‘IF PEOPLE LEARNTTO COOK,THEY’DSAVE SO MUCH MONEY’

ITALIAN CHEF GENNARO CONTALDO CHATS TO LAUREN TAYLOR ABOUT COST-CUTTING RECIPES AND HOW TO NEVER

THROW ANYTHING AWAY AGAIN

Gennaro Contaldo puts abowl of penne in front of me. “Eat! Enjoy it!” he says. It’s10am, but you don’t turn down pasta at afamed Italianchef ’s house –nomatter what time it is.

He made it from bits and pieces he found in his kitchen yesterday: Parmesan rind, carrot, achunk ofguanciale (cured meat), ajar of chickpeas, one shallot, celery,a single potato, some romaine lettuce –cooked down for 45 minutes with stock and served with ascoop of starchy pasta water and aglug of olive oil from the enormous vat sitting on his outdoor kitchen worktop. Very simple, very tasty

The 74-year-old –known affectionately as Jamie Oliver’s ‘London dad’ (he taught him everything he knows about Italian cooking) says he throws “nothing” away,addingitdoesn’t just annoy him when people waste food, “It really upsets me”.

Pasta

This pasta is agreat way to use up leftovers.

“Originating in Emilia Romagna, it consists of leftoverstale bread, which is made into breadcrumbs enriched with egg and Parmesan,” says Gennaro.

“This ‘poor man’s pasta’ is traditionally served in achicken stock, but it can also be cooked in abeeforvegetable stock, or cooked and served as it is with asauce,” he says.

Passatelli in brodo ingredients: (Serves4)

100g stale breadcrumbs

100g grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra 2eggs

2pinches grated nutmeg

Zest of ½ lemon

Plain flour,for dusting

1litrechicken stock

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Combine all the ingredients (except the flour for dusting and the chicken stock), including alittle salt, in abowland mix well until you obtain adough-likeconsistency. Form into aball, wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest at room temperaturefor at least one hour

2. Remove the clingfilm, then takeabout a quarter of the dough and press it through apotato ricer with large holes, cutting it off

And not only for environmental reasons. In acost-of-living crisis, throwing any food away is literally money in the bin. Knowing what you can do with leftovers is the key to cutting your food bill, Contaldo believes.

“If [people] knew how to cook, they would save at least half –atleast! Ireally, really press everyone to learn how to cook because once you’ve learned how to cook, you can go around and use whatever you find in the house.”

Classic, Italian cooking, at its very heart, is cost-effective. The basis of many of the most famous dishes is known as ‘cucina povera’ –literally translating to ‘poor kitchen’ or ‘poor cooking’ –“Because there was not much, whatever you had you cooked in many different

Split broad bean mash with greens

with asmall sharp knife when it is about fivetosix centimetres in length. Youmay get varying lengths and that’sfine. Place them on alightly floured board, taking carenot to break them.

3. Repeat with the rest of thedough, a quarter at atime.

4. In the meantime, bring the chicken stock to the boil in alarge saucepan, then drop in all the passatelli and cook until they rise up to the surface. Remove from the heat and divide the mixture between four individual bowls. Serve with alittle black pepper and asprinkling of grated Parmesan.

ways and nothing used to be thrown away.” This is reflected in his latest cookbook, Gennaro’s Cucina, which focuses on hearty,money-saving meals.

ForContaldo, cucina povera is “proper Italian cooking: few ingredients, maximum flavour”. And in that vein, “It’s not ‘poor’, actually it means rich in away”.

If you’re trying to save money,Italian food makes perfect sense. Pasta is theideal vessel for odds and ends languishing in your fridge. “If you go to arestaurant to buy fresh tomato pasta, it costs £11 or £12. From the market, one bowl [of tomatoes] is £1 becausethey’re off the vine and they’re very good,” he says.

“People spend so much money on takeaway when you can actually do it yourself.Tomatoes, Ican do in five minutes, Idoabeautiful sauce. Cook them with alittle bit of olive oil, acrush ofgarlic, alittle bit of chilli, alittle bit of water,boil the pastaatthe same time, throw in thestarch –ifyou’ve got some breadcrumbs, throw them on top.”

In the Contaldo household in Walthamstow,east London, where bunches of tomatoes hang from hooks around his kitchen/diner (“They become very sweet and last at least amonth”), a meal will last several days. People chuck away leftovers far too soon, he says.

“Ifyou do roast chicken, do you know how much stuff you have left? Remove a bit of meat, chop it up and do some kind of ravioli, boil it, then serve it with the same gravyasyou had for roast chicken.

“Then, when you think you can’t do anymore –get thatchicken, celery,carrots,

“This simple but highly nutritious dish originates from rural Puglia wheretwo main ingredients –fava beans and wild chicory –are widely available,” explains Gennaro.

Youcan buydandelion or puntarelle from greengrocers, pick your own, or use long-stem broccoli instead.

Fave ecicoria ingredients: (Serves4-6)

400g dried split broad beans, soaked overnight in plenty of cold water

4bay leaves

5garlic cloves, lightly crushed 4tbsp extravirgin oliveoil, plus extra 600g dandelion or puntarelle

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method: carcass, put it in water,boil it, you get lovely chicken stock.”

