The Naked Chef (1999) s02e01 Episode Script
Reunion
Naked's what I call my way of cooking what I cook in the restaurant isn't what I cook at home.
Cooking's gotta be a laugh.
It's gotta be simple.
It's gotta be tasty.
It's gotta be fun.
I suppose you could say it's striping down the recipe to its bare essentials.
No way it's me - it's the food.
My mate Tim's coming over from Germany we worked in an Italian restaurant together and I'm just checking his flights he's coming from Hamburg and he's going to London Stanstead airport and it's all on time.
Have you got anything special planned for Tim's visit? Not really - he kind of shook ma little bit because I just well you know typical me oh yeah we'll do this and I said oh we should get a reunion sorted and then he like e-mailed me back about 4 days ago and said I'm coming I've booked the flight so it was like oh oh gotta get a party together quick.
So I'm basically just get all of the people from work, that we used to work with.
Do an Italian meal.
So I've gotta do a fair bit of shopping not much it's pretty simple cooking actually.
And then I've gotta go and pick him up a bit later I'm gonna do him a big sign don't know what I'm gonna write on it yet but I've always wanted a welcome like that at the old airport.
And I've never had one.
Ah bonjourno (speaks Italian) Belissimo Can I have 10 slices of your best pachuta my friend? Graci You taste it? Yeah lovely graci fantastic Belissimo - can I have the mozzarella Graci that's beautiful MOzzARELLA, PEACH AND PARMA HAM SALAD Right my darling I'm gonna make a fantastic salad it's all around like mixed leaves you can have what you like to be honest but - er - let me get a plate or two.
Big plates - honestly they'll do you a favour buy a couple of plates and it makes life so much easier chuck it in the middle of the table none of this plated up business.
Everyone can help themselves.
So look I've got some of this baby chard and a little bit of rocket which you can get in the supermarket which it's just peppery and a little bit more interesting really.
All you have to do is like scatter the old salad all round the plate really really casually sort of one layer really Do you always use a salad spinner? Actually I used to slag 'em off like you wouldn't believe.
I tell you what I've found lately instead I mean it's dead - it's dead tempting to buy those bags of salad isn't it? I mean I've done it you open them and they just go horrible really quick and sometimes they're bruised or haven't been spun properly and a bit too wet so I just - and it's much cheaper to go and buy your own ones but you know it doesn't take any more time.
Give them a little wash spin 'em in the old salad spinner and then if you put 'em in the fridge with the old lid on I think maybe because it's protected by that the fridge doesn't sort of ruin it and make it sort of wilt quick so you know it's dead good.
And then let's - I've got these fantastic pucker peaches, pucker peaches mate.
Fruit in salads - very, very under rated not done that much really.
You could peel the skins but I actually like the skin personally but just give 'em a wash.
So all I do is you just cut it like an avocado in the middle - right - twist it that comes out and if don't come out it ain't ripe so you shouldn't be using it in the first place.
Try that my old darling.
Have a nosh on that.
Mmm- lovely.
And then you just rip it like that and a ripped peach looks so much better than a cut one.
Because it just doesn't look commercial and horrible so I just do that to all of them.
Peaches are there.
I've got some - got some nice Mozzarella yeah and er - got this from the deli and it's Buffalo Mozzarella sounds bit weird but Buffalo Mozzarella is much nicer in salads it's really soft and milky as opposed to the sort of the cheaper stuff which is better for pizzas.
So give it a try - you can get it in the supermarket actually so just open the bag up and again just rip it into nice little mouth sized pieces and just kind of put it around the plate in and around the peaches and the leaves and stuff.
Is it called Buffalo because it's so big? No - it's Buffalo because it's Buffalo milk.
But they're also very big so yeah.
But er - you're so sweet darling.
There you go.
And I think that looks amazing already, so what have I forgotten oh yeah - Parma ham - get this in the supermarket get 'em to slice it for you.
Ask them if you can taste it first the Parma ham right and if you just notice if it's too thick, sometimes they do it too thick and it drives me up the wall.
It's like eating a bit of old shoe so say can I have it a bit thinner please? Just get a nice strip like that and just tear it up and just kind of almost sort of drape it in and around the cheese and the peaches and the leaves.
I can't really stress how fantastic this salad is because if you imagine like the peppery leaves like a bit of oil and lemon over it fantastic yeah salty like Parma ham right and the milky Mozzarella and the juicy, juicy peach.
Fantastic Just a little bit of salad over the top just a little and got some lovely mint here just kind of pick it - rip it -just a little bit on the top's quite fresh and I think brings the flavour of the peaches out quite nice and once we get a nice bit of oil and lemon juice on there be lovely.
