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/17-Dec-18: Leftovers tonight. First guacamole and chips, then enchiladas and rice. Forgot to buzz up the instant refried beans for another side. Chocolate roses for dessert.

Chickpeas to soak overnight.

Tuesday/18-Dec-18: Cooked up the chickpeas. Froze three 2-cup ziplocs, and had one cup for tomorrow's meal.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Stir-Fried Zucchini Noodles with Chicken and Peppers (Spiral, p125). Pretty good stuff—noodles without noodles. But so much wastage. I didn't spiralize the bell peppers, but cut them by hand. Chocolate roses for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/19-Dec-18: Got our two xmas meals planned and a gi-normous shopping list done today.

Our dinner was a halfish version of Couscous with Red Pepper, Chickpea, and Almond Sauce (VegPlanet, p254; cookbooker). Pretty good this was, if needing a goodly dose of tabasco. Finished the chocolate roses for dessert.

Made up the spice mix and the sauce for the pork that will go in the crockpot tomorrow morning.

Thursday/20-Dec-18: Oscar has his teeth cleaned today, and lost a good chunk of his remaining ear to be sent off for a biopsy. He looks a mess—he's been shaved all around his ear and painted with silver stuff. Not sure what the purpose of that is. He's a conehead, of course. Antibiotic and pain pills for the next week.

Started the crockpot before I went off the the vet this morning, with Carolina Pork Barbecue from the Crockpot (MC). Pretty good stuff. Made Mama's Garlic Coleslaw (MC, Handybook) as a go-with. Mini ice cream bars for after. Noticed tonight that the mini Magnum Classics have shrunk again. They're now the same size as the mini Häagen-Dasz bars.

Friday/21-Dec-18: Shopping today, and with luck we've gotten everything we need for the two holiday meals.

Dinner was Fish on a Bed of Potatoes, Onions and Tomatoes (MJFlavs, p111; cookbooker), a last-minute change when I discovered they had swordfish again. Made this with fewer potatoes that asked and served over too much rice. The sauce was nice, so somthing for soppy was needed; maybe store-bought naan would be ok. Also used up some snijbonen that had been hanging around in the fridge to make Tangy Green Beans with Ajwain and Ginger (SpiceKitch, p38), which made a nice accompaniament. For dessert, some Turkish Delight that Bill left us and then amaro with cantuccini things.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/22-Dec-18: Made some Pickled Green Beans (MC).

Guess we're not going to get fresh pasta till the mouse problem is resolves, since the counter is full of stuff from the cabinets. Sigh.

Dinner was a half dose of Trenette with Pesto and Vegetables (PastaBible, p126). Remarkably good for something with such simple ingredients. Then a salad. Then some chocolate-covered madeleines, only 1-1/2 each since it seems Bill had one while we weren't looking.

Sunday/23-Dec-18: Useless day today.

Dinner was leftover non-barbecued pork. With polenta instead of bread. Added a bit to the coleslaw so there would be enough. Chocolate-covered madeleines for dessert.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Nov-18: Dinner was Black and Blue Cajun Chicken Sandwich (Ainsley2, p12; cookbooker) with a toefje salad on the side. Chocolate covered madeleines for dessert.

Tuesday/20-Nov-18: Caught another teeny mouse overnight. Wondering if we've got a small opening to the outside world in the kitchen somewhere.

Had one thing planned, then decided to use us some stuff in the fridge. Made a pasta (casareccia) with goat cheese, broccoli, shooms, kalamatas, onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, etc. Comfort food. Then a salad. Then a pair of chocolated covered madeleines, finishing off that package.

Wednesday/21-Nov-18: Caught another teeny mouse today.

Made Pumpkin Flan (MC) to take to Rosemary's tomorrow.

Shopping today.

Dinner was Fish Stew—Mr A.R. Sunil's Fish Moilly (MJFlavs, p25), made with lieu noir, on special today. Quite good it was. Easy and relatively fast to make. Served with plain basmati rice and Tangy Green Beans with Ajwain and Ginger (SpiceKitch, p38) made with snijbonen, haricots coco plats, whatever those might be in English. And some Cachumber (MJ1, p172). We were full, but still has some semoule au lait from the shop after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/22-Nov-18: Up early. Made Double-Corn Muffins (MC) to take to Rosemary's.

Off to Rosemary and Philippe's for Thanksgiving, picking up Cath on the way. Nothing further happened in the kitchen.

Friday/23-Nov-18: Made Pear Bundt Cake (MC) to use up pears in the fridge.

Dinner was Pesto Turkey Kebabs (200Budget, p183). Pretty tasty, if not quite as pretty as the picture. For sides there was trio rice and a mix of veggies—broccoli, mushrooms, corn, left-over turkey filling. Bundt cake for dessert was very more-ish.

Saturday/24-Nov-18: Tonight I made real use of the spiralizer. There was a half-dose of Malaysian-Style Zucchini Noodles with Greens and Shrimp (Spiral, p122). Ed didn't realize there was no pasta, only spiralized zukes. Pretty good as a whole. Then some Mothais Charentais, an especially nice goat cheese that comes on a chestnut leaf. Then more of the Pear Bundt Cake.

Sunday/25-Nov-18: Caught another small mouse this morning. Think I've neglected to record a few. This was the third or fourth for the week.

Dinner was Lemon Chicken (Fancy, p111). I've made this before, in 2012; it's still good. Served with Dusoulier's Perfect Roast Potatoes and a little salad of grated broccoli stems and carrot with a lemon vinaigrette. Then we finished the Mothais Charentais. Then I had my last slice of Pear Bundt Cake, while Ed saved his for breakfast.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Nothing Fancy
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: yes; #6 GUESTS: yes

This week in the kitchen

Monday/29-Oct-18: Caught a kitchen mouse last night. Let her out into a field on the way to pick up the cats.

