Off the Wagon

That's The Intrepid One leaving this morning after 36 hours of virtually solid boozing. The Landy is full of Libyan rocks, sand and Italian wine.

This was one of the smarter bars.




 And this was a serious Barbera that we got stuck in to much later.
Now for some rest I think. Mamma mia.

What's tomato with you?

Of course, it's all very well piggin' out on tomatoes, morning dew picked from the sagging vine (you're fired, ed.) but the secondary joy of the Combo Crop is making a passata sauce and freezing it for use during the winter. It's terribly easy, if rather hot work in a summer kitchen. Put as many of the bleeders as you can in a large saucepan, add enough water just to cover the bottom of the pan and set over a low heat to go all soft.
The whip 'em out and put them through the mouli by hand (real Italians have a machine that does it but I can't be arsed, after all these toms are organic, right?)

and then just heat for ten minutes or so to drive out a little excess water and then freeze in bags.
As a taster for the coming season Mrs Combo produced this dish called parmigiana which has aubergines, said tomato sauce and Parmesan. Helped down by an excellent Barbera d'Asti from
Giovanni Piacenza, a very hearty winemaker in all senses of the word.
Yum yum, pig's bum!

Bottle count

This was the count from a dinner last night. From left to right, a serious fizz from one of Italy's best makers, a smasher from McLaren Vale, probably the best Monferrato Rosso (a blend of Barbera and Cabernet Sauvignon) from hereabouts and with the chocolate pudding to finish off a simply wonderful Moscato d'Asti. The latter is so pleasant and light (5º) that it's the sort of stuff you could have a good crack at for breakfast (but only at the weekend of course). The Aussie was a gift brought by hand from Oz. Impossible to find on the shelves around here. Apologies for the quality of the photograph, it was quite late.