It’s been a long time since a cookbook has really inspired me. Inspired me to the point of having to buy a pasta maker on a Saturday at a store located in the center of the Point Pleasant Beach Seafood Festival and its 60,000 visitors. But, I had to have that pasta maker and embark on my very first pasta making adventure. Anne Burrell’s new Cook Like a Rock Star cookbook has inspired me to not only make pasta once, but three times in the last week. I made the most amazing Ravioli’s which she calls Raviolo Al’Uovo. Each ravioli is filled with delicious ricotta mixture and an egg yolk. It is one of those dishes that you will never forget and would make a very elegant appetizer. Last week on our first pasta making attempt, we made Anne’s Sweet & Spicy Sausage Ragu. My BF compared it to the sauce his Italian Grandmother used to make. Tonight I’m cooking up her Wild Mushroom Ragu. Actually, I think I’ve crossed the line from inspired to obsessed.
Chef Burrell’s book isn’t just about pasta. Earlier in the week, I made her Spiced Chickpea Soup which is creamy and oh, so satisfying. She seems to have some favorite ingredients which happen to be mine as well, like red pepper flakes, garlic, rosemary, and home made chicken stock.
For those of you who don’t know who Anne Burrell is, she is a classically trained chef and host of Food Network’s Secrets of a Restaurant Chef and cohost of Worst Cooks in America. The introduction of her book explains Anne’s perspective on cooking. “Cooking is not a genetically inherited skill – people forget this. Just because your mom or your grandma is a good cook doesn’t mean you will be.Cooking is something that you need to learn how to do – just like everything else.” I can attest to this. I do not come from a family known for its cooking skills. It was something that intrigued me and I made it a point of learning how to, many times by trial and error. Lot’s of error. I think this is one reason I love this book. In some of the recipes, Anne recommends cooking a tester, tasting it, and adjusting the seasonings just like you would in a restaurant.
Anne’s time spent in Italy has a definite influence on her cooking. She later went on to work with Lidia Bastianich in New York and Mario Batali, who wrote the foreword for the book. The book has recipes that will appeal to everyone, no matter the skill level. I am an experienced cook and found the recipes that I tried to bring new ideas and techniques to my attention and resulted in extremely satisfying meals. I think the novice cook will find some of the recipes to be challenging, like filling raviolis with egg yolks without breaking them. That was a little tricky.
Anne divides the book into 6 chapters covering everything from Piccolini or “little nibbles” which she describes as small plates to be eaten with a big glass of wine (or two!) as an intro to dinner. The chapter includes recipes like Zucchini & Parm Fitters with Spicy Tomato Sauce and Figs stuffed with Gorgonzola & Walnuts. The chapter on “Firsts” provides 18 recipes for different appetizers, soups and salads including Grilled Pizzetta with Stracchino, Sausage, Arugula and Chili Oil and Pumpkin Soup with Allspice Whipped Cream and Fried Leeks. Chapter 3 is on Pasta which I think I have already covered to some extent. Expect recipes like Spaghetti with Olive-Oil Poached Tuna in Tomato-Fennel Sauce and Spinach & Ricotta Gnocchi with Fontina Fonduta. The chapter entitled Seconds is all about the Main Event and includes recipes for Chicken, Duck, Pork, Lamb, Beef and Fish. I’ve got my eye on the Dry Rubbed Bone-In Rib Eye recipe which Anne describes as “Just Good Stuff.” The next chapter on Sides takes us through 16 recipes including Super Creamy Cheeeeeesy Polenta and Sweet Potato & Apple Hash which I’m thinking will make a wonderful Thanksgiving side. The last and of course sweetest chapter of the book walks the reader through 14 different dessert recipes including Apple & Olive Oil Cake with Sauteed Apples & Mascarpone and the recipe I’m currently drooling over, Maple-Pumpkin Bread Pudding.
