Episode 2 Mary Berry's Foolproof Cooking

I'm Mary Berry and in this series,

I'll be sharing some of my best foolproof secrets with you.

I think it's really important to have a selection of trusted

recipes, that you know will never let you down.

No matter what the occasion, I will show you how to make it simple.

From quick and easy dishes perfect for when time is scarce.

It really is absolutely delicious.

To scrumptious fuss-free goodies, for days with the family.

And truly special dishes that will thrill your guests.

That looks amazing.

Tonight, it's the best of my delicious, comforting home cooking.

Life doesn't get better than that.

Whether it's in my family or my working life,

I've never been one to put my feet up.

But, there are times when I just love food that picks you up

and puts a smile on your face.

And there's nothing wrong with indulging every once in a while.

In this programme, I'm going to show you some of my foolproof

comforting recipes that I love most.

A rich smoked fish pate, to enjoy on hot, crunchy toast.

My version of the most comforting of dishes,

a hearty chicken casserole to lift the spirits

and a scrumptious dessert guaranteed to soothe the soul.

But, first, a warming soup to brighten the greyest of days

with my cheesy Parma ham twists.

One of my favourite soups is butternut squash.

It makes you feel beautifully cosy and warm.

But preparing butternut squash can be tricky,

so I've got a couple of tips.

If it's a young one, you can take an ordinary potato peeler

and you can just take the peel off like that.

But if it's late in the season,

you just can't get that potato peeler into it.

What I do, is I use a big knife, something about the size of that and

I cut rings from it and then take out the seeds and take off the peel.

It's a safer way to do it.

Cut into cubes, then along with a chopped red pepper,

a large chopped onion and a couple of carrots,

pop it into a polythene bag with some olive oil.

So, take that and just shake it all about.

So, tip it all into the tin.

Season with pepper and salt and cook at 180 fan for 45 minutes.

Roasting the vegetables first intensifies the flavour

and, I think, gives it a bit of a kick.

What makes this soup really special,

is topping the veg with some chopped ginger and runny honey.

This just adds sweetness to it and it gives a bit of a glaze, too.

Roast for a further five minutes

until all your veg are nice and soft.

Then, add it all to a casserole pot.

Aren't they lovely and colourful? The smell is wonderful. That ginger.

Add around 1.5 litres of vegetable or chicken stock.

And let it bubble away for about ten minutes.

Oh, that's just beautifully tender and the smell.

I can get that hint of ginger coming out and it smells beautiful.

Turn that off and I'm just going to blend that

until it's beautifully smooth.

And, here we go.

If it feels too thick, the trick is just to add a little more stock.

That looks fine to me now.

And I've got something rather special that I'm going to

serve with this soup.

Some mega cheese straws.

Don't worry about making the pastry,

just buy some good-quality puff pastry.

Wants to be fairly thin. That's about it.

What makes these truly flavoursome is a layer of Dijon mustard.

I bet you're amused looking at this brush.

It is a paintbrush, but I find paintbrushes are more

reasonable and you get a nice wide brush.

I can do the job quicker.

And some delicious Gruyere cheese.

I've chosen Gruyere cheese because I like the way it melts down

and the whole thing is very comforting.

To make these melt in the mouth, press the cheese onto

the pastry, then fold in half and start the process all over again.

And to make these twists even more appetising,

add some wonderful salty Parma ham.

The dry cured ham gives it a great piquancy. That's it.

Fold, roll and sprinkle one last time.

All these light layers will create a mouthwatering crunch.

And then I'm going to cut this into six.

Do you know, this is a winning combination of flavours.

I am immensely fond of Parma ham.

I love cheese and crispy pastry, the three go really well together.

Right, all I've got to do, is give those a twist. Three twists.

One here in the middle and one at the end.

Pop them on the tray like this, that way.

The secret to a perfect bake, is to chill for ten minutes

and then pop in the oven at 200 fan, for 20 minutes.

Keep an eye on them.

