This week in the kitchen

Monday/8-Mar-21: I'm doing quite well clearing out old recipes. Ran across the folder of recipes I've entered into Mastercook, bundled by year, and have tossed most of that. Ed might one day fix the computer where my old Mastercook would run, but I doubt I'd enter any more recipes there. Might be nice to correct typos, though.

Yogurt on overday. Should have made bread, but that didn't happen.

Got two Drive orders made for tomorrow. I'm out and about on Wednesday, so we'll pick them up tomorrow instead of our usual Wednesday.

Used up a surplus of bananas to make The Best Banana Cake I've Ever Had (web). It's good enough, but can't say it's the best ever. Anyhow a change from the yogurt things we've been having.

Dinner was Skillet Spanakoptia (web). It was quite pretty, but my camera was upstairs, and I was too lazy to go up and get it. My filo had been in the freezer for a while, so was a bit crumbly, but filo really doesn't mind. The whole thing was yummy. I like the way it's cooked in a skillet. My 9" skillet was perfect. We'll only have four servings, when there should have been eight; that must be with side dishes, of which there were none here. Banana Cake for dessert.

Tuesday/9-Mar-21: Made a loaf of Buckwheat Bread (Magic, p73) (Basic/Rapid/M/m/-). It looks lovely, but won't get eating till tomorrow.

Made a half dose of Simple Beijing-Style Marinated Cucumber Salad (HotWok, p153) to go with tomorrow's dinner.

Dinner was a half recipe of Chicken Fesenjan (EW sep/oct17; web). I forgot the pomegranate seeds in the end, which make it a bit of a dull dish to see. Served with (store-bought) Moroccan couscous. Some Banana Cake for after.

Wednesday/10-Mar-21: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Quick-Braised Fish Fillets in Black Bean Sauce (web). I don't really see what's braised here. The fish are breaded (or, really, flour-glue pasted), shallow fried, then rewarmed in sauce. My breading was a failure, not a skill I've mastered. Altogether, the bits of fish (cod falls apart at the least provocation) warmed in the tomato-y sauce was quite tasty, but nothing I'd want to again. Served with the cucumber salad I make yesterday and Zesty Onion and Peas (HotWok, p178), both trusty recipes, and some plain basmati rice. A pair of store-bought yogurt desserts for after.

Thursday/11-Mar-21: Yogurt on overday.

Leftover Spanikopita for dinner; still good. Then a big salad. And some Banana Cake for after.

Friday/12-Mar-21: Busy day today. Ed took the car to a muffler place to have the mounts replaced. And about 15.30 the electricity for the house went out. Ed couldn't find the problem at first (and no dead mouse in the fuse box). I went to a neighbor and she called one and left a message asking him to come soon; later she brought the number of another one and I left a message on his answering machines, land line and cell phone. Ed finally discovered that the problem lay in one wall socket, the one that runs the freezer. He took that off, expecting to find a dead mouse there, but no luck. Tomorrow he'll replace the socket and hope that fixes the problem.

I started dinner while there was light outside and none inside. We had about a 2/3 recipe of Stir-Fried Prawns with Fresh Asparagus (HotWok, p92), which it looks like I haven't made since 1996. It was good again, served over plain basmati rice. We finished the Banana Cake for after.

Started an Overnnight Boule.

Saturday/13-Mar-21: Baked the Overnight Boule.

Clearing off the peninsula today, I found bags of dried apricots, prunes, figs, and a sack with four dates. I used these to make Stewed Dried Fruits (WofE, p388), which I made during IHCC's Madhur Jaffrey season.

Dinner was Shawarma-Spiced Grilled Chicken with Garlic Yogurt Sauce* (web). This was yummy. The photo showed it being serving with sliced cucumber, but the fridge is bare of cukes, so I sliced some radishes and red bell pepper for our veggie bits. Served with some pita/kebab breads and some Shredded Zucchini (MW@Home, p87). All was yummy. Dessert was a bit of vanilla ice cream with Stewed  Dried Fruits. Have to remember to make that more often; it's really nice and must be healthy.

