This week in the kitchen

Monday/25-Apr-22: We ate from the freezer tonight, Creamy Turkey and Wild Rice Soup, along with some cheese and onion sandwiches. A dark chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Tuesday/26-Apr-22: Chris, Jacky, and Hitomi arrived today. 

Dinner was Za'atar Lamb Chops (web; GD); these were yummy as usual. Served with Moroccan couscous (store-bought mix) and two little salads that I've made before, Grilled Red Pepper Strips with Pomegranate and Cumin (EastMed, p154) and Grated Cucumber Salad with Oregano (Morocco, p75). For after there was Cheesecake Ice Cream (Scoop, p62), served with some frozen raspberries. This is a really rich and delicious ice cream, a bit lemony, which was tempered by the raspberries. Delicious.

Wednesday/27-Apr-22: Lunch out today. Cheese and charcuterie for our evening repas.

Thursday/28-Apr-22: Lunch out today. Cheese and charcuterie for our evening repas. Pretty boring, eh?

Friday/29-Apr-22: We had lunch in today between a visit to the Victor Hugo market and the Maison Soulat, the reincarnation of our local coop winery that was wiped out in the big hailstorm in 2018.

For a starter we had a sort of insalata caprese with the beautiful yellow tomato Jacky bought at the market, kind of a surinamse salad. 

 

Our second starter was Salade de Mache au Betteraves (BEFCC, p32), an old favorite. For our main, there was Lemony Chicken Saltimbocca (web; GD) with whole wheat spaghetti. No time for dessert before going off to taste wine.

In the evening there was cheese and charcuterie yet again, with a charentais melon and pineau, and some canelés. 

Saturday/30-Apr-22: Lunch out today. Left the girls at the train station to return to Paris and thence to Texas. 

Sunday/2-May-22: Dinner was Salade met Falafel en Blauwe Kaas (Tip/aug01; web); Tip Culinair is a now defunct Dutch cooking magazine. Fast to make and tasty, but the recipe for two could easily have served three and maybe four. For a starter we had an little insalata caprese with a Coeur de Boeuf tomato. The tomato was relatively tasteless compared to yesterday's yellow beauty. We finished with melon and pineau.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 1; #2 PHOTO: yes;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: yes/no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 0; #8 NEW: 2

This week in the kitchen

Monday/11-Mon-22: Dinner was Indian Potato Salad with Cilantro Omelet (SimpSups, p106; cookbooker). I made a half recipe of the (very delicious) potato salad and a 3-egg omelet for the two of us. As suggested, I served with Red Lentil Soup with Greens (SimpSups, p121; cookbooker); this was also good, but needed quite a bit more water to make is somewhat soup-like. All was good. (Ed took a picture, but it got lost in iPhoneland.)

Tuesday/12-Mon-22: Dinner was Pinchos Morunos—Moorish Skewered Meat. (This is a printout. I can't find a PDF for the recipe. No idea where it came from.) But it was good. Served with Grilled Red Pepper Strips with Pomegranate and Cumin (EastMed, p154), a nice salad I've made before. This used up half a yellow bell pepper plus a whole and a half red bell pepper. (Still have a lot of red ones in the fridge.) And some store-bought Moroccan couscous.

Wednesday/13-Mon-22: We got shopping from both Drives today. Our favorite boulangerie is closed on Wednesdays, so there's no bread.

Dinner was, more or less, Harissa Salmon (CL/apr07; MC; web). I use store-bought harissa rather than making it. I cook my own brown rice rather than using instant. I squeeze some lemon over the salmon, then spread with harissa from a tube, then bake according to Ackart (10min/inch @ 450F). This was good as usual. Served with Tunisian Zucchini Salad (MedLight, p117). Nice dinner. 

Thursday/14-Mon-22: Oops, forgot to put the liver on to soak overnight for tonight's dinner, so we had tomorrow's dinner tonight. 

