Too Good to Waste Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers


Too Good to Waste

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I'm Nigel Slater.

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I love cooking tasty, simple food, dishes that make the most out of what

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you have in the garden, fridge or cupboard.

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One thing I can't stand is waste.

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Everyone has ingredients that may have seen better days, but, for me, I see it as a challenge to turn those

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unloved bits and bobs into magnificent meals.

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That's absolutely gorgeous.

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Stale bread, brown bananas, hard cheese,

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all used to end up in my bin, but not any more.

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Now my forgotten ingredients are always transformed into something

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truly divine, whether they come from the kitchen or the garden.

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And really, there's a few things in the garden,

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that might have ended up on the compost,

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that could actually end up like this.

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I think that's gorgeous.

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After this, you won't want to waste another ingredient again.

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You know, there's few suppers that give me greater pleasure than the ones that I've made out of nothing.

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When I've found a bit of something in the fridge that many would have consigned to the bin,

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but actually, it's good enough to use, and make something delicious with.

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This gorgeous savoury pudding is a great way to use up any tired leftover lumps of cheese.

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You could, if you wanted to, do this in one large, deep dish.

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But then you risk it becoming a souffle.

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That's when it all becomes very complicated, because you've got this,

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this word, this terrifying word that has all this baggage - souffle.

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It sounds scary and yet, actually, it's just a bit of cheese and some egg whites.

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I'm using four large eggs to make three puddings.

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Separate the eggs, save the whites till later and mix the yolks in with the cheese.

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I don't think we need to be too fussy about the type of cheese.

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What matters here is that it's a good flavoursome one, and that you've got roughly the right quantity.

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For four yolks, you'll need 350 grams of cheese or thereabouts.

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I grate quite roughly.

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I love getting little chunks of melted cheese in my pudding.

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Though I do grate the rinds, you can cut it off if you want to.

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If you think about it, this is the body of what you're making,

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this is where it's getting its texture from.

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Thyme will add a freshness to all that savoury cheese.

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It's so rewarding, cooking with bits that would otherwise end up

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being thrown away, and I don't like to say that, but they probably would.

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You know, those bits that you think, "I'll use that later,"

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and you put it on a saucer in the fridge and

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next thing you know, it goes.

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Season with a little black pepper.

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Then bring the whole thing together with some luscious double cream.

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I want these puddings to really melt in the mouth, so I'm whisking

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the egg whites to make the whole thing light and fluffy.

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Put the mixture in.

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What I want to do is get the egg white through the cheese mixture.

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Add it in little bits.

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And it's a question of mixing firmly, but at the same time, you don't want to bash the life out of it.

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A little parmesan on the bottom and top will help the puddings crisp.

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Sprinkle on a little more thyme and then bake in a really hot oven for around 10 minutes.

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This is my kind of cooking -

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simple, quick and pretty impressive.

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They smell incredibly savoury.

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They have a softness to them, and a creaminess, so I'm hoping for...

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that it's all light and fluffy and very, very moist right in the middle.

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This is gorgeous.

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That's absolutely gorgeous.

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It is very rich, but it's sort of very light at the same time.

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That, with a nice, crisp green salad, that would be supper for me.

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Use any old cheese for this.

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Hard or soft, it's all far too good to waste when

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you realise you could make something as heavenly as this with it.

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The stronger the cheese, the less you'll need.

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For me, throwing good food away is just money down the drain,

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and since I was young, I've always had a good eye for a bargain snack.

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It amazes me that there's so much good food for free.

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Hedgerows just lined with fruit.

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When I was a kid, I used to come up to these very bushes and pick them, and they're still here.

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All this food just too good to waste.

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Just waiting for us to come along.

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If I buy it in the shop, I just have to have what they give me, whereas here I've got a choice.

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And also that thing about getting something for nothing.

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Mind you, these blackberries probably won't even make it to the kitchen, so I'll have to raid the fridge, again.

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All those occasions when I'm rummaging through the fridge in search of supper, and I find those

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annoying little bits of things, where I haven't quite used all the ingredients.

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You know, those odd bits of bacon that you find, and that's when I just need to think differently,

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and instead of being an ingredient, it needs to be a seasoning.

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I'm going to use up my last scraps of bacon

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to make tonight's squash supper even more delicious.

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Squashes of all kinds hate water, so instead of boiling it, I'm going to steam it.

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Cut like this, that should take around 10 to 15 minutes.

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So they can sit tight whilst I make the seasoning to go with it.

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And the heart and soul of this seasoning is going be those few rashers of bacon.

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Doesn't matter whether this is smoked bacon or not, what matters is that because it's got plenty of flavour,

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everything else I'm going to put in this pan is going to soak it up.

