Jamie Cooks Italy (2018) s01e04 Episode Script
Basilicata
1 Buongiorno Torino! There's nowhere quite like Italy.
Look how busy it is.
I love it.
The landscapes, the people, the history.
It's unbelievable.
And of course, the most amazing food.
Oh! I'm just having a moment.
I love it, and I always have done.
This is like my idea of heaven.
Great food here isn't about Michelin-starred chefs.
It's about home-cooked recipes.
So in this series, I'm going right to the heart of Italian cooking Oh! Oh! So good.
.
.
to the mamas and the nonnas of Italy.
These are some of the best home-cooked recipes in the world.
They've perfected recipes handed down over generations.
I'm just doing what I'm told.
I love it.
I'm travelling far and wide to see what secrets I can learn from these true masters of the kitchen.
That is a game-changer.
And I'll be showing you how to cook up delicious Italian dishes With flavour like this, you're going to go nuts.
.
.
that use the nonnas' way to transform the simple into the sublime.
I have to stop myself eating.
It's so good.
I never, ever thought the south of Italy would look like that.
I'm off the beaten track in the breathtaking Basilicata, with my old pal and mentor, chef Gennaro Contaldo.
I'm unlocking the secrets of cucina povera, meaning "poor man's food".
I reckon the food here might be some of the most truly vintage, authentic Italian cooking that we might see on this whole journey.
This is the secret of Italy, and the food is going to be amazing.
Basilicata is a region in the deep south of Italy, and our first stop is in the ancient town of Matera.
Matera was once called the "disgrace of Italy".
It was so poor, whole families were still living in caves as recently as the 1950s.
Woo! Look at the valley going down.
Look at all those caves.
Look at that, incredible.
Listen to the bells.
BELLS RING Breathe in.
Breathe properly.
I've come to this traditionally poor region to learn the secrets of cucina povera.
Because this humble home cooking is some of the simplest, but most delicious food you can find in Italy.
That whole thing about cucina povera just brings out resourcefulness, creativity, and how do you stretch food? How do you get flavour when you got very little ingredients? The people here have survived making something out of nothing, and in particular, they're known for the most phenomenal pasta.
Each one of these different villages round here, they all make their own little pastas in different ways, different shapes, different sauces.
I want to see the way they make it.
The way they touch it.
Yes.
Gennaro's taking me to meet the grand dame of pasta around here, Nonna Teresa.
Ciao, buongiorno! Ciao! SHE SPEAKS ITALIAN THEY SPEAK ITALIAN Ciao! Ciao! Buongiorno! Grazie.
Buongiorno! 85-year-old Nonna Teresa is a ninja in the kitchen.
She's been making pasta her whole life, cooking up a storm for local weddings and celebrations.
She may doubt my abilities, but I'm keen to learn.
First lesson is no eggs.
They were a luxury that people couldn't afford.
So here it's just flour, salt and water.
Si? Si.
Si.
You just can't imagine it, can you? Her mum and dad went working in the fields all day.
She was making the dinner, making the pasta at seven.
Really, really poor.
You know, survival food.
I mean, that is what cucina povera was, weren't it? Survival.
Next lesson, shaping the pasta into macaroni using a thin wooden skewer.
I've never felt under pressure so much.
I think that's quite nice.
OK.
The sort of a subtle thing that she does, you got to be able to feel it right.
Said to be light and gentle.
OK.
Next one.
Nonna, this is a big moment for me, and you seem to be finding it very amusing.
Ugh To get the thumbs up from this macaroni master, I'm going to need way more practice.
So while she takes a break, I'm carrying on rolling.
She's having a rest now, and guess what? Now I'm knocking them out, and she hasn't seen one of them.
Ciao.
She's properly taking the mickey out of me.
Ah! Brava! Oh, you've seen it! Oh, yeah! Hallelujah! It's time to cook.
Come on, girl.
Let's have a little rave-up.
Nonna Teresa's promised to show me her favourite recipe.
The macaroni, topped with spicy peppers and crunchy pangrattato breadcrumbs.
First up, she's using spicy dried peppers.
So they have these bigger chilli peppers here.
Milder, sweeter chilli.
