This week in the kitchen

Monday/11-Mon-22: Dinner was Indian Potato Salad with Cilantro Omelet (SimpSups, p106; cookbooker). I made a half recipe of the (very delicious) potato salad and a 3-egg omelet for the two of us. As suggested, I served with Red Lentil Soup with Greens (SimpSups, p121; cookbooker); this was also good, but needed quite a bit more water to make is somewhat soup-like. All was good. (Ed took a picture, but it got lost in iPhoneland.)

Tuesday/12-Mon-22: Dinner was Pinchos Morunos—Moorish Skewered Meat. (This is a printout. I can't find a PDF for the recipe. No idea where it came from.) But it was good. Served with Grilled Red Pepper Strips with Pomegranate and Cumin (EastMed, p154), a nice salad I've made before. This used up half a yellow bell pepper plus a whole and a half red bell pepper. (Still have a lot of red ones in the fridge.) And some store-bought Moroccan couscous.

Wednesday/13-Mon-22: We got shopping from both Drives today. Our favorite boulangerie is closed on Wednesdays, so there's no bread.

Dinner was, more or less, Harissa Salmon (CL/apr07; MC; web). I use store-bought harissa rather than making it. I cook my own brown rice rather than using instant. I squeeze some lemon over the salmon, then spread with harissa from a tube, then bake according to Ackart (10min/inch @ 450F). This was good as usual. Served with Tunisian Zucchini Salad (MedLight, p117). Nice dinner. 

Thursday/14-Mon-22: Oops, forgot to put the liver on to soak overnight for tonight's dinner, so we had tomorrow's dinner tonight. 

That was Sweet Pepper Risotto (MDGrains, p33), working again on my bell pepper surplus. An egg mixed with parmesan cheese was stirred in at the end, so it was really creamy. Not a favorite risotto, though. Somehow didn't satisfy. 

Liver on to soak in milk overnight.

Friday/15-Mon-22: Ed got his liver dinner tonight. I made Liver and Onions, following a recipe I got from a friend on EAT-L, with a bit of support from my old Joy. It wasn't bad, but I'm still not a liver fan. It has an unpleasant texture, but the onions help with that. Served with parslied egg noodles and Creamy Broccoli & Bacon (web), more or less. I didn't really measure anything out here. There was a packet of lardons in the freezer needing to be used; that replaced the bacon. Used frozen broccoli that I bought for something that didn't get made. The sauce seemed a bit runny, so I thickened it with a bit of cornstarch. Was pretty good stuff. We had one chocolate-covered madeleine each for after. 

Saturday/16-Mon-22: I recently picked up HealthyInd again (cookbook reading having stopped with our trips to the grocery store), but am not finding it appealing read. Although I've marked a few recipes, I think I'm going to give this one up.  

Leftovers for dinner, Bulgur Chili. Then a big kitchen-sink salad. Then one chocolate-dipped madeleine each.

Sunday/17-Mon-22: We had a lovely lunch out before we went to a concert in the late afternoon. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

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

This week in the kitchen

Thanks so much to Blogger for losing what I had written for Monday and Tuesday. Sigh.

Monday/1-Mon-18: Cath stayed for breakfast (oatmeal/porridge), but went home before the winds got too bad. So we had our meal just for two.

We finished off the polenta crostini with salmon left from last night for our starter.

Our main was Abbacchio alla Cacciatora—Braised Lamb with Anchovy Sauce (TLItal, p77). The "alla Cacciatora" part really means "hunter-style" and I'm not sure what hunters have to do with anchovies. Anyhow, the minced fishies are added to the sauce at the last minute to deepen the flavor; the smell is gone in the first minutes of cooking and they don't make it fishy tasting. Quite yummy it was. Not sure about the serving 4-6 part though. I let the butcher sell me a boneless roast made from the shoulder. This was a bit lighter than I asked and it involved a lot of waste bits, so I ended up with much less than I intended. Still the two ate it all, and I can't imagine the whole amount serving six. Three, or maybe four skimpy servings would do. It was very good whatever.

Served the stew over the last of the pici (very fat, supposedly hand-rolled, spaghetti-ish stuff) we brought back from Tuscany. On the side there was Broccoli alla Romana—Broccoli Braised with White Wine (TLItal, p35) that I've made several times now.

Served this with a bottle of Chianti from Leclerc's not-so-vast selection of Italian wines, which included two Chiantis and two Lambruscos. We weren't too impressed.

