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(upbeat music) - [Sara] Today we're cooking with beans and although we're also cooking with plenty of vegetables, none of our recipes are vegetarian.

You're gonna see just what beans can do to a meat-based dish.

They add so much texture and flavor.

The first one comes from an outstanding Italian chef, Joey Campanaro of The Little Owl in New York.

- We're making salad dressing chicken.

I'm gonna make a very simple vinegarette, which can be used for salad with cannellini beans.

- That's it?

- That's it.

Put it into the oven.

- [Sara] And the beans are brilliant, so this is so healthy.

And did you know there was such a thing as a professional forager?

Neither did I.

- If you've eaten a little raspberry off a plant, you've been foraging.

- [Sara] We'll follow one as she gathers salad ingredients literally by the side of the road, then sells them to some of New York's finest restaurants.

- I said I have 225 plants and what did he want, and he said bring me everything.

- [Sara] Then my old pal Ming Tsai joins me.

We are making black bean scallops with zucchini.

- I can't think of anything that has more savoriess-ness than black beans.

- [Sara] Savoriess-ness I like that.

- Savoriess-ness, I think it's a word.

- One pot meal, excellent.

(gentle music) - [Sara] My guest Joey Campanaro is the real deal.

An Italian chef from Philly, whose roots go back to Italy.

- I can't wait, I'm ready.

So yes, that's my crazy cousin Rosealba.

In this film, because it's Kitchen Cousins, she comes to New York and then I go to Italy and she's from the Isle of Trinity, which is on the Adriatic Coast off of Pulia.

- And so did she speak English?

- Not very well.

- So the two of you spoke sort of Italian?

- We spoke the kitchen language.

- Ah ha, it is pretty universal.

Hi I'm Sara Moulton, welcome to Sara's Weeknight Meals.

Boy, I wish I had a cousin in Italy, darn.

That long lost Luigi, shucks.

Anyway, I'm so happy to have Joey Campanaro here today because it's the rare chef that comes with a recipe that actually works for weeknight meals, usually they have 500 million ingredients.

You came up with something that's really cool!

- Thank you.

- Perfect for the home cook.

So tell us what we're making.

- We're making Salad Dressing Chicken.

So I like to use the chicken legs and I make a very simple vinegarette, which can be used for salad or it can also be used for cooking.

- Oh cool!

Now why are we using legs?

- I like the legs because of the amount of fat.

And they get very juicy when they cook with the salad dressing, and it's very simple, it's a very forgiving recipe.

Just stick it in the oven and 45 minutes later, you have this wonderful chicken dish that's perfect for everyday meals.

- With hands off, you don't do anything.

You throw it in the oven and forget about it.

You're doing the legs, so this is both the thigh and the leg because... - The dark meat is my preference.

This works for chicken breasts as well, but this just stays juicy.

- Okay, I was just saying, sometimes people will just do thighs, that's all.

But hey, the whole thing, much better, much more economical.

- Yeah and then when there are leftovers you can use that for a pasta the next day or a chicken salad for lunch.

- That's great, I like the way you think.

Okay, so I'm gonna make the dressing.

So we start with Dijon mustard, about a tablespoon.

- I love using mustard in so many different ingredients.

- Well it emulsifies things, so you don't-- - It does help to emulsify so that you stay away from raw egg.

- Yes.

So we're using a sherry vinegar, I love it.

Actually sherry vinegar is my favorite vinegar.

It's what I use in dressings.

We're using two tablespoons of sherry vinegar, but we're also using rice vinegar.

How come?

That's just so interesting.

- So to mix different types of vinegars, they both have lots of acid in them.

Rice vinegar is less acidic and so there's an opportunity to balance out the sherry, but still celebrate the sweetness of the sherry.

- [Sara] And I'm gonna put a hefty pinch of salt in there too, right?

- [Joey] It's always important to season your dressing.

- Yes, season them in the beginning.

As a matter of fact, I'm gonna get this salt dissolved before I add, we're gonna have honey in here too.

Now what's the honey doing in here?

I'm gonna add a tablespoon.

- Honey also adds depth and the natural sugar balances out the acid as well.

- And so it doesn't like go, you don't go woo?

- You lose the burn and you earn the flavor.

It also helps while you're cooking it, it helps to caramelize the chicken.

- [Sara] Okay now you're chopping some shallots, they're gonna go in the dressing too?

- [Joey] Yes.

- Shallots are great.

I mean the thing that's nice about shallots, even in a straight up dressing, is they're so sweet you don't end up with onion breath, you just add a nice sweet crunch I think.

