Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Waiting for a bike ride

June 10, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

While waiting for the rain to stop and the sun to come out in order to take a bike ride today, I went out and cut some arugula (It grows so fast) and whipped up this dressing for a little salad. It doesn’t get any better than this – so fresh, so clean, so delicious!

I love anchovies. They’re packed with flavor and I remember making a creamy salad dressing years ago for an arugula salad and for the life of me I cannot remember where I got that recipe or what, exactly, was in it. I searched everywhere I could think of, with no luck. So I made this one up and it’s terrific, although not yellow in color like the one I remember. This one looks like a pretty green goddess dressing because of the parsley.

Now if you don’t have a mini chopper and grinder from Cuisinart, go get one. Bed Bath and Beyond will special order it for you. They’re only about $20.00 and they are the best little tool. I use it to make this dressing or grind spices for a spice rub. It’s the best!

LEMON ANCHOVY DRESSING
2 tbs. fresh Italian parsley leaves
2 tbs. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3 anchovy fillets, patted dry of oil in a paper towel
3 tbs. olive oil

Combine everything except the olive oil in a mini processor or grinder and process until smooth. Add oil 1 tbs. at a time and process after each addition until thoroughly combined and smooth.

Enjoy!! I gotta get on my bike!

Graduation time!

June 9, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

Dean of the Music department at The City College of New York.

Dean of the Music Department – he looks a little like Mel Brooks!

Our youngest son graduated from college last week and we’re so proud, with summa cum laude and numerous other awards, he’s heading off to Yale in August for a PhD in Eastern European History. At his graduation, of course the various Deans of the different Humanities got up to speak and the Dean of the Music Department was a real character. (check out his cap!) He’s been in that position for forty years! He stated that music was the universal language of love.

Well I say that food is the universal language of LOVE. What better way to let someone know that you love them and to show your love than through cooking, serving and sharing really delicious and healthy food?

So get on with it! Start cooking! Serve the food! Share the LOVE!

Vegetarian pasta with walnuts and spinach on a white plate.

Zach’s vegetarian dish

Bloomberg’s Sodas

June 1, 2012 by Mary Frances 1 Comment

So the news came out yesterday that our dear mayor wants to enact a far-reaching ban on the sale of large sized sodas and sugary drinks everywhere. I’m not a fan of the government making rules for your life but people are just getting too fat. The cheap junk and fast food is just awful. We’re way too fat here in NYC, too. Years ago, in the 70s, I used to go home to St. Louis and find all the people there fat, while we New Yorkers were normal or slim. Not any more. (Having just been in Nashville, I can tell you that people are not fat there.)

And how about portion sizes, which is what Bloomberg is talking about. The big American size is so endemic that it’s hard to find normal sized dinner plates. We have an old dishwasher at our country house and it was a struggle to find dinner plates that would fit in. What has happened to us? I’m tired of standing on the subway just because some one person is taking up not 2 but 3 seats!! Or how about the fact that we all pay for the medical problems of heart disease, diabetes and hypertension, just to mention a few.

How is this for an idea — I think our mayor should also consider giving each and every resident a full-length mirror. I’m convinced that people have no idea how they look. If they knew, they’d surely do something about it, don’t you think?

What I hope to accomplish with this blog is to teach people how to eat right, and to get in the habit of cooking to be able to prepare totally delicious, nutritious meals on any night of the week, even a weekday! Add a little LOVE while you’re cooking and you will please everyone, including yourself. And you’ll feel a whole lot better in every respect.

Take a look at this meal I prepared last night for four in an hour. It is a spoon cut sirloin beef roast, (38 minutes to cook at 350 degrees!), sautéed kale and beet greens with a little garlic and olive oil and yellow beans pan sautéed with just a touch of butter. Totally nutritious and delicious, and everyone loved it!

Sirloin roast beef with sauteed kale, beet greens, and yellow beans in white and green bowls.

