859: Indian Street Food with Meherwan Irani & Recipes from a Restaurant Daughter with Ming-Na Wen

This week, we’re diving into Italian cooking, from the Pacific Northwest to the Bronx. First, chef and author Joshua McFadden joins us to talk about Six Seasons of Pasta, his love letter to everyone’s favorite food. Known for his hit cookbook Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, Joshua brings that same seasonal sensibility to pasta, pairing local produce with traditional Italian technique, and shares his recipe for Nut Ragu. Then, Bronx-born chef Christian Petroni takes us into the heart of Italian American cooking with his debut cookbook, Parm to Table. From chicken cutlets to clams casino, he celebrates the cozy red-sauce dishes that define Sunday dinners across America and leaves us with his Chicken Scarpariello recipe.

This week, we go from a mindful kitchen to maybe a neurotic one? First, legendary chef Eric Ripert visits us in the studio to talk about practicing mindfulness and how he learned to bring it into his cooking. He talks about his visits to monasteries, learning about temple foods in Korea and making the most out of flavorful vegetables and delicious plant-based foods. Eric Ripert is the chef of Le Bernardin in New York City and the author of many cookbooks, most recently Mindful Cooking, Simple Recipes for Nurturing Body and Soul. He shared his recipe for Southern's France's delicious Socca Niçoise.

This week, we’re celebrating new fall cookbooks that belong on your kitchen counter. First, Aleksandra Crapanzano, author of Chocolat: Parisian Desserts and Other Delights, takes us from Marie Antoinette’s early “truffle” to the French art of baking at home. She leaves us with her Chocolate Ganache Tart with Raspberries. Then, Anna Ansari explores the delicious connections across cuisines in Silk Roads: A Flavor Odyssey, tracing flavors from Baku to Beijing and shares her recipe for Shivit Oshi (Khivan green noodles with beef stew). Finally, creator and Next Level Chef alum Cassie Yeung brings big, weeknight-friendly energy from Bad B*tch in the Kitch, including her 30-minute Beef & Broccoli.

This week, we’re diving into the everyday food of two of the world’s best food cities, Hong Kong and New Orleans. First, chef Lucas Sin joins us to talk about the iconic dishes found at a cha chaan teng, a casual Hong Kong-style food diner. Dishes like scrambled egg sandwiches, delicious milk teas, and golden rice, all born from limited pantry ideas and reinvented with kitchen hacks and techniques. Lucas Sin is the author of Cha Chaan Teng: Comfort Food from Hong Kong's Iconic Diners. He left us with his recipe for the Hong Kong classic, Baked Pork Chop Rice.

This week, we’re diving into fall cooking and the beauty of bitter flavors. First, Genevieve Ko, deputy editor at New York Times Cooking, joins Francis to take your fall cooking questions. From freezing smart to cabbage makeovers, Genevieve shares practical advice for making the most of fresh produce and tackling leftovers. She also shares the NYT Cooking piece 15 Ways to Make a Head of Cabbage Dinner and her Pumpkin Meringue Pie recipe. And check out her Cinnamon-Toast Graham Crackers from the last time she joined us to talk about Better Baking. Then, London-based cookbook author Alexina Anatole shares the inspiration behind her debut book, Bitter. She makes the case for bitterness as an essential flavor, one that brings depth, intrigue, and balance to our cooking. Alexina reminds us how bitterness touches so many of our favorite foods and she leaves us with her recipe for Stout Sticky Toffee Pudding, a perfect example of sweet meeting bitter in harmony.