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Lunch with Nora

March 7, 2013 by Mary Frances

I was having lunch at the office today, by myself, in the conference room, reading this article by Nora Ephron that my friend Marie sent to me. Well, I was literally laughing so hard I was crying and not a sound was coming out!

Do you know that kind of hard, teary, unstoppable laugh? You can read the article here and you too can laugh your socks off. http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Nora-Ephron-on-Maintenance-Remembering-Nora-Ephron

I never met her … but I miss her. She was one great lady!

Ever since her book came out on I Feel Bad About my Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman, I have been obsessed about my neck. I remember first hearing about this book on the radio, while I was in the shower, shaving my legs. They said she talks about you having to shave less as you get older and I thought, great! But then, I have to thank Nora for spending hundreds of dollars on special neck creams and doing awful looking neck exercises in front of the mirror at night before going to bed. I’m not sure if they’re doing anything, but I’m sure as hell putting in the effort.

Now on to my lunch. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about lunch. I actually like to and do bring my lunch to work everyday, including my husband’s, unless I have a lunch date set up with a client or a friend. Of course, many of our clients are friends, so that does double duty.

This all started with the great recession/ depression descending upon us several years ago now. I figured we could save at least 20 bucks a day for the two of us – that’s one hundred a week, four hundred a month! (I can do the math!) But now, I also love to intimately know what I’m putting in to my body. I care about that – and you should too. I love my lunches. They’re clean, healthy and delicious and I know everything about them because I made them. My husband usually has dinner leftovers – he calls it “gourmet fast food” and I love my salads. I think it’s very important to eat some raw food everyday. One probably gets more vitamins and minerals out of them that way, and seeds are good too – sunflower or pepita (remember Euell Gibbons?) are great as garnishes. I’ll tell you what – I feel great every day and have a tremendous amount of energy. And now here’s a funny thing. When my extended family is all together at my one brother’s house in Vermont and they’re all eating sandwiches, hot dogs, chips and dips, on the side, I make my own salad and you know what? They all drool over it, because it looks so delicious, and they’re eating crap. You choose!

I love warm meat on a salad – great protein and staying power to take you through the day. And when the warm meat juices mix with the cool lettuce and dressing, it’s nice. Here is red leaf lettuce, radishes, cucumber, red peppers, grape tomatoes, tomatillo wedges and warmed leftover rosemary roasted pork tenderloin with sauteed onions and apples.

Barbecued Ribs or Santorini Grilled Chicken?

May 29, 2016 by Mary

BBQ ribs – perfect for this holiday weekend. Those are fiddlehead ferns garnishing the platter – they’re in season now!

If you’re thinking of ribs for today or tomorrow, I’ve got you covered with my great rib recipe here. People rave about this recipe and it’s so simple and easy. Or if pork is not your thing, how about a Santorini Grilled Chicken recipe that’s sure to please everyone as it’s stuffed with tomatoes, cheese and onions and oregano. And I’ve added on for you some salads too – one tomato and two potato. So fire up the grill, whip up the salads and enjoy this lovely long weekend with your family – and don’t forget to thank our fallen heroes for their service to our country, as that is what Memorial Day is all about.

Here’s a shot of my Dad’s cavalry hat from WWII. We proudly display it on the wall as a piece of art. (That pie in the back gives a hint of one of our products coming up in our summer box!)

These recipes are all reprise recipes so I’ll just show you the pictures, which all link back to the original post.

We are all out of sorts today. My mother-in-law is passing. She is 96 years old, almost 97, in August. She lived a good long life. I’ve dealt with a lot of passing of people close to me. My mom passed in 1995, my dad in ’98 (of a broken heart from losing my mom. He always thought he would go first.), and then we lost a brother to MS in 2000. All of these were sudden events and a surprise. This, with Steve’s mom is maddening. His sister is in Baltimore with her and has called in hospice. We are both on pins and needles.

Today I spent an hour tearing through the house looking for my reading glasses and then I went to wash my hands in the bathroom and looked up in the mirror – there they were on my chest – hanging from my necklace. Hope this isn’t a sign of things to come! Once I left my car keys at a greeting card store and then they closed and I couldn’t drive home! I was so engrossed in reading funny cards and laughing so hard, I got comfortable, sat on the carpeted floor and left my keys there too. That was a tough one to retrace. Then there was the time I left my keys in the freezer. Don’t ask.

Love your family more. Our time here is precious. Cook with abandon and always serve with LOVE!

Santorini Grilled Chicken

Greek Salad, salad with feta cheese tomatoes cucumbers greek

Tomato, cucumber and feta Greek salad

Best potato salad with fennel, parmigiano cheese, cippolini onions and piccholine olives.

Midwest potato salad in a white Le Crueset bowl garnished with parsley.

Or here’s a great mayonnaise-based potato salad – my Midwest Potato Salad – that was featured in the Tanglewood Cookbook!

Happy New Year to you!

January 7, 2013 by Mary Frances

These days after New Year’s Day last week have been so hectic. Good hectic – so maybe it’s foretelling of a great business year ahead!

We had a wonderful small dinner party on New Year’s Eve. Just six of us, with a couple of kids around through the soup course. My brother, Steve, and his wife, Trish, joined us along with our good friends, Margaret and Wayne. Steve brought along some Petrossian caviar (divine) and served it up on homemade blinis with a touch of crème fraiche – heaven! Our dinner started with a family favorite from the Zuni Café cookbook – asparagus & rice soup with pancetta and black pepper, paired with an excellent champagne – Georges Laval. I then served pan–roasted loin lamb chops with garlic and ginger together with a carrot, parsnip and tarragon puree with oven-roasted tiny Yukon gold potatoes. We finished with holiday cookies and tea and missed the ball dropping.

Then on New Year’s Day, after everyone woke up late, we had a traditional Polish breakfast with fresh Polish sausage, chrzan, scrambled eggs, homemade bread and fruit salad. The kids played St. Petersburg all afternoon and then we moved into our first dinner of the new year.

We started with artichokes simmered in a bath of water, lemon, crushed garlic, bay leaves, salt, pepper and crushed juniper berries, with a mayo-Dijon dipping sauce. Our oldest then wanted to make a pasta course. He made this Mark Bittman recipe that was so easy and SO GOOD!! Watch the video here.
The pasta was delicate and toothy at the same time, so very satisfying and delicious! And really, it was easy. Making these large sheets – handkerchiefs as Mark calls them – adds further ease. The sauce was a simple fresh plum tomato sauce with a little olive oil, garlic and two anchovies, which adds big, big flavor. Topped with some grated Parmesan, this was one fine dish. I really encourage you to make this – it will not disappoint!

Our main course was a Melissa Clark recipe of pan–seared center cut pork chops that had been marinating in olive oil, mashed anchovies and minced garlic, along with some beautiful sautéed escarole, substituting her Swiss chard.

The anchovies were so good in that dinner, I continued with them through the week and shoved some under the skin of a chicken I roasted, along with some rosemary and roasted garlic. My husband and I loved it. Our youngest, not so much. I used six fillets on that chicken, maybe four would have been better to get the big flavor but not the recognizable fishy anchovy taste. I grew up on anchovies. My father loved them and used to serve them to us on saltines!! Talk about salt! And we loved them, so you know how big of a fan I am. (Of course in those days, the variety of crackers available today, just didn’t exist then.)

