Letter Q The A to Z of TV Cooking

This is the show where we bring together

Today we're looking at things linked to the letter Q.

And here's just some of what we've got on the menu.

Hail the quail with a ravioli dish from Raymond Blanc.

We are going to fill the middles of the ravioli

with a beautiful quail's egg.

And if you wish,

hen's egg. You decide.

Quince jelly accompanies a meaty treat from the Hairy Bikers.

Half a jar of that, and melt that down.

And the Saturday Kitchen team

bow before Matt Tebbutt's queen of puddings.

Some hefty, hefty meringue on there!

Q's one of those tricky letters,

but it strikes me there's an obvious place to begin - with quiche.

Now, traditionally considered to be a French dish,

where better to start

than with Rachel Khoo and her little Paris kitchen?

Most busy Parisians would usually buy this.

I'm going to start off with 90g of soft butter,

unsalted.

Add a teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt

and cream it all together.

OK, I'm going to add my flour.

I've got 180g of plain flour.

Two egg yolks - they give a lovely yellow colour

and a richness to the pastry.

Then add a couple of tablespoons of cold water.

Just want to mix everything together,

and what will happen is it will get this kind of sandy texture.

At this point, you can use your hand to bring the dough together.

It's coming together.

Clingfilm.

Put your pastry in the fridge.

Best is overnight. If you haven't got the time,

half an hour to an hour.

That way, you don't need to use any flour.

You don't make any mess, and also,

your pastry won't stick to the board.

It's a bit hard at the beginning to roll it out,

so if you bash it, it softens it up, makes it easier, and it's fun too.

It's a bit therapeutic.

If you have anger issues, this is what you need to do.

Roll out your pastry base so that it overlaps the top of the tin

by a few inches all round.

And don't forget to flour and butter your tin.

OK.

Peel off your paper.

And then you want to gently push it in the tin.

Once the pastry's firmly in,

you can get rid of the excess and fill in any cracks.

All you need to do is take your rolling pin...

..and then roll over the top.

As simple as that.

Now you can crack on with the traditional filling.

All you need for your Quiche Lorraine

is eggs, smoky bacon and cream.

Any additional ingredients,

it's not a Quiche Lorraine any more.

To start, some smoky bacon.

Throw in your lardons -

150g.

And you need four eggs

and two egg yolks.

I'm going to add my double cream - 300 millilitres.

Or I sometimes use creme fraiche.

Salt.

Black pepper.

Most Parisians have their own little twist on this recipe.

But for once, I'm sticking to the classic.

Only three ingredients make up this filling,

so get the best quality you can.

When your lardons are crispy,

drain them and scatter into your pastry base.

Don't rush this part,

otherwise it'll land on the floor.

Leave it for 40 minutes at 180 degrees.

For a veggie version,

add roasted vegetables,

or if you fancy fish, asparagus and smoked salmon

make a great combination.

The perfume of Quiche Lorraine -

nothing more appetising!

And then get it out my little oven...

Mmm, yum! A bit hot.

Take the whole tray.

That quiche looks perfect.

It's got the crust, which is crisp, golden top...

It's set nicely.

The filling should set with a slight wobble.

So cut yourself a slice...

Wow! I've cut myself a big slice.

So simple, yet...

..really delicious.

And here's a great example from Nigel Slater.

Here's an idea for a really quick vegetable curry.

This dish is based around aubergine.

They need about half an hour

in a colander and sink...

with a little bit of salt on them.

And that just draws out...

some of the water in the aubergine.

And then they don't drink all your precious olive oil.

Whilst they are softening,

roughly chop up some onions

and add to a hot pan,

along with some chopped garlic

and some finely shredded ginger.

I'm going to let those soften a bit before I put the spices in.

I don't want the spices to burn.

So I'll wait until that's...

a flurry of dried chilli flakes,

a spoonful of turmeric...

..and a scattering of cumin seeds.

Then add some chopped tomatoes,

some water

and season with salt and pepper.

So these have relaxed a little bit.

The salt has just drawn out a few juices.

And they're just much softer.

If you haven't got a griddle,

you could do these under an overhead grill.

Or of course you could just fry them in oil.

All you want to do is soften them.

