Letter I The A to Z of TV Cooking

You buy your ingredients and you're looking forward to some cooking.

But which top chef are you going to turn to for inspiration today?

We've got all your favourites here,

the nation's top TV chefs all in one place on The A to Z of TV Cooking.

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

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

Levi Roots heads to the allotment to make an inspirational Ital soup.

Cut up your vegetables small cos you don't want to be waiting

a long time around for things to cook.

-An Italian masterclass with Antonio and Gennaro.

-Ah!

-And Mary Berry has a simple lemon meringue ice cream pud.

-Very easy.

No ice cream machine needed.

For a lot of this programme, I is for international, and we're

looking at different recipes from countries beginning in I.

Our first stop with Rick Stein, who's on a tasting tour of Ireland.

The reason why the people round here love offal so much stems from here,

the deepwater dock at Cobh, just outside the city.

They exported enormous amounts of salt beef

and salt pork to the British Empire, but they couldn't pickle the offal.

So that got used as wages for the slaughterhouse workers.

'Now, this is the famous corned beef.

'They used to favour the fattier cuts like brisket,

'but topside is more popular these days.'

What about this spiced beef?

What's that spiced with?

Spiced beef is, initially, it goes through the same process

-as corning beef.

-Yeah, yeah.

And then it's just put into a wet spice balm for maybe a week,

and then it's dried spice, various spices, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon.

It's traditionally a Christmas dish.

I think a lot of people think that corned beef comes from America

but, of course, it doesn't, does it?

-It went there from Ireland originally.

-Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Can you get corned beef and cabbage in restaurants round here?

You can, actually. Yeah.

The restaurant upstairs, the Farmgate Cafe, they take some off us

every week, and maybe two days a week, they have it on their menu.

-And it sells out every day.

-Do you know if they've got it today?

-No, it's not on today. They've Irish stew on today.

-Oh, well, that'll do!

That'll do!

Well, this is corned beef and cabbage,

one of Ireland's best-known dishes and a real favourite of mine

cos it relies on really good, raw materials, simply cooked.

So unlike the corned beef that we know in

England, which comes in tins and is all jumbled up and pressed,

this is actually corned beef which is more like ham.

I'm just studding some onions here with cloves.

I'm just going to add a few flavouring vegetables to

the water I'm going to cook the corned beef in.

One other little bit of information here,

that corned beef doesn't mean anything to do with corn.

It just refers to the sizes, the course salt,

they used to salt the beef with, which looked a bit like corn.

There you go.

We've put some bay leaves in there and a few peppercorns.

And then plenty of water, just to cover the...

..cover this.

And then I'll just bring it to the boil, skim it and then

leave it to simmer for several hours until it's tender and lovely.

Just at the end of simmering the corned beef,

I add the vegetables I'm going to serve with it.

First, potatoes and carrots,

and after they've had a chance to cook for 10 minutes or so,

and take on the flavour of the stock, add the cabbage.

A Hispi cooks very quickly.

I just drop those in literally minutes before everything's done

and take it off the heat.

Now, this is what I call a no-faff dish cos everything's

cooked in the same pot and it's great if you've got loads of people.

So often, I plan things far too complicated,

have a couple of glasses and then everything gets spoiled.

This is a no-spoil dish. And look at that, how succulent it is!

So different from the tinned variety.

And this represents the very best of what this country has to offer.

And one more thing, I don't thicken the stock.

This is not an English gravy but a refreshing,

well-flavoured broth which moistens the meat.

Thanks, Rick. Well, that's a classic Irish dish.

Our next country begins with I and it's for Italy.

And we're about to sample a couple of Italian classics.

First up, Tony and Giorgio with a mushroom risotto.

-Come on, George!

-That's it. Garlic and that's the onions. All right.

-OK, Tony.

-OK.

In the restaurant, you know, you're going to have

-four or five different grades of rice.

-Right.

-So what's a good all-rounder, George?

-A good all-rounder is Carnaroli.

-Yeah?

-Carnaroli's a very good all-rounder.

-And...

-That's not a brand.

-That's the name of the rice?

-Yeah.

And, you know, the more popular are Carnaroli,

superfino Carnaroli and...

-You get very passionate about rice, don't you?

-I'm crying.

You really get passionate about rice. Don't worry, mate.

-You'll be all right.

-I'm going to lose my make-up as well.

-Right. Where are we now? We're there?

-We are ready! We're ready!

You see, it takes two seconds.

Just cut the onions, cut the garlic and everything else is done.

The mushrooms are soaking there and they're losing the sand

if there is any in it. And, you know, do not use the water.

-Do not use the water!

-Never use the water.

-Never use the water.

Exactly what I said earlier on.

Do you want me to drain them out for you?

Err... No. Yeah, that's another important thing.

