KUED Programs

Nothing comforts like a bowl of homemade soup; once you master a few basic techniques, you can make a host of variations. Watch as Martha makes a nourishing chicken soup that's as easy as poaching a chicken. Then learn the "flavor-boosting" techniques that go into making minestrone. Finally, discover how to make veloute, a classic "mother sauce" that here becomes the basis for a creamy spinach soup.

Blanching, steaming and roasting - these three simple methods are the best for highlighting vegetables' flavors and retaining their nutritional properties. Let Martha guide you through these techniques and show you how you can use them to prepare an endless variety of perfect vegetable dishes in your own home.

Explore the art of making fresh pasta from scratch with Martha and her friend Michael White, chef, restaurateur and pasta specialist. Learn how to make the dough and then form it into strands by hand or with a pasta machine, and to hand-shape dough into shapes such as farfalle and tortelli.

Homemade pasta sauces far outshine store-bought jars. In this episode, Martha creates four mouthwatering versions: traditional, slow-cooked Bolognese; a quick-and-easy puttanesca; a rich carbonara; and a light but unforgettable sauce made with bottarga, a preserved fish roe that is a specialty of southern Italy.

If you love to eat seafood but balk at preparing it at home, you'll welcome this lesson. Dave Pasternack, a renowned seafood chef based in New York City, joins Martha for a beginner's class on buying, butchering and storing fish. They then demystify boning a round or flat fish and cleaning a squid. Finally, Dave shares an easy-to-prepare recipe for crudo, his signature dish.

Sauteing is one of the quickest and most versatile cooking methods. It works well for almost any small cut of meat or fish. Martha demonstrates how to dredge meat or fish in flour and the importance of cooking over high heat to achieve a perfect, golden-brown finish. She uses these techniques to cook wiener schnitzel, chicken piccata and sole a la meuniere - and shows how to make flavorful pan sauces to serve as accompaniments.