Episode 2 Nigellissima

I suppose I regard Italy

as my gastronomic and, dare I say it,

and I probably shouldn't but I'm going to anyway,

my spiritual home.

It's not that I'm trying to pretend to be Italian

but more that I want to evoke the spirit of Italy

just on my own doorstep.

So this is really all about my kind of Italian cooking

but just using ingredients a little closer to home.

In Italy food is life.

It's family, it's tradition, it's passion.

Utter rapture.

It's style, it's confidence

and I love that.

Out of this world.

I'm taking the bold flavours of Italy

and giving them my own express approach.

One taste and it's kapow!

Vorrei una coppa con tre gusti.

'When I first came to Italy really over half a lifetime ago,'

I was just blown away by the way everything tasted.

And the first time I went into a gelateria

it was like suddenly having flavour in Technicolor

cos I'd been brought up in a world where you had ice cream

in chocolate, vanilla, strawberry.

Now, Italian ice cream is the best in the world

and I want to do honour to it but I certainly won't compete.

So what I've done is come up with a simplified version

but it still has the depth of flavour and complexity

of proper Italian ice cream.

There is a reason that most people buy ice cream.

The thing is, it can be incredibly complicated to make.

One, most ice cream needs a custard as its base.

And the second thing is, you need an expensive, fancy machine.

But my no-churn, one-step coffee ice cream is really so simple,

I mean, it's almost embarrassing.

You start off with this very elegant ingredient,

some condensed milk.

A lot of people will think this is not very Italian.

But actually latte condensato is quite an Italian ingredient.

Of course, no-one would believe that here.

But it's true.

So here I am feeling very Italian.

And then on top of that, 300ml of double cream.

Only two more ingredients. It's a very simple recipe.

I want two tablespoons of instant espresso powder.

And that's what it is. It's not ground espresso coffee.

And it's not instant coffee.

You can find it at the supermarket easily.

Smells very strong but I want it strong.

And that's why, as well, my final ingredient is some espresso liqueur.

The thing about alcohol is it really helps with ice cream

because alcohol will never freeze hard.

So the consistency of your ice cream will always be soft.

I promised you one step and one step it is.

Turn it on and whisk.

And all I need to do now is wait

till that rather magnificently manila-toned cream

has whipped to soft but thick peaks.

Perfect. Now my tubs...

You can use any but I rather like acting

as if I've got my own ice-cream factory.

To write on, just in case I forget what I'm doing,

which happens quite a bit these days.

That's coffee ice cream.

I love the colour of this as well as the taste.

Mmm.

Mmm! It is delicious.

Very sweet at this stage.

And that's for a reason.

When you freeze any food, it numbs the flavour a bit.

So you eat ice cream so cold

you want the flavours to be slightly more emphatic at this stage.

And emphatic they most certainly are.

This is the hardest part for me,

actually getting something from one container into another.

And the great thing about this ice cream is that it keeps that texture

and all that airiness once it's frozen, too.

For me in a minute. But for now...these tubs...

..in the freezer...

FREEZER BEEPS

..which is serenading me.

FREEZER BEEPS

I would so much rather have a walk-in larder

than a walk-in wardrobe.

And the only thing that makes me as happy as being in Italy

is being surrounded by Italian food.

There's not enough time in this life

for me to go through all my beloved ingredients one by one.

But I have got some that are hot favourites -

chief among these has to be Marsala.

Can't live without it.

It's fortified wine from Sicily

and just adds instant depth and sort of a husky resonance to anything

that you're cooking.

Now, I love fire as well. So that means chillies

I've got dried chilli flakes,

I've got whole dried hot red chillies,

teeny little sweet ones

and I've got chilli oil as well.

Right now I want more of a salty, sour vibe.

So that's capers.

What else?

Oh, well, my new passion is for golden sultanas.

I need those. And, of course, there has to be pasta.

And I need this for my linguine with smoked mackerel.

