This week in the kitchen

Monday/6-Jun-22: Using the other half of last night's roast chicken, tonight's dinner was a half recipe Sicilian Chicken Salad (SFAH, p342), served on ciabattas with leaves of lettuce. Very good stuff. I tarted up the end of a jar of mayo to make the aïoli. The half recipe generously served us two for dinner. We're stuffed. 

Tuesday/7-Jun-22: Ed picked up two Drive orders today; don't know if we'll make shopping in-store on Thursday.

Dinner was Piquillos Rellenos (MC), an old favorite I haven't made in a long time. Small portions would be nice as a starter; bigger ones make a nice dinner, with a bit of salad on the side. Some chopped peaches and cream for after.

Wednesday/8-Jun-22: Soup for dinner, Solyanka (Monastery, p91). Sort of Solyanka, I guess. Most other recipes I've seen online have tomatoes; this was didn't. It was okay, we finished it, but nothing special. Served with some cheese and onion sandwiches. And a chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.
 
Thursday/9-Jun-22: Dinner was Slow-Roasted Crispy Pork Belly (web). I've cooked this bit of meat before (it's cheap and often on sale), but never with much success. Never could understand what the big deal about cracklings was. Made right, cracklings are great. This recipe is right. Takes a long time, cooking the meat slow, then zapping it on high to crisp up the skin. High fat, but delicious. Served with a halfish recipe of Garlic Parmesan Roasted Sweet Potatoes (web). The dish I cooked the sweet pots in was too big, but it still worked. These are very good. And then there was Zucchini and Feta Salad (WorldVeg, p640), which is an old favorite. And a chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Friday/10-Jun-22: Put up some stock made from some lamb and goat bones that have been hanging around the freezer for age. Now to find something to use it up.

Dinner was Barbara's Greek Onion-Leek Pie (MC).This is quite yummy. Playing with filo is fun. This bit was a bit fragile from its extended stay in the freezer, but it makes such a pretty finished product no matter what. Then a salad made from half the huge sack of lettuce we got from the Drive earlier in the week. And some strawberries and cream for after.

Saturday/11-Jun-22: We were out late in the afternoon and decided to stop for pizza on the way home. Not much happened in the kitchen.

Sunday/12-Jun-22: Dinner was Craig Claiborne's Ultimate Hamburger (Tabasco, p88), which is quite a good hamburger. Ed barbecued them, rather than cooking on the grill. Then we finished the ice cream I made a while ago with the last of the store-bought strawberries and some freshly picked blueberries. 

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 PHOTO:  no;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2:  no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 0; #8 NEW: 3

This week in the kitchen

Monday/17-Feb-20: Dinner was Pork Loin Roast with Sauerkraut (ClayCook1, p45). The sauerkraut lost all its juice on the way home, so there was no gravy. I forgot to slice up the apple for the cooking, I sautéed the apple slices (peeled) and stirred them into the sauerkraut at the end. To go with, I mashed some potatoes and steamed some green beans. For dessert, we finished off the peach cobbler. We're happily full.

Tuesday/18-Feb-20: The wok burner on the stove was successfully replaced today. Hooray.

Dinner was Lasagnes Saumon Fumé et Poireau (VPG/may19, web). This was fairly easy to assemble and quite tasty. Followed by a salad. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.

Wednesday/19-Feb-20: Leftovers night. We had the rest of the pork loin and sauerkraut, with some orecchiette, because I didn't feel like dealing with potatoes, and some steamed broccoli. Meanwhile I used up my (ancient) white chocolate from the US to make White Chocolate Pudding (web), and served with some defrosted blueberries. I used 3 tablespoons rather than 1/4 cup of sugar (sucre de canne) and it was still too sweet. We're stuffed.

Thursday/20-Feb-20: Shopping today.

Dinner was Broiled Fish Steaks with Fresh Ginger Sauce (Tabasco, p72) with tuna. This was yummy. The sauce would be good with white meat chicken and maybe even a pork chop. Served with French Beans with Sesame Seeds (RezaSpice, p118), which was good. And New Potatoes with Cumin (Q&E, p91), an old favorite. Finished off the White Chocolate Pudding for after. We're full.

