Meatballs in Tomata sauce a la Anna L (and Markus Aujalay)

On one of our many very long drives to work Anna L told me this recipe, well, more of a concept than a recipe. She had a hard time of frying meat, so Håkan and she would cook meatballs in a diced tomato sauce. It's fantastic, but don't be tempted to cook for too long. Only give them 10 minutes maximum in the boiling tomato stew.

Markus Aujalay provides a recipe similar to the one below in his book rigtig mat för familjen, [real food for the family], but there is really a lot of leeway when it comes to ingredients. I've put an asterisk beside the essentials.

meatballs:
500 grams minced meat*
2 eggs*
beef/mutton stock*
pressed garlic
thyme (half a teaspoon)
curry (same again)
saffran (same again)
salt and peppar

mix together and roll into balls to drop into the boiling tomato stew.

Tomato stew:
Garlic*
olive oil*
two cans of diced tomatos*
2 bay leaves
thyme
a glass of apple juice or white wine
sugar, salt and peppar
diced parsley*

Fry the garlic in a large casserole dish for a few minutes. Then add everything else. And great for lunches the day after as well!

Liam Viney: a Lion pianist

If anyone needs some inspirational music go to Liam Viney's homepage and check out the musical offerings available. This celebrated pianist is worth listening to and you can check him out playing classical, North American and Australian repertoire (yes you Scando/Europhile motherfucka's; Australians do have their own music!). Liam has studied with Boris Berman and won the inaugural Lev Vlassenko piano competition.

I remember Liam at about 13 or 14 years of age. He was a few years younger than I was and already precociously talented. As younger boys are want to do, we often ended up punching each other, always harmlessly in the shoulder. Liam had an eminently punchable shoulder, and he was always cheeky enough to land a few of his own on the bigger blokes. In those days he talked really fast, the words exploding out of him.

Some of us were part of a composition circle that met at Stephen Leake's place on Saturday afternoons. Liam's musical ideas were fresh and he picked up on subtleties that most of us didn't.

Enough nostalgia - nostalgia isn't what it used to be. For any of you that might have doubted the power of instrumental music listen to the first part of Hallelujah Junction - a joyous and monumental truckstop.

Play it again Liam!