What's Cooking This Weekend? Weekend of February 14-15, 2009

It's the weekend -- what's on your menu? We are planning a quiet Valentine's dinner and a trip to our local market. It's February and it's still cold, but the sun is shining. Other ideas for weekend cooking: a big bowl of chunky stew, a fennel slaw, perhaps a loaf of bread. What are your plans? Tell us, and read on for a few more good things to cook and eat from The Kitchn.

Pictured above: Pastillage hearts on fancy chocolate bites at a wedding we catered a few years ago.

• Do you have plans to enter our February Jumpstart contest? You could win a tidy gift certificate from Etsy -- surely you have one or two kitchen projects you've been meaning to get done! Here are some more ideas, just in case.

• Have you ever wondered whether expensive pantry staples are worth it? Dana blind taste-tests tomatoes and tells us the verdict!

• Soup Month is still in full swing: try using tea balls as soup infusers and here's how to make soup from almost anything.

• Still looking for a Valentine's treat? Try these sticky toffee cakelets or Sour Cherry-Almond Ice Cream with Chocolate Chunks or any of these chocolate desserts.

• Do you have a rental kitchen? Here are ten kitchen improvements that renters can make.

• Lovely pear muffins for a light breakfast in bed.

• How about a pink party spread for Valentine's?

• Our favorite soup of the day, so far: rustic winter stew with pork and sauerkraut.

• Look! A sexy rice cooker.

• Stay warm with fondue or a big tureen of soup.

Have a wonderful weekend!

(Image: Faith Durand)

Soup!

So far i've made the zucchini and garlic soup, the African groundnut soup and i'm just about to make a potato, leek and broccoli soup. It's cold and rainy in Sydney today...

posted by hayley d on February 14th 2009 at 12:33am
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Get over to Deb's (@ the smittenkitchen.com) and try her Irish Car Bomb cupcakes.. Oh my lord! They're a chocolate/guinness cupcake base, with a whiskey ganache center and Baileys Buttercream Frosting!
I made those last night as a precursor to Valentines and the boyfriend loved them. I upped the liqour in both the ganache and frosting.
Seriously.. go try them now!

posted by crasht1224 on February 14th 2009 at 10:43am
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Simplicity itself...roasted broccoli and shrimp (recipe at Wednesday Chef), and a ginger carrot soup I've made a couple of times from where? Oh, yes, Southport Grocery Web site, a Chicago eatery/bakery/mail order source.

posted by 39520expat on February 14th 2009 at 12:44pm
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I made the soda bread with dried cherries & golden raisins posted here last week and it is incredible! Thank you! I made a few changes to make it egg- & dairy-free (just left the eggs out, subbed Earth Balance for butter, and used a combo of cider vinegar and soy milk for the buttermilk) and the recipe adapted beautifully.

Also made lentil soup with a leftover ham bone.

(both are here, if anyone wants recipes: http://wellfedeveryone.wordpress.com/)

posted by Margaret K. on February 14th 2009 at 9:58pm
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Italian wedding soup, with extra drumsticks for flavour, orzo as the noodle, and escarole as the green...

And steak with red wine sauce tonight for dinner...

Oh, but we have been gorging on Macarons Ladurée -- a full box, with 2 of every flavour currently being made -- part of our Valentine's/Anniversary celebration. Heavenly. The food of angels.

posted by mschatelaine on February 15th 2009 at 6:14am
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Roast turkey breast with asparagus and cauliflower (also roasted) and for dessert, another of smitten kitchen's triumphs - her easy chocolate pudding (with toffee crumbles and raspberries). And a nice bottle of wine.

Mmm. And today, leftovers!

posted by Anne (in Reno) on February 15th 2009 at 12:04pm
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potato bread. ham and cheese and shallot omelets. nice red wine.

posted by joanser22 on February 15th 2009 at 4:46pm
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I am making the Mushroom Soup you featured in the autumn. So far it smells heavenly as it simmers on the stove. It is always amazing to watch 'shrooms shrink as they cook. I threw in some elderly leeks in addition to the white onion, and may sprinkle green onions on top.
-
It was difficult to sweat the onions, et al without accidentally browning some, but that's a new lesson--go lower than you think with a cast-iron dutch oven.

posted by JD523 on February 15th 2009 at 7:55pm
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I made the popover recipe from a week or two ago. So easy! Which is lucky, because they were an instant favorite with my husband and daughter, who have mentioned they might like these for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

posted by cmcinnyc on February 16th 2009 at 2:46pm
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I did quite a bit of cooking this weekend, not specifically for Valentine's day though. My friend, however, brought me rice crispy treat, which I cut into a heart using a cookie cutter http://mangotomato.blogspot.com/2009/02/valentine-from-jenn.html

posted by orchidgirl1979 on February 17th 2009 at 8:50am
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