So that they can go in there and just bubble away.

Once the aubergines are in the pot,

let them simmer for about half an hour.

You want them to be nice and squishy.

You see, that's quite hot.

HE COUGHS I want to calm it down!

There's several ways to calm a curry down.

For me, the best is yoghurt.

You can use any dairy produce.

You know, when you add dairy produce

to a curry,

it quite often curdles.

And there's so many different ways to stop it curdling.

I think the easiest way is to switch off the heat.

It's only when the dairy produce boils

it actually causes you any trouble.

And if it does curdle,

and sometimes they do,

it really isn't the end of the world.

It's not going to affect the flavour -

it's just going to look a little bit grainy.

As it's so punchy,

I'm also adding some creme fraiche -

another soothing element that will thicken your curry.

Pop in some fresh coriander

and mint leaves, to help soften the blow.

Quite bright.

Makes my eyes water!

But there's also a silkiness, a softness to it,

that's come from the dairy produce.

And then there's the freshness of the ginger

and the earthiness of the turmeric.

And it's just really rather gorgeous.

Don't be afraid of your spices.

The only way you'll really get to grips with how much spice to use

is to try it.

Go on!

Remember the glass of water.

Now quail's eggs,

which, for their size,

have got larger yolks than hen's eggs

and a stronger flavour also.

Which is why Valentine Warner is using them

and a load of other fantastic ingredients

for his rather wonderful potato salad.

And they hold their own beautifully when sliced up and put into salads.

The reason you use cold water

is because they'll cook more evenly

and they'll be cooked perfectly all the way through.

Take some quail's eggs...

Adorable, sweet little pebbles.

..and boil for a couple of minutes.

Finely dice half a red onion.

This really must be chopped super fine.

Teeny-weeny, minuscule.

Microscopic.

Put into your salad bowl, then add a handful of capers

and several anchovies.

Really...just put these in. They're fantastic.

One for...

me.

I could eat those all day, like a seagull,

gulping them down.

Chop up a generous amount of tarragon,

curly parsley and chives.

Mix it properly so that when you take a bite,

you've got everything on it - all the herbs, the anchovy,

you've got a caper sticking on the bottom,

you've got a piece of onion sticking on the side.

You're getting everything with each mouthful.

Finally, a scattering of parsley

and a touch of olive oil.

I'm really tasting the new potatoes - sweet, firm,

delicious in texture, and all around

are interesting little things with creamy, glossy mayonnaise.

It's a wonderful summer salad.

What a great place to start with quail's eggs.

Now, for the really ambitious amongst you,

here's Raymond Blanc with an amazing example

of how else you can use them.

A single poached egg, encased in spinach and Parmesan,

to give the stretch of the pasta.

It has been rested half an hour in the fridge.

Or up to two hours if you want to.

It's then... Oh, my God, that's a horrible one you've given me again!

Raymond rolls the pasta until it becomes almost transparent.

You notice the pas...

METAL CLINKS

It's a good design(!)

It's like an old battered car.

Adam, could I have a tray, please?

I can see already...

I can see my hands behind.

I can see it from here, anyway!

The pasta is covered and chilled.

In the fridge.

Tres bien.

So now we're going to prepare the filling, OK, for the ravioli.

To finely chopped cooked spinach,

which is going to hold the quail egg later.

Tres bien. So you've got your little nest here.

While the spinach mix chills,

Raymond prepares his star ingredient.

We are going to fill the middles of the ravioli

with a beautiful quail's egg.

And if you wish,

hen's egg. You decide.

The eggs go into gently boiling water and a dash of vinegar.

You need the vinegar to firm up the egg white around the yolk,

so it's tight together,

unless your egg white has just been come out from the hen.

And it's pretty rare to get them like that.

The hen's eggs are poached for one and a half minutes.

The quail's eggs take 30 seconds.

So we're going to place delicately...

..our eggs

Next, Raymond moves on to the ravioli.

Tres bien.

You can stretch it a little bit.

But no holes, because the water will lock itself inside

and your ravioli will be completely ruined.

He presses the pasta together without using egg or water to bind.

And you push...

You stick the two ravioli sheets together.

And you make sure you push very hard. You don't want any air here.

And use the cutter.

