(singing) “Slow down.

You move too fast.” It's a line from an old folk song from long ago, but it couldn't be truer than it is today.

We race through our days breathless and exhausted at the end.

Do we get a lot done?

Yeah, probably.

But at what cost to your wellness?

Let's slow down and enjoy the art of cooking and eating, today on Christina Cooks, in Tuscany: The Macroterranean Way.

Underwriting for Christina Cooks is provided by: Suzanne's Specialties, offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne Specialties: sweetness, the way Mother Nature intended.

And by Jonathan█s Spoons.

Individually handcrafted from cherry wood, each designed with your hand, and purpose, in mind.

Additional funding provided by Hi, I█m Christina Pirello and this is Christina Cooks, where each week we take fresh seasonal ingredients and whip them into amazing dishes.

Will they all be plant-based?

Yup.

Will they all be delicious?

Absolutely.

Ever ask yourself why we move so fast?

I mean, what are we doing, really?

What are we achieving, really?

I mean, we race through life to get to... what, exactly?

Have you ever just sat under a tree?

Just you, Mother Nature.... No book, no phone, no tablet.

Just you and the earth?

I bet it's been a while.

I know when I was working on this show, it had been a while for me.

So let's take a minute and think about the food that we cook.

Think about the food we eat in our culture.

They don█t call it fast food for nothing.

So let's cook together and slow down.

Today is all about taking it a little bit slower and breathing.

We're going to make one of my favorite dishes.

It could not get easier, but it's about being slow because you got to wait for this dish.

We have onions sort of sweating in a skillet of olive oil, and we're just letting them get shiny with oil.

When you sauté onions, you can do it several ways.

You can let them sweat or you can sauté them, which means moving them around in the oil with some vigor so that they take on a different kind of energy.

But you want to let them get shiny.

If you really feel like you have time and you really want to slow down, you can caramelize the onions over 10 to 15 minutes.

You don't have to do that, but you can.

But after the onions are shiny with oil, now the rest of the dish gets sort of layered on top.

We're going to take some shiitake mushrooms.

This is a fresh shiitake mushroom.

The fresh have the same properties for your heart wellness, just not as strong as the dried ones.

And they're going to get sort of sprinkled right on top of the onions.

I think we have a mix of cremini in here, too, if I'm not mistaken.

But mushrooms help to relax us.

They help to relax us.

So there you go.

Next, we have some winter squash cut into matchsticks.

Also sweet and relaxing.

They help the body to chill.

They relax the spleen, pancreas, stomach.

We relax.

Next are sweet carrots cut into oblong pieces.

And these you kind of arrange because this is going to create like, a layer in the dish.

It's so beautiful, it█s just so beautiful.

The one thing you got to say about veggies █ like them, don't like them █ they are gorgeous.

The colors that Mother Nature gave us, It's just, if you can slow down for a second and appreciate it, it's so beautiful.

I mean, look at this.

It's so beautiful.

I get carried away.

Then we have some green cabbage on top anti-inflammatory, relaxing to the middle organs.

Greatest anti-inflammatory of all time helps the body to feel healthy and well.

Next we have mirin.

Mirin is a Japanese cooking wine that is very low in alcohol.

You can also use apple juice or broth if you don't want to use any kind of wine.

A tiny, tiny bit of soy sauce just to begin the cooking process.

And then we'll add the protein to the dish.

Now, because I want the body to relax and slow down.

I don't want to use beans.

They're a little harder to digest.

They're a little harder to digest.

We're going to take tofu and we're going to cut the tofu into sort of square pieces and lay them on top of the veggies just like this.

Just sort of cover.

And this is going to give you a protein that you can digest.

Please use organic tofu so that you're not in danger of eating anything that's genetically modified.

We're going to cover this dish and we're going to let it simmer for about 2 to 3 minutes while we prepare the most important ingredient in the dish.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is mochi.

And you're thinking, Wow, that looks like nothing.

Okay.

So mochi is made from sweet brown rice, and they take the brown rice and they cook it with three times the amount of water and no salt.

And after it's cooked, when it's made by hand, they take the mochi and it's pounded with a wooden paddle until all the grains are broken.

And you have this sort of pasty rice porridge thing.

Then they spread it on a sheet covered with rice flour and let it dry for a couple of days.

This is fresh mochi, which means that the rice was cooked and then it was extruded.

And we're going to take this mochi and we're going to slice it just like this.

If you've ever used instant polenta in a package, I hope not.

But if you ever have, you've seen this kind of shape before.

