YumSugar

Mac Attack! Goat Cheese and Pesto

YumSugar — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:09:53 -0700

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Celebrities and Chefs Converge at New York Food Festival

YumSugar — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:19:52 -0700

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Happy Hour: Candy Corn Cordials

partysugar — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:33:05 -0700

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Killer App: Figs in Blanket

YumSugar — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:45:22 -0700

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Rachael Ray, Ina Garten Nab Daytime Emmys

YumSugar — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:16:15 -0700

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Top 10 Wackiest-Named Rachael Ray Recipes

YumSugar — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:30:32 -0700

41 years ago today, Rachael Ray was born in Glen Falls, NY. While she's probably not ringing in the year with another skydiving trip, the 30 Minute Meals and talk show star is doubtless just as campy as ever. The words she's introduced to the English language, like "yum-o" and "EVOO," may have you rolling your eyes, but American families' kitchens (and vocabularies) certainly wouldn't be the same without her. Happy 41st, Rachael - here's a salute to your corniest recipe titles.

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Giada: From Pretty Cook to Full-Blown Celebrity Chef

YumSugar — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:50:24 -0700

Regardless of whether you think she hosts the best Italian cooking show, Giada De Laurentiis has made a tremendous mark on home cooking in America. Over the years, Giada's evolved from fresh-faced home caterer to full-blown celebrity TV personality - and tomorrow, the Food Network star turns 39 years young. To pay tribute to her influence, I thought I'd show you a glimpse of her best moments over the years. Check it out when you keep reading.

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Summer of Salads: Nicoise Salad

YumSugar — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:45:23 -0700

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Summer of Salads: German Potato Salad

YumSugar — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:33:25 -0700

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Get Your Grill On With Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeños

partysugar — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:14:46 -0700

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Celebrate Mardi Gras With a Frozen Bananas Foster Bombe

YumSugar — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:22:51 -0800

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Celebrate World Pasta Day With Orecchiette

YumSugar — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:41:09 -0700

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Going Inside the Food Network: Guy Fieri's Live Taping

partysugar — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:16:17 -0700

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Alton Brown Opens Up

partysugar — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:49:56 -0700

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Food Network Festival Draws Plenty of Celebrity Chefs

partysugar — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:48:13 -0700

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Not Your Regular Nachos: Nacho Bites

partysugar — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:53:00 -0700

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Battle of the Quick Chocolate Mousse: Nigella vs. Giada

partysugar — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:11:57 -0800

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Soup's On: Broccoli Cheese Soup

partysugar — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:40:31 -0800

Normally, when one thinks of broccoli cheese soup, cheddar cheese comes to mind. However one of my favorite supermarket soups is a delicious blend of broccoli and blue cheese. Now don't go all "eww I hate blue cheese" on me. Stirred into a puree of tender, green broccoli, the blue cheese is mild and creamy rather than moldy and pungent.

This soup is elegant, delicious, and elevates a cafe classic to a whole new level of sophistication. I topped my bowl with crunchy cheddar croutons. You really won't regret giving this smooth soup a chance, so see how I made it when you read more.

Broccoli Cheese Soup
Modified from William Broderick at the Port Charlotte Hotel in Scotland

For Soup:
1/4 cup butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 head broccoli, thick stems removed, chopped
6 tbsp. flour
3 3/4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup Stilton or other blue cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper
4 to 5 tbsp. heavy cream
For Croutons:
2 slices of white bread per person, crusts removed, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
olive oil to coat
salt and pepper
1 heaping tbsp. per person finely grated extra sharp cheddar cheese

Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat.

Add the vegetables, and fry gently for 5 minutes until soft but not browned.

Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Stir in the stock and return to heat. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously until the soup thickens. Allow to simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile make the cheddar croutons: preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the bread cubes on a cookie sheet covered with foil. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper to coat. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.

Bake in the oven until crisp and brown 12-15 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Cool soup slightly and blend with an immersion blender or regular blender.

