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

Oh Baby, Yukon Golds… Best Stovetop Recipe

June 12, 2016 by Mary 22 Comments

I don’t cook many carbs – as I’m constantly watching my weight. “Watching” is the key word. I am not on any diet to lose weight but I certainly don’t want to gain any more. So, I don’t cook many carbs. Particularly because we eat dinner so late – usually around 9 – I hate to admit – and my husband and I are just fine without. At first my husband would complain. Now he knows better. (training!)

But on this past Monday evening, we had our next-door neighbor, Marilyn, over for dinner. Marilyn is a pistol. She’s a retired bankruptcy attorney and she has a gorgeous terrace, belongs to several wine clubs, and doesn’t cook. We start these get-togethers at her apartment with some delicious wine on her terrace. She ordered up a spectacular day as well! Gorgeous blue sky with puffy clouds slowly moving, bees that didn’t sting and birds that came to visit. Perfect!

During the cocktail hour, I peeled and sliced garlic for the escarole while my onions were happily caramelizing on my stove next door. Marilyn loves rare calves liver and you can’t have liver without having onions, right? I had a strip steak for my husband and me.

You see Marilyn did a HUGE favor for us some months ago. Our refrigerator broke (again!! Don’t ever buy Jenn-Air appliances) and we were planning to spend a week in the country and I mentioned to her that now we were staying home to wait for the repair guy and it ruined our week. Marilyn offered to oversee the repair and stay with the guy in our apartment until it was finished, so we could still go on our little holiday. How awesome is that!??? And, the repair guy didn’t show up until 7 pm in the evening and didn’t finish until 10:30 at night!!! And she couldn’t figure out how to turn on our TV. So she just sat there. (I couldn’t figure out how to turn on the TV last night either. Aughhhh!!)

So I said, “Marilyn, let me make you your favorite dinner. What is it?”

And she said, “Liver and onions.”

I hate liver and onions.

My mother used to make us eat it at least once a month – for the iron – and she loved it. But my mother always cooked it way too much, I now know.

Marilyn likes hers rare and she requested it broiled. Well, I blew it the first time. It was too done.

So on Monday, I recreated her thank-you dinner and this time, I did it right. I sautéed it in butter, served it rare and never heard so many mmmm’s. She’s a sweetheart.

So being that we had company, I made the complete meal with a carb – these baby Yukon golds – and they were creamy, dreamy and totally delicious.

Here’s what I did. It’s a remake of a Jacques Pepin recipe.

BABY YUKON GOLDS – BEST STOVETOP RECIPE – serves 5 – 6

2 lbs. baby Yukon gold potatoes
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chicken stock
1.5 Tbs. butter
2 Tbs. freshly chopped parsley leaves

Place the potatoes in a deep skillet and add salt and pepper to taste. Cover potatoes halfway with chicken stock, about 2 cups, add the butter and cover skillet with a lid. Cook the potatoes in the stock until almost tender, about 10 to 15 minutes, depending upon the size of the potatoes.

Remove the lid and allow the stock to evaporate, about another 5 minutes. Once the stock has evaporated pop each potato using a ladle or large spoon, creating a small crack in each, but do not smash. Allow the potatoes to brown on each side, about another 5 minutes. Remove the browned potatoes from the skillet and place onto a serving platter, garnish with the parsley.

Serve with LOVE.

Frosty cocktails and dinner salads – summertime is here!

June 6, 2016 by Mary 8 Comments

Frosty cocktails and dinner salads, summertime is here, right? Easy cooking and meals that come together quickly, that’s what we all want when it’s time to open the windows wide, as we’d really rather be outside.

My mother-in-law passed early Tuesday morning. We had the funeral in Baltimore on Thursday. She had lived a good long 96+ years. So on Wednesday night, our oldest son and his fiancée came over for dinner and spent the night so we could all drive to Baltimore together. Obviously I had not planned for four for dinner this week but here’s what I threw together. It was great for a hot summer, late night meal.

