In a post last week complaining about Robin's dull recipes, I completely dissed her use of roasted red peppers and remarked that I detest pimentos. I forgot that there is one place that I do find them acceptable; and that's in the center of olives to be used in Chicken Marbella – the now classic chicken, prune and caper recipe from the original Silver Palate Cookbook. They don't specifically say to use them, but they add a bit of red that's really dashing. Aside from that, my pimento ban stands!
BTW,
if you’ve never tried Chicken Marbella, YOU MUST. It sounds weird, especially mixing prunes with capers and THEN sprinkling over brown sugar before cooking the whole thing, but it is really divine.
I don’t follow the recipe exactly, I just throw in handfuls of what’s called for. And you certainly don’t need to use 10 pounds of chicken! But do double the chicken you think you need, because it’s soooo good the next day.
Plus even if I’m using a lot less chicken than what’s called for in the recipe, I only halve all the other goodies, because they’re so delicious. The recipe calls for one cup of prunes, for example, but I always use at least ½ cup, no matter how little chicken I’m making. Oh, and don’t bother with the oil. I haven’t missed it once in the 17,000 times I’ve made this.
Serve it with orzo to sop up the amazing juices from all those strange things together. Questions?
I thought I might have been mistaken about Robin’s Quick Fix Meals, so I took another look.
I was right the first time.
It’s interesting how she takes a normal dish and makes it seem positively banal and bland. I was prepared to give a blow by blow of this Sophisticated Surf n' Turf episode, but I found myself disliking so much of what she did (when has that stopped me before?) that I decided to save us both some time and just give you some “highlights”. (She LOVES quotations marks, for some reason, and filled the show with them.)
I was struck by how much she likes brown watery sauces for her food, this time and the last time I watched. Robin seared and then BRAISED a steak for her London Broil with Ale au jus. When was the last time you braised a flank steak? In general, you grill, sauté or broil a flank steak. If you do braise it, then you’re going for a Ropa Vieja type of preparation, where the steak is cooked for hours, not for the few minutes in this recipe. Robin cooks it in the liquid, just long enough to take the nice crust off the outside and add a steamed appearance to the meat. Also, the entire look of the dish could have been improved by the simple addition of a bit of fresh parsley at the end.
Robin braises halibut, as well, in "Braised" Halibut with Grilled Corn Cakes. Why the word “braised” is in quotes is a mystery. Braising is to sear something first and then cook it, partially covered, in liquid. That’s just what she does in this recipe, so why is it "braised”, not braised?
After searing the fish, she removes it and adds diced vegetables and then wine and stock. Then she adds the fish back in to cook for another 10 minutes. I find this a strange sauce for the halibut. It’s more suited for chicken. She even uses chicken stock. AND the sauce is a little too thin to be served gracefully.
Plus why, oh why, would she serve corn pancakes with it? The pancakes would get soggy the minute they hit the plate and the two have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
I also didn’t fall for her Halibut “Lobster” Rolls. The next thing she’ll be doing is to add some eggs and cream to her leftover fish and calling it "chocolate mousse".
There were quite a few other things in this show that I absolutely detested:
Jarred pimento – to my mind there is no excuse whatsoever for this item. I think it should all be shipped to Sandra Lee’s over-stocked pantry of fake food and used in her newest cocktail.
Farmhouse sinks – I’m sorry if you have one and I’ve offended you, but to me they look like miniature rectangular bathtubs in the middle of the kitchen. And who wants to lean against something cold and hard for hours on end? (I said COLD and hard).
Quinoa – I know it has more protein than any grain on earth, but I think it tastes like chewy sawdust.
Spraying Pam on a HOT griddle, while it’s on the stove. – A stove top is hard enough to clean without having to deal with this baked-on grime.
The most fascinating part of the episode was what was going on behind her, out the window. The same blue car seemed to be driving by (always in the same direction). There was a pedestrian, too…I think the same one kept walking by. Oh, and at one point the blue car actually parked at the curb. Someone opened the door, got in and drove away, which was far more riveting than what was going on in the kitchen.
