New Zealand 1 - Italy 1

For this evening's meal, we took inspiration from New Zealand - the tall bloke found an interesting recipe using lamb and decided that this was enough of a connection with the locally served cuisine as he cared to make. He used a recipe from a website I use quite a lot: Recipezaar. The sweet potato and feta cheese mash was delicious, if a little rich (just need a little bit). I liked this recipe for the a different lamb marinade, but during my digestion period I reflected that there really isn't anything that beats mint sauce (or jelly) as a condiment for lamb.

Tomato sauce from Italy (via London)

This recipe is used by the tall bloke in many Italian dishes. Here you can see it on the cannelloni we had for dinner whilst watching the match against Paraguay. I hope you enjoy it too:

Tomato sauce - Method
In a saucepan, gentle fry some onions and garlic, then when just about turning translucent, add a can of chopped tomatoes. Season and add sage, oregano and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

Italy 1 - Paraguay 1

Since I have several good Italian friends and I do enjoy this familiar European cuisine, it seemed most natural to have some kind of pasta effort for tonight's meal. The tall bloke served home made chicken soup with Ditali rigati (pasta shapes), followed by cannelloni filled with spinach and ricotta, baked with tomato sauce and cheese on top. It was a triumph: the meal, not the match; Italy played Paraguay and drew one all (fairly unspectacular, except for the heartening super-man dive and slip, by the Paraguayan goal keeper). The soup and the tomato sauce was made from scratch. I bought the cannelloni, ready stuffed.

Chicken Soup - Method
The tall bloke stripped all the chicken off the carcass from Saturday night's roast dinner for England's match, to make into a stock. To do this, put the carcass in a large pot on the stove, then add a couple of pints of water, salt, pepper, mixed herbs, sliced onion, carrots, celery and reduce until half the amount of liquid remains. Then strain out the liquid and return it to the saucepan (discarding the bits) and add the ready-shredded chicken. Heat on low until the meat is really tender. Separately, boil the Ditali rigati (with a pinch of salt) and when cooked, added this to the chicken soup and top with parsley. Serve with freshly baked bread.