Michael Plans A Picnic, Plus WHY Can’t I Get Rachael Ray Out Of My Mind? And How To Hard Boil Eggs

To my mind, there have been two major glory days of the Food Network. The first was the introduction of Emeril, Mario and Bobby…Tyler, too, should be included in that group.

The next was just a little bit ago - glorious Ina, great Michael and gorgeous Giada. Luckily, 2 of those three are still around. They trot out Michael leftovers at improbable times, currently weekdays at 11:30am, but they’re still among the best offerings on the Food Network today. (He’s also on the Fine Living Network.)
I needed a quality food television fix as an antidote to sullying myself with a Rachael Ray recipe the other day (no matter that it turned out basically okay), so I tuned into this episode:

Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello

Gone Fishin Picnic
Pappa al Pomodoro
Corn on the Cobb Salad Wrap with Grilled Onion Blue Cheese Dressing
Aqua Fresca di Frutta

Michael is rowing on a gorgeous lake. He wearing a cute fishing vest. Which “winery lake” is he talking about, I wonder?

Back on dry land, he picks out some cheese from a well stocked shop.

In the kitchen, Michael starts the grilled onions that will go into his dressing. He cuts off both ends from large onions and slices them into ½ inch thick pieces. He puts them on a baking sheet and brushes them with olive oil (no Pam for him!) and salts and peppers both sides. He grills them on a stove top griddle for 4 minutes on each side.

For the blue cheese dressing, he mixes together lots of mayo with 1 cup of sour cream and one cup of buttermilk. He seasons it with 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, salt and pepper. (He turns down the heat under the onions.) He whisks in 12 oz. of “the best blue cheese you can find” and a couple tablespoons of olive oil.

He chops up the, by now absolutely gorgeous, grilled onions, and stirs them into the dressing. Wow!!! He pours the dressing into 3 plastic containers, 2 for his picnic and 1 for to save for later. That would be great alongside grilled flank steak and spooned onto big baked potatoes. Into the fridge they go.

Next up is a fruit water that he learned from Latin friends in the restaurant business. For the Aqua Fresca di Frutta, Michael slices the ends off of a big watermelon. He stands it up on one end and works his knife down the sides to remove the peel. He slices and dices it into large pieces.

He processes the watermelon in the food processor until the mixture is coarse, but not until completely smooth or the seeds will get bitter. He strains the liquid and adds ½ cup of sugar (optional). He adds a pinch of grey salt, fresh lime juice and 1½ cups of water to stretch it a bit. Michael pours the finished fruit water into cute plastic bottles and into the fridge.

Michael picks eggs from a hen. He’s going to hard boil them for a salad wrap. Let’s see if his way is the same as mine.

He puts 3 eggs in cold water. OOPS! It’s different already. He says to bring them just to the boil, turn them off, cover the pot and leave them for 15 minutes; then plunge them ice water. I hate that method. As Democrats say about John McCain, you can like the man, but hate his policies: I LOVE Michael, but hate his way of hard boiling eggs.

Ina does this too, but curiously she boils them for 5 minutes and leaves them for only 5 minutes. This is what I said about her approach. The same applies to Michael’s:

I don't like this method. I think the time it takes for the water to come to the boil can vary so much from stove to stove that I prefer my own foolproof way. I bring a big pot of water to the boil. I pour in a smidgen of vinegar (white or apple cider vinegar), which will set the white immediately if an egg should crack. Then, very carefully I lower the eggs into the water. After the water comes back to the boil, I cook the eggs for exactly 11 minutes. Then I plunge them into a bowl of ice and water. Voila - perfectly cooked eggs.

Michael’s grilling chicken for his wraps. He seasons boneless chicken breasts with the skin still on. I guess we’ll be doing our own boning.* Actually, the recipe says SKINLESS chicken breasts.

He reminds us to season them on BOTH sides “always, always, always” and he “hits” them (WHY am I using a Rachaelism HERE – when I’m with a King Of Cuisine?) with a bit of olive oil, also on both sides. They go onto a hot grill pan, which reminds me of the concept that as long as you oil the food, you don’t have to oil the grill or spray it with Pam.

He cooks the chicken 4 to 5 minutes on each side. He turns off the boiling eggs. He fishes them out and places them in an ice water bath. He breaks one open to prove to us that there are no grey lines in the yolk.

MC dices the chicken into big pieces and breaks up the yolks and chops the whites.

He tells us his next dish is not really a soup, and it’s not really a salad, but something in between. Why do I hear “Stoup, Stoup” echoing in my brain?!! Make it stop! OMG, I’m just scared that Rachael has infiltrated the American psyche, MY psyche!, to the point where I’ll be thinking WWRD? WWRD?

Concentrate, that’s what I have to do. Concentrate on Michael’s steady hand as he guides us faultlessly through his recipes.

He chops an onion and tells us how Italian cooking is about preserving fresh food to have it later, like prosciutto or olives; or preserving leftovers to serve them again in a different guise. This Pappa al Pomodoro is basically a leftover tomato sauce served the next day in a different way.

Michael dices the onion in the beautiful classic way and adds 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 sliced garlic cloves to a pan. He adds the onions and tossy tosses the pan. Gosh, I miss that. NO ONE does a better toss than Michael Chiarello. He adds a bit of salt and then chopped tomatoes. He brings it up to the boil.

He pours 2 cups of water over ½ pound of stale ciabatta (with the crust). He works that together and tears the bread up over the tomatoes with the water. He cooks it until the bread is completely incorporated, about 7 or 8 minutes. MC says you shouldn’t be able to tell where the bread ends and the tomatoes start. He adds a cup of chopped basil, pepper, and some fancy schmancy olive oil. He simmers it for 10 minutes more.

After a break, we come back to that shop and see the prosciutto being sliced (beautifully). He puts EVOO in the pan. (DID YOU HEAR WHAT I JUST SAID?” Things are worse than I thought.)

Michael shows us his bundt pan trick of getting corn off the cob, so that "you don’t have a yard sale of corn kernels”. He places the shucked ear in the center of bundt pan, which holds it in place. Then he cuts down the ear on all sides and the pan catches all the corn, so it doesn’t spray everywhere. Very clever.

The prosciutto stops making noise in the pan. Michael says it's just like when kids are playing in the other room and suddenly you don’t hear anything. He checks them and moves them around a bit. (The prosciutto, not the kids.)

He adds the corn to a big rectangular plastic container tipping it into the corner and pushing it into place with watercress. He adds the chicken and then the eggs and then diced romaine lettuce. The prosciutto gets quiet again, he takes it off.

Michael dices avocados and tomatoes and mixes in lime juice. That goes into the container with sliced iceberg lettuce. The prosciutto goes in last and because it’s filled up so tight, nothing will move. For seasoning, he mixes grey salt and pepper together.

He packs up the Pappa al Pomodoro into little containers, sprinkles some cheese over and tops it with a tiny bit of EVOO. I can’t stop.

He's even bringing warms towels. He pours boiling water over towels in another plastic container. He folds them tightly and wraps each one in foil, and replaces the lid. He packs everything up.

THAT is some spread. Most people would be lucky to get a hard pretzel and some Gulden’s, so this will be deluxe.

Over at the lake, there’s Michael in his little vest and geeky fishing hat. He’s so cute. He seems to have picked up these random young folks to join him.

Michael says he has a great ant repellent - peppercorns, chili powder OR cinnamon. He sprinkles cinnamon on the ground all around the blanket. For mosquitoes, he says to put basil around the perimeter. Then he starts zesting a lemon all around their picnic spot. He’s kind of like the goofy uncle at every family gathering.

He fills tortillas with lettuces, avos and tomatoes, chicken, prosciutto bits and a little dressing. He folds one side over, then the bottom, then the top and rolls tight. His guests all take BIG bites. They like the aqua fresca and the tomato soup. He presents them with the warm towels. They’re all happy.

The only misstep of this episode was that that huge chicken wrap was much too big a lunch for their relatively small outlay of energy. All they did was fish for five minutes. Why not hike around the lake a bit, or at least stroll to the water and back? It would probably make the food even more Yum-O. Oh gosh, what is happening to me?

*My kids find it incredibly funny, when I talk about chicken and boning. I can’t imagine what they’re thinking, but whenever I bring up BONING a chicken, much hilarity ensues. They implore me to use the expression “DEBONING a chicken” instead.

Michael, I Miss You

Since Michael Chiarello has been moved to no cook's land on the Food Network - 7 am on weekend mornings and 11:30 am during the week - I've been keeping in touch with the flawless chef by means of his NapaStyle newsletter, which comes to my inbox with great frequency.

You may remember that I am the fortunate owner of a spectacular knife holder from NapaStyle that I use with great jubilation. (The sad thing is I'm not kidding. I really do exult everytime a knife or long skewer is required.)

Anyway, I noticed a blurb on pizzas in this newest newsletter. MC was trying to sell his outdoor pizza oven, which I'm not in the market for, but this recipe looks great.

Michael also has what looks to be many hundreds of recipes on this online catalog site, which are beautifully organized by courses, ingredients and other specifications as well. It's actually very easy to use and rather impressive. I know he's trying to sell us stuff, but he's doing a good job at getting alot of information across.

There is a fairly rudimentary blog too, where Michael talks about what's going on, business-wise mainly (DARN!), but he DOES mention that he's working on a new television show. I'm thinking it won't be on the Food Network, but who knows?

Is it a shame that a chef we've come to know from the Food Network is shilling his wares in a catalog and website? For me, no, I'll take him any way I can get him...

The Flimflam Food Network

There's NO Michael Chiarello to be found on the FN this morning. Imagine my horror when I turn it on and check the listings. There is a RR special(!!!), which is not only NOT Michael, but horrid as well. I can't have been dreaming when I saw Easy Entertaining listed at 11:30, can I? I think they're practicing the old bait and switch. Well, it didn't work. I'll go nag my kids until Giada at noon.

UMMMM...after some more intensive research, it seems THAT I WAS WRONG. Yes, it's true. And I'd like to offer the Food Network a halfway formal apology (only about THIS). It seems that the schedule I was looking at was FRIDAY'S, when MC was INDEED on at 11:30. BUT why did Friday's schedule come up as TODAY'S, after 1 am??! Then it's Saturday, genuises. I do apologize, but I'm not changing my headline...

Thank You Food Network!!!

For some inexplicable reason, when I was checking the Food Network schedule for Saturday on the digital cable program listing thingie, it kept saying To Be Announced.

Just now, when I looked at the FN website, it says MICHAEL IS ON AT 11:30 am! Could it be?!! Have they finally listened to reason and brought my California cowboy back where he belongs? Actually I prefer 1 pm, but I'll take 11:30 am. And just because there's a review on the website of one of the recipes from 2005(!), I still don't care. A 2 year old Michael episode is worth more than a brand new one from...well, so many of the current FN hosts...I won't even go into it. Thank goodness harmony is being restored in the universe.

I better not get up in the morning to find a different program schedule...If I see Ingrid's face at 11:30, I will be in a tizzy from here to South Beach.

Giddy Up, Michael

Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello

Spaghetti Western
Skillet-Fried Corn and Tomatoes
Meatballs in BBQ Gravy
Grilled Spaghetti
Grilled Roasted Garlic-Rosemary Bread

To get the recipes:
Click here

Michael is doing a tribute to the spaghetti westerns that he's loved all his life. His homage involves taking some Italian dishes and giving them a Western spin, including GRILLING spaghetti. THIS, I have to see.

MC cuts 1 pound of bacon into lardons. He's making a kind of sofrito base. "The ORDER your ingredients go in is as important as what your ingredients are." I couldn't have said it any better myself. In fact, I recently ranted about that. Michael adds some olive oil to the pan, so the bacon doesn't stick. While that's cooking, he chops his vegetables to show us the most time-efficient way to do stuff. That's just one reason he can be called chef.

Garlic goes in first to get lightly browned. Make sure you keep a good watch on that, because it can burn in an instant, bitter-izing the entire dish. Then he adds his onions, celery and carrots to the bacon and, lastly, rosemary, so that it gets "cooked in" with the vegetables. THIS is the order he's talking about.

He stirs the pot, telling us to use a little bit of shoulder and a little bit of elbow "to really get down into the pot with your wooden spoon“. He stirs vigorously to get all the brown bits off the bottom. He cooks it 6 to 7 minutes until the veggies are light brown and adds 3 tablespoons of vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar and a little glass of Chianti to make an agridulce sauce. He boils away the wine until “just its bare essence is left. (Plus) the acid of the vinegar and wine has cleaned the bottom of the pan.”

Michael adds tomato paste, which he tells us is tomato juice, which has had all its liquid removed, and stirs for a minute. Then he adds a can of chipotle chilies (smoked jalapenos in adobo sauce) and chopped tomatoes in their own juice. (Never buy tomatoes in purée, he advises us. It's too sweet.) He adds salt and pepper and cooks the sauce for 1 to 1 ½ hours.

For the meatballs, he places 1 pound of ground sirloin in a bowl. He adds chopped onion and garlic (from his choppie chop). The other ingredients for the meatballs make up a long list: oregano, dry breadcrumbs, egg, a dash of woooshie sauce (just kidding, but he did stumble on the pronunciation a bit) plus salt, pepper, parsley and basil, which has also been choppie-chopped.