The high point of the episode was a YELLOW truck going down the street. It added the most excitement of the entire half hour. In fact, I kept hoping that the camera would shift just a bit, so I could have a better view onto the pretty tree-lined street. But, no, I had to strain my neck to see what was going on. Add the difficult camera angle to the list of things I hated.
Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller
Thai One On
Peanutty Somen Noodles with Shrimp
Chicken Satay with Rice
Mango-Red Onion Salad
Steak Salad with Peanut-Lime Vinaigrette
Root Beer Floats
Chocolate-Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies
It takes a lot to make a bad peanut sauce, but that’s just what happened when I looked in on Robin Miller’s Quick Fix Meals. This was a show from 2006 and I LOVE peanut sauce, so I thought I would check it out.
Her plan was to make a peanut sauce at the beginning of the week and use it in several ways to make different meals during the week. That sounds fine.
But I grow concerned at her very first step. She takes 3 cups of chicken stock and pours it into a pot. Why does that bother me? Because I didn’t think she was making chicken soup, I thought she was making peanut sauce. Add all the peanutty and spicy stuff first and THEN thin it, if you have to. And, frankly, I don’t even LIKE the idea of chicken stock in a sauce that will become a salad dressing. (I put Chinese tea in my peanut sauce. Email me for the recipe, it’s not mine to give out.)
To the stock, Robin adds a paltry 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. My recipe calls for ½ cup and I always find myself adding more. BECAUSE she’s already diluted the sauce way too much, adding only 2 tablespoons of peanut butter isn’t going to go that far towards making a rich sauce with a strong peanut butter flavor. She adds 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon hot sauce and 2 teaspoons of sesame oil. Robin whisks the mixture and simmers it for 8 to 10 minutes.
She puts udon noodles in a pot of hot water. I think she meant for it to be boiling, but it’s not busting even a tiny move.
Robin adds peanut oil to a pan. That’s the first thing I approve of so far. She adds 1 tablespoon of chopped ginger and 3 teaspoons garlic from a jar. (I didn’t diss Aaron for that, but I really don’t approve)
Robin chops 1 green pepper in a way that wastes the most pepper. She holds it on a cutting board and cuts straight down on all four sides, leaving a huge amount attached to the stem and a lot on the bottom. Actually that’s okay with me, because I NEVER use green pepper, except if I’m being cheap. (She does say to use any pepper you have handy.) She chops it roughly, very roughly, and cooks it a few minutes and then adds peeled and cleaned shrimp. She cooks them for about 3 minutes.
She gets her garnishes ready – chopped scallions, chopped peanuts (oh goody, she’s chopped some to have ready for later in the week).
Robin pours the drained udon noodles into the pan, telling us it’s fine if you get some of the pasta water in there. Of course, there is no salt in the water, so she’s not going to pick up much flavor.
She tosses everything together with one cup of the pale brown watery sauce. She garnishes it with the scallions, peanuts and some chopped cilantro. It doesn’t LOOK bad, but it can’t taste like much. Maybe if she added a massive amount of cilantro, it would be enough to compensate for a less than potent peanut sauce.
The next dish, which will use some of this peanut sauce, is chicken satay.
She cooks 2 cups of brown rice in 5 to 10 minutes!!! I know no one has time to cook anymore, but don’t make instant or quick cooking rice, even if it is brown. It’s more expensive and has fewer nutrients. Cook it over the weekend and freeze it or start it the SECOND you walk in and it’ll be done by the time you wrestle everyone to the table.
Robin has sliced the boneless chicken breasts already. She threads them on wooden skewers, which have been soaked for 30 minutes in water. Then she does something disturbing. She doesn't isolate the skewers she’s using for the chicken and she’s got raw chicken on her hands. (She can’t be using all of those and she grabs them out of a common container.) 
I would definitely like to see more anti-contamination safeguards in place.
Wait, she must be listening. She actually says THIS hand is still clean. Okay, let’s rewind the tape. I was going to be (even more) petty and take a picture every time the chicken touched the “clean” hand, but, believe me, it looked like it did. I don’t see what the problem is with just washing your hands before the next step. At least, TELL us you did!
Robin puts the chicken on a stove top griddle and cooks it 5 to 7 minutes. She says to turn it frequently. She washes her hands NOW.
