Monday/30-Jul-18: Dinner was a half recipe of Creamy Prawn Curry (200Budget, p188). This was good, easy, and fast. Might have had too much shrimp, though. A half recipe calls for 300g cooked shrimp. I usually use half of this for the two of us, so we had a lot of shrimp. I made, more or less, the Spiced Coconut Rice that was a suggested accompaniment. I didn't have chopped creamed coconut; I just used the rest of the pack of coconut milk that I used for the curry, topped up with water. Then I made (sort of) Southeast Asia Broccoli from FoodNetwork. They won't show recipes from the .com site in Europe now, so I had to look at a cached version. This was good, but a bit salty from the fish sauce. It was good mixed with the curry and rice. For dessert, we finished the tapioca pudding.
Tuesday/31-Jul-18: I had the idea to sneak in some home-made pasta today. Cleaned off the counter and got out the recipe I intended to use, only to discover that I'd forgotten that it wanted a serious amount of parlsey and I didn't buy any last week. Easily discouraged, I used frozen tagliatelle to make a half recipe of Tagliatelle con Salsa di Noci—Tagliatelle with Walnuts and Marscapone (Top100Pasta, p12). Having no mascarpone in the fridge or freezer, I used cream cheese, which was the suggested alternative. This was quite good although it would have liked a little bit of the pasta water to loosen the sauce up a bit. Before the main, we each had an artichoke bottom with green tapenade and half a crottin de Chavignol, with the cheese melted under the grill. Following the pasta, there was a big salad of roquette/arugula. Then we each had a Rustic Cherry Tart (web), more or less. I had frozen cherries that needed to be used, as well as some squares of pâte feuilletée, which I used instead of making pastry myself. Pretty good this was. Ed has his with cream.
I didn't get the list made today, so it looks like we'll shop on Thursday instead of tomorrow. Start of new month means new cookbook-of-the-month, which takes some research that I hadn't done in preparation. Oh well.
Yogurt on overnight.
Wednesday/1-Aug-18: Finished the list today, whew.
Oops, didn't remember that the lentils for tonight's dinner needed to be soaked for 3-4 hours. So I precooked those a bit to make a quarter recipe of Palestinian Rice with Lentils and Browned Onions (WorldVeg, p404). Served with a half recipe of Pumpkin or Hubbard Squash Cooked with Bengali Seasonings (WorldVeg, p289). Used a good chunk of our first winter squash from the potager. (These were supposed to be acorn squash but clearly aren't. Picked two more this evening. Tomorrow we'll pick the first of the other sort of winter squash we have. Both these are burying the zucchini.) Unfortunately my mustard oil was a bit rancid so the dish had an unpleasant taste. Served with Sliced Tomatoes in a Tomato Sauce (WorldVeg, p303). This was good, but I overlooked the instruction about cutting the tomatoes into only three slices. It would have been better that way I expect. Little ice creams for dessert.
Thursday/2-Aug-18: Shopping today.
Our meal was Seared Salmon with Pesto Fettuccine for Two (web). This was possible because I found some refrigerated pesto, which turned out to be pretty good, at Grand Frais on my last visit. I'll freeze the rest of this up in small portions tomorrow. Couldn't find whole wheat fettuccine, so I used whole wheat spaghetti already in house. Ed barbecued the salmon, along with slices from the rest of yesterday's squash. This was pretty bland really, but worked ok. He thought thicker slices worked better than thin. For starters we had artichoke bottom with green tapenade and goat cheese, grilled. For dessert there was store-bought riz au lait with red currants.
Friday/3-Aug-18: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Le Filet de Poulet à la Crème Fraîche Chavroux. (This is from a new Chavroux product; I've not found an online source for the recipe.) First oddness, the recipe calls for filets de poulets, which are generally kip filets or skinless, boneless chicken breast halfs; but the photo shows what looks like a skin-on kip filet, with a bit of wing bone sticking out. Never seen a chicken breast like that for sale. I used kip filets. They are cooked in a 180C oven 10min on one side, 2min on the second; this worked fine, to my surprise. The sauce wanted 1.5 soupspoonsful of the crème fraîche. That wasn't nearly enough to deal with 150g of sliced mushrooms (mine were shiitakes). I topped it up as needed. Made some sautéed potatoes with the rest of the potatoes on hand. Reheated the peas and corn. Mini ice cream bars for dessert. We're full.
