Ask Aida with Aida Mollenkamp
Mollenkamp Moms
Ginger-Rum Bundt Cake
Lemon Chicken with Artichoke Hearts
While watching this episode, I found myself thinking and, thus, writing things that I don’t really approve of. I couldn’t leave them out (well, I COULD, but I chose not to), so I put the really mean stuff in small letters. Feel free to skip those parts...Aida’s mother.
The only episodes of Ingrid’s that I liked were the ones that featured her mom, so I figured maybe Aida’s mom would bring that same thing to her show.
It’s hard not to notice that there’s a bit of a difference between Aida’s mom and just about anyone else’s - HER MOM IS HOT. And Aida looks like she glammed up a bit to share the spotlight.
Aida starts with a family recipe for sautéed chicken. She chops a yellow onion while What’s-His-Name interrupts with a question about tears while chopping onions. She goes through the standard answers:
Refrigerate onions.
Turn on fan or open window.
Turn on the gas flame.
Finally, she gives the same answer I would - younger onions produce fewer tears. (And I DO think refrigerating them makes a difference.)
Aida adds oil to a heavy-bottomed skillet and then her onions. Her mother uses only basil so that’s what she’s doing today. She slices garlic (not the way I would, but few do).
She begins to cut her chicken breasts. Noah (oh yeah, that’s his name) pipes in with a question about whether you should always pound the chicken breasts. (Okay, I know there are no dumb questions, but...Aida says sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. It depends on the recipe. Duh!)
She adds the chicken to the pot to sauté. I would do the order differently. I would sauté the chicken first and get it nice and brown and then I would remove it from the pan, lower the heat and soften the onions. This recipe doesn’t have that much going for it, so you need to squeeze every bit of flavor out of it. Wait, sorry, I meant to write that as, “This recipe doesn’t have that much going for it, so you need to squeeze every bit of flavor out of it.” Joseph from Brookline, in the comments section of the recipe, is very astute.
Aida mixes together 1/3 cup water and 2/3 cup white wine. She grates a lemon and squeezes a bit of juice. Noah has another brilliant question - what’s the difference between lemon zest and lemon peel? One is peel and one is zest! I’m waiting for the question “Where is my head?” And Noah certainly won’t know the most obvious answer. Aida is much nicer and says the zest is the finely grated part of the lemon and the peel is usually in bigger pieces and removed.
Apparently, this show is for folks who usually order takeout, because Aida has mentioned quite a few times already that her recipes will take just a bit longer than ordering out. In fact, she says they will take only 5 extra minutes.
I’m not sure I buy that and, perhaps, she hasn’t factored in the cleaning-up time. Anyway, the reason to cook at home isn’t because it’s as fast as ordering out. I don’t think anyone could argue that. It’s because it can be cheaper, healthier, more satisfying and more relaxing. But let’s face it, at times it can also be more expensive, fattening, irritating and tiring. I wonder if after this show, we’d rather be on the phone to the local Chinese or Mexican establishment or in the kitchen.
Oh good, Mom is in the kitchen! I just love moms. They introduce us to her by a big caption that reads Marianne Lindstrom. Then Noah, looking all of 14 years old, greets her with, “I’m so glad you’re here, Marianne.”
NOAH, that isn’t how you greet your co-worker’s mom! It was a slightly icky moment, kind of like when Zac Efron has his hands all over his friend’s mother (who is actually his wife). (But Zac is soooooooooooooooooo hot, that he can get away with it.) *
Marianne is…sorry, I just can’t do it, MOM is stirring the chicken pieces and they’re nice and browned. (Aida seems nervous that she’s there. Hmmm, I wonder if it’s the never-good-enough syndrome or maybe it’s just that her mom is nervous and she’s picking up on it or maybe it’s Noah is annoying Aida, who really should be asked to leave after his etiquette faux-pas.)
We learn that this is Aida’s sister, Ivy’s recipe. She's probably gorgeous too. Aida apologizes for using canned artichokes. The frozen ones add too much water and Mom turns up her nose at using jarred artichokes in oil, “It imparts another flavor, which I don’t like.” Um, I am not going to diss someone else’s mother…well, don’t read the small print, but let me just say she doesn’t have the down-to-earth friendliness that Aida has. In fact, she seems a bit snooty. AND WHO DOESN’T LIKE OIL?
Marianne (I’m deep-sixing the MOM thing) adds the artichokes. She’s stirring in a kind of anal way. Noah asks if Aida was always a good cook and her mother says NO. WHAT?!!
That’s like if my mother were asked if I was a pretty child. Despite braces and thick cat-eye glasses, of course, she would have said I was pretty.
And if she were asked if I were a good cook, she wouldn’t have hesitated in saying YES and she would NEVER have mentioned the peach soufflé 4 days in a row that tasted like rotten baby food. Marianne, there’s something called UNCONDITIONAL love. PLUS you don’t rat out your kid on television.
They show family pictures. We do learn that Aida danced for ten years, which Marianne seems very proud of. Perhaps that’s a higher status skill than cooking.
Aida adds lemon zest and basil and Marianne stirs. They plate it up. Marianne really likes it. She’s really lady-like.
Aida starts a cake, with Mom sitting to the side. Aida toasts one cup of pecans at 350°F. Marianne gets up and comes over to show Aida how important it is to grease the pan well. That’s okay, bossy, controlling mothers I can certainly identify with – not because I had one, but because I AM one, especially in the kitchen.
But then Aida says she (Aida) ruined Christmas one year, when her bundt cake didn’t come out of the pan and HER MOTHER DOESN’T CONTRADICT HER. Even I want to say, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad, honey. Wow, I gotta stop taking this so personally.
Aida brushes melted butter over every nook and cranny with Marianne looking over her shoulder. She sprinkles flour over the pan and turns it to coat every part. She taps out the flour.
Marianne is back behind the dem bench. She beats sugar into butter, while Aida chops nuts. Noah interrupts with a question about why add sugar to the wet ingredients instead of the dry. She gives an accurate answer – it incorporates better. I have a question! What the heck is Noah doing there? Aida measures out 3 cups of flour with 2 teaspoons of baking powder and salt and whisks them together. Marianne adds the eggs one at a time.
