Prime Time Emeril: More Tv Dinners From America's Favorite Chef [Hardcover]

With his ubiquitous Food Network cooking programs, Good Morning America appearances, five bestselling cookbooks, six celebrated restaurants, and starring role in an NBC sitcom, celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse may be the ultimate "food ambassador." "Nothing makes me happier than getting people involved with food, excited about food, and cooking food," he says in the introduction to Prime Time Emeril: More TV Dinners from America's Favorite Chef. We may wonder if Emeril's over-the-top antics actually inspire his legions of viewers to spend more quality time in the kitchen, but there's no argument that he gets people excited about food. The mere addition of garlic, heavy cream, butter, or the slightest drop of truffle oil to one of Emeril's decadent dishes and his studio audience explodes with a fevered enthusiasm akin to a frenzied mob of face-painted hockey fans up in the nosebleed seats during the playoffs. As an Amazon.com customer from Boutte, Louisiana, writes, when it comes to Emeril "...there are two competing factions. Those who love and worship Emeril and those who refuse to." But, as Emeril might say, we "won't go there."

Prime Time Emeril is packed with menu ideas highlighting Emeril's well-known Louisiana-by-way-of-Fall River-Massachusetts cuisine. Recipe introductions feature witty Emerilisms (his "roux theory": a nice, dark brown roux requires about 25 to 30 minutes cooking time, or the amount of time it takes to knock back two beers) and chapter titles like "Pork Fat," "Y'All Southern?" and "Macho Meats," among others, set the tone. Comfort food is on the menu, including Chicken, Bacon, and White Bean Soup Portuguese-Style and Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage and Fennel ("love in a bowl"), along with more elegant fare such as Apricot-Glazed Cornish Game Hens with Sausage-Rice Pilaf Stuffing and Chilled Roasted Beet and Fennel Soup with Apple-Mint Crema and Toasted Pistachios. Any Super Bowl party would welcome his Turkey Chili; Baked Crabmeat, Artichoke, and Spinach Dip; or Kicked-Up Chicken Drummettes with Blue Cheese Sauce. And just imagine the killer next-day sandwiches Emeril's Spiced Baked Ham with Sweet Potatoes would provide.

Emeril may want his readers "to be at ease with making homemade pâtés or consommés, pickling, and home smoking," and maybe Prime Time Emeril will inspire them to be more adventurous in the kitchen, but odds are they'd be more than happy just watching him on TV, sprinkling his signature Essence on everything in sight and shouting "Bam!" --Brad Thomas Parsons

Chef Emeril Lagasse's celebrity has soared so high that fans can soon enjoy his effervescent personality in a new situation comedy series as well as on his familiar cooking shows. Whether his acting skills surpass his cooking talent remains to be seen; meanwhile, he's brought out another compilation of recipes from his cooking shows. Prime Time Emeril moves beyond his customary Cajun recipes with dishes reflecting his Portuguese-Italian upbringing in Fall River, Massachusetts. Emeril can't resist "kicking them up a notch" with hefty additions of his New Orleans-inspired spice mixtures. He also pays homage to the best of contemporary American cooking with his sensationally good and easily prepared Truffled Corn and Wild Mushroom Fettuccine. Mark Knoblauch
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With more than 1,000 shows on the food television network, weekly appearances on Good Morning America, and guest spots with Rosie O'Donnell and Jay Leno, it seems that people can't get enough of Emeril Lagasse. Happily, here's Prime Time Emeril: More TV Dinners from America's Favorite Chef. It's another big helping of the food, the fun, and the man America has fallen in love with.

Now Emeril's fans can cook more of the dishes they've seen him prepare on prime time television -- more than 150 of them. They're easy to understand and simple to follow, and the results are foolproof and pure Emeril.

Each chapter of Prime Time Emeril is filled with recipes, techniques, and tips to help you re-create Emeril's unique New American style of cooking right in your own home. These recipes feature his kicked-up favorites, including Chicken Drumettes with Blue Cheese Sauce and Emerilized Barbecued Oysters with Rosemary Biscuits. There are new twists on Louisiana classics, including gumbo, jambalaya, and beignets.

From his hometown of Fall River, Massachusetts, Emeril shares the food he loved best as a kid -- recipes such as Hilda's Stewed Chicken, Madeira-Braised Short Ribs, and Lobster Portuguese-Style.

Re-create Emeril's amazing appetizers, including Spicy Duck Empanadas with Cilantro Cream or Singing Shrimp. How about a big bowl of steaming Monkfish Chowder or Rabbit, Andouille, and Wild Mushroom Gumbo? Kick it up more than a few notches with Mardi Gras Jambalaya, Tuna of Love, or Bamburgers. And Emeril has never been shy about dessert. Whip up one of his creations, such as Pumpkin Cheesecake, Cherry and White Chocolate Bread Pudding, or Mr. Lou's Chocolate Praline Pie.

So pick up this book and pick up a pan. You're ready for some prime time cooking with Prime Time Emeril.

Emeril Lagasse is the chef-owner of critically acclaimed restaurants in New Orleans, including Emeril's, NOLA, and Emeril's Delmonico Restaurant and Bar. He is also the owner of Delmonico's Steakhouse and Emeril's New Orleans Fish House in Las Vegas, and Emeril's in Orlando. Emeril is the host of Emeril Live and The Essence of Emeril as seen on the Food Network, and is the food correspondent for ABC's Good Morning America. He is the author of Prime Time Emeril, Emeril's TV Dinners, Every Day's a Party, Emeril's Creole Christmas, Louisiana Real & Rustic, and Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking.