VPR Cooks recipes from VPR Staff and Friends

VPR Cooks

We're lucky around here…quite a few VPR staffers are terrific cooks. Fabulous smells often emanate from our kitchenette, and we do a lot of recipe swapping and taste testing! We love to cook for one another, and we'll use this page to showcase some of our favorite recipes, as well as the stories and traditions behind them.

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Jean Murphy's Irish Soda Bread This St. Patrick’s Day will be Jean Murphy’s second at VPR, and since her arrival the holiday is a little more special at the office. That’s because she brings in a batch of her grandmother-in-law’s famous Irish soda bread for all of us to enjoy. She says she’s never been able to perfect it, but we all beg to differ!
Brendan Kinney's Mariner's Cider Mussels (Moules à la Marinière) A few years ago, we unearthed a friend’s old-fashioned cider press and got a little carried away. After squeezing out 15 gallons of the sweet stuff, we decided to set aside five gallons and try our hand at making hard cider. After months of waiting, obsessively leafing through a copy of Annie Proulx’s “Cider: Making, Using & Enjoying Sweet & Hard Cider,” and suffering through a major basement spill, we had our first batch. Since then, I’ve decided that authentic hard cider is an acquired taste, but can be a versatile ingredient in the kitchen.
Jean Murphy's Eating Well Chicken With Roasted Lemons Eating Well Magazine has partnered with VPR for many years, and many staffers are subscribers. Because there always seem to be more recipes than one can reasonably try out in any given issue, we rely on one another for recommendations. Membership Assistant Jean Murphy said she swears by this recipe for chicken with roasted lemons. “This one is a staple in my house…yummy and light and company-worthy. How can you go wrong with that?”
Tim Johnson's Pizza Dip Occasionally, some of us at VPR get together for something completely un-public radioish: watching sports. Recently, it was the New England Patriots vs. the Baltimore Ravens at VPR Classical Host Joe Goetz’s house. The Pats got shellacked in a 33-14 loss to end their season, but Tim Johnson’s pizza dip helped to dull the agony of defeat.
Frozen Christmas Punch Michelle Jeffery is VPR's Communications Producer. Bananas, lemonade, and pineapple juice may not be the typical flavors of Christmas, but my childhood friend and mentor Cynthia always served this non-alcoholic frozen punch at her annual Christmas open house. I’ve worked my entire life to emulate her good nature, sense of humor, and generosity of spirit. It’s a lot to ask of a bowl of half-thawed fruity goodness, but enjoying it in this season of fellowship and reflection reminds me of her - and the kind of person I strive to be.
VPR Family's Cold-Curing Concoctions It seems like everyone is either battling a head cold rightnow, or staving one off. It can be a helpless feeling, so at VPR we’ve been swapping recipes for cold remedy concoctions. See if ginger tea, fire cider or a cocktail of bourbon and ginger pulp works for you, and share yours with us!
Cheryl Willoughby's Sambhara In my house I usually prepare a special meal of some particular ethnicity for Thanksgiving. Indian cuisine (that's South Asian Indian, not Native American) is our favorite. This Sambhara (Gujerati-style cabbage with carrots) comes from Indian cuisine expert Madhur Jaffrey and it's one of my favorites.
Melissa Gray's Sweet Potato Pound Cake Almost every Monday, All Things Considered producer Melissa Gray dashes off an e-mail that reads something like this: "Up front we've got sweet potato pound cake, still warm. Dig in, don't be shy." Her adventures in baking, and the staff's adventures in eating what she created, are recounted in a new cookbook called All Cakes Considered: A Year's Worth of Weekly Recipes Tasted, Tested, and Approved by the Staff of All Things Considered.
Thea Platt's Artist Mug Chocolate Cake Why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only five minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night! This can serve two if you want to feel slightly more virtuous.
Ross Sneyd's Cranberry-Apple Quick Bread For the last two weeks, delicious, dense, seeded bread has been showing up in the VPR kitchen for all to share. When one colleague started asking around about it, everyone else chimed in, some even offering to trade for the recipe. The bread was actually purchased from a baker at the Burlington farmer’s market, but VPR’s Ross Sneyd still handed over his recipe for “embarrassingly easy” apple-cranberry quick bread. It's served all the time at his bed and breakfast, the Comstock House in Plainfield.
Franny Bastian's Applesauce I'll take a half bushel - or even a whole bushel of apples and make three batches of applesauce at once! One on top of the stove, one in the microwave and one in the oven. I don't use any sugar.
Michelle Jeffery's Curried Carrot-Apple Soup When in doubt, make soup, that’s what I always say. This soup is super-easy, tasty, filling, and warm. I got this recipe from Eating Well Magazine.
Gesine Bullock-Prado's Golden Eggs While she was head of a Hollywood production company, Gesine Bullock-Prado found solace in baking. Now that she lives in Vermont, she's published a new book, Confections of a Closet Master Baker. Check out VPR Cooks for her recipe for “golden eggs.”
Peter Biello's Tunisian Potato Salad This Tunisian potato salad is great for summer cookouts. It’s vegan, which makes it great for non meat-eaters like me, plus the lack of mayonnaise makes it not spoil as easily at outdoor picnics and barbeques.
Shelagh Shapiro's Salmon Burgers This is a delicious summer recipe. The capers, lemon, Dijon and horseradish combine to give it a wonderful flavor. The burgers can also be cooked on the grill in a grill pan sprayed with oil. Be aware, though; salmon doesn't hold together quite as well as a beef burger, so flip these with care.
