This week in the kitchen

Monday/20-Nov-17: Asian Broccoli Noodle Soup (web) for lunch. Tasty, and quite pittig, although I'm not sure why. Can you have too much black pepper? Mini Häagen-Dasz cups for dessert.

Tuesday/21-Nov-17: Kitchen day today, preparing for Thanksgiving and using up stuff from the fridge..

For lunch there were some pork chops, with Broccoli Stems and Red Pepper Slaw (web) and some pasta, I think it's called Israeli couscous, with a bit of butter and cilantro. The slaw was very good. Made the broccoli shreds with the cuisinart.

Used the chickpeas that I forgot to add to the courgette tart to make some hummus, smerging two recipes. Some for the freezer, some for the fridge.

Made two batches of pâte brisée, Judith Jones' Tart Dough  (Tenth, p256). One in the freezer, one for pumpkin pie. This really is the best pie crust.

Made a soup with bits of leftover veg: some new onions, a zucchini, a bit of broccoli, a sack of young spinach leaves that didn't get used. And garlic of course. Buzzed it up and put it in the freezer.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/22-Nov-17: Shopping today. A big one, for some reason. All the wine boxes running out at once. They now have some bio (organic) products sold in bulk. We got some pine nuts and some spicy cashews, which we devoured.

Dinner was Snapper with Tomato-Caper Topping (web). It would be quick if you didn't have to seed the tomatoes. Served with trio rice and steamed broccoli. For dessert some super yummy store-bought dark chocolate mousse things.

Made a pumpkin pie, using the recipe from the Libby's can.

Made up a batch of Cranberry-Port Relish (MC), an old favorite, a bit modified rom the VT article where I collected it a long time ago.

Thursday/23-Nov-17: Shopping and ENT visit, then home for cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Can't finish this post until Canon issues a driver to go with the new Mac OS.

Friday/24-Nov-17: We had grilled, marinated bavettes. For a side there were some steamed snijbonen, cut in about 1" lengths, and some Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes (web) without the onion and with some regular potatoes to give something more to eat. I meat to cook the sweet potato yesterday, but didn't get to it. Then, piggy us, we finished the pumpkin pie.

Saturday/25-Nov-17: Dinner was Spiced Chicken with Brown Rice (RealFast, p281). This was pretty good. I cooked it in the oven since I needed the broiler for Broiled Eggplant with Lemon, Basil, and Cracked Coriander (RealFast, p134). We both like this. Gave it an extra squirt of lemon juice at the end. And some brown rice.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/26-Nov-17: Oops, got up late then saw that I forgot to start the yogurt maker. Started it up, but for a shorter time. We'll see what happens.

Our main meal was a halfish recipe of  Hot, Sweet, and Sour Chickpeas with Eggplant (H2CEV, p609), served over brown rice. Some mini ice cream bars for dessert.

I see that I've neglected to keep the food-related books sections on the bottom right up to date. I've finished one of the ones I was reading, plus at least two more. Have a couple of others underway. Something for the ToDo list.

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

IHCC: Mediterranean Magic!

Ah, a Mediterranean dinner. For a long time, our favorite restaurant in Amsterdam for pre-concert dining was Mediterranean. One day I called to reserve only to find that they'd transformed into a French-ish steak-frites place. Mediterranean was passé, they said. Trendy or passé, foods from this area still provide some of our favorite flavors. And Nigel Slater frequently seems to agree.

Tonight's dinner was was a really simple one and one I'll do again, no doubt, since all the ingredients are usually on-hand from the pantry, the fridge, or the freezer. I made Fusilli with Olives, Anchovies, and Capers from Real Fast Food (p119). The sauce could hardly be easier. You chop up some black olive and anchovy fillets, slice some sun-dried tomatoes (I used oven-dried ones from the freezer), stir in some capers and warm it all in some olive oil. You can get the sauce and a salad ready ready while the pasta water is coming to a boil, then finish off the sauce while it cooks.

There is a small problem (I think) in the recipe as printed. It calls for "1 pound fresh or 4 ounces dried pasta" for two servings. I think most recipes call for four ounces of pasta per person. I usually make six to seven ounces for two. For this sauce, though, I think the full eight ounces for two would have been better. One, there would have been more for each of us (we liked it!) and, two, the sauce has strong flavors, so more pasta would balance it off better.

