Food Network Musings

Paula Keeps Coming Up

2012-02-02T14:42:00.000-05:00

The entire Fat Chef concept would have been a far better path for Paula to take than the one she did. If she had carried us along on her journey to health and wellness, her countless fans would have cheered and encouraged her.

Wouldn't everyone have watched a reality show about Paula NOT using a stick of butter on a slice of toast or training to enter a 3K race? (Is there such a thing?) But she’s been made so defensive by the reaction to her news, and especially her Big Pharma contract, that who knows what her next steps will be. Should she just keep on keeping on? That’s probably not the greatest option. She couldn’t even eat a hamburger on her recent fan cruise without being pilloried. It IS hard to watch the “old” Paula knowing that the inevitable shoe has dropped.

Bravo’s Andy Cohen, now that he has a nightly “Watch What Happens Live” show to fill up every night, is found of asking the food pro’s (often from Top Chef) what they think of the whole Paula issue. Gail Simmons had this to say. Last night, Tom Colicchio said he was far more disturbed by her connection to Smithfield Ham than he was by the drug company contract. He suggested we all read a 2006 article from Rolling Stone, “Bosshog”, about the questionable practices of the Smithfield company. The article is only available to subscribers of Rolling Stone in their archives, but here’s a wrapup.

The Smithfield company was also featured in a Pulitzer prize-winning article in 2000 for National Reporting as part of the New York Times series, How Race Is Lived In America. The article, “At a Slaughterhouse, Some Things Never Die” is pretty heavy stuff and one would hope that a decade has brought changes to the way both the workers AND the animals are treated.

BTW, this was the Smithfield company’s response to the Rolling Stone article. AND I suppose Paula could criticize Tom for selling Diet Coke. Here are some other surprising endorsements by famous chefs. (I had no idea about the Rick Bayless one.)

“Fat Chef” Presumes That Chefs Have It Harder When Trying To Lose Weight

2012-02-02T13:29:00.006-05:00

I’m not so sure….

The new show Fat Chef, on the Food Network, begins with the premise that overweight chefs are cursed. Apparently being around food all day is just too much. I’ve got news for them. EVERYONE is around food too much and it has nothing to do with being a chef. They are probably the same food addicts that the rest of us are. (Hold on...lemme get another handful of nuts.)

Office workers or window washers have the same problem. I was among my skinniest EVER in cooking school, because I was so sick of eating a full-on three course meal (that I had cooked) every single day. I totally learned the difference between TASTING and EATING. I’m not mitigating the problems that are caused by being in a professional kitchen, but I’m just saying there could be a show called Fat Water Heater Mechanics or Fat Lighting Specialists, but I’m guessing the Food Network wouldn’t be the one airing it.

Anyway back to the fat chefs…there are some really unattractive shots of this large chef - shirtless, eating and stirring something really fatty – gravy? chocolate? I guess it’s a bad sign when you can’t tell which is which.

I already know the end of the story though, because I saw Chef Mignano on Nightline last week. He is such a nice lovely guy and he revealed that after strenuously dieting and exercising, he had lost 100 pounds. (He still has a hundred or two to go.) BUT he is no longer diabetic AND he has eliminated his need for medication - just through diet and exercise. Way to go! I was happy that I had seen this story before I watched Fat Chef. I love to know endings in advance. Then I don’t worry the whole time that he’s going to drop dead of a heart attack.

Back to the actual show…They’re going to follow 2 people each week “who work in the food industry” and watch as they attempt to lose 25% of their body weight.

Am I completely off base here? I really feel professional chefs have an advantage over other people in preparing food in a healthy way. THEY KNOW HOW TO COOK! They know how to make food taste good - WITH or WITHOUT fat, sugar and tons of extra calories.

Where’s the first place that “experts” go when they’re making over a family’s bad eating habits? The kitchen! They try to teach people how to cook real food and get away from junk. Well…the chef already knows that. I’m sorry, I don’t feel extra sorry for people surrounded by food who are trying to lose weight. EVERYBODY EVERYWHERE in this country is surrounded by food. (Why are my pretzel chips so stale?!!)

The chef I saw on Nightline, Long Island pastry chef Michael Mignano, is the first ~~victim~~…subject.

Mignano says he snacks on what he bakes all day long and he doesn’t have time to sit down and eat a proper meal and he has a long drive home. Boo hoo. Then he stops at McDonald’s after work and stuffs his face. Does this really take a rocket scientist? Just stop eating junk and eat 3 meals a day??? IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING A PASATRY CHEF! (Hold on, my pizza and wings are here.) Accountants (and bloggers) do the same thing. Stop blaming your profession. Oy, this is annoying. He lists all the things that are wrong with him at 36 - diabetes, sleep apnea, asthma.

At the same time we also visit with Melba Wilson, famous Harlem chef. (Sylvia Woods is her aunt.) WOW, that’s cool.

Both these chefs work so hard. They certainly don’t lack for energy and get-up-and-go. Melba’s problem, she says, is not tasting all day but packing in tons of food when she gets home at midnight each night.

We learn that Michael is 509 pounds. (I’ll be right back after I’ve gone out for a run.) Some trainer guy, Robert Brace, is his savior. He makes a plan for him. He wants him to lose 127 lbs. in 16 weeks. This is what he has to do:

Diet: 2500 calories/day

Prep meals in advance

Every four hours eat a balanced meal of leafy greens, lean protein, eggs or fruit.

Okay, that’s basically what everyone should be doing...with a reduction in calories, perhaps. Oh, and he has to exercise 6 days a week. AND he’ll have his assistant taste his desserts.

Maybe I was wrong about this show. Maybe a picture Michael on MY fridge is just what I need to get serious. Poor guy, he seems so sweet and nice.

Melba learns from HER trainer, Christine Avanti, that she should:

Eat 1500 calories/day

Eat, small, frequent meals to stabilize blood sugar

Exercise 6 days week

Keep tastings at work to a minimum.

Michael has been on his plan for 2 weeks. The biggest change is that he’s not as bloated anymore and his shoes are really loose. He uses 25 pound bags of flour to exercise with. I’m not getting the feeling that this is all that hard for him. He just needed a reality television show to come knocking to give him a reason to lose weight. He lost THIRTY pounds in a week and a half.

Oh wait, this is getting weird. Michael’s wife Destiny tattles on him when he cheats a couple of times. (I’m REALLY not trying to be mean, but Destiny could be on a plan too. Instead, she seems to be super judge-y of Michael when he lapses.) Oh gosh, a commercial for $2 mini parfaits from Baskin-Robbins. I wonder if they’re still open. I’ll be right back.

Melba is also having a hard time. She skips a workout appointment with her trainer and goes to an event where she eats lots of desserts. I’m still not getting what being a chef has to do with this. I’ve never seen Biggest Loser, but I’m supposing that this is what it is.

Michael’s mom (also in need of some intervention) comes into his bakery and says she wants to see for herself how much weight he’s lost. That seems so controlling. He steps on a scale that just happens to be there. He’s lost almost 50 pounds. Then she cries at how happy she is for his success. I’m sorry, but these women in his life bug me. They certainly don’t have 300 plus pounds to lose, but they should not be casting the first stone…if you get my drift.

Melba, meanwhile, is not doing well. At week 6, she’s lost less than 7 pounds, instead of the 25 she should have if she’d followed the plan. (At least she didn't GAIN weight.) Melba is not that interested in losing weight because it’s so hard. Does she NOT notice the television cameras in her FACE (and worse)? For that reason alone, one would think she should step up. AND, when asked, she says she hasn’t done one iota of exercise in the last week. I guess we’re seeing the one step forward and two steps back kind of thing that often happens on the path to any hard-fought goal. We learn she’s “self-sabotaging”. Thank goodness we have a scientific word to explain her behavior.

The next commercial features a kind of beefy guy talking about The Food Network’s South Beach Food And Wine Festival. Who is Jeff Mauro? Oh, he was a finalist on the Next Food Network Star.

Michael goes to see his doctors and even THEY buy the whole excuse of his profession. He’s lost 65 pounds, his blood pressure is down and, as I gave away already, he is diabetes-free. Awesome. I like him.

Meanwhile, Melba is still not doing well. (This is taking place over Thanksgiving, which is her busiest time.) Christine doesn’t get her and her monster work schedule and Melba is fed up.

Michael is mad because he throws out his back as he’s increasing his workouts. He gains a few pounds, but he stays on track.

Melba says she wants to beat this on her own and she wants to get rid of Christine. She’s being so difficult. It doesn’t take a genius to see where that’s going to go. Nowhere good.

Melba is actually arguing with US about how little weight she’s lost. And now she’s surprised that she hasn’t lost weight without Christine. REALLY? She calls Christine back to help her. She says she was wrong. Christine says she MUST work out 2 hours a day. She does and she finally starts eating sensibly. (I’ll see you in a sec. I gotta get on my exercise bike...but my Totino’s are ready…)

Michael beats his kids in a race. Good for him. Then THEY (the kids) make him weigh himself. I’m uncomfortable with that. Leave him alone. But I guess whatever he’s doing is the right thing.

Melba say 16 weeks ago she was 300 pounds and now she’s…darn they’re not saying, she plays with her son more…and, SO, how much did she lose????? Another commercial for more Baskin and Robbin’s stuff. (I’m glad I bought the six-pack for the freezer.)

Final weigh-in. Melba comes out and thanks a bunch of people and Christine too. Truth be told, Christine is kind of a witch. Melba finally gets on the scale and she’s lost…33 pounds. They cheer because she weighs 267. She says, “I don’t want to say I’m there yet.” Ya think? Now I’m just being mean.

Michael started at 509 pounds. At his final weigh-in, we hear about all his problems at the start and everything he did to lose weight and get healthier. Yada, yada, yada, hurry up. There’s his wife and mother (neither one thinner, by the way), kids and employees and he gives a really long speech and HOW MUCH DID HE LOSE??? He thanks Robert, whom I like. He now weighs 409.8. He lost 100 pounds. Wow, that’s impressive.

COULD Michael have lost weight without Fat Chef? Maybe, but why should he? This way, he got professional support and his business got tons of exposure. I’m not sure I need to watch this show again, because I believe everyone has food issues, not just chefs.

What I learned specifically about chefs from this show isn’t how difficult their environment makes it for them to lose weight, but how incredibly hard they work. So many people are sitting all day which is a huge hindrance to losing weight. These chefs are standing, running, DOING all day long, which has to be a great complement to cutting calories and formalizing exercise sessions.

Anne Had Me At Kale Chips, But A Different Recipe Stood Out Plus Other Things To Consider Including One-Sided Fish Cooking

2012-01-28T14:15:00.012-05:00

Secrets of a Restaurant Chef with Anne Burrell

Israeli Couscous with Celery, Scallions and Cranberries

Crispy Tuscan Kale

Seared Cod with Blood Orange Glaze

Blood Orange and Red Onion Salad

No excuses for being away, just enjoying things and I wanted to get these pictures right…Weren’t we talking about kale recently? I was so sure that this kale recipe of Anne’s was going to be the star of this show, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Seared cod does not sound that exciting, but Anne added a blood orange glaze, which completely livened it up.

