>> NARRATOR: Coming up on Weekends with Yankee, Amy is in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

>> AMY TRAVERSO: Here we are, at Julia's favorite store.

>> NARRATOR: Following in the footsteps of Julia Child.

>> This is a true chef's inspiration.

>> NARRATOR: With Julia's friend and protege, chef Lydia Shire.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, look at that.

>> There's your beautiful duck in honor of Julia.

>> NARRATOR: Then Richard spends the day in Hampton, Connecticut.

>> All of the vegetables here have that sort of new spring look to them.

>> NARRATOR: With multiple James Beard award-winning chef and food pioneer Michel Nischan.

>> Each of these plants has its own personality.

They bring their own set of nutrients to the table.

>> NARRATOR: And then Amy is at home in her kitchen to bake up a pastry inspired by the beloved host of The French Chef.

>> TRAVERSO: It's like sweet, a little bit tangy, buttery.

This is just a perfect hors d'oeuvre.

>> NARRATOR: So come along for a once-in-a-lifetime journey through New England as you've never experienced it before, a true insider's guide from the editors of Yankee magazine.

Join explorer and adventurer Richard Wiese and his co-host, Yankee senior food editor Amy Traverso, for behind-the-scenes access to the unique attractions that define this region.

It's the ultimate travel guide from the people who know it best.

Weekends with Yankee.

>> Major funding provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> The Vermont Country Store, the purveyors of the practical and hard-to-find since 1946.

♪ ♪ >> TRAVERSO: I'm standing on Irving Street near Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Some of the greatest minds in the 20th century have lived right on the street, so much so that it's actually called Professors Row.

E. E. Cummings grew up on this street.

William James lived across the street from him, but the person who's nearest and dearest to my heart lived right here at 103 Irving, and that's Julia Child.

>> Welcome to The French Chef, I'm Julia Child.

>> TRAVERSO: When I look at her house, I think about all the meals that were eaten here and all the books that were written, and it just makes me so proud to live nearby.

In a very male-dominated industry, Boston was really ahead of the curve in elevating its women chefs to national celebrity status, and I think Julia had a huge hand in that.

So to learn more about it, I'm going to meet up with one of Julia's friends and proteges, Lydia Shire, who's a chef at Scampo here in Boston.

♪ ♪ >> She gave you the sense of... you know what-- I'm gonna ask you to do something, but we're in this together, and it may seem hard or it may seem complicated, but it really isn't, and I'll break it down for you, and I will show you, and not only that, when I make a mistake, I'll tell you.

You just, you know, cover it with whipped cream and serve it.

>> For wine, for this magnificent dish, one of your very, very best Burgundy wines.

I would think that a probably a Grands Échezeaux would be absolutely delicious.

>> TRAVERSO: Here we are, at Julia's favorite store.

>> All right.

>> I love coming in here because, you know, this is a true chef's inspiration.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

♪ ♪ This place is so special.

>> You're not kidding.

>> TRAVERSO: I remember coming here when I was first really getting interested in food and this just felt like the place to be to discover everything.

>> The history, and the fact that it's lasted all these years.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah.

>> 1939.

>> Amazing, it's stuff you just can't find anywhere else.

Let's find-- oh, there's Ron, hey, Ron!

>> Hi.

>> TRAVERSO: So we are retracing Julia Child's footsteps around Boston and we thought, what better place to come than her favorite butcher shop?

You know, her love of your dad and his work and her influence on Boston, like you guys influenced each other and changed the food scene here.

>> And I think that, you know, as chef can attest, it's, you know, we share a common passion, and I think that's what ignites those kind of relationships.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hm.

>> You know, what we do it's all about passion.

>> TRAVERSO: And your Dad appeared on her show, right?

>> Yeah, there's pictures up there, on her show.

>> TRAVERSO: Wow.

>> He was on her show, you know, I don't know exactly how many times.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> But it was, you know, more than a few.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah.

Did you used to, like, wait on her?

Do you remember her as a customer?

>> (chuckles) Well, in the early days, I used to, you know, my dad would say, "Go help them carry their bags home," and Julie and Paul, they'd always-- they had this big sack.

And Julie would hold one side, and Paul would hold the other and they'd walk down, and then other times, I would just, you know, take a regular grocery bag and... >> TRAVERSO: Wow.

>> ...walk them home.

>> TRAVERSO: And did you feel like you were walking with, like, a giant of American cuisine?

>> No, I was too young and stupid.

