Monday/23-Apr-18: Well, it was supposed to be a pasta-making day, but I just didn't feel like it. So we had tagliatelle from the freezer, to make a 3/4-ish version of Pici ai Fegatini di Pollo e Radicchio—Pici with Chicken Livers and Radicchio (Lorenza, p130; cookbooker). Served with a big salad.
Yogurt on overnight.
Tuesday/24-Apr-18: Our meal was about a third recipe of Lapin à la Moutarde (SaveurFR, p197), accompanied by steamed broccoli and buckwheat crozets. Nice tastes.
Wednesday/25-Apr-18: Oops, forgot my camera today. For our meal, we had a halfish recipe of Chicken Messina (BirdHand, p113), kind of a poor-man's (or lazy cook's) version of vitello tonnato. Very good it was, nicely poached chicken with a tasty sauce. Served with North African Zucchini or Squash Salad (MedHot2, p87), wherein I forgot to add the chopped mint, and Moroccan couscous. Tasty eating all around.
Thursday/26-Apr-18: Shopping today. I noticed some "vegetable" pasta shapes and bought a couple—some fusilli of chickpeas and corn and some fusilli of red lentils and carrots. We'll see how those are.
Our meal was Cod Steaks in Yogurt (MJInvite, p122), which was good enough, but not a favorite. Served with Rice and Peas with Garam Masala (SpiceKitch, p65) and Salaad (MJ@Home, p235). These both tasty. Some Häagen Dasz ice cream cups for dessert.
Yogurt on overnight.
Friday/27-Apr-18: Lunch at Cath's today. Nothing happened in the kitchen.
Saturday/28-Apr-18: Our meal was Chile-Crusted Scallops with Cucumber Salad (web), which was pretty good. The cuke salad was good on its own (more lemon juice, less olive oil than asked) and extra good with the scallops mixed in. Unfortunately the chiles started Ed off on a coughing jag. Served with some of the chickpea fusilli dressed with olive oil, butter, and black pepper. This was quite good.
Yesterday I found the recipe for Soupe Épicée au Chocolat (VPG; web) stuck in a book; made a half recipe for tonight's meal. I used 100g of 85% chocolate and 50g or 70% chocolate. Melted these in my double boiler. The cream is infused with cardamom pods, a star anise, cinnamon stick, a clove, and some freshly ground pepper. That's strained into the melted chocolate. Pretty tasty.
Sunday/29-Apr-18: Again, it was supposed to be fresh pasta today, but I didn't feel like it, or like I had the time. Used boxed pasta to make Linguine with Lemon, Garlic, and Thyme Mushrooms (at Food52: web; at Nigella's site: web). Good and easy. I've made this before, in June-2014, but collected it again. Worthy of a repeat. Served with roasted asparagus and a big salad. Some of the chocolate "soup," now solidified, with strawberries and cream, which didn't go at all.
Coquelet on to marinate for tomorrow's meal.
Yogurt on overnight.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: BirdHand
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
Showing posts with label ~SaveurFR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ~SaveurFR. Show all posts
Monday, April 23, 2018
Monday, March 7, 2016
This week in the kitchen
Monday/7-Mar-16: Dinner was Beef Baked with Yoghurt and Black Pepper (MJ1, p50). This was really tasty, but some of the beef wasn't as tender as it should have been. Would probably be a good one to put into a slow cooker for the long slow cook. Served with the suggested Mushroom Pullao (MJ1, p152), which is a good rice pullao. And then there was Karhai Broccoli (MJ@Home, p148), which really ought to go into the Handy Book as often as I make it. Mini-magnums for dessert.
Yogurt on overnight.
Tuesday/8-Mar-16: Dinner with friends tonight. Nothing happened in the kitchen.
Wednesday/9-Mar-16: Shopping today. Dinner was Broiled Salmon with Creamy Lemon-Dill Sauce (CL; web). I had half the fish, but made all the sauce to top some asparagus, first French ones of the season, I think. Served with trio rice. Then a salad. Then some ice cream with strawberries, the first gariguettes of the season. Yum.
Thursday/10-Mar-16: Working on Ed's hemoglobin again tonight, there was Foie de Veau Poêlé (SaveurFR, p218), liver with a sauce of shallots, cognac, and chives. Well, it wasn't repulsive as liver can sometimes be, but still not a favorite. We both think we like boudin noir better than liver, but I'll try again. Served with Straw Potato Cake—Pommes Paillason (BEFCC, p52), good, but a bit too greasy. Other recipes have you seriously dry the grated potatoes; this one has you mix them with melted butter. Good, but ... Then a salad. Then some ice cream and the rest of the strawberries.