I hope that your New Year’s celebrations were wonderful and fun. Please write and let me know what you did.

Wishing you an awesome and inspiring New Year that is love-filled and delicious!

So civilized

April 17, 2012 by Mary Frances

My husband and I were asked to take in a French graduate student for 4 months to live with us. We take on French interns at the office but this was the first time we were asked and considered doing this. Quite frankly, our oldest son had such a great experience living with a family in Tuscany for his semester abroad, we thought it was our turn to pay it forward. Charlotte was due to arrive this past Sunday evening so I wanted to make a special meal but of course one that would hold up if she was two hours delayed in getting through customs. So I made this amazing pork roast – my husband and son said it was better than my version of Julia Child’s Beef Bourguinon – and way easier. Recipe to come!

But while I was making everything, I needed a little snack and had to test the wine that was going into this dish. So I fixed a little smoked trout on a Breton cracker with a smear of plain Greek yogurt, a dab of horseradish and a bit of fresh thyme. With a taste of red wine in a little juice glass and the sunlight streaming through the window, isn’t this just the prettiest little picture?

Thanksgiving Wishes and a Giveaway!

November 23, 2016 by Mary

Thanksgiving is tomorrow!! I want to thank you all for your friendship and support. I love reading all of your comments on my posts. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to give away 3 free year-long subscriptions to MARY’s secret ingredients as my gift to you to help you with easy cooking and healthy eating with all the products and the recipes that come with our box. Just enter below and we will randomly select 3 winners!!

LOVE’s Thanksgiving Giveaway

I wanted to share with you something I’m so proud of! Our oldest son and his wife held a Friendsgiving this past Saturday — just look at this spread!! They had 15 of their friends come for an early complete Thanksgiving dinner. He roasted his turkey on the grill and made a pork shoulder. Everyone brought a dish and his wife made my cranberry recipe. Such fun!! I wish I could have been a fly on the wall.

For last minute help, if any of you need it, here is a link to my Thanksgiving cookbook again.

Thanksgiving recipes and process in an e-book format, beautifully designed to give you a magnificent feast.

My complimentary Thanksgiving e-book of recipes and step-by-step process

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! Cherish your time with family and friends and don’t eat too much. 🙂

Grilled Flounder with Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney, Rosemary and Sage

September 3, 2020 by Mary

How many of you adore eating fish but are longing for ways that are quick and easy and would love to add a new zing to just a regular old piece of grilled fish with EVOO, salt and pepper? And how many of you have a refrigerator full of various condiments that take up too much room? I know. So this simple recipe of Grilled Flounder with Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney, Rosemary and Sage delivers on taste and ease all in one!

You don’t necessarily have to go out and buy The English Provender Co. Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney. Although this is very tasty with a savory sweet hot vibe, I say you should try to use up something you already have that has the same vibe. Wouldn’t that be even better?

Of course you could also dress up a piece of fish with my versatile Green Sauce, but that takes more work than I was willing to do last night. ( I can be so lazy…)

Think of flavors you LOVE…

Since it is only me eating now, I am trying all kinds of flavor combinations and I have been fascinated by mixing up sweet summer fruits with meats and fish. I mean, why not? I want to eat something new, surprising and different. After all, being totally alone in this Covid time, cooking and eating (and drinking wine) are the highlights of my day, so I love experimenting.

And I have made a commitment to myself to clean out the fridge of all of these jars! You see, my kids stayed in my apartment in the city for nearly seven weeks and cleaned out that fridge of outdated things and used the others, so now I want to do that here, upstate.

I have tons of jam that I never use on toast. I want to attack those – maybe on grilled pork chops soon…

Get creative!

I hope this post will spur some creativity on your part. Go ahead and try an unusual combination. Have fun! Experiment and enjoy. But remember to always make it with LOVE.

GRILLED FLOUNDER WITH SWEET TOMATO AND CHILI CHUTNEY, ROSEMARY AND SAGE – serves 2

1 lb. fillet of flounder
Extra virgin olive oil
½ TBS. The English Provender Co. Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped
1 sprig of fresh sage
Salt
Pepper

Preheat your grill or oven to 425 F degrees. Use a grilling vegetable pan for the grill.

Thoroughly wash and pat dry the fish. Coat both sides with a thin film of olive oil. Salt and pepper on one side only. Then spread on the Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney. Top with chopped rosemary and lay the sage sprig on top.

Spray the grill pan with high heat grilling spray or if using the oven, line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Grill or roast for about 5 minutes.

Use 2 spatulas to remove the fish to a platter. Cut in half and serve.

Enjoy!

My dinner – with 1/2 sweet potato and fresh cut arugula and tomatoes from my garden!

Friday night super food!

January 28, 2012 by Mary Frances

Sauteed shrimp on top of kale, turnips and red pepper

I put together this dish last night. I needed to use up an unusual combination of vegetables – turnips and kale, and I had a red pepper and one plum tomato begging to be used as it’s the end of the week. (You’re probably saying, “Yuck!”) I shop once a week for all fruits and vegetables and fill in on fish and meat from my specialty shops – Esposito’s Pork Shop and Sea Breeze Fish Market near my office. I had bought some beautiful, large, fresh Florida shrimp.

So what to do? I just thought about what would taste good for each and cooked accordingly, and hoped for the best. I always warn my husband when I’m starting to do this sort of thing, winging it, to hopefully lower expectations.

I roasted the turnips together with the red pepper tossed with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. This roasting made the turnips sweet little chunks. While that was roasting, I slowly sautéed the garlic first, then added the kale and chicken stock and cooked them until they were very tender. At the end, I sautéed the shrimp in softened shallots and dry vermouth. Dry vermouth to me, is wonderous. Unlike just a plain dry white wine, it makes anything taste like fine French food. Really. Off heat to finish, I swirled in a bit of butter, to keep the French thing going. You can do this sort of thing with chicken too and it will taste amazing. Notice, no carbs, (I could do that because Zach was not eating with us), and we didn’t miss that starch. This turned out awesome!! My husband had 4 helpings of the kale and usually he is not a big kale fan. I think he doesn’t like it when it’s not cooked tender enough.

This makes enough to serve 4, although it was just the two of us last night. But then Zach and his girlfriend finished up everything when they came home at 3:30 am. The dirty dishes were in the sink this morning. (At least they make it to the sink!)

SAUTEED SHRIMP WITH KALE, TURNIPS AND RED PEPPERS
– serves 4

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees

2 good-sized turnips, peeled and cut into 1” cubes
1 red pepper, stem and seeds removed, cut into ½” strips and then each strip cut into half lengthwise.
2 tbs. olive oil
salt & pepper

Toss all together and roast in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, until turnips are fork tender and a little browned. Keep warm in a microwave (not turned on) or a warming drawer

1.5 tbs. olive oil
8 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 large bunch of kale, washed thoroughly, stems removed and chopped into 1” strips
1/3 cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper
Some extra water or broth if you need it

Warm the olive oil and sauté the garlic for 10 – 15 minutes to soften. Do not let it brown. Add your kale and chicken broth, toss to combine and cover. Watch and toss often. Add more water or broth if you need to. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook until kale is very tender. It will turn dark.

