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

Sunny Golds with Bacon Pasta Sauce

August 14, 2020 by Mary 5 Comments

It’s summertime and the living should be easy, right? Well in this Covid/ pandemic time, nothing seems easy. But I hope this super simple, really easy and wonderfully tasty Sunny Golds with Bacon Pasta Sauce Recipe will cheer you up.

Pasta in Italy

First of all, pasta is always a great comforting dish, which is sorely needed in these anxiety-ridden times. I remember my summer living in Italy and helping Bianca with her broken leg, making a pasta for dinner, and Bianca said she could eat the whole bowl of pasta and eat it every day!

However, in my experience with the Italians at home, I saw them carefully weighing their dried pasta before cooking, so as to not overeat as they love it so much. They are not fat.

Easy peasy.

This Sunny Golds with Bacon Pasta Sauce recipe couldn’t be easier as just a little bit of time is needed to cut the tomatoes. Literally, that is the most labor-intensive thing here.

And if you’re not a meat eater, just skip the bacon and use 2 tablespoons of olive oil instead. Although the bacon does add that wonderful smokey flavor and everything is always better with bacon, right, as long as you eat meat.

Sliced Sunny Gold tomatoes with minced garlic. — Minced garlic added to the sliced Sunny Golds.

Sliced Sunny Gold tomatoes and raw bacon ready to roast. — Sunny Golds and bacon ready to go into the oven.

Be sure to trim the bacon of any big fat chunks, as the fat will be left in your finished dish.

The Sunny Golds are so sweet and flavorful, you can do it either way, with or without the bacon. I did it both ways just this week. Because the high heat of the roasting brings out the flavor of the tomatoes even more, I know you will really enjoy this.

Here is the recipe – don’t forget to add LOVE while slicing those tomatoes!

SUNNY GOLDS WITH BACON PASTA SAUCE – serves 3 – 4

A little less than a quart of sunny gold tomatoes, washed and cut in half
3 slices of no nitrate, thick cut bacon, cut into 1/2 pieces. Remove large chunks of fat and discard.
OR use: 2 Tbs. olive oil
3 cloves of garlics, smashed or minced
1 tsp. crushed dried oregano
¾ of a pound of dried pasta
Grated Pecorino cheese
Fresh basil leaves for garnish

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Toss the tomatoes with the bacon or olive oil (not both as the bacon will provide the fat as it cooks), garlic, dried oregano, salt and pepper in a 9” x 9” glass Pyrex baking dish and bake at 425 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes, until the bacon is cooked and the tomatoes have collapsed.

Meanwhile, boil your water for the pasta, salt liberally, preferably with coarse sea salt and cook your pasta according to the package directions, starting to check for doneness at 2 minutes less than the lesser time. You will not be cooking the pasta any more in this sauce so make sure it is done to your liking but still al dente. Drain the pasta in a colander.

Warm the bowls you will be serving the pasta in as well as the large bowl to combine it all.

When the sauce is done, remove it from the oven and toss it with the pasta in the separate warmed large bowl. Use tongs to combine. Scrape in all the juices too!

When it is thoroughly combined, serve in warmed individual bowls garnished with fresh basil and offer fresh grated pecorino and an extra pinch of LOVE.

Sunny Golds and bacon finished roasting and ready to toss with the cooked pasta.

A serving of Sunny Gold Tomatoes with Bacon Pasta Sauce on spaghetti in a white bowl. — Finished single serving!

Enjoy!!

Green sauce

July 30, 2020 by Mary 1 Comment

So, I had read this article/rough recipe about green sauces in Food and Wine magazine just a few days ago and I thought I would try this myself! I have so many greens and herbs in my garden, and I had just finished thinning out my mint growth that this was perfect timing AND I had never done it before. I mean I had made pesto ad infinitum, but not just a simple green sauce where you don’t have to be so careful and you can throw in some stems and you don’t have to grate cheese – no cheese needed. This is just a simple throw everything in the food processor and it’s divine!!

Because this green sauce is perfect on grilled fish, meats, (think chimichurri) vegetables, roasted potatoes, as a pasta sauce, as an addition to a sandwich – so versatile – you will love it!

And the best part is, that you don’t have to let those herbs and greens just wither and die – as they often do. You can use them to make this delectable, use-on-anything green sauce!

It’s brilliant!!

It’s a brilliant idea and a brilliantly colored green. So sprightly and springlike.

