This week in the kitchen

Monday/29-Aug-22: Dinner was a half recipe of Spaghetti with Green Olives, Garlic, and Fresh Mint (VegHarv, p139). This is easy and tasty, over whole wheat spaghetti. Followed by a simple salad, just mixed lettuces and vinaigrette. A Ben&Jerry mini ice cream cup for after.

Tuesday/30-Aug-22: Dinner was Grilled Pork Skewers with Green Mango (Thrill, p158). Meant to serve with the suggested eggplant dish, but the eggplants I bought last Thursday were both bad. Instead I made, more or less, Cabbage-Radish Slaw With Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette (web), using up my chineeskool. And some white basmati rice, as suggested. A chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Wednesday/31-Aug-22: Indian tonight, all repeats. The main was "Hamburger" Kebabs (Q&E, p27), quick and easy to make (toss all the ingredients in the cuisinart and buzz) and delicious. As suggested served with Fresh Red Chutney with Almonds (Q&E, p114), also easy and delicious and with pitas for the (non-)Indian bread. For veggie matter, some Green Peas in a Creamy Sauce (Q&E, p87). I slipped a gear and got yogurt rather than cream from the fridge, but it was still tasty. And a chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Thursday/1-Sep-22: Didn't manage to get ready for shopping today, so had to make do with what was in-house for tonight's meal. We had Curried Rice and Peas (Q&EVeg, p202), which is an old favorite, simple, and tasty.  And a chocolate-covered madeleine each for after.

Friday/2-Sep-22: Shopping today.

Dinner was Spanish Vinegar & Garlic Cod (web), which I rather liked, but Ed wasn't fond of the bit of vinegar taste. Served with Sautéd Zucchini with Paprika & Garlic (web); this was easy and very good. (Both of these are from the site Spain on a Fork, where I'm collected a lot of good recipes.) And there was trio rice. Afterwards some Ben&Jerry mini ice cream cups.

Saturday/3-Sep-22: Dinner was a DMA recipe, Chicken with Fennel, Preserved Lemons, and Olives (Morocco, p302). It's easy, but takes a bit of time, and is delicious. Served with store-bought Moroccan couscous. Store-bought riz au laits for after.

Sunday/4-Sep-22: Dinner was Penne con Zucchine—Penne with Courgettes, Mozzarella and Eggs (Top100Pasta, p44; cookbooker). This was quite nice, and easy. Followed by a simple salad. Some coffee cake we got at Kirsty's charity shop for after.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: no;
This month: #3 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG2: no; #6 BACKLOG3: no; #7 RECYCLE: 10; #8 NEW: 4

This week in the kitchen

Monday/27-Aug-18: Late start for a Monday.

Dinner was Fragrant Sea Scallop Cakes (web). These, and the sauce, were very tasty. (And I've ordered the book whence the recipe came, David Tanis' One Good Dish.) For a veggie salad, I made (more or less) Spicy Thai-Style Zucchini Carrot Salad (web); this was very nice. And there was trio rice. All was tasty. We each had a mini ice cream bar for dessert.

Tuesday/28-Aug-18: Changed dinner plans to have an easier meal. I made Chickpea & Chorizo Fideos (web; cookbooker). Oops, no whole wheat spaghetti, I used gramigne instead. (This has become a favorite pasta for dishes like this, or as a side.) Used extra fort chorizo, making the sauce a big spicy; a bit of red pepper flakes might have been even nicer. The whole recipe might have served three; four would be skimpy servings. Then a salad. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.

Wednesday/29-Aug-18: Yogurt on overday, because I didn't want to start it during the electrical storm when we might lose power. Doesn't seem like we did, but there was no internet or phone when I got up. Shopping today.

Dinner was Four-Spice Salmon (web). This was easy and really good. The spices (coriander, cloves, cumin, and nutmeg) are mixed and spread over the fish, which is cooked simply, spice-side-down and then spice-side-up. Lots of combinations of tastes could be used, I think. Served with eggplant slices sprayed with oil, rubbed with store-bought garam masala, and grilled on the stove's pan, topped with a yogurt-garlic sauce. And some trio rice. More madeleines for dessert.

Thursday/30-Aug-18: Busy in the kitchen prepping for tomorrow's meal.

• Made up some ground roasted cumin. I was out and need it for tomorrow. (Don't really use a recipe: toast it and grind it, that's all there is to it.)
• Made up a one quarter recipe of Chaat Masala (MJFlavs, p263).
• Made up a one third recipe of Punjabi Garam Masala (MJFlavs, p270).
• Made up the stuffing for Beet and Feta Samosas (MadeIndia, p48). These will be made up with filo for easiness. Thought these sounded healthy and odd, but recipes from this book have generally been successful. We'll see.
• Put lamb cubes on to marinate for Lamb Kebabs (MJFlavs, p226).

Didn't get everything done I'd like, so will have to cut back for tomorrow. Oh well, enough is enough.

Dinner was a smash-up from the freezer. I defrosted some Coconut and Pumpkin Soup, added a bit of chicken stock from the fridge, some chopped acorn squash (from the potager), and some cooked shrimp (from the freezer). Pretty good it was. Made up a salad with the couscous left from Sunday. Some ice cream bits (a cup for me, a bar for Ed) for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

While I'm sitting here typing, Ive seen a little mouse come out from behind the wood burner. Ed moved the live trap there, and she took the bait without tripping it. He rebaited it. Cats are here, but worthless.

Friday/31-Aug-18: Hit the floor cooking today. Well, sort of ...

