This week in the kitchen

Monday/21-Dec-20: Picked up an order from Leclerc today.

Made three labels for the Chipotle-Fig Jam yesterday, but only two arrived downstairs. A mystery. The jam is more than set now, so the extra sugar with pectin wasn't needed. Oh well.

Dinner was a half recipe of Roasted Cauliflower Gigli with Pine Nuts and Currants (web), using cockscombs (galetti, I think) instead of gigli. This was interesting, with the currants. I wasn't sure, but it left a pleasant taste in the mouth. Then a salad. Then we finished the bread pudding.

Tuesday/22-Dec-20: Before dinner, I started a loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17). This loaf sank a lot again even though I reduced the amount of water. I've read before that sunken loave often have too much liquid, but I'll need to investigate that again. 

Leftover cornbread stuffing for dinner, with more gravy. HD mini ice cream cups for after. That's all.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/23-Dec-20: Using up my last skinless, boneless chicken thighs (not easily found here), dinner was a half recipes of Ginger Chicken (30MinInd, p42; cookbooker). Served with plain basmati rice and Karhai Broccoli (MJ@Home, p148). Some mini HD ice cream cups for after.

Overnight Bread on overnight.

Thursday/24-Dec-20: Baked off the Overnight Bread. So easy, so good.

Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today. Ordered 200g of salmon; asked for 300-350g in the comment. (Next lump to order was 400g, too much for two.) We got 440g. Needed only 125g for dinner, so I froze the larger piece.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Tagliatelles au Saumon et Poireau; (VPG); can find it on the web although the clipping says the recipe can be found on their site. Not. Still, it was easy and good. I used way more curry powder than asked for the full recipe. Then a salad. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Didn't have the oomph to make the bûche for tomorrow. Hope I manage to get everything done on the day.

Friday/25-Dec-20: Started a bûche this morning, then discovered that Ed had neglected to get the next block of butter out of the freezer when he refilled the butter dish. Oops. Replan. This was our meal. 

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/26-Dec-20: 

I was busy all day cooking and pooped by the time we sat down to eat. This was our meal.

Should start bread to bake in the morning, but really have no energy.

Sunday/27-Dec-20: Made some 100% Whole Wheat Bread (BigGerman, p81) (WW/Rapid/M/-/-). Used the end of the jar of honey, about 3tbl rather than the 1/4cup asked. This was an improvement. The best whole wheat bread. 

For lunch we had meatloaf sandwiches and a slice of bûche.

Dinner was Chipotle-Lime Cauliflower Tacos (web). Sounds a bit weird but it was good. Served with some of my refried black bean mix, a quickie sort of guacamole, jalapeño strips, feta, cilantro, and corn tortillas. And another slice of bûche.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 BACKLOG: yes
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-Dec-19: Off to a little marché de noël today. And little it was. Then Ed, after saying he didn't want a tree, went off to get a tree. When will it get put up and decorated, I wonder?

Dinner was Butternut and Pasta Soup, (How2Eat, p160), which wasn't bad, especially with a goodly dose of jalapeño tabasco. I mostly puréed the soup (thank you staff mixer, rather than just mashing a bit, before adding the pasta.

Before that we had little goat cheese and cranberry sauce "tarts". I read about this combination somewhere, and having a bit of leftover cranberry sauce and pyramid cheese, I thought I'd try it with some squares of pâte feuilletté. Pretty good and certainly easy. Squares of chocolate for after.

Yogurt on overnight

Tuesday/24-Dec-19: Miserable day today. Didn't get the list finished. Wanted a pizza for dinner, but everything was closed. So we had the salad I forgot yesterday and a sort of grilled cheese sandwich. With chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Wednesday/25-Dec-19: It's not been the best of holiday seasons. I've been down with the Mother of All Sinus Infections, including a major earache, the weather has largely been gray, rainy, and windy, and I'm depressed. We didn't have the whole dinner as originally planned, but most of it, with an improvisation for dessert. Here.

Thursday/26-Dec-19: Second xmas day today. Here's what we had.

Friday/27-Dec-19: Shopping today. I've already seen that this is going to be another record year for grocery expenses even though I tried to keep it down. So I blew it and we stocked up on lots of stuff.

Dinner was Baked Spiced Halibut (30MinInd, p72), but with swordfish. This had trouble getting done in the toaster oven, but finally made it. Ed didn't like the sauce at first, but warmed to it with the other food. There was Cauliflower with Ginger, Garlic, and Green Chiles (Q&E, p83). I used romanesco, thinking it would add a bit of color, but it didn't. I managed to burn the spices, so it wasn't as tasty as it should have been. And there was New Potatoes with Cumin (Q&E, p91), with regular potatoes. (My little potatoes had all sprounted.) This was yummy. For dessert there was some store-bought cheesecake.

Saturday/28-Dec-19: I felt like something Asian-ish today, so I smerged together some pad thai recipes and that was dinner. Not great, but edible. My sauce was a bit salty unfortunately. We finished the little cheesecake for afters. (It's small, only four servings.)

Sunday/29-Dec-19: Last night Ed saw the Moulin's menu for today and said, Let's go. So we did. Nothing happened in the kitchen today.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: none
Cookbooks of the month: n/a
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/12-Aug-19: Dinner was Shrimp Dopiaza (30MinInd, p73), shrimp in a tasty onion sauce. Served with Jeera Rice (30MinInd, p99), which as good as it has been before, and Spinach with Besan (30MinInd, p79), which was barely edible. Not sure why, all the ingredients seemed ok, but the result was bitter. And the besan-water mix turned to a pancake almost immediately. I added more water and tried to thin it down, but that only worked a bit. We had kind of mini-dumplings of besan. Good thing besan is tasty. More Toulouse chocolate for dessert.