(laughter) >> Well, obviously, whether you realize it or not, but you may have walked right over where she actually signed the sidewalk.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, let's go see that.

>> Absolutely.

>> All right.

Oh, look what we have here.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, look at that!

>> Originally, this was actually over there.

And when the town was gonna redo the sidewalk, I complained, I said, "You can't do that, that's like, you know..." >> TRAVERSO: Right, a landmark.

>> A landmark.

They dug up the piece that was over there, and then they moved it to here for us to keep it... uh, going.

>> Oh, that's right.

>> And the original piece I actually have, which the Smithsonian has put a request in for the museum.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh.

>> Wow.

>> TRAVERSO: So she just took a... a stick... >> Well, it was with a stick.

I'll never forget it because I was right there.

So she came down and, you know, she bent down, and I remember helping her get up from it and... >> TRAVERSO: Do you know when that was-- what year that was?

>> Uh... a long time ago.

(laughter) >> TRAVERSO: Let's do some shopping.

- All right, okay.

♪ ♪ >> This is the real Long Island duck, which is the Pekin variety.

And it's a white duck and it's called not Peking but Pekin.

She always ordered duck for me, I mean, literally every single time.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> I don't think I remember her ever ordering a steak-- by the way, a little, um, thing I bet you don't know.

You know, she did not like arugula.

>> TRAVERSO: Really?

>> No, because arugula was Italian.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> She did not like it-- she loved watercress.

>> This elaborate, expensive silver-plated instrument is a duck press.

I think what made Julia child so popular among everybody is that she was so incredibly real.

She wasn't trying to perform, she was incredibly sincere, incredibly genuine, really passionate about cooking and baking and eating and not afraid to show both the good and the bad of all of that.

>> TRAVERSO: Well, Lydia, as much as it's a joy to be following in Julia's footsteps, it is really an honor to be cooking with you at Scampo here today.

>> Thank you.

As you can see, this is the beautiful Savenor's Long Island duck.

♪ ♪ >> These I'm going to marinate for one hour.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay, great.

>> There's lots of ginger in here scallions, a little red jalapeno, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

So this you can do the day before.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> Because you're not finishing it.

And once you get it in here, you don't want to move it.

All right, so now I'm flipping it.

And I can tell-- touch that.

You feel it's kind of firm?

>> TRAVERSO: Yes, yeah.

>> It's almost like if you were cooking a steak.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah.

>> You can almost tell that it needs very little time, I'm just gonna let it go maybe about 30 seconds.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hm.

♪ ♪ >> So... >> TRAVERSO: That's gorgeous.

>> I would say that would be a very pretty dish that would make Julia very, very happy.

>> Orange and duck go awfully well together because the duck, the dark, rich duck meat and the fresh taste of fresh oranges is just an awfully nice combination.

>> I mean, Julia lived in Cambridge.

She is, she's still here in Boston, we still feel her.

Watching Lydia, you know, be friends with her, watching Jodi grow up with her, and having her hand literally on the shoulders of the women that have had their hand on my shoulders.

Her legacy has just worked its way through generations, and it's still very much alive.

>> All right, Amy.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, look at that.

>> Here is your beautiful duck in honor of Julia.

>> TRAVERSO: So beautiful.

This is a feast.

I love it.

And I love how we're sort of celebrating your memories of her.

What was it like to go to her house?

>> She was this person who just wanted to put people together, you know?

She just had no ego herself.

She would sit in a corner in her kitchen and, you know, people would be circulating all around and have little beautiful moments of sitting down and talking, and that's what she wanted, she was so unselfish.

>> TRAVERSO: This is phenomenal.

This is just so good.

>> Well, thank you.

I can see why she loved it, why she always wanted you to make it.

>> You know, we were so lucky to get to see her and Paul.

You know, I remember having lunch in her home.

She always wanted to meet some young, up-and-coming woman chef because she wanted that person to tell her stories and listen to mine.

Basically, she was setting up the next experience for someone.

How unselfish of her.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah.

It was never about her.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> It was about what could she do for someone else.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-- and you know, I remember when I first moved to Boston, I did notice how many women chefs were in charge as opposed to being behind the famous guy.

>> Yeah, it was, I mean, you know, myself-- I'm the oldest of everybody.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hm.

It's been... it's been very special.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah, well, your food brings so much joy.

It's about pleasure and happiness.

And I think that was her relationship to food, too.

I mean, there's serious technique.

there's a lot of knowledge on this plate, but at the end of the day, it just makes me happy.

