Gino says: “This has to be one of my favourite salads of all time. For me it’s a real combination of Italy and the UK. The grilled vegetables and artichokes, which we eat almost daily in the South of Italy, mixed with the very popular avocado, honey and mustard are truly a perfect match. This really is a meal in itself, but of course you can add tuna, or a cheese such as feta or goat’s cheese, or even pieces of cooked chicken if you prefer. If you’re preparing this in advance, don’t add the avocado, dressing or lemon until ready to serve, or it will discolour the salad.” 

Serves 2 as a light lunch or 4 as a side

Ingredients

• 1 Little Gem lettuce
• 2 courgettes, 1cm trimmed off each end, halved horizontally, then finely sliced lengthways
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into 3
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 280g chargrilled artichokes in oil, sliced, oil reserved
• 10 mint leaves, finely sliced
• 1 tsp grainy mustard
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1½ tsp runny honey
• 1 large avocado
• juice of ½ lemon
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven grill. 

Separate the leaves from the lettuce, roughly tear them in half and place on a serving platter, creating a bed. Set aside. 

Cover a large baking sheet with foil. Place the courgette slices on the sheet. Put the pepper pieces, skin side up, on the same sheet if you have room (if not, grill the vegetables in 2 batches). Brush the pepper and courgettes with olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Turn the courgettes over and brush with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle over a small pinch of salt and pepper. Place under the grill for 7 minutes. Remove from the grill, turn over the courgettes and grill for a further 5 minutes, until the courgettes are golden and the peppers are black. 

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and place the peppers into a small bowl. Cover with clingfilm and set aside, allowing to cool. Place the courgettes on top of the prepared lettuce leaves. 

Pour the artichokes and their oil into a bowl. Remove the artichokes and scatter them over the courgettes and lettuce. Once the pepper has cooled, peel off and discard the skin, finely slice and add to the salad. 

Sprinkle half the mint leaves into the bowl of artichoke oil. Add the mustard, vinegar and honey and mix well. Peel and pit the avocado and finely slice. Place into the bowl and gently toss together. 

When ready to serve, place the avocado slices on top of the salad, drizzle over the dressing and the lemon juice and sprinkle over the remaining mint. Season with 4–5 twists of pepper and serve with some simple toasted ciabatta bread, rubbed with a garlic clove. I could literally eat this every day. Enjoy!

Gino says: “I’ve always wanted to write this classic Roman recipe, but I was worried that it was far too simple. One evening I cooked it for myself and my son Luciano, and he made me promise that I would share it with you guys. Simplicity at its best. Please buy bronze die pasta, as it will make lots of difference to the end result; you need the roughness of the bronze die to get the sauce to stick to the pasta.” 

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 40 black peppercorns, plus freshly coarse-ground black pepper, to serve
• 225g dried spaghetti, bronze die quality
• 100g pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated
• salt

Method

Fill a large saucepan with 3 litres of water, add 1 tbsp salt and place over a high heat. Bring to the boil. 

Place the peppercorns on a board and crush with a cooking hammer (or use a mortar and pestle or the end of a rolling pin and a plastic bag). 

Cook the spaghetti in the salted boiling water for 3 minutes less than instructed on the packet, stirring occasionally. 

Meanwhile, place a large frying pan or a wok over a high heat and add the crushed peppercorns. Toast for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Pour in 1 full ladle of the pasta cooking water. It will immediately start to bubble; keep it bubbling for 30 seconds. Set aside. 

Place the cheese in a bowl. Pour in half a ladle of the cooking water and mix/fold with a spatula for 1 minute to create a very thick creamy sauce. 

Using large tongs, lift the spaghetti from its saucepan, tip into the pan with the pepper, then place over a high heat. Do not discard the pasta cooking water. 

Pour 2 ladles of the cooking water over the pasta and continue to mix with a wooden spoon, or toss, for 2 minutes. The more you toss/mix the pasta, the creamier the sauce will become. 

Switch off the heat and immediately pour the thick cheese mixture over the pasta. Quickly start to mix all together for 30 seconds, making sure each strand of pasta is coated with the cheese. Pour half a ladle more cooking water over the pasta and stir for a further minute, creating a beautiful creamy texture. 

Keep tossing the pasta until you have a creamy cheese sauce. If needed, add a little more cooking water, to make it even creamier. 

Serve immediately, pouring over any remaining cheese sauce from the pan, and sprinkling a little more freshly coarse-ground pepper on top.

Gino says: “This has to be one of my wife’s favourite desserts of all time. She is a huge cheesecake lover and I often catch her dunking one of these biscuits in her coffee, so I decided to come up with something that would combine them both and it was a great success. I have used a strong coffee liqueur in this recipe, but it also works really well with Irish cream liqueur. Anything goes really. You can make a chocolate cheesecake by using chocolate-hazelnut spread instead of Biscoff spread, or substitute the Biscoff biscuits for digestives. This is an amazing cheesecake recipe that you can really get creative with.” 

Serves 10-12

• 250g Lotus Biscoff biscuits, plus 3 biscuits for decoration
• 100g salted butter, melted
• 300ml double cream
• 80g icing sugar
• 500g full-fat cream cheese
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 20ml strong espresso coffee
• 10ml coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua
• 150g Biscoff spread

For the coffee syrup: 

• 50ml strong espresso coffee
• 50ml coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua
• 50ml caster sugar

Method

Crush the biscuits into crumbs by either using a food processor or putting them into a sealed food bag and, using a cooking hammer or rolling pin, smashing them until you get crumbs.

Tip them into a medium-sized bowl with the melted butter and, using a flexible spatula, mix well, ensuring the butter has coated all the crumbs. Pour into a loose-based cake tin – I used a deep tin with a diameter of 24cm and a depth of 6cm – and press down firmly over the base and sides, ensuring the sides are even as that is the part you will see when the cheesecake is finished. Place in the freezer while you prepare the filling. 

Pour the cream and icing sugar into a large bowl and whip until soft peaks form. In a separate large bowl, whisk the cream cheese and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture and use a spatula to mix. 

Pour half the cream cheese filling into another large bowl. Add the coffee and liqueur to one bowl and use a spatula to mix gently until smooth in colour. 

Take out the biscuit base from the freezer and pour over the coffee cream mixture. Spread evenly using a spatula and return to the freezer for 10 minutes. 

Place the Biscoff spread into the remaining cream cheese mixture and use a spatula to mix well, again until smooth in colour. 

Remove the biscuit base from the freezer and gently spread on top of the coffee cream mixture, creating a 2-layer cheesecake. The layers are very similar in colour, but the balance of flavours is perfect. Smooth the top and place in the fridge for at least 5 hours, allowing the cheesecake to set. 

To make the syrup, pour all the syrup ingredients into a small saucepan and place over a medium heat. When bubbling, reduce the heat and simmer for about 6 minutes, creating a runny thick syrup, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. You can test it is ready by making sure it coats the back of a metal spoon. Pour into a small jug and allow to cool completely. 

When ready to serve the cheesecake, drizzle over the coffee syrup and arrange 3 biscuits standing up in the centre. This will be OK to eat for 3 days if kept, covered, in the fridge… if it lasts that long.

Gino’s Italy: Just Like Mamma Used To Make by Gino D’Acampo (£25, Bloomsbury) is out now