Tuesday/13-Aug-19: Lunch out with Cath today. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Wednesday/14-Aug-19: Yogurt on overday.

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

Thursday/15-Aug-19: Our charming neighbor threw the three hanging baskets of begonias over the fence into the back yard last night. This upset our day, and we didn't feel like going to the fête this evening. I didn't feel like eating at all. Ed had just a bite.

Friday/16-Aug-19: Shopping today.

Our dinner was Barbecued Salmon (web). Oops, I forgot I'm out of hoisin sauce (already on the list for Grand Frais), so had to improvise that with some spicy plum chutney and a bit of prune juice. Wasn't too bad as substitutes go. Served with a pilaf with dried, reconstituted cèpes. Followed by a simple salad with Buttermilk-Thyme Dressing (VegHarv, p298).

Saturday/17-Aug-19: Patrice and Wim for dinner today. For our apéro, there were some mini bell peppers filled with a mixture of cream cheese, feta, garlic, chives, and parsley. For our main, we had Spice-Crusted Pork Tenderloins with Banana-Date Chutney (License, p150). I had three pork tenderloins; Ed couldn't keep the fire going long enough to finish cooking the biggest one, so that's in the freezer now. And because there was no fire, I had to grills the eggplant slices under the broiler. Spread these with a bit of chili-garlic sauce for the last minutes of broiling. And there was All-Purpose Rice-and-Beans (BigFlav, p262), which is really yummy. P&W brought toetjes for dessert. I'd made the broth for Buttermilk Ice Cream; we'll have that tomorrow.

Sunday/18-Aug-19: Yogurt on overday.

Major rethink of the meal plan today, to account for leftovers and poblanos.

Tonight we had the leftover beans and rice. With two of the poblanos, I made kind of a Roasted Poblano Lime Crema, loosely based on web and web. Think it was a bit strong on the lime, but still it was good with the rice&beans. Also some Banana-Date Chutney. Later I froze up the Buttermilk Ice Cream (MC), which was good.

Didn't get anything from my cookbook-of-the-month made this week. Today's plan will go to next week. Thinking I'll skip this for next month. I have a book chosen, but don't feel like bothering with it.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: no
Cookbooks of the month: How to Eat
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/5-Aug-19: Monday again. Dinner was, more or less, a short third recipe of Ping Gai Chicken (web; cookbooker). It was super. Served with plain basmati rice and, again more or less, Asian Cucumber and Carrot Salad (web). I used my madoline rather than the spiralizer to slice and shred the cuke and carrot. Pretty good stuff this was. Made some tapioca pudding for after. Ed wouldn't eat it warm, but I did.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/6-Aug-19: I had lunch out with some of my BookChatters group, and Ed had some soup from the freezer. Late in the evening we were a bit hungry, so I cut up a baby romaine, and we ate that with avocado sauce left from last week and a bit of magret left from the weekend. Pretty good stuff. Then some chocolate-covered madeleines.

Wednesday/7-Aug-19: Made up some Cajun spice for the larder today. That was all that happened in the kitchen. Had our dinner at the marché des producteurs in Massignac. Fewer producteurs this year, I think.

Thursday/8-Aug-19: Shopping today.

Dinner was Cod Wrapped in Ham (How2Eat, p358), with lieu noir, served on Sage and Onion Lentils (How2Eat, p359). I cooked the fish only 13 minutes (of 15 in the recipe), but it was still a bit overcooked I think. I made half the lentils, which I should have made a third. I couldn't eat all of mine. All was ok, nothing special. Store-bought riz au laits for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/9-Aug-19: Dinner was Grilled Chili Lime Flank Steak (web). This was good. With two rumpsteaks, I made half a recipe. Using the times specified they were pretty far down the medium scale. That was a shame since the tastes were good. I used up the last bit of cauliflower for Mashed Cauliflower (web). This recipe is a bit confused, but the the result is good. Basically, you steam a bunch of cauliflower florets till pretty soft; then drain. In the same pan, melt some butter and soften a lot of minced garlic. Put back the cauliflower and buzz till smooth. Then stir in some grated Parmesan, some sour cream (crème fraîche), and S&P. Pretty good way to use up cauliflower. And Jeera Potatoes (30MinInd, p85) to use up some nice little potatoes. Very good. Then a salad using most of the home-grown tomatoes in house. Then some St Felicien. And finally, we had some of the chocolate (Valrhona) that we bought on our Toulouse trip last year. One of them was excellent, the other ok.

Saturday/10-Aug-19: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Ottolenghi's Orecchiette with Broccoli and Rocket (web). This was pretty good, if a trifle salty. Then some St Felicien. Then the rest of the tapioca. (Have to admit that I've had occasional munches on this.)

Sunday/11-Aug-19: Concert this evening. They we brought home pizzas. More of our Toulouse chocolate for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 2; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: How to Eat
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/4-Dec-17: For our meal we had chicken with a satay marinade from the freezer. Used skinless, boneless kip thighs rather than kip filets, marinated then broiled. Then there was Coconut Rice (30MinInd, p100). Made a major goof on this when I added the shallots and garlic from the green bean recipe instead of the spicy stuff for this one. Stirred the spicy stuff into the cooking rice when I realized and sliced more shallots and garlic. And a little salad, a half recipe of Spicy Thai Cucumber Salad (MaiPham, p46), which was good as before; no peanuts or fried shallots for garnish.  And there was a halfish recipe of Thai Stir-Fried Long Beans (MaiPham, p169) made with haricots verts and no kaffir lime leaves. Chocolate cookies for dessert.

