Slow-Roasted Soy-Glazed Beef with Fresh Tomatoes, Onions & Cilantro Serves 6 Adapted from Good Housekeeping Ingredients: 3 lbs beef brisket, trimmed of fat and cut into bite-size chunks – $27.42 5 cloves garlic, minced or run through a garlic press – stock ¼ cup of lightly packed brown sugar – stock ¼ cup of seasoned[…]
Skirt Steak Fajitas with All the Fixins
Mary Anne here. Life has tossed me a few curve balls lately, putting my cooking and baking on the not-so-metaphorical back burner. I whipped up this recipe three weeks ago, before those wild pitches crossed my plate, and I am afraid I won’t be creating, cooking, or posting for the next month or so.[…]
Welsh Rarebit
Mary Anne here. This recipe brings me back to my own childhood in the ’50’s and 60’s when counting calories was unheard of and comforting cheese sauces topped everything from bread to veggies! This antiquated treasure is the base for the king of all cold comfort foods – mac ‘n cheese – and I assure[…]
Chicken Enchiladas with Sweet Onions & Shredded Jack
Mary Anne here. I know that I’ve been absent from our beloved blog recently, but I have some pretty hefty excuses. I won’t bore y’all with each and every scintillating detail, but suffice it to say that as Mariel prepares to become a mama, this older version of motherhood is having a different sort of[…]
Tex-Mex Pizza with Chorizo and Black Beans
Mary Anne here. Yesterday Mariel and I shared our mutual sorrow at having so little time for our beloved blog. But before you feel tooo terribly sad over our negligence, it’s actually a time to celebrate! My gorgeous girl and her fabulous husband have moved to the ‘burbs…and just a mere mile from this madre.[…]
Roast Beef with Horseradish Cream
Mary Anne here. I must confess, I am not an ardent carnivore, but some of my warmest childhood memories center around Sunday family dinners. Oftentimes my mom would pull out all the stops and serve her bawdy brood a rare roast beef complete with all the trimmings. In those days, we ate gravy and butter[…]
Sautéed Pork Medallions with a Ginger-Infused Balsamic Reduction
Mary Anne here. This past Sunday was my birthday, and in my family, if your special day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, you’re automatically entitled to a two-day “birthday weekend.” I dove headlong into queen mode, taking full advantage and squeezing every last second out of my 48-hour party. To kick-start the festivities, I[…]
Sausage and White Beans with Roasted Tomatoes
Mariel here. One of my all-time favorite winter dishes is my step-dad’s “Cost-Conscious Cassoulet.” Instead of pricey lamb and duck, he uses bone-in chicken breasts, thighs, drumsticks, thick-cut bacon and sweet sausage. After a 3½-hour stint in the oven – during which your house starts to smell like a bonafide Parisian bistro – you’ve got[…]
Molasses and Bourbon-Marinated Skirt Steak with Peach Relish
Mary Anne here. No doubt about it, Michael is the grill master in our house and he can usually be found hovering over the grates whether it’s the dead of winter or a blazing inferno. Like the proverbial postman, neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow…will keep his coals from igniting. Michael also believes in keeping[…]
One Pot Wonders: Lamb with Sweet Pears and Leeks
Mariel here. This past weekend, my mumsie and I headed out to our family home to work on recipes for Feast. But after a four-hour drive (it should only take two) and enduring the brake-slamming road rage of furious New Yorkers on the LIE, we decided to save our sanity and eat at a local[…]
Split Pea Soup with Smoked Pork
Mary Anne here. Recently Mariel and I received an inquiry from our friends at The Hip Hostess, asking if dried split peas needed to soak overnight before preparing them in a soup. Split Pea Soup! How could I have forgotten to include this family staple on Feast — a dish my mom still whips up[…]
Old-Fashioned Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes
Mary Anne here. Like many of my baby boomer friends, I rank meatloaf high on my list of all-time favorite comfort foods. It harkens back to my childhood growing up in Levittown when Diners were housed in actual train cars, permanently derailed and kitted out with classic Americana. The very thought of meatloaf brings me[…]
White Bean, Kale, and Sausage Soup
Mary Anne here. Our Cassoulet certainly covers the bean and pork superstition that goes hand in hand with celebrating New Year’s Eve, but we thought to offer an alternative, just in case. And, it’s yet again, another soup. Seriously, Mariel and I just can’t get enough of this winter staple! I created this soup after[…]
Turkey Talk: Prepping for Thanksgiving
Mary Anne here. Thanksgiving is far and away my favorite winter holiday — all of the joy of spending QT with the fam, minus the hassle and anxiety of shopping for the “perfect” gift. But that doesn’t mean this festive interlude is entirely sans stress…. The first time I attempted roasting a turkey I was[…]
Cost-Conscious Cassoulet
Mary Anne here. Preparing a traditional French Cassoulet (a la Julia Child) is incredibly time-consuming and can be fairly pricey since it requires hard-to-find ingredients like goose and mutton. There are several recipes out there that “cheap it down,” but they also include the use of duck, which can be expensive and labor-intensive prep-wise. My[…]
Laurie L.’s Pork “Chops” with Black Currant Reduction
Mary Anne here. It’s unseasonably cold (and even snowing!) here in New York, so I thought the following might warm things up a bit as the sweet scent of the sauce envelops your home. This recipe is truly an oldie, but as delicious in my new version as it was when I indulged in the[…]
Soy and Mustard Marinated Flank Steak
Get out your mallet our for this one. You’ll also need a grill. If you live in a city though, a broiler or a George Foreman will do. Also, this needs to be marinated overnight, so make sure to prep ahead of time. If you opt to serve this with our Summer Corn Salad, plate[…]
Gadgets – The Tenderizer
For many years, Herb & Honey-Marinated Filet Mignon reigned supreme as my favorite “special occasion” meal. But as I just noted in my Highs and Lows post, I recently found an equally tender, equally mouth-watering, far less expensive option: sirloin. I should mention however, that it takes a little extra muscle-power, a good meat tenderizer,[…]
Honey and Herb Marinated Filet Mignon
Mary Anne here. This recipe became a staple of my catering business primarily because it tastes all the more fabulous when it’s prepped the day before. The marinade takes less than ten minutes to prepare, it holds for up to 48 hours ahead of time, and is, without question, the most delicious rendition of filet[…]