With the ravioli assembled,

Raymond moves on to make a light sauce of beurre blanc.

To a hot pan of shallots and reduced vinegar,

he adds water, cold butter...

By putting cold butter, you can create an emulsion.

C'est facile.

It's much easier. I think everyone should speak French!

It would be much easier!

Tres bien. The quail eggs are ready.

To serve, Raymond drizzles the beurre blanc around the ravioli,

adds chicken jus

and a scattering of sauteed wild mushrooms.

Crushed hazelnuts add another layer of taste and texture.

And the finishing touch - some deep-fried sage leaves.

They're very crusty.

Really delicious.

And the micro-herbs.

To start off this dish, we need to make a pickling liquor.

Which will be a combination

of sweet and sour flavours.

So, for the sour, I'm using white wine vinegar,

star anise and coriander.

Now for the sweet -

a couple of teaspoons of sugar,

and add a little bit of water.

This is where the name escabeche comes from.

Basically, escabeche is Spanish for pickling.

And it's something I learned to use

when I worked at a famous restaurant in Spain called El Bulli.

We used a lot of pickling -

we pickled walnuts, we would pickle the fresh almonds,

ready for the winter dishes.

And it's a great way to do vegetables.

On to the carrots.

All I'm doing is peeling them, straight down,

and slicing quite thick.

When I was growing up as a small boy,

Mum used to have a hotel in Skegness.

inside the vegetables, so when you serve them to your guests,

or to your family, they taste of the actual vegetable.

That's what we're after.

Next, prepare the shallots.

What we're after is these beautiful petals.

Remove the centre hearts and separate the petals.

Now for the star ingredient - the white cabbage.

It's one of those cabbages people don't use enough at home.

They taste so great.

Because inside, where the stalk is,

you can already see where it's starting to

release those beautiful juices.

That's where all the nutrients are. It tastes great.

It's so healthy for you, and most people at home

cut it out and throw it away.

But I'm going to blanch it, along with the leaves.

Cut a V shape into the cabbage,

then slice around the top and go in round the back.

Trim down the heart and shave into ribbons.

That only exists when you overcook the cabbage.

With this, I guarantee there will be no smells.

Because I'm using the cabbage to create a salad texture,

and have some bite,

it only needs to be blanched for around 30 seconds.

As you can see already now,

it's starting to go a little bit translucent.

And we're pretty much there with it,

because you want a bit of crunch - it is a salad, after all.

The cabbage leaves are ready, so in they go to the iced water.

Now blanch the cabbage stalks in the boiling water,

followed by the carrots and shallots.

And again, when softened, transfer to the iced water.

Then remove when they feel cool.

And finally, slice out the vein from the cabbage,

as it's too chewy for the salad.

So now we're going to cook the quail.

As you can see, these birds are very small,

They'll only need a couple of minutes in the pan.

Then pop into the oven for four to six minutes

on 180 degrees.

Now put all the veg into the pickling liquor.

It's marvellous to see the combination and colours

of cabbage stalks and leaves,

carrots and shallots, all coming together.

Season.

You've got these beautiful cabbage smells,

which are a far cry

from those old stinky cabbage smells Mum used to do.

Gosh, she is going to kill me!

Remove the quail from the oven,

take the birds off the tray and set aside.

I want to use the same pan to saute the chanterelle mushrooms,

which will take just a few seconds to cook.

And I'm adding a few sprigs of thyme for extra flavour.

Now all that's left is to serve.

Then we put over the...

carrot tops.

Drizzle over a little sauce, and it's done.

My succulent white cabbage escabeche with free-range quails

and golden chanterelles.

And now we move on to quince.

And they come from the same family as apples and pears,

but unlike them, they are not eaten raw.

However, when cooked or turned into a jelly,

they add a wonderful extra dimension to your dish,

as demonstrated here by the Hairy Bikers.

For our contribution, we've scoured the country

and I think we've got a winner.

It's a potato.

No, we've got Oxford potatoes.

We've found it. It's goat and quince.

It's an Oxford goat.

We thought we'd make a dauphinoise.

Dauphinoise - that's French!

It's Oxford potatoes!

It's, you know, an amalgam.

Alex James's rock and roll goat's cheese!

