This week in the kitchen

Monday/14-May-18: For tonight's meal we had Sweet-and-Sour Cabbage with Peanut Sauce (BoldVeg, p135; cookbooker) with Red and Green Polenta (BoldVeg, p176; cookbooker) as suggested. The cabbage was an interesting dish, a little weird at first, but grew on you. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Tuesday/15-May-18: Worked on the meal plan (and list) today, trying to use up as many of the veggies in the fridge as possible.

For our meal, we had Pasta with Asparagus-Lemon Sauce (web). This was quite good. I made all the sauce with half the pasta. The pasta (malfada) was generously sauced, but not excessive. Following some of the comments, I used the zest of a whole lemon and added the juice to the sauce, and I roasted the tips with a minced shallot and garlic cloves. Very tasty. Served with a made-up salad of grated carrot, cuke that was quartered and finely sliced, radish, and a bit of onion, all with a lemon vinaigrette. Quite good it was. Some goat cheese for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/16-May-18: Shopping today.

When we got home, to use up some of the buttermilk, I made Buttermilk Coffeecake (TLSouth, p119).

Our dinner was Salmon with Lime Courgettes (200Budget, p178). The salmon was ok, but the zucchini was very good fun, cut in long thin strips, sautéed, and tossed with lime zest, juice, and chopped mint. Served with orzo. The coffeecake for dessert was a hit.

Thursday/17-May-18: Breakfast for dinner today. I made Ned and Crescent's Favorite Multigrain Pancakes (Gospels, p205)—a whole dose and then froze half for another meal. Served with some of the chamomile syrup from Saturday.

Friday/18-May-18: Busy afternoon cooking:

• Made some Favas and Pearl Onions with Olives and Herbs (VegA2Z, p66). Favas from the store this week; pearl onions left from last week. This recipe has in interesting way to treat the onions. You pour boiling water over them, then cut off the bottom and peel. (I only cut off the top if it was "ugly.") Peeling is much easier this way—hooray! The favas were cooked (steam-sautéed) without peeling the individual beans. I added extra olives because I thought the dshes needed them; Ed thought it was too much. This was an okay dish. Think I prefer my favas peeled and bright green. 
• Mama's Garlic Coleslaw (MC; HandyBook). 
• Baked Potatoes on the Grill (MC), but cooked in the toaster oven. Two smallish potatoes for the two of us. I found it way too much. 
• Craig Claiborne's Ultimate Hamburger (Tabasco, p88). Still a good way to do a hamburger.

For dessert, we finished off the Buttermilk Coffeecake. Yum.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/19-May-18: We went to Gamm Vert today and bought some plants, geraniums, three hanging pots, etc. For our meal, I marinated two kip filets as in Chile-Soaked Grilled Chicken (BigFlav, p180), without the accompanying the Indonesian Catsup, that we didn't think was needed last time I made this. The chicken was good. Served with asparagus, simply grilled with salt and pepper, and penne of red lentils and carrots. Then a salad of romaine lettuce. Then some Buttermilk Ice Cream (MC), kind of tan colored because I used sucre de canne, rather than white sugar.

Sunday/20-May-18: We lunched at La Bellone today, before going to Chalais for a concert. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: BoldVeg and 200Budget
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes

This week in the kitchen

Monday/4-May-15: Didn't feel like eating or making what I'd planned for tonight and had some asparagus (nearing the end of the season) to use up. Used these to make a half recipe of Asparagus with Aubergine Mayonnaise (web; cookbooker), which was pretty good. This was a go-with for Pork Medallions with Olive-Caper Sauce (MC; web, originally from CL). Instead of pork tenderloin, this time I used varkensfiletlapjes, whatever those might be in English (boneless pork chops?), pavés du porc in French. Pretty good. Mixed the extra sauce with the leftover mayo to salt it up a bit. This might appear on ham sandwiches in the next days. For afters we had store-bought tartelettes of chocolate and pistachio; not bad.

Tuesday/5-May-15: Kind of a made-up dinner. Used one of Jody's spice mixes, this one was mole dulce, to make a sort of stewy thing with four chicken thighs, some of the xmas limas from the freezer, a small can of corn, and the rest of the chicken stock I recently defrosted. Was okay, nothing special. Made a salad with avocado and tomato that was okay. Made some tortillas, but not enough to satisfy either of us.