Tuesday/5-Dec-17: Lunch with BookChatters today. Ed ate from the freezer.

Lexi, our possibly new dog, a hand-me-down from a neighbor going back to UK to work, came for a visit.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/6-Dec-17: Shopping today.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Masala Fish Steak (MJ@Home, p48), with lieu noir, filets not steaks. Disappointing really. Other things from this book have been excellent. This was uninteresting. As suggested, served with Zucchini and Yellow Summer Squash with Cumin (MJ@Home, p179). A half recipe with only zucchini, of course. This wasn't bad (Ed liked it a lot), but didn't really go with the fish dish. And some basmati rice with onions.

Thursday/7-Dec-17: For dinner, we had Craig Claiborne's Ultimate Hamburger (Tabasco, p88). These were really good, as before. Made up a little salad go-with, chunks of snijbonen (whatever is the English name of these?) with toasted walnuts, sesame seeds, slices of oven-dried tomatoes from the freezer, some gorgonzola, and lemon juice. Pretty good it was. Some store-bought custard (salted caramel) for dessert.

Friday/8-Dec-17: Oscar to the vet today for his shots. He got another cancer thing on his belly. Will have surgery next week.

Dinner was Prawns with Curry Saucy—Crevettes en Brochette à l'Indienne (BEFCC, p111). This was kind of so-so. Not sure how you serve sauce with shrimp on sticks. We managed, but it's not  that nice. Like most curried French dishes, the curry is pretty light, even though I used more than what was required for the half recipe I made. Served with a pilaf sort of thing and steamed broccoli. Store-bought custard for dessert. (Actually these weren't real custards, but yogurt-based. Maybe a new product line for La Fermière since they were on sale.

Saturday/9-Dec-17: Yogurt on overday.

Doug died this morning. We are heart-broken.

Quick dinner with sautéed slices of duck breast and a pan sauce of port and cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving. Served with orzo and steamed broccoli. Mini ice cream bars for after.

Sunday/10-Dec-17: Off the week's meal plan with One-Pan Chicken Thighs with Cilantro-Lime Black Bean Rice (web) for our meal, with a bit of pretty bare salad. Lots of rice left over for something.

Meanwhile for Cath's vegetarian daughter, arriving today, I made Kaye's Veg and Feta Gratin (MC) with broccoli. I'd forgotten about this recipe, which I adapted from a Cooking Light recipe. It's easy and good. And then some Mushroom-Barley Soup (MC), made vegetarian with paddestoelen fond and no Worcestershire sauce.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 2
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 BREAD: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/26-Jun-17: Pasta day today. I made Greek Shrimp (PastaMach, p136), served over Lemon Chive Pasta (PastaMach, p67). I added the grated rind of a lemon to the pasta and used 3tsp of frozen chives. It had a strange translucency, almost like rice noodles. Not sure why. But chewed nice. Then a salad.

Tuesday/27-Jun-17: Lunch out today. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/28-Jun-17: The stove got fixed this morning, at no small cost. But now I have two working ovens and the wok burner lights itself.

Shopping day.

Dinner was Chicken Posole Salad (web; cookbooker). This was very tasty. For two people I used two small kip filets (250g total) with all the spice mix; saved a bit of the mix for cooking the hominy. Need at least 1cup of hominy. Used a whole avocado between us; no sharing one between four. Halved the vinaigrette. A very tasty, easy salad. I had a mini magnum for afters.

Put fish on to marinate for tomorrow.

Thursday/29-Jun-17: Indian meal night. We had Monkfish Kebabs (30MinInd, p70), which were pretty good. As go-withs there were Jeera Potatoes (30MinInd, p85) and Peas with Whole Cumin and Mustard Seeds (SpiceKitch, p48); both of these we've enjoyed before. Everything was good.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/30-Jun-17: I missed an eating-out on Wednesday evening, so we had lunch out today.

To use up some of the store-bought rhubarb, I made a Rhubarb Upside Down Cake, from my 2BTried cookbook in Mastercook. Good it is. Went to use the newly fixed oven and found it makes a strange noise when it's turned on. Now I have to manage telling them that on the phone.

Saturday/1-Jul-17: Starting to use the tortillas I ordered. Tonight we had Soft Tacos or Tostadas with Chicken and Tomatillo Salsa (MexLight, p206). Used cooked chicken from the freezer. Didn't make salsa verde, but finished off a nice bottle of the stuff, topped off with a can of "salsa verde" that was only puréed tomatillos. Topped with crème fraîche instead of yogurt. Pretty good stuff for as easy as it was. Rhubarb Upside Down Cake for dessert.

Sunday/2-Jul-17: Early meal today. I made Zucchini and Fresh Goat Cheese Tart (VT,jul/aug16; web). This was pretty good. The curious thing is that the recipe I collected from the magazine is titled "goat cheese", while the one online is titled "taleggio". Same picture and other details are the same. Curious that. Some strangenessese in the recipe. They say one pound of zucchini, sliced, makes three cups; nope, it was four cups. And 10oz mushrooms, sliced, makes 2-1/2 cups; nope, that was more than 4cups. The volume measures are better. No madeira in house, so I used dry sherry. Tasty mushroom like shiitake would be even better.

