It’s Chef’s Week on Martha Stewart

It’s time for another big Martha Stewart cooking week block! Remember as The Martha Stewart Show is syndicated, the channel and times vary by location. (You can find your time and chcannel at the handy Martha finder here, btw.) And if you miss one and forgot to TIVO it, each show is repeated the successive evening on the Fine Living channel at 8pm Eastern. Listings below are for the original first syndicated air dates (so for FL it’s the next day).

Monday: New Orleans restaurateurs Ti Adelaide Martin and Lally Brennan prepare two cocktails, sazerac and sidecar; chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson makes an Italian appetizer, frico caldo; Jimmy Bradley makes fried green beans; chef Frank Stitt prepares pickled shrimp; chef Michel Roux prepares a chocolate-raspberry tart.

Tuesday: Chef Jamie Oliver prepares squid linguine; chef Jim Botsacos of NYC’s Molyvos prepares roasted jumbo prawns; chef David Chang of Momofuku demonstrates a simple way to make salt-and-sugar pickles; chef Michelle Bernstein of Michy’s prepares heart-healthy banana-wrapped snapper; and Fabio Trabocchi cooks up grilled pork chops.

Wednesday: Martha prepares pear galette; pastry chefs Emily Luchetti, Pichet Ong, Johnny Iuzzini and Gina DePalma from Babbo prepare recipes for chocolate-caramel bread pudding, rice pudding with jasmine and coconut milk, German sable cookies and panforte.

Thursday: Amish friendship bread; chef Lidia Bastianich prepares a chocolate, hazelnut and orange torte; pastry chefs Beth Pilar and Ellen Sternau make peanut butter and chocolate ice-cream sandwiches; cook Virginia Willis prepares blackberry cobbler.

Friday: Chef Eric Ripert prepares hamachi tandoori; Everyday Baking host John Barricelli prepares single-serving pies filled with sausage and feta cheese; cookbook author Sara Foster provides three quesadilla recipes; and chef Suzanne Goin makes caramelized bread pudding.

TV Alert: It’s Another Big Week of Cooking on ‘Martha Stewart Show’

If you’re not a Martha groupie, and you’re a foodie, you can go a stretch of time — between the show about nurses and the show about curtains — before she get’s back to doing “all food”. But boy oh boy when Martha Stewart does get back to food it’s often incredible, and it’s often a string of shows in a row. And that’s excatly what we’ve got this week. So be prepared to watch or get that TIVO going.

As always, in case the VCR breaks down, whatever is shown on the nationally syndicated channel during the day, the following day you can find Martha repeated in the early evening on the Fine Living channel.

Monday is “Female Italian Chef Day” with chef Odette Fada of San Domenico doing raviolo with egg yolk and truffle butter; chef Lidia Bastianich making sweet Italian sausage with fennel and olives; and chef Gina DePalma from Babbo making her Italian pastry.

Tuesday is “The Breakfast Show” featuring New Orleans restaurateurs Ti Adelaide Martin and Lally Brennan of Commander’s Palace making brandy milk punch and brandy Alexander; Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson from Manhattan’s Balthazar make brioche French toast and eggs Benedict; and chef Neil Kleinberg from Clinton Street Baking Company whips up some buttermilk biscuits.

Wednesday is “The Latin Food Show” with Michelle Bernstein of Michy’s Miami and MB in Cancun makes seafood bouillabaisse; chef Maricel Presilla creates bacon and red-cabbage relis; and Carmen Gonzalez from Lucy of Gramercy serves up pork and plantains as well as coconut milk pudding dessert.

Thursday is “The Chef Pasta Show” where Lidia Bastianich returns making Sicilian fettuccine with fresh swordfish; Mario Batali makes a traditional spaghetti recipe; Ron Suhanosky of Manhattan’s Sfoglia makes a classic carbonara; and Sal Scognamillo of Patsy’s Italian Restaurant creates a southern Italian recipe for rigatoni sorrentino.

Friday is “The Male Italian Chef Show” with Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco preparing lemon focaccia; Andrew Carmellini of NYC’s A Voce makes steamed black bass with pesto; and Sardinian chef Efisio Farris creates fregula with asparagus and gorgonzola as well as pasta with ricotta and bottarga caviar.

Lidia to Cook for Pope During His Visit

The Pope who landed in the United States yesterday, will be visiting Washington, D.C. and then the Big Apple. And who is to be his special NYC chef? None other than the host of television’s Lidia’s Italy and famed cook and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich.

She was asked over two months ago by Vatican officials and couldn’t breathe a word of it until a few weeks ago. From the NY Times:

Ms. Bastianich, 62, an owner of the restaurants Felidia and Del Posto, said she considers herself a devout Catholic, and she’s interacted with Vatican officials based in New York. She’s been active as well in the local Italian community. These associations, she said, seemed to be among the reasons organizers of the Pope’s visit chose her.

She said that she would write the menu and help prepare the food for a dinner for 52 on April 18 and a dinner for 24 on April 19. Both will be private. Neither will be in a restaurant.

Of course the interesting thing is: sure, the Pope hails from Vatican City which is a country in Italy and surrounded by Rome, but Pope Benedict XVI is himself German.