This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-May-22: Dinner was an old favorite, Chicken Diane (MC; GD). With that was Parmesan Carrots with Lemon-Parsley Dressing (web; CL/mar17) and some spaghettis courts. HD mini cups of ice cream for after.

Tuesday/24-May-22: Dinner was a half version of Moroccan Fish Tagine (web; GD). I used my tagine instead of a Dutch oven. Although I doubt this is very authentic, it was quite tasty for minimal work. Served with Moroccan couscous. Strawberries and cream for after.

Wednesday/25-May-22: I had a bit of surgery today to get another set of extra-long T-tubes in my ears. Dinner was simple, Vegetable Soup with Spicy Merguez Sausages from the freezer, and a chocolate-covered madeleine for after. 

Thursday/26-May-22: For lunch we had Clean-the-Fridge Pasta, which turned out pretty good, but more a bit more than intended. Dinner was light, Scrambled Eggs with Cauliflower (WorldVeg, p528), a sort of Indian scrambled eggs that was quick and tasty. Originally I was looking for a frittata sort of thing and found Frittata de Cavolfiore (Artusi, p134), where he recommends boiling the cauliflower first. Since I don't think cauliflower gets done in the two minutes that Jaffrey recommends, I did this and it worked great. Quite tasty it was. 

Friday/27-May-22: Dinner was Turkey-Lentil Curry (GB), made with turkey oysters. Added some frozen peas to give some veggie matter and color. Served over brown basmati rice. A chocolate-covered madeleine for after.

Saturday/28-May-22: Dinner was Spice-Crusted Pork Tenderloins with Banana-Date Chutney (License, p150), which I've made several times before. The chutney was from the freezer, leftovers from the last time I made it. Didn't bbq but started under the broiler and finished in the oven. Served with some canned black beans and some tarted up (grated lime peel, lime juice, a pat of butter, cayenne, and chopped cilantro) canned corn. Followed by some strawberries and cream. (Buddy has discovered that our potted strawberries are bearing. Our crop is reduced.)

Sunday/29-May-22: Dinner was a halfish version of Curried Brussels Sprouts (MC; AH), using up more of my frozen Brussels sprouts. Served over small servings of whole wheat spaghetti. Pretty good stuff, an easy. A chocolate-covered madeleine for after.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/12-Jul-21: Early doctor appointment this morning. On the way home, we stopped at a boulangerie for bread and little quiches for lunch. Had an early lunch, then a nap.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Vodka Marinated Steak (web). The halfish dose was a bit too much; doing a third would have been better. The meat was marinated for three days, and then seared. The piece was thin enough it didn't need the extra cooking. As suggested, I served this with boiled potatoes, with a bitter butter and some dill, and a tomato salad. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Tuesday/13-Jul-21: Another early doctor appointment today. Again, stopped at a boulangerie for bread and croissant sandwiches for lunch and toetjes for dinner. An early lunch, a bit of cleaning, and a nap.

Dinner was Curried Chicken with Mango Salad* (web; GD). This was good again; pretty easy to make too. Served with long-grain brown rice and the mango salad. Toetjes for after.

Wednesday/14-Jul-21: Ed made an appt with DHL to pick up a package tomorrow, so shopping day is pushed till Friday. Which is kind of OK because I'm having trouble getting into meal planning.

Internet down all afternoon except for brief (i.e., 2-minute) periods; have had three of those.

Dinner was Shrimp Biryani (MJ@Home, p214). Served with Date-Banana Chutney from the freezer and Cachumber—Tomato, Onion and Green Coriander Relish (MJ1, p172). For after there was plain tapioca pudding.

Thursday/15-Jul-21: Dinner was Easy Egg Curry with Urad Dal and Tamarind* (web; GD), served over plain basmati rice. With Date-Banana Chutney again. And the rest of the tapioca for after.

Friday/16-Jul-21: Belated shopping today. Leclerc's veggie department was out of a lot of stuff, so I bought another chunk of fish to replace a meal and juggled the meal plan when we got home.