Then a salad. Then the rest of the Rhubarb Upside Down Cake.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: yes for June, no for July; #4 BREAD: no for June, no for July

This week in the kitchen

Monday/29-May-17: Early meal today. We had a halfish recipe of Spicy Jerk Pork Chicken with Pepper Fried Rice (BHG/apr13; web) Well, it would have been pork if I'd defrosted that. Instead I defrosted a baggieful of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Used a red bell pepper and one of the French vaguely spicy pepper/chiles for the banana pepper, and shaoxing wine for the white wine or dry sherry. Very good and easy.

Discovered I have lots of ground almonds in the fridge freezer. Need to use those up.

Tuesday/30-May-17: We were supposed to eat out today, but Ed forgot, so I made a clean-out-the-fridge meal. Searched for broccoli tomato sauce blue cheese and came up with this, which I did very loosely, using roasted broccoli instead of spinach. Had some leftover tomato sauce and filled that out with two tomatoes. Wasn't bad.

Wednesday/31-May-17: Shopping today. Our dishwasher is on the fritz. Ed's been working on it but without much success. First it was saying it was clogged up, as it does occasionally, then it's saying it's leaking. On-going issue.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Grilled Salmon with White Bean and Arugula Salad (CL/jun16; web). Very nice dinner salad. I'm going to stick the recipe in Pat's salad book, since it fits right in with that.

We went to sit outside to eat and it immediately started drizzling. Because of the forecast high winds (which haven't happened so far), the pergola is furled. So we had a slightly damp dinner. But tasty.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/1-Jun-17: Dinner tonight was a halfish recipe of Pollo all'Arribiata—'Enraged' Chicken (TuscTable, p123). Good it was. Was surprised to find a bottle of chianti (Piccini) at Leclercc to use for the sauce. We finished the rest of it, so feel a bit happy tonight. Lots of sauce left, which we'll have over pasta for lunch one of these days. Served with tagliatelle (end of a multi-grain one plus some regular) with olive oil and chopped parsley as suggested.

Ed fixed the dishwasher today -- yay!

Friday/2-Jun-17:Lunch out today, so not much happened in the kitchen. Replanned our menus a bit, since we had steaks for lunch and there was more beef due up in a few days.

Oops, dishwasher not fixed. In moving it back in place, a connection came loose. Ed found this and plugged it back in. In the wrong place. Electric fizz. No more dishwasher. Back to hand washing for a bit.

Made a half recipe of Two-Tomato Jam (BoldVeg, p232), which is a go-with for tomorrow's meal.

Yogurt on overnight in anticipation of something needing yogurt in a few days.

Saturday/3-Jun-17: Interesting meal today. Our main was a half recipe of Grilled Eggplant and Toasted Pecan Salad (BoldVeg, p78). I see belatedly that this is supposed to be a salad or side dish; that explains why it seemed so skimpy. Served it over brown rice. It was good, but nothing extra special, but ... The recommended Two-Tomato Jam go-with (really a chutney) that I made last night was a star, definitely a keeper. To fill up the plate, I made Spiced Beets (30MinInd, p88), which I made several times already. Pretty and tasty. For dessert there was Carrot-Apple Halwa (BoldVeg, p240). This was pretty good and easy enough to do while other things a happening.

Sunday/4-Jun-17: Early meal today, a half recipe of Pasta Pentimento (EatingTog, p170; cookbooker). A really yummy pasta dish. Then a salad. Then the last of the halwa.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #3 PASTA: yes for May, no for Jun; #4 BREAD: no for May, no for Jun

This week in the kitchen

Monday/30-Jan-17: Dinner was Indian beef from the pressure cooker and Stir-Fried Green Cabbage with Fennel Seeds (Q&E, p88). I burnt the onions a bit for the cabbage dish, but we took those out and it was still good.

Putting stuff up in the Ivar shelves, I discovered we have another mouse friend. This one seems to like cascareccia pasta. I have a box and a cellophane sack of these, but neither seems to have an opening, so this is puzzling. Set a trap.

Tuesday/31-Jan-17: No sign of mouse friend this morning.

Off to finally get a haircut today. Very unhappy with result. Might be six months before there's enough hair to cut again, if I don't die of pneumonia in the meantime.

Dinner chili from the pressure cooker.

Wednesday/1-Feb-17: No shopping today, probably not tomorrow either. We had a clear-out-the-fridge dinner, kind of my standard, pasta with broccoli, the unused bit of cooked turkey, some roasted red bell pepper strips, some chopped black olives, all made into a sauce with pyramid goat cheese. Pretty good. Mini magnums for after.

Thursday/2-Feb-17: Horrible haircut. First time in public, ugh.

Dinner was cheese enchiladas with Mama's Spanish rice and my guacamole. Nothing else needed. (When I made the meal plan today, I forgot about leftovers. Have to make a quick adjustment in the morning before we go shopping.)

Friday/3-Feb-17: Finally did our shopping today.

Dinner was half recipes of Kerala-Style Fried Fish (30MinInd, p65), Spiced Beets (30MinInd, p88), and Coconut Rice (30MinInd, p100). The fish was merlan (whiting, perhaps) instead of flounder. Very tasty marinade/topping of puréed onion, garlic, ground coriander, cayenne, pepper, lemon juice, salt (a trifle too much), and grapeseed oil. Then dredged in flour and fried. Wasn't very pretty, but was delicious. The beets and rice we've had several times already. All were delicious. Then some store-bought pots de crème, also very good.