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I like frugal food, but it's more than that.

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I actually like the challenge of using up something, not just for the sake of using it,

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but of using it in an appropriate way and actually making it a worthwhile part of the supper.

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Rosemary and garlic will bring a lovely, aromatic, earthy flavour.

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Then, to complement the succulent, sweet squash, sprinkle in

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a generous pinch of dried chilli flakes.

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A little fresh chilli would also work.

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I've got a really good seasoning going on in this pan, but I don't want a soft supper, I want something

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with a little bit of crunch in it and I've got a bit of bread that needs eating up.

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It's not fresh enough to eat with a chunk of cheese, and it's

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not stale enough for breadcrumbs, it's that in-between stage.

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You might need to add a little bit of oil, because bread acts like a sponge.

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When the squash is beautifully soft, add it to the sizzling pan.

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And I fancy a smattering of parsley. It really helps to brighten and freshen the whole dish.

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The squash is soft and the bacon's crisp,

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and the bread has soaked up all the flavours that were in the pan

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and it's a great way of using up just a tiny bit of bacon.

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It's really made my supper sing.

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I like that.

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Next time you're left with a few unwanted rashers, use them to flavour and liven up another dish.

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A small amount can make a big difference.

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There comes a point at the end of the growing season when there are

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lots of things you don't quite know what to do with, and it's very tempting to put them on the compost.

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Nothing wrong with that, but it's much better if you eat them.

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Will and Bryony have been juggling their Bristol allotment alongside a busy family life for four years.

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Not surprisingly, a few things have been left a little too long.

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One of the things about the allotment is, we're not totally

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focused, it's more about space and fun and coming here to relax and if

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sometimes you totally miss an entire crop, you've just got to go, "Oh, we missed that."

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Classic example of that, under there you can see some green, under there, there should be some spuds.

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-And there...

-Can we have a look at those later?

-Yeah, they were first earlies and salad

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that have just got a little bit left.

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Those beans don't exactly look at their prime either!

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I should think our runner beans are too big now, because they get stringy and tough.

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There is a point in the year where I'm afraid the word is chutney.

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But you soon get rid of those strings and they're not that bad.

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-Yeah, they're not that bad.

-But don't ever waste a single thing.

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There is an optimum time to pick everything, that moment when it's at

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its sweetest and its smallest, but it doesn't mean that you can't use it at other times. Let's do some cooking.

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The Wrights' beans may be destined for chutney, but I want to show them that they can rustle up

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instant, tasty snacks from veg they might think is past its best.

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Do you want to dig a spud up?

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I'd love to dig a spud up.

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-Yes, there we go!

-Yeah, it should be all right, they'll be all right.

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It's great to know the kids, Annie and Sam, love this place too.

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Although I have a suspicion that news of some tasty cooking could have swung their visit today!

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What I want to do is just make a flavoured oil so that all the things

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that are hanging around, they're just going to be frying very slowly, with a few herbs and stuff.

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Will's great selection of mint, thyme, bay, rosemary and garlic will make a delicious combination.

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What are you doing with the spuds, you part boiling them, then...?

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Well, these really were new potatoes that have gone...

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they're quite big, and I think they'll probably fry very well.

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-And what I'm hoping is that we'll sort of get some slightly herby chips.

-Yummy.

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-Sounds good to me.

-End of gardener's season fry-up, really.

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-Just mix that up, really.

-It looks nice.

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You might have to be a little bit patient.

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-Oh, it smells amazing!

-Wow!

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-It looks really good.

-Smells nice.

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I know chips and dips is always a winner, so I'm making a simple

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yoghurt dressing, with Dijon mustard and a smattering of fresh herbs.

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We've not done this, this is the next thing. I think we should start doing some cooking up here.

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There's a few things in the garden that might have ended up on the compost, but could actually end up

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like this, in a pan with some olive oil and some herbs.

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Seems like we've got something here.

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The sauce is really nice.

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-I think that's gorgeous.

-Mm, mm.

-Not bad, is it?

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I hate to see anyone's hard work going to waste,

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so I'm really chuffed to be able to show the Wrights a tasty way to save their seemingly old "new" potatoes.

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So if you're getting the grow-your-own bug,

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then why not check out my exclusive recipes -

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One vegetable that always seems to get relegated to the compost is the marrow.

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I've got a soft spot for a marrow. There's something so sort of Old English about them,

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like country fetes, and I'm not going to waste it,

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it's not going to end up on the compost, like so many of them.

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He's going to be my supper.

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To save the marrow from the heap, here's an idea for a delicious family supper that I think you'll love.

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The flesh of the marrow is really, really refreshing.

