TV chef Aldo Zilli reveals difficult childhood Christmas - 'There was lots of love but not a lot of money'

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Aldo Zilli recalls the joy of Yuletides while opening up about his childhood Christmas - 'we grew up in a very poor environment, there was lots of love but not money'

Aldo Zilli

For TV chef Aldo Zilli, family is at the heart of everything, particularly when it comes to Christmas

Christmas is a very special time of year for Italian chef Aldo Zilli who surrounds himself with family, continues time-honoured traditions and puts together a fine feast of caviar, fresh lobster, roast beef and champagne. When it comes to the festive season, the 68-year-old celebrity chef puts his heart and soul into the celebrations, with a touching nod to his mum, while ensuring he has the best of the best for his family. In fact, he laughs as he tells us that the fizz is not “that cheap prosecco you get” and the lobster arrives from his local fishmonger.

Aldo discovered his love for flavour when he was a young boy. Growing up, he cooked everything from scratch with his mum, Maria, for him and his eight older siblings in their Italian home in Abruzzo. “My mum was a cook – she had nine of us and she also worked in a local hotel in food as well. My love for food started from her, I was making gnocchi and pasta with her from the age of eight for the whole family,“ he tells us. “As I was the youngest, I got left behind all the time and one of my brothers was a priest, so they all went to church on a Sunday while I was cooking with my mum.”

'We grew up in a very poor environment, there was lots of love but not money' (

Image:

Lee Sullivan)

Reflecting further on his childhood, Aldo says, “We grew up in a very poor environment, there was lots of love but not money. We just made do with what we had, and we had a mother who managed to grow everything in the garden, so we ate what we grew.” At the age of 16, Aldo made the decision to leave home and “see the world”. My first stop was Germany, I was homeless for a couple of weeks, there were no phones then, and I was struggling. Then I found a job in the back of an Italian restaurant as a kitchen porter, and that’s where my career started.”

Determined to make it as a chef, he was soon promoted, before moving to the UK at the age of 19. He worked in hotels and restaurants in and around London before renting his own restaurant in Soho at the age of 28, and he’s been his own boss ever since.

Family is at the heart of everything Aldo does, with Christmas being a significant time to gather everyone together. “My ideal Christmas is for me to invite everybody I can, my immediate family, my wife’s family, everyone basically. I like a big Christmas because I grew up with a massive family and I never had anything for Christmas when I was growing up – I never had a present because we didn’t do presents in those days. So now, I just give, give, give as much as I can – I give my time, I cook, I do everything.”

Christmas Eve is when the fun-loving chef really comes into his own with his favourite dishes. “I’m a fish chef, I love fish. I always get my fishmonger to deliver some wild sea bass, scallops and fresh lobster, so we have lots of shellfish the night before.” Making the big day extra special for his loved ones, he shares, “I don’t drink alcohol, so I enjoy giving everyone a nice glass of top champagne. Normally I go for champagne rather than the cheap prosecco that you can buy. Christmas is special for me, so I think everybody should have the best of the best.

On Christmas day, Aldo is under strict instructions to make a traditional dinner for his mother-in-law (

Image:

Lee Sullivan)

“So we start with caviar, champagne and canapés. When we sit down for lunch, we have our starters. I usually make tortellini like my mother used to, and then we have our roast, with so many different kinds of vegetables and two or three different kinds of puddings.” Aldo jokes, “A Christmas pudding has to be on the table because otherwise, my mother-in-law would not speak to me again.”

When it comes to the dishes on the day, Aldo is also under strict instructions to make a traditional Christmas dinner for his 83-year-old mother-in-law. “She likes the turkey stuffed with chestnuts, sage and Brussels sprouts.” However, on Boxing Day, the Zilli household is filled with roast beef and pork belly, which Aldo describes as a “big feast”.

A long-standing family tradition sees Aldo’s three children – Laura, 40, (whose mum is Aldo’s ex-wife, Jan), and Rocco, 18, and Twiggy, 16, whom he shares with his wife, Nikki – write him a letter that is read on Christmas Day. “My children have to write me and my wife a letter and put them under our plates like I did with my parents. That’s such a big tradition I carried forward. “They write what their year has been like, what they think of their parents, how we can all improve as a family and how much they love us. We open them on Christmas Day. You’re not allowed to open them before then, and we read them out loud around the dinner table.”

The TV chef shares that the food he makes reminds him of his beloved mum (

Image:

Lee Sullivan)

One heartfelt memory that Aldo has during the festive season is of his mum. He lovingly reflects, “My favourite Christmases were not mine, but my mum’s because I loved watching her loving us so much, all the same, all her nine children sitting around the table and cooking for everyone. Those vivid memories of her really touch me every Christmas. The food I make always reminds me of her. She taught me to make everything from scratch from gnocchi, tortellini, bread and focaccia. When it comes out of the oven, I can smell her.”

As well as preparing for Christmas, Aldo tells us he’s been busy working on his new restaurant, Undercroft, in London’s Mayfair. Admitting it’s scarier than live TV, he says, “It’s a nerve-wracking situation opening a restaurant, especially [during] these times, but it’s a very special casual, smart-dining restaurant with live music, a great atmosphere, and the food is by me.”

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