Return soup to pan, add the milk, and heat gently. Stir in the Stilton, salt and pepper, and heavy cream until melted. Reheat slowly allowing the cheese to melt, over low heat for 10-15 minutes. Do not allow soup to boil at this point, it will curdle.

To serve, garnish with croutons.

Serves 4-6.

Print recipe with images | without images

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Bourdain's Commonwealth of Knowledge

YumSugar — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:57:18 -0800

A couple of weeks ago, TeamSugar and I headed out to Lafayette (east of San Francisco) and trekked out to a fancy pants high school where Anthony Bourdain was speaking. As you may have figured out, I have a slight infatuation with him and was quite eager to hear what he had to say. Would he be as brash in person? Would he complain about Rachael Ray? Or would he be slightly humble and have intelligent things to say? The answer to all of those is yes. He was brash, yet humble. He railed on Rachael, but he also gave a great perspective on our food industry.

The talk was hosted by The Commonwealth Club of California and is actually available online. To get the link to the audio, as well as read some of my favorite bits - including his run down of your fave Food Network chefs - read more

On vegetarians:
"How do you travel? I like a clean colon just as much as anyone, but [vegetarianism] just seems rude."
On Ina Garten:
"She's good. See, I surprised you. I might not want to spend a weekend at her weird house in the Hamptons, but she's good. She raises expectations and actually teaches you something."
On Mario Batali:
"He's godlike, a walking buddha."
On Emeril Lagasse:
"He's good for the world. I don't like the show either, but he raises expectations."
On Sandra Lee:
"Good or evil? I don't think there's any questions there."
On Rachael Ray:
"She scares me. She could have me killed with what she spends on Triscuits each week."
On cooking and eating:
"Cooking is about domination and being in control. Eating, however, should be a submissive act."
On opening his own restaurant:
"Life's good. Why would I want to go and f**k it all up by opening a restaurant?"
On the slow food movement:
"[The slow food movement] is really important. Anything that improves things is. But do I think the world will go that way? No way. I like Whole Foods just fine. I don't like paying $1 for a lemon, but I'm glad that I can."
On Top Chef:
"The judging is totally honest. When Tom sends home the 'wrong' contestants [the producers] despair in silence."

Like I said, those were some of my favorite bits, but definitely check out the audio (RealAudio only) when you have a chance.

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Discover Your Napastyle With Michael Chiarello

partysugar — Wed, 09 May 2007 12:58:32 -0700

Last Thursday evening, YumSugar and I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with one of my favorite Food Network chefs and the creator of Napastyle, Michael Chiarello. Michael specializes in homey Italian influenced Northern California cuisine and has been the host of many television shows including Season by Season on PBS, Easy Entertaining on FN, and Napastyle on Fine Living. I love Michael for his friendly, easy going approach toward food and his fresh, delicious, recipes. In October of last year Michael opened his first store, Napastyle, in Berkeley - which is where Yum and I spoke with him. The event was a private party, tasting, and demonstration. In person, Michael is a lot like his TV personality: charming, welcoming, laid back and surprisingly he's more charismatic, incredibly personable, and quite funny.

Before the demonstration began, guests were invited to taste wines from his wine club (if anybody wants to surprise me and get me a subscription to it I would be ecstatic), sample homemade sausages and dips from his store, and to mingle with Michael. Once everyone had passed by the sample table (my favs: the parmesan dip & the rosemary garlic salami), the demonstration began.

For Michael's philosophy on food and life, the difference between taste and flavor in a dish, what he has to say about fellow Food Network celebrity chefs and our interview (including a video with a fantastic Julia Child impersonation), read more.

Growing up, Michael learned at a very young age the importance of sustainability, seasonality, and eating locally. He was raised on a farm in the California Central Valley where his mother taught him about the love that is put into making a meal. He doesn't believe in fast food - which he defines as any meal that is not worth remembering and has jokingly told Rachael Ray, "I can't even clean the kitchen in under 30 minutes."