Anne cuts the cod into 6 oz. portions and puts it on a baking tray. She says you can use haddock too, which is also “mild and delightful”. She covers the fish loosely and puts it back in the fridge to dry out. (That’s also a good idea for a whole chicken or chicken pieces with the skin. Season them, put them in whatever dish you’re cooking them in and then back in the fridge, uncovered, for about 4 hours. The skin will dry out and come out crisper after roasting. Folks do that with turkeys too. I don't want my raw turkey butting up against other stuff in the fridge, but a chicken is easier to control.)

Anne takes Tuscan kale out of the fridge and says it seems to be all the rage and she’s noticing it everywhere she goes. Me too! She cuts off the tough stems at the bottom and preheats the oven to 250°F. She coats the kale with olive oil, salt and chili peppers and places it in one layer on a baking tray. The kale gets baked for 30 to 35 minutes.

For the couscous salad, Anne cooks the couscous in super salty water and flavors it with a garlic clove and big slices of blood orange zest. One secret she gives us from the restaurant is to use everything around the kitchen to flavor things. A bay leaf goes in too with the smashed garlic clove. Anne cooks the couscous in a big pot of salted water and then she’ll drain it. That makes sense because couscous is actually a type of pasta, but I don't cook mine that way.

I just think that if I don't have to waste the time and energy bringing a big pot of water to the boil, why should I? Plus the directions on the container say to cook it in a smaller amount of water and not drain it, so I go with that. The only benefit I can think of for using more water is that the couscous comes out as more separate grains and is perhaps more suitable for a salad. But Israeli (or pearled) couscous can be cooked either way.

Anne supremes blood oranges and grapefruits for the Blood Orange and Red Onion Salad during a break, which is simply to cut the sections of citrus fruits away from the pith and membranes.

She chops one really hot bird’s eye chili to add to the citrus with some red onions. She says the kale chips smell delicious.

Dried cranberries, sliced scallions, celery and garlic get marinated in white wine vinegar for the couscous dish.

Earlier, Anne talks about the celery almost being like a ceviche and getting “cooked” in vinegar. That’s so interesting. I’m totally in love with shallots in white wine vinegar, which become “pickled shallots”, so I guess this might be similar. I’m not as big a fan of celery as Anne is, though. I like the crunch, but I don’t love it when it’s bitter.

Now it’s “cod time”. Anne gets her oil smoking hot and she seasons the cod with Kosher salt. Incidentally, Anne lists her three favorite pieces of kitchen equipment. Guess what they are. I’ll give you a moment…

Fish spatula
Wooden spoon
Food Mill

I love all those things, but they’re not my top three. Mine are:

A Microplaner
A Chef’s Knife
Every single one of my Strainers and Colanders. (I have ten and I use each one for something different. It’s funny that a friend was recently talking about downsizing and I was thinking about how thrilled I was to be able to have a different strainer for each and every job. And I’m not even including my slotted and strainer spoons!)

Anne adds the cod to the oil and does not move it. She says it will unstick itself when it’s cooked.

Anne drains the couscous and takes out the bay leaves and orange zest and adds it to the celery mixture. She adds her “big fat finishing oil” to the couscous and to the citrus salad too.

Anne is moving a mile a minute now to get everything done. She takes out the kale chips and crunches down on one piece. Loverly.

I like that Anne kept the kale in big pieces, so they come out of the oven as these big bouquets of crispy greens on stems that you eat like cotton candy. The hard part is getting the flavoring (vinegar, salt) on. She makes a valiant attempt to season it before cooking by tossing them in a big bowl.

The problem with fresh kale is that the leaves are virtually waterproof. It’s like trying to season something wrapped in plastic. Dry stuff just bounces off and wet things run off. So Anne does the best she can, and presumably the kale holds on to enough of the ingredients to actually flavor it.

Anne puts the cod on a rack over a baking pan and finishes the cooking in a low and slow oven. Here's something noteworthy - Anne only cooks one side of the fish in the sauté pan. She gets the bottom nice and browned and then places it, cooked side up (the side you'll see), on the rack.

When you're broiling or sautéing fish, you really only have to do one side. You're only cooking the fish to get it warm, perhaps brown it for its looks and change the texture. It doesn't really matter if both sides hit the heat. (Even with chicken, I concentrate on getting really good color on one side and then I may let things slide a bit on the second, as long as it's cooked through.)

She gets rid of the oil in the fish pan and adds some blood orange juice and chopped blood orange supremes.

She adds parsley to the couscous salad. I’m getting a little lost about which dish is which.

But, wait, I have a problem with her cutting up the blood orange supremes. Why would you go to all the trouble of cutting away their pith and peel to reveal their singular segmented shape only to chop them up and boil them away? No, add the juice to the sauce, but use the supremes as a garnish, where you can see AND taste their beauty.

Anne adds vinegar and sugar to the blood orange reduction. Oh, that’s in the wiped-out fish pan and that will go over the fish at the end. The fish comes out of the oven and Anne plates it with the couscous salad. The dried cranberries are “a lovely punctuation”. She likes the champagne vinegar in the salad. As Anne tastes everything, she says it’s all ”happy stuff”. I love the blood orange glaze. It makes her taste buds “want to dance”. Mine too.

This was an absolutely delightful fish dish and you can lighten it up even more by poaching the fish in some water and wine, instead of sautéing it. It’s all about the blood orange glaze. Don’t have any blood oranges? Use navels and ruby red grapefruit, either together or singly. Or use divine clementines, which make delicious juice and an even more delicious sauce.

I also liked the couscous salad - as a base for the fish...AND on its own.

Paula Pays The Piper…I Guess

2012-01-17T23:08:00.007-05:00

Oy, this is really bad news that Paula Deen has Type 2 diabetes. But if you watch her video message on the Diabetes In a New Light site, you wouldn't know that. In fact, she almost makes it seem (with the soft lighting and sappy music) that life is better WITH diabetes.

In the video, Paula never mentions, of course, what can happen if diabetes is not managed properly. It is a really scary disease that’s not that easy to understand. It affects a whole host of different systems in the body. The reality is that a diagnosis of diabetes is, at the very least, life altering, and can be life threatening or, even, life ending.

I would imagine, though, that it’s not that helpful to terrify people with all the possible horrible outcomes when they’re first diagnosed…or even later. People have to feel they have some control over the disease and that it can be treated or even reversed.

I know that Paula and her boys’ appearance on The Today Show this morning to announce the news was only the first step. But I would have liked a more proactive approach - as in…THIS is what you can do NOW to limit your risk or to live a healthier life with diabetes.

For example, there are plenty of well-known studies that report that eating a cup of beans a day can reduce a diabetic’s need for insulin. And exercise is a huge component of anyone’s healthy lifestyle, but it’s especially important for diabetics. Paula did mention exercise and said she goes on walks with her husband now. But if you’ve seen the adorable Michael, you’ll know that he’s not exactly breaking any speed or endurance records.

It’s so hard. I have such ambivalent feelings about all this. On the one hand, I want my old happy-go-lucky Paula back, who has no real-world cares as she flings butter and cream around with abandon and deep fries anything that doesn’t get her first. But on the other hand, Paula has a huge opportunity to use her massive marketing machine to show us that if SHE can change the way she eats, ANYONE can.

I’m nervous that in her zeal not to undo her life’s work of over the top, super-fatty and sweet (and super-delicious) recipes, Paula is going to be super-careful not to diss her cooking of the past. And thus, on television anyway, it’s going to be difficult for her to change her style of cooking too radically or say anything much more than moderation is the key. Wouldn’t it be amazing if she became Clinton-fit and a vegan…and reversed her need for the drug from Novo Nordisk for whom she’s a paid spokesperson?

Of course, that’s probably not the way most people react to news of diabetes either and Paula is no one, if not every ~~man~~ woman. Changing food habits and editing out all the good (as in bad for you) stuff we eat is hard.

I love Paula. I don’t want people talking smack about her. I’m worried for her. I love her zest for life and I don’t want that to end anytime soon. But there is an ick factor to all this. We can’t pretend that diet isn’t a huge part of why so many people are getting Type 2 diabetes.

Paula has gotten real with the public before. Remember when she wrote her autobiography and Larry King asked her really idiotic questions? She was open about the tough times in her life, about her agoraphobia and the different mistakes she had made. Couldn’t this health situation have been an opportunity for her to say, “I have to change things in order to be around for the family I love. Those recipes were then. THIS is now and I want to share a new way of cooking and eating with you.”?

The argument that she always pushed moderation is really a nonstarter. Did ANYONE get that from any of her shows? But the truth is also that I never watched Paula to get a blueprint of how to cook or what to eat. I watched her to hear her laugh and to see the twinkle in her eyes when her boys were near.

We shouldn’t forget that she has had 3 years to get used to the idea of diabetes and I actually hope that in her own private life she ISN’T reacting the way she’s trying to make it appear. I hope she HAS been scared by the diagnosis and is working hard to get healthier. Hope, laughter, optimism and love are all powerful drugs, but they don’t replace careful eating and vigorous exercise.

On The Night Of The New Hampshire Primary, I Vote For Kale

2012-01-10T23:52:00.005-05:00

Giada at Home with Giada DeLaurentiis

Power Boost

Baked Halibut with Arugula Salsa Verde

Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

Turkey, Kale and Brown Rice Soup

Rise and Shine Juice

I LOVED Giada's kale and mashed potatoes a little while back, but I’ll get to that in a second…Today Giada is cooking healthy. We see her in some gorgeous paradise (her backyard?) doing yoga in a small group with a teacher. Back in the kitchen, Giada’s making her “Rise and Shine Juice”. She grabs a bag of baby spinach from the fridge.

I’ve mostly given up on bagged greens. They don’t taste that great to me and they get slimy really quickly. Now I buy lettuce and spinach in those plastic box containers. You would think that it’s more expensive, but there’s no waste. Why don’t I buy regular lettuce? Occasionally I do, but after washing and trimming and coring, I don’t think it’s that much cheaper and the stuff in boxes lasts longer.

Anyway, Giada juices one bag of spinach, 2 stalks of celery (I detest celery juice), 2 carrots (which I don’t like without apples)…and, oh, wait, 2 apples. Okay, this is looking up. She adds Gala apples, half a lemon and a piece of ginger. I’m happy about that, because I always add ginger to my all-time favorite juice, which admittedly isn’t as healthy as one with greens. It’s 2 Granny Smith apples (or use Gala, whatever), 2 carrots, 1 (or 2) thick slices of ginger and 1 raw beet. SO GOOD!!! You can leave out the beet and it’s still good, but it doesn’t have that amazing magenta color.

Giada pours her juice over ice. She pretends to really like it.

Next up is a turkey, kale and brown rice soup. When I made Giada’s kale with mashed potatoes recipe, it was the first time that I had sautéed kale without blanching it first, which is certainly a healthier way to go. The worst part about kale is that it overtakes your cutting board like kudzu taking over Georgia, but it does cook down so much that you have to start with a lot. The last time I cooked it, I sautéed the kale as in Giada’s recipe and then I added cubed, cooked sweet potatoes and some raisins. It was really good with a brown rice pilaf.