Friday/11-Mar-16: Dinner was shakshuka, a smerge of several recipes, mostly Ottolenghi's. Pretty good stuff. Used some tomato purée from the freezer, augmented by a real tomato, chopped. For dessert we split an espresso magnum.
Yogurt on overnight.
Saturday/12-Mar-16: We had our main meal early today, since we'll go to an earlyish movie late. Working on Ed's hemoglobin again, we had Easy Thai "Weeping Tiger" Beef (web). Not really tiger's cries, but still pretty good and definitely easy. Had two nice little rumsteacks; 3min each side under the broiler gave medium, so slightly less time might be better next time. The amount of marinade was good. The amount of sauce was about double what it should have been. I put the rest in the freezer, although I'm not sure how well it will keep. Ran out of fish sauce (new bottle, but small), so the sauce was a bit lemony. It went really well over Stir-Fried Celery Cabbage (Kuo, p389), which is a tried-n-true recipe. (Makes me want to plan a proper Chinese meal from this book, which has always led to yummy meals.) I had a mini mag for dessert.
Sunday/13-Mar-16: A bit of a cleaning-out-the-pantry dinner tonight. I made the stuffing for Uszka (TLQuint, p18), tortellini sort of things that should have been in in the Christmas Eve Beet Soup xmas before last, using the mushrooms that I got ready, then ended up freezing. (Yes they've been in the freezer a while.) Used the stuffing to fill some empanada like things made with squares of pâte feuillittée. These were ok, much better with the bit of broccoli stem salad that I made. There was also some steamed asparagus with the rest of the creamy dill sauce, and some of Pomiane's beet salad, made from memory. An odd lot, but pretty good altogether.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 BREAD: no; #5 FotW: no for Feb/Mar
Yogurt on overnight.
Tuesday/8-Mar-16: Dinner with friends tonight. Nothing happened in the kitchen.
Wednesday/9-Mar-16: Shopping today. Dinner was Broiled Salmon with Creamy Lemon-Dill Sauce (CL; web). I had half the fish, but made all the sauce to top some asparagus, first French ones of the season, I think. Served with trio rice. Then a salad. Then some ice cream with strawberries, the first gariguettes of the season. Yum.
Thursday/10-Mar-16: Working on Ed's hemoglobin again tonight, there was Foie de Veau Poêlé (SaveurFR, p218), liver with a sauce of shallots, cognac, and chives. Well, it wasn't repulsive as liver can sometimes be, but still not a favorite. We both think we like boudin noir better than liver, but I'll try again. Served with Straw Potato Cake—Pommes Paillason (BEFCC, p52), good, but a bit too greasy. Other recipes have you seriously dry the grated potatoes; this one has you mix them with melted butter. Good, but ... Then a salad. Then some ice cream and the rest of the strawberries.
Friday/11-Mar-16: Dinner was shakshuka, a smerge of several recipes, mostly Ottolenghi's. Pretty good stuff. Used some tomato purée from the freezer, augmented by a real tomato, chopped. For dessert we split an espresso magnum.
Yogurt on overnight.
Saturday/12-Mar-16: We had our main meal early today, since we'll go to an earlyish movie late. Working on Ed's hemoglobin again, we had Easy Thai "Weeping Tiger" Beef (web). Not really tiger's cries, but still pretty good and definitely easy. Had two nice little rumsteacks; 3min each side under the broiler gave medium, so slightly less time might be better next time. The amount of marinade was good. The amount of sauce was about double what it should have been. I put the rest in the freezer, although I'm not sure how well it will keep. Ran out of fish sauce (new bottle, but small), so the sauce was a bit lemony. It went really well over Stir-Fried Celery Cabbage (Kuo, p389), which is a tried-n-true recipe. (Makes me want to plan a proper Chinese meal from this book, which has always led to yummy meals.) I had a mini mag for dessert.
Sunday/13-Mar-16: A bit of a cleaning-out-the-pantry dinner tonight. I made the stuffing for Uszka (TLQuint, p18), tortellini sort of things that should have been in in the Christmas Eve Beet Soup xmas before last, using the mushrooms that I got ready, then ended up freezing. (Yes they've been in the freezer a while.) Used the stuffing to fill some empanada like things made with squares of pâte feuillittée. These were ok, much better with the bit of broccoli stem salad that I made. There was also some steamed asparagus with the rest of the creamy dill sauce, and some of Pomiane's beet salad, made from memory. An odd lot, but pretty good altogether.
Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 BREAD: no; #5 FotW: no for Feb/Mar
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Christmas dinner 2013
A late start to the day and a small meal for the two of us this year.
