Chef Hillary Sterling is the executive chef behind New York Italian restaurant Ci Siamo, which Yelp has ranked as the top restaurant in the country. She's also the author of Ammazza!, a heartfelt cookbook that celebrates seasonal eating all the way from Sheepshead Bay to Rome. (If you want a sneak peek, we've got a how-to for Sterling's surprisingly easy sweet corn, pine nut, and feta frittata.)
With a career spent behind stoves across the globe, Sterling is the perfect person to discuss all things cooking, dining, and travel. In our conversation, she shares her approach to hosting at home, making quick and nutritious weeknight meals for her own busy family, and the food destinations she can't stop thinking about.
What does a perfect dinner party look like to you?
Hillary Sterling: When you open our door to our home, there's always cheese, pistachios, mortadella, and other things to graze on. And there's always a spritz to start.
All the food is served family style. There's nothing like the act of asking someone to pass the butter and striking up a conversation. I put copious amounts of vegetables, pasta, and protein on the table. I scatter bottles of wine around the apartment. The energy in the house becomes infectious.
How can home chefs experiment with flavors while still keeping dishes cohesive?
People overthink it. If you're cooking and you think the food needs something, add it. And if it's wrong, it's wrong — you'll taste it, and you'll never make that mistake again.
I think people should be a bit more excited about experimentation. We did a lot of this during Covid: My wife and I would pick a destination, then cook a meal from that place. My wife would say, "I'd like to go to Thailand today." And I'd say, "Cool. I'm going to push the boundaries and see what I can come up with." A lot of these countries are all cooking what we call "cucina povera" — peasant food, in Italian. Blending those cuisines comes more easily than you'd think.
On a busy weeknight, what are your go-to strategies for making something really delicious without spending hours in the kitchen?
I cook really fast during the week. I'm always planning on how I can make something faster, better, and more nutritious for my son. On Sunday, I make vinegarettes, put them in my fridge, and then pull them out as I need them over the course of the week.
I also do a lot of pestos. That's a 15-minute dish right there. Take a quick pasta, toss it in your pesto, and then you have dinner. There are a lot of little touches you can do with pesto: Maybe add some zucchini in the spring and summertime. Add lemon zest to brighten it up. Add pistachios instead of pine nuts. Sometimes I'll use provolone in my pestos, or a tangier cheese. You can puree basil and some of that old spinach at the bottom of your fridge. Even one clove of garlic can go a long way.
Do you have any professional advice that a home cook can incorporate into an everyday cooking routine?
Get a cheap hand blender. You can make so much with it, quickly rinse it, then put it away. I use a hand blender for so many sauces and vinaigrettes.
If someone were to follow your book as a travel itinerary, what destination would you tell them to try first?
Everything should start in Rome. It's a great entry-level place to start to understand Italian food. Rome's so approachable: It's an easy city to get around, and it's easy to get to. Everything about Rome is magical for me. It was my first trip to Italy, and even after 26 years, it never gets old.
When you travel now, what's your approach to exploring a new place through food? Are you more drawn to street food, markets, or restaurants?
I love a good non-American grocery store. I love scanning the aisles and asking myself, What can I learn from this? What ingredient do I need in my life that I don't have? I love a market, too.
But it can depend on the destination. When I'm in Mexico, I seek out street food, and I also seek out restaurants. I was in Mexico recently, and I was eating street tacos for lunch, then visiting fancy restaurants for dinner.
What city would you recommend for travelers who are looking for a stellar restaurant scene?
Mexico City is awesome. New York City is always great. I love going to San Francisco and Los Angeles. I find so much joy in getting to spend a night or two in someone else's city and letting them guide me.
What's an underrated food destination that you think deserves more attention than it gets?
Philly's having a moment right now. I haven't had a bad meal there in a long time.
What's a dish you'd fly across the world for tomorrow?
I ate a sandwich in a small town in Vietnam. It was just a traditional Vietnamese sandwich, but I got it on a side street I'd never be able to find again, on a hot day. The pork was charred, the bread was crusty, and the chilies were so hot. I paired it with cold beer. I'd get on a plane tomorrow for it.