Saturday/4-Feb-17: Wild storm last night with very high winds. We were without electricity for over three hours, and for about 10 minutes some time later. Internet didn't come back till 21:30. Went early to the doctor this morning for walk-in visits, but he wasn’t there; no notice on door. Luckily I have another week of med left; I thought I had only a couple of days.

Early main meal today, partly to avoid the possibility of needing to cook in the dark. We had Pork Soup with Hominy and Peppers (HowTo, p43), which is a variation on a supper soup. For the spice I used Chris’s fancy chili powder. Kind of blah we thought. Fixed at the table with chipotle tabasco. Some individual Haagden-Dasz ice cream cups for after.

Sunday/5-Feb-17: I'd planned to make pasta today when Ed got home, but he had leftover soup for lunch and didn't feel like that. So we had a big salad instead (very big, because they only had very big sacks at the shop this week) and that was our meal.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: yes for January, no for February; #4 BREAD: no for January, no for February

This week in the kitchen

Monday/31-Oct-16: Homemade yogurt for breakfast today. Happy face!

Used leftovers from the other night to make Warm Broccoli and Potato Salad (MDSalads, p15) for lunch. There was enough of it we didn't feel like eating dinner. I planned to make a meal from the current Time-Life book, but didn't feel like doing anything further. Replan necessary.

Made some Herb Salt (Art, p172).

Tuesday/1-Nov-16: Lunch out today. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Wednesday/2-Nov-16: Because we were out most of yesterday, I didn't get the meal plan and list made for shopping today. Instead, I made the Time-Life meal that I originally planned for Monday. Then we went off to a movie.

Thursday/3-Nov-16: Since Ed's choir practice would run long today and he had errands to run afterwards, we decided to postpone shopping till tomorrow. We had Time-Life crab cakes for dinner along with canned corn and trio rice. Squares of chocolate for dessert.

Friday/4-Nov-16: We finally got to shopping today, and even that was late. Friday afternoon is not the best of times.

Dinner was Panko-Crusted Baked Salmon (web), made in the oven this time as it should be. Quite good it was. Served with steamed broccoli topped with lemon juice, and a kind of pilaf with shallots and some sliced (impulse-bought) shiitakes. All was good. Chocolate squares and a Pogo walk for dessert.

Saturday/5-Nov-16: Today my bike, which has been sitting on flat tires in the far shed since we moved here, went off to one of the refugées who were moved from Calais to Montbron. A bit sad to see it go, but glad it will be used.

For dinner, I used a recipe from a recipe for Chicken Satay Marinade from an EAT-L friend to make, yes, Chicken Satay with two kip filets. I cut these into four strips each and marinated them a good long while, then skewered them and grilled under the broiler. Should have made some peanut sauce to go with it, but it was still good. Served with Coconut Rice (30MinInd, p100) and a Thai-ish cucumber salad vaguely following a recipe from the web. All was good.

Sunday/6-Nov-16: Yippee! Ed had fried chicken for dinner tonight! Served with some garlic mashed potatoes for the gravy and some peas and carrots. We were full, no dessert needed.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 BREAD: no; #5 FotW: yes for October/November

Cookbooks Countdown: Lamb Kebabs

This should be the last bit of cooking this month from 30 Minute Indian today. We had Lamb Kebabs (p52).

I had to grind my own lamb (thank you, food processor!) and ended up with just over a pound of meat, rather than 14.5 oz. The idea was to made twelve meatball things to bake in the oven. Given that it's barbecue weather, I made seven oval patties and we grilled them outside.

These are fairly easy to make, with standard Indian spices. The ground lamb is mixed with a finely chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, mint, and green chiles, garlic, ginger, and an egg. The recipe says the garlic cloves should be crushed; I minced mine.

Ed grilled the patties and we ate them with Kachumber and Jeera Rice, both of which I've made this month already. And there were Lime Pickle and Tamarind&Date Chutney on the table too,

I choose this book for July, thinking I'd give it a try and then recycle it. But, no, there turn out to be some real winners here (the chutney, spiced beets, kachumber, quite a few main dishes). The onion bhajiya recipe is the one I'll work from next time we get a hankering for these. There are some losers, though (naan, kheer, cauliflower relish), and I have mixed feelings about the book. There is enough prep on many of the recipes (I've grated more ginger in the last month that I did in the first half of this year), that the 30-minute-ness is doubtful in many cases. There's not enough extra information on the recipes to make the book a good read. The ingredient and instruction lists could be better. But I think it's earned it's place as a keeper.

Stop by Cookbook Countdown to see what other folks are making from their July cookbook. And if you've got books on your shelf wanting to be used, why don't you choose one and join in?

Cookbook Countdown: Onion Bhajiyas & Bombay Chicken Masala

For our starter tonight, we had Onion Bhajiyas (p16) from 30 Minute Indian. There were almost excellent. The major problem was that they were too salty. The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of salt. I already thought this was way too much and used only about 1 teaspoon, maybe a smidge more, but not 1-1/4 teaspoons. Think this should be 1/2 teaspoon, or maybe 3/4 teaspoon, but not more.

I've made these before, using a recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's Quick and Easy Indian Cooking. Those have been tasty, but never as crispy as these. The major differences I see are that Jaffrey uses an egg and a full cup of besan, rather then 5 tablespoon, and Vijayakar adds baking powder. I wonder if that isn't the magic ingredient here? I will definitely try this again, using less salt and adding Jaffrey's extra spices (turmeric, cayenne, cumin seeds, and ground cumin). But we're definitely going in the right direction with our onion bhajis now.

