Eden Grinshpan Transcript
Kerry Diamond:
Hi, everyone. You are listening to Radio Cherry Bombe, and I'm your host, Kerry Diamond, coming to you from Newsstand Studios at Rockefeller Center in the heart of New York City.
Today is the second episode in our Destination Canada miniseries. Over the next few weeks, we'll be spotlighting some of our favorite Canadians. We've got Instagram superstars, folks from “Top Chef Canada,” star restaurateurs, chefs, even one of my favorite fashion designers. Today's guest is coming to us from Toronto. It's Eden Grinshpan: chef, mom, dog mom, TV host, entrepreneur, author, and self-described goofball. You might know Eden as the host of “Top Chef Canada” or from her wonderful cookbooks, “Eating Out Loud” and “Tahini Baby,” which celebrate bold flavors and Middle Eastern ingredients. Eden joins me to talk about her upbringing in Toronto, how she landed her role as the host of “Top Chef Canada,” and some of the special chefs she's met along the way. We also go over a few dishes from “Tahini Baby” that are perfect for Thanksgiving, whether you're celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving or American Thanksgiving. For those of you celebrating in Canada next week, happy Thanksgiving to you. And don't forget to tune into the new season of “Top Chef Canada,” which kicks off Tuesday, October 14th. Stay tuned for my chat with Eden Grinshpan.
Today's episode of Radio Cherry Bombe is presented by Destination Canada. I first discovered Canada when I was an 18-year-old college student and studying in Upstate New York, just an hour outside of Montréal. I'd cross the border whenever I could to dance the night away at my favorite new wave club and end the evening in a cozy diner with some poutine. Today, Canada still has a place in my heart and still delivers in ways that surprise and delight me every time. Canada is where you can enjoy dinner on the ocean floor once the tide's gone out, of course, or fly into a remote wilderness lodge with five-star meals and indigenous-led experiences. You can stay at a hotel with a past life as a post office and you can meet local makers and take home one-of-a-kind pieces from a glassblowing workshop. How about foraging in the coastal forests of British Columbia with Chef Robin Kort of Swallow Tail Tours for a truly unique culinary adventure, or biking, ziplining, and skiing in the Canadian Rocky Mountains of British Columbia and Alberta? There's a whole side of Canada you might not expect, curated, creative, and completely unforgettable. Plan your next adventure at canadanaturally.com. We'll put that link in our show notes.
Now that Jubilee L.A. is wrapped, it's time to start planning Jubilee New York 2026. It's taking place on Saturday, April 25th, at The Glasshouse in Manhattan. The team and I are already at work thinking about talent, the menu, the activities. I don't have any details to share with you just yet, but I promise it's going to be a great day. Early bird tickets are on sale now through December 31st, 2025. If you're an official Bombesquad member or a paid Substack subscriber, be sure to use your discount code. You can find it in your inbox or on our Substack website. I'll put all the links in our show notes.
Now let's check in with today's guest. Eden Grinshpan, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.
Eden Grinshpan:
Hi. Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here with you.
Kerry Diamond:
I should say welcome back. You've been on the show before. You're one of our favorite guests. I always love talking to you, seeing you, hanging out with you. And I think we should tell everybody, you have a new baby.
Eden Grinshpan:
I do. I do. I'm sitting here right now with our new puppy on my lap, Barry, he's 13 weeks old. He's nipping at my fingers. He's the sweetest angel, and he's brought so much... I was just telling Ido, the energy in the house has totally shifted in a sense... We're obviously a really outgoing, fun, playful family, and there's always laughter, and dance, and music, but now there's this snuggly energy and so many giggles. He loves our daughters, and energetically, they're very much matched. They're all running around and just giggling and it's very sweet. It's nice. He made the house feel even homier.
Kerry Diamond:
He couldn't be cuter.
Eden Grinshpan:
Oh, he is such a delicious doll. He is incredibly fluffy and I'm going to try and keep it that way. I feel like the brushing is going to become a little bit challenging. So far, he's really got a good temperament. He's sweet. This is my first boy dog. I've only had girls my whole life. We have two daughters and I was like, "Maybe we need to bring some boy energy into this home for Ido-
Kerry Diamond:
I was going to say Ido definitely needs that. Okay. Tell us what kind of dog and any special reason behind the name.
Eden Grinshpan:
So we have a Cavapoo, which is a King Charles Cavalier and a Poodle. We call them Barry, we really wanted to think of... I don't know. Ido's... He's a Jewish accountant. I'm like, Barry... But then also, I was like, "Barry like a berry." I'm in the food industry and I like that we could have that there as well. And then, for sure, bear. And I was like, "He looks like a bear." So it felt like it worked on all fronts. And he does give me Barry, we're going to get that... I want him to have a really fluffy just hairdo, and we're just going to be like, "Barry, come to me." But he's cute. He's a lot of fun. And he's not even fully vaccinated yet. We haven't taken him out really into the world.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, we have to get him on Puppy Bombe, so send me a picture so we can-
Eden Grinshpan:
I will. Already my phone... And my kids are like, "What about me?" I'm like, "But the dog." He's such a munch.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, congrats to you and the fam on the new edition. I want to talk about your childhood because I don't think I know that much about you as a kid and what you grew up eating. I know from your high school years on, but tell me about little Eden. What was little Eden eating?
