Monthly Archives: August 2010

Nicki Myers’s 3 flour bread

for breadmakers…

200 g spelt flour
100 g wholemeal flour
75 g white flour – all flours to be bread flours
280 g warm water
20 g butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon yeast

That’s it !

Tone 41 – Hildur Gudnadottir “Mount A”

CD in digipak
Photography & Design: Jon Wozencroft
Remastered by Denis Blackham

Track listing:

1. Light
2. Floods
3. Casting
4. Shadowed
5. Self
6. Growth
7. In Gray
8. My
9. Reflection
10. Earbraces
11. You

This album was originally released by 12 Tónar in 2006 under the moniker ‘Lost in Hildurness’. The first solo recording from Hildur Guðnadóttir (who is a member of the Nix Noltes band and has performed regularly with múm and Pan Sonic). In her dreamy soundworld she plays the cello, gamba, zither, khuur and the gamelan so this cd sounds like nothing else. This is exciting, tranquil, and melancholic stuff and at times it makes you think of a lost place and times gone by – and the music has the power to take you there. Recording sessions took place both in New York and in a house in Hólar, Iceland, specifically chosen for its good cello acoustics. It is strictly a solo album, Hildur has attempted to “involve other people as little as I could.” Like the cover art, it is personal and intimate.

It has been called “the perfect soundtrack to get lost in a forest at night”, but this version, remastered by Denis Blackham, sounds fresher and better than ever.

Her latest solo album, the widely reviewed and highly acclaimed Without Sinking (Touch # TO:70, 2009) is still available from Touch.

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Mike Harding’s Courgette Soup

5 courgette plants are getting ready to deliver their crop in the Touch garden… there will be far too many to eat daily, so I had a look at freezing them, but apparently they go a bit squishy when defrosted. So I investigated a courgette soup recipe… either this or lucky neighbours!

Ingredients:

2 lbs (900 g) courgettes
½ lb (225 g) potatoes
4 cloves garlic
1 onion
1½ pints (900 ml) water or white vegetable stock
Salt and Pepper (best is Madagascan pepper – thanks, Philip!)
1 tablespoon chopped basil
1 tablespoon chopped oregano
1 tablesepoon chopped chives
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 oz (56 g) grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons cream

Method:

Wash the courgettes and chop into chunks. Peel and cut the potatoes into small cubes.
Peel and slice the onion. Crush the garlic.
Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the onion and garlic. Lightly fry for about 5 minutes to soften.
Add the potatoes to the pan, cover with half of the stock or water, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 15 minutes until half-cooked..
Add the courgette chunks, salt and pepper to taste, chopped oregano and basil and the rest of the stock or water, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are fully cooked.
Either rub through a sieve or put through a blender to make a smooth pureee.
Return to a clean pan, re-heat and add the cream, grated parmesan and chopped chives without boiling.

Serve immediately with a sprinkling of cheese on the top of the bowls.
Serves 4.

TO:80DS – ELEH “Repose”

Track listing:

1. Circle Two: Coastal Rotation For Dune Loop 17:12

Circle Two: Coastal Rotation For Dune Loop is a new 17 minute composition debuted at 2010’s Mutek festival in Montreal. This piece completes the Retreat/Return trilogy with Repose. A limited edition vinyl version of this track is released on 14.07.10 on Important.

Exclusive digital download – (MP3 or FLAC)

 

Eddie Nuttall’s Risotto with Vegan Bacon

(Serves 2)
1 Onion (chopped)
1 Clove of Garlic (chopped)
1 Vegetable Stock Cube
250g Arborio Rice
Half a lemon
1 Bottle of Riesling (or other white wine if preferred)
4 slices of Vegan Bacon (cut into small squares)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Soya Margarine

1. Firstly, add the stock cube to water in a medium saucepan and simmer until dissolved. Reduce to a low heat so the liquid stays warm.
2. Melt a generous slab of soya margarine with some olive oil in a large, heavy pan on a medium heat.
3. Add the chopped onion and garlic and sauté until the onion is slightly opaque.
4. Next add the vegan bacon and arborio rice and stir vigorously until everything is coated with the melted soya margarine.
5. Throw in a glass or so of the white wine, and stir until the liquid is absorbed. At some point during this, add the juice of the lemon also.
6. Next add a ladle of stock to the rice, and stir until absorbed. Repeat this one ladle at a time until the rice is al dente. During this you must stir the rice constantly to avoid it burning or sticking to the bottom of the pan. This can be quite hard work, so I recommend this to be a good time to dig out a favourite album to help you through it. Remember you still have a bottle of wine (minus one glass) for medicinal purposes at your disposal also. If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, just use hot water.
7. When ready, serve immediately with piles of fresh rocket and excessive amounts of ground black pepper, and enjoy with the remainder of the wine. Do not leave to sit in the pan, it goes glutinous and rubbish really quickly.
8. If you cannot find vegan bacon at your local health food store, try experimenting with other ingredients. I have had great results from sun-dried tomatoes, fennel, asparagus, beetroot (which dyes the rice to an attractive pink), and slightly surreal-looking wild mushrooms respectively.