Green Sauce on grilled Grouper filet – amazing!!

I particularly love it on fish. Because you know, we all want to eat more fish but how do you easily liven up a piece of grilled fish without too much work? Well here is your answer.

Truth be told, I was not very particular in measuring, but I did take note of the number of stems cut from my garden.

Here is my recipe. Make with LOVE. Make often and enjoy.

GREEN SAUCE – makes approximately 1 cup

5 stems of oregano
6 stems of thyme
½ cup basil leaves
2 stems of rosemary
Numerous mint stems – use the leaves only, to fill up the food processor
½ of a small fresh red hot pepper, include the membrane and seeds if you like heat (I did)
1/2 shallot, roughly chopped
1/4 – 1/3 cup olive oil
11/2 Tbs. lemon juice, plus maybe more
Salt
Fresh ground pepper

Only throw in the very top, tender stems, otherwise you’ll have some “sticks’ in your sauce. (Like you can see I had.)

First, process the herbs, pepper and shallot with the lemon juice very well. Scrape the bowl down and then gradually add the olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Check your consistency and if necessary, add more lemon juice or oil or both. Be sure to add LOVE.

Use on anything and everything and enjoy!

Last night I served some pasta with the Garlic Scape Pesto sauce and we all put a dollop on top and mixed it in and it was DELISH!

Happy Birthday to my late brother Greg!! He was a sweetie and has been gone now for 20 years – unbelievable! His legacy lives on in his amazing children and now 4 grandchildren – 2 boys and 2 girls. I’m sure he’s as proud as can be, looking down on all of them now.

What We Should Be Eating & Making Now

July 15, 2020 by Mary 4 Comments

So, I have been trying out new recipes for you BUT, I haven’t found any that are great enough to share with you. They just aren’t and I’m sorry I haven’t had the time to fuss with them to make them better and therefore sharable! However, recently I came across this article that outlines the diets of the longest living, healthiest people on the earth, and there are six tenants for What We Should Be Eating & Making Now.

Here are the highlights from the article entitled The 6 Golden Rules of Eating for Longevity, According to the Longest-Living People on Earth by Allie Flinn from the blog Well+Good.

1.) Drink wine after 5 pm.

It’s 5 pm somewhere! Ideally with friends and a meal. I’m in!!

2.) Eat mostly plant-based foods.

Now I do eat meat, almost every day, but I have been trying to have more meatless days…

3.) Include plenty of carbs in your diet.

Surprising to me! They eat grains, greens, tubers, nuts, and beans. Beans seem to be most important, and I know when I am hangry (hungry and angry because of it), beans or lentils calm it the most.

4.) Enjoy meat only on occasion, and only 6 ounces at a time.

Your portion should be no bigger than a deck of cards – that is enough.

5.) Stick to black coffee, water and wine as your beverages.

In other words, pure stuff, no sugary nonsense.

6.) Practice modified forms of intermittent fasting.

I personally have been fasting 16 – 18 hours per day and I have lost weight and feel so much better. So, I may eat dinner at anytime between 6 pm and 8 pm and I will not eat anything the next day until 1 or 2 pm and that really works for me. At that time, I do have a really good meal, like a full dinner, with protein being eaten first. This is working for me in so many ways, I hope you try it for yourselves. And no, I do not miss breakfast first thing. You do not need it at our age.

I will also add to this list a few other things that I have been doing:

Practicing mindful eating.

Eating and chewing slowly, being conscious of what you are enjoying, is so important. This practice will result in eating less as it takes about 20 minutes for your brain to tell you that your stomach is full.

Intentional choices for your food.

I was having high blood pressure readings, most likely from the stress of trying to remake my life after the sudden passing of my husband, Steve, as well as lack of sleep from the stress, so my doctor immediately wanted to put me on blood pressure medicine, but I was not going to go in that direction. Instead I did some research and started eating a lot of broccoli – raw or barely roasted – sweet potatoes, flax seed crackers and taking the oil in supplement form, and eating 6 cashews a day as a preventative action for cancer. I am happy to say that my blood pressure is back to my usual good-to-low readings.

And then of course, are you drinking enough water

Years and years ago, I once had a doctor explain to me that your body needs plenty of fluids flowing always, to transport the white blood cells around to kill any infections that might be lurking. So drink up that filtered water!!

Food can have a profound impact on how people think and feel.