• Shelled and peeled pistachios for the dessert.
• Made Onion Relish (MJ1, p174)), an old favorite.
• Made Carrot and Onion Salad (MJ1, p171), an old favorite.
• Last minute decision to make two chutneys for starter.
• And other stuff.

Mike and Sally came to share a yummy Indian dinner.

• For apéro, with the pineau we bought at the Massignac marché des producteurs:
• Spicy Cucumber Wedges (MJ1, p172)
• For starters:
• Beet and Feta Samosas (MadeIndia, p48; cookbooker)
• Fresh Green Chutney (Q&E, p113) and Fresh Red Chutney with Almonds (Q&E, p114)
• Carrot and Onion Salad (MJ1, p171)
• For main:
• Lamb Kebab (MJFlavs, p226)
• Cachumber—Tomato, Onion and Green Coriander Relish (MJ1, p172)
• Khili Hui Khichri—Rice with Yellow Split Peas (MJ1, p150)
• Relish tray with home-made Lime Pickle, home-made Tamarind-Date Chutney, store-bought mango chutney
• For dessert:
• Kaye's Lazy Kheer, store-bought rice puddings, spiffed up with ground cardamom and chopped pistachios.

Everything was extra yummy, even if it's the cook saying so. The beet samosas were surprising good. I had forgotten about the red chutney and happened to have half a red bell pepper needing something to do; it's really good, so I need not to forget it again. The rice with yellow peas was a first, but not a last. The lamb kebabs were delicious, the meat very tender from marinating in yogurt.

Saturday/1-Sep-18: For lunch we ate last night's leftovers. For dinner, there were Grilled Eggplant and Pepper Sandwiches with Basil and Black Olive Spread (BigFlav, p267). Shh, don't tell, the Black Olive Spread is tapenade. This was good, a bit similar to one I did last week. Liked that sauce better than the tapenade effect I think. Still, the whole idea is good.

Still haven't decided on a cookbook for September. Will postpone Mexican books until later the the year, giving me a chance to stock up on necessaries. September and October are difficult, though. Waiting for inspiration.

Sunday/2-Sep-18: For dinner there was Grilled Poussin with Grilled Leeks, Garlic, and Rosemary (Thrill, p196). I used coquelets instead of poussins, which I think means they were young males rather than young females. Still good. The leeks were a nice idea, but should have been bigger ones I think, and I should have left the root end attached so they held together better. Served with Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Molasses Glaze (Thrill, p304) as suggested. These were good, if a bit of trouble.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Big Flavors of the Hot Sun, License to Grill, Thrill of the Grill
This month: #4 PASTA: no for August, no for September; #5 BREAD: no for August, no for September; #6 GUESTS: yes for August, no for September

This week in the kitchen

Monday/6-Aug-18: Again the meal planner wasn't thinking very well last week. I made Roasted Apple, Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Pizza (web; cookbooker). An unusual pizza, but quite good. Butterscotch Tapioca Pudding for dessert.

Tuesday/7-Aug-18: Whew—cooler today.

Yogurt on during the day.

Finished off the list. We probably won't shop tomorrow, but Thursday.

Dinner was Grilled Lamb Skewers with Apricots (License, p116). Well, it was supposed to be lamb. I seem to have defrosted beef (faux filets/sirloin). Easy recipe, but with a bit of chop-chop. Tasty. A little odd to make so much "rub" that doesn't really rub in well. Also odd that you take the meat and fruit (including parboiled garlic cloves) off the skewers and mix with a vinaigrette. Ed had the fire too hot, so two of the skewers burnt pretty badly. Still all tasted good. Served with Moroccan couscous. Grilled some eggplant, one store-bought and one from the store, but that burnt pretty badly. Finished the Butterscotch Tapioca Pudding for dessert Stuffed we are.

Wednesday/8-Aug-18: Finished off the limoncello today. Here it is with the lemon peels soaking.

We ate at the Massignac Marché des Producteurs; nothing else happened in the kitchen.

Thursday/9-Aug-18: Shopped today. Got off late, so dinner was extra late. We started with an insalata caprese. Our main was Summer Prawn & Fish Filo Pie (200Budget, p186), which is kind of a fish pot pie with scrunched up filo on top. Very good, a one-dish meal. Then we had some chaource. Then some Clafoutis aux Abricots (VPG) to use up the apricots I bought last week for Tuesday's meal. (Couldn't find this on the web, but scanned it and pinned it.)

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/10-Aug-18: Dinner was Grilled Duck Breast with Peach-Green Grape Chutney (License, p209). The duck breast was salt-and-peppered, then grilled. The chutney was super, easy to make and went perfectly with the duck. Served with some pasta and Chile-Coated Grilled Summer Squash and Zucchini with Honey-Lime Dressing (License, p239). Used two zukes, one from the potager, one from the grocery. Pretty good, although the "rub" didn't stick as well as it might have.

Saturday/11-Aug-18: Leftovers tonight—the rest of the pizza. With a salad. Followed by the rest of the clafoutis. We're stuffed.

