Jamie Cooks Italy (2018) s01e05 Episode Script

Sicily

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.
THEY LAUGH So, in this series, I'm going right to the heart of Italian cooking Ohh! Ooh! So good.
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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 gonna go nuts.
.
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that use the Nonnas' way to transform the simple into the sublime.
I'm going to have to stop myself eating.
It's so good.
How excited are you to be in Sicily? Sicilia! What a dream! Me and my mate and mentor, Gennaro Contaldo, are on the southern Italian island of Sicily, which is known for having an extraordinary and unique cuisine.
The best thing about Sicily is the food is nothing like the food on the mainland.
It's so beautiful! Sicily's position as a trading point on the spice route led to centuries of exotic foreign food and ingredients coming to the island.
They were quite literally awash with sugar and spice and all things nice.
It's so unique, it's so different, and they're crazy for sweet things, aren't they? The desserts in Sicily, they're unbelievable.
And I can't wait to see it, taste it.
To see how its history influenced everything from punchy pastas to decadent puddings, we're exploring the east coast of the island.
Sicilians have a reputation throughout the whole of Italy as the dons of desserts.
To get myself a sweet taste explosion, we're heading over its famous volcano, Mount Etna.
Look - Etna.
It looks so amazing, and there's smoke coming out of the top! Gennaro's pulled a blinder.
To unlock the secrets of the island's delicious puds, he's taken me to meet the Mary Berry of Sicily, Nonna Maria.
Maria! Grazie! No - grazie, grazie.
Mwah! Grazie mille.
Nice to see you.
Ehhh! Nonna Maria is Sicily's queen of baking.
Her cookbooks have written the rules on the island's decadent desserts.
She's gonna teach me her all-time favourite.
What an honour! Allora.
Like a rotolo? You, you comb your hair inside, it become a round tubes.
Like rollers? Yeah, rollers.
So this sponge is named after women's rollers.
She got it from her Nonna, that's amazing.
And now you give it to us.
What a let-down! This Sicilian roll is a joyful combo of light and airy sponge, and deliciously sweet ricotta.
First, Maria's setting me to work, separating the yolks from the whites for the sponge.
Flour goes in with the egg yolks, but Nonna wants this light and fluffy, so there's no butter.
To add even more air, she's whisking up her egg whites with sugar.
Trying to really keep in as much air as possible, so the eggs'll give you that lift.
How long have you been cooking this dish? Now we've got the ricotta.
Invented here 1,000 years ago, for Sicilians, ricotta is more than just a cheese.
They mix it with everything.
Ricotta's quite neutral.
It can be sweet or savoury.
So the minute you put a little Parmesan or salt - savoury.
And the minute you kind of go honey or sugar, it's sweet.
Yes.
The flavours Maria is sweetening her ricotta with are my own Sicilian history lesson.
It turns out sugar and cinnamon were brought by the Arabs, pistachios by the Greeks, and chocolate by the Spanish.
Yeah.
It's lovely.
Put whatever you like in, as much as you like.
Five minutes in the oven, and that brilliant light and simple sponge is ready to roll - literally.
Beautiful.
And this is a very important stage.
So, when the sponge comes out, um, it's flexible.
If you try and roll it when it's cool already, it will just crack to pieces.
OK, there's pressure now.
Sicilians use ricotta in their puds like we use cream.
But they win because it's less than a third of the calories.
Mm-mm! To roll it and fill it while it's still warm is quite unusual.
But, of course, look at the finish you get - it's perfectly formed.
Actually, I'm sort of gonna change my technique now I've been watching Nonna.
Another Sicilian tip is to add crushed pistachios for crunch and colour.
They're grown in the shadow of Mount Etna.
Gennaro, look at that.
I mean, it is very simple but very delicious, and it looks Sicilian, doesn't it? Look at this! Wow! Nonna Maria, Gennar, come on! This is Sicilian afternoon tea with a difference.
Nonna Maria has laid on a spread of traditional Sicilian sweet treats.
