donna's daily dish

holiday savories

12/26/2022

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa holiday. I’m late with this post, however, I feel with New Year’s Eve on the heel of Christmas these two recipes will be great for the upcoming weekend.

After baking numerous batches of Christmas cookies, I had the desire to try a recipe that I’ve had in my possession for years from the Penzeys Spice catalogue, Crispy Cheese Crackers. I wasn’t in charge of Christmas dinner, but my son-in-law requested that I bring appetizers and a salad. I thought these crackers would be a wonderful to nibble on.

Spice up your holiday cookies

12/17/2022

UPDATE December 17, 2022 -
I just baked off my Gingerbread Latte Cookies, what a delicious cookie. I loved the coffee/gingerbread flavor. They are a little chewy, but I'm curious to see how they taste tomorrow.

I followed the directions in Vreeland Vaughn's recipe and they came out just as he described. I only prepared half the amount of sugar coating, which was sufficient. I also, used my cookie scooper, which was not a full two tablespoons as he suggested, but the size was perfect. This is a wonderful recipe and a delightful change. A wonderful accompaniment with your favorite hot beverage.

I am a subscriber to The New York Times and part of that subscription give me access to their webpage NYT Cooking. I love the variety of contributors to their website as well as the variety of recipes that they showcase.

One of their contributors is Eric Kim, who is a NYT staff writer. One of his recent recipes that caught my eye was for Gochujang Caramel Cookies. It just so happened I had gochujang in my refrigerator and was curious as to what they would taste like. For the recipe you’ll need unsalted butter, dark brown sugar, gochujang, granulated sugar, an egg, kosher salt, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract, baking soda and all-purpose flour. Just a suggestion, I recommend that you click here for a video demonstration by Eric Kim as I found it helpful in making the cookies.

yes, another chicken recipe

12/14/2022

Chicken Stroganoff
By Ham El-Waylly
The New York Times/NYT Cooking

Serves: 4
Time: 35 minutes

“This Brazilian stroganoff is a riff on the classic Russian-American beef, mushroom and sour cream stew that was considered peak haute cuisine in the United States during the 1950s. In Brazil, stroganoff is often made with beef, chicken or shrimp, but with a tomato base and heavy cream instead of sour cream. The biggest difference is in the accompaniments: The stew is served with rice and topped with crispy potato sticks. Do not omit the crunchy potato; it may be a garnish, but it is essential. If sticks are hard to find, replace them with lightly crushed chips.”

Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound button mushrooms, wiped clean and cut into quarters
Kosher salt
1 large yellow onion, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 fresh or dried bay leaf
1 cup heavy cream
1-pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 cup tomato purée or passata

yes, another sheet pan meal

12/13/2022

For my birthday one year, my daughter gave me a tee shirt that read on the back “Sheet Pan Everything;” I still do. Recently, I found on the website Half-Baked Harvest a recipe for Sheet Pan Sticky Ginger Soy Chicken and Broccoli. This was a perfect meal for me to prepare on Saturday evening as we were babysitting our 1-year-old grandson. I was able to get everything on the sheet pan before he arrived and just pop it in the oven.

For the recipe you’ll need chicken breasts or thighs, broccoli florets, honey, ketchup, tamari or soy sauce, pomegranate juice (or orange juice), fresh garlic, fresh ginger, chili flakes, jasmine rice for serving and for optional garnishing, sliced green onion and pomegranate.

what's new and tasty

12/5/2022

After recovering from Thanksgiving, I’m ready to try some new recipes that I can prepare during the upcoming holiday season. Recently on “America’s Test Kitchen, which airs on public broadcasting, they demonstrated a recipe for Easy Pancakes. I’ve been making a Betty Crocker recipe for many years that uses buttermilk and makes light and fluffy pancakes. However, sometimes you don’t have buttermilk on hand and an easy, from scratch recipe, is just as quick as a box mix. For the recipe you’ll need all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, eggs, vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract. To achieve fluffy pancakes, ATK amped up the amount of baking powder, with minimal amounts of baking soda and liquid. The proportions make for a thick batter that should also have some lumps, no over mixing here, and rests for 10 minutes before preparing.

