- Tonight on WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories, we're back in the kitchen with Johnny Spezzano.

He's joined by Jon-Michael Passerino to fire up some fried chicken sandwiches, topped with honeycomb ice cream.

And finding beauty in the small things.

We visit the Verra Sisters to learn about their fascinating affinity or insect framing.

Your stories, your region, coming up right now on WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories.

- WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories is brought to you by: - When you're unable to see your primary care provider.

A Carthage Walk-in clinic is here for you.

Located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and Healing close to home when you need it most - North Country Orthopedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports related injuries.

With our onsite surgical center and same or next day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us North Country Orthopedic Group.

Keeping healthcare local.

- We are the north country.

We're protecting one another like family is who we are and where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North country strong, at claxtonhepburn.org today.

- Select musical performances are made possible with funds from the statewide Community Regrant program, a REGRANT program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York state legislator administered by the St.

Lawrence County Arts Council.

- Good Tuesday evening everyone, and welcome to this edition of WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories.

I'm Michael Riecke.

With warmer months on the horizon, why not kick things off with some fire tonight?

Local Chef Jon-Michael Passerino joins Johnny Spezzano in the kitchen to whip up something you may not have considered before, fried chicken sandwiches with honeycomb ice cream.

The end result, it's pretty sweet.

- Hey, come on!

♪ - Hello my friends.

And welcome, welcome into my kitchen.

It's time for another episode of Johnny On Fire.

I'd like to rename it a very special Johnny on Fire because I feel like we're going to be maybe delving into some new territory with this recipe.

My guest, Jon-Michael Passerino.

What are we making today, bud?

- We're making a sweet, hot, glazed fried chicken sandwich.

- Okay, great.

Everybody loves chicken sandwiches.

- Right?

- Why is this one gonna be different?

- We're going a little off script here.

We're gonna top it with candied jalapenos, ice cream, and chili crisp.

- You're not gonna want to miss this.

- Pretty interesting.

- For sure.

All right.

I love this.

You are an avid chef, right?

You cook for your friends all the time.

- Yeah.

Yep.

- Yeah.

And you and I would pretty much belong to the same club "guys who cook," which I'm happy about that.

So, welcome.

And I'm excited to learn this recipe.

I ran into you at the Brew York festival.

- Yes, sir.

- Maybe I'd had a brew or two.

- I think we all did.

- You said to me, Johnny, I got a new recipe and it's this fried chicken sandwich with ice cream on it.

- Yeah.

- Which I love ice cream, so I'm excited to try this.

- Yeah.

- So very good.

All right.

- let's get into it, - So what are our ingredients for this?

- First off, it's just a normal dredge.

Okay.

You got your flour.

I seasoned it with cracked black pepper.

Threw some corn meal in there.

It's probably 75/25 regular flour to cornmeal.

Then you got your eggs and it's simple.

You - We're gonna dredge, do your dredge some chicken breast.

Do - Your dredge.

They're chicken thighs.

- Okay.

Oh, the chicken - Thigh.

I don't eat chicken breasts, man.

Can - We explain - Thighs and wings?

- Why chicken thighs are better than chicken breasts?

- They're just juicier a little more tender.

They take, they're cheaper.

They, they take the heat.

Well they, so it's hard to overcook - Nowadays when you eat a chicken breast, it tastes like nothing.

- Yeah, - Right?

- Yeah.

All the flavors in there.

- Lots of flavor.

- Got some fat going on.

It's nice.

- So besides our dredge, which is gonna be our batter, what we're gonna fry in, what else do you have in here for ingredients?

- So candied jalapenos, colloquially termed cowboy candy.

- Okay.

Yeah.

- And then did - You make those or not?

- No, I should have, - Yeah, - Just for the authenticity, - But, so basically it's a sweet jalapeno, jalapeno and sweet sauce.

- Essentially a bread and butter pickle.

Okay.

But they threw some - Jalapenos in there.

Okay.

- Really good.

It kind of tames the heat.

Yeah.

If you're not adept to - Heat.

Okay.

It's sounds like it's gonna be good.

Of course, our chicken thighs we talked about.

And the brioche.

The brioche bun.

- Yep.

