Monthly Archives: December 2013

Broad Bean and Bacon Pasta

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Quick, easy and delicious broad bean and bacon (should be proscuitto if you want to pay for it ) pasta sauce. This recipe is enough for 2 greedy people

Use  a large pan, big enough to hold the pasta when the sauce is cooked.

4 handfulls of beans

4 strips of streaky bacon cut in bite size pieces

2 cloves of garlic diced

2 fresh tomatoes diced

1 teaspoon of chopped rosemary or three large sage leaves

2 tablespoons of olive oil

pasta for two any kind will do

While the pasta goes in to the pot, cook the garlic, bacon and herbs until the garlic is soft and the bacon coloured slightly. Add the beans and cook  for about 4 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and heat through. Drain the pasta when cooked and pour in to the pan with the sauce. Mix and serve with a sprinkling of Parmigiana cheese.

Starter platter with quick tasty raw broad bean spread

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Raw Broad bean spread (can also be used as pasta sauce), pickled quail eggs and home made focaccia bread to start the meal. Great to nibble at while the barbecue gets going. I have already posted the recipe for the pickled eggs. The recipe for the spread is based on one of Marcella Hazan’s dishes from the region of Liguria in Italy:

Broadbean Spread (Maro)

about 200 g beans out of the pod and skinned

2 tablespoons of grated Romano cheese. Pecorino will also do

1/2 teaspoon very finely chopped garlic

4 tablespoons best quality extra virgin olive oil. I use a few more because I live olive oil

7 large mint leaves

fresh ground black pepper

1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

Put all the ingredients in to the blender and process to a creamy consistency. Taste and add salt if needed. Should you use Romano cheese you may not need salt at all.

To serve spread thickly on strips of toast or fresh bread, use as a nutritious dip for biscuits and chips, or put a few spoon fulls on fresh cooked hot pasta.

Hatching Results for Coturnix

2013-10-24 - Italian Coturnix 9 Baby Quails 021

The results appears to be promising compared with those from the immediate past. Culling percentage is down from 29% to 16% after only three generations of intense selection and culling, applying the same standards. I know it is only one  set of results, but still promising though.  2013-12-14 – Quail Hatching Results

Buying Water instead of Meat ???

I appreciate this to be a UK article, but suspect the same to happen in New Zealand and every other country in the World!!!

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/06/supermarket-frozen-chicken-breasts-water