Chef Rocco DiSpirito pitches frozen food to a tough room at BlogHer food conference

Rocco DiSpirito just might be the bravest man alive.

The celebu-chef -- who did not appear to be carrying any firearms or other form of self-protection -- sauntered into the middle of several hundred hooting, hollering, amped-up-on-coffee food bloggers, and attempted to sell them on frozen food. That's right, he was pitching Bertolli's new line of frozen foods to a group of (mostly) women who spend their spare time crafting recipes, cooking, and photographing, blogging, reading and commenting about all manner of food, glorious food.

I told you he was brave.

Rocco was one of the bold-faced names on hand for BlogHer Food '09, the first BlogHer conference  dedicated solely to food bloggers. About 300 people were in attendance for the sold-out Sept. 26 event at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco. It was so successful that discussions are already underway for a second food-dedicated conference, said Lisa Stone, co-founder and chief executive of BlogHer, an online community hub for more than 22,000 female bloggers on a variety of topics including politics, news, technology, family and, obviously, food.

Free Slurpees at 7-Eleven on Saturday

It's free Slurpee day at 7-Eleven on 7/11. The chain of convenience stores is celebrating its 82nd birthday by offering free Slurpees throughout the day at many of its locations. (Docstoc has a handy list of participating stores in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and Riverside counties.)

If one neon-colored, highly sweetened, semi-frozen drink isn't enough, show up on Friday night at the North Hollywood 7-Eleven on Vineland Avenue and Vanowen Street, where the first 100 die-hard fans will receive a one-year supply of Slurpees. (Officially, that means one Slurpee per week for one year.) Talk about brain freeze.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: A child drinks a Slurpee at a 7-Eleven store in Canoga Park. Credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeels Times

Bacon: Put it in ice cream

David Leibovitz's story in this week's Food section, "31 Flavors? Think Outside the Carton, Homemade Ice Cream Lovers," definitely fires up the imagination when it comes to the wonderful world of ice cream, what with flavors like buckwheat and carrot cake.

But what really piqued my interest was a recipe from his blog, David Leibovitz: Living the Sweet Life in Paris. The former Chez Panisse pastry chef and author of "The Perfect Scoop" has a recipe for candied bacon ice cream.

Yes. Candied bacon ice cream.

And yes. I had to try it. Couldn't help myself.

Truly amazing! The ice cream has a thick custard base sweetened with brown sugar, with just a little extra flavoring from rum or whiskey (we chose whiskey) and vanilla (you've also got the option of adding a little ground cinnamon for added spice). Churn the base until it's almost frozen, then fold in some chopped fresh candied bacon and freeze. The results? Perfection.

Try it on its own or be creative. David suggests adding the candied bacon bits to homemade coffee ice cream or even avocado ice cream. I'm thinking next time I might just scoop a little of this goodness over a nice, hot waffle with a drizzle of maple syrup. Redefine breakfast a little.

In the meantime, this gets No. 27 on my list of 1,001 things to do with bacon.

Click below for more.

— Noelle Carter

Photo: Noelle Carter

David Lebovitz invites you to think outside the pint

 

Does the name David Lebovitz ring a bell? If you are like the rest of us, you read his blog to be transported to his dreamy, edible life in Paris. (You can follow his equally amusing/transporting feed on Twitter @davidlebovitz) This week, Lebovitz's writing arrives closer to home: He writes our cover story in today's Food section about ice creams, and his quest to look beyond plain old vanilla. Above: buckwheat ice cream.

Photo: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times

Freeze! It's a challenge from Egullet

When a challenge from Egullet to go cold-turkey on grocery shopping landed in my in-box, I found myself answering the culinary call-to-arms out loud:

"Do you spend $100 a week on groceries?" YES!! "If so, we have a plan to put that $100 back in your pocket quicker than you can say 'stimulus.' " ALL RIGHT!! "Join me in a week without shopping, as we feast on the bounty of our refrigerators, freezers and pantries." I WILL!!