An interesting thing about the chicken dish is that the kip filets were cooked in the oven, 375F, 10min on the first side, 2min on the second. The kip filets were fairly flat, and fit into the largest dish that will fit in my little, old toaster oven. Interesting, rather low-fat, way to cook them.
Yogurt on overnight.
Saturday/4-Aug-18: Using up one zucchini and a roasted beet, our starter was (more or less), Zucchini Beet Salad (web). I made a halfish recipe, one beet and one zuke (cut on mandolin rather than spiralized). This was good, but the half recipe was really too much as a starter for the two of us, and not quite enough for a main. Odd portions, but yummy.
Our main was Grilled Pork Skewers with Green Mango (Thrill, p158). The recipe serves four supposedly. A half recipe would have served three, but we managed to eat it all. Very tasty. Served with All-Purpose Rice and Beans (BigFlav, p262). Even though I used borlotti beans (have no canned black beans in the stash), this was still yummy. Stuffed we were. We drank a bottle of Brin (a Fronton, 100% negrette), which I liked better than Ed. Just wanting the taste, I finished with two tiny slices of Chaource which was on sale last week.
Sunday/5-Aug-18: The menu planner needs a good talking to. A stir-fried Chinese meal on a super-hot day probably wasn't the best choice. But it used up some of the pineapple juice malingering in the fridge. And it was super-delicious.
We had World's Greatest Lemon Chicken (Chinatown, p73; cookbooker). I been told this truly was the best lemon chicken, and I think that was right. Really tasty. Served with plain rice and Hot and Spicy Wrinkled Beans (Chinatown, p106). I've made the green beans a number of times. It was still good.
Made some Butterscotch Tapioca Pudding (MC) in the morning. This one was only the French tapioca. Worked fine. Yay!
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no for Jul, no for Aug; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Big Flavors of the Hot Sun, Thrill of the Grill, License to Grill
This month: #4 PASTA: yes for Jul, no for Aug; #5 BREAD: no for Jul, no for Aug; #6 GUESTS: yes for Jul, no for Aug
Monday, July 30, 2018
Monday, July 23, 2018
This week in the kitchen
Monday/23-Jul-18: Our main course was Shish Kebab (Grilled Meat on Skewers), Marinade I (Roden, p204; cookbooker). Buzzed all the marinade ingredients (olive oil, lemon juice, onion, bay leaf, thyme) with the staff mixer. Easy and really tasty. Accompanied by Eggplant with Tomatoes (Roden, p286) and the store-bought Moroccan couscous mix. All delicious. Drank most of the Chateau St Louis Esprit with the meal. Very good. Very sorry we bought only one bottle.
Yogurt on overnight.
Tuesday/24-Jul-18: Reheated the zucchini-cheese casserole for dinner, with a big salad. Finished the Esprit. Not as good with the casserole as it was with the lamb.
Wednesday/25-Jul-18: Farewell lunch with Patrice and Wim today. Nothing happening in the kitchen tonight.
Shopped today. Bought a new yogurt starter since the last one has gone sour very quickly, after less than a month.
Thursday/26-Jul-18: Hot weather. In spite of that, dinner was Thai Fish and Corn Curry (Braises, p86). I made a fullish recipe with about half the fish, which was lieu noir. And canned corn. Good, but might have liked a bit more green curry paste, maybe even 1 tablespoon (instead of 1 teaspoon). Melon with red currants and pineau for dessert. (Wait, isn't that a starter?)
Friday/27-Jul-18: Had lunch with Cath in St Junien, followed by a visit to a small exhibit of ceramics. Nothing happened in the kitchen except ...
Yogurt on overnight, with the new starter.
Saturday/28-Jul-18: It was meant to be pasta-making day, but we decided to go to a movie, so a quick meal was called for. There was ravioli alla panna, with some mushroom ravioli, and a big salad, and some chocolate-covered madeleines for dessert.
Sunday/29-Jul-18: Earlyish meal before we went off for a concert this evening. We started with Pomiane's beet with cream plate, from memory, and made with the goat's milk crème fraîche that I got on sale this week. Yum. Our main was Crunchy Chicken Cutlets (web), with cornflakes. Instead of only two plates for dipping the cutlets (mustard/egg/garlic/cinnamon and crushed corn flakes), I added a third with plain flour. Dipped that first, then the mustard-egg mixture, then the corn flakes. Very good. Served with peas (shucked in the morning) and corn (not used for Thursday's curry), and some chickpea-and-corn pasta. Made some tapioca pudding using the French version of tapioca I bought recently plus the last bit of my US stash. With brown sugar instead of white. It was good.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: A Book of Middle Eastern Food
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
Yogurt on overnight.