I used cascareccia instead of fusilli. Slater also suggests penne as an alternative. I'm thinking that some nice homemade fettuccine might work also.

Stop by I Heart Cooking Clubs to see what Mediterranean treats other folks are making this week.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-Jun-14: Just looking through PastaCarlu and noticed where he says, "Making your own pasta dough will probably take you about 30 minutes for the actual preparation, but you will get quicker with practice." Well, yes, I have gotten quicker with practice. That means I can get cut pasta made in about an hour, not counting the cleanup. He must be some kind of speed demon. Ah, he's speaking only of making the dough, not the cutting, I see. So 30 minutes is probably more than enough.

A Mediterraneanish meal for IHCC tonight (RealFast, p119; cookbooker). Served the pasta with a big salad. Then we had some ice cream (the last mini magnum for me, the last classic magnum for Ed) as we walked to Barbara's to water plants.

Tuesday/24-Jun-14: Shopping today.

Dinner was remarkably like last Friday's fish dinner. Poor planning on my part. This time Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa Verde (web). The salsa verde was with green tomato (the first tomato in the garden), rather than tomatillo as you might expect. I did the fish like last week too. Cornmeal mixed with Old Bay blackening seasoning this time, and pressed into the fish (eglefin, haddock), which I then sprayed with olive oil before broiling. Works a treat this. Found some whole wheat tortillas to us. Pretty good, especially with a good sprinkle of chipotle faux-tabasco. For dessert, a slice each of tourteau fromager. Bought strawberries to go with the cake, but didn't feel like prepping them. Tomorrow.

Wednesday/25-Jun-14: Yogurt on overday.

Nothing happened in the kitchen today. We went to the marché des producteurs in La Rochefoucauld this evening, the first of the seasons. Had pigeon brochettes and pigeon sausages. Bought some of the sausages for the freezer.

Thursday/26-Jun-14: A busy afternoon in the kitchen. Poached four kip filets for meals in the near future. Froze up the juice to use as a light stock. Used the strawberries I bought Tuesday to make Strawberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream (Scoop, p90) for the freezer. Made Easy Berry Cobbler (MC, Handybook) with the mixed berries we've been collecting at Barbara's while we water, along with a couple of the smallest strawberries and some frozen blueberries. Went to make dinner and discovered that the eggplants I bought were rotten. Seems to be a too frequent occurrence which I buy bio/organic produce. So instead of eggplant and zucchini, there was only zucchini in Grilled Eggplant & Zucchini Salad Recipe with Feta, Chickpeas, & Mint (web). This was good and easy, nothing fancy. The recipe says it serves six; this must be as a side dish. As a main, it was good for two, splitting one can of chickpeas and some zucchini. For dessert there was the cobbler, warm from the oven, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

Friday/27-Jun-14: A keeper dinner tonight. I made a halfish recipe of Buckwheat Noodles with Green Beans & Toasted Sesame-Lime Vinaigrette (web) using one of the chicken breasts I poached yesterday. Made the buckwheat noodles from scratch (3/4cup buckwheat flour, 1/4cup tipo 00 flour, 1/4tsp salt, ~3tbl water) since there seem to be no soba-type noodles to be found in the area. The salad and noodles were extra yummy. For dessert we had some of yesterday's cobbler. Yay, we'll get three sittings out of it this time. Sometimes we eat it all in two sittings.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/28-Jun-14: Used one of my poached chicken breasts to make up some Curried Chicken Salad (Rosie, p34; MC) for tomorrow's proposed Open Gardens outing. (The weather's not looking too promising, so we might end up skpping this.) Froze the rest of them.

Dinner at the Fête de la Motte this evening. They had a tent set up to keep people out of the rain, but apparently didn't count heads well so there weren't enough seats. Probably too windy for the bonfire. We left early, not really having a place to park ourselves.

Sunday/29-Jun-14: Sally and I visited four gardens today, while Ed slept in. Both of us had chicken salad for lunch. Good stuff.

