This week in the kitchen

Monday/7-Jun-21: Dinner was Poached Egg on Toast with Chipotle Mayonnaise, Bacon and Avocado* (web; GD; GD), really a brunch or breakfast-for-dinner meal. But good. Some store-bought vanilla yogurts for after. 

Tuesday/8-Jun-21: Dinner was an old one, from my Green Book, no idea where it came from, and not to be found searching. Misty Isle Eggplant (GB) it was. Where are the Misty Isles? The recipe asks ground beef or lamb; I had the right amount of ground veal in the freezer, so used that. Served over trio rice. All was good. Strawberries and cream for after.

Wednesday/9-Jun-21: Shopping today. I'm really startled by the reduction in products at Leclerc. The wall cooler that had cuts of meat not has mostly ready-prepared meat products. Beef, veal, pork, and lamb cuts have been moved to the low coolers with a much reduced selection. At the butcher counter, the space devoted to meat is probably halved. Charcuterie items are taking over. Their veggies have never been especially good, and that selection is reduced. But they've had lemongrass, which used to be a rarity, for the last three weeks.

Dinner was Mediterranean Cod* (web; GD), which is easy and very good. Served with Asparagus and Carrots with Lemon Sauce (web; GD), which will go on the Do-Me-Again list; easy, colorful, and a nice combination. And some spaghettis courts with a bit of garlic butter. Store-bought dark chocolate pudding for after. We ate well.

Thursday/10-Jun-21: Dinner was, sort of, Cheese Enchiladas with Chili Gravy (web). This is sort of like my mother's cheese enchiladas, but with a homemade gravy. I usually use a chile gravy that I make up from TexMex. I had only some store-bought English cheddar, which isn't quite right, but the whole effect was pretty good. Instead of rolling enchiladas, I made an enchilada casserole in a square dish where you halve the tortillas to line the sides; this case, because the tortillas were small I needed an extra one in the middle. This is easier to deal with than proper enchiladas and the taste isn't affected. Served with some guacamole. And assorted fruit for dessert. 

Friday/11-Jun-21: Haircut today. Went out for a pizza, but we ended up having dinner salads, which were very satisfying. I had a crêpe with chocolate for after; turned out to be two, a bit more than I wanted. 

Saturday/12-Jun-21: Before starting dinner, I made Orange Pound Cake (web; GD); this was easy and quite tasty. Had to "make" salted butter; put the salt in with the flour. Make up some pesto. For dinner there was Spicy Grilled Eggplant* (web, GD), pasta with freshly made pesto, and the charmoula-marinated tuna from several weeks ago. The tuna wasn't as good as last time, but still quite edible. The eggplant is good; the bit of lime in the marinade is an interesting touch.

For after we had pound cake plus fresh fruit, a nectarine, some cherries, with raspberries and currants from the garden.

Sunday/13-Jun-21: Ground up two packages of pork sauté; save 1# for tomorrow's burgers and turned the rest into Hazan's Homemade Sausage (30MinPasta, p161).

For dinner I reheated the enchilada casserole thing and made another batch of guacamole. We're full.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/5-Oct-20: I didn't go to French today, and Ed ended up picking up our order at Leclerc.

Dinner was a third recipe of Tajine de Calamars au Tandoori (Régal hor-série #17), using this recipe for the tandoori spice. Served over basmati rice. Okay, nothing special. Some mini ice cream cups for after.

Tuesday/6-Oct-20: Replenished my stock of Ground Roasted Cumin (MJ1, p17). Can't do too much because it's rather difficult to find cumin seeds at the convenient Drives.

Dinner was leftover Toulouse sausages and roasted veggies. Pretty good stuff. Then a salad. Then the rest of the Far de Pruneaux.

Wednesday/7-Oct-20: Made a loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17). This bread has such a nice texture.

Dinner was Nigel Slater's recipe for Aubergine with Feta, Cashews, and Ras el Hanout (web). I printed this on 16-Jun; on 18-Jun, it was amended to included cashew in the instructions. Can't say I missed them. This was easy and very satisfying. Served over brown rice. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Blogger has "improved" their format and editing. It's all horrible and things just don't work. E.g., can''t add a tag because that bit is broken. Think it's time to consider wordpress, which is where most bloggers seem to be working these days.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/8-Oct-20: Picked up an order from Intermarché this afternoon, 

Made some of Guilano Hazan's Homemade Sausage (30MinPasta, p161). Used most of the sauté de porc we got this week, freezing a bit of it for a stew or curry. 

Didn't have the oomph to make what was on the plan. Instead I made a quick one from the Do-me-again list, Baked Salmon with Cucumber Relish (web). The fish is yummy; thought the relish was a bit too sweet even though I cut back the honey. Served with trio rice. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Friday/9-Oct-20: Finished reading A Tuscan in the Kitchen on the way to and from Civray this afternoon. I picked this up because someone receommended it, but can't remember who.  It's definitely a good read. An interesting style of presentation for the ingredients, grouped into Pantry, Cold Storage, and Market. Have marked just a few recipes to try. This is a candidate for recycling, but I think I'll keep it for at least one more round because it's such an enjoyable book.

Dinner was a two-serving can of Langue de Boeuf Sauce Piquante, piquant being with mustard, not with anything truly piquant. Served with Whole Wheat Spaetzle (web). This was okay but not as good as my regular (white flour) recipe. The batter was very runny and had no need of being pushed through the spaetzle gadget. Might try my regular recipe with whole wheat flour and maybe add a tad extra milk if it's seems too thick. Butter cookies for after.

Saturday/10-Oct-20: Dilly-dallied in the afternoon and didn't have time or energy to make what was on the plan. Instead I defrosted some chicken sausages to grill and made some potato salad à la Joy of Cooking. Some mini ice cream cups for after.

Yogurt on overnight. Started Overnight Bread.

Sunday/11-Oct-20: Baked off the bread this morning. Really didn't feel like cooking this afternoon. We had pizza instead.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 BACKLOG: no
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/28-Sep-20: Dinner was Pasta with Arugula Pesto (VegPlanet, p85). Served half of this tonight over whole wheat spaghetti. Froze the rest for another night (to be finished with Parmesan, salt and a pinch of cayenne). Then a sliced tomato each, with mozzarella and basil. Then some tapioca pudding.

Tuesday/29-Sep-20: Dinner was Vegetarian Korma (pdf). It's adapted from a recipe here, using coconut milk instead of cream and a whole red bell pepper instead of halves of green and red. I used ground almonds, easily available, instead of ground cashews. Not bad stuff. Finished the tapioca pudding for after.

Wednesday/30-Sep-20: Really didn't feel like cooking what was on the plan. Instead I made Linguine with Shrimp and Zucchini (30MinPasta, p108. This isn't a favorite from this book, but suited the time and ingredients at hand. Then a little salad of sucrines and avocado. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/1-Oct-20: Dinner was the chicken version of Tandoori Chicken (or Salmon) (web), a Mark Bittmann recipe. Quite good. I didn't wipe off enough of the marinade, so that was a bit burnt, but the chicken was yummy. Served with Carrots with Cilantro (MJ@Home, p149) and Tomato Pullao (MJ@Home, p211). I didn't do that last one pilaf-style, but used the blended tomatoes as the liquid to cook like regular rice on the stovetop. Pretty good.

