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Star chef Gino shares his recipes

Posted on 29/07/2010

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Cooking superstar Gino D’Acampo is making the final preparations for his appearance at the Rochdale Feel Good Festival and is sharing two of his recipes with readers of the Rochdale Town Centre Website.

Gino will join Andrew Nutter and Aazam Ahmad in the festivals celebrity kitchen, sponsored by ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ on Saturday 14 August.

He’s familiar to millions of television viewers from shows like ‘Saturday Kitchen’, ‘Ready Steady Cook’, ‘Daily Cooks Challenge’ and the celebrity food contest ‘Soapstar, Superchef’. His flamboyant personality and dazzling cookery skills have made him hugely popular, and last year he was crowned King of the Jungle on ITV's hit series, ‘I'm A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here!’

Gino will be demonstrating his cooking skills in the food tent on Saturday 14 August at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. No pre-booking required. Places are being allocated on a first come first served basis, so if your chosen session is full you will be offered a free ticket for the next demonstration, subject to availability.

In between sessions he’ll be finding time to sign copies of his latest book, with a longer book signing taking place at around 4pm.

Joining Gino at the festival will be the previously announced BBC Fusion Chef Aazam Ahmad and local star chef Andrew Nutter.

There will be live music from ‘The Lightning Seeds’, plus ‘The Herbaliser’, pop singer Kirsty Almeida, The Travelling Band, Ellen and the Escapades, Dead Kestrels, Catherine Tyldesley and many more. The festival will also include live music across seven indoor venues and a 2 day quality food market.

For the festival latest and full line up visit www.rochdale.gov.uk/events and www.facebook.com/feelgoodfestival

The following 2 recipes are from The I Diet by Gino D’Acampo and Juliette Kellow, published by Kyle Cathie.


Linguine with garlic, prawns and spinach

Linguine con gamberi e spinaci

The mistake that people often make with this pasta dish is to use cooked prawns instead of raw ones. The prawns need to be raw so they can absorb the flavours of the garlic and the lemons and yet still be juicy and tender. Substitute the linguine with spaghetti if you fancy and make sure that you use a good-quality extra virgin olive oil for the best flavour.

Serves 4

300g linguine

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, sliced

150g spinach leaves

400g uncooked prawns, peeled

4 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

10 cherry tomatoes, quartered


Cook the pasta in a large saucepan in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente.

Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, heat the oil over a medium heat and fry the garlic for 1 minute until golden. Add the spinach and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Add the prawns with the parsley and season with salt and pepper. Stir well and continue to cook for 2 minutes.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the frying pan, then lower the heat.

Add the lemon zest and cherry tomatoes and stir everything together for

30 seconds. Serve immediately.

449 calories 13.4g fat 1.9g saturates 4.2g sugars 0.9g salt



Chestnut and chocolate cake

Torta di castagne e cioccolato

Serves 16

1 tablespoon vegetable oil, for greasing

250g plain flour

120g good-quality cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

230g caster sugar

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

260g chestnut purée

2 eggs

230ml skimmed milk

230ml cold strong coffee, preferably espresso 

Grease a 22cm cake tin with the oil (using a loose-based cake tin will make your life easier) and preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into

a large bowl. Add the sugar, salt, vanilla extract, chestnut purée and eggs. Pour in the milk and mix until well combined. Lastly, mix in the coffee.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the middle of the oven for

about 45 minutes. To check that the cake is cooked, insert a skewer into the centre: it should come out clean.

Leave the cake to rest for 5 minutes before turning out onto a large serving plate. Dust the top with cocoa powder and cut into 16 wedges before serving.

173 calories 3.6g fat 1.4g saturates 16.9g sugars 0.8g salt