Two Greedy Italians (2011) s01e02 Episode Script
Poor Man's Food
I am Antonio Carluccio.
I am Italian through and through, but I left my dear country 50 years ago.
' 'Now I'm returning with my old friend.
· 'I am Gennaro Contaldo.
For 30 years me and Antonio have fought and fallen out.
' - I prefer the ricotta.
- Yeah, but I prefer everything.
'But now we are best friends.
I love him.
' 'Since we left Italy a lot has changed, 'and we have come to see if the food has changed too.
'We are going to the southern region of Campania where Gennaro grew up and I was born.
' But this is the bells which I've been hearing since I was a little boy.
'This is where the best Italian food comes from - pasta and pizza, tomato sauce - it is all from here.
' The most delightful fusilli, made by hand.
We have come to see how Campania's simple, poor food its cucina povera, has become loved throughout the world.
Pizza fritta - instant food.
And find out what has changed here since we were boys.
24K 24 carat gold, it must cost quite a bit of money.
'Of course, we'll be cooking along the way.
' Oh, why I'm cooking so good 'And eating.
' 'Gennaro will be reliving his youth.
' 'And he offers me a lunch even I can't refuse.
' That's for you.
· · Ah, the Amalfi Coast - a paradise of millionaire villas and yachts.
But it wasn't always like this.
Just 60 years ago, this region was one of the poorest in Italy.
There was no work and little money.
This is where Gennaro was born and grew up.
I was also born along this coast, but my father moved the family to northern Italy when I was a baby.
He was lucky he had a good job, but here many families could barely make ends meet and lived on very little.
Like my family.
We lived on the fruits that were literally around us.
Gennaro, what is the most beautiful thing to do To be on the Amalfi Coast Very ripe fruit direct from the tree, juicy.
You have to be careful not to have a bath.
- Here, Gennaro.
- Thank you.
- Because you are a friend.
The peach is one of the best fruits ever.
In the summer, yes, but But I like it sort of pre-ripe because otherwise there's nothing.
Yep.
Very good.
When you need a lemon, what do you do Look, take your pick.
- I like the one in the middle.
- This one - No, the one with the big beak.
- Yes, that one.
- Look at this.
Ah, that's a wonderful one, fantastic.
- So you can eat this one.
- I know that, I know that.
Oh.
Direct from the tree.
'We used to eat almost anything and absolutely nothing went to waste, 'even every part of a lemon will be eaten.
' It goes well with all sorts of This one is not sharp or whatever.
No.
They're really Without a doubt, the best one in the world.
Ah My breakfast is finished, I'm in for a wonderful day today.
- Yes, you are complete red.
- What do you mean red - You're just like a lobster.
- Lobster Why don't we say pepperoni It's much better.
'Gennaro is taking me to his hometown, Minori.
'It was once a small village, now it's full of tourists, 'hotels and holiday villas.
' 'Ah.
It is always great to come home.
' - Home sweet home.
- Unbelievable.
Even the bells there.
This is the bells which I've been hearing since I was a little boy.
Come on, Gennaro.
'My mama and papa sadly passed away.
'I left here more than 40 years ago, but I still know almost everyone.
'This is my nephew, this is my old school friend.
'This is my father's old friend, bless him.
'And this is an old family friend, Andrea, 'who remembers what it was like in the 1950s.
' Andrea, tell me one thing, how was it in the so-called bad time here Things were very bad.
There was no food and no work.
Here, the people were poor.
Most of the people lived on, as I say, doing work in the country.
How did your mother cope with the situation What food did she used to prepare for you I don't know how she managed.
We were six of us, sitting there, it was during winter, and my mother told me, when I remember it I feel like crying, and she said, "Look, I'm afraid that there's nothing to eat tonight.
" And we all went to bed with nothing.
And that was one of the worst things that I remember.
'Most families lived hand to mouth here, like Andrea.
'Gennaro is taking me to meet his aunt who has lived in Minori all her life.
' 'Ah, my dear Aunty Antonietta.
'Antonietta, she's a fantastic cook.
'Antonietta's making pasta just like she's always done.
' Really, the art of making this pasta is to make a wonderful dough which is simply flour and water, nothing else.
Make a little sausage like this to have a curl.
This enables the pasta to absorb sauce inside.
There's playing, playing with pasta.
This is pure cucina povera, wonderful food born out of poverty.
Just flour and water, shape it with an old umbrella spike.
You can see this is actually part of an umbrella, and roll it up.
And it is fantastic, and you have to do one by one, and it takes a couple of hours to do that.
Usually they sort of collect a few friends, and it's a social meeting, you know, instead of going to the pub or to the bingo, they do this.
Here you are, here's the pasta they make, Antonio, look.
Look, my heart really starts to beat when I see pasta like this because it's the most delightful fusilli, made by hand.
This is what I was brought up with.
This was also the pasta that my nanny used to make.
'Families ate pasta every day in this part of Italy.
It was cheap 'and filled up empty bellies, and the different shapes added variety.
' And do you know what they put them in A cardboard box.
'There are now more than 600 shapes of pasta in Italy.
'But in the old days the family didn't eat Antonietta's pasta.
' Interesting.
So they were making this pasta as a luxury, they were bringing them to their vendor and they were paid money in kilos and so on, and with the money they were paid, they would buy the other pasta and beans and so on to have the very simple meal.
So this was literally sort of a trade.
'Cucini povera is all about making the most of everything.
'And Antonietta never throws anything away, 'and she's a genius with leftovers.
' Antonietta now has prepared something very, very special for us.
This is a famous pane cotto, leftover bread, cooked with the tomatoes and if they had a bit of Parmesan, Parmesan as well.
And it is a delightful soup, let me see.
'When I was a small boy we rarely had meat, 'but we did keep animal for special occasions.
' So we used to have chickens, we used to have a pig.
One way or the other they used to have an animal.
You know, I never forget the story when my father, every Easter, he used to bring a little baby goat, and once he became very attached with this animal, you know, running everywhere, take him everywhere.
You know, really, really affectionate.
But then one day I find the poor animal's hanging upside down.
I couldn't stop crying because that was my friend.
My father went "Bang", smacked me, and he said to me, "You should never be attached to food.
" And I learned my lesson.
Before we leave, Antonietta gives us a lunch bag of her home-made pasta.
Arrivederci.
Arrivederci.
Ciao! Ciao! I think tomorrow we'll have a wonderful lunch.
- I'm going to make a - No, you're doing - No, no, I'm going to make this ragu - Fine, fine.
I'm going to use Antonietta's lovely hand-made pasta for my Ragu alla Napoletana.
Ragu in Italy is like the Sunday roast in Britain.
- So what are you doing here - Napoletana ragu.
Ah, yeah.
Right, sausages.
Pork sausages, which I will cut it in quite large chunks.
Then I'm going to This is spare ribs, pork spare ribs, which I cut in half.
Be careful with your hands when you cut it.
Here I have this fantastic beef with a bit of fat inside it as well, a bit of gristle that is nice fat which is good, and I'm going to cut it quite rough.
This particular one, you can make it with any kind, cheap cut of meat.
Cheapest meat you have, a better taste because there is inside a nice bit of fat inside.
When you slowly, slowly cook it melts, giving such a flavour to the meat.
And if there's too much fat on top you can always scoop it out.
Easy, Antonio.
Then I'm going to seal the meat.
Now, let me explain what the seal the meat is.
Seal the meat, what you do, you are just you make sure that the meat gets browned on the outside, and then it will cook.
When it's brown it will be sealed outside but slowly, when it actually cooks, will release all the goodness from inside.
May I stir the pasta because it's over-boiling Let me stir it.
- May I keep an eye on it - Keep an eye on it.
Be careful the shirt.
Now, what I will do now, I want to put a bit of salt.
- Salt.
Just a little tad.
- Why do you put the salt now Because I balance better to put them inside the salt.
Then a bit of pepper.
And now, which is still cooking, I will put an onion.
- Stir the pasta properly.
- Yes.
Now I chop the onions, you'll see the onions are chopped, It's very rough because it's going to cook for a couple of hours.
And cooking for a couple of hours the onions will almost melt.
Then you have them inside, make sure it's rough onions going inside.
Fantastico.
Then you stir it.
You've got a lovely colour, you know - I know.
I am hungry.
- Oh, all right, yeah, got a couple of hours to do that.
I'm going to add some wine inside.
Then I need to now to evaporate this little bit of wine which is inside.
So simple.
You need now some puree, tomato puree.
Then I will put some water inside, nice bit of water, see, - and now the alcohol - Yeah, is gone Is almost gone, so I stir this one nice and But you have to make sure that you do stir it, don't just put a big lump inside, make sure you dilute it properly, then you add them in.
Then you get three tins of nice tomato.
It's all chopped up tomato, look, all goes in now.
- Chunks as well, you use - Big chunks as well.
This is going to cook for two hours.
This in my opinion is only cucina povera in the south of Italy.
I don't see it in the north, using bits and pieces that are not very expensive to get lovely flavours like that.
It is.
Last we're going to give them a little bit of what we call garden flavour.
Get a nice handful of basil, break it, push them inside, and you get Lovely smell.
Yeah, you can really smell.
Then you get the pot which here I've done one about two and a half hours ago.
- You ready, Antonio - Yeah, I'm ready.
He can't wait.
Look, and it's all bubble along.
It looks very good, I must say.
And then I'm going to put all the meat inside, everything melted.
The meat becomes so tender.
The sausages, of course.
My goodness.
- Now I can put the pasta in.
- Sure.
Oh, why I'm cooking so good! Why you don't wait to taste it before you say that OK, all right.
OK, proper ragu.
A bit of meat, just a second.
It looks very good.
Even the bone has gone so soft.
It's two courses here.
You have a starter, which is the pasta and then all different cuts of meat, which you can have later.
You can have a lovely salad, whatever, little bit of juice and sauce so you can dip the bread inside.
'Traditionally pasta has always been a primi, 'or first course in Italy.
'On the rare occasion when meat was served as a second course there was never much to go around, 'so better for the family to be filled up with pasta.
' Very good.
'But lucky for us, today we are able to indulge.
' You can see the meat and everything is ever so tender.
So this is ragu alla Napoletana with a curly pasta gourmet which with three different cuts of meat, sausages, spare ribs and beef, can be anything, though, with a fantastic garden salad.
Well done, Gennaro.
Nowadays the whole world loves pasta, and the fortunes of cucina povera has totally changed.
Poor food is making some of the people of Campania rich.
'We have been invited to join my friend · and old business colleague Giuseppe di Martino on his yacht.
'Giuseppe is a pasta man.
'What he doesn't know about pasta isn't worth knowing.
' The roots of pasta go back thousands and thousands of years.
But shall we say once for all, · that it wasn't Marco Polo who brought it back Ah, but this is a fantastic legend.
It's easy to believe but it's not true.
The first shape that was invented thousands and thousands of years ago was lasagne.
During the Roman times, if you were a Roman citizen, you will never starve because you would have wheat for free.
What they used to do, the people, they mix it with water and they made sheets so that they could store it in their houses, flat, without using a lot of space.
That's the actual original pasta.
That's interesting.
I didn't know that, I didn't know that.
The reason of pasta was to survive crisis, was to become a storage, to become a stock of food, something you could rely on in bad times.
'Giuseppe grew up in Italy's pasta-making town.
' Gragnano is probably the capital of pasta in the entire world.
- The air is so good.
- Yes.
This here is the real thing.
Gragnano near Naples is to pasta what Rome is to Catholics, and has been for over 500 years.
The town is one big pasta factory.
Its port gives access to the best flour, mountains provide the best water, and it has the perfect climate.
In the old days pasta was hung on frames in the street to dry.
Gragnano's main street was built especially wide and runs straight from the mountains to shore to catch the sea breezes.
The fresh air that you were mentioning, around one o'clock, from the sea, is coming a fresh air because the earth has been warmed up by the sun, and produce a sort of movement of air.
This lovely, lovely air was drying the pasta perfectly.
Giuseppe's grandfather worked in the Gragnano pasta factory from the age of ten.
He had the gift.
In fact, his expertise became his fortune.
He was such a good pasta maker his boss loaned him money to set up on his own.
'Giuseppe inherited his grandfather's business and skill.
' Mama mia! 'And now he has taken his pasta global, 'but Giuseppe has maintained the traditional methods of making pasta.
' What we're trying to replicate in these drying cells is drying it outside in the sun.
This has just come out of the production line.
It's still very warm and soft.
On wooden trays is important because wood is keeping the temperature perfect.
This was used 500 years ago and we still use it.
It smells like fantastic bread, it is the wheat that tastes really incredible.
It is a bakery.
If you dry at high temperature, all of these disappears.
Making the pasta exactly the same as your grandad used to make 100 years ago The process is exactly the same.
My grandfather would be very proud of this.
Especially in Britain, there are many people who believe the fresh pasta is the best.
And sometimes they go to the supermarket, they take sort of wet pasta.
There isn't such a thing in Italy.
Wet pasta is only buying water at the price of pasta.
If you cannot buy it anywhere, pasta was invented to have a store, to have a stock of food, so something that will make you go for a long time, and so it couldn't be fresh.
Dry pasta, it keeps al dente, and the fresh pasta is always soft.
'Giuseppe now produces more than five tonnes every day, 'and sells around the world.
"His top-of-the-range fusilli are snapped up for 500 a box in posh London shops.
' Why the pasta become global product because Italians have gone around the world, like you two.
You're going to England, people are going to the States, Japan, everywhere.
And with them they've brought such a strong culture.
That's why you get the money to buy wonderful linen! Antonio, he's loaned all money here.
Well, it takes 100 years to make! - Your father had a secret to make pasta.
- Yeah.
It's obviously the secret of the family! - Come and work with me and I'll tell you! - Promise I will! 'Pasta has come a long way.
The food of the poor has now become the food of the rich.
'Southern Italian food is all about simple, local ingredients.
' Fantastic.
Those peaches, they were collected this morning.
Oh, fantastic! Mmm! Fresh! They're not all perfect.
Look at all the juice coming out of this one.
You know, natural stuff never grows perfect.
'This is alfresco dining at its best.
'This fruit is all in season, from just up the road, like the old days.
' The terraced hills above Minori may be perfect for growing fruit, but higher up in the Rocky Mountains it is hard to grow food.
However, where there is a will, there is a way.
An old friend, Pasquale, lives with his family high in these mountains.
Pasquale, like his father and grandfather, is a shepherd, and lives hand to mouth like many did in the past.
They're fantastic, Antonio.
That's unbelievable.
That sound, it's music.
That's idyllic life.
The air here is pure, fantastic.
The height coupled with the earth.
And that's enough.
Happy life, perhaps.
Antonio, there is no traffic here.
Oh, that's wonderful! Antonio, wait.
Salute, grazie.
'When Pasquale and Raffaella first married, 'they had nothing but 50 sheep.
'They lived rough here under the trees.
'They made milk into cheese and sold or exchanged it for other food.
' - That was his bedroom.
- That was his bedroom! Here was a table.
That was his garden.
They had fennel, tomatoes, and it was enough to eat well, actually.
'Pasquale gets work wherever he can.
In the summer he picks lemons.
' 'Every day, he carries 50-kilo boxes down 500 steps to the seafront.
'I can barely lift it, and he does it ten times a day.
'Now they have their own cellars, 'where Raffaella can make pecorino and ricotta cheese.
'Their hard work has made enough money to build a small house for them and their two daughters.
' Fantastic display of cheese, Gennaro.
It's wonderful flavours.
These have various ages.
This is the fresh cheese, this is aged, a little bit but perhaps a month or something, and this is five to six months.
Or you can eat it fresh as well.
This is fresh pecorino, which is fantastic on salads as well, pasta.
My mother used to put a little bit of honey on that, and we'd eat it as the dessert, or sugar.
And this is the ricotta.
I like the ricotta.
Almost like ice cream.
Very low in fat.
I prefer the ricotta.
'In pure cucina povera style, Raffaella throws nothing away 'and preserves everything, and so she still uses the old-fashioned barter system.
' 'And never have I tasted such delicious ricotta.
'I admire this couple's ingenuity and talent.
' That's fine, she said, that in evaporating and in drying.
Happy life, perhaps.
Many people of the city, they would like to have something like this.
But it is a fool's romance.
We see it as romantic, they see it as a normal life, hard life.
Earning just a bit of money to survive well.
Maybe ask him if he has depressions.
I believe that simple life is not a guarantee that you don't have depressions.
But I wouldn't like to exchange it, actually, for a few hours.
I am too used to comfort, to have the city and all of that.
But it isn't easy, and this self-sufficient lifestyle is how many people were forced to live in the past.
He is looking for the four leaves, if he looks all his life! He has farted! He pretended to find one, he went, "Oh, brrr!" They are lucky, they don't know anything of nature at all, these people.
We left Pasquale and Raffaella with some ricotta for my lemon and ricotta tart.
- Gennaro! - Ai, Antonio.
"Give me this, give me that.
" Gennaro's collected wonderful lemons.
Fantastic.
Come, come, come, come here.
Glorify those wonderful lemons.
We do a ricotta tart with the candied cedro and oranges.
All of the area.
So we have here some puff pastry, I sort of roll it as thin as possible.
We have here this.
We put it inside here, we don't need fat underneath.
So this is the preparation of the dough.
Gennaro, can you - Of course I can clean.
I'm very good on that.
- Wonderful.
- Here, look.
- Yes.
There you are.
Fantastic.
Gennaro, you are a brick.
I know I'm a brick.
This is important.
It's called cedro.
They are lemons that they don't have very much juice inside, only a little fruit, but a very thick skin, and this, they are candied, and it is a fantastic flavour and taste, used in almost all the sweets of the south.
It's a lovely, scented smell of lemon, but not as the normal lemons.
The most important ingredient.
'If you can't buy cedro, candied lemon is available in many high-end supermarkets and Italian delis.
' Gennaro, can you do me the favour Five eggs, please, and I need the yolks in this here, which is the mascarpone and ricotta.
I have the mascarpone which is very fat to give a bit of consistence, and I mix this with sugar, sort of caster sugar.
There it is, now I put sort of - five yolk of eggs, Gennaro, please - One.
- Yes.
Don't give me the whites, just yolk.
- Yes.
And save the white because we need it.
Yes, wonderful yolk.
My goodness, are they local Of course they are local, - they're all local.
- In with a bit of sugar.
- As you know - How much Tell me how much Another little bit, another little bit.
Another little bit, come on, that's not your sugar.
OK, fine.
- Are you sure - Yes.
- The candied fruit with this one.
- Yes.
- Now you want me to beat up - Beat it stiff.
Then we have here the orange peel which is wonderful as well.
Now, what I do is to cut this in cubes, lovely, and we put it in here.
And now the cedro.
Oh, that's lovely.
You find this in almost allthe desserts of south Italy.
Come on, come on.
Don't be lazy.
And we add this as well.
- Shall we - No, no, no, more.
It has to be stiff.
What do you mean, stiff You don't know what stiff is.
- Yes, I know what it is.
- No.
- It's all right.
- Come on.
You have to be careful! - This is fine.
- No, it's That is not - It is.
It's me cooking here.
- All right.
So Because now it is the very careful and very gentle activity of folding it.
Now you fold it very gently like this.
Ah, that's a mixture, look at this here.
Lovely, that's exactly what I wanted.
Because look at this, the fantastic pleasure of this.
Awesome, sensual.
All right.
Luxuries.
I like this sort of not exact, hand-made stuff, you know, because it doesn't look industrial.
- So it's up to you now to - Yeah, to finish off.
Yes.
Thank you.
That's one egg.
You can see the colour of it.
Yes, it's unbelievable.
To give a lovely golden patina to the pastry.
Now, this, after you finish this we put it in an oven at about 180 degrees or 200 20-25 for about 20, 25 minutes.
And we see that the centre will be still a little bit wobbly, then we take it out and we let it rest.
Now it's ready for the oven.
- Do you want me to do - Yes, go.
OK.
Shall I eat for you as well - Yes, that would be nice.
- OK.
Oh, that's fantastic.
This is wonderful.
Look at the colour, I love it.
I can't wait.
The last touch is this one, because we are here in the region of endless lemon.
Look at this, just a hint.
Now this is really the proof of the pudding.
Let's see, yes.
I can't wait, Antonio, go on.
Here, perfect.
There.
Shall I put some pears on it You don't know, but I saw them in the market and I said "I need those.
" They're little pears which I put in the oven as they are, and then at a certain stage when they're starting to be a little bit shrinky, you put a bit of sugar and a bottle of red wine.
- Do you know what they're called - No.
Bambinelli.
- Bambinelli, little children.
- Little children, little bambini.
Yes! - Gennaro, you are a champion.
- Just a minute.
Look at this, here, that's just fantastic.
I baked it! Oh, that's a dream of a tart.
Light, nice.
I like more the pears than your tart.
The pear is very good.
- I like more the pears than the tart.
- I know, I know.
I can't understand why you are joking all the time.
- I love it.
- Can't understand it.
It's very silly.
- If you like it, you like it.
- Yes, I do like it.
Oven.
Heaven, not oven.
- No, no, baked them in the oven.
- Oh, yeah, OK.
Antonio.
Chin-chin to you.
- You've really done well.
- Yes Thank you, thank you.
Well, this time you did.
Salute.
Wonderful.
Just wonderful.
The people in Campania are famous for being able to make the most of what's around them.
There's even a word for it here arrangiarsi.
That is exactly what I used to do.
Everything that could be eaten, usually was.
But even I have to draw the line somewhere.
He's searching a lizard, I think.
Argh, god, god.
He find one.
When I was a little kid, I used to do a competition, who catch the most lizard, and I caught 36 lizard one day.
I put them in a box and brought them to my sister, she opened it and she went, "Argh!" Lizards everywhere inside the house, I had to run away.
Well, I used to respect those little animals.
Once you caught it, you know, you let it go free again.
You don't eat it.
Yuck.
How can you eat a lizard You can eat it if like it.
Do you know what I'm sure if we get a big one, or three or four and just cook those with a little bit of garlic and oil, and give it to Antonio he'll eat everything.
Antonio, I'm coming.
I know you can't do without me, I'm coming.
I've always hunted, I had the reputation for it when I was younger.
Look, did you see There, there is a little bay there, with the Yes, with the villa there.
Yep, I was about 17.
It's unbelievable.
The sea was my swimming pool.
The back mountain was my garden.
The village was my playground.
And all those rocks there, this is where I used to go down for octopus, catch mussels.
There used to be some prickly pears.
You know the prickly pear I really had to climb to get some of those, and the salt, you know, after a rough sea, was left in the little pools.
The sun used to evaporate This is the salt we used to use with our cooking.
This is where I learn all these things.
The sun, the sea, the mountain, the smell of the flower, the perfume of the lemon.
Everyone should have a youth like this, obviously.
I was hearing passing by that somebody was calling you, "Gancio".
What does it mean - You want to know what it means - Yes.
Hook.
Do you know why - No.
I used to hook all the girls.
I made love with a lovely German, French, Italian, god knows - English - God knows, yes.
So many.
So it wasn't the hooking of fish or something If you actually Do you know, you stand there, you can actually, how can I say You can still feel me there.
So you were the terror of Minori I was not the terror of Minori! You know, 60's, 70's there was a free love.
Why not Is now It cost money now Probably I would have done the same, actually.
Antonio, you done worse.
Hook by name, hook by nature.
When I was a boy I barely went to school, I felt like I belonged in the water.
The sea was like sweet shop to me, I took anything I could get my hands on, and anything I could fit down my trunks.
You know what they say, predators of the sea like to nibble small things.
You're almost there.
Surprise, surprise.
Let's see what he has got.
Antonio.
Yes, Gennaro.
What have you go there Unbelievable.
Wow! Look at this.
Wow! Look at this.
That's wonderful, isn't it - Here, Antonio.
- Yes - No, don't - That's for you! Oh, that's good, one male and one female.
These are sea urchin.
What I would do without him They look quick.
- Yes.
May I have it - Yep.
I do it like this.
- Do you want lemon on top - No.
Ah, the smell and the taste of the Mediterranean all in one bite.
I eat them like that.
I eat them like that! I know.
I prefer it without the lemon.
Now you come on board, I cook you something.
I am not going to use Gennaro's octopus for my recipe, knowing where it's been kept.
I've got my own catch.
Prawns and mussels with linguine.
Now, he is very hungry and I'm going to prepare for him a very cucina povera dish which is just few ingredients, starting with taking water, because we are on a boat, from the sea, because the salted water.
And I have here linguine, and I put it into the salted water, boiling here on the side.
In the meantime, I prepare the sauce which is very, very easy.
Be careful, it's hot.
- Give it to me.
- Move a little bit.
There.
Now in this case we have wonderful seafood here and the linguine there, seafood linguine.
We have fantastic prawns which I've shelled already, and mussels, and a little bit of parsley.
And we put just a little bit of olive oil, and we put the chilli and I like it with the seeds.
People, they just eat the garlic and the chilli, in the oil, and it's called spaghetti or linguine aglio, olio e peperoncino.
