Category Archives: Vegetables – Growing

PASTA CAVOLFIORE (Broccoli Pasta)

Ingredients 

1 medium cauliflower broken in to florets

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed

6 anchovies

6 tablespoons of olive oil for the sauce 

6 tablespoons of olive oil for roasting 

190g of any short cut dry pasta

1/2 cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

salt and pepper to taste   

preheat the oven to 200C

Put the raw cauliflower in a bowl, add the olive oil and turn the couliflower over until the florets are well covered. Put the florets in a roasting pan that  will take all the cauliflower in one level. Roast the florets until they are golden. The tips can be a little blackened because that enhances the nutty flavour 

When the cauliflower has roasted, put the pasta on the stove to boil

Use a pot that can contain the florets and pasta together, put the 6 tablespoons of olive oil in the pot and add the garlic and all the anchovies. Turn the heat to low and brown the garlic, the anchovy will melt in to the oil

When the pasta has cooked, save 1/4 cup of the pasta water and drain the pasta. Pour the pasta directly into the anchovy and garlic sauce and mix well. Add a bit of the pasta water to the mix if needed. Serve immediately, put the cheese on the table so everyone can add cheese to taste  

STROMBOLI

We expected 2 friends for dinner tonight and I decided to bake a STROMBOLI instead of the normal bread I always make

I used my standard bread dough recipe, using my own organic milled wheat flour and rolled it out about 0.5 cm thick. Dressed it with Fresh baby Spinach, Caciocavallo cheese, Tomatoes, Capocollo, Salami, Garlic, Parsley, Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper – Most of the Produce, Cheese and Salumi are my own produce

Roll it up thightly

Proof it in one of my spare egg incubators

Bake at 225 C for 30 minutes, turn the heat down to 190 C and bake for another 30 minutes

Ready for the guests

The end product was not only visually appealing, but met with the approval of all !!

UPSIDE DOWN BANANA BOXES

INSIDE TE HATCHERY

For many years I used plastic brooders to grow my small quails in and it worked very well. The problem came having to clean these all the time and since I replace about 10 of these in my hatchery every week, it became a very laborious and unpleasant task. A water blaster was the only way to clean them properly which created a lot of effluent as well. Alternatives were investigated and I settled on Banana Boxes. The advantage is that there is no cleaning as I just replace the used box with a new and clean one. The downside was that I had 10 manure and bedding “soiled” banana boxes every week. I solved this by flattening the boxes and turn them upside down in my garden with the manure and bedding underneath and the box on top. This makes a wonderful source of nutrients fertilising the soil and also an excellent weed mat.


The results are excellent from a plant growth point of view and I have also not seen that many earthworms in all my live. I normally leave the boxes, well watered, for a couple of months before drilling a 40 mm hole about 200 mm deep through the box into the ground, fill it with good quality soil and plant the new plants or seeds it the hole. One needs to pack the boxes down in the beginning (I use old bricks) until the plants are stronger, otherwise the boxes move too much and the hole is not over the seed any more, or the small plants get damaged. After about 1 month the boxes have disintegrated and the bricks can be removed. The plants are now strong enough, weed free and well fertilised.

Ready to plant an Artichoke Forrest

One of the many Tomato beds ready for planting
Brassicas are very happy
Garlic is going very well
Boxes are well disintegrated after 6 weeks

Frittata di Uova di quaglia, Cardi e Asparagi

Quail Egg Frittata with Cardoon and Asparagus

Clean and dice a handful of the cardoon and boil in salted water for about 5 minutes. Dice a handful of Pancetta and fry in a pan large enough for all the ingredients. Ad the Cardoon to the pan and fry with the Pancetta for about 5 minutes. Ad pepper to taste (salt is already in the Pancetta)

Crack about 30 Quail Eggs and ad a handful of grated Parmigiano Reggiano, two tablespoons of water and ground Black Pepper. Beat the eggs slightly with a fork and ad to the Pancetta and Cardoon. Fry slowly until almost set. Now place the pan in the oven with the grill turned to high.

Cut the tips of the Asparagus and fry in another pan with butter and Black Pepper for about 2 -3 minutes.

When the Frittata has set in the oven, decorate with the fried Asparagus and return to the oven until brown. Remove and drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Black Pepper and fresh Basil leaves

Eat with toasted Wholemeal Organic Bread and wash it down with a good wine – Today I tried my Honey Wine, which I make to be dry and it was all GOOD!!

Pasta ai Pomodori Verdi – Green Tomato Pasta

We still have a lot of green tomatoes. They have kept well in a dark spot with the potatoes, but we do need to use them before they start spoiling. We have been eyeing this recipe from Abbruzzo for a while, and today Mrs BYF decided to give it a try.  Because this is lockdown cooking she did not have all the ingredients the real recipe required, so here is the make do one. It was a very nice, fresh tasting pasta sauce, almost spring like. 

4 or 5 medium sized green tomatoes, diced

1 onion chopped

1 big pinch of nutmeg

1/2 cup marjoram

1 stalk of celery, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 hot chilli. We like hot food so use less if you want

6 tablespoons cooking oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Rigatoni or other cut pasta

Soften the onions in the cooking oil. Add the garlic and the chilli, cook until garlic browns a bit. Add the tomatoes and cook covered to release the juices. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water. When the tomatoes have softened, add the marjoram and nutmeg. When the pasta is cooked ladle a soup spoon full of pasta water on to the sauce. Drain the pasta and add to the pan with the sauce. Mix and serve with plenty of grated parmigiano. 

ENJOY!!

Do not forget a glass of home made red!!