This week in the kitchen

Monday/7-Feb-22: Dinner was Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms (MC), all sauce with two kip filets. Served with trio rice and broccoli sprinkled with lemon juice. Nice, fast dinner.

Tuesday/8-Feb-22: Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive today, so it should have been a fish night. But I was chatting on the phone with a friend and it got too late, so tonight we had tomorrow's planned meal. That was Spicy Chicken Livers (QuickWok, p90). This was ok, nothing special. Served this with Tasty Noodles with Broccoli (QuickWok, p137), made with whole wheat spaghetti. (Found some egg noodles in the cabinet, a bit old; they had a decided don't-eat-me look about them, so I tossed them and used spaghetti instead.) A half recipe made a nice side for two; a whole recipe would be an okay main, especially with a bit of tofu included.

Wednesday/9-Feb-22: Dinner was Fish Kebabs (RezaRice, p60). Not bad, these, but they needed a bit of sauce and he didn't recommend anything except raita, which I didn't make. Served with French Bean and Cashew Nut Thoran (RezaRice, p122). This was so-so. Used reconstituted dried coconut rather than fresh. There was also Lemon and Ginger Rice (RezaRice, p148), using brown basmati rice. This was pretty good as rice dishes go. Altogether, nothing special meal-wise, and a bit of work, taking a lot of time. Not happy with some of Reza's vague instructions.

Thursday/10-Feb-22: Baked a loaf of Easy French bread (Electric, p60; GD). Which really wasn't needed since we went to the boulangerie this afternoon on the way to dentist and brico.

Dinner from the crockpot, Bean and Sausage Soup (BestSC, p26). The beans weren't quite done. I think I remember that, in my crockpot, beans need to cook on High to get properly done; these were done on Low. The instructions say to cut the turkey sausages in half lengthwise. If I did that I'd have some ground sausage meat with casings. Soup was ok. 

Friday/11-Feb-22: Using up the other half of the bakje of chicken livers, we had Foies de Volaille à a Sauge (Chicken Livers with Sage) (Franey, p75). This was better than Hom's spicy livers. The cognac evaporated before I could get a match to it, so it never got properly flambéed. The suggested go-with (for the 60-minute "gourmet" dinner) was Nouilles à l'Alsacienne (Noodles with Crumb and Egg Topping) (Franey, p75). This was good; I've never seen hard-boiled egg added to noodles like this. Lots of butter in these dishes. For some veggie matter, I cut up some carrots, boiled them a  bit, and added parsley and lemon juice. 

Saturday/12-Feb-22: Didn't feel much like cooking this evening, so we had leftover soup for dinner. Even though it's been cooking off and on for two days, the beans are still on the crunchy side. Tastes good, though, especially with a good squirt of jalapeño Tabasco.

Sunday/13-Feb-22: Dinner was Pasta-Kwarkschotel met Bauwe Kaas. Can't find this online. (I thought it might be from Allerhande, but I don't think so now—maybe another grocery store magazine or maybe a proper magazine.) I did a little (mostly English-language) searching for a kwark substitute and came up with Greek yogurt, so I ordered that from the Drive. At dinner I was thinking that fromage blanc might be just the thing, and it seems some French sites think that also. But the Greek yogurt was fine. The instructions have you make layers of the pasta/eggs/peas mixture and the kwark/garlic/pepper mixture. This struck me as useless, so I just mixed all together and topped that with crumbled bleu d'Auvergne (which was in the fridge needing to be used), rather than Danish blue. Forty minutes might to be too long in the oven. Served with broccoli; now I see the recipe suggests cauliflower. 

Another week, no picture. Having some trouble getting back to this.

Long ago Blogspot had some trouble with the dating of posts. At the time, it seemed the simplest thing for me was let the date be that of the first entry for the week, rather than the final entry. I think things have changed, and so I'm going to change to the more sensible dating. I'll correct all the posts from this year to the last entry and continue like that. 

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

Monday/8-Jun-20: First day for French lesson.

Last night, I put 100g of a mixed bean mix (that I bought on impulse) on to soak. This evening, sans electricité, I sautéed some chopped onion and potato with some sliced garlic, then added 4 cups of water, a chicken bouillon cube (organic), and a ham bone from the freezer. Cooked for a good long while. Turned into a pretty good soup. One hundred grams makes two substantial servings.

