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

Gnocchi for a Birthday Party!

January 18, 2014 by Mary 18 Comments

We celebrated my husband’s birthday last Sunday. The kids (our boys and their girlfriends) wanted to do an all day cook-a–thon again and my husband was delighted. As we did last year, we all made a different course while some of us created several dishes. Of course the food was great. With so much love and care going in to it, why wouldn’t it be! My boys are getting to be better cooks than me. And they correct me all the time on things. (I think I raised monsters.) But truly, the best part of this day, this party, is being all together, working in the kitchen and the banter that goes on. I LOVE it! My two courses were a pasta course and dessert. I made homemade gnocchi with a simple red sauce and pecan pie with whipped cream, which was Steve’s request.

Here’s a photo gallery of our afternoon and evening of celebration food.

Black olive tapenade with whole wheat Finn-crisp crackers

Chicken liver pate with toast

Baby spinach salad with carrots and ginger miso dressing

The birthday dinner table with the spinach salad

Homemade potato gnocchi with a simple red sauce in an antique china bowl, garnished with chopped chives.

Potato gnocchi with a red sauce

The main course – Beef Wellington made with LOVE with a heart

The main course plate – Beef Wellington, wilted escarole with a warm Balsamic dressing and crispy Yukon Gold potatoes

Pecan pie, whipped cream and an amazing chocolate chip cookie topped with a little salt.

Pecan pie, (made with raw agave syrup instead of corn syrup) whipped cream and an amazing chocolate chip cookie topped with a little sea salt

And I really want to share this gnocchi recipe from Grace Parisi at Food and Wine magazine. This is the second time I have made this and it is so good and oh so very light. They came out like little delicate pillows. Two of the kids raced to the kitchen for seconds, of which there was little. This is really easy to make too. So give it a go and impress everyone. I served this with a simple red sauce with garlic, shallots and a couple of anchovies and garnished the dish with some fresh chopped chives. Basil or parsley would have been better but I already had some chives washed, dried and snipped so in they went. Serve with Parmesan or Romano cheese to grate fresh on top.

POTATO GNOCCHI – adapted from Grace Parisi at Food and Wine magazine – serves 6 as a first course

2 lbs. baking potatoes (about 4)
2 large egg yolks
Salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
3 tbs. unsalted butter (optional) or a simple red sauce

Preheat the oven to 400°. Pierce the potatoes in 4 places with a fork. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour, until tender.

Halve the potatoes. Scoop the flesh into a ricer and rice the potatoes into a bowl. Stir in the egg yolks and 1 teaspoon of salt. Add the 1/2 cup of flour; stir until a stiff dough forms. Knead the dough gently until smooth but slightly sticky.

Line a baking sheet or platter with wax paper and dust with flour. On a floured surface, cut the dough into 4 pieces, rolling each into a 3/4-inch-thick rope. Cut the ropes into 3/4-inch pieces. Roll each piece against the tines of a fork to make ridges; transfer to the baking sheet or platter.

In a large, deep pot of simmering salted water, cook the gnocchi until they rise to the surface, then simmer for 2 minutes longer. Make a simple red sauce in a skillet and using a slotted spoon, add the gnocchi. Fold to coat all of them in the sauce. Serve immediately garnished with chopped chives and pass Parmesan or Romano to freshly grate on top.

Alternatively, in a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter. Using a slotted spoon, add the gnocchi to the butter. Season with salt and pepper and cook over high heat for 1 minute. Sprinkle with the cheese and serve.

MAKE AHEAD: The uncooked gnocchi pieces can be frozen on the prepared baking sheet, then transferred to a re-sealable plastic bag and frozen for up to 1 month. Boil without defrosting.

TIP: Save the baked potato shells. You can top them with a little grated cheese and warm up them to make a great little hors d’oeuvres on another evening or I like to warm a half up in the morning and put an over-easy egg on top for breakfast – delicious!!

One very happy birthday boy!

