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

Roasted Sea Bass on a Radicchio Salad with Sugar Snap Peas & Apple

June 19, 2016 by Mary 18 Comments

With my mother-in-law’s passing, the inevitable clean up and division of “stuff” is happening. My husband and oldest son went back down to Baltimore this past week to pitch in and help Steve’s sister with the work of emptying her condo. Needing to leave early on Wednesday morning, our son came to our apartment to spend the night on Tuesday. Steve and I had several business networking events that evening so he offered to cook dinner.

Well we arrived home to a DINNER!!! A gourmet dinner and combination – this Roasted Sea Bass on a Radicchio Salad with Sugar Snap Peas & Apple – that I would have never thought of. He is fearless, creative and brilliant in his cooking and combinations. He is, I think, a better cook than me. Okay. That. Was. Hard. To say.

I had some sea bass fillets in the fridge and he found a head of radicchio, a bunch of herbs – parsley, cilantro, mint and dill, part of a jalapeño, some sugar snap peas and a Jazz apple. He made a beautiful salad of the radicchio, thinly sliced apple, a little fresh jalapeño, par boiled sugar snap peas and herbs with a lemon, olive oil, mustard, and worcestershire sauce dressing and the fish was marinating in a lemon, olive oil, herb mixture. He felt my refrigerator needed cleaning out so he went to work using things up.

When would I dream my son would chastise me on the condition of my vegetable drawers?

Never.

But it’s all good! And, he was right.

So the fish fillets, with the herb marinade piled on top, roasted in 425 degree oven for close to 20 minutes. Did you ever notice that sea bass fillets really expand and puff up in thickness, so the roasting takes longer than you would expect?

But then he did something unexpected, because he wanted the herbs to be crispy. When finished roasting, he flash broiled the fillets and got those herbs to have a nice crunch! I wouldn’t have thought of that. And, he served the fish on top of a big pile of the salad. Total delish!! And beautiful!

So I don’t really have his recipe but what I’ve outlined here is what he told me he did and here’s a picture of his delicious dish.

To all you young mothers out there, cook delicious meals, let your children see you do it, have them help. Then you too will reap the rewards later and have dinners like this cooked for you!! What goes around comes around. Do it with LOVE and you will be rewarded.

I can’t wait to see what he and his fiancée will cook up tonight for Steve’s Father’s Day Dinner.

Happy Father’s Day to all you wonderful dads out there!!! Have an awesome day!

Mother’s Day Recap & Fettuccine with Salmon & Sugar Snap Peas

May 15, 2016 by Mary 9 Comments

How was your Mother’s Day? What did you do? Even you men out there, what did you do for either your mom or your wife?

My Mother’s Day was super lovely. But it was also a little bittersweet in that I cannot believe how much time has passed and how grown my boys are, as tears well up in my eyes. They are tears of happiness, yes, but also a reminder of a time gone by. How did they grow up so fast? The many memories of Mother’s Days when they were little, all make me smile. Oh yes, I am ready for grandchildren, but I’m not nearly old enough to be a grandmother, right???

I am so proud of my boys – they have grown up to be fine young, polite, fun men. They both have chosen wonderful women to be with. The older one and his fiancée own a townhouse in Brooklyn with a backyard and 3 large London Plane trees they planted. They have done an incredible job on renovating this house and yard. They still have a lot to do but to sit outside in a backyard in NYC and barbecue on beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon with a special cocktail he made me — well it just doesn’t get much better than that – except if my other son and his fiancée could have been there too, but they are still in Poland.

They greeted me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and Kate made an amazing pear pie – with a heart on top! All of dinner was done on the grill. It started with an appetizer of barbecued baby back ribs, then grilled hanger steak, done to perfection, some smashed potatoes, and grilled baby Brussels sprouts. But the pie, oh my, most of us had seconds.
Not too sweet with a super flakey, buttery crust – the girl can really bake! How lucky am I!

So this past Friday night, we arrived upstate and decided, for once, we were going to go out to eat at a local restaurant, the Stissing House, right near our home. And wouldn’t you know it, they were completely booked and wouldn’t take us! So fortunately, before we left the city, I threw a can of salmon in our bags – just in case – as I had nothing else except for some sugar snap peas.

After being rejected from the Stissing House, here’s what I threw together with what I had in the pantry and it was darn good. I really wanted some milk or heavy cream to mix with the salmon juice for the sauce but I had nothing, I didn’t even have any sour cream or yogurt, or crème fraiche so I reached for the mayo and it turned out great! And just recently I came across an article about cooking with mayo – so here’s my contribution!
This came together so quickly. The only thing that takes time is cleaning the sugar snap peas so do that first. The rest can all be done while you’re waiting for the pasta water to boil and cooking the fettuccine. While I made this on a Friday night, this is a perfect weeknight meal simply because it is so very quick and easy.