Just crumble that.

So what do you reckon? Do you think this will work, Emily?

Yeah, I don't see why not.

More enthusiastic, you know!

It will be great.

I'm just chopping some garlic now.

That's going to sit on top of the goat's cheese.

Going to cook down the goat's cheese into my magnificent spuds.

So instead of just all cream on this,

we're using half goat's milk as well.

Makes sense.

You just pour enough in until it comes to the surface.

Don't be mean.

Plenty of cream.

So it's basically just below the last level of potatoes, mate?

Yes. The goat's milk I feel will give us the edge.

I'm going to put some more butter on the potatoes.

Just to make sure if the first layer didn't kill you,

the last one will!

Thank you very much.

There we are. The main event.

This is two loins of goat meat.

It's as fine as you like.

It's a bit like lamb, isn't it?

It's lovely. But what I'm worried about is it may dry out. Yeah.

So I'm going to do little noisettes,

wrap them in bacon,

sear them, then bake in the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes,

so they're still juicy on the inside,

but caramelised on the outside.

What we do, for this noisette,

we're going to take two knuckles - one knuckle, two -

in depth.

So we want about that size of noisette.

It's a twin-knuckle noisette.

I'll show you why - because that sits. That's going to sit lovely.

And as Dave wraps it...

So about that size.

Because I'm clumsy, I'll secure the bacon with a cocktail stick.

Fantastic.

I've got to admit, I think the sous-vide method of cooking

I didn't toast the caraway seeds, cos I want them to be fresh.

I kind of want the caraway to be absorbed

into that lovely flavour of the carrot,

so you taste more carrot than you do caraway.

Sometimes if you do caraway in bread,

you soak it in boiling water first.

The trademark big knob of butter.

Right.

Perfect, Mr King.

These are going to go in the oven for about five minutes,

at about 180 degrees. Take them out, let them rest,

then we're not too far away from plating up.

I've got me garlic sweating down in the butter

to make me glaze.

I don't want that to burn, though.

I'm going to have some hot oil here,

because I reckon a really nice finishing touch

is going to be a crispy fried sage leaf.

Now, look - the secret of good vegetable is

not to overcook them.

Even though we'll puree them, we want to maintain the flavour.

Look - there's a little crack to it.

There's a little snap to it, which means that...

I've drained the carrots with the caraway seed.

I'll pop them into our lovely little liquidiser.

At this point, because of the heat of the carrots,

I'm going to put some butter in there.

That's you - you're off. Carrot puree.

Got some rosemary in there now.

The jelly's melting with the garlic and butter...

The goat!

Oh, yeah!

That just needs to rest now.

A cornucopia of loveliness, dude.

It's got bounce. Nice. Doing all right.

Right.

Into my glaze,

a couple of spoonfuls of beef stock.

Why beef?

It's all I've got.

Fair enough!

We're on the road, you know!

That's tempering the jelly to a glaze.

They're going to go crispy,

and each one is going to surmount me noisettes.

It'll only take a minute. Like popcorn.

I've got my crispy sage leaves.

All that remains for me to do is check the seasoning on the glaze.

SI WHIMPERS

Hot!

Mr King, get your smackers round that.

That's awesome.

Dauphinoise. If I cut a square like that...

And that square into three on there.

Do you want a trick to do that so it doesn't move? Have you got a trick?

Put down a board on top of it and cut round. She's got a trick.

If you press that down,

it's not going to move and you get a straight line.

Emily, you know we love you in all sorts of weird ways.

Look at that.

This is an awful convoluted way to cut a square out!

But it's working. That wasn't any criticism!

Healthy portions, aren't they?

They are healthy portions, yes.

We wouldn't make any money if we had a restaurant, us!

You're hoping that's going to melt? Not bothered, really.

Doesn't matter if it melts.

It's almost like having a bit of chutney on the top.

Just a little bit of crispy sage leaf.

It'll break down nicely with the rest of it.

Nice textures there as well.

There we go!

Presentation is very impressive. Thanks, Chef.

There you have it.

We've discovered Oxfordshire on a plate.

Thanks, fellas.

Next up, we've got a simple

but classic favourite from the Edwardian era,

made here by the wonderful Two Fat Ladies,

and the little dainty sandwiches.