Very, very famous of this area, that she's tearing.
She's taken the seeds out of.
She kind of fries them, makes them blister.
This is a classic cucina povera trick, using big flavours to make a little go a long way.
Next, a couple of cloves of garlic.
Then, a surprise ingredient.
So, this is horseradish.
I've never seen it with a pasta.
So this is a really unusual, undiscovered pasta as far as I'm concerned.
The fresh grated horseradish is fried up with breadcrumbs to make a crunchy pangrattato.
Have I seen anything like this before? Never.
Never.
Known as "poor man's Parmesan", this is what people used to use when they couldn't afford cheese.
Nonna Teresa, the pasta's cooked.
This lovely sweet, spicy chilli oil.
Look at that.
Then we're going to finish it with the pangrattato.
I can't wait to taste it.
Look at that pasta! It's beautiful.
HE SPEAKS ITALIAN Absolutely delicious.
Never had a pasta like this ever before in Italy.
It's not chilli hot, it's just like, sweet.
Really gentle.
Grazie mille, Nonna Teresa.
I see trees of green Being able to knock up a really delicious meal that you can enjoy and makes you feel all homely, if you've got nothing, is a massive gift, isn't it? Of course.
It's a blessing.
I feel very privileged, because as I am older than you, I still learn so much now.
What a wonderful world Nonna Teresa has shown us just how creative you can be with a few pence' worth of ingredients.
And I want to have a go at harnessing that cucina povera magic in my next dish.
I've got a pasta dish that is going to blow your mind that is absolutely inspired by Nonna Teresa.
This spicy sausage and sweet pepper pasta is deceptively simple, but tastes outrageously good.
It's an absolute home run of a pasta sauce.
So I'm going to put a good old lug of olive oil in the pan.
I've got a dried hot chilli and a dried pepper.
These are sweet.
These are not hot, right? So look in supermarkets, you'll find there is actually dried peppers in good supermarkets, and if you can't find them, you could just use a little level teaspoon of sweet paprika, OK.
So just take the stalk off and shake out the seeds.
And just like Nonna Teresa, I'm going to tear in these peppers, like that.
And then of course, the hot spicy one, make it a little bit smaller.
This has got heat, this has got attitude.
We're going to make this oil even more beautiful by picking in some thyme.
So just take those lovely leaves off the stalk.
Look at the chillies and the peppers.
They've gone from a kind of dusty colour to a gorgeous crispy, shiny, deep red colour.
And I'm going to sprinkle that on the finished dish later.
Then, let's have a look at the sausage.
They're spiced.
It's quite a big old sausage, it's got a fair old bit of girth on there.
I'm using a local Lucanica sausage, but any quality spicy sausage will work a treat.
I'm just going to use that fork to sort of bring out the pork.
Now, I'm taking the skin away, cos there's no need for it.
For a finer sauce, give your sausage meat a little mash.
Then add the chopped red onion and garlic.
Move that around in all that beautiful flavoured oil.
We want to keep frying it to bring the sweetness out in the onions.
After ten minutes of simmering, add half a glass of wine.
Let that reduce, then whack in a tin of plum tomatoes.
I can promise you, this sauce is a real win-win.
It's a crowd pleaser.
Sweet tomatoes, sweet onions.
Gorgeous sausage and gentle spice.
Let that just blip away for like, 15, 20 minutes.
And that's your sauce, pretty much done.
This sauce will work brilliantly with any dried pasta.
But I'd love you to have a go at making it fresh.
Now, I've got the dough, exactly the same as Nonna Teresa's, right? The durum wheat flour with warm water, a bit of salt, and I've come up with a new pasta shape that's not only beautiful, but is really, really easy, that you guys can try at home.
I mean, this is literally child's play.
Roll it out to the thickness of your little finger.
Right? You can see mine is far from perfect, right? And some are fatter than others.
It doesn't matter.
I want you to be inspired to have a go at this.
To make this brilliantly simple pasta shape, I've come up with a cheeky little trick.
I've found my new best friend - the back of a grater.
Pick up this, and just rub it off.
Right? Look at that.
They're so much fun to do.
And so easy.
I kind of quite like the fact that they're all a bit uneven.
