Anne Burrell - Own Your Kitchen: Recipes to Inspire & Empower

Copyright 2013 by Anne Burrell
Photographs copyright 2013 by Quentin Bacon

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.clarksonpotter.com

CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Burrell, Anne.
Own your kitchen / Anne Burrell with Suzanne
Lenzer ; photographs by Quentin Bacon.
pages cm
Includes index.
1. Cooking. I. Lenzer, Suzanne. II. Title.

TX714.B8677 2013
641.5dc23

2012050250

ISBN 978-0-307-88676-7
eISBN 978-0-385-34557-6

Cover photography by Quentin Bacon

v3.1

A BIG FAT thank you to all the people in my life who have not only made this book possible, but who are always there with kind words, smiles, love, and support.

My mom, Marlene my biggest fan and the one whos always there with lots of love and laughter.

My sister Jane for not only being a great sister but a better friend, and for always having a smile on her face.

The rest of my family Ben, Sarah, Jim, Maria, Isabella, Mimi, Nico, Luke, Simon, and Maya for being delightfully fun and nutty and for always asking me, Whats for dinner?

Christina Cain a very special friend: Im very lucky to have a person like you in my life.

Scott Feldman my manager and friend who handles the business and so much morethanks for putting up with my crazy!

Sarah Jane Coolahan my friend and the keeper of my schedule, my sanity, and the person who generally just keeps things together.

Suzanne Lenzer my wonderful book writer, the one who captures my voice and energy and who gently keeps me on trackthank you!

Quentin Bacon the wonderfully talented and delightful photographer, with the best name ever, who brought these images to life!

Pat LaFrieda and Mark Pastore my BIG MEAT men.

Vivian Lui, Marina Malchin, and Kristin Walther the wonderfully organized, delightfully fun, and quirky team that made the photos in this book so beautiful.

Emily Takoudes and everyone at Clarkson Potter for believing in me and allowing me to put my experiences and recipes on paper.

Jane Treuhaft, Jim Massey, and the entire art and design team for your direction, colorful creativity, and patience.

Sheri Terry for making me look pretty and for your mad yelping skills.

Janis Donnaud my book agent. Big fat thanks.

Food Network for everyone there who has believed in me and allowed me to be my nutty self.

The Key GroupJaret Keller, Tara Halper, and Rachel Lansing : Thank you for getting the word out!!!

For my friends I am a VERY lucky girl to have such an amazing group of people around me who give me their love and support and of course their opinionsand who keep me grounded. Mario Batali, Reyna Mastrosimone, Phil Casaceli, Claire Robinson, Juliet Dannible, Roberto Trevino, Alex Guarnaschelli, Matt Berkowitz, and Nick Thorogood, and Katie Carey.

My life has changed A LOT in the past few years. Ive gone from working insane hours in restaurant kitchens to working insane hours in television studios, rushing in and out of airports, and sometimes feeling like I live out of a suitcase. There are times when I just long for the days when I was chained to a restaurant stove! My life is super exciting these days, but there are so many times when I just wish I could stay home, cook dinner, and sit down at my own dining room table to eat it. Because as thankful as I am for all thats happened to me, one thing has not changed: I still love to cook and I love to teach people how to cook. Now I just get to do it on a much broader spectrumand Im extremely lucky.

When I ride my bike around New York City these days, sometimes people wave, they yell, Hi, Chef Anne! and they stop me at red lights to share how I helped teach them how to make the perfect roast chicken or they yell, BTB, RTS! It always makes me smile and laugh out loud! Its what being on TV has done for meempowered me to empower home cooks like you. But TV is just the medium to getting the message out thereat the end of the day Im just a cook. It doesnt matter how many shows I have or how many books I write, cooking is in my soul and if the shows and all the celebrity stuff disappeared tomorrow, Id go right back into the kitchen and pick up my wooden spoon and start cooking. Its just who I am.

Cooking is not rocket sciencebecoming a good cook is about learning the basics and then applying them. Once you have these principles down you can branch out to different types of cuisines and flavors and get more creative. Its all about understanding the techniques and feeling confident in those skills, trusting yourself and your sense of taste, and deciding where you want to go with itits up to you! My job is to empower you to become the best cook you can be and to learn to own your kitchen. Why? Because cooking is funand delicious.

I feel very grateful to spend my life doing something I love SOOOOO much. Certainly I loved working in restaurants, and like most chefs, I focused on one type of cuisine and worked hard to do it really well. As Ive progressed in my career, Ive branched out beyond my rustic Italian roots. I love that people dont watch my show to learn how to cook rustic Italian food; they watch my show to learn how to cook.

My mother often asks me where I come up with ideas for my recipes. I always say the same thing: I dont know! Every time I have to sit down and write new recipes Im totally stuck at first. Then I start to think about what Ive tasted lately thats turned me onI may be really into ramen at that moment, craving spicy curries, or excited by Spanish flavors. Cooking is an incredible way to experience the world and to bring amazing flavors out there into your own home. To me, food is the only truly universal language (every living thing has to eat!) and you can learn a ton about people and other cultures through their food.