Trick Or Treat At Ina’s House Plus The Delicacies Of Gelatin

Barefoot Contessa with Ina Garten

Just Candy

Winter Squash Soup

White Chocolate Bark

Homemade Marshmallows

Ooh, Ina is doing “Just Candy”. So why is there a winter squash soup in there? She’s doing marshmallows too! Great. But before I see the actual list of recipes, the tv guide thingie just says “marshmallows”. I admit I’m a bit worried. What if she’s not making her own? If she’s somehow using commercial marshmallows for something, I’ll be a wee bit disappointed. Oh, what a relief! Luckily, she is, in fact, making them from scratch.

Ina says she loves the “big puffy clouds of vanilla and sugar that just melt in your mouth”. She starts by adding 3 packages of gelatin (that’s A LOT) to ½ cup of cold water. She whisks it briskly and lets the mixture sit for 5 minutes.

It’s funny, I was always taught when dealing with gelatin to treat every single speck as gold. I would never use a whisk, because too much would be lost on the wires. I always have this mindset of “Oh, no, what if that one tiny bit of gelatin on the side of the bowl was the crucial one the mousse needed to REALLY set up properly.”

This is how I proceed - I fill a bowl with however much water I’m using. Then I sprinkle the gelatin into the water slowly and carefully, letting the granules land on a different section of water each time. (A wider bowl is better than a deeper one.)

Often, I don’t need to stir it at all, because the gelatin sinks under the top surface of the water and dissolves. If there are some crystals above water level, I’ll take a teaspoon and tap them gently until they’re under the water. The goal is to get as little gelatin on the spoon as possible. Also stirred gelatin has the tendency to lump, so that’s another reason to limit the stirring.

Okay, back to Ina whacking away at the gelatin with a whisk. Frankly, she’s using so much gelatin, that it probably won’t matter if she loses some on the whisk.

(Oh, sorry, one more gelatin thing. This is a hard and fast rule, no matter what your recipe says. I looked for exceptions and I really can’t find one. Always DISSOLVE your gelatin in cold water, let it sit and then MELT it over heat. Sometimes that means stirring it into a hot mixture and sometimes that means a quick turn in the microwave.)

Another aside – Gelatin is the ONLY thing I EVER cover with plastic wrap in the microwave. I want a tight, tight, TIGHT seal and it’s in for such a short time and it happens so rarely, that I figure it’s okay to make this my ONE plastic-wrap-in-the-microwave exception.

And when would I need to do this? Mostly when I’m making stabilized whipped cream. If you’re piping cream on a cake in the summer and it’s going to be out for a while or if you’re taking it somewhere, it’s a good idea to call in the reinforcements. You make stabilized whipped cream by adding a bit of dissolved and melted gelatin to your whipped cream.

Stabilized Whipped Cream - Dissolve a tablespoon of gelatin in ¼ cup of cold water for 5 minutes. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and microwave on High for 10 seconds. (Every microwave is different. My old microwave took 30 seconds. My new one takes 10 seconds. You’ll know it’s melted when the mixture is completely clear.)  Carefully remove plastic wrap (there’s a lot of steam) and let sit for a minute or two to cool.

Whip a cup of cream with a tablespoon or two of sugar and ½ teaspoon of vanilla until thick, but no peaks have appeared. With mixer running, add in 2 tablespoons of the melted and cooled gelatin. You won’t use the entire gelatin, but it’s easier to melt a slightly larger amount. (Beat in an additional tablespoon of gelatin if you’re traveling really far and/or it’s really hot out.)  Beat cream until stiff. Fill into piping bag and proceed with your recipe.

Next Ina tells us how she likes to give homemade marshmallows as gifts. For a sugar syrup, she pours 1½ cups sugar into a saucepan with 1 cup of light corn syrup, ¼ teaspoon salt (ick) and ½ cup water. She cooks it to 240°F on a candy thermometer.

Ina says marshmallows may be for children but if you’re letting kids make them, you should watch them carefully. WHAT?!!!@#$&%$!!! KIDS SHOULD NOT BE ANYWHERE NEAR THIS! In fact, I don’t think they should even be in the house! And I would keep all pets away too. Sugar syrup is sooo dangerous.

Also, I wish Ina had gone into the whole sugar syrup thing a lot more. Basically, you can stir it as often as you want (in fact, you should) BEFORE it comes to a boil. After that, only swirling is allowed. And just as each grain of gelatin is precious, as the sugar syrup is boiling away, you can use a pastry brush dipped into cold water to brush away any stray undissolved sugar granules on the inside of the pot. The sugar that gets left on the side and isn’t given a chance to dissolve will turn into nasty crystals, sometimes brown, and we want a smooth, clear, gorgeous syrup, not one with little bits that will show up in our marshmallows.

Ina gets the sugar syrup up the soft ball stage, 240°F. (It’s fun to drop some driplets into a glass of cold water and see that it really does make a soft ball.) Ina has her 3 tablespoons of dissolved gelatin in the mixer with a whisk attachment. She pours the sugar syrup into a glass “beaker” - heatproof, of course - to make it a bit safer when pouring it in. Ina turns on the mixer and slowly adds the sugar syrup. She starts slow and turns up the speed gradually. After she’s added all the syrup, she whips the mixture for 15 minutes. (BTW, Ina didn’t have to melt the gelatin in the microwave, because she was adding a hot – very hot – liquid to it, which melts it.)

In the meantime, we visit with Dylan Lauren (she’s the doyenne of the NY Candy scene. Actually, I’m not sure there even WAS a candy scene until she opened Dylan’s Candy Bar.) Dylan is in charge of organizing festive wrapping for Ina’s treats. She starts with a glittery, purple, spray-painted foam witch’s hat, which she’ll be using as a topiary type thing.  She glues candy corn to the base of the hat with hot glue. Isn’t that a waste of that gorgeous candy corn? That’s all for the moment. Back to Ina.

