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The calendar says that June 21st is the start of summer, but here at the Jersey shore, it’s been very breezy today, overcast and the temperature is in the mid 60’s. I decided that with the yellow squash that came in last week’s Dreyer Farms’ CSA, I would make a Summer Squash Soup with Parsley Mint Pistou that I found on the Smitten Kitchen website. For the soup you’ll need unsalted butter, an onion, salt, 2 pounds yellow summer squash, 2 carrots, 1 yellow fleshed potato (1/2 lb.) and four cups of chicken stock or reduced sodium chicken broth.
 
The soup is quite simple to prepare. You’re sautéing the onion in the butter until softened, adding the vegetables and stock and cooking until they’re soft. When done, you can either use a blender or immersion blender to purée the soup.

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My local ShopRite had some beautiful Chairman’s Reserve tomahawk pork chops on sale last week. I couldn’t resist picking them up as I knew I could find a recipe. Fortunately, my favorite go to NYT Cooking source, Melissa Clark, had a sheet-pan, yes another sheet-pan recipe, for Sheet-Pan Cumin Pork Chops with Brussels Sprouts. For the recipe you’ll need dark brown sugar, kosher salt, whole cumin seeds, ground cumin, freshly ground black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, fresh garlic, large bone-in pork chops, Brussels sprouts, fresh sage leaves, extra-virgin olive and lemon wedges for serving.
 
Brown sugar, salt, cumin seeds, ground cumin, black pepper, red pepper flakes and grated garlic are combined to make a moist rub. The rub needs to be placed on the pork chops 20 minutes before cooking or up to 24 hours. I opted for the longer marination to allow the meat to be infused with the peppery and smoky notes of the cumin. You can roast this meal either on two small or one large sheet pan. I used two pans as the tomahawk chops were large.
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Our week 4 box of seasonal produce from Dreyer’s contained bok choy, green squash, lettuce, red beets, Dinosaur (Tuscan) kale, peas and pickling cucumbers.
 
My husband and I have a salad just about every night of the week, so we enjoy receiving green leaf lettuce in our share. The peas were shelled and steamed cooked. I dressed them with butter, salt and pepper for a tasty side dish. I am looking for a bread and butter pickle recipe for my pickling cucumbers.  
 
A sheet pan meal from Sarah Copeland which appeared on May 27th in The New York Times column “What to Make Next Week was the perfect choice for the kale. Her recipe, Sheet-Pan Roast Chicken with Tangy Greens, was a slightly spicy.
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If you’ve ever been to the Jersey Shore, make sure try Hoagitos located in the Belmar Shopping Plaza or Towne Center Plaza in Oakhurst. My favorite sandwich is the Forbidden Chicken made with crispy thigh meat that’s double fried, topped with a sweet and spicy glaze, carrot-daikon slaw and roasted garlic mayo. My husband has tried their turkey sandwich made with house roasted turkey, pepperjack cheese, tomato, arugula, onion and cilantro lime mayo. We’ve also had their risotto balls, tomato basil salad and smash burger to name a few. All of their food is delicious, prepared to order and made on site.
 
While babysitting a few months ago, I was channel surfing and I happened to catch an episode of the Travel Channel’s show “Food Paradise” featuring a segment on Hoagitos. One of the owners, Terence, was demonstrating how to prepare their famous Forbidden Chicken Sandwich. Despite not giving measurements, I was inspired to do own my version at home. Instead of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, I opted for boneless, skinless breasts. I did an internet search and found a recipe for honey sriracha sauce and carrot daikon slaw.  
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In one of our first CSA boxes this season there was a container of New Jersey strawberries. I let my daughter keep them, however, if I had Melissa Clark’s recipe for Strawberry Almond Cakes at the time, I would have kept my share. A few weeks ago, in her “A Good Appetite” column, Ms. Clark presented her recipe for a take on financiers that had roasted strawberries. I recently made financiers and I adored them as they reminded me of almond croissants. The recipe, Strawberry Almond Cakes, is made with fresh strawberries, granulated sugar, unsalted butter, confectioner’s sugar, almond flour, all-purpose flour, fine sea salt or table salt, egg whites and vanilla extract.
 