I would love to know the diets of the violent rioters. I wonder if they’re full of processed foods, high in saturated fats and simple carbs?

What do you think?

Since I don’t have any new recipes at this time that are good enough to share, here is a reprise of some of my summer favorites!

Feta radishes watercress and mint toasts platter. — **Feta, radishes, watercress and mint toasts**

Midwest potato salad in a white Le Crueset bowl garnished with parsley. — **Midwest potato salad at Tanglewood**

Best potato salad with fennel, Parmesan cheese, cipollini onions and picholine olives. — **Best Potato Salad** with fennel, Parmesan cheese, cipollini onions and picholine olives.

Sorrel pesto on a spoon. — **Sorrel Pesto**

Greek Roasted chicken, chicken with parsely garnish — **Santorini Grilled Chicken with a Lemon/Garlic Basting Sauce accompanied by a Greek Salad**

Greek Salad, salad with feta cheese tomatoes cucumbers greek — Tomato and cucumber Greek salad

Make and serve all with LOVE!

Garlic Scape Pesto

July 2, 2020 by Mary 6 Comments

Summertime means pesto time, right? Usually it is basil for me but my friend Lainne at Ethel and Tom’s farm stand in Red Hook told me that Kim, from Second Chance Farm was buying bunches and bunches of garlic scapes to make Garlic Scape Pesto, and I was intrigued.

I wondered if she sautéed the scapes first or just pureed them raw…

Great neighbors and friends

At any rate, I naturally bought several bunches and started to hunt down Kim’s number to text her. But then I saw her husband, Charlie, at the dump on Saturday and he had Kim call me! This is my wonderful small town that I live in, in upstate New York. Everybody knows each other or knows someone who knows that person. And everyone wants to be truly helpful and is so sharing. It is so nice!

So, Kim texted me a photo of her handwritten recipe for this Garlic Scape Pesto. I have made it twice already, shared with my kids, and gotten rave reviews – so thank you Kim!!

And no, Kim does not saute them first. The scapes go in raw, chopped in ¼” pieces so that makes this pesto super easy to make. Way easier than the basil variety! No washing of the leaves and letting them dry and no peeling and chopping the garlic.

Another tip I learned while living in Italy, is to buy Parmigiano Reggiano grated, if you’re going to be making a lot of pesto soon, as it makes it so much easier to be able to skip that hand grating step. Because I went grocery shopping often with my friend Cristina, she taught me this little trick, as I was surprised. She said, “Why spend the time? This is just as good!”

Process it well!

Be sure to add the oil streaming in the food processer while it is running to enable it to fully incorporate. Additionally, this will need a few extra minutes to process as you do want to make sure the raw scapes are very finely chopped.

Here you go with the recipe – super quick and easy. Make with LOVE.

GARLIC SCAPE PESTO – serves 4 – 6 on pasta

1 cup of chopped garlic scapes – use the green part only – up to the bulb but do not include the bulb, chopped into ¼” pieces
1/3 cup walnuts
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup grated Parmagiano
Salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste

In a food processor, chop the scapes and walnuts until fine. Slowly add in the EVOO to combine. Add the cheese, a large pinch of salt and 20 grinds of fresh black pepper. Process again until all combined and pureed.

To serve on pasta

Boil your pasta 2 minutes less than the lesser amount of time on your package in well salted boiling water. Before draining the pasta, save about ¾ of a cup of the pasta water.

Combine sauce and pasta with a few tablespoons of pasta water to help loosen the sauce, make it adhere to the pasta better and finish cooking the pasta over medium-low heat, stirring constantly.

When the pasta is al dente, serve immediately in warmed bowls. You may add more cheese but I don’t think it needs it. Some additional fresh ground black pepper is nice. A Spumante Brut pairs great!

And of course, you can always add more LOVE.

Veal Milanese – or Pork

June 18, 2020 by Mary 4 Comments

Veal Milanese with Mizuna salad topping.

My late husband (Why do they call it late? He’s not coming back, unfortunately, so he’s not late for anything.) would always order this dish – Veal Milanese – if it was on the menu. I would think, yuck, fried meat. Fattening. I’ll never have that.

I had been so conditioned as a child that fried things were SO fattening that I shouldn’t ever go near them.

And just look what I’ve been missing out on!!

With Covid-19…

In this Covid-19 time, anytime there is something new in the grocery store, excitement, almost giddiness, bubbles up. Well at my little local store upstate, they had veal scaloppine in the meat case!! Bingo! Something different – I’m in!

