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

Halloumi with Griddled Vegetables

September 27, 2016 by Mary 8 Comments

Today we’re spreading the LOVE with a guest post from Rachel Stinson. She reached out to me with a post about halloumi, a cheese with which I was unfamiliar with and excited to learn about. Halloumi /həˈluːmi/ or hellim is a Cypriot semi-hard, unripened brined cheese made from a mixture of goat’s and sheep’s milk, and sometimes also cow’s milk. It has a high melting point and so can easily be fried or grilled. (Wikipedia)

Rachel Stinson has always had a knack for writing, food, fashion, and places. Blogging has combined all four for her with an added bonus of enthusiastic audiences. She expertly analyzes real estates and restaurants with respect to pricing and people involved and can express her opinions in an unhesitant, engaging manner.

Without further ado, here is her recipe!

I’m going to start with a rant, a cheese-o-phile’s rant. It resulted from my last trip to the supermarket. I strolled my way through lofty racks stacked up to the brim with tempting confectioneries and gloriously tinned food. As I approached the cheese section, my heart skipped a beat. I was almost tempted to grab four to five of those yellow cheese blocks wrapped in flashy packaging and toss them in my cart.

But, I didn’t. I felt a sadness descend me as I realized the disturbing monotony wrapped in the name of ‘cheese’. I had tasted all of these brands and they all tasted the same to me. I needed something purer, cruder, and closer to unique hand-crafted cheese. I needed something like the splendid cheese I had once tasted at Operation Falafel, Dubai. That’s when I found Halloumi.

It was love at first bite and now I am addicted to this Cypriot cheese for life. It’s still largely saved from adulteration and carries the true taste and essence of the ‘cooked curd’ cheese category. For this very reason, I use Halloumi in lots of my cheese recipes. My favorite one I’ll share with you:

HALLOUMI WITH GRIDDLED VEGETABLES

225 g Halloumi cheese
2 shallots
100 g frozen broad beans
2 courgettes (zucchini)
1 small bunch of asparagus
1 Tbs. capers
½ bunch of flat leaf parsley
200 g ripe cherry tomatoes
½ bunch of sweet marjoram or oregano
2 Tbs. olive oiL

Shake together all the dressing ingredients in a clean, dry jar. Once thoroughly mixed, put the jar aside.

Boil the broad beans for 5 minutes or until soft. Drain out the boiled water and pass beans under cold water to cool them off. Once you can comfortably touch then, peel off the beans’ white outer skin.

Cut the Halloumi into slices a width and shape of your choice. Trim off unnecessary asparagus leaves. Slice together asparagus and the courgettes longitudinally. And let loose some olive oil over the three.

Get your griddle pan warmed up over high heat. Toss in the Halloumi, asparagus, and courgettes drenched in olive oil. Cook until they are nicely charred and emanating a tantalizing aroma. Then, set them aside in the same pan.

It’s time to cut the shallots into rings and halve the tomatoes. Then pick a flat platter and layer by layer add the shallots, the tomatoes, and the griddled mixture of Halloumi, asparagus, and courgettes.

Fine chop the fresh herbs to sprinkle with the luscious dressing.

Halloumi with Griddled Vegetables tastes even better with friends. So, as much as you want to savor the entire platter all by yourself, call over some cheese lovers and have a grand Halloumi party. Thank me later.

(Photo credits: Shutterstock)

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce and My Italian Dinner

September 3, 2016 by Mary 17 Comments

We are still basking in the memories of our European trip and this post is about the Italian part. Our friends in Italy are so generous. They are generous with their time, their attention and their gifts. Tiziana so graciously took me to buy the best cheeses in all of Italy – award-winning Pecorino’s in many different “flavors.” I bought two different kinds (now I wish I would have bought more…) plus some Parmigiano. I bought 3 large wedges but ended up giving two away to each of my kids. Why was I feeling so generous at that moment???

Tiziana was so gracious in equipping me with an insulated bag with a cold pack plus another suitcase that I could put all the cheeses in and check the bag for flying. And did I tell you about the olive oil? Every guest at the wedding got this can of olive oil pressed from olives from the olive trees in their yard!

This is THE BEST olive oil – so fruity, so pure, so DELICIOUS!! I wish to never run out of this but that is really wishful thinking since I only have two cans.

