This week in the kitchen

Monday/11-Nov-19: We had an early meal today so we could go see a film. There was Rice with Black Pepper Sauce (Savory, p253). I didn't use the mortar and pestle for the herbs, just chop-chop-chop. Gave the pepper corns (all 2tsps) a spin in the spice grinder. Used about half mozzarella and half Abondance for the cheese. I think this would be good with short-grain brown rice, although no longer quick. Started with a simple salad.

Tuesday/12-Nov-19: Dinner was Harissa Lamb with Chickpeas (web). This was good, but I thought it a bit too sweet. Maybe a handful of raisins would have been better apricots. Served with Moroccan couscous (store-bought mix) and snijbonen in chunks with a squirt of lemon. Some chocolate-covered cornflakes for after.

Wednesday/13-Nov-19: Buddy to the vet again today, and me to get haircut. Dinner was leftover enchilada casserole with a new dose of guacamole. Mini ice creams for dessert. We're full.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/14-Nov-19: Shopping today.

Dinner was Salmon Chowder (web), sort of. Lots of changes. I used fresh cauliflower, boiled for a bit with some potatoes that needed using. No leftover mashed potatoes, used some potato flour. It was good, nice on a cold-blustery evening.

Friday/15-Nov-19: Lovely lunch out for Ed's birthday. Nothing further happened in the kitchen.

Saturday/16-Nov-19: Our meal was Golden Cauliflower and Rice Pilaf (VegHarv, p144). This was good, but not really a meal. Like most French recipes, curry powder is just waved at the dish, without adding a strong flavor. Followed by a salad. Then various chocolatey things for after.

Sunday/17-Nov-19: Made some Römertopf bread today, based on One Perfect Loaf (ClayCook2, p126). This is a popular recipe. First I put the water in the bowl to the mixer, then turned around to get the yeast and couldn't find it. I looked in the freezer but didn't see yeast. I searched all the Ivar shelves thinking the jar might have been displaced. Finally I looked again in the freezer and there it was. Duh. So I continued. I used T110 flour (semi-whole wheat, whatever that means), using all that was specified plus about 1/2cup T65 (bread flour) to make the dough a proper dough. (I used the mixer and dough hook for all the mixing.) I forgot to soak the pot before the end of the first rising period so had to extend that. Finally got it in the oven. We had come slices with our dinner. It was good. The Römertopf makes a funny shaped loaf with its flared sides.

Yogurt on overday. I seem to have unplugged the yogurt maker when I unplugged the mixer, not sure how or why. Plugged it back in and guess at a time to finish.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Bacon, Spinach and Fromage Blanc Frittata (web). In the end I didn't really follow the recipe. Baking the eggs for 35min didn't see like a good idea. I cooked all on the stovetop (cast-iron skillet, covered) for 10-ish minutes till it was set, then added the cheeses and popped under broiler. Instead of the cloth-bound Cabot cheddar cheese from Jasper Hill, I used store-bought old mimelotte. The frittata was edible, nothing special. Both of us were fairly full so we didn't have any kind of a dessert.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 4; #3 COOKBOOK: none
Cookbooks of the month: n/a
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: yes; #6 GUESTS: no
This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/25-Feb-13: Busy morning in the kitchen. Started yogurt. Started Authentic French Bread in the ABN so we'd have bread for lunch. Started Alice Hart's No-Knead Sourdough Loaf (web) to bake tomorrow.

Found my missing Galloping Gourmet spurtle! I noticed a spatula slipping down the left side of the stove and grabbed it. Then thought to pull out the cabinet to see if anything else was there. Why, yes, there was GG! All that crawling around on my knees for naught.

Dinner was Nigella's Slow Roast Pork Belly (web). While still not a favorite food (the cut is way too fatty), this was much better than Jamie's recipe that I used previously. He starts cooking hot and ends slow, whereas Nigellas starts out long and slow and ends hot. This meant the cracklings were actually crispy. Altogether better, but don't need to do this again. As she suggested, I served with some pasta. And some Haricots Verts in Olive Oil, since I'm out of walnut oil, still waiting for our bottle from the nut-shelling. Now, what to do with the leftover meat, I wonder?

