donna's daily dish

Dreyer Farms CSA Week 1

5/22/2023

Asparagus-Feta Pasta

After skipping participation in Dreyer’s Farms’ CSA program in 2022, this year my daughter and I have decided to rejoin. For us, we selected the medium box which is perfect for six people. This first week of the program offered asparagus, lettuce, radishes, parsley, spinach, kale, parsley and eggs. We split the produce between us, however, depending what’s in the box, sometimes splitting is difficult. This week I let my daughter keep the parsley and I took the lettuce.

I did it my way

5/20/2023

“A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring soul to the recipe.” Thomas Keller

A recipe is someone’s creation that has been tried and improved until perfected. However, sometimes, you as the cook, add your own nuances to achieve the flavor you desire.

Recently I prepared a recipe by Emily Weinstein of The New York Times for One-Pot Tortellini with Meat Sauce. I don’t know where my mind was when I was food shopping last week, instead of tortellini, I accidently bought Wegmans Italian Classics Potato Gnocchi. Beside the pasta for this recipe, you’ll also need fresh garlic cloves, extra-virgin olive oil, one pound of hot or sweet Italian sausage (casing removed) tomato paste, 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, grated Parmesan cheese and grated mozzarella cheese.

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.

It’s not pasta night but…..

4/16/2023

Last week was a hit and miss with new recipes. I shook things up a bit by moving our traditional Thursday pasta night to Wednesday. There was a terrific recipe in The New York Times by Anna Francese Gass for Rigatoni all Zozzana. While in Italian zozzana means filthy, or some website translations say dirty, in either case this recipe has many layers of flavor.

For the recipe you’ll need kosher salt, large rigatoni pasta, extra-virgin olive oil, guanciale (or pancetta), small onion, hot or sweet Italian sausage (removed from casing), tomato paste, cherry tomatoes, red wine, egg yolks, Pecorino Romano cheese, 1 cup reserved pasta water and freshly ground black pepper.

a new month

4/9/2023

The year is going by in a flash. I spent the past week trying out a half dozen new recipes and baking Easter bunny sugar cookies for my grandchildren’s Easter baskets.

The first recipe I tried last week was Sheet-Pan Tostadas with Black Beans and Peppers. For this recipe you’ll need three bell peppers, an onion, kosher salt, fresh sage, fresh thyme sprigs, 2 cans of black beans, diced tomatoes, chipotle chile in adobo, fresh garlic, dried oregano, ground cumin, tortillas, a lime, queso fresco or white cheddar cheese and cilantro leaves.

The recipe is from Melissa Clark of The New York Times and indicates you’ll get 4 to six servings from this meal. I beg to differ with Ms. Clark, as did someone else in the Cook’s Comment section of this recipe. You’ll more than likely get 2 to 3 servings, which is more realistic. Although the recipe calls for roasting the peppers and onions on a sheet pan, I sautéed mine in a frying pan on the stove top. You can probably get away with less oil with this method. The beans, tomatoes and chipotle chile and sauce are also cooked on a sheet pan, but as another person pointed suggested in the comments section, you can use one skillet and a sheet pan to heat up the tortillas.

new spring recipes

3/28/2023

“The first time you make something, follow the recipe, then figure out how to tailor it to your own tastes.” Ruth Reichl

Ms. Reichl, former editor of Gourmet Magazine, had the right advice for me when it came to preparing some exciting recipes last week. Some of the recipes called for ingredients that were hard to locate, while others gave options for adapting ingredients to suit your taste. The meals we had included chicken, pasta, pork and a vegetarian meal. My husband and I enjoyed them all, but some will need adjustments when made again, but overall, they were all keepers, easy to prepare and not time consuming. This week’s selection of recipes takes no longer than 45 minutes and in most cases one pot or pan for cooking.

The first recipe I’d like to talk about is from Zainaba Shah from The New York Times column, “What to Make Next Week” (March 18, 2023). Chicken Manchurian was a spicy dish that needs an egg, cornstarch, fresh garlic, black pepper, fine sea salt, boneless/skinless chicken breast, vegetable oil, chile peppers (dried dundicut or bird’s eye), ketchup, chili-garlic sauce, light soy sauce, chicken stock (optional), bell pepper, scallions and cooked rice.

a little of this and that

2/27/2023

It’s Monday, time for me to catch up and give you my input on some recipes I recently prepared. I’ll start with the past two Friday’s meals since it is the start of Lent. For the first recipe I made Shrimp Fritters from the “Library at Vendue Inn,” located in Charleston, South Carolina. The recipe is from the book “Signature Tastes of Charleston.” The other is Spaghetti with Red Clam sauce from “The Classic Italian Cook Book,” by Marcella Hazan.

I had such high hopes for the fritter recipe, but it fell short in the taste category. For the recipe you’ll need all-purpose flour, baking powder, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, eggs, milk, olive oil, yellow onion, garlic, shrimp and flat leaf parsley. The recipe calls for one pound of shrimp with the fritter batter consisting of 3-1/4 cups of flour and 1-1/2 cups of milk and three eggs. I thought that sounded excessive and decreased the amounts by half. Also, the recipe called for cooked shrimp. In my opinion, adding cooked shrimp to the batter and then sautéing them in the fritter may overcook the shrimp, so I opted not to cook mine.

easy weeknight meals

2/8/2023

This week it’s all about lighter tasting food, full of flavor but done in a speedy fashion. Occasionally I’ve come across some delicious chef recipes from The Wall Street Journal’s column “Slow Food Fast.” The first two recipes take just 30 minutes to prepare.

I'm back

1/30/2023

Last week my husband and I took our daughter and her family to Disney World. We have two granddaughters, 5 and 2, and we wanted to take them for their first visit to see Mickey and friends. More about our trip in an upcoming post.

We returned late last week and I’ve been finding lots of interesting recipes to share. One of the two recent recipes I was dying to make was Cacio e Pepe pasta. The recipe is from 177 Milk Street, a PBS food show by Christopher Kimball. On this show they demonstrated how to prepare a lump free sauce. Although the process seemed to go against tradition, I decided to give it a try.

what is life without pasta?

1/15/2023

Life would be uninteresting without a weekly serving of pasta. Between the shapes, fillings and sauces, there are limitless possibilities for a bowl of pasta. I have approximately 40 pasta recipes under this category on my website. This doesn’t include the one pot or one pan recipes for gnocchi.

Last week in The New York Times, food writer and cook book author, Melissa Clark, had a recipe for Buttery Lemon Pasta with Almonds and Arugula. My husband adores pasta in any shape or sauce for that matter. For this week’s pasta meal, I was intrigued by Melissa’s recipe. The combination of arugula, sliced almonds in a simple sauce made with pasta water infused with lemon juice and zest sounded enticing.