- Alright.

You wanna get - Started?

- I do.

Okay.

So you said you put this together.

So is this gonna be our wet here or this dry here?

Dry here.

Okay.

I'll help - You.

Okay.

That a boy.

- Yeah.

And then this is gonna be our wet, so we're gonna do some eggs.

- Yep.

- Okay.

Do you subscribe to the whole wet hand?

Dry hand theory?

- Or what?

I mean, you try to, but through the fog of cooking they kind of get crisscrossed.

We gonna use all the - Eggs?

Yeah, we may as well.

- Yeah, you may as well.

Okay.

- All right.

This is a simple dish that you can cook at home.

While we're doing this, we actually have a cast iron skillet filled with oil.

What kind of oil you use?

Just canola oil.

Canola oil.

Okay.

And it's in there.

Heating up to about what?

- 325, 350.

- Okay.

- Just kind of regular fry temperature.

- Great.

I'm gonna take a look at it and make sure we're looking good while you're doing that.

Oh yeah.

Doing good.

- We good?

- Yeah.

- Oh boy.

That's fine.

All right.

The dog will get it.

The dog will get it.

- Okay.

So just eggs.

- Just eggs.

Okay.

Sometimes if you wanna cut it with a little water or milk.

- Yeah.

- But I don't see any reason to at this point.

- Chicken sandwiches have gotten super popular in years.

I've never had one with ice cream on it.

This is gonna be a first for me.

- Well get your socks ready 'cause this is gonna knock 'em off.

All right.

You've tried this?

- I have.

Okay.

Yep.

All right.

Tried this over the summer.

- I think we're good.

- I'll take that from you.

- Okay.

The old dip in the egg.

- Nope.

Flour first.

- Oh, excuse me.

Jon-Michael.

You know that's my middle name.

Michael.

- Stop it.

- The only person that calls me John Michael is my mom.

That's it.

- Me and your mom are gonna start calling you Jon-Michael.

Usually when she's mad.

- Yeah.

Okay, so, - So you go egg.

- Yeah.

- And you go back in the flour.

Make sure you get everything nice.

Everything nice.

- I'm gonna let you do the next one.

- 'cause Okay.

- This is your recipe, bro.

For the dog.

Okay.

How's that?

- Perfect.

- Okay.

You do the next again.

Chicken thighs.

Oh, we forgot to mention, what's this right here?

- That's chili Crisp.

That you can find that at really any grocery store, but I go to the Asian store on State Street.

- Yeah, they're great there.

- Yeah.

Love that place.

- Okay.

Flour first.

Egg.

flour.

Do you have an official name for this recipe or no?

- I don't.

- Okay.

You know what, we should come up with one.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like this is, is this like a signature dish for you?

- I mean, it, it's gotta be now it's televised.

So it's funny, you ask a friend of mine, she, she prompted a chat-GPT or oh, something on AI.

- To name it.

- Yeah.

To name it.

- All right.

We're gonna, I want to, we want to dig into this list.

All right.

I'm gonna help you one more time.

So just for fun, because we can, we'll bring the fry pan out right here on the counter, and we'll drop the chicken.

Just don't bump into me.

Okay.

This is very hot oil.

- Understood.

- I'm coming right now.

Okay.

Don't try this at home, kids.

Okay.

You ready?

We gonna hold hands while we do this.

Ooh, look at that.

I had like to fit 'em all in there.

I think we can.

- I, eh, no, come on.

Yeah, sure.

Let's do it.

Okay.

Make a little... make a little room for them all, and then they go right back into the wood fired oven.

All right.

All right.

You have to get out the Chat-GPT.

We gotta come up with a name again.

We're eating a fried chicken sandwich.

Everybody loves the fried chicken sandwich with ice cream and candied.

What's it called?

- Cowboy candy.

Cowboy candy.

Candied jalapenos.

- Okay.

All right.

- So the, the prompt was, gimme a fun flirty name for this recipe.

Sweet Hot glazed fried chicken sandwich.

- Okay.

- Topped with candied jalapenos, honeycomb ice cream and Chili Crisp.

So the names that, that it spit out was the Hot Honey Heartbreaker.

Aw.

The Sweet Heat Seduction Sandwich.

