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

We must know what we’re eating!

February 27, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

This is from an email I just received from the Center for Food Safety.

Congress to FDA: LABEL GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOOD
Have YOUR Senators and Representative Joined the Letter?

In the U.S., we pride ourselves on having choices and making informed decisions. Under current FDA regulations, we don’t have that choice when it comes to GE ingredients in the foods we purchase and feed our families. This led the Center for Food Safety to submit a legal petition to the FDA demanding that the agency require the labeling of GE foods. In response, Senator Barbara Boxer (CA) and Representative Peter DeFazio (OR) have authored a bicameral Congressional letter in support of our legal petition and will be urging their fellow Members on Capitol Hill to sign onto their letter.

Unsuspecting consumers by the tens of millions are being allowed to purchase and consume unlabeled genetically engineered foods, despite the fact that FDA undertakes no testing of its own, instead relying only on a voluntary consultation with industry and confidential industry data to assure safety. Internal FDA documents discovered in prior CFS litigation actually indicated the foods could pose serious risks, but those views were overruled.

Genetically engineered foods are required to be labeled in nearly 50 countries around the world including the United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, China, New Zealand and many others. A recent poll released by ABC News found that 93 percent of the American public wants the federal government to require mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. As ABC News stated, “Such near-unanimity in public opinion is rare.” Yet the United States is one of the only countries in the world that doesn’t require labeling of GE food!

Please write and call your U.S. Senators and Representative and urge them to join the Boxer-DeFazio letter in support of labeling!

Another great beef tenderloin dinner

February 12, 2012 by Mary Frances 19 Comments

Beef tenderloin is actually the perfect weeknight entertaining choice. For a special dinner, it’s big, it’s fancy and it’s quick and easy. My Mother used to always say, “Make a roast, Mary. It’s easy!” And you know, she was right.

So, remember, it’s always about the ingredients and their quality. So as long as you’re spending money on a tenderloin, get the best that you can. My butcher, Bob, at Esposito’s, has the best! His man, Solomon, did a spectacular job trimming and tying this piece of meat. See how even it is all the way through. These butchers take enormous pride in their job and it certainly shows. (They’re located at 38th Street and 9th Avenue.)

Now I don’t think I’ve told you, but we’re moving our offices (I do have another day job running a brand design and marketing communications firm) down to TriBeCa so I’ve been a little off this week and I will be until the end of the month. We’ve been in our current space for 10 years and accumulated way too much stuff. I promise I’ll get back on track when this is all over. But we’re very excited about our new space!

Back to the dinner party I had this past Thursday night. I made up this recipe as a combination of what I made on Christmas day and what I used to make years and years ago from, believe it or not, Joy of Cooking! I received this cookbook from my sewing teacher, the wonderful Mrs. Mellor, at a bridal shower 30 years ago!! (OMG) My Mom was so afraid that I would be a tomboy and useless wife, and because I went to Catholic school, we were not taught home economics, so she coerced the woman who taught sewing at the public high school to give me private lessons one summer, in order for me to learn how to sew. Mrs. Mellor was a wonderful woman with an infectious laugh, twinkling eyes and everything was always okay with her, even if you really screwed up – she would fix it. She ended up making all of my bridesmaids dresses from this beautiful silk I had bought – 4 of them – all as a gift!! Sweet, sweet woman! Her son, Jimmy, was a good friend of my two brothers and we recently reconnected through Facebook! Good ol’ Facebook. He’s an airline pilot for American Airlines flying the St. Louis to LaGuardia route. I always look for him when I fly back home. He said I should just knock on the cockpit door next time, that they get lonely in there. Well, these days I think I’d get shot!

Here’s what I made.

Bacon wrapped beef tenderloin on a metal platter.

So good!!

BACON-WRAPPED BEEF TENDERLOIN
– serves 10 – 12

1 (5.5 lbs.) beef tenderloin, trimmed and tied
1 rounded tbs. kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
6 garlic cloves, minced
15 slices of bacon
1/2 cup creme fraiche
2 tbs.white horseradish
Several dashes of Tabasco

Season the tenderloin all over with the salt, pepper, and garlic. Cover the meat and refrigerate overnight. Let it come to room temperature for 2 hours before roasting.

Heat oven to 500 degrees. Wipe off as much garlic and seasonings as possible with a paper towel. The flavors have penetrated the meat overnight. Place the meat on a rack in a large roasting pan and wrap the bacon around it.

Place the roasting pan on the middle rack of the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 400 degrees and roast for 30 – 40 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer reaches 120 degrees (for rare). Let the meat rest for 10 minutes before carving.

In a small bowl, whisk the crème fraîche and horseradish plus a few dashes of Tabasco. Serve alongside the tenderloin.

For Football Sunday

January 13, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

Or shall I say, how to love your man and make him ADORE you.

