Saints and Sinners Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers

I'm Nigel Slater.

For me, being able to rustle up delicious, simple food

is what life is all about.

Often I fancy a bit of indulgence, but I do also try to be good.

Well, sometimes anyway!

I like to make everything I eat feel like a treat -

even the healthy stuff.

If I'm going to spend time cooking it,

I want to feel excited about eating it, not guilty!

I do like eating healthily, and I do care about what I eat,

but I also like the naughty stuff.

What annoys me is when the naughty stuff gets a very bad name.

It's all about balance.

So this week I'll be creating a five heavenly dishes -

balancing the very, very good with the very, very naughty.

Fabulous meals to make you feel great about yourself,

as well as a couple of my all-time, off-the-scale treats.

I'll also be meeting a family passionate about growing their own,

and transforming their healthy pickings into something more daring.

I've got a thing about blackcurrants, I used to pick them as a kid.

How much do we need to pay you to pick them?

Maybe you could step back in time!

Every time I have something that I know is good for me,

it gives me a licence to have something naughty, something sinful.

I think we all need a little bit more sin.

If I'm going to eat a cake, or a biscuit,

it's going to be a fabulous one,

and if it's a biscuit I'll probably call it a cookie,

cos it sounds much more delicious.

So I'm going to start the week with a real treat -

some divine chocolate cookies with crunchy hazelnuts.

These are the perfect way to beat those Monday blues!

I'd much rather have one,

delicious crumbly chocolatey cookie

made with butter, made with chocolate,

than I'd have three

that are supposedly better for me because they're low fat.

My cookies start off by gently melting 200 grams of chocolate

over a pan of simmering water.

75 grams of butter will add to its silkiness.

We're talking about treats, we're talking about pleasure,

and if it's going to bring real pleasure,

it's got to hit those buttons.

225 grams of sumptuous muscovado sugar

adds a wonderful deep butterscotch flavour.

And that only looks like a bit of butter

and a lot of sugar, but it'll work.

A couple of eggs will bring my butter and sugar together.

And a few drops of vanilla extract will complement the chocolate perfectly.

Finally, two tablespoons of self-raising flour -

don't even think about the calories.

Now if this is a treat with chocolate,

then there is a huge temptation for me to involve nuts.

Hazelnuts and chocolate for me, is just... It's the best of the lot.

I skin my hazelnuts - you can buy them already done, but I think they keep better with their skins on.

It's easy - just toast and flake off the skins by rolling in a tea towel.

So about three-quarters of these nuts I'm going to grind to a powder.

The last quarter, I just roughly chop to add a bit of crunch.

Then the whole lot goes in with the flour and creamed butter and sugar.

Then, it's time to add the melted chocolate.

As soon as it's all liquid,

then I turn off the heat.

If it gets too hot, then we'll be in trouble.

There's nothing worse than grainy, burnt chocolate!

I want my cookies to be moist and gooey in the centre,

so they'll just get around 10 minutes in a warm oven.

There's something that sends tingles down my spine when I put

a plate of warm biscuits,

cookies, call them what you will, on the table and everybody tucks in.

There is just something.

Perhaps it's the reason I cook, I don't know.

It's about sharing something that you've made

with other people while it's still warm from the oven.

You wouldn't think those biscuits were cooked when you take them out of the oven,

but they're as cooked as I want them to be.

There's no packet of biscuits in the world...

..that would have the same effect on me as these are right now.

To go with the warm chocolate,

some ripe cherries,

a few...very ripe berries.

So they're lightly crisp

on the outside.

And then inside,

they're moist and gooey.

You could keep these in a tin for a couple of days.

But I'm not going to!

The trick is to go for the best chocolate you can with this recipe.

It is a treat, after all.

If I do over-indulge, I often then crave something healthy.

It's like my body telling me off, but a few aromatic herbs

in a cup of hot water soon redresses the balance.

That feeling when I've had a little bit too much cake,

a little bit too many good things.

There's something very purifying

about a glass of warm water...

and some green aromatic herbs.

The garden sometimes has a healthy answer,

I reckon that's why I love growing my own so much.

Anywhere you look in the garden, you'll find something to inspire a saintly supper.

If you find something that's just a picture of health, it looks so good.

Just want to celebrate it for what it is -

lovely healthy ingredient.

And that's how I feel about these tomatoes.

I mean, just sniffing them makes me feel good.

For Tuesday's supper, these juicy tomatoes are going to take centre stage in a beautiful basil dressing.

