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

Birthdays and fennel compote

January 12, 2013 by Mary Frances 14 Comments

There is much excitement in our family today – emails, texts, phone calls, everything! Tomorrow is my husband’s birthday and our boys want to make him a huge Sunday lunch. The menu will be a surprise to him. At first we were going to celebrate tonight as Zach has to go back to Yale Sunday evening, but no, they wanted to keep it to the day and do a multi-course nice long lunch and each person is in charge of one course. Our oldest is organizing this. He is taking over the main course – short ribs with polenta garnished with fennel fronds. I have been assigned the pasta course, Zach is doing the salad and Agata is handling dessert. So we’re talking back and forth, determining the menu, recipes and food buying. I point out and ask, “Why are we having a pasta course if we’re having polenta with the main?” Our oldest says, “I want the pasta course too. I want this to be over the top. You know, this will be a long, paced out affair.” This is just like they do in Italy on a special Sunday. He did live there for six months.

So I have decided to make a Union Square Café recipe that is one of my all time faves. It is a little tricky and detailed at the end so it’s the perfect dish to make if I’m only responsible for it and not the whole rest of the meal too. It is Linguine with Spinach, Garlic and Olive Oil. This dish produces a whole lotta mmmmm’s and there are broiled bread crumbs on top – just a touch, not too much. I love crunchy bread crumbs on top of pasta.

So hopefully I’ll remember to take lots of pictures tomorrow to share with you what I know will be a fabulous meal. But meanwhile, I’d like to share with you our dinner last night. I made a Mark Bittman fennel tomato compote to put on some oven roasted cod and it was fantastic! I can see putting this on lots of things – steamed eggplant, pasta, chicken, swordfish, I could keep going.

A white Wedgewood dinner plate with oven roasted cod topped with a fennel tomato and olive compote, steamed coarse bulgar and a kale salad.

Our dinner – oven roasted cod topped with the fennel compote, steamed coarse bulgar and kale salad

Once again I changed the recipe so I’ll give you mine, and I forgot to add the parsley at the end, which would have been prettier, so that doesn’t show up in the pictures.

FENNEL COMPOTE WITH TOMATOES AND OLIVES – adapted from Mark Bittman
– serves 4

1/4 cup of olive oil
1 bulb fennel (or 2 smaller ones), trimmed and chopped
Salt and pepper
1 tbs. choppped thyme leaves
1 tbs. minced garlic
6 plum tomatoes, chopped (canned are fine, but drain excess liquid)
Heaping 1/2 cup big, plump olives, green or black or a combination, preferably unpitted
1/4 cup capers, optional
1/2 cup chopped parsley leaves, for garnish

Put the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the fennel and some salt and pepper, and without browning (adjust the heat as necessary), cook it down, stirring occasionally, until it’s quite soft, about 20 minutes. Add the thyme and garlic, and cook 1 minute, stirring.

Add the tomatoes, olives and capers, raise the heat a bit, and cook until the mixture is saucy, about 15 minutes. Serve as a side dish or to top a portion of cooked fish. Garnish with parsley.

Fresh fennel sauteing in olive oil in a Calphalon skillet

Sauteing the fennel

Fennel, tomato and olive compote in a pan.

The compote complete

Filed Under: Dinner, Fish, Sides Tagged With: birthday dinner menus, bulgar, compote, cranberries, fennel, kale salad, olives, Parmesan cheese, tomatoes

Kale!

December 14, 2012 by Mary Frances 12 Comments

‘Tis the season for the dark curly greens. You will see it on many a platter as a garnish.

I love kale.

My husband hates it.

For several weeks now, I have been wanting to recreate this salad I had some years ago. I bought kale last week to do it, kept putting it off and then Zachary came home with his girlfriend and used it up for a dinner with some pasta. My husband was safe for a week.

I bought it again this past Saturday. A beautiful full bunch of young looking leaves. Those are the best – tender and delicious.

I bargained with him. I would make his favorite chicken breast recipe, with a fantastic new twist, adding blueberries and shallots, if I could make my kale salad. Of course I added extra doses of LOVE while I was cooking this meal.

Well, he LOVED it!! He even had thirds. We ate the whole thing!

Here’s the recipe:
KALE SALAD WITH DRIED CRANBERRIES, PINE NUTS AND PARMESAN
– serves 2 – 3

One large bunch of kale, washed well, spun dry, stems removed and very, very thinly sliced (slicing it thin, like a chiffonade, is very important)
One handful of dried cranberries, or more to taste
3 – 4 tbs. of toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup hot olive oil
1/2 cup or more of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toast the pine nuts in a baking pan for 3 – 6 minutes until lightly browned.  Toss together the kale, cranberries and pine nuts in a large bowl.

Heat the olive oil in a small pan until very hot and nearly smoking. Carefully pour the oil evenly over the kale. Listen to the sizzle as you are nearly frying the leaves. Distribute the parmesan onto the salad, add salt and pepper to taste. Toss thoroughly. Serve right away.

You will LOVE this, I guarantee!Kale salad with cranberries and pine nutsThis salad is perfect for this time of year. Just look at the colors, so festive for the holidays with the luscious green and red. A great clean and healthy dish to have in the midst of all the holiday richness!

kale salad with sauteed chicken breast in white wine, shallots and blueberries

Our dinner – with sauteed chicken breasts in white wine, shallots and blueberries

Filed Under: Dinner, Salads, Sides Tagged With: cranberries, dried cranberries, hot olive oil, kale, kale salad, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts

The cranberries!

November 20, 2011 by Mary Frances 4 Comments

Raw cranberries washed and in a white bowl.

Once again, over the years I have tried many different cranberry sauces and relishes. One year, I even did a Martha Stewart version of putting her cranberry sauce recipe mounded on top of halves of poached pears. It looked gorgeous but the taste was mediocre.

This gingered version, from Sheila Lukins of Silver Palate fame, is the best. If made properly, the little cranberries look jewel-like and glisten! People who don’t even like cranberries like this. This is also delicious as a sauce for sautéed or grilled duck breasts. It is easy to make and it will keep for a long time, if sealed in a tight container and refrigerated. You probably could even freeze it.

I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients for a ginger orange cranberry sauce.CRANBERRY GINGER SAUCE
Serves 10

12 oz. fresh cranberries, picked over and rinsed
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup fresh orange juice – yes, please squeeze some juice oranges. It makes a difference!
1 tbs. finely chopped fresh ginger
Finely grated zest from one orange

Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the berries pop open, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Skim foam off the with a metal spoon and discard. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate, covered, for up to 3 months.

Cranberry sauce in a white bowl.

 

Filed Under: Dinner, Sides Tagged With: cranberries, cranberry sauce, fresh orange juice, ginger, Martha Stewart, orange zest, Sheila Lukins, Silver Palette

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Mary Frances

Mary Frances

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