Every chef, mom, and just generally healthy person knows that one food group trumps all in the quest for good health: vegetables! However, when it gets cold and snowy outside, I don’t know many people who crave a nice, warm…salad. If anything, most people turn to carbs and hearty soups for comfort food during the winter, which can lead to a dearth of vegetables in their diets.

Enter: beets. This vegetable’s hearty texture, beautiful color and availability in winter make it the perfect addition to a winter meal. Additonally, beets boast a plethora of health benefits, ranging from low caloric content to high folate, B-complex vitamin, and potassium content. They are also a great source of antioxidants. Even kids will enjoy this delicious vegetable if prepared in the right way.

Try this recipe below for a creative way to add beets to your winter menu!

Beet and Blood Orange Salad
5 medium beets
2 blood oranges (segments removed)
3 T olive oil
2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 t orange zest
small handful of mint torn to small pieces
Serves Two

Preheat the oven to 400.
Wash beets well, cut off ends, and remove the skin with vegetable peeler.
Cut beets into 1.5” pieces.
Toss in olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and orange zest and lay out flat on a tin foil lined baking sheet.
Bake until tender, about 40 minutes.
Remove from oven and toss with mint and blood orange segments. Serve warm.

Beginner Sushi Guide: Making Norimaki

Whether you’re hosting a party at your own home, or you’re invited to attend a potluck dinner, you often need to make crowd-pleasing appetizers. One creative hors-d’oeuvre that’s always bound to impress is sushi; however, making sushi can seem like a daunting task for the non-culinary among us. The easiest form of sushi to make is probably norimaki – the simple, traditional rolls (think California rolls). These are great, easy appetizers and can be filled with non-raw ingredients for squeamish party guests.

Ingredients & Materials: (all can be found at your local Asian food grocery)

-sushi rice (the best kind is short-grain oval rice, I prefer Nishiki brand)

-nori sheets (one sheet per roll of sushi)

-Powered wasabi

-Rice wine vinegar

-Whatever ingredients you choose for the filling- anything from raw fish to cooked fish, shrimp, radish, cucumber, or carrot.

– Bamboo maki-su (rolling mat)

Step 1: Make the rice

First take 1 ½ cups rice and wash it in a bowl to remove the extra starch.
Then, put it in pan with 2 cups water, and bring to a covered boil.
Turn the heat to low and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed.
After that, turn off the heat but leave the rice covered and let it stand for 10 minutes.

Step 2: Prepare the vinegar

While the rice is cooking, take ½ cup vinegar and add salt and sugar to it (alternatively, you can buy pre-seasoned vinegar at the store).

Step 3:

After the rice is done, and while it is still warm, spread it out on a wooden plate or bowl using a wooden spoon and drizzle the vinegar over top. The rice sticks less to wooden utensils, and saves you from a big sticky mess.

Step 4:

To help the rice dry and absorb the vinegar, fan it with a stiff piece of paper. This process will also give the rice a nice shine.

Ta-da! The rice is done, and it is now time for the fun stuff.

Step 5:

Make wasabi by taking a tablespoon or two of dry power and putting it a bowl with a little cold water to form a paste.

Step 6: Making the rolls

Use the bamboo sushi mat by laying down with the flat sides of the wood facing down. Set a sheet of nori on the mat, rough side facing up and smooth side facing down.
Next, spread about a 2 inch wide band of rice across the bottom of the nori sheet.
Dab in some wasabi all cross the middle of the rice (for spicy rolls)
Then, place your ingredient in the center of the rice. For instance, if you are making a simple cucumber roll, take a long thin rectangular piece of cucumber and center it in your roll.

Step 7: Rolling the norimaki

This is the trickiest step! Once you are satisfied with the ingredients in your roll, begin to roll the norimaki by using your hands to simultaneously roll the nori sheeting over the filling while using the mat as a tool to help you roll. Watching YouTube videos may help you get the rolling motion down, but remember that practice makes perfect!
Before you have fully rolled the sushi, dampen the edge of the end of the nori sheet with a little water, which will act as an adhesive to ensure the roll sticks together.