And then I put the mussels first because they have to open.
And by opening they release wonderful seawater which will flavour of the Mediterranean the entire dish.
When you put the lid on, the steam is building and the mussels open quicker.
Not yet, it has to be done with lovely steam, so that they open and they release all the fantastic juices.
As a matter of fact, we can put a little bit of wine which belongs to it.
And so it builds a little bit more steam.
There you go.
Put the lid on.
Do you want me to chop the parsley You can chop the parsley, Gennaro.
Thank you.
See, I'm always helping you.
Wonderful.
They're open, that's fine, and now I put in the prawns.
Are you going to use a little bit of salt, Antonio - Nope.
- OK.
A bit of pepper.
Leave it - OK.
- I want to taste.
Just a little bit of salt.
What do I do without you Just a little pinch.
And I believe that's ready, in a minute or two it's cooked.
I know that you're hungry.
Yeah.
Do you want the parsley No, not yet.
Just to cook them very briefly.
Do you see They change colour, and they're cooked.
Fantastic.
That's fantastic, Gennaro.
You really think of me, eh Just a little bit of olive oil.
Ah, Gennaro, look at this.
Now I want the parsley.
It's all yours.
Put it there.
Lovely.
- Gennaro, it's all yours.
- Thank you very much.
- One for you.
- Thank you.
- One for me.
- This is a portion and a half for you.
Oh, my goodness.
Here's to the health of the entire world.
You envy us, they have to suffer.
And this is what makes Italian food different from others, because when you want to have regional and wonderful things, you have to have the very good ingredients which here are available everywhere, and the fish has a very special flavour.
The pasta is locally made, the parsley is locally grown, and eaten in Minori.
What do you want more You're right.
- It's fantastic.
- Yes.
And this is poor food.
Can feed quite a few people from here.
Yeah, you can eat it all, Gennaro.
It's only because I know you worked a lot.
I know.
We are heading for the capital of Campania.
Naples was for centuries Europe's poorest, most crowded, dangerous city.
People call it the bowels of Italy.
It was the food of the city's starving that went onto become world famous - pizza, and it was born here.
- This is our pizza.
- Panzerotti.
Panzerotti, you'll love it.
The fried pizza.
Pizza started life as a piece of dough, smeared with pork fat, if you were lucky.
But pizza's humble origins were dramatically changed by a major cholera epidemic in the 19th century.
People were dying in the streets.
Everyone who could left Naples.
To boost the morale of the terrified city, King Umberto and Queen Margherita risked cholera by coming to the Royal Palace.
Margherita went one step further and asked to try the poor food of Naples.
From this pizzeria, she ordered a pizza made with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.
The colours of the Italian flag.
That simple act, the Queen eating poor man's food, made Naples proud and gave birth to the celebrated pizza Margherita and set pizza on course to becoming the most popular dish in the world.
Buon apetito.
Mama mia.
I can't wait to try it.
Wonderful! All over the world it's just incredible.
It's taken over even in China, Japan, everybody's got pizza.
This being the birth place of pizza, there are varieties here exclusive to Naples.
Look at these here! That reminds me, my mother used to fry the pizza.
Very interesting.
Street food at its best.
This is just like a little snack because they go home and eat even more.
But it's lovely to see that the appetite is there, and they are eating a freshly baked pizza.
Bona Si.
I want to make one of them, Antonio.
I will as well.
This is the dough, flattened, raised with a bit of yeast, this is unique to Naples and it's so quick, it is fantastic.
Mozzarella No, no mozzarella.
You use also a little bit of olive oil.
That's it.
Pizza fritta.
Instant food.
Not fast food, instant.
And my mother used to make one after the other.
Gennaro, shall we eat it Shall we eat it now But before that, can I make one first - You can do one - I can do that one.
Your fantasy.
I put some ricotta on top, just a little on top, and then I use pork scratching.
Just have them on top like that, then I get some nice little mozzarella.
A little bit of tomato.
Push them inside.
There must have been some before, they look better.
Mine is much better.
'I think we need a second opinion.
' 'Gennaro is a genius cook but I make better pizza.
' 'And I have something of the virtuoso piano player too.
'Now, all I need to find is a decent singer.
' There was once a popular saying around these parts, ··· "I am emigrating so I can eat.
" 25 million Italians mainly from the south moved away to find work up north or abroad.
And they took their cucina povera with them.
Many became cooks, just like our dear Gennaro.
I left my hometown Minori when I was 19 in 1968.
All memories, all the passion I have when I cook comes from growing up watching my mama, my grandma, my aunt, make the tastiest dishes.
I was 19 and I was going to London.
It was five o'clock in the morning, I had to catch a train.
We got up all together and I left.
It's 100 metres from here to there, it must have been the saddest minutes of my life because it was the first time I moved away from my village, and I knew that it did not belong to me any more.
I could almost cry.
My mum, she can see a last glimpse of me, when I actually turned that corner.
I wonder how many tears she shed inside there.
And my little sister, she's still sleeping.
I can almost see her.
When I lived here, my family had almost nothing.
It is incredible how things have changed.
Now there are restaurateurs using the same cucina povera ingredients, but they are charging a fortune to the tourist.
My mama would be turning in her grave.
It's our last night in Campania together, and I am going to treat Gennaro to a meal in one of those posh restaurants, Rossellini's.
It's a two Michelin-star restaurant.
- Do you like my shoes - Oh, lovely.
Yeah Do you know what I can't bend down! - Jesus, I can't! - Well, with the tummy you've got Yeah, but you look to yours.
- But I can bend down.
- You can't bend down.
Do you know what is the difference between you and me You believe to be still attractive and so on, but you are about to become an old man.
I am already an old man, so I don't care.
But I'm not! Why do you want me to become an old man - No, no, you are an old man! - No, I'm not! Well, you should be.
Do it again.
Jump a little bit.
- Do you know what - I like this.
- That's it.
Nice.
- Let's go.
According to the price, it can't be the cheap stuff that they use here.
It'd better be good, a meal here costs 400 euros.
The chef has created a cuisine influenced by the food of the poor, but he has taken cucina poverato another level.
Ah, yes.
Lovely.
There you go - That's a penguin.
- We can't eat that one.
Well, I'm hungry.
Actually, in a place like that, you shouldn't say "I am hungry", you should say, "I have a light appetite".
No, no, I'm hungry! Gennaro, what has a penguin to do with our food Ah, good.
- Oh, bread, yes.
And squid ink.
- Squid ink.
Crystallised potato.
They look like petals.
Very delicate.
Ah, fresh mozzarella cheese, stretched, blown up, and injected with tomato essence, and the juice of basil oil.
Just like a pizza margherita but without the dough.
That's one thing of cucina povera, this is for the very poor, because I only had one bite! Sauce, one anchovy and one single strand of spaghetti - not for the hungry.
'I wonder if that is on the menu!' The chef's piece de resistance - a tomato that has been pureed, reformed and topped with gold.
24K 24 carat gold leaves Gennaro, when there are people prepared to pay 'I could use that gold to get the taxi home!' Quite an expensive tomato - one bite.
There's a little bit of gold on your lips! Can't taste the gold leaves.
I'm still hungry.
You're still hungry, OK.
It's amazing to see how poverty created great simple food and how it's now become the most popular cuisine in the world.
Who would have thought, the poorest food in Europe would be influencing Michelin-starred chefs But we are in Italy, I don't need the fancy restaurants.
If you are prepared to be sneaky, you can get wonderful food gratis.
- Where's the fig tree - Here on the left.
And grapes, ha-ha, wonderful grapes.
Gennaro, I go Shh! When you steal, you have to steal in silence.
I steal in silence, you're the one who talks.
Ah, look at these, let's see if they're sweet.
'This is what the best food in the world is all about.
'Pure, natural, no silver service or fancy napkins here.
' Wonderful! I almost dream of that.
Ripe, delightful is that.
- Are you sure - Yes.
There you are.
- Pass it down.
- Yeah, pass them all.
'I feel like a boy again in nature's sweet shop.
' Pass it down completely, yeah Oh, that's yellow, fantastic.
This is what we love about Italy.
'Next time, we travel to my region, Piedmont, in the north of Italy, 'and I'll be going back home.
'We'll be finding out if Italians are still incredibly passionate 'about the food from their own region.
' Oh, my goodness me! This is the real Piedmontese stuff.
'We discover foods even we haven't tasted.
' Chinese pumpkin, I can't believe it.
'And I find Gennaro a new friend.
