As host of Ricardo and Friends, Food Network star Ricardo Larrivée gets to indulge his two passions: whipping up innovative dishes with verve and feeding his loved ones. While in Winnipeg promoting his new cookware line (available at Safeway), the Montrealer sat down with Ciao! editor Gillian Leschasin. He spoke about helping cancer patients (his wife had breast cancer) eat healthy. With characteristic gusto, Ricardo also spilled on cooking for kids, food trends and his one guilty pleasure.
Q: What are some tricks to get your kids to eat vegetables and how do you make them sophisticated eaters?
A: It takes your brain at least seven times to know if you like something or not. Everyone is allowed to dislike something and that’s fine but I give myself time to really know if I like it or not or if it’s just the way it’s prepared. And I make them do the same. But it’s not easy sometimes because as parents we’re tired, we don’t feel like arguing and we have to choose our battles. But sometimes we have to say, ‘You’re eating this and it’s non-negotiable.’ I sound tough but I think that sometimes we are too nice. We want to be friends with them but no, we have to raise them.
Q: How do you make healthy eating a priority at home?
A: I try to teach my children that everything is good. I work by colours. If you want to know if your menu is good, it should be very colourful. If all the colours are there, quite often you will have a balanced diet. Beans are a good substitute for meat. You can add a pure bean mix with ground beef and it will make the nicest burgers because it’s going to be moist. I don’t want the kids to notice that we eat healthy. We just have fun eating.
Q: What do you think are some of the challenges to healthy eating for someone getting treatment for cancer?
A: The real challenge is to eat because quite often you’re not hungry. When you are on chemotherapy or getting radiotherapy you lose a lot of calories so you want a high protein and high caloric menu to regenerate the tissue, boost your immune system and prevent weight loss. The only good menu is the menu that will make you feel happier and will give you a boost to eat.
Q: What are some of the go-to ingredients that you cooked for your wife, for instance, when she was going through her battle?
A: She had a very sore throat. Many cancer patients have a sore throat and a thicker saliva. Soups are fantastic because within twenty minutes I can create any kind of soup.
Q: What do you typically cook at home?
A: You’re going to laugh but lately the dinner isn’t prepared by me but my wife. And the kids love to see their mother prepare the standard food that their grandparents eat too. And I’m always testing new recipes. So their famous line is, ‘Dad, tonight can we eat normal tonight?’ So I think it’s nice that they see a balance between their father and their mother’s cooking.
Q: What are your must-have ingredients?
A: Basic stuff like rice, pasta, always onions. And certain things in cans, tomatoes, beans, lentils. I always have chicken broth. I can turn this into a great risotto. Just add any vegetable you want and some chicken or fish and you have a meal. There are so many things you can do with potatoes.
Q: You have a new cookware line out. When you brought it home, what was the first thing you cooked for your family in it?
A: Well, it took over a year and a half to create it. So I’ve tested on many pots and pans that were not at all to my liking. So I was always testing and playing with standard food. I wanted to see how good the non-stick was for my pancakes, for example. The food that most people will actually cook in my pots and pans and how long a sauce would simmer for without sticking so that was the test I made with everything.
Q: What are some of today’s hottest food trends in Canada?
A: The Japanese brasseries (relaxed yet upscale eateries) are getting very hot. They call it brasserie because it’s either Chinese or Japanese food but served in kind of a tapas way so friends share different things. People sharing a table, that’s very hot everywhere—the communal table. Before, people would have never wanted this, now people think it’s fun to eat at a table where you don’t know everyone.
Q: How can Manitoba capitalize on getting further exposure for prairie cuisine ?
A: All the marketing of the lentils, legumes, wheat and everything, it has to clearly say that it’s Manitoban—that it’s local. I would put the flag on it and pictures of different scenery that are typically Manitoban. It’s intriguing and it adds conversation to the meal.
Q: What’s your guilty pleasure?
A: Häagen-Dazs cookie dough ice cream. Sometimes I actually buy vanilla ice cream and I will make cookie dough and soften the ice cream and mix it together so there’s more cookie dough and then refreeze it. Then just add some chocolate sauce.
Q: Is the Ricardo Larrivée on TV the same as the one in real life?
A: Yes, I hope so. I think that what you see is what you get, the good and the bad. I have no energy to play games. And it takes more energy to be fake. Some people say, ‘You always smile,’ and I say yes, because it takes less energy to smile and enjoy life.