This week in the kitchen

Monday/15-Aug-22: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Warm White Bean Salad with Arugula Pesto and Preserved Lemons (Dinner, p240). Tasty stuff.

Tuesday/16-Aug-22: Dinner was a halfish version of Toulouse Sausage Cassoulet (web), using up my freezer stash of Toulouse sausage. Not really a cassoulet, but on that road. Not bad for being so easy. Then a chocolate-covered madeleine each.

Wednesday/17-Aug-22: In the afternoon, I made up some Rustic Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce (VegHarv, p306); used half and froze the rest. Our main was Cumin-Scented Chickpeas with Roasted Eggplant and Rustic Tomato Sauce (VegHarv, p152). This was easy and tasty. I made more or less a whole recipe; it was a good veggie main. We also thought it would be a good side from a bbq or a pot luck dinner perhaps. Then a chocolate-covered madeleine each.

Thursday/18-Aug-22: This was shopping day, so pooped tonight.

Dinner was Tuna with Wine, Vinegar, Tomato, Chile, and Capers (MedHot2, p109). This was okay. Ed thought the sauce was too strong for the tuna, but it was good with the orzo I served as a side. Served with Grilled Pepper Salad with Feta and Cilantro (MedHot2, p92), a nice little salad. It was easy to make and can be put together in steps as other things are happening. I had a yellow bell pepper needing to be used so that stood in place of one of the three red bell peppers asked, making the dish even more colorful. I made a whole recipe, which was really enough for four as a side. Served on sucrine (baby romaine) leaves. Very tasty and pretty. Then, surprise, a chocolate-covered madeleine each.

Friday/19-Aug-22: Dinner was Anchovy Chicken with Lemon and Capers (Dinner, p46). This was a hit. Easy and extra delicious. Served with trio rice and steamed broccoli. Some store-bought riz au laits for after. 

Saturday/20-Aug-22: Ah well, when it got to be the time, I didn't feel like cooking tonight's dinner. Se we had a snacky dinner instead, sliced hams, some cheese, carrots, cucumber, avocado, cherry tomatoes, etc. That's all, and we were full.

Sunday/21-Aug-22: I've been having a bit of a yen for this, so this afternoon, I made a Pineapple Upside Down Cake (web; GD, notes). This turned out yummy. Our main was Broccoli Soup (Monastery, p116) which was good, if mis-named. The tomato paste pretty much overwhelmed the broccoli flavor. Still, quite edible. Then, a double dose of cake each. 

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 PHOTO: no;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 10; #8 NEW: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/9-May-22: For dinner there was a turkey breast roll left from Thanksgiving. I read that turkey reheats best in its gravy. Having none of that, I made a white gravy (chicken stock, cream, and a splash of white wine) which was pretty good after doctoring. Served with spaghettis courts (which isn't really spaghetti) and some fava beans. We were full, so no dessert.

Tuesday/10-May-22: We picked up orders from two Drives today. Intermarché was out of the fish I ordered, but Ed bought some at the little market near our favorite boulangerie. 

Dinner was Thai Fish Cakes with Sweet Chili-Lime Dipping Sauce (web). These were pretty good. Served with brown basmati, and my standard Asian-ish salad, Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts (web). For after we had store-bought yogurt with cream of chestnuts. Tasty dinner.

Wednesday/11-May-22: Barbecue tonight. We had Grilled Chicken with Lemon and Couscous (Diaries, p258), more or less. I used skinless, boneless chicken thighs sprinkled with Penzey's Quebec Beef Spice (also good on chicken). Ed grilled asparagus, eggplant (for the couscous), and the chicken. Tasty dinner. One chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Thursday/12-May-22: Didn't feel like making what was on the plan tonight, so there was an old and easy favorite, Curried Penne with Shrimp (365OneDish, p49), with whole wheat penne. And one chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Friday/13-May-22: Recombobulated the meal plan today when I realized that I'd forgotten to remember than I needed to start tonight's dinner yesterday. Oops.

Tonight we had Easy Mushroom and Black Bean Chilli (web). This was simple and very good. Served with short grain brown rice and a dollop of crème fraîche. We each had a mini Häagen-Dasz ice cream cup for after.

Then I started the sauce for tomorrow night's meal.

