If there’s one thing food television veteran Sara Moulton wants, it’s for you to cook dinner for your family.</p><p>It can be sandwiches, an overgrown appetizer or even breakfast fare. She doesn’t care, as long as you start with mostly fresh ingredients and enjoy the results together.</p><p>“It’s my mission to help people make it happen,” says Moulton, who was in Kansas City recently to promote her newest cookbook, “Sara Moulton’s Everyday Family Dinners” (Simon & Schuster, $35). “I want them to have family dinner, not just on Saturday or Sunday, but five nights a week.”</p><p>Moulton’s family focus is unwavering, despite changes in her career since last visiting Kansas City in 2005. Back then, Moulton was a Food Network pioneer with her “Cooking Live,” “Cooking Live Primetime” and “Sara’s Secrets” shows. That run ended three years ago.</p><p> “I was off the Food Network in 2007, and everyone forgot who I was,” Moulton says.</p><p>There were fewer speaking engagements after that. Gourmet magazine, where Moulton had been executive chef for 23 years, folded in 2009. And now there’s a recession on.</p><p>Her response?</p><p>Keep working as hard as ever.</p><p>Moulton’s more than 30 years in television include public TV’s “Julia Child & More Company” and ABC’s “Good Morning America,” where she is the longtime food editor. </p><p>She has published “Sara Moulton Cooks at Home” (Broadway Books, 2002) and “Sara’s Secrets for Weeknight Meals” (Broadway Books, 2005), the basis for “Sara’s Weeknight Meals,” a public television series launched in 2008.</p><p> Another PBS show is in the works, and “Sara’s Secrets” is re-airing on the Cooking Channel.</p><p>Still, teaching is perhaps her favorite gig.</p><p>“I love teaching,” Moulton says. “I think I’m a better teacher than chef.”</p><p>She recently taught three classes at the Culinary Center of Kansas City in Overland Park. During the first, Moulton peppered the audience with questions, bantered with participants and brought several up to help prepare recipes from her book.</p><p>“I need two people who’ve never made crepes and who are scared to do it,” she said as hands shot up.</p><p>Had anyone there attended her previous book tour stop in Kansas City?</p><p>No hands.</p><p>“Good, then I can tell all the same jokes!”</p><p>Did anyone know which two cooking mistakes you can’t fix?</p><p>Gluey mashed potatoes, as Moulton discovered while cooking her first full Thanksgiving dinner in the late 1970s, and burned food.</p><p>She modeled Onion Goggles that promise to keep your eyes from watering while chopping onions, noting their resemblance to the welding goggles a “Cooking Live” viewer once sent.</p><p>“I thought they would be funny to put on, but they really worked,” she says.</p><p>The anecdotes, advice and good humor all make Moulton seem more like a good friend teaching you to cook than a flashy celebrity chef, says Bradd Silver of Kansas City.</p><p>“She’s just so real,” Silver, who became a fan during Moulton’s Food Network days, said at the class. “She’s never pretentious.”</p><p>Moulton is famous for her tips, but she’s also keen on using the right tool for the job. During a Kansas City Star photo shoot at Pryde’s Old Westport, she spotted many of her favorites — a curved fish spatula, a bench scraper, silicone spatulas and Microplane graters. </p><p>Other finds, such as a glass terrarium perfect for African violets and an old-fashioned shoo-fly screen for keeping insects off food, brought her love of gardening to mind.</p><p>Moulton’s family plants a sizable vegetable garden at their 100-acre farm in northeastern Massachusetts, but she’s limited to a few window boxes when at home in New York.</p><p>“I wish I had a grander garden,” she says.</p><p>The promise of pie drew Moulton into the basement of Pryde’s. She commiserated with the Upper Crust co-owner Elaine Van Buskirk about the tedium of pitting sour cherries by hand and recalled baking pies with her grandmother, Ruth Moulton, to whom “Everyday Family Dinners” is dedicated.</p><p>Does she ever tire of cooking, talking about cooking or answering cooking questions?</p><p>Never, Moulton says. Family meals, gardening, creating recipes, writing books, developing and starring in television shows, teaching — it’s all part of cooking, and cooking remains a personal and professional passion.</p><p>“This is also my hobby,” Moulton says. “I think about food all the time.”