This week, we're in Puglia. On the menu, some sensational veg sauces from some no-nonsense nonnas. Sit, sit, sit. It's okay, okay. Plus, Italy's answer to paella. I've never seen a dish like this, but I know it's going to be good. I show you how to turn a simple salad into something sensational. Oh, yes. Colors, guys, colors. And share with you my seafood showstopper. With flavor like this, you're going to go nuts.
Look at all these beautiful, beautiful olive trees. I've never seen so many. Me and my old pal and mentor, Gennaro Contaldo, are in glorious Puglia. Discovering why this ancient agricultural hub has become the hottest food destination in Italy. It's the garden of Italy, isn't it? Oh, but the food in Puglia is unbelievable. The taste and everything is tasty. Everything is natural.
This unspoilt slice of rural Italy is in the deep south. It's the country's market garden, producing most of its olive oil and fresh fruit and veg. The incredible produce from both the land and sea is why Italians come here on holiday to feast on some of the best food in the country.
I mean, the thing I'm really excited about is all the beautiful ways of cooking vegetables here. I mean, they produce most of the vegetables in Italy from this area. This is the place. At the heart of Puglia's culinary renaissance are the cherished family recipes of the local nonnas. And Gennaro's taking me to learn their kitchen secrets. Buongiorno! Buongiorno! Buongiorno! Ciao! Buongiorno! Afternoon. Jamie. Buongiorno, Gennaro. Che piacere!
These lovely ladies are lifelong friends. And as generations would have done before them, they still make fresh pasta every day, always served with delicious home-grown veg. So, we're making the pasta. Semolina. Okay. Okay.
You girls like it slowly. Okay, well, I'm sticking with that. Okay, I'm excited. Do you know what I'm saying? See, see, see. It's okay. Okay. Christ almighty, I'm a poor husband. [laughter] She's singing, um, it's beautiful to work, but it's also beautiful to get tired. Which is kind of a nice way of upselling, pull your finger out and work hard, and be proud, you know.
Choosing the right pasta for the right sauce is a serious business in Italy. And for chunky veg, it's got to be orecchiette, which means little ears. So, that's a classic little orecchiette. Lovely little cup. Where that knife is dragged back, it's got these little kind of like ripples and tears. And they all hold sauce, right? And that's very particular. And in one part of Bari, they'll make it a certain size, and in Altamura, they'll make it a slightly different size, and they'll all be orecchiette, but they could almost tell what area or what village you come from by the exact size and shape of your orecchiette.
No? [laughter] She's making me nervous, so I'm really losing my skills. I'm making it look easy. Ah, there's a secret touch. The key is to make little cup-like shapes, deep enough to hold chunky vegetable sauces. When you make this, you are taking part in something that's gone on for thousands and thousands of years. And as easy as it is to buy orecchiette from a supermarket, such a pleasure, isn't it? Such a pleasure to learn. Each one is a labor of love, so there is no wastage. There is no leftover. I love it, you know. That's a good one, right? Come on. Come on, nonna. Come on. No, this is a good one. This is a good one.
[laughter] This pasta might look pretty, but it's the nonna's sauces that turn it into a work of art. So, we are now going to have a master class in sauces for orecchiette. Nonna Cinzia paints her pasta with young broad beans and sweet juicy tomatoes. And Nonna Vita's making an extraordinary sauce with aubergine, courgette, and a unique type of black chickpea. Oh, I've never seen that before. Black chickpeas. Wow, beautiful. Let's do it.
So, we're slicing up our aubergine. She's peeled it. You don't see that very often. And she's randomly cutting it, which I quite like. Chopping the veg into different sizes is a nifty trick to add texture to the sauce. See, cipolla. Sottile? Okay, so very finely sliced. This is very, very exciting because I've never seen a sauce like this ever in any pasta. Once the onions have softened, it's in with the aubergine and roughly chopped courgette.
Quanti? No, you can have it. So, hurry up. They boiled the water. She wants the sauce. While Gennaro grapples with cooking the pasta, I can't wait to get cracking on sauce number two, which is a real homage to spring. So, this is new seasons broad beans. These are just completely delicious and tender.
