Bobby And Ina Do Thanksgiving And I Only Have A Few Issues

A Barefoot Thanksgiving with Ina and Bobby

Bobby's Smoked Turkey

Ina's Herb And Apple Bread Pudding

Bobby's Heartland Chopped Salad

Bobby's Eleven-Layer Potato Gratin

Ina's Orange-Honey Glazed Carrots

Ina's Sautéed Shredded Brussels Sprouts

Ina's Make Ahead Cranberry Sauce

Ina's Lemon Ginger Molasses Cake

Bobby's Fall Sangria

I just spent the most enjoyable hour with Bobby and Ina. They were doing a test run of all the recipes they were serving for Thanksgiving. I won’t do my usual blow by blow of every knife stroke, because there were a lot of dishes, but I will go through them. Let’s see what sounds good.

If you’re like me, every year you look through tons of Thanksgiving recipes to see if there’s anything you want to add to your menu. (And it IS usually adding to and never subtracting from.) I know instantly if I’m not interested in a given recipe. Since I always stuff my turkey, I set aside most turkey recipes. Nobody wants the hassle of stuffing the bird anymore (I do!) and brining is the most popular thing going. I’ve never been convinced that you can stuff a brined turkey without the stuffing being way too salty, so most recipes are nonstarters. Bobby shows Ina (and us) how to SMOKE a turkey. I love him, I love Ina’s outdoor area, but I’m not going to do that, so let’s move on.

Ina wants to give Bobby a taste of her Apple Bread Pudding, which she’ll make instead of stuffing this year. Oh my, this looks like a winning dish AND it can be made the day before. She sautés pancetta in butter with onions, celery and one Granny Smith apple. Then Ina adds sherry, fresh rosemary, salt, pepper and parsley. Separately, Ina puts together a custard with 5 EXTRA LARGE eggs (here we go again!)*, chicken stock, cream and Gruyere. To be honest, I’d be tempted to leave out the cheese. If this is a stuffing substitute, I think adding cheese is weird.

Ina toasts bread cubes at 350°F for 20 minutes and, of course, don’t forget to use “good bread”. She adds the sautéed vegetables with all their juices to the custard and bread. The mixture goes into a rectangular baking dish and Ina adds a bit of Gruyere on top. Then it’s refrigerated overnight. She doesn’t mention that an important calculation you have to make is the oven space you have available. You need 45 minutes at 350°F. I’m thinking I can do it after the turkey comes out. Ina tests it with a knife. If it comes out clean, the custard is done.

Bobby is back with the turkey. (By the way, that thing takes HOURS to cook.) Okay, cool…not doing it. He comes in to taste the bread pudding. Bobby gives Ina a big “Wow!” He loves the crustiness on top and says it’s “Absolutely superb”. They exclaim that it will make it onto the (imaginary) buffet that they’re serving (together) on Thanksgiving.

Ina says they both agree that they never have a first course on Thanksgiving. Yeah, I get the concept, but I would NEVER do that. The idea of diving into the full meal without a little pre-eating does not appeal to me. I don’t follow the super-light appetizer rule either.
 

This is my Superbowl of cooking. Go big or go home! We also learn that Ina loves to serve Thanksgiving as a buffet because she hates the idea of all those bowls all over the table. HUH?!! Isn’t that the point? This is Amurica and shouldn’t Thanksgiving dinner be served family style (if you have the room)?!!

Their next dish would make a great first course, even though I usually go with soup. Bobby is making a Heartland Salad. They get busy stripping the kale off its woody stems. I’m not doing that. I would buy baby spinach, baby kale and maybe a bit of baby arugula. I do not need another vegetable to prep.

Bobby chops an Asian pear and says you can also use a regular pear or even an apple. (I usually go with Bosc pears for salads. I like Mark Bittman’s rule, which is when the “shoulders are soft”, they’re ripe.) Ina gets to work (and it IS work) chopping the kale.

Bobby has soaked the dried cranberries a bit to plump them up and overcooked the wild rice, which is softer and absorbs the dressing more. He says when wild rice is cooked the regular way, it’s kind of “pine needle-y”. He’s so right! I think I may always overcook wild rice from now on!

