Family Cooking
Gino D'Acampo on his wild childhood, family cooking and a sensible work-life balance
According to Gino D’Acampo, what’s on the dinner table is actually far less crucial than what’s going on around it. The Italian chef, 45 – known for his tan, family-friendly recipes and a certain level of moodiness – says at dinnertime the “talking is more important than the food, to be honest with you, because there’s no point having a great meal and everybody doesn't talk to each other. Or everybody is distracted watching television – that is not the way.”
The D’Acampo household – the presenter and cookbook author shares three children, Luciano, 19, Rocco, 16, Mia, 8, with wife Jessica – eat together at 8pm every night. “We don’t have mobile phones or television on or radio or anything like that. My family knows that when we eat, there is no distraction,” he explains. “We enjoy the meal, and we talk.”
His kids never really had any choice when it came to appreciating food. “My wife is a great cook, I cook, so all our conversation, all our arguments, all our everything, always happens in the kitchen,” he says intensely.
The only rebellions he gets are when it’s time to wash up – but, “I have organised myself for that,” he says with a laugh. “I got two dishwashers in the kitchen, so nobody has any excuses.”
Family life is at the core of D’Acampo’s new cookbook and ITV series, Gino’s Italian Family Adventure. But for a chef with three kids, a restaurant empire, cookbooks to write, Family Fortunes to present, and many a trip booked with Gordon Ramsay and Fred Sirieix for their buddy series, Gordon, Gino And Fred: Road Trip, how does he balance work with family life?
“Very easily; I don’t work a lot. No, I holiday with my family about six months of the year and I work the other six months, so my balance is perfect,” he explains. “I only work if I can take the same amount of holidays. Ok? So if you ask me to work seven months of the year, I won’t do that, because that is not a good balance to me.” It’s a very fortunate position to be in. “I was not born to work like a donkey,” he continues. “Otherwise, I would have been born a donkey. You know? I have the luck to be born a human. I want to enjoy my life.”
D’Acampo dedicates the book to his late parents, Ciro and Alba: “Hard-working people” who were out from around 7am in the morning to 7-8pm at night, meaning D’Acampo would cook for himself and his sister. Whether it was making fried eggs on toast, sandwiches or a chicken breast with a little lemon sauce, “it was a wonderful time”, he remembers fondly, and anyway “my parents, they weren’t great cooks”, he adds – just as fondly. “My father was absolutely useless in the kitchen, my mum a little better.”
His dad would eat anything, “as long as you don’t put the tomato skin in his dish!” D’Acampo has often spoken of his grandfather – a chef – having a big influence on him. “My grandfather never saw me open restaurants. My grandfather never saw me on television. My grandfather never saw one of my cookbooks – and I wrote 17 of them, that is the only kind of regret I have,” says D’Acampo. When considering what his grandfather would say of his latest recipe collection, he adds: “He would ever be super-duper proud.”
D’Acampo is well aware of his roots and how different the lives of his children are in comparison to his. Growing up in southern Italy, he barely had enough money to get to the end of the month – but this wasn’t the only difference. “I was always out when I was a kid. When was the last time you saw a child playing with a football outside in the middle of the street?” he asks, mildly furious.
“When I was a boy, we were eternally on the road, playing football, on the bikes, doing some weird and wonderful things.”
He remembers coming home absolutely starving for dinner, but now snacking is the norm. “Nowadays you can open a cupboard, you can have a chocolate bar, you can have this, you can have that. You know what I mean? When I was a kid, good luck if you got a bloody sweet.”
His kids, he says – matter-of-factly rather than harshly – “have no bloody idea what it means, struggling with money, struggling with life”.
“I don’t blame them, it’s not their fault,” he continues, “but it’s very difficult for me to inject that kind of mentality when nowadays, they got everything.”
D’Acampo is well aware not all families do have everything, and he finds the rise in the reliance on food banks both desperate and maddening. “I think about people in 2021 struggling with food; that makes me really sad, really angry with the world,” he says.
“On one side you look at the wastage we have in food and you think what are we doing here? We throw food in the bin; supermarkets throw food in the bin left, right and centre, yet there are people in 2021 who struggle to eat.”
Change is possible, but he argues we all have to make it happen together.”
The new cookbook has been a group effort. D’Acampo is at pains to point out how many people have tried the recipes in it. The book’s been “tested to death” and features dishes written by his wife and kids. It’s a cookbook designed “not just from a chef point of view”, he says, but also from a “housewife point of view; from a teenager; from a child".
