americans, and certainly people in my industry, define success as fame, money, power. I define success as happiness. If I’m happy, that is the wealth. Happiness is in my control. And so I can choose to be successful all the time.”

“Fame was never the goal,” she adds. “Freedom was.”

Laura Cayouette, Commander’s Palace, Photo by POLA Marketing

Quentin Tarantino and Laura Cayouette, Krewe of Orpheus parade, 2014

INTERIOR/EXTERIOR –COMMANDER’S PALACE – NOON

In just under two hours, Laura moves freely through Commander’s Palace, not like a guest, but like someone who remembers when the curtains were hung.

Black velvet and white gloves in the ballroom, flanked by marbled-gold mirrors. A burgundy polka-dotted ensemble rising like smoke up the staircase —chef’s kiss From the second-story window, Laura lifts her arm to echo the curve of a live oak branch just beyond the glass.

“Sometimes you have to go out on a limb,” she says, a nod to Shirley MacLaine. “Because that’s where the fruit is.”

The final shot is across the street, against the plaster-smeared brick wall that backs up to Lafayette Cemetery No. 1.

Laura leans her back into it—as all of us must, eventually—her figure framed by vines and wild greenery that, miraculously, found a way to bloom through even the smallest cracks.

THAT’S A WRAP

I circle another leaf of lettuce with my fork, suspecting I’ll never reach the bottom of the bowl.

When we started the interview, we were the only ones in the room. Five hours have passed. Now the place is full and all eyes are on Laura, who, somehow, unintentionally, has stolen the scene.

Because that’s what the movies are, in the end. A shared experience. A collective dream conjured in the dark, when the lights grow dim.

And Laura, a star still being born, keeps us suspended for just a moment longer.

Long enough to find our balance.

Long enough to stay on the beam.

Long enough to remember what we once believed… That dreams really can come true.

FADE OUT

Connect with Laura by visiting her website (lauracayouette.com), following her on Instagram (@thelauracayouette), and subscribing to her newsletters for insider tips on acting, writing, and enjoying New Orleans ( laura-cayouette.ghost.io). Laura’s wardrobe for this photoshoot was provided by Trashy Diva Clothing (trashydiva.com).

Laura Cayouette, Le Petit Blue, Photo by POLA Marketing

S

P A G H E T T I

P O M O D O R O

BY AMY BAILEY

ARTICLE AND PHOTOGRAPHY

Enjoy this simple, flavorful food for the soul. ‘Pomodoro’ means tomato in Italian, and that’s what this dish is - a fresh tomato sauce with basil, garlic, onion, and olive oil.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Tbsp salt

• 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

• 1/4 cup onion, finely diced

• 4 garlic cloves, finely diced or minced

• 1 lb fresh tomatoes, halved or chopped (I use garden cherry tomatoes if in season or Roma tomatoes are a good choice)

• Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

• 3 basil sprigs, divided

• 1 lb. spaghetti

• 1 cup Parmesan, finely grated, divided

• 1 Tbsp butter

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat medium-size Dutch Oven or large skillet over medium heat then add extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt. Once hot, add chopped onion then saute until tender, 2-3 minutes. Add fresh garlic and saute until golden but not brown, another 30 seconds.

2. Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan with a pinch of sugar then simmer on medium-low for 20-25 minutes. Stir and press the tomatoes against the bottom and sides of the pan to make saucier. If sauce begins to pop too much, turn down even further. (If sauce starts to thicken too much add pasta water as needed.)

3. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil for the pasta and season generously with salt.

4. When sauce is almost ready, add fresh basil leaves torn into small pieces, plus butter, remaining salt, and freshly cracked pepper. Add more salt to taste if needed.

5. Cook the pasta until it’s just shy of al dente then transfer it to the sauce pot with tongs to finish cooking directly in the sauce. Add splashes of pasta water if needed to cook pasta all the way and to keep it saucy.

6. Toss pasta and sauce with 1/2 Parmesan cheese. Serve in pasta bowls and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Garnish with fresh basil.

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As a proud part of the NOLA community for more than 12 years, The Trace is made up of your friends from church, neighbors and colleagues. Our Assisted Living and SHINE® Memory Care community is passionate about preserving local connections, honoring our culture, and continuing a lifestyle that’s big on family, fun and faith. All that, plus lagniappe: That little, extra peace of mind that comes from knowing you or your loved one is being cared for like family, because that’s what life in Southeast Louisiana is all about!