Gino D’Acampo’s Italian dishes are good — and good for you

Try this chef’s healthful, hearty recipes for linguine, roasted tomatoes

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>>> this morning in "today's kitchen" a guide to healthy italian cooking. it's not all about meats and cheeses. chef gino , good to see you.

>> pleasure to be here. thank you very much for inviting me. this is great.

>> i can just listen to you talk.

>> i always wanted to be an american cook.

>> now the big misconception americans have about italian yo cooking --

>> that's crazy.

>> how do you say crazy in italian?

>> pazo! it is healthy and if you do it quickly it's beautiful.

>> what are we doing?

>> linguine with shrimp, garlic, cherry tomato , quick and easy. we have a little bit of olive oil here. we'll fry the garlic.

>> you say use good quality olive oil .

>> yes, a good extra virgin . we'll put a few shrimp in there. i took the head and tail off and simply they start to fry. now shrimp take about a minute and a half to do. do not overdo it. that's the worst thing you can do is when you overdo it. let them fry. we are talking about the pasta . beautiful linguine. when we cook pasta the water has to be bubbling like blah, blah, blah, blah. people say to me, how do you get the pasta done? with the oil? no. waste of oil, waste of time. you want the water to be boiling hot.

>> blah, blah, blah, blah.

>> the pasta doesn't touch the pot.

>> no! they don't touch-a the pot.

>> of course we want the pasta nice and al dente . we have nice cherry tomatoes. so far everything is easy. we have a little bit of parsley, spinach. here you go. flavor, color. the simplicity. i'm going to say, of course my grandfather said the reason why people love italian food is it is like italian man.

>> yeah?

>> minimum effort, maximum satisfaction.

>> oh, yeah! that's what i'm talking about.

>> we just shake it a little bit. the secret of a good plate of pasta , pasta goes into the sauce. never put the sauce on the pasta . we put a little bit of lemon zest . so we are going to fresh it up. we give it a good shake and we have done it. the job is done.

>> the job is done.

>> we mix everything together. it's as simple as that.

>> never put the sauce on the pasta ?

>> never put it on the pasta .

>> gino , bring that with you. we want to do this quick appetizer here.

>> now, i have here -- they are called involtini deprosciutto. it's soft cheese with olive oil and chive. roast the tomato and put the mixturen oh -- on top. if you have friends coming for dinner and you want to do something quick and sexy at the same time, a little bit of prosciutto. at the end we'll drizzle a little bit of honey on top like that on toasted bread.

>> oh, my.

>> that's done.

>> in fact, gino , for the ladies, could you repeat the italian man cooking hin ining thing?

>> italian cooking is like man. minimum effort, maximum satisfaction.

>> it's worth repeating.

>> okay!

>> thank you for inviting me.

>> stay tuned for the next hour of "today."

Show transcript

TODAY recipes

updated 2/8/2011 9:04:38 PM ET

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Who says hearty Italian dishes have to be loaded with heart-clogging fat and calories? Chef Gino D’Acampo's new book, “The Italian Diet,” is full of traditional dishes that are good for you and easy to prepare. Here are D’Acampo’s recipes for linguine with garlic, shrimp and spinach; roasted tomatoes and soft cheese rolled in prosciutto, and hot chocolate cups with pears and amaretto.

Recipe: Linguine with garlic, shrimp and spinach (on this page)

Recipe: Roasted tomatoes and soft cheese rolled in prosciutto (on this page) Recipe: Hot chocolate cups with pears and amaretto (on this page)

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Recipe: Roasted tomatoes and soft cheese rolled in prosciutto

Gino D'Acampo

Ingredients

6 large plum tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
7 ounces non-fat cream cheese
4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
1 1/2 ounces pitted kalamata olives, finely chopped
12 slices of prosciutto
4 tablespoons honey
8 slices of ciabatta bread

Preparation

Preheat the broiler.

Cut the tomatoes in half and place on a baking sheet, skin-side down. Season with pepper, drizzle with the olive oil, and broil for about 10 minutes, until softened. Set aside to cool.

Mix the cream cheese with the chives and the olives in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Lay a slice of prosciutto lengthwise on a cutting board and place a tomato half on one end. Drop a teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture on top of the tomato.

Carefully roll up the ham to enclose the cheese and tomato. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make 12 parcels.

Transfer the parcels to a serving plate, drizzle the honey on top, and serve with the sliced ciabatta.

Serving Size

Serves 4

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Recipe: Hot chocolate cups with pears and amaretto

Gino D'Acampo

Ingredients

3 ripe pears, peeled and cored
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon superfine sugar
1 tablespoon amaretto liqueur
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 ounce ground almonds
1 egg white

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Cut the pears into half-inch cubes. Place in a small saucepan with the lemon juice and superfine sugar and cook over medium heat for 12 minutes, gently stirring occasionally.

When they are cooked, pour the amaretto over the pears, then spoon the pears with the juices into four half-cup ramekins.

To prepare the topping, sift the confectioner's sugar and the cocoa powder into a bowl. Stir in the ground almonds.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg white until stiff. Gently fold the egg white into the dry ingredients.

Spoon the chocolate meringue mixture over the pears and shake the ramekins to level it. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes, until the topping is firm to the touch. Serve warm and enjoy!

Serving Size

Serves 4

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Recipe: Linguine with garlic, shrimp and spinach

Gino D'Acampo

Ingredients

10 ounces linguine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, sliced
5 ounces spinach leaves
14 ounces uncooked shrimp, peeled
4 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered

Preparation

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 medium heat and fry the garlic for 1 minute until golden. Add the spinach and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add the shrimp 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.

Serving Size

Serves 4

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Gino D’Acampo’s Italian dishes are good — and good for you

Try this chef’s healthful, hearty recipes for linguine, roasted tomatoes

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Jump to text Who says hearty Italian dishes have to be loaded with heart-clogging fat and calo...

Jump to recipes Roasted tomatoes and soft cheese rolled in prosciutto

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Video: Healthy, flavorful Italian meals

Closed captioning of: Healthy, flavorful Italian meals

Recipe: Roasted tomatoes and soft cheese rolled in prosciutto

Ingredients

Preparation

Serving Size

Recipe: Hot chocolate cups with pears and amaretto

Ingredients

Preparation

Serving Size

Recipe: Linguine with garlic, shrimp and spinach

Ingredients

Preparation

Serving Size

Discuss: What did you think of this recipe?

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