Simple Home Cooking Made Easy

I'm Lorraine Pascale and this is all about home cooking.

Comfort recipes that you can cook on crisp autumn days and chilly winter evenings

when you just crave food that nurtures.

I have loads of ideas - when you have time and when you haven't.

New twist on favourites, cosy classics and fresh ideas.

An inspiration from all over the globe, brought right back home.

And of course, I'll be showing you my know-how tricks and cheats.

This is relaxed and easy, autumn home cooking,

one of life's great pleasures and it feels good.

Some days home cooking for me is about getting a meal on the table as fast as possible

and others, it's about spending a little extra time

to make something extra special.

Either way, I'm always thinking about food that's simple and tasty.

So how about this?

Two of the easiest home-made canapes around,

sausage roll's big night out

and bacon and mature Cheddar cheese twisties.

The trick is to use ready-made puff pastry.

The flavours of Spain turn a hearty, slow-cooked rioja braised

lamb shanks with chorizo and garlic into something special.

It's delicious with my basic mashed potatoes and simple, of course.

And how about making French bread at home?

I think this beautiful wheat-stalk-shaped pan d'epi

with sea salt and olive oil doesn't look that easy to make,

but it is and it's totally divine too. And finally,

art meets home cooking in a very handsome, celebrating cake.

I call it my graffiti cake

because it's wrapped in a sugary ribbon of red graffiti.

So that's simple, made a little bit special

just like everything we're about to make and it's all easy.

When I was a kid and we went on school trips,

I'd always take a packed lunch from home

and in the packed lunch there would be a cheese triangle,

a packet of prawn cocktail crisps, an egg sandwich and a salami stick.

And I still love these, but today, I tend to make them into canapes.

I've got two canapes to make, both with ready-made puff pastry.

The first one, sausage roll's big night out

and the second one, cheese and bacon twisties.

Off to the kitchen!

I've got the egg wash here

and I'm going to brush lots of this all over the pastry.

I'm going to be quite pedantic about this.

I've actually measured it, so it is exactly 40 cm by 9 cm and

the nine is exactly half the height of one of these salami sticks,

and put the first one right in the middle.

Kind of squash it down a bit and then on this half,

just place the salami sticks,

so just about sort of,

a couple of centimetres apart,

all the way along.

Then, I'm going to brush the tops with the egg wash.

I want the pastry to stick on top. OK.

So, be really careful and then fold it over the top like that.

And then a bit of flour on the hand.

And then just in between,

I'm just going to press down.

You see, I've got a rogue one that doesn't want to stay.

I'll just cut him off.

They look like they're all tucked up in bed.

Now, I've got to manoeuvre them onto the baking tray.

So I'll take a pallet knife and then just slide it underneath,

ease it on...

and then very gently push it off.

Right, these have gone a little bit soft,

so I'm going to pop them in the freezer

for about 10 minutes to get them nice and firm.

Now I'm going to make the bacon and Cheddar cheese twisties.

So I'm going to roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle,

about half a centimetre thick

and cut the straggly bits off so the edges are nice and neat.

Then use a piece of bacon to work out the height of the pastry

and cut it to the right size.

Now mustard, it's English, a good dollop

and this gets brushed over like a coat of yellow paint.

Then Cheddar cheese.

Just gets grated all over.

It's mature Cheddar, so it's really tasty.

The bacon strips go on top,

leaving a couple of millimetres between them.

OK, a bit of flour on the knife means it doesn't stick when you cut between them.

You don't have to be exact when it comes to the numbers of twisties this makes,

it depends on the width of the bacon.

OK. Now for the twisty bit.

Scoop this up with a knife

and then just twist it.

It doesn't matter how many times you twist it,

it will unravel a little bit in the oven.

So I put these into the fridge for about ten minutes,

so they can get nice and firm.

So when they cook in the oven they hold their shape.

Great.

Now, I'm going to make myself a cup of tea while they're getting nice and hard. I'm parched.

Right, these are ready.

Really lovely and firm.

So these aren't normal sausage rolls that get cut like this.

These are cut this way. Like that.

It's really important that the dough's really nice and firm,

otherwise they'll just fall apart when you try and cut them.

I'll pop these on to the baking tray and just lie them down

and then I'm going to get my cheese straws out of the fridge

and then glaze the whole lot.

