THE 9LIST 9M3NU | THE 9LIST 9CH3FS + THE 9LIST 9B-L-D
Read the NOV ISSUE #96 of Athleisure Mag and see THE 9LIST 9CH3FS + THE 9LIST 9B-L-D in mag.
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PREPPING FOR THE HOLIDAYS | GABY DALKIN
We've been fans of Gaby Dalkin for a number of years and always enjoy seeing when she has new products that come out with Williams Sonoma which takes our tastebuds to the next level. A few years ago during the pandemic, we caught up with her to talk about her brand and products that had recently launched, so when we had the opportunity to touchbase with her again ahead of the holiday season - we had to catch up with her as she always has something going on, dish on grilling, getting her tips on how to navigate the holiday season when you're hosting from preparing, cooking, and of course cleaning up! We also wanted to see how we can be ready for all the planning of holiday gatherings whether we know in advance or an impromptu get together makes itself known!
ATHLEISURE MAG: We have had the pleasure of interviewing you a few years ago as you had introduced various seasonings that would take our brunch and breakfast to the next level so clearly, we know you have ideas when it comes to Thanksgiving as well! Before we get into the upcoming holiday, what have you been up to and tell us about your new cookbook!
GABY DALKIN: The new cookbook is called Grilling and it comes out next May! There are recipes that are definitely Thanksgiving-adjacent – we live in California so obviously we grill all year round, but there are a ton of grilled salads and root vegetables that can easily translate to Thanksgiving.
AM: With its focus on grilling, tell us what you enjoy about grilling?
GD: I have a California state of mind at all times – I think it’s a really healthy way to live and maximize time outside. I’m always looking to get outside and grill because the flavor that comes to your food from grilling is extraordinary. It’s the same as roasting, which we’ll be doing a lot of this Thanksgiving. I also love that you can have a lot of people around you when you’re grilling and be entertaining while cooking but I think what I’m most excited about is to break into a very male-dominated world of grilling as a female!
AM: In many ways, Thanksgiving has many dishes that are staples for many of us while also having the ability to have various twists on it. Tell us a recipe that we can include as we prepare for the holiday season!
GD: I’m a stuffing girl through and through and this recipe for the Ultimate Cheesy Herb Sourdough Stuffing that I did for Finish® is quite possibly the best stuffing you’ll ever make. I’m obsessed with it – it’s bubbly and cheesy and bready and everything about it is what you want on your Thanksgiving table. And you don’t have to worry about clean-up because if you’re stocked with Finish® Ultimate dishwashing tabs like I am, those tough to clean, burnt-on stains from the stuffing will come right off in the dishwasher.
AM: Thanksgiving has a lot of moving parts and we have talked with a number of culinary experts and chefs on what that timeline looks like as it begins prior to Turkey Day! What should be our timeline that we incorporate when it comes to purchasing items, prepping, etc to reduce the stress that this holiday can create.
GD: Funny you should ask! Finish® and I put together The Ultimate Thanksgiving Timer, an epic timeline that has everything you need for Thanksgiving – from when you should start shipping, when to start the table, when to start various dishes, it’s got you covered. If you go to UltimateThanksgivingExperience.com, you can sign up and it’ll send you reminders on what to do on certain days and keep you on track. I’m sure most hosts out there can relate, but I love making lists and crossing things off, so it’s a great tool to make things easier on such a hectic day.
AM: When you're hosting Thanksgiving at home, what are things that we should have on hand and how should the actual day be constructed so that we're getting meals on the table that are hot and on time, while also still being able to be with friends and family!
GD: I have three parts to this answer – first is to make sure your pantry and fridge are stocked with every ingredient that you need. Make your list and check it twice and do as much of your grocery shopping as you can ahead of time.
Next is to set the table a day or two before Thanksgiving. You can pick out your glassware and have different platters selected that you’re serving on and save yourself a step Thanksgiving morning.
