When Martha Stewart found out one of her editors was leaving for a job with Marley Spoon, she decided to do some research. Stewart ordered seven competing subscription cooking boxes to try them out for herself. In her opinion, Marley Spoon was the clear winner, from packaging to final product. So naturally, she got involved. Now, Marley Spoon's recipes come with Stewart's seal of approval, allowing anyone to cook like the media mogul for just over $10 a meal.
In honor of summer, Marley Spoon has also started including grilled recipes in their weekly boxes. Martha Stewart recently threw a dinner to celebrate the launch of the new boxes, and we jumped at the opportunity to visit Martha Stewart's headquarters for some wine and grilling on the roof of her Manhattan headquarters. While there, we chatted with the culinary superstar about her partnership with Marley Spoon, her summer grilling tips, and what she and Snoop get up to when they're not filming their show.
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Grilling With Martha
Stewart herself first started with a small hibachi grill, she tells Refinery29, though her grill collection has grown considerably over the years. Now, she has everything from a grill that would accommodate a paella pan to an Argentinian-style grill. One will even fit up to 30 steaks, something that lucky members of Yale's all-male a cappella group, the Whiffenpoofs, found out. Stewart's nephew was a member a couple years ago, and asked to bring the group to her house in Connecticut to practice.
Stewart herself first started with a small hibachi grill, she tells Refinery29, though her grill collection has grown considerably over the years. Now, she has everything from a grill that would accommodate a paella pan to an Argentinian-style grill. One will even fit up to 30 steaks, something that lucky members of Yale's all-male a cappella group, the Whiffenpoofs, found out. Stewart's nephew was a member a couple years ago, and asked to bring the group to her house in Connecticut to practice.
Ever the perfect host, she ordered steaks from Lobel's, an NYC-based high-end butcher shop. She was surprised when the bill came out to $700 for raw steaks, a fact she was too embarrassed to share with her guests. Cooked to "caramelized perfection," the steaks nonetheless impressed the undergrads, who, no doubt, were getting fed way above the caliber they would get from a cafeteria or dorm room hot plate.
Getting Started
But you don't have to cook the most expensive steaks in the country to grill like Martha. For people just getting comfortable with the grill, she recommends trying out spatchcocked (butterflied) chicken, hamburgers, or hotdogs to get comfortable, though she poo-poos the idea of buying precooked hotdogs — "buy the best Kosher ones" you can instead, she instructs.
But you don't have to cook the most expensive steaks in the country to grill like Martha. For people just getting comfortable with the grill, she recommends trying out spatchcocked (butterflied) chicken, hamburgers, or hotdogs to get comfortable, though she poo-poos the idea of buying precooked hotdogs — "buy the best Kosher ones" you can instead, she instructs.
Dinner With Snoop
Grilling, of course, is just one big way our eating habits shift in the summer. But when we asked Stewart what up-and-coming trends she was excited about for the warmer months, she said simply that she prefers to set trends, not follow them. "I’m not a big trend follower, we like to think we set trends. So I’d rather set a trend than follow a trend if possible," she explained. Well, with one exception. The trend of trying hot, new restaurants as quickly as possible is one that she does indulge in, often with her TV co-star Snoop Dogg. While filming the second season of their show, Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party, the two hosts spent their downtime exploring the restaurant scene in L.A.
Grilling, of course, is just one big way our eating habits shift in the summer. But when we asked Stewart what up-and-coming trends she was excited about for the warmer months, she said simply that she prefers to set trends, not follow them. "I’m not a big trend follower, we like to think we set trends. So I’d rather set a trend than follow a trend if possible," she explained. Well, with one exception. The trend of trying hot, new restaurants as quickly as possible is one that she does indulge in, often with her TV co-star Snoop Dogg. While filming the second season of their show, Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party, the two hosts spent their downtime exploring the restaurant scene in L.A.
"We try to visit every place while we're out there," she says, even with the time constraints of filming. A recent spot that got rave reviews was Gjusta, a bakery in Venice. "We had such a good time there."
Of course, we can't all make it out to L.A. (or own multiple grills, or even plant an orchard with 256 fruit trees for the freshest produce imaginable), but there is one piece of cooking advice Stewart has that we can all follow — grill when the weather's good (and not too windy) and have fun.