This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-Aug-21: Monday again. Dinner was a halfish recipe of Pan-Fried Chili and Garlic Chicken Livers (web). This was pretty good as chicken livers go (not my favorite thing). They went well with the grits. Also served with Kentucky Minted Carrots (TLSouth, p67). I made a half recipe of what should serve four and thought it servings were a bit skimpy, especially because it was good. A pair of chocolate chocolate-covered madelines for after.

Tuesday/24-Aug-21: Started to make dinner, then discovered I'd neglected to ensure there were fresh bread crumbs available. So I make a loaf of Easy French Bread (Electric, p62). 

Tonight's dinner, Mushroom Tortellini Soup (SimpSups, p116), was on the plan for tomorrow. I used the end of one jar of dried cèpes (porcini) and opened a new jar. Yuck, the "dried" cèpes were moldy, and seriously yucky at the bottom of the jar. So we were a bit short on the dried mushrooms. Pretty good stuff, though. The whole recipe should serve four, but the two of us ate it all. (Used my last jar of AH Paddestoelen Fond. When will we be able to get more, I wonder?) Some mini Häagen-Däsz ice cream cups for after.

Wednesday/25-Aug-21: Dinner was Moroccan Carrot and Chickpea Salad (web). (I collected this from my EAT-L list.) This was a salad to serve eight, but it was a fine dinner for two. A pair of chocolate chocolate-covered madelines for after.

Thursday/26-Aug-21: Shopping today. Our favorite boulangerie is still closed for vacation and I forgot to buy bread at Leclerc, so I guess I'll be making more bread this week. Ed really likes the one I just make, but it's almost gone now.

Used up the last of my chicken livers to make Chicken-Liver Casserole with Mushrooms and Eggplant (TLSouth, p45). This wasn't bad at all. I did expect the eggs and cream to make a kind of custard around the livers, shrooms, and eggplant, but it was pretty watery. Still, tasted okay. Make a little salad as a go-with. Store-bought custard with caramel for after. It's late, but we're well-fed.

Friday/27-Aug-21: Made a loaf of German-Style Whole Wheat Bread (Rustic, p150). This is about the best tasting and textured whole wheat bread I've made.

Dinner was Crispy Fried Catfish (Delightful, p73). The fish was cod rather than catfish. The cod, as cod does, flaked after being steamed. So I fried the flakes. Only a bit of crispiness appeared. The green mango I bought for the go-with salad in the recipe was rotten at the core; I used a can of mango slices instead. Served with plain basmati rice and a half dose of Cabbage Salad (Delightful, p50), which was good again. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Saturday/28-Aug-21: Dinner was a half dose of Turkey Tenderloins and Apricot Sauce (EAT-L; web). I used turkey scallops, from the freezer, rather than tenderloins; the cooking time was a bit less, I think. Served with orzo and broccoli. For after we had Peach Clafoutis (web). This was very easy and very yummy. Used my oval Wedgwood casserole, oval being the traditional shape for clafoutis.

Sunday/29-Aug-21: Dinner was, more or less, a half recipe of Tonnarelli al Granachio e Rucola—Tonarelli with Crab and Rocket* (ClassPasta, p107), made with linguine. 

More Peach Clafoutis for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #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/30-Nov-20: Picked up an order at Leclerc today. Dinner was a halfish version of A Night in Tunisia (web), which sounded good, but was only so-so. Followed by a big salad. And more pumpkin cake.

Tuesday/1-Dec-20: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Gulai Udang Dengan Labu Kuning—Shrimp and Zucchini Curry (TLPacSEA, p81). I wonder what the veg should have been,since I don't think of zucchini as a Malayan veggie. And I bet the lemon juice should have been lime. Nevertheless, it was good stuff. Served over basmati rice. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Wednesday/2-Dec-20: We're out of bread, so this evening I made another loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17).

Dinner was a big half of Rigatoni with White Bolognese (Essential, p344; cookbooker). I used 5% ground beef and 8oz of Hazan's Italian sausage from the freezer, which made about a pound and a quarter altogether, when 2# was asked for the whole recipe. No celery in house; I added some dried celery leaves to the carrots and onions. Happened to have some rigatoni, so used that. Very good. Then a small salad. And a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Thursday/3-Dec-20: Dinner was about a third recipe of Braised Balsamic Chicken (web). This was pretty easy and pretty good. Took the skin off the thighs, since we don't like that braised. Nice sauce. Served with polenta and a little made-up salad of cuke and radish. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after (the last sack expiring tomorrow).

Friday/4-Dec-20: Made some Apple Chipotle Jelly (Raichlen1, p215) this morning. The recipe calls for an enormous amount of sugar. On the web, I found that jellies made with apple juice generally asked for +/- twice the amount of sugar as juice. (I used sucre pour confiture that has the pectin already added.) Given that cider vinegar was part of liquid (three cups in total), I used three cups of sugar. Tastes good, but it hasn't jelled up. 

 

Dinner was a halfish dose of Lasagne coi Gamberi e Canestrelli—Lasagne with Prawns and Scallops (ClassPasta, p142). This was barely seasoned, just tasty with the shellfish and the bechamel. Pretty good, but nothing special. Then a salad. Then some mini HD ice cream cups.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/5-Dec-20: Made a loaf of Maple Oatmeal Bread (BMB, p41) (Basic/Rapid/S/m/-), using only 1/4cup maple syrup as my previous notes said. The loaf turned out very high; maybe cook as Medium, even though flour-wise it's Small. It's a tasty bread but too soft inside, which makes it hard to cut.

Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today. Annoyingly several items were not included, even though they are still in the assortment on the site. Think someone was rushed and didn't feel like collecting the items. Ordered a bit of rumsteack for a beefy meal sometime; it's thin and the size of a small placemat! Ordered a turkey leg to roast for making gravy to go with a cornbread stuffing dinner we're going to have before long. Weighty thing, it's 1.638kg; I've had turkeys not much bigger than that!

 

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Boulettes de Poisson Blanc, Sauce Piquante (VPG; web; mine). I'm puzzled by what was piquante in the sauce, but it was good nevertheless. For the tomato sauce, I used a bit of Marcella Hazan's famous tomato sauce from the freezer; I added a bit of Cajun spice mix along the way. A marinara-ish sauce might work too. I used a moulinette to grind the (fresh, not frozen) fish, but I expect the cuisinart would work just fine. I added some cilantro to the fish. I did not add the oil to the pan before cooking the fish balls in the sauce. Served over long-grain brown rice (fiber!) with some lemon-sprinkled steamed broccoli. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Sunday/6-Dec-20: Didn't feel like making what was one the plan, and the cooking of that will work better tomorrow, so I made a halfish dose of Shrimp and Leek Spaghetti (CL; web). This was easy, quick, and good. While I was making that, I also made some Crème au Chocolate Express (mine). We should have had three nights of these, but I managed to drop one of the  bakjes as I put it away, leaving a half-ful dish and a mess on the floor. Ed ate the remaining half and we'll make two servings from the remaining three dishes. 