For dinner I defrosted some saucisses à l'Indienne and Ed bbq'd them. Pretty tasteless in spite of the curry powder. To be avoided in future. Served with New Potatoes with Cumin (Q&E, p91), followed by the world's simplest salad, lettuce and vinaigrette. For afters, we finished off the berry cobbler.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: yes; #4 FotW: no for June; #5 BREAD: 0

IHCC: Rootie Patootie!

Back to Real Fast Food for tonight's dinner. Several weeks ago, I ran into the recipe in this book for Broiled Potatoes (p173) and marked it to try since it's always nice to have a new way to do potatoes. When the root veggie them came around, I thought I'd give this a try as a side dish. But, when I read the recipe closer, I discovered the option for making the dish into a light supper by topping the potato slices with a soft blue cheese like Gorgonzola.

When we moved to the Netherlands, thirty-some-odd years ago now, neither of us were big cheese eaters. As American we grew up with Kraft American cheese slices, not an impressive start to our cheese eating careers. Velveeta and similar processed cheeses only made matters worse. Neither of us had a taste for any kind of blue cheese at all, rather we had a sort of antipathy towards them. As we settled into a more European style of life and eating, our cheese vocabulary widened and we enjoyed a much greater variety of cheeses, cow, goat, and sheep. Still, though, blue cheese wasn't really our thing. At some point, though, I figured that so many people whose taste I respected were enthusiastic about blue cheese that I there must be something there I'm missing. I started introducing bits of blue cheese into dinners and cheese plates. Ed remains a bit reluctant, but now I'll even ask for a blue cheese when the trolley comes around in a restaurant.

Slater's Broiled Potatoes start with thick slices of potato, one potato per person, boiled until till done, then scored, topped with garlicky oil, and, yes, broiled. As a side dish, these can be eaten plain or with any number of toppings that Slater suggests. (And I'm sure that two medium potatoes makes a very generous side dish.)

For a supper, he suggests topping the grilled slices with a blue cheese. I found some soft, Italian Gorgonzola to use. When the slices are done, you top with the cheese and put them back under the broiler to melt the cheese. Then serve.

A hit! With a big green salad, this made a lovely dinner. Ed said I could make this one often, just like this.

Visit this week's I Heart Cooking Clubs to see how other folks are rooting for Nigel Slater.

IHCC: A Welcome Toast to Nigel Slater!

So, I Heart Cooking Clubs is doing Nigel Slater this time around. And what I really don't need right now is yet another cooking project. (This year I started on a big one to read and cook from all the books of the Time-Life Foods of the World series. If you're interested, a few people have joined me in a little Facebook group.) But it's Nigel Slater, for pete's sake, who can resist.

Many years ago I found my first Slater book, Real Fast Food, on a sale table somewhere and picked it up on spec. I didn't know his name, but the book looked liked something I might like and be well worth the 20 guilders I paid for it. It definitely was.

To welcome Slater, I had a look to see what needed to be used in the freezer, found some lamb chops, and found the recipe for Lamb Sirloin Chops with Yogurt and Mint (p240) in my first Slater book. This is vaguely Indian, with the lamb rubbed with a mix of yogurt, garlic, fresh mint leaves, ground cumin, ground coriander, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Not sure if mine were sirloin chops as the recipe asks, but they did quite well. Following some of Slater's accompaniment suggestions, I served the chops with "a cucumber salad dressed with white wine vinegar and chopped fresh dill" (that's the whole recipe) and Fragrant Brown Basmati Rice (p203).

The lamb chops were good, and the same sauce could be used for grilling chunks of lamb on a skewer perhaps. The rice was disappointing, but I'll try it again before I write off the recipe. Interestingly, he has you parboil the rice, then drain it and add it to a pan of fried spices for the final cooking. A bit more complicated than similar recipes. But, he has you toast ground turmeric with whole spices (cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamon pods, and bay leaf), for the same time. I had burnt turmeric before the other spices were smelling brightly. I dumped the contents of the pan, gave it a swipe with a paper towel, then started again. This time I added the ground turmeric with the rice. The final dish had an odd taste, either there were remains of some burnt turmeric or the turmeric really wanted to be toasted for a little bit, just not as long as the whole spices. (The recipe says it serves four. I made a half recipe for two, but it was still too much. I think the recipe as written will serve six.)

