006 Uniting Foodies and Flavorful Tales with Ashley Cesaratto

Imagine biting into the perfect slice of pizza, but instead of just savoring the flavors, you spark a social media idea that unites food lovers citywide. That's exactly what happened to Ashley Cesaratto, co-founder of the Pittsburgh Foodies Facebook group, who joins us for a mouthwatering discussion about the city's culinary landscape. As we trace Ashley's path from music to influential foodie, we uncover the secrets behind managing an online community and the power of personal connections in recommending the best eateries and cooking advice. 

Ashley shares her experience stepping into the media spotlight, from a serendipitous Instagram comment to tasting the local limelight on "Talk Pittsburgh," we explore the prep and passion that goes into a few minutes of screen time. Ashley's tales from her guest spots on podcasts, like "Lunchtime in Rome," serve up a delicious blend of personal narrative and culinary delight. Finally, we get personal with holiday food memories and reinventions of the traditional feast. We chat about Ashley's family recipes and how a simple dish can become a treasure trove of nostalgia. 

Love a good wine suggestion? We also discuss which Italian vintages are the perfect companions to beloved pasta dishes, and then share a completely new take on lasagna for our recipe of the week.  Whether you're a cooking enthusiast looking to perfect your meatball game or a baking aficionado curious about pavlova, this episode has the ingredients for a delightful culinary adventure. So, buckle up your apron and join us for a taste of Pittsburgh and beyond, right here at the table of shared stories and savory delights.

Transcript

Doug: 0:01

Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. How does a Chicago tour of deep dish pizza help rally together 60,000 Pittsburgh foodies? Our guest this week tells us all about it. What Italian wine goes great with stuffed shells and garlic bread? Our wine expert has an idea. And what happens when Buffalo chicken dip meets a lasagna? A delicious recipe of the week. All that ahead. Stay tuned. We want to thank Isaly's for being a sponsor of The Pittsburgh Dish. From their classic chip-chopped ham to their variety of ice creams and even to their coffee. You should check out Isles Instagram at Isaly's Nation to get a ton of ideas on how to enjoy their vast array of products. Now back to the show. Thanks for coming over.

Ashley: 0:56

Thanks for having me.

Doug: 0:57

So I thought maybe I would let you introduce yourself, because I think of you as a food person in. Pittsburgh, but you have so much going on I do so. I'll let you introduce yourself and what you have going on in the food world, or what you've done.

Ashley: 1:13

So I feel like this is an interview. I haven't done that in a couple years. So I am Ashley Cesaratto and I, you know I guess I'm a foodie. I know there are some people in the food world that don't like that term, but sure I'm a foodie. My background is in music, though. I'm a music teacher, and that's what I went to college for. However, I have always liked to eat.

Catherine: 1:39

Me too.

Ashley: 1:41

That's kind of how I start off this story. My parents said that I was always a good eater. I've also sang with several choirs in the area too.

Doug: 1:51

Mendelssohn choir and you're a lifelong Pittsburgher too, right, you grew up. I am yes.

Ashley: 1:56

Yeah, I grew up in Penn Hills and lived there until I was, I think, 23. Got my first job, moved over to the Carnegie area and kind of been over there since then.

Doug: 2:09

Good eating growing up and then good adventuring out and finding some good places in your twenties. And then I think the thing I first noticed you do some stuff on Instagram, but I noticed this Facebook page. Can you tell me a little bit about that and how that got?

Ashley: 2:26

started Sure, so the person who founded it with me. We went on a trip to Chicago in the fall of 2019 and we got there early in the morning on Saturday. We left on Sunday, but we wanted to try as many deep dish pizzas as we possibly could. So we went to five different pizza, six different pizza places in about 30 hours and it was great. And she kept telling me you know you have to start something like start something on social media. So March 7th of 2020,.

Ashley: 3:00

I started my Facebook page and you know, I didn't. Nobody really knew what was going to happen a week later. Right so it started off with everybody baking, mostly like there was no yeast to be found because everyone was baking bread. And then you know eventually like takeout and then more restaurants, and then we kind of went through a time period where people were asking for recommendations like crazy.

Doug: 3:26

And what is the name of the Facebook group?

Ashley: 3:29

It is Pittsburgh Foodies.

Doug: 3:32

And I just took a look this morning, it's well over 60,000. What do we call it? Followers, members, members, yeah.

Ashley: 3:41

We have 63,000 members.

Doug: 3:43

Oh, my goodness.

Ashley: 3:44

And it's pretty active too, like I can look at the stats, like the behind the scenes data, and I think the last time I looked it said something like 49,000 active members.

Doug: 3:56

Yes.

Ashley: 3:57

So people you know are really interested in the food scene in Pittsburgh and we, our group does restaurant reviews, restaurant recommendations, home cooking and baking. If someone's trying to find an obscure ingredient, like all those types of things, it's a great resource.