Dinner was Sautéed Fish Fillets (OtherHalf, p126). I made a half dose of the egg white coating using an egg white from the freezer. This was very good. One egg white, 2tbl oil, 2tbl water, salt, and freshly ground white pepper. The fish was dipped in flour, the egg white coating, then bread crumbs; I used panko. I used butter and olive oil for cooking, rather than straight butter. Served this with some boiled potatoes and Parmesan Carrots with Lemon-Parsley Dressing (CL/mar17; web). The carrots were very good. Some apple tarts sections from the boulangerie for after.

Put swordfish on to marinate for tomorrow's dinner.

Saturday/17-Jul-21: Dinner was a halfish dose of Spicy Mustard Swordfish and Artichoke* (web; GD). Yum. Served this over tagliatelle, with a side of shredded carrot salad.

Sunday/1-8Jul-21: Dinner was Grilled Lamb Skewers with Apricots (License, p116). Delicious both times I've made this. Served with my store-bought Moroccan couscous mix; plain couscous would have been better, since the flavors were wasted here. Served with a half dose of Moroccan Carrots (1Good, p59). Used homemade ground roasted cumin seeds and ground coriander.  Too lazy for the preserved lemon tonight, but that would have been good. Good stuff anyhow. 

Some store-bought riz-au-laits for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: yes; #3 *DMA: yes
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: yes; #6 BACKLOG2: no; #7 RECYCLE: 11; #8 NEW: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/29-Jun-20: Tired day. Picked the remains of the chicken and we'll have two more meals of it. Tonight was, very loosely, a half dose of Gratin de Pâtes au Poulet et Maïs (VPG). Can't find an online version of this, an annoying "feature" of VPG recipes. Didn't have enough of a grating cheese to make the sauce, so I used a pyramid (goat) cheese, cutting back on the cheese a bit. Since there were peas and corn in the dish, I didn't make any kind of a side. For afters we had a nectarine with some vanilla shortbreads.

Started a batch of Dunaway's bread.

Tuesday/30-Jun-20: Baked off the bread. Yum.

Used up the rest of the baked chicken to make a halfish dose of Avocados with Curried Chicken, a recipe, probably from a a magazine in the late 70s. It's still good. For after, we finished off the Vanilla Pecan ice cream that was incorrectly delivered, with the last bit of coconut left from the chicken toppings.

Wednesday/1-Jul-20: This was a hippie meal to use up veggies in the fridge. Instead of stir-frying, I roasted carrots, broccoli, zucchini, and one lone potato with lemon thyme and chunks of lemon. Served over brown rice with feta. The rest of the vanilla shortbreads with a nectarine and cream for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/2-Jul-20: We had the leftover chicken and pasta gratin for dinner, with a big salad. then the rest of the vanilla pecan ice cream with a nectarine.

Friday/3Jul-20: Didn't start bread last night. Instead I made English Muffin Bread 2 (MC) in the ABM during the day.

Ed picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today, so it was fish for dinner.

Which was was Old Thymy Salmon with Lemony Mashed Peas (EW/mar20; web). This was pretty good. Should use Old Bay seasoning more often, I expect. The peas were ok, only a little odd. Served with some spaghettis courts. For after, we had two mini HD ice cream cups.

Saturday/4-Jul-20: Dinner was Grilled Sesame Chicken Skewers (License, p111; cookbooker). This was really tasty. As suggested, served with Pungent Carrot and Cucumber Salad with Ginger and Garlic (License, p308; cookbooker). And plain basmati rice. Tongues burning from the salad, we had mini HD ice cream cups for after

Sunday/5-Jul-20: Dinner was a half dose of Simple Smokin' Paella (Ainsley3,p81). Used allumettes fumées for the smoked ham and smoked paprika. I forgot the peas! It was good, anyhow, although the peas would be nice. Then a salad. Then strawberries and cream. We've eaten well.

Yogurt on overnight, as well as a batch of Overnight Bread (web), which is what I've decided to call Susan Dunaway's No-Knead Bread with my changes.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 BACKLOG: yes
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/12-Aug-19: Dinner was Shrimp Dopiaza (30MinInd, p73), shrimp in a tasty onion sauce. Served with Jeera Rice (30MinInd, p99), which as good as it has been before, and Spinach with Besan (30MinInd, p79), which was barely edible. Not sure why, all the ingredients seemed ok, but the result was bitter. And the besan-water mix turned to a pancake almost immediately. I added more water and tried to thin it down, but that only worked a bit. We had kind of mini-dumplings of besan. Good thing besan is tasty. More Toulouse chocolate for dessert.

