Rania Harris: Always ready to go
It's a good thing Rania Harris loves to cook.
Every day, she runs her gourmet shop, catering business and cooking school at Rania's To Go in Mt. Lebanon.
During football season, she has served for four years now as H.J. Heinz Co.'s spokesperson for Steelers' tailgating, whipping up tasty recipes weekly on KDKA-TV's "The Jerome Bettis Show," on Thursdays at 8:07 a.m. with Larry Richert on KDKA radio, and during Steeler pre-game festivities at the Tailgating Station at Heinz Field. She also tapes one-hour holiday cooking specials for KDKA-TV. And she tested 120 recipes from current and former Steelers, wives and coaches for the "Heinz Field Cookbook."
Each June, she invites the public to her 1930s English Tudor home and garden in Mt. Lebanon for a reservation-only tour and dinner. And she also presents several live cooking demonstrations throughout the year.
That's what she'll be doing April 25, at the 2004 Home Plate Cooking Expo at Westmoreland County Community College, near Youngwood, with two half-hour performances -- 12:45 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. -- in the amphitheater in Founders Hall. Harris will share her secrets to creating a "Three-Course Seasonal Meal," including Tomato Salad With Ricotta Salata And Garlic Vinaigrette, Chicken Breast With Chimichurri Sauce and Balsamic Strawberries With Whipped Mascarpone Cheese.
The owner of Rania's To Go, Rania's Catering and Rania's Cooking School is definitely on the go. Cooking is her life, and she loves it.
In her 25 years in the business, Rania Harris takes food and fun seriously. "This isn't brain surgery, it's fun," she says.
For Harris, cooking is a stress-reliever not a stressor. And she believes that's the way it should be for everyone, at least for everyone who takes one of the many cooking classes she offers.
"If I'm stressed, I cook," says Harris. "I don't cook because I feel like I have to. I've always been that way. That's probably why I love it so much. My mission is that by the time they leave my store, they laugh."
It's a good thing Harris loves to cook because she's been doing it since she was 12, as a latch-key kid in the 1950s, a rare thing then.
Born in New York City, Harris' mother worked and her father ran a diner in Harlem. When she was born, a neighbor, a German man who was a woodcrafter, gave her mother a rolling pin he'd made. "This is all I can give you for the birth of your child," he said. Little did he know that child would later become a certified pastry chef, having studied with Gunther Heiland, the Austrian pastry master and owner of Desserts International in Exton, Pa.
"I'm a good 'bench baker,'" says Harris. "I like the grudge work, producing mass amounts of things. But don't ask me to decorate."
When Rania was 9 years old the family moved to Pittsburgh. She has one older sister. "When I was 12, I did all the cooking," she remembers. "Everybody worked, and when they came home, I was expected to have dinner ready."
In 1979, Harris began baking for restaurants and gourmet shops in the area, including Kaufmann's Department Store bakery in downtown Pittsburgh. For 10 years, she baked and sold pastries, specializing in the pastries of her Greek Orthodox heritage. By word-of-mouth, her business grew and expanded into full-service catering. "I didn't even have a listed phone number," says Harris.
In 1985, she opened her own kitchen in her current location at 100 Central Square in Mt. Lebanon.
Since then Harris has catered a variety of events. For weddings, Rania's Catering is the preferred caterer for these locations: Phipps Conservatory and Gardens, Frick Art and Historical Center, The Pittsburgh Center For The Arts, The Fox Chapel Racquet Club, Hartwood Acres and The Barn at Bear Run, to name a few. She has catered events for presidential candidates, governors and other celebrities as well as bridal showers, baby showers and birthday parties. She's even done cooking demonstrations for pharmaceutical companies concerned with food allergies.
The biggest part of Harris' business is the cooking school, she says. Students include people with a variety of cooking interests and of all ages. Recently, she did Bunny Cake classes for children.
Harris and her husband, Stephen, have four children -- John, 33; Porter, 30; Nicholas, 27; and Stephen, 21. They have one grandchild -- 4-month-old Alexandra.
Tailgate treats at home
"Heinz Field Cookbook: Recipes for Savoring the Game from the Sidelines" contains 120 flavorful recipes tested by Rania Harris. Recipes include family favorites contributed by current and former Pittsburgh Steelers' players, wives and coaches, as well as some of Harris' own recipes. Proceeds from the sale of the cookbook benefit A Glimmer of Hope Foundation, a regional organization that raises money for breast cancer research.
"Not everyone can make it to Heinz Field for a game so we wanted fans to be able to bring a little of the game day experience into their homes," says Debbie Foster, director, corporate communications, H.J. Heinz Co. "With so many tasty and easy-to-prepare recipes available online, in the new 'Heinz Field Cookbook' and during Rania's Red Zone Recipe segment, Steelers fans can enjoy a taste of Heinz Field anytime, anywhere."
For a sampling of Rania's tailgating recipes, see www.kdka.com or www.heinz.com .
