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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!

Fig Clafoutis

September 16, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

We were invited to our friends, Nikki and Todd’s house, back in our old hometown, Summit, NJ, for Sunday dinner tonight. It’s so great to get together with old friends. We met when our oldest boys were in first grade. They had just been at our apartment for dinner a couple of weeks before and I had served a blueberry crisp with crème fraiche for dessert. When I asked if I could bring anything, Nikki said a resounding, “Yes, please bring a blueberry crisp, just like the one you made.”

Well, the blueberry season here is over and the ones in the stores look terrible, come from far away and are really expensive to boot. So after hemming and hawing, I decided to do something completely different. The black mission figs are in full season now and after going to three stores looking for nice blueberries and consistently seeing lovely black mission figs, I decided to go for it, hoping she’d like it. I had just read a recipe for a clafoutis in the latest issue of Food and Wine magazine that sounded great. I would have died if she hated figs, particularly when someone asks you so specifically to make something for them. I called her on the car ride there and broke the news. She seemed excited about it. Whew!

So now, I have never made a clafoutis. Doesn’t scare me, I’m always willing to try something new. I got up at 8 am and starting prepping for it. (Only because I wanted to fit in a long bike ride today too!) This recipe is in the October issue of Food and Wine and just look at how pretty it turned out!! I served it with crème fraiche and the port sauce separately, rather than the heavy cream sweetened with the sauce. It was elegant and delicious! I love the way it looks in the cast iron skillet.

Food and Wine black mission fig clafoutis

Black Mission Fig Clafoutis

Nikki and Todd’s dinner was delicious! A whole grilled salmon fillet with spicy shrimp, a beautiful salad and a yummy pasta dish with vegetables and Pecorino Romano cheese. They told the story of Todd’s mother who apparently was a fantastic improvisational cook. One of Todd’s brothers was in Washington state and his mother asked him to bring back a salmon. He brought back a huge whole fish, much too big to put in any pan she had in their apartment in the West 40s. And she was insistent to not cut up this beautiful being. So, she poached it in the dishwasher!! Nikki said she ran the dishwasher three times to get all the soap out, wrapped the fish in cheesecloth and put it in the top rack and cooked that baby on a wash cycle. (We asked if it was crystal, economy or pot and pans – she didn’t know and the dishwasher probably only had one cycle.) They said the fish was delicious. But isn’t that the greatest story?!

Filed Under: Desserts Tagged With: black mission fig clafoutis, black mission figs, clafoutis, creme fraiche, Food and Wine magazine, French desserts, port wine sauce

Dining out

May 19, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

Caviar Russe gravlox with caviar on a white plate.
I had a terrific lunch with my friend Judy this past week. She took me to Caviar Russe. It was divine! Judy is in the investment banking business and likes to take clients there. It is on the second floor overlooking Madison Avenue and she said she likes to come particularly in the winter when it’s snowing. To look out of that second floor window with the snow falling, is just so pretty. The seating is dark chocolate colored suede banquettes with beautiful china and exquisite service. They know Judy there so I’m certain we got special treatment.

This food is certainly not what I could make or serve at home. It was precious, beautiful, delicious and unusual, and my boys would have gone home hungry. Just take a look at the appetizer on the lunch tasting menu we had. Gravlox with Russian Caviar, creme fraiche, dill, lemon zest, little bits of crisp brown bread chips and flowers. (the flowers were probably from the mountains of Switzerland?) The delicate fish sat on a small pool of creme fraiche as well and having white ribbons of creme fraiche adorn it. I don’t know how they made those. Perhaps rapid freeze a thin slab of creme and then cut it into ribbons? Anyway, it was so pretty, I had to be one of those gawkers who actually took a picture at the table. I wanted to share it with you! (Sorry the pictures are a bit blurry – I had to take them quickly with my iPhone.)
Caviar Russe chocolate ganache on a beautiful plate.