Perhaps strangely for a chef and cookbook author, D’Acampo says he doesn’t want to “force anybody to cook”.
“If you approach the kitchen with negativity, look, just go and get a takeaway, get a ready meal,” he says blithely. “It’s about creating a balance.
Spicy Aubergine Bake With Mozzarella And Pecorino Cheese
“It’s true that everyone loves the dishes their mothers made for them when they were growing up, but I can honestly say that my mother’s melanzane alla parmigiana was thebest ever. Even though I make it exactly like she showed me, it’s still not the same… Or maybe it is and it’s just the memories I have that made hers so special. Normally, I make this with canned chopped tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and Parmesan, but I wanted to give this version a little kick with pecorino cheese and chilli. Feel free to add a bit more chilli oil if you like the heat, or you can substitute the pecorino with Grana Padano.”
(SERVES 6-8)
INGREDIENTS:
◆ 6 large aubergines (about 2kg in total)
◆ 5 eggs
◆ 150g plain flour
◆ 300ml olive oil
◆ 350g grated mozzarella cheese
◆ 150g finely grated pecorino cheese
◆ Sea salt flakes
FOR THE SAUCE:
◆ 4tbsp olive oil
◆ 1 large onion, finely chopped
◆ ◆1.4L tomato passata
◆ 4tbsp chilli oil, or to taste
◆ 20 basil leaves
◆ 250g mascarpone cheese
◆ Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
METHOD:
➊ Slice the aubergines lengthways into slices about 2.5mm thick. Place in a sieve, sprinkle over some sea salt flakes and leave over the sink for one hour to allow any excess liquid to drain from the aubergines. We use salt flakes here to draw out the moisture, as fine salt would be absorbed into the aubergines.
➋ In the meantime, to prepare the sauce, place the four tablespoons of olive oil and the onion in a large shallow saucepan and fry over a medium heat for eight minutes, occasionally stirring with a wooden spoon.
Pour in the passata and chilli oil, then add the basil, one and a half teaspoons of fine salt and one teaspoon of pepper and stir for two minutes.
➌ Add the mascarpone, stir to combine all the ingredients, then reduce the heat slightly and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Taste: this is the time to add in a bit more chilli oil if you want a stronger kick. Set aside.
➍ Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/Gas 4.
➎ Put the aubergine slices on some kitchen paper and pat dry. Place the eggs, one teaspoon fine salt and half a teaspoon of pepper into a medium bowl and beat well. Pour the flour on to a medium flat tray.
Dip each aubergine slice into the flour and then into the egg to coat all over. Heat 10 tablespoons of the olive oil into a large frying pan and fry the aubergine slices until golden on both sides, about two minutes each side.
You will need to work in batches. (Depending on the size of your frying pan, it should take about six batches.)
➏ Transfer the slices on to kitchen paper to drain off any excess oil. After three batches have been browned, add the remaining olive oil to your frying pan and heat until very hot. Continue to fry the remaining aubergine slices, again transferring them on to kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.
➐ Layer one-third of the aubergine in a rectangular oven dish, measuring about 30 x 25cm. Spoon three ladles of the tomato sauce on top. Sprinkle over 100g mozzarella and 50g pecorino. Repeat the process twice more. You’ll have a little more than three ladles left of the tomato sauce and 50g mozzarella to make a last layer; this extra sauce on top is absorbed through the dish while it cooks and keeps it extra moist.
➑ Sprinkle over a pinch of pepper and cover with foil. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil from the oven dish and continue to bake for a further 30 minutes.
➒ Remove from the oven and allow to rest for about five minutes before portioning. Serve with some crusty ciabatta bread and salad. Just like mamma used to make.
Crispy Breaded Pork Chops With Rosemary
“Nothing can beat a Milanese-style hunk of meat, fish or even vegetable – we all love that crispy breadcrumb coating. Pork is probably my favourite meat to cook Milanese-style; its sweetness works really well with the rosemary here, and I heartily recommend serving it with a cold Italian beer. If you prefer, you can try the same recipe with chicken or veal instead. Buon appetito!”
(SERVES 4)
INGREDIENTS:
◆ 4 bone-in pork chops, 250–300g each
◆ 3 eggs
◆ 150g fine dried breadcrumbs
◆ 3tbsp finely chopped rosemary leaves
◆ 250ml olive oil
◆ Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
METHOD:
➊ Place the pork chops on a chopping board, and, with a sharp knife, cut two slits into the fat; this will ensure the chops don’t curl up during cooking. Place the chops in between two sheets of cling fi lm, and, using a meat mallet or a rolling pin, bash down the meat until each chop is about one centimetre thick. Set aside.