I started by getting the lamb chops rubbed with the yogurt sauce and letting them sit to marinate. Then I made the cuke salad, which also didn't complain about a chance to marinate. Then I started the rice. When that was off the fire, I zapped the chops under the broiler. A nice meal, real food, pretty fast, even if the rice was a bit off.

Some people criticize Slater's books because the recipes are a bit vague, sometimes they are only ideas for dishes rather than a finished product. But I find that the whole point of the thing. It's up to me to match the idea with my own experience, taste, and pantry content. I'm looking forward to trying more of these ideas in the coming months.

Visit this week's I Heart Cooking Clubs to see how other people have welcomed Nigel Slater to their kitchen.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/31-Mar-14: Nothing happened in our kitchen. We spent a Groupon night that included a delicious meal at a chateau near Perigueux. While we were ordering they brought us a covered dish of truffles to sniff and offered us a sliver on several menu choices for an an extra €10. No, thank you, we said.

Tuesday/1-Apr-14: Back home. Shopping.

Dinner was Émince de saumon au cidre et au safran (web), that's salmon chunks in a cider-saffron sauce; there's also cream in the sauce and it's served over pasta, but you'd never guess from the name. Ok. The plate was supposed to be trimmed with slices of peach and cucumber. No peaches to be found, so I used some mango slices from the freezer. The mango worked; the cuke was weird. Actually not a bad dish, although next time, I'd forget the cuke and stir the mango into the sauce at the end. That was enough for dinner.

Wednesday/2-Apr-14: Started the first yogurt with the new yogurt maker this morning. The machine is the same but different. They have you make the yogurt without the lids on the jars, not sure why, and there's a second level where the lids side while the yogurt is cooking. Instead of a knob to set the time, there's an electronic gadget to choose the number of hours, and it counts backward, so you know, more or less, how much time is left. Also it beeps when it's done, another nice feature. We'll see.

It was some pretty good clear-out-the-freezer chili tonight, with an odd bit of Hazan's Italian sausage, black beans, and blue hominy, along with a couple of ice cubes of chili-soaking liquid. And a dab of guacamole on the side. For dessert there were pots of store-bought riz-au-lait.

Thursday/3-Apr-14: This morning's yogurt was about as good as the new starter that I used. A new brand of yogurt, which wasn't my favorite.

Dinner was Harissa Quinoa with Shrimp and Chickpeas (web; cookbooker), which was tasty, but not really successful. And a salad.. Then we were full.

Friday/4-Apr-14: A dinner to start off Nigel Slater at IHCC and work on the freezer inventory tonight. Lamb Sirloin Chops with Yogurt and Mint (RealFast, p240), Fragrant Brown Basmati Rice (RealFast p203). a cucumber salad with white wine vinegar and chopped dill (as recommended), and some broccoli with a squeeze of lemon juice and a grind of pepper flakes.

Saturday/5-Apr-14: Yogurt on overday. Still had a bakje (unexpired) of a better yogurt, so used that as the starter. Not sure why the lids can't be on while the yogurt is cooking. There's even more condensation in this one.

At dinner, our main was Sliced Pork with Tiger Sauce (Kuo, p330). (Hard to believe this is the first time I've reference Kuo here. Goes to show I haven't been cooking much Chinese food since we moved.) This recipe is the closest thing I've found to some Thai "Tiger Cries" that we used to get in Houston many many years ago, only with pork instead of beef. Served this with Stir-Fried Spiced Cabbage (TLChina, p34) and plain rice.

Sunday/6-Apr-14: Tonight's dinner was Linguine with Smoked Trout and Basil (XSpecCP, p101; cookbooker). Really has nothing to do with a crockpot. The sauce is kept warm for serving in the crock. Ho hum. I just tossed it with the linguine and served it right away. Good it was, though. Then a salad. And that was all.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: yes for March, no for April; #4 FotW: yes for March, no for April; #5 BREAD: 1 for March, none for April

This week in the kitchen

Monday/3-Jun-13: Parboiled and peeled the fêves that I removed from the pods on Saturday (I guess it was). They turned into Peeled Fava Beans with Red Onion, White Wine, and Mint (PeV, p130). I made all the sauce for half the pasta; otherwise it would have been really skimpy. Tasty. Then a big salad. Then we finished the St Marcellin.

