I put hibiscus flower in every cup of tea I have. It's sweet, sexy, and cleansing.

Larousse Gastronomique is a veritable dictionary of cooking terms for the French kitchen. If a chef were allowed only one book, this would have to be it.

Any simple but delicious dish that celebrates the season and locality is what I want to be known for.

Italy itself has 21 different micro-regions. You go within each of those regions, there's even super-micro-regions; and the beauty is that when you go from place to place, although there's a common thread of pasta and joie de vivre - in the way that they approach their meals and the simplicity of cooking, celebrating more the product than the chef - there's still so much variety that as you go, it's always an exciting moment.

I might use milk if I was using a touch of milk to make like a lasagna or a baked pasta. But cream? That is totally not the way they do it in Italy, and it's not a very good thing. It's kind of a blanket for flavor.

What will always remain is love, passion and family time.

You have to be generous if you want to spend your time making someone else dinner. Even if you're charging, you're still giving.