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

Easter stories

April 7, 2013 by Mary Frances 15 Comments

Easter table set with sugar eggs, orange tulips and antique Easter toys.Why is it that Easter is the shortest holiday, that one Sunday only? All the days leading up to it are sad and then it’s just that one day and then back to work on Monday. Thanksgiving has the long weekend afterwards. Christmas has the week between Christmas and New Years. Even Passover gets at least two days of attention, but Easter is one.

Easter was my mother’s favorite holiday. She was a devout Catholic so no wonder. I remember her scrubbing the house spic‘n span in the days leading up to it, washing windows and all the sheer drapes, sending the rest out to the cleaners. That fresh clean smell was intoxicating to me, so memorable even now, her Spring cleaning was deep. And then Easter. She even had me wear a hat when I was little, a new one every year, along with her new hat for church. She passed away the Monday after Easter, that year in April, 1995. One of her last words to me were, “Did you color eggs?” She wanted to make sure I was keeping up traditions with with my boys. She used to color eggs the old fashioned Polish way with onion skins. (Don’t ask me how!) Well that year, did I color eggs?? I colored six dozen of them! We lived in New Jersey at the time and two of my brothers were visiting, each of them having two boys each, plus our two, and our neighbor across the street (they had six kids) always held a neighborhood Easter egg hunt and you were required to deliver to them a dozen eggs for each child hunting. So there you have it – six dozen eggs – yikes! Easter table set with Pierre D

We had 9 people for Easter dinner this year, a lovely party with extended family, roommates and girlfriends. One guest saw my table and said, “Oooo what fun!” Exactly what I loved to hear. But I didn’t color eggs this year. With no little ones around, I don’t, but I do like to decorate the table with the antique Easter baskets I inherited from my mother. The rectangular box even plays “Here Comes Peter Cottontail.” It skips a few notes around the hippity-hoppity part but we all get a kick out of it every year. The food ended up to be a bit of a pork fest.

My sister-in-law and her mother brought the appetizers – deviled eggs and a red pepper dip with crudités and delicious homemade sesame crackers made with almond flour – gluten free!

We started our dinner with a yummy traditional Easter Polish soup that our youngest son made. It was vegetable broth based with bacon and two different kinds of garlicky Polish sausage. The broth was light and lemony, perfectly paired with a New York Finger Lakes Riesling. We then moved on to a baked, organic free-range ham (from Mike and Cindy’s Thunderhill farm in upstate NY) with a clove, honey, mustard and dark rum glaze, Italian beans with pancetta, chrzan, and roasted asparagus. The chrzan was rousingly potent with German horseradish from Greenpoint, Brooklyn and the beans were such a hit. I believe everyone had seconds on everything except the asparagus. I got a thank you note on Friday from a guest requesting the bean recipe and describing them as “silky”, which is apt. You kinda want to wrap yourself in them. I promised this recipe to you all after Christmas and I have yet to get off my butt and do it. It is complicated, which is why I haven’t done it, but I promise I will soon. My brother, Steve brought some amazing California Pinot Noir, (rare and unavailable outside of the vineyard in California – he and his wife just spent eight weeks nearby as test living arrangement) which paired beautifully with the meal. For dessert, I made a sour cream topped cheesecake and some chocolate dipped strawberries. One guest said the top of the cheesecake was so smooth, it looked like a skating rink! She took the one piece left over home – along with the jelly beans. One problem here, I was having such a good time, I forgot to take photos of the food!Eadter table set with sugar eggs, tulips and antique Easter toys.

Hope you had a fantastic celebration, whether it was Passover or Easter, filled with family, friends and LOVE.

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: antique Easter toys, cheesecake, chrzan, Easter stories, Easter Sunday dinner, ham, Italian beans, jelly beans, silky beans

Chicken goulash with biscuit dumplings

March 20, 2013 by Mary Frances 14 Comments

Chicken goulash with biscuit topping in a white bowl.

If you want to make something so fulfilling, creamy, and dreamy, make this dish. The flour coating of the chicken, which I normally don’t do (too fattening) and the sour cream in the dough and the sauce (also fattening) makes this so rich and satisfying. Combine all that softness with the crispness of the biscuits and the spiciness of the sauce — so so good.

This is more of a weekend dinner as it’s a bit more time consuming. And with another possible snow storm on the way, this is perfect cold weather food. You know you made a good dinner when your husband rolls over in bed the next morning and the first thing he says is, “That was a damn good dinner last night!”

Alright!

So here you go – this recipe is based on a recipe from Food and Wine magazine, but I have altered it. Their recipe calls for 2 tbs. of hot paprika. Well I made it like that the first time and we were all oozing sweat from the top of our heads!! I thought for sure it must be a typo but apparently not, as they just reprinted it as a favorite recipe in the recent March issue. Along with that, I have made other changes as well. Don’t be frightened by the dough – it’s really easy. Enjoy!

