© Tina Rupp / Braised Chicken Legs

In an interview with Food Republic, Alexandra Guarnaschelli—host of Food Network's Alex's Day Off and chef at NYC's trendy restaurants Butter and The Darby—reveals that she is working on her first cookbook, which should be released some time next year. Guarnaschelli says she waited longer than might be expected for a chef with TV cred because her mother is legendary W.W. Norton cookbook editor Maria Guarnaschelli. “If your mother was Steven Spielberg, you wouldn't direct a movie, right?” the chef explains. “It's daunting.” While Maria Guarnaschelli is not likely to be involved in the publication, her presence may be felt in some of the recipes. Chef Guarnaschelli's healthy Spice-Braised Chicken Legs with Red Wine and Tomato are inspired by a dish her mom used to make, and can be prepared ahead of time and reheated for an easy family dinner.

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Dishes from TV Chefs
Delicious Braising Recipes

© Quentin Bacon

Spanish chef Ferran Adrià of El Bulli fame turns 50 today. The legendary chef earned a reputation for developing advanced cooking techniques like spherification (imagine liquid olives), but for his birthday, we think he'd like something simpler that reflects his Catalan roots. Adrià's Rotisserie Chicken with Dried Fruit and Pine Nuts is a superfast version of a traditionally long-simmered stew. This 15-minute dish combines store-bought rotisserie chicken with a fruit-and-nut sauce flavored with delicious poultry drippings.

Related: More Daily Chicken Inspiration
20 Spanish Recipes

Gabriele Stabile

First of all, a round of applause for Christina Tosi, the Momofuku Milk Bar star and brand-new, James Beard Award–winning Rising Star.

Tosi is, of course, best known for getting New York City addicted to buttery Crack Pie (even my trainer can’t stay away from it). But next Wednesday, May 16, Tosi will be up to her pastry counter in vegetables. That night, the Vegetables at Dovetail dinner kicks off the fun-filled New Taste of the Upper West Side festival; the festival is co-hosted by F&W hero, Andrew Zimmern. The five-course vegetarian dinner will be prepared by some of the city’s great chefs: Dovetail’s John Fraser, Ed Brown, F&W Best New Chef Missy Robbins, Top Chef winner Harold Dieterle and, of course, Tosi.

If you want to confirm the high vegetable quotient of the dinner, here’s a sneak peak at the menu:

*Avocado salad with ramps, watercress and eggplant (Fraser)
*Quinoa-crusted white and shaved asparagus with morels and egg yolk emulsion (Brown)
*Barley risotto, nettles and formaggio fresco (Robbins)
*Raviolo with spring vegetable "pockets" and spring truffles (Dietrle)
*Coach Farm triple cream cheese with truffles and grapes (Fraser)
*Tristar sorbet, celery root ganache and lovage (Tosi)

Besides seeing all those terrific chefs in action, there’s this: Proceeds from the evening go to New York Sun Works, a program that improves students' understanding of environmental science in urban schools. Fraser is super involved with this great program, which brings greenhouse science labs to the schools and teaches students how to grow hydroponic vegetables.

Tickets are $195; they’re available at New Taste of the Upper West Side.

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Vegetarian
Healthy Vegetable Dishes

© Tina Rupp / Chicken Fricassee

If you’re still undecided about what to do with your mother this Sunday, plan an elegant lunch or dinner at home. Chef and mom Katy Sparks created a vibrant Lemony Chicken Fricassee with Shallots and Morels that comes together in 30 minutes. By crisping the chicken in butter first, she adds quick flavor to the dish, which makes an ultra springy dinner party centerpiece. If saving family time doesn't appeal, David Bouley's Pot-Roasted Chicken with Mushrooms requires just over an hour of cooking for those who'd rather stay occupied in the kitchen while relatives sit back with refreshing cocktails.

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Delicous Spring Dishes

© Iain Bagwell / Couscous with Chicken

Chips and pretzels are so pedestrian. At this year’s Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago, the New York Daily News reports that new, trendy snacks included healthier options like sheets of seaweed, freeze-dried mango and roasted, seasoned chickpeas. Those wanting to get a jump on the trend can make F&W’s recipe for Crispy Chickpeas at home in just half an hour. Of course, garbanzo beans can be more than just a snack. This Moroccan-style Couscous with Chicken and Chickpeas makes a fast and flavorful weeknight meal.

