Lazy Days James Martin: Home Comforts

Sometimes, there's no place like home,

and few things are more comforting

and delicious than real home cooking.

Living in this beautiful country

with great produce right on our doorstep,

we really are spoilt for choice.

So in this series, I'm inviting you into my kitchen to share with you

some of my tasty home-cooked treats,

the dishes I turn to, whether entertaining friends and family

or just relaxing on my own.

Home for me is the Hampshire countryside.

Here, and in Yorkshire growing up, I've been surrounded by great food.

I love the relaxed pace of life you get in a rural setting,

and that goes hand-in-glove with cooking slower food for those days

when you want to do as little as possible.

And the thought of a lazy day to me would be cooking something that's

very easy to prepare but something that takes time to cook in the oven.

That way, you get to experience the full-on flavour of slow-cooked food.

I want to inspire you with food that doesn't demand all your attention -

dishes that do all their own work in the oven,

as well as those that you can just throw together in no time at all.

We'll be learning how kitchen gadgets that make life easier

are by no means a new thing.

Using the best possible produce means you can take it easy

without compromising on flavour.

For me, there's no better place to switch off than at my own house.

At this time of the year, I always want to eat robust, hearty food.

Like my sticky barbecued ribs.

They're simple to prepare and finger-licking good.

Now, this dish is perfect for a lazy day at home,

because these just require a decent amount of time to braise,

but then you've got the roasting time as well.

The first thing I need to do is braise these ribs in water

with some onion, garlic and fennel seeds,

to make sure the meat is ready to fall off the bone. And star anise.

I think, as chefs, we often go through phases, really,

and I'm in a star anise phase, if that's what it means. I love this.

I use it in so many different things.

It's great in chocolate cake as well.

This sort of aniseedy sort of flavour.

I can't really get enough of this stuff.

It really is delicious.

I like to poach these ribs for three hours, which is

more than enough time for me to sort out the barbecue sauce.

And once you make it, you'll realise how easy it is to make your own.

I fry up the same base as before - onions, garlic, fennel seeds,

and my starring spice.

Then give the sauce a real kick with some chilli.

I like it serious. Two whole red chillies.

Remember, these ribs are massive,

so you want a decent amount of sauce to go with it.

Throw that in, and the seeds - everything.

The whole lot goes in. There's no real mystery to barbecue sauce.

It's sugar and ketchup.

You'll never buy it again.

It tastes so much better if you make your own,

because you can have your own recipe.

Mine is using some dark soy sauce... and then this stuff.

People walk past this stuff in the supermarket.

It's a bit like star anise, this, for me, really.

I can't get enough of this.

This is chipotle, or like a smoky sort of ketchup,

which is perfect for our ribs.

Once that's gone in, keep it simmering

until all the sugar has dissolved, and then bring it to the boil.

It just shows how quick it is, really,

because the soy, the chipotle

and the ketchup were already out of a jar,

and it's just what you add to it that transforms this

into a delicious barbecue sort of sauce.

But I'm going to put the whole lot in a blender,

even the star anise, cos I want a nice, rich, smooth sauce.

Cor, that's...!

That's good.

It's got a kick but that's what you want, really,

cos we're going to serve this with sour cream and jacket potatoes.

To finish off the ribs, I like to coat them in loads of the sauce,

then roast them in the oven for about 20 minutes.

This is something that I really love to cook at home.

If I can class anything as chef's food, this would be it.

Now, I reckon there should be a law saying

baked potatoes must be served with sour cram.

I like to make my own by whisking up some double cream with salt,

lemon juice and chives.

And once I've done that, it's time to serve up.

Just grab our ribs. I mean, check them out.

It goes lovely and sticky while they roast in the oven.

Of course, we've got our jacket potato as well.

It's worth the wait.

These really are fantastic.

If you can get them from the butcher's, do you know what?

This is perfect for one of those lazy days

that you're just chilling around at home.

Then in the evening there's always something good to watch on TV.

That is proper grub.

There you have it - my very own barbecued ribs.

