This week in the kitchen

Monday/29-Apr-13: Made Myrtle Allen's Brown Bread (BeardBread, p74), a 100% whole wheat no-knead bread. This was really tasty, although it was a bit too long in the oven. Also, I let it rise a bit too much so there was no real "spring." But yummy and nice dense texture.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Linguine with Tuna Fish Sauce (PastaCarluccio, p24). Very good, fast and easy. Followed by a salad. Then we split a crottin of goat cheese.

Tuesday/30-Apr-13: The brown bread held up well overnight. It was really tasty for breakfast.

Lunch in Angoulême after Bill's arrival today; we were all stuffed. For dinner there was Chipotle & Garbanzo Bean Soup (SWCrock, p23; cookbooker), which was quite good for minimal effort.

Wednesday/1-May-13: FInished off the brown bread for breakfast today. It was still very good, which is pretty amazing.

Yesterday we bought some pork chops for tonight's dinner. This morning's email brought a recipe that included a Cajun spice rub. I made a third recipe of that (using a teaspoon where a tablespoon was asked). The interesting thing about that post was that it called for anointing the meat with Worcestershire and Tabasco after rubbing it, and letting everything sit for 15 minutes. So I did. Then broiled the chops about 5 minutes on each side. Served with an Ottolenghi salad. Then the three of us shared a little crottin de Chavignol. Then we had a third of a gaufre (waffle) each, with the last of the strawberry ice cream and some strawberries (not especially good ones) that I bought yesterday.

The rub was 2tsp salt, 1tsp cayenne, 1tsp back pepper, 2tsp paprika, 2tsp garlic powder, 2tsp onion powder, 1tsp dried thyme, and 1tsp dried oregano. It was a bit too salty, only 1tsp would be better probably. There's more left for another day.

Thursday/2-May-13: Dinner was Baked Chicken with Ethiopian Lentils (web; cookbooker), easy and good. Three of us ate it all up. Then a salad. And for dessert, Prune Coffee Cake (web; cookbooker). Very good and easy.

Friday/3-May-13: Barbecued some poultry merguez and sausages for dinner. Also had Broccoli Slaw (MC) and sweet potatoes mashed with orange juice and chipotle. Some Lemon-Zucchini Sorbet from the summer for dessert. Not a hit. I enjoyed the lemony taste, but Ed and Bill say they don't like sorbets. Would be a nice entremet perhaps, but not a satisfying dessert.

Saturday/4-May-13: Out all day. Dinner in Brantôme. Nothing happened in the kitchen,

Sunday/5-May-13: Lunch out today. Nothing much happened in the kitchen.

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

Carl Goh's Zucchini Bread

Beard on Bread
James Beard
Knopf (1973)
ISBN 0394473450

Now, Beard on Bread is a book I've had a very long time. It was possibly the first book on bread that I bought, over well thirty years ago. I was surprised to see that I've actually made a recipe from it, a loaf of Basic White Bread, but my notes are undated, so that only means it was a long while ago. Thumbing through the book recently, I came upon this zucchini bread, and since I've got lots of shredded zucchini in the freezer needing to be used. I thought this would make a nice snack.

Like most quick breads this was easy to assemble—that's the point of quick breads, isn't it? I set the oven to heating, then broke up a cupful of walnuts. Beat the eggs then added the sugar (sucre de canne instead of white sugar, and only 3/4 of what was asked), oil, zucchini, and vanilla. Stirred together the dry ingredients and added those. Finally added the walnuts and into the pans for an hour in the oven. Result, a very nice zucchini bread. Ed especially liked that the crust was a bit crispier that other such breads I've made. Maybe this is because the fat is vegetable oil rather than butter. I don't really have a "standard" zucchini bread, but this is one that will get added into the group I use.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/2-Jan-12: Finished off the last bit of bread, rather stale, for breakfast. Popped some Authentic French Bread (Magic) into the bread maker. This might count for this week's bread, even though is a moldy-oldy one.

Dinner was a half-dose of Risotto con Gamberi e Acetosa—Wild Sorrel and Prawn Risotto (WildCarluccio, p20), with sorrel bought on impulse last week. I really do need to widen my sorrel vocabulary, since this is a bit oft-repeated now. It's awfully good though. Then a bit of the St. Maure I bought for new year's eve that we didn't touch.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/3-Jan-12: Leftovers tonight, the potato casserole with smoked sausage. And a salad. And the rest of the St. Maure for afters. Leftovers are nice.

Wednesday/4-Jan-12: Shopping this afternoon. (On the way, we were treated to the sight of a hunting male hen harrier/blauwe kuikendief/marsh hawk. :-)

Dinner was a half dose of Roasted Salmon with Cranberry-Mustard Sauce (epicurious), a very nice way to use up that leftover holiday cranberry sauce. Accompanied by some roasted brussels sprouts (hanging around in the crisper since xmas) and broccoli, and some trio rice. Nice dinner.

Thursday/5-Jan-12: Dreary rainy day today. More leftovers tonight, the leek-bread casserole. (The last bit may turn up as a side tomorrow.) And salad.

Friday/6-Jan-12: Using some of the shredded zucchini from the freezer, this morning I made Carl Goh's Zucchini Bread (BeardBread, p169) for Cookbook Sundays.

For dinner, I made Pie's Succulent Spicy Pork Chops (MC), spice-rubbed pork chops topped with garlic-parsley-lemon butter, an old favorite. Accompanied by the last of the leek-bread casserole and Clafoutis aux Carrotes (PRMTurmeric, p100), also for Cookbook Sundays. All were good, but none went together very well, kind of a mismatched dinner. The carrots would be good with chicken or fish we decided, or as a main course with a salad.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/7-Jan-12: Munching on the zucchini bread throughout the day. Pretty good, this one.

Dinner was a half dose of Aubergine & Chickpea Curry with Tumeric (soon to be MC), a recipe that appeared recently in one of the expat magazines around here. Turns out it's from a cookbook published by a local person. On the strength of this recipe, I've ordered the book.

Sunday/8-Jan-12: Dinner was Lamb and Potato Curry (web), a kind of stewy curry. Edible but not especially good; not a keeper. A dose of lime pickle livened it up. Served with Spicy Cucumber Wedges (MJ1, p172), a nice quick side dish/salad.

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