This week in the kitchen

Wednesday/21-Jul-10: Back from Prague and the Jura today. The food in Prague was not especially interesting. Lots of meat, few veggies. The main courses on menus seem to be served without any accompaniments, so if you want veg, you must ask for it. There were a lot of Italian restaurants and we had an excellent Italian meal the first night. Then a nice meal with Sam and Pat at Manes on the river, where Ed asked for some broccoli with his meat and got an enormous pile of it. Then a forgettable Chinese meal with S&P's bike group; my squid was the best on the table. Ed and I had a very nice meal at another restaurant on the river. And the four of us at another restaurant on the river, where fries were the veg.

Stopped from a quick grocery shop in St. Junien. Dinner was a salad of mâche with some strips of duck breast, floured and crumbed and sautéed. For afters, we had some of the Morbier and Bleu de Gex cheeses that we brought back from the Jura.

Thursday/22-Jul-10: A light lunch today with Eggs Baked in Tomatoes (RealFast) for the CookbooksEtc quiz. Served with a pilaf, using up the mushroom-soaking liquid from the freezer. Not bad. I seriously de-seeded Ed's tomato, so we are curious if this helps his allergy/sensitivity problem.

Friday/23-Jul-10: The quiz was canceled, but we ate dinner at Chez Cisseen anyhow.

Saturday/24-Jul-10: I defrosted the small, organic Toupargel chicken and made Butterflied Grilled Chicken with a Chile-Lime Rub (Eating Well, soone to be MC). Either something was wrong with the chick or it was grilled wrong (too fast?). Tasty but tough. I'll do this one again before long. Served with Green Bean Piquante (MC) and polenta. More Morbier and Bleu de Gex for afters. Then a square of 85% chocolate.

Sunday/25-Jul-10: Soup for lunch today, using up two odd bits of broth and soup in the freezer. Further not much going on cooking-wise. Finally found a date recipe (resides chutney) that wasn't a variation on date-nut bread/cake. Now I have to come up with a complete menu around this salad.

Ed didn't seem to have any reaction to the de-seeded tomato! Now to find a batch of tomatoes and make up some tomato sauce for another try.

CookbooksEtc Ingredient Contest 2010

1. 23-May/28-May: strawberries — Balsamic Strawberries with Arugula and Goat Cheese
   
2. 29-May/4-Jun: cheese — Spinach-Stuffed Anchos
   
3. 5-Jun/11-Jun: whole wheat flour — Ned and Crescent's Favorite Multigrain Pancakes
4. 12-Jun/18-Jun: ground pork or pork sausage — Curried Rice Noodles with Ground Meat
5. 19-Jun/25-Jun: blueberries — Tarte Amandine à la Myrtille
6. 26-Jun/2-Jul: salmon — Almond-Crusted Grilled Salmon with Garlic Sauce
7. 3-Jul/9-Jul: potatoes — Potatoes and Peas in a Yoghurt Sauce
8. 10-Jul/16-Jul: elbow macaroni — Macaroni Salad
9. 17-Jul/23-Jul: tomatoes — Eggs Baked in Tomatoes
10. 24-Jul/30-Jul: dates
    
11. 31-Jul/6-Aug: butterscotch chips
    
12. 7-Aug/13-Aug: pecans