Question from Noah: Can you substitute skim milk for whole milk in baking? Aida’s answer is no. My answer is that I’ve done it a million times (probably more with 1% than skim) and as long as you’re not feeding the Queen of England, it’s basically fine most of the time.
She grates a tablespoon of ginger. Great (not!), there’s Noah again. I refuse to repeat his question about choosing fresh ginger. (Don’t buy it if it’s moldy. Okay?!!) Aida alternates adding the dry ingredients with milk and vanilla. She spoons it into the prepared pan.
The cake gets baked at 50 for 55 minutes in a 350°F until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs.
The bundt cake is out. It looks great. Marianne shows us how to poke holes in the cake with a long skewer. OH, I have some great metal skewers. The holes will allow the syrup to soak into the cake better. Marianne and I may just be on the same wavelength, after all. She gives such a picayune, precise tip that she’s probably best friends with Martha.
This is the tip: She says to make the holes for the syrup where the nuts are, because the nuts will camouflage the holes. That’s just nuts!!! And pretty brilliant. If that isn’t a type A tip, I don’t know what it. Maybe Marianne and I have more in common than I thought. (I bet our daughters could commiserate about how painful we are.)
Marianne also makes sure that the holes go all the way down so that more of the cake is reached with the syrup. Is this getting ridiculous or should I tell you that she also twists the skewers around as she’s poking to make the holes a big wider? She’s leaving no aspect of skewering up in the air.
Aida makes the syrup with ¼ cup water, 1 cup dark rum and ½ cup sugar. She brings it to the boil and adds a tablespoon of grated ginger and simmers it. She strains it and Marianne approves.
Aida grabs a regular spoon and says to spoon the syrup over the cake. Marianne says, I DON’T THINK SO. Oh, this is getting slightly excruciating again, and Noah hasn’t even piped it lately.
Marianne ONLY uses a grapefruit spoon for the job, because it’s pointed and gets the syrup in there very efficiently. I totally agree, but it’s all about tone. How about enthusing about the grapefruit spoon, rather than tut-tutting the use of anything else? Mom says it takes 20 MINUTES TO A HALF HOUR(!) to do it properly and get every hole filled. Aida luckily has made one 3 days in advance for Marianne to taste. Thankfully, it passes muster and they all like it.
You know what? I’m sure Marianne is a perfectly wonderful mother. Aida seems lovely, so she must have done something right. I guess I just like old world mothers, Ingrid’s mother, Lidia, types like that. Marianne is more Martha Stewart than Carol Brady. I actually preferred Alice. And no matter what type, I think they should be addressed as Mom or Mrs. or Ms. So and So, and not by their first names by upstarts like Noah, who frankly also seems quite nice (and well-raised) just totally unsuited to being on a cooking show.
*Yes, I saw 17 Again, but the exterminator was here and I had to be out of the house for 5 hours. ZE is really dreamy and I swear I’m not kidding.
Showing posts with label Aida Mollencamp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aida Mollencamp. Show all posts
Monday, May 4, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Ask Aida Leaves A Lot Of Unanswered Questions
Plus Did You See What She Did With That Onion?
Ask Aida with Aida Mollenkamp
Veggies Rock
Vegetarian Pot Pie
Creamy Baked Pumpkin Risotto
Aida is doing two vegetarian recipes - a risotto and a pot pie. She tells us to keep the questions coming.
She peels and chops her onion for the pot pie. Oh my, only 30 seconds in and there is a REAL problem with the onions. She cuts both ends off. (I do too, but don’t let a French chef see you.) That’s NOT the problem. THIS is. She peels the papery skin off the onion, but leaves the next layer ON. It’s greenish and has bits of the brown skin still on. She chops THAT and adds it to her pan.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to eat the tough outer layers of the onion and I certainly don’t want to eat the brown skin! This is such a tiny minuscule point that has HUGE implications for the rest of the dish and, actually, ANY dish that starts with sautéed onions.
That greenish layer, not to mention the brown skin, will NEVER soften, no matter how long you cook it. The amazing transformation of a raw, crude onion that makes you cry into something sweet and smooth with a great depth of flavor is one of the miracles of the kitchen.
Those outer layers of onion MUST come off. I know it’s painful to remove so much, but don’t throw it away. Bag it up, including the skin, refrigerate or even freeze it with carrots shavings and celery and parsley bits and use it the next time you make stock. (The great thing is that you won’t have to use any new onions, you’ll have enough from your onion remnants.)
The outside layers of the onion are tough and if they have even a touch of green, they’re not suitable for entrance into the sauté pan.
So then how to proceed? Peel the tough outer layers away. Chop the onion and add it to your sauté pan with some salt and pepper as Aida does. Stir them around until you get a nice sizzle and then cover the pot and leave them on low as long as you can. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, even 20 minutes for a fantastically, soft, sweet result.
At least, Aida DOES say to be sure to use a heavy bottomed pan. In her case, though, the pan is a bit bigger than she needs for the amount of vegetables she’s using. THAT puts them in danger of scorching and we certainly want to protect them from that.
Incidentally, Aida’s recipe calls for HALF an onion. The only time I’m that parsimonious in my use of onion is when I’m using it uncooked. THEN, there’s a huge difference between half an onion and a whole one, but cooked? Not so much. Just use the whole onion, but cook it properly.
Now that I’m in minute TWO of the show, let’s see what happens next.
She adds butter to a huge sauté pan and chops carrots. Noah throws in a question about eating carrot tops. She claims she does eat them, after blanching. She says you can add them to a salad or to pasta.
The carrots go into the sauté pan.
This is annoying. Noah SAYS the next question is “What is the difference between anise SEED and fennel SEED?’ The question on the screen is “What is the difference between anise and fennel?”
Aida says aniseed is a little bit smaller, a little bit sweeter. She uses it in her baklava and on ice cream. EW, why? ”Fennel seed is a little bit more of an assertive flavor and fennel seed is sooo good with roasting.”
My answer would be less oblique. They are both - in their green leafy form - members of the family Apiaceae and, yes, aniseeds are much smaller than fennel seeds.
