Kitchen Chick

Lidia Bastianich & Borders @ everyday cook

Lidia Bastianich and Nicole Sims enjoying Ziti with Tomatoes, Eggplant, and Salted Ricotta in a break between filming segments

A week ago I mentioned that I had the good fortune to attend the live taping of a pilot cooking webcast show — at everyday cook — for Borders Books that featured Lidia Bastianich doing recipes from her forthcoming book Lidia's Italy.  It was a blast, and I can't wait to see the show!

We attendees gradually gathered outside of everyday cook with great anticipation. When we filed into the everyday cook kitchen, we found it transformed into a studio. Cables and equipment everywhere, camera men catching pre-show stills and checking their gear, black cloth over the windows, and temporary lighting hung everywhere to light up the kitchen. The audience area was a series of high cocktail tables dressed with tablecloths, bottled water, and wine glasses. A camera man overheard me as I mused aloud about the best place to sit and he directed us to an unclaimed table right in front of the stovetop. Perhaps it had gone unclaimed because it was tucked tightly between two camera stations and a post. Joe and I squeezed in to the table, and I have to say we enjoyed some of the best seats in the house.

Show producer Rich Fahle of Borders welcomed us all and explained how the taping would go. There were be several segments with breaks between each one. We were to be as quiet as possible during the taping and to not leave our seats if at all possible. (But if we absolutely had to get up, please don't waltz in front of the cameras!) Lidia's two co-hosts were Nicole Sims who runs Skip to My Roux and Mark, a Border's executive. Food TV fans might remember Nic from All Star Kitchen Makeover when she won a kitchen make-over designed by Alton Brown. She was the main host, and did such a professional job that Joe (who didn't know who she was) was convinced she was a moonlighting news anchor.

Lidia kicked the show off with a simple appetizer of frico with apples and cheese and from there she mesmerized the audience with her mix of cooking lore and personal stories as she walked Nic and Mark through each recipe. Her enthusiasm was infectious! We were served small bits of the frico and the pasta during the show, along with enough wine to keep us all happy. At the end of the show, the dishes were put out buffet style and the audience was invited to eat. There was no fear of there not being enough food. Even after everyone went through the line, there was enough for seconds.

As much fun as I was having in the audience, watching both the show and also watching the camera crew move around and give their directions in hand signals, Nic looked like she was having a blast in front of the camera. I asked her what it was like to film this show with Lidia, and she said:

"It was great fun to work with her. Lidia is a consummate professional and also a very kind and warm woman. She also was very generous in her assistance in getting us all ready for primetime, from food prep to blocking out the conversations for the camera. Since I really connect with food and family the way she does, I felt a natural kinship as I really "get" where she's coming from with this book from her heart and it was just like having a friend come over and hang in the kitchen and share meaningful food stories."

I don't have any further information about when this webcast will be available, but I know the plan is to do a series. In the meantime, if you want to get as close as possible to hanging out in the kitchen with Lidia while sharing her cooking and her stories, check out a copy of Lidia's Italy — it's available this Tuesday, April 10. (We got an advance copy, and I've been cooking from it all week...)

Show Menu:

• Frico with Apples and Montasio Cheese, paired with Fantinel Prosecco Extra Dry NV. This crisp "pancake" is a delightful way to enjoy cheese and apples together. (Recipe for Frico with Apples and Montasio Cheese below.)
• Ziti with Tomatoes, Eggplant, and Salted Ricotta, with Borgo Maddalena Tocai Friulano 2005. Simple and fresh!
  
• Sausages with Fennel and Olives with SFIDA Primitivo/Cabernet Sauvignon Blend. We particularly enjoyed the wine with this one.
  
• And for dessert Lidia showed how easy it is (and Nic and Mark showed that it does require a little practice, but practice makes perfect!) to make crepes for Crêpes with Chocolate and Walnuts.

Wines were supplied by everyday wines in Kerrytown:

Fantinel Prosecco Extra Dry NV  — $13.99
Borgo Maddalena Tocai Friulano 2005 — $14.99
SFIDA Primitivo/Cabernet Sauvignon Blend — $10.99

Lidia doing pre-show prep. From left to right are Chewy, Lidia, Brendan (behind Lidia), another chef brought in to help, Rich the Borders producer, a cameraman, and Mary, owner of everyday cook.

everyday lunch at everyday cook

EDITED: Want to know what they're serving today?  Check out the everyday lunch blog.  It's generally updated by 7:30am with the day's menu.

Local food news seems to be the order of the week. Long time readers may remember me gushing over Chef Chewy at Monahan's lunch counter. You can still get fabulous seafood at Monahan's and enjoy lunch at the counter, but if you're looking for Chewy's cooking you'll now have to go to upstairs to everyday cook.

Starting next Tuesday (April 10), Chewy — and his fellow chef Brendan — will be exercising their creative cooking talents while serving up lunch up in everyday cook's très chic "loft kitchen."  Every day!  (Except Sundays and Mondays.)

I'm going to have to come out of hiding from my cube up on North Campus, where I eat my lunch while working hunched in front of my computer, meander down to everyday cook, and enjoy a much more pleasant lunch hour. (And bring some of my co-workers in tow.)

Click on the image at left or download this pdf flyer for the full scoop.

everyday cook
2nd floor, Kerrytown
734.827.2665

Congrats to Chef Alex Young!

Congratulations to Alex Young for his James Beard Foundation Award Nomination for Best Chef in the Great Lakes region! Here he is serving up a plate of his Catalan Lamb-Sausage-stuffed Peppers with Sephardic-style rice.

