Melissa D’Arabian’s Food Network Premiere – I Want More!

It’s Sunday at 12:15 PM. I’m watching Sandra Lee make a spinach fritatta. It looks so-so, but the previous recipe, a sausage and mushroom bread pudding muffin, was something I might try.

I’ve already eaten my brunch – a Cajun-style omelet with crawfish, onions, sausage, bacon, and spicy red potato chunky hash browns, all topped with cheddar jack, salsa, and a dash of two different hot sauces. The Admiral has just tried another FN recipe: pumpernickel toast, lightly buttered and topped with bacon and orange marmelade. My omelet was wonderful as usual, and I tried a bite of her sandwich – it was better than I’d imagined.

I’ve just learned that the premiere of Melissa D’Arabian’s new show, Ten Dollar Dinners, is next – I’m going to watch. Of all the contestants, I liked her best, though I admit to also liking the somewhat unpopular Debbie because of her Korean background. I’ve decided to blog the show more or less live.

Meanwhile, Sandra is doing something with poached eggs, which has given me an idea: Take the mushroom and sausage bread pudding muffin she made a few minutes ago, slice it in half, and top it with a poached egg and Hollandaise. Now you’re talking! I’m getting hungry all over again just thinking about it.

Now some British guy is hawking a gadget called the Titan Peeler, a supposedly improved version of the old peeler tool. I always marvel at how these gizmos are geared towards people who can’t cook. These devices save neither time nor money and are no substitute for basic knife skills. For those with limited storage space, such useless toys take up valuable room and contribute to clutter. Just give me a good, sharp set of knives any day!

My wait is over: the intro is now on for Ten Dollar Meals. It has great photos and good dialog about her days spent in France. The featured item is a potato bacon tort. My interest is piqued on two points: the tort photographed well, and it has bacon.

The show opens with dessert prep. She’s making an applesauce granita and she seems both nervous and rushed. She does, however, make the point that the dessert is extremely simple and quick to make. She pops it into the freezer to solidify and moves on to the next thing.

The first step of the potato and bacon tort is to render the bacon. She is more smooth here and mentions that she keeps her bacon in the freezer, cutting off strips against the slice as needed. This is useful if you only add bacon as a flavoring in another recipe, but not so good if you want to fry it in strip form – it would have to defrost first. Good to know, though.

Next, she tells a story about how she got the recipe for her pie crust. It seems it was presented to her by her French mother-in-law with some amount of ceremony just prior to her wedding. The story is interesting but there seems to be no real punch line, so the ending falls flat.

The technical demonstration of making the pie crust mixture goes well, however. Melissa talks about the importance of very cold butter and a quick trip throught the food processor, a point upon which she differs from her mother-in-law. It seems simple enough, even to me.

Back from break, and she actually rolls out the crust. I don’t bake much and have never made a pie crust, but I am suddenly filled with confidence to try this. Her presentation could be just a bit more polished, but she’s making it seem doable by mere mortals such as myself.

She finishes the tort prep with the potatoes, bacon, sauce, and shredded cheese, and pops it into the oven. I find myself wishing she’d have spent just another moment on pinching the pie crust. I would have enjoyed seeing a bit of detail on that.

The tickler at the end of the segment is about a secret vinagrette recipe from a Parisian cafe owner. At the show opener she also referred to a secret pie crust recipe, so I think she has overused the “secret recipe” reference, however, and it comes off a bit forced.

Back from the break, and she’s making the vinagrette. But I am now pleasantly surprised! The vinagrette looks amazing and the secret ingredient is unexpected: soy sauce. It’s not just some shaken up oil and vinegar, but seems more rich and complex than what I had thought. I would try this, too.

We’re back for the plating and tasting. The tort looks great! The salad itself could be from a bag, though there’s nothing wrong with that – I do it all the time. Melissa definitely “sells” her meal with appropriately ecstatic looks of joy during the tasting.

She fluffs the granita, spoons some into a small dish and adds the maple syrup yogurt sauce. It looks delicious. She tells a story of testing a number of desserts with her family and how they liked this best, and she is amazed because it takes literally two minutes to prepare – perfect for a busy cook.

So how did she do? Well, there were clearly some jitters in evidence. Who wouldn’t be nervous shooting the premiere episode of their own show? Regardless, she delivered. The food looked good, there were plently of useful tips, and I was inspired to try something out of my comfort zone, which is exactly what I expect from a FN cooking show.

FWIW, while I’ve been translating my notes, I’ve also been watching a bit of Big Daddy’s House, hosted by last years NFNS winner, Aaron McCargo, Jr. What a contrast! Aaron mumbles his way through his show while making such pedestrian fare as fried porkchops and chicken chili. He has no star power whatsoever.

Melissa D’Arabian is definitely worthy of the title Next Food Network Star, and I look forward to watching her develop her niche at FN. You go, girl!