Seasoned

This show originally aired on January 21, 2021

Ask any chef or home cook what ingredient they can’t live without, and we bet they’ll say onions. So many delicious things start with cooking onions. Onions are the foundation of the world’s great cuisines. In this episode, we celebrate the onion. . .the most essential ingredient in the kitchen. Kate Winslow, author of the book Onions Etcetera, shares recipes and onion wisdom. Plus, we talk with Sefra Alexandra, aka The Seed Huntress, about her quest to revive the Southport Globe Onion. She’s an agroecologist and ethnobotantist who has dedicated her life to seed saving and preserving the genetic biodiversity of the food we eat. You haven’t met anyone more passionate about seeds and onions in Connecticut. And finally, we dive into the crop’s notable history in Westport during the Civil War with historian Ramin Ganeshram, and Chef Plum shares his riff on a first-year culinary school classic: French Onion Soup.

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and email at [email protected].

Robyn Doyon-Aitken and Catie Talarski produced this show.

Guests:

• Kate Winslow – Author of Onions Etcetera: The Essential Allium Cookbook
• Sefra Alexandra (The Seed Huntress) – Agroecologist and ethnobotantist. Founder of The Southport Globe Onion Initiative
• Ramin Ganeshram – Executive Director of the Westport Museum for History and Culture, author of The General’s Cook

Featured Recipes:
Red Onion and Goat Cheese Galette
Grits with Scallions and Bacon
Four-Onion Dip
Ramin Ganeshram’s Vegan Sour Cream and Onion Dip

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Stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans! Chef Plum and Marysol Castro ask chefs to talk about the real stars of Thanksgiving dinner. We also talk with Bon Appétit’s Test Kitchen Director Chris Morocco about the side dishes featured in the magazine's Thanksgiving issue. Plus, we talk to farmer Keith Bishop, owner of Connecticut's one and only cranberry bog about what it's like to cultivate the farm's ruby vines.

This show was produced by Robyn Doyon-Aitken and Catie Talarski. Our interns are Abē Levine and Dylan Reyes.

Guests:

• Chris Morocco – Test Kitchen Director at Bon Appétit magazine
• Martie Duncan – Party planner and host of the AllRecipes Homemade podcast
• Jeff Purrazzi – Private chef in New York
• Yair Lenchner – Private chef, sommelier and certified nutritionist in New York
• Tony Olive – Pitmaster with Backdraft Bar-B-Q (a competitive barbeque team) and Fire Marshal at Longridge Fire Company in Stamford, Conn.
• Keith Bishop – Farmer/co-owner Bishops Orchard & Winery and Killingworth Cranberries
• Chloe Murphy – Food justice educator at FRESH New London, a community garden in New London, Conn.

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Lidia Bastianich, one of the most beloved PBS chefs and cookbook authors in the country, joins us to talk about her new book, Lidia's a Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl: Simple Recipes for Perfect Meals. The book is filled with no-fuss Italian dishes; it’s just the simplicity you need as we approach the biggest cooking holiday of the year. We’ll talk with Lidia about the book—and about Thanksgiving dinner. Are you planning a feast with an Italian accent? Do you need some turkey roasting tips? Join the conversation!

This show was produced by Robyn Doyon-Aitken and Catie Talarski. Our interns are Abē Levine and Dylan Reyes.

Guest:
Lidia Bastianich – Television chef, restaurateur, and author of many cookbooks and a memoir. Lidia’s latest book is Lidia’s a Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl: Simple Recipes for Perfect Meals (co-authored with Tanya Bastianich Manuali)

Get the recipes:
Apple Cranberry Crumble 
Beer-Braised Short Ribs
Rigatoni with Raw Tomato Sauce 

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Send out the invites for the latke party! This week on Seasoned, a conversation with Shifra Klein, the founder of Fleishigs, a magazine devoted to modern kosher cooking. We talk with Shifra about the meaning of Hanukkah. . .and what to eat! And we visit The Crown Market in West Hartford, where they fry up thousands of latkes for the holiday. Plus, kosher wine has come a long way since Maneshevitz was the only option. Chef and sommelier Yair Lenchner shares the kosher wines he’s excited about right now.

This show was produced by Robyn Doyon-Aitken and Catie Talarski. Our interns are Abē Levine and Dylan Reyes.

