donna's daily dish

eat your greens

2/5/2023

The temperature has either been above normal or extremely cold like it is today. Recently my local food store had broccoli crowns on sale. I was tempted to make Alison Roman’s Broccoli Cheddar soup which recently appeared in The New York Times; but I wanted something simpler. I have a very old recipe for Cream of Broccoli Soup that I clipped from “Gourmet Magazine” back in December 1993. The yield was a mere 4 cups, perfect amount for just my husband and I.

For the recipe you’ll need an onion, a carrot, mustard seeds, butter, fresh broccoli, chicken broth, water, fresh lemon juice and sour cream. As this recipe is almost 30 years old, I assuming that store bought broth was the norm back then and using some water for this recipe would cut down the salt. I prepared the recipe using some homemade chicken stock, Kitchen Basics stock along with water. The next time I make this, I’ll use all stock for a greater depth of flavor. If I have to purchase a boxed chicken stock, I prefer stock over broth based on the ingredient listing and how they obtain the chicken flavor.

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.

end of summer

9/16/2022

It was a busy summer for me this year. I babysat my grandson one day a week for a few hours and my daughter and granddaughters came down on Friday’s so we could enjoy the beach. We, the grandparents, are now relaxing after beach season.

One of the recent recipes I’ve made is Turkey-Zucchini Meatballs with Green Yogurt and Saffron Rice. I found this recipe last year in the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal. The recipe is from Mona Talbott and her shop, Talbott & Arding Cheese Provisions in Hudson, New York.

zucchini season

8/16/2022

I love zucchini for its adaptiveness to both sweet and savory recipes. Last summer I made Ali Slagle’s recipe for Chicken-Zucchini Meatballs with Feta. You can’t go wrong with Lidia Bastianich’s recipe for Lemony Shrimp Over Zucchini either. For sweet recipes, Gourmet Magazine’s Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake or Jerrelle Guy’s yummy Zucchini Muffins with Cinnamon Crunch Topping are wonderful.

Recently my daughter sent me a recipe for Creamy Zucchini Pasta, a recipe she found on the website The Proper Modern. This delightful recipe takes a handful of ingredients and turns them into a luscious cream sauce that doesn’t rely on an overabundance of butter or cream. The addition of pasta cooking water helps extend the richness of the sauce. Besides the zucchini you’ll need shallots, fresh garlic, Parmesan cheese, fresh basil leaves, heavy cream and pasta cooking water. The recipe calls for a ½ cup of pasta water. I suggest reserving two cups as additional water made be needed to adjust the sauce to the consistency you prefer. Also, I like to use the pasta water when reheating leftovers in the microwave.

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.

new turn on chicken

6/22/2022

A few months ago, I was watching the Food Network and Guy Fieri was in Hawaii reporting on the preparation of Huli Huli Chicken. Huli Huli is barbecue chicken that’s slathered with sauce whose main components are ketchup, soy sauce, brown sugar and an acid (rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar or pineapple juice). It sounded interesting, but it wasn’t until The New York Times featured it in their “Here to Help” column that it grabbed my attention. The original recipe is by Alana Kysar, a food blogger who wrote a book called, “Aloha Kitchen: Recipes from Hawaíí,” and adapted by Margaux Lasky.

Sunday round up

5/29/2022

Spring is here and my herb garden has expanded. My husband went a bit overboard and selected some varieties I wouldn’t have thought of. Besides the stalwarts of basil, parsley, oregano and rosemary, chives and sage, which were saved in the cold frame over winter, I now have dill (for homemade refrigerator pickles), chamomile (for making tea) and lemon-flavored varieties such as lemongrass, lemon verbena, lemon balm, lemon thyme plus flat and curly leaf parsley. This should make for a flavorful summer.

About a week ago my local ShopRite had Atlantic cod fish on special. I found a delightful recipe on The New York Times cooking app, Cod Baked with Prosciutto, by Nigella Lawson, using just a handful of ingredients. Besides the cod and prosciutto, you’ll need butter, salt and pepper. After reading the cooking notes of other cooks, I used some fresh thyme from my garden.

pasta dinner in 30 minutes

12/9/2021

Do you ever crave a pasta dish with a rich, creamy sauce? Recently in the “Here to Help” column in the first section of The New York Times was a published recipe by Colu Henry for Pasta alla Vodka. This recipe takes a quick 30 minutes to prepare.

For the recipe you’ll need, kosher salt, rigatoni (or penne), olive oil, pancetta (optional, but I suggest you don’t skip), an onion, fresh garlic, red-pepper flakes, vodka, 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, black pepper, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, fresh oregano and fresh parsley.

what can i make for you?

11/1/2021

My four-year old granddaughter was due to visit and my daughter mentioned she was craving pasta e fagioli. As I had some time before her visit, I picked up the ingredients and the recipe from “Naples at Table,” by Arthur Schwartz. For the recipe you’ll need extra-virgin olive oil, 2 large cloves of garlic, hot red pepper flakes, 3 canned and peeled plum tomatoes, 2-1/2 to 3 cups cooked cannellini beans and pasta.

Instead of making cooked cannellini beans, I opted for canned beans (minus their liquid). The other change I made was to use a 28-ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes instead of just 3 tomatoes. This resulted in thick tomato sauce that I thinned out with pasta water. Per Mr. Schwartz, in Campania this dish is made “dry;” it’s not soupy or saucy, which may be how some restaurants prepare it here.