This week in the kitchen

Monday/4-Jan-21: Dinner was Lamb, Spinach, & Feta Phyllo Pie (web), using the oldest lamb in the freezer, rather that the bits from new year's day. I used brick/briq instead of phyllo, which was actually better since my dish was round. This would be nice make in individual casserole dishes, but I guess you'd really need rectangular phyllo instead of round brick. Served with a simple salad. And a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/5-Jan-21: Didn't feel like starting Overnight Bread last night, so this morning I made some 100% Whole Wheat Bread (BigGerman, 81).

Dinner was a half recipe of Salmon Cakes with Old Bay Aioli (web). These weren't bad except for the saltiness of the Old Bay seasoning. Served with trio rice and Shredded Zucchini (MW@Home, p87). A pretty good plate. Unimaginatively, we each had a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Wednesday/6-Jan-21: Eating from the freezer tonight, a soup made up of a cardamon stew sauce, some chicken stock, some turkey bits, and rice. Pretty good, and spicy. Some mini HD ice cream cups for after.

Thursday/7-Jan-21: Finished reading Something Old, Something New last night. Not bad, but not in the same category as Adler's An Everlasting Meal, which is one of my favorite food literature books.

Picked up an order from Intermarché today. Thus, fish for dinner.

We had a halfish dose of Vinegar Fish (Oriental, #102). This was ok, nothing special. The cod flaked, as cod does, so it looked not much like the whole piece of fish in the picture. Served with Rice with Tomatoes and Spinach (TasteIndia, p120). 

A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Yogurt on overnight. Overnight Bread brewing overnight.

Friday/8-Jan-21: Using up stuff from the freezer, we had veal scallops topped with the last of the  delicious ancho sauce. Served with smashed sweet potatotes (with OJ and chipotle powder) and a Cucumber and Radish Salad. That recipe came from a booklet that came with my Cuisinart, lo these many years ago. I didn't use the Cuisinart, but cut all by hand.

For after, Ed made a fruit salad of the fruit we didn't eat at lunchtime, apple, pear, and kiwi.

Saturday/9-Jan-21: Dinner was a reprise of Thai-Style Chicken Legs (web) using thighs and sauce from the freezer. Not sure if this quite counts as a do-me-again. But Mango Slaw with Cashews and Mint* (web) definitely does. With basmati rice. Tapioca pudding for after.

Sunday/10-Jan-21: Dinner was a halfish dose of Mark Bittman's Shrimp in Green Sauce (web). This was almost wonderful, but didn't really make it. Served over polenta, then a salad. Then we finished the tapioca pudding.

Overnight Bread brewing overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/14-Dec-20: Made up some turkey stock today. Still on the way to a dinner of cornbread stuffing. Didn't get the cornbread made, so it might be another day yet.

Used some of the confiture de myrtilles that came with our gourmet panier (substitute for this year's old folks' dinner) to make Jam Tea Cake (MC). Pretty good stuff.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Curried Crab (Oriental, #77). This turned out ok, but the recipe is a mess. The picture shows a reddish curry; instead it was yellowish (turmeric). Whole spices are added (fenugreek seeds and peppercorns) that should have been ground. It wants you to make coconut milk from scratch. The total liquid would give you soup rather than a curry. Still, it was edible. Served very basmati rice, with some Karhai Broccoli (MJ@Home, p148). Then some Jam Tea Cake. We're full.

Tuesday/15-Dec-20: Finished off the turkey stock and picked the bone; might made some turkey salad for lunch from these bits. Froze up the turkey bits I sliced off the bone yesterday; at least two meals there.

Didn't get cornbread made and didn't feel like making my alternative, so I made Curried Lamb in Pita Bowls (Desperation, p196) with ground beef. This is easy, fast, and good. Jam Tea Cake for after. We're stuffed.

Wednesday/16-Dec-20: Last night I measured out the dry ingredients for a loaf of bread. This morning I realized that, since it was a whole wheat bread, it wouldn't be ready before I had to leave. Duh. So. Instead I made a 3# loaf Authentic French Bread (Magic, p22) (Basic/Rapid/M/d/-), with the addition of 1/8tsp of baking soda, since that seems to be the difference between this and "English Muffin Bread". I was in a hurry and didn't run my poor old machine empty for a bit at the start. Mistake. Out with the dough; let it run a bit, then start it up again. Good bread in the end.

Off to get a haircut in the afternoon.

Dinner was a halfish version of Easy Smoked Sausage Skillet (web), sort of. Garlic, minced not crushed; fresh broccoli; long-grain brown rice instead of instant. Easy and pretty good. More tomato sauce might be good. A bit of smoked paprika might be good. Some Lindt chocolate squares for after.

Thursday/16-Dec-20: Made a loaf of 100% Whole Wheat Bread (BigGerman, p81) (WW/Rapid/M/-/-). Yesterday's French bread, is just so-so, but this one is delicious. A surprisingly high loaf, given it's 100% whole wheat. 

Worked a lot on the meal plans for our holiday meals. Leclerc Drive's site has been down all afternoon and evening, so that makes things a bit difficult.

Dinner was Easy Falafel Curry (web). This was easy and pretty tasty. It should have served three, but the two of us ate it all. Over long-grain brown rice. A pair of of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Friday/18-Dec-20: Picked up an order from Intermarché today. They had lamb legs on a really good sale, so I got one of those even though the freezer is more than full.

Made a pan of cornbread for tomorrow's stuffing dinner.

Dinner was a halfish dose New England Fish Chowder (EAT-L). Pretty good stuff. A pair of of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/19-Dec-20: For the last two Thanksgivings, we've missed out on Chef Paul Prudhomme's Cornbread Dressing (MC; web), a holiday favorite. So tonight we had that for dinner. I used the turkey stock I made for the dressing and to make some gravy. (Following Hom's definition in HomVeg, i.e., chicken stock is vegetarian, I'm going to call this a veggie dinner.) Yum. Mini HD ice cream cups for after.

Sunday/20-Dec-20: I used the ends of two breads to make some Double Boiler Bread Pudding (MC; HandyBook) today. Good stuff. But I forgot again to actually make some bread. And my stash in the freezer is getting low. Not wanting to go into the grocery till a couple of weeks after the holiday, so I need to be careful here. 

Also made a recipe of Homemade Chipotle Fig Jam (web). I made about 1.5 recipe since I had a 500g package of fig*. My few licks were pretty tasty, but it didn't seem to set up properly. In the end I added more lemon juice and some sucre pour confiture. We'll see how it turns out. Had a look at Juipter-Saturn while this was going. *I had a failure of arithmetic when I ordered the (bio) figs. After using one package, I still have four more to use.

In the end, I didn't feel like making what was on the plan for dinner and neither of us felt like going for pizza, so we had the leftover Curried Beef with Pita. And some bread pudding. We're full.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #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