I am not happy. Someone at the Food Network has decided that my wonderful Michael Chiarello doesn't belong on the Saturday afternoon television line-up - which is the primetime of my Food Network viewing. They put Spiky Haired Guy on instead. He's ok, his food is actually rather exciting, but he's no MC. And he doesn't need to be on on Saturday afternoon, when I have my appointment with destiny, I mean with my favorite chef on Easy Entertaining.
A quick perusal of FN's website leads me to conclude that this is not just a temporary move. Michael's keeping his 12:30 pm SUNDAY slot, but those were usually old shows. Now they have him on every weekday at 3 pm. Is that supposed to make up the fact that they took away his Saturday afternoons? Who can possibly watch at 3 pm and who wants to tape something every day at 3? (It's true, I actually TAPE the shows. Don't ask...It's a long story, but it has to do with being able to take the tapes and watch them on any tv and not having to get TIVO or DVR on every frickin' television in the house.)
I'm not upset that Ellie Krieger looks like she may be getting the heave-ho, though. She's on at 9:30 on Saturday mornings now and she's not even on the schedule after the end of May. She's affable, she's certainly healthy, but her food is just not that tasty. Everything I've made of hers seems to suffer from being a healthy version of a dish.
The good news is that the hunky Tyler Florence is on in her spot now at 1 pm on Saturday. He IS really good looking and his food his very satisfying and full-flavored. I would have enjoyed watching Michael right after him, but I guess it's not meant to be.
Food Network - Bring back Mike on Saturday afternoons!
Showing posts with label Ellie Krieger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ellie Krieger. Show all posts
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Giada...Here Comes The Cook...
Everyday Italian with Giada De Laurentiis
Wedding Shower
Italian Chicken Salad in Lettuce Cups
Goat Cheese Toasts
Bellini Bar
White Chocolate Hazelnut Tartlets
To get the recipes:
Click here
The gals have gathered in the garden to admire their friend's engagement ring. Giada's giving the wedding shower lunch. Her menu is "sweet and cute, just like the wedding couple". She is starting with chicken salad dressed up with an Italian touch. Personally, I don't like the idea of Parmesan in a chicken salad, but maybe she'll win me over...
"Before I start making my froufrou Italian chicken salad", she tells us that she wants to get the dressing made. 1/2 cup red wine vinegar plus 1/4 cup lemon juice into...Oh good, she's using a blender. She adds a couple teaspoons of honey, way too much...well, maybe not with all that vinegar and lemon juice. She adds the oil slooowwww-leeeeee. Here we go again. IT'S NOT NECESSARY. There is no difference between adding the oil all at once, or slowly.
"I'm using chicken I bought at the store". Giada is really taking shortcuts here. (Remember when Ina roasted chicken breasts - not my favorite, but she did them beautifully - on the bone for a beautiful salad?) Giada's taking grilled peppers from a Mason jar. (Giada, did you make those or buy them?) Red onion, parsley, capers and toasted slivered almonds get added. You're not even going to toast the almonds for us? Wow, she's really not showing us anything today.
Now she's moving on to individual phyllo cups filled with...NUTELLA!!! Are we really supposed to admit in public how much we LOVE nutella and how we could eat the entire container in one sitting?
Ok, now we're COOKING, she's actually going to show us how to deal with phyllo. Thaw it completely and unroll it very carefully. Always keep the pieces you're not immediately playing with covered with a damp cloth. Lay out a sheet in front of you. Beginning at the edges, brush the entire sheet with butter (I've seen Ellie Krieger use Pam). Giada tells us to start at the edges, because that's where it tears the most. Good tip.
Layer after layer goes on with butter between each. After the 4th sheet goes on and has been brushed with butter, it gets cut into 6 squares. Then Giada carefully takes each square and places it gently into a muffin pan. Bake at 375 deg F. for 9 minutes until golden and crisp. Phyllo is kind of fiddly, but it's a lot of fun and this is a most attractive way to present it. However, I do have some reservations about the final product, which I'll get to later.
Giada chops white chocolate and tells us it's not really chocolate because it doesn't have any chocolate liquor in it. BUT the bride-to-be really loves it, so that's good enough for her. Giada puts the white chocolate in a little pot and adds cream to it. She puts it right over a low flame. GOOD! She's not bothering with a namby-pamby double boiler. (Just learn to melt your chocolate on low heat, people!)
She chops hazelnuts. Why do I think they are the sexiest nut? The gorgeousness of our host is probably swaying me. She gives the chocolate and cream a good stir. When its nice and smooth, she mixes it into the nuts and cools the mixture before proceeding.
