This week in the kitchen

Monday/9-Aug-21: Ed's first carpal tunnel surgery today. His left arm is beginning to get some sensation now. It itches but doesn't move well yet.

Dinner was Chicken and Broccoli Curry (web) from Chef John. Not my favorite recipe of his, but quite edible. Ed like it better than I did. Some speculoos éclairs from the boulangerie for after.

Tuesday/10-Aug-21: Dinner was Chorizo-Stuffed Pork Tenderloin (web; GD). This wasn't hard and was very tasty. I didn't get my varkenhaas smashed to 1/4" thickness, so the roll was a bit open on the joined side. No matter. Tasted good. Served with the simple red pepper salad in the headnote and, having no potatoes on hand, with orzo. A pair of chocolate covered madeleines for after.

Roasted some beets in the evening. Not often that fresh beets are in the shop, so I grabbed them last week.

Unfortunately, we seem to be eating Spanish-style this week, with very late dinners. I'll try to do better.

Wednesday/11-Aug-21: Finished reading (quickly) Rustic this morning. This was a book that I rescued from the recyling box on my last go through the cookbooks. I've made one bread twice so far and have many more marked to try. I'm going to make a list of those. Now that we've been going to the boulangerie for bread for several weeks, maybe I'll feel like baking a bit. Bread machine is nice when it's hot. (Looks like we're getting ready to settle into a heat wave; no rain in sight.)

Hmm...I see I've now only got one cookbook listed as currently reading, and I'm almost finished with that. I'm pretty sure that's not right. 

Dinner was Lemon Pepper Chicken, which uses L&P White Wine Worcestershire, or, as it's more recently known, L&P Marinade for Chicken. The recipe came from a bottle a long time ago. Unfortunately,  I used up my bottle today and it looks like it's no longer made. I'm looking for a "copycat" recipe. I can't find the recipe online. A shame because it's delicious. Marinated some skinless, boneless chicken thighs and cooked them under the broiler, Ed not being quite ready to bbq. Served with a made-up salad of brown rice, roasted beet, sliced carrot, shallot, with a lemony vinaigrette. For after we had a bit of hazelnut cake with the rest of the vanilla-almond ice cream.

Thursday/12-Aug-21: Shopping today. Got out SFAH to read on the way, then noticed I've actually finished reading, except for the bibliography. Got out another cookbook to read, then remembered I have to drive (Ed can't drive yet). Oops. Did our shopping and went to pick up a new Livebox which, for the second time, was not there. Grr...

Dinner was Swordfish Steaks with Anchovies and Wild Mushrooms (WorldFood, p118). Served with some some gnocchi (impulse buy today) and a fresh tomato salad. Some store-bought coffee-flavored custard things for after.

Friday/13-Aug-21: We finally managed to get a new Livebox today, and it's all installed and running. But internet connectivity is still slow and broken. Sigh.

Dinner was Cheese, Pear & Kiwi Fruit Salad (PatSalads, p36). I more or less a full recipe, with about a quarter of the dressing. The cheese was Maaslander. An odd combination, but good stuff. Some chopped nuts might be nice. A pair of chocolate chocolate madeleines for after.

Saturday/14-Aug-21: Dinner was Thai-Style Beef Salad (web). This was from a Cook's Illustrated cookbook that's been recycled. It was okay, better than average even, but I have similar recipes. For after there was some quite good Banana Bread (GD; GD). This was a recipe I gathered from EAT-Lers on Facebook. 

Sunday/15-Aug-21: Dinner was Curried Red Lentil Zucchini Soup* (web; GD). We liked it a lot last time; this time, I thought it was so-so, but Ed liked it. Oh well. A pair of chocolate chocolate madeleines for after. (The Banana Bread makes a really good breakfast.)

Sigh, another week without a photo.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Aug-20: I picked up an order from Leclerc today after my French lesson.

The sweltering heat continues. We had a big thunderstorm this morning, and may have more in the next days. Thursday it should start cooling off.

Dinner was a half dose of Basil, Shrimp & Zucchini Pasta (web). Pretty good stuff, made with surprisingly little tomato sauce. (I buzzed the proper amount of canned tomato pulp to make the sauce, and froze the rest.) Peaches&cream ice cream for after.

Tuesday/11-Aug-20: Made another loaf of English Muffin Bread (BMB, p17), this time using less water. This is a delicious bread and smells wonderful while it's baking. Although most breads smell wonderful.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Tomatoes and Eggplant over Couscous with Caper Sauce (VegPlanet, p257). I used a preserved lemon for the lemon juice and peel. Feta on top at serving. Quite good, but not quite well-seasoned enough. Finished the peaches and cream ice cream for after. Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/12-Aug-20: No phone and internet briefly in the morning. Dinner was Roasted Masala Lamb Chops with Pistachio & Pomegranate (Jamie). This was good. Didn't serve on flatbread (bone-in lamb chops on flatbread?), but served with Moroccan couscous (from the organic shop) and Crushed Spiced Carrot Salad (Morocco, p78), a tasty favorite. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after. (Leclerc Drive has finally started carrying these!)

Thursday/13-Aug-20: Neglected to defrost something for dinner and my mind was a blank, even though there's lots of veg in the fridge. Pizza it was, with the rest of the package of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Started some Overnight Bread.

Friday/14-Aug-20: Baked up the Overnight Bread in the morning.

Dinner was Spicy Turkey Salad (PatSalads, p102). (Wish I'd remembered this book when it was seriously hot.) I had about 300g of turkey scallops (two of them) and minced those rather than grinding. Interesting that the meat is cooked in a mixture of lime juice, lemongrass, and garlic, with no oil involved. It was a bit short on meat, but otherwise I did a whole recipe. A very light meal for two, not four. We started a new packet of chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/15-Aug-20: Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today. Lots of fruit; not much veg, which we're over-endowed with right now.

Dinner was Sweet-and-Sour Salmon in Almond Prune Sauce (Essential, p431). This sounded a bit odd (sauce of prunes, honey, dijon, etc.), but turned out delicious. I'm not sure, but I think everything with pomegranate molasses might be delicious. Served with trio rice and some steamed haricots verts. Store-bought crème caramels for after.

Sunday/16-M Aug on-20: Used more of our plums to make Plum Amaretto Jam (SmallBatch, p50). About a pound of plums (maybe a teeny bit more) make two AH jars. Tastes good. Into the freezer with them.

