This week in the kitchen

Monday/22-Feb-21: Leftover fish pie for dinner, with steamed broccoli and carrots. Some store-bought lait au semoule for after.

Tuesday/23-Feb-21: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was Soupe de Poulet au Citron à la Grecque (VPG). (I couldn't find this recipe online, but I did find a similar one with the same picture. Odd. We liked this a lot, so I've translated it for later use.) As a go-with, I looked at a couple of Greek salad recipes and made one up. I marinated a small can of chickpeas in a Greek vinaigrette (Greek, because of the oregano, I suppose); I marinated some thinly sliced red onion in red wine vinegar and a bit of sugar (it would have been better without the sugar); thawed and sliced some oven-dried tomatoes; tossed all with some lettuce (arugula or spinach would have been nice, but you use what you have); then topped with crumbled feta. It was all a bit too much like the soup, but who cares? A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Wednesday/24-Feb-21: Ed picked up groceries from both Drives today. We may try to stick to this schedule, semi-normal, which means a meal plan that sort of get follows instead of made up every day or so. Already had first change to meal plan. It's lovely bbq weather today and forecast for tomorrow, so we'll bbq tomorrow. 

Dinner was a half-recipe of Fish Molee* (web) with cod. This is yummy and easy to make. Served over long-grain brown rice, which wasn't strictly necessary but gives us some nice whole grain. No dessert.

Thursday/25-Feb-21: Made a loaf of Light Rye (Electric, p64) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-). We both really like this for a bread machine bread, it's taste and it's texture.

Well, yesterday it was supposed to be nice weather today, warm and sunny, but it turned out gray and windy. Not terribly cold. Still Ed bbq'd chipolatas. For one go-with I made Red Cabbage and Carrot Slaw (web). I made a half recipe, but accidentally got a half tablespoon measure out for the vinaigrette, so made a quarter of the dressing; the half amount would have been better. And some potato salad (with hard-boiled egg, capers, cornichons, cuke, etc., and a French-ish lemon-based vinaigrette) from my old Joy of Cooking. No dessert needed.

Friday/26-Feb-21: Dinner was Escalopes de Veau à la Crème—Veal with Mushrooms in Cream (Franey, p216). That's a veal scallop topped a piece of prosciutto, then a layer of mushroom cream sauce, topped with slices of Beaufort (one of our favorite swiss-y cheeses), and run under the broiler to melt the cheese. Franey suggests serving with buttered noodles with caraway; I make spaetzle, with butter and caraway seeds. And some roasted asparagus. I didn't need dessert; Ed had a mini HD ice cream cup.

Saturday/27-Feb-21: Went, a bit late, to make tonight's dinner and discovered that the cabbage is supposed to cook for an hour! Oops. Postpone that one. Dinner was a made-up pasta dish, not my best, but not bad. Ravioli with cèpes, onion, prosciutto, shrooms, held together with pyramid goat cheese. A mini HD ice cup for after.

Sunday/28-Feb-21: Made a loaf of Dennis's Blarney-Stone Bread (Magic, p70) (Basic/Rapid/M/d-). Don't seem to have made this one before. It's a very good oatmeal bread.

Beautiful weather, but a blah day. Started dinner a bit late again, and it turned out to take longer than I thought. I made a third recipe of Shrimp-Stuffed Artichokes (EatingTog, p124), this recipe by Peter Feibleman. It was rather poorly written/edited. You chopped parsley but never used it. You saved two cups of the artichoke-cooking water, but never used it. Etc. I followed the cooking time for large artichokes, but they weren't quite done, so when we pulled a leaf, there was nothing attached. A good idea, poorly executed. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 PHOTO: yes; #3 *DMA: yes
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: yes; #6 BACKLOG2: no; #7 RECYCLE: 11; #8 NEW: 2

This week in the kitchen

Monday/15-Feb-21: Dinner was a half dose of Sheet-Pan Chicken Thighs with Potatoes, Fennel, and Mustard-Beer Sauce (web). Good stuff. Ed declared it a 5* recipe. I didn't cook in a sheet-pan but in a cast iron skillet where everything fit. The skin was crispy. The sauce delicious. We saved the rest of the sauce for our lunch sandwiches. 

Then a salad. Some store-bought vanilla riz au laits for after. Should have made bread this afternoon, or at least started an Overnight Boule. but didn't feel like it.

Tuesday/16-Feb-21: We took three boxes of books to a charity shop today. Small reduction in the household supply of books. I keep on working at this. 

Dinner was late, Winter's Warmest Pork Loin (Desperation, p254). Served with polenta and steamed broccoli. Not realizing how little time the cook had for other activities while cooking the pork, I started the broccoli too late, so the meat cooked at bit to long. This was an interesting idea, but neither of us were excited by it. Some mini ice cream cups for after. 