Ina finishes beating the marshmallow mixture. It looks like the smoothest, silkiest meringue ever. She beats in a tablespoon of vanilla. She sieves confectioner’s sugar all over the bottom of an 8” by 12” pan. (Oy, is this another extra large egg situation, where nobody has the size she calls for?) I have a 9 by 13 baking dish, so I guess I would use that and the marshmallows would end up being that little bit shallower.

Ina pours the “gooey” mixture into the pan and spreads it out evenly. She says this recipe will make 40 small ones or 20 really big marshmallows (or one each for her and Jeffrey). She dusts the top with A LOT of confectioner’s’ sugar so they’re easier to handle. She lets it sit out overnight, so they dry out a bit. That always makes me nervous to leave food out like that. Wouldn’t that attract ants even from neighboring counties? I would probably just hide it in the microwave overnight and hope that no critters stop by. 

As a thank you for Dylan showing her how to wrap candy for gifts, Ina is making her a pot of winter squash soup. She softens onions and adds diced butternut squash and canned pumpkin. She adds stock and seasoning and cooks it for 20 minutes.

Dylan is still at the store coming up with packaging ideas. She decoupages pieces of Halloween colored tissue paper onto a cookie tin. Then she adds sparkly stickers with Happy Halloween messages.

Ina makes croutons from some honey white bread. She cuts big cubes of bread from 2 slices. She melts butter in a pan and tosses the bread cubes until they evenly browned. Next, she purées the soup with a food mill. Ina stirs in half and half (or milk is okay). That’s it. She’ll pack the heated-up soup in a thermos for Dylan and send her home with the croutons too.

Ina makes her world-famous white chocolate bark. She says she’s going to show us a foolproof way to temper chocolate.  She starts by chopping three-quarters of a pound block of white chocolate. She puts it in a bowl and microwaves it on high for 30 seconds. It hasn’t melted, so she puts it back for another 30 seconds. It’s melted! Yay! Then she stirs in the rest of the chopped, unmelted chocolate to lower the temperature quickly.

She pours the whole thing onto a piece of parchment paper onto which she’s traced an 8 by 10 rectangle. (She likes weird measurements today) Now, this is interesting. I’m happy that she did this. Ina drew the rectangle on one side of the paper and then she very deliberately TURNED OVER THE PARCHMENT PAPER, so the chocolate wouldn’t touch the side with the pencil mark. You can still see the line through the paper.  Whenever I’m lining cake pans, I make sure to always turn over the paper. We don’t need graphite in our diets.

She pours the chocolate in the middle of the rectangle and then spreads it out to the edges. Next she sprinkles roasted salted pistachios (350°F for 8 minutes), ¼ cup dried cranberries and ¼ cup chopped dried apricots evenly over the entire chocolate rectangle. She lets it sit at room temperature for a few hours. (Another beacon for the unleashed animals in the house.)

Ina heats the soup up for Dylan and pours it into the thermos. Shouldn’t she serve it to her when she arrives after that long trip to Long Island, instead of waiting until she’s out the door going home?

Ina cuts the bark into 16 pieces. She runs a knife around the marshmallows and turns out the whole thing onto a cutting board. She cuts them into squares and stabs each one with a lollypop stick. She puts them into small clear bags and ties them with small pieces of green ribbon. I thought Dylan was wrapping them.

Dylan arrives and she stabs each marshmallow stick into the witch’s hat. Ina is impressed when Dylan packages two pieces of bark, back to back, so each pretty side faces out in the cello bag. Um, okay.

Dylan fills her Halloween decorated tin with orange “fill” (you know that shredded stuff you always want to get rid of) and places in the bark and some extra candy that she brought. Ina sends her on her way with a Barefoot Contessa bag with the soup and croutons. Frankly, I would have saved her the trip to East Hampton. And I’d have preferred a tour of her candy store to watching her put chocolate bark in a bag, but when Ina calls…

At least, we got to see those marshmallows. Just be sure to respect the gelatin and treat it with the reverence it deserves.

What’s The Difference Between Pot Roast And Beef Stew AND When Is A Beef Stew A Boeuf Bourguignon?

Secrets of a Restaurant Chef with Anne Burrell

Secret to Pot Roast

Pot Roast

Parsnip Potato Purée

I was watching Anne rock out a pot roast last weekend and she got me thinking about those very important issues.

Let's answer the second question - When is a Beef Stew a Boeuf Bourguignon? - first. A Boeuf Bourguignon is a TYPE of beef stew, typically made with a bottle of red wine (and a few other standard elements - pearl onions and bacon lardons). But what does a pot roast have to do with that?

WELL, (I feel like rubbing my hands together with glee, there’s so much fun stuff to talk about) both dishes – pot roasts and beef stews – feature a long slow braising of the meat after it’s been seared. And that’s the meat of the matter.

Of course, with a pot roast, the meat is cooked in one piece, and with a stew, it’s cut into cubes. There are also infinite variations on whether you marinate or not marinate the meat, what you add in terms of flavorings and vegetables and how you thicken the sauce (if you even do).

Let’s see how Anne does her pot roast and how that method might apply to a beef stew. She shows her technical virtuosity in the first few minutes of Secrets of a Restaurant Chef as she wrastles with her pot roast in the kitchen of her restaurant.

Back in her “home” kitchen, Anne tells us to start with a chuck roast. She says it’s a tough piece of meat, because it’s from the front shoulder which gets a lot of use. Chuck is also great to use in a beef stew (but we’ll talk about stew in a minute.). Anne tells us to cook the pot roast “low and slow”. She ties up the meat to keep it “tight and firm” , which makes for better slicing later on. Hmmm. I have NEVER done that. Great idea.

