What’s interesting is the rest of the list. Look at the jump in salary from Puck to Ramsay. And I’m absolutely sick and dumbfounded that Paula “I Heart Butter” Deen makes more money than Mario Batali. WTF!? And Bobby Flay better check his contract with The Food Network considering he hosts about 5 shows for them, owns a few restaurants all over the US and still only makes the same as Anthony Bourdain.

2. Wolfgang Puck – $16 million
3. Gordon Ramsay- $7.5 million
4. Nobuyuki Matsuhisa – $5 million
5. Alain Ducasse – $5 million
6. Paula Deen – $4.5 million
7. Mario Batali – $3 million
8. Tom Colicchio – $2 million
9. Bobby Flay – $1.5 million
10. Anthony Bourdain – $1.5 million

What do you guys think of this list? Anything shocking to you?

**For those WANF international readers (love you, btw… thanks for visiting!) if you have no idea who Rachael Ray is, you can read up on her here.

Usually if I’m trying to make an authentic dish, I always try to make it just that – authentic. That means that I want to use traditional ingredients and I attempt to research the many traditional ways to make that specific dish. I then decide how to combine the best bits from all those traditional recipes and create one recipe. Well, this traditional, old Castillian dish is always made with almonds – more specifically the beautiful Marcona almonds which are bigger and sweeter and more delicious (to me) than the almonds we know here in America. As Penelope Casas writes, “(Pollo en Pepitoria) combines all of the ingredients most often associated with Spanish cooking – garlic, saffron, sherry and almonds – into an unusually savory sauce.” DOH! As I began cooking, I could have sworn I had a fresh bag of almonds to work with only to find that it was a bag of fresh hazelnuts. Could I swap? Yeah… could I call it authentic on my blog… nope. What I can tell you is substituting hazelnuts in this dish for almonds does not actually change the flavor all that much. But the thing that I really decided to do to completely different from the traditional dish was to actually coat the pieces of chicken in hazelnuts and lightly saute them until crispy on the outside and finished them in the oven to keep it moist inside. You all like it moist, right? But, dear readers, you must know that traditionally you would just roll pieces of chicken with the bone in in some seasoned flour and saute them just like that in olive oil.

So, do I have a right to really call this dish Pollo en Pepitoria? Probably not. Do I hate when idiots like Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee completely remake an authentic classic an continue calling it by it’s authentic name but it doesn’t even resemble the original dish? YES. Am I being a bit of a hypocrite right now – uh-huh. Do I care? Not really. It’s only because I’ve been wanting to post this recipe for about 2 months now and it’s 75 degrees and sunny and I want to get outside. Creative juices ain’t a-flowing.

So here’s Pollo en Pepitoria “Kinda”. That’s as creative as it’s gonna get today, kids. Have a beautiful weekend!

If you’re interested, please check out one of our favorite blogs about Spain, all things Spanish and life in Spain – Notes from Spain – a few years ago they posted a recipe for Pollo en Pepitoria.

POLLO EN PEPITORIA “KINDA” – CHICKEN IN A SAFFRON, FINO AND HAZELNUT SAUCE (serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup flour (seasoned with a bit of salt)
• 2 eggs, beaten + tablespoon of water
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups chopped hazelnuts (to coat chicken) + 1/4 cup of finely ground hazelnuts (to add to sauce)
• olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced or sliced
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1/4 cup of dry sherry (fino)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• pinch of fresh grated nutmeg
• pinch of saffron
• salt and pepper
• Optional: 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped, for garnish

What to do:

1. Heat your oven up to 425 degrees and season your chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
2. Make sure you slightly crush or run a sharp knife through your hazelnuts (the 1 1/2 to 2 cups called for to coat the chicken) in order to make sure they are able to stick to the chicken breasts. Have your ‘coating station’ ready by putting flour on the first plate, the beaten egg mixed with water on the second plate and the chopped hazelnuts spread out on the third plate.
3. Heat up about 1/4 inch of oil in an oven-safe pan or skillet on medium heat. Dip each chicken breast first in the flour (dust off any major excess), then the egg and finally roll around in the crushed hazelnuts. Add to your hot oil and cook on each side for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side. You want the hazelnuts to seal on to the chicken, but not to burn. Check after a minute and then, if necessary, continue to saute for another 30 seconds or so. If there’s not enough room in your pan to cook all the chicken breasts at once (don’t overcrowd!!), do it in batches and just reserve the chicken on the side until all are sauteed.
4. When the chicken has been cooked on both sides and the hazelnuts have adhered, put in your 425 degree oven and allow to cook for another 10-13 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chicken. If the chicken is done before you sauce, just remove from oven and allow to chill out on the side for a bit. It’s ok if it gets cool.



