Veg Stars Food & Drink

Vegetables are some of the most colourful, versatile and delicious things we eat.

The trend in Britain is moving away from the traditional meal of meat and two veg.

I want the vegetables to be the star attraction.

Tonight, it's all about showing you how easy it is for veg to be the star of the show.

We're putting them firmly centre stage.

-The colour, the taste, the texture.

-The colours!

A man who really knows his onions is former greengrocer Gregg Wallace.

Together we're making mouthwatering broccoli pesto with baby veg

that Kate's found the perfect match for.

It's a bit richer and fatter...

-You two are sophisticated so you like the first one, is that what you're saying?

-It's also £6!

And food writer Tim Hayward thinks I've lost the plot on veg.

As far as he is concerned, meat should be at the heart of every meal.

I create a sophisticated mushroom dish that passes muster with the man from MasterChef.

I love you, Michel, you know that.

Welcome to Food And Drink.

We eat so much meat. In Britain alone, we each get through a kilo every week.

Globally, our consumption is in danger of becoming unsustainable.

We need to shift the balance towards eating more veg.

But that doesn't mean compromising on taste.

Vegetables are no poor relation, they deserve star status!

And their biggest champion is Gregg Wallace.

Gregg started work at New Covent Garden when he was just 15.

From these humble beginnings, he built up his own business supplying

fruit and veg to London's top restaurants.

I'm going to be doing grilled vegetables. Broccoli, leek, baby asparagus,

served with bought-in potato gnocchi,

and smothered in broccoli pesto.

Veg everywhere!

Veg everywhere!

I want the vegetables to be the star.

I've thought that vegetables should be more prominent on menus for years.

I still eat meat and I love fish,

but you know me, I'm an enthusiastic carnivore, but as I've got older I'm actually eating less and less.

What I love most about vegetables is the variety and the versatility.

I mean, there is a limited number of meat. There is a limited number of fish.

-But the range of veg and fruit just goes on and on forever!

-That's it.

-The colour, the taste, the texture.

-The colours! And if you eat veg seasonally,

you get like a new present every month!

Another surprise comes up.

Sometimes every week!

My broccoli pesto with char-grilled baby veg really shows off

the different flavours and textures of this dish.

I'm pan frying the shop-bought gnocchi,

which have a firmer consistency than home-made,

to turn them into mini roast potatoes.

And to prove I'm not anti-meat, I'm using it - but just as a garnish.

-Can I do anything? Do you trust me to do anything?

-I trust you!

-Do you?

-Grill off a few pine nuts for the pesto.

-Righto.

-And then just prepare the leeks.

I've chosen broccoli to give me a much firmer pesto

than the traditional runny pasta sauce.

The baby veg and gnocchi will perfectly complement the earthy flavour of this star ingredient.

Not overdoing it with the garlic, otherwise it sort of takes all the flavour away.

-You like chilli, don't you?

-I do love a bit of chilli.

I'm keeping it green, so green chilli, seeds in as well,

bit of garlic.

This is going to have a serious kick to it, going to have a serious bite.

And a little bit of Parmesan.

I can't remember the last time I cooked with you. I think it was on stage.

I'm so nervous of getting something wrong! Can you imagine?

Give me something simple to do and I burn the nuts!

After three or four minutes, take the broccoli out of the pan and plunge into a bowl of iced water.

Then add the toasted pine nuts to the chilli, garlic and Parmesan.

What other veg would you...?

Cauliflower works really well. Could even do it with purple cauliflower.

-Courgettes?

-Courgettes would work, but courgettes are quite watery.

Add the drained broccoli and blitz together with a good glug of quality olive oil.

You shouldn't use your expensive oil for cooking.

As soon as you heat up good olive oil you lose all the wonderful flavours.

How do you know when you've stuck enough in?

I'm looking for the texture.

That's a little bit firm.

-Nah, that's lovely.

-You like it like that?

-Yeah. But hey...

I think a drizzle more.

Only one of us here is a celebrated chef.

-Shall I get these veg on?

-Yeah, start grilling.

# Start grilling the veg... #

-There we go.

-You oil what's going in the pan, you don't oil the pan.

That's right, otherwise it'd be frying, wouldn't it?

Baby veg like this cook quickly and look great.

They're perfect for this dish, and kids love them because they are sweet, delicate and tasty.

As you know, I'm a single dad and the way I've done it, and it works,

is to get the kids involved with fruit and veg and cooking.

What I used to do was take them to the supermarket and play games with them

on who could identify the most veg.

Then they start to get an interest in it.

Then, here's the thing, once a week I used to let them choose one,

bring it home and cook it.

