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​My son’s birthday was in January and he loves chocolate éclairs.  I found a recipe for Classic Chocolate Éclairs by Samantha Senevirate in The New York Times. In my first attempt, I used a stainless-steel cake decorating tool with poor results. Now, my granddaughter was turning two and I thought this was the perfect time for a second attempt. I was off to Shore Cake Supply in Ocean Township, NJ to select better tools, disposable piping bags and a large star piping tip.
 
For the recipe you’ll need:
 
Custard: eggs, granulated sugar, cornstarch, kosher salt, whole milk, heavy cream, a vanilla bean and unsalted butter.
 
 
 Pâte à Choux: unsalted butter, granulated sugar, salt, all-purpose flour and eggs.
 
Chocolate Glaze: heavy cream, kosher salt, bittersweet chocolate and corn syrup.
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​I enjoy preparing recipes that appear in Southern Living Magazine. The recipes are well tested, a diverse offering and turn out well when I prepared. One such recipe that I tore from their magazine appeared in the May 2021 issue, Seared Steak-and-Field Pea Salad. This is a wonderful one pan meal. I was unsure as to what field peas were, but discovered it could be a bean. Field peas include speckled butter beans, crowders, pink-eyed peas, butter beans and lady cream peas. This clarifies what I was seeing in the image from the magazine.


For this recipe you’ll need brown sugar, white balsamic or white wine vinegar, olive oil, flank steak, field peas, kosher salt, fresh corn, orange and red bell peppers, black pepper, fresh chives and flaky sea salt. Although this recipe calls for flank steak, I thought I would try flat iron steak which was on sale last week at my local ShopRite.
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​I don’t care how hot the weather may be; I still bake a batch of cookies each week. In fact, this week, I baked two batches. On a recent episode of America’s Test Kitchen, Bridget Lancaster did a demonstration of a cookie called Baci di Dama, Lady’s Kisses. These hazelnut sandwich cookies have just a smidge of dark chocolate holding the two halves together.
 
For the recipe you’ll need hazelnuts, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, cornstarch, salt, unsalted butter, vanilla extract and bittersweet chocolate chips. I did find a recipe on pastry chef David Lebovitz’s website for Baci di Dama. Mr. Lebovitz got his recipe from Terresa Murphy. Her recipe calls for rice flour or white flour. The rice flour he says, makes for a crispier cookie. 



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As I head out the door for qigong this morning, my husband asks, “What’s for supper?” I reply, “I don’t know.” I have a bunch of recipe clippings sitting in my notebook on the kitchen table. Later on, I peruse a few, review the weekly specials at Whole Foods and decide on Spicy Shrimp and Chickpea Salad. Off to Whole Foods and disappointment. It seems they ran out of the Shell-On White Shrimp 10-15 count over the weekend. The fishmonger said he requested more, but his order wasn’t refilled. This is the second time this has happened to me where specially priced items are not available until the end of the sale week. Lesson learned, don’t wait until the final day of the sale. 
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The inevitable summer dilemma is what to cook when the weather turns unbearable. Whether your house is air conditioned or not, cooking during heat kitchen isn’t very motivating. Let me share with you some recipes that may inspire you and keep your kitchen cool.
 
Back in May I shared with you a recipe I found at Southern Living Magazine for Sesame Shrimp Stir-Fry. Two Ali Slagle recipes are great one pot meals such as Shrimp Scampi with Orzo or Summer Shrimp Scampi with Tomatoes and Corn. While shrimp requires a short time to cook, so does pork tenderloin. Lidia Bastianich’s recipe for Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Onions. Moving from on from shrimp and pork, how about Quick Jambalaya from Vallery Lomas of The New York Times. 
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​Do you ever find yourself standing in front of the meat case at your local market waiting for inspiration to hit? Or do you open your freezer door thinking, “What can I make for supper?” I had that happen to me recently when I couldn’t think of what to cook on a hot, steamy night.
 
We have a subscription to The New York Times and I subscribe to their newsletter NYT Cooking. The variety of contributors to the newsletter is quite diverse and the recipes reflect this. In Sunday’s July 17th newsletter, “What to Cook This Week,” there was a recipe by Ali Slagle for Chicken Parm Burger. Dinner decided! 
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As you may recall, I have a wide variety of herbs in my yard this summer. My husband purchased four lemon scented herbs i.e., lemon grass, lemon thyme, lemon verbena and lemon balm. In the April 2022 issue of Charleston Magazine, they published an article called, “A Tasty Trio, Container Gardens.” Garden editor Joan McDonald had some wonderful ideas on how to use the herbs and some recipes. One recipe that caught my husband’s eye was Spring Citrus Salad Dressing made with a combination of the aforementioned herbs.
 
For the salad dressing you’ll need olive oil, white wine vinegar, fresh herbs (lemon balm, lemon thyme, lemon verbena and lemon grass (with leaves removed from any woody stems), fresh garlic, honey, Dijon mustard, shallots, salt and pepper to taste. What a flavorful dressing. The combination of ingredients made for a lovely creamy dressing, courtesy of the Dijon mustard that created an emulsion. The dressing was bright and had a light citrus taste, refreshing for a summer salad.
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Recently, I came across an exciting preparation, for Spicy Honey-Glazed Pork Chops with Peach Pico de Gallo on the app, Epicurious. It sounded so delicious, especially since peaches are in season. For the recipe you’ll need 1-1/2” thick bone-in pork chops, salt, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, cumin seeds, honey, peaches or nectarines, red onion, jalapeño, lime juice, cilantro and vegetable oil.
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The glaze for the pork chops is made with the red pepper flakes, garlic and onion powders, cumin seeds and salt. I didn’t have cumin seeds, but substituted ground cumin. The peach pico deGallo is made with the peaches, red onion, jalapeño, lime juice and cilantro. My husband and I do not care for cilantro, so I substituted fresh parsley. 
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​Last week at the Asbury Fresh farmers market, I picked up a bunch of golden beets from Rolling Hills Farm. I did a web search and found an interesting recipe, Moroccan Cold Beet Salad with Vinaigrette. The recipe was found on the “The Spruce Eats” website and is by Christine Benlafguih.  For the recipe you’ll need, red beet roots, fresh parsley, fresh lemon juice, vegetable oil, salt, fresh ground pepper, and red onion. Although the recipe calls for red beets, it works perfectly with golden.
 
The vinaigrette was delightful, it was light and refreshing. Using lemon juice in lieu of vinegar was a wonderful change. Also, the substitution of yellow onion, didn’t alter the taste. I also added slivered almonds for a bit of crunch.


​meet donna

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

​If you have questions or comments, click on the envelope icon above to contact me directly. 

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