• Blog
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Tips & Tools
  • International LOVE
  • Love Notes
  • Shop
  • Powered by MSI Media Group

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

A Most Amazing Tuscan Al Fresco Dinner Party

September 11, 2018 by Mary 10 Comments

Hello there, or should I say: Ciao! Come and visit A Most Amazing Tuscan Al Fresco Dinner Party!

I have been away in Italy again for the past 3 months. I have not written a blog post since last November, although I have wanted to, it’s just been so very hard to get back into the swing of things.

It was a year on June 18th that my dear husband, business partner, lover, and best friend, Steve, passed to the other side, completely unexpected, from kidney cancer. I know there is another world, purely energetic, but very real. I cannot accurately express how big the hole is in my heart. He was the love of my life, and I was his. I thought that the one-year mark would mean my grief would ease, but it has not. Instead it’s reared its ugly head even more forcefully.

Fortunately I have two great sons and two great daughter-in-laws and (drumroll please), a new grandson named Steven Malcolm, who is completely beautiful, adorable, full of love and the happiest baby ever!!! We call him Stevie. We don’t know why he is always so happy and loves to laugh so much but we sure love him. He makes me laugh. A lot.

Meanwhile, my friends in Italy are all so amazing and have taken such good loving care of me. I am so very grateful for all of them.

My final evening in Tuscany last week was a most marvelous dinner party, al fresco, in a tiny town called, Valtrito, overlooking Cortona. Marzia and her husband, Giorgio, hosted it at Marzia’s ancient family house, built in 1720. Giorgio is my good friend Tiziana’s, brother.

Marzia's figs.

Marzia’s just picked figs as sweet as honey.

Tiziana with her just picked figs.

My friend Tiziana with her bounty of just picked figs to make her own jam.

Marzia's just picked plums.

What we call Italian purple plums, they call them “cosce di monaca”, which translates to “thighs of a nun”!

Sun-dried plums and Marzia's delicious crostata.

Tuscan sun-dried “cosce di monaca” and Marzia’s crostata con marmellata – with her own homemade plum jam.

Everything Marzia cooked or baked was made with ingredients grown in her garden! We started with incredible roasted peppers and eggplant, just picked incredibly sweet figs from their trees with prosciutto and sausage, sundried tomatoes and plums. Insanely good!!! Buonissimo!!! All with Marzia’s still warm, just baked bread, one whole wheat – pane integrale – and the other white – pane bianco toscano

Marzia's dinner table

Marzia’s beautiful table in a gorgeous setting…

Marzia cutting her bread.

Marzia and her DELICIOUS homemade, still warm breads. Tuscan bread has no salt. One explanation I heard is that in the 12th century, salt had become scarce due to a high tax put on it and they decided to save the salt to use to cure the hams and sausages, so that none was left to also use for bread.

Marzia's beautiful breads.

Marzia’s beautiful breads.

First course or "starter" plate - so delicious.

My first course or “starter” plate – so delicious!!

Marzia with her lasagna!

Marzia then served a marvelous lasagna, (most of us had seconds) followed by roasted chickens and potatoes along with a most delicious sausage stuffed zucchini half – my favorite – and the meal finished with a delicious crostata con marmellata made with her own homemade plum jam. In Italiano, the plums are called cosce di monaca, which translates to “thighs of a nun”! Don’t ask…

Our table was filled with Italian friends, a couple from Norway and even one other Americana, besides myself, so the conversation was wonderful and lively. I immediately spoke my limited Italian, but to the Norwegian couple who didn’t have any idea what the hell I was saying, being that they do not speak any Italian at all, which my Italian friend had to explain to me. It was a wonderful twist in that I knew more Italian than someone there!

The wines...

All of our wines ending, of course, with Vin Santo on the far left.

Everyone brought wine and one guest was a sommelier while the other had worked at a winery nearby so the vino was free flowing and all so special and delicious with interesting stories to accompany each bottle.

