Letter H The A to Z of TV Cooking

Fantastic ingredients, delicious dishes

and some of the nation's favourite TV chefs.

Get ready for a gourmet's greatest hits

because this is The A To Z Of TV Cooking.

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

But beginning our Hs for us, it's Tony and Giorgio,

with their ham bone soup.

Right, tell you what, George. You stand there. I'm going to start cooking the soup.

-OK.

-We can work it here.

-Burro.

Oil or butter?

-We're going to do butter and oil.

-Butter and oil.

We're going to cook it very slowly, without colour, sweating, George.

Here we go.

Hold on!

-Gently. Gently. Don't rush it.

-Yep.

Right. Butter in. And don't go too mad with the oil.

-It's really just to stop the butter burning.

-OK.

-So, what we're going to do, then...

-Onions in?

-Onions in, in a second as the butter melts.

-Put them in.

-George, it's my recipe.

-I know, but...

-Timing.

You said it's going to take two minutes and it's easy.

Now you take three hours only to melt the butter.

MIMICS GIORGIO'S ITALIAN ACCENT

-..Melt the butter.

-Right, they're in, George.

I don't want it on that hot.

Honestly, that really will burn it.

That's fine.

So you want to get it sizzling.

I'll put the mint in now.

Look at the waste. You said we were going to use everything.

We've wasted half the lot of it.

-Strain off the dried peas, George.

-Done it.

Right. Let's put the lid on.

Such a simple recipe! It takes one professional chef

and one entrepreneur of the year to make!

Simple recipe!

Can you maybe choose a hard one? Oh, my God.

Where are we going to go?

-Take the top off.

-Bellissimo!

Smell that mint. Smell that.

Mint, I find, always works with peas, don't you?

Mm... No.

-Peas in?

-Yep.

Peas in.

George, I think we are ready for the stock.

-We have a little...

-But first and foremost, George...

First and foremost?

-Ze bone.

-Ze bone.

-Ze bone.

-Ready? In we go.

-Yep.

-George, do you want to...

-Stocko.

-Stocko.

Always good to part it, George.

-That's what I did.

-Well done.

And then you let this cook for about 20, 25 minutes.

Blob, blob, blob, blob, blob.

-Get the thing on top.

-Let's take out the little bunch of...

-Yep.

Mint and parsley.

Put that in there for now. Just take the bone out.

-Shall we leave the meat in?

-Yeah, we can do.

Maybe we should take the meat and slice it down in the juice.

-We can do. I've saved some, anyway.

-That's good. I like that.

Here we go, George.

-Shall I prepare that?

-Yep, just flake it.

Quickly flake it.

Never waste anything.

We haven't wasted nothing.

Good man.

That's how you run a very good household.

Now you become a millionaire, see?

Tony never wastes anything. He's a millionaire.

So, we've done the ham, George. Let's blitz it in the blender.

Hold on a minute, there, Tony.

Let's not have a shower.

Three, two, one, go!

I told you it was too full!

Right. George.

Go on, then. First batch.

Thickening up.

Let's taste it.

Smells good.

Let's put the ham in first.

-A bit of ham.

-Give it a nice bit, George. A nice chunky bit.

Right. Ready?

-Look at that froth there.

-Mmm.

-Some French chefs would die to have that froth.

-Cappuccino.

-In cappuccino.

-They would do.

-In cappuccinos, yes.

Cappuccino.

-I've been coated...

-Cappuccino of garden pea...

Cappuccino of petit pois.

Je desire un cappuccino de petit pois al porco!

Now it's time for H for hazelnuts.

Valentine Warner is using these in a dish which starts in quite a dramatic fashion!

It's crayfish with hazelnut stuffing.

Fat, plump, autumn, signal crayfish.

Whether they're considered a pest or not,

it's only fair to kill them as quickly as possible

and a swift knife-cut to the back of the head

will finish them off very quickly.

A very nifty trick is here, this middle flap in the tail,

twist it gently and pull, and it'll pull out the intestine.

And the last thing to do is chop it straight through

and put it on the tray.

You get a little bit of movement still going on.

That's only the nerves.

Job done.

Next, the hazelnut stuffing.

So this is very, very, very easy.

You want a good amount of butter.

A good fat clove of garlic

then some grated lemon zest.

About half a lemon.

Pastis. I love this stuff.

Heavy aniseed. If you've never drunk this before,

go and buy a bottle immediately!

About two of those caps.

Stale bread. I never throw bread away at home.

I'm going to give this a preliminary whizz.

Grab a handful of parsley and chop.

I want it magnifying glass small!