Tuesday/13-Aug-19: Lunch out with Cath today. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Wednesday/14-Aug-19: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner out with Patrice and Wim. Nothing much happened in the kitchen.

Thursday/15-Aug-19: Our charming neighbor threw the three hanging baskets of begonias over the fence into the back yard last night. This upset our day, and we didn't feel like going to the fête this evening. I didn't feel like eating at all. Ed had just a bite.

Friday/16-Aug-19: Shopping today.

Our dinner was Barbecued Salmon (web). Oops, I forgot I'm out of hoisin sauce (already on the list for Grand Frais), so had to improvise that with some spicy plum chutney and a bit of prune juice. Wasn't too bad as substitutes go. Served with a pilaf with dried, reconstituted cèpes. Followed by a simple salad with Buttermilk-Thyme Dressing (VegHarv, p298).

Saturday/17-Aug-19: Patrice and Wim for dinner today. For our apéro, there were some mini bell peppers filled with a mixture of cream cheese, feta, garlic, chives, and parsley. For our main, we had Spice-Crusted Pork Tenderloins with Banana-Date Chutney (License, p150). I had three pork tenderloins; Ed couldn't keep the fire going long enough to finish cooking the biggest one, so that's in the freezer now. And because there was no fire, I had to grills the eggplant slices under the broiler. Spread these with a bit of chili-garlic sauce for the last minutes of broiling. And there was All-Purpose Rice-and-Beans (BigFlav, p262), which is really yummy. P&W brought toetjes for dessert. I'd made the broth for Buttermilk Ice Cream; we'll have that tomorrow.

Sunday/18-Aug-19: Yogurt on overday.

Major rethink of the meal plan today, to account for leftovers and poblanos.

Tonight we had the leftover beans and rice. With two of the poblanos, I made kind of a Roasted Poblano Lime Crema, loosely based on web and web. Think it was a bit strong on the lime, but still it was good with the rice&beans. Also some Banana-Date Chutney. Later I froze up the Buttermilk Ice Cream (MC), which was good.

Didn't get anything from my cookbook-of-the-month made this week. Today's plan will go to next week. Thinking I'll skip this for next month. I have a book chosen, but don't feel like bothering with it.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Jun-19: Dinner was Turkey Pitas (web; CL/jul14). I had what was probably half the meat, but used all the spices and accompanying tahini-yogurt sauce. We used four pitas to make the sandwiches, instead of one each. I bought some mini-romaines, I think for the accompanying salad, but forgot to make it.

Tuesday/11-Jun-19: Peg&Jim arrived late this afternoon, so we had a late dinner after apéros and munchies. There was Exotic-Flavored Chicken Thighs with Tomato-Mint Salad (License, p205; cookbooker). Barbecuing the chicken had to be delayed a bit since they weren't quite defrosted after two days in the fridge. The chicken is spiced only with ground cardamon, salt, and black pepper. Delicious. Accompanied this by Carrot and Pistachio Salad (web), which we all liked. I forgot to make rice to accompany this, so we sliced some bread for the soppy.

Dessert was A Peach Shortcake for Lizzie (BigFlav, p430), which was excellent. I used cream & mascarpone for the cream.

Wednesday/12-Jun-19: Another late meal. For a starter we had Smoked Salmon Salad with Dill (BEFCC, p35), which is an old favorite. Then there was Chicken Saltimbocca (ClayCook2, p63), which was pretty good, along with a side of whole wheat spaghetti. For dessert there was the rest of the peach shortcake with mascarpone whipped cream. All good.

Thursday/13-Jun-19: Shopping today. Peg&Jim are leaving Saturday :-( and I have no meal plan beyond that. Just bought a bunch of veggies and we'll see what turns up.

We started tonight with Spicy Cucumber Wedges (MJ1, p172), a pretty standard dish now. Our main was Salmon Poached with Spinach and Bengali Five-Spice Mixture (SpiceKitch, p76), served basmati rice. Yummy stuff. For dessert there was lazy-cook's kheer, riz au lait doctored with chopped pistachios and cardamom.

Friday/14-Jun-19: Lunch out today, and a visit to Aubeterre. Cheese and other nibbles in the evening.