Bobby throws the dressing ingredients into a bowl, acknowledging that Ina likes to measure. Ina is pretty sure that his rough measurements are pretty exact. He’s using white wine vinegar, Dijon, a splash of honey, a tiny bit of pomegranate molasses (yum), and salt and pepper. That’s all whisked with olive oil. He and Ina are on the same page with their vinaigrettes. They like them heavily acidic with two parts of oil to one part vinegar or lemon juice, instead of the classic three parts of oil to one part acid. You may never hear me say this again, but I don’t have an opinion about this. I figure it out based on what I’m making. If the salad needs more tang, I’d go with the 2 to 1 rule. If not, I might stick to 3 to 1.

Bobby gathers all the salad ingredients and says, “Everybody is going to go into the pool.”  Ina likes that. Kale, baby spinach, pears and cranberries, walnuts, salt and pepper…it all goes in. Ina giggles. Bobby’s trick with the dressing is to spoon it around the (inside) perimeter of the bowl so that he doesn’t overdress the salad. He tosses it all together and then Ina remembers the rice! He adds it and has to add more dressing. So much for his lightly dressed salad. He plates it and it looks gorgeous. If I were serving this as a side dish (and with that Apple Bread Pudding too), I might leave out the wild rice. 

They go on to Bobby’s 15 layer potato gratin. It turns out the name could be an exaggeration. He calls the actual recipe ELEVEN layer. It depends on how big your dish is and how many layers you put in. He and Ina layer thinly mandolined Idaho potatoes with salt, pepper and cream. That’s it. They remind us not to rinse them after peeling, because you want the starch. And Bobby explains, “Eventually we want the cream to become part of the potatoes and reduce.” The exciting part is what he puts on top - shallots in butter with a pinch of sugar, cooked until caramelized. AND he’ll add fried sage.

Bobby goes out to baste his gorgeously brown turkey while Ina makes orange and honey carrots. She cooks carrots, covered, in water, butter and minced ginger for 5 minutes. Then she uncovers them and cooks them until the water evaporates. They simmer for another 5 minutes with orange juice and zest. She seasons them and they can be done the day before. Ina heats them up in an olive oil coated pan, while Bobby plays with his turkey some more.

Bobby tells us he could pinch himself – He’s at Ina Garten’s house “doing Thanksgiving practice! Wouldn’t you wanna be here?” YES!!! I would! And I kinda feel like I am. That’s how effortless these two pros are at letting us in the kitchen with them, watching and learning their tricks and turns.

Standing over the carrots, Ina and Bobby agree that reheated food has to be seasoned again before serving. Bobby says the food seems to go through a “flavor filter”, where the refrigeration blunts the seasoning. Hmmm, I have to think about that. He also says you also have to rehydrate and he guesses (correctly) that Ina added a bit of olive oil to loosen things up. Bobby tastes the carrots after Ina (re)seasons them. He approves and laughs as he tastes them, “So good.” And he jokes with her saying, “Can you imagine (me saying), You know what, Ina? I don’t think the carrots are gonna make Thanksgiving.” Harhar. As if. He continues, “The entire country of America would hate me.” Ina laughs heartily. Love her.

While Bobby bastes the turkey again. Ina moves on to a Brussels sprout dish. She shreds them in a food processor and sautés them in butter and olive oil. Ina says this is so much easier than roasting AND it frees up the oven. She drizzles over balsamic vinegar. I like that, but I don’t like the muddy color it gives the dish. I would definitely use a white balsamic vinegar, even a lemon one, if you can find it.

Bobby tests his turkey. He says the key number to remember is 160°F. But he says 155°F. is actually okay for the breast and the thigh should be 160°F. Whoa, Nelly! Food safety experts would NOT agree with that.

The USDA says the breast, thigh AND stuffing should all measure 165°F. Butterball goes a little overboard and recommends 180°F. for the thigh and 165°F. for the breast.