Back to the soup, Giada chops shallots (a lot of shallots) and sautés them with chopped carrots and red pepper and then one pound of ground white meat turkey.

Next she strips the kale leaves off the stem and roughly chops them and adds them to the pan with a can of diced tomatoes, a tablespoon of herbes de Provence (ick), 1 cup of cooked brown rice and 4 cups of low sodium chicken broth, Giada simmers it for 15 minutes. Lastly, she adds lots of chopped parsley and a ¼ cup of Parmesan. “Light, but hearty,” she pronounces.

Now we see Giada in a gorgeous garden with a small but beautiful raised bed of herbs. She’s picking thyme for her frozen blueberry yogurt. She mixes 2 sprigs of thyme with a ¼ cup of blueberries, 2 tablespoons water and a tablespoon of honey in a small saucepan to make a syrup. Giada mashes the blueberries with a potato masher (a fork would work just as well) and brings it to the boil and then lets it sit.

Giada adds more blueberries to a food processor with 1/3 cup honey and 1/4 cup agave nectar. She says agave is great because it’s a sweetener, but it’s “a natural sweetener”. But isn’t that (combined with the honey) kind of a lot of sweetener, no matter what kind she’s using?

Giada adds a few tablespoons of lemon juice to the blueberries in the processor. She adds 2% Greek yogurt to the processor. She removes the thyme and pours the (still hot!!!) blueberry syrup into the yogurt and processes it. She freezes it in a glass container for several hours. “Plastic makes it too icy.” I’m not sure what that means.

The next scene is adorable Jade eating the frozen yogurt out of an ice cream cone, while Giada coaches her on how to lick it. (I’m simply narrating the events, not commenting on them…well, not that one, anyway.)

The last dish is a quick fish dish. Giada chops chives and parsley and adds lemon zest. That will go on top of the fish. She puts 4 pieces of center cut halibut on a baking sheet with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. She spoons over the herb and lemon mix. It bakes at 375°F. for 8 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, she makes an arugula salsa ved-DAY, Yup, that’s what she said (over and over). She’s talking about a salsa verde. She puts one cup of baby arugula in the processor with capers, lemon zest and juice, salt, red pepper flakes and a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil. She processes it and that’s all there is to making a salsa ved-DAY. When the fish is cooked, she tastes a small bite with the salsa ved-DAY and loves it. It looks great, but I wonder if she couldn’t cut down on the olive oil a bit and the overzealous pronunciation.

Next time, I'll report on Anne also cooking kale. It’s a trend!!!

Breakfast Of Champions

2012-01-06T13:45:00.007-05:00

Ali and Frazier, Philadelphia 2003

I’ve been waiting for the right occasion to use this picture I took at the Newseum some time ago. It was from a special exhibit of sports photos by the amazing photographer Walter Iooss. The original (not my silly photo of it) is incredible. You can see the actual one on this site, but showing it does allow me to bring up the topic of breakfast.

I always use New Year's Day as an excuse for a breakfast of bagels and all the good stuff that goes with them - smoked salmon, whitefish salad, vegetable cream cheese, lox cream cheese. Plus a frittata is always good.

Here is the frittata I made –

Potato And Onion Frittata (serves 6)

Printable recipe here

1/4 cup good olive oil (I often double the amount of oil to avoid sticking. Since you’re draining the onions and potatoes, it’s not as bad as it could be...or so I tell myself.)

2 large onions, sliced

2 big Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes

2 tsps. salt, divided

1/2 red pepper, finely chopped

1/2 zucchini, cubed

1/2 yellow squash, cubed

6 eggs

1/2 cup Swiss cheese (or any cheese you prefer)

handful of parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Heat oil on medium heat in a heavy bottomed, medium saucepan. Stir in onions, potatoes and 1 teaspoon of salt. When you hear a sizzle, turn down the heat to low and cover. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to prevent sticking. (Every stove is different. When you lift the lid, there should be a good head of steam even on low heat. If not, raise the heat just a bit, but you want the onions softening, not browning.)

Stir in the chopped red pepper and cubed zucchini and yellow squash. Continue cooking until onions and potatoes are completely soft, at least 15 to 20 minutes total. Remove pot from heat, uncover and leave to cool just a bit.

Beat eggs with remaining teaspoon of salt, cheese and parsley. Stir in onion and vegetable mixture.

Pour into an 8 inch square glass baking dish, which has been sprayed with Pam. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 30 minutes or until the center comes out mostly clean when tested with a toothpick. Cut into squares and serve.

(The frittata is really good served with tzatziki, which I had leftover from the night before.)

I followed our late New Year’s Day breakfast with my favorite cookie of the moment (more about that at the end of this post), James Beard’s Apple Cake (email me for the recipe), clementines and chocolate-dipped fruit from Prides Crossing Confections (a gift from my father – the chocolate is fantastic).

By the way, I also made clementine mimosas (sorry, no picture). Amazing. Clementine juice is sooo delicious. I (actually, it was a young person on the premises) put them through a juicer (without their skin) and we got loads of juice out of them. Half clementine juice and half champagne was the perfect combination. Realllllllly good!

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

The night before, to ring in the New Year, I went with a few new snacks this year. I loved this Food52 recipe - Buffalo Mozzarella with Balsamic Glazed Plums, Pine Nuts and Mint.

Basically you boil down balsamic vinegar, add some plums (I used peaches) and cook them for a bit.

They get served with mozzarella and toasted pine nuts. Yummy.

I liked the leftovers over a spinach salad the next day.

I’ve been making these sausages from Trader Joe’s a lot lately. I often serve them with TJ's wonderful pretzel bread.

These are the Chicken Andouille ones, but I was serving veggie-lovers for New Year’s, so I used Tofurkey Italian Sausages, which were nowhere near as bad as you would have thought. The trick for any kind of sausage, no matter how left wing, is to cook it until it’s browned and crispy.

Then I toasted slices of the pretzel bread in a pan in the toaster oven (so one side stays soft). I slathered half the slices of bread with a tangy coarse mustard and the other half with a sweet one. I topped them with the sausages and a slice of gherkin is always nice too.

I also had to make my favorite dip with my favorite tzatziki. This time instead of plating it -

I bowled it.

For something sweet, I made a variation of Jamie Oliver’s Chocolate Pots. I've been making these for ages and they’re basically tiny servings of spoonable chocolate truffles. I use (unused) votive candle holders as their little bowls.

I did something different this time. I made one half of the recipe as written, with semi-sweet chocolate. I filled the “bowls” halfway and let them set for 20 minutes in the fridge. Then I made half the recipe with WHITE chocolate and poured that over the semi-sweet chocolate. The Semi-Sweet Chocolate Pot sets up just like a truffle. You can spoon it out, but it’s stiff. The white chocolate mixture doesn’t set and has the consistency of a mousse or pudding, so it’s like a sauce on top of the chocolate. SO GOOD. I finished them with chocolate nibs (not pictured).

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

PS Here’s more info about that Ali/Frasier picture, written by Walter Iooss.

PPS I tried this cookie recipe awhile ago. I thought it was a bit cakey and not sweet enough. BUT I LOVED the little trick at the end – You hold back some of the cranberries, chips and nuts and stud the tops of the cookies with them after they’ve been baking for five minutes.

Now I just make the normal Toll House cookie recipe with white and dark chips and dried cranberries. After 5 minutes of baking, I add 2 small pieces of hand-chopped semisweet chocolate (or chips will do), 2 small pieces of hand-chopped white chocolate and two pieces of whatever nut I’m using and a couple of dried cranberries to the top of the cookies. I love the chunky, chewy look it gives.

2012-01-06T10:25:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!!!

I hope you enjoyed yourselves with lots of good friends, family and food…plus a beverage or two. I'm just getting some pictures organized. I'll see you soon...

2011-12-24T22:17:00.068-05:00

Twas the night before Christmas...

I finished my baking...

and now I'm waiting for Santa.

To all of my wonderful blogging buddies and readers, I hope you have the best holiday ever! Enjoy your loot, have a great dinner, but most of all, enjoy your family and friends.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE!

It's Christmas In Pioneer Woman Land

2011-12-18T23:47:00.024-05:00

Pioneer Woman with Ree Drummond

Christmas

Cinnamon Rolls

PW's Prime Rib with Rosemary Salt Crust

Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic and Cranberries

Duchess Potatoes

Burgundy Mushrooms

Whiskey Cream Sauce

Pioneer Woman has been off my radar for a while. Maybe she left the ranch and moved to the city. She might be living in a condo with wall to wall carpeting and a doorman, for all I know. The kids could be enrolled in ka-rah-TAY and an afterschool art appreciation course to teach them the difference between Giacometti and Grandma Moses.

So I checked out her Christmas spectacular and, no, she’s still on the ranch doing all those pioneering things she likes to do. No Rockettes for her family, just wrangling the cattle…(I wonder if Ladd is going to give the kids a day off on Christmas or if he needs to teach them that on a ranch there ARE no days off. Maybe Ree will add a little festive nutmeg to their 5 am chicory and coffee before they’re sent off onto the plains.)

Ree starts with cinnamon rolls, which she makes with her girls (I guess no male types are allowed to have anything to do with cinnamon buns) and her best friend Hyacinth. They deliver them “around town” wrapped in what looks like bandannas and a big bow. THAT’S a really good idea to use bandannas…except wouldn’t they get all sticky and gooey? Cellophane is probably the right choice for baked goods.

Ree makes the dough by mixing together a quart of whole milk (if someone ever asked for skim milk on the ranch, would he or she be taken back to the toolshed?), a cup of vegetable oil (safflower is always my choice for a tasteless oil for baking) and a cup of sugar heated to just below the boil. She cools it to lukewarm and then sprinkles in 2 packages of yeast and follows that with 8 cups of flour.

COOKING ALERT! We’re only two minutes in and I have to take a huge exception to how Ree is proceeding:

No matter WHAT the recipe says, I always PROOF my yeast before combining it with loads of flour. In this case, I would heat ½ cup of the milk and 2 teaspoons of the sugar separately and sprinkle the yeast over THAT. I would wait to see if I got a nice bubble out of it and then I’d stir the proofed mixture into the rest of the lukewarm milk, sugar and oil mixture with all that flour.

If you have a bum packet of yeast, do you really want to start all over with another huge amount of flour and all the other stuff? Definitely not.

Ree covers the bowl with a cloth (a homey-looking cloth, of course) and leaves it in a warm place for an hour. Now this is interesting, she stirs an additional cup of flour with some baking powder and baking soda into the dough. She says the dough can be used then or refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Here’s an entertaining site I just found by an opinionated pastry chef (the best kind), who believes that baking powder has no place in cinnamon rolls. And here is a Q and A about why you might want to add extra leaveners to yeast doughs.

Ree probably never even thought about those added ingredients. It might be just an old family recipe that she is used to using. One benefit of the baking soda and powder is that they would help the dough to rise nicely if the yeast was handled a bit casually.

Ree rolls each half of the dough into 30 inch long pieces. She drizzles over a cup of butter, saying “If you think you’ve added enough butter, just go ahead and add a little more.” She smears the butter into the dough with her hands, which is fine EXCEPT that she immediately touches a measuring cup to get one cup of sugar without washing her hands.

