This week in the kitchen

Monday/7-Dec-20: Baked off my Overnight Bread this morning. I left the kitchen and missed the dinger for taking the lid off; wandered back some time later. Took the lid off to find it nicely browned and nicely done. I thought that taking off the lid was for browning and crisping the crust, but now I'm not sure.

Picked up and order from Leclerc Drive today.

Dinner was a two-thirds-ish recipe of Ragoût d'Ignames—Lamb-and-Yam Stew (TLAfrica, p37). This took some time, but it was easy to do. Tasty, and not at all spicy. Served over some whole-wheat couscous, although I don't suppose that was really necessary. Finished the Crème au Chocolate for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/8-Dec-20: Dinner was, more or less, a halfish recipe of Croquettes de Thon aux Olives (VPG). Can't find this on the web. It's not really croquettes, as I know them, but tuna patties, with ricotta, parmesan, black olives, an egg, and flour. These are breaded, in the usual way, flour, beaten egg, and crunchy bit. Instead of chapelure, I used some crunchy stuff I made up recently (but can't remember what for) and didn't use up. These were pretty good. The veg was carrot, cauliflower, and broccoli with lemon juice and home-made herb salt. Some French "short spaghetti" as a go-with. And a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Wednesday/9-Dec-20: Dinner was Red Pork Curry—Gaeng Ped Muu (ThaiCC, p45). These was easy and good. Having no bamboo shoots on hand, I used zucchini, as suggested. Served with basmati rice and our favorite Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts (HandyBook; web). And a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Thursday/10-Dec-20: Forgot to start Overnight Bread last night, so I made some English Muffin Bread (BMB,  p17). Must have measure the 7/8cup water a bit long; the top is pretty caved in. But tasty.

Caught a mouse in the kitchen today.

This afternoon I added labels for all the breads I've baked this year, at least all the ones I've recorded. Since I know I'm making two or three loaves a week, it's clear I've not written all of them down. This is mostly to satisfy my curiosity about what I've been making.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Sumac Chicken with Cauliflower and Carrots (CL/jan-feb17; web). This was a sheet-pan dinner, easy to do and very tasty. For after we shared a bit of cake we bought at a charity shop this afternoon.

Friday/11-Dec-20: Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today.

We got our "gourmet panier" today from the commune, in lieu of this year's old folks meal. There were several jars of rillettes from a local shop. We opened one of those and snacked as I was cooking.

Dinner was a half recipe of Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salsa (web). Since the pieces we got were of different thicknesses, I baked them in the oven. Easy to make and very tasty. Served with trio rice and Zucchini with Cilantro Sauce (MWLowFat, p335; MC); that's an old favorite that well with the rest of the meal.

Made up the batter for Overnight Bread

Saturday/12-Dec-20: Baked the Overnight Bread.

Roasted a turkey leg today, on the way to making some cornbread stuffing for a meal. 

Dinner was Curried Fried Rice (MW@Home, p226), this time with curry powder rather than a Thai curry paste. An easy and comforting dish. Some HD mini ice cream cups for after.

Sunday/13-Dec-20: Picked the turkey leg this afternoon. The drumstick was pretty done, but the thigh was still pretty red. And I thought it was overdone yesterday. Tomorrow I'll measure and freeze it up in packets for later use.

Dinner was Curried Green Pea Soup (TooMany, p155), complete with turkey bits. This is an old favorite. We had some  rillettes on bread and crackers beforehand, so didn't need dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

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/29-Jul-19: Started with almost an insalata caprese, but with chopped basil from the freezer. Then leftover sauté de veau over courgette tagliatelle (real pasta with courgette incorporated). Then a small salad. We were full, so no dessert.

Tuesday/30-Jul-19: Made up the broth for Almond-Buttermilk Sorbet (VegHarv, p283). We'll see how that is tomorrow.

Dinner was a half recipe of Spicy Cauliflower & Pancetta Spaghetti (EW jan/feb16, web; cookbooker). This was quite good. The cauliflower wanted about twice the time to get done. I used dried pepper flakes rather than a fresh pepper, and all olives; lardons instead of pancetta. Then some Zucchini with Cilantro Sauce (MWLowFat, p335). Then some chocolate-covered corn flakes. We ate well.

Some rumpsteaks for tomorrow on to marinate with half a packet of an ancient fajita marinade.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/31-Jul-19: Ed grilled our marinated "fajitas". Pretty good they were. Serve with some edible, but slightly strange rice made from a mix thing Jody brought us. And some a mix of avocado, cilantro, shallot, and lime juice. And some sautéed green bell pepper and onion. With corn tortillas. For dessert, there was Almond-Buttermilk Sorbet (VegHarv, p283; cookbooker). This was pretty good, but maybe a bit too much lemon juice. We ate well.