More three kings' cake for dessert. Just enough for breakfast left.

Tuesday/2-Mon-18: Made up some artichoke hearts with green tapenade and goat cheese for a starter. (More we missed on New Year's Eve.)

Our main was a halfish version of Quick "Corned" Beef & Cabbage (web). This was okay, but didn't scratch the corned beef itch. It did, however, use up the huge supply of cabbage we had on hand. My tummy wasn't feeling well so I didn't eat much. We have lots of beef in the fridge for another meal.

Wednesday/3-Mon-18: As I left for French this morning, the car wouldn't start, and when it did, all the warning lights were on, including some I'd never seen before. Didn't even get out of the hameau before coming directly home. Then the washing machine got a call-customer-service error. Not a good start for the day.

Monday I accidentally defrosted a jar of soup when I meant to defrost a jar of stock. Oops. So tonight we had soup for dinner, puréed spinach, zucchini, and broccoli with some noodles added. But first we had the last of the artichoke hearts with green tapenade and goat cheese. Cookies for dessert.

Ed thinks the car problem is a loose, damp battery connection. The car started after the connections were cleaned, dried, and tightened. And the washing machine problem seems to have been a problem of overloading, when Ed decided to add two towels to an already full load.

Made my meal plan and list today. Haven't really made a list of cookbooks for my cookbook bonus goal, so have nothing planned for this week. TLItal isn't unused and neither is ClassPasta coming later in the week. Maybe I can make a quick change, or maybe I just won't count this week. TBD.

Thursday/4-Mon-18: Yes, made a quick change to one of my xmas gifts. Shopping today. Oops, car not fixed. Luckily the carpark at the Leclerc is on a hill, so we pushed the car down the hill to start it. Drove over to Brico Leclerc to buy a car battery. Turns out the current one is over seven years old. About time, you might say.

The fish selection was strangely diminished at the market today. I ended up buying swordfish rather than lieu noir or another white fish. Dinner was a halfish recipe of 20-Minute Fish Curry (MadeIndia, p131) with swordfish. Let me say that it isn't 20 minutes when you have to deseed 7 ounces of cherry tomatoes. It was good though. Had lots of broccoli stems to use up. Found the recipe for Cauliflower Cachumber (MJ@Home p240) and made that with grated broccoli stems. Very yummy although the texture would have been nicer if I'd used the box grater rather than the big microplane. And plain basmati rice. No camera downstairs, so no picture.

Friday/5-Mon-18: Earlyish meal today. There was Sautéed Chicken in Lemon Cream Sauce (MC), with a yummy sauce. I've made the before but didn't note when. Served with smashed potatoes, trying to use up the stash (recipe suggested egg noodles), and steamed snijbonen (runner beans?) in chunks.

Looked for some marrons glacés in the sale of xmas goodies yesterday, but there were none. Instead I got two half-price packets of dark chocolates. We had 3-1/2 each (one layer) from one of the boxes for dessert.

Saturday/6-Mon-18: Our mail meal was a half recipe of Farfalle al Salmone Affumicato (ClassPasta, p121; cookbooker) using the smoked trout option since I had that needing to be used. Used mafalda corta pasta. I liked this, Ed not so much. Served with a big salad. For dessert, we finished another layer of dark chocolates.

Sunday/7-Mon-18: Roasted a chicken today, using the "bricking" technique. The recipe was Za'atar Rubber Butterflied Chicken; the recipe is no longer at the site where I found it and I've not turned up another copy. Oh well. Do like the bricking technique, though. Chickie is spatchcocked, then cooked skin-side down in a oven-proof skillet, weighted with another skillet. I used a cast iron skillet topped by a saucepan full of water. It takes 20-25 minutes for the skin to get nice and brown. Then you turn the chick over and finish cooking without the "brick" in a 450F oven for 10-20 minutes. In tonight's recipe, the za'atar rub was added after turning the chick over, but a tasty rub under the skin would work fine also.

Made some trio rice, then realized I had potatoes to be used up, so made Tunisian Potato Salad with Cumin (MedLight, p117), which Ed liked a lot. Also served with Spicy Carrot Salad (MedLight, p114), an old favorite, although the garlic seemed especially strong tonight. Have put the rice and bit of leftover carrots together for the next days.

Ed bought another galette des rois today—another one with a Harry Potter fêve. We haven't found it yet.

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

Monday/17-Nov-14: Leftover roast chicken for dinner tonight, along with some steamed broccoli. That was all.

