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

Red Snapper Wildwood Arbol Hot Sauce in Artichoke Dip

December 24, 2014 by Mary 3 Comments

Red Snapper Wildwood Arbol Sauce is great on anything! The McVea family has been making this sauce since 1895 and they say that this is their medium hot sauce but for me, this is hot! It’s much hotter than Tabasco. However, it has a ton of flavor! I recommend that you test it out and see how it fits on your intensity scale. I’ve been using about half the amount of Tabasco that I would normally use, and this is much better. Made from a Louisiana family recipe, this is a great way to add spice to your life! Perfect on eggs (pic) or in my crab cake recipe (link and photo) and it was really, really delicious in my famous artichoke dip. (My kids tell me it’s famous) Perfect for upcoming holiday parties, here’s the full recipe.

Truly, this sauce took my dip to a whole other level!!

ARTICHOKE DIP with RED SNAPPER WILDWOOD ARBOL SAUCE – serves 6 – 8

One 14oz. can of artichoke hearts, drained of juice
One small can of green chilies with the juice
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese, packed
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. Red Snapper Wildwood Arbol Sauce
Chopped fresh basil leaves

Take each artichoke heart in your hand, hold upside down, and squeeze the juice out. Then, place in the food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add all other ingredients and process until smooth. Place in an oven proof dish and bake at 350 degrees for 20 – 30 minutes, until browned around the edges and a little bubbly.

This dish tastes great but is not pretty so top it with some fresh chopped basil leaves.

Serve with LOVE along with crudités and pita chips or small dipping crackers.

Spinach Dip Mix Omelette

October 28, 2014 by Mary 9 Comments

The Spinach Dip mix is our 6^th item in our fall MARY’s secret ingredients box. This dip mix is made by a sweet company in Florida, called The Pantry Club. The company was founded by husband and wife team, Alicia and Matt Webb, and while typically I’m not a dry mix user kinda gal, this dip is totally all natural and when rehydrated, tastes just like a fresh spinach mixture. Alicia and Matt have changed my mind about dry mixes. Just smell the fresh goodness coming out of it. And, it’s gluten free!

Of course you can make a dip out of it for crudités, crackers or pita chips. They say to make it with sour cream and mayonnaise. I used zero fat unflavored Greek yogurt and added the 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise or you might try adding 2 tablespoons of olive oil as my friend Daina did. It is important to make it ahead of time and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours, as they recommend. You need that time to let the flavors meld and bloom from their dried state.

Alicia and Matt also say you can use the dried dip as a flavoring agent. Perhaps adding it to a vegetable broth with some juices from sautéing skinless boneless chicken breasts would be great. But what I found to be super terrific is to add it to eggs to make the most delicious spinach omelette. Try this with your mix!

THE PANTRY CLUB SPINACH DIP MIX OMELETTE WITH SUNNY GOLD TOMATOES, PARSLEY AND ROMANO CHEESE – serves 2

4 eggs
2 Tbs. whole milk
½ package of The Pantry Club Spinach Dip Mix
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
½ cup sunny gold tomatoes, quartered
2 Tbs. roughly chopped parsley leaves
¼ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Additional parsley sprigs for garnish

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs and milk with a whisk. Slowly add in the ½ package of Spinach Dip Mix and mix thoroughly to combine.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Swirl to completely cover bottom and sides of the pan. Pour in egg mixture. Let sit until the bottom has just cooked. Then transfer the skillet to the oven to let the eggs cook on top for about 5 minutes.

Bring skillet back up to the stovetop (make sure you’ve got a hot pad on the skillet handle) and scatter the tomatoes, parsley and cheese over one-half of the omelette. Fold over the remaining egg side on top and let cook until eggs are done to your liking. Or put back in the oven for a minute or two.

When done, slide out of the pan and onto a platter. Garnish with parsley and serve with LOVE!

Enjoy!!

