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

The BEST Meatballs

March 6, 2016 by Mary 32 Comments

I made 52 meatballs last Sunday. 52!!! I thought we’d be eating them forever. And I couldn’t freeze them again – I was working with meat that had been frozen, so that wouldn’t have been right.

And then both boys were home, with their girls. I served 10 as an appetizer for a special birthday dinner with 5 of us. OMG – everyone LOVED them!!

Everyone spent the night. The next morning, one boy had 6 or 8 for breakfast and one girl took some amount for lunch. And then I kept trying to sell them – take more for your dinner – you know – I have so many – we’ll never eat all of these…

So now it was Wednesday and this was our dinner for just the two of us. I opened the pot — ooops. Not many left. I have four and my husband has six for dinner and there are just 9 left!

This is a really good recipe. They really are THE BEST meatballs.

It is based on a recipe by Seamus Mullin of Tertulio, an award-winning restaurant here in NYC that has fond memories for me. Several years ago, as one of my Christmas presents, my two boys took me there for dinner and said I could ask them ANYTHING I wanted. That was their gift.

Isn’t that so cool? So cute!!!

I did not abuse it then. I didn’t ask anything untoward. Nothing outrageous. I was a bit nosey but respectful.

But then afterwards, sometimes I’d forget. I thought we were in the same mode and they’d say, “un uh – no, no – time’s up. We’re not there anymore. You can’t ask that.”

They are so cute.

Back to the meatball recipe. This was published in Food & Wine some years ago and I just recently discovered it and of course, as usual, I have changed it. And oh by the way, the recipe says it takes an hour and a half. Don’t kid yourself. Plan on more like three hours. By the time you wash and chop all the herbs and make and fry the meatballs, then make the sauce – it’s a long time.

But boy, these are really, really good.

My French bookkeeper at the office once told me that her grandmother always mixed a little veal into things to make them sing. So here Seamus calls for 2.5 lbs. of ground lamb. I made these with 2 lbs. of lamb and 1 lb. of veal, bumped up all the herbs and used heavy cream with a touch of water, instead of milk to soak the almonds in.

Try these. You will be so super satisfied when you hear the deep sighs and murmurs of delight while watching your crew devour them.

You will never feel more LOVED. Promise.

THE BEST MEATBALLS WITH RICH TOMATO SAUCE AND RICOTTA – serves 8 – adapted from a Chef Seamus Mullin recipe

FOR THE SAUCE:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
5 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup lightly packed basil leaves, torn
2 heaping Tbs. fresh oregano leaves
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
Two 28-ounce cans whole Italian tomatoes with their juices, crushed
6 large anchovy fillets, chopped
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

FOR THE MEATBALLS: – makes 52 meatballs
1/2 cup raw almonds, finely chopped in a food processer
6 Tbs. heavy cream + 2 Tbs. water or 1/2 cup whole milk
2 lb. ground lamb
1 lb. ground veal
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped basil leaves, packed, plus whole leaves for garnish
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, packed
2 heaping Tbs. finely chopped mint
1 heaping Tbs. finely chopped oregano
2 tsp. finely chopped thyme
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs. dry red wine (or white wine)
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 3/4 tsp. ground coriander
3/4 tsp. ground fennel
1 Tbs. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Ricotta cheese, for serving
Extra olive oil for serving

MAKE THE SAUCE:
In a large heavy enameled pot – such as a Le Creuset – heat the oil until shimmering. Add the garlic, basil, oregano, bay leaves and red pepper and cook over moderately high heat for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and simmer over moderately low heat, stirring, until the tomatoes are saucy, 1 hour. Stir in the anchovies and season with salt and black pepper.

MAKE THE MEATBALLS:
In a bowl, cover the almonds with the heavy cream and water or whole milk and let stand until most of the milk has been absorbed, 30 minutes. Add all of the remaining ingredients except the whole basil leaves, olive oil and ricotta and mix well. Form into 1 1/2-inch meatballs and transfer to a rimmed baking sheet.

In a skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Working in batches, cook the meatballs over moderately high heat, turning, until nearly cooked through, 7 minutes per batch. Drain the meatballs on paper toweling on a platter.

Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer until cooked through, 8 minutes. Spoon into bowls, top with ricotta and a drizzle of olive oil on the ricotta. You can also add some basil leaves as garnish.

The meatballs can be refrigerated in the sauce overnight. Warm in a covered ovenproof dish at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Serve with LOVE and toasted bread, and you’ll be in heaven!!