A dish I dream of when I'm away,

made all the better by using the best ingredients I can find.

In fact, these days, wherever you live in the UK,

there's no excuse for not using top-quality local produce.

Here in Hampshire, I'm always amazed by the fresh, award-winning meat,

veg and fruit readily available within a stone's throw of my home.

For me, the perfect lazy day has a pint in it.

There are some brilliant local beers in my area.

Like those made by brewer Alasdair Large,

who set up the award-winning Keystone Brewery in 2006.

It's built in a converted barn

at the very farm which grows the barley for his artisan beer.

We're very keen that the beer that we produce

reflects our bit of South Wiltshire.

It goes out to local pubs.

We go to Wiltshire, Hampshire, a little bit of Dorset,

and keep everything as local as possible.

Keep the food miles down and keep the money in the local economy.

But before he can do any brewing,

Alasdair needs to get his barley malted.

It's a process where the seeds are germinated to unlock the sugars

which the brewing process converts into alcohol.

True to his local approach,

the company he works with are only seven miles away.

Originally opened in 1855,

Warminster Maltings is the oldest working maltings in the country.

Most malt houses are industrial-scale factories.

This is one of only four keeping local traditions alive -

an art that's barely changed for centuries.

Head maltster Chris Garratt has been with the company for 39 years.

This is the very start of the malting process.

Here we have barley

that's been delivered to us from our nearest farms.

And it's going into the steep tank, where it will be left for 72 hours

to increase its moisture.

So the barley is cast from the steep tank

and then levelled onto our germination floors.

The grains are turned several times a day for five days to aerate them

and make for a top-quality pint.

Back in the brewery, the malt is turned into a craft ale.

At the start of the brewing day, we mash in, which is where we mix

the malted barley and the hot water to form a porridge in the mash tun.

The malted barley releases its sugar to create the raw beer.

Hops are used to flavour the beer,

and yeast ferments the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide,

which is what gives the pint its head.

At the end of that fermentation,

we're ready to run the raw beer off into casks.

Then it's ready for drinking in a week, two weeks,

and ready for delivering into the pub cellar.

Of course, the best bit is tasting the fruits of your labour.

18 months ago, we opened our own pub in Tisbury

and it gives me the opportunity to test each batch as it goes out -

go down to the pub, which is on the way home.

And my locals are my harshest critics.

I'm lucky to have such a decent drop on my doorstep,

especially as Alasdair's even bringing some brews over

for me to use for my braised beef cheeks -

the laziest stew I know.

Served with mashed potatoes and spiced carrots,

this is cooking that gives you the afternoon off.

I have to say, I enjoy anybody that arrives at my house with some beer.

I've got a couple for you today.

Well, I'm going to create a nice little dish for you.

The first thing I'm going to do is marinate the beef.

To do that, we just marinate it with a little bit of garlic,

some onions, carrot, fresh thyme and then some beer.

-Can we have a taste of these?

-I've brought two along for you today.

I've brought our porter, which is a dark beer.

Brewed using roasted barley along with the lighter malts.

-It's very dark.

-It's almost a black beer.

I've also brought our best bitter along.

This is your standard copper-amber coloured beer.

What's the difference in producing them?

Well, they're brewed the same way.

Any beer is made up of about 85% of what we call pale malt.

And it's that small percentage, that 15%, that you can play with,

the different varieties of malt that go in

and this has got roast malt in it.

Crystal malt gives it some sweetness.

The roast malt gives a deep, roast, almost slightly burnt flavour.

Try that one first, it's a lighter one.

-Am I right in thinking that this is still alive?

-That is live.

That's got yeast in it, and it's still fermenting ever so slowly.

It's done 95% of its fermentation in the brewery.

There's a little bit of yeast still in there,

there's a little bit of sugar still present.

And that last bit of fermentation happens in a closed environment.

And that's what we call conditioning.

When you see "cask-conditioned beer" what it means

is it's had that last bit of conditioning happen inside the cask.