Tuesday/9-Jun-20: Made a loaf of Buckwheat Bread (Magic, p73). Used potato flour, 1:1, for the instant potato flakes; used treacle for the dark corn syrup. Tasty stuff.

Using up zucchini and red bell peppers, dinner was Zucchini and Red Pepper Tart (MDTarts, p38). The store-bought crust was not wonderful, but the tart itself was pretty good. It came out late, so we didn't have more to eat.

Wednesday/10-Jun-20:  Ed picked up an order from Intermarché today. That included fish, but I’d already defrosted some lamb chops, so dinner was Lamb Cutlets with Mint, Chilli & Potatoes (web). There were only three lamb chops in the package, each with a long fat and meat “tail”. Very tasty this were especially the potatoes, which were steamed, then finished off in the fat and herbs left from the lamb. Served with some green beans that had been boiled, then topped with olive oil, lime juice, grated lime peel, and red pepper flakes. All good stuff. Some goat cheese for after. Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/11-Jun-20: Using the cod we got yesterday, dinner was Fried Fish Steaks (Q&E, p67). Served with Karhai Broccoli (MJHome, p148) and Potato Chaat (MJHome, p165). All was good. More goat cheese for after.

Friday/12-Jun-20: Last night I used the last of my asafoetida. I remember my Indian cooking teacher said the little bakje would last a lifetime. It lasted about 40 years, not quite a lifetime. Knowing I was almost out, I ordered more. Twice. (Memory fail.) Today I discovered that neither contains pure asfaoetida. So I ordered yet another jar of the pure stuff. And that order has been cancelled.

Using my newly bought-via-Amazon buttermilk powder (no Saco here), I made Buttermilk Bread (MC), using chestnut honey, which might be a bit strong.

While Lockdown Lit was on, I put together Amazon Cake (Cocoa Cake) (Essential, p779). This is a really easy cake. It went in the oven at the same time as the leftover shepherd’s pie. We had the leftover pie with a nice salad, and followed by cake. We’re stuffed.

Saturday/13-Jun-20: When I defrosted the freezer on Thursday, I found a packet of skinless, boneless chicken thighs that had been declared lost. Today I defrosted that and we had a halfish recipe of Holy Yum Chicken (web), except that I only cooked my thighs for 30 minutes. Served with plain rice and Chinese-Style Asparagus Salad (QuickWok, p108). Pretty good stuff. Chocolate cake for lunch and for dinner.

Sunday/14-Jun-20: Made a loaf of Bill Hatcher's Italian Bread (MC), Basic/Rapid/L/d/-. It's good.

My second order of asafoetida has been cancelled. There's plenty of options with a mix (I have a couple of those) but the pure stuff seems to come only from India, where the post office seems not to be functioning.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Christmas Eve Cajun Shrimp, a recipe I collected in 2017 from EAT-L. Good stuff it was. Served with polenta and some haricots verts and asparagus. The buttery soppy from the shrimp was good with both. For dessert, with finished off the chocolate cake with some cream and raspberries fresh from the garden (including a little spider).

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #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/3-Jun-19: Smerged lots of recipes to make a fried rice with broccoli and grated carrot and leftover rice. It was good. Some store-bought toetjes for after.

Tuesday/4-Jun-19: Defrosted some salmon pattties. Make a salad of the rest of the leftover rice, plus broccoli, carrots, small bell peppers, shallots, along with the leftover beet dressing, which is a bit old, but seemed ok. Chocolate-covered cornflakes for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/5-Jun-19: Made Baked Onion Bhajis again, but without cooking the onion first. Worked okay, but would be better to chop them so there weren't long bits sticking out. Used about half of the two chutneys left. Froze the rest of the bell pepper one; will try to eat the cilantro-mint one in the next days. Warmed up the rest of the lamb and the green beans for the rest of the meal. All gone now. Finished off the chocolate-covered cornflakes too.

Thursday/6-Jun-19: Shopping today.

Dinner was Chinese Steamed Fish with Black Beans (ClayCook2, p86), with cod. Pretty good it was. Served with plain basmati rice and Stir-Fried Green Beans with Garlic (QuickWok, p130) with snijbonen. Also liked these. Strawberries and cream for dessert.

Friday/7-Jun-19: Stormy day with much wind. Skipped going to the conseil meeting. Cancelled tomorrow's dinner with Laura and Ralph. Trying to get blood pressure down.

