I haven’t met a person who hasn’t said this recipe produced fabulous results. Its mindlessly easy too, so I urge you to try it for yourself.

*note: my sister and I like to temper the acidity by adding a little cream or milk during the last whisk at the end. Also, it is well worth the effort to pound the breasts as much as possible before cooking.

Giada’s Chicken Piccata

2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, butterflied and then cut in half
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
All-purpose flour, for dredging
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup brined capers, rinsed
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and give it a shake to remove excess.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons olive oil.

When butter and oil start to sizzle, add 2 pieces of chicken and cook for 3 minutes. When chicken is browned, flip and cook other side for 3 minutes. Remove and transfer to plate.

Melt 2 more tablespoons butter and add another 2 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add the other 2 pieces of chicken and brown both sides in same manner.

Remove pan from heat and add chicken to the plate.

Into the pan add the lemon juice, stock and capers. Return to stove and bring to boil, scraping up brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Check for seasoning. Return all the chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to platter. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to sauce and whisk vigorously. Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley.

I’ve always been skeptical about skinny chefs. Especially those with famous family. So when I first saw the attractive but bony Giada De Laurentiis (whos Grandfather is indeed the famous film-maker Dino) on the Food Network, I pooh-bah’d her for a while.

Until I tried my sister’s Chicken Piccata at a family lunch, which was delicious and (surprise, surprise!) a Giada recipe. So now, I must eat my words and admit that skinny, glamorous-looking women can be great chefs…..but isnt it so much more inspiring to see Mario in his fullness or Nigella bursting out of her denim jacket in the kitchen?

A private chef and caterer in Los Angeles, Giada (pronounced Jah-dah) had no intention of getting into the family business of entertaining ( the Dino connection).

She was born in Rome, Italy in 1970. At the age of seven, her family moved to southern California. She attended UCLA where she attained a degree in social anthropology.

Giada’s passion for cooking flourished through professional training at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, where she specialized in both cuisine and pastry. Later, she moved to Los Angeles, where her experience included positions at the prestigious Ritz Carlton Fine Dining Room and Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Beverly Hills. Soon after, Giada started her own catering company, GDL Foods.

In addition to Everyday Italian, as the host of Behind the Bash, Giada takes viewers behind the scenes of six-figure weddings, high-roller Vegas soirees and Hollywood movie premieres to see what goes into creating the world’s most spectacular parties.

Giada is the author of The New York Times best-selling cookbook Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes

Now that Nigella’s crossed the Atlantic, few people in the world have not heard of the English Domestic Goddess who cooks like a dream and writes like a pro – and best of all, always looks fabulous. Her cooking style is easy, relaxed and sensual, backed up by cookbooks with gorgeously photographed food and witty writing.

One of the UK’s most influential food writers, Nigella was born in 1960 and read Medieval and Modern Languages at Oxford University. Her successful career in journalism included being Deputy Literary Editor of The Sunday Times, and writing the leading newspapers in the UK, as well U.S magazines Gourmet and Bon Appetit. She then began writing the restaurant column for The Spectator, and the food column for Vogue, which led her to the publication of her first book in 1998, “HOW TO EAT: The pleasures and principles of good food”. With the UK TV cooking show “Nigella Bites”, a cookbook tie-up with the sametitled, followed by a ground-breaking baking book titled “HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS: Baking and the art of comfort cooking”, Nigella was on her way to international fame, and won numerous book awards in the UK.

Behind her career success however, Nigella has had more than her fair share of tragedy. Daughter of the former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson, her Mother died of liver cancer in 1985, and her Sister (who was in her early thirties) of breast cancer in 1993. In 2001 her husband, journalist John Diamond died of throat cancer leaving Nigella a widow with two young children. In 2003 she married advertising maven and art collector Charles Saatchi and in 2005, her biography by Gilly Smith, entitled “Nigella Lawson” was published. The paperback, subtitled “A Very British Dish” will be out in this summer.

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If you want to talk American Cuisine, one of the first names to come to mind is Charlie Palmer. His steaks are a must eat if you are in Las Vegas or in DC. Of course that isn’t all he makes.

Charlie Palmer says he never really planned to become chef. Sports was what he was into. In fact he was a linebacker in high school. Thanks to a dare from a neighbor and working at the Colgate Inn Charlie found his way to cooking.

Charlie Palmer trained at the Culinary Institute of America. His style though isn’t french, it is considered progressive American. As he explains, “I realized that American cuisine was just in its infancy and I spent a lot of time thinking about what the idea of American cooking really meant to me as a chef”.

His distinctive style first began emerging while he was working at the River Cafe as its executive chef. The New York Times rated him three stars.

Now, Charlie Palmer has a great restaurant empire. His establishments include teh Aureole, ALva and Metrazur in New York. In Las Vegas he has the Aureole at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino and the Charlie Palmer Steak at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas. He owns a boutique hotel Healsburg in California which is where his Dry Creek Kitchen is located. He also owns and operates Astra and Astra West, beautiful catering and event spaces in New York and Los Angeles respectively.

