FOODIE CONFIDENTIAL: Celebrity Masterchef judge Giorgio Locatelli shares his kitchen secrets and guilty pleasures

What’s your favourite butter?

An Italian brand called Beppino Occelli (£3.80, camisa.co.uk). It’s made by centrifuge at low temperatures and a very high speed, which separates the fat from the milk and produces a butter that is sweet and creamy. It’s handmade in wooden moulds in the most fantastic pattern. Every time I see the white packet, I remember making risotto with my grandmother and cutting pieces of butter. That’s when I decided to be a chef.

Best tinned fish?

The Waitrose Sardine Piccanti, which has a little bit of chilli in it. I also love the tinned fish from an Italian chef called Luigi Pomata. The tuna comes from Sardinia and is aged for up to ten years. It’s extremely expensive because it’s the belly of the tuna – the ventresca – and it’s like eating foie gras. It has that tenderness and complex flavour; it’s a dish in itself.

Pasta brand of choice?

I’m inclined to make fresh pasta myself, but one of my favourite dry pastas is Giuseppe Cocco (available from Ocado). I also like Rummo (from Sainsbury’s), and for linguine alle vongole I always use De Cecco. If I have to buy pasta to give as a present, I buy Verrigni (from Fortnum & Mason) or Felicetti (from amazon.co.uk). These are the main Italian pastas, and the best quality, I think.

Giorgio (above) loves London Shell Co in Hampstead

Favourite UK restaurant?

At the moment, my go-to is the London Shell Co in Swain’s Lane, Hampstead. It’s an independent restaurant and fishmonger, so you can choose your fish, then they cook it as you wish. It’s such a luxury to have simple, fantastic food. Last time I was there, I chose a 700g John Dory, and they cooked it in a simple way in the oven with a few vegetables.

Bougiest item in your store cupboard?

Aged balsamic vinegar approved by the Consortium for Balsamic Vinegar of Modena (£45, fortnumandmason.com). The consortium is a set of people who are qualified to regulate the region’s balsamic vinegar. This one comes in beautiful bottles that you shake; we serve it in our restaurants. When you taste this balsamic vinegar, you are on another planet.

Best toast topping?

We always get honey from Scott’s of NW London, a small company in West Hampstead run by a husband-and-wife team. My daughter Margherita [30] has really bad hay fever, so we eat honey that is made in a three-mile radius from where we live to expose us to the pollen. I buy millefiori, which means a thousand flowers.

Villa Crespi on Lake Orta, Italy, serves Giorgio’s ‘best ever’ pasta dish

Restaurant you want to return to?

I think Villa Crespi on Lake Orta in the north of Italy is one of the best restaurants in the world. It’s traditional and run by a Neapolitan chef (Antonino Cannavacciuolo), who cooks from the heart. He’s one of these guys who takes an ingredient out instead of adding one. For my generation, that’s real cooking. Last time I went there, I had linguine with brown bread sauce and baby squid. It’s one of the best pasta dishes I’ve ever had.

Ten-minute meal that delivers?

I’m northern Italian, so for me, rice is as important as pasta. When I was little, we would eat risotto rice four days a week, and pasta two days a week. I found an Italian company called Riso Scott – their pre-cooked rice comes in a bag that you put in the microwave. The Venere Wholegrain Black Rice (£2.50, ocado.com) is one of my favourites. I add that to vegetables or beef, so it’s nutritious and delicious.

He makes his own extra virgin olive oil in Sicily

Go-to brand of olive oil?

We’ve been making the LocaDeli extra virgin olive oil (£23, locatelli.uk) for the past 22 years in Sicily. It’s made from a mixture of Biancolilla and Nocellara olives. We ensure it’s made between four and six hours after the olives are picked, which gives us a beautiful, vibrant green colour and fantastic flavour, with notes of tomato and artichoke.

Celebrity MasterChef series 21 airs weekly on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday on BBC One and iPlayer