Spaghetti alla carbonara

Some use cream but I prefer it without; just pork belly, wine, egg yolk, pecorino, parmesan and parsley.

Pasta frutti di mare

I'm allergic to fish (but not to shellfish for some reason) so I use only prawns, but you can add all kinds of stuff of course.

The prawns mustn't cook in the sauce or they will get soft and mushy. Fry them separately and add them at the end. The sauce is just tomatoes and vegetables, e.g. onions, carrots, celery or whatever you prefer.

Rack of lamb with homemade pommes frites

The local tradition is to cook lamb until hard as a shoe sole, but I am yet to submit. The rack was cooked with garlic and rosemary at 180 degrees for 16 minutes until pink in the centre (I was going to make a burlesque joke here but it's not very funny, excessively dirty and probably only works in Swedish so never mind).

They call the pommes frites "chips" here; not sure if this is a misunderstanding or reluctance to acknowledge that anything good can be French. Fries have an undeserved reputation for being fat and unhealthy. They are probably not particularly healthy but nor are they that bad, and if you make your own ones you don't need to add any fat at all, just cut them up, soak them, squeeze out the liquid and starch and bake in the oven for half an hour or so at as high a temperature as you dare.

The presentation is made up with beetroot from yesterday and some mozzarella because, well, why not?

Eat in front of your TV enjoying a recording of Liège-Bastogne-Liège or a cycle race of your choice.

Veal escalope with beetroot salad

Light, simple and delicious. Very little compares to fresh beetroot with a little oil and salt. The calf had a very happy, albeit short, upbringing.

Pasta with broccoli

Broccoli, garlic and chillies. Ridiculously good, can't think of anything else to say.

Spaghetti with cauliflower

Criminally good, possibly the best pasta dish of them all. For once you will get some more detailed instructions, but don't get used to it.

Reduce a can of tomatoes with a little salt and sugar. Meanwhile boil the pasta water. While you are waiting watch your collection of Roberto Baggio commercials.

Soften the cauliflower flowers in the water, only for a minute or two, don't cook them through. Transfer the flowers to the tomato sauce and then cook the spaghetti with the inevitable cauliflower residues until 30-40 seconds before done, add the pasta to the tomato sauce and cook until you know what.

Eat hot whilst thanking god or evolution for cauliflower.

Salad

A variety of leaves, herbs from the garden, goats cheese and chicken breast from the other day. Chicken is optional, just a way to avoid people mistaking you for a vegetarian.

For dressing: oil and salt, just a little, enough to bring out the full flavour of the salad leaves.

Chicken

For those who wonder (you know who you are): no, the chicken did not receive psychotherapy before its passing.

Kale, green cabbage and haricots verts go really well with this extraordinarily juicy chicken but I was all out of vegetables and in no mood to go the grocery store, hence the Spartan arrangement. To achieve said juiciness brown it all around, add some home made stock - I used vegetable - and let it cook until ready. It takes about half the time it would take to roast in the oven. From the gravy I made a simple sauce with parsley and shallots, but you can just as well use it as is.

If you use frozen, genetically modified and artificially fed chicken you will need to use a lot of spices to hide the flavour. Mine required only salt, honey and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

A cup of tea

I played chess tonight and got home late so just a cup of tea. I hadn't played a game for a couple of months so I was happy with a decent draw. You can play through the game below.

Pasta with pork ragu

Simple and good. Some care is needed when selecting the pasta; it needs to have a large surface area for the sauce to attach to. Tagliatelle or some short pasta like in the picture is good; spaghetti (the shape of which minimizes the surface the area) is less ideal.

The ragu is made from minced pork, onion, celeriac, carrots and tomatoes; all organically produced of course. For flavour add for instance parsley and sage from your garden.

When the pasta is almost ready add it to the sauce and cook for a few seconds. Eat immediately whilst practising pick-up phrases.

Hash browns, eggs over easy and hamburgers

The secret to good hash browns (not to be confused with the famous Dutch patisse) is to eliminate the starch from the potatoes. To this end I soak the potatoes (after grating them ldo) for half an hour or so and then squeeze them with a Spätzle Press. You can probably do away with the soaking if you don't own a suitable bowl.

Eggs, meat and potatoes all organic and purchased directly from the farm.

Serve hot wearing a Stetson.