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

Ginger-crusted Halibut

May 24, 2021 by Mary 3 Comments

I adore halibut. And I love ginger. So I made up this dish of Ginger-crusted Halibut, not sure how it would really work and it was amazing!

You must have super fresh ginger. Slice a big three-inch knob lengthwise on a mandoline. Then wrap that ginger around, covering both sides of your filet, pan sauté in grapeseed oil and butter and voila! Total deliciousness.

You see, I was afraid that you wouldn’t be able to cut through the ginger and just desecrate the beautiful fish while eating it but no, as long as your ginger is super fresh, creamy yellow in color, sliced very thin, this worked. And it was not overly spicy, which was another concern. It was just right with the butter mingling in.

Ginger-crusted halibut cut with arugula and tomato salad. — So very moist and flakey.

Halibut, although expensive, is such a delectable fish. Creamy white, solid but flakey tender – big flakes.

Make sure not to overcook it – 118 degrees F on the internal temperature is perfect.

Quick and easy is this recipe of Ginger-crusted Halibut. I really wouldn’t call it a recipe so much as it is an idea – that I think you will LOVE.

Ginger-crusted halibut with rice and salad. — A super easy lovely dinner!

I served this with steamed Jasmine rice and a little tomato and arugula salad. Total yumminess.

Make and serve with LOVE.

I’m sure you’ll make this again and again.

GINGER-CRUSTED HALIBUT – serves 2

One 3” long knob of super fresh ginger
1 lb.piece of Halibut fillet
1 Tbs. grapeseed oil
1 Tbs. butter
Extra virgin olive oil – a few drops
Salt
Pepper

Peel the ginger and thinly slice it lengthwise on a hand mandoline.

Wash and pat dry your fish fillet. Put a few drops of olive oil on and rub it all over. Follow this with salt and pepper and then wrap the ginger crosswise around the fillet. Do this on both sides of the fillet, carefully wrapping the ginger and patting it down so it sticks.

Heat grapeseed oil and butter in a cast iron or non-stick skillet on medium-high heat. Carefully place the ginger-wrapped fish fillet in. Saute for about 4 minutes. Carefully loosen it on the bottom, gathering all the ginger and flip it over, being careful not to splatter yourself.

Saute on the other side for about another 4 minutes. Test with a thermometer – it should register about 118 F degrees.

Carefully remove, cut in half, serve and enjoy!!

I know you’ll LOVE this!

Ginger-crusted halibut sautéing in a black cast iron skillet. — Be sure to flip over ever so carefully.

Lovely Citrusy Shrimp

February 21, 2021 by Mary 8 Comments

Crisp, cool, clean. I think that is what we need right now. And that is what you have in a dish like this Lovely Citrusy Shrimp. I certainly needed this with all of the construction going on in my apartment. I am almost losing it, as it is all taking way too long: One, because of my slow contractor who tends to have to do things two or three times because of poor planning or just not honoring my request to begin with and two: because of Covid and a slow delivery of appliances. But really, honestly, that is not what has slowed things down. At any rate, this dish I made up of Lovely Citrusy Shrimp is A. Maz. Ing. If I may say so.

I am ever so very grateful that I have the upstate house to escape to from all of the awful dust in the city apartment. When I walk into that country house front door now, it is accompanied by audible sighing and an enormous sense of relief, thanking God that I can walk into my other home that is clean, put together and most importantly, a place where I can cook! And so I cook for the next week, planning the dishes around appropriate meals for lunch and dinner that would warm up well.

Cara Cara Oranges

Cara Cara oranges are great because they are so, so juicy, only slightly sweet and just a little bit acidic – all just the right amount – but they are only available in the winter. So please take advantage of them now. And because the segments are the most beautiful color, the designer in me LOVES to use them. Talk about brightening up a dish!

And the small amount of black beans – well they add a certain creaminess, pulling the dish all together.

So you’ve got the heat from the jalapeños, the acid and slight sweetness from the oranges and tomatoes, beans connecting everything and the leeks to add color and interest. This really works!!

This meal comes together so quickly, if you take the time to chop everything beforehand and get the waters boiling for the bulgar and the beans.

Cooking your shrimp

Never, ever, overcook the shrimp. Then you just have rubbery nonsense with no flavor. It usually takes about 2 minutes sauteing on one side. It will turn pink on that side and then likely 1-2 minutes on the other side.

Here you go!

LOVELY CITRUSY SHRIMP – serves 2

2 Tbs. olive oil – plus more to drizzle on finished dish
2 leeks, white and light green parts only, cut in half lengthwise, all sand washed out and sliced ¼” thick
5 slices of jalapeños, – sliced on a mandoline, with seeds and membranes
12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined with the tails left on
Heaping ⅓ cup chopped fresh tomatoes
3 Tbs. dry Vermouth
2 Tbs. canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1 Cara Cara orange, peeled with a knife, sliced, then cut into chunks
½ cup chopped fresh basil

Wash, chop and prepare all your ingredients to be ready to throw into the skillet as this dish comes together so fast, you must be prepared.