- You know with this recipe, there are so many people these days that are like allergic to things or intolerant to things, and it gets really, really challenging with Italian food because people get allergic to garlic and gluten.

And if you notice this recipe doesn't have either.

- That is really cool.

And nobody would know better than you 'cause you've got three restaurants.

- It happens all the time.

I want Italian food but I can't eat pasta or I can't eat garlic.

And so I do consider recipes that just already fall into that category so that I don't have to change it last minute or I don't have to teach my cooks a different method.

- I just added four tablespoons of good olive oil.

- [Joey] Alright so the next move Sara, is to pour that right on top.

- [Sara] Just pour it right on top.

I like this.

- So now what I'd like to do is put a little bit more salt and pepper right onto the skin.

- [Sara] Okay.

Okay we're using kosher salt.

Is that what you use in your restaurants?

- I use kosher salt for precooking.

- The workhorse, beginning.

- [Joey] Yeah, and then I like to use Maldon sea salt.

- Just to finish with.

- Right.

- Melbourne?

- Maldon.

- Oh Maldon, from England.

- Yes.

- I thought you were saying Australian, Melbourne.

Okay, to finish with, okay cool.

- That's correct.

Yeah, and while I was in Italy, on the Adriatic Coast, the seawater just falls onto these jetties.

And there are little puddles of seawater and it actually evaporates and you can stick your hand in and pick sea salt right off of these jetties.

- Did you?

- [Joey] I did.

- Somehow I knew you did!

And then you brought it home and you got it through customs.

- No, no.

- [Sara] And they didn't ask you any questions.

- I just used it there while I was cooking there.

So if you could put this into the oven... - That's it?

- That's it.

Put it into the oven.

- You make my kind of recipes.

Alright, so this goes into a 375?

- 375 for 45 minutes.

- Okay, but this isn't all there is.

I mean this is, you could eat this straight up but what is the second half?

'Cause I know there's a salad component here.

- Right so in order to have, to make Salad Dressing Chicken you have to serve it with a salad.

Well not necessarily, but it's perfect because the salad dressing is gonna get used for that, the salad dressing that's on the chicken is gonna get used in the salad that we're gonna serve it with.

- Oh perfect.

- And so in an effort to stay away from using a pasta with this dish, I decided to serve this with cannellini beans.

- [Sara] Do you want me to open these guys up?

- [Joey] Yes please.

- [Sara] Okay, and then I'll give 'em a rinse-a-roony.

Okay.

- And so I'm gonna cut some of this escarole, so escarole is an endive.

It gets a little bit bitter but once it wilts and once you get some heat on there, it releases its liquor which is very sweet.

- You know that's sort of like radicchio.

I find radicchio very bitter, but when I grill it, it somehow just gets much sweeter.

- You know so just make little incisions on the ribs here and then just go straight down.

- Oh you need me to rip some herbs.

Just you want me to rip them right in there?

- Right, so I like to use a mixture of parsley, dill, and tarragon.

And then we'll just tear 'em up.

- Okay.

- I wanna keep away from the steps.

- Right, stems on parsley are very tough.

It's funny years ago when I was in California on my honeymoon, we went to this restaurant that served a salad that was almost all herbs.

I just never thought about eating herbs straight up in a salad, but they're so wonderful.

- It's very refreshing and interesting flavor bursts while you're eating a salad.

- [Sara] You're seasoning.

- [Joey] I'm gonna season, let's say-- - [Sara] Are we gonna toss this?

Or are we gonna just leave that salt right there?

- We're just gonna leave it right on.

You can dump those beans on.

- Okay good, okay.

- And then when our chicken's ready we're gonna dump the salad dressing on top of here and we're ready to go.

- Okay now you, apparently we're gonna have a little pinot noir.

- For this dish, I really like a light pinot noir.

- That always makes me happy.

- That's a pretty color.

- Yes it is, very pretty.

Okay.

So let's go catch up a bit.

- It smells delicious.

- It's wonderful.

Mm, okay.

So you just opened a new restaurant, huh?

- Yes, you know I-- - It's number three, right?

- This is the third restaurant, with the clan, it's a seasonal restaurant so there are tons of vegetables on the menu.

And we always focus on allowing season to dictate what we're-- - To drive the menu.

- To basically draw us in the right direction.

- I wanna hear some of the dishes on the menu involving clams, 'cause I'm such a clam-a-holic.

- I have two favorite dishes on the menu, the spaghetti and clams, and the other dish that I love we make clam fried rice.

- Clam fried rice, I'm gonna have to check 'em out.

You know I betcha-- - Oh our chicken.

- Our chicken, yes.

Well that chicken smells delicious.

I'm gonna go grab it.