The secret to this sauce is to not overcook the veg. Just a couple of minutes softening is all it takes. And now we add the tomatoes? So, it's quite a quick dish, this one. Nonna Cinzia finishes off with a few fragrant basil leaves. In here? See? I'm just doing what I'm told. I love it. And a good old sprinkling of salted ricotta cheese. Absolute heaven. Look at that. I love how both these vibrant veggie sauces nestle into the beautiful orecchiette. This is food worth traveling for, and I can't wait to tuck in. So, the black chickpeas, Gennaro, courgettes, and aubergine. What a joy.
[laughter] This is so beautiful. I mean, the girls have done a great job. First up, the pasta, you know, you can taste the difference when it's made like this. It's not the same as the stuff in the packs. This is sublime. And then, the sauces are fantastic, so simple. You know, there's almost less ingredients, so you can taste more. This one was so light, wasn't it? The sweetness of the tomatoes. Everything's tasty. Minimum ingredient, maximum flavor.
[laughter] This one, yeah. That's my one. Salute. It's beautiful piano. Salute. [laughter] I'm so excited to learn from these wonderful women and all of their decades of cooking experience. I want to channel some of that nonna know-how into my own recipe and show you how to make your very own Apulian pasta feast. You know some of these olive trees they're 2,000 years old? Yeah. Incredible. Does that make you feel young? Yeah, very young.
So me and Gennaro are going to cook a lovely homemade pasta inspired by those beautiful nonnas yesterday. How good was that? That was incredible. Been told off so much. My easy peasy homemade pasta is perfectly designed to hold my vibrant fresh broccoli and tangy cheese pesto, making every mouthful delicious. I'm going to put a pan of cold water on the boil now and by the time this takes to come to the boil, we're going to make homemade pasta from scratch. We're going to do an easy shape that even a raving idiot can do, right? You're not going to have to struggle like me on the orecchiette. For two people, we're going to go generous. We're going to go two big handfuls of this beautiful durum wheat flour, right? That's about 100 g and you can pick it up in most supermarkets. This is basically semolina flour here and we're just going to pour water in, right? And we want to kind of make a nice dough. It's so simple and I'm going to start with a fork, okay? Then it gets a little bit thicker. It looks a bit more like bread crumbs and by the time it's too hard to work with the fork anymore, then that's normally a good time to use your hands without getting them too sticky. If your dough still feels a little bit wet, then simply sprinkle in a tiny bit more flour. A little bit of energy to get it off the sides, clean the bowl and just start moving it, moving it, moving it. I'm just pulling it back, pushing it forward. There might be technique, but it don't matter if you haven't got any technique. Just move it. There's no egg in here, by the way. So, eggs in pasta is typically more northern Italian. Northern Italian.
The pasta shape I'm making is so easy. You just can't muck it up. I call it cortecci. Yeah. What does cortecci translate as? Well, the cortecci, look, if you see this straight, it's the bark of a tree. Yeah. We've kneaded this for like 3, maybe 4 minutes, and you can see it's nice and tight, soft. And now we can just take little bits like this, little like marble-sized pieces, and we're going to roll it like this. All right? Anyone can do this until you got that. Very simple. Then you take your little fingers. You can put it in flour if you want, and you just dig it in, and then you pull it towards you. All right? And what you get is that. I love the thickness there, the little divots. Like nonna's orecchiette, this shape is the perfect carrier for fresh veg.
So, the pasta is done. Now, the sauce it's using a fantastic, typical broccoli of this area. This is called cima di rapa. Of course, you could use regular broccoli back home, sprouting broccoli, tender stem, fantastic. So, we're going to take the sprigs off here. We'll have these gorgeous broccoli heads there. You can just remove most of the chunky bits of stalk. Take the leaves off. We want them as well. Yes. Those nonnas, they would all have this growing in their garden. Yes. Without question. So, what's the difference between this and regular broccoli? This is slightly more bitter. It's delicate, it's bitter, and it's full of flavor. Full of flavor, but bitterness is not an enemy, right? You can work with it. Okay? You can work with it, and with the fat and saltiness of the cheese that we're going to add to it, it's going to be amazing.