5. Make your sauce by adding the chopped onion, garlic and carrot to some olive oil in a pan and allow to saute on medium to medium-low for about 4 or 5 minutes till they get a bit soft.
6. After they cook till they are a bit softer, add your fino and scrape up some of the bits on the bottom of the pan. After about a minute, add your chicken broth, nutmeg, saffron, bay leaf and a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes.



7. While the vegetables are busy getting soft, in a blender or food processor (or with a good old mallet), blitz the 1/4 cup of hazelnuts till finely ground… I mean finely kids! Remove to a bowl until they are needed.
8. Optional: Boil two eggs for 8 minutes to hard-boil. When done, remove and place in cold water, allowing them to cool. De-shell and chop up for the garnish.
9. When 10 minutes or so has passed and you’ve tested the carrots for softness, REMOVE THE BAY LEAF and add everything from the pan to a blender or food processor. Blitz this mixture until smooth. Add the blitzed sauce back to the pan and keep warm on low-medium heat. Add the finely ground hazelnuts to the sauce and stir in – this will act as a thickener.

+

10. Add your hazelnut-coasted chicken breast to the sauce and place back in your oven for 4 minutes to allow the chicken to come back to temperature if necessary. When it’s out of the oven, sprinkle the top with the chopped hard-boiled egg and enjoy!

Check out these other posts you may enjoy:

• WATERCRESS & RICOTTA RAVIOLI WITH A RADICCHIO BUTTER SAUCE
• GNOCCHI DI PATATE WITH A BROWN BUTTER, SAGE, BREADCRUMB SAUCE
• ITALIAN-STYLE SLOW ROASTED PORK SHOULDER WITH SALSA VERDE
• Truffled Butter: A Prince Among Ideas
• Pork Roll and Scrapple – The Dirty Culinary Pride of South Jersey/Philly
• Diversity Finally Comes to The Food Network

I think the title of this post says it all about my feelings (and others) about the famous Romans dish of pasta, traditionally spaghetti, with pecorino cheese and a good amount of freshly ground pepper.  The name says is all – cacio, meaning cheese, and pepe meaning pepper.  We’re not breaking any new ground here because I’m sure there’s about 50 other food blogs that have made this dish.  I’m just here hoping that if anyone does make it, they try to make it the freshest and best way they can. 

I’m going to get my food snob on here – please do not make this dish soley with parmigiano reggiano and that crappy, old shaker filled with pepper that you may only bust out when laying out your fine china on one or two holidays a year.  The pepper most likely has zero flavor anymore – if you do, please name the dish whatever you want.  I personally think “Pasta with Parmigiano Reggiano and Crappy Old, Non-Spicy Pepper from the Depths of My Cupboard” works great!  If you go to the store and spend $4 you can get some black peppercorns.  Just put them into a pepper grinder or, if you don’t have one, throw the peppercorns in a plastic baggie and grab a meat mallet or a hammer and get out your aggressions.  Keep hammering until you’ve produced some nice, ground pepper.  Make a lot if you’d prefer to not have to go through this exercise again and freeze the extras to prevent the pepper from going bad (ie: flavorless).