CHICKEN GOULASH WITH BISCUIT DUMPLINGS
– serves 4

2 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken thighs, (about 4 or 5) trimmed of all fat
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
5 tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
2 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp. baking powder
2 1/2 cups homemade chicken stock or low-sodium broth
1 cup sour cream, divided
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbs. hot Hungarian paprika
1 tbs. sweet paprika
3/4 tsp. caraway seeds
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves

Preheat the oven to 425°. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and dust lightly with flour. In a deep skillet, melt 1 tbs. of the butter in the olive oil. Add the chicken and cook over high heat, turning once, until browned on both sides, about 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to a plate.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, pulse the 1 1/2 cups of flour with the baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Pulse in the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle the 1/2 cup of the stock and the 1/2 cup of the sour cream over the dry ingredients; pulse until a dough forms.

Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic to the skillet and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 minutes. Return the chicken to the skillet. Stir in the paprika and caraway seeds and cook for 30 seconds. Add the remaining 2 cups of chicken stock and 1/2 cup of sour cream and stir until smooth. Sprinkle the thyme over everything and bring to a boil.

Scoop twelve 3-tablespoon-size mounds of biscuit dough over the chicken. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the biscuits are cooked. Turn on the broiler and broil for about 2 minutes, until the biscuits are golden. Serve the goulash in bowls, spooning the biscuits on top.

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: biscuits, caraway seeds, chicken goulash, chicken thighs, creamy dreamy dinners, Hungarian goulash with chicken, red peppers

Sesame & Curry Crusted Salmon with Tomato Salad

March 12, 2013 by Mary Frances 30 Comments

This is a great, quick weeknight dinner that seems much more time-consuming and fancy than it is. It’s also light and healthy. People often ask me how do I have time to cook? Well I want to eat good food and I make the time. But with practice, you get quicker too. This dinner, even with setting up and making the video, took one hour. So without the video you could easily do this in 45 minutes. And really, most of my recipes here in this blog are like that. I may put more hours into a dish on the weekends or certainly for a special birthday dinner but even weekend dinners may just have more oven time, not active time. I am all about making gourmet meals in quick time!

SESAME AND CURRY CRUSTED SALMON WITH TOMATO SALAD – adapted from Grace Parisi – Food & Wine Magazine
– serves 4

1 tbs. sesame seeds
1 tsp. curry powder
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1.5 lb. center-cut, salmon fillet, with skin
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tbs. plus 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved or Campari tomatoes, quartered
1/2 serrano or jalepeno chile, minced with seeds
1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

Preheat the oven to 425°. In a spice grinder, combine the sesame seeds, curry powder and crushed red pepper and pulse until coarsely ground. Season the salmon with salt and pepper, brush one side of the fillet with 1 tablespoon of the Dijon mustard and coat with the ground sesame seed mixture.

In a large, ovenproof, nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the salmon, coated side down, and cook over moderately high heat until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Carefully flip the salmon. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast for about 10 minutes, until the salmon is just cooked through. Transfer the salmon to a platter.

In a large bowl, whisk the lemon juice with the remaining 1 tsp. of mustard and 1 tbs. of olive oil. Season the dressing with salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes, chile and cilantro and toss. Cut the salmon into 4 pieces and serve right away with the tomato salad.

I have this theory, with no scientific basis, but I think fish skin is good for you – and when it’s hot and crispy, it sure tastes good to me. 

I served this with some steamed Basmati rice and sautéed mustard greens with roasted garlic. 

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: Basmati rice, easy weeknight dinner, fast weeknight dinner, salmon dinner, sauteed mustard greens, sesame and curry crusted salmon, tomato salad with cilantro

Chicken Breasts with Shiitake Mushrooms

February 28, 2013 by Mary Frances 19 Comments

As I think I’ve told you, I shop once a week and I buy whatever looks beautiful. Well, the shiitake mushrooms last Friday were so gorgeous, I almost cried. Really. They were so white underneath, so fresh, so beautiful. I didn’t have mushrooms on my mind, but I could not pass these up.

So on Monday evening, I came home and decided to combine them with some boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I had some spaghetti squash that was begging to be eaten and some beet greens. Here’s what I threw together and it was scrumptious, if I dare say so myself!

And now…a little drum roll please… watch the very first video from my kitchen! I share tips for preparing and cooking the spaghetti squash and mushrooms. Let me know what you think of it!