>> I agree.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah.

>> I think that's what's most important.

>> TRAVERSO: Well, I want to salute you and your wonderful food and all the women chefs of Boston and Julia and her legacy, which lives on in all of you and which we still get to enjoy.

>> Oh, thank you, Amy.

What a pleasure to be here with you today.

>> TRAVERSO: Thank you.

>> Really.

>> TRAVERSO: Cheers.

>> And that's all for today on The French Chef.

This is Julia Child-- bon appetit!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> WIESE: The sun is just coming up here on Hamden, Connecticut.

There's a real chill to the air.

And while winter is beginning here, behind these walls, it's always summer.

♪ ♪ This is Two Guys from Woodbridge hydroponic farm.

I know that's a mouthful, but what they grow inside there are some of the best microgreens in all of New England.

All of the vegetables here have that sort of new spring look to them.

>> This is kind of cool because you have like, some romaine, you have a little bit of mustard.

You have chervil, which is like one of my very favorite herbs.

It tastes a little bit like licorice.

>> NARRATOR: Meeting Richard at the farm is four-time James Beard award winning chef Michel Nischan, a leader of the farm to table movement, who runs Wholesome Wave, a non-profit organization that provides low-income Americans access to healthy fruits and vegetables.

♪ ♪ >> Each of these plants has its own personality, its own characteristic.

They bring their own set of nutrients to the table.

>> WIESE: Every part of it seems so clean and so perfect.

>> Yeah, I mean, growing them indoors like this just really lets us get total control over the environment, the nutrients that are fed to it.

>> NARRATOR: Showing them around the farm is Ethan Hack-Chabot, the nephew of one of the "two guys" for which the farm is named, who works at the farm stand at green markets throughout New York City.

>> With hydroponics, you're actually getting an even healthier plant, even more nutrients.

So with soil, any plant that you're growing is gonna have to search in the soil for the nutrients it needs to really, you know, become a healthy, full plant.

And it put some stress on the lettuce itself.

But since we pipe the nutrients into the water, the plants don't have to do any searching for what they need.

It's all fed directly to them.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: So are these microgreens, I'm assuming?

>> Yeah, these are the microgreens.

>> WIESE: These are the ones that people consider to be really nutrient rich.

>> Yeah, they have the nutrient density of eight to ten times what a full mature leaf will have.

So at this point in the plant's life cycle, this is seven to ten days after sprout stage-- seven to 14 days.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: You can buy from Mexico, California, Florida, mass produced.

>> Yeah, I'll tell you right now, this isn't mass produced at all.

When you're at market, it was alive and vibrant this morning or yesterday.

All of those nutrients, all of the antioxidants that help us, all of that stuff is alive and well, and that's what it means to be local and fresh.

>> This is, uh, kind of like a Bulls Blood sorrel.

>> WIESE: I mean, it doesn't even need dressing on it.

>> Well, no, it's so lemony.

>> WIESE: It's a lemony sort of apple taste to it.

>> Yeah, it's gorgeous, right?

>> WIESE: Yeah.

>> This is the shiso and you'll recognize this right away, um, you know, from your favorite sushi restaurant.

>> WIESE: Usually, the one I go to it comes in plastic, this part.

(Michel laughs) It's so inspiring looking at all these beautiful vegetables.

But the idea of cooking with somebody who knows how to put it together is almost more appealing.

>> A lot of people would think salad because we're in the lettuce section, but I'm looking over there, and I see some baby kale, I see some mustard, I see some, some perilla.

I'm gonna make a frittata at my house.

This is gonna be delicious, man.

>> WIESE: You know, you say frittata and I say, "Let's go."

(Michel laughs) ♪ ♪ >> I'll tell you, there's nothing like the richness of the flavor of an egg that's literally not even a day old.

>> WIESE: Look at this-- fresh eggs.

>> Yeah, good stuff, right?

>> WIESE: Wow.

>> So, depending on the breed, different breeds lay different colors of egg.

Leghorns are the ones that traditionally lay white eggs.

>> WIESE: Wow, that's nice.

>> Take these in, I'll show you how to make a frittata.

How do you like that?

>> WIESE: Yeah, I'd love that idea.

♪ ♪ >> A lot of people, when they cook frittatas, they're like, "No matter what I do, unless I want them runny in the middle, they come out dry as a bone.

>> WIESE: Dry.

Yeah, that's my problem.

>> I have a cool trick that I'm going to show you.

>> WIESE: Okay.