Suppose I should cook from Floyd in the next days, but I can't face him again. That's a book that's going to get recycled. For November, I've chosen Nothing Fancy, by Diana Kennedy. This was a really good read and there are lots of tagged pages, but I've not used it much. That took a bit of rearrangement of the meal plan, but it's done.

Dinner was Broccoli Cornmeal Cakes from the freezer, warmed not quite enough in the toaster oven, topped with pyramid goat cheese and lardons. Then a big salad.

Put pork on to marinate for tomorrow.

Tuesday/30-Oct-18: This morning there was a second and third mouse in traps. Ed let them go out the high road.

Ed's cold hit me today. Yuck.

Dinner was Ancho- and Chipotle-Rubbed Pork Loin (MC). I forgot that it was done in the Romertopf and took over an hour to cook, so dinner was quite late. Served with polenta and steamed broccoli. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Wednesday/31-Oct-18: Shopping today. Exhausting.

Yummy dinner. We had Tamarind Fish (MJFlavs, p154; cookbooker) with salmon, which was really delicious. Served with Whole Potatoes with Tomatoes (MJFlavs, p162; cookbooker), first time I've made this. Quite good they were, and not too hard. The other side was Gujerati-Style Green Beans (MJ1, p102), made with snijbonen, aka haricots coco plat, whatever those may be in English. That's an old favorite.

Thursday/1-Nov-18: Trapped two more mice today, and found another one dead, half-eaten, under the ironing board. That's six live and one dead.

We had an anniversary meal at the new Cambodian take-away restaurant in La Rochefoucauld. Very good.

Cooked some long-grain brown rice for coming meals.

Friday/2-Nov-18: Yet another mouse today. That's seven. They seem to be getting smaller. If mom's still around, she's really wily.

Dinner was a half recipe of Spicy Jerk Pork with Pepper Fried Rice (web). Used leftover varkenshaas from Tuesday's meal. Think I've made this before with shrimpers. Pretty good tonight. Some ice cream for dessert.

Saturday/3-Nov-18: We didn't catch a mouse last night, but I did see one peeping around as I was sitting at the kitchen table.

Had the idea to make Kennedy's whole wheat pasta today for my cookbook project, but 1) the counter is full of stuff that should be in the mouse-eaten shelves and 2) I really didn't feel like it. Instead I made a have dish of Tonnarelli ai Gameri e Funghi (ClassPasta, p104), served over mushroom pasta, kind of a fusilli shape. Not the right one, but tasty. Then a big salad. Then some chocolate-covered corn flakes.

Sunday/4-Nov-18: Again no mouse caught.

Busy day in the kitchen. I made my Apple-Plum Butter (MC; HandyBook), actually using plums this time. And a half-dose of Banana-Ginger Chutney (VegPlanet, p44), a recommended go-with for the patties. Half, but still a huge amount. And Sourdough Starter (Fancy, p129; cookbooker). Will be a week before I can make use of it.

Dinner was Jamaican Burgers (VegPlanet, p372). I've made these before and they're still good. Serve with Banana-Ginger Chutney, which was very good. And leftover hominy heated with the leftover sauce from Monday's pork. All were good.

Discovered this evening that the guy who still hosts, but no longer maintains, Cookbooker wants to give it up. :-( Don't know what's going to happen there. There is an alternative, but it's paying now, and was never as nice as Cookbooker was.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4 #3 COOKBOOK: no for October, yes for November
Cookbooks of the month: Floyd's India for October, Nothing Fancy for November
This month: #4 PASTA: no for October, no for November; #5 BREAD: no for October, no for November; #6 GUESTS: no for October, no for November

This week in the kitchen

Monday/3-Sep-18: A been-there-done-that dinner, but still good. There was Spice-Rubbed Grilled Chicken Breasts with Sweet and Hot Peach Relish (BigFlav, p178). Even though I made half the rub, I still have put some in the freezer for another bbq. And Roast Beet and Carrot Salad with Lemon-Mint Dressing (BigFlav, p204), which I made for the third time, about 12 years apart each time. And Parsley Salad with Bulgur, Mint, and Tomatoes (BigFlav, p216), which I've made several times lately, and years before previously. All good.

Tuesday/4-Sep-18: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Grilled Shrimp Skewers over White Bean Salad (web). Nice, summery meal. Small ice creams for dessert.

Still haven't figured out what cookbook to use for this month.

Wednesday/5-Sep-18: Shopping today.

Decided that my newest Deborah Madison cookbook, Vegetarian Suppers, will be this month's cookbook. An easy choice, but I already had one of those recipes on the plan for this week. Have marked lots of things to make, so it should work out.

I baked the rest of the Beet and Feta Samosas, straight from the freezer, for our starter. Since I again had a half of a red bell pepper to be used up, I made another batch of Fresh Red Chutney with Almonds (Q&E, p114). Our main was Yoghurt Fish (MJFlavs, p152) which was disappointing. Rather blah in spite of all the spices that went in. Served with plain basmati rice and Gujerati-Style Green Beans (MJ1, p102), made with snijbonen. We each had a nectavigne for dessert. What's that? A kind of nectarine with dark flesh and skin. Unusual taste, but good.

Thursday/6-Sep-18: For a starter, there were some figs with goat cheese and a drizzle of honey and some chopped walnuts, all in the oven for a bit at 400F. For a main there was a half recipe of Summer Potatoes Stews with Eggplant, Peppers, and Olives (VegSups, p172). I spiffied this up with some piment d'Espelette and smoked paprika. Served over brown rice, which was really too much. I suspect this might serve six since we didn't manage to finish the half recipe. Good stuff, though. I had a peach for dessert.