Related: Delicious Chickpea Recipes
Moroccan Dishes
Tasty Snack Recipes

Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese Food

Today, Food & Wine scored a preview of NYC's highly-anticipated Mission Chinese Food, a forthcoming branch of the acclaimed San Francisco pop-up of the same name. Mastermind and California nominee for this year's People's Best New Chef, Danny Bowien, dropped by the Test Kitchen with an armload of various Chinese-style dishes.

Here's what he brought. >>>

Courtesy of Clio

For many, “grenadine” conjures memories of fluorescent and syrupy sweet Shirley Temples or the saccharin flavors of a Tequila Sunrise, but bartenders are now righting the syrup’s reputation by making their own, nuanced grenadines in-house. Clio's Todd Maul uses his homemade grenadine both for flavor and aesthetic >

© John Kernick / Bacon-Wrapped Chicken

Danny Meyer is looking to take his restaurant empire to new heights. According to the New York Times, the Shake Shack mogul submitted a bid (along with six other companies) to operate 1 World Trade Center's forthcoming observation deck, which will be the highest of its kind in New York City. At 1,200 above street level, the observatory will offer views that stretch far beyond the city into New Jersey and Westchester, but given Meyer's reputation for superb restaurants, the draw would be for more than just the view if he secures the space. Home cooks can recreate recipes from Meyer’s inspired restaurants, like these quick Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Breasts from Gramercy Tavern. The chicken is basted with butter and topped with a rich sauce made from pureed chicken livers for a hearty mid-week meal.

Related: Delicious Bacon Recipes
Chicken Breast Recipes
New York City Chef Recipes

Per-Anders Jorgensen courtesy of Phaidon Press

It’s been an action-packed restaurant award season. Earlier this week, the James Beard Foundation lavished awards on restaurants like Manhattan’s Gramercy Tavern and bars like PDT in New York City (yay for PDT's Jim Meehan!). Last week, the World’s 50 Best Restaurants handed out honors. Number 1 was Noma in Copenhagen (yay for chef René Redzepi!), followed by El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, Spain at Number 2.
 
The world’s Number 3 best restaurant is the astonishing Mugaritz in San Sebastián, Spain where chef Andoni Luis Aduriz promotes naturalism in cooking. (He’s famous for serving potatoes that look exactly like rocks on a beach.) Everyone should go there immediately to sample his food. For those who can’t get a flight/reservation to Mugaritz right this moment, here’s fantastic news.
 
First is Andoni’s gorgeous upcoming book, Mugaritz. It’s especially helpful for scientifically minded cooks who want to make a dish called Crunchy Milk Sheets with Sweet Beans, Ice Cream of Citrus Peel and Orange Blossom Water. But it’s also mesmerizing armchair reading, not just for the photos, but also for the way he documents concepts like the evolution of a food idea.
 
Second is the new movie, Mugaritz B.S.O., which is being screened Thursday night, May 10, in Manhattan at Lincoln Center, before it goes to Toronto on Friday. For three years, musician Felipe Ugarte studied Aduriz’s cooking – now Ugarte has put the preparation of dishes, from start to finish, to music. Some of the dishes in the film are straight from the book. For instance, for "Piece of Veal, roasted and perfumed with vine cutting embers" (pages 113-114 in the book, if you’re checking), Ugarte mimics the texture of the charred veal by layering the sounds of the fire with back up vocals from a young choir. Here's the added benefit: Aduriz himself will be at the Manhattan screening and for a Q&A. And here's the super-plus benefit: At the screening, you can also buy that gorgeous book weeks before its actual release date, and get him to sign it for you.

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© Fredrika Stjärne / Chicken Milanese

A rep for multi-tasking empire builder Rachael Ray had a funny chat with the New York Post’s gossipy Page Six today. Apparently, Ray did not have her staff burn sage to rid bad vibes from Martha Stewart’s former studio. The ritual in question might work for exorcisms, but Ray doesn't seem to need any supernatural help when it comes to success. We also have an affinity for sage but prefer to use it for cooking dishes like this quick and crisp chicken Milanese served with a rich sage-and-lemon-butter sauce.

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More Sage-Inflected Dishes
Recipes from TV Chefs