Home cooking is king for Russell Norman. “The best restaurants in the world come second to the most humble homes in the world,” says the 51-year-old restaurateur.

“It really is that dramatic a feeling for me.”

The food writer and businessman, known for his Polpo restaurants, which serve Venetian small plates, felt this so strongly in fact, that he’s paired his love of home cooking with his adoration for Venice in a new cookbook.

Venice: Four Seasons Of Home Cooking, is the result. It saw him spend 14 months living and embedding himself in the blue-collar district of Giardini, Castello – with an idea to write a recipe collection “live, in real time” and inspired by Venetian home cooks, whose cuisine he felt was often obscured by the city’s restaurants targeting tourists with pizza and lasagne.

Had he not moved there, Norman believes he’d have missed “the excitement the whole neighbourhood felt” when the changing of seasons affected what was being put on the table.

For instance, he’d never have experienced the mad-dash made by local fishermen when the temperature in Venice’s lagoon changed “just enough for the local crabs (moechi) to shed their summer shells”.

They’re soft for fewer than 24 hours; a very short window in which to harvest them for their sweet, expensive flesh, before their shells crust over and harden.

Venice’s food culture is endlessly alluring, the west-Londoner says, particularly considering its geographic and topographic diversity. It’s incredible how self-sufficient and well-fed the city is.

“It’s preposterous when you think about it, a city built in the sea, but they’ve made it work,” says Norman, noting the seafood and plump, violet artichokes, asparagus spears and taut courgettes that come from the nearby island of Sant’Erasmo, despite regular salt-water flooding.

He admits he became “a bit of a stalker” to some of his neighbours, “in the most benign way”, becoming fascinated with where and what they were shopping for and asking what they were planning to do with the produce they picked up.

“Once they saw I was interested in their food and culture, their heritage and family recipes, they opened up completely.

“Although it took a while,” he adds with a laugh, “but eventually I got tolerated.”

Mrs Scarpa and Mrs Povinelli were perhaps his biggest inspirations, as he traced their steps between the greengrocer’s barge at the bottom of the Via Garibaldi, the fishmonger stalls and butcher’s, picking up their habits – shopping seasonally and daily – as he went.

“Someone once said Italian cooking is as much about good shopping as it is about technique in the kitchen – and it’s absolutely true. If you go to the market and the greengrocer says, ‘These are absolutely fantastic’, take him at his word.”

The same went for enjoying passeggiata, an evening stroll “when, in the summer, the heat of the day has dissipated and you’ve got a lovely orange glow from the light”.

Residents stop intermittently for snacks and an aperitivo at Venice’s many bacarci (little wine bars), to learn of the “news and the gossip, who’s fallen out with who, who’s having sex with who”.

He followed the lead of his neighbours in his tiny kitchen, in his “very humble apartment”, too. “I had a little four-ring gas burner and a Carrera marble worktop - it’s cheap as chips in Italy and is a very good surface to work on because it retains this cold quality.

“Even in high summer, you can make your pasta dough directly onto it.”

Norman, who first visited Venice as a teenager, had to think again about using his own professional kitchen kit though.

“They don’t have 14 different chef knives,” he says of the home cooks he encountered. “They have a single serrated plastic handled knife they probably bought 10 years ago from the supermarket for a couple of Euros – and they’re still using it.”

That’s not to say he didn’t start his Venetian stint with a separate suitcase full of sharpened chef knives.

“I realised it was wrong, I wanted to do things in the same way as my neighbours, so I bought my two-Euro knife,” he says with a laugh.

“It’s really good, it cuts everything – it took a bit of getting used to; I’m used to chopping an onion very quickly.

“You’ve got to slow down and do it like an 85-year-old woman would – but I found my inner 85-year-old woman, and she enjoyed it.”.

Ribollita INGREDIENTS (Serves 4) 300g dried cannellini beans 2 bay leaves Extra virgin olive oil 1 large onion, finely diced 1 large carrot, finely diced 1 large celery stalk, finely diced 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped Flaky sea salt 1tsp fennel seeds, crushed A small handful of thyme leaves Freshly ground black pepper 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes 1/2 a loaf of stale bread, crustless, torn into small chunks 1 whole cavolo nero, roughly shredded METHOD 1 Soak the beans overnight in a very large bowl with one of the bay leaves and plenty of cold water. Next day, drain the beans, transfer to a large pan, and cover well with fresh cold water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes, until soft. While cooking, remove scum as it comes to the surface. Retain two large cups of the cooking water, drain the beans and set aside.

2 In a large, heavy-based saucepan, heat a good glug or two of olive oil and gently saute the onion, carrot, celery and garlic for a good 15 minutes, until soft and glossy. Add a good pinch or two of salt, the crushed fennel seeds, the thyme and a twist of black pepper.

3 Now add the chopped tomatoes, the cooked beans, one of the cups of cooking water and the second bay leaf, and stir over a medium heat for about 30-45 minutes. About halfway through, submerge the chunks of stale bread in the soup and add the shredded cavolo nero. You may need to use the second cup of cooking water.

4 When done, your thick soup will improve vastly if you leave it overnight in the fridge and reheat it the next day (ribollita means ‘re-boiled’). Either way, remember to remove the bay leaves and finish each bowl with a twist of pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

Olive Oil Cake INGREDIENTS (Serves 8) 320ml extra virgin olive oil 300g caster sugar 4 large eggs 1/2tsp fine salt 1tsp vanilla extract 250ml whole milk Juice and zest of 1 lemon Juice and zest of 1 orange 2tsp baking powder 350g ‘00’ flour METHOD 1 Use a little of the olive oil to grease a 24cm cake tin and line the bottom with greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 180 C/gas 4.

2 Put the sugar, eggs, salt and vanilla extract into a large mixing bowl and beat until pale and fluffy. Using a wooden spoon, slowly stir in the olive oil, milk, lemon juice and orange juice. Add the two zests. In a separate bowl, mix the baking powder into the flour, and when combined, fold into the olive oil mixture until smooth.

3 Pour the cake mix into the greased tin and place in the oven for about 45 minutes, until the top feels springy, a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle, and the cake is golden brown.

4 Cool on a wire rack and serve warm, generous slices with a sweet wine, or enjoy cold the next day with coffee.

Venice: Four Seasons Of Home Cooking by Russell Norman, photography by Jenny Zarins, is published by Fig Tree, priced £26. Available March 29.

Fennel Salad INGREDIENTS (Serves 4) 1 fennel bulb 2 navel oranges (or blood oranges in spring) 1 small red onion, peeled A large handful of good black olives Extra virgin olive oil Flaky sea salt A small handful of mint leaves METHOD 1 Cut the fennel in half lengthways and remove and discard the core. Cut off a few of the feathery fronds and set them aside. Using a mandoline or an extremely sharp knife, slice the fennel very thinly indeed.

2 Peel the oranges and separate the segments. Set two segments aside. Use a sharp, serrated knife to remove the pith and the membrane from the others.

3 Slice the onion as thinly as possible and remove the stones from the olives by squeezing them between thumb and index finger - it doesn’t matter if they get squashed in the process. Put the orange, fennel, onion and olives into a very large mixing bowl and add a generous glug of olive oil and a good crunch of sea salt flakes.

4 Sacrifice the two reserved segments by squeezing their juice into the bowl and discarding them. Turn once or twice, add the mint leaves, turn once more, and divide equally between four pretty plates, garnishing each with the reserved fronds.

Venice: Four Seasons Of Home Cooking by Russell Norman, photography by Jenny Zarins, is published by Fig Tree, priced £26. Available March 29.