Sunday, October 10, 2010

NYC Wine & Food Festival 2010; Demo Recipes!

Hi there! Yesterday was my cooking demonstration at Comix for the NYC Wine and Food Festival and I want to get down to business and share the recipes as requested, then some more sharing ...


Butterflied Cornish Hens with Sage Butter

Recipe courtesy Sunny Anderson, 2010


4 (1 3/4-pound) Cornish game hens, butterflied

1 stick butter, softened

5 to 7 sage leaves, finely chopped

1 lemon, zested

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil, for sauteing

4 strips bacon, chopped


Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.


Place hens on a sheet tray fitted with a cooling rack in the refrigerator to dry skin out for 1 hour. Meanwhile, in a small pan over medium heat, melt butter with sage, zest, salt and pepper. Remove hens from refrigerator. Preheat 2 large saute pans over medium heat, lightly coat with oil. Season hens with salt and pepper and sear, skin side down, in the pans (if you have a pan large enough to fit them both, by all means reduce the dishes you'll have to wash later and just use one pan!). Sear until skin caramelizes and turns golden brown and crispy, about 7 to 10 minutes. Flip birds over, and baste with sage butter. Sprinkle tops with chopped bacon and place in preheated oven to finish cooking, 25 to 30 minutes, basting occasionally. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.



Yield: 4 servings

Cooking Time: 30 minutes



Sunny's Holiday Parsnip Puree

Recipe courtesy Sunny Anderson, 2010


4 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream, room temperature

1 pinch nutmeg

salt and freshly ground black pepper


Heat oven to 400 degrees.


Toss parsnips, garlic and olive oil on a baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Roast until edges are golden and caramelized, about 30 minutes. If a check during roasting reveals the bottom of the parsnips are cooking faster than the top, give a toss and return the baking sheet to the oven.


When parsnips and garlic are roasted, pour into food processor with butter and 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and a pinch of nutmeg. Blend until smooth and if needed add a bit more heavy cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste.


Yield: 4 servings

Preparation Time: 35 minutes


Simple Sauteed Mustard Greens

Recipe courtesy Sunny Anderson, 2010


4 strips bacon, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 bunches mustard greens, stemmed and chopped

2 tablespoons stone ground mustard

1/2 cup chicken stock

salt and freshly ground black pepper


In a large pan with straight sides on medium heat add bacon and saute until crispy. Add onions and season with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Saute until onions are tender then add garlic and cook a minute more. Add mustard greens and saute while tossing to wilt. Once wilted add stone ground mustard, chicken stock and stir. Raise heat to simmer, then lower and cook for about 5 minutes more. Serve warm.


Yield: 4 servings

Cooking Time: 15 minutes




I sure hope these help you recreate some of the fun we had Saturday afternoon! My cooking demonstration was sandwiched between Tyler Florence and Andrew Zimmern. When I showed up Tyler was still on stage so I caught a quick peak ...
Can you tell that's him? I took that pic then headed to the engineer's booth to drop off my iPod. I decided somewhere during the week that I thought it would be nice to come out after my introduction to a little music. I am such a music person and often like to combine the two when it works, so I gave it a try. Here's the view from the sound booth in the back ...
The music intro turned out pretty nice because my choice, Empire State of Mind, was perfect for the occasion. Here we all were in NYC, the concrete jungle where dreams are made, enjoying a dream weekend for any food person. These festivals are so much fun and I'm not just saying that. I love a food experience! So there we all were yesterday just talking and having fun all while I cooked the menu above. I like to treat these 45 minutes like an extended episode of Cooking for Real, just no commercials and plenty of time to cook and tell stories! I never really have a true plan, other than to finish all of my recipes and have fun. I guess I'd say the hardest part about doing a cooking demonstration like that is choosing the recipes. Things I think about are seasonality, what techniques, methods and appliances I'd like to run through and if I can actually get it all done in the time given because I love to talk and I always worry I'll start telling a story and end up with 5 minutes left for a 45 minute process. Happily, the menu worked out I got to meet some really fun people along for the ride! The recipes are just in time for the weather change we are headed into and if you were there I hope you enjoyed our time together! Thanks again to everyone that made time to join me. If you aren't a parsnip lover like me, it's ok ... I understand, try my Garlic Mashed Potatoes. They're a great substitute!

Ok, then after I was done I headed for lunch at one of my favorite places in the city, Petit Abeille on Hudson Street. I ate a nice late lunch and walked back to Comix just in time to say hi to Andrew Zimmern before he headed to the stage for his cooking demonstration. He is such a nice guy and I love the activity on his website too. Can't wait for my website to relaunch soon! Here's Andrew making a replica of some street food he's had while on the road taping one of his shows ...

Those ribs look nice in the wok, huh? He cooked with chopsticks, goooooooo Andrew! Pretty cool to watch! Ok, stick around I had brunch at a crazy good place in Manhattan at the "Nexus of the Universe" (any Seinfeld fans?)

Please excuse any typos, I'm runnin' on chili cheese fries for fuel :-) ...