The third part is to make sure your cabinets are stocked with Finish Ultimate – it works in the toughest conditions to take care of burnt-on stains so that when you’re done cooking and entertaining, clean-up is a breeze and you’re not spending hours cleaning your kitchen.
AM: The clean up is always that segment that seems the most daunting as you want to clean throughout, but it seems no matter how you stay on top of that, you're still left with a lot to do after the big feast, what are some tips that you can share with us?
GD: I always say to clean as you go. For me, loading my dishwasher and running it in the morning after I’ve completed as much prep as I can and then unloading it and having it ready to go for people’s arrival is a huge pro tip. Make sure you have Finish Ultimate and Jet Dry loaded in your dishwasher as well so everything comes out sparkling and ready to be put away or used in some fashion. This may also be controversial, but I’m very particular about how my dishwasher is loaded, so I’ll allow my guests to move their dishes to the counter and I’ll load it – it makes my life easier because then I don't have to worry about people's loading habits. So choose your clean-up plan of attack wisely!
AM: Thanksgiving kicks off a myriad of holiday events all the way into the New Year! What are things that we should have on hand in order to be ready for impromptu gatherings that we may host or to bring with us to thank those for having us?
GD: I would say have a handful of cheese and crackers is always helpful. If you’re going to be serving drinks, have a stocked drink fridge and cool ice prepped and ready to go in your freezer. I would always have some puff pastry in your freezer and a wheel of brie in your fridge so you can whip up a baked brie in a moments notice - that’s never going to upset anyone! And make sure you have cocktail napkins, Finish® Ultimate and plenty of paper towels.
If you're in the midst of planning your Thanksgiving meal or other holiday gatherings, we couldn't let Gaby go without finding out about how to make her Ultimate Cheesy Herb Sourdough Stuffing.
ULTIMATE CHEESY HERB SOURDOUGH STUFFING
Ingredients:
1 loaf Sourdough bread with crust cut into 1-inch cubes (roughly 8 cups)
10 tablespoons butter
2 shallots, finely sliced
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 bunches green onions, thinly sliced
¾ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 large eggs
2 cups chicken broth
6 ounces coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread the ripped or cubed bread on large rimmed baking sheet. Bake until bread is dry, about 15 minutes. Cool.
Melt 10 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add shallot and celery and saute for 5-6 minutes. Add green onions, all the herbs, garlic, salt and pepper and sauté until celery is tender, 6 to 8 minutes more.
Generously grease a large skillet or ceramic baking dish. Place bread cubes in very large bowl. Add warm vegetable mixture; toss to combine.
Whisk eggs and ¾ cup broth in medium bowl. Add egg mixture to stuffing and toss to coat. Mix in Parmesan.
Add more broth (about ½ to ¾ cup) to stuffing if dry. Transfer to skillet or ceramic baking dish. Cover with buttered foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake until golden, about 30 minutes. Serve in baking vessel or transfer to a serving platter.
PHOTO CREDITS | Matt Armendariz
Read the OCT ISSUE #94 of Athleisure Mag and see PREPPING FOR THE HOLIDAYS | Gaby Dalkin in mag.
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S1. E13. | ATHLEISURE KITCHEN WITH GABY DALKIN
On today’s episode of Athleisure Kitchen we talk with cookbook author, founder of What’s Gaby Cooking culinary creator, and who has created a line of seasonings, sauces and cocktail mixers that you can purchase at Williams Sonoma for a number of years – Gaby Dalkin. We talk about how she created her culinary universe, her focus of California Girl Living, being inspired through travel and lifestyle as she approaches creating her dishes. We also talk about her popular site and how she grew it as well as it concepts and her newest cookbook that’s out now – Eat What You Want. She even tells us how we can enhance our movie nights in with her dishes as we all do our part to flatten the curve!
Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.