Saturday/15-Jun-19: Peg&Jim left today. We had pasta and broccoli with a roquefort-cream cheese sauce. And ice cream for dessert

Sunday/16-Jun-19: A bit salad for dinner and chocolate covered madeleines for dessert.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/18-Mar-19: Dinner was a half recipe of Caramelized Onion Frittata with Artichoke Hearts, Zucchini and Goat Cheese (web). This fit in my bigger cast iron skillet and was quite good. The frittata is first cooked on the top of the stove and then finished under the broiler. It worked really well. Then a salad. Then some chocolate-covered madeleines.

Tuesday/19-Mar-19: Tamale dinner tonight courtesy of Chris and Amy. With Mama's Spanish rice and guacamole. And some ice cream after, a mini-cup for me and a mini-bar for Ed. We enjoyed it.

Wednesday/20-Mar-19: Shopping today.

Dinner was a half dose of Foil-Baked Fish Filets (Mustard, p175; cookbooker). Not very good. Served with tiny boiled potatoes. Those were good. Got a cheesecakey thing for dessert (new, on sale). It was so good we ate it all. Oink, oink.

Thursday/21-Mar-19: Started a batch of Pickled Broccoli Stems (VeryBest, p36). To be finished tomorrow.

For an afternoon snack I cleared out some leftovers, topping small tortillas with goat cheese, artichoke hearts from a jar, and roasted red bell peppers strips from a jar. Pretty tasty.

Loosely based on Parsley Chicken en Croûte (MC), I used some frozen squares of pâte feuilettée and stuffed with kip filets, topped with some jarred chestnut-mushroom mixture that's been hanging around in the pantry cabinet for way too long, some parsley, and a dab of crème fraîche that needed to be used. It was pretty good. With trio rice and steamed rice. Chocolate-covered madeleines for dessert.

Friday/22-Mar-19: Finished the Pickled Broccoli Stems today. We'll see how they are tomorrow.

Our afternoon snack turned out bigger than I expected. I boiled up a bit of whole wheat pasta. While that was happening, I sautéed some red onion, then added minced garlic, a bit of zucchini, and some leftover chickpeas and canned corn. It was pretty good, but more than we needed really.

For dinner, there were Easy Salmon Patties (Mustard, p171). These were good, bland salmon patties. Got better with Fiery Habañero Hot Sauce, but that's what this sauce is good for. As a side, some snijbonen chunks. Then we finished the chaource. I'm full.

Saturday/23-Mar-19: Cath came for a meal this afternoon before we went to a movie. We ate outside and started with Cold Beetroot with Cream (Pomiane, p180), an old favorite, plus Mushroom Salad—Salade de Champignons à la Crème (BEFCC, p31), a new dish from a favorite book which was pretty good. Our main was Garlic, Mushroom and Olive Chicken Thighs (web). This was easy and tasty. Have lots of juice and veg left, which I'll buzz up for a potage in the next days. Served with teeny potatoes boiled, buttered, and parsleyed. We had ice cream bars at the cinema for dessert.

Sunday/24-Mar-19: I'm enjoying munching on the pickled broccoli stems. Haven't offered them to Ed yet.

Good dinner tonight. Halfish verions of all. Lots of leftovers. We had Grilled Lamb Chops with Pomegranate-Eggplant Relish (License, p144). The barbecued lamb chops, with a rub of ground coriander, ground cumin, S&P, were delicious. The relish (why isn't this just a veggie side dish?) was delicious. Served with Potato Salad with Arugula & Dijon Vinaigrette (web), which was good. And Mesquite Grilled Broccoli with Preserved Lemons and Greek Yogurt. This is, I think, from a cookbook that I've recently recycled. Our broccoli wasn't mesquite-grilled, but grilled on a grill pan; it could have been parboiled a bit longer. But it was tasty anyhow. We ate well and enjoyed a lovely bottle of Haut Medoc.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: The Incredible Secrets of Mustard
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

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/20-Aug-18: Back to the barbecue tonight. Dinner was a half recipe of Rosemary-Grilled New York Strip with Smokey Eggplant Relish (License, p135). The rub was delish. The bbq chef hasn't mastered steaks to order; mine was on the far side of medium, while his was barely medium. Too bad, since the setting was so good. The eggplant relish is similar to one I made last week, where you grill the eggplant, then chop them up and mix them with a dressing, this one based on balsamic. The extra dressing on the plate was good with the steak. Served with Roasted Peri Peri Potatoes (web). I made a halfish recipe, which fit tidily in the toaster oven. Definitely a keeper recipe. Ice cream for dessert—a mini Häagen-Dasz cup for me, a mini Magnum for Ed.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/21-Aug-18: Late morning today. The hornet man came while I was still outside eating breakfast. (Ed wasn't up yet.) The day proceeded slowly and dinner got very late. But it's a keeper.