</p><p><b>RECIPES FOR SUCCESS</b></p><p>Sara Moulton knows firsthand how challenging — and boring — making dinner every night can be. </p><p>Her antidote is “Sara Moulton’s Everyday Family Dinners,” with recipes ranging from Caribbean, Peruvian and Korean flavors to traditional New England cooking. There are noodles, sandwiches, stir-fries, whole grains, comfort foods, soups, five-ingredient entrees, side dishes and recipes using leftovers, as well as meat, fish, poultry and vegetarian mains. “I want to give people tools, but also inspire them to cook,” Moulton says of the book. “Not just tips and tricks, but also helping them have fun making tasty recipes.”</p><p>One significant change from her previous cookbooks is that Moulton dispensed with mise en place, the classic French practice of prepping all ingredients before you start cooking.</p><p>Instead, Moulton says to read the recipe thoroughly, place all ingredients and tools in your work space, and then chop onions while meat browns, make sauces while something else cooks and so on. It saves time, and it’s the way most people cook.</p><p><hr></p><p><h2>SARA’S SECRETS</h2></p><p>Food personality Sara Moulton has made a career of revealing the oft-overlooked secrets of good cooking. Here are just a few tips she shared during a recent class at the Culinary Center of Kansas City in Overland Park:</p><p><li> Never apologize, never explain. It will only make both you and your guests nervous. “It’s exactly right, whatever you’ve done,” Moulton says.</p><p><li> Place a bowl near your work space that you can scrape scraps and other messes into. “If you’re like me,” she says, “you keep going until you’re working in a space the size of a postage stamp. Cleaning as you go makes it so much easier.”</p><p><li> Remember that most mistakes can be fixed. The only two that can’t are over-processed, gluey mashed potatoes and burnt burned food. “You can say it’s smoked, I suppose, but smoked is smoked and burned is burned.”</p><p><li> The only way to fix over-salted food is to add water. “For years, I said to add potatoes, rice or pasta. Then I read ‘What Einstein Told His Cook’ (W.W. Norton & Co., 2002), and it said to add water. I didn’t want to believe it, but it’s true.”</p><p><li> Season food as you go. Moulton recommends this experiment: Take two steaks, salt one before cooking and salt the other after cooking. “If you salt as you go, it tastes like a really good steak. The one salted after cooking is like steak with a toupee.”</p><p><li> If a dish is too spicy, add sugar. “It brings down the heat to taste more in balance.”</p><p><li> Not everyone likes cilantro, so substitute basil, mint or oregano in recipes. “Cilantro really does taste like soap to some people.”</p><p><li> Rinse cooked soba noodles in water. “Otherwise, they’ll be gluey.”</p><p><li> How do you get kids to eat vegetables? Take them to Paris. “I know it’s not in everyone’s budget, but when Sam was 10 and Ruthie was 14, my parents took us to Paris for spring break. They came back different kids.”</p><p><hr></p><p><h2>CHEESY BREADED PORK TENDERLOIN STEAKS</h2></p><p>Makes 4 servings</p><p>1 pork tenderloin, trimmed (1 to 1.1/4 pounds)</p><p>1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano</p><p>1/2 cup seasoned Italian bread crumbs</p><p>1 large egg</p><p>3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil</p><p>Lemon wedges, for garnish</p><p>Slice the pork diagonally at a 45-degree angle into 8 pieces, each about 3/4 inch thick. Don’t worry if the pieces are not all the same size. Just make sure they are all 63/47 inch thick. Microplane-grate the cheese (about 2/3 cup) or grate on the fine side of a box grater (about 1/3 cup).</p><p>Combine the bread crumbs and cheese in a shallow bowl. Lightly beat egg with 1 tablespoon water in a shallow bowl. Dip each piece of pork into the beaten egg, letting the excess drip off, and then into the bread crumbs, packing the crumbs on all sides.</p><p>Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and add the pork pieces. Cook for 3 minutes; turn the slices, add the rest of the olive oil to the pan, and cook for 3 minutes more, or until the pork is golden.</p><p>Remove the skillet from the heat, and let the pork stand in the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer 2 pieces of pork to each of 4 plates and serve with a lemon wedge.</p><p><i>Per serving: 332 calories (49 percent from fat), 18 grams total fat (5 grams saturated), 132 milligrams cholesterol, 11 grams carbohydrates, 30 grams protein, 604 milligrams sodium, 1 gram dietary fiber.</i></p><p><hr></p><p><h2>FRUIT POT STICKERS</h2></p><p>Makes 12 pot stickers, or 4 servings</p><p>1 large plum or 1 medium nectarine</p><p>2 tablespoons sugar, divided</p><p>1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice</p><p>12 wonton wrappers (3 1/2 by 3 inches)</p><p>1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil</p><p>1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter</p><p>Sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (optional)</p><p>Cut the plum or nectarine lengthwise into 6 wedges and then halve each piece crosswise to make a total of 12 pieces. Toss the fruit with 1 tablespoon sugar and the lemon juice in a medium bowl.</p><p>Spread out the wonton wrappers on a work surface. Place a piece of plum in the center of each. Reserve any juices in the bowl. Brush the edges of each wrapper with water; lift two opposite corners of each wrapper and press together above the center of the piece of plum; bring the other two opposite corners up and press them together. You should have shaped the wonton into a little pyramid with the piece of plum inside. Pinch the wrapper together very tightly at the seams to make sure it’s well-sealed.</p><p>Heat the vegetable oil and butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until bubbly, then arrange the pot stickers, seam sides up, in the skillet. Cook them for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the bottoms are pale golden. Add 1/3 cup water, reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet with a lid, and cook for 5 minutes.</p><p>Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar over the pot stickers and cook, covered, for 1 to 2 minutes more, or until the liquid has evaporated. (Add more water and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more if the wonton wrappers are not tender.) Remove the lid and continue to cook until the bottoms of the pot stickers are crisp and golden. Gently loosen the pot stickers from the pan and lift them out onto a serving plate. Stir 1/4 cup water into any juices left in the bowl in which the fruit was tossed. Add the mixture to the skillet, bring it to a boil, scraping up the brown bits at the bottom of the pan, and drizzle the liquid over the pot stickers.</p><p>Serve hot with a spoonful of sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.</p><p><i>Per serving: 335 calories (13 percent from fat), 5 grams total fat (1 gram saturated), 13 milligrams cholesterol, 63 grams carbohydrates, 10 grams protein, 551 milligrams sodium, trace dietary fiber.</i></p><p><hr></p><p><h2>ROASTED VEGETABLE AND FRESH RICOTTA SANDWICHES</h2></p><p>Makes 4 servings</p><p>1 small eggplant (about 10 ounces)</p><p>1 large zucchini (about 12 ounces)</p><p>1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes (about 6 medium)</p><p>3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil</p><p>Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper</p><p>8 garlic cloves</p><p>1 quart whole milk</p><p>1/2 cup heavy cream</p><p>1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice</p><p>8 slices whole-grain bread</p><p>Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Generously oil 2 rimmed baking sheets. Cut the eggplant (about 2 2/3 cups), zucchini (about 3 cups) and tomatoes (about 3 3/4 cups) crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.</p><p>Combine the olive oil, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a small dish. Brush the oil mixture on both sides of the eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and garlic and arrange them on the baking sheets. Roast the vegetables for 30 minutes, turning the eggplant and zucchini and removing the garlic after 15 minutes.</p><p>Meanwhile, line a strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth or dampened paper towels and place it over a bowl. Slowly bring the milk, cream and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a rolling boil in a heavy 4-quart pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally.</p><p>Stir the lemon juice into the milk mixture; reduce the heat to low; simmer, stirring constantly, until the mixture curdles, about 2 minutes. Pour the mixture into the cheesecloth-lined strainer and let it drain for 10 to 15 minutes; discard the liquid. Transfer the ricotta to a bowl. Mash the roasted garlic cloves, and stir them into the ricotta along with salt and pepper to taste.</p><p>Divide warm ricotta among 4 slices of bread, and top with the hot roasted vegetables and the remaining 4 slices of bread. Cut the sandwiches in half and serve.</p><p><i>Per serving: 618 calories (47 percent from fat), 34 grams total fat (14 grams saturated), 74 milligrams cholesterol, 66 grams carbohydrates, 20 grams protein, 593 milligrams sodium, 10 grams dietary fiber.</i>