Featured Athleisure Kitchen
THAT CALIFORNIA GIRL LIFE WITH GABY DALKIN
Food has always been a great way to bring people together, explore cultures and even to give insight into who you are and your creativity. This month, we talk with cookbook author, founder of What’s Gaby Cooking culinary creator, and who has created a line of seasonings, sauces and cocktail mixers that you can purchase at Williams Sonoma for a number of years – Gaby Dalkin. She shares how she created her culinary universe, her focus of California Girl Living, being inspired through travel and lifestyle as she approaches creating her dishes. We also talk about her popular site and how she grew it as well as her newest cookbook that’s out now, What's Gaby Cooking, Eat What You Want. She even tells us how we can enhance our movie nights in with her dishes as we all do our part to flatten the curve!
ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you fall in love with food and realize that you wanted to work in the industry?
GABY DALKIN: So I fell in love with food really when I was in high school. I used to come home from school everyday and watch the Food Network and I just loved watching them cook. It was mesmerizing to me. I would watch it everyday for a couple of hours when I would do my homework. Then when I got to college, I started cooking for my tennis team. I played tennis in college and I met my husband, he was my boyfriend at the time. He was on the men’s team and I would cook for everyone – we have both not picked up our rackets in years. I would cook for the men’s and women’s teams right before matches. I loved getting people around the table. It brought me so much joy for me to be able to feed them and just watch the conversation happen when you bring people to a table and include food.
After college, I got a job in the fashion and marketing/PR industry for a couple of months. The whole company folded and then instead of getting another job, I decided to go to culinary school – just for fun. I had no intention of going into the culinary world fulltime. I ended up loving it and falling in love with food. I got a job as a private chef and I started my blog and it just snowballed and that was a little over 10 years ago.
AM: That’s a great story and one of the things that we enjoyed reading about you is that you’re all about the California Girl Life. We’re based in NY and we wanted to know how you define the California Girl Life?
GD: To me, the California Girl Life is not about being in California. It’s more the state of mind as opposed to an actual place. I think it’s all about living your life in balance, being your own sunshine and making sure you’re happy and all of that. I think that that is what my definition of California is. I can have a beautiful salad with all of these incredible vegetables and I can also indulge in pizza, pasta and cookies – that’s the balance part of it. I mean, we’re very fortunate in California to have incredible weather most of the year. Whether or not, you can experience that or not, I think that we can all bring a bit of sunshine into our kitchens via food.
AM: Would you define that as your style of cooking or since you went to culinary school, do you have a specific way that you like to cook?
GD: I would say that I am very California focused, but I would say that I was trained in French cuisine, but I wouldn’t say or even qualify myself to say that I am a French trained chef. I like to say that the way I cook is very carefree, I like to do simple ingredients – I would say that I am a Mediterranean style cook and that really resonates with California. I also grew up in Tucson, Arizona so there is definitely some South West and Mexican influence in my food.
AM: We can definitely see that. You are a recipe developer. What does that mean and what does it involve?
GD: A recipe developer is someone who has an idea and takes it from an idea to a finished recipe. Normally, it takes anywhere from 3-6 tries to get a recipe perfect before it gets up on my website or one of my cookbooks. For me, it’s important for me to stay continuously inspired. Pre COVID-19, it came from traveling and being able to eat at restaurants and all of that kind of stuff. Now, I’m finding inspiration from my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Boxes and things that I’m doing because before, I had access to Farmer’s Markets and now I get these things delivered once a week and I’m like, “what do I do with this and this?” It’s creating so many ideas because I’m being forced to cook with things that I normally would not get on my home. It’s been cool to recipe develop during this period of time when things have been more limited.
AM: Can you tell us more about the website, What’s Gaby Cooking?
GD: What’s Gaby Cooking is my website that I started back in 2009. It was originally a blog that I was able to put up things that I was cooking in culinary school and beyond on it. It has now been turned into more of a hub that houses all the What’s Gaby Cooking things. So we have recipes on there, meal plans on there, we feature companies, we do travel guides, menu planning for Memorial Day or Mother’s Day, our podcast is on there now and we just recently launched a culinary school on there as well.