1.5 tbs. olive oil
2 shallots thinly sliced
1/3 cup dry vermouth
1.5 lbs. shrimp, shells removed, tails left on. Wash 3 times, dry, and salt and pepper one side of the shrimp
1 plum tomato, cut into ½” pieces
1 scant tbs. unsalted butter

Warm the olive oil and sauté the shallots on low heat for 10 minutes or longer. Do not let them brown. Turn heat up, add vermouth and let it bubble for a minute. Add the shrimp and tomato and toss and stir until the shrimp turn pink. This will take about 3 minutes. When shrimp are done, remove pan from the heat and swirl in the butter until melted.

Add the roasted turnips and red peppers with all their sauce to the kale mixture and combine. Place a mound of the kale and turnip mixture in the middle of the plate and mound a serving of shrimp in the center of the kale. Drizzle some shrimp juices on the shrimp and kale.

Enjoy!!

Salmon with Mango Tomato Salsa

August 2, 2014 by Mary

Salmon with mango tomato salsa served with parsley buttered boiled potatoes and roasted broccoli.

So I’ve been on this sweet and savory kick. (We loved the pork chops with grapes.) Just the other night I wanted a quick meal again. Quick, because I’m always starving when I get home from work at night and my husband says I get very mean when I’m hungry. (he’s right 🙁 ) I had a beautiful piece of salmon and a mango. I love these little yellow mangoes. Here’s one that’s really ripe but I wanted to show it to you because I think these are so much more flavorful than the large red and green ones. I put together this dish of roasted Salmon with Mango Tomato Salsa in a jiffy, and it was so delicious, so fresh tasting and so very yummy!

I’ve done mango salsas before but never with tomato, but being on this sweet and savory bent gave me the go-ahead to do this. (Like I need permission for myself?) Mango, tomato, jalapeno, olive oil, lime and cilantro – a beautiful combination!

Then to quickly season and cook the salmon, I turned to Old Bay – for the first time on salmon and it was perfect! My husband is from Baltimore, the home of Old Bay. I always have some around, just in case we get the urge to steam hard-shelled crabs, a family favorite. But you know, I thought I should be using it more than once or twice a year and so here we are with this delicious salmon dish!

Here’s the recipe – light and bursting with freshness – perfect for a late evening summer meal. It was another “can you make this again?” request from my husband, and I wanted to share it with you. And please remember to make it with LOVE as it will always taste better!

SALMON WITH MANGO TOMATO SALSA – serves 2

1 14 oz. piece of center cut salmon fillet, washed and patted dried
1 rounded tsp. Dijon mustard
Sprinkling of Old Bay seasoning
1 tbs. olive oil

Salsa

1 small orange mango, peeled and diced into 1/4″ pieces
4 cherry tomatoes cut into 1/4” dice
1/2 of a jalepeno, minced with seeds
1/2 lime, juiced
1 tbs. olive oil
Fine sea salt
Pepper
2 tbs. chopped cilantro

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Make the salsa: Toss together the mango, tomatoes and jalapeno. (omit the seeds if you’d like less heat) Drizzle on lime juice and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Fold in the cilantro to combine everything. Taste to correct seasoning, if necessary. Let flavors meld while you make the salmon.

For the salmon: Smear the top of the salmon fillet with the mustard and sprinkle on Old Bay. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick, ovenproof skillet over moderately high heat. Place the salmon in, seasoned side down for 3 minutes. Then carefully turn over and place the pan in the oven to roast for 7 – 10 minutes, depending on how well done you like your salmon and if the salmon is super cold or not. Transfer to a platter. Cut into 2 pieces and serve topped with the salsa. Enjoy!

Herbes de Provence and fresh ginger

March 19, 2012 by Mary Frances

Okay, so we got a little respite from Steve’s diet with the beet and tangerine salad in my last posting. I obviously made that before he went on this diet. Hope you will try it as I know you’ll love it!

His diet of no garlic, onions, tomatoes or citrus is really hard for me. He can’t even have chocolate for dessert! So upcoming entertaining will be challenging.

I must admit, however, that each night, my kitchen floor is much cleaner. Why? There’s no little bits of onion or garlic skin dancing around. But really, I’d gladly have them back and pull out the old dustbuster each night.

So basically he’s just supposed to eat seafood, chicken or turkey for the next 4 weeks. He’s cheated a bit with lamb and pork but he’s been good. And I’ve been trying to be a good do bee, helping him adhere. By the way, Do Bee, comes from Romper Room – I had no idea! Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtI1t_3wWLM&feature=channel

So my two new favorite go-to seasonings have been herbs de Provence and fresh ginger! I like to slowly melt the ginger, like you would garlic, before sautéing it with vegetables. This particular night, I again had vegetables begging to be used so I did a drawer clean-up and it was delicious!! I combined some oven-roasted ones with sautéed ginger and cabbage and it was truly amazing. Here’s to all my vegetarian readers!

The turnips will be sweet, the cabbage adds a little crunch, the fennel, interesting flavor and radicchio adds some bite. All interesting, satisfying and delicious. Not to mention, also good for you!

Here’s what I made.

OVEN ROASTED AND SAUTEED MIXED VEGETABLES
– serves 4

2 medium turnips, peeled and cut into 3/4” cubes
1/2 of a large fennel bulb, cut into 1/3” strips
1 very small radicchio or 1/2 of a large one, cut into 1/2” wide wedges
2-3 tbs. olive oil
Salt
Pepper
—————-
One 2” piece of fresh ginger, peeled, sliced thin and cut into matchsticks
2 tbs. olive oil
1 head of Chinese or Napa cabbage, outer leaves removed, and sliced into 1/2” slices
Salt
Pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pile your turnips, fennel and radicchio in the middle of a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and toss well. Roast for about 25 minutes until the turnips are fork tender. Be sure to toss halfway through so they brown evenly. Keep warm.

Meanwhile, warm the 2 tbs. olive oil for the sautéed vegetables. Add ginger and cover to sauté slowly, over low heat for 15 minutes. Add the thick pieces from the bottom of the cabbage, cover again for 5 – 7 minutes until they are tender. Then remove the cover, raise the heat and add the rest of the cabbage, salt and pepper to taste, tossing quickly until crisp tender, about 1 – 2 minutes.

Turn into a large bowl, add the roasted vegetables, all their juices and half of the chopped parsley, and toss all to combine with two large spoons. Sprinkle the remaining parsley on top and serve.

Now in the bowl you will have a lot of liquid as cabbage has a lot of water in it so serve this with a slotted spoon.

I served this with:

PROVENCAL TURKEY BURGERS
– serves 6 – or 4 with leftovers for lunch

2 lbs. ground turkey
1 raw egg plus 1 egg yolk (the egg yolk is optional, I had an extra one and wanted to use it up)
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tsp. herbes de Provence
Salt
Pepper
2 tbs. olive oil

Combine turkey, egg, panko, herbes de Provence, salt and pepper. Mix well but lightly with your hands and form into 6 patties. Do not pack tightly.

Heat olive oil until shimmering but not smoking. Add patties, lower heat a little and sauté 4 – 5 minutes on each side until done.

Enjoy!