Although it's incredibly simple to make, the flavours are so complex

that it's very rewarding to eat.

And now for the sultanas, which I want to steep a little.

Might as well use the pasta water before I salt it.

Not much needed because they are quite soft.

Slip in this golden linguine,

my blonde tresses.

Then they can bubble away and I can get on with the sauce.

I want some olive oil in a pan.

Going to leave the heat low and while the oil warms,

I shall chop my banana shallot.

They're much easier than a regular onion...

both to peel and to chop.

I might get my mezzaluna out just to chop this a bit finer.

Because they're much more sugary than a regular onion,

they cook faster.

In other words, this is the speedy solution for the lazy cook.

And that suits me.

And now for my secret ingredient.

This is Sicilian inspired.

It's based on the Italian pasta with sardines.

Well, I've used something from the English larder instead

which is mackerel, smoked mackerel,

because I always have this in the fridge,

so it makes it an easy go-to supper or lunch.

You just need to flake the mackerel

and peel away the skin.

Before I add the mackerel, I want a splosh of Marsala. It will sizzle.

That's not a bad thing.

In goes the mackerel.

Now I'll just squeeze out the sultanas.

Beautiful.

These sultanas with the fish are very much part of

the Moorish legacy from Sicily.

And with that goes capers,

vinegary and sharp,

really punctuating the sweet mellowness of the sauce so far.

The joy of using smoked mackerel is, of course, it's already cooked,

so the minute the mackerel is warm, your sauce is done.

But I'm happy with that. The heat can come off.

So now I just need to see whether I'm as happy with my pasta.

It is hot but I have asbestos hands.

Mmm.

Perfect. Not a moment too soon, actually.

Mmm.

And now on top,

the sauce with all those beautiful bronze colours.

I have been harbouring some pine nuts here, toasted pine nuts.

They bring a bit of texture.

The Sicilians, when they make their pasta with sardines,

use wild fennel, which we don't have,

so I'm going for dill.

Going to add a bit of red wine vinegar.

Just a splash.

Really makes all the flavours zing.

I love that breath of aniseed

so I want a final topping of dill.

Just all those beautiful fronds.

And although this was really quick to make,

I think I shall linger over my Anglo-Italian lunch.

Anyone who knows me knows that formality is hardly my strong suit,

but however informal, for me a meal has always

got to feel like a celebration.

And this is where my Italian roast chicken comes in.

It's very easy because everything goes into one pan.

The chicken, a tangle of vegetables

punctuated by salty black olives.

You don't really need anything alongside

although I have to sneak in my saffron orzotto.

And that, just think of it as a risotto

but instead of being made with rice

is made with pearl barley, which doesn't need stirring constantly

so is very simple to make.

For pudding, there is my coffee ice cream which I insist everyone tries

squished into brioche buns

like sweet burgers.

Mmm!

Mmm!

I have, incidentally, also made a chocolate cake.

Now, you don't really need any more pudding

but since when has chocolate cake got anything to do with need?

And especially this one, which is so incredibly easy to make.

You start off with 50g of the best cocoa

and 125ml of boiling water.

That's about half a cup of each.

Just whisk the two together

until you've got a thick but smooth paste.

Measure out 150g of ground almonds.

And then add half a teaspoon of bicarb

and a pinch of salt.

I just dibble these together with my fingers to mix.

Now, in a large bowl put in 200g of sugar

and add to that 150ml of regular olive oil or, indeed,

specifically light and mild olive oil.

It sounds quite odd to be using olive oil in a cake

but it really works.

The cocoa is quite bitter and the roundedness of the olive oil

really gives a mellow, rich taste to the cake.

Add three eggs.

And then whisk ferociously.

I let this go for quite a while

until the consistency is almost of a voluminous mayonnaise.

Now is the time on a lower speed

to whisk in the cocoa mixture

and suddenly all that yellow batter goes rich and chocolatey and brown.