Tuesday/18-Nov-14: DInner was Baked Chickpea Burgers (web), not bad for a veggie burger, if a bit dry. I ended up with eight, rather than six, patties. We ate four and I've frozen the other four. No bun, just patties on a plate. Mostly topped with sriracha. Then a big salad*. Here, there Then some mini magnums.

The burgers asked for some Mrs Dash seasoning, so I found a recipe on the web and made up a quarter of that. Still have some left.

*Big salad: In NL, I'd buy 75g of frans sla, mixed lettuces, for a side of dinner salad. Here, the best I can do is a 100g sack of lettuces. Haven't seen a place where I can get the amount I want.

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

Shopping today. Meant to buy salmon, but it didn't look very good. The tuna looked good, though, and we haven't had any in a bit, so that was our fish for the week. In the veggie section there were some really nice-looking (big) cauliflowers 2/€1.99; I bought 1/€1. (Cauliflowers at Leclerc often look like they've had a hard life.) All meaning a replan of the week's menus. Oh well.

Dinner was an old favorite, Balsamic-Glazed Tuna (MC; web). The recipe is from a 1999 Cooking Light; I just found it on the web. Definitely a goodie. For a side I roasted the end of a broccoli, along with some of the cauliflower bought today; all sprinkled my faux Mrs Dash and tossed with a small slog of olive oil and some chopped garlic that's be odorizing the fridge for a few days. And some crozets nature, tossed after draining with a bitter butter, parlsey, lemon zest, lemon juice, and black pepper. For dessert, we each had a little pot of store-bought caramel au fleur de sel Guerande. Pretty good, if not a favorite.

Thursday/20-Nov-14: Made some Chocolate Zucchini Bread this afternoon, using a recipe I collected from EAT-L that was very similar to another recipe of the same name from EAT-L, but using less zuccchini and more vanilla.

Dinner was Spaghetti Carbonara with Poached Egg (MC), good stuff, followed by a salad, followed by some Chocolate Zucchini Bread.

Friday/21-Nov-14: Working some more on the cauliflower, tonight's dinner started out to be Tuna-Cauliflower Casserole (MC), but ended up a bit different. When I looked in the pantry, I discovered there was only one can of tuna, instead of two—inventory failure. Ok, I'll use a can of crabmeat with the tuna. Picked up the tuna can, the lid pushes in and pops out in a kind of funny way. Hmm... And when I popped the lid, liquid erupted. Never seen that with a tuna can before. Didn't quite know what to make of it, so I tossed it. The casserole looked a bit skimpy, not to mention pale, so I added some strips of roasted red bell pepper from a jar. Usually we eat all this casserole, but tonight we didn't. Guess we'll have some for lunch one day soon. Followed by a big salad.

Saturday/22-Nov-14: Made up about a third recipe of Kaye's Pickled Green Beans (MC), in anticipation of Thanksgiving dinner, although it's not sure we're going to do one yet.

DInner tonight was a Moroccan lamb dish from the freezer, served over couscous, along with halfish doses of Spicy Carrot Salad (MedLight, p114) and Tunisian Zucchini Salad (MedLight, p117). We were full.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/23-Nov-14: And, using up that cauliflower, tonight we had a half-dose of Cauliflower Paprikash (MJ@Home, p202), with paprika flown in fresh today from Hungary (a joke probably only understood by Hilltop Herb Farm afficiandos). Well, not quite, but it was recently bought there as a gift and sent to us. Yummy stuff. And a big salad.

Progress on planning our Thanksgiving menu is slow. Sigh. Ed requests we repeat the turkey rollade, but what else?

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 5
This month: #3 PASTA: yes; #4 FotW: yes; #5 BREAD: none

This week in the kitchen

Monday/28-Apr-14: Clear on the fridge night. Roasted some asparagus, broccoli, and tomatoes and served them over the re-warmed spoon bread with a sauce of garlicky-lemony goat cheese. Pretty good it all was. The spoon bread reheated surprisiningly well

Tuesday/29-Apr-14: Shopping today.

Dinner was Fried Fish in the Moroccan Style (30MinCook, p120) with lieu noir, which is saithe or pollack, depending where you look. Tasty way to do fish, if a bit too fried for me. For sides there were half doses of Tunisian Potato Salad with Cumin (MedLight, p117) and Spicy Carrot Salad (MedLight, p114). A nice dinner.