Dinner was Corn with Cauliflower (WorldVeg, p173), which sounded a bit odd, but worked quite well. Served over short-grained brown rice. The rest of the store-bought crème caramels for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 BACKLOG: no
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/24-Jun-19: Trying day today. We visited the gendarmerie about our neighbor problem. Never expected to do such a thing. Very nice young man there. As soon as we mentioned our hameau, he knew who the problem was.

Dinner was from the freezer, Meat&Mushroom Ragu, over mafalda corta. Made a salad with the little romaines. Couldn't face the rhubard cobbler, so we had some chocolate-covered madeleines. We're stuffed.

Tuesday/25-Jun-19: Neither of us could face more meat in this heat, so I froze up the lamb that was on the plan for today. Instead there was Warm Broccoli and Potato Salad (MDSalads, p15). As usual, the two of us the whole recipe. Then the rest of the rhubarb cobbler. We're full.

Wednesday/26-Jun-19: Tiny bit of shopping at Intermarché this afternoon before treating ourselves to hamburgers at a local restaurant.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/27-Jun-19: We were supposed to have pizza for lunch today as part of an outing, but the heat cancelled the lunch and afternoon part of the trip. Instead we and Cath walked into a restaurant and had the menu du jour. I'd planned a light salad for dinner, but neither of us felt like eating more. We did split a sack of corn chips though.

Friday/28-Jun-19: Shopping today, since we were busy yesterday. Had planned for a Römertopf recipe four our main tonight, but couldn't bear the thought of a hot oven for 30 minutes, so changed the plan at the last minute.

For a starter we had, more or less, Guy Savoy's Tomato Coulis with Asparagus and Mint (VegHarv, p56; cookbooker). This was delicious and easy to make. Our main was Baked Salmon with Cucumber Relish (web), which was also really nice. Served this with a side of plain couscous. For dessert we finished the raspberry ice cream I made last week.

Vegetable Harvest is my cookbook of the month for July. I think I'll name it for this week, even though it's still June. Still have some Römertopf things to make, but the weather's just not right.

Saturday/29-Jun-19: Another hot hot hot day. The humidity is so high, the floors are sweating. Not to mention me.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Asian Coleslaw (PatSalads, p16). No bean sprouts at the store; used some tiny haricots verts, blanched. Couldn't find any peanuts; used cashews. It was fine and very refreshing on the day. Some vanilla ice cream with a chopped peach for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/30-Jun-19: Less warm today, but still very humid.

Dinner was about a third recipe of Sesame Chicken Cucumber Noodle Salad (web). Yummy stuff. Added lots of extra of my homemade haberno sauce. Add the sliced scallions and cilantro to the bowl with the lettuce, etc. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbook of the month: Vegetable Harvest
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/13-Aug-18: Dinner was Sweet and Spicy Lo Mein Noodles (BigFlav, p274). I made a whole recipe, which serves four; the two of us ate about two thirds of it. I was worried about using the raw veggies, but they provided a pleasant crunch with the noodles. It's puzzling to me why the recipe has you make so much sauce and then uses only one cup. I made a half recipe of the recommended Sweet and Hot Sesame-Spinach Condiment (BigFlav, p362). This was an interesting idea, but way too salty, even though the soy sauce was low-salt. I used the max amount of Tabasco and neither thought it that hot. We were full.

Tuesday/14-Aug-18: Yogurt on overday.

We had lunch near Ed's archery lesson. Nothing further happened in the kitchen.

Wednesday/15-Aug-18: Somebody (who, me?) forgot that this was a holiday, so there was a quick rearrangement on the meal plan.

For dinner we had Grilled Open-Faced Eggplant Sandwiches with Black Olive Relish and Fresh Mozzarella (License, p39). I made a whole recipe; we are well-filled, but the two of us ate almost all of it. I thought the black olive relish might be too strong, but it all went together well. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for dessert.

Thursday/16-Aug-18: Shopping today.

For dinner there was a halfish recipe of Creamy Salmon Spaghetti (Ainsley2, p54). This was interesting because the fish isn't really cooked, as a thing by itself. Cream, garlic, and tomato paste a brought to a boil, then the heat is turned off and the first is added. Worked amazingly well. This is added to just-cooked spaghetti (I used whole wheat) with some grated Parmesan for serving. Good enough, but nothing special. We had our starter after, insalata caprese with home-grown tomatoes,  two tiny Beefsteaks, no especially tasty. Then a salad. For dessert, I made some cherry tart things, very loosely based on this recipe. I made four to use up half the left-over filo I had. Very nice they were. I used ground almonds between the layers of filo. Added some almond extract to the mascarpone mixture as shown in this recipe, but that wasn't needed at all. Use nine (frozen) cherries per tart, rather than the skimpy three in the recipe. Good stuff, although a bit hard to eat.

I see that I've really not been keeping the lists of cookbooks I'm reading and recently read up-to-date. Started VegSups today. It looks really promising.

Friday/17-Aug-18: For our meal, I made a half recipe of Tuna and Chickpea Salad with Pesto (web), served on a bed of lettuce. This was good, almost very good. Needed some zing, tabasco or some red pepper flakes perhaps; maybe some feta too. For afters, I had an ice cream cup and Ed had a mini Magnum.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/18-Aug-18: Nice dinner with Laura and Ralph tonight. Took a bottle of Château Larou Les Complices.

Nothing much happened in the kitchen.

Sunday/19-Aug-18: Early meal before a play in the early evening. We had Crab Salad with Fennel (PatSalads, p90), which was good, but not a keeper.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 5; #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: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/2-Jul-18: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Coriander-Thyme Lamb Chops with Yogurt Sauce (CL/may15; web). Pretty good this was. Cooked the chops under the broiler. The honey in the yogurt sauce really wasn't necessary. With one store-bought tub of (full-fat) yogurt (125ml), there was more than enough sauce.  Served with Moroccan couscous, from the health-food store, and some asparagus steamed over water with a big sprig of mint and some lemon peel and topped with a vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice, and minced mint (Thesaurus, p130).  We enjoyed half of a bottle of Brousse Terre des Sens (Gaillac) as an accompaniament.

Tuesday/3-Jul-18: Using up lots of odds and ends from the freezer, dinner was a half dose of Poor-Cousin Paella (Secrets, p249), more or less. The meats were chorizo, cooked chicken, serrano ham, scallops, and shrimp. For veggies there was a green bell pepper, artichoke bottom, and green peas. Then a salad. Finished the Brousse for wine. Some chocolate topped madelaines for dessert.