On Sunday night of that amazing weekend in Italy, if you can imagine, Andrea and Tiziana had yet another dinner party. These are the parents of the bride who held a party in their home for 50 people on Friday night, hosted the wedding on Saturday, which started at 5 pm and ended at 5:30 am and then had about 20 people for dinner on Sunday night, with Tiziana making yet another pasta dish – pici with her mother’s pomarola sauce – so delicious!! Not yet knowing how to make that, I came home and immediately made this pasta with fresh tomato sauce – twice already!

Super quick and easy Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce.

My Italian Dinner - bowl of fresh sunny gold pasta sauce

You can also use sunny gold tomatoes – super sweet and delicious.

The tomatoes are so abundant, fresh and flavorful this time of year, perfect to make this dish. It’s so darn easy and quick too. I didn’t have any basil in the city so I substituted sorrel in the first picture.

Parsley would have worked too – the little bit of green is nice.

Here is this very simple recipe to make a perfect and satisfying meatless meal:

PASTA WITH FRESH TOMATO SAUCE – serves 6 as a main course

1 lb. dried pasta – I used spaghetti
Coarse sea salt or Kosher salt to salt the pasta water

SAUCE:
2 lbs. fresh tomatoes – preferably heirloom or sunny gold, washed, dried, cored and chopped
¼ cup of olive oil
1 large clove of garlic, grated
Salt to taste – preferably French Grey
Black pepper – fresh ground to taste
Pinch of red chili flakes

Torn basil leaves or sorrel or flat leaf parsley for garnish

Combine all ingredients for the sauce in a large shallow bowl.

Cook the pasta in ample boiling water, salted to taste like the ocean. Start testing the pasta 2 minutes before the lesser time on the instructions. You must have the pasta al dente. No one likes overcooked pasta. Before draining, save some pasta water.

Immediately place drained pasta in the bowl with the sauce ingredients, adding 1 – 2 Tbs. of pasta water, to make the sauce adhere to the pasta better and toss all to combine. Garnish with torn basil leaves or sorrel or parsley. Serve immediately.

That same Sunday night in Italy, Cristina, Tiziana’s best friend and my sweet Prada buddy (she took me to the Prada store) came to dinner with a jar of her favorite Tuscan meat sauce – she said Tiziana knows cheese but she knows meat!! She brought the best bresaola I have ever tasted. And she brought her favorite Tuscan cookbook for me that is thankfully in English and Italian! I don’t know how she even found the time to go get these gifts in between the Prada trip and dinner that night. Everybody was so SWEET!! Cristina asked if I had room in my suitcase. Heck I’d find room come hell or highwater.

Just take a look at this book – beautiful and I want to make about 99.9% of the recipes…

Tuscan cookbook open to bean soup recipe.

I cannot wait for the weather to get a little cooler to make this soup!

Tuscan cookbook open to Pici pasta recipe.

This pasta dish sounds amazing too!!! Don’t worry, I will share!

And how sweet this is because every time I see the book, read or use a recipe, I think of Cristina and Tiziana and our amazing time in Italy. All the wonderful memories come flooding back – the scenes, the conversations, the sunsets, the lavender, the cypress trees, the food, the wine, our four kids all dressed up and bouncing around in an open jeep, hair flying, not caring, and the most beautiful wedding.

We all have been continuing the conversation via email, discussing our kids and recipes. Soon I’ll share with you Tiziana’s mother’s recipe for the Pomarola Sauce. I made it once already last weekend, but not the way Nonna makes hers so I want to make her recipe exactly and share that with you.

But for now, let me share with you a little dinner party we hosted for our good friends, Margaret and Wayne, the first Saturday we were back. My appetizers were the two different kinds of Pecorino along with some bruschetta with truffles that I bought at the airport. Super delish!

Then I served my gazpacho soup garnished with avocado.

Then I made some pici pasta I picked up at the Pisa airport and served it with Cristina’s sauce and OMG – it was sooooo good!! A garnish of basil was all that was needed. Dinner served!!

Then I served a salad of greens from my garden – lettuce, sorrel and basil with tomatoes, radishes and chives – tossed with a champagne vinaigrette. A good light clean palette cleanser,

and then we finished up with this strawberry rhubarb crisp with a little vanilla ice cream.

So don’t “labor” this weekend! Make this pasta with fresh tomato sauce, with LOVE, so super easy, and kick back and relax!

Kale & Farro Salad with Spicy Butternut Squash, Broccoli, Radishes & Cashews

April 10, 2016 by Mary 10 Comments

There are so many snack boxes out there — Graze, Love With Food, Snack Nation and Nature Box to name a few. I went to a food conference last Saturday called Founder Made, where numerous new food product founders participated. A lot of discussion was had about how millennials eat, much of it revolving around snacking. And Graze was there touting their “healthy” snacks.