-Grown-up stuff! That's it!

-Yeah, yeah, and they get excited about it

and they're part of it as well. And it worked!

I love my meat, but in a bid to cut down I'm using some Italian ham as a garnish.

But it's up to you. Drying the pancetta out in the oven means I can crumble it on to the dish

Going to get nice and crispy.

And a little bit will go a long way.

About 160 degrees, it's really just to crisp it up.

We all know that red wine goes well with meat and white wines taste great with fish,

but what do you drink with veg?

If you follow Kate's rule of thumb you won't go far wrong.

Matching wine with vegetables may not be something you've ever given much thought to.

A simple way to a successful pairing is to match your wine to the way the vegetable is cooked.

Here's my three point guide to veg and wine nirvana.

If the vegetables in your dish are raw or lightly cooked,

like a crisp summer salad or gently wilted greens,

light whites or roses work well.

Look for crisp white wines to match the acidity of salad dressings, like a spritely chenin blanc.

South Africa produces some great, affordable examples.

Roasted veg with their intensive high flavours and caramelisation

suit richer, off-dry whites that echo that sweetness.

Or young, juicy reds like a Valpolicella from Italy.

For one with a bit more punch that's great value for money,

look for the word ripasso on the label.

These wines have a richer style and are a less full-bodied version

of the famous and often expensive amarone wines.

Deeper, richer vegetable dishes, such as stews with earthy qualities,

match well with the sort of bold reds you might put with red meat,

because those hearty flavours are so similar.

A velvety smooth Argentine malbec is the perfect match for a wintry lentil pie.

And you'll find a real diversity of prices on the high street,

from under a tenner to upwards of £30.

A bit of oil in the pan, fry the gnocchi.

-Fry them straight from the packet?

-Straight from the packet.

Get a bit of colour on them.

Colour is vital in this, gives it a really sweet, caramel flavour.

-Like mini roast potatoes.

-So, chaps, what are your thoughts on matching wine with vegetables?

-Absolutely anything!

-Anything goes!

-This just proves the versatility of veg.

For me I think it is how you cook the veg.

You want something that is not going to spoil the taste of the wine,

and you don't want a wine that spoils the taste of the vegetables.

Unless you eat Brussels sprouts,

then you want anything that kills the flavour! Something really big!

-Brussels sprouts!

-So you don't have to taste them.

Talking of which, are there any vegetables

that you just dislike so much that you wouldn't eat?

Not that I wouldn't eat, but I'm still not fond of a parsnip.

I haven't gotten over the shock of tasting my first one when I was a kid. It was at my grandmother's

and it just looked like a lump of roast potato, Michel. I cut off

a big lump, put it in my gob and it was like, "Aargh! It's all sweet and starchy!"

I have a dislike to cooked carrots. It's just the taste. Raw carrots, no problem, cooked carrots? And okra.

No, no, I like okra.

Why, because it's gloopy?

-Yes.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Its texture.

And texture is as important to our food as flavour and taste.

Frying these gnocchi completely changes the character of this dish.

The crispy potato dumplings perfectly compliment the crunchy baby veg and the nutty pesto.

Right, pesto on, all that's missing is that little bit of crumbed ham. You want to do that, Gregg?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-That's going to give the meatiness, and the luxury...

-Phwoar!

And saltiness, a bit of a tang.

-Look at that!

-It's beautiful, and the colour!

There we go.

Look at that. Work of art, Michel, work of art.

-Looks great.

-Does look good, doesn't it? Dive in!

-I want this pesto.

-Nice and crispy!

-Yeah, crispy gnocchi for pesto, with a real kick of chilli,

Good olive oil in it.

I kind of thought even just visually you'd miss some kind of meat,

-but actually you don't, do you?

-No.

I think that's the problem, in England we're too fixed on meat and two veg.

So we think we're missing something when we're not. Look at the textures,

look at the colours, feel the flavours.

You get a hit of salt and meatiness from the dried ham,

but it's just, it's a garnish, it's there.

But the real stars are the vegetables.

Yeah, the vegetables give sweetness, your pesto has

got tanginess from cheese and chilli,

-and of course for texture we've got those lovely potato gnocchi.

-Lovely, smoky, crunch.

-We're all agreed, right?

-Yeah, we're liking it. So, we need some wine.

For this dish we're headed over to Portugal.

Often with Portugal I think you think about port,

but actually they do some brilliant white wines as well.

That's the problem with Portugal, there are lots of great varieties

we don't recognise and people are a bit put off.

If you can get beyond that you can get brilliant, brilliant wines.

Vinho Verde is perhaps the most well known white,

that's quite light and crisp and aromatic.