Friday/2-Oct-20: The wok burner, which was leaking gas, got fixed this a.m.

Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive.

Cleaned a shelf of food literature today and put a bunch of books in the recycle box. Hard to let some of them go, but I won't read them again, so no point in keeping them. Put several that had lots of stickies back on shelf. Need to go through those and save any recipes that need saving.

Dinner was One-Pan Fabulous Fish (web), with cod. Fabulous, maybe not. Easy and fast and a one-pot meal, yes. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Saturday/3-Oct-20: After getting a bowl and platter down for serving dinner, I tripped over a stepstool and fell, breaking both dishes. Ed said Uh-oh and continued doing what he was doing, without asking or looking how I was. I know how I rate now.

Dinner was Sheet Pan Sausage and Potatoes (web). The string beans (haricots verts) I ordered for Friday didn't show up, so I used broccoli instead. Toulouse sausages instead of Italian links. This is easy to put together and pretty good stuff. Any kind of sausage would work; the Toulouse sausages, bought recently on sale, were quite tasty. We couldn't eat it all, so will have leftovers next week. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Sunday/4-Oct-20: Meant to make some semolina gnocchi today, but didn't have the oomph. Instead, having goat cheese to use up, I made Goat Cheese, Chive, and Chili Pepper Sauce for Pasta (MarCuc, p167). This is an old favorite, tasty and easy to assemble. Before dinner, I put a Far aux Pruneaux (web) in the oven.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 5; #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/17-Sep-18: Still away. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Tuesday/18-Sep-18: Home from Île de Ré today. Oscar not well.

Made the shopping list for tomorrow.

More evidence of a mouse in the pantry shelves, but three emtpy traps.

We had barbecued chipolatas for dinner, accompanied by assorted veggies: smash sweet pots, steamed broccoli, and Baked Eggplant Slices (TooMany, p114), which is an old favorite.

Wednesday/19-Sep-18: Shopping today.

Our starter was Figues Fraîches Facies au Chèvre et au Jambon Serrano (VPG); unfortunately VPG doesn't put its recipes online and I haven't been able to find a similar one. This very easy and very nice. The recipes has three figs per person, but I think one or two would be fine. To make: quarter each fig, not quite all the way. Add a bit of serrano ham (one slice divided into three parts), tucked into the splits to make a sort of basket. Fill that with a tablespoonful of soft goat cheese. Then add a little drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of piment d'Espelette, and put under the grill for five minutes or so. There should have been a sprinkle of basil leaves, but I forgot. Nevertheless, it was good.

Our main was Quick-Braised Cod with Herbed Yogurt (web), made with lieu noir, which is cheaper than cod, and, Ed thinks, tastier. With a side of tagliatlle. This was nice and easy, and fairly quick. Then a salad. I bought some chocolate puddings for dessert, but we were too full.

Thursday/20-Sep-18: Our meal today was a half-recipe of Cold Noodles with Sesame Sauce, Chicken and Cucumbers (web). Easy and pretty good. Then some store-bought dark chocolate pudding.

Friday/21-Sep-18: Dinner was a half recipe of Whole Wheat Penne with Masses of Broccoli, Green Olives, and Pine Nuts (VegSups, p56). Good. Chocolate-dipped madeleines for dessert.

Saturday/22-Sep-18: Busy day in the kitchen. Started off making a half dose of Big Beans with Fresh Herbs and Fruit Olive Oil (O&C, p208), the suggested go-with for tonight's planned stew.

Then used most of the sauté de porc that I bought on sale to make Homemade Sausage (30MinPasta, p161) for the freezer. Froze up two small ziplocs of porc for stew or whatnot.

Took a break, then started a half dose of Pork Stew with Olives, Anchovies, Cilantro, and White Beans (O&C, 398). Didn't absorb the fact that this wants to cook for 2 hours before it's ready. Quick change of plans for tonight. Instead we had Zucchini Skillet Cakes with Capers and Pine Nuts (VegSups, p82). Topped with some cherry tomatoes and yogurt-garlic sauce. Not the best-ever zucchini pancakes, but not bad. Some mini ice creams for dessert.

Sunday/23-Sep-18: Finished off yesterday's stew for dinner. Delicious stew (cookbooker) and yummy beans (cookbooker).

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Vegetarian Suppers
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/5-Sep-16: Dinner was Salsa di Salsiccie—Sausage Sauce (TuscTable, p87; cookbooker) served over most of our remaining pici. I used the last of Hazan's sausage from the freezer to make about a 2/3 recipe. We ate it all, but it probably would have served three easily, and should have served four. Very simple to make and very tasty. Improvised a little salad of sliced cucumber (from the potager) and red onion with S&P, dill, sour cream, and a slog of white wine vinegar. We had some chocolate squares when we took Pogo for a walk.

Tuesday/6-Sep-16: This was clearing out the fridge day. We had Moroccan Eggplant Salad with Preserved Lemons and Olives (web), which was quite good. Used eggplants from the potager. And there was Broccoli with Preserved Lemon Yogurt (web), also good. Served over brown rice. (After I started this I realized it should have been couscous. Oh well.) Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Wednesday/7-Sep-16: Shopping today.

Starting to cook from Time-Life's Middle Eastern Cooking tonight. We had fish and a radish salad, along with some plain couscous. And Crème Fraîche Ice Cream (MC) for after. All yummy.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/8-Sep-16: Made up a batch of Guillano Hazan's Homemade Sausage (30MinPasta, p162; HandyBook) and froze it.

Dinner was leftover cheese-and-onion enchiladas and Spanish rice, with a new batch of guacamole. I had a bunch of avocados, but most were bad. So annoying.

Friday/9-Sep-16: In the morning I made a Peach and Raspberry Galette (web). The recipe is actually for peaches and blueberries, but I'd been told raspberries were good, and I had some in the freezer, so ... It was extra yummy. Any nice fruit combination could be used. I used my new Kenwood to mix the dough, but it might be easier in the Cuisinart, using Jones' alligator technique.

For lunch, I was going to made a salad with avocado and slices of dried magret. But, I found last night that my avocados were mostly bad and had none left for today. Instead, using the snow peas that I had in the fridge waiting to be used, I made, more or less, Salade Pois Gourmand et Magret de Canard Fumé (web); I had only a half fan on alternating peas and slices. Served with a bit of salad and a dressing of 1 part honey, 2 parts balsamic vinegar, and 3 parts olive oil. I was too lazy to go get the camera, since this was deserving of a picture and quite tasty.

We went to a picnic/play in the evening. Brought some bread, cheeses, wine, and the galette. A very enjoyable evening.

Saturday/10-Sep-16: The chicken didn't get marinate as long is it could have, but Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken with Lemon Grass (MJFarEast, p111; cookbooker) was still very good. I made a halfish recipe with three skinned chicken thighs, not cut into small bits. Very yummy. Served with some plain basmati rice and a half recipe of Spicy Thai Cucumber Salad (MaiPham, p40; cookbooker). For afters, we finished off the bits of cheese left from last night. Nice dinner.