Sunday/12-Aug-18: Dinner was a half recipe of Grilled Pork Loin with Indonesian Chile-Coconut Sauce (Thrill, p156). Ancho chiles don't exactly taste of Indonesia to me, but the sauce was delicious over the boneless pork chops, which were flattened and quickly grilled. Served with Spicy Cucumber Relish (Thrill, p232). This wasn't as good as other versions of this salad that I've made; not sure why. Then there was, more or less, Sweet Potato Hash Brown with Bacon and Onions (Thrill, p300). Mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Big Flavors of the Hot Sun, Thrill of the Grill, License to Grill
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/30-Jul-18: Dinner was a half recipe of Creamy Prawn Curry (200Budget, p188). This was good, easy, and fast. Might have had too much shrimp, though. A half recipe calls for 300g cooked shrimp. I usually use half of this for the two of us, so we had a lot of shrimp. I made, more or less, the Spiced Coconut Rice that was a suggested accompaniment. I didn't have chopped creamed coconut; I just used the rest of the pack of coconut milk that I used for the curry, topped up with water. Then I made (sort of) Southeast Asia Broccoli from FoodNetwork. They won't show recipes from the .com site in Europe now, so I had to look at a cached version. This was good, but a bit salty from the fish sauce. It was good mixed with the curry and rice. For dessert, we finished the tapioca pudding.

Tuesday/31-Jul-18: I had the idea to sneak in some home-made pasta today. Cleaned off the counter and got out the recipe I intended to use, only to discover that I'd forgotten that it wanted a serious amount of parlsey and I didn't buy any last week. Easily discouraged, I used frozen tagliatelle to make a half recipe of Tagliatelle con Salsa di Noci—Tagliatelle with Walnuts and Marscapone (Top100Pasta, p12). Having no mascarpone in the fridge or freezer, I used cream cheese, which was the suggested alternative. This was quite good although it would have liked a little bit of the pasta water to loosen the sauce up a bit. Before the main, we each had an artichoke bottom with green tapenade and half a crottin de Chavignol, with the cheese melted under the grill. Following the pasta, there was a big salad of roquette/arugula. Then we each had a Rustic Cherry Tart (web), more or less. I had frozen cherries that needed to be used, as well as some squares of pâte feuilletée, which I used instead of making pastry myself. Pretty good this was. Ed has his with cream.

I didn't get the list made today, so it looks like we'll shop on Thursday instead of tomorrow. Start of new month means new cookbook-of-the-month, which takes some research that I hadn't done in preparation. Oh well.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/1-Aug-18: Finished the list today, whew.

Oops, didn't remember that the lentils for tonight's dinner needed to be soaked for 3-4 hours. So I precooked those a bit to make a quarter recipe of Palestinian Rice with Lentils and Browned Onions (WorldVeg, p404). Served with a half recipe of Pumpkin or Hubbard Squash Cooked with Bengali Seasonings (WorldVeg, p289). Used a good chunk of our first winter squash from the potager. (These were supposed to be acorn squash but clearly aren't. Picked two more this evening. Tomorrow we'll pick the first of the other sort of winter squash we have. Both these are burying the zucchini.) Unfortunately my mustard oil was a bit rancid so the dish had an unpleasant taste. Served with Sliced Tomatoes in a Tomato Sauce (WorldVeg, p303). This was good, but I overlooked the instruction about cutting the tomatoes into only three slices. It would have been better that way I expect. Little ice creams for dessert.

Thursday/2-Aug-18: Shopping today.

Our meal was Seared Salmon with Pesto Fettuccine for Two (web). This was possible because I found some refrigerated pesto, which turned out to be pretty good, at Grand Frais on my last visit. I'll freeze the rest of this up in small portions tomorrow. Couldn't find whole wheat fettuccine, so I used whole wheat spaghetti already in house. Ed barbecued the salmon, along with slices from the rest of yesterday's squash. This was pretty bland really, but worked ok. He thought thicker slices worked better than thin. For starters we had artichoke bottom with green tapenade and goat cheese, grilled. For dessert there was store-bought riz au lait with red currants.

Friday/3-Aug-18: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Le Filet de Poulet à la Crème Fraîche Chavroux. (This is from a new Chavroux product; I've not found an online source for the recipe.) First oddness, the recipe calls for filets de poulets, which are generally kip filets or skinless, boneless chicken breast halfs; but the photo shows what looks like a skin-on kip filet, with a bit of wing bone sticking out. Never seen a chicken breast like that for sale. I used kip filets. They are cooked in a 180C oven 10min on one side, 2min on the second; this worked fine, to my surprise. The sauce wanted 1.5 soupspoonsful of the crème fraîche. That wasn't nearly enough to deal with 150g of sliced mushrooms (mine were shiitakes). I topped it up as needed. Made some sautéed potatoes with the rest of the potatoes on hand. Reheated the peas and corn. Mini ice cream bars for dessert. We're full.

An interesting thing about the chicken dish is that the kip filets were cooked in the oven, 375F, 10min on the first side, 2min on the second. The kip filets were fairly flat, and fit into the largest dish that will fit in my little, old toaster oven. Interesting, rather low-fat, way to cook them.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/4-Aug-18: Using up one zucchini and a roasted beet, our starter was (more or less), Zucchini Beet Salad (web). I made a halfish recipe, one beet and one zuke (cut on mandolin rather than spiralized). This was good, but the half recipe was really too much as a starter for the two of us, and not quite enough for a main. Odd portions, but yummy.

Our main was Grilled Pork Skewers with Green Mango (Thrill, p158). The recipe serves four supposedly. A half recipe would have served three, but we managed to eat it all. Very tasty. Served with All-Purpose Rice and Beans (BigFlav, p262). Even though I used borlotti beans (have no canned black beans in the stash), this was still yummy. Stuffed we were. We drank a bottle of Brin (a Fronton, 100% negrette), which I liked better than Ed. Just wanting the taste, I finished with two tiny slices of Chaource which was on sale last week.

Sunday/5-Aug-18: The menu planner  needs a good talking to. A stir-fried Chinese meal on a super-hot day probably wasn't the best choice. But it used up some of the pineapple juice malingering in the fridge. And it was super-delicious.