But to put it simply, this is how I think of the difference between them: While by no means true in all cases (in other words with plenty of exceptions), in general, aniseed is used in sweet recipes – biscotti, pizelle, pfeffernusse and in flavoring spirits; and fennel seed is used in savory ones - sausages, rye breads and in spice blends for hearty meat dishes.
Aniseeds CAN be found in sweet AND savory recipes, but mostly fennel seeds are used in savory ones. I suppose that’s what Aida meant when she said it’s “good with roasting.”
I’m not a great lover of fennel seeds OR aniseed, so I find her uses for fennel seed less than prizewinning. Throw it in with some butter and roast a chicken with it, she says. Sprinkle it on fish. She’s so vague that this advice is practically useless.
The funny thing is she’s not even using either of these today. She’s using fresh fennel.
She slices up the fresh fennel to go in with the onion and carrots.
Noah asks if she’s BROWNING or SOFTENING the vegetables. She did say earlier she was browning the onion, but now, apparently, she’s softening them, saying you COULD brown and caramelize them if you want. What I want is for her to have a point of view and stick with it.
That’s why the answers to her questions are so unsatisfactory. If someone doesn’t know how to use fennel seeds, don’t say, “Sprinkle it on fish.” Give them a 2 second recipe. Say: “The next time you make a beef stew, after you’ve softened your onions, add some fennel seeds and cook them on low heat for 2 minutes and then proceed with your recipe.” Tell them something they can actually USE.
She cuts up a potato (leaving an eye clearly on there) and adds it to the pan. She slices 12 ounces of button mushrooms and puts them in the pan and stirs them around.
She sprinkles a ¼ cup of flour over the vegetables and cooks it to remove the raw flavor. She says 30 seconds to a minute. I say 2 to 3 minutes on the lowest heat possible. She stirs in a cup of mushroom broth. She didn’t mention where that came from or how to make it. She stirs in a cup of milk and brings it to the simmer.
She adds a cup of frozen peas. Next question for Noah: Can snow peas be substituted for regular peas and what’s the difference? Wait...before we hear her answer, THIS is my answer. Not really, because they’re treated differently. You can put them in salads raw or blanch them quickly first OR sauté them and use them in a stir fry.
I would NOT throw them into a mixture that is going into the oven for thirty minutes.
And Aida says:
You DON’T want to be substituting the snow peas for the peas in this recipe. YAY!!! We agree.
Oh wait, listen to the reason she gives. You eat the peas inside the snow peas and they’re itty bitty and you eat the whole thing, so it’s not going to work for the substitution. WHAT?!! That makes no sense and doesn't begin to answer the question. Seriously, what is she talking about?
Again, a simple answer would have sufficed. In general, the vegetables are cooked two different ways, so, NO, don’t use one for the other.
She chops chives and parsley and adds it the vegetable mixture. She adds distilled white vinegar. OH, come on, I use that in my laundry!!! She can do better than that. Red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar would be good. If she’s worried about the color, there’s white wine vinegar, or, of course, a squeeze of fresh lemon to perk up the flavor.
Aida spoons the mixture into an 8" by 8" baking dish and onto a foil-lined baking sheet. She places a sheet of thawed puff pastry on top and trims it with kitchen scissors. She tucks the edges into the sides. She cuts a few vents on top. She brushes the top with egg yolk to brown the crust and puts it in a preheated 400°F oven for 20 to 25 minutes. (Add a teaspoon of water to the egg yolk to get a less gloppy glaze.)
She says now she wants to address a very special topic…it’s very close to her heart. It’s a question from a kid, who wants to know how to make risotto.
Uh-oh! She starts her answer by saying that MOST people are going to say you have to stir and stir and stir on the stove top. That would be because that IS how you make risotto. But no, not Aida, she’s going to show this precious young girl, who was asking a serious question, some two-bit counterfeit way to make risotto…in the oven. I have nothing against a pilaf or paella type dish, but risotto IS made on top of the stove. You can use “risotto rice" i.e., arborio or carnaroli and do anything you like, but it’s not risotto.
Aida puts 2 cups of arborio rice in a large baking dish. Baking dish? She’s not even going to START it on top of the stove?! At least, she mentions carnaroli rice. She gets a point for that. But there’s no sautéed onion base, no winey reduction. Aida is going to add a bunch of raw stuff to the arborio and leave the poor thing to cook on its own…untended in the oven.
Meanwhile she takes out the very attractive vegetable pot pie and sets it aside.
For the risotto, she shows us how to peel a butternut squash. She cuts both ends off, stands it upright and cuts it in half lengthwise. She scoops out the seeds and then lays it cut side down on the board and runs the peeler down the sides. I usually peel it before cutting, but I actually tried her method and it works well. I can’t find where I learned this, but apparently the straighter, less pear-shaped butternut has fewer seeds and is sweeter. She dices it.
Noah calls a viewer, Mitch, about his risotto not turning out well. Aida says to be sure to use arborio and hot liquid. She spends only a second talking about how you add the liquid, but then goes on and on about adding cheese and oil at the end. THAT did not answer his question. She skipped over the most challenging part about stirring in the hot liquid until it’s almost absorbed.
She says if he has any more questions to just send them in. Why do I think that next time he’ll go elsewhere?
Aida chops up the other half of her onion and throws that into the pan. (Could she spare it?) Now this is interesting. she adds one can of pumpkin purée. That sounds good. Then she adds 5 cups of CHICKEN stock. I THOUGHT THIS WAS VEGETABLE DAY! She stirs that together, covers it and puts it in a 400°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring it every 10 minutes or so, which is a real pain with foil on top.
She even says if you want today’s vegetarian recipes, you can text for them. Hon, if you’ve added chicken stock, they’re not vegetarian. Obviously, you can substitute vegetable stock, but why would she not use vegetable stock and then say you can use chicken stock, if you want? Dumb.
This sounds like an okay dish, but IT IS NOT RISOTTO. And I would absolutely soften my onion (my WHOLE onion) in oil first and then add the rest of the ingredients and THEN throw it in the oven. BTW, Charlie Palmer has a great pumpkin risotto recipe AND it's a real risotto.
Aida spoons out the finished pot pie, Noah can’t wait to try it. He likes it.
