We've enjoyed eating at Tom Colicchio's restaurants in NY as well as hearing his wisdom as the Executive Producer, host and judge of BRAVO's Top Chef. Our favorite episodes are when he creates a dish to share with the chefs. Right before the Big Game, we took some time to talk about how you can prepare your dishes, how we can include sustainable brands within our menu and getting the scoop on Season 20 of Top Chef: World All-Stars that premiers on Mar 9th!
ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we get into the Big Game and all of the good food that we’re going to talk about. When did you realize that you wanted to be a chef?
CHEF TOM COLICCHIO: Oh, when I was about 15, I always cooked at home and my dad suggested that I become a chef. Actually, if you look in my yearbook, circa 1980, on the bottom of my photo, it says, “plan to be a chef.”
AM: Love that!
Clearly we’re all excited for the Big Game coming up on Sunday. It’s all about people coming together and the foods that we’re all going to eat. What are you excited about when it comes to watching the game and who are you cheering for?
CHEF TC: I’m an NFC guy so I guess I’m cheering for the Eagles. Also, the owner of the Eagles, Jeffrey Lurie, did us a great favor, he and his ex-wife at the time, they were our first investors in a film that my wife made about hunger in America, so I have a soft spot for the Lurie family.
AM: Noted!
CHEF TC: Yeah, we’re just going to enjoy the day with kids, some family and maybe some friends will pop by. We keep it pretty simple around our house and you know, it's the typical stuff that you would want to find around game day – nachos. There is this little steak dish that I do that’s almost like a salad and of course, there's wings. They're a favorite in my household almost every night and not just reserved for game day.
AM: Same!
CHEF TC: This particular recipe has a barbecue sauce that’s a little bit different which has sour cherries. So there is some garlic and some ginger, there’s onion, serrano chilies for some spice, lime juice and a little bit of vinegar for some acid and then the sour cherries provide a little bit of sweetness. Since it’s sour cherries, there’s a little bit of tartness as well. So it’s really well balanced.
More importantly, is the chicken that we’re actually using. This is a new company called, Do Good Chicken and it’s in your market, you can find it. What we do is that we take food from supermarkets that would normally go in the garbage and end up in a landfill and create methane, which then creates greenhouse gases and hurts our environment, we take all that surplus food on a massive scale, process it and turn it into an odorless, flavorless powder that we then turn into pellets and in turn, feed our chickens. We give them to our growers who are growing our chickens for us. So you can actually help save the environment by simply just buying a different chicken. So when you’re in the supermarket, you have a lot of different choices that you can make in chickens. You can just buy Do Good Chicken knowing that you can help the environment. So people, I think that they want to be able to do things whether they’re buying electric cars or maybe something else. But this is very simple, buy a different chicken! You can help save the environment! In fact, every chicken that you purchase from Do Good Chicken, takes about 4 pounds of carbon out of the atmosphere.
AM: Oh wow!
So obviously, you just shared with us this chicken recipe that looks amazing. What tips do you have for people that are entertaining their friends or family for the Big Game and how they can make it easy for them and enjoyable as well.
CHEF TC: Yeah, you have to start a couple of days in advance. Make sure that your shopping is done by Thursday. Make sure that your prep, you’ve started on Sat at least! Don’t wait until Sunday morning where you’re running around. Get all of that chopping out of the way. So if you’re doing this sauce, you can make it on Thursday or on Friday – it’s going to hold. Get your chicken wings. This is really important when you’re making chicken, you want it to be really really dry. So buy it a couple of days in advance, take it out of the package, keep it open, do not cover it in your refrigerator so it dries out. That’s how you get crispy crispy chicken. So that’s really important. But anything that you’re chopping, if you’re making salsas and things like that, just do it ahead of time. You don’t have to wait until the last second. Typically, when I’m cooking, if I’m making a dinner party at home, I want to get all of the chopping, the cutting and the prepping out of the way early. When I’m cooking, I’m not using a knife anymore, I’m just cooking and you can really just focus on that. Also, you want to keep this really simple because you want to spend time with your friends. The worst thing that you can do is have a bunch of people at your house and you’re stuck in the kitchen the entire time. You want to get out there and to enjoy the game as well.
