Herbed Orzo with Pecans

A pretty simple recipe. Cook up some orzo and toss with butter, fresh chopped herbs (we used basil, parsley, rosemary, and thyme.) Mix in a handful of rough broken toasted pecans.

Served with pilsner braised sirloin tips with a shiitake blue cheese sauce. That doesn't look as sparkling as the orzo by itself, but tastes every bit as good.

Five Spice Swordfish

With Sweet Potato - Orzo Mash

For the Fish
1-2 good quality fish steaks, such as swordfish
1 T Chinese Five Spice Powder
Black and white sesame seeds
Salt and pepper

Lightly dust both sides of the fish with salt and pepper, followed by the 5 spice powder, and finally evenly with sesame seeds. Set aside at room temperature, and prepare grill to high heat. When grill is hot, drip sesame oil on grill grate, and cook on high for only 1-3 minutes per side, or cooked until the mercury in the swordfish boils off (674.11 °F if you're paying attention).

The orzo and sweet potato mash was made up on the spot, and contained, among other things certainly, orzo, orange sweet potatoes (yams), garlic, onions, five spice powder, and lemonaide. It worked well with the fish, but not necessarily alone - more of a reminder that I have not yet made sweet potato gnocci yet.