We had World's Greatest Lemon Chicken (Chinatown, p73; cookbooker). I been told this truly was the best lemon chicken, and I think that was right. Really tasty. Served with plain rice and Hot and Spicy Wrinkled Beans (Chinatown, p106). I've made the green beans a number of times. It was still good.

Made some Butterscotch Tapioca Pudding (MC) in the morning. This one was only the French tapioca. Worked fine. Yay!

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no for Jul, no for Aug; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Big Flavors of the Hot Sun, Thrill of the Grill, License to Grill
This month: #4 PASTA: yes for Jul, no for Aug; #5 BREAD: no for Jul, no for Aug; #6 GUESTS: yes for Jul, no for Aug

This week in the kitchen

Monday/12-Jun-17: We had our main meal early, leftover chiles rellenos casserole. Still good it was. With a bit of mâche and some guacamole.

All day house cleaning, ironing, getting ready for Bill's arrival tomorrow.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/13-Jun-17: BookChatters, then finish up cleaning. I made dinner (midst a big thunderstorm and open skylight) while Ed picked up Bill. We had Ginger, Soy and Garlic Chicken (web) from the bbq. A bit salty (too much soy sauce?) and nothing special. Chicken did have a nice texture. Served with a made-up salad of soba noodles with roasted bell peppers. This was pretty tasty, but needed a bit of salt.

Wednesday/14-Jun-17: Off to the thumb doctor this a.m., then home. Finished off the shopping list while Ed took a nap. Then lunch at Chez Steph. Followed by shopping.

Put lamb on to marinate for tomorrow's meal. Made Apricot Chutney (web), to replace the apricot chutney from the book that we didn't like.

Thursday/15-Jun-17: Early meal today. Ed barbecued Sweet Milk-Marinated Grilled Lamb with Sweet and Hot Apricot Condiment (Thrill, p151). We didn't like the Sweet and Hot Apricot Condiment last time, so I served the Apricot Chutney I made yesterday. Yummy stuff. Served with the recommended Sweet Potato Salad (Thrill, p302; cookbooker). This needed a bit of tweaking but was quite good, a nice change from potato salad.

Yogurt on overnight. Put what's probably the last of our raspberries on to macerate and prepared "broth" for ice cream.

Friday/16-Jun-17: What a day! Bathroom flooded, with plumbing apparently blocked between there and the fosse. At the time we were discovering this, the delivery man cam with the new dishwasher. The door was inadvertently left open and Pogo went walkabout. We've scoured the neighborhood, but he hasn't returned. We're hoping that since he was out without his collar (just been brushed) that he was picked up as a stray and we'll find him at the pound tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Back to Time-Life for dinner this afternoon. We had Geschmorter Schweinsbraten mit Kapern—Braised Pork Roast with Paprika, Capers and Caraway (TLVienna, p38). I cooked the meat a bit long, spending time looking for Pogo, so it was a bit too done, but the sauce was yummy. Served with potatoes boiled in their jackets and peas&shallots.

For dessert with has some raspberry ice cream, again made with the mascarpone cream. Yum.

Saturday/17-Jun-17: Pogo still hasn't returned. We visited the fourrière, hoping to find him there, but no luck. Have papered the area with flyers now.

Nice dinner. Made Harissa Chicken with Leeks, Potatoes, and Yogurt (web). Had slightly over a kilo of thighs, so upped everything that much. Really yummy and easy. Some lemon tarts from the boulangerie in La Rochefoucauld for dessert.

Sunday/18-Jun-17: Still no Pogo.

We're not overly happy with the new dishwasher. The usability part is ok, but the baskets feel unsturdy and they don't stay on their tracks very well. And the top drawer for silverware, which I loved in our old machine, is difficult to fill. I'm sure the machine holds fewer dishes that our old one. Kind of wishing we had spent the money to replace that one exactly.

We ate out for lunch today, so nothing much happened in the kitchen.

Yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-Jun-15: Dinner was a 20-minute supper, Shrimp & Greens Curry (web), easy and quite tasty. I planned this because there has been bok choy in the shops lately. But not this week, so I used  spinach instead. Served over rice. Some yummy little apple tartlettes from the boulanergie for dessert.

Tuesday/24-Jun-15: A friend whose wife is away for a week came for lunch today. We bbq'd Grilled Lime-Marinated Flank Steak with Chipotle-Honey Sauce (Thrill, p141; cookbooker). French cows don't have flanks, so I used bavettes instead (no idea what those might be in English). The sauce (with slightly less honey than asked) was scrumptious. Schlesinger and Willoughby recommend serving this with Black Bean Salad (Thrill, p319) and Corn Bread Salad with Lime Juice and Cilantro (Thrill, p312), so I did. These are so much alike, it really wasn't a good suggestion, I think. I've made the black bean salad before; it was still good. The corn bread salad was ok. Might have been a bit better if my corn bread had risen properly; this is where I discovered my unexpired baking powder was dead. Neil brought some Nutella chocolate brownies with ginger for dessert and I made some easy vanilla ice cream. No more food needed for the day.

Wednesday/25-Jun-15: We ate at the marché des producteurs in La Roche this evening. Nothing happened in the kitchen,

Thursday/26-Jun-15: Went up to the Montemboeuf market this morning to see what I could find, and stopped at the butcher for some nice pork chops. Since we're changing shopping day to Friday, I hope to visit the market more often.

Dinner was, yes, grilled pork chops, topped with the yummy sauce from Tuesday. Then some potatoes, loosely based on Crash Hot Potatoes (web). (I drizzled with a mix of olive oil, harissa, sale, sesame seed, and lemon juice.) And some of the combined black bean and corn bread salads. Mixed the rest of the sauce into this for future use.

