Thursday, June 20, 2013

Lupins, Bowling, Asparagus.

LupinsThat’s a new one on me. I have just discovered the seeds of lupins are made into a flour which is used in baking bread and pastry. Not yer every day pastries and breads mind you. I also understand it is a staple in Portugal where they eat it as a snack, the seeds I am guessing. I discovered all this because a friend in the UK has an allergy to it and it took the medics a while to find out what it was she was allergic to. Always thought it a pretty flower, but I had no idea its seeds were used for food in any way.

I thought of a new reason for my lousy bowling lately, I have been My Balllosing weight and am too weak to bowl well. Only trouble is everyone laughed when I told them. It seemed like an excellent reason to me. Matt isn’t doing much better so I am presuming its the change of alleys. Not quite sure why. It would appear that our winter league will definitely be at Towne Bowl this year as there is no hope any more of a new bowling alley this winter. I think they are still pursuing a venue, but from scratch, it is going to require one heck of a lot of money. A new bowling alley has been opened quite close to us, but it’s 10 pin unfortunately and we prefer the Canadian game of 5 pin.

I introduced a bowling buddy to fresh asparagus the other day and was interested Asparagus & Endive Saladto know what he thought about it, he is totally sold and wants me to get him some more next time I go. I also gave a spear to the woman who cleans for us once a month, she too was sold and wants me to get some for her. It really is a totally different vegetable from the stuff you buy in the grocery store. Last night we had Asparagus and Endive Salad for supper. We both like it a lot. Especially with the orange taste from the dressing.

Here is another British asparagus recipe. I see it calls for 8 spears of asparagus, seems a bit skimpy to me, I think I would use quite a bit more. For double cream, you can use whipping cream or Double Devon Cream if you can find it.

Asparagus, Pancetta and Parmesan Linguine with Chive Cream

British Asparagus – Marcus Bean.
I really like spaghetti carbonara, so this is the perfect dish to combine two things I love, creamy pancetta, good quality linguine, the crunch of the asparagus all finished with a good grating of Pam Lloyd PR Asparagus Recipes (23rd & 25th November 2011)parmesan. Great for a quick meal for family and friends!"

Serves: 2
You'll need:
8 stems of asparagus
50g of thick cut pancetta (diced)
50ml of double cream
50ml of vegetable stock
150g linguine
2 tbsp chopped chives
2 tbsp grated parmesan
Salt and pepper
What to do:
1
Start by cooking the pasta in a pan of slightly salted boiling water until cooked, make sure the pasta is still slightly al dente, drain and drizzle with a little olive oil to stop from sticking together.
2
Put a medium sized frying pan on the heat add a drizzle of oil, finely slice six stems of asparagus, with the other two stems cut into four pieces. Put them all in the pan and sauté on a medium heat, now add the diced pancetta and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the cream, vegetable stock and parmesan, then add the cooked pasta and the chopped chives, cook on a medium heat for 2-3 minutes, if the sauce gets a little thick add a touch of water.
3
Once cooked serve with a grating of fresh parmesan and a little seasoning.

Have a great day
Jo_thumb[2]

18 comments:

  1. I shall look at our lupins in an entirely different way now.
    And I had you down as a ten pin bowler.

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    Replies
    1. Apparently it is used in fancy breads and pastries in the UK Bob, my friend with the allergy is English, living in England. So you may well find lupin in use round your way.

      5 pin was invented in Canada and is much more fun IMHOP than 10 pin. We only do 10 pin when we visit the States.

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    2. Hi Jo,
      1. I only recently learned to eat asparagus, and now love it. Your recipe is very tempting so will copy and paste that one into my "recipe box'.

      2. I have tried and failed to locate a spot on here where I can fill in my email address to get your posts each time. What am I missing. (,Here's my email address perhaps you can do it for me) mpat.bacon@gmail.com Thanks and have a great day!

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    3. I don't know if I can, but there is a line which says 'subscribe by email'.

      I have tried another recipe for supper, it will probably be in my blog tomorrow.

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  2. Your asparagus recipe looks perfect for my diet!!!

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  3. That recipe looks great!
    The alley can make a difference. Even just a different lane can matter. My dad used to bowl leagues and he always said it made a difference. Some were more "wet" than others.

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    Replies
    1. Not sure about the wet bit, but its true they can make a difference, but I would have thought I might have got used to it a bit by now.

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    2. There were always some lanes or alleys that he just never did very well at, no matter how often he bowled on them.

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    3. Cheer me up do. I hope I will get better - I need to concentrate more. Too busy chatting at the moment.

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  4. Is 5 pin like candlpin bowling? Endive has got to be my ultimate favorite in the veggie department. Its nice to be back here...was out a bit but am back. I am going to go see what I missed...I already read your funny orange/marriage story!...

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    Replies
    1. I don't know candlepin bowling, but it is supposed to be a very different game. Basically we have 5 pins and a smaller ball. The pins have different values, a strike is worth 15 points not 10 as in ten pin.

      I like endive too.

      Glad to see you back. It was funny with the kids and oranges.

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  5. Those are the most beautiful flowers I've seen. I would like to have some of those here in the garden. And the pic of asparagus with pasta certainly is making my stomach grumble. I'll have to have pasta this weekend and it will be all your fault. ;)

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    Replies
    1. You're not familiar with Lupins Al? I don't see why they wouldn't grown in Mexico.

      I enjoy pasta but in fact don't eat it very often. Lots of calories.

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  6. Just out of curiosity, what's the average weight of the balls for 5-pin?

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    Replies
    1. Our own are around 3lbs I think. The balls do vary slightly, but not by much.

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    2. Wow, that is a big difference compared to our 10-pin.

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    3. I just dropped you an email. Matt weighed one of my balls this evening, it was 3.5 lbs. When I 10-pin bowl, which is only in the States, I use an 8 lb. although Matt uses a 12 lb. we think, can't quite remember. The lanes are the same length but we have 5 pins only, which have different values, the head pin being 5, the next on both sides are 3 and the corner pins worth 2. In the original game, as invented by a Canadian 100 years ago, you had to get a 2 pin or none of the pins counted. Luckily that was abandoned.

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