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Season 2 Of Instant Italian Has Hit FYI With Chef Anna Francese Gass · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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Speaker 1: Ero dot net, a r r o e dot net.
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Speaker 1: Not just one podcast, it's twenty different podcasts to choose from,
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Speaker 1: one of them being CTCs. You only assume you know
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Speaker 1: what goes on at a grocery store behind the scenes.
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Speaker 1: What are they really saying? What are they really planning? CTCs?
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Speaker 1: The customer is never right? Only on ero dot net,
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Speaker 1: r r oe dot net. Enjoy your exploration. Good morning, Nana,
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Speaker 1: how are you doing today?
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Speaker 2: Good?
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Speaker 1: How are you absolutely excited to share a conversation with
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Speaker 1: you because the last time we did, you really opened
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Speaker 1: up my eyes when it comes to the history of
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Speaker 1: why we do what we do inside our kitchens and
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Speaker 1: to bring people together through the forces of food. You
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Speaker 1: are such an instigator as well as somebody who activates
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Speaker 1: the passion of why we do what we do. Thank
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Speaker 1: you am to be ready for season two. What did
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Speaker 1: your imagination paint? Because season one, to me is like
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Speaker 1: the wild West of America. But when you get into
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Speaker 1: season two, does it become more focused or do you
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Speaker 1: get to explore even more?
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Speaker 3: What I really wanted to focus on for season two
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Speaker 3: was truly staying loyal to the name of the show,
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Speaker 3: which is instant Italian. So providing folks with recipes that
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Speaker 3: would not only be delicious and be very very reminiscent
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Speaker 3: of all the flavors of Italy, both Italy and Italian
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Speaker 3: American cuisine, but on the table in less than an hour.
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Speaker 3: That was, you know, something I was really committed to doing. Well.
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Speaker 1: You make it so much fun to go shopping because
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Speaker 1: we have so many international markets here, and after I've
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Speaker 1: been with you, with with you know, instant Italian, it's
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Speaker 1: like we hit that store and everything that you're sharing
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Speaker 1: with us may be foreign to us until we get
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Speaker 1: to that store, and then you blend it together and
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Speaker 1: it's like your passion becomes our passion and then it
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Speaker 1: becomes something to share. And I just love that circle
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Speaker 1: that creating food really brings. And it starts with you chev.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think that food is the true connector.
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Speaker 3: I mean, if you're a human being, you have to
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Speaker 3: eat right. And we for the most part, truly enjoy eating.
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Speaker 3: It's not only how we nourish ourselves, but there's a
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Speaker 3: cultural component, there is an emotional component. So anything that
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Speaker 3: we can do to make the times around the table
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Speaker 3: more special, you know, we should do that.
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Speaker 1: You know, I learned from from somebody that was at
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Speaker 1: one of the grocery stores, the international stores, and we
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Speaker 1: were talking about the preparation for Italian food, and I go,
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Speaker 1: why is it so popular, because it seems like every
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Speaker 1: generation in every nation loves Italian food. And I loved
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Speaker 1: her answer, and it still lives in my soul. She
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Speaker 1: says it because it comes from mom. Mothers bring these together,
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Speaker 1: Mothers teach other guys, especially people who are just getting started.
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Speaker 1: This is from our heart. It is from our family.
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Speaker 1: And I went, oh my god, it is something straight
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Speaker 1: from the soul of mom.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think with Italians there is definitely
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Speaker 3: that tradition that the food is from our nonas from
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Speaker 3: our grandmother. So because it is a multi generational practice,
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Speaker 3: so in other words, it's your grandmother is cooking food
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Speaker 3: that your great grandmother made, your mother is making it,
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Speaker 3: and now you're making it and eating it. It tethers
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Speaker 3: you to to past generations and then you're propelling it
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Speaker 3: forward to future generations. There's something very sentimental about that.
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Speaker 3: And you know, aside the fact that you know, Italian
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Speaker 3: food is just incredibly delicious.
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Speaker 1: What is it about Tara Masou that everybody thinks that
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Speaker 1: they can make it, and it becomes the weekend treat.
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Speaker 1: And then and then you throw in there that Tara
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Speaker 1: Massue brownies and I'm going, oh my god, you just
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Speaker 1: gave me something new to talk about when I go
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Speaker 1: to the grocery store.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: So what I did was, you know, I took the
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Speaker 3: flavors of Tara Masoux and I applied them to a brownie.
