This week in the kitchen

Monday/1-Mar-21: Yogurt on overday.

Another dish for the Facebook Cooking Marcella Hazan group, dinner was a Risotto with Red Cabbage and Pancetta (MarCuc, p224). Not the prettiest risotto, but quite tasty. Served with a salad. A pair of chocolated-covered madeleines each for after.

Overnight Boule on overnight.

Tuesday/2-Mar-21: Ed baked off the Overnight Boule while I met with my BookChatters group this morning. 

Dinner was Syrian Lentil-Tomato Soup from the freezer. And Baguette Sandwiches with Asparagus* (web; GD). A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Wednesday/3-Mar-21: Picked up our shopping from both Drives today.

Dinner was a half recipe of Grilled Salmon (web) . I cooked this under the broiler. Pretty good it was for minimal effort. At the market last Thursday, I scored some snijbonen. I turned up three interesting recipes from Allerhande. The one we had tonight was Snijbonen en Cashewnoten uit de Wok (web). Chunks of snijbonen (I boiled them about 4min first), finished in the wok, then warmed in hoisin. With some cashews on top. Pretty tasty. And some plain rice. Some store-bought yogurt with blackberries and blueberries for after.

Thursday/4-Mar-21: Dinner was Chipotle Shrimp Coleslaw* (web; GD). Still good, but would be better in hot weather. Served with avocado slices and corn tortillas. Some store-bought yogurt with salted caramel for after.

Overnight Boule on overnight, bread flour and light whole wheat.

Friday/5-Mar-21: Baked off the overnight Boule this morning. Not knowing the difference, Ed said he preferred this one. I guess I'll use up my rye flour and continue with the light whole wheat. Might try that half and half with regular bread flour.

Dinner was Riso e Fagioi—Rice and Bean Soup (ClassicItal, p102; rice variation, p104). I made the Pasta and Bean Soup variation for Cooking Italy a while ago. I thought I got the same kind of meat, but it wasn't; hard to tell what you're going to get when you order at the Drive. 

Some store-bought yogurt with chestnut cream for after. 

Saturday/6-Mar-21: Dinner was Turkey Cutlets, Lemon-Soy Glaze (web). This was okay. I added a bit too much lemon juice to the marinade/sauce (couldn't let the rest of that half lemon go to waste), but we didn't think that was all. Served over trio rice. Then an old favorite, Cold Beetroot with Cream (Pomiane, p180). Store-bought yogurt with Madagascar vanilla for after.

Sunday/7-Mar-21: I sort of had the idea to make pasta today, but that didn't work. One of these days, maybe. Instead we had whole wheat spaghetti  with Greek Shrimp (PastaMach, p136). Then a big salad. Then some store-bought yogurts with blueberries and blackberries.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 VEG/FISH: 4; #2 PHOTO: yes; #3 *DMA: yes
This month: #4 GUESTS: n/a
This year: #5 BACKLOG1: yes; #6 BACKLOG2: no; #7 RECYCLE: 11; #8 NEW: 2

This week in the kitchen

Monday/28-Sep-20: Dinner was Pasta with Arugula Pesto (VegPlanet, p85). Served half of this tonight over whole wheat spaghetti. Froze the rest for another night (to be finished with Parmesan, salt and a pinch of cayenne). Then a sliced tomato each, with mozzarella and basil. Then some tapioca pudding.

Tuesday/29-Sep-20: Dinner was Vegetarian Korma (pdf). It's adapted from a recipe here, using coconut milk instead of cream and a whole red bell pepper instead of halves of green and red. I used ground almonds, easily available, instead of ground cashews. Not bad stuff. Finished the tapioca pudding for after.

Wednesday/30-Sep-20: Really didn't feel like cooking what was on the plan. Instead I made Linguine with Shrimp and Zucchini (30MinPasta, p108. This isn't a favorite from this book, but suited the time and ingredients at hand. Then a little salad of sucrines and avocado. Some chocolate-covered madeleines for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/1-Oct-20: Dinner was the chicken version of Tandoori Chicken (or Salmon) (web), a Mark Bittmann recipe. Quite good. I didn't wipe off enough of the marinade, so that was a bit burnt, but the chicken was yummy. Served with Carrots with Cilantro (MJ@Home, p149) and Tomato Pullao (MJ@Home, p211). I didn't do that last one pilaf-style, but used the blended tomatoes as the liquid to cook like regular rice on the stovetop. Pretty good.

Friday/2-Oct-20: The wok burner, which was leaking gas, got fixed this a.m.

Picked up an order from Intermarché Drive.

Cleaned a shelf of food literature today and put a bunch of books in the recycle box. Hard to let some of them go, but I won't read them again, so no point in keeping them. Put several that had lots of stickies back on shelf. Need to go through those and save any recipes that need saving.

Dinner was One-Pan Fabulous Fish (web), with cod. Fabulous, maybe not. Easy and fast and a one-pot meal, yes. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Saturday/3-Oct-20: After getting a bowl and platter down for serving dinner, I tripped over a stepstool and fell, breaking both dishes. Ed said Uh-oh and continued doing what he was doing, without asking or looking how I was. I know how I rate now.

Dinner was Sheet Pan Sausage and Potatoes (web). The string beans (haricots verts) I ordered for Friday didn't show up, so I used broccoli instead. Toulouse sausages instead of Italian links. This is easy to put together and pretty good stuff. Any kind of sausage would work; the Toulouse sausages, bought recently on sale, were quite tasty. We couldn't eat it all, so will have leftovers next week. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Sunday/4-Oct-20: Meant to make some semolina gnocchi today, but didn't have the oomph. Instead, having goat cheese to use up, I made Goat Cheese, Chive, and Chili Pepper Sauce for Pasta (MarCuc, p167). This is an old favorite, tasty and easy to assemble. Before dinner, I put a Far aux Pruneaux (web) in the oven.

Yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/27-Jan-20: Scurried around this afternoon to find something for tomorrow's meal to use up the tomato pulp that I mistakenly defrosted.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Tuscan Chicken Stew (Braises, p70). I thought this was just ok, but Ed liked it more. As suggested, served with Herbed Wide Noodles (Braises, p121), using mafalda as the pasta. A pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each for after.

Tuesday/28-Jan-20: Dinner was Penne with Broccoli (web), sort of. I didn't have enough of any whole wheat pasta so used casareccia*. I made more or less the whole recipe, enough to serve three, not six. But good it was. Some mini ice cream cups for dessert.

*Casareccia is one of my favorite pastas. Usually I get them as De Cecco #88. Last week I bought some as Garafalo #88. Do you suppose that 88 actually has some meaning to the Italian pasta-buying public? I always thought it was just De Cecco's way of numbering their products.

Wednesday/29-Jan-20: Off for a haircut today.

Dinner was pork chops, with ancho sauce from the freezer, leftover beans-and-rice and coleslaw, and polenta squares from the freezer. (I put the squares under the broiler, set the timer, then forgot what I'd set it for, so they got a bit burnt on top. Otherwise they were pretty good. We ate tastily. No dessert.