Tuesday/24-Jul-18: Reheated the zucchini-cheese casserole for dinner, with a big salad. Finished the Esprit. Not as good with the casserole as it was with the lamb.
Wednesday/25-Jul-18: Farewell lunch with Patrice and Wim today. Nothing happening in the kitchen tonight.
Shopped today. Bought a new yogurt starter since the last one has gone sour very quickly, after less than a month.
Thursday/26-Jul-18: Hot weather. In spite of that, dinner was Thai Fish and Corn Curry (Braises, p86). I made a fullish recipe with about half the fish, which was lieu noir. And canned corn. Good, but might have liked a bit more green curry paste, maybe even 1 tablespoon (instead of 1 teaspoon). Melon with red currants and pineau for dessert. (Wait, isn't that a starter?)
Friday/27-Jul-18: Had lunch with Cath in St Junien, followed by a visit to a small exhibit of ceramics. Nothing happened in the kitchen except ...
Yogurt on overnight, with the new starter.
Saturday/28-Jul-18: It was meant to be pasta-making day, but we decided to go to a movie, so a quick meal was called for. There was ravioli alla panna, with some mushroom ravioli, and a big salad, and some chocolate-covered madeleines for dessert.
Sunday/29-Jul-18: Earlyish meal before we went off for a concert this evening. We started with Pomiane's beet with cream plate, from memory, and made with the goat's milk crème fraîche that I got on sale this week. Yum. Our main was Crunchy Chicken Cutlets (web), with cornflakes. Instead of only two plates for dipping the cutlets (mustard/egg/garlic/cinnamon and crushed corn flakes), I added a third with plain flour. Dipped that first, then the mustard-egg mixture, then the corn flakes. Very good. Served with peas (shucked in the morning) and corn (not used for Thursday's curry), and some chickpea-and-corn pasta. Made some tapioca pudding using the French version of tapioca I bought recently plus the last bit of my US stash. With brown sugar instead of white. It was good.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: A Book of Middle Eastern Food
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
Monday, July 16, 2018
This week in the kitchen
Monday/16-Jul-18: A bit of shopping today to get food for the next days and a replacement pergola. Really all we needed was the canopy, but this was a cheap one and it's an all-or-nothing proposition.
Our meal was a Barbecued East-West Pork Satay (HomTrav, p109). Put this on to marinate before we went out. Easy and yummy. Skipped the Sesame and Chili Oil at the end; thought I might actually make a bit of this, but lost my round tuit. As sides there was plain basmati rice and Stir-Fried Cucumbers and Courgettes (HomTrav, p181). This was good. I cooked the veggies a bit longer than Hom asks and they were nicely done, but a bit crunchy still. Ice cream bars for dessert.
Tuesday/17-Jul-18: Our meal was a halfish version of Sayyadiah—Fish with Rice (Roden, p170; cookbooker), made with lieu noir. Pretty tasty, but an odd recipe. Served with Tourneto—Israeli Cucumber and Bread Salad (Roden, p66), a soup-like soggy salad that I liked but Ed not so much. Fruit for dessert.
Yogurt on overnight.
Wednesday/18-Jul-18: Made Roden's Chocolate Cake (Roden, p414) to take to Cath's for dinner. Easy, nicely low-carb, but dry and not especially tasty. Too bad.
Thursday/19-Jul-18: Shopping today.
Dinner was a half-dose of Curried Potato And Red Lentil Salad (web; cookbooker). This was yummy and definitely a do-me-again recipe. Served with corn on the cob I impulse-bought on Monday. For dessert, we finished of the chocolate cake with lots of cream.
Friday/20-Jul-18: Patrice and Wim came for dinner again. We didn't coordinate, so they brought brochettes from Leclerc while we had Garlic Dijon Shrimp and Salmon Foil Packs (web), both cooked on the barbecue. The salmon was good, but the shrimp were overdone. One side was a part recipe of Herbed Greek Roasted Potatoes with Feta Cheese (web). This was quite good, only needed 20min for the second part of the baking (as opposed to 40min asked). And I made a side dish loosely based on Eggplant or Zucchini with Tomatoes (Roden, p286) using zucchini and some tomato sauce from the freezer. This is like something I'd make myself, really didn't need the recipe, and quite tasty. They brought some toetjes for dessert in honor of Max's 25th birthday.