Friday/7-Sep-18: Munchies for dinner at The Tempest. I did make up some things like the cherry tartlets that I made a week or so ago, but folded them up like samosas. Oops, the cheese melted out, so we scooped into little tupperwares and called it cherry-mascarpone crunch. The taste was fine. Otherwise nothing happened in the kitchen.

Saturday/8-Sep-18: Dinner out tonight. Nothing happened in the kitchen except ...

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/9-Sep-18: Oops, I defrosted the wrong kind of kip thighs for dinner, bone-in instead of bone-out. Replan.

Deseeded a mess of tomatoes from the garden to make up into tomato purée. Much work, only 1-1/2 cups in the end.

Dinner was Jamaican Jerk Chicken (Ainsley2, p74). This was easy and delicious. Served with polenta, corn on the cob (who plans a meal with two corn dishes?), and a made-up cucumber and red onion salad. All good. Served with one of our vacation wines, Les Frontons Flingeurs, which went well with the spicy chicken. Ice cream (bar and cup) for dessert. I'm stuffed.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/27-Aug-18: Late start for a Monday.

Dinner was Fragrant Sea Scallop Cakes (web). These, and the sauce, were very tasty. (And I've ordered the book whence the recipe came, David Tanis' One Good Dish.) For a veggie salad, I made (more or less) Spicy Thai-Style Zucchini Carrot Salad (web); this was very nice. And there was trio rice. All was tasty. We each had a mini ice cream bar for dessert.

Tuesday/28-Aug-18: Changed dinner plans to have an easier meal. I made Chickpea & Chorizo Fideos (web; cookbooker). Oops, no whole wheat spaghetti, I used gramigne instead. (This has become a favorite pasta for dishes like this, or as a side.) Used extra fort chorizo, making the sauce a big spicy; a bit of red pepper flakes might have been even nicer. The whole recipe might have served three; four would be skimpy servings. Then a salad. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.

Wednesday/29-Aug-18: Yogurt on overday, because I didn't want to start it during the electrical storm when we might lose power. Doesn't seem like we did, but there was no internet or phone when I got up. Shopping today.

Dinner was Four-Spice Salmon (web). This was easy and really good. The spices (coriander, cloves, cumin, and nutmeg) are mixed and spread over the fish, which is cooked simply, spice-side-down and then spice-side-up. Lots of combinations of tastes could be used, I think. Served with eggplant slices sprayed with oil, rubbed with store-bought garam masala, and grilled on the stove's pan, topped with a yogurt-garlic sauce. And some trio rice. More madeleines for dessert.

Thursday/30-Aug-18: Busy in the kitchen prepping for tomorrow's meal.

• Made up some ground roasted cumin. I was out and need it for tomorrow. (Don't really use a recipe: toast it and grind it, that's all there is to it.)
• Made up a one quarter recipe of Chaat Masala (MJFlavs, p263).
• Made up a one third recipe of Punjabi Garam Masala (MJFlavs, p270).
• Made up the stuffing for Beet and Feta Samosas (MadeIndia, p48). These will be made up with filo for easiness. Thought these sounded healthy and odd, but recipes from this book have generally been successful. We'll see.
• Put lamb cubes on to marinate for Lamb Kebabs (MJFlavs, p226).

Didn't get everything done I'd like, so will have to cut back for tomorrow. Oh well, enough is enough.

Dinner was a smash-up from the freezer. I defrosted some Coconut and Pumpkin Soup, added a bit of chicken stock from the fridge, some chopped acorn squash (from the potager), and some cooked shrimp (from the freezer). Pretty good it was. Made up a salad with the couscous left from Sunday. Some ice cream bits (a cup for me, a bar for Ed) for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

While I'm sitting here typing, Ive seen a little mouse come out from behind the wood burner. Ed moved the live trap there, and she took the bait without tripping it. He rebaited it. Cats are here, but worthless.

Friday/31-Aug-18: Hit the floor cooking today. Well, sort of ...

• Shelled and peeled pistachios for the dessert.
• Made Onion Relish (MJ1, p174)), an old favorite.
• Made Carrot and Onion Salad (MJ1, p171), an old favorite.
• Last minute decision to make two chutneys for starter.
• And other stuff.

Mike and Sally came to share a yummy Indian dinner.

• For apéro, with the pineau we bought at the Massignac marché des producteurs:
• Spicy Cucumber Wedges (MJ1, p172)
• For starters:
• Beet and Feta Samosas (MadeIndia, p48; cookbooker)
• Fresh Green Chutney (Q&E, p113) and Fresh Red Chutney with Almonds (Q&E, p114)
• Carrot and Onion Salad (MJ1, p171)
• For main:
• Lamb Kebab (MJFlavs, p226)
• Cachumber—Tomato, Onion and Green Coriander Relish (MJ1, p172)
• Khili Hui Khichri—Rice with Yellow Split Peas (MJ1, p150)
• Relish tray with home-made Lime Pickle, home-made Tamarind-Date Chutney, store-bought mango chutney
• For dessert:
• Kaye's Lazy Kheer, store-bought rice puddings, spiffed up with ground cardamom and chopped pistachios.

Everything was extra yummy, even if it's the cook saying so. The beet samosas were surprising good. I had forgotten about the red chutney and happened to have half a red bell pepper needing something to do; it's really good, so I need not to forget it again. The rice with yellow peas was a first, but not a last. The lamb kebabs were delicious, the meat very tender from marinating in yogurt.

