Speedy Cooking The Best Dishes Ever

Let's get cracking right away, because, in today's show,

all of our chefs have got recipes and tips

that are great to turn to when time is tight.

These are all dishes you can create relatively quickly,

like Nigella Lawson's sausage meatballs.

You can eat the meatballs with whatever you like, but

I would be sacked by my family if I didn't serve them with spaghetti.

Nigel Slater will be showing you his herb buttered squid.

There's Welsh rabbit done the Hairy Bikers' way.

If they think I'm going to pay good money,

waste my eyeballs watching two daft beggars make cheese on toast,

they've got another think coming. Give us a chance.

And James Martin will be showing off his icebox cake.

They're all the dishes that you can create relatively quickly

and our first is a pudding

any Bake Off contestant would be proud of.

Mary Berry's rich chocolate tray bake with feathered icing.

Oh!

Chocolate is a favourite with all ages.

This chocolate tray bake, with a milk chocolate topping

and feathering too, goes down really well with children and adults.

'Begin by stirring six to eight tablespoons of boiling water

'with 50g of cocoa powder and mix to a smooth paste.'

Now that is a beautiful paste without any lumps in, look at it.

'Now add 175g of self-raising flour,

'275g of caster sugar,

'a teaspoonful of baking powder and 125ml of milk.

'Finish off with 100g of really soft butter, three eggs and mix

'until smooth.

'I'm using the all-in-one method, combining all

'the ingredients at the same time. It's both quick and reliable.'

There we are.

I've got a tray bake tin, I've greased it

and then lined it with non-stick paper.

So, gently pour that in.

The all-in-one method came, I think, in about 1966.

I was working in London,

doing a lot of testing of recipes for all different companies

and I couldn't really believe that you could put

everything in the bowl together.

It was a revelation and gave very good results.

'One the mixture is in, place the tray in the oven at 160 fan

'and leave to bake for 30 to 35 minutes.'

Now, that looks just about right

and it's just shrinking away from the sides.

Now, if you turn it out straight onto the rack you'll get rack

marks all across the top and that would show through the icing.

So if you put a tea towel on the top and then put the rack on top,

turn it the right way up.

Very gently, that's it.

And then flick that tin off.

And, you see, I lined the tin and that was important.

And, as it's non-stick paper,

it should come across in one fell swoop.

'The next step is the chocolate ganache.'

I have difficulty in keeping chocolate in our house.

Everybody seems to find where I've put it, but I have a secret hiding

place and that's in the drawer with my tights, nobody would go there.

I've got exactly what I wanted and there's no pieces out of it either.

'Gently heat 100ml of double cream

'and stir in 200g of milk chocolate until it's completely melted.

'Leave to cool, so it thickens and won't run off the cake.

'For the decoration,

'melt 100g of white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water.

'The bowl and the water mustn't touch or the chocolate will

'get too hot and separate.

'Before spreading the ganache, apply a thin layer of warm, sieved,

'apricot jam.'

Chocolate goes really well with a little bit of apricot.

In the French patisseries,

you'll always notice such a lot of them have a

thin layer of apricot jam underneath the icings, next to the cake

and it stops the crumb mixing with the icing.

'For the feathering to work, the ganache must still be warm.

'So, before you start, fill a piping bag with white chocolate,

'making sure you're happy with the width of the stripe.

'Then pour the ganache into the centre of the cake,

'spreading evenly towards the edges.

'Now pipe the white chocolate as straight and evenly as you can.

'And, before it sets, drag a cocktail stick back

'and forth over the ganache.'

There we are.

Feather icing is quite a good trick and I think it looks as

though you've taken lots of trouble.

Next, one of my favourite meals.

It comes from Italy,

via the kitchen of the simply marvellous Nigella Lawson.

And she's come up with an ingenious, time-saving short cut.

Italians take their traditions very seriously and, I mean,

why wouldn't they?

So I can get a bit apprehensive

when I toy with them, as I can do.

One of my little new inventions, or changes,

is that Italians tend to make their meatballs out of minced beef,

sometimes pork or a mixture, and I thought why not make things

easier and just use Italian sausages?