Saturday/21-Jul-18: Went to prepare the marinade for tonight's chicken and discovered all my ginger was bad. :-( Finally settled on Key Lime Grilled Chicken (MC), with four thighs, as an alternative. As sides there were the last of yesterday's potatoes, rewarmed; yesterday's zucchini with tomatoes, room temp; and some steamed broccoli with garlic and red pepper flakes. For dessert, some ice cream that had been in the freezer for a long time, with a peach, and apricot, and some red currants. We ate well.
Sunday/22-Jul-18: Meant to make something with the blueberries I bought to take to Cath's, but they were all moldy. Pooh.
Dinner was Kousa Bi Gebna—Zucchini with Cheese (Roden, p292; cookbooker), using our first zucchini harvest of the year. This is meant as a side dish, but I served a whole recipe as a main vegetarian dish. (We'll have two meals.) Very tasty. Followed by a salad. Then some mini ice cream bars. We're full.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: A Book of Middle Eastern Food
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
Our meal was a Barbecued East-West Pork Satay (HomTrav, p109). Put this on to marinate before we went out. Easy and yummy. Skipped the Sesame and Chili Oil at the end; thought I might actually make a bit of this, but lost my round tuit. As sides there was plain basmati rice and Stir-Fried Cucumbers and Courgettes (HomTrav, p181). This was good. I cooked the veggies a bit longer than Hom asks and they were nicely done, but a bit crunchy still. Ice cream bars for dessert.
Tuesday/17-Jul-18: Our meal was a halfish version of Sayyadiah—Fish with Rice (Roden, p170; cookbooker), made with lieu noir. Pretty tasty, but an odd recipe. Served with Tourneto—Israeli Cucumber and Bread Salad (Roden, p66), a soup-like soggy salad that I liked but Ed not so much. Fruit for dessert.
Yogurt on overnight.
Wednesday/18-Jul-18: Made Roden's Chocolate Cake (Roden, p414) to take to Cath's for dinner. Easy, nicely low-carb, but dry and not especially tasty. Too bad.
Thursday/19-Jul-18: Shopping today.
Dinner was a half-dose of Curried Potato And Red Lentil Salad (web; cookbooker). This was yummy and definitely a do-me-again recipe. Served with corn on the cob I impulse-bought on Monday. For dessert, we finished of the chocolate cake with lots of cream.
Friday/20-Jul-18: Patrice and Wim came for dinner again. We didn't coordinate, so they brought brochettes from Leclerc while we had Garlic Dijon Shrimp and Salmon Foil Packs (web), both cooked on the barbecue. The salmon was good, but the shrimp were overdone. One side was a part recipe of Herbed Greek Roasted Potatoes with Feta Cheese (web). This was quite good, only needed 20min for the second part of the baking (as opposed to 40min asked). And I made a side dish loosely based on Eggplant or Zucchini with Tomatoes (Roden, p286) using zucchini and some tomato sauce from the freezer. This is like something I'd make myself, really didn't need the recipe, and quite tasty. They brought some toetjes for dessert in honor of Max's 25th birthday.
Saturday/21-Jul-18: Went to prepare the marinade for tonight's chicken and discovered all my ginger was bad. :-( Finally settled on Key Lime Grilled Chicken (MC), with four thighs, as an alternative. As sides there were the last of yesterday's potatoes, rewarmed; yesterday's zucchini with tomatoes, room temp; and some steamed broccoli with garlic and red pepper flakes. For dessert, some ice cream that had been in the freezer for a long time, with a peach, and apricot, and some red currants. We ate well.
Sunday/22-Jul-18: Meant to make something with the blueberries I bought to take to Cath's, but they were all moldy. Pooh.
Dinner was Kousa Bi Gebna—Zucchini with Cheese (Roden, p292; cookbooker), using our first zucchini harvest of the year. This is meant as a side dish, but I served a whole recipe as a main vegetarian dish. (We'll have two meals.) Very tasty. Followed by a salad. Then some mini ice cream bars. We're full.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: A Book of Middle Eastern Food
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
Monday, July 9, 2018
This week in the kitchen
Monday/9-Jul-18: Easy meal today. We ate the rest of the Baked Rishta (Noodles) with Eggplant, which was still very good. Served with Michoteta—Cream Cheese and Cucumber Salad (Roden, p65). The "cream cheese" here is feta, and the salad is delicious. Some cherries for dessert.
Tuesday/10-Jul-18: Lunch out in Poitiers today. Nothing happened in the kitchen.