FETTUCCINE WITH SALMON AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS – serves 3 – 4

1 lb. sugar snap peas, strings removed and washed
1½ Tbs. olive oil
1 14.75 oz. can of pink salmon (use red sockeye if you can find it – my Mom always said that was better!)
½ lb. fettuccine
Coarse sea salt
1 Tbs. capers, drained
5 Tbs. mayonnaise
Fresh ground pepper

Drain the capers.

Put a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Salt generously when it comes to a boil and cook your pasta. Check at 2 minutes less than the package instructions. When done, save some pasta water and drain the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, warm the olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add the sugar snap peas and sauté until bright green and crisp tender, about 4 minutes.

Drain the canned salmon and save the juices in a small bowl. Whisk the mayonnaise into the juice. Remove the skin from the salmon and discard. Flake the salmon and crush the bones with your fingers.

Place the hot pasta in a large shallow bowl. Add in the salmon, sautéed sugar snap peas and the mayo/juice combo along with 1 – 2 Tbs. hot pasta water and toss to combine. Add fresh ground pepper to taste along with the capers and toss again.

Serve immediately in shallow bowls, with LOVE, and enjoy!

Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade Juicy Chicken Breasts

April 26, 2016 by Mary 22 Comments

I have a confession to make. I hate orange marmalade. I hate the bitterness of the rind and I’m really not a jelly, preserve or marmalade person. I’d just much rather have honey on my toast or nothing. That was until I met Jan and tasted her jam gems. This Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade is ridiculously good!!!

Of course you can use it on buttered toast and go straight to heaven. You see this marmalade is softer if you will, not at all bitter and not too sweet. It’s juuust right. `

Jan was in the movie business out in LA and it was well known to her friends that she made an amazing fig spread, just as gifts to her buddies. Well word got around and she ran into a food veteran who had heard of her jam. And the rest is history. She makes 11 varieties now, sweet and savory and an absolutely fantastic lemon curd. You can see the whole line here.

But my favorite was this new tangerine marmalade. Because it’s so good, I’ve been using it on everything!! Try this recipe of Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade Juicy Chicken Breasts and then move on to the sea bass fillet recipe and don’t forget to start your day with it on toast. You can make it a Just Jan’s day!

See how the marmalade glistens like jewels!

JUST JAN’S TANGERINE MARMALADE JUICY CHICKEN BREASTS – serves 5

Plan on the time to marinate. I like to do this on a Sunday afternoon. Then your dinnertime prep work is super quick!

2.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts – about 5
1 heaping Tbs. chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 scant Tbs. coarse sea salt
13 grinds of Szechuan peppercorns
2 Tbs. canola oil
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. grainy mustard
2.5 Tbs. Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade

4 hours before starting to cook, wash and dry the breasts, trimming off all fat. Place the breasts in a ziplock bag. Add the rosemary, buttermilk, salt, pepper and oil. Remove air from the bag and close. Mix everything around until blended and all breast meat is covered. Marinate for 1 – 3 hours in the refrigerator.

Remove the bag from the fridge about an hour before cooking.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a large non-stick, ovenproof skillet, heat the olive oil and butter until very hot on medium-high heat. Remove the breasts from the marinade and place on a plate to spread the 1 Tbs. grainy mustard evenly across all breasts on one side only.

When the oil and butter are very hot and the butter has stopped sizzling, carefully place the breasts in the skillet, mustard side down and brown for 3 minutes.

Flip over and spread Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade evenly across all the tops of the breasts.

Place the skillet in the oven to roast for about 7 minutes or until an instant read thermometer registers 150 – 155 degrees. Remove from skillet and let rest on a platter for 5 – 10 minutes and the temperature will gain.

Serve with LOVE and some juices from the platter and enjoy!!

You can also make this DELICIOUS, super easy sea bass recipe.

JUST JAN’S TANGARINE MARMALADE GLAZED SEA BASS – serves 3 – 4

1.5 lbs. sea bass fillet
1 Tbs. butter
2 Tbs. Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade
Olive oil to slick the pan
Salt
Pepper
1 tsp. dried Greek oregano

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Slick a rimmed baking pan with olive oil.

Wash and pat dry your fish with paper toweling. Salt and pepper one side of the fish, then evenly distribute the oregano over all. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add in the Just Jan’s Tangerine Marmalade to melt and whisk to combine. Brush on your seasoned sea bass fillet. Roast for 10 minutes per inch of thickness of your fish. I roasted mine for about 12 minutes.

Finish with a light sprinkling of Maldon salt, serve with LOVE and enjoy this totally yummy main course.