For the satay sauce, she adds 1 cup of her watery peanut sauce to a saucepan and adds 2 tablespoons of Hoisin Sauce, which she says in an annoying way. She says hoy-SAN sauce. (I say HOY-zen.)
And she’s using the bootleg kind from the supermarket, which is okay if you have nothing else, but it does leave a nasty aftertaste. THIS is the best Hoisin Sauce in the universe and authentic. You can get it at Asian markets, of course, but also Wegman’s type places. Just buy 3 jars, when you see it.
After the hoy-SAN sauce, Robin adds a touch of hot sauce. She whisks and cooks the whole thing for 5 minutes.
She moves on to a mango salad. Robin peels the mango the way I like to: Cut both sides off as close to the pit as you can. Score the inside of the mango in 2 directions and cut off the skin. (There are other alternatives, however). She cuts the mango and the red onion a little too big, adds cherry tomatoes, cumin which she says is weird (cumin isn’t WEIRD, it’s the best) and lime juice.
She spoons the way-too-runny, in-no-way-authentic satay sauce (since when do you add hoisin sauce to satay?) into a bowl and plates the chicken, which I’ve just realized has had no seasoning of any kind. (She was too chintzy with her peanut sauce to give the chicken a quick bath in that before cooking.)
The finished dish looks pretty enough. The skewered chicken and mango salad is on a plate with the satay liquid in a bowl. The rice has scallions on top. Pretty, but many opportunities for flavor have been lost.
Next is a beef salad. She sprays a grill pan, heating on the stove, with olive oil spray. NO! And I’m not even talking about the horrid olive oil spray. (You can buy your own atomizer and spray REAL olive oil on your pan AND a little behind each ear, too.)
Never use a Pam type spray on a hot pan. And spray it over the sink, not ON the stove. The spray cooks on to the stove and forms a hard brown residue, which is hard to remove from the constantly hot stove.
Robin slits open the package of meat with her big knife. Using tongs, she places the steak on the hot grill and seasons the top side. Then, on the same board, WITH THE SAME KNIFE WITH WHICH SHE OPENED THE MEAT PACKAGE, she chops lettuce and watercress.
I know the meat was in the package and it’s possible that slitting open the plastic MAY NOT have put the knife into contact with the actual steak, but it also MAY have.
AND the tongs she used on the raw steak are now sitting next to the stove and on the cutting board, next to RAW ingredients.
I’m so distracted I have no idea what else is in this salad. AND now she’s used the same tongs to take the cooked meat off the grill, which means that anything that might have been killed from the cooking is now back sitting on the meat.
Robin lets the meat sit before carving it on the very same board that had all the vegetables. That’s okay, as long as no more vegetables need to be chopped.
The dressing is simply the peanut sauce (from days ago, by now) mixed with lime juice. That’s it. That’s all she wrote. She pours this liquid over the salad. She’s basically pouring chicken stock - cold chicken stock - over salad ingredients.
She carves the steak, places it on top of the salad and tops with peanuts. She tastes it and pretends to like it.
Okay Robin, Food Network, everybody in the universe, let’s go over this AGAIN!!! Any utensil, dish, board, hand or ANYTHING that comes into contact with raw meat must be washed before it can be reused. That’s the long and short of it. There are no exceptions, exclusions or EXCUSES.
I can’t even watch as she makes root beet floats. (Admittedly, there’s not much to watch. You shove ice cream into a glass and pour over root beer.)
I’m still thinking about the raw meat lurking around the beef salad. What a shame to end the week of peanut sauce meals with a bout of food poisoning.
None of these IDEAS were bad. Who doesn’t love noodles or beef salad with peanut sauce and how can you go wrong with chicken satay? It’s just that these recipes aren’t great.
You know, I don’t go around looking for these transgressions. I just wanted to see if Robin had a decent peanut sauce. These things were leaping off the screen at me and I couldn’t NOT comment!!!
From the little I’ve seen before, I didn’t expect Quick Fix Meals to be riveting, but I certainly never thought I’d be transfixed by what Robin would do next with her raw meat fouled implements.
