Cooking with Dave Lieberman

Dave Lieberman is an interesting guy who made me lunch today. Well, me, and 20 other people at Macy's Metro Center. He came to DC to do a promotional event for both his cookbook, Dave's Dinners, and Macy's cookware line, Tools of the Trade. You had to buy $50 worth of this cookware to get an autographed copy. As much as I like him and his recipes, I don't need $50 worth of cookware in order to get his John Hancock.

In case you're not familiar with Dave Lieberman, he's a 27-ish-year-old cook who was on the Food Network's Good Deal with Dave Lieberman and according to some critics is the channel's attempt to reach out to younger audiences. In the midst of being a starstruck fan, I did get out a question about the show and he said that he doesn't see doing any more episodes of Good Deal because he feels like he's done everything he can with it. The show was one of my favorites -- he broke down complicated recipes and created champagne dishes on a light beer budget (but a nice light beer, none the less).

In the meantime, Dave is doing all kinds of other ventures, including the Web-based Dave Does for Food Network and In Search of Real Food for Yahoo! He also said he's working on a travel-based food show that highlights where your food comes from.

I've interviewed politicians, famous journalists and other celebrities that only newsies would swoon about, but I lost my cool on this one. I feel like such a starstruck teenage girl, but I'm only human. And, we were fed some delicious dishes from his cookbook.

We had his pumpkin and chipotle corn chowder with an onion marmalade toast topped with slices of Parmesan and country-style pate and a creamy chicken thighs and mushrooms over gemelli pasta.

The soup was delicious and spicy with a touch of pumpkin flavor that didn't overwhelm the rest of the flavors. The toast was delicious with the onion marmalade, which isn't a combination I would have guessed. The Parmesan was a great touch too -- tangy with a bit of bite. The pasta and chicken dish was also delicious and provided a great combination of carbs, veggies and protein.

We all got a copy of the recipes before we left. I won't post them for the sake of length, but e-mail me at kellymahoney[at]gmail.com if you want them or check out Dave's book.