10 comments:

aida mollenkamp said...

Ooooh, lady, those receipts sound tasty -- sorry to have missed your demo! Hugs from the left coast -- aida

Holly said...

Thanks for posting the parsnip puree recipe - that WILL be on my Thanksgiving table!!

jen @ one curly fry said...

It sounds like your demo was fabulous! I'm so bummed I missed it! Next year I'm going to definitely make it a point to get up there for that. I think it would make an awesome weekend!

The Garlic Mashed Potatoes sound wonderful! I've always been afraid to try parsnips, lol! I have no idea why. But that's roped into the group of things I've never tried before (like fennel, turnips, leeks, etc). I guess it's one of those things I don't want to order out because what if I don't like it?

Oh - and I definitely want to try those Shrimp Pot Stickers from the latest CFR. They look so good!

Maria said...

Sunny

You are so real!! Now I know why you call your show that. It was exciting for me and my daughter to meet you at your demo on Saturday. I am still pumped from seeing you!! She was on the phone telling everyone how friendly you are and how she got your autograph and a picture with you! I am telling everyone how you got up to hug us!!! GO SOMERSET, PA!!!!

You are so genuine. Thanks for posting these recipes. I will be sure to try them out.

Hope to see you at the benefit in November that you mentioned.

In the meantime, my TV is set to the food network. You are usually on while I am making dinner!

Take care.

Maria

Lys ~ Cooking In Stilettos said...

Note to self - I will never miss a Sunny Demo at either NYCWFF or SOBE again - sounds like Saturday was a blast! That Comix venue was amazing - loved the seating and the atmosphere.

Lindsey Christensen said...

Oh hey, great post!!! Sounds familiar :) Just got back from exploring Times Sq. and doing some retail therapy in SoHo...you better believe I ditched the peep toe wedges and rocked my New Balances today but girl I am STILL dead on my feet! Gotta check into those Tom wedges, maybe that is my answer lol. This has been a fab first trip into the city...we are going to some sushi spot for dinner. Hopefully I will be back in the not TOO distant future. Until then, you know I'll keep faithfully reading the blog! Great recap of your demo...so fun & so REAL! And so long for now :)

Reyna said...

Awesome. NYC Food & Wine looks like soo much fun. Can't wait for the SOBE Food & Wine fest. Your coming, right? Hopefully I get to see you again :)


SN: My hubby is a big fan of you too. He just wanted me to mention that he loves your car girl, especially a VW girl. He has 1963 bug rag top ;) And wants to know if you getting "Medal of Honor" tomorrow???? lol :)

Congrats on Season 9 too :D

The Captain said...

I got to go to your demo last Saturday and I've gotta say it was super awesome to see you. You were so warm and personable and just plain awesome. Looking forward to making those mustard greens!

Jo815 said...

Hey Sunny! I attended your food presentation. I had such a great time! You are so friendly and I love all of your stories. I asked
'what happens to the food after', yes I am a foodie too. I have great pictues of you cooking if you would like them.

Keep doing what you do!

Joi

Sunny Anderson said...

aida, hey girl ... we just missed paths huh? next time!

holly, yaaaay! i just roasted parsnips last night for dinner! love them! hope you enjoy the addition to your holiday menu!

jen, i had fun girl! next year is right! you gotta do nyc! and don't be scurrred of parsnips, they are tasty when you pull the sweet out of them. roasting is the way to go if you are trying them for the first time. fennel is so good! look, just try it, if you don't like it. try it another way. give yourself a chance and then give up, but you gotta at least try it! i don't like licorice, but i love fennel which ha a slight licorice flavor. i have fennel recipes online, orange braised fennel at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/orange-braised-fennel-recipe/index.html

and Snap Pea Salad with Tarragon and Fennel at
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/snap-pea-salad-with-tarragon-and-fennel-recipe/index.html

both are great with many things. chicken, beef, pork. ok, i'm steppin off the soap box :-).

maria, GOOOOO SOMERSET!!! teeheehee! so nice to meet you and your daughter! what a nice surprise! hope we run into each other again! thanks so much for taking time out of your schedule to join me on a food-packed weekend!

lys, awww, missed you too. i agree, comix is a nice space, hard to have a bad show there.

lindsey, girrrrrl. i had too much fun on coney island with you!! you were sooo much like me with those heels girl. why do we do that to ourselves? love it! glad you made time!

reyna, heck yeah! i'll be there! have the dates saved! and tell your husband i don't have my bug anymore :-(. my dad sold it when i moved to korea and i've been empty ever since lol.

the captain, yaaaaay!!! thanks so much for hanging out with me!!i had such a good time! i just get out there and tell all my business! hope you like the mustard greens, don't forget to add the lemon zest! lol. welcome to the blog!!

joi, i'm so glad you asked that question!! so many people ask me that all the time! we had fun that day didn't we? send the pic on over, i'd love to see them! send your email in comments and i'll send you an email to send them to ...thanks again for cooking for real with me :-).