How to Cook Well with Rory O'Connell s01e03 Episode Script

I've been doing both for 30 years.
To cook well, it helps if you love and value food, as that is where it all starts.
My approach to cooking is simple and not new.
Use the best ingredients you can, get organised and follow the recipe.
That way, you'll be sure to get wonderful results.
Soups are great.
You could eat a different soup every day of the year and not begin to scratch the surface on the amount of recipes that are available.
They can be thick, thin, complicated or very simple.
A simple recipe like this for a vegetable soup should not be a way of using up your leftover vegetables because remember, tired vegetables in your vegetable rack will actually yield a slightly exhausted soup.
So simplicity, freshness of flavour, freshness of ingredients.
Really remarkable results.
I'm ready to prepare my green vegetable soup.
Today the green vegetable of choice is spinach.
It could be cabbage, peas, cucumbers.
All sorts of different things.
This is a formula, a master recipe if you want.
I've got one cup of potatoes, some onions, some stock and my spinach.
We start off this recipe always by sweating the potato and the onion.
The potato has just been diced like that.
In my saucepan I've got my butter melting.
Pop the onions into the foaming butter.
Then add the potatoes.
A pinch of salt.
And a twist or two of black pepper.
That should do it.
Coating the vegetables in the butter so there are no dry bits of onion or potato.
Then a little extra insulation in the form of a butter wrapper.
Or it could be greaseproof or parchment paper.
That will help to hold in the steam.
It's like a little sauna for the vegetables.
It just softens out their flavour and tenderises them.
While the potatoes and onions are sweating on the gentle heat, I'm going to prepare the spinach.
I don't want that stalk.
I just want the green leaves.
To remove the stalk just fold the leaf back over itself and just pull out the stalk.
If you were making this with baby spinach, you don't need to destalk those.
You can just put those in, stalks and all.
That should be my quantity ready to go.
That I know looks like a lot of spinach but that will collapse down.
Let's see how our vegetables are doing.
See the way the potato is just starting to break down.
That's perfect.
The other really important ingredient in this recipe is chicken stock.
Place a lid on the saucepan and turn up the heat.
Cook on a gentle simmer until the potatoes and onions are cooked completely through.
To check that your vegetable is cooked, simply press a piece against the lid and if it breaks up like this, you know it's ready.
It looks like a lot of spinach but just bear with it.
It will start to collapse and wilt.
I know it looks unlikely and you think I won't get the rest of it in, but look, it's starting to wilt down.
What's really important is we do not put the lid back on the pan.
That rules applies to any green vegetable soup you're making.
It applies whenever you're cooking a green vegetable.
If you put the lid back on, when the liquid comes back to a simmer, it rises up in steam and condenses on the underside of the lid, falls back in and that takes the lovely green colour out of the soup.
When you lose the green colour, generally speaking you also lose some of that lovely fresh just picked flavour.
I think my spinach has cooked so turn off the heat.
Take a little out onto my lid.
My spoon just goes through it very easily like that.
So I know the spinach is tender.
So I need to liquidise it or blend it, whichever you like.
That's it.
Lovely and smooth.
Not a particularly thick soup.
Because this is so full of spinach flavour, I don't want it so thick.
See how deeply coloured that soup is.
That's a colour you'd be proud of hopefully on St.
Patrick's Day.
Or any day of the year for that matter.
I'm going to serve some of the soup with just a tiny little blob of cream.
It just gives a little rich lift to it at the very last moment.
The other ingredient you might think is unusual in a soup like this is a slice of black pudding, which I've just warmed up in the pan.
That descends to the bottom and becomes a little surprise to your guests when they're eating it.
The other thing that would be wonderful is chorizo.
So there is a lovely formula that you can use all year round to produce a variety of nourishing and delicious soups.
Most people love a roast.
A quality piece of meat cooked on the bone and generally with the skin still on.
After the Sunday roast has been consumed and you have all the lovely potatoes and vegetables to go with it, there's a sort of a calm that descends on the house, which is a thing of beauty.
Monday is tomorrow.
Not yet to be worried about.
However, the key to that good, wonderful calm feeling is really in the quality of the ingredients.
So plan ahead, do a bit of good shopping.
Buy a nice quality piece of meat.
Treat it simply.
You will be amply rewarded with food that pleasures everybody in the house.
A leg of spring lamb is an expensive treat.
Depending on what part of the country you live in, that will determine the flavour of the lamb.
This beautiful quality assured leg of lamb has just been slightly prepared for me by my butcher.
I'm just going to make a few small cuts in the top of the lamb.
You'll notice I'm not going into the flesh.
I'm just encouraging some of the excess fat to run out.
When the fat runs out of the meat during the cooking process, it bastes it and makes it even more delicious.
Just a few more cuts.
At this time of the year I like to put nothing other than salt and pepper on the lamb.
As the lamb gets older, as we progress through the year and they get slightly bigger, the flavour develops and becomes stronger.
But now when it's sweet, succulent and delicious, absolutely at its prime.
