This week in the kitchen

Monday/26-Jul-21: Oven-dried a mess of tomatoes today. They're in the freezer on a plate right now. Into a ziploc tomorrow for the kitchen freezer.

Dinner was, sort of, Easy Smoked Sausage Skillet (web). Used the real thing instead of instant rice and frozen broccoli. Long-grain brown rice. Pretty good. Some store-bought riz au laits for after.

Tuesday/27-Jul-21: Dinner was Caramelized Onion Frittata with Artichoke Hearts, Zucchini and Goat Cheese (web). This was pretty good. Strange that they have you clean the skillet after sautéing the veggies. Not sure why you can't just dump the eggs and cheese on top for the final cooking. Some tartelettes from the boulangerie for after.

Wednesday/28-Jul-21: Dinner was, sort of, Roast Chicken with Cumin, Paprika and Allspice (web), using the spice mixture but cooking it spatchcocked and "bricked" (web). Served with Clothilde Dusoulier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes (HB) and the leftover Thai cabbage salad from Sunday. Didn't really go, but it it was good.

Thursday/29-Jul-21: Shopping today. 

Dinner out with Patrice and Wim this evening. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Friday/30-Jul-21: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was Grilled Tuna Kebobs* (web; GD). I cooked this s individual bits on the griddle rather than skewering them. Not the best of ideas because it took too long to turn all the pieces and they got a bit more done than I would like. Served with brown rice and a salad of sliced tomatoes topped with feta, parsley, black olives, and pine nutes. Some storebought yogurt-chestnut cream bits for after.

Saturday/31-Jul-21: Patrice and Wim came for dinner tonight. I marinated some kip filets and some aiguilettes for Skewered Chicken (GreenBook), a recipe from an old magazine collection that I've made often in the past. Served with Green Bean, Feta, and Black Olive Salad (web; GD). I had cake and ice cream ready for dessert, but they brought some tarts from La Rochefoucauld, so Patrice and I enjoyed a lemon meringue tart while Ed had strawberry and Wim raspberry.

Sunday/1-Jul-21: Dinner was a half dose of Linguine with Grilled Fennel and Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Bishop, p158; cookbooker). I used whole-wheat spaghetti rather than whole-wheat linguine, having none of that. The instructions for handling the fennel are bizarrely incomplete/incorrect. I really have little idea what he meant to do with it. The taste combination was interesting, tomatoes, fennel, balsamic vinegar, better than you might expect. Glad I tried it; doubtful I’d do it again. Then some store-bought yogurts with blueberry and blackberry. We’re full.

Our poor internet is making it difficult to get this updated every evening and published on Sunday.   

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: e; #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: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Jul-21: Dinner was Spicy Tuna Rice Bowl (web). This was tasty, if a bit of a light dinner. 

Served with Spinach with Sesame Seed Dressing (Andoh, p182) (not pictured). I liked this, it was especially good with the rice, but Ed didn't. Chocolate-chocolate madeleines for after.

Tuesday/20-Jul-21: Dinner was a half dose of a Mozzarella Sandwiches with Tomato-Green Olive Salad (Bishop, p178). Don't tell, I put a small square of a dried ham in each section with mozzarella. Actually a good sprinkle of Italian herbs might have been just as good. Easy to assemble and very tasty on a warm summer's eve. I meant to take a picture since the camera was still downstairs but forgot.

Put pork on to marinate for tomorrow's dinner.

Wednesday/21-Jul-21: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was a half dose of Pork Carnitas with Caramelized Onions and Chipotle (CL/jan07; web). This was yummy and would be easy to finish the cooking in the crockpot, I expect. Made up some of Mama's Garlic Coleslaw (HB) with a pinch of chipotle powder to serve with it. And some sliced avocados and some corn tortillas, of course. There's plenty of meat and juice left for a lunch.

Thursday/22-Jul-21: Shopping today, followed late in the day by our first dental checkup in over a year.

Dinner was Feta and Herb Crusted Salmon* (web; GD). Quite good again. Served with orzo and steamed snijbonen. We ate well.

Friday/23-Jul-21: Recombobbled the meal plan today, since I couldn't get a varkenshaas today.

Dinner was a half dose of Fusilli with Grilled Eggplant And Pesto (Bishop, p157). Used cascarecce rather than fusilli. Pretty good stuff, and easy to put together. Served with a small insalata caprese. 

Saturday/24-Jul-21: Late lunch means late dinner. We had a half dose of Fettuccine with Beans & Pancetta (web). The "beans" are snijbonen. This was fast and amazingly tasty. A shaped pasta would be fine. With a long pasta, it might be better to cut the the snijbonen into narrow strips so that they mix better with the pasta. A pair of chocolate-chocolate madeleines after.

Sunday/25-Jul-21: Yogurt on overday.

Earlyish dinner, before our first concert in more than a year. We had a halfish dose of Thai Barbecued Chicken (MC; web). I collected this a long time ago, before I noted dates and places. Tonight used four chicken thighs and cooked under the broiler, for about 25min. Served with plain basmati rice and Cabbage Salad—Salad Galam (Delightful, p50). This is a really good, easy salad, although the amounts are a bit off. A small green cabbage, very thinly sliced, yields 2cups? I used about a quarter, maybe a third, of a small green cabbage and had about 4 cups. Made half the dressing for that plus 1-1/2 tomatoes and one carrot. Could have served 3-4.  