- It smells like it's ready.

- And I can't wait, yeah that's true.

You know you usually know when food's ready 'cause it tells you by smelling good.

Oh wow it got beautiful color.

I guess that's partially from the honey, as you pointed out.

- [Joey] Yeah the honey and the amount of time that we give to crisp that skin.

- I'm gonna park it and then go close the door.

I'll leave these towels here.

- Great.

These look perfect.

- Absolutely perfect.

Dark meat is so forgiving, it's really hard to overcook it.

Wanna put those two guys just on here.

- Yeah, so and these are great the next day.

- I can imagine, and they'd be great in any kind of dish.

- And then you know, what's great about this is it started with a salad dressing and so it's gonna end as a salad dressing as well.

This is a warm salad dressing and that's why we chose to use a very durable leafy green.

Now all this color, that's all caramelization.

That is good stuff right there.

- Those are the drippings, so we're, essentially we're marrying the meat to the sauce 'cause we've got those chicken juices in there.

Wow, so this is like hot bacon dressing only it's hot mustard dressing.

Here we go, homemade by Joey.

What a great, great idea.

I do agree with you, this should become a weekly special in my home.

Nice, nice, nice.

I love salad too with meat 'cause I like the acid with the protein.

- You don't always need to weigh ourselves down and so just super simple... - [Sara] Fantastic.

Ooh it smells so good.

And the beans are brilliant so this is so healthy.

- Yeah, it's a very healthy meal.

It's every day.

- Yeah.

Alright, let's taste it.

Yikes that's good.

Chicken in my salad dressing, I love it, chicken juice.

Yummy, yummy, yummy.

So there we go.

That is Joey Campanaro's Salad Dressing Chicken with escarole and white beans.

Delicious.

Thank you.

(gentle music) - People spend all their non-working time trying to get rid of dandelions in their backyard, but now I've come to love the dandelion.

My entire family's waiting for dandelion season to begin because the leaves are so tender and sweet when they're young and the flowers taste amazing when they're fried.

Some people think it tastes like popcorn.

(laughs) Tama Matsuoka Wong likes wild plants.

That's why she gave up a lucrative job in financial law to be a full-time forager for five star restaurants.

- I didn't really discover this.

It sort of discovered me because I was a failed gardener.

So I tried to plant things and they all died or I'd forget about them and then there was tons of weeds.

So I thought why not just go with the flow and embrace what's there, instead of trying to force something that I wasn't very good at.

So I just let my yard become weeds.

I brought some plants from my meadow into restaurant Daniel in New York City.

Eddy Leroux, who's the chef de cuisine made it in some amazing dishes for dinner.

And when I went back into the kitchen, he asked me what else I had in my meadow and I said I had 225 plants and what did he want and he said bring me everything.

Soon I found myself toting these garbage bags of weeds around New York City, on the subway, to restaurant Daniel.

Daniel knew we were doing this and he would come in, he actually said so Tama, how is foraging?

I'd never heard of foraging before.

When he first said that to me, I thought he meant kind of like rummaging or something, I didn't really know.

And I sort of looked askance like, okay.

So the project that we worked on to test all these plants ended up turning into this book, Foraged Flavor that is the result of all of our testing projects and is made for the home cook.

- [Sara] Writing a cookbook was harder than it looked, especially adapting high-end restaurant recipes for home kitchens.

- My secret weapon ended up being my 15 year old daughter.

We would go around the grocery store and we had to be able to find the ingredients that were available in our local supermarket.

And then my daughter had to be able to cook it in our oven based on the chef's recipe, so the one thing is that a chef cannot argue with a 15 year old girl.

(laughs) - [Sara] But just look at what they came up with.

It wasn't long after the book came out that Tama started delivering foraged ingredients to some of New York's best restaurants.

- These are called gold moths.

- A lot of the chefs I work with are always looking for something new.

They're very creative.

- [Sara] And so she found something really unique for the pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern, Miro Uskokovic.

First she had to make sure it was safe.

- Before I would sell something, I would always make sure that there is documented evidence of it having been consumed by humans somewhere on the planet.

And shagbark hickory bark was used by the American Indians in a tea, they would boil it and they said it tasted kind of sweet.

So I thought okay, let's get a bunch of bark, like bring it in.

And frankly, it just looked like a house shingle, so I thought sure, and I brought this in.

I've never seen someone so excited, oh my gosh bark, totally into this.

And then maybe like two weeks later, he made me eat what he had put on the menu.

He put this shagbark hickory bark ice cream and it was amazing.

I think people are not connected with nature or what's around them anymore, so they're just used to seeing food that comes in a packet.