Eden Grinshpan:
Well, funny enough, I was a picky eater. Laugh out loud, I made this my career. Actually, I find that I meet a lot of people that are in the industry that started off as being picky. But I grew up in Toronto. I was very lucky I got to eat dinner with both my parents almost every night. So food was very much at the core and dinner of my childhood. And my mom, she's an excellent cook. She doesn't love to cook. I am Jewish. I'm Ashkenazi Jewish, so my mom would make a lot of the classic chicken soup. I grew up on gefilte fish. We would have brisket with, my mom found... I think it's a Bonnie Stern recipe. It's brisket with 40 cloves of garlic and she would literally count 40 cloves of garlic.
But, yeah, I grew up eating very much Ashkenazi, really home-cooked food, but I did also grow up in Toronto, which is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. I think my passion for food and exploring different cultures through food actually really comes from my father because he would take me on these gay adventures to shop in different grocery stores and we would try different breads, different spices, all these different beautiful fruits that would get shipped in. There was this little Iran where we would go to different grocery stores and I would eat fresh Barbari bread and Tahdig and I would be able to buy those traditional skewers to make kebabs at home. Not that I was at the time, but I do now. Or go into a big Korean grocery store and my dad and I would just be so just intrigued. So a lot of my early food memories also do revolve around a lot of those experiences, which I think is just really fun and adventurous, I think one of the things that really makes Toronto so special and unique.
Kerry Diamond:
It's so interesting that you had parents who had such different approaches to food and I can completely see how that combined to become you, Eden.
Eden Grinshpan:
Totally. Totally. A lot of home-cooked, really comforting food for my mom. She would make chicken fricassee. We grew up on chicken fricassee, too. I don't even know what that is. In my mind, it's chicken boiled in a tomato sauce of some sort. I need to look into it. What is chicken fricassee? I should look into it.
Kerry Diamond:
Now that you say it, it's like, "Oh, I thought I knew what it is," but we have a computer right in front of us, so let me see.
Eden Grinshpan:
What is chicken fricassee and did my mom make it right?
Kerry Diamond:
Hopefully I'm not violating any copyrights here, but this is what the internet told me it is. Fricassee is a dish where meat such as chicken, rabbit, or seafood is first browned, and then simmered in a flavorful sauce, often creamy and white, to create a tender, comforting meal. The term comes from the French word fricassee, if that's how you say it. All right. Wait, let me see. Do I need to credit anybody? I got this from Google. So, Google, thank you, wherever you got it from.
Eden Grinshpan:
You know what? Maybe it was her version. My grandmother... Actually on both sides, are Romanian, and my grandfathers on both sides were Polish. So we did also have a lot of, I'm sure, dishes that were passed down from their parents, and I should look into it. I should ask her more, to be honest. But-
Kerry Diamond:
Was it delicious?
Eden Grinshpan:
From what I remember, yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. So who cares what you called it, right?
Eden Grinshpan:
Exactly. And we would eat Mămăligă and fun things like that, which is-
Kerry Diamond:
What's Mămăligă?
Eden Grinshpan:
It's a Romanian dish. The way my mom would make it was it was creamy polenta with cottage cheese. So we grew up on really comforting home-cooked foods, but then also explored a lot of the beautiful neighboring grocery stores and restaurants.
Kerry Diamond:
Your mom was ahead of her time, mixing cottage cheese into things.
Eden Grinshpan:
Clearly-
Kerry Diamond:
Now I feel like half of Instagram is all the crazy stuff you can make with cottage cheese.
Eden Grinshpan:
I actually said I think that was one of my least favorite trends to date. I do not need to weave cottage cheese into every literal recipe that's-
Kerry Diamond:
Well, isn't there cottage cheese ice cream? I think I saw Katie Couric-
Eden Grinshpan:
Did you try it?
Kerry Diamond:
No.
Eden Grinshpan:
Did you try-
Kerry Diamond:
No. Did you?
Eden Grinshpan:
Me either. There's nothing exciting to me about this, so I was like-
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, I don't get the benefit exactly, but-
Eden Grinshpan:
It's the protein. It's the protein. Everyone wanted more protein. I was like, "Take a handful of nuts." Like, "Just grab that handful of nuts."
Kerry Diamond:
I love Katie Couric. She does this occasional series where she tries some kooky food that's gone viral, and I think she made a pizza crust out of cottage cheese, and it was so vile. Apologies to whoever maybe started that trend. I think when she finished, she was like, "The crust was like an omelet," and I was like, "That's so wrong on so many levels."