Doug: 4:16

I am a member. I've been a member for a while. I think what's really funny to me is when I go on Facebook I actually see other people that are just friends of mine, that are part of that group because they sort of their comments raised to the top, and I know that my friend Amy just gave a recommendation on your group. I'm like oh my gosh, this is such a great community resource, so Bravo.

Ashley: 4:38

Did you have any?

Doug: 4:38

idea it would take off.

Ashley: 4:40

No, I mean we really had no idea whenever we started what it was going to look like or how many members it would have. It took us about a year to get to 5,000. And then, I think a month or two after that, we hit 10,000. So there was just like a ton of growth, yes, and you know, I suppose it'll keep growing.

Doug: 5:02

Yeah, and you still manage it. You're still the admin or one of the admins for it.

Ashley: 5:07

Yeah, there's two of us. We approve every post and every member request, so we're all about quality. We don't just want the most people as possible in the group. We want real people and not bots. And we want good quality posts and with substance, so that's helpful to people.

Doug: 5:31

And I also know like no, like you know, egregious self-promotion. It's not for a YouTuber or somebody to go in there and try and grow their people. It's really about the community resources you're providing. Like hey, I need a recommendation for a great Thai place or whatever, and then you see, everyone jump on that. I love it.

Ashley: 5:48

Yeah, it's a lot of fun and I did have a moment, because obviously I have a lot of like social media food friends, and I had, you know, there was a time where I said why don't we do like once a month or once a you know whenever, and just have people say, hey, this is my Instagram handle or this is my YouTube channel? And I think I would kind of like to bring that back because, like you said, it is like a community. It's a community thing.

Doug: 6:16

It's kind of like what we're trying to do with this show. And so maybe we can link out to your Facebook page from our website. That might be a cool thing. Oh yeah for sure You've had your hand in a few other things too that I think are really interesting. Can you talk a little bit about your involvement with Very Local Pittsburgh or Insider Eats? This is why I didn't know how to describe you. I'm like so she's doing some like, I think, freelance articles. She's helping out some small, maybe undiscovered, food businesses.

Ashley: 6:48

So Very Local. I just wrote, I think, three or four articles with them and I started working with them a couple of years ago ish, and I'd never done freelance work before and I'd never I don't even think written an article about something before Like. Of course I do Facebook posts and Instagram posts, but nothing on a larger scale. So I was very excited and also very nervous to do my first article. But they, they will give you like hey, we need somebody to write about this, but most of the time you pitch them. So the first article that I did was on Le Gourmandine Mundine.

Catherine: 7:27

French bakery.

Ashley: 7:28

Yes, so I got to talk to the owners and like go there, get a bunch of pastries and then go home and take pictures Like it was just so much fun.

Doug: 7:36

There's nothing wrong with that at all.

Ashley: 7:38

And I got you know paid for it, so that's awesome yeah.

Doug: 7:42

And for people if they don't know Very Local is. It's an app as well as a website and you can stream some like locally produced shows and I know they did some like cooking competition shows a little, a little while ago to plate it, Pittsburgh, that's right. Yeah, and then what about the Insider Eats effort?

Ashley: 8:01

Sure. So Insider Eats, they reached out to me in October of 22. And it was funny because how they reached out to me was they were trying to post in my group and I thought it looked kind of spammy, so I declined the post and I think we were messaging my you know lead at the time. He and I were messaging back and forth and eventually he was like well you know, would you consider working with us? And I'm thinking like I, you know, I don't know about this, but we had a phone conversation and then talked about it some more and I jumped on board. So I worked with them. My contract was for a year but I resigned about nine months into it. Just, you know, had a lot going on, you're still teaching full time.

Ashley: 8:49

Yes, I'm teaching full time. You have another job in the world, so it's amazing you're doing so much. Well, my job now? I teach online. So I taught at brick and mortar schools for about eight years and I had concerts and you know I would have to physically go to a building every day.

Doug: 9:06

So it was getting hard to juggle Insider Eats and some of those other things. So folks aren't familiar with insider eats. Can you just tell us a little bit about how that works?

Ashley: 9:16

Yeah, so it's a startup that's focused on supporting locally owned international food businesses. So, people from all over the world who have come to Pittsburgh to start their business. Insider eats wants to feature them and support them and help them grow. So and I think it's really cool for everyone involved because a lot of people in Pittsburgh don't know that we have so many restaurants- from all around the world.

Doug: 9:44

Right, we have a great food diversity if you know where to look.

Catherine: 9:49

Yeah.

Doug: 9:50

And sometimes you just don't you know or as a true, Pittsburgh, we don't cross a bridge or a river until we never know.

Ashley: 9:54

So that's where insider eats comes in, because they at least when I was still working with them they offered delivery through a.

Doug: 10:03

It was a 25 mile delivery range which is which pretty much encompasses, yeah, like the greater Pittsburgh area. I mean I think you've had like this incredible year, because that's also, I think, where I saw you then on TV, and how did that all happen and how did that go for you?

