Food

"Boy mué j'aimera ben vite, tu-suite un bon ragout d'boulette, Ben chaud dans mon assiette, j'prend ma fourchette pis je'll mash ensemble les boules de viande molle, les patates, les carottes, le bon ju gras..."
(Jack Kerouac, "Dr. Sax")

Ingredients: lean chopped meat, eggs, flour, small new carrots, tiny onions, small new potatoes, butter, concentrated tomato paste, spices (salt, pepper, piri-piri or other hot stuff in liquid form, garlic, marjoram or something similar).

Blend the meat, eggs, a bit of flour, and spices. Add a bit of carbonated water if the mixture is too sticky. Bring a big pot of lightly salted (you can also use bouillon cubes instead of salt) water to a boil. Roll the chopped meat into small meatballs, and lower them gently into the simmering water. When they float again, simmer until done but not overdone. Put in a single layer on a sheet of baking paper to dry. They can be frozen. Cool the liquid and skim the fat off the top.

Put the onions in a pot, add enough water to cover half way , a bit of salt and a glob of butter. Simmer until tender. Take the onions out, save the liquid.

Do the same to the carrots in their own pot. Save both carrots and cooking liquid.

Peel the potatoes, boil them, take them out of the water. The potato water doesn't get used in this recipe.

Put a large cast iron pot on the stove. Melt a bunch of butter, put some crushed garlic in, then start stirring in flour until it becomes almost solid. Bake slowly until it turns brown, but not burnt. Keep stirring with a wire whip, remember the edges of the pot!

Add the carrot and onion liquids and some of the meatball liquid slowly, beating constantly with the whip. If you preheat the first liquid you add it might not explode so much. Add the tomato paste, and whatever more spices you need. You should have a very dark red-brown sauce with a lot of flavor, the whole house should smell nice.

Stir in the meatballs, onions, and carrots, and potatoes just before serving. Serve very hot.

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Saul's Strawberry Dessert

Ingredients: Strawberries (200 grams pr. person) - you can easily use frozen, sometimes they are in fact better if they come from an "undeveloped" industrial nation - sugar, confectioners sugar, lemon juice, crème fraiche (high fat, not low fat), slightly unripe pears (about a half per person).

Put the strawberries in a blender with a bit of sugar if necessary. When they are pulverized, strain them through a sieve. Add some lemon juice to bring the taste out, then add a bit more sugar to balance the taste. It should be a swirl of sweet, aromatic, and tart.

Stir a bit of confectioners sugar into the crème fraiche to balance the taste. It should take on a slightly thinner consistency as you stir, it will thicken again in the refrigerator.

Peel the pears and cut into little cubes. Put them in a mixture of lemon juice, water, and a bit of confectioners sugar. The juice and water so they don't get brown, the sugar so they don't end up sour.

All of the above can be done ahead of time.

To serve: The ideal serving dish is an old fashioned, wide-and-flat champagne glass. Put a small handful of pear pieces in the bottom, cover with strawberry liquid, and put a ribbon of the creme fraiche mixture on top.