Special Treats Tom Kerridge's Lose Weight For Good

I'm Tom Kerridge, chef, husband and dad.

A few short years ago, I weighed in at almost 30st.

-Wow.

-Mental, isn't it? That's at my peak.

I decided I had to do something about it.

So I cut out carbohydrates, quit the booze and hit the gym,

losing 12st.

It worked brilliantly for me,

but it's a strict regime, which isn't right for everyone,

like these struggling dieters from my neighbourhood whose habits and

lifestyles require a different approach.

So I've set myself a challenge to help 13 locals lose weight

for good with my calorie-controlled recipes.

It is no coincidence that the first three letters of "diet" are "die".

LAUGHTER

The NHS recommends cutting calories is the best way to lose weight,

but low-calorie food has a poor reputation.

You punish yourself, eating, like, literally cardboard.

I want to show them and you that you can cook and eat the food you love

and lose weight, too.

This is the bit that makes the dish come to life.

-So nice. So satisfying.

-And it really tastes like a big treat.

I need to be there for them to show them

how they can do it and help them along the way,

to pick them up when they're down...

-I just want to give up.

-Listen, you've done so well.

Don't give up now.

Last push, last push, last push, last push.

..and encourage them to support each other, too.

I reckon if lower-calorie food can come packed full of flavour

and in generous portions,

people will have a much better chance of losing weight

and keeping it off for good.

So far I've equipped my dieters with lower-calorie comfort food recipes.

So satisfying. Touching all the buttons that you would crave for.

I've come up with dishes that work around their busy lifestyles.

I'm going to swap those nurse's outfits for chef whites, yeah?

Yeah. What, you're having the nurse's outfit?

LAUGHTER

I've also helped someone who didn't cook make his very first dad dinner.

-I actually really quite like that.

-Delicious.

-It's amazing.

It's fantastic.

This time, I'm focusing on the kind of dishes they might pick off the

menu when they eat out or cook at home when they have guests over.

I'm cooking up a rich and sumptuous seafood dish,

packed full of smoked cod and tiger prawns.

There's my take on a tricolore salad,

the classic Italian restaurant starter.

And to finish off, my surprisingly

indulgent coffee and chocolate custard pots.

But first, beef stroganoff.

Now, I know this doesn't look much like diet food,

nor does it look like an easy thing to cook at home,

but I reckon if you give yourself a little bit of time

and put that bit of effort in, you can make it yourself.

I've chopped one onion and I'm softening it in the pan

in half a tablespoon of olive oil.

Then into the pan with the onions. Three cloves of garlic.

And then into that, one crumbly beef stock cube.

And then one tablespoon of tomato puree.

Let that tomato puree caramelise, a layer of flavour.

You want it to cook out.

It's looking a bit burnt and gnarly in the pan

and that's what you want - you want it to have this dark depth

and rich flavour.

The most important ingredient in any stroganoff is smoked paprika,

so two teaspoons.

Straight away, that smokiness is coming from the pan,

and that's releasing all of that flavour.

And then into that, one tin of beef consomme.

Beef consomme is a stock replacement.

It tastes lovely and they are very low in calories.

I'm going to put one tablespoon of Dijon mustard and give that a stir.

Whilst the sauce is coming up to the boil,

I'm going to slice some chestnut or button mushrooms,

whichever you fancy. I like the chestnut ones.

If you can't chop 'em like that at home,

don't worry, I'll come around and do 'em for you.

Chuck the mushrooms in the now-simmering sauce.

Give them a quick stir round.

And whilst that sauce is reducing down, I'm getting my steak ready.

I'm using two 175g pieces of rump.

And this is important - I'm going to tenderise it.

So I place the rump steak in the middle of a piece of clingfilm

and then place another bit of clingfilm over the top.

Now I'm going to give it a good hammering.

This softens the meat by breaking up the connective tissue.

I'm using a meat-tenderising hammer here,

but if you haven't got one of these, don't just go and use a hammer.

Use a rolling pin.

All right.

And you're left with this thin, lovely, tender piece of steak.

Season both sides with salt and pepper.

