This week in the kitchen

Monday/16-Mar-20: Dinner was a halfish dose of Black Pepper Chicken (RezaSpice, p98; cookbooker). It was tasty, but the recipe seems very badly written/edited. Should cardamon seeds be measured/ground with the pods or extracted from the pods? (I put in four pods and ground them all.) Ground cinnamon is included with the spices to be ground, while ground turmeric is included with the next stuff for the marinade. Why? Whole black peppercorns are included with the spices for cooking the chicken. Some of those were still pretty crunchy when served. Slit green chiles are added at the end of the cooking, just before cooling. What do these add? (I didn't add them.) Served this with Saffron-Roasted Cauliflower (RezaSpice, p123; cookbooker). And some plain basmati rice. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/17-Mar-20: Now we're really stuck at home, as Macron announced last night. We can go to work, to the doctor and other health-related places, to buy food, to assist a family member, or to exercise (by yourself). Ed went off to the pharmacy in the morning before the rules went into affect so we're stocked up.

Working on using up veggies in the fridge, tonight we had Spaghetti with Zucchini and Lemon (MW@Home, p195), which is an old favorite. Then some ice cream with almost defrosted blueberries.

Wednesday/18-Mar-20: Lovely warm sunny day today.

Dinner was Gemelli with Anchovies, Tomtatoes and Mascarpone (web). Instead of cherry tomatoes I used the rest of the canned pulp (about 1cup altogether) from Saturday. Then we finished the St Maure cheese. Then we had some chocolate-covered corn flakes. We're full.

Thursday/19-Mar-20: Busy day in the kitchen.

Since bread is getting to be an issue, I made some Authentic French Bread (Magic, p22). This is the recipe I used to do by heart. Not any more. Had trouble finding it too. My poor old bread machine is having trouble browning bread, unless I didn't set the darkness properly.

Our main was a half dose of Barley Pilaf with Green Beans, Mushrooms, and Pesto (VeryBest, p182), with snijbonen and one haricot vert for the greens. Good stuff. Half of what should  six., was a good, but not generous, meal for two.

Being short on eggs, I searched for an eggless cake and made an Eggless Chocolate Cake (web), using only 3/4cup sugar (sucre de canne), and mixed all in the Kenmore. It's supposed to be better tomorrow, but wasn't half bad today. The end of the mascarpone gave us each a big spoonful as a topping, since I didn't make a frosting or glaze.

Friday/20-Mar-20: Dinner was a halfish dose of Asparagus Hash, a recipe I collected from EAT-L in 2009. I think it was meant as a side dish for four, but a half recipe was a nice main for two. I made some tomatoes stuff with feta, minced black olives, fresh mint from the garden, grated lemon rind, and couscous (lacking cucumber) as a go-with. More chocolate cake for dessert. Very good the second day; not dried out as I expected.

Saturday/21-Mar-20: Woke up to find no water coming from the faucets. It seems there was a problem at the treatment place near Montemboeuf and all of Condadeuil is dry. It came back on about 16.00. Whew.

Meanwhile, I replanned dinner to avoid using water. I mixed together some defrosted ancho/adobo sauce, canned white beans, and hominy, then sautéed some chicken leg bits with garlic, cumin, and oregano. Thickened the stew a bit with cornstarch and served over defrosted polenta squares. Filling and not at all bad. Made a halfish version of Mexican Potato, Carrot, and Pea Salad (365Mex, p70). This was good, but we were so full we couldn't finish it. Then some chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert.

Sunday/22-Mar-20: For tomorrow's breakfast, I made some Semolina Bread (BigGerman, p77). Although it's only the medium-sized recipe, the loaf is really tall (AH stock jar for comparison.)

My poor bread machine isn't very happy, I must say. Maybe now is the time to replace it, since I'll probably be using it a lot in the next months.

Dinner was a more-or-less whole recipe of Cabbage with Peas—Bund Gobi and Mater (web). The recipes is supposed to serve 3-4; we thought two was a bit skimpy. Served over short-grain brown rice. Finished off the Eggless Chocolate Cake, with some mascarpone cream. This cake was a hit.

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/1-Aug-16: A bit of a confusing day. I forgot we meant to go to a movie tonight and Ed remembered. At lunch, we went through the yes/no routine and decided to go tomorrow, but I remembered that we were going today. So I got ready at the appropriate time, only to find Ed out mowing. Quick replan for dinner. First choice required lemons. None in house. Next choice was a half recipe of Skillet Shrimp in Garlic Sauce (365Mex, p104). Pretty good stuff, easy and fast. Served over polenta, followed by a salad. Small ice creams for dessert.

Still haven't decided what to do with Cookbook Countdown. Should do my Time-Life cookbook (Viennese Empire), but I don't think I'll be doing that much from it, especially since sauerkraut isn't in season. Thought too late that I could do this Mexican cookbook, which is a hand-me-down that I've never used, but I didn't get a picture of tonight's dinner. Need to decide before too long.

Tuesday/2-Aug-16: So, this evening we made it to the movie. When we got back, I made sandwiches from the rest of the baba ganoush with cilantro-mint chutney, and a salad with the rest of our head of lettuce. That's all, folks.

I think I've decided to do only the Time-Life book for Cookbook Countdown this month, even though there probably won't be that many recipes. Sensible me.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/3-Aug-16: Shopping today.

We were thinking about going to a marché de producteurs this evening, but decided not to go. Instead we barbecued the aurochs merguez that we bought at the last marché de producteurs we went to. I made a potato salad, loosely following Joy of Cooking, potatoes with a lemon vinaigrette, and all sorts of bits, hard-boiled egg, cornichons, black olives, red onion, capers, cucumber. And some grilled eggplant slices, basted with olive oil and a bit of Moroccan spice mix.

Our cucumber plant in the potager has started producing seriously. Looking for cucumber recipes, as I now have three in-house already.

Thursday/4-Aug-16: Dinner was Salmon with Lime-Hoisin Glaze with Crunchy Bok Choy Slaw (web; cookbooker). Meant to serve with brown rice, but forgot my intention and made basmati rice instead. That's all folks. (I'd been munching all day, naughty me.)

Friday/5-Aug-16: For dinner we had the leftover broccoli-gorgonzola quiche, with a salad topped with Lemon and Sour-Cream Salad Dressing. For dessert, there was Melons Stuffed with Cherries and Whipped Cream.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/6-Aug-16: We had a picnic today before visiting an abbey. Then had an English tea after the visit. We almost didn't feel like dinner, but I made Spicy Garlic Seafood Spaghetti (web). In general this was good. But, spicy? I don't think so, even with the extra red pepper flakes that I added. And two cans of crab seemed a bit too much. We're full.

Sunday/7-Aug-16: I seemed to be in the kitchen all day, but it doesn't feel like I accomplished that much. Made the broth for tomorrow's ice cream. In the morning, I prepped the pasta for our dinner, Schinkenfleckerln. Served this with a salad, again using the Lemon and Sour-Cream Salad Dressing. Ed had an ice cream bar to finish up. I skipped dessert.

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