Sunday Night With Nigel

Nigel came into my life on my birthday few months ago. I could not resist anymore. I touched him, for the first time, tonight.

A cook with his vegetable patch, Mr. Slater, Tender, appealed to my passion for experimentation, organization, way of cooking and food sensuality.

I first went for his tomatoes. And who knew that he had so much beef there. He said "those tomatoes sharpen up in the searing heat, their skin catches and burns". 

I went wild on the tomatoes, spiced things up with boiling onions, garlic, and bay leaves. I smeared the beef with oil and in a dark stove all went.

Time in the dark stove went very fast, but that seems to always be a recipe for success.

After 30 minutes of heat, sometimes high, sometimes lower, a perfect tenderly rare beef was all you can see.

What was left where we laid out the beef was where to go next.

Everything round and tender, like onions and tomatoes, was passionately squashed.

All was thick and almost creamy. But that is when the Madeira wine was poured and allowed all to simmer; ready to enhance the rare beef waiting to be devoured.

Something was still missing though. That is when I pulled this out of my bag.

What is this you are wondering? Is it natural? Is it alive? Can one munch on it? Would these balls fall off? Is this really 20 inches long? 

Yes to all of the above. It is made in Brussels and sprouts are stubborn enough to remain on the stalk no matter how much you manipulate them. Well, only until you are ready to put them in your mouth.

Time to raise the heat real high. I drizzled the stalk with oil, I kept on turning it around, warming up one side for a minute or so, until it could not take it anymore, and moved to the other side. When it could not take it anymore, lemon juice spurted and calmed down the fire.

Ah what a night with Nigel.