And then I'm going to spray it with my one-calorie spray oil.

Griddle pan, preheated, OK, so it's nice and hot.

I'm not going to cook the steak all the way through on the griddle pan.

I'm just going to try and get flavour on it. Push down, OK?

So straightaway, it's going to get colour and flavour

from those lovely char markings.

Another 30 seconds to a minute.

HE WHISTLES A TUNE

And then off.

That's it, that simple.

And with that, some chopped cornichons, full of acidity,

full of flavour. Just run your knife through 'em.

Into the sauce.

Now grab a handful of flat-leaf parsley and chervil.

Chervil, it's got this lovely kind of aniseedy, fennelly flavour to it.

Fairly roughly chopped.

Just run your knife through the both of them together.

Now for the creaminess.

I'm using half-fat creme fraiche, 75ml.

The sauce has been taken off the heat and that's really important at

this point, cos otherwise this creme fraiche would split out.

Then the steak, just going to slice very thinly.

Drop it into the pan.

With a good covering of the fresh herbs.

And then just stir it in.

And you can see, by putting that steak

between two pieces of clingfilm

and bashing it out, it makes it look so much bigger.

That's it. Ready to go. I'm going to serve it with some rice.

Now, just for texture and flavour at the end, dried onion flakes.

And the last little bit of our saved chopped herbs.

And that's it. Absolutely delicious.

This is a big supper.

It could use up half your daily calories in one go.

But three of my diet gang like to eat one really special meal a day.

They are the biggest foodies and restaurant regulars in the group.

Jenny is a Church of England vicar

who has a real passion for good food.

There's much in the Bible, actually,

about feasting and fasting,

but I think I've lost track of the fasting bit of life at the moment.

Sandra is an event manager.

Her job means she has every opportunity to eat.

I go out to dinner parties a lot.

I go out to restaurants a lot.

Eating food and drinking, they're one of the pleasures of life.

And Ki is a photographer,

specialising in portraits, fashion and food.

Might be nine o'clock,

I know we're going out for dinner,

I've just finished work in London, I'm starving and I'll be like,

"Ooh, I can just stop and get some scampi on the way home."

-Hi.

-Come on in.

-How are you doing, chief?

Ki loves food, but he doesn't cook.

Fiancee Emma's usually the one in the kitchen.

To get him involved,

I'm challenging him to cook a dinner party for some foodie friends

using some of my lower-calorie recipes.

First time you've cooked a dinner party?

-First time, yeah.

-It's no worries. It's going to be fine.

-Yeah.

I'll give you a few hints and tips...

-Right.

-..but it's you who's going to be doing it, my friend.

-And I thought you was going to come and cook for us!

-LAUGHTER

Tonight, Ki's main course is pork

tenderloin with Japanese ponzu dressing.

But to start, it's cream of celeriac soup.

When I bought the celeriac, I was quite surprised...

Don't give it to me, you've got to do it.

..I was quite surprised when I got

the celeriac, I thought it was celery.

It's similar flavour, same family.

There's a kind of irony behind Ki's weight gain.

He traces it back to two very sensible choices

he made in the past to get healthier.

Love to drink. Was always a bit of a party animal.

By the time I was 32, I was just, like, this is too much,

I'm getting unreliable now.

So then I went teetotal from the booze, yeah.

So we want four tablespoons of these.

So you gave up the booze?

-Yeah.

-Then you gave up smoking?

-Yeah.

-Started eating.

Yes. I just thought anything that I was doing without drinking

was a bonus at that time. But nobody said to me, you know,

"You're eating ten pieces of toast"

or, you know, "with thick butter and marmalade on."

So I noticed my weight shoot up after I stopped drinking

and stopped smoking.

Ki, like me, has a hedonistic, even addictive, streak in him,

so I want to make it clear what kind of change is possible

if you put your mind to it.

Here, I'll show you this picture.

-Wow.

-Mental, isn't it?

That's when I first gave up drinking and decided I needed to lose weight.

-That's at my peak. That's 30st.

-Wow.

And I started exercising at that point.