But I won't do that now because I'll have to do it later otherwise it'll kill all the salad leaves.
So you can sort of do it this far in advance? I can do - well - I should do it there and then but I can do it this far in advance and get away with it so all I have to do now is take it out the fridge a little bit before I need it so it just gets to room temperature'ish squeeze a couple of lemons, double the amount of olive oil bit of salt and pepper - all over it.
Beautiful mate.
And a bit of bread with it or something? Yeah TWO NUT CHOCOLATE TORTE CHEESECAKE Two nuts chocolate torte cheesecake mould but you can pretty much use anything you like really.
I just find it easy cos you can click it out.
Butter - 250 grams of butter.
What do I need? Oh - grease proof paper - right -just rip off a bit little square that you know is gonna cover it yeah? And what I do - bit like making a paper airplane actually it's nothing like making a paper airplane you fold the paper in the middle and then you turn it around fold it into the middle.
Then you basically you just keep folding into the middle - like that I do one more - so you guess or much that is into the middle put your finger where it is and just rip it up.
Ohh - lovely! - So that's gonna line the bottom yeah.
We just need to get a bit of butter on it and that'll stop anything from sticking.
So just very thinly line the bottom and the sides and just put a bit of butter on this.
Yeah - lovely - and then stick that on the bottom - nice and snug.
Right - so there's nothing gonna stick.
Right - forget that now.
So - I need 300 grams of nuts it's called 2 nuts Taut because it's got two nuts in it basically we've got walnuts and almonds and I need 150 grams of each yeah which is pretty simple to remember.
And these are 100 gram packets so there's 100 grams of almonds there's 100 grams of almonds and I'm not gonna get the scales out or nothing like that.
Just pour out the nuts and divide it into two - same with walnuts I think where at all possible not use the scales okay.
So just divide the old nuts into half again.
What I'm gonna do - got the old Magimix chuck the nuts in there - okay.
And we're gonna whizz it up until it's a powder - 30 seconds, 40 seconds.
Lovely - so look what we got yeah it's fantastic that's what it should be it's like powder.
Right chocolate - it is a chocolate Taut we need 300 grams of chocolate.
One we're gonna put here - two I'm gonna crumble up 200 grams of this and chuck it in with the nuts and er we're gonna whizz that up as well.
Makes a bit of a noise but you just wanna break it up into pieces.
- Alright? Better than watching telly.
Anyway we'll lose this into a bowl now we're gonna put the butter in here just plonk the whole lot in there rip it into two or three.
We need 100 grams of sugar lovely.
And pour that in.
And that's just for a little bit of extra sweetness.
And we wanna whizz this up for about whip - I wanna whiz whizz this up - so it gets nice and shiny and creamy.
So I need 6 eggs yeah - cor organic of course.
I'm gonna crack my eggs in here very carefully.
And then what I do - I pinch the yolk and plop 'em in one by one and that's gonna really enrich and that.
And make it nice and silky and beautiful.
Lovely - all you have to do now is get it all together so just mix these up until it's nicely mixed.
Right - now the best bit egg whites.
Flavour -lift - we have to get 'em together, but I wanna get these really stiff so at the last minute add a good pinch of salt and that kind of helps it to be stiff and whip it up my old darling.
I've got a bit of a mad day because I've got - got to go and pick has given me some mushrooms for the main course and and now I've gotta go and pick up Tim from the airport so I can't be late otherwise the poor old boy he thinks he's going into London cos it's Stanstead airport but it's not as central it's out in the wilderness where I come from so he'll be getting London Jamie where are you? Done.
Right so - er add a little bit first fold it in just to loosen it.
Now as it's air that we've got in the egg whites what we need to do is get it in there into the mix without sort of knocking all the air out of it - otherwise it won't rise.
So what we do is we call it like a folding action do sort of movements like that that kind of fold in from the outside to the middle and maybe change and go from the middle to the outside.
It's good for a couple of days I mean when it's got a bit stale just crumble it up and add some ice cream over it.
Mmm- baby - so here we go.
Shake it so it's flat.
And you can cook it straight away but the reason I held this other 100 grams of chocolate back if you get the chocolate and just push it in with your finger and just sort of put it here there and everywhere.
Cos when they cook - when you cut into it you have that lovely like sea of chocolate that lovely taut and then there's just a little bit with like running chocolate that comes out - it's fantastic and I love that.
Beautiful - in the oven about 190 for about an hour just test it with a little knife if it comes out clean - we're off mate.
Cool.
Let's go How are you? I'm alright mate How are you? Alright Have you got those mushrooms? Yes I've got them Good man I spent all day yesterday to collect those mushrooms And they're beautifully honestly they're nice Show me show me show me Okay hold on a minute I'm too old.
