This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Jul-17: Early meal today. We had Grilled Buffalo Chicken Tacos (CL; web). I sort of made a whole recipe, that should serve four, for the two of us. I used two kip filets as asked, and had much more romaine; even so, I made only half the dressing, using yogurt instead of buttermilk and feta instead blue cheese (because I forgot to buy this, duh). It was good, but I'll do it again when I'll remember to buy the cheese.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/11-Jul-17: Dinner was Rice Salad with Tuna & Avocado (PatSalad, p57). Made about a half recipe; wasn't obsessive about measuring. Maybe a bit plain, but very pleasant. I used short-grain brown rice rather than white.

Wednesday/12-Jul-17: Shopping today.

I recently read somewhere about Nicolas Freeling's The Kitchen Book, and got myself a copy. Actually the copy includes two books, The Kitchen Book and The Cook Book. He's known for the van der Valk mysteries. I didn't know that he worked as a chef for 15 year. Started reading this today. Really enjoying it.

Dinner was a sort of half recipe of Grilled Salmon with White Bean and Arugula Salad (web). I had half the salmon, but probably had close to all of the salad part. Very tasty. The salad part could be good with a kip filet on top.

• Roasted some red bell peppers for tomorrow's dinner. 
• Set some yogurt to draining for tomorrow's dinner.
• Put some lamb cubes on to marinate for tomorrow's dinner.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/13-Jul-17: Made Chile Puree (TexMex, p50). Put it up in three AH jars (two in the freezer), although four probably would have been all right; we'll just have lots of sauce for the next batches of enchiladas.

Our main course this evening was a two-thirds-ish recipe of Spicy Cumin Lamb Skewers (web). Ed grilled this outside (after the rain finally stopped). I used shaoxing wine instead of sherry. Yummy meat. This was billed as a "marriage of Middle Eastern and Chinese influence," so I chose the side dishes from  book I haven't used before, but clearly need to pay some attention to.

There was Shredded Beets with Thick Yogurt (EastMed, p30) with a 250g beet. This is supposed to be a sauce or dip. I think it would be a fine small salad. I thought it was very tasty; Ed liked it a bit less.

And a half recipe of Grilled Red Pepper Strips with Pomegranate and Cumin (EastMed, p154), another small salad. We liked this a lot. It might be pretty to do it with a mixture of red, yellow, and orange bell peppers.

And a two-thirds-ish recipe of Eggplant with Pomegranate Sauce (EastMed, p155). Instead of baking the eggplant slices, I put them under the broiler. They could have been done a bit longer. Nevertheless, quite tasty.

Finally a third recipe of Rice Pilaf with Noodles (EastMed, p233), which was a nice change from plain rice. I didn't soak the rice.

Friday/14-Jul-17: Bastille Day today. For dinner we had Warm Pasta Salad with Shrimp and Avocados (web). This was pretty good. I called the recipe dinner for two and used 7oz of tagliatelle (the end of a package, and no fresh stuff in the freezer). A bit of an odd combination, but it worked fine. Shrimp, avocado, artichoke hearts, chives (I used a whole can, about twice what was asked), and green olives, with a vinaigrette of white balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, and olive oil.

Saturday/15-Jul-17: Pasta day today. Made Hazan's regular pasta with 1 cup flour and 2 eggs (actually I add quite a bit more as I knead, since it's fairly damp when I start). Cut as fettuccine on 5; tasty. By accident, after I roughly mixed the pasta dough, but before I started kneading, the dough rested for a bit. It was nicer to knead with this pause.

For a sauce, there was Arugula Purée with Walnuts and Goat Cheese (PeV, p39). Pretty good. I made a whole recipe and have two more lumps in the freezer now.

Sunday/16-Jul-17: Off to a vide grenier today; didn't buy anything.

Dinner was Chicken & Corn Salad (PatSalad, p99). Easy and tasty. Two of us ate what should have been for four.

Yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/14-Sep-15: Made a pair of Schlotsky's Rolls today, following a recipe that I got via EAT-L in September 1999! (Found the same recipe here.) Actually very much like Schlotsky's rolls. I really should get a pair of smaller pie plates to do these with. I used one pie plate and one cake tin about the same diameter, and they were both a bit too big. Really easy bread to make, no-knead and all that stuff.

Dinner was Broccoli Mac and Cheddar (web; cookbooker). This was pretty good. Then a salad. No dessert, since we'd had a bit of pomegranate molasses cake for lunch and didn't feel like more.

Tuesday/15-Sep-15: Lunch out today. Nothing much happened in the kitchen today.

Wednesday/16-Sep-15: Used the last my birthday tortillas to make cheese enchiladas, loosely based on Chile Queen Enchiladas (p58, TexMex). I used mimelotte and mozzarella as the cheese, which worked ok. And my variation on Mama's Spanish rice. No guacamole since the avocado was bad. That was all.

Thursday/17-Sep-15: We ate out at a quiz tonight. Nothing happened in the kitchen

Friday/18-Sep-15: Shopping today. A small one for unknown reasons. Looked for some small pie plates. Found some foil ones that looked like a possiblity. When I picked them up, I discovered they were for escargot, and had little dimples on the bottom to hold them.

Noticed that Blogspot no longer supports plus signs (+) in a tag name, but does support ampersand (&). A while back they didn't support ampersands, so I changed everything to pluses. Now it's the other way around. Wish they'd decide. And hope they don't change again.

Dinner was Oven Roasted Smoked Sausage and Potatoes (web; not sure at all where I got it from). Kind of comfort food. Easy to make, mostly unattended once it's in the oven. I might use hot paprika rather than sweet paprika next time. Served with a big salad. Some squares of chocolate for dessert.

