Monday/23-Dec-13: Yogurt on overday.
Just realized this morning, after spending some time looking for a recipe I'd found on a blog, that Bittman's
How to Cook Everything is a franchise, not a single book. Oops.
Argh, why don't I remember to start thinking about holiday menus earlier in the month? Spent more or less all day working out what we might eat for eerste en tweede kerstdagen, plus the rest of the week. Showered in the evening so we can get to the shop early tomorrow.
Dinner was
Hard-Boiled Eggs Masala (
Q&E, p41). I actually found this recipe on-line and overlooked it in a quick run through my Jaffrey books, but there it is. Easy and fast and yummy. Over rice.
Tuesday/24-Dec-13: Shopping this morning, early for us at 10.00, along with half of the Charente, I think. But they had all the checkouts working so it was fairly quick getting in and out. If you wanted smoked salmon, you were in luck. There's ordinarily quite a good selection, but for the last week, that has overflowed into the bin where they usually keep the discounted, expiring food, a place I always check out. Lots of seafood being bought. I found an expiring (big sale) small pintade that we'll have for
tweede kerstdag as a variation on one of my planned choices.
Put the meat for the civet on to marinate for tomorrow in the early afternoon.
Got the xmas tree up today.
Dinner was a half dose of
Pasta with Eggplant, Anchovies, Olives, and Capers (
H2CE, p136). Used the haberno spaghetti that Jody&Steve bought, which was more like linguine and in pretty short pieces after its travels. Very yummy and spicy in itself. Then a salad. Chocolate with hazelnuts after.
Wednesday/25-Dec-13: Gray, rainy, an windy with some thunderstorms. No snow, but we did have a bit of hagel and a thunderstorm.
Nice holiday dinner, with only the two of us. Made some ABM Authentic French Bread with one cup of whole wheat flour to go with.
Thursday/26-Dec-13: Not the fancy dinner I'd planned, but nice enough. For a starter there was a loose version of
Salade de Mâche aux Magrets de Canard (
web). I used arugula instead of mâche and the basil vinaigrette left from yesterday. It was all good. For the main, there was a loose version of
Chicken Stuffed with Rice, Pine Nuts, and Preserved Lemon Slices (
MedHot2, p149). One, it was a
pintade (guinea hen) instead of a chicken, since those were on sale when we shopped. Two, I didn't want to stuff the bird, so I spatchcocked it and did the rice separately. Three, my yogurt is plain old cow's milk, not sheep, sorry. And my preserved lemons were store-bought, not home-made. The rice turned out rather like a pilaf, quite good. The pintade was also good, although it was only rubbed with yogurt and paprika. For dessert, there was
Cranberry Upside-Down Cake (MC 2BTried, apparently from Gourmet mag, Nov94). I reduced the sugar in the topping (or bottoming?) and in the cake itself, but it was good. After four courses yesterday, we couldn't manage the same today, so the nice cheeses are lingering on in the fridge.
Yogurt on overnight.
Friday/27-Dec-13: An unexpected Jaffrey dinner tonight, all off-plan. Started with
Onion Fritters (
Q&E, p20), i.e., onion bhaji, accompanied by
Fresh Green Chutney (
Q&E, p113) using mint from the garden that's hanging on very late into the season. Then a
Garlicky Mushroom Masala Omelet (
Q&E, p43). That's two eggy dinners this week; guess it's time to watch that a bit.
Saturday/28-Dec-13: Dinner was a halfish recipe of
Vegetable Pad Thai (
web). I made about two thirds of the sauce for half of the veg. Ish. Non-traditional, but quite good. For a completely non-tradtional finish, there was some St Felicien and Delice du Poitou.
Sunday/29-Dec-13: Dinner was an
Asparagus Quiche (MC 2BTried), only vaguely following the recipe. Used the last pie crust from the freezer. Pretty good it was. Then a salad. Then some Lindt dark chocolate Pyreneëns.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 IHCC/COOKBOOKS: yes, #2 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #3 PASTA: no, #4 BREAD: no
