Archive for the 'Claudia' Category

My mother, who was blessed with a green thumb, has always loved to garden and grow plants and herbs of all kinds. As a child, I always remember her saving the pits of almost anything, sticking some toothpicks in them and placing them in water to see if they would root.

This season she tried her hand at potted terrace grown potatoes with fantastic results. She is so proud of her potatoes, and with good reason. They cook up creamy and sweet, with all the fresh potato goodness that you get from a good farmers’ market potato.

My co-workers, many of them who are urban gardeners as well, were very impressed and wanted to know more about growing your own potatoes, so I decided to ask mom some questions and get some tips that I could pass along.

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Several of us in the test kitchen were fortunate enough recently to get a visit from Joy Spence, Master Blender for Appleton Rum. Not only did she bring her warm Jamaican disposition, but she also brought two fantastic Jamaican rums from their Estate line of super-premium rums.

Both the 12-year-old and the Estate Reserve were ultra-smooth and rich with aromas of orange, vanilla, honey and nutmeg. While the 12-year-old is best enjoyed neat, perhaps with a little splash of club soda, the Estate Reserve makes some of the tastiest cocktails I’ve consumed in a long time.

These perfect summer beverages are a refreshing relief from overly sweetened tropical drinks. And there’s just something about the scent of rum combined with the classic Caribbean favorites like Ting, lime and ginger that instantly transports me to the beach.

I put these cocktails to the test over the weekend. The result? Instant summer. All my friends needed was some white sand and an ocean breeze.

Claudia Sidoti, Recipe Developer

Appleton-Ting

1.5oz Appleton Estate Reserve Rum
Juice of half a lime
1-2 teaspoons agave nectar
6-8 ounces of Ting (Jamaican grapefruit soda)

Fill a highball glass with ice. Combine the rum with the lime, agave and soda in a cocktail shaker with some ice. Stir gently and pour into a highball glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a slice of grapefruit peel.

Jamaican Breeze

1 tablespoon fresh ginger
2 ounces Appleton Estate Reserve Rum
2 ounce Pineapple juice
1 ounce simple syrup
Dash of Angostura bitters

Muddle ginger in a pint glass, then add the rest of the ingredients. Add ice, shake and strain over fresh ice, then garnish with a slice of lime.

Some users of our Easter cupcake recipe package have been complaining that the cupcakes fell, flattened and were slightly burnt around the edges. As a result, we decided to re-test and see what was happening. Here’s what we found:

We realized that it’s crucial to process the batter for the extra 2 minutes indicated in the recipe. While the batter will be smooth before this step, processing it for those remaining 2 minutes makes it looser, smoother and pourable.

When testing the cupcakes both with the 2 minute step and without, the results were dramatically different. The unprocessed batter fell and became flat and messy. The processed ones were had a lovely dome shape and were light and fluffy in the center.

See photo below, with unprocessed on the left; processed on the right:

We apologize to anyone who had difficulty with the recipe. We assure you, that if the recipe is carefully followed, you should have excellent results and a very happy Easter cupcake indeed!

Claudia Sidoti, Recipe Developer
Leah Brickley, Test Kitchen Associate

These are fresh chickpeas. We found them in the market downstairs from us for $1.99/pound, so we thought we could afford to experiment with these delicious and nutritious spring legumes. Here’s what we learned:

First start by shelling them (the pods aren’t edible) and then have some fun. They’re good tossed raw into a salad, or steamed for your favorite hummus recipe, or steamed and tossed with butter and parsley, or sautéed with some pancetta and onions and served over pasta with pecorino, or used anywhere you’d use fresh peas. If you like edamame, toss these in good quality extra virgin olive oil and sea salt, then eat them straight out of the pod.

Store them in the refrigerator for up to a week — they do dry out quickly, so it’s best to eat them while fresh.

Claudia Sidoti, Recipe Developer

This past Sunday, a group of us were invited to participate in the annual Valentine’s Tea event at the James Beard House.

Among the visiting chefs were Amanda Freitag from The Harrison, as well as pastry chefs Jennifer Giblin of Blue Smoke, Ellen Mirsky of Public, and Melissa Murphy from Sweet Melissa Patisserie.

Katherine, Miriam, our newest team member Leah Brickley, and I prepared an array of tea sandwiches to accompany a tea tasting held by Linda Villano of SerendipitiTea.

Our menu:

• Cucumber, crab and cress on brioche
• Hanger steak with shiitake mushrooms and endive jam on sourdough
• Tea-smoked trout with beets and horseradish on multigrain
• Grown-up ham and cheese with quince and arugula

Sounds fancy, huh? Well, that was until the Lower East Side egg salad on pumpernickel made its way to the menu. What makes it Lower East Side egg salad? That’d be schmaltz, the key ingredient.

As a virgin schmaltz egg salader but a huge fan of egg salad in general, I was needless to say very curious. The egg salad was not only smooth and luscious, but it took on a chicken flavor that was comforting and familiar. No mayonnaise needed here at all. It is also incredibly rich, making it, in my opinion, perfect for tea-size (that is, smaller) sandwiches.

