Quinoa, Apple Pie, Aoili

I made a sausage pasta for friends that we had over for dinner a couple weekends ago. I used sweet Italian sausage that I had to squeeze out of the casings. There were two uncooked sausages leftover from the package so I decided to make a quinoa dish with them. Included in the dish were the sausages, carrots, zuccini, and shallots. I may have even sprinkled chopped chives in at the end, but now I can't remember, as it has been a while since I made this. I folded in grated Parmesan cheese at the end. Super yummy, and I believe quinoa is one of those super grains. Now, on to my apple pie. Yes, I baked a homemade apple/pear pie. The bottom of the crust was store bought, but everything else was from scratch. I had to use up the pie crust that I thawed for quiche that I didnt' end up making. Since I had some fresh apples & pears, I decided to try something outside of my comfort zone. It looked great, and it tasted alright, but I wasn't happy with the filling. I made it with less sugar than the recipe called, which was good, but the apples and pears were not as soft & moist as they should've been. Maybe I needed a little more water when cooking, or I should've cooked them longer. I don't know. But, I feel good that I did it, and I will try again.

I used a tart dough that was intended for a quiche, so it had no sugar in it. To try and get a sweet crust, I did an egg wash and sprinkled course rainbow sugar on top. Yes, rainbow...it's what I had.

Aoili - this one I made with champagne vinegar & whole grain mustard. Ooh, it was, in the words of my husband, "Divine."

1 egg yolk

1 tsp whole grain mustard (or dijon)

1 cup canola oil

to taste, champagne vinegar, salt & freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolk until the color begins to turn a little pale. Whisk in the mustard. Slowly drizzle the oil into the bowl while whisking, whisking, whisking. If the aoili starts to get too thick before you finish drizzling all the oil, you can start to add some vinegar to loosen it. When all the oil is emulsified into the eggs, add more vinegar as needed, and season with salt and pepper to your liking.

We had this aoili alongside roasted red potatoes for dipping.