Episode 2 A Welsh-Italian Christmas with Michela Chiappa

How does your family celebrate a traditional Welsh Christmas?

Tinsel, turkey, trifle, sprouts?

You won't find many of those things in our house,

as we do Christmas slightly differently.

My name is Michela Chiappa and I'm Welsh-born but Italian-bred,

and I'm equally proud of both my cultures.

And so, just like thousands of other Welsh-Italians throughout Wales,

my family has taken traditions and recipes from both countries

to create a unique festive food fusion built around the three Fs -

family...

fun...

..and food.

Glorious food.

As the mother of two young children,

I'm determined to pass on these traditions to the next generation.

But I'm also aware that we live in an age

where our nonstop 24-7 society

threatens to overrun the traditions we all hold and cherish,

so I've been on a Wales-wide mission

to help save the Welsh-Italian Christmas.

That's it, that's it!

A culinary expedition that has taken me from Bangor to Cardiff

and Aberystwyth to Newport.

It looks incredible!

And now, inspired by what I've seen and learned on my travels,

I'm planning to return the favour...

..by hosting a six-course Welsh-Italian festive party to remember.

Previously on the Welsh-Italian Christmas,

I embarked on a round-Wales trip in search of recipe ideas

for the ultimate Welsh-Italian festive menu.

Iechyd da!

I visited Mario in Bangor...

-Would you like a glass of wine?

-Erm...I won't say no!

Who showed me his mamma's miraculous one-pot turkey roast

that could be prepared and cooked in just over an hour.

-Bon appetit!

-Bon apetit! Saluti!

I then met Ciara in Aberystwyth,

who showed me her take on the vegetarian classic -

melanzane alla Parmigiana -

a simple aubergine and tomato dish that Ciara made special

with a thick Parmesan topping

that produced a bubbling, crispy, caramelised crust.

Wow, look at that!

Oozy cheese.

Lovely.

Next, I met up with Bruna in Cardiff.

Ciao!

She showed me her prawn and vegetable risotto.

Cheap, simple and packed with tasty fresh vegetables.

Buenisimo.

Complimenti.

Ciao!

And lastly, I met Sergio in Newport,

who not only introduced me to laverbread crisps,

but also produced a decadent fish dish packed with more seafood

than a Pembroke trawler.

It looked amazing.

Come on, then. I've got it all.

And it tasted...

Delicious!

Inspired by all of these dishes

and some of the festive delights my family traditionally serve,

I'm going to source, prepare and present

a six-course Welsh-Italian festive feast

that I hope...

Mamma.

..will enthuse you to try some of the recipes, too.

But first, as the whole point of me undertaking this journey

is to pass on cherished traditions to my daughters,

I've decided to try and add a new Chiappa tradition to the list.

So I've set off into the Welsh countryside

with Serafina and Fiamma, Mum and Dad,

to do something I've only previously ever done in Italy - a nut hunt.

Chestnuts have always been a type of nut that my grandad used to cook

at this time of year,

mainly because sweet chestnuts are from his little village in Italy

and, obviously, when he was growing up,

that was kind of free food for them.

In Wales, it's really hard to find

because I don't think the sweet chestnut tree is native to the UK,

but we have found some here in Dinas Powys.

We have collected a good few here

that we're going to go home and roast.

I think, for me, one of the things I love about this time of year

is it always comes down to family and memories,

and that's why I think these type of traditions are so important

and which is why,

even though they might enjoy kicking the leaves

more than actually hunting for the chestnuts,

it's all part of being together as a family,

which is what means the most to me.

Back at my parents' house,

Uncle Al stokes the coals

while Dad scores the chestnuts and places them on a tin sheet

handcrafted into a chestnut roasting tray

by my nonno, my grandad.

I've got no idea how old this dish is,

but it's kind of like a family heirloom

and Dad always jokes about taking out a patent on the design.

Tomorrow, I'm going to finalise the six courses I shall present

for my Welsh-Italian festive party.

So as we tuck into the sweet and smoky roasted chestnuts,

I take the opportunity to quiz everyone on their preferences.

If you were to put together your ultimate

kind of Welsh-Italian Christmas Day menu,

what would it be?

The snails. The antipasto.

The antipasto.

A nice joint, too.

Beef. Beef.

No. Your dad used to do duck.

Duck. That's right.

And only your dad did it and he would...

..bone the duck, open it out

and then he'd put a layer of veal,

a layer of chicken

and then your mum would make a stuffing in the middle.

Close it up, seal it,

sew it back up and cook that in the oven.

-Did he really?

-Yes.

-I forgot about that.

And, actually, that's quite a big tradition in America

because when I had... Turducken, they call it.

Turkey, duck, chicken - turducken.

And they'll stuff the chicken in the turkey in the...

-For Christmas?

-Yeah. No, for Thanksgiving, they do it.

-Oh, Thanksgiving.

-Nonno was ahead of his time, then!

Tempting as they sound, I'm not sure I'm up to boning,

stuffing and sewing 40-odd turduckens,

but I might just have to get sweet chestnuts in there somewhere.

Next morning, I'm up bright and early

and heading out with a head full of recipe ideas.

I've decided what will be on my festive menu.

The key thing is that there must be flavours

of Italy and Wales in every dish.

So it'll be a six-course extravaganza

covering antipasto, pasta, risotto, fish

and a one-pot main course roast that controversially replaces

Mario's traditional turkey with pork.

I'll explain why later in the programme.

Meanwhile, I've got some work to do,

starting with a trip to Cardiff Market

in search of some lovely fresh ingredients.

Right, so I'm cooking a six-course feast.

So I've got quite a few ingredients I need. A few sweet potatoes.

-Yeah, no worries.

-And some cherry tomatoes.

Have you got any on the vine?

-Yeah, we've got them on the vine.

-Here we go.

What else?

So, we've got our fish,

which is going to be sweet potato and laverbread,

so it's got red, white and green in it.

Then we've got our risotto, so I need pancetta.

But I need leeks.

Can I have a leek, as well, please?

I'm a big fan of local markets.

Nothing prepacked and plastic wrapped

and stalls where people know their produce and where it's come from.

Look at them. Where are these ones from?

They're Chinese pears. Where are they from, the Chinese pears?

China.

-China.

-China!

Ask a silly question.

Is the leek Welsh?

-Yes, the leek is Welsh.

-Excellent.

-That's great, thanks very much.

-Thank you, bye.

Have a nice day. Thank you.

Hello! Hi.

Have you got any pork loin?

Not tenderloin, pork loin.

-Pork loin?

-Yes, please.

-We can do you a piece of pork loin, yes.

-Something like that?

-That's perfect.

But it... Can I have it without the bone?

-Has that got the bone on it?

-Got the bone in.

Can I have it without the bone, please? Thank you.

So I'm getting a pork loin here to create, like, a one-pot roast.

I love one-pot roasts

and I kind of want to copy what Mario did up north with turkey.

I'm going to use a pork loin.

It's a lovely cheap cut of meat

and, actually, I'm going to get three meals out of it.

-Will you cut the tenderloin part off me?

-Cut that bit off?

-Yeah.

-I'll cook that separate.

-A separate dish with that.

Because you can use the bone to make stock.

You can use the tenderloin for something else,

like pan-fried with a nice sauce.

Here's your tenderloin...

deboned.

And then the pork loin,

that's going to be the hero of my roast to feed the entire family.

Merry Christmas!

And my last port of call at Cardiff Market is the fish stall.

I love a fish stall.

I just think it's amazing to see the range of fish, the seafood.

It's gorgeous. I love it.

I'm planning to make a simplified version

of Sergio's fishy magnum opus,

starting with sea bass, wild and Welsh.

27.57.

Oh, that sounds great. Yes, please.