Wash (2 -3 times), drain, and pat dry your shrimp, laying them out on paper towels. Salt and pepper one side.

Warm the olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat, add leeks and jalapeno and saute for about 5 minutes, allowing them to soften and get fragrant and lightly brown, stirring frequently. Then push the leeks and jalapeno off to the sides of the pan.

Raise the heat to medium-high and add the shrimp in one layer, and cook for 2-3 minutes until they are turning pink on one side. At the 1.5 minute mark, add the vermouth and let it sizzle for 30 seconds, then add the tomatoes while you are turning the shrimp. Add the black beans and the oranges to warm them as the shrimp should only cook on the other side for 1-2 minutes.

Then add the chopped basil, a good drizzle of olive oil, lots of LOVE and serve!

I served this with bulgur and haricot vert – total deliciousness!!

Salmon Rice Bowl with Ginger-Lime Sauce

October 17, 2020 by Mary 5 Comments

I have been wanting to post this recipe for quite some time. Probably before I even had this blog – ha! Truly. I remember making this Salmon Rice Bowl with Ginger-Lime Sauce recipe the very first time while staying at the house of my piano teacher/surrogate mother – Harriet – in Dorset, Vermont. The dish is very easy to make, comes together quickly, is different and super delicious. Remembering eating it in her total beeswax candle-lit dining room, smelling so lovely, snuggled in after a full day of skiing at Bromley was pure bliss. The kids were young and fun and skiing is always a great family time.

Bromley or Stratton

Harriet’s house was pretty equidistant from Stratton (super yuppy) and Bromley (more low key). We preferred Bromley.

I remember Stratton having young parents allow their kids to lie flat out – angel style – on the ground in line to the main lift at the base of the mountain, and I guess they were thinking that that was cute.

How rude can one possibly get? I really wanted to kick these kids. Of course I didn’t but I’m sure I said some things. I mean, really??

Because of Covid-19 now, will we really ever be able to ski again? Skiing is an outdoor sport, but then you sit so close to one another on the lifts. And what about eating in the lodge? I will miss the chili with cheese, chopped onions and sour cream – the works! It is only during skiing that I never feel guilty about eating that chili.

It is a whole new world for us. I suppose we will find out soon.

Anyway, back to more pleasant things like food. Coming “home” to Harriet’s house that always smelled like beeswax with its beautiful dark shiny floors throughout, was a little bit of heaven. Having a fire in the fireplace, playing games in front and then serving up this dish in the candlelit dining room was delightful. A clean, healthy and different dish with the spark of ginger and soy – really yummy.

This Salmon Rice Bowl with Ginger-Lime Sauce dish is not really your typical winter dish. It is not heavy or stew-like at all but just super appealing. So try it soon, now in the fall and you will LOVE it. I guarantee!

Ingredients for Salmon Rice Bowl with Ginger-Lime Sauce. — Getting the ingredients ready.

The sauce for Salmon Rice Bowl with Ginger-Lime Sauce recipe. — Making the sauce.

Salmon cooking for Salmon Rice Bowl with Ginger-Lime Sauce recipe. — Cooking the salmon and garlic.

Cucumbers for Salmon Rice Bowl with Ginger-Lime Sauce. — The cucumbers!

SALMON RICE BOWL with GINGER-LIME SAUCE – serves 4

1 3/4 cups water, divided
1 1/4 cups long-grain rice, rinsed and drained twice
2 tablespoons minced, peeled fresh ginger
3 tablespoons sugar
1 Thai red chile, chopped
10 small garlic cloves, 2 chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
2 kirby cucumbers (10 ounces), cut into thin strips
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Four 6-ounce salmon fillets
Salt and freshly ground pepper

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups of the water and the rice to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook the rice for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a mortar, pound the ginger with the sugar, chile and 2 cloves of the chopped garlic to a coarse paste. Transfer the paste to a bowl and stir in the remaining 1/4 cup of water, the lime juice and the fish sauce. Add the cucumbers.

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet. Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Add the salmon to the skillet skin side down and cook over moderately high heat until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the whole garlic cloves. Turn the salmon and cook over moderate heat, about 3 – 4 minutes.

Mound the rice in bowls. Top with the salmon, garlic cloves and ginger-lime sauce with cucumber strips and your LOVE. Pass any extra sauce at the table.

Enjoy!!

Half-eaten Salmon Rice Bowl with Ginger-Lime Sauce with a side of broccoli. — Total DELISH!!

