Hearty and Wholesome Mary Berry Everyday

I'm Mary Berry, and in this series

I'll be celebrating the very best of my everyday cooking.

Day-to-day cooking needn't be mundane.

Even the simplest recipes can be a joy.

I want to show you easy ways to transform dishes

into something really special.

'From my recipes that stir fond memories...'

-Welcome home, Mary.

-I'm here to stay.

'..to my delicious ideas to feed the family...'

-Not bad, is it?

-Very, very good.

'..and my surprisingly easy show-stoppers

'for when you want to show off.'

LAUGHTER It feels like firework day. How about that, then?

'In this programme - my everyday hearty and wholesome favourites.'

That is blissful.

It is scrumptious. It's beautiful.

I love time at home in the garden, tending to the vegetables,

being with my dogs and enjoying fresh air.

And after an invigorating day,

I'm ready for dishes bursting with goodness.

Nothing beats a wholesome hearty supper.

I'm going to show you some tempting recipes

that are really lovely to come home to.

It gives you a great welcome.

The ultimate Bolognese, given my own special touch.

A gorgeous salad, bursting with intense flavour.

A scrumptious sea bass supper, with added crunch,

and a good wholesome pud, full of natural sweetness.

But first, my heart-warming soup with added crispy goodness.

A hearty soup is a great everyday favourite,

and I've got a wonderful idea that gives soup masses of extra flavour.

First, celeriac.

I just love it.

It's similar to celery, with a deliciously nutty overtone.

I try to grow it at home.

Ours is well behind.

I've brought some in - don't laugh.

It looks as though it's got hair growing on it.

Mine certainly need another two months in the ground, well watered,

before they'll get anywhere near that size.

Remove the peel quickly, so the flesh doesn't discolour.

Then I'm going to cube it.

Rough cubes.

That's it.

What gives this soup depth is one of my favourite ingredients,

pan-fried in butter.

In the pan here I've got six rashers of pancetta.

I've snipped it up into small pieces.

It'll become crisp very quickly.

Drain every bit of fat off that. Pop it on there.

Save the crisp pancetta to top the soup,

but it's a good tip to hang on to the wonderful flavour from the fat

so it comes through in the soup itself.

In goes onion, butter,

and a cubed potato to give the soup its hearty texture.

And then the crowning glory, that wonderful celeriac.

'You need about 750ml of stock...'

Now, the stock can be vegetable stock or it could be chicken stock.

'..and, of course, pepper and salt.'

Turn the heat down,

and then simmer those vegetables until they're tender.

It'll take 15 or 20 minutes.

While that simmers away,

I'll show you what gives this a delicious wholesome crunch -

a different shaped crouton.

So these are into little batons, as the chefs call them.

These are fairly stale. Don't try and do it with fresh bread,

because it won't hold its shape.

Toss them in olive oil and coat in poppy seeds.

They give a very interesting finish.

And for extra flavour,

give them a sprinkle of Parmesan and season them well.

Then into the oven for ten minutes,

and you may need to give them a turn.

An easy idea to spruce up a slice of bread.

Well, to me, those look special.

Much more exciting than ordinary croutons.

In the interests of science,

I'd better just see if they're all right.

You don't get much more crispy than that.

'I want the soup beautifully smooth,

'so I strain off the stock and puree the vegetables...'

That looks just the job.

'..and then put that rich stock,

'along with the puree, back in the pan to get it piping hot.'

The smell of celeriac I think is lovely.

And I'm going to add two or three tablespoonfuls of double cream.

That just enriches it and makes it a really hearty, warming soup.

It's like pure velvet, it's lovely.

And for a hearty topping, my crunchy poppy seed croutons.

Put them on in the last minute,

because you want them absolutely crispy,

and that one went on without being asked.

'Some peppery watercress.'

Now, watercress is delicious with it,

and also it brings out the colour.

'And that crisp pancetta.'

And you just need a little pinch on the top of each bowlful,

and it'll add to the flavour.

I think that's a very special, heart-warming soup.

There's something wholesome and satisfying about home-grown food.

It always seems to taste better.

And my next recipe uses one of my favourite herbs from the garden

to transform a fillet of sea bass.

I'm going to make it a little more hearty and robust

by adding a crumb crust.

Start by melting 40g of butter.

So, I've got 60g of Japanese dried breadcrumbs.

They're very, very crisp. You can do them yourself,

but you need to dry them out in the oven first.

So, in they go, 60g.

For a bit of punch, finely grate the zest of a lemon.

I love the smell of lemon.

And lemon goes really well with fish.

That's it.

Now, you want to get that really coated with the butter.