You're not too old mate.
- Look at those yeah fantastic oh thanks mate - that's brilliant.
Listen cos I'm going on the train to pick up Tim I've bought my own box cos it fits in my bag can you just put I only need half of that lot this is too small No no - it's only for 7 people just half of those Half of these I collected these mushroom you just wanna bloody half of these mushroom hold on a minute Hello Jamie Baby hi how are you? How are you? Great not bad at all.
Right you ready for tonight? Yeah that's great - so what's on the menu? Secret mate - I'm not telling I'm not telling you anything Cheers So I'll see you a bit later I'm all day in side See you Tonight See you later Bye Bye SEA BREAM WITH MASHROOMS & POTATOES So are you happy to see Tim? Yeah it's fantastic seeing the old boy still on good form - he's just having a little sho Getting cleaned up cos I said he's I said he smelt.
So what we got is thinly sliced potatoes in the tray - the oven's on full whack.
A really nice seasoning potatoes and salt and pepper you can't really go wrong roasted, fried, whatever.
Add a little bit of olive oil.
Just enough olive oil to coat them really.
And just sort of with your hands just - you wanna make sure every bit every slice gets a bit.
Just lay 'em out nice and flat so it's like one layer whack 'em in the oven for about 15 minutes.
Give 'em a nice good roasting yeah.
So while that's cooking got some nice mushrooms from Ginaro - right.
And I'm a very big mushroom fan.
I've got Chantarelle here got Girolle here - the classic old oysters - trumpette d'amour and pierre de mouton.
Right - they're not cheap.
But I think wild mushrooms have character.
They have a certain flavour, certain texture - they cook in a certain way.
It's turned something very - quite normal into something that looks exciting and that's what it's all about.
If you haven't got much money get don't use button mushrooms forget them forever - get your Chitakes or your field or Portobello mushrooms slice 'em up - cook 'em well with a little bit of this and maybe a little bit of dried mushroom porchini - morrell they're quite expensive but you need the smallest amount and it will liven 'em up and make 'em taste fantastic.
Most supermarkets stock little punnet of like Do you wash them? No - well Girano very kind of him has clean them up for me but with wild mushrooms if you wash them they'll soak up all the water and they'll cook and taste of nothing you're diluting the flavour.
What you do is you brush them with a brush and you get like maybe trim them up with a knife and I'm gonna fry these off so first of all - I'm gonna just chop up a little bit of garlic just about two cloves really just for flavour.
Olive oil right - hot pan - and I'm just gonna put the mushrooms in.
And then the garlic - when the mushrooms cook the water will cook out of the yeah? And normally that's when people think oh they're cooked.
What I will say is let the water come out carry on cooking it cook the water away and then there's so much flavour in that water anyway cos it's from inside the mushroom let it cook back into it again and then you get that nice fried thing happening.
The other trick is get a good bit of salt and pepper in it now cos like mushrooms are like they're like sponges really and when they cook sucking it all in and if it's just a little bit of oil and garlic well then yeah you know it's not the end of the world, but if you've got salt and pepper then it's like yeah it's tasting good you know.
So - next bit is the old fish and herbs so I would like to serve this with Sea Bass but it's not always available and it's quite expensive, so I've got Sea Bream and I think they call it Royal Bream cos they've got a little crest on its head which is supposed to be a crown.
So what I'm gonna do is I haven't got a plastic board so so I'm just gonna put a bit of cling film on the board cos I don't like fish fish on wooden boards.
Why's that? Well just you know you get fish juice on the old board and then you go and make a cheese sarnie the next day and it tastes of fish.
Not very nice.
So anyway.
Put your old fish on here -these herbs I've got some flat leaf parsley and I've got some purple basil but you can use any fragrant delicate herb I would I wouldn't use tarragon but you know things like green basil, dill, fennel tops so right.
With the fillet - lovely fillets I pinch it at the breast - breast it's not a chicken! Right pinch it at the fillet yeah so it kind of puckers it up yeah? And then you just at an angle slice like that -just a little bit with all of them.
You can do one, two, three, four slashes we'll just go listen can you hear starting to fry.
So it's starting to you know it's gone shiny now and the moisture's gone and they look fantastic I'm turning it off.
And what I'm gonna do now is just er with my hand just kind of open up that slash yeah little touch of salt to get it in the cracks.
Pinch some herbs and just sort of push 'em in there to the gap just you know gives it the flavour a little tickle.
Just finish these old fish.
Right - so the fish looks pucker.
Potatoes - yeah - yeah - they're soft well they're cooked, they're soft and they're slightly golden which is just what I want just gonna let 'em cool down a little bit cos if we start wanting to move 'em about they'll just break because they're hot.
