Chef Scott Conant Dishes On Italian Food And Chopped - Exclusive Interview

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You may be familiar with Scott Conant from his storied stints in the kitchens of New York restaurant sensations L'Impero, Alto, and Scarpetta, which earned him a slew of accolades including glowing reviews from The New York Times, a best new chef shout out from Food & Wine, and multiple James Beard awards. Or perhaps you're a fan of the celebrity chef from his multitude of television appearances, most notably as the straight-talking, raw onion-hating judge on "Chopped."

But with his hot-off-the-presses cookbook "Peace, Love, and Pasta," Conant shares his experience in the home kitchen, offering a wide range of mouth-watering recipes, many of which are inspired by the moments spent cooking for as well as alongside his family during the pandemic. While "simple" may be a running theme of the book, don't expect anything boring whether he's showcasing his Italian prowess, offering his spin on American favorites, or exploring his wife Mel's culinary roots with an entire chapter devoted to Turkish cuisine.

During an exclusive interview with Mashed, Conant reflected on his remarkable 35-year cooking career offering insight into his multiple food facets, reflecting on his remarkable career as a chef and restaurateur, how he became a Food Network fixture, and the inspiration behind "Peace, Love, and Pasta."

Your wife is from Turkey and you devote a chapter in the book to Turkish recipes. What are some of the ingredients and techniques in Turkish cuisine that particularly resonate with you?

Well, I mean, there's so much yogurt you would lose your mind. What a great natural probiotic, so it's a great way to stay healthy. But there's a lot of things that, it's just that Mediterranean air, those Mediterranean ingredients, from cucumbers and grape tomatoes, as I said to yogurt, to some delicious spices like sumac and Aleppo pepper and pul biber, which is this delicious Turkish dried pepper. So there's a lot of really great ingredients. And I just think that the approach to food overall is similar to all things Italian, because it's just so soulful and heartfelt, right?

When it comes to Italian cooking, for a lot of Americans the focus is simply pizza, pasta, Parmesan. What are some traditional dishes that deserve more attention stateside?

Well, I think the one thing is there's a big difference between Italian and American. That's an important differentiator for me when it comes to talking about all things Italian. And I think that when it comes to Italian food, that expectation of these giant portions and meatballs the size of your fist, all that stuff is not Italian at all, it's Italian American. And that's okay, but I think it's important to be able to identify and discuss the difference and if someone goes to Italy, just to know not to expect that. You're going to get some delicious food, and there may be hints and nuances that are kind of similar to that idea, but the cuisine changed dramatically, as you know, when a lot of Italians started coming to the U.S. and those same ingredients just weren't available.

Is there a pasta recipe in the book that's a particular favorite of yours?

Oh, it's hard to say. There's so many things. There's a spaghetti aglio e olio, which I love. There's a pasta Pomodoro, which I've been making for years. It's one of my signatures that I've done in restaurants over the past 25 years or so. I mean, the list goes on and on. There's a fusilli with chicken livers that ... I wanted to put it out in there. I know a lot of people don't eat chicken livers like they used to anymore, but it's special. It's spicy, it has depth. There's a little bit of like an Italian fish sauce inside of it to really add some umami to it overall. The texture of the fusilli pasta is wonderful. There's a lot of good stuff inside that dish.

You mentioned the pasta Pomodoro. I appreciated that you included that recipe right at the top of the pasta chapter. It's basically your "Stairway to Heaven," and you opened with your biggest hit. When you came up with the recipe did you have any idea that it would end up being your culinary calling card?

You know, no. I mean, that's a variation of something I used to do years ago at different restaurants. And when I started cooking it initially, I did some things, I tried baby tomatoes in it, I tried to personalize it with a few other things here and there. And ultimately, I just settled with this kind of traditional sauce. And it's made a lot of people happy. Yeah. Sometimes you stumble into luck and just take it from there.

You prepared the dish on the Techniques episode of "No Reservations." Do you recall how you got involved with the show? Did you know Anthony Bourdain from your New York chef days?