This jam with butter is outstanding, so naturally it’s great on toast!

You can still get this product in our MARY’s secret ingredients spring box for sale here. We only have a few left so hurry. Perfect gift for Mother’s Day!!

Sir Kensington’s Dijonnaise Crusted Catfish & on Veggies

April 17, 2016 by Mary 3 Comments

Sir Kensington’s Dijonnaise is a wonderful new product from the people who brought us the great ketchup. They are changing the condiment space with all natural, non-GMO products made with real ingredients, like egg yolks in this one, just like you would use to make homemade mayonnaise. Definitely refrigerate this after opening, although it’s so good with so many uses, it won’t last long.

This combination of mayo and Dijon mustard with some mustard seeds thrown in is super delicious!! The consistency is not goopy but rather thick and sauce-like which means you don’t put too much of it on your sandwich and you really can use it as a yummy, luscious sauce.

It is terrific on any steamed vegetable. I’ve used it on steamed Brussels sprouts, sugar snap peas and green beans. And then there’s this roasted catfish recipe that is just divine. I’m sure you’ll find a myriad of uses for this stuff – it’s that good!!

While this was in our spring MARY’s secret ingredients spring box and there are a few left so you can still purchase one, you may be able to find this product in some stores but it is not yet up on their site shop.

SIR KENSINGTON’S DIJONNAISE CRUSTED CATFISH – serves 3

1½ lbs. catfish fillets
½ tsp. coconut oil
French Grey salt, finely ground, or sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
6 tsp. Sir Kensington’s Dijonnaise
2/3 cup panko
1 Tbs. unsalted melted butter

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Slick the coconut oil on a rimmed baking sheet.

Wash and dry the fish with paper toweling. On bottom side of fillet, salt and pepper to taste. Spread 1 tsp. of Sir Kensington’s Dijonnaise on top of each fillet with a knife. Sprinkle some panko all over the top to cover.

Turn the fish over and do the same thing on the other side. Drizzle the melted butter over the top of all 3 fillets.

Roast in the oven on the top shelf for about 12 minutes, until fish is completely white and flakes but is still very moist.

Serve with LOVE and enjoy!!

SIR KENSINGTON’S DIJONNAISE ON VEGGIES – serves 3

½ lb. sugar snap peas or Brussels sprouts
2 Tbs. Sir Kensington’s Dijonnaise

Wash and clean your vegetables. Cut the Brussels sprouts in half. Steam until crisp tender and bright green. For the sugar snap peas, steam about 2 minutes and longer for the Brussels sprouts – 5 -10 minutes, depending on their size.

Remove steamer from the pan for a minute or two to let the vegetables air dry. and toss with Sir Kensington’s Dijonnaise. Total yum!!

For the sugar snap peas, it’s best to lay them out on a linen towel, cover and dry, before tossing with Sir Kensington’s Dijonnaise.

All easy peasy and SO good – and good for you!

Flounder Fillets with Garam Masala, Avocado & Mayo

April 3, 2016 by Mary 12 Comments

I love fish. But, it can get boring. I mean, it’s delicious roasted with a little olive oil, French Grey salt and fresh ground pepper but you know, after so much of that, it becomes ho hum. So, I am always on the lookout for something different, something new and not fattening. (Ok, so the mayo’s a little fattening.)

So the other day on the way home from work I was reading the dining section of The Times. They had an article about making your own masalas – Indian spice mixes. Sounded great but I didn’t happen to have any fresh curry leaves in the house. That, I’ll definitely have to go hunt for or order online. But then I read the shrimp recipe where they said you could also use Garam Masala and that I had, along with my flounder fillets. Success!

Then, I also remembered this dish my friend Margaret makes – I think it’s a Bittman recipe – of salmon with an avocado topping.

And then, I’ve been reading about coconut oil and how it’s supposedly so good for your brain. I’m for that!

Additionally, I had made the Sauerkraut Salad and had some leftover mayo from that recipe.

So here’s what I did. This was SO good – like a restaurant meal!!

FLOUNDER FILLETS WITH GARAM MASALA, AVOCADO AND MAYO – serves 2

2 tsp. coconut oil
2 flounder fillets
French Grey salt
Fresh ground pepper
Garam masala
1 avocado, cut into chunks
2 schmears of homemade mayo

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Slick a rimmed baking sheet with 1 tsp. coconut oil.

Wash and pat dry your fish fillets. Lay on the oiled baking sheet and rub 1/2 tsp. of oil on the top of each fillet. Salt and pepper to your taste, then sprinkle with Garam masala.

Roast in the preheated oven 10 – 12 minutes, until it flakes and is white in the thickest part.

