Episode 5 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...

-Hello!

-Rosemary.

-Welcome.

..it's dishes inspired by the wonderful world of allotments.

Like many others during the war,

my father turned our flowerbeds over to growing fruit and vegetables.

So, from an early age, I spent hours in the garden

and it's still one of my absolute joys.

I continue to grow vegetables

but I'm just one of many who love this great British tradition.

And today, 350,000 people have an allotment.

They allow people from all walks of life to grow their own fresh food.

They also bring friends and neighbours together and,

in this programme, I'm doing my favourite recipes

inspired by the allotment.

A classic way to use up all those leftover vegetables...

..my mother's favourite chicken dish with freshly dug potatoes...

..a delicious dinner-party treat with winter root vegetables...

..and an absolute strawberry crowd-pleaser.

But first, my favourite dish to serve with home-grown salad leaves

from the garden.

So, first of all, I'm going to line these ramekins with smoked trout.

Cold smoked trout.

It looks like smoked salmon but it has an excellent flavour.

To make it easier to turn out later, line the ramekins with clingfilm.

Then take each piece of smoked trout...

..and you need to have some

just overlapping the top...

..like that, and put it all the way round.

The aim is to make quite sure there aren't any gaps.

And that is it already done.

So next, the avocado filling.

I can remember when avocados first came to Britain.

It was in the 1960s and they became really popular, and people

didn't really know what they were. They were pears.

There are stories about people serving them with custard.

So, there they are.

A lot of people have tried to grow avocados, I've tried too.

It just doesn't work here.

It might sprout, you might get a bit of a stick

or a tree, but you'll never get any fruit on it, so just give up.

To stop the avocado going brown, add a good squeeze of lemon.

Make sure it's all coated.

Dice three deseeded tomatoes...

then add half of these

and four sliced spring onions to the avocado.

In another bowl, mix four tablespoons of mayonnaise

and four of cream cheese and two teaspoons of Dijon mustard.

And I need to add salt and pepper to that.

And just fold it in together until it's coated.

Let's make absolutely sure that it tastes wonderful.

Mmm.

I could do with that mixture just on a lettuce leaf to go with drinks -

wouldn't that be lovely?

But it's going in here for this time.

Half fill the ramekins with the avocado mixture...

..followed by a layer of diced tomatoes...

..and another layer of the avocado.

And that's the last one.

Then take each one...

and, first of all, fold over all the smoked trout.

Then take the clingfilm, pull it up all round,

like that, then fold it over.

And now you need to press it down, just with your hand like that.

If you don't press it down, it won't hold together when it's turned out.

And that is ready to go into the fridge for 24 hours, ideally.

Once the tians have set, gather some of your salad leaves.

A little dash of dressing.

Now to the exciting part, turning it out.

Like that.

Doesn't that look special?

I like to serve perhaps a really special bread with it

and some unsalted butter.

Who wouldn't think that is impressive?

Whilst it's very tricky to grow avocados here,

I'm off to see one of my oldest friends who, like me,

loves to try and grow everything else.

-Hello!

-Rosemary.

-Welcome!

Rosemary Moon helped to establish the Tangmere Community Garden

in East Sussex.

This is quite amazing, there are so many people here,

all neighbours, all enjoying growing what they want to eat.

Absolutely, and it's such an amazing place.

Come on, let's go and have an explore and come

and meet some people.

Now in its fifth year, there are around 40 members

growing my great favourites, from beans,

tomatoes and potatoes to carrots and strawberries.

So, Mary, this is Steve and Rita, who are actually

-Captain Potatoes and Sweetcorn.

-Hello.

-Hello.

Gosh, you're stripping off cos it's obviously warm work.

-And this is Angie.

-Now, were you a bit nervous when you started?

Did you not know what you were letting yourself in for?

I don't know whether nervous is the right word. I was excited.

-Were you?

-I didn't know what I was going to let myself in for

but I knew that it was an opportunity to be

part of my community and meet new friends again.

This was once a disused RAF site

and it's hard to believe that only a few years ago it was barren land.

So, Mary, meet the newest members of the garden.

Aren't they gorgeous?