You want something with a bit more punch here. You've got the pesto,

you've got some salt, those crispy characters,

so you want something with a bit of body.

-What grape is this?

-This is FP Branco, this is from the Beiras region, in central Portugal,

it's made by the daughter of one of Portugal's leading wine makers, Luis Pato.

So the two grapes are Arinto and Bical.

Arinto gives it lovely freshness, Bical gives it creaminess.

That's big, and it smells of summer.

The fullness and its length as well,

you still get that lovely flavour for a long time afterwards.

I think your veg dish there actually punches above its weight in terms of flavour.

-I think so does this wine here.

-Good.

The second one is Tagus Creek.

This is from the Tejo region, so again it's central Portugal.

The idea with this is that it's blending two grape varieties,

Chardonnay, which is much better known,

and Fernao Pires, a local grape variety.

Quite Chardonnay-focused I'd say, bit mellow and tropical.

Don't be put off by the Chardonnay,

-Chardonnay comes in lots of different guises.

-Sweeter, more honeyed, more perfume.

Slight bit of acidity on it. No, I've never shied away from a chardonnay.

Good!

No, one thing I'm not is a food and drink snob. That is lovely.

-I think this is more your style.

-What are you saying?

-It is a bit richer and fatter and...

-What are you saying?

You two are sophisticated so you like the first one, is that what you're saying?

It's also £6!

Ah! No, I don't like it at all(!)

-Great value for money, £6, brilliant!

-That's great for six quid.

The first one, that's around 12, number one, and this is 6. So quite a big difference

in price but you're getting a good quality, well made wine for six quid.

The last one is Quinta Das Maias,

Maias Branco, this is from the Dao region, about 80% of wines from the Dao are red,

but they make brilliant white wines. I absolutely love the styles

of white coming out of here. It's a blend of three grapes, three Portuguese grapes,

Encruzado, Malvasia Fina and Bical.

-That smells like apple or peach juice.

-It does.

-Whoa!

-Isn't that great on the nose?

I love it, it's like standing in the middle of an orchard.

But again, it's got that savoury quality to it that I just think

makes it match really, really well with food.

That's lovely, that's very fruity.

That is brilliant, and it's really silky in the mouth, it's just got that lovely creaminess.

That's around £10.

But the nose is exceptional, it's just that, like walking through an orchard.

This is like this on the menu, moving meat to the sidelines

doesn't bother me in the slightest.

but food writer and committed carnivore Tim Hayward is having none of it.

I shouldn't have to rationalise eating meat. You should have to rationalise giving it up.

A meal isn't a meal without meat.

We humans have been eating it for about 2.5 million years.

Meat defines us. Not just our diet, but our bodies, our environment, our culture.

Oh, there's some good stuff in here.

Even our identities.

The evidence that we're built to eat meat is so overwhelming it seems ridiculous trying to justify it,

but increasingly we're being asked to.

Our development as a species centres around meat.

Just look around. Our countryside is moulded by generations of sheep and cattle farming.

Fields and hills literally shaped by the animals we eat.

As animals, we have evolved to eat meat. We developed fire to make it taste better.

Our incisors and canines are specifically there for tearing flesh.

And meat is full of important proteins, vitamins, minerals. There's iron, carnacine, creatine.

Vitamin B12!

I'm not anti-vegetables. Some of them are fine alongside a nice piece of meat.

But some are beyond redemption. Like the courgette.

You can slather it in cream and garlic and maybe it would be edible.

Or you can feed it to an animal, and then eat it.

Less meat means less choice and less flavour.

Don't tell me to eat veg instead, I'm a meat eater!

Why should I?

That looked so delicious!

I could smell that, I'm salivating looking at that!

You've got to eat meat, guys.

You don't have to eat it all the time.

We've got ourselves in this position where we've got everybody expecting

that meat is a daily right three times a day.

We've somehow got to get back from that.

I love, absolutely love meat. When I'm thinking about how I'm going to plan my week, I work on that basis.

Also, my knowledge of how to make fantastic tasting vegetarian food

is not that great.

It doesn't have to be vegetarian.

Like, Michel cooked a dish and used a little bit of it.

So why do we eat so much meat? I say we, in Britain or...

Because it tastes good!

All right, yes, you're right!

He's not even joking, it's true!

We've used all this science, all this tremendous thought,

millions and millions of pounds have been spent to make something

about that big that tastes like a bad hamburger,

and we still haven't found a way of making a mushroom taste so delicious

that most people would prefer it to a steak.

I bet you could do things with mushrooms that would make me cry,

but it's not the same as a steak, which somehow my body craves and needs.