Friday/27-Jun-15: Shopping today. During which we learned lots of people buy fish on Friday. I walked away from a line with two people in front of me, only to come back to a line with six people in front of me. Sigh. But, they had samphire/salicorne/zeekraal.

So I changed the menu and made Roergebakken Zalm met Zeekraal en Knoflook (which I got in a newsletter from visrecepten.nl, but can only find online here); that's Stir-fried Salmon with Samphire and Garlic. Served over tagliatelle. I hadn't realized that there was enough samphire to call that this a one-dish meal, so I also made a quarter recipe of Green Beans and Radishes Braised in Orange Juice (web). I took a bite of this, but the rest is in the fridge for another night, maybe as a salad. Two squares of dark chocolate with almonds for after. (Dark chocolate with hazelnnuts, my favorite, seems to be out these days.)

Saturday/28-Jun-15: Not much happened in the kitchen today. We had dinner at the Fête de la Motte in the evening.

Sunday/29-Jun-15: Starting to deal with the flat of apricots I bought on Friday. Made a half recipe of Apricot Habernero Salsa (p72, PutEmFruit) which made less that expected. Tasted pretty good

We had our main meal in the early afternoon: Ricotta-Zucchini Pasta Salad (web). Surprisingly tasty for as easy as it was. Then a salad. Then some fruit juice popsicles.

Another 2kg of apricot's going for Fatima's Confiture d'Abricots, the one with almonds, except I had an inventory failure and there were no sliced almonds. And, yes, well, I bought the apricots to make jam, but forgot to buy extra sugar. We're now more or less out. Guess I'll have to stop somewhere tomorrow to get more so I can finish off the last batch of apricots. Eight AH jars from this batch into the freezer.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/18-Aug-14: A clear-the-fridge kind of dinner tonight. For the main there were Grilled Zucchini Pizza Slices (web) using some thick zucchini slices, no-tomato pizza sauce from the freezer, mozzarella, bacon (which is rather like Canadian bacon), pyramid goat cheese, chopped black olives, and Parmesan. Very versatile, this recipe, since you can use most anything to build the layers; we thought eggplant slices would make a good base also. There were two salads as go-withs. First, Betterave Rouge aux Noisettes (VPG; web), which is a classic sort of thing. I couldn't find hazelnuts (until I put the walnuts back in the freezer), but that was OK, since I don't have any hazelnut oil right now. But I do have walnut oil, so used walnuts instead. Then a made up salad with a home-grown tomato, a bit of home-grown cucumber, some home-grown basil, and shallot with a little vinaigrette. All good stuff if a non-traditional sort of dinner. Saved all the bits of leftover this&thats to use as a pasta sauce for a lunch in the new future.

Tuesday/19-Aug-14: Went to Intermarché after my physio appointment and bought some lamb on sale, some for a dinner this week and more for the freezer. Also got fish for tonight's dinner. Walking through the veggie section on the way to check out, I saw they had some nice-looking sweet corn, so bought a pair of ears. Not sure why this store frequently has corn in the summer, while Leclerc rarely does and it's usually pretty icky looking when they do. Then our regular shopping.

Came home and made Rhubarb Cobbler (web; cookbooker). Our main was a half recipe of Clam Shack-Style Broiled Fish (web) which was quite good. Might use another flavoring instead of paprika next time. Served with, yes, corn on the cob and Parmesan Smashed Potatoes (web), a really yummy way to bake potatoes, right up there (and similar to) Dusolier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes. Cobbler for dessert. We're stuffed.

Yogurt on overnight.

Wednesday/20-Aug-14: Used the rest of the rhubarb and some frozen blueberries (as instructed, since they're not in season at the same time) to make some Bluebarb Jam (SmallBatch, p37). Not sure I had enough pectin, so we may have some bluebarb sauce to deal with later. Somehow I seem to have repeatedly bought sacks of sugar with pectin and boxes of just plain pectin. A friend is making jams for a charity this year, so I gave her all this stuff, leaving only a half sack of pectin (expired, but I wonder if pectin actually expires?). Guess I ought to buy a bit again.

Dinner started with Soft Asian Summer Rolls with Sweet and Savory Dipping Sauce (web; cookbooker). We had three each instead of one, but they were good. My packet of rice paper circles fell to the floor at some point, so about a quarter of each one was broken off, making them rather difficult to roll. The main was a half recipe of Hot and Spicy Chicken with Lemon Grass (MaiPham, p128) served over rice. Good stuff. Originally I thought this wasn't going to be enough, so I made some Cucumber Salad (Yaam Taeng Kwa) (Delightful, p51). In the end, we didn't eat this (beyond a munch), so we put the cukes and onion in a jar with their sauce and the remainder of the dipping sauce to have in the next days. Then some rhubarb cobbler.

Should have put chicken on to marinate for tomorrow's dinner but didn't feel like it. Will have to do it first thing tomorrow.

Thursday/21-Aug-14: Got the chicken on to marinate this morning. It turned into a half recipe of Baked Chicken Curry (MJ@Home, p88; cookbooker), which turned out to be quite good. Served with plain basmati rice and Pan-Grilled Zucchini (MJ@Home, p123). For dessert there was Yogurt Custard (MJ@Home, p276). This was tasty and about as easy as can be: equal amounts of yogurt and sweetened condensed milk, stirred together, then baked in a bain marie.

Argh, this was supposed to be my IHCC contribution for the week and I forgot to take a photo. Sigh.