Feta, radishes, watercress and mint toasts

June 21, 2014 by Mary 35 Comments

I always struggle with appetizers. I think I’m not good at them and I think I repeat things too much. I always want to make something different, but it has to be easy. You know how it is, you read all these great sounding recipes and you want to make them all and then the day of, or mid-way through your party menu, you realize, uh oh, this is just too much! You’ve been there? Well this simple recipe of feta, radishes, watercress and mint toasts is really perfect! It’s different, delicious, has wonderful fresh bursts of flavor, and a contrast of textures with the crunchiness of the radishes, the creaminess of the feta, the chewiness of the peasant bread, and then there’s that surprise burst of mint that is so refreshing. And most importantly, it’s easy. Is it hard to tell I like this?

In talking about the mint, which is my addition to the original Food & Wine recipe, don’t put any more than three leaves on each serving. I always keep in mind an article by April Bloomfield (of John Dory Oyster Bar, The Breslin and Spotted Pig restaurant fame) from a few years ago. She said these surprise bursts of flavors, whether it’s a perfectly toasted, spicy warm nut or a wonderful cube of pancetta, should be scattered judiciously in a dish so that you search for them and feel elated and satiated when you’ve discovered the little gem again.

I made this recipe as a starter to a lunch that reconnected me to my dear friend, Joan, and her whole family. We hadn’t seen each other in 30 years! She was one of my bridesmaids. She came in from St. Louis, her sister and mother from Nashville and her brother and his partner live just 20 minutes from us in upstate NY, which we didn’t know before. It was a wonderful reunion on a beautiful sunny Saturday in late April, the kind where you just can’t talk fast enough, you have so much to catch up on. It’s so fantastic to reunite with old friends. Even though you have so much to talk about, you can still speak in shorthand, because of the history you have. Isn’t that just so nice?

Feta radishes watercress and mint toasts serving on a plate.

It’s so pretty, isn’t it? Now if only the watercress could be blue, you would have the perfect July 4th dish with this! (just kidding)

FETA, RADISHES, WATERCRESS AND MINT TOASTS – serve 8

½ bunch watercress, thick stems discarded
16 – 24 fresh mint leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Four 1/2-inch-thick slices of peasant bread, sliced in half
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
3 – 5 radishes, thinly sliced (use a hand mandoline)
4 oz. French feta cheese, at room temperature

Heat a cast-iron grill pan or two large skillets. Brush the bread with 1/4 cup of olive oil and grill over high heat, turning once, until toasted. Spread the feta on top of the toasts, distribute radish slices, top with watercress and two to three mint leaves on each. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle very lightly with salt and fresh ground pepper and serve.

Grilled Shrimp Appetizer

April 18, 2014 by Mary 42 Comments

I made several dishes last weekend. Some very good, some not so. It happens. Fortunately it was just my very close family that suffered. First off, on Friday night, I made this really delicious, really simple grilled shrimp appetizer. Here are all the ingredients.

I didn’t measure and you won’t have to either. I know you all have good enough judgment to make this work. Just eye it and feel it and you’ll do a-ok. Eat this dish with friends as you’ll want to suck the shrimp shells of all the smokey spicy wonderfulness and you’ll get all messy peeling them – but they’re so good.

You see, I went to buy salmon fillets to roast and serve with my already made rhubarb marmalade and then I saw the shrimp. My husband LOVES shrimp. Me? Ehh. It’s good, but I never crave it like I do oysters! (He hates oysters) But I know he loves shrimp, yet I really wanted salmon for dinner and the marmalade was already made. So I bought 9 shrimp – as an appetizer!! 5 for him, 4 for me. And then on the drive up to the country, I completely forgot about them. We arrived, unpacked and here I was surprised by the shrimp (duh – I bought them.) and had to figure out something quick to do with them as it was getting late. Here’s what I did – and they were scrumptious!!

GRILLED SHRIMP APPETIZER – serves 2

9 – 10 large shrimp with shells on, rinsed several times and patted dry
Salt
Pepper
1 star anise
1 red chili, crushed with seeds
Swirl of olive oil
Smoked paprika – heavy sprinkling

Combine and toss all ingredients together. Let marinate for 10 -15 minutes. Toss on the grill on high heat for about 2 minutes, just until pink and done. Serve immediately.