I would be unsure about how to get my daily intake of iron if I wasn't eating meat.

40% of teenage girls in the UK are iron deficient.

Are we saying that vegetarianism is actually unhealthy and not natural?

There are very, very strong vegetarian arguments they've been thinking about for a very long time

that can make a decent, balanced diet out of vegetarian food.

There are some supplements you need to take to

bring yourself right the way up to the standard of everybody else.

There must be environmental issues here as well.

-We have to feed the cattle.

-Yes.

-And we're ploughing through the rainforest,

planting more and more soya beans,

it's not right.

I agree, intensive meat production - completely wrong on so many different levels,

particularly the environmental. That piece you saw that was so completely delicious was a rare breed Tamworth.

Compare that to the kind of junk burger they are having to

plough down great amounts of rainforest for to feed,

then that kind of meat, let's get rid of that.

I always get a bit concerned because,

we have got the money and education to make those choices.

And I always worry when we say "Just pick the best, pick the most expensive,"

because that seems like an elite club to me.

So, one vegetable for the rest of your life, what would it be?

That's quite easy, I'd have a potato,

because of its versatility.

Roast, chips, mash, boiled,

yeah. In fact, I don't think I could live without potato!

-What about you, Tim?

-Tough call.

I would probably go for globe artichoke.

-Oooh...

-It's the only thing you can get as engaged with in the vegetable world

as you can with a really good roast chicken.

Tear it apart, have it run down your bottom lip. That's more like it.

I like that, I like the way you're thinking. Kate?

Simple. Peas.

-Oooh!

-I love peas. I love the sweetness, you can throw them in

loads of things, they've got great versatility as well, like potatoes.

-What about you?

-I'm French.

-Onion?

-Garlic.

LAUGHTER

Of course!

You can rub it on all the protein you want, you can mix it and make a dressing with it,

you can roast it whole, it's sweet, it's delicious,

and it keeps you English away.

-Touche!

-And I'm not alone.

Chef Florence Knight shares my passion for garlic.

She's discovered a whole new way to enjoy it.

Great British veg. Each decade we're introduced to something new and exciting.

From baby veg to rock samphire. So what's next?

As a head chef in London Soho, I'm always on the lookout for the next big thing.

And this year I've found it on a farm in Dorset. Scapes!

In this field grows a vegetable we've been eating in the UK since Roman times.

Garlic.

These scapes are, quite literally, an offshoot of our old friend, garlic.

They have a very short season,

just six weeks in June and July.

Usually scapes are composted, but three years ago,

farmer Mark Botwright saw an opportunity to introduce the UK

to a new way of using them.

So this is the bulb at the bottom, and then this is just chopped off?

Normally we'd snap it off and we'd remove the scape.

So all of the energy can go back into the bulb,

to help the bulb develop fully.

Do you eat this raw?

I do. But only a little, tiny bit!

It's really peppery. Go on, let's have a go.

-Wow. Yeah.

-It's really, really hot, isn't it?

-It is, yeah.

But once it's been cooked a lot of the heat goes

and it is really sweet.

They're like asparagus used to be, there's a very, very short window in the growing season.

-But, you know, you can freeze them.

-Yeah, you can freeze them,

you can also pickle them.

You can make pesto. There's lots of ways of getting them and preserving them to use them through the year.

One of the most exciting things about being a chef is experimenting with new ingredients.

I've been trying out recipes using scapes

and come up with a bruschetta that pairs them with creamy ricotta

and crunchy ciabatta.

We're going to start by simply prepping the scapes, and it's so simple.

Just treat it a bit like asparagus.

Removing those woody ends.

And then we're going to cut these down into a couple-inch pieces.

Now, the flower part here almost tastes like chilli,

so we're going to cut them in half just to release that strong flavour.

Heat up a glug of olive oil, and then add the scapes.

They are so intense raw, but if you overcook them the flavour just disappears.

Then add finely chopped, de-seeded red chilli and a squeeze of lemon juice.

The lemon will really bring the whole thing together.

So the bread is ready, we're literally going to take a huge big spoonful of our Italian

ricotta cheese and smother the bread with it.

The ricotta mellows the heat in the scapes and the bread

just adds a lovely, crunch texture.

Very tender. It's sweet!

And has a bit of heat.

Yes, it does, yeah.

It's amazing how a simple dish can be completely made over with a new and exciting vegetable.

With a bit of imagination the reliable and enduring stars of the veg world, like mushrooms,

can produce equally exciting and exotic dishes.

The depth of flavour and contrast in texture of this mushroom mille feuille

with its smooth mushroom mousse, sauteed girolles and

crumbly pastry make this dish a feast for the eyes

as well as the palate.