We had a halfish recipe of Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Fettuccine (web). I had intended to make pasta, but didn't really feel like it, so used fresh pasta from the freezer. The sun-dried tomatoes were my oven-dried ones from the freezer. Good it was. Followed by a salad. And some chocoloate covered madeleins.

Wednesday/22-Aug-18: A day for using up the bounty of the potager and the fridge. We had Spicy Eggplant and Broccoli in Ginger Sauce (MaiPham, p164). I've made this before with just broccoli; this time it was also with the little white eggplants from the potager. Also used up a red bell pepper from the fridge. We thought it was only so-so this time. Over rice, of course. For dessert, there was Gâteau Renversé aux Mirabelles Caramélisées (web), aka Mirabelle Upside-Down Cake, made in my 9" cast iron skillet. Tasty it was, although it didn't want to turn out of the pan. I used only 75g of sucre de canne (instead of 100g). Put this on the bottom of the pan, and added a sachet of sucre de vanille to the batter. Served with crème fraîche as suggested.

Thursday/23-Aug-18: Dinner at a marché des producteurs, in St Auvent, with Cath, Hannah, and Jem. Nothing further happened in the kitchen.

Friday/24-Aug-18: Started Mirabelle Jam (MesConf, p96) with plums that Cath brought us. They may or may not be mirabelles.

Dinner was Panfried Cod with Tomato-Mint Yogurt Sauce (BigFlav, p96). I used lieu noir for the fish. Dredged in cornmeal and fried, the fish was nothing special, but the sauce was extra yummy. As suggested, served with Uncommon Carrot Salad (BigFlav, p212) and Parsley Salad with Bulgur, Mint, and Tomatoes (BigFlav, p216). The carrot salad was good, but didn't especially go with the meal. I've made the other salad before; didn't use nearly as much parsley as asked, so it was more a bulgur salad with lots of goodies. Since the fish sauce had lots of tomato, I didn't add any to this. It was good, and went well with the fish's sauce. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for dessert.

Saturday/25-Aug-18: Tonight we had Chuletas: Thin Grilled Pork Chops with Simple Tomato Relish (License, p147). The pork chops were good. The tomato relish was good, but yesterday's was better. Served with All-Purpose Rice and Beans (BigFlav, p262), with red beans instead of black. That's a super recipe and could be eaten as a veggie main, maybe with long-grain brown rice. For dessert we had ice cream cones at the cinema.

Finished off the Mirabelle Jam. It made 2-1/2 AH jars.

Yogurt on overnight.

Have been enjoying cooking from Schlesinger and Willoughby this month. Ed has suggested Mexican for next month. Problem is, I haven't found a good source for tortillas. I'm willing to make them a couple of times, but still I wonder how much Mexican I can make without them? Still, would be

Sunday/26-Aug-18: Cath stayed for a barbecue dinner after we visited the Marché des Potiers in Montbron. When we returned we stopped for some pineau and stuffed grape leaves. For a starter we had little terrines lined with smoked salmon, filled with a blend of avocado, cream cheese, lime juice, shallot, dill, and cilantro; I made these up before we left for the marché. The main was Chicken Skewers with Cucumber-Garlic Yogurt Sauce (web). The chicken was tasty but seemed a bit dry. The cucumber-garlic sauce was good, although I used only about a quarter of the yogurt asked. For dessert Ed grilled some peaches and I made some crème fraîche ice cream as a go-with. We ate well.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Big Flavors of the Hot Sun, License to Grill, Thrill of the Grill
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes

This week in the kitchen

Monday/13-Aug-18: Dinner was Sweet and Spicy Lo Mein Noodles (BigFlav, p274). I made a whole recipe, which serves four; the two of us ate about two thirds of it. I was worried about using the raw veggies, but they provided a pleasant crunch with the noodles. It's puzzling to me why the recipe has you make so much sauce and then uses only one cup. I made a half recipe of the recommended Sweet and Hot Sesame-Spinach Condiment (BigFlav, p362). This was an interesting idea, but way too salty, even though the soy sauce was low-salt. I used the max amount of Tabasco and neither thought it that hot. We were full.

