Everyday Italian - The Last 3 Minutes Will Shock You!!!

Everyday Italian with Giada De Laurentiis - Friend in Town
Crostini with Ricotta and Goat Cheese
Tuna with Roasted Cipolline Onions
Polenta with Arugula
Ricotta Pancakes

To get the recipes:
Click here

Giada's having her friend Hilary visit for the weekend. After a long drive, she wants to give her a little snack, while they catch up. Let's be honest, she's probably just being practical. She wants their stomachs nicely lined with a bit of protein (cheese) and carbs (the crostini) before the night of heavy drinking and clubbing she has planned. This is LA, after all.

She makes the crostini. Whoa there...she's making so many, maybe the party's at her house with the boys from Chippendales. The dip looks good - goat cheese and ricotta. She's only using a 1/4 cup of ricotta. To be honest, I'm thinking she could use part skim ricotta here, unless it has something to do with the whole getting-ready-for-drinking thing (that I've been imagining in my sick head.) Very attractive plating of the crostini and dip. They enjoy it alfresco with a glass of rosé .

They go to the supermarket to pick up what they need for dinner. Giada gets some tuna and Hilary asks what she will be doing with it. Giada says, "I'm just going to marinate it with a little bit of thyme and lemon and then we're going to grill it off, so it's going to be really clean...really simple." Is this my imagination or was there a shadow of disappointment that crossed Hilary's face as she thought, "I drove over FIVE HOURS for THAT!!!???" She's thinking if I wanted "clean" flavor, I'd eat a sandwich in a laundromat...They leave the store and go home to "cook", if throwing fish on a grill can be called cooking.

Happily, the menu is a little more involved and it does sound good. The cipolline onions are boiled and peeled and then cooked in olive oil and balsamic vinegar (you don't need an expensive one for this, Giada reminds us) at 450 for one hour. This is a wonderfully EASY dish, and now that I'm thinking about it, it would be a PERFECT Thanksgiving side dish. You could boil the onions a day in advance, and, as long as you have room in your oven, it would be a cinch to prepare. You could adjust the cooking temperature, if you had other stuff to go in at the same time. I kind of think it's the HOUR of cooking time that's more important than the temperature, but don't go lower than 375 deg. F.

Now, they're on to the polenta with arugula. Giada's letting Hilary do the stirring. Her recipe calls for gradually adding the polenta to the boiling liquid. If you're happy doing that, then by all means continue. But I sometimes have lumping problems (I don't talk about it a lot, but there you have it.) So I put the cornmeal in the pot and gradually add the liquid (cold or at room temperature) and THEN begin to cook it, stirring all the time, and I have no problems.

Giada tells Hilary that her Aunt Raffi always told her she had to stir the polenta in one direction. She whispers to the camera that she doesn't really think it makes a difference. That rebel Hilary suggests stirring it the other way and as she does, they go to a break. Maybe Aunt Raffi called to give them hell. Now you're probably thinking that this was the shocking incident in this episode, but, no, my friends, you must wait for the infamy that takes place later in the kitchen.

The polenta is finished up without incident. Giada adds chopped garlic (Cook's Illustrated Magazine has reported that the fullest flavor of garlic is achieved when it is PRESSED through a garlic press. That makes me VERY happy, because I've been advocating garlic presses for years now.)

Anyway, garlic, arugula, lots of butter, cream and cheese are stirred in. The recipe notes that the 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese is optional. Include it in, the dish needs it. Have more ready to serve on the side. The polenta will be nice and creamy, but it really needs the cheese for flavor.

Tuna is up. Despite my initial misgivings, it's a perfect way to treat the tuna to go with the very rich polenta. It's marinated in only lemon juice, olive oil and fresh thyme. If you don't have fresh, don't use dried thyme. Substitute any fresh herb, even parsley will do.

Here's a place that could be tricky. Giada rightly started the onions at the beginning of the show, because they take an hour. However, the recipe says to start the onions and MEANWHILE to prepare the marinade for the fish. Ok, do that, but DON'T MARINATE THE FISH FOR LONGER THAN 5 MINUTES ON EACH SIDE. The lemon juice will "cook" the fish and you'll have a nice seviche, but TONIGHT you want to grill the fish.

The meal is served. (Why does the silverware look like shovels?) They have done a very nice job, but they don't even allude to the wild night ahead. I really hope that stirring the polenta the wrong way isn't the craziest thing they do all weekend.

Apparently, the night was survived and Hilary is leaving after breakfast. (Was it something she said?) Giada is making lovely sounding ricotta pancakes. She's beginning to chat about the recipe. She's stirring vanilla extract into water. I'm thinking that's a bit weird, that you don't always have to use whole milk or cream, like the Contessa does, but isn't WATER taking it a bit far? And then...and then...I can barely bring myself to share this with you, because I don't want you to think badly of our Giada...BUT the water is for a pancake mix...there I said it. Giada De Laurentiis, granddaughter of Dino, daughter of Veronica and Alex, niece to Raffaella De Laurentiis, is using pancake mix.!!! Seriously, I'm shocked. Who is she - Giada "Lee" of Sem-EYE-Eye-Talian? Giada, you went to the Cordon Bleu, you're not allowed to use pancake mix, at least not in public.

Through my haze of tears and rage, I see that she's mixing in ricotta (make sure it's at room temperature.) Oh, it hardly matters now...The flavored water is added. So that's what we're reduced to...flavoring the water to try to improve the taste of a pancake mix. I check out the recipe and they obviously have tried to finesse their way out of this by suggesting you use the fancy schmancy Krusteaz brand. You and I both know what will really be used by people who use such things.