Right, Gennaro's going to slice up a couple of cloves of garlic. I've got some anchovies here. Now, look, of course, you can buy different anchovies. You can tell this has been made with love and care. You're going to pay more for it. You get an incredible, incredible fillet of anchovy in there. And this has been taken from a large tin and you prep it yourself. Now, what you have to do to understand anchovy is know that you've always got to do something to it, whether it's marinate it, clean it, fresh or cured, it doesn't matter. So, using anchovies is kind of like a seasoning. It is. This dish without the anchovies is nothing. Yeah. About four do you think's in that? Yeah, it's four in there now. Four anchovies. And then we're going to use some spice from some lovely flaked chili.
For the pesto, just fry up the anchovy, garlic, and chili for a couple of minutes. Look, it's starting to dissolve the anchovies. Like butter. Then in with the broccoli. Straight in? Gennaro's going to break the frying now with a splash of water. There it goes. Cook it for like 2 minutes, 3 minutes. But typically, the pestos that we know are raw, aren't they? Yes, the Gennaro is a special with the basil. But this is cooked. That is cooked pesto. Let's talk about that. This is new. This is exciting. Why do we cook it? Well, because don't forget the little stalk that will be tough. Cooking, you can mash it better. So, just to tenderize it? Yeah. And now I'm going to put the pasta in the water. It's boiling. Season it well with salt. So, this pasta, you know, we just made it, so it probably needs 4 minutes.
While the pasta cooks, take your softened broccoli and roughly smash it up to make a wonderful warm pesto. So, we've got the flavor there of the broccoli, the garlic, the chili, the anchovy, right? And then we can put just a little cheese in. Right? I'm using grated pecorino, but you can use any tangy cheese you like. And then I'll start adding a little more beautiful extra virgin olive oil just to loosen. And you don't have to, but sometimes it's nice to add just a little lemon juice. Yeah. Just a little bit. Couple of drips. Let me just drain this. And there's just enough residual water in there to kind of create a beautiful light, delicate sauce. Oh my goodness me. And it's pungent. Come on, Gennaro, little olive oil. Just a little bit of olive oil. And just a touch. And look at that. Homemade pasta. All the broccoli went inside the corteccia. Just a final little bit of cheese. Just like nonna's orecchiette, my pasta and pesto work in harmony to showcase that beautiful fresh broccoli. Salty, savory, the freshness from the greens. It's a beautiful, fantastic flavor. I love the way the shape of the pasta just sort of holds onto the olive oil and the smashed up broccoli. Beautiful. What are you waiting for? Oh. Mhm.
When you've got produce this fresh, there's no better way to show it off than in a spectacular salad. And I'm going to let you in on one of my all-time favorites. So, I'm going to show you the most fantastic Southern Italian-inspired salad using beautiful stone fruit. My grilled apricot, mozzarella, and prosciutto salad is pure Italian summer on a plate. I just love this because when I started learning from the Italians about putting fruit into salads, it was like a revelation to me. You know, herbs, interesting dressings, it went from this kind of side salad thing to a gastronomic meal. I've got amazing apricots right here. Look at these. Such amazing colors. So beautiful. You could do this with peaches or plums. I've got a barbecue on, but you could use a pan or a griddle pan or a grill. No trouble at all. Little bit of heat and that equals flavor. Back home, we generally have these dried, right? Um, when they're in season, they're great. Give them a twist. We're going to use thyme. I love thyme. It's super beautiful. You can keep the little thyme tips, even though thyme is a woody herb, when it's in season like this, these tips kind of qualify for being delicate and gorgeous. So, I'll put that to one side, and then I'll take these gnarly bits of thyme. I'm going to kind of put them in, stalks and all, and I'm going to add a little olive oil, and just dress them. Simply like that. Thyme and apricots, right? That's the beginning of our story. Kind of lightly place them down. They're oiled, so hopefully they won't stick. Pop the thyme on top, and whilst that starts cooking, crack on with the dressing. Start with two to three tablespoons of red or white wine vinegar, and a small handful of pink peppercorns. I had a beautiful fish dish in Amalfi, and