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

Mixed Fruit Galette

September 2, 2021 by Mary Leave a Comment

Before the luscious summer fruit season ends, you must make a Mixed Fruit Galette and wow everyone who sees it!!

Begin with the pie crust

You see, it’s really very simple. Make a buttery pie crust – why everyone is so afraid of pie crust when they’re really very easy, I don’t know. Someone must have given them a bad rap some years ago! Don’t let them daunt you.

It’s flour, a little salt, butter and ice water. Four basic ingredients, of course mixed with LOVE. Sure, you can add some vodka or cider vinegar so maybe it’s 6 ingredients, but don’t forget the LOVE.

Mixed fruits are the best!

Roll that baby out and fill that crust with a variety of mixed fruits, a little lemon, vanilla and cornstarch and you’ve got yourself a beautiful, simple, even healthy dessert as there’s not much sugar.

Dot it with fresh blueberries and some thyme leaves when finished baking and you’ll present a real showstopper. I prefer the pop of the fresh blueberries added afterwards because when cooked, they just collapse and spread the messy dark blue juice everywhere.

And the thyme leaves create a different floral component to the dessert that’s unexpected and delicious, while the sprinkle of sugar on top gives it that extra special glisten.

Serve your Mixed Fruit Galette with crème fraiche or vanilla ice cream, sit back, relax, and enjoy all the compliments!

Make this for one of your Labor Day weekend parties and create a loving memory for all there.

Ok, so I used too much butter in this crust dough and it cracked and leaked, but no matter, it still tasted amazing!

MIXED FRUIT GALETTE – serves 6 – 8

One pie crust – use the recipe here or here
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 Tbs.
1/4 tsp. salt
1.5 lbs. of mixed peaches, peeled and cut into 1-inch-thick wedges, tiny apricots cut in half or red plums cut in quarters or fresh figs, stems removed and cut in half, or blackberries
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg, beaten
4 thyme sprigs, leaves removed
A handful of blueberries
Crème Fraiche or vanilla ice cream for serving

Directions

Unwrap chilled pie crust dough, and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out about 1/8 inch thick. Place dough circle on a parchment paper–lined rimmed baking sheet, and chill, uncovered, until firm, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425°F. Whisk together cornstarch, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Add peaches, apricots, plums, figs and blackberries, melted butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla, and toss to combine.

Arrange fruit mixture in center of chilled dough circle, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Fold dough edges up and over filling (dough will only partially cover filling), pleating every 3 inches. Lightly brush folded dough edges with beaten egg. Sprinkle dough edges and filling with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.

Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F (without opening oven door), and bake until crust is golden brown and fruit mixture bubbles in the middle, 40 to 45 minutes.

Transfer baking sheet with the mixed fruit galette to a wire rack, and let cool 30 minutes. Dot the galette with the fresh blueberries and thyme leaves. Serve galette warm, or let cool completely to room temperature, about 1 hour. Serve with crème fraiche or vanilla ice cream and LOVE.

Pork with Ginger, Spring Onions and Eggplant – An Ottolenghi Recipe

March 7, 2020 by Mary 2 Comments

I have a marvelous neighbor named Marilyn. She takes care of my plants when I am away, keeps an extra set of keys for me when I get locked out and enjoys good food and wine. I try to have her over for dinner at least once every two weeks, which works out about right with my traveling schedule. That way, I feel I can get some healthy food into her at least once in a while. For my last dinner I made this Ottolenghi recipe of Pork with Ginger, Spring Onions and Eggplant and it was so delicious and different, I wanted to share it with you!

Brilliant cooking and ingredients in this recipe:

This recipe combines a unique way of cooking the eggplant that doesn’t use up oodles of oil, because you know how eggplant can easily absorb tons of it. Instead, you steam the eggplant in one of those little collapsible steamer baskets, or a fine mesh colander, which I think is just brilliant! And much lower in calories.

This dish also calls for many spring onions or scallions, as several Ottolenghi recipes do, and while I was unfamiliar with using so many, I now quite like the idea a lot and have been applying the concept to other recipes as well. They are delicious and add a lovely green spark.

The mirin, the salty and sweet effects of the different soy sauces, along with the crunchiness of the peanuts and toasted sesame seeds, all topped with cilantro, make this a super yummy dish. My kind of eating!

Marilyn and I both moved in at the same time when our building first opened nearly 13 years ago. She was a hot shot bankruptcy attorney with her own very successful private practice. (For example, early in his career, Mario Batali was one of her clients, before he started molesting the other women in the kitchen. And yay that Weinstein got his partial due but why did the jury have 7 men on it?)

Then Marilyn realized she started forgetting some things about her cases. And then she was diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s. So, she gave up her practice yet still lives next door with full time, live-in help.

Delicious!

I love Marilyn. She is always so positive and fun. Even today, she says she is happy and lucky. She subsequently named her two cats, Happy and Lucky and she uses the word, “delicious” to describe many things, including people. When in fact, SHE is delicious.

I cook and Marilyn brings the wine and we always have a hilarious time, discussing sex and old boyfriends of hers and my new online dating escapades.

And delicious is just the word she used over and over again for this dish, moaning mmm’s while she ate. Chop everything ahead of time and it is a one-dish meal that comes together quickly that I know you will probably want to make again and again.

So, give it a go and remember to serve it with LOVE and steamed rice. You can also think of Marilyn and me and our sex discussions!

Pork with Ginger, Spring Onions and Eggplant – An Ottolenghi Recipe - served on a white plate with white rice.

