CT Style Making Authentic Greek Baklava with Ryan Kristafer & Sarah Cody for Easter!

A cooled honey syrup poured over a hot out of the oven Baklava is the trick to flaky phyllo dough layers! Honey dripping Baklava for your Easter celebration is what was on the menu in The Bender Kitchen yesterday! What fun I had making this decadent dessert with Ryan Kristafer and Sarah Cody on CT Style. They were troopers diving into this foreign recipe with me and even though there was a lot going on they tackled it. The humor that filled the set from Ryan and Sarah as we scrambled to get thru all the steps of making the Baklava was undeniably my favorite part! The chemistry between all of us is priceless.

This rich dessert is made with layers of buttered phyllo dough, ground walnuts with cinnamon and cloves, baked and then a COOLED honey syrup is poured over the HOT Baklava right out of the oven! Did you notice the words I emphasized here? A completely cooled down, room temperature honey syrup is the trick to a flaky Baklava. The end is the most exciting part of making Baklava, pouring the cooled honey syrup over the hot Baklava when it comes out of the oven and hearing that sizzle!! You can see this first hand on my Traveling Epicurean FaceBook page at https://www.facebook.com/thetravelingepicurean/.

This recipe couldn’t be any more authentic coming from my dear friend Maria who’s many relatives still live in Greece on an island called Kalymnos. The honey Maria uses in her Baklava coming from Kalymnos has subtle hints of fresh herbs. Her relatives send her this amazing honey from Kalymnos where the bees are thriving off the wild herbs growing on the mountainside of this Greek island. I like to use wild flower honey in my Baklava but thats the beauty of this recipe, you can use your favorite whether its clove, wild flower or orange blossom honey.

Even though I don’t have relatives currently living in Greece my great grandmother, Louise, was born on the Greek Island of Crete. She met my great grandfather, who was from Italy, on the boat to Ellis Island when they were 15 years old. It’s wonderful to have such an incredible recipe as this Baklava to celebrate my heritage.

Greek Baklava, best when made the day before makes it perfect for holidays when there’s so much to prepare. It’s great to get one amazing dish out of the way. You will love how forgiving the phyllo dough is when you make your Baklava. The recipe is easier then you think!

You may want to make some scrumptious sides for your Easter dinner like Creamed Spinach or Creamed  Onions, Panzanella Salad or appetizers like New England Clam Chowder or a Mediterranean Layered Dip.

CT Style “Big Game” Show with Ryan & Teresa!

What a blast in The Bender Kitchen today with Ryan Kristafer & Teresa Dufour making my #1 viewed YouTube cooking show, “BEST BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP EVER!”, at 83,000 views and climbing!  It was a special day there because Teresa is back after her 4 month maternity leave.

Not only was it fun on the set at WTNH, Channel 8 in The Bender Kitchen but Billy Blanks for Tae Bo was in the house also. Of course, I had to take a couple fun action shots.

The improtant thing I wanted to get across to everyone today on CT Style while showing you how to make “Big Game” food for next weekend is to make ahead! The Guacamole, Hummus and Drunk Blondie Bars with Bourbon Caramel Sauce can all be made one day ahead of the Super Bowl LII. This way you can relax and enjoy being with your friends and still get the well deserved praise of master chef!

Here are those make ahead ideas for Big Game eats next weekend and remember to get your wings and chicken tenderloins early because all the super markets run out by mid week! Have fun and enjoy! 🙂

Homemade Hummus, Drunk Blondie Bars with Bourbon Caramel Sauce,  Baked Beans, Best Buffalo Chicken Dip Ever! and Homemade Guac!

Good Morning Connecticut with Laura & Jocelyn Making Pesto

Today I had the pleasure of cooking on the “Good Morning Connecticut” show with Laura Hutchinson and Jocelyn Maminta. Showing them just how easy it was to make my gourmet pesto was exciting because it’s hard to believe something that tastes so delicious can be done in mere minutes.

Making a batch of homemade pesto goes so much further then you think. First of all, it can be frozen easily for future  dishes. Second, one batch can make numerous dishes. For example, it’s enough pesto for a pasta dish and a pesto butter log. The pesto butter log is really nice because you can cut off slices from the frozen log any time you need them topping grilled steaks, chicken breasts, or even pork chops oozing the melting basil, garlic and cheese all over creating a whole new level of yum!

