Meals for One 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.'

'Sometimes, when life gets too hectic,

'there's nothing better than taking a little time out to unwind.

'And for me, that means just me and these two enjoying a stroll,

'but most importantly,

'serving up some delicious food to enjoy amidst the peace and quiet.'

Now, cooking for yourself doesn't mean that you can't indulge

yourself now and then.

So pack up the tins, leave those for the dogs, and I'm going to show you

some of my personal favourites that I cook when I'm home alone.

Whether it's extravagant treats or one-pot sensations.

'We'll also be meeting food producers making the ultimate

'individual treats.

'Exploring meals for one, Georgian-style.

'And I'll be cooking a dish that you just won't want to share.

Now, soup has to be one of the quickest

and easiest meals to create just for one person.

This is one of the soups that's particularly good once you freeze it.

'That's why my French onion soup is perfect for one.

'You prepare it once

'and it gives you individual portions to enjoy for months.

'It's a truly iconic dish that reminds me

'of my time training as a chef in France.'

Whenever I go over there, there's just one restaurant. It's not fancy.

It's basically just off the Champs-Elysees,

almost like a little cafe.

And they do, I think, the best French onion soup

you can have in France.

'Get the onions caramelising in a hot frying pan with a few

'glugs of oil and a knob of butter.

'But you're going to need a lot of them

'so I'm finely slicing three of the large white Spanish variety.'

Then if you use a sharp knife, you shouldn't cry.

It's basically the spray that comes off the onions makes you cry.

I'm going to flavour that now with some fresh thyme.

It's a good idea, when you buy sort of thyme like this,

particularly in the winter, you actually shred it from the stalks.

In the summer, you can chop it up,

but the stalks get a little bit woody.

And then, just to help with the caramelisation,

it's good to use some sugar.

And I use brown sugar, about a tablespoon, really.

But the key to this is to get a really nice caramelisation

on the onions.

And that needs time.

'When the onion has gone a golden brown colour,

'chop some garlic and add it to the mix.

'If you add the garlic before this point, it will burn and go bitter.'

Now we can add our white wine. Good-quality white wine.

About a glass. And then, to thicken our soup...

..what we add now is flour,

but you've got to be really careful with this bit.

The temptation, really, at this point, is to add too much.

For this amount, I just need about a tablespoon.

If you stir it in at this point, you won't get any lumps with it,

so mix it really well together with that reduced white wine.

And you almost, what they call "cook it out".

You actually start to cook the flour.

This is quite crucial, really, when it comes to making something

like this or a white sauce, that it doesn't actually taste of flour.

You want this soup to taste of onions.

You also want it to taste of these two next ingredients that

I'm about to add - brandy.

Good-quality brandy. Just a smidge.

Ish. Little bit more.

And then, sherry.

Just reminds me of my gran.

You do need a little bit of sherry in there. Flame it a little bit.

And then we're going to throw in some good-quality beef stock.

That's the key to this.

And you get this delicious-looking French onion soup.

What you do now is just bring this to the boil.

By bringing it to the boil all that onion...

Don't know what you call it - gubbins -

stuck to the bottom of the pan

will actually start to lift off, and all that flavour

will impart into our soup.

And by adding that little amount of flour,

as you bring it to the boil,

it'll start to thicken it.

'You can't have French onion soup without a crouton,

'so I'm toasting a decent chunk of quality bread.'

If you haven't got one of these, a griddle pan or something like that.

Just to get a little bit of flavour onto the bread, as well.

Alternatively, just a decent-size chunk of toasted bread will do.

'A good quality crouton deserves cheese,

'and for me it has to be Gruyere.

'It has a wonderful melting quality, and I like loads of it!'

Now, at this point, we can taste this.

And then it's really personal preference what happens now.

Sometimes you need to add a little bit more sugar,

but, for me, this really needs salt.

And you'll be surprised how much.

'It needs to be a fair amount of salt,

'so you can balance out the sugars and stop the soup tasting too sweet.'

That's now better.

Black pepper.

Switch it off.

Now, the great thing about this, what you can do...

The secret of making plenty of it

is you can just take it into a freezer bag.

Allow it to cool down, pop it in the freezer.

This is one soup that just doesn't lose any flavour whatsoever

once you defrost and reheat it.

And also this gravy here - which is what it is, really, this sauce -

is superb with Yorkshire pudding.

It really is. It takes Yorkshire pudding to a different level.

I never thought I'd say that, but it really does.

And then to serve this, you need one of these deep...

soup pots, really, for this one.

Don't worry about the bits around the edge.

This is French brasserie sort of stuff. This is what we want!

And although this is good enough to eat as it is, then what we do...

You get your crouton,

sits in there cos you want it to start soaking up that soup, as well.

And then cheese.

You cannot put enough cheese on the top of French onion soup.

Even now, you put more on.

'This isn't one to be too neat with.

'I like letting it bubble over the sides of the bowl.'

Because as well as stuff in the bowl

it's the stuff around the outside

that you scrape off that's the best bit.

It's a bit like lasagne -

the inside is good, but it's the crispy bits on the edge

that people go for first. Now all we need to do...

under the grill...to brown off that cheese.

Two minutes.

'But two minutes can feel like a lifetime

'when you're waiting for soup as tasty as this.'

And this is the bit that you look forward to.

It's surprising how much cheese you put in there...

but what happens to it,

it all just suddenly dissolves into your pot.

That is fantastic!

'It's worth finding some time by yourself

'when you've got a dish as rewarding as this.'

'Self catering like this is, of course, nothing new.'

'Up in his Lake District cottage, food historian Ivan Day

'is utilising some ingenious equipment'

'to recreate a meal for one, Georgian style.'

Nowadays, a lot of solitary diners will nip into the supermarket

and get something from the chill cabinet.

But I remember when I was a student in my bedsit,

my favourite food actually was cheese on toast.

And I think this has been a choice, really,

of most solitary diners for centuries.

There were many types of toaster,

and the one that I'm going to use today

is really very simple but ingenious.

With a very fierce little fire like this,

it shouldn't take too long to toast - maybe a minute or so.

I'll have a look at it now and check how brown that's getting.

So, as you can see it's done on one side,

so all I've got to do now is to flip it round the other way.

Put it back.

So, that was toast in split seconds.

Much faster than a modern toaster.

So how on earth did they make cheese on toast

at the time when there was no such thing as an overhead grill?

You had a special implement.

An amazing thing which has been forgotten about,

and this was called a salamander,

or a cheese toaster.

As you can see, this is an amazingly dangerous way

of making cheese on toast.

Can you imagine coming out of the pub on a Friday night,

handling one of these!

It's more the sort of thing you might find in a blacksmith's forge

than in a kitchen.

But that's done.

Look, it's boiling away

like molten lava.

What I do have is a really nice fierce kitchen stove there.

And I'm going to use that to demonstrate another

very popular way of cooking

and that is the use of one of these things -

which is called a gridiron.

This is a really flexible implement

because you can cook just about anything on it.

What I'm going to cook on it is, in fact, a kipper.

This doesn't look anything like what we understand to be a kipper

but this is the original kipper.

This is kippered salmon.

And I've made it from an 18th-century recipe.

It's been salted, and then hung in some oak smoke.

A lot of people were cooking on coal,

which often would flavour the fish or the meat

in a rather unpleasant way.

So to stop that happening,

make a little box out of paper

which we can put on the gridiron,

and A) it won't stick

and B) we won't we won't get that horrible smoky flavour from the coal.

What I really need to do is to get a little bit of butter

into each of these cases.

It's the butter that stops the paper from burning.

Cooking for yourself in the past could be really quick and easy,

simple, but also creative and interesting.

And I think this forgotten fish dish is.

That's absolutely perfectly cooked. Superb.

The speed with which you could prepare it

and the simplicity of it

must have been very appealing for somebody living by themselves.

Now, what I think is one of the ultimate meals for one

is steak and chips.

Sounds pretty straightforward, and I'm going to use frozen chips,

because I think they are the best for this steak.

But it's all about the sauce and steak combination.

'So this is my fillet of wagyu beef with Bearnaise sauce.

'If you're cooking for a crowd, steak can be too expensive.

'But this is ideal for one,

'so why not hang the expense

'and ask your butcher for the best cut you can get?'

We have got some fantastic wagyu beef here.

Wagyu fillet of beef - from Yorkshire, would you believe?

And I'm going to serve it with one of the classic sauces,

or certainly a variant of one of the classic sauces - a Bearnaise.

The first thing you need to make is a hollandaise part of it.

To do that, you need two pans, really.

One pan quite low, and we use full fat butter.

You cannot make this with margarine.

'First, I'm going to clarify the butter

'by melting it, then slowly simmering,

'which separates off the salt and impurities.'

Now, at the same time, we can prepare our reduction.

'Finely chop a couple of shallots.

'The shallots go into a hot dry pan.'

One of the first times I made this was in France,

when I was about 12 years old, and the same recipe,

the same ingredients, still apply.

Nothing changes.

A little bit of white wine.

'I'm adding some white peppercorns

'but normal white pepper will do.

'And some tarragon vinegar.'

Tarragon vinegar is white wine vinegar...

with a piece of tarragon...

..lid on, wait a week...

you now have tarragon vinegar.

'If you like, add some tarragon leaves as well.'

We reduce this down to almost nothing.

'To clarify the butter

'keep removing the foam that appears on the top with a spoon

'until it's all gone.