Dinner was ricotta-bacon ricotta from the freezer, a bit overdue for use. Alla panna. Pretty good. And a salad. Don't know what we'll eat tomorrow.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/8-Jun-19: Working on the freezer. Sliced a cooked magret and warmed it. Warmed some tamarind sauce. Cleaned some lettuce and tossed it with a little dressing of lemon juice, oil, and garam masala. Quite good. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Sunday/9-Jun-19: More eating from the freezer tonight Dinner was a loose interpretation of Tuna and Orzo Salad with Parmesan & Basil (web). As a main for two, I used only 1 cup of orzo. I used a chunk of cooked tuna from the freezer instead of  a can. No celery. A regular tomato, seeded and chopped. Grated the Parmesan, but forgot to serve it. Nevertheless, the salad was good. A mini ice cream cup for after.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/8-May-17: Dinner was Marinated Chicken Spiedies with Garlic Sauce (web), chicken marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, cilantro, and parsley, grilled on skewers, then plopped in toasted bread. (My first batch of bread caught on fire under the grill, a bit dramatic.) Pretty tasty. Made a whole recipe and the rest will appear later in the week. Served Orange Carrot Salad (web), that I made last week, this time with the carrots cut on the mandoline. The mandoline is marginally easier, but more to clean up, and it wastes so much of the carrot. I've got lots of carrot bits in my freezer sack for the next batch of chicken stock now.

Tuesday/9-May-17: Shopping today.

Dinner was Tamarind Seabass with Cucumber (Jamie; unable to find on the web, an annoying feature of Jamie magazine), made with cod. This was okay, nothing special. Ed thought the tamarind flavor was too strong; I thought it was fine. Served with plain basmati rice and Stir-Fried Green Beans with Garlic (QuickWok, p130), which Ed liked especially and I thought were just okay. We evened it all out with some mini magnums (one classic, one white with almonds).

Wednesday/10-May-17: A day out today. Left early. Home late. Didn't think we'd be hungry, but we ended up eating our leftover pizza. Then fell into bed.

Thursday/11-May-17: Remembered we had the remains of a jar of some pretty good salsa verde when I saw the recipe for Salsa Verde Burgers (web). Used some slices of Maasdam cheese, minced some jalapeno slices, and called it pepper Jack cheese. Not bad at all. For a side, there was Summer Rice Salad (Rodale, p129), an old favorite I haven't made in a while. Some strawberries and cream for dessert.

Friday/12-May-17: Early meal today. We had Aiguillettes de Canard Gratinées (VPG, not to be found on the web). I made a half recipe, which should serve two and we will have two meals of it. Interesting assembly, easy to make. Cook some carrot coins and some broccoli bits. Make a sauce with milk and cream thickened with potato starch. (I used about half of the half asked and had a really thick sauce.) Purée that with about half of the cooked carrots and broccoli, adding and egg, S&P and a bit of grated nutmeg. Lay some aiguillettes (these are the narrow bits on the back of breast halves) on the bottom of a casserole, top with the remaining veggies, pour the puréed mixture over this, and top with some grated gruyère. Pop in a 210C/400F oven for 20 minutes.

Trying to get our US taxes done today.

Saturday/13-May-17: Oops, forgot to put yogurt on last night, so we're a bit short now. Didn't notice till too late to start it this morning.

Early meal today was a half recipe of Artichoke Puree with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (PeV, p32). Pretty good, but I didn't trim the artichokes well enough so there were some unpleasant fibers. And a salad. Ed not feeling well.

Made the top and bottom for tomorrow's dacquoise.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/14-May-17: Finished off the Raspberry Dacquoise (web) for Cath's birthday do. Mine isn't nearly as pretty as Clotilde's, but it was pretty darn tasty.

I'd planned to make a salad with Monday's leftover chicken spiedies for dinner, but Ed's not eating, so I dumped them into what's left of Wednesday's rice salad and that's what I had. Easy and not too bad.

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

Stir-Fried Lamb with Garlic and Basil

Ken Hom's Quick Wok: The Fastest Food in the East
Ken Hom
Headline Book Publishing (2001)
ISBN 0747276005

After a couple of months with no activity on my use-my-unused-cookbooks project, I'm back at it again. It's not that I've not been using my cookbooks, I do freqeuently, but it's been the old regulars rather than the unused ones.