Friday/21-Feb-20: Dinner was a half dose of Sheet-Pan Harissa Chicken with Carrots and Cauliflower (web), served with fettucelle (looks like wide, thick linguine). This was ok. The veggies are first steamed on the sheet pan, then the chicken added. I didn't much like the sweet of the onions, but the harissa made everything tasty. Nice crispy chicken skin. Some store-bought cheesecake for after.

Saturday/22-Feb-20: Dinner was a half dose of Creamy Polenta with Mushroom Ragù (web). This was good. A bit more polenta, maybe 1/2 more for the whole recipe, might have been nice, since the polenta disappeared under the ragù. Then a salad. Then the rest of the cheesecake. We were full.

Sunday/23-Feb-20: Dinner was a half dose of Rabbit and Lemon, a recipe I got somewhere, but neglected to record and can't find searching. The lemony bit was regular lemon and a preserved lemon. There was more juice left than I expected at the end, I thickened this with a bit of cornstarch (just too much really) and called it gravy. Served with trio rice and some steamed broccoli. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 3; #2 BACKLOG: no
This month: #3 GUESTS: no
This year: #4 SHORT: no; #5 LONG: no
On-going: #6 READ; #7 RECYCLE; #8 NEW

This week in the kitchen

Monday/14-May-18: For tonight's meal we had Sweet-and-Sour Cabbage with Peanut Sauce (BoldVeg, p135; cookbooker) with Red and Green Polenta (BoldVeg, p176; cookbooker) as suggested. The cabbage was an interesting dish, a little weird at first, but grew on you. Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Tuesday/15-May-18: Worked on the meal plan (and list) today, trying to use up as many of the veggies in the fridge as possible.

For our meal, we had Pasta with Asparagus-Lemon Sauce (web). This was quite good. I made all the sauce with half the pasta. The pasta (malfada) was generously sauced, but not excessive. Following some of the comments, I used the zest of a whole lemon and added the juice to the sauce, and I roasted the tips with a minced shallot and garlic cloves. Very tasty. Served with a made-up salad of grated carrot, cuke that was quartered and finely sliced, radish, and a bit of onion, all with a lemon vinaigrette. Quite good it was. Some goat cheese for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/16-May-18: Shopping today.

When we got home, to use up some of the buttermilk, I made Buttermilk Coffeecake (TLSouth, p119).

Our dinner was Salmon with Lime Courgettes (200Budget, p178). The salmon was ok, but the zucchini was very good fun, cut in long thin strips, sautéed, and tossed with lime zest, juice, and chopped mint. Served with orzo. The coffeecake for dessert was a hit.

Thursday/17-May-18: Breakfast for dinner today. I made Ned and Crescent's Favorite Multigrain Pancakes (Gospels, p205)—a whole dose and then froze half for another meal. Served with some of the chamomile syrup from Saturday.

Friday/18-May-18: Busy afternoon cooking:

• Made some Favas and Pearl Onions with Olives and Herbs (VegA2Z, p66). Favas from the store this week; pearl onions left from last week. This recipe has in interesting way to treat the onions. You pour boiling water over them, then cut off the bottom and peel. (I only cut off the top if it was "ugly.") Peeling is much easier this way—hooray! The favas were cooked (steam-sautéed) without peeling the individual beans. I added extra olives because I thought the dshes needed them; Ed thought it was too much. This was an okay dish. Think I prefer my favas peeled and bright green. 
• Mama's Garlic Coleslaw (MC; HandyBook). 
• Baked Potatoes on the Grill (MC), but cooked in the toaster oven. Two smallish potatoes for the two of us. I found it way too much. 
• Craig Claiborne's Ultimate Hamburger (Tabasco, p88). Still a good way to do a hamburger.