Now she's going to "MAKE THE SYRUP" - mix water and sugar to make a simple syrup and to flavor it, she's adding honey. You're MAKING the syrup, but using pancake MIX? THIS DOES NOT COMPUTE. She plates the pancakes as she makes the others. No, No, No! Not on a cold plate. They'll lose heat faster than Uncle Ernie's bald head. Put them in a warm oven or even a toaster oven on low heat. Things seem to be falling apart fast here. WHAT could have transpired after dinner last night, that would force Giada to perform with such disrepute?

The pancakes are served to a grateful guest. Ooh, she must have done something to our petite Italian hostess. (Maybe, she questioned Grandpa's judgement in producing Barbarella). The pancakes do LOOK good, but I'm telling you that if you make them with pancake mix - who are we fooling?...let's just utter the name of the infidel BISQUICK - they will taste salty and no amount of delicately flavored honey syrup will fix that.

I'm exhausted. My senses are depleted. I must demonstrate my obeisance to the gods of the stove to make up for Giada's disgrace. I will retire into the kitchen. I will be there for many days. I think I'll start by making a true consommé. After I've browned the bones and the fine dice of vegetables has come off my newly sharpened knife, I will simmer and stir and skim and finally pour the ambrosial liquid through a mass of stiffly beaten egg whites that will clarify the stock and purify my spirit all at once. Giada, the culinary spirits will be sated. THAT I promise you. But you are honor bound never again to cross that line of expediency that sacrifices excellence.

Cauliflower as Art, Well Not Exactly...... But How About As Mashed Potatoes?

Why am I thinking about cauliflower of all things? I guess I was remembering all the ways that parents try to disguise healthy food, so that their kids will eat it. We had a great trick or so I thought. We used to put broccoli, for example, on a platter in the middle of the table and tell our kids it was for us, that there wasn't enough for them and they wouldn't like it - it tasted like medicine. Well, that worked only a few times, before they were on to us. (I guess we shouldn't have waited until they were teenagers to do that.)

Then there was the time that we ordered dumplings...ssshhh they were LAMB dumplings...and I lied right to my daughter's face and told her they weren't (she detested lamb) and she NEVER forgave me. I don't really remember why it was so important to me that she eat these darn dumplings..but it was.

Talking about the putting different guises on food, here's a recipe I came upon when I was teaching a low carb cooking class. This recipe came as a complete revelation to me. Apparently, people who had been Atkins-ing it up knew all about it. This version of Cauliflower Disguised As Garlic Mashed Potatoes is truly amazing! EVEN IF YOU HATE CAULIFLOWER, I DEFY YOU TO HATE THIS. When served AS mashed potatoes to unsuspecting diners, they WILL NOT KNOW. They will just think you jimmied with your mashed potato recipe somewhat.

The recipe is almost perfect as it is, but here are three small changes:

• BEAT IN the butter with the cream cheese, don't serve it with the cauliflower.
• Don't bother with the bouillon (this isn't 1954) - use the half teaspoon of salt, which is called for in the recipe.
• And use two WHOLE cloves of garlic (instead of the minced) and add them to the boiling water with the cauliflower and puree them together. The garlic comes out soft and sweet and gives the dish a gentle garlicky flavor. This is great idea when you're making normal mashed potatoes, as well.

One interesting thing about the method here is that you may use your food processor with abandon to puree the cauliflower. You would NEVER do that with potatoes. They would come out gummy enough to decoupage your Grandmother's entire dining room set.

Oh, one other thing...Don't substitute, replace or alternate anything else. The cream cheese is not to be reduced fat, the butter is not be anything but butter, and use real - right from the chunk - freshly grated Parmesan.

This is one of those few times when cooking isn't just a prelude to eating, it's truly magic. What's the magic? That you actually got those rotten kids to eat cauliflower...

Giada, Let The Chef Be The Chef

Guess which beautiful cook from a famous Italian movie family was on Today again this morning? Finally, I get that she was obviously spending a week in New York on their couch. Today's story was sad. It was about her brother, Dino, who died of melanoma when he was 30. (His obit said 31, but she was his sister, so she should know.) She doesn't talk about it too much, but it was mentioned in her Chefography.

On a happier and more delicious note, there was a segment with Chef Scott Conant cooking a lighter version of Fritto Misto. It was Natalie Morales's story, supposedly, but Giada was standing to the side, commenting on everything and interrupting the chef...as she's done with every cooking story this week. I love Giada, but it's not always about her!!!

She asked the chef what his secrets were for frying, adding "I have MY OWN, but what are yours?" Apparently, she approved of his answers - have the oil at the right temperature and don't fry too much at once, because she allowed him another few sentences before cutting in again.

He was presenting a very interesting spin on Fritto Misto. First of all, this is usually a seafood-only dish. He adds vegetables to lighten things up and fries them together. He cuts everything the same size - the calamari were in strips not rings (much more modern) and the vegetables were cut in pieces, so they would cook at the same time.

Here's where things got interesting...Scott was talking about soaking the vegetables in milk to sweeten them, before tossing them in flour. And Giada REALLY objected to this. While still trying to sound all sweetie pie, she commented that you might not need to do that in the spring, when the vegetables are already sweet. BUT if you do it in the winter, then (AND ONLY THEN she meant) that's a great tip.

Interestingly, there's no mention of soaking the vegetables in milk in the recipe on the Today website...only the calamari. I still think it's a good idea. Incidentally, soaking anchovies in milk gets rid of a lot of their saltiness.

THEN, Scott showed us his signature big "move", he threw in thinly sliced lemons and all kinds of fresh herbs...on top of all the veggies and calamari to fry right along with them. What does this do? First of all it flavors the oil - really an excellent idea - AND it gives you a gorgeous garnish. One of the rules of cooking is that all garnishes should be edible. Crispy fried parsley is very delicious and a nice counterpoint to the other fried food.

