Truly. Deeply. Madly

So while at Azkatraz, on Monday evening, I believe it was, a small mob of fanartists (and a few writers as well,) found ourselves at the Chinese restaurant across the street from the Con hotel. I ordered their 'braised green beans', and when they arrived, shared them around the table, saying that I made them at home. This was met with a request for the recipe.

And therein lies the problem; because it's not so much a recipe, really, as it's a process. I can't give you weights and measures, but I'm married to a photographer, and so I can give you a tutorial.

( And that's just what I'm gonna do! )
And that's how it's done.
Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Marriage proposals? Political opinions?
Do please let me know how this comes out when you try it in your own kitchens, won't you?

I improvised this sauce for some fish I picked up at S&L today, and it was AMAZING! Seriously, my mouth is still awed by how good this was. So, as usual, I have to brag about it by way of inflicting the recipies on you!

2 cans of diced tomatoes.
1/4 - 1/2 an ear of garlic, minced -- Dominus said it looked to him like about four or five large cloves, all in.
2-3 T olive oil, with a splash of sesame to round it out.
2-3 T balsamic vinegar
2t chili powder
1 pinch red pepper flakes -- to taste, this.
1t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground cardamom
1/2 t orange rind
1t salt
1/4 - 1/2 t ground black pepper
1 bunch scallions, chopped
5 - 10 shakes of tabasco sauce -- again, to taste here.

* By way of making things easier on yourself, measure out all your dried spices into a small dish before you start cooking. Also, chop everything that needs chopping before anything goes on the heat. Trust me, this is the way you want to cook, especially when making a sauce.

* Put oils, salt, vinegar and garlic into a saucepan, and turn the heat up high. You want to try and get it to reduce just a bit, and to get the garlic thoroughly inundated with the salty-sour goodness of the vinegar. I let mine cook for a couple of minutes, but not more than five, then I put the tomatoes and spices in.

* Once that begins to bubble, add the scallions, and the tabasco, stir it all down, and let it simmer while you attend to whatever you're going to dash the stuff all over. In our case, it was pan-seared grouper and mushrooms, but this sauce will work incredibly well with eggplant, zuchinni, chicken, shark, portobellos, and probably even tofu, if you're of that persuasion. It brought out the sweetness of the grouper incredibly well, while adding a nice range of flavours to what would otherwise have been a pretty bland meat. What I did was lightly saute some rough-chopped mushrooms in a nearly-dry pan -- just some olive oil spray, -- until they started to shrink and colour down a bit, then I moved them to a plate, sprayed the skillet once more, got it hot, and slapped the fish fillets in. Once they'd started to cook, I dashed the sauce all over them, and stuffed the whole shebang into a 450f oven for about five minutes or so. If you're cooking veg, or chicken, this will obviously take longer.

We served this on a bed of lemon pepper quinoa, with brocolli on the side, along with Ravenswood Red Zinfandel -- which is a drier vintage than I usually like, but with this dish, it was perfect.

Dominus agrees that this isn't a sauce for strong-tasting, or fatty meats like pork, beef, salmon, or shellfish. And it really wouldn't go at all well with pasta, but with quinoa or rice, and a nice, mild base? Perfection.

Try it yourselves, and see if you don't agree!
Oh, and also, please let me know what you decide to put under it, and how it works out. Y'all are my official test kitchens, you know that, right?

Dominus and I have developed an absolute obsession with this grain. It's delicious even by itself, but it's also incredibly versatile, and best of all? Gluten free, so celiacs can eat it without fear.
It cooks up about like rice -- two parts liquid to one of grain, done in about twenty minutes on the stovetop, and it comes in white, and red varieties. The red, I think, has a bit of an earthier taste, and takes just a little longer to cook than the white, but I like to mix both kinds when I cook it. Oh, it also keeps very well, and even tastes good cold the next day.

This is our favorite way to prepare it:
Clue's Lemon Pepper Quinoa

Shopping list:
One cup of quinoa. (It's pronounced 'keen-wa', by the way.)
around two cups of broth -- you can use chicken, or mushroom, whichever you prefer. This measurement is not exact, because the juice of the lemon makes up part of your liquid, and the total should be two cups, so subtract as necessary.
1T butter
1 large shallot, minced
1 lemon, juiced, and the zest grated off.
1 t salt
Several twists of black pepper

* Grate the zest off the lemon before you slice it -- that makes it a lot easier.
* Juice the lemon into a two cup measure, and make up the balance with broth.
* Mince the shallots, then put them into a saucepan with the lemon zest, the salt, and the butter, to brown a little.
* When they start to soften and look translucent, add the quinoa, and toast that in the mix a bit. (Less than a minute will do.)
* Add the broth to the saucepan, then add the salt, and cover.
* When the broth boils, turn the heat down to a simmer, and finish cooking it as you would a pan of rice.
* I find that this serves four comfortably -- that is, Dominus, me, and two portions put by for lunches.

I have served this as a side dish to plain and fancy meals, mild, spicy, ethnic, American, you name it. I have yet to find something this really doesn't go with, it's so tasty.
As usual, please let me know how it works out, if/when you manage to try it in your kitchens!