Wednesday/11-Jul-18: Lunch out in Villebois-Lavalette today. Then an ENT appointment following by shopping at Grand Frais and Biocoop. Nothing happened in the kitchen, except ...
Yogurt on overnight.
Thursday/12-Jul-18: Shopping today.
Dinner was Lemon Salmon Piccata (web). This is definitely a do-me-again. Served with the French "short spaghetti", which is short piece of hollow "spaghetti" shaped like a bass clef (without the dots). And there was corn on the cob from Grand Frais. And some Brillat Savarin, on sale at Grand Frais yesterday. And some green melon from Grand Frais. Then we finished the box of chocolate covered corn flakes. At least one of us is stuffed.
While that was going on, I made up the broth for some Fresh Apricot Ice Cream (Scoop, p76) for tomorrow's dinner.
Friday/13-Jul-18: Patrice and Wim came for dinner this evening. We had melon with pineau for a starter, a quarter melon each. Ed barbecued Grilled Chicken (Roden, p179; cookbooker). Little Ian from Cantique recommended Rice with Fava Beans (Roden, p344), so I made that, a half recipe, with about 800g of favas. (I parboiled and peeled these.) Had planned another salad, but ended up making my favorite salad, Michoteta—Cream Cheese and Cucumber Salad (Roden, p65), again. The Fresh Apricot Ice Cream was yummy.
Saturday/14-Jul-18: Out for dinner with Patrice and Wim tonight. Nothing happened in the kitchen except ...
Yogurt on overnight.
Sunday/15-Jul-18: Our meal was Stir-Fried Chicken & Broccoli with Mango Chutney (web; EW/mar-apr18). Used turkey scallops instead of kip filets. The two of us ate a whole recipe that should serve 4. With fruit for dessert.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 2; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: A Book of Middle Eastern Food
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
Tuesday/10-Jul-18: Lunch out in Poitiers today. Nothing happened in the kitchen.
Wednesday/11-Jul-18: Lunch out in Villebois-Lavalette today. Then an ENT appointment following by shopping at Grand Frais and Biocoop. Nothing happened in the kitchen, except ...
Yogurt on overnight.
Thursday/12-Jul-18: Shopping today.
Dinner was Lemon Salmon Piccata (web). This is definitely a do-me-again. Served with the French "short spaghetti", which is short piece of hollow "spaghetti" shaped like a bass clef (without the dots). And there was corn on the cob from Grand Frais. And some Brillat Savarin, on sale at Grand Frais yesterday. And some green melon from Grand Frais. Then we finished the box of chocolate covered corn flakes. At least one of us is stuffed.
While that was going on, I made up the broth for some Fresh Apricot Ice Cream (Scoop, p76) for tomorrow's dinner.
Friday/13-Jul-18: Patrice and Wim came for dinner this evening. We had melon with pineau for a starter, a quarter melon each. Ed barbecued Grilled Chicken (Roden, p179; cookbooker). Little Ian from Cantique recommended Rice with Fava Beans (Roden, p344), so I made that, a half recipe, with about 800g of favas. (I parboiled and peeled these.) Had planned another salad, but ended up making my favorite salad, Michoteta—Cream Cheese and Cucumber Salad (Roden, p65), again. The Fresh Apricot Ice Cream was yummy.
Saturday/14-Jul-18: Out for dinner with Patrice and Wim tonight. Nothing happened in the kitchen except ...
Yogurt on overnight.
Sunday/15-Jul-18: Our meal was Stir-Fried Chicken & Broccoli with Mango Chutney (web; EW/mar-apr18). Used turkey scallops instead of kip filets. The two of us ate a whole recipe that should serve 4. With fruit for dessert.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 2; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: A Book of Middle Eastern Food
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
Monday, July 2, 2018
This week in the kitchen
Monday/2-Jul-18: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Coriander-Thyme Lamb Chops with Yogurt Sauce (CL/may15; web). Pretty good this was. Cooked the chops under the broiler. The honey in the yogurt sauce really wasn't necessary. With one store-bought tub of (full-fat) yogurt (125ml), there was more than enough sauce. Served with Moroccan couscous, from the health-food store, and some asparagus steamed over water with a big sprig of mint and some lemon peel and topped with a vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice, and minced mint (Thesaurus, p130). We enjoyed half of a bottle of Brousse Terre des Sens (Gaillac) as an accompaniament.
