Hot

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Ralph Bullivant

Was that the hottest day of the year so far or was it just the hottest day when there was time to lie in a hammock in the garden and fall asleep – all the other hottest days coming mid week whilst I will be sat in an office looking out over the blue sky and sun.

Either way it seemed right for a BBQ.

It was duly fired up and a chicken was cut in half and spatch-cocked. A pat of butter was mashed with tarragon and garlic and this mixture was slid under the skin.

We ate it as the sun went down behind the trees, and yet again I bemoaned how tall they were, with potatoes that had been finished off in butter and mint.

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Miracles can happen

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Ralph Bullivant

Imagine one of your favourite bands from twenty or thirty years ago split up and slipped into an obscutirty tied up with record company goings on that made it impossible to get hold of any their records. That didn’t matter too much as you had them first time round on vinyl and over the years one of them became one of your favourite records. A strange lilting record about childhood and dogs.

Imagine spending a Friday evening with that same band, the guitarist and singer, more or less playing in your front room.

That is what happened to me Friday night in a room on the top floor of The Jericho Tavern..

Somewhere upstairs in the attic in the pile of old NMEs going back thirty years there is probably a review of their first short album, The Backyard. It was the same time as REM and in my mind I lumped them together. But there was something different about Miracle. Legion. They were not quite so fully formed but with their rough edges they could have been something different.

But it was their second album that did it – Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. It was one of those records that get under the skin and you can never quite get hold of. I bought it when it came out in 1987 and there are probably years that have gone by when it doesn’t get played. But every so often it comes out and it is like it has never been away and over the years the songs have drawn me in.

There are a couple of songs that can stop me dead in tracks – especially All For the Best – which may be about a father and son, or maybe brothers, and regret and memory and how love can endure through those things.

There were only the two of them playing Friday night – Ray Neal the guitarist and Mark Mulcahy the singer.

There were only about 25 people in the audience. Most of them men of a certain age with straggly beards and all being careful not to catch anyone’s eye although most of us were there for the same reason with our own worn copy of Surprise, Surprise, Surprise propped in near a record deck somewhere at home. There were a few tables and chairs set up in front of the stage and given the size venue they could have been playing in your living room.

They played All For the Best at which point I could;d have gone home happy. But then they played Gigantic Transatlantic Trunk Call and I was a pool of beer smelling jelly on the floor.

You can download most of their music from http://www.mezzotint.com/store.html

You know you should.

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I was back home on Saturday dozing in the garden, listening to the rain and cooking prawns with rice.

Asparagus, cream & pasta

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Ralph Bullivant

I mentioned Saturday night I forgot to cook the two packets of Asparagus I bought from Claremont Farm in the morning.

We had them this evening as part of a throwaway supper.

A large pan of water was brought to the boil. I snapped off the bottom ends of the asparagus and then cut them into pieces an inch long. Once the water was boiling it was salted and the asparagus were tipped in. I kept the tips behind.

After a couple of minutes the tips went in as well. They were given another minute and I then fished them all out. I did this rather than draining the water so I could cook the pasta in the water that had been lightly flavoured by the asparagus.

A packet of pasta went into the still boiling water. Ten minutes to go.

In a small pan I melted a pat of butter and cooked a couple of crushed cloves of garlic. As the garlic started to take on some colour I added the asparagus and gave it a stir. A tub of double cream was then stirred in. It was given a good grinding of pepper and some salt and then a few minutes to heat through. Just as the pasta was done I added some chopped tarragon.

Drained pasta and the asparagus cream mixture were then all stirred together and served in a large white bowl.

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We listened to Miracle Legion. And then listened to them again.

Slow cooked pork belly in soy sauce

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Ralph Bullivant

One of the best meals I can remember eating in Australia was a slowly cooked pork belly.

I had a go replicating it this evening.

A pan half filled with water was put on to boil and the pork belly was lowered in.

As the water came to the boil I tipped in a pint of soy sauce which had been been mixed with a quarter pint of sake. That came to a simmer and the seasoning was then added. This consisted of a stick of coriander, three star anise, a finely sliced thumb of ginger,some chilli, a dash of balsamic vinegar and a teaspoon of redcurrant jelly.After an hour I added twenty cloves of garlic.

Everything was then left to simmer for a few hours. Every so often I turned the pork over. When it felt soft and giving I took it out and put it on a warm plate whilst I boiled down the sauce into a thick black salty gravy. This was then poured over the pork. Spring onions, chilli and coriander was scattered and we ate it with rice and spinach.