Wednesday/6-May-15: We're having an ant invasion. For days there have been one or two or three most anywhere you look, upstairs, downstairs, anywhere. This morning there were a zillion on the counter and wall over the dishwasher. They seem to be just milling around and after an hour or so of my squashing and washing them down the drain, they disappeared. This evening they appeared on the Ivar shelves, a bit worrisome because there is Food there. They did find the lazy susan with honey and such, but that didn't really seem to be their focus. Again after a couple of hours, they're gone. A puzzle. What will tomorrow bring?

Shopping today.

Dinner was mostly unimpressive. The main was Onion-Crusted Sole with Anchovy Butter (MoreFast, p80), using lieu noir since there was no sole and that looked better than panga or some such. I was attracted to this recipe since it uses canned fried onions, which was something Fatima (my French French cooking teacher) liked to use. They were supposed to be crumbled in the food processor, but I used the staff mixer instead. They turned rather to butter rather than crumbs. Made just a bit of the anchovy butter; it was okay. My experience with battering fish and other such stuff is that it works better to dip in flour before the egg and then the crunchy topping, so I did this. Managed to burn the topping a bit, too bad. Definitely so-so. Used up some mushrooms making a kind of quinoa pilaf that was okay, but nothing special. Improved by a squirt of lemon. The best bit was Broccoli Salad with Yellow Peppers, Pine Nuts, and Cranberries (I got this from a Nava Atlas newsletter, but found it here). Definitely a keeper this one. The Sesame-Ginger Dressing is vaguely Oriental, but not assertively so. This would be a good pot-luck salad. Very pretty with the green broccoli. yellow bell pepper, and dried cranberries. Some squares of chocolate for after.

Thursday/7-May-15: Yogurt on overday.

Off to the Caucasus for dinner, half recipes of all. There was Skewered Pork with Pomegranate Syrup (TLRus, p63). This could have been barbecued, but Ed (who's coming done with a cold) didn't want the smoke. For sides there were Rice Pilaf with Dried Fruit and Nuts (TLRus, p68) and String Beans in Sour Cream and Tomato Sauce (TLRus, p40). The pilaf has no added salt, and (surprise!) it didn't need any extra at the table. It was recommended as a side for the pork, and was a good accompaniment. Might be nice with long-grain brown rice. The beans were good, although this is a more complicated veg side than I usually serve.

Many fewer ants today, although they turn up in odd places, one in a pile of ironing to be done, another just appeared on the kitchen table as we were eating lunch.

Friday/8-May-15: We both forgot to put up the yogurt last night. This morning it was separated again, the whole batch pretty worthless. Saved my last jar to try again tonight.

Tired of being sick and coughy. Really don't feel like cooking, or doing much else.

Dinner was a half recipe of Eggs Blindfolded over Garlic-Cheddar Grits (web). Really good and satisfying, comfort-food like. Interesting way to cook the eggs, start frying them, then throw in some ice cubes and cover to finish off by poaching, sort of. Then a big clean-out-the-fridge salad.

If we saw any ants today it was just one or two. I don't get it.

Saturday/9-May-15: The ants are back, the occasional one in odd places, but a lot on the sweet shelf. I discovered a sack of powdered sugar whose ziplock wasn't completely closed. Sealed that and tossed it with ants inside. They're also interested in a jar of molasses sitting in a plastic dish. That kind of thing is always gooey on the outside, so dish and jar are being washed this evening. Those seem, knock wood, to be the only interesting things on the shelf.

Dinner was Tofu, Asparagus, and Red Pepper Stir-fry with Quinoa (web; cookbooker), tasty enough if not quite right. Then some Butterscotch Pudding (MC 2BTried), which wasn't bad.

Sunday/10-May-15: More ants today.

For breakfast, I made Ned and Crescent's Favorite Multigrain Pancakes (Gospels, p205). Really good stuff. I made a whole batch, so have another breakfast of pancakes in the freezer. Next time, maybe I should make up a double batch of the dry ingredients (using dried buttermilk), so I just have to add egg and water before cooking.