Tuesday/3-Jul-18: Using up lots of odds and ends from the freezer, dinner was a half dose of Poor-Cousin Paella (Secrets, p249), more or less. The meats were chorizo, cooked chicken, serrano ham, scallops, and shrimp. For veggies there was a green bell pepper, artichoke bottom, and green peas. Then a salad. Finished the Brousse for wine. Some chocolate topped madelaines for dessert.
Wednesday/4-Jul-18: Shopping today, a big one, refilling the larder. A storm came through while we were in the store. On the way home we saw the biggest hail we've seen since moving to Europe. Got home to find our pergola cover shredded. No other major damage we'd found. We're lucky.
Dinner was Spicy Swordfish and Artichoke Kabobs (web), made with tuna since there was no swordfish. The recipe says the fish and artichokes should be marinated at least four hours. Mine were only about 30 minutes; one or two hours might be nice, but overnight would be too much. Served with orzo and the last four asparagus stalks I had. (None at Leclerc today.)
Thursday/5-Jul-18: Dinner was late, since I was a bit disorganized when it came to cooking today. We had Baked Rishta (Noodles) with Eggplant I (Roden, p272; cookbooker). No fresh noodles, maybe later in the month. Good stuff, this, although it could have used a bit more spaghetti. Served with Spinach Salad with Yogurt (Roden, p68). Some fruit for dessert.
Friday/6-Jul-18: Dinner was Roasted Lemon Garlic Herb Shrimp (web). (Can't find the site where I got my copy of this, but that's the same recipe.) Then a big salad. Then some chocolate covered corn flake cookies. We had a visitor—one of our neighbor's rough-haired dachshunds was in our yard. Normally he's quite a barky thing, protecting his home turf, but was quite sweet in our yard.
Saturday/7-Jul-18: Early meal today before going for to a concert. We had Melon Zucchini & Pancetta (PatSalads, p22; cookbooker). Turns out I'd made it before but didn't write anything in the book. This time with serrano ham instead of pancetta, and with frisée, which we don't ordinarily like but worked here.
From the storm we've also found a broken tile on roof of the kitchen porch and a hole in the birdbath.
Sunday/8-Jul-18: Ed sang with Cantique today; pizza afterwards. Nothing happened in the kitchen, except ...
Yogurt on overnight.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 2; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: A Book of Middle Eastern Food
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no
Tuesday/3-Jul-18: Using up lots of odds and ends from the freezer, dinner was a half dose of Poor-Cousin Paella (Secrets, p249), more or less. The meats were chorizo, cooked chicken, serrano ham, scallops, and shrimp. For veggies there was a green bell pepper, artichoke bottom, and green peas. Then a salad. Finished the Brousse for wine. Some chocolate topped madelaines for dessert.
Wednesday/4-Jul-18: Shopping today, a big one, refilling the larder. A storm came through while we were in the store. On the way home we saw the biggest hail we've seen since moving to Europe. Got home to find our pergola cover shredded. No other major damage we'd found. We're lucky.
Dinner was Spicy Swordfish and Artichoke Kabobs (web), made with tuna since there was no swordfish. The recipe says the fish and artichokes should be marinated at least four hours. Mine were only about 30 minutes; one or two hours might be nice, but overnight would be too much. Served with orzo and the last four asparagus stalks I had. (None at Leclerc today.)
Thursday/5-Jul-18: Dinner was late, since I was a bit disorganized when it came to cooking today. We had Baked Rishta (Noodles) with Eggplant I (Roden, p272; cookbooker). No fresh noodles, maybe later in the month. Good stuff, this, although it could have used a bit more spaghetti. Served with Spinach Salad with Yogurt (Roden, p68). Some fruit for dessert.
Friday/6-Jul-18: Dinner was Roasted Lemon Garlic Herb Shrimp (web). (Can't find the site where I got my copy of this, but that's the same recipe.) Then a big salad. Then some chocolate covered corn flake cookies. We had a visitor—one of our neighbor's rough-haired dachshunds was in our yard. Normally he's quite a barky thing, protecting his home turf, but was quite sweet in our yard.
Saturday/7-Jul-18: Early meal today before going for to a concert. We had Melon Zucchini & Pancetta (PatSalads, p22; cookbooker). Turns out I'd made it before but didn't write anything in the book. This time with serrano ham instead of pancetta, and with frisée, which we don't ordinarily like but worked here.
From the storm we've also found a broken tile on roof of the kitchen porch and a hole in the birdbath.
Sunday/8-Jul-18: Ed sang with Cantique today; pizza afterwards. Nothing happened in the kitchen, except ...
Yogurt on overnight.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 2; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: A Book of Middle Eastern Food
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no
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