This is, of course, the definitive Edwardian sandwich.

Edwardian sandwiches were very thin.

And what I'm making here is some mustard butter,

which is a very useful thing to have about.

I've just put in some unsalted butter

and some French mustard

and a squeeze of lemon juice

and I've mixed it all together until it's soft and in a paste.

And you can make it and keep it in the fridge or the larder

and use it whenever you want to for sandwiches.

And I've got here some poached chicken.

You can obviously used cold roast chicken,

or any cold chicken you happen to have.

If not, just go out and buy a couple of chicken breasts

and either poach them in a little stock

or even grill them.

And then mince it up quite finely.

And a bit of mayonnaise.

A bit of mayonnaise to bind it.

That's right. Runs in the family.

Probably, yes!

And a touch of Tabasco.

Dear old Tabasco.

What would we do without it? Exactly.

There we are.

And now...

let's get some bread, some brown bread.

Very good tip

for slicing brown bread very thinly...

You don't want terribly fresh bread. It has to be yesterday's

to get it really thin.

Put your knife in a jug of hot water.

And then slice it.

And it will cut really thin.

I was given that tip by somebody who used to be a lady's maid.

She made the most wonderful thin boudoir sandwiches.

That's a very good tip. I didn't know about that.

And spread your butter quite liberally.

And then on to one slice, I'm just going to put...

Everybody forgets about tongue. This is ox tongue.

But you could also use lamb's tongue.

Very reasonable, a whole tongue. A whole tongue feeds a lot of people.

And it doesn't cost much.

No, it doesn't and it's very easy to cook.

And then a little cress.

Sprinkle onto your...

Grown on a flannel? Grown on a flannel!

Do you remember that? Wasn't that fun!

I used to be fascinated by that.

And then you just put the two together,

press them down well,

and cut the crusts off.

Never have crusts on an Edwardian sandwich.

What else would you give to the poor?

But on the other hand, Nanny would say,

"If you don't eat your crusts, you won't have curly hair!"

Well, no doubt all the Edwardian poor had very curly hair!

And then you just want to cut it across.

You can have squares or triangles.

Appealing all over the place? I'm very appealing.

I was talking about the cricketers!

I'm sure you're very appealing.

Boudoir sandwiches, as subtle as this gentle queen.

CRICKETERS CHAT

Thanks, ladies.

Now, from a queen's favourite sandwich

to a pudding fit for a queen.

Here to show you how is Matt Tebbutt

and James Martin.

Cooking next is a man at the heart of the Welsh culinary revolution.

The rustic and locally inspired food he sells at his pub in South Wales

has won countless awards. He's making my kind of food today -

the great British pudding.

Do you like pudding? I love this. You know that I like my puddings,

but I'm a big fan of the old classics. Yeah.

Those nursery classics.

Custards and stuff like that. Winter warmers.

So what's this one called? This is Monmouth pudding,

or you probably know it as queen of puddings.

Talking of the base, do you want me to do that?

Yes, if you could cut that down.

This uses breadcrumbs, this one? It does.

Not overly thick. It actually sort of lightens it, I think.

It's a jam sandwich. It's not a jam sandwich!

You had deep-fried potato, he had cheese on toast.

This is not a jam sandwich.

Don't worry - we'll have the last laugh.

What time's it on tonight? 6:35. Really?

You want to see this - I saw him in rehearsal.

Unbelievable.

Time to boil up some milk with some butter

and a bit of sugar and a bit of lemon zest.

If you could blitz those down for me.

The lemon obviously just cutting through the sweetness a little bit.

So this uses breadcrumbs as well as the base for the custard?

Yeah. It was very popular in Victorian times.

They thought it was very good for kids,

presumably with the eggs and the fruit and what-have-you.

spread the cake with jam

and you put it in the custard and bake it.

This is coming back. You're starting to see it on restaurant menus.

The crumbs you're going to do slightly different.

Crumbs we're just going to toast off a little bit.

If you could bung those in the oven.

Little bit of sugar. Little bit of light brown sugar just to

caramelise those a touch.

This is the secret of these puddings. It is quite sweet.

Do these get grilled?

Just grill them lightly, to toast them,

so that when they're going into the milk,

they're not going to clog up. Like those honey panko breadcrumbs.

Remind us what you've got in there again.

So that's milk, bit of butter to enrich,

bit of lemon zest and a little bit of sugar.

So you bring that up, the crumbs will go in there,

and then after about half an hour,

you're left with this sort of gloopy concoction.

Now, our eggs.

Three eggs. Split those.

But you're a big fan of the local produce and that kind of stuff.

Everything's built around that. Particularly foraging.

Lot of foraging, hence the old berries.

It seems a bit weird to be using raspberries this time of year,

but the whole point of it was when they're in season,

when you get a big glut,

get them, freeze them, then we can use them throughout the winter.

So, in here, you've got the butter...

Butter, milk, sugar, lemon.

And then the idea is you toast this crumb off.

Yes. Bring it over. We'll bung that in.

So these will actually turn quite brown very very quickly.

Yes. So I'll keep my eye on these ones.

But you basically want to grill them, not bake them in the oven?

You could bake them, but grilling's obviously quicker

and you get that more caramelised taste.

Tom, I know you're a big fan of these classic puddings.

Still put them on your restaurant menu? Yeah.

Quite difficult to sell. They sell better at lunchtime, funnily enough.

It's delicious.

Just toasted off our crumbs nicely.

Yeah, that's all right. They caramelised nicely as well.

So if you could pour those in there...

That's the idea.

And let them absorb the milk and that'll thicken. Yeah.

It won't be instantly thick.

That's all right.

Lovely.

So, after half an hour, you're left with this sort of gloopy,

porridge-looking mix.

Into there goes the egg yolks.

When it's cool enough. It's important

you leave it to cool a bit, otherwise they'll scramble.

So then that gets poured into the dish.

Like so. Looks kind of Victorian, doesn't it?

Then straight in the oven? That goes to the oven.

Kind of medium oven for about 30 minutes.

Just until it's set.

And I've got one here which is set.

This is where you can mix and match.

If you've got those packs of frozen berries...

Use anything you like.

Rhubarb would be particularly nice.

Stewed rhubarb. You can dry it out if it's a bit wet.

We're just going to warm that up to warm the raspberries.

Start pulling the liquid out of the raspberries.

We get a lot of people talking on the website

about the best way to make meringue.

There's three main types of making meringue.

There's a cold meringue,

which I'm doing now, where you add the sugar cold.

There's a hot meringue where I take the same amount of sugar and warm it

in the oven and add it to the egg whites when it's warm.

And there's a boiled meringue, where you actually take the sugar,

put it in a pan with some water, bring it to the boil

and pour it on. It's called an Italian meringue.

I was taught a fourth way the other day.

A Swiss meringue, where you take the eggs and sugar and everything,

put it over a bain marie and whisk it.

Fresh egg whites. Some people say frozen. People say salt as well.

Pinch of salt. I just think fresh egg whites.

And throw the sugar in, like this.

And it'll make meringue quite quickly.

I'm there. OK.

Right, so the fruit...

Noisy, isn't it?

OK, so gently spread a layer of the...

the warm raspberry jam or whatever fruit you're using...

over the top.

Like so.

Hot bowl! Yeah, it's hot.

It's just come straight out of the oven.

Got me there!

OK, so, bit of that.

Not too much.

Because it is particularly sweet.

And then dollop it on.

If you want to be cheffy about it, you could pipe it on.

I'm sure if you did your desserts in miniature, you could do that.

just to glaze it.

This is set about 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

That's about 160, 170 degrees Centigrade.

Lift this out. Look at that.

The meringue puffs up. Beautiful.

Oh, look at that!

Satisfying, isn't it?

It looks like a proper pudding.

Looks like a proper pud.

Right.

So I would chuck it on the table, like so.

We'll just grab a big old...

Lord!

There's some hefty meringue on there.

OK.

You've got that liquid underneath.

Little bit of the custard.

I think it's missing one thing. What's it missing?

Double cream.

Cos that's OK as it is...

Remind us what...

I was going to dress it up with icing sugar!

Thanks again to all our amazing chefs.

And I hope you feel inspired.

Make sure you join me next time

for more delicious food.

See you soon.

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