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

Chicory salad with walnuts and parmesan

October 11, 2013 by Mary Frances 32 Comments

A head of the most beautiful chicory.

Chicory. I grew up with the smell of baked root chicory brewing with coffee that my father got from his Southern business colleagues. It’s a New Orleans favorite and he traveled there often. My mother and father just loved it and I remember that very distinctive smell. I think it made Mom and Dad feel special and exotic. No one in our St. Louis suburb of Webster Groves had ever heard of it in those days. So just recently, on this past Father’s day, my son made a warm wilted green salad of chicory to go with his Beef Wellington he made for my husband. It was a riff on a recipe from Tyler Florence. Tyler wants you to use Swiss chard, radicchio or escarole. I liked my son’s choice of chicory much better. I loved that salad so much that I have tinkered with it and made this chicory salad with walnuts and parmesan mine.

Chicory is a bitter green but with the dressing of warm honey and balsamic vinegar, it combats the sharpness and just makes the whole thing interesting and a bit addictive. Then adding the chopped toasted walnuts along with a bite here and there with a sliver of Parmigiano Reggiano, and well, I think you have a little bit of heaven in your mouth.

At our upstate farmer’s market last week, they had the biggest, most beautiful head of chicory. I was smitten and grabbed it up and starting excitedly telling the farmer about my recipe and what I was going to do with it. Suddenly, I noticed that everyone around was listening and taking notes. The farmer was so happy to hear my recipe as he said that most folks just don’t know what to do with chicory. Poor misunderstood thing, it needs some new positioning as a favorite wilted salad green, as it is mine. Try this and you’ll fall in LOVE too!Chicory in a bowl with shallots.

WILTED CHICORY SALAD WITH WALNUTS AND PARMESAN – serves 3 – 4

1/8 cup honey
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup of toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 medium or ½ large head of chicory, washed, spun dry and cut into 1½” pieces
1 shallot, very thinly sliced
½  tbs. grainy mustard
½  cup extra-virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese shavings, for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place walnuts in a baking dish and toast for 7 – 8 minutes. When you can just begin to smell them, remove from the oven and let cool on a cutting board. Coarsely chop and set aside.

Cook honey and balsamic together over medium-high heat in a small saute pan, about 5 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Do not let it boil. Pile chopped chicory and sliced shallots in a large salad bowl.  Whisk the grainy mustard into the balsamic-honey dressing, then whisk in the extra-virgin olive oil. Season the dressing with salt and pepper to taste and pour over greens and shallots. Toss. Toss in toasted chopped walnuts, and garnish with shavings of Parmesan and serve immediately.

Enjoy!
Warm wilted chicory salad with chopped toasted walnuts and parmesan cheese with a honey balsamic dressing.

Now because these greens are so sturdy, the leftovers even held up for the next day. Of course they weren’t as good as when first made but they were still respectable. I do have one sister-in-law who loves a day old salad, all wilted and wet. I guess it’s an acquired taste?

 

 

Filed Under: Dinner, First Course, Lunch, Salads Tagged With: chicory, chicory salads, honey and balsamic vinegar dressing, parmesan slivers, toasted walnuts, warm salads, wilted salads

Spinach salad with dates & almonds

August 27, 2013 by Mary Frances 14 Comments

Spinach salad with dates & almonds.

This is the most fantastic and unusual salad! If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I LOVE salads. I eat one every day for lunch and would love a salad for dinner too, IF I could only convince my husband the same. This spinach salad with dates & almonds was written up in the dining section of The Times a couple of weeks ago. It is adapted from Jerusalem: A Cookbook that was a big hit when it came out. The onions and dates, macerated in red wine vinegar, the toasted pita bread and almonds with the sumac, hot chiles, spinach and lemon juice all combine to make a really different dish that is just delightful. A little spicy, a little lemony, a little sweet from the dates and savory with salt, it’s a hit!

It was late when we got home last night so I convinced Steve to forgo a starch – meaning no baked potato with our broiled rib steak. “Let’s just have the steak and this salad and some sliced heirloom tomatoes.” Well that was more than enough and frankly, just perfect! I didn’t realize that there’s enough toasted pita bread in the salad to count for a light starch. Really, this was wonderful. And he had the leftovers for lunch today and said the salad was even still good. It held up! I didn’t use baby spinach. I used the fresh leaf spinach that is usually bundled together, stems down. Trim all the stems off and cut the leaves in thirds. This is probably why it held up the second day, better than baby spinach, with this heartier leaf. Whatever you use, I urge you to try this salad. You will LOVE it – and raw spinach is so darn good for you!Spinach salad with dates & almonds on a plate with broiled rib steak and an heirloom tomato slice.

