Christmas dinner 2019

Verrines de Radis au Chèvre Frais Parmentier de Canard Wild Mushrooms braised in Late Harvest Wine Carottes Glacées Vanilla Ice Cream with Blueberries and Ginger Snap Crumbs

This was the first really sunny day in quite a while, so I should be happy. I'm still tuckered out from being sick though. Today's cooking wore me out.

We started with verrines of radish slices in chèvre frais thinned with cream. To go with them I made some sesame tuiles from another recipe. The bit of crunch was nice, but can't say the tuiles were really successful. They needed much more time to cook that the recipe asked. The verrines were nice and I'll make the extra cheese mixture into a sandwich filling tomorrow.

We had parmentier de canard at a restaurant last year and loved it. I smerged a bunch of recipes and the result was okay, but not in the same league. I used confit de canard from a can, rather than making in from scratch.

For the braised shrooms, I bought girolles, pieds de mouton, and oesterzwammen (pleurotes) for the mushrooms. Most of the girolles were too slimy to use unfortunately. This dish was good, but a bit richer than I would have liked, with the sage-scented cream in the sauce. Used sauterne for the wine. The recipe came from A Thousand Days in Venice and was recommended by Anne.

For the carrots I found some bio carrots of mixed color. The recipe (TLProvFr, p92) asked for the carrots to be cut in chunks (or even shaped like olives!), but I preferred the sticks. They were okay.

I had meant to make crème caramel for dessert, but didn't have the oomph. Instead we had a simple thing, using another verrine, with ice cream and frozen (defrosted) blueberries sprinkled with crumbled ginger snaps.

We're stuffed!

This week in the kitchen

Monday/27-Oct-14: Yogurt on overday.

Company gone. Back to a normal eating regime. Whew.

Dinner was, sort of. Chile-Lime Veggie Noodles (web). More or less the whole recipe for a generous dinner for two. Used shao-xing wine instead of sherry, only 1 teaspoon of sugar, and three eggs for the omelet part. Pretty good. We split a magnum classic for dessert.

Tuesday/28-Oct-14: Dinner was a half recipe of Summer Corn & Scallop Pasta (web). Pretty interesting and good. Out of whole wheat spaghetti (yesterday's dinner), so used linguine instead. Used canned corn.  Then a big salad. That was all.

Wednesday/29-Oct-14: Shopped today, then had a mid-day lunch of Baked FIsh with Kumquats and Ginger (Uncommon, p273), which is one of my two kumquat recipes. Served with haricots verts and shrooms. And some crozets, a kind French pasta, tiny squares, a bit thick. (Mine were nature, but the buckwheat version is traditional, I see. I'll get some of these, since that kind of earthy taste is sometimes nice to have.) For dessert, I bought some apricot pastry things which were tasty.

Thursday/30-Oct-14: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was Arroz al Ajillo con Camarones (Garlic Rice With Shrimp) (web), which was pretty good. I made a halfish recipe. Cooked all the bacon this morning, so used lardons instead. My shrimp were frozen (thawed), but worked okay. I cut them in half lengthwise as she did. Having no green onions, I used shallots. Some parsley would have been nice for the color. Finished off the strawberry ice cream for dessert.

Friday/31-Oct-14: Made a triple dose of apple butter this morning, made it in the Dutch oven so it wouldn't spatter too much. Ha. Ended up giving the backsplash, utensils, and stovetop a thorough cleaning. Used most of a cheap sack of apples. Tasted pretty good.

Boiled up so artichokes for a meal coming up.

Getting the fresh pasta in on the last possible day, dinner was a half recipe of Tagliatelle ai Funghi Porcini (Lorenza, p91; cookbooker). Used shiitakes, since there were no cêpes at the grocery this week. Then a salad. Two squares of chocolate with almonds for after.

Saturday/1-Nov-14: An anniversary today, but neither of us wanted yet another meal out after the last weeks and at least two more coming soon. So, we had our dinner in the early afternoon, a halfish dose of Poulet Sauté à la Bordelaise (Sautéed Chicken with Shallots and Artichoke Hearts) (TLProvFr, p43; cookbooker).

Ed brought home two points of flan for dessert. Then we took ourselves out to a movie.

Sunday/2-Nov-14: For dinner, there was a half dose of Fusilli with Sausage, Ricotta, and Fresh Tomatoes (30MinPasta, p165; cookbooker) using Hazan's homemade sausage. Good stuff. Then a big salad. For dessert, I used the rest of the ricotta from the pasta sauce to make my version of Coffee Ricotta Mousse (MW@Home, p307), including cocoa plus Kuhlua instead of coffee and brandy. Good stuff for next to no work.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/15-Sep-14: Yes, it was my birthday. We had lunch out. Only a small salad for dinner.

Tuesday/16-Sep-14: Dinner was Spaghettini with Bacon, Mushrooms, and Herbs (web). And a small salad for after. For dessert we had popcorn at the movies.

Wednesday/17-Sep-14: Shopping today.