Add the bowl of dry ingredients.

And pour into a greased and lined cake tin.

This is a very, very runny liquid.

Do not be alarmed.

It's the consistency that makes the cake so melting later.

Cook for 40-45 minutes,

by which time the sides will be slightly coming away

and the centre of the cake will be set

but still very desirably squidgy inside.

But even this woman cannot live on cake alone.

Although I claim my Italian roast chicken is cooked with vegetables,

strictly speaking, these peppers are a fruit.

I use red peppers for this, orange,

I use yellow or a mixture of all three.

However, I will excommunicate anyone who even thinks

of using a green pepper.

And this is not rank colour prejudice,

this is because a green pepper is simply an unripe pepper.

The thing about peppers is that when they're cooked,

they go so sweet and soused,

and yet in this way they are cooked with a chicken sitting on top

so all those savoury juices just flow into the sweetness.

That's the Mediterranean covered with the peppers

and now I feel our green and pleasant land

can be represented by a leek or two.

I don't know whether it's the heat of the oven

of the sugariness of the peppers,

but when the leeks roast

they seem to create a slightly intense, already reduced

sweet gravy at the bottom of the pan.

They do all your work for you, frankly.

And now the chicken, the crowning glory.

The chicken in question, I think, should be untrussed,

by which I mean that the strings that tie it up normally

have been snipped

so it can cook freely and fast.

Limone.

Always have lemon with the chicken.

Pop one half in.

Some rosemary.

I think I'm going to arrange this this way.

And now I'm going to dot all that brightness with black...

olives.

I prefer the dry-packed black olives

because they're very intensely flavoured.

Also, they've been pitted, which is easier.

And they are not in any brine or liquid.

And because the olives are so salty,

go steady with the salting of the chicken.

Just a bit over, maybe a teeny bit on the vegetables.

Some pepper.

Nice and coarse.

And olio. Normal olive oil, not extra virgin.

Just enough to help the vegetables roast.

This will need about an hour, an hour and a quarter in a hot oven.

Obviously, check that the chicken is cooked through.

Then everything will be perfect.

You see, useful to have hips!

There we go.

I'm after some carb action in the form of my saffron orzotto.

Now, an orzotto is like a risotto,

only instead of being made with rice, it's made with barley,

"orzo" being the Italian for "barley".

It needs stock for that, and, yes, I am using stock from a cube.

Now, saffron orzotto is what I'm making

so I need my saffarano for that glorious golden glow.

My saffron orzotto is gratifyingly low effort.

Bit of light chopping just a banana shallot.

If I haven't got a banana shallot in the house

I don't bother with a full-on onion, I just use

a few springs onions, white part only.

Garlic oil in the pan.

Garlic oil is absolutely abhorred

by purists, but it delights me.

I let this heat just gently.

And while that warms I can make up the stock.

Water.

One of my stock cubes.

And here comes the sun, my saffron.

I can tend to be a bit heavy-handed, so I shall restrain myself.

I want about a quarter of a teaspoon of these strands.

The strands are only just beginning to seep out yellowness.

YOu stir it to help it get going.

Leave that to settle.

And I can soften the shallots.

It may seem an odd thing to make either risotto

or, in this case, orzotto,

as a side dish

but actually I started doing it a lot at weekends

because my children always insist on carbs

and this is so much easier

than peeling and chopping loads of potatoes.

Now the grains. In go the barley.

And as with the cooking of a risotto,

all I want to do now is make sure that the grains are slicked

in oniony oil.

If you've got any white wine open,

I mean, of course use that.

But I always keep some dry white vermouth by the stove.

While that bubbles down,

I think I'll give a final stir of my stock.

Look at that gorgeous golden tornado there.

And in it goes.

In one.

So it's not like a risotto in that you don't have to add it gradually.

You just have to wait for it to come to a boil

and then I will turn the heat down and clamp on a lid.

