Giada De Laurentiis Shares Her Top Spring Superfoods, From Squash Blossoms to Lemony Sardines – Exclusive Interview

It should come as no surprise that Giada de Laurentiis is heralded as the “Queen of Italian Cooking” — after all, the celebrity chef was born and raised in Italy prior to moving to the United States as a child. She isn’t the first De Laurentiis to make a dent in Italian culture, though she may be the most influential in the culinary sphere. Giada’s grandfather, the late Dino De Laurentiis, stepped away from the family pasta business in favor of producing and directing movies. Giada, on the other hand, combines the family crafts of food and film with ease, giving fans a taste of traditional Italian recipes along with her own signature touches.

The Food Network alum’s talents aren’t limited to the screen and kitchen — she’s also an accomplished restauranteur and New York Times-bestselling author. Released on March 4th, her newest cookbook, “Super-Italian,” shines a light on the plethora of superfoods found in Italian fare, from capers and parsley to olive oil and sardines. Given Giada’s expertise on all things related to Italian culture and cuisine, it makes perfect sense that the bubbly star is now collaborating with Peroni. To toast this beautiful partnership, Tasting Table recently sat down with Giada to discuss her entertaining plans using Peroni, her favorite springtime superfoods, aperitivo tips, and more.

Can you walk us through some of your daily food rituals, whether at home or on the road?

Daily food rituals? Well, they do depend on whether I’m at home or I’m on the road. But at home, I usually start my day — and don’t laugh — but I start my day with chicken broth with a scoop of collagen. 

Oh, that sounds good.

And then, I move on to either a piece of sourdough toast with avocado and some flaxseed, or I do oatmeal topped with some olive oil and some nuts, like almonds, usually. That’s usually what I have. And then a coffee. I usually have a double espresso, and then maybe one later in the day if I need it. And then usually just small meals. I have about four small meals a day, breakfast included. 

And that can vary depending on where I am. Making sure I get enough protein. Protein is everything right now in my fifties; sadly, I feel like I choke down protein all day long … But so that’s why my cookbook — I did a lot of chicken marsala meatballs and skinny chicken parm and stuff like that — just because I was like, oh my God, I got to find tons of different ways to love protein.

And then a lot of times just if I have people over or just every once a couple of times a week, maybe once a week, I have an alcoholic beverage. And what I love is to have a Peroni just because it’s so light and refreshing, and I don’t feel heavy after I drink it. And so I think for me, that is so fun to have. But anyway, that’s basically sort of the bird’s eye view of what I have on a regular daily basis.

You’ll be hosting a very special Sunset Aperitivo with Peroni at the Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival on April 12th. If you’re hosting your own aperitivo get-together at home, what are the key foods and cocktails that you recommend serving?

It’s so funny because I grew up, my family has been drinking Peroni — and I think the title that was Peroni Nastro Azzurro – and we’ve been drinking it forever. And I think the first time I remember seeing it when I was younger was at our aperitivo table. 

For us at aperitivo, it isn’t like an antipasto. It’s similar but different in the sense that we do that usually way before dinner, and it usually lasts a couple of hours. And it’s usually little stuzzichini, which are little bites. So we put out Pecorino and Parmigiano. Sometimes we drizzle a little bit of balsamic over it, and then we eat that. And then we have chips, a lot of chips. For some reason, my family: They love chips with their Peroni. Probably the crunch with the bubbly, refreshing lightness of the beer. And then we do little bruschetta or some sun-dried tomato that we marinate, olives, and a little bit of focaccia. So little bites like that, not like a full board, like an antipasto. And so that is where I remember first having it.

What is your favorite pasta dish to pair with Peroni?

As for pastas, I love my lemon spaghetti with the Peroni because of the brightness of the lemon and the brightness of this beer. And it’s so light and refreshing. Anyhow, so I think my lemon spaghetti along with a Peroni is probably one of my favorite ways to spend my summers.

Do you have any tips for our readers at home in terms of your personal touches for making your lemon spaghetti?

Oh, my lemon spaghetti — I make it with lemon juice, parmesan cheese, olive oil, garlic, and pasta water. So it’s not even a really … I mean, the pasta’s cooked, but the sauce is not cooked. It is a fresh sauce. And so then I toss it all together with hot pasta and add a ladle and a half-ish, sometimes two ladles, of the pasta water hot. It’s got to be hot. And then I toss it all together, and I finish it with a little bit of basil and some lemon zest. It’s really phenomenal.

