"I've never been able to show that before," the self-professed foodie says while preparing lunch at his Russian Hill home. "My friends that have seen the show all say, 'Good. I'm so glad you're showing your off-ice personality.' "

The aptly titled "What Would Brian Boitano Make?" premieres Sunday, and if you've seen the commercials of Boitano picking up dry cleaning in an Elvis costume and ice skates, then you know what's cooking for the show.

This isn't Brian Boitano the solemn-faced Olympic gold medalist. This is Brian Boitano the Bay Area native, wining and dining friends, playing matchmaker and learning how to make chorizo at a local sausage factory.

On a recent food shopping expedition - after his daily skate, of course - his grocery list included wild salmon fillets and Swiss chard. And ice cream, two kinds, to top off a pear-almond crostata he'd made the night before to satisfy his sweet tooth.

"It's awful," Boitano says of his craving for desserts. "You know how they say don't go shopping when you're hungry? I'm the worst. I wish I had a salt tooth."

Boitano's kitchen is light, airy and homey. There's a vintage Wedgewood stove in the corner, brick walls and orange sherbet-colored tiles. No wonder the production crew decided to film the cooking scenes there.

But can he actually cook?

Using the same precision he's known for on the ice, Boitano meticulously deboned fish and washed the chard greens, as if he were being scored by judges.

First up was a fresh tomato salad with herbs snipped right from his garden. Then the chard, which he simply sauteed in olive oil. The salmon was the star, especially the skin, which Boitano first slathered with butter for the perfect sear.

"See how the skin curls up?" he says. "You got to push it down to get it nice and crisp."

As the show conveys, Boitano likes to keep things simple. All he did for the crostata dessert, he says, is roll out almond paste, spread some cream cheese on top, add a few pear slices and pop them in the oven.

The recipe will be featured on the show, which spans four episodes and was filmed mostly in the Bay Area.

It wasn't until his Olympic career was over that Boitano's passion for food was stirred. He had dabbled in all sorts of diet fads to keep his weight in check - he still hates beets because of a three-day diet that called for mass quantities of the pickled, canned variety.

But then he bought a home and began entertaining friends over dinner. With San Francisco as his backdrop, inspiration and ingredients were never in short supply. Before he knew it, he had sold TV executives on having his own show.

"The hardest thing was to talk, slice and look at the camera and come up with clever things to say," Boitano recalls. "I mean, bacon with sweet potato hash tastes like bacon with sweet potato hash. But, you're like, 'The salty, briny pancetta melts with the sweet hash in your mouth.' "

As Boitano likes to say, "There's never a shortage of ideas in the brain."

"What Would Brian Boitano Make?" premieres at 1 p.m. Sunday, on the Food Network.

E-mail Janny Hu at jhu@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle