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

The Best Potato Salad

May 27, 2012 by Mary Frances 8 Comments

Best potato salad with fennel, parmigiano cheese, cippolini onions and piccholine olives.

The Best Potato Salad with fennel, Parmesan cheese, cipollini onions and picholine olives.

The first time I made this was one year ago. Our oldest son was having a party at his apartment where they also have use of the roof. We were invited – unusual for parents! I brought a quadrupled recipe of this along with a rhubarb upside down cake. Both were huge hits!! This potato salad recipe is unusual, surprising and so very tasty. You will love it! This is an adapted version of a Martha Stewart recipe. (Robin – this is for you!)

THE BEST POTATO SALAD – serves 6

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 1/2 pounds baby Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and halved
3/4 pound cipollini onions, peeled (drop in boiling water for 1-2 minutes to make this easier)
1/8 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
1 cup homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon white-wine vinegar
1/2 cup picholine olives, pitted (2 1/2 ounces)
1 small fennel bulb, very thinly sliced (use a mandoline)
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, shaved (1 cup)

Heat a medium skillet over medium-low heat with oil. Add garlic, and slowly saute for 8 – 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Turn heat to medium-high and add potatoes, onions, and red-pepper flakes. Cook until onions are golden, about 7 minutes.

Add stock, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until potatoes and onions are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove potatoes and onions with a slotted spoon. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking liquid.

Combine reserved liquid, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Pour over warm potatoes and onions. You must do this while the potatoes are still warm to ensure maximum flavor. Stir in olives, and let cool completely.

Add fennel and parsley, and combine. Season with salt and pepper. Top with Parmesan.

Take a look at my garden after I took off the “winter blankets” yesterday. My mint, oregano, sage and chives went wild!

My herb garden – “winter blankets” removed!

Amazing lamb ragu

September 26, 2011 by Mary Frances 5 Comments

This dish is scrumptious!!! You have got to try it and see the look of love on the faces of your eaters!! Comforting and bursting with flavor, it’s a perfect Fall dish. This is the kind of dish that makes you want to crawl right inside of it, cuddle up and sigh. Really. And it’s quick, easy and special enough for guests!

PASTA WITH CREAMY LAMB RAGU & MINT
– serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound ground lamb
1 28-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand, with liquid
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 pound dried penne pasta or Girelle as pictured
2 – 3 tbs. fresh chopped mint (or parsley if you don’t have mint)
Freshly grated Pecorino Romano

Warm olive oil in a medium skillet and turn heat to low. A minute later, add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it becomes translucent, about 10 – 12 minutes. Meanwhile, set a pot of water to boil for pasta and salt it.

When onion is ready, add lamb and garlic to skillet and cook, stirring to break up any clumps, until all traces of red are gone, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and their juice to lamb mixture, then adjust heat so it simmers briskly, constantly. The sauce should thicken.

Put pasta in boiling water and cook to al dente – usually 1-2 minutes less than package directions.

Taste and salt and pepper your sauce. Take the sauce off the heat, add cream, stirring completely. When pasta is done, drain well, toss it with sauce, some grated Pecorino Romano cheese and half the mint or parsley. Sprinkle the remaining chopped mint or parsley on top to finish the dish. Pass more cheese at the table.

Lamb ragu with Girelle in a bowl with grated Romano cheese and cracked black pepper.

With more grated Pecorino Romano cheese and cracked black pepper

I forgot the pancetta!

September 8, 2011 by Mary Frances 1 Comment

So last night I made this fantastic dinner. I love one dish meals for a weeknight – so simple and neat. I bought the pound and a half of shrimp, texted Zach as to what time he’d be home and it turns out he’s going to his brother’s apartment in Williamsburg for dinner and they are having over Jen – their nanny! And I didn’t even know about it. How sweet is that!? And here I bought the shrimp specifically for Zach, as he had been talking about shrimp for dinner – he was craving. Go figure! But he enjoyed the leftovers when he got home at midnight.

ORECCHIETTE WITH SHRIMP AND BROCCOLI RABE
Serves 4

Trim the ends off, wash and chop the broccoli rabe into 2″ size pieces. Make sure no yellow flowers have bloomed. If they have, remove them and NEVER buy a head with bloomed flowers as they are really really bitter. Now put all the rabe in a large pot and cover with 2″ of cold water over the top. Salt the water and rabe with coarse sea salt, stir and put the pot on high heat. When little boiling bubbles start to form around the edge of the pot, remove from heat, drain and immerse in an ice cube bath of water to stop the cooking. When cold, drain thoroughly, spin (in your lettuce spinner) and then pat dry.

Warm 2 tbs. olive oil in a large skillet, add 7 (yes seven) cloves of minced garlic, one-half of medium-sized red onion, sliced on a hand mandoline. Saute all on low heat for 10 minutes to soften and get all melty. I would typically add the 1/4″ cubes of pancetta here, from one 1/4″ slice – but I forgot!

Fill the pot you cooked the broccoli rabe in with water to cook the orrecchiette. Salt with coarse sea salt and bring to a rolling boil. Cook the pasta 1- 2 minutes less than the minimum time on the package directions. Taste to be sure it is al dente properly. Save a half of a coffee cup of pasta water before draining, just in case you need a little moisture in your finished dish. (My boys always tease me about this as I often never use it – but just in case!)

Meanwhile, wash and dry 1.5 lbs of shrimp, cleaned and shelled but tails left on and salt and pepper one side of each. Add 1 seeded and minced habanero pepper and 1/2 cup of chicken broth to the garlic and onion mixture and saute for 2 minutes more. Raise your heat and add the broccoli rabe, saute for 2 minutes and then add the shrimp plus 1/2 cup dry Vermouth and cook until the shrimp are pink on both sides. When done remove from heat.

Put the cooked pasta in a large bowl, pour on shrimp mixture and add 1/2 cup of grated Romano cheese (don’t tell the Italians as they would NEVER put cheese on a fish dish, but here it is great and adds a little natural saltiness) and toss. To finish, drizzle on 2 tbs olive oil and sprinkle 1/4 cup of chopped fresh mint.

Let me know how you like this!

(Can you believe I forgot the pancetta?)

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

The Best Potato Salad

Amazing lamb ragu

I forgot the pancetta!

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