Anne heats up oil ”because browned food tastes good”. She adds the well-seasoned meat to the pan with a big sizzle. (I love that she washes her hands A LOT). Then she talks about having a good mis en place. Celery, thyme and onions get readied to be added to the pan. She turns the meat over to brown the second side. Then she chops (A LOT) of garlic, but she doesn’t remove the center stem. >:-(

Anne adds a bit of new oil to the pan and adds the sliced celery and onions with a bit of salt. (Usually, you add salt to release moisture from the vegetables. You often want them soft before you start browning, so you get the maximum sweetness out of them. Here, however, we're not concerned with getting them completely soft before they start to brown.)

Next Anne adds garlic and her ”super-secret flavor weapons” - bay leaves, star anise, red wine vinegar (instead of wine) and tomato paste. She likes the brightness that the vinegar adds to the taste of the pot roast. Then she adds orange zest. Oh, don’t forget the thyme bundle.

She adds chicken stock and salt, which “makes everybody taste better”. Don’t you just love her Anne-isms? She brings the entire thing to the boil and then adds back in the meat. The whole thing goes into a 350°F. oven. After one hour, she’ll turn it over and will add more liquid if she has to.

Anne also is going to add butternut squash and Jerusalem artichokes AND dried figs. (I have certainly added prunes, but never figs OR Jerusalem artichokes) Oh, Anne just said you can add prunes instead of the figs.

To go with the pot roast, Anne boils up Yukon gold potatoes (unpeeled) with peeled and chopped parsnips in “super salty water”.

After the pot roast has been cooking for 2 hours, Anne takes it out of the liquid for second and does some “QC” or quality control and tastes the liquid for seasoning. She loves it. She stirs in the squash, Jerusalem artichokes and figs, adds a bit more liquid and puts the meat back on top. It goes back in for 45 minutes more – 30 with the lid on, 15 with the lid off.

She drains the potatoes and parsnips and tests them with a FORK, not a paring knife, she reminds us. (I had never heard that before she mentioned it another time.)

Anne loves the creamy texture of the Yukon gold’s and because she’s putting them through a food mill, it was fine to leave the skins on. Smart. She singsongs, “We say thank YOU for coming” to all the fibers and skin left in the food mill. She stirs heavy cream into the puréed vegetables with cold butter. She keeps them warm in a pot in a 200°F. oven.

Anne pours herself some Pinot Noir after she pulls the pot roast out of the oven. She lets the pot roast rest and unties it. She says we don’t want to floss at the same time as we eat.

Now THIS is instructional. Anne tells us why putting a bed of puréed potatoes on the bottom of the plate is so smart. It acts as a glue that keeps the pot roast in place AND it warms up the plate and keeps everything hot. She adds a few pieces of pot roast on top with some of the braising liquid that has the vegetables in it. She tastes it and she’s VERY impressed with herself. She’s a “happy, happy” girl.

You can use Anne’s recipe as a guide for making any kind of braised beef pot roast, stew or Bourguignon. Or you could use lamb, for that matter.

Let’s talk stew. I learned how to make it as Ragoût De Boeuf, which is a general term for beef stew. The steps are almost the same as Anne’s recipe with one exception. A classic beef stew is thickened with flour or a beurre manié.

This is a classic, basic Ragoût De Boeuf recipe:

Start with a chuck roast and cut the meat into 1½ to 2 inch squares. I’m often tempted to cut them smaller to get more pieces, but don’t do that. They’ll fall apart.

Season the meat and, in a Dutch oven, fry in hot oil until browned on both sides. Remove meat to a plate. Turn down heat, add 4 carrots and 2 big onions, medium chopped, with a bit more salt, stirring to pick up the color from the bottom of the pan. (They don’t have to sweat until soft. Just get them started cooking for about 3 minutes.)

If there’s tons of fat in the pan, pour off all but about a good tablespoonful. Off the heat, stir in one tablespoon of flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring all the time. (The vegetables will get clumpy and lumpy from the flour.) Add 2 cups of stock (vegetable, chicken or beef) SLOWLY, stirring to get the lumps out. Add a crushed garlic clove, a tablespoon of tomato paste and a bay leaf. Bring to the boil, taste for seasoning and add the meat back in. Simmer, covered for 1½ to 2 hours in a 350°F. oven or on top of the stove. Serve over mashed potatoes.

Variations:

9 times out of time, I skip the flour AND I add more stock and a cup of red wine. The sauce is thinner than the classic ragout, but the liquid is sooo flavorful and delicious, I always want more. Also the stew thickens on standing, so the next day, it’s always thicker anyway. You can certainly make this a day ahead and just reheat before serving.

As far as Boeuf Bourguignon, even Julia says there is more than one way to make one. But her recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a great start (if a bit lengthy). You’ll also need her mushroom recipe and the onion recipe. (I’ll see you in 2 weeks when you’re done. But it will have been worth EVERY second.)

I don’t know who this Jess-person is over at Knopf, but here’s her attempt at Julia’s recipe. Looks good to me. Note that she says the stew really should only cook for 2 hours and not the 2½ or 3 that Julia says. Maybe that’s because our ovens are more powerful, Jess is told.

I like one variation on Boeuf Bourguignon. Instead of adding a bottle of wine to the stew as it cooks, you marinate the meat in it. That way, the chunks of beef are stained a deep burgundy before you even start browning it. Then you add the marinade to the the stew with whatever stock you were going to cook it in. (Marinating liquid is fine to cook with or make a sauce out of, as long as it’s boiled for a good three minutes. Of course, in this dish, it’s cooked for 2 hours, at least.)

So we’ve seen in Anne’s version of pot roast that she adds different vegetables after the meat has been cooking for awhile. There’s no reason that you couldn’t make her recipe as a stew. AND there’s no reason why you couldn’t use a single chuck roast in my ragout recipe and call it pot roast.