AM: Which is awesome.
GD: I’m basically reliving my culinary days and turning it into videos so that people can get the same education I got A. for free and B. done in quick snippet videos. While everyone is cooking more at home right now, you have access to some cool how to videos.
AM: When we looked at it, we loved seeing how you had all the different ways that you could make eggs because there are some that you know how to do, but then there are others that are a bit more challenging and it was cool to see the one on poached eggs. It’s great how easily bite sized that it is where you can just start from there, do it and then you just roll into other videos. Couldn’t agree more that especially during this time, you may not have cooked a lot but you find yourself doing it a lot more now and you’re looking for fun places that you can kind of make it fun for yourself to do it. Especially since we’re all at home!
GD: I think it’s important to make things accessible. Yes cooking can be complicated, but at its core, it’s not. I’m enjoying being able to dispel some people’s fears around cooking while doing culinary school.
AM: Your husband works with you as well, how is that in your coupleship? As our co-founders are a couple, it’s interesting to see all the roles and those that spill over work between them as well as finding that balance with them.
GD: Thomas came on fulltime about a year ago. The first couple of weeks were rocky because we were so used to – I mean I have a team that helps me but I wasn’t used to having someone in my space every day. It was really interesting getting Thomas and I into a groove. Now a month in, we’ve been smooth sailing. He runs the whole production, tech and design side – he does all the video editing, the website design – all that and creating all the graphics and things. I do all of the recipes and camera facing work. He’s also been apart of What’s Gaby Cooking from the beginning. He wasn’t getting paid as he had an other job, but he knows my business inside and out. It’s hard to find someone who cares about the company as much as I do. So, it’s really cool to have him involved full time now and to have someone who is as equally invested in it every waking moment of every day.
AM: You have so many aspects to your business. What was the moment that you realized that you wanted to include a cookbook within your ecosystem? We were fans of Absolutely Avocados – we’re a fan of the fruit. What was the process like when you decided that you were going to do your first cookbook and how long do you spend doing your cookbooks?
GD: When you write a cookbook, it normally takes you 2-2.5 years start to finish. But when I did my first cookbook which was 8 years ago, I had no idea what I was doing and I walked into it very blind and it was an incredible learning experience for me. I LOVED Absolutely Avocados. It was my first child if you will. I’m very proud of it, but it also came with so many lessons about what kind of person I wanted as my agent, my editor, how I was going to be pushed and did I need someone to be my best friend who would hold my hand the entire time or did I need someone that would push me to make it an incredible book and to make it even better.
From my first book to my second and third book, I actually switched both agents and publishers. What I learned was, I can have both. My editor now, is someone who is going to push me to be a better writer, a better thinker and all of these things. She has now turned into a friend, but at first I was just looking for a friend. I wasn’t looking for anyone to push me because I thought that I was doing it so well to begin with. But we all need to be pushed and I think it’s important to have someone that keeps me accountable. I’m lucky that I have thatwith this team. But the first book, was a really great learning lesson for me.
AM: You just released your third book, What’s Gaby Cooking, Eat What You Want. It has such a great conversational tone as well as pictures. What inspired you to creating this particular book?
GD: Thank you! I get asked all the time, “Yeah you post all of these pizzas, pastas, cookies and salads. But what do you really eat Gaby?” I was like, “this is what I really eat.” I just wanted to really drive the home that you could do it all, you could do it in balance and you really have a great life. I think in today’s world, there is a lot of noise in food. You’re not supposed to have bananas in your smoothie and all of these things that aren’t necessarily true and it’s because of the diet industry that is rebranding as part wellness industry basically. I wanted people to get rid of the noise. Food makes you happy. It’s supposed to nourish your body, make you happy and bring people around your table. I wanted to create a book that was going to celebrate all of that.