Tuesday/26-Feb-13: Finished off Alice Hart's bread today with success! This is very similar to Lahey's recipe that I've not been too successful with, but it's half whole wheat and half regular bread flour. No idea why "sourdough" is in the title; this is nothing like sourdough. It's just a regular, very good, whole wheat bread. The dough had more form than Lahey's does for me, Lahey's being more of a puddle, while this held together reasonably well. I did use maybe a tablespoon less water than aksed. It's a hit, though. Alice Hart's bread uses weight for the flour, whereas Lahey's measures in cups. I'll have to weigh my cups and see how this goes. It's a bit hard to get into the idea to starting bread almost 24 hours ahead of time, assembling it in the afternoon, so you can dump it out for a 2-hour rest in the morning and bake around noon. Hmm...

We went to Angoulême in the afternoon to look at faucets and cork floors for the kitchen. Back in time for dinner. Which was a half recipe of Bell Pepper and Goat Cheese Sauce for Pasta (MarCuc, p168) with home-made tagliatelle. Yum. For afters, we finished off the little bit of goat cheese that was left.

Wednesday/27-Feb-13: Made the meal plan and list for shopping today, then for various reasons it was too late to go, so first dinner for the week is off-plan. Oh well.

Defrosted some duck scallops, floured them, then sautéed. Made a pan sauce by deglazing with sherry, then adding some chicken broth (from powder), and some chopped green olives. Pretty good. Warmed up the polenta disks that I impulse-bought last week, and made a sort of purée of steam-sautéed chard with lots of garlic. Not a bad dinner at all.

Thursday/28-Feb-13: I did the shopping today while Ed was in choir practice. Takes a bit longer with just one person, especially in an unfamiliar store.

A dinner for IHCC tonight. That was Sri Lankan Eggplant Curry (WorldVeg, p189) with rice and Raita (MJ1, p162). For afters, I had a couple of spoonfuls of pineapple sherbert from the freezer.

Friday/1-Mar-13: Dinner was sort of a half dose of Stir-Fried Green Beans with Pork and Garlic (web), made with some of the left-over pork belly (lots of fatty treats for Pogo and more into the freezer than I used tonight) instead of ground pork and fish sauce instead of soy sauce. Used all the spices with half the pork and green beans, which made it a bit salty but not overly so. Over rice. Tasty. This is from a Jaffrey book that I still don't have. Do I need one more, I wonder?

Saturday/2-Mar-13: Early appointment with a kitchen guy in Angoulême today for the sink counter. Home for lunch. Didn't feel like cooking what was on the meal plan. Instead made an old favorite, Warm Broccoli and Potato Salad (MDSalads, p15). Now what am I going to do with the pâte brisée that I defrosted?

Sunday/3-Mar-13: Yogurt on overday. We were off to the annual Fruits de Mer lunch today. Ed and I pretty well finished off this platter for two.

No need for further food, although we did have an apple, a carrot, and some cherry tomatoes later.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 IHCC/COOKBOOKS: yes, #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: yes for February; no for March, #4 BREAD: yes for February; no for March

This week in the kitchen

Monday/28-Jan-13: Yogurt on overday. Yippee—the brushes for the washing machine arrived. We're busy washing washing washing.

Ed went to a late afternoon at a movie and didn't get home to late, so we had soup for dinner, one of the zucchini ones that I made last summer and froze directly. Good it was, too. I'll have to remember to make this again.

Put on some No-Knead Bread (Essential, p670). This is the same Lahey recipe that I tried before, and maybe it looks a bit "shaggier" this time. It's supposed to sit in a warm room, 70F. Ha! I did set the bowl near the heater, which is off overnight. We'll see how it does.

Tuesday/29-Jan-13: Whoa, actually got some mending done today! Don't know what got into me. There are still two pairs of gloves with broken seams hiding in the pile from last winter. Sigh.

Well, shaggier was the bread maybe, but there was still no ball-forming for the final rise. Just a puddle on the counter. It bubbles up all nice, so I think the yeast is OK. After my last experience, this time I measured the water with a light hand and the flour with a heavy hand. Didn't seem to help at all. This went in the oven while I was preparing dinner.

Dinner was Skillet Chicken, Broccoli, Ziti, and Asiago Cheese. (I got this from EAT-L, but I just found it here.) Yummy stuff, a one-dish dinner cooked in a single pot. For dessert we had ... bread. First to wipe our plates, then just to eat. It may be a mess on the way to the oven, and it's certainly nothing like a boule, but it is yummy.

Wednesday/30-Jan-13: Shopping today. Found some 120g bits on non-GMO salmon (did we know that we needed to worry about GMO fish?) on sale because they expire tomorrow. Bought the last three and froze them. (I usually ask for 300-400g for the two of us.)

