Prevention.com’s Best Packaged Foods, 2011

Prevention recently celebrated the announcement of their top packaged foods list by throwing a great dinner for a few people, incorporating many of the different winners into the meal. 

They held this event at an amazingly cute place called Cooking by the Book, which came complete with a huge kitchen for us to cook the recipes they’d created for us using those foods.   

All along the walls of this adorable loft were cookbooks. 

I think I could happily browse through the entire place for hours at a time, pulling books down, flipping through, taking notes, putting books back, and repeating this process. 

I honestly think that would keep me occupied for months, if not years, at a time.  The books were arranged vaguely thematically, and the shelf pictured here?  I need one of those, cuz my Chinese cooking is probably the area I feel the least comfortable, sadly.  Well, sort of sadly, I don’t really eat Chinese food at my home often, so I don’t suppose I need it… but it would be really nice to have a firmer grasp on the cuisine of my ancestors. 

The menu at each place setting looked really promising.  I brought TT as my plus 1 – and we realized he was the only male attendee, heh.  We were split into groups to work on each section… this was most interesting to me because though I’ve been to events in the past where all the attendees work on the meal we’re about to eat, those were held mostly at the Institute of Culinary Education, where there are a ton of ICE staff milling around, helping us, plating, and basically doing 90% of the work while the event attendees drink, mingle, chat, and do only some of the work (or one or two ambitious bloggers will actually get into it and make the thing we’re supposed to be making, and everyone else will stand back, watching).  Not so at Cooking the Book – everyone was given a section of the menu and one chef accompanied each group, who basically supervised and led us through the recipe.  That was really cool, especially given that some of the attendees (media people/non-food bloggers) admitted they don’t really cook all that much, so this was new for them. 

TT says: I agree. They got all of the attendees involved regardless of the individual level of cooking skills.

I wound up volunteering for the main course station, since no one seemed particularly interested in that.  Here is the big pot of sauce simmering away; we’re trying to reduce it into a glaze.  I mostly measured juice for this part of the recipe. 

TT says: I love cooking proteins, but decided to get out of my comfort zone and go with the side dish station.

Here is Chef Rian showing one of the girls on my team how to chop the cilantro.  I was “scolded” for my [lack of] knife skills, and I jokingly mumbled to the other girl, “I cook every day and I still don’t know how to use a knife!”  I think Chef Rian overheard the tail end of this, because he said encouragingly, “You’re doing fantastic!  Like you’ve been doing this your whole life!”  I bit back a giggle; maybe I should be embarrassed, since I’ve been cooking since I was 10, and regularly for about 10 years, but I’ve never taken an official cooking class (to my great sadness; the ones I sign up for at ICE always get cancelled) nor learned how to use a knife.  I get by – much like I’ve never taken an official typing course, though I type 94wpm with a 98% rate of accuracy, I do what’s most comfortable for me, and it works.  In any case, I did pick up a few tips from Chef Rian showing me how to properly use a knife, so that’s good – have already been incorporating them into my daily cooking routine. 

TT says: I highly recommend Knife Skills 1 at ICE with Chef Norman. You will be amazed how much you learn in a couple hours.

Here Chef Rian shows the girls how to lift and flip the salmon we’re searing easily.  They seemed a bit afraid of putting the salmon into the pans, since it sizzled a little; I should have pulled up my sleeve and showed them my arms, dotted with neat little circular scars all over.  You don’t even notice them after a while, though they’re very prominent in the summer when I tan a little…

After we’d seared all the salmon pieces, we brushed on some of the glaze liberally, then put it in the ovens for a quick spin to warm the tops.  (We only briefly cooked it in the skillets.)  The glaze smelled fabulous at this point, and my stomach was rumbling eagerly. 

Thankfully, it was only minutes later that we were seated and served: Gnocchi with Lucini Rustic Tomato Basil Sauce  The gnocchi was surprisingly light and airy; it’d taken so little time that I do wonder if I could really make gnocchi at home this quickly and easily.  I bet I could, if I had more space…  And I fully admit that when I realized we were really going to be cooking everything for our meal, I was worried about gnocchi in the hands of novices.  I shouldn’t have worried – it tasted great, and the tomato sauce accompanying it was pretty tasty too. 

TT says: I was shockingly impressed with the gnocchi. It was better than I have had at some restaurants. I was incredibly hungry by the time we sat down, so that may have skewed my opinion a little.

TT worked on the Black Quinoa Pilaf and Braised Fennel.  I was surprised when I enjoyed the fennel bulbs; I’ve tried many ways to make it and haven’t yet found a way that makes it mild enough in licorice taste for me.  This was pretty darn close though.  And the toasted black quinoa was very nutty, a nice foil. 

TT says: I worked with quinoa only once before in a cooking class at ICE. This was my first time using black quinoa. It was surprising easy to make and it was super healthy. Toast the quinoa in a pan, add mirepoix and butter, then simmer with some water. A great alternative to plain old rice.

The fennel was just as easy to make. We worked with a lot of veggies which was fun for my knife skills.

Here is the salmon, in all its glory; what I’d worked on: Seared Salmon Fillets with Ginger Chile Sauce.  I’d also worried about how much ginger went into the glaze; I’m not a huge ginger fan.  Fortunately, its time simmering merrily away had fully mellowed the ginger; though I could still taste it, its presence was not unpleasant nor bitter, but just a nice complement to the rest of the glaze.  Yum – I can definitely see making this again.  (You know how much I adore salmon…)

TT says: When I saw the glaze, I was worried that the salmon would be too sticky sweet. Luckily, I was wrong. The salmon was delicious and perfectly cooked.

For dessert, these wonderful miniature ice cream sandwiches: Chocolate Ice Cream Cookie with Argentine Dulce de Leche Gelato.  It was all I could do to keep from inhaling both in one shot; the soft, slightly warm cookie and the not-overly-sweet ice cream were the perfect end.  I really enjoyed the cookies and will be trying to make these sometime very, very soon… yum!!!

TT says: One of these cookie sandwiches would have been more than enough. A little sweetness to end the savory meal!

If you’re interested in reading about the complete list of winners, click here to see the complete list!  I’ve been enjoying some of the goodies at home. 

This event was courtesy of Prevention.com. We were given no monetary compensation for writing this post, nor were we obligated to post anything about it all, positive or negative.  The opinions contained herein are our own; we received the above meal, plus a really awesome goodie bag to take home containing many of the winners.