Anne will be making some stops in New Jersey and New York in the coming weeks for book signing events, so we want to give you a chance here in the next two days to enter to win a copy of her book and get it in time to visit the book signing closest to you. I think I may be taking my already splattered copy to get it signed.
How To Enter: Just leave a comment with your email address in the comment section below. You can earn extra entries by Tweeting and/or Facebooking this Giveaway. Just be sure to come back and let us know you did so.
This Giveaway will End tomorrow Tuesday, September 27th at 11:59pm. Winners will be notified on Wednesday, September 28th.
Book Signing Dates and Locations:
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
2:00-4:00pm
Anne Burrell Book Signing
Williams-Sonoma
1200 Morris Turnpike
Short Hills, NJ 07078
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
7:00pm-9:00pm
Anne Burrell Talk, Q&A, and Book Signing
Barnes & Noble
33 East 17th Street
New York, NY 10003
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
12:00-2:00
Anne Burrell Book Signing
Costco
325 Promenade Boulevard
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
7:00pm-9:00pm
Anne Burrell Book Signing
Barnes & Noble
3981 US Highway 9
Freehold, NJ 07728
Deborah Smith , Founder and Executive Editor of jerseybites.com. Launched in 2007 as a home for her growing collection of recipes, Jersey Bites soon grew into a hub for all things edible in the Garden State. Deborah is also the owner ofParents With Nannies, Inc. which operates a network of nanny employment websites established in 1999. In her spare time, (Ha) she works as a Social Media consultant and speaker. You can learn more about her services and marketing through social media on her blogwww.DeborahLSmith.com
Get ready to don your ponchos and set out to enjoy some foodie fun. Stop by the Fordcast Booth on Sunday and say hello to some of the Jersey Biters at the 12th Annual Mercer County Italian American Festival, September 23, 24 and 25th. Mercer County Park. Food Piazza Italian restaurants, wine and beer, Enjoy Italian specialties from many of the area’s best Italian restaurants and vendors. Italian Market Tent Numerous vendors with Italian and Italian-American hand crafted articles for sale.
Mary’s Place by the Sea is Celebrating their New Home with Paella and Entertainment after a tour. September 24, 2011 Time: 6:30pm-10:00pm Location: 25 Ocean Avenue Ocean Grove, NJ 07756 Featuring an authentic taste of Spain: tapas, paella, sangria and beer Steve Reilly Band and Flamenco Dancing. Rain or Shine, Tickets are Limited, Purchase Today! Tickets: $100 per person. 
Red Bank Guinness Oyster Fest: Sunday, September 25, 2011 Noon – 7PM. White Street Parking Lot. The event will also be a culinary feast! There will be tons of GUINNESS and fresh OYSTERS plusm25 of Red Bank’s favorite restaurants will be serving a variety of specialty menu items including everything from Mini-Ruebens to Lobster Rolls. Wine and lighter beers will also be available for purchase. The after-party begins at 7PM at THE DUBLIN HOUSE 30 Monmouth Street, adjacent to the festival site. The Guinness Oyster Festival is a fundraiser for the Jane H. Booker Cancer Center at Riverview Medical Center, The Cancer Institute of NJ Foundation and Red Bank River Center.
Veronique Deblois, Food & Wine Chickie Veronique is a food and wine blogger based in Morris County, NJ. As the author of the popular blog, 
The Party Bluprint Girls are at it again. It just goes to show these ladies find party potential in everything. Today they are offering up some Emmy award winning party planning tips and recipes including special drink recipes like The Prohibition in honor of Boardwalk Empire and its nominees, Steve Buscemi and Kelly Macdonald.
The Shannon Rose Irish Pub in Clifton and Woodbridge is ‘calling all Arthurs’ and Guinness fans to join in the global Arthur’s Day celebration on Thursday, September 22. Anyone in the community named Arthur or whose name starts with “Art,” with proper identification, will receive a free Shannon Rose Burger (value of $7.99), voted “Best Burger” in Clifton. 
