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

Overheard at Fairway

April 13, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

So I’m shopping at the local grocery store here and I overhear this conversation of this seriously overweight young woman with her young son about three years old in her cart in the vegetable aisle. She’s explaining to him (and he’s overweight already – are you surprised?) that she’s buying some cabbage. I’m thinking, okay, good, a vegetable. Then she says to him that she’s going to “Cook it in some butter, then combine it with some noodles and sour cream and, you’ll really like it!”

Really? Excuse me? Can you ruin a good head of cabbage more for your already way overweight bodies?

I was aghast. A vegetable is great but loaded with all the fat and carbs she’s talking about – this kid already has a problem and she is feeding it even more. Help her!!

A whirlwind weekend!

April 9, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

The Passover table

So you may remember, my husband was raised Jewish and I was raised Catholic. We are now Unitarians but culturally we celebrate both traditions, and why not? It’s way more fun this way!

We hosted a Passover seder on Friday night for eleven people – old friends, new friends, family and girlfriends from 4 different countries and both coasts. It was such fun – lots of wonderful conversations and the traditional readings and food, with some new traditions thrown in. The party lasted until nearly 1 am – I do believe a good time was had by all and that makes it all worth it.
Beef brisket with egg noodles tossed with fennel fronds
Oven roasted asparagus with olive oil and lemon zest

My brother hosted Easter dinner in CT – and early dinner with cocktails outside on that gorgeous day, serving a beautiful butterflied leg of lamb with Julia’s traditional and delicious mustard coating with a Madeira sauce, but starting off with 2 spectacular spinach soufflés! We are spoiled!
The Easter table

Delicious lamb

I hope you enjoy the photo gallery and remember, the brisket recipe is here on the blog.

Tell me what you did this past weekend!

Chrzan

April 4, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

No, it’s not a spelling mistake. This is the Polish word for horseradish, but my family used it to mean a dish with beets and horseradish. Chrzan is always a family favorite for Easter morning, served with fresh cooked Polish sausage (not smoked, but fresh or white kielbasa – find a Polish deli in your area), scrambled eggs, and homemade bread with rich butter. My father would always serve a little champagne as well. Somehow we have not kept up the champagne tradition but the bubbly with all of this is a great combination. As my brother Mark used to say, you need the fizz!

This is for you, Julie!

Julie is one of my nieces who made a special request for this recipe and I must tell you, I have a brand new great niece, Morgan, just born on the 27th! Food traditions are wonderful. I hope all you girls keep them up!

Now we all like this a bit hot. Actually the hotter the horseradish, the better. Everyone likes to nearly cry with their nostrils flaring, but these days, it’s hard to find really great horseradish. If you can find some Polish imports, those are best. Horseradish from Poland is a really pristine white, so pretty, not like the Gold’s you can readily find here. Ba-Tempte is another horseradish manufacturer from Brooklyn that is definitely acceptable.

Of course, it’s always about the ingredients. Get the best that you can and it’s best to roast your own beets and slice them thinly on a hand mandolin. Although my mother always used canned whole red beets and sliced them thin with a knife.

Here’s the recipe:

CHRZAN
One bunch of red beets, scrubbed, dried, sprinkled with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, wrapped in aluminum foil and roasted at 400° for about an hour, until very tender when pierced with a skewer
OR one can of whole plain red beets, drained (not pickled)
2 tbs. sugar
1 tbs. white wine vinegar or plain white vinegar
Pinch of salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 jar of horseradish

If using fresh roasted red beets, peel them while still warm. Slice the beets very thinly, preferably on a hand mandolin. Sprinkle on the sugar, vinegar and salt. Toss carefully to combine (don’t break up your beautiful slices) and cover with a plate and let sit at room temperature for one hour. Drain the juice and save. Add the horseradish to taste (I usually add the whole jar) and toss carefully to combine. If you feel it’s dry, add back in some of the juice you saved, although I never do.

Enjoy!!

Birthday dinner!

April 1, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

Crab cakes and lettuce on white dinner plates.

Crab cake on a Boston lettuce leaf with organic watercress and chipotle mayo

Birthdays are always very special in our house. I am happy to cook a magnificent meal of the celebrated’s choice, served at the dining room table with china, crystal and sterling. However, this year, my oldest son requested a surprise. Dinner was to be of my choosing, so here’s what I made:

Appetizers:
A cheese board with a variety of cheeses, dried apricots and walnuts

First course:
Crab cake on a bed of Boston lettuce and organic watercress with chipotle mayonnaise (search this blog for the recipe)

Main course:
Center cut pork chop with a grape and tarragon sauce (a Food and Wine recipe)
Homemade gnocchi with grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (a Food and Wine recipe) – this was divine!
Roasted asparagus with olive oil and fresh mint (my simple recipe)

Dessert
Vanilla pots with fresh strawberries (a Mark Bittman recipe)

Our evening was just great – a special time for just us to catch up on each others lives, watch funny You Tube videos together and of course it ended with viewing the return of Mad Men.

