PHOTO BY RAY KACHATORIAN
Culinary superstar Giada De Laurentiis has racked up Emmys for her TV shows and spots on kitchen shelves worldwide with her myriad cookbooks. Now, the chef of all trades has launched Giada Catering (giadacatering.com), an Italian-inspired catering service that’s powered by Patina Restaurant Group and ready to serve guests of 10 to 1,000 throughout Southern California. Here, the mogul chats about her latest business venture and reveals the recipe for her famous lemon spaghetti.
What inspired the launch of Giada Catering? Growing up, I remember helping my grandfather cook meals for family and friends in our kitchen and thinking about the joy it brought me to create cherished, memorable moments for everyone through fostering an atmosphere ideal for good conversations over delicious food. With Giada Catering, I get to share this same, warm hospitality with guests beyond our Las Vegas restaurant, Giada, and provide my signature Italian- and California-inspired dishes to weddings and special events throughout Southern California.
Giada Catering offers four distinct menus, complete with the option to add on curated cocktails and tablescapes. Tell us about each theme. Our themes—which we call inspirations—are inspired by my roots growing up in Southern California and its vibrant produce landscape, as well as my personal experiences traveling and eating flavorful cuisine throughout Italy. Each of our four inspirations provides its own distinct flavor profiles. For example, Amalfiis an elevated Italian service focused on seafood-forward dishes like our freshly grilled branzino, lobster ravioli and my world-famous lemon spaghetti, while Milan showcases the city’s sophisticated flavors with the best of land and sea like our crispy, prosciutto-stuffed veal saltimbocca and wood-fired, bone-in Tuscan rib eye. Our Rome inspiration pays homage to its rich culinary heritage using old-world artisanship to create dishes like pizza bianca and cacio e pepe, while California Italian most resembles my signature culinary style with bright, beautiful Italian dishes made with a California twist, including our lemon smashed potatoes and ravioli alla caprese.
Tell us about your cocktail pairings. A dynamic selection of innovative craft cocktails is thoughtfully curated to complement and enhance the flavor profiles of each inspiration. For example, to showcase the intersection of Italian ingredients with SoCal’s traditional margarita, we’ve created an Italian margarita to pair with our California Italian inspiration. Our decadent buona notte martini, made with vodka, Kahlua, amaretto and espresso, is recommended to be paired as an aft er-dinner cocktail to complete the perfect evening with Giada Catering’s iconic Rome menu. Since Amalfi’s cuisine focuses heavily on seafood dishes, we recommend refreshing, bright signature cocktails such as our Limone Drop and Aperol spritz, while Milan’s sugg ested cocktails, such as the Cosmo Bianco—an elevated interpretation of a traditional cosmopolitan—complement the rich, savory dishes found on its menu.
From sit-down dinners to parties with passed appetizers, Giada Catering serves its fresh cuisine in myriad formats PHOTO BY RAY KACHATORIAN
Tell us about your tablescapes. I’ve hand-selected each inspiration’s tablescape, from dinnerware, place settings and tablecloths to floral arrangements and accent decor, to showcase its own, unique aesthetic. Drawing inspiration from both my grandmother’s authentic Italian dinnerware and my personal hosting collection, both Amalfiand California Italian convey a rustic yet vibrant ambiance with organic linens, wooden serving boards and hand-painted ceramic plates in hues reminiscent of a seaside sunset. Melding chic and metropolitan glamour with coastal luxury, Milan and Rome focus on delicate, gold and rose gold dinnerware with white marble serving boards and accent decor. To complete each tablescape, each inspiration also features its own, curated organic floral arrangements that add texture and charm to the experience.
What would we find you enjoying from Giada Catering’s menus? It’s hard to say! Our menus have been thoughtfully developed to offer dishes great for any occasion, but I would say my bacon-wrapped dates with spicy Italian sausage and gorgonzola crema for a starter, and my signature lemon spaghetti as an entree. For dessert, it has to be our lemon ricotta cookies, and given it’s approaching summertime, I always love a well-made Aperol spritz!
Inspired by the Amalfi Coast, Giada’s famous lemon spaghetti is one of her favorite dishes from Giada Catering. PHOTO BY RAY KACHATORIAN
What’s next? I am continuing to focus on this catering launch; my online store, Giadzy; and prepping for the opening of my new restaurant concept Luna, along with another Pronto location, both inside the new Caesars Republic in Scottsdale.
LEMON SPAGHETTI
Serves 4
FOR THE SHRIMP
2⁄3 cup olive oil (plus 1 Tbsp.)
¾ lb. large shrimp
¼ tsp. kosher salt
1⁄8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
FOR THE PASTA
1 lb. spaghetti
2⁄3 cup olive oil
2⁄3 grated Parmesan
½ cup fresh lemon juice
½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground
black pepper
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
2 Tbsp. fried capers
In a medium saute pan, heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil over medium-high heat. Season shrimp with salt and pepper. In a single layer, add shrimp to a preheated pan. Cook until pink and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Set aside. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but firm to the bite, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, about 8 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk oil, Parmesan and lemon juice in a large bowl. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of the liquid. Toss the pasta with the lemon sauce, the shrimp and the reserved liquid, adding ¼ cup at a time as needed to moisten. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in basil. Garnish with lemon zest and fried capers.
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