Bobby takes his turkey’s temperature. The breast is 157°F. and the thigh is 162°F. I usually split the difference and do 160°F. for the breast, but I make sure the thigh and stuffing are 165°F. And always put the thermometer in the thickest part of the breast and the thickest part of the thigh, not touching the bone. Obviously, this whole issue is why people spatchcock their turkeys. That’s fine, but I like the challenge of cooking a big bird, whole, stuffed and intact.

Finally Bobby brings in the turkey. Ina says it looks amazing. While it rests, they test the sprouts. Bobby loves the balsamic vinegar addition and remarks that the two of them cook so much alike. She laughs and says she’d LIKE to cook like him.

For the Potato Gratin garnish, they fry the sage in canola (ICK!) oil. The amount of oil Ina and Bobby use shows they’re definitely not paying for their own oil. Ina acts like she’s never done this and asks how long they cook. “30 seconds, Missy,” Bobby says! (He didn’t really say that, but he could have, since they’re so cute together.) Bobby salts the sage leaves straight out of the pan. He tops the cooked potato gratin with the beautiful shallots and then the sage. Ina is in heaven and decrees that this dish will definitely be on the table. (Instead of the Gruyere, the shallot and sage situation would be a good thing to top the bread pudding with.)

Bobby carves the turkey. He separates the legs and cuts off the thigh. Like Ina, he carves each breast off in one big piece and then cuts it sideways. Ina says her father could carve a turkey beautifully, but he was a surgeon. They taste the turkey. She says it’s actually the moistest turkey she’s ever had.

Ina shows us how she simply, but elegantly, set the table. 

Ina tells us how she made her cranberries. They’re okay, but look at this recipe. It’s my cranberry staple and soooooo good.

Lastly, Bobby shows Ina how to make his Autumn Sangria. He starts by teaching her how to bash the outside of a pomegranate to get the seeds out. Ina’s pretending this is all new to her. I guess if Bobby Flay were in MY kitchen showing me, I would let him too.

Bobby says this is another “everyone in the pool” recipe. He soaks the fruit in all the liquor and wine for quite a long time. I worry that the fruit could become somewhat flabby if left too long. He adds pear brandy to the fruit in the pitcher. Great idea! Then Calvados. Even better! (Ina has to open the bottle for Bobby. Funny.) And then red wine and apple cider go in. WOWEE! He adds cinnamon simple syrup, which is just simple syrup made with cinnamon sticks. The pomegranate seeds go in at the end.

Bobby pours them a taste. Ina exclaims, “Oh, we’re getting whole glasses! Let’s get serious! We’re done testing. We can now drink!” Bobby even tells us HOW to pour the sangria. Spoon some fruit in the bottom of the glass and then pour in the sangria, holding back the other fruit with a wooden spoon. Ina is enchanted with everything. They toast to the best Thanksgiving ever.

I love Ina and Bobby together. I love their happy enthusiasm. They make a perfectly charming pair and their chemistry is undeniable. FYI, The Food Network is repeating this show on Saturday morning (November 21) at 9 am, 11/23 at 4 pm and, cutting it a little close, Wednesday 11/25 at 1pm.

I hope all your holiday dinner preparations go as swimmingly as theirs did. And, after all the chopping is done, I’m sure Ina would approve of a cocktail or two.

* If the recipe says 5 extra-large eggs, use 6 large.

Where Have I Been And WHAT Has Happened To The Food Network?

Oh guys, I’m here, I really am, but clearly I haven’t been putting blogging at the top of my to-do list. And if you’ve been watching the Food Network lately, it’s not too hard to understand why. But there are a couple other things that have been going on to explain my absence, which, I fully admit, are probably pretty boring to anyone not living within my four walls.

First, I’m doing a relatively small renovation which has turned into a really big time sucker. And I’M not even the one knocking down the walls. My town puts many roadblocks in the way of doing things to one’s house and it’s taken a lot of nitpicky action to get things going AND we don’t even start the actual work for a couple of weeks. But, as anybody knows who’s ever done work to his or her house, lots of things, actually EVERYTHING has to be chosen and ordered in advance.

The second thing that’s taken my attention away from blogging (I really buried the lead here) is that my daughter is getting married…in the fall…in California. YAY!!!!!!!

