Tabasco and Asparagus Quinoa

FOUND IT: At 101Cookbooks.com.
MODIFIED IT: Just to simplify a bit.

I discovered I like quinoa this spring. I guess that's not a huge leap, considering I also like couscous. This recipe calls for chopped asparagus but I've also made it with pea pods, and I'm assuming it'd probably work with any vegetable of a similar shape and texture. I'm planning on trying it with green beans next.

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 25 drops tabasco sauce
• 3/4 tsp salt, divided
• 1 lb fresh asparagus, cut into bite size pieces (or pea pods, or green beans, etc)
• 2 cups quinoa
• 3 cups water

Combine quinoa, water and 1/2 tsp salt in a large pot. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes, until you can see little curliques in the quinoa (you'll know what I mean when you see them.).

While the quinoa is cooking, combine the butter, mustard, tabasco sauce and salt in a food processor, and let it run until the mixture is light and fluffy. You might have to stop it to scrape down the sides once or twice.

Cook the vegetables via your favorite method. The original recipe says to boil them for a minute and then shock them with cold water. Steaming would likely work too.

Combine the hot quinoa with the butter and vegetables, and stir until it comes together.

Asparagus Quiche

FOUND IT: At Cooks.com

MODIFIED IT: A fair amount.

I'm on a quiche kick lately and had some asparagus to use up. This must have been ok: Four of us ate all but one slice in one sitting.

Ingredients:

Six eggs

1/2 lb fresh asparagus cut in 1 inch pieces (I used closer to 3/4 lb.)

1 cup shredded cheese, divided (recipe called for Swiss, I used cheddar jack)

1 unbaked premade pie crust*

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tbsp onion powder (I substituted Penzey's Fox Point Seasoning)

1/2 tsp salt

Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

* - I've tried several recipes for making my own pie crust. Homemade pie crust is fine but in the end I've decided it's one of those things that's just not worth the time. A premade pie crust is quick, easy and the difference isn't huge.

Preheat oven to 375, with a cookie sheet in it.

Cook asparagus via your preferred method. (Original recipe called for boiling, but I steamed instead.) Arrange asparagus and half the cheese in the bottom of the pie crust. Combine eggs, milk, sour cream, onion powder, salt and pepper in a large bowl, then pour over asparagus and cheese.

Put the quiche on the cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes. Then, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and continue baking until quiche is set in the middle, roughly 5-10 minutes more.

Asparagus Tempura

Found it: In Everyday with Rachael Ray

This is an interesting new way to serve asparagus, and I'm always interested in new ways to serve vegetables. It's a little plain, but you could probably fix that by adding more spices to the batter or adding spices to the finished product. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm guessing you could also replace the seltzer water in the batter with beer for beer battering.

Ingredients:

1 lb asparagus
4 cups vegetable oil (just use enough to get about an inch/two inches in the bottom of the kettle you're using, or use a deep fryer if you have one)

For Batter:

3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup corn starch
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup seltzer water, room temperature

For dipping sauce:

1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey

Heat the oil in a large saucepan for several minutes on high, then turn it down to medium-high to maintain temperature of about 375 degrees. Combine all batter ingredients to form a sticky batter. Dip asparagus into batter one at a time and place in the oil. Cook the asparagus in 3-4 batches, each of which will take around 2 minutes. You can keep earlier batches warm in a 200 degree oven if needed. They're done when they're golden brown. Serve hot.

Combine the four sauce ingredients to make a dipping sauce.