Chicken Breasts Roasted on Tomatoes and Fennel

January 10, 2014 by Mary 14 Comments

Having to cook extremely low fat for my youngest son has forced me to get super creative on how to make tasty dishes that won’t stick to the pan. This dish I made recently, turned out so delicious that I will make it again and again, even if he can start eating regular amounts of fat. It’s Chicken Breasts Roasted on Tomatoes and Fennel. It’s very low fat and really yummy and so fresh tasting! If you count on the bright flavors of your ingredients, roast at a high temperature to bring out their best, you won’t need a lot of oil or butter.

In contrast to this dinner, I want to tell you about a conversation I had with another fellow shopper in Fairway last weekend. We were both at the cheese counter and she was ahead of me being waited on. They didn’t have exactly what she asked for, so she said to the cheesemonger, “Okay just pick out 3 cheeses for me for my cheese course. I’m having a dinner party and doing a whole French thing.”

Naturally my ears perked up and I said, “Sounds nice! What are you making?”

She excitedly recited her whole menu. She said she was starting with a Garlic Cream Soup, then the main course would be a Dijon Mustard Tarragon Chicken with a Cream Sauce, mashed potatoes with Gruyere cheese, the braised leek recipe from Julia Child (tons of butter) and then the cheese course. I don’t know all of the cheeses she got but the last one that was handed over to her was a half of a wheel of triple cream brie.

I was good. I didn’t go into lecture mode. I nodded my head and said, “Wow”.

She said, “ Yeah, it’s hardy. It’s cold outside.”

Hardy?? I say it’s hearty and that it’s so bad for your heart!

When I told my husband the story while driving home, he asked if she was serving Lipitor for dessert. Or perhaps it was a dinner that included her 87 year-old aunt with a heart problem who she could do without?

I mean really, first off, to me, this dinner sounds so unappealing. Way too rich. Not to mention, colorless. Although a special-dinner-party-cheese overload never hurt anyone on occasion, if this is an habitual way of cooking and eating, that’s a health problem. I can’t fault this woman for cooking a homemade meal, and with love, it sounded like, for her friends, but I wanted to say to her, it could still be an amazing meal without cheese, cream or butter in every course. It really can.

This recipe here uses just a little peanut oil and a little olive oil, which are both low in saturated fat and high in a “good” fat, monounsaturated, which helps to lower cholesterol. With the Dijon mustard and moisture from the vegetables, you’ll be surprised at just how delicious it tastes without a drop of cream in sight!

So eat healthy. Feel great and be happy. Make this tasty dish with LOVE and you won’t miss a bite of butter or cream.

CHICKEN BREASTS ROASTED ON TOMATOES AND FENNEL – serves 5

5 boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of all fat
Peanut oil
1 rounded tbs. Dijon mustard
1 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. thyme leaves
2 tsp. chopped sage leaves
Salt to taste
Fresh cracked pepper to taste
1 large plum tomato – sliced into 5 slices
1/2 of a large fennel bulb, sliced into 5 slices
Chopped parsley for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Lightly slick a rimmed baking sheet with a little peanut oil. Whisk the olive oil and mustard together and stir in the fresh herbs.

On the baking sheet, lay out one tomato slice and one fennel slice together in five pairs to form a base for each chicken breast.

Salt and pepper each breast to taste and brush the herbed mustard mixture on both sides and place on top of the pairs of tomatoes and fennel. Roast on the top shelf in the oven for 15 – 17 minutes until just cooked through.

Garnish with chopped parsley. I didn’t do this but it would have been prettier if I did.

Enjoy good clean cooking!

Carrot Ginger Soup – Perfect to Start New Year’s Eve Dinner

December 31, 2013 by Mary 26 Comments

Having to cook “clean” – low fat – for my son has forced me to get creative and explore new territory I might not otherwise have tried, and this Carrot Ginger Soup is one of those dishes.

I made this to start our Christmas dinner and it was so good that I’m making it again today to start our New Year’s Eve dinner tonight. I think it will be perfect. Our kids have all gone back to Manhattan and we are having dear friends and my brother and his wife for an intimate dinner party here in the country.