The ease of being able to use a food processor to make my homemade gourmet pesto is a wonderful thing!  The pesto tastes the same and you still put all the love into it using good ingredients.  You can play with this recipe also when it comes to amounts like adding a little more Parmesan if it’s too thin or drizzling in a tad more olive oil if it’s too thick.  Making pesto is a very forgiving process…. just trust yourself and be sure to taste as you go along to see if you need to add a sprinkle more of salt and or pepper.

You may want to check out some desserts to go with your pesto dinner like my Saltine Christmas Bark with crushed candy cane, Death by Chocolate Meringue Pie, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies,  Chocolate Crackle Cookies or Crazy Good Candies Pecans.

 Ingredients for Pesto:

• 3 packed cups, 1 extra large pkg. or 2 medium pkgs. of fresh basil leaves
• 3/4 cup grated Reggiano Parmesan
• 1 lg. garlic clove put thru garlic press
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper
• dash of Siracha

Directions for Pesto: 

1. Take the basil leaves off of the stems and place them into the food processor with the pressed garlic.
2. Begin to pulse while drizzling in all of the olive oil thru the top opening of the food processor.
3. Once you finish adding the oil you may need to stop and scrape the sides with a spatula if you see large pieces of basil leaves.
4. Pulse once more, then add the parmesan.
5. Pulse a couple more times to blend, taste and add salt and pepper and tabasco if you want a little kick to it.
6. Pulse once more to combine.
7. The pesto is ready to use.
8. Serve on PASTA and sautéed or grilled shrimp, fish, chicken, pork or steak!…mmm!
9. If you want to save the pesto put it into a plastic container and drizzle about 1 Tbsp of olive oil right on top, lay a piece of Saran wrap right on top of the new layer of olive oil so there isn’t any air touching (This will keep the basil from oxidizing and turning brown).
10. At this point you can either keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or put it into the freezer.
11. When you are ready to use the frozen pesto take it out the night before and let it thaw in the refrigerator.
12. Now that you have this delicious pesto you can easily make the Crostinis with Fresh Mozzarella, Pesto and Roasted Tomato appetizer.

Ingredients for Roasted Tomatoes:

• 1 lb. grape or cherry tomatoes
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• s&p to taste

Directions for Roasted Tomatoes:

1. Slice tomatoes in half, drizzle on olive oil and S&P and roast in a 400º oven for 15-20 minutes,
2. Be sure to check the grape tomatoes at 10 minutes so as to not over cook them…everyones oven cooks a little differently.

CT Style With Ryan & Sarah Making German Pancakes!

I had a blast today on CT Stlye with Ryan Kristafer and Sarah Cody making German Pancakes. It was so nice to meet Sarah and with Ryan’s fun sense of humor I thought it would be a good idea to bring some Halloween props to the set today. Being so involved in what I was cooking I almost forgot I had these props on the shelf behind me. Leave it to Ryan to see the plastic bloody hand and the laughs carried on!

Fall is such an incredibly exciting season. The aroma’s of the season are enticing for sure. People begin to get into a nesting faze and the baking begins. I love having family and guests over for the holidays and these German Pancakes have always been a big hit. I was turned on to German pancakes some 20 years ago by my Vermont friends and have been making them ever since.

My son loves to eat the German pancakes with maple syrup where as my daughter likes them with butter. I on the other hand like them with jam, berries and maple syrup.  That’s why I show you how to make a quick strawberry jam.

This quick jam is so simple, it’s worry free. You make the strawberry jam in 15 minutes while the German pancake is in the oven baking. You need to skim off the white foam that accumulates around the edges of the pan while the strawberries simmer otherwise the jam will be cloudy. While warm this jam makes a wonderfu sauce and as it cools it thickens into a lovely jam. This recipe only makes one small jar, just enough, and must be kept in the refrigerator. It stays good for a couple of weeks, perfect for your breakfast toast.

Hope you have as much fun watching the cooking segment of CT Style as I did being there! xo

Check out these other fall dishes that may interest you like Mediterranean Layered Dip, Eggplant Balls, Lazy Mans Lasagna,  Lobster Mac N’ Cheese, and don’t forget my Chocolate Eclairs! Enjoy 🙂