donna's daily dish

finally caught up

11/30/2025

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Trying to shop and cook for Thanksgiving dinner meant I didn’t have time to write up a blog post on the new recipes I prepared. As some of the recipes were available online, I was able to share the link with you. I hope you consider preparing them for the next round of holiday celebrations after reading my comments.

I still have homemade roasted pumpkin purée in my freezer. As the weather was getting colder last week, I found in my files a recipe from the “Charleston Magazine” for Roasted Pumpkin Soup from Chef Kevin Mitchell of the Culinary Institute of Charleston where he’s an instructor and also a Southern foodways scholar.

Besides the roasted pumpkin, you’ll need extra-virgin olive oil, Fuji apples, shallots, fresh thyme sprigs, low-sodium chicken broth, nutmeg, allspice and kosher salt. The soup is garnished with cardamom crème fraîche (just those two ingredients) and prosciutto cracklings.

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pièce de résistance

11/24/2025

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I am so proud of myself! A few weeks ago, a saw a reel on Instagram stories by “Pasta Grannies.” Pasta Grannies is a team headed by Vicky Bennison that captures Italian Nonna’s (grandmas) and occasionally Nonno’s (grandpa’s) as they prepare pasta from scratch). In a recent episode, Nonna Laura was preparing Tortellini Mantovani with Pumpkin. I was intrigued as I had all this pumpkin puree and was in the market for some new recipes. Luckily for me in the video, Laura gave the ingredients and quantity as she prepared the pasta dough and filling. I was able to pause the videos on YouTube to capture every detail.

For the pasta dough you’ll need 350 grams of 00 flour, 3 eggs whisked and a few drops of water to bring the dough together. The dough is kneaded for 5 minutes then rests for an hour. I used my KitchenAide Mixer to just bring the dough together, then kneaded by hand until the dough was supple and smooth. I used my manual pasta machine to roll the dough into sheets.

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time to catch up

11/21/2025

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Recently, I wrote about our visit to Charleston while it was fresh in my memory. However, that meant some of the dishes I prepared before and after our trip got pushed aside. My husband loves stew and I found a recipe on NYTCooking app for Slower Cooker Beef Stew by Sarah DiGregorio. Two soups made the rotation in our house starting with Creamy Pumpkin Soup from the website “The Kitchn” and Celery-Leek Soup with Potato and Parsley from Alexa Weibel from NYTCooking app. In our weekly CSA email from Dreyer Farm, they include not only storage guides for the produce we receive each week, but recipes too. One such recipe was for Baked Buffalo Cauliflower Bites that makes a great snack whether while watching football or as an appetizer for the Thanksgiving holiday. Our CSA box this fall provided us with a nice variety of apples. Not knowing what type of apples they were, I decided to cook with them in several recipes. The first was Skillet Pork Chops with Apples and Onions, next was Pan Seared Spicy Pork Chops with Apples, and lastly, Braised Red Cabbage with Apples.

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fall adventure

11/10/2025

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My husband is schedule for a knee replacement in early December, but before his surgery we took a long weekend in our favorite southern city, Charleston. This was our third trip here, the last time was seven years ago after my first hip surgery.

In our previous two trips we stayed at the Francis Marion Hotel, but this time, I looked for a new retreat. After searching, comparing accommodations and prices, we settled on the Planters Inn, a Relais & Chateaux property. Originally founded in 1803, the inn started out modestly offering lodging and board for “country gentlemen” and their families. In 1806, the inn was acquired by a woman who expanded and upgraded the style of the inn. By 1989 Hurricane Hugo slammed into Charleston and caused significant damage to the community. The heirs to the hotel secured an easement from the Historic Charleston Foundation to preserve the property. Following this, the hotel underwent a restoration and renovation. By the mid 1990’s the transformation was completed and was invited to become part of the Relais & Chateau portfolio of distinguished historic hotels. Planters Inn is located on North Market Street at the corner of Meeting Street. Across from the hotel is the Charleston City Market and one block east of King Street, the shopping district.

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finally caught up

pièce de résistance

time to catch up

fall adventure

meet donna

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finally caught up

pièce de résistance

time to catch up

fall adventure

​meet donna

Archives

meet donna