Italian - - Page 8

by tvff

Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: New Toy

In my never-ending battle to make myself even chubbier, I am proud to say that I have a new weapon.

I finally broke out the ice cream maker that’s been sitting on the shelf for a while. This baby is super-simple to use and gives you soft-serve type ice cream in about 40 minutes. And you can pop the output in the freezer to let it set harder. I suppose you can make sorbet with this thing, too, but that would be verging on the healthy, and we don’t want that, do we?

Batch number one was a “control,” as the scientists would say, and I was happy with the process and my ability to not screw it up. I went with a simple french-style (i.e. eggs) vanilla to which I added roasted almonds at the very end.

You and I know that this will not end with a simple vanilla, right? I think it’s about time we made ice cream dangerous!

Look for more of that in the coming weeks…for now, you’ll have to tide yourself over with some smörg.

– Grub Street spots a missed opportunity for Anthony Bourdain during a recent episode of his show. Funny, Bourdain doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who would take a shot at Guy Fieri. </sarcasm>

– Guess who’s back on top: Julia Child! This is fantastic news…now a whole new generation can get into the kitchen and find ways to screw up omelets.

After the jump…Alton Brown in full-geek mode, Tom keeps cashing in and everyone loves Lidia.

in Celebs / Desserts / TV 2 comments

by Maids

Perfect Pattypans

Hey ESers, did you miss me? I missed you! I’m afraid I’ve been gallivanting about for about a month and I have severely neglected ES in the meantime (and cooking in general). I’ve been back for a week, and I must admit that my brain is a bit rusty and my cooking thus far has been less than inspired. Does that ever happen to you all after a long time away from your kitchen?

I mean I was missing my kitchen the entire time I was gone, but my cooking muses seem to have expired during my brief journey, leaving me with only enough energy to cook a few stir-fries and throw together some salads. Ugh…. Cookers’ block.

However, lucky readers, before I left for travels, I was struck by no such affliction. In fact, just before I left I hosted a dinner party for which I pulled out all the stops. With my favorite summer ingredient at the ready I made my most delicious and complex pattypan dish yet: Chickpea and Pesto Stuffed Pattypans:

in Recipe / Trends / Veggie 9 comments

by tvff

Rachael Ray’s Risotto-Free Risotto

Ladies and gentlemen, it has finally happened. After airing 24,685 (approximately) dishes that can be made in less than half an hour, Rachael Ray apparently ran out of good ideas, said “screw it,” and invented what has to be the most ridiculous pasta dish ever to grace the airwaves.

I was having such a good weekend from a culinary standpoint. I was playing tour guide around Philly for an visiting friend and it included a delicious chanterelle and bone marrow ravioli at Osteria and some fantastic gelato from Capogiro, so you can imagine my disappointment when flipped on Food Network Sunday morning and saw Ms. Ray assaulting the proud tradition of the Italian people.

Technically called “Wild Mushroom Broken Spaghetti Risotto with Arugula and Hazelnuts,” it’s basically inch-long shards of long pasta cooked by adding stock like you would to true risotto. If you’re thinking this sounds like a bad idea, you’re right. But why is this seemingly innocent dish attracting my ire?

in Celebs / TV 10 comments

by tvff

Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: Stems and All

I think I was inspired by gansie’s recent attempt at eating down the fridge to exercise a bit of frugality of my own the other night. Or maybe it was just an empty stomach and a lack of hot sausage that made me reconsider something that usually is bound for the garbage.

Monday night was pasta night in the TVFF household and the dish this week was orecchiette and broccoli rabe with olive oil and toasted garlic. Typically, that dish gets some crumbled Italian sausage to make it more substantive, but I found myself without. And so I turned to the lonely broccoli rabe stems, which I usually lop off and toss in the trash.

It took a bit of time and some tedious peeling, but what was left was the size and consistency of tender asparagus. I gave them an extra minute’s blanche and then threw them in with the florets and leaves, providing a slight crunch and a fuller meal. The net result was a very tasty dish and a guilty conscience about usually discarding a perfectly edible item.

So…any great, thrifty hints that can save you a buck and make better use of the ingredients in your kitchen? Share your frugal secrets in the comments.

Nothing ever goes to waste in the smörgåsbord!

– After the past week, I have newfound culinary respect for the President–despite my previous reservations. I had my first Five Guys experience (great burgers, even though they don’t serve medium or rare) and now the prez is grillin’ and chillin’ with Bobby Flay.

– Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali talk Italian food in Aspen. The YumSugar folks list some of the advice that they provided, although we suggest you avoid adopting Mario’s unconventional hair-care technique.

After the jump: free investment advice (which is worth every penny you paid for it), your last chance at fame and fortune (yeah, good luck with that) and Gordo runs afoul of of the bobby while pushing his pram and driving his lorry (insert additional British slang here).

in Celebs / Politics / TV 2 comments

by 80 Proof

It’s Just a Little Crush

It really wasn’t a contest. Would you rather eat pizza and get red pepper flakes stuck in your gums and feel the burn for 15 minutes or would you like to try the crushed ones on the right? Easy choice of course. I love my red pepper flakes and garlic salt on pizza (and Parmesan when available). But those round, light brown things almost ruined the experience for me. I never understood why they couldn’t be crushed up or why the containers would dribble out two or three pieces at a time. It was damn near impossible to get an even covering over a slice!

The solution after the jump…

in Uncategorized 7 comments

by tvff

What, No Breadsticks?

Edible serving vessels tend to work better in theory than in practice. That hollowed-out loaf of bread that holds your spinach dip is always a bit of a disappointment. Taco Bell has those edible salad bowls which aren’t bad until you get down below the “refried bean equator,” at which point things tend to get a bit soggy.

Have you ever been working your way through a nice serving of baked pasta, al forno for our Italian friends, and thought to yourself, “This would be so much better if I could eat the cookware?”

Well, for the low, low price of six bucks, you can live out your fantasy thanks to the folks at Domino’s Pizza. The new bread bowl pasta features one of five choices of baked pasta, including flavors such as primavera, alfredo and sausage marinara, surrounded by an edible bowl made of pizza dough. If that sounds delicious to you, then you’re likely addicted to white flour like I am.

Fortunately, I’m running a marathon this weekend, so one of these puppies will make for the perfect carbo-loading feast. And if you have a sneaking suspicion that it may not be the healthiest menu choice, wait until you hear the actual numbers…

in Cheese 9 comments

by Lyndsey

It’s All in the Crust

Editors’ Note: We can’t very well tell ya’ll about pizza and forget about the dough, now can we? Thankfully, our newest contributor, Lyndsey, is here to chime in with some thoughts on getting that crispy, crackly exterior just right.

A few years ago, my husband (then boyfriend) and I decided it was time to start inching towards healthy eating. But one of the things we were not willing to sacrifice was pizza. So instead of going to our local pizza shop and picking up a few soggy, greasy slices, we decided to start making our own pizzas from scratch. This way, we could pick and choose whatever we wanted to put on the pizza, and limit the size of the pie we made.

I’m sure many of you have had the same experience: we figured out the basics of the sauce and toppings pretty quickly, but the dough was a different story.

We started off by buying pre-made doughs from a variety of sources, including pizzerias and the
supermarket. But these were really hit or miss: sometimes the texture would be spot-on, and sometimes they would be so tough that it was almost impossible to spread the dough out into a pie shape. Here’s one of our first pizzas:

in Cheese / Recipe 6 comments