Pork with Ginger, Spring Onions and Eggplant – An Ottolenghi Recipe – edited by me – serves 4

3 eggplants (2 lbs.), cut into 1¼” dice
Kosher salt
¼ cup peanut oil
3 bunches spring onions, chopped on an angle into 1¼” pieces
2¾” piece ginger (60g), peeled, julienned
5 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 green chili, finely sliced, seeds in (I used ¾ of a large jalepeno chili)
1¼ lb. ground pork
3 Tbs. mirin
2 Tbs.dark soy
2 Tbs. keçap manis – it is a thick and dark molasses-like sauce with palm sugar and soy sauce as its base and with the addition of aromatic spices for flavor. The word manis means “sweet” in Malay/Indonesian and so the sauce is often referred to as “sweet soy sauce.” Here is a link to make your own! https://bit.ly/2wFeIGB
1 tsp. sesame oil (I used toasted sesame oil)
1 Tbs. rice vinegar
3/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped plus more for garnish
1/2 cup roasted and salted peanuts
1 Tbs. sesame seeds, toasted
Fresh lime wedges

As Yotam recommends, get everything chopped beforehand so you can just quickly throw things in the pan and have this ready in a jiffy!

Place the eggplant in a bowl with 1½ tsp salt. Mix well, then transfer to a steamer (or a colander). Fill a large saucepan with water to a depth of 1 inch. Bring to the boil, then place the steamer (or colander) in the pan and cover with the lid or seal well with tinfoil to prevent the steam escaping. Reduce the temperature to medium-high and steam for 12 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, pour half the oil into a large sauté pan on high heat. Add spring onion, ginger, garlic and chili and saute for 5 minutes, stirring often, until the garlic starts to color. Transfer to a bowl. Add the remaining oil to the pan, add the pork and fry, breaking up lumps, for 3 minutes. Add the mirin, soy sauce, keçap manis, sesame oil, vinegar and ½ tsp salt. Cook for 2 minutes, then return the spring onion mixture to the pan. Cook for 1 minute, then remove from the heat – there should be plenty of liquid – and stir in the cilantro and one half of the peanuts.

Spread the eggplant on a platter and top with the pork mixture. Garnish with the sesame seeds, remaining peanuts and cilantro. A squeeze of fresh lime is also very nice!

Serve with steamed rice and LOVE, along with fresh lime wedges. Enjoy!!

My favorite Thanksgiving stuffing

November 18, 2011 by Mary Frances 14 Comments

Thanksgiving is my all-time favorite holiday. I love the weather, fires in the fireplace, the family is all together and no pressure with gifts. In full disclosure, it is also around my birthday – Nov. 26th – but these days I could do without remembering that!

I have been making this stuffing for more than 20 years now, tweaking it until I think it’s just right. Every once in a while I have veered off and done a chorizo dressing or something with chestnuts and this one is the one we always go back to and is requested by everyone in my family. I forgot that I shared this with some of my friends years ago, only to discover recently that yes, they are still using it too. The basis of it comes from the very first Silver Palate cookbook. I used that cookbook so much in the 80’s, that my cover fell off. I think my good friend, Deb, cooked every recipe in there. We used to tease each other, we were both making our way through it! Good stuff!

Now some people and the government think you shouldn’t stuff the bird. I say nonsense! If your bird is really fresh, you’ve washed and dried it very well, let the dressing cool completely before stuffing, you will be fine. At the table, remove the dressing into a covered casserole before you carve the bird and start passing it. Then when the feast is over, totally clean out the cavity of all the stuffing and carve all of the meat off of the bird (makes it easier for leftovers the next day) and make stock with the carcass or throw it away. This way, you will have no problems and everything will be tastier.

I hope this will become your go-to favorite stuffing recipe as well!

CORNBREAD SAUSAGE STUFFING WITH APPLES & PECANS
Serves 12-14 people or more than enough stuffing for a 20 lb. bird

1 ½ sticks of sweet butter (12 tbs.)
2 3/4 cups of finely chopped yellow onions (use your food processor for this)
3 tart apples, cored and chunked, not peeled (Jonathan are good)
1 lb. lightly seasoned bulk sausage (I use breakfast sausage with sage)
3 cups coarsely crumbled cornbread (bake a Jiffy cornbread mix for this)
3 heaping cups of crustless, cubed, day old whole-wheat bread
3 heaping cups of crustless, cubed, day-old white bread (I prepare and cut my breads the night before so they can dry out a little.)
2 rounded tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp dried sage
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
¾ cup chopped Italian parsley
1 ½ cups shelled pecan halves
1 raw egg
Chicken broth to moisten

Melt half of the butter in a skillet. Add chopped onions and cook over medium – medium/low heat, partially covered, until tender and lightly colored, about 25 minutes. Scrape onions and butter into a very large bowl. The biggest you’ve got!

Melt remaining butter in the same skillet. Add apple chunks and sauté over high heat until lightly colored but not mushy. Transfer the apples and all of the butter to the same mixing bowl with the onions.

Squeeze the sausage out of the casing if necessary. Crumble it into the skillet and sauté over medium heat, continuing to break up the sausage into small pieces, stirring until no pink remains and it’s lightly browned. With a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to the mixing bowl and throw away the fat.

Add all remaining ingredients to your large bowl and fold together with a large spatula, gently combining everything. Beat an egg in a separate small bowl and fold that in as well. Moisten with homemade or low sodium chicken broth. Salt and pepper to taste. Cool completely before stuffing the bird.

With leftover stuffing, or if you choose not to stuff your bird, spoon stuffing into a casserole, cover with a lid or aluminum foil, and set in a large, deeper pan. Pour hot water around the casserole to come halfway up the sides. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes at 325 degrees. You will LOVE it!