Eat well & London often!

Gordon Ramsay Tops UK Rich Chef List

August 22, 2006 | Posted by Allison as Celebrity Chefs, Tid Bits & News at 9:47 am | (3) Comments »

Well, it looks like Gordon Ramsay is the richest chef in England.  According to the newspaper The Independent celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has topped a list of the richest chefs in the UK.

Ramsay is said to be worth about $126 million, has nine restaurants & two abroad and is expected to expand his franchise into the US later this year.

Among all of these accomplishments, Ramsay has also written 12 books & has starred in five television shows.

Childhood obesity fighter Jamie Oliver comes in a close second on the rich chef list.  With Oliver’s many TV shows & books, he is said to be worth about $20 million.

So, drinks on the house, everyone!  Gordon & Jamie are buying!

{Source}

Eat well & Get rich often!

Emeril Lagasse Roast Chicken Recipe

August 4, 2006 | Posted by Allison as Celebrity Chefs, Yummy Can't Say No Chicken Recipes at 1:00 pm | (2) Comments »

This Emeril Lagasse Roast Chicken recipe is meant for this planet & is worlds better than freeze-dried anything.  Spice up your weekend meal with this terrific dish.  Enjoy & see you Monday!

Ingredients: 

• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into thirds
• 3 ribs celery, peeled and cut into thirds
• 3 onions, peeled and cut into quarters
• 1 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) chicken, rinsed and patted dry
• 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons cracked white pepper
• 1 lemon, halved
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 4 sprigs rosemary, roughly chopped, plus 1 tablespoon for gravy
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons roasted garlic
• 1 cup dry white wine

Go ahead & preheat your oven to 500 F or 260 C.

In a 9 by 13-inch roasting pan, add the carrots, celery and onions. Season the chicken both inside and out with the kosher salt and white pepper. Squeeze the lemon halves over the chicken and place the rinds inside the cavity. Place the bay leaves inside the cavity.

In a small bowl, combine the garlic, rosemary, olive oil and butter. Rub the chicken both inside and out with the garlic rosemary blend and place in the roasting pan.

Place the pan in the oven and roast the chicken for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the juices run clear. To test this, insert a thermometer in the thickest part of a leg. It should register at 160 degrees internal temperature. Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.

 Pour off excess fat from pan and return to heat. Whisk in chicken stock, roasted garlic, white wine and chopped rosemary, scraping up the bits on the bottom of pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Reduce gravy by half, until thickened.

Serve chicken with gravy on the side.

Eat well & Laugh often!

Celebrity Chef Emeril Lagasse Goes to Space

August 4, 2006 | Posted by Allison as Celebrity Chefs at 7:53 am | (1) Comment »

The International Space Station astronauts will be savoring cuisine made by New Orleans celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse. 

Lagasse has cooked up quite a storm of food for the out-of-spacers.  They will be enjoying haute cuisine right out of New Orleans- freeze-dried, packed & launched into space.

The menu?  Mardi Gras Jambalaya, mashed potatoes with bacon, green beans with garlic, rice pudding, & mixed fruit.  The shipment will be sampled by the astronauts August 10 while Emeril chats with them via satellite.

Lagasse is the first celebrity chef to develop recipes to be served outside the planet Earth.

“This is a tremendous honor,” Lagasse said.

Here’s hoping it tastes half as well as it does here!

Eat well & Laugh often!

Rick Stein Roasted Salmon with Salsa Verde Recipe

July 25, 2006 | Posted by Allison as Celebrity Chefs, Seafood Recipe at 1:00 pm | (2) Comments »

Well, he may have a few screws loose, if you’ll pardon my expression, but the man can still cook.  Celebrity chef Rick Stein shows us how salmon should taste like.  Enjoy this Stein original Roasted Salmon with Salsa Verde recipe.

To make life easy, prepare the salmon in the morning, refrigerate but remove 30 minutes before roasting to allow it to come back to room temperature.

Ingredients:

• Pound of salmon fillets
• 2 tablespoons parsley leaves
• 2 mint leaves
• 4 tablespoons capers
• 6 anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained
• 3 garlic cloves
• 4 large vine-ripened tomatoes, each cut into 8 slices
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 1 large bunch of fresh thyme
• 10 tablespoons water
• Approximately 4 tablespoons olive oil
• S & P

What’s Next:

Go ahead & preheat your oven to 425 F or 220 C.

Chop the parsley and mint leaves, 3 tablespoons of the capers, the anchovy fillets and 1 garlic clove together on a board into a coarse paste and season to taste with a little salt.

Line the base of a large baking tray or roasting tin with a sheet of non-stick baking paper and then lay the tomatoes in rows of 4 down the centre of the paper (diagonally if necessary so that your salmon will fit in the tin).