Luckily, before the segment ended, Natalie stepped in and hurriedly had him introduce the 50 other dishes he had readied for the show this morning. I have to admit Giada may have been put in a not-great situation. Either let her do the interview...or not, but don't have her hanging uselessly to the side.

Giada is best when she's captain of her own ship, as in Everyday Italian and Behind the Bash. In a one-on-one situation, though, she still has a lot to learn about guiding the interview, but not taking over, and ending on time before the computer shuts her down.

Wagyu The Dog

The almost 400 dollar a pound Wagyu Beef was the smallest part of the story that Giada presented to viewers this morning as a Today Show contributor. The real story took place behind the scenes within the New York restaurant and media world over the last 7 weeks. Our beautiful Everyday Italian gal mentioned nary a word of the controversy that has taken food experts by storm. All her segment showed was a self-serving restaurant owner of The Kobe Club, searing hundreds of dollars of beef on a hot pan as both she and he cut off the chef, Scott Ubert, who had been brought along to cook and talk about crab cakes. Poor television interviewing skills aside, the back drop to this innocent puff piece really has me wondering who at GE pushed for this story. Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

This morning's restaurant impresario was Jeffrey Chodorow, who brought us The China Grill and Asia De Cuba, as well as the television event of a millisecond The Restaurant, featuring the egotistical talent of chef Rocco DiSpirito - whose main claim to fame may be that he was the one person in the world with more hubris than Chodorow himself.

Chodorow opened The Kobe Club and received such a savage review on February 7th (NO STARS!) from The New York Times' Frank Bruni, that, in addition to blogging about it incessantly, Chodorow took out a full page ad in the paper on Feb 21th (estimates from $40,000 to $80,000) denouncing the review. Unfortunately any attempts to provide you with a link to said ad have proven fruitless (conspiracy or PDF problems?...hhhmmm).

This ignited comment and controversy that lasted for weeks with every qualified (and not) critic and foodie commenting on it: Gael Greene, Mimi Sheraton, Anthony Bourdain to mention only a few. Mimi is funny. She said Abe Rosenthal, The Times Executive Editor in her time, used to say,"We make more money when you give a bad review than when you give a good one." So Chodorow isn't the first restaurateur to buy an ad to defend his establishment.

So...here we have Giada giving him plenty of free publicity about his magnificent steaks, while everyone else is talking about his huge feud with Bruni, and pretty much acknowledging what a blowhard he is.

What do I think? I haven't eaten at The Kobe Club, so I don't know if the poor review was justified. I like Frank Bruni's reviews generally. I LOVED his piece about snotty chefs telling us how to eat. And I do think Jeffrey Chodorow's ad just highlighted the terrible review he got, with not too many people coming to his defense. But, somehow, I don't think Jeffrey Chodorow needs defending. He's got 2000 swords available to him at The Kobe Club and over 1 million results for "The Kobe Club, New York" on Google. No matter how much he paid for that ad, I'd say he got his money's worth.

Oh my, I've forgotten to tell you about the Wagyu beef itself. Read this wonderful background and just remember if it ain't expensive, as in jaw-droppingly expensive, it ain't Wagyu.

The Greatest Recipe Ever Told

My favorite recipe of all time? And the winner is...I have to think about it.

There are a lot of factors that go into choosing one's favorite recipe. It could be the one that's the easiest to make, or the most delicious, or the one that your family likes the most. And we can break it down even more - to a favorite appetizer or potato recipe or chocolate cake.

But if by favorite we simply mean the recipe that we go to time and time again, when we want something truly delicious, easy to make, fairly flexible in terms of ingredients and suitable for family OR company, then I would have to vote for The Barefoot Contessa's

Orzo with Roasted Vegetables

It is the quintessential Ina Garten recipe - wonderfully flavorful and beautiful to look at, as well as simple to make. In fact, forget it being MY favorite recipe, it just might be (for home cooks, now, I'm talking)

THE BEST RECIPE OF ALL TIME.*

You may certainly make the recipe as it's written. It's pretty perfect. But I've made it soooooooo many times with so many little additions and changes that I'll share them with you.

Orzo With Roasted Vegetables (serves 8)

adapted from Barefoot Contessa Parties!

(This feeds 8 generously with leftovers. Even if I'm making this just for 2, I still make the full recipe, because it's so good the next day and the 2 after that.)

2-3 Japanese eggplant, peeled and diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1 BIG red onion, peeled and 1-inch diced

4 garlic cloves, unpeeled

3 tbls. olive oil

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 lb. orzo

For the dressing:

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup good olive oil

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

To assemble:

4 scallions, finely chopped

3/4 cup pine nuts, cashews, walnuts or almonds, toasted and chopped coarsely

1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
optional: 6 boneless chicken thighs, marinaded in a bit of the dressing and grilled or broiled and sliced

Preheat the oven to 425°F. 
(If I'm in a hurry, I broil everything. Convection broil is particularly effective. Put your shelf one down from the top and watch the veggies carefully. Of course, you can broil the chicken with the vegetables, take out the vegetables when they're done and then finish cooking the chicken.)

Toss the eggplant, bell peppers, onion, and garlic with the olive oil, salt, and pepper on a large sheet pan, lined with foil.

Roast for 40 minutes, until browned, turning once with a spatula. Or broil until browned nicely, about 10 - 12 minutes total, checking every 3 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, cook the orzo in boiling salted water for 7 to 9 minutes, until tender. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl.

Pick out the garlic cloves, set aside and add the roasted vegetables to the pasta, scraping all the liquid and seasonings from the roasting pan into the pasta bowl. Mix well.
 
For the dressing, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a blender. Put the reserved garlic through a garlic press and add to the dressing ingredients. Blend until smooth and pour enough dressing over the pasta and vegetables to moisten nicely. You can also add half the parsley into the blender for a pretty green flecked dressing.