AM: We couldn’t agree more and those are great tips! It’s kind of like Thanksgiving – prepping in advance!
CHEF TC: Absolutely! You’ve got to prep in advance and sometimes, a couple of days in advance! I think the other thing is that too often, I don’t think that we think about what we’re doing ahead of time. By now you should have your plays written out, you should know what your moves are going to be. You don’t want to call an audible the day of!
AM: Well, we’re sure that you have an awesome playbook coach!
CHEF TC: Haha you’ve got to read the defense too!
AM: Without a doubt!
We’re so excited for Top Chef to come out next month! It’s always exciting and we love when we get to talk to people that have been part of that universe. We’ve talked with Gail Simmons, Chef Justin Sutherland, Chef Kristen Kish and other people that have been cheftestants and Chef Nyesha Arrington is our cover for the JAN ISSUE #85.
CHEF TC: Oh yeah, she’s great!
AM: We love her to pieces!
So what can we expect for the All Stars, next month in London?
CHEF TC: Well, what’s really cool about this one is that it’s International All Stars. So, there are Top Chef productions all over the globe and so we’re taking the best over those regions – either winners or runners ups and bringing them all together. So we have contestants from Poland, Germany, Thailand, France, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and of course, the United States. It’s a great competition, it was a lot of fun shooting in London and it’s going to be fantastic!
AM: We’re definitely looking forward to that! Are there any other things that we should keep an eye out for because you’re always doing so many positive things and using your platform to let people know what you think about the state of things.
CHEF TC: Yes, I will continue to work on things for issues that revolve around hunger. There is the Farm Bill which is where all the hunger policies are contained. That’s happening and every 5 years, it’s debated so that’s coming up and I’m focusing on that and I am working on a new restaurant in Washington, D.C. that will hopefully open around Nov.
AM: That’s exciting, I always love when I go by Craft as we’re based here in NY. It’s amazing to be able to connect with you and to see what you’re doing and to watch Top Chef as well as to try out this chicken recipe.
SOUR CHERRY BBQ WINGS
• 4 lbs Do Good Chicken Party Wings
• 2 tablespoons salted butter
• ½ yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 serrano chile, seeded and minced
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• ¾ cup sour cherry preserves
• 1/3 cup lime juice about 2 limes
• 1 lime, zested
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• Salt and Pepper
• Flavorless oil, such as avocado or vegetable
Preheat the over to 450F and Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, toss the chicken wings in 2 tablespoons oil and season with salt and pepper.
Transfer the wings to the baking sheets skin side up and bake for 45 minutes, until cooked through and crisp.
While the wings are baking, make your BBQ sauce. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook until softened and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add half of the minced serrano pepper and smashed garlic and cook for 1 minute, until softened and garlic is fragrant.
Add the onion and pepper mixture to a blender along with the sour cherry preserves, lime juice, and ketchup. Blend until smooth.
Return the cherry BBQ sauce back and to the pan and stir in the remaining serrano pepper. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat and season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the BBQ sauce to a bowl.
Remove the wings from the oven when finishing baking and add them to a large bowl. Toss with one third of the cherry BBQ sauce.
Return the tossed wings back to the baking sheet and bake for an additional 5 minutes until sticky and caramelized.
Transfer the glazed wings to a serving dish, sprinkle with lime zest, and serve with the remaining glaze on the side.
If you’re looking for a sauce to cool you down, mix some cherry glaze with mayo for a cooler dipping sauce!
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | Tom Colicchio
Read the FEB ISSUE #86 of Athleisure Mag and see CHEF’S PLAYBOOK | Chef Tom Colicchio in mag.
