Episode 2 Mary Berry's Absolute Favourites

I'm Mary Berry, and in this series,

I'm going to be showing you some of my absolute favourites.

Not too difficult to make, not too many ingredients,

and the sort of recipes that the family are going to say

"Ooh" and "Ah" and "Please can we have them again?"

These favourites have been inspired by the places I love -

the countryside,

by the sea,

markets and gardens,

and, of course, my home.

I'll be sharing with you some brand-new ideas

and some recipes that I never, ever tire of.

Tonight...

-Don't you lose it, now!

-Ooh, there you go.

There's your fish.

..food inspired by my love of the countryside.

I was brought up in the country, in a village near Bath,

and so the countryside inspires many of my dishes.

We're so lucky in Britain that our fields,

forests and rivers are teeming with delicious produce -

whether it's game, hedgerow fruits,

wild mushrooms or wonderful freshwater fish.

-What a little beauty, aren't you?

-Isn't that lovely?

I can't help but be inspired

and, tonight, I'm sharing my countryside favourites with you.

A dinner party treat with pheasant,

my family's favourite lasagne,

a delicious mushroom feast for any time of day,

and a great idea for windfall apples.

But first, these little mushroom Scotch eggs,

perfect for a countryside picnic.

When you think of Scotch eggs,

you think of a hen's egg with a nice sausage coating,

but I'm doing them with a difference -

using quail's eggs and putting a lovely mushroom mixture outside.

To start with, place the eggs in cold water,

bring them to the boil

and let them cook for a further minute and a half.

Whilst they cool...

That's it.

..start the coating.

I've got two shallots here.

It's important to cut them really finely,

because they've got to be small enough

to coat round those little eggs.

Fry off the shallots before adding

250 grams of finely chopped chestnut mushrooms,

then add 30 grams of panko breadcrumbs.

And mix all that together,

and then cool it.

Into the bowl.

Now to get on with the tricky job of peeling those tiny eggs.

So, take each egg

and roll it on the board,

and then peel it. Not much you can do with the shells -

some people put them round their hostas.

I know I do - I give them a good crushing,

and it stops the snails eating them.

This is a very boring job.

If you've got someone who wants to help you in the kitchen,

or someone you want to keep busy, say,

"Why don't you peel the eggs for me?"

By the time you're done,

the mushroom mixture should be cold enough to add a hen's egg.

This will help to hold it together.

I'm now going to take my eggs and mushrooms

to my production line over here.

Roll the eggs in plain flour,

then coat each one with the mushroom mixture.

It's quite a gentle process,

because the egg yolk isn't quite hard in the middle,

and you've got to do it with great care.

Finally, dip them into flour, egg, and breadcrumbs.

So there they are - beautifully coated and ready to fry.

Now, if you want to do this a day ahead,

just leave them like that on a plate in the fridge

and fry them when you need them.

Heat a good amount of oil

and shallow fry them until golden and crispy.

Keep turning them round.

They do look really good, don't they?

These look perfect.

That's it.

Allow them to cool slightly before slicing.

Just go gently round the crispy outside,

and then straight through the middle.

And all is revealed - just look at that.

Absolutely perfect.

Imagine being on a picnic

on a sunny day in the countryside,

just having that. Could you beat it?

I don't think you could.

One of my favourite things to do in the countryside is to forage,

but in the autumn the woods come alive with one thing

I'm a little wary of picking - wild mushrooms.

Many varieties can be deadly, so I'm getting some expert advice.

Today, hopefully, we're going to find

some really easy to identify edible types, like the porcini.

Marlow Renton knows everything there is to know about wild mushrooms,

and there's no better place than right here in the New Forest.

Wait a minute!

-Well...

-I can see a treasure here.

Just look at that - that's a porcini.

That is a porcini mushroom. Certainly is.

-And I'm sure you recognise this mushroom as well.

-I do.

-A porcini, penny bun or...

-Yep.

-The cep.

-..a cep. The smell!

The smell is so wonderful, and that, to me, is the king of mushrooms.

It is just about the tastiest mushroom

-that you get in the wild in the UK.

-I hope there are some more to find.

That's the first mushroom we've found -

this is obviously going to be a good day.

It's very important to know the poisonous mushrooms

when you're out foraging,

probably more so than knowing the actual edible mushrooms.

Of the 3,500 varieties of mushrooms,

about 100 make for good eating,

and around 30 are deadly poisonous.

Over here, by the looks of it,

there's a very dangerous-looking little mushroom here.

The Amanita family's a really important family

for foragers to know about, because it contains

the most poisonous mushrooms in the UK.

