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

Sauerkraut, Apple and String Cheese Salad

October 3, 2015 by Mary 17 Comments

There are salads and there are salads. I’m sure you all know I adore salads. I have one nearly everyday for lunch. And I know I’ve mentioned before my love for all of the Silver Palate cookbooks. Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins were really the first great multi-ethnic inspiration for American home cooks back in the early 80’s. (Of course Julia Child introduced us all to French cooking much earlier.) Their store on the Upper West Side in NYC provided a platform and they shared their great tasting, easy to follow recipes that were both different and delicious. Their recipes always worked. You could implicitly trust them for that. I found this Sauerkraut, Apple and String Cheese Salad recipe some months ago when I was planning Zach’s early birthday dinner before he left for Poland with his Fulbright. My husband and I thought it sounded so unusual and weird, we had to try it. We were game.

So I called Zach and described the recipe to him. He loves sauerkraut.

He said, “Eeeewww.”

OK, I still found it intriguing and made a mental note to make it some day. Again, Julee and Sheila’s recipes have never let me down.

So let’s think about this. Sauerkraut is simply pickled cabbage. They ask you to rinse and drain it, so hey, we’re moving now closer to coleslaw, right, with the sauerkraut people doing all the cutting. I like that! You combine the sauerkraut with matchsticks of Granny Smith apple, red onion and chopped cornichons – all good.

Then, you make a homemade mayo using grainy mustard – sounding better – right? Use the mayo to bind it together with the string cheese and some caraway seeds (always good with sauerkraut) and voila! This salad was DELICIOUS!!! Really different and total yum. It was hard to stop eating it!

And it was easy to make! It really came together very quickly. I did change a few things, so here is my adapted recipe.

They say this is great with a charcuterie board. I served it for dinner with some grilled chorizo and simple polenta (with no cheese added). It was so good!

SAUERKRAUT, APPLE AND STRING CHEESE SALAD – serves 6 – adapted from The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins

2 egg yolks
2 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. grainy mustard
¾ cup olive oil
¾ cup vegetable oil
Salt
Fresh ground black pepper
1 lb. sauerkraut, rinsed and drained (only use bagged sauerkraut, no cans)
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and coarsely grated or sliced thin on a mandoline and then cut into matchsticks
1 small red onion, finely chopped
8 oz. Armenian string cheese, pulled apart into very small strings and cut into 3” lengths
6 cornichons, coarsely chopped
1 scant Tbs. caraway seeds
Cornichons, sliced lengthwise for garnish

Process the egg yolks, lemon juice and mustard in a food processor for 30 seconds. With the machine running pour in the olive oil and then the vegetable oil in a thin steady stream through the feed tube to make a thick mayonnaise. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Combine the sauerkraut, apple, onion, chopped cornichons and caraway seeds in a large bowl. Toss the salad thoroughly with enough mayonnaise to bind. (You will have about 3/4 of a cup left over which you can use on sandwiches or put a dab on some steamed asparagus or green beans. It will keep for 4 – 5 days on the top shelf of your refrigerator and it is delicious!) Cover the salad and refrigerate until cold.

Meanwhile, prepare your string cheese and let it come to room temperature, covered with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out.

When ready to serve, fold in the string cheese thoroughly. Garnish with the sliced cornichons. Serve with love and enjoy!!

Sauteed Kale and Beet Greens with Maguey Sweet Sap

July 15, 2015 by Mary 18 Comments

Maguey Sweet Sap from Villa de Patos is the second item in our MARY’s secret ingredients summer box! This is the coolest product – a delicious sweetener low in fructose and glucose with a delightful “green” taste as it comes from the maguey (pronounced mah-gay) plant that is native to the arid highlands of Mexico. The plant needs to be at least 12 years old before you can get any syrup out of it!

Since ancient times, the maguey plant has served as a source of nourishment, shelter and textiles for the people of Mexico. The Aztecs worshipped the maguey as the goddess Mayahuel, naming it the Plant of the Gods because of its alleged medicinal properties. The plant also serves as a soil protector and regenerator, helping to prevent erosion and acting as a natural healing agent for the land.

The sap is rich in naturally occurring phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and prebiotic fiber. The prebiotic fiber found in Maguey Sweet Sap helps balance the ecosystem of your intestinal flora and serves as the “food” for probiotics.

Wow!!

