Australian celebrity chef and host of the new hit show Around the World in 80 Plates, Curtis Stone has partnered up with Great Grains to create delicious and healthy snacks. The kind-hearted Stone, who recently had a son with actress Lindsay Price, took the time out to talk to TheCelebrityCafe.com about his new role as host, chef and father.

TheCelebrityCafe.com: You are co-hosting the reality show called Around the World in 80 Plates, which follows 12 chefs who are competing in a culinary race across 10 countries. What are the major judging factors in this show?

Curtis Stone: Well, what we do first is we take 12 chefs on this crazy journey. There’s two parts to the episode so the chefs first start out competing in what we call the “Course,” where they are split into two teams and they compete in this culinary race across different cities throughout the world. Then the winning team gets the use of an exceptional ingredient and the losing team doesn’t. So, you can imagine in different cultures and cuisines, one ingredient could be extremely hard to cook that cuisine without. We then have the chefs take over two local restaurants and they have to cook for the patrons. Then, we have the patrons of that restaurant, who ordinarily go there, to go in and to judge how well our chefs have done the local cuisine.

The real difference here is the locals are judging how well the chefs pulled off the local cuisine. You can imagine that some of these critics are really tough! Whether you’re in Morocco, London or France, they take their food very seriously. They have a lot to interpret in just a short period of time.

TCC: Which countries will you be visiting, and what country are you looking forward to visiting the most?

CS: We’ve already shot the show and we visit beautiful parts of Europe, Tuscany and Bolonia, Italy, we went to London, England, Spain we went to Argentina and Thailand. We went to Hong Kong, incredible spots. It really was a special, special journey. We stopped in Morocco and Marrakesh - that was probably one of the places I was looking forward to the most. I had already been to the north of Africa, and to go to Morocco I was just thrilled.

TCC: You and Lindsay Price recently had a son, how difficult as a new father was it to be away from your son to film the show?

CS: I’ll tell you, I was lucky enough that we shot the show just before [he arrived]. I returned from the trip, and he was born a couple days later, so we timed it perfectly!

TCC: How has your passion for food expanded over the years?

CS: I think what’s really interesting from a food perspective is the culinary industry is so huge and you can do everything from creating recipes, cooking in people’s homes or cooking in five star restaurants - I’ve done a little bit of everything in my career.

I started off cooking in great restaurants and more recently I’ve been creating recipes and helping cooks ration supplies all over the country and even in different countries.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with the people of Great Grains to create some recipes using the cereal and having a little bit of an influence in the food industry, and being able to talk to people on how to stay healthy. I’ve been lucky enough to work with the contestants on the Biggest Loser and the Today Show, and just being able to spread the message with Great Grains about eating whole foods, whole grains and better nutrition. I like to encourage people and remind them about the most important meal of the day which is breakfast. I feel really fortunate.

TCC: Speaking of healthier diets, and living in a society that now is trying to gear towards eating healthier, what sort of tips can you offer for a healthier meal without forgoing taste?

CS: I think the most important thing is to get your hands on good quality ingredients. Because if you start off with good seasonal fruits and vegetables and a variety of basic spices, poultry, raisins and nuts and fruit and all of that stuff, the cooking process can really be quite simple. Last night I grilled some broccolini and threw some steaks on the grill and just served it with a quick [side] that I make with some parsley, garlic and some orange. You can actually create food really quite simply and getting your hands on those good ingredients is a great way to started.

TCC: What about dessert. Everyone has a sweet tooth - do you have a recipe that you can share which would give into the sweet craving?

CS: Absolutely! With the Great Grains I developed a couple of recipes that use the cereal as an ingredient. I sliced some apples and pears and all of those things are so great right now. So I took the apple and hollowed it out and took the center of the apple out and I filled it with some nuts and dried fruits and the Great Grains and sweetened it with just a little bit of honey, and I combined those and baked it in the oven. In the end you get this beautiful, healthy dessert. A lot of people think, oh I’m not going to eat dessert, but you really miss that part of your life. Eventually you cave in and say I’ll just get myself a nice big bowl of ice cream - that’s how people fall off of their diets. That’s why it’s really important to come up with healthy alternatives.

TCC: Now, you are a very busy person. You pop up everywhere. So now that Around the World in 80 Plates is done filming, where else can fans expect to see you?

CS: We shot a show, Take Home Chef, in Las Vegas and it was a lot of fun being in Vegas for a little bit of last year. I haven’t been to Vegas for a while. I spent some time there and I spend time in LA, New York and a bit of time back in Australia, we joke that I’ve acquired quite a bit of frequent flier miles as a young man!

Post Great Grains
Baked Apples with Raisin, Dates and Pecan Stuffing

Ingredients 1 1/2 cups Great Grains Raisin, Dates, & Pecans cereal 2 tablespoons agave syrup Zest from 1/2 small lemon 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 3 large Fuji apples, halved lengthwise 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar, divided 2 cups apple juice 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 3/4 cup 2% plain Greek yogurt Tip: A melon baller scoops out the core from the apples with ease. If you don't have a melon baller, use a small spoon instead.

Method

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F. In a small bowl, mix together the cereal, agave, lemon zest, cinnamon and nutmeg.

2. Using a melon baller, scoop out the apple cores. Place the apples cut side up in a large ovenproof skillet. If necessary, cut a small slice off the bottoms of the apple halves to keep them from toppling over. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar over the apples. Fill the apple cavities with the cereal mixture then mound the mixture generously on top of the apples, allowing it to nearly cover the entire cut surface of the apples.

3. Pour the apple juice into the bottom of the skillet and place the skillet in the oven, lightly covered with foil. Bake the apples for 20 minutes, then remove foil and bake until they are crisp-tender and the stuffing is golden brown, about 20 minutes more.

4. Transfer the apples to plates. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of brown sugar to the cooking liquid in the pan and simmer over medium-high heat until it thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice

5. Spoon the sauce over the hot apples and serve with a dollop of yogurt.