Jamie's Great Escape Jamie's Italian cooking tips

Tips

• Keep things simple – use the freshest, in season, locally produced ingredients.
• Be bold with your flavours - go for rustic, robust flavours.
• Make the local dishes – Italians like their regional dishes and don’t like them being messed about with. Ask the mamas and the nonnas for their family recipes.
• Have fun with your cooking – as seafood chef Giovanni from Marettimo told Jamie.
• It’s all about flavour rather than appearance –this is cucina povera or peasant food.
• You don’t need lots of time – Italian mums cook quick fantastic food like risotto or pasta – even after a long day at work.
• When buying meat – think about how the animal lived and was killed. Was it humane? If you buy meat at a butchers or at the meat counter of a supermarket you can ask these questions.
• Be adventurous – try out new flavours, new recipes and new ingredients.
• Show your passion for cooking – all Italians are passionate about food from the youngest child to the oldest grandfather.
• Remember what Jamie says; ”As long as you care, as long as you’ve got your family around the table, whether its French, English or Italian – its just cooking and that’s what it’s all about."