Thursday/30-Jan-20: Shopping today. As I was cooking dinner I discovered that we managed to come home without a bunch of the veggies I gathered. I think I must have put them in the wrong cart. So someone might have gone home with radishes, broccoli, zucchini, snijbonen, and tomatoes that they didn't think they wanted.

I finished off Paula Wolfert's World of Food today. This one of Wolfert's books wasn't much of a success, but was recommended in Unforgettable as an unrecognized masterpiece. I was disappointed. Wolfert's world is largely France and Mediterranean. Nothing wrong with that food, but it's more limited than the title suggests. We'll see.

Dinner was supposed to Baked Salmon with Charred Onions & Old Bay Radishes (EW/oct19; web). I used the end of a zucchini to replace the radishes. And a can of corn replaced the snijbonen that would have been our side veg. Not bad altogether. Then some pieces of three kings' tart that I got at the boulangerie.

Friday/31-Jan-20: Dinner was Risotto Friuli-Style, with Rosemary and White Wine (MarCuc, p226. I used canned stock, wild instead of beef, since that needed to be used up. My garden rosemary is blooming again. Risotto is comfort food. This was good. Then a big salad. Then a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.

Saturday/1-Feb-20: While I was making dinner, I made some chocolate tapioca so we'd have a bit of dessert.

Dinner was a half-ish dose of Cajun Cabbage and Noodles (web). I used up some odd bits of whole wheat pasta (penne and fusilli) for the pasta, and didn't do a good job of halving the amount. I used some home-made cajun spice I had in the cupboard rather than make some new. The was pretty good. The smoked sausages (bio) were especially good. I'll look for them again and get some for the freezer if they're still there. We're stuffed.

Yogurt on overnight.

Sunday/2-Feb-20: Dinner was Vodka Marinated Steak (web). This was easy and pretty good. I didn't slice as directed, but served a chunk of meat on each plate. Served with Clothilde Dusoulier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes (web) and some steamed broccoli. Finished the chocolate tapioca for after. We're stuffed.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/17-Jun-19: Ed grilled some merguez from the freezer, very salty ones; served with a bit of polenta. We also had Grilled Artichokes and Lemons with Spicy Garlic Mayonnaise—Artichauts à l'Aïoli (VegHarv, p158; cookbooker) with one of the huge artichokes that we got at a vide grenier yesterday. I doctored some plain mayo to make the sauce. Yum. And some snijbonen sort of done like this. For dessert we shared one of the two small charentaise melons we got at the vide grenier. We're stuffed.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/18-Jun-19: Ed brought in a bowlful of raspberries and red currants. We had a few, then decided they'd be good in ice cream. I told him to macerate them with 1/4cup of sugar. When I went to get them later, I discovered he'd 1) not measured the sugar and 2) added a cup of more of water. Not sure of his reasoning. Anyhow the maceration was defeated. I dumped the water, full of flavor.

For a starter we had the other artichoke and more of the doctored mayo. Good stuff. The main was Frittata Fêve & Menthe (C&Z, p67; cookbooker). For dessert there was raspberry-currant ice cream. We ate well.

Wednesday/19-Jun-19: Had our dinner, with Cath, at the marché des producteurs in La Rochefoucauld this evening. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Thursday/20-Jun-19: Shopping today. Tuna was on sale, so we had, sort of, Char-Grilled Tuna with Toasted Corn Vinaigrette and Avocado Salad (Essential, p410; cookbooker). This was yummy.

While putting away the groceries, I found an older bakje of ice cream and we had that for dessert. Mango I think it was. How did that get left behind, I wonder?

Yogurt on overnight.

Friday/21-Jun-19: Dinner was a half dose of Pepper and Anchovy Pasta Sauce (MarCuc, p149) over tagliatelle. I've made this sauce at least once before, and it's still good; a bit tedious peeling the bell peppers, but worth the effort. For dessert we each had half of one of the little melons we bought on the weekend.

Saturday/22-Jun-19: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Superfast Crispy Chicken Thighs (web; CL/may15; cookbooker). Served with Shredded Zucchini (MW@Home, p87) and trio rice. For dessert there was Rhubarb Crumble (ClayCook2, p157). Yum.

Sunday/23-Jun-19: Took Cath for lunch today to celebrate the sale of her house. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Yogurt on overnight.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 BACKLOG: no; #2 VEG/FISH: 3; #3 COOKBOOK: yes
Cookbooks of the month: Römertopf cookbooks
This month: #4 PASTA: no; #5 BREAD: no; #6 GUESTS: yes
 This year: #7 PROJECT: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/24-Sep-18: For dinner there was Pasta Sauce with Peas, Ham, and Cream (p164 , MarCuc). The sauce is simple, but good. Hazan says the original pasta for this sauce is garganelli, a hand-made pasta. I found the instructions for this in (p110, Geometry). A weaver's comb, which is probably where we get Afro picks, is traditionally used to make the grooves on the rolled squares of pasta. Can't say I have any skill at this, but I do have an Afro pick now.

The sauce was good, but the pasta was a bit heavy, maybe because I only rolled to 5 rather than 6.

Then we had the rest of yesterday's salad mixed with the rest of yesterday's beans, all of which make a nice salad. No dessert since we were full.

Tuesday/25-Sep-18: We're still having problems with a mouse in the pantry. Chocolate chips and pasta are its current favorites. Three live traps are set with no results so far.

Recombobbled the meal plan today after we learned yesterday that Cath's friend is coming a week later than expected. Made the list too.

Used some very ripe bananas and some from the freezer to make up a loaf of Best Banana Bread (HandyBook).

Didn't have the oomph to make what was on the plan; really too tired to deal with peeling a winter squash. Instead made Vegan Eggplant and Tomato Gratin (VegSups, p24), which I made non-vegan by dolloping on the rest of some fresh goat cheese that needed to be used up. Pretty good. Followed by a salad. And some quite-tasty banana bread.

Wednesday/26-Sep-18: Shopping today.

Dinner was Grilled Salmon with Chile-Honey Glaze and Ginger-Red Onion Relish (BigFlav, p87). Ed bbq'd the fish. The glaze is good, but the relish is super-yummy. As suggested, served with New Potato Hash Browns with Caramelized Onions (BigFlav, p236). These were good, but I thought the onions were too sweet. We also had Fried Eggplant with Feta and Basil (O&C, p276), which Ed didn't like as well as the last time I made this. We were full, but managed a pair of chocolate-topped madeleines for after.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/27-Sep-18: Lunch out with Sue and Andy.

Made up broth for Mango Ice Cream (ThaiCC, p91) using canned mango, since the fresh ones were hard at the store this week and there were no frozen ones.

Friday/28-Sep-18: For dinner, Ed bbq'd a half dose of Grilled Sirloin and Apricot Skewers with Pomegranate Vinaigrette (License, p126). Since apricots are way out of season, I used peaches instead as suggested. Good this was. As suggested, served with Grilled Potatoes with Yogurt-Parsley Sauce (License, p283), which Ed liked a lot. Also a half recipe of Zucchini and Feta Cheese Salad (WorldVeg, p640). And then there was Mango Ice Cream, which was pretty good.

Yogurt on overnight.

