Spaghetti Aglio Olio e Peperoncino

A hangover cure

A naval victory in Rome, pizza reminiscences and a digestif with a kick.

For some years now I have been keeping a secret. A secret of such enormity that had I the slightest hint of humanity in my pathetic shameful body I would have shared it with the world as soon as I created it. I speak of nothing less dear reader than the antidote to the most debilitating self inflicted curse since Adams apple lay undisturbed on the ground fermenting before someone came along, picked it up and sucked it. OK, that may not strictly be the origin of alcohol but what we are talking here is - The Hangover.

You may be wondering why such a selfish, uncaring monster as I has now decided to go public. Well it turns out that even though I created this life reviving concoction while hunched over the hob and steadying myself with one hand on the kitchen sink tap I wasn't the first. The Italians have been making it for years, although as a hangover cure they haven't quite perfected it, but, to be fair perhaps they don't have the same incentive that I had.

Devilled Kidneys

An Offally Good Dish

A bad call by the brewery, a gentle dig at American recipes and an elegant cocktail.

In my last blog I referred to that naval breakfast treat 'Sh*t on a Raft'. It was probably no coincidence then that a couple of days later I had in my shopping trolley four lovely plump lambs kidneys, actually three and a slightly slashed one, presumably the product of the butchers apprentice. I say probably no coincidence because I am quite susceptible to suggestion, an advertisers dream, and not just targeted advertising. I have been known while watching those exceptionally long episodes of Morse to get through even more whisky than Endeavor did.

Never having made 'Sh*t on a Raft' I did a little digging in search of an original recipe. Unfortunately the only one I could find was one put forward by an ex-submariner which simply involved boiling small pieces of kidney until tender before adding Bisto or similar gravy mix. The dish I remember was small pieces of kidney in a rich translucent beef sauce, so this may or may not be the version I have in my head, or it may be just a submariners version. In fairness they did have limited facilities and supplies on submarines, especially the old diesel ones as I once found out to my embarrassment during an impromptu mid-ocean secondment.

Perhaps I should have sacrificed my slashed kidney to test the Bisto enhanced recipe (does Bisto make a translucent gravy or a cloudy one?), but I decided to put all four to the Victorian rather than the naval and go for Devilled Kidneys...