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Speaker 3: Everyone loves a brownie. It's very easy to grab a
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Speaker 3: box mix of the grocery store. You mix it together
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Speaker 3: in minutes and bake it off. And then just to
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Speaker 3: kind of elevate it and italianize it, so to speak,
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Speaker 3: you're adding that you know that.
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Speaker 2: Cheese topping with the whipped cream and.
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Speaker 3: The you know, the taste of espresso and marsala. So
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Speaker 3: it's it's it's that Terra Masioux flavor, but applied to
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Speaker 3: something that you've eaten, you know, your whole.
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Speaker 1: Life as a chef. How do you feel about Because
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Speaker 1: here in Charlotte, we've got a restaurant that does fifty
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Speaker 1: eight different shakes and one of the big sellers is
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Speaker 1: Tara Masoux. When it comes to the shake, is that
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Speaker 1: something that makes you smile or you go, that's not
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Speaker 1: how you're supposed to be doing Tara Masoux.
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Speaker 2: No. I mean, I.
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Speaker 3: Think, listen, there's a always the original, and I think
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Speaker 3: it's always fun to riff on an original. You know,
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Speaker 3: whether it's a song, whether it's art, you know, whatever
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Speaker 3: it is that you're doing.
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Speaker 2: Obviously, you always want to be respectful to the original.
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Speaker 3: You don't want to call something term asu if it's
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Speaker 3: just plainly nothing to do with it. But I think
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Speaker 3: having fun doing the riff. I always say, there's no
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Speaker 3: police in your kitchen, so just have fun and as
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Speaker 3: long as you're happy and your family enjoys it, it's
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Speaker 3: a win.
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Speaker 1: Well, there is police in my kitchen, and it's the
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Speaker 1: one that's saying who's doing the dishes. If you're going
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Speaker 1: to mess up this place, someone here has to do
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Speaker 1: the dishes. Get over there right now, you're just standing
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Speaker 1: around smelling stuff. So I mean, and that's what I
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Speaker 1: love about Italian food. You could, you know, And I
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Speaker 1: know I'm guilty of this. I get full being the chef.
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Speaker 1: In other words, I'm sampling everything and by the time
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Speaker 1: dinner gets there, I would rather watch everybody enjoy it
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Speaker 1: than sit down and have my own plate.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: I mean they call it chef's treat, So when you're
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Speaker 3: in the kitchen, it is fun to sample along the
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Speaker 3: way and taste. I guess that's just something you're gonna
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Speaker 3: have to work on a little bit of self control.
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Speaker 1: I don't know, no, no, not, that's part of the
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Speaker 1: glory of it all, man. But I got to know,
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Speaker 1: as as a producer, how is it that you're able
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Speaker 1: to get everything within thirty minutes? Because it's like, I
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Speaker 1: want this in my own kitchen. I want to be
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Speaker 1: able to go in there master something and then and
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Speaker 1: then to be able to just and say, yeah, we
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Speaker 1: did that together. It is a family thing and I
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Speaker 1: love it because we got music on that. Even the
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Speaker 1: dogs are in the kitchen with us and it really
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Speaker 1: involves them as well because it's togetherness and that's what
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Speaker 1: you provide here, chef.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. Again, like food is the biggest connector that we have.
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Speaker 3: You know, you can disagree on politics, you can disagree
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Speaker 3: on you know, what you want to wear, where you
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Speaker 3: want to go, but we all have to eat, and
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Speaker 3: so it's just this common ground. And even if you
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Speaker 3: look at just different regions of the world and different
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Speaker 3: parts of the country, we're kind of riffing on the
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Speaker 3: same styles. You know, we're just making it our own,
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Speaker 3: you know, like Italian Italians love frying chicken cutlets, and
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Speaker 3: then you know, you go to the South of.
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Speaker 2: The United States and you have fried chicken.
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Speaker 3: You know, they taste completely different, but the thought process
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Speaker 3: is the same. So I think the fact that food
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Speaker 3: is just something that we can all connect to and
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Speaker 3: come together.
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Speaker 2: For is really special.
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Speaker 3: And doing things in less than an hour just makes
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Speaker 3: it more I would say, attainable. You know, you get
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Speaker 3: home from work, you're exhausted, you're hungry, and I feel
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Speaker 3: like my job is to keep you away from you know,
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Speaker 3: the uber eats and the takeouts, and just getting something
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Speaker 3: on the table that you love, that you created, that
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Speaker 3: you know just by nature, is going to be more healthy.