Saturday/29-Sep-18: We ate half of an Onion and Rosemary Tart with Fromage Blanc (VegSups, p9; cookbooker). Then a big salad. Then some mini ice cream bars.

Sunday/30-Sep-18: Ed was wanting pork chops. So tonight he barbecued a pair, rubbed with a Cajun spice run. Served with Moroccan Green Pepper Salad—Felfla Mechouia (WorldVeg, p634; cookbooker), a delicious salad, roasted green bell peppers with a bit of preserved lemon. And Oven Fried Potatoes with Oregano and Lemon (O&C, p280). We finished off a nice bottle of Fronton Flingueurs negrette, along with some slightly aged Morbiers. Then a spoonful of Mango Ice Cream each. And later a pair of chocolate-covered madeleines each.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/27-Nov-17: Made up Hunter-Style Pasta Sauce with Herbs, Pancetta, Tomato, and White Wine (MarCuc, p156; cookbooker), but didn't feel like I had time to make fresh pasta. That's in the fridge for tomorrow. Instead I made Scallops and Mushrooms, a recipe I got from an email list and can't find on the web. It was good enough, but nothing special. It was supposed to be served with farro, which I haven't found yet, or brown rice. I cooked the rice, but decided mushroom-flavored pasta might be better. Then a salad. We were full.

Tuesday/28-Nov-17: Made fresh pasta this morning before we were out doing errands. Reheated the pasta sauce I made yesterday, adding a bit of chicken stock to thin it. (It got thicker in the fridge overnight.) Then a salad. Then some yummy, but filling Paris Brests from the boulanger.

Wednesday/29-Nov-17: Shopping today.

Dinner was Easy, Creamy One-Pot Salmon Chowder (web), a scrumpty-umptious soup and not at all hard to make. I used salmon and haddock for a mix of fish. I used lardons instead of salt pork or bacon. There was an interesting technique here, cooking the meat till done in just a bit of water, then adding the onion and celery. No hot sauce needed at serving time.

Also made a Cranberry-Cardamom Cake (EAT-L; web). Used 1-1/2 cups of brown sugar instead of 2 cups of white. Frozen cranberries, wiping out my stash. I'd expect that dried cranberries would work too, and walnuts might be nice. We made a serious dent.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/30-Nov-17: Lunch out with Cath today. Nothing happened in the kitchen.

Friday/1-Dec-17: For our meal today, we had Creamy Mustard Chicken (web). Inventory fail meant I didn't have whole spaghetti, so I used soba noodles instead. Made more or less all the sauce with two kip filets. Served with steams broccoli. Finished off the Cranberry-Cardamon Cake.

Saturday/2-Dec-17: Third haircut since Michael flaked out today. Too short in back, but we'll see how the rest goes.

Early meal of Thai Curry & Pork Sesame Noodles (web; cookbooker). Pretty good stuff. Used the tiny côte du porc (boneless pork chops) from the freezer and cooked them quickly on a grill pan. Then some éclairs speculoos from the boulangerie. Those were pretty good too.

Sunday/3-Dec-17: I had an urge for shrimp biryani, so that's what we had today. There was Shrimp Biryani (MJ@Home, p214), with Salaad (MJ@Home, p235) and Yogurt with Cucumber and Mint‐Kherre ka Raita (MJ1, p162). These are all recipes I've made before. Still yummy. Surprisingly I found fresh mint in the garden to use for the raita. I thought, with the cold and snow, that it would all be gone; usually there's none this late in the year. We had mini ice cream bars for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

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

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/20-Feb-17: When I made the meal plan last week, I planned a dish with scallops this evening, thinking there were plenty in the freezer. Not. So replan for today. And for tomorrow, since I seem to be coming down with Ed's lurgi, and we decided to postpone tomorrow's lunch out. Boo. So replanning done.

Tonight we had Pepper and Anchovy Pasta Sauce (MarCuc, p149) over spaghetti, using up the bell peppers that were on hand for the planned scallop dish. Followed by a salad using up the carrot and onion salad from Saturday's Indian-ish dinner. And some little Haagen-Dasz ice cream cups for dessert.

Yogurt on overnight.

Tuesday/21-Feb-17: Tonight's dinner was Tortilla Pie with Chicken (web), made with a can of salsa verde and double Glouscestershire for the cheese. Very easy and wasn't too bad, although the cheese probably wasn't the best choice. Then a big salad.

Wednesday/22-Feb-17: Shopping today. We're both feeling puny so we didn't get off till really late. Finally found packages of large frozen scallops without the coral today and snatched up three without checking the price. Ouch, €16.99 for 400g times three.

Dinner was a half recipe of Cabillaud en Crumble de Jambon Cru (VPG; web, more or less). Tasty and pretty easy to make, except for finely mincing the ham and cilantro. Guess I could have used the cuisinart, but that seemed like more trouble to get out, plus the clean-up crew would prefer less work. Served with smashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. We were too full for dessert.

Thursday/23-Feb-17: Made up a batch of Oven-Roasted Tomatoes (HandyBook) and froze them.

Early meal today. We managed to eat a whole recipe of Curried Fried Rice (MW@Home, p226; cookbooker) which should have served four. Then we had the desserts I bought for last night—vanilla rice puddings. More rice, just what we needed. We've eaten tastily if without variety.

Friday/24-Feb-17: Dinner from the freezer tonight. Had some sauce for Barbecued Raspberry-Hoisin Chicken (web), but used it for pork chops. Made the brown rice as instructed (tossed with vinegar and sliced green onions) and some roasted green bean, which were pretty boring. All were pepped up by the sauce.

Saturday/25-Feb-17: Dinner out this evening. Nothing happened in the kitchen. (But very bad recurrence of old stomach problem that hasn't bothered me in a long time.)

Sunday/26-Feb-17: My tummy's still feeling bad after last night's problems, so there was not much happening in the kitchen. Ed had some leftover beef curry from the freezer. I had some brown rice from the fridge that I was saving to making a little side salad one night, topped with a bit of zingy sauce from something or other. It was good.

Yogurt on overnight.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/5-Oct-15: Dinner was Goat Cheese, Chive, and Chili Pepper Sauce for Pasta  (p167, MarCuc). This is getting to be our traditional night-before-we-travel dinner. Really simple, really good. Then a salad. Then the rest of the Sweet Potato Pudding, which was good cooled too.

Tuesday/6-Oct-15: As Willie sang, we're On the Road Again.

Wednesday/7-Oct-15: And again. 

Thursday/8-Oct-15: Arrived safely. Driving in Italy is crazy, by far the most stressful part of the trip. Found our "villa" easily after making a brief stop at a small grocery store. The welcome pack includes an enormous bowlful of  candy. Unpacked and explored.

Big salad for dinner to make up for two days of road food, with some very nice red wine from the family in an unlabelled bottle. Had to toss the salad in a big pot. No salad fork and spoon to be found; no big serving spoons of any kind. No bowl big enough to serve a big salad for two (or small for four).

Friday/9-Oct-15: Found a big grocery today and filled the (little) fridge. We suspect that they must eat a lot of risotto around here because finding a small (i.e., 500g) package of arborio or carnaroli was difficult.

