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

Election night, bread, chocolate and red wine

November 6, 2012 by Mary Frances 3 Comments

We’re a nervous wreck here. The race for the presidency of our country is close. I made a lovely light dinner. (I’ll tell you more about that later.) And now I made a famous Spanish dessert, a favorite for children as a simple after school snack. We served it at a small dinner party this past Saturday night, and liked it so much that we wanted to keep on repeating it and repeating it. It’s simple to make and just the right amount of sweetness, of chocolate and a little bit of saltiness. And, it’s lovely with some red wine leftover from dinner.

The basis of this recipe is from Food and Wine magazine. Use the best chocolate you can find. I used Scharffen Berger 3 oz bars. Buy two bars and put 2 squares on each bread slice.

BREAD AND CHOCOLATE
– serves 4

8 thin baguette slices
Two 3-ounce bars of bittersweet chocolate, cut in 8 pieces to fit, you will not use all of this chocolate
Extra-virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt for sprinkling

Preheat the broiler and position a rack 8 inches from the heat. Spread the baguette slices on a baking sheet and broil until toasted, about 30 seconds – 1 minute. Turn the slices over and set a square or two of chocolate on each one. Broil just until the bread is golden and the chocolate is beginning to melt (about 30 seconds – 1 minute). Transfer the chocolate toasts to plates and drizzle lightly with the olive oil and also sprinkle lightly with the sea salt on the chocolate. Serve right away.

Oven dried and “canned” tomatoes

August 24, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

Oven dried tomatoes in olive oil with fresh herbs and garlic

My “canned” tomatoes with thyme. CORRECTION – don’t put the thyme in unless you’ve boiled it with the tomatoes – just washed fresh thyme could contaminate

Summer – ready for storage – IN THE FREEZER, SINCE I ADDED THE FRESH THYME

So here’s what I did with the eleven pounds of tomatoes. I made 2 batches of oven dried tomatoes, which my whole family adores. They are very slowly oven dried which brings out intense flavor and sweetness. Drenched in olive oil with crushed fresh garlic and herbs they will keep for a month in the refrigerator – ha – if they should last so long!

What do you do with these? Eat them as they are, as a side with dinner or chop them up and throw in pasta for a quick sauce. Serve with broccoli rabe, sautéed scallops and lemon for a fantastic main course or throw on a pizza. Don’t worry, you will think of a myriad of ways to use them. Just make them and you won’t be sorry. And they’re so easy, all you need is time, 6 – 7 hours and you’re set. The basis of this recipe is from the Union Square Café cookbook.

The “canned” are simply the fresh San Marzano tomatoes, washed, cored and roughly chopped, cooked until the liquid boils and jarred with sprigs of fresh thyme. Ethel encouraged me to do them like this – naked – so I would have choices in the winter to do whatever I wanted with them. I couldn’t resist adding the thyme sprigs from my garden. Besides, it looks so pretty, doesn’t it? I processed these jars for 10 minutes in boiling water. UPDATE: I FOUND OUT THAT THE FRESH, JUST WASHED THYME COULD CONTAMINATE THE TOMATOES, SO DON’T ADD THE THYME AT ALL OR BOIL IT WITH THE TOMATOES.

OVEN DRIED TOMATOES
2 lbs. ripe plum tomatoes or San Marzano
1 tsp. kosher salt
5 garlic cloves, crushed
3-4 thyme sprigs
2 rosemary sprigs
1 sage sprig
Olive oil to cover – can be as much as 2 cups

Wash, core and halve the tomatoes lengthwise. Sprinkle each half with the salt and let sit for one hour. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Bake in the oven for 5 – 6 hours. (5 works for me but it depends on your oven). They should be dried but still slightly plump. Let cool. Layer tomatoes, garlic and herbs in a clean glass jar. Cover with olive oil. Store in the refrigerator. Enjoy!!

Salted tomatoes waiting to go into the oven

Zach’s quinoa vegetable dish

June 16, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

This was the dish my youngest made for me as part of my Mother’s Day dinner. I figured I’d better get this to you before Father’s Day!