Can't get all excited about Ottolenghi this week. The week theme is a sweet; the monthly "community challenge" is hummus. Neither of which really ring my bell. If I don't get something for Ottolenghi done, tonight's dinner will be my cookbook, since this is only the second thing I've made from this book.

I assembled our new Weber grill today, so tomorrow we'll probably bbq. Something easy, but it's time to inaugurate it.

Tuesday/4-Jun-13: Off to the dentist early today; turned into a lazy day. Meant to bbq this evening, but Ed was tuckered out from installing the wallboard behind the stove, so I did everything inside. Grilled some duck sausages, which were good but way too salty. Eating them with some hominy lessened the impact. I think this brand (Le Gaulois) is the source of other very salty sausage we've had. (The packaging was a candidate for Consumer Reports back page: the package was the size of most all sausage packages leading you to believe they're the same length. The printed part of the label covered one end of the package, which give you a clue. Pull back the wrapping, and what you find is a little "step" hidden under the printed part, leaving sausages about 2" shorter than expected.) As a go-with, I made Grilled Zucchini with Tomatoes and Balsamic Vinegar (PeV, p308), which is intended as a pasta sauce, but I served as a side without the pasta. Actually it would probably be okay served as a pasta salad kind of thing. For dessert we had toetjes from the boulangerie where I got bread this morning. Kind of a cream puff thing, covered with yummy dark chocolate and topped with a walnut half; the cream filling was walnuty also. Good, but we could have shared one, rather than having a whole one each.

Wednesday/5-Jun-13: Shopping today. Unfortunately when I got home I discovered that the duck breasts I bought for a meal later this week were the same brand as yesterday's sausages. Didn't even think to look. Same deceptive packaging too!

Dinner was the leftover coquelet, which reheated very well, along with an improvised salad of broccoli, zucchini, and feta, and some trio rice. Some double chocolate mini Magnums for after.

Thursday/6-Jun-13: Made some Rhubarb-Ginger Compote (Essential, p607) today. Served with some broiled salmon. Also made (more or less) some Old-Style Mustard and Rosemary Roasted Asparagus (web), which was quite easy and quite good. And some 5-grain tagliatelle that I picked up somewhere. Tasty dinner. The compote was surprisingly good and will appear again soon.

Friday/7-Jun-13: Yogurt on overday. David brought over a huge basketful of strawberries today, so I spent most of the day in the kitchen making two different strawberry jams.

We went to a murder mystery evening that included a buffet dinner, so nothing happened in the kitchen after the jams.

Saturday/8-Jun-13: Dinner was Chickpea and Potato Curry, Caribbean Style (WorldVeg, p33; cookbooker). Really good stuff. Made a whole recipe, thinking I'd have leftovers, but we ate it all, and the servings weren't that big.

Sunday/9-Jun-13: Make a cake for IHCC today and got it posted just in time for this week's theme.

Dinner was Grilled Eggplant with Chick Pea Purée and Harissa (RealFast, p132). Have made this several times now and enjoy it for a fast and tasty dinner. Then a salad. Then some of the cake for Ed. (I had my piece before making dinner.)

Yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/1-Oct-12: Company for dinner, so was all day in the kitchen. The original plan was a roast lamb shoulder, but it turned into an Indian night when I started looking for what I'd made to celebrate my start with I Heart Cooking Clubs and Madhur Jaffrey. Last night I made the broth for No-Cook Indian Ice Cream (Kulfi) (MC). Also, I made up some Tamarind Chutney (IndLight, p286).

For starters, there were Onion Fritters (Pyaz ki Bhajia) (Q&E, p20) served with Tamarind Chutney. For the main course, there was Lamb with Onions (Do piaza) (MJ1, p46), served with Rice and Peas with Garam Masala (Matar Aur Sooay Ka Pullao) (SpiceKitch, p65) and Yoghurt with Cucumber and Mint (Kheere ka Raita) (MJ1, p162). For dessert there was kulfi with mango chunks. Except for the lamb dish, these are all things I've made several times. All were good. (The IHCC post is here.)

