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​Lately I have been interested in bread baking. I like a crusty loaf with a light and slightly airy crumb structure. A few weeks ago, I viewed a video with Mark Bittman of The New York Times and Jim Lahey, of Sullivan Street Bakery, where Mr. Lahey demonstrated his no knead bread recipe. It looked very easy; so, I gave it a go. For his recipe you’ll need all-purpose flour or bread flour, instant yeast, kosher salt and cornmeal.
 
If you watch the video with Jim and Mark, you’ll notice that Jim starts with 3 cups of all-purpose flour and 1-1/4 teaspoon of salt. In the adapted version by Mark Bittman, his recipe uses 3-1/3 cups of flour and 2 teaspoons of salt, however, I followed the recipe from the video. In the video, after mixing the dough by hand, you’ll see some oil has been added to the bowl; I didn’t notice this part earlier. Jim Lahey baked his bread in LeCreuset Dutch Oven, I used a Lodge cast iron Dutch oven.
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Last week I had some time to braise a chuck roast for dinner. I found a delightful recipe in “Lidia’s Italy” cook book for Beef Braised in Barolo. The meat cooked in a liquid consisting of Barolo wine flavored with onions, carrots, celery, garlic, fresh rosemary, dried porcini mushrooms and fresh sage leaves. For seasonings, freshly grated nutmeg, salt and whole peppercorns. I went to Palmer’s Quality Meats in Neptune City, NJ to select a well-marbled piece of chuck. The recipe serves 6, but since it was just my husband and I, a 3-pound piece was perfect for braising.
 
To prepare the meat, I is seasoned with salt, browned and caramelized in a large pan with extra virgin olive oil. After browning, the meat is removed and the vegetables are placed in the pan and coated with pan juices. Next, herbs, grated nutmeg, peppercorns, dried porcini, additional salt and pepper are added and the mixture is cooked for several minutes. The vegetables are moved to the outer rim of the pan and the meat and its accumulated juices are returned. A bottle of wine is added with the beef immersed halfway.
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​Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and I just wanted to share two new recipes for chocolate. The first is for a Chocolate Dutch Baby and is in the latest edition of “Southern Living” magazine. One Sunday, my son and grandson were coming over and the little guy didn’t have his breakfast. I naturally assumed if my grandson hadn’t eaten, perhaps my son didn’t either. With no buttermilk in the house to make pancakes, I quickly pivoted and made one plain and one Chocolate Dutch Baby. Both recipes use pantry staples such as eggs, flour, milk, sugar, unsalted butter, nutmeg, unsweetened cocoa, salt, vanilla and ground cinnamon. For garnishing, powdered sugar, fresh strawberries or raspberries.
 
Both recipes come together quickly. You can measure out both the wet and dry ingredients the night before, combine in the morning and bake in the oven while you get ready for the day. Both recipes take approximately 20 minutes to bake.
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This week it’s all about lighter tasting food, full of flavor but done in a speedy fashion. Occasionally I’ve come across some delicious chef recipes from The Wall Street Journal’s column “Slow Food Fast.” The first two recipes take just 30 minutes to prepare.
 


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The temperature has either been above normal or extremely cold like it is today. Recently my local food store had broccoli crowns on sale. I was tempted to make Alison Roman’s Broccoli Cheddar soup which recently appeared in The New York Times; but I wanted something simpler. I have a very old recipe for Cream of Broccoli Soup that I clipped from “Gourmet Magazine” back in December 1993. The yield was a mere 4 cups, perfect amount for just my husband and I.
 
