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It’s simple. Cook Like a Rock Star by Anne Burrell could be yours. It’s being released Oct. 4 and includes recipes plus culinary tips and secrets from Anne, a classically trained chef and Food Network personality.
We have three copies to give away. Here’s the deal: Visit our Facebook page and answer three questions about our October pizza story throughout the day. If you are the first to answer a question correctly, the book is heading your way.
You can also meet Anne in person at Williams-Sonoma Annapolis Mall at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 6. She’ll be signing copies of her new cookbook, which she wrote with food writer Suzanne Lenzer.
Tickets are required. Anne will only be signing books purchased at Williams-Sonoma that day.
Anne will also be appearing at Wegmans in Hunt Valley at noon on Oct. 7 to sign cookbooks. Info at the market’s website.
I had a chance to preview a copy of Cook Like a Rock Star (Clarkson Potter, $27.99). I have dozens of cookbooks at home. I use them for cooking. I read them like novels. So I feel comfortable saying this book is a nice addition to a home collection.
Anne makes cooking fun, whether you’re a novice or a pro. For instance, in her “A Few Words on Fancy Words,” she compiles an easy-to-understand glossary. E.g., “crud”: the delicious brown bits on the bottom of the pan that help develop deep, rich, meaty flavors, and “big fat finishing oil”: your big-money extra virgin olive oil.
And she’s definitely a proponent of mis en place: getting all your prep work done BEFORE you start cooking.
She gets a big shout out from chef Mario Batali in the book’s foreword. She and Mario have cooked together. Perhaps, you’ve seen them on a little show called Iron Chef America. Mario writes in the book, “Cook Like a Rock Star is tasty happiness.”
The cookbook is divided into chapters on Piccolini (nibbles), Firsts (appetizers), Pasta, Seconds, Sides, and Desserts. Anne offers encouraging words before each recipe and has a sound bite at the end of each one, like “super-cinchy,” “molto sexy,” and “Thanks, Mom!”
Some of the recipes that caught my eye: Hard Polenta Cakes with Taleggio (love this cheese) & Cherry Tomatoes, Pumpkin Soup with Allspice Whipped Cream & Fried Leeks, Killer Mac & Cheese with Bacon (yum), and Hazelnut Cake with Nutella Mousse.
Besides writing a cookbook, Anne also is the host of Food Network’s Secrets of a Restaurant Chef and co-host of Worst Cooks in America. But she’s more than a cute TV face. She’s got cooking creds. She graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and has worked at top restaurants in New York.
So why “Rock Star” in the title? She’s not talking about Mick Jagger or David Lee Roth wearing aprons. As Anne says in her book, “Remember, YOU are the chef of your own kitchen! Way to go, rock star!”
