“Tricolore” Pasta with Quail Sauce (Home made pasta in the colours of the Italian flag)

I came across these pictures taken over Christmas and remembered that I wanted to post them. The occasion warranted some extra work, and I had a request for home made pasta anyway. The brightness of the colours impressed everyone, including me.

Tricolore Pasta

Make fresh egg pasta dough as described, leaving out two of the eggs as the spinach / beet paste will have some moisture. Divide the pasta dough in to 3 equal parts

For the Colours

Blanch about 250 g spinach and then squeeze our all the water. Process in a food processor to a smooth paste then pass the paste through a fine sieve to have a thick intense green juice. Do the same with 2 medium sized beetroots processed to a thick intense red juice

Method

Mix enough of the green juice into one third of the pasta dough, which should be very dry as one egg was left out, until you have an even coloured pasta dough with a smooth consistency. Repeat the process with a second of the three portions, using the red beetroot juice. The third portion should be corrected with water to ensure all three portions have the same amount of egg and consistency.

Cook in salted water until al dente, (make sure that you cook equal amounts of every colour). Drain the pasta (do not rinse it under the cold tap) and transfer it to the pan with hot sauce. Mix and serve with plenty of grated parmigiano.

The Quail Sauce being a home favorite as we have plenty of quail, goes particularly well with home made parpardelle and did the tricolore a lot of justice on this occasion.

ENJOY !! Do not forget the home made red wine.

Memories of an African Airport

Which of you can claim, as I can, to have landed on Matekane Airport in Lesotho. The runway is 400 meters long and the straight down drop at the end of the runway is 600 meters down a cliff. This was all made a bit more exiting as the pilot, who smelled very heavily of the local fermented maize drink when he arrived three hours late and the co pilot during this time was siphoning some fuel out of a 44 gallon drum with an old hosepipe to fill up the plane. The last straw, after two failed attempts to take off, was the pilot admitting to the only passenger – me – that he does not fully understand the Russian plane. Never the less, we took off from Maseru and landed “safely” at Matekane. Needless to say, I took a donkey taxi down the mountain back to Maseru – taking all of two days.

2016-03-11 - Matekane Airport - Lesotho

GROW FOOD AND ENJOY IT

2016-03-08 - Back Yard Steps

Two years ago when I moved to this property in Dunedin, it had a tidy garden – clay soils covered in plastic sheeting and pebbles with the odd decorative plant sticking through. To the farmer this was unproductive and artificial and should the attached photograph of steps leading to the back garden where I keep all my animals and also have a healthy vegetable garden today, have been taken then, only a hazelnut and apple tree would have been edible plants in the photograph. Today I can harvest at least 20 edible plant species from the area covered by this photograph alone – Apples, Hazelnuts, Chamomile, Olives (two varieties), Parsley, Time (three varieties), Sage (two varieties), Oregano, Marjoram, Zucchini, Rhubarb, Sour Cherries (two varieties) Bay Leave, Black Current, Red Current, Raspberry, Strawberry, Rosemary, Basil (two varieties), Peas and Cape Gooseberries.