Yeah, lovely.

Slide these out.

Lots of egg wash and this just makes the pastry nice and shiny.

A bit more like that...

and when it comes to the sausage rolls,

I just tend to brush on the pastry, not on the sausages,

otherwise the cooked egg looks a bit strange

on the sausages when it comes out of the oven.

I'm just going to put these in the oven.

They need to cook for about 15 to 20 minutes at 200 degrees

and they're ready when they're lovely and firm

and they look that wonderful golden brown.

BEEPING

Perfect. Those are ready.

I guarantee one thing,

those are not going to last two minutes in this house.

I just love simple ingredients, wonderfully cooked. I give you Spain.

Now, when I first came to Barcelona and tasted the food,

it embodied everything I love about home cooking,

the flavours, the textures, the colours

and I guess that's where my love of all things Spanish began.

Gracias.

Mmm.

Now, it's tapas like these that are the very reason that I love Barcelona.

Simple ingredients that you can get easily back in the UK

that add that something special to my dishes.

Now this is one of my favourite ways to cook lamb shanks.

It has a real Spanish twist with rioja and chorizo.

Salt, a good amount of salt

and I might as well season them in the box...

and pepper.

I've got four shanks here and I've got to brown them.

Browning is a little bit of a faff, but it's a very necessary step.

It gives wonderful flavour to the finished dish.

And because I'm a little bit impatient, I like to use two pans.

And now I get on with the sauce.

Right, in a third pan,

I'm going to add rioja. Now I love rioja,

it reminds me of Spain and all those lovely holidays I've had there.

You need about 300 ml of this

and then balsamic, 250 ml of this.

Really strong smells coming off this. It's a wonderfully rich sauce.

It goes so beautifully with the shanks.

I'm going to put the lid on

and as soon as it's boiling, I'll take the lid off.

Now that is the colour you want, all over the lamb shank.

I'm going to pop them in the pot with the wine and vinegar.

Lay them all around like that.

I've got garlic, one bulb, or head. Just cut it in half and throw it in.

Two bay leaves, just rip them up and scatter them over, and two sprigs of rosemary.

I love that smell. A few pepper corns, and paprika.

There's already going to be flavour from the paprika in the chorizo which goes in later,

but I just want a real punch of flavour so I'm adding a bit of paprika as well.

About 300 ml of good beef stock.

The shanks won't be fully submerged in the liquid, but that's fine.

So I'll pop on a lid and then I'll put it in the oven for about two hours at 150 degrees.

Now I know this lamb sounds like it may not be easy, but believe me it is.

Everything goes into one pan and the oven does the work. I love that.

OK, so we've just got to get the chorizo ready.

I need 125 grams of this.

I'm using the ringed chorizo so it doesn't disintegrate when it cooks.

Now I'll just get the lamb shanks from the oven.

Ooh, these smell so good.

Yum. And then in goes the chorizo.

This adds amazing flavour.

And then I've got one onion just cut into rough wedges,

and two carrots.

I like to add a bit rosemary towards the end of the cooking time.

It just adds that extra flavour.

And then this goes back into the oven at 150 degrees

with the lid off this time so the sauce can reduce a bit.

Now I like to serve my lamb shanks with mashed potatoes.

I've got a really interesting way of making them

and it starts with putting them in the oven at 220 degrees for about an hour.

Right, I'm going to go and lay the table.

So, I'm going to drain that lovely sauce from the meat and vegetables,

and then whack up the heat and boil it down

to really thicken the sauce and intensify the flavours.

To add even more flavour, I normally pop in a bit of garlic as well.

Now I'm going to get on with making the mash. It's just so simple.

When the potatoes have had an hour in the oven, I cut them in half,

scoop out the flesh with nothing more technical than a spoon

and put it in a pan with a big knob of butter,

pinch of salt and a few twists of black pepper.

Then I turn the heat on low so the butter melts, and just stir it through with a fork.

So, that's the mash done.

The sauce is lovely and thick and now I'm going to plate up.

Take a big dollop of mash first.

Put it in the middle of the plate.

And a lamb shank.

I just like to prop it up against the potatoes, and make it look a bit fancy.

And then the vegetables with all that lovely chorizo,

and just pile those around.

Now this sauce is seriously good.

It's very, very rich so you don't need loads.

Look at that thick, syrupy sauce.

Right, now I'm going to get on with the other three.

When it comes to home cooking, I like to take basic ingredients and turn them into something special,

so in this bag, I've got flour, yeast, salt and oil

and I'm going to transform it into really cool French bread

like the ones you see in a bakery that people think they can never make at home.

At this time of year, I just think there's nothing better

than the smell of bread baking in the oven and eating it whilst it's still warm.

So this is going to fit the bill.

Right, so I need 275 grams of strong white bread flour.

Now, this bread, this pain d'epi is a beautifully-shaped French loaf.

So that's 275 there.

And then about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil,

175 ml of warm water.

There. And some yeast, one sachet.

And salt.

A nice big teaspoon of salt.

Adds loads of flavour.

And then just give it a mix.

I do sometimes make this on the machine, but it's great to make it by hand as well.

It should be this lovely, soft dough and the thing with bread is, it can have a mind of its own sometimes.

Sometimes it might need a bit more water, and sometimes a bit less,

and then just fold the edges into each other like that.

And then I'm going to put a bit of flour down.

Not too much because too much flour then alters the whole recipe.

Then knead it with the heel of the hand.

You've really got to work it to get all the proteins nice and stretchy and elastic

and that's what makes the bread so wonderful and chewy,

but it's also good for getting out the day's stress.

This needs to happen for ten minutes so I'm going to be a little while.

OK! That's ten minutes.

So I'm just going to test to see if it's ready.

Normally it is after a good ten minutes.

I fold all the outside bits inside then pick it up,

so you've got a nice taut ball.

Then take a floured finger and give it a little prod...

and when it springs back, that means it's perfectly kneaded.

I'm just going to roll it out like this.

You want quite a long and thin baguette and it doesn't have to be perfect by any means.

Just squashing down because it's quite stretchy.

That's it. That's fine.

So a bit of flour first on the tray.

And then slide it on to the tray.

Right, now I'm going to cover this with some clingfilm,

which has been oiled and the oil is so the clingfilm doesn't stick when you try and take it off.

So, I want to create a warm and cosy environment for the bread to rise.

This goes by the oven for about half an hour to 45 minutes,

until it's almost doubled in size. Now tidy up.

Sometimes the flour can be a real pain to get off the work surface, so - secret weapon.

It's a simple plastic scraper, you can get them at most kitchen shops

and it's one of my essential bits of kit.

More of those later on!

OK, so this is now ready.

Obviously it's got a lot bigger, but the way I test to see if it's ready

is...floured finger again -

and give it a prod and then the dough just springs back

just about half-way, so I'm going to shape the bread.

Just take a pair of scissors.

Snip, about a 45 degree angle at the top of the bread

and a bit lower, snip again.

Move that to the left, and just keep snipping all the way down the bread.

There. It gives you this lovely shape of a wheat stalk.

I'll put a bit of oil on top, give it a nice crust and help the salt stick on.

Then just a little bit of salt on top. This just gives extra flavour,

and it makes it look nice.

I always sprinkle flour on top of my bread because it gives a lovely bakery feel.

This needs to go in the oven for about half an hour at 200 degrees

and I like to create a steamy environment in the oven,

this helps the bread to rise before a crust forms.

You can use ice cubes, but another good thing to use is just spray.

So...I'm just going to give it a good spray.

This is just cold tap water.

It doesn't have to be ice-cold or anything. And close it.

And I'll pop this in.

There you are. Job done.

This is ready.

It smells really good.

I like to serve this just in the centre of the table where everyone can help themselves.

Now, it's not only home cooking ingredients that I like to keep simple, it's also the kit.

At home, I've got a mixer and a blender, but the rest of my kit is really pretty basic.

But I think there are a few essentials that you need as part of your home cooking kit.

One big professional chef's knife.

This size is my favourite and I do so much with it.

A paring knife for things like hard veg, a small serrated edge knife

for cutting soft food like tomatoes,

a steel to sharpen knives, really strong kitchen scissors

for spatchcocking chicken and snipping herbs,

and sauce pans, small, medium, and large.

I tend never to use more than three in a recipe, and, of course, frying pans.

Now I like the not non-stick variety as I find browning meat is much more efficient in them.

Baking trays and roasting tins and bowls too in different sizes,

and it's useful if they're heat and cold resistant.

And those are my home cooking essentials.

Making a cake is so much about home cooking for me -

from the most simple Victoria sponge

to the most amazing creation that no-one thinks you could make.

This is my graffiti cake.

It's a layered sponge covered in butter cream

and then wrapped in this sugar, graffiti band.

There's a fun fiddly bit in the middle,

but other than that, it's really simple

and I'm right in the middle of making one now.

Right, here it is.

I've done the first layer of icing,

but I've got to take you back a bit to show you how I made the sponge.

It's a simple sponge

and the first step is to cream 200 grams of both soft brown sugar

and butter with the seeds of a vanilla pod and an egg.

Then add 200 grams of self-raising flour in three batches,

alternating with three eggs added one by one.

Then that gets divided between two eight-inch sandwich tins

and baked at 180 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

The moment the cakes are done, I brush them with sugar syrup,

which is equal amounts of sugar and water boiled for two minutes.

Then they go into the fridge for 20 minutes to harden up

so I can ice them more easily.

So the icing is 400 grams of softened butter,

beaten really well until light and creamy,

with 800 grams of icing sugar and a few drops of vanilla extract.

And now the fun bit!

You take loads of the butter cream

and spread it all over the sides and the top of the cake.

Spread it liberally at first and then smooth out the edges

and over the top to give a neatish first layer.

Then I pop it into the fridge for the first layer of the butter cream to become hard.

Right, so that's where I'm up to. Now I'm going to get on with the second layer.

So I just need a big dollop of butter cream on top

and then just smooth it around,

and then get a bit more and then just plaster it round

and just keep the pallet knife moving from side to side,

sort of wiggling it to and fro.

Take the pallet knife straight like that against the cake,

one hand on this side

and then turn the turntable around like that.

And then hopefully the sides will become smooth

and I do ice the cake board as well.

It gives a bit of extra height.

Right, I'm going to get on with the graffiti.

So I've got 250 grams of granulated sugar in here

and I'm going to add to that about 130 ml of cold water,

and then 130 grams of liquid glucose.

Now you can get this from most supermarkets,

but you can use golden syrup as well.

The sugar needs to dissolve and once it has, you can whack up the heat.

This is going to take between five and 15 minutes to be ready,

so you have to test the sugar solution every five minutes.

So, get a teaspoon with some water in a mug.

Dip the teaspoon in the solution and you plunge it back in the water

and then you pull it out...

and then give it a test.

And it should be rock hard when it's ready.

So, obviously, not there yet.

Now, this is after about 12 minutes.

It is coating the back of the spoon,

but it's still a little bit soft.

Now it is ready. Look at that.

Rock solid and if I tap it...

..it's very hard.

Now I'm going to get on with the graffiti.

I add a couple of drops of vanilla extract.

And then some colouring.

I love red.

Now just mix it in by swirling it around

and then carefully pour it into this heat-proof jug.

You need to let the bubbles subside a bit and then it's ready to use.

I need to make a band that goes all the way around the cake,

so I'm going to try and make it in one go.

I've got these mats here, you can get them from the supermarket,

but you can just use baking parchment or greaseproof paper.

So I'm going to start at one end,

and there is no correct way of how to do the graffiti.

But I just like to do circles.

Just go round and round.

When I get to the end, I just go back on myself.

Often it comes off in one piece. Sometimes it doesn't!

I try and make the strands quite thick

because the really thin ones just tend to snap.

Bizarrely, I find this very therapeutic.

It does harden quite quickly and just as it starts to go hard,

that's when you have got to pick it up and wrap it around the cake.

Right, I'm happy with that.

So I've got a little bit left.

So on this mat, I'm going to pour

and give you this, hopefully, perfect circle.

And there.

Then... take one of these.

A lollipop.

Right. It's ready.

Just really carefully peeling off the back.

It really needs three pairs of hands.

Wrap it around like that,

and the warmth from the sugar syrup

will just help it stick nicely to the butter cream.

So far, so good.

Then the excess, cut it with some scissors.

You can hear it crunching.

Great!

There you have it.

Impressive, but simple.

My graffiti.

Now that's got my name on it.

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