• Shifra Klein – Editor-in-chief and co-founder of Fleishigs magazine, a publication devoted to modern kosher cuisine
• Andrea Gussak – Co-manager and executive chef at The Crown Market in West Hartford, Conn.
• Mark Seltzer – Produce manager and grandson of one of The Crown Market’s founders
• Sherry Haller – West Hartford resident and loyal customer of The Crown Market
• Yair Lenchner – chef, sommelier, and certified nutritionist
• Allison Batson – Founder and creator of Dinner for a Dollar, a program that for the last 10 years has been feeding people in Hamden hot meals every weekend. For more information about Dinner for a Dollar, visit Grace & St. Peter’s website or the Dinner for a Dollar on Facebook.

Kosher wines recommended on this show (Yair’s Under $25 Picks):
Borgo Reale Montepulciano D'Abruzzo 2016 ($12.50)
Dalton Reserve Viognier 2018 ($19.99)
Ramon Cardova Rioja Crianza 2014 ($22.00)
Bartenura Moscato ($13.99)

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

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How much do you know about Native cuisine in Connecticut and New England? This week on Seasoned: an exploration of Indigenous food and cooking. We talk with Nakai Clearwater Northup and Rachel Sayet—educators in the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations—about their culinary traditions. Plus, Navajo chef Freddie Bitsoie talks with us about his new cookbook, New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian.

This show was produced by Robyn Doyon-Aitken and Catie Talarski. Our interns are Abē Levine and Dylan Reyes.

Guests:

• Nakai Clearwater Northup (Mashantucket Pequot and Narragansett) - Lead Educator of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. He is the vice chair of the tribe’s Natural Resources Protection Committee, and he serves as a board member of the Stonington Historical Society. He is a frequent lecturer on food sovereignty.
• Rachel Sayet (Akitusut - She Who Reads) - Member of the Mohegan nation and an Indigenous educator. She grew up cooking with her grandmother and mother and has a degrees in restaurant management from Cornell and anthropology from Harvard. She’s the author of the paper, “A Celebration of Land and Sea: Modern Indigenous Cuisine in New England”
• Freddie Bitsoie (Navajo) – Author of New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian and formerly Executive Chef at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
• B.J. Lawless – Owner of B.J. Ryan’s and B•AN•C House restaurants in Norwalk and the founder of B.J. Ryan’s Foundation. Visit The Restaurant Hive website for more information on The Hive Food Drive
• Chris Hickey – Co-owner of The Spread in Norwalk, El Segundo in Norwalk and New Haven, and Magic 5 Pie Company in Norwalk. Chris has joined forces with B.J. Lawless and the B.J. Ryan’s Foundation to meet the goals of The Hive Food Drive

The music of several Indigenous artists is featured in this show: Instrumental track by Keith Secola and Cody Blackbird, Flying Free by Andrew Vasquez, Tribal Jazz by The Cody Blackbird Band ft. Quiltman, and Like a Phoenix by The Cody Blackbird Band.

Featured Recipes:
Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Juniper Sauce
Three Sisters Bean Stew
Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin Bread Pudding

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If the only thing you’ve ever made with pumpkin is pumpkin pie, we’re here to help expand your repertoire. There’s a whole world of savory pumpkin dishes that evoke fall comfort: soups, stews, curries, sauces, hummus. And pumpkin loves pasta (use it as a sauce or a filling for gnocchi, ravioli, or lasagna). What are your favorite dishes using pumpkin? We also demystify pumpkin spice with a food scientist and talk to baristas at Doro Marketplace & Café in West Hartford about the popularity of the pumpkin spice latte. A local pumpkin farmer from Castle Hill Farm joins the show, too. Where is your favorite local farm or pumpkin patch?

This show was produced by Robyn Doyon-Aitken and Catie Talarski. Gene Amatruda worked the board. Our interns are Abē Levine and Dylan Reyes.

Guests:

• Maggie Michalczyk – Registered dietitian and author of The Great Big Pumpkin Cookbook. Maggie is the creator of Once Upon a Pumpkin
• Kantha Shelke, Ph.D. - Food scientist and principal at Corvus Blue in Chicago, a spokesperson for the Institute of Food Technologists, and a senior lecturer at Johns Hopkins University
• Sophia Polli – Assistant manager, Doro Marketplace & Café in West Hartford.
• Victoria Farrow – Barista, Doro Marketplace & Café in West Hartford, Conn.
• Stephanie Paproski Kearns – 4th generation farmer at Castle Hill Farm in Newtown, Conn.