As I don’t have the patience in the morning to wait 10 minutes for the dry ingredients to absorb the liquid, I opted to make these for my lunch the other day. In order to achieve an even golden pancake, the recipe calls for pouring a tablespoon of vegetable oil on the griddle and wiping the oil around until you have a light film on the pan. The best way to test if your griddle is ready for cooking, is to lightly sprinkle the surface with water. If the water beads up and dissipates, your griddle is ready.

twists on poultry

11/29/2022

The last two weeks were busy with Thanksgiving prep. For the Thanksgiving dinner, I rummaged through my files for a turkey recipe that had a little pizzazz, Roast Turkey with Maple Herb Butter and Gravy fit the bill. Although the recipe included instructions for gravy, I was mostly interested in the herb butter.

Now that I had my recipe in hand, what type of turkey should I purchase? We were 6 adults for dinner and I opted for a bone-in turkey breast that was hatched and raised in Pennsylvania in Amish country. I purchased at Palmer’s Quality Meats in Neptune.

For the recipe you’ll need apple cider, real maple syrup, fresh or dried thyme, fresh or dried marjoram, fresh lemon zest and softened butter. Two cups of apple cider and 1/3 cup of pure maple syrup are boiled over medium-high heat until reduced to ½ cup, which the recipe says should take approximately 20 minutes. Using cider by Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck, NJ, took me almost an hour to achieve the desired result (My husband, who was in the apple cider business for over 30 years, says that it can take a long time to reduce cider.) Once the liquid is reduced, part of the thyme, marjoram and lemon zest are added; then softened butter is whisked in. This step of the recipe can be done up to two days ahead, which I’m glad I did.

autumnal dinner

11/13/2022

I invited my brother and sister-in-law down for dinner. Although we talk once a week, we don’t get to see each other that often. What to prepare with minimal prep was in the forefront of selecting a menu. I started with dessert. I didn’t want to have leftovers tempting my husband and I. Financiers and German chocolate cookies were selected because they’re decadent and a step above an everyday cookie. I was able to make them a few days ahead and kept them refrigerated.

I had a pork tenderloin in my freezer, so I decided to make a recipe I prepared earlier in the year, Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with Herbs and Capers. As I said back in June, this is perfect for company. Prepare the stuffed pork tenderloins ahead, but refrain from cooking until you’re almost ready to eat. Cooking ahead and keeping them warm may work, but you want have that slightly pink center that is preferred for pork. Before serving the pork, drizzle the sauce on top and any extra, place in a gravy boat so your guests and add more sauce if they like.

what i ate last week

11/7/2022

I had good intentions of posting what I prepared last week sooner, but time just flew by. The week started off with a sheet pan meal by Colu Henry of The New York Times. Her recipe, Sheet-Pan Chicken with Apple, Fennel and Onion sounded so good. The combination of apples with the fennel was appealing. For the recipe you’ll need fennel seeds, bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, olive oil, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, an onion, a medium fennel bulb, a tart apple and fresh rosemary.

I substituted bone-in chicken breasts, our preference, and used my oven’s convection setting for cooking. The chicken was done in approximately 30-35 minutes. I used an instant read thermometer at the 30-minute mark to make sure it didn’t overcook.

oops, i did it again

10/30/2022

Yes, I enjoy a delicious sheet pan meal. With less dishes for clean up and a meal that comes together quickly, what’s not to love. Last night I prepared yet another Melissa Clark recipe from her column “A Good Appetite,” from The New York Times, on Wednesday, October 26th, Roasted Chicken with Crispy Mushrooms.

For this recipe you’ll need, boneless, skinless chicken thighs, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, fresh garlic, fresh thyme, extra-virgin olive oil, 12 ounces mushrooms (oyster, maitake, shiitake or cremini), small red onion, fresh tarragon (can use marjoram or sage), dry (fino) sherry (or dry vermouth or ½ tbsp. of lime juice and ½ tbsp. orange juice) and unsalted butter.

quick and easy supper

10/30/2022

As someone who’s up at 5 AM, some days by 4 PM I’m running out of steam. Last Wednesday in the food section of The New York Times, Melissa Clark had a wonderful recipe for One-Pan Shrimp Scampi with Crispy Gnocchi and it takes just 25 minutes to prepare!

I have several recipes from The Times that uses shelf-stable potato gnocchi. I tried Wegman’s store brand; it holds up and works well in recipes. Besides the gnocchi you’ll need extra-virgin olive oil, unsalted butter, fresh garlic, dry white wine, kosher salt (Diamond Crystal), freshly ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, large or extra-large shrimp, a lemon and fresh parsley.