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It's bound to be, it's made up of so much water. And what's happened in the past, so many times,

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is that we've been given them for supper with a bit of watery mince in them

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and some white sauce on top, and I can't think of many more unattractive presentations for a vegetable.

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My favourite way to cook marrows is to wrap them up in paper, so they bake in their own steam.

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People who say marrow doesn't taste of anything - well, no, it doesn't have a lot of flavour.

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It just soaks up others.

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So if you put lovely, juicy things with it, like tomatoes, then it soaks up all that juice.

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Cherry tomatoes' sweetness and dainty size work perfectly.

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What I'm after here are the juices.

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I want things to all amalgamate, the juice of the tomatoes and the juice of the marrow.

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I'm also going to put in a few seasonings.

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Chilli will add a kick to the marrow's juicy flesh.

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A sprinkling of oregano, too, but any fresh herb you want to use up would work.

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Bake in quite a hot oven for around 40 minutes, until the flesh is soft.

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One final ingredient will really give this supper some oomph.

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And very few people think about having warm feta, but it's absolutely delicious.

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I'd like the feta to soften a little and combine with all those juices, so this will just get five minutes

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more in the oven, with another sprinkle of fresh oregano.

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As you open that paper, all the herbs are coming up and all the tomato juice.

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Inside you've got all these juices here, which are kind of the heart and soul of what's in there.

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It's sort of sharp and sweet at the same time,

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and I've got slightly salty cheese, and then this lovely sort of herbal tomato flavour coming in as well.

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Year after year they just sit there, in the vegetable patch,

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just quietly rotting, and I could have done that, every year.

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I'm never going to waste a marrow again!

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This will work just as well with any big courgettes that have seen better days, too.

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This is one tasty supper from one very unloved vegetable.

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Let's hear it for the marrow, I say!

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They're extraordinary, slightly otherworldly, really.

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You would actually expect to find little gnomes

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sitting at the end, or little fairies popping round.

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Would you believe there are over 2,000 different varieties of edible mushrooms?

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Specialist growers Jane and Sue cultivate 14 of them in this fungal wonderland in Hampshire.

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Now, this is a really nice mushroom. It's called nameko and it is native to Asia.

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This is a king oyster, a good, nutty flavour, with that.

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You can char-grill them...

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Stunning mushroom.

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This mushroom farm supplies some of the UK's top restaurants.

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Albeit slowly, as some of these can take up to three months to grow!

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These little beauties are white enoki and you can eat them raw.

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Mm, very palatable, quite perfumed.

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These are yellow oysters. This is what they look like when they're picked.

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You have to imagine that hanging off the side of a tree.

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They're very, very delicate, so if you cook them, they lose the colour.

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-Very peppery.

-Mm, lovely.

-Nice on a salad.

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You can eat some mushrooms raw, but most, like this shitake,

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show off their flavour best when cooked. Often the simpler, the better.

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Mushrooms on toast sounds very boring, but actually, you use

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mushrooms like this and it becomes a gourmet dish.

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They have beautiful pom-poms, often they're known as Lion's Mane.

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-But it's also known as Monkey Head.

-Inside they look like coral.

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Chefs love it because it's very different and it has a very intense, savoury flavour.

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-Mm.

-Oh, yes. Mm, quite chewy.

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Meaty flavour and texture.

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-Yeah, this is a vegetarian's dream.

-Yeah, I'd buy that, wouldn't you?

-Absolutely.

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If you haven't eaten it first.

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You don't have to have gourmet mushrooms to make a top notch dish.

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Bog standard ones can be tasty, too.

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The great news is they're often at their best, just when you think they're almost past it!

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When a mushroom starts to feel a little bit tacky to the touch,

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that's when they've mellowed and their flavour is really rich.

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That's when so many people look at it and think, "Ooh, I'm not going to eat that."

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I'm going to use it.

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Mushrooms are like little sponges, so I don't wash them,

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I just wipe them and cook them in plenty of butter and a drop of olive oil, to make them deliciously juicy.

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They smell of autumn,

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they smell of the woods. Now, as lovely as that is, that does not supper make.

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But, with a few other ingredients, things I've got knocking around, this could be quite substantial.

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I've got some spring onions hanging around, so they're going in, and rosemary, too.

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Meaty mushrooms just seem to love robust flavours.

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And then a clove of garlic.

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Garlic and mushrooms are two of the happiest ingredients you could ever imagine.

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I find it almost difficult to use mushrooms without garlic.

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Now, the other thing I've always got left over is bread.

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I just always somehow manage to have some left.

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Any bread will do. I'm throwing some stale pitta in with my leftover ciabatta, just to use it up, really.

