Sara's Weeknight Meals

Two unique Chinatowns of North America are the focus of this deep dive into Chinese cultural heritage. First, we go to Vancouver for a culinary tour of this century’s old community. At a local tea shop, she learns to make two deceptively simple appetizers cooked with tea. She samples Dim Sum at a shop owned by an opera singing second generation Chinese local and more.

The challenge of kid-friendly meals their parents will like is solved when Sara makes two family favorites: Spaghetti with Bacon and Eggs and Meatloaf but made in individual portions with spiced peas and onions on the side.

Holidays are when Sara pulls out the stops when it comes to sweets and desserts. Try her Glazed Pears and shortbread pecan praline, or the surprising twist on potstickers filled with dried plum and apricots. On Ask Sara, she shares tips on blind baking a pie crust for the pumpkin and apple pies of the season. Then a favorite food gift in Sara’s family - homemade Chocolate Peppermint Bark.

Chicken or eggs? We love them both and Sara’s got some amazing recipes to make them shine, starting with a chicken paillard, pounded thin, sauteed and slathered in a compound date butter. Baked Chicken thighs are pointed up with artichoke hearts and the acid of homemade lemon pickles. Then a French chef shows Sara a simple galette of ham and eggs wrapped in pastry.

If having gin and tonics in the shadow of the iconic Sagreda Familia caps your dream day in Barcelona, we’ve got you covered. Sara joins ex-pat food journalist Matt Goulding (‘Eat This, Not That’) to mix the city’s favorite drink, and they make easy Catalon dishes like Gambas al’ajillo, a yummy garlic shrimp to start, then a local classic Iberico Pork with Romanesco sauce.

On the Spanish island of Mallorca, an ancient olive grove tended by sheep is the magical setting for Sara and local chef Joan Abrams to cook over an open fire. After tasting olive oil from trees that are 1000 years old, we cook the local hunters stew of Arroz Brut, with a fire roasted tapa of eggplant and peppers. Back home, Sara makes Seafood Gazpacho.

Fish is on the menu when Sara joins Greek Chef Maria Loi in a harbor near Athens to cook lemony, crispy skinned Branzino along with Beet, Beans and Feta Salad and Lemon Potatoes. Then it’s off to Athen’s Varvakios Central Market to buy Retsina at a famous tavern for a rooftop mezze party in the shadow of the Acropolis.

A wild food tour of Barcelona kicks off Sara’s discovery of Catalon foods like fork breakfasts of snails and offal dishes ends with wine literally poured into the mouth, the pre-dinner tradition of the vermouth bar, ‘coco’ dessert breads from the local bakery and traditional nut milk shake.

The impossibly romantic Greek island of Santorini is our destination for a walk in the tiny village of Meglachore, where Sara samples the famous local wine on the edge of the Caldera. Then she joins local chef Christos Tyrantasyllopoulos to make three famous Greek dishes: Greek salad, Tzatziki and Shrimp Saganaki.

Sara’s Weeknight Meals hits three continents in one show, starting with Africa, where Sara starts a food tour of Tunisia’s Sidi Bou Said at a tea house with chef and food historian Malek Labidi. After tasting the local version of donuts, they retreat to a garden overlooking the Mediterranean to make a killer Shakshuka, eggs poached in spicy red sauce.