Sweet and savory decadence: Food Network goes all-in on chocolate for Valentine’s Day weekend

By Andrew Warren TV Media

Raise your hand if you love chocolate! Sweet and creamy and ohso-delicious milk chocolate is definitely the most popular type here in North America, but that’s really just one of the countless ways that the tasty treat can be enjoyed. With Valentine’s Day almost upon us, Food Network has devoted the entire weekend of Feb. 9 and 10 to the stuff, with Guy Fieri, Giada De Laurentiis and several other hosts all devoting entire episodes of their shows to chocolate.

Chocolate and Valentine’s Day may go hand in hand, but heartshaped boxes filled with truffles are just the beginning. Ree Drummond kicks off the weekend with a new episode of “The Pioneer Woman” on Saturday, Feb. 9. First, she makes Mississippi mud cake in all its chocolatey glory, along with some white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. Then, she shares her secrets to making a simple but delicious chocolate tart and whips up a chocolate fridge roll.

Later on Saturday, Fieri invites some friends over to show off just how versatile an ingredient chocolate can be in “Guy’s Ranch Kitchen.” First on the menu is a pair of dishes made by chef Aarti Sequeira: whipped goat cheese with cacao nibs on crostini with fresh figs, along with a cauliflower chaat salad with chocolate chutney. Meanwhile, chef Rocco DiSpirito proves that chocolate is just as much a savory ingredient as it is a sweet one with his spicy chocolate pork and beans served with chocolate monkey bread. The chocolate festivities continue the next day, with Molly Yeh celebrating both her husband’s and father-in-law’s birthdays in “Girl Meets Farm.” Her husband’s father, Roger, is a huge chocoholic, so she makes him a decadent dessert to top off an amazing meal: a chocolate tahini cake with tahini frosting. Then,

Giada helps her daughter host a Valentine’s Day party for her friends in “Giada Entertains.” She whips up a collection of elegant-but-kid-friendly dishes that includes cheesy chocolate ravioli, chocolate strawberry cups and sweet double-chocolate bark. Yum!

There’s just so much that can be done with chocolate, and what better time of the year than Valentine’s Day is there to experiment? Chocolate lovers won’t want to miss this upcoming weekend on Food Network.

Sunday, Feb. 3

Noon (8) WDSE Around the Farm Table

1:00 p.m. (9) KAWE New Scandinavian Cooking Niklas investigates the most popular drink in Scandinavia, namely coffee.

2:00 p.m. (9) KAWE The Great British Baking Show Almost half way through the baking competition, the remaining bakers bake pies and tarts.

Monday, Feb. 4

1:00 p.m. (11) KARE The Rachael Ray Show Viewers are presented with great recipes and simple solutions for everyday issues.

Tuesday, Feb. 5

11:30 a.m. (9) KAWE Martha Bakes Learn how to make three coffee shop favorites even better.

1:00 p.m. (11) KARE The Rachael Ray Show Viewers are presented with great recipes and simple solutions for everyday issues.

Wednesday, Feb. 6

1:00 p.m. (11) KARE The Rachael Ray Show Viewers are presented with great recipes and simple solutions for everyday issues.

Thursday, Feb. 7

1:00 p.m. (11) KARE The Rachael Ray Show Viewers are presented with great recipes and simple solutions for everyday issues.

Friday, Feb. 8

12:30 p.m. (9) KAWE Food Over 50 Creative desserts that contain a healthy package of nutritionally sweet benefits.

1:00 p.m. (11) KARE The Rachael Ray Show Viewers are presented with great recipes and simple solutions for everyday issues.

Saturday, Feb. 9

6:00 a.m. TRAV Food Paradise The nation’s tastiest treats between two slices of bread.

7:00 a.m. (2) KTCA Wisconsin Foodie

7:30 a.m. (2) KTCA Lucky Chow The Fung Bros visits a New Yorker who is reinventing the Shanghainese soup dumpling. (N)

8:00 a.m. (2) KTCA Simply Ming Ming learns how traditional gingerbread is made in the area of Petite France.

8:30 a.m. (2) KTCA Martha Stewart’s Cooking School Spice up everyday side dishes with the distinctive ingredients of the Gulf.

9:00 a.m. (2) KTCA Martha Bakes (N)

TRAV Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations Andrew explores coastal classics like shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, and barbecue.

9:30 a.m. (2) KTCA How to Cook Well

With Rory O’Connell Rory prepares baked Dover sole on the bone and roast sirloin of beef with red wine.

TRAV Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations Andrew takes us to Barcelona where its food reflects its history and culture.

10:00 a.m. (2) KTCA Joanne Weir’s Plates and Places (N)

TRAV Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations Andrew takes us to Zurich, the origin of some of Switzerland’s most famous foods.

10:30 a.m. (2) KTCA New Orleans

Cooking With Kevin Belton Crawfish and Corn Soup; Turtle Soup; Oyster and Artichoke Soup.

11:00 a.m. (2) KTCA Jacques Pepin’s Heart & Soul in the Kitchen Dishes include Parisian potaged, poulet a la crème, and orange cake.

11:30 a.m. (2) KTCA Lidia’s Kitchen Lidia makes a bruschetta with ‘nduja followed by a raw and cooked salad. (N)

Noon (2) KTCA Sara’s Weeknight Meals Recipes include a beautiful yellow squash soup and pearl couscous with shellfish.

12:30 p.m. (2) KTCA America’s Test Kitchen From Cook’s Illustrated Flat hand-pulled noodles and Chinesestyle barbecued spareribs are made. (N)

1:00 p.m. (2) KTCA Jamie’s Quick and Easy Food This week Jamie’s cooking up his snappy sesame seared tuna.

1:30 p.m. (2) KTCA Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street The team peeks into the foods of South America, notably Colombia and Peru.

2:00 p.m. (2) KTCA Confucius Was a Foodie Christine explores all kinds of noodles. (N)

2:30 p.m. (8) WDSE Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street

3:00 p.m. (2) KTCA The Great British Baking Show For their Signature challenge, the bakers go all out with two types of sponge puddings.

(8) WDSE America’s Test Kitchen From Cook’s Illustrated Elle Simone makes the ultimate pork chops.

Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN: Food Feb 3, 2019 to Feb 9, 2019

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