Eden Grinshpan:
I think it really stemmed from the TikTok food trends. It has taken food trends that are definitely... As a cook and a recipe developer, those are things that I wouldn't even... It's a whole other level. Another layer that... And don't get me wrong, I've seen some really interesting hacks on there that I'm like, "Wow, that's cool and different," but I don't know-
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, we're not dumping on TikTok trends. I mean, one of the things I love is how many young people it's encouraged to start cooking.
Eden Grinshpan:
Yes, I agree-
Kerry Diamond:
That's great. The more people who cook for themselves and know their way around a kitchen, I'm all for it.
Eden Grinshpan:
Me too.
Kerry Diamond:
We'll be right back with today's guest. In case you didn't know, Cherry Bombe is on Substack. If you're a Substack lover, I know I am, Substack is one of my favorite media platforms these days. Be sure to check it out and subscribe. You can subscribe for free or become a monthly or annual paid subscriber. We have recipes, recaps of our baking pod, She's My Cherry Pie, the Nancy Silverton cover story from our recent issue, and we'll be adding more content each week, including Radio Cherry Bombe recaps and some insider stuff. If you're new to Substack, think about it as the home of modern blogs. If you love reading and writing, it's the place for you. Visit cherrybombe.substack.com.
What are you most nostalgic for? When you go home, is there anything you ever ask your mom to make for you or anything that's still in your mind where you're like, "Oh, I would love to have my mom's fill in the blank right now?"
Eden Grinshpan:
Yes. My mom, she makes this lemon olive chicken, which is delicious. I have to ask her which cookbook she got it from. She was a big fan of the book, the Silver... Is it Palette or Plate?
Kerry Diamond:
Mm-hmm.
Eden Grinshpan:
Yeah, so she loved that cookbook. It could have been from there, but I think it's chicken, and cognac, and garlic, and lots of lemon and you marinate it, and then you bake it, but then you actually cook off the olives and the lemon, and you serve it with tons of lemon. When you eat the rind and it's lemon, garlic, olive heaven. So that's definitely a favorite dish that she makes, and her cheesecake. And I actually included her cheesecake in my book, “Tahini Baby,” because I was like, "Every time I go home, my mom makes it," and everyone online is like, "What is this incredibly beautiful... It's an Austrian-style baked cheesecake, so it has a beautiful buttery crust and it's dark. It looks like a Basque cheesecake a little bit. It's light. I say you have to eat it with your hand like a sandwich. Slice that cake and take it in your hand and eat it like this. No plate required. You'll love it. It's really good. And it's not too sweet so you can also eat it... I've had it for breakfast.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, okay. Love it. Throw a few berries on it, and it practically is breakfast.
Eden Grinshpan:
Absolutely.
Kerry Diamond:
I want to talk to you about “Top Chef Canada.” First, tell us a story of how you got on the show.
Eden Grinshpan:
Yeah. So, actually, that was... I still sometimes have these moments where I... It's such a pinch-me moment to be a part of this show. I've been a fan of “Top Chef” for a very long time. And I got into television actually in my early 20s. I sold a show to the Cooking Channel called “Eden Eats.” And after I had my first show, I started... You go down this journey of being a guest on “Beat Bobby Flay,” and I was a guest on “Iron Chef America” to judge the food, and then I ended up becoming a judge on “Donut Showdown,” and then “Sugar Showdown.” I was on a lot of showdowns. I ate a lot of desserts. I had a lot of interesting looks on those shows, please don't Google, I'm like-
Kerry Diamond:
Wait, fashion looks? Oh, challenge accepted. We're going to find all those.
Eden Grinshpan:
... who decided to put hot pink lipstick on me, shame. Shame. Also, what was I thinking? I'm like, "Yeah, let's go for it." There's nothing better than Googling yourself after a decade. It's weird.
Kerry Diamond:
Some of my favorite content is Giada De Laurentiis and her daughter, Jade, and Jade is critiquing all her fashion looks from past red carpets and things, and it is hilarious.
Eden Grinshpan:
Yeah, it's brilliant, because it's a moment. We always have a moment and they show. But, yeah, so what happened was I ended up getting cast as a judge on “Chopped Canada.” I loved it. It was a lot of fun. I forget when “Top Chef Canada” first started. There were two previous hosts before they cast me. So I started in season five. And I remember one of the producers from “Chopped” came up to me, he's like, "We want you to come in, we want you to read a couple lines. We're bringing back ‘Top Chef Canada.’" And I was like, "For what role?" I look at myself and I'm a goofball. I've always been the class clown. I'm like, "How did I... Sometimes I'm like, "Wow, how did I get here? This is awesome." I have sometimes a little bit of... What is that when you don't believe, it's like you have a hard time accepting your reality?
Kerry Diamond:
I don't know. Imposter syndrome? I hate that term, though.