They should be a good colour, a lovely pale golden brown,

then lower the temperature to about 140, just to get them cooked

right through, so that when you eat them,

they're crispy all the way through.

I think those look really tempting.

I remember in the '80s when cheese straws,

every time you went out for drinks, you would see cheese straws

and they were delicious, but these, well, I think

they certainly are a bit one up with this.

Very, very special and, of course, I've made huge ones of these

but you could make little ones to have with drinks.

I can't think of a more cosy lunch, than a steaming hot

bowl of soup with an indulgent cheese and ham twist.

Oh, so good.

Next, a comforting dish that is so delicious,

you won't believe how easy it is to make.

Mackerel pate is really, really simple

and it goes very well with hot toast.

First of all, you need smoked mackerel fillets and,

of course, you recognise it instantly.

It has that wonderful shine and pattern, so you just take

each one and peel the skin off, so there's very, very little waste.

It comes off like a dream.

One of the things I really enjoy when we're on holiday, is to

go mackerel fishing, because you're almost guaranteed to catch the fish.

It's a great family outing.

The one good thing about mackerel, is it's not too expensive

and I think the flavour is beautiful.

Simply pop the fish into a processor with some creamy mascarpone cheese.

Mascarpone is very, very versatile and I use it more

and more for cheesecakes and all sorts of things.

What makes this pate surprisingly delicious is adding the zest

and juice of a lime.

You automatically think of lemons and fish,

but lime goes very, very well.

Lovely bright green. In that goes.

And I've got a great juicing trick.

If you warm the limes, the same with lemons,

you'll get much more juice out.

I think I've got every scrap out.

Finally, add some pepper and blitz.

It really couldn't be more simple.

I use whatever I have to hand, to serve it in.

It will keep for a week in the fridge and you can also freeze it.

It freezes well.

And, for me, the essential part is having a really good bread

toasted and then lashings of butter.

This really is foolproof.

You can make that pate in five minutes, so that, surely, must be

worthwhile when it tastes as good as this.

Life doesn't get better than that.

My husband, Paul, and I, have been married for nearly 50 years

and we both love nothing more than a cosy

evening at home in front of the fire.

Oh, that looks warm and welcoming, Paul.

Oh, lovely, thanks very much. Is that all right?

-Oh, another one, definitely.

-Another one?

I always try my recipes on Paul, first.

And this next dish is a new idea and it's gone down a treat.

Comfort food, for me, is all about warming food.

Recipes that you can do all in one pot.

Very little to wash up and so easy to serve.

Right, let's get going, then.

Start with the spicy filling.

Over a high heat, fry 500g of lean minced beef

along with two large chopped onions.

I want it to brown fairly quickly.

Nice, hot pan. Choose a nice roomy one,

as you've got to be able to put it into the oven to bake.

So, you might as well think you're making Bolognese at this stage,

but we're not, we're making something a little more spicy.

Once nicely browned, stir in a couple of cloves of

crushed garlic and a finely chopped red chilli.

Then we've got one red pepper, which I've just cut into cubes.

And add a couple of cans of chopped tomatoes.

So, just mix that in.

It's a lovely, colourful mixture, that.

Now, for the fragrant ground spices.

A tablespoon each of coriander and cumin, two of my favourites.

Followed by some tomato puree.

So, a little pepper and salt.

And I'm going to put that in the oven at 140 fan for about an hour.

When it's all cooked through, my tip is to add a dollop of mango chutney.

It just sweetens it up, particularly with tomato,

I often feel that something a little bit sweet helps,

so, a couple of tablespoons full of mango chutney.

And some coriander.

It's very popular in Mexican food and I think it's a lovely herb.

And now it's time to assemble.

All you need are three large shop-bought tortillas,

150g of grated Cheddar and 250g of mascarpone.

I'm going to put a third of the mince at the base.

Do you know, the smell of the spices and coriander, is lovely.

It's not a hot, spicy dish, it's aromatic

and I've found that even the young loved it.

Mind you, the young, nowadays, do like things hotter than I ever did.

Place the tortilla on top.

