Super weekend for cooking

This is quite the weekend for people who like to cook – Chinese New Year and a little ol’ thing called the Super Bowl, which may be celebrated as much for food as for football. For Chinese New Year, I’ll let my friend Linda Shiue tell the story  about the dumplings she makes with her daughters. Francis Lam of Salon.com has a funny story, too, about stuffing his gut with all kinds of dumpling deliciousness.

 As for Super Bowl party food, I should confess that I’m not really a football fan. I wrote this story last year, which pretty much sums up everything I know about football. I included a recipe for Smoky Tuna Dip with Paprika and Lime, a little something I came up with when I couldn’t find real smoked tuna. It’s a tasty and simple dip, a nice addition to a Super Bowl spread. I do know that the big game will take place in Texas, so I’m offering my Texas Caviar with Home-baked Lime Tortilla Chips. Texas caviar is a black-eyed pea relish that is absolutely yummy, and it’s a healthy choice for the menu, too.

Now, one holiday I can wrap my brain around is World Nutella Day, today - "Nutella Lovers Unite for Just One Day!" We love Nutella in our house – the hazelnut and chocolate spread is used in sandwiches and sweets. Coincidentally, yesterday was Show and Tell for the letter “N” at preschool, and my baby girl carried a jar of Nutella to show her class.

I first tasted a Nutella milkshake at Flip Burger, Top Chef contender Richard Blais’ upscale burger shop in Atlanta (there’s a Birmingham location, too). He makes his with liquid nitrogen and breaks out blowtorch for the burnt marshmallow garnish. Through the magic of Google, I came across this recipe for a Nutella milkshake and I have to say, it’s brilliant. Chocolate ice cream, milk, and a generous squidge of Nutella. No canister of liquid nitrogen involved. The real genius move, though, is the toasted marshmallow topping made without a blowtorch, but in the toaster oven.

Enjoy your weekend!

Burgers, Milkshakes & Blais

Me and Chef Richard Blais by Susan Loper/A Cook and Her Books

Celebrated chef and Top Chef season 4 finalist Richard Blais christened the second Atlanta location of FLIP Burger Boutique in Buckhead Monday night. While making sure that the tasty burgers and milkshakes were being distributed to the crowd, the personable chef took time to talk with the guests and pose for pictures. (And his hair looked great all night.)

My favorites from the eclectic "fine dining between two buns" selections - the Southern burger with gooey pimento cheese dripping off the sides, and the Butcher's Cut with blue cheese, caramelized onion and red wine jam. Of course, you need a side with that, something like Vodka Battered Onion Rings with Beer Honey Mustard does the trick - crispy, crunchy, salty.

Dessert is in a glass - liquid nitrogen milkshakes. My favorite is the Nutella + Burnt Marshmallow. I think I may try to make this at home - minus the fancy kitchen tools.

A FLIP Buckhead employee burns the marshmallows for Nutella milkshakes. Note the mondo industrial nitrogen tank in the background.

There's a cool slideshow of FLIP's menu on Examiner.com.

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