Scatter over the rest of the capers, the remaining garlic, cut into slices, half of the chilli flakes and all but 1 large sprig of the thyme and sprinkle over 3 tablespoons of the oil, the water, and some salt. This will prevent the salmon from sticking and produce a lovely sauce to serve with the salmon.

Brush the skin-side of one salmon fillet with oil, season lightly with salt and place skin-side down on top of the tomatoes. Lightly season it with salt and then cover with the salsa verde mixture.

Lightly season the cut face of the second salmon fillet and place skin-side up on top. Brush the skin with the rest of the oil and scatter with the remaining chilli flakes and the leaves from the remaining thyme sprig. Season with salt and pepper.

Roast the fish for 25 minutes, until the skin is lightly browned and the flesh still slightly pink in the centre.

Cut the salmon across into portion-sized pieces and serve with some of the cooking juices.

Eat well & Laugh often!

Celebrity Chef Rick Stein, His Wife & His Lover

July 25, 2006 | Posted by Allison as Celebrity Chefs at 9:56 am | (8) Comments »

Just in case you need a drama fix this Tuesday morning, I found this little goodie.

When British celebrity chef Rick Stein was caught cheating on his wife Jill with Australian PR specialist Sarah Burns (who is 20 years Jill’s junior), Jill threw out the trash & tried to remain calm & retain her dignity.

Well, all that worked until the woman came into her restaurant, ex-husbands’ arms around.  When the two ladies were face to face, Jill lost it & slapped Burns square in the face & gave her ex-husband one to grow on.

“It was a woman thing,” Jill Stein said speaking for the incident for the first time.

“I feel better for it. Now I want a divorce.”

Staffers & customers at the Steins’ Cornwall restaurant are reported to have cheered when Jill struck Burns in the face.

 ”I called her a f****** bitch and I smacked her in the face. Then Ricky said something like ‘That was a bit stupid’, so I smacked him on the face as well.

“I have always told Ricky, ‘Don’t you dare bring that woman into our restaurant or I will kill her’.

“Sarah didn’t recognize me because I had dark glasses on. I wasn’t expecting to see her, and yes I did clout her. I always said I would. She has ruined my life,” Mrs. Stein said.

Mrs. Stein admitted it was actually “harder than a slap”.

“I have strong muscles, I do weight-lifting.”

“I did feel better afterwards. I don’t know how much I hurt them, but the police were not involved.”

I love the British.  Their quarrels are always civilized & orderly.

Via:  News.Com.Au

Spinach & Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Recipe

July 19, 2006 | Posted by Allison as Celebrity Chefs, Yummy Can't Say No Chicken Recipes at 9:40 am | Comments »

With Rachel Ray’s new talk show coming up, she’s on my mind. And what better way to celebrate her new endeavor than with one of her 30 Minute Meal Recipes?

I’ve got a lot of chicken tucked away in the recesses of my freezer, so I chose this Spinach & Mushroom Stuffed Chicken recipe. With only 30 minutes involved, you’ll love this chicken recipe, I promise!

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 6 ounces
• Large plastic food storage bags or waxed paper
• 1 package, 10 ounces, frozen chopped spinach
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 12 small mushroom caps, crimini or button
• 2 cloves garlic, cracked
• 1 small shallot, quartered
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano or Romano, a couple of handfuls
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh grated or ground nutmeg
• Toothpicks
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Ingredients for the Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth

Place breasts in the center of a plastic food storage bag or 2 large sheets of waxed paper. Pound out the chicken from the center of the bag outward using a heavy-bottomed skillet or mallet. Be firm but controlled with your strokes.

Defrost spinach in the microwave. Transfer spinach to a kitchen towel. Twist towel around spinach and wring it out until very dry. Transfer to a medium-mixing bowl.

Place a nonstick skillet over moderate heat. When skillet is hot, add butter, mushrooms, garlic and shallot. Season with salt and pepper and saute 5 minutes. Transfer mushrooms, garlic and shallot to the food processor.

Pulse to grind the mushrooms and transfer to the mixing bowl, adding the processed mushrooms to the spinach. Add ricotta and grated cheese to the bowl and the nutmeg. Stir to combine the stuffing. Return your skillet to the stove over medium high heat.

Place a mound of stuffing on each breast and wrap and roll breast over the stuffing. Secure breasts with toothpicks. Add 3 tablespoons oil to the pan, 3 turns of the pan. Add breasts to the pan and brown on all sides, cooking chicken 10 to 12 minutes.

The meat will cook quickly because it is thin. Remove breasts; add butter to the pan and flour. Cook butter and flour for a minute, whisk in wine and reduce another minute. Whisk in broth and return breasts to the pan. Reduce heat and simmer until ready to serve.

