Jamie Cooks Italy
06:00 am - 06:30 am, Wednesday, December 31 on Food Network (43)
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About this Broadcast
Season 1, Episode 1
Jamie Oliver and his friend, mentor and fellow chef Gennaro Contaldo explore traditional Italian home cooking, beginning by visiting the Aeolian Islands to track down undiscovered recipes untouched by time. Ninety-three-year-old caper farmer Franchina teaches Jamie how to cook stuffed squid, inspiring his grilled squid and zingy caper salsa. He also cooks Sunday lunch with the matriarch of one of the archipelago's biggest families, with the menu featuring chicken and aubergine pot roast with lemony couscous
HD
subtitles
16x9
Cooking
Leisure Hobbies
Cast & Crew
Jamie Oliver
(Presenter)
Gennaro Contaldo
(Contributor)
Katy Fryer
(Executive producer)
Alana Moreno
(Producer)
More Information
Did You Know..
Jamie Oliver
(Presenter)
Born:
May 27, 1975
in
Clavering, Essex
Best Known For:
Making school dinners healthy.
Early-life:
Born James Trevor Oliver on May 27, 1975, in Essex. He comes from a close-knit family and has described his childhood as very happy. His parents own a pub-restaurant in Clavering and Jamie helped out in the kitchen from a young age under the watchful eye of his dad Trevor, who encouraged him to become a chef. He studied cooking at Westminster College and then won an apprenticeship at the Neal Street Restaurant in London. He went on to work at the River Cafe for three and a half years.
Career:
Oliver's first foray into TV was the 1999 BBC series The Naked Chef. In 2002, he started a new, non-profit restaurant, 15, which would be staffed by previously unemployed youngsters whom he had trained. This project was documented in the Channel 4 TV series, Jamie's Chef. He followed it with Jamie's School Dinners, which inspired him to begin a campaign to improve Britain's school meals. He took it to the top and famously met Tony Blair to discuss the subject, which resulted in the former prime minister pledging to spend £280m on school dinners over the next three years. He has continued to produce a variety of popular cookery programmes, and has successfully cracked the American market.
Quote:
"For me, cooking is like breathing. I don't eat to live, I live to eat."
Trivia:
In 2013, Oliver was inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame.
Gennaro Contaldo
(Contributor)
Born:
January 21, 1949
in
Minori, Campania, Italy
Best Known For:
Being one of the Two Greedy Italians.
Early-life:
Born January 21, 1949 in Minori on Italy's Amalfi Coast. His passion for cooking stems from the days of hunting with his father and grandfather. He confesses that as a boy he rarely went to school, preferring to indulge in his passion for diving. At the age of eight he started working in local restaurants. Gennaro left Italy for London in 1969. After establishing an Italian antiques business, he returned to his main passion, cooking. He honed his craft at London restaurants. Gennaro worked as Antonio Carluccio's assistant in the 1980s. He opened Passione in 1999, which won Best Italian Restaurant 2005.
Career:
Contaldo published his first cookbook, Passione in April 2003. That won Gourmand World Cookbook - Best Italian Cuisine Book for 2003. He also penned Gennaro's Italian Year in 2006, Gennaro's Italian Home Cooking in 2008, and Genarro's Easy Italian in 2010. Over the years he has made many TV appearances in shows including The Food Programme, The Naked Chef (with protege Jamie Oliver), Jamie's School Dinners, Iron Chef America, Rachel Allen: Home Cooking, and now Two Greedy Italians.
Quote:
"For 30 years me and Antonio have fought and fallen out, but now we are best friends. I love him."
Trivia:
In 2014, he broke the Guinness World Record for the most ravioli made in two minutes.
Katy Fryer
(Executive producer)
Alana Moreno
(Producer)