Absolutely lovely. They are saddlebacks, is that right?

Yup, they're saddlebacks, they're nine weeks old

and they're from Aldingbourne Trust, up the road.

-They do like a little bit of a scratch.

-Come on, my poppet.

-There.

-Is that nice?

-Oh, look, come on, tummy tickle.

I've always been wondering what my vocation in life is. Obviously...

You're a pig whisperer.

Are you going to open your eyes?

ROSEMARY CHUCKLES

What I enjoy most about meeting other people who love gardening is

to share tips and recipes.

So, Sonia and Monica, you've got some wonderful chard here.

-What do you use it for?

-We use this...

-Yes?

..basically as the lasagne pasta rather than the layers.

That is ingenious.

So you layer up the meat sauce, the bechamel sauce,

and then instead of pasta, the stalk of the chard?

Yes.

I can't wait to try Monica's chard lasagne but first,

one of my most treasured recipes

to make with your freshly dug new potatoes.

This really is one of my great family recipes.

My mother thought it was good, so it must be good.

I think I invented it, I suppose, 15 or 20 years ago

and I've loved it ever since and it's the one recipe

that my mother said,

"This is really so good," she then went home and made it.

And I said, "Did you have all the ingredients, Mum?"

And she said, "Well, I didn't have that fancy ginger that you have."

She said, "I used some of my dried ginger that

"I use for making ginger biscuits, and it was very good."

We still didn't convert her ever to use real, proper, fresh ginger.

Right, I'm going to start off by making the marinade

and I'm going to marinade this overnight, ideally.

So, first of all, I'm going to put the orange juice in the bag.

Then add four tablespoons of soy sauce...

..about an inch of grated ginger, three cloves of garlic...

a teaspoon each of chopped thyme and sage.

All that remains is a little

bit of pepper and salt in there...

and two tablespoons of sunflower oil.

So that's the marinade done. Now to the chicken.

What I'm going to do is spatchcocking -

that means that you sort of flatten them out

and you can get a lovely crisp outside to it,

so turn it over and get a pair of sharp scissors

and then just cut either side of the backbone,

cut that down,

and it's not a difficult job

and you can always use the actual bone for stock.

And then go the other side of it.

I chose to use poussin. I think they are delicious young birds

and they take on great flavour from this sauce.

Then I'm going to spatchcock the chicken.

So, with the back of your hand,

just press that down and then take the wings

and tuck them underneath,

and you have your chicken already spatchcocked.

It didn't take a moment.

So, put the poussin into the marinade, and the good thing

of doing it in a bag is, you don't have a bowl to wash up

and you don't get messy hands,

and also, putting it in the marinade like that means that

you don't have to keep turning it.

And there it is, getting that wonderful flavour.

There we are.

Now leave this to marinade, ideally for 24 hours.

There's one.

The smell is wonderful, it smells of herbs,

garlic definitely.

My secret to get a nice shine on the top of the chicken

is to drizzle over some runny honey.

That just helps it to get a nice colour on top.

A little dab over the legs as well.

So, into the oven at about 180 degrees fan,

just until it's got a nice colour.

So that's had 20 minutes.

There it is. Doesn't that look good?

To make a nice rich sauce, add one rounded tablespoon of cornflour to

a small quantity of the marinade and pour it over the top of the chicken.

Then the rest goes in here.

Pop it back in the oven for 15 minutes.

There it is bubbling away. That smells good.

So we've got all the gravy in there,

which will go beautifully with my new potatoes.

Now you can see that is very, very succulent,

no sign of any pinkness, beautifully cooked through.

This gravy is to die for.

I could just have it has soup. Mmm!

I have left plenty!

So, there you have it, that sauce and the poussin

goes so well with new potatoes.

When you squash the new potatoes down into the sauce - heaven.

I love the new season's crop,

but come autumn there's always a glut of fruit and vegetables.

One of my favourite ways to preserve them is to make a delicious chutney.

So, I've got a lot of tomatoes here,

and you know when they get a bit overripe?

Perfect for chutney.

First, blanch, skin and chop 900g of tomatoes.