Tuesday/14-Aug-18: Yogurt on overday.

We had lunch near Ed's archery lesson. Nothing further happened in the kitchen.

Wednesday/15-Aug-18: Somebody (who, me?) forgot that this was a holiday, so there was a quick rearrangement on the meal plan.

For dinner we had Grilled Open-Faced Eggplant Sandwiches with Black Olive Relish and Fresh Mozzarella (License, p39). I made a whole recipe; we are well-filled, but the two of us ate almost all of it. I thought the black olive relish might be too strong, but it all went together well. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for dessert.

Thursday/16-Aug-18: Shopping today.

For dinner there was a halfish recipe of Creamy Salmon Spaghetti (Ainsley2, p54). This was interesting because the fish isn't really cooked, as a thing by itself. Cream, garlic, and tomato paste a brought to a boil, then the heat is turned off and the first is added. Worked amazingly well. This is added to just-cooked spaghetti (I used whole wheat) with some grated Parmesan for serving. Good enough, but nothing special. We had our starter after, insalata caprese with home-grown tomatoes,  two tiny Beefsteaks, no especially tasty. Then a salad. For dessert, I made some cherry tart things, very loosely based on this recipe. I made four to use up half the left-over filo I had. Very nice they were. I used ground almonds between the layers of filo. Added some almond extract to the mascarpone mixture as shown in this recipe, but that wasn't needed at all. Use nine (frozen) cherries per tart, rather than the skimpy three in the recipe. Good stuff, although a bit hard to eat.

I see that I've really not been keeping the lists of cookbooks I'm reading and recently read up-to-date. Started VegSups today. It looks really promising.

Friday/17-Aug-18: For our meal, I made a half recipe of Tuna and Chickpea Salad with Pesto (web), served on a bed of lettuce. This was good, almost very good. Needed some zing, tabasco or some red pepper flakes perhaps; maybe some feta too. For afters, I had an ice cream cup and Ed had a mini Magnum.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/18-Aug-18: Nice dinner with Laura and Ralph tonight. Took a bottle of Château Larou Les Complices.

Nothing much happened in the kitchen.

Sunday/19-Aug-18: Early meal before a play in the early evening. We had Crab Salad with Fennel (PatSalads, p90), which was good, but not a keeper.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 5; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Big Flavors of the Hot Sun, License to Grill, Thrill of the Grill
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/6-Aug-18: Again the meal planner wasn't thinking very well last week. I made Roasted Apple, Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Pizza (web; cookbooker). An unusual pizza, but quite good. Butterscotch Tapioca Pudding for dessert.

Tuesday/7-Aug-18: Whew—cooler today.

Yogurt on during the day.

Finished off the list. We probably won't shop tomorrow, but Thursday.

Dinner was Grilled Lamb Skewers with Apricots (License, p116). Well, it was supposed to be lamb. I seem to have defrosted beef (faux filets/sirloin). Easy recipe, but with a bit of chop-chop. Tasty. A little odd to make so much "rub" that doesn't really rub in well. Also odd that you take the meat and fruit (including parboiled garlic cloves) off the skewers and mix with a vinaigrette. Ed had the fire too hot, so two of the skewers burnt pretty badly. Still all tasted good. Served with Moroccan couscous. Grilled some eggplant, one store-bought and one from the store, but that burnt pretty badly. Finished the Butterscotch Tapioca Pudding for dessert Stuffed we are.

Wednesday/8-Aug-18: Finished off the limoncello today. Here it is with the lemon peels soaking.

We ate at the Massignac Marché des Producteurs; nothing else happened in the kitchen.

Thursday/9-Aug-18: Shopped today. Got off late, so dinner was extra late. We started with an insalata caprese. Our main was Summer Prawn & Fish Filo Pie (200Budget, p186), which is kind of a fish pot pie with scrunched up filo on top. Very good, a one-dish meal. Then we had some chaource. Then some Clafoutis aux Abricots (VPG) to use up the apricots I bought last week for Tuesday's meal. (Couldn't find this on the web, but scanned it and pinned it.)