This book is a fairly recent acquisition and I haven't really read it. I found this at a charity book sale and thought it might be worth a look. A quick perusal has already led to several stickies, so it looks like it deserves more attention. I have cooked a lot from Ken Hom's Hot Wok and a bit from his Easy Family Recipes from a Chinese-American Childhood; I have an active dislike for his Asian Vegetarian Feast, since this supposedly vegetarian book insists that you use chicken stock, making nonsense of its title. Two out of three, not bad.

Tonight's dinner certainly lived up the to "quick" promise. Thin slices of lamb sit for 20 minutes in a marinade of light soy sauce, shaoxing wine, sesame oil, and cornstarch. Then they're fried in the wok (a skillet would work fine, of course), and fried some more after a lot of sliced garlic is added, and fried just a bit longer after adding some basil and cilantro leaves. All very quickly done and on the table so fast, I forgot to take a picture till I was halfway through eating. And very tasty it was.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/4-Jun-12: Ed worked to install the new exhaust fan over the stove today, and out for a quiz this evening, so nothing happening in the kitchen.

Tuesday/5-Jun-12: The new exhaust fan is in! The stove is brightly lit now and any the dirty bits are very visible. There's a button you can press to turn the fan off after 10 minutes. Might be a nice feature.

Dinner was Broccoli, Leek, and Blue Cheese Pie (web). Very tasty it was. It was supposed to have a top crust. Mine had kind of a cap, but wasn't completely covered, since a package of puff pastry (pâte feuilleté) covered a round pie plate without enough to spare for a proper lid. So it wasn't very pretty, but it was tasty. Then a salad. Then some double chocolate mini-Magnums.

Wednesday/6-Jun-12: Shopping today. Impulse buy was two kilos of apricots to make jam. Did I really need to do that, I wonder?

Dinner was Easy Crumbly, Mustardly Salmon (web), which was good, although I didn't do the bit about searing the bottom, just put the fish under the broiler. Served with trio rice and the rest of the asparagus. For dessert there was Tarte au Fromage Blanc et aux Fruits Rouges (VPG). I'd just seen the recipe this morning and bought what I needed at the shop. Yum!

Thursday/7-Jun-12: Working on Barbara's strawberries, I started Rosy Strawberry Preserves (FJCanning, p294). These have to sit 24 hours before being finished off. The headnote for this recipe says:

Cook a batch daily while getting lunch during the strawberry season

Right. This only made a small dent, so I also made Strawberry Sorbet (Scoop, p128). There's still another quart of this batch of strawberries left, and they gave us more still today.

Dinner was Stir-Fried Lamb with Garlic and Basil (QuickWok, p92), pretty tasty. Served over rice with some haricots verts tossed with sesame oil. Then we finished off the pavé affinée. Then we had slices of the tart (which was supposed to serve four, but I'm thinking eight would have been fine; we're making six unless we stretch out the next bits). Then we had some truffles. Oink.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/8-Jun-12: Quiz and dinner tonight, so nothing much happened in the kitchen except for making another batch of Strawberry Balsamic Jam (web), without the pepper, since that didn't seem to add all that much. Meanwhile Barbara brought still more strawberries.

Saturday/9-Jun-12: Trying to use up strawberries today. (Apricots tomorrow). Made a batch of  Strawberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream (Scoop, p90), using the rest of some fromage blanc for the heavy cream. Tasted pretty good.

Found an interesting jam recipe that doesn't require cooking (except for dissolving pectin in water), so made "Best-Ever" (Frozen) Jam (PuttingBy, p294). Not exactly a catchy name, is it? I freeze most of the jam I make (in lieu of proper canning), so that part is not a big deal. The no-cooking part is nice, though. Finger licking after filling jars tasted fine.

Made the "broth" for Strawberry Sorbet (Scoop, p128). Will freeze it tomorrow after the freezer bucket has re-frozen. Yay! No strawberries in the house.

For lunch we finished the Broccoli, Leek, and Blue Cheese Pie. For dinner we had Five-Alarm Lentil Soup from the freezer.

Sunday/10-Jun-12: Today was apricot jam day, using my old French teacher's recipe, except there were no almost slivers to be found. Froze up the Strawberry Sorbet for the freezer.

Dinner was West Indian Salmon Patties from the freezer, with some grilled eggplant slices and some trio rice. Followed by some Strawberry Frozen Yogurt.

Buckwheat Bread (BigGerman, p38) on overnight.

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