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

Make Nonna’s Pomarola Sauce Recipe Now!

October 3, 2016 by Mary 14 Comments

Tomatoes galore!! It’s the season and with the abundance of tomatoes from my garden, right now is the time to make Nonna’s Pomarola Sauce Recipe that I learned from my friends in Italy when we visited in July for Bianca’s wedding.

It was funny, when I first tried to make this, we were all texting back and forth running from Warsaw (with Agata) and Milano (with Bianca, the granddaughter) and Arezzo (with Tiziana, the daughter) on ingredients for the recipe but I had already started with carrots and onions before I learned from Tiziana, that Nonna only uses garlic, oil, tomatoes, salt, chili flakes and a little bit of butter at the end. That’s it! Simple is always best, isn’t it? Although I met Nonna at the wedding, she only speaks Italian, not my strong suit.

So make this simple clean tomato sauce, called Pomarola Sauce, that just lets the richness of the tomatoes shine through. Think of this as “summer in a jar” ‘cause that’s what it is!

Of course you skin the tomatoes easily after a dip in boiling water, but then you have to remove the seeds by hand. This takes time!! But it is worth it because I made it again this past week, cooking the tomatoes with skin and seeds and then putting it through the mill to remove it all and you know what? The resulting sauce was not as sweet and it was much thinner.

Woman deseeding fresh tomatoes outside in the yard.

Notice the wine to get through this process of deseeding the tomatoes. Luckily it was a beautiful day the weekend before last!

Deseeded tomatoes in a plastic bowl on the grass.

Here’s a whole bowlful of deseeded tomatoes!

So it’s up to you but the work beforehand does pay off.

Here you go with the official recipe from Nonna!

NONNA’S POMAROLA SAUCE – makes four 14 oz. jars of sauce

¼ cup of olive oil
5 large cloves of garlic, minced
11 lbs. tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped
Salt, preferable French Grey Salt, to taste
¼ – ½ tsp. red chili flakes
1 Tbs. unsalted butter

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Drop tomatoes in and leave in for one minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and let drain. When cool enough to handle, peel the tomatoes, remove all of the seeds (it is tedious but worth it) and chop.

Heat the olive oil and add the minced garlic and salt. Saute for just a minute and smash down the garlic with a fork, just like Nonna does it. Stick your nose in the pot and breathe in the delicious garlic aroma.

Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to a boil, lower to a simmer. Simmer slowly for two hours, uncovered, stirring every so often. When thick and lovely, or as Nonna says, “It is ready when the tomatoes are ready.” Ha!

Add the chili flakes and off-heat, stir in the butter until melted. That’s it!

Store in clean glass jars and freeze or you could actually can them if you want to. Follow the specific canning instructions for that.

Nonna's Pomarola Sauce on fusilli in white bowls.

Have a dinner like this in the winter – Pomarola Sauce on fusilli. Simple, clean and rich tasting all at once!

My apologies to you for being out of commission for a bit. Our son got married on September 9^th with a big reception at their house in Brooklyn on September 10^th!!! Here they are leaving City Hall in a rice shower.

It was quite the party, delicious cheeses and appetizers followed by Turkish food and a huge spread of homemade desserts. His new wife did such a sweet thing. She went on Facebook, found and printed photos of everyone who made a dessert and put it as a stand-up card next to their creation, so everyone knew who made what. Isn’t that so SWEET??!!

Hope you have a great week and get your tomato sauce made for a little summer in a jar this winter.

Chilled Curried Zucchini Soup with Apple Garnish

July 3, 2016 by Mary 22 Comments

I love to start a meal with a soup. Somehow it feels more elegant to me. But in summer, you certainly don’t want something hot, and for cold soups, the repertoire seems more limited. Gazpacho is one, and then there’s watermelon, cucumber, and vichyssoise (I am not a fan) but not much else comes to mind. So I was particularly excited to find this Chilled Curried Zucchini Soup with Apple Garnish recipe from Pierre Franey in The New York Times Country Weekend Cookbook.

I made this to start a dinner party just this past Thursday night and it was a hit, called out by several folks in their thank-you emails.

Remember that cold soups must be really cold. You don’t want to be iffy here. Make it cold. I made this soup on Tuesday evening with everything but the yogurt and chopped apples. At the start of the party on Thursday, I whisked in the yogurt, peeled and chopped the apple and added it all in and seasoned the soup with salt and pepper. Then I let the pot sit on the counter for a bit but luckily realized I should put it back in the fridge until just before serving. That was a good move.

The next day, I had a bowl of leftover soup right out of the fridge and it was even better colder! And I found out that I really could have combined everything, including the yogurt and apple, as all the flavors melded better and the apple did not lose any crispness.