Michael enjoys turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, being a guest at his own parties, and gray salt. Although his life is beyond busy, he inserts self-imposed speed bumps or meditation time to spend time with his 14 month old baby boy (maybe we should set him up with KatieSugar), 3 older daughters, and his wife (whom he lovingly refers to as his girlfriend because it "sounds better").

Afterwards Michael took a moment to chat with us and even set me up on a date with his sous chef! Here's how it went:

PartySugar/YumSugar: What did you eat today?
Michael Chiarello: For breakfast I had organic cheerios, mangoes, and strawberries. For lunch my wife made me asparagus soup with Point Reyes blue cheese and I drank dinner.

P/YSugar: What are you inspired by?
MC: My mother. That little girl in the crowd, Samantha, who watches my show every Saturday. The fact that food can open your heart and bring people into your life. One time a woman came up to me and told me that she had never gotten along with her mom and when she asked her mom why she had never tried making pasta, the mother answered it was because she didn't have anyone to help her, so the daughter offered. Cooking brought them back together as a family. The best food is like gospel music, it makes you feel good.

P/YSugar: What's your advice to the everyday hostess?
MC: The Greeks set aside time while building the Parthenon to eat, so eat well even while busy. Set aside the time to eat well.

P/YSugar: A successful party is…
MC: Spending half as much time at the table as your guest do. When somebody else cleans up. When the wine is wonderful.

P/YSugar: What’s in your fridge?
MC: Organic Greek yogurt. Mango and papayas. Organic milk. Lots of cooked and ready to go protein.

P/YSugar: What is your guilty pleasure food?
MC: Ruffles.

P/YSugar: Is your show filmed in your house?
MC: No, my first show that aired on PBS was but not anymore.

P/YSugar: Did you read the Omnivore's Dilemma and if so what did you think of it?
MC: Yes, I read it twice. Michael Pollan is an amazing writer and he presents the facts as good as he can. He is conventional and brilliant.

Michael jokes about being upset by the fact that he rarely gets invited out to a friend's house for dinner and dislikes that his favorite organic milk is available only in glass bottles. And while his style is definitely different, he loves that his buddy Emeril has brought millions of people back into the kitchen.

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Food Network Awards - I Somehow Managed to Sit Through The Whole Thing

YumSugar — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:48:41 -0700

Ladies and Gents, were you as disappointed in the Food Network Awards as I was? For having all those big personalities, it was pretty darn dull, don't you think? This picture of Paula pretty much says it all. I had it on in the background, otherwise I don't know if I could have sat through the whole thing. Although, I must say, as much as I was dulled-to-death by it, I was not nearly as irritated as our pal Anthony Bourdain.

The production itself--above and beyond the witless, ill-considered, just-plain stupid "concept" of an Awards show where most of the "awards" went to inanimate objects (accepting the award for Best Comfort Food is...Macaroni and Cheese!!), appliances or cities (Portland's mayor wisely did not bother to show),--the production values--were lower than whale shit. The food styling during the "Best New Appliance" looked like some kind of 1960's themed monkey effluence, dying, soggy, butt-ugly.

And yes, I know, Bourdain's "I totally hate on Food TV" schtick is a little off-putting and old-hat to some, however I still love every scathing word of it.

Did you watch it? What did you think? Tell me about it in the comments! Oh and did anyone else notice that they used the same music that Top Model uses??

And finally, if you want to know who won the metal cake statuettes (even though most of the recipients are inanimate objects), or see more red carpet imagesread more

