Any "like to cook" foodies here?

[Aleh]

Since my, ah, "triumphant" return to this forum, I might as well share a few of my own recipes. I've written a few of them out elsewhere on the Internet, but... well, might as well do so here.

So we'll start with one that I haven't posted elsewhere: My recipe for a rather interesting tomato-fennel salad.

Equipment:

• A salad bowl.
  
• A chopping board.
  
• A chef's knife.
  
• A wooden spoon or stirrer.
  
• A steel or aluminum frying pan capable of tolerating high heat. 
  
• A stove burner. Gas is preferred -- if you're using a glasstop or coil burner, transfer the pan to another burner whenever I tell you to turn off the heat.
  
• A kitchen sink (for washing vegetables).
  

Ingredients:

• Lettuce, or your favorite salad greens.
  
• 1-2 decent-sized tomatoes, the fresher the better. You'll want enough diced tomato to cover the top of the salad in a reasonably thick layer.
  
• Roughly 1 cup of freshly and roughly-chopped fennel. From experience, this uses 1/3 to 1/2 of a bulb. Think "one inch strips".
  
• About half a pepper (red works best flavor-wise, IMHO, but good presentation involves contrasts. You may want to substitute orange, yellow, or even green pepper to taste).
  
• Olive Oil
  
• Feta or a crumbly goat cheese.
  

Wash and dry lettuce, and layer on the bottom of your salad bowl. Julienne the pepper. Add the pepper to wherever you're storing the fennel.

Put the frying pan on a burner and add a bit of olive oil -- a little more than you normally would to saute. Put the burner on high. When you start to see vapor rise from the oil, toss in the fennel and pepper.

(Alternately, use this method.)

Stir regularly, continuing to saute until the fennel is reasonably cooked and has changed color, becoming slightly yellowish and transparent (but still crunchy). Turn off the burner and add a bit more olive oil. Stir a bit more, until it stops sizzling and some of the olive oil remains visible as fluid.

Dice the tomato and spread over the lettuce. It should make a reasonably thick layer. If you need more tomato, dice another.

Toss the contents of the frying pan (which should have cooled down some more by now, but still be warm) on top of the tomato and lettuce.

Crumble the feta or goat cheese on top of all of this.

Serve.