The shoreline is no stranger to fine food. Local restaurants and inns pepper the Zagat Survey, and specialty markets are local treasures that serve fresh, seasonal produce. Now, two Madison women have the perfect companion for those who enjoy time in their own kitchens.
What’s Cooking Connecticut Shoreline?
is a collection of comfort food recipes from shoreline residents, from Greenwich to Stonington. It’s the second venture for avid home cooks Diane Gardner and Kim Castaldo, a follow up to their three-times sold-out What’s Cooking Madison?Sourced from restaurants, inns, and food markets, as well as local kitchens, What’s Cooking Connecticut Shoreline? contains classic recipes handed down through generations, as well as new and innovative dishes.
"There are so many wonderful specialty food markets and restaurants that dot our shoreline that many people are yet to discover. We wanted to share these unique food spots, not just with tourists but with local food lovers," Castaldo says. "We also wanted to showcase the incredible inns that are a draw of our area and an icon of New England."
With renewed interest in local farmer’s markets in Connecticut, Gardner and Castaldo found that readers are eager to match seasonal, fresh produce with local recipes to make the most of flavors found in the backyard of the shoreline.
"So many local chefs are committed to using fresh ingredients and pride themselves on making food from scratch and cooking it to order," Gardner says. "We found that people are getting back to basics, and they want simple, flavorful food. The book is a collection of recipes that can be made with local, easy-to-find ingredients—recipes to cook every day with the food that surrounds us."
Released in November, What’s Cooking Connecticut Shoreline? has exceeded its creators’ expectations. In the lead up to the holiday season, it sold more than 4,000 copies, in large part due to the 21 signings Gardner and Castaldo organized to which the duo brought baked goods without fail.
"The response was amazing, and we’re still recovering," Gardner laughs. "We set up every signing and every account, as well as baking for each signing. I don’t think we’ll eat those recipes again in a hurry."
On the book-signing circuit readers often ask Gardner and Castaldo if they’ll publish a cookbook about their towns. While they’ve taken a few locations on board, including Darien, Connecticut, the creators have a solution—a do-it-yourself manual.
"In the long term, we’re planning the franchise the idea of What’s Cooking?" Gardner says. "We intend to sell packets of information, a template of everything we put together—the photography, marketing, editing, finding a publisher—and give presentations to community groups across the country about how to make it happen in their town."
"We’re just two moms that followed a passion and we’ve had tremendous success, twice," she adds. "Before the first book we were floundering, like so many moms out there are. We were busy with our family and our lives, but we wanted to create something that was ours, and by finding an awesome opportunity and dedicating our work ethic to the project, it worked. We’ve learned so much, and we want to be helpful to other women."
With interest piqued from California to South Carolina, What Cooking? may well become a national phenomenon—one that began over coffee in a Madison kitchen.
