Thursday, February 11, 2010

Gourmet Snow Day...



No matter how old we get, who doesn’t love a snow day? Yesterday’s blizzard gave me a much-needed day off. I’ve never been one to rush the supermarket before a storm and shop like I was stocking a bomb shelter. A year ago I may have made do munching on whatever was in the cupboards like a handful of Cheerios, crackers and peanut butter, popcorn, etc. But thanks to this project and thanks to Giada, I had quite the gourmet snow day.

I had plenty of fresh ingredients in my kitchen leftover from last week’s GDL concoctions but not enough to make any of the recipes in Everyday Italian. So thanks to my raised culinary confidence, I came up with my own creations.

For breakfast, I made blueberry pancakes with fresh whipped cream. I’ve never seen GDL use canned whip cream on Giada at Home. Whether it’s for a cake or just a dollop on her espresso, she will always take the time to beat some powdered sugar into cream. Well I happened to have some heavy whipping cream left over so I decided to give it a whirl (or a whip!) and… oh… my… god. I will never go back to canned whip cream ever again. It is so rich and creamy but soft and sweet at the same time. I plopped some on my pancakes and two scoops in my coffee and even swirled a finger around the bowl before cleaning up. Mmmmm.

Then for dinner, I thawed the rest of my leftover Orecchiette with Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Rabe and made a delicious simple salad I know Giada would be proud of. Baby spinach and white mushrooms with big Pecorino Romano shavings and an olive oil and lemon juice dressing. Delicioso!

I always knew I was a wannabe foodie but I had no idea how much I would enjoy cooking once I was given the basics and started to put them into practice. I will forever credit my mum and grandmother for my baking skills but the woman who taught me to cook is the one and only Giada. So GDL, grazie mille! 



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