Well I’m here to tell you that while their snacks may not be fried potato chips – they are “healthier” than that – but they are high in calories and sugar just the same. And if you eat three well-balanced meals, you should have no need to snack at all. Come on – one of their snacks was pecan pie pecans – that’s full of sugar and super fattening! That is not a healthy snack.

So the millennials will be overweight and even more detrimental, not understand the value of eating right, balanced meals in the first place. This is like the “low fat” craze of the 80’s – total hogwash!

So what we aim to do with MARY’s secret ingredients is to introduce you to new healthy products that will easily turn a ho-hum ordinary meal into a special gourmet “company” meal. We want to show you how to create fantastic dishes, super easily, with the new healthy products we have curated for you. It might be a new flavored natural jam or a condiment that can be used on steamed vegetables to create a sauce that gives it a wow factor, or creating a unique marinade with tea or how to make a spectacular sauce for grilled fish. Suddenly, “ordinary” moves to “extraordinary” with a few simple moves utilizing our new natural products. And you will know EXACTLY that what you’re putting into your body is good for you, wholesome and will make you feel terrific!!! And we want to eradicate hunger with our partnership with Feed The Children.

All good things!

The spring box shipped last week and I’m excited to share with you the recipes for those new products starting later this week.

I found this today on The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation site – one of my faves:

The first wealth is health. – RALPH WALDO EMERSON

When you regard your life as a trust, you realize that the first resource you have to take care of is your own body. This can be startling. Even your body is not really your own. It belongs to life, and it is your responsibility to take care of it. You cannot afford to do anything that injures your body, because the body is the instrument you need for selfless action. That is the fine print of the trust agreement: when we smoke, when we overeat, when we don’t get enough exercise, we are violating the terms of the trust.

If you want to live life at its fullest, you will want to do everything possible to keep your body in vibrant health in order to give back to life a little of what it has given you.

So on to my recipe of this Kale & Farro Salad with Spicy Butternut Squash, Broccoli, Radishes & Cashews, which was super delicious!

I always think of butternut squash as a winter vegetable so I want to tell you about this dish I made up the other night before spring really gets here, even though it should be here already. All of us on the East coast are still wearing scarves and winter coats. It’s crazy!

This was totally yummy with a lot of ying and yang – cool and hot, spicy and not, crispy and soft textures – a beautiful symphony of flavors and a very satisfying vegetarian dish. Make it tonight – with LOVE – and all will be right in the world.

Promise.

KALE & FARRO SALAD WITH SPICY BUTTERNUT SQUASH, BROCCOLI, RADISHES & CASHEWS – serves 4

4 oz. chopped kale leaves
1 cup farro, cooked
1 small butternut squash, cut in generous ½” squares
1 large onion, cut in ½” squares
2 Tbs. coconut oil
3 Tbs. spice rub* (recipe below – also great for pulled pork)
1 bunch of organic broccoli
1/3 cup chopped roasted, salted cashews
4 thinly sliced radishes
Olive oil for drizzling
2 wedges of lemon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

*SPICE RUB RECIPE:

1½ Tbs. sweet paprika
½ Tbs. garlic powder
½ Tbs. brown sugar
½ Tbs. dry mustard (Coleman’s)
1½ Tbs. coarse sea salt

Mix the paprika, garlic power, brown sugar, dry mustard, and salt together in a small bowl.

This makes more than you need and is also great to rub on a pork butt to make pulled pork. Double it if you’d like to have some extra on hand. Keep in a tightly closed container

Combine the squash and onions with the coconut oil and spice mix on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss all to combine and roast in the oven for 35 – 40 minutes until tender. Toss at the halfway point, at about the 20 minute mark.

Meanwhile, cover the farro with about 3 inches of cold water. Salt with a little coarse sea salt and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 30 – 40 minutes. Taste test with a fork for tenderness. It should be a bit chewy. Strain in a fine mesh colander when done.

Wash all the kale in a lettuce spinner, removing any large stems. Spread on a clean counter to air dry, then chill in a paper towel lined plastic bag in the refrigerator.

Wash and peel stems of the broccoli. Cut each stem into 4 or 5 smaller stems and steam for about 10 minutes, until bright green and crisp tender. When done, remove the steamer of broccoli from the pot so it can air dry a bit.

Wash and trim the radishes. Using a hand mandolin, slice into very thin slices.