The reason I’m so passionate about this is because you can not recreate the amazing flavor of this old, traditional dish if you do not have good pepper.  When freshly ground, pepper is very spicy and full of flavor.  It is not supposed to just produce a nice contrast of color to a boring meal – although the beauty of it is it does that too!  Research taught me that in ancient Rome pepper was extremely popular and was used for medicinal reasons by the ancient Greeks.  It was revered as a very valuable spice.  As for the cheese, I’ll go a bit easier on you if you don’t use the Pecorino cheese, but I’ll give you a light tap on the bum so you’ll remember to try it with that cheese next time.  Pecorino would only be used in this dish in Rome because, well, that’s the regional cheese in that area.  If you look close at the label, it’s really called Pecorino Romano, right?  Parmigiano and pecorino are two very different tasting cheeses.  In fact, there are many varieties of pecorino in Italy ranging from soft to hard versions of the cheese.  For this discussion, we are generally talking solely about Pecorino Romano – the hard cheese that is able to be grated. If you do a comparison, I’d imagine you’d notice that pecorino is much sharper in taste where parmigiano is more nutty and mellow in flavor.  Both are pretty nice and salty, which is why you should not have to salt this dish.  Some people feel very strongly about choosing one of these cheeses over the other.  Because of this, we have chosen to use a mixture of the cheeses for this version of cacio e pepe.  This way you get a blend of the cheese.  But in Rome, you will most likely find the dish made only with pecorino. 

When made correctly, you will not believe how unbelievably creamy and spicy this dish is.  I felt like we were back in Rome (of course only if I closed my eyes VERY hard and did not open them to reveal a very closet-like, dirty Brooklyn apartment).  This dish is so quick and easy, I’m sure Rachel Ray couldn’t even make it because she’d only fill 1/8 of a show.  Give it a try – you won’t be disappointed.

Also, months ago we wrote a post on a great NYC restaurant with the same name as this dish.  If you’re ever in New York, I’d advise you to give this awesome restaurant a try… and order their signature dish made in a hollowed out wheel of pecorino!

CACIO E PEPE (Spaghetti with Pecorino Romana and Fresh Ground Pepper) – serves 2 as a main, 3 to 4 as a starter)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound of spaghetti
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 to 2 tablespoons freshly ground pepper (depending on how spicy you want it!)
• a bit of the pasta cooking liquid (about 1/4 to 1/2 of a ladel-full)
• 1/2 cup of freshly ground pecorino romano
• 1/2 cup freshly ground parmigiano reggiano

What to do:

1. Boil your spaghetti until perfectly al dente (about 7 minutes)
2. In a separate pan, on low-medium heat, add your butter, oil and 1/2 of your pepper and allow the butter to melt, swirly the pan around to help it move a bit.
3. When spaghetti is done, add a bit of the cooking liquid to your melted butter/pepper/olive oil sauce and swirl the pot again.  Turn heat down to low. Add your spaghetti and toss once. 
4. Add your cheeses and the rest of the pepper and toss the spaghetti again in the pan.
5. Plate and top with a sprinkle more of pepper and cheese.  Voila!  DONE.

Check out some other posts you may enjoy:

• FETTUCCINE FRA’DIAVOLO WITH CRAB AND SHRIMP
• SPANISH (AUSTURIAN) OXTAIL WITH FRIED POTATOES
• TAGLIATELLE WITH AUTHENTIC RAGU DI FEGATO DI POLLO (Long Pasta w/ Ragu of Chicken Livers, Milk and White Wine)
• GNOCCHI DI PATATE WITH A BROWN BUTTER, SAGE, BREADCRUMB SAUCE
• Truffled Butter:  A Prince Among Ideas
• The Wrong Message from a Former Prophet (Delia Smith Jumps Ship)

Well, not exactly. Here’s what (A certain national celebrity mag) magazine’s daily news clips e-mail The Dirt reported today:

“Insiders say Rachel Ray’s daytime show will be taken off the air at the end of her contract in 2010. Apparently, her ratings are sliding.”

We are at pains to remind our readers that while we are certainly not Ms. Ray’s biggest fans, we do not wish her ill. That said, the fewer opportunities we have to stumble across her wild and excessive gesticulations, jock-voice and tucked-in styles while idly flipping channels, the better.

Is this just another case of a network trying desperately to cash-in on a TV personality’s popularity by making them ubiquitous and endlessly shoving them down the public’s throats until people get sick of it? Or, is it that she wasn’t that popular outside of ’90s throwback Mid-Westerners anyway, and the network has finally caught on? What do you think?

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER RACHEL COMMENTARY:

• RACHEL RAY: MAYBE HATE IS A STRONG WORD
• HIT Me Rachel One More Time!
  