And the MARY’s secret ingredients full year subscription winner is…

February 27, 2016 by Mary 2 Comments

Congratulations to Marilyn Scarboro! You’ve won a years subscription to MARY’s secret ingredients. That’s 4 seasonal boxes and the first box of 2016, the spring box, will begin mailing on March 25th.

I know you’re just going to LOVE the spring box. I can’t give too much away, but I will say that the next box has some of my favorite ingredients we’ve had so far plus an extra special handmade surprise!

If you didn’t win, don’t worry, there will be other chances. In fact, this coming Friday, March 4, at 1 pm EST, MARY’s secret ingredients is hosting a Twitter party! We will be giving away 3 spring boxes then. And I will be there to answer all cooking questions. We’re sure to have a lively discussion as we always do. You have to RSVP to win a box. You can enter here.

This is what all of our surprise subscription boxes looked like last year. Full of new gourmet ingredients you’ve probably never heard of but you need to know about. I test all of the products before any of them are allowed in the box. None of them have any unpronounceable ingredients – in other words, no preservatives, no chemicals, no hydrogenated oils. I create recipes using each product and email them directly to you. We have a lot more fun things planned for this year as we’re always challenging ourselves as to how we can inspire your healthy cooking even more, so stay tuned!

We provide items that can easily turn a ho-hum dinner into one fit for company. For example, take a look at this Yogurt Marinated Chicken with Nutraw Pistachio Crust recipe, a totally new way to use a raw bar and an ingenious way to provide a crispy crust on chicken for gluten-intolerant folks. It’s delicious no matter what!

And for our latest announcement, go here to become a new M Club member and buy a full year subscription (4 seasonal boxes) for only $108.00 including shipping plus, all of the other additional perks. Very soon, our MSI Community Cookbook will be available, but only for M Club members.

And remember, every purchase helps in our partnership with Feed The Children. We believe no one should go hungry. Together, let’s wipe hunger off of the face of the earth! YES!!

Weeknight Chicken Tacos

February 21, 2016 by Mary 21 Comments

My parents were traditionalists, especially my father. Dinner was always a protein, a carb and a vegetable, (unless it was a homemade soup or stew that had all of those things). We had to have the three things on the plate and dinner was a sit-down affair, around the kitchen table with no TV. But we always had music. My father played the violin, loud, to Gershwin, André Kostelanetz, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, or show tunes. I know all the lyrics to Camelot, My Fair Lady, Gigi, The Music Man and The Sound of Music songs. (oh yes) This was his way of relaxing while having a cocktail (usually a Scotch on the rocks), when he got home from work. And he always took his shoes off and put on his leather house slippers. I know because I was supposed to fetch them for him. Shoot, we missed having our kids do that for us. 🙂

But I digress. Back to food. We NEVER had takeout or deliveries. We never had pizza or Chinese food or tacos for dinner. We never went to any fast food joint, not even Steak ‘n Shake which was sort of an in-between – in between a restaurant and fast food – in those days. No, we always had a three-item dinner every night.

Our friends’ families had pizza or other fast food at times, which was all fairly new then. We would beg and whine to be able to do that, but no, my mother insisted on a healthy home cooked meal.

So that‘s the way I was raised.

And that’s the way our kids were raised.

Our oldest still proclaims that I used to always say, “It’s not a dinner unless it has a green vegetable.” I don’t remember saying that but it sounds pretty good.

So now the kids are gone and it’s just my husband and me. And I have started making chicken tacos for dinner – with a green vegetable! Yes. All totally homemade, they’re fun and delicious!!!

This dish is roughly inspired by an old Food & Wine magazine recipe and the neatest thing about it is about how to cook the chicken. You roast thighs at a high heat (425 degrees) on a rack, so all the fat drains out. The chicken actually comes out practically fried, with no breading. The original recipe has you rub vegetable oil on the skin of the thighs, before roasting but that makes for a lot of smoke and creates a very messy oven. So I roast without any oil and the chicken has turned out equally good, without the smoke and interior oven splattering.

The skin gets crispy and is very tempting to eat a bit of it while you shred the meat off the bone. Delicious! – but we all know it’s not good for you.

So what I’ve been doing is roasting my thighs on a Sunday when I have more time, shreding the meat and having it all ready for a quick weeknight meal of amazing tacos. Makes the whole thing easy-peasy on the night you’re serving. I know the toppings take a bit of time to prepare but roasting and shredding the chicken ahead of time makes this doable for a weeknight. I made this last Wednesday night with both boys home (Yes! Zach is visiting from Poland!) and it was a HUGE hit!