Kale & Farro Salad with Spicy Butternut Squash, Broccoli, Radishes & Cashews

April 10, 2016 by Mary

There are so many snack boxes out there — Graze, Love With Food, Snack Nation and Nature Box to name a few. I went to a food conference last Saturday called Founder Made, where numerous new food product founders participated. A lot of discussion was had about how millennials eat, much of it revolving around snacking. And Graze was there touting their “healthy” snacks.

Well I’m here to tell you that while their snacks may not be fried potato chips – they are “healthier” than that – but they are high in calories and sugar just the same. And if you eat three well-balanced meals, you should have no need to snack at all. Come on – one of their snacks was pecan pie pecans – that’s full of sugar and super fattening! That is not a healthy snack.

So the millennials will be overweight and even more detrimental, not understand the value of eating right, balanced meals in the first place. This is like the “low fat” craze of the 80’s – total hogwash!

So what we aim to do with MARY’s secret ingredients is to introduce you to new healthy products that will easily turn a ho-hum ordinary meal into a special gourmet “company” meal. We want to show you how to create fantastic dishes, super easily, with the new healthy products we have curated for you. It might be a new flavored natural jam or a condiment that can be used on steamed vegetables to create a sauce that gives it a wow factor, or creating a unique marinade with tea or how to make a spectacular sauce for grilled fish. Suddenly, “ordinary” moves to “extraordinary” with a few simple moves utilizing our new natural products. And you will know EXACTLY that what you’re putting into your body is good for you, wholesome and will make you feel terrific!!! And we want to eradicate hunger with our partnership with Feed The Children.

All good things!

The spring box shipped last week and I’m excited to share with you the recipes for those new products starting later this week.

I found this today on The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation site – one of my faves:

The first wealth is health. – RALPH WALDO EMERSON

When you regard your life as a trust, you realize that the first resource you have to take care of is your own body. This can be startling. Even your body is not really your own. It belongs to life, and it is your responsibility to take care of it. You cannot afford to do anything that injures your body, because the body is the instrument you need for selfless action. That is the fine print of the trust agreement: when we smoke, when we overeat, when we don’t get enough exercise, we are violating the terms of the trust.

If you want to live life at its fullest, you will want to do everything possible to keep your body in vibrant health in order to give back to life a little of what it has given you.

So on to my recipe of this Kale & Farro Salad with Spicy Butternut Squash, Broccoli, Radishes & Cashews, which was super delicious!

I always think of butternut squash as a winter vegetable so I want to tell you about this dish I made up the other night before spring really gets here, even though it should be here already. All of us on the East coast are still wearing scarves and winter coats. It’s crazy!

This was totally yummy with a lot of ying and yang – cool and hot, spicy and not, crispy and soft textures – a beautiful symphony of flavors and a very satisfying vegetarian dish. Make it tonight – with LOVE – and all will be right in the world.

Promise.

KALE & FARRO SALAD WITH SPICY BUTTERNUT SQUASH, BROCCOLI, RADISHES & CASHEWS – serves 4

4 oz. chopped kale leaves
1 cup farro, cooked
1 small butternut squash, cut in generous ½” squares
1 large onion, cut in ½” squares
2 Tbs. coconut oil
3 Tbs. spice rub* (recipe below – also great for pulled pork)
1 bunch of organic broccoli
1/3 cup chopped roasted, salted cashews
4 thinly sliced radishes
Olive oil for drizzling
2 wedges of lemon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

*SPICE RUB RECIPE:

1½ Tbs. sweet paprika
½ Tbs. garlic powder
½ Tbs. brown sugar
½ Tbs. dry mustard (Coleman’s)
1½ Tbs. coarse sea salt

Mix the paprika, garlic power, brown sugar, dry mustard, and salt together in a small bowl.

This makes more than you need and is also great to rub on a pork butt to make pulled pork. Double it if you’d like to have some extra on hand. Keep in a tightly closed container

Combine the squash and onions with the coconut oil and spice mix on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss all to combine and roast in the oven for 35 – 40 minutes until tender. Toss at the halfway point, at about the 20 minute mark.

Meanwhile, cover the farro with about 3 inches of cold water. Salt with a little coarse sea salt and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 30 – 40 minutes. Taste test with a fork for tenderness. It should be a bit chewy. Strain in a fine mesh colander when done.

Wash all the kale in a lettuce spinner, removing any large stems. Spread on a clean counter to air dry, then chill in a paper towel lined plastic bag in the refrigerator.

Wash and peel stems of the broccoli. Cut each stem into 4 or 5 smaller stems and steam for about 10 minutes, until bright green and crisp tender. When done, remove the steamer of broccoli from the pot so it can air dry a bit.

Wash and trim the radishes. Using a hand mandolin, slice into very thin slices.

Coarsely chop the cashews.

Everything should be done all around the same time, so now you’re ready to assemble!

Line low flat bowls with the kale leaves. Place ¼ of the cooked farro in the middle, with the kale forming a ridge around the edge. Place a scoop of the butternut squash on top of the farro.

Chop the steamed broccoli into 2” lengths, leaving the flowerets intact and place them around the edge of the farro. Tuck in sliced radishes in four places around the bowl as shown.

Place chopped cashews on top of the squash. Drizzle some olive oil on the kale edge of the bowl, and follow that with a squeeze of lemon juice around that same kale edge.

Serve with LOVE, a Vouvray and enjoy!!!

Speegee Spatula

July 23, 2015 by Mary

One recent Sunday afternoon, we went to a big wonderful party at my friend Anne’s house upstate – a pig roast! It was the most wonderful pulled pork along with dozens of salads and a huge amount of desserts. Everyone brought something and most were homemade, except for ours. It wasn’t possible coming from an amazing wedding weekend of the daughter of our friends, Margaret and Wayne. Fortunately, Anne understood. We brought coffee and wine – what we could do. When we arrived at Anne and Frank’s, the first thing she said to me was that she LOVED the blue Speegee Spatula in the box!

Okay, it looks cool and as you can see, it would be really good icing a cake. But what you don’t realize is that the silicone is heavy enough and flexible enough to do a really superior job in just traditional scraping, stirring and tossing.

I have a step-nephew who exited the family for a bit and then came back, and in between, my mother passed and what he could remember about her was “that she could scrape a bowl” as he slapped his knee!! Meaning, super clean. My mother was a child of the depression and being that she had 6 kids to feed, she didn’t waste a drop.

SPREADING

ICING

MIXING

CUTTING

Icing

SPREADING

CUTTING

MIXING

TOSSING

SCRAPING

Well you can do the same thing with this Speegee Spatula that you received in our MARY’s secret ingredients summer box in either blue or white. This is the last item in our summer box and it is a winner!

Fall is not too far away so if you liked the items here, you’re sure to love our upcoming fall box which will mail on September 25^th. Supplies are limited so order now. Don’t miss out on all the LOVE!

And remember, you’ll be helping us with our partnership with Feed The Children. No one should go hungry.

Get Bolder with Smoulder! Shrimp and Tomato Appetizer

October 10, 2014 by Mary

Smouder on fresh tomatoes with olive oil

Smoulder on fresh tomatoes with a drizzle of olive oil

On uncooked salmon – so you can see how much I put on.

Smoulder seasoning.