Sunday/11-Sep-16: We had some of the galette for breakfast today. Something went awry with the last batch of yogurt. It has an odd texture and taste. After the first day, neither of us want to eat it, so I'll get a new starter when we shop next week.

Made a pot of chicken stock today, using only half the bones in the freezer. Will finish it off tomorrow.

Dinner was another meal from Time-Life's Middle Eastern Cooking, lamb and eggplant and the yummy radish salad again. Very nice dinner. We finished the galette for dessert.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/6-Jun-16: Parboiled and peeled fêves for tomorrow's meal. Went to a quiz this evening. Nothing further happened in the kitchen. So tired when we got home, I forgot to make yogurt and start the dishwasher.

Tuesday/7-Jun-16: Yogurt on overday.

We had our main meal early today so we could go to a movie in the early evening. We started with sliced melon topped with gelée de pineau, a syrup; the syrup was much better here than it was on pancakes recently. Then we had Fava Bean Risotto (web), which was pretty good. Spinach stirred in with the favas was a nice touch. Then we had the last pair of the apple-mango tart things. Nice meal.

And we found the theater today. And we enjoyed the film.

Wednesday/8-Jun-16: Another early main meal, so Ed could go off to choir practice in the evening. Dinner was Roast Chicken on a Faux Spit with Lemon and Olives (Morocco, p306). Didn't use a "faux spit," but cooked my chickie on a rack (above water). No nice olives available at the store, so I just used plain old green olives. Pretty darn good, though. Served with Carrot Salad with Cumin, Cinnamon, and Sweet Paprika (Morocco, p79), which is still good. And some whole-wheat couscous, cooked with chicken stock and the carrot-steaming water, and a dash of ras el-hanout. For dessert, some home-made ice cream, which used up cream and crème fraîche from the fridge. We're well-stuffed.

Thursday/9-Jun-16: Last-minute replan. Dinner ended up as Linguine with Shrimp and Zucchini (30MinPasta, p108). Pretty good, all depending on quality of your veggies. Followed by a big salad. Then some mini mags for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/10-Jun-16: Shopping today.

Dinner was Sautéed Salmon with Capers (web). This was okay, but nothing special. Served with trio rice and broccoli and carrots. Some yummy, store-bought vanilla custards. That's all.

Saturday/11-Jun-16: Chopped up the meat from the uneaten chicken half, mixed with an egg and the rest of the couscous. Made patties and baked them while Rhubarb Clafoutis (web) was baking. Sautéed a bunch of veggies from the fridge, a half onion, some red bell pepper, a zucchini, two pencil-thin asparagus stalks from then, for a side. Meant to stir in a small can of corn, but forgot. The clafoutis was good. It's supposed to serve six, but will only do four here.

Sunday/12-Jun-16: One of Ed's choir's had a performance today, a long way away. I stayed home and went to a charity meal with friends. When Ed got home he had something from the freezer for a late dinner. That was all that happened in the kitchen today.

Sometime this week I finished reading Richard Olney's Simple French Food. I liked this much better than his French Menu Cookbook. I got this one when I found it on some top-10-ever cookbook list, but I found nothing that I especially wanted to cook. When Simple French Food appeared in a load of books we took to a charity shop, I traded it for the French Menu Cookbook. (Cookbook shelf space is too limited to justify both.) I don't think I like Olney himself, but SFF has a lot more interesting recipes and useful information, so it will probably stay around for a while.

Yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Aug-15: We had our mail meal at midday today, in an attempt to recover from several days of big eating. I made a 30-minute menu from VPG (which now styles itself simply as Gourmand, dropping the Vie Pratique except in their URL). The main course was a half dose of Aubergines grillées aux dés d'agneau marinés et sautés à la fleur de thym (web), that's Grilled Eggplant with Pieces of Marinated Lamb Sautéed with Thyme Flowers. Ok, my thyme is past the flowering stage, so I just used some freshly picked leaves. Tasty and kind of cute in presentation with eggplant slices folded over the meat. The starter, which I served as a side dish, was Salad perles de blé, boulgour, carotte, courgette et crème coco (web). This was a really nice and easy salad/side dish: Soak some bulgur in hot water, grate two more less equal piles of zucchini and carrots. Make a dressing of coconut milk, lemon juice, and dijon mustard. It asked from some chopped up chervil, but I couldn't find that, so used flat parsley which I had. For dessert, we had a bit of ice cream with some defrosted raspberries. Just a bit of fruit for our evening meal.

Tuesday/11-Aug-15: Easy dinner tonight. Some tasty chickpea patties from the freezer, topped with the last of the apricot habernero salsa. Accompanied by Broccoli e Zucchini in Insalata (p53, VegCarlu), which we've had several times in past year. Some mini-magnums for dessert.

Wednesday/12-Aug-15: Yogurt on overday. Made up a bunch of Guiliano Hazan's Home Sausage (p162, 30MinPasta) and froze it.

Lunch out today as part of our steam train trip. Only fruit for dinner.

Thursday/13-Aug on-15: Black beans and ham from the freezer for tonight's dinner, along with Cayenne Cornbread (p182, BigGerman). Salty they were.

Friday/14-Aug-15: Shopping today.

Dinner was Baked Masala Fish (web) made with cod. It was so-so. To make this, I make up a whole recipe of Tandoori Masala (web) which I'll try to use up before too long. Served with  Madhur Jaffrey's Stir-Fried Cabbage with Fennel Seeds (web; cookbooker) which I thought was super-yummy. Looked through most of my Jaffrey books but didn't find it; will have to tuck the recipe into one of them. And some basmati rice. Some store-bought lunettes for dessert. Not sure why the name—they're puff pastry wrapped around some chocolate chips. Not very Indian, but very tasty.

Saturday/15-Aug-15: Yogurt on overday. Made up a batch of Guilano Hazan's Homemade Sausage (p161, 30MinPasta; HandyBook). Froze in two 8-ounce lumps, plus the leftoverbit.
Had dinner at our fête patronale this evening, so nothing further happened in the kitchen

Sunday/16-Aug-15: Made half a Peach Dutch Baby (web) for breakfast. Halved the sugar; no extra sugar at the end. Good stuff.

We had our main meal at lunch, that was Omelette er Jhol—Omelette in a Curry (web). Pretty good stuff. She says the gravy is fairly thin, so I added only one cup of water instead of two, but I think more would have been nice, maybe 1-1/2 cups. Served over rice, there wasn't as much soppy as I'd have liked. Some cut up fruit for dessert.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: yes; #2 UNUSED: no; #3 GRAINS: yes; #4 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #5 PASTA: no; #6 BREAD: no; #7 FotW: no for July; holiday in August

This week in the kitchen

Monday/3-Nov-14: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was Curried Leek Tart Tatin (Dusoulier2, p164; cookbooker), which was tasty and impressive. Unfortunatly I always forget how much wall clock time is needed for this kind of thing, so we ate fairly late. We started with a grated carrot salad, a classic French thing, which is (note to self) better when the carrots are grated on the box grater rather than the microplane). Then the tart. The tart was made with Yogurt Tart Dough (Dusoulier2, p199; cookbooker), which was quite tasty. Might be worth trying again for something else; there's also a buckwheat flour variation. Ed was so impressed with the tart, he thought it needed some photos. Here are the chunks of leek, browned on one end, topped with goat's cheese:

Tucking the pie crust around the leeks.

