This week in the kitchen

Monday/24-Sep-18: For dinner there was Pasta Sauce with Peas, Ham, and Cream (p164 , MarCuc). The sauce is simple, but good. Hazan says the original pasta for this sauce is garganelli, a hand-made pasta. I found the instructions for this in (p110, Geometry). A weaver's comb, which is probably where we get Afro picks, is traditionally used to make the grooves on the rolled squares of pasta. Can't say I have any skill at this, but I do have an Afro pick now.

The sauce was good, but the pasta was a bit heavy, maybe because I only rolled to 5 rather than 6.

Then we had the rest of yesterday's salad mixed with the rest of yesterday's beans, all of which make a nice salad. No dessert since we were full.

Tuesday/25-Sep-18: We're still having problems with a mouse in the pantry. Chocolate chips and pasta are its current favorites. Three live traps are set with no results so far.

Recombobbled the meal plan today after we learned yesterday that Cath's friend is coming a week later than expected. Made the list too.

Used some very ripe bananas and some from the freezer to make up a loaf of Best Banana Bread (HandyBook).

Didn't have the oomph to make what was on the plan; really too tired to deal with peeling a winter squash. Instead made Vegan Eggplant and Tomato Gratin (VegSups, p24), which I made non-vegan by dolloping on the rest of some fresh goat cheese that needed to be used up. Pretty good. Followed by a salad. And some quite-tasty banana bread.

Wednesday/26-Sep-18: Shopping today.

Dinner was Grilled Salmon with Chile-Honey Glaze and Ginger-Red Onion Relish (BigFlav, p87). Ed bbq'd the fish. The glaze is good, but the relish is super-yummy. As suggested, served with New Potato Hash Browns with Caramelized Onions (BigFlav, p236). These were good, but I thought the onions were too sweet. We also had Fried Eggplant with Feta and Basil (O&C, p276), which Ed didn't like as well as the last time I made this. We were full, but managed a pair of chocolate-topped madeleines for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/27-Sep-18: Lunch out with Sue and Andy.

Made up broth for Mango Ice Cream (ThaiCC, p91) using canned mango, since the fresh ones were hard at the store this week and there were no frozen ones.

Friday/28-Sep-18: For dinner, Ed bbq'd a half dose of Grilled Sirloin and Apricot Skewers with Pomegranate Vinaigrette (License, p126). Since apricots are way out of season, I used peaches instead as suggested. Good this was. As suggested, served with Grilled Potatoes with Yogurt-Parsley Sauce (License, p283), which Ed liked a lot. Also a half recipe of Zucchini and Feta Cheese Salad (WorldVeg, p640). And then there was Mango Ice Cream, which was pretty good.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/29-Sep-18: We ate half of an Onion and Rosemary Tart with Fromage Blanc (VegSups, p9; cookbooker). Then a big salad. Then some mini ice cream bars.

Sunday/30-Sep-18: Ed was wanting pork chops. So tonight he barbecued a pair, rubbed with a Cajun spice run. Served with Moroccan Green Pepper Salad—Felfla Mechouia (WorldVeg, p634; cookbooker), a delicious salad, roasted green bell peppers with a bit of preserved lemon. And Oven Fried Potatoes with Oregano and Lemon (O&C, p280). We finished off a nice bottle of Fronton Flingueurs negrette, along with some slightly aged Morbiers. Then a spoonful of Mango Ice Cream each. And later a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.

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: yes; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/3-Jul-17: An unanticipated consequence of our frequently eating early meals is that we don't work a big crossword daily. Our stack is growing.

No early meal today. We had Skillet Chicken with Rhubarb (web). I made a halfish recipe with four thighs. It was quite good. Served with trio rice, a cheap one with more white rice than anything, and carrot coins. Good stuff.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/4-Jul-17: The stove man came early today to have a look/listen to the strange noise. Of course it wouldn't make it as aggressively as it did last week, but it did give a buzz. He had a look, said it definitely wasn't in the gas line. Might be a screw. I was unclear if he actually tightened something or not.

Used the newly fixed, silent oven to make Flourless Chocolate Cake (web), partly to use up some of my inventory of ground almonds.