Saturday/1-Sep-18: For lunch we ate last night's leftovers. For dinner, there were Grilled Eggplant and Pepper Sandwiches with Basil and Black Olive Spread (BigFlav, p267). Shh, don't tell, the Black Olive Spread is tapenade. This was good, a bit similar to one I did last week. Liked that sauce better than the tapenade effect I think. Still, the whole idea is good.

Still haven't decided on a cookbook for September. Will postpone Mexican books until later the the year, giving me a chance to stock up on necessaries. September and October are difficult, though. Waiting for inspiration.

Sunday/2-Sep-18: For dinner there was Grilled Poussin with Grilled Leeks, Garlic, and Rosemary (Thrill, p196). I used coquelets instead of poussins, which I think means they were young males rather than young females. Still good. The leeks were a nice idea, but should have been bigger ones I think, and I should have left the root end attached so they held together better. Served with Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Molasses Glaze (Thrill, p304) as suggested. These were good, if a bit of trouble.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #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 for August, no for September; #5 BREAD: no for August, no for September; #6 GUESTS: yes 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

IHCC: September Pot Luck

It's potluck time again and one last time I'm going back to Madhur Jaffrey. I had the intention to do something from Ottolenghi, but things keep preventing that from happening. And today was grocery day, so that means fish, and, as it frequently does, it means an Indian sort of fish dish as the center of the meal.

From Flavours of India (p195), there was Spicy, Pan-Fried Fish Steaks Chettinad. I used cod (rather than kingfish) and it did fall apart a bit, as cod is wont to do, but tasted delicious. You simply rub the fillets with a paste with ground coriander, cayenne, turmeric, ground cumin, salt, lime or lemon juice, and water and let them marinate for 15 minutes or so. Then fry them ... well, I grilled them to avoid the extra oil.

For sides there were Fried Aubergine (Eggplant) Slices and Cauliflower with Potatoes from Indian Cooking (p90 and p109, respectively)

With eggplant from the garden, I used all the spices (salt, turmeric, cayenne, black pepper) for half the eggplant asked in the recipe. This is really tasty but suffers from the oiliness that fried eggplant always does. Next time I do this, I think I'll just wipe the slices with a bit of olive oil before applying the spice mix, then grill them. Serve with lemon slices.

Since I had broccoli to be used and didn't expect to find any good cauliflower in the shops, I used broccoli instead cauliflower for the potato dish. They're both brassicas after all and the green makes a prettier plate. This is another dish that uses those cold boiled potatoes you keep in the fridge. Right. First you fry some whole cumin seeds, then add the cauliflower, er, broccoli and stir until brown spots start appearing. Cover (I added a slog of water) and cook over lower heat till the veg is mostly done. Then add the cubed potato, chopped green chili, ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric, cayenne, ground roasted cumin (the last of my supply—I need to make more soon!), salt, and black pepper. Stir and cook till everything is warmed through.

Altogether a nice meal, if not really Ottolenghi as I intended.

Visit this week's I Heart Cooking Clubs to see what's turned up in this week's pot luck.

IHCC: Potluck!

Potluck is always a fun thing to plan for dinner. And this week's potluck looked like it would be cooked on shopping day, which makes fish a good choice. Rummaging through my stack of Jaffrey books, I found Easy Fish Fillets in a Traditional Mustard Sauce (Flavours of India, p156). Jaffrey suggest serving this with plain rice. Easy to do. For a veg, I chose Green Peas in a Creamy Sauce (Quick & Easy Indian Cooking, p87), which is an old favorite and truly quick and easy. For an accompaniment, to munch while things were getting ready, there were some Spicy Cucumber Wedges (Indian Cooking, p172). If I had time and energy, I thought, I'd make some Vermicelli Pudding (Flavours of India, p255). The store had some lovely cod fillets on special for the day, so I bought one to share for dinner.

Game plan: Start the pudding on its way. Prep the cuke sticks, down to pouring on the lemon juice and spices. Prep the stuff for the peas, which cook in one shake of a lamb's tail at the last minute. Prep the stuff of the fish. Start rice. Make fish.

The mustard fish recipe looked like a sure thing. Grind some mustard seeds and a dried chili together and mix with water. Make a paste with turmeric, cayenne, and water. Rub the fish fillets with turmeric, salt, and mustard oil and let them sit for 10 minutes. Prepare some panch phoran and hot chilies for the final cooking. While the fish are broiling, the sauce is prepared by heating mustard oil, then adding the panch phoron. When the mustard seeds in that begin to pop, stir in the turmeric paste and some extra water. Then stir in the mustard paste. Bring to a boil, add salt and the chilies, stir, and remove from the heat. Pour the sauce over the fish, then simmer for two minutes. Serve.

Sounds good. Made a pretty plate. First bite—yuck! Unpleasantly strong taste of mustard. The recipe says to stir the ground mustard-chili into water and let the seeds settle. But the seeds never settled. Even after half an hour, the mixture remained uniformly grainy in texture with no settling apparent. Maybe I ground the seeds too fine, although they it looked coarse to me. Or maybe the recipe meant 4 teaspoons of mustard seeds, rather than 4 tablespoons. At any rate, we both scraped off as much of the sauce as we could, then mixed the fish with the rice. This was reasonably good.

Vermicelli Pudding is one of our favorite Indian desserts. I've been playing with the recipe in Indian Cooking (p102) for years (my first notes are dated 1995), and never quite succeeding. The taste is right, but I always seem to end up with a pudding that is too thick. Finding the recipe in the newer (both to me and publishing-wise) cookbook, Flavours of India, I thought I'd give that a try. Unfortunately, I didn't compare the recipes beforehand, and followed this recipe fairly closely. Again, the result was tasty, but still too thick. This recipe is finished with a few drops of kewra water, which I don't have; instead I used a tiny amount of rose water, which I barely notice, but my husband doesn't like. That bit was missable. (The older recipe is topped with chopped pistachios. We both prefer this.) This recipe uses less milk but more vermicelli than the older recipe. That might be the single biggest problem, since it seemed  much too dense with noodles. This recipe also calls for the seeds of cardamom pods to be added without crushing or grinding, which is esthetically not as nice, I think. It also uses much less ghee to toast the vermicelli. This was certainly edible, but I think I'll try yet again by combining aspects of the two recipes. One of these days, I'm going to nail this one!

