Note: I started this a few weeks ago, and finally had time to finish it today.
Our eight weeks of confinement comes to an end tomorrow. I’ve spent a lot of the time trying new recipes, much to Will’s dismay 
Sweet
I found a regular-sized muffin tin during the first week of confinement – until now, they’ve only ever had the mini version. My aunt Barb is an amazing cook, and has recently written a memoir/cookbook called How I Learned to Cook: An Artist’s Life. I emailed her for some suggestions and she was kind enough to send a few along.
First I made Banana Muffins that were good, and very similar to banana bread. Barb pointed me to a corn muffin recipe in her book, and these were a delight. They’re slightly sweeter than cornbread, and her recipe includes some non-traditional ingredients such as chilis and cheese. We liked them so much I made them twice.
I’d never made lemon bars before, thinking they were time-consuming or difficult. It turns out, they were neither. I followed a recipe from Jess who I met at Geralds 50 + 1 birthday celebration last year. It was a very similar recipe to one Mom had, and I followed a combination of the two. The lemon portion came out really well, but the shortbread crust was a bit too dense for my liking. I’ll definitely make them again though. Continuing on the lemon kick, I also made a lemon poppy cake that came out a bit dense since I used too much flour. I’ve made it again with less flour and adding the lemon icing and it was much nicer.
I tried out a few new fruit-based cakes (not to be confused with fruitcake, which is gross). My favourite was an apple spice cake, with raisins and walnuts, made in a loaf tin. It stayed moist for days. Another winner was a pear and apple cake. This is made in a round tin, with thinly sliced apple sections decorated in a semi-circle around the top, with chunks of apples and pears in the cake.
Barb suggested a few recipes from her book that I gave a go. The first was Pear Kuchen, a round cake with pears and toasted hazelnuts on top. I beat the eggs too long and it rose more than it should have, but the taste was lovely. The other was an Orange Poppyseed Cake, that was very easy and very tasty. I’ve already made it a 2nd time.
Savoury
We ate a fair bit more meat during lockdown. We often serve it when we have company, or eat it at other people’s homes, so I used the opportunity to try some new dishes. I started with a couple of Mexican dishes: Chicken Mole and Carnitas (slow-roast pork). I refer to the mole as “faux-mole” since the real thing has loads of impossible-to-find-here ingredients, and takes hours to prepare. This was a cheat version used dried herbs and bouillon cubes, but still came out ok for a first attempt. The Carnitas was lovely, with tender, succulent meat and flavourful sauce. We had it on it’s own with corn muffins the first night, then used the leftovers for tacos. I will definitely be making them both again.
I wanted to try some new lentil dishes but these were impossible to find at the shop, so I repurposed some other ingredients and landed on a winner of a meal. The main dish was roasted fennel and turkey sausages, with red onion and rosemary. It’s a delight and very easy. The sides were roasted tomatoes and garlic, and roasted Potato Kugel bits. This a a traditional dish in Jewish cooking, and Mom had sent me her recipe to try. It’s a cross between baked hash browns and tortilla espagnola, consisting of shredded potato grated onion, corn starch and egg that is baked in a glass dish. It becomes Potato Latkes when you form the mixture into patties and pan fry them. Anyway, I’d made it to go with a different meal, and had a few pieces left over that I roasted separately in a bit of oil. I’ve already done the fennel and sausage dish again, and it will become part of our regular rotation.
The clear winner of the lockdown recipes is Sesame Honey Chicken Legs. This is a Chinese style dish, oven baked and smothered in a sweet and spicy sauce. I served it with stir-fried broccoli w/ginger and garlic, and fried rice. I made it again on our first night of post-confinement hosting when we had Francoise, Paul & Nathalie over. They all agreed it was an excellent meal.
During asparagus season, I purchased some in the store and we received a couple of deliveries from Lucien. I brought them a couple of pieces of whichever dessert I’d made that week, and usually got something in return. He came by one day with jars of pate and civet made from the boar and deer we were given by the hunters and subsequently gave to the Beaufils. I used the asparagus to make risotto and it was just ok, so I tried it again later and it was a bit better, but not much. I also used it in a quiche and that came out pretty well.
Confit de canard has gone up a lot in price since we moved here, mainly due to avain flu. We used to find it for as low as €6 / tin in the early days, but now we’re lucky to see it below €15. When I saw they had it for €12, I considered it a bargain, and purchased a tin on a few occasions. We used it to make duck spring rolls and although they’re good, they’re a bit of a pain to make so we only had those once. Another time, we had it on its own with roast potatoes which is always a nice comfort meal. My favourite preparation though was in a salad with pears, bleu cheese, nuts and other goodies that we had a few times. I found a few different recipes and blended them into my own and ended up with a dressing I was proud of.
In the early days of confinement, the weather was really nice and we had a few bbqs. We mainly had spice rubbed chicken and sausages, plus various sides. I made coleslaw a couple of times: once the traditional mayo version; the other was vinegar based with red cabbage and apple. The other new side was grilled polenta, which was not bad, but not too exciting.
I’m always looking for new veggie recipes, so I asked Suzy for some of hers. She obliged with a number of recipes from a cookbook I own, but haven’t use much. The first was Cauliflower Spaghetti in a tomato cream sauce that was was fairly good, but the cauliflower was a bit overpowering. I’m going to try it again tonight, but will roast the cauliflower instead of sauteing it, which I hope will mellow it a bit.
I tried a couple of versions of mushroom burgers. The first was fairly traditional, baked in the oven, and they were just ok. The second version were pan-fried, served with a creme fraiche sauce, and I liked these a lot more. The other recipe was one I’d done before long ago, and wasn’t too impressed called Courgette Tomato Swiss Pie. It uses eggs to hold it together so is a bit like a quiche. I made a few adjustments and liked it more this time, enough to make it a second time.
That’s the confinement cooking round-up. If you’d like any recipes, you know where to find me.