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

Super Quick Broccoli Rabe and Pasta Recipe

July 10, 2016 by Mary 7 Comments

We all have our little tricks in the kitchen, right? And many of us have our secret ingredients we always turn to.

Mine, of course, is LOVE. Cooking with the intention of LOVE – loving the dish you’re making or knowing that when you serve the food, your family and friends will LOVE it and you will make them happy, that’s what turns me on. And that’s why I always cook with LOVE. I just want to make people happy. Nothing makes me happier than to hear little murmurs of delight from folks while eating my food.

Our youngest son, Zachary, whose birthday is today, said he knew my food always tasted so good because of the LOVE I put into it while cooking. One sister-in-law of mine told me years ago that I was good at picking recipes. But then she asked, why did my food always taste so good. She had made some of the same recipes. I guess Zachary had the answer.

So I was talking to a new colleague about our MARY’s secret ingredients culinary subscription box and he told me his “secret ingredient” was capers.

I also love capers and caperberries even more! Roasted, they become that crunchy burst of saltiness that I just love. Anchovies are another – throw them into a dish and they melt and add that wonderful umami flavor. Pancetta is also another good one.

Back to the box, our summer box is hitting mailboxes right now and as usual, it has a great curated collection of new products, some are ready to eat and with all of them, I’ve created a delicious recipe to make meals special for you and your family. There are still a few summer boxes left and you can pick one up here. If you use the code SAVE20 you can save 20% on a full year subscription – that’s 4 seasonal boxes for about $87.00! And remember, we are a proud supporter of the worldwide organization combatting hunger, Feed The Children, so a portion of your box purchase goes to support them.

Back to this Super Quick Broccoli Rabe and Pasta Recipe, this is a great dish for a meatless night. Meatless Monday is tomorrow! My proportion of broccoli rabe to the pasta is great – a lot more broccoli rabe and depending on how big your eaters are, this can serve 2 or 3 with just 8 oz. of pasta. This comes together so quickly, using the already near boiling water from the broccoli rabe to cook the pasta in. Bringing the broccoli rabe to almost boiling removes the bitterness and starts to work on tenderizing those stems.

Super Quick Broccoli Rabe and Pasta Recipe in 2 bowls.

I was debating if it needed cheese and it didn’t!

Make this tomorrow night to start your week quick. Make it with LOVE and enjoy!!

SUPER QUICK BROCCOLI RABE AND PASTA RECIPE – serves 2 – 3

I bunch of broccoli rabe, ends trimmed, cut into 2” pieces, and washed in a bath of water to remove all grit. Never
buy broccoli rabe that has blooming yellow flowers – that’s a message that it will be very bitter
1/2 lb. spaghetti or other dry pasta
3 Tbs. olive oil
7 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
5 anchovies, blotted dry of oil
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
Coarse sea salt – for cooking pasta and broccoli rabe
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

In a large pasta pot, place the washed broccoli rabe. Fill the pot with water to be at least 2 inches above the broccoli rabe. Add in the salt and stir to combine. Place the pot on high heat.

Meanwhile, warm the 3 Tbs. olive oil in a large skillet on low heat, (large enough to hold the broccoli rabe and pasta too), add the garlic and stir. Do not let it brown.

When small bubbles appear around the edges of the pot with the broccoli rabe, remove the rabe with a slotted spoon into a colander over a bowl and let drain. Let the water in the pot come back to a full boil. When that happens, add the pasta and cook for 2 minutes less than the lower number on the package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, (be sure to stir every once in a while), put the broccoli rabe in the skillet with the garlic and raise heat to medium – medium-high. Cook a bit more, and toss. Add in the anchovies and keep tossing and cooking.

When the pasta is near the end of cooking, take a large coffee mug and scoop out some pasta water. Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet with the broccoli rabe, stirring with tongs to combine. Add about ¼ cup of pasta water, the crushed red pepper flakes and toss to finish cooking the pasta just to al dente and be sure the broccoli rabe stems are crisp tender. Taste to your liking with more salt and some fresh ground black pepper.

Serve in warm bowls with LOVE!

EXCITING TRAVEL NEWS!

I want to tell you, I’m so excited, we’re heading to Poland and Italy in 11/2 weeks!!! We will celebrate Zach’s birthday in Warsaw with his fiancée, Agata. They have big plans to take us all over including visiting local farmer’s markets and a day trip to Krakow. Then we will fly to Milano, 2 days there, then train to Arezzo in Tuscany for Bianca’s wedding. Bianca is sort of my surrogate daughter. She is the daughter of the family our oldest son lived with for his semester abroad during his university years. She and her fiancé have visited us in NYC often. But, it has been 10 years since both families have been together and Tiziana, the mother, has asked me to help her cook the Friday night family dinner before the wedding on Saturday! I am SO excited and honored!!! We have been emailing. I will shop with her in the morning for her cheeses and she has asked me to come up with ideas for dessert. I’m thinking of big pans of rhubarb and strawberry crisps. What do you think?