Don’t think though that he has left the kitchen. This master chef thinks nothing of jumping in and working beside his staff at anytime. He is more creative than ever and enjoying creating new recipes for his guests to savor.

Charlie Palmer has written three cookbooks: Great American Food, Charlie Palmer’s Casual Cooking and the Art of Aureole. He is also a frequent guest on the Today Show of NBC.

Faggots, fish cakes, braised oxtails and bread and butter pudding - these are English dishes that Gary Rhodes is credited with reviving. He has a passion for English cooking and is a fan of Manchester United. His peers have given him the accolade the Chef’s Chef.

Gary Rhodes first discovered a love for cooking at the age of thirteen. The delight of his family over the Sunday roast and steamed lemon pudding he prepared was the spark that lit his passion for the culinary art.

He trained at the Thanet technical college. After graduation he decided that he needed to expand his knowledge and increase his culinary skills, and figured the best way to do this was by travelling. He went off to Amsterdam where he worked as a commis chef at the Amsterdam Hilton.

He has worked as a sous chef at the Reform Club, Pall Mall, at the Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge and later in the Castle Hotel, Taunton in Somerset as the head chef. The Castle Hotel is where he truly began to make his mark, earning his first Michelin Star.

He moved to the Greenhouse Restaurant in Mayfair in 1990 where he earned his second Michelin Star. By this time his reputation was well established. He was already considered a master of the culinary art. He continued to bring a personal modern touch to classic traditional British favorite dishes.

Finally in 1997 he opened his own restaurant, City Rhodes and a year later Rhodes in the Square. Both establishments were awarded Michelin Stars. He later opened brasseries called Rhodes and Co. in Manchester, Edinburgh and Crawley. The first two were awarded the Michelin Bib - the award given to good moderately priced food.

His first appearance on TV was on the show Hot Chefs while he was 27. He has had numerous shows including Rhodes Around Britain and Gary’s Perfect Christamas. He has even hosted a show for kids with recipes based on Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes.
He also has several cookbooks to his name including Gary Rhodes’ Cookery Year: Spring into Summer and Gary Rhodes’ Cookery Year: Autumn into Winter.

Bam! Kick it up a notch and Pork fat Rules! are just a few of the catch phrases of Emeril Lagasse. His light and fun style of hosting his TV shows has made him a very popular chef/host. He began with then new cable station, Food Network, in 1993 with the show “How to Boil Water”. Now he has two shows, “The Essence of Emeril” and “Emeril Live!” plus he is the food correspondent of “Good Morning America”.
Emeril Lagasse received a full scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music but his heart was in a different medium - Food. Not surprising since he began learning about cooking at a very young age from his mother. In his teens he worked in a Portuguese bakery till he went off to College at the Johnson and Wales University to earn his degree in the culinary arts. He was later awarded an honorary doctorate degree by his alma matter.

Emeril Lagasse traveled to France and polished his skills in French cuisine before coming home. He worked in fine restaurants in New York, Boston and Philadelphia before he moved to New Orleans to become the executive chef of the Commander’s Palace for eight years.

In 1990 he opened his first restaurant, Emeril’s, in New Orleans. The following year he was awarded the James Beard Award for Best Southeast chef. In 19920 he opened his second restaurant, Nola. He currently has nine restaurants in the United States situated in New Orleans, Miami, Orlando and Atlanta.

Aside from being a chef, restaurateur and TV personality and host Emeril Lagasse has authored 11 Cookbooks. The first was “New” New Orleans Cooking and the latest is Emerils Delmonico.

He also has a line of high quality stoneware with Wedgweood, a line of seasonal produce, lettuces and herbs with Pride fo San Juan and a line of clogs with Sanita clogs of Denmark.

He also established the Emeril Lagasse Foundation in 2002. Its mission is “inspire, mentor and enable all young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, to realize their full potential as productive and creative individuals” . It is another dream fulfilled for him since he has always wanted to enrich children’s lives. Truly he kicks things up more than a notch.

There is nothing as important as feeding our children. Yet food for kids isn’t exactly something that you see on TV everyday. In fact there are only a few people writing about it.

Enter Annabel Karmel. She is a household name in the UK. She is an inspirig person. She is not just a cook, she is also a mother which is why each of her recipes have been carefully tested against the best possible guage: her own kids.

Annabel Karmel studied at the Cordon Bleu school. It was the loss of her first child, Natasha, that she began to write. She believes that the one element that any parent can control that will help determine their health is what they eat. She began to create recipes that her son would enjoy eating yet still meet his dietary needs. The result: her first published book in 1991 titled The Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner.

By no means though is she a homely, matronly looking mom. She may have 3 kids but she has kept physically active. She is a fun person who enjoys skiing, tennis and roller blading. She is also a musician and singer. In fact she has performed with Liberace, Denis Waterman, Queen Elizabeth and Boy George. The instrument she has performed on is the harp, though she also plays violin. She has also had a recording career.