Tuesday/2-Oct-12: Now to work on the 2.5kg of potatoes I bought to go with the roast-lamb-that-wasn't. Tonight there was Warm Broccoli and Potato Salad (MDSalads, p15), an old favorite.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/3-Oct-12: Shopping today, without much of a plan, but we have more veggies in-house now. Dinner was Broiled Spiced Fish Steaks (RealFast, p73). Well, it was cod fillets rather than steaks, but it still tasted good. Served with a kind of pilaf with shrooms and shallots, followed by a salad. Treated ourselves to some chocolate squares while we went out searching for Sophie, who was in the mood to stay out late, and was resistant to coming home after we met up.

Thursday/4-Oct-12: Made chicken stock, using the accumulation of bones from the freezer. Made Pear Butter, using up Barbara's pears which were needing to be used. While these were happening, I opened the fridge and a big, unopened jar of cornichons leapt off its shelf to the floor. What a mess!

Dinner out for a friend's birthday. Have had our heavy protein for several days now.

Friday/5-Oct-12: Dinner turned into a sort of meze plate.

• There were dolmades from a can, three each and pretty good. One day I'll try to  made these, just to say I have, but the canned ones are fine. 
• And there was a loosely adapted version of Tomatoes Stuffed with Tuna (MedLight, p63). Stuffed only two tomatoes and have extra for tuna sandwiches tomorrow. No fresh mint, so I used dried. A similar recipe in O&C called for beans to be included; I had some leftover couscous, so I used those instead. Pretty tasty. 
• And there was a half dose of Marinated Eggplant (MedLight, p61; cookbooker). This was very good, although the eggplant slices were a bit soggy since the steaming time seems to be a bit long. A bit leftover for something. 
• And there was a half dose of Leek, Potato, and Olive Pie (Prassopita) (O&C. p97; cookbooker).  I had some leeks desperately needing to be used and lots of potatoes that didn't getting used in Monday's dinner, so this seemed and ideal dish. Very good it was. Now I've got filo in the fridge to use up in the next weeks. 

Last but not least, we had some double chocolate mini Magnums for dessert.

Saturday/6-Oct-12: Today was Ed's turn with jars leaping from the fridge door. This time a lovely jar of green chili pickle (Indian) and the jar of (Dijon) mustard.

Oops, neglected to remember the long cooking time for tonight's planned dinner. Not wanting to eat at 9pm, I made instead VIndaloo Lounge (Wraps, p74), after remembering that I spied a jar vindaloo sauce in the back of the cabinet.

Sunday/7-Oct-12: So, started last night's dinner in plenty of time today, only to discover that the fresh mushrooms bought this week were already covered in mold. Grr... What do you make at the last minute? Pasta, of course. Tiny Drôme goat-cheese-filled raviolis with a sauce of lardons, shallots, the soaked dried mushrooms I'd started for the aborted dish, and a carton of pyramid goat cheese. Not bad. Followed by a salad, of course.

Boulangeries are closed Sunday afternoon and our closest is closed on Mondays. Thus, having bread on hand for Monday breakfast and lunch seems to be a chronic problem for us. If I but planned ahead a bit, I could start Sam's no-knead bread in the evening to finish off in the morning. Tonight there's English Muffin Bread (BigGerman, p15) in the ABM overnight. Also yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/7-Feb-11: Well, I've looked for my old snickerdoodle recipe and it seems to be missing. Did find some other ones I've saved. A puzzle.

Dinner was Roasted Cauliflower Pasta (CLmag, oct10), tasty, fairly quick and easy. I used the end of our gemelli and some fusilli for the pasta instead of penne. Actually we thought the green fusilli would have been quite pretty. Followed by a salad of mâche and beets. Then Yogurt and Fresh Pear Coffeecake, an old favorite. (This might need to go to MC.)

This quote from Auberge of the Flowering Hearth (current reading) surprised me. Why did I not know that the House of Orange is from Orange in France?

