When Giada De Laurentiis was pregnant — and her nesting instincts started early. She’ll be sharing Thansgiving recipes in her show Everyday Italian But the chef will be reinventing Thanksgiving fare, serving salad instead of corn bread.
She says most of her family is married to Americans, and so it’s become part of her personal family traditions. And have to admit, nothing like a table full of food to satisfy those first-trimester cravings.
Originally posted on November 14, 2008 @ 12:20 am
Christmas is definitely in the air, so what better time to start baking cookies? If you have children, this simple action can turn into a wonderful holiday tradition! These Linzer cookies from Ina Garten are festive and elegant enough to also serve at holiday get-togethers, and also make fabulous presents to give away.
Linzer Cookies
3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup good raspberry preserves
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough 1/4-inch thick and cut 2 3/4-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. With 1/2 of the rounds, cut a hole from the middle of each round with a heart or spade shaped cutter. Place all the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and chill for 15 minutes.
Bake the cookies for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature. Spread raspberry preserves on the flat side of each solid cookie. Dust the top of the cut-out cookies with confectioners’ sugar and press the flat sides together, with the raspberry preserves in the middle and the confectioners’ sugar on the top.
[tags]Christmas, Holidays, Christmas recipe, linzer cookies, Ina Garten[/tags]
Originally posted on December 11, 2008 @ 10:31 am
Are you up for some seafood this Christmas? Well here is something for you to try, straight out of British celebrity chef Delia Smith. She is a legend in her own right and this dish is quite simple but has enough kick to make you a star on Christmas Day. Recipe courtesy of The Telegraph.
Ingredients:
• 1 pack of six savoury pastry cases (M&S)
• 2 x 100g packs hand-picked white Cornish crab (Seafood & Eat It, Waitrose)
• 1 x 110g pack hand-picked brown Cornish crab (Seafood & Eat It, Waitrose)
• 3 level tbsp half-fat crème fraîche
• 1½ tbsp dry sherry
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• a pinch of ground mace
• a good grating of nutmeg
• 40g grated Parmesan
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• salt to garnish
• 2 cartons of mustard and cress, or salad cress
Procedure:
You will need a small baking tray. Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.
All you do here is put the tart cases on to the baking tray, then place the white and brown crabmeats, the crème fraîche, sherry, lemon juice, mace, nutmeg and a little salt in a medium-size bowl. Mix it all together with a large fork, and taste to check the seasoning.
Now divide the crab mixture evenly among the pastry cases and even it out using the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the Parmesan all over the crab and finish off with a dusting of cayenne.
Bake the tarts for 25 minutes until puffed and golden, and serve them from the oven with a mustard and cress garnish.
Originally posted on December 21, 2008 @ 3:13 am
After the trick or treating is over, its time to start thinking of the holiday season, which is now really starting to creep up on us. For Americans all over the world, one of the biggest holidays, Thanksgiving, is marked on the calendar, a time when the word “preparations” means something rather large and daunting – especially for us mere mortals and not mini-Marthas.
So here I’ve found some of the best advice from Celeb Chefs which should ease some of the holiday aggro you most probably are experiencing now. So take their advice and get ready for a stress-free Thanksgiving.
Bobby Deen
Start early, have a plan, know how many you’re cooking for. Try frying your turkey this year and have fun with your friends and family�that’s what it’s all about.
Dave Lieberman
Don’t make too much and get your relatives to help. Delegate.
Ellie Krieger
Get as much done as you can ahead of time so you can relax and enjoy the company!
Emeril Lagasse
Don’t panic. Plan ahead and do your shopping in advance.
George Duran
Invite mom over.
Giada De Laurentiis
Do a Potluck�assign a dish to everyone so that you don’t have to do all the work yourself. And don’t be afraid to let your guests help out in the kitchen and with other loose ends. It makes them a part of the meal, while also taking off some of the workload.
Guy Fieri
Test run a turkey in your oven with the recipe you’re going to use a week ahead of time, making sure you track time, temp and method. Everyone can always use some extra turkey and if you do end up blowing the turkey deal on the big day, you already had some the week before and it won’t be so traumatic. Make real cranberry sauce�it is so worth it.
[tags]Thanksgiving, Holidays, Celeb Chefs, Chefs Tips, Thanksgiving Tips[/tags]
Originally posted on November 18, 2008 @ 3:19 pm
While watching the holiday-appropriate “Turkey Challenge” episode of Iron Chef America, in which the contestants were each given the Thanksgiving bird to get creative within the show’s time slot, I watched half-interested as to who was challenging Bobby Flay (yet again) with Alton’s semi-sarcastic drawl in the background.
When I saw that it wasn’t Mario and that it was two affable ladies – a blonde in bright pink and a diminutive brunette with funky glasses, it got my attention. I realized after a while, that it was the Two Hot Tamales, also known as Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger.
The most interesting dish of the show by far was the Hot Tamales turkey (yes, turkey) ice cream, which used the bourbon Wild Turkey, and (regretfully) turkey stock. As one of the judges aptly put it, high marks for originality, low marks for the proteiny taste. Much as I like Mary Sue and Susan, I have to say that they reached a little too much here – who on earth would eat a poultry-flavoured ice cream? I must say that the presentation was beautiful though, a chocolate ball crust in a chocolate turkey-shaped basket.
Their other dishes beat Mr.Flay’s multi-turkey breast renditions (all the same, different sauce) by a mile I thought, with things like turkey meatball soup and a scotch egg which looked absolutely scrummy. You don’t get to see of the humble scotch egg on television much, and I have to say that the last time I saw one was at a garage shop in a UK motorway.
Sadly, it was a tie (the injustice!!), and even if Alton said that that was “rare” for the show, I should really email them and say that the last time I watched it was also a tie.
But anyway, one good thing was that I got to see the Two Hot Tamales again, who I hadn’t seen in years and had actually forgotten about in the sea of the new breed of Celeb Chefs (or dare I say media whores?). Now you know who I’ll be blogging about next.
[tags]Thanksgiving, Two Hot Tamales, Iron Chef America[/tags]
Originally posted on November 23, 2008 @ 11:39 pm
