Now that I have your attention - How many of you have a toaster oven sitting on your counter that never gets used? If you do, this is your lucky day! You all know my passion for books but I also have another passion and that is cooking . . . and eating, but for now I'm only talking about cooking. I love to try new dishes and try to experiment at least once a week with something I've never made. I'm not talking about the fancy, shmancy recipes that require you to go to specialty stores, spend gobs of money and buy things you'll never use again. I'm talking about simply prepared food that looks great and taste even better with not a lot of foo foo. 
I love watching cooking shows and one of my favorite chefs is Eric Ripert, Executive Chef at Le Bernardin in NYC. His specialty is seafood and being such a seafood lover, I always enjoy watching him cook on tv. By the way, he has a show starting in the fall on PBS!
This is where your toaster oven comes in! Last year he started a new website called Avec Eric (which is french for 'With Eric'). There are some very nice features on his site including great recipes (check out the Lemon Tart with Whipped Cream!). But the thing that really drew me in was his video series on cooking with a toaster oven. Yes, I said toaster oven! Here we have a world renowned chef' and he's going to cook with a toaster oven?! Since my house got struck by lightening last year - twice - I've been without an oven since August, so this is an answer to my prayers! I have a nice toaster oven that I use for many things and I love it, but I don't have many specific recipes for it. Until now!
Like Chef said, if you live alone like me, there's no reason you shouldn't enjoy a nice meal, especially when it only takes minutes to cook. These are simple, delicious recipes that anyone can make. To check them out, go to Avec Eric and look for the 'Get Toasted' link or just click here. Over the next several weeks, I'm going to be making some of the featured dishes and rating not only how they taste, but how easy (or hard) they were to make. Each Saturday, I'll post my results. This week I think I'll start with the Mustard Crusted Salmon. I hope you'll check back and see how I'm doing. This should be fun!
If you're really into all things food and cooking, you might be interested in Chef Ripert's new book On The Line. It's a behind-the-scene look at what goes on at Le Bernardin along with some yummy recipes. 
How funny - my husband just commented the other day that we really need to investigate toaster ovens because they are so versatile!
ReplyDeleteI will definitely check out "Avec Eric" for some wonderful recipes.
I need to check this out. I have a great toaster oven that I hardly ever use.
ReplyDeleteI love chef Eric, not to mention he's easy on the eyes too. I didn't know he had a show though on using your toaster oven-it does seem odd for such an amazing chef to do that but I bet it makes him even more popular. I'll definitely be checking back on your results. I too love cooking.
ReplyDeleteI'm going over and check out his website. Thanks for the video and the tips. I like your post and having a little mix-up with the books. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome! I look forward to following your culinary creations.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for your comments. I'm glad you enjoyed this post about toaster ovens. I'm anxious to start cooking some of these dishes! Bon Apetit!
ReplyDeleteHow great is this! I'm going to check it out and look forward to seeing how you fare with the recipes. I love him, especially when he's a guest judge on Top Chef...
ReplyDeleteI just saw chef Eric on Top Chef last week and he was wonderful, great show! Thanks for the heads up about his toaster oven cooking. That sounds very interesting!
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