Entries by Darryl Butler

Seafood Marinara Sauce

Georgina Adamson

That, served with Il Passaggio pasta, would stretch to feed a mob and give everyone a taste of the sea. 

This recipe will serve 4-6.

1. Start with a good tomato base. Soften 4 cloves of garlic, crushed, and a diced medium onion in a generous amount of olive oil. Then add one tin (or 3 fresh diced) tomatoes, three tablespoons of tomato paste, ¾ cup of white wine, … Read more »

The Heart Goes Last

Margaret Atwood, The Heart Goes Last, Bloomsbury $32.99 (December 2015) 

Lucky for us, Margaret Atwood is still turning them out. Fifty-five publications to date: fiction, poetry, essays and children’s books. I have always enjoyed the work of this Canadian author, especially her futuristic stories such as The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake.

The Heart Goes Last tells a similar story of an horrific future age of economic collapse and high tech solutions. For some it is a life of poverty and crime while … Read more »

Noonday

Pat Barker, Noonday, Hamish Hamilton, $32.99 (November 2015)

Noonday completes the story of Elinor Brooke, Paul Tarrant and Kit Neville, the two previous novels being Life Class and Toby’s Room. It is the first time that Pat Barker has written about the Second World War, her Booker Prize winners being set in the period of the First World War (The Regeneration Trilogy). She places the three friends, who had been together in the Slade School of Art in their youth, … Read more »

Broad Beans (Salad & Hummus)

We all love spring. As a newbie gardener I am very excited to come back after a month      away to see the broad beans that were sown months ago laden with pods. If your broad beans are young enough they don’t need to be double peeled,
but in most cases after shelling your pods of beans, you blanch them in boiling salted water for a minute or so, refresh them in cold water and then peel the outer skin of … Read more »