It should take about half an hour to cook,

by which time the grains will have absorbed

all that wine-infused and saffron-tinted stock.

-What are you calling this?

-I don't know. I'll take anything.

Go on, a little bit more.

Grapefruit - in food difficult but in drinks I rather love it.

Anyway, it's very nice, this. I might have another one.

So let's see how the orzotto is doing.

It's perfect.

There's something about the way

the saffron just infuses the grains of barley

to me make it look like corn or Sugar Puffs, really.

Need a little bit of Parmesan.

Not too little.

Just need to go and get my chicken.

Look at this burnished bird. It is so glorious.

OK, now I'm just going to hack it to pieces,

making a virtue out of necessity -

I can't carve and it looks better that way.

Here goes.

Have you got a napkin?

Here we are. I feel like I haven't eaten all week.

-The rice tastes really...

-It's barley.

You don't have to stir it like you do risotto.

It's a lazy person's lunch.

Those peppers are so sweet and delicious.

I've got my coffee ice cream.

Armed with a scoop.

And my chocolate cake,

its dark beauty just seen under that dusting of icing sugar.

You know what Mae West said?

"Too much of a good thing can be wonderful."

OK, I have got a treat.

That looks beautiful.

Ground almonds for the flour

and olive oil instead of butter.

Mmm.

Now this... You let me demonstrate to you my art. OK.

I have a brioche bun.

This is how they eat ice cream in the south of Italy.

I have my ice cream.

I'm going to squodge.

I'm going to put the lid on.

Mmm.

It's exactly an ice-cream burger.

Mmm.

Delicious.

KETTLE WHISTLES

As fridge forays go, this may not seem like the richest of pickings.

But just you wait. Sometimes the simplest food

makes for the best dishes.

Now...

I'm making pasta with courgettes

although I should really say "zucchini",

this being an Italian recipe.

And I want to show you how I always peel courgettes

because it reminds me of my mother, cos she did it like this,

and her reasoning was,

you do stripes because if you were to have all the skin on,

it would make the courgette too bitter,

but if you were to take all of it off, it would become too mushy.

The pasta water is ready.

This is the pasta I like to use for this.

It's called casarecce.

It's kind of like... Let me just show you.

It's kind of like a pasta twist,

so the sauce kind of goes into the grooves -

my son's favourite pasta shape.

And now I can get ready with the sauce, such as it is.

Now let's get the spring onions done first.

Just a couple sliced.

In these go.

I need to dice this, too.

The smaller the cubes, the faster it will cook,

and I want that slow-cooked taste but quickly.

Like courgette confetti.

The Italians cook vegetables with pasta a lot.

And when they do, they make sure they're properly cooked.

We have such a thing about crunchy vegetables

but sometimes you need the flavour to be mellow,

and for that you really do need them to be cooked soft.

I'm happy with these.

Ready for stage due.

It's a bit late for the cocktail hour

but a splash of vermouth nonetheless.

And some parsley. Prezzemolo.

It smells divine.

The lid on. It's a waste to let all those flavours and juices evaporate.

I'm going to attend to my pasta.

Perfect. I'm happy with that.

And now let's see.

It's all coming together.

It may be a bit drab in tone

but the vibrancy of flavour is extraordinary.

Some Parmesan.

There's not much there but I don't need much.

Just enough to add a bit of goo and a lot of flavour.

Final scattering of what I can get of parsley.

It's time for my butter, I think.

And, unsurprisingly, the pasta itself.

I'm using such a small pan,

I don't know if my little strainer will fit. There we are.

Yum, yum and yet more yum.

Teeny bit more parsley.

Don't know about you but I'm eating now.

Pork lion with some oregano.

Lemon liqueur from the Amalfi Coast.

Herb-flecked and fragrant.

They make frying feel celestial.

And...action.

Here... I can't...

SHE LAUGHS

Do you want me to do it again?

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