Coarsely chop the cashews.

Everything should be done all around the same time, so now you’re ready to assemble!

Line low flat bowls with the kale leaves. Place ¼ of the cooked farro in the middle, with the kale forming a ridge around the edge. Place a scoop of the butternut squash on top of the farro.

Chop the steamed broccoli into 2” lengths, leaving the flowerets intact and place them around the edge of the farro. Tuck in sliced radishes in four places around the bowl as shown.

Place chopped cashews on top of the squash. Drizzle some olive oil on the kale edge of the bowl, and follow that with a squeeze of lemon juice around that same kale edge.

Serve with LOVE, a Vouvray and enjoy!!!

North African Bean Stew with Barley and Winter Squash

February 6, 2016 by Mary 24 Comments

SUPER BOWL TIME!!! Yes the Super Bowl is tomorrow!!! We have been invited to what I know will be a wonderful party held in a private room at an Irish pub in midtown. How do I know it will be great? Well first of all we love this couple and she is a professional, highly successful event planner and he is a wine expert and a Broncos fan!! So we will don our orange and be set to root for his team. Should be loads of fun!!

This is unusual for us as we typically have a few folks over for a small Super Bowl party at our apartment. If you are having friends over, may I suggest my Super Easy Nachos, delicious (and easy) Spicy Chicken Chili along with a wedge of Cornbread, with or without the cheese sticks. And if you’re feeling even more adventurous and healthy, try this new recipe out.

North African Bean stew - finished in a white bowl

Sorry this bowl is a little messy with overflow!

This is a total big bowl of soothing deliciousness. There is no better way to describe it. Complete, deep, yumminess with unique spices and flavors to perk up your palette. I don’t usually like to post time consuming recipes. I want this blog to encourage and show you how to cook healthy delicious meals that are not hard or take that much time. But here, I have to make an exception, because this recipe from Melissa Clark of The New York Times for her North African Bean Stew with Barley and Winter Squash is so wonderful, I just have to share.

A word of warning though – start this early in the morning if you want to use dried beans. Or do it in two weekends as I did. At one point, I had my doubts and swore that it had better be good!! (You’ve been there, right?)

And you know what?

This one delivered. It’s that good. Yes, it really is.

And it’s totally meatless and even my husband had two bowls and really LOVED it! No discussion about it being meatless because its flavors are so rich! (Well actually I put a little bacon in the beans when cooking them, but that is not necessary.)

The nice thing about it is the combination of spices. Melissa has you make up a Baharat, which is a Middle Eastern spice mix. This creates an intense and soothing flavor base, a little like a curry but different, and I am very excited to use this on all sorts of things such as chicken, pork, lamb, perhaps a sprinkle in steamed rice, certainly roasted delicata, acorn or butternut squash. I even think it might be good on some roasted sole or flounder. I’m looking forward to having fun with this one!

Also in this article, she definitely recommends you cook your own dried beans as opposed to using canned and she eschews soaking them overnight to encourage you to do this. Just go ahead and start cooking them right away in salted water. Usually they tell you to salt only near the end of cooking, but she claims the salt integrates better into the bean if you start in salted water and I do think she’s right! It worked out well for me. So I’ve outlined what I did for my beans below.

Make this with LOVE and EVERYONE will be so happy!! Please note, I have changed some things from her original recipe – but of course!

NORTH AFRICAN BEAN STEW WITH BARLEY AND WINTER SQUASH – adapted from Melissa Clark of The New York Times

⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
2 leeks, white and green parts, diced
1 bunch cilantro, leaves and stems separated
1 cup finely diced fennel, fronds reserved (1/2 large fennel bulb)
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 ½ Tbs. baharat (see note)
1 cinnamon stick
2 Tbs. tomato paste
2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth, preferably homemade
½ cup pearled or regular barley
2 ½ tsp. kosher salt, more as needed
Large pinch of saffron, crumbled
4 cups cooked beans or chickpeas
2 cups peeled and diced butternut squash (1 small squash)
¾ cup peeled and diced turnip (1 medium)
½ cup red lentils
Plain Greek yogurt, for serving
Aleppo pepper for serving

In a large pot over medium heat, heat oil and cook leeks until they begin to brown, 10 to 12 minutes.

Cilantro stems, leaves and a cut lime on a wooden cutting board.

This is a pain to do – separating the stems and leaves of cilantro. Note that the lime was for my Lillet cocktail!