That's home-made.
You've done well.
It's bless.
They look like little hedgehog.
Little hedgehog.
Yeah! How do you say that in Italian? Porcospino.
Porcospino? So we got a new pasta, porcospino, OK.
The water's boiling.
So let's cook it, Gennar.
Come on, let's do it.
In we go.
They'll take about four minutes to cook.
Next up, I want some grated hard cheese for a more luxurious, oozy finish to this dish.
So in we go with the pasta.
And then we're going to put some of this beautiful, gorgeous sausage sauce on.
And then some of this beautiful cheese on top.
You can see how that wonderful local cheese is getting stringy.
I just want to finish it with some of these fantastic crispy bits of chilli.
My Nonna Teresa-inspired pasta, with soft sweet peppers and succulent spicy sausage.
Delicious.
Oh, my God.
Wowzers.
Beautiful.
Spiced chilli and tomato sauce with porcospino pasta.
If you've never made pasta before, that's one to have a go at.
Coming up, I'm adding some Italian magic to your Sunday roast lamb.
Ho-oh, my God! Those onions are ridiculous.
And we go off the beaten track to uncover the shepherds' cooking secrets.
It smells incredible.
Me and Gennaro are in Basilicata, in Italy's deep south, hunting down secret recipes from the region's most extraordinary home cooks.
Woohoo! Look at the view! We're actually above the clouds.
That's amazing.
This is shepherds' country, and we're about to meet a traditional shepherding family who've promised to show us a lamb dish that they've been cooking around here for centuries.
So lush and gorgeous, and this time of year when all the wild flowers are out, that's going to affect the flavour of the lamb massively.
I can't wait to see how the shepherds cook the lamb, and what I can learn from their ancient recipe.
How far are we going to go? Ahjust to the top.
But do you see where the top is? You'll be all right.
Ciao! Hey! Ciao! I'm here! Jamie, piacere.
Come stai? Domenico and his 80-year-old mum, Nonna Rosina, are fifth-generation shepherds that still cook the traditional way.
TRANSLATION FROM ITALIAN: Si, pastorale.
Really? A very, very old dish.
Under Nonna's watchful eye, Domenico gets started on chopping up the lamb.
Look at that pot, Gennaro.
Oh, God.
Wow.
I won't take in, anyway.
Mate, they've cooked some meals in that.
Beautiful.
So we're going to put the lamb in there.
It's hard, isn't it, Gennaro? Of course it is.
I mean, it's not like farming sheep in the UK - you can't leave them unattended, you know, you've got wolves running about.
This is why they're there most of the year - they live with the sheep.
So, basically, the whole lamb is going in the pot.
Simple, simple stew.
There's no store cupboard of ingredients up here.
So, other than some celery and a few onions, the whole stew will be flavoured with foraged herbs.
Timo selvatico? Si, si.
Just wild thyme.
It's everywhere round here.
The herbs will add a delicate fragrance to the meat, and I can't wait to taste it.
It's going to need some cooking.
Yeah.
So I think we might see a sunset.
Nonna finishes off the historic pastorale with some plum tomatoes and a handful of potatoes.
So it's now become a meal, right? Broth, meat, potatoes.
Sun's out.
Look at that! Woohoo! Guarda il sole, eh! Come on! Ecco tramonto, ah! As the night draws in, the big moment finally arrives.
It smells incredible, Gennar.
Oh, my God! Due! I like the way she said the two! Buon appetito, grazie mille.
Oh, Jamie, tasty! Oh, yeah.
Oh, my God.
Absolutelyexquisite.
The meat is sweet - it's delicious.
The bones have given the most amazing depth of flavour.
It is so good.
Agnello buonissimo.
Optimo.
Grazie mille.
Grazie.
MUSIC: Buona Sera by Dean Martin It's been a real privilege to learn the secrets of this Nonna's rustic dish.
Something few chefs would ever get to see.
And I'm feeling inspired.
Wow! My gosh! Look at that! Next day, Gennaro and I couldn't wait to get back out into the mountains to cook up our very own special feast.
Who doesn't love a beautiful roast leg of lamb? We're going to do it, inspired by our time yesterday, we've got two legs of lamb here, and we're going to do a fantastic stuffing.