Crockpot dinner tonight, ready and waiting when we returned from Ed's choir performance. I made a half recipe of Easy Crock Pot Moroccan Chicken, Chickpea, and Apricot Tagine (web). Made it with thighs instead of kip filets. There was lots of food; it would have served 3 easily, and maybe even four as it should have. Served over whole wheat couscous, along with Roasted Carrots with Preserved Lemon, Cumin, and Cinnamon (web). Had a carrot deficit for some reason, only a quarter of the carrots with half the spices. Good, and worth trying again.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/16-Feb-15: Dinner was a halfish dose of Easy Coconut Shrimp Curry (web). Easy indeed and pretty uninteresting flavorwise, but good enough for a quick dinner. Served with a halfish dose of Hot & Sour Stir-Fried Vegetables (Delightful, p55). Used cuke instead of zuke, since that's all there was. Pretty good, although not as tasty as it has been. Wondering if my fish sauce is getting old since it's almost at the end of the bottle. And basmati rice. Some frozen crèmes brulées for dessert.

Tuesday/17-Feb-15: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Chickpeas with Harissa, Basil, and Ham (Diaries, p153; cookbooker). The veggies (tomatoes and eggplant) have to roast in the oven for an hour or so, but otherwise this is quick and easy to prepare. I used chickpeas from the freezer, rather than canned. Made a nice one-dish meal. For dessert I made Easy Berry Cobbler (MC, HandyBook) using up a sack of blueberries and starting in on some raspberries.

Got my bread recipe clippings sorted out; now need to stick them in the notebook and add them to a Bread sheet in my spreadsheet. Small progress.

Wednesday/18-Feb-15: Shopping today. Bought some more dried morels since I didn't have enough for dinner. Expensive little buggers—much more than any other dried mushroom. Have been looking for dry sherry. Leclerc never seems to have it. Stopped at a cave to ask for it, and he explained that sherry wasn't available anywhere as it's not "in the culture." Oh.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Salmon with Red Wine-Morel Sauce (web), which was pretty good, except the piece of salmon I got was huge and we were both stuffed at the end of dinner. Served with parsleyed barley and steamed broccoli, as suggested. (Some sites say pearled barley is a whole grain and others not. I think not. Too bad. I'll have to buy some non-pearled next time.)

Thursday/19-Feb-15: Yogurt on overday, using the new starter I got yesterday. A new brand. My favorite brand has had only flavored versions of late. The house brand is OK, but I thought I'd try the new one. Can't say the lick I had was wonderful, but we'll see how it turns out.

Yummy pancakes for breakfast, Ned and Crescent's Favorite Multigrain Pancakes (Gospels, p205). (This seems to be the only recipe I've made from this book!)

Podded the mess of fava beans I bought yesterday.

Dinner started with the leftover Christmas Eve Soup (beets) from the freezer, with mushroom ravioli. Then there was Aiguillets de Canard au Poivre Vert (VPG) with brown rice on the side. Just noticed this recipe is marked "Light" although I can't imagine why. Duck breasts bits with crème fraîche? Admittedly I usually have light crème fraîche, but still. It was good, nevertheless. Then a salad. (Leclerc  hasn't been stocking the 100g sacks of salad, so I bought one of 60g and topped up with some leaves from a head of lettuce.) Didn't feel like dessert again. That poor cobbler will have to wait another day.

Friday/20-Feb-15: Not crazy about the new yogurt. Will go back to my favorite or the house brand when it's time for a new starter.

Cooked up some chickpeas for the freezer and for a coming dinner. Cooked and peeled a zillion fava beans (ok, it was more like 2 cups, but it seemed like a lot).

We had our dinner early since we're out at a concert this evening. Made a halfish dose of Slider Patties with Pomegranate Molasses (web; CL/may14). Had to "grind" my lamb in the food processor, but I'm discovering that works pretty well. These were good. As a side, I cooked some orecchiette, added the favas, some sliced mint, some grated parmesan, pyramid goat cheese (a bit out of date, but the package was unopened, so I assume it's ok), salt, and pepper. A lot of it, but it was good. Finished off the berry cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Saturday/21-Feb-15: For a starter tonight we had a small salad with a fig stuffed with foie gras. Bought a package of six of these for xmas. Still have two more in the freezer. For the main, I made a Ukrainian dish, Egg Noodle-and-Spinach Casserole (TLRus, p37). I made a full recipe, which is advertised as serving 6-8. I put it together in two 1-quart baking dishes and froze one of those. (Only one layer of spinach between two layers or noodles.) We easily ate all of one casserole as a vegetarian main one-dish main course. Very tasty. I used fresh noodles from the shop and only (the equivalent of) 3 10-oz packages of frozen spinach rather than 4, since it seemed like a huge amount. I expect this is meant as a side dish, but it was good as a main.

