donna's daily dish

steamy days of summer

7/15/2023

The steamy days of summer really put a kink in one’s cooking. However, I’ve been finding some delicious one pot pasta dishes that go well in this hot weather. Melissa Clark’s recipe for One-Pan Shrimp Scampi with Crispy Gnocchi takes about 30 minutes to prepare and makes for a quick post-beach supper. In last week’s Dreyer Farms CSA box, I had two green zucchini that came just in time to try Alexa Weibel’s recipe for One-Pot Zucchini-Basil Pasta. As Sunday was overcast and gray, why not bake even more cookies. I made Rosemary Walnut Biscotti from a vintage issue of “Gourmet Magazine, December 1992.

If you are a subscriber to The New York Times, you can find Melissa Clark’s recipe in her column “A Good Appetite.” This recipe appeared in the article titled “Give Your Gnocchi the Shrimp Scampi Treatment,” published in October 2022. I love this recipe because it’s quick, you can use fresh or frozen shrimp and shelf stable gnocchi, such as Wegmans potato gnocchi, which I love. For the recipe you’ll also need extra virgin olive oil, unsalted butter, fresh garlic, dry white wine (clam juice or broth works too), kosher salt (Diamond Crystal), black pepper, red pepper flakes, one pound of shrimp, a lemon and fresh chopped parsley.

time for something sweet

6/10/2023

In one of our first CSA boxes this season there was a container of New Jersey strawberries. I let my daughter keep them, however, if I had Melissa Clark’s recipe for Strawberry Almond Cakes at the time, I would have kept my share. A few weeks ago, in her “A Good Appetite” column, Ms. Clark presented her recipe for a take on financiers that had roasted strawberries. I recently made financiers and I adored them as they reminded me of almond croissants. The recipe, Strawberry Almond Cakes, is made with fresh strawberries, granulated sugar, unsalted butter, confectioner’s sugar, almond flour, all-purpose flour, fine sea salt or table salt, egg whites and vanilla extract.

The difference between Ms. Clark’s recipe and the financier’s recipe that I made from America’s Test Kitchen, is the use of confectioner’s sugar versus granulated sugar and a small addition of flour in the Strawberry Almond Cakes. Don’t let these subtle differences discourage you, Ms. Clark’s recipe produced a delicate crumb and roasting the berries helped to not only concentrate the flavor, but reduced their moisture.

Mother's Day

4/17/2023

Mother’s Day is just four short weeks away, have you started planning yet? I am the mother of two children and grandmother to 3 and I prefer to stay home and not join the throngs of people dining out. In fact, I wouldn’t mind cooking if that meant my entire family would be together at once. I’ll take it a step further and host my children and grandchildren on Saturday. If, however, you prefer to take Mom out, consider other days besides Mother’s Day. Another suggestion would be to cater the dinner and enjoy it at home thus allowing younger children a bit more freedom.

Perhaps you’re sharing the cooking duties with family. I have some wonderful recipes for appetizers. If available by Mother’s Day, Garlic Scape Salad Dressing is decidedly different and delicious on a tossed salad. Marinated Beet Salad with Whipped Goat Cheese is also tasty. If you want to hit wider range of palates, create a charcuterie board using Alexian Pâté. If you’re not sure how to build a charcuterie board, I’ve provided a link to “Better Homes and Garden’s” website for instructions.

a bit of lemon

4/12/2023

Click here to I recently saw a delicious dessert in The New York Times for an easy to make Lemon Cheesecake Tart by Yossy Arefi. I thought this would be a lovely dessert for Easter. You’ll need a pan with a removable bottom, I used a fluted tart pan. For the recipe you need flour, sugar, fine salt, lemon zest and juice, unsalted butter, cream cheese and eggs.

almond croissants

4/2/2023

Besides chocolate sugar cookies, the other sweet that I could eat every day are almond croissants. The first almond croissant I had was from Maison Kayser in Manhattan. My husband and I haven’t been into Manhattan since the pandemic. When we came in for theatre, we would arrive late morning, walk up to Maison Kayser near Columbus Circle purchase an almond croissant and coffee then people watch near Central Park.

