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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!

Asparagus Risotto

June 8, 2014 by Mary 48 Comments

 

With spring finally here and beautiful asparagus plentiful, I always want to make this dish: Asparagus Risotto. Years ago I never liked risotto, I actually never wanted to try it. Soupy rice? No way. My mother used to make this Polish meal of a hot soup made with milk and rice (gag – I hated it), potato pancakes and applesauce. Oh I thought it was AWFUL!!! My father loved it and even one of my brothers, David, asked for the rice soup once for his birthday. Fortunately I had left town by then. So this is why I never ordered risotto in a restaurant, thinking it was too close to that soup. But no, not at all.

And then there are the asparagus stories in my family. My father loved, loved, LOVED asparagus. And in those days when I was young, it was really only available in the spring and early summer. But it was still relatively expensive and we were a family of eight with six kids. So my father would buy two to three bunches, and actually count the spears and divide by eight as to how many spears each person got. This ran between five and eight, depending on how expensive they were. We would always tease him as he counted, while lovingly serving them to each of us. He liked asparagus so much, he even liked the canned white stuff (gag).

My father never cooked much, but he always made the asparagus. He would take each spear, hold it at each end and bend it until it broke at the point of tenderness, all the while, explaining to me what he was doing. Breaking at the point of tenderness was so important to him. After washing, he would then pile them all up with the ends together forming a flat bottom, and tie up the bundle with white kitchen string.

Using the double boiler, he would fill the bottom pan with about an inch and a half of water and stand the bundle of asparagus upright in it and then take the top pan and turn it upside down, covering the top portion and tips. He would then steam them for about 8 – 10 minutes, testing the tenderness of the stems with a fork. When they were done, he would carefully lift out the whole bundle and place it in one of my mom’s square Pyrex pans, cut loose and remove the white string, and proceed to put probably too many pats of butter on top. He would move those pats around, making sure all spears were covered, from stem to tip, and then count to serve. This is how I grew up on asparagus!

But back to risotto, this recipe is based on combination of Mario Batali’s and Mark Bittman’s recipes and was first printed in The New York Times back in 2007. I have changed it a bit. It is a family favorite in our household, the kind of dish you can just sink right into – real comfort food – with the spring accent of asparagus. You can even throw in some peeled raw shrimp at the end, (stir until done) to dress it up even more if you’d like. Serve as a first course or with your meal as shown here with broiled lamb chops. I hope you like this. Maybe it will become a family favorite in your house too!Asparagus risotto with lamb chops.

Asparagus Risotto – Adapted from Mario Batali and Mark Bittman – serves 4 as a main course or 8 as a side

1+ lbs. asparagus, no less than ¼” thick, snapped at the point of tenderness, washed and cut into one-inch-long pieces, tips reserved
5 to 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock, preferably homemade
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 medium red onion, diced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
Salt to taste
1/2 cup, heaping, grated Parmesan cheese.

Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add half the asparagus stalks and cook until quite soft, at least 5 minutes. Rinse quickly under cold water. Drain. Put cooked asparagus in a food processor and add just enough water to allow machine to puree until smooth; set aside.

Put stock in a medium saucepan over low heat. Put oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium heat. When it is hot, add onion, stirring occasionally until it softens, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is glossy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add white wine, stir, and let liquid bubble away. Add a large pinch of salt. Add warmed stock, 3/4 cup or so at a time, stirring occasionally. Each time the stock has just about evaporated, add more. You need to stir no more than occasionally. For example, stir after each addition of liquid and then once or twice more before that liquid evaporates.

After about 15 minutes, add remaining asparagus pieces and tips, continuing to add stock when necessary. In 5 minutes, begin tasting rice. You want it to be tender but with a bit of crunch; it could take as long as 30 minutes total to reach this stage. When it does, stir in the asparagus puree. Remove skillet from heat, add remaining butter and stir briskly. Add Parmesan and stir briskly, then taste and adjust seasoning. Risotto should be slightly soupy. Serve immediately.