'Then it's on to the next stage of the hollandaise.'

I need some boiling water...

and what the French call a bain-marie.

In Yorkshire, we call it "a pan of hot water".

'Crack three egg yolks into a bowl

'and whisk it over the heat.'

This is the longest part of this dish, really.

I'm going to use frozen chips

because I used to travel to France quite a lot in my younger years.

I was brought up tasting meat that was almost...

You'd take the hooves off and walk it through the kitchen to warm up.

'The hollandaise sauce I am making

'is the base for loads of other classic French sauces.

'If you add blood oranges it becomes Maltaise,

'and with some fresh mint, it's Paloise sauce -

'famous with roast lamb.'

But by adding tarragon to it, you get that classic Bearnaise.

'When the clarified butter has fully cooled,

'start adding it to the eggs, slowly whisking all the time.'

Now, it's very similar to mayonnaise really.

If I add the butter too quickly, it's going to split.

If we add it too hot, it's going split.

It almost wants to be just tepid to the finger.

Dip your finger in - if you can handle it in there,

the egg yolks can handle it.

'Once it starts to thicken, you can add the butter in faster.

'And I'm looking to make it the same thickness as mayonnaise.'

And then in here, now, you've got this reduction -

which has literally gone to nothing.

'Leave them both to cool for a few minutes,

'and then move on to the steak.'

Now, Yorkshire wagyu sounds a bit weird, doesn't it?

But this is what it's all about.

But this is a beautiful piece of fillet here.

I'm just going to take a decent amount of this off, really.

Nowadays you can buy this stuff on the supermarket shelves.

You can get hold of it. And it's produced here in the UK, as well.

'When you're cooking steak,

'seal it before you even think about salt and pepper.

'Put a bit of oil into a pan,

'add the steak, and crucially leave it alone.'

I can remember the words of a Frenchman,

as I used to touch it and prod it,

he'd shout at me, swearing in French, not to touch it.

I shan't repeat them.

'By resisting the temptation to fiddle with it,

'the surface of the steak will seal and caramelise,

'which gives you the perfect flavour.

'And here's a great tip for getting it bang on to your liking.'

If you put your finger and your thumb together like that,

press this part here, press the beef in the centre -

when it's the same texture as that, that means it's rare.

If you go to the next finger,

it starts to get a little bit firmer, it's medium rare.

Next finger, medium.

This one - knackered.

'When you can see this steak has cooked about a third of the way up,

'it's ready to turn over.'

You can see that caramelisation you get on the meat.

You'll not get that if you keep turning it and turning it.

This to me is what food's all about.

If I'm at home... this is what I cook.

You know, steak, chips, Bearnaise sauce.

'The steak's nearly cooked, so it's time to break out the frozen chips.'

Now, what I'm going to do -

which I can do, because I've got the oven on -

with a piece of steak like this -

just flash it through the oven.

Particularly, one that's a little bit thick like this.

Two to three minutes in there.

Meanwhile, we can finish off our classic Bearnaise.

'Now the reduction has cooled,

'add it to the hollandaise

'and add some chopped tarragon - and it becomes Bearnaise.'

Now, that...is a classic Bearnaise sauce.

Steak's ready,

back on the heat.

Now, the difference between a good steak, and a great steak

is this next bit.

'Keep spooning the butter over the steak, layer after layer.'

Some salt.

'Season it with salt and pepper

'and keep going with the butter.'

It's this technique, really...

that's used so many times in a restaurant

whether you're cooking chicken, beef, fish...

..that people don't really know about,

but it makes all the difference.

'Set it aside to rest.

'Drain the chips and pile them up onto your plate.

'This is definitely not nouvelle cuisine!'

You see, some things you just know...

are going to taste good.

And this is one of them.

On the plate,

then you've got some classic Bearnaise sauce to go with it.

You see, look at that.

It's taken me just 15 minutes to make.

The ultimate chef's food.

You can go anywhere in the world -

and I mean anywhere in the world -

nothing tastes better than steak and chips,

with the addition of Bearnaise sauce.

I defy anybody to say otherwise.

It really is the ultimate dinner for one.

You've got to treat yourself now and then, haven't you?

'The only problem with a dish as flavoursome and indulgent

'as steak and chips, is what do you follow it up with?

'Luckily, there are small-scale food producers making sweet treats,

'that are just the job for a classy dessert

'and perfect for eating solo.

'One such pioneer is introducing her goodies with a modern twist

'from her kitchen at home.'

My name's Serena and I have a business called Pearl & Groove.

I make different, grown-up, flourless cakes.

And meringues and biscuits and brownies, but mainly cakes.

The name Pearl & Groove has come from my mum and dad.

My mum's nickname was Pearlie.