I was very gratified that,

when I cooked this once for some Italian friends,

not only did they like this, but they actually asked for the recipe.

If you want to, you can unwrap them. I could get it if you want.

That is very good.

'Just take a packet of Italian sausages

'and squeeze the meat out from the skins.

'Although, actually, like my mother, I believe in child labour.

'Now, my own children are too big, I use my niece and nephew.'

So about the size of a cherry tomato.

Your hands are much better suited to it than mine,

cos you've got nice small hands.

I've already made mine too big, so ignore me.

-Like that?

-That looks perfect.

So, just roll them, roll them, roll them.

You go first.

Perfect.

'As you roll the meatballs,

'just place on a baking tray or any flat surface.

'You'd be surprised how many you can get out of one packet of sausages.

'If you use small people, with small hands, 40 meatballs is easy.'

-Is that the right size?

-Perfect.

-Perfecto, Zachi.

-Yeah.

-Si.

-Grazie.

'Then brown the meatballs.

'The thing about this is not only does it make them look lovely and

'bronzed, but it makes more of their flavour go into the sauce for later.

'I start off by heating some garlic oil in a pan.'

That's it, mm. Makes them nice and brown before we add the sauce.

Hm, bit small, that one.

Thank you very much.

Grazie mille.

I would say you're welcome, but I don't know what it is in Italian.

If someone says, "Grazie," you just say, "Prego."

OK?

'Back to my young apprentices, I get them

'to snip some spring onions into a bowl

'and then I add them to the pan.'

I've got some oregano, pizza herb.

Yeah, I like that.

Mm, yeah, we had a pizza the other day and it had that on.

-Sprinkled on top.

-Absolutely. Well, I'm going to do quite a lot.

'If you wanted to, at this stage,

you could add some wine or vermouth.'

We're going to add tomatoes.

'I then add two cans of chopped tomatoes.

'Half fill each can with some cold water and swill out into the pan.'

Would you like to add a bit of pepper?

Ella, do you... That's enough,

otherwise Ella won't like it.

Ella, you can add salt if you like.

Oh, are you going to go over there? Well done.

'All that's left to do is add a couple of bay leaves.'

It's quite liquid, because I'm going to let them

simmer without a lid on and that means all the water will

evaporate and they'll have a really strong, gutsy taste.

I'll move up a bit, so you can have a look.

-Smell nice?

-Oh, that smells so good.

'I like to give the meatballs a gentle stir in their sauce and then,

'when they're bubbling, I let them cook for about 15 minutes, no more.

'Before I serve, I always like to taste just to check the seasoning.

'And, if I feel it needs it, I add some parsley.

'You can eat the meatballs with whatever you like, but

'I would be sacked by my family if I didn't serve them with spaghetti.'

Well, you did, really. I'm going to put a bit more juice.

-Right.

-OK.

This is what you made, guys.

-You made this, didn't you, you two?

-They did.

Anyway, it's delicious. Oh, look.

OK, I have managed to wrap a meatball in pasta.

A meatball in pasta.

-Can I model for you?

-Yes, you may.

That's very good work.

Do you start with the meatball and wrap round?

Aw, you certainly can't go wrong with Italian meatballs.

You know what I like to add to them?

A nice bit of chopped bacon and some lemon zest, to give them

a bit of an extra kick.

And we're moving on fast to a dish that, at first, sounds somewhat

daunting, but it in fact is one of Nigel Slater's top quick picks.

His herb butter squid.

Over to you, Nigel.

'I do go out with a shopping list, but, sometimes,

'I'm tempted to pick up something more adventurous.

'Occasionally, I ask the shopkeepers for ideas.

'But, sometimes, it's good just to have a go.'

Sometimes, I look at the fishmonger's slab

and there's things I don't know what they are and I'm dying to know.

Some of them look quite friendly and approachable

and others are positively scary,

like squid.

'Adventurous doesn't have to mean complicated.

'This grilled squid supper takes literally minutes.'