It’s finger lickin’ good!

homemade pizzas pesto anchovy truffle margharita

Then, last Saturday, I was determined to make pizzas from homemade pizza dough. The Times had a big article on pizza dough and pizzas the previous Wednesday and I was hyped. Our oldest son was coming to the country with his girlfriend for the weekend and I was making these pizzas with a big beautiful salad to greet them when they arrived for lunch. Well, the pizzas sucked. They looked good but the only one that was any good was the pesto. Before I tell you any more, I really need to work on this one. The Mario Batali recipe needs some refining. Actually he has about three different recipes online for the dough and I need to get the 00 flour – that I couldn’t find. So stay tuned and I’ll find that flour and try this one again – and then tell you about it. xoxo, Mary

New Holiday Small Plates e-Cookbook is Out!

December 18, 2013 by Mary Frances 6 Comments

Hot off the press (or oven), our new holiday small plates e-cookbook is out: Secrets for Holiday Small Plates, Savory and Sweet. Since small plates are all the rage, I wanted to put together this collection of ten really great recipes. This is a perfect little cookbook for an easy cocktail party and makes an awesome stocking stuffer gift!

After all, the holidays should be about getting together, having time to relax, visiting with friends and relatives, and enjoying your own party. These recipes will allow you to do that, eliminating the stress. You can see all the recipes if you click on the ad on the right side of this blog. The cookbook is a 30 page, interactive downloadable PDF that will work on your tablet, phone or computer. And I must say, it is beautifully designed by our wonderful designers here.

So make your party stress free and you will enjoy more!

And please let me know how you like it.

With LOVE, Mary Frances

Your Thanksgiving Celebration

November 30, 2013 by Mary 16 Comments

I hope your Thanksgiving celebration was filled with LOVE and a smashing success! We all have so much to be thankful for. Please tell me what was your favorite part or dish.

We were lucky enough to have both of our boys home and got to have both girlfriends with us too. It is so about being together, cooking together and even cleaning up together. I come from a very large family – six kids – and when my parents were still alive and we all came home (to St. Louis) with our spouses or mates, it was absolute mayhem – all in a good way. Everyone was doing something from building a fire, to arguing about the music being played, to making a new cocktail for everyone, to complaining that someone doesn’t do any work but just supervises, to figuring out where to put all the food and wine, and I remember my mother just shaking her head and trying to continue to move through everyone to do her cooking. Although we have only two boys, we created the same thing! At one point on Thursday, I looked at my husband, right before dinner and I was like, OMG, we created a mini version of my family all over again. It’s a good thing but it really made me laugh – it can even happen with just two kids!

My turkey was too big – 19.5 lbs. I had asked our farmer for a 16 – 17 lb. bird but somehow he had something larger in mind and just those 2 – 3 extra pounds made a difference. I have no doubt we will eat all the leftovers but when it’s that big, the legs are really tough on these free range birds. The thigh dark meat was delicious but the legs, not so much. It looked gorgeous! And some of the outer white meat was a wee bit dry in order to cook the whole thing through. So I think the 17 lb. mark is the max. If you need more, buy two smaller birds.

For those of you who purchased my e-cookbook and made some or all of the recipes, I hope you found it helpful. Please send me any comments to make it even better for next year.

My birthday was Tuesday and my younger son and his girlfriend were at our house upstate, greeting us when we arrived with appetizers and dinner prepared. I told you I was lucky and had a lot to be thankful for! For appetizers, we had local gouda cheese cubes with olives, radishes and cherry tomatoes. Dinner was braised chicken legs, with tomatoes, onions, garlic and olives served with a crusty baguette to mop up all of the delicious sauce, and some roasted zucchini. They were so sweet and you have no idea how special it was to arrive to a warm glowing, terrific smelling house with dinner all ready! And it was really yummy!

Tonight, all four of them are cooking up my “real birthday feast. “ They won’t tell me what they’re doing and I was told to vacate the premises. They have plied me with some hot rum apple punch and I am out in my art studio staying out of the way. They say it will be a complete meal with appetizers, dinner, dessert and even entertainment! Stay tuned and I will let you know what happens.

I hope you all continue your celebrations and have a great rest of the weekend!