Add the scallions, nuts and parsley. Check the seasonings and toss with a bit more dressing just before serving. Serve the remainder on the side, if you wish, or keep it for another day. Arrange on a platter. Top with sliced chicken, if using. Serve at room temperature.

That's all she wrote. Enjoy. Gotta go. Guess what I'm making for dinner tonight...

*Another contender includes a recipe from one of my top 5 cookbooks - The Silver Palate Cookbook - and that recipe is...drum roll please... Chicken Marbella. Again, this is a recipe that can be adjusted to what you have on hand. It's lovely for company, quick for family meals AND it is absolutely yummy.

A Tale of Three Pizzas, Horseshoes and an Irresistable Chef

Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello
Horseshoes Tournament

Grilled Eggplant Pizza
Hummus Piadine with Cucumber and Feta Salad
Strawberry Rhubarb Calzone
Venetian Wine Spritzer

To get the recipes:
Click here

Michael Chiarello's having an old fashioned outdoor get-together. Folks are coming over to play horseshoes. That requires a special kind of menu - one where the food can be held in one hand and the horseshoe in the other. He's decided on 3 pizzas, each very different and wonderful on its own.

The first is a crostata filled with Rhubarb. That's good news. I've kind of forgotten about rhubarb and how wonderfully tart it is. It makes a terrific filling here with strawberries. He shows us a good way to rid strawberries of their stems, without losing half the berry. He digs it out using a small teaspoon. It keeps its rounded shape too, which for this recipe is moot since it's getting cooked, but remember it for when you're keeping them whole. He adds the strawberries to rhubarb. Ruby Red Gloriousness. Cools entire mixture on tray. (I told you about using a dinner plate too a while ago.)

He rolls out individual rounds of bought pizza dough (see last paragraph). (At least, he bought it from a good pizza place as I instructed you to do on 3/24.) Tops with rhubarb mixture. DO NOT OVERSTUFF. Folds over. I like how he pinches the edges and then folds them over. Very nice looking. Egg wash. Sprinkle of sugar (I think it might need a lot.) He adds anise seed. HEY what's going on? Are all our favorite Italian FN chefs adding anise these days. (I will be skipping that.) He puts them in oven.

Next is Piadine. Cold salad on top of hot pizza. WAIT A MINUTE! I ALWAYS DO THAT. When I have salad and pizza together, to save myself a fork, I always load the pizza with salad and eat it together (not in public by the way...) Michael whips up a quick tomato and cucumber salad for the top. (Keep that recipe, you'll want it for the summer.) Very tasty looking and that's "All she wrote." Michael, that's one of my favorite expressions too AND song. Maybe we should get together and "talk" about it. That IS an awfully cute stripy shirt you're wearing today...

Ok, now he's doing something very exotic and unusual that I've never seen before . (Yes, we're still in the kitchen...Darn!) He's putting hummus on the UNBAKED pizza dough. I have made and served buckets of hummus in my life and I have never, number one, COOKED with it and, number two, I have never BAKED it on top of a pizza. Interesting. Slides that into the oven on a pizza peel.

For pizza number 3 - a grilled one - he's doing a grilled vegetable topping. He salts the eggplant for 30 minutes. Rinses, squeezes and dries them. Oils and seasons them up and off to the grill they go, a PREHEATED grill, with red pepper too. Lays them on and LEAVES THEM ALONE for 4 to 5 minutes on each side. He's "shutting the grill down" during the cooking time. Hold on, what does that mean? Is he turning off the grill, or is that some Northern California or even rap expression for how good the eggplant will be? As in, "This is sooooo good, byatch, it'll shut the place down." Don't mock me, I DON'T KNOW.

Veggies come off and are set aside. Pizza dough, generously brushed with olive oil on one side, is put on the grill. I can just smell the yeasty crispy browned garlic infused pizza disks. Place a little eggplant and peppers on top. Then herbs, olives and mozzarella. 30 seconds with "the grill shut down'. Here we go again. Opens grill. "That's all she wrote." Oooh, I GET IT. The grill shut down means the grill IS CLOSED. In other words, THE TOP IS DOWN. Why couldn't he just have said that? Ok, so maybe I was off base, really off-base, but I think my explanation is way cooler. He brings out all the pizzas. The hummus one looks really yummy. He cuts it up into pieces and tops it with the fabulous tom and cuke salad and some feta. Okay, so basically it's like a pita with the hummus baked on. I'm feeling it.

He slices the rhubarb crostini into pieces. They came out really well.

Oh, one more thing - the drink. A Venetian cocktail. How cool and refreshing it looks. So light you can have 3 or 4. The guests are arriving. The pizzas are served and horseshoes are being flung.

The only disappointment here today was that Michael BOUGHT the pizza dough - from a great pizza place - but still...I would have liked him to have showed us HIS recipe. I guess he had a lot to accomplish on this episode and there WAS that game of horseshoes (with 3 cocktails under his belt) to get to.

Hot Off The Presses: Giada Citing

What was Giada doing on The Today Show, sitting on the end of the chat couch next to David Gregory and Natalie Morales and some rather cute weatherman this morning (Monday, March 26th)? Apparently, she's a Today contributor. Who knew? (I stopped watching when Jane Pauley left.)

I was just channel surfing, while on the treadmill (Christina Aquilera had finished and I was waiting for Fergie and Luda) and I spied Giada. She was working out with the Jackie Warner from Bravo's WORK OUT. If that's not cross promotion gone haywire, I don't what is... Anyway, Jackie, famous for her volatile girlfriends, is literally ALL OVER Giada. She makes her do a "man's" push up and poor little Giada really looks like she's never done one before. That gave Jackie the perfect opportunity to practically LIE ON TOP OF HER.