Again, with sugar this time, she says to add more than you think you would need. Then she sprinkles over “an eighth of a cup” of cinnamon. That’s 2 tablespoons for those of you who don’t have that size measuring cup -BECAUSE THEY DON’T EXIST!

Another thing - why has she not mixed the sugar and cinnamon together? The only reason I can think of is because she was quite liberal with the sugar, sprinkling it over the edges of the dough AND the work surface, while the much more costly cinnamon stayed mostly ON the dough and wasn’t scattered all over the kitchen.

Ree rolls up the dough really tightly using what she calls “a typewriter maneuver”. I guess she means that her fingers are constantly moving as she works her way across the dough, rolling it up. She pinches it closed and places it seam-side down on the work surface. She cuts half inch wide slices and puts them in foil cake pans – about 7 to 9 in each pan. She covers them and lets them rise for 20 minutes.

Oh, listen to what Ree just said. The boys are out with Ladd feeding the mustangs, because, even though it’s Christmas, “The work on the ranch still has to be done.” I knew it! (Are the child labor laws in Texas or Oklahoma, or wherever she is, particularly lax?)

Ree bakes the cinnamon rolls at 375°F for 15 minutes. She has some nonsensical exchange with her friend, Hyacinth, about bringing the rolls to the “Tulsans” one year and how they “never told us”. Told them WHAT? What is she talking about? Oh, they BOTH took cinnamon rolls SEPARATELY to the “Tulsans” and the people receiving the rolls didn’t mention that they had already gotten them from the other person. That was not worth the paragraph it took to explain that. Plus Ree’s monotone delivery made that less than a riveting story.

Ree makes the frosting next. I guess it’s so thick and sweet, she doesn’t even bother to call it a glaze. She mixes powdered sugar, strong coffee (GREAT for the kids), butter and milk together. She adds maple extract. As soon as the rolls come out, she ices them. They do look fabulous.

Ladd comes in with the kids and they take the rolls to deliver them to folks. Oh, I see, she wrapped the whole foil pan in the bandanna, but I sure hope she covered it with foil or something.

Ree stays behind to clean up (yeah, I’m sure SHE’S really doing that!) and start dinner and she’ll meet up with the others at the town Christmas parade.

Ree takes an ENORMOUS slab of beef from the fridge and cuts it in half, so it cooks more evenly. She sears both pieces while she gets a peppercorn crust ready. She crushes tricolored peppercorns and mixes them with a lot of Kosher salt, chopped garlic and fresh rosemary and thyme. She refrigerates the meat and the salt mix.

Ree tells us that Ladd’s father spends 5 days making fudge every Christmas and Ree is serving that as her dessert.

She moves on to the burgundy mushrooms. She adds tons of button mushrooms to a stock pot with 2 sticks of butter, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, a bottle of burgundy wine and boiling water, chicken AND beef bouillon cubes. Ick. Then dill seeds and garlic go in. She simmers it covered for 6 hours! Then she simmers it uncovered for 3 hours. I’m sorry, I can’t believe that it’s worth all that cooking energy for a pot of mushrooms. Wouldn’t that be a perfect crock pot recipe?

That recipe does not appeal to me at all. It’s probably so salty from the bouillon cubes and Worcestershire sauce and I can imagine that the dill seeds make it kind of bitter.

Next up is the Pawhuska Parade of Lights. That looks like a pretty major parade. Ree leaves early to start dinner. (I was wondering how she could be at the parade at all. The cook usually has to miss all the fun stuff.)

Ree takes the slabs of dead beef out of the fridge. (Sorry, but they are!) She rubs them with oil and applies the salt and pepper crust. I think it’s a shame she used so much salt in the crust, because now all those lovely peppercorns and fresh herbs will be inedible. (I’m not against salt crusts in general. A whole fish cooked under a wall of salt is one of the greatest things around. But you can’t eat the crust.) She cooks them at 500°F for 20 minutes and then she turns down the heat to 300°F for about 25 or 30 more minutes.

Santa (wearing plaid?) comes by, which must mean the end of the parade. Ree is just getting started on the Brussels sprouts, which she says her children love so much that they can’t imagine a holiday dinner without them. How odd. OH, SHE GOT ME!!! She says she’s just kidding and that she’s making them, because SHE loves them. She halves them and sprinkles them with olive oil and salt and roasts them at 375°F for 20 to 25 minutes.

Ree shows us her already made “Duchess Potatoes”. She boiled diced potatoes and then dried them out in the oven. (Frankly, they look really waterlogged and bit overcooked and mealy. If she kept them in bigger pieces and used Ina’s trick of finishing the cooking by letting them sit for 10 minutes in a covered colander after being drained, she wouldn’t have to do that additional step of drying them out.)

Ree puts them through a food mill and then adds egg yolks (many), butter, salt, pepper, nutmeg and cream. She pipes the mixture into peaked scalloped piles (that doesn’t sound good, but they looked fine) on a baking sheet with a large star tip. She refrigerates them until ready to use. She dabs them with an egg wash and cooks them at 375°F for 20 minutes.

Oh, I guess that wasn’t Santa in the plaid shirt. He’s just going by now and it’s time for the rest of the family to come home.

Ree takes out the prime rib, covers the pieces with foil and lets them rest.

The party’s in full swing. For a sauce for the meat, Ree adds whiskey (off the heat) to already caramelized onions. She pours in beef broth and lets it reduce. Then she adds a cup of cream, salt, pepper and a little butter and it’s done.

Ree adds a syrup of sugar and balsamic vinegar to the Brussels sprouts with dried cranberries. Dinner is served and people appear to be eating that salty crust. Ree makes a toast to the Brussels sprouts. No one else joins in. Awkward.

Then it’s time for dirty Santa. That sounds awful. I hope he keeps his pants on. Oh, it’s like a present exchange…where you can steal from each other. Those folks on the range are so droll. I still think the kids could benefit from some martial arts instruction along with a little art history.

Giada's Christmas - A Crumb Crust Made With Cold Butter And Later...Unblanched Kale - What Will She Think Of Next?

2011-12-13T15:35:00.039-05:00

Giada at Home with Giada DeLaurentiis

Christmas

Pistachio, Cherry and Chocolate Tart

Roasted Prime Rib with Thyme and Marsala

Mashed Potatoes with Kale

Giada is making Christmas dinner and, oh goodie. Aunt Raffie is back. I suppose she’ll be giving Giada grief as she prepares a California-style Christmas dinner. Nothing says the holidays more than prickly relatives always ready to find fault.

The house is all decorated for Christmas. I hope Jade doesn’t get too confused when they tell her Santa’s not coming for a while. I guess they’ll have to explain television shooting schedules before long.

Giada starts with a pistachio, chocolate AND cherry tart with an almond biscotti crust. Do you think there are too many flavors in there? Maybe it should be just a chocolate and cherry tart OR a chocolate, pistachio one. Or how about a cherry and pistachio tart? I’m reserving judgment on the whole thing, but it seems a bit busy to me.

For the crust, Giada adds the biscotti to the food processor with ½ stick of CHILLED butter, so she can get “a nice texture” to the crust. Hasn’t she done that before? And didn’t I remark that I’ve never heard of a crumb crust made with cold butter? I think so.

I’ve always thought that melted butter gives a kind of greasy feel (in the best possible way) to whatever crumbs you’re using. Maybe cold butter makes it more crumbly and less congealed. I don’t mean to give a melted butter crumb crust a bad name, but it does make the crumbs more oily and compressed than maybe cold butter would. It's definitely worth a try to see what it would be like.

Giada adds the cubes of (cold) butter to the biscotti with brown sugar. It’s interesting that she doesn’t break up the biscotti first. She presses the processed mixture into the bottom of a spring form pan. It definitely looks crumbly and not at all oily. I do need to try that. Giada bakes it at 350°F for 15 minutes.

For the filling, Giada heats up one cup of heavy cream. She measures one cup of chocolate chips into a bowl and pours over the hot heavy cream and stirs it until the chips are melted. She adds ½ cup dried cherries and ½ cup of chopped pistachios. She mixes it well.

The crust comes out of the oven and is left to cool. (Meanwhile we see Giada’s all white decorated tree). She spreads ¾ cup of cherry jam over the top of the tart crust, leaving a border of one inch untouched. Then she pours over the chocolate, which kind of goes everywhere, including all the way to the edge, which is exactly what she wanted. She shakes the pan to flatten it out and adds another ¼ cup of chopped pistachios to the top. She refrigerates it for several hours.

I’m not saying that that dessert wouldn’t be good, but, between you and me, it seems a bit basic. I love chocolate chips, I love cream, but this super easy combination as a filling for a special occasion dessert seems a bit facile to me.

On to the prime rib, Giada starts by preparing a crust. She mixes together 3 cloves of chopped garlic (with the center stalk still in) with some chopped fresh thyme. Then Giada cuts slits in the top of the tied-up prime rib and “works” the garlic and thyme into the slits. She reminds us to let the meat sit out for 30 minutes before cooking, so it will cook more evenly.

Giada salts the meat (a lot) and peppers it. She cooks it at 425°F for 45 minutes, Then she’ll tent it with foil and cook it for another hour or so. Meanwhile, she puts her table together - white tablecloth, white plates with silver rims, silver cutlery, clear wine glasses, cut glass votive holders, low, red round vases (with cherries inside, I think?) filled with white flowers. Oh, and there are red and green plaid napkins with silver napkin rings. Eh…it’s not sparkly enough for me.

For her last dish of kale and mashed potatoes, Giada peels and cuts up 5 russet potatoes and adds them to cold water. That’s what I do! She says adding potatoes to BOILING water starts the outside cooking faster than the inside. I knew there was a reason I started them in cold water!

Giada adds lots of salt and two cloves of garlic. I DO THAT TOO – I boil the garlic in with the potatoes. I’m not sure if Giada’s going to press them into the potatoes like I do.

Lastly, Giada adds 2 tablespoons of butter to the cooking water to add a silkiness to the potatoes. I think that’s a supreme waste of butter. I also think adding fat before the potatoes are beaten will make them lumpy. Giada boils them for 20 minutes. (Remember Anne's rule of testing potatoes with a fork and not a skewer or toothpick?) I wonder which method Giada will use…And by the way, where’s Raffie? Is she only going to criticize the meal AFTER it’s cooked. That’s no fun!

Giada starts on the kale that will go with the potatoes. First, she chops an onion and some garlic and sautés them in olive oil with salt and pepper. Then she removes the leaves from the kale stems and chops them down. She adds the kale to sauté pan with a bit more olive oil and seasoning and ¼ cup chicken broth. She cooks it for 10 to 12 minutes.

I always think I’m going to regret it if I don’t blanch the kale first. I think you could definitely do that here. Just cut off the stems and cook the kale in boiling water for 3 minutes. Then drain and add to the onion mixture. That’s probably a good idea if you’re trying to make converts to kale.

Oh, Christmas tree update! There seem to be a few – strategically placed – RED ornaments on the (otherwise white) tree.