For the recipe you’ll need an onion, a carrot, mustard seeds, butter, fresh broccoli, chicken broth, water, fresh lemon juice and sour cream. As this recipe is almost 30 years old, I assuming that store bought broth was the norm back then and using some water for this recipe would cut down the salt. I prepared the recipe using some homemade chicken stock, Kitchen Basics stock along with water. The next time I make this, I’ll use all stock for a greater depth of flavor. If I have to purchase a boxed chicken stock, I prefer stock over broth based on the ingredient listing and how they obtain the chicken flavor. 
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When my five-year-old granddaughter was a few years younger, I told her I would take her and her family to Disney World. Last fall my daughter mentioned she was ready to bring her daughters, now five and two, to Disney. My husband and I already had our airline tickets for Florida, albeit they were booked just before COVID for a trip to Jacksonville to visit a friend. Fortunately, my husband booked our flights through American Express Travel and we had a credit that we could apply towards our new flights.
 
Next it was where to stay. A friend of mine used to travel to Disney when her children were younger and now goes with her sons and grandchildren. She suggested that we book our hotel stay through DVC Rental Store. This website matches Disney Vacation Club members that want to rent their DVC points to guests. There are over 15 exclusive DVC resorts from which to select. As we were traveling with young children, it was recommended that we stay at Bay Lake Tower, which is adjacent to the Contemporary Hotel. The plus side to staying here was that it was less than a 10-minute walk to the Magic Kingdom. I selected the two-bedroom villa. One room had two queen beds, a flat panel TV and en-suite bathroom. The second bedroom had a king size bed, a flat panel TV and en-suite bath. The living room had a flat panel TV, queen size sofa sleeper, an easy chair that became a single bed and a full bath in the main hallway. The other reason I selected to stay at here, was that the unit had a fully equipped kitchen so we could have breakfast in our room, a dishwasher, washer and dryer. I also found out that Bay Lake supplies a Mr. Coffee, along with several packs of coffee, creamer and sugar, dish soap, dishwasher detergent and laundry soap (no dryer sheets). Housekeeping came in several times to empty garbage’s and give us fresh towels. 
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Last week my husband and I took our daughter and her family to Disney World. We have two granddaughters, 5 and 2, and we wanted to take them for their first visit to see Mickey and friends. More about our trip in an upcoming post.
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We returned late last week and I’ve been finding lots of interesting recipes to share. One of the two recent recipes I was dying to make was Cacio e Pepe pasta. The recipe is from 177 Milk Street, a PBS food show by Christopher Kimball. On this show they demonstrated how to prepare a lump free sauce. Although the process seemed to go against tradition, I decided to give it a try. 
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With food prices on the rise, preparing home cooked food for your Super Bowl viewing party will save you money and perhaps give you some extra cash to purchase an extra square or two in the football pool.
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I’ve looked over my extensive recipe listing and have some ideas for your Super Bowl party. First on my list are some favorite appetizers such as hot dogs and bourbon, Mixed Antipasto is a great do ahead salad or Tomato Olive Focaccia. You can use the focaccia recipe as a starting point and add any type of toppings you desire. 
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After several gray days, I’m sitting in my sunny kitchen this afternoon recalling the delicious meal my husband and I had last night. I had recently come across The New York Times food contributor Ali Slagle’s recipe for Pork Chops with Kale and Dates. After reading comments from other cooks, this sounded like a good recipe. I still had a few remaining dates in my pantry from date nut bread that I made for a friend, pork chops in the freezer and rosemary sprigs left from the pasta the other evening; all I needed was kale. For the recipe you’ll also need salt, pepper, neutral oil, butter, fresh rosemary springs or sage leaves, either red wine or sherry vinegar and fresh garlic.
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Life would be uninteresting without a weekly serving of pasta. Between the shapes, fillings and sauces, there are limitless possibilities for a bowl of pasta. I have approximately 40 pasta recipes under this category on my website. This doesn’t include the one pot or one pan recipes for gnocchi.
 
Last week in The New York Times, food writer and cook book author, Melissa Clark, had a recipe for Buttery Lemon Pasta with Almonds and Arugula. My husband adores pasta in any shape or sauce for that matter. For this week’s pasta meal, I was intrigued by Melissa’s recipe. The combination of arugula, sliced almonds in a simple sauce made with pasta water infused with lemon juice and zest sounded enticing. ​


​meet donna

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

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