Live from his renovated farmhouse on Long Island, New York, Chef Tom Colicchio of Craft restaurants spoke to Editor-in-Chief Maddalena Fossati for the fifth episode of our #BUTTALAPASTA series.
The eight-time James Beard Award winner lives with the intensity of a colossus that’s hard to keep up with. Before getting into the flow of conversation, Chef Colicchio stopped to announce that Top Chef’s Grand Finale in Italy would not be canceled. (They filmed it last fall.)
“I'm still eating the culatello that I brought home,” he said, smiling as he remembered his time abroad. “I actually snuck some back, and I'm still enjoying it.”
As the questions rolled in from fans in the Instagram feed, Chef Colicchio told stories from childhood and the hobbies he hones outside of the kitchen. At one point, his son Luka dropped in to give advice– eat healthy! And before we knew it, Chef Colicchio had walked us through the kitchen and showed us the empty garden beds that will soon be overflowing with flowers, zucchini, peas, and much more.
That very garden gets two hours a day of his attention in the summer months. At night, he harvests the bounty before dinner. And when he can get in the water, Chef Colicchio is gone fishing. (Many of the books that appear in the video are on that topic.)
Growing up, Chef Colicchio dined on “gravy” with spaghetti and meatballs every Sunday, like New York Governor Cuomo. In a tribute to his mother, Chef Colicchio described the cavatelli pasta with broccoli that she made every other week. He adapted the pasta for the one-pot by dicing a head of broccoli and cooking it with slivers of two garlic cloves, a bit of pasta water, parmesan cheese and cracked pepper.
A disciple of the seasons, asparagus occupies Chef Colicchio’s mind right now. He throws it on anything, from agnolotti pasta to an Italian stracciatella egg-drop soup. He’s counting the days until wild morels appear in the woods. He fell for their earthy flavor after eating mud as a kid.
Watch more Chef’s tips and recipes on the upcoming #BUTTALAPASTA Instagram Live Events on @LaCucinaItalianaUSA channel!