With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Hollywood star, keen cook and newlywed STANLEY TUCCI reveals his recipe for romance
IF anyone can attest that the way to the heart is through the stomach, it’s Stanley Tucci.
A shared “obsession” with food helped The Hunger Games star fall for British literary agent Felicity Blunt, who he married last year.
“The whole thing was romance with food. It still is. I love to watch her eat. It’s sexy,” says the 52-year-old.
Tucci was introduced to his new wife by her famous sister, Emily, with whom he appeared in The Devil Wears Prada.
“We would go to different restaurants each night or we would cook. It was just so easy and we felt so comfortable with each other,” he says of their courtship.
Born to Italian-American parents who are both keen cooks, Italian cuisine is a big part of Tucci’s heritage. And his new book, The Tucci Cookbook, featuring family recipes passed down through generations, is testament to that.
“I put it together because I really wanted these recipes written down for selfish reasons, but I also wanted to share them with people,” says Tucci, who was widowed in 2009 when his first wife and the mother of his three children, Kate, died from breast cancer.
When it came to foodie dates, he and Blunt were not afraid to get their hands dirty, and the actor fondly recalls two moments in their courtship when they bonded over butchery.
On one occasion, they bought a 26-pound suckling pig for a party, and shared the task of cutting off its head so it could fit on the spit.
“That was our first butchering experience,” he says. “I remember the next morning seeing her in her bathrobe shredding the rest of the meat off the carcass to save it for sandwiches.
“That’s what she did before she’d even had her cup of tea. I thought that was pretty funny and very attractive.”
Another experience saw them set to work on two uncooked pheasants they had received as a gift from a chef at the Ledbury restaurant in London.
“We sat down to watch cooking shows with the pheasants and two big roasting pans in front of us and taught ourselves how to pluck.
“It took a very long time, and we practically destroyed the skin of the pheasants in the process. But it was great.”
It’s no wonder, then, that Tucci has a few tips for planning the perfect Valentine’s Day menu.
“If you are a meat person I’d go for a great rack of lamb. If you are a fish person, maybe just pasta with vongole, those little sweet clams.
“If you’re going to take somebody out in London, I’d recommend the Ledbury for Valentine’s Day because it’s so special. You are hard-pressed to find anything else like that.”
Indeed, Tucci, who lives north of New York with his new wife and his three kids, says he has become a “huge” fan of British cooking in recent years, since he’s got to know the country better through his other half.
He counts Nigel Slater and Heston Blumenthal among his culinary heroes and plans to include some of his wife’s recipes (“She makes great Yorkshire puddings, oh my God, really good,” he enthuses) in a forthcoming cookbook he is writing.
“You can’t really beat a good sausage roll,” he declares. “And great roasts. Those little roast potatoes were a revelation to me - because Italian roast potatoes aren’t the way you guys do them.
“Felicity made them and when they came out of the oven they were just extraordinary. I thought my son was going to have a heart attack. He was so happy.”
Try these recipes from The Tucci Cookbook to get your heart racing this Valentine’s Day...
BRUSCHETTA WITH TOMATO
(BRUSCHETTA CON POMODORO)
(Serves 4)
4 tomatoes, roughly chopped
8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped, plus 1 garlic clove, cut in half
4tbsp cold press or extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 slices Italian or farmhouse-style bread, toasted
Additional cold press or extra virgin olive oil to drizzle on top (optional)
In a medium-sized bowl, mix the tomatoes, basil, parsley, chopped garlic and olive oil together, and season with salt and pepper. Rub the toasted bread with the garlic halves, then top with equal portions of the tomato mixture. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil on top if wished, and serve immediately.
ROCKET WITH PROSCIUTTO, PEARS, AND PARMESAN
(INSALATA DI RUCOLA, PROSCIUTTO, PERA, E PARMIGIANO)
(Serves 4)
350g rocket leaves
125ml Sherry Shallot Vinaigrette (see recipe below)
8 thin slices prosciutto
2 firm ripe pears, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
60g large Parmesan cheese shavings
Toss the rocket with the vinaigrette in a large bowl. Distribute evenly among four plates. Garnish each plate with two slices of the prosciutto and equal portions of pear. Use a vegetable peeler to shave portions of the Parmesan on top.
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