Two tomatoes were damaged on the way home, so I stewed them with some zucchini for a side. The main was sautéed salmon, with some orzo as a side. The orzo was interesting because there isn't a sieve here. Put a dishtowel in the colander to drain it.

We've been in quite a few gîte-type things. This one has the most poorly equipped kitchen we've seen. As expected the knives are flimsy and useless; I knew to bring some, a chopping knife and a paring knife. There are dinner plates, salad/dessert plates, soup plates, coffee cups (big and small), and a few small cereal bowls, but no other small dishes. House sleeps four; there are four glasses. Nothing for baking a tart or cake, no casserole, no baking sheet. No serving dishes. Nothing to put things in (leftovers, etc.). No butter dish. (Have stowed butter on a salad plate with an overturned soup plate as a lid, taking a lot of precious counter space.) No kettle, electric or otherwise, so we boil water on the stove. Most of the pots and pans are very badly scarred "non-stick". Not to be used. One very thin skillet, newish. Two saucepan sort of things are decent, but no lids, although there's one around that will do. I brought a small peeler, because I figured the one provided would be too dull to be useful. Good thing I did, because there's no peeler at all and no paring knife. There is a cute mini dishwasher which does a respectable job with plates and cups and cutlery. We'll survive, of course.

Saturday/10-Oct-15: Rainy day. Dinner in Radicondoli. Getting started up the road in the wet was interesting. (It's first gear all the way up.) Wondering how we'll get up road when we leave with a fully laden car, especially if it's wet.

Sunday/11-Oct-15: Roasted a chicken with lemon and rosemary. Tossed fusilli (welcome pack) with the sauce. Corn on the cob, found at the big supermarket yesterday.

There is a strange utensil hanging over the stove, a small ladle with holes in the bottom. Couldn't figure out what that was for. Till I needed to check if the pasta was done. Perfect!

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/3-Aug-15: Lunch out with Peg&Jim and Patrice&Wim today. Munched on lots of odd bits in the evening. Not much real kitchen activity.

Tuesday/4-Aug-15: Hugged Peg&Jim good-bye this morning. Now trying to catch up on assorted business and blogs and laundry.

Did the meal plan for the rest of the week, using up odds and ends from the fridge. We'll be shopping a day early this week, since I have a haircut appointment on Friday.

Dinner was a half recipe of Rosemary and Sage Pasta Sauce (p154, MarCuc; cookbooker), with cascareccia as the pasta (maybe not the best choice). Then a big salad. That was all.

Wednesday/5-Aug-15: Another hot day. Cleared out the fridge for dinner. More corn on the cob, accompanied by Sautéed Broccoli and Mushrooms (web) over brown rice. This was kind of so-so, improved by a good dose of sriracha. Two small portion of the melon ice cream for dessert, finishing that off.

Thursday/6-Aug-15: Shopping today. I shopped at Intermarché while Ed was at choir practice.

Dinner was Salmon with Curried Cabbage (web), cooked in a skillet. Easy and pretty tasty. Served with trio rice. Mini magnums for dessert.

Friday/7-Aug-15: Busy day today. Off for a haircut in the morning, back for a quick lunch, then off to an afternoon movie.

Dinner was a half dose of Farfalle with Pumpkin-Sausage Sauce (web; cookbooker). Very good stuff. Then a plain salad. No dessert needed.

Saturday/8-Aug-15: Patrice and Wim have invited us for dinner tomorrow night, so we cancelled today's plans (celebration lunch and concert) and stayed home.

Peg and Jim left us a pile of potatoes. I used some of them to make Sauced Potato Casserole (p214, Tassajara), an old favorite which is no longer vegetarian because I slice up a smoked sausage to tuck in amongst the potatoes.

Still have a stack of potatoes and sweet potatoes to be used up.

Sunday/10-Aug-15: Out for dinner with Patrice and Wim tonight. Nothing happened in the kitchen today.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/1-Jun-15: Dinner was Goat Cheese, Chive, and Chili Pepper Sauce for Pasta (MarCuc, p167). Such an easy, tasty, fast dinner. Except for the soft goat cheese, everything in house. Followed by a big salad.

Tuesday/2-Jun-15: Off to Saumur today.

Wednesday/3-Jun-15: Another day in Saumur.

Thursday/4-Jun-15: Home again. Ed to choir practice. Me to shop at Intermarché. Not our regular shop, but will do in a pinch. We're not happy with Leclerc, where we usually shop, and vaguely looking for a replacement. Intermarché ain't it either.

Dinner was Apricot Dijon Glazed Salmon (web). Cooked it under the broiler rather than in the oven; this worked fine. Very good. Served with trio rice and steamed broccoli. Dessert from the boulagerie.

Friday/5-Jun-15: Dinner started out to be a recipe from Jamie magazine (not to be found online), Cumin & Yoghurt Roast Chicken, wherein marinated thighs are roasted on top of carrots and parsnips. Yogurt was the basis of the marinade, which I didn't note since we've usually got yogurt on hand. I used creme fraiche with extra lemon juice instead. In the end, we decide to barbecue the thighs rather than bake them. Served with corn on the cob and orzo. For after, some Citrus-Poached Pears from the same article.

Saturday/6-Jun-15: Fresh pasta tonight, yes! With Zucchini and Thyme Pasta Sauce (MarCuc, p162). Then a big salad. Then we shared our last magnum classic.

Sunday/7-Jun-15: Dinner was Easy Egg Curry with Urad Dal and Tamarind (web). Really yummy stuff. Can't say it was all that easy, but it wasn't hard. Used this method to steam the hard-boiled eggs, very successful. Served with plain rice and Stir-Fried Cauliflower (IndLight, p179), which was ok, a bit plain, but easy.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/29-Sep-14: On the plan for tonight's dinner was a half recipe of Maltagliati with Aubergine Sauce (PastaCarlu, p32; cookbooker). Maltagliati means "badly cut," so it's handcut into random-ish shapes. It's actually pretty good with chunky stuff, but I think maybe I should just roll it to 5 rather than 6, since it could be hand-rolled, rather than machine-rolled. When I cut into my eggplant, I discovered it wasn't good. Broccoli was the only other veg in the fridge, so I used that instead. The veggies took a looong time to cook, so I added a bit of water and steamed them for a bit before finishing the sauce. Then a salad using the last garden tomato of the season. (There are some flowers now, but I expect it's too cool at night now to set fruit.)

Tuesday/30-Sep-14: Dinner was a half dose of Chicken in Red WIne Vinegar Sauce (web). Did this with chicken thighs. Really easy and tasty. For sides there was a carrot version of Broccoli Timbales (BEFCC, p58), there not being enough broccoli left to do it. No sauce for us. It's a recipe for four, but we usually eat two timbales. Serving a meal French-style, these would make a nice starter, the bit of sauce would dress it us a bit. And some orzo.

Wednesday/1-Oct-14: Shopping today.

Dinner was a half recipe of Spaghetti with Halibut & Lemon (web), kind of ceviche with spaghetti. And mashed potato mixed in there too. One of those recipe I'm glad I tried, but don't need to do again. Followed by a nice big salad. And three squares of chocolate with hazelnuts (finishing off the package, don't you know).