She takes out her pumpkin risotto. She adds a 1/4 cup to a 1/3 cup of parmesan to the risotto and a couple tablespoons of mascarpone with 2 tablespoons olive oil and some fresh basil.
Oh no, there’s another question…this time about herbs. When is it okay to use dried spices, tubes (which I had never heard of) or frozen herbs? Aida says to use fresh if you can and then dried. Wow, that was informative.
Aida stirs in fresh basil and serves it up. It looks good, but not creamy. Noah says, “It’s really creamy.” Great.
I may have sounded harsh about Aida today, but that’s because a lot of what she said made her sound like a nitwit, which I don’t think she is. This question/answer format has her oversimplifying so much that the answers are useless. Many times she’s not even answering the questions that are asked.
I do think Aida is a sweet girl and she knows a lot. Perhaps, she has the same problem that Danny has. It’s more the SHOW, than the host. The format is kind of ditzy, and, obviously, they haven’t allowed enough time to answer the questions in depth. So why bother with convoluted, incomplete and sometimes completely off the mark answers?
Honestly, I don’t watch the Food Network to grouse and complain…mostly. I LIKE to learn. I like to see new stuff. I like to watch great food being put together by enthusiastic hosts. Aida’s got that last quality in spades, but maybe they should go back to the drawing board to come up with a better vehicle for her skills.
Ask Aida with Aida Mollenkamp
Veggies Rock
Vegetarian Pot Pie
Creamy Baked Pumpkin Risotto
Aida is doing two vegetarian recipes - a risotto and a pot pie. She tells us to keep the questions coming.
She peels and chops her onion for the pot pie. Oh my, only 30 seconds in and there is a REAL problem with the onions. She cuts both ends off. (I do too, but don’t let a French chef see you.) That’s NOT the problem. THIS is. She peels the papery skin off the onion, but leaves the next layer ON. It’s greenish and has bits of the brown skin still on. She chops THAT and adds it to her pan.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to eat the tough outer layers of the onion and I certainly don’t want to eat the brown skin! This is such a tiny minuscule point that has HUGE implications for the rest of the dish and, actually, ANY dish that starts with sautéed onions.
That greenish layer, not to mention the brown skin, will NEVER soften, no matter how long you cook it. The amazing transformation of a raw, crude onion that makes you cry into something sweet and smooth with a great depth of flavor is one of the miracles of the kitchen.
Those outer layers of onion MUST come off. I know it’s painful to remove so much, but don’t throw it away. Bag it up, including the skin, refrigerate or even freeze it with carrots shavings and celery and parsley bits and use it the next time you make stock. (The great thing is that you won’t have to use any new onions, you’ll have enough from your onion remnants.)
The outside layers of the onion are tough and if they have even a touch of green, they’re not suitable for entrance into the sauté pan.
So then how to proceed? Peel the tough outer layers away. Chop the onion and add it to your sauté pan with some salt and pepper as Aida does. Stir them around until you get a nice sizzle and then cover the pot and leave them on low as long as you can. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, even 20 minutes for a fantastically, soft, sweet result.
At least, Aida DOES say to be sure to use a heavy bottomed pan. In her case, though, the pan is a bit bigger than she needs for the amount of vegetables she’s using. THAT puts them in danger of scorching and we certainly want to protect them from that.
Incidentally, Aida’s recipe calls for HALF an onion. The only time I’m that parsimonious in my use of onion is when I’m using it uncooked. THEN, there’s a huge difference between half an onion and a whole one, but cooked? Not so much. Just use the whole onion, but cook it properly.
Now that I’m in minute TWO of the show, let’s see what happens next.
She adds butter to a huge sauté pan and chops carrots. Noah throws in a question about eating carrot tops. She claims she does eat them, after blanching. She says you can add them to a salad or to pasta.
The carrots go into the sauté pan.
This is annoying. Noah SAYS the next question is “What is the difference between anise SEED and fennel SEED?’ The question on the screen is “What is the difference between anise and fennel?”
Aida says aniseed is a little bit smaller, a little bit sweeter. She uses it in her baklava and on ice cream. EW, why? ”Fennel seed is a little bit more of an assertive flavor and fennel seed is sooo good with roasting.”
My answer would be less oblique. They are both - in their green leafy form - members of the family Apiaceae and, yes, aniseeds are much smaller than fennel seeds.
But to put it simply, this is how I think of the difference between them: While by no means true in all cases (in other words with plenty of exceptions), in general, aniseed is used in sweet recipes – biscotti, pizelle, pfeffernusse and in flavoring spirits; and fennel seed is used in savory ones - sausages, rye breads and in spice blends for hearty meat dishes.
Aniseeds CAN be found in sweet AND savory recipes, but mostly fennel seeds are used in savory ones. I suppose that’s what Aida meant when she said it’s “good with roasting.”
I’m not a great lover of fennel seeds OR aniseed, so I find her uses for fennel seed less than prizewinning. Throw it in with some butter and roast a chicken with it, she says. Sprinkle it on fish. She’s so vague that this advice is practically useless.
The funny thing is she’s not even using either of these today. She’s using fresh fennel.
She slices up the fresh fennel to go in with the onion and carrots.
Noah asks if she’s BROWNING or SOFTENING the vegetables. She did say earlier she was browning the onion, but now, apparently, she’s softening them, saying you COULD brown and caramelize them if you want. What I want is for her to have a point of view and stick with it.
That’s why the answers to her questions are so unsatisfactory. If someone doesn’t know how to use fennel seeds, don’t say, “Sprinkle it on fish.” Give them a 2 second recipe. Say: “The next time you make a beef stew, after you’ve softened your onions, add some fennel seeds and cook them on low heat for 2 minutes and then proceed with your recipe.” Tell them something they can actually USE.
She cuts up a potato (leaving an eye clearly on there) and adds it to the pan. She slices 12 ounces of button mushrooms and puts them in the pan and stirs them around.
She sprinkles a ¼ cup of flour over the vegetables and cooks it to remove the raw flavor. She says 30 seconds to a minute. I say 2 to 3 minutes on the lowest heat possible. She stirs in a cup of mushroom broth. She didn’t mention where that came from or how to make it. She stirs in a cup of milk and brings it to the simmer.