I'm also looking for some laverbread.

I'm kind of creating a Welsh-Italian colour mix,

so we've got, you know, the white fish.

I'm going to use some cherry tomatoes to give it the red.

And then I was looking for the laverbread,

and I've not really cooked with it before,

so any advice you can give me.

Well, you can eat it as it is.

But what people do is a Welsh breakfast.

-And they fry bacon, fry the laverbread in the bacon...

-OK.

..and you can put some oatmeal with it to make, like, a little pancake.

Or just have it with a breakfast supplement with toast and...

How would you describe, like, the flavours?

Like, in terms of someone at home who's never tried it before.

It's a bit salty.

Um... It's not everyone's cup of tea

and doesn't look particularly appetising,

but it is really good for you.

Full of iron and stuff.

-Welsh laverbread.

-Yeah. Oh, indeed.

Right. I always wrap these.

If it sort of splits open in the bag, you get a...

-A big mess.

-You can imagine.

-Yeah.

You get a dirty bass.

Thank you very much. Lovely.

Have a good afternoon, bye.

Today, I'm also going to give you a guide

to what meats and cheeses to buy for the perfect antipasto

and, for that, there's only one possible place to go.

I find that entering a well-stocked delicatessen at Christmas

is like having a free pass to Santa's workshop.

You just look around you, it's like an Aladdin's cave.

And for me, you know, and my family

to really have a traditional Welsh-Italian Christmas,

there are certain ingredients

you might struggle to find in a supermarket.

But you come to a little delicatessen like this

and you have got torrone, panettone, amaretti di Saronno...

All those little extras that, for us, make it really, really special.

-Hello.

-Hello. Hi.

I'm looking for some cured meats for an antipasto board.

Cor, I don't know where to start, if I'm honest.

Now, then...

This is where us, as a family, we always argue

because there's lots of different cuts of meat.

So you can start with, like, mortadella,

which is one of the cheaper cuts.

Traditionally from Bologna. I love mortadella.

My sister doesn't like it.

So here we go, the arguments are already starting.

We always have salami -

everyone likes it - my kids love it.

-We've got a very nice Felino.

-Felino, yeah, that looks lovely.

There are hundreds of different salamis

from dozens of European countries -

some are spicier than others.

Some have more herbs or garlic, or more fats.

Felino, the salami I've chosen, is from Emilia-Romagna,

the province my family originate from.

It's 100% coarse pork,

but salami can be made from any meat,

from beef to venison, even turkey!

And then you kind of start climbing up the ladder.

So you've got coppa. Have you got any Italian coppa?

Oh, there it is. Coppa di Parma.

So this is where I'm from in Italy.

It kind of looks a bit like prosciutto,

but it's more fat throughout it and it's usually a round, smaller shape.

My nonno, that was his favourite.

And then you go up the ladder again, and you've got prosciutto di Parma.

Prosciutto di Parma is my sister Emmy's favourite

and that is getting too quite an expensive cut of meat.

It's much leaner, it's cut wafer thin.

Usually, if it's very good, it melts in your mouth.

And then, above the prosciutto di Parma,

there are two favourites in our family -

one is braesaola.

The braesaola is beef, not pork,

so it's different to all the other ones I've selected

and my dad always does it.

He plates it up. It's really, really thin

and it's covered with lemon juice, pepper, Parmesan shavings

and sometimes in Italy they'll put rocket or something over the top

and it's really pretty. It's so delicious!

And the other little one, which is one of my favourites, is pancetta.

It's, again, a cheaper cut because it's got more fat

but, if it's cut wafer thin,

it melts in your mouth and it is absolutely divine.

Getting ready for my feast and this is just the antipasto!

-Thank you very much.

-Lovely. Thank you.

To complement my Italian meats,

I'm also picking up some Welsh cheeses.

You need strong, robust flavours to stand up to cured meats,

so I'm going for a smoked Caerphilly, a spicy, tangy saval,

a gooey Cenarth brie

and last, but by no means least...

