Giada at Home (2008–…): Season 1, Episode 30 - Last Minute Menu - full transcript

♪

Hi.
Hi, giada.

Oh my gosh, the food
just landed on the table.
I'm so excited.

Okay, how many times
has this happened to you?

A friend calls up and says,
"I'm in the neighborhood
and I'd love to stop by."

Well, there's no need to worry,
I'm gonna show you
a few simple recipes

you can whip up
in no time.

Israeli couscous with
apples, Cranberries, and herbs,

sweet, tangy,
and very exotic.

Chicken burgers with
garlic-Rosemary mayonnaise.

A gourmet burger that's
juicy and delicious.



And toasted pound cake
with citrus cream.

Simple ingredients that turn
ordinary pound cake

into a stunning dessert.

This is a last minute menu
that saves the day every time.

Look, she was up.

♪

So I have a little
olive oil in my pan,

and I've got this great
Israel couscous, they look
like little pearls of pasta.

It actually is pasta,
but it kind of absorbs
the liquid and they puff up.

And they look perfect,
because you can spoon them.

And you can add lots
of flavor to it.

But what I want to do is toast
the 2 cups of Israeli couscous.

I just put them on
medium-high heat

until the grains turn
slightly golden.



All right,
while that toasts,

I'm actually going to toast
something else, too.

I'm gonna toast 1/2 cup
of slivered almonds.

And I love this, it adds
a little crunch to the couscous.

It's about half this bag.

Just spread them out
and I like to toast them

at 350 for just a few minutes
until they're nice
and light golden brown.

It really brings out
that nutty flavor.

So while those toast,

let me check on
my couscous here.

See, you start to see them
turning a light golden color,

like toasting bread,
it's the same thing.

So to the Israeli couscous
I'm going to add 4 cups
of chicken broth.

And you want it to make
that noise, because it means
that the pan was hot,

so it was toasting
the couscous.

And when it absorbs
all the chicken broth,
it gets really good flavor.

It really is yummy,
there we go.

So you just want
to bring it to a boil.

And once it comes up to a boil
i turn down the heat
to about medium

and let it cook just like
you would let pasta cook.

So while the couscous cooks
let's start on the vinaigrette.

It's really, really easy.

Let's grab apple cider vinegar,
maple syrup,

and while we're here

some Cranberries.

We're adding Cranberries

to the actual salad,

but we'll do that in a minute.

First, I'm going to start
with my apple cider vinegar.

And because I'm adding apples
into the Israeli couscous,

I thought it'd be nice
to add apple cider vinegar.

So 1/4 cup of
apple cider vinegar.

Start with that.

And 3 tablespoons
of maple syrup.

It's thick and it's rich
and it adds a nice bit
of sweetness.

You want a little acidity
in a vinaigrette,

you want a little sweetness
in a vinaigrette as well.

Add a little salt,
gotta season it.

And a little pepper.

Then extra virgin olive oil
because it's a vinaigrette.

And it's equal parts,
the vinegar to the olive oil.

And that's it,
that is the whole dressing.

We're gonna keep it
light and clean.

The girls are coming over
for dinner.

You want lots of flavor,
lots of color.

But you still want to keep it
a little on the light side,
so that is what I'm doing.

I've gotta swap bowls,
now it's time for a big bowl.

We're gonna mix the couscous
with all these different
flavors.

So let's start with some
fresh herbs, about a 1/4 cup
of flat leaf parsley.

So we're gonna add
flat leaf parsley,

some Rosemary,
and some thyme.

And the fresh herbs
are always one of those things
that you want to have around.

Whether you grow them
or have them in the fridge.

Because they add a lot of flavor
and lots of color.

I've got some beautiful
Rosemary.

And a little bit
of thyme, too.

They're both really bold
but really good in here.

Plus, I'm going to use
some Rosemary in my burgers,

so I thought, why not use them
a little bit
in the couscous, too.

So about 1 1/2 tablespoons
of Rosemary.

It's nice and piney and fresh,
and really good.

And about a teaspoon
or so of thyme, not too much.

And the couscous
is now boiling.

Turn the heat down to medium
and continue to let it cook.

And you just want to chop up
the Rosemary
and the thyme together,

because you want to bruise it
and release all the flavors.

It smells so good,
there we go.

Time to add the Cranberries.

And I love dried Cranberries,
they're chewy, they're sweet,

and they have this beautiful
red color.

Look at this, it just adds
so much color to the couscous.

So about a cup
of dried Cranberries.

You know what,
you can smell my almonds,
time to get those almonds.

They just need to be toasted
just a little bit,
not too much.

So you don't ever want
to forget about them.

Perfect, they're just
lightly golden.

That's all you need to bring
out the flavor, otherwise,
they burn very quickly.

Let those cool slightly.

And I want to add my apple.

So I'm gonna add
a granny Smith green apple,

because it's more tart
and it can really hold up
with the vinaigrette.

♪

There you go,
this is good.

Add the nuts right on top,
that's it.

Basically now we're just
waiting for the couscous
to finish.

It needs a couple more minutes,
and when I come back

I'm gonna show you how to put
this all together.