Nice knob of butter into the old mushrooms at this point when the heat's off and that'll melt and we'll squeeze in some lemon - probably only need one.
Yeah lovely! - Nice chunk of parsley right - potatoes get like a palette knife or one of these and just sort of - where's my old cloth? Here Right - basically just scrap up the potatoes very carefully because you don't want to break 'em so they'll be a little bit stuck but they'll be nice and golden.
Whether you do this for two people or ten just simple - simple, simple simple.
Put all these lovely mushrooms and all the juice - don't leave anything all the herbs - get it onto the old potatoes you can mix it up anyway you like really make sure that mushroom juice and butter and flavour goes on to the potatoes.
And just shake it - so it's flat right and it just looks so damned good now.
The fish is going on top yeah skin side up.
Right - and it's going in the top of the oven so the fish skin will become crispy but because this is already cooked at the bottom right you're gonna heat and cook it a touch more won't get that much heat.
But it will steam and all those lovely mushroom flavours will cook into the into the fish and then in return the fish is gonna sort of like all the juices will cook out the fish and go into the potatoes.
Lovely.
So now we just drizzle it with a bit of olive oil - make it go crispy.
In the oven for about five, six minutes.
SALSA VERDE I'm gonna make a sauce to go with the fish It's called Salsa Verdi and it's an Italian word for - green sauce which doesn't sound quite as impressive does it - so we use the Italian.
But basically sounds like Tim's got the old basket ball and we need to finely chop it.
Oh Timmy come and give us a hand Tiger! Coming Alright handsome - eh looking very swish mate.
Mmm- you smell good too So what you like me to do then? I've got some herbs in the old in the old frigo you can have the big board because you're a tiger.
I'll get you a big chopper there you go mate - big enough? Thank you - that will do So what sort of herbs have you got there? Tim chops up herbs? Basically we've got parsley, mint and basil and classically it should just be parsley but I like the basil and mint cos it lightens it up a bit and it's going with fish so kind of makes sense to me.
I finely chop my garlic I need some gherkins - gherkins, mustard, capers and anchovies - there you go.
So we use about 7 anchovy fillets Very strong flavours? Yeah Smells nice -just chop 'em up.
It's a bit of chopping I mean to be honest you can do this in the Magimix it's just that I think that when you do it by hand it looks a bit more rustic I have a connection with Germany before before I met Tim was my first girlfriend her name was Helgar Buge right? She was German and I was about 12 and she was about that much taller than me.
And I went out with her for 2 weeks snogged her mate China in your arms, giving it some of that smooching, dancing, and I really like her and then she chucked me.
She chucked me and I cried and - but then when I went to youth club the next week everyone was laughing at me cos she told 'em that I kissed like a cartwheel but it wasn't me - it was her fault anyway cos she was so tall I was like like a goldfish I suppose but I've learnt since and I've improved.
I love gherkins and I think it really really gives you have these in Germany? Yeah they come from Germany Is that where they come from? What they called? Well in Essex we call 'em wallies Anyway - capers right -just a nice handful of capers.
Drain the old water.
And you know what we're looking for here by this stage when we've chopped a bit is - same parts - equal parts of capers, gherkins and anchovies right.
As much garlic as you want to taste yeah and then when you look at that whole pile that should make up like one part to sort of four parts of the chopped herbs.
And if you do a bit more or a bit less it's not the end of the world, but what you're doing is varying the flavours and the tanginess.
And you can vary it if you're serving it with meat - or boiled roasted meats, fish even sort of like grilled vegetables and stuff like that are fantastic so that looks beautiful mate.
Just whack it in that glass bowl there's some half decent olive oil over there.
I add it to loosen really so quite a bit little bit more yeah that's lovely.
Two big teaspoons of that French mustard my old darling.
And that looks good mate.
So I'm gonna add all of this to here and we just stir it all in it's nice and loose with the olive oil and that's what you want so it's kind of you know it'll just fall off the spoon.
But if you taste it now - it'll be it'll be kind of bland yeah so you need to liven it up a little bit.
You need something acid like vinegar or lemon juice and personally I prefer vinegar so start off with about two tablespoons.
And when it's all mixed up give it a little taste.
Little bit more.
Can you put a bit of salt in there my sweet? Just do it to taste - but talking about taste my old darling show Pat your - your tongue ring Can you imagine having that done to yourself I mean I couldn't do that as a chef because you'd lose all your taste buds wouldn't you? You don't at all - you don't taste in the middle of the tongue you just taste on the edges like you know - you don't taste in the middle.
It just seems a bit scary to have a blooming great rod of metal put through my tongue.