Season with pepper and salt.

And, for me, what makes this dish is the mild aniseed tone of tarragon.

And it smells so good.

There's nothing like fresh tarragon.

Don't be tempted, unless you have to, to use dried tarragon.

It just isn't the same.

Mix half the tarragon with the breadcrumbs.

Now, for my secret to ensure a crunchy, perfectly coated fish.

If you try and dip the fish into this, it doesn't really stick.

My trick is to lay the crumbs onto the tray first.

Then take the fish,

and put it skin side down on top of the crumbs.

That's it.

Then really press that down all the way...

so those crumbs stick.

Then I'm going to put just a little seasoning on top.

All these layers of seasoning really does help to add to the flavour.

Then spoon the rest of the breadcrumbs over the fillets.

For that finishing touch, add a sprinkle of Parmesan.

I think it's nice to do it slightly more chunkily,

as I have on the coarse grater.

So that's ready for the oven,

and you want to cook it at 180 fan for about 15 minutes.

While the fish cooks,

I have a simple, fragrant sauce to go with it.

Creme fraiche, the rest of that tarragon,

a dash of sugar,

and a squeeze of lemon.

Believe it or not, that's the sauce.

Just in time, as well.

The top is a gorgeous golden brown.

I think it looks really inviting.

Serve it at once.

I'm going to serve it with a little samphire.

It has a lovely sort of salty flavour.

Samphire's becoming more and more popular.

If you can't get it from your supermarket,

your local fishmonger is worth a try.

So there it is, tarragon-crusted sea bass,

a really hearty way of serving one of my favourite fishes.

We Brits are lucky that we can produce so many things

that we love to use every day.

Honey is a perfect example.

I've always dreamed of keeping bees,

and I'm not alone.

It's now one of Britain's fastest-growing hobbies.

Here in Hertfordshire,

scientist Sue Carter has been keeping bees for 18 years.

But first, very important that you don't forget your protection.

Right, here we are, Mary, your suit.

So, we've got two parts to it.

There's the trousers.

-Right?

-OK, there we go, over the head.

And it's just like getting into a jumper.

Yeah, there we are.

Gosh, I've got perfect vision.

-You can see everything.

-You can, can't you?

You think that the mesh is going to stop you seeing.

No, you can see perfectly!

And the last thing is a pair of gloves.

Right, I feel kitted out.

-Right, we're all in.

-Off we go.

I'll follow you.

'If you don't have a big space like Sue, don't let that put you off.

'Beehives can be kept in smaller gardens.

'Just use the right precautions.'

What do I have to do with this?

Help me by smoking the front of the entrance here.

The smoke helps to calm the bees.

They think they've got a forest fire coming and they feel sort of,

"Oh," and don't bother stinging you.

We're going to take the roof off.

There's hundreds of them!

How much honey does one bee produce in its lifetime?

Well, a bee has got a relatively short lifetime during summer,

it's only about six weeks,

and it will collect about a 12th of a teaspoon of honey.

-Gosh.

-Now, this here is what we call a super.

There is a box at the bottom which we call the brood box.

And on top of that is a wire grid called a Queen excluder,

because we don't want the Queen laying brood in here.

This is purely for the honey stores.

But how many bees are in here?

In total in the hive there's probably 40,000-50,000.

40,000 to 50,000! But if you lose all these in six weeks,

where are the next lot coming from?

Well, that's what the Queen's doing down below. She's laying lots of

eggs all of the time to replace the ones that we're losing.

Somewhere in the region of 2,000 eggs a day.

-She's a busy bee, isn't she?

-She certainly is, yes.

'Whilst the Queen bee is laying eggs, the female workers around her

'are turning the collected nectar into honey.

'Sue is keen to show me the Queen,

'but with thousands of bees, she's not easy to find.'

No. No, not there.

She's not there either.

Ah, I see her.

You see her? I don't.

-Point her out to me.

-She's here.

Oh, yes.

She's certainly the centre of attraction.

She's a much longer bodied and sort of slightly broader stripes.

There she is.

'Beekeepers only collect honey from their hives twice a year,

'so you need to be patient if you're doing it at home.'

OK, off you go.

You should see the back of you, you're covered in bees.

-So are you!

-Am I?

-Let's shake our suits off.

Go back home, all of you!

Before I get to sample the freshest honey I've ever tasted,

I've got the perfect idea for a hearty salad

to really liven up the lunch table.

Salads have changed over the years, haven't they?

I mean, there was the day when there was tomato, lettuce,

and that really was what salads were.

And now you have many more ingredients,

and more exciting dressings.

