Christmas Eve, dinner for one

For the record, bulk quinoa should be well rinsed before cooking. Had I not had coffee with Sarah yesterday, I might have overlooked this important step and ended up with bitter Christmas Eve dinner. Instead, a masterpiece.

Quinoa with sausage and kale

6-8 kale leaves, chopped

12 oz sausage (I would've preferred a local pig, but instead ended up with a tube of 50%-less-fat stuff from the supermarket)

1 cup quinoa

2 cloves garlic

2 dashes caraway

2 dashes cumin

1 dash coriander

1 dash chili powder

1 tsp. coarse ground mustard

1 splash Worcestershire sauce

2 splashes red wine

3 splashes rice vinegar

Step 1. Soak and rinse the quinoa. Soak for 15 minutes or so. If you have processed stuff, you may not need to rinse it. If you've got a sieve, use it. I improvised with a plastic container and a flat spatula.

Step 2. Start the sausage and garlic in a frying pan, medium heat.

Step 3. After rinsing the quinoa, start it a pot. Use about twice as much water as quinoa. Simmer it until the water is all soaked up--15 minutes or so.

Step 4. After the sausage is browned, add the rice vinegar, wine, and Worcestershire sauce, and add the spices, and stir. Then add the kale, and cover. Let everything cook down--this also takes about fifteen minutes.

[Optional step 4.z. Make some fancy salad. I put a few leaves of greens in a bowl and sprinkled in some pine nuts and added some Green Goddess dressing. Fancy! And pour some wine, too. Here's a shocker: what I had on hand (Menage a Trois) goes quite nicely with this dish. Shocker.]

Step 5. Once the quinoa is done, add it to the pan of sausage kale mixture. Stir it all up. If there's still a bit of moisture in the quinoa pan, let the water evaporate off. Duh.

Step 6. Queue up a movie, peel some clementines, and spoon some of the quinoa with sausage and kale onto a plate. Kick back on the couch, think merry Christmas thoughts, and enjoy the evening. Maybe have some dark chocolate squares for dessert. Consider yourself one lucky soul.

Happy holidays, all.