To date she has several books under her belt. Her recipes are all kid friendly and are fun to make. If you have a fussy eater, try some of her recipes.

She has also been seen on TV as the Foodie Godmother on the Richard and Judy Show, BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen and BBC2’s Working Lunch.

“Live, love, eat!” says Wolfgang Puck, the man who is probably one of the pioneers of celebrity chefdom. With his thick Austrian accent (think of Governor Arnie, his compatriot), and somewhat wooden tv persona, one could wonder how Wolfgang Puck has managed to build a food empire.

Aside from his iconic restaurants from Beverly Hills to Tokyo, Puck has written many cookbooks, has his own cooking shows (as well as played himself in several movies and television shows like American Idol and Frasier), and sells ready-made food and sauces under is own label “Wolfgang Puck”. On top of that, he also now has a line called the Wolfgang Puck Bistro which sells own-name appliances, kitchen tools and cookware!

Wolfgang Puck was born in Sankt Veit an der Glan in Austria as Wolfgang Topfschnig. His father, a well-off butcher left them after his birth, and his mother later remarried Josef Puck, who adopted Wolfgang. His mother, a part-time professional cook, taught the young Wolfgang the art of pastry-making, and probably inspired him to follow the in the same career.

Without formal training, Wolfgang worked as apprentice to some notable chefs in France, in Provence (L’Oustau de Baumaniere) and Paris (Maxim’s). After more stints in New York and Indianapolis, Puck found himself in California where he brought new life into Ma Maison, which went from failure to becoming a revered celebrity haunt, followed by the now-legendary Spago.

Wolfgang Puck must have a way celebrities, and this, along with his obvious business acumen, and natural flair for food (he is known for innovating the distinct flavour of the “California Pizza” has made Hollywood’s favourite chef what he is today.

How many people can say that they’ve cooked for the queen before entering their teens? Not that many, that’s for sure. James Martin was born into the life of a chef. His dad ran the catering side of Castle Howard which meant James was exposed very early to the intricacies of fine dining. He began his formal training in Scarborough technical college at age 16.

His work caught the attention of Antony Worrall Thompson who brought him to London. He worked in the kitchens of 190 Queensgate, and later in dell’Ugo. He later left England, traveling to France to increase his knowledge and culinary skills in the kitchen’s of some the grand old families of that country.

Upon returning to England in 1993, he took on the position of the Hotel du Vin and Bistro in Winshester from the time of its opening. He is known to have changed the menu there everyday. His skill and the variety apparently attracted many clients. There was an 8 week waiting list just to get a table.

In 1996, James Martin became a regular member of the TV program Ready Steady Cook catapulting him to public notice. He has now appeared on a string of TV shows including Stately Suppers, Castle in the Country, Yorkshire’s Finest and Saturday Kitchen Live. He even shoed off his dancing skills on the show Strictly Come Dancing.

James Martin also has several cookbooks under his name. His first cookbook, Eating In with James Martin, was published in October 1998. His other cookbooks include Great British Dinners and the Deli Cookbook.

In this day and age, many of us do not know how to cook. Quite a few are afraid to do so because they don’t have any experience or background in it. Even if we buy a cookbook or watch these great chefs on TV, we just don’t seem to get the hang of it.

This is where Rachael Ray came in. She is not a formally trained chef. She has taken no cooking courses. She just loves food and isn’t afraid to try something new in the kitchen. Add to it her perky personality, or as she puts it goofy personality, and she had people willing to give cooking a chance.

Rachael learned to cook the old fashioned way, from watching her mom cook. Her family owned a restaurant in Cape Cod. Later her mom managed restaurants in upstate New York. At home, she enjoyed the flavors of Italy and Louisiana.

Rachael began her career at the Candy Counter in Macy’s New York. She then became the manager of the fresh foods department. After Macy’s she helped open the gourmet market place Agata and Valentina, serving as both buyer and manager.

It wasn’t unitl she moved upstate that Rachel’s destiny began to shape up. She was recruited by Cowan and Label to be their food buyer. While she was there, Rachael decided to hold some cooking classes as a way to increase the christmas sales. Her 30 Minute Meal classes became so popular they caught the attention of the media.

An Albany TV station then asked her to do a weekly 30 minute meal segment as part of the evening news. The show was nominated for 2 regional Emmy awards and Rachael’s first cookbook, a companion to the show, was released selling 10,000 copies.

Now, she hosts 4 shows on the food network: 30 Minute Meals, $40 a Day, Inside Dish and Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels. She has also signed a contract with Oprah Winfrey and King World Productions to launch her own syndicated talk show, Rachael Ray, beginning September 18, 2006.

She has authored several cookbooks following her 30 minute meal concept and has her own magazine, Everyday with Rachael Ray. She has also developed her own line of cookware and cutlery.