journal of a writing man

Before being diverted by malice I was intent on serving up my own personal version of L’oignée du midi, otherwise known as John’s sausage, tatties and onion.  I went out and bought the components–very cheap, as all peasant recipes ought to be, but the two days have left them in the fridge, mouldering down to the point where I’m going to have to freeze them against some future cooking frenzy.

“I’m sorry about the sausage,” I said, as I dished up cauliflower grills this evening.

“Not to worry.  All in a good cause.  Do you know the Welsh for L’oignée?”

“Good heavens, no.  I don’t even know the Welsh for onions.  Does it matter?”

“No, of course not.”

And that about wrapped it up for sausage and onions so far as we were concerned.  I had however sort of promised the recipe to a good friend in Ireland:

 John’s sausage, tatties and onion

Ingredients:

Four or five firm potatoes for each person;  the standard recipe calls for ‘waxy’ potatoes which is all very well if you’re shopping at Madame Tussaud’s.  Just choose ones that’ll not fall apart in a floury mess in the cooking.

One or one and a half large, strongly flavoured onions per person.

About half a pound of sausage meat per person.

A bit of plain flour.

Salt, white pepper and black pepper for seasoning.  Don’t be tempted to try adding other seasonings until you’ve tried this one out–the flavour is very strong.

 Method:

Peel and slice potatoes thickly, and cover with cold water.  Peel and slice onions similarly, place in the skillet with a little good quality olive oil.

Divide the sausage meat into bite-sized chunks, dust very lightly with flour, and press gently into little patties–don’t over-handle. If it’s going to be a while before the main cooking event, pop ‘em into the fridge, covered with foil.

Start the cooking by blonding the onions gently, stirring frequently.

Dry the potato slices in a towel and mix into the onions.

Season with salt only, cover, and leave to simmer until the vegetables begin to render their juice.

Bury the sausage meat pieces deeply in the onions and season generously with white and freshly ground black pepper.

Cover, and continue to cook gently to evaporate excess moisture.

Transfer to a preheated oven-proof dish and cook in top of the oven, uncovered, at about 350F/180C until gently browned on top.

Use the time to clean up, preheat the serving plates and to tear up some rough brown bread, which is all you’ll need as accompaniment to this dish.

Serve with a good glass of stout or a bottle of rough red wine, like a mid-range chianti classico if you can’t get a decent French vin ordinaire.  This dish is far too strongly flavoured with onion for any fine wine.

Happy noshing!

Friday February 1, 2008

It seems that some loose-brained woman has been ‘reading’ my blog, constructing a version to suit her own purposes and relaying the results to Graham’s sister who has, in her turn, relayed scare stories to Graham’s mother.  Hey ho.  It happens. If it were not for the fact that his mother was truly upset neither Graham nor I would dignify the intrusion with a response. Apart from that neither of us would give a shit.

Apparently Graham’s mother was told yesterday that we are about to up sticks and move to Lincolnshire, way too far away for her ever to visit. That is not the case. We decided against Lincolnshire some time ago.  We have been in the process of going through our list of desirable locations and eliminating those we deem unsuitable one at a time. No surprise there–it’s the way we usually work.

We arrived at our conclusion a little while back but were keeping quiet and cagey about it to avoid having to backtrack and, possibly, disappoint Graham’s mother.  Now that she’s been so thoughtlessly and needlessly upset, though, it’s time to go public.

We’re going to move to a modest little house on the coast of West Wales, somewhere between Cardigan and Aberystwyth.  Graham’s mother is delighted.

There is of course the minor formality of selling this house first, and that’s where we need to focus our attention.  There’s no telling how long it’ll take.

I sometimes wonder about the motives of flap-mouthed gossips who like to scaremonger in this fashion.  You’d think there was enough cruelty and pain in the world without needing to add to it. But, there you go. It’s either malice or stupidity.  In my usual, kindly way I lean to the latter option.