 

Made the batter for Overnight Bread.

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-Jun-20: Dinner was a half dose of Sweet Potato-and-Red Lentil Curry (web; CL/sep17), served over brown rice as suggested. I see now I forgot to add the coconut milk and cider vinegar. These might have helped, since I found it pretty blah; Ed liked it, though. Not sure why this was a crockpot recipe; it's something that cooks up easily on the stove in the time the rice got done. We were full.

Tuesday/2-Jun-20: My book group met today. The first time I've been out with people in two months.

Dinner was Chicken Schnitzel with Bacon and White Wine (web). I used lardons for the bacon. This was pretty good. Served with orzo and some steamed broccoli and asparagus. (The broccoli came complete with with big caterpiggle under the wrapping.) Some cookies for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight. Susan Dunaway's bread on overnight.

Wednesday/3-Jun-20: The bread wouldn't come out of the pot again. It turns out Ed hasn't been oiling the pot (cast iron) every time he washes it. I wonder how long it will take the pot to regain its seasoning? Won't be making that bread for a while.

Dinner was Fettuccine alle Zucchine e Zafferano—Fettuccine with Courgettes and Saffron Cream (ClassPasta, p91). Used tagliatelle from the freezer. Pretty good. Went to make a salad but the lettuce was not in good shape. Vanilla Pecan ice cream for after.

Thursday/4-Jun-20: Another load of grocery shopping today.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Tzatziki Fish Tacos (web; cookbooker). I had slightly over half the fish and used all the rest (flour, panko, etc.); made about 2/3 of the tzatziki, because that's how much one of my jars holds. Cooked in the oven. This was yummy.

I intended to make a rhubarb crumble for dessert but this recipe for Crumble Fraise et Rhubarbe (web; cookbooker) came across my path and having strawberries in the groceries I made this. I used all 500g of the strawberries, plus about 325g of rhubarb. Cooking time seems too long; the crumble was a bit burnt. Otherwise very good.

Friday/5-Jun-20: Make more Abm Whole Wheat Bread (MC) (WW/Rapid/M/-/-) this morning. Good stuff.

Made a halfish dose of Admired Avocado Salsa Pasta (Ainsley3, p69). This was okay, nothing special. More strawberry-rhubarb crumble for dessert.

Saturday/6-Jun-20: Dinner was a two-thirds recipe of Stuffed Aubergines with Couscous (web). This was almost really good. The filling was stuffed into eggplants cut like baked potatoes, rather than halved, which would have been better. My eggplants had really bitter skin, so we peeled that off at table. The recipe doesn't say what to do with the flesh you scooped out of the eggplant. I chopped mine up and added it to the skillet before the ground beef. Used sambal and a squirt of lemon juice for the aci biber salçasi. Finished off the strawberry-rhubarb crumble for dessert.

Sunday/7-Jun-20: Made a loaf of Authentic French Bread (Magic, p22) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-) for tomorrow.

Needed to use up the rest of the ground beef from yesterday and had two ideas. One of them needed potatoes and I have some to use up, so we had a half dose of Shepherd's Pie with Chipotle-Cheddar Mashed Potatoes (web). This was very yummy. I used mature English cheddar from the freezer, rather than American cheddar. And I used a whole chili in adobo there should have been only a half. Good stuff. Then a salad. We're full.

Yogurt on overnight.

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/25-Mar-19: We went to help Cath clear out the barn today and she fed us a meal. Later we had some corn chips and that was about all.

Tuesday/26-Mar-19: Our meal was Grilled Soy Sauce-Mustard Chicken Thighs (HomTrav, p143). This was easy and yummy. Ed bbq'd the chicken. As a side there was Stir-Fried Cucumbers and Courgettes (HomTrav, p181). We've had this before and like it a lot. And some plain basmati rice. We ate outside even though it was a mite on the cold side.

Wednesday/27-Mar-19: Busy day out. I had an ENT appointment and we did shopping nearby at Grand Frais and Biocoop. Buddy came along, but didn't do well. He threw up at some point and was massively unhappy for the rest of the trip. Looks like we've got a carsick dog. :-(

Dinner was Spicy Pork and Potatoes from India (Mustard, p158; cookbooker). I belatedly realized this was a vindaloo with potatoes. And way too many of those. I halved the amount asked and could have halved that again. Edible, but nothing special. Served over rice. For some vegetable, there was Green Beans with Mushrooms (Q&E, p86), using up the oyster mushrooms in the fridge. As a condiment, we each had a Egg Pickle of India (Mustard, p152; cookbooker) from the batch that I made a couple of weeks ago. I liked this; Ed, not being a pickle person, didn't care so much for it. But, in spite of the name, it's not an Indian pickle like lime pickle, for instance. It's more a nice snack, or for a ham sandwich, or chopped in a salad. We ate late and were full but we finished off a package of rice crackers with dark chocolate afterwards.

Thursday/28-Mar-19: Shopping today. Thursday is now our usual day, since my French lesson moved to today. That's ok since it means we can get our bread from the good boulanger in Taponnat.

Dinner was Pan-Seared Tuna with Olive-Wine Sauce (web; CL/jan97). My tuna bits were not 2" thick, so I cooked them for a much shorter time. Still it was good, and the sauce delicious. There was also our standard, store-bought Moroccan couscous and Tomato-Cucumber-Feta Salad (web), which was very tasty. I made a half recipe of this salad, but only a quarter of the dressing; this was a good choice. A nice meal altogether. For dessert, we had a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.

Friday/29-Mar-19: I buzzed up the leftover juice and veg from last Saturday's Garlic, Mushroom and Olive Chicken Thighs, added some broccoli and pasta and called it soup. Some Morbier for after.

Saturday/30-Mar-19: It was supposed to be pasta today, but it seems there's just too much to do to take the time.

On Thursday I bought more than 2 kilos of pork sauté on sale. Today I made a bunch of Homemade Sausage (30MinPasta, p161). Froze that and and the rest of the sauté in meal-sized portions.

