Weird and Wonderful Nigel Slater's Simple Cooking

I'm Nigel Slater. I don't think great cooking has to be complicated,

and it definitely shouldn't be a chore.

Sometimes, the best things to cook are the simplest.

For me, that's what cooking is all about - combinations like surf and turf,

soft and crisp, sweet and sour.

I'll be taking a fresh look at favourite recipes.

It's like heaven on a spoon.

And also cooking up some new ones.

Quite unusual, but it's a success.

And when you see how much fun you could have in the kitchen,

I hope you'll be inspired too.

Today is all about the marriage of weird and wonderful.

It's about making familiar recipes more exciting,

with unexpected twists and new ingredients.

Sometimes it's the most unlikely combinations that give you the tastiest results.

That's when cooking gets really exciting.

I want to explore the unusual

and the familiar at home in the kitchen, and out in the country.

There is no doubt that this is game.

Masses of flavour.

I'm not the sort of cook who travels the world

trying to find weird things to eat.

But I do like to ring the changes.

And much more fun, to my mind,

is to take something I know very well, something familiar,

and give it a new lease of life, give it a surprise.

So I'm taking an unusual approach to one of my favourites - apple crumble.

I want to play with the flavours and make a savoury version.

Something to try with a Sunday roast or even alongside some sausages.

Half a dozen apples should be enough.

There's two ways to approach the filling for a crumble.

You either cook the fruit from raw, with the crumble topping on it,

or you just give the fruit a few minutes in a pan

with a little bit of butter, to start with.

So often, cooking is about getting something on the table at the end of the day.

It's about feeding the hungry hordes.

But I think it also can be about having a little bit of fun.

A rainy afternoon, a few ingredients, and just playing a bit.

These apples just need a few minutes to stew.

Plenty of time to make my crumble topping.

It starts in the usual way with butter and flour.

I'm just going to rub the butter into the flour,

which you can do in a food processor and it takes seconds,

but I like the feel of food in my hands,

particularly baking.

I just end up with a good, rich, basic crumble.

Check the apples and see how they're coming on.

They're looking good. They're looking nice and soft.

I'm going to put in a little bit of Madeira. You could use Marsala.

Just something to give it a grown-up flavour.

So far, so traditional. But I want my crumble to be a bit different.

Time for the savoury twist.

Apples and cheese are one of life's perfect marriages.

So I'm going to grate into that a little bit of Parmesan cheese.

A good strong Parmesan will add real flavour to this.

You probably need three or four tablespoons.

Breadcrumbs will add to the savoury edge and crisp up beautifully.

I'm just thinking of something that will work with the apples.

Maybe a little bit of thyme. I've actually got some lemon thyme,

which just has that little extra bit of freshness.

Lemon thyme works well in stuffing,

and will add a delicate freshness.

So the apple's really quite soft, and it's soaked up a little bit of that alcohol.

And then it gets its crumble topping.

A final shower of Parmesan, and into the oven it goes.

I'm grateful for the rain today -

it's a wonderful excuse to stay inside, pour myself a drink

and just enjoy the scent of baking.

It's deeply savoury from the cheese and thyme,

but there's definitely the sweetness of apple in there too.

Looks like a crumble.

Something very familiar and friendly about that.

I'm expecting pudding,

but I'm actually getting something that reminds me of an old-fashioned ploughman's lunch,

with a big lump of cheese and an apple.

It would be a really nice thing to have on the side with some cold roast meat.

Quite unusual, but it's a success.

The cheese has made a classic apple crumble

into something intriguing, for very little effort.

I'd happily eat this for supper any day of the week,

and especially with sausages.

Although I've cooked every day since I was young, I've still got so much to learn.

That's the great thing about experimenting.

You can read all the cookery books you like,

but you'll never know if something works and if you like it until you try it.

And that's especially true when a recipe contains unfamiliar things.

There are one or two ingredients that are truly "love or hate".

My list of "hate" ingredients is very short.

But there are things I never used to like - things I wouldn't think of eating -

that not only have I learned to love,

they've actually become one of my favourite ingredients.

And one of them is black pudding.

If you've never tried black pudding,

or you want to persuade someone to give it a go,

this fantastic supper dish is a great place to begin.

I start by frying a couple of onions in butter.

But I'm not going to serve them on the side -

they're going to go into the sausage roll itself.

If you cook onions slowly, they become incredibly sweet and treacly,

and that's exactly what I want,

because it works beautifully with the real savoury quality of a black pudding.

I'm also adding the simple flavours of bay leaf and thyme.

And now the pastry.

Ready-rolled puff pastry is a great standby to have in the fridge or freezer

and makes this recipe so quick and easy.

A lot of British butchers are now starting to experiment with their black pudding recipes.