For dessert, we finished off the Buttermilk Coffeecake. Yum.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/19-May-18: We went to Gamm Vert today and bought some plants, geraniums, three hanging pots, etc. For our meal, I marinated two kip filets as in Chile-Soaked Grilled Chicken (BigFlav, p180), without the accompanying the Indonesian Catsup, that we didn't think was needed last time I made this. The chicken was good. Served with asparagus, simply grilled with salt and pepper, and penne of red lentils and carrots. Then a salad of romaine lettuce. Then some Buttermilk Ice Cream (MC), kind of tan colored because I used sucre de canne, rather than white sugar.

Sunday/20-May-18: We lunched at La Bellone today, before going to Chalais for a concert. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: BoldVeg and 200Budget
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes

This week in the kitchen

Monday/4-Dec-17: For our meal we had chicken with a satay marinade from the freezer. Used skinless, boneless kip thighs rather than kip filets, marinated then broiled. Then there was Coconut Rice (30MinInd, p100). Made a major goof on this when I added the shallots and garlic from the green bean recipe instead of the spicy stuff for this one. Stirred the spicy stuff into the cooking rice when I realized and sliced more shallots and garlic. And a little salad, a half recipe of Spicy Thai Cucumber Salad (MaiPham, p46), which was good as before; no peanuts or fried shallots for garnish.  And there was a halfish recipe of Thai Stir-Fried Long Beans (MaiPham, p169) made with haricots verts and no kaffir lime leaves. Chocolate cookies for dessert.

Tuesday/5-Dec-17: Lunch with BookChatters today. Ed ate from the freezer.

Lexi, our possibly new dog, a hand-me-down from a neighbor going back to UK to work, came for a visit.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/6-Dec-17: Shopping today.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Masala Fish Steak (MJ@Home, p48), with lieu noir, filets not steaks. Disappointing really. Other things from this book have been excellent. This was uninteresting. As suggested, served with Zucchini and Yellow Summer Squash with Cumin (MJ@Home, p179). A half recipe with only zucchini, of course. This wasn't bad (Ed liked it a lot), but didn't really go with the fish dish. And some basmati rice with onions.

Thursday/7-Dec-17: For dinner, we had Craig Claiborne's Ultimate Hamburger (Tabasco, p88). These were really good, as before. Made up a little salad go-with, chunks of snijbonen (whatever is the English name of these?) with toasted walnuts, sesame seeds, slices of oven-dried tomatoes from the freezer, some gorgonzola, and lemon juice. Pretty good it was. Some store-bought custard (salted caramel) for dessert.

Friday/8-Dec-17: Oscar to the vet today for his shots. He got another cancer thing on his belly. Will have surgery next week.

Dinner was Prawns with Curry Saucy—Crevettes en Brochette à l'Indienne (BEFCC, p111). This was kind of so-so. Not sure how you serve sauce with shrimp on sticks. We managed, but it's not  that nice. Like most curried French dishes, the curry is pretty light, even though I used more than what was required for the half recipe I made. Served with a pilaf sort of thing and steamed broccoli. Store-bought custard for dessert. (Actually these weren't real custards, but yogurt-based. Maybe a new product line for La Fermière since they were on sale.

Saturday/9-Dec-17: Yogurt on overday.

Doug died this morning. We are heart-broken.

Quick dinner with sautéed slices of duck breast and a pan sauce of port and cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving. Served with orzo and steamed broccoli. Mini ice cream bars for after.

Sunday/10-Dec-17: Off the week's meal plan with One-Pan Chicken Thighs with Cilantro-Lime Black Bean Rice (web) for our meal, with a bit of pretty bare salad. Lots of rice left over for something.

Meanwhile for Cath's vegetarian daughter, arriving today, I made Kaye's Veg and Feta Gratin (MC) with broccoli. I'd forgotten about this recipe, which I adapted from a Cooking Light recipe. It's easy and good. And then some Mushroom-Barley Soup (MC), made vegetarian with paddestoelen fond and no Worcestershire sauce.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/9-Oct-17: Since we missed yesterday's meal, I had to do a bit of replanning today. We had Shrimp with Pernod—Grote Garnalen met Tomaat, Zwarte Olijven en Pernod (web) a recipe I got from Bill. Quite good it was, although we both thought the garlic should have been added earlier in the cooking. Then a salad. Then some mini Magnums.

Ed replaced the clock in the stove today so the ovens work. It's a bit different from the old one, so we're not completely sure how it works. But at least I can bake again.

Tuesday/10-Oct-17: Earlyish meal today. We had a half recipe of Chicken Breast with Pancetta Cream and Peas (web; CL/mar14). Used 100g unsmoked lardons from the freezer; they were a bit old and had a touch of freezer burn. Not hard and quite tasty. Some sliced mushrooms might be good.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/11-Oct-17: Shopping today.

Meant to get salmon for Salmon Steaks with Cucumber Sauce (Tabasco, p75), but there was only one tiny piece of salmon left. I got tuna for this instead. Pretty good it was. Served with trio rice and steamed broccoli. For dessert, Ed had a mini-Magnum and I had a mini-Häagen-Dasz; I bought these last week, having not seen them before. Better than the classic Magnums, I think.

Thursday/12-Oct-17: Back to Time-Life for our meal today. We had a half recipe of Scaloppine al Limone—Sautéed Veal Scallops with Lemon (TLItal, p63). Served these with Piselli al Prosciutto—Braised Peas with Prosciutto (TLItal, p37) and Ed's favorite, orzo, with a bit of parsley, lemon peel, lemon juice, and butter. The veal was easy and very tasty. I forgot to finish the sauce with a dab of butter, but don't think it really mattered. The peas were maybe a bit salty from the prosciutto, but not bad; I didn't cook them for the 15-20min asked (mushy peas, anyone?), maybe just 5min. A tasty meal.

Friday/13-Oct-17: Early meal today. We had Goat Cheese, Chive, and Chili Pepper Sauce for Pasta (MarCuc, p167) over spaghetti. This has become our traditional night-before-travelling meal. Then a big salad.

Did I say somewhere that Ed has replaced the stove clock with a new, slightly different, but manufacturer-autorized model? Seems to work fine, but you have to press-and-hold a different pair of buttons to set the time.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/14-Oct-17: Off to Paris today. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Sunday/15-Oct-17: In Paris today. Definitely nothing happened in the kitchen.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/3-Jul-17: An unanticipated consequence of our frequently eating early meals is that we don't work a big crossword daily. Our stack is growing.

No early meal today. We had Skillet Chicken with Rhubarb (web). I made a halfish recipe with four thighs. It was quite good. Served with trio rice, a cheap one with more white rice than anything, and carrot coins. Good stuff.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/4-Jul-17: The stove man came early today to have a look/listen to the strange noise. Of course it wouldn't make it as aggressively as it did last week, but it did give a buzz. He had a look, said it definitely wasn't in the gas line. Might be a screw. I was unclear if he actually tightened something or not.

Used the newly fixed, silent oven to make Flourless Chocolate Cake (web), partly to use up some of my inventory of ground almonds.

For our main meal, we had Craig Claiborne's Ultimate Hamburger (Tabasco, p88). I found the same recipe, minus the Tabasco sauce on the web. Really easy. Essential you just sear, then cook some plain hamburger patties, then top with a pat of butter (I think it's a good idea to do this in the pan, so the butter can be soaked up when you toast the buns), and a little sauce made of (for each patty) 1/4tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1/8tsp Tabasco sauce, 1/2tbl lemon juice. Sprinkle on 1tbl chopped parsley. You might add a slice of onion. Extra yummy.

For sides there were Mama's Garlic Cole Slaw (MC&HandyBook) and some corn on the cob. For dessert there was, of course some extra yummy Flourless Chocolate Cake.

Wednesday/5-Jul-17: Shopping day today. Some nice looking swordfish was on special, so I bought some and had to chance the meal plan.

I made Tandoori Style Striped Bass Fillet (MJ@Home, p43) with the swordfish. It was yummy, if a bit salty. I defrosted some spinach to make Spinach with Garlic and Cumin (MJ@Home, p169), easy and yummy. And then some Curried Brown Rice (MJ@Home, p220). All were good. Then some Flourless Chocolate Cake, with a bit of cream.