And in this family there's the death cap,

-which obviously doesn't sound very...

-Cheerful.

-..very edible.

And this one, which is the destroying angel -

responsible for the majority of the mushroom poisoning deaths

that I've heard about in the last few years.

So if you don't know what it is,

-don't pick it, don't eat it.

-Exactly.

There's something white over here. Do you know what those are?

Oh, wow.

Do you recognise this? It's the sort of mushroom you find in restaurants

and all the best markets in France - this is a gourmet mushroom.

-First of all, as you said, it's kind of a whitish cap.

-Yep.

And then underneath, it has these spikes or spines

instead of gills or sponge, and that tells me

that this is a hedgehog fungus, Hydnum repandum.

This is the safest mushroom to forage in the UK.

There is nothing else that looks like this.

And these little spikes - you need your glasses on to see them,

but they are standing up like a hedgehog.

One last little thing with the hedgehog, as well -

when you find the hedgehog fungus,

we always scrape off the spines before we put it in the bag.

If there are any spores, any babies mature enough on those spines

to actually go and create a new mushroom,

we've left them behind to do that.

Right, let's see what else we can find.

What's that?

It's a very interesting mushroom. It's in the Boletus family,

along with those porcinis, the one that we found earlier.

But this one has very definite red on the sponge,

-and secondly, when we cut through this mushroom...

-Mind your hand!

..it will stain very blue very quickly.

Good gracious, that is unmistakably blue.

And also, it looks a little bit frightening. I wouldn't go for that.

If you don't really know what you're doing,

you should leave them behind, because some of them are deadly poisonous.

If you're not brave enough to go picking by yourself,

stick to the huge variety you can find in the shops.

Now, to make the most of them, here's a favourite of mine.

These are the mushrooms that I've chosen -

shimeji, golden enoki, oyster, shiitake,

and my real favourite - chestnut mushrooms,

sometimes known as brown mushrooms.

Start by frying three slices of Parma ham in a little oil.

It could be Black Forest, it could be Serrano,

and you can also - if you look far enough -

you can get British dry cured ham.

And I want it to become beautifully crispy.

In the same pan, add a little butter

and lightly fry two slices of brioche.

The aim is to get all this lovely gubbins in the bottom

from the ham, which is salty and a delicious flavour.

There you are - absolutely perfect.

Now to the mushrooms.

I'm going to take some of the stalk off, and then these little chaps.

In the war, we lived in a house with a cellar,

and Dad used to grow mushrooms in the cellar,

and it was almost like magic -

the day before you wouldn't see any mushrooms,

and then you would, these little tiny button mushrooms.

So I've enjoyed them all my life.

I find the secret of this is to put the lid on for a few moments

so that the steam comes up and makes them soft.

When the mushrooms have softened,

take the lid off so any extra liquid will evaporate.

Then I'm going to add a dollop of creme fraiche.

Full-fat, of course.

Don't make the mistake of using low-fat creme fraiche -

it wants to be really rich and a good consistency.

And it's ready.

Really looks delicious.

Top it all off with the crispy ham and a few parsley leaves.

I think that looks so tempting. Do you know,

I'm just going to pinch a little bit off the side, little bit of bacon.

They won't miss that bit, will they?

Mmm.

I think that is a great light lunch,

especially if you've got the girls coming round,

or you've played a game of tennis or golf or something.

Come home and have that - brilliant.

One thing we're lucky enough to have in abundance is game.

But it can seem daunting to cook,

so if you're unsure about giving it a try,

here's a pheasant dish that is very simple and delicious.

When I was young, we had quite a few

of the blessings from the countryside.

We'd have rabbit and mustard stew, we'd have casseroled pheasant.

You could go to your butcher and get those, and they weren't on ration,

so you can imagine, we had them quite often.

Start by seasoning the pheasant breasts,

and sear them in a hot pan in oil and butter.

Before I turn them over, I'm going to put a little bit of pepper

and salt on the second side.

It's worth giving game a chance,

but you could just as easily use chicken breasts.

Look at that for a lovely colour.

Just golden, just round the side there,

and quickly turn it over.

You don't want to cook them through -

I want them still raw in the middle.

Put the breasts to one side and start your sauce

by cooking one roughly chopped onion in the same pan.

So those look pretty good to me -

they're translucent, they're not too brown.

I like leaving them in great big pieces.

I think it looks good. This is one of the recipes

that you really don't have to chop them finely.

Now add two level tablespoons of paprika,

one tablespoon of light muscovado sugar,

and 300ml of double cream.

This is rich, it is full of flavour,

it is sheer luxury.