>> We have leftover butternut squash, onion, peppers, parsley, some scallions, the perilla, three cheeses and some good old butter, and then some purple and orange sweet potatoes.

♪ ♪ There you go, yeah, you could have been a breakfast cook at a truck stop like me.

(Richard laughing) So here we have about a dozen eggs, and, uh, we're just gonna whisk them up.

My arm is getting tired, you whisk, and I'm gonna cook the onions.

>> WIESE: Yeah, I could tell.

>> Called a two-pan frittata.

>> WIESE: Okay.

>> I take a little bit of butter.

I put it in a nonstick skillet.

>> WIESE: A little bit of butter?

That looks like a lot of butter.

>> Yeah, that's a good amount of butter.

And then I have another pan that's made from steel that I've just heated up.

I'm gonna keep that hot.

What we're gonna do is sauté the onions.

I'm gonna cook them until they're, you know, just... just translucent and clear.

I'm not looking for caramelization.

I've got a lot of color here with the sweet potatoes.

I also have a lot of sweetness with the sweet potatoes.

I also like to have a little bit of texture to the onions, so that when you bite into it in the frittata, you get that kind of aromatic quality.

>> WIESE: They're pretty big chunks.

>> I love people to know what they're biting into.

One of the great things about these, you know, hard autumn vegetables is when you cook them, and they soften their lush, they have a texture.

I think they're, they're better in bigger pieces.

So here I have a butternut squash.

I think you can start to smell kind of like the aromatic quality.

>> WIESE: Absolutely.

>> Okay, I'm gonna put it a little bit of chopped scallion.

Salt it.

What I love to do is I'll take just a little bit more of this butter, get some moisture in the pan, and what I'm gonna do is go for a soft scramble in the nonstick skillet.

So I'm shaking the pan.

I'm stirring the pan.

And you can see that now the eggs are starting to have a... >> WIESE: Yeah, the bottom is scrambled, yeah.

>> Now I'm going to turn the fire off.

This is when I add some cheddar cheese.

Put some perilla leaves.

Maybe a little bit of parsley.

This is a soft scramble stage.

And then... (pilot light clicking) There we go.

Put about a tablespoon of olive oil.

And then I just transfer... And this is a little bit of Pecorino Romano cheese.

>> WIESE: Wow.

>> So we're just gonna pop it in here.

>> WIESE: Okay.

>> For just a few minutes so that the top can set and the cheese can melt.

♪ ♪ There you go.

>> WIESE: That looks great.

I mean, you promised it would not be dry, and so far it looks moist, but we'll see how it tastes.

>> (chuckling): That's right, the proof is in the frittata.

Okay, so we have a little bit of Two Guys from Woodbridge Farm, and we have... >> WIESE: I mean, that just looks pretty.

>> Oh yeah, it's gorgeous.

♪ ♪ Here we go.

>> WIESE: That is so beautiful.

>> And moist!

>> WIESE: Oh, my gosh!

>> Moist!

>> WIESE: Well, should we try it right here?

>> Yeah, we should.

>> WIESE: Okay.

>> Absolutely.

>> WIESE: Cheers.

>> Bon appetit.

>> WIESE: Bon appetit.

Okay.

All right, so, here is my honest impression.

This is not a frittata.

It is what they call a autumn slice of heaven.

(Michel laughing) >> Nice.

>> WIESE: I'm gonna try this for sure at home.

>> Well, you know, again, it's one of those things you can make it even larger batches.

You can feed up to 12 people out of one of these if you have a skillet big enough.

>> WIESE: Thank you very much for introducing me to this food, because to me, this goes beyond food.

It goes into a lifestyle that I aspire to.

And it's, it's really wonderful.

So thank you again.

>> Oh, it's my great pleasure.

I live to serve and we just served each other a frittata.

>> WIESE: Okay, very good, thank you very much.

>> Cheers.

>> WIESE: I want to try your salad as well.

Mm!

Mm!

Awesome.

>> TRAVERSO: I'm feeling inspired by Julia Child and by Lydia Shire's memories of eating puff pastry with Julia.

So I'm gonna make my version of a puff pastry dish: apple cheddar and caramelized onion pastry bites.

So it's very quick to make, it's just seven ingredients, but it's so good.

And that's because apples, cheddar, and caramelized onions are one of those perfect time-tested flavor combos.

So let's head over to the stove and we'll get started cooking our onions.

♪ ♪ I've got this skillet over medium-low heat.

The idea is to start the onions low and slow.