 

Filed Under: First Course, Sides Tagged With: asparagus recipes, asparagus risotto, asparagus risotto recipe, Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, risotto recipes, The New York Times

Leg of lamb and the best tomatoes

September 2, 2013 by Mary Frances 20 Comments

We love being invited to our friends Susan and Matt’s apartment for dinner. They are both great hosts. Susan always does a terrific job making special recipes, Matt always serves a wonderful single malt Scotch and our conversations are topical and stimulating, often revolving around politics. Susan worked closely for a state senator for many years and really knows the ins and outs of the system. This past week, we were invited there along with some old friends of theirs and Susan made the most amazing leg of lamb.

It was Herb and Honey Mustard Crusted Leg of Lamb from the September issue of Food and Wine magazine. But listen to this story – this is the great thing about living near an old fashioned butcher. The recipe calls for a boneless or butterflied leg of lamb, seasoned with the mustard paste, rolled and tied back up to form a roast, and then to put the bone back in the one end so it looks pretty. Her butcher, Frank at Ottomanelli on York Avenue and 82nd St. would be happy to butterfly it, but then she was nervous about tying it back up. No worries, Frank told her to bring her herb mustard mixture in to the store and he would spread it all around on the inside, salt and pepper it, and tie it back up all pretty, making a gorgeous roast and putting the decorative bone back in. Isn’t that the sweetest? So she arrived home all set to put this baby in the oven. Done!

TIP: I have found that most butchers in independent shops love to offer to do this type of work. They take ownership in their work, have a lot of pride in what they do and want to be a part of your meal. So next time, let them know what you’re trying to do and just ask!Carving Herb and Honey Mustard Crusted Leg of Lamb on a wooden cutting board in a NYC apartment.

Now I stupidly neglected to take a picture of the whole roast but here’s one of Matt cutting Susan’s beautiful and scrumptious leg of lamb.Dinner plate with Leg of Lamb, Nicoise tomatoes, haricot vert, and roasted potatoes.

Here’s her gorgeous plate.

And here’s the recipe for the delicious tomatoes. You know I love anchovies!!

TOMATOES NICOISE – from The New York Times by David Tanis

1 small shallot, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, grated
Salt
Pepper
2 tbs. red wine vinegar
3 tbs. olive oil
8 anchovies fillets, 2 finely chopped and 6 for garnish
2 tbs. roughly chopped black nicoise or oil cured olives, plus olives for garnish
6 small red tomatoes
12 cherry tomatoes in assorted colors
1 tbs. small capers, rinsed
12 basil leaves

Make the vinaigrette: Put shallot, garlic, salt, pepper and vinegar in small bowl. Macerate 10 minutes, then whisk in oil, chopped anchovies and chopped olives

Slice red tomatoes thickly and place on platter in one layer. Season with salt and pepper. Season cherry tomatoes with salt and dress with vinaigrette. Spoon cherry tomatoes over tomato slices.

Top each tomato slice with half an anchovy fillet, sprinkle with capers. Garnish with basil leaves and whole olives.

Serve at cool room temperature.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Dinner, Meat, Sides Tagged With: butchers, Food and Wine magazine, herb and honey mustard crusted leg of lamb, leg of lamb, Ottomanelli on York and 82nd St., The New York Times, tomatoes nicoise

End of season tomatoes

September 30, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

Fresh green tomatoes on a white plate.

This is a big travel time for us – Vermont this past weekend, Vancouver for the next two weekends on business, and then a huge wedding at the Mandarin Oriental in Manhattan after that. We won’t be back at our country house for a month so I had to pick all the remaining tomatoes last weekend.

But, the good news is, we love Fried Green Tomatoes!! (great movie too – Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy are stellar!) I like to slice them about 1/4” thick, soak them in buttermilk for at least 20 minutes and then coat in very fine cornmeal (I use Goya) seasoned with salt and pepper, sauté in very hot olive oil and you are in for a very fine treat!! Since I rarely fry breaded things, it is a real treat for us!

I just read an article in the dining section of The New York Times about buttermilk and apparently Kate’s Real Buttermilk is the real deal, so try to find that or some other organic whole buttermilk instead of skim.

Filed Under: Sides, Vegetables Tagged With: buttermilk, dining section, end of season tomatoes, fine cornmeal, fried green tomatoes, Goya cornmeal, green tomatoes, Kate's Real Buttermilk, The New York Times

Labor Day weekend!

September 4, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

Eggplant Parmigiano and farm stand salad on a white plate.

