An official welcome to the family

Celebrity Chef Curtis Stone was at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, IA on Monday to meet nearly 2,500 members of his extended family — the family of Hy-Vee, that is.

The event celebrated the debut of the first in a series of recipes Curtis is developing exclusively for Hy-Vee. You can see the commercial for the first recipe on the Hy-Vee website at www.hy-vee.com. Store directors, managers and department heads from all 231 Hy-Vee stores gathered in Ames to view the commercials and hear Curtis describe his relaxed approach to cooking at home and his belief in the importance of the family dinner table.

To show how easy it is to prepare his recipes, Curtis conducted a cooking demonstration with Hy-Vee executive vice president Jon Wendel and another famous member of the Hy-Vee family — Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson. Their fettuccine bolognese was a hit with the Hy-Vee chefs serving on the judging panel.

The day after the Hy-Vee meeting, Curtis conducted a similar demonstration with Conan O’Brien on his show … where Conan made Jon and Shawn look like Top Chef Masters by comparison. Check it out: