LEE CONETTA is Glasgow food royalty. Each week, she shares fantastic recipes and memories of her life here in the city and her travels to Italy and beyond.

This week, in the second part of her honeymoon story, the new Mr and Mrs Conetta get an offer they cannot refuse in Sicily, run out of money in Brussels and face a meal with an unexpected main course...

Glasgow Times: Mrs Conetta on her honeymoon in Sicily.

Last time, I was telling you about my honeymoon with Joe to Sicily.

We were staying at the Mondello Palace hotel, which was very beautiful. One night, a big group of well-dressed men had gathered at the bar, and as soon as the barman told them we were newly-weds, they insisted on buying us drinks.

The next night, the men and their beautifully dressed wives were back again, and there was more chat and many drinks.

They were Italian-Americans, introduced themselves as ‘Tony, from Chicago’ and ‘Guido, from New York.’ They ran bars and nightclubs, looked like film stars and were very pleasant and charming.

One of the men was a barman who worked for them (by sheer coincidence, his girlfriend was from Hamilton and we met them both years later in Glasgow.)

On a quieter night, this bartender told us a little bit more about these men and suddenly, it was like something out of a film. A film like The Godfather.

“They will find a promising young man and set him up in business,” he told us. “That is fine, so long as business is good and he keeps paying. If it is not so good….”

He shook his head.

“Then he might be found under the nearest manhole cover….”

Joe and I were aghast. The next night, the gentlemen were back and once again, they insisted on buying us drinks. It was an offer we could not refuse….

Glasgow Times: Lee Conetta with late husband Joe on holiday.

The next day, we were off, back to the mainland, where within a week, we ran out of money.

Joe’s uncle had to bail us out (in those days, it was not easy to send money abroad) and we drove to San Remo, and then Brussels.

Here, the car broke down. We walked to the nearest garage. The rains came down with a vengeance and we arrived soaked. The garage owner took pity us on, and said he could fix the car – but we used up all our money on the repair.

We had booked our holiday through a travel agent, so we went straight to them and explained the situation.

They arranged for us to get home on a cargo plane the next day, and gave us £10 for a meal and a cheap hotel for the night, which we were to pay back in Glasgow when we got home.

Can you imagine that happening today?

READ MORE: When Mario Lanza made me blush on my honeymoon - Cooking with Mrs Conetta

We were hungry and so headed to the first restaurant we saw. Its sign had two huge steaks on it so it looked just the thing. We ordered two enormous plates of steak and chips.

It was only the next day we realised we had eaten horse steaks…

Glasgow Times: Cooking with Mrs Conetta - spaghetti broccoli

RECIPE - SPAGHETTI BROCCOLI

Nothing as scary as that final honeymoon meal here, of course - just a lovely, simple pasta dish which is very tasty. You can add chilli flakes if you like things a little bit hotter. Buon appetito!

INGREDIENTS:

Serves four.

4 tbsp olive oil

4 salted anchovies

1 head of broccoli

I clove of garlic

Spaghetti - 75g per person

Salt to taste

METHOD:

Chop the anchovies and rinse and trim the broccoli florets. Cook the broccoli in salted water for 10 minutes.

Cook the pasta, drain and set aside.

Heat the olive oil and add the finely chopped garlic and and anchovies. Mash the anchovies and garlic to a paste and add to the pasta along with the well-cooked broccoli florets.

Mix gently and serve without cheese (you don't serve cheese with a fish dish in Italian cooking.)

Add salt to taste and a pinch of chilli flakes for a hotter dish if preferred.