There are a lot of details to work out since it’s an out of town wedding for many of us. The best part of the whole thing, though, is that my daughter is the least Bridezilla of any bride in the universe. She’s concerned about her family and her guests and we haven’t disagreed about anything! (Well, she DID nix the doves…) And a wonderful side effect is that we talk or IM or text many times daily and, frankly, I don’t really care what it’s about. It’s just nice to be in such close communication. I’ve asked her if after the wedding, we can still talk as much and while the answer has not been that reassuring, I’ll take what I can get for now.

But back to my first point… In the last few years, there’s been a lot less of interest to watch on the Food Network and, thus, to write about. Ina and Giada have been banished to Sunday mornings and The Kitchen, which should really be called The Chew 2, has taken a prime Saturday morning spot. And, of course, now competitions rule. I love this article, which talks about how junky the Food Network is getting...literally.

Allen Salkin, author of From Scratch: Inside the Food Network, is quoted. He “sees the junk-food cooking as a sign of decline for a channel that once minted celebrity chefs and acted as something of a middle-brow vanguard for raising America’s culinary knowledge. Now, he says, executives are just ‘regurgitating old show ideas and presenting new ways to make ourselves fatter and sicker.’ ”

Somehow when I watched Paula (remember her?) cooking unbelievably unhealthful food, I looked at it as pure entertainment and not something I would actually replicate in the kitchen. (And you always got the feeling that Paula was in on the joke.) Now, they’re serious!

Plus if the Food Network could clone Bobby Flay, they would. They’ve stretched him from straight cooking shows to competing in cooking competitions, to judging, to mentoring, to mentoring WHILE judging AND competing and every variation therein. Soon they will be happy just to put his name in the title of the show…or maybe the credits. I happen to love Bobby, so seeing him everywhere isn’t the problem. I’m just sorry they don’t think his cooking is good enough to carry an entire show, but apparently just showing his face is good enough to carry an entire network.

There IS one cooking show that I’m very excited about. I’ll tell you about it next time…and soon.

Giada Gives The Audience The Finger Plus Bobby Shows Us A New Turkey Trick

Actually, it was PART of her finger that Giada “gave” us as she sliced through it, while LIVE on the air on the Food Network Thanksgiving special on Saturday. She was slicing a turkey roll while cooking along with Ina, Bobby and Alton when her hand slipped and oops! Lucky for us, we didn’t actually see the event. It happened in the background.

Bobby, Ina, Giada and (ugh) Alton were bopping around the Food Network Kitchens, talking about every possible aspect of the Thanksgiving meal. Then we see Giada (with her back turned) leaning over, actually leaning ON the edge of a sink. A FN chef comes over and it looks as if they’re consulting about something. Giada comes back to the front and admits she cut her finger. Ina puts her arm around her to offer support and that ass Alton decides that’s the perfect moment to ask her some complicated question.

One report said she looked pale and a little weak. I probably wouldn’t have seen that on my own, but she certainly didn’t need to be asked a question RIGHT THEN. Someone else answered it and there was quite a lot of chitchat before they FINALLY went to a commercial. When they got back, Alton announced Giada was getting treated and Bobby and Ina filled in just fine for the injured Italian.

The ironic thing was that Giada was making this rolled up and stuffed Turkey Breast "Porchetta", because it saves heavy-duty slicing just before serving, because you debone it before you stuff it.

You couldn’t help but think of Dan Ackroyd doing Julia Child (SO FUNNY!) and bleeding all over the set, but Giada was far more refined.

This Thanksgiving show did have some decent recipes, but it was annoying, because of Alton constant interrupted everybody.  (Actually, Giada - pre-incision - kept piping in during Ina’s spiels, but she was just being enthusiastic.) They’re repeating the show a bunch of times, but save yourself the 2 hours and just look at the recipes here.

Here was the high point for me: Bobby (and actually the other two too) disagreeing with Alton about brining. Bobby said he doesn’t like the texture of the meat after it’s been brined. Take that Alton! Ina says she likes to put lots of seasoning (read salt) on the turkey a day or two before cooking and it gives a lot of extra flavor. Giada likes what she calls a dry brine, which is an herb rub.