Sunday/22-Feb-15: Yogurt on overday. Meant to start a crockpot dish early this morning, but didn't get it going till after noon. Then the crock didn't turn on (sometimes the knob around Low is fiddly), so it was even later getting going. Sigh.

We were out during the day. When we got back I started Rye Bread (BigGerman, p251) in the bread machine. No vital gluten. Goofed by starting to add whole wheat flour when it should have been bread flour, so it was 2cups rye, 1cup whole wheat, and 1cup bread flours. Cooked on the fast white bread cycle. Pretty darn good, with a nice texture and crispier than usual crust.

The bread was to serve with Balkan Pork'n'Sauerkraut Dinner (TeenyCrock, p52), which was good, but made a ton. It said it serves 4-6 and it means it. I've put up two containers in the freezer for future meals.

We visited three mills on the Open Mill weekend today. Came home with a small walnut cake (mostly gone now after an afternoon snack and dessert), a loaf of walnut bread, and a loaf of plain bread. The plain bread has gone in the oven, we'll have some of the walnut bread for breakfast, then rye bread with our lunch sandwiches.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/11-Aug-14: An eventful day for our cats today. Oscar had most of his right ear, including a mastocytoma cancer, removed. Sophie, who's been really listless of late, has been diagnosed with, most likely, cystitis.

Since our local boulangerie is closed Mondays, when I got back from taking Oscar in for his surgery, I put a loaf of "sourdough" bread in the bread maker. This doesn't really taste very sourdough-ish, but it is pretty good and will see us through tomorrow morning.

Dinner was Chicken, Broccoli, and Bulgur Wheat Salad (web) with bulgur made from épautre/spelt. Another nice summery salad. Too bad we're not having nice summery weather. We split a classic magnum for dessert.

Tuesday/12-Aug-14: Shopping today; managed to come away without an impulse buy. The salmon I wanted came only in big pieces, so I used salmon from the freezer for a half recipe of Grilled Salmon & Zucchini with Red Pepper Sauce (web). Can't say much for the frozen salmon. The sauce for this was good, and I'm glad that I made a whole recipe so I've got a chunk of it frozen. Then a big salad with cucumber and tomato from the potager. (The zucchini plant we bought is growing cukes, big fat spiny ones.) Then some store-bought vanilla rice puddings.

Sophie is much better on her meds, acting alert today, which is a nice change. Oscar's doing okay. His ear looks like a black hole, but that will improve when he can groom a bit and when hair grows back.

Wednesday/13-Aug-14: Slow-oven-roasted the tomatoes I bought yesterday and have them in the big freezer, still on the tray, to freeze separately overnight.

We ate pizza tonight before going on a torchlight tour of Montbron this evening.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/14-Aug-14: Had a hankering for pancakes for breakfast, so I made a half recipe of Ned and Crescent's Favorite Multigrain Pancakes (Gospels, p205).

Dinner was a lemony pasta sauce from Nigel Slater for IHCC. I almost made some Lemon Chive Pasta (PastaMach, p57), but forgot the chives. Then a big salad. Then two squares of chocolate with hazelnuts each. And a Pogo walk looking for Sophie, who's taken to staying out late again now that she's feeling better.

Friday/15-Aug-14: Dinner out tonight at the Mazerolles fête patronale, half a melon to start, braised ham and the ubiquitous beans for the main, salad and cheese for after, then a bit of apple tart. So, not much happened in the kit

Saturday/16-Aug-14: Thinking tonight's concert started at 17.30, I planned a crockpot dinner so it would be ready when we returned. But it turns out the concert was a 20.30. So I got the crockpot going a bit earlier than planned. Using four largish chicken thighs, I made a halfish recipe of Chicken Paprika (BeanSC, p87), using less olive oil than the butter asked. Turned out to be surprisingly good. As a go-with I made a full recipe (for four) of Spätzle (MW@Home, p203; HandyBook). This was really too much, so I'll use the rest in some kind of made up salad for lunch perhaps. Then there was a veggie side of shallots, broccoli that I'd parboiled in the spätzle water, and tomatoes from the garden, spiced with paprika. Made up, and turned out pretty and pretty good.