Wednesday/4-Jul-18: Shopping today, a big one, refilling the larder. A storm came through while we were in the store. On the way home we saw the biggest hail we've seen since moving to Europe. Got home to find our pergola cover shredded. No other major damage we'd found. We're lucky.

Dinner was Spicy Swordfish and Artichoke Kabobs (web), made with tuna since there was no swordfish. The recipe says the fish and artichokes should be marinated at least four hours. Mine were only about 30 minutes; one or two hours might be nice, but overnight would be too much. Served with orzo and the last four asparagus stalks I had. (None at Leclerc today.)

Thursday/5-Jul-18: Dinner was late, since I was a bit disorganized when it came to cooking today. We had Baked Rishta (Noodles) with Eggplant I (Roden, p272; cookbooker). No fresh noodles, maybe later in the month. Good stuff, this, although it could have used a bit more spaghetti. Served with Spinach Salad with Yogurt (Roden, p68). Some fruit for dessert.

Friday/6-Jul-18: Dinner was Roasted Lemon Garlic Herb Shrimp (web). (Can't find the site where I got my copy of this, but that's the same recipe.) Then a big salad. Then some chocolate covered corn flake cookies. We had a visitor—one of our neighbor's rough-haired dachshunds was in our yard. Normally he's quite a barky thing, protecting his home turf, but was quite sweet in our yard.

Saturday/7-Jul-18: Early meal today before going for to a concert. We had Melon Zucchini & Pancetta (PatSalads, p22; cookbooker). Turns out I'd made it before but didn't write anything in the book. This time with serrano ham instead of pancetta, and with frisée, which we don't ordinarily like but worked here.

From the storm we've also found a broken tile on roof of the kitchen porch and a hole in the birdbath.

Sunday/8-Jul-18: Ed sang with Cantique today; pizza afterwards. Nothing happened in the kitchen, except ...

Yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Jul-17: Early meal today. We had Grilled Buffalo Chicken Tacos (CL; web). I sort of made a whole recipe, that should serve four, for the two of us. I used two kip filets as asked, and had much more romaine; even so, I made only half the dressing, using yogurt instead of buttermilk and feta instead blue cheese (because I forgot to buy this, duh). It was good, but I'll do it again when I'll remember to buy the cheese.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/11-Jul-17: Dinner was Rice Salad with Tuna & Avocado (PatSalad, p57). Made about a half recipe; wasn't obsessive about measuring. Maybe a bit plain, but very pleasant. I used short-grain brown rice rather than white.

Wednesday/12-Jul-17: Shopping today.

I recently read somewhere about Nicolas Freeling's The Kitchen Book, and got myself a copy. Actually the copy includes two books, The Kitchen Book and The Cook Book. He's known for the van der Valk mysteries. I didn't know that he worked as a chef for 15 year. Started reading this today. Really enjoying it.

Dinner was a sort of half recipe of Grilled Salmon with White Bean and Arugula Salad (web). I had half the salmon, but probably had close to all of the salad part. Very tasty. The salad part could be good with a kip filet on top.

• Roasted some red bell peppers for tomorrow's dinner. 
• Set some yogurt to draining for tomorrow's dinner.
• Put some lamb cubes on to marinate for tomorrow's dinner.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/13-Jul-17: Made Chile Puree (TexMex, p50). Put it up in three AH jars (two in the freezer), although four probably would have been all right; we'll just have lots of sauce for the next batches of enchiladas.

Our main course this evening was a two-thirds-ish recipe of Spicy Cumin Lamb Skewers (web). Ed grilled this outside (after the rain finally stopped). I used shaoxing wine instead of sherry. Yummy meat. This was billed as a "marriage of Middle Eastern and Chinese influence," so I chose the side dishes from  book I haven't used before, but clearly need to pay some attention to.

There was Shredded Beets with Thick Yogurt (EastMed, p30) with a 250g beet. This is supposed to be a sauce or dip. I think it would be a fine small salad. I thought it was very tasty; Ed liked it a bit less.

And a half recipe of Grilled Red Pepper Strips with Pomegranate and Cumin (EastMed, p154), another small salad. We liked this a lot. It might be pretty to do it with a mixture of red, yellow, and orange bell peppers.

And a two-thirds-ish recipe of Eggplant with Pomegranate Sauce (EastMed, p155). Instead of baking the eggplant slices, I put them under the broiler. They could have been done a bit longer. Nevertheless, quite tasty.

Finally a third recipe of Rice Pilaf with Noodles (EastMed, p233), which was a nice change from plain rice. I didn't soak the rice.

Friday/14-Jul-17: Bastille Day today. For dinner we had Warm Pasta Salad with Shrimp and Avocados (web). This was pretty good. I called the recipe dinner for two and used 7oz of tagliatelle (the end of a package, and no fresh stuff in the freezer). A bit of an odd combination, but it worked fine. Shrimp, avocado, artichoke hearts, chives (I used a whole can, about twice what was asked), and green olives, with a vinaigrette of white balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, and olive oil.

Saturday/15-Jul-17: Pasta day today. Made Hazan's regular pasta with 1 cup flour and 2 eggs (actually I add quite a bit more as I knead, since it's fairly damp when I start). Cut as fettuccine on 5; tasty. By accident, after I roughly mixed the pasta dough, but before I started kneading, the dough rested for a bit. It was nicer to knead with this pause.

For a sauce, there was Arugula Purée with Walnuts and Goat Cheese (PeV, p39). Pretty good. I made a whole recipe and have two more lumps in the freezer now.

Sunday/16-Jul-17: Off to a vide grenier today; didn't buy anything.

Dinner was Chicken & Corn Salad (PatSalad, p99). Easy and tasty. Two of us ate what should have been for four.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #3 PASTA: yes; #4 BREAD: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Jun-17: Still no news of Pogo. :-( And another excruciatingly hot day.

An earlyish meal. I completed my round of pressure cooker recipes in Madhur Jaffrey's Quick and Easy Indian Cooking with Pork or Lamb Vindaloo (Q&E, p33), using pork today since we had lamb a few days ago. I've made this recipe a number of times, with and without the pressure cooker. The pressure cooker gives wonderful meat, but I do miss the enticing cooking smell. Served with plain basmati rice and Pan-Griled Zucchini (MJ@Home, p173), another old favorite. For nibbles, I made Seasoned Radishes (MJ@Home, p6), but I seem to be the only one who likes them. A shame. Ed bought some chocolate custards for dessert when he went to get milk and bread. Not bad.