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/no; #6 BACKLOG2: no; #7 RECYCLE: 11; #8 NEW: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/12-Jul-21: Early doctor appointment this morning. On the way home, we stopped at a boulangerie for bread and little quiches for lunch. Had an early lunch, then a nap.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Vodka Marinated Steak (web). The halfish dose was a bit too much; doing a third would have been better. The meat was marinated for three days, and then seared. The piece was thin enough it didn't need the extra cooking. As suggested, I served this with boiled potatoes, with a bitter butter and some dill, and a tomato salad. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Tuesday/13-Jul-21: Another early doctor appointment today. Again, stopped at a boulangerie for bread and croissant sandwiches for lunch and toetjes for dinner. An early lunch, a bit of cleaning, and a nap.

Dinner was Curried Chicken with Mango Salad* (web; GD). This was good again; pretty easy to make too. Served with long-grain brown rice and the mango salad. Toetjes for after.

Wednesday/14-Jul-21: Ed made an appt with DHL to pick up a package tomorrow, so shopping day is pushed till Friday. Which is kind of OK because I'm having trouble getting into meal planning.

Internet down all afternoon except for brief (i.e., 2-minute) periods; have had three of those.

Dinner was Shrimp Biryani (MJ@Home, p214). Served with Date-Banana Chutney from the freezer and Cachumber—Tomato, Onion and Green Coriander Relish (MJ1, p172). For after there was plain tapioca pudding.

Thursday/15-Jul-21: Dinner was Easy Egg Curry with Urad Dal and Tamarind* (web; GD), served over plain basmati rice. With Date-Banana Chutney again. And the rest of the tapioca for after.

Friday/16-Jul-21: Belated shopping today. Leclerc's veggie department was out of a lot of stuff, so I bought another chunk of fish to replace a meal and juggled the meal plan when we got home.

Dinner was Sautéed Fish Fillets (OtherHalf, p126). I made a half dose of the egg white coating using an egg white from the freezer. This was very good. One egg white, 2tbl oil, 2tbl water, salt, and freshly ground white pepper. The fish was dipped in flour, the egg white coating, then bread crumbs; I used panko. I used butter and olive oil for cooking, rather than straight butter. Served this with some boiled potatoes and Parmesan Carrots with Lemon-Parsley Dressing (CL/mar17; web). The carrots were very good. Some apple tarts sections from the boulangerie for after.

Put swordfish on to marinate for tomorrow's dinner.

Saturday/17-Jul-21: Dinner was a halfish dose of Spicy Mustard Swordfish and Artichoke* (web; GD). Yum. Served this over tagliatelle, with a side of shredded carrot salad.

Sunday/1-8Jul-21: Dinner was Grilled Lamb Skewers with Apricots (License, p116). Delicious both times I've made this. Served with my store-bought Moroccan couscous mix; plain couscous would have been better, since the flavors were wasted here. Served with a half dose of Moroccan Carrots (1Good, p59). Used homemade ground roasted cumin seeds and ground coriander.  Too lazy for the preserved lemon tonight, but that would have been good. Good stuff anyhow. 

Some store-bought riz-au-laits for 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: 11; #8 NEW: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/5-Jul-21: Used some cooked lamb from the freezer to make a double dose of Eggplant Stuffed with Lamb, Red Pepper, and Rice (Tenth, p279). We had a smallish eggplant each, which was quite a lot, with a bit of arugula salad with walnuts and feta. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after. This was a packet of double-chocolate ones, with chocolate cake instead of vanilla. Not an intentional purchase, but not bad.

Tuesday/6-Jul-21: I had lunch out after BookChatters, expecting to have eat from the salad bar. But the salad bar was missing, Covid perhaps? So I had a plat+dessert, and no room for any more food. Ed got a nice leftover from the freezer.

Wednesday/7-Jul-21: Dinner was a halfish dose of Pasta with Tomato, Fennel Seeds and Anchovies (web). This was good, with not too much fennel. Some double-chocolate madeleines for after.

Thursday/8-Jul-21: Shopping today. It seems the store is less crowded on Thursday than on Wednesday. The boulangerie is open too. We may change our default shopping day. 

Dinner was Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce (web). This was yummy, but can't the zoodles made it any kind of special. I think the sauce with rice noodles would have been better. For the protein, salmon was good, but it would work with shrimp or even chicken or pork. To try again, I think. Store-bought egg custards with caramel for after.

Friday/9-Jul-21: Out to the boulangerie (for bread and creampuffs for dessert) and the boucherie (for a piece of meat for Monday's dinner this afternoon.

Dinner was Stuffed Zucchini (Delightful, p62; cookbooker). This was pretty good. Recipe was supposed to serve 2-3, but will serve four; one zuke in the freezer. Served with my standard Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts (web; GD; HB) and plain basmati rice. Altogether pretty good. Creampuffs for dessert.

Put the meat for Monday's meal on to marinate. Yes, three days marinating was asked.

Saturday/10-Jul-21: We had a bunch of tomatoes sitting around needing to be used, so I made a batch of Hazan's famous Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter (ClassicItal, p152). 

We ate lunch so late that at dinner time neither of us was really hungry. I got a packet of capelletti with jambon cru from the freezer and topped those with some of the newly made tomato sauce plus a splash of cream. Some store-bought chocolate-covered madeleines for after. 

Now to adjust the meal plan. 

Sunday/11-Jul-21: Dinner was Runner Bean Tortilla with Tomato Salad (web; GD; GD). This was very good and satisfying. The tomato salad was good too. For dessert, we finished the lemon sherbet with an apricot.

Another week without a picture. Too bad.

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