Fortunately I had defrosted a package of 4 chicken thighs with bone and skin. I had some baby spinach and romaine lettuce, potatoes, mini sweet peppers, radishes and tomatoes. I threw in some caperberries and lemon halves to roast with the potatoes and chicken. Over the finished salad, I drizzled a tiny bit of olive oil and with a squeeze of the roasted lemons – DELISH!!

The caperberries got crunchy – a nice and interesting little bit of salt crunch every once in a while. The potatoes, baby Yukon Gold, were creamy dreamy. And roasting the lemons at the high heat of 425 degrees made them almost sweet! You can just salt and pepper your chicken on both sides but I was also trying out a new possible product for the summer box, delicious and high in garlic content, so I will tell you to just add some garlic powder and sesame seeds on the thighs, in order to not ruin the surprise of this product in the upcoming summer box.

Here’s what I did.

DINNER SALAD WITH ROASTED CHICKEN THIGHS, CAPERBERRIES AND ROASTED LEMONS – serves 4

4 chicken thighs with bone and skin
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Sesame seeds
5.5 oz. baby spinach leaves
3 – 4 romaine lettuce leaves, washed, dried and torn into bite size pieces
1.75 lbs. baby Yukon Gold potatoes – scrubbed, dried and cut into 2“ chunks
2 Tbs. olive oil, plus more to drizzle on finished salads
1/3 cup caperberries, drained
2 whole lemons, washed, dried and cut in half
8 radishes, scrubbed clean and dried, trim if greens are not nice
½ cup sugar snap peas, washed, strings removed, and cut on a diagonal into slices
3 tomatoes, washed, dried and each cut into 8 wedges
4 small sweet peppers – yellow, orange or red, washed, dried, split in half lengthwise, seeds removed
3 scallions, cleaned and sliced, white, light green and some dark green parts
Maldon salt
Fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss potatoes with 2 Tbs. olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast potatoes in the oven for 15 minutes. Then add the caperberries to the potatoes and toss and return to the oven for 20 – 30 minutes more.

Meanwhile, wash and dry chicken thighs, removing all fat and extra skin on the edges. Season both sides with salt, pepper, garlic powder and sesame seeds, pressing them in to adhere. Place thighs on a rack on a rimmed baking sheet, add lemon halves in the corners of the baking sheet, cut side down and roast on the top shelf in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes.

Prepare all the other vegetables.

Distribute the spinach and romaine lettuce leaves evenly among four dinner plates. Place chicken thighs in the center and evenly distribute all the other vegetables around the chicken, putting one roasted lemon half on each plate and finishing with the scallions sprinkled all over. Drizzle olive oil on the vegetables in a circle around the chicken, and squeeze the lemon all around. Finish with some crushed Maldon salt and fresh ground pepper.

Serve with LOVE and enjoy!! We paired this with an Alsace Riesling – perfect! (Steve – what do you think?)

Last weekend, I was also playing around with cocktails and another box item. More on that to come later after the summer box is shipped on June 25th. Here’s a photo to whet your appetite.

Barbecued Ribs or Santorini Grilled Chicken?

May 29, 2016 by Mary 12 Comments

BBQ ribs – perfect for this holiday weekend. Those are fiddlehead ferns garnishing the platter – they’re in season now!

If you’re thinking of ribs for today or tomorrow, I’ve got you covered with my great rib recipe here. People rave about this recipe and it’s so simple and easy. Or if pork is not your thing, how about a Santorini Grilled Chicken recipe that’s sure to please everyone as it’s stuffed with tomatoes, cheese and onions and oregano. And I’ve added on for you some salads too – one tomato and two potato. So fire up the grill, whip up the salads and enjoy this lovely long weekend with your family – and don’t forget to thank our fallen heroes for their service to our country, as that is what Memorial Day is all about.

Here’s a shot of my Dad’s cavalry hat from WWII. We proudly display it on the wall as a piece of art. (That pie in the back gives a hint of one of our products coming up in our summer box!)