-Nettle.

-Nettle?

Yes. Tastes like spinach.

-Oh!

-Have a little taste of that.

I've actually cooked with nettle many times.

-Have you?

-So we fill tortelli with spinach and ricotta,

so it's like a filled pasta.

And often you can...

We'll use nettles instead,

cos they're exactly like spinach

and they're free on the side of the road.

And, you know, they're packed with iron and things, so...

Oh, I really like that!

Yeah. I think that would carry...

-I love that.

-..some of the salamis, even the Parma.

Something like that would be very unusual.

I love that. I could stay here all day.

Just give me a glass of wine and some crackers!

But, unfortunately, I've got other fish to fry

and meat to cook and vegetables to saute,

and puddings to egg.

-Merry Christmas.

-Thank you.

-Bye.

-And you, too.

And so, having sourced my Italian and Welsh ingredients,

it's time to road test my recipes before I throw my festive party.

I'm going to invite around 45 guests from the Welsh-Italian community

and, as I'll be playing host on the day,

I'll leave the cooking to others.

But what I do want to make sure is that my ideas are edible first.

So I'm going to taste trial all six courses

by making enough of each to feed a family of four to six.

Unfortunately, we haven't got the time

to give a blow-by-blow guide to each recipe.

Anyone else want a go?

However, you can find full how-to videos of all the dishes,

along with other recipes featured in the series, at...

But to give you a quick taster of what will be served at the party,

my ultimate Welsh-Italian festive menu starts with an antipasto,

mixing Italian meats and Welsh cheeses.

It's followed by anolini in brodo, the pasta dish of the gods.

And even though my dad and uncle swear that nobody's anolini

is a patch on their mother's,

they would absolutely boycott Christmas

if there were none on the table.

My next dish is inspired by the prawn and vegetable risotto

Bruna made me in the previous episode.

But as fish will be my next course,

I'm making my risotto with Italian pancetta

and Welsh leeks and goat's cheese.

In the previous episode, Sergio cooked me

the most extravagant fish dish I've ever tasted.

Amazing as that dish was, I'm going for a much simpler version -

a Welsh sea bass with a tricolore of sweet potatoes,

laverbread and vine tomatoes.

The meat course is inspired by Mario's one-pot turkey roast

that we featured in the previous episode,

but I'm going for stuffed pork instead of Turkey

in homage to my nonna.

So my nonna often used to do a roast pork for Christmas Day.

She loved cooking pork,

but she'd do this dish the night before, so out of the way,

avoids the faff on Christmas Day.

She'd put it in the fridge overnight

and then, Christmas morning, pop it in the oven.

But I'm putting my little twist on it, inspired by Mario.

This is my nonna's roast pork, but in one pot.

Finally, I've asked my party guests to bring a dessert of their choice.

The one I'll be taking is an old family favourite

that's really easy to make - poached pears.

But again, the video versions of all these dishes are available online.

But now, it's party time.

So I'm about to go into I Giardini,

where the chef is creating my version

of the festive Welsh-Italian menu,

and I'm a little bit nervous

because we've got about 40, 45 people coming.

And whilst I'm not doing the cooking, the pressure really is on

because I've picked the menu

and we've got family coming,

we've got Welsh-Italians I've met on my journey,

lots of people, probably, with opinions.

So...could be in for a brutal session of,

"Let's just criticise Mich."

But I'm sure everyone's going to have lots of fun.

It's going to be very festive and I'm looking forward to it.

And nervous though I am,

at least one person is waiting for me with open arms -

restaurant owner Massimo.

-Girono!

-Girono!

-Ciao, Michela.

-Hello!

-Hello.

Welcome to Giardini.

Oh, thank you.

It's lovely and warm in here.

Yes, nice.

-Are we off?

-A little piece of Italy.

-Have you been busy?