Thursday/1-Aug-19: Shopping today.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Escalopes of Salmon with Warm Balsamic Vinaigrette (How2Eat p203). Not sure what a salmon scallop should like like. I had two smallish dos de saumon; the cooking time of 1 minute per side twice (on the grill that came with the stove), was perfect. As a side there was Zucchini in a Yogurt Dressing (SpiceKitch, p58). This is an old favorite; Ed thought it might be good with little potatoes included. Also some orzo. For after, we had some tomme de montagne that was on special today.

Friday/2-Aug-19: Cath and I went to an arty ceramics exhibit today. Interesting, but nothing special. She stayed for dinner. I made some seared magrets following the method in Seared Duck Beast with Espelette Pepper Jelly (VegHarv, p111). No espelette jelly, but the perfect method for cooking duck breasts. Served with spaghetti courts with pesto, and Sautéed Carrots with Sage (web; CL). For dessert we finished off the sorbet, topped with blueberries from the garden.

Saturday/3-Aug-19: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was Grilled Scallops with Avocado Sauce (web). This is one that sounded good, but was only so-so in practice. I used a lot of chicken stock for the polenta and it wasn't very pretty. Then a salad. Then some chocolate-covered cornflakes.

Sunday/4-Aug-19: Dinner was Roasted Cauliflower & Almond Salad (web). This was quite good, but I didn't really make enough. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/25-Apr-16: With Madhur Jaffrey's help, this evening I scratched that Indian food itch while building up Ed's hemoglobin. Dinner was Kheema Matar—Ground Meat with Peas (MJ1, p44) served with Peelay Chaaval—Aromatic Yellow Rice (MJ1, p153) and Pyaz Ka Laccha—Onion Relish (MJ1, p174), followed by Seviyan Ki Kheer—Vermicelli Pudding (MJ1, p192). All was good. I've made the ground meat before, also with beef. It's very easy and has lots of relatively unattended time. The Onion Relish, an old favorite, was a suggested go-with. I thought about making parathas, but made the rice instead. And the Kheer—I think I've finally got it nailed. The trick is to follow her timings precisely. Duh. If you cook it longer, it's still tasty, but is too thick. (Need less sugar than asked, though.) Had a starter of Charentaise melon with pineau, which didn't really fit and is a bit early, but was nice.

Tuesday/26-16: We ate lunch out today and then did a bit of sightseeing near Angoulême. When we got home, we had nibbles for dinner; there were tomatoes and radishes, and pâté, cheese, and ham with cornichons. That was all.

Wednesday/27-Apr-16: Made apple butter.

Tonight Ed's trying out with a new choir that's doing a concert in July. This choir meets on Wednesday evenings, so we'll be having our Wednesday main meal in the daytime for the next couple of months. Today we had Sriracha Lime Chicken Skillet (web) with Zucchini with Cilantro Sauce (MWLowFat, p335) and Coconut Rice (i.e., rice cooked with coconut milk and water). Pretty good all of it. I used bone-in chicken thighs instead of boneless ones for the "skillet"; this was fine. A bit of cheese for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/28-Apr-16: There was an earthquake in La Rochelle this morning, +/-5.0 depending what you read. Bill said he thought he might have felt it while I was in the shower. Shortly after that, I was sitting at the computer and an empty box fell off its perch; I thought it was Sophie (who routinely knocks thing off their perches), but she, but she wasn't there.

I went to the butcher to get beef for tonight's dinner and to the boulanger (who was actually at the butcher's when I got there) to get bread and croissants. While we all went to Montbron for the afternoon, I left Aiguillettes de Boeuf aux Oignons (VPG, web) in a low oven. Leaving Ed at choir practice, Bill and I did a little sightseeing then stopped for tea and coffee at a local shop. Then we picked Ed up and came home to find the house smelling quite delicious. Served the beef with smashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. The beef was so-so, somehow drier than expected. For dessert, some magnums of various sorts.

Friday/29-Apr-16: We had lunch out before we took Bill to the train. Then we did our shopping. As long as Ed is in the extra choir, it looks like Friday will be our shopping day. Surprisingly it has been unexpectedly uncrowded.

Ed mowed today, and discovered that the tomatoes and eggplants we set out last week have all died. (Unhappy face.) They were looking very happy just two days ago. Maybe they froze. We had a night that went down to 1C near the house; maybe it was colder down below. There are no more organic ones to be ordered. Searching for regular ones.

Only fruit needed this evening.