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Speaker 1: Speaking of healthy, that's one of the things that I'm
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Speaker 1: taking note of when it comes to pasta these days
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Speaker 1: is that everybody wants to put in their own little span.
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Speaker 1: I mean it can be anything from spaghetti squash to
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Speaker 1: just any kind of squash. I tend to like to
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Speaker 1: use sour kraut as that texture from my pasta, just
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Speaker 1: so I can get rid of that Sauer kraut flavor,
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Speaker 1: but just anything to give me that little bit of
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Speaker 1: something that fits into the healthy department, because I mean,
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Speaker 1: I would love to have lasagna that doesn't have necessarily
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Speaker 1: the pasta, but it's got everything else in it that
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Speaker 1: gives me that oh my god kind of feeling.
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Speaker 2: Yes.
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Speaker 3: Absolutely, So one of the recipes on the show is
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Speaker 3: cauliflower pizza, which sounds crazy, but you know, I've seen
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Speaker 3: these cauliflower pieces where they were like kind of smashing
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Speaker 3: cauliflower into some weird dough and you know, to make
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Speaker 3: it gluten free, And I thought, why don't we just
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Speaker 3: keep it simple a cauliflower, you know, if you cut
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Speaker 3: it on its side, it becomes like this perfect little plowur,
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Speaker 3: like this perfect little steak. So baking that off with
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Speaker 3: some sauce and cheese is healthy. It's delicious, It is
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Speaker 3: gluten free.
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Speaker 2: And it's just kind of like a riff on something.
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Speaker 3: That you've had all, like you said, all those familiar flavors,
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Speaker 3: but just in a version, like, especially if you are
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Speaker 3: gluten free, that you can now enjoy pizza.
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Speaker 1: Please do not move. We've got more with Chef Anna
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Speaker 1: coming up next. Instant Italian we are back with Chefana.
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Speaker 1: Are your readers of the book are they reaching out
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Speaker 1: to you, because I mean, this is such a moment
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Speaker 1: in the way that people You're speaking a language that
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Speaker 1: people assume they know they're getting really good with their
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Speaker 1: own recipes, but it's still it's like talking to Yoda.
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Speaker 1: You know, you are the master of Italian food.
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Speaker 2: Chef Oh, well, thank you.
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Speaker 3: I mean yeah, I've written two cookbooks. I'm now going
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Speaker 3: to be publishing my third in March that is called
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Speaker 3: Instant Italian. It's a companion cookbook to the TV show.
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Speaker 3: So if you watch the TV show and you're obsessed
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Speaker 3: with the recipes.
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Speaker 2: I'm going to have a cookbook.
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Speaker 3: I'm gonna have a cookbook with all the recipes from
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Speaker 3: the show, plus and bone recipes. So it's just it's
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Speaker 3: just become a great way and a new way to
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Speaker 3: connect with my audience, both old fans and new. Because
10:10
Speaker 3: this show is on Fyi, which is, you know, your
10:13
Speaker 3: basic cable, I'm kind of tapping into a whole new
10:16
Speaker 3: audience of people that you know still watch basic TV.
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Speaker 2: You know, there's still a lot of people out there
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Speaker 2: that do that. And I'm happy that you know, someone
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Speaker 2: can sit down and I know we kind of old.
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Speaker 3: School to think of it as an old school way,
10:28
Speaker 3: but just kind of turn on the TV and find
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Speaker 3: me there.
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Speaker 1: One of the things that I've noticed, especially since the
10:33
Speaker 1: last time that you and I shared a conversation, was
10:35
Speaker 1: based on when I go out there, r Veen, I
10:37
Speaker 1: really do go talk to other campers and we do
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Speaker 1: talk about Italian food, and your name has come up
10:42
Speaker 1: so much chef Anna in the way that that that
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Speaker 1: we it's because it's like we can get it done
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Speaker 1: and have this classy dinner without doing the typical camping
10:50
Speaker 1: hot dogs and hamburgers. You you speak with everybody on
10:55
Speaker 1: the move, and I often wonder is that the reason
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Speaker 1: why that you put so much folk us on instant
11:00
Speaker 1: Italian because you get it. We're moving.
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Speaker 3: Yes, it's we are in a we are in a
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Speaker 3: time right now. Actually, it has been said that post COVID,
11:14
Speaker 3: there was a bump during COVID where people were cooking
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Speaker 3: a lot at home they had to, but unfortunately, uh,
11:20
Speaker 3: people cooking at home has plummeted. It's now really low.
