This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Mar-12: Yogurt on overday. Further not much happening in the kitchen. Went out shopping and ordered a new exhaust fan that better fits the size of the stove. We need to make the exhaust hole before the outside walls are rendered (stuccoed) next month.

Dinner was the last of the lasagna with a salad. Then we shared half of a Petit Camembert.

Tuesday/20-Mar-12: Before dinner tonight, I made Anne's Anodyne Liniment Cake (BookLovers, p230), the Green Gables cake that was mistakenly made with liniment rather than vanilla. I've got a "pork belly" defrosting since yesterday, but it wasn't ready in time to marinate for a couple of house then cook slow for several hours. So that will have to happen tomorrow. Tonight there was Curried Penne with Shrimp (MC), with some peas added for vegetable matter. I've got a similar recipe that includes peas, but couldn't be bothered to find it. Then we ate the rest of the Petit Camembert, followed by a slice of Liniment Cake.

Wednesday/21-Mar-12: Shopping today. By the time we got back it was a rush to get the Jamie Oliver's Roasted Pork Belly (some issue of Jamie) in the oven. Long cooking time meant it came out at 8pm, too late to be eating. But we ate it. Will pick lots of meat off tomorrow and discard the crackling and fat.

And some Puréed Broccoli (H2CEV, p389), the first time I've puréed something like that. It's OK, would be a better idea with leftovers, rather that starting with a fresh bit of veg.

Also some of Clothilde's Dusolier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes. Didn't feel like any dessert at all.

Thursday/22-Mar-12: Dinner was Haddock with a Green Pepper Sauce (MC), using more green peppers. Didn't like the green peppers in the sauce last time; didn't like them this time. Think I'll toss this recipe. For the rest it was good enough. Reheated the small dish of Scalloped Potatoes that I made last Sunday with the extra thinly sliced potatoes; that was good. Roasted some haricots verts with olive oil and lemon pepper; those were good. Some of the liniment cake for dessert; weird stuff but tasty.

Friday/23-Mar-12: Made up some of Hazan's Homemade Sausage (30MinPasta, p161; MC) today. Then dinner out at a quiz. That was about it.

Have given up on Cook the Books this time. Read the book, but can't get motivated to cook it. Would have to be this weekend, but it just won't happen.

Yesterday I knocked a small (glass) lamp off the table behind the sofa and broke the base. Today I pulled over the reading lamp in the living room and broke the glass shade. Tomorrow the light over the dining table has better watch out! Ed cleverly noticed that the top of the small lamp could be used to replace the reading lamp's shade. It's not perfect, but it will do till we find a proper replacement.

Saturday/24-Mar-12: Dinner was a half dose of Tagliatelle with Smashed Peas, Sausage, and Ricotta Cheese (web), using some of my newly made sausage. Pretty good stuff, fast and easy.

Sunday/25-Mar-12: Went to a concert at 17.00 today, so had our main meal at lunch: Thai Curried Noodles with Broccoli and Tofu (web). Easy, fast, and not bad at all. When we got back from the concert, we had a salad and then some goat cheese and crackers.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes, #2 BREAD:no, #3 SOUP: no, #4 MIDDAY: yes, #5 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #6 PASTA:no

Curried Creamed Eggs

The Best 125 Meatless Pasta Dishes
Mindy Toomay and Susan Geiskopf Hadler
Prima Lifestyles (1991)
ISBN 155958145X

This morning I went to make something else for Cookbook Sundays and discovered that I didn't have enough butter at room temp. By the time I got a chunk defrosted, other things were happening, so that recipe will have to wait a day or two.

Instead, tonight I ended up making a second recipe from The Best 125 Meatless Pasta Dishes, by Mindy Toomay and Susann Geiskopf Hadler. After a quick read through the book, I've got quite a few stickies marking recipes to try. This evening, for one reason or another, I didn't feel like making the dinner I'd planned, so I opted for Curried Creamed Eggs instead (which, I'm sure, means this book no longer qualifies as never or rarely used).

This recipe is fairly quick to make and, because of the peas and carrots, could even qualify as a one-dish meal, which is quite nice when you're feeling rushed or lazy. (Who, me?)

Two small problems with the recipe as printed: It says that it yields 8 main-course servings. But this must be only four. A quick glance through the book shows that other recipes are generally either 4 main-course servings or 8 side-dish servings. I suspect this is an error that didn't get caught in the editing. I also found that the sauce wanted more milk than shown. I expect the full amount of milk (1-1/2 cups) would have been fine for my half version. I started with a cup and then added a slog near the end to thin the sauce a bit.

Start by sautéing some chopped onions in butter (ok, I used shallots, and some garlic wouldn't hurt, I expect). When they are soft, stir in some flour and curry powder. When this is smelling nice, stir in the warmed milk. (I don't suppose this really has to be warm, but I set it in a pan on a very low flame when I started the onions.)

If all's going well, your pasta water will be coming to a boil about now and you can add the pasta.

And here's where I made a major change to the recipe. Instead of chopping a couple of hard-boiled eggs and stirring them into the sauce, while the sauce was simmering, I added two eggs and poached them.

When the eggs were done, I removed each to one of the little dishes I'd used for the chopped shallot and the flour/curry addition. Then warm the peas the sauce and add the sliced carrots to the boiling pasta for the last minute of cooking. Mix the drained pasta and carrots with the sauce and serve, topping each with a poached egg.

Not a bad dinner. Some chopped chives or even parsley on top would have been pretty, but we were ready to eat.

This post is linked to this week's Cookbook Sundays.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Dec-11: Dinner was falafel in pitas, served with Tahini Dipping Sauce (WofE, p359), some shredded lettuce, and a salad based on Cream Cheese and Cucumber Salad (Roden, p65), using feta and adding tomatoes.

Tuesday/20-Dec-11: At Lesley and Toby's do this afternoon (they run Sophie's cattery/spa), we munched so well for "lunch" that we weren't very hungry for dinner. So I made a big salad, one of those cleaning out the fridge jobs, and that was dinner. So much for menu plans.

Then we nibbled some of the chocolate coated walnuts we bought at the St. Sornin cave, where we'd gone to stock up on our favorite rosé, only to find that it was everybody else's favorite too and it's all gone. Maybe next year will be as good.

Wednesday/21-Dec-11: Shopped today; bought lots of goodies for xmas and new year.

Dinner was West Indian Salmon Patties (MC). Made 6; froze 3 for another time. Quite yummy. Served with leftover Jamaican rice and beans. Finished off the chocolate walnuts for dessert.

Thursday/22-Dec-11: Off-piste again. Had a curried egg thing planned, but decided against that recipe and opted for a half-dose of Curried Creamed Eggs (125Pasta, p230; cookbooker). I poached our eggs in the sauce, rather than stirring in hard-boiled ones, chopped. Think I prefer this.

Friday/23-Dec-11: Ed still sickie, so we didn't go caroling. For dinner I reheated the last of the Jamaican rice and beans (that was good, but the recipe made enough to feed a small army), adding some grilled sausages from the freezer. And a nice salad. Off to bed with us.

Saturday/24-Dec-11: This morning I made some Banana Coffee Cake Muffins (Cinagro, p3; cookbooker). Forgot to add the topping, but can say it was really missed. Neither of us really like that kind of sweet stuff. (Meanwhile, I've saved the stuff on the odd chance I might find a use for it in the next days.) Not bad muffins, but not especially a recipe I'll do again.

For a starter tonight, we each had a foie gras-stuffed fig, that we bought at the marché de noël last weekend. She had only six-packs of these, and when we said we wanted only two, she dug these out of the cooler and told us to put them in the coldest part of the fridge and we had to eat them no later than christmas day. Expect they were slight out of date, but we seem to have survived. The main course was a half recipe of Fusilli in Chick-pea-Walnut Cream, a xerox copy I got from somewhere, from a cookbook I don't have. The book has been on my want list for a long time, but this recipe didn't really up its position on the list. I've been running into lots of recipes using pomegranate molasses/syrup of late, and finally found a bottle, which was inaugurated for this. Can't really say it was noticeable. The recipe involved blending walnuts and chickpeas to make a creamy sauce, then cooking broccoli and tomato in that. Fairly so-so, probably healthy.

Sunday/25-Dec-11: Neither of us feeling very perky this year, we had a kind of low-key xmas. Kept the dinner small and easy, except for dessert, which was a bit of a struggle.

Yogurt on overnight. (Have made yogurt several times this week, it seems, but not recorded it. Oops.)

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: yes, #2 SOUP:no, #3 MIDDAY:no
This month: #4 PASTA: yes

Pastina and Pea Soup

Recently, while I was starting to consider my cooking goals for 2012, I thought that one challenge for myself would be to cook, every week or perhaps twice a month, a recipe from a cookbook that I've never, or at least seldom, used. I use many of my cookbooks, but there are quite a few that for one reason or another haven't seen much action. Earlier this week, my RSS reader had notice of a new post at Couscous & Consciousness, the blog from another Cooking Italy participant. Sue announced that she has taken over hosting Cookbook Sundays, whose goal is for participants to, yes, cook from cookbooks they don't use. Serendipity reigns, and here we are. This isn't going to be a 2012 goal, but one of the (limited number of) cook-alongs that I'm participating in. (Although, another idea for a 2012 goal might be to participate in these cook-alongs.)

On Friday Ed and I had originally intended to lunch out with friends, but this plan fell through. I had nothing in particular planned for dinner, so on the way out to go have my hair cut, I grabbed a promising unused book to look for dinner while waiting.

The Best 125 Meatless Pasta Dishes
Mindy Toomay and Susan Geiskopf Hadler
Prima Lifestyles (1991)
ISBN 155958145X

The book I picked up was The Best 125 Meatless Pasta Dishes, by Mindy Toomay and Susann Geiskopf Hadler. I'd seen this book recommended somewhere and managed to get a copy via Bookmooch. After it arrived, it went onto the shelf with other pasta books and has been patiently waiting for me to have a good look. Now I've had only a quick look, but I did manage to find what appeared to be a nice, quick soup for our dinner, Pastina and Pea Soup.