I made this for dinner last Sunday and my husband was so so happy, and the Giants won!! So maybe it’s also our good luck burger. Now I don’t usually make things like this – too rich, too fattening, too, too and not special enough for a Sunday dinner, but Steve was so excited about the game last week, we had to rush home from the country and be here in Manhattan to see it. We don’t have TV in the country – just Netflix on the Internet, which by the way, the selection there stinks, and DVD’s on our old Sony.

But I saw this Bobby Flay Nacho Burger recipe on the cover of the January issue of Food and Wine and it just seemed so right for the day. It was really good. Really.

However in my inimitable way of constantly tinkering with recipes, if I were to make it again, I might do ¼ lb. sharp cheddar and ¼ lb. Monterey Jack cheese in the sauce, instead of all Jack. And I thought the salsa was too sweet. Rather than the pickled jalapeños on top, I think I would put in ½ of a fresh, thinly sliced jalapeño, with the seeds, directly in the salsa and skip the pickled ones all together.

I have also switched the order of his process – you need to make the cheese sauce first so it cools and gets thick.

Let me know what you think.

GO GIANTS!!!

(Fortunately we are invited to our friend’s house upstate for this weekend. They have a TV and Margaret is going to make rabbit! A bit more elegant than this!)

NACHO BURGERS from Bobby Flay and Food and Wine magazine

Cheese Sauce
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons freshly grated pecorino cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Salsa
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
Salt
2 tablespoons red onion, finely diced
3 plum tomatoes, finely diced
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 chipotle chile in adobo, seeded and minced (I left the seeds in)

Burgers
Vegetable oil, for brushing (I used olive oil)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Sliced pickled jalapeños and blue corn tortilla chips, for topping
1 1/2 pounds ground beef chuck
4 hamburger buns, split and toasted

MAKE THE CHEESE SAUCE In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the flour and cook over moderate heat for 30 seconds. Whisk in the milk and cook, whisking, until smooth and thickened, 5 minutes. Stir in the Jack cheese until melted, then stir in the pecorino; season with salt and pepper. Let the sauce cool until it is very thick and spreadable.

MAKE THE SALSA In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients and season with salt.

MAKE THE BURGERS Light a grill or heat a grill pan on high heat. Form the beef into 4 patties (try to handle the meat as little as possible) and brush with oil; season with salt and pepper. Grill over moderately high heat until browned outside and medium-rare within, about 3 – 4 minutes per side, depending on your heat.

Place the burgers on the buns. Top with the cheese sauce, salsa, pickled jalapeños and chips. Close the burgers and serve.

Beef tenderloin dinner

December 30, 2011 by Mary Frances 8 Comments

I want to tell you about our Christmas Day dinner. It was so good and some of you may want to replicate parts or all of it for your New Years Day dinner. I adapted Melissa Clark’s recent recipe in The New York Times and it was delicious. Everyone raved about the meat!!

And here’s a funny story about buying the meat. I had heard a radio ad for Stew Leonard’s whole beef fillets. He was advertising them for $7.98 a pound! I thought, wow, that’s worth a drive to Yonkers. So my husband gets up at 7 am on Saturday to get this. He tried to do it on Friday morning but found our car dead in the garage. We drive a Prius and the engine is so quiet, the garage guys often forget to turn it off. This has happened twice before so we made a sign to tell them to remember to turn it off. But, the last time we drove the car, we forgot to leave the sign in the front seat!

So off he goes on Saturday morning. I tell him to ask the butcher for enough beef for 7 people plus a few leftovers. Well he comes back with this gigantic piece of meat – 6.6 pounds!! Like enough for 13 – 14 people. But then, look at the majority of people who shop at Stew’s – they’re fat! Our country is getting so obese it’s ridiculous. And he paid $11.98 a pound. The $7.98 per pound price was untrimmed with a 30 – 40% loss factor. Talk about a scam to get you in there.

But, this meat was good, so there’s a little redemption.

Here’s my menu.

Appetizers:
Pate de campagne
Truffle duck mousse pate
Cornichons, picholine olives, lightly salted cashews
Artichoke dip – my recipe in an earlier blog post
Assorted brown rice chips, whole wheat pita and sliced French baguette

Dinner:
Pancetta and asparagus soup with black pepper – from Judy Rodgers and the Zuni Café cookbook, served with homemade Polish bread
Beef tenderloin with horseradish sauce– adapted from Melissa Clark and The New York Times
Mashed potatoes with cauliflower and roasted garlic – Lee Bailey – Long Weekends cookbook
Haricot Vert with walnut oil, sea salt and toasted walnuts
Oven roasted plum tomato halves with oregano (they were so good the night before and made the plate look Christmas-y next to the Haricot Vert)

Dessert:
Ethiopian coffee
Christmas cookies, of course
Peppermint chocolates

Here is the tenderloin recipe that I have altered for our taste.