Dinner was Fried Fish Steaks (100Curries, p40; Q&E, p67) made with some lovely salmon. Not sure why I've overlooked this in Q&E. Someone recently made it for IHCC and I thought I'd give it a try. Good idea! Accompanied by Green Peas in a Creamy Sauce (Q&E, p87) and Indian Mashed Potatoes (Q&E, p90). All was yummy.

Thursday/31-Jan-13: Yogurt on overday.

Indian dinner for IHCC tonight, which took a bit of time to prepare. There was Whole Chicken, Baked in Aluminum Foil (Murgh musallam) (MJ1, p80) with Mushroom Pullao (MJ1, p152) and Spicy Cucumber Wedges (MJ1, p172). There should have been raita, but there was no yogurt in time. Some double chocolate mini-Magnums for dessert. How Indian is that?

Friday/1-Feb-13: Ed's off at driving class today; both of us up at 7am. DInner was a half dose of Mushroom Barley Risotto (Bishop, p358). It was good, but I'm not sure for all the risotto bother, that is was that good. Then a salad. That was all.

Saturday/2-Feb-13: The last day of driving class today. Whew! Dinner was a half dose of Linguine with Tuna Fish Sauce (PastaCarluccio, p24). This was surprisingly good, also fast; some ginger slices in the tomato sauce was a nice touch. Followed by a big salad.

Sunday/3-Feb-13: Finished off the zucchini soup today for lunch/dinner. Then went a movie. That's all.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 IHCC/COOKBOOKS: yes, #2 VEG/FISH: 5
This month: #3 PASTA: yes for January/no for February, #4 BREAD: yes for January/no for February

Home Cooking

Home Cooking
Laurie Colwin
Perenniel (1993)
ISBN 0060975229

Home Cooking has been one of my favorites in the food-lit genre since I first read it, oh, it must be at least ten years ago now. How disappointed I was to learn that Colwin died too young, twenty years ago this fall. I'd already been thinking it was about time to re-read this book , when along it came on Cook the Books. Just the excuse I needed! And it's still a lovely book, rather like chatting with a good friend over a cup of tea in your own kitchen.

One of my kitchen goals for this year was to bake bread once a week. (Albeit a bit of strange goal for one living in France!) To this end, Santa brought me Peter Reinhardt's The Bread Baker's Apprentice, which I started reading in January, but have let fall to the wayside. For one reason or another, just about the only bread I've made this year has been the ABM kind. Running into Colwin's simple bread recipe again, which I'd marked to try the first time I read the book, inspired me to get more serious about baking bread. I thought I try both her loaf and the no-knead bread recipe that a friend gave me.

One Simple Loaf

Colwin's One Simple Loaf (p39) is derived from Elizabeth David's A Bloomer Loaf (1) in English Bread and Yeast Cookery (p280). I looked this recipe up in David's book, because Colwin has you baking the loaf first at 450F for 30 minutes and then at 425F for 20 minutes. When I first read the recipe, I corrected the second temperature to 325F, since I couldn't imagine that lowering the temperature a whole 25 degrees would make that much difference; depending on how well insulated your oven is, the temperature might not even fall to the lower temperature in that short time. David has you turning the oven down to 400F-425F, the same or slightly lower. I expect you need to bake the loaf several times to discover what works best for you.

One Simple Loaf turned out to be exactly what it says it is, a simple loaf. I used (French) type 65 (bread flour) and type 150 (whole wheat flour). I didn't add wheat germ (it's not called for in David's version), since my stash in the fridge seems to have gone a bit rancid. After I mixed the dough, I let it sit for a few minutes while I was distracted by another chore. When I returned, kneading seemed a simpler matter than it looked like it might be directly after mixing. (This makes me wonder if a little rest between mixing and kneading might be a Good Thing.) Here's the dough after the first knead, getting ready for its first rise. Note that it's floured, rather than greased.

The nice thing about this bread is that it's very easy with timing. The rises can be long or short, at your convenience. My dough sat around while I did some chores. At one point I punched it down and kneaded for a while before letting it start its second rise. After two rises, it got kneaded again and formed into an oblong loaf (David suggests 10" by 5") to rest a bit before getting popped in the oven. This isn't what I'd call a baguette shape, although Colwin does.

This baked up into a lovely oblong loaf. We found the crust a bit tough, maybe because the temperature didn't come down all that far for the second part of the baking. Nevertheless this is a very tasty bread that I'll likely make again.