These recipes are all reprise recipes so I’ll just show you the pictures, which all link back to the original post.

We are all out of sorts today. My mother-in-law is passing. She is 96 years old, almost 97, in August. She lived a good long life. I’ve dealt with a lot of passing of people close to me. My mom passed in 1995, my dad in ’98 (of a broken heart from losing my mom. He always thought he would go first.), and then we lost a brother to MS in 2000. All of these were sudden events and a surprise. This, with Steve’s mom is maddening. His sister is in Baltimore with her and has called in hospice. We are both on pins and needles.

Today I spent an hour tearing through the house looking for my reading glasses and then I went to wash my hands in the bathroom and looked up in the mirror – there they were on my chest – hanging from my necklace. Hope this isn’t a sign of things to come! Once I left my car keys at a greeting card store and then they closed and I couldn’t drive home! I was so engrossed in reading funny cards and laughing so hard, I got comfortable, sat on the carpeted floor and left my keys there too. That was a tough one to retrace. Then there was the time I left my keys in the freezer. Don’t ask.

Love your family more. Our time here is precious. Cook with abandon and always serve with LOVE!

Santorini Grilled Chicken

Greek Salad, salad with feta cheese tomatoes cucumbers greek

Tomato, cucumber and feta Greek salad

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

Midwest potato salad in a white Le Crueset bowl garnished with parsley.

Or here’s a great mayonnaise-based potato salad – my Midwest Potato Salad – that was featured in the Tanglewood Cookbook!

Grilled Chicken with Fresh Curry Leaves & Lemon, Onion Butter Sauce

May 22, 2016 by Mary 12 Comments

Recently, I’ve read a lot about fresh curry leaves in various recipes, and I’m thinking, how can that be? Curry, as a spice, is a total mixture of spices and can be mild, medium, or hot (Madras), depending on the combination. So how can there be fresh curry leaves?

Well there are, and you can eat the whole leaf! So I took a trek to dependable Kalustyan’s on Lexington Avenue between 28^th and 29^th Street. They have EVERYTHING!!! You’ll say, “Holy-crap there’s so many herbs, spices and seasonings from all over the world here that I’ve never even heard of!” (No one there asked me to write this but if you are in NYC, you really should go. It is a food lovers party place!) If you don’t live nearby, you can go online and order from them, although the curry leaves must be shipped overnight as they should be refrigerated. It’s $4.99 for a 1 oz. bag and I used the whole bag in this recipe.

The curry leaf tree (Murraya koenigii) is a small bush or tree that only grows 13 to just under 20 feet in height. The plant is tropical to sub-tropical and native to India and Sri Lanka.

I think I might try to grow my own curry plant as I have fallen in love with these curry leaves. They are very fragrant and taste and smell like…curry!! But I’m talking about really fresh curry and not so overpowering. They add a delicious and different twist to any dish. Use this exotic new flavor to garnish any vegetable or meat. You really should try them and try this recipe. I used the whole bag for maximum impact. Once you find them, you will crave them.

GRILLED CHICKEN WITH FRESH CURRY LEAVES & LEMON, ONION BUTTER SAUCE

3^1/4lb. whole chicken, washed, dried, extra fat & backbone removed
1 oz fresh curry leaves, washed and air-dried
1 Tbs. olive oil
Fine sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

Basting Sauce:
4 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 small onion minced
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
Juice of one lemon

Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the minced onions on low heat. Cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes, sweating and softening the onions. Then add the worcestershire sauce. Off heat, blend in the lemon juice and a little salt and pepper.

Using poultry shears, cut along each side of the chicken backbone and remove it. Remove the wing tips. Freeze the backbone and wing tips for the next time you make stock. Turn the chicken breast side up and press on the breastbone to flatten the chicken. Using a small sharp knife, cut partway through both sides of the joint between the thighs and the drumsticks. Cut partway through the joint between the wings and the breast. This will make the white meat and dark meat cook more evenly and the whole chicken will cook faster.