Try this – you will LOVE it!!

WEEKNIGHT CHICKEN TACOS – serves 4 – 6 – makes about 14 tacos

8 chicken thighs with skin and bones – about 3 lbs.
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 lb. tomatillos, husked, rinsed, cored and finely chopped
4 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 bunch of scallions, trimmed, washed and chopped
11/4 cups vegetable or chicken broth, preferably homemade
Large handful of cilantro, chop the stem portion from the leafy parts, and mince the stems
Warm corn tortillas

FOR SERVING:

Chopped white onion, soaked in ice water for 10 minutes and drained
Sliced radishes – about 3
Thinly sliced jalepeno pepper – 1/2 – 3/4 of one
Feta cheese, broken into chunks
Sour cream or crème fraiche
Diced avocado – we used 1 whole and another half
Cilantro leaves
Salsa – optional or chopped plum tomatoes
Fresh lime wedges

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash and dry chicken thighs, trimming off excess skin and fat. Salt and pepper both sides of the thighs and place on a rack positioned on a rimmed baking sheet.

Roast for 40 – 45 minutes. Let cool, remove and discard skin, shred the chicken from the bone. You could make a stock from the bones and skin. This is the step that I do on a Sunday afternoon to have a quick taco meal during the week. Store shredded chicken in the fridge in a covered container and take out the night you’re having the tacos as soon as you start making the rest of the meal to take some of the chill off as soon as you can.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large skillet, heat the 2 Tbs. olive oil. Add the finely chopped tomatillos, garlic and scallions. Cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until the tomatillos are softened, about 10 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 10 minutes.

While sauce is cooking, prepare all your toppings in separate little bowls. A hand mandoline is best to thinly slice the radishes and jalepenos. Soak your chopped white onions in the ice water bath for 10 minutes and drain.

Additionally prepare the corn tortillas. Place stacks of 6 tortillas in aluminum foil that is lined with a damp paper towel on the bottom and the top of the corn tortillas. Seal the aluminum foil tightly around and warm in a 350 degree oven for 5 – 10 minutes.

Add the shredded chicken to the tomatillo sauce. Simmer until the chicken is heated through, about 2 minutes. Then fold in the chopped stems of the cilantro and a few whole leaves. Taste to see if it needs any salt and pepper.

Serve everything immediately. I like to assemble my taco with a smear of sour cream or crème fraiche on the corn tortilla first, then the chicken tomatillo mixture, then the cheese, followed by jalepeno, onion, avocados, radishes, a tiny bit of salsa and finished with cilantro leaves.

Total yum.

Perfect Salad of Endive, Blood Oranges & Golden Beets for your Sweetheart

February 14, 2016 by Mary 9 Comments

We are ensconced in upstate New York where the temperature is -9 degrees. No joke. And that’s not the wind chill number, which I am afraid to even know. I had a duck breast that needed to be cooked yesterday, so I made a special dinner last night and I will make one again tonight to celebrate Valentine’s Day! It is way too cold to venture out. Much better to just snuggle in at home. So last night, I made this Perfect Salad (as my husband called it) of Endive, Blood Oranges & Golden Beets. It was refreshing, delicious and different. A crisp way to start a meal so I wanted to share this with you – make it tonight for your sweetheart!

It is simple and quick to make – except for roasting the beets takes some time. I love blood oranges. They remind me of a past romantic trip to Italy many years ago. Steve remarked that although these blood oranges were good, they are better in Italy. Maybe that was the romance part?

Dinner was followed by a duck breast seasoned with Chinese Five Spice and star anise and topped with a special ingredient that may go in the next MARY’s secret ingredients box (it’s amazing!), farro and snow peas sautéed with shiitake mushrooms.

Tonight I’m making a Caesar salad, roast beef, baked potato and lemon roasted asparagus. A real traditional dinner Steve will also love.

What’s on your menu?

PERFECT SALAD OF ENDIVE, BLOOD ORANGES & GOLDEN BEETS – serves 2

1 Belgian endive, trimmed and separated into leaves
2 blood oranges
3 small to medium-sized golden beets – roasted (roast extra for another day!)
1 heaping Tbs. finely minced shallot
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
2 Tbs. olive oil + 2 tsp. for the beets
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Scrub the beets and dry with paper toweling. Place beets on a sheet of aluminum foil, drizzle on 2 teaspoons of olive oil, season with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Close foil up to make a neat sealed packet. Place packet in a baking dish and roast in the oven for an hour. Check for tenderness carefully as steam will blast out of the aluminum foil. A skewer should pierce each beet easily when done. Let cool and then peel and quarter each beet.