And very simple it was. Sauté some onion and garlic. Add water with some vegetable broth cubes and bring to a boil. Stir in some tarragon and white wine, and simmer for a bit. Bring back to a boil, add the pasta, and cook till al dente. (Pastina seems to be a name for any small pasta shape. Not sure I've seen the word before.) Stir in some half-and-half, frozen or fresh peas, and grated Parmesan. Heat and serve. Voila, you've got dinner—a light dinner perhaps, but that's all we wanted.

Nothing fancy here, but quite a tasty soup for minimal effort and with ingredients that are always in house. Some bread and cheese afterwards and we were quite satisfied.

Now it's time to sit down for a good look through this book, with a packet of stickies at hand. A good proportion of the recipes, including the one I tried, are clearly marked "Almost Instant." This can be very handy for those days when time or energy for preparing dinner is limited.

This post is linked to this week's Cookbook Sundays.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/5-Dec-11: Used up the first of Barbara's butternut squashes making Butternut Soup with Pear, Cider, and Vanilla Bean (Molly, p226), an interesting take on butternut squash soup. The flavors blend surprisingly well. Do get tired of peeling though; next one will be roasted. More of the Courgette and Chick Pea Filo Pie, cold, as a go-with. Filo could have used a perk-up in the oven, but it was otherwise good, especially with some lime pickle mixed in.

Made some Authentic French Bread (Magic, p22, but out of head) for the soup and for breakfast.

Tuesday/6-Dec-11: Very late dinner tonight, after Kaye worked with Michelle on the Club Liseron blog for quite a while. Luckily a quick, light dinner, little Drôme raviolis with pesto, both from the freezer. And a salad, with a formerly frozen cooked beet.

Wednesday/7-Dec-11: Shopped today.

Dinner was Salmon with Sorrel and Asparagus en Papillote (SeriousEats). Served with some boiled potatoes tossed with a bitter butter. Pretty good stuff.

Have been pondering my 2012 kitchen goals. One thing I've been considering is doing a recipe a week, or maybe twice a month, from a cookbook I haven't used much, or at least haven't used recently. This morning, I saw that Sue from Couscous & Consciousness, who was part of Cooking Italy, is taking over as host of something called Cookbook Sundays ... where you cook something from a book you haven't used. Serendipity or what? So it looks like this is going to have to be one of next year's goals.

Eating two vegetarian or fish meals a week has been an easy goal, practically no challenge at all. Considering whether I should extend that to three days, or just let it go for mow.

Probably will repeat the fresh pasta once-a-month goal. I've been doing this, but without the target, I think it would be difficult. (Which makes me think I'd better start thinking about December's pasta soon, since there are several holiday meals coming up. If I have pasta from the freezer, make fresh last month, does that count?)

Have been pretty much a failure at arranging to have our main meal at midday once a week. A bit better with soup, but not much. Not sure what I'll do with these next year.

Thursday/8-Dec-11: Finished off the Courgette and Chick Pea Filo Pie for dinner. Warming in the oven did the trick, crisping up the filo. Thought about a salad, but we both decided it would be too much.

Friday/9-Dec-11: Had planned to lunch out today, so didn't really have anything planned, and not much appetite anyhow. Made a whole dose of Pastina and Pea Soup (125Pasta, p56) and have leftovers for lunch or a starter one of these days. Pretty good for minimal time and effort. Not sure I've ever seen the word pastina used to name "any small pasta" before. A bit of Camembert for afters. (This is my first entry for Cookbook Sundays. Yes, it's Friday, but that will do too.)

Saturday/10-Dec-11: Dinner was Curried Oven Omelets, a recipes from somewhere on the web. An annoying recipe, asking for a can of coconut milk (what size?); telling you to season the sautéed onions "according to taste" with turmeric, chili powder, and salt before the remaining ingredients have been added; etc. The recipe called for 5 eggs to serve 4-6. Oh? I used 4 eggs, but only 3 would have done, since they were "beefed up" with milk and ricotta. Well, I'd forgotten to defrost ricotta (a shame, since the rest of the package is destined for another meal), so used cream cheese instead. An omelet under the broiler is really a frittata, I think. It was very pretty, all puffed up and browned. Then cut up and into the sauce with coconut milk, onions, and spices to taste. It wasn't bad, but nothing I need to do again. The omelet/frittata part was worth remembering. Then we had a big salad of rucola. And to fill us up we had a bit of the Christmas cake given to Ed by one of his choir members. Tasty, but heavy and too too sweet for our tastes.

Sunday/11-Dec-11: No one went to the boulanger yesterday, so this morning I made more Authentic French Bread (Magic, p22) for breakfast and lunch. Simple recipe, good bread.

For the post-carol conert choir party, I made a double dose of Spinach Salad with Pears, Pecans, and Feta (MDSalads, p28). OK, it was arugula and walnuts, but it was still good. Thought it would be a good idea to have something fresh, rather than cooked, but the Choir Mom already had a bowl of lettuce for the table. Oops.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: yes, #2 SOUP: yes, #3 MIDDAY: no
This month: #4 PASTA: no