[Xenalyte]

My cooking ordinarily does NOT rule, but last week I really scored.

I got a jar of Canyon Foods artichoke pesto and a pound of frozen shrimp.

I boiled a pound of penne pasta, flash-boiled the shrimp, and tossed the two together with the pesto.

Add a bag of salad (with some extra cherry tomatoes), garlic bread and a bottle of Glamor Puss merlot (a fabulous under-$10 New Zealand wine), and man oh MAN, was that dinner good.

[SAJ]

Here's a nice easy dessert for a dandy meal like that(sounded great, btw).

Virgin Bananas Foster au Chocolat

3 ripe bananas, sliced lengthwise
5-6 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 oz orange juice
2 oz pureed and strained cherries or raspberries (regular ol' cherry juice is fine)
1 tbsp unsalted butter
cinnamon to taste, fresh grated is best, powdered is fine
nutmeg to taste, fresh grated is definitely best, powdered is OK
couple oz. shredded coconut or well-chopped nut of your choice (pecans are dynamite here)

In a shallow dish, pour the fruit juice, add dash of cinnamon and/or nutmeg if you wish. Soak bananas in juice, 3-4 minutes a side, turn once (or, if you're lazy like SAJ, just do 'em for 6 minutes, flat side down, and don't bother turning 'em), and refrigerate. Put a large dinner plate in the freezer.

While bananas macerate, melt chocolate, brown sugar, and butter in a small saucepan over LOW heat, adding 1/2 tsp grated cinnamon and 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg as it melts. Stir well until creamy, should not be runny.

Place bananas on the frozen dinner plate, flat side up; if a little juice is dripping, who cares? Pour or spoon chocolate slowly onto bananas, end to end. Neatness doesn't count. Grate a little more cinnamon and/or nutmeg on top if you like, couple of shots of powdered sugar, too, if you want. Top w/shredded coconut or chopped nuts, put entire plate into freezer for 10-20 minutes (depends on how cold your freezer is).

Remove from freezer (having previously chased all pesky non-cook spoon-lickers away with any convenient Mossberg or Uzi), cut each slice into thirds or quarters, garnish if you like with a little chopped mint. Serve on any plates you like, or just leave 'em on the frozen plate, toothpicked.

You can serve these w/your favourite ice cream, but I rarely bother; the blasted things vanish too fast (g!)

Buono appetito, y'all !

Psst, oh yah, forgot -- if you want, take the remaining fruit juice mixture, add 1-2 tsps sugar, 3 oz water, and a good healthy shot of Grand Marnier. Put over medium-low heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Chill well, then pour this syrup over the bananas before cutting. Mo' bettah, I gar-on-tee. (g!)