donna's daily dish

a twist on spaghetti squash

10/4/2022

I love it when my family finds interesting recipes that they think my husband and I might enjoy. This time around it was my husband that found an interesting take on spaghetti squash. On the Garden and Gun Magazine’s website, he found Spaghetti Squash with Kale and Pecorino Romano Cream. The recipe is by chef Ben Wheatley of Greyfield Inn, on Cumberland Island, off the coast of Georgia.

For the recipe you’ll need spaghetti squash, olive oil, chili flakes, fresh kale, lemon juice, butter, salt, shallots, fresh garlic, heavy cream, pecorino Romano cheese, sherry vinegar, salt, pepper, toasted walnuts and parsley.

brunch with friends

9/26/2022

I graduated high school in 1974 and began working for a Swedish steel company in my hometown. It was a diverse group of people working there. One person who I became friendly with was a woman named Paddy, who was from Northern Ireland. One fall day, she invited a group of us to her house in White Meadow Lake, NJ for afternoon tea. She served endless pots of black tea along with Irish apple pie, chocolate haystacks and Napoleons filled with whipped cream and raspberry jam to name a few. Over the years we became a small core group. The group of seven would take turns over the years hosting. Bernice, who was Jewish, cooked brisket and potatoes latkes, Marlene was known for her Italian cooking, Jane was our health-conscious cook and Nancy and I would peruse cook books to prepare slightly involved meals.

if I only read...

9/25/2022

In all things fall, it’s time to enjoy the bounty that the fall harvest brings. In the November 2021 issue of “Southern Living Magazine” a recipe for Sausage-Stuffed Squash caught my eye. Had I prepared my shopping list better i.e., title of the recipe, followed by the list of ingredients, I would have purchased the correct type of squash for this dish, but I didn’t. For the recipe you’ll need delicata squash, olive oil, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, hot Italian pork sausage, red onion, fresh garlic, fresh oregano leaves, rainbow chard, water or chicken stock, day old cornbread, toasted and chopped pecans and pecorino Romano cheese.

As this was my dinner plan, for that evening, I decided to use the spaghetti squash I purchased for another recipe. The delicata squash is a much smaller vegetable than the spaghetti squash, sweeter and you can eat its skin. Despite my error, I plunged ahead and roasted the squash until it was tender.

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.

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.

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.

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.

csa week 27

11/22/2021

Dreyer Farms CSA for the 2021 season ended last Tuesday. It was a wonderful 27 weeks of fresh, local farm produce. This season didn’t disappointment. I found new challenges for many vegetables I hadn’t had before.

In my Instagram feed I follow chef Sara Moulton. First, a little background on Sara. She had one of the first cooking shows on the Food Network called “Cooking Live.” She had one hour to prepare a meal and answer callers questions all while preparing a meal in real time. Sara was also the executive chef of Gourmet magazine and a protégée of Julia Child. Currently, you can find Sara on public television with her series “Sara’s Weeknight Meals.”

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 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.