She was born in a family of cooks and couldn’t avoid the influence. She has a resume that leaves any food writers wannabe dribbling! Yet her simplicity and good taste on making simple things turn into divine meals is pure talent within her DNA.
What is the importance of your kitchen in your house?
It’s a place of sharing and giving. It holds the potential for community.
What’s the best part of the day for you to cook?
I love cooking on Sundays to prepare food, not only for that day, but for the week ahead. or at least the foundations for meals throughout the week. It’s relaxing but also focused because my schedule is so tight these days. (I fly to Birmingham, AL for work every week). I need to leave my family with some of me to remind them of me while i’m gone.
Are you a creative chef or simply love to follow recipes?
Creative. But i do follow recipes for unfamiliar foods or baking.
Three ingredients that are never missing on your kitchen cabinet?
Sriracha, cumin and coconut milk.
How did your passion for cooking come about?
I grew up in a food-centered family. My mother, grandparents, brother…all cooks.
What’s your favourite dish to cook that you kow it can never go wrong with it?
Pasta All’Arrabbiata. Spicy, quick, saucy.
Would you receive for a day an entire tv crew in your kitchen?
I’ve shot in my house numerous times. The crew comes in and literally takes over. Pictures on my walls are taken down, my kitchen counters are cleared, new props are put in place and there is no room for anything! So much photo equipment, props and crew! I love the energy of a film/photo crew, but by the end of the day, I’m ready for them to leave. We shot an episode of the TV show I was on, “Simplify Your Life” (several years ago), in my back yard and the crew trampled plants, moved my grill and furniture and never put it back. My poor plants! It took them a few years to come back after that. I much prefer photo crews to TV crews. More respectful and less crazy!
Do you follow any tv show or have a favourite cooking book?
I kind of love “La Mere de Famille”, a confectionary cookbook. Lovely photos. Also “Plenty” by Yotam Ottolenghi – vegetarian magic.
Grace Parisi – or better know as the recipe goddess in the web world, “possibly by accident, she chose a career in food media that began more than 20 years ago. An art school grad with a degree in painting, Grace found bizarre work as a commercial TV food stylist gluing sesame seeds to hamburger buns and plumping barely cooked turkeys with mashed potatoes. Unfulfilled, Grace moved on to editorial work, food styling and writing for publications such as McCall’s, The New York Times, Redbook, and Food & Wine among others. This summer she joined the editorial team of Marley Spoon as Senior Culinary Editor.
Grace eventually joined the staff of Food & Wine Magazine as Senior Test Kitchen Editor, where she developed and wrote many noteworthy monthly columns, such as Food & Wine Handbook; Tasting & Testing; Flavor of the Month; Power Pantry; and Chefs Recipes Made Easy. Her most recent series was Grace in the Kitchen where she drew inspiration from personal experience and her family. She’s the author of 2 cookbooks, Summer/WInter Pasta and Get Saucy, a collection of more than 500 sauces which was nominated for a prestigious James Beard Award for Best Single Subject Book. She’s currently working on a third. Her recipes have also appeared in numerous collections and anthologies. She plays guitar, loves surfing, camping, gardening in her postage-stamp Brooklyn backyard and cooking for a crowd, including her husband and two children. She dreams of raising chickens, erecting bat houses and making found-object bird feeders.”
About excerpts from her website.