The book is cleverly organized into witty chapters like “I Lunch Lucy,” “The Supper Under The Stars” (Star Trek), “Monkeying Around in the Kitchen” (Planet of the Apes), and “Thank You For Feeding a Friend” (Golden Girls) that group the recipes around a theme. Other chapters are devoted to Batman, sitcom moms, rockers and the Rat Pack.
I asked about the veal shank. The waiter struggled to describe what turned out to be a respectable osso buco. Sprinkled with orange zest, garlic and parsley gremolata, the braised meat was knee-deep in a potent, orange-tinged wine sauce. It came with a skillet of wonderful roasted Brussels sprouts and onions. But $32 osso buco is not why you come to Cal’s.
Hasselbeck aims to show that gluten free doesn’t have result in bland or uninteresting food. She’s also trying to show how easy it is to cook for someone with celiac in a household of healthy people–neither Hasselbeck’s husband, former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck, or her three children has celiac.
The recipes themselves are often hilarious, ranging from the risqué (Star Trek’s Yvonne DeCarlo’s Exotic Chicken Ecstasy) to the oddball (Gloria Swanson’s Potassium Broth). Then there’s Dean Martin’s Burgers and Bourbon, which is just hamburger meat mixed with bourbon.
A state task force released proposed district maps for the state Legislature that were quickly criticized by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Senate Democrats and good-government groups as being gerrymandered to benefit the parties in power.
Sure, any living celebrity can write a cookbook, but it takes a certain kind of genius to put together a book of dead celebrity recipes. Inspired by a dead celebrity-themed party, DeCaro, the former Daily Show movie critic, collected the best recipes from well-known deceased Hollywood stars, including Lucille Ball, Dean Martin, Michael Jackson, the Golden Girls (minus Betty White, of course), and John Wayne.