Oops, I forgot to buy bread at the store. So we'll have breakfast from the freezer tomorrow.

Thursday/6-Jul-17: An easy meal today. We had the leftover Zucchini and Fresh Goat Cheese Tart, along with a salad, followed by more Flourless Chocolate Cake, with a bit of cream. Not too bad.

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/7-Jul-17: Earlyish meal today. We had Gemelli ai Fagiolini (Geometry. p115). Shh, I used casareccia instead of gemelli. Good stuff. A whole recipe was a nice main for two—haricots verts puréed with cream, cinnamon, and a bit of garlic. Simple and surprisingly good. Served with a big salad. Then the end of the Flourless Chocolate Cake with some cream and raspberries. We ate well.

Saturday/8-Jul-17: Early meal today. I made a half recipe of New Potato and Chorizo Tortilla (web). Good stuff. The potatoes need a bit longer to cook than the recipe says; maybe it would be a good idea to boil them half done first. Anyhow it was good. Followed by a little salad of grated carrots. And the last half of the watermelon. (We ate the first half earlier this week, but I neglected to record it.)

Sunday/9-Jul-17: Ed's choir sang today. We had pizza afterwards. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/15-May-17: Ed still not feeling well, so he had a soup of chicken stock with some whole wheat noodles. I made myself some Shredded Chicken Tacos (Tinga de Pollo) (web), using the last of the Thanksgiving turkey. Not bad it was, if a bit sweet, even though I cut way back on the sugar.

Tuesday/16-May-17: An easy-on-Ed's-innards meal this afternoon. I made a half recipe of Spaghetti with Zucchini and Lemon (MW@Home, p195). This is an old favorite recipe that I haven't made in a while. For me, there was a little salad of sliced tomato with basil. Then a mini magnum.

Wednesday/17-May-17: Shopping today.

Dinner was 15-Minute Thai Coconut Curry Salmon (web). Oops, had only one instead of two tablespoons of green curry sauce. Maybe it would have been better with two, but it was quite good with only one. Used fresh salmon rather than frozen. Can't say it took 15 minutes, but it was done in well under under 30 minutes, and it was good. Served over rice and that was dinner.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/18-May-17: Leftover casserole of aiguilettes for our main meal today. It was pretty good reheated. I had a mini magnum for dessert. Have had the munchies all day too. Ate half an avocado from the fridge, a hard-boiled egg, and a packet of two cookies.

Put some black beans on to soak.

Friday/19-May-17: Cooked up the beans. Saved some for tomorrow's dinner; froze the rest.

Nice dinner, a halfish recipe of Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Chili Sauce (web; web). My varkenshaas was about 575g; a whole recipe asked about 1350g for four. We had more than enough for two. But it was delicious; not very hot at all. I didn't add the sugar and didn't miss it. Served with polenta and some steamed (hand-)gesneden snijbonen. Ed thought the plate was so pretty it deserved a photo, so here you are:

Saturday/20-May-17: Busy day today. We put out tomato plants and seeds for zucchini (there was only one seed in the packet!), eggplants, haricots verts, fêves, and kousebanden.

Got a second folder thing (a trieur, en français) for recipes. All the veggie recipes remain in the old one; fruits and nuts go in the second one. I collect all my, for example, mushroom recipes, clip them together and put them in the M-Q section. Seems to be a good way to work. Pulled out some of my fruit recipes for the semi-sorted stack of dessert recipes and ran again into the question: Should they be sorted by ingredient (chocolate, pear, banana, etc.) or by form (custard, pie, muffin, quick bread, cake, etc.) They're by form right now, but I'm leaning back to ingredient. Decisions, decisions.

Make some super banana bread following this recipe. I have no idea where this came from. I just found the unannotated copy in my stacks. If you recognize it, please let me know. It made an excellent loaf of banana bread.

Dinner was Harissa Sweet Potato Hash (web), served over brown rice. It was colorful and tasty.

Sunday/21-May-17: Ed didn't feel well enough to sing today, and I didn't feel well enough to go. Sigh.

