donna's daily dish

midweek roundup

5/5/2022

As I walked through Wegmans last Sunday, I was trying to think of what I could prepare for supper that evening. As I passed through the seafood department I thought Shrimp Risotto would be a great alternative to beef or chicken. This time instead of purchasing wild caught, uncooked shrimp, I opted for something I haven’t seen before in the frozen seafood case, Wegmans Large Raw Shrimp, Peeled and Deveined Tail Off. The shrimp are farm raised in the United States, no chemical or antibiotics with a price of $12.99 for a pound of shrimp. The shrimp are 43 per bag, a bit smaller than the fresh, but considering I was using them for a risotto, I thought the size would be fine.

The recipe came from the website Epicurious and is an old recipe from the long-gone magazine, Gourmet from February 1998. For the recipe you’ll need chicken broth, dry white wine, butter, minced garlic, dried crushed red pepper, uncooked shrimp, onion, arborio rice and fresh parsley. I find using my LeCreuset braiser works the best for this task. The enameled cast iron offers good heat distribution and makes clean up a cinch. Also, for this recipe, I used homemade shrimp stock.

add more time to the meter

5/2/2022

I can’t believe Easter has passed and now it’s May! Let me start by telling you what I made for Easter dinner.

As our only guests were our son, daughter-in-law and infant grandson, our son suggested a light dinner as they were having Easter brunch earlier in the day. For the holiday, I like to prepare a ham dinner. The New York Times had a write up, “The Most Flavorful Easter Ham Starts on the Stove,” featuring a recipe for Honey Ham. I started with a Wellshire Farms Spiral Cut Ham from Whole Foods. This wonderful recipe begins by steaming the ham with wine, juniper berries, peppercorns, cloves, onion and honey. The ham is heated through on the stove top. Afterward it’s coated with a glaze made from some of the pots cooking liquid, whole-grain Dijon mustard and brown sugar. As it bakes in a 450° oven, it develops a crusty coating, but not too sweet. Oh, my goodness was this fabulous! Everyone loved the ham; it was different and very delicious.

for onion lovers

4/18/2022

Recently I was preparing a pork tenderloin for dinner and that pork tenderloin is a blank canvas. It can be used in recipes such as stir fry, grilling, roasting or pan cooking. The recipe I recently found on www.lidiasitaly.com, Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Onions, helps show the diversity of this cut. There’s only a handful of ingredients, besides the pork, to make this dish. You’ll need extra-virgin olive oil, kosher salt, yellow and red onions, shallots, fresh bay leaves and balsamic vinegar. It will take approximately 45 minutes, with slicing the onions taking the most time.

veggies are the starting point

4/6/2022

Recently in Lidia Bastianich’s Facebook feed, a promotional video was posted for her show, “Lidia’s Kitchen.” Lidia was demonstrating the recipe Cavatappi and Asparagus with Spinach Pesto. What timing, I had extra baby spinach in my refrigerator and only needed a handful of ingredients.

Besides the pasta (corkscrew shape), you’ll need fresh shelled and unsalted pistachios, fresh garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, freshly ground black pepper, a bunch of asparagus and Pecorino Romano cheese. The item I had difficulty finding was unsalted pistachios. You can find small bags of roasted and salted, but nothing unsalted. My local ShopRite’s bulk section had unsalted pistachios. One third of a pound was the approximate equivalent to a half cup of shelled nuts.

a flurry of cooking

4/3/2022

One of the last things I received in the shared portion of my Dreyer Farms CSA box, was a cheese pumpkin, which I was unsure how to cook. It has been stored in my cool, dark basement since fall. However, last week, I found the time to finally cook it with a recipe with a recipe I found from Dreyer Farms. The recipe was for Savory Stuffed Pumpkin with Sausage and Gruyère. Nealy Dozier adapted her recipe based on Dorie Greenspan’s for Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good. Overall, Ms. Greenspan’s recipe posted in the Epicurious app had great reviews so I felt Ms. Dozier’s would be just as good. Many people enjoyed this for the Thanksgiving holiday and I can see why. It has all the warm flavors of fall and makes a stunning presentation for the table. Though if you’re not willing to attempt stuffing a pumpkin, perhaps substituting spaghetti squash would more appealing.

month end round up

3/28/2022

Time is just flying by! Between babysitting, work and life, some nights I’m too tired to put my thoughts down regarding the wonderful dishes I’ve made.