I meant to make fresh pasta tonight, but I was too busy with other things to get that done. Another month without pasta. Dinner was Spaghettini ai Gamberi, Pomodoro e Capperi—Spaghettini with Prawns, Tomatoes and Capers (ClassPasta, p73), about a 2/3 recipe for the two of us. This was pretty good, but not great. It should have had smaller shrimp or bigger/thicker pasta. Then a salad. And then some chocolate-covered madeleines.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/31-Mar-19: Lots of leftovers for dinner. Two lamb chops, eggplant relish, potato salad, and broccoli from last Sunday. The broccoli didn't didn't hold up well, but the rest were yummy. Green beans and mushrooms from Wednesday's sort-of Indian. Thought it might not be enough, so I grilled five chipolatas. We're stuffed.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Feb-19: Nothing happened in the kitchen today. We had lunch in Limoges with Cath before we went to visit a museum. The plat du jour was boudin noir with chestnuts. The boudins were cut lengthwise into three slices. I've sliced it crosswise, but never thought to slice it the other way. Made a nice presentation.

Tuesday/20-Feb-19: Dinner was a half recipe of Chicken Curry (Stews, p35; cookbooker), made with turkey oysters rather than kip filets. Not bad, a bit bland.

Wednesday/21-Feb-19: Shopping today.

Dinner was Codfish Steaks in Yogurt (MJInvite, 122), with lieu noir. This was so-so. The fish was good, but the sauce was overpowering. Served with Green Beans with Ginger (MJInvite, p151), which was good. But I didn't cook the green beans the full 40min; that seems entirely too much. Also some Turmeric Rice (Q&E, p100), which is easy and good. Some store-bought riz au lait for dessert.

Thursday/22-Feb-19: Dinner was a half dose of Spicy Cajun Shrimp (MW@Home, p255), an old favorite. Served over plain rice. Then a big salad. For dessert there was  some Cherry Cream Cheese Strudl (web), which was easy and pretty darn good.

Friday/23-Feb-19: Leftover pizza for dinner.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/24-Feb-19: Dinner was a half dose of Pork Medallions with Mustard-Chive Sauce (web). Good stuff. With some steamed broccoli and pasta. Mini ice cream bars for after. Then off to see La Traviata at the cinema, with Sophie not yet in. As we got home, one of the neighborhood strays went into the backyard and there was a cat fight. We expect Sophie was involved. She hasn't come back in as we go to bed.

Sunday/25-Feb-19: No pasta-making tonight. We had Fettuccine alle Zucchini e Zaafferano (ClassPasta, p91) with fresh, store-bought pasta. Have made this before and it's still good, if a bit tedious prepping the zuke. And a salad. And half of a Langres cheese. And the rest of the cherry strudl. We're full.

Went through several vegetarian books looking for next month's cookbook-of-the-month, putting one out for recycling.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/28-Jan-19: After deciding that I'd continue with my cookbook-of-the-month project, I decided on C&B, from which I've cooked only one so-so recipe, as my February book. I chose some recipes and put them on the plan. Then decided I really didn't want to make any of these. Off the list with them, then on to my next choice, Stews. The time got late, so I ended up making tomorrow's planned dinner tonight. That was a half dose of Stir-Fried Spicy Lemon Grass Vegetables (HomTrav, p190). This easy to assemble and tasted pretty good. Then some mini ice cream bars.

Tuesday/29-Jan-19: Nice dinner tonight. This morning I made a half dose of Curry d'Échine de Porc Coco-Citronelle (C&V; web). (The web version is not the same source, but it's the same recipe.) I put everything in the crockpot and cooked it all day on Low. Knowing that French recipes are short on spicy things, I used the full recipe amount of curry powder and didn't seed my chile. At the end, I forgot the cilantro (which would have made it prettier) and the lime juice. Had a half lime sitting around, so we shared that, which made it really good. Served with rice and a half dose of Thai Cucumber Salad (Cost, p143). This is really good. Amazing how stinky those dried shrimp are before they're made into the dressing. Some Häagen-Dasz ice cream cups for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/30-Jan-19: The car wouldn't start this morning, so I didn't go to French. Boo.

Shopping today.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Garlic Butter Baked Salmon in Foil (web). This was easy and very tasty. It was accompanied by some pasta (mafalda) with argula pesto (from the freezer) and some snijboned, boiled in the pasta water, before the pasta. All good. Followed by some store-bought riz au laits.

Thursday/31-Jan-19: Had an idea to make fresh pasta, but the day was just too busy. Instead we had fresh tagliatelle from the freezer with Tagliatelle coi Ceci (ClassPasta, p98). This was pretty good. I made a whole recipe and we ate it all. Then a big salad. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.

Friday/1-Feb-19: Dinner at Cath's today. I took Fresh Ricotta Cheese and Limoncello Cake (web; recipe). Used only 1cup of sugar; made only about 2/3 of the glaze.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/2-Feb-19: Finally put up the chicken stock that's been bubbling away on the stove.

Dinner was a half dose of Chili with Cornmeal Dumplings (Stews, p94; cookbooker). Ed had a mini ice cream bar for dessert, while I did without. Both of us munched on the limoncello cake during the day, and we're saving the rest for tomorrow.

Sunday/3-Feb-19: Ed and I both were full from our hot lunch (from the freezer), so I didn't make any dinner.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: n/a for January, Stews for February
This month: #4 PASTA: no for January, no for February; #5 BREAD: no for January, no for February  #6 GUESTS: no for January, no for February
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/29-Oct-18: Caught a kitchen mouse last night. Let her out into a field on the way to pick up the cats.

Suppose I should cook from Floyd in the next days, but I can't face him again. That's a book that's going to get recycled. For November, I've chosen Nothing Fancy, by Diana Kennedy. This was a really good read and there are lots of tagged pages, but I've not used it much. That took a bit of rearrangement of the meal plan, but it's done.

Dinner was Broccoli Cornmeal Cakes from the freezer, warmed not quite enough in the toaster oven, topped with pyramid goat cheese and lardons. Then a big salad.

Put pork on to marinate for tomorrow.

Tuesday/30-Oct-18: This morning there was a second and third mouse in traps. Ed let them go out the high road.

Ed's cold hit me today. Yuck.

Dinner was Ancho- and Chipotle-Rubbed Pork Loin (MC). I forgot that it was done in the Romertopf and took over an hour to cook, so dinner was quite late. Served with polenta and steamed broccoli. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Wednesday/31-Oct-18: Shopping today. Exhausting.

Yummy dinner. We had Tamarind Fish (MJFlavs, p154; cookbooker) with salmon, which was really delicious. Served with Whole Potatoes with Tomatoes (MJFlavs, p162; cookbooker), first time I've made this. Quite good they were, and not too hard. The other side was Gujerati-Style Green Beans (MJ1, p102), made with snijbonen, aka haricots coco plat, whatever those may be in English. That's an old favorite.

Thursday/1-Nov-18: Trapped two more mice today, and found another one dead, half-eaten, under the ironing board. That's six live and one dead.

We had an anniversary meal at the new Cambodian take-away restaurant in La Rochefoucauld. Very good.

Cooked some long-grain brown rice for coming meals.