Early meal of Walter McIlhenny's Chili (Tabasco, p89). This was quite tasty, but the meat was a bit on the tough side. Might use the pressure cooker another time. Served with Corn Bread (Joy, p578) and guacamole. All good stuff.

Yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/25-Jul-16: Finished off the Dried Apricot & Amaretto Conserve (FancyPant, p127). I goofed and added the orange juice with the peel, so it got boiled more than it ought to have been. (Used only two cups of sucre de canne, rather than 2-1/2.) In the end the whole thing didn't gel, so I added a whole packet of pectin. Poured into three AH jars, then realized I forgot to stir in the amaretto. Since there were three tablespoons needed, I stirred one into each jar before closing them up. Seems like a lot of almond slivers. We'll see. Froze two jars, since we've got several active jars of jam right now, and left one in the fridge to give away.

Made paneer, which was a part of our Mutter Paneer dinner. Some mini magnums for dessert.

Tuesday/26-Jul-16: So Ed could get one with painting windows and doors, I did the shopping after my audiologist appointment.

Got home to find we've been invited from champagne apertifs with our new next-door neighbors, Emmanuelle and Pierre, who live in Bordeaux.

Dinner was Tomato Fish Curry on rice, with some Mango-Mint Sherbet to follow.

Wednesday/27-Jul-16: Lunch out with friends today. Nothing happened in the kitchen. It's hot too.

Thursday/28-Jul-16: More Indian tonight. This time Onion Bhajiyas followed by Bombay Chicken Masala, served with plain basmati rice and leftover Spiced Beets and Mutter Paneer. Actually, I should have saved one of the veggies for tomorrow night, since we were quite full.

Friday/29-Jul-16: A busy day in the kitchen today.

I accidentally defrosted some pecans and walnuts. Until I started making Peppered Pecans (Tabasco, p14), I thought they were all pecans. Have to find something else for the walnuts.

Shopping Tuesday, I bought a flat of peaches for Peach Cobbler (EatingTog, p59), intending to make it Monday. But the peaches are getting pretty ripe, so I made the cobbler today.

Dinner was Lamb Kebabs, served with Kachumber (30MinInd, p37) and Jeera Rice (30MinInd, p99). Had the Tamarind&Date Chutney and the Lemon Pickle on the table. I had meant to serve some of the Mango-Mint Sherbet for dessert, but with fresh peach cobbler available, who could resist that? With a bit of cream. Yum.

Saturday/30-Jul-16: Another day with lots of kitchen work.

• Used up the bit of rhubarb I had to make Rhubarb Chutney (Thesaurus, p255) again. This was extra good with boudin noir.
• Roasted two eggplants for tomorrow.
• Made two pâte brisées (Tenth, p256), one for tonight, the other for the freezer. Once you're making one, the second is easy and uses up the other half of the block of butter.

Dinner was, more or less, Broccoli and Gorgonzola Quiche (web) with a big, plain salad (only croutons, no extra veggies). No picture necessary, a relief.

Thinking about next month's book for Cookbook Countdown. It should be the Time-Life Viennese Empire book, but I'm not finding that many recipes I want to cook right now. There are lots of interesting recipes with sauerkraut, but it's not in the shops right now. TBD.

Ed's eaten all the pecans.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/31-Jul-16: We had our main meal early today so that we can go to a movie this evening. We had a half dose of Shawarma-Spiced Grilled Chicken with Garlic Yogurt (web). Had thought to bbq, but just grilled them instead. No matter, very good. I made sure to have lots of yogurt for the Garlic Yogurt sauce, but didn't make it in the end. Served with pita breas, the leftover green chutney, and Baba Ghanoush (WofE, p334), which probably wanted more lemon juice but I'm out of lemons. (I took two packages of four lemons to the check-out earlier this week. When I got there, I saw there was I moldy lemon in one of the packages. It was too busy to walk back and get another package, so I did without. But I'm now completely out of lemons.)