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/2-Oct-14: Went to make dinner, got started in plenty of time, only to discover that the "stew" wanted to cook 1-1/2 hours in the oven. Yes, I should have read the recipe more carefully when I chose it, but given the ingredients, it's really unexpected. So, finished assembling this while making something to be eating in real time. And tomorrow will be easy.

Dinner was a halfish recipe of Savoy Cabbage and Sausage Pasta Sauce (MarCuc, p176; cookbooker). Fairly simple and quite good, the sauce being onion, garlic, sausage, and cabbage, bound with cream and topped with parsley and Parmesan. Had a bit of brie that was on special this week for afters.

Friday/3-Oct-14: What I assembled last night and popped in the fridge was Eggplant and Lentil Stew with Pomegranate Molasses (web). It was okay, but nothing special. A lot of fussy cutting-up of the eggplant, that's just going to be buried in the not-really-stew. (It's more like a casserole.)

Saturday/4-Oct-14: Yogurt on overday.

Party tonight that included dinner.

Sunday/5-Oct-14: I cooked up 500g of chickpeas during the day, some for dinner and lots for the freezer.

Dinner was Crusted Cornmeal Chickpea Potpie (web; cookbooker). An interesting idea that didn't quite work. Might be worthwhile tinkering with. (See cookbooker for details.) Then a simple salad.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/25-Aug-14: Before dinner, I made some Blueberry Zucchini Bread (web).

For this week's pickled theme at IHCC, I made the Pork Chops, Mustard Sauce (Diaries, p51) again, this time with the cornichons included. Unfortunately, I don't feel like posting about it, so I'll just put the picture here and say we liked the cornichons in the sauce.

Served with Harictos Verts in Walnut Oil (Lunch, p216; HandyBook) and some nice garlicky smashed potatoes. Had some of the Blueberry Zucchini Bread for dessert. Very more-ish. Definitely a keeper.

Yogurt on overnight,

Tuesday/26-Aug-14: Shopping today.

Dinner was a half recipe of Fish Tacos (web) but with six tortillas between the two of us, since that's what was in the fridge. (These are French corn tortillas, which are not as good as the ones I get from the Netherlands; still one more dozen to use up before I can order again from the right place.) Made a Fresh Tomato Salsa as a go-with, but don't know where the recipe came from. Had a big salad as a go-with. We split a classic Magnum for dessert.

Wednesday/27-Aug-14: Dinner was Chicken with Mushroom and Lemon Grass (Diaries, p107), using up all the lemon grass I got recently. This was easy and tasty. For a side there was (sort of) Hot & Sour Stir-Fried Vegetables (Delightful, p55). I didn't have any cabbage or even another brassica, so just left that out. Pretty good anyhow. And some basmati rice. For dessert, a vanilla yogurt each. And a dog walk.

Thursday/28-Aug-14: Made some bread maker bread from the pain au levain mix.

Made a double batch of pâte brisée aka Tart Dough (Tenth, p256), one for dinner, one for the freezer. Dinner was Lemony Ricotta Summer Squash Galette (web), which was really nice. I used only zucchini, since yellow squash are only very rarely available here; the combination would be especially pretty. Finished the Basil Tabbouleh, which held up well, but didn't really go with the galette.

Friday/29-Aug-14: Yogurt on overday.

An easy dinner tonight. There was Curried Zucchini Soup from the freezer, needing only some salt, and grilled cheese sandwiches with bleu d'Aurillac and sliced tomatoes. Good stuff.

Beans on to soak overnight.

Saturday/30-Aug-14: Made some Cayenne Cornbread (BigGerman, p182) in the bread machine.

Beans were cooking most of the day and they still aren't done; wonder how old that package was? In the end I opened a can to make a soup for dinner to go with the cayenne cornbread. Both were good. Some double-chocolate mini-magnums for after. And then a walk looking for Sophie, out after dark again and all keyed up when we found her.

Sunday/31-Aug-14: The beans were improved by an overnight sit. Simmered them some more, then picked the meat off the ham bone and froze it all together for another day.

In the potager. we picked more cayenne (for the freezer), two spiny, fat cucumbers, and two eggplants. Time for some cucumber salad.

Dinner was pasta with Eggplant Sauce with Bell Pepper, Tomato, and Basil (MarCuc, p144; cookbooker). It was good. Two squares each of hazelnut chocolate for after.

I've not touched my Foods of the World cookbook for August, so I sort of arbitrarily declared August as a vacation month and shifted the rest out.

Sophie in late again.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes; #2 VEG/FISH: 4,
This month: #3 PASTA: yes; #4 FotW: ; #5 BREAD: 0

This week in the kitchen

Monday/21-Jul-14: Yogurt on overday. We made an all-day outing to Family Village (yes, that's the French name), a sort of outlet mall, that included lunch at Alinéa, which is the French version of Ikea. There's also a Grand Frais, a grocery store carrying lots of unusual and exotic fruits and veggies. Just discovered there's on in Soyaux, too; that's a suburb of Angoulême, so it's a bit closer.

Because we had lunch out, we had only fruit for dinner.

Ed drove with two other choir members to yesterday's concert in Limoges; they had to be there quite a bit ahead of time. I travelled with the partners of the other two. We were both surprised that these people had barely visited Limoges before. One couple has been here four and a half years, the other longer than we have. But they'd barely been to Limgoes either for sightseeing or for shopping. Seemed very strange to us.

Tuesday/22-Jul-14: Used the gooseberries I bought yesterday to make a half recipe of Gooseberry-Apple Crisp (Uncommon, p218). A nice easy recipe that could be done with other fruits. Should put this in the HandyBook also. While that was cooking, I roasted lots of veggies, mostly leftovers bits from the fridge—eggplant, zucchini, red bell pepper, carrot, and some asparagus from the Grand Frais. Served those with polenta. Then the crisp with a bit of vanilla ice cream.

Wednesday/23-Jul-14: Shopping today.

Dinner was (more or less) Spiced Fried Fish (RealCook, p120), with two filet of lieu noir (saithe?) cut into thirds. As a go-with there was Fragrant Rice (RealCook, p213; cookbooker). There's a problem with this recipe, which is supposed to serve two as a side; I made less than half and we had enough to serve four as a side. Then there was more of the Grand Frais bounty, two ears of corn. Very good, better than the ones we get at Intermarché. I forgot to note whence they came. Then a scoop of vanilla ice cream with some bramen (blackberries) from Grand Frais.

We drank a whole bottle of wine with the dinner, then sat outside, till the mosquitos got too bad, watching bats and listening to Ed's bat detector.

Thursday/24-Jul-14: Yogurt on overday.

Dinner was a half recipe of Green Peppercorn and DIjon Chicken Cutlets (web). Good stuff and easy. Accompanied by butternut squash gnocchi from the freezer with a bit of sage butter, which really wasn't needed because there was  plenty of sauce from the chicken. And some Roast Asparagus with Long Pepper Gremolata (web). Long pepper is what was used by the Greeks and Romans for a peppery flavor before black pepper was available. Can't say I was struck by the flavor, but the whole effect of the long pepper, coriander seeds, lemon zest, and garlic was very pleasing. For dessert, I had the very end of a classic magnum while Ed ate the rest.

