Sunday, November 30, 2008

Creamy chicken, asparagus and tarragon pies

Makes 4

Ingredients
400g chicken thigh fillets, trimmed, cut into 2cm cubes
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/3 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed, cut into 2cm lengths
1/2 cup thickened cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves
4 sheets filo pastry
olive oil cooking spray
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Place chicken and flour in a large bowl. Toss to coat.
Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until soft. Remove from pan and set aside. Increase heat to high. Cook chicken for 3 to 5 minutes or until cooked through.
Return onion mixture to pan. Add wine, stock, mustard and asparagus. Simmer, uncovered, for 2 minutes. Stir in cream and tarragon. Reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until thickened slightly. Season with pepper. Spoon chicken mixture into four 1 1/4 cupcapacity ovenproof dishes.
Place 1 sheet of filo pastry on a flat surface. Spray with oil and top with another sheet of filo. Cut pastry in half crossways. Repeat with remaining filo and oil. Scrunch up each piece of filo and place on top of filling. Spray pies with oil and place on a baking tray.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until pastry is golden. Serve.


Recipe by Kim Coverdale

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Poultry Trucks and Harmful Bacteria

Poultry trucks apparently trail an airborne plume of potentially harmful bacteria, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers.

The results suggest that motorists and those who live along roads traveled by chicken trucks may be exposed to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The study urged further investigation and possibly the changing of transport methods in areas of intense poultry production.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Turkey prices push charities to chicken

The price of turkeys increased enough for Thanksgiving this year that some churches and charities that feed the needy for the holiday are busy adjusting their menus.

The American Farm Bureau reports that the price of an average turkey, about 16 pounds, is $19.09 this year, or about $1.19 per pound. That is a 9 cent per-pound increase, or a total of about $1.44 per turkey, from Thanksgiving in 2007.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Chicken registry ?????

Fayetteville Arkansas officials, are trying to peck out an ordinance to allow up to four hens per home while exploring what types of chicken registry is proper. Chicken Registry

Friday, November 14, 2008

Chicken Killer Free To Kill Again

A man in England who forced a chicken to drink whisky and blew cannabis smoke in its face before suffocating it, smashed another hen’s head repeatedly against a shed wall until its neck snapped was spared jail today.

The man was sentenced to an 18-month community order with supervision and ordered to pay £8 compensation to the hens’ owner.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Something out of a Hollywood horror flick

When residents of St. Marys, Ont., woke up Friday morning, their town looked like something out of a Hollywood horror flick.

The main street was literally covered in blood.

Chicken blood poured onto Queen Street around midnight when a tanker truck spilled its load from a Schneiders poultry plant.

Provincial police say the driver was charged with having an insecure load after a valve broke on the truck and sent blood gushing into the road.

The Ontario Environment Ministry and the town’s public works department were on the scene cleaning up the spill.

The odour was strong, but sand was spread on the blood to help the cleanup proceed smoothly.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Commercial Producers Play Chicken with Avian Flu

In the late 1980s thousands of chickens died from a cancer caused by a virus known as avian leukosis virus J because they were all descended from a few roosters susceptible to the disease.

This is just one example of how a lack of genetic diversity can imperil livestock and agriculture. Similar instances abound from the Irish potato famine of the 19th century to cattle raised for meat—one bull named Ivanhoe passed on his genetic susceptibility to an immune system disorder to roughly 15 percent of all the Holstein bulls in the U.S. today.
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