Wait, he’s not done yet. A couple tablespoons of Parmesan go in. His secret ingredient is a half cup of cold water to keep the meatballs moist. (I use ketchup in mine for that.) He squishes all the ingredients together. “Here’s the big controversy. Do you fry them or boil them?” Oh my, I didn’t know THAT was even an issue.

Remember when I ripped into Rachael for lazily throwing her meatballs into the sauce without browning them first? Well, my, gosh, is it possible?…Could it be?…Was I wrong to malign RR? MC says that he doesn’t brown his either. He POACHES them…in water. Huh??! Whah? Never heard of that.

You know, there’s stuff I know, a lot of stuff, but there is also stuff I don’t know and I will never pretend to know something I don’t. THIS I’ve never heard of. THAT’S the reason I like to watch the Food Network in the first place - to learn something new - which IS becoming much rarer these days.

Okay, back to the action. Michael pours water into a wide sauté pan and brings it to a simmer. He wets his hands well and forms large meatballs. He places them in the barely simmering water. They steam for 30 to 35 minutes. How do I feel about this? I am not so sure. I trust MC, of course, his cooking is unimpeachable, but STEAMING meatballs???

We come back from a break to see a gorgeous horse being saddled. Saddle ‘em up, Michael! Oh, it’s woman…A pretty one.

Michael starts preparing the corn dish. He places an ear of corn in the center of a bundt pan and cuts off the kernels, letting them fall into the pan. Very clever. He minces half a Serrano chili, seeds and all. Hey, lookie here! (Not to sound like Ingrid.) Michael is chopping his garlic clove the way you classically chop an onion. His masterful horizontal, then vertical slicing results in a tiny perfect dice. I never thought of doing it that way.

I must say, I almost always use a garlic press and I also remove the green stem. Old wives tell us that that is the indigestible part of the garlic clove.

Michael puts some extra virgin olive oil in a pan. He adds the garlic. He tells us to tilt the pan bringing all the oil to the edge, so the garlic cooks in a kind of bath of oil. This prevents it from burning. So clever.

Next the chilies go in, then the ears of corn. He shakey shakes the pan. Do it, Michael! (He’s the best tosser of ingredients in a sauté pan on the FN). He adds salt and pepper. HEY! INGRID! He’s seasoning his layers. Watch and learn!

He adds 2 cups of tomato puree. No spoon for him…just shakey shake.

Michael tells us about a quick way to roast garlic. He puts 10 cloves of garlic in a little frying pan with ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil. He turns the heat to high and when the garlic begins to bubble, he turns it down. The cloves get turned once and cooked low and slow for 7 or 8 minutes.

The meatballs look exactly how you think steamed meatballs would look: grey and institutional. But the sauce is SO robust, it just may be ok.

He puts the corn in a Le Creuset type pan, so it can be kept hot on the grill. He adds butter and chives to the top and will stir them in just before serving.

The meatball water (ewww!) goes into the sauce to thin it a bit. MC places the meatballs in another Le Creuset pot and pours the smoky pasta sauce over. While he boils the pasta, he removes the roasting garlic from the pan. He smashes it in a mortar and pestle with salt and pepper and the rosemary that he rescued from the garlic pan. He beats in one stick of unsalted butter to finish up the garlic butter.

Michael cuts a baguette in half lengthwise. He drizzles the bread with the oil left in the garlic pan. Yum! Then he spreads over the garlic butter AND THEN he sprinkles over ½ cup of Parmesan cheese. He puts it back together. “That’s a manwich.” Right you are, Michael. He wraps the whole thing in foil.

We come back to Michael riding his horse with some babe and a really cute dog. Oh, he tells us it’s his friend, Janet Trefethen. Trefethen is the winery where he tapes his shows. “She’s the fifth in the world on 3rd year cutting horses.” I have no idea what that means, but it sounds impressive.

Michael has brought everything out to the grill. The spaghetti is cooked half-way and tossed with some olive oil. He places it on a grill pan on the barbecue and actually cooks it on the grill for 3 or 4 minutes.

Janet leads the horse over. Michael says to think of the spaghetti like fried Chinese noodles - brown, crispy and smoky. Okay, I get what he’s after now. He places the spaghetti in a bowl and ladles some sauce and meatballs over, mixing well. “Anyone can WATCH a spaghetti western, we wanted to see if we could actually cook one,” he explains to Janet.

She pours the Trefethen Merlot. It looks like a 2003. (I saw the bottle…I couldn’t tell when they poured it, for goodness sake.) He adds a little Parmesan on top, serves Janet the Western Spaghetti, corn and garlic bread and they enjoy a great lunch, inches from their horses, vineyards and the beautiful landscape of Napa.

From The Ridiculous To The Sublime - Ingrid Hoffman to Michael Chiarello

I have to take real exception with the awful, terrible, embarrassingly bad review that Ingrid Hoffman's show got in the New York Times this morning. It's just not true that Giada "is merely a good-looking woman with a mortar and pestle in comparison." Everything else, though, that Ginia Bellafante wrote is pretty darn accurate. (Read it quick, before they yank it off their website.)

She says Ingrid cooks with her entire body. If you're throwing absolutely everything into it, shouldn't the final product reflect massive effort? Bellafante highlights, in particular, her shrimp, ketchup and brandy dish, saying "no two of (these ingredients) I'd ever consider in concert."

She points out that in Ingrid's little world, EVERYTHING is great, every recipe turns out absolutely "yummy'. We know, from watching, that that's a complete untruth. If you grimace as you're watching her put these things together, then there's no way you can taste them without wincing.

Simply Delicioso is simply another example of the dumbing down of The Food Network, which is why we have to hold tight to the quality that's still there.

Speaking of top of the line...a quick aside about Mike...How did I miss this very nice Reuters interview with Michael Chiarello 2 weeks ago? The most interesting part of it is when he is asked how he feels about fusion cuisine (among my most favorite type of restaurants).

Mike says "When you cook food that has a history and a point of view, it lasts with you much, much longer. If you have a fusion dish, it may taste awesome, but I'm likely going to wake up the next morning and forget what I ate. I don't want mung bean in my marinara sauce."

While I don't agree with him, I do like it when a chef has a definite point of view. I think it only helps the overall vision of his food. But...if he ever asks, just tell him you have no clue what I think about fusion food - and that probably I don't like it that much.

Oh, what we do for those we love...