This is rich tasting and elegant, different and delicious. It tastes creamy but without a drop of cream. The healthy yogurt makes it work. I made this with Ethel’s farmer’s market zucchini, homemade chicken stock made from roasted chicken wing tips and mint from my garden. But I’m sure this recipe will work fine with good supermarket bought ingredients as well. But don’t forget to add your LOVE when making, the most important ingredient.

CHILLED CURRIED ZUCCHINI SOUP WITH APPLE GARNISH – serves 4 – adapted from Pierre Franey

1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 medium white onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tsp. curry powder
Salt
2 medium zucchini, trimmed and cut into 1/8” rounds
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup of plain yogurt (I used whole milk yogurt but not Greek)
1 Golden Delicious apple
2 – 3 stems of mint leaves for garnish

Melt butter in a large pot on medium heat. Add onions. Cook stirring until onions are wilted, 2 – 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook stirring for one minute. Add curry powder and salt to taste. Stir for one minute. Add zucchini and chicken stock.

Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Puree the soup in a blender, food processer or use an immersion wand blender. I like to use the immersion blender best. It has been the best investment – quicker, easier and less mess. Just stick it in the soup and whir!

Refrigerate the soup, until very cold, preferably overnight.

When it is cold, whisk in the yogurt, reserving a little for garnish. Peel and core the apple, then cut into small cubes and stir it into the soup. Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with a dollop of yogurt and some mint leaves.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Fourth of July weekend!! We are enjoying glorious weather here on the east coast. And last night we were fortunate enough to be invited to our friends home on a lake with a spectacular fireworks show!

Arugula, Roasted Beets and Scallion Salad – It’s all about the ingredients!

June 25, 2016 by Mary 24 Comments

I have said this many times and the French know it all too well – it’s all about the ingredients. The quality of the items you are working with to create your dish makes all the difference in the world. This arugula, roasted beets and scallion salad I made of “just picked that morning” produce was so simple, so delicious, it was to die for. I topped it with a fresh lemon juice dressing and it was a dancing fresh, total yum feel in your mouth. It doesn’t get much better than that!!

On our way up to the Hudson Valley yesterday, we were finally early enough to make it to the Farmer’s Market in Milan and Ethel of Red Hook Farm had just picked the arugula and pulled the beets in the morning. I am so tired of store bought arugula that has zero flavor, aren’t you? Those boxes of baby arugula look all pretty and nice but really, they are tasteless.

This arugula was the big leaf variety, light in texture and full of peppery punch, just the way arugula should be! Because the texture was so light, you could eat a lot of these luscious leaves. The beets grew long and skinny, as opposed to round huge things, so they roasted quickly in 40 minutes at 425 degrees. And the scallions were a bright spring onion flavor. All so fresh, so simple, so delicious, the way all food should be.

“It’s all about the ingredients” is exactly what we do with our MARY’s secret ingredients culinary boxes. We search the world for delicious simple healthy ingredients and products to make your cooking and eating spectacular and easy. All products are shelf stable, natural and good for you, and add that extra punch to make an ordinary meal extraordinary. Take this simple chicken breast recipe – with the addition of a little buttermilk marinating time, fresh rosemary, good quality grainy mustard and this Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade, you’ve got yourself a “company meal.” The Tangerine Marmalade was in our recent spring box.

The summer box is scheduled to ship out next week so place your order this weekend. Our surprise collection of completely new products will wow you, I guarantee. We have some super fun and delicious items in this box. Our belief of “it’s all about the ingredients” means that every one has to pass not only our taste test, but also our “good for your body” test, meaning made with all natural ingredients, nothing unpronounceable can ever be included. So order one now and get on the bandwagon to eat healthy delicious meals you can make at home simply and easily, and also help us in our mission to fight global hunger as we are a proud supporter of the worldwide organization, Feed The Children.

Now the rest of my meal yesterday sucked! I decided to try something new and…it didn’t work. 🙁 So I had some lamb cubes and a craving for pasta. With the grill here, I thought it would be interesting to brown the salted and peppered lamb on the grill – on a grill pan – make the tomato sauce on the stove top and then simmer the cubes in the sauce. Only I think I needed like 3 hours of simmer time to get those babies tender. I thought these were leg of lamb cubes but nope, it was lamb cubes for stew. To make things further worse, all I had here was white rice pasta – a pretty yucky combo with the tough meat.

Oh well, but the salad was magnificent!

