Feeding My Need to Feed

There are few things I enjoy more than making a meal for my friends or family. I love to put a plate of food in front of someone only to hear a few minutes later between bites "This is sooooo goooood....." There are all sorts of different reason that I like to cook for different people. I like to cook for my Mom because I can see that she is truly impressed that the little chef that managed to get pudding on her kitchen ceiling (during one of my earliest attempts at baking) is now an accomplished cook that can whip up healthy and delicious food. I like to cook for my husband because, well, I love my husband and for me there is no better way to show him how much I care. But, of all the people I've cooked and baked for, my all time favorite is my friend Mansur. Mansur went to college with Dan and we were lucky enough to live near him for a short time when we moved to Philadelphia. We often had him over for dinner and I loved it because Mansur genuinely appreciated that I cooked for him and he loves food - not to mention, he's just good company. Whether I made him filet mignon or a grilled cheese sandwich he was always excited. One time I made grilled steaks with a Gorgonzola sauce and we all three ate so much that we ended up laying on our floor in agony (or ecstasy, depending on how you look at) for the rest of the night moaning about how full we were.

Mansur has been on my mind this week because it's the middle of NCAA March Madness and every year we play in an online pool with him and some other friends for bracket supremacy. So, when I was pondering what to cook for dinner on Saturday night I was reminded of a meal I prepared for Mansur that he particularly liked. If memory serves - the first time I made this he and I finished the entire pan in one sitting. Venetian Shrimp & Scallops is a Rachel Ray recipe - so it can supposedly be made in 30 minutes or less. I think it takes closer to 45 but it depends on how much you have prepped before you start cooking. One thing is for sure - get lots of crusty bread for the table to soak up the delicious broth! This dish is similar to Cioppino but less expensive and much less time consuming. The recipe can be found here. It makes four servings but at times I have scaled it up to 9 servings with relative ease.

Enjoy!

A New Twist On An Old Classic

Chocolate dipped fruit is by far the dessert I make most often for dinner guests. For one thing, it's easy. For another, it's relatively light. I love to make rich, heavy meals for guests and they are often time consuming - making dipped fruit an ideal finishing touch. Furthermore, I find that my guests are always delighted to be presented with a beautiful plate of strawberries dipped in dark chocolate or cherries dipped in white chocolate. As Ina says "How bad can that be?"

I was thrilled to see a new take on this old trick while I was watching the Food Network the other day. Claire Robinson has a new show called Five Ingredient Fix that airs Saturdays at 12:30 pm and Sundays at 8:30 am. I've watched the show a few times and I think her concept is good - delicious food that doesn't involve more than five ingredients. Often this doesn't work for me. I love to add lots of flavor to my food with herbs and spices, but her ideas are great for simplifying your cooking processes. Also, I think the show is wonderful for beginner cooks because the recipes aren't intimidating. Last week Claire shared a recipe for Chili-Chocolate Covered Strawberries and I had to make them right away. She simply melted down chocolate in a double boiler and then added a bit of chili powder at the end, dip the strawberries, let the chocolate harden and Voila! Dessert is done. I had ground cayenne on hand, so that is what I used but you could use any type of chili powder.

Here are some tips on making perfect Chocolate Dipped Strawberries:

• Rinse your berries and then let them dry completely. If water gets into the chocolate it makes it harden quickly and become lumpy and ugly. I usually rinse mine and lay them out on a kitchen towel for a good hour before dipping them.



• You don't need to use long stemmed berries, they are hard to find. But, the bigger the better in terms of appearance and balancing the strawberry flavor with the chocolate.



• If you don't have a double boiler you can simply fit a glass or metal bowl over a sauce pan. Fill the pan with a few inches of water, you don't want it to touch the bottom of the bowl, and bring the water to a boil. Put your chips or chopped up chocolate in the bowl and continue to whisk until smooth. Once it's smooth, remove from the heat. You can reheat if necessary.



• Once berries are dipped put them on a piece of wax paper on top of a large cookie sheet. Put the whole cookie sheet in the fridge for at least an hour so the chocolate can set. Remove from wax paper and arrange on a pretty plate or platter.



• Bring dipped berries to room temp before serving. The chocolate will taste better. I usually take them out of the fridge during the main course.

Enjoy!

Ode to Ina

After college I worked for Williams-Sonoma. At the time I didn't know a thing about cooking or baking but I learned a lot from the women and men that worked there with me and I credit that experience for my love of cooking and baking today. When you enter a Williams-Sonoma store it is a bit like sensory overload - but the thing that always stood out to me is the variety of cookbooks they sell. When the store was quiet and we had a little down time I loved to look at the books and dream about what I might be able to cook some day.

One book stood out to me above all the rest - The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, by Ina Garten (Published by Clarkson Potter). I was drawn to this book like a moth to a flame. The photography, the recipes, the writing style - but mostly the author herself. I admired her seemingly carefree and perfect life in the Hamptons. I loved the way she described food and how and why we should use certain ingredients, cook's tools and methods.

Since that time Ina has grown her foodie empire. She has had several cookbooks published, has two shows on the Food Network and has a line of mixes and baking/cooking supplies that are sold in retail stores. I try to catch her show at least once a week and she's always teaching me something new about best practices in the kitchen. She is not, as far as I know, a professionally trained chef and her recipes aren't all that difficult. They are just good. If I'm having people to dinner and I want the menu to shine I always consult her cookbooks first or one of her latest recipes that I've seen her prepare on her television show. Ina preaches over and over again the importance of using the best quality ingredients that you can afford or find. This simple advice has advanced my cooking immensely.

My friend Sara and I are so enamored of Ina that we are sometimes questioned by people that over hear us with "Who is your friend Ina?" We discuss her show a lot. Ina's husband Jeffrey frequently makes appearances on her shows and Sara and I sometimes include anecdotes about him in our conversations, further confusing our friends. "Did you see what Ina made last night?" or "Wasn't it cute how Jeffrey was going on and on about Ina's roast chicken?" These are some typical points of conversation between us. I am certain that we sound like lunatics.

Last week I invited Sara over for a girl's night in and, of course, I cooked her a meal I had seen prepared the week before on Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics. The entire menu can be found here. Sara is pescatarian and when I saw Ina prepare Red Snapper in a mustard sauce I knew I had to make it for her. The fingerling potatoes and broccoli were the perfect supporting players for the fish. We enjoyed every bite and I enjoyed it again the next day when I got to eat the leftovers.

Ina has legion's of fans, this is just my small effort to bring attention to someone who has made a difference in my quality of life without ever having met me. I hope anyone reading this will be compelled to pick up one of her cookbooks or check out her shows on the Food Network. Maybe she'll ignite in you the same thing she ignited in me - the desire be a great hostess and to cook beautiful and delicious things for family and friends.