But if you ever have, you've seen this kind of shape before.

This mochi is now going to go on top of our cooking veggies.

Okay, let's see if we have enough.

When you take a little bit of water, you need a little bit of water when the mochi goes in, because now things have to steam.

Not a lot.

We're not making soup.

A little bit of water.

Then you just lay this on top, try to let the mochi slices touch each other and cover the entire top very generously and cover the entire top very generously with mochi.

One more last little bit of soy sauce for seasoning.

We're going to cover this and in about four minutes, this will be the most delicious one pot main course.

Talk about chill.

(gentle music plays) So, after about four minutes, this is what you have.

The brown rice has... melted is the best way I can describe it.

The veggies are cooked, it's nice and juicy and you have this wonderful, satisfying, comforting, relaxing, amazing meal in one bowl that came from one skillet.

There's nothing more chill than that, except maybe my friend Tony.

Tony was a New York cop in Brooklyn.

Talk about stress.

And one day, 20 years ago, he stepped off the carousel, moved to a little village in Tuscany, and has lived a life of leisure ever since.

It's time to head to Reggello, cook with Tony and get some wisdom on chilling Brooklyn style.

(gentle music fades) (Italian music plays) So Tony - Tony Quilles.

So we have known each other, I figured out or we figured out, for almost 30 years.

That█s right.

And when we met, we were cooking together.

And I remember clearly, like yesterday, you had a long black ponytail down your back.

You were carrying cases of produce on your shoulders because we were cooking for a conference together, and we're standing there chopping, I mean, chopping a million vegetables and all of a sudden Tony's quiet.

He turned to me and he said, “I'm moving to Italy.” What?

What?

What?

“I'm moving to Italy.” So, Tony, what I want to talk to you about, because this show is about stress and how people handle stress and what they do about stress.

What was your life in the States like and what prompted you to say, you know what, I'm going I'm just going.

Well, I don't know, because my jobs in the States, especially in New York, were always something very stressful.

Whatever I did and, uh... it did take its toll, like, stre takes a toll on everybody.

And it's not just the stress, but it's also because of the stress and because of the jobs.

I had poor diet.

And that, along with the stress, brought me down.

And as far as the moving part, I just took it as an opportunity to discover something new, something different, because I wanted to get out of that cycle.

Did you always cook?

I always did cook.

And in fact, one of my jobs I had for a small period of time in in New York was I was sort of like a nanny.

Yeah?

And I cooked for a family.

I cooked for a family.

And it was friends of mine.

And so it wasn't anything professional.

But I helped them out because they were going to work.

Both then, and I would stay behind and I would cook, for example, dinner for for the kids or even lunch or sometimes bring them back from their their sports events and stuff like that.

But even that there was stress in it because, you know, you're not just, I'm not just cooking for myself.

I cook for other people.

Right.

And you have to be there for them and all that.

But then when you came here.

Mmhmm.

What did what what did you discover?

And when you go back and forth now, which I know you do, what do you see that makes you love it here so much?

I know the list is long, but go ahead.

No, it's.

It's good because.

So the first time I moved, when I was in Italy, I was in Milan.

Mm hmm.

So there's a similarity to Milan and New York, which is an advantage and disadvantage.

Right.

The advantage was... because I got along well as far as the language barrier, The disadvantage was the stress really didn't go away.

It was another city.

It was another city.

It█s the same stressful stuff.

A large population, you know, traffic, everything else.

You know, you have to get from one place to another.

All the stuff is stressful.

Even work was stressful,.

Because I worked for a while in a restaurant.

And then I think the first time I actually moved out was when I did the first group with you.

That's right.

That's right!

Tony actually worked with us on one of our trips and we were in Reggello, we were in Incisa, which is one town over.

It's a couple of towns over.

Couple towns over and we discovered Reggello and he said, “I'm leaving Milan and moving to Reggello.” And again I said, What?

Yeah, because, you know, And that was in what year?

That was in, the first year was ‘99, wasn't it.

We worked together.

Yeah.

1990.

It was the summer of ‘99 and I remember going to the bar in Reggello and I thought, is this place is amazing.

Paradise.

I sensed it.

I felt it, yeah.

And I felt more relaxed.

And so I figured, well, if we were doing the groups well n Italy, I figured, well, you know, it makes sense to move to a location where it's much easier to do this stuff.

And I just got involved with people in the town, which is amazing too, because living in the small town, you're so it's not just leaving the stress, but also you have a support group.

You have a community you can count on.

You kind of.

Right.

Right.