This is what I'm used to as well - this is the porter.

Totally different in colour.

There's a lot going on in this glass, really, in terms of flavour.

-It's quite complex.

-It IS quite complex.

Very good to cook with. We use it instead of red win at home.

I use it a lot to cook with as well,

so, I'm going to marinade the cheeks in this.

In here we've got some diced carrot.

We've got some onion, garlic, thyme.

It's a great pub dish, this, cos you can just bung it all in.

I'm going to set you to work cos I want you to peel the carrots.

There's no such thing as a free lunch in my house, you see.

Marinate the meat in the fridge

for at least 12 hours to impart some flavour.

Then you want to seal them in a little bit of oil

in a smoking hot pan to lock in the flavour.

These will actually shrink as they cook.

A lot of people think this is a decent sort of sized portion

but they will actually shrink to a sort of portion size as well.

We want to get lots of colour on here,

so help it along its way with a little knob of butter as well.

Can you get these cuts from any butcher?

-It's not a standard cut of meat, is it?

-The cheeks, really,

a lot of the times they were just used for burgers

and mince and stuff like that.

Nowadays we're looking at different types of food,

particularly slow-cooking food.

Even pig's trotters used to be cheap

-until chefs on TV decided to use them...

-So, it's all your fault?

..bumped up the price. Yeah.

These are still inexpensive, really.

So, why beer for you? How did you get involved in it?

A friend of the family had a small brewery up in Norfolk

and I went up and spent my summer holiday doing some brewing with him.

Whenever I had some leave, I would spend it in someone else's brewery,

sweeping the floor, you know, just getting an idea of,

"Do I really want to do this?" No-one gets rich doing what I'm doing.

And it's a lifestyle. It's a bit of fun.

It's a really nice industry to be involved in.

Why that particular type of production, when it comes to malt?

To ensure that we get as local possible flavour

into our product as we can.

-Who produces the best beer, Yorkshire or down here?

-Down here.

Moving swiftly on.

I'm layering my marinated veg into the casserole with the beef

to maximise the flavour.

Normally, if you're doing a red wine marinade,

you wouldn't use this, you'd strain it off.

But with beer this good and the fact that I'm a Yorkshireman

and I don't want to waste any,

it's going to go into our pot as well.

So, you just throw the whole lot in. Now, just to help it along its way,

we're just going to use some beef stock.

Just a little pack of this. Probably a couple of these, actually.

And then all that you do now is put the lid on.

This is the perfect dish for a lazy day because with these,

you just put them in the oven and kind of forget about them.

Just enough time to go down the pub.

Come on.

My stew needs at least four hours on a very low heat

so the meat can break down, producing a delicious velvety sauce.

150 degrees should do it.

If you spend all night in the pub, even better

because the longer it takes...

the better they will be as well. A bit like the garnish for this.

And I'm going to show you how to do these fantastic carrots,

which are great for your pub, all right?

So, you just top and tail them.

Can you grab me some star anise out the back there, on the shelf?

This is my take on a French favourite - Vichy carrots,

slow-cooked with a sweet, buttery glaze.

I put whole carrots in a pan of water with a dash of salt,

a good knob of butter,

plus star anise for an aniseed note.

Finally some sugar and you're ready to roll.

Put the carrots on to cook for at least half an hour

before you want to serve them up alongside these tender beef cheeks.

But it's not finished yet

because we're going to make a sauce out of this.

You get a nice hot pan...

..and put the sauce in here.

It's all about the reduction, really,

and by reducing it, you strengthen the flavour.

The carrots are just cooking away nicely.

I've got some mashed potato here -

proper mashed potato with cream and butter.

That's just going to...

sit on our plate like this.

Decent-sized chunk of carrot, which I think is what you want for this.

You can trim that up.

You can have a taste of those while we're waiting for the sauce.

But it's the star anise that really works in it.

They're fantastic, aren't they?

-A bit of aniseed?

-Yeah, you get a lovely flavour with it.

You can see this sauce now, as it reduces down,

a little knob of butter.