Friday/25-Jul-14: Oscar went to the vet a 8am for a biopsy.

Baked a cake this morning for a visitor this afternoon and for tomorrow night's picnic dinner, Chocolate Bundt Cake (web; cookbooker), a super cake. The visitor was Max, just turned 21, the son of long-time Dutch friends. We're not remembering when we saw him last, but now he's all grown up and it was a treat to see him.

The main course as dinner was Moroccan Spiced Lamb Shanks with Aubergine (RealCook, p127) for IHCC, but I don't feel like posting for it. Lamb shanks (souris) usually come in packages of three for some reason. I happened to find a package of four, so now have the extra two in the freezer. As an accompaniment there was whole-wheat couscous, made with the rest of a jar of chicken stock, plus Carrot and Cilantro Salad (WorldVeg, p618), a very nice little salad. I had a tiny slice of chocolate cake after. (Ed had two slices earlier.)

Saturday/26-Jul-14: This evening we went to a benefit picnic with music for the Children of Chenobyl, a charity that brings these kids to France (and elsewhere I think) to stay with local people so they can have a proper vacation in a healthy location. I made Greek-Style Lentil Salad (WorldVeg, p630) for our meal. This is a nice salad I've made before. Made some guacamole to go with corn chips. Managed to go off without the chocolate cake, that I'd hoped to share around.

Sunday/27-Jul-14: Fresh pasta tonight with Spinach and Tomato Pasta Sauce, Romagna-Style (MarCuc, p142). The sauce was good, but not spectacular. I used frozen spinach and a real tomato and some water instead of canned imported Italian plum ones with juice. And a salad. And some chocolate cake with a dab of cream.

Progress on goals
This week: #1 COOKBOOKS: yes for IHCC, but not posted; #2 VEG/FISH: 3
This month: #3 PASTA: yes; #4 FotW: no; #5 BREAD: no

This week in the kitchen

Monday/14-Jul-14: It was clear out the fridge and freezer night tonight. I started with a recipe from a store-bought package of pâte brisée, a tart with ricotta and chard. There was a package of pâte brisée in the fridge needing to be used. And a tub of ricotta. No chard, but the rest of a package of fresh spinach. And, look, the end of a wedge of bleu d'Auvergne. And that made a nice tart, although a homemade piecrust is much nicer. We bought thought crème fraîche would have been nicer than the ricotta. Next time. Made a salad of grated carrots with a lemon vinaigrette. For dessert, I made Chocolate Soufflé Cake for 2 (MC). If I ever get my Mastercook back in service (right now it's on a computer that I can't access and it doesn't run on the computer I'm using), I need to include this in my HandyBook, since it's an easy thing to put together if you got a few minutes while everything else cooks.

Tuesday/15-Jul-14: Shopping today. Looking around for things that might be of use for this month's Creole and Cajun cooking, found some rivierkreeftjes (yes, labelled in Dutch), which must be crawdads, frozen, but cooked. Bought a pair of fresh beets and roasted them when I got home. Too often, I buy fresh beets and they sit around waiting to be roasted until they go bad. Fresh beets are a bit unusual here. Four-packs of ones that are already cooked are almost always available, but two of us don't usually eat that many in a week, and they last only a few days.

Dinner was Maple-Chipotle Salmon, a recipe I collected for EAT-L a while ago. (Can't find it on the web. This is no big loss; it's not a keeper.) The salmon was basted/glazed with a mixture of maple syrup, grainy mustard, chipotle powder, and black pepper. Too sweet for our taste. Was accompanied by a sauce of sour cream, mayo, dill, orange juice, and orange zest, was was good in itself (and went well with the sautéed zucchini), but didn't go with the sweet salmon at all. Then there was sautéed zucchini, and "Old Bay" Grilled Steak Fries (web). I took the lazy way and used real Old Bay seasoning, rather than mixing my own, and mixed it with chipotle powder. Actually this is a pretty good way to do potatoes. Whole potatoes are first boiled till they're about 2/3 of the way done. Then cut into fingers. Then mixed with a dab of olive oil and the spices and grilled. It might be good to shake up the fingers, as with Dusolier's Perfect Roast Potatoes, to help give them a good crust.

We were full, but before I made dinner I made some Cranberry Upside-Down Cake. The recipe is supposed to be from the November 1994 issue of Gourmet magazine, but I haven't been able to find the recipe. Too bad because it's good!

Wednesday/16-Jul-14: Yogurt on overday.

The cranberry upside-down cake was really good for breakfast!

We  had kind of a thrown together dinner. The main was Aubergines Farcies aux Falafels et Sauce au Sésame (web), which is essentially roasted eggplants stuffed with a felafel-like mixture with a tahini sauce. This was quite good. With the innards of the eggplants, I made a little salad with some oven-dried tomatoes from the freezer. This was also good. I used one of my roasted beets to make Beet Salad (Roden, p68; cookbooker); this was really yummy, although it wanted way too much yogurt. I used one jar, which is a long half cup, and though it was more than enough, while a whole cup was called for. Nevertheless, it is a yummy salad. And some whole-wheat couscous, nothing special, but good enough. For dessert we had a whole Magnum Classic each. Decadence!

Thursday/17-Jul-14: Dinner was Mara's Broccoli and Scallop Pasta Sauce (MarCuc, p180) over cascareccia, followed by a big salad. I'm full.

Friday/18-Jul-14: Another day of oppressive heat. Dinner was pork chops for IHCC, accompanied by mashed potatoes, and corn and broccoli. Some chocolate mini magnums for dessert.

Saturday/19-Jul-14: Stormy with lots of lightning. Had to shut down the computers before I could write on Saturday.

Dinner was a half dose of Spaghetti with Shrimp, Tomatoes, and Capers (30MinPasta, p98; cookbooker). Good stuff. Then a big salad. Then a mini magnum each.

Sunday/20-Jul-14: Ed's Rochechouart choir gave a concert at the Limoges cathedral this afternoon. I left a crockpot dish cooking, so we'd be able to have dinner when we got back. That was a have dose of Pakistani "Old Clothes" Beef Curry (IndianSC, p121; cookbooker). This was kind of so-so. For sides, there was plain basmati rice and Yoghurt with Eggplant (MJ1, p164), which was a nice accompaniment to the beef.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/27-Jan-14: We went to a movie late this afternoon, then ate dinner in Angoulême. Not much happened in the kitchen today.

Tuesday/28-Jan-14: Went to bed last night thinking I was finally over the new year's crud. Woke up this morning feeling like s***. Sigh. Cancelled today's appointments (a drawing get-together and a candlewicking class).

Tonight's planned dinner was a bit more work than I felt like, so instead I made a half dose of Goat Cheese, Chive, and Chili Pepper Sauce (MarCuc, p167) for spaghetti. And a big salad. And some double chocolate mini Magnums for dessert. Now about ready for an early bedtime.