The Talented Men Of The Food Network - Part One: Michael Chiarello

Plus A Note On Dave Lieberman's Razzin'

Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello

Drive-in Movie Night
Brown Butter Fruit Tart
Shrimp Po'Boys with Angry Mayonnaise
Warm Basil Gnocchi Salad with Carpaccio of Tomatoes

To get the recipes:
Click here

It IS rather ridiculous that we have to search around for new shows of Michael Chiarello's and that we find them at 8:00 AM on Sunday's!!! I'm not saying we should feel sorry for MC. He's plenty busy. He's got his Napastyle retail food, furniture and cool stuff enterprise. He's got his family winery. He's got his Fine Living Network show (IF you can find that on your channel line-up. And many of those shows are unwatchable, because he has that thing on his face.) But it's not him, it's OURSELVES that I feel sorry for.

I taped his show and I caught the last few minutes of Dave Lieberman. He's in an even worse time spot than Mike - SEVEN THIRTY AM on Sunday!!! I did not enjoy his show at all, even the little I saw of it. To be fair, perhaps it puts the host at a tremendous disadvantage when you watch only the last few minutes of his or her cooking show. (Having said that, I never feel that way about Ina or Giada or Mike.)

Anyway, I caught Dave just as he was stirring a yogurty type dip. The mixture made, frankly, a very unfortunate sounding noise. Think whoopee cushion meets Blazing Saddles. Okay, not quite that bad, but bad enough for me to notice. That really should have been picked up on.

I know a lot of you out there really like Dave Lieberman. I think he's nice and knowledgeable. I'm sure he would be a great friend to add to one's group, plus he's heads above some recent additions to the FN, but, for me, he has no pop. I also didn't like the way he said "flavel" for "falafel". He WAS lunching with 2 babes, though...

At last, on to Mike. It's Movie Night with MC providing a Drive-In Dinner. Ooooh, I'd like to nibble in the front seat of a convertible with the chef...on the chef...by the chef.

We're in the kitchen with His Chefliness. One hand egg cracking. So casual, so perfect...right into the mixer bowl. He beats it until triple in volume with "nice air in the mix." He shows us how pale yellow and fluffy it is. Sometimes I'm confused about which beater to use with the KitchenAid. He's using the whisk, not the flat beater. I guess it's because he wants to add in so much air.

He adds 3 tablespoons of butter to a hot pan. After it melts, he raises the heat to brown it.

He adds flour and vanilla to the eggs. My gosh, even his asides are valuable. He tells us to make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to get all the flour, because there's only 1/3 of a cup in there. If you lose the flour on the sides, you'll change the ratio of the recipe. My goodness, that's profound.

I feel as if he's just told us something far more important than a trick for a tart filling. "Don't forget to scrape down the sides of the bowl," feels like a life lesson. Don't forget the little things, don't neglect the details that make stuff turn out better. His wisdom goes far beyond his cooking skills.

Mike finishes browning the butter. He pours it into a glass to cool and then he slowly drizzles it into the egg mixture with the mixer going.

He takes out puff pastry that he's bought from a bakery. He lines a removable bottom tart pan and trims off the edges. Bake the trimmings with sugar and cinnamon for the kids, he tells us. Michael then explains that the steam from the butter creates an area of air between each layer of dough as it bakes. So he pricks the bottom of the pastry, so the steam will be released and the crust won't puff up too much. He weights it with beans and bakes it blind.

Next we see Michael picking lemons off a tree. (The only things I can pick off my trees are gypsy moths and they don't make a very good filling.) He zests the lemons to add to the egg mixture. He tops the shell with berries and spreads over the "buttah battah". He bakes it at 400 deg F for 20 minutes. Wow, I want him, I mean that.

He starts his "Angry Sauce". What an evocative name for a highly spiced sauce! Into 1/2 cup olive oil, he places 12 cloves of thinly sliced garlic. "This is garlic as an ingredient." Whoa, Nellie, that'll be strong. He cooks them until they are light brown.

He slices a Serrano chili. "If you'd rather have mayonnaise maybe just upset, instead of angry, you can back off the chili a little bit." No, Michael, I want to go all the way. He readies basil leaves and zests an orange, not with the microplaner, but with a zester to make LONG strands. (He's thought of everything.) He adds the chilies to the pan, "You get the flavor of the chilies stretched out throughout the oil." He adds the basil and stands back, while the moisture from the leaves makes the oil sizzle. He cooks it until crispy and seasons with salt and pepper.

Michael remarks that Po'Boys are southern sandwiches usually made with fish. His are from the south too...the south of Italy...spiced up with his Arrabbiata Sauce. The orange zest goes into the garlic mixture with fresh lemon juice. After it's cooled a bit, he adds the entire "angry mixture" to 2 cups of mayonnaise.

As he retrieves the shrimp, he tells us to keep our seafood "as cold as possible, as long as possible to keep it as fresh as possible." He explains what 16/20 prawns means. (You get 16 to 20 prawns per pound BEFORE they're peeled.)

He places Wondra flour on a baking sheet, which he describes as "gravy flour". It doesn't lump up or get gummy. He adds salt and pepper and a lot of chili powder - "just something to move the flavor up a little bit."

He throws the shrimp on top and, with tongs, coats them well with the flour. He shallow fries the shrimp in one layer in hot oil, as he tells us that the name "Po'Boys" came from the '20's in New Orleans, when the street car workers were on strike. Various restaurateurs would feed them sandwiches from their back doors, saying, "Here are those "Po'Boys again." After the shrimp are browned (beautifully), he goes tossy toss with them in his large sauté pan (effortlessly).

He moves on to his gnocchi salad, which is basically a pasta salad made more interesting with the addition of gnocchi. He lays out sliced tomatoes, which I thought were going to get roasted, but it's just a way of seasoning them more efficiently. He bangs lemons together to coax more juice from them and uses 5 tablespoons for the dressing. He adds salt to the lemon juice "so it can melt " inside the dressing and whisks in 2/3 cup olive oil. (Of course, I would use my blender here.)

He salts and peppers the tomatoes AND lettuce. Have you ever seen anyone salting lettuce? What a pro. He seasons each layer of ingredient. He spoons the dressing over the tomato and the arugula (I guess he mistakenly identified it the first time. The recipe calls for "salad greens".)

Michael tells us to go the Food Network website (that's a first, isn't it?) to get his gnocchi recipe. Does he know how painful it is to search for anything on their website? Luckily, they're included the entire gnocchi recipe within the recipe for the gnocchi salad, so you don't have to stress.

MC suggests making a full batch of gnocchi and then freezing half. He cooks them for 90 seconds after they come up to the boil. He will be serving them at room temperature. "I do NOT like cold pasta at all, but I do not mind room temperature pasta." Me too, well, not really, but that's what I'll tell him, if he asks. He seasons the gnocchi "I season every component along the way. That's one of those habits from my restaurant life." See, I told you. "That way, every bite you take is seasoned...just perfect."