They're making softer types, similar to those in France and Spain.

They're more pliable and a little bit spicy

and they're really, really delicious.

If you're still not convinced by these new black puddings,

then just use a favourite sausage - it'll still taste great.

The onions are dark golden brown,

so it's time to put the sausage roll together.

Use beaten egg to seal the edges of the parcel,

so that none of the delicious juices leak out.

If I wanted to introduce somebody to the pleasures of black pudding, this is what I'd do.

Very few people can resist a sausage roll.

Now, that needs to go into a really hot oven, at least 200 degrees.

I'd like a familiar sauce to serve with my unusual black pudding.

Now, if it's sausages, it's got to be mustard.

They are two things that, for me,

just go hand in glove.

I'm mixing some smooth and grain mustard

into some single cream, a little bit at a time.

Just taste as you go.

That needs a little bit more mustard and it really is the only way to tell,

just to put your finger in and taste it.

Then I need some old-fashioned curly parsley - another perfect partner for any sausage.

Finally, a twist of salt and pepper.

The sausage roll will take about 20 minutes in a hot oven.

I reckon the waiting is the hardest part of this recipe.

The smell is wonderful. It's coming up through the little cracks in the pastry.

Then some of my parsley sauce.

This cream sauce would add a touch of luxury to any sausage supper,

so I'm sure it will finish my black pudding off nicely.

It's absolutely delicious.

If you don't like the idea of black pudding, maybe you'll like it like that.

It really is a very special sausage roll.

Trying a new ingredient in a familiar recipe like this

is such an easy way of opening up your everyday cooking.

The important thing is to give it a go!

My search for weird and wonderful dishes

has brought me to one of the most beautiful places in Britain - the Peak District -

and to Thornbridge Hall, near Bakewell.

I'm here to meet a man who's got something very unusual to show me.

I've always been interested in wild boar. They're a very intriguing animal.

I lived in New Zealand for four years and over there they run wild, they're not farmed,

and I realised that over here there's a demand for the meat, which is getting more popular.

Tom Clarke used to be a butcher until he gave it up to raise wild boar,

which roam free in part of the estate.

It's feeding time, and in a fine example of recycling,

Tom gives his boars the waste grain from a brewery that's housed on the estate.

They're loving it.

These are the grains that come from...after you've brewed the beer? That's the husks?

-That's the husks.

-Smells like a cross between, um... brown toast and chocolate.

-Yeah.

I feel as if I've kind of travelled back to medieval times.

-They were extinct at one time, weren't they?

-They were, 300 years ago,

They were native wild animals in England,

and they hunted them and wiped them out.

We're slowly introducing them back, but farmed, for safety reasons.

-They have a good life.

-You can tell they have a good life.

And I like meeting things I'm going to eat.

I think it's kind of important. It is.

Otherwise, you're so divorced from the animal,

when you see it pre-packed on the supermarket shelf.

It's slightly sweeter than normal pork.

-Not as strong as venison, even though it is game.

-Bit of apple sauce with it?

Gravy, in my opinion. I think sausages have to be with gravy.

We're heading back to the house, where Tom's going to make lunch for us both

from the meat he prepares himself.

-Oh, so that's boar.

-That's the stuff.

That doesn't look anything like pork.

No, almost beefy-looking.

-I like this fat.

-That's what's on the outside of the animal.

That fat's on the outside and nothing in the middle. That's its insulation.

Fantastic.

If I wanted to do something quick with it - you'd mince it?

Ideally mince it, hence by doing a burger - it's a quick, simple ingredient.

There's fat mixed in with it so it doesn't fall apart,

it seasons it and it stays together and doesn't dry it out.

We're using a little hand mincer there.

I normally do 70% meat, 30% fat.

Making your own burgers is so simple.

If you can't get wild boar, try making them

with minced beef, pork or lamb.

The great thing is that you'll know exactly what's gone into them -

and you can add whatever you fancy.

You'd season this with probably not very much.

Not a great deal cos you want to taste the wild boar. Just a few herbs to give it a bit of a lift.

Tom adds red onion, garlic and chopped rosemary.

I'm looking at this and I keep thinking it's beef,

but you're adding what I think of as pork seasonings.

-Yes.

-The rosemary and the garlic.

Absolutely. I'm just going to make them into rough burgers.

It's a wild boar, it's a rugged animal.

Nothing neat about it, in my opinion.

Couple of minutes each side, that's all we need.

Don't be afraid of trying game.

It's a bit different from your everyday meat,

but I love its deep, distinct flavour.

-When you smell them cooking, there is no doubt that this is game.

-Yes, absolutely.

-There is that rich, almost woodsy note...

-Yep.

-..of game meat.

Oh, look at that. Look at that!