1. Drain and rinse the beans. Place them in asaucepan, coverwith plenty of cold water,add the bay leaves and three garlic cloves, then bring to the boil and cook, partially covered, overa medium heat for about 45 minutes.

2. Remove from the heat, discardthe bay leaves and garlic, then blend the beans until smooth using astick blender. Season with salt and pepper.Set aside.

3. Remove the leaves from the dandelion (and the heart if using puntarelle) and savethe roots to makea salad. Take the leaves and blanch them in apan of boiling water for acouple of minutes until tender.Drain well.

4. Heat the oliveoil in alarge frying pan, add the remaining garlic cloves and sweat for aminute. Addthe greens and stir-fry overa medium heat for 2-3 minutes, then season.

5. Heat through the blended beans mixture, remove the whole garlic gloves and then servewith the greens, drizzled with alittle oliveoil.

Beans, lentils, chickpeas and bread all play an important partinthis way of cooking too. From passatelli in brodo (breadcrumb and Parmesan pasta) to acquasale (bread salad) and even padding out beef meatballs –or mondeghili –with stale bread to make the mixture stretch.

“And Ihate expiry dates, just smell it, look at it –there’s nothing wrong with it except when it’s rotting. Even if you’ve got some milk left, when it goes sour you’ve got lovely ricotta.”

He won’t touch out of season fruit and veg flown thousands of miles to give us year-long supermarket produce. “Cherries are everywhere at the moment –whenIsee them in ashop, Iwon’t even taste it,” he says.

Contaldo, who moved to the UK in his early 20s, grew up in the village of Minori on the Amalfi coast –“The seawas my swimming pool and the mountains were my back garden” –and fondly remembers artichoke season in January to mid-spring.

“Everybody uses them, we enjoyed making it in many different ways. And then when the season is finished… Something else comes to the market. We remember those beautiful days when we sat altogether [eating artichoke] but when it’s finished, we leave it, we forget about it, we wait for the next season –and look forwardtoit.”

Contaldo’s family’s business was

Pumpkin parmigiana

Parmigiana was originally adish made with aubergines from southern Italy, namely Campania and Sicily, says Gennaro.

“Whereas aubergines areabundant during the summer,pumpkin is plentiful during the colder season, especially in rural locations wherethis squash provided necessary nutrition for families and was used in avariety of dishes,” he explains.

Parmigiana di zucca ingredients: (Serves4–6)

1x 1.4kgpumpkin (1kg prepped weight)

3eggs

Plain flour,for dusting

Vegetable oil, for deep-frying

2balls of mozzarella, drained and chopped

75g grated Parmesan cheese

For the tomato sauce:

2tbsp extravirgin oliveoil

1small onion, finely chopped

3x 400gcans chopped tomatoes

6basil leaves

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Firstmakethe tomato sauce. Heat the oliveoil in asaucepan, add the onion and fry over amedium heat for fiveminutes, then add the tomatoes, basil leaves and salt to taste. Leavetosimmer over agentle heat for about 25 minutes until thickened.

2. In the meantime, peel the pumpkin, cut it in half, then into quarters, remove the seeds and then cut into slices about fivemillimetres thick. Lightly beat the eggs in ashallowdish with alittle salt and pepper Dust the pumpkin slices with flour,shaking selling linen, but food was intertwined with all aspects of life. “Wehad to go around up the hills and mountains to collect money,because not everyone paid you. Many times, instead of taking money, you take alive chicken, agoat, salami, cheese, fruit, in exchange,” he remembers, laughing.

Almost everyone kept chickens, pigs or cattle and sold their produce. “Wewere always talking about food: ‘What are you eating?’, ‘My mum cooked this’. ‘My mum is better than yours’.”

He learned to cook himself because, simply,everyone did. “Inside my house papa wanted to cook, grandfather wanted to cook, my grandma would cook, my mama would cook, my sister was taught by my grandma.

“There was no information, not many people wrote recipes down –I,myself, have arecipe book here,” he says, tapping his head. “The Italians are veryproud of whatever they’re making, they express themselves through food. Yousee them at the table, ‘Try this’, ‘Try that’, they love feeding you.” n Gennaro’s Cucina: Hearty MoneySaving Meals From An Italian Kitchen by Gennaro Contaldo is published by Pavilion Books, priced £25. Photography by David Loftus. off the excess, then dip into the beaten egg.

3. Heat plenty of vegetable oil in adeep frying panuntil hot, then add the pumpkin slices (you may need to do this in batches) and deep-fry for acouple of minutes on each side. Remove using aslotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil.

4. Meanwhile, preheat the ovento180C fan/200C/gas mark 6.

5. Line an ovenproof dish with alittle of the tomato sauce, then place some pumpkin slices overthe top, sprinkle with alittle black pepper,dot around some mozzarella, sprinkle oversome grated Parmesan and top with some moretomato sauce. Continue making layers likethese until you havefinished all the ingredients, ending with afinalsprinkling of mozzarella and grated Parmesan.

6. Coverwith foil and bakeinthe ovenfor 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bakefor afurther 15 minutes until the cheese has melted and has taken on a golden browncolour.Remove from the ovenand leavetorest for about 10 minutes beforeserving.