The dressing goes on the gnocchi. "As (they) cook, they're going to absorb the dressing." He arranges the platter gorgeously. The toms go on the bottom, greens on top and the gnocchi on top of that with a few shaving of ricotta salata. There is nary a frozen ice cube flower in sight.

To assemble the Po'Boys, he likes to hollow out the roll a bit, so the shrimp don't fall out all over the place. Good tip. He spreads the roll with the angry mayonnaise.

Do you think we could let our families and friends know the kind of mood we're in by the mayo we make? Angry Mayo for when there's something wrong, maybe a Curry Mayo when we're in a more mellow mood, an herby one for when we're feeling energized and invigorated.

The tomatoes go over the mayo and then the chiffonade of lettuce, a lot, salt and pepper, then the fried shrimp. "You're gonna be feelin' rich, not poor" after this sandwich.

The movie goers are watching a Mars movie, while eating the gnocchi and Po'Boys. Michael serves slices of the tart with a topping of marscapone mixed with a touch of vanilla as the episode ends.

My review? 3 thumbs up. Marvelous recipes, great leading man, and so much to learn from him.

Meatloaf And Blog Etiquette

I was leaving Steen, over at Side Order Of Ham, a comment, a really long comment, and then it went bye bye...never to reappear. AAARRRGGGHHH!!! It occurred to me that someone was trying to tell me something and that it might be sorta rude to pontificate in such large doses on someone else's blog.

So here's the post I was writing about and here's my comment...in my own space:

I agree about writing down recipes. I now write in my cookbooks when I make changes to a recipe (which is almost always), or if I think I should change it next time.

Too bad about the phantom meatloaf. He was probably just making it up.

The best meatloaf ever is The Italian Meatloaf from the second Silver Palate Cookbook. You make your meat mixture, pat it out into a rectangle and cover it with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil leaves and smoked mozzarella. THEN YOU ROLL IT UP and place it on a baking sheet or roasting pan and bake it. OMG. It is the truly awesome. And as you cut it, you get these gorgeous spirals of delicious things studded into each slice.

When I make just a normal run of the mill meatloaf – 1 grated carrot, 1 grated zucchini, 2 or 3 slices of whole wheat bread zapped into crumby submission, a bunch of meat, a big squirt of ketchup and one egg - I form it into a loaf and…if you tell anyone I said this, I’ll deny it…I spread a half can of condensed tomato soup on the top and bake it. It’s really good and I don’t normally condone condensed soup under any circumstances.

Now, now...don't be scared of baking. The key is practice, practice, practice. And if you could bake next to someone who knew something that would help too. What's the worst thing that could happen anyway? You have a lot of mess to clean up. Plus baking bread IS hard. There are so many variables.

I love mushrooms too and subscribe to Michael Chiarello’s philosophy. Cook them hot and don’t touch them after they’ve been turned in the oil until they're browned and crusty. THEN turn them. Yum. Gotta go and get me some.

Note On Napa: Dumb Me

I still remember my first visit to Napa, about 11 years ago, and a meal at Tra Vigne. I ordered the transcendent risotto, which had an intentional puddle of olive oil, new to me at the time. I learned a decade later that it most likely was prepared by a chef, who was none other than Michael Chiarello, arguably the cutest and among the most accomplished of the Food Network chefs. He was at the time chef-owner of Tra Vigne. He is no longer.

This is why I could KICK myself. While scouting around for MC on the Food Network website (not an easy task these days), I found this sentence - "Easy Entertaining is shot on the grounds of the Trefethen Winery".

WHAT?! We must have passed their gates SIX TIMES when we were in Napa!!!!! How could I not have known that?! I don't think they would have let me see the kitchen, much less stroke a choppy chop or pot that he had used, but I could have at least taken a picture and said "Inside these gates is where Michael weaves his magic." Ah well... I guess I shouldn't despair about the road not taken...especially on a trip that had so many other rewarding elements.

Michael, Where Are You?

Seriously, those folks at the Food Network are spending so much time with their little Food Network Star contest that they seem to be absolutely daft when it comes to their current schedule.

I've already expressed my displeasure at them moving Michael Chiarello from MY prime viewing time of Saturday afternoons to Sunday afternoons. But I do understand that sometimes, just sometimes, it's not all about me. HOWEVER, NOW they've moved him to Sunday's at 8 AM!!! If that's not a diss, I don't know what is.

Who in their right minds is interested in watching FISH TACOS at eight in the morning?! NObody. They think they've placated his fans by also running his shows at 3 pm on weekdays. That's even worse.

Michael, I know you have your winery and your store and there's always NapaStyle on TV, but to me, you'll always be my Easy Entertaining guy and I don't like that fooled with.

Michael Chiarello With His Always Delicious Ideas

Did you catch Michael Chiarello's story in August's Bon Appetit? He gives us great recipes for uncooked sauces for pastas and other summer entrees. The only problem is that there isn't ONE picture of the cute chef, except on the contributor page. AND it's not hallmarked as one of their feature stories. Hurrumph!

Michael Chiarello Spins A Spanish Spread

Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello

Vacation Celebration
Paella Italiana
Sliced Orange Salad with Sauteed Olives and Ricotta Salata
Sparkling Sangria
Serrano Ham and Manchego Cheese Plate

To get the recipes:
Click here

Back from visiting his daughter in Spain, Michael brought back some recipes that he’s adapted to his own way of cooking.

MC starts with an Italian spin on paella, explaining that “paella is to Spain what risotto is to Italians,” and that each region puts its own spin on the dish. Today he’s using chicken, sausage and shrimp. He dices his vegetables – onions, celery, and carrots - very finely. I must say, I don’t remember EVER seeing celery or carrots in a paella, but we must remember he’s doing this Italian style.

Michael heats his Dutch oven and adds ¼ cup olive oil. Obviously, if he WERE making real paella, he would use a wide shallow pan that doesn’t have to have a particularly thick base. In fact, the crust that develops on the bottom is the most prized part of the paella. Michael DOES say not to use a nonstick pan, so you get some browning action.

He seasons his chicken breast pieces with salt and pepper. Now this IS interesting. He almost never uses boneless chicken breasts. They certainly wouldn’t in Spain, but HERE he is. Curious. He adds his chicken to the hot pan, telling us to make sure to add them in one layer, so they don’t steam. He cooks them until lightly browned and then adds the sausages briefly.

He got his fish guy to peel the shrimp for him. Michael seasons the shrimp and adds it to the pan. Then he adds oregano and some yummy smoked paprika (my favorite spice at the moment). He stirs well to flavor the food AND the oil. He takes out the chicken, sausage and shrimp and puts them on a baking sheet. His thinking here is that he doesn’t want to overcook them, so he’s going to add them toward the end of the rice’s cooking time.

Mike adds his beautifully diced vegetables to the fragrant and wonderfully flavored oil. This IS going to be good. He sweats the vegetables on a medium low heat until they’re soft, but not brown.

