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The New York Times has a column titled “Here to Help” in the first section of the paper and once a week it has a recipe.  In the Tuesday, July 14th edition, they published a recipe by David Tanis for Lobster Pasta with Yellow Tomatoes and Basil. The recipe sounded delicious and intriguing. Besides the pasta you’ll need 1 pound of lobster meat, olive oil, shallots, garlic, yellow tomatoes and basil leaves. 

This summer, lobsters in New Jersey have been selling for less than $10/lb. Last week a fishery had them as low as $6/lb. As I needed four 1-1/2-pound lobsters to yield one pound of lobster meat, I faced a conundrum, do I cook four lobsters (cost about a $24) or bit the bullet and purchase the meat already cooked and picked for $35.99/lb.?


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Paninis
When the heat wave started last week, my husband suggested chicken paninis.  I thought this was a good idea and I found a delightfully easy recipe on the Williams-Sonoma website for Chicken Panini with Pesto and Mozzarella.
 
A quick trip to the food store was needed to procure boneless chicken breasts, sliced Italian bread, a red pepper for making homemade roasted peppers, arugula and a small ball of fresh mozzarella cheese. I already had pesto in the refrigerator.
 
If you don’t own a panini press, you can still forge ahead and make these sandwiches. You’ll need two pans. A grill or fry pan and, preferable, one a cast iron.  To help compress the sandwiches, one 28-ounce can of tomatoes or two smaller size cans will do. The sandwiches will go in one pan, while the cast iron is placed on top with the cans in the fry pan. The weight of the cast iron and cans will compress the sandwiches similar to the panini press.
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​​While our daughter was staying with us, she prepared a very hearty and healthy supper, “The Easiest Healthy Burrito Bake (gluten free)”. This recipe is from the food blogger Rachel Mansfield with a blog of the same name. Ms. Mansfield says her recipes contain “just the good stuff,” meaning few ingredients, little prep work and you don’t need to be an experienced chef to prepare. You’ll find on her website many gluten-free, dairy-free and recipes with no refined sugars. This recipe that my daughter prepared is quite forgiving.
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As you can tell from reading my blog, I can usually find delicious and easy recipes at The New York Times and their app @nytcooking. Last weekend I found a recipe for Summer Shrimp Scampi with Tomatoes and Corn. The recipe serves four and takes 15 minutes to prepare in ONE skillet. As luck would have it, my local ShopRite has fresh jumbo (21/25 count) domestic, wild caught shrimp on sale for $11.99/lb. or with your Price Plus card, $9.99/lb. 
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​It has been a few weeks since I posted last. My daughter and her family have returned home to an almost completed kitchen renovation. There is still quite a bit of work to be completed, however, everyone was anxious to get home as baby number two is due to arrive at the beginning of August.
 
My daughter ordered twice from a mail order company that sells “less than pretty” produce. I was a little hesitant for her to try this, however, since the pandemic, she has taken to ordering groceries online. One of the items in her last produce box was a rather large red beet. The beet was stored in a cool, dark place, but need to be cooked. I found on www.epicurious.com a recipe by Melissa Clark (December 2017) for Beets with Dill, Lime and Yogurt. Eureka! I had all the ingredients for the recipe and now had something with which to use the dill that was growing in my garden.
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My daughter and her family have been making Sunday visits to Atlantic Offshore Fishery in Point Pleasant, NJ. [On Thursdays, Atlantic Offshore posts on Instagram their retail fish availability.] They pick up lunch and then stop at the fish market to get something for supper. Last weekend they purchased lobster claws for $5.99/lb. and two pounds of wild shrimp (16/20 count) that were cleaned and deveined for $13.99/lb
 
I found a recipe online at the website Lobster from Maine for Maine Lobster Dip. You’ll need 1 cup of lobster meat, 8 ounces of cream cheese, ½ cup of mayonnaise and seasonings. We enjoyed the dip very much, but couldn’t eat much because of the richness. I purchased an additional two whole lobsters and added more lobster meat to the dip. I would suggest reducing all the ingredients by half except for the lobster meat. This will give you a more meaty taste and balance out the richness. 
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I had two pounds of carrots in my refrigerator that needed to be used. I went to one of my favorite sources, The New York Times Cooking website/app and found an easy recipe by Martha Rose Shulman for Roasted Carrots with Parsley and Thyme. Lucky for me, I have these two herbs growing in my garden.
 
Besides the carrots and herbs, you’ll need extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. To make clean up easy, the sheet pan is lined with foil. The carrots are peeled and cut into 2” long planks and then into wide matchsticks. I placed them on the sheet pan, drizzled them with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and the chopped thyme. Using my hands, I mixed all the ingredients and made an even layer on the pan. The carrots roasted for 30 minutes at 400° and then additional 10 to 15 minutes at 375° until tender. Just before serving you adjust the seasoning and add finely chopped parsley over the carrots. 
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​This past week I made my eleventh recipe from The NY Times Cooking supplement “One Pot|Pan|Skillet, 24 Recipes for Everyone Who Hates Doing the Dishes.” This time I prepared Salmon with Potatoes and Horseradish-Tarragon Sauce. You could have use halibut or cod instead, but selected Arctic Char which was on special at Whole Foods. The flavor of Arctic Char’s is somewhere between trout and salmon. The recipe was adapted by cookbook writer Joan Nathan from a recipe by the late George Lang, restaurateur.
 
The recipe takes 45 minutes to prepare. You’ll need unsalted butter, approximately one pound of Yukon Gold potatoes, shallots, sour cream or Greek yogurt, prepared horseradish, fresh tarragon and chives, white pepper, boneless, skinless salmon or halibut filet, hot paprika. 
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Recently my son-in-law purchased delicious shrimp from Atlantic Offshore Fishery in Point Pleasant, NJ. The shrimp were wild, caught 16/20 count for $13.99/lb.  They were also shelled and deveined, a cook’s dream! Atlantic Offshore posts their retail fish case items every Thursday’s on their Facebook page.
 
My daughter was in the mood for a stir fry. Although I have a tried and true recipe in my files, I wanted to try a new one. I came across one in the New York Times Cooking app from Julia Moskin for Stir-Fried Shrimp with Snow Peas and Ginger. For the recipe you’ll need shrimp, chicken broth, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, ground white pepper, vegetable oil, minced garlic, minced ginger, snow peas and a scallion. It’s a 30 minute recipe which makes for a great weeknight meal for a busy family. What was interesting about this recipe was the shrimp are brined for five minutes in cold water and a bit of salt. Two interesting comments in the notes said that this helped the fish to have “silky soft texture,” and the other “help retain moisture when cooking.” Whichever one is right, they were delightful. 
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​During our lockdown, I have been going through some old recipes. I came across several that I want to try, all desserts unfortunately. The other day, I made my mother’s recipe for Walnut Cake and Lemon Meltaway Cookies, a recipe from Land O’Lakes Butter that I clipped back in 1999!
 
The Walnut Cake uses pantry items, except for walnuts. You’ll need flour, sugar, unsalted butter, baking soda, vanilla, an egg, walnuts and milk. It’s a one bowl cake with the butter and sugar creamed together then followed by the balance of ingredients. I used a hand held mixer to blend everything together. I baked the cake in a loaf pan, which took just under an hour to bake. 


​meet donna

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

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