Cool - taste Fine Pucker - that'll be nice - that'll be even better in about half an hour.
Cooking's gotta be a laugh.
It's gotta be simple.
It's gotta be tasty.
It's gotta be fun.
I suppose you could say it's striping down the recipe to its bare essentials.
No way it's me - it's the food.
My mate Tim's coming over from Germany we worked in an Italian restaurant together and I'm just checking his flights he's coming from Hamburg and he's going to London Stanstead airport and it's all on time.
Have you got anything special planned for Tim's visit? Not really - he kind of shook ma little bit because I just well you know typical me oh yeah we'll do this and I said oh we should get a reunion sorted and then he like e-mailed me back about 4 days ago and said I'm coming I've booked the flight so it was like oh oh gotta get a party together quick.
So I'm basically just get all of the people from work, that we used to work with.
Do an Italian meal.
So I've gotta do a fair bit of shopping not much it's pretty simple cooking actually.
And then I've gotta go and pick him up a bit later I'm gonna do him a big sign don't know what I'm gonna write on it yet but I've always wanted a welcome like that at the old airport.
And I've never had one.
Ah bonjourno (speaks Italian) Belissimo Can I have 10 slices of your best pachuta my friend? Graci You taste it? Yeah lovely graci fantastic Belissimo - can I have the mozzarella Graci that's beautiful MOzzARELLA, PEACH AND PARMA HAM SALAD Right my darling I'm gonna make a fantastic salad it's all around like mixed leaves you can have what you like to be honest but - er - let me get a plate or two.
Big plates - honestly they'll do you a favour buy a couple of plates and it makes life so much easier chuck it in the middle of the table none of this plated up business.
Everyone can help themselves.
So look I've got some of this baby chard and a little bit of rocket which you can get in the supermarket which it's just peppery and a little bit more interesting really.
All you have to do is like scatter the old salad all round the plate really really casually sort of one layer really Do you always use a salad spinner? Actually I used to slag 'em off like you wouldn't believe.
I tell you what I've found lately instead I mean it's dead - it's dead tempting to buy those bags of salad isn't it? I mean I've done it you open them and they just go horrible really quick and sometimes they're bruised or haven't been spun properly and a bit too wet so I just - and it's much cheaper to go and buy your own ones but you know it doesn't take any more time.
Give them a little wash spin 'em in the old salad spinner and then if you put 'em in the fridge with the old lid on I think maybe because it's protected by that the fridge doesn't sort of ruin it and make it sort of wilt quick so you know it's dead good.
And then let's - I've got these fantastic pucker peaches, pucker peaches mate.
Fruit in salads - very, very under rated not done that much really.
You could peel the skins but I actually like the skin personally but just give 'em a wash.
So all I do is you just cut it like an avocado in the middle - right - twist it that comes out and if don't come out it ain't ripe so you shouldn't be using it in the first place.
Try that my old darling.
Have a nosh on that.
Mmm- lovely.
And then you just rip it like that and a ripped peach looks so much better than a cut one.
Because it just doesn't look commercial and horrible so I just do that to all of them.
Peaches are there.
I've got some - got some nice Mozzarella yeah and er - got this from the deli and it's Buffalo Mozzarella sounds bit weird but Buffalo Mozzarella is much nicer in salads it's really soft and milky as opposed to the sort of the cheaper stuff which is better for pizzas.
So give it a try - you can get it in the supermarket actually so just open the bag up and again just rip it into nice little mouth sized pieces and just kind of put it around the plate in and around the peaches and the leaves and stuff.
Is it called Buffalo because it's so big? No - it's Buffalo because it's Buffalo milk.
But they're also very big so yeah.
But er - you're so sweet darling.
There you go.
And I think that looks amazing already, so what have I forgotten oh yeah - Parma ham - get this in the supermarket get 'em to slice it for you.
Ask them if you can taste it first the Parma ham right and if you just notice if it's too thick, sometimes they do it too thick and it drives me up the wall.
It's like eating a bit of old shoe so say can I have it a bit thinner please? Just get a nice strip like that and just tear it up and just kind of almost sort of drape it in and around the cheese and the peaches and the leaves.
I can't really stress how fantastic this salad is because if you imagine like the peppery leaves like a bit of oil and lemon over it fantastic yeah salty like Parma ham right and the milky Mozzarella and the juicy, juicy peach.
Fantastic Just a little bit of salad over the top just a little and got some lovely mint here just kind of pick it - rip it -just a little bit on the top's quite fresh and I think brings the flavour of the peaches out quite nice and once we get a nice bit of oil and lemon juice on there be lovely.
But I won't do that now because I'll have to do it later otherwise it'll kill all the salad leaves.