This is quite a tough old vegetable, isn't it?

Well, it would be if you had a nice peeler. Just saying.

Are you going to get a new peeler, Em?

-Yeah.

-I'm going to get you one!

-I'd rather have a diamond.

-I actually got one... A diamond?

-Yeah.

Ki and Emma's wedding is coming up soon

and Ki wants to look good for the big day.

That's a big thing for me, you know,

I want to be in a nice Vivienne Westwood suit.

I want to be a lot closer to the weight that I want

than to look back and think, "Why didn't I do that?"

As well as changing my diet,

stepping up physical activity really helped me reach my goals.

Exercise for you, how's that working?

I'm a member down the road at one of the gyms.

Before I leave, I have a steam in the sauna,

that's kind of like my treat.

You've done the exercise, you're putting the effort in.

-There does need to be some reward.

-Yeah.

Ki is clearly a man who has a big appetite for pleasure.

I'm hoping the buzz he gets from exercise and the big flavours

of my food will keep him on track.

By eight o'clock, it's time for guests to arrive and me to depart...

I am going to have to go cos we're already creating a whole world of

-washing-up. I'll see you later on.

-See you later.

..leaving Ki to serve up an 800-calorie, three-course meal

tasty enough to show off to his mates.

Thanks, everyone, for coming. Cheers.

-Oh, wow.

-Oh, yeah, that's good.

-My compliments to the chef.

-That's good.

Like Ki, I hit the gym every day.

Evidence shows that combining regular physical activity

with reducing calories makes it more likely you'll lose weight

and keep it off.

There's no way that I could have imagined old Tom doing this.

It's just so far removed from the person that I was.

I'm delighted that most of my dieters, prompted by online advice

and each other, are also taking up exercise.

Keep going, Leigh. Nine...

I'm especially proud of mum-of-four Leigh.

You're completely out of your comfort zone

and I feel super-nervous still,

coming up, you know, a couple of times a week.

You're scared of the judgment and you feel very vulnerable.

I leave looking like a tomato and feeling like a wally,

but then just so proud that I've turned up and I've done it.

-Bye.

-Say bye-bye.

-I'll see you later.

And once you start working out,

you feel you've earned a really good meal,

like my Italian-inspired seafood pot.

This is a one-pot wonder, perfect for dinner parties.

A little bit of work.

Loads of payoff.

Starting off in the pan here with onions and garlic.

And to that I'm going to add finely diced fennel and courgettes.

It's quite important that all of these vegetables are the same size,

cos I've got some pasta that's going into the dish

that is the same size as the vegetables.

The onions and garlic are beginning to caramelise and then

into that I'm going to put the chopped fennel.

The fennel goes in before the courgette

because it takes a lot longer to cook, all right?

And then, at this point, I'm going to put half a teaspoon

of dried chilli flakes.

One teaspoon of fennel seeds.

And a big pinch of really luscious saffron.

Absolutely love it.

I'm going to add 500ml of fish stock.

And then to that, I'm going to add two tins of chopped tomatoes.

When the sauce comes to the boil, add Kalamata olives and capers.

Massive kick of acidity, works really well with fish.

Next, in go the diced courgettes.

Now, the thing to make this dish feel really rich and satisfying,

the orzo pasta.

Orzo is one of the smallest pasta shapes there is.

It's also known as risoni - "big rice" - for obvious reasons.

Gently simmer for 10-12 minutes until the pasta is nearly done.

Then into the pan go some fresh tiger prawns and smoked cod,

cut to the same size.

So I'm just going to leave this to cook on a gentle heat

for about 3-4 minutes.

Just don't stir it too much cos that will break the fish up.

I'm finishing the dish off with classic Italian herbs,

flat-leaf parsley and basil.

It's high in protein, but it's big on flavour.

The olives, the capers and, most importantly, we're getting

lots and lots of great, fresh vegetables.

This pasta recipe will soon be going out to my diet group,

including Church of England vicar Jenny.

Someone who ought to know a thing or two about pasta.

My mother was Italian,

so hospitality and entertaining was a huge part of what I grew up with.

