This week in the kitchen

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

Yogurt on overnight.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yogurt on overnight.

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

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

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