My brother is bringing caviar and champagne (I’m so excited!) as well as the red wine for dinner. (He is our expert wine pairer for this blog and has even started his own blog, www.wineandfoodpairings.net, so check it out when you have a chance.) Margaret is bringing an appetizer and I want to do a lovely but simple dinner that will allow me to be out of the kitchen and in front of the fire, partying!

So we will start with this clean tasting and delicious soup. I plan to garnishing it with a little chopped cilantro and a few toasted pepita seeds. The original recipe is from the Hay Day Country Market Cookbook and I have made it many times in the past. Prior to this trauma with our son, I would have made this with chicken broth, using 4 tbs. of butter and garnished it with crème fraiche. See how low fat it became with 2 tbs. of butter, 1 tbs. of olive oil, vegetable broth and no crème fraiche? And, no loss of flavor to boot, I think we all should be eating this way! So much better for you.

I also only used 1 ounce of fresh ginger as we wanted it mellow on the spice for Zach. If you want it spicier, use 2 ounces. We are going to splurge on the main course with spice grilled rib steaks, BUT I’m pairing them with steamed snow pea pods with shiitake mushrooms and only the mushrooms will have a bit of butter, and potatoes Anna with only a tablespoon of butter, because I make it in a skillet on the stove top. Christmas cookies for dessert, along with some fresh blackberries and mango sorbet for my gluten-free sister-in-law, will finish off this year.

What do you plan to make?

Happy New Year to you all – wishing you great health, peace, wealth and LOVE!!

GINGER CARROT SOUP – serves 6

1 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 – 2 oz. piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 lbs. of fresh carrots, scrubbed and chopped into 1” pieces
1 cup of dry white wine
5 cups of vegetable stock – homemade or low sodium boxed
½ tsp. salt or to taste
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Chopped fresh cilantro leaves for garnish
Toasted and salted pepita seeds for garnish

Warm the olive oil and melt the butter in it. Add the minced ginger and sauté on low heat for about 3 minutes until fragrant. Do not brown. Add the carrots and stir for 1 – 2 minutes. Add the wine and turn heat to medium high. Let the wine come to a simmer, after 1 or 2 minutes add the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer, partially covered and cook until the carrots are very soft, about 30 – 45 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for at least 10 minutes, longer is even better.

Puree the soup with an immersion blender. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot, garnished with chopped cilantro and a few toasted and salted pepita seeds, if desired.

What’s Most Important

December 28, 2013 by Mary 24 Comments

I have been totally preoccupied, which explains my recent radio silence. Our youngest son has encountered some serious health problems involving his digestive system, which has been accompanied by numerous trips to the hospital. Talk about being frightened out of my wits, many sleepless nights and feeling utterly helpless. They have figured out a way to stabilize things and he is now pretty okay pain-wise but this has been quite a journey into unfamiliar territory for our family. When they say that all that really matters is good health, it is so true. It is without a doubt, what’s most important.

He went for a week without consuming anything orally. Not even water. He was hooked up to an IV of course, but nothing to digest to give all of his organs a rest. He lost a lot of weight.

He can now eat gingerly, trying tiny bits of things as we go along, with everything being very low fat. So obviously, this is a new way of cooking for me. Starting with clear broths (only vegetable stock, not even chicken) and steamed rice, we are graduating to skinless, boneless chicken breasts, plain steamed carrots and green beans and trying to figure out ingenious ways to do everything with little or no butter or oil. Now I’ve never been a fan of using a lot of butter but this is a heightened awareness, and you know what? I think I like this super clean way of cooking and eating. This forces you to really stretch and consider ingredients that will add the most flavor and interest. And I’m finding this particularly enjoyable and a welcome respite in the midst of this fattening, rich holiday season. There’s a silver lining in everything!

So here’s the vegetable broth I made. I remembered that roasting vegetables at a high heat always coaxes the most flavor out of them so I just put a very light film of peanut oil on a large baking sheet, laid out all the veggies and roasted them at 425° for 15 – 20 minutes, before creating the broth with white wine and water on the stove top. It was so rich and flavorful, hard to believe it was just vegetables. Here’s the recipe.