And I can remember well when olive oil was only bought

from the chemist shop in a bottle, and it was not used for cooking.

And anyway, it tasted horrible.

This salad is full of exciting textures.

To start, I've got mixed grains of red and white quinoa

and bulgur wheat.

All you do is bring them to the boil for a few minutes.

Already, the grains are beginning to swell.

Turn off the heat and leave for about 20 minutes

until all the liquid is absorbed.

On to the dressing, and I'm giving it a sharp kick.

The newest ingredient is this pomegranate molasses.

Now, pomegranate molasses is sort of sweet and sour.

It makes very good dressings.

So often I use honey because I like that in a dressing,

but this has the added sourness.

It's a great addition to the store cupboard,

giving a fruity depth to all sorts of dishes.

For my dressing, all it needs is olive oil,

the zest and juice of a lemon,

and a dash of sugar to offset the sharpness.

So, there's my dressing, as easy as can be.

The quinoa has had 20 minutes just to absorb the rest of that liquid.

Fresh herbs give a real lift to everyday cooking,

making it vibrant and interesting.

Now, you're going to be surprised, the amount of herbs that I use,

but I want it to be bright, bright green.

For this, I want fresh mint, parsley, basil and chives.

Absolutely wonderful.

And it makes all the difference to have a good knife.

Gosh, they make a difference, don't they?

Not only to the wonderful aroma, but they're adding to the colour.

The grains can take strong flavours,

so I'm adding softened red onion, sun blushed tomatoes,

and a little seasoning.

And to finish it off, I love well-flavoured feta cheese.

This is good quality feta cheese,

and it's nice just to crumble in little pieces.

That you do with your fingers.

In goes my dressing.

And a good tip is to wait before serving.

Give that a couple of hours

so the flavour really gets through to the quinoa.

That certainly is a far cry from some of the boring salads

that I was brought up with. It is scrumptious.

It's beautiful and I love it.

Nothing beats a hearty supper when you've worked up an appetite,

and my next recipe is my delicious version

of one of our nation's go-to dishes.

We Brits cook Bolognese more than any other meat recipe.

So, here goes.

Every good Bolognese begins with the very important trinity

of onion, celery and carrot.

So I'm just sort of sweating those off.

Keep on a high heat and stir to stop them sticking to the pan.

Next, I'm going to add the meat

and I've got 500g of beef and 500g of pork.

Having the two meets mean you get a wonderful, deep flavour,

and it's what the Italians do.

To begin with, the meat often sticks together,

that's why I'm using two spatulas.

Still on a high heat, let the meat get beautifully browned.

To give it some intensity, add three cloves of crushed garlic,

and three tablespoons of sun-dried tomato paste.

I'm going to judge it.

I like sun-dried tomato paste.

It's rich and flavoursome.

'In goes 200ml of good stock,

'a can of chopped tomatoes...'

That helps to give a bit of texture.

'..and 500g of passata...'

I'm going to give that a good stir and let it bubble up.

'..and then three tablespoons of fresh thyme.'

And I almost forgot a very important ingredient - the wine.

White or red, whatever you've got to hand,

though I really prefer to add white.

There's never any left in our household.

I might even have to open a bottle especially.

150ml of wine.

That's it. Back in the fridge, and we'll enjoy it later.

Lastly, a few bay leaves, and season well.

Most people cook Bolognese on the hob,

but I have a good tip that will make the most tender,

deeply flavoured Bolognese you have ever tasted.

The total cooking time of this is two hours.

I like to do it in the oven.

It's a slow-cooked ragu Bolognese sauce,

and it really does bring out the flavour of all the ingredients.

I do it at 140 fan.

After an hour in the oven,

my secret is to make it even richer by adding double cream.

Don't worry, it doesn't curdle or do anything like that -

it just enriches it.

And what I want to end up with is a fairly thick mixture,

so I'm putting it back in the oven without the lid on

for the last hour, and it will gently simmer away.

The Italian way isn't to serve a robust meat sauce

with a skinny pasta like spaghetti.

For the perfect pairing choose a thicker shape like pappardelle.

I like the idea of using a flat pasta cos it picks up

the sauce better and you get more of it.

Allow 75g per head, a bit more if they're starving.

I'd love to have Parmesan cheese with it.

When I first began using Parmesan cheese, you had to have

a special grater because it was so hard and so mature,

and in fact in Italy they still mature it more than we do,

but it does mean you can grate it more easily.

After two hours the meat will have soaked up all those rich flavours

and it'll melt in the mouth.

This is just what I wanted to happen - it's reduced,

it's quite a thick mixture, it's a perfect colour.