um, blew my mind, fragrance, and I started using them from there for delicate things. I'm just going to crush them in my hands, and put them in and around this. They're dried, but a little bit of vinegar will rehydrate them. Pink peppercorns give a mild, peppery, fragrant hit. Perfect for salads. And then I'm going to put some oil in here. You know, we're going to equal that vinegar, so it's going to be feisty. Of course, if you want to make it less tangy, put more oil in. Gorgeous extra virgin olive oil. Look at that, what a picture. The next bit of the story is onions. Use a nice sweet onion, a red onion, a shallot, and finely slice it as much as you can. And as I'm scattering them in, I just want to push them so those little circles give or take fall apart. If you scrunch these up a little bit, you get a lovely rosy hum to um, the dressing, and the onions start to change. And my missus is not an onion lover, but this changes it, so they become subtle and elegant and delightful. Let's have a little look at our apricots. The apricots should take about 4 to 5 minutes to char and caramelize. Yes, yes, yes. They'll quickly start to soften and color. Now, I'm going to turn this salad into something really sumptuous. This is a beautiful buffalo mozzarella, made with buffalo's milk. To be honest, if it's fresh, all mozzarella's good. I don't care what anyone says. These uh, mozzarella's are kind of made in the most beautiful sort of twisted fashion. What you can do, if you're lucky, is you can unwind it, kind of get in there. And then love it some more. A little bit of salt. You can give it a little bit of pepper. Just love. Just a tiny little stroke of lemon zest. Add just a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Yes. Look at that. We got color. Come on. Beautiful. I mean, look at those colors. Charring fruit is a brilliant way to supercharge a salad, adding instant sweetness and warmth. The next bit is prosciutto. So, I get yourself some nice prosciutto San Daniele. And uh, that's a little town. Uh, specific, you know, it's a specific quality, and they're famous. So, people know prosciutto de Parma or de Modena, San Daniele. Very, very delicious. So, look, I've got some nice leaves. Uh, nice little tip, if you've ever got nice leaves, just get a bit of kitchen paper like this and wet it. And it just kind of keeps them really fresh and vibrant, especially if you're doing picnics and stuff like that. So, let's put some rocket in the story. And for contrast and crunch, go in with some beautiful romaine leaves. Lovely little cups. Beautiful. Some little chicory. Don't matter what leaves you get, but something interesting. You can slice some up if you want. You can cup some up if you want. Got a little radicchio. Just a few bits. You don't need much. Just hack it up. Nice. Let's just toss this up. Like that. Do it at the table at the last minute. And this is a salad in its own right, which is amazing. But then of course, when you take the mozzarella and start putting tears and wedges, then starts becoming not a salad but a meal. Then we start taking the prosciutto off. And we'll just kind of let gravity do its thing. Little waves and quaffs. Look at that. Tuck it under. And then we've got our gorgeous smashes of color. Bosch. And there's a warmth element. So they're not super hot now, but it's warm, it's cold, you're playing with texture, you're playing with color, you're playing with sweet and sour, and you're playing with temperature. You know? And actually, even some of these times, I don't want the stalks, but some of these thyme leaves, I'll have those. Crispy bits. Nice. And that's it. All you need is a little olive oil. And for the finishing touch, sprinkle on some of that fragrant flowering thyme. Look at that. Let's hear it for salads. Let's make a big deal of salads. It's not just about combinations and flavors, it's about being responsive to what's in season, what's hanging on, you know, trees and what's down the markets. I hope you try this. If you do, you're going to have a little flavor explosion. My bright and beautiful salad with creamy mozzarella, sweet caramelized apricots, salty prosciutto, and fresh crunchy leaves. Oh, yes. Colors, guys, colors. Green. The onion works. It holds it all together. Mhm. So good. Clean and fresh with the mozzarella. The saltiness from the prosciutto is just so savory and gorgeous. I wouldn't remove anything. I wouldn't add anything more. It's just fresh and zingy. Go and get some stone fruit. Have a little grill up. Get some caramelization going. Mix up some flavors. Life's way too short.