You have people that'll take care of you, people that help you out when you need help.

And that that goes a long way as far as being an immigrant in another country, because there's, you know, the bureaucracy you have to deal with, and papers that you have to get, permissions, et cetera.

In order to stay?

In order to stay.

If you don't have that, it is a big problem because you can actually get thrown out.

So now when you go back to the states, do you count the days until you come home?

Cause this is home for you now?

Oh, it definitely is.

And I sense more if I spent some time in New York, for example.

When I'm walking around in Manhattan because I feel like I'm standing still.

I feel like people are just zipping by me at a speed that's incredible.

And I go like, and I can sense it.

I don't like it.

And I feel like I'm more on vacation than back home.

Right?

And then when I come back here, I know home.

You know you're home.

And so you find your life is calmer and easier to manage now because, A: you have a little bit of free time because you're retired.

Right, right.

But also because the pace in Italy is naturally a little bit slower.

Oh, definitely is.

Which sometimes is frustrating bureaucratically, but in general.

No, okay, I must admit that at the beginning it was difficult.

It was difficult to get adjust to it because the pace is slow.

And we move so fast.

Yeah.

And when you go places, you know, you, you wait.

People aren't rushing to do things.

That█s right.

So if you go into the bank or if you go into the bakery, you go into the mini market, you█ve got to do things at theirpace because it's much more relaxed and it's it's healthier.

But also, don't you find that it's more social, too?

Like you're standing in that line and you speak to each other like you become more human in a way?

Oh, it is more, more... interaction there.

For example, when I went to the small town where my grandmother grew up, I never been there before.

and the minute I walked into the store to ask for something, the people start acting like I was there for 100 years.

Yeah.

They welcomed you immediately.

Yeah.

So there is that type of connection.

Yeah.

Tony!

Thank you.

You're welcome.

I love talking to you about everything anyway.

But I love talking to you about how you manage your life here.

And for me, knowing you for as long as I do, I have to honestly say that you're younger now than you were when I knew you in the States.

And I'm very blessed that you're my friend.

I am too.

Grazie!

And that is life in Italy, my friends.

(Italian music concludes) (Gentle music plays) Hi, Tony.

Hello.

We finally made it to the kitchen.

Benvenuto, lovely to have you, as always.

Great to be here.

We worked together for so many years.

I know today we're going to make Tony's favorite pasta dish, spaghetti aglio e olio, which means garlic and oil.

And Tony makes it in a very delicate way, a very special way.

And the history of the dish, you know this even, it comes from the south of Italy where everyone was poor.

It's part of what's known as Cucina Povera, the poor kitchen and the best Italian dishes, it seems to me, come from that come from that era of they had oil because they had trees, they had peppers because they grew them.

They had garlic ‘cause everybody had garlic, and everyone had flour, so they made pasta and that was it.

So, Tony, how do we do this?

I love the way you make this dish, so go ahead.

Okay.

So what I normally do is I use roasted garlic.

Why?

I like roasted garlic because it has that more delicate flavor then than than just raw.

Okay.

Right.

And so I usually do is I marinate, I take the olive oil.

Okay.

I put some olive oil.

Here you go, my love.

All right.

Thank you.

And I just put a small amount of olive oil.

Okay.

Now, do you want oil in this pan as well?

From me?

Yes, please.

This is enough oil, Tone?

Yeah, that should be enough oil.

So you know what I love about this dish, besides the flavor, is that it comes together really quickly.

And in a culture where we do everything, we have no time.

But you really savor every bite of this dish.

Slowly.

Yes.

Because the most important things are also the quality of the ingredients you put in it.

Exactly.

And so show me how to do this.

I love roasted garlic, by the way.

It's taken everything for me not to take this out of your hands and eat it!

(laughter) Because it's really good.

Like I said before, it's a delicate flavor.

It's kind of a pain to take out.

But... That's all right.

So you don't use much?

No, I usually use two or three cloves of the roasted garlic, ‘Cause most people, when they make this dish, I find they use a ton of garlic.

I think it's just it's too much, right?

Yeah.

I don't want to overpower the dish.

I mean, you want the flavor, but you don't want somebody just to sense the taste of the garlic.

Even if it's roasted, and is delicate.

Right.

And then as you do that, Tony, what kind of peppers?

We have all different kinds of hot peppers here, including the flakes.

So you're going to... you're using fresh though.

I█m using fresh because they're available.

And these are from the garden, so they█re organic.

Oh, nice!

You picked them this morning?

So they█re nice, fresh...

Okay, Here you go, man.