Put that in the pan first, because that adds the moisture.

Then I'm adding three peppers, three medium onions

a courgette, an aubergine and four cloves of garlic.

But you can add any vegetable you like,

as long as its weight comes up to around two-and-a-half kilos.

Now to the ginger.

When I was making chutney in my younger days,

there was not such a thing as fresh ginger.

There was ginger, you bought it from the greengrocer,

but it was all shrivelled and dried.

But how much nicer now we have fresh ginger.

I use it a lot in recipes and I love it.

Right, if we scrape it down.

That's it.

Looking around, what else have I got to add?

It's the chilli.

Now, you make it as hot as you want to.

I'm adding one fair-sized chilli.

All the veggies are in there

and I'm just starting it on a low heat.

You'll need to leave this simmering for about an hour.

Just give it an occasional stir.

This should be ready.

Gosh, look at that - wonderful colours coming through.

It's beginning to look like chutney.

Now it's time to add the spices and seasonings that make it special.

One tablespoon of paprika, a tablespoon of salt

and then some pepper,

just to your liking,

and then I'm going to do some crushed mustard seed.

It will make it really piquant.

So, in that goes.

Then add 300ml of distilled malt vinegar

and 350g of granulated sugar.

Right, all the ingredients are in there, give it a good stir.

Now, that smells a bit like a pickle factory.

I love it because it reminds me

that I'm going to get a wonderful chutney in the end.

Once the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat

and bring it to the boil.

While it's reducing,

take care it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan.

Right, it's got to the right consistency.

There is no runny liquid in the bottom.

So, I'm going to turn the heat off.

That looks really good.

You see? That is chutney consistency.

So, here I've got a selection of sterilised jars.

Just dollop that in.

That's it.

Push the chutney down.

Make sure you don't have any air bubbles in it.

Chutney will keep two years,

providing you've got a good seal on the top,

and once open, keep it in the fridge.

I put it in the fridge because then it's always to hand

and we eat a lot of chutney.

One of the special things about the Tangmere allotment

is that it's not only about growing.

What I like is that you have cooking sessions here.

You know, you make pizzas, you've got a sort of cooker over there.

Sort of a cooker? How rude is that? It's not a range cooker,

it's a washing machine drum from the local tip,

and we build a fire in the middle,

we've got a great big pan and off we go.

So, in it goes.

I'm helping the children to make their own pizza,

with a very simple dough of flour, oil,

water and yeast.

I find that if I put my whole hand in the flour like that,

OK, it's less likely to stick.

So, you have a bit of flour on there, look.

LAUGHTER

OK, now rub your hands together.

That's it.

Aidan, what are you going to put on top of yours?

I'm going to slice tomatoes,

some cheese.

What would you like to put on? You can't put sweets on top.

-Come on, what are you going to put on top?

-Um, beans?

Beans? What a good idea.

So, we're going to have an exciting pizza

and all you've got to do now is to roll it out

so that it's nice and flat

and you've got a lot of people to feed here, so you'd better get going.

And it's not just pizza on the menu.

There's also the chard lasagne.

Now, there's all these vegetables gleaned from around me.

We've got butternut squash, I can see some swede,

-the leaf of the chard, is that right, is in there?

-Yes, it is.

And there's courgette, tomatoes and are you putting sauce on there?

Yes, this is just Greek yoghurt and eggs.

-Ooh.

-With some seasoning.

So, we're just going to put that on the top there.

Do we put cheese on that as well?

Yes, we can do. We've got some grated cheese.

That's a good covering.

-And then into the oven until...

-Until it's set.

Set and a gorgeous golden-brown.

I can't wait for that.

SHE LAUGHS

It is so satisfying to turn your vegetables into something delicious.

Oh, look at that.

And my next recipe is a wonderful way to make the most of them.

The popular lamb shanks are the rather large ones

that come from the hind leg of a lamb.

And they're very big.

These are the foreshanks.

That's from the front leg of the animal,

and I think these are a much better size for one portion.

And if you cook them long and slow, they taste absolutely delicious.

First, brown the shanks in some really hot oil.

The reason for browning them is, it seals the outside.

