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Jamie Oliver and his best mate and mentor, Gennaro Contaldo, visited Cardiff this week to promote brand new show, Jamie Cooks Italy – and its accompanying cook book. Speaking to Kathryn Williams, the chef shares his love of the Welsh Italian connection
Jamie Oliver and his mentor, Gennaro Contaldo, visited Cardiff this week to promote brand new show, Jamie Cooks Italy
IF you’re going to get cooking inspiration from anywhere, Italian nonnas are possibly the best you can get.
This is the last generation of nonnas that lived without modern intervention, and their recipes and knowledge are at risk of dying out.
Celeb chef – and campaigner to get Brits to eat better – Jamie Oliver has spent the past two years talking, cooking, filming and being inspired by these women, in some of Italy’s culinary-rich corners and gleaning some secrets to delicious traditional dishes which diners at his restaurant will be able to sample.
Jamie being bossed around by these Italian legends is one of the highlights of the shows, and for the 43-year-old who found fame with his BBC show The Naked Chef in 1999, it didn’t distract him one bit.
“It felt normal,” says Jamie. “You can’t do what I do without being prepared to learn from anyone and who better to learn from than the nonnas?
“I felt humbled and grateful to be in their presence. I don’t think I’ve had in 20 years issues about who I learn from. You’ve got to take it.”
So what was it like learning these wonderful dishes from these women?
He adds: “They were utterly charming and we really got on with them well. We spent a lot of time with them, because you can’t rush 90-year-old women. And we didn’t want to surface skim, we used the food as an excuse to really learn about their childhood and their youth and learn about their culture and how the food fits in.”
Surely the chef has seen all there is to see when it comes to cooking? He has, after all, released 23 cook books and shot more than 30 TV shows about cooking.
But when it comes to nonna’s cooking, it’s a game-changer and Jamie gets bowled over by the recipes.
“Even with the same ingredients it still happens,” he says. “You think about the chords you play on a guitar and the amount of infinite songs you can play.
“It’s just so interesting and so clever and amazing, the nonnas and the location and the season and how you feel that day all gives you purpose to visualise the dish.
“So when we put it on the menu in the restaurant whether it’s the chef, the waiters or the customers we can have some real fun with it.”
New dishes on the Jamie’s Italian menu include Salina chicken inspired by Nonna Marina – chicken breast & thigh in a tomato & aubergine sauce with capers, pine nuts & fresh basil, served with lemony couscous; Acqua pazza inspired by Nonno Francesco – whole sustainable sea bream cooked in “crazy water” with fennel, red & yellow cherry tomatoes, white wine, Calabrian chilli, Leccino olives & fresh herbs; and summer orecchiette from Nonna Cinzia – homemade Puglian orecchiette with broad beans, sweet cherry tomatoes, basil, aged pecorino & extra virgin olive oil.
As Jamie is visiting a place with a very strong, proud Italian connection, he’s aware that Welsh-Italians have played a big part in the development of Wales’ culinary scene and that, he says, is an inspiration to him.
“We’ve had a really good time here and Cardiff and Wales has been good to us and there’s a huge connection to Italy in Wales.
“I’m friends with the (Merthyr Tydfil-born) Chiappa sisters who are fantastic and they are a testament to that Italian heritage.
“I’ve spent time in the Valleys myself, working filming with the Italian communities.
“The reason they came here was for a better life with their families, so there was already a struggle in their journey, but through versions of sadness and struggle these Italians are so resourceful their ability to merge to find to forage is constantly inspiring to me.
“So the fact that they can start a businesses where they do a hybrid of Welsh-Italian is exciting.
“Some go further than others (with their food offerings), but I tell you one thing you go home with them and it’s like being in Puglia or Tuscany.
“They can have the thickest Welsh accent but their heritage and culture is as much from the smallest corner of Italy. I have to say, I love it.
“All I can say is I’ve spent time with Welsh Italians, drunk homemade wine
and eaten world-class pasta and fresh porcini, multiple times, and behind secret doors and spice racks there’s been stuff foraged and pickled and batch cooked.
“They’re a real important part of Welsh culture and I think the locals think so too... because they are locals.”
And although Jamie is positive about Cardiff’s culinary scene, he said it’s vital to keep town and city centres alive.
“It’s brilliant to have a restaurant in Wales. There seems to be some brilliant action happening in terms of independents, pop-ups and farmers markets.
“But the area that we are in here is the centre of town next to John Lewis and, like John Lewis, we are like, ‘OK, how do we get people into the town centre?’ It’s important to have a town centre.”
Revamping the restaurant is a priority to keep those customers coming through the door and the chef is well aware that Jamie’s Italian cannot have a thoroughly systematic style across the UK.
“It’s not about the brand, it’s about the town, it should only ever be about what Cardiff needs.
“I’ve come from Birmingham, which is doing really well for us, as is Cardiff by the way, so thanks to all our Welsh customers.
“But at the same time they need totally different things when we refresh them at the end of the year and here at the beginning of next year.”
Jamie Cooks Italy, the cook book, is out now and the show airs on Channel 4, Mondays at 8.30pm