I love a challenge, especially when it comes to cooking. My proudest moments are

when I made porchetta style turkey breast or Tortellini

Mantovani with Pumpkin. My son-in-law asked me to replicate

a cookie that his late grandmother would make at Easter. After describing the

cookie, and conferring with his father for additional input, it gave me enough

information to begin my search. Luckily, I didn’t have to dig too deep as I was

familiar with the cookie he was after.

I opened a recipe box that I had from my late aunt. As a single woman, she baked

and  cooked infrequently, but her box

contains recipes for cookies, sauces and Italian specialty recipes. Among those

were Ricotta Cheese Cookies, which was the cookie my son-in-law was recalling

from his childhood..

There are some nights when I don’t feel like preparing a multi-step recipe. Nights like those, I appreciate a recipe by Dan Pelosi from The New York Times/NYT Cooking and his 40-minute meal for Creamy Tuscan Chicken. This is his riff on a combination of Chicken Florentine and Marry Me Chicken. For the recipe you’ll need boneless and skinless chicken breasts, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, butter, cherry or other small tomatoes, an onion or shallot, garlic, chicken stock, dried or fresh oregano, fresh or dried basil, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese and baby spinach.

The recipe begins by seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper followed by a quick sauté just to get the meat golden brown on both sides, but not cooked through. The chicken is removed from the pan and set aside.

I was telling my husband last night, that I was behind in my blogging. I had to ask him about recent meals and what we thought about them. Luckily, there weren’t any duds where we say “Let’s not make that one again.” Overall, the recipes I’m going to review below, we enjoyed. His only suggestion on two of the dishes were that they needed more sauce. My husband is a sauce guy, much like my late father. They like their pasta dressed with a few spoonsful of extra tomato sauce.

First up is Crispy Baked Tomato-Oregano Chicken by Yasmin Fahr on the NYT Cooking website. This 40-minute recipe made for juicy chicken albeit not enough sauce for my husband. For her recipe you’ll need full-fat yogurt, tomato paste, soy sauce, dried oregano, boneless and skinless chicken thighs (you can use chicken cutlets), salt, cherry or grape tomatoes, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and panko bread crumbs. You can also add some red pepper flakes, which is what I did. The chicken, which is cut into 2-inch pieces, is coated with a marinade of yogurt, tomato paste, soy sauce and oregano. The tomatoes are cut in half and placed in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish then dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread to an even layer. Atop the tomatoes are the chicken pieces. The dish is sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, additional oregano and a layer of panko. It’s baked in a hot 425° oven for 20-25 minutes for the cutlets or 22 to 25 for thighs. 

Recently I had some beautiful pork chops that I picked up at Perrotti’s Quality Meats in Cranford, NJ. I came across a recipe from Ali Slagle in the NYT Cooking app for Skillet Pork Chops and Apples with Miso Caramel. Doesn’t that sound delicious? I had a difficult time finding white miso, but was able to locate a small five-ounce patch at my local Trader Joe’s. Beside the pork chops, you’ll need light brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, white miso, salt, black pepper, a neutral oil and a Granny Smith or other tart apple. As a bonus, this is a 30-minute recipe, perfect for a weeknight family meal.

The recipe starts by seasoning the pork with salt and a generous amount of pepper (this aides in balancing the sweetness of the caramel). For the caramel sauce you’ll need, water, brown sugar, vinegar and miso; set this aside. 

My sheet pan got a work out recently with two new recipes that I found and tried from The New York Times/NYT Cooking app. I love this app as it gives you access to recipes from a variety of chef/recipe developers. Sheet-Pan Shrimp Oreganata is from Anna Francese Gass. The Sheet-Pan Chicken with Black Beans and Squash is from Ali Slagle.

If you live at the Jersey shore on South Concourse in Neptune City, NJ, a family owned business called Jersey Shore Lobster Brothers, sells fresh catch lobsters, day boat scallops, shrimp and lobster tails from a boat docked at the marina (look for flag “Lobsters”). I was dying to try the shrimp oreganata recipe for dinner. For the recipe you’ll need unsalted butter, 1-1/2 pounds large tail-on shrimp (peeled and deveined), extra-virgin olive oil, kosher salt such as Diamond Crystal, freshly ground black pepper, a lemon, dried breadcrumbs, flat leaf parsley, fresh garlic cloves, dried oregano and white wine.

The weather early this week was a tease of, hopefully, of what’s to come, warmer temperatures. However, today’s wind makes it feel cooler.

Speaking of chill, my husband had a craving for an Asian inspired salad that a former co-worker made. Despite being called “Chicken Salad,” the chicken is merely incorporated as a shredded component to the dish. Quite simply, iceberg lettuce has its core removed and sliced in to 1/2-inch slices then crosswise into three sections. The dressing is made by whisking together a neutral oil, rice wine or apple cider vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, salt and pepper.

For the chicken portion of this recipe, I seasoned both sides of boneless, skinless chicken breasts with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, I added a bit of olive oil and butter to gently sauté the chicken. Some water was added to the pan then covered to allow the chicken to cook through. Once done, I removed it to a plate to let it cool before shredding with a fork. 

In a recent Cook’s Country YouTube Video, an offshoot of America’s Test Kitchen, they were demonstrating how to properly prepare and cook Spice-Crusted Steaks. For the recipe you’ll need black pepper corns, fresh rosemary, ground coriander, lemon zest, dry mustard, red pepper flakes, boneless rib-eye steaks and vegetable oil.

In developing this recipe, they felt that using ground pepper from a pepper mill didn’t yield a coarse enough texture that was needed. They found if they used a zip-lock bag and crushed them with a rolling pin, it made for the perfect grind. Also, so the spice stayed on the steak, they didn’t pat them dry, but used the surface moisture as a glue to hold the spices. Another tip, was to use a fork to turn the steak every two minutes ensuring the spice rub didn’t come off and prevented the spices from burning. In a bowl mixed together are the peppercorns, chopped fresh rosemary, salt, coriander, lemon zest, dry mustard and red pepper flakes. The spices are pressed onto all sides of the steak. Using a non-stick pan, oil is added and the steaks cooked. I cooked mine too medium rare. 

By golly, it’s March and time for a refresh with the weather, no more snow please. The week is off to a good start with temperatures climbing above freezing during the day. Donna’s Daily Dish got a refresh with a new website host, Articulation Sites; it was created by the former founding engineers of Weebly. I was impressed how seamlessly they were able to handle the transfer, allowed me to make edits prior to publishing and how beautiful my header images look, no more gray cast.

As the weather warms up, and activities move outdoors, you’re going to be looking for easy one pot meals. Last week I prepared two recipes that I found on The New York Times/NYT Cooking website, Skillet Chicken with Mushrooms and Caramelized Onions and Peppery Beef & Shishito Stir-Fry. Chicken still remains a relatively affordable protein compared to the price of beef.