Celebrity Chefs

Giada De Laurentiis Partners Up With Target

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Giada De Laurentiis is certainly one of the hottest celebrity chefs around. While I may not agree with the physical perception of many, there is no denying that she is one of the most popular chefs today. Retail giant Target seems to recognize that as well as they have partnered up with her to sell a line of cookware and food products.

Dubbed Giada De Laurentiis for Target, the cookware and food products selection is touted to be exclusive and yet affordable. According to Kathy Tesija, executive vice president of Target’s merchandising, their customers “want kitchen gear that makes their daily cooking easier and more enjoyable, and Giada’s collection delivers.” She also says that they “combined design expertise with Giada’s culinary background to create a product collection that pairs utility with great design and affordability.”

What exactly are they selling? Pots and pans, ceramic containers for baking, pasta sauces, flavored coffee, and other kitchen tools. Also available are different varieties of pasta and dressings. One set that I find particularly interesting is the Tri Ply Clad cookset. The inclusions in the set:

• 2 saute pans, one is 8 inches and the other is 9.5 inches; both are open
• 3 sauce pans: 1 quart, 2 quarts, and 3 quarts; all have lids
• 1 Dutch oven with lid: 5 quarts

For $199.99, I think that it’s a pretty good deal.

The idea behind the line is to impart Giada’s cooking expertise and family traditions while at the same time to provide customers with Target quality.

Would you buy these products?

Originally posted on January 28, 2010 @ 9:13 am

Gushing Giada

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giada and baby

Giada de Laurentiis is all caught up in the joys of motherhood, gushing about her baby in almost every interview. “She smiled for the first time yesterday!” she said (her daughter is about two months old).

Giada’s also considering developing gourmet baby food. Uhm, how much “gourmet” can pureed carrots be?

Originally posted on June 3, 2008 @ 10:10 pm

Giada’s Comfort Soup

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gida.jpg

Giada de Laurentiis’ prescription for a cold, depressing day: hot seafood soup. Make it just a little bit spicier to clear your colds.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 onion, chopped
3 large shallots, chopped
2 teaspoons salt
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
5 cups fish stock
1 bay leaf
1 lb manila clams, scrubbed
1 lb mussels, scrubbed, debearded
1 lb uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 1/2 lbs halibut fillets or salmon fillets, cut into 2-inch chunks (assorted firm-fleshed fish fillets)

What’s Next

1. Heat the oil in a very large pot over medium heat.
2. Add the fennel, onion, shallots, and salt and sauté until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and 3/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and sauté 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the tomato paste.
5. Add tomatoes with their juices, wine, fish stock and bay leaf. Cover and bring to a simmer. 6. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until the flavors blend, about 30 minutes.
7. Add the clams and mussels to the cooking liquid. Cover and cook until the clams and mussels begin to open, about 5 minutes.
8. Add the shrimp and fish. Simmer gently until the fish and shrimp are just cooked through, and the clams are completely open, stirring gently, about 5 minutes longer (discard any clams and mussels that do not open).
9. Remove bay leaf. Season the soup, to taste, with more salt and red pepper flakes. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

Originally posted on February 1, 2008 @ 10:11 pm