Episode 4 Simply Nigella

MUSIC: For Once In My Life by Stevie Wonder

I don't believe it's possible to live well without eating well.

Now, of course, this means different things on different days.

But whatever the day, I want food that makes me feel good,

not just when I'm eating it...

..but when I'm cooking it, too.

Food of the gods?

Simply Nigella is about dishes that do just that.

Recipes that relax and restore...

..uplift and enrich.

It is so seriously good.

Food I've enjoyed with family and friends...

Divine.

..as I've settled into my new kitchen and where I am in my life right now.

I just can't wait to sink into this lemony lusciousness.

I believe with all my heart, that what and how we cook,

can make us feel better and more alive.

-Mmm.

-Wow. Absolutely delicious.

And for me, a meal, however simple, is a celebration of life

and life is there to be celebrated.

MUSIC: For Once In My Life by Stevie Wonder

MUSIC: Why You Wanna Make Me Blue by The Temptations.

For me, one of the joys of cooking lies in marrying

the comfort of the familiar, with the excitement of the new.

This never means striving for novelty,

but simply responding to fresh enthusiasms

and that's certainly how my chai muffins came about.

Taking tea in muffin form, seems to me, just about ideal for breakfast.

And the tea I choose is chai.

Now, I do know that chai just means tea, but the thing about this,

is that it brings such scented richness without heft.

And I think the best vehicle for conveying this wonderful scent,

is the light fragrance of almond milk.

You need about 225mls, just under a cup.

And I infuse the milk with chai, simply, if inelegantly,

by tearing a couple of teabags, letting the tea spill out.

And on top of what is now almost a chai latte,

a teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

There is cinnamon in chai, it's a mixture of spices,

normally cardamom, ginger, maybe a teeny bit of black pepper,

but I'm adding a bit more cinnamon.

Stir it together, although, at this stage,

the cinnamon will stay as rather Aztec brown powder on top.

Doesn't worry me, don't let it worry you.

Heat on, just until it's almost bubbling, don't let it boil,

so that the spices really infuse the milk.

And, along with the almond milk, some almonds. 75g.

I'm chopping them, so that some are quite rough

and others are splintery shards and there's a teeny bit of dust.

Of course, they have a flavour, but so important they have texture.

Right, so, that's the nuts chopped.

Off with this.

Just pour it to get cool.

Can you see that wonderful colour?

And I can get on with the dry ingredients.

Now, we get to the spelt flour.

Spelt used to be known as dinkel wheat,

which I rather like, and, in fact, in Germany,

where spelt is very popular, it is still called dinkel.

About 400g.

And two and a half teaspoons of baking powder.

And 150g of soft light brown sugar.

Oh, wonderfully sandy.

I use unsweetened almond milk, so that's why I have the sugar

and you need it.

Just going to mix this up a teeny bit.

That's the dry ingredients.

And then I can get on with the wet.

My chai-infused milk is cool enough, so, on top of that,

I want 115mls of oil, about two of these.

Any vegetable oil is fine here.

And finally, two eggs.

I want to whisk these together, but I'm going to have to go slowly

and patiently, so that I don't splash everything,

although it doesn't come naturally to me.

And that's enough.

So...

Spoke too soon about the dry ingredients.

I did forget to put in my almonds.

I don't want all of them now, I leave a few back to sprinkle on

just before they go in the oven.

Here we are, and in goes this rather gorgeously tinted liquid.

And the wonderful thing about making muffins, is that it doesn't matter

how badly you stir, because a lumpy batter makes the lightest muffins.

Right, my spice-speckled mixture is ready.

Just going to fill a muffin tin.

I like to use an ice-cream scoop to fill.

Makes me feel very decisive as I release the batter.

This is quite a calming way to start the day.

It's quite interesting that despite being infused with tea,

they do look rather coffee coloured.

Now, sprinklingtons. I have reserved these almonds.

So 20/25 minutes in a 200 degree oven

and then we are ready to go into battle for the day.

MUSIC: It's A Shame by Detroit Spinners.

MUSIC: Things We Said Today by The London Jazz Four.

I absolutely adore beef short ribs, known poetically by butchers

as Jacob's Ladder.

The meat is just so sweet and tender.

OK, well, I am making my Asian-Flavoured Ribs,

-as usual, please, Adam.

-OK, Lovely.

And the thing about this, when I cook it

I need the ribs cut into chunks of about five centimetres.

Lovely, thank you.

Now, my short ribs.

For me, these sing so sweetly when imbued with Asian flavours.

Now, Asia is a large continent and there are rich pickings

and I take full advantage of that,

because I have a compulsion for buying ingredients from this part

of the world, partly because they can look so beautiful.

I mean I love her.

But, also because I rely on them to provide such bold flavour.

Now, going to start now, I could stay here, but I won't.

This, my Chinese rice wine.

We're all used to cooking with wine, in other words, grape wine,

but you use rice wine in cooking and it's like a revelation.

The best way I have of describing this,

I suppose, would be to say it's like dry sherry mixed with

a little bit of brandy, so there's warmth and depth.

And I also want hoisin.

