Welcome to Celebrity Chef, a column from Refinery29 where we embark on a culinary mission to find, make, and try recipes and food hacks from our favorite stars. No flavor combination is too wacky, no tip or trick too bold, and no questionable creation goes un-tasted.
We are no strangers to unexpected food combos. You know, the ones that people brand as "um, weird" or "freaking disgusting." We have been known to thoroughly enjoy scrambled eggs with peanut butter for breakfast (thanks for the hot tip, Scott Foley). We have also dabbled in peanut butter toast and pickles as a midday snack. As it turns out, we share our quirky palates with quite a few celebs including the ultimate foodie personality: Chrissy Teigen (For the record, we've also experimented with basing our own eating habits off of her Instagram account.) So, when Teigen dared to dish her favorite strange nosh, we did more than just listen: We made it and ate it — all of it, to be exact.
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So what exactly is this mystery grub? When our Senior Food Editor talked to Teigen earlier this week, she laid it on us: "I love everything bagels and peperoncini together. And butter. Everything bagel toasted with butter, sprinkled with peperoncini. I love that." When the author of Cravings uses the word "love" twice in one explanation about something edible, you know it's going to be good. So without further ado, behold our version (see left) of a toasted and buttered everything bagel with a sprinkling of sliced peperoncini.
Before digging in, there were mixed feelings about this combo at the office. Some of our coworkers were intrigued, some were disgusted, and some thought that perhaps cream cheese would be the better spread. (I was team butter.)
But, when it came time to take that first bite, I dove in without restraint — with full on flavor excitement — and I emerged victorious. The bagel was toasty, the butter was creamy, and the peperoncini were tangy with the perfect punch of spice. And guess what? Everyone else who tried it was totally on-board post-tasting, too. We collectively ate the whole damn thing (well, they had a few bites and I finished it off).
This breakfast experiment proved a few things:
1. We will pretty much eat anything on a toasted piece of bread.
2. Peperoncini are a seriously underutilized topping. (We might even end up trying them with cream cheese next.)
3. And, finally, Chrissy Teigen has yet to let us down when it comes to flavor recommendations.