Scagnetti: an outback cookbook

Whilst away on my very recent road trip from Alice Springs to Sydney, Australia; my limited cooking efforts were boasted among the traveling group very early on in the adventure so suddenly l was allocated to dinner the first two nights. Without the usual stocked kitchen luxuries and appliances l managed to create my favourite dish in enough quantity to supply the tribe two nights in a row as well as create a beaming example of my chosen feast; a little more chunky than usual with the absence of a blender but we were camping after all.
In light of this achievement which when stacked next to the other success' of creating this dish in many a crummy share house before now l decided it was time to put this recipe online for all to see; those of you who know me well enough to have experienced a sit-down dinner at my discretion will be well familiar with this one.

SCAGNETTI

1 x brown onion
4 x garlic cloves
4 x bacon rashes
1kg of finest mince you can get your hands on

Cut it all up and throw in a large saucepan on a shallow bed of olive oil.
Stir the above ingredients in together at medium heat until the meat browns


add finely blended or chopped:

1 x 1/2 celery
1 x broccoli
3 x carrots
1 x red capsicum
1 x zucchini



add finely blended or chopped:

4 x field mushrooms


add:

6 x tomatoes finely chopped
1/2 bottle tomato paste
salt + pepper
pinch of white sugar

At this point, leave on a low heat for one hour, stirring gently every 2 to 5 minutes.
In this example the meal came served on a bed of large spiral pasta with different cheeses available on top as well as some extra salt and pepper should you choose.

Jim S

new artworks: thoughts on Sex Tape

The two images below are newly completed drawings which in regards to my former posts, apply to the 'exteriors' module. The emphasis on pastel colour via the red under-painting gives them the hot visceral Australian appearance i've been after, hopefully they should be appear further dramatised when opposed by the drifting, muted, mixed-media 'interiors' to come..

currently untitled, oil pastel on paper 2011


Coffs Harbour commission, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas 2011


Recently some offers have come available to create artwork for local Sydney bands as well as (with the recent acquisition of my beloved Moog VC system, see once again below) in some cases join these bands, to provide in light of my musical ignorance 'tactical interference' as l call it. These propositions got me around to thinking of a project name l thought of a while ago, whilst anticipating the soon-arrival of my VC manipulators.. I thought of creating an imaginary band called 'Sex Tape' depicted exclusively in artwork, kind of like what Damon Albarn did with inventing 'Gorillaz' and hiring Jamie Hewlett to create all the images/animation of the 'band'.

In this guise i've now decided on inventing myself as a sort of 'music mercenary' which bands/artists can hire to make their artwork or to join in on their sound, or both! Sydney, as anyone who goes to enough gigs knows, is brutally divided by its 'scenes' most of whom resent each other and don't allow any fraternising with the enemy; l always enjoyed working with a mix of bands during the Exquisite Corpse/up late with Jim Shirlaw years and now l intend to contribute in breaking down these petty barriers as an artist and musician of fortune.. we shall see.

On the news of my music l don't have anything to upload yet but l can positively say i've made a lot of ground in the last four weeks with figuring out what does what and sculpting a sound that makes an electric guitar sound totally unholy while also still audible, not actually patching the guitar through the audio in/out of the Moog Freqbox did a lot to assist that!

More on the Sex Tape coming up, VC setups as well as a Youtube special feature,

J . S