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

Cooks’ secret sauces

August 6, 2013 by Mary Frances 20 Comments

Yesterday I had lunch with my friend Jill. Jill’s husband is Dominican and she talked about her big family dinner party she had on Saturday night for her in-laws and other relatives. She recently moved from a co-op to a house in NJ with two young kids, so this was a special dinner with both sides of the family in her new home. Her food was met with rave reviews!

Then she talked about her mother-in-law’s “special sauce.” She said they all have one in the Dominican Republic – the aunts – everyone – and they’re all a bit different. She does not know what’s in it – the fast talking Spanish makes it hard. But it seems like it’s vegetables and all goodness, and sounds like a lot of LOVE. Her husband brings home food from his mother’s house – simple things – like quinoa – but with the special sauce they are spectacular. I asked her if it was tomato based – no. Was it like a chimichurri – no. But her mother-in-law was so respectful of Jill, telling her son, oh well Jill certainly has her “own sauce” and she wouldn’t want to intrude. Larry laughed and said no, Jill doesn’t have a sauce. She said she tried to make one once and it was inedible. So she uses a great bottled sauce that her mother-in-law loved (thought it was her “special sauce”) on the grilled skirt steak she served.

Boy would I love to have that woman’s “special sauce” recipe or be a fly on her kitchen wall when she’s making it!

Meanwhile, last night, being tired and hungry, I used some “bottled sauces” and actually made a very good dinner. It didn’t look all so pretty, but it was darn tasty. I made the chicken and the squash all in the same baking pan, roasting all at once – easy! Providing you have the pesto sauce already made, you can honestly make this whole dinner in about 40 minutes. Really!! – no Rachel Ray joke.

CHICKEN BREASTS WITH GRAINY MUSTARD, JALAPENO & LIME – serves 3 – 4

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 tbs. grainy mustard
Salt
6 slices of fresh jalapeno pepper
6 slices of fresh lime
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Wash and pat dry the chicken, trimming off any fat. Slick a baking pan with a little olive oil. Place chicken breasts on the pan, and brush 1 tbs. of grainy mustard on the top of each. Lightly salt them and place 2 jalapeno slices on top of each. Then cover each jalapeno slice with a lime slice. Roast for 15 – 22 minutes, until the thickest part registers 155 – 160 degrees. Remove to a platter and let rest for 5 – 8 minutes. Lightly drizzle good quality extra virgin olive oil on top and serve.

SQUASH WITH TAMARIND CONCENTRATE – serves 4

2 squash – I zucchini and 1 yellow
4 tsp. tamarind concentrate
Salt
Olive oil

Wash and trim ends of squash. Cut lengthwise and score with crosshatching. Paint one tsp. of tamarind concentrate on each half and salt lightly. Roast at 475 degrees for 25 minutes or until crisp tender. Remove to a serving plate and lightly drizzle olive oil on top and serve.

I served with this with brown rice pasta topped with some pesto sauce I had taken out of the freezer yesterday along with some farmer’s market sunny gold tomatoes, sliced in half. It was yummy – a dinner my husband talked about again this morning!

Farmer’s Market green bean recipe

August 1, 2013 by Mary Frances 6 Comments

Green bean recipe with farm fresh beans, in a skillet with butter, ready to be cooked.

Delicious, skillet-cooked green bean recipe.

In addition to the terrific chicken we had last Friday and the leftovers for lunch this week, I would be remiss if I didn’t share this green bean recipe I made featuring Ethel and Tom’s glorious beans.

Just look at these beauties, which we had with the chicken. I used my old trusty skillet method and then topped them with some chopped fresh basil from my garden at the end. They were so darn delicious!! I highly recommend this green bean recipe when you want a healthy, beautiful, quick addition to your plate.

I also took a carton of their frying peppers, washed and tossed half of them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and Steve threw them on the grill. So very, very yummy.

Then they had (literally, and yes they know the Fourth of July is over) red, white and blue potatoes to sell! Since my husband has been following the “4 Minute Abs” diet (ha!), we are not eating anything white. So I bought the red potatoes. We could eat those!!

So on to the contest. As you could have guessed by now, I did not win. But I so appreciate all of your votes and efforts!! Thank you so much! It’s a pain to do it every day, I know. 373 people entered and the winner got 4000 votes. I was in the top 35 with about 400 votes. 🙁 Perhaps next time!