And turned out à la Tatin for serving.

Tuesday/4-Nov-14: An early main meal today since we're going out this evening. Using up some lamb shanks from the freezer, I made Roast Lamb Shanks and Lentils (TLAmer, p28; cookbooker). Served with Shredded Zucchini (MW@Home, p87), an old favorite.

Wednesday/5-Nov-14: Shopping today.

Dinner was a half recipe of Merluzzo Pasta Puttanesca (web). (I actually got this from EAT-L, but it was just a cut-and-paste job.) The pasta was good, an interesting variation on a puttanesca bianca sauce with the fish included. Too much red pepper flakes, this from folks who like it hot. Think regular anchovies would be better than anchovy paste. I used real olives, chopped, rather than tapenade. The rucola was a nice touch. Then a big salad. Then some store-bought tiramisús, following the Italianish theme.

Thursday/6-Nov-14: Yogurt on overday.

Comfort food for dinner, a nice Dutch stamppot met zuurkool en rookworst. Yum. Of course it's French sauerkraut and a French sausage, but the same effect. Then off to line dancing.

Friday/7-Nov-14: Dinner was a half recipe of Linguine with Shrimp and Porcini (30MinPasta, p99; cookbooker), a really nice pasta. Then a salad. That was all.

Saturday/8-Nov-14: Dinner was Tangy Stir-Fried Pork (MC), using up the rest of my kumquats. My varkenshaas (pork tenderloin) was huge, so there was lots of meat, but it was tasty. Served with rice and a broccoli-mushroom stirfry. Chocolate mini mags for dessert.

Sunday/9-Nov-14: Ed's choir gave a Remembrance Day concert this evening. We had pizza afterwards.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: no #4 FotW: no; #5 BREAD: 0

This week in the kitchen

Monday/27-Oct-14: Yogurt on overday.

Company gone. Back to a normal eating regime. Whew.

Dinner was, sort of. Chile-Lime Veggie Noodles (web). More or less the whole recipe for a generous dinner for two. Used shao-xing wine instead of sherry, only 1 teaspoon of sugar, and three eggs for the omelet part. Pretty good. We split a magnum classic for dessert.

Tuesday/28-Oct-14: Dinner was a half recipe of Summer Corn & Scallop Pasta (web). Pretty interesting and good. Out of whole wheat spaghetti (yesterday's dinner), so used linguine instead. Used canned corn.  Then a big salad. That was all.

Wednesday/29-Oct-14: Shopped today, then had a mid-day lunch of Baked FIsh with Kumquats and Ginger (Uncommon, p273), which is one of my two kumquat recipes. Served with haricots verts and shrooms. And some crozets, a kind French pasta, tiny squares, a bit thick. (Mine were nature, but the buckwheat version is traditional, I see. I'll get some of these, since that kind of earthy taste is sometimes nice to have.) For dessert, I bought some apricot pastry things which were tasty.

Thursday/30-Oct-14: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was Arroz al Ajillo con Camarones (Garlic Rice With Shrimp) (web), which was pretty good. I made a halfish recipe. Cooked all the bacon this morning, so used lardons instead. My shrimp were frozen (thawed), but worked okay. I cut them in half lengthwise as she did. Having no green onions, I used shallots. Some parsley would have been nice for the color. Finished off the strawberry ice cream for dessert.

Friday/31-Oct-14: Made a triple dose of apple butter this morning, made it in the Dutch oven so it wouldn't spatter too much. Ha. Ended up giving the backsplash, utensils, and stovetop a thorough cleaning. Used most of a cheap sack of apples. Tasted pretty good.

Boiled up so artichokes for a meal coming up.

Getting the fresh pasta in on the last possible day, dinner was a half recipe of Tagliatelle ai Funghi Porcini (Lorenza, p91; cookbooker). Used shiitakes, since there were no cêpes at the grocery this week. Then a salad. Two squares of chocolate with almonds for after.

Saturday/1-Nov-14: An anniversary today, but neither of us wanted yet another meal out after the last weeks and at least two more coming soon. So, we had our dinner in the early afternoon, a halfish dose of Poulet Sauté à la Bordelaise (Sautéed Chicken with Shallots and Artichoke Hearts) (TLProvFr, p43; cookbooker).

Ed brought home two points of flan for dessert. Then we took ourselves out to a movie.

Sunday/2-Nov-14: For dinner, there was a half dose of Fusilli with Sausage, Ricotta, and Fresh Tomatoes (30MinPasta, p165; cookbooker) using Hazan's homemade sausage. Good stuff. Then a big salad. For dessert, I used the rest of the ricotta from the pasta sauce to make my version of Coffee Ricotta Mousse (MW@Home, p307), including cocoa plus Kuhlua instead of coffee and brandy. Good stuff for next to no work.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 5
This month: #3 PASTA: yes for October/no for November; #4 FotW: yes for October/no for November; #5 BREAD: none

This week in the kitchen

Monday/22-Sep-14: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was Pasta with Tuna and Olives (VeryBest, p210; cookbooker). My can of tuna was the same size required in the recipe for four, so I make all the sauce but only half the pasta. The olives should have been coarsely chopped rather than halved, but otherwise it was quite good. Easy and fast. Then a big salad.

Tuesday/23-Sep-14: It was supposed to be an IHCC dinner, for which I cooked a batch of chickpeas this morning, but I turned out to have missed a somewhat important ingredient, so made a quick change to Chickpea and Sweet Potato Curry (web), which was OK, but nothing particularly special. Lots of veg, chickpeas, sweet potato, peas, and tomatoes, which was nice. A big dose of lime pickle helped the flavor. Served over rice.

Wednesday/24-Sep-14: Shopping today. Then a dinner buffet at an acoustic open mike event at a nearby restaurant.

Thursday/25-Sep-14: I was up early and off to an all-day mosaic "taste" class that included lunch. Good fun but tiring. Got home quite late. Had a small sandwich and fruit and off to bed.

Friday/26-Sep-14: Yogurt on overday.

In the afternoon I made some Homemade Sausage (30MinPasta, p161; Handybook). Lots for the freezer and a small amount for a coming dinner.

After that, I made myself at Pineaujito (web). I was a bit dubious about this idea, but it worked pretty well.

For dinner there was Sriracha Garlic Tofu with Mint (web), along with rice and Thai Carrot and Radish Salad (web). The main was quite good, but emphasized the crummy tofu we get here. Also, it should be cut slightly smaller, maybe in spears or somthing more interesting than cubes. Good flavor, though.  The salad was also good and went with the tofu very well. I haven't found any "sweet chilli dipping sauce," so used slightly less sriracha and added a dollop of plum jam. No lettuce, just served it plain. All good stuff. We split a magnum classic after. (I'd have really liked just a spoonful of pineapple sherbet, but there was none available.

Saturday/27-Sep-14: Before dinner, I made some Chipotle Brownies (web). (This is a recipe from Family Circle. I eventually managed to find the recipe there, but it was such a miserable experience that I wouldn't recommend their site to anyone.) I had only 1/2oz of semisweet chocolate (instead of 3), so I used a total on 4-1/2 oz of unsweetened chocolate. To compensate I didn't seriously reduce the sugar measure as I usually do. Instead of chocolate chunks added at the end, I had the tiny French chocolate chips, which are really quite good. We had these for dessert and good they were.

