Didn't stop cooking...

Still cooking most nights, I haven't been taking too many pictures. I do, though, have a few from a few days ago. It was a night I was trying to be creative with what we have--Gonzo Cuisine at its base, baby--and finished off the fennel bulb.

The starch was rice, which is easy and agrees with the missus and myself. I diced up some beef and seasoned it with salt, pepper, and some cayenne. I needed to spice it up a touch because of the other ingredients.

I didn't have any onion or celery--my mirepoix reserves were down to nil. I did have the fennel, which I diced to the same size as the meat, and carrots, which got diced the same (keeping it "nice"). I smashed and minced some garlic, and got ready.

I heated some vegetable oil in a pan and tossed in the carrots and fennel and seasoned. I let them soften a bit, then put in the garlic and red pepper flakes. Garlic turns bitter is you burn it, as do the red pepper flakes. I let it get about three-quarters done and then removed it from the pan, putting it in a bowl to rest.

While it rested, I put in the meat. Here's the meat going next to the resting veg, and the rice slowly going on the side. The reason for the cayenne is because of the fennel and carrots. Fennel has a noticeable flavor that veers from weak-licorice to sweetness-touched-with-anise, while carrots are nondescriptly sweet. Together they could turn a nice dinner into something too sweet. The cayenne helped.

Once the meat was almost done, I returned the vegetables finished it all together. The dicing on the meat meant that it would cook too fast to all be put in together. Separating it made for more dirty dishes, but the right consistency on the meal was the prize.

The dish was easy and turned out to be very tasty. Not really enough green for me, but it worked. Gonzo Cuisine for certain.