So now what to do with it?

Veal Milanese!

Of course, I always loved the salad part. Because I also love warm meat with a cool salad, this seemed to hit the spot. The true recipe calls for arugula but I substituted these mizuna greens – so delicious and a tiny bit bitter – so yummy – but hard to find and the season is short. You can use any greens you like but I would not recommend romaine. I used it once here and the greens really need to be softer in this case.

Have fun with the salad part

But have some fun with the salad part! You can use large tomatoes and slice thinner wedges, or skip the cheese and add thinly sliced radishes. Anything goes to your heart’s desire!!

Well I made this once, and then I made it again and again within 2 weeks!

In all honesty, the panko crumbs and cheese mixture were enough for at least 2 servings, but then I did have to add to it for the third round. The second time I made it with a pork chop! Equally delicious, just a little more cooking time in the oven as I opted to not pound it thin.

And then the third time, they had veal scaloppine again.

It is often hard cooking for one and getting portions right or making sure you’re not eating the same thing four times in one week.

The anniversary of Steve’s passing is TODAY. It is three years since he’s been gone and sorely missed by all of us. We had a family Zoom call recounting “Steve stories”.

So count your blessings, enjoy and cherish what you have today and don’t let a day go by without telling the people you love that you love them.

VEAL MILANESE – serves 2

Ingredients

1/3 cup flour
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano, plus a little extra for shaving over the top
1/2 cup Panko, pound more finely with a rolling pin or wooden mallet
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 veal scaloppini, pounded to 1/4-inch thickness, about 6 ounces each
About 1/3 cup Canola oil
2 big handfuls of baby arugula, or mizuna, or other soft farmer’s market lettuce
8 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters, or 1 large tomato cut into thin wedges
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon, cut in half

Your dipping plates in order, right to left and then to your hot skillet with oil.

Directions

Place flour in one shallow bowl or pie plate and beaten egg in a second. Combine parmesan and Panko in third and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Dredge veal in LOVE, flour, then egg. Allow excess egg to drip off, then transfer to Panko mixture. Turn to coat evenly, pressing crumbs in so they adhere. Transfer scaloppini to a large plate.

Add oil to a small skillet and heat over medium-high heat until shimmering and some Panko crumbs dropped in the oil immediately start bubbling. Carefully add one piece of veal to hot oil. Cook, until golden brown on the first side, about 1 1/2 minutes. Carefully turn with tongs and cook until second side is golden brown, about 1 minute longer. Adjust heat as necessary to prevent oil from burning—veal should bubble steadily. Transfer veal to paper towel-lined plate and season immediately with fine sea salt. Repeat with second veal scaloppine.

Toss arugula, tomatoes, and some of the extra parmesan shavings in a medium bowl with olive oil and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Immediately serve the veal topped with the salad and additional parmesan.

Alternatively, you can use a pork chop. If not pounded thin, heat oven to 350 degrees F. Dip in flour, egg and panko and fry for 3 – 4 minutes on each side. Drain on a paper towel lined ovenproof plate. Then place in the oven for 5 – 7 minutes until the instant read thermometer registers 140 degrees.

Top with salad and enjoy!!

Pasta with Shiitake Mushrooms & Peas in a Light Cream Sauce

June 11, 2020 by Mary 4 Comments

When I lived in Italy, I would make this dish with fresh Porcini mushrooms, which are literally To. Die. For. I have never seen fresh ones here and the dried ones, when you reconstitute them are NOTHING like the fresh. So, I had a hankering for this dish this week, while my 29-month old grandson was staying with me for the week. Because fresh Porcini are not available, I made this Pasta with Shiitake Mushrooms & Peas in a Light Cream Sauce with some beautiful fresh Shiitake mushrooms I had just bought the day before. While my grandson loved the dish, me, not so much at the time.

I honestly thought this recipe of Pasta with Shiitake Mushrooms & Peas in a Light Cream Sauce was not good enough to share with you. You know, my recipes have to be superlative and mostly easy and healthy in order to share with you. Those are my requirements.

It made the grade!

Then I took the leftovers back to my son, when returning my adorable, smart, entertaining and beautiful grandson. (I just had to get that in there as my son won’t let me mention his name or show his picture on social media – so there you go – I am reduced to adjectives.) My son had some of the leftovers and said, “Mom, that dish was really, really good!! The mushrooms were meaty (Porcini are really meaty – in fact, just like meat!) and I don’t know why you didn’t like it. Do you have Coronavirus? You know it affects your taste buds.”

