One of my favorite films of his was Buffalo Bill and the Indians, which was adapted by Alan Rudolph from the Arthur Kopit play of the same name and was directed by Robert Altman. Newman was brilliant in this deconstructivist mid '70's western. It was misunderstood by the critics who panned it and it was ignored by audiences when it came out but it stands up today as a fine piece of film making and Newman's performance in it is nothing short of great.
My other favorite Newman film is Slapshot.
Newman's performance as the aging hockey has been who tries to rally his soon to be defunct team to victory through any means necessary is by turns funny, poignant, and sad. Watch this film if you get the chance and avoid the sequel like the plague.Even better than all the films and TV roles that Newman left us with is his line of foods. I love buying Newman's Own products because all the profit they make on the sale of them goes to charity. And most of the charities that benefit from Paul's largess are charities that help out sick kids.
My favorite Newman's Own products are this sauce
and these cookies.
I know Paul wasn't a saint and I'm sure that some asshole will come out of the woodwork and say he was the worst thing ever to walk the planet, but in my book the man stood ten feet tall and he was a hell of a guy. Good night Paul, I'll miss you and you work.
Or, a new recipe I made up last night, ham and cheese pasta!
I started by chopping up one leek and rinsing it off under cold water, leeks are always dirty for some reason, then I sauteed it in a a mixture of three table spoons of extra virgin olive oil, one third of a cup of white wine (Which was Newman's Own Chardonnay and isn't it great that now I can help a sick kid while I get drunk and cook with white wine!), and a couple tablespoons of Brummel and Brown, which is a butter substitute made from yogurt. While my leeks simmered and soaked up that white wine flavor I diced one third of a red bell pepper and I added a tablespoon of black pepper and a few chopped cloves of garlic to the pan. Then I put a lid on it and let it all simmer.
Next I thinly sliced some ham off a precooked ham I got yesterday at the grocery store. I then diced the sliced up ham and it ended up being about a cup worth of ham pieces. I then tossed them in with the leeks and red pepper. I also put on some water for my pasta as my meat and veggies simmered in my white wine/olive oil/butter substitute sauce. (Note to my vegetarian readers you can substitute mushrooms/zucchini/egg plant for the ham if you like.)
As everything cooked up I washed and chopped up one third of a bag of baby spinach. I then put it in with the ham and leeks. It all simmered as my pasta cooked.
When the pasta was done I put it in the pan with the ham and leeks and I swirled it around so that it mixed with everything and it got good and coated with the light white wine sauce. I also added one more tablespoon of butter substitute and let it melt before I plated everything. Once plated I grated a little Romano cheese over the top of it and I served it up with a few slices of spanakopita bread that we got from Scratch Bakery over the weekend.