Tuesday/20-Jun-17: Lunched out today. Nothing happened in the kitchen. Hot hot hot.

Wednesday/21-Jun-17: Bill left today. Lunched out before catching his train. Shopped after that. Nothing much happened in the kitchen. Hot hot hot.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/22-Jun-17: Early meal today. We had a half dose of Roerbak van Pangasius met Rode en Gele Paprika (web). Didn't use panga, but lieu noir instead. Very good for how easy it was. Served over brown rice. That was all.

Friday/23-Jun-17: The horrible heat is over—hooray!

Early meal today. Made a half dose of Brown Rice Salad with Apples & Walnuts (PatSalads, p54). Easy and quite tasty, although I thought needed a bit more lemon. Mini magnums for dessert

Cooked up a pound of hominy, some for a coming meal, the rest for the freezer.

Saturday/24-Jun-17: Nothing much happened in the kitchen today. Dinner out at a cancer charity event.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/25-Jun-17: This turned into use-up-leftover-bits-of-bread day. Not planned, but it happened.

I bought a batch of rhubarb shopping this week, thinking our rhubarb was about done for the year. Discovered yesterday there's plenty more still to be harvested. Started on the store-bought bit, by making some Rhubarb Bread Pudding, a recipe I got from EAT-L.

Last summer I collected two recipes for Aubergines à la Bonifacienne within a few weeks of each other, from two different magazines (C&V, VPG)—two recipes, the same but different. For our meal today, I smerged these: Steamed the eggplant halves, rather than boiling (ugh). Used about 90g of dryish breads, soaked in milk. Used 200g of tomme de brebis (rather than 75g or 250g, since the package was 200g). Added two sprinkles of cayenne. Baked rather than fried. The recipes both called for 2 eggplant halves per person. This was actually quite a bit. Might be better to get bigger eggplants (mine were bio and smallish, the two were 500g; usually they're about 350g each), and serve a half per person.

Easy to make: Remove the flesh from the steamed eggplants, coarsely chop, then mix with the soaked bread (liquid squeezed out). Then stir in an egg, the grated cheese, a minced garlic clove, some chopped basil, S&P. Stuff this into the eggplant shells and bake for 30min. Pop under the broiler for 5min to brown the top. Yum.

Not sure who or where Boniface is and what the connection with stuffed eggplant is.

Then a big salad. We're stuffed.

A while later we had some Rhubarb Bread Pudding with a bit of ice cream. Good stuff.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 BREAD: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/5-Jun-17: Change of plan today, since I forgot to defrost the lamb yesterday and will have that tomorrow. Ate from the freezer today instead, some yummy carrot soup. That was about it in the kitchen.

Tuesday/6-Jun-17: Dinner was Spicy Cumin Lamb Skewers (Yang Rou Chuan) (web). I didn't take the meat off the chops, but used the spice mix as a rub and cooked them under the broiler. Extra delicious. We probably ate three people's worth of meat between us. This rub would probably be good on other meats. I didn't use the oil and Shaoxing wine. Accompanied by plain rice and a half-dose of Hot and Spicy Wrinkled Beans (Chinatown, p106), which we've enjoyed before. No dessert necessary. Ed thought it would be nice to finish the bottle of wine we started. I'm a bit tipsy.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/7-Jun-17: Shopping today.

Dinner was Warm & Spicy Fish Salad (PatSalads, p95), which I've made before and is still good. I used rocket/arugula/roquette instead of spinach for the salad, and probably more than they intended. For dessert I made some raspberry ice cream. Raspberries from the yard. Vanilla ice cream made with with part mascarpone cream and one part cream cream. Yummy stuff.

Thursday/8-Jun-17: With my French teacher's help, I finally managed to get our new dishwasher ordered. It will be more than a week till it arrives, but at least that's in progress.

Dinner was Rhubarb Khoresh (Roden, p360), a kind of beef stew, with rhubarb from the garden (maybe the last for this year). The stew was one of those glad-I-made-it-don't-have-to-do-it-again things. It's strange that the garden rhubarb is almost gone, but I still haven't seen it in the store. Served with plain rice, Beet Salad (Roden, p68), and Michoteta—Cream Creese and Cucumber Salad (Roden, p65). I've made both of the salads before. Both are good, but the one with feta and cuke really scratches my itch. Then some of the raspberry ice cream.

Friday/9-Jun-17: Found traces of another kitchen mouse, another one that especially likes cantuccini. Sigh.

Dinner was Chiles Rellenos Casserole (CL90, p147). It's the first time I've made this in quite a while. Used a big can of poblanos. Quite yummy. Then a salad. Then we finished off the raspberry ice cream. Yum.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/10-Jun-17: Early meal today, a half recipe of Bang Bang Shrimp (web). Pretty good stuff, and fast and easy. I substituted smoked paprika for regular, which was a mistake. Served with a big salad.

Sunday/11-Jun-17: Mouse was in the trap this morning. Ed dropped him off (possibly too close to the house) on his way to singing this afternoon, so we had a fast dinner from the freezer. Mongolian Beef, served over rice with a side of broccoli. Okay and filling.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 BREAD: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/3-Oct-16: Put up the latest batch of tomato purée. Now a brief pause before picking more.

Hamburger time tonight. Ed was supposed to barbecue this evening, but he hurt his back falling off a ladder and didn't feel like it, so I grilled them on the stove. Very lean ground beef mixed with a shot of soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and a dash of cayenne. Pretty good, although I cooked them a bit long. Served with the leftover lentil salad, still good. Also grilled a zucchini cut in thick slices and sprinkled with a Moroccan spice mix, with a sauce of crème fraîche and minced garlic. Mini magnums for after.

Tuesday/4-Oct-16: Dinner was Fattoush—Levantine Bread Salad (PatSalads, p72). Picked two tomatoes from the potager to use. Instead of pita breads, I used some lavash. I rather like that and have bought it twice now. I see I forgot to add the cucumber, but it was still a yummy salad. Some bit of cooked meat (chicken?) might be nice too, or maybe feta.

For dessert, there was Apple Crisp (BeatThis, p13; cookbooker). Having had a look through this book, I'm going to put it in the recycle box. Too many recipes using canned soup, etc. But I saw this and gave it a try. I made it with frozen raspberries and grannies, half and half. Very good, with a splash of cream. Have put the recipe in my HandyBook, since a quick and easy sort of dessert is always useful.

Wednesday/5-Oct-16: Shopping today. The enlargement mess and noise continues to be very unpleasant.