Friday/22-Aug-14: Haircut day. We're in the process of growing it out. Really like it for the last month. Not so sure of today's result. I see we're going towards the way I had it just before leaving Houston. We'll see.

We were supposed to go out to see a friend's band this evening but Ed's not feeling well, plus he's extra tired from all the shutter painting, so we stayed in. Dinner was Shrimp Panzanella (web; cookbooker), a lovely summer salad. Too bad the weather isn't summery. We ate outside, but it was a bit cool.

Saturday/23-Aug-14: Defrosted the big freezer today. Whew. A handful of stuff MIA, things that I forgot to remove from the spreadsheet when I used them.

Dinner was Salmon and Dill Fishcakes (Diaries, p161; cookbooker) made with the rest of the frozen salmon. Nice texture, nice salmon taste, but otherwise missing a bit of something. Served with cascareccia with a sauce made of a beet I roasted a while ago, red onion and garlic, and pyramid goat's cheese. That was pretty good. Ed thought they were both good, but didn't go especially well together. Finished off the Yogurt Custard for dessert.

Sunday/24-Aug-14: Bbq night, although Ed forgot so it was a bit later than planned. Dinner was Grilled Lamb Steaks with Rosemary, Garlic, and Red Wine (Thrill, p150). Good stuff. Served with two fo the suggested go-withs: Grilled Eggplant with Olive Oil, Parsley, and Capers (Thrill, p298) and Basil Tabbouleh (Thrill, p313). Both good. We each had a double chocolate mini Magnum for the after-dinner Pogo walk, looking for Sophie who's still not in.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/23-Jul-12: Yogurt on overday.

Starting to address the zucchini garden surplus, I made up and froze some curried zucchini soup.

Since we went to a concert this evening at a time that made eating dinner awkward, we had our main meal at midday (well, it was more like 3pm, but that's not dinnertime). Made some Red Pepper Pasta (PastaMach, p71), which is just regular pasta with some red pepper flakes added. To top it, there was Cajun Shrimp (PastaMach, p138), more or less. Quite tasty. Then a big salad. Since I haven't been using this cookbook much lately (I forget that it's full of tasty sauces), this could have been a meal for Cookbook Sundays, but I didn't take a picture, so I guess I'l skip that. (Unfortunately, it looks like Cookbook Sundays may be closing up shop since the current host wants to stop. I thought about taking it on, but decided I didn't need one more thing to do at the computer.)

Tuesday/24-Jul-12: Without thinking, I'd planned shrimp two nights in a row, so tonight's dinner was a last-minute change. I defrosted a pair of duck breast scallops. Pan-fried those and served topped with Marsala Wine Pan Sauce (HowTo, p160), which is about as simple a pan sauce as you can get. All you do is deglaze with a slog of marsala, reduce to almost nothing, and top up with a dab of butter. Pretty good for minimal effort. Served with some garlicky, steam-fried potatoes. Then some Shaved Zucchini Salad with Parmesan and Pine Nuts (web), which turns out to be a pretty nifty way to use up zucchini. Make a lemony vinaigrette with some red pepper flakes. Use the mandolin to shave long slices from a zuke. Toss with the vinaigrette, pine nuts, and Parmesan shavings. Should have been some chopped basil in there too, but I forgot—that would make it even better. Definitely a keeper, this one. For dessert we had some mini-Magnums.

Wednesday/25-Jul-12: Hot. Shopping today. This evening our Dutch friends Wim and Patrice, who are camping nearby, came for dinner and a visit. I bought some nice lamb steaks and we had Grilled Lamb Steaks with Rosemary, Garlic, and Red Wine (Thrill, p150), very easy and extremely really tasty. (Although I had about two weeks' worth of red meat protein in one sitting.) Made some Summer Rice Salad (Rodale, p129), a very old favorite, and Shaved Zucchini Salad with Parmesan and Pine Nuts, a very new favorite, the a second night in a row. Had planned to grill some eggplant also, but it seemed like too much. After walking the dogs, we had Strawberry Sorbet with some fresh raspberries.

Thursday/26-Jul-12: Hotter. ugh. Yogurt on overday.

Still full from yesterday evening's meal. No cooking today. Leftover dinner. Finished off the galette along with the zucchini salad (which held up remarkably well, unexpectedly to me) and the rice salad.

Friday/27-Jul-12: Another attack on the zucchini harvest: Chocolate Zucchini Cake (TooMany, p215. This used an amazingly big pile of grated zucchini. (Thank you, food processor.)

A recent Vie Pratique Gourmand explained how to cook ears of corns: peel them and boil for 25 minutes! Then, because they're too hot to hold, you stick a toothpick in each end. Right.

Yesterday after choir, Ed went to Intermarché, and came home with two two-packs of fresh corn. They have this for a few weeks each summer, and it's our only chance to have one of our favorite veggies. (Although, it's looking like we may get three ears from the garden this year.) So tonight we had, yes corn on the cob, along with Lemony Leeks with Chickpeas and Feta (web). This turned out to be a dish of nice tastes that went surprisingly well together. We both thought that the leeks should have been cut thinner. And I tossed everything in a bowl before serving, rather that arranging  it all tidily on the plates. But tasty it was, a nice, easy hot-weather main dish.

Saturday/28-Jul-12: Started with Beet, Stilton, Apple, and Nut Salad (MoreFast, p4), a recipe I found watching a video someone posted to EAT-L. Then I realized I had the book. No Stilton to be found, used bleu d'Auvergne instead. Not bad, interesting collection of tastes. Ed suggested that the apple, instead of being chunked, should have had the the quarters sliced crosswise fairly thinly.

