Mandolia

My fault - submitted the post without the link, then when I went back to edit with the link my broadband connection "collapsed" and by the time it returned Primetimer had timed out for posting the edit & reverted to pre-edit text! Anyway, the recipe in question is for Chicken Marbella. Here's the link. https://www.thekitchn.com/ina-gartens-chicken-marbella-263722

By chance I found this Barefoot Contessa recipe which sounds so delicious that I was drooling with longing! I've not seen it feature on B/C Cooking Like A Pro but, there again, in the UK the episodes of Ina's show are shown in a rather random way, darting from one series to another.

Quite apart from Molly's kitchen being "normal" rather than a purpose-built t.v. set, it's really refreshing to see pots and pans which have obviously seen a bit of life on the stove and in the oven, rather than those which seem to be an array of brand new sheets trays, etc for every dish created.

Two episodes in and I'm enjoying the show. Molly seems not only normal but also a good cook which isn't always the case on these cooking programmes!

Hi Lura A case of "great (?) minds think alike" - I can't take credit for the F/B comment but I did throw Drummondsville into the mix in my post of 25th May! Tho' maybe it had been said before on here.

Girl Meets Farms starts in the UK tomorrow I (think it's the first time it's been aired here). I'll be interested to see it: from the short clips shown, Molly seems - how shall I put this? - normal and without artifice.

Lura it's great to see your name again! Welcome back to the "frontier"! You've had a really rotten time but seems as if there's improvement/progress which is v.v.v.v.v good news. In the UK we continue to have a mishmash of Ree-peats, with the usual lack of chronology. The common thread, if one could be bothered to look for one!, is that PW's food is a buncha cheese, butter, cream and jalapenos galore. I am in a state of wide-eyed horror - tho maybe it's nicer than it looked??? - at Chile con Queso dip complete with breakfast sausage (I haven't a clue what that translates into this side of the Atlantic) and a whole block/package of Velveeta "cheese" alongside other things in cans I think I'd be hard-pressed to find at any shop in the UK. I'm not crying in frustration about this as I thought the chile con queso looked absolutely revolting! Processed cheese I do know about - packs with slices of it - but a block of the stuff hasn't entered my shopping air space. Not that I've looked for it.

No mention of staying (at a price) at the Boarding House to complete the Drummondsville Experience.

Sorry for the delay in replying - am not 100% at the moment. Yes, there are those who have been enthralled at the new royal baby to the point of breathless excitement but, apart from the fact that a new baby is a lovely thing, I really can't say - hand on heart - that the entire nation has been in a fever about it. In the UK we have a yeast extract spread called Marmite widely used on toast at breakfast-time. You either love it or hate, hence describing things as a "bit Marmite". Meghan Markle falls into that category. I find her calculating and manipulative, and intent on doing things Her Way which, when you're dealing with an institution such as the Royal Family/Monarchy, is foolhardy. I hope I'm proved wrong and it's happy-ever-after and that Prince H (frankly, not the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer) hasn't been gulled. My antipathy to MM is phaps based on cynicism. This is just my opinion, natch, but I'm not alone in wondering. This post isn't remotely PW-related. I must stagger to the sofa (I have a buncha compressed fractures in my back/spine...crumbling bones/osteoporosis) to try and find a way to sit comfortably to watch this afternoon's "dose" of deliciousness on which to feed hungry cowboys etc (repeats on a loop at the moment).

I agree, of course, that it's not actually a recipe and it's something that anybody with an ounce of imagination could do. My comment was really that is was SO refreshing to see something "normal" without the addition of endless unnecessary add-ons.

This is a first. Something Ree cooked on a show earlier today which a) I'd eat and b) I'd make. A 10 minute meal...stir fried shrimp with "veggies". No weird flavour combinations/no chucking in a buncha this that & t'other for no apparent reason. It looked delicious, to the point that I tried to find the recipe. Failed on that but I can remember the key components.

And don't forget the deep-fat-fried ice cream atrocity, or a weird Ree-take on baked Alaska.

Cilantro (what I call - as I'm in the UK - coriander) has a very overwhelming flavour, and Ree chucks in it regardless of whatever else she's thrown into the mix. Creating yet another hotpotch of ingredients and flavours. (I could be wrong, but I think I read somewhere that Ina Garten said cilantro is the one ingredient she never uses...if my memory is correct, I'm with Ina as I loathe it!)

Thanks so much for the background info. Explains a lot, i.e. how what she creates isn't a mishmash of ingredients!!

In the UK we seem to be getting a sudden spurt of Gaida's shows at the mo. I've no idea who she is in "real life" but do think she cooks Real, Proper Food rather than chucking in a buncha stuff for the sake of it.