I bought a bit of blue cheese today (St Agur) just for a lark, and, as we returned home, I noticed lots of ripe figs on our neighbor's tree. I went and picked four for us. For a starter, I halved these lengthwise, crumbled a bit of blue cheese and dribbled a bit of honey onto each, popped them in the oven for a few minutes, then served topped with chopped walnuts. Yum. Even Ed liked them.

Our main was salmon (cookbooker) from my latest book for Cookbook Countdown. Served with some trio rice. Followed by a simple salad. We didn't feel a need for dessert (but we did have some square of chocolate later). We might finish the apple-raspberry crisp for breakfast tomorrow.

My attempts at making a yummy fig jam haven't been very successful. We're currently eating a really good fig-walnut jam that I picked up at a market somewhere. I'm tempted to pick a basketful and try again. We might have some of last year's walnuts still in the freezer. (It looks like this year will be a pretty poor crop unfortunately.)

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/6-Oct-16: Ed has asked for more beefy things, so tonight there was boudin noir again. Not really beefy, but high in protein for his hemoglobin.

During the day I made up some Carrot and Ginger Quickie Pickle (MC; Scraps, p82; web).

We had Black Pudding in Pastry with Mustard Sauce (Diaries2, p146), kind of sausage rolls, but with black puddings. The recipe asks morcilla, which I have seen at Leclerc, but not this week, so I got regular boudin noir, locally made. I used a package of four squares of pâte feuilleté, rolling two square out to a rectangle that enclosed the boudins on a bed of onions. Pretty good, but doesn't need to be made again. Served with some steamed broccoli, and some apple chunks that I sautéed in the onion pan. Also made some Radish and Sour Cream Salad (TLMidEast, p87), but we were too full to eat it.

Friday/7-Oct-16: Picked some more tomatoes today, just enough for dinner and a few extra. Finally made Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter (ClassItal, p152). Had an idea to serve it with fresh pasta, but didn't have time in the end, and she doesn't recommend it, except for potato gnocchi, which I definitely wouldn't make. I neglected to peel the tomatoes, which was a shame, so I buzzed them a bit (not quite enough) with my stick blender. Looks chef-boyardee-ish, but tastes much better. Froze half for later use.

Saturday/8-Oct-16: Had our main meal early today so we can go out this evening. We had West Indies Salmon Cakes (MC; web). Yummy and three more frozen for another meal. Served with turmeric rice, loosely based on something from the web, the Carrot and Ginger Quickie Pickle that I made earlier in the week, and Pan-Grilled Zucchini (MJ@Home, p173). All yummy. Had some mini magnums for dessert.

Sunday/9-Oct-16: Home late last night, and up late this morning. We went to a concert in the afternoon. I had planned to cook dinner, but really didn't feel like it. So we went out for pizza instead.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 BREAD: no; #5 FotW: no for Oct/Nov

This week in the kitchen

Monday/6-Jul-15: Not much happened in the kitchen. Went out for a movie in the evening. Add some cheese on the way there. Then a box of popcorn. That was dinner.

Tuesday/7-Jul-15: Off to the ear doctor today. He gave me a prescription for new hearing aids. All but the bank account say Hooray! In NL these were almost 100% paid for. The French system pays only for the old-fashioned analog ones. Boo.

After a Groupon/Flunch lunch, we went to the tile store and ordered the tile for the kitchen walls. To be delivered in September. I was hoping for end-July or early-August, but we'll take what we can get.

This is turning into a year of big expenses, one after the other. Refrigerator, strimmer, pressure cleaner, washing machine, kitchen tiles, hearing aids, new glasses for both. What else is in the offing?

Easy dinner of leftover soup, then leftover swordfish with some trio rice, then we split the slice of chocolate-walnut tart I bought yesterday. (We both thought it tasted more like chocolate and pecan, but the sign said walnut/noix.)

The temperature has come down today, and tomorrow should be cooler still, i.e., tolerable. We might be able to sleep without the a/c tonight.

Wednesday/8-Jul-15: The Gitem man came this morning to fix the non-working burner on the stove.

Lunch out before the glove factory tour in St. Junien.

A big salad for dinner.

Thursday/9-Jul-15: Yay! the new washing machine arrived this afternoon. All bells and whistles. First load of clothes washed, next one queued for in the night.

Dinner was Barley Salad with Tuna & Mozzarella (p62, PatSalads). Needed lots of salt, but otherwise quite good. Barley has a nice chewiness. Real mozzarella chopped up would be better than the mini balls, which are fairly tasteless. Then a mini magnum each.

Friday/10-Jul-15: Managed to finish the list and get shopping done today. Dinner was Green Tea Salmon, a recipe from the inside lid of a box of Celestial Seasonings Tea. Poor instructions, but it turned out okay. Served with some Hot and Spicy Wrinkled Beans (p106, Chinatown) and brown rice that was a bit crispy because I forgot to turn off the fire. Then a salad with Asian Dressing (p61, MDSalads); made a half recipe and have another salad's worth left. Then a fruit juice popsicle.

Saturday/11-Jul-15: Main meal early today so Ed could go off to choir. Mostly from the freezer. Tarted up the "juice" from some chicken paprikash by adding some peas and cooked chicken. Served over spaetzle. Made a salad but didn't have time to eat it.

Sunday/12-Jul-15: Another meal from the freezer. An Indian red lentil thing. Served over basmati rice,  with Karhai Broccoli (p148, MJ@Home). Then some mini magnums for dessert. Ed had chocolate chocolate, I had white chocolate.

The new washer has a big don't-like feature. Because it's an all-electronic thing, the timer can't be used to turn it on. The automatic delay feature works by setting the number of hours after which you want it to be finished. And the minimum you can set is 3 hours. If it's 11:30 and you want to start it at noon, you just have to wait to noon to push Go. European washing machines heat their own water and we have low electricity rates from noon to two, so starting at noon is a Good Thing.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 UNUSED: no; #3 GRAINS: yes; #4 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #5 PASTA: no; #6 BREAD: no; #7 FotW: yes for June; no for July

This week in the kitchen

Monday/29-Jun-15: Stopped at Spar this morning to get sugar and a box of pectin. Used my last 3.5# of apricots to start Apricot Preserves (FancyPant, p114), using some apricot kernels. I cut my apricots in eighths instead of quarters, and they're going to macerate overnight. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. The freezer is going to be full of apricot jam. Too bad Ed doesn't really like it

Dinner was a half recipe of Pollo de la Plancha—Grilled Chicken Breasts (web). Pretty good (even without the cilantro), easy, and fast. Served with the Apricot-Haberno Salsa, yummy. More black bean salad, which was especially good with the salsa. And the green bean-radish dish we didn't eat last Friday. Fruit juice popsicles for dessert.

