Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette
	Diane DeNardo and Karen Raffensperger, editors of "The Heart of Pittsburgh II," present a Puffed Apple Pancake featured in their new cookbook.

Two years ago, 55 parents affiliated with Sacred Heart Elementary School in Shadyside were put to the test. The exam required a detailed answer to the question "Does this recipe work?"

The culinary volunteers had offered to kitchen-test hundreds of recipes for "The Heart of Pittsburgh II," a sequel to the 1998 McIlhenney Prize-winning "The Heart of Pittsburgh," published by the Parent Teacher Guild.

It was serious business; even a recipe testing coordinator, Kelly Runco, was appointed to make sure homework was completed.

"Everyone had to fill out a two-page tester's form on the recipe they tested," said co-editor Karen Raffensperger in the kitchen of her Squirrel Hill home.

"The questions weren't just on how it tasted but crucial ones to a cook, such as was the temperature correct, did it cook in the time stated, were all the listed ingredients used?"

From a mound of 500-plus recipes, 316 were tested, retested and deemed acceptable for inclusion in the sequel.

The process took two years, as it did with the first book, but cooks gravitate to cookbooks with recipes they can trust. "The Heart of Pittsburgh," in its fifth printing, has already raised $80,000 for school improvements.

Raffensperger, mother of four daughters, and co-editor Diane DeNardo, mother of one, tested at least 50 recipes each. Two of their daughters ended up contributing recipes.

Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette

A dessert Mom will love, from "The Heart of Pittsburgh II": Coconut Bundt Cake with Roasted Apricot Sauce. Availability "The Heart of Pittsburgh II" is available at more than 40 stores in the Pittsburgh area, including Borders, Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, university book stores, hospital gift shops and specialty stores. Cost is $17.95. Details: 412-422-4466. Proceeds benefit the science and technology curriculum at Sacred Heart Elementary School. Upcoming tastings/demos Today: 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. -- UPMC Montefiore Hospital gift shop Tomorrow: 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. -- Allegheny General Hospital gift shop Saturday: 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. -- Wholey's Balcony Cookware, Strip, and 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. -- Sarsfields Gifts, Wexford May 19: 7 to 9 p.m. -- McGinnis Sisters, Monroeville

"Antonia loves to cook, so she helped me with testing," DeNardo said of her 12-year-old. "She makes a lot of smoothies, and we included her Mango-Pineapple Smoothie in the book."

Raffensperger, on the other hand, is more on edge when others are in the kitchen when she's testing. "I'm too frantic, too busy concentrating; I have to be by myself," she admitted.

Her eldest daughter, Kristen, 17, however, did some testing on her own. She and a friend invented a cake that turned out just fine. Thus, Danielle & Kristen's Dreamed Up Cake made the dessert section.

Since the school has an international student body, the book also has entries from Korea, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Japan and Poland.

Like its predecessor, "The Heart of Pittsburgh II" features historical sketches and photos of 13 Pittsburgh neighborhoods, among them Observatory Hill, Brookline, Regent Square and Lawrenceville. Anne McCafferty again scouted out the locations; DeNardo did the research.

"The Three Rivers Cookbook" series started the phenomenon of the serious community cookbook in Pittsburgh.

Published in 1973, the Junior League's first effort featured all tested recipes, which had never been done before, and was a wildly successful endeavor. So far it has sold more than 500,000 copies and remains the most popular of the series.

Together with the sequels -- "Three Rivers II," "Three Rivers III" and "Three Rivers Renaissance" -- sales have reached nearly $2.75 million, even though one of the sequels didn't live up to its potential.

"Volume Four has never taken off like we thought it would," said Nancy Kury, marketing coordinator for the books.

"The first three had the same basic cover, but we changed the cover and the binding on 'Renaissance,' and people don't perceive it as a 'Three Rivers Cookbook.' "

She laments this fact because "the book has more contemporary recipes with fresh ingredients" than its predecessors.

Raffensperger and DeNardo are adamant that they are not going to do any more sequels to "The Heart of Pittsburgh." But, as with childbirth, time has a way of softening the memory of the pain and work involved.

And if there is a "Heart III" in the future, chances are they'll be especially careful not to change the familiar cover or binding.

RELATED RECIPES

From the hundreds of mouth-watering recipes in "Heart II," we chose four with Mother's Day in mind.

Puffed Apple Pancakes

• ¹/₂ cup butter, melted
  
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
  
• 7 eggs
  
• 2 cups milk
  
• 1 ¹/₄ cups flour
  
• 3 tablespoons sugar
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  
• ¹/₂ teaspoon salt
  
• ¹/₂ teaspoon cinnamon
  
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Pour equal amounts of melted butter into 2 9-inch pie pans. Arrange slices from 1 apple in the bottom of each pie pan.