So get ready for some great fun stories and photography from Poland and Italy!!! Is there anything specific you’d like to see? Let me know…

Potato Salad Winner Announced!!

July 2, 2013 by Mary Frances 4 Comments

Soon after Memorial Day, we set out to find the best potato salad recipe we could before the next big picnic holiday – the Fourth of July – this week! So I asked for my readers’ favorite recipes and had almost too many to choose from, in the best way. The submissions were about as varied as possible, and I recruited my team to vote for the top three.

Those top three were: the decadent and complex Salat Olivier from Misha, the bread-and-butter-pickle-sweetened Mom’s Potato Salad from Nicky, and Aunt Rose’s Potato Salad with anchovies from Nikki. Thank you to everyone who submitted a recipe. They were, quite frankly, all good!

Our team chose the last one as the big winner. It’s simple but really delicious, verging on a “classic” non-mayo potato salad recipe. It is a neat trick to take out the cooked egg yolks and combine them with the olive oil and herbs. That makes a kind of homemade, safe (because the yolks are cooked) mayonnaise. The anchovies give it that boost of flavor. (and you know I LOVE anchovies) It’s possible that people who are turned off by the idea of anchovies will still enjoy this recipe because there’s only one – but to be honest, I would add even more anchovies (3.5) and chives (1 tbs.).

Here is the recipe. Thank you, Nikki Landau!! Your prize, our wonderful LOVE apron, will be coming to you soon.

AUNT ROSE’S EGG AND POTATO SALAD RECIPE – serves 4

1. Boil 1 pound of yellow new potatoes in their skins. Peel and chill.
2. Hard boil 4 eggs. Peel and chill.

Dressing:
1. In a bowl put 1 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper.
2. Add 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar, 5 tbsp. light olive oil, 1 tsp. chopped chervil, 1 tsp. chopped chives, and 1 anchovy fillet, minced.

Remove yolks from the hard boiled eggs and crumble into dressing. Whisk to combine. Cut egg whites into pieces. Cut the potatoes into thin slices.

Fold everything together, mix well and serve chilled. It’s simple and very good! Yum!

Amazing tomato chicken braise

June 5, 2013 by Mary Frances 26 Comments

I made the most amazing dinner Monday night, if I might say so myself.

Back when I really started cooking, my youngest son (who inscribed the cookbook in the About section) would say to me, “Mom, repeat after me, ‘Yes, I really am a good cook.'” However, I often didn’t, and still don’t now, know what I’m going to cook on any given night — meaning I don’t use recipes and I haven’t necessarily bought things that make sense for one. I usually make up something that I am in the mood for on the subway ride home. I think you have to cook something that you like, something that gets you excited, because that’s part of imparting your love into the dish. Fortunately, my family is usually okay with this.

So on Monday, I had a whole chicken and was tired of making roast chicken. I also had 6 plum tomatoes that needed to be used and was in the mood for a tomato chicken stew over some light pasta. I thought it would be good.

My husband said, “Stew? It’s too hot for stew. I could eat roast chicken again.” Not me. So then I said, “Call it a braise. I have an idea and I think you’ll like it.” (He had seconds. And it was in the 70s and rainy on Monday.)

I started making it, determined to change his mind and make something he would love.

It was fantastic!! Light and packed with flavor and very clean tasting. Actually there is very little oil or fat in this dish. I must say that I also used my Le Creuset Dutch oven to cook this in and I do think that makes a difference. It is such a great pot and no one pays me to say that.

I hope you will give this a go, in whatever pot you have. You will not be disappointed.

FRESH TOMATO CHICKEN BRAISE – serves 4

1 tbs. olive oil
1 whole chicken, washed and thoroughly dried, backbone cut out (save for stock) and cut into 6 – 8 pieces, depending on if you want to cut the breasts in half
Salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 large onion, chopped
5 – 7 cloves of garlic, minced
1 carrot, scraped and chopped into 1/4” pieces
4 anchovy fillets, drained, patted dry and chopped
2 tbs. water
6 plum tomatoes
4 sun dried tomatoes, packed in oil, drained and chopped
1 large sprig of fresh oregano
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 lb. thin fettucine
Pecorino Romano cheese for grating – optional

Trim all the fat from the chicken. Wash and dry your pieces thoroughly. Salt and pepper both sides to taste. Heat the oil on medium-high heat in a Dutch oven and place in chicken, skin side down. Brown on each side for 5 – 6 minutes, using a metal spatula to turn the chicken over, so you don’t lose the skin. Remove the chicken from the pot and place on a deep plate or pie plate, as juices will collect.