That was Sweet Pepper Risotto (MDGrains, p33), working again on my bell pepper surplus. An egg mixed with parmesan cheese was stirred in at the end, so it was really creamy. Not a favorite risotto, though. Somehow didn't satisfy. 

Liver on to soak in milk overnight.

Friday/15-Mon-22: Ed got his liver dinner tonight. I made Liver and Onions, following a recipe I got from a friend on EAT-L, with a bit of support from my old Joy. It wasn't bad, but I'm still not a liver fan. It has an unpleasant texture, but the onions help with that. Served with parslied egg noodles and Creamy Broccoli & Bacon (web), more or less. I didn't really measure anything out here. There was a packet of lardons in the freezer needing to be used; that replaced the bacon. Used frozen broccoli that I bought for something that didn't get made. The sauce seemed a bit runny, so I thickened it with a bit of cornstarch. Was pretty good stuff. We had one chocolate-covered madeleine each for after. 

Saturday/16-Mon-22: I recently picked up HealthyInd again (cookbook reading having stopped with our trips to the grocery store), but am not finding it appealing read. Although I've marked a few recipes, I think I'm going to give this one up.  

Leftovers for dinner, Bulgur Chili. Then a big kitchen-sink salad. Then one chocolate-dipped madeleine each.

Sunday/17-Mon-22: We had a lovely lunch out before we went to a concert in the late afternoon. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: yes;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 0; #8 NEW: 2

This week in the kitchen

Monday/15-Feb-21: Dinner was a half dose of Sheet-Pan Chicken Thighs with Potatoes, Fennel, and Mustard-Beer Sauce (web). Good stuff. Ed declared it a 5* recipe. I didn't cook in a sheet-pan but in a cast iron skillet where everything fit. The skin was crispy. The sauce delicious. We saved the rest of the sauce for our lunch sandwiches. 

Then a salad. Some store-bought vanilla riz au laits for after. Should have made bread this afternoon, or at least started an Overnight Boule. but didn't feel like it.

Tuesday/16-Feb-21: We took three boxes of books to a charity shop today. Small reduction in the household supply of books. I keep on working at this. 

Dinner was late, Winter's Warmest Pork Loin (Desperation, p254). Served with polenta and steamed broccoli. Not realizing how little time the cook had for other activities while cooking the pork, I started the broccoli too late, so the meat cooked at bit to long. This was an interesting idea, but neither of us were excited by it. Some mini ice cream cups for after. 

Started an Overnight Boule with Rye.

Wednesday/17-Feb-21: Baked the Overnight Boule with Rye. It's good.

For dinner, I made a fish pie, loosely following this recipe, but using small shrimp, small scallops, some squid rings, and some smoked trout for the fishy bits in the filling. Instead of puff pastry for the topping, I used wadded up disks of brik/brick/brique. It was pretty good, if a bit salty from the trout. A salad after. Then some bits of St. Nectaire.

Thursday/18-Feb-21: Picked up groceries from Intermarché, so it was fish-for-dinner.

We had Spicy Salmon and Couscous Bowls (web), that's with Israeli couscous and turnips. Pretty good stuff. Served with a simple Thai-ish salad, loosely based on Cucumber Salad—Yaam Taeng Kwa (Delightful, p51). This recipe calls for way too much sugar; I wonder if they wrote tablespoon when they meant teaspoon? It was pretty good as I made it. 

Friday/19-Feb-21: Dinner was Risotto with Sausages (ClassItal, p257). (This is for the rice theme on Cooking Marcella Hazan, a Facebook group that's trying to revive itself.) Rather than pork sausages, I used some andouillettes de canard from the freezer (impulse buy), and thus, used chicken stock rather than beef stock. 

Followed by a big salad. No dessert needed. 

Saturday/20-Feb-21: The bread machine made a loaf today after Ed first the gear in the pan again. There was Light Rye (Electric, p64) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-). Skipped the caraway seeds, but added 1tbl of gluten; 2tbl+1tsp of sucre de canne. Good stuff.