Dinner in an hour!

The Best Potato Salad

May 27, 2012 by Mary Frances 8 Comments

Best potato salad with fennel, parmigiano cheese, cippolini onions and piccholine olives.

The Best Potato Salad with fennel, Parmesan cheese, cipollini onions and picholine olives.

The first time I made this was one year ago. Our oldest son was having a party at his apartment where they also have use of the roof. We were invited – unusual for parents! I brought a quadrupled recipe of this along with a rhubarb upside down cake. Both were huge hits!! This potato salad recipe is unusual, surprising and so very tasty. You will love it! This is an adapted version of a Martha Stewart recipe. (Robin – this is for you!)

THE BEST POTATO SALAD – serves 6

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 1/2 pounds baby Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and halved
3/4 pound cipollini onions, peeled (drop in boiling water for 1-2 minutes to make this easier)
1/8 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
1 cup homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon white-wine vinegar
1/2 cup picholine olives, pitted (2 1/2 ounces)
1 small fennel bulb, very thinly sliced (use a mandoline)
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, shaved (1 cup)

Heat a medium skillet over medium-low heat with oil. Add garlic, and slowly saute for 8 – 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Turn heat to medium-high and add potatoes, onions, and red-pepper flakes. Cook until onions are golden, about 7 minutes.

Add stock, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until potatoes and onions are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove potatoes and onions with a slotted spoon. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking liquid.

Combine reserved liquid, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Pour over warm potatoes and onions. You must do this while the potatoes are still warm to ensure maximum flavor. Stir in olives, and let cool completely.

Add fennel and parsley, and combine. Season with salt and pepper. Top with Parmesan.

Take a look at my garden after I took off the “winter blankets” yesterday. My mint, oregano, sage and chives went wild!

My herb garden – “winter blankets” removed!

Exciting news!

May 26, 2012 by Mary Frances 4 Comments

I am so happy (and proud!) to announce that this blog (https://lovethesecretingredient.net/) is a winner in the 2012 American Web Design Awards.

Of the nearly 1,000 entries, only 140 design firms or organizations were winners.

The competition is presented each year by Graphic Design USA and sponsored by The Creative Group.

You can see all the winning entries here:
http://www.gdusa.com/contests/awda12/types/se.php?x=106

Nashville!

May 22, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

Live music all the time!!

We have been in Nashville for the past four days on business and we’ve really been having a fantastic food time! (Business was great too with a well-accepted Board of Governors presentation!)

So what did we eat in Nashville? Well the highlights were amazing fried oysters on fresh local mesclun greens at Sunset Grill, Redneck pulled pork burritos (awesome) and fried green tomatoes with a chipotle mayonnaise at Puckett’s 5th and Church, hot delicious homemade donut holes with cinnamon sugar and a whipped blueberry peach butter (like it needed it!) at Germantown Café and of course, shrimp and grits at Midtown Cafe. There seems to be a pattern here of fried and richness and I must admit, my tummy is a little upset but you know what? For these few days, it was worth it! Combine the food with the Grand Ole Opry and all the live music in all the Broadway bars at all hours of the day and night, and you realize this is one nice town with lovely people.

In between business, I had one day with my friend Margaret. We started with those large donut holes being served at our brunch of eggs Benedict with crab cakes instead of Canadian bacon, and grits with Jack cheese. We then tried to walk it off at this huge Farmer’s Market they have in Capital Park and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, ending with a cocktail at the historic and gorgeous Union Station Hotel. Quite a lovely “girls day” – in fact – perfect!

A Nashville Farmer’s Market in Capital Park and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.

The Farmer’s Market

Nashville greens in a Farmer's Market in Capital Park and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.

Any kind of greens you want!

Nashville tomatoes in a Farmer's Market in Capital Park and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts

See them cut before you buy!

Nashville yellow squash in a Farmer's Market in Capital Park and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.

That’s a whole lot of yellow squash!