It’s all that and more importantly, it’s super delicious!! Use it on anything and in anything that needs a little sweetener. It has a thinner consistency than honey but like honey, it is also a raw, unrefined and an unprocessed product. The color of the syrup will change over time, getting a little darker. It is super yummy drizzled over plain Greek yogurt, in tea or on pancakes. I chose to use it in this kale and beet greens recipe and it was divine! Because of its more “herbal” taste, I felt it went particularly well with these sautéed greens. I wanted to combine these two different greens because I think it just makes the dish more interesting. Kale is good and all the rage, but personally, I adore beet greens. To me, they’re even much more interesting than the beets (and I do love beets). Separate your stems from the leafy greens when cooking as the stems do need to cook longer and hmmmm (!), just delicious!! The pancetta with the Sweet Sap addition along with the acid from the vinegar – total YUM!!! Savory and sweet – my kind of thing!
SAUTEED KALE AND BEET GREENS WITH MAGUEY SWEET SAP – serves 4

1 Tbs. olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 bunch of beet greens, washed, stems separated from the greens, all cut in 11/2” pieces
½ medium red onion, cut in 1/8” slices, and each slice cut in half
One ¼” thick slice of pancetta, cut in 1/4” cubes
1 bunch of Russian kale, washed, stems removed and cut into 11/2” ribbons
2 Tbs. ginger rice vinegar or plain rice vinegar
11/2 Tbs. Maguey Sweet Sap
Maldon sea salt flakes to taste, crushed
Black pepper, fresh ground, to taste

On low heat, in a medium sized skillet, warm the oil. Add the garlic, beet green stems, red onion and pancetta and stir to combine. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove cover and raise heat to medium. Add kale. Toss and cook for 3 minutes.

Add beet green leaves, toss and sauté for 3 – 5 minutes, until done.
Turn off heat and remove from hot burner. Sprinkle all over the 2 Tbs. ginger rice vinegar and 1.5 Tbs. of Maguey Sweet Sap Syrup. Stir to combine all. Top with crushed Maldon Sea Salt Flakes and fresh ground pepper. Serve with LOVE and enjoy!!
I served this as a delicious vegetable “bed” to some spice rubbed roasted salmon. Delish!!

I also used this Sweet Sap in place of the honey in my Sweet and Sour Coleslaw recipe and it was totally great!!

Our fall box ships on September 25th and it’s going to be great! The supply is limited so best to order now before we run out.

The Very Best Way to Cook Corn on the Cob

June 18, 2015 by Mary 45 Comments

It’s the season!! And there are so many ways to cook corn on the cob. Boil it in regular water, water with a little sugar, water with a little milk, place it in boiling water, turn the heat off and let it sit, shuck it and steam it, shuck it and grill it and so on. However, this way, I guarantee will become your favorite. This produces the freshest cooked corn on the cob because you don’t remove it from its natural packaging until you’re ready to eat it. Never, ever water-logged, cooking corn this way turns out so wonderful, (assuming it’s good corn), and so sweet, you won’t even want butter!

Really.

It’s that good.

Plus, you won’t have all that sticky silk all over your kitchen floor because you had to shuck it beforehand. No siree!!

You’re gonna LOVE this!!

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Buy your corn by feeling the heft and weight. Do not peel back the husks and peek.

Just remove any dried and damaged outer leaves, trim dark silk ends hanging out at the end with scissors and put all your ears on a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 25 – 30 minutes, each ear with its full husk on. When done, remove and peel husks off using hot pad mitts and serve. You don’t even need butter on this corn because what happens here is that the silk melts into the corn and makes it so sweet. Plus, it isn’t water logged so it’s crisp, and you don’t have the awful job of shucking them beforehand with all that silk making a mess. This is great, naked, fresh corn. (and low in calories with no butter needed) Enjoy!! Roast an extra ear or two, shuck and wrap in plastic wrap to store in the refrigerator and use another night. Cut the corn off the cob for a salad. Use a serrated knife for best results.

Now here’s the sad part, corn is one of those things, of all vegetables, that is most likely to be genetically modified, so try to buy your corn from a local organic farmer who knows his seeds were not GMO. Ask first. 🙂

Cheese Straw Cornbread

May 22, 2015 by Mary 6 Comments

The buttery, cheesy, delicious Delta Bred Cheese Straws are totally awesome and addictive on their own or served with cocktails. These were one of the first talked about items in our spring box! Comments have come in like “these cheese straws are to die for” and “where can I buy more?” and “The cheese straws were a big hit and didn’t last long at all.” Break them in half and use them to garnish a gazpacho or add some brightness to any salad. Or, you can make this Cheese Straw Cornbread and go straight to heaven.

Putting the cheese straws directly in the cornbread adds a crunchy, cheesy surprise, elevating the humble bread. I made this for a Sunday morning breakfast and it was just divine. You could put some butter on it but honestly, nothing was needed with the extra punch of these cheesy bits. I know you’ll LOVE this!

CHEESE STRAW CORNBREAD – serves 6 – 9

1 cup medium grind whole grain cornmeal (I used Bob’s Red Mill brand)
1 cup of multi-grain flour (or you could use white flour)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup Delta Bred cheese straws, each straw cut into 2 or 3 pieces

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter an 8″ square glass baking dish.

Whisk together all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk just enough to combine. Then fold in the cheese straw pieces and let the batter sit for 10 minutes to let the baking powder do its thing.

Gently pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 20 – 25 minutes.

Serve warm with LOVE! Enjoy!!

The Delta Bred Cheese Straws were in our MARY’s secret ingredients spring box. The summer box will mail on June 25th.