The name of this chicken dish [Hochepot de Poule du Prince d'Orange] is part of European history. The original recipe came from the town of Orange, near Avignon. Before the sixteenth century, Orange was an independent principality belonging, not to France, but to the kings of Holland. (The Dutch royal family still calls itself the House of Orange.") The original "hochepot" of Orange was transferred to Holland, and today the Dutch national dish is "Hutspot." [p36]

Very much enjoying reading this book. De Groot stayed in the auberge when he went to France to study chartreuse and fell in love with the cooking there. About a third of the book is a discussion/appreciation of the auberge, its menus, the area, history, etc. The rest of the book is recipes.

Tuesday/8-Feb-11: Yogurt on overday. Off to a movie in the day. Dinner was Spinach with Blue Cheese and Pasta (RealFast, p152; cookbooker), using up my extra frozen spinach. Very good for minimal effort. Followed by a salad and some coffeecake.

Another good quote from Auberge. At communal dinners here, we frequently see (and even join in) adding wine to the almost empty soup bowl. Haven't seen anyone add wine to a full bowl, but maybe we're not eating in the right places.

At the Auberge, we all followed the Dauphiné tradtion of faire chabrot with the wine. As the large bowls of soup were served, absolutely piping hot, each guest added a little wine from his glass and stirred it in for the dual purpose of cooling the soup and sharpening its flavor. Then, when all the solid vegetables had been eaten and nothing remained in the bowl but bouillon, one added a little more wine and it was permissible to lift one's bowl to the lips to drink the last few delicious mouthfuls. [p70]

Wednesday/9-Feb-11: Ed's gotten my cold, so neither of us are feeling very chipper. Dinner was Barbecued Raspberry-Hoisin Chicken (EWmag, soon to be MC) with chicken thighs, rather than strips of boned thigh. We had the intention to bbq, but Ed discovered that the necessary gear is closed in by the stacked wood on the kitchen porch and asked me to bake it instead. It was still quite good. The recipe suggested brown rice with some rice vinegar and sliced scallions stirred in as a side, which I did sort of. And some frozen green beans with a squeeze of lemon juice at the end. And off to bed.

Thursday/10-Feb-11: Finished the coffeecake for breakfast—pear and yogurt, it has to be healthy! Shopping this a.m. Dinner was leftover lasagna. Ah, the Lasagna Effect, Ed said. Amazing how lasagna is always better the second night. Salad after. And a dab of H-D Vanilla Pecan ice cream for dessert. Meanwhile, I made up the "brew" for an ice cream to make tomorrow. So far, it did not make up as the instructions said, so we'll have to see how it goes.

This quote from Auberge was especially interesting since we just had a tartiflette dinner, where reblochon stars, last weekend.

The word reblocher means, in the local dialect, to milk the cow a second time within the same hour. It is this second milk, with a slightly stronger flavor than the first, which is used to make the Reblochon. [p84]

A surprising thing (to me) in the book, is that the menus are planned in such detail. Even the aperitif is chosen to complement the meal. I have very much enjoyed meals with a wijn arrangement, where the wine is chosen for each course, but the idea of including the aperitif in that is really a surprise. Even the cheeses are chosen to go with the entire meal. I can only imagine what a treat it must have been to eat at this auberge!

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/11-Feb-11: Start dinner tonight with something for a pair of sickies, chicken noodle soup made with broth from the freezer, farfallini, and chicken from picking the carcasses. Then there was roasted veg (cauliflower, broccoli, snijbonen, shallots, garlic) over brown rice and topped with a bit of feta. Simple and not bad at all. Then a bit of goat cheese. Didn't feel like making up the ice cream. It will wait another day.

Saturday/12-Feb-11: Went to the boulanger too late today—no bread to be had. Got two croissants and two pains aux chocolate for breakfast. Either we'll go back in the morning for real bread or the bread machine will be back in business.

Dinner as Banh Mi Burgers, a recipe from EAT-L, loosely followed. Instead of chopping the cuke and carrot for the pickle, I cut strips with a veg peeler, more in line with pics I found on the web. These didn't need to marinate all that long, since the strips would get a bit soggy if kept too long. Also made up some Lime Chili Mayo I found in another recipe, a strange mayo without oil. Well, I added some, but it remained thin and never got thick as mayo should be, either before or after the oil. It tasted good enough. There were four patties, and I griddled some split pitas for bread. For the second round, we broke into the sriracha sauce I bought recently—pretty good stuff.