No-Knead Bread

The other bread I wanted to try was one I got from a baker friend. When I did a big of research, I discovered it was Jim Lahey's now famous No-Knead Bread that was first (I think) published in the NY Times in November 2006. The same recipes can be found in many places on the web, either as originally published or slightly modified.

Since the stirred-together ingredients (including type 65 flour) need to sit under wraps for at least 12 hours, I mixed up the dough before bedtime. The dough was supposed to be shaggy and sticky. Those weren't really adjectives I'd have used to describe it, goopy would be better, but I thought I'd give it a go, since I'd measured everything pretty carefully.

When I got to the kitchen the next morning, I was greeted by a bowlful of bubbly dough, a bit thinner than it ought to have been.

This was poured onto the counter, folded after a fashion, and rested for 20 minutes. At this point, the dough was to be have been shaped into a ball and placed onto a floured tea towel. Not very ball-like was mine, more like a thick puddle. Which then rose for another two hours. Toward the end of this time, the oven and a cast iron pot were pre-heated. Then the dough got plopped into the hot pot, covered, and bake.

At the end of baking, it looked like this, a very nice-smelling frisbee sort of thing, rather than the boule that it should have been.

Not what I expected, but a very more-ish loaf, kind of like a round ciabatta, the kind of tasty bread I could easily eat up all by myself.

I'm guessing that 1-5/8 cups of water was a bit too much for my flour and my way of measuring. I found versions of this recipe that call for 1-1/2 cups. I might start even a bit lower than that and add water until something like "shaggy and sticky" occurs.

Finally ...

Neither of these loaves are going to beat the easy of tossing the ingredients into the bread machine and having a loaf ready in two hours. But both of these are nicer breads than anything that comes out of an ABM. Colwin's loaf is good to start in to morning to be baked in the afternoon. It also has a good portion of whole wheat flour, so we can feel virtuous while enjoying it. Lahey's loaf is easy to assemble the night before when you need it by lunchtime. Both are keepers.

Thanks to Deb at Kahakai Kitchen for hosting this season's Cook the Books reading/cooking adventure.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/10-Sep-12: A late start to the morning, a visit with neighbors on a Pogo walk, and the day just flew. It got too late to make what was on the plan, so I made, embroidered a little, Black Bean Salad Santa Fe (365Veg, p54).

Today I finished off the bread I started last night (and forgot to note). This was Jim Lahey's now famous No-Knead Bread. I had the recipe from my friend Sam, but it's also all over the web, starting at the NY Times in November 2006.

Tuesday/11-Sep-12: Shopped this afternoon. No broccoli to be found, but lots of romaine, big and little, that wasn't there last week.

Dinner was a half recipe of Lemon Sole with Chipotle & Ancho Chilli Recado (Jamie, jul11), with panga. It's to be served with a Chunky Avocado & Cherry Tomato Salad (Jamie, jul11). And I added some trio rice to complete the plate. All was good. and easy enough. Double chocolate mini Magnums for after.

Wednesday/12-Sep-12: Dinner was Tom's Brick Chicken (CastIron, p63), a super way to cook a spatchcocked chicken! Very tender and moist. Served with Clotilde Dusolier's Perfect Roast Potatoes and some grilled eggplant from Barbara's garden. Double chocolate mini Magnums for after. (We're getting boring here.)

Thursday/13-Sep-12: Yogurt on overday. Lunch with the Ladies That Lunch; carrot sticks for dinner.

Friday/14-Sep-12: For dinner, there was Tamale Pie (OldLaurel, p299; NewLaurel, p307). Used black beans (rather than pinto or kidney) and tarted it up a bit with some ground oregano and chipotle powder. Pretty tasty stuff, really, if not all that tamale-ish. Then a salad. Then some more of those double chocolate mini Magnums. The dessert chef is really not doing her work around here!

The mobile boulanger is on vacation for a couple of weeks. A mobile epicier (a grocery store on wheels) came around late this afternoon and the neighborhood was out buying bread. Nobody was clear when he would come again. It seems like he may only come only once a week, whereas the regular boulanger comes four times.

Saturday/15-Sep-12: Off to Limoges for a forgettable (Groupon) lunch. Nothing happening in the kitchen.

Sunday/16-Sep-12: Yogurt on overday.

Lots of work in the kitchen today. A bit of stale bread became Croutons (Art, p173). I used olive oil rather than butter. Into the freezer with those.