Friday/2-Nov-18: Yet another mouse today. That's seven. They seem to be getting smaller. If mom's still around, she's really wily.

Dinner was a half recipe of Spicy Jerk Pork with Pepper Fried Rice (web). Used leftover varkenshaas from Tuesday's meal. Think I've made this before with shrimpers. Pretty good tonight. Some ice cream for dessert.

Saturday/3-Nov-18: We didn't catch a mouse last night, but I did see one peeping around as I was sitting at the kitchen table.

Had the idea to make Kennedy's whole wheat pasta today for my cookbook project, but 1) the counter is full of stuff that should be in the mouse-eaten shelves and 2) I really didn't feel like it. Instead I made a have dish of Tonnarelli ai Gameri e Funghi (ClassPasta, p104), served over mushroom pasta, kind of a fusilli shape. Not the right one, but tasty. Then a big salad. Then some chocolate-covered corn flakes.

Sunday/4-Nov-18: Again no mouse caught.

Busy day in the kitchen. I made my Apple-Plum Butter (MC; HandyBook), actually using plums this time. And a half-dose of Banana-Ginger Chutney (VegPlanet, p44), a recommended go-with for the patties. Half, but still a huge amount. And Sourdough Starter (Fancy, p129; cookbooker). Will be a week before I can make use of it.

Dinner was Jamaican Burgers (VegPlanet, p372). I've made these before and they're still good. Serve with Banana-Ginger Chutney, which was very good. And leftover hominy heated with the leftover sauce from Monday's pork. All were good.

Discovered this evening that the guy who still hosts, but no longer maintains, Cookbooker wants to give it up. :-( Don't know what's going to happen there. There is an alternative, but it's paying now, and was never as nice as Cookbooker was.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4 #3 COOKBOOK: no for October, yes for November
Cookbooks of the month: Floyd's India for October, Nothing Fancy for November
This month: #4 PASTA: no for October, no for November; #5 BREAD: no for October, no for November; #6 GUESTS: no for October, no for November

This week in the kitchen

Monday/15-Jan-18: Our meal was Chilli Crab Linguine with Vodka (Ainsley2, p44), the first thing I've made from this book, and off to a good start. Easy, fast, and very tasty. Then a salad. Then more of the chaource. Then some of our yummy 85% chocolate truffles.

Tuesday/16-Jan-18: A halfish version of Coconut and Tamarind Chicken Curry (MadeIndia, p96), accompanied by plain rice and Karhai Broccoli (MJ@Home, p148). All was good.

Wednesday/17-Jan-18: Ed had a dentist appointment this morning and we shopped right after that.

Made up some Great-Grandma's Mango Chutney (MadeIndia, p215). We'll see how that is in a few days. First taste was a bit salty, and I under-measured the salt.

Dinner was Spicy South Asian Roasted Fish (web; cookbooker), half the fish but all the sauce. Very yummy this was. And easy. Used some chopped lemongrass I discovered in the freezer when I defrosted. Served with rice and Thai-Style Broccoli with Garlic (web). For dessert, we had some slices of a small 3 Kings' Cake.

Thursday/18-Jan-18: Froze up eight 2-cup tupperwares of chicken stock this morning.

Fresh pasta for our meal, topped with the sauce from Trenette al Pesto di Noci (ClassPasta, p96; cookbooker). The sauce was good, but nothing special. Then a salad. Then some store-bought chocolate and hazelnut mousse-y thingies; yummy they were.

Friday/19-Jan-18: The part for the washing machine came as I left for Pilates. On my return, Ed said it didn't fix the problem—it's time to order a new one. (The Samsung machine is less than three years old. :-( ). Started looking for ratings. Then off to French. Then cooked our meal of Brochettes de Canard au Sésame (MC; originally from a flyer). (Haven't been able to find this on the web; chunks of marinated magret on skewers with slices of apples.) I did forget to sprinkle with the sesame seeds when it were done, but it was still yummy. Served with trio rice and carrot slices.

Spent the rest of the day until quite late looking for washing machines. Ed did a load of towels at the laundromat.

Saturday/20-Jan-18: Another depressing gray and drippy day. Ordered a washing machine. Still not sure when it arrives. In spite of Ed's visits to the laundromat, we will be buried in laundry soon.

Our meal was a half recipe of Risotto-Stye Pasta with Caramelized Onions (web), with a salad. Before the cheese (bleu d'Auvergne) was added, I thought the onions were too sweet. Ed didn't like cheese; I did. Oh well.

Sunday/21-Jan-18: Company tonight. Spent most of the day in the kitchen.

Made batch of ice cream "juice" using the basic recipe from the manual for our old machine, just in case the tarte tatin didn't work. Made the pastry for the tarte tatin.

Cath (returning from her UK trip) and Nancy (with Neil in the UK) arrived for:

• A starter of Smoked Salmon Salad with Dill (BEFCC, p35). A very nice little starter, we just had on tweede kerstdag, tasty and easy.
• For a main, there was Chicken Marbella (SilverPal, p142; MC; cookbooker), served with polenta. I made this dish a long time ago. Recently found the recipe in Mastercook; since then I've gotten the cookbook. Used twelve chicken thighs, making a more or less complete recipe. Didn't notice that I was supposed to marinate the chicken overnight. It was fine with only a couple of hours in the sauce. Very yummy.
• For dessert there was Tarte Tatin au Camembert (VPG), a recipe I collected recently because it sounded so odd. Tried (and failed) to find the recipe online, but discovered there are lots of similar recipes out there. Quite good this was.

A nice menu for company since the only last-minute thing was polenta, and assembling the starter.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbook of the month: MadeIndia
This month: #4 PASTA: yes; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
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This week in the kitchen

Thanks so much to Blogger for losing what I had written for Monday and Tuesday. Sigh.

Monday/1-Mon-18: Cath stayed for breakfast (oatmeal/porridge), but went home before the winds got too bad. So we had our meal just for two.

We finished off the polenta crostini with salmon left from last night for our starter.

Our main was Abbacchio alla Cacciatora—Braised Lamb with Anchovy Sauce (TLItal, p77). The "alla Cacciatora" part really means "hunter-style" and I'm not sure what hunters have to do with anchovies. Anyhow, the minced fishies are added to the sauce at the last minute to deepen the flavor; the smell is gone in the first minutes of cooking and they don't make it fishy tasting. Quite yummy it was. Not sure about the serving 4-6 part though. I let the butcher sell me a boneless roast made from the shoulder. This was a bit lighter than I asked and it involved a lot of waste bits, so I ended up with much less than I intended. Still the two ate it all, and I can't imagine the whole amount serving six. Three, or maybe four skimpy servings would do. It was very good whatever.

