Anne Burrell - Secrets of a Restaurant Chef

I recently spent a lot of time on the couch watching television because I was sick and home from work. While cruising through my On Demand shows I discovered Food Networks new show Secrets of a Restaurant Chef featuring Anne Burrell. I had seen her work before as Mario Batalis sous chef on Iron Chef America. With her trademark spiky blonde hair, she is memorable. Now that I have seen her show, Anne Burrell is my new favorite chef. She brings her beautiful restaurant creations and hearty menus to life for me with her enthusiasm and her way of showing just how easy it is to create full flavored meals with fairly simple ingredients.

Annes education included a BA in English, an A.O.S from the Culinary Institute of America, and her time spent at the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners in Asti,Italy. When she returned to America, she worked in several New York restaurants as both sous chef and chef, and developed her own style and trademark menus. She made it to television when Mario Batali asked her to be his sous chef on the Food Network show Iron Chef America.

Im so glad to see that she now has her own show and I find her easy banter and obvious love of good food fun to watch and highly inspirational. What most inspires me about her methods and recipes, is that they show me that it isn't that much more difficult to make a meal special rather than mundane.

Today, Im going to cook one of her chicken recipes with the whole chicken I have in the fridge. She has one hundred recipes posted on the Food Network website. Now, all I have to do is decide which one to try. Her Chicken Noodle Soup sounds very unusual with its cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon additions, but has excellent reviews. Her Chicken Cacciatore with cremini mushrooms, red and yellow peppers, with dry white wine is a recipe I watched her cook on her show, Secrets of a Restaurant Chef; she made it seemeasy to make and it looked delicious. The soup recipe actually calls for thighs and drumsticks rather than a whole chicken, so I guess Ill save that one for next time and try the cacciatore tonight.

If you get a chance to watch Annes show, let me know what you think!