That’s when cooking becomes really fun. You learn how to handle the basic ingredients and you can move in lots of different directions. You could make a Greek stew with lamb and lots of oregano, bay leaves and lemon in the sauce. Or you could brown and braise a brisket, just like Anne does with her chuck roast and add carrots, sweet potatoes and prunes and call it Tzimmes. A pot roast cut up (before it’s cooked) is called a stew. A stew cooked in a bottle red wine with bacon and pearl onions is Boeuf Bourguignon.

Whatever you call it and however you make it, browned and braised meat is a wonderful foundation for hearty and delicious dishes in all their infinite variations.

Food Directives From The Ridiculous To The Inane

Frank Bruni, in this Op-Ed piece in yesterday’s New York Times, reports being told one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. He was dining at a New York City restaurant with a pricey, multi-coursed menu.

Bruni was served a specter of different (savory?!!) flavored waters with the waiter suggesting that he “make a memory of them.” You HAVE to be kidding me!

Never mind that Bruni described the drinks as “pond runoff” or that they were served lukewarm, which would make a bad situation even more dire, but the worst thing, it seems to me, is that the kitchen wasted so much time actually coming up with and THEN executing this dumb idea.

Bruni writes about all the crazy ways that food is served and the hoops you have to jump through to eat your meal the way the kitchen advises (commands) you to.

Didn’t this all start with molecular gastronomy with the chef telling diners that they had to eat the CO2 frozen shrimp eyeball BEFORE the Mississippi mud foam? Shouldn’t we worry about food that needs such explicit instructions to be palatable?

The only thing I disagree with Bruni about is THIS (although it is guffaw-inducing):

"Diners at the latest hot bistro or trattoria snap loving pictures of everything they eat, seeming to forget that it’s dinner, not “America’s Next Top Chicken Breast.” In New York, even the meatballs have paparazzi."

I’m a visual learner and, when I’m not reading the culinary literary greats, I personally prefer to read about food that I can see. (Of course, one of those exceptions was reading Frank Bruni’s reviews in the NY Times).

As far as tutelage in the WAY to eat, though, people don't need their hands held as they make their way through a menu.

Actually, the only time I think a diner needs instruction is when he or she is one of those people who has to eat one thing at a time and who segregates each item from its neighbor. They have a conniption if different foods meet on the plate. It doesn't matter that it all meets in the stomach, but on the plate, NEVER! Those are the people who need guidance...but from a different kind of professional, not the ones wearing a chef’s hat.

Hold on, Nellie! I just remembered the cheese sandwiches I ate as a kid. The cheese was never allowed to touch the bread. OMG! I’m one of them! I grew out of that long ago, but what possible reason could I have had for doing that? Maybe I just intrinsically knew that the (individually wrapped) cheese (food slices) would taste better when surrounded by turkey. Who knows?

But, really, are the chefs, who issue strict rules about how their food is to be eaten any different from the sick puppies who have to eat things in a specific order? Aren’t they both exhibiting the same desire to have some control over the often chaotic environment of modern life?

And does a fancy chef explaining WHY, WHEN and HOW you have to eat something make it any easier to bear? I personally have a bit of a rebel streak, so if someone tells me to eat something in a specific order, I’m more than likely to do the exact reverse. AND I would never stand for lukewarm water, from a pond or anywhere else.

The Results Are In!

Amy has won a copy of Simply Fresh. Congratulations, Amy! There are so many great things to make from the book. I’ll be contacting you to make mailing arrangements.

Thank you to all who entered with their comments, emails and tweets.

Simply Fresh Giveaway Ends Tonight

The Classic Burger From Simply Fresh/Andrews McMeel Publishing

California Club Quesadilla From Simply Fresh/Andrews McMeel Publishing

Don’t miss your chance to win this wonderful new cookbook, Simply Fresh by Jeff Morgan, who has worked with Ruby Tuesday  to bring many of their fresh and flavorful recipes to the home cook.

The book is full of easily put-together dishes that will make any meal special. I’ve enjoyed cooking from it and there are plenty of recipes that you’ll want to try. 

Ruby Tuesday’s Classic Burger is included in the book, as well as the California Club Quesadilla and the Chicken Curry that I made (and modified slightly) last week.  

There are 3 ways to enter for a chance to win:

1) Send a comment to this post OR this one, including the words, “Simply Fresh”. (Include your email address, if your name doesn’t link to it.)

2) Send me an email with Simply Fresh Cookbook Giveaway in the subject line to FNMusings@gmail.com.

3) Tweet "Simply Fresh" to me at

http://twitter.com/SueonFood 

Entries accepted until Friday, October 14^th, 11:59 pm eastern time.

Enter as many times as you wish. Each comment, email or tweet counts as one entry. The more times you enter, the greater your chances of winning. Contest open to US residents 18 years old and above.  

This And That

Hot Off The Presses

Paula made her usual energetic appearance on the Today Show this morning. She has a new cookbook, which looks like a good one – Southern Cooking Bible. Paula made (or drawled her way through the making of) 3 luscious-looking cakes – Texas Sheet Cake With Chocolate Fudge Frosting, Coconut Cake, Pecan Praline Cheesecake.

How is it that she makes you feel as if you can’t live without these desserts? And, gosh, I love listening to Paula. Her Southern twang gives me a rush (in a good way) without having to ingest one lousy fat-laden or simple carbohydrate-loaded calorie. I just love her. And I’m not the only one. Maxim has named Paula Deen the sexiest chef on television, beating out Padma AND Giada. Yup!!!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Now THAT’S Customer Service - Steakhouse Renames Itself After Customers

This is cool. All you have to do is to sign this rather lengthy pledge promising to make the New York City Smith and Wollensky your favorite steakhouse and they will name the whole shebang after you…Well, actually, after a different randomly chosen guest each day (between October 3rd and October 31^st). I can’t believe I found out about this so late. The pledge includes just about everything except giving up your first-born, but it’s worth it! They’re changing their big sign in the front AND THE AWNINGS, for goodness sake!