Wednesday/29-Jan-14: Yogurt on overday. Curious that since I started "cooking" my yogurt for shorter times, the starter is lasting longer. I don't think I've replaced it since last summer, and it's still fine. Doing 8 or 9 hours now, assuming the gadget stays on for the time I set it.

Skipped Pilates, but got myself together for shopping.

Dinner was a double dose of Black Pepper Salmon with Olives and Tomatoes (web). Pretty good, and very easy. Served with orzo and steamed broccoli. Split a magnum classic for after.

Thursday/30-Jan-14: For dinner, I made a full dose of Marsala Chicken Stew (web; cookbooker); we ate half and I froze the rest for another meal. It's funny that I actually collected this recipe twice from Eating Well and only discovered it when I went to enter the new copy into my spreadsheet. They resent recipe, as I notice they do sometimes. They suggested serving with whole-wheat noodles, so I bought some spaghetti, but then ended up using the mushroom-flavored chanterelle-like pasta I keep on hand. Simple and pretty tasty; might do with some veg, maybe peas. Two squares of chocolate and hazelnuts for afters.

Friday/31-Jan-14: Well, it's the last day of the month and I meant to sneak some home-made pasta in here, but lost track of time this afternoon, so ended up with dried tagliatelle instead. Too bad. Dinner was Ruth's Chris New Orleans-Style BBQ Shrimp (not sure where I collected this, but found the same recipe here). This is really easy and tasty. I sort of made a half recipe, half the shrimp and half the worcestershire sauce, just a dab of the butter (which really helped to bring the sauce together), but all of the rest of the spices. Then a big salad. Then two more squares of chocolate and hazelnuts.

On Facebook a month of so ago, there went around a post about naming the top ten books that have affected your life. I never answered this, but have thought about it a bit. As a child, I loved and read several times the Burgess Bird Book for Children and the Burgess Animal Book for Children, both with illustrations by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, whom I would have thought was dead long before these books were first published (1919 and 1920 respectively). I have no idea who gave these to me or when. I've written my name in very young cursive on the flyleaf. On the list of illustrations I checked off most of the birds; I'm not sure if they were ones I'd seen or ones I wanted to see. Hard to believe I hadn't seen an English sparrow, but also hard to believe I didn't want to see a bald eagle. I've started reading the bird book again. Charming children's stories of birds. Now I see you're actually being given lots of information about the lives of these common birds, nesting, feeding,  habitat, migration, identification, etc.

Saturday/1-Feb-14: Yogurt on overday.

We ate out tonight we the Trois Coins group plus spouses. A nice time, but nothing happened in the kitchen.

Sunday/2-Feb-14: Another Time-Life meal, this time rösti from Switzerland (TLQuint, p95). I made a halfish recipe (a short 2# of potatoes probably), which fit nicely in my smaller cast iron skillet. Added the layer of sautéed onions as suggested in the note. If you prepared the potatoes (parboiling, peeling, chilling) the night before, this would be a pretty good weeknight meal. The poached egg was my addition, but went quite well. We split a classic magnum for dessert.

For my Time-Life project, this month we start with Spain & Portugal, and we have two more weeks to cook from TLQuint. I have a few dishes scheduled for this week from TLQuint. I still need to read the Tunisia/Morocco section and I'm sure I'll come up with some things there to cook soon.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/14-Oct-13: Leftover night. Sliced the remaining pork roast and warmed it with the rest of the broccoli parmentier. For a starter we had a simple salad of mâche and rucola topped with a bit on goat cheese on toast. That's all.

Tuesday/15-Oct-13: Anniversary lunch out today. For dinner there was popcorn, carrot sticks, plums, and cherry tomatoes in front of an old movie.

Wednesday/16-Oct-13: Yogurt on overday.

Shopping today. Found a package of "homemade" croissants, like biscuits. Will try in the next days. The brand is good, but there are a lot of questionable ingredients for something that should be essentially flour and butter.

For dinner I grilled swordfish and served with Thomas's Green Sauce for Poached or Grilled Fish (MrLatte, p178). I liked this OK, but Ed not at all. Have tons of the sauce left. Maybe will freeze it up to use by the drab in salad dressing or some such. Accompanied by some trio rice and some Perfect Pan-Roasted Green Beans (HandyBook) and a little salad made of grated broccoli stems, suggested by Dusolier in a box on the Broccoli Parmentier page—grated (peeled) stems with raisins, sunflower seeds, and a yogurt dressing. Used walnuts instead of sunflower seeds. Successful salad. Two squares of hazelnut-filled chocolate for dessert.

Thursday/17-Oct-13: Finally got some pasta made for dinner. Tagliatelle, to go with Porcini-Style Shiitake Mushroom Pasta Sauce (MarCuc, p152). Tonight's mushrooms were oesterzwamen (or pleurotes or oyster mushrooms) with cremini. Nicer with porcini and shiitakes, but those aren't to be found. Strange that it's the season for cêpes, but they are not to be found in our grocery. As a starter  we had Smoked Salmon Salad with Dill (BEFCC, p35), a nice little salad, quick to make. Neither of us are fennel fans, but fennel and cucumbers are a good combination.

Friday/18-Oct-13: For dinner tonight, there was Tom's Brick Chicken (CastIron, p63). I've done this before; a nice way to cook a bird. I actually started out to make a half recipe of Twin Roasted Chickens with Garlicky Bulgur Dressing (GreeneGrains, p90), but decided I didn't want to stuff a bird. Instead I just made the stuffing on the side. Good it was. And, using up the kumquats I bought last week, there was Broccoli and Kumquat Salad with Olives (Uncommon, p271). We finished off by sharing a classic Magnum. The chocolate on these just isn't as good as it used to me. Too bad.

Saturday/19-Oct-13: Yogurt on overday.

An unexpected dinner tonight, since we originally planned on going to the Fête du Vin at St Sornin tonight, but decided against it. So, we had a more or less half recipe of Shocking Pink Pasta (Dusoulier2, p115). Shocking pink, it was, too, beets and cream. I took the lazy way and used the staff mixer, but probably should have used the blender, since it was the sauce was a bit grainy. This is one of those things I'm glad I tried, but maybe don't need to make again. Although, it might make a nice starter or side dish if you needed a bit of color or a talking point at dinner.

Followed by a salad, topped with some blue goat cheese. For afters, a bit of Morbier. Both bought today at the Marché du Goût at La Rochefoucauld.

I have used quite a few seldom used cookbooks this week, but I haven't done separate posts for them. Sorry, just seems like too much trouble.

Sunday/20-Oct-13: Lunch at 4pm meant we didn't get to dinner till really late. I didn't really plan anything for today, since I thought we'd be eating out. Wrong. So it was a last minute, what-can-I-do-to-use-up-stuff-in-the-fridge sort of meal. I more or less made Spicy Eggplant Stew with Potatoes, Mushroom, and Chickpeas (WorldVeg, p196). A really tasty recipe. We split a Magnum classic for dessert.