We're back on the road in search of the secrets to Puglia's culinary renaissance. Gennaro's brought me to the region's capital, Bari. Home to one of the country's most industrious fishing ports and some of the finest seafood Italy has to offer. I love the way they just like jump off the boats, set up their shop. For centuries, locals have flocked to the quay for some of the freshest fish straight off the boat. For these guys, the best way to eat seafood this fresh is raw, celebrating the natural flavors of the sea. Crudo, raw. Raw fish is normal here. It's like the freshest fish ever. And it's amazing. It's like, you know, you got mussels, you got clams, you got octopus, you got cuttlefish, you got prawns. Gennaro, look at the old the sea urchins. Aren't they beautiful? I love a sea urchin. And the effort they have to go and get them. Cuz you used to catch them when you were a little boy. I used to step on them. They really hurt. You catch it, you put them on a coffee, you cut them on the side. Squeeze a little bit of lemon. But it's such a delicacy. Hallelujah. And this is this. What's What do you call that? Tatufi? Tatufi, yeah. Well, truffles. Sea truffles. It's literally the ugliest thing on the planet I've ever seen. And inside it is this little golden nugget. They call it a fruit. It's kind of a How do you say the word the animus animus an enemy? An enemy, yes.
[laughter] This is the quickest way to upset all the locals. Just tell your fishmonger that you want to eat the seafood raw and ask for super fresh or sushi quality. We know this lot straight from the sea and I can't wait to give it a go the locals way. Kicking off with tartufi. Tartufi means truffle. It doesn't taste anything like tartufi, but it does taste utterly of the sea. So nice. Sweet and bitter. It's a really unusual combination. Really delicious. I love that. Come on then big boy. I think a lot of people have probably never tried a raw muscle before. Maybe an oyster. So sweet. Tender. Iony. Very very nice. You can smell and you can taste the sea and every single one has got texture to it. Then there's the sea urchin which is such a delicacy. If you look in here, you can see these little bits of orange. And they call that the liver and and the locals just get bits of bread and just use it like butter. I'm just using my finger. And it's kind of sweet. It's taste of the sea. It's got a lot of very subtle bitterness to it that's really really nice. The ricci as they call this are only in season in the spring and they go absolutely crazy for it. We're going for For little cuttlefish now. How you going to cut that, big boy? Yeah, I've got a knife here. What would the locals do? Eat them as is. Oh, it's so tender. Oh, my goodness. People always talk about squid or octopus being tough. That's as tender as it comes. So delicious. Quite neutral in flavor. I mean, it's got a like a saltiness to it. I should have put the lemon on top. That come from your multi core. Gennaro's answer to everything in life is put a bit of lemon on it. Yeah. There's no doubt about it. The seafood here is world-class, just like back home. It's delicious raw and pure, but I want to get creative and have a play with some of that incredible Apulian produce. And when you're in the market garden of Italy, what better way to see what's in season than with a little bit of foraging? Look, wild fennel. Have a look. Just give it a little rub, and it smells of aniseed. It grows all around the world, parks, in streets, on roundabouts. It's a free food, and it's everywhere. Look. This is wild chicory. It's basically like a little dandelion. Incredibly nutritious. And you don't have to use the bigger leaves, but these tiny little leaves, see where the bud comes? [gasps] That can be beautiful. There's so much amazing free food out there, but some can be harmful. So, do your research before heading out. This here is myrtle. If I just take this off, this is fantastic to roast with. Amazing with pork. And this is kind of considered a woody herb, like bay leaves and rosemary. But do you see the change in color? See how it's gone light? So, that's new growth. So, even with thyme and rosemary and myrtle and bay leaves, when it kind of gives you that new life, it's very tender. And that could be used to garnish fish in the most delicate of ways. I can't wait to combine this lot with fresh fish straight from the market. And don't forget you can do this at home, too. So now I'm going to make like an antipasti crudo, a mixed selection of beautiful raw fish dishes, something to feast your eyes on, something to kind of just get you excited. And if you've never tried raw fish before, maybe this will help you get there. My four fish