Cos it's so hot here, instead of having afternoon tea or coffee, you have a cold version, which is a granita.
Granita is a simple Sicilian-style sorbet, made with crushed ice and sugar.
This one is done with almond milk and coffee, and it's really clever, and beautiful.
Maria's also serving us delicious chocolate-filled buns.
Ooh! Oh, my gosh! And a wonderful Sicilian almond milk blancmange.
But the star of the show has to be that ridiculously light ricotta roll.
I can't wait to dig in.
Mmm! How good is this, Gennar? I love it.
I just love it.
The cinnamon is so good.
But with the crunch of chocolate, and the nuts again, that sweetened ricotta is a thing of genius.
It really, really is.
Fantastico! Grazie mille.
Grazie di consigli, di que.
Nonna Maria's puds are pure perfection.
I loved her heady mix of sugar and spice, but it's that outrageously fresh ricotta that's got me really excited.
You've got 30 seconds to tell me all the things you can do with ricotta.
Ready, steady, go.
You can do cannelloni, you can do a lasagne.
You can do a filled pasta ravioli.
You can do crostata, you can do Little fritters.
Oh, yeah, you love it.
Little pancakes.
Little pancakes.
Frittatas.
Frittata.
Pizza, for topping.
Yeah, put 'em on top Now I'm feeling fired up to create a deliciously decadent Sicilian treat that makes ricotta the star of the show.
So, inspired from Nonna Maria yesterday, I wanna do a beautiful dessert.
My delicious Sicilian cannoli are a wicked combo of spiced ricotta, crispy sweet pasta, and velvety chocolate with a little kiss of grappa.
Buonissimo! Little tubes - little tubes of crunchy pasta.
So we're gonna go in with one egg.
Then I'm gonna go in with about roughly the same amount of sweet wine.
Extra virgin olive oil.
It's gonna make the pasta nice and rich.
And I'll start adding some flour, OK? You could use plain flour, or in the supermarkets you will see pasta flour.
How good is this? Look at that.
What a view! And what we want is a nice sort of smooth but non-sticky, pliable dough, right? The story of Italy is taking pasta and shaping it a million different ways.
And this is a continuation of that.
It's going from savoury to sweet.
Silky dough.
Look at that! Beautiful.
So just wrap it up in some clingfilm or a cloth.
Let it relax.
I'll need an hour, so crack on with the super luxurious ricotta filling.
Get a whisk.
Just break it up.
Inspired by Nonna Maria, I'm hitting my filling with honey for sweetness, and vanilla for spice.
And of course, you know, part of .
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the sort of Sicilian food identity is the spice trade.
So all kinds of spices are here in Sicily.
I'm gonna take a little grappa, right? Just a tiny bit.
Quality grappa is a fiery, fresh spirit that'll add a subtle kick to my cannoli.
And for a chocolaty hit, cocoa powder.
Just give it a nice, good beating.
Beautiful.
So, look, that is the filling, done.
It's so simple.
So, so simple.
I've made the pasta, mate.
Fantastico.
Nice.
Shape that dough into a sausage, and cut it into slices.
What we're gonna do, is we're just gonna roll these out into little discs.
Nice and thin, like that.
And then what we can do is wrap them around these moulds, and these are little cannoli moulds.
Cannoli.
Bravo! Just put a little egg, just on the end.
In the old days, you didn't use stainless steel, did you? No, we used to use cane.
You can buy metal cannoli tubes online for about a pound a pop.
So we got our little production line going.
Little labour of love.
Deep-fry those beauties at 180 degrees Celsius, and, within a minute they'll be puffing up all golden, delicious, crispy and crunchy, ready to be filled.
Let's have a look.
Yeah! As soon as it's golden, out it goes.
And there we have two beautiful little cannolis.
And they can cool down.
It's time to fill these cannoli.
Use a piping bag and gently squeeze the chocolaty ricotta into the crunchy cannoli.
Squeeze - see? Beautiful.
Just have fun with it.
