donna's daily dish

can food land you a partner?

2/28/2024

Back in 2008, if you wanted to elicit a wedding proposal from someone, you’d make them a Roast Chicken. Apparently late last year, there was a buzz on TikTok for a recipe called “Marry Me Chicken.” In 2016, an editor at the website “Delish” was videotaped creating a recipe for Tuscan-style chicken. At the end of the video her producer says, “I’d marry you for that chicken;” hence the Tuscan dish had a new name. The Italian food importer Delallo thinks the name comes from how well the ingredients “marry together” when incorporated into this dish. There are quite a few versions of this recipe on line, but I decided to follow a recipe by Naz Deravian from The New York Times.

For Marry Me Chicken you’ll need boneless skinless, chicken breasts, kosher salt, black pepper, all-purpose flour, extra-virgin olive oil, unsalted butter, fresh garlic, tomato paste, dried oregano, red-pepper flakes, chicken stock, heavy cream, grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese, sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil and fresh basil for serving.

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one and done

2/24/2024

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This week’s cooking adventures offered some delicious one pot/one pan meals. First was a recipe from the website “The Modern Proper” for Spinach and Artichoke Chicken Skillet. My husband thought we had this dish before, however, it’s a similar concept done by Sarah DiGregorio of The New York Times/Here to Help column for her recipe Creamy Spinach-Artichoke Chicken Stew.

For the recipe you’ll need boneless, skinless chicken breasts, kosher salt, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, salted butter, all-purpose flour, chicken stock, whole milk, cream cheese, fresh spinach, fresh or dried basil, can of artichoke hearts and Parmesan cheese.

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breakfast, lunch and dinner

2/19/2024

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Recently I was at a local food store when I spotted in their meat case a small pork shoulder perfect size for pulled pork for two people. While I have a vinegar based slow cooker recipe that I’ve been making for years, I found a recipe on the New York Times Cooking app for Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork by Margaux Laskey. She says she’s viewed pulled pork recipes online that call for a dark cola such as Dr. Pepper or root beer. This is the first that I’ve heard of this, but apparently it’s added because as it cooks infuses the pork with sweetness through caramelization. So, would you prefer a pulled pork with sweetness or tartness?

Here’s what I discovered on the website “Eat This, Not That” in their article “The 6 Types of Southern Barbecue in the US-and What Exactly Makes Them Different.” There’s the Eastern North Carolina style which is basting the meat in a vinegar-based sauce. Western North Carolina likes a barbecue sauce that has tomato or ketchup mixed in. South Carolina is the same as Eastern North Carolina but adds black pepper, salt and cayenne to their vinegar mixture. East Texas prefers barbecue marinated in a sweet tomato-based sauce, with South Texas using molasses in theirs. Alabama, uses a white mayonnaise sauce with a bit of tang.

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get ready for Valentine's Day

2/13/2024

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I’m just getting under the wire for Valentine’s Day recipes. Luckily, the ones I’ve made that I recently made take very little time and a bit of shopping.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and what better way to start off the morning than with an easy to prepare Dutch Baby pancake. You could make the batter the night before and remix Wednesday morning while you’re preheating the oven. For this recipe you’ll need eggs, flour, milk, granulated sugar, nutmeg, unsalted butter and to bring it over the top, Woodford Reserve Bourbon cherries. I ordered mine from Walmart, but discovered that Total Wine in Eatontown, NJ as well as Amazon carries it. Contact or visit your favorite liquor store to see if they carry them.

The batter goes into a preheated oven proof pan (I used a cast iron fry pan) for 15-20 minutes. Before serving I dusted the pancake with powdered sugar and several cherries with bourbon syrup, delicious!

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choose your favorite treat

2/5/2024

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This past weekend we finally celebrated both my and my son’s January birthday. My son requested dark chocolate chips with sea salt. After a bit of internet searching, I found a recipe on “Smitten Kitchen” website for Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies. For the recipe you’ll need unsalted butter, granulated sugar, turbinado (Sugar in the Raw), light or dark brown sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, fine sea salt or table salt, all-purpose flour, semi- or bittersweet chocolate and flaky sea salt to finish.

All the ingredients are mixed in a large bowl beginning by creaming the butter and sugars. Next in are the wet ingredients, egg and vanilla. Salt and baking soda follow with the flour last. I used Ghirardelli’s Premium Baking Bar Bittersweet Chocolate 60% Cacao that I chopped into small chunks and mixed in by hand. I used a scooped that was roughly 1-1/2 tablespoons to form the cookies. I flattened them slightly so that the Fleur del Sel salt would not slide off and baked them for approximately 11 to 12 minutes.

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change up

2/4/2024

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Recently I’ve prepared some familiar recipes, but different versions. My last soup for the month of January was a Lentil Soup with Pasta, Bacon and Garlic by Marcella Hazan. Ms. Hazan was born in a fishing village on the Adriatic in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Her recipe is made with extra-virgin olive oil, chopped bacon, onion, garlic, celery, parsley, fresh ripe tomato, lentils, salt, pepper, short tubular pasta and Romano cheese.

Unlike the lentil soup with fennel and sun-dried tomatoes recipe which is on my website, this version uses a minimal amount of ingredients, but is very flavorful. You’ll notice that the recipe calls for bacon, not pancetta or guanciale. The bacon is cooked in olive oil along with the onion, garlic, celery and parsley until a rich brown color. Then the tomato is added and cooked for a few minutes before adding the lentils and enough water covering the lentils by 1-inch. The soup simmers for 25 to 30 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Lastly, pasta is added along with salt and freshly ground pepper and cooked until the pasta is al dente. The soup should be on the thick side rather than thin. To finish the soup, adjust the seasonings and add grated cheese and some olive oil.

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can food land you a partner?

one and done

breakfast, lunch and dinner

get ready for Valentine's Day

choose your favorite treat

change up

meet donna

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can food land you a partner?

one and done

breakfast, lunch and dinner

get ready for Valentine's Day

choose your favorite treat

change up

​meet donna

Archives

meet donna