Giada is mashing her potatoes with a potato masher over low heat. Sorry, but I NEVER do that. I throw the cooked potatoes in the KitchenAid and beat them on low speed for as long as I can. Then I add in the pressed garlic, salt and pepper, milk and then butter. I beat them for ages and they come out silky smooth. I DO use a potato masher to deal with the leftovers and I always mash in a little extra milk as I’m reheating them.

Giada says she’s mashing them over low heat, so that any moisture left in the potatoes evaporates. Smart. But I like Ina’s method of draining them and then covering them with a dishtowel (I use the actual pot I cook them in) and letting them sit for 10 minutes to continue steaming.

We never see how Giada tested the potatoes. Darn!

Giada begins to add ½ cup chicken broth to the potatoes…instead of milk. Then mascarpone and parm are going in too. She adds 1 CUP of room temperature mascarpone. Are we watching Ina? Next ½ stick of room temperature butter goes in. I guess if this were Ina it would be a stick OR TWO. She stirs in ¾ cup Parmesan with more salt and pepper. This all could have been done in the KitchenAid. Lastly she mixes in the kale. That does look good. I guess I might try it with unblanched kale.

By the way, somehow they turned up the sound just as Giada was tasting the potatoes with kale. It made a kind of icky, gloppy sound. So if you’re trying to cook an alluring meal for your partner (or future partner), maybe you should leave out this dish. Kale doesn’t really say romance to me anyway.

Giada brings out the roast from the oven (wearing sparkling white, long oven gloves).

To make the sauce, Giada adds the dripping from the roast to 2 cups of beef stock and one cup of Marsala (the sweet one). Then she adds more chopped fresh thyme leaves and 3 tablespoons of arrowroot. I did not see THAT coming and that sounds like a lot of arrowroot. Giada whisks it in and cooks it for 20 minutes. (Can you cook arrowroot that long? If you were using cornstarch, you’d cook it no longer that 10 minutes, or it would thin out. I thought it was the same thing for arrowroot.)

It’s dinner time and Todd and Giada are putting things on the tree with Jade. They’re all dressed in red. Is that Dakota Fanning at the table? There’s Aunt Raffie, who hasn’t said a word and never came into the kitchen and, Buzz (?), plus some other guy. Oh, there’s an older guy too. The only name Giada uses is Buzz. And Uncle Igor (sp?), who is there and gives Jade a present – A Belle doll. Cute.

I’m not sure this meal really said Christmas to me, but I did try the kale and potato recipe and it was fabulous! I didn’t bother with the mascarpone. I just made my regular mashed potatoes, adding 4 cloves of garlic to the water. I put them through a garlic press and added them back to the potatoes as I beat them, first with milk and then butter. Then I added the whole thing to the sauté pan in which I had cooked the kale for ten minutes. I did add a bit of Parmesan and I totally did not mind that the kale wasn’t blanched first. It was soft and very flavorful.

But I'd still like to know if that was Dakota Fanning at the table.

Orzo As Jambalaya

2011-12-07T18:17:00.006-05:00

What do you get when you cross Ina’s Orzo with Roasted Vegetables with My Jambalaya? You get a yummy Chicken and Orzo - Jambalaya Style. (If you can think of a better name…I’m listening).

I had recently made (and made up) a jambalaya for visiting friends, which I really liked. Why didn’t I take a picture? Sorry.

Shortly after that, I needed a recipe for the night before Thanksgiving for 10 people, but one that could sit if it had to. I didn’t want the jambalaya (with rice) to be left too long, so I took Ina’s idea of orzo - with roasted vegetables with a lemon dressing - and jambalaya’ed it up with spicy chicken, Andouille sausage and shrimp. I like it because it can be served just-made OR various components can done in advance and put together when the chicken is cooked.

This picture was taken moments after the first servings were doled out. Sorry...again.

A big plus was that I had a real bonus of a wine to serve with it. My great blogging buddy, Tom (a wine professional!) had given me this great bottle of wine a while ago and I was saving it.

It was great with this dish, spunky enough to stand up to the spice and smooth enough to go down easily. And yay, only three of us were drinking red wine.

Now PLEASE don’t discount this recipe because it LOOKS long. This is all you do:

· Cook the orzo.

· Cook chicken, shrimp and Andouille sausage separately.

· Roast vegetables separately.

· Throw it all together with equal parts of lemon juice and olive oil.

That’s it! (There IS a really quick spice mix to be made, but you can do that with your eyes closed and way in advance.)

Chicken and Orzo - Jambalaya Style (serves 10)
Printable recipe here

Cajun spice mix:

2 tsps. paprika

2 tsps. organo

2 tsps. thyme

2 tsps. chili powder

1 tsp. Kosher salt

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

16 large shrimp, peeled

3 large chicken breasts with skin and bone, cut in half widthwise

6 chicken thighs with skin and bone

2 red onions, chopped into ½ inch pieces

2 small yellow squash, chopped into ½ inch pieces

2 small zucchini, chopped into ½ inch pieces

3 carrots, peeled, quartered lengthwise and chopped into ½ inch pieces

2 garlic cloves, center stalk removed and pressed

2 tbls. olive oil

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

the dressing:

½ cup fresh lemon juice – save the lemons after squeezing to add to the chicken while it’s cooking

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

½ tsp. Kosher salt

2 chicken Andouille sausages (I like Trader Joe’s), halved lengthwise and sliced on the diagonal

2 boxes of orzo

2 scallions, finely chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 425° F.

Mix together ingredients for Cajun spice mix. Set aside 2 teaspoons and coat the shrimp with it in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use (later on).

In a large mixing bowl, sprinkle remaining Cajun spice mix over chicken pieces. Coat well. Add used lemon halves to chicken.

Line a large sheet with foil and spray with a nonstick spray. Toss the red onion, yellow squash, zucchini, carrots, red pepper and garlic with the olive oil, salt, and pepper on the baking sheet. Roast for 40 minutes, until browned, turning once with a spatula.

Arrange chicken and leftover lemon halves in roasting pan or baking dish, sprayed with nonstick spray. Cook in same oven as vegetables for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned. Or cook when the vegetables come out. Using tongs, squeeze juice from cooked lemon halves over chicken.

Meanwhile, mix up lemon juice, olive oil and salt for dressing. Set aside. Cook orzo according to package instructions. Drain and put back in pot in which it was cooked. Immediately pour a few tablespoons of the dressing over and mix well.

When vegetables are cooked, add them and any juices to orzo. Add any juices from cooked chicken to orzo as well.

Spray a bit of nonstick spray in a medium nonstick frying pan. Sauté Andouille sausage over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until browned. Stir sausage into orzo with scallions and ¼ cup chopped parsley. Add more dressing to coat the orzo nicely. Taste for seasoning.

Cook shrimp in a tablespoon of oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick frying pan for one minute or until seared nicely. Cook second side of shrimp for another minute.

To serve, spoon cooked orzo with vegetables and Andouille onto large platter. Arrange chicken pieces on top and place cooked shrimp around edge of dish. Spoon a bit more dressing over chicken and serve the rest separately. Sprinkle with remaining chopped parsley and serve.

And The Winner Is…

2011-12-03T12:17:00.000-05:00

Nancy Mosher, who gets two great Maida Heatter baking books – Maida Heatter’s Cakes and Maida Heatter’s Cookies. I'll be contacting you, Nancy.

Thanks to everyone for your entries.

One More Day To Win TWO Fabulous Maida Heatter Cookbooks

2011-12-01T23:59:00.000-05:00

RULES:

Maida Heatter’s Cakes and Maida Heatter’s Cookies Giveaway contest open until Friday, December 2nd, 2011, 11:59 pm eastern time. The prize is both of these wonderful Maida Heatter cookbooks.

Enter these ways:

1) Send a comment to this post, OR to THIS post (I don’t mind which), telling me your favorite cake or cookie. (Include your email address, if your name doesn’t link to it.)

2) Send me an email with Maida Heatter in the subject line telling me your favorite cake or cookie at FNMusings@gmail.com.

3) Tweet your favorite cake or cookie to me at http://twitter.com/SueonFood with the hashtag #MaidaHeatterGiveaway. Don’t forget the hashtag if you’re tweeting your entry.

Enter as many times as you wish with a separate favorite cake or cookie in each entry. 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.

Thanksgiving Wrapup – The Good, The Bad And The Soupy

2011-12-01T22:35:00.009-05:00

Thanksgiving 2011

A small (actually, a very large) problem cropped up days before Thanksgiving. For unexplained reasons, my Whole Foods only had turkeys in the 14 pound range or ones over 22 pounds. I’ve had a long standing rule of never cooking a turkey over 20 pounds. They’re just too hard to handle, they take too long to cook and they’re really tough to turn upside down after cooking.

But I had a big crowd and lots of houseguests, so I really didn’t have a choice. I got a 22.68 pound turkey.

For whatever reason, it was one of the best turkeys I ever made.

Here's Tom, before he got turned upside down.

It browned beautifully. And it took less than 5 hours to cook. (Somehow, my turkeys always take less time to cook than whatever I’ve calculated.)

We started with my new favorite dip combination – hummus and tzatziki with lots of goodies on top:

Where's my soup? I forgot to take a picture. It was goooood.

I tripled my stuffing recipe and had only about a quarter cup left when I deemed it no longer ready for primetime (or eating) on Sunday night.

Three out of four of the pies were quite good. (Am I allowed to say that?)

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

Sour Cream Apple Pie

Pecan Pie

But the last one, the cherry pie, had real problems. When I was considering which cherry pie to make, my smart friend, Tom, pointed out that the reason cherry pies usually have a lattice crust is so that some of the juice can evaporate.

I was trying to avoid another latticed pie, because my apple pie had one, but I relented when I saw a pretty good (I thought) recipe in the Bon Appetit Desserts Cookbook, which I’ve been thrilled with every time I’ve used.

Cherry Pie

The resulting cherry pie LOOKED okay, but it was way too soupy. Think of something at the opposite end of the texture spectrum from Comstock Cherry Pie Filling, which (between you and me - and you better not tell anyone) I love. But I would never serve it (in public), and I especially wouldn't at Thanksgiving.

I think what I would do next time is to get the cherries already thickened BEFORE they are put into the pie crust. I DID like that the recipe called for a thicker lattice than I usually do. I think ¾ inch makes a more definitive statement than some little namby-pamby ½ inch lattice.

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

I had some inventive young men around (with very strong appetites) who made turkey sliders after Thanksgiving. These were NOT hot turkey sandwiches. They were cold sandwiches with hot gravy installed on them. This was done in a most unlikely way in the form of the slightly repulsively named Moist Maker, which found fame from Friends.

The Moist Maker is a sponge-like piece of gravy-soaked white bread which is stacked between the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberries. (I don’t like any other starch on my turkey sandwich but the bread. To me, mashed potatoes are meant to be eaten hot and stuffing is slightly gratuitous on a sandwich.) But here are various versions of day-after sandwiches, which illustrate exactly how much can fit on a little roll.

Happy Thanksgiving AND A Special Cookbook Giveaway!

2011-11-24T00:03:00.083-05:00

I hope you'll have a wonderful day and that your turkeys come out beautifully, nothing burns and your family members all behave.

