Gennaro's Cucina: A cookbook of classic Italian recipes that help to budget during a cost-of-living crisis

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Cucina povera' is the food that traditionally fed the poor of Italy yet remains the basis of most Italian dishes we love to eat today. It's a simple philosophy: delicious, hearty meals using accessible and affordable ingredients. Encouraging an ethos of zero waste, 'Gennaro's Cucina' ensures that every part of the ingredient, and your budget, is put to good culinary use. The 74-year-old says he throws nothing away. And not only for environmental reasons. In a cost 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.

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 – when I see them in a shop, I won’t even taste it,” he says.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 forward to it." Cucina povera’ is a simple philosophy – turn delicious affordable ingredients into hearty nourishing feasts. In this inspirational cookbook, Gennaro takes you on a culinary journey of regional basic Italian staples and turns them into beautiful meals. With tips and ideas of what to do with leftovers, Gennaro helps home cooks turn humble ingredients into nourishing feasts without taste sacrifice. And I hate 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." b. Insofar as is permitted by law, the Promoter, its agents, or distributors will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate the winner or accept any liability for any loss, damage, personal injury, or death occurring as a result of taking up the prize except where it is caused by the negligence of the Promoter, its agents or distributors or that of their employees. Your statutory rights are not affected. 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 forward to it.”

c. The Promoter reserves the right (in its absolute discretion) to reject entries and disqualify entrants, including without limitation where the Promoter has cause to believe that (i) there has been a breach of these terms and conditions or (ii) the entrant has interfered with the fair running of this Competition, including without limitation by manipulating entries or the results, or has provided false information or has acted unethically in any other way. Contaldo opened the Passione restaurant, in Charlotte Street, London, in 1999. Passione was awarded 'Best Italian Restaurant 2005' by the Tio Pepe Restaurant Awards. Passione closed in March 2009 due to decreased business as a result of the late-2000s recession. [4] d. The Promoter reserves the right to hold void, suspend, cancel, or amend the prize competition where it becomes necessary to do so. In an era of excessive convenience and disposable food waste, Gennaro's Cucina could not come at a better time - you will learn how to use simple ingredients in inventive ways, eat seasonally, spend less and, ultimately, eat better.

Cucina povera is the basis from which all our favourite Italian dishes come from. It’s the sort of cooking Gennaro was brought up on and still cooks today. It originated mainly from rural areas, where meals were created using the limited number of ingredients available – either what people grew or what little they could afford to buy. In doing so, they learnt to value what they had and to lovingly cook dishes to ensure they tasted better, using all their imagination to make dishes go as far as they could.

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the garlic cloves and basil stalks and sweat over a medium heat for a minute or so. Add the tomato passata and a little salt to taste and cook over a medium-low heat for about 30 minutes. Step 2 c. If there is any reason to believe that there has been a breach of these terms and conditions, the Promoter may, at its sole discretion, reserve the right to exclude you from participating in the competition. Gennaro Contaldo OSI ( Italian pronunciation: [dʒenˈnaːro konˈtaldo]; born 20 January 1949) is an Italian chef known for his association with his British protégé, Jamie Oliver, and his partnership with fellow Italian chef Antonio Carluccio and their BBC Two television series Two Greedy Italians. Iron Chef America - Served as one of Jamie Oliver's sous chefs during his battle with Mario Batali (2007)

For Contaldo, cucina povera is "proper Italian cooking: few ingredients, maximum flavour". And in that vein, "It's not 'poor', actually it means rich in a way".