Luckily, we have a split second worth of macho food professionals bonding, as he buys cheese and tastes Serrano ham.

MC moves on to the heart of the paella, which is the rice. He’s using Arborio. As long as you use a short-grain rice, you’re ok. He adds it to the pan, cooking it for 30 to 40 seconds to pick up all the flavors on the bottom of the pan. (The recipe says one minute. In Spain, it could be as long as 5 minutes or as short as just coating the rice with oil. One to two minutes is a good compromise.)

He adds his stock all at once, plus a can of tomatoes. He seasons liberally saying “We're going to want to season this, 'cause we have only one chance to get salt inside the rice.” He adds saffron, discussing its rare provenance. The mixture gets brought to the boil, covered and placed in a 350 deg F. oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Our host goes on to an easily arranged appetizer of Serrano ham, “the Spanish version of prosciutto.” He tells us that the difference between the two is that the Spaniards "use a different pig than the Italians. They use a white pig (which) is only fed on acorns" and is aged for 9 months. Then he tells us that the Italians porkers are also fed acorns, so the point is...? He says that the Serrano ham tastes much sweeter. (Actually, I understood that only the most luxurious of the Serrano hams comes from acorn-fed pigs and in Italy, the big guys are fed all kinds of different things, depending on the region.)

The Serrano ham gets arranged on the plate, followed by Manchego cheese, made for sheep's milk from the La Mancha region of Spain. (You may substitute a pecorino from Italy). He scatters the manchego over the prosciutto. Before serving, he’ll drizzle over a bit of extra virgin olive oil.

He’s outside gathering fresh oranges and dill.

Michael takes out the rice and adds the chicken, sausage and shrimp on top with all their juices. Covers and puts the pan back in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes.

I do have something to say about this dish and I’m saying it directly to the chef. Michael, baby, those of us who follow you are up for a bit of a challenge. We could have handled learning how to make a real paella. (I’m not bragging, but I do make quite a good one.) You could have put your Italian Stallion mark on it, and still cooked it in the traditional way. This dish, while quite tasty (I made it 2 days ago… sorry…sans photos) is basically a creamy pilaf. The rice in a paella should have a bit of a bite, because of the cooking technique of bringing it to the boil initially, and then finishing it, UNCOVERED, in the oven.

Let’s move on to Michael’s colorful accompaniment - an orange and olive salad. He starts by removing the peel from 2 oranges in strips. (Don’t get any of the white bitter pith in there.) He juliennes them VERY finely. I would (in fact I DID) use HALF the amount of orange zest. He pits the cured olives in an interesting way, by smashing each one with his thumb and squeezing out the pit. They get cut in half. He chops rosemary…not as finely as the recipe suggests…and cooks it in hot oil until it begins to crisp, less than 30 seconds. He adds the olives and orange peel and seems to cook it a bit longer than the few seconds called for in the recipe. He does his fancy tossing action and sets the pan aside.

He juices a pair of oranges and adds salt to the juice, so it will dissolve before the oil goes in. MC eyeballs the fresh orange juice and adds twice the amount of olive oil.

To get nice orange slices, he cuts both ends of the oranges off and then removes the peel in strips by running his knife down the sides of the orange. He halves the peeled fruit lengthwise and slices them thinly. Those go into a bowl with the spinach. The olive mixture from the frying pan goes in with the dressing. He tosses and plates the salad. Then he GRATES (that’s different) ricotta salata over the top. He loves “the tangy citrus with salty olives and sweet spinach.” I made this salad and I LOVED the olive component. The dressing was blah, however, so I added a touch of balsamic vinegar, which did perk it up. Next time I think I’ll just use my regular vinaigrette. Or maybe I would add a bit of those wonderful new oils, an orange flavored oil would be divine.

Michael moves on to the cocktail, which is inspired by the Spanish Sangria. I like how he’s doing this. He's mixing the base of the drink in a large clear glass bowl, from which he'll serve. He stirs together ¼ cup sugar with 1 cup brandy. “The brandy is hiding behind the sugar, no one can really taste it.” He adds ½ cup orange liqueur and a sliced lime, lemon and orange. A container of raspberries goes on top. Then he pours in 2 bottles of Cava. He serves it over ice in wine glasses with a bit of fruit in each glass. How fabulous it that?!

The friends snack on the prosciutto. Did he think we wouldn't recognize Koerner Rombauer??? Of course, we did. (He wanted us to, too).* They all love the paella. Michael toasts Koerner “Salute! 100 years!” For you, too, my chef.


*Okay, so I replayed it over and over again, until I could read his shirt that said Rombauer Vineyards...and how many Koerners could there be?

Giada Entertains Us With Her Stuffed...Mushrooms

Everyday Italian with Giada De Laurentiis

Great Weekend Hors d' Oeuvres
Polenta and Chicken Tartlets
Tuscan Mushrooms
Mediterranean Bruschetta
Pizza Pockets

To get the recipes:
Click here

The show begins with Giada signing books for her public. She does seem quite lovely to people.

Back to the kitchen, she's doing elegant hors d'oeuvres today. Why is my husband lurking in front of the television? Oh, cleavage check. I should have known.

She goes on, “You don’t need fancy ingredients to make elegant hors d'oeuvres." (Is that a see-through top?) I kinda think it is.

She begins by cooking sausages in olive oil. BTW, the sausage is out of its casing. Meanwhile, she mixes 4 oz of cream cheese with Parmesan and a little salt and pepper. She pushes at it rather ineffectually with a spatula. Maybe room temperature cream cheese would have helped.

She ANNOUNCES that she's making an egg wash. Well, that IS good news, but I'm not sure it warranted a special mention. She beats one egg and sets it aside. She does say you may add water, but she's not. I say you SHOULD add water or milk or cream, but you and I have had this discussion before.

Guess what she's adding to the sausage now? Arugula. How could we go an entire half hour without any arugula from our Food Network hosts? She pours the contents of the sausage pan into the cream cheese. NOW it's easier to mix.

She rolls out the pizza dough. (The recipe recommends Pillsbury, but that don't look like no Pillsbury dough. It looks like real pizza parlor dough. Use whatever, but just don't tell me if it's Pillsbury.) She rolls it into a long rectangle and cuts it in half lengthwise then in half again to make 4 pieces. The RECIPE says she gets 16 rectangles out of the dough. She must be working with a smaller piece of dough.

She places 1 teaspoon of filling on one side of each rectangle. She brushes the egg wash along the edges and brings the other half of the dough over. She presses the edges well to close the pockets and then "forks" all around the edges, cutting off the excess dough. Giada brushes them with the egg wash. They get sprinkled with Parmesan and into a 400 degree Farenheit oven they go for 15 to 20 minutes.