I promised you a nifty giveaway and here it is – two books by the great Maida Heatter - Maida Heatter’s Cakes and Maida Heatter’s Cookies.

In the days before the explosion of food television and celebrity chefs, cookbooks were a much more vital part of foodie culture in general. I remember pouring over my precious cookbooks and keeping them right alongside me as I cooked with lots of notations on the pages that became sticky from constant use.

Maida Heatter’s books were definitely among my all-time favorites. She was famous for her wonderful desserts in the days when caramels were salt-free and foam was what guys shaved with. She’s also known for the great precision in many of her recipes. You never have to wonder what she means in one step or another, because she tells you.

She's very distinguished too. Maida Heatter is a member of the James Beard Foundation Hall of Fame; she's been named to Cook’s Magazine’s Who’s Who in Cooking and was one of the first people inducted into the Chocolatier Hall of Fame.

I’m thrilled that Andrews McMeel has released new additions of her books. Maida Heatter’s Cakes is a collection of her best cake recipes from two previous cookbooks and Maida Heatter’s Cookies contain recipes from three of her cookbooks. And I'm happy to be sharing these books which one lucky person will win.

I’m going to make it easy for you too. Just tell me your favorite cake or cookie in a comment, email or tweet and I will enter you to win. Enter as many times as you wish - with a separate favorite cake or cookie in each entry - and that’s it.

RULES:

Maida Heatter’s Cakes and Maida Heatter’s Cookies Giveaway contest open until Friday, December 2nd, 2011, 11:59 pm eastern time.

Enter these ways:

1) Send a comment to this post, including your favorite cake or cookie. (Include your email address, if your name doesn’t link to it.)

2) Send me an email with Maida Heatter in the subject line telling me your favorite cake or cookie at FNMusings@gmail.com.

3) Tweet your favorite cake or cookie to me at http://twitter.com/SueonFood with the hashtag #MaidaHeatterGiveaway

Pecan Pies - Done!

2011-11-22T16:38:00.004-05:00

Thanksgiving 2011

And the rest of the crusts are made and ready to go.

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I have a great hosting tip for you if you're expecting company. I've tried this once so far and it worked beautifully.

Get out your baking racks and put them on the kitchen counter. Put some cookies on them and people will think you've been slaving away baking all day. It's as easy as that!

Now it happens that I DID make these cookies and they really were cooling on the racks. (So what if I packed them away a few hours earlier and then arranged them back on the rack just before the doorbell rang!)

It gives folks that homey feeling and I promise it'll work for you too. Maybe Oreo's aren't the best choice, though. Stick with something that at least looks homemade.

BTW, these are Toll House cookies with no chocolate chips, just white chips and TONS of toasted nuts - about 3 cups.

Graham Cracker Crust Tip Plus Upcoming Giveaway

2011-11-20T23:48:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving 2011

I have a nice treat for you all. Well, actually it's for ONE of you, but I’m not revealing it until Thanksgiving Day. It's a Cookbook Giveaway, but you’ll have to come back to see which ONES they are. Yup, I said ONES. I’m giving away TWO cookbooks by this very distinguished author.

I’ll give you a hint:

Does that help?

Maybe this will:

Still nothing? Well! I've written about this before and it’s one of my most favorite baking tricks and it comes from this cookbook author.

Whenever you make a graham cracker crust (I’m using it for my pumpkin chiffon pie, but this applies to ANY graham cracker crusted pie), you line the pie dish with foil, press in the crust, cover it and FREEZE IT ROCK HARD. Then you peel off the foil (carefully, very carefully), put the frozen crust back in the dish and fill it as normal. Using several pieces of foil is easier than one big one, because they tear away easier and you have less chance of cracking the crust.

It IS kind of a pain to line the dish properly with the foil and then to get the crust in there nicely. BUT the payoff comes when you cut the pie and each piece comes away BEAUTIFULLY from the dish. There’s no stuck crust and no industrial knife is needed. It makes a perfectly sliced piece of pie and that, after all, is what we’re after.

So come back on Thursday and see whose books I’m giving away. You won’t be disappointed.

My Favorite Appetizer Of All Time

2011-11-19T14:13:00.013-05:00

Thanksgiving 2011

That might be a bit of an exaggeration, since I only came across this a week or so ago, but it’s pretty fabulous. In fact, I might even say that this is an appetizer that will change your life. Remember that old favorite - 5, or is it 7, layer bean dip with refried beans and salsa and stuff? THIS is a fresh, lively updated version of that with hummus and tzatziki.

I saw it in a Food Network magazine and I can’t really explain why, but from the first moment I laid eyes on it, I fell in love. I didn’t even notice, initially, WHOSE recipe it was. But it didn’t matter, because I was just using the idea, not that actual recipe. And THEN I wondered where I'd been all these years, since I found many different versions online.

How had I never served hummus and tzatziki, that wonderful Greek yogurt and cucumber concoction, together? I love them both. I knew this had to be a featured hors d’oeuvres over Thanksgiving, if I can wait that long. I may have to serve it the night before.

I personally have to no problem with robust Thanksgiving appetizers, even though H often gives me a hard time. To me, the appetizers before Thanksgiving dinner are an opportunity to stretch your stomach for the meal to come. I would never want to wrestle with that meal on an empty stomach.

Okay here goes, enjoy it…I know you will.

Sue’s Greek 7, Maybe 8, Layer Dip
Printable recipe here

I like serving this on a platter, with the hummus spread out as the base layer. You can certainly contain it in a straight-sided bowl as in this picture. You may want to provide a spoon for easier spreading.

2 cups hummus, homemade or bought, any flavored version you like

1 recipe Sue's tzatziki (see below)

diced cucumbers (can be leftover from the tzatziki)

optional: a handful of diced tomatoes, drained in a strainer for 10 minutes

a handful of feta (more than that makes the tzatziki taste like cottage cheese)

a handful of chopped dill

3 scallions, chopped

a handful of small pitted olives or larger olives, sliced

Layer the ingredients in the order listed. (You may not need quite all the tzatziki. Save the extra to serve as a dip by itself or on top of anything from pita chips or kebabs to veggie burgers.)

Serve the Greek 7 Layer Dip with homemade pita chips (recipe below).

Sue’s Tzatziki

1 cup 2% Greek yogurt

1 cup WHOLE milk (I know!) Greek yogurt

1 English cucumber

¼ tsp. Kosher salt

1 tbl. fresh lemon juice

1 garlic clove, center stalk removed and pressed

2 tsps. dill, finely chopped

1/4 tsp Kosher salt

Place the yogurt in a strainer lined with damp cheesecloth. Strain it over a bowl for 30 minutes.

(Because it’s Greek yogurt and already strained, you can skip this step, but it does remove a bit of liquid.)

Cut the ends off an English cucumber and peel. Cut into a small dice. Place in a small strainer over a bowl and stir in ¼ tsp. Kosher salt. Let sit for 20 minutes.

Place strained yogurt in a bowl. Add a good amount of the cucumbers (no need to rinse) into the yogurt. (Remember it’s YOGURT with cucumbers, not the other way around, so you may not need ALL the cucumber for the tzatziki. Set the rest aside to sprinkle on top of the dip.) Stir in lemon juice, garlic and dill. Stir in Kosher salt to taste, starting with ¼ teaspoon. Cover well and refrigerate overnight, or at least 3 to 4 hours.

Baked Pita Chips (1 pita - I prefer wholewheat - makes 16 chips)

Cut each pita into 8 wedges. Separate each one in half. Lay pita on a baking sheet in a single layer (they can be jammed next to each other.) Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 7 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool and store in a ziplock bag. You can reheat them in a big jumbled pile in the toaster oven for a minute or two before serving.

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I loved this dip recipe so much that I used it as an excuse to have some gal pals over to sample appetizers and my fizzy Cosmo's, which will be my signature cocktail on Thanksgiving.

I also served my little tarts along with the Greek dip and gussied-up baked prosciutto.

Bake the prosciutto on a foil-lined baking sheet at 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes or until completely crisp. Cut prosciutto into long pieces. Cover with a thin slice of Gruyere and a grape slice, or just pile on the plate and let folks assemble them however they wish.

Fizzy Cosmo
Printable recipe here

This is made to my (very sweet) taste. Definitely adjust the amount of vodka to suit your own palate.

4 parts cranberry or cranberry-raspberry juice

3 parts Absolut Citron

2 parts Rose’s Lime Juice

1 part Triple Sec

Prosecco

Mix together first four ingredients. Chill well. Pour into champagne glasses two thirds full. Top off with Prosecco.

Would You Call This Man With Your Thanksgiving Questions?

2011-11-17T14:07:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving 2011

Alton may not always be my favorite, but he is a true cooking wonk and I would trust him with any technical turkey or related questions. You’ll have a chance to ask him and some of his Food Network cohorts any questions you like on Thanksgiving Live!, a Skype call-In show on Sunday, November 20 from 12 pm to 2 pm EST on the Food Network. Also answering questions will be Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell, Alex Guarnaschelli, Sunny Anderson, Ted Allen, Rachael Ray and Melissa d’Arabian.

For more information, click here.

You’ll be asked for the following information and you may be contacted for more information.

Name
Location
Email
Home telephone number
Skype name
Your Thanksgiving question

Thanksgiving Sprouts Postscript And Pie Notes

2011-11-17T13:49:00.004-05:00

Thanksgiving 2011

Butter restaurant chef and Next Iron Chef competitor, Alex Guarnaschelli was on Good Day New York this morning doing a few vegetable recipes. In the same vein as the Brussels sprout salad I talked about yesterday, she made a cole slaw with purple cabbage and Brussels sprouts. She likes to consider the leftovers when she plans dishes and she said this is a wonderful addition to turkey sandwiches.

I don’t think cole slaw is strange for Thanksgiving, because my mother always used to say that you needed - forgive me - a gassy vegetable on the table. For years, I served braised red cabbage and apples and then I made room for other things. I like this idea.

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Thanksgiving Update...

I planned to make my Sour Cream Apple Pie crust (and freeze it) and I realized didn’t have any apple juice. So out came my trusty (and so basic) juicer and I made the most delicious Granny Smith apple juice for the pastry.

Honestly, I’ve made this crust DOZENS of times and it’s never been so good. It tastes like apple-y sugar cookie dough.

I’m also making 2 pecan pies – they freeze beautifully. Plus the filling is a cinch and I feel more secure with an extra pie in the house. I used this pastry recipe for the first time. Fantastic! I haven’t baked it yet, but it looked fine and rolled out SO easily (right after I made it, not chilled).

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A pastry rolling-out note: I really believe one of the big reasons that people buy ready prepared pie crusts is because they hate to wrestle with rolling out cold dough. I haven’t done that for YEARS!

As soon as the dough is made (making it in a food processor keeps it cooler) I roll it out. I used to use two sheets of plastic wrap. Now I use Silpat on the bottom and plastic wrap on the top. (I hate baking on Silpat, but I like it for rolling out dough.)

After it's rolled out, I fit it into the pie dish, configure the edges however they’re going to be, cover it with plastic wrap and freeze the whole thing. I take the crust out of the freezer as I’m making the filling and that’s enough time for it to thaw.