Sign the pledge and make your reservation here.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Entries accepted until Friday, October 14th for my latest Cookbook Giveaway.

Win a copy of the brand new Simply Fresh by Jeff Morgan.

RULES:

Simply Fresh Cookbook Giveaway contest open until Friday, October 14th, 11:59 pm eastern time.

Enter these ways:

1) Send a comment to this post OR this one, including the words, “Simply Fresh”. (Include your email address, if your name doesn’t link to it.)

2) Send me an email with Simply Fresh Cookbook Giveaway in the subject line to FNMusings@gmail.com.

3) Tweet "Simply Fresh" to me at

http://twitter.com/SueonFood 

Enter as many times as you wish. Each comment, email or tweet counts as one entry. The more times you enter, the greater your chances of winning. Contest open to US residents 18 years old and above.  

Reege Visits The Cake Boss And Love Is A Many Splendored Thing, Especially If You’ve Been Married 49 Times

Cake Boss with Buddy Valastro

A Funny Regis & Fifty Weddings 

It’s been a while since I’ve checked in with the Cake Boss. I'm sure he’s still going strong. The intro for his show is now Buddy and the crew in an abbreviated production number of “Sugar, Sugar”.  Even Mama gets into the act. Gosh, I hope he still bakes for a living.

His first client consult is with Maria, the Korean Bride. She’s been married 49 times in 49 states and she wants Buddy to make a cake for her last wedding in New York. AND she’s never married the same person twice. Buddy is incredulous. And when she explains it’s “an art project”, he’s even more confused. It’s not just you, Buddy!

Maria says people get divorced too easily. Oh, THAT explains it! She gets married a lot and divorced a lot to make the point that it’s terrible to get married a lot and divorced a lot. She’s obviously a loon and if Buddy takes on this project, he’s kind of one too. He should say, Honey, take a few cannoli for the road and Ciao, baby!

She shows Buddy some pictures and NOW, it ALL makes sense…NOT!!! It even makes less sense. She marries guys in SOME of her weddings. But in others, she marries a tree and the Liberty Bell. Oh, and a horse too. Let’s not think about that wedding night. 

I’d like to see Buddy make a cake that reflects all 50 weddings, but let’s see what he thinks. He puts it well. “What the…Who da…What?

Buddy explains he’s going to do a classic 3 tier wedding cake. (Yeah, that follows...What could be more classic than marrying a horse?) Then he’s going to put figurines of some of her different grooms around the cake. Okay, that’s sort of what I said, but I guess he can’t fit all of them on the cake.

There are a few new young guys in the bakery since I last watched. Is one of them Cousin Ant-knee? I sure hope so. He’s certainly moved up from his cake-delivering days.

We move on to Regis coming to the bakery. He greets all the folks outside AND inside. I notice none of them is getting out of line to say hi. He finds Buddy in the kitchen. With Gelman watching, he tells Buddy he wants to learn to bake a real cake, not just the small stuff. Sister Maddalena gets him set up with a Cake Boss Chef’s jacket. You can have one too.

Buddy whispers to Reege that he wants his help in pranking some of the younger guys in the bakery, including Cousin Ant-Knee. Regis’s eye light up at the idea. (Maybe he’ll whisper to Buddy to include Gelman in the joke.)

They arrange that when Ant-Knee glances at Regis, Regis will say, “Are you looking at me?” Then Buddy will get Ant-Knee with a pie. Reege gets nervous that HE’LL get it in the face. Buddy assures him that’s not the case. I’m worried for Reege. And when he sees Gelman looking particularly happy, he’s really concerned, but he goes along with it. I don’t like pranks. They make me uneasy.

Buddy takes Reege upstairs to show him how to do a traditional buttercream cake. Buddy shows him how to dirty ice a cake and then tells him to do it. Poor Regis can’t even turn the turntable as he’s squeezing out the icing onto the cake. Actually, he can’t even squeeze the icing out. This is looking squirrelly. (And a squirrel would do a MUCH better job.)

Ant-knee comes by and axes what they’re making. Buddy introduces them and Regis goes into his shtick. Ant-knee doesn’t give an inch. He says, “Why are YOU looking at ME?” Then Buddy starts arguing with him and all of sudden Joey comes by and slaps a bunch of icing(?) in Ant-Knee’s face. I don’t think that’s funny. Regis says the whole thing reminds him of a Joe Pesci movie. Okay, the producers have GOT to come up with better routines. Or maybe this is proof of the fact that Buddy and crew come up with them themselves. Kind of dumb. And the worst part is that I think they wasted Reege.

Oh good, they’re not done with him. Regis decorates the cake he iced by piping blue icing around the top edge with a piping bag THAT HAS NO NOZZLE ON IT! Okay, this is getting truly slapstick. A baby could do a better job.

AND he’s getting tons of colored icing on the sleeve of his jacket, which his now good friend, Ant-Knee, points out to him. Buddy says they should bury his cake and build a church over it. Regis says he thought it would be a lot easier.

Buddy is going to make an appearance on Live with Regis and Kelly. Regis wants Buddy to bring a really good cake for the staff. As if there was any other kind…

They get to work on the nut case’s cake. Mauro can’t believe she married the Liberty Bell.  Buddy makes a kind of formal looking white square layered cake with a red design on it that looks like what’s on Chinese takeout boxes. You know…all red and swirly.

For the Regis and Kelly cake, Buddy has Ralph and Juan making Regis and Kelly. What if they look scary?

Hey! I just noticed they’re at this big beautiful new bakery warehouse-type of place. Interesting. A LOT of cannoli are getting fried. Joey’s former fire captain comes to see him at work and wonders if it’s true that he’s really thinking about leaving the FD. He says he can’t work at the bakery AND at the Fire Department. The Captain says he’s got to really think about it. Now Joey is rethinking his whole plan.

