foodtvandme.com is the unofficial food network fansite with news, reviews, and my attempts at those great recipes you see on tv.

Ok before you say anything, I know the last recipe I did was one of Giada’s as well, but the thing is, I had leftover pancetta from the biscuits and saw an opportunity to use it up, so I took it.  I decided to make Giada De Laurentiis’ Dirty Risotto from the August 23rd episode. 

Weekly recipe attempt: Dirty Risotto

I took a certain amount of liberty with this recipe.  Giada’s called for Italian sausage, but I don’t like sausage.  I was willing to give it a try, until I saw how much it was in the grocery store.  It wasn’t that expensive, but you only needed one in this recipe but they come 5 to a pack.  I wouldn’t eat the other 4, so it would be a waste of money for me.  To compensate for the lack of spiciness without the sausage, I added some red pepper flakes and a couple of dashes of hot sauce, which I feel worked out best in my opinion.  If you like sausage, by all means use it.  My version didn’t have as much depth as it was supposed to, but it was delicious nonetheless.

I had never made risotto before.  Honestly, I was a little nervous.  It wasn’t the kind of dish you could put on the stove and walk away from.  You have to watch it and stir it constantly.  It was a little more work than I was used to, but it was necessary and a little relaxing after a while.  Pour the broth.  Stir the rice.  Watch the bubbles.  Pour the broth.  Stir the rice.  Watch the bubbles.  I did that for half an hour.  The time and effort paid off.  I made a good batch of risotto, although I think I should of stopped at 4 and a half cups of broth as opposed to 5.  It was a little too creamy, but still delicious.  I give this one an 8 out of 10.  If you like sausage, perhaps the original version of the risotto witll give it a 9 or a 10.  Definitly try this one.  Risotto isn’t as hard as it looks.

I decided to be adventurous this morning and attempt to bake something.  When I was watching Giada make these Pancetta Biscuits, I wanted to try them.  Since the television set isn’t a vending machine, I had to make them myself.  I hate baking.  I always make a mess.  A big, floury mess.  I decided that since Giada took a shortcut and used ready made biscuit mix (which I already had collecting dust in my pantry) I decided that if there ever was a day to attempt to bake, today would be that day. 

Weekly recipe - Pancetta Biscuits:

The recipe called for pancetta, a meat that I wasn’t used to using.  When I was in the supermarket, I found pancetta, but it was a bit too pricy for me to justify using it.  I almost opted for ham, but decided to try Trader Joe’s to see what they had in the way of this Italian meat.  Lo and behold, it was half the price at Trader Joe’s, so I stuck to the original recipe.  The fontina cheese was cheaper, too.  If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s by you, you’re missing out because Trader Joe’s is a ton of fun, but you can find this stuff fairly easily at any mega mart, just be prepared to pay a little more or use substitutions. 

For the butter, I didn’t have a vanilla bean, nor did I have vanilla extract.  I thought I did, but I didn’t.  So, I used a dash of maple syrup and it turned out to be pretty tasty.  I also didn’t have actual sugar, so I used Splenda, which was great, too.

The recipe was easy to follow, easy to put together, and baked quickly.  It’s also pretty fool proof.  No salt was added by me, so there was little chance of making it too salty.  I highly recommend this dish.  I give it a 9 out of 10 for being delicious and for the fact that I didn’t burn it even if it was something that I baked.  I gave myself a pat on the back for that.

This week’s recipe came from August 10th’s, Boy Meets Grill with Bobby Flay.  It was Black Pepper-Basil Farmer’s Cheese Bruschetta with Tomato.  The biggest difference between my method of making this and Flay’s method was the fact that I used a grill pan as opposed to an actual live-flame grill.  It was just easier for me and I wasn’t making a billion little bruschettas, I was only making a few, six exactly.  I also don’t have a very big food processor.  It’s one of those tiny personal sized ones and made mixing the cheese spread a chore.  I probably won’t make another recipe like this until I get a grown up food processor.  I’m taking donations if you have an extra food processor laying around.

Back to the dish.  It looks good, doesn’t it?  Well I do have to confess and warn that the cheese is misleadingly salty.  I know, I know, you are supposed to taste things before you add salt, but like a true novice, I added salt because the recipe said to.  I’m an idiot and I’ve learned my lesson.  I never had farmer’s cheese before.  It was saltier than I thought it would be and it was hard to find (there was only one kind of farmer’s cheese in my supermarket and it took a while to spot.) 

The little bruschettas were edible and I had them cold for lunch today.  They were actually better cold.  Maybe the lack of heat mellowed out the salt.  I think these would be great, maybe even better with goat cheese.  I think I’ll try that next time.  It’s easier to process into a spread.

It’s Friday night and your sweetheart is coming over.  Time to panic!  Wait- maybe not.  Michael Chiarello is here to help.  Today on Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello at 3:30PM ET/PT, Chiarello will show you how to make a romantic evening for someone close to you without breaking your bank. 

On this “Romance on a Shoestring” episode, Chiarello makes Saltimbocca Zucchini, Stuffed Chicken Thighs with Red Pepper Tomato Sauce and Hazelnut Semifreddo for a groom-to-be eager to impress his soon-to-be-wife.

If your looking for a romantic getaway, but can only afford to stay right here, this menu might be the way to get the amore flowing without emptying your wallet.

Here is my attempt at one of Food Network’s recipes.  This week’s recipe comes from tonight’s 30 Minute Meals and is Grilled Baby Vegetables.

Ingredients: 6 baby zucchini, half an eggplant (the original called for baby eggplant, but I couldn’t find any of those), 6 baby portobellos (the original had 12, but that was way too many veggies for just me), 1/2 a lemon, 2 tsps Dijon mustard, 2 tsps Grill Seasoning, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 garlic clove, 3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil.

I cut the vegetables into the pieces that made the most sense (the best way they would fit on my grill pan.)  I left the mushrooms whole, although in hind sight it would have been better to cut the stems off.  I then combined the dressing ingredients, as Rachael Ray did on her show.  I released some stress while crushing the garlic, then tossed all the vegtables in the bowl with the dressing.  Then I grilled it.  It was easy, but the vegetables smoked a lot.  I was a little worried that I might set off the smoke detector.  Make sure you turn on the fan. 

This dish was good and suprisingly tasty.  The only thing I didn’t like was the eggplant.  I knew this might be a problem going in as I’m not that big of a fan of eggplant, but they looked pretty so I gave them a whirl.  I still didn’t like them, but the rest of the veggies were delicious.  I had a ton left over and plan on turning it into a delicious soup, minus the eggplant. 

I give this recipe a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10.  (I was lenient since it was healthy.  It’s a good way to eat veggies, but I’d rather have pilaf as a side dish any day.)