Mia Moretti
EVERYONE EATS | JUL 2, 2020
Mia Moretti
DJ
A Jaqueline of all trades, Mia Moretti is a DJ, songwriter, poet, style icon and interior designer. Moretti is a true arbiter of taste, whether selecting records or places to eat.
On her digital series Pillows and Plates, she documents the people, places and of course, meals she encounters on her trips around the globe.
Moretti can count the equally vivacious Katy Perry as a musical collaborator, and has become the industry go-to to soundtrack everything from Prabal Gurung to Christian Dior.
The same way she seamlessly mixes songs, Moretti spins words into powerful poetry and blends global flavors into the meals she cooks for friends. No matter the medium, she brings depth and positive energy into everything she creates.
INTERVIEWED BY ROSIE ELLIS
PHOTOGRAPHED BY MOLLY CRANNA
MIA'S KITCHEN & GARDEN IN LOS ANGELES
Mia let us into her beautiful Hollywood hideaway where we picked mullberries, played records and dreamed of traveling again.
BREAKFAST
I can't do anything – even think about my breakfast – until I have my coffee. I use Italian espresso beans from Morettino, I grind them fresh and then I use a Chemex.
My favorite thing in the morning, when I lived in New York, was going to my local bodega and getting a $1 drip coffee. I miss that so much being in Los Angeles. My Chemex gets me my caffiene fix, but I still feel like I'm missing something.
Coffee and biscotti is my go-to. Don’t get me wrong, I love a big breakfast, but before I can think about it I need my first breakfast. And the biscotti is so I don’t drink coffee on an empty stomach. I've been making homemade biscotti in quarantine (à la Flavio.) Biscotti is such a nice complement to coffee because it's not too sweet.
I usually grab the New York Times from my driveway, which I started getting now that I'm home. It's sort of the replacement for my New York drip coffee.
LUNCH
Unless I'm entertaining, lunch is really just me noshing throughout the day while I wait for dinner.
DINNER
It’s hard to call any dinner typical. Dinner is inspired by whatever I picked up at the butcher. What’s in the farm box. What I saw on the internet. Who I'm talking to on the phone. The weather. The wine. Dinners have gotten less and less elaborate as the political climate changes. We are seeing and talking about what our country is, we are lifting a veil, we are uncovering a truth. I don’t have such an appetite for an elaborate feast, I don’t have interest in a facade, I want to prepare something from the earth, something that grounds and connects me. Something that is honest and real.
DESSERT
Another glass of wine.
SPEED ROUND
Recent food discovery?
Recently I’ve been making homemade challah on Fridays for Shabat. I pray over the challah and always give away an extra loaf to a neighbor or friend. If I miss Challah Fridays, I usually do a focaccia or fresh biscotti (à la Flavio) to get my weekly dough fix.
Whose food routine would you love to see?
Alice Waters.
Favorite neighborhood hole-in-the-wall?
Give me any hole in any neighborhood in Italy.
Favorite seasonal treat?
Right now… my fresh mulberries!
Best snack between meals?
I love a dip. Maybe a taramasalata. Cheese and crackers. Olives.
How do you work off a big meal?
A big cocktail.
Go-to market or grocery store?
I’ve never been happier than with the farm boxes I get delivered once a week from County Line Harvest in LA. It’s $25 a week and it’s the biggest, most bountiful, beautiful box of green, purple, pink, orange, vegetables and herbs I’ve ever seen.
Cocktail of choice?
Yola Mezcal, neat.
Dream dinner guest?
Honestly right now my dream dinner guest would just be any one of my friends. (UPDATE: My dreams are coming true!)
Go-to comfort food?
My usual comfort food would be a Cuban style rice and beans, but since I’m in quarantine, I’ve made my own variation of this classic dish. I’m not sure if it’s Asian inspired, Spanish inspired or Italian inspired… there’s probably a lot of crossover with chicken and rice in all cultures, but the magic touch to my recipe is preserved lemons.
Caffeine of choice?
A pot of coffee every morning.
Favorite place to shop for kitchenwares?
My mother's kitchen.
Weirdest eating habit?
I don’t know how weird this is, but I am into the loaf of bread with my hand, as SOON as I leave the bakery, ripping into it. I never make it home.
Last thing you ordered for delivery?
A cheeseburger from Papilles. Even though I’m not ordering much take-out, Papilles is my favorite local restaurant and it’s important to me to support them during this hard time for the restaurant industry.