Now, what hoisin brings, is that most fashionable of tastes - umami.

In other words, intense savouriness, but here,

it's matched with an equally rich sweetness, so everything is balanced

and to complete this, we need just a sprinkling of dried chillies.

There is a certain graphic beauty to these Flintstone hunks of meat.

And, yes, they are striated and feathered with fat

but it's this fat that gives so much flavour.

And there is also the crucial matter of the bones.

There is an old English saying.

The closer the bone, the sweeter the meat.

So, a goodly amount of hoisin.

You don't need stock, because there's so much flavour from the short ribs,

so, water, simply water.

Some Chinese rice wine.

And a little bit of soy. Not too much.

Not a secret ingredient, but a fantastic one.

And now, I want fennel, I want cinnamon, I want star anise.

I want ginger and I want cloves.

And I do this lazily and easily with some five spice powder.

Quite a lot, but the glory of long slow-cooking, is that flavours

always mellow. You can be bolder.

And don't be frightened by the amount of chilli.

This gives warmth, it's not going to blow your head off.

I want a small amount of sesame oil.

I don't need any extra fat,

but I do want the toastiness of the sesame oil.

Stir everything together, just so I can get an early preview

of this rather feisty fragrance.

And a final ingredient. I want four fat cloves of garlic.

I just grate them straight in.

And because of the long time in the oven and the resting afterwards,

you don't get any acrid hit from the garlic, just sweet mellowness.

And now...

..for the sacred anointing.

Brilliantly mixed.

This spicy bath that the beef will braise in,

is scant, but that doesn't matter. I have a plan.

I'm making a little covering for it.

Slightly lower roof that stops any of this from evaporating

and keeps every bit of flavour in.

And now, a lazy long and slow braise in the oven,

and deep pleasure awaits.

MUSIC: Revival by Martine Girault.

After the beef ribs have had a good four hours in a really low oven,

let the rich stew cool without its lid or paper covering.

MUSIC: Revival by Martine Girault.

As soon as the ribs are cool enough to the touch,

I put on my CSI gloves and tenderly remove the bone from each chunk.

Then, this is crucial.

Put the stew in the fridge for at least a day,

so that the flavours deepen and yet mellow at the same time.

When you're ready to serve,

lift out the now hard layer of fat that will have risen to the top.

Again I glove up for this and it's a job I adore doing.

And all that's left to do now, is reheat the aromatic stew

in an oven for about an hour,

making sure it's piping hot before serving.

And now...

The wonderful thing about my short ribs, is that because they're cooked

so gently and for such a long time,

is that they are meltingly soft, but they still hold their shape.

I think they need nothing more than a little sprinkle,

some coriander.

That earthiness is the perfect partner here.

And a few pin pricks of sweet heat with some chilli.

And, frankly, you know, I have been uncharacteristically patient.

Took a long time to cook, my patience limit is reached,

I'm going to treat myself to a bit now.

What I like, is a spritz of sharp lime on all that rich sweetness.

Mmm.

MUSIC: The In Crowd by Ramsey Lewis Trio.

It doesn't matter who I'm cooking for, or what the occasion is,

I always want my time in the kitchen to relax and inspire me

and allow me to savour the moment.

When I have people over, I don't do formality, I do cosy

and I feed my friends my fish tacos

because a bit of DIY at the table really helps people relax.

And I can't think of anything better after than my salted chocolate tart,

which is so much easier to make than it sounds.

No pastry is involved for starters, I just potter about in the kitchen

the night before, crushing up some biscuits.

For the base, I like to use chocolate sandwich biscuits,

which I break up roughly before dropping them into a food processor.

Next, I add some good dark chocolate.

I give this a blitz until I have beautiful earthy rubble.

On top of this, I add some soft unsalted butter

and smoked sea salt flakes.

Though you can, of course, use regular sea salt flakes.

This gets another blitz until the butter is incorporated.

I tip this mixture into a loose bottom flan tin then press

it down and around the edges with my hands

before smoothing with the back of a spoon.

I leave the lined case in the fridge to set overnight,

so that all I need to do the next day, is melt a few luscious

ingredients together for the filling.

I begin by finely chopping a slab of chocolate.

Again it must be good and dark.

So, I have already laid the foundations for my

salted chocolate tart, in other words made the base,

and now for the filling.

I'm going to start off by using a word that

I love, which is, I'm going to slake some cornflour in milk.

This gives a satiny lusciousness to the chocolate filling.

Right, that's done.

Feeling very efficient in a warm kind of a way.

And now, we need some cream, a lake of cream.

I've used very good dark chocolate, so I need a bit of sugar.

And then the cosy sweetness of vanilla.

You can use extract, but I love this goo.

So, that's the light side.

-Now, come with me, if you will, to the dark side. And I

-mean

-dark.

Some instant espresso.

I use this a lot with chocolate,

because it provides a really deep, dark hinterland.

In life, I have no truck with bitterness.

In the kitchen, I'm drawn to it, so I want some cocoa.

And although sieving is my least favourite job in the kitchen,

I am prepared to do this now, because it's worth it.