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Speaker 3: You have a lot of people to come home or
11:26
Speaker 3: even on the train or in the car home. They're
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Speaker 3: they're overeating their food and what I'm just trying to
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Speaker 3: do my passion, my goal is to tell people get
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Speaker 3: back to the basics. You don't have to be you
11:40
Speaker 3: don't have to be a classically trained chef, but you
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Speaker 3: can cook at home. You can make something as simple
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Speaker 3: as a grilled cheese, but you know, elevate it with
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Speaker 3: like pesto and tomato and and and make it delicious.
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Speaker 3: Or you know, a simple pasta tass that you didn't
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Speaker 3: even think about when you went into your pantry and
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Speaker 3: you found everything that you needed. You are rving, so
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Speaker 3: you have to be very mindful of what you even
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Speaker 3: have while you go. So if I can provide you
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Speaker 3: with a recipe that is only a few ingredients that
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Speaker 3: you can kind of pack up and take with you,
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Speaker 3: even better, you know. And if you're rving in a
12:12
Speaker 3: remote place, you're not going to even have access to
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Speaker 3: take out, so you have to figure.
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Speaker 2: Out how to cook. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's what I love about what you do.
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Speaker 1: You just open up our imaginations in the way of saying, hey, look,
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Speaker 1: break it up and make it happen. In fact, speaking
12:25
Speaker 1: of breaking it up, that's one of the things that
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Speaker 1: I do with a lot of your recipes is that
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Speaker 1: I don't put all the ingredients together as one because
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Speaker 1: I like to cook for a week. I'll keep my
12:33
Speaker 1: ingredients separate, and then I go in there throughout the
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Speaker 1: week and put everything together one meal at a time.
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Speaker 1: The prep is done, Now let's have some fun.
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Speaker 3: Well listen, Yeah, exactly, you know, And that is another
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Speaker 3: thing that I really focus on in the show and
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Speaker 3: also in my book, is if you're willing to take
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Speaker 3: a little bit of time. Let's say on a Sunday,
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Speaker 3: you know, you're home, you're chilling, like you send to
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Speaker 3: turn on some music, and you make a batch of
13:03
Speaker 3: tomato sauce, or you make pesto, or you know, you
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Speaker 3: roast off a couple of vegetables, something that takes a
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Speaker 3: little you know, maybe one hour where you're just kind
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Speaker 3: of in the kitchen getting some basic things done and you.
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Speaker 2: Pop those in the fridge.
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Speaker 3: Then during the week that you know, forty five minute
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Speaker 3: meal that drops down to twenty minutes, ten minutes because
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Speaker 3: you already did a whole.
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Speaker 2: Bunch of prep. Prepping is truly the key to success.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. One of the things where you caught my attention
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Speaker 1: and my heart was when you're talking about lemon cello.
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Speaker 1: And one of my greatest people on the planet is
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Speaker 1: doctor Ronald Mac from wake Forest University, and we would
13:40
Speaker 1: always share authentic limon cello. And then do you have
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Speaker 1: lemon cello olive oil cake? Oh my god, if you
13:47
Speaker 1: brought not up, Oh you brought up not only memories
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Speaker 1: of doctor Ronald Mac, but all of a sudden, you
13:52
Speaker 1: now gave me something I can hand off to the
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Speaker 1: next generation as well and say this is what the
13:56
Speaker 1: doctor and I used to do.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, and that's that's lovely too, that you know,
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Speaker 3: a recipe of mine elicited a really nice memory for you, because.
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Speaker 2: I think that's what food should do.
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Speaker 3: It should truly elicit people that you love, memories, childhood,
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Speaker 3: all those kinds of things.
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Speaker 2: So I love that for you, and I love that
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Speaker 2: that recipe did that for you.
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Speaker 3: And yeah, I mean, lemon cello is honestly, you can
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Speaker 3: find it any liquor store and it's delicious. It is
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Speaker 3: basically just vodka and lemons that have been with sugar,
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Speaker 3: you know, so.
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Speaker 2: You can make it a whole. We can actually make
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Speaker 2: your ownly minchello by the way, but.
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Speaker 3: But you know, getting it into a cake, It just
14:46
Speaker 3: adds an extra little bumph to it.
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Speaker 2: And I love olive oil cake because it's simple.
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Speaker 3: It's one bowl and you're not worrying about melting butter,
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Speaker 3: and the cake like gets better with every day, actually
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Speaker 3: gets more moist as opposed to dry.