I know, guys… yet again, another Ray-Ray complaint. I just can NOT stop. I try, kids… I REALLY freaking try. I put her show on and within 30 seconds, I put her on mute. Within a minute, the channel is changed. I can’t do it. I try over and over again, and over and over again the result is the same – shivers, throwing things at the TV, tearing bits of my hair out. After seeing this mild bastardization of the delicious, and AUTHENTICALLY SPANISH dish of Cocido, I could not stay silent again.

In Ray-Ray’s defense, I immediately thought her recipe looked wrong and jumped at the chance to rip her apart. I thought to myself, minced meat?? Chicken “tenders”!? Adding nutmeg and cinnamon??!! Blasphemy! But, after much research, I have found that sometimes cocido can contain meatballs made of minced beef. The chicken tenders are pointless because you want the flavor of the chicken skins and bones. Nutmeg and cinnamon? Ya got me there, Rach. Maybe my trusty Spaniard friend, Nuria could weigh in on this? Regardless, I’m here to spread some knowledge on one of my favorite things to eat while in Madrid.

Cocido is one of the national dishes of Spain, has many regional variations (cocido madrileno from Madrid, cocido montanes from Cantabria and cocido maragato from Castile-Leon) and is often eaten midday. It should take a long time to cook (simmering away all night or all day) and, most importantly, contains various types of cured and smoked pork products and meat, bones, trotters, etc. On holy days or when meat should not be eaten, cocido can be made with bacalao (salted cod) or congrio (salted congereel). Long and slow cooking of the cocido along with it’s other elements; chickpeas, carrots, potatoes and cabbage (among other veggies), creates an amazingly flavorful and rich caldo (broth/stock). It is believed that cocido was introduced to Spain by the Sephardic Jews (Jews that chose to convert to Catholicism) who added pork and sausage to the stew creating the dish we know today. Work is not allowed on the Sabbath so, before it began, they would throw all the ingredients in a pot in order to cook slowly all day, only to be eaten at sundown.

Cocido will usually, and traditionally, be served in at least two courses, often three. The first course is always the strained caldo – pure, golden and rich, maybe with some rice or noodles. The second course could be all the vegetables alone or the veggies plus the meat (as we had it in Madrid – see pics). This would include morcilla (Spanish black sausage), chorizo, pieces of the meats (pork, chicken, pork belly etc.), potatoes, chickpeas, cabbage, carrots, leeks, etc. It is a very filling meal, but extremely tasty and satisfying. It took us about 2 hours to eat ours while we were in Madrid, and we rolled out of the restaurant with the top button of our pants undone and a big smile on our faces.

I also want to clarify something – there is traditional Spanish cocido and a Mexican version. The Mexican cocido may include corn, chayote green beans, zucchini and cilantro. They garnish with lime, salsa and/or jalapenos and Mexican rice and it can be served with tortillas. There is a HUGE difference in these dishes.

In conclusion, this is the best recipe I found for cocido on the web, although I would probably add some more cooking time to the recipe. Although my husband was inspired to make this soup after his first cocido experience during a trip to Northern Spain in 2003, it’s just not the real deal. I hope to order my morcilla and fresh chorizo from La Tienda, talk to my butcher about some pork belly and make this traditional version one day soon.

CHECK OUT SOME OTHER POSTS YOU MAY ENJOY: 

• HORNAZO (Spanish Sausage-Stuffed Easter Bread)
• Fabada: A Mortal and Corporal Sin – But Worth It!
• Jamon, Jamon
• LEBANESE-SPICED LAMB OVER CRISPY PITA WITH CHICKPEAS, PINENUTS, POMEGRANATE SEEDS SMOTHERED IN GARLIC YOGURT SAUCE
• WINE-BRAISED LAMB SHANKS WITH ROSEMARY AND THYME IN PRESSURE
• Pictures of Madrid
• Unusual Tapas We Ate in Madrid
• CLAMS WITH WHITE WINE AND CHORIZO
• SQUID WITH GOLDEN POTATOES

UPDATE: Emeril Live is DEFINITELY cancelled as of the middle of December.

So, first Mario, then Sara and where the hell is Morimoto on Iron Chef? Probably gone as well. As the ship that is the Food Network quickly sinking in my mind, Rachel Ray continues to make more money, get more shows, and get more irritating! WTF!?

You go, Sara! Can’t wait to watch you again. We know you’ll be better off with this move.