It's going to be amazing.
I want to give a Great British favourite, the roast leg of lamb, a proper Italian twist.
I'm going to add layers and layers of flavour, with a delicious herb stuffing, that will take your Sunday roast to a whole new level.
Before we do that, I'm going to do a fantastic potato dish with burnt onions.
Bear with me, bear with me.
I'm going to throw the onions in the ashes here, right? And we're going to leave the skin on, and we're going to burn the skin, and the skin will protect the onions.
Of course, you would do this in your regular oven.
Just put the onions unpeeled onto a tray at 200 Celsius.
And even though it's burnt on the outside, inside it'll caramelised, it'll be sweet, it'll be delicious.
Now time to crack on with the Italian-inspired stuffing for the lamb.
We've got a tablespoon of capers, about five or six little fillets of anchovy, maybe five cloves of garlic.
Then we're going to go onto the herbs.
And I want to go back to that classic flavour that we love in Britain, which is mint.
Mint and lamb, best friends.
I've also got a bunch of parsley as well.
I loved how the shepherds flavoured their lamb with fresh herbs.
So I'm packing my stuffing full of them, for maximum fragrance.
And then we've got some more of this lovely thyme.
I'll add one dried chilli - as much or as little as you like.
Get rid of the seeds.
And then, to sort of bulk it and bind it all together, I've got some bread.
But what I want to do, you know, is soak it a little bit.
So I'm going to get some white wine and just pour that into the bread.
And if you've got stale bread, even better.
And it just rehydrates the bread.
Using stale bread like this is a classic cucina povera trick that helps stretch the ingredients further.
You know, Jamie, I'm going to put a little zest of lemon as well.
Yeah, go on, Gennar.
Now the lamb.
Get it deboned by your butcher, and then just open it out, ready for the stuffing.
So, Gennar, are you ready, my darling? Yeah.
There it is.
So I've got a nice big wodge of this.
I'm going to pack it into the lamb, like this.
So good.
You can smell all the herbs inside here.
Then, of course, we need to fold up and close the book, like that.
To hold the stuffing inside, tie up the lamb with some string.
So look at that.
A beautiful leg, stuffed with love and care.
I'm roasting my lamb over the fire, but at home you can pop it in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about an hour.
So, beautiful roast potatoes with roast lamb, yeah? So I've got nice little local potatoes here.
I'm just going to peel them.
Shall we just do Nonna-style? Nonna-style, go ahead.
Let's go little clanks.
Yeah.
Now for a delicious rustic twist.
Burnt onions - why would we do that? OK, first of all, you're not going to eat the burnt onions.
But that skin, that protective layer on the outside of the onions, is your best friend.
Check this out.
When you pull these onions out, on the inside they're going to be soft, and sweet, and incredible.
Heaven! Add these little beauties to your spuds, and then ramp up the flavour with rosemary, thyme, and garlic.
In the skin.
So just get it going.
You fry that for about 40 minutes - slowly, slowly - until cooked and golden and delicious.
Or you could even pop it in the oven if you wanted to.
The wind's coming in, Gennaro.
My God, you can see it.
Oh-ho-ho! Bless! Weather, do not turn on me now.
The lamb's cooking! After an hour, the lamb is ready to carve.
Oh Oh, it's still blushing.
Oh, ho! The aroma of all those herbs in the stuffing is incredible.
What I love is it's kind of, like, really dark on the outside .
.
but blushing and juicy on the inside.
Look - we've got the potatoes here.
Oh, yes.
And those onions have gone like marmalade.
Come on, Gennar.
Mm! Oh, ho, ho! Those onions are ridiculous.
The stuffing is sublime.
My homage to an Italian roast leg of lamb, with a knockout herb stuffing, crispy potatoes, and those sweet, sweet, marmalade onions.
What a treat.
What do you reckon, Gennaro, Basilicata? Yeah.
Fantastic, undiscovered region, right? The secret jewels of Italy.
I think so.
Next time How excited are you to be in Sicily? What a dream! It's so beautiful! .
.
I find out what makes the food there so different Come on! This is Sicilian afternoon tea.
.
.
get a taste of their passion No! .
