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The Negresco! A Very Special Cocktail

In the early eighties I worked at a restaurant called La Tulipe on west 13th Street in New York City. It was a fine dining establishment, awarded 3 stars by the New York Times. Every part of the menu was well thought out including the house cocktail called the Negresco.…

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My Jacques Pepin Dinner was a Hit!

On July 12 I prepared a dinner for 16 people at my house to celebrate Jacques Pepin’s 90th birthday and raise money for the Jacques Pepin Foundation. Not only did I bring in $1600 for the JPF but I also had a great dinner party. It made me realize how…

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Tomato Mozzarella and Basil Tart

There are very few things more delicious than tomatoes in season.  Sure you can buy them all year round, but these imports tend to be mealy and flavorless, so why bother?  This tart is a celebration of the tomato at the peak of its perfection, namely right now. One important…

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Fresh Corn Spoonbread with Cheddar and Chiles

Start to finish: 1 hour 10 minutes (45 active) Servings: 6 2 cups fresh corn kernels 2 cups buttermilk 2/3 cup fine yellow cornmeal 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, optional 4 ounces extra sharp Cheddar cheese, coarsely grated one 4.5 ounce can chopped green…

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The Best Thing I Ate on My European Trip!

It is called Bomba, literally “the bomb.” I ate it at a hole in the wall place in Barcelona, called La Cava Fumada. The Bomba is made of  highly seasoned mashed potatoes mixed with some ground pork, shaped into patties, coated with bread crumbs, fried and topped with an extremely…

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Grilled Caesar Salad Steak

Let’s say you wanted to land a luxurious rib-eye steak at the center of your Fourth of July picnic, but worried about being able to afford it. Here’s a simple way to make it happen:  Instead of serving every guest a huge slab of steak, slice up a smaller portion,…

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An Amazing Restaurant/Inn in Turkey!

I just shot a segment for season 14 of  “Sara’s Weeknight Meals,” with Damla Ugurtas, the chef/owner of this spectacular place in a little town called Caferli near Kusadasi Turkey. As Damla says on her website: “We like to call ourselves; a ‘Village Restaurant’ with rooms, cooking Mediterranean dishes with…

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Stuffed Fried Zucchini Blossoms

Zucchini are marquee items at your grocery stores right about now, but zucchini blossoms – which are generally not for sale at a standard grocery — are a different story.  So this recipe is aimed at home gardeners, who know two things for sure.  First, like caterpillars to a butterfly,…

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Leftover Chops Turned into Spinach Feta Burgers with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

    Leftovers!  Some folks love them, others happily scrape them into the trash.  Me, I’m on the love team.  Leftovers speak to me.  I’d always rather start a meal with a fridge full of tasty bits of this and that than have to confront a blank canvas of raw…

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Lunch in Malta!

Took a day off from shooting season 14 of “Sara’s Weeknight Meals,” to go to a lovely little fishing village, Marsaxlok, on Malta, that had these wonderful colorful boats floating everywhere in the harbor. I got to see a local chef cut up a whole swordfish and sampled the best…

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