Oh my.

The Jalapeno Kiss.

Okay.

The Honeycomb Heat Wave, which I'm kind of partial to.

I kinda - Like that.

Why?

Why honeycomb?

Are we using Honeycomb ice cream?

- Yes.

Our ice cream is - Oh, you didn't mention that.

- Honeycomb ice cream.

- Okay.

- So one more, there's a couple more.

The Flirty Fire and Ice Sandwich.

Sugar and Spice and Everything.

Nice Chicken, which is a little wordy.

And then the Spicy Lover's Crunchwich, which kind of sounds like, I mean, we're, sounds like a Taco Bell.

- We're two bros cooking chicken sandwich.

It's a little flirty, but, okay, we'll let it go.

The honeycomb - Heatwave.

Sounds good.

We'll let go.

Kind of like that.

All right, so we're gonna check in on our fried chicken thighs right now.

Let's take a look, see how they're coming out.

Yeah, push that one in the middle down a little bit.

- You got tongues?

- We do have tongs.

You wanna flip 'em?

- Not yet.

I just want to kind of see what we got on the bottom side.

- Okay.

A little, starting to brown a little bit.

Oh, they look phenomenal, bro.

- alright.

Put - 'em back - In.

Whichever way the pan is, kind of rotate it, so, okay.

We can get some even heat going on - There.

So let's get back to talking.

What's your, what's your day job?

- I'm a interior remodeler.

- Okay.

- Kitchens and bathrooms are our specialty.

And - What's your, you have a, your own contracting business?

- Yes.

- What's the name of - It?

Yep.

Passerino Painting and Contracting.

- Okay.

So there you - Go.

Very North Country Original.

- Here's the deal.

He can come in, he can remodel your bathroom and he can cook you a meal, which I think is pretty cool.

- Yeah, that could be a niche operation.

You completely reinvent myself.

- At night when you're done, you cook 'em dinner and Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a - Great idea.

Like a concierge chef/remodeler.

Okay.

So it would be kind of - Fun, obviously you do painting with interiors and like you said, like renovations, you do people's baths.

So - The painting just kind of came along with Right outta college, I'd started an actual painting business, like solely painting.

And over the years I just kind of started amassing a collection of tools and started dabbling here and there.

Before you know it, I'm into carpentry and, you know, tile work and finishing sheet rock.

So really do it all besides roofs and exterior work, I try to stay inside where it's comfortable, especially this time of season.

- Obviously cooking is your passion on top of all the great work you do through your business.

So that's pretty cool.

Yeah.

All right.

I can't wait.

I don't know though.

I don't know if you're gonna, if you know, this whole idea behind ice cream on top of a chicken sandwich is a good idea or not, but I love ice cream and I love chicken sandwiches, so why not?

- Yeah.

- All right, let's take one more look at our fried chicken and see how it's doing.

All right.

Oh - Yeah.

- Beauty Johnny.

Now, just so you know, we did brown, our brioche rolls our brioche buns in the wood fire while the chicken was cooking up.

So we have those standing by.

It smells awesome.

I would've never thought about using chicken thighs instead.

It's a great idea though.

'cause I do, I love the chicken thigh.

- I mean, any chicken place worth its salt is gonna do chicken thighs.

- Do they?

I never knew that.

I always thought, thought it was chicken breast.

- And if, if you find out that they're doing chicken breasts, you walk out.

- Yeah.

Okay.

I'll make sure I do that.

All right.

I'm gonna get rid of this hot oil, so it's nowhere near us.

Sure.

I'll put it right up there.

Okay.

These are some beautiful beasts.

So we're gonna build, - We are, - I'm gonna let you build, bro.

All right.

Build this how you want.

- Okay.

All right.

So, so we just start with your chicken thigh - Honestly, though.

Where did, where did you get this recipe from?

- I saw a picture of a chicken sandwich with just a bunch of ice cream on it.

I was like, I could probably make that, but better.

So that night I, - All right.

Started tricking around and, all right, I'm ready.

I'm gonna have one.

Gonna do one.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

Now we just get, looks like a little, they call it a quenelle.

A smidge.

Oh wait.

Oh, I'm doing this wrong.

Is it?

Hang on, sorry.

I gotta, okay.

- Oh, we're gonna do the jalapenos first.

Okay.

- Kind of insulates the chicken with the hot chicken and the cold ice cream.

- This looks crazy good.

This is like one of those meals you make at like late night.

- Oh yeah.

- After you get home from the holiday party.

- Oh yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Beautiful.

All right, now let's do our ice cream.

- Are you watching this at home?

This man is putting ice cream on a chicken sandwich right now.

What do you think crew?

Would you eat it?

So far so good.

Yeah, we're getting lots of yeses so far.

How about you at home?

Would you, - Okay.

Alright.

Ooh.

Okay, now we get our chili crisp.

Do we have another spoon on you or whatever there.

- Okay.

- If you'd be so kind.

There you go, bud.

- You don't think this is gonna be spicy, do you?

- It's really mild.

- The idea though, is you've got the, the coolness and the creaminess of the ice cream.

Wait, what's this?

Oh, oh, do we need to add it or no?

Don't feel bad.

If we don't - Need it, we don't need, we'll do it for the the other ones.

- All right, here we go.

We're gonna boom.

Those of you watching at home, this is what a chicken sandwich topped with ice cream looks like.

I want to cut it in half.

There we go.

We're gonna taste it right now.

This is it.

Jon-Mike's ice cream topped chicken something.

You ready?

- Yeah, let's do it.

- That's pretty good.

I would say it works right?

I would rate that as a summer day, like the best summer day you've ever had.

Right there.

You've got your spiciness, your savory crunchy chicken breast and that creamy ice cream on top.

That's a mess, but, I can always clean up after.

I'm pretty sure everybody's eyes will be giant when you put it in front of them.

Thank you so much for being my guest today, bro.

It's been an absolute pleasure.

We have had the best time.

You can check out all of our back episodes of Johnnyonfire@wpbstv.org.

Listen to me on the border 106.7 radio show.

We also have the Johnny On Fire dinner at Johnny's podcast as well.

But definitely go to wpbstv.org and check out this, this great recipe and so many more.

Thank you so much, bro.

My pleasure.

Jon-Michael, thank you.

It does need some more hot sauce.

- You were worried about it being too hot.

- If you're looking for more great fire grilled recipes from Johnny, just visit wpbstv.org and scroll through our library.

Also, if you'd like to be a guest on the segment, all you need to do is send an email at WPBSweekly@wpbstv.org.

Make sure you include your name and of course your fire grilled recipe idea.

Well, Verra Sisters, Izzy and Maggie have a passion for bugs.

So much so, they formed the Verra Bug Company based in Kingston, Ontario.

Together the sisters blend natural science with artistic design to produce stunning displays of real taxidermied moths, butterflies, spiders, beetles, and more hall to showcase the beauty of insects.

Here's Gail Paquette with more.

- Izzy and Maggie.

Vera grew up in the country spending most of their time outdoors.

Nature was their playground, but they didn't discover their creative bug until much later.

When Izzy worked at a shop that sold framed insects, that moment sparked something big.

And now the Verra sisters are sharing a one of a kind artistic bug collection that turns the natural world into stunning art.

- We grew up like with bugs under our pillows because we just didn't, we wanted to be able to play with them the next day.

So it was just something that we had in us as kids.

And then when I worked in the shop and saw them and to be able to see them still and under the, like under the glass where you know it's gonna be safe and it's so, so beautiful.

That really inspired me to start collecting.

And then once my collection got to a certain point, I got myself a pinning set and I filled our house with bugs.

And then my spouse said, if you wanna keep pinning, which is fine, you have to start selling.

So my sister and I, Maggie did a show and at that show we brought 30 pieces and I think I went home with six.

So that was good for a first show and Maggie and I thought we could really do this as a business and we just went for it.

- What started with just 30 pieces has grown into a collection that's turning heads everywhere they go.

At first some people are a little unsure, framed bugs aren't something you see every day, but once they stop and look closer, curiosity takes over.

And it's not just about the wow factor.

Every specimen is ethically and responsibly sourced.

- We have people who see this as a dead thing basically, and it does make them a little bit uncomfortable and we sometimes too feel that as well.