Well this stuff is so good, I don’t know what you can’t put it on! You WILL want to put it on everything. In fact, the only thing that has stopped me from putting it on everything is that I didn’t want all the things in my meal to taste the same! Everything really can get bolder with Smoulder! It is a wonderful spice blend from South Africa that has smoked peppers, garlic, some salt and pepper. It comes in it’s own grinder so everything comes out fresher.

And here’s the thing, my husband hates smoked things, so at first I was sneaking this stuff on. I mean after all, it’s my duty to be able to tell you the best way to use it, so I had to use it. But he’s loved everything with this! The smokiness is real flavor – real flavor of the peppers, not just smokiness for smokiness sake. And the salt content is light so you can grind away to get more pepper flavor and not worry. You can put it on before you cook or use it as a finishing flavor for more intensity, right before serving, as I did here with the tomatoes.

The finished roasted salmon – use the cooking method in this link.

So let me go through all the things I’ve been putting it on lately:

Tomatoes
Any vegetable – grilled eggplant, roasted okra, roasted zucchini, cauliflower, green beans, yellow flat beans, bok choy and Brussels sprouts
Tilapia
Fillet of Sole
Salmon
Turkey Burgers
Pork chops
Chicken
Even eggs

And you can go on. Probably even popcorn!

Just go ahead and grind and smile like you’ve worked hard in the kitchen! Enjoy!!

Chelsea Market Baskets, where you can buy Smoulder, has so many interesting products, just like this one. Check out their site and order away!! Remember the holidays are coming and they make the best gift baskets.

Smoulder on shrimp and tomatoes topped with sorrel sauce

Here is a super easy, terrific recipe:

SMOULDERED SHRIMP AND TOMATOES APPETIZER – serves 2

6 – 7 large shrimp
Several grindings of Smoulder
1 plum tomato, sliced into 6 or 7 slices
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. unsalted butter
3 Tbs. dry vermouth
Sea salt – optional
Sorrel sauce – optional

Wash and dry shrimp and season liberally with grindings of Smoulder on one side. Season the sliced tomatoes with grindings of Smoulder as well.

Warm the olive oil in a small skillet. Turn heat to medium high and add the unsalted butter. When the sizzling ceases, add the shrimp and tomatoes, seasoned side down. Cook for 2 minutes. Lightly salt the top side, while the seasoned side is cooking. Turn the shrimp and tomatoes over and add the vermouth. Cook for another 2 minutes. Remove the shrimp, when just no longer pink and divide on two plates. Remove the tomatoes and add to your shrimp. Let the sauce simmer a minutes longer, then pour over the shrimp and tomatoes.

Optional: Top with a little sorrel sauce and serve or garnish with fresh chopped Italian parsley.

We hope you enjoy this amazing product that was in our fall MARY’s secret ingredients box.

Best turkey & giblet gravy ever!

November 21, 2011 by Mary Frances

For buttery, melt-in-your mouth white meat and even no need for gravy, follow these instructions. This is the best turkey and giblet gravy recipe, I think, you will ever find. It is a combination of recipes, from Julia Child, Sheila Lukins and my own ideas. I first put this together in 2005 and fortunately, wrote it all down. But first, you must have a great quality, fresh bird – never frozen and never from a big producer. Now some local farm bred turkeys I have found are not so great. Sometimes their dark meat is tough (they walk a lot!) and the breasts are small. My butcher, Bob, from Espisitos Pork Store in Manhattan, gets his from a farm in PA. And then upstate, Mike and Cindy of Thunderhill Farms, produce an excellent bird. Mike is really proud of his turkeys and he sells out every year.

Now I know, there’s a lot of butter here and usually I don’t make recipes that have this much, but fear not. You will not be eating most of it as you degrease the pan juices and only use 4 tbs. to make a lot of gravy.

BEST ROAST TURKEY & GIBLET GRAVY EVER!
One 14.5 – 17 lb. fresh turkey
Sea salt – fine grind
Pepper – fine grind, preferably TexJoy brand
Paprika – sweet
Cornbread sausage stuffing with apples and pecans
2 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, divided into 3 uses ( 20 Tbs.), 1 1/2 sticks should be thoroughly softened at room temperature
2 stalks celery, washed and cut into 3” long pieces
2 fat carrots, peeled and cut in half lengthwise and into 3” long pieces
3 small onions, cut in half or 3/4″ thick slices
4 tbs. canola oil
Cheesecloth – enough to be 3 layers thick and cover the entire breast area
Giblets and neck
1/3 cup tawny port
1 – 2 cups or more of homemade or low sodium chicken broth
4 tbs. flour
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tbs. chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Place the flat sides down of the carrots, celery and onions and arrange in a rectangle to create a vegetable rack in your roasting pan for the turkey to sit on.

Thoroughly wash and dry your turkey, inside and out. Sprinkle salt, pepper and paprika inside both cavities. Fill each with the cooled stuffing and seal closed with skin and metal skewers. Do not stuff too tight as the stuffing will expand while cooking.

Remove the wing tips from the bird and reserve. Skewer the remaining wings to the body with small metal skewers.

Take 1 1/2 sticks of the softened butter and smear all over your bird. Then sprinkle salt, pepper and paprika all over. Place the bird on the vegetable rack in your roasting pan. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine.

Melt 4 tbs. butter in a small saucepan and add 4 tbs. canola oil. Place your cheesecloth in this mixture to soak up all the liquid and arrange the soaked cheesecloth on top of the whole breast area. Save any leftover liquid.

Place in your oven to roast at 325 degrees.

Baste every 30 minutes, without fail, to keep your breast meat juicy and moist. Baste under and over the cheesecloth and use any remaining butter and oil left from soaking the cheesecloth originally. When basting, take the pan out of the oven, close the oven door and baste quickly on top of the stove so your heat stays constant in the oven.

Meanwhile, take your giblets, neck and wing tips and place in a small saucepan and cover with cold fresh water. Bring to a boil and simmer slowly for one hour.

Remove all giblets and neck from the liquid. Remove meat from neck and chop all finely and reserve for your gravy. Discard this liquid.

Roast the turkey until the thickest part of the thigh registers 180 degrees and the thickest part of your breast registers 160 degrees.

During the last 30 – 40 minutes of roasting your turkey, remove the cheesecloth and discard and brush on the 1/3 cup tawny port.

A stuffed 17 lb. bird took 4 hours and 45 minutes. A stuffed 14.5 lb. bird took 3 hrs and 54 minutes. Your oven may vary, but figure on 15 – 16 minutes per pound.

Let the bird rest for one hour and let all those juices re-circulate back into the meat. Serve your soup or first course.

Meanwhile, back to the gravy. Smash the vegetables from the roasting pan through a strainer into a bowl. Degrease the pan juices and add enough broth to make 2 cups.

Melt 4 tbs. butter in a saucepan. Add 4 tbs. flour and whisk together on medium heat, letting it brown slightly for 2-3 minutes. (You are making a roux here!) Whisking constantly, slowly pour in the 2 cups of reserved juices and broth. Whisk until smooth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, add the smashed vegetables, 1 tsp. thyme, salt and pepper to taste (gravy may need more salt than you think – taste it), 1 tbs. chopped parsley and reserved chopped giblets and neck meat. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Add more chicken broth if you think it’s too thick or you know you have a lot of gravy lovers and need to stretch it.