Ashley: 10:20

Yeah, so that all started with cottage cheese. Oh my, if you remember, probably last spring-ish people were doing all kinds of things with cottage cheese, okay, and I was on Instagram and Heather Abraham put up a video asking about restaurants that are doing something creative with cottage cheese and I posted a comment from my you know, eating with Ashley account and I said insider eats is partnering with, you know, these international restaurants and the Ethiopian restaurant makes their own cottage cheese you know, something like that.

Ashley: 10:54

And she ended up reaching out to me a few days later and asked if I wanted to be on talk Pittsburgh.

Doug: 11:00

Pittsburgh her show in the afternoon. So you got into the KDKA studios. You got to see all the kitchen stuff. Yeah, yeah.

Ashley: 11:08

It was so much fun, and the studio is a lot smaller and a lot like quieter and calmer than I thought yeah. There's only a couple people in there.

Doug: 11:16

Yeah, that's my experience. I actually, for those that don't know, KDKA has sort of like two studio rooms the big one where they do all the news and they have the couch. I have yet to be in there for any of my segments, but I'm always in the kitchen and I sort of like that when you get in there, they leave you alone for a while.

Ashley: 11:35

Yeah.

Doug: 11:36

The calm before the crazy.

Ashley: 11:38

Right, and it's funny because you do only have five minutes, but there's so much built up to it. You know, there is alot, and, like I, I was getting ready for I feel like three days beforehand, you know it's almost like a wedding or something. You have to get your hair done and your nails done.

Doug: 11:53

I don't know if I've done all that but for cooking, yeah, I'm like I'm thinking about. If you're on for five minutes, it might, might be five days of prep in and out, you know like you got to do the grocery shopping, you got to practice what you're going to do or say or any of the action on the show, and you, you always want to get to the point that they're able to take a bite.

Ashley: 12:13

Yes, that's the critical moment. If you don't get there on the camera I'm like no, we got to have her take a bite, I know, and it's. It's kind of like I didn't have to do any of the cooking when I was there, thankfully like we had Flavor Puerto Rico and Pita My Shawarma.

Doug: 12:29

He's great yeah.

Ashley: 12:31

Yep, so they, they all brought you know, their, their gear and their food and they they prepped their dishes and both times like the timing was good and Heather got to take a bite and they were able to do everything. So I just kind of like interjected and answered a couple of questions.

Doug: 12:46

I think it, I think I watched those and I think you it played well that you were able to talk about what the whole effort was and they were able to showcase what they do. That was probably a little less pressure for everybody.

Ashley: 12:57

Right, yeah, but it was a lot of fun. I would love to be on KDKA in some way shape or form, so I hope I can be there.

Doug: 13:04

You go, little plug if anyone's listening and you've also, I think, with all these ventures you've you've done a couple podcasts too. Can you tell me a little bit about those experiences? I know the one I didn't really know too much about. I know John and Rachel's YaJagoff you're on there for a bit, and then there's a second one you've been on.

Ashley: 13:25

Yep, yeah, so I was on the YaJag off podcast maybe like two and a half years ago.

Doug: 13:31

Yeah, two years ago.

Ashley: 13:33

They wanted to talk to the Cindy and I, the my co-founder, and so we went out to a brewery and and talked with them. I wrote a few articles for them as well when I was working with Insider Eats wrote a few articles.

Doug: 13:47

They do a food blog called Jeet Jet.

Ashley: 13:48

Yeah, and that's that's what I wrote it for, and then I wrote a couple more with with personal recipes. So yeah, that was a lot of fun. John and Rachel are so nice.

Doug: 13:58

So nice.

Ashley: 13:59

So gracious and welcoming. And then I was on my friend Jay Mitlow's podcast called Lunchtime in Rome, and I've known Jay for a very long time, probably since I was maybe 13,. I played on his volleyball team in junior high and he said I broke his heart because I'm six feet tall and I quit playing volleyball. But I, you know, I knew I wanted to do music in college and wasn't a huge athlete.

Ashley: 14:26

You know, I like. I like exercising and being physically active, but not a huge athlete. But his podcast is based on he's a pastor.

Ashley: 14:35

So, it's based on the Bible, first Romans, 12, 15, which says to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. And he likes food too. So I think that you know, and he calls it sitting at the table, as we are now. So you come and do the podcast and you sit at the table and it's just him and several of his friends just sitting around and talking about their feelings is kind of how I put it. And I think it's wonderful because they really help people with their relationships.

Doug: 15:03

Oh wow, that's a totally different spin than all of the food. Did you still talk about some food things he likes to eat? You said yes.

Ashley: 15:11

He likes to eat, he likes to cook and I think he's on the carnivore diet right now. But yeah, we talked about the first podcast I was on. I had my mom listen to it and she's like it was kind of like a therapy session for you and I'm like yeah, it kind of was.