Salt and pepper, nothing else.
I've preheated my oven to 180.
Pop it in.
While it's roasting you'll have time to do other things.
This is a very simple thing.
Just some mint leaves.
Chop the mint.
The other interesting thing about mint when you chop it is it oxidises really quickly so you've got to preserve it.
The lemon juice and the sugar that we're going to mix it with will preserve it.
That's really quite important.
I'm going to add a little bit of lemon juice and some sugar.
Just flick out the pips and squeeze in the lemon juice.
This is really a take on the old-fashioned mint sauce.
Just pop in a little sugar and mix it around.
What I need to do is to taste this.
This is really fresh tasting.
It tastes just like spring.
The new season herbs just starting to jump out of the ground.
That will be perfect with the lamb.
Right, here we go.
For our chickpea puree.
We're making a type of hummus really here.
Another day you'd want maybe roast potatoes with the lamb or new potatoes would be lovely.
I'm going in a slightly different Middle Eastern direction with the starch to serve with the lamb.
I'm using chickpeas.
These are the dried chickpeas.
We put them in a bowl and cover them with cold water and ideally leave them overnight.
It's remarkable the way they swell in size as they soak up the water.
You can use tinned precooked chickpeas here if you want.
I prefer the cleaner, fresher taste and flavour of the ones where you start dry and soak them overnight.
This must be strained off.
Then we cook the chickpeas again in fresh water.
Fresh water about 2cm above the surface of the chickpeas.
Lid on and I'm going to cook these for approximately 30 minutes.
The really important thing is we cook them until they're really tender.
Once the chickpeas are fully cooked, drain them, keeping some of the liquid.
Put them into a food processor.
Add some cumin and crushed garlic.
Spoon in some tahini which is a paste made from sesame seeds.
Add a little cooking liquid.
You can always add some more later.
Finally, squeeze in some lemon juice.
Then blitz.
Let's have a look.
It's still a bit firm looking.
I've used all of the water I drained off the chickpeas.
But now I'm going to use what's sometimes called the forgotten ingredient in the kitchen, water.
Just put a little dribble in.
Whiz it again.
You can hear the sound change when I added in the water.
Now it's getting nice and creamy looking.
Much more like a hummus.
There's a couple of ingredients that need to go in.
Our chopped coriander.
So far I haven't added in any salt or pepper.
When we were cooking the chickpeas we deliberately didn't put in salt.
We didn't want to toughen the chickpea.
Also sometimes the salt loosens the skin.
It's not the end of the world when you're making a puree but if you're making a chickpea salad it's nice to have the skins intact.
A pinch of salt.
A little bit of pepper.
It certainly looks good.
Lovely and creamy and soft.
Sort of a light flowing consistency.
See the way it just flows.
That's the consistency I want.
That's my hummus and the mint relish ready.
To go with the lamb we need To prepare a rich gravy and that's coming up after the break with other good things.
Looks good.
What's very important with the lamb is to know how to test and see it's cooked to your liking.
I like to insert the skewer into the thickest part of the meat.
About there.
Not in as far as the bone.
County two, three, four, five.
Five seconds and then just very quickly touch it against your arm.
The heat of the skewer will tell you what's happening inside.
In other words, this feels quite hot now so mine is medium-well.
Just a little bit of pink in the middle which is how I like it.
I'm going to take the lamb off here and put it back into an oven.
I'm going to turn my oven to 50 degrees.
This lamb will eat better and carve better in half an hour than it will now.
In my roasting tray I've a mixture of lamb fat and lamb juice.
Once you know how to make one gravy, for lamb like we're doing today, it's easy.
You do exactly the same thing for chicken and beef and pork.
I'm going to pour those in there for a moment.
I'm just going to allow them to relax, to allow the fat to rise to the surface of the liquid.
It's like oil on a puddle.
The same principle.
I'm going to add in my liquid, chicken stock.
It could be lamb stock but personally, I find chicken stock is much more interesting than lamb stock.
What we want to do is scrape the bottom of the tray and loosen up any of the bits of caramelised meat juice in there.
That's the essence.
That's when the juice has come out of the lamb and has caramelised.
That's a lovely intensity of flavour.
Decant everything into a smaller saucepan.
This makes it much easier to deal with.
Add a pinch of salt and a twist of pepper.
That's not quite it.
We still have this fabulous stuff in here.
This is where the intensity of flavour is.
We've got about a centimetre of fat which we don't want in the gravy.
I'm going to use this.
Every house should have one.
It looks like a jug that's got two spouts.
Then when we put this liquid in here, allow it to sit for a moment to allow the fat to rise to the surface.
Pour through the end with the funnel.
Keep pouring until you see the fat coming through.
Then you know you've got as much of those juices as possible.
That essentially is gravy making.
It's been a lot of work but you will absolutely be repaid for your efforts by a really, really delicious meal.
I like my cake fresh and I'm talking the same day fresh.
I love cake.
Nothing compares to the texture, flavour and smell of a cake eaten on the same day it is baked.