Eden Grinshpan:
Yes, I did have a lot of that for a long time. Anyways, I ended up going in there. We just totally hit it off. We had a great time and they cast me as the host of “Top Chef Canada” and that was actually... It was so funny because I think that was one of the biggest jobs in television that I've ever been able to secure. And literally a month before we started shooting, or two months, I find out I'm pregnant with Ave, and I'm like, "Let's go." So I was going to take on this really big job and I'm newly pregnant. It was so perfect.
Kerry Diamond:
Were you pregnant on camera?
Eden Grinshpan:
I was pregnant-
Kerry Diamond:
Visibly pregnant on camera?
Eden Grinshpan:
So, no, because-
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, I was going to say that would've been awesome.
Eden Grinshpan:
I know. Trust me, I was like, "I never actually have not had that... I don't think I'm ever going to have that moment because I think we're done, but I wish that I had that moment where I was visibly pregnant, where I was like, "I just want to wear a crop top on camera pregnant." I just want to be that person.
Kerry Diamond:
But I only say that because I think it's good for women to see that.
Eden Grinshpan:
Oh, my God, of course.
Kerry Diamond:
You haven't been disappeared just because you happen to be pregnant.
Eden Grinshpan:
You know what? Actually, this season, “Top Chef” season 12, airs on October 14th, and one of the judges is very much pregnant. It's Mijune Pak, and she's pregnant with her first. She's amazing. But, yeah, to go back to season five, I was newly pregnant and I shot my first season, and season 12 premieres in October. So I've been the host now for all these years and it's been incredible and it's truly been just a real highlight of my career.
What I think is also really interesting about “Top Chef Canada,” first of all, it is the biggest, most competitive and incredible prime time food television show in Canada. It's the number one chefs that are top of their game come and they compete every season. And we say this every year, it gets better and better and this really feels like the best season yet and we get to have chefs from all across North America come and guests. So Daniel Boulud has been on, Sophia Roe has been a judge, Andy Baraghani, and I get to just hang out with all these incredibly talented people all the time and learn from them, and talk with them, and talk food, and it's really been such an incredible learning experience as well as just fun, and creative, and exciting.
Kerry Diamond:
I want to go back to the first season. Okay, so you're pregnant, you have a little bit of imposter syndrome. Tell me why you were having imposter syndrome. Because like I said, I hate that term because you don't hear men say it a lot and there are so many examples of men right now who should have imposter syndrome who don't and you would never hear them say that, but women say it a lot. And I look at you, you came to this job with a lot of TV experience.
Eden Grinshpan:
You know what? I think if I'm going to break it down just from a male and female perspective, I think women are just so much more able to admit their feelings. Let's just put that first out there. I think that's also probably why women are like, "I'm feeling this." Because we talk. Honestly, I have so many more honest conversations, I think, with my girlfriends than probably... My husband sometimes is like, "I can't believe you guys talk about stuff like that." I'm like, "Yeah, we're going deep."
But to be honest, I think what it really comes down to is... And this is just something that I think, personally, I can't speak for other people, but I've experienced throughout my career, I've done this now... So I've sold my first show when I was 23. I'm 39. So I've done this now for quite some time and just recently do I feel like I'm like, "Oh, I've put the time. I've put the time and I feel like I... I hate to say deserve, but I feel like this is how I got here. I think when I was younger, so much of it felt... And don't get me wrong, I still feel like a lot of it is luck. It's luck, it's talent, this industry is incredibly competitive, and I still feel so lucky that I get to be here and I get to be a part of it. There was a series of really amazing things that I feel very fortunate that I got to experience early in my career and I just felt you get these opportunities and you don't want to mess up and lose it.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell us how you push through feeling that way. Because like I said, I might not like the term, but it's a reality that a lot of women feel that way. And obviously, “Top Chef” in America is a big show, so you had those footsteps to fill.
Eden Grinshpan:
Oh, of course.
Kerry Diamond:
You were filling the Padma Lakshmi role, and now the Kristen Kish role, so how did you get through that?
Eden Grinshpan:
I think, like anything else, first of all, I think a lot of it has to do with self-talk, which I didn't really get good at until I think I got a bit older. So what it really came down to was surrounding myself with a lot of people that I think were really encouraging. I was very lucky, Ido has always been my biggest cheerleader and always been like, "You got this. I saw you did that. You can do this. I know you can do this."
Surrounding yourself with a lot of people that can fill in when you're feeling a little bit... I don't know if it's insecure, but nervous or doubting. I don't know. I'm the person that has... I have FOMO of opportunity. So I'm a yes-person, I've said yes to everything and I've always also done things... For instance, I don't like public speaking and that's what I do for a living. I tend to put myself in those uncomfortable situations a lot of the time, but I feel like the benefit outweighs the pain at the beginning. The feeling after you're done, you're like, "That was awesome. I did it. We did it. We're here." It's a mind game.
Kerry Diamond:
I love that you called it FOMO of opportunity, which, from now on, we will call FOMOOO.