So you can sort of do it this far in advance? I can do - well - I should do it there and then but I can do it this far in advance and get away with it so all I have to do now is take it out the fridge a little bit before I need it so it just gets to room temperature'ish squeeze a couple of lemons, double the amount of olive oil bit of salt and pepper - all over it.
Beautiful mate.
And a bit of bread with it or something? Yeah TWO NUT CHOCOLATE TORTE CHEESECAKE Two nuts chocolate torte cheesecake mould but you can pretty much use anything you like really.
I just find it easy cos you can click it out.
Butter - 250 grams of butter.
What do I need? Oh - grease proof paper - right -just rip off a bit little square that you know is gonna cover it yeah? And what I do - bit like making a paper airplane actually it's nothing like making a paper airplane you fold the paper in the middle and then you turn it around fold it into the middle.
Then you basically you just keep folding into the middle - like that I do one more - so you guess or much that is into the middle put your finger where it is and just rip it up.
Ohh - lovely! - So that's gonna line the bottom yeah.
We just need to get a bit of butter on it and that'll stop anything from sticking.
So just very thinly line the bottom and the sides and just put a bit of butter on this.
Yeah - lovely - and then stick that on the bottom - nice and snug.
Right - so there's nothing gonna stick.
Right - forget that now.
So - I need 300 grams of nuts it's called 2 nuts Taut because it's got two nuts in it basically we've got walnuts and almonds and I need 150 grams of each yeah which is pretty simple to remember.
And these are 100 gram packets so there's 100 grams of almonds there's 100 grams of almonds and I'm not gonna get the scales out or nothing like that.
Just pour out the nuts and divide it into two - same with walnuts I think where at all possible not use the scales okay.
So just divide the old nuts into half again.
What I'm gonna do - got the old Magimix chuck the nuts in there - okay.
And we're gonna whizz it up until it's a powder - 30 seconds, 40 seconds.
Lovely - so look what we got yeah it's fantastic that's what it should be it's like powder.
Right chocolate - it is a chocolate Taut we need 300 grams of chocolate.
One we're gonna put here - two I'm gonna crumble up 200 grams of this and chuck it in with the nuts and er we're gonna whizz that up as well.
Makes a bit of a noise but you just wanna break it up into pieces.
- Alright? Better than watching telly.
Anyway we'll lose this into a bowl now we're gonna put the butter in here just plonk the whole lot in there rip it into two or three.
We need 100 grams of sugar lovely.
And pour that in.
And that's just for a little bit of extra sweetness.
And we wanna whizz this up for about whip - I wanna whiz whizz this up - so it gets nice and shiny and creamy.
So I need 6 eggs yeah - cor organic of course.
I'm gonna crack my eggs in here very carefully.
And then what I do - I pinch the yolk and plop 'em in one by one and that's gonna really enrich and that.
And make it nice and silky and beautiful.
Lovely - all you have to do now is get it all together so just mix these up until it's nicely mixed.
Right - now the best bit egg whites.
Flavour -lift - we have to get 'em together, but I wanna get these really stiff so at the last minute add a good pinch of salt and that kind of helps it to be stiff and whip it up my old darling.
I've got a bit of a mad day because I've got - got to go and pick has given me some mushrooms for the main course and and now I've gotta go and pick up Tim from the airport so I can't be late otherwise the poor old boy he thinks he's going into London cos it's Stanstead airport but it's not as central it's out in the wilderness where I come from so he'll be getting London Jamie where are you? Done.
Right so - er add a little bit first fold it in just to loosen it.
Now as it's air that we've got in the egg whites what we need to do is get it in there into the mix without sort of knocking all the air out of it - otherwise it won't rise.
So what we do is we call it like a folding action do sort of movements like that that kind of fold in from the outside to the middle and maybe change and go from the middle to the outside.
It's good for a couple of days I mean when it's got a bit stale just crumble it up and add some ice cream over it.
Mmm- baby - so here we go.
Shake it so it's flat.
And you can cook it straight away but the reason I held this other 100 grams of chocolate back if you get the chocolate and just push it in with your finger and just sort of put it here there and everywhere.
Cos when they cook - when you cut into it you have that lovely like sea of chocolate that lovely taut and then there's just a little bit with like running chocolate that comes out - it's fantastic and I love that.
Beautiful - in the oven about 190 for about an hour just test it with a little knife if it comes out clean - we're off mate.
Cool.
Let's go How are you? I'm alright mate How are you? Alright Have you got those mushrooms? Yes I've got them Good man I spent all day yesterday to collect those mushrooms And they're beautifully honestly they're nice Show me show me show me Okay hold on a minute I'm too old.
You're not too old mate.