I am a person who absolutely loves going to dinner parties and throwing

-dinner parties.

-Approaching the

halfway mark of our 12 weeks together,

I've dropped in on Jenny for a little progress report.

What about moments of weakness? What about temptation?

Are there any moments of temptation?

There was a box of shortbread, and I love shortbread...

-How many did you have?

-I didn't.

I didn't, honestly.

I looked at the calorie count and it was 134 calories per biscuit and I

thought, "Not worth it, mate."

Yes! Yes.

See, that's amazing. So, it was a

moment of temptation, but you beat it.

Jenny's reason for committing to a

diet is all about giving herself more

options with a hobby she dearly loves.

I would love to ride some of the smaller, lighter horses,

but I really am limited because of my weight.

So, Jenny, how much do you mean to lose?

How much weight do you want to lose?

-Ultimately, I would like to lose 5st.

-5st? OK.

But that ain't going to happen in 12 weeks.

Of course it's going to happen.

In 12 weeks, you might do a stone, OK?

But that means, if you're enjoying it and loving the food, then there's

no reason why we can't keep going.

It becomes a way of life and who knows?

Within a year a two, you're down to where you want to be...

-Yeah.

-..and it's just a way of eating.

So if we get to that 5st lost,

I'll come here and I'll ring these bells on a Sunday for you.

In fact, I'll come and do it and ruin someone's wedding for them.

-How does that sound?

-You got a deal there.

Yeah, all right. We're on.

I'm glad to see Jenny getting on so well

and resisting the shortbread temptation.

And inspired by her love of Italian food,

this is my version of a tricolore salad.

And the trick for making this dish lower calorie? A no-oil dressing.

I'm going to bring to the boil 220ml of water...

..two tablespoons of white wine vinegar...

..half a teaspoon of herb Provence,

half a teaspoon of garlic powder,

one heaped teaspoon of smoked sweet paprika,

a teaspoon of salt...

..and one tablespoon of granulated sweetener.

I'm going to whisk this together as it comes to the boil.

And now for the magic ingredient -

a paste made from a tablespoon of

cornflour and a tablespoon of water.

Turn the heat down a touch and pour in the cornflour paste.

When it's gently heated, it thickens the dressing

to the same texture as oil.

Then just leave it to cool.

And now for the salad.

I'm using a mixture of different tomatoes.

For me, tricolore is great, but you've got three ingredients.

You have cheese, you have the basil, and you have the tomatoes.

How do you make it more?

Get out the blowtorch, of course.

This is the fun bit. A very simple bit of cooking,

but this bit of kick goes a long,

long way to adding so much flavour to so many dishes.

Charring the tomatoes caramelises the sugars in the skin and flesh.

Taking it to a black state is exactly what you want.

It's not burning it - it's just charring it.

It's going to lift these tomatoes to another level.

Just as you turn the blowtorch off,

that's the point to hit them with seasoning.

Some crunchy salt and some lovely cracked black pepper.

Another way to cut the calories in tricolore

is to use ricotta instead of mozzarella.

It's lower in fat and I think it's got much more flavour.

Finally, sieve the dressing and drizzle over.

To finish it off, fresh basil leaves.

A classic tricolore.

It's a great dish that really shouldn't be messed about with.

But what I have got here is an

alternative that's lower in calories,

lower in fat, and do you know what? I reckon that's higher in flavour.

Working as a chef,

I had to change my diet while being surrounded by amazing food.

And it's a problem that event planner Sandra also faces.

I'm often wined and dined a lot.

I go to food tastings,

so it's because of my job that I think that I've put on this weight.

And this isn't the first diet she's tried.

I've been looking for a dietary plan for a long time that suits me.

I've tried lots of them. You know,

you have to kiss several frogs before you find your prince,

so therefore I'm trying several diets before I find the right one.

She's currently studying for a masters,

and is tying this in with her diet aims.

I'm hoping to look very good in my graduation pictures.

If I lost 20 pounds, my goodness, by the end of this I will be ecstatic.

I'll be jumping up for joy.

The challenge for me is I like my treats.