And get started on
the easiest dessert,

my toasted pound cake
with citrus cream.

Sweet and refreshing,
this elegant dessert

can be whipped up
in no time.

I'm gonna start on dessert.

And I'm gonna make
my toasted pound cake
with citrus cream.

So we're gonna cheat
a little bit
and use frozen pound cake.

And what I do is,
i cut it in half.

And I don't even defrost it,
because I'm going to
pop it in the oven

and kind of warm it up
and kind of toast it
a little bit.

That's gonna be enough
for us.

And then I put the rest
back in the freezer,

so I can eat it another time,
it just keeps this way.

I've already greased
my baking sheet.

And what I do is,
i cut it into slices.

And then you put it
in the oven and toast it.

Before we do that,

we are going to

brush it with
a little bit of butter.

I have 2 tablespoons of butter
that I've already melted.

So just go ahead
and brush the top.

And I know it's
a buttered pound cake,

so you're probably thinking,
"there's already a lot
of butter in there."

Yes, but the butter will help
the honey stick to it.

And together they create

this really light,
thin, sweet crust.

Perfect, so we did that.

Now I drizzle the top
with a little bit of honey.

There we go, so we're gonna
pop it in the oven at 350

for about seven to eight
minutes until it's nice
and golden brown.

And you create that little
sweet crust.

So while those toast
I'm gonna get started
on the citrus cream.

We're gonna start
with a lemon.

So what I want to do
is zest and then juice

three different
citrus fruits,
lemon, lime and orange.

♪

Just half of the orange
that's all we need.

Perfect,
just get that in there.

So now...

Start juicing all the citrus.

So the whole lime.

And a whole lemon.

This is like
a little citrus explosion.

So now for the orange.

This one is a little
more complicated.

I cut the bottom
and the top,

stand it up so that the orange
doesn't roll anywhere.

Take a knife and basically
cut the peel

and the pith off.

And I just kind of cut off
some of the white pith.

The white pith is
a little bitter,
so I don't really need it.

There we go, looks good.

And now I grab my bowl.

So you want to switch knives
because you want

a small paring knife
to do this.

Grab the orange,
and what you want to do

is take the paring knife

and go in between
the membranes of the orange.

So that you get these nice
little segments,

just like that.

Perfect, now I take this
and I just squeeze it,
all the juices.

I want to get everything
out of this orange.

Ah, nice and fresh.

So now that we're done there

let's grab the whipping cream
and the mascarpone cheese.

I'm gonna start with
the mascarpone.

I want one cup of the light,
creamy mascarpone cheese.

Now this is something
that I always have

at my house
and in my refrigerator.

And if you don't have it
i guess you could just make
regular whipped cream.

But it won't have
the same consistency.

I like it to be
a little bit thicker

so it can hold up
to the pound cake.

Okay, and 1/2 cup
of whipping cream.

There we go.

And this will thin out
the mascarpone,

and the mascarpone will give
more body to the whipping cream.

So they kind of help
each other out.

That's why you need
both of them.

Then sweeten
the whole thing up

with 1/4 cup of sugar
to balance out the acidity

from all the citrus fruit.

And then we need
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

And again, if you don't have
the orange and the citrus,

you can just add
a little bit more
vanilla extract,

and that'll flavor it
as well.

And there we go with
the vanilla extract.

We'll get the hand mixer out.

This makes life
a little easier.

Start slow, because otherwise
you'll get covered
in whipped cream,

which you don't want to do.

And we're just gonna whip it
until we get nice, stiff peaks.

Perfect.

Now I just want to taste it,
just to make sure that

it tastes right.

You never know until
you taste it.

It's sweet and tangy,
and still that citrus kicks in

and kind of opens up
your taste buds.

And of course,
it's creamy, too.

It's gonna be so good
over that pound cake.

So we're done with that.

I'm gonna grab my bowl,
because I'm gonna put it
in this bowl,

so I don't have
to think about it anymore.

And I'll pop it in the fridge
and keep it nice and cold

until it's time
to assemble it at the table.

I think the girls
are gonna really like this.

Up next, I'm gonna make
my chicken burgers

with garlic Rosemary
mayonnaise.

Moist and delicious
with a bold, earthy flavor.

The pound cake's toasted,
so it's time to start on
the chicken burgers.

And they've got this great
garlic Rosemary Mayo on it.

So I've got Mayo
and a pound of ground chicken.

We're gonna use 1 cup of Mayo.

And we are gonna make it
super flavorful

with some garlic
and some Rosemary.

So half of the mayonnaise
is gonna be in the burgers,

and the other half we're gonna
smear on the bread.

We also need
1/4 cup of Rosemary.

So lots of Rosemary
to flavor the mayonnaise.

And because I have
Rosemary growing in my backyard,

I like to use it
as much as I can.

I just want to chop up
the Rosemary

so you can combine it
really well

with the Mayo.

So now I add the Rosemary
right in there.

And a little garlic.

So the garlic goes in.

Grab a spatula
and mix it all together.

And already,
it perfumes the Mayo,

and it makes it look
really pretty, too.