Here’s what I did:

ARUGULA, ROASTED BEETS AND SCALLION SALAD – serves 2

2 bunches of farmstand large leaf arugula, trimmed, washed, spun dry and chilled
5 small beets, trimmed and scrubbed
1 Tbs. olive oil
3 scallions, white and light green parts, sliced

DRESSING:

½ tsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbs. lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place beets in the middle of a sheet of aluminum foil. Drizzle with 1 Tbs. olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Close up foil tightly to make a neat packet and roast in the oven for about 40 minutes until beets are tender and easily pierced with paring knife. Let cool a bit so you can handle and peel. Slice into ¼” slices.

For the dressing, whisk together the lemon juice and mustard. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in the olive oil in a slow steady stream to emulsify.

Toss together the arugula, beets and scallions. Drizzle on the salad dressing, just enough for your taste. Toss everything well and serve with LOVE.

Enjoy!

And buy a box! 🙂 They make awesome hostess and housewarming gifts. Everyone loves them!!

100 Cups A Day with Gazpacho

April 22, 2016 by Mary 15 Comments

Natalie Blake, an amazing ceramist, founded 100 Cups A Day to bring attention to the need of providing clean water for all. Clean water and food are basic human rights. We, at MARY’s secret ingredients are so very happy and grateful to partner with Natalie, bringing attention to both of these initiatives, when you add in our contributions to Feed The Children.

The hand made symbolic cup in our spring box is beautiful and should remind us that everyone on this earth should have access to clean water. After all, our bodies are made up of more than 50% water. Clean water must cycle through us for general health and well-being. If it’s dirty, of course it will only spread and promote diseases.

Visit both of Natalie’s sites. Her work in custom pieces for interior designers is gorgeous. While this tiny cup should act as a gentle prompt of the need for clean water for everyone, you can purchase larger cups on 100 Cups A Day and support this initiative.

How can you use this little cup? Fill it with toothpicks to be in your life everyday. Or use it as a shot glass/measuring tool when making drinks. Each cup is hand thrown and a different size so determine how much yours holds.
Or you could make this delicious gazpacho and serve gazpacho shots to start a party!

This is a remake of my original gazpacho recipe, where I eliminated the water. Try this recipe and be aware of the water in your life.

Visit Natalie’s site to bring more cups to your home and support this initiative of clean water for all! You won’t be just buying a vessel, you will become a vessel. Proceeds from your $22.00 paid for each cup (a much larger cup) will go to www.caminosdeagua.org. Each month, Natalie and her team will donate proceeds from selling cups to one of the 100 organizations working to support the health of water.

Natalie says, “Commit to a practice. Start right where you are to allow imperfection to teach you to pass on what you learn.”

GOLDEN GAZPACHO WITH AVOCADO – serves 4

2 pounds of mixed yellow and red Campari tomatoes
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 of a jalapeño, minced, with seeds
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 avocado, diced

In a food processor, puree the tomatoes, crushed garlic and jalapeño. With the machine on, gradually add the olive oil until incorporated. Transfer to a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.

Ladle the gazpacho into bowls, top with diced avocado, and serve with LOVE.

The gazpacho can be made ahead and refrigerated overnight.

Savory Choice Vegetable Pho Spring Soup

April 20, 2016 by Mary 11 Comments

I love this concentrated Pho. This is a reprise item in our spring box just because 1.) I love it so much and 2.) it is a staple in my pantry and should be in yours too.

The other day I made this super fresh spring soup for a dinner party to absolutely rave reviews – and it’s so easy, it’s ridiculous!!

So when my husband asked me to make it again, I could say, “Sure!!” Cuz it’s easy peasy and takes no time! It’s a wonderful light first course to start a springtime meal.

This delicious broth with comforting soft rice, crisp asparagus and lovely green peas combined with the fresh dill – well it’s so fresh, pretty and tasty, how could you not LOVE it?

And since this is a reprise product, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my two other delicious recipes using this concentrated Pho.

But you can use this Pho for anything. When I was feeling very sick with the flu a while back, Steve made me a delicious quick chicken soup with this broth, some shredded leftover roasted chicken and a little bit of this and that in vegetables from the fridge. Perfect and just what the doctor ordered.

Keep some always on your shelf! Cook like a pro as many top chefs use these Savory Choice products in their famous restaurants. Enjoy!!

SAVORY CHOICE VEGETABLE PHO SPRING SOUP – serves 4

3 packs of Savory Choice Vegetable Pho
6 cups of water
1/2 cup long grain white rice, rinsed very well and drained
8 spears of asparagus, tough ends broken off, cut on an angle into 1″ pieces
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
Fine sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped dill

Dissolve Pho stock concentrate in 6 cups of hot tap water. Whisk together in a medium pot to combine and bring stock to a boil. Add well rinsed rice and simmer for 2 minutes less than the package instructs.

Add asparagus and peas and simmer 2 minutes. Test to make sure the rice is tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in dill.

Ladle soup into bowls and serve with LOVE!

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!