This Valentine’s Day, I fell in love with something not quite as sexy as chocolate-dipped strawberries but with a lot more heart and soul.

Claudia Sidoti, Recipe Developer

Several months ago the Test Kitchen team was given an assignment for the current (Jan/Feb) issue of the Food Network Magazine. Our challenge was to come up with creative new uses for ramen noodles.

One day, my daughter, who was home visiting from college, stopped by the Test Kitchen to say hello. Her timing could not have been more perfect, since Bob Hoebee, one of our recipe developers, had just called for a tasting of his Ramen Noodle Cake with Swiss Chard. Much to my daughter’s delight, she was invited to join in the tasting.

Now it wasn’t just because she is a vegetarian that this dish appealed to her; there was something so appetizing about the way the noodle cake looked — so golden and crispy on the outside, but still moist and tender on the inside.

One bite was all she needed to be motivated to try this recipe out when she returned to campus.

Please note: (I hope I don’t get in trouble for this later) you may expect that cooking comes naturally to her since her mom and many others in her family love to cook, but the apple fell a little further from the tree where cooking is concerned. While she certainly appreciates a great meal, she is less inclined to spend significant time in the kitchen. However, this dish seemed right up her alley: cheap, easy and delicious.

A few weeks later, a campus pot luck was the perfect opportunity for her to test it out. After a very successful first attempt, she called excitedly to inform me that it was a huge hit and she was surely going to make it again. Each time, she happily reported that it was a major crowd pleaser. The dish has become a favorite; on her latest visit home, she decided to try it again, this time for the family.

In my opinion, one look at the photo will tell you that this is definitely a keeper! Of course, I may be just a little biased.

Claudia Sidoti, Recipe Developer

Not too long ago, I was craving noodles. Since I am fortunate enough to live close to Chinatown, finding fantastic hand-pulled noodles was a no-brainer. My husband and I dashed over to 88 Food Sing Corp, a small noodle shop at 2 East Broadway. It just so happened to be a Friday night after a busy workweek, so we were also hoping for a glass of wine to go along with our noodles. I decided to see if 88 Food Sing was open to a BYOB philosophy.

Knowing that they would likely not have a bottle opener on hand, I packed my bottle of white along with a corkscrew and set off to satisfy my appetite for slippery, chewy noodles and spicy broth.

The waitress was happy to see us when we got there, since she remembered us from previous visits. After we ordered, I politely asked if it would be ok to open our bottle of wine. She looked at me, and contemplated the question, really struggling to give me a response. She told us to wait a minute and went to speak with someone. Moments later, she returned and said, “ ok, but not too much,” with a parental tone. I instantly felt like a child and assured her that we would be responsible.

Then I asked her for some glasses, at which point she said they didn’t have any. I repeated the question, thinking perhaps she misunderstood, because how would we even be able to drink responsibly without glasses? (We were not desperate enough to drink out of the bottle.) On the second request I hand signaled that I needed to pour the wine into something. She smiled and nodded and rushed off, returning with two 1-ounce plastic cups, the kind that you sample food in at Costco.

Well as the old saying goes, beggars can’t be choosers, and we graciously accepted the cups and poured away. With each sip, my smile grew bigger; I had not enjoyed a dining experience quite that much in some time. But the waitress kept looking at us. Now I wondered, did we do something wrong, were we eating our noodles improperly? Not slurping enough or perhaps too much? Not spicing with the appropriate condiments? Why was she staring at us? About two 1-ounce sample cups through my wine, she came over to the table and asked, “How is it?” to which we replied, “Fabulous, delicious, the best noodles ever!” to which she said, “No, not noodle, wine. can I try some?” We felt ashamed we had not offered to share sooner and responded, “Of course, yes, please, sorry and would you please offer some to the noodle maker in the back” she nodded yes, and brought 2 more sample cups which she ran back to kitchen to share.

When she returned, she said, “Thank you, I never had, it’s good, and he liked it too.”

At that point, I figured that it was best to cork the rest and leave it for them to share — since after all, she cautioned us at the beginning not to have too much. My noodles were the best ever and now I know that on my next visit, should I be craving a little wine, it may be best to byob and byog!

Cheers to 88 Food Sing Corp!

Claudia Sidoti, Recipe Developer

Once a year, our Ad Sales team throws a huge cocktail party to thank their top clients.  A regular holiday party just won’t do for us, so we combine a cocktail party with a full-on holiday cookie decorating experience, where guests can decorate gingerbread or sugar cookie men and women in all kinds of colors.  In addition to the food and cookies, they always want cocktails; this year’s signature cocktail was the “Sidewalk Santa,” a truly intoxicating blend of top-shelf bourbon, Lillet, cherry liqueur, and a few other secrets.