I do like chocolate.

I do like cakes and I do like pastries.

Challenge accepted.

I've got a luxurious chocolate treat that Sandra will love and I'm

adding an unconventional aromatic flavour

that takes this dish to the next level.

I've got here lower-fat custard, already made.

Goes straight into the pan.

And into that, quite simply,

I'm going to grate the zest of half an orange.

I'm going to add to that one large espresso shot.

Round about 40ml.

To that, I'm going to add a flavour

that you don't normally associate with

dessert, but ground cardamom and orange is fantastic.

So, this is a quarter teaspoon measure.

And really you don't want any more than that.

Give everything a quick stir around.

I'm going to turn the heat down and I'm going to gently break in dark

chocolate. Minimum 70% cocoa solids.

Keep stirring and the heat that's

coming from that custard will melt the

chocolate and you'll end up with this luscious,

rich, smooth, chocolaty kind of paste.

And then I'm going to pass it through a fine sieve,

and that's just to get out any lumps and bumps that you don't want,

so it stays nice and smooth.

And then a spoon of chocolate mix into our glass chocolate pots.

You want to try and make sure you get them all equal.

And these go into the fridge.

You're going to leave them to set for a couple of hours.

It really is that easy.

I mean, that's not even cooking, is it?

To test out my dessert, I've invited Sandra and Jenny over.

Hey, ladies. Come on in.

-Hello.

-The foodies really love a pudding.

Wow. What a lovely kitchen.

I want them to guinea pig my chocolate and coffee pots.

-I'm looking forward to this.

-Good.

If you could have a dream dessert, what would it be?

Chocolate and cream.

Chocolate and cream. Anything with clotted cream.

I don't think I can quite stretch to clotted cream.

-But chocolate and cream, I reckon I could get that.

-Yeah. Really?

-Yeah.

-Oh, my goodness. What has he got there?

-What has he got?

Oh, my goodness.

Chocolate and cream.

Oh, fantastic.

Right, then. The chocolate pot.

I'm going to finish it off with the squirty cream.

I'm using the light version, great for puddings like this.

Because it's aerated, it looks like you're getting a lot.

-Looks very tasty.

-Amazing.

-Does look like a lot, doesn't it?

And then a little dusting...

-Wow.

-..of cocoa powder, OK?

-So there you go.

-Thank you.

And for you, Jenny. A spoon each.

Get in there, girls. Enjoy it, savour it.

These chaps come in at just 155 calories each,

but will Jenny and Sandra guess the secret ingredient?

So, what flavours have you got going on?

-Orange.

-Tastes like there may be a spice in it or a...

-Yes.

-..herb. It's not cardamom, is it?

-Mate, let's high five that.

-Oh, my God!

That is amazing. How good does cardamom work

for flavours like this?

It's amazing. This ticks all the boxes for me.

And what do you think the rest of the group will think about it?

I think they'll love it and they'll be gutted that

we're the first ones to try it.

I'm sending this recipe to the gang in their next fortnightly delivery,

so they haven't got long to wait.

And here's one I've already sent them,

an Asian-flavoured salmon salad.

I'm confident they'll love this too.

The first thing I'm going to do is make the marinade for the fish.

And with my fine grater,

I'm going to grate about a 2cm piece of fresh ginger.

And then, after the ginger, grate the garlic.

Two cloves.

Next, two tablespoons of light soy sauce.

It's got less sugar and fewer calories than dark soy.

Two tablespoons of mushroom ketchup.

This gives a wonderful kind of salty and dark richness to the dish.

One teaspoon of granulated sweetener.

And for a little kick, a tablespoon of Sriracha hot chilli sauce.

Now into the marinade goes the salmon.

Round about 120g per portion.

Just going to pop it into the marinade

and give it a little turn around

and let all of those flavours start to work their way into the fish.

Cling-filmed, fridge, two hours.

Plenty of time to make the salad.

And the first ingredient is a favourite of mine, kohlrabi.

It's translated from German as cabbage turnip.

That's a fair description because it looks a little bit like a turnip

and it tastes like cabbage.