She heats up a jarred marinara sauce and again makes an announcement: "I'm going to put them (the baked pizza pockets) on my platter." Well, I didn't expect her to serve them on the baking sheet. They do look good. She dips them into the sauce. Yum, and yes, that shirt is definitely see-through.

She's wearing a black bra under a super-thin knit black shell, worn under a print wrap-shirt. Her husband works for Anthropologie, doesn't he?

She's on to the polenta. She adds 1 pound of instant polenta to 8 cups of boiling water with a little salt. Go ahead and do it that way, but I prefer to add my water TO the polenta. I find it lumps less. She whisks it and it does look a little lumpy, but she doesn't seem to notice. She adds heavy cream and stirs it in with a wooden spoon. A whisk is just too heavy going at this point. She spreads it onto an oiled baking sheet and lets it cool for 30 minutes.

For the topping, she uses a rotisserie chicken…Scratch that, she's using the skinned breasts from a rotisserie chicken. She shreds the chicken with 2 forks and stirs in store-bought pesto with some salt and pepper. Giada makes "polenta "tartlets" with 2 inch fluted cookie cutters. They go on a platter (No announcement this time.) Note that the recipe makes A LOT - 24 tartlets. She spoons a bit of the chicken over and places a few dried cranberries on top. She tastes it. Perfect. Now THAT is a wonderful dish. It's really tasty and so pretty to look at. What more could one want?

For the next dish, Tuscan Mushrooms, Giada cuts the stems off mushrooms to ready the caps for filling. She chops 2 scallions very finely, reminding us that everything must be cut to fit into the small mushroom cap. She pits green olives by cutting down alongside the pit and chopping the resulting pieces small. She chops up roasted red peppers and adds them along with sheep’s milk Pecorino Romano, salt, pepper and a little olive oil.

She fills the mushroom caps and bakes them at 400 deg F. for 20 minutes. I would probably toss them in a bit of olive oil and seasoning before filling. Some recipes suggest baking them in advance. They come out of the oven, looking a bit shriveled, but the shredded basil that Giada adds on top improves their appearance. As she tastes, she tells us that “the salty bite from the olive and cheese kicks in.”

She moves on to the bruschetta. She oils 1/2 inch slices of bread on both sides and grills it for 3 minutes per side. HOLD ON just a minute! I want it decided here and now what the proper procedure is for preparing the bread for bruschetta. Do you OIL IT BEFORE OR AFTER?

Giada usually does it before, Michael says not to, usually. I checked the recipes of no less an authority than Mario Batali. His answer is clear. Do NOT oil the bread before toasting or grilling it. That does make sense. You don’t want to risk sodden-ness before you add the topping. And often a drizzle of olive oil goes on after. So I’ll be following his lead from now on.

Back to Giada, after the bread is done, she drizzles it with lemon juice and sprinkles over oregano. (Now I would think THAT would lead to sogginess.) She beats whole milk ricotta cheese and adds salt and pepper and chopped tomatoes, saving a bit for garnish. (She squeezed out the seeds first.) She tells us to make it ahead of time, if we wish, but to use it at room temperature. She stirs in fresh chopped mint, telling us, “You’ve got the colors of Italy right here.” She serves it in a bowl next to the grilled bread. She spoons some on the bread, tastes it crunchily and pronounces it yummy.

These recipes are her secret weapon to stress free weekday entertaining, but it’s no secret that Giada is an excellent cook, with mostly great recipes with great eye-appeal. (I'm talking about the RECIPES.)

Barbecuing By The Best - Michael Chiarello

Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello
Grilling by the Pool

Grilled Asparagus with Tangerine Mayonnaise
Marinated Grilled Shrimp Cocktail
Grilled Baby Lamb Chops with Crispy Rosemary
Pimm's Cup Cocktail

To get the recipes:
Click here

I miss Michael on Saturday's. I'm just not happy with this schedule. Guy Whomever is ok, but he's not MC.

"Grilling and summer nights go together," Michael tells us as he prepares for a grilling party he has planned by the pool. He starts with a marinated shrimp dish. A small red onion gets choppy chopped with garlic on a foldable chopping board. Cilantro is the next victim of the chopper. That gets mixed with citrus oil, lemon juice and zest. In his efficient chefly way, he zests all the lemon he needs for today's recipes, and that's A LOT. Plus he juices a bunch of lemons with a reamer.

He cuts down the back of the shrimp and removes any "smutz" and rinses them off. He covers them with marinade, warning us to leave them for no longer than an hour and a half, or we'll be left with ceviche. They get refrigerated.

He's making a "speed scratch" citrus aioli, using a commercial mayonnaise, which, to my mind, is perfectly acceptable, especially when the food may sit out for a while. There are few things MORE perishable than homemade mayonnaise. He'll actually be making that later, but here it's fine to use Hellman's. He's taken out a mortar and pestle to crush up garlic and salt. The salt will act as an abrasive and make the job easier. He adds that to the mayo with lemon juice and 12 turns of black pepper. Maybe I'll be a rebel and add 13. All done. It goes into a jar, where it can stay refrigerated for up to one week.

Michael likes to skewer the shrimp, to make it easier to deal with on a barbecue. He talks admiringly of several new skewers on the market: FLAT ones, which prevent the skewered food from rolling around, and FLAVORED ones, that are way cool. He solves the rolling problem by skewering them with TWO skewers, so they lay flat on the barbecue and you can turn them easily. Clever. He also crams on as many as possible (which is smart, if you're using fancy expensive flavored skewers). They grill for one and a half minutes on each side. Wow! They look so crusty and brown and coated with the garlicky citrusy sauce that will be amazing to eat.

We come back after a break to some very scenic hens and their eggs.

For his next dish, a tangerine mayonnaise to go with grilled asparagus, he reduces 6 cups of tangerine juice to one and a half. Believe me when I tell you that reduced tangerine juice is the bomb! It is soooo flavorful and you can very successfully use Orange-Tangerine Juice. That goes into the food processor with 3 egg yolks and salt and pepper. He processes that with tarragon and then adds 3 cups of oil with the machine running. "We nailed it," as he tastes it. Looks really good, although I'm not sure I would serve 2 mayonnaise based dishes.

On to the asparagus, Michael shows us that he finds the spot where the asparagus naturally breaks. He cuts it one inch lower than that and peels the lower third of the stem. (He likes thicker asparagus.) He blanches it for 2 minutes and lays it out on paper towels to cool. He says that an ice bath is only necessary if you have A LOT of asparagus and no room to lay them all out.

He lights candles in these lovely candle holders that go into the pool. They looked like big brightly colored fluted muffin papers (but they seem to be made of plastic). I really thought he was doing a bit of cross promotion and I would find them on his Napastyle website, but no...I couldn't find them anywhere. They looked great though.