Then, she gave Giada milk "jugs" to lift with - who calls them THAT unless you're thinking of something entirely different? Thankfully, Giada thought to zip up, really high, nothing showing from our princess of cleavage today. Luckily, the extra tall and cute David Gregory came on, just as Jackie was getting warmed up.

Giada, do yourself a favor and keep a kitchen counter between you and your tv companions.

Liquid Refreshment for Four, Oh, And Dinner Too

Barefoot Contessa - Dinner and a Movie
Frozen Blood Orange Margarita
Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic
Ice Cream Bombe
Moroccan Couscous

For recipes:
Click here

Ina's preparing dinner for some guy friends, before they watch a fabulous French movie. Je voudrais venir.

I.G. starts with an ice cream bombe – Ooh, one of my all time favorite desserts from “From Julia Child’s Kitchen” days. This is when that set of stainless steel mixing bowls will come in handy. Or for LK, my sister-in-law, that adorable set of melamine gorgeously colored bowls I gave her would be perfect too. (Oh, how I wanted to keep them).

Ina’s making her own mango sorbet, do it, you’ll like it. If you just can’t face it or you’re in a time crunch, use Sharon's Sorbet. Ina finishes the mixture and then refrigerates it. When it’s fully chilled, she will put it in her ice cream machine. Should you go out and buy one just for this recipe? YES! They are great fun to have and then you won’t have to live your life saying, “I can’t make this, I don’t have an ice cream machine”. You may think that you’ll use it once and it will just take up valuable cupboard space. Well, you’re a grownup and it’s up to you to use it more. How about making every Sunday HOMEMADE SORBET DAY? How about for their birthdays the kids get to choose what kind of ice cream they want to make? How about when Granny comes over, you remind her of her Georgia youth and serve freshly made peach ice cream? How about….You get the idea. Get one and USE IT.

Cocktail Time!!! It is 8 in the morning, but never mind. Just look at the color of the blood orange juice, she’s using. One of her guests said let’s have blood orange margaritas and Ina was happy to oblige. I imagine that if they said let’s have scrambled egg martinis, she’d find a way to do it. Our Contessa never crossed a cocktail she didn’t like, or couldn't improve upon with some fabulous fresh squeezed juice. She proceeds to blenderize the drinks. I like that she gives an actual measurement for the ice. So much handier than “fill up to the top with ice.” (And she wouldn’t want to dilute the booze too much.) “Blood orange margaritas are ready, whenever we are, which is always.” Wadge yuuuu say, Cahntessa, I’m a feelin’ a lil woozy.

The chilled mango mixture goes into the ice cream machine to be transformed into sorbet. Ina has a particularly nice ice cream machine. Mine is from the 20th century and still requires ice and salt. With Ina’s, you just put the mixture in the container and you’re all ready to go. THAT’S the kind to get.

She’s molding the sorbet in a GLASS bowl. I always bombe in stainless steel (notwithstanding the advice to LK about using those stunning bowls.) ALERT: For some inexplicable reason, Ina doesn’t tell us to line the bowl with plastic wrap before putting in the mango sorbet. And at the end she has to dip the whole thing in hot water to unmold it. Save yourself that heartache and possible heart break. Line the bowl with plastic wrap and then put in the mango sorbet. All that will be required at the end is to unleash the bombe using the plastic wrap. If you think the outside has a wrinkled appearance from the plastic wrap, just use a hot knife to go over it.

Chicken gets started. We all know James Beard’s Chicken With 40 Cloves Of Garlic. Yes, he really did use 40 cloves of garlic and so will Ina, and so should you.

We have a momentary time-out from Ina’s kitchen. Friend Jack has been assigned the task of buying popcorn. How nerve wracking! Jiffy Pop won’t exactly do. He’s buying MICROWAVE popcorn!!! Sacre Bleu! I wanna see Ina flip her lid, especially after she’s had a few of those cocktails ... as if…

Back to the chicken. She dries it and salts and peppers it. Browns it in butter and oil. 40 cloves go in. Cooks it for 10 minutes on low. 2 tbls Cognac are added. I approve of that. Cognac is yummy. 1 ½ cups of white wine. She advises us to only cook with wine we would drink. (Read this article. I always cook with crummy wine I have in the fridge or really good wine that I never finished.) Chicken goes back in and she cooks it on top of the stove for 30 minutes. This is a change from James Beard’s method. He made a big deal about covering the pot tightly with foil and THEN the lid and cooking it undisturbed in the oven. Of course, his recipe calls for 3 times the amount the fat and only dark meat and takes 1 ½ hours. I would highly recommend that sometime in your lifetime, you try BOTH of these recipes. They are a revelation about how sweet garlic can become after being braised without a hint of browning.

The bombe must be dealt with. The mango sorbet has been freezing in an 8 inch bowl with a 6 inch bowl pressed on top of it. Remove 6 inch bowl and put in the raspberry sorbet as second layer. Cover with plastic wrap. Now press in a 4 ½ inch bowl to keep the bombe shape. Refreeze and we’ll be adding the last layer soon.

Couscous is up. To tell you the truth, I don’t like the idea of couscous with this dish. JimB always said to serve it with French bread, which you can squeeze the luscious sweet garlic onto. Ina says the couscous will absorb the flavor of the dish. Ok, maybe, but I’d like something heartier – the bread or Giada’s Smashed Parmesan Potatoes (without the parmesan).

The chicken is cooked. Ina removes it from the pot and sets it aside. Takes ½ cup of liquid from the pot (with garlic cloves or not) and adds 2 tbls. flour to it. Stir VERY WELL. We cooking types call this a slurry. It’s a very useful technique to know when you’re trying to thicken anything from a beef stew to the Thanksgiving gravy at the last minute. Make sure to bring the mixture up to the boil for about 3 minutes after adding the slurry. Ina adds another tablespoon of cognac, so we can really taste it in the finished dish. Yay! And 2 tbls. of cream. I have never met a tablespoon of cream I didn’t like, but I just don’t think this dish needs it. She HAS relinquished a lot of fat that James uses at the BEGINNING of the recipe, so I guess she’s just adding it at the end, but feel free to include it out. The way James finished his Chicken with 40 cloves of Garlic was to open the pot … and … serve.