This one is pure goodness.

What I'm going to do with these is roast them with...

some of their...

best friends, things that work so beautifully with them - garlic.

Put in as much fresh garlic as you dare.

Not going to chop this finely - I'm just going to cut it into...

two or maybe three and tuck it into the tomato,

and what happens is it that it just gently scents it.

Thyme is another of the tomato's closest friends.

They really bring out the best in each other.

You know, you look at herbs in a pot, or in a shop

and they're just another green thing.

It's when you crush them between your fingers as you pick them,

just makes you feel...

so good, you can almost feel them doing you good.

A few coarsely ground black peppercorns will add nuggets of warmth.

Lastly, a good glug of olive oil.

I want these to take on a chargrilled flavour, so they'll go into a really hot oven.

It'd be really good to have something that

really flatters the tomatoes rather than smothers them or hides them, a mixture of really green herbs.

Flat leaf parsley, basil and the rest of my thyme is the ultimate fresh combination.

And I want to brighten the flavour of this whole thing.

A few capers will also add a bracing sharpness.

Then it's just a case of whizzing everything together,

with a good glug of fruity olive oil

and a squeeze of lemon.

I'm after a sauce or a dressing that I can pour easily.

It's as simple as that.

It's like the kitchen has suddenly been transported to Provence

with that smell of tomatoes and thyme and garlic.

And as the sauce hits the warm tomatoes, there's an amazing smell coming up.

All lush and green and healthy.

It seems only fitting

to finish this meal where it started, or where most of it started.

It's like the very essence of the garden and all that's good in it.

It's just so green and fresh.

Power of herbs, it's extraordinary.

It's very straightforward, and for a healthy dish, remarkably satisfying.

As much as I love my town garden,

I sometimes dream of really living the good life.

I spend an awful lot of time just sitting down with a cup of tea

and just imagining what it would be like to live somewhere

where the pace is slower, and where I've got much more space.

In particular, space to grow things.

Cat and Tom escaped the city life three years ago

with their children Fergus and Amelie.

Not surprisingly, they're loving every bit of their inherited veg patch

in this stunning part of Devon.

There's something lovely about watching fruit grow and ripen and go through the whole process.

It's amazing that they turn from little flowers into apples.

-I just think it's incredible.

-It's a wonderful obsession, but it does get you -

there is that thing where I wake up first thing in the morning, go round the garden,

and it's almost like I can't wait to see what's happened to things.

The real star of the Raymond's family garden is this bountiful fruit cage.

-Now, great raspberries.

-We've been picking these for...

-Three weeks.

-And you've got masses more to come!

-They are really nice at the moment.

They are looking good, I wouldn't mind a bit later, maybe picking some of those.

Go and have a little look, and look at your blackcurrants.

They're quite sharp. I think that one's a bit...

With a spoonful of sugar.

It's like a sort of fruit espresso, it's kind of...this jolt.

I've got a thing about blackcurrants because I used to pick them when I was a kid,

for pocket money,

and when I prune them now, when I smell... The blackcurrant

was a distinctive smell, and it's just like being 13 again.

How much do we need to pay you to pick them? Maybe you could step back in time!

I seem to remember it was a couple of quid a day!

-That's what I was thinking.

-That sounds about right.

-That's fine, we can do that!

OK. I think I can remember how to do this!

But don't think I'm going to waste my efforts on some healthy fruit dish.

No - I'm in the mood to whip up something a little wicked!

Just rinse these fruits, to be honest.

What do you do with all your blackcurrants?

Make them into coulis, jam... Don't eat most of it.

Difficult stuff to know what to do with.

All the sour fruits are, because the ones that you can just pick

and eat and the kids can just pick and eat, vanish. They do need a little bit of effort.

-They do.

-Quite a bit of sugar, to be honest -

these have had weeks of sun, but they're still really sharp.

And I just leave those

till the fruits burst, I mean you know that, until the...

the skins pop,

and then you just get this amazing dark juice and fruit.

While that simmers away, I've got some lovely local double cream.

This will really help take the edge off those sharp berries.

Such a cool colour that double cream, it's much more yellow than the...

-It's beautiful.

-It's a lovely colour.

I'm going to put some yoghurt in, and I'm going to put it in because

I just like that sort of hint of sharpness -

not much, but just a little bit.

And then it's so beautiful, it's worth every second of...

pruning and getting prickled and getting scratched.

I try not to stir mine too much, my fools.

