Forget the Dips – It’s all about the Dippers

By David Hu
A new video for Video Friday

It’s finally Super Bowl Sunday and if your team didn’t make it to the big game, take solace in the fact that there’s going to be some good eating on Sunday.

There’s bound to be dips galore that call for good dippers. Skip the chips this year and go for something with more impact. We’re talking pita chips and crostini.

They sound fancy but these are basically oven toasts. And since both of them bake at the same temperature for the same amount of time, you don’t have to pick one over the other – you can mix and match on the same sheet pan.

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Roasted Herb Chicken with Pistachio Salsa

By Zoe McLaughlin
A new video for Video Friday

Roasted chicken thighs are easy to make, but ordinary. Dress them up by rubbing an herb paste under the skin to season the meat and create a ton of flavor without a lot of work. It’s important to use fresh herbs when making the paste because fresh herbs have a brighter, cleaner flavor than dried ones.

Use a mortar and pestle or finely chop the herbs together to release the oils, intensifying the fragrance. This recipe uses chicken thighs but you could use skin-on chicken breast or even a whole chicken. The key is to separate the chicken skin from the flesh, leaving the sides of the skin attached, creating a pocket for the herbs, to seal in the flavor.

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A Good Date Meal

By Jess Ziman
A new video for Video Friday

A few months ago, a friend of mine told me a story of a near disastrous first date she went on. The whole date sounded dreamy – a dashing man had invited her to his home to cook her a romantic candlelit meal for two. She was all smiles and ready to be swept away by his gesture.

However, her face quickly fell when she found out what the meal was: boiled vegetables (from a frozen packet) and quinoa. His humdrum fare frankly muffled any mojo that may have been between them that night.

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Another Spooky Halloween Treat

By Sandy Hu

I love Halloween but I often don’t have time to bake something special. Rather than ignoring the holiday, this year, I cheated with a baking mix and canned frosting, just so I could have fun making some ghoulish treats. If you have time to bake from scratch, so much the better, of course.

I baked up a batch of chocolate cupcakes from the mix, spread the cupcakes with canned frosting, then sprinkled them with chocolate cooking crumbs for “dirt.” Then I had two ideas for decorating: one uses Milano cookies for headstones to make mini graveyards. The other, featured here, turns cupcakes into pumpkin patches planted with marzipan pumpkins.

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What to Cook? Pantry to the Rescue!

By Dave Hu

All this week, Special Fork bloggers are revealing what’s in their pantry, with tips for using pantry staples. To celebrate Pantry Week, Special Fork has teamed up with Zojirushi, the Japanese maker of top-quality kitchen appliances, to offer a fabulous sweepstakes prize: the 5.5-cup capacity Zojirushi Micom Rice Cooker & Warmer ($192 MSRP), which not only cooks rice flawlessly, but also steams foods and bakes cakes. Menu settings include: white/sushi, mixed, porridge, sweet, brown, cake, steam and quick cooking. Enter to win!

Sometimes I come home from work and there’s nothing in the fridge to make for dinner. This is when a well-thought-out pantry can be a lifesaver. Unlike Sandy, whose beautiful kitchen we use to shoot our videos, I have a very small kitchen and space is at a premium. Therefore my pantry is designed for maximum versatility with the fewest number of ingredients.

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