Feel Good Food Lorraine's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food

I'm Lorraine Pascale and this is all about fast, fresh and easy food.

Delicious meals can be really quick to make

and for me cooking from fresh ingredients is the way to go.

Great food can be fast and delicious with these effortless recipes

and a few simple shortcuts.

Follow my tips and hopefully you'll never want to reach for a ready meal again.

Making quick, tasty food for everyday meals

and last-minute entertaining can all be so easy.

To me, some food is just comfort food.

It makes me feel all warm and cosy and smiley inside

and these are some of my favourites.

Nothing says comfort like my luxury chocolate mousse with raspberries.

A speedy pasta supper - prawn and chorizo linguine

with a rich tomato and red wine sauce.

And a cosy twist on a Chinese classic - sweet and sour pork balls.

I'll also be cooking up a soft and creamy lasagne with golden veg.

Totally scrummy.

And how about some shamelessly fun mini chocolate lollies on a stick?

I get the insider's guide to fresh and fast cooking on the streets.

This food is absolute feel-good food.

-I love getting my hands mucky.

-That's the way to do it.

-Get your hands in the food.

-Yep, perfect.

I'm kicking off with a comforting breakfast,

perfect for those mornings when you're in need of something extra special.

Sometimes, when I can get out of bed BEFORE noon on a Sunday,

I like to treat my family to gingerbread pancakes dripping with maple syrup.

I start off with a classic pancake mix.

So 225 grams of self-raising flour, in the blender.

300ml of semi-skimmed milk.

One medium-sized egg.

A little pinch of cinnamon.

And about two teaspoons of ground ginger.

This will give it some extra spice.

The seed of one vanilla pod.

Two to three tablespoons of soft, light brown sugar.

To make them extra fluffy, one teaspoon of baking powder.

And then blitz.

And they're ready to cook.

Right. Now I'm going to leave those to sit

and get nice and crispy on the bottom, then I'll flip them over.

These just need two minutes on each side.

And now to build the pancake stack.

To accompany my pancakes, I've fried off some Parma ham

until it's nice and crispy.

Now, I'm going to give it a little bit of lemon zest, just a pinch.

Some maple syrup. Big drizzle.

All over. Look at that.

And this pancake stack is for sharing.

And that's it. A perfect pick-me-up for a lazy Sunday morning.

Try telling me that you're not tempted!

Just the thought of some ingredients makes me feel amazing.

Spicy chorizo is definitely one of those.

Apart from the fact that I just love it,

apparently the heat of the spicy chilli flavour

can trigger the body to release a rush of feel-good endorphins.

I am a real chorizo lover. I eat it pretty much every day.

It's a wonderful cured combination of paprika, garlic, and sherry.

I'm going to use it in my next dish which is a prawn linguine

with chorizo and a Cabernet tomato sauce.

Gently fry two teaspoons of crushed fennel seeds in a little oil.

Slice one red chilli

along with two sprigs of rosemary and two cloves of garlic,

and throw into the pan.

And then chorizo, one of my favourite ingredients.

Oh! Really aromatic.

Chorizo, the rosemary, the fennel, really powerful flavours.

A good two tablespoons of harissa.

Harissa is a North African paste.

It's tomatoes, chilli, garlic, really intense flavours.

If you don't have it in your cupboard,

tomato puree works just fine, too.

Next, two tins of chopped tomatoes.

Two teaspoons of oregano.

And then wine. Cabernet Sauvignon, beautiful, plummy flavours.

Every now and then I love to cook using alcohol.

It's a fabulous flavour enhancer and these are some of my favourites.

A Cabernet Sauvignon is great in a rich tomato sauce

or with heavy meats like game or in a wonderful stew.

Chardonnay, that hit drink of the '90s,

goes beautifully when slow cooked with lamb.

Madeira or Marsala goes beautifully with mushrooms.

I like to pan fry some mushrooms with a little bit of butter

and some thyme and then add a splash of Madeira or Marsala.

Let that bubble away for a minute

then serve it on some hot buttered toast.

