donna's daily dish

roundup

11/19/2021

In our CSA box of week 25 I had yet another new variety of squash, kabocha. Kabocha is also known as Japanese pumpkin and is very versatile as it can be stuffed, pureed or cooked on a stove top. Kabocha taste is a cross between pumpkin and sweet potato.

I found a recipe at NYT Cooking/The New York Times, Simmered Kabocha Squash with Scallions. The recipe is originally from Cynthia Chen McTernan, whose blog is “Two Red Bowls.” Julia Moskin of the Times, adapted the recipe below. The appealing part is it contains just five ingredients, not including kosher salt and pepper. Also, the Cook’s comments were very positive.

For the recipe you’ll need vegetable oil, the kabocha squash, scallions, chicken or vegetable broth, salt, pepper and either Sriracha, soy sauce or both. It takes about 20 minutes from start to finish to prepare this dish.

CSA week 23 & 24, cauliflower

11/12/2021

Peak season for cauliflower is from September through November and n our CSA box for week 23 and 24 we received a head of white cauliflower and the following week, purple. The white cauliflower was transformed into a delicious and velvety cream of cauliflower soup. I was unsure what to do with a purple head, until I read the Cook’s notes for Melissa Clark’s recipe for Lemony Carrot and Cauliflower Soup. The commenter suggested using purple cauliflower.

csa week 24 and 25

11/8/2021

Our CSA is coming to an end and it with comes hardier vegetables and greens that can withstand the cooler nights. My recent items were radishes and arugula. When I was growing up, radishes were added to a nightly salad. Arugula a very popular green in recent years, appears in salads and as a topping on gourmet pizzas. Not wanting to do either of those, I came across two great recipes from The New York Times Cooking app. The first is from David Tanis for Butter-Stewed Radishes and the other from Mark Bittman for Pasta with Gorgonzola and Arugula.

csa week 23

10/29/2021

My recent CSA share from Dreyer Farms, brought me a new challenge, mustard greens. I also received an acorn squash and more apples.

Recently, I made Acorn Squash with Apples, but as a food blogger, I felt I had to find another tempting recipe in which to prepare this delicious squash. My search led me to the website "The Real Food Dietitians" and their recipe Herb-Roasted Parmesan Squash. This savory preparation offers you another option for a Thanksgiving side dish. Even better, is that it takes just five ingredients and preps in just 10 minutes. Besides the acorn squash you'll need, Parmesan cheese, fresh herbs, (suggested was thyme, sage, rosemary, oregano or a mix), butter, garlic powder, salt and pepper. As my garden is still doing well, I made a mix of all the suggested herbs and I used minced fresh garlic in lieu of garlic powder.

its magic

10/11/2021

Recently Whole Foods had a great special on Bell&Evans skinless, boneless chicken breasts for $2.99/lb. One can never have enough chicken on hand, nor enough recipes in which to change this blank canvas into a new masterpiece. For our Sunday supper, I found an interesting recipe on the website Epicurious for Magic Crispy Chicken. The premise is that with less than 10 ingredients, this recipe comes out very crispy. I must say that mine was not crispier than other recipes I’ve made. I did to pulse the panko crumbs finer in my food processor; perhaps that made a difference? However, the flavor was delicious.

creamy corn soup with basil and biscuits

9/20/2021

In a previous blog, I wrote about our dining experience at the Poached Pear Bistro in Point Pleasant, New Jersey and the wonderful Jersey Corn Bisque. Recently in the New York Times, David Tanis had a recipe for Creamy Corn Soup with Basil that is to die for! As for ingredients, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, sweet corn, onions, water and, as an option, squash blossoms are needed.

unforeseen hiatus

8/16/2021

I had a friend call me the other evening to make sure my husband and I were okay. She hadn’t seen posts from me in awhile and she grew concerned. I assured her that all was well and the reason for the gap was we’ve had our daughter and granddaughters visiting us each week for a few days each week since July. My goal was to have quick suppers on Thursday evenings after my granddaughter’s swim lesson and for the other days, you prepare what’s appealing to a one- and four-year-old.

Here’s a review of what’s been going on in our culinary life.

csa week 6, part 2

6/30/2021

The challenge of purchasing a share in a CSA box (community sustained agriculture) is finding recipes for produce that you never have eaten before; this week, Swiss chard, was one of them. As I still had zucchini left from a prior box, I needed a meal that would utilize both vegetables. I found a recipe on the New York Times Cooking webpage from Martha Rose Shulman, Provençal Zucchini with Swiss Chard Tart. For those of you who may have never heard of Ms. Schulman, she writes cookbooks that focus on eating healthy with inspiration from the Mediterranean and Mexico. Her recipes focus on produce that is both fresh and seasonal. In looking through the index of my copy of her book Mediterranean Light, I noticed her recipes featured chicken, fish and vegetables.

served with a twist

6/24/2021

A few weeks ago, when dining out, my entrée came with a side of Mexican Street corn. It was presented with the corn off the cob and served in a mini cast iron frying pan. The corn had a dollop of a creamy mixture that made the corn taste oh so delicious.

After doing some research, I found a recipe for this tasty side dish. Grilled Mexican Street Corn (Elote) is from the website Simply Recipes. For the recipe you’ll need corn with the husks removed, Mexican Crema or sour cream (I substituted plain Greek yogurt), cilantro (not a fan, so I used parsley) ground chipotle pepper, lime zest, lime juice, lime wedges and cotija cheese.

that's not pasta

12/13/2020

As a person that loves to cook and blog, I find it necessary to seek out and try new recipes. My lucky husband rarely gets the same meal twice, except for his pasta, which is required weekly. With this in mind, I delved into my extensive files (I have them sorted by category in plastic file folders) and came across a recipe from Delicious Orchards. The recipe must be over 20 years old and is from the fall/winter season. One side of the sheet has recipes for acorn and butternut squash (I’ve made the baked squash and apple casserole, delish!) and the other, spaghetti squash.

The recipe that they gave was for spaghetti squash casserole. Although, not quite technically “pasta” for my husband, he has a new fondness for spaghetti squash.