Martha Stewart dishes up all-‘American Food’ in...

Martha Stewart dishes up all-‘American Food’ in...

Sarah Carey and Martha Stewart make miniature blackberry pies on 'The Martha Stewart Show.'

For Martha Stewart, American cuisine is a good thing.

So much so that shes, naturally, written a new cookbook that celebrates this lands distinct flavors from California to the New York island.

Marthas American Food looks at dishes from the Northeast, South, Midwest, Southwest and West and explores each regions contribution as a whole.

We are a nation of immigrants. Its incredible the melting-pot recipes that have become part of our national cuisine, says Stewart, who debuted the book Tuesday at the final taping of The Martha Stewart Show.

The audience was, appropriately, dressed in red, white and blue, while Stewart sported a denim shirt.

The Hallmark Channel series will air reruns through this summer, and Stewart will begin taping a 30-minute series called Martha Stewarts Cooking School for PBS to air in the fall.

Its the concentration on Americas indigenous ingredients that makes a dish or restaurant truly American, says Stewart.

Each region takes what it has, whether it be blueberries, potatoes, squash, cranberries or tomatoes and makes it their own. Its an incredibly rich food culture.

When Stewart isnt eating out of her own homegrown farm in Bedford, N.Y. (I havent bought a tomato in YEARS, she says), she gets her U.S. fix at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, Dan Barbers restaurant.

Its where Mayor Bloomberg eats, and Hillary Clinton eats, and I eat, she says. Everything is straight from the farm. The butter, the meat, the vegetables, everything is grown right there. Its straight from the earth. The carrots actually taste like carrots.

As for Americas ever-evolving cuisine, Stewart says it will continue to expand and shift in years to come.

We New Yorkers have the opportunity to taste Persian food, Cuban food, all kinds of South American food, Indian food and so on. These foreign flavors find their way into our recipes and restaurants. Its always evolving.

The book includes recipes for everything from tomato soup and grilled cheese to barbecued ribs, buttermilk biscuits and, of course, one of Stewarts personal favorites pies.

I love pies and Im a really good piemaker, she says, as if we didnt already know.

The key to a great pie is the crust and generous filling. And it needs to be cooked well, so that the center of t he pie is bubbling when you take it out of the oven.

Her other advice to home entertainers: Master a few really good recipes and serve those until you get more comfortable, she says. And, of course, some really good dessert and a great bottle of wine.

YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Upcoming book signings:

Wednesday, May 2, 5-7 p.m.

Barnes & Noble, 3535 U.S. Highway 1, Princeton, N.J.

Friday, May 4, 6-8 p.m.

Sur La Table, 1468 Northern Blvd., Manhasset, N.Y.

The Martha Stewart Show airs weekdays on Hallmark Channel at 10 a.m. The American Food Episode will re-air Wednesday at 1 p.m.

Recipe: Blueberry Crisp

Serves: 8

Ingredients

For the filling:

6 cups (3 pints) fresh blueberries

cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
teaspoon coarse salt

For the topping:

cup all-purpose flour

cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant or quick-cooking)

cup chopped nuts, such as almonds (optional)

teaspoon baking powder

teaspoon coarse salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Make the filling: Mix blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and salt in a bowl. Transfer to an 8-inch square baking dish.

2. Make the topping: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, oats, nuts, baking powder and salt. With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir flour mixture into butter. Using your hands, squeeze topping pieces together to form clumps.

3. Sprinkle topping evenly over filling. Bake until filling is bubbling in center and topping is golden brown, about 1 hour. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool 30 minutes before serving.

Recipe: Strawberry Shortcake

Serves: 6

Ingredients

FOR THE BERRIES

2 pints of fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled

Juice of 1 lemon

cup sugar

FOR THE BISCUITS

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream

1 large egg

FOR SERVING

cup cold heavy cream

Instructions

1. Prepare the berries: Toss the strawberries with lemon juice and sugar to combine. Let macerate at room temperature 1 hour.

2. Meanwhile, make the biscuits: Preheat oven to 375F. Whisk to combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 1 cup cream and stir with a fork just until dough starts to come together but is still crumbly.

3. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a rough 6-inch square, about 1 inch thick. With a 2-inch round cutter dipped in flour, cut four biscuits from dough and place them, evenly spaced, on a parchment- lined baking sheet. Gather dough scraps together, fold once, and gently pat into a rectangle; cut out two more biscuits. Whisk egg and remaining 1 tablespoon cream, then brush eggwash over tops of dough rounds.

4. Bake until tops are golden brown, rotating sheet halfway through, about 25 minutes. Transfer biscuits to a wire rack and let cool slightly.

5. When ready to serve, whip cream in a chilled bowl until soft peaks form. Split biscuits in half, and place a bottom half on each plate. Top generously with berries and their juice, then with remaining biscuit halves and dollops of whipped cream. Scatter a few more strawberries on top and around each plate.

Recipes reprinted from Marthas American Food by Martha Stewart. Copyright 2012 by Martha Stewart. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, Inc.

Additional reporting by Sanna Chu and Jacob Osterhout.