' - Gennaro, you have a prince there.
- Try to kiss him!
I am Italian through and through, but I left my dear country 50 years ago.
' 'Now I'm returning with my old friend.
· 'I am Gennaro Contaldo.
For 30 years me and Antonio have fought and fallen out.
' - I prefer the ricotta.
- Yeah, but I prefer everything.
'But now we are best friends.
I love him.
' 'Since we left Italy a lot has changed, 'and we have come to see if the food has changed too.
'We are going to the southern region of Campania where Gennaro grew up and I was born.
' But this is the bells which I've been hearing since I was a little boy.
'This is where the best Italian food comes from - pasta and pizza, tomato sauce - it is all from here.
' The most delightful fusilli, made by hand.
We have come to see how Campania's simple, poor food its cucina povera, has become loved throughout the world.
Pizza fritta - instant food.
And find out what has changed here since we were boys.
24K 24 carat gold, it must cost quite a bit of money.
'Of course, we'll be cooking along the way.
' Oh, why I'm cooking so good 'And eating.
' 'Gennaro will be reliving his youth.
' 'And he offers me a lunch even I can't refuse.
' That's for you.
· · Ah, the Amalfi Coast - a paradise of millionaire villas and yachts.
But it wasn't always like this.
Just 60 years ago, this region was one of the poorest in Italy.
There was no work and little money.
This is where Gennaro was born and grew up.
I was also born along this coast, but my father moved the family to northern Italy when I was a baby.
He was lucky he had a good job, but here many families could barely make ends meet and lived on very little.
Like my family.
We lived on the fruits that were literally around us.
Gennaro, what is the most beautiful thing to do To be on the Amalfi Coast Very ripe fruit direct from the tree, juicy.
You have to be careful not to have a bath.
- Here, Gennaro.
- Thank you.
- Because you are a friend.
The peach is one of the best fruits ever.
In the summer, yes, but But I like it sort of pre-ripe because otherwise there's nothing.
Yep.
Very good.
When you need a lemon, what do you do Look, take your pick.
- I like the one in the middle.
- This one - No, the one with the big beak.
- Yes, that one.
- Look at this.
Ah, that's a wonderful one, fantastic.
- So you can eat this one.
- I know that, I know that.
Oh.
Direct from the tree.
'We used to eat almost anything and absolutely nothing went to waste, 'even every part of a lemon will be eaten.
' It goes well with all sorts of This one is not sharp or whatever.
No.
They're really Without a doubt, the best one in the world.
Ah My breakfast is finished, I'm in for a wonderful day today.
- Yes, you are complete red.
- What do you mean red - You're just like a lobster.
- Lobster Why don't we say pepperoni It's much better.
'Gennaro is taking me to his hometown, Minori.
'It was once a small village, now it's full of tourists, 'hotels and holiday villas.
' 'Ah.
It is always great to come home.
' - Home sweet home.
- Unbelievable.
Even the bells there.
This is the bells which I've been hearing since I was a little boy.
Come on, Gennaro.
'My mama and papa sadly passed away.
'I left here more than 40 years ago, but I still know almost everyone.
'This is my nephew, this is my old school friend.
'This is my father's old friend, bless him.
'And this is an old family friend, Andrea, 'who remembers what it was like in the 1950s.
' Andrea, tell me one thing, how was it in the so-called bad time here Things were very bad.
There was no food and no work.
Here, the people were poor.
Most of the people lived on, as I say, doing work in the country.
How did your mother cope with the situation What food did she used to prepare for you I don't know how she managed.
We were six of us, sitting there, it was during winter, and my mother told me, when I remember it I feel like crying, and she said, "Look, I'm afraid that there's nothing to eat tonight.
" And we all went to bed with nothing.
And that was one of the worst things that I remember.
'Most families lived hand to mouth here, like Andrea.
'Gennaro is taking me to meet his aunt who has lived in Minori all her life.
' 'Ah, my dear Aunty Antonietta.
'Antonietta, she's a fantastic cook.
'Antonietta's making pasta just like she's always done.
' Really, the art of making this pasta is to make a wonderful dough which is simply flour and water, nothing else.
Make a little sausage like this to have a curl.
This enables the pasta to absorb sauce inside.
There's playing, playing with pasta.
This is pure cucina povera, wonderful food born out of poverty.
Just flour and water, shape it with an old umbrella spike.
You can see this is actually part of an umbrella, and roll it up.
And it is fantastic, and you have to do one by one, and it takes a couple of hours to do that.
Usually they sort of collect a few friends, and it's a social meeting, you know, instead of going to the pub or to the bingo, they do this.
Here you are, here's the pasta they make, Antonio, look.
Look, my heart really starts to beat when I see pasta like this because it's the most delightful fusilli, made by hand.
This is what I was brought up with.
This was also the pasta that my nanny used to make.
'Families ate pasta every day in this part of Italy.
It was cheap 'and filled up empty bellies, and the different shapes added variety.
' And do you know what they put them in A cardboard box.
'There are now more than 600 shapes of pasta in Italy.
'But in the old days the family didn't eat Antonietta's pasta.
' Interesting.
So they were making this pasta as a luxury, they were bringing them to their vendor and they were paid money in kilos and so on, and with the money they were paid, they would buy the other pasta and beans and so on to have the very simple meal.
So this was literally sort of a trade.
'Cucini povera is all about making the most of everything.
'And Antonietta never throws anything away, 'and she's a genius with leftovers.
' Antonietta now has prepared something very, very special for us.
This is a famous pane cotto, leftover bread, cooked with the tomatoes and if they had a bit of Parmesan, Parmesan as well.
And it is a delightful soup, let me see.
'When I was a small boy we rarely had meat, 'but we did keep animal for special occasions.
' So we used to have chickens, we used to have a pig.
One way or the other they used to have an animal.
You know, I never forget the story when my father, every Easter, he used to bring a little baby goat, and once he became very attached with this animal, you know, running everywhere, take him everywhere.
You know, really, really affectionate.
But then one day I find the poor animal's hanging upside down.
I couldn't stop crying because that was my friend.
My father went "Bang", smacked me, and he said to me, "You should never be attached to food.
" And I learned my lesson.
Before we leave, Antonietta gives us a lunch bag of her home-made pasta.
Arrivederci.
Arrivederci.
Ciao! Ciao! I think tomorrow we'll have a wonderful lunch.
- I'm going to make a - No, you're doing - No, no, I'm going to make this ragu - Fine, fine.
I'm going to use Antonietta's lovely hand-made pasta for my Ragu alla Napoletana.
Ragu in Italy is like the Sunday roast in Britain.
- So what are you doing here - Napoletana ragu.
Ah, yeah.
Right, sausages.
Pork sausages, which I will cut it in quite large chunks.
Then I'm going to This is spare ribs, pork spare ribs, which I cut in half.
Be careful with your hands when you cut it.
Here I have this fantastic beef with a bit of fat inside it as well, a bit of gristle that is nice fat which is good, and I'm going to cut it quite rough.
This particular one, you can make it with any kind, cheap cut of meat.
Cheapest meat you have, a better taste because there is inside a nice bit of fat inside.
When you slowly, slowly cook it melts, giving such a flavour to the meat.
And if there's too much fat on top you can always scoop it out.
Easy, Antonio.
Then I'm going to seal the meat.
Now, let me explain what the seal the meat is.
Seal the meat, what you do, you are just you make sure that the meat gets browned on the outside, and then it will cook.
When it's brown it will be sealed outside but slowly, when it actually cooks, will release all the goodness from inside.
May I stir the pasta because it's over-boiling Let me stir it.
- May I keep an eye on it - Keep an eye on it.
Be careful the shirt.
Now, what I will do now, I want to put a bit of salt.
- Salt.
Just a little tad.
- Why do you put the salt now Because I balance better to put them inside the salt.
Then a bit of pepper.
And now, which is still cooking, I will put an onion.
- Stir the pasta properly.
- Yes.
Now I chop the onions, you'll see the onions are chopped, It's very rough because it's going to cook for a couple of hours.
And cooking for a couple of hours the onions will almost melt.
Then you have them inside, make sure it's rough onions going inside.
Fantastico.
Then you stir it.
You've got a lovely colour, you know - I know.
I am hungry.
- Oh, all right, yeah, got a couple of hours to do that.
I'm going to add some wine inside.
Then I need to now to evaporate this little bit of wine which is inside.
So simple.
You need now some puree, tomato puree.