Finely chop cilantro stems. Stir into pot, along with diced fennel and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir in baharat, cinnamon and tomato paste, and cook until paste begins to caramelize, about 2 minutes.

Stir in broth, 3 cups water, the barley and the salt. Bring to a gentle boil, stir in saffron, and reduce heat to medium. Simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Stir in beans, squash, turnip and lentils; cook until barley is tender, about another 20 to 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings, if desired. Remove cinnamon stick.

Ladle stew into bowls. Spoon a dollop of yogurt on top and drizzle with olive oil. Garnish with cilantro leaves, fennel fronds and Aleppo pepper.

Making the Baharat or Middle Eastern Spice Mix.

Lots of different spices go into this!

Baharat is a Middle Eastern spice mix. You can buy it at specialty markets or make your own.

To make it, combine:

2 Tbs. sweet paprika
1 Tbs. ground coriander
1 Tbs. ground cumin
1 Tbs. ground turmeric
2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. grated nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp. allspice.

To cook the beans:

1 lb. of dried cannellini beans
½ of a thick slice of bacon, chopped, optional
2 tsp. coarse sea salt
25 grinds of black pepper
1 celery stalk, sliced in half lengthwise and then cut in 4 pieces
1 carrot, peeled, sliced in half lengthwise and then cut in 4 pieces
1 medium yellow onion, peeled trimmed and quartered
4 whole cloves – to stud each onion quarter
1 large or 2 small dried bay leaves

Ideally, you can soak the beans overnight before cooking. They say that soaking does have benefits. It will help beans cook faster and more evenly, and it can help leach out the intestinal-distress-causing sugars that some people are particularly sensitive to. But if you don’t have time, just carry on!

Place one pound of dried cannellini beans in a large pot. Cover with water, swish around to rinse and drain water.

Cover with fresh cold water again, at least 3 inches above the beans. Add in everything else and stir. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer, partially cover and cook for 2 – 3 hours. This depends on your beans. They should be soft and creamy inside to be done. If you take a bean between your two fingers, it should smash easily. Taste one – they need to be tender all the way through but still firm and intact.

When beans are done, do not drain the water, otherwise the skins will come off and they’ll be very messy. Let them cool in the liquid. Remove the vegetables. Lift 4 cups of beans out with a slotted spoon to use in the stew recipe. Save remaining beans in a good amount of liquid in a container. This freezes well for another time or store in the refrigerator for 5 – 7 days.

What to do with your extra beans? Warm them up with some of their liquid, add minced garlic, a good drizzle of olive oil, some grated parmigiano and fresh ground pepper, or a dash of vinegar or lemon juice. Enjoy!!

Veggie Pho – Gluten-Free!

May 16, 2015 by Mary 13 Comments

Savory Creations International, located in Northern California, is the company that makes this outstanding Veggie Pho. They make other pho’s too – chicken and beef – but I chose the vegetable one to include in our spring box because I thought it was so flavorful and I love the hint of cloves. This company supplies broths and demi glace for top chefs at very fine restaurants so they really know what they are doing, as all of their products are super delicious and just as good as homemade. Of course all of them are all natural, no MSG, naturally gluten-free with zero trans fats and come concentrated in these handy little packets where you dissolve each packet in 2 cups of hot water.

I made this Veggie Pho Gluten-Free and paired it with a grilled Provolone and tomato sandwich on whole grain bread (I know – I added glutens with the bread, but we are not sensitive to glutens!) for one of our weekly meatless meals and my husband asked me to make this dinner again. You know he usually complains about the one meatless meal per week but this one was a winner!

Pho is the Vietnamese national dish, typically consisting of rice noodles, onions, herbs, seasonings and thinly sliced beef or chicken in a clear broth.

I chose to keep this pho vegetarian as well as gluten-free, using white rice noodles and a variety of vegetables. Of course you can use any combination of vegetables or add a protein such as shrimp, chicken or pork. Anything works in this broth. It’s super easy and quick to have a satisfying meal to put on the table in a jiffy. And remember to make it with LOVE – for best results! 🙂

Here’s what I did:

VEGGIE PHO – GLUTEN-FREE – serves 3

3 packs of Savory Choice Veggie Pho
6 cups of hot water
5 oz. gluten-free white rice spaghetti
2 radishes, thinly sliced
2/3 of a head of Romaine lettuce heart, cut in 1/4” slices
1/4 of a head of radicchio, cut in 1/4” slices
One handful of sugar snap peas, strings removed
1/4 cup oil cured, pitted black olives
2 scallions, white and light green parts, cut in 1/4” slices
Dash of Sriracha sauce to taste

Set a medium sized pot of cold water on to boil. When it comes to a boil, season with coarse sea salt and cook the white rice spaghetti al dente. Drain and reserve.

