'Top Chef' Gail Simmons Talks L.A. Eats and Gift Giving
(photo credit: Tina Rupp)
Despite winter’s fast approach, things are looking sunny for Canada native Gail Simmons. The chef and author will cover the sunny California coast with Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, and Richard Blais for the 13th season of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” debuting Wednesday.
On the latest season, contestants (or as they’re commonly called, “cheftestants,”) travel across California on a road trip, where they cook under high-pressure situations including a “big fat gay wedding,” as well as for discerning guest stars Chrissy Teigen and MC Hammer.
Simmons said the road trip brought out the chefs’ creativity. “Cali was much more of an adventure,” she explained. “We were in five different cities, from the south of the state all the way up to the Bay area. It was a great way to be able to change the cooking, produce, and ingredients and to get the chefs out of their comfort zone.”
After 13 seasons, Simmons says the show still finds new ways to challenge the cheftestants. “We expect more from them,” Simmons explained. “We give them less time than we might have several seasons ago. We demand more in terms of quantity … It’s not harder, but our standards have changed.”
After the show’s kick-off, Simmons, who heads up special projects at Food & Wine, will be focused on the holidays. One thing she looks forward to cooking during the season is her mother’s latkes. “She makes the best ones in the world, and I do them the same way. Every year, we always do a latke party at my house. We used to do an adult one with latkes and caviar, but now that I have kids and my friends have kids, it’s more of a latke free-for-all. There’s always doughnuts and latkes.”
As for gifts, Simmons — who wrote the forward to the newly released cookbook, “Montreal Cooks“ — will be handing out homemade treats from her favorite recipe books.
“When you’re a cookbook author, you have no idea if people are using it,” she explained. “I’m in this phase of once a week picking a recipe from a cookbook and making it — cookies, granola, and all types of things that I can make and give people.”
For New Year’s, you’ll find Simmons “drinking dark and stormies in the sand in Jamaica” with her family and friends. Even Top Chefs need some time off from all that eating and judging.
If you’re not headed south for the winter, Simmons has a blood orange punch that’s great to serve at your holiday gatherings:
Sparkling Blood Orange Punch
Makes 8 servings
¼ cup water
¼ cup honey
2 cups freshly squeezed blood orange juice (about 10 oranges)
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ cup Lillet, chilled
1 bottle Champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled
1 blood orange, thinly sliced, for garnish
In a small saucepan, combine water and honey. Heat on medium-low, stirring, until honey is evenly dissolved. Allow to cool slightly, then refrigerate until well chilled.
In a large bowl, combine honey water, blood orange juice, lemon juice and Lillet. Just before serving, slowly add Champagne or sparkling wine. Top with blood orange slices. Ladle into glasses over ice.
For more on “Top Chef”, check out these stories:
Padma Lakshmi and the Pentagon Are Developing a ‘Top Chef’ Spinoff
5 Big Lessons From Chicago Top Chef Stephanie Izard
'Top Chef’ Star Richard Blais Creates The Perfect Burger for ‘Fab Life’