.
and cook pasta with a Sicilian twist.
That is a game changer.
Look how busy it is.
I love it.
The landscapes, the people, the history.
It's unbelievable.
And of course, the most amazing food.
Oh! I'm just having a moment.
I love it, and I always have done.
This is like my idea of heaven.
Great food here isn't about Michelin-starred chefs.
It's about home-cooked recipes.
So in this series, I'm going right to the heart of Italian cooking Oh! Oh! So good.
.
.
to the mamas and the nonnas of Italy.
These are some of the best home-cooked recipes in the world.
They've perfected recipes handed down over generations.
I'm just doing what I'm told.
I love it.
I'm travelling far and wide to see what secrets I can learn from these true masters of the kitchen.
That is a game-changer.
And I'll be showing you how to cook up delicious Italian dishes With flavour like this, you're going to go nuts.
.
.
that use the nonnas' way to transform the simple into the sublime.
I have to stop myself eating.
It's so good.
I never, ever thought the south of Italy would look like that.
I'm off the beaten track in the breathtaking Basilicata, with my old pal and mentor, chef Gennaro Contaldo.
I'm unlocking the secrets of cucina povera, meaning "poor man's food".
I reckon the food here might be some of the most truly vintage, authentic Italian cooking that we might see on this whole journey.
This is the secret of Italy, and the food is going to be amazing.
Basilicata is a region in the deep south of Italy, and our first stop is in the ancient town of Matera.
Matera was once called the "disgrace of Italy".
It was so poor, whole families were still living in caves as recently as the 1950s.
Woo! Look at the valley going down.
Look at all those caves.
Look at that, incredible.
Listen to the bells.
BELLS RING Breathe in.
Breathe properly.
I've come to this traditionally poor region to learn the secrets of cucina povera.
Because this humble home cooking is some of the simplest, but most delicious food you can find in Italy.
That whole thing about cucina povera just brings out resourcefulness, creativity, and how do you stretch food? How do you get flavour when you got very little ingredients? The people here have survived making something out of nothing, and in particular, they're known for the most phenomenal pasta.
Each one of these different villages round here, they all make their own little pastas in different ways, different shapes, different sauces.
I want to see the way they make it.
The way they touch it.
Yes.
Gennaro's taking me to meet the grand dame of pasta around here, Nonna Teresa.
Ciao, buongiorno! Ciao! SHE SPEAKS ITALIAN THEY SPEAK ITALIAN Ciao! Ciao! Buongiorno! Grazie.
Buongiorno! 85-year-old Nonna Teresa is a ninja in the kitchen.
She's been making pasta her whole life, cooking up a storm for local weddings and celebrations.
She may doubt my abilities, but I'm keen to learn.
First lesson is no eggs.
They were a luxury that people couldn't afford.
So here it's just flour, salt and water.
Si? Si.
Si.
You just can't imagine it, can you? Her mum and dad went working in the fields all day.
She was making the dinner, making the pasta at seven.
Really, really poor.
You know, survival food.
I mean, that is what cucina povera was, weren't it? Survival.
Next lesson, shaping the pasta into macaroni using a thin wooden skewer.
I've never felt under pressure so much.
I think that's quite nice.
OK.
The sort of a subtle thing that she does, you got to be able to feel it right.
Said to be light and gentle.
OK.
Next one.
Nonna, this is a big moment for me, and you seem to be finding it very amusing.
Ugh To get the thumbs up from this macaroni master, I'm going to need way more practice.
So while she takes a break, I'm carrying on rolling.
She's having a rest now, and guess what? Now I'm knocking them out, and she hasn't seen one of them.
Ciao.
She's properly taking the mickey out of me.
Ah! Brava! Oh, you've seen it! Oh, yeah! Hallelujah! It's time to cook.
Come on, girl.
Let's have a little rave-up.
Nonna Teresa's promised to show me her favourite recipe.
The macaroni, topped with spicy peppers and crunchy pangrattato breadcrumbs.
First up, she's using spicy dried peppers.
So they have these bigger chilli peppers here.
Milder, sweeter chilli.
Very, very famous of this area, that she's tearing.
She's taken the seeds out of.
She kind of fries them, makes them blister.
This is a classic cucina povera trick, using big flavours to make a little go a long way.
Next, a couple of cloves of garlic.
Then, a surprise ingredient.
So, this is horseradish.
I've never seen it with a pasta.
So this is a really unusual, undiscovered pasta as far as I'm concerned.
The fresh grated horseradish is fried up with breadcrumbs to make a crunchy pangrattato.
Have I seen anything like this before? Never.
Never.
Known as "poor man's Parmesan", this is what people used to use when they couldn't afford cheese.
Nonna Teresa, the pasta's cooked.
This lovely sweet, spicy chilli oil.
Look at that.
Then we're going to finish it with the pangrattato.
I can't wait to taste it.
Look at that pasta! It's beautiful.
HE SPEAKS ITALIAN Absolutely delicious.
Never had a pasta like this ever before in Italy.
It's not chilli hot, it's just like, sweet.
Really gentle.
Grazie mille, Nonna Teresa.
I see trees of green Being able to knock up a really delicious meal that you can enjoy and makes you feel all homely, if you've got nothing, is a massive gift, isn't it? Of course.
It's a blessing.
I feel very privileged, because as I am older than you, I still learn so much now.
What a wonderful world Nonna Teresa has shown us just how creative you can be with a few pence' worth of ingredients.
And I want to have a go at harnessing that cucina povera magic in my next dish.
I've got a pasta dish that is going to blow your mind that is absolutely inspired by Nonna Teresa.
This spicy sausage and sweet pepper pasta is deceptively simple, but tastes outrageously good.
It's an absolute home run of a pasta sauce.
So I'm going to put a good old lug of olive oil in the pan.
I've got a dried hot chilli and a dried pepper.
These are sweet.
These are not hot, right? So look in supermarkets, you'll find there is actually dried peppers in good supermarkets, and if you can't find them, you could just use a little level teaspoon of sweet paprika, OK.
So just take the stalk off and shake out the seeds.
And just like Nonna Teresa, I'm going to tear in these peppers, like that.
And then of course, the hot spicy one, make it a little bit smaller.
This has got heat, this has got attitude.
We're going to make this oil even more beautiful by picking in some thyme.
So just take those lovely leaves off the stalk.
Look at the chillies and the peppers.
They've gone from a kind of dusty colour to a gorgeous crispy, shiny, deep red colour.
And I'm going to sprinkle that on the finished dish later.
Then, let's have a look at the sausage.
They're spiced.
It's quite a big old sausage, it's got a fair old bit of girth on there.
I'm using a local Lucanica sausage, but any quality spicy sausage will work a treat.
I'm just going to use that fork to sort of bring out the pork.
Now, I'm taking the skin away, cos there's no need for it.
For a finer sauce, give your sausage meat a little mash.
Then add the chopped red onion and garlic.
Move that around in all that beautiful flavoured oil.
We want to keep frying it to bring the sweetness out in the onions.
After ten minutes of simmering, add half a glass of wine.
Let that reduce, then whack in a tin of plum tomatoes.
I can promise you, this sauce is a real win-win.
It's a crowd pleaser.
Sweet tomatoes, sweet onions.
Gorgeous sausage and gentle spice.
Let that just blip away for like, 15, 20 minutes.
And that's your sauce, pretty much done.
This sauce will work brilliantly with any dried pasta.
But I'd love you to have a go at making it fresh.
Now, I've got the dough, exactly the same as Nonna Teresa's, right? The durum wheat flour with warm water, a bit of salt, and I've come up with a new pasta shape that's not only beautiful, but is really, really easy, that you guys can try at home.
I mean, this is literally child's play.
Roll it out to the thickness of your little finger.
Right? You can see mine is far from perfect, right? And some are fatter than others.
It doesn't matter.
I want you to be inspired to have a go at this.
To make this brilliantly simple pasta shape, I've come up with a cheeky little trick.
I've found my new best friend - the back of a grater.
Pick up this, and just rub it off.
Right? Look at that.
They're so much fun to do.
And so easy.
I kind of quite like the fact that they're all a bit uneven.
That's home-made.
You've done well.
It's bless.
They look like little hedgehog.
Little hedgehog.
Yeah! How do you say that in Italian? Porcospino.
Porcospino? So we got a new pasta, porcospino, OK.
The water's boiling.
So let's cook it, Gennar.
Come on, let's do it.
In we go.
They'll take about four minutes to cook.
Next up, I want some grated hard cheese for a more luxurious, oozy finish to this dish.
So in we go with the pasta.
And then we're going to put some of this beautiful, gorgeous sausage sauce on.
And then some of this beautiful cheese on top.
You can see how that wonderful local cheese is getting stringy.
I just want to finish it with some of these fantastic crispy bits of chilli.
My Nonna Teresa-inspired pasta, with soft sweet peppers and succulent spicy sausage.
Delicious.
Oh, my God.
Wowzers.
Beautiful.
Spiced chilli and tomato sauce with porcospino pasta.
If you've never made pasta before, that's one to have a go at.
Coming up, I'm adding some Italian magic to your Sunday roast lamb.
Ho-oh, my God! Those onions are ridiculous.
And we go off the beaten track to uncover the shepherds' cooking secrets.
It smells incredible.
Me and Gennaro are in Basilicata, in Italy's deep south, hunting down secret recipes from the region's most extraordinary home cooks.
Woohoo! Look at the view! We're actually above the clouds.
That's amazing.
This is shepherds' country, and we're about to meet a traditional shepherding family who've promised to show us a lamb dish that they've been cooking around here for centuries.
So lush and gorgeous, and this time of year when all the wild flowers are out, that's going to affect the flavour of the lamb massively.
I can't wait to see how the shepherds cook the lamb, and what I can learn from their ancient recipe.
How far are we going to go? Ahjust to the top.
But do you see where the top is? You'll be all right.
Ciao! Hey! Ciao! I'm here! Jamie, piacere.
Come stai? Domenico and his 80-year-old mum, Nonna Rosina, are fifth-generation shepherds that still cook the traditional way.
TRANSLATION FROM ITALIAN: Si, pastorale.
Really? A very, very old dish.
Under Nonna's watchful eye, Domenico gets started on chopping up the lamb.
Look at that pot, Gennaro.
Oh, God.
Wow.
I won't take in, anyway.
Mate, they've cooked some meals in that.
Beautiful.
So we're going to put the lamb in there.
It's hard, isn't it, Gennaro? Of course it is.
I mean, it's not like farming sheep in the UK - you can't leave them unattended, you know, you've got wolves running about.
This is why they're there most of the year - they live with the sheep.
So, basically, the whole lamb is going in the pot.
Simple, simple stew.
There's no store cupboard of ingredients up here.
So, other than some celery and a few onions, the whole stew will be flavoured with foraged herbs.
Timo selvatico? Si, si.
Just wild thyme.
It's everywhere round here.
The herbs will add a delicate fragrance to the meat, and I can't wait to taste it.
It's going to need some cooking.
Yeah.
So I think we might see a sunset.
Nonna finishes off the historic pastorale with some plum tomatoes and a handful of potatoes.
So it's now become a meal, right? Broth, meat, potatoes.
Sun's out.
Look at that! Woohoo! Guarda il sole, eh! Come on! Ecco tramonto, ah! As the night draws in, the big moment finally arrives.
It smells incredible, Gennar.
Oh, my God! Due! I like the way she said the two! Buon appetito, grazie mille.
Oh, Jamie, tasty! Oh, yeah.
Oh, my God.
Absolutelyexquisite.
The meat is sweet - it's delicious.
The bones have given the most amazing depth of flavour.
It is so good.
Agnello buonissimo.
Optimo.
Grazie mille.
Grazie.
MUSIC: Buona Sera by Dean Martin It's been a real privilege to learn the secrets of this Nonna's rustic dish.
Something few chefs would ever get to see.
And I'm feeling inspired.
Wow! My gosh! Look at that! Next day, Gennaro and I couldn't wait to get back out into the mountains to cook up our very own special feast.
Who doesn't love a beautiful roast leg of lamb? We're going to do it, inspired by our time yesterday, we've got two legs of lamb here, and we're going to do a fantastic stuffing.
It's going to be amazing.