If the tomato and red wine combo wasn't delicious enough,

there's just one more ingredient to make this dish truly irresistible.

A little pinch of sugar, just to round off the flavours

and soften any acidity in the tomatoes.

Give everything a stir and then whack up the heat.

Leave it to bubble away for about 10 minutes. Simple.

And I like to put plenty of salt into the boiling water for the linguine.

Once the pasta's been cooking for about five minutes,

I need to get my prawns and add them to the sauce.

So I've got 225 grams of peeled, raw prawns here.

The prawns only need about three to four minutes before they're cooked.

This prawn linguine with the chorizo and Cabernet sauce

is going to be my supper.

I think we all need a sweet treat now and then

and I always think a little of what you fancy does you good.

I call this next recipe my shameless shortcut cake pops

because you just throw some biscuits in a blender,

blitz it, and then dip it in more chocolate. Shameless!

Tip two packets of chocolate cookies into a blender

and whizz them into fine breadcrumbs.

Add a good dollop of chocolate spread and then blitz again

until the mixture comes together into a big ball.

Spoon small blobs of the mix into your hands

then roll them into about 18 to 20 equal-sized balls,

placing them onto a lined baking tray as you go.

Then pop them into the freezer for 15 minutes to firm up.

Meanwhile, melt the white chocolate.

The cheaper stuff is best for this as it melts much more smoothly.

Remove the balls from the freezer

and dip the end of a lollipop stick into the melted chocolate.

This is your chocolate glue.

Push the chocolatey end into a cake ball and repeat with the rest of them,

placing them back onto the baking tray as you go.

Dip the balls into the remaining chocolate one at a time

and coat all over.

Then cover with colourful cake decorations or nuts

and cover as much as you like.

Return to the freezer for 10 minutes until set.

Then they're ready.

These are the perfect treat for those with a very sweet tooth.

There's a new breed of mobile eateries lining the streets of Britain,

run by passionate foodies

who are cooking simple yet brilliantly-created fast food.

Today I'm in Dalston at Street Feast,

home of some more fabulous foodie finds.

I've come to catch up with Adrian, who's renowned for serving up

authentic Caribbean flavours with a fresh and funky twist.

-Hi, Adrian. You all right?

-I'm fine. How are you?

-I'm good, thanks.

-I'm going to come inside.

-Come inside.

I'm here to find out the secret to making his jerk seasoning,

a hot and tasty spice blend that pairs brilliantly with fish

and traditionally with chicken.

Adrian also uses it to spice up a typically Caribbean veggie treat.

OK, so we're going to make sweet potato cakes? Right.

-I've got my sweet potato.

-You can start mashing that up.

'To that, Adrian add beans, desiccated coconut,

'plantain and herbs.'

What is it that you love about cooking outside?

It's the people, especially when you get food people

and little youngsters like that wanting to experience food being cooked. It's lovely.

-Where are the recipes from?

-My great-grandmother Charlotte.

She just passed down her jerk seasoning recipe

and what we've decided to do

is try and be a bit creative with the jerk seasoning

and do something a bit different, especially for vegetarians as well.

-What next?

-We knock up a quick jerk seasoning.

-OK, I'll watch.

Nice.

I love this thyme. I love thyme. I'd put it in everything if I could.

I'm just going to show this Scotch bonnet. Very, very hot.

Allspice is a very important ingredient, isn't it?

Yes, the main ingredient.

-Allspice is an essential ingredient in jerk chicken.

-It is.

Not five spices, not four spices. Allspice. Very different. Allspice for chicken.

-So how much of that goes in?

-I would say, like, maybe a teaspoon.

-Not the whole bag?

-No, no!

-You can always add but you can't take away.

-True.

-A bit of salt and some black pepper.

-What do you think about dried herbs?

-Some people have dried herbs at home.

-It can be used.

-It's quick and easy.

-I know a lot of people have oregano.

-Could you use oregano?

-I wouldn't personally but each to their own.

-It still tastes all right.

-Yes, it does.

What we do is put a drop of honey in

because when you're cooking it on the grill,

the sweetness gives you that nice charcoaled...