SPINACH SALAD WITH DATES & ALMONDS – adapted from Julia Moskin
– serves 4

1 tbs. red wine vinegar
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
4.25 ounces Medjool dates, pitted and quartered lengthwise
Salt
2 tbs. unsalted butter
2 tbs. olive oil, divided
2 small whole wheat pitas (about 3 1/2 ounces), roughly torn into 1 1/2” pieces
1/2 cup whole unsalted almonds coarsely chopped
2 tsp. sumac
1/2 tsp. chile flakes
6 oz. baby spinach leaves or leaf spinach, stems removed and leaves cut in thirds
2 tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Put vinegar, onion and dates in a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt and mix well with your hands. Leave to marinate for 20 minutes, then drain any residual vinegar and discard.

Meanwhile, heat butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add pita and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring all the time, until pita is golden. Add almonds and continue cooking until pita is crunchy and browned and almonds are toasted and fragrant, about 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and mix in sumac, chile flakes and 1/4 tsp. salt. Set aside to cool.

When ready to serve, toss spinach leaves with pita mix in a large mixing bowl. Add dates and red onion, remaining 1 tbs. olive oil, and the lemon juice. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately.

 

Filed Under: Dinner, First Course, Salads Tagged With: chiles on salads, great side dish, lemon juice, Medjool dates, pita bread, really different salad, red onions, spinach salad with dates & almonds, sumac on salads, toasted almonds, toasted pita bread

Caesar salad

August 18, 2013 by Mary Frances 16 Comments

 

Caesar salad with croutons on a white Wedgewood plate.

I LOVE a good Caesar salad. The very best one I ever had was at Zuni Café in San Francisco. Judy Rodgers, the owner and chef there is also from my hometown of St. Louis. Her recipe from the Zuni Café cookbook is terrific, but a bit time consuming. She wants you to only use salt-packed anchovies, which are better. They are cleaner tasting, but, you have to rinse them quite a bit to get all the salt off and then fillet the little suckers. Because my husband absolutely adores Caesar salad and asks me to make it often, I have been working on a quicker version for the dressing. I believe that I am now satisfied with this one and I’m ready to share with you!

But once again, it is always about the ingredients. You must use high quality extra virgin olive oil, only Parmigiano-Reggiano for cheese, super fresh lemons, farm fresh eggs (I only use eggs from our farmers, Ethel and Tom), and as Judy Rodgers says, taste it on your lettuce, and hopefully your organic romaine is sweet. Homemade croutons are a must in my book. (What else are you gonna do with all that old bread in the fridge?) Make a double amount of croutons and store them at room temperature in an airtight plastic container. They will still taste fresh for a week, so you can make another salad the following week. Your washed lettuce must be cold and dry and do not tear the leaves. Leave them whole as you can see in the photo. This is because when you tear them, they just release their water, watering down your very tasty dressing and you really don’t want that. And it’s best use your hands to toss the leaves with the dressing in order to properly coat them.
Caesar salad topped with croutons and grated cheese on a brown plate.

CAESAR SALAD – serves 4 – 6

3/4 cup homemade croutons (see directions below) from 4 – 5 oz. of bread
2 – 3 large cloves of minced garlic (remove inner green germ as the sprouts can add an unpleasant bitterness)
4 – 5 anchovy fillets packed in oil, blot and pat dry on paper towels, and finely chop and mash
Pinch of coarse salt
2 tbs. or more of freshly-squeezed lemon juice (I usually add about 3 tbs – taste to your liking)
3 drops Worcestershire sauce
1 large cold egg
6 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) freshly-grated Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano), plus more for serving
2 to 3 heads romaine lettuce, hearts and tender leaves only
Freshly cracked black pepper

Make the croutons:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Dice day-old bread (Italian, French or even whole wheat) into 3/4-inch cubes.

Toss with about 2 tbs. of olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper and spread out on a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake approximately 10 to 15 minutes or until just golden brown. Halfway through the baking time, give the pan a shake to make sure the croutons toast evenly. Remove from oven and completely cool croutons. Store in an airtight container.