Saturday/14-May-22: Dinner was Mushroom, Olive, and Caper Sauce for Pasta (MedHot2, p23) served over casareccia. Then a salad. When we split a strange little sweet that we bought at a market today. The pasta sauce is interesting. It's served cold, or lukewarm by the time it's mixed with pasta, a bit sour from the vinegar, a bit spicy from the peppers, almost a bit too salty from the kalamatas. Still, the effect was nice. Might put some cauliflower in with it for the next round.

Sunday/15-May-22: Dinner was a pot of black beans cooked in two lots of "salty pork-cooking juice" from the freezer. Salty it was. I should have taken just one lot and added that amount of water again. Did discover that a bit of acid (cider vinegar, lime or lemon juice) helps cut the salt). I had a plain yogurt for after to soothe my tastebuds.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: no;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 0; #8 NEW: 3

This week in the kitchen

Monday/24-May-21: Dinner was Boeuf à la Deutsch (Franey, p252), served with the recommended Nouilles au Beurre de Poivre Vert (Franey, p253). These made for a tasty meal. Served with some steamed asparagus, topped with a squeeze of lemon juice and some chopped fermented black beans. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after. (We had the Ricotta Limoncello Cake for lunch.)

Tuesday/25-May-21: I snuck up on the chest freezer today and defrosted it. It's looking like today may be the last of our coolish weather, so it was time to do it. 

Dinner was Quick Garlic Lime Marinated Pork Chops (web), which was ok but nothing special. Served with the last of the marinated carrots, trio rice, and Nigel Slater's Green Beans, Mushrooms, and Dill (web). I see I forgot to add the dill to the mushrooms; this might have given the flavor boost that was needed. And ordinary meal altogether. Some ricotta-limoncello cake for after.

Wednesday/26-May-21: A really blah day. Neither of us felt like doing anything. Neither of us had much appetite. Instead of cooking, I defrosted a bit of spinach pesto and we had that over some whole wheat spaghetti. Strawberries and cream for after.

Thursday/27-May-21: Shopping today. Our first time in a boulangerie since last year when the lockdowns started (March or so); I've only been in the grocery store twice, maybe three times, and tht was last fall. Kind of scary for people who are quite hermit-like by nature. 

And tuna was on sale. So we had Charmoula-Marinated Grilled Tuna (MedHot, p48, MedHot2, p105). Grilled under the broiler. I made all the marinade, so there some in the freezer now. Bought way too much tuna, and neither of us had a big appetite, so one chunk is in the freezer too. As suggested, served with mixed steamed veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, carrots, zucchini) with a lemon vinaigrette. And some Moroccan couscous. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Friday/28-May-21: Dinner was Red Prawn and Mango Curry (web; GD). This wasn't really quick, but was easy. Slice the spring onion, peel and chop the mango, measure the stock, open the bo of coconut milk, and away you go, with a pause while the sweet potatoes cook. Served over brown rice. Some HD mini ice cream cups for after.

Saturday/29-May-21: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was Crab Cakes with Cucumber Relish (web; GD); very yummy and has gone onto the DoMeAgain list. I made about a half recipe of the relish, with have a cuke, but it wanted all the rice vinegar. Served with a side of mafalda topped with Fresh Red Chutney with Almonds (Q&E, p114) from the freezer. (The only pesto type thing in the freezer was more of the spinach pesto we've just had.) This was remarkably good and we have a bit more of the chutney for something in the next days. 

For after there were the rest of the mango chunks from yesterday and cream.

Sunday/30-May-21: Dinner was Whole Chicken Baked with an Almond and Onion Sauce* (MJ@Home, p99). This is super delicious. The yogurt marinating sauce makes for tender, moist chicken bits. As suggested, served with Sweet-and-Sour Eggplant (MJ@Home, p153) and Yellow Basmati Rice with Sesame Seeds (MJ@Home, p208). Everything was delicious. Some plain vanilla tapioca pudding for after.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-Apr-18: Well, it was supposed to be a pasta-making day, but I just didn't feel like it. So we had tagliatelle from the freezer, to make a 3/4-ish version of Pici ai Fegatini di Pollo e Radicchio—Pici with Chicken Livers and Radicchio (Lorenza, p130; cookbooker). Served with a big salad.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/24-Apr-18: Our meal was about a third recipe of Lapin à la Moutarde (SaveurFR, p197), accompanied by steamed broccoli and buckwheat crozets. Nice tastes.