She whips 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream to add to the white chocolate and nuts. Giada tells us, "It has to be heavy whipping cream to make the best whipped cream." Huh???!!! You're right, it does have to BE heavy whipping cream to BE whipped cream, because you can't exactly make whipped cream from anything else. I'm confused...
She folds the cream into the white chocolate. Good, she stressed that the chocolate MUST be cooled or the whipped cream (remember the one, made from heavy whipping cream?!) will deflate. Refrigerate this for an hour.
"A Bellini bar is a festive way to brighten up a shower." Or even a bath, I'd say...
She's making 3 different fruit purées and the guests can add whichever they wish to the Prosecco. That is a lovely idea. She says you must thaw your frozen fruit completely before puréeing, or you'll get clumps and not a smooth purée. She places a bag of thawed frozen peaches in the blender. She adds orange zest - what an excellent idea to pop the flavor. She blends thoroughly with a light sugar syrup and then strains the purée through a strainer. That's a bit of a bore, but I guess you don't want to have to use your molars to drink your Bellini. She puts the Prosecco on on ice.
She moves on to the goat cheese toasts. She slices a baguette into 1/4 inch slices, slightly on the diagonal to make them look pretty. Drizzles them with olive oil then toasts then at 375 deg F. for 15 minutes. Michael Cutey-rello NEVER puts oil on them until they're out of the oven and RR lets her staff toast the bread, because she always burns it.
The goat cheese goes in the food processor with the cream cheese and fresh herbs and lemon zest. Giada pits Sicilian green olives and chops them.
The girls arrive. Giada has her friends assemble all the goodies. Some of them put the nutella in the phyllo cups and then top with the white chocolate mixture. Others dress the chicken salad. (No, I still don't like the chicken salad. There are about 4 million better recipes out there.) And the last group spreads the goat cheese mixture on the toasted baguettes.
Here are my promised thoughts about phyllo cups. They are really pretty and quite impressive to display, but the minute you bite into them you get a torrent of fine crumbs that go everywhere. If you're wearing black it looks like you were feeding pigeons and you missed.
They take their seats outside and pop the corks. She explains about the brilliant colored Bellinis. Is it possible that her friends are as beautiful as she is? It IS LA after all. The show closes with the future bride giving a sincere thank you toast. Best wishes to her. Per cent'anni!
Wedding Shower
Italian Chicken Salad in Lettuce Cups
Goat Cheese Toasts
Bellini Bar
White Chocolate Hazelnut Tartlets
To get the recipes:
Click here
The gals have gathered in the garden to admire their friend's engagement ring. Giada's giving the wedding shower lunch. Her menu is "sweet and cute, just like the wedding couple". She is starting with chicken salad dressed up with an Italian touch. Personally, I don't like the idea of Parmesan in a chicken salad, but maybe she'll win me over...
"Before I start making my froufrou Italian chicken salad", she tells us that she wants to get the dressing made. 1/2 cup red wine vinegar plus 1/4 cup lemon juice into...Oh good, she's using a blender. She adds a couple teaspoons of honey, way too much...well, maybe not with all that vinegar and lemon juice. She adds the oil slooowwww-leeeeee. Here we go again. IT'S NOT NECESSARY. There is no difference between adding the oil all at once, or slowly.
"I'm using chicken I bought at the store". Giada is really taking shortcuts here. (Remember when Ina roasted chicken breasts - not my favorite, but she did them beautifully - on the bone for a beautiful salad?) Giada's taking grilled peppers from a Mason jar. (Giada, did you make those or buy them?) Red onion, parsley, capers and toasted slivered almonds get added. You're not even going to toast the almonds for us? Wow, she's really not showing us anything today.
Now she's moving on to individual phyllo cups filled with...NUTELLA!!! Are we really supposed to admit in public how much we LOVE nutella and how we could eat the entire container in one sitting?
Ok, now we're COOKING, she's actually going to show us how to deal with phyllo. Thaw it completely and unroll it very carefully. Always keep the pieces you're not immediately playing with covered with a damp cloth. Lay out a sheet in front of you. Beginning at the edges, brush the entire sheet with butter (I've seen Ellie Krieger use Pam). Giada tells us to start at the edges, because that's where it tears the most. Good tip.
Layer after layer goes on with butter between each. After the 4th sheet goes on and has been brushed with butter, it gets cut into 6 squares. Then Giada carefully takes each square and places it gently into a muffin pan. Bake at 375 deg F. for 9 minutes until golden and crisp. Phyllo is kind of fiddly, but it's a lot of fun and this is a most attractive way to present it. However, I do have some reservations about the final product, which I'll get to later.