Just feast your eyes on these pictures and my apologies for not getting all of the food, there was just too much goodness all around that as the evening progressed, conversation ruled, rather than photos.

The delicious roasted chickens.

The delicious roasted chickens.

Our view while eating!!

Our view while eating!!  #nofilter

Shots from the ancient main house, built in 1720.

The original kitchen. Look at how big that fireplace is!!

The original kitchen. Just look at how big that fireplace is!!

The kitchen used today.

The currently used kitchen with yet another fireplace. And every good Italian kitchen has a meat slicer!! (I want one too!)

Marzia's grandmother's stove.

Marzia’s grandmother’s stove. It looks like a toy! (I love the floor!)

An overview of the table from a house window after the dinner.

An overview of the table from a house window after the dinner.

A magical evening to be sure, a most memorable end to my three month journey in life learning more about myself, attempting to heal, enjoying the food, wine and most importantly the friendships I have in this spectacular setting. For that, I am so grateful.

I will be back again sooner, rather than later, with recipes. Promise!

Filed Under: Dinner, Travel Tagged With: al fresco dinners, bread, Cortona, figs, Italy, plums, roasted chickens, Tuscan, Tuscany

A very special day.

November 27, 2011 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

Yesterday was my birthday and as has become a tradition from my husband and sons, I am to stay out of the kitchen the whole day and only do what I want. Pretty special! So I slept late, went for long bike ride, chatted with an old friend (actually my second employee who never forgets my birthday after all these years) from San Francisco and then some of us went to the movies to see J. Edgar.

Zach and his Polish girlfriend, Agata, made breakfast and lunch, while my husband and my eldest son made dinner. Breakfast and lunch were surprises to me while the dinner menu was my request. All were amazing!!

Homemade Polish bread on a wooden cutting board.

Polish homemade bread

We have a bread recipe in our family from my grandmother that I usually make on each holiday. Since we were all spending Thanksgiving at my brother, Steve’s house in CT, Agata volunteered to make the bread. Yipee!! This is a yeast number with 2 risings and takes about 6 hours. So it was a treat to have someone else offer to make it! The most interesting thing is that her family has a really similar recipe to ours and she made a few modifications to match ours exactly, as she had tasted my bread last Christmas. Nowhere else have we ever run into this! Most people think of babka or some form of that when you say Polish bread but this is a slightly cakey, eggy version and she said we do it a little sweeter than her family.

Polish vegetable and cheese salad in a blue and white bowl.

Polish vegetable/cheese salad

She did a beautiful job!! See the photo – light, airy and just the right texture. So for breakfast she made us all a breakfast her grandmother used to make for her! Egg salad (with Tom and Ethel’s delicious farm fresh eggs) and another dish that is a mixture of fresh peeled cucumbers, Farmer’s cheese, creme fraiche, tomatoes, garlic and chives. For each bite, we put a spoonful of either one on a piece of toasted homemade bread, and it was yummy! Creamy, light, refreshing and different! All things I LOVE!

Creamy egg salad in a tan bowl.

Creamy egg salad

Right after breakfast, Agata got to work on lunch. From scratch, she made nearly 70 pierogis! They were delicious. They were stuffed with a mixture of sautéed onion, mashed potatoes and Farmers cheese and then topped with a light sauce of onions and bacon. Served with a chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc and we were all happy campers!! Just delicious!

Perogies on a brown plate.

A pierogi lunch!

So for dinner, our oldest son made me a terrific Rob Roy straight up. It is one of my favorite cocktails, right up there with a Tanqueray 10 straight up martini. A Rob Roy is essentially a slightly sweet Manhattan made with either Scotch or better yet, choose a single malt, like Oban. Add a lemon twist and I am set!