For dessert, which isn’t normally served with this meal, our waiter brought out this lovely serving of chocolate ganache with whipped creme and some sort of crunchy toffee like topping. This was served with the traditional ivory caviar spoon – and with that beautiful plate, it was almost too pretty to eat. But not enough. And it was delicious! Thank you Judy and Caviar Russe!

Filed Under: Lunch Tagged With: brown bread crisps, Caviar Russe, chocolate ganache, creme fraiche, dill, gravlox, iPhone, lemon zest, lunch, Russian caviar, whipped cream

Another great beef tenderloin dinner

February 12, 2012 by Mary Frances 19 Comments

Beef tenderloin is actually the perfect weeknight entertaining choice. For a special dinner, it’s big, it’s fancy and it’s quick and easy. My Mother used to always say, “Make a roast, Mary. It’s easy!” And you know, she was right.

So, remember, it’s always about the ingredients and their quality. So as long as you’re spending money on a tenderloin, get the best that you can. My butcher, Bob, at Esposito’s, has the best! His man, Solomon, did a spectacular job trimming and tying this piece of meat. See how even it is all the way through. These butchers take enormous pride in their job and it certainly shows. (They’re located at 38th Street and 9th Avenue.)

Now I don’t think I’ve told you, but we’re moving our offices (I do have another day job running a brand design and marketing communications firm) down to TriBeCa so I’ve been a little off this week and I will be until the end of the month. We’ve been in our current space for 10 years and accumulated way too much stuff. I promise I’ll get back on track when this is all over. But we’re very excited about our new space!

Back to the dinner party I had this past Thursday night. I made up this recipe as a combination of what I made on Christmas day and what I used to make years and years ago from, believe it or not, Joy of Cooking! I received this cookbook from my sewing teacher, the wonderful Mrs. Mellor, at a bridal shower 30 years ago!! (OMG) My Mom was so afraid that I would be a tomboy and useless wife, and because I went to Catholic school, we were not taught home economics, so she coerced the woman who taught sewing at the public high school to give me private lessons one summer, in order for me to learn how to sew. Mrs. Mellor was a wonderful woman with an infectious laugh, twinkling eyes and everything was always okay with her, even if you really screwed up – she would fix it. She ended up making all of my bridesmaids dresses from this beautiful silk I had bought – 4 of them – all as a gift!! Sweet, sweet woman! Her son, Jimmy, was a good friend of my two brothers and we recently reconnected through Facebook! Good ol’ Facebook. He’s an airline pilot for American Airlines flying the St. Louis to LaGuardia route. I always look for him when I fly back home. He said I should just knock on the cockpit door next time, that they get lonely in there. Well, these days I think I’d get shot!

Here’s what I made.

Bacon wrapped beef tenderloin on a metal platter.

So good!!

BACON-WRAPPED BEEF TENDERLOIN
– serves 10 – 12

1 (5.5 lbs.) beef tenderloin, trimmed and tied
1 rounded tbs. kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
6 garlic cloves, minced
15 slices of bacon
1/2 cup creme fraiche
2 tbs.white horseradish
Several dashes of Tabasco

Season the tenderloin all over with the salt, pepper, and garlic. Cover the meat and refrigerate overnight. Let it come to room temperature for 2 hours before roasting.

Heat oven to 500 degrees. Wipe off as much garlic and seasonings as possible with a paper towel. The flavors have penetrated the meat overnight. Place the meat on a rack in a large roasting pan and wrap the bacon around it.

Place the roasting pan on the middle rack of the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 400 degrees and roast for 30 – 40 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer reaches 120 degrees (for rare). Let the meat rest for 10 minutes before carving.

In a small bowl, whisk the crème fraîche and horseradish plus a few dashes of Tabasco. Serve alongside the tenderloin.

Filed Under: Dinner, Meat Tagged With: bacon, bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin, beef tenderloin, creme fraiche, entertaining, Esposito's, garlic, horseradish, Joy of Cooking, love, roasts, weeknight entertaining

Beef tenderloin dinner

December 30, 2011 by Mary Frances 8 Comments

Garlicky Beef Tenderloin With Orange Horseradish Sauce.

© Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

I want to tell you about our Christmas Day dinner. It was so good and some of you may want to replicate parts or all of it for your New Years Day dinner. I adapted Melissa Clark’s recent recipe in The New York Times and it was delicious. Everyone raved about the meat!!

And here’s a funny story about buying the meat. I had heard a radio ad for Stew Leonard’s whole beef fillets. He was advertising them for $7.98 a pound! I thought, wow, that’s worth a drive to Yonkers. So my husband gets up at 7 am on Saturday to get this. He tried to do it on Friday morning but found our car dead in the garage. We drive a Prius and the engine is so quiet, the garage guys often forget to turn it off. This has happened twice before so we made a sign to tell them to remember to turn it off. But, the last time we drove the car, we forgot to leave the sign in the front seat!

So off he goes on Saturday morning. I tell him to ask the butcher for enough beef for 7 people plus a few leftovers. Well he comes back with this gigantic piece of meat – 6.6 pounds!! Like enough for 13 – 14 people. But then, look at the majority of people who shop at Stew’s – they’re fat! Our country is getting so obese it’s ridiculous. And he paid $11.98 a pound. The $7.98 per pound price was untrimmed with a 30 – 40% loss factor. Talk about a scam to get you in there.

But, this meat was good, so there’s a little redemption.

Here’s my menu.

Appetizers:
Pate de campagne
Truffle duck mousse pate
Cornichons, picholine olives, lightly salted cashews
Artichoke dip – my recipe in an earlier blog post
Assorted brown rice chips, whole wheat pita and sliced French baguette

Dinner:
Pancetta and asparagus soup with black pepper – from Judy Rodgers and the Zuni Café cookbook, served with homemade Polish bread
Beef tenderloin with horseradish sauce– adapted from Melissa Clark and The New York Times
Mashed potatoes with cauliflower and roasted garlic – Lee Bailey – Long Weekends cookbook
Haricot Vert with walnut oil, sea salt and toasted walnuts
Oven roasted plum tomato halves with oregano (they were so good the night before and made the plate look Christmas-y next to the Haricot Vert)

Dessert:
Ethiopian coffee
Christmas cookies, of course
Peppermint chocolates

Here is the tenderloin recipe that I have altered for our taste.

GARLICKY BEEF TENDERLOIN WITH HORSERADISH SAUCE – adapted from Melissa Clark and The New York Times
– serves 12 – 14

1 (6.6 lbs.) beef tenderloin, trimmed and tied
1 1/2 tbs. kosher salt, more to taste
1 1/2 tsp. black pepper, more to taste
1 heaping tbs. chopped fresh rosemary
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1.5 cups crème fraîche
1/4 cup white horseradish
Several dashes of Tabasco

Season the tenderloin all over with the salt, pepper, rosemary and garlic. Cover the meat and refrigerate overnight. Let it come to room temperature for 2 hours before roasting.

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Wipe off as much garlic and seasonings as possible with a paper towel. It tends to burn and the flavors have penetrated the meat overnight.

In a large roasting pan over two burners and high heat, heat the oil. Add the meat and thoroughly brown all over, 4 minutes per side. Brown all 4 sides.

Place the roasting pan on the middle rack of the oven and roast until an instant-read thermometer shows 120 degrees (for rare), 10 to 20 minutes. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes before carving.

In a small bowl, whisk the crème fraîche and horseradish plus a few dashes of Tabasco. Serve alongside the tenderloin.

Assuming your meat is a good quality cut, you will LOVE this!

Now if you want any of these other recipes, do let me know.

Filed Under: Dinner, Meat Tagged With: asparagus, beef fillet, beef tenderloin, Christmas Day dinner, creme fraiche, garlic, haricot verts, horseradish sauce, Idaho potatoes, Judy Rodgers, Lee Bailey, mashed potatoes with cauliflower, Melissa Clark, pancetta, roasted garlic, rosemary, The New York Times, Zuni Café

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Mary Frances

Mary Frances

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