A Romalpa clause risotto

A Romalpa clause is a clause in a contract for the sale of goods that reserves rights of title in the goods in the vendor until a certain event occurs. If the purchaser becomes insolvent before this event occurs, the vendor is in a better position than general creditors because she has a proprietary interest in the goods. Justice Kirby doesn’t like Romalpa clauses because they cannot be registered with ASIC and thus operate as a form of secret security for the lender that is detrimental to commercial certainty. They are usually found in cases about aluminium manufacturing but now and again they pop up in my kitchen.

For example, N’s parents came over on the weekend with a big bag of asparagus, parsley and lemons from their garden, some eggs from their chooks and a block of cheese from the market on the condition that these goods were to be shared between N and his siblings (i.e. it wasn’t a contract for the sale of goods as such, but I suppose our hospitality and detriment suffered from pausing study somewhat constituted valuable consideration, and there is always an intention to create legal relations in a house full of law students). 

The asparagus was thick and meaty and I was dribbling in anticipation of the golden rich yolks of freshly laid eggs. However, if the parcel was to be split three ways, there would not be enough for more than a boiled egg and two spears of asparagus each - a delicious dish in its own right but one that would probably require toast, of which I am increasingly tiring.

So I proposed that the siblings leave all the asparagus to N and myself, and I would make an asparagus risotto for everyone to eat that night. That is, they would reserve their rights of title in the said asparagus until I made the risotto and they could then gobble up their proprietary rights to their hearts’ content.  After warning them that my risotto would not be featuring on the securities register, we headed separate ways and reconvened later night.

I am not going to detail how I made the risotto, save that for the mantecura (the goop that you stir through at the end of the cooking process to enhance the creaminess, usually butter), I used the zest and juice of a lemon, an egg yolk and some grated parmesan, whisked into a hollandaise-like sauce.  I then stirred through the blanched chopped asparagus and some torn parsley, then let it rest for five minutes.

It was eaten too quickly to take photos but here is a balsamic mushroom risotto from a few weeks back made with the same mantecura.

Comments

[Jane Smith]

Hi there
Have you ever gone to the cheese and butter stand, Curds and Whey at the Vic Market? There you can buy your butter in bulk and much better quality cheese than you can get in the supermarket for cheaper prices....For instance Anna has a great Aussie parmesan made by an aussie cheese maker - It has such a great flavour, you only need a tiny piece - so it is cheaper by far.

Why buy expensive Lindt blocks of chocolate when you can get much better value from Michael who has the big bread and chocolate stand at Vic? He has Cocoa Barry which is a far superior chocolate to Lindt at 25 bucks a kilo, and you can buy as much, or as little as you need!

i am sure there are significant cuts you can make to the budget - so keep yur eyes open - and happy cooking:-)