Sunday/17-Aug-14: Had an itch for fried rice, so tonight I made a half version of Thai Fried Rice (Khao Pad) (ThaiCC, p24; cookbooker). Good stuff. Itch scratched. We split a classic magnum for dessert.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/7-Jun-10: A bit of an impromptu meal at midday, since I neglected to consider that Ed might not be eating too much after his afternoon dentist appointment. Made some pasta with broccoli and goat cheese and onions and garlic and shrooms. Wasn't bad. Then we finished off the nectarine Love Cake.

Tuesday/8-Jun-10: Working on two years' of French taxes today, kind of took my interest away from food. For dinner I defrosted a package of (5) chipolatas (pork sausages) from Toupargel and grill-panned them. They were quite good; we're hoping the merguez will also be good. Grease spattered everywhere, though, so there's a good reason to do these on the bbq or in a skillet in the future. Served with mashed sweet potatoes with a sprinkle of chipotle powder and Spiced Green Beans (IndLight, p174). The green beans were especially good; a bit of prep, and easy after that. I haven't made this recipe in quite a while; I'll have to keep it in mind.

Wednesday/9-Jun-10: For a latish mid-day meal we had Cooking Italy's Halibut or Other Fish Steaks Sauced with White Wine and Anchovies (ClassicItal, p300) Dusolier's Perfect Roast Potatoes, and followed by a salad.

I seem to be totally unable to choose a whole wheat flour recipe for CookbooksEtc this week. Have narrowed it down to a handful now, but still feeling indecisive.

Thursday/10-Jun-10: Didn't make it to the boulanger yesterday, so it was pancakes with whole wheat flour for breakfast. We had Ned and Crescent's Favorite Multigrain Pancakes (Gospels, p205). Good they were too.

Didn't go to the market today, but just grocery shopped. At the meat counter they had a whole pig's head. Wonder if I could ever cook one of these? Last weekend at Lavallette we had pâté de tête (a pâté of head of pork, head cheese?) that was quite good. Guess I should dig out a chartcuterie book and look for this one of these days. The butcher took the meat off a shoulder of lamb for me. Whip, whap, done. It would have taken me an hour to do that. But of course, I haven't planned well, and won't be able to make what I planned till next Tuesday, so it will go into the freezer.

Bought a lingue fillet on sale for dinner, that's ling in English—still not a fish I know. Tasty, but a bit bony for a fillet. It was an Indian-ish meal, all recipes I've made before. There were Grilled Fish Steaks (Q&E, p66) from the ling, along with New Potatoes with Cumin (Q&E, p91) to use most of the potatoes in the cupboard, and Carrot and Onion Salad (MJ1, p171). Nice meal.

Friday/11-Jun-10: Dinner at the music quiz this evening, so not much action in the kitchen today.

Saturday/12-Jun-10: For our midday meal, I made Mojito Chicken and Roasted Asparagus with Almonds (MC), but with shrimp as my notes suggested. Not bad at all. Served over rice. Store-bought panna cotta caramel, on sale this week, for dessert.

Later in the day I made some apple-apricot butter. Looking forward to trying this. And boiled up the last little potatoes from the larder to a salad later, maybe with the leftover asparagus. Hmm... have to think of something for dinner on our return Monday, that's easy and can be done before I'm off to gardening club.

Sunday/13-Jun-10: No cooking today. Off to Nohant for a concert at George Sand's place and an overnight in nearby La Châtre.

CookbooksEtc Ingredient Contest 2010

1. 23-May/28-May: strawberries — Balsamic Strawberries with Arugula and Goat Cheese
2. 29-May/4-Jun: cheese — Spinach-Stuffed Anchos
3. 5-Jun/11-Jun: whole wheat flour — Ned and Crescent's Favorite Multigrain Pancakes
4. 12-Jun/18-Jun: ground pork or pork sausage
5. 19-Jun/25-Jun: blueberries
6. 26-Jun/2-Jul: salmon