You know, it’s always wonderful to do a special dinner for just your family. When the kids were young, we used to do this every Sunday night. My husband insisted on this tradition, saying that we often entertained our friends specially and why shouldn’t we do it just for us. It gave us a time to regroup before starting the week and taught the boys how to behave at an elegant dinner. The conversation was slower and more interesting, providing a time for all of us to unwind. I hope you do this with your family, creating wonderful stories and memories along the way.

Full disclosure.

March 30, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

Okay so now I can tell you, we really went to the Le Creuset outlet store to buy a birthday present for our oldest son, who is quite a good cook. I think he’s even better than me! (Both of my boys have a certain confidence that is unmatched. (The older one is a “big” flavor guy while the younger one applies his spices and flavors more gingerly.)

Now I couldn’t tell you this until we gave it to him, because I never know when my kids are reading this blog. So we got him this gorgeous red, oval cast iron skillet. It is big, unusual and heavy. Zach said he would love it because his stovetop in Brooklyn is small. You could roast two whole red snappers in this or even two 3 lb. chickens.

We had his birthday dinner (menu to come) last Sunday and this is what he emailed to me on Tuesday evening. The subject line was “Maiden Voyage.”

Look at the beautiful charring!

My new skillet!

March 25, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

We had to be in Boston on Monday and on the way back to NYC, I suggested we plan to stop at Clinton Corners in CT. There’s a discount Le Creuset store there and that’s pretty much heaven to me!

I bought a new skillet and even new orange (my favorite color) hot pads. I’m telling you, I’m so happy, I feel like I have a whole new kitchen. It doesn’t take a whole lot to get me excited. I’m a cheap date.

Le Creuset is one of my favorite cookware manufacturers. I have a huge covered French oven that I just adore. Food cooked in it actually tastes better! It’s enamel coated cast iron and very easy to clean. The one drawback is that it is very heavy. But hey, it’s building the biceps!

I once cooked a huge party size serving of meatballs and had to split the recipe. Half of them simmered in my Le Creuset and the other half simmered in a copper bottomed stainless steel stew pot. (my mother’s from the ‘60’s) The Le Creuset pot was infinitely better!! Really. The meatballs and tomato sauce had deeper, richer flavors. It’s true and I’m not even paid to say this! I think the cast iron distributes the heat more evenly and this pot with the enamel coating locks in the moisture to create super tender morsels of meat and incredibly flavorful vegetables. It’s perfect for beef bourguignon, chilis and stews of any kind.

Now Le Creuset has come out with an industrial strength non-stick coated 3-ply stainless steel line and that’s the skillet I just bought. It’s lighter with deep sides and fantastic! I cut my tendon in my left hand some years ago while cutting ribs (don’t ask) and while I totally regained the bendability of my middle finger, I never really regained the strength in that hand, so lighter is better.

Once again the heat distribution and browning capabilities are terrific! Check out that zucchini in the photo.

If you have a favorite skillet or cookware line, please tell me about it.

Herbes de Provence and fresh ginger

March 19, 2012 by Mary Frances 3 Comments

Okay, so we got a little respite from Steve’s diet with the beet and tangerine salad in my last posting. I obviously made that before he went on this diet. Hope you will try it as I know you’ll love it!

His diet of no garlic, onions, tomatoes or citrus is really hard for me. He can’t even have chocolate for dessert! So upcoming entertaining will be challenging.

I must admit, however, that each night, my kitchen floor is much cleaner. Why? There’s no little bits of onion or garlic skin dancing around. But really, I’d gladly have them back and pull out the old dustbuster each night.

So basically he’s just supposed to eat seafood, chicken or turkey for the next 4 weeks. He’s cheated a bit with lamb and pork but he’s been good. And I’ve been trying to be a good do bee, helping him adhere. By the way, Do Bee, comes from Romper Room – I had no idea! Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtI1t_3wWLM&feature=channel

So my two new favorite go-to seasonings have been herbs de Provence and fresh ginger! I like to slowly melt the ginger, like you would garlic, before sautéing it with vegetables. This particular night, I again had vegetables begging to be used so I did a drawer clean-up and it was delicious!! I combined some oven-roasted ones with sautéed ginger and cabbage and it was truly amazing. Here’s to all my vegetarian readers!