Decorate with some epic extras, starting with rich melted chocolate.
Hazelnuts, chocolate, it's gonna be really, really good.
Then if you wanna finish with just some fruit, some lovely little wild strawberries, some raspberries, some cherries.
So what do you reckon, Gennaro? Do you reckon Nonna Maria would be proud of that? Very proud, she will be.
I mean, it is elegant.
My crazy, sweet cannoli, with spiced ricotta, rich melted chocolate, and those ruby red cherries.
Truly Sicilian, and a total treat.
I want one.
Go on.
Can I Can I take this one? Mmm! Mmm! The silky smooth with the crunch of the pasta, and then the nuts, is amazing.
And then that bitter chocolate with the little bits of fruit.
It's literally all kicking off.
Mm! Mm! Mm! I just love it.
Yeah.
Next up, it's chaos in Catania's fish market, as Sicily's passion for cooking boils over.
No, no! And I create a seafood pasta like you've never seen before.
There's so much flavour going on.
Delicious! My Italian cooking caper has brought me to the island of Sicily.
Gennaro, look at this.
Come on, man! It's so beautiful, it's It's amazing! The joy of Sicily is its spectacular coastline.
So, it's no surprise that fish and seafood top the menu here.
Me and Gennaro are in Catania, the island's second largest city, on the lookout for a fantastic fish market that we've been tipped off about.
So, Gennar, we are going to go now to the most incredible fish market.
It's going to blow your mind.
Catania, I've never been there, in Catania fish market.
But I heard about it.
They said, "It's crazy, it's unbelievable.
" This chaotic, centuries-old market brings out the passion in Sicilians.
It sells all kinds of fish, but what they really go crazy for is tuna.
And I'm in luck, cos it's the season.
Gennar, look.
Oh, my gosh! Wow! Look, look at the tuna down there.
Oh, ma mia! It's amazing, I never seen anything like.
Where do you see all this? Never.
Rosanna! Jamie, Gennaro! We're here to find out about cooking fish Sicilian style, from Nonna Rosanna.
The grand dame of the fish market, Nonna Rosanna's been buying and cooking fish here for over 50 years.
Si! I only want to buy sustainable fish, and thankfully, Rosanna knows the sellers to head for.
Stuffed sardines, beccafico, is a treasured Sicilian dish, but everyone's got their own recipe.
No.
No.
I'd put my money on her.
No.
It's turned into an argument.
The world's come to an end.
Brava! Si.
Rosanna's so passionate about her grub, I love it.
And she's got one recipe that she's adamant she wants to teach me.
It's a classic tuna dish her mama used to make.
This is the fish of the waters here.
The blue fin and the big eye's been over-fished, but this is yellow fin, which is more sustainable.
But, you know, the tuna here is part of the culture.
They eat it cooked, they eat it raw.
Nothing goes to waste.
That's so clean, so fresh.
Have you taste? It's the sea.
Nonna Rosanna's making us Sicilian tuna, an onion agrodolce, which means sweet and sour.
Come on, Gennar.
OK? OK.
Interesting.
OK, I never seen this before.
OK.
She washes them in water.
Onions washed, drained and into the pan.
No oil.
So, I thought there might be caramelisation happening, but actually, they've washed it and that excess water is steaming it, so it's going to go super soft.
It's quite exciting cos I got no idea what's going to happen.
I've never seen this before.
After 20 years in the kitchen, I thought I knew my onions, but Nonna Rosanna's trick is a brilliant way to super charge their softness and sweetness.
So, look.
We've had about 10 minutes of cooking.
Now she's going in with olive oil.
That's going to start bringing out the sweetness in the onions straightaway.
Interesting.
She adds the tuna in with the sweet onions.
And it only needs a few minutes.
Red wine vinegar.
That's the agrodolce, right? Sweet and sour.
Sour from the vinegar, sweetness from the onions.
And on the mouth .
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delicious.
Here we go.
Rosanna's super-sweet onions with tangy vinegar and fresh tuna is typically Sicilian.
