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J: Well it hasn't been a particularly Sunday Dinner filled two months. Or however long it's been. Denise was in town for a visit and she had to make a reservation a month in advance to make sure I was going to make dinner the Sunday she was in town. April was a busy month, with a trip to Mammoth, a trip to Death Valley, and a trip to Las Vegas. Then in May, I had more trips to Chicago for work, and a couple were on weekends. I had to make my roommate Dave's birthday dinner on the Monday of his birthday. So all this is to say, you haven't missed much. I'm not too far behind. And to top it all off, I think you already have some of the recipes of the things I made. Let's start with Denise's dinner. I made minestrone with the recipe from my pressure cooker cookbook. The main course was my spinach lasagna. I'm pretty sure you have both of those recipes. The real winner meal was a few weeks ago when Joe came back from a fishing trip with yellowtail he'd caught. I found a recipe in Bon Apetite for mango jalepeno salsa that was fantastic. Of course it only really works when mangos are in season, but they are and it did. Here it is, doubled, with a few adaptations. 5 mangos, (about 5 inches long), peeled, seeded, chopped 2 red bell peppers, chopped 1 cup balsamic vinegar (the cheap kind) 1 cup apple cider vinegar 2 cups water 2 cups chopped onion 8 garlic cloves, chopped 7 green jalepenos, sliced Simmer all ingredients in a heavy large saucepan until reduced to 5 cups, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour. Puree about "half way" with a hand blender, or a use a regular blender. Leave a little chunky. Chill. I BBQed the fish and served it over brown rice with the salsa on top. I also grilled some vegetables -- bell peppers, zuchini, asparagus -- and served it over brown rice with the salsa on top. Everyone pretty much agreed that just eating the salsa over brown rice was pretty darn okay with them too. I also made salad with Japanes ginger dressing, the kind you get at almost any japanese restaurant or sushi bar here. I got the dressing recipe from Gourmet Magazine, which did a story about Iciban P.B., a local cheap-but-great japanese place in Pacific Beach. The story printed the restaurant's recipe. 3 Tbsp minced carrot 3 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced 2 Tbsp chopped lemon 1 medium onion, chopped 3/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar 3/4 cup water 1/2 cup soy sauce 3/4 cup vegetable oil 2 Tbsp ketchup 1/8 tsp salt 1/4 tsp ground black pepper Blend in blender until smooth I'm not sure why any of this has to be minced in advance if your blender is any good. I coarsly chop, at best. This makes a lot, about a quart, I think. Bruce