Whereas actually if you've eaten a little raspberry off a plant, you've been foraging.

It's really just connecting where the plants are coming from and ways people have eaten it around the world.

It's just that in this country, I think because we have come from other places, we've lost that connection.

So that's part of what I'm trying to do, is to reconnect people from where they're coming from and where these plants are enjoyed.

It's not really new.

- Hello.

- Well hello!

How are you?

- Nice place.

- Nice to see you.

- Look at you, watering your flowers.

- I know, I'm so domestic, aren't I?

Yeah, those are beautiful aren't they?

My color too.

- Well I'm here to cook.

(upbeat music) - I'm here with my old friend and fellow chef Ming Tsai.

- Hello Sara.

- Hello.

And we are making black bean scallops with zucchini.

- Exactly.

- And you say that in China, this is almost as popular as clams with black beans.

- It is and it's delicious.

Right, scallops are so sweet and fermented black beans, which is the hero today, are soy beans, right, that have been dehydrated with some salt.

And you know the new term, it's not that new, it's called umami.

- Umami, the fifth taste.

- It's a fifth taste.

This is packed, I can't think of anything that has more savoriess-ness than a black bean.

- Savoriess-ness, I like that.

- Savoriess-ness, I think it's a word.

- Were you gonna get me over my rice impaired situation?

- Yes, and I can't believe Sara Moulton doesn't-- - I boil rice.

- She boils rice.

- You wanna kill me.

- That's like-- - I know, it's like nails on a blackboard.

- It's like (mumbles) eating ramen noodles instead of making pasta.

- Okay rice guy, show me the right way to do it.

- Okay, two things.

Get a rice cooker.

Right, they're $49, go to your local store.

Rice cookers are one thing, they're foolproof.

You put it in with the right amount of water, you push a button, they're good.

But the key step one, is you gotta wash your rice, right?

So this is some long grain rice.

We're gonna go back to the sink here and I'm gonna show you when you wash rice, you've gotta wash it 'til the water is clear.

- [Sara] And we're doing this because... - Because one, rice is dirty, sometimes you'll see a pebble or whatnot in there.

Two, see how cloudy this water is?

That's really cloudy, right?

So that's the starches that are being washed off.

You want clean rice.

And if you do see something dark pull it out, this rice looks pretty darn clean.

But you have to do this about three or four times.

- And the reason we want to get rid of all the starch is so we have separate grains-- - Separate grains, exactly.

And I learned rice from two people, my grandfather, he taught the Mount Fuji technique, which I'm gonna show you.

- Oh I can't wait.

- And then, Kobiashi, who's a sushi master making sushi rice, short grain rice.

And he always says always go the same way, 'cause if you go around the other way it will confuse the rice.

It might make 'em dizzy and not taste good.

I think that's folklore, but that's a good story.

- [Sara] Okay.

- Alright so that's the second time.

See how much clearer that water is?

- Yeah.

- I do a trick here.

We have kids, right.

Brown rice, everyone knows, everyone knows brown rice is better for you, right?

So what I've done, is I do a 50/50, we call it the Hels rice.

So here we have brown rice that has been cleaned just like this white rice, soaked for one hour.

'Cause brown rice takes longer to cook, more moisture than white rice.

So if you soak it for an hour, then you can combine the two and you can cook it together.

- [Sara] Yeah 'cause brown rice takes about 45 minutes to cook and white rice takes more like 17.

- But by pre-soaking it and mixing it together, you have a fantastic rice that kids will eat.

This is what my grandfather showed me.

It's called the Mount Fuji technique.

So it doesn't matter the size of your hand either.

You put your hand in, this is Mount Fuji, you touch the top of the rice, and that water goes right to Mount Fuji.

- [Sara] Oh goodness.

- That is how much water you need.

And if it's a smaller pot, you can also use this first part of your finger, just to the line, that's how much water it is.

- Interesting.

- And you get foolproof rice, right.

- Okay, you might be convincing me.

I might switch over.

- She boils rice, my grandfather just turned over in his grave.

- [Sara] I wanted to get your attention.

- And this is why it's so good, boom you put it in and you push the button.

- [Sara] That's it?

- So that rice is gonna take about 30 minutes and why don't we start prepping and then you obviously wanna make this dish hot.

- I think there are seven ingredients in this recipe.

- It's such a simple one.

So you're mincing some garlic.

Those zucchini there, I want quarter inch rounds and I'm just gonna do some scallions here.

And you know Sara, scallion whites are stronger in onion flavor, right, than the greens.

So I always keep them separate 'cause I like to cook the whites and then I use the green as garnish.

- [Sara] Like a fresh ending.