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: no; #4 BREAD: no; #5 FotW: no for Jul/Aug

This week in the kitchen

Monday/30-May-11: Simple dinner of oldies. Coriander-Pepper Pork Tenderloins (MC) done under the broiler; tasty. Zucchini and Feta Salad (MC), with goat cheese instead of feta, since my feta was moldy and there was no spare. Trio rice. For dessert, the last of the Grand Marnier desserts from the freezer.

Tuesday/31-May-11: The leftover Lunch in Paris tagine was still quite good. The two of us ate all of it in two sittings. It was probably enough for 5 or 6. Oink, oink. We started with half the melon and pineau. Followed the tagine with a big salad of mâche. Then some Prune Cake (soon to be MC). Mixed the cake all in the food processor. At the end, I added the prunes (the rest of the pitted ones I got for the tagine) and the walnuts and pulsed to chop them up. While it was baking the gas cylinder ran out; Ed came in to find it clicking, trying to light. Changed the cylinder and relit the oven. Which now decided to take its time to get up to speed. The cake survived and was quite good.

Wednesday/1-Jun-11: Lunched at Flunch today, very missable fast food. For an afternoon snack we had more prune cake. For dinner, I marinated chicken thighs for Asian Barbecue Chicken (MC), good stuff. Served with a side of Sesame Asparagus and Noodles (VegPleas, p81).

Thursday/2-Jun-11: Cowboy Stew from the freezer for dinner. Prune cake for a snack during the day.

Friday/3-Jun-11: Shopping in the early afternoon. I picked up a single cucumber. The checker kept tell me they were on sale 2 for €1, and one was .89 (or some such); I finally convinced her I really only wanted one for the two of us. Got some tomatoes to make oven-dried tomatoes again (this time I'll pay more attention to the time). Started some lemons soaking, to soften the skins prior to making preserved lemons. Made an eggless ice cream "brew" and pitted a bunch of cherries, so we should have cherries and cream ice cream before long.

Dinner was Da Vinci Cod (soon to be MC), a recipe recently collected from EAT-L. Accompanied by some Quick-Glazed Carrots (H2CEV, p278), which were good in spite of the fact that I forgot to add the butter, so they weren't as glazed as they could have been, and some orzo with grated lemon zest, parsley, black pepper, and butter. All followed by a big, simple salad. Then some St Felicien, which seemed a bit off, so we had some cookies.

Saturday/4-Jun-11: Dinner started with Lemon Thyme Marinated Artichokes (EAT-L, soon to be MC). The artichokes I found on sale (2 for €1.50) were huge, I think; three of us (one backed out) at only three quarters each, so we've got seven in the fridge now. The chokes are half steamed, then marinated, then oven-baked to finish. These were very good, but the recipe greatly understated how much lemon was required. I ended up using the lemons I had soaking to make preserved lemons, so that needs to be restarted.

For the main, there was Farfalle with Wild Mushroom Sauce (EAT-L, also soon to be MC). Very nice and relatively low fat. Then a big salad. No time for dessert before we went out to Montemboeuf.

This was the first time Barbara had had artichokes (I knew this), but also a first for avocados, in the salad!

Sunday/5-Jun-11: Wanting to make some chicken stock soon, so for dinner there was bbq'd Devil's Chicken (Tabasco, p83), which is getting to be a standard. We finished the leftover artichokes, warmed in the oven; they were okay, but not as good as last night. And I cooked up some pasta to serve with the rest of the shroom sauce. For dessert, there was cherries and cream ice cream, eggless ice cream, but still oh so good!

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/9-Aug-10: For dinner, I grilled some merguez de volaille and made some Warm Broccoli and Potato Salad (MDSalads, p15). Dessert was the rest of the ice cream plus some frozen (thawed) berries.

Tuesday/10-Aug-10: Lunched today at Le Lavallette on the way to Aubeterre. Our usual fruit and sandwiches for a late dinner. Further not much happened in the kitchen today.

Wednesday/11-Aug-10: The ovens got fixed today, hooray. Made Peppered Pecans (Tabasco, p14) for the CookbooksEtc contest. Got some cookie dough out to defrost and bake tomorrow. Started a half recipe of Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream (Scoop, p30) to make tomorrow. Got the FreezerInventory file up-to-date with the next boxes in the freezer; the freezer could use a bit of an ice scraping, it could.