Last layer of bombe gets added, strawberry ice cream. Back in the freezer.

The guys have arrived. The margaritas gets served. “Ooh, some chicken with our garlic”, as the main course is unveiled. Dessert is unmolded. It looks extraordinary.

Ina gives the boys a choice. They vote for poker in lieu of a French film. Bon idée. They better watch their hostess carefully. Why do I think that the Contessa, so clever in culinary matters, will pull a full house out of her back pocket, just when she needs it?... Kind of like a bombe from the freezer in a moment of gastronomic crisis.

Three Out Of Four Ain't Bad

Giada De Laurentiis - Everyday Italian
Rustic Italian Cooking

Chicken Cacciatore
Smashed Parmesan Potatoes
Lemon Parsley Bruschetta
Chocolate Anise Cookies

For recipes:
Click here

Giada has barely introduced her cleavage, oops, I mean the first recipe, to the audience, when I have my first substitution.* Anise. Don't tell her, but I will not be putting anise in these biscotti. I may put cinnamon in or perhaps lemon zest, but anise is a definite nonstarter.

Now she's saying that it's a bit of a workout to make the cookie batter with a hand mixer. Then why, for heaven's sake, are you not using the sturdy Kitchen Aid that I can see in the corner? Oh, she's adding chocolate chips. I don't know why, but this combination of chocolate chips and anise completely DO NOT APPEAL to me. By the way, I prefer the ah-NIECE pronunciation.

Giada takes out the silpat to bake the dough on. I hate silpat. This recipe is really rubbing me the wrong way. However, she says to use parchment paper in the actual recipe. Don't bother, foil will serve you just fine.

Good, she's getting off of that and moving onto Chicken Cacciatore - ok good. I've made this before. It's a WONDERFUL RECIPE. Wait a minute - that means I must have seen these cookies before...must have been when I was in a less judgmental mood.

Oh, back to the cookies, just for a sec. Take them out of the oven and let them cool a bit before slicing and baking for another 15 minutes. Ok, this is a good time to rethink the additions. This is a basic cookie batter. Use 1 cup chocolate chips with 1 tsp. of vanilla essence. Or use the grated zest of one lemon. Or use a good teaspoon of cinnamon. OR 1/2 tsp almond extract and 1 cup of chopped and toasted almonds or hazelnuts. You don't need no anise (remember ah-NIECE in polite company.)

Back to the chicken, thank goodness. MAKE THIS RECIPE. It is an easy hearty wonderfully toothsome version of a classic dish. Season the chicken. Listen to Giada about this. Nothing substitutes for early seasoning in a dish. She flours the chicken. Nice old-fashioned step. It makes for easy browning and thickens the eventual sauce. Bee-yoo-tee-ful browning. Bravo!

She remarks that in Northern Italy they add onions and carrots to this recipe and in Southern Italy, olives and anchovies. She seems to be splitting the difference by adding onions, peppers and capers. Chops onions...she says you don't have to worry about size, because this a rustic dish. Garlic - smashed and chopped. I liked PRESSED garlic. Giada adds the onions, peppers and garlic to the dish and proceeds to cook them for 5 minutes. (I would add carrots too.)

Ok, I can't keep quiet here, I must speak up. If there's one lesson I've learned in my life it's that an overcooked pepper is no benefit to a dish or to humanity in general. No matter what the recipe says, I ALWAYS ONLY cook peppers briefly (less than a minute) before adding them to the dish that they will be stewed, braised or baked in.

So...let the onions and garlic do their thing in the pan, with the carrots, if you're adding them. THEN add the peppers for a quick 42 seconds worth of sauteing. And THEN add the other ingredients.

Chicken goes back in the pan. It is looking awesome. She's using a 5 1/2 quart saute pan here, by the way. It's one of my favorite pieces of kitchen equipment. Sorry to ruin the surprise, but if you're getting married, this is what I'm sending you. You can make anything from tomato sauce to chili to pasta vongole. Don't bother with a 3 quart size, the 5 1/2 to 6 quart one is the ticket. HERE SIZE DOES MATTER. Get the highest quality you can and NEVER non-stick. THAT surface belongs to a frying pan- curved sides, shallow, short cooking times, no lid - and not a saute pan - straight sides, somewhat deep, with a lid, better for longer cooking times.

Lemon parsley bruschetta is next. You're winning me back Giada. What a wonderful choice with the Cacciatore.

Hold on, cookies are coming out. They look great, but I can't help thinking about the nasty taste of the ah-NIECE that awaits inside them.

She gets to work on the bruschetta. I love her stove top grill. She rolls the lemon on the work surface to get more juice out of them. I had another method: halving them and putting them in the microwave for 12 seconds. You wouldn't believe how much more juice you get out of them that way. But then I decided that killing every trace of vitamin c might not be the way to go. Wait a minute, this is getting cooked anyway. I dunno, we'll leave them unzapped for the moment...But I can give you a tip that will save your palms. Cut off a tiny piece from each end of the lemon. Cut in half. Now as you press down on your lemon to squeeze it (I believe an old fashioned glass juicer is the best way to go ) you won't get a spike going through your hand.

Giada gets the bread off the grill and rubs each piece with garlic. I always find that a bit onerous, plus I want each piece of bread to be equally garlicked. Why not just crush or press it and add it the lemon juice and olive oil that are getting brushed on the bread? And frankly, between you and me, I'm throwing the parsley in there too. That way, it'll stay on the bread better.

