STAR CHEF REMAKES CLASSIC PIGS IN A BLANKET
Guarnaschelli takes addictive party snack up a notch
Spare a moment for all the foods that have disappeared during the pandemic — and not because there’s been a run on supermarkets. Not many people are mobilizing to dunk bread cubes in a communal pot of cheese fondue. Likewise, bowls of onion dip with piles of chips aren’t around as they once were. Instead of buckets of chicken wings on game night, we’ve got fried chicken popcorn on movie night.
Pigs in a blanket are equally absent. The cherished cocktail party staple has dropped off the radar because there are no cocktail parties to cherish them at. Any events that are still happening are likely virtual, without benefit of a server with a silver tray laden with pastry-wrapped mini dogs.
It’s time for that to change, says chef Alex Guarnaschelli, who has long recognized the power of pigs in blankets. The erstwhile star of TV shows “Chopped” and the new “Supermarket Stakeout” is also a notable French-trained cook who helms Butter Midtown in New York.
“I love the texture. I love dumping them in too much mustard,” she says. “Puff pastry meets a hot dog is basically me, a New Yorker who went to cook in France.
“People talk about the perfect bank job, this is perfect snack,” she says, regarding the ease with which they are consumed. At parties, there’s no need for cocktail forks, and no messy leftover bones or seafood shells.
“I have rolled up to events with pigs in blankets, and the woman in the fanciest silk dress will eat 10 of them.”
In her new “Cook With Me: 150 Recipes for the Home Cook” (Penguin Random House; $35), Guarnaschelli offers a slew of enhanced comfort foods, including the addictive snack. She roasts pork chops on a sheet pan, with spicy Brussels sprouts, and makes spaghetti and meatballs two ways. (“Are you a Godfather or a Goodfellas person?” she asks. The Godfather sauce has red wine, and the meatballs include sausage.)
“Most chefs find it hard to come off their high horse when they’re cooking at home,” she says. “When I had my daughter Ava, I gave myself permission to be a home cook.”
That means knowing there’s no dishwasher to clean up dozens of prep bowls, or scoops of caviar to garnish a dish that doesn’t look great.
Guarnaschelli used to buy the heat-and-serve pigs in a blanket for her family. Then she decided they weren’t good value for the result and started making them herself. At first, she tried to make her version fancier, with tweaks such as condiments spread on the pastry. Quickly, the chef realized, the original was almost perfect but could benefit from a minor tweak or two. Namely, she tucks chopped parsley into the “blanket” and adds Tabasco and grainy mustard to the sauce.
The result is a pig in a blanket, with a refreshing herb accent and a fiery dipping sauce with the pop of mustard seeds, that’s featured in her new book. “Parsley is a little hint of freshly mowed-lawn vibe-so good with the meat,” observes Guarnaschelli.
Here’s the other thing I
realized about pigs in a blanket when I made them — they are one of the very few foods that are as fun to make as they are to eat. It’s
hard to not be delighted by rolling up a mini hot dog in a strip of pastry and then seeing it puff up and brown in the oven. The bite is pure joy: a crisp, juicy pop of meat barely contained in its f laky crust.