Hello from chilly West Chester, PA! After being postponed a week due to weather, I finally made it to QVC for a training session in preparation for a future appearance to promote the cookbook. It's going to be tough to reply to comments and emails for the next day or two, so I'll thank you in advance for your patience. Wish me luck!
I'm not saying that homemade "Good for One Full Body Massage" gift certificate you're making for your Valentine isn't going to be a huge hit, but just in case, you may want to whip up one or more of these sexy chocolate desserts. Enjoy!
Along with the chocolate come the simple additions of milk and seltzer water. The magic of this drink is how the minimalist design produces such a rich, yet refreshing chocolate beverage.
You have to be careful when making someone a homemade gift for Valentine's Day. There's a very fine line between, "Oh, you are so thoughtful, romantic, and creative!" and "You cheap bastard!
The cake in this recipe is simply acting as a pastry cream and chocolate ganache delivery system. A Boston cream pie is all about the pastry cream and ganache.
I always thought the saying should have been, "you can't have your chocolate coins and eat them too." I mean who wants to keep cake around? It gets stale.
These dense, dark, and dangerously addictive cookies feature a dose of black pepper and cayenne. If my wife, Michele, a renown foodie, calls these her favorite cookies, you know they rock!
For you single guys that aren't handsome, don't have money, and can't play a musical instrument, this may be the only arrow in Cupid's quiver. But take heart, it is a devastating weapon when used correctly.
Chocolate mousse is a surprisingly easy "fancy" dessert you can make for your Valentine's dinner. This video recipe shows my favorite basic chocolate mousse recipe, with the addition of a little dash of chipotle pepper - which really does some strange and wonderful things.
This video recipe for brown butter perch features my first on-ice cooking demonstration, and if I could've woken up before 8 AM, it would have featured my first ice fishing demonstration. I've always felt that an alarm clocks' effectiveness has an inverse relationship to how nasty the weather is.
I love perch. I love everything about them – the sweet, delicate flavor, the striking coloration, and the stubborn fight they put up for their size. So, when some friends of mine invited me out to their little slice of frozen heaven to ice fish for them, I jumped at the chance.
I will resist the temptation to steal my own thunder, and explain in detail what you're going to see. In fact, I usually only do that when I need another paragraph to wrap around a third photo I really want to add. But, I will say that the recipe you're about to see can be easily recreated in your kitchen, and is perfect for those of you who continue to claim you can't cook fish.
The key is getting the butter to a perfect nutty brown. Technically it's still butter, but something happens when it's toasted like this, and it really does become another ingredient altogether. Add some freshly-plucked-from-ice-water perch, and a little squeeze of lemon, and we're talking involuntary eye rolling.
I'd like to thank my dear old friends, the Fitzpatrick's, for inviting me to their top secret perch hole(s), and for having such incredibly cute kids. I haven’t smiled this much editing a video in a long time. Enjoy!
I feel kind of guilty. I've been publishing this blog for four years now, and I this is the first time I'm letting you in on my magical method for picking the Super Bowl winner. I can't tell you how or where I learned how to do this (long story short, I'd be killed by a very tall, dreadlocked gypsy if I did), but I can tell you it's a sure thing.
Normally, I'd never give insane advice like withdraw your children's college funds, and bet everything on the game, but here, it would be crazy not to. ;-) Enjoy!
Speaking of Buffalo Chicken Wings – They're Now Available in Convenient Dip Form
My friend, Stephanie Gallagher, About.com's Guide to Cooking for Kids, just posted this video recipe for an Buffalo Chicken Dip. If you want all the taste of Buffalo wings without the bones, check out this easy appetizer. You can get the ingredient list here.
I love clams casino, and I made that fact known publicly in this post last year. Certainly, a tray of hot clams casino would make a handsome addition to your Super Bowl spread, but large, fresh clams aren’t cheap, and you're probably looking for something a little simpler, and that can be made ahead of time.
This clam dip appetizer (which is technically a "spread" as I explain at the end of the video), contains the same basic ingredient list as traditional clams casino, and while it really tastes nothing like its hot namesake, I think any fan of the clam dip will be very happy with it.
You'll see a caption during the video saying to make the dip at least four hours ahead of time for best results. This time allows the flavors to develop and really makes a difference. What I failed to add was that you should also take the spread out of the fridge and let in sit out for an hour or so before the party, so it can warm up a bit.
By the way, if the setting looks a little unusual, that's because I'm back in New York's snowy Finger Lakes area visiting my mother, and filmed this at my Aunt Angela and Uncle Billy's home. Many of you have enjoyed Aunt Angela's cabbage rolls recipe, as well as Uncle Billy's famous Chicken D'Arduini and homemade pasta (and if you haven't, click on the links and check them out). Enjoy!
Ingredients:
2 (6.5 ounce) cans minced clams, with juice
1 pound cream cheese
6-8 strips bacon
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 jalapeno, seeded, minced
1/2 cup small diced red bell pepper
1/3 cup small diced celery
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup minced green onions, save tops for garnish
I arrived at my mom's this morning after a tiring, but uneventful red-eye flight from San Francisco. Unfortunately, it seems as though a massive blizzard is headed our way, and it looks very likely my drive down to the QVC training will be iced out.
As anyone from these parts will tell you, rain is no problem, snow is no problem, but an ice storm is another thing altogether. Freezing rain collects on trees and power lines, causing catastrophic damage as gravity and Murphy's Law do their thing. Not to mention that when it comes driving surfaces, a sheet of black ice really sucks.
