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Italian specialist and chef Theo Randall shares tips and ideas for some of his favourite supermarket ingredients
The foodie
Christmas with the family will come a day late for chef Theo Randall, who will be busy at his London restaurant Theo Randall at The Intercontinental on 25 December. But he still has big plans for his festive feast on Boxing Day – and he’s having roast duck, before you ask. ‘It’s one of my favourite things to cook,’ he says. ‘Try rubbing it in chestnut honey – it’s an amazing flavour.’ This kind of insight beams throughout the Italian specialist’s new cookbook, The Italian Pantry. Based on the idea that every kitchen should have some key Italian ingredients, it focuses on 10 of Theo’s favourite staples. ‘I’m a big believer in stocking up with those ingredients you know you’re always going to use,’ he says. ‘It’s nice to have a big chunk of Parmesan, for example, or dried porcini mushrooms in your pantry. It gives you that base to start off with. It might not be the main ingredient, but it’s the star ingredient.’
The Italian Pantry by Theo Randall (Quadrille, £26) is out now
CANNELLINI BEANS
I love them. Drain the beans and braise them in garlic and oil. Then cook some cavolo nero in water for about 10 minutes – so it’s really soft. Chop it up and add it to the beans. Then pour in the cavolo nero water and you basically get a soup with masses of flavour. You can blend some of the beans and mix through, too.
PORK SHOULDER
I’m a big fan of cooking pieces of pork slowly, and I love it cooked in milk. You put the pork in a low oven with a litre of boiled milk for a couple of hours, and what happens is you get these coagulated nuggets of cooked milk with the pork. It’s absolutely delicious.
RAINBOW CHARD
Chard is quite earthy; so if you like kale, you’ll like chard. It’s got this amazing stem, which tends to be cut off by a lot of people, but actually that’s where all the flavour is. Rainbow chard in particular has a sweet flavour that makes a lovely combination with cuttlefish or squid.
I like to make a SPAGHETTI frittata. It’s a Neapolitan idea: you make a mixture with cooked spaghetti, courgette, onion, egg and Parmesan; gently fry it for 5-10 minutes and pop it in the oven for another 15.
I think CHICKEN THIGHS are the tastiest part of the bird. There’s a recipe in my book for Venetian thighs – lik