The lamb chops are up next and MC's making a wonderful marinade and sauce. He pours one cup of olive oil into a pan and adds 12 sliced cloves of garlic and cooks them until brown. Then he adds 4 tablespoons of chopped rosemary and sautés until crispy. He pours that into a bowl and adds the zest of 6 lemons. Then he seasons a baking sheet, places lamb chops on top and seasons the top of them. That's a good way to season a lot of small piddly things at once, without having to turn each one over. He separates out some of the oil of the marinade and brushes that over the lamb chops. He's using the rest to spoon over the cooked lamb chops.

(He doesn't say in the recipe to separate it out, but, remembering food safety, you should. You don't want to eat anything that's touched raw meat if it hasn't been thoroughly cooked.)

He decides to ready the Pimm's cup before his guests arrive. He tells us that an English friend turned him on to it. I think it's a rather odd choice. I've always thought of a Pimm's Cup as something you would drink at an afternoon sporting event. Various histories of the beverage bear this out. But who am I, who likes an occasional latte later in the day than is proper, to question Michael? But I still think he could have come up with some wonderful wine or champagne based cocktail, especially considering his wine roots.

Be that as it may, he mixes up 3 cups of homemade lemonade (is there any other kind?), 3 cups of seltzer and one bottle of Pimm's, which he explains to us is flavored gin. He drops a slice of cucumber and lemon in each glass, drops in some ice and pours himself one to taste. That's gooooood.

Back with the gang. He brushes the asparagus with olive oil, salt and pepper. They go on the grill just long enough to get smoky flavored and good grill marks - less than a minute on each side. He drizzles over the tangerine mayonnaise, remember that? And sprinkles over pinenuts and tangerine segments. Plus he secretly candied some tangerine rinds and scatters those over. Wow, those asparagus are definitely ready for their closeup.

He puts the lamb chops on a smoking hot grill. Michael says the thermometer should read NUCLEAR. He cooks them on the first side until a few juices start to come up. He turns them for maybe 30 seconds on the second side. That's it. He spoons over the marinade. They look sterling and various folks refuse to move away from the lamb chop platter. I don't blame them. AS usual, all is superb. Michael combines incredible recipes with gracious entertaining. To the chef goes all the spoils, or at least very grateful guests.

Giada Dresses Up A Barbecue

Everyday Italian with Giada De Laurentiis

Dressing Up BBQ
Chicken or Steak with Balsamic BBQ Sauce
Amaretto and Raspberry Smoothie
Roman Summer Salad
Tri-Coloré Orzo

To get the recipes:
Click here

Giada's having a barbecue that's dressed up enough for a dinner party. It better be, because I've spied a celebrity as one of her guests, Mariel Hemingway. That's exciting, but I guess Giada is becoming such a celebrity herself that it's quite a coup to get a seat at her table.

She begins by making a barbecue sauce made from balsamic vinegar, which is itself made from Trebbiano grapes. 1 cup goes into the pan with 3/4 of a cup of ketchup. Giada explains that barbecue sauce from the North is tomato-based, and sauce from the South has a vinegar base. This one is a mixture of both. She stirs in brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon, garlic, salt and pepper.

She moves on to the side dish of Tri-colored Orzo, while the barbecue sauce is reducing. Giada cooks the orzo and removes it from the water using a skimmer as is her wont. I still don't know why she doesn't drain it through a colander. (Many times, she does use a little pasta water for the sauce. And sometimes she wants a little water to cling to the pasta if she's adding it directly to a sauce, but neither is the case here.) She lays the cooked orzo out on a cookie sheet to cool it faster and sprinkles over some olive oil to keep it from sticking.

She toasts pine nuts to add crunch. The orzo goes into a big bowl and now she tells us she's going to add some vibrant colors. Arugula Alert! 2 cups of the peppery green leaves go in, followed by torn up basil. Frankly, I don't like basil in such big pieces. For the red component (remember it's tri-colored) she adds dried cherries. Yeah, maybe, but maybe NOT! How about sun-dried tomatoes instead? The toasted pine nuts go in with lemon zest, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper. After tossing it together, Giada adds some crumbled ricotta salata for the white part. And there are the 3 colors.

It looks good, but frankly, there is not better orzo salad than Ina's, which has roasted vegetables and feta. I almost always leave the feta out and I would probably do the same with Giada's salad - leave the ricotta salata out. Just make you sure you season it really well, because let's face it, this doesn't have that much going for it. (Sorry, Giada, good but not great.)

We learn that when the barbecue sauce coats a spoon, it's ready. She seasons the chicken and remembers to tell us to do both sides. (I have to admit whenever that's my current task in the kitchen, it always feels like I have MC - IF ONLY - over my shoulder telling me not to skip the step of seasoning both sides.) Giada brushes the thick delicious looking barbecue sauce over the chicken. She flips it and brushes the other side.

Hygiene Alert! I would feel better if she had separated out the barbecue sauce she's using to brush on the chicken, just to be safe. Let's see what she does... She tell us to cook the chicken for 8 minutes on each side and that she's going to simmer the barbecue sauce to serve it on the side. Whew! That's good. I'm relieved she's not trying to poison her guests. The rule is that if a utensil is used on raw chicken, or meat or fish for that matter, it must not come into contact with anything that isn't being thoroughly cooked. And the sauce that had the utensil in it, which touched the raw chicken, must be boiled or discarded.

Back from a break and Giada is walking through one of the marvelous farmer's markets on the West Coast. Back at "home", she takes the chicken off the grill. Wow, what a beautiful deep color from the balsamic vinegar. She covers it with foil while she finishes up.

She making a Roman Summer Salad, so named for her aunt in Rome who makes it. She slices the most beautiful ruby red juicy tomatoes fairly thickly and arranges them on a platter. She chops Italian parsley and basil (this time finely enough for my taste). "You have to have basil with tomatoes, we all know that."

She adds capers "used all over the Mediterranean" and green and black olives. She likes green olives for their tanginess and black ones for being sweeter and tenderer. The black ones are harvested later. Who knew? She chops 3 filets of anchovies really thinly and adds them. Then she adds olive oil, pepper and no salt. Finally, she adds some balsamic vinegar - one cup that she's been reducing for 20 minutes down to 1/4 cup. Thanks for telling us. She spoons the mixture over the tomatoes. They do look sterling. That's a really easy, fast (except for the balsamic vinegar at the end) treatment of tomatoes. Great idea.

Giada tells us she's going to end her dressed-up barbecue on a high note with a Smoothie. Fresh raspberries get blended with vanilla gelato. (I can't stand raspberries that aren't strained, unless they're being served fresh.)