Dinner was Bangkok Shrimp* (web). The recipe is really Bangkok Beef; I use shrimp instead, adding the (cooked, almost unfrozen) shrimp when the veggies were done. Some some store-bought vanilla riz au laits for later.

Sunday/21-Feb-21: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Marinated Lamb Chops (web; CL/apr11). This was easy and good. Served with Eggplant with Pomegranate Sauce (EastMed, p155), sort of. I cut my eggplant ovals into long half-ellipses. Sprayed with olive oil and broiled rather than baking. And some potatoes: I peeled and chunked them, then boiled almost done; drained well; shook in the sieve, then finished in butter and olive oil. Pretty good they were. Some Angel Kisses (cream and crème de cacao) for after.

Overnight Boule with Rye on overnight.

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: yes; #6 BACKLOG2: yes; #7 RECYCLE: 9; #8 NEW: 2

This week in the kitchen

Monday/4-Nov-19: Dinner was a halfish dose of Easy Italian Sausage and Potato Skillet (web, collected from EAT-L). I used my home-made Italian sausage. Pretty good stuff. Ed used some hot stuff on it, but I didn't think it was needed. Then we had some more of yesterday's chocolate cake. Yum.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/5-Nov-19: Dinner was Feta-Brined Roast Chicken (web), which was pretty good, if not great. Served with Clotilde Dusoulier's Perfect Roast Potatoes and some steamed broccoli. Finished off the chocolate cake for after. We're full.

Wednesday/6-Nov-19: Shopping today.

For dinner we had Tilapia Curry with Broccoli (MC, originally from a Dutch mailing list), a one-dish meal over rice. Used cod tonight. Very easy, very good. Some store-bought trio riz au lait for after.

Thursday/7-Nov-19: Dinner was Late Summer Vegetable Enchilada Pie (web). This was was okay, nothing special We'll have at least one meal out of it. I thought the sauce had a bit too much of the tomatoes, but it was good enough. With some guacamole. Mini ice creams for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/8-Nov-19: Ed got his hearing aids today.

Using up the once-lost-now-found magret, tonight's dinner was, more or less, Canard à la Moutarde, Tabasco et Miel (web). This recipe wanted one magret per person. That's way too much for most people; usually two people share one, and that's what we did. I cooked the magret as Patrice Wells instructs in VegHarv: score the fat side, heat dry skillet over high heat, turn to medium, 8min on the fat side, 3min on the meat side, 3min on fast side, let it rest 10min, then slice. The recipe wanted to go in the oven for the second three minutes. I poured the fat into a bowl to cool; maybe I can use it for something in the next days. Then I deglazed the pan with the marinade. Also I didn't add the extra bit of honey. It was all delicious. Unfortunately, I let the zucchini slices cook too long, so they were a bit soft. Served over polenta. We were nicely full.

Saturday/9-Nov-19: Before starting dinner I made Jam Tea Cake (MC, collected long ago from EAT-L), I made this to use up some apricot jam. A nice little cake that can be assembled while the oven heats up.

Dinner was a half recipe of One-Pot Creamy Mushroom and Spinach Orzo (web). An instant favorite, comfort food for cold and wet weather. After that we had a piece of cake, also quite good.

Put chicken to marinate and yogurt to drain for tomorrow's meal.

Sunday/10-Nov-19: Dinner was a half recipe of Chicken Broiled with Lemon and Yogurt Marinade (EastMed, p313), known as Golden Chicken in Macedonia, says Wolfert. Served with Macedonian Black Olive and Scallion Salad (EastMed, p151); this was good but more like a relish than a real salad. No scallions here; I used shallots instead. As suggested in the headnote, I made a dish with boiled potatoes and onions (more shallots) with oil, vinegar, and garlic. The recipe called for rehydrated hot peppers; I used harissa instead. I also grilled some eggplant slices that had been coated with harissa. We were full. We each had apricot cake for breakfast, sowe had two chocolate-covered madeleines each for afters.

Yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Jul-17: Early meal today. We had Grilled Buffalo Chicken Tacos (CL; web). I sort of made a whole recipe, that should serve four, for the two of us. I used two kip filets as asked, and had much more romaine; even so, I made only half the dressing, using yogurt instead of buttermilk and feta instead blue cheese (because I forgot to buy this, duh). It was good, but I'll do it again when I'll remember to buy the cheese.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/11-Jul-17: Dinner was Rice Salad with Tuna & Avocado (PatSalad, p57). Made about a half recipe; wasn't obsessive about measuring. Maybe a bit plain, but very pleasant. I used short-grain brown rice rather than white.

Wednesday/12-Jul-17: Shopping today.

I recently read somewhere about Nicolas Freeling's The Kitchen Book, and got myself a copy. Actually the copy includes two books, The Kitchen Book and The Cook Book. He's known for the van der Valk mysteries. I didn't know that he worked as a chef for 15 year. Started reading this today. Really enjoying it.

Dinner was a sort of half recipe of Grilled Salmon with White Bean and Arugula Salad (web). I had half the salmon, but probably had close to all of the salad part. Very tasty. The salad part could be good with a kip filet on top.

• Roasted some red bell peppers for tomorrow's dinner. 
• Set some yogurt to draining for tomorrow's dinner.
• Put some lamb cubes on to marinate for tomorrow's dinner.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/13-Jul-17: Made Chile Puree (TexMex, p50). Put it up in three AH jars (two in the freezer), although four probably would have been all right; we'll just have lots of sauce for the next batches of enchiladas.

Our main course this evening was a two-thirds-ish recipe of Spicy Cumin Lamb Skewers (web). Ed grilled this outside (after the rain finally stopped). I used shaoxing wine instead of sherry. Yummy meat. This was billed as a "marriage of Middle Eastern and Chinese influence," so I chose the side dishes from  book I haven't used before, but clearly need to pay some attention to.

There was Shredded Beets with Thick Yogurt (EastMed, p30) with a 250g beet. This is supposed to be a sauce or dip. I think it would be a fine small salad. I thought it was very tasty; Ed liked it a bit less.

And a half recipe of Grilled Red Pepper Strips with Pomegranate and Cumin (EastMed, p154), another small salad. We liked this a lot. It might be pretty to do it with a mixture of red, yellow, and orange bell peppers.

And a two-thirds-ish recipe of Eggplant with Pomegranate Sauce (EastMed, p155). Instead of baking the eggplant slices, I put them under the broiler. They could have been done a bit longer. Nevertheless, quite tasty.

Finally a third recipe of Rice Pilaf with Noodles (EastMed, p233), which was a nice change from plain rice. I didn't soak the rice.

Friday/14-Jul-17: Bastille Day today. For dinner we had Warm Pasta Salad with Shrimp and Avocados (web). This was pretty good. I called the recipe dinner for two and used 7oz of tagliatelle (the end of a package, and no fresh stuff in the freezer). A bit of an odd combination, but it worked fine. Shrimp, avocado, artichoke hearts, chives (I used a whole can, about twice what was asked), and green olives, with a vinaigrette of white balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, and olive oil.

Saturday/15-Jul-17: Pasta day today. Made Hazan's regular pasta with 1 cup flour and 2 eggs (actually I add quite a bit more as I knead, since it's fairly damp when I start). Cut as fettuccine on 5; tasty. By accident, after I roughly mixed the pasta dough, but before I started kneading, the dough rested for a bit. It was nicer to knead with this pause.

For a sauce, there was Arugula Purée with Walnuts and Goat Cheese (PeV, p39). Pretty good. I made a whole recipe and have two more lumps in the freezer now.

Sunday/16-Jul-17: Off to a vide grenier today; didn't buy anything.

Dinner was Chicken & Corn Salad (PatSalad, p99). Easy and tasty. Two of us ate what should have been for four.

Yogurt on overnight.

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