Guest chef on Connecticut Style, WTNH Ch 8, tomorrow at 12:30 p.m.

Tune in tomorrow, I will be the guest chef on WTNH Channel 8's new show Connecticut Style at 12:30 p.m..

I'll be sharing ideas for how to make a snack drawer for your kids, how to stock your pantry, fridge and freezer and a perennial favorite, 15 Minute Turkey Scaloppini.

Hoping to post the segment after it airs tomorrow.

Bean and ham soup

I normally use canned beans because they are so easy, however I soaked a bag of beans and they were really easy. They took a little forethought as I had to do them a day in advance, but they were much less expensive than canned beans and really delicious.

To prepare beans (the easy way) for soup: I used a mix of white beans and roman beans.

Boil 3 cups of water in a soup pot, add 1-2 cups of beans and let cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let soak overnight. Drain before using.

To make soup:
Saute 1 onion, 2 diced carrots and 2 stalks of diced celery (you can also buy this fresh Mire Au Poix already prepped from Trader Joe's) in 1 Tbs. of olive oil.

While the veggies saute, dice 1 C. of ham and add to the pot. You can either use a ham steak or shank of ham (this looks like the end piece of a large cut of ham). All of these hams are already smoked and cooked.

Add in soaked beans and stir to combine. Add in 2 bay leaves, 4-5 C. of chicken stock, a tsp. of celery salt and a good pinch of black pepper. If you don't have chicken stock on hand, you can also add water and 2 Tsp. of the Better than Bouillon concentrate.

Cover and let simmer for a minimum of 1 hour, preferably longer. Season to taste before serving.

Note- You can also add any kind of greens (kale, collard or even mustard greens) to this soup. Simply rinse the kale, chop and add to the soup when you add the beans in.

Dijon roasted salmon with white wine and mushrooms

I made a delicious and (as usual) really easy dinner tonight. Roasted salmon, Israeli couscous with peas and tiny mozzarella ball salad with fresh basil and garlic.

Here are the recipes:

Roasted salmon

2 tbs. olive oil
2 lb. salmon
1 thinly sliced lemon
1 C. sliced mushrooms
1 thinly sliced onion
2 tbs. Dijon mustard
1 C. white wine
kosher salt and ground pepper to taste
fresh rosemary if you have it (not totally necessary)

Preheat oven to 435. Drizzle 1 tbs. of olive oil into the bottom of a casserole pan. Add onions and mushrooms (and rosemary sprigs if you have it). Lay salmon over vegetables and spread Dijon over salmon. Lay lemon slices over fish and drizzle last tablespoon of olive oil and a good pinch of kosher salt and pepper. Add 1 C. of white wine to bottom of pan and roast for 15-18 minutes.

Mozzarella salad- There's not much of a recipe, simply purchase fresh small mozzarella balls and drain before using. In a bowl, add drained mozzarella, finely chop 2 cloves of garlic (or use 2 cubes of frozen garlic). Drizzle 1 tbs. of olive oil over the mozzarella, add a pinch of kosher salt and pepper, and chiffonade (slice into thin strips) 2 large leaves of fresh basil. Cover until ready for eat.

This salad tastes best when you let it sit for at least an hour so the garlic and basil has time to sit with the mozzarella.

Potato, leek, fennel and carrot soup

My grandmother used to make the most delicious potato leek soup when I was little. I have never tried making this soup, but was thinking about my grandma and decided to make it today.

I've never read a recipe for potato leek soup, but assumed it was difficult, boy was I wrong. It might be one of the world's easiest soups to make.

I looked up a couple recipes and made this one up.

3 leeks sliced in half and thinly sliced, white parts and a little bit of the green too
1/2 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1-2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 peeled and chopped carrots
2 tbs. butter
40 oz. chicken stock
1/2 C. white wine
pinch of kosher salt and pepper
pinch of celery salt
1 Tbs. Better Than Bouillon (or whatever bouillon you have)

Place the sliced leeks into a bowl of water to clean. Let them sit while you peel and cut the potato and carrots. If you have that handy little Vidalia Chop wizard I wrote about a while ago, it would come in handy now...

Melt the butter in a soup pot and remove the leeks from the water. DO NOT drain the water from the leeks, as this will redeposit the dirt right back into the leeks.

Saute the leeks and fennel in the butter for 3-4 minutes until leeks begin to soften. Add salt and pepper. Add potatoes and carrots and stir to combine. Add stock and white wine, cover and bring to a boil until potatoes and carrots are soft.

Puree with a hand blender, if you don't have one you can do it in a blender a little at a time. Taste and add celery salt and bouillon as needed. The soup should be well pureed.

Let soup simmer on low until ready to eat.

We are having this for dinner tonight with some of the delicious homemade bread I made last night. YUM...

Basic Bread Recipe

After a lot (a lot) of trial and error, I've come up with a good white bread recipe. It's easy to make and doesn't take a million hours to make. I am going to experiment from this basic recipe, but was excited to share it.

Basic Bread Recipe

1 package (2 ¼ tsp.) active dry yeast
¼ C. warm water
2 C. warm water
2 tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. salt
6 C. all purpose flour


Add yeast to ¼ C. warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let stand a few minutes and stir. Combine 2 C. warm water, olive oil, sugar and salt to another bowl, stir to combine. Add 6 cups flour to mixer bowl then add remaining ingredients. Mix until dough forms, it will be sticky.