CHICKEN BREASTS WITH SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS
-serves 4

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt
Pepper
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. unsalted butter
12 – 15 large shiitake mushrooms, wiped clean, stems removed and minced, caps thickly sliced
3 shallots, thinly sliced
1/2 dry white vermouth
1/2 cup homemade chicken stock or low salt, packaged
1 large stalk of fresh rosemary, leaves removed and chopped
Parsley for garnish

Wash the chicken breasts, pat dry, season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil and butter on medium – medium high heat and when the butter stops sizzling, add the shallots and minced mushroom stems, lower heat to low, and cover for 8 – 10 minutes. Stir frequently during this time. Raise heat and brown chicken breasts for 4-5 minutes on each side. After 3 minutes on the second side, add mushroom caps and continue cooking, lowering and adjusting the heat. After 2 more minutes, add the vermouth and chicken broth, shake your pan to combine and sprinkle the rosemary leaves on top. Continue cooking, covered if you need to, until done, 155 degrees. Top with chopped parsley leaves before serving.

Serve on a bed of spaghetti squash or with squash on the side, with some sautéed beet greens and a little savoy cabbage, sauteed in olive oil and garlic, garnished with cilantro.

finaledit2 copy

finaledit1 copy

Filed Under: Dinner, Poultry Tagged With: beet greens, boneless skinless chicken breasts, cilantro, dry vermouth, homemade chicken stock, savoy cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, spaghetti squash

Oscar night chili

February 24, 2013 by Mary Frances 12 Comments

Spicy chicken chili in a Le Creuset pot for a terrific Oscar night dinner party.
I made this chili yesterday because I was making chicken broth at the same time, (from a roast chicken carcass that I had cooked on Wednesday) and I thought, well this would be easy because the chili calls for two and half cups of broth. It is a fairly quick recipe, so you still have time to make it today. (And your broth does not have to be homemade, although it is better.) Served in warm wide soup bowls with some hot cornbread and topped with some fresh onions, cheddar cheese or sour cream, you have a perfect dinner to watch the Academy Awards with tonight!

So I was all excited to share this with you today. (Last night I was busy with the gallery show opening that my painting was in – a terrific turnout with support from our friends!) And then I said, wait a minute, didn’t I already do that last year? And a quick search said yes I did, for a football Sunday. But wait, I changed the recipe again! So here is my version from yesterday. Although I am serving it tonight, trust me, I tasted it yesterday and it is darn good.

Now, who do you want to win best picture? I’m betting on Lincoln. And I’m rooting for Sally Field for Best Supporting Actress. I thought she was terrific! (Yes, we like you, we really like you!) And if Alan Arkin doesn’t win Best Supporting Actor for Argo, I’ll be very upset. Let me know what you think.

SPICY CHICKEN CHILI- VERSION 2.0
– serves 4 – 5

2 tbs. canola oil
1 medium large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 of a large red pepper, ribs and seeds removed, cut into 1/2″ squares
1 lb. skinless chicken thighs (about 4), trimmed of all fat and cut into thin strips
1 tbs. plus 1 tsp. chili powder
1 tbs. ground cumin
2 tsp. dried oregano (preferable Greek oregano)
1 tsp. salt
2 jalapeño peppers, ribs removed, chopped, with some seeds
1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes with their juice
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
1  15 oz. can drained and rinsed pinto beans
1  15 oz. can drained and rinsed black beans
1/2 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper

Suggested garnishes:
Chopped cilantro
Grated sharp cheddar cheese
Minced onion
Sour cream or unflavored low fat Greek yogurt

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over low heat. Add the onion, garlic and red pepper; cover, stir and cook until they soften, about 12 minutes. This makes the onion lovely and sweet.Onions, garlic and red pepper sauteeing in a Le Crueset Dutch oven.

Increase the heat to moderate and stir in the chicken strips. Cook until they are no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt. Add the jalapeños, the tomatoes with their juice, and the broth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Uncover the saucepan and stir in the beans and black pepper. Simmer until the chili is thickened, about 15 minutes longer. Serve topped with your favorite garnishes.

Wedges of warm cornbread are always great with chili. Or serve the chili over rice.

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: Academy Awards, Cheddar cheese, chicken chili, chili, homemade chicken stock, jalapeños, Oscar night, sour cream, spicy chicken chili

It could always be worse

February 19, 2013 by Mary Frances 12 Comments

HA! This post (which Mark Bittman recently shared) is full of the grossest, funniest cooking projects gone awry. Most of them were doomed before they started, clearly! I was laughing so hard I cried. Take a look at these and remember, it could always be worse!!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelysanders/people-worse-at-cooking-than-you-food-fails

this pizza_buzzfeed

Photo courtesy Buzzfeed via malsfoodporn.blogspot.com

To clarify, this is not my mess! I’ve made messes, but not quite like this. Credit noted above.

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: cooking, disaster, Mark Bittman, mess, quotes

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