Grilled Flounder with Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney, Rosemary and Sage

September 3, 2020 by Mary 8 Comments

How many of you adore eating fish but are longing for ways that are quick and easy and would love to add a new zing to just a regular old piece of grilled fish with EVOO, salt and pepper? And how many of you have a refrigerator full of various condiments that take up too much room? I know. So this simple recipe of Grilled Flounder with Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney, Rosemary and Sage delivers on taste and ease all in one!

You don’t necessarily have to go out and buy The English Provender Co. Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney. Although this is very tasty with a savory sweet hot vibe, I say you should try to use up something you already have that has the same vibe. Wouldn’t that be even better?

Of course you could also dress up a piece of fish with my versatile Green Sauce, but that takes more work than I was willing to do last night. ( I can be so lazy…)

Think of flavors you LOVE…

Since it is only me eating now, I am trying all kinds of flavor combinations and I have been fascinated by mixing up sweet summer fruits with meats and fish. I mean, why not? I want to eat something new, surprising and different. After all, being totally alone in this Covid time, cooking and eating (and drinking wine) are the highlights of my day, so I love experimenting.

And I have made a commitment to myself to clean out the fridge of all of these jars! You see, my kids stayed in my apartment in the city for nearly seven weeks and cleaned out that fridge of outdated things and used the others, so now I want to do that here, upstate.

I have tons of jam that I never use on toast. I want to attack those – maybe on grilled pork chops soon…

Get creative!

I hope this post will spur some creativity on your part. Go ahead and try an unusual combination. Have fun! Experiment and enjoy. But remember to always make it with LOVE.

GRILLED FLOUNDER WITH SWEET TOMATO AND CHILI CHUTNEY, ROSEMARY AND SAGE – serves 2

1 lb. fillet of flounder
Extra virgin olive oil
½ TBS. The English Provender Co. Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped
1 sprig of fresh sage
Salt
Pepper

Preheat your grill or oven to 425 F degrees. Use a grilling vegetable pan for the grill.

Thoroughly wash and pat dry the fish. Coat both sides with a thin film of olive oil. Salt and pepper on one side only. Then spread on the Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney. Top with chopped rosemary and lay the sage sprig on top.

Spray the grill pan with high heat grilling spray or if using the oven, line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Grill or roast for about 5 minutes.

Use 2 spatulas to remove the fish to a platter. Cut in half and serve.

Enjoy!

My dinner – with 1/2 sweet potato and fresh cut arugula and tomatoes from my garden!

Best Salmon Casserole

June 11, 2017 by Mary 20 Comments

Salmon casserole plated with asparagus, boiled potatoes, and tomatoes.

Salmon casserole plated with steamed asparagus, boiled buttered potatoes and fresh tomatoes.

My mother used to make this casserole when there were only two kids home (out of six) as a Friday night rotation. Remember, no meat on Fridays! Casseroles are so old fashioned but this one is truly a “Best Salmon Casserole” and great to make when you have nothing in the house as it uses canned salmon. I used to make this when our kids were young and everyone loved it.

So with Steve and his cancer taking over his appetite – and he needs to eat to be nourished to get well, I have been beside myself trying to figure things out – which, by the way, seem to change hourly. So I thought I’d try to go back to basics – to this old-fashioned salmon casserole recipe from my mother.

What is it – with all us?

It seems that you reach a certain age and all hell breaks loose just when you’re looking to relax just a little bit?

Poor Maureen at Orgasmic Chef – her husband had a very bad fall and is suffering from a head injury. “John fell while going up the stairs to bed and hit his head on a rendered brick wall. A fractured skull, bleeding in the brain, pneumonia and a couple of other things ended up with him in an induced coma and on a breathing machine.” How awful and how very sorry we all are to hear this, Maureen.

And then Maureen, herself, is dealing with lots of pain due to Forestier’s Disease/DISH disease. While she says, “I have a doctor I trust completely and that means so much. While there is no cure for the disease I have, it is manageable if the right medicines are found. My problem has always been that I don’t react well to most all pain relievers. Recently, I was headed to blindness before we tracked the culprit down and reversed the changes to my eyesight by stopping a drug. Now I wear a patch on my back that has brought me to nearly normal most days.”

I am waiting for my husband to get a CT scan to ascertain what is going on. His platelets are too low to go back on the cancer medication. My neck and shoulders are killing me from stress. Writing this here in the waiting room is helping.

Monitoring, helping, advocating is more than a full time job, which is why I’ve been away for over 5 weeks. Cancer is a moving target and Steve’s is a nasty aggressive one. But we are fighting back with all our might.

Make this Best Salmon Casserole and get some good comforting protein. Nothing better than a good ‘ole recipe from Mom.

