True confessions: I have a morbid addiction to cooking shows. When we had cable, I used to watch hours and hours of Ina, Alton, Giada and Emeril. Eventually we gave up cable for budget reasons, and I rediscovered my love for reading instead, but ever since, I have often bemoaned the lack of cooking shows in my life.

I also have a bit of a closet love affair with talk shows. I never, ever watch daytime TV, but when I’m at the nail salon or waiting in the car repair shop, I’m secretly thrilled when I can catch an episode of The View or Ellen.

So imagine my excitement when I discovered the marriage of my two guilty pleasures — cooking shows and talk shows — in the new ABC television show The Chew.

Oh, and did I mention that I also watched What Not To Wear religiously for years??? And who is one of the co-hosts on The Chew?? Yes, it is my Clinton.

The Chew is being touted as “a new kind of talk show that serves up everything food helping you make life fuller, more flavorful, and fun. All summer-long, ABC’s The Chew is your one-stop shop for everything food.”

I love this show because it’s the best of both worlds — you get the talk show aspect and the banter between the co-hosts with a food focus and cooking segments like a traditional cooking show. And best of all? It’s on network TV so I don’t have to have cable. It’s also on Hulu so I can have it on at my computer while I work since I wouldn’t go sit in front of the TV in the middle of the day, which is when it airs. I really prefer to record it on our Roku, though, and watch it on the TV in the evenings. I’m not one for background noise while I work, but it is nice to have that option.

I’m participating in a blogger campaign where we are challenged to create a recipe inspired by one of the episodes of The Chew. We were given a few episodes to choose from, and it wasn’t at all hard for me to select the BBQ Chicken and Warm Potato Salad episode because just last week I actually tried my hand at a warm chicken salad recipe, and the irony is, my last minute substitution of balsamic vinegar, which I thought was going to totally ruin the dish, turned out to be the exact type of vinegar that Mario Batali uses in his recipe. He also turns it up a notch by including fried eggs — I definitely will try that next time I make it!

He chose fresh marjoram for his potato salad, but mine contained basil and dill. I think next time I will leave out the basil and focus on the dill. He also included capers — my very favorite way to fancy up a dish. Then he went for the EVOO rather than the mayo, which makes for a much lighter and healthier potato salad.

Here is my recipe. Next time I will definitely add the capers and the fried egg. And the balsamic really did work out well, when all was said and done. I’m keeping that in my potato salads from here on out!