Wednesday/25-Apr-18: Oops, forgot my camera today. For our meal, we had a halfish recipe of Chicken Messina (BirdHand, p113), kind of a poor-man's (or lazy cook's) version of vitello tonnato. Very good it was, nicely poached chicken with a tasty sauce. Served with North African Zucchini or Squash Salad (MedHot2, p87), wherein I forgot to add the chopped mint, and Moroccan couscous. Tasty eating all around.

Thursday/26-Apr-18: Shopping today. I noticed some "vegetable" pasta shapes and bought a couple—some fusilli of chickpeas and corn and some fusilli of red lentils and carrots. We'll see how those are.

Our meal was Cod Steaks in Yogurt (MJInvite, p122), which was good enough, but not a favorite. Served with Rice and Peas with Garam Masala (SpiceKitch, p65) and Salaad (MJ@Home, p235). These both tasty. Some Häagen Dasz ice cream cups for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/27-Apr-18: Lunch at Cath's today. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Saturday/28-Apr-18: Our meal was Chile-Crusted Scallops with Cucumber Salad (web), which was pretty good. The cuke salad was good on its own (more lemon juice, less olive oil than asked) and extra good with the scallops mixed in. Unfortunately the chiles started Ed off on a coughing jag. Served with some of the chickpea fusilli dressed with olive oil, butter, and black pepper. This was quite good.

Yesterday I found the recipe for Soupe Épicée au Chocolat (VPG; web) stuck in a book; made a half recipe for tonight's meal. I used 100g of 85% chocolate and 50g or 70% chocolate. Melted these in my double boiler. The cream is infused with cardamom pods, a star anise, cinnamon stick, a clove, and some freshly ground pepper. That's strained into the melted chocolate. Pretty tasty.

Sunday/29-Apr-18: Again, it was supposed to be fresh pasta today, but I didn't feel like it, or like I had the time. Used boxed pasta to make Linguine with Lemon, Garlic, and Thyme Mushrooms (at Food52: web; at Nigella's site: web). Good and easy. I've made this before, in June-2014, but collected it again. Worthy of a repeat. Served with roasted asparagus and a big salad. Some of the chocolate "soup," now solidified, with strawberries and cream, which didn't go at all.

Coquelet on to marinate for tomorrow's meal.

Yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Mar-18: Soup for our main meal today. We had Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup (web); the two of us ate a half recipe which should serve three. Quite good and easy. For dessert there was Banana Mousse for Two (HandyBook); no idea where this recipe came from but it's good and fast.

Tuesday/20-Mar-18: Greek today. There were Beef and Rice Meatballs (O&C, p376), with Avgolomeno Sauce (O&C, p475). I made a 3/4-ish recipe with 350g of 5% beef, using brown rice. I've made avgolomeno sauce before. It's one of those custardy kinds of sauce. I found it easier this time than I remembered. It seemed not to set until I turned the heat up just a tad (left front, weakest burner). Served with The Single Vegetable Salad (O&C, p189) using asparagus and the Oil and Lemon version of Greek Salad Dressing (O&C, p190), which is just a lemon vinaigrette (with no mustard). Also some gramigne, a small pasta shape we've become fond of, toss with garlic oil and parsley.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/21-Mar-18: Shopping today. There was some nice-looking tuna (thick and same-thickness) on sale. Bought two huge steaks, tossed both my planned dishes, and found something else. I made Grilled Tuna Marinated in Chermoula (MedHot2, p105; chermoula, p70). I've made the same recipe before from Kremezi's earlier book MedHot (p48), which has 1tbl less olive oil in the chermoula. I did that again. Only used about half of the chermoula, so froze the rest for later use.

I bought a small cabbage today, thinking of a stir-fry accompaniment for Asian-ish fish. In Kremezi, I found a cabbage variation of Orzo "Risotto" with Fresh Favas, Lemon, and Feta (MedHot2, p171). I later realized this is meant as a main course, so we have lots of leftovers there. It was good, though.

Some little store-bought custards for dessert. Chocolate Liegeois. Very good.

Thursday/22-Mar-18: Our meal was Grilled Chili-Lime Chicken (web), cooked under the broiler. Accompanied by Spiced Roasted Potatoes (RealCook, p256) and followed by a salad. I made the salad with Penzey's Sonoran Spice, rather than curry powder, since it seemed a better match for the chicken. This is a really nice, easy way to cook potatoes. We pigged out on chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Friday/23-Mar-18: Leftover Broccoli Meatballs with Garlic-Tomato Sauce for our meal today. Still good, but it wanted quite a bit of salt; I'd forgotten.