Tuesday/30-Jun-15: Electricity problems starting in the night. Looks like our washing machine has a short. New one on order. Might take more than a week to arrive.

Dinner was Pasta with Tuna & Lemon Sauce (web), which was easy and fast. The sauce is uncooked, just tossed with the pasta, and uses stuff that's usually in-house, so it's a good one to save. Then a salad. That was all.

Finished off the apricot jam from FancyPant. Can't say I followed the instructions all that carefully, and they didn't really work either. (Straining the syrup from the fruit in a sieve. Nah. Even a colander didn't work well.) Added a cinnamon stick for the last bit of boiling. Finger licking good. Set up well without pectin, with which I'm now well-supplied. I just need fruit and more jars.

Wednesday/1-Jul-15: Nothing happened in the kitchen today, since we were out all day. The dishwasher didn't even get emptied.

Thursday/2-Jul-15: The heat wave continues, although it's a teeny bit cooler today. Didn't make it to the market.

Dinner was Broccoli with Spicy Tahini (web). This might be meant as a side dish, but I served the whole recipe over brown rice and called it dinner for two. Tossed the steamed broccoli with the sauce before serving. Remarkably satisfying for something so simple. For dessert with had some of the galette we bought yesterday topped with melon ice cream.

Friday/3-Jul-15: Off to have my haircut this morning. Then a quick lunch and off to shop. Don't recommend shopping late on Friday. The store was full, but so many checkout counters were open that there were no lines.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Pasta Salad with Tapenade & Veggies (p44, PatSalads). A pretty good salad. Ed thought that eggplant fingers might be good instead of green beans. (Boiled eggplant fingers?) Quick and tasty, nice on a hot day. Bought a 4-pack of almost out-of-date caramel semolina puddings and we had a pair of those for dessert.

Another ant invasion. This time on the peninsula. Sigh.

Saturday/4-Jul-15: I hate hot, have I said that before. Thunderstorms this morning and early afternoon. Didn't help much. House has lost its cool. Good bless the bedroom a/c.

There have been some ants around, but not as bad as yesterday. Knock wood.

When I asked for a thick bit of swordfish steak yesterday, I got enough for a full recipe of Spicy Mustard Swordfish and Artichoke Kabobs (web), and indeed it would serve four as advertised. Put the bits on to marinate this morning.

We started with an insalata caprese with one coeur de boeuf tomato, almost seedless, and one regular tomato for me. Some nice mozzarella and some basil. Yum.

Then the kabobs, grilled outside thanks to Ed, served with a half recipe of Quinoa Pilaf (web), unremarkable. For dessert there were two Individual Peach upside-Down Cakes (web), a half recipe, easy and tasty, served with some vanilla ice cream.

We are counting underwear to see if we'll make it to the projected washing machine delivery time. If it's delayed, we'll have to make a stop at a laundromat. Ed took the old machine to the dump today.

Sunday/5-Jul-15: Still hot, maybe a bit less today, but back in force tomorrow.

For lunch I made Toast with Avocado, Fried Eggs, and Soy Sauce (web). Quite tasty and easy. Could be breakfast too, I suppose.

In the afternoon I made Hideg Kapros Tokleves—Cold Cream-of-Squash Soup (p24, TLMelting) and put it in the fridge to chill. We ate it after a concert. A very nice tasty, cold soup. Just enough potato to thicken it, but not enough to give an earthy taste that would be too much on a hot summer day.

Having a thought about stopping with this blog and keeping my recipe list elsewhere. Even started copying into Calendar. But there's no formatting there, and I miss things like the pages. Have to think further about this. Maybe just an RTF file would do with extra files for the pages. We'll see.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: yes; #2 UNUSED: yes; #3 GRAINS: yes; #4 VEG/FISH: 5
This month: #5 PASTA: yes for June, no for July; #6 BREAD: no for June, no for July  #7 yes for June; no for July

This week in the kitchen

Monday/29-Jul-13: Working on our blueberry surplus, I made some Blueberry Scones (MC) this afternoon. Pretty good, they are.

The hot weather may be gone for a while, but there are still cantaloupe to use up. Tonight's dinner was Melon, Zucchini, and Pancetta Salad (PatSalads, p22). Pretty good it was too. I had only mâche and arugula, too much probably; the bitterness of a bit of frisée would probably have been nice. No honeydew melon, just a charentaise melon, which is similar to cantaloupe. Quite a nice salad. For afters, we ate a bit of goat cheese.

Tuesday/30-Jul-13: Pasta night. Made Dilly Pasta (PastaMach, p72) with Shrimp Dill Sauce (PastaMach, p135). The pasta had dried dill in it, but not much added flavor. The sauce was so-so, not one to do again.

Wednesday/31-Jul-13: Shopping today. Not very big in volume, but lots of money involved.

Dinner was Salmon & Avocado Salad (PatSalads, p80). I liked it, but Ed thought there was too much balsamic in the sauce. Which was interesting because there was none. I was thinking the sauce (mirin and soy) went very well with the smoked salmon, while he thought it overpowered it. I thought it would be a nice starter, in smaller portions, for an Asian-ish meal.

Thursday/1-Aug-13: Ed's Montbron choir had a picnic today, so I was up (relatively) early to prepare our food. First there was Cantaloupe Soup (Picnic, p25), which was tasting good up to the point of adding the balsamic vinegar. That changed the color and didn't enhance the flavor. For the main, there was some old favorites, Spicy Grilled Peppered Lamb Skewers (BigFlav, p142) along with the recommended Green Grape-Parsley Relish (BigFlav, p77) and potato salad à la Joy of Cooking, requested by Ed. Yesterday while shopping, I noticed cheesecake in the fresh cheese section and bought us a chunk for dessert. Yum.

Friday/2-Aug-13: Yogurt on overday.

The blueberry harvest is in full swing, so lots to use up. Dinner was Chicken & Blueberry Pasta Salad (web), a surprising combination, chicken breasts, pasta, feta, and blueberries, but it worked well. A simple salad to follow, then cheese, trying to use up what we didn't eat with Jody and Steve. After dinner we picked another pint or so of blueberries. There will be another batch to pick, but may not as much.

