Simply Ming

This week on "Simply Ming," legendary and James Beard award-winning Italian chef Lidia Bastianich is here. She's the author of many Italian cookbooks including her most recent, "Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine." Lidia is also expanding her Eataly empire to include Boston. Today, Lidia shows off the best of her Italian style with a wonderful calamari alla griglia with head-on shrimp, salsa verde and grilled bread. Ming counters that with his famous blue ginger crispy calamari with Thai-lime dipping sauce.

This week on "Simply Ming," the iconic television host, artist and master chef, Jacques Pepin, joins Ming as they cook up chicken livers two ways. Jacques is making chicken livers with mushroom port cranberry sauce, olive oil small potatoes, and topping it all off with an incredible chocolate Souffle; while Ming tries to match that with a hot chicken liver mousse with bacon-thyme sauce.

This week on "Simply Ming," Top Chef alum and restaurateur, chef Tiffani Faison joins the show. She's the chef and owner of Tiger Mama and Sweet Cheeks in Boston. Today it's all about ground meat. Tiffany is making a Vietnamese dish called pad gra pow and Ming is making meatloaf sliders with sambal-bell pepper chutney. They're kicking off the party with a simple and delicious caipirinha.

This week on Simply Ming, uber-chef Carla Hall, co-host of the Emmy Award-winning television show The Chew, stops by to give a fresh take on a shrimp classic. Pulling from her Southern roots, chef Hall creates a delicious sea island shrimp with grits while Ming cooks up a shrimp and squash grit tempura. One ingredient, two dishes, right here on Simply Ming!

This week on Simply Ming, legendary French chef Jacques Pepin joins Ming in the loft to cook with sole and soul. Chef Pepin creates a fantastic onion-crusted sole with anchovy butter and a butternut squash saute, while Ming follows that with a brown butter onion glazed sole with creamy zucchini "risotto." It's fish two ways, on this episode of Simply Ming!