So I've got two tablespoons of salted butter.

This is two medium onions that I've sliced.

They will separate as I cook them.

And now I add a teaspoon of salt.

It seasons the onions, but it also starts to extract a little bit of the moisture.

And then I'm adding a tablespoon of thyme.

I'm gonna let it cook for a little while with a cover.

And you let these go, lifting the lid and stirring occasionally, for eight to ten minutes or until the onions are translucent, but not yet browning.

(sizzling) (laughing): I gotta let it cook but I keep wanting to smell it.

All right.

My onions are nice and wilted, and soft and translucent, and they smell like heaven.

So now we're going to start the process of caramelizing them.

We want to get the sugars in the onions to concentrate and cook down.

I'm gonna add some cider Now I've got six tablespoons of apple cider.

It's just regular cider.

And I'm gonna put four in here right now.

I'm gonna add two later.

I'm gonna turn the heat up to medium.

I want to get a little bit of a simmer going.

And I want the liquid to actually cook off.

And as everything's kind of caramelizing and cooking down, I'm going to start to get little brown bits at the bottom of the pan.

And this last little bit of apple cider is gonna be the thing that lifts that up off the pan, and that's where all the flavor is.

♪ ♪ So this step goes pretty quickly.

I've added that cider.

It starts bubbling and it cooks off quickly.

You can see all the steam and everything is just now beautiful and brown.

I'm gonna let this cool, and as it does, the rest of the liquid will cook off.

Okay, so I said this was a seven-ingredient recipe.

We've used four of them.

The remaining three are puff pastry, my cheddar, and I've got an apple.

Those are my ingredients, that's it.

You can buy puff pastry in the store, and then you can also make your own, if you're that ambitious.

You want to roll this out to a 12-by-15-inch rectangle.

And if it starts to stick too much, you can just pop it in the freezer to let it firm up a little bit.

Okay, that's good.

This is a firm, tart apple.

By that, I mean that it has a nice acidity, a little bit more tart than sweet, and when you bake it, it kind of holds its shape.

This is an apple you actually find more in the South and in the West.

It's called Arkansas Black, because where the sun hits it, it gets so dark that it looks almost black.

I'm actually going to use this ceramic mandolin and get very thin, pretty slices.

Okay, that looks perfect.

So now we're going to cut this into the pieces that will become the little bites that you'll have so that they're roughly three inches at the widest point.

So now all that's left to do, I've cut them out, I'm gonna leave them exactly where they are, because as they cook, they'll just firm up and I'm gonna fill them.

So the first layer is the apples.

One thing that's interesting about these heirlooms is they do tend to brown more quickly.

They have some iron in there that oxidizes when it's exposed to the air.

Now, the next step is to put our onions in there.

So I'm gonna put a little spoonful of onion.

Just kind of divide them up among all your pieces.

Okay, so the onions are down.

I think these already look delicious and really pretty, but I do want to put a little cheese on top, because I'm in New England I've got to use cheddar.

And you don't want to use too much because you don't want to weigh down the pastry.

I went a little hog wild with the grating, so it never hurts to have a little extra.

And these were ready to go into my 375-degree oven for about 30 minutes.

♪ ♪ (whispering): Pastry.

I'm really happy with how this turned out.

Now these really are best eaten right after they come out of the oven.

You can prep them up until the point where they go in the oven and leave them in the refrigerator for up to a day.

So to garnish, you can just take your thyme sprig here, and just hold it at the top and gently run your fingers down.

And as you do, you'll be pulling the leaves off of the sprig.

So you can see how the pastry has just puffed up.

You've got all these little layers.

♪ ♪ Mm... That is fantastic.

It's just salty enough.

It's like sweet... a little bit tangy.

Oh, buttery... And then the thyme just adds that nice like herbal flavor.

Things is just a perfect, mm, perfect hors d'oeuvre.

♪ ♪ >> For exclusive video, recipes, travel ideas, tips from the editors and access to the Weekends with Yankee digital magazine, go to weekendswithyankee.com and follow us on social media @yankeemagazine.

Yankee magazine, the inspiration for the television series, provides recipes, feature articles, and the best of New England from the people who know it best.

Six issues for $10.

Call 1-800-221-8154. Credit cards accepted.

>> Closed captioning for this program was provided by Patrick Ahearn Architect-- committed to combining traditional romance and modern ideas in all its designs.

>> Major funding provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> The Vermont Country Store, the purveyors of the practical and hard-to-find since 1946.

♪ ♪