For our main meal, we had Craig Claiborne's Ultimate Hamburger (Tabasco, p88). I found the same recipe, minus the Tabasco sauce on the web. Really easy. Essential you just sear, then cook some plain hamburger patties, then top with a pat of butter (I think it's a good idea to do this in the pan, so the butter can be soaked up when you toast the buns), and a little sauce made of (for each patty) 1/4tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1/8tsp Tabasco sauce, 1/2tbl lemon juice. Sprinkle on 1tbl chopped parsley. You might add a slice of onion. Extra yummy.

For sides there were Mama's Garlic Cole Slaw (MC&HandyBook) and some corn on the cob. For dessert there was, of course some extra yummy Flourless Chocolate Cake.

Wednesday/5-Jul-17: Shopping day today. Some nice looking swordfish was on special, so I bought some and had to chance the meal plan.

I made Tandoori Style Striped Bass Fillet (MJ@Home, p43) with the swordfish. It was yummy, if a bit salty. I defrosted some spinach to make Spinach with Garlic and Cumin (MJ@Home, p169), easy and yummy. And then some Curried Brown Rice (MJ@Home, p220). All were good. Then some Flourless Chocolate Cake, with a bit of cream.

Oops, I forgot to buy bread at the store. So we'll have breakfast from the freezer tomorrow.

Thursday/6-Jul-17: An easy meal today. We had the leftover Zucchini and Fresh Goat Cheese Tart, along with a salad, followed by more Flourless Chocolate Cake, with a bit of cream. Not too bad.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/7-Jul-17: Earlyish meal today. We had Gemelli ai Fagiolini (Geometry. p115). Shh, I used casareccia instead of gemelli. Good stuff. A whole recipe was a nice main for two—haricots verts puréed with cream, cinnamon, and a bit of garlic. Simple and surprisingly good. Served with a big salad. Then the end of the Flourless Chocolate Cake with some cream and raspberries. We ate well.

Saturday/8-Jul-17: Early meal today. I made a half recipe of New Potato and Chorizo Tortilla (web). Good stuff. The potatoes need a bit longer to cook than the recipe says; maybe it would be a good idea to boil them half done first. Anyhow it was good. Followed by a little salad of grated carrots. And the last half of the watermelon. (We ate the first half earlier this week, but I neglected to record it.)

Sunday/9-Jul-17: Ed's choir sang today. We had pizza afterwards. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

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/10-Apr-17: Back from Bordeaux this afternoon, collecting Pogo and the cats along the way. Dinner from the freezer, a beef stew we didn't much like the first time and it didn't improve in the freezer. Made a salad, but we didn't eat it. Tomorrow's lunch perhaps.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/11-Apr-17: Oops, the salad has to wait another day. Our lunch was Vaguely Vietnamese Slow Cooker Pork Tacos (web) from the freezer. Again, made the Vaguely Vietnamese Carrot-Cabbage Slaw as a go-with. Next time should do all the shredding with the cuisinart. All good stuff, though, and we're full.

Wednesday/12-Apr-17: Shopping today.

Dinner was Mahi Mahi with Curry-Yogurt Mayonnaise (Desperation, p283; cookbooker), with tuna instead of mahi mahi. Served with roasted asparagus, trio rice, and the salad we didn't eat on Monday. For dessert, some store-bought suisse pastries.

Thursday/13-Apr-17: Defrosted a varkenshaas (aka filet mignon du porc or pork tenderloin), marinated it in some defrosted charmoula sauce. Also used that to flavor some slices of eggplant. Grilled on on the bbq. Served with a half dose of Mambo Rice (web), which was pretty darn good, and a made-up salad of avocado, tomato, cilantro, and lime juice. All was good. We're full. (And I drank too much wine. I won't tell if you don't.)

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/14-Apr-17: We went to Angoulême to do some errands today. Both had omelets for lunch. Then we didn't feel like dinner, so I'm off plan for the week now. Harvested the first rhubarb of the season and made Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake (MC), pretty good stuff.