Dinner was Pasta with Sardines (web). First time I've ever cooked with fresh sardines. Smelly things they are. The dish was not bad at all, but nothing I need to do again. Then a big salad.

It was Oscar's turn to stay out after dark tonight. Computers shut down about 10pm because of thunderstorms.

Thursday/18-Sep-14: Dinner was Tarte de Tomate (TLProvFr, p50 in the hardback, not in the recipe book). At the grocery, I had the choice of Swiss Gruyère or French Gruyère, both lait cru, for €20.xx or €12.xx per kilo. I'm cheap so chose the French one, which was quite good enough! I did not use the recipe for pâte brisée in the book, but my now standard one from Judith Jones, Tart Dough (Tenth, p256). Whenever I make this I make a double dose and put half in the freezer. I don't make the prettiest crust every, but it's yummy, flaky, tender, all those things. The last extra one turned into this very tasty tart. I do think there was too much cheese (1#). Fresh out of the oven, it was difficult to serve because the cheese was so runny. I would do this again with about 300g or maybe even 225/250 (1/2#) instead of 450g. The grated parmesan on top was a nice touch, but the extra butter was overkill I think. A very nice combination of tastes, the gruyère, tomatoes, and basil. A keeper, if modified. Served with salad.

Computers shut down again at night because of forecast thunderstorms.

Friday/19-Sep-14: Tonight's dinner was meant for IHCC, but I don't feel like writing a post, so this will have to do. We had Delectable Pork in a Mustard Spice Mix (SpiceKitch, p88) accompanied by Yellow Rice with Potato and Cumin (SpiceKitch, p64) and Peas with Whole Cumin and Mustard Seeds (SpiceKitch, p48). Have made everything before; just see that it's exactly 16 years to the day since I made the exactly the same dinner! It's still good, and easy, but takes a bit of clock time simmering, made longer because one of the burners very annoyingly doesn't like to stay like. Ed says we shouldn't wait so long next time.

Saturday/20-Sep-14: Didn't feel like cooking this evening. We had the leftover tarte de tomate, more or less at room temp. Still tasty. More convinced that it was too much cheese. For a side, I lightly cooked some a roll-cut carrot,  then some broccoli. Chopped a shallot and a bit of parsley, added that to the sieve and poured the broccoli over that. It was surprising good for minimal effort.

Sunday/21-Sep-14: No cooking again today. Soup from the freezer. Followed by chocolate mini magnums. Then ironing.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/8-Sep-14: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Curried Quinoa Salad with Lentils and Sun-Dried Tomatoes (web). It was pretty good. I only partly followed the recipes. Soaking quinoa? Nah. Soaking my oven-dried tomatoes? Ditto. Otherwise it was quite good.

Yogurt on overnight, as I remember. There were thunderstorms and all computing was shut off.

Tuesday/9-Sep-14: Lunch out today with friends. No interest in food in the evening.

Wednesday/10-Sep-14: Shopping today.

Dinner was a half recipe of Filets de Sole Bonne Femme (TLProvFr, p38), which was not as good as it should have been. The sauce was too heavy. I looked in my Larousse Gastronomique and it seems the sauce shouldn't have had cream, which makes sense to me. Just the thickened fish cooking juices (wine and water). Served with some boiled, parley potatoes and broccoli.

Two squares of hazelnut-chocolate each after.

Thursday/11-Sep-14: Yogurt on overday.

Shopping yesterday, I bought a 5kg box of plum tomatoes for €5. They're meant for preserving, but many of them are just as good as what you buy to eat. Have been busy seeding and cooking those down. Eight little ziplocs with 1 cup each. We're pretty well set for tomato sauce/purée now.

Dinner was Californian Chicken Salad (MC; web). I've had this recipe for ages; collected it before I started recording when and where I got it. (The web link is a copy of what I have.)

Sophie's got something wrong in her left hindquarter. Off to the vet tomorrow.

Friday/12-Sep-14: Started chicken stock rather late today since we went to the vet with Sophie in the morning. Will boil it up again tomorrow and maybe again on Saturday before freezing it.

Dinner was planned for IHCC, but I forgot to bring my camera down. Think my commitment to this is getting low. The next chef is someone I've never heard of, Diana Henry. Definitely a miss. Time to get back to seldom used books.

The unphotographed dinner was Red Lentils with Turmeric and Mustard Seeds (30MinCook, p232; cookbooker). We shared a classic magnum for dessert. Then walked Pogo. Then fed Harriet.

Saturday/13-Sep-14: Dinner was Hot Aubergine and Cheese Sandwiches (30MinCook, p35; cookbooker). Then a salad. No dessert needed.

Sunday/14-Sep-14: Yogurt on overday.

Finished off the chicken stock today. Froze up 12 cups altogether. Didn't have enough lids for my freezer tupperwares, so had to do some 3-cups and some 2-cups.

Dinner was Chicken Kebabs with Thai Chile-Plum Glaze (web). Easy and good. Served with brown basmati rice and Broccoli in Oyster Sauce (Delightful, p58). A tasty dinner. No dessert.