Made up a half recipe of Clean Eating Thai Sweet Chili Sauce (web) and put the salmon onto marinate for tomorrow night's dinner.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/19-Sep-15: Dinner was Clean Eating Baked Thai Salmon (web), which was pretty good and took no time to broil. Served with basmati rice, Broccoli in Oyster Sauce (p58, Delightful), and Cucumber Salad (p50, Delightful). All good. We split a classic magnum for dessert, then had a square or two of proper chocolate for the taste.

Sunday/20-Sep-15: Dinner was Greek Shrimp (p136, PastaMach) with Lemon Oregano Pasta (p65, PastaMach). The pasta was nice, but can't say it tasted of lemon or oregano. I used small shrimp (frozen) rather than the bigger ones, which wasn't the best choice. But it tasted fine. Then a salad. That was all.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: yes; #2 UNUSED: yes; #3 GRAINS: no; #4 VEG/FISH: 4
This month: #5 PASTA: yes; #6 BREAD: yes; #7 FotW: holiday for August, no for September/October

This week in the kitchen

Monday/7-Sep-15: Deseeded a whole mess of tomatoes today. Put some back outside because there were too many for the pot.

There are 3-1/2 winter squash in-house (with at least two more on the vine). The biggest is pushing 4#, the smallest 2#. Tonight we've eaten three times off the partial squash, with about a quarter to go.

Tonight was Butternut Squash Pizza (web). Never one to follow a recipe too closely, I spread some pyramid goat cheese on the crust before topping with the roasted veggies. And added arugula/rocket/rucola instead of spinach, which wasn't to be found in the shops. Pretty good. Had the last two of the chocolate puddings I bought last week for dessert.

Tuesday/8-Sep-15: Yogurt on overday. Off to my ENT this a.m. to get a grommet in my left ear. Hope it stays put.

Dinner was Sautéed Chicken with Green Olives & White Wine (web), which is from a Bittman book, but not one I have. Easy, and I thought it was really good. Ed liked it not so much, but didn't say why. Served with Radish and Broad Bean Salad (p16, Otto), which we liked. This recipe was supposed to serve 4, so I though half would do. That would have been 250g of shelled favas (found some frozen at Leclerc last week). I stopped at 100g, which looked more than enough, and jiggled rest of measurements. Forgot to add the cumin; might have been nice. The Green Tahini Sauce (p272, Otto) used as a dressing was good, although I scaled it back so much, it's hard to know how close to the intention I was.

Wednesday/9-Sep-15: We were out all day for a wine-tasting trip that included lunch. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Thursday/10-Sep-15: Dinner was two Lamb Steaks with Garlic, Cumin and Black Pepper (p33, Screamingly), which were quite yummy. And really easy: moosh up the garlic, cumin, and black pepper with some olive oil and spread it on the steaks. As a side there was Lemon Roasted Sweet Potatoes (p140, Screamingly), which turned out to be a really good way to do sweet potatoes, roasted with some lemon slices and rosemary, topped with a bit of Parmesan when they're done. For dessert with had vanilla ice cream with Shirley and Terry's strawberries.

Friday/11-Sep-15: Shopping today.

Dinner was Catfish Corn with Corn Hash (web) and its go-with Tomato and Zucchini Salad (web). Used eglefin/haddock for the fish, which fell apart as these things do. The fish dish was okay, but nothing fantastic. We used a home-grown tomato for the salad (Beefsteak, I think, although they're not separated). We liked the salad, but I didn't add the sugar to the dressing. Why? Mini magnums for dessert. Then we walked down with Pogo to pick tomatoes and (only) one squash. Pogo wasn't to be found when we went back. He showed up at the front door a while later, just as we were going out to search.

Saturday/12-Sep-15: Starting to work on the birthday tortilla bonanza. Made some Chile Puree (p50, TexMex). Discovered I was completely out of anchos, so made it up with a mulato and pasillas for those (plus guajillos). Wasn't as bitter as it has been, so only a dab of sugar needed. Froze up two long 1-cup jars and saved another for good old cheese enchiladas in a few days.

Tonight's dinner was Chipotle Chicken Tacos with Radish Salad (EAT-L; web), served with some smashed avocado with lime juice and a bit of cilantro. Pretty good altogether. The chicken sat around for a while in some chopped up chipotles in adobo, then got grilled. A pretty good, quick way to do kip filets. The radish salad was nothing special.

Sunday/13-Sep-15: Seeded and cooked up another batch of tomatoes on today. Used some of the purée for dinner. Will freeze the rest tomorrow.

In the spring we had bees in the chimney. Now we've got hornets. Sigh. Started a fire, but now the room is swarming. At the end of the day, they seem to be gone. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Used up my stash of big pasta shells to make Ricotta Stuffed Shells (web) for dinner. Froze half for another dinner. Stuffing of ricotta, mozzarella, egg, and chives. For the sauce, I used the tomato purée left from the sack that got smashed by the freezer light last week, plus a bit of extra from today's batch. Quite tasty. Then a simple salad.

Made a Pomegranate Molasses Butter Cake for dessert (web). Mixed all in the food processor. Used only 1/2cup sugar (sucre de canne) in the cake, rather than 3/4cup. For the icing, used only 1/2cup powdered sugar, rather than 1cup, with less cream. Didn't bother with the nuts, although they would have been nice. Also tasty.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: yes; #2 UNUSED: yes; #3 GRAINS: no; #4 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #5 PASTA: no; #6 BREAD: no; #7 FotW: holiday for August; no for September

This week in the kitchen

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yogurt on overnight.

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

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

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

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

Sunday/16-Dec-12: Yogurt on overday.

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

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