Back to the old bakery and Buddy is dealing with the wedding cake. Buddy puts all the bits and pieces on the cake. Next we’re in Times Square where Maria marries (in about 3 seconds) a Deepak Chopra lookalike. I don’t think they meant for him to look like Deepak, he just does. What happens now? Does she get divorced before they cut the cake? I guess not, because Buddy’s just delivering it now.

You know that really could BE Deepak Chopra. Oh, his name is Ram. Ant-knee gets down on his knee and asks if he can be number 51. Apparently not.

Back to the frightening looking Regis and Kelly cake. It’s interesting that they’re making busts, not complete figures. Speaking of busts, Regis later comments on the size of Kelly's (iced) chest. Buddy decorates Kelly’s base with shoes and Reege’s with sports and Irish heritage things.

The bakers arrive at the show and wait in the green room. Danny has come along because he’s crazy for Kelly. He doesn't look particularly alluring. He’s wearing old pants that he made into shorts with scissors. Beautiful and shiny-looking Kelly comes in to say hi and he’s completely star-struck. Danny stands robotically and stares all up and down at her. She says she thinks he likes her outfit. Buddy asks her if they can get a picture of her with Danny. She grabs Danny and smiles for the camera and says that Danny smells like frosting. Someone says he smells like that AND cigarettes too.

Then they introduce Buddy and he’s perfectly at home on live television. They bring out the Regis and Kelly cake. They love it. The shows ends with Regis saying his cake could have been better if only he had had a tip to use. (Isn’t that true of life…without the right tip, nothing works out?)

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Don't forget to enter my latest Cookbook Giveaway. 

Win a copy of the brand new Simply Fresh by Jeff Morgan.

RULES:

Simply Fresh Cookbook Giveaway contest open until Friday, October 14th, 11:59 pm eastern time.

Enter these ways:

1) Send a comment to this post OR this one, including the words, “Simply Fresh”. (Include your email address, if your name doesn’t link to it.)

2) Send me an email with Simply Fresh Cookbook Giveaway in the subject line to FNMusings@gmail.com.

3) Tweet "Simply Fresh" to me at

http://twitter.com/SueonFood 

Enter as many times as you wish. Each comment, email or tweet counts as one entry. The more times you enter, the greater your chances of winning. Contest open to US residents 18 years old and above.  

Chicken Curry - A Different Way And A Cookbook Giveaway

You know how I’m always going on about cooking warm spices in oil before any liquid gets added to the recipe? Well, I tried something different this time which made a very significant difference to the finished dish.

The great folks at Andrews McMeel Publishing sent me a new cookbook, not even out yet, called Simply Fresh by Jeff Morgan. It’s a nice collection of everyday dishes that can be whipped up for dinner with a minimum of fuss. The recipes feature easily found, fresh ingredients, so you mostly need only a quick trip to the supermarket.

The Chicken Curry with Coconut Rice recipe appealed to me. The spices are mixed together and are used to coat the chicken, which is then sautéed. This is instead of the spices being added to the softened onions. It gives the dish a much stronger, more robust and smokier flavor. I liked it.  

(It would have helped if I had read the recipe more carefully. You’re supposed to add a bit of water to make a paste of the spices. I left that out, so I had more of a rub. It makes sense that I would get a smokier flavor, but either way would be good.)

The Chicken Curry recipe from Simply Fresh is here. Morgan adds a whole can of coconut milk to his rice as it’s cooking. I went without that and added some lentils instead. (But sometimes I do stir in a little coconut milk AFTER the rice is cooked. I get away with adding a lot less and I still get that wonderful flavor of coconut.) I added lots more vegetables to the curry and increased the liquid to get more sauce.

I also changed the amounts of the spices. I always add double the cumin to the coriander. Don’t judge me, that’s just my thang.

Chicken Curry with Rice and Lentils (serves 4)

Printable Recipe here

Inspired by Chicken Curry With Coconut Rice from Simply Fresh

2 tsps. curry powder

2 tsps. cumin

1 tsp. coriander

½ tsp. turmeric

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tsp. Kosher salt

3 lbs. of chicken pieces (I used chicken breasts with skin and bone)

2 tbls. olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 carrots, cut into ½ inch pieces

1 sweet potato, cut into medium 1 inch pieces

1 cup plain yogurt (nonfat is fine)

2½ cups vegetable or chicken stock

OR

1 14oz. can chopped tomatoes with juice made up to 2 1/2 cups with stock or water

optional: 2 tbls. cream

Mix together first 6 ingredients in large bowl. 

Add 2 tablespoons of water if you want a paste, or leave as a dry rub. Place chicken in bowl with spices. Rub spice mix all over the chicken. Leave at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Heat oil in large sauté pan. In batches, brown first side of chicken for 3½ minutes over medium heat. Cook second side for 2 minutes. Remove to plate.

  

Add onions and carrots. Cook, covered, over low heat until completely soft. Add sweet potato and stir in yogurt, stock, or tomatoes and stock or water. Bring to a simmer. Stir in the cream, if using. 

Add chicken back in. 

Cover and simmer gently for 35 minutes. (You may need a bit longer if using legs and thighs.) Serve with Rice and Lentils. 

Rice and Lentils

 

2 tsps. olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 cup brown rice

½ cup lentils, rinsed and picked through

3¼ cups stock and/or water

Optional: ½ cup coconut milk

Heat oil in large pot or Dutch oven. Add onion and cook until soft. Stir in rice and lentils and then stock. Bring to boil, cover and turn heat to low. Cook for 45 minutes undisturbed. Stir in coconut milk after rice is cooked, if desired.

Rice can sit for at least 30 minutes before serving. Fluff with fork 10 minutes

after it’s done. Cover until ready to use.