Then what we do is, we put our beef cheek back in here

and just basically glaze it.

-You get this wonderful sort of...

-Shine.

-..shine with it.

That's by reducing that sauce down.

Too much and it's too strong.

-But you get a decent, pub-sized portion, you see?

-Yep.

And then some of our lovely sauce over the top.

-You get to dive in. I'll do you a swap.

-Oh, good deal.

Dive in. Tell us what do you think.

It just rips off. You can almost eat this with a spoon.

You don't really need a knife and fork.

It's one of the most underused cuts of beef, I think, cooked properly.

-Get in.

-Happy with that?

-Very.

There's a bit of sweetness and roundness that comes through.

-Excellent.

-You can have that for your pub menu.

-I'll let you have that one.

-Can I call it James's?

-Fair enough.

As long as I get a pint.

Alistair's beer works brilliantly in this slow-cooked braise,

a dish which proves that good things come to those who wait -

something our ancestors were only too aware of.

The ultimate lazy day treat, and a big favourite of mine,

is the traditional British roast.

As food historian Ivan Day knows,

it was relished just as much by our ancestors as it is by us today.

From his Cumbrian home, he reveals how his inventive forebears

made their lives a little bit easier when cooking this classic dish.

Roast meats have been in England since the Norman conquest

and probably earlier.

We were esteemed in Europe as being the very best roasters.

That's why the French called us rosbifs.

It wasn't a derogatory term. It was praising us.

What I'm going to do this morning is to actually roast

a lovely loin of pork. We're going to put it in front of the fire

and we're going to get the spit to turn,

not by turning it laboriously by hand

but by getting a culinary robot to do it for you,

which is what I'm going to do.

So this machine is called a spit jack.

It dates from about 1780.

But, very simply, it's a bit like the inside of a grandfather clock.

Hanging from here is a very heavy weight.

So if I wind it up, the rope will wind around the drum.

COGS SQUEAK

That's a great noise.

It's the sound of an 18th-century kitchen.

That's as far as it will go.

If I give that a bit of a flick, that'll keep moving.

The main reason it's doing it is to turn this chain around.

What I'm going to do is put the spit chain onto the pulley

at the end of the spit.

It'll hang on there.

As you can see, the meat is now beginning to rotate

very, very slowly towards the fire.

The first lazy cook to use one of these

was probably in Italy in the 15th century.

Then it spread all over Europe. It came to England in the 16th.

For me, the best accompaniment to spit-roasted meat

is something called a fired pudding.

And it's a recipe that's right up my street.

Mash, pepper, onion, nutmeg,

and a good wedge of butter.

These two dishes predate industrialised food.

But they show how people, even 300 years ago,

were trying to make the task a lot easier for themselves

by using labour-saving devices.

The whole point of this dish is that a lot of the juices

that are dripping off now are not fat,

it's the gravy that's actually dripping down.

It just toasts in front of the fire.

It should be a lovely mahogany colour when it's finished.

The lazy Sunday roast only really started to become a feature

of English life in the 19th century.

More and more people could A, afford the meat

and B, afford to have a fireplace in their house.

A large spit like this needs a big fire.

So it would only be found in wealthy houses.

The joint is absolutely perfectly cooked now.

Spit-roasted meat doesn't lose its moisture,

so when you take it off the spit,

you get half a gallon of gravy, which just oozes out.

You don't have to go and mix some stock cubes up.

It provides its own juice.

Try the crackling first, I think.

Let's just test that out.

Absolutely unbelievable.

For me, I'm pretty sure that the best bit

is going to be the crispy crust on the potato pudding.

Which is as close as you can get to heaven, actually. It really is.

It's just so amazingly good.

Plus it's a roast that gives you plenty of time off.

But lazy-day home cooking doesn't always mean long and slow.

Sometimes you need food you can just rustle up in a jiffy

without skimping on flavour.

Something that I find that fits the bill

is my cream chicken and mushroom pie with a golden puff pastry top.

