Celebrity Chef's Top Tips for Great Italian Cuisine

Gino D’Acampo’s believes that food lies at the heart of his close-knit family. “My most memorable meal has to be when I was about sixteen years old; it was actually the year my grandfather died. He was the person who inspired me to become a chef. We had been informed a couple of weeks before that he was unwell and we were all rather sombre, so my grandfather invited the whole family over to his house for his favourite Italian meal.

“It only took a couple mouthfuls of his delicious gnocchi in tomato and basil sauce, for my aunt to break the silence complaining that he’d added too much pepper yet again – an old comforting argument that they’d bickered about for as long I can remember.  We all broke into laughter. If I close my eyes I can still remember what it tasted like – it was heavenly but over seasoned. At 76 years of age, he wasn’t about to change his ways. That day I realised how important food is for the whole family and how it brings us together.”

Gino's top tips:

• Before you start cooking pasta, make sure that the water is always fast boiling, and never cook pasta with the lid on.
• Always put the pasta into the sauce never the sauce on top of the pasta.
• To ensure that the pasta remains al dente, keep tasting as you cook.
• You will need 3lt of water to cook 500g of dried pasta, so make sure you use a large pot.
• Plus always use a sharp knife and never put garlic and onion together in the same recipe.

• Extra virgin oil
• Chestnut mushroom
• Garlic

Silvana Franco describes her Mama Mia moment: “It was early evening at our villa, most of us had spent the day swimming at the beach nearby, so the evening’s first glass of chilled Prosecco tasted amazing. The day before we'd got some lamb chops from the butcher in the village and they'd been cooking very, very slowly in a tomato sauce since not long after breakfast.

• Temperature is crucial when cooking Italian food:
• You should always make sure pasta water is salted and at a full rolling boil before adding the pasta.
• When making risotto, make sure the stock you are adding is hot so the temperature inside the risotto pan does not drop each time you stir in more stock.
• And if you’re roasting meat, always take it out of the fridge at least one hour before hand so it will cook evenly and not spend the first 20 minutes in the oven coming to room temperature.
• For the best golden colour when browning sliced mushrooms, keep the heat of the pan fairly high and wait at least a couple of minutes before stirring or turning.

• Gorgonzola (serve as an anti-pasti with breadsticks for dipping, or drop a spoonful on top of grilled Portobello mushrooms and return to the grill for a few minutes).
• Italian 00 flour (it makes the best home-made pasta).
• Small chestnut mushrooms (top marks for their full-flavour and delicate texture).
• Carnaroli Risotto rice (‘The King of Rices’ - it has a higher starch content but keeps its shape well so you have a creamy risotto that never gets mushy).

Aldo Zilli reminisces about his most memorable Italian meal: “I was in a beautiful restaurant in Florence, with a flask of homemade red wine. My Florentine steak was cooked to perfection in a wood burning oven – it just melted in my mouth. The thought of it brings tears to your eyes.”

Aldo's top tips:

• With pasta dishes, slightly undercook the pasta and then finish it off in the sauce. The pasta will absorb the flavours of the sauce.
• When making pesto in a processor place the blades in the freezer for half an hour before hand as this stops the blades bruising the basil too much and will keep your pesto green for longer. If using a pestle and mortar add a cube of ice to achieve the same effect.
• The secret to risotto is the stock and the ingredients, always make sure you are using fresh, seasonal ingredients and fresh stock. 

“My favourite Italian ingredients have to be garlic, rosemary, chilli, tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and mushrooms - with these ingredients you can do anything!”