ROASTED VEGETABLE BROTH – makes 10 cups

Peanut oil
2 plum tomatoes, cut in half, lengthwise
4 leeks, white parts only, cut in half and carefully washed
4 cremini or baby bella mushrooms, stems trimmed and cut in half
4 carrots, scrubbed, cut in half lengthwise and into 3 inch pieces
4 celery stalks, cut in half lengthwise and into 3 inch pieces
1 red pepper, seeds and membrane removed, cut in half
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 cup of dry white wine
1 tsp. Kosher salt
½ tsp. fennel seeds
15 whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf
10 cups of water
3 parsley sprigs
5 thyme sprigs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put a little peanut oil on a paper towel and slick the surface of a large rimmed cookie sheet. Lay out all your vegetables as shown in the photo and roast for 15 – 20 minutes on the top shelf of your oven. You should be able to smell them and have coaxed some liquid out of them. The leeks and red pepper should also be a little browned on the bottom.

Scrape all the vegetables and their juices into a stock pot and place on medium high heat. Add the cup of white wine and reduce to ½ cup. Add the 10 cups of water, the salt, fennel seeds, peppercorns, bay leaf, parsley and thyme. Bring to a boil and simmer partially covered for 90 minutes.

Let cool. Strain broth and store in clean containers in refrigerator or freezer.

Guest Post: ‘Don’t Eat Anything With a Face’

December 6, 2013 by Mary 8 Comments

Hello everyone! My name is Sophie Johnson, and I am posting on Mary’s behalf.

Wednesday night, I had the pleasure of representing The Daily Meal and LOVE- the secret ingredient at a fascinating event at the Kaufman Center in New York City. I would like to share my experience with all of you. Feel free to contribute your own thoughts!

The award-winning debate series, Intelligence Squared U.S., concluded its fall season with ‘Don’t Eat Anything With a Face”, moderated by ABC News correspondent, John Donvan.

The debate was centered on physical, psychological, environmental, and moral impacts caused by the American consumption of animal protein.

Not surprisingly, the topic ignited a strong reaction from vegans and omnivores alike. The program’s chairman, Robert Rosenkranz, announced to audience members that the online response prior to the debate was so great that the Intelligence Squared website was unable to handle the massive increase in traffic. None of their previous events have ever sparked so much interest.

What made the public feel so strongly about something as basic as food? Rosenkranz speculated that it was because our dietary choices have become a form of branding.

Choosing to buy organic and locally grown foods, or to only consume a plant-based diet is part of our identity that broadcasts our personal values to the rest of the world. For example, being a vegan implies that you value your own health and the well being of other species and the environment. However, is it possible to be ecological, ethical, and health conscious while still consuming meat? The debate’s four panelists sought to answer that very question.

In his opening argument, Dr. Neal Bernard, M.D. testified to the negative effects that animal products have on our health. He grew up in a family where meat, specifically red meat, was present at just about every meal. In his early twenties, he was dissecting a cadaver when his instructor pointed out a hard substance lining the cadaver’s blood vessels. “There’s your morning sausage,” said the teacher.

Since then, Dr. Barnard has devoted his practice to the study of how a person’s diet affects body weight, chronic pain, and diabetes. He cited cases where patients suffering from type-two diabetes were cured simply by switching to a strictly plant-based regimen. He went on to say that other studies imply that people who consume meat have a greater risk of Alzheimer’s and even cancer.

Countering Dr. Barnard’s argument, Chris Masterjohn, Ph. D., a Nutritional Sciences Researcher and blogger for The Daily Lipid, cited his own personal experience. Masterjohn lived as a vegan for several years and developed several health problems including lethargy, irritability, anxiety, and tooth decay during that time. He claims many fat-soluble vitamins and minerals, essential to bone, dental, and even psychological health are most efficiently obtained by eating meat. Masterjohn suggests that the maladies Dr. Barnard attributes to meat are actually the result of modernized food processing as supported by the research of dentist and nutrition advocate, Weston Price. Beginning in the 1920s, Price studied how dental health of people living in developed areas differed from those living in less modernized surroundings. He found that the developed areas had a far greater rate of tooth decay, which Price attributed to a diet of refined grains and sugar. Masterjohns concluded that a simple, unprocessed, well-balanced diet would not carry any of the negative effects Barnard presented.