Enjoy!!

Sorrel Sauce

September 10, 2014 by Mary

If you would please indulge me in my over-abundance of sorrel, just one more time, I would so appreciate it. Good thing I love it! And from the last post, I was honored to have turned some of you on to it. Raymund in New Zealand, and John in Chicago, I do hope you both can find it. Margot in Australia, I hope you plant it in your garden now. I know you all will LOVE it! Bright, lemony and light, it works on so many things. So I put together this sorrel sauce to do just that.

This sauce is composed of mainly sorrel (thank goodness it uses a lot!) with a base of yogurt, (I used 2%), which even makes this healthy and relatively low calorie, although it tastes rich and full of flavor, yet light and lemony all at the same time. I used this on sautéed boneless skinless chicken breasts, on seared salmon, as a dip for crackers and even as a sauce for a warm potato salad with some grilled scallions. It’s versatile and super delicious. I made some more last night and threw it in the freezer, because my husband was getting sorrel-ed out!

And the color is so divinely green, it dresses up any dish. This may even work on pork – experiment and have fun!

SORREL SAUCE – makes about 1.5 cups

3 cups packed sorrel leaves, washed and dried
1/2 cup unflavored Greek yogurt (I used 2%)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt
Pepper

In a food processor or a blender, place sorrel, yogurt, garlic, olive oil, the mustard, salt to taste and 12 grinds of fresh pepper. Process until it is bright green. Taste and add more salt, if necessary/desired. Refrigerate until needed. Or freeze for future use.

This is great on grilled seafood, chicken, vegetables or as a sauce for a warm potato salad.

Sorrel sauce on grilled salmon with steamed jasmine rice, grilled Japanese turnips and sauteed kale with garlic.

Sorrel sauce on sliced chicken breasts with roasted broccoli and freekeh.

Sorrel sauce on grilled sliced chicken breasts, with oven roasted broccoli and freekeh.

Braised Veal Chops with Honey and Red Grapes

November 26, 2016 by Mary

Today is my birthday. Yes. A rather big one that I’d prefer not to talk about but here we are! Better than the alternative as my Dad used to say. My oldest son and his wife are coming later today to cook a big dinner with my husband and I am very excited. We have a half of a leg of lamb marinating since last night with Julia Child’s soy, garlic, and mustard glaze, (only we use rosemary instead of thyme). So last night, I decided to treat us, just my husband and me, to veal chops! I absolutely adore this recipe of Braised Veal Chops with Honey and Red Grapes.

I first made this years ago for Harriet, my piano teacher who was really my second mother, at her home with some other friends, way back in 2004. It is based on a recipe from Food and Wine magazine from that year. And this was THE recipe that got me cooking with grapes!

Here’s my Dijon Pork Chops with Herbs and Grapes recipe as well as this New Year’s Crostini Appetizer with Roasted Grapes that is super delicious and of course, perfect for this time of year.

This veal chop recipe is also perfect for this time of year. Veal is expensive and fancy for holiday dinners. However, unlike some other holiday recipes, this one is easy, comes together very quickly, and the cooking time is perfect. You don’t want veal to be rare or even medium rare, you want it just done but not dry, barely pink, and this method of cooking does it just right.

I hope you’ll get a chance to try this. I served it with some roasted Delicata squash with a little butter and maple syrup and some sautéed escarole in olive oil and garlic. A very yummy meal!

BRAISED VEAL CHOPS WITH HONEY AND RED GRAPES – serves 2

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 anchovy fillets
Two ½ lb. veal loin chops, cut about 3/4 inch thick
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
6 sage leaves
3 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup chicken stock or broth
3/4 cup seedless red grapes
11/2 Tbs. honey

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the anchovies and cook over moderately low heat, mashing the anchovies until pureed, about 3 minutes. Increase the heat to high.

Season the veal chops with salt and pepper. Add them to the skillet and cook until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the chops to a platter.

Add the wine, sage, cloves and bay leaves to the skillet and cook over moderately high heat until the wine is reduced to 2 tablespoons, about 5 minutes. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the veal chops and their juices, cover and simmer over low heat until the chops are barely pink in the center, about 3 minutes per side. Return the chops to the platter.

Add the grapes and honey to the skillet, cover and cook over moderate heat until the grapes are tender, about 4 minutes. Scatter the grapes over the chops. Boil the pan juices over high heat until reduced to ½ cup, about 5 minutes. Discard the cloves and bay leaves. Pour the sauce over the chops and serve with LOVE. Preferably in front of a roaring fire. 🙂
Regarding the wine, I think maybe a Syrah would have been better.

Tips & Tools

♥ I only shop once a week – buying only what looks great in vegetables and figuring out what to make with them day by day. This is a time saver, and with the Internet you can always look up recipe ideas to match the ingredients you have on hand, or come back here to LOVE and check our recipe tab.

♥ When toasting nuts for a recipe, always toast extra to have them ready to use on salads or throw on green beans for another dinner. They will keep fine in a sealed plastic container.

♥ I only use French Grey Salt which I grind first with a mortar and pestle – or you can buy a salt grinder. (Zach dropped ours on the granite floor so that was the end of that.) The kernel of salt is just too big to use it as is, so grind it.

♥ I do use coarse grind Sea Salt for salting pasta water and Kosher Salt for brining or preserving lemons.

♥ I do use fine grind Sea Salt and Tex–Joy pepper for seasoning a chicken to roast. It is easier and less messy.

♥ I only use Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I like the Athena brand), except for fancy olive oils for finishing a dish or I use a better grade for salad dressings. I LOVE it when our friends from Tuscany bring some of theirs from the olives off of their trees in their front yard. It’s so green and absolutely spectacular!! Unlike any other found here in the States.

♥ I use as many local fruits and vegetables as I can as well as grass–fed, free range organic meats.

♥ Always have tea tree oil around, as that is the best for burns! (But, the smell is strong and not very good around food.)

♥ Slice your mozzarella cheese while it’s cold, as it’s easier that way. Then cover with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out and leave it out to come to room temperature.

♥ I like to always have fresh tomatoes and a few fresh herbs on hand. With those, you can liven up any dish.

♥ For using ¼ cup or so of frozen chicken broth, thaw the frozen broth in the microwave for a minute or two, just so you can dump it out of the container in one piece on a cutting board and then carefully cut off what you need. Put the rest back into the container and back into the freezer! Pretty cool, eh?

♥ A wonderful butcher (Bob, of Espisito’s Pork Store) once told me that I could keep several slices of pancetta, individually wrapped, in the freezer at all times. Take them out one at a time and they will thaw very quickly to use.

♥ I have found that most butchers in independent shops love to do special work for your recipe. They take ownership in their work, have a lot of pride in what they do and want to be a part of your meal. So next time, let them know what you’re trying to do and just ask!

For example, my friend Susan was buying a boneless, butterflied leg of lamb. She brought in her mustard paste and her butcher was happy to spread it on the meat, season it with salt and pepper and rolled and tied it back up to form a roast, with the bone put back in the one end so it looked pretty.