Over the top.

And another one.

That's it. And then a little bit of Parmesan, when you serve it,

just gently sprinkled over the top.

I can quite understand how Bolognese is one of

our great British everyday favourites.

It's certainly one of mine.

Back in Hertfordshire,

Sue is going to show me how to extract the honey we collected.

So, Sue, we've got these frames...

how do we get the honey out of here?

You're going to take your knife and you're going to gently take

-this wax off the top.

-So I'm going to shave off,

rather like as though it was Parmesan?

-Yes.

-Right.

'The bees store the honey inside the honeycomb,

'and seal it with wax to keep it fresh.

'Once the wax is off we can separate the runny honey from the comb.'

You're doing well.

Well, I'm quite used to cutting a Victoria sandwich in half.

-See the honey oozing out? It's lovely.

-I can.

It's fun to do - it's almost satisfying, isn't it?

I have to say, you're doing a very good job.

Most people, when they do it first time...

-What do they do?

-Well, they dig so much more into the comb.

Ah, but I'm not digging into the comb because if I do

I'm taking that precious honey away.

It's a lovely sweet aroma.

I cannot resist having just a little taste.

It is...

And that's honey at its absolute best.

It's fresh from the hive.

It... It does taste flowery.

There's a true sort of floral flavour to that.

So next we put it into the extractor.

-In there.

-And obviously we're going to spin it.

Yeah. The next frame.

I'm going to put it in the opposite side so that it balances it up.

-And then you go and turn this handle.

-Right, OK.

Do you know, it's as easy as spinning lettuce in a salad spinner?

It's light as a feather.

As I'm doing it, I can smell the honey coming.

Gorgeous smell.

'The type of flowers the bees visit really changes the flavour,

'colour and aroma of the honey, so no crop is ever the same.'

So up on here now?

Now, I will manage the tap, if you manage the jar.

Will you stop it at the right time?

Absolutely, otherwise you might get sticky.

Oh, it looks absolutely wonderful.

'It takes more than 20,000 busy bees to fill this one jar,

'and it's not just honey which they're useful for.

'They are important pollinators -

'one third of the food we eat wouldn't be available

'if it wasn't for the bees.'

I think that's about it.

That's it?

So there we are. Pure liquid gold.

And here we've got wonderful honey.

It wasn't too complicated and the bees have done all the work.

They have indeed, and I hope you've enjoyed your day beekeeping

and it's encouraged you to perhaps take it up yourself.

I'm really tempted and I'm going to grasp the mettle and have bees.

I did enjoy my day with Sue, learning all about honey,

and I've come back with my little pot of gold.

And what better use for it than my wholesome fruit compote,

full of natural goodness?

So for my rosy red fruit salad

I'm going to make a coulis from raspberries.

I've got some quite nice raspberries here,

and I'm going to use half of them as a coulis,

and half I'll put in the fruit compote.

Making a coulis couldn't be simpler.

Use a blender or processor and add a good helping of icing sugar.

Nothing could be easier than that.

For a super smooth finish, push through a sieve,

because we don't want any pips.

I'm going to take the fruits and drop them in the coulis.

It really gives a lovely flavour.

It's the sort of thing if I was having people in the evening

I would do in the afternoon,

then I'd put it back in the fridge to get really cold.

I like to use firm fruits to complement the coulis -

seedless grapes, ripe, juicy nectarines.

Give it a turn in the wonderful coulis.

And it's a good tip to stop the fruit turning brown.

Also in this compote I like big chunks of the fruit

rather than itsy-bitsy little pieces.

I have memories of a can when I was small,

and it was called mixed fruit salad

and you'd no idea what the fruits were because they were all

either yellow or orange, and all mushed together.

This is much more spectacular.

In goes the rest of the fruit -

fresh strawberries, sharp blueberries,

and lastly those lovely plump raspberries.

Nothing goes better with a fruit compote

than a hearty helping of yoghurt.

I've got a big pot of Greek style yoghurt.

That's the extra rich one and the very creamy one.

And then the jewel in the crown - my wonderful golden honey.

I've got it off.

Two generous spoons of this lovely honey.

Look at that!

That's it. Of course honey, we're told, has great healing properties.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with me,

but I'm very happy to be healed with a nice quantity of honey in here.

I think the two make a wonderful marriage.

That is blissful.

I can think of nothing else I would like more right now -

except another dip.

Don't tell a soul.

'Next time...

'my everyday recipes to delight a happy gathering.'

-There we are.

-Thank you.

It's a good recipe, and great for a crowd.

Mmm, everyone loves pizza.