Step 8: Cutting the roll

Use a sharp knife with a moistened blade to cut the roll into pieces. S
Slice down the roll in half first, and then create 3 pieces from each half.
Each roll should make about 6 equal pieces.

Serve with wasabi, pickled ginger and soy sauce! Display your sushi on a large glass tray or platter in a visually appealing way to really impress guests.

I hope this helps those brave enough to try making sushi for the first time! It is an art that will get easier with experience.

As a single mother of toddler twins and the owner of a busy catering company I’m obsessed with finding shortcuts to ease the day-to-day pandemonium that is my life. Being a chef you would think I’d have creative solutions to the ever burning question-”What’s for dinner??” Not so much.

By the end of a typical day in Event-ville we’ve cooked for 100 guests, and I can barely keep my eyes open let alone cook for my kids. In these instances I like to do what I’ve termed “Back to Basics”. This entails picking up seasonal produce from my local market and making a go of dinner. Last night I knew our meal was going to be a hit when my son popped a stray cherry tomato from my cutting board into his mouth and exclaimed “More candy Mommy!” Who knew tomatoes could trump Gummi Bears?

Summer Candy Salad
1 pint ripe cherry tomatoes, cut in half
5 large heirloom tomatoes, sliced
Small handful of Basil leaves, torn
3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
Serves 4

The key to a delicious salad is to salt the tomatoes generously as this will bring out the flavors.
For a beautiful look cut the tomatoes into different sizes (some in half;some in quarters)
For extra zing (and protein) add one can of drained cannellini beans.

1. Gently mix all ingredients and serve with crusty bread.

I was lucky to grow up in an Italian family where food was often the highlight of conversation and get-togethers. It was a huge influence on my decision to attend culinary school eight years ago, and even decades later those family gatherings are a constant inspiration in the dishes that I create.

When I was a child, my parents used to take my sister and I to visit our relatives in their tiny hometown in Northeastern Pennsylvania. We’d go kicking and screaming because we spent much of our time sitting around our Aunt Marie’s kitchen table listening to adult banter. The saving grace of these trips was my aunt’s ricotta donuts. She’d make them every morning for us and then pile them high on a platter with a dusting of cinnamon sugar. When I first asked my aunt why her donuts didn’t have holes, she replied in her thick Italian accent, “You wanna hola in youra donut? You go to duncan-a-donuts!” Even today, I can never forget her exact words or how delicious those doughnuts tasted.

Ricotta Donuts

1 pound ricotta

6 tablespoons sugar

4 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 teaspoons baking powder

6 cups vegetable oil

3 tablespoons sugar (for topping)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mix the first six ingredients by hand until blended Form into balls with a tablespoon. Fry until golden brown. Mix together 3 tablespoons of sugar with the cinnamon and dust on donuts.

Welcome to Tips From a Catering Diva! As Executive Chef and Creative Director of Sweet Basil Catering & Events, much of my cooking is more formal for catered events, but I also enjoy preparing casual dinners at home when friends visit — dishes like a mixed green salad with spiced pecans, seafood linguine, and chocolate souffles are always a hit. Often there’s a group of us sitting around on the floor while catching up, sharing appetizers like tuna tartare and fried chickpeas, along with a great bottle of wine (or three). I’ve wanted to chronicle some of my favorite experiences involving friends, family and food for years, and now it’s time to start.

My twins, Alexandra and Andrew, adore food almost as much as I do. At only 2 ½, they’re curious with healthy appetites. Others are amazed at the wide variety of foods they eat, and also their interest in cooking. A & A like being part of the process and running around the kitchen with me, often sampling each ingredient before it enters the pot.

I hope this blog will encourage you to cook with your kids, your spouse, your parents, and your friends. Sharing delicious food is an important part of any relationship, and always at its best when created with love.