And spread over a third of that creamy mascarpone.

It softens the tortilla, too.

Followed by a third of the Cheddar...

..and then simply repeat twice.

So, that's ready for the oven.

It'll go in at 180 and it'll take 30 minutes to really

heat through, until it's bubbling and a lovely golden brown on top.

That really does look tempting.

Do you know, I think a little coriander over the top,

just to finish it off.

I think that would be really perfect for a lovely,

cosy evening in with the family at home.

I guarantee, they're going to really love it.

For me, there's one ingredient I use more than anything else

when I'm cooking up something comforting and that's garlic.

Today, we're a nation of garlic lovers,

but it wasn't always so popular.

When I started writing recipes, I had to list it as optional.

Isle of Wight farmer, Colin Boswell, is a garlic obsessive

who has been growing this pungent bulb for nearly 40 years.

What did your pals think of you growing garlic in the '70s?

A complete joke.

It was only as people like M&S started to do a lot of garlic bread

and chicken kiev and people started to say,

"Maybe he's got something right."

Colin is so passionate about garlic.

He's travelled the world on a quest to find its source.

I've been on a search for the mother of all garlic.

The original garlic, which I think we found in Kazakhstan

and also on the Turkish Iran/Iraq border.

To me, garlic represents one of the most powerful things in nature.

It has a power and intensity in it, which ancient man understood

much better than we do.

The farm produces a staggering 100 tonnes of garlic every year.

And they grow over 40 different varieties.

The elephant garlic is big, sweet, people like it

because of the size and if you just take a clove and go like that,

you could have a little bite of that.

That tastes more like a strong leek than a garlic flavour.

Who are you kidding?

It tastes exactly like very strong garlic.

This is black garlic.

It's been cooked for about 40 or 50 days

and what you end up with is this black unctuous garlic.

-It looks like tapenade from here.

-It does. There we go.

It's sweet. It's incredibly sweet.

I wouldn't know that was garlic.

If you've got sourdough bread that you'd cooked on a griddle

and you spread that across, it would be divine.

Yeah.

Colin's whole family work on the farm.

Not only do they grow garlic, they also smoke it

and love cooking with it in a huge variety of ways.

The garlic bread made with elephant garlic

and herbs in there, too, is absolutely delicious.

And the garlic is baked in the bread.

It's not garlic butter on the bread.

Over here, we've got a caramelised garlic and tomato tarte tatin.

The garlic cloves have been caramelised, by boiling them

in water and then adding some balsamic.

It creates very sweet garlic cloves.

Do you know, I wouldn't think of putting garlic in sweet things

-but you do it in your chocolate brownies.

-That's right.

With the black garlic, it works really well.

It makes it sweet and caramelised

and it just brings an extra depth to baked dishes.

-It's much more mellow and soft.

-That's right, yeah.

Would you like to try some garlic beer?

I'll certainly have a try.

-Gosh, that's very warming, isn't it?

-Do you like it?

I think I could get to like it. Yes, it's lovely.

What a wonderful selection of warm comfort food.

GUITAR PLAYS

I'm very proud of this. And, yes, I did grow it myself.

I didn't get it from the garlic farm.

It's an elephant garlic and it's fresh out of the ground.

It needs drying out, but garlic is an essential of many of my recipes,

especially the one I'm going to make right now.

This is my version of the French classic, coq au vin.

And this really is comfort food at its best.

Take a big bowl and put two thirds of a bottle of wine.

It doesn't have to be special but it does give good flavour.

Add some crushed garlic, peeled shallots...

..a bunch of fresh thyme and a few bay leaves.

And then we put the chicken in.

I'm using chicken breast today.

You could use chicken thighs, if you prefer.

My tip for this dish, is to cover, then chill the chicken overnight.

And it will soak up all those lovely flavours.

Use the marinade to make the rich casserole sauce.

And you can't go wrong.

You get a much more intense flavour if you reduce the wine

and I think it's much better to reduce it, before it's

added to the chicken, otherwise you'll overcook the chicken breast.