Saturday/15-Apr-17: Plans changed today. I ended up not cooking and we had a pizza after a movie. Serious replanning needed for the next days.

Sunday/16-Apr-17: Early dinner was Gramigne con Verza e Salsiccia—Cabbage and Sausage (Geometry, p135; cookbooker). Never heard of gramigne before, but found the exact thing labeled "short spaghetti" at the grocery. The whole dish was yummy. Followed by a salad. and the last of the Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake.

Yogurt on overnight. Chicken on to marinate for tomorrow's early meal.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/31-Aug-15: Dinner was Spaccatelle con Tonno e Melanzane—Tuna and Aubergine (p229, Geometry). The recipe asks canned or fresh tuna, but says swordfish is traditional. I stopped at Leclerc today, but didn't see any swordfish. Since we had fresh tuna just a few days ago, I used a can. Used cascareccia instead of spaccatelle (fat chance) since they look somewhat similar. Pretty good stuff. It asked only about 5oz of pasta as a main for two. Seemed like not much, but there was plenty. I made a nice big salad, but we didn't eat it. Lunch tomorrow perhaps. (Haven't defrosted chicken for tomorrow's dinner, so will have to think of something else. Something else quicker, since I don't feel much like cooking.)

Storm came through this evening, so hope we're at the end of this little hot spell

Tuesday/1-Sep-15: Oops, didn't make yogurt last night and got up too late today to start it. On overnight.

Made up two liters/quarts of tomato purée to freeze tomorrow. Ed started the work of seeding, and I found an awful lot of seeds popping to the surface. Removed as many as possible, but this will be a suspect batch. Get to do this over again several times in the next couple of days. Both Beefsteaks and Coeur de Boeufs in this batch.

Dinner was Kitchari with Cauliflower & Peas (web), which wasn't bad, but wasn't wondeful. Added a bunch of lime pickle for salt and zip. A good one-dish meal, if a bit bland. Used chana dal instead of moong dal, of which I had none. Yellow split peas might have been a better substitute.

Wednesday/2-Sep-15: Froze almost 8 cups of tomato purée this morning. Then worked on another batch. In the fridge now, to freeze up tomorrow.

Hoping to shop tomorrow, I worked on the meal plan and list today.

Starting in on our winter squash harvest, tonight's dinner was Ravioli with Winter Squash and Sage (p288, Sunset; cookbooker). Still looking for something approximating an acorn squash, I chose Hokkaido Vert to plant for a winter squash. I was expecting it to be orange inside, instead the flesh is more yellow, thus the dinner was fairly boring to look at. And fairly boring to taste, since the squash doesn't have much in the way of flavor. The recipe was fairly interesting, but there's something wrong with it (see Cookbooker review). Then a big salad, for which I deseeded one more tomato.

Thursday/3-Sep-15: Started some chicken stock. Cleaned out the fridge freezer of bits, but think there's more in the big freezer. Oh well. Froze yesterday's batch of tomato purée. No deseeding today. Might wait till the weekend.

A couple of days ago Ed told me the eggplant plant in the potager had been cut down by something. A shame since it's almost ready to produce something. Tonight he said, No it was part of the winter squash plant. Not really hard to tell these part. Now I don't know if the squash was just broken, or if we've got squash vine borers. Maybe I'll have time to go down there tomorrow. The zucchini seeds that I planted last weekend are coming up. Don't know if we'll actually get any squash so late in the season, but it doesn't hurt to try. The first plants that came up disappeared. I think we have happy voles down there.

Worked on putting away and arranging bread recipes today. Have that pretty much in order now. Maybe I'll actually start baking some real bread one day.

Dinner was Oven-Dried Tomato Tart with Goat Cheese and Black Olives (web; cookbooker) followed by a plain salad.

While the crust was sitting in the fridge, I made up a recipes of Kathie's Zucchini Muffins (web; cookbooker). Cut the sugar back significantly (see Cookbooker) and didn't add topping. Very good. We've already eaten eight of the twelve.

The packet for the pâte feuillettée has a recipe for a tart with winter squash. Just what I need.

Friday/4-Sep-15: Shopping today.