Well of course I do not have the Coronavirus and meaty was what I was looking for in the mushrooms but I guess it’s all relative. I knew what you could get with Porcini and these didn’t live up to it in my book but hey, my son (the oldest – you knew) is a pretty harsh critic and if he says it was delicious, even as a warmed up leftover, you can bet this is delicious.

Porcini in Arezzo

Along with the memory of making this dish in Italy, is the actual buying of the Porcini at the market in Arezzo on Saturday mornings. Oh how I loved that market! Everything was so fresh and beautiful and amazing. I would meet my friend Cristina and immediately go to this one Porchetta stand and get a warm Porchetta sandwich to eat at 10 am in the morning. I did not care about the garlic at that hour. The sandwich was heaven. Cristina thought I was crazy.

But I digress. The Porcini man was this big burly guy who would shout out Porcini, Porcini, Porcini and I would come to buy and pick several, (you have to buy whatever you touch – way before Coronavirus), and then he would weigh them and charge me and then always put a few extra in my bag, a little gruffly. But you could tell, he was a teddy bear deep down inside with his bearish voice and rough hands.

An Americana in Italy…

True, I was the token Americana in this small town.

I once asked my friend Tizianna, “So, do I really stand out? Do I not look Italian?”

“No Mary, you do not look Italian,” replied Tizianna.

I was disappointed. I thought I blended in more.

But no. This (supposedly) 100% Polish girl did not look Italian.

So now, I feel compelled to share this recipe with you and I hope you love it and I hope that someday, you’ll also get to make it with fresh Porcini mushrooms.

Obviously, this is a vegetarian dish and the idea was to make a dish tasting meaty enough without it having meat, as I think it would be healthier for all of us and the planet, if we cut down on our meat consumption.

So please give it a go, and don’t forget to add LOVE when making it. It’s quick and easy and really very delicious.

Sliced Shiitake mushroom caps, minced mushroom stems and thinly sliced shallot before mincing. — Sliced Shiitake mushroom caps, minced mushroom stems and thinly sliced shallot.

PASTA WITH SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS & PEAS IN A LIGHT CREAM SAUCE – serves 4

½ lb. pasta, such as strozzapreti, conchiglie, or small ziti
8 large Shiitake mushrooms, wiped clean with a damp paper towel, stems trimmed of dirt, removed from caps & finely minced; caps sliced into 4 or 5 slices each
1 shallot, thinly sliced with a hand mandoline
2 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
2 cups frozen baby peas
½ cup finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
¼ cup of heavy cream, divided
½ cup pasta water

Shiitake mushrooms caps, minced stems and shallots sauteing in a skillet. — Minced Shiitake stems and shallots pushed off to the side, while browning the sliced caps.

The process

Bring a large pot of water to boil. After it boils, add a generous tablespoon of coarse sea salt, or enough so that it tastes like the ocean. Bring to a rolling boil again, then add your pasta and cook for 2 minutes less than the lesser amount on the package. Drain the pasta reserving 1 cup of pasta water.

Put the frozen peas in a strainer and run cold water over them. Gently break up any frozen clumps. Let them continue to drain while you work on the rest of the dish.

Heat the EVOO with the butter and sauté the sliced shallots and mushroom stems on medium-high heat. After the butter subsides, move the minced shallots and stems to the sides of the skillet and add the mushroom cap slices, spreading them out evenly in the pan. Lower the heat to medium and do not touch them for 5 minutes. Then flip them over to brown the other side and cook until tender and lightly browned, about 3 more minutes.

Add 2 Tbs. heavy cream. Add the cooked pasta, the Parmigiano, and ½ cup of the pasta water. Stir thoroughly. Add the drained peas, stirring and finish cooking the pasta until al dente. If you need more pasta water, add it. This will take 1 – 3 minutes, depending on how your pasta was cooked in the beginning.

Finish with heavy cream and LOVE

Finish the dish with the 2 more Tbs, of heavy cream stirred in. Add fresh ground pepper and taste for salt – it probably will not need salt if you salted your pasta water properly and the Parmigiano Reggiano is also salty. Stir to combine completely. Add your LOVE.

Serve in warmed bowls and enjoy!!