While we were eating, I put the Rice Gelato (Scoop, p70) that I started on Thursday evening in the ice cream maker. Turned out pretty tasty, if a bit strong on orange flavor to my taste. Ed didn't mind this, though; he doesn't like the grittty rice texture.

Sunday/13-Feb-11: Made Light Wheat Ricotta Bread (4Seasons, p57) during the day. Not bad at all, with a nice dense texture. Also made the broth for a soup for dinner, but when dinnertime came around, I didn't feel like dealing with the butternut squash. So we had posole from the freezer instead. Then some more of the rice gelato, which still tastes a bit too orange for me, but has a lovely creamy texture surrounding the gritty rice.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: yes, #2 SOUP: yes, #3 MIDDAY: no
This month: #4 PASTA: not yet

This week in the kitchen

Wednesday/21-Jul-10: Back from Prague and the Jura today. The food in Prague was not especially interesting. Lots of meat, few veggies. The main courses on menus seem to be served without any accompaniments, so if you want veg, you must ask for it. There were a lot of Italian restaurants and we had an excellent Italian meal the first night. Then a nice meal with Sam and Pat at Manes on the river, where Ed asked for some broccoli with his meat and got an enormous pile of it. Then a forgettable Chinese meal with S&P's bike group; my squid was the best on the table. Ed and I had a very nice meal at another restaurant on the river. And the four of us at another restaurant on the river, where fries were the veg.

Stopped from a quick grocery shop in St. Junien. Dinner was a salad of mâche with some strips of duck breast, floured and crumbed and sautéed. For afters, we had some of the Morbier and Bleu de Gex cheeses that we brought back from the Jura.

Thursday/22-Jul-10: A light lunch today with Eggs Baked in Tomatoes (RealFast) for the CookbooksEtc quiz. Served with a pilaf, using up the mushroom-soaking liquid from the freezer. Not bad. I seriously de-seeded Ed's tomato, so we are curious if this helps his allergy/sensitivity problem.

Friday/23-Jul-10: The quiz was canceled, but we ate dinner at Chez Cisseen anyhow.

Saturday/24-Jul-10: I defrosted the small, organic Toupargel chicken and made Butterflied Grilled Chicken with a Chile-Lime Rub (Eating Well, soone to be MC). Either something was wrong with the chick or it was grilled wrong (too fast?). Tasty but tough. I'll do this one again before long. Served with Green Bean Piquante (MC) and polenta. More Morbier and Bleu de Gex for afters. Then a square of 85% chocolate.

Sunday/25-Jul-10: Soup for lunch today, using up two odd bits of broth and soup in the freezer. Further not much going on cooking-wise. Finally found a date recipe (resides chutney) that wasn't a variation on date-nut bread/cake. Now I have to come up with a complete menu around this salad.

Ed didn't seem to have any reaction to the de-seeded tomato! Now to find a batch of tomatoes and make up some tomato sauce for another try.

CookbooksEtc Ingredient Contest 2010

1. 23-May/28-May: strawberries — Balsamic Strawberries with Arugula and Goat Cheese
   
2. 29-May/4-Jun: cheese — Spinach-Stuffed Anchos
   
3. 5-Jun/11-Jun: whole wheat flour — Ned and Crescent's Favorite Multigrain Pancakes
4. 12-Jun/18-Jun: ground pork or pork sausage — Curried Rice Noodles with Ground Meat
5. 19-Jun/25-Jun: blueberries — Tarte Amandine à la Myrtille
6. 26-Jun/2-Jul: salmon — Almond-Crusted Grilled Salmon with Garlic Sauce
7. 3-Jul/9-Jul: potatoes — Potatoes and Peas in a Yoghurt Sauce
8. 10-Jul/16-Jul: elbow macaroni — Macaroni Salad
9. 17-Jul/23-Jul: tomatoes — Eggs Baked in Tomatoes
10. 24-Jul/30-Jul: dates
    
11. 31-Jul/6-Aug: butterscotch chips
    
12. 7-Aug/13-Aug: pecans