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

House guests

August 15, 2013 by Mary Frances 18 Comments

House or apartment guests — I love them.

Several weeks ago, my nephew and godson, David, and his lovely wife, Jen, and their two kids, David Patrick and Lauren, came to visit and stayed with us in the city for several days. (I was, like, 13 years old when David was born! My family is so big that it gets complicated. His father, my brother, who is ten years older than me, got married at 21 and started having kids right away. David is number two out of seven, and therefore we are not that far apart in age.)

This family, they were the perfect guests! Really. They didn’t mind if dinner started a little late (I think I was a little bit ambitious with the meal planning considering it was on weeknights), they were easy going, helped slice garlic, cut potatoes, clean up and brought plenty of wine. What more could one ask for? When they left, we truly missed them. They were so much fun to have around and I was delighted to have a chance to get to know their kids a little better. They live in my hometown of St. Louis.

David Patrick is 14, about to enter high school in September and is really interested in cooking. I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes a chef. He was so exuberant about my food. I loved it! The second night, my dinner consisted of homemade Caesar salad, roast pork tenderloin with sage, mint and caramelized onions, roasted potatoes and ginger honey carrots. He sort of danced on the seat of his chair and said, “Aunt Mary, I want all of these recipes,” as he circled his plate!

Lauren is 12. Not a fish lover, she was digging the Caesar salad until she figured out that there were anchovies in it. Here we are at the table. Jen is taking the picture and too bad you can’t see my husband.

Now this is the best part. Right after dinner on the first night, Lauren jumps up from the table and asks if she can please clean up the dishes and wash the wine glasses!! Yeahhhh!! Here she is with her mom.

As I said, wonderful house guests!!

Figs wrapped in prosciutto

July 6, 2013 by Mary Frances 25 Comments

Figs are here!! I LOVE fresh figs. I get so excited when I see those compartmentalized boxes filled with the beautiful purple variety or the green, all lined up in neat little rows. If they are semi-soft – ripe, unblemished with a beautiful shape and stem, I’m pretty much in heaven.

That was the case a few days ago and I made the little first course you see below. This is not so much a recipe, but a suggestion of the combination of great ingredients to make a fantastic dish. Once again, this is all about the ingredients. If the figs are great, the prosciutto from Italy (de Parma) and very thinly sliced; the English Stilton, divine; the walnuts, super fresh and toasted; great quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar; then you are set to make something truly amazing! It’s easy and you always should have the good quality ingredients on hand as much as you can – you will use less of them, because they pack more flavor and they’re most likely better for you.

FIGS WRAPPED IN PROSCUITTO – serves 2

4 fresh purple or green figs, washed, dried, stemmed and cut in half
2 slices of prosciutto
2 thin slices of English Stilton cheese, crumbled
6 toasted walnut halves, chopped (Oven “toast” at 375 degrees in a cake pan for six to eight minutes – you will probably smell them, then take them out. Toast extra to have on hand for the next time or for green beans.)
Good quality, extra virgin olive oil
Good quality balsamic vinegar, preferable aged, but not necessary

For two plates, place 4 fig halves on each. Take the slice of prosciutto and tear into 4 pieces and wrap around each fig half. Sprinkle on the Stilton and chopped walnut pieces. Drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil (like a tsp. on each plate) and then drizzle with a tiny bit of vinegar too (a few drops). Serve immediately and listen to your guest tell you how much he/she LOVES you!Now, we have been upstate all week, taking a little R and R. Look at this beautiful martini my husband made me!! (my kind of R and R!)

Baby artichokes and Mother’s Day!

May 12, 2013 by Mary Frances 14 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day to all you Moms out there!! This is my favorite holiday! Milk it for all it’s worth. I like to think of it as Mother’s Day WEEKEND! Yesterday we saw Gatsby at the movies. It is one of my favorite novels, having read it at least three times. The movie was just great, full of glitz and glamour, I could not stop grinning from ear to ear during all of the party scenes, wishing I could have been there. Steve made me breakfast this morning, (not in bed – that’s gross), complete with roses and a hysterical card. I got to garden and go bike riding. And my boys are making me a surprise dinner tonight in the city! I can’t wait!