Gosh, that's a wonderful colour.

Now I'm going to add the pheasant

back into that wonderful mixture.

Wait a minute, there's a bit of juice - I want that in there.

That'll all add to the flavour.

And I've got that on a very low heat,

and I'm just going to let that cook away for a few minutes.

In a separate pan, fry off 250 grams

of sliced chestnut mushrooms in a little butter.

May seem fussy to do them separately,

but it makes all the difference.

They get a little bit of colour, you evaporate some of that liquid,

and they don't look sort of pale and insignificant in the dish.

Finish it off with a handful of chopped parsley.

This is the part I like most. Everything's ready.

I like to serve it with some creamy mashed potato

and some young broad beans. What could be nicer?

And lastly, here comes our pheasant.

And plenty of sauce to go with it.

Now, who could resist that?

My pheasant breasts with a rich creamy sauce

with mushrooms and paprika.

Whilst our forests are bountiful with wonderful game,

we're also lucky enough to have

some of the world's great fly-fishing rivers.

Here on the River Test, people have been fishing since Roman times.

And no-one knows these waters better

than fly-fishing expert Charles Jardine.

It's so special

because the water that's come up through the chalk springs

is fuelled with all sorts of nutrients.

It's great for insect growth which is great for fish growth,

and it's that that makes it so special.

And that's why the fish get so legendary and big.

Charles, this is a very exciting day for me.

I've always wanted to learn to fly-fish.

You couldn't come to a better place at a better time of the year.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Oh, well, that's comforting.

And you can see how clear it is. Look at it. I mean, it's beautiful.

It's so peaceful, you could hear a pin drop.

Well, that's why we do it.

This is a sport where you can just immerse yourself in it,

and just become at one with the river.

These rivers are a host

to some of the country's finest freshwater fish, such as grayling.

But what this area is most famous for is its trout.

The idea is to cast...

And what I want to try and do is make a big plop.

Lift and just tap.

Do you remember? Cast over there.

Oh, you got one! There's a fish.

-HE LAUGHS It's so small.

-Where is it?

-It's there.

It's a minnow. But you've got to start somewhere.

There you are - you've caught your first fish on a fly.

-Now, wait a minute...

-It's not colossal.

-It's a minnow.

-A minnow.

That was the second cast, but I've never seen a smaller fish.

-Shall I just chuck that back in?

-Yeah, I'd just pop it back in.

There we are.

If Charles and I want a decent lunch,

we're going to need something rather bigger than that.

There is a big grayling up here,

and I'd just like you to see one, really.

There we are. There's our grayling.

Now, what I want you to do is to feel the fish,

and then I want you to catch one.

Just feel what it's doing. This is where you need soft hands.

And you just wait until I've got my net,

and then I'm going to show you one of nature's little joys.

And just move the rod tip towards me, and slide the fish across the water.

Ah, there we go - that's a grayling.

And if you look at this beautiful thing...

-Oh.

-Isn't that beautiful?

It's one of the original white fishes

that came down from the Arctic Circle,

and came down with the Ice Age.

You can eat grayling, and they're very good to eat,

but you wouldn't eat this one. It's too small.

-So he's going back?

-That one's going back.

There you are. That's gone off quite happily.

I'll spend hours putting fish back.

But that's a grayling. Now we want a trout.

With no sign of the elusive trout,

we decide to try our luck a bit further upstream.

That's a rainbow.

You've got your trout here. It's a lovely little wild fish.

There it is. There you go, that's a proper fish.

Don't pull on the line, just put the hand by there...

-I'm watching it swim - isn't it beautiful?

-It's fantastic.

Now just wind the handle just a bit.

There it is. Now, that's a fish and a half.

-It is, isn't it?

-It's better than my minnow.

Just a bit bigger than your minnow.

I'm winding.

Just keep everything smooth.

SPLASHING

-Don't you lose it now!

-Whoa, there you go.

-There's your fish!

-Have you ever seen a bigger fish than that?

There's your fish.

Come here, my little fellow.

Now, just look at that.

I think that's a sheer beauty,

and I reckon it weighs a couple of pounds, something like that?

-I think so.

-Would serve two.

-Absolutely.

-You and me.

-Gosh, it would.

-Lovely.

I can think of no better way to enjoy a freshly caught rainbow trout

than to simply fillet it

and then fry it in a little butter.

-Look at that. Look!

-That's fantastic.

-Not bad.

-Shouldn't catch such big fish, really, should we?

-It's beautiful.

Now, I'm just going to add to that a little bit of dill in here.

-Oh, right.