Served the stew over the last of the pici (very fat, supposedly hand-rolled, spaghetti-ish stuff) we brought back from Tuscany. On the side there was Broccoli alla Romana—Broccoli Braised with White Wine (TLItal, p35) that I've made several times now.

Served this with a bottle of Chianti from Leclerc's not-so-vast selection of Italian wines, which included two Chiantis and two Lambruscos. We weren't too impressed.

More three kings' cake for dessert. Just enough for breakfast left.

Tuesday/2-Mon-18: Made up some artichoke hearts with green tapenade and goat cheese for a starter. (More we missed on New Year's Eve.)

Our main was a halfish version of Quick "Corned" Beef & Cabbage (web). This was okay, but didn't scratch the corned beef itch. It did, however, use up the huge supply of cabbage we had on hand. My tummy wasn't feeling well so I didn't eat much. We have lots of beef in the fridge for another meal.

Wednesday/3-Mon-18: As I left for French this morning, the car wouldn't start, and when it did, all the warning lights were on, including some I'd never seen before. Didn't even get out of the hameau before coming directly home. Then the washing machine got a call-customer-service error. Not a good start for the day.

Monday I accidentally defrosted a jar of soup when I meant to defrost a jar of stock. Oops. So tonight we had soup for dinner, puréed spinach, zucchini, and broccoli with some noodles added. But first we had the last of the artichoke hearts with green tapenade and goat cheese. Cookies for dessert.

Ed thinks the car problem is a loose, damp battery connection. The car started after the connections were cleaned, dried, and tightened. And the washing machine problem seems to have been a problem of overloading, when Ed decided to add two towels to an already full load.

Made my meal plan and list today. Haven't really made a list of cookbooks for my cookbook bonus goal, so have nothing planned for this week. TLItal isn't unused and neither is ClassPasta coming later in the week. Maybe I can make a quick change, or maybe I just won't count this week. TBD.

Thursday/4-Mon-18: Yes, made a quick change to one of my xmas gifts. Shopping today. Oops, car not fixed. Luckily the carpark at the Leclerc is on a hill, so we pushed the car down the hill to start it. Drove over to Brico Leclerc to buy a car battery. Turns out the current one is over seven years old. About time, you might say.

The fish selection was strangely diminished at the market today. I ended up buying swordfish rather than lieu noir or another white fish. Dinner was a halfish recipe of 20-Minute Fish Curry (MadeIndia, p131) with swordfish. Let me say that it isn't 20 minutes when you have to deseed 7 ounces of cherry tomatoes. It was good though. Had lots of broccoli stems to use up. Found the recipe for Cauliflower Cachumber (MJ@Home p240) and made that with grated broccoli stems. Very yummy although the texture would have been nicer if I'd used the box grater rather than the big microplane. And plain basmati rice. No camera downstairs, so no picture.

Friday/5-Mon-18: Earlyish meal today. There was Sautéed Chicken in Lemon Cream Sauce (MC), with a yummy sauce. I've made the before but didn't note when. Served with smashed potatoes, trying to use up the stash (recipe suggested egg noodles), and steamed snijbonen (runner beans?) in chunks.

Looked for some marrons glacés in the sale of xmas goodies yesterday, but there were none. Instead I got two half-price packets of dark chocolates. We had 3-1/2 each (one layer) from one of the boxes for dessert.

Saturday/6-Mon-18: Our mail meal was a half recipe of Farfalle al Salmone Affumicato (ClassPasta, p121; cookbooker) using the smoked trout option since I had that needing to be used. Used mafalda corta pasta. I liked this, Ed not so much. Served with a big salad. For dessert, we finished another layer of dark chocolates.

Sunday/7-Mon-18: Roasted a chicken today, using the "bricking" technique. The recipe was Za'atar Rubber Butterflied Chicken; the recipe is no longer at the site where I found it and I've not turned up another copy. Oh well. Do like the bricking technique, though. Chickie is spatchcocked, then cooked skin-side down in a oven-proof skillet, weighted with another skillet. I used a cast iron skillet topped by a saucepan full of water. It takes 20-25 minutes for the skin to get nice and brown. Then you turn the chick over and finish cooking without the "brick" in a 450F oven for 10-20 minutes. In tonight's recipe, the za'atar rub was added after turning the chick over, but a tasty rub under the skin would work fine also.

Made some trio rice, then realized I had potatoes to be used up, so made Tunisian Potato Salad with Cumin (MedLight, p117), which Ed liked a lot. Also served with Spicy Carrot Salad (MedLight, p114), an old favorite, although the garlic seemed especially strong tonight. Have put the rice and bit of leftover carrots together for the next days.

Ed bought another galette des rois today—another one with a Harry Potter fêve. We haven't found it yet.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbook of the month: MadeIndia
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no
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This week in the kitchen

Monday/25-Dec-17: Our xmas meal got its own post.

Tuesday/26-Dec-17: Our tweede kerstdag meal got its own post.

Now we have lots of leftovers.

Wednesday/27-Dec-17: Leftovers with the bricks coquelets and the cabbage charlotte mold. Some ice cream bars for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/28-Dec-17: Shopping today after Ed's early dentist appointment. This week there were more "exotic" foods, typical of the holiday season. Okra, even, if you like that. And the meat counter had lots of fancy birds, capons and regular chickens, each wrapped in a dish towel sort of thing, with tail feather, and feet, and sometimes heads showing. The better to choose what you want.

Our main meal was quite early, Roast Cod on Smoked Salmon and Cabbage Hash with Horseradish Butter (Raising, p40). Surprisingly tasty, this was. I cannot get a piece of cod to be nicely browned like that picture. It comes apart in big flakes. Still tastes good. The cabbage and smoked salmon and cod went together surprisingly well. I didn't see the bit about serving with plain mashed potatoes till it was too late, so served with bread.

Friday/29-Dec-17: Well, it was supposed to be fresh pasta today, but I didn't have the time, energy, or enthusiasm. Instead there was fresh (?), store-bought pasta from the freezer. We had Fettuccine al Limone (ClassPasta, p96), which was very good. And a big salad. Some mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Saturday/30-Dec-17: Make two lumps of Tart Dough (Tenth, p256; HandyBook), one for tomorrow's tart, one for the freezer. Make some polenta for tomorrow night's crostini. Our meal was leftover pork roast from tweede kerstdag and the rest of the cabbage-potato charlotte. We had ice cream at the movies.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/31-Dec-17: Cath came to spend the night. For dinner we had Leek and Mustard Pie (Greens, p245; cookbooker) followed by a big salad and then some Three Kings' Cake (from a Chasseneuil boulangerie with a Harry Potter character as the fêve).