Eden Grinshpan:
FOMOOO. I like it.
Kerry Diamond:
Three Os at the end.
Eden Grinshpan:
It's starting right here. FOMOOO.
Kerry Diamond:
You are the one who has to say, "Pack your knives and go." Did you rehearse that? Did you stand in front of a mirror and say it 10 times?
Eden Grinshpan:
Okay. Well, I felt like it was one of those things where I was like, "It's like rip off a band-aid, you just have to do it." It does not get easier. I'm going to tell you this. It's funny because, while on set, you're not really connecting with the chefs because of the way the production rolls out, and they don't want you to get too close because you don't want it to feel like one chef is closer to someone. So they do keep us separated.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, I never even thought about that part. Right, because you don't want to really pick favorites.
Eden Grinshpan:
Yeah, you can't and you shouldn't, and it's very much based off of literally the last dish they make. But, obviously, I'm with them every day. I'm with them more than every other judge because I do quick-fires and elimination challenge, and we're across the room from each other. But I'm a big goofball and I'm always playing and my natural instinct is to always try and make everyone in the room feel comfortable. At my expense, I'll be a complete idiot, but as long as they're laughing... I know how stressed out these people are and I know how hard this competition is. I've seen these chefs. It is a no-joke competition and everyone that competes is shocked every time they come on because we talk about it. When I say on camera like, "You have 15 minutes," they have 15 minutes.
And a lot of these chefs, when you think about it, they are at the top of their game, they're coming from kitchens and teams that they work with on a daily basis and they understand when you work in a kitchen every day, you line everything up the way you want. You know your kitchen, you know your oven, you know how things work. They walk into a studio kitchen where they've never cooked before with 15 cameras and television spotlights on them. They're cooking in front of some of the most amazing chefs that they completely just look up to. The prize aside and the title aside, this is their livelihood and this is what they do every day, this is their identity, and they want to come in and they want to show. So it's like the pressure is so much. So I go in there and my instinct is to just try and make everyone feel as comfortable, and light, and smile as possible.
Kerry Diamond:
As you do everywhere you go, Eden, I have to say.
Eden Grinshpan:
I'm like, "I don't even care if I look completely insane." I'm more comfortable seeing myself on camera where I look crazy than me being serious.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm still super grateful that you danced and sang at our last-
Eden Grinshpan:
Winded. Winded.
Kerry Diamond:
... Jubilee New York. Yes, you're winded. I'm going to give you the opportunity to read that talk because it was so good, but you don't have to-
Eden Grinshpan:
Let's do it. We should do it.
Kerry Diamond:
You don't have to read it all winded.
Eden Grinshpan:
Can you give me another opportunity to dance for you? That's the real question.
Kerry Diamond:
Anytime. Anytime you want to dance at Jubilee, come back and just dance.
Eden Grinshpan:
I might just have to choreograph something for it.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, we announced Jubilee New York. It's happening April 25th, 2026. It seems like a million years away, but it's really... In terms of event planning, that's like tomorrow. Okay. But anyway, two of the winners, I would love to talk about, but before then, I had an idea of a TV show we can work on together.
Eden Grinshpan:
Talk to me.
Kerry Diamond:
Nobody steal our idea. “Top Chef” “Bachelor” or “Bachelorette.” Why don't we combine those two shows?
Eden Grinshpan:
First of all, people have been coming to me... Obviously, my husband and I are complete goofballs and he really... I show him a lot on my social, so everyone's always trying to do something with food and dating or food and relationships, and I do think there is something to it, but no one has cracked the code.
Kerry Diamond:
Maybe we can crack the code. I dated a chef, you are a chef, do you get a spatula instead of a rose?
Eden Grinshpan:
Yes, here's your microplane.
Kerry Diamond:
We can have the “Golden Top Chef Bachelor.” There are so many spinoffs.
Eden Grinshpan:
I know. There's something there. I agree.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, your people need to talk to my people.
Eden Grinshpan:
We'll go for coffee.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. And if all you Hollywood people are listening, reach out.
Eden Grinshpan:
Let's do it. Call us.
Kerry Diamond:
This would be fun. We're going to talk. I think there's something to this. Anyway, okay. Season five, the show has the first female chef who wins, right?
Eden Grinshpan:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Very exciting.
Eden Grinshpan:
Well, Nicole Gomes-
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, tell us about Nicole.
Eden Grinshpan:
She's amazing. So first season that I hosted was “All-Stars.” So they brought back a lot of incredibly talented chefs that competed previously. Nicole, honestly, from the beginning, she was just able to just be so quick on her toes, so creative. Her food was just always so delicious. Not something that we always talk about on this show because you can make beautiful food, but it has to be delicious. If the food isn't good, but it's beautiful, who cares? It needs to make us feel something and we need to enjoy it.