- Look at those yeah fantastic oh thanks mate - that's brilliant.
Listen cos I'm going on the train to pick up Tim I've bought my own box cos it fits in my bag can you just put I only need half of that lot this is too small No no - it's only for 7 people just half of those Half of these I collected these mushroom you just wanna bloody half of these mushroom hold on a minute Hello Jamie Baby hi how are you? How are you? Great not bad at all.
Right you ready for tonight? Yeah that's great - so what's on the menu? Secret mate - I'm not telling I'm not telling you anything Cheers So I'll see you a bit later I'm all day in side See you Tonight See you later Bye Bye SEA BREAM WITH MASHROOMS & POTATOES So are you happy to see Tim? Yeah it's fantastic seeing the old boy still on good form - he's just having a little sho Getting cleaned up cos I said he's I said he smelt.
So what we got is thinly sliced potatoes in the tray - the oven's on full whack.
A really nice seasoning potatoes and salt and pepper you can't really go wrong roasted, fried, whatever.
Add a little bit of olive oil.
Just enough olive oil to coat them really.
And just sort of with your hands just - you wanna make sure every bit every slice gets a bit.
Just lay 'em out nice and flat so it's like one layer whack 'em in the oven for about 15 minutes.
Give 'em a nice good roasting yeah.
So while that's cooking got some nice mushrooms from Ginaro - right.
And I'm a very big mushroom fan.
I've got Chantarelle here got Girolle here - the classic old oysters - trumpette d'amour and pierre de mouton.
Right - they're not cheap.
But I think wild mushrooms have character.
They have a certain flavour, certain texture - they cook in a certain way.
It's turned something very - quite normal into something that looks exciting and that's what it's all about.
If you haven't got much money get don't use button mushrooms forget them forever - get your Chitakes or your field or Portobello mushrooms slice 'em up - cook 'em well with a little bit of this and maybe a little bit of dried mushroom porchini - morrell they're quite expensive but you need the smallest amount and it will liven 'em up and make 'em taste fantastic.
Most supermarkets stock little punnet of like Do you wash them? No - well Girano very kind of him has clean them up for me but with wild mushrooms if you wash them they'll soak up all the water and they'll cook and taste of nothing you're diluting the flavour.
What you do is you brush them with a brush and you get like maybe trim them up with a knife and I'm gonna fry these off so first of all - I'm gonna just chop up a little bit of garlic just about two cloves really just for flavour.
Olive oil right - hot pan - and I'm just gonna put the mushrooms in.
And then the garlic - when the mushrooms cook the water will cook out of the yeah? And normally that's when people think oh they're cooked.
What I will say is let the water come out carry on cooking it cook the water away and then there's so much flavour in that water anyway cos it's from inside the mushroom let it cook back into it again and then you get that nice fried thing happening.
The other trick is get a good bit of salt and pepper in it now cos like mushrooms are like they're like sponges really and when they cook sucking it all in and if it's just a little bit of oil and garlic well then yeah you know it's not the end of the world, but if you've got salt and pepper then it's like yeah it's tasting good you know.
So - next bit is the old fish and herbs so I would like to serve this with Sea Bass but it's not always available and it's quite expensive, so I've got Sea Bream and I think they call it Royal Bream cos they've got a little crest on its head which is supposed to be a crown.
So what I'm gonna do is I haven't got a plastic board so so I'm just gonna put a bit of cling film on the board cos I don't like fish fish on wooden boards.
Why's that? Well just you know you get fish juice on the old board and then you go and make a cheese sarnie the next day and it tastes of fish.
Not very nice.
So anyway.
Put your old fish on here -these herbs I've got some flat leaf parsley and I've got some purple basil but you can use any fragrant delicate herb I would I wouldn't use tarragon but you know things like green basil, dill, fennel tops so right.
With the fillet - lovely fillets I pinch it at the breast - breast it's not a chicken! Right pinch it at the fillet yeah so it kind of puckers it up yeah? And then you just at an angle slice like that -just a little bit with all of them.
You can do one, two, three, four slashes we'll just go listen can you hear starting to fry.
So it's starting to you know it's gone shiny now and the moisture's gone and they look fantastic I'm turning it off.
And what I'm gonna do now is just er with my hand just kind of open up that slash yeah little touch of salt to get it in the cracks.
Pinch some herbs and just sort of push 'em in there to the gap just you know gives it the flavour a little tickle.
Just finish these old fish.
Right - so the fish looks pucker.
Potatoes - yeah - yeah - they're soft well they're cooked, they're soft and they're slightly golden which is just what I want just gonna let 'em cool down a little bit cos if we start wanting to move 'em about they'll just break because they're hot.
