Just got the good word that Pike Place Market’s venerable Pike and Western Wine Shop will expand its usual free Friday tasting on August 20, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., to welcome best-selling cookbook author, award-winning television cooking show personality, chef, and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich.

Bastianich will sign copies of “Lidia Cooks From The Heart of Italy,” while guests sip complimentary tastes from Lidia’s own winery: Bastianich Vineyards. Bastianich Vineyards, which Lidia opened with her son, Joseph, is located in the Colli Orientali region of Friuli in Northwestern Italy, an area widely known for its wine production, terroir, and grape varieties such as Tocai Friulano, Schiopettino, and Refosco.

A limited number of cookbooks will be available for sale for $35, and a selection of wines from Bastianich Vineyards will also be available. The event is free and open to the public.

The book signing is in conjunction with Pike and Western’s weekly Friday tasting, usually held from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wine-shop owner Michael Teer will be pouring tastes from Bastianich Vineyards, and Pike and Western’s knowledgeable staff will guide guests through the unique and informal tasting.

Lidia’s latest cookbook, “Lidia Cooks From The Heart of Italy” (Knopf, 2009), profiles 175 regional recipes from 12 regions of Italy. The featured regions include many lesser known parts of Italy including Molise, Liguria, Umbria, Abruzzo, Calabria, Valle d’Aosta, Le Marche, Trentino Alto Adige, Basilicata, and Sardinia as well as the famed Lombardy and Emilia Romagna.

Lidia herself has garnered much acclaim for the past two decades for her best-selling Italian cookbooks, six restaurants, entertainment company (Tavola Productions), and various cooking shows, including the Emmy-nominated “Lidia’s Italy” series. She also founded a second winery, La Mozza, with Joseph Bastianich and Mario Batali. Other cookbooks include “Lidia’s Family Table,” “Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen,” “Lidia’s Italian Table,” and “La Cucina di Lidia.”

For more information on Lidia Bastianich, please visit www.lidiasitaly.com.

Located in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market, Pike and Western Wine Shop has been pairing customers with the perfect bottle of wine since 1975. A local wine shop with a world view, Pike and Western has supported the local wine industry since its inception and also stocks an extensive selection of wines from around the world. In-store wine tastings are offered every Wednesday, 4-6 p.m. ($5) and every Friday, 3-6 p.m. (free). Visit online at www.PikeandWestern.com, follow on Twitter @PikeWesternWine or phone (206) 441-1307.

Happy to report that the Pike Place Market’s Farm Days are going strong, and continue on the cobblestones now through September 29 with chef demonstrations through September 19.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, western and eastern Washington-based farmers set up on the street under airy tents. The tents allow them additional selling space for the season’s bounty, so customers can enjoy the freshest, most nutritious and delicious, local and organic produce.

Look for farms like Stoney Plains Farm from Tenino, Tiny’s Organics of Wenatchee, Alvarez Farm from Mabton, Alm Hill Gardens of Everson, Martin Family Orchards from central Washington, Sidhu Farm of Puyallup, Full Circle Farm from Carnation, and many more, on Pike Place starting at Pine Street. Look for greens, root vegetables, stone fruits, berries and other delectable “super foods.”

Pike Place is closed to car traffic from Stewart to Virginia on Sundays to create a lively pedestrian plaza of shoppers, farmers, and chefs. At noon (and also at 2 p.m. many Sundays), chefs show with panache how to cook the bounty grown by farmers. See below for the complete chef cooking demo schedule.

At the Pike Place Market, the city’s granddaddy of all farmers markets, shoppers engage in the 103-year-old tradition of “Meet the Producer” when they purchase directly from the farmers. This was the original intent behind the creation of the Pike Place Market by the Market’s founders. “Meet the Producer” is proclaimed in the sign next to the Market’s iconic clock and sign.

Summer Sunday Chef Demonstrations Schedule

August 1: Diego Castroviejo – La Taberna Del Alabardero – Noon
August 8: John Sundstrom – Lark & Licorous – Noon
August 8: Diane LaVonne – Diane’s Market Kitchen – 2 p.m.
August 15: Jason Stratton – Cascina Spinasse – Noon
August 15: Seth Caswell – emmer & rye – 2 p.m.
August 22: Wayne A. Johnson – Andaluca – Noon
August 29: Peter Birk – Ray’s Boathouse – Noon

September 5: Pranee Halvorsen – I Love Thai Cooking – Noon
September 12: Angie Roberts – BOKA Kitchen & Bar – Noon
September 19: Franz Junga – Il Fornaio – Noon

Visit www.pikeplacemarket.org for more info.

While researching my latest Pacific Northwest magazine Taste column on Savory Desserts (that was published in yesterday’s Seattle Times), I received this very interesting cookie recipe from Heather Earnhardt, pastry chef at the Volunteer Park Café in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.

My article was running long (as usual!) and we weren’t able to print the recipe in the magazine, so I am very pleased it’s finding new life online here in my blog. Many thanks to Heather for sharing her recipe.

And my article was timely. . .a few weeks ago, NPR featured also featured an article on using bacon in desserts.

Bacon Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

This creative cookie recipe comes courtesy of Heather Earnhardt, pastry chef at the Volunteer Park Café in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. It adds a savory element (bacon) to a traditional cookie dough with delicious results. At the Café, the cookie is whimsically called the Miss Piggy Chip and is the size of your hand!

1/2 pound dry-cured, thick-cut bacon

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, plus 1 egg white, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 pound best-quality semisweet chocolate chips, such as Guittard

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.

2. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, cook the bacon, turning once or twice, until crisp and lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels. When cool enough to handle, chop and set aside. (Alternatively, you can microwave the bacon until crisp or bake it in a 375°F oven for 12 to 15 minutes.)

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and soda.

4. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

5. Add the eggs and egg white one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly.

6. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour until thoroughly mixed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Gently mix in the chocolate chips, then the bacon.

7. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through cooking time, until the cookies spread slightly and turn light golden brown.

Cook’s Hint: Pastry chef Heather Earnhardt uses a two-ounce ice cream scoop (slightly larger than a golf ball) when making the cookies at home. At the café, she makes four-ounce balls to create larger cookies.

During the 23rd annual Les Dames d’Escoffier annual conference in Philadelphia in October, I took a wonderful seminar with my buddy, and Philadelphia Dame and chef extraordinaire,  Aliza Green at the venerable Reading Terminal Market in downtown.

Here’s a photo of some of the unusual spices she described, then cooked with.

The workshop so inspired me that I rushed back to Seattle and went to World Spice Merchants (along Western Avenue, just below the Pike Place Market) and MarketSpice (a venerable Pike Place Market shop that’s been in business since 1911!) to restock my spice rack.

I loved the way at World Spice Merchants that they ground my Kashmiri garam masala (an Indian spice blend), right before my eyes. It’s also neat because they offer five different blends of garam to choose from and you can smell them and compare prices before you buy them!

Also at World Spice, I bought an ounce of Aleppo Pepper, a warm, chocolate-y, chipotle-like pepper with a moist texture. It’s so special, I’ve been sprinkling it over scrambled eggs, soups and stews, and just about everything.

Still on a spice jag, instead of preparing the traditional Thanksgiving turkey this year, I made Madhur Jaffrey’s Silken Chicken, an excellent recipe from “Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick and Easy Indian Cooking” (Chronicle Books, 2007). It combines heavy whipping cream with garam masala, cayenne, ground cumin, paprika, fresh garlic, and fresh ginger to form a marinade that is briefly rubbed (just 10 minutes!) into chicken breasts that have been previously been slit, pricked, and rubbed with salt and lemon juice.

Just before baking the breasts, sprinkle them with a bit more of the spices and black pepper, dried mint (I used fresh), and another sprinkle of lemon juice (I used Meyer lemons for a very aromatic option).

Here’s the dish just before I popped it into the hot, hot oven.

The chicken is roasted at highest oven temperature in the top third of the oven and the result really is silken, velvet-y chicken and sauce, as shown below. Yum!

Three nights later, I tried the dish substituting thin turkey fillets for the boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The dish was still delectable, but the turkey was drier and not as “silky” as the chicken, so I’d definitely opt for that. I feel this preparation would be too overpowering for any type of seafood, other than a hearty white fish, such as swordfish or halibut.

From November 1 through December 1, Ryan Witcher, pastry chef at ART Restaurant and Lounge in the new Four Seasons Hotel Seattle accepted recipes for The Ultimate Holiday Cookie Recipe Search and Showdown. Purpose of the Showdown? To choose three recipes for the best holiday cookie to be served in the restaurant and hotel during the holidays.

Happy to report that I’ll be among the judges to choose the winning cookie (from among the top three entries) on Sunday, December 6, at the first annual Holidays with HeART, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Holidays with HeART is a family event with a lunch buffet, cookie decorating, and judging of the Ultimate Holiday Cookie recipe, with proceeds benefitting Treehouse.

Here’s a photo of ART’s executive chef Kerry Sear manning the grill at Party on the Plaza, another fun holiday event that was held on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, to welcome holiday shoppers and guests.

My friend and fellow cookbook author Cynthia Lair is also a gifted actress and comedienne. She has her own online television show called Cookus Interruptus, and in a recent episode she showed how to make Yam Frosting from just five easy-to-find ingredients.

It’s the kind of recipe we all welcome and treasure during this busy time of the year. Here’s the link to her Web site and the recipe.

One afternoon, after trolling the fish stands at the Pike Place Market, I brought home my daily catch of Petrale Sole and had to figure out what to do with a fish that, frankly, I rarely cook.

So with a small bag of good-quality, sea-salt-studded potato chips I’d snagged in a generous goody bag, I let my imagination run loose and created the following loosely constructed “recipe.”

Tarragon-Tinged Sole Fillets

Mix one-half cup each crushed good-quality potato chips with one-half cup of panko (Japanese) bread crumbs. Add about two tablespoons of freshly chopped tarragon, a dash of cayenne, and salt to taste (you might not need any at all, depending on the salt level in the chips). 

Now, with a fork or a whisk, stir together one large egg and two or three tablespoons of milk. 

Rinse and thoroughly pat dry about one-and-one-half pounds of petrale sole fillets, then dredge them through the egg wash and pat in the crumbs. 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and place about one tablespoon of unsalted butter on the foil. Place the baking sheet in the oven and allow the butter to melt and turn light brown.

Arrange the fish fillets without crowding over the baking sheet and cook seven to 10 minutes, or until the fish just flakes and the crust is crispy. 

Divide among four or six dinner plates (depending on appetites!) and serve immediately. 

For years, we’ve sent lucky friends and family a can of Cougar Gold Cheese for Christmas. So every couple of months, Washington State University sends me their Cougar Cheese Notes newsletter.

The Fall 2008 issue features a recipe that sounds divine (although I haven’t tested it yet and there is no yield line, so I have no idea how many cookies it will make). I know I’ll be whipping up a batch of Apple Cheddar Cookies for autumn snacking! 

Apple Cheddar Cookies

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 ounces American Cheddar, grated (about 2 cups)

1 1/2 cups chopped apples

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Get out a baking sheet and line with aluminum foil or parchment paper for easy clean-up. 

2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and vanilla. 

3. Combine the flour, cinnamon, soda, and salt. Stir into the wet ingredients, blending well.

4. Stir in the cheese, apples, and nuts.

5. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake until golden, 15 to 18 minutes. 

6. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.