The difference between Ms. Clark’s recipe and the financier’s recipe that I made from America’s Test Kitchen, is the use of confectioner’s sugar versus granulated sugar and a small addition of flour in the Strawberry Almond Cakes. Don’t let these subtle differences discourage you, Ms. Clark’s recipe produced a delicate crumb and roasting the berries helped to not only concentrate the flavor, but reduced their moisture.
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My participation in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program sometimes means I carryover produce from one week to the next. I don’t always have time to use everything up in one week and occasionally items such red leaf lettuce and some greens can manage to stay fresh longer than a week.
 
Last week I used the golden beets I received and roasted them to concentrate their flavor. From there I found a recipe on The New York Times Cooking website for Golden Beet Salad with Cider Vinegar Dressing. In addition to the beets you’ll need extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, mâche or other tender greens, walnut oil, freshly ground black pepper, toasted walnuts, ricotta salata or fresh goat cheese.
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Note to self, do not prepare any recipes that call for glass noodles as my husband doesn’t like them. Out of the hundreds, if not thousands, of recipes I have made while writing this blog, this one clearly did not please my husband. I had shiitake mushrooms and lots of Swiss chard from my CSA share. I had recently found a recipe in The New York Times, “What to Make Next Week” column (May 20, 2023) from Kay Chun for Spring Vegetable Japchae (Korean Glass Noodles). Japchae is Korean stir fry which consists of soy sauce, minced garlic, turbinado (or brown) sugar, toasted sesame oil and freshly ground black pepper. The stir fry sauce was delicious as it had well-balanced flavors and lovely sesame notes.
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The recipe also calls for dried sweet potato noodles, safflower or canola oil, thinly sliced onion, matchstick cut carrots, thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms, sliced yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced sugar snap peas, asparagus cut on the bias, baby spinach and toasted sesame seeds for garnish. 
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Last week I was getting through my produce from a shared CSA box. So far I’ve received asparagus, lettuce, radishes, kale, spinach, eggs, golden beets, shiitake mushrooms and rainbow Swiss Chard. For the kale in the box, I found a recipe on Lidia Bastianich’s website, www.lidiasitaly.com for Barley, Kale and Butternut Squash Risotto. The spinach was used in a recipe from the website www.modernproper.com for Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Spinach, Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. For the radishes and the arugula, I prepared White Beans with Radishes, Miso and Greens, a recipe by Colu Henry via The New York Times and their column, “Five Dishes to Cook This Week.”
 
Although risotto can be filling, using pearl barley made for a lighter tasting risotto. For the recipe you’ll need kosher salt, fresh bay leaves, pearled barley, chicken stock, extra-virgin olive oil, a carrot, two stalks of celery, dry white wine, one bunch of kale, butternut squash, butter and Grana Padano cheese.
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After skipping participation in Dreyer’s Farms’ CSA program in 2022, this year my daughter and I have decided to rejoin. For us, we selected the medium box which is perfect for six people. This first week of the program offered asparagus, lettuce, radishes, parsley, spinach, kale, parsley and eggs. We split the produce between us, however, depending what’s in the box, sometimes splitting is difficult. This week I let my daughter keep the parsley and I took the lettuce. ​
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“A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring soul to the recipe.” Thomas Keller
 
A recipe is someone’s creation that has been tried and improved until perfected. However, sometimes, you as the cook, add your own nuances to achieve the flavor you desire.
 
Recently I prepared a recipe by Emily Weinstein of The New York Times for One-Pot Tortellini with Meat Sauce. I don’t know where my mind was when I was food shopping last week, instead of tortellini, I accidently bought Wegmans Italian Classics Potato Gnocchi. Beside the pasta for this recipe, you’ll also need fresh garlic cloves, extra-virgin olive oil, one pound of hot or sweet Italian sausage (casing removed) tomato paste, 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, grated Parmesan cheese and grated mozzarella cheese.


​meet donna

A former teacher, shop-a-holic, empty-nester redefining quick, family approved dinners.

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