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/10-Aug-18: Dinner was Grilled Duck Breast with Peach-Green Grape Chutney (License, p209). The duck breast was salt-and-peppered, then grilled. The chutney was super, easy to make and went perfectly with the duck. Served with some pasta and Chile-Coated Grilled Summer Squash and Zucchini with Honey-Lime Dressing (License, p239). Used two zukes, one from the potager, one from the grocery. Pretty good, although the "rub" didn't stick as well as it might have.

Saturday/11-Aug-18: Leftovers tonight—the rest of the pizza. With a salad. Followed by the rest of the clafoutis. We're stuffed.

Sunday/12-Aug-18: Dinner was a half recipe of Grilled Pork Loin with Indonesian Chile-Coconut Sauce (Thrill, p156). Ancho chiles don't exactly taste of Indonesia to me, but the sauce was delicious over the boneless pork chops, which were flattened and quickly grilled. Served with Spicy Cucumber Relish (Thrill, p232). This wasn't as good as other versions of this salad that I've made; not sure why. Then there was, more or less, Sweet Potato Hash Brown with Bacon and Onions (Thrill, p300). Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Big Flavors of the Hot Sun, Thrill of the Grill, License to Grill
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/30-Sep-13: Yogurt on overday.

For dinner there was a half recipe of Indian-Spiced Eggplant & Cauliflower Stew (web) which #1 took ages to get done, much more than advertised time, and #2 was fairly boring taste-wise. Served with rice. For dessert, I used plums to make Dusoulier's Peach, Almond, and Cardamom Clafoutis (Dusoulier2, p93). I used only half the fruit asked, which was much nicer than before, everything fit in the pan, and cooked it much longer. Very tasty.

IHCC is moving on to Donna Hay for the next period. I don't really know her, but have heard good things. Nevertheless, I'm not going to participate. Instead I'll concentrate on posting for Cook Your Books, using some of my seldom-used cookbooks.

Have done really poorly on goals in the last couple of months. Hope I can get back on track in October.

Tuesday/1-Oct-13: We had our main meal at midday today in anticipation of going to a movie in the evening. It was a half recipe of Filet Mignon, Purée de Chou-fleur et Épinards (VPQ), that's a pork tenderloin (I think it is in English, varkenshaas in Dutch) with a purée of cauliflower and potato, with a dab on spinach on the side. Pretty good. The smashed cauliflower was pretty good, and served as a bed for the meat. The meat was glazed with a honey-soy sauce mixture that could have been a bit zingier. Then a salad with the first of our San Marzano tomatoes. And a bit of plum clafoutis.

After the movie (Blue Jasmine) we finished off the clafoutis.

Wednesday/2-Oct-13: Shopping today. Dinner was a half recipe of Grilled Swordfish with Artichokes, Tomatoes, and Olives (License, p170; cookbooker). There was no swordfish today, so it was shark instead. The fish is simply cooked, rubbed with olive oil, S&P'd, and grilled. The salady bit on the side is what makes this special. The artichoke is boiled, then grilled, and finally tossed with tomato (San Marzano from the garden), black olives, parsley, garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil, and lemon juice. Served with orzo cooked in the artichoke boiling water. (Hmm...guess I should have taken a photo of this and done a post for my seldom used books. It was quite pretty on the plate, too.) For dessert we had half a classic Magnum. Since they don't want to carry the mini Magnum classics, we'll just cut it in half ourselves. (Mini classics were on sale recently at one grocery, but they had none in stock.)

Thursday/3-Oct-13: Yogurt on overday.

Roasted the beets that I bought yesterday. They don't usually have fresh beets, so I took advantage.

Dinner was Zucchini and Feta Gratin (MC). Yes, still working on zucchini backlog; thank goodness production seems to have shut down. I keep forgetting how good this is. Since I expect it would be good with any veg, I'm going to try this again before too long with broccoli. For a starter there was Cold Beetroot with Cream (Pomiane, p180).

Friday/4-Oct-13: Busy day today, my drawing group in the morning, and a haircut in the afternoon. The haircut doesn't sound like that much, but they've now moved 1.5hr from here; drive back was miserable in driving rain with Tomtom insisting that I needed to go cross-country rather than travelling on the highway. Grr... Between my two outings we had lunch out. For dinner there was popcorn, a plate of fruit, and the first episode of New Tricks season 9.

