Mark Smalley

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Accident

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Podcats

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Great fun at the Gay Canal Parade in Amsterdam

More shots on Flickr.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Ode to boxer shorts

Logically speaking
Boxer shorts
Can be worn
For all of four days

Normal fashion
Back to front
Inside out
And both of these last two ways

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Butterfly on a Buddleja

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Marlies and a cloudburst

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Recipe: Risotto a la Roger

Butternut Squash Risotto

1 Butternut Squash (1kg)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 litre chicken stock (try not to use a cube, fresh is much better) or vegetable stock.
125 g butter
1 garlic clove, crushed and chopped.
1 onion, finely diced
300g arborio or carnaroli rice
150g Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

1) Top and tail the squash, cut in half round the middle, then pare away the skin from the larger half without losing too much of the flesh. Cut in half lengthways, remove the seeds and cut into 5cm dice (Impossible! You always end up with a variety of sizes) Repeat with the other half. Place on a large baking sheet, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and cook in top of preheated oven, 220C for 15 minutes.
The squash should be soft and slightly brown.

2) Meanwhile, heat the stock to a gentle simmer in a saucepan.

3) Melt the remaining olive oil and 50 grams of butter in a heavy-based saucepan, add the garlic and onion and saute gently for 5 minutes; do not brown. (it always seems to take longer than this)

4) Add the rice, stir well to coat the grains with oil and butter, then add enough stock to cover the rice. Stir well and simmer gently. Continue to stir as frequently as possible (I never stop!) throughout cooking. As the liquid is absorbed, continue adding ladles of stock to just cover the rice, and stirring well.

5) Remove the squash from the oven, add to the risotto with the Parmesan and the remaining butter, season with salt and pepper and stir gently.

The squash seems to keep for a surprisingly long time and none of the other ingredients go off quickly so its a good standby dish.