So Nicole Gomes, from the beginning, she was just such a top competitor and she's had such a successful career since. She lives in Calgary. She has her own restaurant, I think, with her sister called Cluck N Cleaver. And she has since competed, I think, on “Iron Chef”, she's competed on “Top Chef…” I think it was “Top Chef: World All-Stars.” I think I maybe tried one dish of hers, fried chicken. She's so capable of making so many different kinds of cuisines. She has just so much experience. I feel like her season finale was pasta, an Italian feast. And up until then, she never cooked any Italian food for us and it was like, a nonna was in there cooking from the soul, from family generational recipes. We were like, "What's happening here?" She blew our minds. I think she even competed on “Beat Bobby Flay,” and I think she won.
Kerry Diamond:
She beat Bobby. Good for her.
Eden Grinshpan:
I think she beat Bobby, which is pretty incredible.
Kerry Diamond:
Did you compete on that or were you a judge on that?
Eden Grinshpan:
No, I was a judge once. A lot of people have asked me to compete. I don't know. The idea of cooking in a competition on just national television, just I feel like I would accidentally just slice my finger off.
Kerry Diamond:
Let's jump to season nine. Tell us about Erica.
Eden Grinshpan:
So season nine, “Top Chef Canada” winner was Erica Karbelnik. Powerhouse. Fierce. Came in guns blazing. She came in to win this season and what was really fun about this particular season was she competed against her husband as well. So her husband is a chef. They both are incredibly talented. They obviously knew that they were both cast for the season, but no one on the show did until we got there on episode one. He made it really far as well, and-
Kerry Diamond:
Wait, did they have to keep that secret, or you knew they were a married couple?
Eden Grinshpan:
Everyone knew on the first episode. But, yeah, husband and wife competing against each other, which was a lot of fun, both incredibly talented. And she cooks actually contemporary Mediterranean, Middle Eastern food, very similar to my style, but again, capable of doing so much, and skills, just super high, cooks under pressure very well, and she has a catering company with her husband. They actually catered an event for me once and it was amazing. I was like, "I can't cook right now. Who am I calling?" And Erica was number one on my list.
Kerry Diamond:
I just read about it. It's called Bring on the Karbs.
Eden Grinshpan:
Yeah, it's called Karbs Catering. Karbs Catering, which is perfect and is a brilliant name.
Kerry Diamond:
All right, her Instagram account is making me very hungry. There's this thing called pumpkin and brown butter hummus with toasted pecans and pomegranate-
Eden Grinshpan:
Yeah, she's very talented.
Kerry Diamond:
... that I think I might need to make for Thanksgiving. We're going to talk about some of your dishes that we're going to make for Thanksgiving in just a minute. Before then, I want you to tell us about a new friend of mine who I just think is so kick-ass, and someone you've known for a while, one of your judges on “Top Chef Canada,” Janet Zuccarini.
Eden Grinshpan:
So you spoke with my favorite person ever. Every time I'm with her, every season, she is hands down the person that I'm so excited to come back to be with. Just joy, positive... Did you get that from her? Wicked smart. Wicked smart.
Kerry Diamond:
100%. I mean, everybody will hear this episode eventually, but she came on with her sister, Jennifer, who's a fashion designer who I adore, but I never really knew Janet before. She's a powerhouse.
Eden Grinshpan:
She has Nervosa in Toronto, which is an Italian restaurant that's been around for 20-plus years and it's still considered a go-to spot that everyone absolutely loves. And she has Gusto 101, Gusto 501, Pai, which is one of the top Thai restaurants in Toronto, and she expanded to the U.S. and she has Felix in Los Angeles. If you haven't gone, go, it's unbelievable. Evan Funke is the chef, and he hand-rolls all the pasta, and it is just top.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, wait, you're on her Instagram account. There you go. All right.
Eden Grinshpan:
We love each other. There's a connection there. She's very sisterly to me and-
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, look at you. Very fancy dress, pleated, maybe lime-colored-
Eden Grinshpan:
I didn't see. Is it the-
Kerry Diamond:
It's a trailer for season 12.
Eden Grinshpan:
She's just wonderful and super smart, and I've learned a lot from her and she just knows food.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. I would love to have her back just to talk about the art of running a restaurant because she clearly has mastered it.
Eden Grinshpan:
She is the person to do it with. If I were to ever try to get back into the restaurant industry, I think the only person I would reach out to is her.
Kerry Diamond:
Right, because you did have a restaurant in New York City, Dez.
Eden Grinshpan:
For a whole year.
Kerry Diamond:
Hey, it's the toughest thing ever. I had a bunch too. It's tough.
Eden Grinshpan:
It's a fun industry.
Kerry Diamond:
It is. That's why it gets in your blood and that's why not a week goes by and people are like, "Are you ever going to have another restaurant?" I'm sure they do the same with you.
Eden Grinshpan:
Totally. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
And the answer is never 100% a hard no.
Eden Grinshpan:
You know what? It's complicated. I'm like what Meryl Streep has in that movie, the dream. I'm like, "Are we moving to California? Am I opening a beautiful boulangerie and having a garden with that house? Is that my future goal?" If that is, then I will have a restaurant.
