Photo credit: Rachael Ray Show
Aired January 10, 2017
Get out your voting pools and open a bottle of wine with your friends--it’s awards season! While Hollywood is celebrating the best in entertainment this year, we’re still savoring all of our favorite recipes, and to us, they’re ALL winners. Check out our awards for some absolutely outstanding eats.
Shout out to our girl Rachael for being a 2017 People’s Choice Awards Favorite Daytime TV Host nominee! Tune in on January 18th at 9:00 p.m. ET on CBS to root her on!
Outstanding Performance in a Chicken Dish: Chicken Paillard with Greens, Mozzarella and Crispy Prosciutto
Rachael Ray Show
Chicken was born to play this role. With only five ingredients, this dish faces a real challenge, but it totally delivers with the classic taste and ease of preparation, plus the chemistry with its cast mates (mozzarella and prosciutto, especially) make this dish a true star.
Best Supporting Snack(tor): Sunny Anderson’s Pepperoni Popcorn
Rachael Ray Show
These two ingredients have both had long careers delighting us in different dishes. Popcorn stuck with the genre that made it essential--who could even walk into a movie theater without getting a taste of this buttery perfection? Pepperoni’s big role with pizza has earned major buzz over the years, and many suggested it for other starring roles with chicken and sandwiches. However, only Sunny Anderson could have brought these two together in an unbeatable snack that we didn’t know we needed, and now we can’t live without.
Best Adapted Side Dish: Green Bean and Mushroom Mac Casserole
Rachael Ray Show
Green bean casserole: It’s the ultimate Thanksgiving classic that never fails to impress the whole family on food’s most special holiday. The addition of macaroni and the alternate approach to making mushroom soup is bringing something new to the role that we never could have expected.
Outstanding Performance by a Guest Chef: Emeril Lagasse’s Crispy Pan-Roasted Chicken with Garlic-Thyme Butter
Rachael Ray Show
Emeril’s dish has all the makings of greatness: chicken, garlic and butter. All the ingredients were there to make this dish a total hit, and he knocked it out of the park in true Emeril fashion. Eaters will be delighted by this performance and find themselves returning to the dish time and time again.
Best Protein in a Leading Dish: Anne Burrell’s Rockin’ Porchetta with Fall Veggies
Rachael Ray Show
Porchetta is often underestimated when casting for a dish. Either the preparation is too long, you can’t find it at the store or you want to stick with something familiar. But Anne Burrell’s dish blasts away all of those expectations and makes us see this meat in a whole new light. It’s accessible, delicious, unique, and we think we’ll be seeing a lot more of porchetta in roles to come.
Outstanding Performance by a Casserole: 5-Ingredient White Ziti
Rachael Ray Show
It seems like everywhere you look, there’s a new casserole dish that you’ve got to try. Don’t they all blend together after awhile? But this five-ingredient white ziti delivers an undeniable performance that is setting it apart from the rest. With three different types of cheese, this is sure to become a staple in your home.
Best Adapted Cocktail: Grant’s Buffalo Mary
Rachael Ray Show
Why has this cocktail never been made before now? What a thrilling combination and an utter joy it was to try this cocktail. Brunches all over the country are whooping with joy that they are receiving such praise for a cocktail, especially when it can be hard to break from the traditional menu items of this course. Buffalo Marys are going to have a long career ahead, and we can’t wait to see them shine.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Baked Ziti
Rachael Ray Show
Across all generations, courses, tastes and diets, it is nearly impossible to find a dish that unites us all, but this baked ziti has made incredible strides to bridge the gaps across the table. Its versatility as a main course and a side dish, the ability to be preserved as leftovers, often coming out even better the next day, and its rich history in Rachael’s family make this dish completely deserving of top honors this year.