Tuesday, 3/31/15

Deviled eggs, chick pea fries, assorted Trader Joe's from freezer. The chick pea fries recipe came from "Dinner, a Love Story", but I am going to email the recipe to myself. So good! I tarted up some sour cream with lime and sriracha as a dip. Will definitely make these again.

Monday, 3/30/15

Burgers and fries. Nothing to say about that. I also had dukkah-roasted cauliflower (from "My Paris Kitchen"), which I liked but if I ever make dukkah again I will NOT put in whole peppercorns as they do not get ground up in the food processor. I had to pick them out and then crush them in the mortar and pestle (I do not recommend this; grind the pepper first next time).

Sunday, 3/29/15

Pasta alla Genovese from NYT. Jason liked it, but I was very underwhelmed after all that onion chopping and purchasing of chuck roast. I felt it could have used something to brighten it up (maybe a gremolata?). Served with sauteed zucchini with cherry tomatoes. Also only so-so, since I was in a hurry. Ugh. Not my best effort.

Saturday, 3/28/15

Dinner at J & D. So, kouign amman....The dough didn't really come together properly; the butter chunks stayed really big and didn't work into the dough at all. It got sort of weepy in the fridge (from the sugar, I guess). Also, if you are going to use a springform pan, for pete's sake put another pan underneath. The acrid, burning butter smell was most unpleasant. I threw a major fit. The finished product was OK, but I feel like another effort is in order. I would just use regular old butter next time, frankly.

I also made a artichoke heart tapenade from David Lebovitz' "My Paris Kitchen" which was easy and tasty.

Friday, 3/27/15

Time consuming chicken nachos from Serious Eats. I skip frying my own chips and use the big round ones instead. I also skip the radishes on top. This time I didn't bother with pickled jalapenos and sort of missed them. A delicious if guilty pleasure.

Thursday, 3/26/15

Garlicky Chicken with Lemon  from the NYT; served this with some tiny pasta and zucchini that I sauteed with leeks, red bell pepper and crappy cherry tomatoes. Really good all together. I might cut the chicken up and serve it that way next time.

Wednesday, 3/24/15

Made an italian ricotta cheesecake (migliocco) from the NYT. First of all, I didn't have an 11" cake pan (who does??), so subbed in the deeper springform. I think it would have made more sense to just scale down the recipe, which was weird---more like making a polenta. I didn't love it, but it wasn't horrible. I don't think I would make it again, but if I did, I would 1/2 the recipe, add way more lemon and/or orange, and maybe add more ricotta, too.