I want to give a Great British favourite, the roast leg of lamb, a proper Italian twist.
I'm going to add layers and layers of flavour, with a delicious herb stuffing, that will take your Sunday roast to a whole new level.
Before we do that, I'm going to do a fantastic potato dish with burnt onions.
Bear with me, bear with me.
I'm going to throw the onions in the ashes here, right? And we're going to leave the skin on, and we're going to burn the skin, and the skin will protect the onions.
Of course, you would do this in your regular oven.
Just put the onions unpeeled onto a tray at 200 Celsius.
And even though it's burnt on the outside, inside it'll caramelised, it'll be sweet, it'll be delicious.
Now time to crack on with the Italian-inspired stuffing for the lamb.
We've got a tablespoon of capers, about five or six little fillets of anchovy, maybe five cloves of garlic.
Then we're going to go onto the herbs.
And I want to go back to that classic flavour that we love in Britain, which is mint.
Mint and lamb, best friends.
I've also got a bunch of parsley as well.
I loved how the shepherds flavoured their lamb with fresh herbs.
So I'm packing my stuffing full of them, for maximum fragrance.
And then we've got some more of this lovely thyme.
I'll add one dried chilli - as much or as little as you like.
Get rid of the seeds.
And then, to sort of bulk it and bind it all together, I've got some bread.
But what I want to do, you know, is soak it a little bit.
So I'm going to get some white wine and just pour that into the bread.
And if you've got stale bread, even better.
And it just rehydrates the bread.
Using stale bread like this is a classic cucina povera trick that helps stretch the ingredients further.
You know, Jamie, I'm going to put a little zest of lemon as well.
Yeah, go on, Gennar.
Now the lamb.
Get it deboned by your butcher, and then just open it out, ready for the stuffing.
So, Gennar, are you ready, my darling? Yeah.
There it is.
So I've got a nice big wodge of this.
I'm going to pack it into the lamb, like this.
So good.
You can smell all the herbs inside here.
Then, of course, we need to fold up and close the book, like that.
To hold the stuffing inside, tie up the lamb with some string.
So look at that.
A beautiful leg, stuffed with love and care.
I'm roasting my lamb over the fire, but at home you can pop it in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about an hour.
So, beautiful roast potatoes with roast lamb, yeah? So I've got nice little local potatoes here.
I'm just going to peel them.
Shall we just do Nonna-style? Nonna-style, go ahead.
Let's go little clanks.
Yeah.
Now for a delicious rustic twist.
Burnt onions - why would we do that? OK, first of all, you're not going to eat the burnt onions.
But that skin, that protective layer on the outside of the onions, is your best friend.
Check this out.
When you pull these onions out, on the inside they're going to be soft, and sweet, and incredible.
Heaven! Add these little beauties to your spuds, and then ramp up the flavour with rosemary, thyme, and garlic.
In the skin.
So just get it going.
You fry that for about 40 minutes - slowly, slowly - until cooked and golden and delicious.
Or you could even pop it in the oven if you wanted to.
The wind's coming in, Gennaro.
My God, you can see it.
Oh-ho-ho! Bless! Weather, do not turn on me now.
The lamb's cooking! After an hour, the lamb is ready to carve.
Oh Oh, it's still blushing.
Oh, ho! The aroma of all those herbs in the stuffing is incredible.
What I love is it's kind of, like, really dark on the outside .
.
but blushing and juicy on the inside.
Look - we've got the potatoes here.
Oh, yes.
And those onions have gone like marmalade.
Come on, Gennar.
Mm! Oh, ho, ho! Those onions are ridiculous.
The stuffing is sublime.
My homage to an Italian roast leg of lamb, with a knockout herb stuffing, crispy potatoes, and those sweet, sweet, marmalade onions.
What a treat.
What do you reckon, Gennaro, Basilicata? Yeah.
Fantastic, undiscovered region, right? The secret jewels of Italy.
I think so.
Next time How excited are you to be in Sicily? What a dream! It's so beautiful! .
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I find out what makes the food there so different Come on! This is Sicilian afternoon tea.
.
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get a taste of their passion No! .
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and cook pasta with a Sicilian twist.
That is a game changer.