Ashley: 15:26

So we talked about food a little bit and for the most part we talked about, you know, childhood stuff and like things that you go through and overcome or try to overcome. And then the second one I was just on for Christmas, oh yeah, and we talked about the episode was all about Christmas food. So we didn't really, you know, go too deep into the emotional and relational aspects of things. We just kept it kind of late and talked about food.

Doug: 15:55

So that podcast is still going strong. Can you tell us the title of their podcast again, if somebody wants to find?

Ashley: 16:01

it. Yeah, it's called Lunchtime in Rome and they are on YouTube, I believe. Do they have a website? Not sure about a website, but their podcast. You know. Anywhere you can get podcasts.

Doug: 16:11

You can find them too.

Ashley: 16:12

Yep Lunchtime in Rome. It's I highly. I can't recommend it enough. I mean I recommend it to anybody who wants to improve their relationships, like romantic friendship, family, anything.

Doug: 16:24

I love it.

Ashley: 16:26

This is Ashley Cesaratto from Pittsburgh Foodies and @eatingwithashleypgh, and you're listening to the Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug: 16:36

You reminded me of two things, so let's go back a step. So when you were on there talking about holiday food, do you have a favorite holiday dish? I know we're just past the holidays, but is? There something you talked about or something that sticks out every year that you're like we gotta make this.

Ashley: 16:49

Well, my mom has been doing stuffed shells and her famous garlic bread for years. So you take a big loaf of Italian bread, you cut it in half, like, so you have two skinny. You know the top and bottom. Yes yeah, and you slather it with olive oil, softened butter, parmesan cheese, garlic, parsley. You know everything delicious.

Doug: 17:12

Nothing wrong.

Ashley: 17:12

Right, it is so, so good, so I always look forward to that every year, and I actually was sick during Christmas this year, so I didn't get to go for it to see my family.

Catherine: 17:22

Oh no.

Ashley: 17:23

Yeah, but my awesome boyfriend went over and he brought presents, you know to them and then brought ours back and brought some food back, so I still got to have my mom's stuffed shells and garlic bread.

Doug: 17:35

So is that like a Christmas dish that she always does stuffed shells and garlic bread?

Ashley: 17:39

Yeah and she was saying that she needs to do it. You know, maybe another time throughout the year because especially that garlic bread. It's so good.

Doug: 17:45

Oh my gosh. Yeah, I would love that recipe sometime. Oh yeah, for sure, for sure.

Ashley: 17:50

And for Thanksgiving. This year I think I had like four Thanksgiving dinners because a couple of friends giveings and then we hosted my family at my boyfriend's house and then we ended up going to my family's like after that for actual Thanksgiving. So we were thinking that maybe next year we would do a prime rib.

Doug: 18:11

I've never personally done prime rib before You're stepping up the level.

Ashley: 18:13

That's good yeah yeah, but I love my mom again.

Doug: 18:17

My mom's cooking you know her stuffing is the absolute best thing in the world to me Anything that she puts in any special ingredients, anything super fun, no, I mean it's so easy.

Ashley: 18:29

I think the recipe literally says like get the cheapest bread at the grocery store. So you just mix like white and wheat bread and you saute onions and celery in a whole lot of butter, some poultry seasoning, salt and water and I think that's it. It gets very simple, but it's so delicious.

Doug: 18:49

So good Does she bake it like in a pan?

Ashley: 18:51

outside of the bird yeah.

Doug: 18:54

Yeah, I would say for us. At Thanksgiving I started making a sausage stuffing from my late mother-in-law and that could be the only dish I serve at Thanksgiving and that would be okay.

Ashley: 19:04

Yep, so good.

Doug: 19:07

I wanna go back, since you were talking about your mom's cooking. So when you were growing up, was mom the main person in the kitchen or who else was cooking for you?

Ashley: 19:17

So, yeah, I grew up in the 90s, and so my dad worked and my mom stayed home with us and it was great. She cooked pretty much every night.

Doug: 19:27

Wow.

Ashley: 19:28

Every other Friday we ordered out and got pizza and had a movie night and. I just have the best memories of being a kid and you know, like my mom's cooking is just so good and I think, watching her and tasting how delicious all of her food always was, I'm sure that had a big influence on why I love to cook and bake and go out to eat so much as an adult.

Doug: 19:55

So let's talk about two things from today. So when you are cooking and baking now, what are a couple of your favorite things you gravitate to make at home?

Ashley: 20:05

Well, a recipe that I love is our meatball recipe. My mom and I, she, well, she, you know, it's actually Dan Marino's meatball recipe.

Doug: 20:14

Oh, wow. I feel like I vaguely have heard about the Dan Marino meatball recipe, but I don't know anything about it.

Ashley: 20:20

Yeah, so it's a lot. She tweaked it over the years too. She uses a ton of fresh garlic.

Doug: 20:25

Oh yes.