Season and seal the chicken...

And then I'll turn those over as soon as they've got a light,

brown colour.

Once the chicken is done, time for some delicious smoky bacon.

Possibly the king of all comfort food.

This just needs to be turned in the pan

and all the gubbins from frying the chicken,

it'll all add to the flavour.

The smell, it really smells like breakfast time

when you're frying bacon, doesn't it?

When the bacon is nice and crispy, add all those marinated shallots.

I'm going to tip all that into the pan.

That's it.

And the herbs are going in there. I saved it from the marinade.

Now, I'm going to thicken the mixture.

I've got an old trick that works every time.

Whisk 150mls of cold water into three tablespoonfuls of flour.

This really is a foolproof thickening method.

Then, gradually stir in the marinade.

Do this and there'll be no lumps.

Finish with some tomato puree and brown sugar.

And I'm going to show you how it coats the back of the spoon.

Can you see that? I think that is just the right consistency.

Now, simply cook at 140 fan for around 20 minutes.

To make this casserole sing, we need some mushrooms.

I want them to have a really, sort of... A bit of a bite to them.

Cook them off separately in hot butter,

so they don't become too soggy.

I think that looks really great.

To really cheer yourself up, enjoy this casserole with some steaming

hot crushed new potatoes, roasted with garlic butter and Parmesan.

Delicious!

So, there you have it, my garlic and herb chicken casserole.

It really does raise the spirit.

After a good long walk with our dog, Millie,

there's nothing better than coming home to something sweet.

And there's one particular treat that Paul and I love.

Both our mothers used to make it

and it never fails to bring back happy memories.

First of all, the caramel.

Now, some people find it difficult and usually it's

because they've used a non-stick pan and it crystallises.

The trick is to add some water to a stainless steel or

aluminium-based pan and dissolve the sugar slowly, stirring.

And then I've got 175g of caster sugar.

In that goes.

And keep the heat fairly low until it's totally clear.

As soon as it's nearly caramel,

it'll become totally silent, but now, listen...

Very noisy.

Don't make the caramel too dark, because it'll be bitter.

It wants to be a deep straw colour.

That's it.

Let it set on a cold surface while you make the custard.

Simply heat 600ml of full fat milk.

My tip for an extra special rich custard,

is to add two egg yolks to four whole eggs.

Then 50g of caster sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Just as if you were making scrambled egg.

That's fine. It's running through beautifully.

Now it's time to add the hot milk.

Just a little to start with.

If you pour that on and it's absolutely boiling,

you will separate the eggs and you'll get curdling.

Then you can add the rest.

So, that's our custard. Couldn't be easier.

I always strain the mixture, just in case there are any

bits of shell in there.

Take the set caramel and grease around the inside of the tin.

Isn't that lovely? You could almost see your face in it, couldn't you?

Now, the secret for a beautifully smooth creme caramel, is

to cook it in a water bath.

I'm going to pour the custard in there.

Surround it with boiling water just up to halfway.

And then that slows down the cooking and gets a very even cook.

I'm going to cook that at 120 fan, for about 50 minutes to an hour.

PIANO PLAYS

Once cooked, leave it to sit in the water for about half an hour,

then take it out to cool even further and chill overnight.

Now, that is really cold and the caramel will have become liquid.

I look at this plate with real affection.

This was given to me by my auntie Molly

when I first began to be at college and interested in cooking

and it's just perfect for turning out something like caramel custard,

because it's got a bit of depth just there.

To help centre the caramel custard,

add a few drops of water to the plate first.

So, put that on top like that. A wing and a prayer, one, two, three.

And now's the time to reveal it.

Doesn't that look good?

Is it as good as your mother's?

I would say it's almost as good as my mother's, yes.

Everything that your mother made was even better, but, there we are,

that's the way of the world.

So, there you go, comforting recipes to lift the mood

and enjoy time and time again.

Next time, it's my foolproof recipes for lazy summer days.

I don't believe it! I do not... You're amazed.

I am absolutely flabbergasted.