LoveSicily soon on BBC Good Food Channel new Gary Rhodes' series: Rhodes across Italy

We can finally say that last October (2009) we had the pleasure of filming with a Denham Productions crew for British Chef Gary Rhodes' new TV series Rhodes across Italy that will broadcast weeknights at 9pm from Wednesday 20th January on BBC Good Food Channel. The series will then be shown on BBC international around the world.

I cooked with young Sous chef Clare Lanza, after a walk in the centre of Modica and a visit to Antica Dolceria Bonajuto to film how Modica's traditional chocolate is made. We then moved to the cookery school and prepared together "chocolate chicken" following my grandmother's recipe.

It was truly a pleasure to film with such a professional crew, someone kept saying that we got the best food cameramen in the UK, and indeed, as we had previews of his shots we undertsood what they meant. The video of the chocolate melting in Bonajuto's lab was simply amazing.
They were also really nice people to have around and we hope they will come back to visit soon.

At the end of filming around Italy, I was invited to join the whole team in Venice for a final Gala Dinner prepared by Gary Rhodes and his two sous chefs. The evening was really nice, gave me the chance to meet colleagues from other cooking schools around Italy, food producers and chefs. The gourmet menu was an interpratation of Italian classic recipes that had featured in the programme and showed Gary Rhodes respect and love for Italian cuisine.

As he put it: ‘Italy showed off to me its wonderful natural beauty, abundance of gourmet delights and proved to be one of the most memorable and fascinating culinary experiences that I can remember. I think I’ve fallen in love!’ Full interview here.

I am sure that if you have the chance to watch it, you will enjoy the series.
Here are some pictures of the filming and Gary Rhodes' Venice Gala Dinner's menu.