♥ Remember, it is always about the ingredients. The quality of the ingredients you use make the dish. You can make a very simple dish taste sublime with high quality ingredients. Take any piece of super fresh fish, rub on a little fantastic extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle French grey salt and fresh ground tellicherry black pepper, oven roast at 425˚F at a rate of 10 minutes per one inch of thickness – or grill in the same manner – (the Canadian method) and you will have an amazing main dish!

♥ When roasting or baking fish, oil slick a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle the baking sheet with salt and pepper. Then place your fish on the pan and move it around a bit. This will season the underside of the fish – clever eh?

My must–have pieces of equipment

Lettuce Spinner

Absolutely essential – use for lettuces, arugula, all fresh herbs, any greens (dandelion greens, broccoli rabe, swiss chard, mustard greens, you name it).
Hand Mandoline

So easy to use, and you don’t need to take out the big thing and devote the space on the counter to using it.
Great Sharp Knives

– I use Henkels
Cuisinart
Mini Cuisinart
Instant Read Digital Meat Thermometer
Hand–held Garlic Press
Digital Scale
Poultry Shears
Mortar and Pestle

Still can’t find what you are looking for? Search through Canadian online shopping sites

Easter Lunch in Italy

May 19, 2022 by Mary

I absolutely adore the Italian tradition of a proper Sunday lunch, a multi-course wonderful meal in the sun dappled daylight of the afternoon, Prosecco, wine and Vin Santo early in the day. And enough time for a walk in the afternoon to work it all off. And Easter Lunch in Italy is even more special! Buona Pasqua!

(I had debated in my mind that perhaps it was too late to post about my Easter Lunch in Italy but I really wanted to share this time with you and make it permanent on the blog. I had posted some photos as an Instagram story, but they disappear after 24 hours, so here you go. And truth be told, I’ve been too busy cooking, eating and drinking here to do a proper post before this time!)

My Easter, Growing Up

My mom would always serve a big Easter dinner with a leg of lamb or ham or both if we had a huge crowd. I carried on that tradition with my own family, usually roasting a pancetta-wrapped leg of lamb with some additional traditional Polish dishes, including homemade bread and beets with horseradish.

Easter Lunch in Italy -Tagliatelle. — Marzia’s homemade Tagliatelle.

Tiziana hosted this year’s Easter Lunch and it was utterly fantastic. Thirteen people were present, of all ages, and practically everyone pitched in with the food. Her sister-in-law, Marzia, outdid herself making 3 different kinds of bread, all of the tagliatelle noodles, the tiramisu and fruit salad. Marzia’s friend, Eleanor, made a super delicious lemon tart with an outstanding cookie crust.

Andrea, Tizi’s husband, made a spectacular sugo sauce with pork and sausage meat. And then of course we had Tizi’s amazing starters, plus her delicious roasted lamb with rosemary, potatoes and sautéed fresh spinach from the Farmer’s Market. I added a radicchio salad, made with the long leaves of radicchio, which are much less bitter than the round headed variety. Radicchio and thinly sliced celery were topped with gorgonzola, toasted walnuts and a fresh lemon juice olive oil vinaigrette.

The excitement and mirth before and during the meal were palpable. And Tiziana does not disappoint.

Here is the complete menu, but I am almost certain that I left something out.

STARTERS WITH PROSECCO

Crostini with homemade chicken liver pate
Dark bread crostini with salted butter and smoked salmon
Hard boiled eggs
Pollo in galantina
Various thinly sliced meats and sausages

FIRST COURSE: with a light red wine
Homemade tagliatelle with sugo sauce and grated parmigiana

MAIN COURSE: with my red wine – 2020 Bolgheri Bell’Aja
Roasted lamb with Rosemary and garlic
Roasted potatoes
Sautéed spinach
Radicchio salad with sliced celery, Gorgonzola, toasted walnuts and a lemon vinaigrette dressing

DESSERT: with a choice of Sauternes and/ or Vin Santo

Tiramisu
Lemon Tart
Fruit Salad
Meringue and cream cake with strawberries
Coffee

Our After-lunch Walk!

The vineyards are starting to grow again.

After eating (lunch is pranzo) we went for a beautiful walk in the hills of Arezzo, near the house I used to rent!

I hope your Easter or Passover were wonderful and filled with LOVE!!

Vegetable Lasagna with a Side of Pasta

April 28, 2013 by Mary Frances

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!!

Easter stories

April 7, 2013 by Mary Frances

Why is it that Easter is the shortest holiday, that one Sunday only? All the days leading up to it are sad and then it’s just that one day and then back to work on Monday. Thanksgiving has the long weekend afterwards. Christmas has the week between Christmas and New Years. Even Passover gets at least two days of attention, but Easter is one.

Easter was my mother’s favorite holiday. She was a devout Catholic so no wonder. I remember her scrubbing the house spic‘n span in the days leading up to it, washing windows and all the sheer drapes, sending the rest out to the cleaners. That fresh clean smell was intoxicating to me, so memorable even now, her Spring cleaning was deep. And then Easter. She even had me wear a hat when I was little, a new one every year, along with her new hat for church. She passed away the Monday after Easter, that year in April, 1995. One of her last words to me were, “Did you color eggs?” She wanted to make sure I was keeping up traditions with with my boys. She used to color eggs the old fashioned Polish way with onion skins. (Don’t ask me how!) Well that year, did I color eggs?? I colored six dozen of them! We lived in New Jersey at the time and two of my brothers were visiting, each of them having two boys each, plus our two, and our neighbor across the street (they had six kids) always held a neighborhood Easter egg hunt and you were required to deliver to them a dozen eggs for each child hunting. So there you have it – six dozen eggs – yikes!

We had 9 people for Easter dinner this year, a lovely party with extended family, roommates and girlfriends. One guest saw my table and said, “Oooo what fun!” Exactly what I loved to hear. But I didn’t color eggs this year. With no little ones around, I don’t, but I do like to decorate the table with the antique Easter baskets I inherited from my mother. The rectangular box even plays “Here Comes Peter Cottontail.” It skips a few notes around the hippity-hoppity part but we all get a kick out of it every year. The food ended up to be a bit of a pork fest.

My sister-in-law and her mother brought the appetizers – deviled eggs and a red pepper dip with crudités and delicious homemade sesame crackers made with almond flour – gluten free!

We started our dinner with a yummy traditional Easter Polish soup that our youngest son made. It was vegetable broth based with bacon and two different kinds of garlicky Polish sausage. The broth was light and lemony, perfectly paired with a New York Finger Lakes Riesling. We then moved on to a baked, organic free-range ham (from Mike and Cindy’s Thunderhill farm in upstate NY) with a clove, honey, mustard and dark rum glaze, Italian beans with pancetta, chrzan, and roasted asparagus. The chrzan was rousingly potent with German horseradish from Greenpoint, Brooklyn and the beans were such a hit. I believe everyone had seconds on everything except the asparagus. I got a thank you note on Friday from a guest requesting the bean recipe and describing them as “silky”, which is apt. You kinda want to wrap yourself in them. I promised this recipe to you all after Christmas and I have yet to get off my butt and do it. It is complicated, which is why I haven’t done it, but I promise I will soon. My brother, Steve brought some amazing California Pinot Noir, (rare and unavailable outside of the vineyard in California – he and his wife just spent eight weeks nearby as test living arrangement) which paired beautifully with the meal. For dessert, I made a sour cream topped cheesecake and some chocolate dipped strawberries. One guest said the top of the cheesecake was so smooth, it looked like a skating rink! She took the one piece left over home – along with the jelly beans. One problem here, I was having such a good time, I forgot to take photos of the food!

