Zucchini and Parm Fritters with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Made the second recipe from Chef Anne's book Cook Like A Rock Star and it was a WINNER with the family. Reason I only have one slightly blurry pic of a not quite full platter? They were eating them as fast as I could fry them! Some of my family were commenting that they don't really like zucchini but these were really good. And I'm all like "they're fried, anything fried tastes good, fry up a shoe - people will eat it". Which is true...but this recipe is good for many other reasons. The sauce has a little kick to it, the parm is parmigiano reggiano which makes everything wonderful. Check out the Crack Heard Round the World video on my previous post under Events to find out more about this king of cheese.

I will absolutely make these again for any reason. Like on days that end in Y. 

But not on Easter Sunday with a houseful of guests who arrived just as I was putting them together. The recipe isn't hard but has a fair amount of steps. And hot oil can be unforgiving. 

-DK

Truffled Deviled Eggs

I made another recipe from Chef Anne Burrell's book Cook Like A Rock Star. And found out I like truffles. Great. That'll be a nice, inexpensive ingredient. Darn you Chef Anne!

I found the truffle oil with no problem in Whole foods. I'm cooking my way through her book one recipe at a time without making substitutions. But.....

...the recipe called for actual truffle peelings and truffles were nowhere around the week before Easter. After checking Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and Shoprite with no luck a very informative staffer at Wegman's told my hubby, Monsterfink, that the truffles were coming in in terrible shape so nobody is ordering them for a while. At least we knew to stop searching for them.

This recipe came together very easily - I used an extra tablespoon of truffle oil since I didn't have the peelings. Absolutely delicious - I loved them.

And I found out why my family never has deviled eggs at family functions. They don't like them. Glad I didn't lay out all that money for the peelings.

-DK

Mortadella Pate with Grilled Bread

I promised myself I wouldn't buy any more cookbooks. The poor Rubbermaid thingie that houses them in my walk in closet is all but collapsing and there is just nowhere else to put them. Plus, I tend to cherry pick what recipes to make out of cookbooks; only doing those I know I can pull off really well.

That being said, Chef Anne Burrell has a cookbook. She seems real, like when the judges on Next Food Network Star complimented her dish, her response was "yay!". But anyone who has seen her cook knows that under the friendly persona and colloquial vernacular is a tough as nails chef who gets the job done.

I wonder sometimes if my own high energy personality and penchant for announcing "awesome!" when things go well makes me something I shouldn't be professionally. But when I watch Chef Anne, I see alot of myself. Only with funkier hair...and waaaaaay meaner cooking skills. And so, I had to get her cookbook. But I decided to join the 21st century and got it for my IPad Kindle app. No cookbook to store - life is good.

Looking through it, I realized I was starting to cherry pick again and decided to push myself out of my comfort zone. At the risk of being a little too Julie and Julia, I decided to make every recipe in the book.

Let's see, what's the first recipe...Mortadella Pate, which Chef Anne describes as a bologna cloud.

I HATE bologna.

But I made it anyway and it was good - I'll definitely make it again for a catering or dinner party. The grilled bread though...was...just...divine! There was no recipe, it was just pictured with the pate. Hubby picked up a good bread at the store, it was rubbed with a garlic clove - brushed with olive oil - toasted on a really hot grill plate and crunchy heaven was born! It looks rustic and fancy at the same time and will go with any schmear. Think I'll go make some more now...

-DK