And this was interesting. Bobby did something very different with his turkey. When the breast measured 160°F , (I THINK he said 160, I’d feel better at 165, even though I know it continues to cook) he took the turkey out of the oven and CUT THE LEGS AND THIGHS OFF. Really. (The wings are still attached to the breast and carcass) Then he put the legs and thighs BACK  in the roasting pan, covered them with foil and cooked them for ANOTHER HOUR. I kid you not. That’s pretty radical, right? And he doesn’t give a hoot that he cuts up the bird before presenting it to his audience, friends, guests or whomever.

Bobby covered the remaining turkey (with the breast meat and wings) with foil and just let it rest for an hour. That’s a darn good idea. The only thing I would add is my magic trick of turning the breast upside down as it rests. The juices flow back into the breast, where they’re needed the most. I actually LOVE Bobby’s idea of cutting off the dark meat and cooking it longer. I may have to try it on Thursday, except that I stuff my turkey and the stuffing may not register done (165°F) when the breast does, so I’ll have to keep my options open.

After the show, the Food Network had a “Hangout” with its four Food Network stars. You know, kind of like Andy Cohen’s “Aftershow”.

Some nice young woman from Food Network.com, who never introduced, herself was (I thought) the host of this post-show. She introduced everyone and started the questions rolling. Then she introduced the stars of the new Food Network show modelled (exactly) after The Chew called The Kitchen @ Food Network - Jeff Mauro, Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee and Marcela Valladolid. Exactly like The Chew, there is one super-duper chef taking part, Geoffrey Zakarian, who was not participating in the Hangout. He’s like Mario Batali on The Chew, who, remember, was on The Chew’s first episode from a remote location – a golf course - demonstrating pizza dough. (I haven’t really watched The Chew since then, so maybe Mario is there more…but I kind of doubt it. He probably makes appearances in between his more important gigs.)

Anyway, the annoying part of this “Hangout” was that the nameless host, who WAS sitting at the head of the table, was supposed to be channeling questions from Twitter and the website for ALL the chefs, but Alton could not keep his mouth shut. While Hangout Host Gal gamely looked on, he barreled through the segment asking each of The Kitchen hosts some Thanksgiving related question. Ina looked bored, but laughed bravely when called upon. Giada looked uber-sexy in her heavy librarian glasses, but she should have been home nursing her wound. Bobby didn’t actually seem bothered by obnoxious Alton.

Ah well, it was an interesting show, which would have been made better by a more courtly host (Ted Allen perhaps). I get that Alton has MANY technically proficient recipes to contribute, but couldn’t he do it by remote and only when called upon?

Find the myriad recipes mentioned here:

Clarified Butter
Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Brussels Sprouts with Pecans and Cranberries
Good Gravy
Country Bread Stuffing with Goat Cheese, Kale and Bacon
Cranberry Sauce
Mashed Potatoes with Smoked Paprika and Chives
Roasted Turkey a la Tangerine
Roasted Shrimp in Cazuela
Spanish Cranberry Sparkling Martini
Apple Crostata
Kale and Gorgonzola Salad
Thanksgiving Turkeys
Accidental Turkey
Turkey Breast "Porchetta"
Roasted Figs and Prosciutto
Kir Royale
Mushroom and Leek Bread Pudding
Green Beans Gremolata
Thanksgiving Live Roast Turkey

"Hollywood" Bobby and Giada, The Waster (Or Is It Just Me?) Plus A Wedding Cake Contest

Giada At Home with Giada DeLaurentiis

Grilling with Bobby

Grilled Peach and Caramel Crostata
Grilled Seafood Pasta Fra Diavolo

Sparkling Apricot Mint Sours

I just learned that Michael Symon’s affectionate nickname for Bobby Flay is “Hollywood”, because of Bobby’s early embrace of celebrity chefdom. That’s not a criticism, by the way, from Symon (or me). Bobby was totally in the right place at the right time to learn his stagecraft (he was already an accomplished chef) when food television was just starting out. He admits his early forays into cooking on tv were less than polished.