Margaret’s Eggplant Parmigiano with a farm stand mesclun salad

Ah, the end of summer. Sad to say good-bye, but beautiful autumn is just around the corner. I love every season and I am glad I live in a place that experiences all four of them.

How was your holiday weekend? Ours, upstate, was filled with gorgeous weather with some sprinkles of rain just as we were driving back to Manhattan in the early evening on Monday.

This time also celebrates our one-year birthday for this blog! LOVE now has close to 3000 followers with additional monthly exposure across the globe in South Africa via Spice4Life.

On Saturday, we got together with our dear friends, Margaret and Wayne. They had us over to their house and Margaret made a fantastic dinner. Starting with delicious fresh summer corn crab cakes – a recipe from Mark Bittman – she moved us into Fall with the most amazing Eggplant Parmigiano with a beautiful mixed green salad. She used farm stand organic mesclun with scallions, heirloom tomatoes and avocado. But the Eggplant Parmigiano, oh my, was divine!!! The eggplant was not breaded beforehand, but sautéed on its own, the mozzarella was dreamy and the tomato sauce (homemade) was perfect. It was scrumptious pure heaven. She has promised the recipe, an old one from The New York Times, that she had lost but put back together from memory.

We need that recipe soon, Margaret!!!

Here’s her beautiful meal.

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: corn crab cakes, Eggplant Parmigiano, heirloom tomatoes, Mark Bittman, mesclun salad, mozzerella cheese, The New York Times

Blueberries!

August 17, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

Locally grown blueberries in cartons.They’re here now locally in abundance! And boy, are they delicious this year!! Sprinkle them on oatmeal, toss in your fruit salad, make sauces for duck, pork and salmon or just eat them! I have already made two pies and one blueberry crisp. They supposedly are a true brain food, full of antioxidants to combat all the other toxic things we do to our bodies. My good friend, Margaret, makes sure to eat lots of them year round but right now they are local, sweet and yummy.

Melissa Clark, in the New York Times, recently published a recipe of a blueberry sauce on salmon. This is on fresh, expensive wild King salmon. You can find the recipe here: Salmon With Agrodolce Blueberries. I made the full recipe for only a pound of salmon for the two of us and saved the rest of the sauce for pork chops on another night. To our tastes, this sauce was just okay on the salmon (which would have been just fine by itself), but amazing on the pork chops. You decide. And the crisp is easy as can be with an oatmeal topping. That recipe is here.

Blueberry crisp with an oatmeal topping.

Blueberry Crisp – with an oatmeal topping

Filed Under: Desserts, Dinner, Fish, Meat Tagged With: blueberries, blueberry crisp, Melissa Clark, pork chops with blueberry sauce, salmon, salmon with blueberry sauce, The New York Times

Julia & Eric

August 15, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

Today would be Julia Child’s 100th birthday!! Happy Birthday to the great chef and instigator of the whole foodie movement that is so prevalent today. There are several articles about her in the Times this morning, one recalling favorite recipes of hers. I have my favorites too – her soy, garlic, rosemary, mustard sauce for a leg of lamb can’t be beat. It is my go-to lamb roast recipe. Leeks braised with a parchment paper cover as a side dish is a really simple dish that seems oh-so-elegant and impressive. I always refer to her for the way she sauteed mushrooms and, of course, boeuf bourguignon. She taught me to smash garlic cloves to remove the skin, but more importantly, she taught my mother the fine art of cooking, which she then passed on to me.

Last night we took our boys out for dinner at Le Bernardin to celebrate our youngest starting on his PhD at Yale next week. My husband and I have not been there in years and yes, it was still so very lovely with superb service. We saw Eric Ripert but unfortunately we did not get to speak. The depth and combination of flavors he achieves with each dish is unique and truly delights the palate. It was a very special evening. We stayed and chatted late into the night.

Here was my third course lobster dish with a stuffed squash blossom – really super delicious. Much to the chagrin of my boys, yes, I snapped these photos.Le Bernardin lobster on a white plate.

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: 100th birthday, beef bourguignon, dessert, Eric Ripert, Julia Child, Le Bernardin, leg of lamb, lobster, mustard sauce, seafood, stuffed squash blossoms, The New York Times

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