Dinner was comfort food, old favorite Aunt Susan's Macaroni and Cheese (MC) with the last bit of real English cheddar, along with a salad and some Afrikas.

Thursday/12-Aug-10: Made yogurt during the day, to put into the fridge at bedtime. Toupargel delivered three boxes of frozen food this morning; didn't seem like so much when I placed the order. Many things come in big quanties. Now we've got at least a dozen turkey scallops and ten chicken thighs. Two sacks of frozen peas. Opened the first of two sacks of haricots verts for lunch. Etc.

Baked up the cookies, which would have been much better with chocolate chips, rather than butterscotch morsels. (Those are something I never need to have again, too sweet and fake-flavor tasting, thank you Nestles.) Still have another batch in the freezer. Might bake these up again, with some good chocolate chips, since it could be handy to have some cookies ready to bake.

Lunch was some nice pork loin chops that had been marinating over night to become Chili-Marinated Pork Chops(MC). Served with the leftover sweet potato ravioli filling and a salad with leftover couscous plus some radishes, red onion, red bell pepper, cuke, and haricots verts. Made a dressing of lime and lemon juice with chili powder, etc. Not enough of the dressing, and it wasn't spiced enough. Good idea, but ... For dessert we ate all of the chocolate raspberry ice cream. Ed decided he doesn't like fussy ice creams.

Friday/13-Aug-10: Shopped in Montbron this morning, market and Intermarché. Ran into a cilantro bonanza. I've put one box into the freezer, to see if that will work for preserving it, like it does for dill. They also had a special on "English food" where I bought some cottage cheese. Didn't realize that was especially English.

For lunch I reheated the enchilada stack (hooray for ovens!) and made some Spanish rice and guacamole to go with it. And remembered that I meant to buy any more avocadaos, oops.

Saturday/14-Aug-10: The English cottage cheese is not as good as the Dutch Kotta, but still better than most I've had in the US. Sophie wasn't interested in licking the pot after breakfast; she much prefers yogurt.

Dinner was Devil's Chicken (Tabasco, p83), cooked under the broiler, accompanied by Panzanella for Cooking Italy. Leaving the broiler going, I finished off a pair of Toupargel's crêmes bruleés for our dessert.

Sunday/15-Aug-10: We had a mid-afternoon meal today, anticipating hard work at our commune's dinner this evening and not much chance for food until quite late. For dinner Grilled Shrimp with Green Mangoes and Red Lime Sauce (BigFlav, p118) and All-Purpose Rice and Beans (BigFlav, p262). Dessert was a Toupargel waffle, half for each of us, and that halve again, sandwiched with ice cream and mixed berries. I replaced half some of the mangoes with peaches for the extended CookbooksEtc contest. The shrimp and glaze were yummy, but the shrimp cook so quickly that the onion and green mango bits were still quite crunchy. The peaches, on the other hand, were perfect. An odd kind of mistake from this book. The rice and beans were delicious; I'd forgotten about this recipe, but won't again. And the waffly dessert was a hit, simple as can be, but looked quite dressy.

In typical style, the Mazerolles dinner wasn't served until 9pm. It started with an appertif, rosé with grapefruit juice, which is pretty good, I must say. The starter was a barquette (plastic box) filled half with shredded carrots and half with chopped beets, separated by a tomato slice and topped with a vinaigrette; quite good. The main was braised ham, marinated and barbecued on the spot with white beans, also cooked on the spot in huge cast iron pots. Then there was camembert followed by portion of apple tart. All simple, but good.

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 — Date and Onion Salad
11. 31-Jul/6-Aug: butterscotch chips — Chocolate Chip Cookies and the oven disaster
12. 7-Aug/13-Aug: pecans — Peppered Pecans
13. 14-Aug/20-Aug: mango or peaches —Grilled Shrimp with Green Mangoes and Red Lime Sauce
14. 21- Aug/27-Aug: cornmeal or Italian sausage —