-And can you squeeze some lemon -

your hands are drier than mine - into there.

That's perfect.

I'm just so excited to try it.

-That's truly lovely.

-It is sheer perfection.

All I've got to do is to thank you for such a memorable day.

No, thank you.

Do you know something? I think I've got the bug.

After a long day out in the countryside,

I like something quick to prepare and hearty to eat.

And this lasagne, using sausage meat and mushrooms,

is a real favourite of mine.

I've been making this lasagne for quite some time,

and my family think that it's the very, very best.

And I'm very pleased with that,

because it's so quick and easy to make.

Start by frying off 450 grams of sausage meat.

Every little bit wants to be a lovely golden brown colour.

Sausage meat has wonderful spices that are so good for the lasagne.

Add two tablespoonfuls of flour...

..two cloves of crushed garlic, and one chopped chilli.

I suppose it's quite unusual to put a bit of chilli in,

but my lot seem to like chilli in things more and more and more.

So, up to you whether you put it in or not.

That looks quite colourful with the fleck of red in there.

Then mushrooms, thinly sliced.

Fry those for a few minutes.

Then in goes the creme fraiche.

The creme fraiche is to replace a bechamel sauce,

and it is so simple, easy,

and a lot less effort.

At this point, add a generous handful of chopped spinach.

Plenty of interest there, with the spinach,

the mushrooms, the chillies.

It looks good, doesn't it? I could eat that right now.

But it's going into the lasagne.

Now for a very simple tomato sauce.

Mix two tablespoons of sun-dried tomato paste,

one teaspoon of light muscovado sugar,

500ml of passata,

and some freshly chopped sage and thyme leaves.

And that's it.

And now it's an assembly job.

So a third of this.

All right. Then you take the sauce,

and the sauce you just dribble informally over the top.

Soak the pasta sheets for ten minutes in hot water

to help reduce the cooking time before adding them to the lasagne.

That's it.

And then you do the whole procedure again.

Top it with the final layer of meat

and the last of the tomato sauce.

And just to finish that off, giving a lovely crispy top, some cheese.

I like to use cheddar cheese, but you can use any hard cheese

or end bits that you've got left in the fridge.

And that will all melt and become crispy on top.

Cook it at fan 180 for 20 to 30 minutes...

..until the pasta is soft and the top is golden.

Just a gentle bubble round the outside.

So I reckon that'll serve about six people.

And it's best served the moment it comes out of the oven.

Oooh.

Look at that.

How's that for a different pasta?

Little bit of spinach, little bit of chilli,

not too much pasta, lots of sauce.

It's a bit hot, but I think I'll have a quick taste.

I'll take it from round the edge, like you tell the children to.

Oh, you can't beat it.

There is nothing I love more than a long country walk

with my husband, Paul, and the dogs.

Oh, they look some good ones over there.

It's a perfect excuse to gather blackberries for a pie...

I'm not the only one that likes blackberries.

..sloes for sloe gin,

even windfall apples, ideal for my next recipe -

these mini apple and almond cakes.

To start with, I'm using melted butter.

There aren't many cakes except for gingerbreads

that you use melted butter.

It's cool and I've got 75 grams.

Then 100 grams of caster sugar.

100 grams of self-raising flour.

This is really so simple to make.

Add one egg and half a teaspoon of almond extract.

You just start beating it, and it's not difficult.

I wouldn't bother to get the machine out for this.

That's it. Nothing could be simpler.

I usually use a cooking apple.

A Bramley would be ideal.

And if you haven't got perfectly shaped apples,

and they're windfalls and bruised on one side,

perfect way of using them up.

Slice the apples, and we're ready to assemble.

Start by placing six buttered rings on nonstick paper.

A spoonful of the mixture in the bottom.

And once you've put those six sort of dollops,

then hold the ring and just spread that to the edges.

And then the apple - it'll take about three slices of apple.

And try not to let the apple touch the ring.

Just put it just inside the ring.

There we are. Then I'm going to put the rest of the mixture on top.

These are so simple, you could knock them up in no time

if you get a surprise visitor coming for tea.

Level the tops off with the back of a spoon,

and sprinkle with flaked almonds.

That's it. They're ready for the oven.

Now, those go in the oven at 160 fan,

and they will take about 25 or 30 minutes.

Leave them to cool for ten minutes before removing from their rings.

Oh, they do look lovely.

I love the straight sides - they look very professional.

I'm going to eat one while it's still warm,

and I'm going to have it with a nice blob of creme fraiche.

Mmm.

That is sheer heaven.

Next time...

They should grow really well.

..it's dishes inspired by my love of fresh herbs.