This post is shared with this week's I Heart Cooking Clubs.

There are only three more weeks of cooking with Madhur Jaffrey to come. And, then, I was very sorry to learn, I Heart Cooking Clubs is going to fold its tent and steal away into ether. This is the third cookalong that I've joined seriously and each of them has closed up shop shortly after I've joined. I'm beginning to feel like a jinx!

This week in the kitchen

Monday/4-Mar-13: Looks like I Heart Cooking Clubs will close down after Madhur Jaffrey finishes in March unless someone comes forward to host it. Not me. Will be back to cooking from old cookbooks for me.

Really didn't feel like cooking tonight. Went out looking for a nearby open restaurant, unsuccessfully. Came home and made a couple of omelets and warmed the leftover risotto. That was all. Will need to get serious about cooking tomorrow.

Tuesday/5-Mar-13: Finally got the Fennel, Pernod, and Broccoli Pie (web) made for dinner tonight. Used a single crust from the freezer rather than making the one here. Mostly Parmesan, some hollandse geitenkaas for the cheese. Pretty good, not wonderful. Did like the way the flavors of the fennel, broccoli, and peas combined. Maybe in some kind of a salad this would be good.

Wednesday/6-Mar-13: Meal for IHCC tonight, then off to the movies.

Thursday/7-Mar-13: Ed feeling poorly today and asked for chicken soup for dinner. So I made chicken noodle with mushrooms and carrots. It was good. He drank the broth and left the good stuff. Oh well. (Does chicken soup with no chicken meat in it count as vegetarian? It does if you're Ken Hom, but I suppose not.)

Friday/8-Mar-13: Yogurt on overday. The two cabinets left and right of the sink are now on the wall to the left of the stove. Makes it a bit tight getting into the room but will do while their wall is being refurbished. The kitchen guy came to measure for the sink and peninsula counters. Now we await the devis.

Used one of the turkey breasts that I didn't cook at Thanksgiving to make a turkey roll. Filled with a paste of onion, garlic, lime zest, lime juice, cumin, oregano, and chili powder. Poured cider over it for cooking. Pretty good. Made a pretty good salad of the noodles/shroom/carrots left from yesterday's soup, plus some leftover rice, plus some defrosted peas, plus some chopped parsley, all with a lime juicy vinaigrette.

Saturday/9-Mar-13: Made Herb Salt, same old recipe from Art, also in my Handy Book. For lunch we ate the rest of the broccoli pie, which didn't sit well with either of our touchy tummies. We were supposed to go out this evening, but Ed was tired after more kitchen demolition work and I just didn't feel like it. So we sat outside to read for a while, then had our usual lunch fruit for dinner.

Sunday/10-Mar-13: For lunch, I halved two avocados, mushed up the innards a bit to enlarge the hole, broke an egg into each, S&Ped, then baked for about 20min. Pretty good actually, especially with a dollop of soft goat cheese on top. For dinner we had a big salad.

Yogurt on overnight.

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

IHCC: Show Your Love!

This week I made a sweet for my sweetie. He especially likes pistachios right now, so when I found the recipe for Mrs Kumud Kansara's Coco Pista Pasand—Coconut Pistachio Sweetmeats in Flavours of India (p88), I knew I'd found what I was going to make.

Indian sweetmeats are typically very sweet, and these are no exception, but the tastes are very yummy. You start here by making a paste of unsalted pistachios, confectioner's sugar, poppy seeds, and milk. The recipe calls for white poppy seeds, but I read on the web that white and black are interchangeable, so I used those. Perhaps if I'd had white poppy seeds to use, the pistachio paste layer wouldn't have been visible, so the flavor would have been a surprise.

Next you make a simple syrup that makes a single thread when dropped from a spoon into cold water. I'm not at all experienced with this kind of thing and found it a bit hard to see the "thread" when you drop clear syrup into clear water. But after several tries I did think I saw the shadow of a single thread floating, so I called it done. Off the heat, you stir in coconut and a powder of ground cardamom pods (yes, pods and seeds ground together). When that is well mixed, you stir in 1/4 cup of condensed milk. (Now what am I going to do with the rest of that can?)

While the coconut paste is still warm, you roll it into a 9" sausage, then flatten it. My coconut paste didn't want to hold together all that well, making me wonder if I didn't get the syrup "hard" enough.

Next you roll the pistachio paste into a similar length. My pistachio paste didn't really hold together that well, but it was fairly easy to make several string-like bits to lay out on the coconut. Then, using the plastic wrap that you formed the coconut rectangle on, you roll the coconut over the pistachio, making a little log. Cool this, then slice to serve.

We've been enjoying these (very) sweetmeats with our afternoon tea and coffee, and very tasty they are!

This post is shared with this week's I Heart Cooking Clubs.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/11-Feb-13: Had the rest of the cauliflower tart for dinner. Then a salad. Then some double-chocolate mini-magnums.

Tuesday/12-Feb-13: Yogurt on overday. Made Coconut Pistachio Sweetmeat (MJFlavs, p88) for for this week's IHCC.

We intended to go to a concert this evening, but didn't feel like it in the end. Had our pizza leftovers for lunch and fruit for dinner. (My tummy feeling unhappy, drinking fizzy water.)