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Cookbook Giveaway

Win a copy of the brand new Simply Fresh by Jeff Morgan.

RULES:

Simply Fresh Cookbook Giveaway contest open until Friday, October 14th, 11:59 pm eastern time.

Enter these ways:

1) Send a comment to this post including the words, “Simply Fresh”. (Include your email address, if your name doesn’t link to it.)

2) Send me an email with Simply Fresh Cookbook Giveaway in the subject line to FNMusings@gmail.com.

3) Tweet "Simply Fresh" to me at

http://twitter.com/SueonFood 

Enter as many times as you wish. Each comment, email or tweet counts as one entry. The more times you enter, the greater your chances of winning. Contest open to US residents 18 years old and above. 

From Recipe Gathering To How We Make Shopping Lists, Steve Jobs Changed Everything

 

I don’t think it’s a strange for a food blogger to be reflecting on Steve Jobs’

accomplishments. Is there anyone on the planet who hasn’t been affected by his gargantuan achievements? I know there are plenty of people who aren’t fortunate enough to be able to hold an Apple device in their hands, but they’ve certainly been touched by a world that’s been Apple-tized.

I can’t help but feel, though, that my 20-something kids will never really understand what Steve Jobs gave to the world, because they don’t remember a world without him and his inventions.

I guess it's the way that people who grew up in the 50's thought of Henry Ford. They had never known a total horse and buggy world. Could they possibly understand the impact that motorized travel had and continues to have to this day? My kids were born before personal computers, but, by their high school years, they were firmly entrenched in a wired and, then, wireless world.

How can anyone under 30 understand the profound change that computers and all the subsequent smart phones and tablets have made on human history? The world is a much smaller place now. Just within normal family life, being able to stay in touch has changed things for better…and worse.

When I studied overseas in college, I wrote a few letters a month to my family and talked to them on the phone maybe twice. These days, I don’t like to go an HOUR without reaching out to my kids. And thanks to Steve Jobs and his computer cronies, there are multiple ways to do that. (I said I don't LIKE to, that doesn't mean I actually do…not that I’m not tempted.)

Don’t those of us over 30 and 40 and, definitely 50 and 60, understand, so much more, what his mark on the world meant because we lived half our lives without his devices? It used to take me more time to TYPE a paper than it took to actually write it.

But maybe I have it all wrong. Those kids weeping on YouTube are feeling the loss of Steve Jobs just as much as I am. In fact, maybe they’ll miss him even more just BECAUSE they've never had a world without computers. They’ve never lived without an ingenious new invention from Steve Jobs every couple of years.

I find it fascinating to read that he never used focus groups. Somehow he knew what we wanted, before WE could even think of it, whether it involved music, or retail environments or carry-along internet access. That’s what the kids…and all of us will miss.

I heard it said last night that within every computer are bits and pieces of Steve Jobs' genius. But that’s not the only place. His genius also resides in how we do so many things now on the way to accomplishing our own goals. In so many ways, his achievements have made ours possible, and, at any age, we all have reason to thank him.

I’m not sure why, but I really wanted to read about his life, not on one of his devices, but in a newspaper - the very thing that he will have had a hand in making obsolete (in its current form). I know that’s not how my kids will read about him. But I’ll remember Steve Jobs as a bridge to the future. The paper that I hold in my hand is changing day to day as a result of his innovations. Sometimes, though, the old ways make you fully appreciate the new. 

A (Short) Trip With Giada

Giada at Home with Giada De Laurentiis

Have food will travel

Smoked Salmon, Arugula and Goat Cheese Tart

Cold Cauliflower Soup with Bacon and Croutons

Pirate Pasta

The description of this episode had me a bit confused. “Inexpensive dishes to bring along on vacation,” said the TiVo guide. Nothing says relaxing vacation like lugging along a bunch of cheap food that I’ve labored over at home. Not!

I don’t even know what it means to bring dishes on vacation. Ingredients, maybe, so you can whip something up. Also, unless you’re in a house, where are you going to store the food? And if you ARE in a house, why can’t you make whatever it is when you get there?

Before I go too crazy, let’s see what Giada has in mind. Apparently, she's going to Newport for the weekend with Jade and Todd. Does she mean Newport, RHODE ISLAND? Isn’t that kind of far to be bringing food?

Maybe she’s talking about Newport BEACH in the OC. (I know people who live there never call it the OC, but I like to pay homage to that fine television drama.) I suppose any time away from home is a vacation, but I think it’s a bit of stretch to be calling a 45 minute trip down the 405 a vacay. (Yeah, I know, they could take the 5 too.)

Anyway, Giada tells us that she’s making “delicious food that will make vacation even better”. I admit I’m definitely a proponent of the go-out-to-dinner school when I’m on a vacation. One night in is okay if you’re dealing with shut-ins or small children. Other than that, let’s go out!

But this is a cooking show and I get that they need different scenarios. (There was one shot of Giada in the opening sequence that showed truly eye-popping cleavage. That could be considered a 5 second vacation for most men. I guess if you’ve got it, flash it.)

Giada starts with a tart that can be served at room temperature and travels well (all the way to the OC from LA). She adds almond and all-purpose flour to the food processor with lots of fresh herbs. That’s different. Then she adds cold, chopped butter and ice water to finish the pastry. (Giada’s eye makeup is gorgeous and matches her top perfectly.)

Giada wraps her finished dough in plastic wrap and chills it for 20 minutes to make it easier to roll out. Two things here: Unless I’m making pate sucrée, which is basically a sugar cookie type of crust, I never make an all-butter dough. I know many think Crisco is awful, but I find it makes the pastry “shorter” or flakier. (You can always use lard instead.) All-butter crusts can also be really difficult to work with. If they’re not chilled, they’re a gluey mess and if they’re TOO chilled, you need a sledge hammer to flatten them out.