Sunday/14-Mar-21: Today Ed discovered the electric problem was in the lamp that stood in the cookbook area. Twisted wires shorted out. Now looking for a new lamp.

Yogurt on overday. Powercut in the middle, so I had to restart. I'll save the ones from the last batch to make the next batch.

Dinner was a halfish dose of Greek Artichoke and Potato Stew (Ready, p140). This was good, but nothing special. Probably it was the little purple artichokes rather than the big green ones, which are not completely edible. Better still would be to use frozen artichoke bottoms. The sauce was a bit thin; I think a whole can of tomatoes for a half recipe would have been been better, thus, two cans for a whole recipe. I thickened with a bit of potato starch.

For after, there was ice cream with Stewed Dried Fruits again.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Dec-12: Lunched out today, and nothing further happened in the kitchen.

Tuesday/11-Dec-12: Authentic French Bread in the ABM this morning for lunch bread and Thanksgiving rolls from the freezer for breakfast.

Made Chile Purée (TexMex, p50) today, the San Antonio chile sauce that used for enchiladas and chili con carne. Used anchos and pasilla negras. Seemed less bitter than the last time I made this. Some cheese enchiladas will be on the menu before too long. Froze up some of the chile-soaking water in an ice cube tray to have bits to add to beans and whatever.

Gas ran out while I was preparing dinner, luckily at an easy spot. Dinner was Delmonico Hash (Essential, p507), a recipe from 1877, using most of the meat from Sunday's third lamb shank. A light dinner, high-fat, but tasty. Then a big salad. Then two chocolates for after.

Wednesday/12-Dec-12: Another day of waiting for DHL, who never showed up. Now the package status says it will be delivered at an agreed upon date. Agreed with whom, I wonder?

In the early afternoon, I went to make a spice paste for tonight's chicken, only to discover that the prunes I was counting on were moldy. And, Wednesday afternoon, the little grocery that's close-by is closed. Oops. Replan. Dinner was a half dose of Garlic Chicken (web), made with thighs instead of legs. Easy and pretty tasty. Made all the sauce and froze about half of it for later use.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/13-Dec-12: While I waited for DHL (they actually came!), Ed went off to choir practice and did a bit a shopping afterwards. He brought back some sole, which we had for dinner. I spread the fillets with Cilantro Pesto from the freezer, rolled them up, and baked them with a little sauce very loosely based on Fish Baked, Greek Style (Ackart, p24), using up the lump of oven-dried tomatoes that I neglected freeze on a tray. Served with some steamed broccoli and some odd lots of pasta. Then a smallish salad. Then some pieces of 3 Kings' Cake, an impulse buy. (It's not just me!) Ed found the fêve on the first cut. Pogo wore the crown for a while. A pretty good dinner.

Friday/14-Dec-12: Dinner has a half dose of Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi (web, cookbooker), which was pretty good. Then a really big salad (Ed bought a 150g sack of mâche yesterday). Then we finished off the 3 Kings' Cake.

Saturday/15-Dec-12: List-making this morning, shopping this afternoon—Saturday afternoon is a terrible time to shop. The sky opened about the time we were leaving.

Dinner was a half dose of Potato and Mushroom Gratin (Ready, p208). This was good, but took way too long to make, since I overlooked a crucial bit of instruction. While we were waiting, I used up the end of a jar of artichoke bottoms, topping them with dabs of black olive tapenade and pyramid cheese, then popping them under the broiler for a bit. Then we had a nice salad. And finally we had the gratin.

Sunday/16-Dec-12: Yogurt on overday.

DInner for IHCC tonight, a third recipe of Lamb and Rice Casserole (MJ1, p154), accompanied by Yoghurt with Eggplant (MJ1, p164) and Tomato, Onion, and Green Coriander Relish (MJ1, p172). Finishing off with Light Rice Pudding (Climbing, p262). Yum. But I'm stuffed. Here's the post.

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