Legendary chef and former television host Rachael Ray exclusively shared with Us Weekly why she prefers living in Tuscany over the Big Apple as of late.
“My husband [John Cusimano] loves being in New York. And I tell him, ‘Hey, go as often as you like, stay as long as you want.’ I come to New York and upstate New York when I have work, I prefer Italy,” Ray, 57, told Us on Wednesday, October 15. “It’s quiet. The dog is much happier. She hates New York City. Bella is not a New Yorker at all. So, for the dog’s sake, I spend as much time [in Italy] as I can. She has a swimming pool and 66 hectares to run around on, and everything is very quiet, and the air is very fresh, and we have huge gardens and a vineyard and olive trees, and I just prefer that life.”
Ray will appear at the 18th annual New York Wine & Food Festival on Friday, October 17, at 7:30 to 10 p.m. ET. She is cohosting the Blue Moon Burger Bash 2.0, presented by Pat LaFrieda Meats, with Brooklyn Beckham. There will also be a special performance by DJ Cassidy. The festival began on Wednesday, October 15, and will run until Sunday, October 19, at the new Invesco QQQ Festival Campus in the historic Seaport in NYC’s Lower Manhattan.
Though Ray is cohosting a burger bash, she’ll be bringing a hot dog, at the urging of NYCWFF founder Lee Schrager. Ray told Us that she is longtime friends with Schrager and does “whatever he says.”
5 Celebs We Can’t Wait to Eat With at the NYC Wine and Food Festival
“He’s my friend for over 20 years, and I do what he asks me to and he wanted hot dog representation at our burger bash,” Ray said. “I thought that’s a fun idea to freshen things up after all these decades and gajillion shows between here and Miami, like, yeah, sure, let’s have some fun with dogs.”
Ray told Us her secret to making a great dog — and good food in general — is to not sweat it too much.
“I don’t think that any food of any type should be taken too seriously. So have fun with it,” Ray said. “Have a sense of humor about it. Wrap your dogs in bacon and top them with all kinds of kooky stuff. And I just think there should be no rules when it comes to fun food or food that you eat with your hands, especially.”
“You should take your life seriously and you should take appreciating work seriously, but you should never take yourself seriously. You certainly shouldn’t take food seriously,” Ray continued.
Ray said that she and Schrager envisioned the burger bash together decades ago.
“I [said], ‘Wouldn’t it be fun if we asked great chefs to come and put their efforts on a bun?’ And, you know, demystify fine cuisine for people,” Ray told Us. “So we had all of the biggest names in the world coming and making burgers — brought staff, wrote their recipes — and really since the get-go, it’s been extremely competitive. People take this very seriously. Who gets the trophy? And who gets the bragging rights? And it’s kind of hilarious, like, there’s, you know, ‘Rocky’ belts and things that they’ve earned over the years as well.”
Ray told Us that it’s “easy” to keep the competition from getting too intense or cutthroat.
“You just appreciate everybody, and you treat them all with respect and compliment them. It’s easy. It’s just a party. This is not a big deal,” Ray said. “Always raises money for charity, and it’s a great way for people to eat and give back at the same time in various ways, but it’s all about just having a party, having fun, there’s nothing hard about that.”
Sofia Vergara and Son Preview New York City Wine & Food Festival Event
Ray is passionate about giving back and has worked closely with the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America over the last few years after visiting Ukraine several times. She told Us that “Ukraine is literally in my soul.”
“My husband and I have personally given at least $2 million so far in support of all of the places where I teach and support the rehabilitation center Unbroken and the St. [Don] Bosco Center, which is an orphanage and a teaching center for young people,” Ray said. “I am not Ukrainian at all. Zero percent. I just was obsessed by watching, I watched too much news, and when I saw what was happening in this last phase of the war, you know, it’s been going on for over a decade. Most people think it’s three years. It’s not. It’s been a much longer struggle for the Ukrainian people. If you go back to Crimea, and when I was watching the suffering on television, I just became obsessed with, ‘How can I get there and be of service in some way?’”
Ray told Us that she finds the resolve of the Ukrainian people to be “inspiring.”
“I feel strong and resolute, and I feel grateful for my life, for the way I get to live. I feel grateful to teach kids there, to support them, to hug them and to hold them and tell them, ‘Hey, it’s going to be OK,” Ray said. “I feel great [at] the rehabilitation center with people that don’t have limbs anymore, showing them how to cook with one arm or from a wheelchair or go back to reliving some semblance of their former life. I feel great when I’m in Ukraine, and I will do anything for the Ukrainian people.”
The legendary Food Network host also told Us about how she and her husband Cusimano, 58, celebrated 20 years of marriage on September 24.
“We went to see some of our friends and [went] to our favorite restaurants in Florence and Rome,” Ray said. “We live in Tuscany, so we can bop back and forth to both of those places pretty quickly. So we just … we were very chill this year. We had parties for 60 to 100 people over the decade, but this year we just went with us. Two nights in Florence, two nights in Rome.”
General tickets for the New York City Wine & Food Festival are available for purchase here.
Check out Rachael Ray’s Frito Pie Dog recipe below, which she will be serving at the Blue Moon Burger Bash 2.0 on Friday night:
For the chili:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound ground beef (80/20)
1/2 pound fresh chorizo (RR prefers beef chorizo)
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon granulated onion
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 (14-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1/2 cup beef stock, to loosen as needed
For the queso:
6 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
6 ounces block American cheese, grated
2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 oz. whole milk, plus more for thinning out as needed
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained
8 good quality hot dogs
8 hot dog buns
1 cup Fritos, lightly crushed
1 cup pico de gallo, homemade or store-bought
For the chili:
Place a medium size skillet or sauce pot over medium-high heat, add olive oil. Add the beef and chorizo and brown, breaking it up with the back of a wooden spoon (or use a potato masher). Add onion and garlic, cumin, coriander, granulated onion and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until onion softens and stir in fire-roasted tomatoes and stock (a little at a time). Bring to a bubble, then reduce heat and simmer 10-15 minutes, or until slightly thickened. There will be a little extra chili, but eat it for lunch the next day or mix with it with some queso for a delicious queso dip.
For the queso:
Combine both cheeses together in a medium size heavy-bottom saucepot and toss lightly with the cornstarch. Add the milk, place the saucepot over medium-low heat, and slowly melt the cheese, about 7-10 minutes, stirring frequently. When the cheese has melted, add the chilies and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low, stir to combine and let flavors come together for a couple minutes. Keep warm over low heat, stirring occasionally, or serve in a slow cooker on low setting. Add a tablespoon of milk at a time to adjust consistency, if needed. This makes a little more than you will need for the hot dogs, but no one will complain as long as you have some chips to dip.
For the dogs, cook on a grill, griddle, or gently simmer in water to heat through. Optional, toast rolls lightly.
To assemble, place hot dogs in a bun, top with a generous spoonful of chili, drizzle with queso, sprinkle with crushed Fritos, and finish with a small spoon of pico de gallo.
Makes 8 dogs