Then I will put some water inside, nice bit of water, see, - and now the alcohol - Yeah, is gone Is almost gone, so I stir this one nice and But you have to make sure that you do stir it, don't just put a big lump inside, make sure you dilute it properly, then you add them in.
Then you get three tins of nice tomato.
It's all chopped up tomato, look, all goes in now.
- Chunks as well, you use - Big chunks as well.
This is going to cook for two hours.
This in my opinion is only cucina povera in the south of Italy.
I don't see it in the north, using bits and pieces that are not very expensive to get lovely flavours like that.
It is.
Last we're going to give them a little bit of what we call garden flavour.
Get a nice handful of basil, break it, push them inside, and you get Lovely smell.
Yeah, you can really smell.
Then you get the pot which here I've done one about two and a half hours ago.
- You ready, Antonio - Yeah, I'm ready.
He can't wait.
Look, and it's all bubble along.
It looks very good, I must say.
And then I'm going to put all the meat inside, everything melted.
The meat becomes so tender.
The sausages, of course.
My goodness.
- Now I can put the pasta in.
- Sure.
Oh, why I'm cooking so good! Why you don't wait to taste it before you say that OK, all right.
OK, proper ragu.
A bit of meat, just a second.
It looks very good.
Even the bone has gone so soft.
It's two courses here.
You have a starter, which is the pasta and then all different cuts of meat, which you can have later.
You can have a lovely salad, whatever, little bit of juice and sauce so you can dip the bread inside.
'Traditionally pasta has always been a primi, 'or first course in Italy.
'On the rare occasion when meat was served as a second course there was never much to go around, 'so better for the family to be filled up with pasta.
' Very good.
'But lucky for us, today we are able to indulge.
' You can see the meat and everything is ever so tender.
So this is ragu alla Napoletana with a curly pasta gourmet which with three different cuts of meat, sausages, spare ribs and beef, can be anything, though, with a fantastic garden salad.
Well done, Gennaro.
Nowadays the whole world loves pasta, and the fortunes of cucina povera has totally changed.
Poor food is making some of the people of Campania rich.
'We have been invited to join my friend · and old business colleague Giuseppe di Martino on his yacht.
'Giuseppe is a pasta man.
'What he doesn't know about pasta isn't worth knowing.
' The roots of pasta go back thousands and thousands of years.
But shall we say once for all, · that it wasn't Marco Polo who brought it back Ah, but this is a fantastic legend.
It's easy to believe but it's not true.
The first shape that was invented thousands and thousands of years ago was lasagne.
During the Roman times, if you were a Roman citizen, you will never starve because you would have wheat for free.
What they used to do, the people, they mix it with water and they made sheets so that they could store it in their houses, flat, without using a lot of space.
That's the actual original pasta.
That's interesting.
I didn't know that, I didn't know that.
The reason of pasta was to survive crisis, was to become a storage, to become a stock of food, something you could rely on in bad times.
'Giuseppe grew up in Italy's pasta-making town.
' Gragnano is probably the capital of pasta in the entire world.
- The air is so good.
- Yes.
This here is the real thing.
Gragnano near Naples is to pasta what Rome is to Catholics, and has been for over 500 years.
The town is one big pasta factory.
Its port gives access to the best flour, mountains provide the best water, and it has the perfect climate.
In the old days pasta was hung on frames in the street to dry.
Gragnano's main street was built especially wide and runs straight from the mountains to shore to catch the sea breezes.
The fresh air that you were mentioning, around one o'clock, from the sea, is coming a fresh air because the earth has been warmed up by the sun, and produce a sort of movement of air.
This lovely, lovely air was drying the pasta perfectly.
Giuseppe's grandfather worked in the Gragnano pasta factory from the age of ten.
He had the gift.
In fact, his expertise became his fortune.
He was such a good pasta maker his boss loaned him money to set up on his own.
'Giuseppe inherited his grandfather's business and skill.
' Mama mia! 'And now he has taken his pasta global, 'but Giuseppe has maintained the traditional methods of making pasta.
' What we're trying to replicate in these drying cells is drying it outside in the sun.
This has just come out of the production line.
It's still very warm and soft.
On wooden trays is important because wood is keeping the temperature perfect.
This was used 500 years ago and we still use it.
It smells like fantastic bread, it is the wheat that tastes really incredible.
It is a bakery.
If you dry at high temperature, all of these disappears.
Making the pasta exactly the same as your grandad used to make 100 years ago The process is exactly the same.
My grandfather would be very proud of this.
Especially in Britain, there are many people who believe the fresh pasta is the best.
And sometimes they go to the supermarket, they take sort of wet pasta.
There isn't such a thing in Italy.
Wet pasta is only buying water at the price of pasta.
If you cannot buy it anywhere, pasta was invented to have a store, to have a stock of food, so something that will make you go for a long time, and so it couldn't be fresh.
Dry pasta, it keeps al dente, and the fresh pasta is always soft.
'Giuseppe now produces more than five tonnes every day, 'and sells around the world.
"His top-of-the-range fusilli are snapped up for 500 a box in posh London shops.
' Why the pasta become global product because Italians have gone around the world, like you two.
You're going to England, people are going to the States, Japan, everywhere.
And with them they've brought such a strong culture.
That's why you get the money to buy wonderful linen! Antonio, he's loaned all money here.
Well, it takes 100 years to make! - Your father had a secret to make pasta.
- Yeah.
It's obviously the secret of the family! - Come and work with me and I'll tell you! - Promise I will! 'Pasta has come a long way.
The food of the poor has now become the food of the rich.
'Southern Italian food is all about simple, local ingredients.
' Fantastic.
Those peaches, they were collected this morning.
Oh, fantastic! Mmm! Fresh! They're not all perfect.
Look at all the juice coming out of this one.
You know, natural stuff never grows perfect.
'This is alfresco dining at its best.
'This fruit is all in season, from just up the road, like the old days.
' The terraced hills above Minori may be perfect for growing fruit, but higher up in the Rocky Mountains it is hard to grow food.
However, where there is a will, there is a way.
An old friend, Pasquale, lives with his family high in these mountains.
Pasquale, like his father and grandfather, is a shepherd, and lives hand to mouth like many did in the past.
They're fantastic, Antonio.
That's unbelievable.
That sound, it's music.
That's idyllic life.
The air here is pure, fantastic.
The height coupled with the earth.
And that's enough.
Happy life, perhaps.
Antonio, there is no traffic here.
Oh, that's wonderful! Antonio, wait.
Salute, grazie.
'When Pasquale and Raffaella first married, 'they had nothing but 50 sheep.
'They lived rough here under the trees.
'They made milk into cheese and sold or exchanged it for other food.
' - That was his bedroom.
- That was his bedroom! Here was a table.
That was his garden.
They had fennel, tomatoes, and it was enough to eat well, actually.
'Pasquale gets work wherever he can.
In the summer he picks lemons.
' 'Every day, he carries 50-kilo boxes down 500 steps to the seafront.
'I can barely lift it, and he does it ten times a day.
'Now they have their own cellars, 'where Raffaella can make pecorino and ricotta cheese.
'Their hard work has made enough money to build a small house for them and their two daughters.
' Fantastic display of cheese, Gennaro.
It's wonderful flavours.
These have various ages.
This is the fresh cheese, this is aged, a little bit but perhaps a month or something, and this is five to six months.
Or you can eat it fresh as well.
This is fresh pecorino, which is fantastic on salads as well, pasta.
My mother used to put a little bit of honey on that, and we'd eat it as the dessert, or sugar.
And this is the ricotta.
I like the ricotta.
Almost like ice cream.
Very low in fat.
I prefer the ricotta.
'In pure cucina povera style, Raffaella throws nothing away 'and preserves everything, and so she still uses the old-fashioned barter system.
' 'And never have I tasted such delicious ricotta.
'I admire this couple's ingenuity and talent.
' That's fine, she said, that in evaporating and in drying.
Happy life, perhaps.
Many people of the city, they would like to have something like this.
But it is a fool's romance.
We see it as romantic, they see it as a normal life, hard life.
Earning just a bit of money to survive well.
Maybe ask him if he has depressions.
I believe that simple life is not a guarantee that you don't have depressions.
But I wouldn't like to exchange it, actually, for a few hours.
I am too used to comfort, to have the city and all of that.
But it isn't easy, and this self-sufficient lifestyle is how many people were forced to live in the past.
He is looking for the four leaves, if he looks all his life! He has farted! He pretended to find one, he went, "Oh, brrr!" They are lucky, they don't know anything of nature at all, these people.