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

Ligurian-Style Pasta Sauce with Raw Tomatoes, Olives, Capers, and Anchovies

Marcella Cucina
Marcella Hazan
Harper Collins (1997)
ISBN 0060171030

Marcella Hazan's recent death was a stimulus to add some of her recipes to the menu plan. I've used this book quite a lot, so it really doesn't qualify as a seldom used book, but it's been a while since I cooked from either of my Hazan books, so it seems appropriate to post.

Made with raw tomatoes, this dish is really like a tomato salad served on pasta. You start by chopping together some black and green olives, capers, and anchovy fillets. Then you peel and seed a mess of tomatoes (just a bit of tedium!) and cut them into narrow strips. Mix these all together along with some julienned basil, marjoram or oregano, minced garlic, and parsley. Add salt and pepper, red wine vinegar, and olive oil, toss everything together, then let the sauce sit for at least an hour, stirring occasionally. That's a salad, right? My sauce sat only for the time required to boil water and cook the spaghetti. It's hard to imagine it getting better.

The instructions say to assemble the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Since you're instructed to toss the spaghetti in the same bowl, small will definitely not do. It took the middle-sized bowl of the 3-bowl pyrex set to hold the sauce for a half recipe; the smaller bowl would have been too small. I put the pasta back in the pasta pot and did the tossing there.

Because of the tomato peeling, this is decidedly not a quick dish to make, but since the sauce can be made well ahead, it could make a nice company dish.

This meal in grateful memory of Marcella Hazan and the pleasure she has brought to the cooking and eating in our household.

This post is shared with October's Cook Your Books, where you can find lots of intriguing dishes folks have been making from their cookbooks.

This week in the kitchen

Monday/7-Oct-13: Yogurt on overday. Boiled up and froze the chicken stock I started the other day.

Using up leftovers and odd bits, tonight we had Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas, and Olives (MC). Not enough cauliflower, so added some broccoli. I think this was meant to be a side dish, but I stir the stuff into pasta. Good tastes.

Tuesday/8-Oct-13: Reaching a cookbook crisis point here. Looking for a missing book (which I later found on a completely wrong shelf), I gathered most of the cookbooks scattered throughout the house and started putting them away. In at least two places I don't have room for the books I have. May have to break down and, yipes, give away some books. Sigh.

Dinner was Spicy Sesame Noodles (MC) with shrimp, an easy oldy, but goody. Then a salad.

Wednesday/9-Oct-13: Shopping today. More raw beets on sale, so I bought some again; usually there are only ready-cooked ones.

Dinner was Maple-Miso Dijon Salmon (web), which was pretty darn good. Served with trio rice and a side of broccoli-mushroom-shallot-garlic. Leclerc has a small section of food just short of its sell-by date, heavily discounted, so I bought a pair of charlottes with red fruit for €1. The picture on the package showed the charlottes heavily covered with fresh fruit. What there was was a small spoonful of jam-like stuff. Edible. Barely.

Yogurt on overnight.

Thursday/10-Oct-13: Dinner was Thai Chicken & Mango Stir-Fry (web). I had half the meat, but made all the sauce. This was fine, but a lot for two, although Ed doesn't mind eating more-or-less two servings, especially since the doctor said he was underweight. For dessert we had Easy Berry Cobbler (HandyBook), with blueberries and raspberries, and a dab of vanilla ice crea

Friday/11-Oct-13: Dinner was a halfish recipe of Ligurian-Style Pasta Sauce with Raw Tomatoes, Olives, Capers, and Anchovies (MarCuc, p134). Followed by a salad. And then the rest of the cobbler with ice cream. Oink.

Saturday/12-Oct-13: Continuing the Marcella Hazan theme, tonight's dinner was Roast Pork with Vinegar and Bay Leaves (ClassicItal, p419), using up a chunk of pork from the freezer. Served this with Baked Eggplant Slices (TooMany, p114), an easy favorite, and some especially nice fried potatoes. For the pots, I parboiled the potato chunks and drained them. Then finished off by frying them while I was finishing the rest of the meal. Stole the parboil idea from Dusoulier's Perfect Roasted Potatoes and the finishing by frying from Hazan's Pan-Roasted Diced Potatoes. Whatever works. We split a classic Magnum for dessert.

Sunday/13-Oct-13: Dinner was Broccoli Parmentier (Dusoulier2, p134; cookbooker), a tasty dish with brown rice and lentils on the bottom and puréed broccoli on the top. The two of us ate more than half.

For dessert we had two little pear tartelettes I got at the boulangerie this afternoon.

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

This week in the kitchen

Monday/19-Aug-13: Gathered yet more zucchini this morning; we skipped yesterday and have a lot to show for that!. Lots of little winter squash to come soon.

DId an interim shopping today while Ed went to the brico.

Dinner was a half dose of Ravioli with Roasted Zucchini (web). Good, and interesting that the zuke was roasted instead of sautéed. Then a salad. Then some mini magnums.

Tuesday/20-Aug-13: Made half of Lemony Zucchini and Bean Pasta Salad (web). Using more zucchini and green beans from the garden. And good it was. That was all.

Wednesday/21-Aug-13: Soup day. Made double doses, about four liters each, of two soups. First Curried Zucchini Soup (web). Made with chicken stock. Added 50% more curry powder and it still doesn't have a strong taste of curry. Maybe it will bloom in the freezer. Then there was Zucchini Garlic Soup (web). Used only a tiny smidge of the butter asked, plus a smidge of olive oil; used garlic broth; has powdered ginger added; tastes promising.

Dinner was, yes, more zucchini, a half dose of Zucchini Rice Casserole (web). Half of a recipe that should serve 12; we'll get 4 servings, a bit short. Had to improvise on some of the ingredients, and didn't bake the rice to cook it. Pretty good.

Oh yes, I also oven-dried some plum tomatoes. Got to use the timed cooking feature on the oven for the first time, since we went to a movie before they were done.

There are now only two smallish zukes in the fridge! With more on the vine, of course.

Thursday/22-Aug-13: Didn't feel like cooking tonight at all. So I asked Ed how he felt about going out to dinner. Not positive. How about eating the leftovers, he said. So we did, along with a tomato each (minimalist salad) and some corn on the cob. Then some mini magnums.

Friday/23-Aug-13: Shopping today, our "regular" one postponed since we also shopped on Monday. This week being pot luck at IHCC, meaning I could make something from Madhur Jaffrey, fish with eggplant and zucchini from the garden. Also shared this is Cook Your Books (see right column), which is a monthly thing similar to Cookbook Sundays.

Saturday/24-Aug-13: Out for an evening walk followed by a light dinner.

Sunday/25-Aug-13: Gathered yet more zucchini and winter squash plus a handful of haricots verts from the garden. I'm just reading that you can freeze slices of winter squash, so I may try that since we have lots in the house and lots more coming. Otherwise, I'll try to find a cool place to store a bunch of squash.

Oops, started to make a pad thai sort of thing for dinner and discovered I didn't have enough wide rice noodles. Onto the list with those, then replan. Made a half dose of Zucchini Sauce for Pasta with Tomato, Parsley, and Chili Pepper (Marcuc, p161). Had marked this to cook when I was making pasta, but the kitchen is in too much disarray for pasta right now.

Yogurt on overnight.

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