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

A Homemade Life

A Homemade Life Mollie Wizenberg Simon & Schuster (2010) ISBN 1416551069

Since I've been an Orangette reader off and on for several years, A Homemade Life was a fun read. It was nice to get to know Molly a bit better. And many recipe pages are adorned with stickies, so that corner of the book looks a bit like a pink hedgehog.

Family cooking. This was the most appealing part of the story for me. Molly grew up in a family where food was appreciated and cooking was done with love. Sadly her father died much too early, and the book could be considered a tribute to him, bits of memoir interspersed with recipes.

Reading the book made me think a bit more about food and cooking and what we learn from our parents. My mother was not a bad cook, but she got no joy from food, not from the cooking, not from the eating. When we were a family, we ate well enough with my mother doing most of the cooking since my father was frequently away from home. I was lucky that as kids we were exposed to all kinds of food. We knew not only Tex-Mex from Papa's home state, but all sorts of international cuisines since my father travelled as part of his work. At that time, I don't remember my father doing much cooking besides steaks on the grill and hand-cranked ice cream, but he did teach me to enjoy food. Somewhere along the line with his second family, he started cooking more seriously and when I visited in later years, I always looked forward to the food.

Thus, I was inspired by this book to cook a meal in honor of my father. I chose one recipe I thought he might have liked, one I "inherited" from him, and one he recommended. Luckily the weather held out so we could eat al fresco, and enjoy a bit of time with Papa.

We started with Moroccan Zucchini Salad. This is not to say my father was a veggie man, but I think he would have enjoyed this salad, zucchini lightly cooked with garlic, paprika, ras al hanout, and cayenne and topped with lemon juice and parsley. Fresh and tasty, this salad can be eaten warm or cold. I've made it several times this summer to help use up the garden bounty.

For a main, there was Papa's Posole, using up the hominy I cooked and froze earlier in the year. This is a recipe I got from my father, who got it from who knows where. Not one I follow to the letter, but then recipes aren't made to be followed to the letter, are they? Was it especially good this time because I finally got hold of some Mexican oregano or because it was a lovely fall evening with thoughts of my father around us?

We ended with Crème Caramel. I've always thought the crème caramel was food from heaven, and my father swore that MFK Fisher's recipe in The Cooking of Provincial France (part of the Time-Life Foods of the World Series) was the best there is. This was the first time I've tried it and I think he may be right.

Bon appetit! And thanks to Deb at Kahakai Kitchen for hosting this month's reading/cooking challenge.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Sep-11: Didn't get to that stack of tomatoes today, although we had big ones at lunch and dinner.

Dinner was Tuscan Vegetable Sauté (web, via PatM, soon to be MC). Made a half recipe and served over polenta, which of course is from Lombardy rather than Tuscany, but I won't tell if you don't. The half recipe should serve 3, and I expect it does since we had a lot leftover. Good stuff.

Tuesday/20-Sep-11: Deseeded another load of tomatoes and boiled them up for sauce. Buzzed and in the fridge overnight to freeze tomorrow.

Barbara gave us about two liters of freshly picked raspberries!

Having nothing on the plan for this evening's meal, I defrosted some duck scallops, floured and S&P'd, then sautéed. Deglazed the pan with a good slog of marsala and added a bitter butter when that was reduced. Voila! a sauce. With orzo, pine nuts and basil added. Then a salad of mâche.

Wednesday/21-Sep-11: Made the juice for some raspberry sorbet. Shopped. Pizza for dinner.

Thursday/22-Sep-11: Yogurt on overday. Froze up more tomato sauce. Made tomorrow's dessert.

Dinner was a half dose of Fettuccine con Merluzzo e Piselli (Fettuccine with Cod and Peas) (Lorenza, p111, cookbooker), which was quite good and very easy. Intended to make fresh pasta, but didn't have the time. That's two misses this month.

When I got home from line dancing, we froze up Raspberry-Champagne Sorbet (Scoop, p132, cookbooker), which I made with Clairette de Die rather than champagne. It made only 2 cups and we ate it all. Might make a double dose of this up tomorrow.

Friday/23-Sep-11: Made my meal for Cook the Books, just under the wire again. Started with Moroccan Zucchini Salad, which has been around several times this summer and is still a favorite. Then there was Papa's Posole. Then there was Crème Caramel (TLProvFr, p102).

Saturday/24-Sep-11: For dinner, I dredged a couple of turkey scallops in flour mixed with the last of the rub for the carnitas and sautéed then. Then deglazed the pan with chicken broth (from a jar), white wine vinegar, and dijon mustard. Meanwhile, I warmed up the unused fettuccine noodles from Thursday in a bit of oil and mixed with some cilantro pesto from the freezer. This worked quite well, but it might be better to mix the oil with the pasta just after it's cooked. Then a bit salad with Turmeric Dressing (PRMTurmeric, p55). The dressing was good, and healthy, of course. ;-) Dessert was another pair of crème caramels.

Sunday/25-Sep-11: Ate lunch at a lovely ferme-auberge this afternoon. No need for further food.

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