FOODANDFRIENDSHIP As his new cookbook, Gennaro’s Fast Cook Italian – filled with speedy recipes – hits the shelves, finds out more about the famous chef and his ‘boy’ Jamie Oliver

Fresh Pea and Burrata Salad, with Sunflower Seed Crostini

Spend an hour with Gennaro Contaldo and you are guaranteed to be fed, for this 69-year-old is still passionate about being in the kitchen. His new cookbook, Gennaro’s Fast Cook Italian, is a collection of recipes that take fewer than 40 minutes to go from languishing in the fridge to animating your plate.

The idea behind it is to prove to people that it doesn’t take much to put together a simple meal chock-full of flavour.

“You’ve got to have the essentials,” said Gennaro, ticking off olive oil, garlic and chilli. “You can make a beautiful dish with just those ingredients and pasta – it’s what Italian teenagers eat when they get in, especially at midnight, this is how it goes.”

Combine those basics with whatever you’ve got kicking around in the fridge and you’re sorted, he says. “A bit of bacon? Some eggs? Fantastic. You make a lovely carbonara!”

The book itself brims with easy salads, interesting but quick risottos (carrot and celeriac anyone?), straightforward desserts and of course pasta.

The cook and TV presenter grew up in Minori on the Amalfi Coast and his Italian accent hasn’t been diluted by years working on the London restaurant scene, as owner of the now closed Passione, and at the late Antonio Carluccio’s Neal Street Restaurant (with whom he was one of the BBC’s Two Greedy Italians), where Contaldo first met and began mentoring a young Jamie Oliver.

Oliver has his own Italian cookbook – Jamie Cooks Italy – coming out later this summer.

Is there any semblance of competition or rivalry between the two of them?

“Course not – I am in his new book,” he said. “Jamie and me, he’s my boy – of course there’s no competition, it’s never existed.”

In fact, the book saw the duo tour Italy together, learning the skills of Italian nonnas. “You’re always learning,” he said. “There’s no end.”

It explains why he’s passionate about getting people to cook, and also why you’re unlikely to find him ordering takeaways, not when pizza is so “easy to make”.

“People should cook a little more, they should make their own,” he says. “If you do cook every day – I know it is hard – but once you feed your family, you give them good food, you give them a lotta love. Once they grow up, they start to cook as well – they see, they remember.

Food for him is intrinsic to joy, and to taking care of people. “We have to eat three times a day,” he said.

“Let’s do it properly, together – then it becomes a party, then it becomes family, then it becomes love.”

SERVES 4

“This is a lovely salad to make during the spring, when fresh peas are available. For speed, you can buy ready-podded peas. Burrata is a fresh cheese from Puglia, which looks like mozzarella but has a very creamy interior. Good Italian delis will stock it, but if you prefer, you can use buffalo mozzarella instead.”

175g fresh peas, podded weight 85g watercress Leaves of 2 gem lettuce hearts 250g burrata, or buffalo mozzarella

FOR THE CROSTINI 50g sunflower seeds

A handful of fresh basil leaves 1tbsp extra-virgin olive oil A pinch of sea salt A pinch of dried chilli flakes

4 slices of good-quality crusty, seeded wholemeal bread, toasted

FOR THE DRESSING

2tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1tbsp lemon juice

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

● Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add the peas and cook for about two minutes, until tender but not overcooked. Drain, rinse under cold running water and drain well.

● Meanwhile, prepare the crostini. Place the sunflower seeds, basil leaves and olive oil in a blender or food processor and whiz until you obtain a smooth consistency. Combine with the salt and chilli flakes. Toast the bread and spread with the sunflower seed paste. Set aside.

● Combine the dressing ingredients.

● Arrange the watercress and gem lettuce leaves on a large serving plate, sprinkle over the cooked peas, and pour over half of the dressing. Gently break up the burrata or mozzarella and scatter over the greens. Drizzle with the remaining dressing and serve with the crostini on the side.

Italian chef Gennaro Contaldo