Also, it gets a lovely, brown crust on them

and that helps to give colour to the casserole at the end,

as well as flavour.

Now add two large sliced onions and two cloves of garlic.

Give that a good stir round.

Once these have softened, add 400ml of beef stock.

So, bring that to the boil.

To thicken the gravy, take a rounded tablespoonful of flour

and add 300ml of red wine.

You always read in recipes -

use the dregs of the wine, or the wine that's left.

There's never any wine left in our house,

so, I will take it from a new bottle,

but I shall have a little tipple later,

just to use it up.

And just mix that to a paste.

And because it's cold it won't go in lumpy.

I'll pour that in, stirring all the time

and that will just thicken it up a little.

To give the gravy extra depth,

I like to add a teaspoon of chopped rosemary

and a tablespoon of redcurrant jelly.

It looks pretty delicious there.

And I'm just going to let it cook slowly now

at 140 fan for about two hours,

just until it's tender.

When you grow your own vegetables, they're very precious,

but sometimes when you put vegetables into a casserole

they're cooked for far too long,

they lose their flavour and they're mushy.

I like to boil them for about eight to ten minutes

in salted water so they're just tender

and then half of them I just toss into butter.

Ooh!

You've got to be strong to carry this lot.

Oh, look at that.

It's a really good rich-brown colour.

Now add the rest of the vegetables to the casserole,

so everybody will have

some vegetables that are actually in the casserole

and some that are lovely and fresh-looking and colourful.

And then a little of the sauce

over the top.

So, isn't that something really, really special?

Now, I can't resist having a taste.

It's coming away like a dream, look at that.

Don't you wish you were me?

Do you know what? That's a cracking recipe.

Ever since I was a child, I've loved picking berries.

And there's no end

to the delicious things you can make with them.

Lucy's strawberry slices.

Why LUCY'S strawberry slices?

Because Lucy's been with me now for 24 years.

Together, we develop all the recipes.

And this is one of her great favourites.

They are dead easy to make, all in one method

and so delicious to eat.

To make the sponge, take four eggs,

225g of baking spread,

then add 225g of sugar,

300g of self-raising flour

and two little teaspoons of baking powder.

Let's put the lid on, because I'm bound to knock it over.

That's it.

Then add one teaspoon of vanilla extract

and four tablespoons of milk.

Then move it round gently.

Now, that looks lovely and creamy, beautifully smooth.

Turn it all into a 23 by 30 greased and lined traybake tin.

Then just level that and push it right into the corners.

It does seem very strange

not to have little people around dying to lick the bowl. I miss it.

But I do cook with my grandchildren

and they always want to get to the stage of licking the bowl.

So, that goes into the oven now at 160 fan

and it will take about 35 minutes.

You'll know when it's ready when it's pale-golden-brown

and springy to the touch.

Now just trim the edges and cut it into 27 pieces.

Now, you must think that's an odd number, but three nines are 27.

So, if I do three strips and then cut each one into nine.

There we are, 27...

little soldiers there.

Now to the filling.

Mix two tablespoons of strawberry jam

with 300g of halved strawberries,

and add a squeeze of lemon juice.

The strawberry jam just gives them a wonderful shine and a gloss.

Add 200ml of creme fraiche

to 300ml of whipped cream.

Right, now to the filling of them.

Then on go the strawberries...

A gentle squeeze and they look, I think, most inviting.

A different way of having strawberries and cream.

You're wondering what this one...

Did I forget to put it on the plate?

That is blissful.

It really is. In fact, I can't wait for the next slice.

-Push it right to the back.

-Yes.

That's it.

-There we are.

-Yay.

This is what it's all about, a day on the allotment,

producing wonderful food

and the reward, right at the end of the day,

is a great gathering like this.

Tables being laid, all the food has come off the land.

So, I'm going to join them

and I'm hoping there's a very nice glass of cold white wine as well.

Here's to Tangmere Community Garden,

every success in 2015.

Thank you. Cheers.

LAUGHTER

Next time...

Who's got room for my favourite pudding?

LAUGHTER

..it's my favourite recipes, inspired by my family.