Hope you had a fantastic celebration, whether it was Passover or Easter, filled with family, friends and LOVE.

Our Gluten-Free summer MARY’s secret ingredients Box!

July 2, 2014 by Mary

Our summer MARY’s secret ingredients box was mailed last Wednesday, so all of you who ordered should have received it by now. We love these products and as it turns out, they are ALL gluten-free, even the toaster oven liner! And a big thank you to all of you for supporting our mission to eradicate worldwide hunger, as your purchase helps to support Feed The Children.

We have great items to eat and drink, just as they are, at any of your upcoming picnics or BBQ’s, and as I did with the spring box, I will provide inspiration and recipes using all of the ingredients here on this blog over the next two weeks, so please stay tuned.

Check out the video below of our lovely Marie opening a box to the Frank Sinatra tune of HOW ABOUT YOU.

LOVE, Mary

Or you can check it out on youtube here.

ZUKALI MEXICAN GOURMET Big taste, small beginnings. Zukali Mexican Gourmet was born out of a passion for making food and salsas at cookouts with friends and family in their hometown of McKinney, Texas. At Zukali, flavor is foremost.

Cilantro Pineapple Salsa: Inspired by tacos al pastor, this tangy love story of cilantro & pineapple is sure to arouse your tastebuds. We roast fresh peppers over an open flame, we toss in pineapple, and steep it all in a special blend of spices to bathe your mouth in salsa bliss.

COMMUNITY SPICE COMPANY Community Spice Company was founded by nurse Janis Callon in 2010. She comes from a family of foodies. Her father, Stanley, was an executive with Del Monte and her mother, Donna, was a registered dietician. Distressed by the poor quality and the outrageously salty spice blends typically found in the stores, she became adamant to make a healthy low sodium flavored spice blend line that used premium ingredients with realistic labeling for serving sizes.

barbi Q: A perky spice blend that is Community Spice Company’s signature flavor! It is fun, friendly, and the life of the party. Perfect on steak, salmon, ribs, burgers, chicken and home fries.

ka Bobbii: Light and luscious. Lemony with a stimulating twist.
Perfect pick up to fish, chicken, couscous, lentils, & quinoa.

SNP 400: Flexible blend with national appeal. Fantastic with roast chicken, burgers, soups & chili.

mz. Curri: Exotic and confident. This blend takes no prisoners nor will you! Great on veggies, chicken, pork, prawns, fish and onions!

SIMPLY7 The idea behind Simply7 was born because most of the food you are eating everyday is made with ingredients that most people don’t recognize and can’t even pronounce. Simply7 decided to make sure that every ingredient in their products is not only natural but is SIMPLE. Everyone should be able to identify the raw vegetable, fruit, grain, or legume used as ingredients in their products.

Sea Salt Quinoa Chips: All of Simply7 Quinoa Chip flavors are designed to deliver all the flavor and nutrients of the ancient super grain, quinoa. Sea salt is our “original” flavor and truly brings out the slightly nutty flavor of quinoa. You might expect sea salt to be similar to the flavors of other basic salted snacks but it is so much more. The unique flavor of quinoa and the light dusting of sea salt makes for a snacking experience that will keep you reaching for more.

CHEF’S PLANET Chef’s Planet makes life in the kitchen easier. It also offers other innovative, problem-solving kitchenware. They believe you can balance cooking with a busy life, so they are constantly thinking of new ways to make cooking simpler and more enjoyable!

What exactly is an ovenliner? Well, it’s a time saver. A drip and crumb catcher. No need to use chemical cleaners. Chef’s Planet toaster-ovenliner can be easily trimmed to fit on the rack. And, best yet, it’s MADE IN THE USA!

JAXN’S TWICE-BAKED POTATO STIX® The Bodacious Food Company, committed to providing fresh, great tasting premium baked products, created Jaxn’s Twice-Baked Potato Stix® in 2009 as their gluten free and all natural baked snack. Jaxn’s introduces a new, unique concept in better-for-you snacking.

Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper: Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper is a perfect duo of century-old flavors. Experience our snack’s robust blend of cracked pepper and natural sea salt. We sprinkle our flavorsome spice recipe on each twice-baked stix, providing “ingredient conscious” snacks bite-after-bite. Bye bye fries!

BRUCE COST GINGER ALE Bruce Cost Ginger Ale was founded in 2010 by Bruce Cost, author of an award-winning cookbook, a chef and a ginger lover. The original recipe was first created as part of a medicinal dinner. Several years later, after amassing a cult following for the beverage, Cost began bottling it with his partners, entrepreneurs Joseph and Terry Tang. In 2014, Bruce Cost Ginger Ale opened its very own factory, bringing the brewing process to Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Ginger Ale Original: Proud descendent of the first soft drink, Bruce Cost Ginger Ale is delicious, sparking and rich with whole ginger. Made with only fresh ginger (no extracts or oils) and pure cane sugar, this is a fundamentally simple, delicious and spicy beverage. Unfiltered with rich ginger particles, it provides iron and a little vitamin C as well as refreshment. MADE IN BROOKLYN

CLEAN, LEAN AND SEXY Clean, Lean and Sexy was inspired by a mother’s mission to transform her daughter’s health. Suzie Carpenter, a Certified Nutrition and Peak Health Coach founded Clean, Lean and Sexy to provide great-tasting whole food energy products in the form of simple, gluten-free healthy snacks.

Coconut Cashew All Natural Whole Food Energy Bar: Healthy snacks without hidden ingredients are hard to find. Clean, Lean and Sexy Whole Food Energy Bars are made with only pure, all natural, recognizable ingredients; and they taste great! They are made with real coconut and without gluten, corn, soy or dairy ingredients. There are also no processed sugars or artificial sweeteners. Indulge, enjoy and be free (now that’s sexy)! It’s a No Grainer!

2 COUPONS

Please note: Mortar and pestle are a part of MARY’s secret ingredients trademark and are not items included in the box.

Lunch with Nora

Barbecued Ribs or Santorini Grilled Chicken?

Happy New Year to you!

So civilized

Thanksgiving Wishes and a Giveaway!

Grilled Flounder with Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney, Rosemary and Sage

Think of flavors you LOVE…

Get creative!

GRILLED FLOUNDER WITH SWEET TOMATO AND CHILI CHUTNEY, ROSEMARY AND SAGE – serves 2

Friday night super food!

Salmon with Mango Tomato Salsa

Herbes de Provence and fresh ginger

Kale & Farro Salad with Spicy Butternut Squash, Broccoli, Radishes & Cashews

Speegee Spatula

Get Bolder with Smoulder! Shrimp and Tomato Appetizer

Best turkey & giblet gravy ever!

Sorrel Sauce

Braised Veal Chops with Honey and Red Grapes

Tips & Tools

My must–have pieces of equipment

Lettuce Spinner

Hand Mandoline

Great Sharp Knives

Cuisinart

Mini Cuisinart

Instant Read Digital Meat Thermometer

Hand–held Garlic Press

Digital Scale

Poultry Shears

Mortar and Pestle