crudo plates are a delicate combo of succulent seafood, fragrant herbs, and zingy citrus. A bit like ceviche, this is fresh, exciting, and insanely delicious. So now I'll fillet it down the fish. Remember, you can get it at this stage from your fishmonger. So this is actually the simplest simplest recipe in the world. We're just going to embellish it. So first up, anchovies. I'm going to keep it quite simple, right? Parsley and lemon. There's nothing new there. Let's just start with something classic. So the lemon juice goes in to our little platter here. Little bit of good Puglia olive oil, tiny bit of salt. Parsley, irony, fresh, gorgeous. A nice little place to land our anchovies. The silver skins is going to be so good and that lemon juice will start to cook the fish. The citric acid from lemons, limes, oranges have a similar effect on fish to cooking, turning the flesh opaque and the texture starts to firm up. It's delicious. Such a joy. Okay. So there you go. First one, very simple. Right, I'm looking at this beautiful red mullet. Right, it's a flaky fish. It's fresh. It's clean. It's got a little light oiliness about it. I'm going to go a bit thicker on the slice. Get yourself a super sharp knife and slice against the grain of the fish for really clean cuts. You can experiment with presentations, thickness, such beautiful color. Little flex of of of zest. Hardly need any at all. The juice is essential. We'll start to cut the fish. And then got the new season's peas here. As a kid when I used to eat the little raw peas, they were sweet and delicious. When you eat the seafood, it's sweet and delicious. I really want you to have a go at this. There is no right and wrong, right? You know, the idea of some raw red mullet with some fresh peas, little bit of rocket, but go for the really tiny leaves of rocket. And the olive oil. Beautiful. Fantastic. Next, I've got this gorgeous whole langoustine and some really good quality tiger prawns. Let's just have some fun. Be creative. There's no right and wrong. We're going to hit it up with lemon juice again. But then I've got these bigger prawns here. And actually I might just chop these up and make a little bit of a tartar. These prawns are so sweet. So, I want to play with that. And And on the tree over there is those beautiful little marmalade oranges, right? So, orange prawns, delicious. Got some orange juice on there. I'm going to work with some chilies. Dried flakes work great. That gorgeous fennel from the garden. I'm just going to pop this off. Put that on. Completely bonkers, but utterly delicious. Even the flowers here. This is a sage, right? You'd never eat that with fish. Never. But the flowers, they're edible. And they're rather beautiful. Few more chilies. [sighs] Come on. Finally, sea bass carpaccio with sweet chili and crunchy apple. I don't want it to be super thin. I want it to have a little bit of thickness to it. So, think almost like kind of smoked salmon, the way we treat that. So, I'm definitely going to use chili. Get rid of the seeds. I don't want it to be screaming hot. For a delicate look, dice it as small as you can. And I'm just going to use some apple. And that idea that you can use fruit I really like. This eats so well with shellfish, scallops, raw fish. Dice your apple the same size as the chili. So you get the heat and then you get the freshness. It's going to be so beautiful. Seabass carpaccio, chili and apple. Just a little bit of fennel on top. And with a really nice cold glass of rosé, that's going to be so good. Gina! My small plates of fish crudo are the perfect antipasti. Fresh, melt-in-your-mouth seafood fused with zingy citrus fruits, fiery chili, fragrant herbs, and sweet peas. Do you know what? This isn't a Picasso on a plate. Start there. We've got seabass with apple and chili and fennel. Oh my god, it is an explosion. You've got that chili and then you've got that sweetness with the the apples. And then we've got the langoustine and prawns with a little orange juice from that tree. Mhm. Mhm. So good. And you see those little rosemary flowers and sage flowers? Mhm. Oh. Mhm. So fresh, so delicate, so delicious. Right, Red mullet, go on, try some. And slightly more oily. Wild rocket because wild rocket is a little bit bitter. A little bit of pepperiness, yeah. No. I love anchovies. I just love it. And the parsley. If I take this anchovy, you can see where it's changed color. There's the raw part and then where the lemon juice has kind of cooked it. Go on. It's so good. Mhm. Everyone of taste different. Everyone has to the fish it is. It's a lovely taste of isn't it? It is, indeed. Fresh fish, fresh vegetables, glass of wine, nice company. Bravo. Salute. Salute.
