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 :-) ...

More Set Flicks

Hey all!
So, I have some more flicks from my set. When I first got notice about the show, there were so many meetings we had. It all happened so fast, but i liken the process to a rollercoaster ... You go to the park cuz you like rides, you get a ticket in and then you just wait in line hoping that by time you get to the front, you're tall enough to get on. Then if you are tall enough, you get on the rollercoaster and it's a craaaazy ride!!

Since like, 2005, I'd written, pitched, discussed or worked on various shows on and off with various themes trying to find the right match at the network. So, when I got the word we could move forward, the funny thing is we all decided to start from scratch and throw out all previous ideas. This was like late last year ... so I walked around wondering how we'd figure out in a few months what I'd been trying to put together for 3 years. We did and while all the creative meetings were taking place, while I was compiling recipes and stuff, countless other people were building my set. I only met one in advance and that was Wendy, she's one of those people you meet and you just know she's going to do something creative, unique and beautiful. So, look, I may be a bit biased, but I love my set. I love it! I've seen some sets that are baren and some that are overdone, but this one really seems like me. All I asked for was lots of color and a microwave lol!! I got it and so much more, if I coulda put an air mattress on set, I would've slept in that kitchen! What I have right now is a narrow strip with everything within reach, kinda like a line in a restaurant kitchen ... a teeny one :-) .... Ok, so here these go ....






And then we filmed the Cooking For Real open in the same space that Tyler Florence films his show. If you look in the left corner of one flick you can jussst make out the tile in his kitchen ... it sticks out if you watch the show alot. Tyler was sooooo nice. Just completely welcoming on his set. He was wrapping the next day and asked if I wanted to attend the party ... again, I said something like "sure, yeah!" and I knew I wouldn't go, why do I do that? Prolly cuz it seems rude to say no. I'm such a doofus. But he was really nice, it's gotta be the food, haven't met a mean person yet at the network. Such a contrast from my radio career. Ok, back to the topic: When Tyler wrapped for the day, we squeezed in and the guys set up my teeny lil red back drop that'll appear in the open ... I haven't seen the open and will probably see it when you do, live on tv :-), but the description I got in the beginning is a picture pop-out thing ... that's the best I can do to describe it. I told the graphics guys that as long as they got it, I was happy :-) ... So to describe, basically we went out on the town and shot flicks, some of which are already running in the tv promo, then those pics we shot will be hanging in a row and I'll be moving them and looking at them in the show open while some of them come to life? Again, this description is the best I can do lol ... Stay tuned, this week I'll give ya a preview of my interview with Adam Roberts, the Amateur Gourmet, on his new online show The FN Dish. We walked the streets of my Brooklyn neighborhood and had a tasty bite!