Trim, wash and pat dry each endive leave.

Wash oranges. Slice off the top and bottom so the orange will stand up flat on the cutting board. Then slice off all the peel and pith, top to bottom, following the curve of the orange with your knife. Slice each orange horizontally into 4 or 5 slices. Remove any white center part.

Combine the shallots with the vinegar in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in the olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Arrange the endive in a fan shape at the top of the plate, then fan out the blood oranges and then the quartered beets at the bottom. Drizzle the vinaigrette over all. Serve right away with LOVE.

If you forgot to get a V-day gift for your honey, go to MARY’s secret ingredients and order a full year subscription. It’s the gift that keeps on giving all year long with seasonal deliveries. Download a gift certificate at checkout to print and present today. The next box – spring – mails on March 25th and it is going to be AMAZING! Use the code VALENTINESDAY for 20% off!

My Gift to YOU in the Name of LOVE!

February 10, 2016 by Mary Leave a Comment

Our day is coming – on Sunday – St. Valentine’s Day! The day we celebrate LOVE in all ways. And as a gift to you, I’d like to offer a full year subscription to MARY’s secret ingredients to one lucky reader, as long as you live in the continental US. That’s 4 seasonal boxes of gourmet, healthy products and one handy kitchen tool, you’ve probably never heard of but you need to know about.

Each box has only “MARY-approved” products. I test every one to make sure it’s great, tasty and never has any unpronounceable ingredients. Some products have been turned down and we’ve helped the manufacturer make adjustments and then they’ve gone back in the box.

This was our winter box. Full of sweets and spices and everything nice!

The spring box mails on March 25th. The contents of each box are a surprise to you! We have so much fun searching for new, unique items that will inspire your home cooking and delight your family and friends. Remember, good cooks never lack friends!

Here’s what you need to do to enter – follow the prompts in this entry form. There are 7 ways to enter on the various social media channels and you can enter seven times! Spread the word and tell all your friends – the more the merrier!

LOVE – the secret ingredient Valentine's Day Giveaway

You may want to give this as a gift for Valentine’s Day. If that is the case, right click and save this certificate to print out.

Good luck to everyone and have a very Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

With LOVE, Mary

North African Bean Stew with Barley and Winter Squash

February 6, 2016 by Mary 24 Comments

SUPER BOWL TIME!!! Yes the Super Bowl is tomorrow!!! We have been invited to what I know will be a wonderful party held in a private room at an Irish pub in midtown. How do I know it will be great? Well first of all we love this couple and she is a professional, highly successful event planner and he is a wine expert and a Broncos fan!! So we will don our orange and be set to root for his team. Should be loads of fun!!

This is unusual for us as we typically have a few folks over for a small Super Bowl party at our apartment. If you are having friends over, may I suggest my Super Easy Nachos, delicious (and easy) Spicy Chicken Chili along with a wedge of Cornbread, with or without the cheese sticks. And if you’re feeling even more adventurous and healthy, try this new recipe out.

North African Bean stew - finished in a white bowl

Sorry this bowl is a little messy with overflow!

This is a total big bowl of soothing deliciousness. There is no better way to describe it. Complete, deep, yumminess with unique spices and flavors to perk up your palette. I don’t usually like to post time consuming recipes. I want this blog to encourage and show you how to cook healthy delicious meals that are not hard or take that much time. But here, I have to make an exception, because this recipe from Melissa Clark of The New York Times for her North African Bean Stew with Barley and Winter Squash is so wonderful, I just have to share.

A word of warning though – start this early in the morning if you want to use dried beans. Or do it in two weekends as I did. At one point, I had my doubts and swore that it had better be good!! (You’ve been there, right?)

And you know what?

This one delivered. It’s that good. Yes, it really is.

And it’s totally meatless and even my husband had two bowls and really LOVED it! No discussion about it being meatless because its flavors are so rich! (Well actually I put a little bacon in the beans when cooking them, but that is not necessary.)