The main was Salmon with Curried Cabbage (web). (You'll find this recipe lots of places. Some of them will say it serves four, which is not possible. It's meant to serve one, and that makes sense. I doubled it.) I got this recipe from EAT-L, and didn't realizethat it was meant to be cooked in the microwave (duh) . So I sautéed the cabbage bit in butter and oil, then did the salmon under the broiler. Served with trio rice. Pretty good.

Set a pair of kip filets to marinate for tomorrow's dinner.

Sunday/28-Sep-14: Dinner was Grilled Tandoori Chicken (web), which was very easy to assemble and surprisingly good. I used kip filets, but I expect any bits of chick would work fine as long as they have a good long marinade. Cooked on the grill outside, thank you Ed. Served with Karhai Broccoli (MJ@Home, p148) and Turmeric Rice (Q&E, p100). Both of these are tried&true recipes.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/14-Jul-14: It was clear out the fridge and freezer night tonight. I started with a recipe from a store-bought package of pâte brisée, a tart with ricotta and chard. There was a package of pâte brisée in the fridge needing to be used. And a tub of ricotta. No chard, but the rest of a package of fresh spinach. And, look, the end of a wedge of bleu d'Auvergne. And that made a nice tart, although a homemade piecrust is much nicer. We bought thought crème fraîche would have been nicer than the ricotta. Next time. Made a salad of grated carrots with a lemon vinaigrette. For dessert, I made Chocolate Soufflé Cake for 2 (MC). If I ever get my Mastercook back in service (right now it's on a computer that I can't access and it doesn't run on the computer I'm using), I need to include this in my HandyBook, since it's an easy thing to put together if you got a few minutes while everything else cooks.

Tuesday/15-Jul-14: Shopping today. Looking around for things that might be of use for this month's Creole and Cajun cooking, found some rivierkreeftjes (yes, labelled in Dutch), which must be crawdads, frozen, but cooked. Bought a pair of fresh beets and roasted them when I got home. Too often, I buy fresh beets and they sit around waiting to be roasted until they go bad. Fresh beets are a bit unusual here. Four-packs of ones that are already cooked are almost always available, but two of us don't usually eat that many in a week, and they last only a few days.

Dinner was Maple-Chipotle Salmon, a recipe I collected for EAT-L a while ago. (Can't find it on the web. This is no big loss; it's not a keeper.) The salmon was basted/glazed with a mixture of maple syrup, grainy mustard, chipotle powder, and black pepper. Too sweet for our taste. Was accompanied by a sauce of sour cream, mayo, dill, orange juice, and orange zest, was was good in itself (and went well with the sautéed zucchini), but didn't go with the sweet salmon at all. Then there was sautéed zucchini, and "Old Bay" Grilled Steak Fries (web). I took the lazy way and used real Old Bay seasoning, rather than mixing my own, and mixed it with chipotle powder. Actually this is a pretty good way to do potatoes. Whole potatoes are first boiled till they're about 2/3 of the way done. Then cut into fingers. Then mixed with a dab of olive oil and the spices and grilled. It might be good to shake up the fingers, as with Dusolier's Perfect Roast Potatoes, to help give them a good crust.

We were full, but before I made dinner I made some Cranberry Upside-Down Cake. The recipe is supposed to be from the November 1994 issue of Gourmet magazine, but I haven't been able to find the recipe. Too bad because it's good!

Wednesday/16-Jul-14: Yogurt on overday.

The cranberry upside-down cake was really good for breakfast!

We  had kind of a thrown together dinner. The main was Aubergines Farcies aux Falafels et Sauce au Sésame (web), which is essentially roasted eggplants stuffed with a felafel-like mixture with a tahini sauce. This was quite good. With the innards of the eggplants, I made a little salad with some oven-dried tomatoes from the freezer. This was also good. I used one of my roasted beets to make Beet Salad (Roden, p68; cookbooker); this was really yummy, although it wanted way too much yogurt. I used one jar, which is a long half cup, and though it was more than enough, while a whole cup was called for. Nevertheless, it is a yummy salad. And some whole-wheat couscous, nothing special, but good enough. For dessert we had a whole Magnum Classic each. Decadence!

Thursday/17-Jul-14: Dinner was Mara's Broccoli and Scallop Pasta Sauce (MarCuc, p180) over cascareccia, followed by a big salad. I'm full.

Friday/18-Jul-14: Another day of oppressive heat. Dinner was pork chops for IHCC, accompanied by mashed potatoes, and corn and broccoli. Some chocolate mini magnums for dessert.

Saturday/19-Jul-14: Stormy with lots of lightning. Had to shut down the computers before I could write on Saturday.

Dinner was a half dose of Spaghetti with Shrimp, Tomatoes, and Capers (30MinPasta, p98; cookbooker). Good stuff. Then a big salad. Then a mini magnum each.

Sunday/20-Jul-14: Ed's Rochechouart choir gave a concert at the Limoges cathedral this afternoon. I left a crockpot dish cooking, so we'd be able to have dinner when we got back. That was a have dose of Pakistani "Old Clothes" Beef Curry (IndianSC, p121; cookbooker). This was kind of so-so. For sides, there was plain basmati rice and Yoghurt with Eggplant (MJ1, p164), which was a nice accompaniment to the beef.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS/IHCC: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 5
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 FotW: no for July; #5 BREAD: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/18-Nov-13: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was Grilled Chicken Legs with Pomegranate Molasses (web). Easy-peasy and not at all bad. For the two of us, I used four thighs. The recipe called for six legs, and I was too late reading that it meant whole leg joints rather than just the leg part. So I've got a lot of the marinade in the freezer for another time. Served with Orzo with Tomatoes, Feta, and Olives (HowTo, p238) and some steamed broccoli finished off with garlic and red pepper flakes. Then we finished off the clafoutis for dessert. That was supposed to serve six, but ended up serving four. Oink.

Tuesday/19-Nov-13: I had lunch out with my drawing friends. Ed had leftovers for dinner while I munched carrot sticks and cherry tomatoes. Then we had a bit of cheese and Ed had an ice cream bar. That's all folks.

Wednesday/20-Nov-13: Shopping today. Shitakes, they had! And another odd little mushroom I've never seen before, but resisted buying.

DInner was Fried Fish Steaks (Q&E, p67) using lieu noir (in English, saithe or coley, does that help?) that was today's special. Very easy and quite good. I did a better-than-usual job of frying without getting the food too greasy. To munch while the rest of dinner was getting ready, there were some Spicy Cucumber Wedges (MJ1, p172). With the fish there was Rice with Peas (MJ1, p149); this is a really good recipe but make a *lot*. I made a quarter recipe of what should serve six and we had substantial piles of rice on our plates. And then there were Fried Aubergine Slices (MJ1, p99) that I broiled, using no oil, instead of frying. These were not bad, if a bit dry. For dessert we had two of the vanilla puddings I bought off the sale counter with a close expiry day. These still  have four days to go, so I'm not sure why they were there.

Thursday/21-Nov-13: Yogurt on overday.