Ashley: 20:26

And Parmesan cheese and torn like what you do, you get bread again like the cheap white bread at the store, and you actually just run it under the faucet for a couple of seconds and then tear it and put that into the meat.

Doug: 20:40

Keeps it super moist and delicious.

Ashley: 20:42

Yeah, and I just love it. I guess growing up with that. Now I love going to a restaurant and somebody else has actual little pieces of bread in their meatballs as opposed to like breadcrumbs it reminds you of home, oh, I love that.

Doug: 20:55

And what about like a baking dish? You said you liked to bake.

Ashley: 20:59

Yeah, I wrote down banana muffins, so I've been making these banana muffins for years now, and the same with my mom's stuffing. They are so easy to make. There's only maybe eight ingredients. You actually use vegetable oil instead of like butter or sour cream or something like that, and they're super simple, super delicious. I usually put chocolate chips in them.

Doug: 21:22

Nothing wrong with that, yeah.

Ashley: 21:24

Actually, today I just baked a pavlova. We're having some people over for dinner.

Doug: 21:28

My goodness.

Ashley: 21:30

It was so much fun, like it was really easy and very like cool and interesting to make.

Doug: 21:35

So a pavlova is like a really big baked meringue shell, right, yep? And then, like, tell me about I mean, I think what I've heard is like the weather. You know, we're on a really cool day and there's like no humidity and that's really good for meringues.

Ashley: 21:51

Yes, and then?

Doug: 21:52

what do you do with it? Do you top it, do you put? Like whipped cream or anything on it.

Ashley: 21:56

Yeah, yeah, you top it with fresh whipped cream and berries or fruit really any kind of fruit, and I am doing macerated grapefruit with brown sugar.

Doug: 22:09

Oh, I think that sounds like a great pairing with that acid. You know that sort of a little bit of sour, because there's a lot of like fluffy sweetness in it.

Ashley: 22:16

Yes, yeah.

Doug: 22:18

Is this an original Ashley recipe?

Ashley: 22:20

I mean, I would say the macerated grapefruit is because most of the recipes I've seen have you top it with kiwi or berries and I'm like I saw the grapefruits at Aldi a day or two ago and I'm like I think I'm gonna do grapefruit. You know, a little twist. It's not a very traditional dessert fruit.

Doug: 22:39

Well, we're doing this recording at the end of January and a lot of people don't know that like citrus is actually in season, like it's actually really good right now. So I think, you're on the right track.

Ashley: 22:49

Yeah, and that's. I learned that really not too long ago, maybe five years ago that citrus is in season in the summer and you always think, oh, oranges and lemons, like that's summer food but so I decided to go for it. I love it it sounds delicious.

Doug: 23:03

I hope you post a picture somewhere.

Ashley: 23:04

Definitely.

Doug: 23:06

So, aside from all of the home cooking and baking, I know you love to go out to eat. Do you have a couple of spots that are like at the top of your list right now?

Ashley: 23:15

I do. I will give you a breakfast spot like breakfast and lunch, and then lunch and dinner.

Doug: 23:20

So that sounds great.

Ashley: 23:22

One of my favorite breakfast spots is Oak Hill Post in Brookline. Yes, yeah, and they recently did a menu overhaul which some people were upset that they took very special like long-term items off the menu. Oh, and rightfully so, because they're, they're so good. Yeah, it's just amazing. And they make these huge homemade biscuits and like everything is from scratch and it's just fantastic. Their French toast is so. I'm like a big topping and condiment and sauce kind of person, so you know if I'm eating like chicken tenders.

Catherine: 24:02

I want to have like three different sauces.

Ashley: 24:04

Or if I'm having a burger, I want like ketchup and mayo and then another sauce on the side. So they maybe make this french toast. They make the bread itself from scratch and it's like a, a crème brûlée french toast. I don't need anything on that.

Doug: 24:19

So this is very telling for you you don't need a topping. No, because it's perfect.

Ashley: 24:24

Mm-hmm.

Doug: 24:26

Yeah, I've had their breakfast sandwich and the smash burger. So, it's for those that don't know Oak Hill post in Brookline is breakfast and like in the lunch. You know they're in. They're open till like early like 2 30 afternoon. Yeah, so, and you can get all of that all day. Mm-hmm, there's often a line outside.

Ashley: 24:43

Oh yeah, for sure for sure and rightfully so yeah, I'm trying to think we weren't. Recently I got us a salmon dish with like a soft boiled egg and some toast with that. Yeah, just incredible food.

Doug: 24:59

I'm sure it's hard to change your menu as a restaurant owner when you know something's working. But you also, you want to show more, but you can't maybe have a menu that's so long every day Mm-hmm. You know, we'll get through our growing pains and see what they're bringing to us and yeah. I'm sure it won't really hurt, right right, long-term success.