Giada chops white chocolate and tells us it's not really chocolate because it doesn't have any chocolate liquor in it. BUT the bride-to-be really loves it, so that's good enough for her. Giada puts the white chocolate in a little pot and adds cream to it. She puts it right over a low flame. GOOD! She's not bothering with a namby-pamby double boiler. (Just learn to melt your chocolate on low heat, people!)
She chops hazelnuts. Why do I think they are the sexiest nut? The gorgeousness of our host is probably swaying me. She gives the chocolate and cream a good stir. When its nice and smooth, she mixes it into the nuts and cools the mixture before proceeding.
She whips 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream to add to the white chocolate and nuts. Giada tells us, "It has to be heavy whipping cream to make the best whipped cream." Huh???!!! You're right, it does have to BE heavy whipping cream to BE whipped cream, because you can't exactly make whipped cream from anything else. I'm confused...
She folds the cream into the white chocolate. Good, she stressed that the chocolate MUST be cooled or the whipped cream (remember the one, made from heavy whipping cream?!) will deflate. Refrigerate this for an hour.
"A Bellini bar is a festive way to brighten up a shower." Or even a bath, I'd say...
She's making 3 different fruit purées and the guests can add whichever they wish to the Prosecco. That is a lovely idea. She says you must thaw your frozen fruit completely before puréeing, or you'll get clumps and not a smooth purée. She places a bag of thawed frozen peaches in the blender. She adds orange zest - what an excellent idea to pop the flavor. She blends thoroughly with a light sugar syrup and then strains the purée through a strainer. That's a bit of a bore, but I guess you don't want to have to use your molars to drink your Bellini. She puts the Prosecco on on ice.
She moves on to the goat cheese toasts. She slices a baguette into 1/4 inch slices, slightly on the diagonal to make them look pretty. Drizzles them with olive oil then toasts then at 375 deg F. for 15 minutes. Michael Cutey-rello NEVER puts oil on them until they're out of the oven and RR lets her staff toast the bread, because she always burns it.
The goat cheese goes in the food processor with the cream cheese and fresh herbs and lemon zest. Giada pits Sicilian green olives and chops them.
The girls arrive. Giada has her friends assemble all the goodies. Some of them put the nutella in the phyllo cups and then top with the white chocolate mixture. Others dress the chicken salad. (No, I still don't like the chicken salad. There are about 4 million better recipes out there.) And the last group spreads the goat cheese mixture on the toasted baguettes.
Here are my promised thoughts about phyllo cups. They are really pretty and quite impressive to display, but the minute you bite into them you get a torrent of fine crumbs that go everywhere. If you're wearing black it looks like you were feeding pigeons and you missed.
They take their seats outside and pop the corks. She explains about the brilliant colored Bellinis. Is it possible that her friends are as beautiful as she is? It IS LA after all. The show closes with the future bride giving a sincere thank you toast. Best wishes to her. Per cent'anni!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Healthy Schmealthy, Just Make It Good!!!
Healthy Appetite with Ellie Kreiger
Rush-Hour Dinners
Chicken Sate with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce
Sesame Stir-Fried Chinese Greens
Portobello Lasagna Rollups
Easy Tomato Sauce
The bulk of my Food Network watching is done on Saturday afternoon and, I admit it, the ONLY reason I watch Ellie Krieger is because her show is on between Ina and Michael. Good programming on the Food Network's part, but I don't have to like it. She does seem like a very nice person who exudes a healthy glow, but let's face it, her food has no pizazz. She's de-fatted and de-sugared and de-tasted it so much that you are left with a healthy dish, but one with little flavor. The blueberry sauce awhile back seemed like it would be good. IT WASN'T! Too watery, not sweet enough...just blah. I'm sorry, Ellie, your food always looks good, but your recipes don't deliver. Maybe this show will be different.
She starts by talking about Time Crunching Strategies. I don't really want to hear about strategies and COOKING. We're not talking arms control or global warming initiatives here.
Hmmm, she's doing grilled chicken with satay sauce. I DO LOVE satay sauce. Maybe she'll turn it around this week. Let's see how she de-flavorizes it...Uses LIGHT coconut milk. Ok, I'm ok with that...she continues with every ingredient prefaced by low salt, low fat, low fun...But we're still ok. WAIT! HALF A TEASPOON of lime zest?! Could you spare it?
She's talking about Jasmine Brown Rice, ok, I like that. ONE cup of rice?? I make that for one person. This is for FOUR people...I'm guessing there's no Skippy in this recipe, prob'ly just peanuts from the rain forest...Let's see. Good-for-you-jarred-natural-peanut-butter, ok, good. 1/2 cup? Whoa Nellie, Ellie, you're really going to town. Ok, this recipe could be decent.