Make the Caesar salad dressing:

In a bowl, whisk together the garlic, anchovies, and salt until blended.

Whisk in the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce.

Whisk in the raw egg until the mixture is thick, approximately 1 minute.

Slowly drizzle in the olive oil with one hand while vigorously whisking the mixture with the other.

When the dressing is well combined, whisk in 1/4 cup of the grated Parmesan cheese. Grind fresh pepper to taste. Taste your dressing on a small piece of romaine. It may need more salt, lemon juice or cheese, but remember you will grate more cheese on top before serving. I usually add more lemon juice.

Use whole leaves of romaine hearts that have been washed, dried and chilled. Blot dry with a paper towel again before dressing. Place them in a wide bowl. Fold and toss with dressing, (using your hands is best) making sure each leaf is properly coated. Add the croutons and toss again.

Arrange the leave in a single direction on the plate, scrape the last drizzle of dressing on to the salads, distribute the croutons evenly and grate more Parmesan on top. Pass the black pepper. Enjoy!!
Caesar salad made with grilled Romaine lettuce, topped with croutons and grated cheese on a brown plate.

Now recently, when we’re upstate and have the outdoor grill, I have been splitting a whole head of romaine lengthwise and grilling it before drizzling on the dressing. Warm and cool, crunchy and different, even sweeter, it’s delicious!! Try it! Just brush both sides with a little olive oil before putting them on the grill. Grill the romaine 2 – 3 minutes per side at about 400 degrees on a gas grill.

When done, place on a plate, cut side up and drizzle on dressing. Top with fresh grated cheese and croutons. Amazing!

 

Filed Under: Dinner, First Course, Salads Tagged With: Caesar salad, classic Caesar salad, croutons, grilled Caesar salad, grilled romaine lettuce, Judy Rodgers, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, Zuni Café

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!Roast pork tenderloin dinner with roasted potatoes, and honey ginger carrots on a burgundy rimmed plate.

 

Caesar salad with croutons on a white Wedgewood 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.House guests  with a family toasting at the dinner table.

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.Mother and daughter at the sink in a Manhattan apartment washing dishes.

As I said, wonderful house guests!!

 

Filed Under: Dinner, First Course, Meat, Salads Tagged With: Caesar salad, caramelized onions, family toasting, ginger honey carrots, house guests, roast pork loin with sage and mint

LOVE travels to our Potato Salad Winner in Alabama!

July 26, 2013 by Mary Frances 4 Comments

We’re traveling the world! Look at this great photo of Nikki Landau in our LOVE apron at her new house in Fairhope, Alabama!!Nikki Landau in a LOVE apron outside her home in Alabama with a large stone fireplace and pool in the background. (I like how the umbrella matches our logo!)

Congratulations Nikki for entering the winning potato salad recipe!! It’s the one with anchovies and is truly delicious. Aunt Rose would be proud.

Please send in pics of you in your LOVE apron, and we’ll feature you too!

Filed Under: Contest, Products for sale, Salads Tagged With: Alabama, aprons, chef aprons, Fairhope, grilling outside, LOVE apron, potato salad recipe with anchovies, winning potato salad recipe

Provençal chicken and 2 dinners in 1!

July 20, 2013 by Mary Frances 21 Comments

Just cut garden lettuce with nasturtiums in a colander.While this heat wave we’ve been having here on the East coast has been trying, to say the least, I love this time of year, with the bounty from the garden, which will be ending soon. (The lettuce is about to bolt and this extreme heat is not helping.) Here’s the lettuce and nasturtiums I cut from my little garden last Sunday.Dinner salad with roast chicken leg, roasted yellow beets, feta cheese and toasted pine nuts on a white Wedgewood plate.
And here is our Tuesday night dinner.

This is how you can make a quick, easy and super delicious weeknight dinner. If you think a little bit ahead, it’s a breeze, you won’t heat up your kitchen, and it’s light and healthy. Perfect for this time of year and particularly during this heat wave.

On Sunday, before I went on an hour-long bike ride, I threw a bunch of golden beets in the oven to roast. Those guys cooked and I was out of the hot kitchen! Now you all probably know how to roast beets, but just in case, here a little recipe. Beets are a great vegetable because you get two in one!! You can roast the beets and then sauté the beet stems and greens in olive oil with garlic. I almost like the greens better than the beets, and you don’t have to cook them at the same time. Beets, refrigerated will keep a long time, the greens, not so much, so use those sooner rather than later and come back here soon to see how I used them in another layered vegetable dish that was loaded with fresh flavors. Some grocery stores are now even selling prepackaged beet greens. I prefer to get the real thing, attached to organically grown beets. Who knows what they put in those bags to make them last longer in the grocery stores.

