Gennaro's Verdure
- rosemary
- 5 hours ago
- 6 min read
"Each plate is an emotion. In the mind of a cook there are thousands of recipes, every time you change it a little bit." Gennaro Contaldo
If you know Jamie Oliver then you will know Gennaro Contaldo - his friend and mentor. Always bright and cheerful, calling his audience 'lovely people' and always producing beautiful Italian food in out of the way places with the minimum of equipment. Well I guess that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you know what I mean.
As you know I love Jamie Oliver, and sort of by default that means I love Gennaro too. So when I saw that Readings had this book on their bargain table this month, I just had to buy it.
Initially I had to say I was a tiny bit disappointed. As I say, we probably all are familiar with Gennaro and his somewhat over the top bouncy presentation, which some probably find enormously irritating, but which I find oddly endearing. However, the text of this book is pedestrian. None of the 'lovely people' vibe, just lots of valuable information about the vegetables in question. No personal stories or emotion - which is obviously a big thing with this man.
And nowhere is this more obvious than in his video on Lemon pasta - a favourite dish of his mentor and friend Antonio Carlucci - made shortly after Carlucci's death. With tears in his eyes and on the same spot as a previous video made with Carlucci in the last part of his life, he made the lemon pasta in an old frying pan and pot on a single gas ring in the yard of this deserted old farm building. I wrote about this years and years ago, but I watched it again today. It is a touching tribute as well as being a wonderful cooking lesson, and a fabulous pasta dish.
Contaldo grew up in the village of Minori on the Amalfi coast - reputedly one of the most beautiful places in the world, and there from the age of 8 he cooked - in a friend's restaurant. He later moved to London, where amongst other places he worked at Carlucci's restaurant in Neal Street before later opening his own - Passione restaurant. Considering his passionate love of all things Italian - he is an ambassador for Parmigiano Reggiano amongst other things, you would have to wonder why he left Italy. After all the Amalfi coast is one of the prime tourist areas of Italy and I am sure there are several top notch restaurants in which to ply his trade. Italy's loss, Britain's gain.
But London it was and at Carlucci's Neal Street restaurant he also met Jamie Oliver and became his mentor, friend and business partner. They have all done TV series together and alone, or with just one other. It's a tight group. As well as all of that he has also written several cookbooks, of which I was unaware:
"His first cookbook, ‘Passione’, published by Headline in 2003, won Best Italian Cook Book 2003 at the World Gourmand Cookbook Awards and was short listed for the André Simon Award." BBC
Now in his 70s, he still works with Jamie Oliver on this and that. It does indeed seem to almost be one of those bro romances.
So personality is huge and yet in this book there is none of that effervescence, which is not to detract from the book. It was just not quite what I expected.
It's not a vegetarian book - the vegetables are sometimes combined with meat or fish, but the vegetables are the star. The book is divided by colour - of the vegetables - green, red, sunshine coloured and purple. Within those sections we are treated to information about each vegetable - origins, how it is used, how to buy, store and prepare. And then you get the recipes. And now that I have looked at the book more closely I have to say that there are many extremely tempting recipes in there. Here are few that caught my eye.
This is a kind of lasagne I suppose, but there is no pasta - just polenta. The filling is a mushroom ragu - he adores mushrooms apparently, largely because of a childhood that contained much foraging for mushrooms in the nearby countryside. The ragu also contains tomatoes and pancetta, flavoured with thyme and onion of course. For the polenta you pour your polenta into three dishes the same size as the dish you will be cooking in, and leave it to cool. Then, just like lasagne you layer - polenta - mushrooms - polenta - mushrooms - polenta- mushrooms and top with grated cheese before baking just like lasagne.
A novel approach to lasagne, and, of course, open to much variation as to what you make your filling of.
Another different way with a classic dish. Sliced potatoes, onions, and rosemary are sweated until soft and then mixed with flour and water and spread into a disc. Sprinkled with polenta and drizzled with olive oil the 'focaccia' is then baked in the oven until golden and crisp. You can eat it as is, just as a snack or serve as part of an Italian antipasto of cured meats, olives, cheese and so on. And it reheats well too.
Finocchi al latte - Fennel braised in milk
There is no picture in the book and no recipe online, but it sounded rather intriguing to me. The picture and the link are to a GFF Magazine recipe and it's pretty similar to Gennaro's. The main difference is that Gennaro fries his fennel slices in butter before putting in the buttered dish and pouring over milk and Parmesan, which is then cooked on high heat. There is also a recipe online from Di Stasio restaurant in St. Kilda, on the Gourmet Magazine website, which has a breadcrumb topping and which is cooked in the oven - the milk being replaced by cream. Somewhat fancier, but this does seem to be a traditional Italian dish.
Saltimbocca di zucchine
Again, there is no recipe online for this very simple dish, but you almost don't need one. Slice your zucchine, brush each slice with olive oil, then top with a slice of fontina cheese, a slice of prosciutto and top with a sage leaf. Secure with a toothpick and bake in the oven until the cheese has melted. Looks like a quick and easy tempting snack before dinner. And not something that anyone else seems to have thought of doing.
Zucchine fritte di Antonella
Again no recipe online but this couldn't be simpler. Again it's not really a recipe at all. Cut the zucchini in half across the middle, slice thinly and then cut into thin strips. Put in a bowl with cold water and leave for 30 minutes. Drain, squeezing out excess water with your hands. Dust in flour, shaking off excess and deep fry a few at a time for a couple of minutes. Sprinkle with salt and serve. Yum
Celery pesto
No recipe online - well actually there sort of is, because a fan ron_cooks17on Instagram posted his Spaghetti with celery pesto - which he had made with Gennaro's celery pesto of which he says:
"The pesto is light and refreshing, a similar recipe to Pesto Genovese but with Celery and walnuts"
The pesto is made with celery stalks and leaves, garlic, walnuts, basil, Parmesan and extra virgin olive oil, whizzed together and then finished with zest and juice of lemon and ground black pepper. I might try this next time I have celery because I'm always searching for things to do with celery.
In some ways it's a simple book but it is not full of the same old recipes. If the same old recipe is there then it has a twist, and some of the recipes are well worth giving a try. So if you see it around anywhere buy it. Or any of his others. I think the latest one is LImone - all about lemons which is very appropriate for someone from the Amalfi coast.
Warm recipes from a warm man, whose advice to the budding cook is: "Every single dish you should cook without being afraid – just do it."
YEARS GONE BY
May 3
2024 - Nothing
2023 - The dream of Tuscany
2022 - Morsels and dainties
2021 - $2,269 for fast, lazy meals?
2020 - Deleted
2019 - Dill
2017 - Banksia honey
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