How lovely to read Lura's post. sounds a realy awful time BUT hopefully progress (even if it feels like the ppace of a snail). . yesterday I saw a few episdoes of The Ree-ness. New ones to me.. heavens above....when will she learn that less is more? (a pointless and rhettoricak question).. one thing was a burger: well, it wasnt really a burger.. it was a skyscraper sandwiched between 2 bits of nlrmal burger-type bun. two HUGE burgers layered between a dollop macaroni cheese, deep frked string onions, sliced tomato, lettuce, think ranch dressing came into it as well, cheese slices, pickles and probably several other things but my mind timed out at the sight of this horror.. Then Monster Meatballs, the size of which defies description.. . the next episode was one of the glorious (yeah, right!) 16 minute meals' excitements. hyacinth popped up, to share fried shrimp (and random stuff) and grits. H's hair was at its most "unusual" in terms of oddly non-matchiing length, but maye this is a thing ive missed out on. excuse any awful mistakes. my laptop keeled over (total death) and I'musing mini IPad.

You're right, of course! There is very little "new" - ree-peats of ree-peats and ree-hashes of things seen before. And, on the odd occasion that a new episode pops up here in the UK, it's either PW's Best Bits (?) or another way of throwing together the same old, same old ingredients and the end result is only vaguely dissimilar to what has been cooked up by the rancher's wife at least one hundred times before.

Sweet of you to say that, Chessiegal -thank you! My "retirement" from commenting has been put on the back burner, at a slow simmer!! The FN UK channel is quite a mishmash of progs both UK-based and also (which is how I first encountered both Ina and PW) shows from the States. And there are a lot of repeats and only the vaguest chance that you get to see things in the proper sequence; with something like Diners, Drive Ins & Dives (which comes on for hours on Sunday afternoons here), that doesn't matter a jot. Jamie Oliver can be really good - his 15 minute meals, in particular, tho' it takes A Real Person in A Normal Kitchen a bit longer to achieve what he does within the time, unless you spend more than a moment or two assembling everything before the stopwatch countdown begins. Nigella (like Delia Smith, she's become known just by her first name) is one of those people who is either loved or loathed, with no grey area in between. She has become a slight caricature of herself on the BBC shows she does - perhaps it's by design? But I love her books: she writes so beautifully and the chatty narrative prefacing a recipe is informative and interesting. Main plus is she freely admits that she's not a chef or a trained cook, and simply loves to eat (which is rather refreshing!). Equally refreshing is her admission that her recipes are her take on something familiar...huge mutterings when she added a slug of vermouth to spaghetti carbonara was one instance of "purists" getting hot under the collar (silly people: taking pasta, eggs, bacon & cheese so seriously). I don't know whether you are able to access BBC progs generally on the PBS stations? I love any programme that features Rick Stein. He has done loads of wonderful travelogue series, all over the world, inc India (where the difference in food because of culture, climate & therefore ingredients, etc differs vastly from the north of the subcontinent right town to the southern-most point) and also the US. His "Venice to Istanbul" food adventure was so interesting - a bit of history, lots of food and altogether really engaging. He is articulate and has such an infectious enthusiasm for all that he encounters but isn't afraid to pull a face at something ghastly. And when he creates his own version of something it's not terrifyingly complicated and one does think I could do that. (in fairness to Jamie Oliver and others, they have done travelogue-type programmes as well which have been interesting, BUT Rick Stein is my favourite because of the rather endearing quality he brings to the screen...as well as the food!). How lovely to have your September trip to London to look forward to. There is so much to do and see.

I find the logic slightly skewed and the number-crunching (percentage) a bit off as clearly it was an active forum. All rather odd. And it will create knotted knitting in terms of one "page" for comments which inevitably aren't/won't be inter-related. Not sure I can be bothered to continue. Which is a shame, as I have really enjoyed my short time within the PW thread: very amusing , entertaining AND enlightening exchanges. And, most importantly, some lovely people contributing!

It has taken ages to find this "rejuvenated" (?) version of what was before. Happy New Year wishes, with a buncha jalapenos and brightly coloured sprinkles scattered atop, to one and all.

A most excellent post CupidStunt. It sums up more or less all that I think about the the PW brand and the faux reality. but expressed way more eloquently than I could achieve.

Hello OzzieChick from an English viewer/ranter/snarker. Look forward to reading your posts.

I was a bit mystified by this, too. Taking the Drummonds out of the equation as The Pioneer Woman is not quite all pretence but it's certainly contrived in terms of the ranch set pieces, etc, I have lived in a rural community more or less all my life - sheep, cattle (beef and dairy herds) abound - and the farmers' "animal husbandry" is something they take extremely seriously (including working dogs who, for the most part, do live in kennels outside and feral cats who prowl around barns). Undeniably, there are bad 'uns who don't operate with the same sense of responsibility and care, but that's the exception and not the rule. Equally, there are the most disagreeable people who are metropolitan to the core and who have never put a toe into the countryside. And with whom, frankly, one wouldn't wish to share the time of day...simply because they're not nice. Being "not nice" can't be applied to those who live in the country in the farming community as a sweeping statement (which I'm sure wasn't what Cathy meant to infer!),

My remark was more than a little tongue in cheek! There is wonderful food over here, of course, and some very, very good restaurants - from the ritzy & glitzy to small places which pride themselves on sourcing only local and seasonal produce. Mushroom soup is a favourite of mine. Comfort food in the winter: I make a really "hearty" (thick) mushroom soup and always add a splash of sherry while sweating down the onions.

Cathy, I fear the task is beyond me.