Unfortunately, Maison Kayser closed all 16 of their New York locations at the beginning of the pandemic. In July of 2020 it was reported that they were looking to close down all of their stores in Manhattan. By September, they filed for bankruptcy, closing all of its stores and leaving 800 people without employment.

December 27th, 2022

12/27/2022

Sometimes I prepare so many new and exciting recipes, that we never have them twice.

As it’s been so cold the past few days, I would like to suggest a Broccoli and Arugula Soup. This recipe was found in the January 2022 issue of “Charleston Magazine.” The soup was thick and creamy despite there being no cream in the soup. Both my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Some of the best recipes from 2022 came from The New York Times/NYT Cooking. One such recipe is Kay Chun’s Korean Cheeseburgers with Sesame-Cucumber Pickles. These are not your parents’ cheeseburgers. The burgers are flavored with soy sauce, scallions, garlic, pepper and sugar. They’re served with a mayonnaise dressing flavored with the same ingredients as the burgers plus toasted sesame oil. These burgers were incredible. I also made Ali Slagle’s Chicken Parm Burgers that were fabulous. Between the aromatic basil, the intensity of the tomato paste, these burgers were packed with flavor.

Spice up your holiday cookies

12/17/2022

UPDATE December 17, 2022 -
I just baked off my Gingerbread Latte Cookies, what a delicious cookie. I loved the coffee/gingerbread flavor. They are a little chewy, but I'm curious to see how they taste tomorrow.

I followed the directions in Vreeland Vaughn's recipe and they came out just as he described. I only prepared half the amount of sugar coating, which was sufficient. I also, used my cookie scooper, which was not a full two tablespoons as he suggested, but the size was perfect. This is a wonderful recipe and a delightful change. A wonderful accompaniment with your favorite hot beverage.

I am a subscriber to The New York Times and part of that subscription give me access to their webpage NYT Cooking. I love the variety of contributors to their website as well as the variety of recipes that they showcase.

One of their contributors is Eric Kim, who is a NYT staff writer. One of his recent recipes that caught my eye was for Gochujang Caramel Cookies. It just so happened I had gochujang in my refrigerator and was curious as to what they would taste like. For the recipe you’ll need unsalted butter, dark brown sugar, gochujang, granulated sugar, an egg, kosher salt, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract, baking soda and all-purpose flour. Just a suggestion, I recommend that you click here for a video demonstration by Eric Kim as I found it helpful in making the cookies.

a thanksgiving dessert recipe

10/29/2022

Can you believe it, Thanksgiving is 26 days away! I’ve been digging through my recipe files to come up with a menu. This year I’ve been blessed with both my son and daughter coming to dinner with their families. We haven’t had a holiday with both children together in a long time.

Recently, I found a recipe on The New York Times Cooking webpage for Apple Crumb Crostata. Who can resist a baked good with a crumb topping, I know I can’t. The recipe is by famed pastry chef, Claudia Fleming, formerly of Gramercy Tavern in Manhattan.

what's cookin'

10/11/2022

It seems I neglected to blog about a recent supper of Lemon-Dill Chicken Skillet that I prepared last week. I am also going to include two other recipes that came on the heels of this one.
I had some remaining feta cheese from the baked eggs recipe I recently prepared for my friends. I was quite happy to find another recipe utilizing feta cheese. This was found in the May 2022 issue of Southern Living Magazine. The ingredients needed include Yukon gold potatoes, olive oil, bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, freshly ground black pepper, kosher salt, fresh lemon juice, feta cheese and fresh dill fronds. This is a great recipe to keep close at hand as it has a prep time of 25 minutes and completed overall in 40 minutes.

brunch with friends

9/26/2022

I graduated high school in 1974 and began working for a Swedish steel company in my hometown. It was a diverse group of people working there. One person who I became friendly with was a woman named Paddy, who was from Northern Ireland. One fall day, she invited a group of us to her house in White Meadow Lake, NJ for afternoon tea. She served endless pots of black tea along with Irish apple pie, chocolate haystacks and Napoleons filled with whipped cream and raspberry jam to name a few. Over the years we became a small core group. The group of seven would take turns over the years hosting. Bernice, who was Jewish, cooked brisket and potatoes latkes, Marlene was known for her Italian cooking, Jane was our health-conscious cook and Nancy and I would peruse cook books to prepare slightly involved meals.