For munchies, I had way too much for three people. We nibbled on corn nuts before dinner, always a mistake. With South Pacific there was: more corn nuts Carrot sticks. Celery sticks. Grilled Polenta Crostini with Smoked Trout and Mascarpone (Polenta, p48) (used the smoked salmon left from Thursday instead of smoked trout). Didn't use: chaource, olives, artichokes with green tapenade and goat cheese. All those back in the fridge for future use.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/25-Sep-17: Early meal today, an halfish recipe of Avocado Tuna Salad (web) served on a bed of lettuce. Pretty good stuff. A bit of spicy (cayenne in the dressing?) would be nice, and maybe lime juice instead of lemon.

Tuesday/26Sep-17: My, a yummy meal today, scratching the Indian itch. Made "Hamburger" Kebabs (Q&E, p27; cookbooker). Really simple to make and extra delicious. We wrapped those in store-bought (Lebanese?) flatbreads along with Fresh Red Chutney with Almonds (Q&E, p114; cookbooker). Delicious chutney, especially for something with a raw bell pepper. Served with Green Peas in a Creamy Sauce (Q&E, p87), just so we had some veggie matter.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/27-Sep-17: Shopping today, and lots of errands, so we were home late so dinner was late too.

Dinner was Kingklip Stroganoff, from an old print-out, which might be in MC 2BTried. Used lieu noir for the fish. Added some chopped parsley and garlic to the mushroom (oesterzwammen). These baked in individual casseroles in the toaster oven while I cooked some pasta (graminge) and Haricots Verts in Walnut Oil (HandyBook; Lunch, p216). At the table we dumped the pasta onto the individual casseroles for eating. Some new store-bought brownies (too sweet) for dessert.

Thursday/28-Sep-17: Busy morning, off to the préfecture to pick up my new driver's license, then to Intermarché for so grocery bits and bread, then to the pharmacy for Ed's prescriptions.

Lunch started with an old favorite, Cold Beetroot with Cream (Pomiane, p180). Then there was Shrimp with Spinach, Garlic and Smoked Paprika (EAT-L; web) served over rice. This was yummy, fast, and easy. I used rucola instead of spinach. Then we ate a bit of a local goat cheese I bought at the shop. Then a small bit of Double-Boiler Bread Pudding (MC; HandyBook) made to finish off a loaf a bread. We were full.

Friday/29-Sep-17: Meant to start a big batch of tomato purée today, but I dillied-dallied too long and most of the tomatoes were not good, also the ones in the potager. In the end, there was only 1-1/2 cups of tomato purée to freeze.

For our main meal today there was fresh pasta, Fettucini alle Erbe e Panna Rosa (ClassPasta, p90). Instead of peeling and seeding plum tomatoes, I used one cups of frozen purée. The herbs were basil, rosemary, and sage from the garden. Pretty good stuff,really. Then a salad using the rest of the dressing from yesterday's beet salad. Then the rest of the goat cheese. Then more of the bread pudding.

Saturday/30-Sep-17: With a late start and other things happening, our early meal today didn't happen till about 6:30p. But it was good. We had a halfish recipe of Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons (web) made with four thighs, and a dose of the Moroccan couscous from a storebought mix, and some Carrot and Pistachio Salad (web; cookbooker). Then we finished off the bread pudding. We are happily stuffed.

Started a salad for Ed to take to Cantique tomorrow morning, but cut the s*** out of my finger, so only got the cauliflower cooked. If I don't bleed to death in the night, I'll finish it in the morning.

Put chickpeas on to soak first thing this morning; cooked them this evening. Then into the fridge, since I couldn't deal with them.

Sunday/1-Oct-17: Got up early to finish off La Rinforzata (Neapolitan Cauliflower Salad) (MC). I've made this several times. Didn't record where I got the recipe, but there's an on-line version here. I use the anchovies, cutting them up really fine and adding to the vinaigrette. Also just noticed a note, that I didn't do today, to steep a crushed garlic clove in the oil.

I buzzed up the leftover sauce from last night's dinner and had that over whole wheat couscous for lunch.

Further, nothing happened in the kitchen.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/22-May-17: Early meal today, and yummy it was. I made a half recipe of Shrimp Scampi Fra Diavolo (I got it from EAT-L, here it is on the web). I used frozen, cooked shrimp; might add them a bit later than the recipe suggests. I didn't have any bucatini and no "fat" spaghetti-type thing except linguine (although I realize as I type that I have some spaghettoni in the freezer and that would have been perfect), so I used cascarrecia instead. I didn't think it was right, but Ed did. Then a big salad.

Tuesday/23-May-17: Early dinner today. We had Grilled Maple Sriracha Chicken Kebobs (web), grilled outside. A bit too sweet for either of our tastes; sriracha is already sweet and didn't need the extra sugar. Served with Roasted Garlic Lemon Broccoli (web), which was pretty good, and some roasted potatoes. We were full.

Wednesday/24-May-17: Shopping today.

Dinner was a half recipe of Cod with Beans, Corn, and Pesto (web), easy and fast and not bad at all. (Cod was on special today, hooray.) Served with some boiled new potatoes. Strawberries and cream for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/25-May-17: We attended a repas dansant with sanglier à la broche today. Delicious food and lots of it. Nothing happened in the kitchen today.

Friday/26-May-17: Early meal today. We had Lemony Seared Sea Scallops over Angel Hair (web). Tasty, but ... the recipe serves four (it says), divided among six bowls. Oh? And 8oz of pasta to serve four or six? I sort of halved it and used 6-ish oz of pasta (whole wheat spaghetti) for the two of us. It was good, though. Then a salad. For dessert there was Apple Berry Clafouti (MC), a recipe I've had for quite a while. A third recipe with one apple and a handful of frozen cranberries was a nice dessert for two.

Saturday/27-May-17: Off to the vet with Sophie this morning. Looks like she was in a fight yesterday and got some bad scratches on her backend. Conehead for her, with anitbiotics and painkillers, for a few days.

Dinner was a half recipes of Sauté de Dinde aux Olives, Riz, Blé, Sarrasin et Quinoa (VPG, web). This is part of a meal (for Wednesday). I made the go-with starter, Faisselle Baltique (VPG, web), which was interesting. Google Translate thinks faisselle is "cottage cheese," but it's not. It's kind of a very fresh cheese, a bit sour, but still nice tasting. (Good cottage cheese is not to be found here. We were very spoiled in NL for that.) This kind came in individual servings, which were turned out on some slices of cooked potato, surrounded by some smoked salmon, and topped with a sauce of olive oil, a bit of the whey drained from the faisselle, and coarse mustard. Should have been topped with chopped onion, but I used the tops of some green onions in pots. I served the sautté, squares of turkey scallops cooked with green olives in tomato sauce, with trio rice rather than Uncle Ben's rice, wheat, buckwheat, and quinoa mixture.

