Toast with Lemony Pea Mash October 16, 2022 by Jill Foucre Leave a Comment Toast with Lemony Pea Mash 2022-10-17 02:46:01 Serves 6 Print Ingredients 1 garlic clove, quartered ¼ c. fresh flat leaf parsley leaves 3 T olive oil, divided salt 2 c. frozen peas, thawed 2 T chopped fresh chives 1 T finely chopped preserved lemon peel, divided 1 T fresh lemon juice ¼ tsp Aleppo pepper black pepper and salt 12 slices good bread, toasted Instructions Combine garlic, parsley, 1 T oil, a pinch of salt and ½ c. water in a small saucepan. Add peas and cook until peas are tender, about 2 minutes. Drain, reserving cooking liquid. Transfer pea mixture to a food processor; pulse until a coarse paste forms. Transfer to a medium bowl; mix in chives, ½ T preserved lemon peel, 1 T lemon juice, ¼ tsp. Aleppo pepper, and 2 T oil. Stir in reserved cooking liquid by tablespoonfuls until mixture is thick but spreadable. Season mash with salt and pepper and more lemon juice if desired. Drizzle toast with oil; top with pea mash, sprinkle with remaining ½ TBSP preserved lemon peel and more Aleppo pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Pea mash can be made one day in advance. Cover and chill. Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/
Grilled Flank Steak with Summertime Fruit Salsa October 16, 2022 by Jill Foucre Leave a Comment Grilled Flank Steak with Summertime Fruit Salsa 2022-10-17 02:26:20 Print Ingredients Fruit Salsa 1 cup Nectarines or Peaches, diced 1 Red Pepper, diced ¼ cup Red Onion, diced ½ cup Pineapple, diced 1 tsp Jalapeno, minced 4 Tbsp Cilantro, chopped ¼ tsp Salt 1 Lime, juiced Flank Steak 1-2 lbs Flank Steak ¼ cup Honey ¼ cup Olive Oil 2 Tbsp Dried Thyme 2 cloves Garlic, minced 1 Tbsp Dried Oregano 1/3 cup Soy Sauce ½ tsp Pepper Instructions Fruit Salsa Stir all ingredients together and refrigerate while grilling steak. Flank Steak Combine all marinade ingredients. Score the steak to help the marinade penetrate. Place the steak and marinade in a Ziploc bag and refrigerate overnight. Prepare a hot grill or grill pan. Remove steak from marinade and grill approximately 8 minutes per side. Cook to 140 degrees for medium rare. Remove steak from heat and rest covered with foil for 10 minutes. Slice across the grain of the meat in thin diagonal slices. Serve topped with Fruit Salsa. To serve as an appetizer, smear crostini with goat cheese and top with flank steak and salsa. Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/
Summertime Sales and More by Teri Hiben July 23, 2018 by Jenny Chang Leave a Comment Summer slows us down. The days take on a casual and fun-loving flavor. We’re ready to jump in and get outside to go for a bike ride and stroll around the farmer’s market to pick up some of summer’s bounty. We enjoy outdoor concerts, parades, food on the grill, lightening bugs… In Glen Ellyn, one sure sign of the middle of summer is the annual Sidewalk Sale (this year from July 26-28). And the weather forecast is looking good! Historic Main Street is closed to traffic, there’s music in the air, tents and tables full of bargains line the street. The stage is set for a Glen Ellyn street party! It’s a great time to grab a friend, put the kids in the wagon and head downtown to wander among the tables loaded with discounted merchandise. You’ll run into friends and neighbors and have time to catch up for a bit. Maybe you’ll discover a new store or two in the process. I know at Marcel’s we’ve been carefully selecting merchandise for the sidewalk sale this year. We’re motivated to generously discount items to make room for fun new merchandise coming this fall, so our tables will be full of bargains. We’ll be offering some summery accents for your home you can use right away for the rest of the summer or you may find seasonal decorations for the holidays ahead. Be sure to stop by our tent to discover some especially tempting surprise discounts awaiting you. You’re sure to find a few treasures for your home. Don’t miss the fun! We’re looking forward to seeing you there!