Place on warm plates. Top with the avocado cubes and the smear of mayo as shown. Serve with LOVE and enjoy!!!

I served this with simple roasted asparagus topped with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a spoonful of leftover baked ziti. You can roast the asparagus at the same time as you’re roasting the fish and voila! This is an easy delicious 30 minute meal!!! (you don’t really need the ziti – I was just trying to clean out the fridge.)

Quick Pasta with Broccoli Rabe, Tuna, Olives & Slow Roasted Tomatoes

January 24, 2016 by Mary 16 Comments

So once again on a weeknight this past week, we got home from work late, starving, and of course wanted to eat something super quick. I had planned on a meatless dinner and yet again, my husband protested. (Does yours, all you women out there?) I acquiesced with a small can of tuna here, which is how I came to make this Quick Pasta with Broccoli Rabe, Tuna, Olives & Slow Roasted Tomatoes dish. It was delicious!!

Additionally, we were supposed to have a dinner party this week and I was going to serve this Spicy Beef Ragout but one of the guests messed up on the date and we had to reschedule, and I had already bought everything for the dinner. So I went ahead and made the stew and froze it. (It will be better! :)) But the roasted Roma tomatoes would not wait 2 weeks and I didn’t think would freeze very well. So the day before this dinner below, I slow roasted those tomatoes anyway, not really knowing how I would use them. They are so easy to make and super delicious!! You just need the time for the two hours. Slow roasting makes them super sweet and totally yummy! You’ll really want to eat them with anything so I knew it wouldn’t be a problem.

I threw this dish together in literally 30 minutes and it was terrific!! My husband even talked about it the next morning and you know it’s really great when they’re still remembering it at breakfast.

A quick minute in the microwave revives the tomatoes and rather than chopping and mixing them in, which I considered, I thought it was much more elegant to just position them on the side, so you could decide to have a bite with or without them. Much nicer.

At any rate, this whole combination is super satisfying, quick, easy and full of flavor. Using the same pot of water to blanch the broccoli rabe (which removes the bitterness) and cook the pasta in is the real time saver. I hope you’ll try it and maybe always keep some slow roasted tomatoes on hand. I’m thinking I should do that. Serve with LOVE and enjoy!!

QUICK PASTA WITH BROCCOLI RABE, TUNA, OLIVES & SLOW ROASTED TOMATOES – serves 4

½ lb. spaghetti
1 large bunch of broccoli rabe, stalk ends trimmed, chopped in 1” pieces, washed in a water bath
1 Tbs. coarse sea salt
5 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
3 Tbs. olive oil, plus 1 more Tbs. for finishing
1 5 oz. can white Albacore tuna, packed in water and drained
¼ cup pitted Kalamata olives, drained and chopped
2 Tbs. fresh grated Romano cheese
8 – 9 slow roasted Roma tomatoes
1 Tbs. olive oil
Thyme leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme

TO MAKE THE ROASTED ROMA TOMATOES: DO THIS THE DAY BEFORE. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Pile tomatoes on top, add 1 tablespoon of the oil, season with salt and pepper and toss. Add leaves from 4 sprigs of the thyme, toss again. Spread the tomatoes in a single layer on the foil-lined baking sheet, skin side down. Roast on the top shelf in the oven at 300 degrees for 2 hours. Let cool and store in a closed container in the refrigerator.

In a large pasta pot, place the washed broccoli rabe. Fill the pot with water to be at least 2 inches above the broccoli rabe. Add in the salt and stir to combine. Place the pot on high heat.

Meanwhile, warm the 3 Tbs. olive oil in a large skillet on low heat, (large enough to hold the broccoli rabe and pasta too), add the garlic and stir. Do not let it brown.

When small bubbles appear around the edges of the pot with the broccoli rabe, remove the rabe with a slotted spoon into a colander over a bowl and let drain. Let the water in the pot come back to a full boil. When that happens, add the pasta and cook for 3 minutes less than the lower number on the package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, (be sure to stir every once in a while), put the broccoli rabe in the skillet with the garlic. Cook a bit more, and toss. Add the tuna, flaking it as you stir.

When the pasta is near the end of cooking, take a large coffee mug and scoop out some pasta water. Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet with the tuna and broccoli rabe, stirring with tongs to combine. Add about ¼ cup of pasta water and the grated Romano cheese to make a loose sauce. Stir and taste until the pasta is done. Stir in the black olives to combine and finish with a drizzle of a tablespoon more of olive oil.

Taste to your liking with more salt or more cheese and some fresh ground black pepper.

Warm the tomatoes in the microwave for a minute or two. Serve the pasta in warmed bowls, with the tomatoes on the side as pictured above.

A complete meal in a dish and so delicious!!

We just had the leftovers for lunch today – still yummy!