Worked on the freezer backlog tonight. Cooked a pound of (blue) hominy in the liquid left from cooking carnitas. Saved out 3 cups of the hominy to freeze, then added some cooked pork and three cubes of chiptole-soaking liquid from the freezer. Voila! Pozole!

Some recipes have you soak the hominy before cooking. Others just have you cook it. I soaked this time, the first time I've tried that. Can't say I noticed any difference. This isn't the kind of thing you're cooking with attention; it just simmers away on the back burner till you're ready to deal with it. Think I won't bother with the soak again.

Friday/22-Nov-13: Dinner was Chicken with Herbed Dumplings (CastIron, p68; cookbooker). It's a recipe that serves six, so I made a third of the main recipe and a half of the dumpling recipe. Very tasty, but short on liquid. I made a salad as a go-with, but we thought this was a one-dish meal. Had some mini-magnums for dessert; these seem to have better chocolate than the classic ones these days.

Saturday/23-Nov-13: Picked the chicken carcass and made up some stock with that and other bits from the freezer. And deseeded and cut up the coeur de boeuf tomatoes I got on Wednesday and cooked them down. Tomorrow I'll finish them both up, freezing stock and tomato sauce.

Off plan for dinner. Made Fettuccine with Gorgonzola (30MinPasta, p50; cookbooker), using up the bit of Fourme d'Ambert in the fridge. Good stuff it was, if not low-fat. Then last night's salad.

Looks like we have a mouse in the kitchen again. Seems to have gotten into a packet of semolina. They wouldn't be so bad if they didn't walk around pooping. Poop, poop, poop. Have set the trap, raisin-baited, tonight.

Sunday/23-Nov-13: Yogurt on overday.

Froze up the tomato sauce today. Put of the chicken stock till tomorrow.

No mouse in the trap and no new mouse poop found this morning. But this afternoon Oscar seemed to be very interested in something behind the stove ... a mouse? A couple of hours later, Sophie actually caught a mouse in the kitchen when Ed pulled out some logs to light the fire. She played with it for a while before Ed managed to get it from her to take outside. It probably didn't survive.

For dinner there was a very loose interpretation of Chicken and Avocado Enchiladas in Creamy Avocado Sauce (web). This included salsa verde, not. No tomatillos to be found here and the canned ones taste tinny, so I don't buy them. I read a suggestion that  you could substitute with green tomatoes and some lime juice. The greenest tomato I could find was kind of yellow-orange, so I used that instead. Actually it wasn't too bad. Ended up making eight enchiladas, so we'll have two dinners of it. Made some Spanish rice, too, using part of the tomato sauce I just made. Then the last of the ice cream and frozen raspberries for dessert.

Hmm... I've used cookbooks this week, but can't really say that any of them are seldom-used. Guess I didn't manage that goal. I almost made pasta this week, but that doesn't count.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 IHCC/COOKBOOKS: no, #2 VEG/FISH: 2
This month: #3 PASTA: no, #4 BREAD: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-Apr-12: Finished off our bread for breakfast and popped some Authentic French Bread into the bread machine on Rapid Bake for lunch. Finished off the chicken stock and froze it all up.

Dinner was Spring Leek Hash with Polenta and Goat Cheese (VT/mar12). No rolls of prepared polenta in the shops here; I made my own. Used some of the chicken stock simmering on the stove instead of vegetable broth.

Tuesday/24-Apr-12: Dinner was Kidney Beans with a Cardamom-Yogurt Gravy (web, but from 660 Curries, a book I don't have ... yet ... but might need on the basis of this recipe), served over. Recipe was supposed to serve 4, but 3 would have been stretching it. Very easy and tasty.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/25-Apr-12: Made some Cream of Broccoli Soup (CC1, p124) this afternoon so Bill would have something to eat after he arrived late this evening. We had Spaghetti with Shrimp and Scallops (30MinPasta, p109), which was pretty good, not to mention fast. And a salad. After Bill had his soup, we sat around and finished the chaource and the goat cheese.

Thursday/26-Apr-12: Made an Apple Pudding (web) for dessert, but ended up having it for coffee when neighbors came to call. It was tasty, but not very attractive. Couldn't quite decide if it was a cake or a stange clafoutis sort of thing.

Dinner started with a artichoke/tapenade/goat cheese bit for each of us. Dinner was Skillet Gnocchi with Shrimp & Asparagus (web), which was tasty, but the gnocchi were a bit of an odd texture with the shrimp and the asparagus. We thought regular pasta might be better. Followed by a salad. Then some comté, which was the only cheese in the fridge.

Friday/27-Apr-12: Yogurt on overday. Off to a quiz tonight. Not much else happened in the kitchen.

Saturday/28-Apr-12: We spent the day in Limoges today and had dinner at Chez Cisseen this evening. Nobody was home to do anything in the kitchen.

Sunday/29-Apr-12: An easy dinner tonight. Bavettes, marinated and griddled as usual. Mushroom pasta. Steamed broccoli topped with olive oil, garlic, and pepper flakes. Then a big salad. Ending with waffles, ice cream, and mixed berries.

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

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/13-Feb-12: Last night's bread was White Bread (BHGBread, p8). Pretty good.

Yogurt on overday.

Made a broccoli-pasta thing for dinner using a recipe from the web. Didn't know I could make a broccoli-pasta thing I didn't like. A big squirt of sriracha helped. Chocolate tapioca pudding for dessert.

Tuesday/14-Feb-12: We had a lovely Valentine's lunch at La Bellone. Some fruit for dinner, followed by a bowl of salt- and butter-free air-popped popcorn.

Wednesday/15-Feb-12: Made some Buttermilk Bread (MC) this morning. On Rapid, which probably isn't the best thing to do when you're starting with cold milk. Not bad though. This is the bread that I thought came from BHGBread but didn't. (Do I need another ABM cookbook, I wonder?) Very more-ish, this bread.

Didn't feel like cooking at all today. Defrosted the Curried Zucchini Soup from August for dinner. It wasn't bad, but not great. Lots of bright flavors, and the apple was a nice touch, but the flavor lacked some "depth" or something. Not sure if I saved the recipe, but I'm wondering if it was made with water, rather than with chicken stock. It needs a bit of salt, so I might stir in a bit of chicken bouillon powder when I reheat.

Thursday/16-Feb-12: Dinner was a half dose of Spaghetti with Olives, Capers, and Anchovies (30MinPasta, p121), which I see from cookbooker that I made last April. Didn't leave a mark in the book and didn't remember. Oops. Oh well, it's good, and it's really fast.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/17-Feb-12: Shopping at Leclerc today, where we found a new feature being introduced. At the entrance, you can get a handheld scanner that allows you to scan your grocery items as you pick them up (and pack them directly), then exit via a special lane, handing in your scanner to pay. We didn't try this today and are not sure how will this will work with our "team shopping" approach. And how can you pack things away properly until you've gotten it all? Another plot to reduce the number of employees, is this good?

Lots of meat unexpectedly on sale today. Now I have another chunk of goat in the freezer now, a pair of varkenshaasjes, and a bunch of lamb chops.