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Recipes in this post:

Thanksgiving Sprouts

2011-11-16T21:05:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving 2011

Let’s talk vegetables for Thanksgiving. Unless I’m cooking in a mess hall or restaurant (which, as of this moment, I’m not), my first thought is about how much oven or burner space I’ll have and at what time of the day I’ll have it. Once the turkey is out, the oven can be loaded with all the other things that need heating - the stuffing, if you’re doing it separately; the sweet potatoes; rolls etc.

When I do have the space, I love the ease of roasted Brussels sprouts and here’s a super easy way to cook them. PS The addition of a half cup of raisins (yellow is my first choice), makes a huge difference. It's a sweet counterpoint to the slightly bitter (in a good way) vegetable.

I’m loosey goosey about the temperature for roasting vegetables, because I try to fit them in to whatever else I’m cooking. Basically, I cook the Brussels sprouts at 400°F for about 25 minutes. If something else needs a higher or lower temperature, adjust the cooking time about 5 minutes for every 50 degree difference – 350°F for 30 minutes, 450°F for 20 minutes.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts (serves 4 normally, but 6 to 8 as part of a Thanksgiving meal)
Printable recipe here

2 tbls. good olive oil

A big pinch of Kosher salt

1 lb. Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

½ cup raisins

optional: a handful of roasted prosciutto*

Mix together olive oil and salt in medium mixing bowl. Add Brussels sprouts and mix well. Line a baking sheet with foil and Pam it. Spread out Brussels sprouts in a single layer, cut side down. Cook in a preheated 400°F oven for 25 minutes or until browned on the bottom and tender in the middle. Mix with raisins, and prosciutto if using.

*Bake the prosciutto on a foil-lined baking sheet at 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes or until completely crisp. It’s no problem if the oven is needed at a different temperature. Just adjust the temp and time as you would for the Brussels Sprouts – higher, then shorter; lower, then longer. (That’s kind of a life lesson, isn’t it?)

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Another excellent way to use Brussels sprouts is in a recipe from Food52 for a Brussels sprout salad - Brussels Sprouts Salad a la M. Wells. It’s become one of my favorites. I might leave out the cheese for Thanksgiving, but otherwise it’s perfect. The speck called for in the recipe is smoked prosciutto. If you have no speck around, just use cooked and crisped bacon or regular prosciutto (you can cook that too) OR leave it out. The Brussels sprouts add an unbelievable crunch to the salad and they are sliced so thinly that their flavor doesn’t overwhelm the dish. Even non-believers may like them. (I use a knife to slice them, not a mandolin.)

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Thanksgiving Update...

Cranberries – MADE!

Um… that’s about it…But I AM thinking a lot. I haven’t gotten to the making-lists part, but that’s coming…and I do have the pecans in the house for the pecan pies.

Tiny Thanksgiving Tarts

2011-11-12T18:12:00.029-05:00

Are you getting your Thanksgiving menu thoughts in order? I’m beginning to. Just to make myself get more serious, I’m going to give this nifty subtitle to every post having to do with Thanksgiving this month:

Thanksgiving 2011

Appetizers are on my mind today. I love tiny phyllo tart shells as a base for quick and super-delicious snacks. Ideas for fillings are limitless, but here are three, which make a varied and pretty presentation. The standard rule is 3 to 4 hors d’oeuvres per person, but factor in the huge meal to follow and anything else you might be serving as an appetizer.

Before baking:

Bake the tarts on a foil-lined baking sheet in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 minutes. Printable recipe here.

Black Bean and Cheddar Cheese Tarts

1 can black beans

1 onion, chopped

1 tbl. olive oil

1 small carrot, diced

2 tsps. cumin

grated cheddar cheese

frozen phyllo tart shells

Rinse and drain can of black beans well. Completely soften onion and carrot in olive oil in small saucepan. Add cumin and stir on low heat for 2 minutes. Add black beans and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes over medium heat.

Fill tart shells with black bean mixture. Top with a bit of grated cheddar cheese. Bake as directed above. If desired, top with a dab of salsa.

Fig, Cheese and Toasted Almond Tarts

Next time, I’m definitely using Bleu cheese, but you can use goat cheese or cream cheese, flavored or not.

Layer into each frozen phyllo tart shell (in this order): a dab of fig jam, a small bit of Bleu cheese, goat cheese or cream cheese. Top with a well-toasted almond. Bake as directed above.

Fig and Prosciutto Tarts

Layer into each frozen phyllo tart shell in the order given: a dab of fig jam, two tiny squares of mozzarella cheese and a folded 1“ square of prosciutto. Bake as directed above.

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Another quick idea is strips of crispy baked prosciutto topped with a Parmesan cheese slivers. (Bake the prosciutto on a foil-lined baking sheet at 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes or until completely crisp.)

Garnishing them with real herbs is probably a better idea than drawing them in.

The Insane Frenzy Of Watching Chopped

2011-11-11T22:51:00.009-05:00

I don't like scary movies. I don't like suspenseful novels, so it's a bit out of character for me to watch something as spine-tingling as Chopped. It is quite a commitment – not just of time, but of energy and emotion. I caught a 2010 episode “Winging It” recently and I was on the edge of my seat. Of course, as in all reality television, they enhance the drama, but that doesn't stop me from caring (out of all proportion, I know) about how each chef does in these most treacherous of situations. They also make it so that each course has its own special narrative that keeps you watching and wondering how the chefs will make it through.

Four very different chefs are competing – Lizzy, a Polish/Indian chef; John, a firefighter and chef; Linda, a Swedish pastry chef; and Justin, who is classically trained.

In the first round, the drama centers around John the firefighter, who is thrilled to see chicken wings in the appetizer basket. He cooks them ALL the time. Sake and grapes are the other two ingredients. Swedish Linda has NEVER cooked chicken wings. (She IS a pastry chef, after all).

It becomes clear that cooking chicken wings in 20 minutes is not all that easy, no matter how experienced you are.

Two of the chefs don’t even START the cooking until 10 minutes in. John has a hard time getting his oil hot. You would think a firefighter would be an expert at anything involving an open flame. He is panicked that if he loses this round, in particular, his firefighter buddies will never let him forget it.

How is it even possible that after 10 minutes his oil isn’t hot? AND he never found vegetable oil, so he’s using extra virgin olive oil. Actually it’s probably lucky that he didn’t get it really hot, because it would have started smoking. John is totally thrown by what a hard time he’s having, especially because wings are his specialty. He just can’t believe it.

Time’s up. The only one with gorgeous looking wings is Lizzy, but hers need salt badly. Linda’s are really uncooked, but she has a nice grape salad garnish. Justin’s wings don’t look horrible and, at least, his are completely cooked through. (He was the only one to get them on immediately and turn, turn, turn them.)

John is completely disgusted with himself. Judge Geoffrey Zakarian says everyone had the same thing to work with, so not having enough time is not a good excuse. John says that his dish is not ”representative” of what he can make. Oh, gosh, will the firefighter fight his way to the next round? How can you not root for him? I’m positively overwrought thinking John is going to disappoint his entire squad. This is what I mean by white-knuckled watching. Luckily, for him, Linda’s dish was even worse, and SHE gets chopped.

The next round is catfish, fresh horseradish, Japanese eggplant and TREVISO. Huh? That looks like radicchio to me. That IS radicchio. John says he’s never heard of it before. I never have either – I’ve always called it radicchio, but apparently it should be called Radicchio di Treviso. I am SO saying treviso from now on to sound (even more) pompous when necessary. Actually, there are several varieties of radicchio, so I could sound really ~~pretentious~~ knowledgeable if I wanted.

Justin is super-confident in this round because he grew up on catfish. (He better be careful, because John having cooked millions of wings didn’t help him in the first course.) So, what’s the drama for this round? Justin cannot find cornflour for his tempura crust. Oh, that’s a bad one. How will it ever be crunchy? Another potential gut-wrenching problem - Lizzy’s horseradish mayo is way too runny. Oh my, those are both pretty huge dilemmas, but I see the catfish crust as definitely the most promising source of hubbub.

One more possible crisis is brewing – Justin notices that Lizzy is sautéing her treviso WITH the core in. GASP!!! How could she?

Still, it’s definitely Justin’s catfish situation that is driving the drama. It’s not as crispy as he likes. He cuts the catfish in half widthwise and stacks the pieces on top of each other and the crust breaks apart! It’s not staying in one nice piece on the fish. He decides to garnish the dish at the last minute with some citrus and he only has time to add the lime slices to 2 out of the three judges’ dishes. Uh-oh. Lizzy’s mayo is still quite watery and she doesn’t have time to put it in ramekins to serve separately.

Best line of the round – John is plating his food and he says, “Everything’s looking like…it looks like it does in the firehouse and it’s gotta look a little nicer than that for the judges.” I like him.

Oh gosh, what will happen? I kind of hope Justin stays in it and it’s Lizzy to go, but let’s see. Judge Gregory says John’s treviso has a beautiful bittersweet flavor. Judge Liz Torres comments on his plating and says it looks like train wreck. John tells her that at the firehouse it’s about how much is on the plate and how it tastes. She reminds him that he’s being judged on presentation…”AND we’re not firemen,” she adds. Oy.

The judges like the design of Lizzy’s plate, but why did she use arugula in both courses? And they ask her why she left the inedible core of the treviso on. BUSTED! Justin looks slightly thrilled. Lizzy recovers somewhat by saying she likes how the treviso keeps its shape when you leave the core in.

But then (Judge) Liz points out that Lizzy left the woody top on one of her eggplant pieces. Lizzy says that sneaked in. Liz replies with the second best line of the show, “It didn’t sneak in. You PUT IT ON THE PLATE.” She’s tough.

They all applaud Justin’s eggplant and treviso with the miso glaze, although Judge Chris Santos says the batter on the fish is too thick. Justin takes a deep breath and realizes he didn’t get away with his crummy batter. Gregory says the batter has the consistency of bread or pancakes, which is completely accurate, since it was made from flour, milk and eggs. Chris loves the citrus in the dish and he says the fish was great, but the crust was such a disaster “that it’s something we’re really going to have to talk about”.

Will Justin get a pass because his dish is passable and John has a presentation problem? They thought Lizzy’s fish was the best and her dish was the most creative, although she left the core in the treviso and used arugula in both courses so far. Unfortunately, I think the firefighter is going home. I want Justin to win. He’s definitely the most skilled.

Whoever is left, it’s lucky the pastry chef didn’t make it to the last round. That might have been tough.

AND going home is…Lizzy. I AM surprised. The stem on the eggplant and the core in the treviso were too heinous to overlook, I guess. She looks pissed! AND, Judge Liz adds, there were too many flavors going on in her dish. Actually, Lizzy takes it well and tells us that she has no one to blame but herself.

The dessert ingredients are cherry tomatoes, silken tofu, ginger snaps and cocoa nibs. Justin can probably whip up a cheesecake thing in no time. John probably has never even tasted silken tofu, much less cooked with it. He says WHAT?!! He laughs as he takes the tomatoes out of the basket. He throws his hands up in the air.

Even Justin is thrown for a loop.

