As a lover of Spanish food it stands to reason I am a fan of Italian cuisine too. The two countries share a love of fantastic seafood, beautiful cured hams and some meditteranean sunshine. We probably cook Italian food far more than Spanish, sometimes up to 3 times a week, and with it’s entry into the UK diet so pervasive, I think this is the same in most households. In fact I think Italian food is probably the most widespread of all cuisines with people the world over indulging in pasta and pizza.

Two of the godfathers of Italian cookery have shared their love of their home country in the BBC TV series Two Greedy Italians, namely Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo, mentors of the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. The series sees the two chefs return to Italy, after 50 years away, to cook and explore. More of a travel documentary than just a cookery programme I enjoyed the introduction to various regions of Italy, with an insight into the history and family cooking that enlightened me to a whole world of Italian cuisine far beyond pizza and pasta that regularly features in our weekly menu.

There is the brotherly, almost husband and wife nagging style of relationship between these two friends which is on the whole quite entertaining. I don’t normally enjoy watching either of these two chefs on tv, but as a duo something just seems right. Not sure my eyes will ever recover from seeing Gennaro pull an octopus from his speedo’s and launch it Antonio though!

The series was originally aired on BBC during last summer but if you missed it now’s your chance to see it with the release of the DVD on 2nd April 2012. The Two Greedy Italians DVD features 4 great one hour long episodes, each of a different region in Italy, over 2 discs. The set also includes 4 recipe cards so you can cook along at home.

The recipes from the cards are taken from the accompanying book Two Greedy Italians, another thing to add to the wishlist!

You can pre-order your copy of the DVD here.

Thanks to Pete at PPR Publicity for the review copy. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I may earn from any purchases bought from my Amazon store.