BEST SALMON CASSEROLE – serves 4

¼ cup unsalted butter
2 Tbs. flour
1 heaping tsp. dried Coleman’s mustard
½ tsp. salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbs. chopped fresh chives
1 can (1 lb.) red sockeye salmon – drain in a 1 cup measure to save juice, remove skin and crush bones
Milk or unsweetened almond milk
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
½ cup panko
2 Tbs. melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter a 2-quart casserole.

Place eggs in a small sauce pan and cover with 1” of water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and cover with cold water to cool before peeling.

Prepare the salmon in a medium sized bowl – drain the juices into a 1-cup measure, remove skin, crush bones, and flake.

Peel the eggs and chop. Add the eggs to the salmon. Just look at this beautiful blue eggshell, inside and out! Eggs are from Mike and Cindy’s Thunderhill Farm in upstate New York.

Melt butter in a small pot. Whisk in flour, mustard, salt and pepper. Cook for a bit, to color this mixture to cook the flour to make a roux. When browned a little, add milk to the juices to measure one full cup and gradually add the liquid into the roux, whisking constantly until sauce is smooth. Simmer and whisk until thickened.

Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the chives. Add the sauce to the salmon and eggs and fold all together to combine completely. Place the mixture in your prepared casserole. Sprinkle panko evenly on top and drizzle with the melted butter.

Bake for 15 minutes and serve. Delish!

P.S. It’s interesting that my mother’s recipe says it serves 6 – and it probably did in those days as people ate less! But I think it’s safe to say it serves 4. This would make a great lunch entrée as well!

Wilder Condiments Honey Jalapeño Mustard with Leeks on Roasted Sea Bass

April 14, 2017 by Mary 4 Comments

So first I must tell you – this Wilder Condiments Honey Jalapeño Mustard is something else! The taste is pure wow – sweet, spicy, strong! It is the epitome of what honey jalapeño mustard should be. Imagine those three tastes coming at your taste buds, on the attack! Pure yum! I couldn’t wait to use this in one of my recipes.

Wilder’s mustards began as a backyard project, concocted between BBQ and beer brewing sessions by chef and owner Isabel Freed. Based along the sunny, surf swept coastline of Santa Cruz, CA, her hometown is her inspiration. Good food and good company are at the helm of everything she makes.

This honey jalapeño mustard is the perfect blend of sweetness and spice made with sustainably grown California jalapeños and honey. Isabel says, “It’s best enjoyed brushed over grilled chicken, with a crisp sauv blanc in a picnic basket.”

I beg to differ as I have found so very many great ways to use it, whether it’s straight out of the jar and tossed with some lightly sautéed vegetables or roasted mellow with some fish as I’ve done here.

Wilder Condiments HoneyJalapeño Mustard tossed with sauteed baby bok choy and garlic.

Sauteed baby bok choy with olive oil and garlic and tossed with 2 Tbs. Wilder Condiments Honey Jalapeno Mustard.

Don’t think of it as just mustard. It’s a wonderful condiment/dressing/topping to use in so many ways. And yes, you can also use it in a salad dressing for an added sweet and spicy tang.

Isabel says that good food and good company are at the helm of everything they make. This is exactly our philosophy of everything we deem worthy to put into our MARY’s secret ingredients

boxes. So with this spring box, we are getting you ready for all of your summer backyard BBQ’s!

But meanwhile, try it on this delicious roasted fish. I used a sea bass fillet, but you can use really any fillet. I’d bet it’d be just great on swordfish, but my local fish store uptown doesn’t always have that. For a super fresh, company-worthy meal, make this tonight, on this special Good Friday!

WILDER CONDIMENTS HONEY JALAPENO MUSTARD WITH LEEKS ON ROASTED SEA BASS – serves 4

2 Tbs. olive oil, divided
1 large leek, white and light green parts only, cleaned, split in half lengthwise and sliced
1.5 lbs. sea bass fillet
2 Tbs. Wilder Condiments Honey Jalapeño Mustard
Salt – preferably finely ground French grey
Pepper, fresh ground

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Slick one Tbs. olive oil on top, in the shape of the fish. Spread the sliced leeks down on top of the olive oil in the shape of the fish.

Wash and pat dry the fish. Spread the 2 Tbs. Wilder Condiments Honey Jalapeño Mustard on the backside of the fillet and place mustard side down on top of the sliced leeks.

Smear the top side of the fish with the 1 remaining Tbs. of olive oil. Spread it around with your fingers and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Roast for about 20 minutes or plan on 10 minutes per one inch of thickness of the thickest part of the fish and leeks, until the fish is completely done, white throughout and a tiny bit flakey. Sea bass is a dense fish so check it with a knife and fork.

Serve with LOVE and enjoy!!!