Ashley: 25:17

Yeah, exactly, and I just respect them so much because I would say the vast majority of restaurants don't really change their menu. I mean you have some restaurants that haven't changed their menu in 40 years. Yeah some do you know, specials, or some even do seasonal menus but, like oak hill post, just completely changed it up and there there's still a line out the door and you know.

Doug: 25:39

So it's good for them. Yeah, that is a great place. Thank you for that pick, Mm-hmm. All right, you got another. Another spot.

Ashley: 25:46

Yes, and I think I think a lot of people even in Like it's in Robinson, I think a lot of people even in that area don't know about it. It's called Saigon 88 Express.

Doug: 25:56

They're a long Steubenville Pike.

Ashley: 25:58

They are yep so along the main drag like heading into or away from like the mall area.

Doug: 26:03

Yes of Robinson.

Ashley: 26:05

Mm-hmm, they have. So it's a Vietnamese restaurant like they have bahn mi and they have pho, but they also have amazing sushi. I love their sushi so much, and it's actually where my boyfriend Curt and I went for our first date and. And yeah it was. It was just lovely, and I think that was maybe the third time I've had their sushi first time for him and I love their poke bowls too. They're just so bright and flavorful and like really healthy and nourishing too.

Ashley: 26:36

So, you kind of get this, this beautiful combination of everything you know delicious, pleasing to the eye and healthy at the same time and sounds like a nice date spot. Mm-hmm, yeah, and it's, it's very casual. They only have a handful of tables. They have a couple little tables outside when the weather is nice.

Doug: 26:55

They do a lot of takeaway. They do they do, yeah.

Ashley: 26:58

And then their Pho a great remedy for a cold.

Doug: 27:02

Oh yeah, we're having some chilly days today.

Ashley: 27:04

Yes, that would be, great.

Doug: 27:05

Mm-hmm. I love that. Ashley, thanks so much for these recommendation spots. Would you come back and give us some more recommendations in the future?

Ashley: 27:13

Absolutely. I have a very long list to recommend I'd be happy to yeah, I heard there's that spreadsheet in the background. Yes.

Doug: 27:20

Thank you, Ashley. This has been so great. So you're doing TV, you're doing Facebook out the window Memberships you're going out to, you're giving some great recommendations and you're the home cook. You're also a full-time music teacher, yeah, so where do you go from here in the food world? What's what some of your goals or what do you want to keep doing related to all this food fun?

Ashley: 27:43

just within the past couple of years, I've started to like focus more on plating and, you know, like the like, making sure my pictures look nice. But and I also watch the show called La Pitchoune I don't know, if you've heard of it, but I think it's on Netflix and it's it's based At Julia Child's house. Oh, it's a cooking school.

Catherine: 28:06

Yes, and it's.

Ashley: 28:08

You know, they have people come in and they don't really use recipes, so they they'll send everyone to the farmers market or they'll. They'll be cooking dinner together and say, oh, you know, you need to pick out five spices to use in this dish. And so that inspired me so much to Experiment more with food, because I'm a rule follower, I am a recipe follower.

Doug: 28:30

Yes.

Ashley: 28:31

So that's been really fun. So I think one of my goals as a Home cook is to just keep Experimenting and keep trying new things.

Doug: 28:41

I love it. Think for yourself cooking and cooking with what you've got on hand. Yeah, I think that's great and a lot of people they don't innately have that skill and they like the recipe because they don't want to get it wrong. But then you sort of grow your wings and you're ready to do more. It sounds like you are too.

Ashley: 28:57

Yeah, yeah.

Doug: 28:58

I think you're also. I just want to circle back to something you and I did together and something I hope we maybe get to do Again was a little bit of at Outreached Arms. Yes we did some cooking Down there with chef Janet Loughran. It's great to give your time and cook for other people.

Ashley: 29:16

Oh yeah.

Doug: 29:17

I hope we, I hope we get that opportunity another time.

Ashley: 29:20

Yeah, me too. That was an extremely rewarding experience. I enjoyed it very much and Janet is super organized to, which is great, and it was just such a pleasure to be able to serve the community. Yes and to give them a nice warm meal.

Doug: 29:34

It gives you a whole new perspective on cooking for others.

Ashley: 29:37

Mm-hmm. Definitely.

Doug: 29:38

We're gonna be talking to chef Janet Loughran in the next couple weeks, so I'm excited to hear from her Awesome.

Ashley: 29:43

Yeah, she's great.

Doug: 29:44

So how do people find you if they're interested in seeing your food adventures?

Ashley: 29:48

Sure. So my Facebook group is called Pittsburgh Foodies and it is a Group, not a Page, so if you're searching, make sure you click on the group. It's a picture of the city in the background. It says Pittsburgh Foodies in the corner, and then my Instagram handle is eating witha shley. All one word dot PGH.

Doug: 30:09

All right, Ashley, I always like to end with one final question. What has been the best dish you've eaten this week?