If I'm going to cook something that I don't know,

a new fish or something that I've never met before,

I want to know what it's about.

So I don't want to mess around with it.

'I'm serving this with a simple citrus and herb butter.

If I've got a nice, yellow lime, which is really ripe,

then it means it's going to have masses of juice.

I want that freshness.

I want that, kind of, citrus zip

that really brings out the flavour of fish.

Into that really bright juice and zest,

I want to add the brightest tasting herbs.

So maybe some basil or some mint.

I know mint sounds a little bit strange with fish,

but if you think about something that's going to be grilled

and you've got those dark, smoky notes and then you've got

the brightness of the mint, it suddenly starts to make sense.

'A few slithers of garlic will work perfectly with the peppery

'basil, zingy mint and grilled squid.

'Add a good wedge of butter, a grinding of salt and pepper

'and get stuck in.'

That will live very happily in the fridge for a couple of days.

You slice it off as you need it.

It could go on steak as well.

You know, when you see squid on a fishmonger's slab,

it's pretty gruesome.

It's full of black ink and if you take it home like that,

you'll get it everywhere. It'll be all over the sink,

it'll be all over the kitchen, it'll be all over you.

But, you know, your fishmonger's a fishmonger

because he wants to be, so use him.

And say, "Look, can you prepare it for me?"

And what you'll come home with is something that, actually, looks much

friendlier. It isn't scary and it isn't messy,

it's just a lovely piece of lean fish.

'It's so easy to cook.

'Just flatten it out and lightly score the flesh to keep it tender.

'Trickle with some olive oil and pop it in a piping hot pan or griddle.'

I've got to put the tentacles on, love these little chaps.

It moves on the grid, it's like it's alive.

It's funny how something that we know so well,

from our Greek holidays, sliced and fried in batter,

suddenly looks so different when you see the raw thing.

People that cook squid regularly will all have an answer as to

how to make it not curl up on the grill.

I love it curling on the grill.

It looks beautiful when it curls on the grill,

all these amazing shapes, you never quite know what's going to happen.

'Squid cooks fast.

'When it's no longer see through, whip it off the heat.'

It looks so scary on the fishmonger's slab.

What's scary about it now?

It just tastes of the sea and smoke from the grill.

And then that hint of mint, lime and basil.

It's luscious.

'If you've never tried squid before, now there's no excuse.

'Just ask the fishmonger to do the hard work,

'so you can enjoy it at its simple, delicious best.'

Thanks, Nigel. Now, something that you can turn to

when you're too busy to hit the shops

and have to rely on what you've got in your house.

Most of us might have some cheese, a bit of mustard and some bread.

And, OK, this Hairy Bikers dish isn't as quick as a cheese sandwich,

but it's a lot more interesting.

The Welsh rarebit.

Which is cheese on toast by any other name.

There is one fundamental ingredient in said rarebit. It's toast.

Aye, but it's not just putting the cheese on, a real Welsh rabbit,

or rarebit, you make a really thick cheese sauce

and that contains beer, cayenne pepper, English mustard,

Worcester sauce, you put it on your toast till it's bubbly.

It's special and it's worth it.

So, don't just turn off thinking,

"If they think I'm going to pay good money,

"waste my eyeballs watching two daft beggars make cheese on toast,

"you've got another think coming."

-Give us a chance.

-Yeah, bear with us. Ah!

-Love it.

You're going to love it. Right.

We start off with a pan.

-Pan!

-And then into that pan...

-That's Japan!

Ha-ha!

A tray, I'm going to line this with foil, cos, obviously,

you have to make the toast under a grill.

It bubbles, you know, if you put your sauce in a toaster,

wouldn't work, would it?

It'd be messy, wouldn't it, really?

-Butter.

-Thank you.

Now, we go to a little butter shop where there is a little man

who takes little knobs of butter and wraps them up

in lovely grease-proof paper.

But do you ever think, maybe that butter's normal sized

-and it's you that just got super humongous?

-Yeah.

CREEPY MUSIC PLAYS

You'd be 20 feet tall.

Maybe you are.

