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An Interview with Dorie Greenspan

Interview Cookbooks

Amy Kundrat

“Cooking is a very generous act, particularly baking. It’s sad to get through life without a cookie but you could.”

It’s impossible not to be smitten with Dorie Greenspan. The James Beard award-winning author of ten cookbooks, including the recent Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes From My Home to Yours, will present her latest cookbook at the Darien Library in conjunction with Barrett Bookstore on November 18 at 7 pm. This compilation of recipes inspired by contemporary French home cooking, shows us that it's not necessarily all about being Escoffier.

We had a chance to chat with the gracious author, Francophile and cook about everything from her favorite Connecticut haunts (she has a home in Westbrook, CT), to her favorite recipes, memorable kitchen flops, and what makes a good home cook.


Chef Talk: Da Pietro's Chef Scotti's Grilled Calamari Salad

Interview Features Seafood Westport Recipe

Christy Colasurdo

Though better known around these parts for his inventive creations at DaPietro’s Restaurant in Westport, chef Pietro Scotti is all about tradition when it comes to the holidays. Leading up to Christmas, he bakes and decorates gingerbread houses with his kids, Tomaso, 7, and Lucia, 5, and sips festive hot cider with star anise, cinnamon and orange slices. He also bakes “Chicolino,” a bread with prosciutto and egg filling and a traditional sweet baked dessert that includes capellini pasta (go figure!), candied fruit, sugar, eggs and vanilla.

Hailing from Ischia, a tiny fishing village in Italy, Pietro recalls fondly his family shopping excursions to the waterfront dock. There, his mother chose fish so fresh it was literally splashing around in buckets for his family’s “Feast of the Seven Fishes” Christmas Eve meal.

When asked to provide CTbites with a favorite holiday recipe, Pietro chose this grilled calamari salad because it’s simple, clean and easy to prepare—a modern riff on a classic—but also because it reminds him of his childhood. Isn’t that what traditional holiday cooking is all about?