Wednesday/30-Apr-14: Made some Oven-Dried Tomatoes (MC HandyBook). Wonder why I bought only 7 tomatoes instead of 8 to fill the tray?

Just under the wire, we had fresh pasta tonight, tagliatelle with Broccoli in "Hot" Pink Tomato Sauce with Basil (PeV, p63). Good it was. Making pasta isn't all that hard, it's the clean-up that's so boring. Flour all over the pasta maker, the counter, and the floor. (Pogo took care of the floor. Raw flour?) Served with a simple salad of the end of a sack of roquette, the end of a head of lettuce, and a few leaves off the new head of lettuce.

Yogurt on overnight. Tomatoes on a plate in the big freezer to freeze individually.

Thursday/1-May-14: Leftover Tandoori Turkey Roll from the freezer tonight, along with Green Beans with Mushrooms (Q&E, p86) and Turmeric Rice (Q&E, p100). Both of these I've made many times, although this is may be the first time with I've included the tomato (seeded) in the green beans; it's actually fine without this. We split a classic magnum for dessert.

Friday/2-May-14: Worked late on our French taxes this afternoon, so had to jiggle the schedule a bit. Ended up making tomorrow's planned dinner tonight, one for IHCC. Served the potatoes with a big salad. Nothing else needed.

Saturday/3-May-14: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Coconut Pecan Crusted Chicken served with Sweet and Spicy Apricot Sauce (web). Now, I couldn't find the sweet chili sauce from Thai Kitchen, of course, so I substituted sriracha mixed with a bit of confit de piment d'Esplette that I found hiding in the back of a cupboard waiting to be used (piment d'Esplette being a Basque chili with just a tickle of hot). I thought it was pretty good; Ed thought it was so-so. But, I like apricot and he doesn't, so that could be the difference. Served with coconut rice and some steamed broccoli topped with a dab of sesame oil, sesame seed, and garlic.

Sunday/4-May-14: Yogurt on overday. Today's major deal was defrosting the fridge. Why do I dislike this job so much?

Better weather tomorrow, so I postponed a bbq dinner. Instead I sautéed a pair of duck breast scallops, served with polenta and a little pan sauce of chicken stock (which is brewing on the stove) and balsamic vinegar. Then a big salad. Then some defrosted mixed berries over ice cream. That's all folks.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #3 PASTA: yes for April/no for May; #4 FotW: yes for April/no for May; #5 BREAD: 0 for April/0 for May

This week in the kitchen

Monday/24-Feb-14 - Tuesday/25-Feb-14: Travelling home from the Netherlands. The kitchen was empty.

Wednesday/26-Feb-14: Grocery shopping today; I made the list before we left. This week's sales have an American theme, with squares of sliced cheese like Kraft American, ready made hamburgers and hot dogs, and English muffins made in the UK. We bought a package of those, but passed by the other stuff.

Dinner was Afsha Mumtaz's Dry Masala Fish (Sookhi Macchi) (100Curries, p43), using cod that was on special today rather than a whole fish. Not bad, if not a favorite. Served with a short third recipe  Moghlai Spinach (TasteIndia, p36) (finishing off a sack of frozen spinach) and Simple Buttery Rice with Onion (MJ1, p149). Second time I've made this spinach; it's pretty good. The rice is an old favorite.

For dessert we had some store-bought salty caramel custards. I tripped up the step from the kitchen while carrying them to the table—ouch! Two bruised shins and very sore first joint on my left pinky. Sigh. The custards survived and were good.

Thursday/27-Feb-14: Yogurt on overday, during which time there was a power cut. Simple-minded yogurt maker machine doesn't remember it has been on when this happens and simple-minded people forgot that it needed attention. Not sure how this batch, with a new starter, will turn out.

Dinner was a half dose of Tagliolini with Prawns (Shrimp) and Zucchini (Courgette) (TopItal, p13) with, yes, homemade pasta. Tagliolini seems to be a "round" version of tagliatelle, however that would work. I used my fettuccine cutters and rolled only to 5, so it was fairly thick, nice and chewy. Then a salad. Then some mini magnums for after.

Friday/28-Feb-14: The English muffins were pretty blah. They had the taste and texture of plain white bread, in flat circles. What did I expect anyway?

Dinner was Moroccan chicken with olives from the freezer over couscous. As go-withs, I made half doses of Spicy Carrot Salad (MedLight, p114) and Tunisian Zucchini Salad (MedLight, p117). Both of these I've made before. We were full.