While I loved their meal, what I love most is watching the two boys cook. They discuss, they gossip, they argue, and then they break into a dance. They are so funny. They planned the meal together and then each was responsible for certain dishes, as opposed to one being the chef and the other being the sous chef. This dish Zach made up while the older one was a Mark Bittman devotee that night.

I hope you enjoy it!

ZACH’S QUINOA VEGETABLE DISH
5 cups of chicken stock (preferably homemade)
3 zucchinis
3 large carrots, peeled
1 onion
Olive oil
2 cups of quinoa
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the zucchini and carrots, slicing them thinly, and set them aside. Chop the onion fine as well.

In a large pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil, add the onions, and cover. Let them simmer, break down and become sweet. While those are cooking, put 4 cups of chicken broth in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. When that boils add the 2 cups of quinoa, turn down the heat, stir and cover; let simmer on low heat for about 12-14 minutes. But don’t forget to stir your onions and check on them!
When your onions look good, add the carrots and final cup of broth. Turn up the heat and let the carrots cook in the boiling broth uncovered. After much of the broth is gone, turn down the heat to a simmer, add the zucchini, and cover the pan. When the zucchini is cooked down, after about 5-7 minutes, add your cooked quinoa and stir. Salt and pepper to taste, but be careful, some store-bought chicken stocks can be salty!

A wonderful combination and tangerines are in season!

March 14, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

I first made this salad for my visiting brother, David, and his wife, Pat. What I didn’t realize until much later, was that this became one of Patti’s all time favorite dishes. She went home and made it and made it and made it so many times that finally David said, “Again? Patti it’s really good but enough already!”

We all love beets in our family – after all we’re Polish and the Poles practically only have root vegetables, as my son tells me after living there for two different six month stints. Beets are served at almost every meal, along with horseradish. Soon, I’ll post our all-time family favorite recipe of beets and horseradish, as we get closer to Easter, as it is an imperative Easter breakfast dish in our household.

But I digress. My brother, Mark would say, “Midge (my nickname), is this plane ever going to land?” So yes it is! This is a fantastic, surprising, most refreshing and light combination! Beets are always good with goat cheese and toasted walnuts, but this is a real treat to your palate.

Now you may think it’s a lot of work and time consuming. It does take time but you can divide it up. Roast your beets the night before while you’re making your dinner, peel them and store in the fridge. Also you can toast your pine nuts the night before too. Toast more pine nuts than you need and store in an airtight plastic container so you have them on hand to throw in a pasta dish, on other salads or on some haricot verts, Remember, the more you cook, the easier it is, because you’ll start to have things on hand – salad dressings, croutons, toasted nuts. All good things!

An iPhone photo of a photo on a BlackBerry!

BEETS AND TANGERINES ON A BED OF ARUGULA
-serves 4

4 golden beets
1.5 tbs. pine nuts
3 tbs. olive oil
3-4 oz. of washed, dried and chilled arugula
4 tangerines
2 small shallots, thinly sliced
1.5 tbs. raspberry vinegar
Salt
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the washed, scrubbed and dried beets in large piece of aluminum foil, drizzle with 1 tbs. olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Draw up the aluminum foil to make a packet. Place the packet in a baking dish (they might leak) and roast for 60 – 70 minutes, until they are tender and easily pierced with a skewer. When they are cool enough to handle, peel the beets and cut into sixths or eighths, or store whole in the refrigerator.

In a small non-stick skillet, over medium high heat, toast the pine nuts, stirring constantly until they are golden brown. Place in a small dish to cool.

Using a sharp knife, cut each end off of the tangerine so you have a flat bottom and top, then slice around the curve and cut off the remaining peel. Once the tangerine is peeled, over a medium bowl, slice in between the membranes to release the tangerine sections. Squeeze the juice from the membranes into a small bowl; you should have 1/4 cup.

In another small bowl, toss the sliced shallots and raspberry vinegar with a pinch of salt and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in the 1/4 cup of tangerine juice and whisk in the remaining 2 tbs. of olive oil. Season the dressing with salt.

Place a handful of arugula on each plate. Arrange the beets and tangerine sections on plates and drizzle with the dressing. Top with the toasted pine nuts and serve.

If you have refrigerated the roasted beets overnight, bring to room temperature before using. Also, the tangerines are better at room temperature as well.