GARLICKY BEEF TENDERLOIN WITH HORSERADISH SAUCE – adapted from Melissa Clark and The New York Times
– serves 12 – 14

1 (6.6 lbs.) beef tenderloin, trimmed and tied
1 1/2 tbs. kosher salt, more to taste
1 1/2 tsp. black pepper, more to taste
1 heaping tbs. chopped fresh rosemary
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1.5 cups crème fraîche
1/4 cup white horseradish
Several dashes of Tabasco

Season the tenderloin all over with the salt, pepper, rosemary and garlic. Cover the meat and refrigerate overnight. Let it come to room temperature for 2 hours before roasting.

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Wipe off as much garlic and seasonings as possible with a paper towel. It tends to burn and the flavors have penetrated the meat overnight.

In a large roasting pan over two burners and high heat, heat the oil. Add the meat and thoroughly brown all over, 4 minutes per side. Brown all 4 sides.

Place the roasting pan on the middle rack of the oven and roast until an instant-read thermometer shows 120 degrees (for rare), 10 to 20 minutes. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes before carving.

In a small bowl, whisk the crème fraîche and horseradish plus a few dashes of Tabasco. Serve alongside the tenderloin.

Assuming your meat is a good quality cut, you will LOVE this!

Now if you want any of these other recipes, do let me know.

My Mom’s Pea Soup with Ham

October 31, 2011 by Mary Frances 4 Comments

As many of you know, I grew up in suburban St. Louis – Webster Groves – and left for college at Parsons School of Design here in NYC. So whenever I would go back home, my Mom would always have a big pot of pea soup with ham waiting for me as my first dinner home. It was my request as I adore pea soup and my mom made the best. My father would help her watch over it and stir every once in a while, referring to the simmering soup as it was “smiling”. And then he would “sweeten” it some more with Tabasco when she wasn’t looking. My friend Joan even remembers and still has my Mom’s handwritten recipe card. My card is pretty beat up and in my handwriting. I must have gotten the recipe over the phone from her. I had no idea that Joannie had an original Mom-handwritten one or that she had the recipe at all!

Now is the perfect time to make pea soup. Make a big pot and freeze some for later. Mom always seemed to have a ham bone with meat left on it to use. I use ham shanks from my butcher Bob. He cuts them in half to be able to get more flavor out of them while cooking and these babies are really meaty. (see photo below) Once again, I have made this recipe my own and changed up Mom’s. Another butcher in Summit, NJ gave me the tip of adding whole milk or cream at the end, to smooth it out and that it does! I hope you love this as much as I do.

SOPHIA’S COUNTRY SPLIT PEA SOUP – ADAPTED
1 lb. dried split green peas
1 ham bone with meat on it or 2 ham shanks, each cut in half
1 ½ cups chopped onions
1 ½ cups chopped celery with leaves – about 3 stalks
5 carrots, peeled and sliced in rounds
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
4 dashes Tabasco plus 3 more at the end
1 tsp. dried thyme
Salt
Pepper
4 smallish red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed and cut into eighths
½ cup whole milk or cream

Wash off peas in cold water, drain, then cover with 2″ cold fresh water and let sit for one hour. Drain again, add 14 cups of cold water, put on high heat and let come to a boil, skimming off any foam that rises to the top. Add the ham bone or shanks, 2 bay leaves and 25 whole peppercorns. Simmer very slowly for 2 ½ hours, skimming any foam, stirring every once in a while, partially covered. Then add onion, celery, carrots, garlic, Tabasco and thyme. Simmer for another hour, uncovered, then add potatoes and simmer for another 45 minutes to 1 hour, until potatoes are tender. Remove ham shanks or bone to a platter and remove all meat from the bones. Discard bones and fat, put shredded or small bite-size chunks of ham back in the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste along with 3 more dashes of Tabasco and ½ cup of milk. Serve with buttered rye bread. We loved to dip it into the soup. Yummy and so soothing and comforting.

one ham shank

my original recipe

Frozen pancetta

October 19, 2011 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

Some years ago, my butcher in the city, Bob, of Espisito’s Pork Store gave me the greatest tip. As he noticed, I like pancetta, so one time he mentioned that I could keep several slices in the freezer at all times, take them out one at a time and they will thaw very quickly to use. As you may have figured out by now, I adore pancetta. Just a little bit gives huge flavor to any dish. (although I am not a fan of the latest craze of bacon on desserts – yuk!) For instance, the Broccoli Rabe recipe outlined earlier is usually made with pork sausage, with the fat left in the dish. So making it with chicken sausage is so much healthier and just a touch of pancetta give the big rich pork flavor that the chicken sausage cannot impart on its own.

So always have some on hand in your freezer!