Saturday/1-Mar-14: Another Time-Life dinner, Arroz con Pollo (TLS&P, p59), followed by a salad, and then Natillas (TLS&P, p90) for dessert.

Put chickpeas and salt cod on to soak for tomorrow's dinner.

Sunday/2-Mar-14: Yogurt on overday.

Another Spain & Portugal dinner. There was Potaje de Vigilia (TLS&P, p6) from Spain, served with Broa (TLS&P, p83) from Portugal. The soup, traditionally served on Good Friday, is with made with salt cod, spinach, and chickpeas. Had 500g of chickpeas (instead of 1lb) and 360g of salt cod (instead of 1/2lb). Pretty good and lots for the freezer.

A long time ago Raymond Sokolov wrote an article on salt cod for his column in Natural History. That's one of the ones I'm sorry I neglected to save. Salt cod is a food that been used for hundreds of years all around the Atlantic. Mark Kurlansky has written a book about cod that's been on my read-me shelf for a long time.

The broa recipe attracted me when I first read through this recipe book, but I decided I didn't want to mess with zapping a chunk of my small portion of cornmeal (aka polenta) in a blender. But, when I was catching up on "exotic" shopping while we were in the Netherlands, I noticed a sack of fine-grain cornmeal next to my regular polenta. Aha, I said and added that to my overflowing shopping cart with the idea of trying this bread. The bread is about half and half cornmeal and regular flour, the highest percentage of cornmeal I've seen in a yeast-risen bread. Even though the grind is very fine, it still felt rather gritty to me while kneading. Generally an easy bread to made. Ed liked it a lot.

Another two of the natillas for dessert.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: yes for February, no for March; #4 FotW: yes for February, no for March; #5 BREAD: none for February; 1 for March(!)

This week in the kitchen

Monday/1-Oct-12: Company for dinner, so was all day in the kitchen. The original plan was a roast lamb shoulder, but it turned into an Indian night when I started looking for what I'd made to celebrate my start with I Heart Cooking Clubs and Madhur Jaffrey. Last night I made the broth for No-Cook Indian Ice Cream (Kulfi) (MC). Also, I made up some Tamarind Chutney (IndLight, p286).

For starters, there were Onion Fritters (Pyaz ki Bhajia) (Q&E, p20) served with Tamarind Chutney. For the main course, there was Lamb with Onions (Do piaza) (MJ1, p46), served with Rice and Peas with Garam Masala (Matar Aur Sooay Ka Pullao) (SpiceKitch, p65) and Yoghurt with Cucumber and Mint (Kheere ka Raita) (MJ1, p162). For dessert there was kulfi with mango chunks. Except for the lamb dish, these are all things I've made several times. All were good. (The IHCC post is here.)

Tuesday/2-Oct-12: Now to work on the 2.5kg of potatoes I bought to go with the roast-lamb-that-wasn't. Tonight there was Warm Broccoli and Potato Salad (MDSalads, p15), an old favorite.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/3-Oct-12: Shopping today, without much of a plan, but we have more veggies in-house now. Dinner was Broiled Spiced Fish Steaks (RealFast, p73). Well, it was cod fillets rather than steaks, but it still tasted good. Served with a kind of pilaf with shrooms and shallots, followed by a salad. Treated ourselves to some chocolate squares while we went out searching for Sophie, who was in the mood to stay out late, and was resistant to coming home after we met up.

Thursday/4-Oct-12: Made chicken stock, using the accumulation of bones from the freezer. Made Pear Butter, using up Barbara's pears which were needing to be used. While these were happening, I opened the fridge and a big, unopened jar of cornichons leapt off its shelf to the floor. What a mess!

Dinner out for a friend's birthday. Have had our heavy protein for several days now.

Friday/5-Oct-12: Dinner turned into a sort of meze plate.

• There were dolmades from a can, three each and pretty good. One day I'll try to  made these, just to say I have, but the canned ones are fine. 
• And there was a loosely adapted version of Tomatoes Stuffed with Tuna (MedLight, p63). Stuffed only two tomatoes and have extra for tuna sandwiches tomorrow. No fresh mint, so I used dried. A similar recipe in O&C called for beans to be included; I had some leftover couscous, so I used those instead. Pretty tasty. 
• And there was a half dose of Marinated Eggplant (MedLight, p61; cookbooker). This was very good, although the eggplant slices were a bit soggy since the steaming time seems to be a bit long. A bit leftover for something. 
• And there was a half dose of Leek, Potato, and Olive Pie (Prassopita) (O&C. p97; cookbooker).  I had some leeks desperately needing to be used and lots of potatoes that didn't getting used in Monday's dinner, so this seemed and ideal dish. Very good it was. Now I've got filo in the fridge to use up in the next weeks. 