Turn out into a greased bowl, cover with a towel and let rise for 1½ hours. Dough should have doubled in bulk. Punch down dough and shape into loaves. Let rise again for another 45 minutes. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 35 minutes or until loaves are golden brown.

Turn oven off, remove loaves from their pans and let cool directly on the oven rack.

This recipe made 2 standard sized loaves of bread.

Chicken soft tacos

I am really into cooking with boneless, skinless chicken thighs recently and my girls have been really into tacos. I wanted a new way for the girls to enjoy one of their favorite dinners.

Here's my recipe for chicken tacos.

Add 1 tbs. of olive oil to a large nonstick pan that has a lid. When the oil is hot, add 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Sprinkle 1 package of taco seasoning over the chicken and brown for 1 minute and turn. Let the chicken brown for 1 more minute.

While the chicken browns, add 1 10 oz can of diced tomatoes with adobo seasoning and a can of black beans-not drained. Stir to combine and add 1/4 C. of water. You can also add 1 C. of frozen sliced mixed peppers or 1 C. of frozen roasted corn if you'd like. Cover and turn the heat down to medium low and let cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Before serving, break up the chicken with a fork to shred it.

Before serving, warm a package of flour tortillas in the oven at 500 covered in aluminum foil for 2-3 minutes. If you're in a real pinch, you can also pop them in the microwave, but this hardens them up rather quickly. A few slices of fresh avocado would be delicious on these healthy chicken tacos!

I added a squeeze of lime and some fresh cilantro leaves to my chicken tacos, but the girls ate theirs up with a little shredded cheese.

Pasta prima-nesca..

I am always morphing recipes that I come across and saw a rather good looking recipe for pasta puttanesca, but wanted to add more veggies and make it my own.

Here is the recipe I came up with. The kids loved it and the older one didn't even mind picking out the mushrooms!

By the way... if you follow this blog you will know how much I adore those frozen Dorot herbs. I had a bunch of fresh peeled garlic cloves sitting around and decided to make my own garlic puree for the freezer. I pureed it with just a touch of olive oil and spooned it out into Tbs. servings on to the Glad Press N' Seal, then I added a top layer and sealed around each spoonful so I have 1 tablespoon of pureed garlic as needed. I am so excited about this and plan to do the same with some fresh ginger I have too!

Ok, here's the recipe:

Cook 1/2 box of penne (or whatever pasta you have) in salted boiling water.

While the pasta boils, add 3 cubes of pureed (or frozen) garlic, 2 diced shallots (or 1/2 an onion), and 2 tbs. of olive oil to a large nonstick pan. Let that cook for 30 seconds. Slice about 1 C. of cherry tomatoes in half and about 1 C. of fresh button mushrooms into thin slices. Add the tomatoes and mushrooms next with a good pinch of kosher salt and pepper. Stir to combine and let cook for 1 minute.

Add 1/4 C. drained capers and a little of the pasta water if it seems too dry. You can also add in a few slices of chopped prosciutto if you'd like, or keep it vegetarian. Continue cooking on medium high heat until the pasta is ready (4-5 minutes).

When the pasta is cooked, add it to the sauce with 1 C. of frozen peas. Cook another minute until the peas are cooked through and add a good 1/4 C. of grated Parmesan cheese before serving.

We all loved it, and I added a pinch of red pepper flakes to mine. It was yummy.

I am soaking beans (yes, the old fashioned way) to make a ham, smoked turkey and bean stew. My friend said she was making one and it sounded so good, I wanted to make one too.

Orange ginger shrimp

I was at Whole Foods in Westport yesterday using some of their Whole Trade products. These are great because a portion of the proceeds go to giving loans to farmers. There is everything from orange juice to brown sugar. Take a look next time you're there. I found the prices of these items to be less expensive than the Whole Foods brands and you're doing a good thing.

I wanted to share an easy recipe that I did yesterday. This does not fit into the 15 minute meals category because I didn't use the frozen ginger or garlic. If you were to use the Dorot frozen products, this would definitely count as a 15 minute meal.

Orange ginger shrimp


1 lb. large uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tbs. thinly sliced scallions
1 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 Tbs. rice vinegar
2 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp. zested orange rind
1 Tbs. sesame oil
1 Red bell pepper, seeded and chopped into 2” cubes.


Marinate shrimp in first 8 ingredients for 8 minutes. Heat sesame oil in a large wok or nonstick pan on high heat. When oil shimmers, add shrimp and red bell peppers. Cook 3-4 minutes or until shrimp are pink. Remove shrimp and peppers, and add in marinade. Cook down marinade for 2-3 minutes or until sauce has thickened up. Add sauce to shrimp and serve over brown rice.

Teriyaki hangar steak

There is a great cut of steak that is becoming more widely available in supermarkets these days, it's called the hangar steak. It's flavorful, not terribly expensive, and easy to cook.

I bought one yesterday and today put it in a glass baking dish with a cup of teriyaki sauce. I let it marinade while I ran a few errands with the kids. When we got home, I preheated the oven to 500. While the oven preheated, I cooked a little couscous and steamed some broccoli.

I cooked the hangar steak for about 5 minutes per side. It was so juicy and flavorful and did I mention E-A-S-Y.

Look for the hangar steak next time you're at the market.