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I want to toast these breadcrumbs in with the spring onions and rosemary and I don't want to add any extra

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butter, and I've got some butter in here with the mushroom juices, so I'm going to use some of that.

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Just going to let those gently colour.

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Now, all these flavours are very...

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They're very woodlandy and what I call dark flavours

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and I want something bright in there.

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A grating of lemon zest will freshen things nicely.

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Smell the garlic coming up from these breadcrumbs.

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Then a grinding of pepper and a good handful of parsley for a flash of instant colour.

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So the mushrooms are velvety and very soft,

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and the crumbs are crisp and golden.

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Delicious, juicy mushrooms on the most lovely crunchy crust.

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It's a much happier end for these ingredients than they might have had.

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If you think your mushrooms look a bit sad and forlorn in the fridge, give them a break.

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They'll just ooze flavour, but the lemon and fresh herbs are a must.

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Hunting down the finest ingredients has got to be one of the best bits about shopping.

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One thing that's tricky to get right, though, is fruit.

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It just seems that one day, it's perfect, and the very next day, it's not quite so appealing.

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But I never chuck it. There's always something tasty you can do.

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One thing I can never get right is bananas and that's partly because

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everybody likes their bananas ripened differently.

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I can't stand the brown bits.

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In fact, when I was a kid, I used to burst into tears if there was a really brown banana in my lunchbox.

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Some like them almost crisp, when the skin is verging on green.

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Then there's those who won't eat it unless you can smell it from the other side of the room.

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My favourite way to use up black bananas is in this indulgent but easy cake.

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My trick to getting a really soft and creamy cake mix is to use a combination

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of caster sugar and light muscovado, which has a gorgeous caramel flavour that will work well with the bananas.

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I'm using 175 grams of butter, along with the same quantity of sugar.

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My sugar and butter mix just needs a couple of eggs and vanilla extract.

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I'm going to put some hazelnuts in my cake.

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Probably need about 75 grams.

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You can add them from the packet, but toasting gives them an extra deep flavour.

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These ground nuts will keep my cake really moist.

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To bind the cake together, I need some flour and I just need the same weight as the butter and sugar.

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Makes it really easy to remember.

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So that's 175 grams, and it'll get mixed in with the nuts and added to the creamed butter and sugar.

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The riper the banana, the richer the flavour.

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You know that by the smell.

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It smells like sort of old-fashioned banana sweets.

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I like little chunks of banana in my cake, so I just break it up into tiny little bits,

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and all these little bruised black bits are just incredibly sweet.

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They're the very essence of banana.

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Now, whenever I think of banana, I think of chocolate.

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Beautiful, dark chocolate.

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I could melt it and stir it in, but it'd be lost.

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So I have proper little chips of chocolate.

0:25:460:25:49

You need about 100 grams of chocolate for this.

0:25:490:25:51

And now, we gently stir it together.

0:25:560:25:59

I like to line my tins, that way the cake always seems to slide out in one piece.

0:26:010:26:08

A sprinkling of Demerara sugar will give my cake a lovely, golden, crisp top.

0:26:090:26:16

And then that goes in the oven at about 170, for a good hour.

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It's smelling really good.

0:26:380:26:40

It's those really sticky, black bananas.

0:26:430:26:46

You'd think with the chocolate in there, it would taste chocolate straight away, and it's not.

0:26:460:26:51

All cake's good, but this is the nicest I've ever made.

0:26:510:26:58

You know, that would be nice as a dessert.

0:26:580:27:00

Maybe with some creme fraiche.

0:27:020:27:05

On the side.

0:27:070:27:09

Maybe even a bit of cinnamon.

0:27:100:27:13

Cold creme fraiche.

0:27:150:27:18

The tiniest bit of cinnamon, because it works with bananas and it works with chocolate.

0:27:180:27:23

Those bananas were so close to being thrown out.

0:27:280:27:33

They've made the most glorious cake.

0:27:330:27:36

I'm so pleased with this.

0:27:410:27:42

If this doesn't make you want to rescue those squishy bananas, then nothing will!

0:27:470:27:52

Far too good for the bin and a scrumptious way to kick off the weekend.

0:27:520:27:56

I've shown how easy it is to transform your unwanted bits and bobs

0:28:010:28:06

into luscious meals that everyone will enjoy.

0:28:060:28:09

Next time, I'll be exploring my favourite unsung heroes in the kitchen and garden.

0:28:110:28:17

These ingredients might not be the trendiest, but treat them to a few

0:28:170:28:22

of my simple tricks and they'll give you a great tasting supper - perfect for any night of the week.

0:28:220:28:28

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:28:510:28:54

E-mail: [email protected]

0:28:540:28:57

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