I am by no means a wine expert, but I like to think that I drink enough of it to know a thing or two about it. People travel the world in search of great wines, crossing the globe and touching down in France, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, and here in the United States. But you don’t have to trek around the world or across the country to savor the perfect glass of wine.
Four JG’s Winery is a family-owned and operated vineyard located on over 60 acres of prime farming land amidst bucolic horse farms. Founded in 1999, the winery is named after its owners, John and Janet Giunco and their children John (known to most as “Bert”) and Jill. With a focus on good farming practices and a careful selection of rootstock suitable for the soils of Monmouth County, Four JG’s produces award-winning wines that are bold in character and rich in fruit. All the wines are grown, produced, and bottled at their Colts Neck location. Four JG’s prides itself on being a family business with 3 generations participating in every aspect of the growing and producing of the wines.
While at Four JG’s, I had the opportunity to sample some of their award-winning wines. I was not disappointed. I sampled the Cayuga White, a semi-dry, light and fruity wine. This wine is produced using the Cayuga grape, which is popular in the eastern United States primarily for its productivity and resistance to disease. I also tasted the Chambourcin, a rich wine with intense purple color and spicy, herbal flavors. It is produced using the Chambourcin grape, a late-rippening French grape that is suitable for Eastern growing seasons. Lastly, I sampled a favorite of visitors to Four JG’s, the Frappé Vino, a frozen wine prepared using Four JG’s Monmouth Blush varietal and a prepared Frappé Vino mix (available for purchase at Four JG’s). It’s simple to prepare. Combine the Monmouth Blush and the powdered mix. Stir well until the powdered mix completely dissolves. Freeze for 3 to 4 hours or until slush consistency is achieved.
Four JG’s is open to the public throughout the year for special events. Consult their Web site for specific dates and times. Since fall is the harvesting season, Four JG’s has several events planned in the coming weeks. Wine can be purchased on site or from several retailers throughout the state. If you plan to purchase directly from the winery, call ahead for hours of operation as strict town ordinances in Colts Neck limit the hours during which the winery can sell to the public.
John Howard Fusco, Mud City Crab House in Manahawkin is pretty much a given on anyone’s To Do List when they plan to spend any time in or around Long Beach Island during the summer. Don’t believe me? Fine – just try and get table. You’re going to have a bit of a wait. Is it worth it? Once you’ve tasted their baked garlic clams or their award-winning jumbo crab cakes, you’d be thrilled with a wait as long as it was that time you camped out for Genesis tickets in the bitter cold back in 1987. Well, OK – maybe not all of you would have done that back in ’87, but trust me on this one: the food will more than make up for the time it takes to get a seat. And if you can’t hold out, you can always order some crab claws along with some wonderfully pristine scallops while you sit outside and admire the view.”
From Red’s you loop back around to Channel Drive and visit Jack Baker’s Wharfside Restaurant or the very casual Patio Bar next door. The restaurant is not a place many of the locals will go to stand in line, but for that big vacation night out, its probably one of the most popular destinations. Next door at the Patio Bar, you’ll find many a local sipping on cocktails (or chugging them) and listening to live music while the boats go by. I personally prefer a quieter setting. One of my favorite places to enjoy excellent fish is at The Shipwreck Grill right across the bridge in Brielle. The Shipwreck was the
Originally published in the Princeton Packet on September 9, 2011
The next stop was the two reflecting pools and the bronze planks with the names of all the victims engraved into them. What really stands out to me, besides the size and the amount of names, is the care given to the construction of this section of the memorial.
Asbury Park Oyster Fest, September 9th – 11th. Stretching over three days and turning water-lined Lake Avenue into one long funway of oysters, restaurant samplings and non-stop music. With children’s rides and amusements, over 100 crafters and gift vendors, cold beer and wine stops, Oysterfest connects Asbury’s two exciting shopping & dining districts; the downtown and beautiful oceanfront boardwalk. 