➋ Break the eggs into a large bowl with one teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper and gently whisk with a fork. Place the breadcrumbs on a medium flat tray and mix in the chopped rosemary.
➌ Take one chop at a time and first coat in the breadcrumbs on both sides. Gently shake off any excess. Immediately immerse the chop into the eggs, making sure both meat and bone are covered, then again coat in the breadcrumbs. Place the pork chop on a chopping board, and, with the palm of your hand, slightly press down the meat part to get the meat in shape. Coat all the pork chops in the same way.
➍ Pour the olive oil into a large frying pan and place over a medium heat. Take a pinch of breadcrumbs and sprinkle them into the oil: if they start to sizzle, the oil is hot enough.
➎ Cook the pork chops, two at a time, for four minutes on each side to have medium cooked meat, if you prefer your meat medium-well done, fry for one minute longer on each side. You are looking for a golden/ light brown colour all over.
➏ Drain the crispy chops on kitchen paper and sprinkle over a little salt. I love this meal with a crisp salad, simply dressed with extra virgin olive oil, salt and lemon juice, or some seasonal vegetables, but the kids always insist they are served with mustard mash, which is also fantastico.
Tagliatelle With Mixed Seafood, Garlic And White Wine
“If you ask me what my last supper would be, this would be it. I love most foods and have a very varied diet, but this recipe just takes me back in time to when I was sitting round the kitchen table at my nonna and nonno’s with my sister and a load of my cousins and tucking into this amazing meal.
Living by the sea, we ate this at least once a week and I feel so lucky that I now get to share it with my own family. Make sure you have a small bowl of lemon water nearby: your hands will need it after!”
(SERVES 4)
INGREDIENTS:
◆ 250g live mussels
◆ 250g live clams
◆ 100ml dry white wine
◆ 4tbsp extra virgin olive oil
◆ 50g salted butter
◆ 4 garlic cloves, sliced
◆ 4 large langoustines
◆ 8 large unpeeled raw prawns
◆ 4tbsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley leaves
◆ 350g dried tagliatelle pasta
◆ 20 cherry tomatoes, halved
◆ Finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon, plus lemon wedges to serve
◆ Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
METHOD:
➊ Pour four litres of water into a large saucepan, add one tablespoon of salt and bring to the boil.
➋ Scrub the mussels and clams under cold running water. Rinse away the grit and remove any barnacles with a small, sharp knife. Remove the ‘beards’ from the mussels by pulling the dark, stringy pieces away from the shells. Drop the clams from a height into a large bowl a few times, to help them expel their sand, then wash briefly in cold water for a couple of minutes. Check none of the clams are open or broken, and, if they are, discard them. Discard any open mussels or clams that do not shut when tapped firmly on the sink, or any which have broken shells.
➌ Place the mussels and clams in a medium saucepan, pour in the wine and cook with the lid on over a medium heat for five minutes.
Tip into a colander set over a bowl, so you can save the juices, discard any that remain closed and set aside.
➍ Put the olive oil and butter into a large frying pan and melt the butter over a medium heat.
Add the garlic and gently fry until it begins to sizzle. Pour in the cooking juices from the mussels and clams – leaving behind the very last of the juices which might contain grit – and simmer for two minutes. Season with three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper and stir occasionally.
➎ Now stir in the langoustines and prawns and fry them for one and a half minutes. Using tongs, turn them over and continue to cook for a further one and a half minutes until they all turn pink all over. Add the mussels and clams with the parsley and stir until heated through, about two minutes.
➏ Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the boiling water until al dente; my preference is to cook it for one minute less than instructed on the packet, giving the perfect al dente bite. Drain and tip back into the large saucepan you cooked it in. Pour over the seafood sauce, add the tomatoes and lemon zest and toss all together over a low heat for 30 seconds, allowing the flavours to coat the pasta.
➐ Remove the prawns and langoustines and place on a plate (this will make it easier to serve up the pasta, mussels and clams).
Equally divide the pasta between four warmed serving plates or bowls, then top each portion with a langoustine and two prawns. Serve with lemon wedges.
Gino’s Italian Family Adventure: Easy Recipes The Whole Family Will Love by Gino D’Acampo, is published by Bloomsbury. Photography Haarala Hamilton. Available now
Gino’s Italian Family Adventure: Easy Recipes The Whole Family Will Love by Gino D’Acampo, is published by Bloomsbury. Photography Haarala Hamilton. Available now
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