Pearlie is very healthy and has a sugar-free, dairy-free diet,

and my dad's nickname is Groover.

We all just call him Groover because he just grooves around.

So, tonight it's very exciting.

We're going to this restaurant in Islington called House of Wolf.

Me and this friend Tom, we've set up the evening

and he does street food.

It's going to be a five-course dinner.

The puddings I'm doing are

a dark chocolate and Cointreau brownie with orange curd.

A spiced fruit cake with brandy butter on top.

And a whisky and ginger cake.

They're all boozy, but it's winter, so you need to keep warm.

I'm just making a ginger and whisky cake,

also known as a Whisky Mac.

'The flavours added include ginger wine, single malt whisky,

'and Chinese stem ginger.'

Sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night and think...

I'll try that tomorrow.

See whether that works.

Sometimes it never works.

I don't think I get too flustered.

Sometimes I'm a bit, like, "Oh, my God, I've just got to keep going

"at 100mph and I have not got time to have a cup of tea,"

But that's OK. It's adrenaline.

SHE LAUGHS

'As it's the last course of the evening,

'she wants to end with a bang

'and that means her presentation needs to stand out.'

It's a lot of time doing the individual boxes.

But I like it.

Because I think it has more of an impact.

And everyone likes it.

We've got a good crowd, which will be nice.

Delicious! That's what it tastes like.

Yummy! I'm not talking, because it's tasty.

It's really nice to have a variety which isn't too overwhelming.

Especially for a pudding.

It's an experience, so whether it's opening a box with a ribbon

or whether it's come in a little bag with a fork

and you have to rip it open and find out what's inside...

the whole thing should be fun.

I can't imagine myself doing anything else.

I love it.

I like being able to have that risk,

and try something out and see whether it is going to work.

When it does work, it's all you and it's so rewarding.

'If you have tasty produce like that where you live,

'you could of course buy your pudding.

'But once you've tried my intelligent dessert recipe for one,

'I think you'll want to cook your own.'

Now, when you think of cooking for one in terms of dessert,

it's quite difficult to think of the recipe where you can only make one portion.

However, there is one really good one that I always fall back on.

'My delicious chocolate and salted caramel banoffee cheesecake

'takes the best bits of two classic desserts

'and has some fun with them.

'This is one you won't want to share with anyone else!'

Sounds complicated, but trust me it's a really quick.

First of all we use cream cheese.

This is full fat cream cheese -

it's really important that you use full fat cream cheese,

because otherwise it won't set.

Then we want some full fat creme fraiche.

There's a theme throughout this dessert.

And it continues.

Double cream.

The creme fraiche creates that cheesecake taste.

That's what you're looking for.

It's that little bit of sharpness.

Then, really, you can flavour this with whatever you want

because that's fundamentally your cheesecake done.

I'm going to flavour mine with some vanilla.

Always buy the bourbon vanilla pods.

Comes from Madagascar - these are the big fat vanilla pods.

You get what you pay for -

the better quality vanilla, you get much larger pods.

Now, we could if you wanted to just leave it as that,

and that is your cheesecake done.

Serve it on a biscuit base,

put it in a mould and you've got one done.

But I'm going to flavour mine with some salted caramel.

'You could make your own topping, known as dulce de leche,

'by slowly boiling a can of condensed milk, but life's too short.

'And I'm using the shop-bought stuff,

'which I think is just as good.'

I've been fortunate to be a pastry chef

in many restaurants,

but that is pretty special.

Pinch of salt. And it has to be sort of sea salt.

You can't make this with table salt.

This is your salted caramel,

which is going to go perfect... in this.

What we do is we just add it into our mix,

and just leave that to one side. Because that's nearly ready now.

We can turn our attention to our bananas.

Good to have a little bit left over.

Pinch of sugar.

Just a small amount

because this is going to make a very quick and simple caramel.

Now, while that's happening,

we can take our milk chocolate digestives and crush them up.

For our little base.

Like that.

I can then basically just half-mix this, so you get a marbled effect.

That's all we need.

The sugar's nearly ready,

in we go with a banana.

A little knob of butter.

Be careful with this sugar, rolling it round, it's quite hot.

A touch of cream - stops it from cooking.

Now all we do with this is lift this off...

You've got this lovely toffee banana and this sauce to go with it.

It's very quick. Then all we do now is grab a hot spoon...

..and put that on the side.

And a little grating...

Really, when it comes to desserts,

I don't think there is such a thing as less is more.

A little grating of chocolate on the top.

Not bad that - dessert for one,

done in probably a few minutes, really,

if you've got all the ingredients.

But it's when you taste that combination of the salted caramel

and this cheesecake filling...

It's good, that.

'Cooking a meal for one is the perfect time to be indulgent.

'So next time you're cooking solo, don't break out a ready-made meal,

'spoil yourself!'

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