Gene Baur, the president and Co-Founder of Farm Sanctuary, an organization that rescues animals from commercial farms. He was most concerned with the ethical aspect of the debate. Baur stated, referring to our ability to gain nutrients from plant-sources rather than ‘murdering’ animals, “If we can live well without causing harm, why wouldn’t we do it?”. He added that whenever animals are raised for consumption, no matter how humanely, there is always exploitation.

Joel Salatin, a third-generation alternative farmer, disagreed with Baur. Salatin expressed his deep love, compassion, and respect for the animals he raises. He also argued that environmental integrity depends on the cycle of life. Plants feed prey which feed predators, which die and decompose to provide nutrients for the plants. Everything that lives must die.

Both sides of the debate could agree that large-scale commercial farming was a dangerous industry, and presented data on the nutritional quality and ethical considerations that were lacking in modern food productions.

‘Don’t Eat Anything With a Face’ was a lively discussion with emotions running high for both parties. However, it would appear from this debate that the information on health defects relating to the consumption of free-range, grass-fed, ‘happy’ animals as part of a balanced diet is still unclear at this point.

That said, it would suggest from Salatin’s use of the word ‘dressing’ instead of ‘slaughtering’ when referring to an animal’s final moments, that even he feels some guilt about it. So, health concerns aside, will meat-eaters ever be able to feel like their brand identity is as morally intact as their vegan counterparts? Perhaps not.

What do you think?

– Sophie

Photos by Samuel LaHoz

An Amazing Birthday!

December 4, 2013 by Mary 24 Comments

There are birthdays and then there are BIRTHDAYS!!

This was a BIRTHDAY!! and not even a milestone year.

First of all, all four of them (my two sons and their girlfriends) planned, shopped and made the complete dinner, fire in the fireplace, and Polish style entertainment, plus an awesome gift this past Saturday.

I got a KITCHENAID!!!!

A beautiful blue one that looks so pretty sitting on my counter upstate.

Remember when I was trying to win one? Well I have a confession to make. I have a white one but we keep it in the NYC apartment and then when I want to bake upstate, we haul it up and then haul it back. So I wanted to win one to be able to have it in both places. I know it’s a bit spoiled but hey, I do like to use it. So now, no more of that. I have a big beautiful blue one sitting on the counter there. Yipee!!

The way they gave it to me was so great. I had come in from working in my studio while all of them were in the kitchen cooking and they said, “ Mom, your birthday present is here in the kitchen, you just have to find it.” At first, I walked right near it but with all of the commotion going on, I didn’t notice because they put it in the place where my white one was all through the holiday. Then when I saw the beautiful blue machine, I literally screamed! What nice, thoughtful kids!! I am so, so lucky.

And here’s what they made for dinner.

Roasted eggplant salsa, Asian style, served with Parmesan pita chips and my martini!

Pernil – Puerto Rican style pork shoulder, slow roasted in the oven and finished on the grill.

Jasmine rice with saffron, black eyed peas, (from dried), onions and green peppers along with sauteed Swiss chard and kale in olive oil with garlic and white wine.

Shortbread cookies with Polish chocolate hazelnut chunks on top.

EVERYTHING was sooooo delicious!!!

After appetizers and cocktails we had their entertainment portion of the evening. We celebrated the Feast of St. Andrew – Andrzejki – as it is called in Polish. Always celebrated on November 29 or the 30^th, depending on what region in Poland you are from as it is either celebrated on the day or the eve. You melt wax and pour it through a hollow key handle into a bowl of cold water. The wax solidifies while you douse some more water on it. You then take the wax shape that forms and look at its shadow and interpret it. It is a prediction for the upcoming year. Mine was my face, Steve’s face in glasses and Australia. Steve’s was emu – an animal native to Australia.

Maureen!!! – here we come!!!

These kids did so much work to make an awesome birthday celebration for me. Besides planning the menu, shopping and cooking, they went to ten places to find the keys with holes in the handle and finally found them in an antique store in Millerton.

Here are all of our wax shapes.

It is great to be loved!