I feel sorry for ingredients. If I see tiny bits of parsley left on the corner of the board,

I feel I might hurt their feelings if they don't get included!

A million little voices are always pleading from the kitchen table!

"Don't leave me behind!"

A good pinch of salt.

And a proper bombardment of black pepper.

And, of course, our fantastic green hazelnuts.

'Into the food processor they go,

'with a squeeze of lemon juice.

'If you aren't able to forage any green nuts,

'shop-bought brown nuts will work equally well.'

Done.

'I'm squidging a small hazelnut pate onto each little crayfish body.'

It's going to be a winner!

'I love eating crayfish simply.

'Just like prawns, they're great with a huge bowl of swirly mayonnaise,

'but this dish served with crusty bread is equally quick.'

That is it.

Every little crayfish has been neatly dressed up for dinner.

'There's no better place for these fellas than under the grill,

'where in just four minutes, the bluey plummy shells

'transform into a vivid coral red,

'just like mini lobsters.'

Crayfish with green hazelnuts and pastis.

And that is a very wonderful thing to look at.

But I don't want to look at it for too long, cos they're hot.

And what I really want to do is eat them!

Oh, my goodness!

These things, when they grow together, they work together.

And I have total harmony on this plate.

It's all free and it's all there to be enjoyed.

Now, dessert time. Here's Ainsley Harriott,

who's putting honey together with figs.

Figs are one of my favourite fruits.

The reason I like this particular recipe

is the idea of nestling with it inside a beautiful pastry tart

with a base of ground almonds

and I've got a wonderful reduction of honey,

wildflower honey, spread onto the figs.

All those bees, all that hard work they've done,

hasn't gone to waste!

First, we're going to prepare the pastry.

We'll get that butter...

..add plain flour, icing sugar, and butter to a blender.

I prefer to pulse it instead of leaving my machine running.

Let me show you.

Careful, it's a very sharp blade in there.

Look at that. It's like fine breadcrumbs.

To bind the mixture, add beaten egg.

And blitz again until the mixture starts to stick together,

and can be rolled into a ball.

After chilling for 15 minutes, roll out onto a floured surface.

There really is something about making a tart.

It's so satisfying. Almost like making bread.

You know how much I love bread with honey,

so the idea of making a tart, a combination of the two,

is just, for me, perfect.

200 degrees Centigrade, 400 Fahrenheit,

gas mark 6 if you've got an old-style gas oven.

Then after baking for 15 minutes,

glaze the pastry cases with the left-over beaten egg

and cook again for a further ten minutes.

Meanwhile, I can get on with my orange and honey glaze.

This is a really, really good little tip.

That's my tablespoon, my measuring tablespoon,

and you put a little bit of oil on that.

A touch of oil.

What that will do is protect your spoon so your honey won't stick to it.

Three tablespoons of honey.

Look at that. Just flies off the spoon.

To the honey add a few knobs of butter

and freshly squeezed orange juice.

Or, if you've got mates coming round

and it's for an adult supper,

then why not use a bit of orange juice

and a little bit of orange liqueur.

Perfect.

So, whilst that's heating up, I can prepare my figs.

I've just cut the top off there

and I want to cut these into six.

But you don't want to cut all the way through, so a bit of control here.

Turn that around, and one half of it cut into three.

Follow the knife almost all the way down.

You can see that. Then you can just open that out

like a little flower. See that?

I wish you were here, now.

I can smell that honey. It's coming alive, now,

just beginning to release its lovely aromas.

Next, line the pastry cases with some ground almonds.

I'm using the back of the spoon to push it into the corners.

So it soaks up all that lovely juice.

And then it doesn't seep through into your pastry.

You don't want soggy pastry. Soggy pastry is awful! Can't be bothered with that!

I'm going to pick that up now and sit it inside our pastry case.

That's quite syrupy now. Look at that.

There you go. Just spoon that around like that.

You've got the ground almonds on the base there

to soak up any of these juices,

but try and get most of that on top of your figs.

Pop those back in the oven for a further ten to 15 minutes.

Now...

Look at that. The juice has started to come out...

The honey just kind of rises up into your nostrils.

Just gorgeous.

For the finishing touches, I'm adding a dollop of creme fraiche,

a touch of orange zest

and finally a drizzle of my scrumptious honey glaze.

Mmm!

Maybe a few more drops round there.

There you have it.

My caramelised fig and wild honey tart.

This is great. I can taste the wildflower honey coming through the figs.

When you add something that has that lovely floral taste,

it just heightens the whole thing. It really is stunning.

I hope you've enjoyed all of today's recipes.

A big thank you to all our chefs today.

And do make sure you join us for more next time!