We understand that you’re an avid gardener. So after a visit to your garden or maybe the farmer’s market, what is your favorite dish to make that represents spring?

Oh, zucchini flowers! I love growing them. And zucchini actually did not perform so well this year. Probably because of the [Southern California] fires, we did not have such success this year. But usually zucchini flowers, and I stuff them with ricotta and anchovy and lemon.

That sounds amazing.

Or I sometimes just chop up the zucchini flower, and I fry it in a tiny little bit of batter. And the batter I make with rice flour and a little bit of Peroni and some salt. And this is something actually that my family used to do with all sorts of fritto misto, or vegetables that they would fry; they’d make the batter with Peroni beer because of the lightness of it. And then it gives it sort of that longer sort of depth of the yeast. So it really gives the coating depth and crunch. It’s really phenomenal. So, anyway, I sometimes do that and deep-fry it and then top it on top of risotto or on top of pasta, just as a garnish.

How else do you use Peroni in food?

Well, I did a pizza dough for [Peroni] as well, because I think people don’t realize you can use Peroni in pizza dough. And it, again, gives it that effort because remember that pizza — it’s a yeast, right? This yeast is what’s feeding it. So the yeast from the actual beer enhances the flavor and the brightness and the texture. It gives it a crunchier crust, like an airier crust. It’s really phenomenal. So anyway, the pizza and the batter for any kind of fritto misto recipe.

You have a beautiful collection of Easter recipes on your website, Giadzy.com. What is a simple crowd-pleasing Easter dish that you like to include on your menu?

Well, I think for Easter, the most traditional thing that we serve every year is our torta della nonna. It’s a ricotta and pine nut pie. And my family loves it. I will be honest — it’s not my favorite, but my family loves it. So I try to put a spin and turn it a little bit more into a cannoli pie. So I add a little orange zest and mini chocolate chips, so it’s more my kind of flavor probably. But, so that’s something that we do traditionally every year. We definitely have our Easter eggs, our chocolate Easter eggs, the big ones and the little ones. And that is a big, big part of our Italian Easter tradition. And of course, a little bit of Peroni on the table for the adults.

And what is your favorite chocolate Easter egg? Do you like dark chocolate? Milk chocolate?

I’m a dark chocolate gal.

Nice.

I’m a dark chocolate gal. I will say, though, that we sell a lot more milk chocolate than we do dark, but I love dark. To me, dark is everything … some dark chocolate, some pizza dough made with some Peroni. Very simple toppings. [For margherita pizza], I only like the simple toppings and a Peroni beer. I think we’ve got a really fabulous Easter.

With canned fish making a comeback, what is your favorite quick sardine or anchovy recipe that you like to make at home?

Well, so that’s funny because on tour, I was constantly talking about the benefits of [tinned] fish, and I could just see people freaking out about it. But I have a lot of pastas in my cookbook. I have my anchovy pasta with walnuts, which is something I grew up eating, which I think is fantastic. Sardines are my new go-to. In fact, I’ve been buying these sardines with preserved lemon, which I’m in love with. I really didn’t like sardines if you just asked me that a few years ago. And lately, it’s been amazing. 

And then I also make a pasta all’assassina. I don’t know if you know what that is, but that’s the crunchy pasta; it’s got a red sauce from tomato paste. You cook it in a skillet, not in a big pot. So you cook the pasta, the spaghetti, in a little bit of water in a skillet, and it becomes crunchy. And then what I do is I break up these sardines that are preserved in lemon, and I just toss it into the pasta. And that’s the way I’ve gotten my daughter Jade to actually eat it, eat sardines. Otherwise, she would never touch it. Never.

Yes, they can be tricky. What else do you have planned for 2025 in terms of food-related goals?

Well, I think I’m excited to go to the [Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival]. I haven’t been since — boy, the last time I was there I feel like I was like 20. And so I’m super excited to be there and to host this party with Peroni. 

And I have some new restaurants that I’m opening in Illinois this year, so I’m excited, outside Chicago. So that’s really exciting. And I don’t know; we’ll see. I think a home renovation show on Amazon, so a lot of things coming down the pipe.

That sounds beautiful. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today. We really appreciate all of your answers.

Thank you. Thanks for your time.

Enjoy Peroni’s Sunset Aperitivo with Giada de Laurentiis at the upcoming Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival on April 12th. Giada de Laurentiis’ latest cookbook, “Super-Italian,” is available now via Amazon and other retailers.