AM: To have the section on the sauces, the splurge foods, you have the foods that are definitely the healthy ones – having the balance and destigmatizing it as opposed to saying what should and shouldn’t be really rang true to when we created Athleisure Mag. We wanted to present the options and allow people to decide if they wanted to do something in the manner that works for them. To have it in a succinct and awesomely packaged way, it made us want to make a number of the recipes because there are so many fun things that are in there. The flow and the way that it is broken out is conversational which makes it super approachable which is exactly on point with your brand.
GD: Thank you! That’s exactly what I wanted people to feel when they are reading it. I wanted them to feel like they were in my kitchen with me and they were just hanging out with their friends. I hope that everyone else feels that way as well.
AM: With all of us staying in. We have been doing movie nights 3-4 times a week. We have our projector that goes up, we have our snacks and things together. What are 3 dishes in your book that we should be making when we do our movie nights?
GD: Definitely the Parmesan Pizza Popcorn. It is made for movie night. I would say the brownies in the back – The Caramel Marshmallow, Chocolate Chunk Brownies – it’s a very nice decadent treat to watch a movie to. And then, while it’s not exactly good food to eat on your couch as they’re a little messy. The Chipotle Wings in the appetizer section are such a gamechanger. They’re so good and they’re not – punch you in the face spicy, they’re smokey and they leave you with a nice heat. I think that that is really fun also.
AM: That sounds amazing. Are you already making plans for your next cookbook and what it is going to be?
GD: Oh my gosh, yes! I just talked to my team the other day and they said, “so what’s book number 4?” I was like, “I don’t know.” Give me a few months to think about it. I would love to continue to do cookbooks. It’s so much fun to see people use them in their kitchens, tagging me in their recipes, hearing how food is effecting their lives and making them better. Right now with the quarantine and people being home with their children and homeschooling them, so many moms have been messaging me and saying that they are using my book as a textbook to teach their kids fractions, how to read and colors. I think that that is just the coolest thing and I never would have thought of that and I think it’s just really cool.
AM: That’s huge! You’re really synced into your social media! You were just talking about how people let you know how they are using your books and recipes. It’s awesome to hear that as busy as you are with so many things going on that you’re able to stay engaged with them.
GD: It’s my favorite part of my job! One of my favorite things to do it to talk to my whole audience they’re my family and friends. I have had the opportunity to meet some of these people on book tours and hosted events. I’m with them every day in my kitchens so it’s so much fun to be able to communicate with them via Instagram, Twitter or the blog. I can answer their questions, hear their stories – hands down one of the favorite parts of my job.
AM: With your new podcast, What’s Gaby Cooking… In Quarantine, it focuses on the quarantine and different dishes that you can make, how do you decide what dishes are going to go on the podcast?
GD: So the podcast is all user generated content. So I have a hotline. Remember back in the day when there was, 1-800-Jenny-Craig from back in the day?
AM: YES!
GD: I have one of those numbers now and so people call in and ask questions based on quarantine. How do I cook x y z in my pantry, how do I clean this and how do I this? It’s been so cool to listen to everyone’s voicemails and then to listen for things that are fairly common themes across everyone’s questions and to answer those on the podcast. It’s helping people to get even more comfortable in the kitchen. We just started having guests! My mom was my first guest and we talked about food noise, food shaming, raising children in today’s world and how we shouldn’t pay attention to the crazy food noise as well as how she did that she she was raising me and my sister. It’s going to be cool to see everyone’s response to that.
AM: Looking at Williams-Sonoma, how did that partnership come about and what is it like to create all of these amazing seasonings with them and what’s it like working with them?
GD: Williams-Sonoma came about a few years ago back in 2016. I had decided that the next iteration of What’s Gaby Cooking would be for people to have something tangible that they could use in their kitchens that felt like I was there with them. I knew that they were cooking the recipes and they were watching us on YouTube and all of that kind of stuff. I wanted them to have something that they could literally put in their recipes. I cold called a number of companies and told them my idea. Everyone that you can imagine that sells food products, and a couple of them wrote me and asked me to fly to their headquarters to take a meeting. Williams-Sonoma did not call me back right away, but I knew people there and I knew that everything that they’re about made sense for my brand. I went ahead and went to the meetings for the brands that reached out – they said, let’s get this rolling. I felt that it just wasn’t right yet. 24 hours later, the head food buyer of Williams- Sonoma emailed me and asked me to come up to San Francisco and to cook for the whole team and tell them my story. So, I dropped everything that I was doing and I hopped on a plane, flew up there a couple of days later, cooked for everyone, told them my story and we talked about my social, my website and culinary school.