We left Pasquale and Raffaella with some ricotta for my lemon and ricotta tart.
- Gennaro! - Ai, Antonio.
"Give me this, give me that.
" Gennaro's collected wonderful lemons.
Fantastic.
Come, come, come, come here.
Glorify those wonderful lemons.
We do a ricotta tart with the candied cedro and oranges.
All of the area.
So we have here some puff pastry, I sort of roll it as thin as possible.
We have here this.
We put it inside here, we don't need fat underneath.
So this is the preparation of the dough.
Gennaro, can you - Of course I can clean.
I'm very good on that.
- Wonderful.
- Here, look.
- Yes.
There you are.
Fantastic.
Gennaro, you are a brick.
I know I'm a brick.
This is important.
It's called cedro.
They are lemons that they don't have very much juice inside, only a little fruit, but a very thick skin, and this, they are candied, and it is a fantastic flavour and taste, used in almost all the sweets of the south.
It's a lovely, scented smell of lemon, but not as the normal lemons.
The most important ingredient.
'If you can't buy cedro, candied lemon is available in many high-end supermarkets and Italian delis.
' Gennaro, can you do me the favour Five eggs, please, and I need the yolks in this here, which is the mascarpone and ricotta.
I have the mascarpone which is very fat to give a bit of consistence, and I mix this with sugar, sort of caster sugar.
There it is, now I put sort of - five yolk of eggs, Gennaro, please - One.
- Yes.
Don't give me the whites, just yolk.
- Yes.
And save the white because we need it.
Yes, wonderful yolk.
My goodness, are they local Of course they are local, - they're all local.
- In with a bit of sugar.
- As you know - How much Tell me how much Another little bit, another little bit.
Another little bit, come on, that's not your sugar.
OK, fine.
- Are you sure - Yes.
- The candied fruit with this one.
- Yes.
- Now you want me to beat up - Beat it stiff.
Then we have here the orange peel which is wonderful as well.
Now, what I do is to cut this in cubes, lovely, and we put it in here.
And now the cedro.
Oh, that's lovely.
You find this in almost allthe desserts of south Italy.
Come on, come on.
Don't be lazy.
And we add this as well.
- Shall we - No, no, no, more.
It has to be stiff.
What do you mean, stiff You don't know what stiff is.
- Yes, I know what it is.
- No.
- It's all right.
- Come on.
You have to be careful! - This is fine.
- No, it's That is not - It is.
It's me cooking here.
- All right.
So Because now it is the very careful and very gentle activity of folding it.
Now you fold it very gently like this.
Ah, that's a mixture, look at this here.
Lovely, that's exactly what I wanted.
Because look at this, the fantastic pleasure of this.
Awesome, sensual.
All right.
Luxuries.
I like this sort of not exact, hand-made stuff, you know, because it doesn't look industrial.
- So it's up to you now to - Yeah, to finish off.
Yes.
Thank you.
That's one egg.
You can see the colour of it.
Yes, it's unbelievable.
To give a lovely golden patina to the pastry.
Now, this, after you finish this we put it in an oven at about 180 degrees or 200 20-25 for about 20, 25 minutes.
And we see that the centre will be still a little bit wobbly, then we take it out and we let it rest.
Now it's ready for the oven.
- Do you want me to do - Yes, go.
OK.
Shall I eat for you as well - Yes, that would be nice.
- OK.
Oh, that's fantastic.
This is wonderful.
Look at the colour, I love it.
I can't wait.
The last touch is this one, because we are here in the region of endless lemon.
Look at this, just a hint.
Now this is really the proof of the pudding.
Let's see, yes.
I can't wait, Antonio, go on.
Here, perfect.
There.
Shall I put some pears on it You don't know, but I saw them in the market and I said "I need those.
" They're little pears which I put in the oven as they are, and then at a certain stage when they're starting to be a little bit shrinky, you put a bit of sugar and a bottle of red wine.
- Do you know what they're called - No.
Bambinelli.
- Bambinelli, little children.
- Little children, little bambini.
Yes! - Gennaro, you are a champion.
- Just a minute.
Look at this, here, that's just fantastic.
I baked it! Oh, that's a dream of a tart.
Light, nice.
I like more the pears than your tart.
The pear is very good.
- I like more the pears than the tart.
- I know, I know.
I can't understand why you are joking all the time.
- I love it.
- Can't understand it.
It's very silly.
- If you like it, you like it.
- Yes, I do like it.
Oven.
Heaven, not oven.
- No, no, baked them in the oven.
- Oh, yeah, OK.
Antonio.
Chin-chin to you.
- You've really done well.
- Yes Thank you, thank you.
Well, this time you did.
Salute.
Wonderful.
Just wonderful.
The people in Campania are famous for being able to make the most of what's around them.
There's even a word for it here arrangiarsi.
That is exactly what I used to do.
Everything that could be eaten, usually was.
But even I have to draw the line somewhere.
He's searching a lizard, I think.
Argh, god, god.
He find one.
When I was a little kid, I used to do a competition, who catch the most lizard, and I caught 36 lizard one day.
I put them in a box and brought them to my sister, she opened it and she went, "Argh!" Lizards everywhere inside the house, I had to run away.
Well, I used to respect those little animals.
Once you caught it, you know, you let it go free again.
You don't eat it.
Yuck.
How can you eat a lizard You can eat it if like it.
Do you know what I'm sure if we get a big one, or three or four and just cook those with a little bit of garlic and oil, and give it to Antonio he'll eat everything.
Antonio, I'm coming.
I know you can't do without me, I'm coming.
I've always hunted, I had the reputation for it when I was younger.
Look, did you see There, there is a little bay there, with the Yes, with the villa there.
Yep, I was about 17.
It's unbelievable.
The sea was my swimming pool.
The back mountain was my garden.
The village was my playground.
And all those rocks there, this is where I used to go down for octopus, catch mussels.
There used to be some prickly pears.
You know the prickly pear I really had to climb to get some of those, and the salt, you know, after a rough sea, was left in the little pools.
The sun used to evaporate This is the salt we used to use with our cooking.
This is where I learn all these things.
The sun, the sea, the mountain, the smell of the flower, the perfume of the lemon.
Everyone should have a youth like this, obviously.
I was hearing passing by that somebody was calling you, "Gancio".
What does it mean - You want to know what it means - Yes.
Hook.
Do you know why - No.
I used to hook all the girls.
I made love with a lovely German, French, Italian, god knows - English - God knows, yes.
So many.
So it wasn't the hooking of fish or something If you actually Do you know, you stand there, you can actually, how can I say You can still feel me there.
So you were the terror of Minori I was not the terror of Minori! You know, 60's, 70's there was a free love.
Why not Is now It cost money now Probably I would have done the same, actually.
Antonio, you done worse.
Hook by name, hook by nature.
When I was a boy I barely went to school, I felt like I belonged in the water.
The sea was like sweet shop to me, I took anything I could get my hands on, and anything I could fit down my trunks.
You know what they say, predators of the sea like to nibble small things.
You're almost there.
Surprise, surprise.
Let's see what he has got.
Antonio.
Yes, Gennaro.
What have you go there Unbelievable.
Wow! Look at this.
Wow! Look at this.
That's wonderful, isn't it - Here, Antonio.
- Yes - No, don't - That's for you! Oh, that's good, one male and one female.
These are sea urchin.
What I would do without him They look quick.
- Yes.
May I have it - Yep.
I do it like this.
- Do you want lemon on top - No.
Ah, the smell and the taste of the Mediterranean all in one bite.
I eat them like that.
I eat them like that! I know.
I prefer it without the lemon.
Now you come on board, I cook you something.
I am not going to use Gennaro's octopus for my recipe, knowing where it's been kept.
I've got my own catch.
Prawns and mussels with linguine.
Now, he is very hungry and I'm going to prepare for him a very cucina povera dish which is just few ingredients, starting with taking water, because we are on a boat, from the sea, because the salted water.
And I have here linguine, and I put it into the salted water, boiling here on the side.
In the meantime, I prepare the sauce which is very, very easy.
Be careful, it's hot.
- Give it to me.
- Move a little bit.
There.
Now in this case we have wonderful seafood here and the linguine there, seafood linguine.
We have fantastic prawns which I've shelled already, and mussels, and a little bit of parsley.
And we put just a little bit of olive oil, and we put the chilli and I like it with the seeds.
People, they just eat the garlic and the chilli, in the oil, and it's called spaghetti or linguine aglio, olio e peperoncino.
And then I put the mussels first because they have to open.