Ashley: 30:18

Ah, okay. Well, the the best dish I actually had all week was something that I made yesterday. Oh, yeah lunch. I made shrimp and grits yesterday and it was the first time I ever made it. I don't know why, but I I love the dish and I had these. I bought these this course cornmeal Down the strip district a year ago and.

Ashley: 30:41

I'm like I'm gonna make shrimp and grits for brunch one day and a year past and I never did so. I followed, loosely followed, this recipe and it just turned out so, so good and it was like the perfect comfort meal for like a really cold day.

Doug: 30:58

Oh, well, that sounds like the perfect dish. Yes, Ashley, thank you so much for being on. It's been such a pleasure talking to you, thanks so much for having me.

Ashley: 31:06

Can't wait to come back.

Doug: 31:07

I know. All right, bye, bye Up next. The weekly recommend we want to thank Beano's deli condiments for being a sponsor of the Pittsburgh dish with their vast array of sauces and dressings. You might be wondering how to use them all. Well, check out their website. On the blog You'll find ideas like white pizza pastry, chop chicken blt's, the all-american smash wrap and even savory crepes. Find it all on their website, conroy foods. com. Hey, Catherine, great to talk with you again. A pleasure to be back, Doug, thanks for inviting me. You know, Catherine, we were talking earlier this show with Ashley Cesaratto, and she shared that her mom makes this amazing meal of stuffed shells and garlic bread. They have it in the holidays. It's just sort of one of her best go-tos, and so I was wondering do you have a wine recommendation that would go with Ashley's meal?

Catherine: 32:06

Wow, just you describing that as making my mouth water.

Doug: 32:09

It sounded so good, especially that garlic bread. Oh my gosh.

Catherine: 32:14

Well, there's a rule, and I think you probably found this to be pretty true in the kitchen as well If it grows together, it goes together. Oh yes, and Italy is what I think of when you're talking stuffed shells.

Doug: 32:26

Absolutely Right.

Catherine: 32:28

So some of the best wines in the whole wide world come from our friends in Italy.

Doug: 32:33

Yeah, so we have a lot of choices, for sure, Catherine? What would be like your top choice for this meal?

Catherine: 32:39

My top choice and I probably always have a bottle of this on hand at home is a Chianti Classico that one's made with the Sang iovese grape and it's got good acidity. It's got some flavors of black and red cherries, a little bit of spice. Just an excellent wine to have on hand and it goes great with a rich Italian dish like stuffed shells that sounds wonderful.

Doug: 33:00

Yeah, is a Classico Chianti, an expensive bottle.

Catherine: 33:05

Chianti Classico will run you about $25 here in Pennsylvania. Okay, you can get Chianti or Chianti Classico.

Desarae: 33:13

Okay.

Catherine: 33:15

And I'm recommending the Chianti Classico because for just a few dollars more. When it says Classico on the label, it can only say that if the grapes were grown in the original Chianti region in Italy. So you're getting the Chianti from the source.

Doug: 33:33

Oh, very enlightening yeah.

Catherine: 33:35

Over the years the Chianti region has spread a little bit, but if you get the Classico, you're going to be having a bottle of wine that's really going to tickle your taste buds.

Doug: 33:43

I love it All right. So Chianti Classico, yeah, and about $25.

Catherine: 33:49

Yeah, right about there.

Doug: 33:50

All right. Is there any other wine that comes to mind for you like another runner up?

Catherine: 33:55

Well, I don't know that. I would call it a runner up, okay, more so. Hey, I'm looking to impress my date. So a step up Perhaps. Yeah, a step up, and that would be a Barolo.

Doug: 34:08

I don't know if I've bought a bottle of Barolo. Can you tell me a little bit about the notes or the taste for that?

Catherine: 34:15

That's a great question. Barolos bring flavors of cherry, pomegranate and even some herbs and spices, and if you're really paying attention, you might pick up some rose or even wildflower. Wow yeah, barolos are known for being high in acid and high in tannin. And tannin is that mouth feel and maybe what best way to describe that is kind of that grippy feeling on the sides of your tongue. Yes, when you drink a wine, mm-hmm. So that's part of the reason why a Barolo is so good with those rich, wonderful dishes like lasagna and stuffed shells. Oh, and, barolos can start about $30 and they can run up over a hundred bucks.

Doug: 34:59

All right, this is maybe why I've never bought a bottle of Barolo.

Catherine: 35:02

It could be, but at an entry level, barolo will start around $30., and so there's a reason that the Barolos are a little bit more expensive Barolos when they come from an area in Italy that is designated for growing this particular grape, and that grape is the Nebbiolo grape. Italy has a lot of rules, a lot of regulations, what you can grow, where, and then how you subsequently have to label it, and those rules even stretch into the winemakers' seller. Oh, wow, yeah, pretty crazy. So a Barolo that's labeled DOCG has to spend at least 18 months in a wood barrel, and in addition to that 18 months, like all in it, needs to be aged for a minimum of 38 months before they can put it in a bottle, slap a label on it and send it to your local store, right?

