Each month, Food Network Kitchens chefs put more than 100 recipes to the test for Food Network Magazine. Dreaming up gelatin desserts for the July/August issue proved no easy feat: We wanted the bites to be fresh and elegant, yet whimsical and maybe a tiny bit kitschy (a concept we jokingly referred to as “jell-egance”).
The gelatin squares on page 90 of the July/August issue have a sleek modernist edge, but they originally started as a kid-friendly trompe l’oeil dessert (pictured above). We used the rind of a sugar baby and mini chocolate chips to give them their fun watermelon look.
Re-create it at home by pouring and setting the watermelon gelatin mixture in the hollowed-out half of a sugar baby watermelon. Make sure it’s completely set before cutting it, then apply the chocolate chips just before serving so they don’t turn to mush.
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Hot Tips from Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:
To check a steak for doneness, insert a thermometer into the side, not the top. Aim the tip of the thermometer toward the center of the meat: You’ll get a more precise reading there than from the hotter areas near the surface. Move the steak to the edge of the grill before taking the temperature to prevent overcooking.
(Photograph by Antonis Achilleos)
We can’t fault Jose Garces for choosing one of his own restaurants as a top spot in Philadelphia: The guy has opened seven places there in the past six years. But after living in the city for 11 years, he knows some other great finds, too. Here are his top picks:
Middle Eastern Combo from the Sahara Grill
When Jose is really hungry, he goes to this no-frills Lebanese restaurant. It’s small, he says, but the platters aren’t. The Middle Eastern combo includes hummus, baba ghanoush, marinated carrots and mushrooms, tabouli, eggplant salad, feta and olives. “It’s enough for four people,” he says. $11 for lunch, $12 for dinner; 1334 Walnut St.; 215-985-4155
Jose’s top four places to eat
Hot tips from Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:
As soon as you add pasta to boiling water, stir it vigorously for about 5 seconds to keep it from sticking, like Food Network Magazine did with the Broken Lasagna With Zucchini-Tomato Sauce. Each piece should be able to tumble freely in the pot. Don’t add oil to the water as is often suggested: It can prevent sauce from clinging to cooked pasta.
The average high in Austin this time of year is 97 degrees, so it’s no wonder the city’s ice cream festival was an instant hit when it started in 2007. Nearly 12,000 people showed up that summer, and now the all-day event (taking place August 4, $10; www.icecreamfestival.org) is an annual affair, with an ice cream eating contest, Popsicle-stick sculpting and, most important, an ice cream making competition. It’s an intense battle: Contestants have to bring their own machine and churn out their creation on-site for a panel of four locals and four discerning kids. We asked champions from past festivals to hand over their winning recipes.
Get the winning recipes
A reader turned our Chopped mystery basket into this amazing chicken dinner (pictured above).
In our April issue, we turned the tables on Chopped host Ted Allen and asked him to transform our own mystery basket — containing frozen cherries, peanut butter, sauerkraut and chicken breasts — into dinner. His chicken-peanut curry soup was a hit, so we challenged readers to beat him at his own game. Colleen Mundwiler of Grand Rapids took the prize with this grilled cherry-marinated chicken salad tossed in a peanut dressing; she soaked and rinsed the sauerkraut to tone down its flavor. “I was not going to let any of the ingredients stump me.” she says.
Check out the recipe: Asian-Style Grilled Chicken Salad With Cherry-Peanut Dressing
Hot tips from Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:
Use a metal cooling rack to keep small or thin foods like shrimp and asparagus from falling through the grates. Just place the rack upside down on the grill so it lies flat, positioning it so the wires are perpendicular to the grates. The grill’s heat may discolor or weaken the rack over time, so use a sturdy one.
(Photograph by Ben Goldstein/Studio D.)
Red states and blue states don’t just disagree about politics — they take sides on ice cream flavors, too. In a Harris Interactive poll, Republicans preferred chocolate over other flavors (followed by vanilla and cookie dough), while Democrats chose vanilla as their favorite (chocolate came in second, and butter pecan third). Independent voters sided with the Republicans, but a majority of Americans agreed on one contentious issue: 52 percent said that hot fudge is their favorite topping.
(Photograph by Sam Kaplan)
Hot tips from Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:
After pan-frying something in extra-virgin olive oil, drizzle the leftover oil from the skillet on salads or bread. The oil is especially tasty after you’ve fried peppers, onions or other flavorful vegetables, like the artichokes in Food Network Magazine‘s Caprese Salad With Prosciutto and Fried Artichokes (pictured above). Don’t use this trick with vegetable oil, though: It’s too bland for drizzling.
Dress up your margaritas with flavored salt. A bold flavor on the rim is a fun, easy way to gussy up a classic. In a recent issue of Food Network Magazine you’ll find three awesome variations, but I wanted to share one more favorite that we didn’t have room for this time around: a mixed-berry salt.
The tartness of the freeze-dried fruit goes perfectly with a margarita. And of course, feel free to experiment with whatever fruits you like!
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