Saturday/30-Apr-16: Dinner was Herbed Salmon with Garlic Cream Sauce (30MinCook, p118), with trio rice and steamed/grilled broccoli. This is a really nice way to make salmon; not the first time I've made it. For dessert, the end of the kheer.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/1-May-16: Ed found Sophie this morning with a gaping hole under her left front leg, so off to the vet with her. (Could be an ex-abscess, but it's hard to think we'd have missed just a big one.) Then on to Montbron to hear a friend's band playing. Looked for the bric-à-brac that was supposed to be there too. For the second time we couldn't find it. Drove all over the place and can't figure out where they hide these things. No signs to help. A Montbron weirdness.

For dinner, I used up the last of the thawed lamb with Lamb in Spiced Gravy (30MinCook, p179), made with less lamb this time and less water/stock. Really tasty. Served over/next to Indian Mashed Potatoes (Q&E, p50), an old favorite. For dessert, I made some vanilla pudding from my mother's pie filling/pudding recipe. (They're the same except the pie filling uses three egg yolks—the whites are for meringue—while the pudding uses one whole egg.) Made with sucre de canne (brown sugar), so the taste was good, but the color is a bit odd. Served with some sliced strawberries.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 1
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 BREAD: no; #5 FotW: no for April/half-May

This week in the kitchen

Monday/21-Oct-13: Worked a bit on the menu plan today; there are just too many good things to cook and not enough time to make them all.

Made a Pear and Chestnut Cake (Dusoulier2, p143) during the day.

For dinner I grilled the ostrich sausges that we got at a marché des producteurs in the summer. Served with polenta and the leftover broccoli and kumquat salad. Then a big salad. Then some yummy pear cake.

Tuesday/22-Oct-13: Yogurt on overday.

Picked the meat of the remaining half roasted chicken and made (more or less) Vietnamese Chicken Sandwiches (CL jan/feb13; web); serve on some oval pitas. Pretty tasty. For dessert we split a Magnum classic.

Wednesday/23-Oct-13: Shopping day. Dinner was Fish and Broccoli Pie (web; cookbooker). Quite good it was. With a salad.

BTW, it's looking like cookbooker may die. Possibly it will be taken over by a user cooperative. Or not. Sad. We'll see.

Thursday/24-Oct-13: Dinner was Grilled Chicken with Lemongrass and Turmeric (MC; web). Served with Asian Cucumber Condiment (MC; MWLowFat, p367), some garlicky spicy broccoli, and rice. The chicken was good, as was the cuke dish, which I haven't made it quite a while. We split a Magnum classic for dessert.

Friday/25-Oct-13: Chicken Fried Rice (web; cookbooker) for dinner. Pretty good it was too. I essentially made a whole recipe with half the meat. We had some chocolate and almond squares for dessert.

Saturday/26-Oct-13: Yogurt on overday.

Tonight was a half recipe of Salmon Cakes with Old Bay Aioli (web*). Pretty good but more like hash than cakes—I just don't have the patty knack. For go-withs, there was a grated broccoli stem salad (with carrots, a bit of onion, chopped walnuts, and raisins) and a bit of pasta.

Hooray, it's fall-back night tonight!

* The recipe is actually from Family Circle, but you have to sign up to the site to see the recipe. Sorry, no.

Sunday/27-Oct-13: Twas time for the annual Old Folks dinner in Mazerolles today, aperitif, five courses, including an entremet. We're stuffed, and both have a headache. Did we drink too much wine perhaps? Or maybe it was the mix of pineau, white wine, red wine, calvados in the entremet (kiwi sorbet), and champagne. Early to bed with us tonight.

Vie Pratique Gourmand, the only French cooking mag I subscribe to, has been having a feature in each issue where they give you 20 or so ideas for things to do with a certain foodstuff. This week was cookies. Some possibly good, quickie desserts, including cakes made from cookies. Some weird ideas.

Been a chicken-y week, hasn't it?

Progress on goals
This week: #1 IHCC/COOKBOOKS: yes (although this is probably the last time Dusolier2 will qualify as seldom used), #2 VEG/FISH: 2
This month: #3 PASTA: yes, #4 BREAD: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/3-Dec-12: What a gray and gloomy day! Simple dinner, a half dose of Conchiglie Salmone e Piselli e Formaggi Caprini (web) and a salad. Used orecchetti because there isn't any conchiglie in the house. Oh well.

Tuesday/4-Dec-12: Warmed up the roast chicken; served with (yet again) Haricots Verts in Walnut Oil (Lunch, p216, MC, now HandyBook) and mushroom pasta. For dessert with did a taste-testing of four fair trade chocolate bars (one square each). Our favorite was the 70% one from Nicaragua.