Remove toothpicks. Serve breasts whole or, remove from pan, slice on an angle and fan out on dinner plates. Top stuffed chicken breasts or sliced stuffed breasts with generous spoonfuls of the sauce.

Eat well & Laugh often!

Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay’s Boiling Eye Stock

July 18, 2006 | Posted by Allison as Celebrity Chefs at 1:08 pm | (2) Comments »

Since we’re becoming the rather deinitive source on celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, I thought I would include a bit more of his mischeif & mayhem this afternoon.

Apparently on the latest episode for Ramsay’s Channel 4 show, the FWord, Gordon was the victim of a hapless assistant.

London’s Chelsea & Westminster Hospital’s accident & emergency doctors played chef in Gordon’s kitchen this past episode, and lucky for Ramsay they were on hand.  

Emergency specialist & wouldbe chef Lucy Bingham accidentally splashed Gordon in the eye with boiling hot stock causing the celebrity chef to howl in pain.  The team gave immediate first aid. 

The guilty party Bingham stated,  ”I really thought I’d burnt his eye. I thought, ‘That’s it, forget the cooking, we’ve got to take him straight to emergency’.

“I’d got knocked as I was moving a pan of stock and it fell on to the hob, which is blindingly hot, and i t splashed back up at him.

“I thought, ‘It’s Gordon Ramsay, ace chef - and I’ve blinded him.  I was really worried.  I immediately went into doctor mode and rushed over to him.  I think he was startled and shocked but, thankfully, he was fine.”

“I got away without anything, he found it quite amusing how I flipped so quickly into being a doctor.”

She added: “A&E (Accident & Emergency) is just like Gordon’s kitchen because it’s so frantic, so busy and there are massive time constraints - and we have to deal with people like Gordon.”

“On any average Friday or Saturday you get people effing and blinding at you and you just can’t get wound up.  So when Gordon’s shouting, you just sort of block it out.”

Despite his injury, Ramsay was able to praise the support of his team by saying in his celebrated style, “f***ing good news”.

Eat well & Laugh often!

Celebrity Chef Rachel Ray on Dieting & Her New Talk Show

July 17, 2006 | Posted by Allison as Celebrity Chefs at 1:57 pm | (44) Comments »

Celebrity Chef Rachel Ray wears many hats:  chef, TV host, writer, and the list goes on.  But one thing Rachel Ray says she doesn’t care about is her weight.

The Food Network host & best-selling cookbook author tells People, “I don’t care about any fashion enough to give up food.”

When asked how she manages her weight, “I don’t.  I buy jeans with stretch. Everything I have has stretch in it. I haven’t known my weight since I was 12-years-old. I have enough pressure.”

And that is for sure, with a new hour-long talk show to debut on September 18, Ray certainly does not have a lot of time for calorie counting. 

Rachel touches on what the new show will bring, “I want to laugh and eat something in every show,” she said. “It’s very important to me that everything is accessible. People love that sort of friendly advice and that sense of community when you get advice from a peer instead of an expert.”

Unlike talk show veterans Oprah & Ellen DeGeneres, Ray’s new show will not be celebrity-driven, but expect guests such as her husband or lawyer & musician John Cuisimano to show up & get a little dirty in the kitchen. 

Cooking with Amy Guinness Stout Chocolate Cake Recipe

July 17, 2006 | Posted by Allison as Celebrity Chefs, Dessert Recipes at 1:39 pm | Comments »

There’s nothing better on a Monday morning than going home & licking your weekday wounds by indulging in a bit of chocolate.  And what better way than with Cooking with Amy’s Amy Sherman Guinness Stout Chocolate Cake recipe.

Combine the weekend stout with the weekday chocolate craving & you have yourself a delectable sweet.  Enjoy!

Ingredients for Cake:

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 pound butter
• 1 cup Guinness
• 2/3 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream

What’s Next:

Go ahead & preheat oven to 350 F or 175 C degrees.

With cocoa powder, lightly dust two greased 8 or 9 inch spring form pans. In heavy saucepan heat butter, Guinness and cocoa powder until melted. Cool.

Sift dry ingredients together, add the Guinness-cocoa mixture and beat for 1 minute on medium speed. Add eggs and sour cream and beat for 2 minutes on medium speed.

Pour batter into pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, remove sides and cool. Use a serrated knife to even tops, if necessary. Frost. Chill the cake to set up the frosting.

Chocolate Frosting Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 2 tablespoons Guinness Stout
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2/3 cups cocoa

What’s Next:

Beat all ingredients, except cocoa, until very smooth. Sift or sieve the cocoa, then mix it in the frosting.

Eat well & Laugh often!