Parmigiano Reggiano and brand ambassador Gennaro Contaldo collaborate with acclaimed UK chefs to present three unique recipes showcasing the versatility of Parmigiano Reggiano

Parmigiano Reggiano has announced an exciting collaboration with renowned chefs Clodagh McKenna, Ravinder Bhogal, and Eco Chef Tom Hunt. Together with brand ambassador, Gennaro Contaldo, they have crafted three unique recipe videos featuring Parmigiano Reggiano as the hero ingredient, each showcasing the cheese’s versatility and its ability to blend different cultures and diverse culinary traditions.

Focusing on sustainability and the importance of quality, the first video stars Tom Hunt and Gennaro, who have put a twist on a classic Italian dish. The duo presents a bean carbonara, a contemporary adaptation that promotes sustainability through the utilisation of carefully chosen ingredients. This recipe hopes to inspire foodies to cook more sustainably without forgoing flavour.

Continuing the journey of versatility, Gennaro partners with Ravinder Bhogal to create a fusion of Indian and Italian cuisine. The Paneer and Parmigiano Reggiano Gnudi highlights the shared heritage of Indian immigrants who have contributed to the production of Parmigiano Reggiano in Italy. This Indian-Italian fusion pays homage to the diverse cultural influences that shape the production of Parmigiano Reggiano, offering a truly unique dish.

Lastly, Gennaro and Clodagh McKenna, celebrated chefs and longtime friends, collaborate in a heartwarming video to prepare Parmigiano Reggiano Polenta Baked Eggs. This recipe serves as a testament shared passion for creating delightful culinary dishes and the joy that Parmigiano Reggiano brings to all chefs around the world.

The videos will be released on the official Parmigiano Reggiano YouTube and UK Instagram and Twitter channels, starting from the 24th of July. Food enthusiasts, aspiring chefs, and Parmigiano Reggiano lovers are encouraged to tune in.

About Parmigiano Reggiano

Parmigiano Reggiano is a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product and one of the oldest, richest cheeses in the world. Made in a small area of northern Italy – including the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, and parts of Mantua and Bologna, Mantua to the right of the Po River, and Bologna to the left of the Reno River – it has undergone very little change to the production process and is essentially still produced the same way it was 1,000 years ago.

Parmigiano Reggiano is made with only three ingredients – milk, salt, and rennet – and therefore contains no additives, only natural bacteria. To create its distinctive taste, the cattle have a specific diet, and Parmesan has a minimum maturation period of one year, but it can mature for much longer, even up to 60 months or longer.

Parmigiano Reggiano is the only cheese that can be legally called “Parmesan”. Other Italian hard cheeses may be mistaken for Parmesan due to their shape, but as they are not produced under Parmigiano Reggiano’s exact conditions and area of origin, they cannot be called Parmesan under EU and UK law.

For more information on Parmigiano Reggiano, visit https://www.parmigianoreggiano.com/

Instagram – @ParmigianoReggianoUK
Twitter – @ParmesanUK
YouTube – @ParmigianoReggianoIT

About Gennaro Contaldo

Born in the Amalfi Coast, Gennaro has lived in London since 1969, eventually opening his critically acclaimed restaurant, Passione, which was awarded “Best Italian Restaurant” in 2005. Since then, he has published multiple award-winning cookbooks; starred in the BBC Two television series, Two Greedy Italians; appeared on many of Jamie Oliver (his protégé)’s television shows; and has even won a Guinness World Record for the most ravioli made in two minutes!

Gennaro Contaldo has been Parmigiano Reggiano’s UK brand ambassador since 2020, having developed a series of recipe videos and a documentary video for the brand, as well as featuring in Parmigiano Reggiano’s first television advert in the UK in early 2022 and again in 2023.

About Tom Hunt

Tom Hunt is an award-winning chef, food writer and climate change campaigner. Hunt’s approach to food is rooted in its connection to nature and climate change, championing a way of eating that prioritises the environment without sacrificing pleasure, taste and nutrition.

In 2011 Hunt also founded the Forgotten Feast – a social enterprise promoting sustainable food through dining and celebration. Forgotten Feast created banquets with food waste and/or topical ingredients, highlighting important concerns in the food industry. Hunt works closely with various charities including Fareshare, Fairtrade, The Soil Association and is a signatory of the Chef’s Manifesto – a United Nations SDG2 initiative, that calls on chefs around the world to champion climate-friendly cuisine in their kitchens for a more diverse, sustainable and delicious future.

More than two decades working in agriculture and food has made him an expert in his field with a deep understanding about how food can benefit culture, support biodiversity and reverse climate change, culminating in an approach to food that can help change the world.

About Ravinder Bhogal

Born in Kenya, to Indian parents, Ravinder Bhogal’s food is inspired by her mixed heritage and the UK’s diverse immigrant culture. Ravinder is a journalist, chef and restaurateur. Her debut restaurant, Jikoni, was ranked 56th in the UK by the National Restaurant Awards within 7 months of opening and achieved a coveted place in the Michelin Guide in the same year.

Ravinder has written three books, most recently Comfort & Joy: Irresistible Pleasures from a Vegetarian Kitchen (Bloomsbury, 2023) which has been described by Meera Syal as “a revelation – inventive, bewitching and mouth-watering”. Jikoni: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes from an Immigrant Kitchen (Bloomsbury, 2020) won an IACP award for Best Restaurant Cookbook and has been shortlisted for the André Simon Award, and a Fortnum and Mason Award for Best Cookery Book. Her debut book Cook in Boots (HarperCollins, 2009) won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award for the UK’s Best First Cookbook and was awarded the first runners-up prize of the World’s Best First Cookbook at the Paris Cookbook Fair in February 2010. She is a columnist at the FT Weekend, for which she was shortlisted for a Fortnum and Mason Award in 2023, and Guardian Feast and a contributing editor at Harper’s Bazaar.

About Clodagh Mckenna

Clodagh McKenna is a chef, TV presenter, cookbook author and a runs her sustainable farm Broadspear.

She is the author of 8 cookbooks, including most recently In Minutes and Clodagh’s Weeknight Kitchen. Her latest book In Minutes is a Number 1 bestseller in both the UK and Ireland. Clodagh is a food columnist for the Sunday Times Magazine.

Clodagh is a resident chef on ITV’s This Morning show. She has hosted 5 of her own TV series – Fresh From the Farmers Markets and Fresh From The Sea. She is a regular on the Marilyn Denis Show in Canada and the Today Show in the USA, and one won ITV’s Cooking with the Stars which aired in June 2022.

Clodagh lives and works in Broadspear, a 100 acre sustainable farm (Hampshire, UK) with her husband Harry, beloved dogs Alfie & Nolly and their 18 hens, 5 ducks and 8 Aberdeen Angus cattle. Over the past four years they have restored a one-acre, eighteenth-century walled vegetable and fruit garden, set up 5 working beehives, an orchard, a pickling and fermenting shed, cutting gardens and wildflower meadows. Clodagh’s Shop launched 5 years ago online, beautiful curated pieces for the home and cooking essentials. In November 2022 Clodagh opened the doors to her first flagship store in Berkshire.