She adds a cup of frozen peas. Next question for Noah: Can snow peas be substituted for regular peas and what’s the difference? Wait...before we hear her answer, THIS is my answer. Not really, because they’re treated differently. You can put them in salads raw or blanch them quickly first OR sauté them and use them in a stir fry.
I would NOT throw them into a mixture that is going into the oven for thirty minutes.
And Aida says:
You DON’T want to be substituting the snow peas for the peas in this recipe. YAY!!! We agree.
Oh wait, listen to the reason she gives. You eat the peas inside the snow peas and they’re itty bitty and you eat the whole thing, so it’s not going to work for the substitution. WHAT?!! That makes no sense and doesn't begin to answer the question. Seriously, what is she talking about?
Again, a simple answer would have sufficed. In general, the vegetables are cooked two different ways, so, NO, don’t use one for the other.
She chops chives and parsley and adds it the vegetable mixture. She adds distilled white vinegar. OH, come on, I use that in my laundry!!! She can do better than that. Red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar would be good. If she’s worried about the color, there’s white wine vinegar, or, of course, a squeeze of fresh lemon to perk up the flavor.
Aida spoons the mixture into an 8" by 8" baking dish and onto a foil-lined baking sheet. She places a sheet of thawed puff pastry on top and trims it with kitchen scissors. She tucks the edges into the sides. She cuts a few vents on top. She brushes the top with egg yolk to brown the crust and puts it in a preheated 400°F oven for 20 to 25 minutes. (Add a teaspoon of water to the egg yolk to get a less gloppy glaze.)
She says now she wants to address a very special topic…it’s very close to her heart. It’s a question from a kid, who wants to know how to make risotto.
Uh-oh! She starts her answer by saying that MOST people are going to say you have to stir and stir and stir on the stove top. That would be because that IS how you make risotto. But no, not Aida, she’s going to show this precious young girl, who was asking a serious question, some two-bit counterfeit way to make risotto…in the oven. I have nothing against a pilaf or paella type dish, but risotto IS made on top of the stove. You can use “risotto rice" i.e., arborio or carnaroli and do anything you like, but it’s not risotto.
Aida puts 2 cups of arborio rice in a large baking dish. Baking dish? She’s not even going to START it on top of the stove?! At least, she mentions carnaroli rice. She gets a point for that. But there’s no sautéed onion base, no winey reduction. Aida is going to add a bunch of raw stuff to the arborio and leave the poor thing to cook on its own…untended in the oven.
Meanwhile she takes out the very attractive vegetable pot pie and sets it aside.
For the risotto, she shows us how to peel a butternut squash. She cuts both ends off, stands it upright and cuts it in half lengthwise. She scoops out the seeds and then lays it cut side down on the board and runs the peeler down the sides. I usually peel it before cutting, but I actually tried her method and it works well. I can’t find where I learned this, but apparently the straighter, less pear-shaped butternut has fewer seeds and is sweeter. She dices it.
Noah calls a viewer, Mitch, about his risotto not turning out well. Aida says to be sure to use arborio and hot liquid. She spends only a second talking about how you add the liquid, but then goes on and on about adding cheese and oil at the end. THAT did not answer his question. She skipped over the most challenging part about stirring in the hot liquid until it’s almost absorbed.
She says if he has any more questions to just send them in. Why do I think that next time he’ll go elsewhere?
Aida chops up the other half of her onion and throws that into the pan. (Could she spare it?) Now this is interesting. she adds one can of pumpkin purée. That sounds good. Then she adds 5 cups of CHICKEN stock. I THOUGHT THIS WAS VEGETABLE DAY! She stirs that together, covers it and puts it in a 400°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring it every 10 minutes or so, which is a real pain with foil on top.
She even says if you want today’s vegetarian recipes, you can text for them. Hon, if you’ve added chicken stock, they’re not vegetarian. Obviously, you can substitute vegetable stock, but why would she not use vegetable stock and then say you can use chicken stock, if you want? Dumb.
This sounds like an okay dish, but IT IS NOT RISOTTO. And I would absolutely soften my onion (my WHOLE onion) in oil first and then add the rest of the ingredients and THEN throw it in the oven. BTW, Charlie Palmer has a great pumpkin risotto recipe AND it's a real risotto.
Aida spoons out the finished pot pie, Noah can’t wait to try it. He likes it.
She takes out her pumpkin risotto. She adds a 1/4 cup to a 1/3 cup of parmesan to the risotto and a couple tablespoons of mascarpone with 2 tablespoons olive oil and some fresh basil.
Oh no, there’s another question…this time about herbs. When is it okay to use dried spices, tubes (which I had never heard of) or frozen herbs? Aida says to use fresh if you can and then dried. Wow, that was informative.
Aida stirs in fresh basil and serves it up. It looks good, but not creamy. Noah says, “It’s really creamy.” Great.
I may have sounded harsh about Aida today, but that’s because a lot of what she said made her sound like a nitwit, which I don’t think she is. This question/answer format has her oversimplifying so much that the answers are useless. Many times she’s not even answering the questions that are asked.
I do think Aida is a sweet girl and she knows a lot. Perhaps, she has the same problem that Danny has. It’s more the SHOW, than the host. The format is kind of ditzy, and, obviously, they haven’t allowed enough time to answer the questions in depth. So why bother with convoluted, incomplete and sometimes completely off the mark answers?
Honestly, I don’t watch the Food Network to grouse and complain…mostly. I LIKE to learn. I like to see new stuff. I like to watch great food being put together by enthusiastic hosts. Aida’s got that last quality in spades, but maybe they should go back to the drawing board to come up with a better vehicle for her skills.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
If You Ask Me, “Ask Aida” Is…
pleasant enough, but there’s no amazing cooking or real fireworks going on. Plus the computer thing is just a useless distraction and time waster.
Ask Aida with Aida Mollenkamp
Steak and Potatoes
Seared Strip Steaks with North African-Spiced Butter
Olive Oil Oven Fries
Simple Green Bean Salad with Lemon Dressing
Aida is going to show us how to make the juiciest strip steak in the world with a North African spice butter. She’s also going to do French fries and a simple green bean salad, plus tackle questions.
