One on One: Tanya Steel

I'm so thrilled to be sharing this One on One with the hugely successful, award-winning food writer Tanya Steel. She was previously editor-in-chief of the most award-winning food site Epicurious.com, was inducted into the Digital Hall of Fame in 2010, and is a publishing industry veteran having served as an editor for many years at Bon Appetit and Food & Wine magazines. She has also been a regular on many national television shows such as Hell's Kitchen (My absolute favorite reality show!), Masterchef, Iron Chef, and many others. Needless to say, it's such an honor to have Tanya on my blog.

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Chef D: How did your career and life in the world of food start. Who was your inspiration and can you tell us a little about yourself?

Tanya: My mom was (and has always been) not a great cook--sorry, mom! So when we moved to New York City in the early 70s from London, I turned on the channel and watched Julia Child's The French Chef pretty religiously, and so learned how to cook and feel confident in the kitchen from Julia. I grew up in the city, and thought I would be a biographer (at age 20 I was a failed model and a failed biographer) but ended up in publishing as I needed to make a salary and got my first job at Mademoiselle magazine. I left to open my own business, Makeover By Mail, an idea ahead of its time--this was pre-internet. I ran that slowly into the ground and started to look for something else to do. I realized the intersection of food and travel was a passion, so answered an ad in the New York Times for an assistant editor at Food & Wine and got the job. Guess who I met there? Julia Child! What a thrill. I continued on my path, working for a travel magazine called Diversion, then went to Bon Appetit for 10 years, and then got the role of Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Director of Epicurious, Gourmet Live and Gourmet.com. I ran Epi for 8 years and had the great fortune of working with many brilliant people, all of whom helped us win two James Beard awards, 3 ASMES, over a dozen Webbys, a New York Emmy and more. We were blessed to create a brand that people loved and felt a part of. I left to start my own businesses to follow the other passion in my life, getting people to cook and eat healthy and feel good about themselves, especially kids.

Chef D: Are you working on some upcoming projects that you can share with the readers?

Tanya: I have many irons in the fire--book proposals and TV show concepts being shopped, working on the 2015 Healthy Lunchtime Challenge with the First Lady, trying to do similar initiatives in the UK and Canada. working with the Julia Child Foundation, and a myriad other things.

Chef D: Can you tell us a little more about "Cooking Up Big Dreams", "Tanya Wenman Steel LLC", and one that I think is just amazing, "Healthy Lunch-Time Challenge & Kids State Dinner". I think working with kids is brilliant and the winning prize is a dream come true.

Tanya: I formed two companies, one to create culinary media and the other to act as a consultant for media and have not yet had to look for projects, but rather they have come to me. I would call that beginner's luck. The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge & Kids' State Dinner is a national healthy recipe contest for kids 8 to 12 in the US. They have to send in a recipe that adheres to the national MyPlate standards, is creative, affordable, healthy, and delicious. And it needs to have some sort of back story to it. The stories are sometimes heartbreaking--a parent has developed Type 2 diabetes, or cancer, and so the family has changed their diet as a result of it. I came up with the concept with a former colleague, pitched it to the White House and in 2012, we had our first one. It was better, bigger, and more mind-blowingly moving than anything I had imagined. It's grown every year and I feel so honored and blessed to be able to bring 54 kids from around the US to the White House to meet the First Lady and the President, and to help facilitate what is undoubtedly a life-changing event. It certainly was for me. Standing at the podium in the East Room and delivering a speech with Mrs Obama standing next to me is a surreal and beautiful moment each year and I can't believe how lucky I am to be able to be in this position. I am exceedingly grateful. And the winning kids have gone on to open nonprofits around hunger and health, have appeared on Masterchef Junior and Top Chef Junior, and to be leaders in their own towns and schools.

Chef D: Being such a hugely successful award winning business lady with your company's, your book's your television appearances, how do you manage to have free time for yourself?