Our main dish was Bombay Chicken Masala (p46). This was pretty good. Served with plain basmati rice, leftover Spiced Beets and leftover Mutter Paneer.

The chicken recipe is a bit vague about some points. I'm getting to have a major dislike for recipes asking for a "bunch" of some herb. How much is that anyhow? And the kip filets (skinless, boneless chicken breast halves) should be cut in strips? Longwise, crosswise, how big?

Except for the vagueness, this is a really simple recipe to make. Buzz together an onion, some green chilies, garlic cloves, grated ginger, ground coriander, ground cumin, and a large bunch of cilantro with some water. Fry this paste, then add the strips of chicken. Fry for a few minutes, then stir in some chicken stock, cover, and simmer for 10-12 minutes. This really is easy and quite fast.

Stop by Cookbook Countdown to see what other folks are making from their July cookbook. And if you've got books on your shelf wanting to be used, why don't you choose one and join in?

Cookbook Countdown: Tomato Fish Curry

Our main meal today was Tomato Fish Curry (p72) from 30 Minute Indian, served on plain basmati rice.

Any firm white fish can be used. I bought lieu noir, which is tasty and relatively inexpensive. (I'd been hoping for swordfish, which is on sale this week, but they were already out!) This dish is easy to make. A chopped onion is sautéed. When it has browned a bit, aromatics are added, including sliced garlic cloves, grated ginger, turmeric, cayenne, ground cumin, ground coriander, and garam masala. Then the fish, cut in strips is stirred in. Then tomatoes are added and the whole thing is simmered, covered, till the fish is done, something less than ten minutes. (Since we can't have tomatoes with seeds here, I used the last of last summer's puréed tomatoes from the garden.)

For dessert, I made (sort of) Mango and Mint Sherbet (p123). Mangos, lemon juice, mint leaves, and sugar are puréed together with water, and should be served over ice cubes. I decided to freeze this instead. And since my freezer accommodates only about a liter/quart of liquid, I could only add about a cup of water (rather than three). This was a very tasty end to a spicy Indian-flavored meal.

Stop by Cookbook Countdown to see what other folks are making from their July cookbook. And if you've got books on your shelf wanting to be used, why don't you choose one and join in?

Cookbook Countdown: Mutter Paneer

Our main meal today included Mutter Panner (p81) from 30 Minute Indian. To get that started, I made Paneer (p34) earlier in the day.

I've made paneer before, using a Madhur Jaffrey recipe. This one is a bit easier to put together but the directions are not very good and the resulting amount seems to be off.

Paneer is actually quite simple to make. Bring some whole milk to a boil, stir in lemon juice, remove from the fire, and let sit for 15 minutes. The last bit is from Madhur Jaffrey, and I think these are important instructions for successful paneer. The resulting curdled milk is strained (I lined my sieve with a clean dish towel), the smooshed together and pressed. Jaffrey has you wrap it in cheesecloth and hang it from the faucet. I found the pressing business worked fine for removing the excess liquid. My lump of paneer (that's a salad plate with a regular knife for size in the photo) weighed in something over 3 ounces, where I should have had 5 according to Vijayakar. The amount was sufficient for the Mutter Paneer, but a bit more wouldn't have hurt.

The resulting Mutter Paneer was tasty, but I'm not sure it came in under 30 minutes. There was a lot of measuring and chopping to be done, and we have to have our tomatoes seeded here, so that too a bit longer.

First mustard seeds, cumin seeds, a cinnamon/cassis stick, a dried red chili, cloves, and cardamom are toasted in oil. Then a finely chopped onion is added. Then grated ginger, smashed garlic, cayenne, garam masala, turmeric, dhanajeera*, and brown sugar are stirred in. Then tomatoes, paneer, peas, and water are stirred in, and everything is simmered covered for 10 minutes. Finally, some crème fraîche should be stirred in, but I forgot that. I served the mutter paneer over plain basmati rice.

*Dhanajeera appears to be a 1:2 mixture of ground cumin and ground coriander.

This was quite tasty and a bit on the hot side. I set out my jar of lime pickle, hoping to use it up so I could defrost a jar to see if the freezing helped with the tough rind. But this dish turned out to be quite hot and what was needed was a bit of chutney. The Tamarind & Date Chutney went very well.

Stop by Cookbook Countdown to see what other folks are making from their July cookbook. And if you've got books on your shelf wanting to be used, why don't you choose one and join in?

Cookbook Countdown: Chettinad Chicken

Our main meal today included Chettinad Chicken from 30 Minute Indian (p43), along with plain basmati rice and the Spiced Beets that I've made before. (Chettinad is a region in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which is on the southeast end of the Indian subcontinent.)

You start out frying sliced onion, curry leaves, and a chopped green chili until the onion is soft. Then you add grated ginger and crushed garlic cloves. (I will coarsely chop the garlic next time.) Then you add some boneless and skinless thigh meat, cut in bite-sized chunks, along with ground coriander, and stir-fry till the chicken is cooked on the outside. Then add some chicken stock (from a cube today) and garam masala, cover, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Salt and pepper, and serve. Good stuff.

Stop by Cookbook Countdown to see what other folks are making from their July cookbook. And if you've got books on your shelf wanting to be used, why don't you choose one and join in?

Cookbook Countdown: Fish Mollee, Kachumber, and Kheer

Yes, another Indian meal from 30 Minute Indian. Tonight we had Fish Mollee (p61) with Lime Pickle, Coconut Rice (p100), Kachumber (p36), with Kheer (p116) for dessert. The Lime Pickle and Coconut Rice are old friends now. The others were new tonight.