The main was Pasta with Yogurt and Carmelized Onions, from Kassos (Essential, p341). This was one of those glad-I-tried-it-don't-need-to-do-it-again recipes. Why do you drain sheep's-milk yogurt, then mix it with pasta water?

Both of these could have been an entry for Cookbook Sunday; still no word on a new host.

Ed had a piece of Chocolate Zucchini Cake for dessert; I had some Strawberry Sorbet..

Sunday/29-Jul-12: Yogurt on overday. Wim and Patrice took us out to dinner this evening, so the planned zucchini dinner didn't happen.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/2-May-11: Defrosted some kip filets and Ed bbq'd them using the Grilled West Indies Spice Rub (Thrill, p165) from the freezer. Served with Dusolier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes (MC) that I tossed with a bit of the rub plus a finely chopped pepper. Followed by a salad. Red, White, and Blueberry Parfait (MC), using ricotta instead of cottage cheese. Tasty, if soupy, rather than parfait-y.

Tuesday/3-May-11: Farewell lunch at L'Aromate with Bill today. We had our usual lunch fruit for dinner.

Wednesday/4-May-11: Shopped today at a shop near the clinic (following first pre-op checkup), a chain we don't ordinarily visit. Not bad, except they were out of low-fat milk. Their kitchen stuff seemed nicer than our regular shops actually. (I bought a set of rings for cutting cookies, biscuits, etc.) Didn't really have a proper list, so just took the fridge list and winged it. Still no corn oil, which is getting worrying.

For dinner, there was Tagliatelle coi Gamberi e Asparagi (ClassPasta, p98). Looked at "fresh" tagliatelle at the shop and it looked pretty unpalatable. Made fresh tagliatelle instead, one recipe of pasta (using Tipo 00 flour, which really does make especially good pasta) with about half the recipe of sauce. Used frozen, cooked shrimp, rather than dealing with peeling the uncooked ones; they were fine. Followed by a salad, then by some individual servings of Haagen-Dasz Crême Brulée ice cream that Ed spotted at the shop. A nice dinner altogether, although we finished a whole bottle of wine and feel a bit too happy for it.

Thursday/5-May-11: Yogurt on overday.

No plan for dinner, so did a clear-the-fridge pasta dish with frozen mushroom ravioli, broccoli, pyramid cheese, etc. Followed by a big salad. Yvonne joined us for dinner and brought fruit salad for dessert. Served this with some toasted Belgian waffles. Nice dinner.

Friday/6-May-11: Made some apple butter with rhubarb. Dinner at the quiz, so nothing further in the kitchen.

Saturday/7-May-11: Went to the Phoenix booksale today and fell off the cookbook collecting wagon. Oops. Came home with four new cookbooks and two other food-related books. On the way home I stopped into Intermarche in Montbron while Ed got gas and found corn oil. Hooray.

For dinner I broiled two turkey scallops from the freezer with the last of the West Indies spice rub. Served with mashed sweet potatoes and haricots verts, tossed with butter/olive oil with cajun spice and garlic. Saved some sweet potatoes for a quick bread to make tomorrow. A store-bought dessert, panna cotta with caramel; definitely edible.

Started tomorrow night's dinner with some pickled red onions and a crock pot of spicy pork that will become carnitas.

Sunday/8-May-11: The mashed sweet potatoes turned into Southern Sweet Potato Pecan Bread (MC 2BTried, now K's Keepers). Really easy to put together and tasty too.

Ed collected lots of cherries and more are littered on the ground around the tree. I guess we should spread a sheet or two out there. Barbara and David brought s a pile of freshly picked strawberries.

Dinner was Slow Cooker Carnitas with Pickled Red Onions (web, now MC). Meat cooked like this is so nice. A tasty rub (this wasn't the tastiest perhaps, but still good), then a long sit in the crock. Just what the crockpot excels at. The meat is so tender you shred it with forks (or fingers). The pickled onions are a bit on the sweet side, but a nice addition to the carnitas. I made tortillas to go with. (In recent notes I wrote that I made 7 tortillas from 2/3 cup masa. This time I used 1 cup masa and still had only 7 tortillas, plus one mini one. Weird.) Served with canned corn, gussied up with a chopped pepper, some chipotle powder, and some ground oregano. Froze letfover meat with leftover corn and extra cooking juice. Might add beans and make it a soup/stew. Might make some cornmeal mush and make a tamale pie. We'll see.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/14-Jun-10: Back from Nohant. Cooked some rice while we lunched and put it in the fridge to cool for some pineapple fried rice with scallops as James mentioned quite a while ago. Oops! No scallops in the freezer. Ended up making and easy old favorite, Curried Penne with Shrimp (MC, 365OneDish) only to discover that we were almost out of frozen, cooked shrimp too. Egads, inventory control is getting pretty poor around here. Made a salad with lettuce from the garden, the leftover asparagus, and boiled potatoes. For afters, we had about half of the chunk of Brie de Meaux that I got last week, along with the really good bread that we got at a boulanger in La Châtre as we were leaving there.

All the rummaging in the freezer reminded me to get the lamb out to defrost for a lamb saag attempt. Started a batch of yogurt that will be ready in the morning.

Tuesday/15-Jun-10: Cooking really not on my mind today. Late lunch of Moroccan Chickpea Tagine with Harissa (MC), only inventory control seems to have failed again, so it was black beans in place of the missing chickpeas. We finished off one of those Napolitain cakes for dessert. Oink. Now we have to flip a coin to see who's going to the boulanger this afternoon for bread.

Wednesday/16-Jun-10: For lunch, I made the lamb version of Beef or Lamb with Spinach (Q&E, p36, reviewed at cookbooker). Yummy!