First we need the puff pastry.

I've got bought-in puff pastry, which is fine, not a problem as long

as it's got lots of butter.

And mille feuille translates as 1,000 leaves, and that's what puff pastry is.

It's a lovely, rich, flaky, delicious pastry.

Right.

So then we put our puff pastry on to a baking sheet.

And cut away the edges.

Then a little bit of going over with a fork,

this will help to stop any shrinkage

and make sure the pastry is nice and even.

And then, just to give it a little kick...

..a dusting of cayenne pepper.

Then we put the other non-stick tray on top.

The reason why I'm doing this, I want the puff pastry to rise

a tiny, tiny bit. No more than a couple of millimetres.

So into the oven at 180 degrees,

and that should take about 20 minutes to cook.

To make the mousse, chop a shallot and 450g of chestnut mushrooms and

fry in butter.

Not too much colour, just the slightest tint of caramelisation.

Don't want the mushroom mousse to be too dark or caramelised.

Smells beautiful and wonderful but I want to take this even further, give it another kick, so I'm going to add

some fresh tarragon.

If you don't like tarragon you could use parsley, which works equally well with mushrooms.

Madeira has got these wonderful, sweet notes, almost caramel like.

It works perfectly with mushrooms.

We're building up the flavours. And now cream.

Let that bubble away and reduce down a bit,

and then we'll blitz it up to make our mushroom mousse.

And away we go.

That's it.

Beautiful and smooth.

I'm using girolle mushrooms to top off my mille feuille.

Their firm texture offers

a lovely contrast to

the smooth chestnut mushroom mousse.

Put them into a cold pan with some butter.

They only need to warm through, not colour.

Add a squeeze of lemon and heat for a couple of minutes.

Then cut out three discs of the spicy puff pastry using a pastry cutter.

Puff pastry, mushroom mousse, mushrooms, that's it, we're ready to assemble.

So, puff pastry on the base.

Mushroom mousse...

I'm using a piping bag, but you can use a spoon to carefully layer your mousse on to the pastry discs.

Another layer of mushroom.

Now, the final garnish, our beautiful girolle mushrooms on top of the mille feuille.

Some of the cooking juices from the pan, with that lemon juice

around the outside.

And a few little chives on top.

For me that's an homage to the mushroom.

Beautiful mushroom mousse, girolle mushrooms,

I don't think it gets better than that. It really doesn't.

Right, guys. Here we go. Mushroom mille feuille.

That's splendid, actually.

It looks great, visually it works. It's simple.

No more than three or four ingredients!

Every great chef I know always says the food is simple.

But that is doable.

I love you, Michel, you know that.

I absolutely love you.

That is much lighter than it looks, it's crispy, you get a real beefy flavour from those mushrooms.

It's tangy, it's also got a little bit of sweetness.

And its spice! It finishes spice and pepper on your tongue!

And it's got a kick, that cayenne pepper on top rounds it off.

It really is spicy on the finish.

What have we got, Kate? Red wine?

We've got a red, yeah, and it's Thorn-Clarke Morello Nebbiolo,

so it's an Aussie take on the classic Italian grape.

It's widely thought that Nebbiolo doesn't travel too well,

so I'll be interested to see what you think.

It's quite a particular grape. If I was matching a grape to a person and I had to match you to a grape,

I think it would be Nebbiolo.

He's not plump enough to be a grape though, is he?

If anyone is grape-like it's me, you're more of a currant!

Oh, thanks, Gregg(!)

It's quite a particular grape, you see, Michel,

likes certain things, choosy about where it grows,

but it's capable of producing complete masterpieces.

So let's see.

Let's see how you find it. It's lovely and fragrant on the nose, you get raspberries

and strawberries, all those red fruits.

That has got an exceptional nose.

Often you find with Nebbiolo it's quite earthy,

so it will really match the earthiness in the mushrooms.

That dish being as spicy and strong as it is,

there's not a lot of wines that could live with it.

But that's big. And surprisingly cleansing as well.

Definite winner. What's the price on that?

That is around the £12 mark.

I think that's great value for money because that's a proper, serious wine.

I love meat, but vegetables from humble roots to leafy greens

have well and truly earned equal billing at our dinner table.

I believe it's time to let them shine,

so why don't you give it a go?

Next time, Ken Hom shares one of his trade secrets.

Everybody in this country are all so nervous about cooking rice.

This is a foolproof method.

And writer Julie Burchill comes out in support of the supermarket giants.

People don't become shopkeepers because they want to do a social service,

they become shopkeepers because they want to make money.