Photo: harper collins
Stuart O’Keeffe and Amy Phillips have cooked up a real treat for fans of theReal Housewivesfranchise.
“It’s a celebration of theHousewivesthat everyone can get behind,” Phillips, host ofReality Checked with Amy Phillipson Radio Andy, tells PEOPLE. “Stuart and I are both fans of the show, so we really designed this to be something as a companion for fellowHousewivesaddicts.”
“Hopefully, readers will get as much joy out of it as we got putting it together,” O’Keeffe adds.
Below, the duo tell PEOPLE about putting the book together, their favorite inclusions, and even share an exclusive recipe born from one of the most iconic moments inHousewiveshistory.
harper collins
PEOPLE: How did this project come together?
PEOPLE: Wow! Editing that list down must have been difficult.
Phillips:We had an embarrassment of riches.O’Keeffe:It was the hardest part. We ended up with about 165 recipes and we had to cut it down to 110.Phillips:But Stuart is one scrappy chef, let me tell you. He is the kind of person who pulls magic out of thin air. I’d be like, “We have to do something referencingShannon Beadorgetting hit with that meditation bowl on her head inReal Housewives of Orange County. What’s a dish where you bang on something?” And he’d be like, “Oh yeah, we can do a chicken paillard.” So Bangin' Meditation Bowl Chicken Paillard was born.O’Keeffe:So many of them wrote themselves — Yolanda Bananas Foster, Ponytail Pull-ed Pork, The Sonjarita — but sometimes we’d get stuck. We tried and tried to come up with something to reference when Adrienne Maloof washed the chicken inRHOBH, and eventually settled on Soapy Lemon Chicken a la Adrienne. That one took a long time to get right.Philips:One regret is that we just couldn’t make the Capri Room Caprese salad happen.We already had so manyRHOBHrecipes and we had already had so many salads, we couldn’t fit it in.O’Keeffe:But we got in the Wow Bethenny Bao, which I was against at first. I didn’t want to do bao buns, because they are complicated to make, but that was such a gold moment and the recipe is really beautiful with this delicious Asian pork, we had to include it. I’m like, “Go to the Chinese restaurant and buy the bao buns if it’s easier!“Phillips:He was able to pivot easily with me because the titles really needed to dictate what we were doing. It wasn’t like the food necessarily always came first. I’d say, “We need to do something candy-coated forKandi Burruss” and he was so flexible and creative, he’d find it.O’Keeffe:It was super, super fun, coming up with everything. Amy was just hilarious, and her puns are extraordinary. I mean, we laughed all the way. We had calls once or twice a week and we’d just be dying laughing on the phone.
PEOPLE: Amy, do you have a favorite recipe?
Phillips:RememberLeeAnne Locken’s L’Infinity dress that you could wear 175 ways? Well, I was like, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if we had a dressing that we could use 175 ways?” And Stuart created an amazing original L’Infinity dressing, which I was really obsessed with. You could use it as a marinade, you could use it as a salad dressing — and it’s freaking delicious. I was like, “Bottle it and sell it, because it’s incredible.”
PEOPLE: Stuart, seeing as there may beHousewivesfans who are less experienced in the kitchen, do you have a tip for first-timers cooking and baking from the book?
O’Keeffe:My ultimate tip if you’re a novice in the kitchen is to read the recipe three times. People will often just look at the ingredients, go buy them at the store, and then realize back home that there’s more to a recipe than they anticipated. So you have to read it and understand it, because you could have “marinate for six hours” in the directions and you didn’t look at that. You’ll want to be able to plan accordingly. Same goes for baking, really read the recipe. Take your time. Oh, and preheat your oven. People always forget to do that, and it’s really the easiest first step.
PEOPLE: And Amy, seeing as there may be cooking experts who are less experienced in theHousewives, where do you suggest they start?
Phillips:What I love about theHousewivesfranchise, and what I discovered years ago, is these over-the-top, opinionated, aspirational, outspoken women. I’m an actor at heart. I love the study of humanity and the study of character, and you really can’t write better characters than these real women. I’m drawn to them! So if you’re tuning into these shows for the first time, trying to embrace the fun of it all. And if you’re looking for a place to start, I’d goReal Housewives of New Jerseyseason 3 orRHOBHseason 1. Both have great family drama at the core, but one’s East Coast and one’s West Coast. Pick your flavor!
PEOPLE: Well, we’re going to premiere one of the recipes from the book — the Trash Sprinkle Cookies, which of course is a callback toRHONJseason 3, where we learnedTeresa Giudicethrew in the trash the sprinkle cookies her sister-in-lawMelissa Gorgagifted her one holiday.
PEOPLE: Let’s get to it, then. Readers, enjoy this exclusive recipe fromCook It, Spill It, Throw It: The Not-So-Real Housewives Parody Cookbook.
Trash Sprinkle Cookies
1 ¾ cups (220g) all-purpose flour1 ¾ tsp. baking powder½ tsp. kosher salt1 stick (4 oz/115 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature1 cup (200g) sugar1 large egg1 tsp. vanilla extract½ tsp. almond extract¾ cup (220g) sprinkles
1.Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two 13 x 9-inch baking sheets with parchment paper.
2.In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
3.In a bowl, with an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together at high speed until light and pale in color. Turn the speed to medium and add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Add the flour mixture in two batches until everything is combined.
4.Pour the sprinkles on a plate and set aside.
5.Using a 1 ½-tablespoon ice cream scoop, scoop out the dough and lightly roll in the sprinkles. Set the cookies on the baking sheet as you work.
6.Bake until the centers of the cookies still look slightly undercooked (they’ll finish cooking from residual heat when taken out of the oven), 8 to 10 minutes.
7.Transfer the cookies onto a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes.
Makes:24 cookiesActive time:20 minutesTotal time:30 minutes
Cook It, Spill It, Throw It: The Not-So-Real Housewives Parody Cookbookis out now.
source: people.com
