Thu, Sep 18, 2014
Gino starts his visit to Emilia-Romagna region in Parma, a city famous for best cured meats in Italy. A local chef shows him his famous meat-curing basement where celebrities and even royalty have their own labeled piece of 'culatello' ham, the pig's best hindquarter cut. Gino also learns about the exquisite Parmesan cheese in one of the city's delis. He then prepares fried aubergine and tomato with mozzarella, all covered in a basil olive oil dressing. In Modena, Gino visits traditional balsamic vinegar producers, whose famous customers include actor Michael Douglas and the British monarch. He then uses it to cook delicious chicken and pancetta.
Thu, Sep 25, 2014
Gino visits Liguria, the northwestern coastal region of Italy famous for sea food and horticulture with Genoa as its capital. In the fishing town of Camogli, once an important port known as the City of a 1000 White Sailing Boats that now relies on pescaturismo (fishing tourism) to survive, a local pescaturismo family takes Gino fishing and prepare the catch of the day for him. He then makes sea bass in caper and butter sauce with grilled marinated carrots. Next, a local baker teaches him how to bake the local answer to pizza (versatile former poor man's dish) - light Focaccia with cheese. Finally, Gino visits a local basil farm, and with basil being the star ingredient in Italy's favorite sauce - pesto, he prepares pasta with pesto with green beans and potatoes for his new friends.
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Thu, Oct 2, 2014
Gino is in Tuscany, the land of glowing hills and beautiful towns that's best known as Italy's wine country, where famous wines like Chianti are produced. He visits the picturesque Siena, where the key culinary treat is a dessert, the spices-rich comfit fruit pastry 'panforte' (literally 'strong bread'). After learning about the main types of panforte, Gino makes his own variation featuring dark chocolate and orange zest. He presents it to the monks of a self-sufficient monastery, who let him taste the wines they make. He uses their favorite, full-bodied Tuscan red, for his final recipe - beef skewers marinated in the monks' wine with the three bean salad.