Saturday/5-Oct-13: Picked the chicken carcass today and made Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup (web) in the crockpot. Pretty good it was, too. Also made chicken stock, which I'll finish off tomorrow. Also made apple butter. Also made up ground roasted cumin for my Indian dishes.

Sunday/6-Oct-13: We had the rest of the Zucchini and Feta Gratin for dinner, preceded by one of our favorites, Lamb's Lettuce and Beetroot salad (BEFCC, p32). And some Afrikas for dessert.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 IHCC/COOKBOOKS: no, #2 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #3 PASTA: no for September, no for October, #4 BREAD: no for September, no for October

This week in the kitchen

Monday/28-Jun-10: Made some raspberry preserves in the morning, the same small batch recipe I used last year. It didn't seem to set up very well, but it smelled good while it was simmering. Otherwise, this was leftover day, with lunch from picnic and from yesterday at Sally and Mike's. At dinner time there was a salad.

Tuesday/29-Jun-10: Bought some juice at the grocery and put some popsicles in the freezer. For lunch we had the last of the leftovers. Dinner was Almond-Crusted Grilled Salmon with Garlic Sauce (License, p165), which turned out to be one of those recipes I'm glad I tried, but don't need to do again. Served with Courgettes aux Olives (C&Z, p139; soon to be MC), a nice addition to the zucchini repetoire, and lemon-parsley orzo. Dessert was some rice pudding from the grocery.

Wednesday/30-Jun-10: It's hot today. For lunch we had a big salad from a sack of mâche with beet shreds. Used last night's sauce (there's still more left) and the almond-cumin crunchies, along with the last bit of mozzarella from the fridge. It was good. For dessert we each had a fruit popsicle.

In the evening, we had our usual sandwiches and an unusually big plate of fruit (one plate for the two of us), that Ed thought needed a picture:

Thursday/1-Jul-10: For lunch, I browned one of the tins of mole that Jody gave us for xmas and added the leftover pork roast, a can of corn, and a can of chopped chilis. It was good and I've frozen one serving for another time.

Friday/2-Jul-10: Didn't make it to the Montbron market this morning, so again no chard tart. Lunch today at Le Roc du Boeuf. Only some munchies for dinner. Hot.

Saturday/3-Jul-10: We had sandwiches at the bric-à-brac in Montemboeuf at lunchtime. In the afternoon I made the plum-limoncello tart, which was pretty good in spite of all the things I managed to do wrong. For dinner we had a sorrel omelette. This turned out really good. The sour of the sorrel goes well with the creamy eggs. Followed by a salad and the tart. And a walk with the dog.

We've been eating the fruit popsicles every day. That's a nice, small treat on hot afternoons.

Hmm...I've just discovered that I've had my dates screwed up for the last few weeks. Corrected now.

Sunday/4-Jul-10: Last night we decided we make a grocery run this morning and get the makings for a bbq with hamburgers and potato salad and whatever other food consistent with the festivities we could think of. But one of us slept till almost 11.00 and the shops close at 12.30, so those plans got cancelled.

At Ed's suggestion, I made up some popsicles with half milk and half fruit juice. Tomorrow we'll see how these are. We split a piece of the plum limoncello tart after our lunch.

For dinner, I defrosted some of the Toupargel merquez for the bbq and made some Mediterranean Couscous Salad with Roasted Vegetables (MC 2BTried). I forgot that I used our zucch earlier in the week, so there was only eggplant for the salad and roasted red bell pepper strips from a jar. It was good anyhow. The merguez was much better than the horrible ones we had last year when Rob&Cindy&Ray were visiting. For dessert, we ate more of the plum-limoncello tart. We have one more piece left to split now.

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 — Curried Rice Noodles with Ground Meat
5. 19-Jun/25-Jun: blueberries — Tarte Amandine à la Myrtille
6. 26-Jun/2-Jul: salmon — Almond-Crusted Grilled Salmon with Garlic Sauce
7. 3-Jul/9-Jul: potatoes
8. 10-Jul/16-Jul: elbow macaroni
9. 17-Jul-23-Jul: tomatoes