It's all relative.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Aye.

Could this really be a very small cheese triangle and I've shrunk?

Argh!

Sauce, we use flour, we put that in there and make a roux.

-Now, not a kangaroo.

-Or a Michel Roux.

-No.

Not even a roodily-doo-doo-doo.

A roux, a mixture of butter and flour that acts as a thickener.

Ooh.

'We melted 25g of butter and mixed in 25g of plain flour.'

This cheese sauce, it's thick.

Lovely, lovely, that. Now, to that, we add some milk.

Just drizzle the milk in.

And the other liquid component is beer, heavy beer.

'We've used 100ml of each.'

Excuse me, would you mind awfully passing me a whisk?

Oh, dear, you haven't got it into lumps, have you? You naughty boy.

Can't help it, can you? You know.

"For the toast, cut four thick slices of wholemeal bread,

'then grate 150g of mature cheddar cheese.'

We're using good old cheddar.

Caerphilly would be good, especially if you're Welsh.

-Look at that.

-It's thick.

-Come here, look, who you going to call?

-Ghostbusters! Looks like one of those things...

-Ectoplasm.

Yeah, loving that.

One of the theories for the term Welsh rarebit, or Welsh rabbit,

is that poor people in England would have to survive on rabbit.

Now, the poor people in Wales, who were considerably poorer than

the English, had to survive on cheese.

So the cheese on toast became know as Welsh rabbit.

It's a bit condescending, really.

Now, you're looking at this thinking,

"He's not going to put all that cheese in, is he?"

-Do you know what? I am.

-He is.

-All of it.

-Go on, mate, go on.

-That's enough for four large slices.

-Aw!

You've worked hard, be kind to yourself.

Now, let's make toast.

'Prepare a baking tray by lining it with tinfoil.

'This will keep it nice and clean from all that melted cheese.

'Then arrange the bread onto the tray.'

Lovely job. Time to start building up the flavours.

To that we have mustard, Worcestershire sauce.

-Worcestershire.

-And cayenne pepper.

One teaspoon of English mustard, or Welsh mustard,

but something erring on the hot side.

A pinch of cayenne pepper or chilli powder. Now, this is optional.

I think a nice pinch, lovely red colour.

And four teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce.

One...two...three...four.

One egg yolk.

And stir that in.

To make toast, you cut slices off a loaf.

You put it under the grill, when it's golden, you turn it over.

Then, when both sides are golden, you've got toast.

Have you got that? You have, good.

-Do you know what I'm going to do?

-Hm?

-I'm going to go outside.

And give it a waft and then it might thicken up a bit,

-because that's hot.

-Aye, it's cold out.

HE SIGHS

Ah, lovely job.

-Are you chilling?

-Dude, listen, look at that, man.

-Look how thick it is, look.

-Whoa.

-It's like Caramac.

-It is, isn't it?

-It's brilliant.

And that's what you're looking for. So, take a ladleful.

And divide it between your toast. And be generous with this.

Unctuous.

It just looks strangely like Plasticine that's been

melted in front of the fire.

Now, we're going to give you a Hairy Bikers top tip.

What you need to do is make sure you spread it,

but spread it properly.

Right to the edges, so the edges of the toast don't burn.

I always remember my mother used to say,

when I was making sandwiches as a kid, putting the butter on and I'd

miss the corners, she'd say, "Son, you'd never make a window cleaner."

Oh, man.

Just pop that under the grill,

in about three minutes it'll be bubbling up like a rabid warthog.

And under the grill.

# It's good to touch the green, green grass of home. #

-Oh, what! Look at those.

-Oh, look, you, you lovely cheese on toast!

Look, you, isn't it?

-That's not cheese on toast, that's a Welsh rarebit.

-Oh, man.

One...

Two.

-Shall we cut it diagonally?

-Oh.

-You know, posh, like.

-Aye.

Aw!

-That's proper Welsh rarebit.

-Beautiful.

-Shall we?

-Oh, yes.

-This is going to hurt.

-Yes.

It's one of those things that's just a comfort, isn't it?