-The caramelisation? Perfect.

-Good word.

If I was doing chicken or something at home,

-would I have to leave it overnight?

-It's better overnight.

If you make the marinade and let it marinade overnight,

the flavours are much more intense. We're going to blend it.

The finished jerk seasoning gets mixed into the sweet potato cakes

along with some breadcrumbs. Then it's time to shape them.

-I love getting my hands mucky.

-It's the way to do it.

Get your hands in the food. I just want to eat this now.

Yep, that's perfect. That's perfect, absolutely perfect.

-You used to work in kitchens. How long were you a chef for?

-20 years.

-Thank you. Is it nice to be out of the kitchen?

-Lovely. Look at this.

-That's why.

-Be your own boss?

-Yes.

Here we go.

-Special.

-It's nice, huh?

-Really, really nice.

-That's good.

I love it.

It's really subtle flavours and it all goes together so well.

-Really nice. Thank you so much.

-Pleasure.

They really know how to make fast, fresh and easy food here

and the chilli kick running through all of their food

really makes you want to go back for more.

Adrian's flavour combinations really work.

The warmth of that jerk seasoning paired with the sweet potato is perfection

and it's great to see such exciting vegetarian food.

I've got another dish that puts vegetables centre stage,

using more scrummy sweet potatoes.

I'm going to make this sweet potato and butternut squash lasagne

with sage, toasted pine nuts and nutmeg.

It's these lovely golden layers of yumminess

and the cheat about it is there's a white sauce that takes seconds to prepare.

First, soften 12 lasagne sheets in boiling water.

This makes them cook more evenly when layered.

Mash together 600 grams of cooked sweet potato and butternut squash

with a little bit of salt and pepper.

Now chop a generous handful of sage and rosemary.

Then to make your shortcut bechamel sauce, 600 grams of ricotta.

100 grams of grated Parmesan.

Two egg yolks.

A bit of ginger.

And then nutmeg.

Really powerful aromas really boost the flavour of this dish.

Salt and pepper.

Then just give this a stir together and we're good to go.

And now start assembling the lasagne.

First a layer of mashed sweet potato and butternut squash.

Some baby leaf spinach here.

Just sprinkle it over and it will just wilt nicely in the oven.

Then sprinkle over some of this sage and rosemary.

It's going to add a pungent flavour.

Scatter over some toasted pine nuts.

Then the pasta sheets.

Just overlap them slightly and then my cheat's bechamel sauce.

Not really bechamel at all

but it tastes even better than a standard bechamel, I think.

Put about one third on there

and then use my palette knife just to spread it over the lasagne.

That's one lot.

Then I just repeat that two more times.

Once I complete the layers, I sprinkle over breadcrumbs

and Parmesan cheese for a crunchy crust.

And this goes into the oven for 15 to 20 minutes at 220 degrees.

Just enough time for me to clear everything away.

There you are.

Butternut squash and sweet potato lasagne with sage and rosemary.

There's one dish in particular that's packed full of warm and cosy flavours.

It's a wonderfully comforting tangy, sugary, savoury and salty dish.

This is my take on a Chinese classic,

using some very tasty sausages.

You can just use regular pork mince and flavour that,

but I like to get really herby tasty sausages and use them.

So that's four sausages in there. Quick hand wash.

And then some breadcrumbs just to add a bit of bulk.

About 75 grams of breadcrumbs. And one egg to bind it all together.

A bit of salt and pepper.

And then just mash it all together first.

You can add extra herbs to this,

a bit of chilli if you want to spice it up.

And then get the heat on.

What I'm going to do is roll this into about 20 balls

and brown them up nicely. So a bit of oil in the pan.

Just hands in and then roll them into even-sized balls like that.

Really simple. And then straight in the hot oil to start browning off.

Just keep turning them over

to make sure all of the sides are lovely and brown.

Right, now get on with the rice.

When I cook rice, I like to use what is called the absorption method.

It just saves time. I don't have to drain it at the end.

I've got some long grain easy-cook rice.

Hot water from the kettle.