For dinner I made some bbq-sauce-like stuff, very vaguely following a recipe from the web, and added the shredded pork from last week's pork roast. Pretty good pulled pork sandwiches there. Served with Mama's Garlic Coleslaw. For dessert there was some of the raspberry sorbet lingering in the freezer topped by some defrosted raspberries.

Saturday/18-Feb-12: My supply being almost gone, I made up some Herb Salt (Art, p172).

Dinner was some Curried Zucchini Soup (indeed the chicken bouillon helped the flavor) accompanied by pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw. Good stuff.

Sunday/19-Feb-12: When I did my inventory prior to going to the Netherlands, I didn't find any green peppercorns in the pantry. This week, when I cleaned the cupboard, I found two little jars hiding way in the back. So now I have three jars. And, as a start to my use-up-some-green-peppercorns quest, tonight's dinner was Gemelli with Shrimp and Green Peppercorns (web; cookbooker). Followed by a salad. Then the last of the tiny squares of cheese.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/8-Aug-11: I pigged out on cantuccini today. The scale will tell the tale tomorrow morning.

Leftover pizza for dinner (yum). Not much else happening.

Tuesday/9-Aug-11: Off to Poitiers for a movie today. Lunched there beforehand. Nothing happening in the kitchen.

Finished reading Cooking Know-How, by Bruce Weinstein, on the way. Intended for beginning cooks, no doubt, but I still used quite a few stickies and have added a few recipes to the ToDo list.. He takes a type of recipe (e.g., pasta with cream sauce), explains the steps well (the whys and hows), then gives a table showing variations on the theme. Very well done.

Wednesday/10-Aug-11: Yogurt on overday, Shopped this a.m.

Made a batch of Guiliano Hazan's Homemade Sausage (30MinPasta, p161) for the freezer.

For dinner, I sautéed a panga filet; coated with bread crumbs, parmesan, and herbs; and topped with the last of Ed Giobbi's Sweet Red Pepper Sauce. The leftover zucchini/rice/feta casserole alongside. And some broccoli and mushrooms. Then a bit of cheese. Then some berries and some scrapings of ice cream on a toasted waffle.

Thursday/11-Aug-11: Half recipe of Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Strips with Sesame Spinach (collected from EAT-L). Skewered the chicken and grilled under the broiler. Used arugula instead of spinach, and didn't wilt it. Pretty tasty altogether. Served with some corn on the cob that I found at Intermarché this afternoon. Berries and ice cream for dessert.

Friday/12-Aug-11: Came home from pètanque and made a guacamole snack with two avocados needing to be used up.

For dinner, I made Zucchini and Eggplant with Pork (MC), which says it serves 2-3, but looked more like 3-4 to me. And I didn't feel like eating at all, so just sipped a digestif while Ed ate.

Saturday/13-Aug-11: Made the sauce for Buttermilk Ice Cream (MC).

Dinner was Fettuccine with Preserved Lemon and Roasted Garlic (Essential, p335). Very yum to me; Ed's not such a lemon fan, but liked it still. Then a salad. Then the end of the pave affinois.

After a couple of low-harvest days and a no-zucchini day, we just picked seven pounds.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/14-Aug-11: What a gloomy, gray,drippy day it was today! Hope nothing needed picking in the potager, because it didn't get done.

Found evidence that the droppings I've been finding on shelves are a very discriminating mouse, who prefers Figalous to all the other cookies, sugar, flour, dried fruit, etc., in the room. Have set a live trap and maybe it will catch the little booger.

Dinner was Zucchini Pancakes (Q&EVeg, p220). I used the biggest zuke we collected yesterday to make about 1.5 recipe, thinking I'd have some from the freezer. Not. Served with the thyme and rosemary version of the pyramid goat cheese. Yum. For dessert I froze the buttermilk ice cream and served with blueberries.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: yes, #2 SOUP: no, #3 MIDDAY: no
This month: #4 PASTA: not yet (but almost)

This week in the kitchen

Monday/11-Jul-11: Hot weather coming back. Minnie in an even worse mood today than yesterday. Ended up reinstalling the operating system, and downloading, again, the updates. Think Apple may have reached its end in the household. So many problems with upgrades that have been reported for years and still no fix. You didn't realy want your calendar or address book, did you?

Made a carrot cake for the Club Liseron meeting this evening. Put a bit of cream cheese icing on it, but that's pretty limp with the heat. (But, the icing, and the cake, were a hit. Got to share the recipes for one of the simplest icings you could possibly make.)

Last week I saw an odd, but appealing, recipe on Giuliano and Leah Hazan's blog, and printed it to make soon. This morning I saw someone whose blog I followed had made it, and what's more it's from a cookbook that I have. So, today it was my turn for Spaghetti with Melon (30MinPasta, p73; cookbooker). We had a charentais (cantaloup-like) melon wanting to be used, so this was our late lunch, simple, fast, and nice to eat. For as salad I grated more carrot to go with the leftover from the cake and tossed this with a lemon vinaigrette. No dessert.

No bread in the house. Made Whole Wheat with Bran (BigGerman, p81) (WW/Rapid/Med/—) in the evening.

Tuesday/12-Jul-11: My that's a good whole wheat bread. Doing breads on Rapid (with much shorter cycle) seems to make better breads.

For lunch we had the leftover leek-surimi tart cold from the fridge. Not bad, but it would have been better warmed, or at least at room temp. Then a big salad.

Wednesday/13-Jul-11: Off-piste dinner again tonight. Curried Chicken and Broccoli Couscous (MC), made with the last of the Thanksgiving turkey from the freezer. Pretty good for minimal effort.

Thursday/14-Jul-11: Bastille Day today. We stayed home.

Sometimes I wonder why I make any kind of meal plan, since I hardly follow it at all. Thursday this week, and I'm still working on last week's sheet, mostly not cooked. Oh well. Off the list again, I defrosted two pork chops this morning and found a new rub recipe. The defrosting chops were in a cabinet but Sophie manage to get to them and ate a quarter of the smaller one—mine. Roasted the rest of yesterday's broccoli and slices from half a zucchini/courgette. Defrosted some hominy, added a can of chopped chilies and half a chopped adobo chipotle. Since we finished a package of cookies for lunch, we skipped dessert.

Friday/15-Jul-11: OK, the first recipe using preserved lemons tonight. This was Fish Baked with Preserved Lemons, Eggs, and Onions, (NAfrica, p58). I made a half recipe with panga. Pretty good, interesting taste, easy to make. The stuffing between the fish layers is sautéed red onions with preserved lemons, a fried/scrambled egg, and cilantro. As a go-with, I made a half dose of Moroccan Zucchini Salad, a recipe I found on the web. Also good and will be MC'd one of these days.

My cooking challenge for the next weeks is to keep up with the supply of zucchini coming from the garden. I've used all the regular ones now, but there are several more ready to be picked tomorrow. And I've got four globe zukes in the fridge needing to be used, plus more of these on the way. Not understanding how they can be producing so well without water.

