A Little Touch of Nilsson Schmilsson Pasta on the Hangover
- Feeds 6
If you’ve been on a bit of a bender, and wake up after the fourth day, feeling a bit worse for wear, this is the perfect recipe to curb those shakes, and make you feel a bit happier about things.
This is a pretty boozy dish, and the whole meditative experience of cooking and eating this meal only works if you’re listening to Harry Nilsson at the same time. If you’re not following the EXACT rules of this recipe, then you can’t say you’ve made ‘A Little Touch of Nilsson Schmilsson Pasta on the Hangover’. In terms of the album you choose to listen to, this is reliant on the sort of hangover you have been served with. If you’re feeling all grubby and disheartened, and want to get the house all nice and clean, and feel tidier within yourself, then I’d suggest one of his poppier albums, like Harry or Aerial Ballet, which have really lovely harmonies, soaring melodies and innocent subject matters of songs that hark back to childhood, and will remind you of when things hadn’t got so sordid. If, however, you’re angry about something, or are feeling guilty, or perhaps just have too much energy and are planning on getting ‘em in again, then I’d say Son of Schmillson would be a good choice of album, as it’s one of his boozy ones, when he really went off the rails… the songs are nutty, funny, surreal, angry etc. If you’re feeling REALLY depressed, and want to wallow in your misery, then maybe Knnilsson would be a good choice for you. Perhaps it’s gone FAR too far, and you feel you can’t get back to reality, and maybe don’t even want to, and couldn’t care less, and find the whole thing pretty hilarious and moronic… for this situation, the best albums would either be Sandman or Pussy Cats. If you’ve just got a standard hangover, and can’t choose, then go for Nilsson Schmilsson, as this is regarded as his best album.
You might already have quite a few ingredients already in the cupboard, but when you do that wobbly walk down to the Co-Op, you’ll need to just make sure that you have all these items!:
- Two packets of pasta
- 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
- Dried basil
- Dried oregano
- 2 onions
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 packet of mushrooms
- 1 packet of sugarsnap peas
- 2 pots of single cream
- 1 pot of cherry tomatoes
- Fresh basil
- Olive oil
- Lots of red wine
- 2 packets of bacon
- 1 packet of rocket
- Balsamic vinegar
- 1 packet of cheddar cheese
- Parmesan (if you can afford it)
Once you get back from the shop, before you start any cooking, you’ll need to smash on your album of choice at top volume.
It will be useful to have a couple of mates acting as kitchen pigs, firstly to help out, but also to make it all more fun.
Chop the onions and garlic, and start frying them in a big saucepan with a generous helping of olive oil. Keep them on a low heat so that they don’t burn.
While they’re gently frying, chop up all the bacon into little pieces. Then, you could put them in the same saucepan as the onion and garlic, but I like to put them in their own frying pan, just so you can monitor their progress, to make sure they’re done to perfection before they enter the main dish.
Boil the kettle, and put one and a half packets of pasta into a saucepan (you might need to use two, as that’s a LOT of pasta!) Then start boiling all that pasta on a low heat.
Chop the mushrooms, and put them in with the onions and garlic. At this point, you can turn the heat up on this saucepan a bit. Now there will be a delicious smell of garlic, onion and bacon frying, and that hangover will start to feel a little bit more bearable.
Once the bacon’s done, put it all in with the onions, garlic and mushrooms. Then add all the sugarsnap peas and the tomatoes to the mix.
It will all be sizzling away now, so give it a nice stir with a wooden spoon.
Now the fun starts. Crack open a bottle of wine, and slosh in a large swig to the mix. Add a big pinch of salt, pepper, dried basil, oregano and a good few leaves of fresh basil. As that simmers away, the gorgeous aroma will delight your senses, and that hangover will start to feel less intense. As the wine’s already open, pour yourself a glass, and some for your kitchen pigs too! Listen to the great sound of Harry Nilsson, enjoy the wine and the company of your friends. You could add a dash more red wine to the mix too. Good.
Then add the tin of chopped tomatoes to the mix.
The pasta might be done now, so drain it. Then add both pots of cream and all the pasta into the saucepan. Give it a good stir, and taste it.
It might need some more seasoning, it’s up to you. Grate in a large amount of cheddar cheese and stir it in… it will look all nice and creamy now!
Get some plates ready, and put some rocket on each plate. Pour some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper and salt on the rocket.
The meal will be ready now, so serve some nice large portions onto each plate. If you’ve got parmesan cheese, then grate some onto the dish. And everyone needs to finish their bottles of wine as they eat the scrumptious dish. It’s a very aesthetically pleasing meal, with the red of the tomatoes, the green of the sugarsnap peas, and the soft pink colour of the creamy sauce.
As the meal comes to a close, everyone will feel satisfied and a little tipsy again. And depending on commitments you can probably just start smashing it again! And why not?!