The limoncello is straining. Certainly smells like lemon.

Thursday/17-Jun-10: Lunch was the ground meat variation of Curried Rice Noodles with Vegetables (H2CE, p174, reviewed at cookbooker), using ground pork for the CookbooksEtc contest. Another winner and a very versatile recipe.

Friday/18-Jun-10: Shopped today and come home with many things that now need to be used up. A surprise was finding blueberries to use for the next CookbooksEtc dish — and I've picked the dish too! Also ran into a treasure trove of cilantro. One box for cilantro pesto, if I can find that recipe, and another for whatever I can find. Need to sit down tomorrow and plan all the use-me-ups, especially the blueberries and cilantro. Earlier in the day I dropped in on the market in Montbron with Yvonne. There was an organic stand there with some good-looking stuff, a regular veggie stand with a good selection, a stand with volaille, and cheese and fish stands. Might be worth returning to. Both the market and the grocery store had good-looking chard today, so it might be time to replan the Swiss Chard Torte for Cooking Italy.

Tonight I finally make the Thai fried rice with scallops, although it was a bit "bare" since I couldn't find the shrimp paste I thought I had in the back of the fridge. Will try this again whenever I can find shrimp paste. It was pretty tasty as it was, but the extra oomph might have good. It was a very uncolorful looking plate, though. Grilling the scallops and plopping them on top of the rice might help, but better might be to stir in a lot of chopped cilantro just before serving.

Saturday/19-Jun-10: Lunch today was Papillotes de Bar aux Asperges (C&Z, p98, cookbooker), using flétan (halibut) instead of sea bass, accompanied by some parsleyed pasta and followed by a salad. The fish was a nice idea. Dusoulier has you cut the bits of asparagus in half lengthwise so they'll cook in the same time as the fish, but it didn't work. They should have been steamed halfway before assembling the packets. Next time ...

Later I made he Tarte Amandine à la Myrtille (C&Z, p188, cookbooker) for the CookbooksEtc contest. Very good and easy. We'll probably finish this off for breakfast!

Sunday/20-Jun-10: Blueberry tart for breakfast and as dessert after dinner. All gone. Yum.

Taking advantage of the first sunny, if a bit cold, day in quite a while, Ed agreed to barbecue our dinner. I defrosted two coquelets, spatchlocked them, and used the rub from Grilled West Indies Spice Rubbed Chicken Breast with Grilled Banana (Thrill, p165). This was really tasty. I've frozen about half of the rub to use again. Cooked some sweet potatoes like Dusoulier's roast potatoes, using a goodly dash of homemade cajun spice for flavoring; these were good. Made some Green Bean and Corn Salsa Salad (MC) ; also good. Have bits of both of these left. After finishing off the tarte amandine, we had a dab of limoncello. Lemony, but awfully sweet, and I didn't even use an especially sweet recipe. Think I'll put the bottle in the freezer, rather than the fridge, since it's probably better icier.

Started yogurt to be ready in the morning.

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

This week in the kitchen

Sunday morning I defrosted some kip filets and put them to "marinate" for Delicious Chicken Bits (p14, Q&E x1/2). After the Langlais concert in Lesignac, I finished these off, serving with Green Beans with Mushrooms (p86, Q&E x1/2) andTurmeric Rice (p100, Q&E x1/4). Didn't have enough frozen green beans, so topped these up with frozen peas; worked fine.

Monday I defrosted the pie crust in the freezer and made a tart of use-me-ups (broccoli, mushrooms, onions) with two eggs and a soft goat cheese pyramid. Not bad at all. Served with salad.

Tuesday I made onion bhaji (p20 Q&E, more or less) and the Fresh Green Chutney (p113 Q&E) with mint from the garden and the rest of the first box of cilantro. Had planned to follow this with the leftover broc-shroom tart, but neither of us were that hungry. Instead we had some cheese and then a mini-Magnum while we walked in the garden.

Wednesday, shopping. Tuna on sale, oh boy. Grilled Tuna Steak with Nectarine-Red Onion Relish (p103, Thrill); served with buttered orechette. Then Camembert, followed by some "napoleon" cookie/cakes bought on sale today that turned out to be pretty good. (Then we went out see the ISS and shuttle fly by.)

Bought more cilantro, still have still have two boxes to use.

Thursday was an easy night. Made a mess of guacamole to go with the leftover enchiladas.

Having Hazan's book in the kitchen for Cooking Italy, means I'm using it for other stuff too. Friday was Grilled Chicken all Diavola, Roman Style (p337, ClassicItal). Lacking time I did it under the broiler. For the first bit, I had the rack too close to the flame and the skin was burnt. We don't generally eat the skin, so this wasn't a problem. I put as much as possible of the crushed peppercorns under the chickie's skin on the breast and legs. It wasn't notably pittig from the peppercorns, but one tablespoon for a whole bird isn't that much. Served with polenta and leftover nectarine-red onion relish; salad for starter. We'll probably do this again on the bbq.

Saturday, I picked the meat from the chicken and made a dinner salad with rucola and a dressing with mayo, cilantro, lime, and some sauce from a jar of chipotles in adobo. Yum.

Sunday, another easy dinner — the leftover broccoi-shroom tart and another rucola salad. The crust is still nice, flakey and tasty. Amazing. Made a batch of apple-plum butter, since we're down to the dregs on the current jar. Our neighbors left a big box of potatoes on our doorstep, so that needs to be eaten in the next week or so.

Didn't get my Cooking Italy assignment done this week. The spinach is defrosted, so it's crespelle for dinner tomorrow night.