Aldo Zilli’s food to help your heart - without sacrificing taste

Aldo Zilli is an award-winning celebrity chef specialising in Italian and fish and seafood cuisine. The 69-year-old was once known for his drinking and partying with celebrity friend DJ Chris Evans, but then he was diagnosed with high cholesterol. Aldo had already lost both his parents and siblings to heart-related deaths.

Now he’s embraced a healthier lifestyle, lost more than three stone in weight and cut his cholesterol.

He shared his tips with Saga Magazine on how to eat to help your heart without sacrificing taste or spending hours in the kitchen.

Aldo’s tips to make your food healthier and taste better

'The Mediterranean diet is the best in the world for our health," he says. "Always look at the provenance of food and how fresh it is, then you know it won't just be better for you but will taste great too."

1. Add taste with herbs and spices

If you are cooking with vegetables its harder to add extra taste than with a steak for instance, so I use fresh stocks and add herbs and spices, such as fennel seeds, basil and dill. 

I also add anchovies to add flavour to a roast, such as lamb and if you do use salt or sugar use the best quality you can, don’t use refined sugar or salt.

2. Cook in bulk

Home-made is so much better than a ready meal. But cooking can be time consuming, so batch cook and make the freezer your friend.

Many Italian dishes are ideal to freeze – lasagne, ragu, aubergine melanzana parmigiana, anything in a tray or else pies are good too.

If you have a roast always use up the leftovers, put them in the freezer for another day and you can also make a delicious stock from the vegetable peelings and chicken carcass.

3. Make easy swaps

Change your butter and oils for heart friendly spreads such as Benecol. My son is very healthy and plays football, he always eats butter, but I swapped it for Benecol spread and a week later he hasn’t noticed the difference. 

The little shots to combat cholesterol are great too, you can just get up and have one straight from the fridge without having to worry about what to mix it in.

4. Limit your eating times

I don’t eat for 16 hours in each day, so my breakfast is at 3pm, and the first thing I eat is savoury otherwise I start craving sugar.

The best combination for me is eggs and avocado. Poached or boiled eggs are the healthiest and if you boil eggs you can do a few at a time and use them as snacks later.

You will notice the difference in a week.

5. Give up sugar

Getting sugar out of my life has been a big part of getting healthy and alcohol was a big part of that. I gave it up three years ago and as a chef it’s a big part of my life. 

For the first three months I was a miserable you know what, my wife didn’t have a good time then the sun came out and I thought I am not going to drink again.

I have so much more time in my life to do things I actually enjoy. I speak to my chefs with kindness and find people easier to deal with. I still go to pubs, clubs and dinner parties and I am the driver.

6. Fill up with vegetables and fish

I used to eat hardly any vegetables, I do them in so many different ways now. For instance yesterday I did beetroot carpaccio with feta cheese and made it with a minty salad with courgettes and aubergine. 

I like plain fish such as sole or mackerel. Mackerel is easy to roast with fennel or fennel seeds. I think it’s the best fish to eat with its omega 3 oils, better for you than tuna and a lot cheaper.

My way of putting fish in the oven is to always cover it with foil and put all the flavours in and leave it to cook. A favourite of mine is to cook it in coconut milk with a little wasabi

2 healthy and tasty recipes by Aldo to try

Chicken Kiev with saffron risotto

Serves 2

Ingredients for the risotto

• 200g risotto rice, preferably carnaroli or vialone nano
• 400ml homemade chicken stock, plus more if needed
• 2 tbsp (45ml) extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped fine about 100g
• 150ml dry white wine
• 2 generous pinches saffron
• salt and pepper
• 60g Benecol buttery taste spread
• 70g freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving

Method

• Heat oil in a heavy 12-inch sauté pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook until soft. Add rice, stirring frequently for about 3 min. Add wine and leave to evaporate.
• Add the boiling stock and saffron and a large pinch of salt, increase heat to high, and bring to a simmer. Stir rice once, making sure no stray grains are clinging to side of pan above the liquid. Keep adding stock until rice is cooked about 16-18 mins.
• When rice is cooked, take off heat, add spread and Parmesan, shaking rice constantly until spread has melted and rice is thick and creamy. Add more stock or water as necessary if risotto becomes too dry. Season with salt.
• Serve immediately on hot plates, passing more cheese at the table.

Ingredients for the chicken kiev 

• 2 free-range chicken breasts
• 100g plain flour
• salt and pepper
• 1 large egg
• sunflower oil for frying
• 200g breadcrumbs
• zest of 1 lemon
• Fresh parsley chopped
• 100g Benecol buttery taste spread
• 1 garlic clove chopped

Method

• Place the soft spread, garlic, parsley and lemon zest in a bowl, mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Place on a cling film sheet and form a roll, place in the fridge until needed.
• Put the chicken on a chopping board, with a sharp knife cut the breast in the middle to open it. If is too thick place between two sheets of cling film and with a mallet make it thinner.
• Cut the spread mixture into 4 equal pieces.
• Season the inside of each breast, place two pieces of butter in each breast and roll it up and fold in the side making sure that is tight and sealed. Roll the chicken in clingfilm and place in the freezer for about 10-15 min to get it in shape.
• In the meantime beat the egg in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Place flour in a tray and the breadcrumbs too.
• Remove the film from the chicken, roll in the flour, shake any excess. Coat in the eggs and roll in the breadcrumbs until completed coated.
• Fry the chicken in enough oil to cover half of it, until golden on both sides.
• Take it out and place on a baking tray and place in oven at 180c for about 15 mins.
• Drain on a paper, slice in 4 pieces and serve with the risotto on the side.

Strawberry panna cotta red berry sauce

• 250ml double cream
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 vanilla pod
• 2 gelatine leaves
• 150g strawberries
• mint leaves
• 4 tbsp red berry sauce
• 2 tsp Benecol strawberry yogurt

Method

• Wash the strawberries, cut them in half and keep on the side.
• Place the gelatine leaves in cold water until soft.
• Mix cream, milk the sugar the vanilla cut in half and place in a saucepan, bring to the boil. Off the heat add the soaked gelatine leaves and mix with a whisk until dissolved. Pass trough a sieve.
• Add the yogurt, place in a dariole mould and leave in the fridge at least 12 hours before serving. Serve with the strawberries on the side, red berry sauce over the top and mint leaves.

Ingredients for red berry sauce

• 50g raspberries
• 50g strawberries
• 50g redcurrants 

Method

• Wash the berries, cut the strawberries in half.
• Place the berries in a saucepan with the sugar on a low heat. With a fork crush the berries and cook until all are soft.
• Leave to cool.