Interview with celebrity chef Sandra Lee

Sandra Lee is more than just a celebrity chef. She is the editor-in-chief of her own magazine, Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade, she is also the host of “Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee” and “Sandra’s Money Saving Meals.” With an array of experience under her belt, Sandra offer’s easy ways to create a delicious meal, or simplifying by creating snacks and cocktails. TheCelebrityCafe.com had the opportunity to speak with the ever-busy Sandra and get some tips on how to create the perfect party.

TheCelebrityCafe: Sandra, you not only create meals, you create the whole experience, from the place settings to the drinks. Where do your inspirations come from?

Sandra Lee: Sometimes my inspirations come from a beautiful cocktail when I’m traveling. Sometimes they come from an outfit. I’ll match an outfit to a window treatment and I’ll look at the color theme and if it’s green, it’ll maybe be a margarita with limeade in it. If it’s yellow, maybe it’s a margarita that has lemonade in it. So I just kind of change it up for what my theme is and everyone seems to like it, and it works for them…works for me. It’s delicious and it’s beautiful.

TCC: I hear you have a recipe for a “skinny margarita,” can you tell me about that?

SL: I like doing the margarita because it’s the number one cocktail in the United States. Everyone wants a margarita and the Jose Cuervo authentic light is like a bartender in a bottle. It has the Jose Cuervo tequila in it and it has the perfect amount of margarita mix in it. You can pour it over ice, you can blend it with fresh fruit. Coming out in spring time you will have [fresh fruit], but until then we can use frozen thawed.

Peach juice would be beautiful with it, so you can really take something that is under 100 calories when you just pour it over ice and use it as a light cocktail margarita year round, but also, break it out for a special occasion. I like to pair that with my puffed pears, I always do a cocktail and an appetizer. The puffed pears are four ingredients and can be done in 20 minutes and they are off-the-charts delicious. And, it looks like you had a caterer come in and create them for you.

TCC: Can you tell me more about your 70/30 philosophy?

SL: The 70/30 philosophy is really interchangeable. It was originally based on 70% store bought ready-made and 30% fresh ingredients. So, you take something that is packaged and you embellish it so that it tastes like it’s completely from scratch, but it’s put together in record time like convenience products in a grocery store do.

You can also do a flip, you can do 70% fresh and 30% packaged which going into the spring season you want things a little bit fresher and a little bit lighter, not just your cocktails, but your food. That’s a really good philosophy.

TCC: How would you create the ultimate award viewing party?

SL: First of all, you have to have a great menu and you have to have a signature cocktail. You need to create a warm environment and you need to honor the movies and stars that are up for the awards this year, which is exactly what we’re doing at Elton John’s Aids Foundation Oscar viewing party.

TCC: You are editor-in-chief of Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade magazine and the host of “Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee” and “Sandra’s Money Saving Meals,” how do you find any you time?

SL: I have me time. When I shoot my shows I shoot them in a bundle, so I shoot them all at once, back to back. Then I kind of compartmentalize my life. It’s kind of like how when we were in college or even high school; you had six classes with every class has a different teacher, every class has a different agenda and different things they’re teaching you and that’s kind of how you run your business. Only now my businesses are a TV show, a book and a magazine. There’s book stores, book signings and then I have my personal life. It’s the exact same thing.

TCC: Many of your recipes are low calorie, do you live a healthy lifestyle? And are you trying to help educate viewers?

SL: I try to teach my viewers is to enjoy their life and give them options. My job is not to tell them or dictate to them what they’re going to do or how they should do it. I don’t think that works this day in age. I think what our jobs are, or anybody who is in the public eye or anyone who people look to for advice, our job is to share options and let you chose what works for you.

TCC Tell me more about the AIDS Foundation you are currently working with Elton John in.

SL: If people want to go donate, the can go to the Elton John AIDS Foundation website. His work with children, I work with children a lot too when it comes to hunger, but his work AIDS/HIV and these kids shouldn’t have to suffer for something that certainly wasn’t their own faults. He makes a difference every single day.

Sandra took the time to give TheCelebrityCafe.com and our readers a chance to re-create a couple of her fantastic dishes.

Pear Puffs

Beauty Plate
Makes: 16 puffs
Cook Time: 20 minutes

1 egg
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
5 tablespoons, plus 1 teaspoon,semisoft cheese with garlic and fine herbs
2/3 cup diced pears, drained and thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment papers and set aside. For egg wash, in a small bowl, lightly whisk together eggs and 1 teaspoon water. Set aside.

2. Unroll puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll puff pastry into a 14 × 10-inch rectangle. Cut into sixteen 3½ × 2½-inch rectangles.

3. Spread 1 teaspoon of the semisoft cheese in middle of a pastry rectangle. Top with 2 teaspoons of pears. Using a pastry brush, brush egg wash around perimeter of the puff pastry rectangle. Bring corners of the pastry to the center and pinch seams together. Repeat to make 16 puffs. Arrange puffs, seam sides up, on prepared baking sheets. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Remove from refrigerator and brush tops with remaining egg wash.

4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Pepper Steak Skews
Beauty Plate & partial demo (assembling skewers)
Serves: 6
Cook Time: 6 minutes

For The Steak Rolls:

1 (2-pound) flank steak
1 (12-ounce) jar roasted red peppers, sliced in half
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
2 tablespoons steak seasoning
1 tablespoon canola oil
12 (10-inch) wooden skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes

For The Spicy Yogurt Sauce:

1 tablespoon Montreal steak seasoning
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Preheat grill over medium heat.

2. Split down the center, cutting almost through until the two halves open flat to resemble a butterfly shape. Cover the steak with plastic and pound it to about ¼-inch thickness. Cut the pounded steak into 4 equal rectangles. Lay out each steak piece so the grain of the meat goes sideways. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of seasoning over the steak pieces. Lay a piece of the roasted red pepper on each piece of meat. Sprinkle each piece with ¼ cup of cheese.

3. Starting from the bottom edge and rolling away from you, roll each piece of beef into a tight log. Place two rolls back to back with the seams facing each other and do the same with the other 2 rolls. Skewer each pair of rolls with 6 skewers spaced evenly apart, so that each skewer pierces both rolls and extends a couple of inches beyond. Slice the rolls between the skewers to give 6 pieces, with 2 round rolls on each skewer, like 2 lollipops on a stick. Season the rolls with the remaining steak seasoning.

4. Brush the grill grates with a tablespoon of oil. Grill skewers for 3 minutes per side. Transfer rolls to a large plate and serve with spicy yogurt sauce.

To make Spicy Yogurt Sauce, combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until blended.

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