Baby artichokes and Mother’s Day!

May 12, 2013 by Mary Frances 14 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day to all you Moms out there!! This is my favorite holiday! Milk it for all it’s worth. I like to think of it as Mother’s Day WEEKEND! Yesterday we saw Gatsby at the movies. It is one of my favorite novels, having read it at least three times. The movie was just great, full of glitz and glamour, I could not stop grinning from ear to ear during all of the party scenes, wishing I could have been there. Steve made me breakfast this morning, (not in bed – that’s gross), complete with roses and a hysterical card. I got to garden and go bike riding. And my boys are making me a surprise dinner tonight in the city! I can’t wait!

But first, let me tell you about our dinner salad last night because it is the season for all these rare and young things! Ramps, fiddlehead ferns and now baby artichokes. At my stores, they sell them by the dozen, boxed. With just the two of us, that makes it challenging to use. So last week, I made salads with them raw and thinly sliced on a mandoline. Then I steamed some, like you would a regular sized artichoke and then the rest were now several days old and 2 kids came home for dinner by surprise last Thursday. The artichokes were not fresh enough to serve raw, so I decided to slice them up and sauté them with my baby bok choy and garlic. They were delicious!!
So last night, I just went straight to that method and put them on top of an arugula salad, with a fresh lemon juice and olive oil dressing and some slices of Parmigiano reggiano. Delish!! The lovely woody, warm, tender artichokes on top of the cool crisp arugula, combined with the Parmigiano and lemon and olive oil – so simple – yet different and delicious!! It is always about the quality of the ingredients in any dish but particularly in something as simple as this. Because it is so simple, each ingredient can shine. And if something is not the greatest quality, it will scream out too. So use the best you can.

The thing about baby artichokes that kills me is that you have to throw so much away to get to the tenderness inside. I guess that’s my depression era mother rising up in me again. Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom!

SAUTEED BABY ARTICHOKES AND ARUGULA SALAD WITH PARMIGIANO
– serves 2

4 baby artichokes
½ tbs. unsalted butter
salt
pepper
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice or more to use on the artichokes to prevent browning
1 bunch of arugula
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, thinly sliced with a vegetable peeler
2 tbs. fresh lemon juice
½ tsp. Dijon mustard
Scant ½ cup olive oil

Wash and spin dry the arugula and chill in the refrigerator. Make the dressing by combining the mustard, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Slice your cheese and cover with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out.

Wash the baby artichokes and remove all the outer leaves, peel the stems, and cut off about 1” from the top. Slice each one in half and then slice each half in 3 or 4 slices. Work quickly and drizzle a little lemon juice on, to prevent them from turning dark, which they will do rather quickly.

Melt the butter in a non-stick skillet on medium-high heat and add sliced artichokes. Saute until tender and golden brown, using a cover for the pan to produce some steam and moisture, stirring often. This will take 10 – 15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and remove when fork tender.

Distribute your washed arugula on two salad plates. You probably won’t use it all.

Scatter the artichokes over the plated arugula, along with the slices of cheese. Drizzle on some dressing and serve immediately. You will have dressing left over which will keep in the refrigerator.

Fiddlehead ferns

May 11, 2013 by Mary Frances 6 Comments

So limited in time. So delicious!! I have cooked them before but never had them so fresh. If we are able to leave the city early on Fridays and have time to go to this grocer in Poughkeepsie, we are set for the following week. This grocer has amazing local vegetables, very reasonably priced, as well as great fish and meats. They had fiddlehead ferns AND baby artichokes that were just beautiful!!!

So I made the fiddleheads on Friday night. Blanched them in boiling water for a minute and then sauteed them in ½ tbs. butter for a bit until some browned edges started showing up. A little salt and pepper and that’s all you need!

Talk about DELICIOUS!!!! Really yummy – my husband was still talking about them tonight!

My advice, try to find these babies NOW. They are only around for 1-2 weeks.

Please let me know how you make out with them.

Vegetable Lasagna with a Side of Pasta

April 28, 2013 by Mary Frances 30 Comments

Meatless meals. I love them, my husband, not so much. Well that’s really an understatement. He hates them. But this one, he loved.

Really.