This drink, besides being delicious, always brings back fond memories of the first time I had it. It was at the Windows on the World restaurant at a special event for World Trade Club Members. This was the storied restaurant on top of the World Trade Center. We were doing marketing work for the private club, dealing with the legendary Joe Baum, and they were holding this single malt scotch tasting for club members and we were invited. It was like an accelerated wine tasting. You can get pretty loopy pretty fast and our host was from Scotland, enjoying every moment and Jules, our client, insisted I try this Rob Roy. It was a match for me! You should try it.

Zach, Agata and I played Bananagrams in front of the fire while dinner was being prepared. Because it was my birthday, they let me get away with “luvv” (I kept on getting those darn v’s) and “eazy”. It’s good to be the birthday girl!

I still didn’t win!

But I digress – on to dinner. We started with fresh shrimp sautéed in hot pepper, parsley, garlic, and olive oil, served with warm crusty French bread for dipping in and scooping up every last drop of the delicious olive oil, served with a ’97 San Marco from Tuscany – a beautiful Tuscan red.

Dinner was Chicken Scarpariello served with sides of spaghetti squash with a fresh tomato garlic sauce and oven roasted Brussels sprouts tossed with blue cheese. It was fantastic!! Wine was a Portuguese 2007 red from this wine store we recently found on the Upper East side. Check out Park East Wines and Spirits on York Avenue at 87th St. Tom Anderer is the Manager and very helpful. He is a certified sommelier.

Dessert was a lovely cheese plate complete with Medjool dates, Golden Delicious apple wedges and toasted walnuts.

Quite a feast! All so wonderful!

Tonight we’re having homemade tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches – a break from the richness of the past 3 days. I hope your holiday weekend was also filled with wonderful family times and scrumptious food!

Filed Under: Breakfast, Dinner, First Course, Fish, Lunch, Poultry, Sides, Vegetables Tagged With: bacon, blue cheese, bread, breakfast, Brussel sprouts, chicken scarpariello, egg salad, onion, Park East Wines and Spirits, pierogis, Polish, potatoes, Rob Roy, spaghetti squash

Join 32k+ followers!


Never miss out on a recipe!

Subscribe to receive new posts via email:

Mary Frances

Mary Frances

Spread love through cooking.

Summer Favorites

Easy Cheesy Sautéed Squash The Best Potato Salad Super Quick Chicken and Summer Vegetables Stir-fry Chimichurri-ed Wilted Endives with Walnuts Chilled Curried Zucchini Soup with Apple Garnish Best Strawberry and Rhubarb Crisp to make now!

Categories

  • Appetizers
  • Breakfast
  • Brunch
  • Cocktails
  • Contest
  • Cookies
  • Cookware and tools
  • Desserts
  • Dinner
  • Events
  • First Course
  • Fish
  • Food Responsibility
  • Guest Post
  • Lunch
  • Meat
  • Pasta
  • Poultry
  • Products for sale
  • Salads
  • Sauces
  • Sides
  • Soups
  • Tea time
  • Travel
  • Vegetables

Pages

Blog
About
Recipes
Tips and Tools
International Love
Love Notes
Shop
Mary's secret ingredients

Blogs We Love

  • 1840 Farm
  • A Pug in the Kitchen
  • Cottage Grove House
  • Food, Photography & France
  • Food52
  • From the Bartolini Kitchens
  • Go Bake Yourself
  • Hotly Spiced
  • Jovina Cooks Italian
  • Lavender and Lime
  • Orgasmic Chef
  • Smitten Kitchen
  • Sophie's Foodie Files
  • Steven’s Wine and Food Pairings
  • That Skinny Chick Can Bake
  • The Pioneer Woman
  • The Squishy Monster
  • Tips on Food and Drinks
  • Yummy Chunklet
  • LOVE - the secret ingredient


  • GET IN TOUCH
  • E mary@lovethesecretingredient.com

· All Rights Reserved ·© 2016 Love- the secret ingredient. All rights reserved. Disclaimer | Privacy Policy Disclosure Policy Terms & Conditions