(Watch TV. Get inspired. Make Dinner.)
Some of my first PBS television memories (even more vivid than Sesame Street) are of watching cooking shows. I can honestly remember watching Julia Child & Jeff Smith (The Frugal Gourmet) whip up dishes, and thinking, "man, I wish I could do that." Watching Julia prepare a batch of omelets for a breakfast seemed like it was easy, not to mention fun. And now with entire networks dedicated to cooking, the originals can seem almost lackluster. But I will never forget the deep-seated inspiration the original TV food celebrities have given me.
The Food Network & Cooking Channel are now chock-full of celebrity chefs. Even PBS still has great food shows like Rick Bayless' Mexico: One Plate at a Time and the dining show, Check, Please!. If it wasn't for these networks, I would be cooking at home & dining out without a clue. Just last week I was inspired to try a recipe I saw on a TV show.
The inspiration came from celebrity chef Tyler Florence's show on the Cooking Channel named Tyler's Ultimate. The premise of the show is this: Tyler travels all over the world, in search of experts on a particular dish. At the end of the show, he returns home, and attempts to combine all of the great ideas he picked up on the road, and prepare his "ultimate" version of the dish. This episode brought him to Italy in search of the ultimate meatball recipe. I watched in awe as he studied with two great Italian chefs, and then returned home to create his own version of the classic. For his homecoming recipe, he chose to prepare baked meatballs with a simple, homemade tomato & mushroom sauce, and served them over creamy polenta. His meatballs were made of half beef & half pork with fresh herbs & chopped pine nuts mixed in. The balls were rolled in breadcrumbs, and then fried to seal them. They were then transferred to a baking dish, covered in the tomato & mushroom sauce, and then baked. The balls were then served over a creamy polenta made of corn meal, cream, butter & freshly grated parmesan. (The complete recipe can be found HERE.)
I'm glad I gave it a whirl. The result was amazing.