Looks delicious.

-Mm.

-Complete difference, this, from very, very thick warming cream,

and then very sharp coming through.

And I quite like the yoghurt, it adds a certain sourness in a funny kind of way, I don't know.

-It freshens it somehow.

-It freshens it.

-It's nice.

Did you like yours?

-I did!

-SHE LAUGHS

I couldn't breathe it in quickly enough, that's my only complaint, but other than that, it was good!

If all this has inspired you to grow your own,

or you'd like some exciting recipe ideas for your fruit and veg,

check out:

Sometimes I want something to eat that just makes me feel good.

Really quite healthy.

Something fresh, and crisp,

but also something that has a touch of luxury about it.

So I usually go for a pure, saintly salad, served alongside a sinful, sensational dressing...

..that starts off with two or three balls of gorgeous, creamy mozzarella.

Now I could...

put an olive oil dressing on this.

It would be very classical...

..but I want something that's going to emphasise the coolness of it.

By using yoghurt, I'm introducing some acidity, so a bit of bite.

Now to that, I want something bright and fresh and invigorating.

Lovely sprigs of bright-tasting mint,

and some basil, too.

And one sprig of parsley.

I don't really believe in the notion of food

that's bad for you and food that's good for you.

It's about creating a mixture of food that is all about pleasure.

With food that makes you feel good in other ways, cos it's just so healthy and fresh.

All my creamy dressing needs now is a bit of a kick...

so a little chilli.

If you want this to really tingle the taste buds, keep the seeds in.

Then some orange zest.

It sounds strange with chilli, but it works beautifully.

Gently mix those together and leave them for a while,

and then the mozzarella will slowly take up the flavours.

There's quite a lot going on in this dressing, so I'm going to keep

my salad very simple by using just a couple of root vegetables.

My heart sinks when people talk about grated carrot salad, it's like something left over from the '60s.

And yet it can be so good,

just a little bit of lemon juice, maybe some mint, something to really give some life to it.

A squeeze of lemon stops my grated carrots going brown.

Beetroot is going in, too.

Just think, all that wonderful red goodness.

Beetroots don't only come...

in red, you can quite often find the golden ones. Look at the colour.

It makes you feel good just to see it, it's like the sun shining in the kitchen.

A good trickle of healthy olive oil will bring the grated veg together.

I've got the earthy sweetness of those root vegetables.

Then this soft, melting...

..very creamy cheese, the sort of food that makes me feel...

..good just by looking at it.

It's lemony and it's minty,

and you've got the crunch of the carrots

and this extraordinary exchange of textures.

There's something very exciting about it in the mouth from all the herbs and crunchy roots.

And then suddenly you get this hit of chilli - it's very dazzling,

it's a completely dazzling mouthful is what it is.

Made me feel good anyway.

I love the good and bad in this dish.

The veg couldn't get more saintly, and then that sublime

mozzarella dressing makes me feel like I'm not completely missing out!

One ingredient that splits people down the middle is honey.

Is it good for you, or is it just basically sugar?

No matter what you think, there's definitely something magical

about how the flavour of honey can change,

depending on a simple bee, and its choice of flower.

On one estate by a deep sea creek in Cornwall,

the bees have very rich pickings.

Tregothnan has been in the same family since 1335,

and they've had a passion for collecting trees and shrubs from all over the world.

For bees that's really interesting, cos they get to eat things that they wouldn't normally get to see,

and it's created a really... Well, I suppose, a paradise for bees.

Jonathon Jones has been garden director at this estate for 14 years.

It's his and his team's job to make sure the bees that live here

keep busy, so they produce lots of different flavours of honey.

There's huge diversity of honeys in this country that we don't even think about, even just in colour,

that tells you a bit about the flora the bees have been feeding on.

This very pale honey would actually be an early season,

flora probably with a little bit of rapeseed in it, possibly.

The spring flowering ones often aren't as strong-flavoured, so you can just eat it by the spoonful. Mmm!

At the other end of the scale you've got things like this one,

which might have a bit of heather in, and even possibly a little bit of ivy

at the end of the season and that's great flavour, strong,

more for the connoisseur.

People in this country don't tend to cook or think of it much as an ingredient,

and I don't why I could eat all of this myself, but... In fact I nearly have!

People say, "I don't like honey", but they need to try some of the mild honeys,

and then you gradually get sort of sucked into it. Try it on cereal, that's a good start.