Tanya: I have twin 16-year-old sons, and a husband who teaches high school history, so I've not had free time in about 17 years. I know one day I will have a little more time but I am a Type A person and can't really allow myself time to do something that isn't productive, even though I know relaxing and doing little is actually productive in itself.

Chef D: Do you do work with any charities that you would like to talk about?

Tanya: I believe that the best gift you can give yourself is to give your time, energy and if you have it, money, to others. I am on Share Our Strength's Cooking Matters board, have worked a lot with Feeding America, am on the Smithsonian's Kitchen Cabinet board, an advisor to 1,000 Days, and the Food Bank for New York City's Culinary Council. I have recently started to help promote UNICEF's incredible Kid Power initiative, in which kids are given fit bands and a tablet with an app, so they can track their activity. Those that go over 10,000 steps a day accrue points that turn into $$ from corporate sponsors that buy nutrition packs to feed malnourished kids around the world. So kids are getting more active, learning to be philanthropists, and literally saving lives. It's a win-win.

Chef D: Is there something in your line of career that you haven't done but want to do in the near future.

Tanya: Professional ski jumper. Umm....just kidding. That sounds terrifying. I just want to continue to grow the projects I have, travel the world, helping people to feel empowered and inspired to fulfill their own potential and feel great about themselves so they can pay if forward.

Chef D: Can you share with us something that people may not know about Tanya Steel that you can share with us.

Tanya: I can cook anything but I can't really style food to make it look great. I am all thumbs.

Chef D: And finally my favorite question of all.. When at home with friends and family, what is the one dish that is a favorite. Can you share the recipe with us.

Tanya: Yowsa. That's a hard question as I always like to try new things. I cook healthy 90% of the time, even on holidays. I tend to make a few things every Sunday so I can quickly pull them out of the fridge the following nights and ratatouille is one of them. It gets better with sitting in the fridge for a day, is super healthy, and very filling. This recipe is from one of my two cookbooks, Real Food for Healthy Kids (Morrow, 2008).

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Harvest Ratatouille

This vegetable stew, a Provencal classic, is slow-cooked, so it melts in your mouth. See Cooks Notes for ideas on how to make it a main course.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Makes 9 cups; 8 to 10 side-dish servings

2 medium eggplant (10 to 12 ounces each), quartered and cut into 1/2-inch dice (not necessary to peel)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

1 (28 ounce) can Italian peeled tomatoes

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

5 small zucchini (about 1 1/4 pounds), halved lengthwise and sliced 1/4 inch thick crosswise

1 large yellow bell pepper: trimmed and seeded; thinly sliced and cut in half

1 large onion, peeled and coarsely chopped

3 garlic cloves, smashed, peeled and minced

Freshly ground black pepper

Place the eggplant in a colander, sprinkle with the salt and toss to coat; let stand in the sink for 15 minutes. Rinse the eggplant and pat dry well with a kitchen towel.
Meanwhile, drain the tomatoes in a sieve set over a bowl, reserving the juice. Halve and seed the tomatoes, scraping the seeds into the sieve. Coarsely dice the tomato flesh and then add to the bowl with the juice and reserve.
Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil in a non-stick 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat, add the zucchini and cook, stirring often until golden, about 4 minutes. Transfer to 4 to 6-quart pot. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and the eggplant to the skillet and cook, stirring, until soft and golden, about 4 minutes. Add to the zucchini in the pot.
Add the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil to the skillet. Add the bell pepper, onion and garlic and cook, stirring, over medium heat until softened, about 6 minutes. Add to the pot. Add the tomato and juice and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover with a lid, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and sauce is thickened, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cooks’ Note:

You can serve the ratatouille over whole-wheat pasta, rice, polenta, and, if desired, top the ratatouille with mozzarella or Swiss cheese and microwave until heated through.

Per cup:

135 calories, 8g fat (1g saturated), 14g carbohydrates, 5g fiber, 3g protein

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