Yipes, when I closed the lid on the tomato sauce I froze up yesterday, I'd managed to put the tray right under the light. Which forced open one of the ziplocs. What a mess!

Dinner was Salmon with Roasted Vegetables & Quinoa (web; cookbooker). This was quite good and easy. Served with a salad. Some chocolate puddings from the store for dessert.

Saturday/5-Sep-15: Defrosted the big freezer today. It was already needing it, but the tomato mess made it a requirement. Why do I dislike defrosting so much? It's really not that bad a job.

Dinner was a half recipe of Chicken with Whole-Grain Mustard & Zucchini in Packets (web; cookbooker). Served with brown rice. For dessert, there were some Cinnamon Cream Cheese Roll Ups (web); can't say I followed the directions very closely, just sort of winged it. I  had half a loaf of bread with eight slices. Used much less sugar than asked. Two each for dessert.

Sunday/6-Sep-15: Froze up 2 quarts of chicken stock today. Start in on tomatoes again tomorrow.

For dinner we had the rest of the oven-dried tomato tart plus a salad. And the rest of the cinnamon roll-up things for dessert, warmed in the toaster oven.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Nov-14: I meant to roast a chicken tonight, but didn't feel like messing with it when the time came around, so I made, more or less, Roasted Broccoli with Shrimp (web) which turned out to be pretty good. Then a big salad. Then some squares of dark chocolate with hazelnuts.

Tuesday/11-Nov-14: Yogurt on overday.

We went to an excellent Remembrance Day lunch in Montemboeuf today (shared with Le Lindois and Mazerolles for some reason). Neither of us were interested in food this evening.

Wednesday/12-Nov-14: Shopping today. Last week the holiday chocolates and sweet were in the place; this week the toy section has enlarged and been decorated. Much too early. Sigh.

Dinner was Lex's Roast Chicken (web; cookbooker) and quite good it was. As go-withs there were gesneden snijbonen (I think these are called runner beans in British English; in US English, no idea; in French, haricots coco). And some rosemary potato wedges based on Dusolier's Perfect Roast Potatoes, which were good, but unnecessary considering that the chicken came with a sort of stuffing. No dessert needed.

Thursday/13-Nov-14: Indian for dinner tonight. The main was a half dose of Bangladeshi Fish Curry (MJ@Home, p58; cookbooker). As advised, I served with plain rice, a dal, and a vegetable. The dal was Bangladeshi Red Lentils (MJ@Home, p195; cookbooker). The veg was an old favorite, Pan-Grilled Zucchini (MJ@Home, p173; cookbooker). (I must check, but I think the spices on this are the same as  the Spicy Cucumber Wedges from MJ1. Ed preferred the mushy cooked zucchini, while I prefer the crunchy cuke.) That was plenty of tasty dinner.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/14-Nov-14: It was a salad of leftovers for lunch: Puy lentils, snijbonen, potatoes, red bell pepper. All tossed with a vinaigrette with a touch of piment d'Esplette. Turned out pretty good and cleared the fridge of lots of bits.

Yes, it does sometimes happen. There was fresh pasta in the first half of the month. I made some Whole Wheat Pasta (Fancy, p77) cut as taglliatelle to replace the pasta in Maccheroni alla Chitarra con Tartufo dei Poveri (Geometry, p158; cookbooker). The required pasta is not macaroni as we know it, but a long skinny pasta cut on a chitarra, a "guitar" of strings. The sauce, not truffles but mushrooms, is interesting because all the ingredients are ground in the food processor and then fried as the pasta cooks. Then a salad. Then I had a bite of a classic magnum while Ed had the rest.

Saturday/15-Nov-14: Lunch out today. Not much thought of food for the rest of the day.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/16-Nov-14: Dinner was Roasted Carrot Turmeric Soup (web; cookbooker), not bad. I used half vegetable stock and half chicken stock, but I'll still call it a vegetarian meal.  As an accompaniment, there were Chickpea Flour Pancakes (MJFlavs, p81; cookbooker). I got the recipe in email, but seeing it was from Jaffrey, I checked my books and found it.

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