Gino D’Acampo’s Home Truths – what he gets up to at Christmas

My favourite time at Christmas is being surrounded by family, cooking, eating and drinking at Villa D’Acampo on the island of Sardinia. Everyone is in charge of one dish that makes up the whole Christmas meal – so no pressure!

Peaches soaked in Sardinian Cannonau red wine. We have it every year without fail and it’s delicious. You get the best of both worlds: wine-infused peaches, and peaches-infused wine – we love it.

I love sitting down with my family and choosing what we are going to eat on the day. I remember doing that as a child, with my mum and aunties. That is why my new cookbook – Gino’s Italy: Like Mamma Used To Make – is so special to me. I really want to keep traditions like those alive.

The presents. In the last decade or so, Christmas has all been about the presents you receive and who got what. I don’t think it should be about that at all. Christmas should be about no mobile phones for the day, good food and good-quality family time. And also getting drunk.

There’s too many to choose from, however I have some fantastic simple recipes in my new cookbook – go check them out!

As we all cook one dish in our family that makes up the meal, I like to give myself the simplest one. I cook for work all year round, so it is time for my family to make an effort! As long as we don’t have turkey, I am happy.

Funnily enough, recently it has been fish. The last couple of years we have had fresh fish and seafood around Christmas time – which I know may be strange to some people. In our house, we call it Fishmas…!

Usually the first of December, unless my wife Jessica has different plans. She is definitely the one in charge of the decorations.

Definitely a minimalist. I think that when people go all-out, it can sometimes look tacky. Less is definitely more, in my opinion.

It would have to be when we dress up my little daughter Mia up as an elf! And yes, I know she is not a decoration, but she’s still super cute.

Yes, actually – every year at the end of the day we play Cinco, which is a lot like Bingo but with cards instead of numbers. At least that’s how we play it! It gets super competitive between us all and probably not the best way to end Christmas Day…

I usually like to host people over New Year’s Eve. My boys are a little bit older now, and often go back to the UK, so Jessica and I invite another couple to celebrate New Year with us in Sardinia. For Christmas, it is always just my family and no one else.