The starter was Lasagnesandwich met Zalm en Basilicumdressing (web). Directly translated that's a lasagna sandwich with salmon and a basil dressing; clumsy and we need a better name, since this was quite good and would be a nice company dish, easy to assemble and can be done ahead. I made a half recipe with four lasagna sheets, cutting each in half for assembly, leaving squares of pasta. (The recipe actually has you cutting the stacks after assembly, but I think this would be a mess.) The basil dressing is olive oil, lime juice, and basil leaves, buzzed in the blender. First sheet, some smoked salmon with a bit of dressing, second sheet, thin slices of avocado that have been tossed with lime juice, third sheet, more smoked salmon and a bit of dressing, All topped with the fourth sheet. I decorated the top with some leftover bits of salmon and a pretty drizzle of dressing. Very well accepted.
When we went to the market to find something special for our xmas dinner, we had in mind some ostrich steaks or medallions of venison. But the ostrich vendor wasn't there and the venison vendor had only bits of meat for a civet (a stew). So that's what we had. I smerged recipes for Civet de Chevreuil from two books (SaveurFR, p238 and Petit, p625). Actually, chevreuil is roe deer, where my farm-raised venison was daim or fallow deer. The French recipe called for finishing the sauce with pig's blood (or even hare's blood per Larousse Gastronomique); I didn't see any of this at Leclerc and the butcher was closed when Ed went by, so I did without. The result was a very nice, tasty stew. The meat and veg marinated for over 24 hours, then the bits of meat were browned and everything simmered for several hours until tender. And tender and delicious it was.
Then we had a cheese plate with small pieces of three cheeses along with a bit of arugula and a plain vinaigrette. There was a tomme de savoie, St Felicien, and Delice du Poitou, a cinder-covered local-ish goat cheese (from the town where we visit the Bach à Pâques festival) with a lovely texture and taste.
Our dessert was Poire Pochée Chocolat et Vanille (VPG), Chocolat and Vanilla-Poached Pear. This was tasty enough, but nothing special. I bought long, skinny Conference pears, but when I should have bought short, fat Comice. And the chocolate seemed dried out, where it looks like I should have been able to spread it like peanut butter. Not a keeper.
The starter was Lasagnesandwich met Zalm en Basilicumdressing (web). Directly translated that's a lasagna sandwich with salmon and a basil dressing; clumsy and we need a better name, since this was quite good and would be a nice company dish, easy to assemble and can be done ahead. I made a half recipe with four lasagna sheets, cutting each in half for assembly, leaving squares of pasta. (The recipe actually has you cutting the stacks after assembly, but I think this would be a mess.) The basil dressing is olive oil, lime juice, and basil leaves, buzzed in the blender. First sheet, some smoked salmon with a bit of dressing, second sheet, thin slices of avocado that have been tossed with lime juice, third sheet, more smoked salmon and a bit of dressing, All topped with the fourth sheet. I decorated the top with some leftover bits of salmon and a pretty drizzle of dressing. Very well accepted.
When we went to the market to find something special for our xmas dinner, we had in mind some ostrich steaks or medallions of venison. But the ostrich vendor wasn't there and the venison vendor had only bits of meat for a civet (a stew). So that's what we had. I smerged recipes for Civet de Chevreuil from two books (SaveurFR, p238 and Petit, p625). Actually, chevreuil is roe deer, where my farm-raised venison was daim or fallow deer. The French recipe called for finishing the sauce with pig's blood (or even hare's blood per Larousse Gastronomique); I didn't see any of this at Leclerc and the butcher was closed when Ed went by, so I did without. The result was a very nice, tasty stew. The meat and veg marinated for over 24 hours, then the bits of meat were browned and everything simmered for several hours until tender. And tender and delicious it was.
Then we had a cheese plate with small pieces of three cheeses along with a bit of arugula and a plain vinaigrette. There was a tomme de savoie, St Felicien, and Delice du Poitou, a cinder-covered local-ish goat cheese (from the town where we visit the Bach à Pâques festival) with a lovely texture and taste.
Our dessert was Poire Pochée Chocolat et Vanille (VPG), Chocolat and Vanilla-Poached Pear. This was tasty enough, but nothing special. I bought long, skinny Conference pears, but when I should have bought short, fat Comice. And the chocolate seemed dried out, where it looks like I should have been able to spread it like peanut butter. Not a keeper.
(Ha, I've just found this recipe on the web, but in a version serving 6 rather than 4 as it was published in VPG. The picture in VPG is the same but cropped a bit and reversed. And, assuming the one for 6 is original, the one in VPG was cut back badly. Where there was 250g each of almonds, chocolate, and sugar, VPG has 170g almonds and 135g each of the chocolate and sugar. Now, I don't mind cutting the sugar back, but the chocolate wasn't right. I actually used less almonds, having gotten tired or chopping, and more chocolate but not the full 170g.)
Altogether a tasty and filling dinner, but not too much. And I see we've had the red tablecloth for three xmases in a row now; will try to do something different next year.
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