Saturday/16-Jul-11: Working on the squash backlog. Emptied two globe squash and chopped the contents. Defrosted some cooked lamb, left from Jaffrey's leg of lamb, and chopped that. Sautéed some chopped onion, then added garlic, then added the lamb, some turmeric and some garam masala. Added some dried bread crumbs too. Then stuffed the squash with this and steamed them. Accompanied by Rice and Peas with Garam Masala (SpiceKitch, p65). For dessert there was arrowroot pudding, first time I've made such a thing. I was looking for something that tastes like baby food vanilla pudding, and this was pretty close. :-)

Sunday/17-Jul-11: Preserved lemons again today: Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons (NAfrica, p61). Quite good, even though I didn't have the right kind of olives and no coriander. I'll freeze the rest of the sauce and meat for another dinner. (And now I have two chickie carcasses in the freezer, so must get busy making stock now.) Sliced up another zucchini (there are at least three more big ones coming soon and oodles of globe ones), salted it a bit, then broiled it, sans oil, and it was fine. Maybe would have been better if I'd greased the bits, but it was good as it was. Served this with a quickie sauce of yogurt, minced garlic, and salt. And some couscous. Later, some Maroilles cheese, a first for us. Interesting, not a favorite.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: yes, #2 SOUP: no, #3 MIDDAY: yes
This month: #4 PASTA: not yet

This week in the kitchen

Monday/11-Apr-11: Whew, really low on energy this afternoon and evening. Had a quick dinner on the plan so I could go to the gardening club, but didn't have the oomph to go. But we did have Spaghetti with Shrimp and Scallops (30MinPasta, p109), only without the scallops since there were just the number of shrimp in the freezer needing to be used. Then a salad. Then the end of the pont l'eveque. Then some chocolate pound cake.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/12-Apr-11: Today, we had our main meal at midday more or less. Made individual portions from a half recipe of a Broccoli and Bacon Quiche (MC 2BTried). Not crust, so not really a quiche. Good enough, but could have used some sautéed onions in there. Followed by a big salad, leaving us lettuce-less. Topped off with some chocolate pound cake.

After line dance we had some cheddar cheese and onion sandwiches with our fruit.

Wednesday/13-Apr-11: Shopping this morning; the fridge is full again. Stuffed some artichokes as part of dinner. The stuffing wasn't as good as it has been before. Anchovy taste was too strong, but something else too, not sure what. Bought what turned out to be a pair of huge salmon fillets and made Broiled Salmon Steaks (FastShulman, p239), with the fillets instead of steaks (briefly marinated in lime juice, soy sauce, oil, ginger, and garlic). These were not bad, although I didn't get them quite cooked enough on the first pass. Served with some pasta and Shredded Zucchini (MW@Home, p87), which is always good. More chocolate pound cake for dessert; over the halfway mark now.

The jar of plum jar being almost empty, I made up some Apple-Plum Butter (MC).

Thursday/14-Apr-11: Crockpotted a chicken today, for tomorrow night's dinner as it turned out. We pulled the meat from the bones after dinner, before the cheese.

Dinner turned out to be (a half dose of) Spaghetti with Olives, Capers, and Anchovies (30MinPasta, p121), which was quite good for minimal work. Then a big salad. We picked the chicken before we ate half of a Petit Livarot.

Friday/15-Apr-11: Cornmeal Bread (BigGerman, p35) [BasicRapid/Med/Med] on in the morning to go with dinner.

Ah yes, the best laid plans ... We ended up going to dinner at the fish-n-chips van in Montbron with friends. Ate outside and finished the last round of drinks inside when it got dark and cold. The chicken will keep another day, I'm sure, although the bread may suffer a bit.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/16-Apr-11: Got to eat the Chipotle Pulled Chicken (web, soon to be MC) finally. Served over slices of yesterday's Cornmeal Bread. The cabbage slaw go-with was also good.

Sunday/17-Apr-11: Lunch at Lesley and Toby's today to see photos of their India trip. Nothing further happening in our kitchen.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: yes, #2 SOUP: no, #3 MIDDAY: yes
This month: #4 PASTA: not yet

This week in the kitchen

Monday/21-Mar-11: Cleaning out the freezer week. Tonight was Potatoes with Chorizo and Onions (somewhere on the web). It was supposed to be a recipe for Spanish chorizo, but I'm not so sure about that. The recipe was OK, the technique interesting and adaptable. First you brown some thinly sliced chorizo or other tasty, hard salami-like thing in a skillet and remove them to paper towels. Then you add to the pan a mess of thinly sliced potatoes and onion (thank you, mandoline!). Toss these with some salt and pepper and a goodly dash of paprika. Put the sausage on top. Put a smaller skillet on top of the food and press down; weight it down with some heavy cans. Cook for 10 minutes, then remove the weights and cook a few minutes more. Served topped with chopped parsley. I expect this could be done with most any kind of meat or protein, as long as it has some flavor. Easily adaptable up or down in size. I served with a salad.

Tuesday/22-Mar-11: A midday meal today. For a starter, I used the last two artichoke bottoms from a jar, spread with black tapenade, topped with a slice of Petit Billy, then popped under the grill till the cheese was nicely done. For the main, I used up most of the open jar of roasted red bell peppers with Ravioli with Roasted Red Pepper Cream (Desperation, p178) with ricotta-spinach raviolis from the freezer. Really good for a dish that goes together in minutes.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/23-Mar-11: There's a defrosted leg of lamb in the fridge, but it's turn didn't come today. So, dinner was an old favorite, Warm Broccoli and Potato Salad (MDSalads, p15). We both really like this yummy salad.

Made the "broth" for some vanilla ice milk. Now chilling, to be frozen tomorrow. I've never made ice milk before, so I'm curious how it turns out.

Oops, nobody went to the boulanger. Bran Bread (BMB, p44) on overnight.

Thursday/24-Mar-11: Toupargel delivered today and the freezer is full-full-full. And lots of meat from the winter sales to be eaten up.

Just when I'm thinking I could easily live as a pescivegetarian, along comes some meat that changes my mind. Dinner was a Slow-Roast Lamb (Diaries, p62), the 21-February entry. Wow, this was a success, thank you Nigel Slater! A lovely rub (lots of mortar and pestel work), then cooked long and slow. The house smelled wonderful while it was cooking and the results were really good, tasty, tender meat. To go with, I made lots of Dusolier's Perfect Roast Potatoes, always good. Then a salad. Then ice milk on toasted Belgian waffles, topped with (thawed) mixed berries. The vanilla ice milk wasn't bad, but ice cream is better. :-)

Friday/25-Mar-11: Yogurt on overday. Shopping; bought some tuna steaks for dinner. Cooked them under the broiler, trying to save a pan. Mistake. Much better on a grill pan. Served with Carrot Pilaf (MC) and Italian Grilled Zucchini and Red Onion (MC), both moldy-oldies. The salad seemed especially tasty tonight. Ice milk with (French) strawberries for dessert.

Saturday/26-Mar-11: Served dinner just in time for Earth Hour—dinner by candlelight tonight. It was Taglitelle with Peas (30MinPasta, p53), very tasty and very simple, and, yes, done in 30 minutes. Followed by a salad. Followed by ice milk and strawberries again.

Ice milk, it seems to me, is best when you think of it as a milk sherbert/sorbet, rather than as a poor man's or diet version of ice cream. Ice cream is luxuriously creamy; ice milk doesn't even try for that, so it's best to change your expectations.

Sunday/27-Mar-11: Yes, yes, I've joined a new on-line cooking group. Today's meal was a Caribbean one you can read about here.

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