But first, let me tell you about our dinner salad last night because it is the season for all these rare and young things! Ramps, fiddlehead ferns and now baby artichokes. At my stores, they sell them by the dozen, boxed. With just the two of us, that makes it challenging to use. So last week, I made salads with them raw and thinly sliced on a mandoline. Then I steamed some, like you would a regular sized artichoke and then the rest were now several days old and 2 kids came home for dinner by surprise last Thursday. The artichokes were not fresh enough to serve raw, so I decided to slice them up and sauté them with my baby bok choy and garlic. They were delicious!!
So last night, I just went straight to that method and put them on top of an arugula salad, with a fresh lemon juice and olive oil dressing and some slices of Parmigiano reggiano. Delish!! The lovely woody, warm, tender artichokes on top of the cool crisp arugula, combined with the Parmigiano and lemon and olive oil – so simple – yet different and delicious!! It is always about the quality of the ingredients in any dish but particularly in something as simple as this. Because it is so simple, each ingredient can shine. And if something is not the greatest quality, it will scream out too. So use the best you can.

The thing about baby artichokes that kills me is that you have to throw so much away to get to the tenderness inside. I guess that’s my depression era mother rising up in me again. Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom!

SAUTEED BABY ARTICHOKES AND ARUGULA SALAD WITH PARMIGIANO
– serves 2

4 baby artichokes
½ tbs. unsalted butter
salt
pepper
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice or more to use on the artichokes to prevent browning
1 bunch of arugula
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, thinly sliced with a vegetable peeler
2 tbs. fresh lemon juice
½ tsp. Dijon mustard
Scant ½ cup olive oil

Wash and spin dry the arugula and chill in the refrigerator. Make the dressing by combining the mustard, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Slice your cheese and cover with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out.

Wash the baby artichokes and remove all the outer leaves, peel the stems, and cut off about 1” from the top. Slice each one in half and then slice each half in 3 or 4 slices. Work quickly and drizzle a little lemon juice on, to prevent them from turning dark, which they will do rather quickly.

Melt the butter in a non-stick skillet on medium-high heat and add sliced artichokes. Saute until tender and golden brown, using a cover for the pan to produce some steam and moisture, stirring often. This will take 10 – 15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and remove when fork tender.

Distribute your washed arugula on two salad plates. You probably won’t use it all.

Scatter the artichokes over the plated arugula, along with the slices of cheese. Drizzle on some dressing and serve immediately. You will have dressing left over which will keep in the refrigerator.

Zucchini, fennel, red pepper and mint torta

January 23, 2013 by Mary Frances 8 Comments

Several of you asked for this recipe from our “Birthday Linner”. The truth is that my older son made it up, on the spot, based on vegetables that I had in the apartment, plus some herbs from our grocery store downstairs, which does not have a broad selection, particularly on a Sunday. He originally wanted some basil but they had none. He came back with a beautiful bunch of fresh mint instead. And, I just learned last night from my fellow cooking friend, Margaret, that mint is a relative of basil, so that was a very good choice indeed.

He meant to put in fresh grated Parmesan, but forgot. But as a dish in the middle of this many-course celebration, it did not need Parmesan. The clean tasting vegetables were a welcome interlude between the pasta with spinach and Pecorino Romano cheese and the very rich and super delicious short ribs with polenta.

This son is a big cook – he just gets in there and does things! Fearless and big, that’s what I call him. He says, “Thank you!”

Here’s a stab at his recipe.