And by opening they release wonderful seawater which will flavour of the Mediterranean the entire dish.
When you put the lid on, the steam is building and the mussels open quicker.
Not yet, it has to be done with lovely steam, so that they open and they release all the fantastic juices.
As a matter of fact, we can put a little bit of wine which belongs to it.
And so it builds a little bit more steam.
There you go.
Put the lid on.
Do you want me to chop the parsley You can chop the parsley, Gennaro.
Thank you.
See, I'm always helping you.
Wonderful.
They're open, that's fine, and now I put in the prawns.
Are you going to use a little bit of salt, Antonio - Nope.
- OK.
A bit of pepper.
Leave it - OK.
- I want to taste.
Just a little bit of salt.
What do I do without you Just a little pinch.
And I believe that's ready, in a minute or two it's cooked.
I know that you're hungry.
Yeah.
Do you want the parsley No, not yet.
Just to cook them very briefly.
Do you see They change colour, and they're cooked.
Fantastic.
That's fantastic, Gennaro.
You really think of me, eh Just a little bit of olive oil.
Ah, Gennaro, look at this.
Now I want the parsley.
It's all yours.
Put it there.
Lovely.
- Gennaro, it's all yours.
- Thank you very much.
- One for you.
- Thank you.
- One for me.
- This is a portion and a half for you.
Oh, my goodness.
Here's to the health of the entire world.
You envy us, they have to suffer.
And this is what makes Italian food different from others, because when you want to have regional and wonderful things, you have to have the very good ingredients which here are available everywhere, and the fish has a very special flavour.
The pasta is locally made, the parsley is locally grown, and eaten in Minori.
What do you want more You're right.
- It's fantastic.
- Yes.
And this is poor food.
Can feed quite a few people from here.
Yeah, you can eat it all, Gennaro.
It's only because I know you worked a lot.
I know.
We are heading for the capital of Campania.
Naples was for centuries Europe's poorest, most crowded, dangerous city.
People call it the bowels of Italy.
It was the food of the city's starving that went onto become world famous - pizza, and it was born here.
- This is our pizza.
- Panzerotti.
Panzerotti, you'll love it.
The fried pizza.
Pizza started life as a piece of dough, smeared with pork fat, if you were lucky.
But pizza's humble origins were dramatically changed by a major cholera epidemic in the 19th century.
People were dying in the streets.
Everyone who could left Naples.
To boost the morale of the terrified city, King Umberto and Queen Margherita risked cholera by coming to the Royal Palace.
Margherita went one step further and asked to try the poor food of Naples.
From this pizzeria, she ordered a pizza made with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.
The colours of the Italian flag.
That simple act, the Queen eating poor man's food, made Naples proud and gave birth to the celebrated pizza Margherita and set pizza on course to becoming the most popular dish in the world.
Buon apetito.
Mama mia.
I can't wait to try it.
Wonderful! All over the world it's just incredible.
It's taken over even in China, Japan, everybody's got pizza.
This being the birth place of pizza, there are varieties here exclusive to Naples.
Look at these here! That reminds me, my mother used to fry the pizza.
Very interesting.
Street food at its best.
This is just like a little snack because they go home and eat even more.
But it's lovely to see that the appetite is there, and they are eating a freshly baked pizza.
Bona Si.
I want to make one of them, Antonio.
I will as well.
This is the dough, flattened, raised with a bit of yeast, this is unique to Naples and it's so quick, it is fantastic.
Mozzarella No, no mozzarella.
You use also a little bit of olive oil.
That's it.
Pizza fritta.
Instant food.
Not fast food, instant.
And my mother used to make one after the other.
Gennaro, shall we eat it Shall we eat it now But before that, can I make one first - You can do one - I can do that one.
Your fantasy.
I put some ricotta on top, just a little on top, and then I use pork scratching.
Just have them on top like that, then I get some nice little mozzarella.
A little bit of tomato.
Push them inside.
There must have been some before, they look better.
Mine is much better.
'I think we need a second opinion.
' 'Gennaro is a genius cook but I make better pizza.
' 'And I have something of the virtuoso piano player too.
'Now, all I need to find is a decent singer.
' There was once a popular saying around these parts, ··· "I am emigrating so I can eat.
" 25 million Italians mainly from the south moved away to find work up north or abroad.
And they took their cucina povera with them.
Many became cooks, just like our dear Gennaro.
I left my hometown Minori when I was 19 in 1968.
All memories, all the passion I have when I cook comes from growing up watching my mama, my grandma, my aunt, make the tastiest dishes.
I was 19 and I was going to London.
It was five o'clock in the morning, I had to catch a train.
We got up all together and I left.
It's 100 metres from here to there, it must have been the saddest minutes of my life because it was the first time I moved away from my village, and I knew that it did not belong to me any more.
I could almost cry.
My mum, she can see a last glimpse of me, when I actually turned that corner.
I wonder how many tears she shed inside there.
And my little sister, she's still sleeping.
I can almost see her.
When I lived here, my family had almost nothing.
It is incredible how things have changed.
Now there are restaurateurs using the same cucina povera ingredients, but they are charging a fortune to the tourist.
My mama would be turning in her grave.
It's our last night in Campania together, and I am going to treat Gennaro to a meal in one of those posh restaurants, Rossellini's.
It's a two Michelin-star restaurant.
- Do you like my shoes - Oh, lovely.
Yeah Do you know what I can't bend down! - Jesus, I can't! - Well, with the tummy you've got Yeah, but you look to yours.
- But I can bend down.
- You can't bend down.
Do you know what is the difference between you and me You believe to be still attractive and so on, but you are about to become an old man.
I am already an old man, so I don't care.
But I'm not! Why do you want me to become an old man - No, no, you are an old man! - No, I'm not! Well, you should be.
Do it again.
Jump a little bit.
- Do you know what - I like this.
- That's it.
Nice.
- Let's go.
According to the price, it can't be the cheap stuff that they use here.
It'd better be good, a meal here costs 400 euros.
The chef has created a cuisine influenced by the food of the poor, but he has taken cucina poverato another level.
Ah, yes.
Lovely.
There you go - That's a penguin.
- We can't eat that one.
Well, I'm hungry.
Actually, in a place like that, you shouldn't say "I am hungry", you should say, "I have a light appetite".
No, no, I'm hungry! Gennaro, what has a penguin to do with our food Ah, good.
- Oh, bread, yes.
And squid ink.
- Squid ink.
Crystallised potato.
They look like petals.
Very delicate.
Ah, fresh mozzarella cheese, stretched, blown up, and injected with tomato essence, and the juice of basil oil.
Just like a pizza margherita but without the dough.
That's one thing of cucina povera, this is for the very poor, because I only had one bite! Sauce, one anchovy and one single strand of spaghetti - not for the hungry.
'I wonder if that is on the menu!' The chef's piece de resistance - a tomato that has been pureed, reformed and topped with gold.
24K 24 carat gold leaves Gennaro, when there are people prepared to pay 'I could use that gold to get the taxi home!' Quite an expensive tomato - one bite.
There's a little bit of gold on your lips! Can't taste the gold leaves.
I'm still hungry.
You're still hungry, OK.
It's amazing to see how poverty created great simple food and how it's now become the most popular cuisine in the world.
Who would have thought, the poorest food in Europe would be influencing Michelin-starred chefs But we are in Italy, I don't need the fancy restaurants.
If you are prepared to be sneaky, you can get wonderful food gratis.
- Where's the fig tree - Here on the left.
And grapes, ha-ha, wonderful grapes.
Gennaro, I go Shh! When you steal, you have to steal in silence.
I steal in silence, you're the one who talks.
Ah, look at these, let's see if they're sweet.
'This is what the best food in the world is all about.
'Pure, natural, no silver service or fancy napkins here.
' Wonderful! I almost dream of that.
Ripe, delightful is that.
- Are you sure - Yes.
There you are.
- Pass it down.
- Yeah, pass them all.
'I feel like a boy again in nature's sweet shop.
' Pass it down completely, yeah Oh, that's yellow, fantastic.
This is what we love about Italy.
'Next time, we travel to my region, Piedmont, in the north of Italy, 'and I'll be going back home.
'We'll be finding out if Italians are still incredibly passionate 'about the food from their own region.
' Oh, my goodness me! This is the real Piedmontese stuff.
'We discover foods even we haven't tasted.
' Chinese pumpkin, I can't believe it.
'And I find Gennaro a new friend.
' - Gennaro, you have a prince there.
- Try to kiss him!