Wednesday/13-Feb-13: Shopping today.

Dinner was Yucatan Red Snapper FIllets (Art, p102), using panga and chipotle flakes instead of regular chili flakes. Hadn't made this in a while. Good stuff. Served with trio rice and Haricots Verts in Walnut Oil (Lunch, p216). Used up the last of last year's walnut oil for this, which is a good thing because this year's bottle should be arriving soon. Ed thought this plate needed a picture:

Thursday/14-Feb-13: Had a nice Valentine's Day lunch at a restaurant, only some apples this evening.

Yesterday we bought a sack of (too many) munchies for tomorrow night's choir party. Tonight I made Sharon Frye's Herb-Marinated Feta and Olives (MC) and Peppered Pecans (Tabasco, p14 ; MC). Will probably make some guacamole tomorrow.

Yogurt on overday.

Friday/15-Feb-13: Nothing happenin' in the kitchen today. Went to make guacamole and discovered there was no cilantro in the fridge. Now have two nice avocados for something or other. Choir dinner tonight after the "performance." Both the pecans and the olives were hits.

Saturday/16-Feb-13: Used the rest of the can of condensed milk to make a scaled down version of Chocolate Oat Bars (web), using up the condensed milk left from the coconut-pistachio roll. Forgot the chopped walnuts, which was a shame because then they really would have been super-duper; instead they were just super. Didn't use any of the same branded stuff, of course, and had to make self-rising flour.

Otherwise we were feeling so full of sweets and other junk left from last night that we just had a salad for dinner.

Sunday/17-Feb-13: Second day of lovely weather and clothes drying on the line. Gave away lots of the Chocolate Oat Bars because there's just too much for us to eat.

Went to make a butternut squash recipe for dinner and found that my slice of pumpkin substitute had gone bad. Replan. Made a halfish recipe of Pasta with Broccoli and Blue Cheese (web); used mini lasagnes instead of fettucine, and only 6 oz. More broccoli. Probably more cheese, but didn't really measure. Good stuff. Some chopped walnuts might have been a nice addition.

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

IHCC: Potluck!

The project for using up older stuff in the freezer led to a little leg of goat needing to be cooked. A bit of web searching turned up Jaffrey's recipe for Pakistani Goat Curry. This is reportedly from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey, a book I don't yet have, but have ordered because there have been so many tasty-looking recipes from that book posted for IHCC.

This curry is really easy to make and the resulting sauce is quite delicious. My little goat leg (from a kid, I think) was about half the size asked for the recipe. To compensate, I used most of the spices, cutting back only the liquid part. I couldn't cut my leg into chunks or even disjoint it, so I just cooked it whole in the pan and pulled the meat from the bones when it was done.

You begin by sautéing cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, and sliced onion. When the onion begins to brown, garlic and ginger are added. Stir that around, then add the goat, some turmeric, ground coriander, and cayenne. Stir this for a few minutes, then add a bit of water, which you then boil off to make a nice paste for browning the meat. Now you add more water, cover, and simmer gently for an hour. Then you add potatoes and cook another thirty minutes until the potatoes are done. At this point the sauce was still a bit watery, so I thickened it with a bit of potato starch. Serve and eat.

The side dish is Gingery Cabbage and Peas, a Gujarati recipe from Flavours of India (p67). We liked this a lot, although not especially with this particular curry. I'm trying to widen my repertoire of vegetable side dishes and this was another new one.

This post is shared with this week's I Heart Cooking Clubs.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/7-Jan-13: Off to a movie this evening, so we had our main meal in the afternoon, a halfish, somewhat embroidered, version of Chili con Tofu with Beans (Hagler, p50). Served with some corn tortillas from the freezer. Finished off by the rest of the three kings' cake. Drove all the way to Limoges, sat through the commercials eating our popcorn, and then the VO (original voices) feature wouldn't play. Sigh. Next Monday perhaps.

Tuesday/8-Jan-13: Put chicken breasts on to marinate, then made Spruced-Up Vanilla Cake (web). Well, I sort of followed the recipe. I used a mix of white and brown sugar, and only 7 ounces, where 8 was asked. I had only 4 eggs in the house, not 6 as asked. And full-fat yogurt, not fat-free. Never mind, it was good.

The chicken turned into Coriander and Lemon Chicken (web). I didn't chunk up the breast, but grilled them flat with the filets opened out. This was quite tasty and easy, although I think using cayenne and ground coriander would be easier and about the same in flavor. Served with trio rice and some steamed broccoli. The cake was yummy too, but made a serious dent in my vanilla supply. (What you expect of a vanilla cake, of course.) MyAmericanMarket has been out for a while; I keep waiting for an email that it's in stock again. Oh dear.

Wednesday/9-Jan-13: Another day wasted waiting DHL. The package has been rescheduled for delivery "as agreed." Agreed with whom? Grrr... Will wait again tomorrow, I guess.

Dinner was (more or less) Gambas au Curry et Risotto (Saveurs mag Best of 2011, p 56, now MC). Pretty good, a risotto with coconut milk as part of the liquid, added near the end of the rice cooking. Then a salad. Then some double-chocolate mini Magnums.

Thursday/10-Jan-13:  Yogurt on overday. DHL finally arrived ... at 17.45.

I accidentally defrosted a chunk of pork Tuesday night, so made some crockpot carnitas today. Not as good as the last batch, but edible. Served with some of Mama's Garlic Coleslaw (MC). Cookies for dessert. Just as dinner was going to table a 2-quart pitcher of herbal tea in the fridge got overturned. What a mess. Didn't I just clean the fridge last week?

