How do you thank a woman for being your friend, protector, supervisor, guidance counselor, stylist, and above all overseer, aka, Mom….you make her a strawberry tart with a marzipan cake and a sugar cookie pastry….of course flowers are always welcome!

Strawberry Marzipan Tart

Ingredients

1/3 recipe sugar dough, recipe follow
1/2 pound unsalted butter, slightly softened
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon Cassis
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups ground almonds
1/4 cup currant jelly, melted
2 baskets strawberries, green tops cut off flat

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.On a floured surface, roll the pastry 3/8-inch thick and line a 10-inch flan ring with it. Place the ring on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and chill it until needed.Cream the butter and sugar lightly in an electric mixer; don’t let the butter get too soft. Add the eggs and mix lightly. Stir in the liqueur, and almond extract, then mix in the ground almonds. Pour into the chilled pastry shell and bake for 1 hour or until golden brown. Remove the tart from the oven and let cool to room temperature. Brush the top of the tart with the currant jelly. Arrange the strawberries cut side down on the tart. Remove the flan ring and transfer the tart to a flat serving platter. Cut into wedges.

Sugar Cookie Dough:

2 sticks butter, slightly softened
3 cups all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 – 2 tablespoon heavy cream

Cut the butter into large pieces and place in the food processor with the flour, salt, and sugar. Mix until just incorporated.  Add the egg yolk and cream, continue to mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Remove the dough, flatten, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Eggs En Cocotte with Spinach Puree & Prosciutto Fingers

Ingredients

FOR THE PROSCIUTTO FINGERS:

• 6 slices prosciutto, halved lengthways
• 6 breadsticks

FOR THE EGGS EN COCOTTE:

• 2 T Butter
• 1 Box Frozen chopped spinach
• 6 T Crème fraiche
• 2 T Finely-chopped chives
• Salt and freshly ground black peppper
• 6 Eggs
• 1 C Gruyere cheese finely grated

Directions

1. For the prosciutto fingers, wrap 2 strips of prosciutto ham around each bread stick and set aside.
2. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter 6 ramekins or similar-sized ovenproof dishes. Place the frozen chopped spinach in a saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring, until the spinach has melted into a purée. Turn up the heat and cook the spinach until there is no watery residue. Remove from the heat and stir in 5 tablespoons of the crème fraiche and the chopped chives. Season well.
3. Spoon the spinach purée into the base of each ramekin; crack the egg into each one. Mix the grated cheese with remaining tablespoon of crème fraiche. Carefully place a small amount of the cheese mixture on top of the eggs. Place the ramekins in a roasting tin and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
4. Cook in the oven for 12-14 minutes, or until the yolks feel just firm to the touch. Serve immediately with prosciutto fingers on the side.

I found this recipe originally in House & Garden and have adapted it to my taste. You can use polenta in place of the spinach puree for a variation of taste. Both work perfectly with the eggs. Just make sure you don’t overcook the yolks so you can dip the bread sticks in the yummy yolk.

Yesterday I made the best meat loaf ever!

Now I understand that everyone who loves meatloaf has their own version. It’s a dish,  like other comfort foods, which must be recreated the way we remember our mothers’ made it. So some people like it wrapped in bacon, others prefer it drenched in tomato sauce or ketchup, some like it dense, others might prefer it permeated with onions. I’ve never, until now, created it to my liking so it’s never really been a go to dinner for me.  But with the torrential rain, a roaring fire and a request from my husband for one of his favorite foods, I endeavored to create my version of meat loaf.  It was sooo good I’m sharing it with you.

I served the meat loaf with roasted potatoes that I sliced almost all the way through to create a fan look, rubbed them with olive oil, lemon thyme and sea salt and roasted them on a baking sheet. In the same oven as the potatoes  I roasted brussel sprouts that I tossed with olive oil and salt in a cast iron skillet.   They all took the same amount of time to cook which made the timing of the dinner perfect! I made the meat loaf in individual sized loaves primarily because my daughter is a genius and she thought they would be cute! She was right, they were.

Just a note the leaner the beef you buy the less fat the meatloaf sits in while it cooks. I placed the meatloaves on parchment paper while they cooked in a 350 degree oven.  The potatoes and brussel sprouts cooked at 400. Total cooking time for all 40 – 50 minutes depending on how accurate your oven is. Really a terrific meal…tonight meatloaf sandwiches on cracked wheat sourdough!

Furstman Family Meatloaf!