Recently I prepared a recipe by Claire Robinson, Ginger and Lemon Roasted Chicken with Braised Fennel. Ms. Robinson is a chef and host of the Food Networks shows “Five ingredient Fix” and “Food Network Challenge. For the recipe you’ll need a roasting chicken, 6-inch piece of fresh ginger, a lemon, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, 2 fennel bulbs and water.

catch up sunday

3/6/2022

Today is Belmar’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. I’ve been in the house since late morning as the revelers have descended upon our town. There’s not a parking space available on my street. Therefore, it’s a good time to share some wonderful recipes that I prepared last week.

You know how when you make a recipe and you need that one special ingredient? Afterwards, that “special ingredient” is still in your pantry and you’re thinking what else can I make with it. Well, that’s what happened to me and a bag of pitted dates. However, recently I came across a recipe in The New York Times by David Tanis for Pan-Seared Pork Chops with Sage, Dates and Parsnips. I’ve never had parsnips so I was a bit intrigued. My husband started cutting back the herbs in the cold frame, but I did manage to pluck a few sage leaves. Best of all, a use for the dates. For the recipe you’ll also need kosher salt, granulated sugar, bone-in pork chops, olive oil, salted butter, pitted medjool dates, freshly ground black pepper and a lemon.

Laissez les bons temps rouler

3/1/2022

Last Friday The New York Times posted a recipe in their “Here to Help” column for "Quick Jambalaya." Whether you’re celebrating Mardi Gras or getting ready for Lent, this recipe by Vallery Lomas is a recipe you’ll want to keep handy when you’re short on time. You can use leftover rice or prepare your own rice infused with vegetable stock and Creole seasoning. Quick Jambalaya has a nice kick of heat, but you can always enhance hot sauce. I’ll bet you can swap out the andouille (or chorizo) sausage for shrimp.

for Nancy

12/28/2021

The last time I posted to my blog was on December 10th. Since that time, I was called upon to watch each of my granddaughters on two separate occasions as they were unable to go to daycare. Despite my babysitting duties and working several days I week, I was still able to prepare home cooked meals. However, after being on my feet all day, I was unable to focus my energy on writing. This led me to post an image on social medial with minimal text which prompted my friend Nancy to post on my Facebook page, “Where r the recipes to all these things u post? The pork chops look delicious!”

I’ll start this blog by listing the recipes I’ve made since early December; then follow up with my review and comments to help you prepare these dishes in your kitchen. Meals prepared since December 10th are: Crockpot Beef Stew found on Food52 website, my sale find at Williams-Sonoma was their Soup Starter for Fast/Slow Cooking – Mushroom Wild Rice, from Lidia Bastianich Jumbo Shrimp Buzara Style, from The New York Times and Melissa Clark, a recipe for Porchetta-Style Pork Chops and lastly, Flank Steak with Caper-Walnut Sauce and Roast Beets from The Wall Street Journal.

csa week 21

11/9/2021

Over the course of this season’s CSA boxes, I have discovered purple cauliflower, kabocha squash, mustard greens and new ways to prepare radishes, cabbage, acorn squash and arugula.

In this box, I had another delicate squash to cook. Lucky for me my November issue of Southern Living Magazine arrived and there was an article entitled, “It’s Squash Season,” with recipes by John Somerall. I like Southern Living’s recipes. I find they are well tested and come out just the way the recipe is written. In this article there are recipes for kabocha, Hubbard, blue Hokkaido, acorn, red kuri, delicata and butternut squashes. What caught my eye was the Sausage-Stuffed Squash utilizing a delicata squash.