Bobby is visiting Giada in her California kitchen. But before he gets there, she’s making dessert for him – a crostata, which is a free-form, open-faced fruit pie or tart. Giada is going to GRILL the peaches for the crostata, which is a really great idea. She halves the peaches as she tells us to use really ripe ones. But hers have a bright green center (around the pit)! Does that mean they’re not ripe or are they some kind of exotic Californian peach that we don’t see in these parts? Dunno.

The next thing she does is also odd. She drizzles white balsamic vinegar (which I love) over the peaches, making sure to fill in the holes where the pits where. BUT THE PEACHES ARE STILL ON THE CUTTING BOARD, so she’s going to lose any vinegar that spills over the peaches. That stuff is really pricey, so why not put the peaches in a shallow pie plate (for example) and catch any stray dribbles? You could use that in the next salad you make.

I don’t like this next step either. She grabs the peaches and places them cut-side down on a hot grill pan. As she does that, all the white balsamic vinegar spills out of the pit holes into the bottom of the grill pan. She COULD HAVE poured the balsamic vinegar on top of each pitted peach and then kind of swirled it around to cover the whole top and THEN poured it out into that pie dish BEFORE she grilled the peaches and not wasted it.

While the peaches are grilling, Giada is getting started on her CAR-mel sauce. For someone who squeezes every last syllable out of every single Italian word she uses (including the ones that have basically become English), it’s weird that she doesn’t give Kayr-a-mel its due. (Can you imagine how critical I’d be if I didn’t LIKE Giada, which I do. I just can’t help noticing these things.)

Giada starts the CAR-mel sauce by mixing together 1/3 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons of water and putting it over heat to dissolve.

She grabs a STORE-BOUGHT crust. How can she say that with a straight face? And this is for Bobby? I hope he’s po’ed. She takes the peaches out of the grill pan and places them in circles on the pie crust with some in the middle. She folds over the edges of the crust to make an inch-wide border. How good that would be with real pastry!

To top the peaches, Giada adds butter and lemon to the pretty brown car-a-mel and, voila, it becomes a sauce.  She pours it over the peaches in the crust and put it into a 375°F. oven for 20 to 25 minutes. She’s going to serve it with thyme whipped cream. I SHOULD like the sound of that, but I don’t.

Oh good, Bobby has arrived. Was he just lurking in the wings all along? Giada starts boiling lobsters. Actually, she lets Bobby do it. He takes them out of the big pot. 

Giada tells Bobby to put the linguine in the lobster water. He loves that she’s getting that extra flavor into the pasta. She halves long green Anaheim peppers and cuts up Campari tomatoes, which are Italian cherry tomatoes. She’s grilling everything.

Bobby likes that Giada boils the lobster before grilling them. She coats the peppers and tomatoes with chili oil and seasons them. Bobby says that Anaheim chili peppers are interesting. They’re not that spicy but they add a nice flavor.

Bobby’s general rule is that green chilies are used fresh and red chilies are used dried. And the smaller the chili, the hotter it is. Isn’t that like those rules for learning English (or any other language) where there are so many exceptions, you might just as well not even call it a rule?

Giada puts the Anaheim peppers, tomatoes and lobster on the grill.

Giada asks Bobby how he fell love with chilies. He tells the (often told) story of Jonathan Waxman (the first chef to introduce California cuisine to the East Coast) giving Bobby his first job. Waxman introduced him to southwestern cooking and now he almost HAS to use chilies to get his taste buds going.

Giada asks, “Was cooking something you just fell into or something you always loved?” I know the answer! Bobby fell into it. He was a lousy high school student and when he started working in a kitchen he found his passion. Yup, that’s exactly what he said. He was 17 when he got his first restaurant job and that made him want to go to culinary school. And the rest is history, as they say. I said that, not him. Giada adds shrimp to the grill pan. She tossed that in chili oil too.

They’re finishing the dish with some garlic. Bobby is chopping the garlic and Giada is bothering him by trying to clean up after him. That’s obviously her Cordon Bleu training, where cleaning up as you go is almost as important as how or what you’re cooking. (I abandoned that credo a long time ago. I’d rather soak everything and do it at the end.) Bobby crushes the garlic on the board with a bit of Kosher salt. “Everything good starts with onions and garlic” he says.