Kerry Diamond:
Canadian Thanksgiving is coming up, or what you call Thanksgiving, it's right around the corner, your two cookbooks are perfect Thanksgiving cookbooks.
Eden Grinshpan:
Thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
There are so many fabulous vegetable dishes. If you are all about the sides and not about the turkey necessarily, you've got to look at those two cookbooks. So do you want to pick maybe three dishes we can talk about that would be great for Thanksgiving, whatever country you're celebrating?
Eden Grinshpan:
And you know what? For me, it is all about the sides. It's always been about the sides. And that's where you can get the most creative. Don't get me wrong, I've seen some really creative turkeys, but a turkey's a turkey. It's a turkey. It's a turkey. And sides, especially this time of year, what you get at the market, it's just so bountiful and beautiful and you get to really play around. Actually, I'm really excited because I started to make recipes from “Tahini Baby” for this time of year because I was rolling out recipes for summer and now fall, it's getting obviously hardier, and I have one that I think would be really perfect and actually great because you make it in a baking dish, is the fennel and potato gratin with an almond date crumb. So fennel, it has that beautiful anise-y flavor, potato, that starchy, hearty, quintessential ingredient that I think we reach, obviously, for a Thanksgiving meal-
Kerry Diamond:
Let me just say, fennel does not get the love it deserves.
Eden Grinshpan:
Well, fennel's my all-time favorite. I think we've spoken about this.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm sure we have.
Eden Grinshpan:
Do you love fennel too?
Kerry Diamond:
I love fennel so much, raw, I love it cooked, roasted fennel. I mean, I could snack on it like it's candy.
Eden Grinshpan:
I do. We do. My kids, it's their favorite veg. I feel like it's one of those vegetables too that feels sophisticated because of that anise-y flavor. There's a sophistication to it and a little bit more elevated, so-
Kerry Diamond:
You're going to laugh. I have your PDF of “Tahini Baby” on my computer right now and I just searched fennel. It came up 96 times in your cookbook.
Eden Grinshpan:
Not surprised. It's really an issue. I went through a fennel phase for “Tahini Baby.” That's all I'm going to say. That's all I'm going to say.
Kerry Diamond:
Baby loves her fennel.
Eden Grinshpan:
So the fennel and potato gratin with the almond date crumb in there. I have leeks, I have fennel seeds and coriander seeds. I absolutely love my spices and I feel like that gives a little bit of a unique vibe. Obviously, there's cream in there, so you get that richness, not too heavy, I don't like things to be too overwhelming, but then I finish it with a crumb that I feel like the crunchiness, that layer of texture is so key for me. And this crumb has breadcrumbs, it has almonds, and it has some dates. So the dates have a chewy sweetness to it. And so there's a lot of beautiful mouthfeel and a lot of different flavors. So I think that that's a really show-stopping dish.
Kerry Diamond:
Do you need a food processor to make the crumb?
Eden Grinshpan:
No. You can just roughly chop it with a knife, because it's breadcrumbs, right? So you'll have the pankos. And I think I called for panko. So it's just panko tossed with almonds-
Kerry Diamond:
You've got olive oil, garlic, panko, flaky sea salt, almonds, you got to toast them and pitted and chopped dates. I just bought dates at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market, so I am dated... Oh, and Rancho Meladuco came to Jubilee and they gave everybody dates, which was so cool, so-
Eden Grinshpan:
Which is another favorite ingredient, and hard not to use once you find the right ones.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, and Just Date Syrup was there. We had all the things. So all the stuff you need for Thanksgiving. Okay, so just give us a little advice here. I'm not great on toasting my nuts. I feel like I burn them every now and then or I don't toast them enough. How do I get them to that sweet spot?
Eden Grinshpan:
It's funny because I feel like nuts, I prefer doing it in the oven versus on the stove. I feel like it doesn't evenly toast, and then you get burnt little bits. So if I were you, it feels like an overwhelming thing before you actually make the dish, focus on the nuts so you have one thing to think about. Or the reality, honestly, you can buy pre-roasted nuts. I've done that too. I'm really comfortable with that. Obviously, I'm a mom of two kids, I'm like, "What shortcuts can we find here?" And sometimes buying your pre-roasted nuts and seeds, just throw it in.
My charred Brussels with pomegranate butter... I grew up not loving Brussels sprouts. I was not a Brussels sprout lover. It's probably because I only had bland, overcooked Brussels. And these Brussels, so they're roasted, they get caramelized, they have a nice density to them, and then they get covered in this salted butter pomegranate molasses syrup with garlic and a little bit Allepo for some heat. So you get spice, you get that garlicky flavored pomegranate, molasses is sour and sweet. So it is so impactful flavor-wise. I find it's one of those cheat ingredients like how capers are so briny and salty and so they just bring so much, pomegranate molasses has that in a different way, but it's one of those cheat ingredients for me.