In the end, 400 cookies were decorated, some in ways that we never could have imagined, as reported by several of our staff who were a little surprised by what was left behind on the tables at the very end of the night. Apparently several tables had abandoned cookies that were decorated — well, let’s just say scandalously!

But I still can’t figure out why no one wanted to take them home.

Kudos to the entire Cookie Party Team and all of the guests who participated in making it a fun and fresh evening for everyone, especially the cookies!

Rob Bleifer & Claudia Sidoti

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought I would ask the Food Network Kitchens crew a few critical questions about some Thanksgiving favorites.

While most of the choices were easy, two questions were particularly difficult. Brining is downright controversial in the FN Kitchens. Although many stand by the method, one of our recipe developers’ take was, “brine, well, that just makes me angry!”

Not so surprisingly, it looks like our cooks just can’t get out of the kitchen, except those who still crave mom’s cooking or just can’t stand the clean-up.

Rob, our executive chef, struggled with his response: “Well, in a perfect world, I’d want a house big enough to cook it all and host all the guests,” while Athen, our steward, cuts right to the chase: “Cook? You must be crazy, I just want to eat and leave!”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Claudia Sidoti, Recipe Developer

Click through for recipes and results: (more…)

Last week I proudly got home from work with the premiere issue of FN Magazine. As my family browsed through the pages, I could finally justify why I’d been getting home from work with minimal energy to cook, since, after 8 hours of recipe development, the last thing I want to do when I get home is cook!

Of course, shortly after the compliments, my kids were quick to point out my shortcomings when they stumbled upon my recipe for churros, made from Jiffy corn muffin mix. I think it went something like this, “Gee mom, really nice- how come you never make those for us?”

Quickly my pride turned to shame and guilt because clearly, I had let my children down-No churros for the kids, what kind of a mom was I? Since it seemed to be unanimous from all three that they felt deprived, I promised that I would make them…sometime soon.

Last night, everyone was home at the same time for dinner, which is a rare occurrence these days, and made for a perfect time to test my own recipe. I reached for my copy (since I too need to read recipes) and quickly refreshed my memory. I sent my oldest to the local grocery store, since I did not happen to have any Jiffy on hand. After that, it was smooth sailing and I was ready to fry.

In a jif, I had once again earned my keep as a mom and turned out crispy sweet churros, which pleased the most difficult audience of all.

[UPDATE: Recipe can be found here]

Claudia Sidoti, Recipe Developer, Food Network Kitchens

This weekend, the first annual New York City Food Network Food & Wine Festival was in full swing with samplings of fantastic food and drink from talented chefs and restaurants as well as special events from Food Network hosts and celebrity chefs, including Guy Fieri, Tyler Florence, The Neelys, Bobby Flay and Rachael Ray. From Burger Bashes, Cocktail Clinics, Grand Tastings and late night parties, the fun, food, and drink just kept on coming. Spirits were high and stomachs were full while attendees enjoyed the spectacular New York City fall weather while supporting hunger relief programs offered by Share Our Strength, a Food Network partner, and The Food Bank for New York City. 100% of the money raised over the three days supports much needed community based programs.

Food Network’s newest talent Alex Guarnaschelli dishing up Cavatappi pasta with Spicy Lamb Sausage and Yellow Tomato Sauce at the Grand Tasting

Claudia Sidoti, Recipe Developer

You think your grocery bills are a bitch? Check out this 3-foot-long receipt! Thanks to Jake Schiffman, our master purchaser, no list is too long.

I recently discovered the meaning of the phrase “necessity is the mother of invention” when I set out to use up the last of my watermelon by making homemade ices. A quick and easy way to enjoy fruit that is lingering on the overripe — just a little simple syrup, pureed fruit (strained) and perhaps a squeeze of lemon juice. My kids were motivated to help, since they love anything sweet and frozen. Only one snag: I realized after the watermelon mixture was made that not only did I not have proper Popsicle molds, but I also did not have any Popsicle sticks to stick into cups — what to do? As I rummaged through my miscellaneous cabinet of cookware (a bigger endeavor than making ices), I spotted my cupcake pan and quickly decided to make frozen watermelon cupcakes. I lined the pan with cupcake liners, poured in the mixture, froze it for about 6 hours and…presto: the cutest cupcakes and a perfect summertime treat anytime! Sometimes inspiration comes out of desperation.

Claudia Sidoti, Recipe Developer, Culinary Production

You may be wondering: just what do a bunch of chefs, culinary producers and recipe developers eat for lunch?

Well, the truth is, we don’t know until we get to work and rummage through the walk-in fridge to see what we have to hurry up and eat before it’s only good for compost.

Actually, the truth is, we take our staff meal here seriously and everyone pitches in so that our ”family meals” are not just delicious, but something to write home about. Thanks to Charlie Granquist, one of our food stylists, today the meal was so special, it was even worthy of a pic.

Now that’s some nice looking fish…stay tuned for more family meal pics from the Behind the Scenes Team.

Claudia Sidoti, Recipe Developer, Culinary Production