Puglia's sensational seafood has inspired many a recipe, but we've tracked down one that's got us both buzzing. I'm so excited to see the next nonna, aren't you? To see. I'm excited, too. They're all lovely nonnas, the one But this one is supposed to be the oracle of local cooking. We're heading to a medieval town called Locorotondo, one of the stunning whitewash hill towns that dot the Puglian landscape. We've come to meet a nonna whose cooking is so legendary the local chefs go to her for inspiration. This place is incredible. It's like a labyrinth of narrow cobbled streets and some of the most dazzling buildings I've ever seen. This is smaller alleyway that that used to be like for donkey who sees, you know, never been made for car. The community, you know, from one window they looked to the other window. That was It was community, was together. That building. Oh gosh. You Italians, you definitely know how to build beautiful buildings. Really beautiful. I love all the whitewash walls. Oh, look at that. Look look up here. Nonna's most famous dish is a simple family recipe that sounds a bit like paella. Linda! Hey! Ciao. Buonasera. Buonasera. Come state? State bene? Very well. Nice. Linda, c'hai una reputazione incredibile. Sei la migliore cuoca che c'è qui. Senti, io sono brutta e sono stanca e il lavoro che non mi manca. Oh, wow. Oh, bless her. [laughter] 81-year-old nonna Linda's been making her signature dish since the 1950s. This unique baked rice recipe is called tiella, and it dates back to when Puglia was under Spanish rule in the 16th century. So, this is very exciting. I've never seen or heard of it before. It kind of feels a little bit like Pugliese kind of paella. So, Look at the way she's done it. What are we doing? I can't do that. I think we might be going back to school today, Jenny. Avevo quindici anni. Really? 15 years? Bless her. Really? I've never seen anyone cut a potato like that in my life. No. Basically, she's kind of crisscrossed the potato. I'm going to go home and start chopping like this. We've got one onion in there, one clove of garlic, celery, and we're ready now to go in with the parsley. I mean, I like this recipe already. It's all in one pan. It's really quick cooking. How important is it to pass these recipes on and give them new life? This dish is all about creating mouth-watering layers. Next, a couple of handfuls of rice, grated Parmesan, chopped tomatoes, and a good lug of extra virgin olive oil. See? A little bit. [laughter] Now, time for the fresh seafood that Puglia is so famous for. Here we go. There's the mussels. We're shocking the mussels into here, which is so delicious. She's kind of using the mussels like fish sauce. You know, that savory umami sort of flavor you get from anchovies. It's going to be amazing. Do you know what? I never had something like this before. I can't wait. All these succulent fresh mussels will really supercharge the tiella. Nonna Linda's giving us a real master class in flavor. I haven't even tried this and I know that this is serious. This one-pot wonder is classic nonna cooking. Layer up those ingredients and let the oven do all the hard work. Do you know, look at this place. Oh, I love it. Linda, quanti tempo qui? Really? 55 had all those children. She's a great great grandma and she's been cooking that dish all of this time. Yeah, I love that advice. Seize the moment, right? Do it now. Bella. [laughter] Nonna's spent years tweaking this recipe and after half an hour in the oven we finally get to tuck in. Linda, it looks incredible. I mean, the smell is amazing, isn't it? [snorts] Ottimo. It's so blooming delicious. Honestly, the depth of flavor, the rice and potatoes just suck up the flavor from the mussels. It's just delicious. Yeah, I bet. That's exactly what me and Gennaro wanted when we came on this journey to find undiscovered recipes. Well, there you go, there's one. What a joy. Grazie, Thank you. [laughter] I'm so chuffed. I've discovered this extraordinary seafood recipe layered with local ingredients, family history, and all that flavor. That is the story of the food, isn't it? Mom looking after taking care of your family. All that kind of stuff. Amazing. Lovely lady.