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Speaker 1: Are you like me in the way that when you've
15:05
Speaker 1: got a place like here in Charlotte, we have a
15:06
Speaker 1: place called Buka de Peppo and they have a table
15:09
Speaker 1: inside the kitchen that's where I sit. Chef I want
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Speaker 1: to go in there and watch every person And because
15:15
Speaker 1: I'm inspired by teamwork and that's what I sort of got.
15:19
Speaker 1: I feel from everything that you share with us in
15:21
Speaker 1: your books as well as the TV show, is the
15:23
Speaker 1: fact that you share what is the true definition of teamwork?
15:27
Speaker 1: Stick around you're going to learn from Chef Anna.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean when is that not a good idea? Right?
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Speaker 3: I mean I think it's like one of the basic
15:38
Speaker 3: things we even teach our kids.
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Speaker 2: So you know, look, I don't know if you.
15:45
Speaker 3: Have teens in the house, but I do, and they
15:49
Speaker 3: love their devices and they love me in their room,
15:52
Speaker 3: like you know, away from the family. So anything that
15:56
Speaker 3: you can do, like you mentioned before turning on the
15:59
Speaker 3: new music, the dogs are in the kitchen. Everyone's kind
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Speaker 3: of joking around, even if they're not helping, even if
16:05
Speaker 3: they're just kind of hanging out around the island and listening.
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Speaker 3: And like you said, you know, maybe washing a dish
16:11
Speaker 3: if you get lucky.
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Speaker 2: I think that's a win. And that doesn't happen with takeout.
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Speaker 3: You know, everyone kind of just grabs their dish and
16:19
Speaker 3: heads home, you know, heads to the worn yeah.
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Speaker 1: And sits on their favorite side of the sofa. I
16:23
Speaker 1: got to ask you a question, though, because a lot
16:25
Speaker 1: of these recipes are coming from your childhood. When when
16:28
Speaker 1: I go to the International store, so many things have
16:30
Speaker 1: changed over the years. I mean, even the apple itself
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Speaker 1: is not the same old apple that I had as
16:35
Speaker 1: a kid. What do you do when everything around you,
16:38
Speaker 1: when it comes to the ingredients are changing as quickly
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Speaker 1: as they are. It's not to blame the farmers, because
16:44
Speaker 1: I love farmers, but but what how do you deal
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Speaker 1: with so much change when it comes to food.
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Speaker 3: It's it's all about the pivot, And I think there's
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Speaker 3: a lot of good. There's a lot of good, and
16:55
Speaker 3: there's a lot of bad. Right Like, for example, one
16:57
Speaker 3: of the recipes on the show is my polento with
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Speaker 3: mushroom sauce. And polent is delicious, but you know it
17:06
Speaker 3: takes a little bit of elbow grease.
17:07
Speaker 2: You've got to cook it. You gotta like mix it
17:10
Speaker 2: for a long time.
17:11
Speaker 3: So if you go to the grocery store you can
17:13
Speaker 3: actually buy it prepackaged. It comes up to so you
17:18
Speaker 3: slice it up and you bake it with this mushroom
17:20
Speaker 3: sauce on time on top. So all you're really cooking
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Speaker 3: is this mushroom sauce. So yeah, did they have that
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Speaker 3: twenty thirty years ago?
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Speaker 2: No?
17:29
Speaker 3: So I think we have to take our wins when
17:32
Speaker 3: we can, and I think there are healthy shortcuts available,
17:41
Speaker 3: you just have to look for them.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, where can people go to find out more about
17:45
Speaker 1: you and your third book coming up? Well, you said March,
17:47
Speaker 1: so I'm anxious to find out more about that as well.
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Speaker 1: Where can we go to find it?
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Speaker 3: So it's not even available for pre order, but if
17:55
Speaker 3: you tune into the show, which is going to be
17:57
Speaker 3: airing June twenty ninth, overall it's going to be on
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Speaker 3: all summer long, and then you know, early next year,
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Speaker 3: you'll be able to pre order the book instant Italian
18:07
Speaker 3: for my fun cooking show.
18:09
Speaker 2: I love it.
18:10
Speaker 1: Please come back to this show anytime in the future. Chef,
18:12
Speaker 1: the door is always going to be open for you.
18:15
Speaker 2: I appreciate you having me again.
18:17
Speaker 3: It was lovely to speak to you and happy cooking
18:20
Speaker 3: this summer in the RV.
18:21
Speaker 1: Thank you, and you'd be brilliants.
18:22
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you, Bye bye.