And then you end up thinking, "Actually, that's really nice", and you try it on something else...

A good cook can do amazing things with honey.

If there's one ingredient I think works particularly well with honey, it's duck.

This is no saint, but then neither am I!

Perhaps the most controversial ingredient of all is fat.

I love it.

Fat on a pork chop, fat on a piece of lamb.

But the best one for me is duck fat, it's such a flavoursome fat.

Place a couple of duck legs onto a fairly high heat, to give them a bit of colour.

I'm going to roast these in a really simple sauce,

with refreshing orange and lemon zest and a little ginger.

What I'm getting here are...

really bright, vivid, hot, sharp flavours

that just balance the richness of the duck.

I have a sort of personal philosophy about fat -

I don't worry about the fat I can see,

that wonderful white rim of fat on a piece of Parma ham,

or the crackling on roast pork, I don't mind that.

It's the hidden fat that I'm... Beware of.

The stuff that you have to read the side of a packet to work out how much you're eating.

To that I'm going to add some honey.

Hopefully what we'll get is something quite crisp

and slightly hot and citrus before we get in to the juicy meat below.

A sprinkling of salt will help the skin to crisp.

They'll sit in a really hot oven for about half an hour.

There's no way I'm going to waste my duck fat -

this will come out next time I'm roasting potatoes.

About half way through cooking, when the honey's thickened,

add a good squeeze of juice, just to freshen the rich duck meat.

And I want something that is going to soak up all that flavour.

I'm going to put some figs in.

Figs are like little sponges, so you end up with...

something very soft and silky.

Pop back into the oven for 10 minutes, to let all the flavours come together.

It has a festive smell.

It's all the citrus and the sweet things.

It's truly, truly wonderful.

It's citrusy

and there's a tiny little peck of heat from the ginger.

But it's sumptuous as well, from the honey AND from the duck fat.

Everything comes together. Gorgeous, they're really gorgeous.

There's something quite medieval about this juicy, firm meat

and its sticky honey glaze.

And don't be shy to pick it up with your fingers either!

Sometimes, when I can't decide if I want to be healthy or indulgent,

I dream up a way of getting both onto the same plate.

It all depends how good or bad I've been during the week.

Tonight is one of those suppers.

A big plateful of saintly lush, crisp greens,

served with a silky cream sauce.

Sometimes I open the fridge and it's like looking into a greenhouse, it's just full of stuff.

All of which I've bought because it's so lush and verdant.

Peas are always favourite.

The pods are really waxy, it's brilliant green.

There truly isn't anything wrong with frozen peas,

I just like fresh ones.

The fact that I can pop them!

Cooking isn't just about the end product, it's about getting there,

and it's about the little pleasures

of cooking, and podding peas is one of them.

I've also got some crunchy French beans,

which will get a quick dunk with my peas in plenty of boiling water.

When I was a kid, I never liked broad beans.

I used to push them to the side of my plate,

and then I found that what I really didn't like about them was the papery skin on the outside.

The vivid green bean inside I loved.

I love all the flavours of these veg, they just ooze goodness.

If you're going to skin your beans, now's the time to do it.

Just split the skin and press, out they come.

Baby spinach finishes this off beautifully. This is good.

But it's also incredibly healthy,

it's almost puritanical, it's so healthy.

I want to dress it with something that's really quite creamy,

quite luxurious.

And I know just the dressing -

with mild mustard, sharp lemon juice,

a pinch of salt,

a trickle of olive oil and parsley.

Just a few of those leaves, absolutely no stems,

chopped quite roughly.

Then, a rebellious and indulgent helping of naughty cream.

But I just want a contrasting texture to the crisp veggies.

Mustard and cream works a treat.

Parsley and cream like each other in parsley sauce.

This to me is the best of both worlds.

It's my incredibly healthy portion of five a day,

but it's also got a touch of luxury.

It's a very saintly meal...

of crisp greens, very freshly cooked, very vivid,

and then, that naughty double cream.

Slightly sinful...

..but, oh, so gorgeous.

I'd be tempted to serve this with a tasty bit of ham.

It's sublime, sexy and virtuous all at the same time.

The perfect combination!

I don't really cook to be healthy. I cook for pleasure.

All of these dishes tick both boxes for me -

saint and sinner in varying degrees,

and each one proof that a little bit of what you fancy

certainly does you a lot of good!

Next time,

I'll be helping to bring a bit of daring into your cooking...

with a week of supper ideas that all have a definite sense of adventure.

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