I didn’t know this at the time, but salsa was not their best SKU. So they said, “let’s try a line of salsas.” I was like, “ok cool.” I’m from Arizona, I love salsa – let’s do it. We crushed it. We developed 3 salsas that came out that were also able to be used as multiuse sauces as well. It did so well and outperformed all their salsas. I think that that was their way of testing me. From there, we expanded into seasonings, oil, perishable products and cocktail mixes. It’s been such an incredible partnerships for the last few years and I feel incredible lucky to work with people that have become like family and friends to me. To be part of a company that has such strong messaging and goals – I feel fortunate to be apart of the WS Fam!
AM: So each season, do you have a particular focus on foods that you want to attack and then create those items that would go under that particular assortment?
GD: They do that for the catalog. A couple of years ago, they did a Mexico vibe and that’s when the salsas went into it. Now, they do have priorities like brunch was a focus for them this spring and we introduced our cocktail mixed with that as well as the All Things Eggs Seasonings. That plays into it. But at this point, they know that I know what will resonate with my audience. So we have collaborative brainstorm seasons where I say, “I think that we need to do this or we need to do that.” Then, we can make that happen.
AM: What in the culinary world have you yet to do, but want to embrace that and bring it into your empire – or even outside of it as you are a lifestyle brand?
GD: Interesting question. I haven’t done any travel to Asia and I’m dying to explore the different cultures and food – everything. I want to cook with people for a month or two when we’re able to travel again and to learn all about that. I would love to learn from someone that is an expert or multiple experts and then bring that back to share that knowledge. We have dabbled in it at What’s Gaby Cooking but I really would love to immerse myself in something like that. That is high on my priority list in terms of growing the brand. But it changes so much. What’s Gaby Cooking Culinary School came about because so many people were messaging me on how to prep vegetables. It wasn’t something that we thought about doing until we were like, we should start this. Being a small company and being nimble is so important because you’re able to pivot and adapt to make changes really quickly. Who knows? Whatever we do when we’re over with COVID – it will be interesting to see how we change our business to accommodate that.
AM: What are 3 items that you always have in your fridge?
GD: I always have mozzarella in the fridge, I have fresh tortillas and salsa. I think those are things that I can’t live without.
AM: With someone that is so busy and now with having a number of the issues that we have all dealt with regarding COVID and staying at home. How are you taking time for yourself as well as your husband to taking down the noise and still being able to do the self-care that you need to be a calm and normal person?
GD: It’s really interesting. I do struggle with this and I am attached to my phone for most of the day. When we wind down at night, I leave my phone in the kitchen plugged in and I don’t take it with me to bed because I don’t want to be responding to DM’s until 11pm which I could easily be doing. I try not to. So that’s been helpful. We have been going out for walks every night after dinner - again without my phone to decompress from the day. That’s also been helpful. We also have been using FaceTime and Zoom dates with all of our friends. Honestly, we have talked to and seen them more now then we did before COVID. Because, they all live in different parts of the country. Some of our best friends in Portland, we FaceTime with them and their little daughter, multiple times a week which we didn’t do before all of this and it’s been so fun to be able to hang with them because we wouldn’t have been able to see them in person anyways because they live in a different state. It’s been nice to do that and to pay attention to the conversation rather than what’s going on around us.
PHOTO CREDIT | Matt Armendariz
Read the May Issue of Athleisure Mag and see That California Girl Life with Gaby Dalkin in mag.
Featured Food