For Giada's smashed potatoes, she cuts red ones in half and boils them. She mashes them with some reserved cooking water. Now, you may think adding 1/2 cup of olive oil is A LOT , but this is for THREE POUNDS of potatoes, which serves 8 people. (Truth be told, that serves more like 6 people) If you feel that is just too much oil, there's a simple solution: DON'T MAKE THIS RECIPE...Just kidding, cut down on the olive oil. Simple as that.

Stir in Parm, oil, salt and pepper. Absolutely flawless. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I've said it before...AND THE POTATOES TOO.

She serves herself a plate. Tender steaming chicken with gorgeous tomato sauce studded with pieces of deep red peppers and little gems of capers, fragrant with white wine and oregano and fresh basil. Hmm. Puts cookies on a plate next to her. EEWWWW...Get rid of those. Way to ruin a meal, Giada...But I still love you and I'm willing to bet that all your college guy fans do too. They don't even know what ah-NIECE is...

*Check out this article in the N.Y. Times about internet recipe searchers and how they change recipes with abandon. Feel free to refer to my own musings on the subject: Anatomy of A Recipe Search.

Friday Night Bites

Why? Because I've been pizza deprived. For years, our family ritual was to get pizza on a Friday night from our favorite local pizza place. When my kids left for college, I felt a bit sheepish getting an entire pizza just for my husband and me. I suppose the pizza guy had no way of counting the actual mouths it was going to feed, but I still felt funny. (Let me make it clear, though, that we had plenty of leftovers.) So, I started making my own pizza - which, to tell you the truth, I quite like doing anyway.

Making pizza dough is incredibly quick IF you have a food processor. But just a warning - this is homemade and FRESH, BUT the crust will never be as crispy and chewy as Luigi's or Giuseppe's, unless you have a special pizza oven at home. You can crank up your oven (an electric oven is an advantage over a gas one), cook the pizza on a pizza screen, put a stone in the oven and spray water at regular intervals, but it's still not going to be like Gianni's.

So, let's just make a really good one that is still heads above the one that you can buy in the supermarket. If you're desperate, buy the dough from your pizza place. Send in your 6 year old. How could they resist? Nice supermarkets sell decent ready-to-bake dough, but the point is that, in a food processor, it takes less than 60 seconds to mix up your own.

The toppings below are just a starting point. Put ANYTHING on, from leftover barbecued chicken and/or pesto to goat cheese or even smoked salmon. And you can make different zones on the pizza for different members of the family or even 4 individual pizzas.

Friday Night Pizza (serves 4, or 3 lavishly)

Dough:

3/4 cup warm water (hotter than 105 deg. F, cooler than 115 deg F)

1 tsp. honey (or sugar)

1 envelope active dry yeast

2 1/2 cups white and/or whole wheat flour (follow your heart - I commonly use 1 cup of whole wheat and 1 1/2 cups of white flour)

3/4 tsp. salt

2 tbls. olive oil (not the good stuff)

Toppings:

3 tbls. olive oil

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

1 lb. mushrooms, thinly sliced

2/3 jar (about) of good tomato sauce

1 lb. part skim mozzarella, sliced

1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives,halved

10 sundried tomatoes, blotted on paper towels and sliced thinly

5 anchovies, blotted on paper towels and sliced thinly

For dough, measure water into small bowl. It should be very warm to the touch, but not hot. Stir in honey or sugar until mixed well. Sprinkle in yeast. Stir carefully with teaspoon to dissolve completely. "Proof" the yeast for 4 to 5 minutes, until it starts bubbling. You are literally "proving" the yeast to be working. If nothing happens start over with a new package.

Place 2 cups of flour and salt in food processor. Pour in olive oil. Pulse once or twice. Pour in yeast mixture and process for 15 seconds. Stop, then process for another 15 seconds. The mixture will form a ball. Open processor and touch dough. It should be quite sticky. Add another 1/4 cup flour and process for 15 seconds more. Place a piece of plastic wrap on counter. Place dough on that. Knead in remaining 1/4 cup flour by hand (you'll probably need it all) for less than a minute until dough is smooth. Place in well oiled bowl. Turn over (so that the dough ball is coated top and bottom with oil.) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and then dishtowel. Let rise for 1 1/2 hours in a warm, non-drafty place. Punch down and use now or cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to one day. Before using, punch down and roll out.

Note: Using freshly made dough will give you a light airy crust that will rise fairly high. Refrigerated dough will give you a chewier, more dense crust. Both can be good and better than store-bought.

For the fillings, heat 2 tbls. olive oil over medium high heat in a large non-stick frying pan. Add onions and a pinch of salt. Cook until lightly browned. Add red peppers and saute for one minute. Remove from skillet. Add 1 tbl. oil to pan over medium hot heat. Stir in mushrooms with a pinch of salt. Arrange in one layer in pan. (Cook in 2 batches if you need to.) Leave them alone for at least 2 to 3 minutes to get browned on the bottom. Stir and cook for another minute. Set aside.

Roll out dough. Place on oiled pizza screen or jelly roll pan that has been lined with foil and sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle a bit of the mozzarella on the bottom to prevent the crust from getting soggy. Spread tomato sauce all over leaving an inch border all the way around (less if you're making individual pizzas). Don't put on too much sauce or the crust can get soggy. Spoon over fillings in order given, making sure that excess moisture has been removed.

Bake in a very well preheated 475 deg F oven* for 15 to 18 minutes. Remove, slice and enjoy (even if you still miss your kids).

Note: To make dough in heavy duty mixer, place flour and oil in mixer bowl. Add yeast mixture and beat with dough hook for 5 minutes. To knead by hand, mix ingredients in bowl and knead on cool surface for 10 minutes.