Five items always in your fridge:
Green olives, preserved lemons, cheese, eggs, jalapenos.
#1 favorite restaurant globally?
Francis Mallmann’s restaurant, Garzon, in Garzon, Uruguay. In the middle of nowhere, two, maybe three hours from the Montenegro airport lays a small ghost town with a perfectly executed gourmet dining experience. I’ve never seen anything like it in my entire life, and may never again.
Dinner party playlist?
Sweet Old Soul playlist.
The best meal you ever had was ______.
My last birthday, with all of my friends, at Flora Bar in New York City. First week of March, before the world shut down.
Go-to cookbook?
I don’t really use cookbooks. I just call somebody and if no one picks up, I make it up.
Secret food hack?
I’m a one pot cooking woman. Everything I make has to be in one pot. A lot of stews. I just keep adding to the same pot. I put it in the fridge, it comes out the next day, it adapts a little bit, depending on what’s left. Then the pot’s empty and I start again.
Where do you feel most like The Regular?
I feel the most like The Regular when I go to my friend Emile Haynie’s house, where he’s been feeding us some quarantine-approved pop-up dinners in his front yard.
THIRD SCOOP
You always have an interesting new project up your sleeve. What have you been focusing on this summer?
I've been working on a collection of poems called Low Touch Economy. I'm still adding some finishing touches but you can pre-order for a holiday shipment.
Who do you follow on Instagram for food and travel inspiration?
Yana Volfson for all things beverage.
Sophia Roe for quarantine recipes.
Emmanuel Peña because I can’t visit all my favorite french cafes.
Flavio Girolami DM him for private baking lessons.
Sydnee Washington for cooking with Syd, number one foodie.
Laura Kim because food is the new fashion.
Mai to take me back to somewhere in Uruguay.
Pasta Grannies needs no explanation.
Yola Mezcal to keep it in the family.
La Chassagnette, where I pretend I am when I’m in my backyard.
Lola, what I think my Instagram looks like.
Laila Gohar, what I think my cooking looks like.
Francis Mallmann because before there were food bloggers there was Francis.
Ron Finley on how to grow.
Ignacio Mattos for Uruguay in New York.
The Vtree to support Black-owned restaurants and businesses in my neighborhood.
Can we get a few traveling tips a-la-Mia? How do you pin down where to eat and what to wear? We’re guessing you don’t just Google "best Parisian bistro."
I don’t not Google “best Parisian bistro”, but I don't only Google “best Parisian bistro.” I do all of it. I ask friends, I look at lists, I watch travel shows, I go down deep rabbit holes on Instagram via restaurants, hotels, chefs, winos. Anytime someone recommends a place, I automatically save it in my Google Maps as a favorite. This way, when I’m in that city, I already have a list of places I’ve been curating for years.
I find Google Maps the best tool to save lists because most of the time I want to find a place to eat in the next five minutes, that's a five minute walk from where I am. I think it takes some of the joy out of the dining experience if you're getting in a car and driving 30 minutes just to go to one place, then turning around and going back to your hotel.
Spontaneity and surprise bring so much more pleasure than we give them credit for. Of course I am also the person who will get on a plane and fly to a different country to have one dinner somewhere - so take that advice with a few grains of salt.
MIA'S LEMON CHICKEN WITH RICE
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Serves: 4 people
INGREDIENTS
1 boiled chicken
2 bay leaves
1 small white onion
6 cloves garlic
3 tbs olive oil
1 cup rice
2 cups chicken broth (or more if you prefer)
1 preserved lemon
PREPARATION
1. Boil a chicken with salt and water. Maybe add a bay leaf.
2. Pull the chicken off the bone and set it aside – be sure to keep the broth and all the skin (if you know what's good for you).
3. In a deep pan, add bay leaf, garlic, onion and olive oil. Once it's sizzling add one cup of dry rice and let it toast for one minute.
4. Add in your chicken broth from the boiled chicken, about 1/2 cup at a time. The rice will start to cook.
5. Cover the pot and let it cook for about 12 minutes. When 2/3 of the broth is absorbed into the rice, pull apart the chicken into one inch strips and add to the pan.
6. Cut up one entire preserved lemon (from Anna Polonsky's recipe).
7. Let it simmer for five minutes and serve hot in a bowl.
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