I keep calling this a lasagna, yet I don’t know why, because there’s no pasta in it. But it does have layered things and mozzarella and Pecorino Romano cheese. Maybe it should be called a clean eggplant Parmigiano because the eggplant is neither breaded nor fried and there’s very little olive oil in it. No matter, this is really, really good. It’s fresh and bright tasting and the zucchini was still a little crisp with the crunchy goodness of the bread crumbs – this is my kind of dish!

Perhaps you could suggest some names for me?

So I made this a week ago last Wednesday. I really try to do one meatless meal a week and two fish nights and then chicken, pork or lamb. We rarely eat beef. How about you – what’s your meal make-up?

When I made this, I made a huge portion as you can see in the video – but that turned out to be a great benefit. Steve and I had it for dinner the night I made it and then I carefully saved the rest, lifting it out of the pan, keeping the breadcrumbs on top. We had one other portion as a side vegetable one night for another dinner and then I served it as a first course for dinner with our friends Margaret and Wayne, last Saturday. It was perfect, warmed up in the oven, flash broiled again to crisp up the breadcrumbs. It received rave reviews!! Really. (and they had no idea it was a leftover)

Here’s the recipe:

VEGETABLE LASAGNA WITH A SIDE OF PASTA
– serves 6 as a main course or 8 – 10 as a starter

Peanut oil
Olive oil
3 small striped eggplants, washed, dried, sliced into 1/4″ – 3/8” rounds
2 zucchinis, washed, dried, sliced into 1/8″ rounds
1 lb. mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
2.5 – 3 lbs. of fresh plum tomatoes, sliced into 1/4” rounds
7 cloves of garlic, minced
A handful of ramps, if you can find them or 1.5 Tbs. of fresh thyme leaves or whatever herb you like, chopped
1.5 Tbs. olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 scant cup of bread crumbs
3 Tbs. chopped parsley
3 Tbs. fresh grated Pecorino Romano cheese
2 Tbs. olive oil

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Pour a little bit of peanut oil on a paper towel and wipe a rimmed baking sheet with it. Lay eggplant slices on top and season with fine grind sea salt and pepper. Roast on the bottom rack of your oven for 20 minutes. When done, remove slices with a thin metal spatula so the browned parts stay on the eggplant and not on the pan. Reduce oven heat to 350 – 375 degrees.

Meanwhile prepare the zucchinis, tomatoes, garlic and ramps or thyme. TIP: Slice your cheese while it’s cold as it’s easier that way. Then leave out to get to room temperature.

Slick a tiny bit of olive oil in the bottom and sides of a 9” x 13” Pyrex glass pan. Put in a layer of sliced tomatoes, Then a layer of roasted eggplant, then the minced garlic, mozzarella cheese and then zucchini. Grind some pepper on top. Drizzle on top 1.5 Tbs of olive oil, then the ramps or thyme, and then the final layer of tomatoes. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 – 375 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes, until liquid is bubbly and the zucchini are fork tender.

Meanwhile, mix 2 tbs. olive oil with the breadcrumbs, parsley and grated Pecorino Romano cheese. Toss to combine in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. Remove the aluminum foil and turn your broiler on. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the whole dish. Broil the dish to get the breadcrumbs crispy, about 2 – 3 minutes. Watch carefully so it doesn’t burn!

Let rest for 10 – 15 minutes before cutting and serving. Enjoy!! I served this with a side of pasta with some garlic and parsley. Delish!!

Ramps!

April 13, 2013 by Mary Frances 16 Comments

Today, we stopped by our farmer friends, Ethel and Tom, to buy some honey and eggs and he had just come back from digging up some ramps and offered me some.

Awesome! This season is so short and I seemed to have remembered seeing the stem part at farmers markets but I think I was confusing it with garlic scapes. The leaves are so very tasty. They taste both garlicky and oniony. They are actually a relative of the leek and signify that Spring has arrived! I’m going to chop them up and put some in my baby kale salad tonight that we’re having with a broiled skirt steak. I’ll throw the rest in some scrambled eggs in the morning. He said many people make pesto with the leaves as well. That would be darn good but I don’t have enough to do that.

Tom said I could use the leaves and part of the stem and then plant the roots back in the ground to come up next year! I did just that!

Funny, in a little research, I learned that ramps are a part of the Allium family, and I just planted some of those beautiful tall purple spherical flowers last Fall and they are just coming up. So I planted these ramps nearby. After all, you’ve got to keep the family together, right?

My purple Allium coming up!