Sara Moulton

Chef Moulton's easy and no-fuss cooking style is one that all can relate to.

 

 

Photo Credit Mark Ferri

Chef Sara Moulton

Specialty: Home-Style Cooking

With a life-long love of food, it's not surprising that Sarah Moulton found herself at the Culinary Institute of America after graduating from college in 1974. Since then, the chef has gone on to wear many hats, including her role as a defining personality on the Food Network when it debuted in 1993. She has hosted Cooking Live, Cooking Live Primetime, and Sara's Secrets.

After culinary school, Moulton began to work at fine restaurants in Boston, New York, and completed a postgraduate apprenticeship with a master chef in Chartres, France. During this time, Chef Moulton also co-founded the New York Women’s Culinary Alliance, designed to support women in the culinary field.

Chef Moulton left the bustle of the restaurant world in the interest of starting a family. She pursued recipe testing and development and taught at Peter Kump's New York Cooking School now known as The Institute of Culinary Education. This love of testing recipes and teaching led to her subsequent careers in television and in Gourmet's test kitchen.

Despite leaving restaurants to spend more time at home, Moulton found herself in high demand, becoming the Executive Chef of Gourmet for twenty-three years and the Food Editor of ABC-TV'sGood Morning America. She is the author of Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals and Sara Moulton Cooks at Home. Most recently, Moulton launched a 20-episode series on public television, calledSara’s Weeknight Meals.

Chef Moulton lives in New York City with her husband and two children.

Fun Fact: Chef Moulton enjoys tending to her "urban garden" in window boxes.

Be sure to check out our interview with chef Moulton.

Recipes

Creamy Cauliflower Soup
Det Burgers
Stuffed Strawberries

 

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Sara Moulton's Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Chorizo and Greens

Perfect to chase away winter's chill, this rich and creamy cauliflower soup from chef Sara Moulton is more than comforting. It's also low-fat.

Photo Credit Michael Toland

Recipe courtesy of chef Sara Moulton.

Substantial and satisfying, this soup is luxuriously creamy without actually having any cream. What's the catch? It's thickened by pureed cauliflower and potato, so you're cutting calories but not taste. The sausage, greens, and paprika give it heat, and the cauliflower florets give it crunch. Serve this soup with garlic bread and a nice green salad, and you’ve got a meal in a bowl.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
10 ounces chorizo or andouille sausage, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced (about 1 cup)
1 medium head cauliflower (about 2 pounds)
1 small Yukon gold potato (about 4 ounces)
4 cups canned chicken broth or chicken stock
1 bunch mustard greens, kale, or spinach, or a mixture, tough stems discarded, rinsed, dried, and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly milled black pepper
Paprika, preferably smoked, for garnish

PREPARATION

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over high heat until hot. Reduce heat to medium, add chorizo, and cook, stirring occasionally, until pieces are lightly browned on both sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer chorizo with a slotted spoon to plate. Add onion to pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cut 2 cups small florets from cauliflower and chop rest. Peel and thinly slice potato. When onion has softened, add chicken broth, chopped cauliflower, and potato to saucepan; bring mixture to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer about 5 minutes or until cauliflower and potato are very tender. Transfer to blender in 3 or 4 small batches and puree until very smooth.

3. Measure pureed soup and return to saucepan. Add water, if necessary, to make 7 cups. Stir in reserved cauliflower florets and simmer 4 minutes or until almost tender. If using mustard greens or kale, add to soup with florets. When florets are just tender, stir in chorizo and lemon juice; add salt and pepper to taste. If using spinach, stir in with chorizo. Ladle soup into bowls; sprinkle each with some paprika and serve with garlic bread, if desired.

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Sara Moulton's Det Burgers

Perhaps the best burger you'll ever have, this recipe is named in honor of a cook at chef Sara Moulton's first job.

 

 

Photo Credit Illustration by Michael Toland

Recipe courtesy of chef Sara Moulton.