Wednesday/5-Dec-12: Shopping today. Had an Asian itch, so dinner was Spicy Fish Cakes (MC), a vaguely Thai dish. Accompanied by Fragrant Jasmine Rice (MWLowFat, p189) and Zucchini with Cilantro Sauce (MWLowfat, p335). For dessert there was a bit of Pineapple Buttermilk Sherbert (MWLowFat, p394), that I made late last summer when I opened a can of what turned out to be crushed pineapple. All stuff we've had before, but good.

Thursday/6-Dec-12: Tonight's dinner was for IHCC's potluck theme. There was Chickpea Flour Stew with Dumplings (TasteIndia, p42) over plain basmati rice, served with Tangy Green Beans with Ajwain and Ginger (SpiceKitch, p38). Yum.

Friday/7-Dec-12: Today's lunch date fell through so we had an unplanned dinner, but one I'd already been thinking it was time for—our annual Dutch zuurkool stamppot. That's sauerkraut mashed with potatoes and topped with a smoked sausage. Comfort food. Another chocolate taste-testing for afters.

Saturday/8-Dec-12: Oops, neglected to notice that dinner wanted two and a half hours in the oven. Replan on order. So it was a half dose version of Poor-Cousin Paella (Secrets, p249). This recipe is good for using up odd bits of things. (That's why it's in the leftovers chapter, "The Squirrel Complex.") There were some small frozen cooked shrimp, the last frozen squid body, some store-bought chorizo (a good brand this time), with peas and artichoke bottoms, and jazzed up with some chipotle powder. Good stuff. Then a salad. Have enough paella left for lunch or a side dish perhaps.

Sunday/9-Dec-12: Dinner was Fall-Apart Lamb Braised with Mustard and Mint (web), with three of the four lamb shanks asked. The meat from the third one will show up in dinner in a couple of days. Good stuff it was. There was no mint in the store and certainly none in the garden, so I sprinkled on some dried spearmint, but can't say I noticed the flavor. Served with smashed potatoes and peas-and-carrots. Double-chocolate mini Magnums for afters, although it wasn't really needed.

Yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/17-Sep-12: No bread in the house. Popped some Authentic French Bread in the ABM this morning when I got up.

Almost out of herb salt, so made a double dose of Herb Salt (Art, p172). Used maldon salt this time; wonder if we can tell the difference?

Froze up the Buttermilk Pineapple Sherbert. Tasty. Think I like this one better than Ed, unfortunately. 

Leftover Tamale Pie for dinner. And a salad. And some Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

Tuesday/18-Sep-12: Yogurt on overday. Shopping today. Found pineapple slices (big can) and chunks in juice—which seems to be a fairly new concept here.

For dinner, there was a half dose of Fish with Pineapple Chutney (MWLowFat, p292), making a dent in the leftover pineapple chunks. I blitzed the chutney with the staff mixer; it would have been better to use the food processor to keep more texture. Oh well. Side was a very loose version of Golden Basmati Rice (MWLowFat, p185), golden with turmeric and grated carrots. Ed suggested adding forgotten peas from Sunday's chicken salad, which was a good idea except that I threw them in at the beginning instead of letting them steam atop the rice at the end. They were kind of olive, rather than kelly, green in the end.

Wednesday/19-Sep-12: Dinner was a half dose of Warm Lentil Salad with Goat Cheese (VeryBest, p44). It was tasty enough, but not really successful, I think. Hard to serve it attractively, and I think it would have been better tepid, but then how do you melt the cheese?

Used up Barbara's mirabelles to make another clafoutis from the web. Good it was. Made a half recipe, thinking we'd have it for two nights, but we ended up eating it all.

Ed kept hearing drip drip drip in the kitchen. (Me not hear.) At lunch he couldn't locate it. At dinner, he found it—the little water heater that provides hot water for the kitchen and the Tardis is leaking badly. Guess it's rusted out as these things do. :-( Finished up the dinner dishes and turned off the water outside. That means no water in the toilet in our bedroom also.

Thursday/20-Sep-12: Ed went out looking for a new water heater this morning, found one, did some preparatory work, went off to choir practice, came home, and installed the new thing. It's bigger than the old one, which means we'll have more hot water, but we also lose space for (at least) four mugs. Meanwhile, I washed breakfast and lunch dishes in the bathroom sink.

To console ourselves, we went out to dinner. Also it was the 30-year anniversary of when we arrived in the Netherlands and ended up staying forever.

