Buongiorno everyone,
I have recently finished all the filming for a new show, "There's No Taste Like Home" where I have been up and down the UK trying out all your family recipes. I will miss my film crew as we have been on the road together for quite a few weeks and have become like a little family. So that's what today's blog is all about, family.
In Italy, our friends and relations are everything; we grow up with all our cousins, aunties, uncles and everyone around us, and the thing we like to do together most is EAT! Our second favourite thing to do together is SHOUT!
So the ultimate Italian family recipe has got to be something easy to cook that will feed lots of hungry tummies. One of my old family favourites is a recipe from my nonno (grandfather), roasted lamb shank in red wine sauce with Italian mashed potatoes. In Italian we would say Agnello al Vino Rosso con Pure di Patate. The dish is a beautiful slow roasted lamb with rosemary and the potatoes get given an Italian twist with sundried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese. You can find out how to make it here.
My nonno used to keep lambs and in the spring he would take them to the market and sell the most expensive bits, keeping the shanks for us. He had a real old wood burning oven and slow roasted the shanks for hours making the meat flaky, tender and full of delicious flavours from the wood. Wood ovens give the most beautiful authenticity to Italian cooking and the smell always reminds me of growing up in Napoli.
The perfect drink with this recipe would be an Italian dry red wine to match the intensity of the meat. Anything else would be rubbish. For dessert, you shouldn't do anything too heavy; I'd make something like a fresh fruit tart with a little custard.
So, my top tip for a brilliant day is this recipe, plus wine, plus fruit, plus every single member of your family there to enjoy it. I'd even invite some of the dodgy looking ones in my family tree (those of you with my app "Eating Italian" will know what I'm talking about!)
Go on, try it!
Un bacio,
Gino
xxx