Sherry Mahady's Broccoli Salad This is has been my favorite take-to-pot-luck-affairs dish for 30 years. The dressing can be made ahead, it travels well, most people love it. Another name for it is Winter Salad - a hearty alternative to lettuce-based salads in cold weather.
John Van Hoesen's Crepes Dominique The joy of crepes is not only in their taste and presentation. They are in fact very easy to make and when there are guests, they can hold until you’ve made enough for everyone. Then you can enjoy them too. And they're very affordable.
Franny Bastian's Breakfast Smoothie To save time for longer dog walks in the morning, I've converted my car into a breakfast nook. I whip up a smoothie and grab a cup of coffee and enjoy them on the way to work. The secret to a satisfying smoothie is using frozen fruit rather than ice cubes, and a base that is not non-fat. I usually have Vermont berries from last summer in the freezer. If not, peel a banana, cut in chunks and wrap in wax paper to freeze. This is my favorite smoothie recipe, adapted from the New York Times "Well" blog.
Michelle Jeffery's London Broil on the Grill The beautiful thing about not running the Vermont City Marathon this year is that I get to attend all of those Memorial Day weekend cookouts and potlucks without worrying about how the parties will affect my ability to run. When I attend barbecues I almost always bring this foolproof recipe for London broil. It's affordable, delicious, and feeds a crowd handily. Leftovers (if you have any!) make great sandwiches on a hike the next day.
Weathersfield Inn's Ramp Caesar Salad Jason Tostrup is Chef-Partner at The Inn at Weathersfield in Perkinsville.
Vermont Foodbank's Carrot Salad Recipe courtesy of Jim Worcester of the Vermont Foodbank.
Vermont Foodbank's Maple Pudding Cake
Michelle Obama's Shortbread Cookies
Jonathan Butler's Pineapple Cream Cheese Pie When it comes to baking, my mother, Donna, is in a league of her own. Breads, pies, cakes, brownies, cookies - everything she makes wins raves at family, school, and church events. However, for all of her culinary masterpieces, one of my all-time favorites is this very simple pineapple cream cheese pie she makes during most the holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, too). She found the recipe on the side of a can of pineapple years ago and it was so well received (especially by my dad, Richard) she's been making it ever since. It's one of my favorites and I particularly appreciate it because I did not inherit her cooking talents and this pie is ridiculously easy to make.
Kate Beattie's Maple Cream Pie 'Tis the season for delicious pies, and for more than 30 years, Kate Beattie's maple cream pie has been one of the most delicious and famous in the land. Vermont Edition producer Sarah Ashworth recently visited Kate Beattie to learn her tricks of the trade.
Cheryl Willoughby's White Cake with Buttermilk Frosting New voices, new programs, new schedules and a new website…recently there have been a lot of reasons to celebrate here at VPR. As you know from VPR Cooks, we're not a bunch to let an achievement or landmark go by without a cake or other treat, so we began calling these get-togethers "cake-able moments."
The Vogelzang Family’s Cream Cheese Braids "Easter Sunday is one of my favorite holidays. The entire Vogelzang clan is home for the weekend, and we have to get ourselves off to church for early choir rehearsal and what will be a packed sanctuary for Easter services, complete with glorious music. But first food! The kids, spouses and little ones arrive downstairs in the kitchen, smelling the fresh bread baking in the oven, looking for a taste of their mom's special cream cheese braids. This recipe comes from our years in Bowling Green, Kentucky; a recipe my wife Rhonda found in a 1982 issue of Southern Living magazine. She still uses the torn-out page. It's scrumptious any time of the year, but has the most impact on a holiday morning!" -Mark
Ty Robertson's Really Good Christmas Fruitcake Ty Robertson is VPR's Special Events Coordinator. She is also our unofficial Queen of the Kitchen and arguably the best cook in the office most days. "This is a fruitcake recipe I've been developing over the years. It's finally done, I think, but then I can't help but tinker with recipes each time. The most important thing is to use only dried fruits that you like and leave that awful nuclear waste called citron to those who like fruitcake in Technicolor. This fruitcake is a dense, moist and chewy cake that is a symphony in drab brown, the way the English meant it to be!"
Grendel's Guilty-Gobbling Ginger Bears "These cookies were originally called "Mama J's Ginger Bears," after my mother-in-law, who makes them every Christmas. I've renamed them "Grendel's Guilty-Gobbling Ginger Bears" because last Christmas our black lab mix, Grendel, ate a whole bunch of them off the coffee table and then looked really guilty about it...if not exactly sorry. When we can keep them out of his reach, they're a big part of our own holiday celebration."
Marialisa Calta's Christmas Pudding Marialisa Calta is a VPR commentator who recently shared her recipe for Christmas Pudding with NPR's Weekend Edition. Listen to her NPR commentary here, or check out some of her other VPR commentaries.
Michelle Jeffery's Mushroom Soup Michelle Jeffery is VPR's Communications Producer. "This simple, rich mushroom soup is a Thanksgiving staple in my family. My mom found this Julia Child recipe in Parade Magazine in 1979, which makes the recipe almost as old as I am. Given the choice between me or the mushroom soup making an appearance at Thanksgiving dinner, I'm not entirely sure my family would pick me!"

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More: vpr cooks