This week in the kitchen

Monday/8-Apr-19: Lunch out today. Munchies for dinner ... the rest of our cheese stash, a terrine, carrot and bell pepper sticks, and sweets from the boulagerie, mini beignets and cannelés.

Tuesday/9-Apr-19: Lunch out again today. Then we took Hitomi and Rebecca to the train station. Alone again.

Wednesday/10-Apr-19: Leftover pork and scalloped potatoes for dinner, with some sautéed zuke and the remains of two bell peppers. Sprinkled these with the interesting spice that Hitomi brought. Hot stuff, that is—but good. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Finished the meal plan and list today. Have decided against Dreaded as cookbook-of-the-month, so will skip for this month. I'm enjoying reading the book, but not marking that many compelling recipes. I might copy one or two but I think this one is for recycling.

Thursday/11-Apr-19: Shopping today. I somehow missed picking up the list, so we made it up while we lunched. Didn't do half-bad. Somehow made it off without a cauliflower, which I had in my hands at one point, which put a dent in tonight's and Sunday's meal; also missed the cheddar cheese which was also for Sunday, so doing a replan for that day.

Dinner was tuna on sale, appearing as Spicy, Pan-Fried Fish Steaks Chettinad (MJFlavs, p195). Yummy, but I modified the recipe: it asked for 2-1/2 tablespoons of cayenne! I used much less than that, about a third. It was hot, but tolerable. Part of the missing cauliflower was supposed to be a side. Instead there was Gujerati-Style Green Beans (MJ1, p102) using some haricots verts that I'd forgotten were in the fridge. And some plain rice. Then some mini ice creams. Followed by a dog walk.

Friday/12-Apr-19: Dinner was Shrimp Scampi with Broccoli Orzo (web). I made the whole recipe with slightly less than half of the shrimp. Pretty good. Can't imagine serving four people with this. Then some ice cream and the year's first strawberries, gariguettes.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/13-Apr-19: For dinner, I made Yellow Split Peas with Spiced Yogurt (Greens, p100). Pretty good. I forgot to soak my split peas (not something I usually do) for two hours, so I poured boiling water over them and soaked for about 30 minutes. Tasty. Chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Sunday/14-Apr-19: Busy day. Went to a charity vide grenier. Bought a Römertopf bigger than the one I have along with some other goodies. Think next month I'll do Römertopf recipes for my cookbook-of-the-month, since I have several books as well as the pamphlet that came with mine all relatively unused. Then we went to an excellent concert.

Dinner was quick and delicious, a half recipe of Fettuccine with Walnuts, Lemon and Herbs (web), which is apparently is from an Ottolenghi. Not your usual pasta dish. Followed by a very plain salad. And then the rest of our chocolate easter bunnies.

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

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/18-Dec-17: Soup for dinner. There was Mushroom-Barley Soup (MC) just for us. Good it was. And a bit of salad. And the last of the Mothais cheese. We've eaten well.

Tuesday/19-Dec-17: We're both feeling sorry because we wasted a sunny afternoon inside with a blah movie today.

Dinner was ravioli alla panna (they were Raviolis Gorgonzola+Jambon Cru) and salad. Mini ice cream bars for deesert.

Wednesday/20-Dec-17: Shopping today. You'd never know by Leclerc's selection that there was a holiday coming. In the past, the veggie area would be full of unusual vegetables and out-of-season fruits. Nice for a treat. There were some patridge in the meat cooler; I almost bought a pair but though better of it.

Roasted one and half red bell peppers from the fridge while getting dinner ready.

Dinner was Grilled Masala Salmon (MJ@Home, p46). It's easy and yummy. I made the recommended sides of Basmati Rice with Lentils (MJ@Home, p212) and South Indian-Style Green Beans (MJ@Home, p147). Have made all these before. Everything good.

There were some nice cheeses on sale from Nos Régions, so I got a bit of Brillat-Savarin and another of Chaource. I'm sure we'll manage to eat them before they expire. Neither are lait cru. We had a bit of the Brillat-Savarin for afters. Not the best ever, but not bad.

Thursday/21-Dec-17: Oscar off to the vet for surgery this morning. Yogurt on overday.

For our meal with had falafel (from the freezer) with garnishes suggeted by Falafel with Walnut Sauce and Garnishes (Savory, p274).  The Walnut Sauce with Fennel Seeds (Savory, p322) was quite tasty. Garnishes included sliced cucumbers, chopped tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta, and strips of the roasted red bell peppers I made yesterday. In pitas. We were stuffed. It might have been better to just serve it all as a salad.

Friday/22-Dec-17: Our meal was a half recipe of Twisted Noodles and Olive Sauce (Savory, p162; cookbooker). Then a big salad full of goodies.

Prepped the pie crust for tomorrow's tart.

Saturday/23-Dec-17: Finished off Winter Squash Tart (Greens, p246) to take to Cath's for meal with Hannah and Jem. A very nice tart, fairly easy to make. Used Jones' crust from the freezer, rather than the one in the book. And a bowlful of plain salad to which we added some walnuts. Cath made dessert. All was yummy.