Chinese leaf next.

I'm looking for a round about 100-150g of each vegetable,

finely sliced.

I've got the same amount of cucumber, carrot, and beansprouts.

Plus the juice of one lime.

Make sure you squeeze all of it out.

This is your dressing,

mixed with one tablespoon of soy sauce.

Coriander. Stalks and all.

So, this salad'll sit here whilst I cook the salmon.

With my low-calorie spray oil, the salmon

goes into the pan.

Nice and hot.

Don't be tempted to shake the pan.

What I want is to get a nice crisp crust on one side.

And after about three to four minutes,

the salmon's beginning to crisp up, and then I'm going to turn the heat

down and just continue to cook it nice and slow from the other side.

It'll only take about another three to four minutes.

Whilst the salmon's sat there,

the rest of this marinade I'm going to reduce down very, very quickly.

Go careful. You don't want it to burn.

Give it a minute or two to thicken up.

Just put about half a tablespoon over each salmon.

Anything that's left in the pan I'm going to put into the salad.

And I'm going to garnish it up with some of this.

Asian-inspired cresses, and you can get these from supermarkets.

They've got different textures and flavours

and herby kind of spiciness

that come from them. Add some sliced red chilli for a flash of colour

and a touch of spice.

And then flake the salmon on top.

The finishing touch is two sheets of nori - Japanese seaweed.

This salad has less calories than a

supermarket smoked salmon sandwich and

I know which one I'd rather have.

Thanks to the miracle of instant messaging,

a meal is on the cards for my diet group.

Ozi's organised a family barbecue in the local woods.

And I'm going too.

Look, people coming. No, don't worry. I'll just give you a hug.

Not put off by a spot of drizzle,

the gang arrived, bearing treats for the barbecue.

Calorie counted, of course.

Well, hi. How are you?

Ozi was feeling isolated when I first met him...

Oh, that's fantastic. How nice.

..so it's great to see him taking

the initiative to get everyone together.

And as a bonus, I'm even learning a new recipe.

Dish of the day is Kayleigh's espetadas.

They make it out in Madeira and in Portugal.

So, basically, it's rump steak...

-Yeah.

-..garlic, bay leaf, and you cook it on the bay leaf too.

-You're using the bay leaf as skewers.

-Yeah.

I'm going to have to offer you

a job, mate, cos they look fantastic.

I couldn't have come empty-handed,

so I've brought a couple of

cheesecakes for pud, 165 calories a slice.

-Come on, mate, get in there.

-Oh, why do I have to do the cutting?

Because then, if it all goes horribly wrong, it looks

like it's your fault and not mine.

There we go. Tom and Beth, there's one for you guys.

-One portion and a little bit more.

-Oh, OK, thanks.

-There you go, Sam.

-Oh, my gosh. Boom me.

Yes. Yes. Well, guys, your barbecue has been fantastic.

The food looks incredible.

So, we've all done that original bit of weight loss where there's quite a

bit of weight that's come off initially.

The next thing is there will be a new calorie count because you're

still the same height, but you've now got less weight to lose.

Your calorie count will be smaller.

For most of my dieters, the change will be quite small.

Maybe only 50 calories less a day,

but it's important they keep track of this as the pounds drop off.

So proud of you all.

I think you're all doing amazing.

I'm going to leave you with everybody's recipe packs here,

with that cheesecake in.

-I promise you that it is easy, all right?

-Yay!

We've reached the halfway mark of the experiment,

and the gang have sent me their latest weights.

Jenny the vicar and events manager

Sandra are going along at a nice, steady pace.

Jenny's lost eight-and-a-half pounds so far,

and Sandra's lost 11.

Ki's on a mission. He's lost a stone and a half since we started,

and with his motivation, he looks set to carry on.

The rate of weight loss for the group has slowed down a bit,

but that's fine. They're ticking along nicely

at an average of two pounds lost a week.

Some of the guys have told me they're

seriously missing their takeaways,

so next time it's big-hitting dishes for big appetites.

My versions of a curry, a kebab, and a burger should hit the spot.