Started an Overnight Boule with Rye.

Wednesday/17-Feb-21: Baked the Overnight Boule with Rye. It's good.

For dinner, I made a fish pie, loosely following this recipe, but using small shrimp, small scallops, some squid rings, and some smoked trout for the fishy bits in the filling. Instead of puff pastry for the topping, I used wadded up disks of brik/brick/brique. It was pretty good, if a bit salty from the trout. A salad after. Then some bits of St. Nectaire.

Thursday/18-Feb-21: Picked up groceries from Intermarché, so it was fish-for-dinner.

We had Spicy Salmon and Couscous Bowls (web), that's with Israeli couscous and turnips. Pretty good stuff. Served with a simple Thai-ish salad, loosely based on Cucumber Salad—Yaam Taeng Kwa (Delightful, p51). This recipe calls for way too much sugar; I wonder if they wrote tablespoon when they meant teaspoon? It was pretty good as I made it. 

Friday/19-Feb-21: Dinner was Risotto with Sausages (ClassItal, p257). (This is for the rice theme on Cooking Marcella Hazan, a Facebook group that's trying to revive itself.) Rather than pork sausages, I used some andouillettes de canard from the freezer (impulse buy), and thus, used chicken stock rather than beef stock. 

Followed by a big salad. No dessert needed. 

Saturday/20-Feb-21: The bread machine made a loaf today after Ed first the gear in the pan again. There was Light Rye (Electric, p64) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-). Skipped the caraway seeds, but added 1tbl of gluten; 2tbl+1tsp of sucre de canne. Good stuff.

Dinner was Bangkok Shrimp* (web). The recipe is really Bangkok Beef; I use shrimp instead, adding the (cooked, almost unfrozen) shrimp when the veggies were done. Some some store-bought vanilla riz au laits for later.

Sunday/21-Feb-21: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Marinated Lamb Chops (web; CL/apr11). This was easy and good. Served with Eggplant with Pomegranate Sauce (EastMed, p155), sort of. I cut my eggplant ovals into long half-ellipses. Sprayed with olive oil and broiled rather than baking. And some potatoes: I peeled and chunked them, then boiled almost done; drained well; shook in the sieve, then finished in butter and olive oil. Pretty good they were. Some Angel Kisses (cream and crème de cacao) for after.

Overnight Boule with Rye on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 PHOTO: yes; #3 *DMA: yes
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: yes; #6 BACKLOG2: yes; #7 RECYCLE: 9; #8 NEW: 2

This week in the kitchen

Monday/8-Feb-21: For dinner, I made Greek-Style Macaroni Bake, a recipe I collected in Houston, and probably haven't made since we moved to Europe. Surprisingly, I found it on the web, here. It's really delicious comfort food and easy to assemble. I used whole wheat macaroni. The recipe says it serves four. I thought it might make six, but the two of us ate half of it tonight. Yum. Then a plain little salad. Then some Prune Clafoutis (web)

Tuesday/9-Feb-21: Dinner was Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry. I collected this in 2015, but the site is no longer online. Too bad. It was easy and good. More clafoutis for dessert.

Wednesday/10-Feb-21: This morning the bread machine and I made a loaf of Jewish Rye Cornmeal Bread (BigGerman, p156) (Basic/Rapid/Med/d/-); no caraway seeds. Pretty good stuff.

Dinner was Thai Noodles with Cinnamon and Prawns (web). Edible, but not a favorite. A single star anise dominated the tastes. And not enough veggie matter; the few celery leaves should be shredded bok choy or spinach or some such. 

Served with Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts (web). I've made this so many time, it really can't count as a DMA recipe, but it will. We finished the clafoutis for dessert.

Thursday/11-Feb-21: Yogurt on overday.

Picked up an order from Intermarché today, so there was fish for dinner. With fresh cod, we had Poisson Grillé (Franey, p90), which is plain fish, sprinkled with paprika, cooked under the broiler. Good way to cook cod, but a more interesting spice would be nice. Served with  Pommes de Terres et Pois à la Crème (Franey, p113). Pretty good. Then a salad. Then some store-bought riz au laits.

Friday/12-Feb-21: We had the leftover Greek-style casserole for an early dinner. Then a big salad. Then store-bought riz au laits with some strawberries, French gariguettes and the first of the year. Tasty. 

Started an Overnight Boule. Used rye flour instead of T110 (light whole wheat) and added 1tbl gluten.

Saturday/13-Feb-21: While the Overnight Boule was baking, the stove ran out of gas. Oops. Finished it off as best I could. It turned out pretty good in spite of iffy baking. I'll definitely try that again.

Defrosted the refrigerator today. The freezer door wasn't completely shut a few nights ago and everything was frosted up. Whew. 