-Mm.

-I like the cayenne and the mustard in it.

-Oh, aye.

-It just gives it a zing.

-And the beer as well.

-Mm, beautiful.

Really, it's very good.

Ah, look at those beauties. Thank you, Wales!

-HE IMITATES WELSH ACCENT:

-And you don't have to stick to cheddar.

The topping can be made from any other hard, mature cheese.

They're right,

a nice Lancashire cheese can be a welcome change to cheddar.

Or how about a bit of Caerphilly?

Just to keep the whole Welsh theme going.

OK, we've reached our final recipe now,

and it's one of James Martin's favourites,

the chiller thriller cake, that is called The Icebox Cake.

This is an icebox cake. I think it's fantastic.

The first time I saw it,

I fell in love with it and I've been doing it ever since.

It's brilliant. Icebox meaning the refrigerator.

It's an amazing dessert.

Just a few minutes of speedy preparation gives you

something truly indulgent.

And I can't get enough of it.

'I've made my own biscuits, but this cake was designed

'for New York housewives, who bought good quality cookies ready made.

'You could use ginger nuts or chocolate biccies,

'straight from the shops.

'And, from here on in, it gets really indulgent.'

This is an American dessert, so it's to excess, really.

Just a small amount of double cream.

'I say, "Small amount,"

'but a whole litre of double cream is a lot,

'even by American standards.'

And then I'm going to flavour that with some of this coffee essence

that my grandmother used to use.

I think it's great.

There we go.

And then we're just going to whisk this up.

I actually think it's quite important to half whip

the cream first, before you add the main bulk of the flavour.

Now, if you're going to do raspberries or strawberries in this

mixture, do the puree, make a sauce out of it, add it at this point.

If you add it when the cream is too whipped,

it'll firm up the cream even more.

'But my flavours are coffee and ginger,

'so I'm adding the syrup from a whole jar of stem ginger.'

And then keep mixing.

'Whisk it again, until it's firm, but not stiff.'

Now, what you're after is a texture very similar to that.

Just ever so slightly whipped, so it just holds itself.

Anything too firm,

it's actually going to curdle as you start to layer it up.

And anything not firm enough,

you certainly won't end up with a cake when it comes out the fridge.

And then, what you need to do is sort of layer it up.

And this is where the fun part of this cake comes.

So, get yourself a... This is a nine-inch cake board, ready.

And you want a cake turntable for this.

It gives you a good excuse to buy one.

'Start with a couple of dollops of cream,

'smothered onto the cake board.

'I'm aiming to get it as flat as possible.

'Then layer on the biscuits, starting with one inn the middle.'

It actually keeps the cake level,

as you layer this up.

Keep adding layers of cream and layers of biscuit,

alternating as you go, until they're all gone.

Now, they do like to do things to excess in the States.

One of the fantastic places I went to visit was one of the oldest

bakeshops in the States.

Certainly the oldest doughnut shop in the states.

It's been run by the same family for nearly 80-odd years.

We took a crew there and we were filming out there and we did

this amazing shot of all the family stood outside this bakeshop.

There was about five generations of the same family.

We got them all to smile.

I swear, there was one tooth between all of them.

It was hilarious.

'If you want to be really fancy,

'when you get to the top layer of cream, spin the cake stand

'and smooth it into a spiral pattern using a palette knife.

That's why I do it.

'The cake needs to refrigerate for a couple of hours.'

Those biscuits turn into a cake with the softness

and the moisture from the cream.

'And, if you can resist temptation,

'leaving it overnight will give perfect results.

'Ready to eat whenever you need that little

'bit of luxury in your busy day.

'And, for the finishing touch,

'I'm adding a few slices of stem ginger on top.'

When you lift it out,

you end up with a great cake that's made out of biscuits.

See, this is the real ethos of home cooking in a hurry, isn't it,

really? Simple, not a lot of work,

but tastes fantastic.

Tastes fantastic and looks brilliant, too. Thanks, James.

And, with that, time has caught up with us again.

But do join me again soon for more of the Best Dishes Ever.