Every family needs a one-pot wonder. So, I've come up with a beautiful fish stew that's packed to the rafters with fresh pulliam crocches. This is a triumph of a dish. I know you're going to love it. It's absolutely inspired by Nonna Linda. Just like Nonna's tiella, my supercharged one-pot seafood stew is simple to prep but outrageously tasty. In a funny sort of way, I'm uncooking, right? I don't want chef's food. I want Nonna's food. Onions first. I think it's very interesting this kind of way she was using her knife, you know, completely un-cheffy. And here I am copying her. The celery. It doesn't matter if it's erratic. Twist it around like that. I'm going to use one clove of garlic. Uh, the potato here, just like her, I want to just peel the potato, and then I'm going to cut mine slightly bigger, slightly more substantial. And then I'm going to use a little chili. Fresh or dried, it's all good. And then some parsley, just like she did. You know, I'm kind of chopping this with a slightly blunt knife. So, of course, when you start to bruise and tear and twist herbs, you're getting more flavor out of it. It's quite fantastic. So, there we go. Veg in there. I'm going to turn the gas on, and we're going to fire it up. Just soften your veg on a medium heat. Then, for a splash of color, whack in some fresh courgettes. Onions, garlic, celery, you can pretty much get it all the time. You know, you can make it seasonal by using courgettes, using asparagus or peas, broad beans, whatever you can get hold of you can reflect in here just like Nona Linda was saying about her dish. I now need flavor. And when it comes to fish and flavor, you're never going to get that really from fillets of fish. You're going to get it from claws. You're going to get it from heads. So when you put something like a langoustine in, squeeze the head. That is like the most amazing stock cube right there. Use any combo of fish and shellfish you like. But the secret is to keep the heads on and the fish on the bone. And now we'll break with white wine. Just a little white wine, half a glass. As that starts to simmer, we go in with some beautiful passata. Or you could use a couple of tins of really good tomatoes. Look at that. Have you got those muscles, big boy? I'm coming now. Now this has had like six or seven minutes. Let's put this Oh my god. on top, right? Just like Nona Linda, I'm using fresh mussels to ramp up the taste. Plus clams and a handful of peas. The squid here I'm going to literally just slice up nice and delicate. Squid is a funny one, isn't it, Gennaro? You either want to cook it quick It's between or long. Yeah. Anything in the between is tough. It's tough. The clams, the mussels and the squid, they need 3 minutes max. So we'll put that on and then it's going to start to steam. The mussels and the clams, it's going to be delicious. They'll release their incredible, gorgeous juice. To make a delicious garlic aioli, simply whisk two to three egg yolks and slowly add olive oil until it thickens. Squeeze in some lemon juice and hit it with some smashed up garlic and an anchovy fillet and season to taste. And that's going to completely transform a mayonnaise. When it hits the heat of the broth Whoa. It gives it a woof. Ready? Yeah. Grab it. One, two, three. Yeah. Oh my goodness me. To mop up the rich sauce, serve with a good old hunk of crusty bread. Just get some juice onto that bread. That bread's going to suck it up. Look at the colors, Gennaro. Little bit of this lovely garlic and anchovy aioli. And then we put it on the top. Yes. Yes. And then if you want to put a few bits of parsley just on top, go for it. Go for it. Wow. Yes. It is a wow. Cooking with all these fresh ingredients in one pot has created layer upon layer of mind-blowing flavor. Topped off with that sublime creamy pungent aioli, what a feast. With flavor like this Oh my gosh. You're going to go nuts. And look look at this. As the sauce goes into that bread, it just soaks it all up. Oh my god. Little bit of mayonnaise. Evan. Wow. It's fast. It's delicious. It's nutritious. And it is a tactile dish. You know, we want flavor. Also, we want to be peeling things like prawns and langoustines. You're going to have some bones in there. Just throw them in a little bowl in the middle of the table. It's fun. I think this dish is absolute homage to Linda, an incredible woman. And a great cook. And a great cook.
