donna's daily dish

winners and loser

4/29/2017

It's been a very busy couple of weeks at the store. Two nights I didn't get home until after 10 p.m.

However, despite this challenge, I have been cooking some new recipes. The one "loser" in the bunch was the Peanut Chicken recipe from Garden and Gun Magazine that I made on April 25th. The ingredients were creamy peanut butter, green onions, soy sauce, rice vinegar, cayenne pepper, fresh ginger and garlic. While the chicken came out moist and juicy, it was just blah. It looked pretty on the platter, but taste wise it needed something to give some pow!

in the mood

4/24/2017

After the Easter holiday, I'm having a bit of a struggle to get in the cooking mood. However, I'm on fold patrol Tuesday and Wednesday night, so organization is the key.

Whole Foods has whole organic chicken on sale until tomorrow for $2.29/lb. I have a recipe from the April/May 2011 issue of Garden and Gun Magazine. I've searched on line for the recipe, but appears I have to type this one up. Besides a whole chicken, I need creamy peanut butter, green onions, soy sauce, rice vinegar, cayenne pepper, fresh ginger and garlic. It seems this recipe will take me approximately an hour from start to finish.

where does the time go?

4/21/2017

I can't believe that Easter has come and gone already. I haven't really cooked this week as there were enough leftovers to carry us a few days.

I recommend that you try Lidia's Penne alla Vodka recipe. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I prepared the sauce, but asked my son to make the pasta for me. He did a great job and it came out delicious. It was creamy and just a hit of heat from the red pepper flakes that the recipe called for. Why buy it when you can make it better at home.

Prepping for Easter Dinner

4/12/2017

I've been working just about every day this week leading up to the Easter holiday. I planned a menu that could be done with minimal prep or can be done ahead of time. It's also helpful to have family willing to pitch in a bring a dish to dinner.

A special thank you to my friend, Colleen, for her beautiful flowers for my Easter table.

So what am I serving? My daughter and her husband are bringing tomatoes with fresh mozzarella. My son ordered two loaves of bread, three Parmesan rolls and three chocolate rolls from Medusa Stone Fired Kitchen in Asbury. Our salad will be Mandarin Salad, which has a sweet and sour dressing, topped with mandarin oranges and sugar glazed almonds. Since we're Italian, you have to have pasta. This year, I decided to serve Penne alla Vodka. I found the recipe on epicurious.com; it's a recipe from Lidia Bastianich's Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen.

meatless meal

4/11/2017

As we approach the end of Lent, I'm running out of ideas for meatless meals. I went back to my Lidia's Italy cookbook to come up with something different that could be done in a reasonable amout of time. Lo and behold, I a found a wonderful springtime recipe for risotto with spinach.

The ingredients can be found in your local grocery store, just about all of the local ones now carry Arborio rice, a little more challenging may be Carnaroli rice. Spinach leaves, onions, white wine and either Grana Padao or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese are needed. Do not purchase cheese in a cardboard container. Purchase a wedge of what you'll need and grate it yourself. The cheese will last about a week or two. Wrap it tightly in parchment paper or foil and store in your vegetable draw as exposure to air will dry out the cheese.

rainy day activities

4/6/2017

With today's weather being foggy, misty and damp, I wanted a hearty meal for tonight. The bonus is I'm not working today. My late mother-in-law gave me her copy of Jean Anderson's book The Grass Roots Cookbook. I found a recipe for mushroom-smothered Swiss steak. As you know, we don't eat much meat in our house, but this recipe sounded delicious. So this morning, I headed off to Delicious Orchards and Whole Foods to get the ingredients for this dish.

another friday in lent

4/1/2017

Well, I finally made it to Local130 Seafood located at 1300 Memorial Drive in Asbury Park. It's not your typical fish market. While there was some fish on display, I assume most of it is kept in the back on ice. I purchased a bag of PEI mussels brought in from Confederation Cove Mussel Co. Ltd. in Canada. I must say, the mussels seemed to be a bit larger than the ones I purchase at Wegmans and tasted a bit sweeter too.

i'll take manhattan

4/1/2017

This past Saturday, a business associate of my husband gave us tickets to the Metropolitan Opera House's production of Fidelio. We had fabulous seats, six rows from the stage. As a further treat, our benefactor gave us a pass to the Belmont Room, which is just for Guild Members at the donor level or for Met patrons. It was a small room where you can get some light refreshments during intermission.

However, we had decided to have brunch before the show. It's difficult to find a nice, affordable dining spot in the Lincoln Square area. Previously, we had eaten at Nick and Toni's on West 67th Street, however, they closed in early January.