Kerry Diamond:
We mentioned the company Just Date, female-founded, they do have a pomegranate molasses and I've got it in my cabinet, so I'm going to attempt to make this because same as you, Eden, you couldn't have paid young me a million dollars to eat a Brussels sprout, right?
Eden Grinshpan:
Yeah, it's mushy.
Kerry Diamond:
But as a grown-up, I love Brussels sprouts.
Eden Grinshpan:
Yeah, I know. Well, because you probably had some really good ones and I feel like they have to be roasted-
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. But I just have to say, pomegranate butter, what a brilliant idea. I mean, could there be a better use of a stick of butter? No.
Eden Grinshpan:
I couldn't agree more. And I think what's also fun about it is because you get that tartness and that sourness, the butter mellows it out and brings a richness and that fattiness, so it doesn't feel too much when it hits your mouth.
Kerry Diamond:
What's the next recipe?
Eden Grinshpan:
Okay. I'm actually-
Kerry Diamond:
These are all killer sides. I hope everybody gets your book and makes these. My gosh.
Eden Grinshpan:
Well, I'm actually torn between these two because one of them actually goes under my boss veg-
Kerry Diamond:
Boss veg.
Eden Grinshpan:
So I have a boss veg chapter in my book, “Tahini Baby,” which is that centerpiece veg dish, which adds a little bit more protein, a little bit more substance in there so that it feels like it's not a side, it's the main event. I'm tossed between my root steaks with chilichurri because we're whole roasting root vegetables here, and then we're cutting them into steaks, we're finishing them in a pan like you would steak, and then I cover it obviously with the chimichurri, I use a lot of chili here, you can reduce it if it's too much for you, and then on a beautiful pile of garlicky tahini.
So that, to me, feels like the quintessential “Eden Eats” recipe. It's substantial. And I'm using different root steaks here. I use celeriac, which if you haven't cooked with celeriac yet or tried it, it's the king of root vegetables. It is really like celery on steroids flavor-wise and it takes on this sweetness once you roast it. It's big. And so you get really juicy, chunky steaks. And it's become actually quite popular in vegetarian and vegan cooking as a substantial veg to use. So I use celeriac here. And once you roast it, I'm telling you, you have to try it.
Kerry Diamond:
I've had it and it's delicious, but I've never cooked with it. I do see it in the farmer's market all the time in the fall, so I should get a little adventurous.
Eden Grinshpan:
You just roast it in the oven until it becomes tender. So there's no real technique here. Just let the oven do its thing.
Kerry Diamond:
You've also got radishes. Are you roasting the radishes?
Eden Grinshpan:
Yes, similar. So we're treating everything similarly because they're really dense. These root vegetables are dense and they need the time in the oven to get nice and tender, and then you slice them, and then you finish them in a pan. And they're really delicious. And just with that concept, you can do so many different sauces, so many different ideas. I just love cooking my roots this way.
Kerry Diamond:
You mentioned that there's protein in this dish.
Eden Grinshpan:
It's from the tahini. So tahini, it's a good source of protein. It's an excellent source of calcium. I actually talk about it. I call my book “Tahini Baby.” It's a love letter to tahini, even though I don't use tahini in every recipe, but I think what's also really cool about tahini is it's the glue to all the different recipes that I make. It works with literally everything. And because this book is vegetarian, I thought it was brilliant because it has that protein, it has that calcium, it's a superfood. It's anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, there's magnesium, there's iron, there's so many great things and benefits from it. And one other thing, the harissa roasted carrots with the carrot top gremolata and labneh, that's another tried and true... That recipe has followed me for almost my entire culinary career. It was with me, a version of it, at Dez. And so I put it in my book and-
Kerry Diamond:
Love it.
Eden Grinshpan:
It's the harissa honey roasted carrots.
Kerry Diamond:
Four winners. If you want to shake up your Thanksgiving and start some new traditions, these recipes all sound great. It's a riff on your carrots, but you know my favorite from your first cookbook, honey-roasted parsnips with dates and tzatziki. I love that recipe.
Eden Grinshpan:
So good. I love that.
Kerry Diamond:
So good. Well, Eden, I love you. Can't wait for the new season of “Top Chef Canada,” and congrats on the pup.
Eden Grinshpan:
Thank you. And thank you for having me. And I absolutely love you, and I'm so honored to be here chatting with you always, so-
Kerry Diamond:
And have a happy Thanksgiving. Give everybody in the fam a kiss.
Eden Grinshpan:
Thanks, honey.
Kerry Diamond:
That's it for today's show. Thank you so much to Eden Grinshpan. Our theme song is by the band Tralala. Joseph Hazan is a studio engineer at Newsstand Studios. Our producers are Catherine Baker and Jenna Sadhu, our editorial assistant is Bridgid Pittman, and our head of partnerships is Rachel Close. Thanks for listening, everybody. You're the Bombe.