We’re told Aida is here for one reason - to answer our cooking questions. She’s standing next to a seated guy, Noah Starr, who is controlling the computer. He finds the questions from the hundreds (tens?) that are sent in. Tim and Aimee sent in a video question about how to get their fries nice and crispy.
Ok, wait, I can tell you that. For the very best fries, they must be cooked twice. The first is an initial deep frying in oil that is 325°F. It’s almost like blanching them. Then they are cooked until golden brown in a higher temperature-d 375°F oil.
By the way, they are called French fries, because they are Frenched, NO, not deeply kissed by admirers, but cut into long strips. (My favorite French fry eating is in Amsterdam, where you get them in paper cones topped with a mayonnaise sauce. YUM! )
Back to Tim and Aimee. I’m jealous of this nice young couple that cooks together. That’s so romantic.
Where did I go wrong? (Oh, I know. I’m bossy and impossible in the kitchen and H can't take it…not that he has any interest in cooking or any native ability at it.)
In the olden days, i.e. in the first little bit of our marriage, I would cook and H would clean up. Then kids came, long work days (his) and now I have complete and utter control of the kitchen. Most of the time that suits me fine, but then I see Tim and Aimee and I think THEY have the right idea. (Of course, it won’t last.)
Their BIG problem is that they don’t know how to make French fries. Don’t scoff. That is a rather large dilemma that I understand could lead to sleepless nights.
(Tim IS kind of annoying. He has a mush mouth – what some of you said about Aaron. I replayed him 3 times and then had to use the close captioning to discover that all he said was, Aida, do you have a recipe for French fries?) Tim, let Aimee do the talking. You do the potato peeling.
Aida says she HATES soggy fries, so she’s going to show us a BAKED French fry recipe “that is really easy to prepare”.
Wait a cotton-pickin’ second! OVEN BAKED French fries isn’t a big trick. Just coat them with oil and seasonings, put them in a single layer and shove them in a hot oven.
The delicacy of real French fries comes from the careful adjustment of heat in the deep fryer and knowing when to remove them from their first cooking to await their final bubbling bath of glorious deeply tanning oil.
The show’s barely begun and I have to admit I’ve lost interest. Oven fries just aren’t sexy enough for me and if Aimee and Tim had any sense they'd turn off their web cam NOW.
Aida peels two russet potatoes and Noah pipes in that they’ve received an email about potatoes. Oh goodie!
Ok, this is funny. The email is from Alix someone or other and Noah pronounces her name, Ah-LEEKS. OMG. I’m surprised he didn’t say paw-teat-toe. Anyway, Ah-LEEKS wants to know the difference between baking and wax potatoes.
Are you telling me that a 20 something year old is going to go to the trouble of emailing a food show, rather than spending 10 seconds on Google?!! BTW, the usual classification of potatoes is baking and boiling. The boiling ones are the waxy ones.
Aida’s answer is kind of confusing. Listen, Alix, basically you can bake, fry or mash the russets and do anything else with all the other varieties.
Aida has her own version of RR’s garbage bowl, but she’s not so obnoxious about it and I don’t think she sells it. It’s a shiny metal container into which she puts the potato peelings for her compost pile.
She cuts the potatoes into 1/2 inch long “planks”. She cuts those in half lengthwise and then crosswise into ½ inch wide pieces. Aida is certainly making no attempt to make them look like French fries. They look like chunky rustically cut pieces of potato. They go into water to prevent them from browning.
Aida prepares 8 cloves of garlic. Noah pipes in with a garlic question. It’s from Hilary. Are you sure it’s not, High-Lur-Eye, Noah?
“Is there a trick to remove the garlic smell from my hands and the cutting board?” YES! Let’s see what Aida says, before I tell you. Aida is soooooooo impressed with this question that she instructs Noah to get Hilary on the phone. (Isn’t this the concept Adam presented to Gordon Elliot for his FN pilot? He would talk with people on the computer while he was cooking.) Aida tells Hilary she almost lost her high school boyfriend over the garlic smell thing, so she “totally” relates to her.
Okay, clearly this show is not for folks in my demographic. But that doesn’t stop me from loving on The Hills, or getting great party ideas from My Sweet Sixteen.
Aida says she and the sensitive-smell boyfriend had to go to couple’s therapy. This is stupid. But, bingo, she gives the right answer. Wipe your hands on anything stainless steel and it magically takes the garlic smell away.
I usually use a stainless steel tablespoon, but that doesn’t answer the part about garlic on the cutting board. Oh, she gives a good answer about that too. Kosher salt and lemon. I solve that problem by using plastic cutting boards that go into the dishwasher. I think it’s kind of gross to use anything else. Hilary is delighted with the answer.
Aida puts her 8 garlic cloves in a pan and adds 2 tablespoons of olive oil. We’re almost ten minutes in, by the way and she's barely cooked anything. She warms the oil over medium heat. She’ll remove it the minute she begins to smell it.
Aida takes the potatoes out of the water and puts them on baking sheets lined with paper towels to dry them. She pats them completely dry on all sides and spreads them out on a baking sheet. She pours over the garlic oil and says something about wafting smells. I don’t like the way she says wafting. She pronounced is like RAFTING. I prefer a softer “a”, like waahhhhhfting.
She adds Kosher salt and tosses the potatoes until well coated.
Back from a break. What did she need a break for? She hasn’t done anything yet. This is funny, the closed captioning doesn’t match what she’s saying. It seems like it’s minutes ahead. It says something about the great salted and unsalted debate and she’s not saying anything about that.
She is going to load up the butter with all kinds of flavors. Noah reports another question. Oh, THAT’S where that close captioned remark comes from. Jay-niss (Janice, to the normal person) wants to know if it’s okay to use SALTED butter if the recipe doesn’t specify which one to use. I agree with Aida’s answer. It most certainly isn't. You don’t add salted butter to a recipe, because you want to be able to control the amount of salt.
She adds cumin to some butter. (Sorry for being painful, okay, I’m not really sorry, but I hate that she says coo-min. I say cue-min). Aida says you’re probably used to seeing this in Mexican cooking. Uh, how about INDIAN cooking too??? Okay, she just mentioned Indian cooking.