Sunday/24-Dec-17: Put up a few decorations today. Not feeling very jolly.

Our meal was a half recipe of Pork Chops with Thyme Pan Sauce (CL/nov15; web). Served with smash potatoes and sauerkraut. Pretty good, if rather beige, dinner.

Yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/8-Feb-16: Dinner was a halfish version of Creamy & Spicy Spaghetti with Aubergine (web). Used tomato purée from the freezer. Linguine instead of spaghetti; a shaped pasta might be nice too. Anyhow, it was good. Followed by a big salad.

Tuesday/9-Feb-16: Yogurt on overday.

Changed the plan to start working on getting Ed's hemoglobin up. Stopped at the butcher on the way back from BookChatters and picked up a chunk of beef to make Sri Lankan Beef Smore (MJ@Home, p140). Very yummy stuff; should serve 4-6, will only serve 3. (We have one more meal of sauce with some meat that I'll serve over rice.) Served with Karhai Broccoli (MJ@Home, p148) and Sri Lankan Rice with Cilantro and Lemon Grass (MJ@Home, p210). All yummy.

Wednesday/10-Feb-16: Worked on backlog during the day. Out in the evening. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Thursday/11-Feb-16: Defrosted a home-made pâte brisée, roasted one of our stash of winter squash, and made Winter Squash Tart (Greens, p246). Pretty good it was. (The first time I made this, I set the Pyrex pie plate on the (wooden) table on a trivet. As we sat there, there was a Pop from the pie plate, which fell into two parts. I wrote Pyrex and they replaced it at no charge. Very nice of them.) And a salad. That was all.

Mandolined more red onion to add to the pickling broth, getting another use of it.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/12-Feb-16: Shopping today.

Planned to go to dinner and a concert in Limoges, but ended up bringing pizzas home.

Saturday/13-Feb-16: Cooked up a batch of cannellini beans in the slow cooker. Made up my variation of Coffee Ricotta Mousse (MW@Home, p307) with the rest of the ricotta that I opened for Monday's pasta. I use less coffee and add cocoa. Also a slog of Kuhlua, although it occurs to be that crème de cacao would be good too.

Dinner was Seared Tuna in Black Pepper Crust (Essential, p409; cookbooker), a winner. Tuna is coated with crushed black pepper and seared, then served on a bed of spinach and cannellini beans. Sounds a bit odd, but was perfect. A bit of prep (and cooking the beans from scratch) but easy and goes together quickly and easily at the end. Served with a pilaf (vermicelli, rice, shallots, soaked dried shiitakes cooked in mushroom stock) and Avocado and Beet Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette (Essential, p193; cookbooker). A good salad, except my beets (chioggas, first time I've used them) didn't really get done. Ed poured a bit of cream over the ricotta mouse as he served it, so it was extra yummy.

Sunday/14-Feb-16: We had our Valentine's Day meal at one of our favorite restaurants. Nothing further happened in the kitchen.

Yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/7-Nov-11: Quiz night again. Nothing happening in the kitchen.

Tuesday/8-Nov-11: Dinner was Mushroom Stroganoff, loosely following a recipe from EAT-L, over noodles. Good it was. Then a big salad.

Wednesday/9-Nov-11: Busy day today. We had lunch out, so only fruit and cookies in the evening.

Thursday/10-Nov-11: For lunch I made a little soup with leftover mushrooms, leftover mushroom broth, the last zucchini from the garden (kind of a mini one), and some pasta. It was good.

For dinner I picked the meat from the chicken, heated it in the sauce, and served over pasta. Some leftovers still. Ed tried to toss the carcass, but we rescued most of it and popped it in the freezer for whenever I have another one to make broth.

Friday/11-Nov-11: Curried Sausage and Sweet Potato Hash for dinner (web). Nice vague recipe. Used some homemade Italian sausage from the freezer. No eggs mixed in; fried egg on top of each serving. Good enough. Think I might prefer it with real potatoes rather than sweet.

Saturday/12-Nov-11: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was Lamb Rib Chops with Quince Jelly Glaze (somewhere on the web). Not bad. Quince jelly I made earlier in the year. We ate most of the chops (should have served four) and have some meat leftover for ... something. Roast potatoes and roast cauliflower as go-withs. Think I really prefer my meat without glazes and such.

A peculiar thing: I bought the package of lamb chops at the grocery store. When I lifted out the chops, I discovered a kidney hiding in there, a lamb's kidney I suppose. Why? What am I supposed to do with it?

Sunday/13-Nov-11: Lovely looking sorrel at the grocery store this week. Impulse buy. Tonight's dinner was Sorrel-Onion Tart (Greens, p244; cookbooker). Pretty good, but I think if I did this again, I wouldn't cook the sorrel, but just stir the slice greenery into the egg-cream mixture. Then a big salad. Then some Lindt chocolates for dessert.

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