Here are the winners, visit Food Network for a full list of nominees

"Hot" Chocolate - Andrew Shotts - Garrison Confections
Delicious Destination - Portland, Oregon
Play With Your Food - Jell-O Artist Liz Hickok
Icy Innovations - Moobella Ice Cream
Tasty Technology - PoliScience Anti-Griddle
Delectable Delivery of the Year - Zingerman's Z-Club
Super Market - Wegmans
Better Burger - Burgerville
Edible Entrepreneur of the Year - Alicia Polak for Khaya Cookie Company
Viewer's Choice: Fave Food Combo - Burger & Fries
Viewer's Choice: Fave Classic Read - Green Eggs & Ham
Viewer's Choice: Best Ball Park Eats - Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia)
Viewer's Choice: Kitchen Appliance You Can't Live Without - Microwave
Viewer's Choice: Fave Cool & Classic Cocktail - actually, I missed this one... anyone know? My guess is going to be be Margarita (choices were margarita, mojito, daiquiri & martini)
Share our Strength Humanitarian of the Year - Floyd Cardoz of Tabla (I must say this was the one interesting, if not totally different, part of the show. Floyd seemed genuinely touched)
Food Network Hall of Fame - Julia Child
Culinary Dream Come True - Matthew Finkel (and I thought it was also interesting how they made him think it was a competition, even though he was the only candidate. I also loved how Alton started to let his true feeling for the giant metal cake statuette slip through)

And that folks, was honestly a waste of my time... I wonder what they'll do differently next year, because you know there's going to be a next year...

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Food Network Awards - Red Carpet Part 2

YumSugar — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 09:55:32 -0800

As promised, here's the rest of the Food Network Awards red carpet coverage. These chefs really look glamorous when they're out of their day-to-day clothes (I must say I loved Alton suited-up and Nigella looks stunning here). And I know that by saying stuff like this I am just propagating the whole celebrity & beauty over actual amazing food (notice that these food awards somehow didn't include any prominent restaurant chefs and even the likes of Batali and Bourdain are absent from this red carpet moment). But hey! these are (for the most part) talented folks on a red carpet, enjoying their moment. So let's cut the industry some slack...

To check out more red carpet coverage, including pictures of Rachael Ray, Katie Lee Joel, Dave Lieberman and others, read more

Here we have Rachael Ray, Nigella Lawson, Jason Kapono (I guess sports figures have to eat too), Robin Miller, Ingrid Hoffman, Dave Lieberman, Paula Deen (and the California Raisins??!?), Tyler Florence, Michael Chiarello, Dan Smith and Steve Mc Donagh, Robert Irvine, and Katie Lee Joel (remember her from Top Chef Season 1)?

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Food Network Awards - Red Carpet Part 1

YumSugar — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 07:56:32 -0800

This weekend marked the First Annual Food Network Awards, which took place at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and will air on April 15 (why such the long wait?!). The event was recorded "live" in front of an audience, however I put live in quotes because according to The Palm Beach Post there's going to be a lot of editing.

Between all the stops and starts for sound and lighting cues, the technical glitches (Emeril actually had to re-present an award after the show was finished because he mispronounced something) and the general confusion, it took about three hours for the show to be done (and I believe it’s only a 90 minute broadcast - it’s slated to air April 15).

Sorta lame if you ask me, but oh well, you know we're all going to watch it anyways.

To see some of the celebrity chefs walking their own red carpet, read more

Here we have Catherine Zeta-Jones (who was there pimping her new film), Emeril Lagasse (who was the MC), Sandra Lee (I wonder if her dress was semi-homemade?), Alton Brown (I love him in the suit!), Albert Pujols, Bobby & Paula Deen, Giada De Laurentiis, Cat Cora and Bobby Flay (with the KFC Colonel, what???)

And when you're done with these, be sure to check out Red Carpet Coverage Part 2 (Nigella, Rachael, Tyler and more)!

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Source: The Palm Beach Post
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South Beach Wine & Food - Food Network Chefs en Masse

YumSugar — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 12:26:31 -0800

While the Oscars may have been the event that was on everyone's mind this weekend, over in Miami Beach, the focus was on food instead of fashion. At the South Beach Wine and Food Festival's Culinary and Lifestyle Seminar, some of Food Network's hottest TV stars were on hand to show off their techniques, answer audience questions and sputter off a lot of other useful tips.

And can I just get a little girly here and say that I love Nigella's style? She is in the kitchen, but still so glam... I need to get me a little black cooking dress!

To see more photos of Nigella, Paula and Alton cooking up a storm (as well as some of Robin Miller, Bobby Flay and Tyler Florence), read more

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