-Yes, we've been busy preparing all the food,

-all the menu for today.

-Oh, I look forward to seeing it!

-Where are they, in the kitchen?

-Yes.

The poor man tasked with delivering my six-course menu

is Massimo's brother-in-law, master chef Gianni.

Ciao.

Ciao. Bene grazie.

You've been busy, haven't you?

Busy, busy, busy.

Molto busy.

Gianni's been in since five this morning,

prepping, chopping and cooking,

and now the poor fella's got 500 fresh anolini parcels to prepare

before my guests arrive.

I wonder what he thinks of my menu now.

THEY TALK IN ITALIAN

He said, "It's a lovely menu."

"But," he said, "you haven't given me much time to prepare it."

Of course I'd stay and help, but I've got other things to tend to,

such as the cake that the Gemelli brothers have sent from Newport.

Well, I say cake...

Oh, my gosh!

It's nearly as tall as me on that table.

I'm kind of semi-scared that one of them is hidden in there

and is going to be like, "Ta-da!" at the end of it. It's amazing!

Look at it, it's just insane.

Wow!

I've also put myself in charge of aperitivi -

Welsh-Italian, of course.

This is our Welsh sloe gin...

..that I'm going to put in with the Prosecco.

And then some little kernels of pomegranate.

It'll look really festive and pretty.

Mm!

Bene, guys!

Right, let's find the rabble.

Ciao, grazie. Come stai?

Time to play hostess.

Here we go.

On a cold winter's day, this festive cocktail

will soon warm everyone up.

-It's cold out there. Oh, thanks, Mich.

-Here you go.

Hi!

SHE SPEAKS ITALIAN

Right, here goes. I don't know whether I want to go upstairs yet.

Brace myself. But I think, Danny, we're good to start plating up.

We can get the antipasto going.

We've had the aperitivo, tick one.

Onto the antipasto.

I just wanted to say thank you very much, everybody, for coming.

We are about to have six courses of food,

so this is a festive menu I've put together

that you might want to have over the Christmas period.

I'm a little bit nervous

because there's a lot of critics in the room.

Erm...

But hopefully you will enjoy and buon Natale.

Cue the music and cue the food.

Here we go! Woo-hoo!

Starting with a crowd pleaser - antipasto.

Prosciutto, salami, mortadella, coppa di Palma, formaggio,

all washed down with a drop of vino. Perfect.

Very tasty. It is a good starter.

The only thing, you've got to take it easy, I think.

You know, when you sit down, you never know when you get up!

Good start, but here's where the trouble might begin

because the second course will undoubtedly be

the most controversial -

in my family, anyway.

Will my dad and uncle

think the anolini in brodo matches up to my nonna's?

Just have a taste, tell me if they're as good as nonna's.

-Seriously.

-What?

-They're not as good as nonna's, but...

Oh, come on!

Absolutely delicious.

Look at the way they've been folded - your mum didn't do that.

That's gorgeous.

The filling is nothing like my mum's.

You can say, "They're not like my mamma's."

No, they're not like my mamma's.

-They're not like my mum.

-But they never would be, would they?

You know, nobody's ravioli are ever like my mum's.

If you taste the filling...

..it's more cheesy as opposed to meaty.

-Yeah, so different.

-So they're different.

I'm not saying they're better, I'm not saying they're worse.

They're different. My mum's had more of a meat taste.

Already it sounds, smells, tastes and feels

just like my cherished childhood Christmases.

I just love this.

Kids, clatter, laughter, opinions, food.

I could live in this moment forever.

But the feast must go on.

The next course - leek, Welsh goat's cheese and pancetta risotto.

THEY TALK IN ITALIAN

The trick in a lot of Italian risotti

is the chefs will put a knob of,

quite a large knob of, butter at the end

and it'll make it lovely and silky and smooth

and give a lovely richness to the dish.

