Television Hilarity!

Well, I’ll be leaving town tomorrow morning early. Gone for the long weekend. No cooking this weekend!

Going to meet my sister in Palm Springs for some sun (she lives in San Francisco and it’s been pretty gloomy and wet up there...not to say snowing here!) and to hide out. For good reason – I’ll be making my national television debut on Sunday evening. The new Food Network series “Ultimate Recipe Showdown” – mine is the first show, “Chicken”. Sunday, February 17, 9 pm Eastern. It is better that I cringe in private. My husband will have his best buddy over to watch at home….I don’t think I could stand to have my pal Mike say, “wow, why do you look so….electrocuted?”

And my sister, Lori, was the one who stuck it out with me throughout the taping. She calmed me down when I was shaking so bad, I could have had an unfortunate "Saturday Night Live" Julia Child/knife incident! She told me which outfit looked like “you’re not wearing THAT, are you???” and wiped the lipstick off my teeth. I couldn’t have survived the experience without her!

While I’m apprehensive of how I’ll appear a fool, the actual experience of doing it was wonderful. I LOVED my fellow contestants – all so talented and gracious. You’ll see Michelle Anderson along with me – she won the National Chicken competition last year (and $100,000!) so she knew a thing or two about cooking chicken....nothing like just a little competition! And I had a soft spot for Lauren, the darling, super talented young woman from New Orleans. She is just wonderful. Everyone was wonderful! And be sure to watch my good pal, Jenny Flake of "The Picky Palate" when her show airs, “Comfort Food”. I just think Jenny is the best thing since sliced bread. So kind, talented, and level-headed…she’s been a sort of mentor for me and I’ve so appreciated her input and support.

The Food Network and High Noon staff were just terrific. From producers to cameramen to our prep assistants, they were professional, supportive, and fun to do this with. I spent a lot of time laughing, which went a long way to helping me not pass out. And Guy Fieri….he was not only hilariously funny, he was helpful (I mean, doing the live shoot, he saw me start to do something stupid, and his commentary put me back on track!), and just a really nice guy. I was nervous and freaked out, but I wouldn’t have traded this experience for anything.

I hope you all enjoy the show. It’s a good concept and I think it will be pretty entertaining.

And by entertaining, I just hope you laugh WITH me instead of AT me!!!

Mike, you listening?????

Chicken Therapy

Here’s a nifty recipe for those boring chicken fillets that just beg to be beaten. Pounding the living daylights out of a piece of chicken has saved my husband numerous times.

The recipe is (like most of mine) easy to tinker with, using what you have rather than what you have to go to the store for. Safeway at 4:30 pm? I think not. I imagine most of us have rolled up a chicken part over some kind of stuffing, but I thought I’d share one of our favorites. I’ve made notes on substitutions you may want to consider.

Florentine Chicken Roll Ups

Serves 4 (but easily doubled)

4 boneless, skinless chicken fillets
4-8 slices of good smoked ham or prosciutto (depending on what you like and how big and thick the slices are)
4 oz plain goat cheese
1 cup finely shredded spinach leaves
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon dried basil
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
About 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Place a fillet between two plastic storage bags (I use quart sized Ziplocs) and pound them with a meat mallet until the fillets are about ¼ inch thick, being careful not to tear the meat. Repeat with all fillets, carefully peeling plastic from each fillet and reusing again. Place fillets on work surface to proceed.
2. Arrange slices of ham or prosciutto on top of each fillet to your liking.
3. In a small bowl, combine the goat cheese, oregano, basil, and pepper. Spread equally over the tops of the ham/prosciutto slices.
4. Starting with the widest end, roll each fillet up, like a crescent roll, and secure with a toothpick.
5. Line a baking sheet or pan with foil. Brush 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over the foil.
Arrange the chicken rolls on the sheet or pan and drizzle with the remaining oil. Salt and pepper the rolls. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in thickest part of biggest roll.

Notes: Once I used marscapone cheese instead of goat cheese. And one picky kid (you KNOW who you are...Evan) refused to eat goat cheese because it smelled like “gym socks”. So, I used a combo of mozzarella and cream cheese. Pretty good! And definitely use fresh herbs if you have them handy….I’d double the amount, if using fresh. And a very successful substitution for the spinach was arugula! This is lovely served with rice and a simple salad.