Friday/21-Sep-12: Pineapple Fried Rice (MC) tonight, with shrimp rather than scallops, which are prettier. Finished off the last of the pineapple chunks, Got everything ready while Ed was out, then assembled quickly. And forgot to add the fish sauce, soy sauce, and cashews at the end. Oh well, it was good, better than last time because I actually had trassi (shrimp paste) around. One day I'll get this recipe right.

Saturday/22-Sep-12: For dinner there was a more or less half recipe of Spicy South Indian Cauliflower (VeryBest, p131; cookbooker), wherein we learn that an average-sized European cauliflower is about 75% bigger than an American one. (Mine was 3.5# vs 1.5-2# specified.) Not bad. Served with rice. And an oh-so-healthy dessert, providing protein and veg, Carrot Pudding with Cardamom and Pistachios (Gajar ki Kheer) (Sahni1, p456; cookbooker).

Sunday/23-Sep-12: Dinner was a half dose of Spicy Tunisian Carrot Frittata (VeryBest, p244), This was quite nice, my most successful frittata to date, maybe because of the cast iron skillet. Served with a big salad. Then double chocolate mini Magnums for dessert.

Thunderstorms forecast (and happening) overnight, so all computers unplugged.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes, #2 BREAD: yes, #3 SOUP: no, #4 MIDDAY: no, #5 VEG/FISH: 6
This month: #6 PASTA: no (it's on the menu plan, but just doesn't get done)

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Sep-12: A late start to the morning, a visit with neighbors on a Pogo walk, and the day just flew. It got too late to make what was on the plan, so I made, embroidered a little, Black Bean Salad Santa Fe (365Veg, p54).

Today I finished off the bread I started last night (and forgot to note). This was Jim Lahey's now famous No-Knead Bread. I had the recipe from my friend Sam, but it's also all over the web, starting at the NY Times in November 2006.

Tuesday/11-Sep-12: Shopped this afternoon. No broccoli to be found, but lots of romaine, big and little, that wasn't there last week.

Dinner was a half recipe of Lemon Sole with Chipotle & Ancho Chilli Recado (Jamie, jul11), with panga. It's to be served with a Chunky Avocado & Cherry Tomato Salad (Jamie, jul11). And I added some trio rice to complete the plate. All was good. and easy enough. Double chocolate mini Magnums for after.

Wednesday/12-Sep-12: Dinner was Tom's Brick Chicken (CastIron, p63), a super way to cook a spatchcocked chicken! Very tender and moist. Served with Clotilde Dusolier's Perfect Roast Potatoes and some grilled eggplant from Barbara's garden. Double chocolate mini Magnums for after. (We're getting boring here.)

Thursday/13-Sep-12: Yogurt on overday. Lunch with the Ladies That Lunch; carrot sticks for dinner.

Friday/14-Sep-12: For dinner, there was Tamale Pie (OldLaurel, p299; NewLaurel, p307). Used black beans (rather than pinto or kidney) and tarted it up a bit with some ground oregano and chipotle powder. Pretty tasty stuff, really, if not all that tamale-ish. Then a salad. Then some more of those double chocolate mini Magnums. The dessert chef is really not doing her work around here!

The mobile boulanger is on vacation for a couple of weeks. A mobile epicier (a grocery store on wheels) came around late this afternoon and the neighborhood was out buying bread. Nobody was clear when he would come again. It seems like he may only come only once a week, whereas the regular boulanger comes four times.

Saturday/15-Sep-12: Off to Limoges for a forgettable (Groupon) lunch. Nothing happening in the kitchen.

Sunday/16-Sep-12: Yogurt on overday.

Lots of work in the kitchen today. A bit of stale bread became Croutons (Art, p173). I used olive oil rather than butter. Into the freezer with those.

Cleaning pantry shelves turned up some cans of fruit that ought to be used. Pineapple first, then peaches. Skillet or Upside Down Cake (Joy, p607). The sugar didn't want to melt completely in the skillet, but that didn't matter much in the end. I opened a flat can of pineapple slices; they didn't cover the bottom of the skillet, so I opened another flat can. Oops, that was crushed pineapple. I forgot we found this last time we were in the Netherlands. So I filled the skillet with pineapple chunks from another expired can. This recipe uses lots of bowls (which seems odd for an upside down cake cooked in a skillet). Trying to shortcut this, I made rather a mess of the dough part, but it worked OK in the end. 

Then I used the end of my buttermilk, the opened crushed pineapple, and some of the chunks to make the broth for Pineapple Buttermilk Sherbert (MWLowFat, p394).

Dinner was, more or less, Curried Chicken Salad (Rosie, p34), using the remains of the brick chicken. No red cabbage shreds, which I expected, but I forgot to add the defrosted peas. Oh well. They'll turn up in something next week.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/20-Jun-11: Yogurt on overday.