But Gianni's just said he's not, in this case,

because he said you've got the fat from the pancetta,

you've got the goat's cheese,

and so he said you don't want to add more butter

then, otherwise it will just become too heavy.

Smells amazing.

Of course, my risotto was inspired by the prawn and vegetable one

Bruna served up in the last episode.

But as fish will be the next course on our festive menu,

I've changed some key ingredients.

I wonder what she'll make of my radical reinterpretation.

I'm sure it's going to be delightful!

So what do you think of the risotto?

Because I twisted, I changed yours quite a bit,

-as you can see.

-Yes, yes.

But it's lovely. I love risotto, so that's a good choice.

It's very good. Very good.

Beautiful.

Very nice.

The risotto was amazing.

Absolutely amazing. And I like the fact that it had the leeks,

so the Welsh tradition was in there.

It was really good. Very good.

BAND PLAYS OK, time for a breather.

Enjoy the music.

And maybe work off some of those carbs.

And then it's seconds out, round four,

the fish dish.

Gianni's adapted my tricolore sea bass

and now it's accompanied with a sweet potato puree

and a laverbread souffle.

I just hope the fish meister Sergio approves.

Wow.

I bet this one is laverbread.

That's the laverbread we were talking...

Yeah. So this is inspired from you, so it's a laverbread souffle.

And so you went for this recipe.

You give it a different level.

Absolutely fantastic.

It smells beautiful.

The laverbread, sea bass, fantastic.

Cooked to perfection.

Beautiful. I'm very proud of you.

Well, I worked very hard!

Beautiful. Beautiful!

I think he liked it.

Phew!

And so clear away the fish,

and time for the last of the savoury dishes.

Time for the pork!

My one-pot roast pork,

served with glazed chestnuts and fresh apple slices.

So how was it? Did you enjoy all the food?

Superb lunch.

Yes, everything was lovely and super, really lovely.

What's been your favourite course so far?

-Anolini in brodo.

-Yeah, anolini.

-The risotto, without a shadow of doubt.

-Yeah?

-The risotto was beautiful.

-The risotto? Yeah?

I also liked the tortellini in brodo.

Yeah, the anolini.

That was very tasty.

I'm so thrilled that everyone's enjoyed

my Welsh-Italian festive menu.

But as we all move downstairs for our sixth and final course,

I get the distinct impression

that all of my efforts have been upstaged...

by a cake.

I can see this. I can see this coming now.

No, no, you're cutting it. I'm not going anywhere near that!

-Go on!

-You need, like, a chainsaw to cut it.

This is one of the worst things you can ever ask me.

-What, to cut the cake?

-Do it and cut it.

And destroy it.

Before we cut the cake, I would...

Hang on, don't you go anywhere.

Don't you go anywhere because I'm not going in!

I just want to say, the Gemelli brothers made this amazing cake.

I could not have done it without him, so...

No, no. This is incredible.

So, come on, where's the chainsaw?

Because I ain't doing this.

Oh...!

You've been saying thank you to all of us here in many different ways

and for all these days you've been putting up with us.

A big thank you to Michela.

Which brings together two countries, Italy and Wales,

in a very special way.

And this is food, and she done it in a gorgeous way.

So, thank you to you.

APPLAUSE

Sergio...

Buona, huh?

Bonissima!

-Grazie.

-Mamma mia.

What a perfect festive party.

Fantastic food...

..newfound friends...

"It's fantastic," he said.

..and surrounded by my Welsh-Italian family.

I hope that cake went down well

and you've had the full six courses now,

and I hope that my festive menu

might have inspired you all to prepare,

ready for Christmas this year.

So, once again, buon Natale to everyone

and, yeah, felice al lavoro.

So, six courses later, I am rather stuffed,

but it's been a brilliant night and I'm definitely ready for Christmas.

So buon Natale and nadolig Llawen.

I think the party's going to go on a little bit longer in there.

Missed that vital Italian ingredient?

Find all the recipes featured in the series at bbc.in/welshitalians.