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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. 
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​I was going through my recipe box the other day, reviewing recipes that I clipped over the years. I found some old cookie recipes from my late mother-in-law’s Aunt Betty Lee for oatmeal cookies using margarine and minute oatmeal (Just how old is this recipe?) A walnut cake that my mother used to make, a recipe from Good Housekeeping Magazine for Crispy Cookie Coffee Cakes and a Toasted Praline Scone recipe to name a few.
 
I don’t know how long I’ve had the scone recipe, perhaps over thirty years; it was time to try it out. The recipe called for shortening or butter flavored shortening. I used unsalted butter in the recipe. You’ll also need pecans, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, white vinegar, eggs and milk. The vinegar seemed like an odd ingredient to me, however, when I did a little research I discovered that it is used to react with the baking soda to start the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide which helps the batter rise during baking. 
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Having extra people in house means you can cook a variety of dishes just by seeing what everyone has a craving for.
 
My son-in-law’s father has a large garden in his yard. He grows the usual items such as tomatoes, lettuce, herbs and also asparagus and I was the recent recipient of a nice bunch. My daughter had found a recipe on “The Smitten Kitchen” food blog for Shaved Asparagus Frittata. For the recipe you’ll need asparagus, thinly sliced prosciutto (optional, but well worth the extra addition), eggs, milk, scallions, olive oil and soft goat cheese. The prep is approximately 10 minutes and cook time is 10 minutes.
 
It was a bit of a challenge to shave the asparagus, I would suggest thicker stalks if purchasing. Once I had the asparagus shaved the recipe moved along quite quickly, especially since I had the broiler preheating. A quick 5 minutes on the stovetop and then a few minutes under the broiler and breakfast was done. My daughter, son-in-law and husband all enjoyed this special breakfast. I was slightly aghast as my husband put ketchup on his frittata, to each his own. I had a taste and it was delicious. I am quite partial to goat cheese in any recipe. ​
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Since my daughter and her family arrived to stay with us during their kitchen renovation, she and I have worked out a weekly menu and food shopping list. I do, however, have a tendency to deviate from the menu, especially if I would rather prepare something else. We had planned on having Michael Chiarello’s turkey polpettone. These are seasoned ground turkey patties filled with mozzarella in the center. When my son-in-law mentioned that he hadn’t had Sloppy Joes in a very long time, I changed the next day meal from turkey polpettone to Turkey Sloppy Joes on Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits. ​
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Recently, I’ve been on a cinnamon bun kick. I made a Giant Cinnamon Scone that tasted delicious. I recently came across a recipe for Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing. The picture in the magazine looked very enticing. The biscuits were of a generous size and looked tasty.
 
I took the plunge and decided to make the biscuits. I made sure that I read the recipe carefully before I started and gathered all the ingredients I would need. I measured everything and went over the list to make sure I didn’t miss one. I knew I was in trouble when the dough appeared too wet. There was 4-1/2 cups of flour (half all purpose and half cake flour) to 3 cups of buttermilk. At the time, I didn’t think anything of it, however, when it came time to mix the dough and flip on a board, the dough was entirely too sticky. Fearing I didn’t add the correct amount of flour, I added an additional cup, but that didn’t help. The dough was to be folded over itself in an envelope fashion to create multiple layers. However, using the rolling pin for this portion of the recipe was fruitless, everything was too sticky.
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​For the longest time, my husband and I have pasta on Thursday nights. This may be a carryover from when he was growing up. His father liked to have spaghetti on Thursdays. This past Thursday was no different, however, my daughter requested pasta with vegetables. I had the perfect recipe in my Delicious Orchards recipe file, one that had to be over 25 years old, spaghetti primavera.
 
The veggies for this sauce include zucchini and broccoli. For the sauce you need 3 cups of canned plum tomatoes, garlic, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, butter, pine nuts and fresh basil. Trying to use what was available in my pantry, we used one box of spaghetti and one rigatoni. I substituted whole ricotta cheese for the cream.  You can also omit the pine nuts. 
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The other day while I was running errands, my daughter mixed a batch of Healthy Dark Chocolate Granola with Clusters. This recipe was found on the website “Rachl Mansfield.” Once I started eating this, I found my hand constantly returning to the container. This vegan and gluten-free granola is also dairy-free! It takes you five minutes to prepare the granola and 30 minutes baking time.
You’ll need gluten-free rolled oats, unsweetened coconut shreds, chop nut of any kind, flaxseed (promotes healthy digest and regularity),  chia seeds (provide fiber), cinnamon, coconut sugar, maple syrup, coconut oil, hot water, vanilla extract and Hu dark chocolate. (Ms. Mansfield recommends this brand of chocolate, but note she has partnered with them.)
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​New Jersey blueberry season is still a good number of weeks away, but I did find a good buy on some imported blueberries last week at my local food store. While I was out the other day, my daughter and granddaughter made a batch of Perfect Blueberry Muffins a recipe from the file of Deb Perelman and her website Smitten Kitchen. In addition to the blueberries we had an abundance of plain Greek yogurt, which you can use in this recipe or sour cream. Other ingredients in the recipe are unsalted butter, sugar, fresh lemon zest, an egg, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour and turbinado sugar (aka sugar in the raw).


​meet donna

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

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