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23rd June 2016 - Independence Day!
Brescape!
Union Jack

Finally free of the shackles of the European Union!
The people have spoken, though perhaps someone should tell the BBC, who seem to be continuing to run their propagandists Bremain campaign as if the great unwashed had not voted at all.
As the BBC's head of Political Research David Cowling puts it Who are these ghastly people and where do they come from?.

What does slightly concern me though, is where our EU spivs and quangocrats, the Kinnocks, Ashtons and Mandelsons of our political world are going to do their troughing now the Euro-gravy train is pulling out the of the British station. Like lice re-infesting a new-grown head of hair they might have to resume leeching the contents of our native public purse, and having accustomed themselves to European levels of corruption, how could we possibly afford to support them?

Spanish Morcilla
Anyway, my sailing companion Gordon's wife Kim told me about a delicious way the Spaniards have of serving their version of black pudding (morcilla) stuffed into green chilli peppers and roasted. I thought I'd better give them a go while it's still possible to get hold of exotic European meats. I was recommended these particular puddings, which I froze, while I was shopping for crocodile (tastes like crisp chicken, in case you were wondering) at George Bower.

I remember distinctly because while cooking my crocodile (and that's a phrase you don't hear too often) I had to endure more hours of ghast from Radio4 - First a session of anthropological indoctrination from a show called "Natural Histories: Monkeys and Apes" in which various zoologists and monkey experts jeered at the ignorance of Victorian depictions of and attitudes towards primates, then proceeded, with no obvious sign of irony, to explain how essential it now was for them to use modern propaganda techniques to re-educate people in their modern and 'correct' understanding of the true nature of our anthropoid relatives.

This was followed by a tedious episode of "Stop The Week I Want To Get Off", during which psychologists and psychoanalysts tried to convince me that mental and psychosomatic disorders were every bit as deserving of sympathy and expensive treatments (mainly their own) as physical disabilities.

And they wonder why I drink.

Morcilla Stuffed Peppers
Black pudding stuffed peppers
meat main
Morcilla is a strongly flavoured Spanish pork black pudding, usually made incorporating onions, rice, pine nuts or even almonds.
You can stuff any pepper you like for this recipe - bell peppers would be OK, those long sweet pointed red varieties like Romano or Ramiro are excellent, or you could use a chilli variety with a bit more kick like a Poblano.
You'll need about 250g of sausage to fill a bell pepper, 125g for a Romano, and maybe 80g for a Poblano.
If you like you can bulk out the sausage by taking it out of the skin, crumbling it and mixing it with more? cooked rice or pine nuts.
You could also add flavourings like sherry, spices, herbs, lemon juice etc.

Serve 1 Pepper per Person

Ingredients
Method
Slice up the black pudding, remove the skin, and stuff the peppers with the slices. If the skin is natural you can leave it on the last piece which covers the mouth of the pepper so it can crisp up in the heat.
Place the stuffed peppers in a shallow oiled baking tin, drizzle with more oil, pour in a little stock or water.
Bake at Gas Mark 5 for 30-40 minutes until they're cooked through, and the filling starts to ooze out.

Serve with a poached egg and couscous or curd rice.
And maybe some ginger or mustard green beans.
Greasy but good!

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