Made some Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies from an ancient newspaper clipping. Would have been better in a 8" square rather than a 13"x9" pan. Taste okay, even if thin.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/24-Mar-18: Dinner out tonight. Nothing happened in the kitchen,

Sunday/25-Mar-18: Our meal was Shrimp Pasta with Spinach and Sundried Tomato Cream (web), which was good enough, but nothing special. For dessert I made Mr. Food's Butterscotch Pudding (web). We had tonight's part warm rather than cooled. Easy and tasty. (Who is Mr. Food?)

Munched the chorizo for tomorrow's meal while preparing tonight's dinner. Replan needed.

No looking good for having guests this month. Can't arrange the oomph to organize.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-Dec-13: Yogurt on overday.

Just realized this morning, after spending some time looking for a recipe I'd found on a blog, that Bittman's How to Cook Everything is a franchise, not a single book. Oops.

Argh, why don't I remember to start thinking about holiday menus earlier in the month? Spent more or less all day working out what we might eat for eerste en tweede kerstdagen, plus the rest of the week. Showered in the evening so we can get to the shop early tomorrow.

Dinner was Hard-Boiled Eggs Masala (Q&E, p41). I actually found this recipe on-line and overlooked it in a quick run through my Jaffrey books, but there it is. Easy and fast and yummy. Over rice.

Tuesday/24-Dec-13: Shopping this morning, early for us at 10.00, along with half of the Charente, I think. But they had all the checkouts working so it was fairly quick getting in and out. If you wanted smoked salmon, you were in luck. There's ordinarily quite a good selection, but for the last week, that has overflowed into the bin where they usually keep the discounted, expiring food, a place I always check out. Lots of seafood being bought. I found an expiring (big sale) small pintade that we'll have for tweede kerstdag as a variation on one of my planned choices.

Put the meat for the civet on to marinate for tomorrow in the early afternoon.

Got the xmas tree up today.

Dinner was a half dose of Pasta with Eggplant, Anchovies, Olives, and Capers (H2CE, p136). Used the haberno spaghetti that Jody&Steve bought, which was more like linguine and in pretty short pieces after its travels. Very yummy and spicy in itself. Then a salad. Chocolate with hazelnuts after.

Wednesday/25-Dec-13: Gray, rainy, an windy with some thunderstorms. No snow, but we did have a bit of hagel and a thunderstorm. Nice holiday dinner, with only the two of us. Made some ABM Authentic French Bread with one cup of whole wheat flour to go with.

Thursday/26-Dec-13: Not the fancy dinner I'd planned, but nice enough. For a starter there was a loose version of Salade de Mâche aux Magrets de Canard (web). I used arugula instead of mâche and the basil vinaigrette left from yesterday. It was all good. For the main, there was a loose version of Chicken Stuffed with Rice, Pine Nuts, and Preserved Lemon Slices (MedHot2, p149). One, it was a pintade (guinea hen) instead of a chicken, since those were on sale when we shopped. Two, I didn't want to stuff the bird, so I spatchcocked it and did the rice separately. Three, my yogurt is plain old cow's milk, not sheep, sorry. And my preserved lemons were store-bought, not home-made. The rice turned out rather like a pilaf, quite good. The pintade was also good, although it was only rubbed with yogurt and paprika. For dessert, there was Cranberry Upside-Down Cake (MC 2BTried, apparently from Gourmet mag, Nov94). I reduced the sugar in the topping (or bottoming?) and in the cake itself, but it was good. After four courses yesterday, we couldn't manage the same today, so the nice cheeses are lingering on in the fridge.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/27-Dec-13: An unexpected Jaffrey dinner tonight, all off-plan. Started with Onion Fritters (Q&E, p20), i.e., onion bhaji, accompanied by Fresh Green Chutney (Q&E, p113) using mint from the garden that's hanging on very late into the season. Then a Garlicky Mushroom Masala Omelet (Q&E, p43). That's two eggy dinners this week; guess it's time to watch that a bit.

Saturday/28-Dec-13: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Vegetable Pad Thai (web). I made about two thirds of the sauce for half of the veg. Ish. Non-traditional, but quite good. For a completely non-tradtional finish, there was some St Felicien and Delice du Poitou.

Sunday/29-Dec-13: Dinner was an Asparagus Quiche (MC 2BTried), only vaguely following the recipe. Used the last pie crust from the freezer. Pretty good it was. Then a salad. Then some Lindt dark chocolate Pyreneëns.

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