Friday/11-Jan-13: Shopping today at last. As I was preparing my shopping list, the spreadsheet where I do my meal planning went all whompy-jawed and caused a few moments of panic and a delay in getting the shopping list made.

An IHCC dinner this evening, Pakistani Goat Curry (web) and Gingery Cabbage and Peas (MJFlavs, p67). For afters, we had some store-bought semoule de lait, vanilla flavored, which was quite tasty.

Saturday/12-Jan-13: Dinner was Mirin Glazed Salmon (web), which was easy and quite good. Accompanied by Broccoli in a Fragrant Wine Sauce (HotWok, p156) and basmati rice. Followed by the last two semoules de lait. Nice dinner. Served not too late. Ran out of mirin, though; next challenge is to find that mail order.

Sunday/13-Jan-13: Dinner was Rice, Cheddar, and Spinach Pie (web), probably not too low-fat, but very tasty. Then a salad. Then Chocolate Soufflé Cake for 2 (MC), a nice little dessert that goes together easily while other things are cooking unattended.

I'm still thinking about what I want to do with cooking goals for 2013.

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

IHCC: Comforting Curries

Comforting curries, indeed! At least one of Madhur Jaffrey's curries is on the Comfort Food list around here. But for tonight's dinner, I opted for a curry that's had a stickie on it for a long time but has remained unmade—Mushroom Curry (Quick & Easy Indian Cooking, p79*). Since I've made a lot of use of this book over the years, It's hard to know why this particular recipe has never gotten made, but this certainly won't be the last time it's served. Like most of the recipes from this book, it's a way of getting a tasty meal on the table in pretty short time. Once everything is prepped it takes less than ten minutes to finish off the dish.

You begin by buzzing up a paste of ginger, onion, garlic, and water in your blender. Chunk up the 'shrooms, gather the other ingredients (yogurt, tomato paste, ground coriander, salt, and cayenne), and you're ready to go. 

Like many of Jaffrey recipes, this one calls for what I think was too much way too much oil. Cutting it by half worked fine. You need just enough oil to coat the bottom of the skillet. 

First you sauté the mushrooms for a couple of minutes until they no longer look raw, then put them aside. (I put them back on the plate where I'd piled the cut mushroom.) Wipe out the skillet, add a bit more oil, then fry up the ginger-onion-garlic paste. When that starts to look a bit brownish, stir in a third of the yogurt, fry for 30 seconds; repeat twice to use up the yogurt. Then stir in the tomato paste and fry briefly. Add the coriander, stir, and add water, the reserved mushrooms, salt, and cayenne. (I found the recommended amount of water to be slightly too much. Next time I'd start with about a third less and add enough to make it nicely goopy. 

For a simple meal, I served this over rice, with Gujerati Carrot Salad (Indian Cooking, p170) on the side.

To liven things up, we broke into my second pickle attempt one day early. That's Shoba Ramji's Alimucha Oorga, Lime Pickle (Flavours of India, p211) on the side. It sits on the shelf for a week before using, then into the fridge after two weeks. I made a half recipe of this. It's a vast improvement over my previous pickle attempt. It's maybe not as good as a commercial pickle, but I'll certainly make this again if we run out. The only problem I had was the somewhat unclear instruction to cut the limes into 2-cm pieces. I made 2-cm thick slices, but I think what is really needed is for the limes to be very coarsely chopped. In the end, I did a little remedial chopping up after it had cooked. Good stuff, this one.

This post is shared with this week's I Heart Cooking Clubs.

*This recipe can also be found in 100 Essential Curries, p136. This little book seems to be a collection of recipes from other Jaffrey books, but no reference is given to the sources. I recognize many of them from my other books.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/5-Nov-12: Geen zin in het koken vandag, i.e., I didn't feel like cooking. Dinner was Omelette Soufflée aux Courgettes (VPG), which was good enough, but nothing special. Served with Haricots Verts in Walnut Oil (Lunch, p216, MC, now HandyBook). Very good, as always. We didn't eat all of them, so they will appear elsewhere in the next days. Then a big salad, including some of the roasted cauliflower.

Tuesday/6-Nov-12: Started up Lime Pickle (Shoba Ramji's Alimucha Oorga) (MJFlavs, p211) today. Licking the spoon leads me to believe this is better than the green chili pickle.

Dinner was Cheesy Broccoli Quinoa (web). This is meant as four side servings, but I thought it would do perfectly well as a main. And it did. Tasty, but a bit plain. Then an Easy Berry Cobbler (MC, HandyBook) with frozen blueberries. Served with vanilla ice cream. Yum. Blueberries aren't very pretty, but sure taste good.

Wednesday/7-Nov-12: Did the shopping today after my ophthalmologist appointment, while Ed took advantage of our little sunny spell to work on the new woodshed. Not much impulse buying.

Bought some salmon for Baked Fish with Kumquats and Ginger (Uncommon, p273), using the kumquats I found shopping with BIll. Love this easy recipe, one of the few I've made from this book, but this one repeatedly. Some trio rice and some steamed broccoli. Then we finished off the blueberry cobbler with some vanilla ice cream.

Thursday/8-Nov-12: The latest issue of Vie Practique Gourmand (which is now, I see, calling itself just Gourmand) has an article with 30 best recipes for hamburgers, many of which can't be picked up to be eaten. Quite a few use what look like soft American-style hamburger buns, which I've never seen in the shops. There are burgers that are French (including foie gras), British (cod instead of hamburger), island (shrimp and pineapple), provençale (eggplant, fennel, olives), Greek (vegetarian, in pitas with feta and dried tomatoes), Indian (chicken and Madras curry powder), Thai (lamb, lemongrass, and tomato sauce), etc. The American version is a double cheeseburger with bacon, including what looks whole lot like Kraft American cheese; the ingredients just say slices of cheese, without even suggesting what kind of cheese to use. The "country burger" (in English, just like that) has a sunny-side-up egg on it. The oddest must be the tomato burger, where the bun is replaced by a large tomato, sliced in half at the equator, with a fat hamburger patty and more of the unspecified cheese slices.