The idea is to forgo your grocery shopping for one week and pocket the savings. Instead, forage in your pantry, freezer and refrigerator to piece together meals from the long-forgotten bounty: the hodgepodge of frozen pork parts, the half-empty box of macaroni, the unopened jar of salsa.

Think of it as the ultimate Top Chef quick-fire challenge with Rice-a-Roni and canned tuna. I’m a bit of a freezer junkie myself. Right now mine is home to several dozen stray cookies (household baking rule: half the batch must be saved for later), homemade pasta sauces (re-warming instructions included should my husband feel the sudden urge for spaghetti), and a growing collection of chicken livers (I suppose for last-minute Tuscan chicken liver crostini, but I’m not really sure).

Full steam ahead for a week of shortbread crostini a la Bolognese!

And be sure to check out Egullet's post regarding "some simple rules” to abide by. Hmmm. Could they be concerned I might eat that frozen brisket from 2002?

--Jenn Garbee

Deep-fried cupcakes? This Is Why You're Fat

Do you like to look at pictures of "deliciously gross food" such as this cupcake that has been deep fried and then drenched in chocolate syrup and topped off with sprinkles?

Well, someone out there does. Within three days of launching this month, a blog and website dedicated to food porn -- the aptly titled ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com -- pulled in more than 3 million pages views. (The blog's subtitle: Where dreams become heart attacks.)

"We thought it was a very good idea, but we were both very surprised at how it caught on." That's one of the co-creators -- she prefers to be identified as Creator No. 1 and declines to be identified because she and her partner are in the media and want to avoid making themselves part of the story behind the blog, to keep the focus on the food.

A little mystery never hurt either.

"It started because we were joking about how there are all these really nasty pictures of fatty foods floating around on the Internet. We’re like, "Do people really eat this? Are people posting these photos as a badge of honor?'"

They started collecting images on Feb. 1 and launched Feb. 9, and it's been pinging around the Internet ever since, thanks in no small part to mentions by Time, The Atlantic, the New York Times, etc.

Taking stock of what matters most (like olives)

You'll never guess what Times Food Editor Russ Parsons finds when he braves the elements -- and cleans his fridge out of all but the essentials.

What are the absolute must haves in your fridge?

--Rene Lynch

'Food, Inc.' film looks at corporate impact on what we eat

Food writers Eric Schlosser ("Fast Food Nation") and Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore's Dilemma") move to the big screen in "Food, Inc.," a film that looks at what's happened to the production of food in the last few decades.

Producer-director Robert Kenner's movie, which had a screening Thursday night at Sony, covers a range of issues, from the effects of corn syrup on health and farming, to the ways animals are raised and killed, food-borne illnesses and the plight of farmers. The filmmakers, as you might guess from this image from the movie, don't like a lot of what they see.

"The idea that you have to write a book to tell people where their food comes from shows how far removed" they are from it, Pollan says in the film.

"Food, Inc." opens in June in 20 cities, Kenner said. It was shown at the Toronto Film Festival. Warning to squeamish meat-eaters: Shots in chicken houses, slaughterhouses and elsewhere could be tough to watch.

Lean Cuisine recalls frozen chicken meals

The Nestle Prepared Foods Co. is recalling three varieties of Lean Cuisine entrees. According to a recorded message: "Lean Cuisine is taking this action after several consumers recalled finding small pieces of blue plastic material." Presumably, in their food.

The Lean Cuisine meals in question are the Pesto Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta, the Chicken Mediterranean and the Chicken Tuscan. Consumers can find out whether their meals are affected by looking at the bar code or UPC label on the boxes and calling Lean Cuisine at (800) 993-8625. Then, Press 2, and then Press 1 for a recorded message. No other varieties of Lean Cuisine products are affected by this recall, according to the message.

Curiously, as of this moment, there isn't any information on the recall at www.leancuisine.com

Media calls were referred to a representative, and a message left there was not immediately returned.

-- Rene Lynch