This will be the first time I've ever eaten a wild boar burger.

Rough-looking and rustic with just three ingredients, it couldn't be simpler.

It might be an unusual meat

but the fact it was raised just down the road is wonderful.

That is probably the most handsome burger I have ever seen.

-It's pretty.

-I hope you're not expecting to eat this elegantly.

There's no elegant way of eating a burger.

-Isn't that good?

-Perfect.

-It's kind of quite wild flavours.

-Yes. It's not too harsh.

-No.

Masses of flavour. It's a good burger, Tom.

Good burger.

The wild boar meat is simply sensational.

If you want to try it, look in farm shops, delis or good butchers.

Get the details on our website,

along with more ideas for how you can experiment yourself.

It's all too easy to be a little bit dismissive

of things we don't know and understand,

and that includes the vegetable world.

I never knew how to treat kohlrabi.

I know they're very beautiful vegetables,

very unusual to look at, but I really didn't know what to do with them.

I might have even been a little bit rude about them.

You might not have come across kohlrabi.

The name literally means "cabbage turnip".

But they're more sweet and juicy,

which makes them perfect

to pair with some more familiar fruit and veg,

in a delicious winter coleslaw.

The pale green kohlrabi looks amazing

with these thin slices of white and pink grapefruit.

If you're not a grapefruit fan,

you could use a large, tangy orange instead.

Now a little dressing.

I need a squeeze of lemon juice and some salty capers.

Also in there, just a little bit of olive oil.

I want this salad to be full of crunch.

I want it to invigorate and surprise.

So I'm just going to put together a simple, luscious topping.

I'm putting in some little spring onions, very finely sliced.

I'm going to put a tiny bit of garlic in there as well.

Only use garlic raw if it's very juicy and fresh-looking.

So a few slivers of that...

And then some yogurt.

This creamy yoghurt would be great as part of any crunchy salad,

but I'm going to try it with another underused veg.

I think I'd seen celeriac

sitting around in the greengrocer's for years. I didn't know what it was.

There's something very cleansing about the smell of celeriac.

This is the sort of salad I'd eat if I had a hangover

or maybe if I had eaten too much the day before.

Celeriac browns quite quickly when you cut it,

so it's worth having a lemon on hand, just to squeeze over it.

I think the salad could do with some more fresh parsley.

It has a grounding effect on a dish - brings it back to earth.

I've put quite a few things that are either new to me,

or things that I don't use very often.

So I need something in there that I know really well.

And that's beetroot.

Add a little olive oil to the yogurt mixture,

toss together with the grated veg

and you're ready to assemble the salad.

Add to here.

I do love soothing food with familiar flavours.

I also like things that startle and excite.

It's crisp and it's crunchy and it's got that sourness to it as well.

And it's delicious.

It's a new, fresh salad, and I love it.

I spent much too long ignoring our more unusual vegetables.

This dazzling dish just reminds me

how versatile and full of flavour they are, both raw and cooked.

Kohlrabi and celeriac - give them a chance.

They might just end up as a regular treat.

I'm at Thornbridge Hall in Derbyshire with wild boar farmer Tom Clarke.

Earlier, Tom introduced me to something new

with his tasty boar burger,

so I want to cook something just as interesting and wonderful for him.

His impressive kitchen garden

will provide me with the wonderful bit.

Even at this time of year, there's still an amazing amount going on.

I love these. This, to me, looks like what I call purple Russian.

And at the top, they're really tender.

I can't resist this. Cavolo nero - black cabbage.

-So can I nick some of the sprouts here?

-Yes.

So what's the difference, other than the purple, from the green sprouts?

Not a lot, in terms of flavour.

But they look so pretty on the plate.

It's actually looking quite good.

-It's looking rather healthy.

-Yes, very healthy.

So now I've got my wonderful veg, I need something weird to go with them.

I've got a recipe idea

that could make use of the estate's home-grown beer,

so Jim Harrison, the brains behind the brewery,

has bought me a few to choose from.

We've got quite a selection here, running from a wheat beer

to beautifully hopped, light-coloured beers.

That's what I want!

I'm after something light and fresh-tasting,

to make a very crisp, light batter.

-That's your man. That will fit the bill perfectly.

-Lovely.

While Jim heads back to some more brewing,

I'm joining Tom to make a start on the veg we picked in the garden.

So I want a very light batter to cling to these,

because they're so delicate.

Although the flavours are quite strong.

So, a little bit of flour. We pop in an egg yolk.

-That will help bind it together?

-Yep.

Just makes it that little bit richer.

I often use wine in my cooking,

but I rarely get the chance to cook with beer.

But this batter gives me the perfect excuse to open a bottle.

You can actually feel it's light on the whisk.

Doesn't matter that it's got lumps -

doesn't make any difference at all.