Add the onion, garlic, anchovies and carrot to the Dutch oven. Add 2 tbs. water and lower heat to low and cover, to sweat the vegetables and make them sweet. Scape up the bits from the bottom of the pan and stir. After about 5 – 7 minutes, they should have succumbed and become tender and rich.

Add your browned chicken back in and blanket with the chopped plum tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, thyme and oregano. Cover and on low heat, cook for 7 minutes, stir and turn chicken over, cover and cook for another 7 minutes until done. Remove from heat, covered and let sit for 5 – 7 minutes. Temperature on an instant read thermometer should read 155 – 160 degrees.

Meanwhile, cook dried fettucine in salted boiling water 1-2 minutes less than the package directions. Drain and toss with a little olive oil.

Serve the pasta topped with the chicken and the sauce. Pass the Pecorino Romano cheese and grater if you like. I did, my husband didn’t.

This dish was so very flavorful and clean tasting – rich and buttery tasting, yet no butter and very little olive oil or chicken fat to speak of – just delicious, full bodied, clean tasting richness. I know that doesn’t make sense – just trust me – this was very good! The fresh tomatoes were ripe and bright, anchovies always add a burst of flavor and the carrot sweetened it all. Not to mention the herbs were just cut from my garden upstate the day before. We are very lucky to have that, I know.

I served this with baby bok choy from Ethel’s garden, sautéed with a little olive oil, water, garlic, salt and pepper. Just delicious!

Whether you make this dish or your own concoction, make it with LOVE and it will taste amazing! Truly!

Now I digress. Very early this morning I had a dream about my youngest son. He was back to being three years old and had a large, terrible wound on his back with a scab, and it was in the shape of a heart! He didn’t mind it, unless you touched it. It was almost as if he didn’t know it was there, he was such a trouper. But I was so concerned for him. I felt so sorry. I wanted to keep sleeping and stay in the dream to make sure he was okay and not in pain. He seemed to know how he got it – some sort of scuffle with another kid – like he knew what he doing and was okay with the wound. Very weird.

Any dream interpreters out there?

Happy New Year to you!

January 7, 2013 by Mary Frances 6 Comments

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!

Waiting for a bike ride

June 10, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

While waiting for the rain to stop and the sun to come out in order to take a bike ride today, I went out and cut some arugula (It grows so fast) and whipped up this dressing for a little salad. It doesn’t get any better than this – so fresh, so clean, so delicious!

I love anchovies. They’re packed with flavor and I remember making a creamy salad dressing years ago for an arugula salad and for the life of me I cannot remember where I got that recipe or what, exactly, was in it. I searched everywhere I could think of, with no luck. So I made this one up and it’s terrific, although not yellow in color like the one I remember. This one looks like a pretty green goddess dressing because of the parsley.

Now if you don’t have a mini chopper and grinder from Cuisinart, go get one. Bed Bath and Beyond will special order it for you. They’re only about $20.00 and they are the best little tool. I use it to make this dressing or grind spices for a spice rub. It’s the best!

LEMON ANCHOVY DRESSING
2 tbs. fresh Italian parsley leaves
2 tbs. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3 anchovy fillets, patted dry of oil in a paper towel
3 tbs. olive oil

Combine everything except the olive oil in a mini processor or grinder and process until smooth. Add oil 1 tbs. at a time and process after each addition until thoroughly combined and smooth.

Enjoy!! I gotta get on my bike!

Mother’s Day!

May 15, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

It is my all-time favorite holiday. I get to feel like a queen and do whatever I want for the day and my boys and husband are just the BEST!

This past Sunday I woke up to a dining room table set for four, which meant that my oldest son was even joining us for brunch! The younger one made fabulous waffles from scratch, with maple syrup from upstate New York, thanks to our friend Mary Beth who was just over for dinner and brought it as a gift! The meal was complete with artisanal sausage and tea.

And now dinner was amazing. They had asked me what I wanted and I said, “Surprise me!”

They started with a baby arugula salad with roasted beets, toasted walnuts and English Stilton. Yum! The main course was swordfish steaks, stuffed with a parsley, anchovy, caper, pesto sauce and topped with it too (a Mark Bittman recipe) and a quinoa vegetable dish that the younger one made up and promises to share. Dessert was vanilla ice cream with sauteed figs in butter with a vanilla bean, plus my husband supplied some fantastic chocolate truffles. But the boys did everything! I could truly taste the LOVE – everything was scrumptious! I am very lucky.

And then dessert was followed by gifts! A totally fantastic day!

Baby arugula, roasted beets, toasted walnuts and English Stilton

Broiled swordfish with parsley pesto and quinoa with sauteed vegetables

Ice cream and sauteed figs in a white bowl.

Ice cream with sauteed figs

Can’t you just smell the chocolate?!!