ROASTED BEETS – serves 2 – 4

1 bunch of golden or red beets
1 Tbs. olive oil
Salt
Fresh ground pepper

Preheat your oven to 375 – 425 degrees. You can roast them anywhere in this range. I like to use 400 degrees. At the lower heat, they will just take longer to become tender.

Trim the beets from the greens, scrub with a vegetable brush and dry with a paper towel. Place in the center of a good-sized piece of aluminum foil, drizzle with the olive oil, season with salt and pepper and draw up the foil to seal and make a neat packet. Place the packet in an oven proof dish (because the beets may leak and make a mess in your oven) and roast for one hour. Remove, open packet and test. A skewer should pierce the beet easily and completely. If not, put back in for 10 more minutes or so.

Once done and cool enough to handle, peel the beets and use immediately or refrigerate in a covered container and use within four or five days. They rewarm easily in a microwave as well.Provencial roast chicken legs with oven roasted broccoli and mushrooms on a white Wedgewood plate.
Here was our dinner on Sunday night, when I made Provençal chicken legs with oven roasted broccoli and mushrooms. This is easy too! I made four leg and thigh pieces for the two of us, so we could have the two dinners.

For the broccoli and mushrooms, toss those with two tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 375 degrees for 35 – 40 minutes while you’re roasting the chicken.

PROVENÇAL CHICKEN LEGS – serves 4 or 2 for two dinners

4 chicken leg and thigh pieces, with skin and bones
1 Tbs. each of chopped fresh thyme, sage, rosemary, and mint leaves
1 Tbs. fresh lavender flowers (optional) or 1.5 tsp. dried
Salt
Pepper
2 – 3 Tbs. olive oil
4 dried bay leaves
4 lemon slices, seeded

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Wash and dry your chicken legs. Mix together chopped fresh herbs with the lavender, salt and pepper to taste, and mix in 1 – 2 Tbs. of olive oil to moisten and make a paste. Carefully loosen the skin on the chicken on one side and place one bay leaf and one-quarter (about 1 Tbs.) of the herb mixture under the skin and spread around underneath. Make sure the skin is still attached in one or two places. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.

Heat the remaining tbs. of olive oil in an ovenproof skillet on medium high heat. Place in chicken legs, skin side down, and brown for 5 minutes. When nicely browned, turn legs over and place one lemon slice on each leg. Place the skillet in the oven and roast for 30 – 35 minutes, or until the meat registers 160 degrees with an instant read thermometer. Let rest for 5 – 10 minutes before serving.

So we ate 2 of these on Sunday night and saved 2 for the weeknight dinner salad. The bay leaf is not edible so remove while eating.Dinner salad with roast chicken leg, roasted yellow beets, feta cheese and toasted pine nuts on a white Wedgewood plate, overhead shot.

DINNER SALAD FOR A WEEKNIGHT HEAT WAVE – serves 2

Tender lettuce – Bibb or mesclun or homegrown
4 golden beets, roasted
2 Tbs. toasted pine nuts – oven toast at 350 degrees for 6 – 8 minutes
Greek feta cheese
2 Provençal roasted chicken legs and thighs
2 nasturtiums (optional)
Sherry vinaigrette

Warm the chicken legs in a microwave for 1 -2 minutes, depending on how powerful your microwave is. Warm beets in the microwave for 1 minute. Cut each beet into 4 or 6 wedges, depending on the size of the beets. Place lettuce on a dinner plate. Place the chicken leg on top in the middle, pour any juices on top. Arrange the cut beets around the leg, as well some crumbled feta cheese and the toasted pine nuts. Drizzle on the sherry vinaigrette and serve right away. Enjoy!!! You will LOVE this!!

 

Filed Under: Dinner, Poultry, Salads Tagged With: dinner for a hot summer night, dinner salads, easy roast Provencial chicken, feta cheese, garden lettuces, roast broccoli with mushrooms, roasted golden beets, toasted pine nuts

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Mary Frances

Mary Frances

Spread love through cooking.

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