For the curry leaves, use all but one stem. Save that for garnishing. Carefully lift up the skin on the breasts and thighs and spread the whole curry leaves around underneath the skin, evenly distributing them

Rub the chicken with a little olive oil. Salt and pepper both sides.

Oil a grill plate and heat up on the grill to 425 degrees. Place chicken on the grill plate, bone side down, cover and roast for 10 minutes. Baste with the lemon butter sauce. Turn the chicken over, baste on the bone side, cover and roast for 10 – 15 minutes, more until done. Remember, this chicken does not take long to cook because the slits were made in the thighs and wings.

Let rest for 10 minutes before cutting into pieces to serve. You can use any leftover basting sauce to put on the chicken because you never basted raw meat.

Chop the remaining curry leaves and garnish the chicken. Serve with LOVE and enjoy!!

Grilled chicken with fresh curry leaves - finished plate with chicken.

We started this meal with a Caesar Salad and I served this chicken with grilled small arepas – arepitas! For another delicious recipe, visit Supriya at quichentell.com. Her coffee and paprika rubbed grilled chicken is to die for!

Mother’s Day Recap & Fettuccine with Salmon & Sugar Snap Peas

May 15, 2016 by Mary 9 Comments

How was your Mother’s Day? What did you do? Even you men out there, what did you do for either your mom or your wife?

My Mother’s Day was super lovely. But it was also a little bittersweet in that I cannot believe how much time has passed and how grown my boys are, as tears well up in my eyes. They are tears of happiness, yes, but also a reminder of a time gone by. How did they grow up so fast? The many memories of Mother’s Days when they were little, all make me smile. Oh yes, I am ready for grandchildren, but I’m not nearly old enough to be a grandmother, right???

I am so proud of my boys – they have grown up to be fine young, polite, fun men. They both have chosen wonderful women to be with. The older one and his fiancée own a townhouse in Brooklyn with a backyard and 3 large London Plane trees they planted. They have done an incredible job on renovating this house and yard. They still have a lot to do but to sit outside in a backyard in NYC and barbecue on beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon with a special cocktail he made me — well it just doesn’t get much better than that – except if my other son and his fiancée could have been there too, but they are still in Poland.

They greeted me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and Kate made an amazing pear pie – with a heart on top! All of dinner was done on the grill. It started with an appetizer of barbecued baby back ribs, then grilled hanger steak, done to perfection, some smashed potatoes, and grilled baby Brussels sprouts. But the pie, oh my, most of us had seconds.
Not too sweet with a super flakey, buttery crust – the girl can really bake! How lucky am I!

So this past Friday night, we arrived upstate and decided, for once, we were going to go out to eat at a local restaurant, the Stissing House, right near our home. And wouldn’t you know it, they were completely booked and wouldn’t take us! So fortunately, before we left the city, I threw a can of salmon in our bags – just in case – as I had nothing else except for some sugar snap peas.

After being rejected from the Stissing House, here’s what I threw together with what I had in the pantry and it was darn good. I really wanted some milk or heavy cream to mix with the salmon juice for the sauce but I had nothing, I didn’t even have any sour cream or yogurt, or crème fraiche so I reached for the mayo and it turned out great! And just recently I came across an article about cooking with mayo – so here’s my contribution!
This came together so quickly. The only thing that takes time is cleaning the sugar snap peas so do that first. The rest can all be done while you’re waiting for the pasta water to boil and cooking the fettuccine. While I made this on a Friday night, this is a perfect weeknight meal simply because it is so very quick and easy.

FETTUCCINE WITH SALMON AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS – serves 3 – 4

1 lb. sugar snap peas, strings removed and washed
1½ Tbs. olive oil
1 14.75 oz. can of pink salmon (use red sockeye if you can find it – my Mom always said that was better!)
½ lb. fettuccine
Coarse sea salt
1 Tbs. capers, drained
5 Tbs. mayonnaise
Fresh ground pepper

Drain the capers.