• The Fish Mollee was quite good and very easy to make. Cut your fish (it was cod tonight) into strips, salt the bits, sprinkle with lemon juice, and set aside. Sauté a finely chopped onion and some crushed garlic cloves. Then add turmeric, a diced green chili, and some coconut milk, and simmer a bit. Stir in the fish and a bit of white wine vinegar, turn the heat down, cover, and simmer for about ten minutes. (Shrimp can also be used used.)
  N.B.: There is an error in the ingredient list, which says only "4 fresh green chilies, deseeded and". The following line is missing. I finely chopped mine.
• The Kachumber was also quite nice. It's a fresh vegetable salad, red onion, plum tomatoes, cucumber, and a green chili, tossed with lemon juice and cilantro. Simple and tasty. Tonight's cucumber was fresh from the potager, the first of the season. The green chili, the usually mild one that the French think is spicy, was a bit hotter than others I've had, but nothing challenging.

A thing that has consistently bothered me about this book is the lack of information, or rather clarification, on ingredients. He asks for a red (or green) chili, with no explanation for what kind of (or how hot a) chili is needed. A habanero? An jalapeno? A chile pequin? A cayenne? A bird chile? There is a bit of information in the ingredient glossary, but it still leave me doubting what I need. Since chilies are difficult to find in France, I have to use whatever I can find or have stashed in the freezer. Luckily the mildly piquant French green chili is in season, so I've been buying those. (I've no idea of its proper name; I suppose I should try to look this up.) I have a stash in the freezer of some habaneros, red jalapenos (just found those!), cayennes, and little red Indonesian chilies a friend brought for me from the Netherlands.

Then there was Kheer. I used basmati rice, rather than jasmine, since that's what I keep in-house and I didn't think to buy jasmine this week. These cook the same as far as I know, so I usually only keep the one and use them interchangeably. The result was tasty enough, but the recipe has a major problem. It calls for 2-1/2 cups milk. I used almost the whole liter, and the "pudding" was still as stiff as could be. 

The recipe has another unclear ingredient/instructions. It asks for 1 teaspoon of crushed cardamom seeds. I suppose he means for you to take the seeds out of the pods and crush them. That's what I did. But this is a 30-minute cookbook. Why not just use ground cardamom?

No silver leaf here, just a slog of cream to soften it up a bit.

Stop by Cookbook Countdown to see what other folks are making from their July cookbook. And if you've got unused books on your shelf, why don't you choose one and join in?

Cookbook Countdowm: Kitcheree and Lime Pickle

More from 30 Minute Indian. Tonight we had Kitcheree (p99) and Lime Pickle (p35).

The weather is hot and I didn't want to do much cooking. Grainy Kitcheree had an appeal. And this is the kind of dish that goes well with an Indian pickle.

This kitcheree is made with rice and moong dal. I thought I had moong dal on the shelf, but it turned out to be chana dal, which takes a bit longer to cook. A quick look online showed split peas as a substitute. I happened to have some yellow ones (but no green ones-->inventory failure), so used those. I soaked them for a while with the rice, but that didn't really work. They were still a bit on the crunchy side at the end. In spite of all the spices (cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, ginger, green chiles, cumin seeds, and ground coriander), this was quite a bland dish so the pickle was a nice addition.

My Lime Pickle is tasty, a bit hotter than your usual pickle, but still good. The only problem was that the peel was a bit tough. I've made a lime pickle before, and I see that that recipe had you boil the limes twice for one minute, then again for 20-25 minutes (fresh water each time). Think I'd do that next time. Vijayakar's recipe says it makes "one jar." I gave one jar to friends (traded for some garam masala), put one jar in the fridge, and two more in the freezer. (Will that work? Maybe it will soften the peel?) These jars are 350ml jam jars. I might have been able to pack it all into a one-liter canning jar. That's really a lot of lime pickle.

Stop by Cookbook Countdown to see what other folks are making from their July cookbook. And if you've got unused books on your shelf, why don't you choose one and join in?

This week in the kitchen

Monday/18-Jul-16: Summer hot has come upon us.

Leftover night tonight. Defrosted some cooked chicken to have with the sauce from Saturday's dinner. Served over leftover naan—the packaged kind, rather than the horrible things I made. There was a bit of peas from last night and some corn on the cob I impulse-bought last week. There's still the Vaguely Vietnamese cole slaw which has to wait for another day, because we wanted to finish off the hot chocolate ice cream.

Tuesday/19-Jul-16: Too hot today. Dinner was Kitcheree with Lime Pickle. For dessert we had some little ice creams. That was all.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/20-Jul-16: Shopping today. In the evening we went with friends to the marché des producteurs at Chabanais. Nice food. Came home with rillettes des canard, some lovely brown sourdough bread, and various sausages (canard, aurouch, porc noir) that will make meals in the coming months.

Thursday/21-Jul-16: Another Indian meal. New dishes were Fish Mollee, Kachumber, and Kheer. Served with more Lime Pickle, Coconut Rice (30MinInd, p100). Pretty nice tastes.

Friday/22-Jul-16: Lunch out with friends today, so in theory, nothing should be happening in the kitchen. Instead we discovered yesterday that we're due at a charity picnic tomorrow, so I'm busy:

• Grilling eggplant slices for Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Sandwiches (Picnic, p23)
• Making a half dose of Mango Cinnamon Crisp (Picnic, p44), using the end of my sack of frozen mango slices and the remaining blueberries, making it a Mango-Blueberry Cinnamon Crisp. 
• Making Cantaloupe Soup (Picnic, p25).
• Making guacamole.