Try it!

March 7, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

Over roasted green beans in a white bowl.

Delicious Oven Roasted Green Beans

Our wonderful farmer friends, Ethel and Tom, once told me that all the local restaurants that they sell their vegetables to, always oven roast them as their method to cook. Ethel said they all swear that oven roasting brings out the natural sweetness in the most marvelous way.

Now I’ve been a big fan of roasting eggplant, turnips, zucchini, mushrooms, cauliflower, carrots, asparagus, all kinds of squash, Brussel sprouts, peppers, and of course potatoes but green beans?

So with my shrimp and pasta dinner the other night, being so tired and exhausted, and wanting to eat quickly, I decided to try it. They were delicious!!! Give it a go!

OVEN ROASTED GREEN BEANS
– serves 3 – 4

1 lb. green beans, washed, cleaned and dried
2 tbs. olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Make sure your beans are all dry – use a dish towel if you don’t have time to air dry them. Place in a pile in the center of a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle olive oil on and salt and pepper. Toss well and spread out all across the pan in a single layer. Roast for 20 – 25 minutes until tender. Toss once in the middle of cooking. Enjoy!

After the move.

March 3, 2012 by Mary Frances 4 Comments

We did it!!

We moved our offices on Thursday. Two trucks and 400 boxes later, we are in our new space in TriBeCa. We finished at 2:30 am on Friday morning. It’s going to be great but right now, my hands hurt so much I’ve been coating them with hand cream followed by a thick coating of Vaseline, and wearing an old pair of my Aunt Lu’s white gloves from the 50’s to sleep in. (Not exactly sexy since I also like to wear a pair of white socks because my feet get so cold – oh well!) My Mom always said that this was the best bet to treat badly damaged hands AND keep your sheets clean. Only now I think I’m going to have to start with some Neosporin on the cuticles first, then the rest of the program.

It is truly amazing how much stuff you can amass in 10 years, particularly in my business with all the printed samples we must have on hand to show to new prospective clients. And I did a lot of editing and throwing away before the movers came and we still have so much stuff.

So we were back in the office again today, working on the unpacking and arrived home at 6:30, starving, as we had no lunch. As I mentioned before, my husband has to be on this crazy diet of no garlic, onions, tomatoes, spicy things, or lemons.

So I wanted to make a shrimp and pasta dish and I’m thinking, what can I do here? It’s easy to make a shrimp and pasta dish with garlic and tomatoes. A little shallot wouldn’t hurt either, or lemon and garlic with white wine, but this! He can have ginger, so I’m considering it but then it’s just not sounding good to me.

So I sent him out to get some parsley (we fortunately have a grocery store right downstairs in our building) and this is what I came up with – and it was crazy delicious!! Simple, quick, clean tasting and it seemed to have a creamy lemony taste, which I’m not sure where that came from – maybe a residual taste from the Sauvignon? Try this and tell me what you think.

QUICK, EASY PASTA WITH SHRIMP – AND NO GARLIC
– serves 4

1.5 lbs. large shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 lb. spaghetti #3
1/3 cup olive oil plus more for finishing
1 cup chopped fresh parsley, washed and air dried before chopping
1/2 cup dry white wine
Salt
Pepper
3 – 4 tbs pasta water

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta. Thoroughly wash and pat dry the shrimp. Salt and pepper one side.

Heat the olive oil until very hot. Add the parsley carefully – it will pop and really sizzle because of the water in it hitting the oil. Stir and let it sizzle for 30 seconds to a minute and then add the shrimp and turn heat down slightly. Cook shrimp 1-2 minutes, add the wine and make sure it is bubbling. Turn the shrimp and cook another 1–2 minutes. When shrimp are pink on both sides, turn off heat but leave in pan.

Meanwhile, you should be cooking your pasta till al dente. Save some pasta water and drain.

In a large bowl layer in half of the pasta and half of the shrimp mixture. Repeat the layers. Drizzle on some additional oil and the pasta water. Toss and combine well. Serve and enjoy!

Remember, it’s always about the quality of ingredients you use. Find the freshest shrimp, the best olive oil, use French grey salt and Tellicherry fresh ground pepper for best results.