donna's daily dish

Dreyer Farms CSA Week 2

5/30/2023

Last week I was getting through my produce from a shared CSA box. So far I’ve received asparagus, lettuce, radishes, kale, spinach, eggs, golden beets, shiitake mushrooms and rainbow Swiss Chard. For the kale in the box, I found a recipe on Lidia Bastianich’s website, www.lidiasitaly.com for Barley, Kale and Butternut Squash Risotto. The spinach was used in a recipe from the website www.modernproper.com for Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Spinach, Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. For the radishes and the arugula, I prepared White Beans with Radishes, Miso and Greens, a recipe by Colu Henry via The New York Times and their column, “Five Dishes to Cook This Week.”

Although risotto can be filling, using pearl barley made for a lighter tasting risotto. For the recipe you’ll need kosher salt, fresh bay leaves, pearled barley, chicken stock, extra-virgin olive oil, a carrot, two stalks of celery, dry white wine, one bunch of kale, butternut squash, butter and Grana Padano 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.

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.

tempting flavors

12/28/2022

The year ended on a flavorful note. A neighbor shared some Ruby Red grapefruits he received as a gift. While you can eat the grapefruits as is, my husband found an interesting recipe in the December 2022/January 2023 issue of “Garden and Gun Magazine” for Easy Winter Grapefruit Salad. It’s from Chef Aaron Bludorn of Houston, Texas of the restaurant Bludorn. For the recipe you’ll need one fennel bulb, sea salt, olive oil, one lemon, 2 grapefruits, capers, oil-cured black olives, fresh parsley, mint leaves, fennel pollen and bottarga.

Unfortunately, I was unable to located the fennel pollen or bottarga. The recipe suggested substituting ground fennel seed in place. I also left the mint out as a taste preference. Overall, the salad was quite easy to prepare. The grapefruit needs to be peeled and segmented. I recommend a sharp knife for this task.

easy meal for a hot day

8/20/2022

Recently, I came across a tasty sounding recipe that was in The New York Times newspaper. The recipe, Grilled Chicken with Tomatoes and Corn, is from Ali Slagle. If you enjoy Jersey tomatoes, this recipe utilizes them along with fresh corn, boneless chicken thighs, extra-virgin olive oil, chili powder, kosher salt, red onion and fresh oregano leaves. The recipe comes together in 30 minutes.

This recipe calls for uncooked corn kernels. After reading other readers comments, I decided to blanch my corn for a mere minute. I also used boneless, skinless, chicken breasts in lieu of thighs and seasoned them about an hour ahead of cooking. One suggestion from the comments I decided to follow was to do a quick pickle of the sliced red onions.

one pan steak salad

8/5/2022

I enjoy preparing recipes that appear in Southern Living Magazine. The recipes are well tested, a diverse offering and turn out well when I prepared. One such recipe that I tore from their magazine appeared in the May 2021 issue, Seared Steak-and-Field Pea Salad. This is a wonderful one pan meal. I was unsure as to what field peas were, but discovered it could be a bean. Field peas include speckled butter beans, crowders, pink-eyed peas, butter beans and lady cream peas. This clarifies what I was seeing in the image from the magazine.

For this recipe you’ll need brown sugar, white balsamic or white wine vinegar, olive oil, flank steak, field peas, kosher salt, fresh corn, orange and red bell peppers, black pepper, fresh chives and flaky sea salt. Although this recipe calls for flank steak, I thought I would try flat iron steak which was on sale last week at my local ShopRite.

weekend roundup

7/17/2022

As you may recall, I have a wide variety of herbs in my yard this summer. My husband purchased four lemon scented herbs i.e., lemon grass, lemon thyme, lemon verbena and lemon balm. In the April 2022 issue of Charleston Magazine, they published an article called, “A Tasty Trio, Container Gardens.” Garden editor Joan McDonald had some wonderful ideas on how to use the herbs and some recipes. One recipe that caught my husband’s eye was Spring Citrus Salad Dressing made with a combination of the aforementioned herbs.

For the salad dressing you’ll need olive oil, white wine vinegar, fresh herbs (lemon balm, lemon thyme, lemon verbena and lemon grass (with leaves removed from any woody stems), fresh garlic, honey, Dijon mustard, shallots, salt and pepper to taste. What a flavorful dressing. The combination of ingredients made for a lovely creamy dressing, courtesy of the Dijon mustard that created an emulsion. The dressing was bright and had a light citrus taste, refreshing for a summer salad.

not the ordinary

7/1/2022

Last week at the Asbury Fresh farmers market, I picked up a bunch of golden beets from Rolling Hills Farm. I did a web search and found an interesting recipe, Moroccan Cold Beet Salad with Vinaigrette. The recipe was found on the “The Spruce Eats” website and is by Christine Benlafguih. For the recipe you’ll need, red beet roots, fresh parsley, fresh lemon juice, vegetable oil, salt, fresh ground pepper, and red onion. Although the recipe calls for red beets, it works perfectly with golden.

The vinaigrette was delightful, it was light and refreshing. Using lemon juice in lieu of vinegar was a wonderful change. Also, the substitution of yellow onion, didn’t alter the taste. I also added slivered almonds for a bit of crunch.

healthy dinner for two

2/28/2022

For Valentine’s Day I prepared a heart healthy meal for my husband and I. From the January 2022 issue of “Charleston Magazine,” there was a delicious recipe for Warm Lentil, Roasted Carrot & Herb Salad from chef Cynthia Groseclose. Ms. Groseclose is a plant-based chef and owner of Plant Pâstissiére in Charleston, SC.

retirement dinner

1/31/2022

Our neighbor, Jeff, just retired and my husband wanted to have he and his wife over for dinner. This couple has been our neighbor for more than 30 years. What was on the menu you ask? For hors d’oeuvres I made my late cousin’s stuffed mushrooms, crab spread from Mr. Shrimp (Belmar) and Alexian’s Pâté’s Wild Forest Mushroom Pâté served with cornichons. A Stilton and Pear salad was our first course. For dinner, Dijon and Cognac Beef Stew, a recipe from the New York Times, served atop garlic mashed potatoes along with popovers. Dessert was the Financiers that I recently blogged about.