I love making savory stratas for Christmas morning. I get excited about it. It's a polenta strata with homemade bread, with a billion eggs and Parmesan cheese. I'll drizzle truffle oil over the whole thing, which will just destroy people. It's amazing.
I am the worst at the grocery store. It turns into three carts. It turns into, 'Oh did you see the truffle cheese? We've got to get the truffle cheese!'
I always have parmigiano-reggiano, olive oil and pasta at home. When people get sick, they want chicken soup; I want spaghetti with parmesan cheese, olive oil and a bit of lemon zest. It makes me feel better every time.
I used to live with two other guys. We used to cook two things. The first one was called 'cheese... thing' and that was where you get something and you melt cheese over it and the first one to guess what it is doesn't have to wash up. That's obviously quite Mediterranean; the other one was less complex. It was just called 'cheese fantasy.' That's where you come in, very drunk, at about five in the morning and find an apple and just pretend there's some cheese on it.
We go to Italy every winter, and my husband's mother has a bingo party on Christmas. Every woman brings a dish: lentils, cavolo nero, tons of beans, polenta, every type of cheese, bruschetta, fresh vegetables, and local olive oil and wine.
I made lemon spaghetti in an early season of 'Everyday Italian,' and to this day people still come up to me and say they love it. It's very, very simple. Basically, you cook the pasta and mix together Parmesan cheese, olive oil, lemon juice and zest and pour it over the pasta.
A whole new thing. A forging of the humble parts of bread and cheese into a greater whole. I call it...a cheese-trap.
For breakfast, I always have eggs - whole eggs. I think the fats are really important. I also like turkey bacon and really hearty whole-grain bread. I'm very picky about it. You need bread that's high in fiber and low in carbs. It's hard to find, but it's worth it.
Last year, Americans spent $450 billion on Christmas. Clean water for the whole world, including every poor person on the planet would cost about $20 billion. Let's just call that what it is: A material blasphemy of the Christmas season.
We'll do frozen pizzas and then I'll get arugula from the garden and do a fresh salad over the top with shaved Parmesan. Or we'll buy a rotisserie chicken already made, and then we'll make tacos and a fresh salsa and we'll grill some vegetables to accompany it. We definitely try to make it a little bit homemade if it's not completely homemade.
I have wished to see chemistry applied to domestic objects, to malting, for instance, brewing, making cider, to fermentation and distillation generally, to the making of bread, butter, cheese, soap, to the incubation of eggs, &c.
I love making buckwheat crepes with ham, Parmesan cheese, and a fried egg on top. It's my go-to breakfast.
I'm really excited about 'Mingle All the Way'. Obviously I love Christmas, I love Christmas music, and the idea of becoming part of someone's positive memories from Christmas because they watch the movie -- I think that's the greatest thing.
On Christmas morning, we always make breakfast, and everyone eats before we open any presents. I make muffins and homemade applesauce, which I don't think anyone likes as much as I do... I just love the way it makes the house smell!
Normally, making polenta means having a convenient excuse to use all the butter, milk, and Parmesan in my fridge. Using miso and water instead builds tons of flavor but keeps the texture light.
I'm sort of a carb-oholic. I love pasta, and I know it's really simple, but I love pasta with olive oil and crushed red pepper and maybe some Parmesan. I don't really eat cheese anymore, but that would be my favorite. I love a tri colore salad - it's my favorite.
My favorite splurge would be gluten-free pizza. Or I'm a total truffle addict so truffle mac and cheese.