Next Aida is adding smoked paprika to her seasoned butter. She forms it into a roll in plastic wrap and refrigerates it for 30 minutes. She says you could store it in there for a few months. Huh!!? In the FREEZER for a few months, but not the fridge.
She takes strip steaks out to bring them to room temperature.
She tops her green beans, as opposed to topping AND tailing them. She blanches them in VERY salty water for 4 minutes. It should taste like sea water. Then she puts them in a ice water bath.
Aida coats the steaks in olive oil and salt and pepper, after patting them dry with a paper towel. She flips them over and repeats the seasoning on the other side. Noah interjects with an apropos video from Amy. She doesn’t know anything about cooking steak and is on a limited budget. Well, Amy, first get rid of your weird eye makeup and the steak situation won’t seem so grave.
She’s worried she’ll only be able to serve a smidgen of beef to each guest at a dinner party. Here’s an idea, Hon, don’t serve beef.
That’s not Aida’s solution. Get flank steak she says. It IS a little tough, but she says to marinate it for as little as a half an hour in olive oil and garlic. Aida, that’s okay for flavor, but you need some acid in there to soften up the tough fibers and actually tenderize the meat – some balsamic or red wine vinegar is always a good idea.
Aida tells her to cook the steak on one side and before she turns it to put it in the same oven with the fries and take them out at the same time. (I would have said to put it in the oven AFTER turning.) Not a bad idea. She drains the green beans and starts to cook her own steaks. She cooks the first sides for 5 minutes.
Aida starts the dressing for the salad. She chops a shallot, saying she likes it because it’s less “stringent” than an onion. I kinda think she doesn’t mean that it’s severe, stern or strict. I think she means it’s less “Astringent”, as in it has a LESS sharp taste. She adds chopped parsley for its clean bright flavor.
Noah has another question about bowls. Wow, I can’t wait. “Does it make a difference whether you use non-reactive bowls when making a acidic based foods?” Yes, it does. DUH. Aida doesn’t roll her eyes and she says not to use a copper or aluminum bowl. Who would?
She chops cured black olives and brings out 2 anchovies…(can she spare them?) and chops them, Noah looks worried about the anchovies. Aida turns the steak.
Aida plates the steaks – one for her, one for Noah. She puts a pat of the seasoned butter on each steak while it rests. Noah leaves his computer station to get the fries out of the oven, while Aida finishes the green beans. She adds a tablespoon of olive oil to a serving dish with some lemon zest and juice and then mixes in the green beans. I guess that's where the olives and anchovies went.
Noah asks her the stumper question of the day. He shows her this and says what is it?
Ask Aida with Aida Mollenkamp
Steak and Potatoes
Seared Strip Steaks with North African-Spiced Butter
Olive Oil Oven Fries
Simple Green Bean Salad with Lemon Dressing
Aida is going to show us how to make the juiciest strip steak in the world with a North African spice butter. She’s also going to do French fries and a simple green bean salad, plus tackle questions.
We’re told Aida is here for one reason - to answer our cooking questions. She’s standing next to a seated guy, Noah Starr, who is controlling the computer. He finds the questions from the hundreds (tens?) that are sent in. Tim and Aimee sent in a video question about how to get their fries nice and crispy.
Ok, wait, I can tell you that. For the very best fries, they must be cooked twice. The first is an initial deep frying in oil that is 325°F. It’s almost like blanching them. Then they are cooked until golden brown in a higher temperature-d 375°F oil.
By the way, they are called French fries, because they are Frenched, NO, not deeply kissed by admirers, but cut into long strips. (My favorite French fry eating is in Amsterdam, where you get them in paper cones topped with a mayonnaise sauce. YUM! )
Back to Tim and Aimee. I’m jealous of this nice young couple that cooks together. That’s so romantic.
Where did I go wrong? (Oh, I know. I’m bossy and impossible in the kitchen and H can't take it…not that he has any interest in cooking or any native ability at it.)
In the olden days, i.e. in the first little bit of our marriage, I would cook and H would clean up. Then kids came, long work days (his) and now I have complete and utter control of the kitchen. Most of the time that suits me fine, but then I see Tim and Aimee and I think THEY have the right idea. (Of course, it won’t last.)
Their BIG problem is that they don’t know how to make French fries. Don’t scoff. That is a rather large dilemma that I understand could lead to sleepless nights.
(Tim IS kind of annoying. He has a mush mouth – what some of you said about Aaron. I replayed him 3 times and then had to use the close captioning to discover that all he said was, Aida, do you have a recipe for French fries?) Tim, let Aimee do the talking. You do the potato peeling.
Aida says she HATES soggy fries, so she’s going to show us a BAKED French fry recipe “that is really easy to prepare”.
Wait a cotton-pickin’ second! OVEN BAKED French fries isn’t a big trick. Just coat them with oil and seasonings, put them in a single layer and shove them in a hot oven.
The delicacy of real French fries comes from the careful adjustment of heat in the deep fryer and knowing when to remove them from their first cooking to await their final bubbling bath of glorious deeply tanning oil.
The show’s barely begun and I have to admit I’ve lost interest. Oven fries just aren’t sexy enough for me and if Aimee and Tim had any sense they'd turn off their web cam NOW.
Aida peels two russet potatoes and Noah pipes in that they’ve received an email about potatoes. Oh goodie!
Ok, this is funny. The email is from Alix someone or other and Noah pronounces her name, Ah-LEEKS. OMG. I’m surprised he didn’t say paw-teat-toe. Anyway, Ah-LEEKS wants to know the difference between baking and wax potatoes.
Are you telling me that a 20 something year old is going to go to the trouble of emailing a food show, rather than spending 10 seconds on Google?!! BTW, the usual classification of potatoes is baking and boiling. The boiling ones are the waxy ones.
Aida’s answer is kind of confusing. Listen, Alix, basically you can bake, fry or mash the russets and do anything else with all the other varieties.
Aida has her own version of RR’s garbage bowl, but she’s not so obnoxious about it and I don’t think she sells it. It’s a shiny metal container into which she puts the potato peelings for her compost pile.
She cuts the potatoes into 1/2 inch long “planks”. She cuts those in half lengthwise and then crosswise into ½ inch wide pieces. Aida is certainly making no attempt to make them look like French fries. They look like chunky rustically cut pieces of potato. They go into water to prevent them from browning.