Yogurt on overnight

Sunday/28-May-17: Dinner was a half recipe of Tonnarelli al Granchio e Rucola—Tonnarelli with Crab and Rocket (ClassPasta, p107). This was very yummy, easy, and very pretty with the colors of the Italian flag, red, green, and white. Served with fresh pasta. To match the chili flakes in the sauce, I added some to the pasta. Rolled to 5 and cut as spaghetti, which turns out sort of squarish and fairly close to tonnarelli. But ... chili flakes don't cut well in spaghetti. Tasted good though.

Followed by Clafoutis aux Cerises (VPG; couldn't find on web). This was supposed to be the dessert for last night's dinner. An interesting recipe because it used cherries (griottes) from a jar, two for me since I couldn't find the 500g one asked, and slightly more than asked. Also odd that it was cooked in a skillet on the stovetop, supposedly turned over using a plate to brown on the other side. I put the skillet under the broiler to finish up. Pretty good it was.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/24-Apr-17: Spent the afternoon filing some chicken recipes and hoping to toss some of my stack. Didn't manage to toss many at all. There are just too many recipes needing to be made. I've got +/-180 recipes in the "bird" category, chicken, turkey, duck, pintade, etc. At two a week that's ninety weeks, a year and a half. Without collecting any more. Sigh.

Lunch didn't happen till about 4pm, so dinner was late. I wasn't very hungry and definitely didn't feel like making fresh pasta, which was on the plan. I got some frozen tagliatelle from the freezer to make Fettuccine al Salmone (PastaBible, p136). This was yummy, if a bit on the rich side with lots of cream and butter. Followed by a big salad. Nothing further needed.

(A nice thing about making pasta is that it forces me to clear off the peninsula counter. That's where all the Stuff accumulates until I have a reason to put it all away.)

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/25-Apr-17: Oscar to the vet in the early afternoon. Then I made a not-so-early dinner, but since we didn't have breakfast till noon, it worked out all right.

I made Lamb with Onions (Q&E, p32), the last pressure cooker recipe in that book that I haven't tried. (One more to do that I've made before.) Very good and really easy, just dump everything in the pressure cooker, give it a stir, seal it up, and go. Served with plain basmati rice and Green Beans with Mushrooms (Q&E, p86) without the added tomato (ran out). All tasty. After a while we had some mini magnums for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/26-Apr-17: Shopping today. Dinner was Snapper with Fresh Tomatoes and Capers; the recipe came from The New American Heart Association Cookbook, 7th Edition; I copied it from GoogleBooks. Used lieu noir (saithe) rather than snapper. It was good. Served with orzo and some roasted asparagus, a few left from last week and a new, smaller package of organic ones. Some store-bought riz au lait for dessert, topped with a couple of strawberries, which didn't really go well with the texture of the pudding. But tasted fine.

Thursday/27-Apr-17: Early dinner was Yogurt-Curry Marinated Chicken Thighs (web), easy to assemble and quite tasty. Broiled the thighs. Accompanied by a quarter recipe of Rice with Peas (MJ1, p149) and some canned corn. For dessert, there was Crème Fraîche Ice Cream (MC), made with sucre de canne, so it was fairly beige, but still tasty.

Friday/28-Apr-17: Pogo is really sick today, a bit worrying. Throwing up, not eating, breathing funny, trembling, weaker than usual. Made a vet appointment for tomorrow morning.

Yes, finally got the peninsula counter cleared off and we had fresh pasta tonight. It was Fettuccine alle Verdure (ClassPasta, p92). I cut tagliatelle rather than fettuccine, and I cut them at 5 rather than 6. I may prefer fettuccine at 5, but we thought the tagliatelle were a bit too thick. Still quite edible though. The sauce was okay, nothing special. As we were eating, I thought it could have used some fresh parsley stirred in, or maybe some shredded basil. Then a big salad.

Ed was being very helpful clearing up, scraping all the excess flour into the recycle food bin. Then he bobbled the bin and turn in out onto the dutch oven, wok, and floor below. Big mess to clean up. Oh well.

Saturday/29-Apr-17: Pogo was better this morning, no longer trembling, breathing easier, but we went off to the vet anyhow. We're treating symptoms now, hoping it just goest away. If they recur, he'll get some serious testing. He did manage to walk up the stairs by himself tonight.

Early meal today. Broccoli Soup with Lemon-Chive Cream (web), with was pretty good, with tuna salad sandwiches. For dessert, some nice almond paste pastries from the boulangerie.

Sunday/30-Apr-17: Dinner was way late tonight. My fault for not calculating properly how long it would take. When we finally got there, we had Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk (all over the web, web, web), a very popular recipe. And justifiably. We ate half. I'll use the rest for a mreal in a couple of days (or else it goes in the freezer). Lots of sauce left; thinking it will turn into a soup in the next days. Served with Clothilde Dusoulier's Perfect Roast Potatoes (web), which I had to cook under the broiler since there wasn't an oven at the proper temperature. These turned out great. And Haricots Verts in Walnut Oil (HandyBook; Bard, p216). We're stuffed.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/6-Mar-17: Another Big Blow today and we were without electricity for three hours. There was leftover meatloaf on the menu tonight, so we would still have eaten well in the dark. Served with peas and carrots (fresh carrot, frozen peas) and Spaetzle (MW@Home, p203).

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/7-Mar-17: Early meal today so we can go to a concert in Limoges this evening. We had Bangkok Shrimp, a recipes I collected from Betsy at EAT-L. She posted a shrimp version, but said  it was originally a beef recipe and that shrimp was recommended as an alternative. I found the beef version here, without the shrimp recommendation. The shrimp version uses lime juice instead of lemon juice, otherwise the same. This was yummy. I didn't have chunky peanut butter, so just used the regular stuff with some extra peanuts thrown in. Oops, no more carrots in house. Nevertheless, delicious. Served with Asian Green Bean Salad (web), also good. Seeded and chopped a regular tomato, rather than cherry tomatoes. Tasty meal we had.

Wednesday/8-Mar-17: Shopping today. We got there fairly early, i.e., in time for lunch, and the store was almost empty. Very strange.

Dinner was Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salsa (web). Good stuff. Salmon was rubbed with a mixture of salt, cumin, paprika, onion powder, ancho powder, and black pepper. Very simple salsa of avocado, red onion, lime juice, and chopped cilantro. All good. Served with polenta and two artichokes (impulse buy, on sale today) cooked in the pressure cooker, with a really simple dip of mayo and dijon mustard sprinkled with paprika. For dessert, some store-bought rice custards with caramel. We ate well.