Yeah, I had known Anthony for years. He came in for dinner with his wife at the time [Ottavia Busia-Bourdain], years ago and she's Italian, but she was giving me a little bit of grief. And I said, "Listen, just sit down and let me cook for you." And there was this moment where she was talking to me and I said, "Your accent sounds like you're from Bergamo or outside of Milan someplace." And she was shocked that I had gotten it just by the accent. So they sat down and had dinner. And like I said, I'd known Tony for years. And I was happy and excited that they were there. And of course, the whole restaurant was abuzz because Anthony Bourdain was there. And then I got a phone call a few months later that they were doing a technique episode and that pasta cooking, in general, was important to that episode. So I was flattered.

As far as "Chopped," how did you get involved with that specifically? And do you remember your reaction when you first heard the concept of the show?

Well, I remember the phone call that I got and somebody sent me an email. They called me, sent me an email and they're like here's the show. And I remember seeing the pilot that they had shot. I had opportunities with television in the past that I had passed up. And so, as I said, that advertising platform is a big deal. It's not about the money. It's about the advertising platform to be able to grow your, I hate the term, but to grow your "brand." So I thought of it strictly as a business opportunity. I still, to this day, it's a business opportunity. It's not about me seeing myself on television or assuming that I'm famous when I walk in a room. None of that stuff is important to me. What's important to me is that you start a business, you have a sound business and you build the business. And what are the tools that you need to build that business? And I feel like television is one of the tools. If you can have that in your toolbox, in your arsenal, I think it's an important thing to have.

The show is approaching season 50 and you've appeared on over 200 episodes. Do you have any highlights working on "Chopped"?

There's some people that I've met doing that show, on both sides of the table, judges and chefs, that I have lifelong friendships with now. People who are close to me. I mean, I was texting Alex Guarnaschelli yesterday. Alex is one of my closest friends. I think people can't wrap their heads around that sometimes because they just see us working together. But Alex and I have known each other for 20-something years.

But I met Amanda [Freitag] while we were shooting. I think it was like our second or third time shooting that we were working together, and we're super close friends as well. So I feel like, you know when you go through your phone and it shows these faces and you have your family and all that kind of stuff? I have all these pictures of all the judges and Ted [Allen] and producers and all these people inside my phone. And it really, it dawned on me one day, that we really truly are a family. They're there in my family photos. It's wild, you know?

Before your TV days, the restaurant that really put you on the map was L'Impero in New York. Do you remember the day you got the three-star review for the restaurant from Eric Asimov at The New York Times and what that meant to you?

Of course, I remember. It was everything that I'd ever worked towards to that point in my career. And it was wild because it was such a great restaurant. I remember Ruth Reichl walking in one day, she was the editor in chief of Gourmet at the time, she'd walked into the restaurant and she just stood there looking around. And she just said out loud, "This restaurant is so adult." And I just felt really honored that she would recognize that and I just had the utmost respect for Ruth. And she gave me my first review in The New York Times when I was 26, 27, something like that. And Eric Asimov, he had come in a few times, and I was a nervous wreck cooking for them. As I said, I was young, I was 30, and it was a pretty big opening and it was a culmination of my career until that point. So it was really important to me. And I haven't read that review in years. I should probably look back at it.

Looking back, what do you miss most about being in the kitchen and having that lifestyle?

I don't miss it, at all. I mean, I feel like it's a young person's game. When I go into the restaurants these days, I wonder how did I do this for so many years? I mean, I still jump on the line and I still help the team out, but I'm not working a station, I'll tell you that much. God knows that that wouldn't bode well.

You followed L'Impero with Alto, and then Scarpetta was obviously a massive sensation. What restaurants are you currently involved with?

I have a restaurant called The Americano here in Scottsdale. I have another restaurant called Mora Italian here in Phoenix, and I have a couple other ones. I have one in the Catskills called Cellaio, which is a steakhouse as well. And I'm looking at other markets. I'm negotiating things. And there's nothing unfortunately that I could talk about right now. But I do feel like both Mora and The Americano have the same legs that something like a Scarpetta would have at the time. I mean, a little fresher, a little updated, things of that nature.