Sage, courgette and pasta with pine nuts

Sage is one of the herbs that positively thrives in my garden, it has even moved house with us! And it has been replanted on several occasions.
Apart from pairing it off with onion (sage & onion stuffing) and chicken until recently I didn't really know quite what else to do with it.
Sage is a perennial herb with a very strong flavour that tends to overide everything else- so a little bit goes a long way- perhaps if the truth be known I was a little bit afraid of it!
It was after a Italian cookery workshop given by Victor Russo (I will be doing a blog on Italian cooking soon) that I really started using the herb on a regular basis in my kitchen. We didn't actually use it in the workshop on the evening self. But there was something about the look on his face when he described the taste of fried sage with pasta and the words 'Mamma mia' that just days later had me rushing out into my garden to pluck a handful of sage leaves. I always choose the smaller young leaves, they are flavourful and tender. I carefully wash and dry them. You can fry them in butter or olive oil. They become crisp and delicate, the taste is aromatic and simply amazing- spot on Victor!
Fried sage, courgette pasta for two:
Today I was preparing a meal for two and because I wanted something simple, quick and tasty I opted for sage and pasta. I love Italian food and creamy rich sauces but sometimes simplicity is perfection. It was a wholesome and satisfying meal.
I started to cook about 150gr of dried whole wheat pasta.
And grated some (parmesan) cheese that I put in a dish.
I toasted a handful of pine nuts in a dry pan for a few minutes and left aside.
I then heated a little olive oil and fried the (washed and dried) sage leaves (handful), roughly ripped if they are large. They will be done in just a few minutes. These also went to one side.
In the same pan I browned several bacon rashes (chopped) I lastly added a clove of garlic and a spring onion and cooked briefly and set aside.
Using the same pan I stir fried a whole (medium sized) courgette finely diced. When it was done (still al dente) I added a little white wine, and seasoning. (use lemon juice if you prefer)
I drained the pasta which was now ready and added this to the courgette with nearly all the pine nuts and sage (reserve some for garnishing), the bacon/onion and most of the cheese.
Stir carefully and serve. Sprinkle the remaining cheese, pine nuts and sage leaves and drizzle with virgin olive oil. Mamma mia!

This was a bit haphazard but a rough list of ingredients:
fresh Sage leaves
150gr Pasta
several bacon rashers (or pieces)
parmesan cheese
Olive oil/ utter
pine nuts, about 30gr
1 medium courgette
70-100ml wine oo dash lemon juice/ zest
salt pepper, virgin olive oil

Now I just hope I'm not going to get 'pine nut syndrome' or 'pine mouth' as it's widely referred to- an intriguing taste disorder, occurring 1-3 days after consumption of certain pine nuts and lasting anything up to two weeks! The symptoms are a bitter metal taste in the mouth making practically all other food and drink unpalatable! Even water tastes likes battery acid!
How very odd! It's something I luckily haven't (yet) experienced. Even stranger while some people get this taste disturbance, others do not, even though they have eaten from the same batch of nuts. So perhaps there is a genetic factor involved and I am just one of the lucky ones. I do get a very disagreeable odour when I eat asparagus- but it doesn't stop me eating it!
While 'pine mouth' sounds very unpleasant it doesn't actually seem to be harmful so I will keep risking it!

Apparently the 'culprits' are largely from China so try and stick with ones that you know the origin of- (European nuts are claimed to be fine) although obviously it is difficult when ordering in a restaurant to know the source of the seeds.
It is unclear whether or not toasting/roasting the nuts makes a difference- but I always toast mine.
It can be extremely upsetting for the sufferers since the cause is not immediately apparent and these symptoms can suggest anything from Diabetes, brain tumors and liver failure! But thank goodness for Google: the link to pine nuts can soon be made. (it is so widespread)
But there are still people unaware of the unpleasant side effects of pine nuts and for this reason I am mentioning it on my blog- I would hate to put anyone off their food! I can hardly imagine it myself- fancy all food and drink tasting vile- even chocolate!
Apparently if you are unfortunate to fall victim the best thing to mask the taste is spicy food, another reason to keep checking my blog- coming soon recipe's from my Thai themed evening.