Saturday/3-Aug-13: Made up some Vinegary Barbecue Sauce (Everlasting, p193) for tomorrow's dinner. Finger-licking good.

Dinner was Pasta with Summer Vegetables in a Spicy Peanut Sauce (MC 2BTried). Not as spicy as advertised. Not bad altogether. Then some crêmes brulées from the freezer for dessert.

Sunday/4-Aug-13: Tonight we had sort of pulled pork sandwiches, some cooked pork from the freezer that soaked overnight in the Vinegary Barbecue Sauce, got reheated, and served in ciabattas. Now, that's a really good sauce, sweet and sour and spicy. Served with Mama's Garlic Coleslaw (MC, HandyBook) and some Oven Roasted Corn that was supposed to be amazing, but wasn't really.

Yogurt on overnight.            

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/8-Jul-13: A winner dinner tonight, Chicken Noodle Salad (Ji Shi Liang Mein) (web). This is from a book from a BBC TV series I haven't seen. Yummy stuff. Easy. Double chocolate mini-magnums for dessert.

Tuesday/9-Jul-13: Yogurt on overday.

It was clear-out-the-fridge night tonight. I grilled some eggplant, broccoli (parboiled first), red bell pepper, onion, and zucchini. Made up a batch of hummus and warmed some pita breads. Quite tasty.

Buckwheat Cornmeal Bread (BigGerman, p38) in the ABM overnight. First time for this one.

Wednesday/10-Jul-13: The bread was really high, over the top of the pan. Thus, really light textured. Very unexpected to me. Ed really likes it; I think it's OK but nothing special.

Shopping today.

Dinner was Olive Crusted Cod in Foil (web) with haddock instead of cod. Really yummy. Any thickish fish would do. Might package fillets individually; if not, cut through zucchini ribbons before lifting fish out to serve. Served with Oven-Fried Potatoes with Oregano and Lemon - Patates Lemonata (O&C, p280), This is a really nice way to do potatoes; worth doing again. Double chocolate mini magnums for after. (Boring, eh?)

Ordered a dishwasher this evening, yes, on-line, from the shop where we got the stove and the freezer.

Thursday/11-Jul-13: Dinner was a half dose of Spicy Eggplant Salad (PatSalads, p28; cookbooker). Good stuff, but might try grilling the eggplant rather than frying, to reduce the oil and leave it with more texture. Then some vanilla ice cream with dark little cherries freshly picked.

Friday/12-Jul-13: Yogurt on overday.

Lino, Bart, and grown-up girls, Juul and Jelka, friends from the Netherlands, had dinner with us. They're staying in Montembouef overnight on their way south to meet family for a vacation. We had a lovely evening. Sipped prosecco while munching nuts, olives, and a little terrine de lapin. Slices of charentais melon with a splash of pineau for a starter. A repeat of Chicken Noodle Salad (Ji Shi Liang Mein) (web) for the main; this time made with eggy, "fresh" fettucine from the grocery, but no cilantro. Then some cheese (St Felicien, Picotin goat cheese, Fourme d'Ambert). As we sat to eat the main, I started some crème fraîche ice cream freezing (more or less from a recipe on the web). We ate this with cherries Ed picked in the afternoon.

Saturday/13-Jul-13: Dinner was a half dose of Tuna & Roast Veggie Salad (PatSalads, p80). Yum. Double chocolate mini-magnums for dessert.

Sunday/14-Jul-13: Made some Authentic French Bread in the ABM today. Too late for breakfast, but in time for a late lunch.

Bad food day today for me. At lunch I nibbled some of the chorizo meant for tomorrow night's dinner. Later made some cookies for IHCC. First I had to eat the leftover bit of white chocolate, since Ed doesn't like it. Then the cookies were so more-ish that I ate many more than I should have and felt sorry for the sugar overdose later. So much for dieting.

After eating cookies, neither of us were especially hungry. So tonight's planned dinner goes to tomorrow and we had a bit salad for dinner. Ed had more cookies for dessert, but I brushed my teeth before temptation had a chance.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/6-Aug-12: Made up the broth for Zucchini-Lemon Sorbet (web). It's a pretty green color (not yellow like the pic on the site). I used one globe squash, 350g after it was seeded. Reduced sugar to 1/2 cup (sucre de canne). The lickin's tasted pretty good. We'll see.

Finished off the Zucchini and Feta Salad and the Herbal Potato Salad for lunch.

Off piste already for dinner—just didn't feel like making or eating a filo tarte/pie, no matter how tasty. So I cooked some rice and defrosted a smoked sausage to make a stuffing for a pair of globe zucchinis  We started with Lamb's Lettuce and Beetroot (Salade de Mâche aux Betteraves) (BEFCC, p32), which is one of our favorite salads. Then we had our stuffed zucchinis, surrounded by a bit of tagliatelle tossed with cilantro pesto. Most everything from the freezer. Didn't feel like dessert. 

Tuesday/7-Aug-12: Froze up the Zucchini-Lemon Sorbet—sample tasted pretty darn good!

A mishmash of a dinner, although it was pretty, quite colorful. Ed grilled some saucisses de volaille, poultry sausages, along with some slices off an enormous zucchini (one that hid out during a rainy spell and ended up bigger than Ed's forearm). I sliced up the last roasted beet and topped it with a bit of yesterday's dressing. Used some of the neighbor's giveaway beans to make Haricots Verts in Walnut Oil (Lunch, p216), but with yellow beans rather than green ... haricots jaunes, perhaps? Thought it would be pretty to combine the yellow and green, but the green ones seemed mostly thicker, so didn't think the cooking times would work right. Tarted up the bit of rice leftover from yesterday with some onion, radishes, cuke, green bell pepper, and some of the leftover dressing from the potato salad. For afters we had a bit of the hard goat cheese crottin Ed got at the marché de producteurs. Then a bit of the Zucchini Ice Cream.

Wednesday/8-Aug-12: Yogurt on overday. We didn't get shopping today, waiting for a DHL delivery, which really was early enough to go afterwards, but we weren't organized. So dinner plans went awry and I really didn't feel like making anything at all. We ended up with a variation on Meat and Chickpea Curry, which is one of those recipes that gets pulled out when nothing else appeals. Used the penultimate bit of last Thanksgiving's turkey from the freezer.

Thursday/9-Aug-12: Shopping today. Roasted three more beets from the garden.