The James Beard Foundation Awards were established in 1990 and have become the premiere award in the food industy, recognizing culinary professionals for their excellence and achievements. Chef Alex's fellow nominees in the Great Lakes region are Grant Achatz of Alinea (Chicago), Carrie Nahabedian of Naha (Chicago), Bruce Sherman of North Pond (Chicago), and Michael Symon of Lola (Cleveland). That's some seriously good company he's keeping. This year's awards will be announced May 7th.

As we discovered by accident, the Roadhouse is serving up some delicious Passover specials all this week — click on the menu to see what they're offering. The Beef & Chickpea-Stuffed Cabbage starter and the Catalan Lamb Sausage-Stuffed Peppers were both awesome. The stuffed cabbage is simply flavored with cinnamon, fennel seeds, and garlic, and the tomato broth was light and fresh and delicious. The lamb-stuffed peppers were served on top of a rich roasted tomato sauce and a side of saffron rice flavored with scallions and sultanas. If you're in the mood for an entrée on the sweet side, give the Southwestern Tsimmes a try. We wish we had more room, because the Uzbek-Style Filet of Halibut also looked quite beautiful and tasty. The Chocolate Orange Passover Torte was moist and rich with a thin chocolate icing studded with sliced almonds — hard to believe that it was made from matzo meal, but Passover and chocolate desserts just seem to go together!

If you're signed up for the special Sephardic Passover Dinner that they'll be serving up on the 17th (we are!), note that this menu here is not the same one Chef Alex will be serving up on the 17th. (You can see the menu for the 17th on their events page.) If you missed out on getting into this dinner (there's apparently a long wait list), there's one consolation: the demand for the Sephardic Passover Dinner was so great that they'll be serving up that menu as well as part of their weekday specials.

Ari and a colleague serving up the Lamb and Tsimmes from this week's specials while Alex keeps everything moving smoothly up at the counter.

Sneak Preview: Lidia's Italy & Sausages with Fennel and Olives

Sausages with Fennel & Olives

Fennel bulbs are one of those foods that I like but, for whatever odd reason, I never really sought out. Oh Fennel, why did I wait so long to discover you?

I had the great pleasure of watching the live taping of a pilot cooking show at "everyday cook" for Borders Books that featured Lidia Bastianich doing recipes from her forthcoming book Lidia's Italy. (Watching the taping and then tasting all the demo dishes was loads of fun. I'll be writing more on that shortly.)

Among the several dishes Lidia demonstrated that night was this sausage and fennel dish. Once the scent of that sizzling sausage filled the air, the whole audience sighed. (Well, maybe not the vegetarians.)  I love sausage, and I love olives, and adding fennel... what a wonderful combination.

We all received copies of Lidia's new book (consider this self-disclosure that I was given the book for free, but I wouldn't write about it if I didn't actually like it). It's intriguing. It isn't a primer on Italian cooking, nor is it a survey of Italian regional cuisine. Instead, Lidia chose ten places in Italy that she loves, and presented a selection of favorite recipes from each area. Her daughter, Tanya Bastianich Manuali, added a mini-self guided tour for each region. Between the recipes, the tours, and Lidia's childhood stories, the book has the feel of sharing a personal culinary journey with Lidia.  It whets the appetite not only for food, but for travel.

Lidia likes her bulb fennel best "in its natural state," but includes several recipes from her Rome section that feature cooked fennel. I present to you this sneak-preview recipe from Lidia's Italy.

Sausages with Fennel and Olives
(Salsicce con finocchi e olive)
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich

4 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
12 sweet Italian sausages (NOTE:  I halved this recipe when I cooked it, but this is the full version)
1 C dry white wine
6 plump garlic cloves (do pick plump ones), peeled and crushed
1/4 tsp. pepperoncino flakes or to taste (hot chili flakes for us non-Italian speakers)
1 C large green olives, squashed to open them and pitted
3 large fennel bulbs (3.5 - 4 lb total), trimmed and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt or kosher salt

Lidia has a half-page of advice regarding trimming and cutting fennel. Here's a short version adapted by me: Trim the stalks and tough bottoms off the fennel bulbs. Peel off the outer layer. Cut in half lengthwise and trim out the bits of stalk that go down into the bulb. Cut into 1-inch chunks. I thought I chosen large bulbs, but it seemed like there would be "nothing left" if I discarded the whole outer layer, so I just cut out brown spots and used the thick layer too. It took longer to cook, but was still delicious.

Pour 2 Tbs olive oil into a skillet large enough for your sausages and set over medium-high heat. Lay in the sausages and cook for 5 minutes or more, rolling them over occasionally until nicely browned. Pour in the wine and boil until it is reduced by half. Remove the sausages to a platter and pour the remaining wine sauce over them.

Add the remaining 2 Tbs olive oil to the empty skillet. Toss in the garlic cloves and cook for a minute or so over medium heat until they're sizzling. (Don't let them burn!  Burned garlic BAD!) Drop in the pepperoncino in a hot spot for a few seconds, then scatter the squashed olives in the pan. Toss and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the fennel chunks and stir. Season with 1/2 tsp salt. Cover the skillet and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, tossing and stirring now and then unti the fennel softens, shrinks, and begins to color. Add a bit of water to the pan if the fennel remains hard and resistant to the bite.

When the fennel is cooked through, return the sausages and wine to the skillet. Turn the meat and vegetables together, cook uncovered for another 5 minutes or so, until everything is deeply caramelized and glazed. Adjust seasoning to taste. Serve hot.