But we do purchase from the most ethical distributors that we can find and they purchase overseas from the most ethical distributors that they can find.

And they're also taking really, really good care of the people in these countries that are collecting or raising these specimens.

And that is really important to us as well.

That those people on the ground are getting paid well and that they're valued for the work that they do.

We never, ever take like endangered species or any species that, you know, there's not a lot of, basically a lot of what we have too are pests in the, in their local countries and the distributors that we work with as well.

A lot of them give back to reforestation and repopulation.

It is something that's always on our mind.

- Their specimens come from around the world, from Peru and Indonesia to Thailand and Madagascar, places known for some of the most unique insects on the planet.

And while a lot of their collection is sourced internationally, the sisters are quick to point out, there are some very cool bugs right here in Canada, too.

- Lots of really cool bugs in Canada.

We have really beautiful moths.

We have, one of my favorites is the toe biter.

It's a water beetle.

People have seen them in their pools and in lakes and stuff like that.

That's the biggest bug we have in Canada by mass.

And then we have some moths I think that are larger in wingspan.

And we have beautiful big dragonflies.

It's not just about finding unique specimens, it's about the detailed hands-on work that turns them into art.

What you see in the frame is only the final result, but the real artistry happens - Long before that.

We purchase all of our specimens online and they get imported in some take months to import.

So we get them in, they go through customs and we get a big box of specimens.

And then we get together and we go through these boxes looking at all the incredible pieces.

And we split up who gets to work on what and we have to rehydrate them.

So each piece gets like opened up gently and put into a box with a paper towel and water spritzed on it.

And then we put another piece of tissue paper down, another layer and we spritz more water on it.

And we'll put upwards of like 50 specimens into these bins to work on at one time.

Yeah.

So then once they're a couple days in the hydration box, we can take them out.

It's really stinky at this phase and then we pin them out.

Yeah.

So we have to individually pin each specimen into the perspective position that we want.

- And even with all that care and detail, the sisters are the first to admit they're still learning.

They're not claiming to be bug experts.

They're artists drawn to the beauty shape and color of each specimen and they've built their collection around that creative lens.

- Both of us come with an artist background.

We lean heavy into that.

We always say we're artists first.

We are learning every day more and more about bugs.

And we, you know, maybe now we know more than the average person about bugs, but we learn so much from the customers that come to our booth.

We love having the kids in the booth.

They get really, really excited.

And we love seeing people's, maybe their minds change about bugs as they stand at our booth.

- The Verra Sisters aren't only bringing beautiful artwork to the community.

They're sparking curiosity and giving people a new appreciation for bugs, nature and the world right at our feet.

- A lot of people have never ever seen the specimens that we have and they don't even know that they exist in the world.

The first question people ask us is, are these real?

And they're always shocked when we say yes.

- It's really easy to enjoy them and to just see them for what they are, which is a beautiful creature, often like fuzzy or with like the cutest little ballerina feet you ever saw.

And it's just really easy to like open yourself up to finding something like even if it's small, that's beautiful about them.

For WPBS Weekly, I'm Gail Paquette.

- You can learn more about the Verra Bug Company on Facebook and Instagram.

Well, that does it for this Tuesday night.

If you have a story idea you'd like us to explore, we would love to learn more.

All you need to do is send us an email at wpbs weekly@wpbstv.org and let's share it with the region.

That's it for now.

Join us next time for a fresh look inside the stories.

Have a safe night and we'll see you next episode.

Until then, take care - WPBS weekly.

Inside the Stories is brought to you by: - When you're unable to see your primary care provider.

The Carthage Walk-in Clinic is here for you, located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and Healing close to home when you need it most.

- North Country Orthopedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports related injuries.

With our onsite surgical center and same or next day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us.

North Country Orthopedic Group, keeping healthcare local.

- We are the north country.

We're protecting one another like family is who we are and where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North Country strong, at claxtonhepburn.org, today.

- Select musical performances are made possible with funds from the statewide Community Regrant program, a REGRANT program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State legislator administered by the St.

Lawrence County Arts Council.

- That's pretty good.

I would say... - it works right?

I would rate that as a summer day, like the best summer day you've ever had right there.