Although it was only a few months ago we wrapped on the final episode in Italy, my new series “Grandma’s Boy” for FOX International and 24Kitchen is finally ready to air! We filmed the pilot episode last June and then spent eight weeks from August onwards shooting in towns across the beautiful Italian countryside. With a new Granny or Nonna to meet every three days, we had to have been the most well fed crew you could ever meet on the road! Our small team of eight were treated to some of the best food and drink the Italians proudly offered up. I’m so thrilled to show you the promo video for the show right here:
We travelled to thirteen different Italian towns including, Capena, Matera, Irsina, Rieti, Polignano A Mare and Sant’Angelo in Colle and I got to try my hand at cheese making, truffle hunting, falconering, horse riding, snail hunting, lake fishing and pig wrangling. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity and every family we met were so incredibly welcoming, which gave us a unique perspective on Italian life.
In every episode our chosen Nonna would cook me up her signature dish and then I would repay the favour with my take on a regional dish using local ingredients. That was possibly the most nerve-wracking part of the whole process and our Italian Nonna’s held no punches when giving me their opinion on my dishes! Most of the grandmothers I cooked with had very little English and as I have very little Italian I learned the important words first, “Basta” (STOP!) and “Perfecto” (Perfect) and “Buon Profumo” (Beautiful Smell). The rest was made up with smiles, hugs and lots of laughing! The series will be airing on FOX International and 24Kitchen over the next few months and the confirmed dates and regions are as follows:
Holland- 24kitchen in April
Balkans- 24kitchen June 2014
Turkey- 24Kitchen June 2014
France- 24Kitchen May 6th, 2014
Hungary- FOX International 28th April
I’ll keep you posted with more dates and regions as they come in but until then check out the series intro video below and the recipe for my favourite dessert from the series, a rich and indulgent chocolate tiramisu.
Continue to the recipe for Chocolate Tiramisu…