My first official cooking job was in the mid-'70s at a bar in Ann Arbor, Michigan (where I went to college), called the Del Rio. They featured live jazz on weekends. It was a democratic place; all decisions were made by common vote and it felt like one big family. The food we cooked was not all that sophisticated: chili, hamburgers, Greek salad, and soups based solidly on jars of soup base, but I got into it and prided myself on my soups in particular (the only item we did not have a formula for).

The most popular dish on the menu was a burger called the "Det" burger, which had been developed in the early '70s by one of the cooks, Bob Detweiler, when one day he got tired of making the same old burger on a bun. He topped the basic burger with what became the "Det" mixture: drained canned mushrooms, drained canned California olives, and reconstituted dried green pepper bits. He covered it with a slice of onion and cheese (his wife, Julie, the manager, suggested the cheese), and here is the most important point: He steamed it in beer! It was really delicious, the sort of burger you dream about.

I have developed my own version here using fresh mushrooms, Mediterranean olives, and canned green chiles to add a little bite. If you have the time, roasted peeled poblanos are even better, but I wasn’t sure anyone would go to that trouble on a weeknight. I made the "Det" burgers (with the poblanos) when I did a burger show on Sara’s Secrets, and Michael Romano, the chef from New York City’s three-star Union Square Café, who joined me to make his famous tuna burgers, insisted on taking the "Det" burger recipe home with him.

SERVINGS
4

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, sliced (about 1 cup)
Eight 1 1/2-inch cremini mushrooms (about 4 ounces), sliced
Kosher salt and freshly milled black pepper
One 4-ounce can sliced, peeled green chiles, drained
1/3 cup pitted, brine-cured olives such as kalamata, sliced
1 1/2 pounds ground beef, chuck or round
6 ounces Cheddar cheese, cut into 4 slices
1/3 cup beer
4 hamburger buns, split and toasted

PREPARATION

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over high heat until hot. Reduce heat to medium; add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high; add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until mushrooms have browned and liquid they release has evaporated, 4 to 5 minutes. Season mushroom mixture with salt and pepper to taste and transfer to a bowl; add chiles and olives and set aside. Wipe out skillet.

2. Gently shape beef into four 4-inch burgers; season with salt and pepper. Heat remaining tablespoon oil in skillet over high heat until hot. Reduce heat to medium-high, add burgers, and cook 3 minutes. Turn burgers and cook 2 minutes. Divide chile mixture onto them and top each with a slice of cheese. Add beer to skillet; cover and steam until cheese has melted, about 3 minutes.

3. Transfer burgers to toasted buns and serve.

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Sara Moulton's Stuffed Strawberries

Chef Sara Moulton shares her delicious and low-fat version of the cannoli. Her secret? She uses strawberries.

 

Photo Credit Illustration by Michael Toland

Recipe courtesy of chef Sara Moulton.

I’m a big fan of the wonderful Italian pastry called the cannoli — especially the filling of fresh ricotta, candied zest, and chocolate. My dessert swaps the cannoli’s crunchy cylinder of deep-fried dough for a crunchy strawberry. I’ve also replaced the ricotta in the filling with low-fat cream cheese, because the ricotta is too wet for this recipe. (You can use full-fat cream cheese if you want, but I think the low-fat is actually quite satisfying, and who needs the extra calories?) The creamy filling and chocolate chunks are a great counterpoint to the tart strawberries.

SERVINGS
4

INGREDIENTS
8 large strawberries (about 1 pound)
2 ounces low-fat cream cheese (about 1/4 cup), softened
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 ounce bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped candied orange zest

PREPARATION

1. Cut each strawberry in half lengthwise through cap. Arrange strawberry halves, cut side up, on serving plate. Trim thin slice from bottom if necessary to make each half sit evenly. Using a small spoon or melon baller, scoop out hollow in center of cut side of each strawberry. Reserve strawberry scraps for another use (or eat them).

2. Combine cream cheese and sugar in small bowl; stir in chocolate and orange zest. Divide cream cheese mixture among hollows in strawberries and serve or refrigerate, covered, up to 1 hour.