- Exactly.

Alright, so we're gonna add a little grapeseed oil.

- Okay and I've gotta get going, huh?

- Yeah, you've got some time.

What's that, about a tablespoon.

You just wanna coat it well.

We're cooking it at home, so who cares if it's perfectly cut, right?

Although here we have perfectly cut Sara Moulton minced garlic.

Thank you Sara.

Alright, move this around.

- We need about two cups of zucchini I think, right?

- Two cups of zucchini, alright.

And we'll season as we go.

Then we're gonna add the fermented black beans.

Alright, and I'm mincing them up a little bit.

These go in, alright.

We have some beautiful scallops I'm gonna grab from the fridge here.

So here's scallops and I know you know this Sara, but there's always the muscle on the scallop when you buy them, right?

- [Sara] That's what attaches it to the shell, right?

- Exactly, so pull that off.

It's actually not inedible, it's just a little chewy.

So we add zucchini and scallops at the same time.

- [Sara] All at once?

- Right.

- [Sara] Do you wanna just talk a little about scallops and dry versus wet?

- Yeah, I mean these are beautiful.

Let me grab one of these.

These are so nice and dry.

So if you're trying to sear or caramelize, you need dry ones.

So quite often scallops are in a brine, they taste okay but they have a little tinny taste to it and you can never get a color on 'em, right?

So this dish is basically done.

And we've just gonna cook the scallops through.

- What?

We just started.

- I know.

This is why it's a one pot meal.

So you just gotta cook the scallops through and we're done.

- Amazing.

- Simple, right?

And the rice will be done in about 20 minutes.

- [Sara] Okay.

- Alright Sara, this looks awesome.

The last thing I'm gonna add is two tablespoons of butter.

This is optional.

- I'm like wow, I can't believe there's butter in Chinese food.

Do you want me to cut it in two?

- Yeah, cut it in half.

This is, well this is east-west food, right?

And the butter adds just a nice, coats the scallop and adds a luxuriousness and richness to it.

Again, it's optional, but oh my god I recommend it.

- It just pulls the whole thing together.

- It almost makes its own sauce, if you would, alright?

- Yeah, finishing sauce.

- Does that look good?

- That was the name of your show right?

East Meets West.

- East Meets West.

- There ya go.

- Cooking live with Sara Moulton.

- Not that many people know that you were discovered on my show.

- I was discovered on your show.

- You were gonna be discovered anyway.

- Oh I don't know if that's true.

- But he substituted for me and he did such a good job.

I went away, I made the big mistake of going away for a week.

This man took my show, everybody fell in love with him.

And then next thing we know you have your own-- - I was so bummed, like she's coming back?

Why is she coming back?

- Well then you got your own show, you got East Meets West.

- Then I got East Meets West.

Alright so just a touch of salt Sara, you don't need tons.

- Do you want a little pepper?

- Yeah and pepper.

Alright we can plate this up.

I think our rice is done here as well.

- [Sara] Do you want the scallions in here as well?

- We'll garnish with the scallions.

- Okay.

- Alright, now look at this.

We have this brown rice, white rice combo.

- And people don't notice in the restaurant?

- No they really don't.

Flavor wise, you can't really tell.

Look how perfect this rice is.

- I'm very impressed.

I just have to find a little more room in my kitchen for a rice cooker.

- You've got plenty of room.

- That's what you think.

- Just a little bit of scallions, there you go.

- Oh my goodness, that is spectacular.

And we've got chopsticks, I'm gonna do my best.

- You know what, I have a beverage for us though.

- Oh you do?

- I brought one of my favorite beers, this is from Yon Jing in China.

And I love, I think beer with this type of food is just delicious.

- Mm, this is so refreshing.

Okay, this is, I like it.

You come with beer and everything.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

- So does it taste good?

Beer is good because there's a little richness to the scallions and the butter and it kind of-- - Cuts right through it, all those bubbles.

Okay yum, yum.

So this is our scallop black bean, black bean, scallop, and zucchini rice dish.

One pot meal, excellent.

- Not bad.

It's not as good as your food Sara, but it's not bad.

- [Sara] With Ming Tsai, I'm Sara Moulton, thanks for joining me on Sara's Weeknight Meals.

(gentle music) Visit us online at SaraMoulton.com/SarasWeeknightMs and on our YouTube channel.

Sara's Weeknight Meals is made possible by USA Rice, Sunsweet, Ninja, Chef's Choice, and thanks to the generous support of... - [Announcer] The 2016 Subaru Legacy.

With symmetrical all-wheel drive plus 36 MPG, it pairs well with every kind of road.

Subaru, proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

(gentle music)