Cleaning pantry shelves turned up some cans of fruit that ought to be used. Pineapple first, then peaches. Skillet or Upside Down Cake (Joy, p607). The sugar didn't want to melt completely in the skillet, but that didn't matter much in the end. I opened a flat can of pineapple slices; they didn't cover the bottom of the skillet, so I opened another flat can. Oops, that was crushed pineapple. I forgot we found this last time we were in the Netherlands. So I filled the skillet with pineapple chunks from another expired can. This recipe uses lots of bowls (which seems odd for an upside down cake cooked in a skillet). Trying to shortcut this, I made rather a mess of the dough part, but it worked OK in the end. 

Then I used the end of my buttermilk, the opened crushed pineapple, and some of the chunks to make the broth for Pineapple Buttermilk Sherbert (MWLowFat, p394).

Dinner was, more or less, Curried Chicken Salad (Rosie, p34), using the remains of the brick chicken. No red cabbage shreds, which I expected, but I forgot to add the defrosted peas. Oh well. They'll turn up in something next week.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/3-Sep-12: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was a half-dose of Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp and Lemon Cream Sauce (web), with spaghettini instead of angel hair and crème fraîche instead of cream. (My cream was seriously sour and there wasn't any at the shop last week.) Then a salad. Then a double-chocolate mini Magnum and a dog walk.

Tuesday/4-Sep-12: For lunch I made a quickie soup with half a small kip filet, leftover chicken stock, cabbage shreds, and some pasta. Not great, but not bad.

Dinner was a half-ish dose of Moroccan Chicken with Olives and Preserved Lemon (web), using green olives, and good it was. Served with couscous (made too much) and Moroccan Cooked Carrot Salad (VeryBest, p39). For dessert there was Clafoutis aux Mirabelles (web), using up the mirabelles that a neighbor gave us. Unfortunately quite a few of these had gone bad, but there were enough for this recipe. Used crème fraîche again instead of proper cream.

Wednesday/5-Sep-12: Shopping today, mostly on piste. Indian dinner: Methi Machchi (Fish in a Fenugreek-Flavored Curry) (from the web, forgettable), Matar Pulao (Green Pea Pilaf) (Sahni3, p61), and Pan-Roasted Green Beans with Five Spices (Sahni3, p143). The sauce for the fish was quite bitter, maybe the fenugreek? I bought julienne (ling) for the fish since it was on sale and substantially cheaper than cod. Very bony. Will try to remember to avoid that in the future. The rice was OK, but nothing special. The beans were a variation on a potato recipe, not bad, but very similar to the Jaffrey recipe that I frequently use, and I think I prefer that one. Altogether a so-so main course. For dessert we finished off the clafoutis.

Thursday/6-Sep-12: Yogurt on overday. Some bananas getting a bit too ripe turned into Banana Bread (OldLaurel, p308). Mixed all in food processor, how lazy can you get? Recipe asked three bananas, I only had two, so I added an egg. A slightly off taste makes me suspect my wheat germ might be getting rancid in spite of its life in the fridge. Except for that, this is a lovely textured banana bread, in spite of having only whole wheat flour. Found a bunch of old favorites thumbing through this cookbook, might have to put some of them on the plan.

Dinner was, more or less, a half recipe of Southwestern Chicken Salad (VeryBest, p324), using the last of last Thanksgiving turkey, just a bit belatedly. I chopped the chipotle in adobo (unseeded) and added it to the dressing. The recipe calls for quite a lot of chicken broth used to thin the dressing, but I thought it was plenty thin without that. Can't think why it would be too thick: olive oil, buttermilk, lime juice, and white wine vinegar, what's to get thick? Mixed the dressing and meat, along with radishes, cilantro, and avocado, with 100g of mâche+roquette, rather than romaine, of which there was none at the shop. It all tasted good, especially eating outside.

Friday/7-Sep-12: Dinner was Warm Broccoli and Chickpea Salad (VeryBest, p42). Pretty good it was.

Saturday/8-Sep-12: Made some real bread today, For One Loaf (Colwin1, p49), which is a recipe she borrowed from Elizabeth David, A Bloomer Loaf (1) (DavidBread, p280).

Off plan, dinner from the freezer: Perciatelli with Cauliflower, Tomato, Sausage, and Pine Nuts, made in March, over gemelli. And a big salad.

Sunday/9-Sep-12: Yogurt on overday.

Off-plan again. Defrosted some poultry sausages and grilled those.  Made up a big salad with all the leftover bits in the fridge, coucous, broccoli and chickpeas, corn, zucchini, carrots, etc. Good stuff. That was dinner.

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