Whatever fats go into it, I have an unorthodox way of dealing with pastry. I don’t chill it before rolling it out. I take the finished dough and place it between two sheets of plastic wrap. I roll it out and if it’s not incredibly soft, I line the pie pan with it and then chill THAT. If it IS very soft, I'll chill the rolled out sheets of pastry for a bit before lining the pie pan. And it’s not a bad idea to chill the LINED pie dish for a few minutes, no matter what method you use. (My shortcrust pastry recipe is at the end of this post for your perusal.)

After Giada’s dough has chilled for 20 minutes, she rolls it out with quite a lot of flour. (I don’t need to use flour with the plastic wrap method…usually.) Her dough looks really thick and not nicely finished around the top edge. What’s going on? She’s not taking a lot of trouble with this. She bakes it blind (or unfilled) at 350°F for 12 to 14 minutes. How about baking beans or pie weights? She does prick the crust before baking, but weighing it down with weights or beans is extra insurance against puffing up.

For the filling, Giada sautés chopped leeks in olive oil. She adds 6 cups of arugula with some salt and cooks it until it’s wilted. (Giada sounds like she has a cold…maybe that’s why she didn’t bother with the crust.) She adds the leeks and arugula to the cooked pie shell and then some chopped, smoked salmon, goat cheese and 6 beaten eggs. Hmm. No milk or cream? I guess there’s enough goat cheese in there and so many eggs that it’s unnecessary. She bakes the filled tart shell for 40 minutes at 350°F.

Next Giada is making a cold cauliflower soup, which she loves for road trips. Now I’m really confused. If she’s in LA, isn’t Newport Beach only about 45 miles away?

I know the usual hour trip could take double the time with traffic, but I’m still not getting why it’s necessary to bring supplies as in a sturdy tart or a soup that will hold. That would be like going from Greenwich Village to Darien, Connecticut. A candy bar would suffice, wouldn’t it?

For the soup, Giada cooks shallot and garlic with celery. Giada tells us (very enthusiastically) that thyme goes into the soup and on the croutons. She cuts the cauliflower off the stalk and adds it in. She pours over chicken stock to cover all the vegetables well. She says to cook the mixture until the veggies are completely soft, so the soup can be easily puréed.

This is odd. Giada says Todd eats chips or popcorn on road trips and she eats croutons. (I eat skinny pretzel sticks. I suck all the salt off…oh, you probably don’t want to hear about this.) Giada cuts up bread for the croutons, but who’s packing for their trip, while she’s hacking away at the bread? She puts the bread on a baking sheet and drizzles the cubes with olive oil, salt and the thyme she was excited about. She also arranges bacon on a baking sheet and sticks it in the oven with the croutons at 400°F.

Giada purées the soup with an immersion blender. I like those a lot more now than I used to, especially since I don’t have a blender that I love.

Next up is Pirate Pasta. I’m guessing they’re not a let’s-leave-­at-4-am-type-of-family or Giada would have had to pull an all-nighter to get this ready.

She says she’s starting with a PIN KNEE. What? Oh, Penne. Okay. Giada cooks it for 8 to 10 minutes. Her grandma used to make this dish for her mother and her sisters when they went on road trips. Granny made up an elaborate story about how this was what pirates ate on their boats.

I guess this heavy-duty cooking before you go away is an Italian thing. I don’t want to dis a cultural tradition, but it seems a bit outmoded to me. (Listen, I like soup with bacon and croutons as much as the next person, but it seems a little weird if we’re just going up the road.)

Giada cooks mushrooms in olive oil with whole garlic cloves. (I would halve the garlic…and take out the middle stalk.). The best part about this is that Todd isn’t standing there yelling at her to get a move on. No road trip in my house is complete without that.

Giada adds Italian tuna. I did NOT see that coming. That’s a bit of a surprise. Italian canned tuna is awesome. It’s about as similar to canned white tuna in water as Kona coffee is to Sanka.

G adds green olives, tomato paste and red pepper flakes. She scoops out the cooked pasta from its pot and adds it to the pan. She sprinkles over basil and pecorino at the end.

Ahhh, they’ve arrived at their destination. We see a shot of Giada, Todd and Jade at Pelican Hill on a gorgeous outdoor patio with huge columns and high-end patio furniture. They’re surrounded by a huge green lawn. Maybe they’re in a bungalow.

NOW they’re at the beach with a huge bowl of pasta. They’re all eating out of the same bowl. I don’t mind if they share a bowl, but I wish they would serve themselves a portion and then eat out of THAT bowl, so they don’t scuzz up the entire pasta salad. Giada is being a lovely, darling mother and encouraging little Jade to eat all the little “treasures” in the pasta salad. (It’s not my experience that kids view green olives as treasures, but maybe it’s a DeLaurentiis thing.) Jade appears to agree with me as they cut away from that scene just as she’s getting antsy.

Next they’re at a lovely table, in lovely outfits, and Giada has served the cauliflower soup. I don’t get this. Are you really going to bring Tupperware to a fancy-schmancy resort and eat only what you brought with you?

In the end, I was right to query the premise of this show. It made absolutely

no sense. The recipes were fine, the scenery was striking, but they did not belong together on the same show.

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This is my standard shortcrust recipe. It will easily line a 9 inch pie shell. Be my guest and add lots of herbs to it like Giada did. Process them with the flour before you add the fat and water.

Shortcrust Pastry

Printable recipe here

6 oz. or 1 1/2 cups flour

3 oz. or 6 tbls. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 oz. or 2 tbls. shortening (Crisco…or lard, if you dare)

ice cold water

Place flour in food processor with steel blade. Pulse once. Add butter and shortening. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse (very coarse) oatmeal. Add ice cold water a tablespoon at a time. You’ll need between 2 and 3 tablespoons. Process just until dough comes together. Remove from processor. Knead just a few times until the dough is smooth. Form into a ball. Flatten it slightly.