Only sandwiches to assemble tomorrow, and packing it all up.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/23-Jul-16: All was good at the picnic. The Cantaloupe Soup was refreshing. The sandwich good, the guacamole good. The mango and blueberry combination worked great.  Nothing much else happened in the kitchen today.

Sunday/24-Jul-16: Started Dried Apricot & Amaretto Conserve (FancyPant, p127). The apricots and raisins will soak in the fridge overnight.

Early meal today before a concert this evening. We had Chettinad Chicken, with Spiced Beets (30MinInd, p88), and plain basmati rice. That was enough.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 BREAD: no; #5 FotW: no for Jul/Aug

Cookbook Countdown: Kashmiri Lamb Chops and Jeera Potatoes

And yet another dinner from 30 Minute Indian. Tonight we had Kashmiri Lamb Chops (p52) and Jeera Potatoes (p85).

The lamb chops marinated all day in a sauce of yogurt, cayenne, grated ginger, crushed garlic cloves, and a bit of neutral oil. Then they're cooked under the broiler. Delicious. They'd probably be good on the grilled on the barbecue too.

The potatoes were also a hit. Ginger slivers and cumin seeds are fried briefly, then cubes of boiled potatoes are added along with some sliced green chili and S&P. When all is looking nicely done, stir in some lime juice and cilantro leaves. If you have everything ready for these potatoes, they finish up quite easily at the last minute. Vijayakrar says these potatoes go well with chicken and fish dishes, but we thought they were quite fine with the lamb. (The cumin seeds are the only thing in common with the Jeera Rice that I've made twice already. Jeera, it turns out, is alternative name for cumin seeds.)

(Don't worry, there was a green veg served with this, Madhur Jaffrey' Green Peas in a Creamy Sauce.)

Stop by Cookbook Countdown to see what other folks are making from their July cookbook. And if you've got unused books on your shelf, why don't you choose one and join in?

Cookbook Countdown: Salmon in Banana Leaves, Broccoli Sabzi, and Coconut Rice

And another dinner from 30 Minute Indian. Tonight we had Salmon in Banana Leaves (p58), Broccoli Sabzi (p91), and Coconut Rice (p100).

No, the Salmon in Banana Leaves was not baked in skewered-together banana leaves; that's stapled-together parchment paper there. Of course, this worked just fine. This is a strip of salmon fillet, topped with cilantro, mint, garlic, ginger, red chiles, ground cumin, ground coriander, brown sugar, lime juice, and coconut milk that had been blitzed into a sauce. Each bit of salmon is topped with the sauce, sealed in its own packet, and baked at 400F for 15 minutes. Very tasty and the salmon was nicely done.

For a side, I made Broccoli Sabzi, which was good, but broccoli is really too strong a taste for salmon. First, cumin seeds are toasted in oil, then a sliced onion is sautéd till it's getting brown, then finely chopped red chile and garlic is added along with the broccoli bit. This just cooks on low until the broccoli is done. In fact, I covered it while it was cooking and finally added a bit of waterfor the last minutes to help the broccoli cook it since the pan seemed a bit too dry to me.

The Coconut Rice has been here before, and might show up again. It's actually a good way to use up the extra coconut milk leftover from another dish.

Stop by Cookbook Countdown to see what other folks are making from their July cookbook. And if you've got unused books on your shelf, why don't you choose one and join in?

Cookbook Countdown: Seekh Kebabs, Jeera Rice, Gujarati Carrot Salad, Cauliflower Relish, and Naan

Tonight we had yet another whole meal from 30 Minute Indian. Clockwise on the plate from the bottom, there was Seekh Kebabs (p51), Jeera Rice (p99), Cauliflower Relish (p31), and Gujarati Carrot Salad (p32). I also made Naan (p103).

• The Seekh Kebabs were pretty tasty, if a bit dry. I had only 350g of ground beef (rather than 400g) and made only eight kebabs (rather than twelve). Even with the full amount, twelve would have been more like meatballs. I didn't add nearly enough salt, so we had to salt them at the table. The meat mixture wasn't firm enough to stay put even on my flat skewers, so I ended up turning them by hand and using some wooden skewers to hold three or two together. I think it would be better to start with a pair of wooden skewers in each kebab. 
• The Jeera Rice, I've made before. And will make again, I'm sure, since it's easy and tasty. 
• I made the Cauliflower Relish several days ago. We've already had it once for dinner, but I neglected to take a picture. This wasn't bad, but we weren't especially enamored of it. The cauliflower pieces are supposed to be bite-sized, so I cut them my idea of bite-sized. But it seems to me that a relish should have smaller bits of whatever's in it. Glad I tried this, but it's not something I need to make again.
• The Gujarati Carrot Salad was okay, but I won't make it again either. Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking also has a Gujarati Carrot Salad (p170) and we much prefer that one, without the honey.

Now, I was curious about how you can turn out a 30-minute naan. The answer is that you can't. It takes a minimum of an hour. And, while the result was edible, to me it tasted of baking powder. Eh. We'll see how there are with jam for breakfast tomorrow.*

* Next day report : The rest of the naans didn't improve with sitting and weren't helped by jam and butter. Bird food perhaps. One day I'll make Madhur Jaffrey's proper version of these.

Stop by Cookbook Countdown to see what other folks are making from their July cookbook. And if you've got unused books on your shelf, why don't you choose one and join in?