Barbecue dinner started with broiled artichoke bottoms, green tapenade, and goat cheese. Then there was Lemon Pepper Chicken (MC), thighs that had been marinating overnight. Then there was Zucchini with Cilantro Sauce (MWLowFat, p335) and Rice and Bulgur Pilaf (MC). The pilaf was good in spite of the fact that I was out of brown rice—I remember that we went to buy some, only to find the shop closed, to re-open shortly with a under new owner, then it seems to have gotten lost from the list. Oops. For dessert there I made some vanilla ice cream with raspberries.

Tuesday/21-Jun-11: We all had lunch today at Le Terminus in Angoulême, a lovely fishy restaurant across from the station. Then we walked them across the street and saw them off to Charles de Gaulle airport for their trip back to Houston. Nice visit, sad to see them go.

Wednesday/22-Jun-11: A fruitless trip to Bordeaux today, harumph. Dinner was a repeat, Spaghetti all'Amatricia with Eggplant (MedHot, p77), still good. Followed by a simple salad. Then some mini-charlottes with red fruit from the boulanger where we got bread this afternoon.

Thursday/23-Jun-11: Missed the window for an early meal today, and no time to eat between Ed's return from choir practice and a bit of grocery shopping and my going off for line dancing. So, I defrosted the Slow Cooker Carnitas that I froze with the cooking juice and the remains of a corn salad. I had some creative ideas in mind when I froze it all, but ended up just warming it up and plopping it on the table. Tasty, but the cooking juice was a bit too salty. Served with on avocado's worth of guacamole. With a seeded and chopped tomato included. Lekker!

Friday/24-Jun-11: Lunched at a restaurant with friends today. Tonight we had fruit and finished off some goat cheese.

Saturday/25-Jun-11: Yogurt on overday, but it got a late start (I forgot to push the start button) and was turned off for a while while Ed did some handiwork in the area. Will put it in the fridge as late as possible tonight, but wonder how it will turn out.

Had our main meal mid-afternoon today. Ed brought home two nice Label Rouge chickies on sale yesterday; both big guys, one's in the freezer, the other I used for Chicken Tagine with Olives, Zucchini, and Honey (C&B, p203; cookbooker), a variation on Chicken Tagine with Olives and Lemon. The recipe calls for chicken thighs, but the intro says you can substitute a whole, cut-up chicken, while reducing the cooking time so as not to dry out the breast parts. (It also says to discard the wings, but I left the first joint of the wing on the upper half of each breast bit, since it's fairly meaty and Ed likes this bit. It's all going in the stockpot in a few days, so nothing will go to waste.) I was a bit puzzled why, if it takes 75 minutes to cook 8 thighs, it takes only 45 minutes to cook 8 parts of the whole bird. So I ignored the timing, and indeed the breasts were a bit dry, but the thighs and legs were gorgeous. I would not use a whole bird (or, rather, mixed white/dark meat) for this again. This is the kind of recipe where you can let it cook away for quite a while and it seems silly to worry about the time for the sake of the white meat, when the dark meat takes so much better to this kind of treatment. (The recipe also says that you can replace the lemon peel with preserved lemon, but it's too early for that. My lemons are still preserving themselves.)

For a starter, I mixed the leftover Rice and Bulgur Pilaf with lots of lemon juice (it needed more than I expected) and a dab of olive oil, plus a coarsely grated carrot and some chopped cuke and a goodly dash of ras el-hanout. This was quite tasty.

Sunday/26-Jun-11: It's getting close to 100F here today (and should go over tomorrow), so it was a cold lunch today. I used some surimi to make a cold crab-like salad loosely following a loose recipe from EAT-L (dressing of mayo, lemon juice, dijon mustard, old bay, celery seed). Steamed some zucchini chunks to give it some color and vegetable matter. Served over mixed lettuce. Pretty tasty. For dessert we had some popsicle sticks from the news sacks. There must be a knack for getting into them that I haven't got yet. Tasted nice anyhow.

Neither of us wanted to go out in the heat to the boulanger, so I've got out the bread machine and put together some Whole Wheat with Bran (BigGerman, p81) (WW/Rapid/Med/—).

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/4-Apr-11: We went to a quiz dinner tonight, so nothing much on in the kitchen. Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/5-Apr-11: Seemed to be in the kitchen all day today, although I wasn't really. Lunch was Leek and Onion Potato Tart (MC), which took a lot longer to make than I remembered. The base of this tart is potatoes mashed with an egg and some ricotta, a nice variation. While it was in the oven I found a ripe tomato and made a couple of insalatas caprese with a ball of mozzarella that was wanting to be used up and some basil leaves. Unfortunately the tomato, although quite pretty and ripe, was tasteless. Then a mâche-roquette salad.