Featured Recipes:
Pumpkin Cheesecake 
Pumpkin Turkey Chili
Everything But The Bagel Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Chef Plum’s Pumpkin Biscuits

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Apple cider is having a moment. This week on Seasoned, we watch the apple press at work during a visit to Hogan’s Cider Mill in Burlington, Conn. Owners Chet Dunlop and Theresa Clifford Dunlop make cider at the mill the way the farm’s original cidermakers did 100 years ago. And while the craft may be rooted in the past, Chet and Theresa are looking toward the future. Their daughter, Margaret Borla, manages the mill and creates the drinks people line up at the tap room to get. We sit down with the family to talk about cider making and try the mill’s new breakout drink, the Drunken Donut, as well as a flight of ciders. Plus, we talk with Dan Pucci and Craig Cavallo, the authors of American Cider: A Modern Guide to a Historic Beverage.

This show was produced by Robyn Doyon-Aitken and Catie Talarski. Ryan Caron-King captured visuals for a slideshow, which you can see on our show page. Our interns are Abē Levine and Dylan Reyes.

Guests:

• Chet Dunlop and Theresa Clifford Dunlop – Owners of Hogan’s Cider Mill in Burlington, Conn.
• Margaret Borla – Manager of Hogan’s Cider Mill
• Dan Pucci – Cider expert and co-author of American Cider: A Modern Guide to a Historic Beverage
• Craig Cavallo – Cider expert, food writer, and co-author of American Cider. Craig also owns Golden Russet Café and Grocery in the Hudson Valley

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

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James Beard Award-winning author Carla Lalli Music talks with us about her latest cookbook, That Sounds So Good: 100 Real-Life Recipes For Every Day Of The Week. Carla describes how the book came together during the pandemic—her family served as captive recipe testers—and offers tips for everything from stocking a pantry to reducing food waste. She also explores the ways in which cooking during the week for family is vastly different from the way we cook on weekends. Both should be a source of joy, not stress. We dig in to a few recipes from the book and unpack what works for Carla so we might streamline our own weekday and weekend cooking.

This show was produced by Robyn Doyon-Aitken and Catie Talarski

Guest: Carla Lalli Music is the author of That Sounds So Good: 100 Real-Life Recipes For Every Day Of The Week.

Featured Recipes:
Fat Noodles with Pan-Roasted Mushrooms and Crushed Herb Sauce
Sheet Pan Chicken with Tomatoes and Chickpeas

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

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Vallery Lomas’ first cookbook, Life Is What You Bake It, is a dream realized. We talk with the former-lawyer-turned-baker, and winner of The Great American Baking Show, about how an unrelenting belief in herself spurred a career change, how she refused to let her accomplishments be erased, and how she created a beautiful book filled with recipes influenced by family, travel and an obsession with French pastry.

This show was produced by Robyn Doyon-Aitken and Catie Talarski

Guest: Vallery Lomas – Author of Life is What You Bake It 

Featured Recipe: Olive Oil-Chocolate Chunk Cookies

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Who doesn’t love a good ol’ fashioned diner? Bring on the breakfast all day, the smell of hash browns, and the slice of blueberry pie in the middle of the night. Diners are as much about the community as they are about the food, so we’re celebrating diners and diner culture on this episode of Seasoned. We talk with Mike Urban, Yankee contributor and author of The New England Diner Cookbook. Plus, we talk with Brian O’Rourke about his diner’s long history in Middletown, as well as a Hartford poet who spent years writing poems in diners across the state.

Robyn Doyon-Aitken and Catie Talarski produced this show.

Guests:

Mike Urban – Yankee Magazine contributor and author of The New England Seafood Markets Cookbook and The New England Diner Cookbook. His latest book is Unique Eats & Eateries Of Connecticut

Brian O’Rourke – Chef/owner of O’Rourke’s Diner in Middletown, Conn.

Brett Maddux – Hartford poet. His poetry collection, Regent, was published in 2016. His Instagram @dinersofconnecticut includes hundreds of beautiful black-and-white photos of local diners and the people with whom he’s shared meals. His most recent collection, algorithm hymns, is available now.

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.