Nice knob of butter into the old mushrooms at this point when the heat's off and that'll melt and we'll squeeze in some lemon - probably only need one.
Yeah lovely! - Nice chunk of parsley right - potatoes get like a palette knife or one of these and just sort of - where's my old cloth? Here Right - basically just scrap up the potatoes very carefully because you don't want to break 'em so they'll be a little bit stuck but they'll be nice and golden.
Whether you do this for two people or ten just simple - simple, simple simple.
Put all these lovely mushrooms and all the juice - don't leave anything all the herbs - get it onto the old potatoes you can mix it up anyway you like really make sure that mushroom juice and butter and flavour goes on to the potatoes.
And just shake it - so it's flat right and it just looks so damned good now.
The fish is going on top yeah skin side up.
Right - and it's going in the top of the oven so the fish skin will become crispy but because this is already cooked at the bottom right you're gonna heat and cook it a touch more won't get that much heat.
But it will steam and all those lovely mushroom flavours will cook into the into the fish and then in return the fish is gonna sort of like all the juices will cook out the fish and go into the potatoes.
Lovely.
So now we just drizzle it with a bit of olive oil - make it go crispy.
In the oven for about five, six minutes.
SALSA VERDE I'm gonna make a sauce to go with the fish It's called Salsa Verdi and it's an Italian word for - green sauce which doesn't sound quite as impressive does it - so we use the Italian.
But basically sounds like Tim's got the old basket ball and we need to finely chop it.
Oh Timmy come and give us a hand Tiger! Coming Alright handsome - eh looking very swish mate.
Mmm- you smell good too So what you like me to do then? I've got some herbs in the old in the old frigo you can have the big board because you're a tiger.
I'll get you a big chopper there you go mate - big enough? Thank you - that will do So what sort of herbs have you got there? Tim chops up herbs? Basically we've got parsley, mint and basil and classically it should just be parsley but I like the basil and mint cos it lightens it up a bit and it's going with fish so kind of makes sense to me.
I finely chop my garlic I need some gherkins - gherkins, mustard, capers and anchovies - there you go.
So we use about 7 anchovy fillets Very strong flavours? Yeah Smells nice -just chop 'em up.
It's a bit of chopping I mean to be honest you can do this in the Magimix it's just that I think that when you do it by hand it looks a bit more rustic I have a connection with Germany before before I met Tim was my first girlfriend her name was Helgar Buge right? She was German and I was about 12 and she was about that much taller than me.
And I went out with her for 2 weeks snogged her mate China in your arms, giving it some of that smooching, dancing, and I really like her and then she chucked me.
She chucked me and I cried and - but then when I went to youth club the next week everyone was laughing at me cos she told 'em that I kissed like a cartwheel but it wasn't me - it was her fault anyway cos she was so tall I was like like a goldfish I suppose but I've learnt since and I've improved.
I love gherkins and I think it really really gives you have these in Germany? Yeah they come from Germany Is that where they come from? What they called? Well in Essex we call 'em wallies Anyway - capers right -just a nice handful of capers.
Drain the old water.
And you know what we're looking for here by this stage when we've chopped a bit is - same parts - equal parts of capers, gherkins and anchovies right.
As much garlic as you want to taste yeah and then when you look at that whole pile that should make up like one part to sort of four parts of the chopped herbs.
And if you do a bit more or a bit less it's not the end of the world, but what you're doing is varying the flavours and the tanginess.
And you can vary it if you're serving it with meat - or boiled roasted meats, fish even sort of like grilled vegetables and stuff like that are fantastic so that looks beautiful mate.
Just whack it in that glass bowl there's some half decent olive oil over there.
I add it to loosen really so quite a bit little bit more yeah that's lovely.
Two big teaspoons of that French mustard my old darling.
And that looks good mate.
So I'm gonna add all of this to here and we just stir it all in it's nice and loose with the olive oil and that's what you want so it's kind of you know it'll just fall off the spoon.
But if you taste it now - it'll be it'll be kind of bland yeah so you need to liven it up a little bit.
You need something acid like vinegar or lemon juice and personally I prefer vinegar so start off with about two tablespoons.
And when it's all mixed up give it a little taste.
Little bit more.
Can you put a bit of salt in there my sweet? Just do it to taste - but talking about taste my old darling show Pat your - your tongue ring Can you imagine having that done to yourself I mean I couldn't do that as a chef because you'd lose all your taste buds wouldn't you? You don't at all - you don't taste in the middle of the tongue you just taste on the edges like you know - you don't taste in the middle.
It just seems a bit scary to have a blooming great rod of metal put through my tongue.
Cool - taste Fine Pucker - that'll be nice - that'll be even better in about half an hour.