Put a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Salt generously when it comes to a boil and cook your pasta. Check at 2 minutes less than the package instructions. When done, save some pasta water and drain the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, warm the olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add the sugar snap peas and sauté until bright green and crisp tender, about 4 minutes.

Drain the canned salmon and save the juices in a small bowl. Whisk the mayonnaise into the juice. Remove the skin from the salmon and discard. Flake the salmon and crush the bones with your fingers.

Place the hot pasta in a large shallow bowl. Add in the salmon, sautéed sugar snap peas and the mayo/juice combo along with 1 – 2 Tbs. hot pasta water and toss to combine. Add fresh ground pepper to taste along with the capers and toss again.

Serve immediately in shallow bowls, with LOVE, and enjoy!

Lemon Zest Pork Sausage Patties for Mother’s Day

May 7, 2016 by Mary 8 Comments

When I was young, my brothers and I would serve my Mom breakfast in bed for Mother’s Day, with a single red rose in a bud vase on the corner of her tray. We had this little rectangular bench that had legs just the right height to fit over her legs in bed, and we put her tray on top. I think one of her brothers made the bench but it was really sturdy, not like a tray with collapsible legs that can buckle under and spill everything. She also used that little bench for us when we were sick in bed.

My husband talks about doing the same thing for his mom – serving her breakfast in bed. We usually went the bacon and egg route with our mom. He did pancakes. Only he got clever. One year he decided, who needs syrup on top of your pancakes, why not put it in your pancakes and save that step! Clever, eh? Well he made some nice flat plates with those babies – a new kind of Frisbee!

My kids served me breakfast in bed once when they were young and we lived in NJ. But we didn’t have that little bench I grew up with and having a tray on my thighs all wobbly and eating in my bed just kinda grossed me out. I am not OCD but crumbs in my bed just don’t work for me so we stopped that nonsense.

We moved on to them making me multi-course special dinners and I’m so excited for tomorrow as we’re going over to our oldest son’s house. He and his fiancée – oh did I tell you that both boys are engaged? Yes!!! We’re so excited and love love love both of their girls. The oldest one will marry this September in NYC and the younger one in July of next year in Poland. All great!!!

So we are going to oldest one’s house tomorrow (yes they bought a house together in Brooklyn, with a back yard!) and he is grilling up something – ribs and a surprise – so I am psyched!

But back to breakfast and sausage patties. I know I posted 2 other sausage patty recipes but lately, I’ve been obsessed with acid. No, not the drug kind. Lemons, limes and various vinegars have been on my experimentation list. Acid in dishes really perks things up. Acid in unusual places adds a brightness that wakes up your taste buds. So I thought, why not grated lemon zest in sausage patties.

And I didn’t just add a little, I wanted you to taste it. I remembered a delicious pork roast I had made once with lots of strips of lemon peel plastered on it so I went for it in these sausage patties and they were delicious!! With the added unusualness of garam masala and the touch of red chili flakes, these patties will produce the mmmm’s you’re looking for.

Try these tomorrow. So good!! Even if there’s only 2 of you, these rewarm so nicely in the microwave to have during the week. And it’s nice to have a proper breakfast on weekday/workday!

LEMON ZEST PORK SAUSAGE PATTIES FOR MOTHER’S DAY – makes 12 -14 patties

1 lb. ground pork
1 shallot, minced
¼ cup minced fresh herbs – parsley, thyme and oregano
1 tsp. garam masala
1/8 tsp red chili flakes
½ tsp Kosher salt
12 grinds of fresh ground pepper
1 small egg
1/3 cup panko
2 lemons – finely grated zest from each – use a microplane

Combine everything together well, but try not to handle too, too much. Form into small patties. Coat a non-stick skillet with a little olive oil and sauté until done on medium high heat, about 5 – 7 minutes per side. Pork should be at 155 – 160 degrees. There should be no pink left in the meat. (The egg and panko make the patties light.)

Enjoy!!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mothers out there!! Straighten your tiara and milk it for all it’s worth!