After lunch I made a loaf of Pumpkin Cranberry Bread (MC) with the cranberries that have been hiding in the crisper for quite a while. We'll probably manage to eat this all in two sittings. Good stuff.

Wednesday/6-Apr-11: Oh my, the weather has turned to summer, almost 30C outside! Off for shopping in the early afternoon after a long morning dogwalk with neighbors. After the walk we had tea and pumpkin cranberry bread in the shade outside.

Shopping, I bought some halibut and made a Thai-ish dinner with yellow curry paste, the end of the coconut milk, some broccoli, and some onion. Served over rice. Not bad at all. Accompanied by a half dose of Asian Cucumber Condiment (MWLowFat, p367), an old favorite, really tasty with minimum effort. For dessert there was vanilla ice cream with mango slices and the last bits of the pumpkin cranberry breads, which all went together quite well.

Thursday/7-Apr-11: For our midday meal, we had the leftover Leek and Onion Potato Tart reheated. Served with it Broccoli Slaw with it, loosely following Smitten Kitchen's recipe. Ended with a bit of Pont d'Eveque.

Have to share a recipe I found in Essential this morning:

Club Sandwich Original recipe Go to the club. Drink six toasts. Eat a slice of meat. Drink six more toasts. NYTimes on January 13, 1907

Friday/8-Apr-11: No cooking today. Dinner with the choir at La Bellone after the service.

Saturday/9-Apr-11: Before the loto evening, I made an Asparagus Strudel (from a recipe collected who knows where, before I started recording where I collected them). It was an interesting idea, but a poorly written recipe and wasn't entirely successful. It did come with a nice sauce, the same thing, very simple, I've made several times, yogurt with chopped fresh mint, salt, and freshly ground pepper. Served with a salad.

Sunday/10-Apr-11: After our walk I made Chocolate Poundcake (an old magazine clipping). Yesterday I got some turkey scallops out of the freezer for tonight's dinner. Oops, there were two chicken thighs instead. Deboned them and made up dinner a pasta dinner with some broccoli and mushrooms. Not bad.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: yes, #2 SOUP: nope, #3 MIDDAY: yes
This month: #4 PASTA: not yet

This week in the kitchen

Monday/18-Oct-10: Made a Coffee Coffeecake (MC) during the day, at Ed's suggestion to give a treat to Adrian and Andy (who are putting a new roof on the "tower" part of the house).

Dinner was Tortellini with Parma Ham in Cream Sauce (MC), using frozen cêpe-ricotta ravioli. Not bad. A salad with the last of the lettuce. Really have to shop in the morning, although I don't have a list near ready.

Tuesday/19-Oct-10: Shopped this morning; we were the last people out as they closed at 12.30. Bought pears for the Cooking Italy pear tart, but they're pretty hard and will have to wait a few days. Dinner was this week's Cooking Italy assignment, Chicken Fricassee with Porcini Mushrooms, White Wine, and Tomatoes. I served this with polenta and Shredded Zucchini (MW@Home, p87). Nice dinner. No dessert since we finished off the coffeecake for lunch; Adrian and Andy helped, of course.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/20-Oct-10: In the afternoon, I made two batches of pâte brisée, so the freezer is stocked now. Managed to turn the flour canister onto the floor. Luckily it was almost empty and landed very cleanly upside down, so the mess was minimal.

Dinner was Home-Style Stir-Fried Scallops with Fragrant Shrimp Paste (HomFamily, p87), made with panga chunks instead of scallops and tasty anyway. Accompanied by (too much) Asparagus Stir-Fry with Black Bean Sauce (MC). (Not sure what will become of these leftovers? Filling an omelette perhaps?) A half dose of Asian Cucumber Condiment on the side (MWLowFat, p367), a refreshing sour-sweet taste. And lots of rice. The house smelled like a good Chinese restaurant when Pogo and I returned from an evening walk.

Thursday/21-Oct-10: Did not feel like cooking this evening (after ironing and vacuuming all day). It's pizza night in L'Arbre; called, but got a message they're off sick this week. Ed went to the Italian in Montbron to pick up pizzas; they're closed on Thursdays. The gods want us to eat at home. Warmed up the chicken fricassee and made a salad. Sigh.

Friday/22-Oct 10: Picked up Jeannie, then Jack, at the Angoulême train station today. Lunched in Angoulême. In the evening we ate carrot sticks and cheese and drank wine. For afters we shared a chocolate meringue thing I bought in Angoulême.