Ingredients:

3 lbs lean ground beef

1 tablespoon chopped, fresh chives, plus 1 teaspoon for the sauce

1 tablespoon chopped, fresh thyme leaves, plus 1 teaspoon for the sauce

1 tablespoon chopped, fresh Italian parsley, plus 1 teaspoon for the sauce

3 large eggs

1 1/3 cups finely ground Panko

1 T pesto

¼ c parmesan cheese

2/3 cup ricotta

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

1/2 lb sliced mushrooms

1 large onion diced

2 cups beef stock

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 c red wine

2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the chives, thyme, parsley, eggs, Panko, ricotta, pesto, garlic, Parmesan, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl.

Heat a medium saute pan over medium-high heat add 1 T olive oil and when the oil is hot add the onions to the pan and cook until lightly browned. Remove onion from the pan and let cool. When the mixture is cool, incorporate with the other ingredients.

Add the meat to the mixture and gently blend the ingredients until everything is evenly mixed together but don’t mash it to pieces. Place a piece of parchment paper on a sheet pan. Shape the meat into a loaf. I like to make individual loafs about 5 inches by 3 inches. Place the sheet pan in the oven and bake 40 to 50. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.

While the meatloaf is cooking sauté 1/2 lb of sliced mushrooms in 2 T of butter until they are nicely browned on the edges. Deglaze the pan with 1/2 c of red wine and reduce it until almost nothing is left. Add the broth and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until lightly thickened. Add 1 teaspoon of each of the chopped thyme, chives and parsley. If you prefer the sauce thicker, sprinkle in 1 T of flour whisking as you add to avoid lumps.

Serve the meatloaf with a spoonful or two of the mushroom herb sauce.

Yesterday was National Drink Wine Day….so in honor of that I am sharing one of my favorite go to, heart warming, phenomenal tasting, beef braises (I like that word better than stew).  Now the first secret to making a tender braise is to not buy the “stew” meat they sell in the market because it’s generally just butchers’ scraps. Which means that there is loin meat in the mix and that particular cut of meat doesn’t lend itself to low and slow cooking. If you use loin meat your braise will be stringy and tough. The optimal cut for a slow braise is a Beef Chuck Roast, a Pork Butt (which really is the Shoulder),  or a Lamb Shoulder. Here’s my recipe tenderly adapted over the ages! Please enjoy it’s been perfected to a tee.

Beef Braise (Stew, Bourgignon, Ragout de Beouf)

Ingredients

1T olive oil

8 ounces applewood smoked bacon, diced

2 – 3  pounds chuck roast (I leave mine whole but you can easily cut it into cubes for a more stew appearance)

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 carrots, sliced in half diagonally

2 carrots cut in small 1/2″ pieces

1 yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup Cognac

2 cups good red wine

2 cups beef broth

1 tablespoon tomato paste

3 sprigs fresh thyme

3 springs fresh parsley

2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 pound frozen whole onions

1 pound fresh mushrooms quartered

Fresh parsley, chopped for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the bacon and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is lightly browned. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a large plate.

Season the meat with salt and pepper.  Add the oil to the Dutch oven and sear the Roast on both sides. You want a really nice brown sear to the meat. Remember brown means flavor.  Remove the beef and add to the plate with the bacon and  Set aside.

Toss the halved carrots, halved celery and diced onions into the pan and cook for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are nicely caramelized. Add 1 t of salt and 1/2 t pepper. Add the tomato paste and brown slightly for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.  Stir everything together and add the Cognac, let it simmer for 2 minutes. Pour in the wine and cook for 3 minutes then pour in the stock and bring everything to a simmer.  Put the meat and bacon back into the pot with any juices that collected. Tie the thyme and parsley together in a bundle and add them to the pot. Put the lid on and place it in the over for 2 1/2  hours.

Take the carrots, the celery and the thyme/parsley bundle out of the braise. Combine 2 tablespoons of butter and the flour with a fork and stir into the stew. Add the frozen onions, the mushrooms and the 2 carrots you chopped earlier. Bring the stew to a boil on top of the stove, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste.

Sprinkle with the parsley, taste and add salt and pepper to taste.

Note: I discard the carrots and the celery from the braise because they are too soft for my palette. They do taste wonderful though because my husband actually waits until I remove them from the pot and sneaks in the kitchen to eat them before I give them to the dogs with their dinner!

Now what to serve this wonderful dish with.  My daughter and I love polenta, my sons love mashed potatoes and my husband loves a pappradelle pasta.  A Kale salad with a classic vinaigrette, a Kuleto Zinfandel, your family and life doesn’t get any better. This is a great Sunday night Family dinner.