From Jamie Oliver to Nadiya Hussain, a star cast select their highlights of the year: roast pork in Tahiti, poached brain in Paris, crisps in Cambridgeshire …
Stuffed squid, Salina, Sicily
Jamie Oliver: cook, activist, food writer
This year, me and Gennaro spent a day with a lovely 92-year-old Italian nonna called Franchina, on Salina in the Aeolian islands. The local fisherman caught a squid – and Franchina made this incredible stuffing of capers, lemon zest, garlic, pecorino, breadcrumbs and parsley. She stuffed the squid and stitched it up, then braised it in the most beautiful sweet tomato sauce with basil. Just let it chug away, then you simply cook some spaghetti, and have the sliced squid with the sauce. It was pure joy, joy, joy. We’d spent the whole day cooking and chatting together, and Franchina was adamant that I share the recipe in my Italian book that I’ve just finished writing, so that younger generations learn how to cook it – she was really worried that people don’t cook like that any more and things are changing. So, I see it as our job as food writers and magazines to keep it alive.
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