The beer should give me a lovely light batter.

You could experiment with other types of veg,

or a bit of fish.

I mean, traditionally, you wouldn't use a beer batter for tempura,

but I think the beer with the cabbage leaves will be amazing.

Yes.

The leaves will only need a few minutes to cook,

until the batter is light and crisp.

I mean, this is slightly experimental.

I want to try some of these little sprouts.

I have to say, I have never deep-fried a sprout before.

It'll make it more interesting. I'm not a sprout lover.

-No?

-No. Christmas Day only - that's it.

For people who don't like their veg,

it's a good, fun, exciting way of eating them.

I've never tried the tempura batter on veg before.

-Certainly not on sprouts.

-No!

These crisp vegetables are crying out for a dip,

so I'm just making a very quick one

with fresh orange, lemon juice and soy sauce.

-What do you fancy, then?

-I'm going to try a sprout, straight in there.

All right. Dip it in.

It doesn't taste like a sprout. It's sweeter.

Sweet, with the sharpness of the dip.

You can taste the beer, which I didn't think you would.

As well as the sharpness of the dip, you can tell there's beer.

-That's quite exciting to me.

-Yeah.

The sour, sweet dip, then these earthy greens.

So it's a hit with Tom - even the sprouts!

But what will Jim think of what I've done with his beer?

Am I dipping in here?

Yeah, dip it into the citrus and soy.

-Mmm! Beautiful.

-Crunchy, eh?

-Very crunchy, It's fantastic, isn't it?

-Marvellous.

-Thank you very much. And it does seem to work.

It's that lightness of the batter. That was the right beer.

The beer worked really well. I could eat that all day long. Beautiful!

We all know that fish is great in a batter,

but I've found the same is even true of a sprout!

It just goes to show what can happen if you experiment a little.

Sometimes things really take you by surprise.

I remember ordering bread and butter pudding once,

and thinking I was on very safe ground.

But I got something very surprising.

A traditional bread and butter pudding is full of wonderful spices

and coconut milk.

Although it was a dish I recognised, and was very happy to eat,

it came with this wonderful variation. I've never forgotten it.

You might think that something as classic

as good old bread and butter pudding can't be improved on,

but trust me. A few aromatic spices and some rich coconut milk

will transform a familiar dish into something new and wonderful.

I'm starting by making the custard base.

I need egg yolks and some coconut milk.

It's got a richness to it that will work very very nicely

with the spices.

And some ordinary milk.

Now, the reason that this pudding was so wonderful

was because of the sweet spices.

They were unexpected. The first one that went in was vanilla.

You can use vanilla extract, but I quite like using the whole pod.

Just scrape some of the seeds out, drop them into the custard.

Put the split pod in there as well,

because you'll get masses of flavour in there.

The next spice to go in is possibly my favourite of all.

If I can only take one spice to my desert island, it would be cardamom.

There's something magical about the smell of this stuff.

It's a warm smell. Then there's this hit of the exotic about it.

Cinnamon's the last spice to go in.

And some sugar - I'm using muscovado,

as it's got a rich, butterscotch flavour.

There are so many breads that you can use in this pudding.

I think I've used every bread there is, including hot cross buns.

They've all been delicious.

Spread the bread with some soft butter.

How you arrange the slices is up to you,

but I do think it's nice to cut the crusts off.

And just on the top, a little bit of Demerara sugar.

Sometimes I feel I could cook just for the smell of cooking alone.

And this is one of those moments.

Have the oven quite low so the custard bakes slowly.

As a treat, I want to make a caramelised banana topping

to go with my pud.

You'll need two or three quite firm fruits.

Cook them slowly in butter with a generous sprinkle of sugar.

So once the bananas are sizzling and starting to brown a bit,

they're going to get a bit of grated orange zest.

It's simply just that last bit of freshness

with something that is homely and warm and baked.

Just that little zip to bring the whole thing to life.

If you shake the pan, you'll see when it's ready,

because it quivers slightly.

Almost blancmange-like.

So I've got toasted bread...

quivering, sweet, spicy custard and a bit of fried banana.

It's just the smell of the sweetness and the spice.

It's like you've opened up a whole spice cupboard.

Then you've got this back note

of this lovely, sweet butterscotch sugar.

It really is gorgeous.

It's blissful.

Adding the coconut milk

is a brilliant way to ring the changes with such a familiar pudding.

What else you add is up to you - favourite spices, dried fruits -

whatever takes your fancy.

The caramelised bananas would make a really lovely topping

for ice cream too if you don't have time to make the pud.

In this series I've tried lots of different food combinations.

You'll find all the recipes on the website.

There are so many other perfect pairings still out there to explore.

It's really fired my imagination.

I hope it has for you too.

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