CHECK OUT SOME OTHER POSTS YOU MAY ENJOY:

• NOOOOO! Could it Be? (Mario Gets Fired?)
• Rachel Ray – Maybe Hate is a Strong Word?
• The Wrong Message from a Former Prophet (Delia Smith Jumps Ship)
• Does Hollywood HATE Food?
• The REAL Cocido of Spain
• Diversity Finally Comes to The Food Network

1. Rachel Ray Hot (wha-wha-WHAT!!?!?!??!)
2. Rachel Ray Photo (ewww, why? Just turn on TFN, I bet she’s on RIGHT NOW)
3. Rachel Ray Apron (does she ever wear one over that lovely too-tight, tucked-in mom-jean look? Why would she want to cover that up!?)
4. Rachel Ray Large (?????)
5. Rachel Ray Hairstyle (maybe they are meaning to look up “The Rachel” from the 90’s?)
6. Rachel Ray Butt Pics (ummmmm….)
7. Rachel Ray A$$ (uhhhhhhh….)
8. Rachel Ray Fu%king (no joke… someone out in cyber-land was actually hoping to find something with this one – me, I just threw up a little in my mouth)
9. I want to fu%k Rachel Ray (must be the same guy who came up with nothing after searching for #8)
10. Rachel Ray + hate (must be a friend of ours)

And my FAVORITE “We Are Never Full” Rachel Ray Search Engine term is (drumroll, please):

10. Rachel Ray Bong (I could not even tell you how those three words would get anyone to our blog!)

I hope I have not offended anyone, especially if you are one of the ’special’ people who have discovered “We Are Never Full” by typing in one of the above terms. Regardless of how you arrived, thank you for stopping by!

CHECK OUT SOME OTHER POSTS YOU MAY ENJOY:

• NOOOOO! Could it Be? (Mario Gets Fired?)
• Rachel Ray – Maybe Hate is a Strong Word?
• Diversity Finally Comes to The Food Network
• Bon Appetit Magazine’s ‘Makeover’- Love It or Leave It?
• Sara Moulton Leaving Food Network for PBS

Rachael Ray is launching “So You Think You Can Cook?” – a nationwide search for an enterprising foodie. Ray and her producers will narrow the field of candidates to five promising cooks, who will undergo two weeks of intense competitions and challenges before a winner is announced on the air in late November. The winner of the contest will co-host the “Rachael Ray” show for a day and receive training at a U.S. culinary institute. An original recipe will be published in Ray’s lifestyle magazine, Every Day With Rachel Ray.

How HIGH-larious is this!? How freaking IRONIC is this, actually? First of all, a woman who can’t actually cook is asking (and JUDGING!) others if they can? Huh? Someone please ’splain dat to me. I know this is America and Paris Hilton is famous for doing nothing but still I’m confused. Secondly, Rachel Ray will so sweetly allow the “winner” to co-host her dumb talk show (what a prize!!!! hope the winner starts dumbing themselves down now, practicing how to get a raspy, drank-too-much-whiskey voice and learns how to inappropriately gesticulate too often) and, this is the BEST one, give them free training at a US culinary institute! The girl who has somehow earned the title “chef” by cooking crappy food and never going to a day of culinary school in her life is actually making someone work hard and jump through hoops to be GIVEN this present by her!? Give the gift to Rachel! Make her sweat it out in culinary school and make that a reality show on the Food Network! I’ll probably watch the channel again. Being called “chef” is a title you earn from working hard in a restaurant cooking, not one that you just receive because you cook things for fun. No one freaking calls me a chef. Ok, I’m seething with anger about how many opportunities this poop has been given to make a buck. When will it end!?

All I can say is that it’s a sad, sad day for me (and I’m sure once I deliver the news to Jonny, he’ll make us put on the red wigs, white aprons, prosthetic stomachs and orange crocks we like to don every few weeks – that’s a joke, kids) and I’m definitely sure that Mario will be better off without that sell-out of a network. Maybe PBS will replace that lame Everyday Food show with a new Mario show? Maybe Mario’s XL gut will knock out over-zealous and overly-nice Andrew Zimmern’s XL gut and his Bizzare Foods will be no longer!

A girl can dream. We heart you, Mario.