*I admit my choice of oven temperature is a bit of a compromise. I know 500 degrees (mentioned in many recipes) is too hot for my oven, since I haven't done my annual pre-Thanksgiving oven cleaning since, well, before last Thanksgiving. Some recipes say 425 degrees, which I KNOW is too low. 475 degrees works just fine. It's hot, but not so hot that the local hunky firefighters will be called in. Wait a minute...hunky... firefighters? I just might crank up my oven this time...

The Broccoli Rabed All The Attention

When I asked my son the other day, "Can you stir the Broccoli Rabe for me?" He answered, "My name's not Rob, and this isn't broccoli." Ok, so maybe this vegetable isn't that well-known, but it should be, even to college kids. And I've never met a main course that didn't like it.

My biggest problem with Broccoli Rabe is SPELLING IT. No matter how many times I tell myself it's TWO C'S and ONE L, I always write b-r-o-c-o-l-l-i. I know it when I SEE it, as in pornography and the Supreme Court, but not when I WRITE it.

I don't really have an sense of how popular broccoli rabe is. I particularly like it because it's got a lot going on. You've got your stems, leaves AND flowers. It's kind of like a United Nations of vegetables. It's variously known as rapini, rape, brocoletti di rape and rabe OR raab.

One thing to remember is that it belongs to the Brassica family, i.e. the strong smelly vegetable family, which includes kale, cabbage and turnips. But don't turn up your nose. That problem is simply dealt with by blanching first (I usually do it for 3 minutes) and then sauteing. In fact, if you ever see a recipe that says to saute without blanching, be a rebel and don't listen.

Oh, and don't forget about Brocollini (I did it again!) it should be Broccolini. This is more like broccoli than broccoli rabe. In fact, it's MOSTLY broccoli with a bit of Chinese broccoli thrown in. Cook it the same way as broccoli rabe, but only blanch it for one minute. The two are completely interchangeable in recipes.

Here are 2 wonderful recipes from Giada and Ina. Giada's is for broccoli rabe, Ina's uses broccolini, use either or both.

Here's mine:

Sauteed Broccoli Rabe (serves 2)
1 bunch broccoli rabe
2 tbls. extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, pressed or finely chopped
a small handful or raisins (white would be great)
a small handful of pine nuts*
a generous pinch of Kosher salt

Cut off 1/2 inch of the ends of the broccoli rabe. Slice leaves, stems - everything - in 2 inch pieces. Blanch in boiling (salted, if you wish) water. Drain.

Heat oil in large non stick frying pan over medium high heat. Throw in drained broccoli rabe (water will still be sticking to it). Saute for 1 minute. Add remaining ingredients. Saute for 2 or 3 more minutes until hot. Serve at once.

*I know I promised in an earlier post to only call them pignoli, like Ina does, but I'm used to pine nuts, so nuts to that idea...

Nigella, Nigella, Nigella

(Say It Like Cary Grant And You Get The Idea)

Chefography - Nigella Lawson

Like her or not, Nigella Lawson's life reads like a romance novel.

Here are the headlines:
Beautiful heroine from troubled upper class British family finds solice in the written word...
and A LOT of GOOD food
Loses mother to cancer
Marries successful journalist, John Diamond
Has daughter
Loses sister to cancer
Has son
Publishes cookbook
Become a Domestic Goddess

But wait, that's just the beginning. As Nigella's star is rising on the career front, partially because "The camera eats her up" - as Bobby Redford said about Tally, formerly Sally, also know as Michelle Pfeiffer, in the classic "Up Close and Personal" - her husband is fighting the battle of his life, which ultimately TAKES his life. Cancer AGAIN.

There's more: She becomes a major publishing success. The American television triumph of Nigella Feasts, awaits her, as does a new man. No matter that he's a major advertising mogul, art collector and gazillionaire, Charles Saatchi. To Nigella, he's just her little snuggin's. (I made that part up).

But it was Nigella's early experiences, as with most people, that colored many adult choices. She had a very tricky relationship with her mother, who had lifelong issues with food. It wasn't until her diagnosis of terminal cancer, (she died 3 weeks later) that Nigella's mother felt she could eat normally. During all of these challenges, food was always a constant comfort to the "bosomy and bottomy" Nigella. (SHE said it, not I.)

In spite of her food issues, her mother was passionate about cooking. STOP THE TRAIN! We have the key here to Nigella’s entire relationship to food and really her whole personality. Abundance, love, giving warmth, overt sexuality spilling out from every pore...It's all in reaction to her mother not showing her love (they became close later), and to her mother's contradictory relationship with her family and food (loved to cook, hated to eat).

Nigella was NEVER going to be like that. From her early years at Oxford, when she cooked and fed all her buds, to “studying” in Italy, which really consisted of immersing herself in the Italian food culture and lifestyle, to her copious meals for loved ones as an adult, it all points to the same thing: making people feel treasured and nurtured. Her profuse offerings from the kitchen today are the result of a little girl who was melancholy and under-loved by her struggling mother. (The issues in the bedroom are not our subject today.)

Woo, now that we have THAT all figured out, do we LIKE Nigella's food? Yes…basically. I like that it’s eminently do-able in the home kitchen. In fact, that’s really her entire point. When she first came onto the food scene, a lot of home cooks were trying emulate restaurant chefs. She was totally against that. She celebrated sharing family recipes and being in her own kitchen, cooking for close friends and family.

Interestingly, she points out that her “Culinary life has no secrets.” That’s a very significant statement. What is the hallmark of an eating disorder, but the secrecy it imposes upon its victim? Her mother’s problems with food were hidden. Nigella lives her life out in the open to prevent the demons of her mother from becoming her own. She’s done such a good job, that she’s made everyone lust after her. Her publisher loves her. The Food Network worships her, Mario Batali admires her. All of the civilised world wants her…She’s so sexy she wants herself.