I promised a salted chocolate tart, but I'm going one better.

Smoked salt.

I am a person of passions and I love this stuff.

It brings a slight note of the bonfire.

Now, the chocolate goes into the pan...

here.

And then, finally,

an ooze of extra virgin olive oil.

It would be more usual to use butter here, but the thing is, to me,

butter just merges in with the cream,

it doesn't add anything, and this brings a sort of slightly grassy,

peppery savouriness, as well as gleam.

And on we go.

At this stage, I just want the chocolate to start melting.

Then I can add my slaked cornflour.

Right, so the chocolate's melted now.

In this goes.

The cornflour helps this mixture to thicken,

and without eggs, which makes life very simple.

I mean, you saw how easy the tart base was to make.

This is even easier. I mean, it's embarrassingly easy.

Now, it's quite easy to tell when it's ready.

I mean, you can see how thick it is.

But this is the scientific method.

Lift up the spoon, draw your finger across the back...

..and you can see that it's not trickling.

That line is staying there.

That means, turn off the heat and pour into a jug to cool.

It's got to be cool enough so that it doesn't melt

the biscuit base, but I still want it to have a bit of flow to it,

so when I pour it into the base, it will just ripple in.

To prevent it getting a skin, I'm going to scrunch up some

dampened parchment, which I have about my person, as one does.

Just put it on the top.

My mother taught me this.

So, once this has cooled down a bit, I can build on my foundations.

And that's perfect.

I want it to wave its way into the tin.

Just a little shimmy to make it flat and even.

And now it needs to go in the fridge to set for later,

and a deep, deep joy awaits.

'So, that's pudding for my deliciously laid-back lunch sorted.

'I'll make the main course while my guests settle in.

'They'll have a teeny bit of a wait,

'but this one is definitely best served fresh out of the oven.'

Tortilla you.

Look at that modest amount.

NIGELLA GIGGLES

While my fish tacos are inspired by my many visits to taquerias

on the west coast of America, rest assured, no frying is involved.

These are lovely hake fillets which I've just sliced lengthwise,

and on the hake I want some paprika,

for just a gentle kick.

And...

..the fragrant earthiness of cumin.

Bit of salt.

NIGELLA'S GUESTS CHATTER IN DISTANCE

Sprinkle this over.

Rather messily.

I'm roasting the fish, so I need a bit of olive oil.

I don't want to bombard them with flavour, because there's

so much going on with the fish taco, and that's the point,

but a bit of garlic - always good.

And now... Mm! Wonderful anointing.

I roast the fish at a very high temperature for a very short time,

so the garlic doesn't burn.

Right, into the oven.

MUSIC: Mercy by Duffy

Now, I do know that you wouldn't find corn niblets

in a taqueria on the west coast of America.

But this is what I do.

A can of corn niblets...

..bit of salt...

chopped red chilli...

..and some chopped coriander, or cilantro, as they say over there.

Mmm! Perfect!

And a quick decant.

'Along with the corn,

'I like to have some mayo spiked with chilli sauce on the side,

'as well as a tangle of red onions that I've steeped in lime juice.'

Just gorgeous.

Have to concentrate so I don't drop them.

And now, I'm going to add a touch of much denigrated iceberg.

Gives such great crunch in the tacos.

Teeny bit of coriander.

I'll just grab my tortillas, and it's taco time.

MUSIC: This Old Heart Of Mine by The Isley Brothers

The fish and the tortillas.

I'm afraid I haven't made the tortillas myself.

-There you are.

-Oh, thank you.

There.

I'll wait.

You're going your own way.

SHE CHUCKLES

OK, it's very interesting, the psychology

of the different fillings. Can I have the serving spoons

before Binksie gets them?

Just fold it over like a Cornish pasty.

THEY LAUGH

I'm sorry, I'm not waiting for all of you.

How did you do yours? You went for a side head.

I went for a Woody Woodpecker.

THEY LAUGH

We're all going to have neck ache by the end of it.

Mm...

# Yes, I do....

# I love you... #

-Hettie, I've made your favourite.

-Oh, my gosh.

That looks beautiful.

Cut you a slice.

No, you cut yours.

# Mad about you... #

-There you go.

-Oh, that looks so good.

-Mmm.

-Mmm.

-Mmm.

-Oh, that is so delicious.

# I love you

# Yes, I do

# Yes, I do

# I love you

# Yes, I do

# Yes, I do

# Darling, I'm

# Weak for you

# Darling, I'm... #

-Action.

-We're used to making stews with wine made from grapes.

You try using this 'wice'...

(WHINING) Oh!

-Action.

-OK. I don't know what's happening to me.

-OK.

I can do it. I know that it's not that, it's cos I'm saying 'wice'...

Ra... 'Wice' wine.

I'm not, you know, I'm not managing to say 'rice'.

-Action.

-It's Chinese rice wine, and it will just change your life.

Oh. I'm doing... Sorry.

OK, OK, OK. OK, OK, right. Last time.

We've got to get it done, otherwise you're just going to have to find

someone with dark hair and slightly too much weight on her

and make her do it.