Need quick gift ideas? Here are a few for the busy cook
If you're the head cook in your family, take note: I'm going to share some holiday gift ideas, so grab a highlighter and leave this strategically placed where the rest of the family will see it.
Chef Cat Cora dazzles judges on Food Network's "Iron Chef America" with her Mediterranean-influenced cuisine, and she takes her culinary approach from Kitchen Stadium to the home kitchen in "Cooking From the Hip."
Cora, a mom herself (she and her partner have two sons), shares recipes that are very approachable. The book (Houghton Mifflin, $30) is broken down into Fast, Easy, Fun and Phenomenal chapters, each covering the menu from appetizers to dessert.
The goat-cheese-and-toasted-almond-stuffed dates has become an oft-requested dish, and my son is bugging me to make the prosciutto, pear and blue cheese sushi.
Put together a gift basket of food items from Trader Joe's. Mix it up with convenience items, such as the yummy organic basil marinara or Cuban mojito sauce (combine with chicken strips and black beans and rice for a tangy weeknight dinner), or cranberry apple chutney (try it on pork tenderloin) as well as little luxuries such as Marcona almonds (perfect partner to Manchego cheese) or the Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel ($4.99). Add a bottle of Proseco or Italian tangerine soda.
Give the cook a couple of nights off by visiting a meal assembly kitchen. Several of the make-and-take places in the 'burbs offer sessions for teens or adults with children. Each kitchen offers different meal packages and pricing plans, but you can generally pull together several nights' worth of meals for $130 or so. Many also offer brunch-type dishes. Local places and chains include Entrees by You, Dinner by Design, Come and Dish, Dinner at Hand, Dinners Together, Magnificent Meals and Two Kitchens.
Imagine Christmas morning with Dinner by Design's Cherry Cheese Danish.
Hometown favorites: Friends and family now living in other parts of the country might appreciate some Windy City flavors this holiday season.
For my great aunt in Roswell, N.M., we always send a couple of boxes of Frango Mints. She doesn't seem to mind that it now comes from Macy's. A 1-pound box with a holiday ornament is on sale for $15.99, plus $5.95 for shipping (www1.macys.com).
My dad and his wife in Northern California appreciate the Italian beef kit from Portillo's. They get 2 pounds of seasoned beef, 2 quarts of gravy, eight bake-and-serve Italian rolls plus 8 ounces each of sweet peppers and hot giardiniera. The $74.95 price tag includes shipping (www.tasteofchicago.com).
Those across the country or across town will like the Chocolate Drizzled Caramel from The Popcorn Factory, based in Lake Forest. How they pop kernels into these puffy little orbs is beyond me. Order it in a cute half-gallon Frosty Friends tin for $19.99 (www.thepopcornfactory.com).
Chocolate tool: You spent last week dipping Oreos into dark and white chocolate to create holiday gifts, but the white chocolate nearly burned while the dark chocolate, cooked the same way, was fine. What gives?
Turns out the cocoa butter content in white chocolate allows it to melt faster. But who knew? If you don't want to have to guess anymore, pick up a Chocolate Thermometer from Oak Brook-based Taylor.
The ingenious design imbeds a glass tube thermometer into a flexible silicone spatula so you can stir and check the temp at the same time. Marks indicate the optimum melting, working and tempering temperatures for milk, plain, dark and white chocolates. It costs less than $20 at kitchen stores and online retailers.
I need to talk with the Taylor folks about developing a paddle thermometer for candy making.
-- Deborah Pankey