Aida prepares 8 cloves of garlic. Noah pipes in with a garlic question. It’s from Hilary. Are you sure it’s not, High-Lur-Eye, Noah?
“Is there a trick to remove the garlic smell from my hands and the cutting board?” YES! Let’s see what Aida says, before I tell you. Aida is soooooooo impressed with this question that she instructs Noah to get Hilary on the phone. (Isn’t this the concept Adam presented to Gordon Elliot for his FN pilot? He would talk with people on the computer while he was cooking.) Aida tells Hilary she almost lost her high school boyfriend over the garlic smell thing, so she “totally” relates to her.
Okay, clearly this show is not for folks in my demographic. But that doesn’t stop me from loving on The Hills, or getting great party ideas from My Sweet Sixteen.
Aida says she and the sensitive-smell boyfriend had to go to couple’s therapy. This is stupid. But, bingo, she gives the right answer. Wipe your hands on anything stainless steel and it magically takes the garlic smell away.
I usually use a stainless steel tablespoon, but that doesn’t answer the part about garlic on the cutting board. Oh, she gives a good answer about that too. Kosher salt and lemon. I solve that problem by using plastic cutting boards that go into the dishwasher. I think it’s kind of gross to use anything else. Hilary is delighted with the answer.
Aida puts her 8 garlic cloves in a pan and adds 2 tablespoons of olive oil. We’re almost ten minutes in, by the way and she's barely cooked anything. She warms the oil over medium heat. She’ll remove it the minute she begins to smell it.
Aida takes the potatoes out of the water and puts them on baking sheets lined with paper towels to dry them. She pats them completely dry on all sides and spreads them out on a baking sheet. She pours over the garlic oil and says something about wafting smells. I don’t like the way she says wafting. She pronounced is like RAFTING. I prefer a softer “a”, like waahhhhhfting.
She adds Kosher salt and tosses the potatoes until well coated.
Back from a break. What did she need a break for? She hasn’t done anything yet. This is funny, the closed captioning doesn’t match what she’s saying. It seems like it’s minutes ahead. It says something about the great salted and unsalted debate and she’s not saying anything about that.
She is going to load up the butter with all kinds of flavors. Noah reports another question. Oh, THAT’S where that close captioned remark comes from. Jay-niss (Janice, to the normal person) wants to know if it’s okay to use SALTED butter if the recipe doesn’t specify which one to use. I agree with Aida’s answer. It most certainly isn't. You don’t add salted butter to a recipe, because you want to be able to control the amount of salt.
She adds cumin to some butter. (Sorry for being painful, okay, I’m not really sorry, but I hate that she says coo-min. I say cue-min). Aida says you’re probably used to seeing this in Mexican cooking. Uh, how about INDIAN cooking too??? Okay, she just mentioned Indian cooking.
Next Aida is adding smoked paprika to her seasoned butter. She forms it into a roll in plastic wrap and refrigerates it for 30 minutes. She says you could store it in there for a few months. Huh!!? In the FREEZER for a few months, but not the fridge.
She takes strip steaks out to bring them to room temperature.
She tops her green beans, as opposed to topping AND tailing them. She blanches them in VERY salty water for 4 minutes. It should taste like sea water. Then she puts them in a ice water bath.
Aida coats the steaks in olive oil and salt and pepper, after patting them dry with a paper towel. She flips them over and repeats the seasoning on the other side. Noah interjects with an apropos video from Amy. She doesn’t know anything about cooking steak and is on a limited budget. Well, Amy, first get rid of your weird eye makeup and the steak situation won’t seem so grave.
She’s worried she’ll only be able to serve a smidgen of beef to each guest at a dinner party. Here’s an idea, Hon, don’t serve beef.
That’s not Aida’s solution. Get flank steak she says. It IS a little tough, but she says to marinate it for as little as a half an hour in olive oil and garlic. Aida, that’s okay for flavor, but you need some acid in there to soften up the tough fibers and actually tenderize the meat – some balsamic or red wine vinegar is always a good idea.
Aida tells her to cook the steak on one side and before she turns it to put it in the same oven with the fries and take them out at the same time. (I would have said to put it in the oven AFTER turning.) Not a bad idea. She drains the green beans and starts to cook her own steaks. She cooks the first sides for 5 minutes.
Aida starts the dressing for the salad. She chops a shallot, saying she likes it because it’s less “stringent” than an onion. I kinda think she doesn’t mean that it’s severe, stern or strict. I think she means it’s less “Astringent”, as in it has a LESS sharp taste. She adds chopped parsley for its clean bright flavor.
Noah has another question about bowls. Wow, I can’t wait. “Does it make a difference whether you use non-reactive bowls when making a acidic based foods?” Yes, it does. DUH. Aida doesn’t roll her eyes and she says not to use a copper or aluminum bowl. Who would?
She chops cured black olives and brings out 2 anchovies…(can she spare them?) and chops them, Noah looks worried about the anchovies. Aida turns the steak.
Aida plates the steaks – one for her, one for Noah. She puts a pat of the seasoned butter on each steak while it rests. Noah leaves his computer station to get the fries out of the oven, while Aida finishes the green beans. She adds a tablespoon of olive oil to a serving dish with some lemon zest and juice and then mixes in the green beans. I guess that's where the olives and anchovies went.
Noah asks her the stumper question of the day. He shows her this and says what is it?
She guesses and she’s right. It’s a stainless steel garlic mincer. I would have said it was an instrument for keeping Noah in line. Noah demonstrates how to crush a clove of garlic with it and then roll the mincer across to pulverize the garlic pieces.
Noah tastes the steak. He likes it. We never see how the French fries came out. Well, we SAW them, but we never witnessed them being tasted. And we just have to guess what Tim and Aimee are up to in the kitchen with their newfound OVEN fry recipe..
So, did I like Aida? Frankly, I didn’t even notice her that much. I was too busy going off on various tangents. She really didn’t cook a lot and it took her too long to get to the little she did. This may be another instance where the host is better than the show. Why not just let her cook and let Noah ride around with Adam on his food foraging adventures? They do have wireless computers after all...
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