Rush-Hour Dinners
Chicken Sate with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce
Sesame Stir-Fried Chinese Greens
Portobello Lasagna Rollups
Easy Tomato Sauce
The bulk of my Food Network watching is done on Saturday afternoon and, I admit it, the ONLY reason I watch Ellie Krieger is because her show is on between Ina and Michael. Good programming on the Food Network's part, but I don't have to like it. She does seem like a very nice person who exudes a healthy glow, but let's face it, her food has no pizazz. She's de-fatted and de-sugared and de-tasted it so much that you are left with a healthy dish, but one with little flavor. The blueberry sauce awhile back seemed like it would be good. IT WASN'T! Too watery, not sweet enough...just blah. I'm sorry, Ellie, your food always looks good, but your recipes don't deliver. Maybe this show will be different.
She starts by talking about Time Crunching Strategies. I don't really want to hear about strategies and COOKING. We're not talking arms control or global warming initiatives here.
Hmmm, she's doing grilled chicken with satay sauce. I DO LOVE satay sauce. Maybe she'll turn it around this week. Let's see how she de-flavorizes it...Uses LIGHT coconut milk. Ok, I'm ok with that...she continues with every ingredient prefaced by low salt, low fat, low fun...But we're still ok. WAIT! HALF A TEASPOON of lime zest?! Could you spare it?
She's talking about Jasmine Brown Rice, ok, I like that. ONE cup of rice?? I make that for one person. This is for FOUR people...I'm guessing there's no Skippy in this recipe, prob'ly just peanuts from the rain forest...Let's see. Good-for-you-jarred-natural-peanut-butter, ok, good. 1/2 cup? Whoa Nellie, Ellie, you're really going to town. Ok, this recipe could be decent.
Ingredient alert: Always store your natural peanut butter and tahini and other oilified items UPSIDE DOWN. It's much easier to stir the oil UP from the bottom than DOWN from the top . If you really have a love of emulsification, scrap the whole mess into a food processor, mix well and back into the jar. It will keep its mixed-upedness for a while.
Naturally, back to the healthy element, we're told to use chicken breasts. And these are some skinny chickens. There isn't a TRACE of fat on these things. Folks, I know it's politically incorrect, but FAT IS FLAVOR. I would rather have a small chicken thigh with a wonderful richness which leaves you feeling satisfied than a big dry breast that has to be drowned in sauce (although I DO love sauce). To be honest, I almost NEVER cook chicken breasts, especially not boneless ones. I LOVE cooking with boneless chicken thighs. They're hard to overcook, they're delicious and they're CHEAP! If I have to pay nearly three dollars a gallon for gas to get the supermarket, I'm not going to buy gold-plated chicken - that has no flavor to boot. Sorry, back to the show...The chicken (in TINY pieces on a skewer) does look good. She plates it nicely with a surprisingly generous amount of satay sauce. Go Ellie!
We're up to Spinach and Lasagna Rollups. What the hay does that have to with Chicken Satay? This is one failing of this show. There's not a uniform theme, just a bunch of random dishes. And anyway, what does this have to with "Rush-Hour Dinners"? Make the sauce. Make the mushroom filling, assemble the cheese filling, boil the noodles, assemble. Nothing about this says middle of the week cooking. PLUS the spinach filling is bland. Add some sautéed onion, WOMAN, and they wouldn't hurt in the mushrooms either.
And, Ellie, don't think I didn't notice, you're kind of cheating here. Anyone can cook something in advance that takes a long time and pull it out the next day and say voila, I have a quick dinner.
Ellie, don't listen to this: To ANY lasagna recipe, the crowning touch is a bit - just 2 cups worth - of bechamel sauce. Stash it wherever you want...on the top of the dish before you sprinkle the cheese over, on top of the noodles with tomato sauce over that or even on the bottom of the dish before you load all the stuff in. Creamy goodness, I tell you.
We ain't getting that today, but the mushrooms do provide a "meaty" flavor, Ellie tells us. Sorry, kids, I'm getting weak, I must eat something, you're on your own for the Sesame Stir-Fried Chinese Greens. I will say one thing, though, those do not look like BABY bok choy, which IS a delightful vegetable.
I do have a little truc for the boy choy. This is good for any green. Broccolini or broccoli rabe or whatever you call it in your neighborhood is particularly good this way. Chop the greens and throw them into boiling water (salted or not - let your conscience be your guide) - bok choy for 30 seconds, broccoli rabe for 2ish minutes- Drain and proceed with recipe, sautéing the greens with desired ingredients.
Ellie, your dishes were not terrible this week, but you fudged (hmm good idea, I'll be right back) on the theme. I'll be watching...that is as long as you come in between my wonderful Ina and magnificent Michael...
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