and today's recipe

Bedraggled sausage casserole

Fry some onion in olive oil and butter, in a stove-proof casserole.
Add carrots, celery, garlic, and chopped tomatoes and fry a bit more.
Seperately, fry a very good sausage cut into large bite-sized chunks,
then when they're going brown add some halved closed-cup mushrooms and
brown them a bit too. Throw into the pot with some thyme and rosemary,
stock (i used pheasant stock to go with wild boar sausage), a slug of
red wine and some water to only just cover. Add a really good sprinkle
of freshly ground pepper.

The really important bit of this recipe is to put it in your oven at
160'C on a timer, and then walk 20 minutes in the pouring rain to a
violin lesson. If you don't play the violin, then maybe you could
substitute a penny whistle, ophiclides or spinnet. Regardless, take
your instrument for a walk. If it's not raining, you could stand under
a cold shower with a fan blowing in your face.

... When you get back in about two hours time, it will have been
cooking in the oven for an hour and a half. Ladle out as much juice as
you can, and whisk with cornflour in a small saucepan to form a thick
gravy. Another dash of red wine might be nice. Season to taste and
pour back into the pot. Serve with rice or potatoes.

chilli

Since i've been detailing what i've been eating, more or less, for the
last two days, here's yesterday's recipe.

Chilli with couscous.

Ingredients:
Unknown (?!)

Method:
Get Greg to call you at about 6pm, offering chilli.
Run round to Greg's at about 7pm. Eat chilli.

Linguine ai porcini con aglio

A handful of dried porcini mushrooms
A little garlic, very finely sliced
A large knob of butter
A large handful of linguine pasta
A scraping or two of parmesan cheese

Soak a handful of dried porcini mushrooms. Cook a large handful of
linguine pasta until al dente. Meanwhile, melt a large knob of butter
and fry a little garlic, very finely sliced. Roughly chop the
mushrooms, add to the garlic and fry gently. When the pasta is done,
add it to the mushrooms and garlic. Stir. Serve. Add a scraping or two
of parmesan cheese. And you're done.

Cottage Pie

a good sized chunk of leftover roast beef
2 onions
3 cloves garlic
5 large open mushrooms
3 carrots
1 swede
5 smallish potatoes
chicken stock
butter + olive oil
bay leaf
thyme
salt and black pepper
worcestershire sauce
grainy mustard
cornflour

Roughly chop potatoes and swede. Boil until tender, drain, mash with
butter and black pepper and put aside.

Finely Dice beef and fry in olive oil until very well browned. Put aside.
Slice mushrooms and fry in olive oil and butter in the same pan, until
well softened and brown. Put aside.
Finely dice onions and fry in oil until soft.
Add very finely chopped or crushed garlic and cook for a few minutes.
Add sliced carrots, bay, thyme and stock, cover, and simmer for a few
minutes to soften the carrots.
Throw the meat and mushrooms back in, season with worcestershire sauce
and mustard and tons of black pepper.
Mix a tablespoon of cornflour with a little cold water and stir into
the mixture to form a gravy.
Pour the meat mixture into a deep oven dish. Cover with the potato and
swede mixture.
Bake for 40 minutes until absolutely piping hot.
Nice with lightly steamed broccoli.