ZUCCHINI, FENNEL, RED PEPPER AND MINT TORTA
3 zucchinis
1 and 1/2 fennel bulbs
2 large red peppers
3 – 4 tbs. olive oil
Salt
Pepper
½ bunch of fresh mint leaves

Broil red peppers, checking and turning until all skin is blackened. Using tongs, place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap until cool. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Slice zucchini and fennel on a mandoline, somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Using 1 or 2 tbs. of olive oil for each vegetable, toss separately in a bowl, with salt and pepper (test and taste for proper seasoning) and lay out each on separate baking sheets. Roast zucchini and fennel until crisp tender. Check in 20 minutes. The fennel will most likely take a little longer. This is why you keep them on separate baking sheets.

Peel the red pepper, core, remove the seeds and cut into 1 inch wide strips.
Layer the zucchini, fennel, red pepper and mint leaves in 10 inch round dish, repeating again until all is used up. Place a plate on top and weight it down to press ingredients together. We used a 28 oz. can of tomatoes with a large heavy mason jar of honey on top of the plate. Press for an hour or two. Then carefully slide the torta out, top side up, on a large round cake plate. Cut into pie wedge serving pieces and enjoy!

We used only two red peppers but three might be better. You could also add a layer of grated Parmesan cheese. We talked about that and then forget to do it.

Pesto!!

July 15, 2012 by Mary Frances 7 Comments

I had a dinner party this past Wednesday night that was so much fun. One of my senior designers who worked for me years ago, I think back in the late 80’s, was in town and got in touch. She now lives in Singapore. She connected with another former designer and I got in touch with Carl, who was the second person I ever hired for the firm in the early 80’s. So with other friends, we were 8 people in total and three were past employees of PM+CO! It was just great catching up. Linda is a vegetarian and I wanted to make sure the whole meal was amassed with local farm vegetables from upstate, to bring great country flavors to a NYC dinner party. So I started with a salad of farm lettuce and arugula from my garden, topped with roasted beets, Coach Farms goat cheese, toasted pine nuts and a sherry vinaigrette. I then roasted two huge trays of vegetables – yellow squash, zucchini, Portobello mushrooms, eggplant, Vidalia onions, smashed whole garlic cloves (from Ethel’s garden), red, and orange peppers and baby turnips – with Greek olive oil and French grey salt. I made a mass of steamed Jasmine rice, folded in Goya black beans (for protein) and for the non-vegetarians, I pan roasted 2 whole chickens seasoned with salt, pepper and Garam Masala. It was all really simple. I also had made some basil pesto the night before from basil in my garden, picked on Monday. I decided to put some of that in a bowl and people spooned it on everything and even took some home! I was originally going to fold the pesto into the rice and beans but after taking a survey from everyone during the cocktail hour, we decided this was the way to go. A dollop on top on the vegetables was divine. Barbara asked for a batch as her Christmas present and Mary Beth took a container full home. People just wanted to eat it straight. I really never dreamed of that for pesto. I just wanted to serve it because I had just made a bunch and with our youngest being in Europe, we couldn’t possibly eat it all, although pesto does freeze quite well.

We finished the meal with a rhubarb crisp (really quick and easy to make) topped with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream. Not bad for a weeknight dinner party!

Here is the pesto recipe. Remember, it’s all about the quality of the ingredients for any dish you make, so use the very best you can.

PESTO
-makes about 3 cups

3 cups of packed basil leaves, thoroughly washed and dried
6 – 7 large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups Greek extra virgin olive oil (I like Athena brand)
1 1/2 cups walnuts
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan (Reggiano) cheese
2/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano (Locatelli) cheese
salt
pepper

In a large food processor, combine basil, garlic and walnuts. Process to make a near paste. Scrape bowl. With machine on, slowly drizzle in olive oil. Scrape bowl again. Add the cheeses, a big pinch of salt and 20 grinds on fresh pepper. Process again, taste and add more salt, if necessary, to your liking.

A one cup portion is enough to coat 1 lb. of dried pasta, cooked. I like it on fusilli best as it can get in all the little groves for maximum coverage and flavor.

This freezes well.

Basil in my garden.

Pesto pasta and tomatoes in a white bowl.

Dinner with our good friend, Nancy, on Saturday, started with this course.

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.