The combination of olive oil, garlic and lemon juice lifts the spirits in winter.

Mothers and grandmothers: these are the people that I admire most, not so much chefs.

Pizza was made for television in so many ways: it is easy to heat up, easy to divide and easy to eat in a group. It is easy to enjoy, easy to digest and easy-going. It is so Italian!

Just-poached vegetables show off their natural attributes, and taste fresh and light in a way you never get with roasting or frying.

Pasta with melted cheese is the one thing I could eat over and over again.

A well-made salad must have a certain uniformity; it should make perfect sense for those ingredients to share a bowl.

For me, the end of childhood came when the number of candles on my birthday cake no longer reflected my age, around 19 or 20. From then on, each candle came to represent an entire decade.