Go get█em.

And is it true, Tony, that the that as you cook the peppers, they become actually less hot if they're fresh?

The dry get hotter.

No, I find it to be about the same.

Really?

Okay.

Yeah.

The only way, if you want to be less hot, you take it like you always do.

You take out the seeds from the pepper Spaghetti█s cooking baby.

And with these, you█ve got to be careful because these are very hot.

Yes, they are.

All of these actually are super hot.

But we like hot, Tony, so go for it.

Although don't overpower your dish.

I know you're very particular.

That's okay.

No, it's good.

And do you have a spoon to mix that with?

And one for good luck.

One for good luck.

There you go.

And we just mix this now?

Yeah, just do it, Kinda smush the garlic?

Yes, mash the garlic into it if you want it to really blend.

Right.

And so it's more or less like that.

And then right before I add it to the pan, what I do is I'll stir it up a bit.

So that way, everything gets in.

So this... so this is going to how long do you marinate this, Tony, all together to develop the flavor?

It's the longer the better.

But up to 20 minutes is good, but you don't have to.

if you get in there for about 7 minutes.

8 minutes?

That's just good enough.

Okay.

So this one's going to sit inside and marinate.

We'll use this later.

But Tony and I made one earlier so that it's nice and developed.

Okay, So going in to stir the pasta.

So now do you heat your oil or do you want to wait?

What I do is wait until the pasta is almost done.

I give this, the oil about two minutes.

Turn the oil on.

Yes, I█d turn the oil on.

And am I goin█ in?

You want a strong flame or a low?

a medium flame.

And am I going right in?

Yeah.

Or do you wanna put the oil in first?

I put the oil in first.

Okay.

Where█s the fork we had?

Thank you.

And now do you cook this a little bit or...?

Yes I do.

Or do you want the pasta right i And I give it about a couple of seconds in there.

In a couple of seconds, about half a minute.

Stir it in.

Okay.

Cooking with Tony.

I have to tell you guys is such a Zen experience for me.

Like, he's so calm in the kitchen.

You're never going to be in a kitchen with Tony where people are yelling and screaming and throwing things because he so focuses on the cooking and the food.

And it's amazing.

I love cooking sith you.

So now it's sizzling.

So it's sizzling.

So now...

I would lower the flame a bit.

Do you want it really low?

Should I move it to a low, low burner?

No, that's good.

And then I throw the pasta in, and here we go.

Here we go, my friend.

I'm going in.

And you want me to bring some of that water, too, right?

Yeah.

You want the starch.

Yeah, Because otherwise it won't coat as well.

Well, in my Love that sound, Tony.

Here we go.

Let's get a couple more in there.

Get yourself back on the burner.

Yeah.

You get a couple of these escapees in there.

I█m sorry.

I█m left handed.

No, no, that's right.

I forgot.

Okay, Everything's in, and then we can add some black pepper.

Okay, Just a couple cracks?

Yeah.

How much?

You yell me when.

One more.

And that█s beautiful.

We don't need salt because we salted our pasta water really, rally well.

So... oh!

the smells so good.

This smells so good, Tony.

And let's see how tasty We will be eating it any second now.

Anthony Oh, yeah.

Okay, so that's it.

All right.

Want me to go all chef on you?

You got it.

Want me to go all sheppy on it?

You got it.

You can shut off the flame.

Watch this.

Watch this, Tony.

See if I can do it.

See if I can do it.

Voila!

Tony.

I think we got it.

This might be a dish that comes together fast, but we're going to go and we're going to enjoy it really slowly.

(Italian music plays) I can't wait to dig in, Tony, Neither can I. Buonissimo!

Wow, Tony... Not so spicy.

Thank you so much for joining me in the kitchen.

As you have spaghetti in your mouth.

So what are you waiting for?

Let's get back to the cutting board and I'll see you next time on Christina Cooks: The Macroterranean Way.

Underwriting for Christina Cooks is provided by Suzanne's Specialties, offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne's Specialties: Sweetness, the way Mother Nature intended.

And by Jonathan█s Spoons individually handcrafted And by Jonathan█s Spoons individually handcrafted from cherry wood, each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding provided by: Additional funding provided by: You can find today's recipes and learn more You can find today's recipes and learn more by visiting our website at ChristinaCooks.com, and by following @ChristinaCooks and by following @ChristinaCooks on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Learn how to add delicious plant-based Learn how to add delicious plant-based dishes to your daily diet with the companion cookbook VegEdibles, featuring more than 80 easy-to-make recipes.

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