Giada sautés some chopped shallots in the chili oil and tells Bobby to get the Parmigiano from the fridge. They spend a bit of time on a pronunciation lesson, with Giada stressing the “R”, saying Bobby is saying PAMigiano. He can't help it, he still sounds like a New Yawker. And wait a sec, what’s up with the cheese? Isn’t that a cardinal rule in Italy – with seafood, no cheese? Oh, lookie here, Bobby asks the exact same question. Giada says it’s an old wives' tale and Bobby says he agrees.

In fact, she says her grandfather used to add the Parmigiano to the pasta BEFORE the sauce, so it sticks to the pasta. Excellent tip.

Giada adds some clams to the cooking shallots. They take some time to open, so Bobby taps them on the shell with his chef’s knife and they open! That’s a good tip too. Giada is super impressed. Bobby adds all the chopped, previously grilled stuff - the tomatoes, peppers and lobster to the shallot pot.

Giada tells Bobby she doesn’t drain pasta, she just lifts it out and into the pot with the other ingredients. Bobby grates cheese over, Giada adds a bit of pasta water and some chili oil with some butter. Giada mixes it all together. Bobby inquires why she’s adding butter and not olive oil. She likes the silkiness they give to the noodles. They taste it for seasoning right from the pot. Bobby slurps his noodles, while Giada laughs. “Wow, that was classy.” Bobby says.

Next, Bobby makes them an apricot sour. He says he likes to serves everything he makes, including cocktails, family style. He drops mint leaves into a pitcher. He muddles the mint with some fresh apricots and superfine sugar. He adds a sour mix, which, AHEM, he made himself with fresh lemon and lime juice and simple syrup.

He adds the sour mix and apricot nectar and gin. Or you can add vodka. He stirs it gently. He tops the whole thing with Prosecco. I LOVE anything topped with Prosecco. Maybe not a latte, but most everything else. Bobby puts one GIANT ice cube in each lowball glass and pours the pretty drink over. Bobby says it’s sweet and sour and fruity, but not too sweet.. The reason for the mint sprig is that as you sip the drink you also smell the mint which becomes part of the taste of the drink. (Bobby learned that at the Kentucky Derby.)

They eat the pasta and Bobby loves the taste of the seafood and the spiciness “in unison”. Giada likes her pasta to have flavor in every bite, and she doesn’t “want it to live alone.”

She cuts the crostata, while Bobby grabs the whipped cream and ice cream. A little birdie told her he likes ice cream. He starts eating while she’s still folding the thyme into the whipped cream. He says he wants to taste the whipped cream too. She takes a big scoop of it and puts it...on HERS! They burst out laughing. He finally gets some and likes it all. He says, “The dough is so tender”. It’s really great (not!!!) that Bobby is rewarding her for using store-bought dough. She says nothing about the provenance of the dough, which I actually agree with. I don’t think the cook has to admit anything about what’s in or NOT IN the finished dish UNLESS you’re dealing with medical issues.

About the pastry, I’m sure that dough DID taste good, because that’s how they design it. Did you see this show, where they tested 3 different wedding cakes on 4 different people, including a person that jumps OUT of cakes. 

 

The over $2000 cake (and the Safeway supermarket wedding cake) lost to the Betty Crocker cake, baked by a producer at home. They were judged on taste only, not looks. Betty has spent a lot of time (and money) figuring out what it is that people want from their cake and she puts it all together in a little box. I would have liked the producer to bake a cake at home FROM SCRATCH! Who knows, though, maybe that wouldn’t have made any difference.

I liked the pasta recipe in this episode, because I like the idea that you can grill up a bunch of stuff in big pieces, chop it up, add it to sautéed shallots and put it over pasta. Each ingredient is getting a boost of flavor at different stages in the recipe. It all comes together for a delicious dish.

NOTE: Bobby and Giada were supposed to be doing a talk show together, which would have required Giada to move east. I’m not sure she was thrilled about that, but I think the two of them together would have been a great team. The only thing I can find about it is here, where it looks like it was passed over…for the moment.