Bake until butter sizzles, approximately 5 minutes.

Using a blender, combine eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon.

Pour equal amounts of mixture into the pie pans, over top of hot apples.

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of brown sugar over tops of each egg mixture.

Bake, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes or until puffed and brown.

Variation: For a summertime breakfast or brunch, substitute fresh ripe peaches for the apples.

Serves 4 to 6.

Toni Marra in "The Heart of Pittsburgh II"

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Chicken with Grapes and Blue Cheese

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, 6 to 7 ounces each
  
• 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
  
• 2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
  
• ¹/₃ cup flour
  
• 1 teaspoon salt, and to taste
  
• 1 teaspoon black pepper, and to taste
  
• ¹/₄ cup olive oil
  
• 16 pearl onions
  
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  
• 2 cups white wine
  
• 2 tablespoons honey
  
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
  
• 32 seedless red or green grapes
  
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place each chicken breast half between 2 slices of plastic wrap. Pound with a meat mallet or rolling pin until ¹/₄-inch thick.

In a small bowl, using a fork, mix the cream cheese and blue cheese until smooth. Place equal amounts of cheese mixture over top of each chicken breast half.

Fold each breast half in half; place between plastic wrap and pound edges of chicken to seal. Remove plastic wrap.

In a small bowl, mix flour, salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour mixture.

In a large ovenproof skillet, over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add chicken; saute until lightly browned on each side. Transfer chicken to a plate.

In the same skillet, saute onions and garlic for 1 to 2 minutes. Do not let garlic burn. Deglaze pan with wine over high heat until liquid is reduced by half.

Stir in honey; return chicken to skillet. Sprinkle with rosemary.

Place skillet in oven, bake for 10 minutes. Add grapes; bake for 5 more minutes.

Remove skillet from oven; transfer chicken to a serving platter. Add butter to skillet and season with additional salt and pepper. Spoon hot sauce over chicken.

Serves 4.

Barb Dunn in "The Heart of Pittsburgh II"

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Coconut Bundt Cake with Roasted Apricot Sauce

• 1 ¹/₄ cups canned cream of coconut (found in the drink mix section of supermarkets)
  
• 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
  
• ²/₃ cup plain yogurt
  
• ²/₃ cup canola oil
  
• ¹/₂ cup fresh lemon juice
  
• 1¹/₂ teaspoons grated lemon peel
  
• 4 cups flour
  
• 2¹/₂ cups sugar
  
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
  Roasted Apricot Sauce:
  
• 16 apricots, peeled, halved, pitted
  
• ²/₃ cup packed brown sugar
  
• ¹/₄ cup water
  
• 3 tablespoons sliced almonds
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cream of coconut, flaked coconut, yogurt, oil, lemon juice and peel.

In a separate large bowl, combine flour, sugar and baking powder.

Whisk flour mixture, one cup at a time, into the coconut mixture. Batter will be thick.

Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 70 to 80 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and continue to cook completely on rack.

For sauce, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix all sauce ingredients together in a 13-by-9-by-2-inch glass baking dish.

Bake, stirring occasionally, until sugar melts and apricots are heated through, approximately 20 minutes.

Slice cake and drizzle sauce over individual servings. This cake, crisp on the outside, has the texture of a macaroon inside.

Note: Cake may be made 1 day ahead. Store, covered, at room temperature.

Serves 8 to 10.

Diane Norkus in "The Heart of Pittsburgh II"

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Green Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette

• 1 cup sliced almonds
  Vinaigrette:
  
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  
• ¹/₃ cup olive oil
  
• 2 tablespoons water
  
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  
• ¹/₄ cup fresh cranberries
  
• ¹/₂ teaspoon minced garlic
  
• ¹/₂ teaspoon salt
  
• ¹/₂ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  Salad:
  
• 1 pound mixed salad greens, torn into bite-size pieces
  
• ¹/₂ red onion, thinly sliced
  
• 4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
  

Preheat over to 375 degrees.

Arrange almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast in oven until light brown, about 5 minutes; set aside.

For vinaigrette, in a food processor or blender, pulse together vinegar, olive oil, water, mustard, cranberries, garlic, salt and pepper until smooth.

In a large bowl, toss together the salad greens, onion, blue cheese and almonds.

Just prior to serving, pour dressing over top of salad and toss to coat thoroughly.

Note: If fresh cranberries are unavailable, substitute dried cranberries.

Serves 6 to 8.

Rosa Vaccarello in "The Heart of Pittsburgh II"