Doug: 35:59

So that's like over three years they've got to store this wine. That's correct, interesting, so it really ages it beautifully.

Catherine: 36:04

It ages it beautifully and if you've ever tried to put something in storage, it's pretty darn expensive to store something.

Doug: 36:13

Oh, so that's why the prices are higher for a Barolo.

Catherine: 36:15

Exactly Okay, exactly Very enlightening. Yeah, and if you are feeling like digging in your pocket a little bit deeper, you can go for a Barolo Reserva. Oh, and that's got to be aged a minimum of 62 months. Oh, wow, so just a smidge over five years.

Doug: 36:33

But if you show up with this bottle of wine, you're certainly impressing someone that's in the know. That's for darn sure.

Catherine: 36:39

And if they're not in the know, they're going to have a really good drinking experience and you get the credit for it.

Doug: 36:45

I love it, Catherine, thanks so much.

Catherine: 36:47

My pleasure. Doug, Happy to be here again.

Doug: 36:51

Catherine Montest is a local certified wine expert. You can find out more about Catherine at her website, yourfairywinemother. com. This week's recipe comes from a friend of the show and actually a future interview with Desarae Legros, who's known as Cooking Comedy and Chaos on Instagram and TikTok. She submitted a recipe from her newest cookbook that's about to come out, and it's a phenomenal mashup of Buffalo Chicken Dip and Lasagna. Let's give her a call and find out more about the recipe and her new book. Hey Low, hi Desarae, how are you Good? How are you? Oh, good.

Doug: 37:34

So, Desarae, I wanted to give you a call and thank you for sharing a recipe this week Buffalo chicken lasagna roll-ups and I understand this is going to be in your newest cookbook coming out really soon, is that right? Yes, it is. It's coming out in middle of March.

Desarae: 37:52

Yes, it is. It's coming out in middle of March and I'm so excited for it. All right, buffalo chicken lasagna roll-ups. Look, you don't have to be a five-star chef to make these, but you make them and people will think you're a five-star chef. It's basically buffalo chicken dip rolled up inside lasagna. You cook it. You have to have toothpicks, though. Don't try it without a toothpick, because they'll fall apart.

Doug: 38:15

So that's the trick to keep the lasagna noodles rolled up around the buffalo chicken.

Desarae: 38:20

Yes okay. Yes, and you have to cook the lasagna like very al dente. You don't want it to be Fully cooked because then when it gets in the oven, all of your buffalo chicken mixture is just gonna fall right out.

Doug: 38:31

Oh my gosh. So I mean, everyone loves buffalo chicken dip to begin with, but now you're putting it in like a dish that I love as well, which is lasagna. I don't see how you could go wrong with this.

Desarae: 38:42

You can't go wrong with this. My family goes nuts when I make them. There's never any leftovers and it's perfect served with like a nice side salad or good piece of garlic bread, and your heart will be so happy with it.

Doug: 38:56

Can you make a little bit of it ahead, like for a party?

Desarae: 38:58

That's you that you can make on. You can freeze them. What I do actually for my husband and son is I'll make a double batch of them and I will wrap like two in aluminum foil and then just throw them in a Ziploc bag and they'll take them out and throw them in the oven. You want to put a little bit extra sauce in there if you do that, and they'll just throw the aluminum packs in the oven and they can have the buffalo chicken lasagna rollups whenever they want them.

Doug: 39:22

That's even better than like the whole big dish. It's like individual servings whenever you need. I love this recipe. So, Desarae, tell us a little bit more about the cookbook. What's the title of the new cookbook?

Desarae: 39:34

So the cookbook is called Layers of Love, Recipes from the Heart. Okay, and I actually had no plan on making this cookbook, but I'm in the middle of organizing a pretty big soci al m edia cooking competition. Mmhmm. called Chef Throwdown to raise money and awareness for Lasagna Love. So part of my giving back and to help raise funds, I was like you know what, let's do a cookbook.

Doug: 39:54

You are all the things, including all the chaos, but I love you for it.

Desarae: 40:00

Oh, thank you. So we did and you know it's not just my recipes in there, Doug, it's people don't eat good recipes to give back and help make this cookbook possible. So it's a community cookbook filled with love, filled with family stories and Amazing recipes, absolutely amazing.

Doug: 40:18

It's the best. So we'll put a link to ordering the cookbook on our Pittsburgh Dish food blog as well. So along with this recipe, and hopefully people will scoop it up. Thank you so much. Well, thank you so much for the recipe and Desarae. I know we're gonna actually talk it's sort of in a longer format pretty soon, so I can't wait for that. Ah.

Desarae: 40:39

Yes, it's gonna be so much fun, so much fun.

Doug: 40:42

Desarae. Thank you so much for the recipe of the week. I appreciate it.

Desarae: 40:46

You're welcome, thank you.

Doug: 40:49

That's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie accordion company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.