There was Creamy Fettuccine with Brussels Sprouts & Mushrooms (web) for dinner. Used my mushroom-flavored chantarelle-shaped pasta instead of fettuccine. Nothing special. Roasted Brussels sprouts work, sautéed don't. Then a salad. Then small slices of store-bought hazelnut cake with a dab of vanilla ice cream.

Yogurt on overnight, with a new starter, since the last batch had some green bits in it, probably parsley bits that didn't get rinsed from the whisk. Or something.

Friday/9-Nov-12: Dinner was a half dose of Rabbit in Mustard Sauce (Essential, p466; cookbooker), quite good. Served with a whole dose of Spaetzle (MW@Home, p203) which was really too much, but was nice anyhow. Then a salad. No room for dessert.

Saturday/10-Nov-12: It was a half dose of Leek & Porcini Pappardelle (JamieMag) for dinner, and, yes, with fresh pasta, tagliatelle instead of pappardelle. Then a salad. No dessert. Especially since I ate a package of corn chips while I was making pasta.

Sunday/11-Nov-12: Remembrance Day or Veterans' Day, we went to the memorial service at our commune, then to a remembrance day lunch at our local ferme-auberge. Not even thinking of looking at food this evening.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes, #2 BREAD: no, #3 SOUP: no, #4 MIDDAY: yes, #5 VEG/FISH: 5
This month: #6 PASTA: yes

IHCC: Everything's Better with Yogurt

Oh boy, I thought, it's time for yogurt with Madhur Jaffrey! I've had my eye on a yogurt-containing recipe for a good long time and this would have been a good time to find my Round Tuit. But, no, that recipe will still have to wait for another day. We've had company and been busy with events and meals and this and that, and the hecticity continues into the weekend. Thursday was the first time we've eaten at home alone in two weeks. We were both looking forward to something light, and, because we were out for a concert afterwards, it couldn't be too time-consuming. 

Searching my Jaffrey books, I found a recipe for Sweet and Sour Chick Pea Flour Soup (MJFlavs, p79) in one of the books I've recently bought second-hand. It's really easy to make and tastes delicious. 

For the soup base, you whiz together yogurt and chickpea flour (besan), then add water, ginger, chilies, and coriander leaves (cilantro). Moving to the soup pot, you brown cumin seeds in ghee, then add asafetida, some cinnamon stick, cloves, and bay leaves. Stir in the yogurt mixture with a bit of salt and some sugar, and simmer the soup for 15 minutes.

The headnotes say the soup is usually eaten with rice (I don't think soup is really an Indian concept), so I made some brown basmati rice and piled that on the soup plate before ladling up the soup. (Unfortunately, I discovered this grocery store rice was of the quick-cooking sort and the texture was gummy like Minute Rice tends to be.) 

The soup was very tasty, sour with a bit of sweet, full of spices. I did expect the soup to be a bit thicker than it was. Maybe this was a function of the store-bought yogurt (I usually make my own, but didn't have the time to make enough of it) or maybe it needed a bit more besan. And the dab that was left was a tasty afternoon snack eaten cold.

This post is shared with this week's I Heart Cooking Clubs.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/22-Oct-12: Tonight I made the Incredible Slow Roasted Shoulder of Lamb (web) that I didn't make when Lesley and Toby came to dinner. Pretty darn good. My rosemary plant got a good pruning for this. Served with Clothilde Dusolier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes (MC) and North African Spiced Carrots (MC), which weren't as good as they have been previously. Bill and Ed had some cheese, while I skipped this. Then we finished off the orange chocolate cake topped with some Zucchini Ice Cream, which the cake needed since it was getting pretty dry.

Tuesday/23-Oct-12: Lunched with Bill today before taking him to the train station. Sandwiches and fruit for dinner.

Wednesday/24-Oct-12: Lunch out today. Ate so much delicious food we had nothing for dinner. Definitely didn't shop on an empty stomach afterwards.

Thursday/25-Oct-12: Finally a chance for a light meal. Dinner was Sweet and Sour Chick Pea Flour Soup (MJFlavs, p79), pretty tasty stuff. (This was a post for this week's IHCC.)

Friday/26-Oct-12: Yogurt on overday, with new starter.

Dinner at a quiz this evening, so no further action in the kitchen.

Saturday/27-Oct-12: Nice dinner tonight, a half recipe of Barley Orzotto with Cauliflower and Red Wine (VeryBest, p180)

Sunday/28-Oct-12: Pot of chicken stock simmering on the stove. There were two carcasses and some odd bits in the freezer.

For lunch I mixed the leftover lentils and carrots and dressed them up with a lemon and oil and piment d'Espelette. Made a little vinaigrette for the potatoes and broccoli. These with our usual plate of fruit.

Dinner was Spanish-Style Shrimp with Garlic (Gambas al Ajillo) (VeryBest, p304). My 400g box of shrimp was a bit too much for a half recipe, but used all the spices. It was pretty good. Served with rice and a half recipe of Mediterranean Cucumber and Yogurt Salad (VeryBest, p47), good stuff, like tzatziki. Ed didn't think this went well with the shrimp, but I thought it was fine. Of course, I seem to have gotten a cold, so my opinions might be suspect.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes, #2 BREAD: no, #3 SOUP: yes, #4 MIDDAY: yes, #5 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #6 PASTA: not yet!