So mix this all together.

So let's start now
with the chicken.

We've got a pound
of ground chicken.

But you could use
whatever kind of meat
you have, whatever you like.

And season it with
a little salt,

and a little pepper,

and half of the Mayo.

You just want to hold on

to the other half
for our buns.

Leave it there,
grab another spatula.

And remember,
this is a process you want
to do kind of quick.

Because you don't want
to overwork the chicken.

You want to have nice,
moist burgers.

And I think it's going
to be really good.

Who doesn't like a nice
gourmet burger.

I think everybody does.

Okay, so now,
I'm going to start
forming the burgers.

I just want to make sure, yep,
my grill pan is nice and hot.

Make sure it's nice and hot
before you start forming them,

because you don't want
to touch anything

after you're done
forming them.

See, it gets kind of sticky,
but I promise you,

although you think,
"oh my gosh,
they're so wet and sticky,"

this is what you want.

That way, they're nice
and moist on the grill.

On the grill they go.

A little bit of olive oil.

Then I take a little bit
of Mayo,

spread just a little bit
of Mayo on each one.

So we do this now, and then
we're going to grill them.

Then we're going to add
a little bit more Mayo on top

when the burgers are done
and we're assembling.

Okay, buns are done.

Ready to flip.

And see, they're really
easy to flip if you

let that crust form.

Perfect, so the burgers
are going to finish cooking.

And then I'm gonna
toast these buns
and assemble my burgers.

There's a few finishing touches
i still have to add.

So the burgers are done
and they're resting.

And now the buns are toasted
and they're coming off
the grill.

And look how good they look,
see all those golden marks.

Okay, so now,
like I said,

I want to add more Mayo.

Now we're going to go
for the burger.

So just take a little bit
of arugula, just a tad.

And I just kind of
put it on the top.

Now just assemble the burger.

And kind of press down
a little bit,
so everything sticks together.

There we go, there's one
and there's two,

and there's three.

And let's cut
the burgers in half.

And there you have it,
look how good that looks.

The chicken is cooked through,
nice and thick burgers,
nice and juicy

with that little green
from the herbs.

I'll just put them
on the platter, just like that.

Okay, burgers are done,
so Tracy and Jamie
should be here momentarily,

so I'm gonna get
all the food out there
and we're ready to eat.

♪

Hi.
Hi, giada.

I cannot tell you how perfect
this is, because the food just
landed on the table.

I'm so excited
and I'm so hungry.

Wine.

We need a little wine,
right?
We always need wine.

Hi, honey.

Go ahead and sit down
because I just got
the burgers on the table.

It looks so good.
It looks amazing.

And Israeli couscous,
I'm very excited.

Okay, so wait,
tell us what's in it.

Chicken, just ground
white meat chicken.

And I mixed Mayo with Rosemary
and a little bit of garlic.

How long did this take you
to do, because it feels
so good and hearty,

it feels like it might
take you a long time.
It was fast, I'm telling you
it was really fast.

What's in the couscous?

Oh, the couscous,
go for it, guys.
I don't really know
what couscous is.

Well, that's Israeli couscous,
so it's a little bit bigger.

It's just little pearls
of pasta,
and some apples and herbs.

Cranberries?
And some Rosemary

and Cranberries and some
slivered almonds.
I never know what to put
in couscous.

You can put anything,
it's just like pasta, you can
dress it anyway you want.

I love these burgers,
these are so moist.

All right, you guys,
it looks like we're all
pretty much done.

Dessert?

Dessert!

There's that.
Ooh, is that homemade?

So grab a piece
of the pound cake.

And then a spoonful
of the cream.

It's a citrus cream
so it's got lots of zest

from lime, lemon
and orange.

Yeah, I see there's
some color in it.
Yeah, put it right
on top.

And then on the top
you put a few orange segments

on top of the cream.
Just like Tracy did it.

Look how pretty, see?
Nice job, Tracy.

I can cook.
You can cook.

I would get it,
because you can't get
the fineness.

This is so good.
This is so good.

In unison, I love it.

The orange adds,
it's like a chill.

I've never had pound cake
that's toasted like this.

I put a little bit
of melted butter on it,

and a little bit of honey
and baked it in the oven
for just like 7 minutes.

And that's what makes it
kind of crispy?

All right, you guys,
while you finish up
your dessert,

I'm gonna go see
if miss jade is up.
Do we get to see
baby jade?

I'm gonna go check
and see if she's up,
I'll be right back.

I could eat like
four of these.

Look, she was up.
Oh my god, she's awake.

What do you say?
Hi, baby.

Hi Tracy, I haven't seen you
in a long time,
it's been probably a month.

And hi, Jamie.

Look at her little
pink outfit.

Let's see, ah,
there you go.

It's okay,
it's okay.

It's Tracy.

She looks like you
as a baby.

That baby picture that
you have with your mom.

Jamie, let's see
what you think, too.

I think that, as a baby,

you're like twins.

You think?
I totally think so.

Yes, see, she thinks
that's a photo of herself.

Who is it, honey,
is that grandma?

That's nonna
and your mommy.

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