It's a one-pot wonder, all cooked in a frying pan.

So make sure yours is ovenproof.

It takes minutes to make

but tastes like you've slaved on the stove for hours.

In my line of work, I don't really get many lazy days.

But when I do get the occasional day off,

there's nothing better, really, than to sit and cook a pie.

It's one of the things that's a winter warmer.

It warms your heart as well as your taste buds.

We're going to start off with a few shallots.

Garlic, just chopped up.

Then add diced chicken breast to your pan.

The perfect partner for poultry is mushrooms.

They have an amazing flavour,

so pick and choose your favourite varieties.

That's one of the great things nowadays about supermarkets.

Now you're starting to get different types of mushrooms,

from chanterelle, girolles...

Just getting a little bit of colour on here.

Not too much.

Just colour the chicken a little bit.

Be careful not to burn the onions as well.

Otherwise it can become slightly bitter.

That's probably enough now.

Then we can throw in our mushrooms.

With mushrooms, you want to cook them as hot as possible,

because they contain a lot of water.

That's why we don't really want to wash mushrooms.

You basically just rub off the dirt.

Whenever frying them, the temptation is to have the pan not hot enough,

and then they end up sweating.

And then one of the great flavourings

with chicken and mushrooms is Madeira.

What you do need to do is flame this.

Flaming it will get rid of the alcohol from it as well.

Otherwise it's too intense a flavour.

Then I'm going to add some of this chicken stock.

This is one of the great things in supermarkets,

like mushrooms now, that's readily available

and makes this such a quick dish to be able to cook.

While we're doing that, we can add one of the great ingredients

to go with chicken. I love it. It's tarragon.

It's got a lovely aniseedy sort of flavour

that goes well with so many different meats and fish.

Tarragon and chicken really are a great combination.

And then finally, no creme fraiche, no single cream.

Double cream.

The reason for the double cream is, we get the texture

of a sauce almost straightaway,

particularly when we bring this to the boil,

to reduce that liquid down to create this wonderful sauce

to go in our pie.

Don't forget to season it and then let it simmer away

for five to 10 minutes. And that's it.

See? I said it was easy.

This is great.

You could eat it almost as it is, straightaway like this.

But as I'm making a pie, I need to crack on with the pastry top.

So often with pies, they use shortcrust pastry.

But for me, really, the best tasting pie to go with chicken or beef

has to be with puff pastry. I don't know what it is.

It's that buttery layers of crisp pastry as you sort of break into it

before you get to the filling,

which you know is going to taste great.

Particularly, it looks great.

Make sure the pastry isn't too thick,

because you want it to cook in the middle.

That'll do, sort of 4mm to 5mm thickness would be great.

Then just very quickly roll this up.

Once the pastry is ready, paint the edge of the pan with egg wash.

Then roll out the pastry over the top.

And trim the edges, before egg-washing the top of your pie.

When you get to that stage,

you can do your fancy little crimping around the edge.

Just take two fingers and a thumb

and really press this onto the side of the pan.

And then, to be a bit fancy, a few leaves.

And then we just put these on nice and quick.

In the oven. About 25 minutes. Hot oven.

Done.

So kick back and relax before tucking in.

You see, look at this. I know it's very different cooking it in a pan.

But it just saves on washing up.

Let's face it, if you want a lazy day,

why spend most of the time washing up?

You just take some of this pie out.

That combination between chicken, mushrooms,

tarragon, puff pastry...

Even just looking at it, you know it's going to taste good.

I've got to dive in.

That is so delicious.

It's so simple.

You can just cook it time and time again.

It's the sort of dish that makes me realise how lucky I am

to be able to make a living from food.

Lazy-day eating shouldn't mean missing out on good grub.

For me, it's all about having a relaxed approach to meals,

choosing the dishes that take a while to cook,

so let you enjoy your time off.

And that's the way to eat fantastic food

and avoid putting too many hours in the kitchen.

If you'd like to know more about how to cook any of the recipes

featured on today's show,

you can get all of them at our website...