Last but not least, we had some double chocolate mini Magnums for dessert.

Saturday/6-Oct-12: Today was Ed's turn with jars leaping from the fridge door. This time a lovely jar of green chili pickle (Indian) and the jar of (Dijon) mustard.

Oops, neglected to remember the long cooking time for tonight's planned dinner. Not wanting to eat at 9pm, I made instead VIndaloo Lounge (Wraps, p74), after remembering that I spied a jar vindaloo sauce in the back of the cabinet.

Sunday/7-Oct-12: So, started last night's dinner in plenty of time today, only to discover that the fresh mushrooms bought this week were already covered in mold. Grr... What do you make at the last minute? Pasta, of course. Tiny Drôme goat-cheese-filled raviolis with a sauce of lardons, shallots, the soaked dried mushrooms I'd started for the aborted dish, and a carton of pyramid goat cheese. Not bad. Followed by a salad, of course.

Boulangeries are closed Sunday afternoon and our closest is closed on Mondays. Thus, having bread on hand for Monday breakfast and lunch seems to be a chronic problem for us. If I but planned ahead a bit, I could start Sam's no-knead bread in the evening to finish off in the morning. Tonight there's English Muffin Bread (BigGerman, p15) in the ABM overnight. Also yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/26-Dec-11: In anticipation of company tomorrow afternoon, I made some eggnog, using the Eggnog II recipe from my old Joy of Cooking. It's ripening in the fridge now.

Then I made Eggnog Pear Pie (VegTimes, soon to be MC; cookbooker). I forgot to turn the oven temperature down when I put the filled pie in the oven, so the edges are a bit black, but the rest of the pie is yummy. Why they call it "eggnog", I haven't a clue.

Dinner started with lots of salad and the rest of the foie gras-stuffed magret. Good stuff. Then Lemon Herb Roasted Chicken (MC), quite good. Lots of sauce left, which will be good over pasta with some meat and a bit of veg, I expect. Also roasted up some more Brussels sprouts along with the end of the broccoli in the fridge. Followed by a slice of pie.

Tuesday/27-Dec-11: Real eggnog is real good. Yum.

For dinner I defrosted some zucchini-chickpea pancakes to make a little starter, topped with crème fraîche. Then there was some (defrosted) Zucchini Garlic Soup, the bounty of the summer garden. Then some pear pie. We're full.

I didn't participate in the last Cook the Books, because I didn't feel like finishing the book. This time the book is John Thorne's Outlaw Cook, which I read a few years ago. I thought I might dash through it again, and picked it up again with that in mind, but couldn't get into it. (I was surprised to discover that I've actually made, more or less, a couple of recipes from it.) Plus it's a bit intimidating that Thorne is going to judge. Think I might skip this one too. The next one is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I've actually never read this, or seen the movie, and Roald Dahl isn't going to judge it, so it might be just the thing to inspire a chocolate fantasy.

Wednesday/28-Dec-11: Improvised a soup for dinner. Meant to loosely follow a recipe for broccoli-chicken-cheddar soup, but didn't quite make it. Took some cheese out of the freezer and Ed thought he would hurry along the defrosting, but putting it in a pan of hot water. It now looks something like CheezWhiz, which is one of the most disgusting food products around. The broccoli seems to have gone off, so I cut up some zucchini lurking in the crisper. There was turkey broth defrosted for something that didn't get made. And a handful of noodles. And some meat picked from Monday's leftovers. And a small can of corn. And the rest of the evaporated milk that didn't get used in the eggnog. Not bad altogether. Then some more pear pie.

Thursday/29-Dec-11: Shopped today. Bought some aillets again; these seem to be like green onions, but garlic instead. And, my, does the refrigerator smell (good?) when you open the door now. No plans for using them.

Dinner was Sauced Potato Casserole (Tassajara, p214), with slices of a smoked sausage tucked in amongst the potatoes. Very nice on a cold night. Salad after. Then the last of the pear pie.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/30-Dec-11: Made goat broth today. Have frozen it for some future use.