For the cook, there's a satisfaction the moment you open the oven door to reveal a beautiful cake perfectly risen, perfectly coloured.
It makes me sigh with pleasure and that pleasure is compounded on presentation of the cake to family and friends.
I'm starting to make what I call a plain cake here which is underselling the cake really.
You could call it a teacake as well.
It's a beautiful cake for serving with a cup of tea or coffee.
I'm going to serve it as a dessert cake today, adding strawberries and creme anglaise and custard to the picture.
Take that off.
I've had my eggs and sugar beating for 10-12 minutes.
They start to hold a vague figure of 8 on top.
It won't hold a really firm figure of 8 like a classic sponge.
That's the thing about this cake.
It's a mixture of a Victoria sponge and a classic whisked up sponge.
At some stage it will look unlike any other cake you've ever made.
Three teaspoons of baking powder.
When you sift the flour, you're getting a bit more air into the cake.
I've also got some butter which I've just melted gently and allowed to cool down.
When you're making a cake, you can make cakes with olive oil and other types of fat but butter just brings the most delicious flavour.
I'm going to add in my flour.
Drop the flour gently, all in one go.
The other element is a little lemon zest.
Sometimes I use an orange to flavour the cake.
Or it could be a lime or a mixture of citrus.
You could put in a pinch of cinnamon.
We're going to fold all that in.
Just cutting down through the middle and folding the spatula over, then give the bowl a turn and repeat.
Keep folding until it's completely folded in.
It's starting to look like a Victoria sponge at this stage.
Nicely folded in.
I'm going to add in my vanilla.
One teaspoon into the milk and cream.
Pour it in in increments.
We're going to end up with what looks like a batter.
Look at the two different consistencies here.
You've got the really heavy cake mixture and the liquid cream and milk.
You think ne'er the twain shall meet.
Well actually you're going to bring them together.
A little more of our milk and cream.
I can smell the aroma of the vanilla.
It's not quite like being in Madagascar but you have to dream.
The reason I've been adding the milk in increments is because if you pour all the milk in in one go, it's actually more difficult and it takes longer to mix.
Also there's a possibility of it curdling.
The last of the cream and milk and vanilla going in.
You could do this on the machine but I prefer to do it by hand.
That is now perfect.
That's sort of batter consistency.
Nice and gently, just pour in.
Scrape everything out nicely.
Not quite two-thirds up the tin.
Into my preheated oven.
That's going to cook for about 40 minutes.
The cake is cooking away nicely.
While it's cooking I'm going to make the creme anglaise or light custard to serve with this.
I've had my milk infusing with a vanilla pod.
I brought that to simmering point and then turned off the heat.
The flavour's coming out of the vanilla pod and into the milk.
That's resting.
In here I've got my egg yolks and I'll add some caster sugar.
I'm going to whisk this up and get it nice and light.
You can see it's changed colour.
It's lighter.
Now we're ready to add in the milk.
I usually just shoot the vanilla pod in but just add it in slowly to start off with, just in case the milk is holding too much heat.
You don't want to scramble your egg yolk.
I'm putting it into a low-sided saucepan so I can see exactly what's going on.
It's very thin.
This custard isn't going to become very thick.
Back on a fairly low heat.
I'm going to just keep going backwards and forwards, now allowing the mixture to sit undisturbed for any length of time on the bottom of the saucepan where it might cook a bit further and scramble.
Look how thin it is.
People are sometimes surprised by this, creme anglaise doesn't thicken an awful lot.
Most of the thickening happens when it cools.
That's one of the reasons why we make it ahead of time.
Don't expect anything dramatic to happen here.
This will take about 10 minutes so you can have a Zen moment.
Don't get into too much of a trance, don't forget what's going on.
It's just thickened very lightly and if I pull my finger through it, it just leaves a light trail behind.
It's not going to be thick like a custard that's been flour thickened.
I like to sieve it out of the saucepan straight away.
Slit the vanilla bean in half.
Push some of the seeds out with the back of the knife.
This will add enormously to the intensity of flavour.
Give that a quick whisk to thoroughly blend in the vanilla seeds.
That is a perfect lump-free consistency.
Let's test our cake.
I think it could be ready.
I'm using a little cake tester.
Pop it into the middle like that and take it out.
The skewer should come out absolutely clean.
So that's ready and I know it's cooked.
This cake almost always has a big smile on top.
That is something that gives me cheer rather than alarm.
It's one of those cakes that breaks into a big smile in the cooking.
Place the cake on a wire rack.
Once it has cooled but is still slightly warm, it's ready to serve.
The first slice is always the cook's slice.
That's the bit you have yourself.
Then I'm going to cut a thickish slice.
This is in a way, like a warm trifle.
Some strawberries like that.
Then a dollop of softly whipped cream.
You're not going to be having this every day.
It's a treat.
A sprig of mint.
Then finally, just a little drizzle of our custard.
That should be just a joy to eat.
: Tracey Carr, RTE 2015.