Blood Orange, Avocado and Baby Kale Salad

March 15, 2015 by Mary 14 Comments

As many of you know, I LOVE salads. I eat one for lunch almost every single day. I really believe that it’s important to eat some raw fruits and vegetables daily. And I adore blood oranges. Their season is NOW so try to go out and buy some and make this Blood Orange, Avocado and Baby Kale Salad. It’s so simple, refreshing, and truly delicious.

Blood oranges always remind me of Italy – a beloved place for my whole family. My husband worked with the largest Italian shoe manufacturer, the Soldinis, in the early years of our marriage, running the women’s division for North America. (Boy did I have a shoe collection then!) He came back from trips there and always remarked how they often had fruit for dessert and that the Italians were deft at eating it with a knife and fork! The first time I ever tasted a blood orange was in Italy – when I would go on trips as the “wife” – not working myself. Then our oldest son chose to be in Italy for his university semester abroad. And as luck would have it, the University of Rochester had their Italian branch in Arezzo, Tuscany, exactly the same city where we spent the most amount of our time, since the Soldinis lived there.

While our oldest was there in school, we made a family trip to visit and of course got in touch with the Soldinis, and they invited all of us to their home for a traditional Sunday lunch. Elita served a 12 course meal! This lunch lasted from noon to past 4 pm. She made everything – all so delicious. I remember at least three different meat courses, soup, two different pastas, salad, vegetables, on and on, it was a feast. And I kept on asking to help her and she kept refusing, but finally I insisted. She did have a woman helping get things out of the kitchen but everything else she did. It was such an amazing memorable time for food and conversation. Rossano was around when our oldest was born and now here we were all together again, all grown, on their turf. And yes, we did have fruit for dessert, served with a knife and fork.

Here’s the salad – not really a recipe – just a great combination of ingredients put together. Make it with LOVE and enjoy.

BLOOD ORANGE, AVOCADO AND BABY KALE SALAD – serves 2

2 handfuls of baby kale greens – washed and dried
1 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced
2 blood oranges, peeled with a sharp knife and sliced
2 scallions, sliced, white and light green parts only
Finest extra virgin olive oil you can find – I used Harmonian Kalamata olive oil from our fall MARY’s secret ingredients box
Salt
Pepper, fresh ground

Slice the ends off of the oranges and hold one flat and firm, cut side down, on a cutting board while slicing the peel and pith off with a sharp knife. Roll the orange over and slice into 4 slices.

Place a handful of baby kale on each plate. Put alternating slices of avocado and blood orange on top of the kale. Top with sliced scallions. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Drizzle some olive oil on top. No need for any vinegar as you have the citrus with the oranges. Enjoy!

Escarole, Currants, Pine Nuts and Garlic

February 2, 2015 by Mary 12 Comments

Cooking is an art and your dish should be like a great piece of art – or design – or music. All of those things, if they’re great, have tension and contrast as well as harmonious elements. Certain notes, colors, images, or type should come to the forefront while others recede. A great dish should do the same. It should have a contrast of textures such as crispy and succulent in a piece of fried chicken, a contrast of colors, such as pomegranate seeds on chicory or frisee and a contrast of flavors exemplified by my favorite combination of sweet and savory or the way a wine pairs with a meal. Thinking about all these things gets me excited when creating a new dish. I know, call me crazy, but since design is in my blood, this is really nothing new. (And yes, I am crazy.) And this is how I came up with this simple but really outstanding vegetable dish of Escarole, Currants, Pine Nuts and Garlic recipe. Of course, a little bit had to do with what I had on hand, as always, but the foresight I had in choosing this combination had to do with the principles above, really basic design rules.

This dish delivers on all – the contrast of colors – black, beige and different greens; the contrast of flavors – the bitter of the escarole pitted against the sweet currants, and the contrast of textures – the softly wilted escarole with the crunch and buttery flavor of the pine nuts, and then the spicy heat of the garlic. Scored on all!!!

I hope you’ll make this dish as it will delight. My husband even talked about it the next morning. And as I said, while this truly evolved from just what I had on hand, I will specifically make this combination again and make this dish for company. And don’t forget to add your LOVE when making. Enjoy!

ESCAROLE, CURRANTS, PINE NUTS AND GARLIC – serves 2 – 3

1 small head of escarole, washed and cut into bite size pieces
2 Tbs. olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
3 Tbs. currants
2 Tbs. pine nuts
Salt
Pepper

Warm the olive oil in a large skillet, add the garlic and cover and sweat for 5 – 7 minutes on low heat. Do not let it brown.

Turn up the heat and sauté the escarole, flipping the garlic on top so it doesn’t burn. Add the pine nuts so they can toast. After a few minutes, when the escarole is still crisp with the dark green leaves wilted, stir in the currents, season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with love.

How was your Super Bowl Sunday? I hope you didn’t eat too much junk food – that’s why I thought this healthy vegetable dish would be a good counterpoint to yesterday. Supposedly, Super Bowl Sunday is one of the most highly caloric days for most people! Yep, that’s what I heard on the news. I made an amazing beef chili that I cooked for 2 days and I’ll share that with you later but for now, aren’t these little chocolate peanut butter footballs just the cutest? (The peanut butter was a surprise!)