Dinner was Leek Bread Pudding, a recipe collected from EAT-L and available all over the web. Good stuff. Could be a side at a big dinner too. And a salad.

Saturday/31-Dec-11: Lots of finger food for munching in front of the TV this evening (Damn Yankees). For round one, there were (clockwise from lower right) verrines with an avocado mixture on the bottom, whipped cream and fromage blanc on that, and strips of smoked salmon on top—this was good all mixed together; olives from the marché de noël; toasts spread with soft goat cheese mixed with lemon zest and topped with smoked salmon (had to use up that 2-slice package, didn't I?); about a third recipe of Smokey Eggplant Purée (MedLight, p93) to use as a dip for ...; carrot sticks; cherry tomatoes stuffed with what was essentially a bland tuna salad.

Round two was store-bought: tapas on sticks (lemon chicken and herbed pork), plus little pastry packets (scallops, provençale, tapenade, and goat cheese). We had only eight of a package of thirty, but that make a quick munchie when you need something.

Had a good long reading session today and finished off the second book in the Durant's history of the world. Only nine more to go!

Sunday/1-Jan-12: Lovely lunch at La Bellone today. Nothing happening in our kitchen, but theirs was quite busy.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: yes, #2 SOUP: yes, #3 MIDDAY: yes (if restaurants count)
This month: #4 PASTA: yes

This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-May-11: Cooked the 2-day marinated lamb for Lamb Curry from the Romertopf site. The recipe was really poorly written, it didn't even give the temperature for cooking, and I ended up comparing the English, French, and German versions. Good enough, we ate it all. Started with a carrot salad I've made before that went with another lamb recipe (carrots, kalamatas, radishes, and parsley with a sauce of olive oil, water, red wine vinegar, and harissa). Finished up with the kulfi I made a couple of nights ago.

Tuesday/24-May-11: Started the lamb for the Lunch in Paris dinner. Our dinner was Stir-Fried Shrimp with Broccoli and Chili-Garlic Sauce (MC), which is about as simple a dinner as you could get. Tasty. Followed by a salad, then the end of the goat cheese.

Wednesday/25-May-11: Went to freeze the buttermilk ice cream, not following instructions. You should assemble the whole thing, start it, then pour in the "brew". I poured in the brew first, but such a layer froze on the sides that the paddle couldn't turn properly. Boo. It will take a day to defrost enough to clean it.

Tonight's dinner was a meal for Cook the Books.

Thursday/26-May-11: Second post-op checkup this afternoon, then dinner and a movie. Nothing happened in the kitchen, even the dishes are unwashed.

Friday/27-May-11: Whew, got all those dishes washed this morning. Yogurt on overday.

Dinner started with some melon and pineau. The main was a half recipe of Rotelle with Asparagus and Mushroom Sauce (365Pasta, p176). Ed stopped for a minor shopping this afternoon, but brought back dried mushroom instead of fresh, so there were a few changes to make. Used the funny new pasta I found, like short bits of a widish tagliatelle with ruffled edges like American lasagne, a useful pasta. I hope I can find it again. Followed by a salad. Ended with some goat cheese.

Saturday/28-May-11: Put some tomatoes in to oven-roast this morning and forgot them. No smell to stir the memory. They were some tomato chips, not very tasty.

Dinner was Chiptotle-Marinated Pork Chops with Chimichurri Sauce (MC), an oldie with a really yummy sauce. Yesterday we talked about barbecuing, but Ed forgot today, so I did them under the broiler. Good stuff. Baked some potatoes, sliced, with onion slices between the bits and a lemony vinaigrette. More kulfi for dessert.

Sophie didn't come in until almost midnight. We were worried.

Sunday/29-May-11: A vegetarian dinner, using up many of the veggies in the fridge. There were steams haricots verts with cilantro pesto from the freezer. And Greek Eggplant Salad (MedLight, p86), tasty, but a bit soupy; I think the eggplant should be put through the food mill, rather than processed or blended. And Tunisian Zucchini Salad (MedLight, p117), a nice zucchini salad. And Red Couscous (MedLight, p225), which could use a bit more harissa; not wanting to grind caraway seed, I used ground cumin instead. All tasty. I bought some jesuite pastries at the boulangerie this afternoon for dessert.

Sophie out late again today, but we started looking earlier and found her fairly far away. We suspect she's lost territory to a new young cat in the neighborhood. Both nights when she's come in, she's been very nervous around the front door.

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