Not flashy to look at, but incredible to taste.
OK, Rosanna.
Test it.
Wow! It's really, really amazing.
Those onions really do taste sweet and sour.
The depth of flavour is phenomenal.
Happy days! Well done, well done! Buono, buono, buono.
I came here to learn new tricks, and that's what Rosanna's taught me.
Her agrodolce recipe has blown me away.
I believe she just gave us a real gift.
Yeah.
It was a masterclass in depth of flavour, honesty, humbleness.
That dish was purely and only about flavour.
# Eat your tagliatelli, Joe That's all I've heard for years.
The next morning, I'm itching to make a fish dish that packs a sweet and sour agrodolce punch.
To celebrate the fresh local seafood, I'm cooking right on its doorstep.
# Eat your macaroni, Joe Every blinking day.
For me and Gennaro, this is literally like the best thing in the world.
We're going to cook the most delicious prawn and tuna linguine, inspired by Nonna Rosanna, and it's going to be so, so good.
This mind-blowing tuna and prawn pasta with its gutsy sweet and sour sauce, kisses you on the lips with the true flavour of Sicily.
You'll need shell-on prawns for this.
A lot of people, you know, they throw away the shells or the head, and it's the head where all the flavour is.
So, I'm literally just going to pull the prawn head off, just like that.
And we're going to put that into a cold pan, then a good lug of olive oil.
I want to take one little piece of cinnamon, and that, my friends, is the beginning of the most incredible story.
HE LAUGHS Yes, it is.
So, in the pan, I'm going to add just two or three fillets of anchovy.
Again, for depth of flavour.
Look at that.
Now, that sweet and sour hit, Nonna Rosanna style.
Gennaro is finely slicing the onion, and we're washing it in the water, just like Nonna Rosanna, and of course, that takes away the harshness of the onion.
To get that agrodolce, we're going to get the sweetness from Rosanna's style of cooking the onions.
And then we'll get the sour from some lovely white wine vinegar.
I'm adding vinegar to saffron, steeped in boiling water for an exotic flavour boost.
While that infuses, get to work on the prawns.
Remove that little vein.
And inspired by Rosanna, I'm dicing up some meaty tuna.
That is a perfect time for me to put the pasta in.
Twist it.
Pasta's cooking.
HE LAUGHS Come on, then, Gennar.
Get that lid off.
Let's start caramelising.
Remove the prawn heads and cinnamon stick.
They've done their work.
And then, unleash some Sicilian swagger.
So, now's the stage, very importantly, that our lovely little saffron and vinegar water goes in.
That's the agrodolce moment happening.
Yeah! Chopped parsley, those beautiful prawns, and our amazing Sicilian tuna go into that sweet and sour combo, with loads of steaming al dente pasta.
The tuna and the prawns are really subtly cooking in the agrodolce, absorbing all that incredible flavour.
I'm going to pound up this pistachio, which is the most amazing, vivid green colour.
Look! It's very, very common to see pounded pistachio folded at the last minute through pastas.
I really like it.
The sweet and sour hit of Nonna Rosanna's onions, working with local prawns and tuna, and the exotic hint of cinnamon and saffron, makes this a Sicilian stunner.
Oh, Gennar.
That is .
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a game changer.
A truly delicious pasta dish that I will never forget.
We have to call this pasta dish "Pasta Rosanna.
" Yes, we have to.
End of story.
I think we've learnt such a lot on this trip, haven't we? Indeed.
Sicily's got so much to offer.
The food is so, so extraordinary and so different to the mainland.
And the culture of the people, they're unbelievable.
And the nonnas.
And the nonnas.
How much did we learn from them? A lot.
Nice one, mate.
Great trip.
Yeah.
Buon appetito.
Salute! Next time Whoa! No way! .
.
I'm in Tuscany, tracking down thumping farmhouse fare.
Look at that ragu! I discover an extraordinary family recipe And cook up my ultimate Bolognese.
Oh, yeah! That pasta is insane.

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