The turnips will be sweet, the cabbage adds a little crunch, the fennel, interesting flavor and radicchio adds some bite. All interesting, satisfying and delicious. Not to mention, also good for you!

Here’s what I made.

OVEN ROASTED AND SAUTEED MIXED VEGETABLES
– serves 4

2 medium turnips, peeled and cut into 3/4” cubes
1/2 of a large fennel bulb, cut into 1/3” strips
1 very small radicchio or 1/2 of a large one, cut into 1/2” wide wedges
2-3 tbs. olive oil
Salt
Pepper
—————-
One 2” piece of fresh ginger, peeled, sliced thin and cut into matchsticks
2 tbs. olive oil
1 head of Chinese or Napa cabbage, outer leaves removed, and sliced into 1/2” slices
Salt
Pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pile your turnips, fennel and radicchio in the middle of a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and toss well. Roast for about 25 minutes until the turnips are fork tender. Be sure to toss halfway through so they brown evenly. Keep warm.

Meanwhile, warm the 2 tbs. olive oil for the sautéed vegetables. Add ginger and cover to sauté slowly, over low heat for 15 minutes. Add the thick pieces from the bottom of the cabbage, cover again for 5 – 7 minutes until they are tender. Then remove the cover, raise the heat and add the rest of the cabbage, salt and pepper to taste, tossing quickly until crisp tender, about 1 – 2 minutes.

Turn into a large bowl, add the roasted vegetables, all their juices and half of the chopped parsley, and toss all to combine with two large spoons. Sprinkle the remaining parsley on top and serve.

Now in the bowl you will have a lot of liquid as cabbage has a lot of water in it so serve this with a slotted spoon.

I served this with:

PROVENCAL TURKEY BURGERS
– serves 6 – or 4 with leftovers for lunch

2 lbs. ground turkey
1 raw egg plus 1 egg yolk (the egg yolk is optional, I had an extra one and wanted to use it up)
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tsp. herbes de Provence
Salt
Pepper
2 tbs. olive oil

Combine turkey, egg, panko, herbes de Provence, salt and pepper. Mix well but lightly with your hands and form into 6 patties. Do not pack tightly.

Heat olive oil until shimmering but not smoking. Add patties, lower heat a little and sauté 4 – 5 minutes on each side until done.

Enjoy!

A wonderful combination and tangerines are in season!

March 14, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

I first made this salad for my visiting brother, David, and his wife, Pat. What I didn’t realize until much later, was that this became one of Patti’s all time favorite dishes. She went home and made it and made it and made it so many times that finally David said, “Again? Patti it’s really good but enough already!”

We all love beets in our family – after all we’re Polish and the Poles practically only have root vegetables, as my son tells me after living there for two different six month stints. Beets are served at almost every meal, along with horseradish. Soon, I’ll post our all-time family favorite recipe of beets and horseradish, as we get closer to Easter, as it is an imperative Easter breakfast dish in our household.

But I digress. My brother, Mark would say, “Midge (my nickname), is this plane ever going to land?” So yes it is! This is a fantastic, surprising, most refreshing and light combination! Beets are always good with goat cheese and toasted walnuts, but this is a real treat to your palate.

Now you may think it’s a lot of work and time consuming. It does take time but you can divide it up. Roast your beets the night before while you’re making your dinner, peel them and store in the fridge. Also you can toast your pine nuts the night before too. Toast more pine nuts than you need and store in an airtight plastic container so you have them on hand to throw in a pasta dish, on other salads or on some haricot verts, Remember, the more you cook, the easier it is, because you’ll start to have things on hand – salad dressings, croutons, toasted nuts. All good things!

An iPhone photo of a photo on a BlackBerry!

BEETS AND TANGERINES ON A BED OF ARUGULA
-serves 4

4 golden beets
1.5 tbs. pine nuts
3 tbs. olive oil
3-4 oz. of washed, dried and chilled arugula
4 tangerines
2 small shallots, thinly sliced
1.5 tbs. raspberry vinegar
Salt
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the washed, scrubbed and dried beets in large piece of aluminum foil, drizzle with 1 tbs. olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Draw up the aluminum foil to make a packet. Place the packet in a baking dish (they might leak) and roast for 60 – 70 minutes, until they are tender and easily pierced with a skewer. When they are cool enough to handle, peel the beets and cut into sixths or eighths, or store whole in the refrigerator.

In a small non-stick skillet, over medium high heat, toast the pine nuts, stirring constantly until they are golden brown. Place in a small dish to cool.

Using a sharp knife, cut each end off of the tangerine so you have a flat bottom and top, then slice around the curve and cut off the remaining peel. Once the tangerine is peeled, over a medium bowl, slice in between the membranes to release the tangerine sections. Squeeze the juice from the membranes into a small bowl; you should have 1/4 cup.