Prepare all the vegetables. Dissolve the Veggie Pho in the 6 cups of hot water in a medium sized pot. Bring it to a simmer and add the sugar snap peas. Simmer for 2 -3 minutes, until crisp tender. Add the noodles, the rest of the vegetables and the olives. Remove from heat immediately as you want to keep the rest of the vegetables crisp and tasty – do not cook them. Ladle pho into serving bowls. Garnish with scallions and serve. Use the sauce as you please for an added kick!

PROVOLONE AND TOMATO GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES – serves 2

4 slices of whole grain bread
Unsalted butter
6 – 8 slices of Provolone cheese
1 tomato, cut in 6 slices
fresh ground pepper

Assemble sandwiches as shown, cheese topped with the tomato slices. Grind pepper over the tomatoes. Close the sandwiches and butter one side of the bread.

Melt some butter in a non-stick skillet on medium heat. Swirl the butter around to coat the bottom of the pan. Put the unbuttered side of the sandwich down and cook for about 5 minutes until bread is nicely browned. Flip sandwich over and toast the other side for 4 – 5 minutes.

Remove to a plate and cut in half diagonally to serve with the Veggie Pho. Enjoy!!

The Savory Choice Veggie Pho was in our MARY’s secret ingredients spring box. The summer box will mail on June 25th.

Eggplant, Mozzarella and Oil-cured Black Olive Spaghetti

May 3, 2015 by Mary 25 Comments

I have been wanting to tell you about this dish for some time now and I thought I’d better get it to you before we get deep into grilling season. You know my husband is not fond of my one meatless meal per week, (although last week I snuck in two and he didn’t notice!) One night I threw together this dish and it was so satisfying, rich, delicious and different too! With the oil cured black olives and fresh fennel, each adding their own distinctive flavor, the sweet fresh tomatoes added at the end, along with the creaminess of the mozzarella, this is a recipe you will want to repeat. Give this eggplant, mozzarella and oil-cured black olive spaghetti dish a try and your meat lover will not complain. Mine asked me to make it again!

With this recipe, I also discovered some new things. I don’t know about you, but every time I cook eggplant, I feel like I run the risk of using way too much olive oil as the eggplant will absorb and absorb forever, if you know what I mean. So here, I used a reasonable amount for a whole pasta dish, 1/3 cup, but sautéed it on low heat covered, with the fennel, which also gave off some moisture. This made everything juicy and tender, needing no additional oil. I added the tomatoes at the very end, not to cook them into a sauce but to have them add their fresh burst of color and flavor. The 1/2 cup of pasta water is essential to make the sauce adhere to the noodle better. Did you know that that is true for all pastas?

The three small zebra striped eggplants seem sweeter to me. If you can’t find the zebra striped, use the small Italian solid purple eggplants. And do be sure to buy the best, fresh salted mozzarella you can find. Happy healthy eating!!

EGGPLANT, MOZZARELLA AND OIL-CURED BLACK OLIVE SPAGHETTI – serves 4 as a main course

3 small zebra striped eggplants, washed, trimmed and sliced lengthwise in half and then in 1/2 slices
1/2 of a large fennel bulb, cut into 1/4” thick slices, then in 1/2” pieces
1/3 cup olive oil
5 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 plum tomatoes, cored and chopped
Heaping 1/2 cup of oil cured, pitted, black olives (the wrinkled ones)
7 oz. mozzarella cheese, cut in 1/4” slices, then 1/4” strips, then cut each strip in half again
Course sea salt for pasta water
1/2 lb. spaghetti
1/2 cup pasta water

Fill a large pot with cold water and bring to a boil. Salt with the coarse sea salt and add the pasta. Cook till al dente. Remove and reserve at least 1/2 cup of pasta water.

Meanwhile, warm the olive oil in a large skillet, add the eggplant and fennel and cook on low heat, covered while stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Add the minced garlic, cover and cook another 15 minutes.

Add the chopped tomatoes and olives. Stir and cook for 5 minutes, uncovered.

Stir in your cooked pasta, pasta water and the cheese to combine and toss thoroughly to finish cooking your pasta.

Check seasonings – it may need some pepper but not much else. At least I didn’t need anything else, except to serve with LOVE!