I'm frico-ing out, Giada

Everyday Italian with Giada De Laurentiis

Special Single Servings
Risotto in a Lemon Cup
Spinach Salad in a Parmesan Frico Cup
Individual Orange and Chocolate Cheesecakes

Nice idea....this show. Giada starts with lemon risotto in a lemon cup. I thought when I first saw it that it was rice pudding, because I'm used to seeing something sweet in a lemon cup, like lemon sorbet...(Think Citron Givrée after couscous in those wonderful North African restaurants in Paris.) She's preparing the lemon. It looks like she hasn't made an opening much larger than a tablespoon. Strange..

She's making the risotto. Very nice recipe. She's cooking it in an attractive white enamelled cast iron paella pot. I have that pot!!!... If only I could have that cleavage...She's adding mascarpone to the risotto at the end of cooking time. How luscious! She's filling the lemons with risotto. I was wrong before! That's not a tablespoon opening, it's a friggin' TEASPOON!! Come on, Giada, I've wasted an entire lemon per person on presentation. I need to fill it up more.

We're moving on to a spinach salad served in Parmesan Cups, or as she correctly informs us, they're called Frico. Don't call them Parmesan Cups, people! They're freakin' frico. You'll really impress one and all, by saying they're frico and waiting for someone to ask you what that is. Ok enough frico-talk. Oh, one more thing...Giada tells us to use Silpat or parchment paper for the frico. I HATE Silpat. I feel like it makes the bottom of things greasy. Because I have one, I occasionally use it to roll out pizza dough, but do not buy it specially. Ok. Good salad recipe. She's mixing the dressing in a jar.

Here's a great tip - At the beginning of the week make a large amount of salad dressing (at least a 1/2 cup of oil amount) IN A BLENDER. Don't play around with a jar. You get a beautiful emulsion in a blender. Refrigerate and just stir with a fork before using. Obviously, it's alot easier if you bring it to room temp first. When you make dressing in a blender, add any zest after blending.
 
Anyway, nice dressing...Giada places the salad in the frico cups, again it's a TINY amount, but ok - I just learned that Giada has digestion issues and can only eat small amounts of stuff... Now, friends, let's get real with this recipe. Let's cut out the chiffonading of the baby spinach, which I can't remember EVER seeing anyone do for a salad. The point of using baby spinach is that you don't have to do anything to it. Make the salad without undue spinach shredding. Dress it with this wonderful dressing and serve it on a plate, for goodness sake, with the frico AS A GARNISH. Trust me, you'll get raves and you don't need no fiddlin' with muffin cups and hot frico. 

Individual Cheesecakes - Yum. The only problem is that they're sized for a doll's tea party. I could probably eat 15. Don't mock me, you could too. After the commercial, her cleavage has been adjusted a bit. My husband tells me that college boys make up a huge part of her audience. I've always felt they, as a group, could improve their cooking skills. 

Gosh, I love Giada's necklaces. She does the skinny 2 or 3 chain thing - very modern...Back to the cheesecakes (why doesn't she wear her wedding ring when she cooks - does it have to do with that college boy thing?) She's mixing ricotta with mascarpone. Very wise and delicious choice. Ricotta is surprisingly rich tasting. I wonder if you could cut the richness of a tiramisu (just a bit, nothing drastic) by subbing a bit of ricotta for the mascarpone. I actually just like saying MASCARPONE. Don't you feel like you're in an Italian Opera? Okay, fine recipe, cute garnish of zested up sugar. 

At the end of the day, these individual recipes would be lovely at a ladies lunch or tea party, and, full-sized, they'd be delicious on any dinner table. 

PS I LOVED the champagne glasses in the final scene.