Saturday/21-Oct-10: In the afternoon, I made A Farm Wife’s Fresh Pear Tart for Cooking Italy today. Easy and yum.

Another very nice dinner at La Bellone tonight.

Sunday/22-Oct-10: We all finished off the pear tart for breakfast, along with croissants (a company treat) fresh from the boulanger. (On the way to the boulanger, I scared up four deer at the side of the road.) Took Jack and Jeannie off to catch a train; we ate sandwiches at the station.

For dinner, I made an omelette with the leftover asparagus for a filling. And a salad of mâche. And the unfinished bits of cheese from Friday. And one Letuffe chocolate-covered cherry.

Yogurt on overnight.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/4-Oct-10: Dinner tonight at the quiz in Ambernac. Nothing much happening in our kitchen.

Tuesday/5-Oct-10: An easy, old stand-by dinner tonight, Lentils with Garlic and Onion (MJ1, p125) and Simple Buttery Rice with Onion (MJ1, p149). Cooked the lentils in the pressure cooker and they come out about the same time as the rice.

Wednesday/6-Oct-10: Kept trying to get some pâte brisée made today, but never got it done. Lunch was Curried Red Lentil Soup with Lemon, a recipe from a VegTimes newsletter, I think. It wasn't bad, but nothing special. I'm always puzzled by recipes that cook red lentils for 40 minutes until they're soft. After 40 minutes, the red lentils I get (really orange, turning mustard yellow) are mush, not much is left that's recognizably a lentil. The soup was good enough, but nothing special, not a bit of fat it in, except for the chicken stock I used instead of the vegetable broth.

My attention was not on food today. Dinner was an old favorite, Spaghetti with Zucchini and Lemon (MW@Home, p195). And a bit salad. We were piggies after and ate a whole box of scholiertjes, petit ecoliers. Oink, oink.

Oops, nobody went to the boulanger today. Made Authentic French Bread (Magic, p22) overnight, about the only bread I can do out of my head.

Thursday/7-Oct-10: Shopped this morning. Dinner was Southeast Asian Fish Rolls (MWLowFat, p294), with panga and the last of last week's coriander. (Panga filets seem to be bigger here that they were in NL, so I made all the filling for the two filets and it was fine.) Accompanied by a a quarter recipe of Fragrant Jasmine Rice (MWLowFat, p189), which was more than enough for two; used a whole round, red pepper I bought at a market, which made it quite spicy. Also accompanied by Chow Dau Kok aka Quick Fried Long Beans (Solomon1, p413). Used frozen haricots verts in place of kousebanden, which I've never seen here. Made a small half of a recipe to serve 4, which was still a bit too much. Did discover that it's much easier to snap frozen beans to the proper length, than to cut the defrosted ones with a knife. For dessert there was a bit of ice cream, topped with a pineapple ring (left from the rice).

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/8-Oct 10: Ed's choir sang at the church this evening. He brought home fish and chips, a bit soggy by the time it got home, but pretty good anyhow. A pair of store-bought chocolate chip cookes each for dessert. These were surprisingly good (new brand).

Saturday/9-Oct-10: Made a double batch of Apple-Plum Butter today. Used our "found" apples, mostly quite small, so I used two of these apple required. Lots of peeling. And the plums, plucked from the same bin at the store, were two different kinds, red skins with red insides and red skins with yellow insides. Oh well. Accidentally added ground cloves instead of nutmeg; scooped it out, but a bit remained. Doesn't seem to have affect the taste too badly. I left the lid off the Dutch oven for part of the final boiling and, boy, did that make a mess!

Dinner was a half version of Spaghetti with Cauliflower and Pancetta (30MinPasta, p142). This was quite good, easy, and definitely in under 30 minutes. I like the time-saving features: the cauliflower cooked whole in the soon-to-be pasta water (which seemed to be less messy when chopped than chopping it raw), and dumping the garlic, pancetta, pepper flakes, and oil in the skillet before lighting the fire. Why not? Used all of pepper flakes, though, which was nice. Served with a big salad. Finished off the chocolate chip cookies for afters.

Sunday/10-Oct-10: We lunched at the Fête du Pain in Cruzeau today. Too much fatty food (big chunks of pâté and rillettes for a starter, grilled pork, potato chips, and cheese) and neither of us feels like eating much tonight.

The Cooking Italy group is mightily silent. The October schedule has still not been published. No one has made the duck think from September. I've got the duck legs in the freezer, but haven't felt like making it. Maybe everyone has the don't-feel-like-cooking malaise. I bumped into a similar sort of group doing French cooking, but they're cooking from a book I don't recognize, and I really don't need another cookbook, now, do I?