In terms of a television format, couples cooking on TV together works beautifully. First came The Two Fat Ladies, then The Hairy Bikers and now we have The Two Greedy Italians. Although the format is the same, two different cooks, on the road, cooking similar food with different takes on it, for me there is so much more going on in Two Greedy Italians. It’s packed full of Italian history, touching personal stories, beautiful scenery and most importantly fantastic food. I had read about the pairing of these two, old, Italian chefs a couple of months ago and couldn’t wait to see what the outcome would be. Antonio Carluccio, the godfather of Italian cookery for many years and Gennaro Contaldo, the man made famous as the mentor to Jamie Oliver, combine forces to create one of the warmest and most fascinating on screen duo’s TV cookery has seen. Sure there might be set up shots, but at the heart of their TV show, there is a genuine friendship and a real warmth.
The cookery book equally does not disappoint, it’s beautifully illustrated by photographer Chris Terry and the recipes within, refreshingly show the simplicity of Italian cuisine. Rather than trying to impress with elaborate dishes, Carluccio and Contaldo focus on easy meals with impressive results. The book is broken into Antipasti, Primi, Secondi, Contorni, Frutta E Dolci and Merende which give a great overview of classic Italian food. As well as some of the more elaborate dishes there are a huge number of family favourites which will happily take up a place in your everyday recipe repotoire.
The dish I chose from the book to share with you is an absolute gem and one I have made many times before. I chose it because it comes from one of my favourite bits of the TV series where Genarro dives for octopus and comes up from the water with one in his speedos (brave man!)- leaving Anthonio utterly disgusted! But don’t let that put you off!
To win a copy of the book simply leave a comment below telling me your favourite Italian dish to cook. You can also enter on Facebook by commenting under the cover of the book or on twitter by tweeting me your favourite Italian dish followed by the hashtag #twogreedyitalians. Competition closes on Monday the 20th of June at 9am. Winning entries will be chosen at random, one entry per person please!
Continue to the recipe for Linguine with Mussels and Prawns…
