Daily Dishes – Cooking from Books

Posted on November 1, 2023 by Tablewine · 2 Comments

Chicken Cacciatore. . .One More Time

A quick search through my blog yielded at least six posts on chicken cacciatore; however, after making a new version of this Italian classic last night, I decided to add one more, simply because it was so good. The recipe comes from Lidia Bastianich’s relatively recent cookbook A Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl. And although the dish uses the same ingredients as many of my other cacciatore recipes, its flavors and textures differed from their predecessors, leading me to believe that this may be the best one I’ve made so far.

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Tablewine · 3 Comments

Marry Me Chicken

After hearing so much about “Marry Me Chicken” both from friends and on the internet, I decided to join the crowd of its admirers and take a stab at it. After reviewing several recipes on line, I opted for the New York Times version, which had been the first one I encountered. Like Ina Garten’s famed “Engagement Chicken,” the dish has garnered a reputation for ensuring a marriage proposal for those who share it. So, if you’re one of those thinking of preparing it to ensure a walk up the aisle, go ahead and give it a whirl. Even if your dinner companion doesn’t pop the question, you’ll nonetheless wind up enjoying a delicious dinner.

Posted on September 19, 2023September 19, 2023 by Tablewine · 1 Comment

Slow-Roasted Oregano Chicken with Buttered Tomatoes

Wow! That’s what I said after taking the first bite of the roast chicken I prepared last night. It was truly that good. The recipe I used, “Slow-Roasted Oregano Chicken with Buttered Tomatoes” comes from Alison Roman’s 2019 cookbook Nothing Fancy, the cover of which features a picture of the dish. Like so many of her recipes, it foregoes fanfare for flavor, fancy for footloose, and frustration for fun.

Posted on September 1, 2023September 1, 2023 by Tablewine · 9 Comments

Pasta Fagioli

One of my father’s favorite dishes pasta fagioli; whenever we dined at our neighborhood Italian restaurant, it was always his choice for a first course. He glowed with contentment as the waiter set the bowl of beans and pasta in a thick tomatoey broth in front of him and after a few spoonfuls, he’d inevitably proclaim it as “a meal in itself.”

Posted on August 22, 2023 by Tablewine

Pork Chops with Mushrooms & Red Wine

Faced with a bunch of oddly cut pork chops that needed to be used up, I turned to one of my favorite recipes for them: It’s from the cookbook 1,000 Italian Recipes by Michele Scicolone.

Posted on August 15, 2023 by Tablewine · 8 Comments

Pasta with Grated Tomato

Perhaps it was kismet that the day after I read a New York Times recipe for Grated Tomato Pasta, friends dropped by with a box load of farm-stand tomatoes. The ripe and juicy beefsteaks were just what the recipe required. Having its few other ingredients on hand, spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, Parmigiano, and basil, also triggered me to prepare the dish the same day.

Posted on August 1, 2023August 1, 2023 by Tablewine · 2 Comments

Oven Barbecue Chicken

Because of the heat wave that’s been gripping most of the country, along with the frequent extreme temperature warnings, we had planned to make some barbecued chicken leg quarters on our outdoor grill. It had been a sunny day with temps hovering around 85 degrees; but then an hour before we were planning to grill, Mother Nature intervened with a torrential rain storm that our weather app said would continue for most of the evening.

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Tablewine · 6 Comments

Roasted Ratatouille

Last Saturday, a dinner guest presented us with a basket of farm-stand vegetables and herbs. It would have made a perfect subject for a still life; however, lacking any talent in that area, I thought it would provide the ideal makings for a ratatouille.

I’ve prepared several versions of this dish and written about some of them here: a classic stewed one based on a recipe by Martha Stewart and a baked one from a Mark Bittman cookbook. As neither of them was exceptional so, I decided to look for an alternative. When I suggested a more traditionally French version to my husband, he thought it would be too heavy—especially given the current heat wave. I therefore continued my search and eventually chanced upon a roaste d ratatouille from Ina Garten.

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Tablewine · 7 Comments

Minestra di Zucchini

A recent post by fellow blogger Diane Darrow evoked memories of a childhood dish my Neapolitan aunt would make frequently during the summer, when zucchini abounded at our local vegetable store: minestra di zucchini, a vegetable soup composed of zucchini, egg, cheese, and either parsley or basil. I hadn’t had it in years, but after reading Diane’s post, I was determined to fill that void.

Posted on July 9, 2023 by Tablewine · 4 Comments

Coronation Chicken Salad

A slew of hot and sticky summer days, as well as nights, elicited the subject of this post: a coronation chicken salad. On one of those sultry evenings, our neighbors surprised us with a huge rotisserie chicken: “It’s too hot to cook” they said, “take the night off.” The bird was so big that its legs and wings were enough to sate our appetites, leaving us with more than enough meat for another meal. The following day was another scorcher, which made that leftover chicken sitting in the fridge even more appealing.