Coffee Cake

I tend to enjoy recipes by Alex Guarnaschelli. She seems relatively normal for someone on Food Network and I've had good success with the things I've tried before that she has created (or I assume she's created). I've been needing something good for breakfast, and since I still have this fear (unrealistic, I realize) of yeast, I've avoided breakfast breads so coffee cake seems to be a decent alternative. So here goes.

You can get the recipe here.

Recipe Wrap up - 11 February 2011

I caught up on some long neglected Food Network shows I had recorded on the DVR. More and more, excepting Nigella of course, I'm finding that Food Network shows for new idea/recipe purposes are not holding my interests. It's like the Food Network has morphed into something that seems a little LCD. My friends would say this is the Food Snob in me ... and perhaps they are right, but I'm just not finding a whole lot of satisfaction in most Food Network shows.
There are still some shows I watch because the hosts seems to be normal people, like Alex Guarnaschelli's show, Alex's Day Off. I would hang out with her on her day off. The food looks good, she seems normal, sounds like fun.
There are several "celebrity chefs"I would run the hell the other way from: Paula Deen and her weird sons, Sandra Lee, Duff Goldman, Robert Irvine, Rachael Ray, Aarti, Guy Fieri, and Marcela.*
There are some shows I watch out of interesting in the cooking, but not the host, sorry: Ina, Giada, and Claire. I find you slightly annoying, but past good recipes has kept me loyal despite that. 
Obviously, Valentine's Day, a totally made up holiday for the card, chocolate, and flower industries, has had an influence on most of the food blogs this week. Unfortunately. 

So here's what I came up with this week. First a recipe from Worst Cooks in America. It's Polenta Cakes with Quick Sausage Sauce. Sounds good and it's from Anne Burrell, so I'll give it a go. I've been looking for a recipe involving polenta lately and this looks like a good candidate. 
This next recipe goes against some of my thoughts about using packaged items to make a recipe - it's got the "semi-homemade" thing to it, but I have used Jiffy mix before and it's pretty good, especially in a pinch - Giada's Scallion and Mozzarella Cornbread. I will not be using olives in it - no matter what. blech. 
Another Giada recipe - two in one week. This one sounds like something our catering company used to do when I planned events. It's good, but it's time consuming to make (for the multitudes) and therefore expensive to get a caterer to do, but I'll happily make these at home. Walnut and Blue Cheese Grapes - three of my favorite things combined, nuts, cheese, fruit. 
Another cheesy recipe - seems to be a theme this week, this one from Ina. Penne with Five Cheeses looks pretty simple and quick, which makes it a logical choice for weeknight dinners. A salad, perhaps some bread and that's a good dinner. 
Finishing up this week with something I will be making sooner rather than later since it's going to be a fricking 25 degrees tonight (Winter, please go away!). From one of my favorite celebrity chefs Alexx Guarnaschelli, Charred Tomato Soup with Melted Mozzarella. 
* Coming up with list wasn't hard -- and that's sad, but it did set me off. See this post. 

TV Food

The recent articles about food shows keeping people from the kitchen made me think about the shows I watch and what I do with the information I glean from them. Do they get be into the kitchen?
MotH and I found Rick Bayless' show on PBS (Mexico: One Plate at a Time) - and the consensus is that it's pretty good. We'll need a few more episodes to be sure and he is a little slow, but I think that's just part of his personality. He's doing what the title says, taking on thing, salsa for example and showing what you can do w/it, beyond chips.  I was impressed with the roof-top garden at his restaurant Frontera. Not only is it innovative and appears to be something or rather long standing, but it's Chicago - how long of a season can you have there for hot season crops like tomatoes and peppers? Impressive. But his home garden is even more so -- wow! I. want.
Bayless was interesting on Top Chef: Masters - the only Top Chef we ever watched. We tried Top Chef: Vegas, but ugh. What a bunch of self absorbed icks. On TC:M he was stable, humble, I don't know, normal, especially compared to some of the rest (Michael Chiarello I mean you).
Another new show is Avec Eric - the first episode we watched - well almost finished was/is interesting, but the topic is artisinal and that is something that would interest me no matter what, so ... We'll give this a time or two and see how ol' Eric does. He's french (say it w/a freeench accent, itz more fun dat way) Eric Ripert -I know his name but I don't know why.
Final new show for now - Alex's Day Off** - hokey title. I mean please, but not half so gay as The Cooking Loft - ugh groan shoot me. Alex Guarnaschelli of Butter (love that name) has a new show. I've seen two episodes (TY TiVo) so far. She seems much more relaxed than on her last show - said cooking loft. Her breakfast show was very good if for just one idea - the cheesy hash brown (calories I can't even begin to count, but who the hell cares). Must get kitchen finished, because that recipe just went on the Must Make after Reno list.
** - No link because of Food Network's ridiculous obsession with video that annoys the crap out of me.