Chris says these ingredients are tricky and they level the playing field. I don’t agree with that at all. I think Justin’s training gives him a HUGE advantage.

Justin decides to make a genoise. I’m not sure John would know what that is, since he never makes desserts. He’s going to start with whipped cream, which is one thing he knows how to make.

Justin makes a sugar syrup for the cocoa nibs and it burns. Oh gosh, is he going to lose in the final moments? He starts it all over again.

John caramelizes the cherry tomatoes. He tries to coat the tofu with ginger snaps and then fry it. It doesn’t work. He tries to melt the cocoa nibs. THAT doesn’t work. He decides to make a parfait with tofu, ricotta, milk and orange liqueur.

Justin gets his little cakes in ramekins out of the oven. John just throws things together. He calls everything a concoction. I really can’t see him winning.

The judges taste Justin’s dessert. Chris loves the ginger snaps in the genoise and the cocoa nibs. Gregory likes it too. Liz does not like the way he treated the tomatoes. Chris says Justin did as well as they could expect with those ingredients.

John (almost) manages a straight face when he says he made a tofu, ricotta, parfait SOUP. He should have left off the soup. CHRIS LIKES WHAT HE DID WITH THE NIBS and says they added a nice texture. Really? John had no clue what they were. Gregory LOVES the dessert because he said he was really well-balanced. Justin cannot believe it. Chris says it’s not sweet enough.

Justin explains to the judges, “I cook with emotion, heart, passion. I know I have training and I’m up against someone who doesn’t.” Uh-oh, don’t be cocky to the judges. He continues, “MY meal progressed.” AND he brings up the fact that his wings WERE COOKED and, in the restaurant world, if something is raw, you can’t sell it. He’s not wrong, but will this make the judges appreciate the firefighter, BECAUSE he doesn’t have training?

John defends himself by saying he needs to crawl out from the bus that Justin threw him under. Liz smiles. He says he learned a lot from the judges’ evaluations and tried to incorporate them into his dishes. John actually feels good that Justin felt unconfident enough to attack him.

Chris is totally for Justin, but Gregory thinks he phoned in some of his dishes and John was more creative. Chris keeps coming back to the inedible chicken wings.

John doesn’t want to get chopped, but Justin REALLY doesn’t want to be. He says it will be like stab in the heart and that someone has said you’re not a chef.

So who is it? Whose dish is the final one to be chopped? And it’s…JOHN’S. JUSTIN wins. Gregory says they loved having him there, but that he dropped the ball on the chicken wings. John is annoyed that he lost because of CHICKEN WINGS!

Justin IS kind of cocky when he says he’s glad that the judges appreciated what he did. He wins them over, though, when he says THIS is what he spends his time thinking about – family, food, football and women (and in that order). Who can disagree with that?

Justin says it’s a big moment for him and that he gave up a lot of activities in his youth in order to spend time working and trying to be a better chef. That’s pretty admirable. I’m glad it came down to training and hard work, although I’m a sucker for a firefighter every time, just for what he does in his everyday life. I’d even give him a Bisquick pass, if it meant he could get to the fire faster.

Top Chef Texas - Is It Bigger And Better?

2011-11-09T19:26:00.022-05:00

It’s interesting to remember various Top Chef contestants when they were newcomers - Richard Blais, Carla Hall, Fabio Viviani and Spike Mendelsohn, for example. We can say we knew them when. And it’s not just the winners we recall. Richard is actually the only winner in that group I listed and it took him competing in Top Chef All Stars to win the crown. Spike has already been eliminated in his effort to become the next Iron Chef. Carla is finding her way on The Chew and Fabio is all over the place, including here. Many Top Chef chefs have gone on to, if not culinary greatness, momentary stardom either on television or through their other projects.

And who can forget the Voltaggio brothers? As unlikable as I found them for much of their season, they really could cook. I’m a little hesitant to admit I caught them on MTV recently, promoting their new cookbook. The host was a culinary moron (actually, just a moron in general) and so they were at a gross disadvantage explaining to her the crazy stuff they were cooking – clams that looked like spaghetti, freeze-dried something or other. They came off as coming from Mars…with their food not far behind.

I really think what someone wants in a cookbook is to get some idea of how to cook REAL FOOD, not pellets of stuff or stuff that you have to guess if it’s even food. And, PS, for some reason, Amazon isn’t selling their cookbook at the moment because “customers have told us there may be something wrong with our inventory of the item, the way we are shipping it, or the way it's described here…We're working to fix the problem as quickly as possible.” Strange.

Anyhoo, a new season of Top Chef (in Texas) began last week and I’m looking at these chefs with an eye to seeing if they have staying power. I seem to be the worst judge of this, because typically my favorite is gone in the first few weeks. I can’t recall ever choosing the winner in the early days and, even later on, it seems as if the producers always manage to throw a wrench into the works. All of a sudden, my top choice, Dale is gone, or Jennifer is eliminated and we’re left, in some cases, completely mystified by the choice of winner.

So here we go and this won’t be an easy season to predict, even if I were good at it. Because we're in Texas, they've super-sized the number of contestants and THIRTY chefs arrive at the Alamo.

Padma looks stunning in a strapless, flowing red dress that is blowing ever so gently in the hot San Antonio breeze. She looks as cool as a marble statue. She explains that the 30 chefs will be competing for 16 spots. One guy and one gal are really po’ed that they’re not already in the top 16. I wonder if they all told their families, friends and colleagues that they were going to be on Top Chef and now they could be eliminated in the first 15 minutes. That would stink.

The chefs go into the kitchen and they are greeted by judges Tom and Emeril (new this season…cool!). Both are wearing whiter-than-white chefs' whites. They almost look like naval officers. (WHY Tide doesn’t sponsor the show is a mystery.)

Tom does his usual smirk as he introduces Emeril. Emeril tries to sound serious, but he does let a little smile escape as he tells them the challenge.

Oy, Tom says he wants to hear a little about each chef. (There are thirty of them!) Is this their way of giving each of them a tiny bit of face time, since so many will be chopped in this episode? Oh, we’re only hearing from a group of 10 now. They have to choose (or fight over) which cut of pork they want to cook of the ten that are sitting on the table. They also have to butcher the meat themselves. Emeril and Tom will be walking around watching them butcher and cook.

I don’t like this full-of-himself Tyler guy. I do like that Tom and Emeril hated the way Tyler butchered the meat. Oh my, Tom hated it SO much that he kicked him off immediately…before he even started cooking. He was supposedly cutting the tenderloin for another chef, Grace, and she was left with a 3 ounce piece of meat. Will she be gone too for not taking control of her own ingredient?

Okay, let’s see. Tom asks Grace why she allowed Tyler to hack away at her meat like that. She said she thought it would buy her some extra time. Tom said it’s a mistake to make assumptions about your competitors. He doesn’t send her home for some reason.

Colin runs out of time and, as he pours his soup into little containers, he spills and splatters it all over the plate. Tom and Emeril take one look and HE’S gone. They don’t even taste it.

Padma explains that the majority rules in deciding who goes and who stays. 2 out of 3 of the judges have to agree that they should stay. (Finally, Padma is being treated as a full-fledged judge.) If the judges can't decide, the chef has to compete in another challenge. Chris is THRILLED to get one of the 16 coats. Sarah who works at Spiaggia for Tony Mantuano is the second chef chosen. She made pig skin into a fantastic (so they said) sausage.

Tenderloin gal Grayson is nervous. She and ship cook Molly are “on the bubble” and have to cook again.

I like Chef Heather saying, “This is it, you’re showing all your cards. You have one moment to prove to the judges that THIS is why you deserve to be here.” That’s Top Chef in a nutshell. That’s why it can be so heartbreaking, when you have a momentary lapse which can change everything.

Nyesha has worked for Robuchon. Is it possible that she won’t get past this initial round? Don’t think so. They love her pork shoulder. She’s through. Emeril says it’s incredibly balanced and Padma says it’s beautiful.

Articulate Heather giggles as she learns she is through to the next round. Self-taught Simon‘s dish is overcooked and there’s too much going on. Sous-chef Richie makes it. Emeril says his dish had depth.

Oh no, we have to go through all of this again with group two. This time it’s Gail who is judging and we have to hear the chefs’ introductions for this group too.

One amusing thing. Keith Rhodes is giving his credentials and going on a bit longer than the others. Then he says he’s a 2011 Southeastern James Beard Best Chef of the Year…Pause…NOMINEE. That reminds me of Dwight calling himself Assistant Manager and Michael always correcting him by saying he was Assistant TO the Manager. Funny.

In the second group, all the chefs have to agree on ONE ingredient from a table with lots of good stuff on it and they have to each cook the SAME ingredient. They go with the rabbit.

This is what we learn: Keith spent time in prison for drugs, but now cooking is super important to him. Some gal chef thinks she’s got an edge because she’s putting chocolate in her rabbit dish. Nina cooks at a gastropub and Tom taunts her a little bit saying the other chefs have more experience than she does. (She didn’t even have time to get the rabbit on the plate. She’s the first in this group to be given the boot.)

Keith makes it. I think they like his story as well.

Oh gosh, we have ONE MORE GROUP. Who did the chocolate dish? Dakota gets a coat. Ty-Lor (???) gets one too. And cute guy Chris from LA is one of the first 16.

Some other gal (names please!) is mad because she forgot the sauce and so they put her in the bubble to cook again. The four, who have to go on to another round, decide it’s because none of them has visibly huge tattoos.

That’s it for week one. Keith is the only name I remember, so I guess I’m raring for him to go further. I don’t mind the way they changed it up with more chefs competing for the 16 spots. But I do wish they displayed everyone’s name more frequently. And as far as who will be the star of this series of Top Chef...The twist with thirty chefs at the start gives me a much greater opportunity to be wrong for far longer than when they just got right down to it.

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

2011-10-28T11:58:00.016-04:00

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?

2011-10-22T12:07:00.008-04:00

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

2011-10-18T11:48:00.009-04:00

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!

2011-10-15T17:53:00.001-04:00

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

2011-10-14T13:55:00.003-04:00

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

2011-10-11T20:35:00.000-04:00

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

2011-10-10T22:10:00.026-04:00

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

2011-10-07T15:46:00.106-04:00

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

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

2011-10-06T12:28:00.009-04:00

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

2011-10-03T17:57:00.005-04:00

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.

What is going on in this picture?

2011-10-01T15:52:00.005-04:00

Maybe it will help if I show you another…

Here, let me zoom in a bit.

Doctors, maybe?

Workers in a microchip plant? Bee keepers? Nope. All those guesses are wrong.

That thing in the lower left foreground might help you figure it out.

They are…dumpling makers!

Yup, they’re churning them out as fast as they can make them at the world famous Din Tai Fung in Beijing. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to go to China this time; it was only H who went.

Apparently, Din Tai Fung (I just like saying the name) is world famous and found in many other locations too.

H said that the Hairy Crab Dumpling was the best. It’s filled to the brim (or the dumpling equivalent of a brim) with liquid (and presumably hairy crab too) and it’s boiling hot. So you have to exercise quite a lot of caution when eating it.

He didn’t get any pictures of the dumplings, but other folks have posted lots of pictures and reviews. 美味