Nadia G
Nadia G has found fame through her incredibly funny Bitchin’ Kitchen cooking show. The second season starts tonight on Food Network UK so we chatted to her about her kooky cooking, Ricky Gervais, shoes and carb comas.
So Bitchin' Kitchen Season 2 starts tonight in the UK, for those who haven't seen the show, what can they expect?
Nadia G: “Well, Bitchin’ kitchen is the first show of its kind. It’s a hybrid cooking show, which means every week we choose a different topic whether its ‘dysfunctional family pizza night’ or ‘girl’s night in’ and have a few laughs about that topic and cook a meal that goes along with it. For season two we have a bunch of new scenes, some fantastic, easy and delicious bitchin’ recipes and a whole lot of ‘Kookyness’ which you pretty much expect from this series.”
It's been a massive hit in America and Canada, how's the reception been in the UK?
“It’s been incredible! In fact we are the top female talent on Food Network UK. So move over Nigela! People are loving bitchin’ kitchen and that’s fantastic and I’ve always been a massive fan of British humour starting with the office, I love Gervais’s new series as well and it’s been really fantastic to see that the UK also appreciates my sense of humour.”
We’re massive fans of the show, especially the humour, but what's your favourite part of doing the show?
“My favourite thing about bitchin’ kitchen is that it gives me a lot of freedom because we created this format, I can do what I want with it, whether it’s throw in a couple music videos, you know, do the top ten lists, do the stand up comedy, do the little sketches and to top it all off, make a fantastic meal and something that people can easily replicate at home. So essentially it gives me a platform to express myself in so many different ways and of course, let’s not forget the fashion and the shoe shops which is the cream on the cake.”
It's a really unique cooking show, what is it that inspired you?
“Well you know cooking shows have traditionally been a bit bland, particularly the ladies that are cooking shows hosts - they always kind of present this picture perfect meal and lifestyle, which is not reality. I grew up in a crazy Italian kitchen, my parents immigrated from Italy, you know, the kitchen is where we have our biggest laughs, best conversations, it was messy but it was beautiful, and this is the type of kitchen that I like to portray, not so much the little ‘house in the Hamptons’ where we’re cooking the perfect dinner for the ‘hubby’ and the kids you know?”
You cover pretty much all bases when it comes to cooking in your show, where did you learn to cook so many awesome dishes?
“I’m a home schooled chef, I learned to cook from the women in my family, my mother my aunt and my Grandmother, and I’ll tell you, I’ll pick my grandmother against the three star Michelin any day of the week. You don’t have to be a professional chef to make an amazing meal. Italian food has always been about quality ingredients. You can have a dish that has three, four ingredients in it and that it ‘stella’ and so the biggest problem people have is that they can be intimidated by the kitchen and these chefs on TV, throwing 56 different ingredients into a pot, making stuff they can barely pronounce like duck a l’orange, you know, nobody is doing this at home so what I like to do is make it acceptable, just like my family did for me.”
What's been your favourite dish to cook from the second season?
“Oo, there’s so many good ones in the second series, I’m gonna have to say the dysfunctional family pizza night has got some awesome, awesome pizzas that you can make in your oven. This is my aunts recipe, its just out of this world. Another thing that I love to make in this series is bacon chocolate, now this is so easy and so delicious, basically you’ve got two ingredients in there, you’ve got the bacon and the chocolate and its just outa this world.”
You cook tones of dishes but what's your favourite comfort food?
“My favourite comfort food? I’m gonna have to say pasta, you know, pasta is always such a comfort, especially because if you eat a bunch of it, it’ll probably knock you the f**k out into a carb coma so, it’s comforting.”
If it was your last day on earth, what would be your last meal be?
“Ooooo, how much time do you have? Alright well I’d definitely eat some foie gras terrine, I don’t know if it’s like this in the UK, but here in America, they’re all up in arms about foie gras because these poor geese and ducks are being force fed. Why don’t people look at boiler chickens and industrial farming? That’s where the real problem lies. So I’m gonna start with some foie gras terrine and I’m gonna eat that with some caramalised onion and some fig jam, then I would love a nice angus hotdog I mean this is my last day on earth, what-ev-er, Chicago style so this is with a lot of nice hot peppers a nice poppy seed bun and a rack of ribs, I make such a great rack of ribs with a balsamic maple barbeque sauce, then I’d probably have some Granada topped with some quality tequila to just kind of cleanse the pallet and then for desert my habanero cheesecake, this cheesecake is so, so good because it’s creamy and has a little bit of spice from the pepper in it and just drizzle that with a little bit of chocolate. Yeah, I think that covers it for now and I’d probably wash that all down with a bottle of Radikon, which is one of my favourite wines, it’s a white that’s actually drank like a red at room temperature, so it’s an amber wine.”
You love your heels, how many pairs have you got and which are your favourite?
“Ooo, I’d say I had about 30 pairs, and my favourite are my custom made Louboutins. So I found a pair of black Louboutin boots, that I then brought to one of my favourite designers and had him set it all up and they’re just stunning.”
Finally, what's next for you Nadia? What are your plans for the next year?
“Well I’m super excited for this season two launch, I definitely want to make more music videos, I love doing the comedy song, in fact we kick it of with a rock star Spanish beat in the dysfunctional family pizza night. I would love to do another cookbook, I’ve come up with so many new recipes in the last little while, and I’m dying to share them and aside from that, I don’t know, get kicked out of a few bars, that about covers it.
Catch Nadia G's Bitchin’ Kitchen weeknights at 10pm on the Food Network UK.