The nice thing about it is the combination of spices. Melissa has you make up a Baharat, which is a Middle Eastern spice mix. This creates an intense and soothing flavor base, a little like a curry but different, and I am very excited to use this on all sorts of things such as chicken, pork, lamb, perhaps a sprinkle in steamed rice, certainly roasted delicata, acorn or butternut squash. I even think it might be good on some roasted sole or flounder. I’m looking forward to having fun with this one!

Also in this article, she definitely recommends you cook your own dried beans as opposed to using canned and she eschews soaking them overnight to encourage you to do this. Just go ahead and start cooking them right away in salted water. Usually they tell you to salt only near the end of cooking, but she claims the salt integrates better into the bean if you start in salted water and I do think she’s right! It worked out well for me. So I’ve outlined what I did for my beans below.

Make this with LOVE and EVERYONE will be so happy!! Please note, I have changed some things from her original recipe – but of course!

NORTH AFRICAN BEAN STEW WITH BARLEY AND WINTER SQUASH – adapted from Melissa Clark of The New York Times

⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
2 leeks, white and green parts, diced
1 bunch cilantro, leaves and stems separated
1 cup finely diced fennel, fronds reserved (1/2 large fennel bulb)
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 ½ Tbs. baharat (see note)
1 cinnamon stick
2 Tbs. tomato paste
2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth, preferably homemade
½ cup pearled or regular barley
2 ½ tsp. kosher salt, more as needed
Large pinch of saffron, crumbled
4 cups cooked beans or chickpeas
2 cups peeled and diced butternut squash (1 small squash)
¾ cup peeled and diced turnip (1 medium)
½ cup red lentils
Plain Greek yogurt, for serving
Aleppo pepper for serving

In a large pot over medium heat, heat oil and cook leeks until they begin to brown, 10 to 12 minutes.

Cilantro stems, leaves and a cut lime on a wooden cutting board.

This is a pain to do – separating the stems and leaves of cilantro. Note that the lime was for my Lillet cocktail!

Finely chop cilantro stems. Stir into pot, along with diced fennel and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir in baharat, cinnamon and tomato paste, and cook until paste begins to caramelize, about 2 minutes.

Stir in broth, 3 cups water, the barley and the salt. Bring to a gentle boil, stir in saffron, and reduce heat to medium. Simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Stir in beans, squash, turnip and lentils; cook until barley is tender, about another 20 to 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings, if desired. Remove cinnamon stick.

Ladle stew into bowls. Spoon a dollop of yogurt on top and drizzle with olive oil. Garnish with cilantro leaves, fennel fronds and Aleppo pepper.

Making the Baharat or Middle Eastern Spice Mix.

Lots of different spices go into this!

Baharat is a Middle Eastern spice mix. You can buy it at specialty markets or make your own.

To make it, combine:

2 Tbs. sweet paprika
1 Tbs. ground coriander
1 Tbs. ground cumin
1 Tbs. ground turmeric
2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. grated nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp. allspice.

To cook the beans:

1 lb. of dried cannellini beans
½ of a thick slice of bacon, chopped, optional
2 tsp. coarse sea salt
25 grinds of black pepper
1 celery stalk, sliced in half lengthwise and then cut in 4 pieces
1 carrot, peeled, sliced in half lengthwise and then cut in 4 pieces
1 medium yellow onion, peeled trimmed and quartered
4 whole cloves – to stud each onion quarter
1 large or 2 small dried bay leaves

Ideally, you can soak the beans overnight before cooking. They say that soaking does have benefits. It will help beans cook faster and more evenly, and it can help leach out the intestinal-distress-causing sugars that some people are particularly sensitive to. But if you don’t have time, just carry on!

Place one pound of dried cannellini beans in a large pot. Cover with water, swish around to rinse and drain water.

Cover with fresh cold water again, at least 3 inches above the beans. Add in everything else and stir. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer, partially cover and cook for 2 – 3 hours. This depends on your beans. They should be soft and creamy inside to be done. If you take a bean between your two fingers, it should smash easily. Taste one – they need to be tender all the way through but still firm and intact.

When beans are done, do not drain the water, otherwise the skins will come off and they’ll be very messy. Let them cool in the liquid. Remove the vegetables. Lift 4 cups of beans out with a slotted spoon to use in the stew recipe. Save remaining beans in a good amount of liquid in a container. This freezes well for another time or store in the refrigerator for 5 – 7 days.

What to do with your extra beans? Warm them up with some of their liquid, add minced garlic, a good drizzle of olive oil, some grated parmigiano and fresh ground pepper, or a dash of vinegar or lemon juice. Enjoy!!