I hear the blizzard will slam 2/3rds of the country over the next 3 days, so if you're in its frigid path, please be careful! In happier news, I'll be attempting to film a Super Bowl-themed clam casino dip recipe tomorrow. Stay warm and stay tuned!
I'll be grabbing a red-eye Sunday night for snowy Western New York, to spend a couple weeks visiting with my mother, Pauline, and the rest of the family. But wait, that's not all! While I'm home, I'll be driving down to West Chester, PA, to the QVC Studios to train for a future appearance to help promote the cookbook I did for Parragon Publishing (read about that here, if you're not already in the know).
Before they let you on the largest home shopping network going, you have to do a day of training to learn all the finer points of shilling, telling people that operators are standing by, and how they can afford the book by breaking up the payments into smaller, more manageable installments.
If everything goes well, I'll be appearing on the wildly popular, In The Kitchen with David. I've never seen the show, but I found this video on fellow celebrity blogger, Hungry Girl's YouTube channel. Have a great weekend, stay tuned, and enjoy!
Is there anything less inspiring than a boneless-skinless chicken breast? There must be, but for the sake of this post, let's say there's not. So, how do we turn this culinary snoozer into something worthwhile? Fry it. Hey, that was easy.
Of course, the problem here is there's no flavorful skin on which to attach a crunchy coating. To add insult to injury, the fatty skin also protects the bland breast from drying out. Despite these obvious issues I decided to attempt Southern-fried boneless-skinless chicken breasts anyway.
As fate would have it, the same day I bought the chicken, Alton Brown was doing a honey-brined pork shoulder on Good Eats. To combat the dreaded dry chicken I decided to use a simplified variation to soak my breasts.
I won't bore you with all the scientific details, but through osmosis, brining raises the internal temperature at which the moisture is forced out of a protein. Even though I only brined my breasts for an hour, it worked like a charm. As you'll see in the recipe video, the meat was very juicy.
As far as the skinless-coating went, I was also pleasantly surprised. Even though it was incredibly thin, it stayed on the meat throughout the frying, and the final result was nothing short of quite good.
And yes, I am calling this low-fat (relative to regular Southern-fried chicken). When you eliminate the skin, you significantly reduce the calorie count, and even though we're cooking this is lots of oil, the coating is too thin to absorb very much of it.
If frying isn't your thing, still I encourage you to give this ultra-simple brine a try anyway. I think you will be impressed with its effect. I plan on using this on a regular basis this summer while rocking the grill. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 2 boneless-skinless chicken breasts 3 cups cold water 1/4 cup kosher salt 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup buttermilk 1 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt 1/2 teaspoon onion salt 1 teaspoon black pepper lots of cayenne vegetable oil for frying
When I first discovered arepas on a trip to New York City last year, it was love at first bite. I couldn't wait to get back to San Francisco, find some P.A.N. arepas flour, and make a batch or two, which I did in this post.
Since it was my first attempt, I used the classic water, salt, white cornmeal mix to delicious effect. As I read more about arepas, I saw there were hundreds of variations, using all sorts of combinations of milk, cheese, cream, buttermilk, yogurt, etc. I decided I wanted to try a breakfast version made with cream cheese and milk, topped with butter and honey. Unfortunately, I never did.
So, when my friends at Imusa asked me to test their arepas maker, I knew exactly which recipe I'd try. As you'll see, this machine was very easy to use, and produced some fine arepas (even though my dough was a tad dry and cracked a little – and to paraphrase the great Whitney Houston, when it comes to arepas perfection, cracks are wack).
If you don't use a specially made grill for these, worry not; they would come out fine using a pan as I did in the original video. If you want more info about this particular model arepas maker, please check out this Imusa product link. Also, if you can't find the P.A.N. arepas flour in a store near you, follow this link to purchase online.
On a side note; I have to admit, as I was using the machine, I kept daydreaming about doing burgers and eggs with it as well. So, don't be surprised if you see this machine appear in future videos with alternative recipes. Enjoy!
UPDATE! As viewer AFB just brilliantly pointed out, you can certainly just place your dough balls in the maker and let it press them down into patties for you. This is, of course, the main advantages of using this machine! I like the smoother edges hand-shaping provides, and I did make sure they were thicker than the press is deep, so that both sides are in contact. I may do an updated test to see how this faster and more traditional use of the press works.
Cream Cheese Arepas Ingredients (makes 4): 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup milk 1/4 cup softened cream cheese 1 tsp sugar 1 cup P.A.N. arepas flour
Note: This video was made possible by Imusa, and the arepas maker was provided free of charge to test.
I love clams casino, and I made that fact known publicly in this post last year. Certainly, a tray of hot clams casino would make a handsome addition to your Super Bowl spread, but large, fresh clams aren’t cheap, and you're probably looking for something a little simpler, and that can be made ahead of time.
Is there anything less inspiring than a boneless-skinless chicken breast? There must be, but for the sake of this post, let's say there's not. So, how do we turn this culinary snoozer into something worthwhile? Fry it. Hey, that was easy.
As far as the skinless-coating went, I was also pleasantly surprised. Even though it was incredibly thin, it stayed on the meat throughout the frying, and the final result was nothing short of quite good.
When I first discovered arepas on a trip to New York City last year, it was love at first bite. I couldn't wait to get back to San Francisco, find some P.A.N. arepas flour, and make a batch or two, which I did in this post.
If you don't use a specially made grill for these, worry not; they would come out fine using a pan as I did in the original video. If you want more info about this particular model arepas maker, please check out this Imusa product link. Also, if you can't find the P.A.N. arepas flour in a store near you, follow this link to purchase online.
