Hands On With Giada De Laurentiis at the Food Network NYCWFF Demo

Following Alton Brown’s “opening act” for the New York City Wine & Food Festival demos, Giada De Laurentiis was warmly welcomed by longtime friend and Food & Wine Editor, Dana Cowin. With her husband and a houseful of fans in the audience, she greeted the crowd with her big…smile. People actually asked me if her head was in fact as big as it seems on TV, so let me answer that question. It’s not so much that she has a big head, but that she has a teeny tiny body. How a woman who makes a living cooking and eating — mostly Italian food — can stay so skinny is beyond me! But I digress.

Giada couldn’t have been more charming or likeable and took a totally hands-on, participatory approach to her demo. Enter the lucky husband and wife team selected from halfway back in the seats to come on stage and help Giada cook Smashed Potatoes. I think the wife actually claimed her husband was the cook in the family, just so he could come up and meet her in person. Giada left them to follow a few simple steps {start with some fingerlings, boil ’til tender, smash with your hand, brown in a pan with a little olive oil & garlic and then toss in a lemon-parsley vinaigrette. Easy!} while she took questions from the audience.

With her 2 1/2 year old daughter, Jade, to look after, Giada’s new cookbook is inspired by making good food, faster — relying a little more on good pantry items that are always on hand to cook a meal. So it was only appropriate that for her second dish, she invited two pint-sized friends on stage to help prepare her sweet & sour pork chops.

 

Tiny fingers sure can be generous with the salt! It’s a good thing this was all for show and no one was actually eating these chops!

Giada’s Sweet & Sour Pork Chops

Prep Time: 5 mins | Cook Time: 10 mins
Serves 4

4 Boneless Pork Chops
Salt and Pepper to Taste

1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup Balsamic Vineagar
3 sprigs of Rosemary
1 bunch Scallions, diced

Add the honey, balsamic, rosemary and scallions to a sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper. Heat a non-stick pan to medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil. Cook pork chops 4 minutes on one side and 3-5 minutes on the other side, or until slightly pink in the center. Remove from heat, add to a plate and pour sweet & sour sauce over top.

With mere seconds left on the clock for her demo, Giada still made time to call up another set of eager helpers to whip up the world’s fastest batch of double chocolate cookies. It was all for show, but the benefit of being on set is the {voila} already made finished product. And the benefit of sitting in the front row, is snagging one as the helpers return to their seats with a full plate of chocolate-y goodness. For all you chocolate bakers out there, I asked Giada what her preferred  chocolate to bake with is and she said Ghirardelli is the best {but Giada, you have to get the pronunciation correct, it’s Gear-ar-delly with a hard G like SpaGHetti!}

Another tasty New York City Wine & Food Festival event. Everyone benefits from the up-close access to some of Food Network’s biggest stars. Food Bank for New York City, Share Our Strength, the fans and my readers!

Want Another Bite?
recipe goodness :: Alton Brown Does Bourbon in the Morning
New York City Wine & Food Festival Kicked Off With Good Eats