neither before nor after

On the ride home from work tonight, I spent some time thinking about which of the three dinners left on my menu I would make. I knew I really ought to make the Chickpea-Chard-Harissa dish since I don't know how much longer the chard will hang on, but unfortunately, none of the four stores I visited on my last day off had harissa in stock - in fact one of the smaller-but-fruitier stores didn't even know what I was talking about! I figure it's probably important to include that ingredient since it's part of the title, so I decided to refrain from making it until I can get my hands on some harissa.

I decided to make Potato and Cauliflower Curry (aka Aloo Gobi) because it's one of Mister's favorites and because I was just telling a new employee at work how I don't think I could live without curries. This was in the context of trying to prevent a new customer from getting lamb or curry spice in her order, since she was apparently severely allergic.

Anyway, I have never made this particular Aloo Gobi recipe because I think I might have at least half a dozen other recipes for it that work just fine. However, I was too lazy to cook from more than one book this week, so I decided to give this never-before-tried recipe a try. If I had read the recipe a little closer, I might have used my big, deep pot rather than overflowing my saute pan. By the way - I am definitely going to have to replace/augment the saute pan situation. Must have 5 quarts in a future life. It made a lot.

I really can't tell how I feel about the combination of fresh ginger and a tomato sauce/broth. On the one hand, it had the most fascinating aroma, but on the other hand, the antiseptic qualities of ginger really brought out the acidity of the tomatoes and not in a good way. Since I was a child, my way to make things taste better has been to add salt, but I don't think that would have helped. It wasn't bad - don't get me wrong - but I don't think I will make this particular recipe again, when I have so many other recipes that I adore. It looked nice, though:
It is so cold in Philadelphia. I think soup is inevitable on next week's menu.