In another small bowl, toss the sliced shallots and raspberry vinegar with a pinch of salt and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in the 1/4 cup of tangerine juice and whisk in the remaining 2 tbs. of olive oil. Season the dressing with salt.

Place a handful of arugula on each plate. Arrange the beets and tangerine sections on plates and drizzle with the dressing. Top with the toasted pine nuts and serve.

If you have refrigerated the roasted beets overnight, bring to room temperature before using. Also, the tangerines are better at room temperature as well.

Try it!

March 7, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

Over roasted green beans in a white bowl.

Delicious Oven Roasted Green Beans

Our wonderful farmer friends, Ethel and Tom, once told me that all the local restaurants that they sell their vegetables to, always oven roast them as their method to cook. Ethel said they all swear that oven roasting brings out the natural sweetness in the most marvelous way.

Now I’ve been a big fan of roasting eggplant, turnips, zucchini, mushrooms, cauliflower, carrots, asparagus, all kinds of squash, Brussel sprouts, peppers, and of course potatoes but green beans?

So with my shrimp and pasta dinner the other night, being so tired and exhausted, and wanting to eat quickly, I decided to try it. They were delicious!!! Give it a go!

OVEN ROASTED GREEN BEANS
– serves 3 – 4

1 lb. green beans, washed, cleaned and dried
2 tbs. olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Make sure your beans are all dry – use a dish towel if you don’t have time to air dry them. Place in a pile in the center of a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle olive oil on and salt and pepper. Toss well and spread out all across the pan in a single layer. Roast for 20 – 25 minutes until tender. Toss once in the middle of cooking. Enjoy!

After the move.

March 3, 2012 by Mary Frances 4 Comments

We did it!!

We moved our offices on Thursday. Two trucks and 400 boxes later, we are in our new space in TriBeCa. We finished at 2:30 am on Friday morning. It’s going to be great but right now, my hands hurt so much I’ve been coating them with hand cream followed by a thick coating of Vaseline, and wearing an old pair of my Aunt Lu’s white gloves from the 50’s to sleep in. (Not exactly sexy since I also like to wear a pair of white socks because my feet get so cold – oh well!) My Mom always said that this was the best bet to treat badly damaged hands AND keep your sheets clean. Only now I think I’m going to have to start with some Neosporin on the cuticles first, then the rest of the program.

It is truly amazing how much stuff you can amass in 10 years, particularly in my business with all the printed samples we must have on hand to show to new prospective clients. And I did a lot of editing and throwing away before the movers came and we still have so much stuff.

So we were back in the office again today, working on the unpacking and arrived home at 6:30, starving, as we had no lunch. As I mentioned before, my husband has to be on this crazy diet of no garlic, onions, tomatoes, spicy things, or lemons.

So I wanted to make a shrimp and pasta dish and I’m thinking, what can I do here? It’s easy to make a shrimp and pasta dish with garlic and tomatoes. A little shallot wouldn’t hurt either, or lemon and garlic with white wine, but this! He can have ginger, so I’m considering it but then it’s just not sounding good to me.

So I sent him out to get some parsley (we fortunately have a grocery store right downstairs in our building) and this is what I came up with – and it was crazy delicious!! Simple, quick, clean tasting and it seemed to have a creamy lemony taste, which I’m not sure where that came from – maybe a residual taste from the Sauvignon? Try this and tell me what you think.

QUICK, EASY PASTA WITH SHRIMP – AND NO GARLIC
– serves 4

1.5 lbs. large shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 lb. spaghetti #3
1/3 cup olive oil plus more for finishing
1 cup chopped fresh parsley, washed and air dried before chopping
1/2 cup dry white wine
Salt
Pepper
3 – 4 tbs pasta water

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta. Thoroughly wash and pat dry the shrimp. Salt and pepper one side.

Heat the olive oil until very hot. Add the parsley carefully – it will pop and really sizzle because of the water in it hitting the oil. Stir and let it sizzle for 30 seconds to a minute and then add the shrimp and turn heat down slightly. Cook shrimp 1-2 minutes, add the wine and make sure it is bubbling. Turn the shrimp and cook another 1–2 minutes. When shrimp are pink on both sides, turn off heat but leave in pan.

Meanwhile, you should be cooking your pasta till al dente. Save some pasta water and drain.

In a large bowl layer in half of the pasta and half of the shrimp mixture. Repeat the layers. Drizzle on some additional oil and the pasta water. Toss and combine well. Serve and enjoy!

Remember, it’s always about the quality of ingredients you use. Find the freshest shrimp, the best olive oil, use French grey salt and Tellicherry fresh ground pepper for best results.