Pour it in until it comes up to about 2cm above the top of the rice.

Whack the heat on high, lid on,

and then once it comes to the boil, turn down the heat to a simmer.

Now the veg.

So I've got one red pepper here.

Just going to chop it up into bite-size pieces.

And then garlic. I've got this wonderful spring garlic.

It's immature garlic so it's before it's all dried.

Really, really fresh. A bit more stubborn than other garlics.

It just smells incredible. I love garlic.

Right, I can hear my rice pan lid rattling which means it's boiling

and time to turn it down to a simmer.

Just turn it all the way down there.

Then get the lime ready, too.

So squish as much juice as you can out.

If your lime's really firm and you're not getting anywhere with it,

pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds

and that will make it more juicy.

Veg in with the pork balls.

Now lime. Drizzle.

Tomato ketchup. So about 75 grams of this. Just squeeze it all in.

And then balsamic for that tang, that acidity.

Two or three tablespoons.

And honey for extra sweetness.

Looking good, looking very good.

Sweet and sour wouldn't be sweet and sour without pineapple chunks.

I like to add all of the juice and then half of the chunks.

Turn that down to a simmer for about 10 minutes

and it's done.

Crush some salted peanuts and chop up some spring onions.

Once the rice is cooked, simply stir them in.

And that rice is ready.

Just going to taste the sauce, check that it's sweet enough and sour enough.

Mm! That's just perfect.

A few spring onions on top to add a bit of bite and that is ready.

You'll never reach for a jar of ready-made sweet and sour again.

It's so simple transforming a few store-cupboard ingredients into a very tasty supper.

When I think comfort food, I just think chocolate,

whether it's a steaming mug of cocoa, a bar of chocolate,

or if I'm feeling really indulgent, chocolate mousse with raspberries.

And to start that recipe you need to heat 200ml of double cream in a pan.

But first, the star of this dish, chocolate.

We've got 150 grams of dark chocolate here

and I'm going to need about 50 grams of milk chocolate.

I just like that combo between bitter and sweet.

So pop that in with the cream

then just leave the chocolate to sit and melt.

And now the eggs. I need three eggs for this.

When you make this mousse,

it's really important to use fresh, fresh, fresh eggs.

I'm just going to separate the whites and the yolks

and put the white into this larger bowl.

I just tip the yolk backwards and forwards like that

and let the white drizzle into the bowl.

OK, I'm going to whisk up the egg whites and make a kind of meringue.

I've got three egg whites in here

and I'm going to put in one tablespoon of sugar.

I'm just whisking it up until it's slightly frothy.

Then put one tablespoon of caster sugar in.

One tablespoon of caster sugar again.

The reason I'm not putting all the caster sugar in at the same time

is because this will weigh the egg whites down

and you can't whisk them nice and stiff.

And let's have a test.

Perfect. One stiff peak.

Right, by now I'm hoping that the chocolate has all melted.

Let me give it a little stir.

Initially it looks a bit grainy and odd

but just keep mixing it and it will come good.

Scoop it from underneath to make sure you get everything combined

and then the yolks go in.

Just mix everything together and it goes beautifully glossy and shiny.

Then I'm going to fold the whites and this chocolate mix together.

So just a dollop of chocolate and fold it through.

I just find it easier to do it bit by bit rather than all together.

You don't have to be too precious with it. You can give it a good mix.

And the rest.

In it goes. Oh, I just love the smell of chocolate.

Right, so these need to go into the fridge for about an hour

until they're nice and set.

If you're in a hurry,

just whack them in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

That's all they need until they're nice and firm.

When they're set, I like to decorate them

with a little bit of icing sugar

to really elevate this recipe from comforting to indulgent.

And... Mm!

Gorgeous. Very, very nice.

These dishes are not only super simple and quick to prepare,

but I feel they also give you a little hug from within.

From pancakes to pasta,

and chilli to chocolate,

this is comfort food at its best.

So those are a few of my favourite recipes to make me feel cosy and warm

and I hope they'll do the same for you.

< OK, guys.

Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Bill, Lorraine.

Let's get out of here.

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