Spicy quinoa and pine nuts

This is a modification of this recipe from 101 Cookbooks: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/tabasco-asparagus-quinoa-recipe.html. Essentially, we didn't have asparagus, so we just left it out, but I'm sure that would be very tasty as well. We also served it with a fried egg on top, which turned out to be delicious.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 25 drops Tabasco sauce
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1/3+ cup pine nuts, toasted
• 2 small shallots minced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 cups quinoa, rinsed
• 3 cups stock or water
• 1/4 cup dry sherry or white wine (optional)
• 1/4 cup crème fraiche or high quality sour cream (optional)
• more Tabasco sauce to taste
• 1 egg per serving

Start by making the Tabasco butter. In a food processor, or with a hand mixer, whip the butter until it is light and airy. Add the mustard, Tabasco sauce, lemon juice and salt. Add more or less tabasco depending on your own taste and how spicy you want it to be, or try a pepper sauce of your liking. We had to add quite a bit, as it seems the butter tames the spice some.

Saute the minced shallot in a dollop of butter or tiny bit of oil for a min or two. Add in minced garlic and almost all the pine nuts. When the pine nuts begin to toast add the quinoa and toast that for one min more. If you're using it, add in the sherry/white wine and let it absorb. Add in your stock or water. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 25 - 30 minutes or until quinoa is tender and you can see the little quinoa curliqueues.

Stir in 3 tablespoons of the tabasco butter. You'll have leftover butter - you can serve that on the side or use it for other purposes. Stir in some extra pine nuts, more tabasco if you want some more heat, and dollop with crème fraiche or sour cream. Top with a fried egg over easy or poached egg.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Baking Powder Biscuits

We're always on the search for the perfect baked goods, and I think we've hit the nail on the head when it comes to good, standard baking powder biscuits. This recipe came from the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook, and the only modification we made was to substitute whole milk for cream in the dough. They come out fluffy inside and crispy outside, and they taste amazing. This recipe will make about a dozen biscuits, depending on exactly how thick you make them.

Ingredients

• 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl.
3. Cut butter into dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or your hands, leaving fairly large pieces.
4. Form a well in the middle of the bowl, and pour in the milk.
5. Using a fork, mix together the milk and dry ingredients until nearly all the flour is incorporated.
6. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter, and press together into a cohesive mass, incorporating the last bit of flour, but don't knead any further than that. The dough should not be smooth.
7. Press dough out so that it is about 1.5-2 inches thick.
8. Using a biscuit cutter, cut as many biscuits as you can, as close together as possible. Gently form the dough back together, press flat and cut as many more as you can. Repeat until dough is used up (I like to munch on the remnants). Avoid working the dough as much as possible, you don't want to develop the gluten structure in the flour.
9. Place the biscuits on a baking sheet, and brush the tops with some heavy cream.
10. Place sheet in the oven for about 25-30 minutes, until biscuits are lightly browned.
11. Remove from oven and eat while still hot!