Garden Bounty by Julie Szimon August 10, 2017 by Jenny Chang Leave a Comment I love vegetable gardening! Well, let me rephrase that. I love to get organic plants or seeds and plant them in my garden with organic soil, water them, weed them and see what happens. I don’t know what the PH level of my soil is. I don’t use any chemicals to make things grow bigger. I just plant. Growing up in the city, we never had a garden. We lived in a two-flat on the north side of Chicago. We did have an apple tree in the back yard that took up most of the space. Each year I was allowed to climb up the tree and pick the apples on top that no one could reach. Those apples were then cooked down by my grandmother and made into applesauce. She would can the applesauce in mason jars so we could enjoy it all winter long. When we moved to the suburbs I started a small 4’x8’ vegetable garden. As time went on, my vegetable garden grew to a 25’x35’ enclosed area with 8 raised beds and an open space for berry bushes. Each Spring I plan out what worked well last year and I try to add something new. I love to see how the new plants grow and what culinary creations I can come up with when they are ready for harvest. I like to plant peppers and the garden always produces an abundance of them. Some sweet ones and some hot ones. I have used them in salsas and salads and I have even pickled them. Last year I decided to make hot pepper jelly with them. It was so good! I made several batches and canned it for myself and gave some as gifts. My favorite way to enjoy the jelly is on toasted bread or crackers along with some goat cheese. It’s sweet and hot and delicious! It also came in handy over the winter months when friends dropped in for a glass of holiday cheer. This year the peppers are looking good, so another batch of hot pepper jelly will be coming. The recipe I use is great just the way it is but don’t be afraid to be creative with the pepper mixture. I added some red peppers for color, cracked black pepper, fresh thyme and some dried lemon peel. Hot Pepper Jelly 2017-08-09 20:47:03 Print Ingredients 12 oz. of jalapeno (or variety of) peppers 2 cups cider vinegar, divided 6 cups of sugar 2 - 3 oz. pouches of liquid pectin 5 - 8 oz. half pint glass-preserving jars with lids and bands Instructions Prepare/sanitize glass jars, lids and bands per manufacturers directions. Puree peppers in a food processor with 1 cup of cider vinegar until smooth. Do not strain puree. Combine puree with remaining 1 cup of cider vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add liquid pectin and continue to boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Ladle hot pepper jelly into hot jars leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe rim. Secure lid and band. Process in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when pressed in the center. By Julie Szimon Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/
Food As A Gift by Deb Forkins July 9, 2017 by Jenny Chang Leave a Comment After lamenting my less than stellar rhubarb harvest last year, a dear friend brought me over this homemade rhubarb treasure. She is a fabulous cook, and the pie was delicious….but it was the big D on that pie that was the most delish! Edible friendship! One Sunday, I came home from working at Marcel’s to dinner in the oven. Marc had made his specialty quiche, adding zucchini to my half. Again, the best part of that dinner was my name on my half of the quiche in zucchini peel. Edible love. Sharing the gift of food is a universal gesture of love and friendship, compassion and kindness. A meal to a family struggling with challenges, chicken soup to a sick friend, cookies to your new neighbor…food has always been a way that we reach out to one another, to connect. We all know this. The food itself may or may not be a fabulous culinary creation, but the gesture speaks volumes. In her cookbook, Food Gift Love, author and chef Maggie Battista shares some tips to make you the quintessential food gifter: Know your recipient. (always best to play to the audience.) Master a signature food gift so you can make it quickly and have the ingredients in your head. Embrace imperfection. (my favorite tip!) Put a label on it. (ingredients and date created) Summer and fall are the best time to make gifts when fruits and vegetables are plentiful and it’s a less hectic time of the year. Reuse old jars, cups and boxes that can be cleaned and repurposed. At risk of sounding corny, “what the world needs now is love.” And edible love is just the best. (Check out Chef Kelly Sears’ “Pickling and Preserving Workshop” on Sunday, August 27th to learn the tricks of canning and preserving in anticipation of Christmas 2017 Food Gift Giving!)