Dinner was a half recipe of Warm & Spicy Fish Salad (PatSalads, p95). Pretty good stuff, and easy. I thought the rub for the fish was a bit too salty and the salad dressing needed a bit of salt. Ed disagreed, so who's to tell.  Served with Marinated Zucchini, which is a recipe I've had forever, probably one of the first things I ever cooked for Ed. The recipe calls for cottage cheese with chives, which is decidedly not to be found here. (In NL, there was some lovely cottage cheese, German, I think, that I still buy when we visit to eat for breakfast. Here I once found some cottage cheese in an "English" section, but it was horrible.) I used Boursin with chives instead. Worked pretty well.

Friday/10-Aug-12: Busy in the kitchen today. Used most of the defrosted filo to make Viennese Fillo Apple Strudel (filo recipe pamphlet), which was pretty tasty. Again made the broth for Zucchini-Lemon Sorbet (web), and froze it in the evening. Made about 50% more than last time, just to use up the big zuke. Had a dab for dessert. Ed thought it was too sour; I thought it was good. Hmm... Also again made up the broth for Zucchini Ice Cream (web), this time puréeing the mixture. Used half the cinnamon; we'll see how that goes.

Dinner was Spinach, Zucchini, Feta, and Walnut Quina with Salmon (web). Interesting collection of tastes. Ed liked it better than I did. We ate the whole thing, but it would have easily served three. As a starter, it would serve something like eight probably.

Saturday/11-Aug-12: Dinner started with a little salad of sliced, roasted beet from the garden, avocado, and red onion, topped with the last of the beet dressing. The main was Cold Zucchini and Corn Soup (Soup4Seas, p90), more or less. For the final step, as I was heating the olive oil to sauté the last of the zucchini slices, I took the lid off the cooled soup and dumped the zuke bits in there rather than into the oil. Oops. Soup with raw squash. Not bad actually, although it would be better with slightly softer squash.

Froze up the Zucchini Ice Cream after the concert. Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/12-Aug-12: More Cold Zucchini and Corn Soup for lunch. Keeps well.

Dinner was off piste again. Made some chili with some frozen pork and barley I made for something else. Turned out pretty good. For dessert, we finished off the first batch of Zucchini Ice Cream, then (for comparison only, of course) the extra little bit of the second batch that didn't fit in the dish I froze it in. The second batch is much tastier, but not as creamy, maybe because the bucket wasn't cold enough. Just have to try again.

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

Chicken Salad with Yogurt

Cool & Fresh
Culinary Notebooks series
McRae Publishing Ltd (2011)
ISBN 9788860983312 

This book is brand-new to me, a gift from a friend, who said it's full of tasty salads. It's not available at Amazon (don't they have all books?), so she sent me a copy instead. And, indeed, it seems to be full of lots of appealing dinner salads.

Our weather turned unexpectedly very hot today, and I didn't feel like standing around to make pasta in the sticky heat, so I grabbed this book to see what what could be conjured up from ingredients on hand. On the perpetual use-up-the-oldest-stuff-in-the freezer quest, I defrosted some roast chicken meat rather than skinless, boneless, chicken breast halves. Instead of marinating and grilling the raw meat, I just cut up the cooked meat and let that sit in the marinade (olive oil, lime juice, and S&P). While that's sitting, I whisked up the dressing of mayo, yogurt, more lime juice, and a dab of honey. The recipe called for wedges of iceberg lettuce on the plate, but I used a sack of mixed greens instead. Top the greens with thin strips of lengthwise-cut cucumber and the chicken, then drizzle with the dressing.

All-in-all a nice summery salad, fast and pretty tasty. It's perfect for using up leftovers, although I'm sure freshly grilled chicken would be great. I think I might add a pinch of cayenne or a drop or two of Tabasco to the dressing, just to give it that bit of zing.

This post is linked to this week's Cookbook Sundays. 

This week in the kitchen

Monday/25-Jun-12: Yogurt on overday. Authentic French Bread (Magic, p22) on overmorning,

Defrosted shrimp for Shrimp with Sorrel Sauce, but when I got ready to cook, I discovered that the sorrel had turned to oozy mush in the few days since we shopped. Weird and unpleasant. Last minute change to Shrimp with Lemon-Saffron Rice (web), loosely interpreted. Kind of so-so, but the rice was pretty good. Then some Pavé Normand, a new cheese for us, ok, but nothing special. Then a dog walk, followed by cocoa custards.

Tuesday/26-Jun-12: Started some Bread Machine Bagels (web) in the late afternoon, so that they were finishing up right when I was starting dinner. I didn't get the hole big enough (next time!), but they taste and chew just like bagels ought.

Dinner was halfish verison of Royal Chicken Cooked in Yogurt (web), which I see is a Madhur Jaffrey recipe. Served with Tangy Green Beas with Ajwain and Ginger (SpiceKitch, p38), an old favorite. (I really need to enlarge my repetoire of colorful side dishes!) Cooked the beans in the bagel water—why not? Also Aromatic Yellow Rice (MJ1, p153), a lovely and tasty rice side dish. Made a quarter of the recipe that's supposed to served six, and it was still a lot of rice for two. For dessert we had bagels, just plain old bagels, still warm from the oven.

Wednesday/27-Jun-12: Weather turned extremely hot today so I opted for a salad that involved no cooking. Defrosted some roast chicken bits and made a half dose of Chicken Salad with Yogurt (PatSalads, p102). This was a nice hot weather salad. Finished off the cocoa custards.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/28-Jun-12: Another hot day, perhaps a trifle cooler than yesterday. Shopping.

Dinner was a third recipe of White Fish Stew (web), which was good, especially after a good shot of Tabasco. Don't think the recipe was meant as a main course, though, since the portions would be pretty small. Followed by a salad, then the rest of the Pavé Normand, then a double chocolate mini Magnum.

Friday/29-Jun-12: An easy-peasy pasta dish, a half dose of Fettuccine with Preserved Lemon and Roasted Garlic (Essential, p355). Well, it was tagliatelle instead of fettuccine, but I won't tell if you dont. Very simple, very taste. Would be a good side dish also, when you need the lemony taste. Then a big salad. Then the last of the Strawberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream.

Saturday/30-Jun-12: Off to our local fête this evening. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Sunday/1-Jul-12: Dinner was a half-dose of A Moley (Curried Turkey Hash) (Essential, 452). Well, a half dose with all the spices still made a pretty bland dish. Served with peas and shallots which were quite good mixed with the curry. Served over rice.

Yogurt on overnight.

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