Thursday/9-Mar-17: Dinner was disappointing, a half recipe of Daniel Boulud's Chicken Tagine (web). Took a long time to make and tasted pretty blah, not bad, just not interesting. Looked so promising. Over couscous. And a mini ice cream bar for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/10-Mar-17: Sorted through one of my ancillary stacks of recipes today; threw out some, need to throw out more.

Back to the pressure cooker with Mahur Jaffrey today, for Lamb Stewed in Coconut Milk (Q&E, p34; cookbooker). Yummy as usual, although it seemed to take a long time to assemble. As suggested, served with Stir-Fried Green Cabbage with Fennel Seeds (Q&E, p88; cookbooker). And some plain basmati rice. For dessert I used up some frozen cherries to make a half recipe of Clafoutis aux Cerises (VPG); haven't been able to find it on the web, but that's ok. This is a seriously non-standard clafoutis recipe and didn't work at all. It was more like a skimpy pudding with lots of cherries. Tasted fine, but it wasn't anything like a clafoutis.

Saturday/11-Mar-17: Meant to make pasta today, but didn't feel like it after a couple of days of long prep dinner. Used tagliatelle from the freezer to make a half dose of Tonnarelli ai Gamberi e Funghi (ClassPasta, p104; cookbooker). Followed by a salad.

Sunday/12-Mar-17: Lovely lunch out before a concert. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/6-Feb-17: Leftover cheese enchiladas and Spanish rice for dinner, with some new guacamole. We're full.

Tuesday/7-Feb-17: Earlyish main meal today. A half recipe of Mushroom Pot Pies (web). Pretty good they were, but needed a bit of something, maybe garlic, to give the sauce a bit more oomph. And a salad. That was all.

Wednesday/8-Feb-17: Fresh pasta for our main meal. I made Mustard Pasta (PastaMach, p82; cookbooker). Maybe my flour was old or dry. I used the optional teaspoon of olive oil and still needed to add a second egg to make a dough that could be kneaded. The recommended sauce was Scarborough Tomato Sauce (PastaMach, p146; cookbooker)—think parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. The sauce was good, but the taste overwhelmed the subtler taste of the pasta. Then a salad. And some mini magnums for dessert.

Thursday/9-Feb-17: Shopping day today.

Dinner was a half a recipe of Fettuccine al Tonno e Panna allo Zafferano (ClassPasta, p92), fettuccine with tuna and a saffron cream sauce. It was so-so. Would have been better to cook the tuna separately and serve slices on the pasta. Then a salad. Made a double-boiler bread pudding with the end of a bread that went stale quickly. Stirred in some chocolate chips just to see. Not something to do again. Won't stop us from eating it, of course.

Friday/10-Feb-17: A confusing day today. I was supposed to start a crockpot dinner in the afternoon, but didn't get to it. Changed to something else, then discovered I'd neglected to buy a major ingredient. Back to the crockpot dinner, but without the crockpot. We had Slow Cooker Chicken & Mushroom Soup (web), made in the Dutch oven. (Thought briefly about the pressure cooker, but didn't dare.) Made about a 2/3 recipe with my 500g of mushrooms. Add crème fraîche rather than cream at the end. Quite tasty. We ate it all. Then more of the bread pudding.

Prepared the dry brine that I'll put on a chicken tomorrow to roast on Sunday.

Saturday/11-Feb-17: Started yogurt early, then went to the doctor's walk-in hours (prescription renewal, no big deal) early-ish today, getting there just after 9am. Usually it's not very crowded on Saturdays. Today it was jam-packed. We got out after noon. Sigh.

Dry brined a chicken for tomorrow's meal.

Dinner was a halish recipe of Lentilles Vertes, Chou Romanesco et Saucisse (VPG). (This version is the same except that they use broccoli instead of the romanesco.) The chipolatas (sausages) that I used came from a vendor at one of last summer's marché des producteurs. Excellent they were. I used four for the two of us instead of two. The dish was good enough, but rather boring. It needed some sauce, maybe a dab of chicken stock with some mustard would have been good. Then we finished off the bread pudding.

Sunday/12-Feb-17: Unhappy day. Discovered this morning that Ed washed my expensive (worth every penny) chicken shears in the dishwasher last night. How many times have I told him that those don't go in the dishwasher?

Today's chickie was dry-brined with a southeast Asia flavor. As I've done before, I spatchcocked the chicken, browned it skin-side down, turned it and put another heavy skillet on top, then roasted for 45 minutes at 400F. Tasty thing. Served with plain rice and Thai-Style Green Beans (web). The green beans were old, but the dish still tasted pretty good.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/9-Nov-15: Yogurt on overday.

For dinner I made a bean soup from a packet I bought in Tuscany: Minestrone all Contadina. It was a mixture of beans. The most prominent were that Italian specialty red/orange lentils, plu yellow split peas and mung beans. It also included (at least) adzuki beans, an unidentified small white/tan bean, small brown lentils, teeny black-eyed peas, and borlotti beans. All cooked in the pressure cooker with potatoes, carrots, and zucchini. Made a good soup, especially with a goodly slog of hot sauce.

Tuesday/10-Nov-15: Oops forgot to put the yogurt up last night. Time for a new starter.

Made apple butter.

Pizza out after Voce Concordiae's remembrance concert.

Wednesday/11-Nov-15: We ate today's meal at the remembrance day lunch in Montemboeuf. Absolutely no need for more food.

Thursday/12-Nov-15: Dinner was a half dose Fresh Chinese Noodles with Spicy Cabbage (Bishop, p251). No fresh Chinese noodles available, so I used linguine. Pretty good actually, although a bit dry. That's because I didn't see the instruction to add some of the pasta-cooking water to the cabbage, which was exactly what it needed.

Friday/13-Nov-15: We didn't make it shopping today, so I had to rearrange the Plan to make a meal based on what was in-house. What was that? More cabbage. So, dinner was a half version of Orecchiette alla Verza—Orecchiette with Anchovies and Savoy Cabbage (ClassPasta, p129). Pretty tasty, and easy. No dessert.

Saturday/14-Nov-15: Finally did our shopping for this week, after a stop at the optician to choose new frames for me (Ed's reusing his current ones).

Dinner was a half recipe of Zalm met Broccolipuree (web), which was easy and pretty good. (I broiled the fish, rather than sautéing it.) Served with a side of polenta, but actually it would have been better with a starter and then just the broccoli and fish on the plate. For dessert we had Egg Custard (MC). (Should be able to find this on the web, but haven't succeeded thus far.) I've made this before. It's quite easy. Strangely the recipe has not enough sugar, it needs to cook way longer than advertised, and it overfills the four six-ounce custard cups asked for. I used a yogurt jar for the last bit, making five custards in total.

Yogurt on overnight with new starter.

Sunday/15-Nov-15: We ate out for Ed's birthday today. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

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