Dinner was late, one of our favorite repeats, Warm Broccoli and Potato Salad (MDSalads, p15). 

Sunday/14-Feb-21: We go our Valentine's Day lunch from a local restaurant. Three courses and I made a little cheese plate for between the main and the dessert. We ate well and were quite full after

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: yes; #3 *DMA: yes
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: yes; #6 BACKLOG2: no; #7 RECYCLE: 9; #8 NEW: 1

This week in the kitchen

Monday/1-Feb-21: I dilly-dallied too long this afternoon, so didn't have time to make what was on the plan. Instead there was Spaghetti with Pecorino and Black Pepper* (MW@Home, p194). Parmesan instead of Pecorino; 1tbl black pepper grains, ground; whole wheat spaghetti. Good stuff. Followed by a salad. Then some of the Sara Lee cake. We're full.

Tuesday/2-Feb-21: Yogurt on overday.

Shortly after BookChatters this a.m., we lost internet and phone. It will be Friday before it’s repaired. 

Dinner was a halfish dose of Braised Rabbit with Black Olives, Red Wine, and Pine Nuts (VegHarv, p115). Used rables de lapin, rabbit saddles. This was okay, but nothing special. I think the taste of the tomatoes and black olives overwhelmed the subtler taste of the rabbit. I like rabbit, but don't much like all the fiddly little bones. As suggested, served with a half recipe of Creamy Polenta Wedges (VegHarv, p148). These were fairly boring. Plain polenta would have been better. Followed by a salad with the rest of last night's lettuce, plus grated broccoli stems (clearing out the veg drawer in the fridge) with a lemon vinaigrette. 

Wednesday/3-Feb-21: Pizza for lunch, then a movie and ironing. (Because of the curfew, we can't get a pizza for dinner.)

Thursday/4-Feb-21: For breakfast there was Blueberry Dutch-Baby (web). Pretty good and simple to make.

Made a loaf of English Muffin Bread 2 (MC) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-). Absent-mindedly used buttermilk powder instead of powdered milk. It was OK.

Aside: Some bread machine manufacturers recommend putting the yeast on the bottom; some say to put it on the top. A long time ago, I read about this, that the order is not what's important. What's important is to keep the yeast and the liquid separate. This is especially important if you bake overnight, but also for the normal cycle which rests for 30min or so at the beginning. For the Rapid cycle, which starts kneading more or less right away (there is a pause of a few minutes), it has no meaning. 

For lunch I used some teeny bio rookworsts that I'd ordered and the last two squares of pâte feuillettée to make a kind of sausage roll. This was inspired by a recipe I found while clearing out a stack of recipes, Rookworst in Croissantdeeg met Mosterdsaus (web), a clipping from a magazine you get at a butcher's shop in NL. The rookworsts were good (I'll get more because they're on sale this week), but they're so small it's hard to know what to do with them.

For dinner there was a half recipe of Chicken with Black Bean Sauce (web). Pretty good. Served with plain basmati rice and Fresh Ginger and Garlic Roasted Broccoli (web), which was also good. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after. 

Friday/5-Feb-21: I got so involved in getting caught up with (internet) business today that I forgot to defrost something for dinner. So I got some tortellini things out of the freezer, thinking about making them alla panna, only to discover that Ed had used all the cream and neglected to tell me to re-order. Oops. So I sautéed some onion and garlic and mushrooms and added parsley and crème fraîche, then added the cooked tortellini to that. Not bad. Then a really plain salad with croûtons. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Saturday/6-Feb-21: Yogurt on overday.

Picked up an order from Intermarché today. 

Our main for dinner was a halfish version Salmon Piccata (web). I cut my salmon chunk in thin slices, about 1/4". Pretty quick to make, delicious to eat. Served with trio rice and Chilled Stuffed Beets, a recipe I got from a grocery store recipe card. I don't really follow the recipe, but it's easy and good. You hollow out a beet or two (I had one largish one, and served the halves stuffed). The filling tonight was peas, a minced shallot, a bit of chopped parsley, and some of the beet innards minced and dried on a paper towel, all mixed with some pyramid goat cheese. Everything was good. Some store-bought vanilla yogurts for after. 

Overnight Boule brewing overnight.

Sunday/7-Feb-21: Baked off the bread this morning.

Dinner was Petit Ragoût de Pois Chiches au Chorizo (VPG?). Tasty, especially with a good dob of the pyramid goat cheese left from yesterday. It's a strange recipe. It should have served four; no, it simpily fed two. There's no sauce, which is why the goat cheese was so nice. For after, we had mini HD ice cream cups.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 PHOTO: yes; #3 *DMA: yes
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: yes; #6 BACKLOG2: no; #7 RECYCLE: 9; #8 NEW: 1