You have to pick them up. We'll pick them up.

-So some of the water does go into the risotto?

-A little bit.

-Ah, right!

-Whatever.

-Yeah.

-No, we squeeze them.

The whole "don't use the water but use a little bit of it"?

No, but if you turn it, the whole idea is that, you know, you're

going to mix again, all the sand that's going on the bottom of it.

-Oh, I see.

-Eh!

-Shall we go and cook the risotto?

-Yeah, why not?

-So the stock's on the stove getting warm? Yup.

-OK.

What is very important now to warm up the grain of rice.

Make sure that they are toasted. First goes the wine.

One very important thing now is to really reduce away all the wine.

OK. Got it really, really nice and dry. Come on. Get the stock in.

Got to put a little bit at a time. Put another little bit.

And then we'll get the mushroom.

OK. One handful of that is more than enough.

You know, the most important thing is the start

and the finish of the risotto. All the stirring, a donkey can do it.

-Well, I'm not stirring it.

-So that's why I'm going to go and do

-the mushroom and you...

-No, I'm not stirring it. I'm sorry.

-And always stirring in the same way otherwise it doesn't work.

-You come back after lunch.

-OK. Tony?

-Yes.

-One very important thing is this, that

-the king of the risotto is the Parmigiano.

-Parmigian.

Always, please, buy a piece of Parmesan.

Don't buy those little packets of ready-grated Parmesan

because there is not Parmesan.

That is sawdust with the smell of Parmesan in it.

So to make it a little bit more interesting, you can

always add some other mushroom.

What I'll do is saute in a pan.

And then I'll add it on the top of the risotto,

which will make it a little bit more texture.

I think it will make it like a main dish. And how are you doing, Tony?

Not bad. Not bad. You haven't got long for this one.

You give me a bit of space? Can you give me a bit of space on the pan?

Yeah, I can. Yeah. Why don't you go in the living room?

Move that up and move the risotto on the other side.

The oil is hot. We put the garlic in it.

Do you know that when I was young,

I worked with this guy called Corrado Sironi?

He was called the "Re di risotto". He was the king of rice.

-That's what they used to call him.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-He won this competition in Milan.

-He would have liked my grandma.

She was the queen of rice pudding.

Right.

So we've got the mushroom in there and we're going to really,

really cook it very nicely.

Oh, lovely!

-Smell that.

-Bit of vino.

OK. Let it cook a little bit. Add a little bit of parsley.

Then we put in the mushroom.

-That's great.

-Tony, that's finished now.

So you turn it off, you let it, what we say, rest.

One of the secrets to make a good risotto is the mantecatura, which

is the end of the cooking of the risotto,

which we mean that we add butter to that at the end.

So one of the secrets of that is to cut very even pieces of butter

and keep them really nice and cold until the end

because when it goes in, you monte the risotto,

then you're going to get a fantastic, really,

lift to the flavour

and to the consistency of the risotto. Basta, Tony.

That's enough, otherwise we're going to die!

-Get a little bit of Parmesan.

-Blinding!

-Can you manage?

-Yeah, I'm fine.

-Are you going to stir it or what?

-There's nothing coming down, Tony!

-Of course there is. There's loads coming down. You just can't see.

-Yeah, look at that!

See, I told you. You should buy the grated stuff.

I mean, I'm ashamed in front of the whole English, British nation, yeah?

He's grating in the Parmesan like that! You're an insult to it!

-That's enough.

-George, I can't say it's come a moment too soon.

So, let's get the dish there.

There we are. I mean, this is a risotto! Look at that! Look at that!

-Tony?

-Yeah.

-Bang the mushroom right there in the middle.

Beautiful!

Risotto with dry ceps and field mushroom on the top.

-George, this is absolutely...

-I tell you what.

-I'll give you a job in the kitchen, then.

-Cheers, George.

-I used to have one.

-Risotto stirring.

-Cor, imagine that on my CV!

-And what did you do with your life?

-I was a risotto stirrer!

-I stirred the risotto for Giorgio Locatelli.

-This is gorgeous, mate.

Ah! Now we're talking about achievement in life!

Thanks, chaps.

And now, another Italian masterpiece from Antonio and Gennaro,

those Greedy Italians.

Scottiglia di cinghiale, or the stew of wild boar,

it is one of the most wonderful dishes to share in a family,

because it's a very social affair. So you start cooking

carrots and celery. Would you like to help me?

-Yeah, of course.

-Fantastic, Gennaro.

It's a bit of work, but it's fantastic

because it gives incredible results.

-Gennaro, don't chop my hands.

-I'm far away from you!

And, naturally, when you cook for a big family

or big group of people,

it is very usual that everybody participates.

Don't start to be the very chef that does like this.

I don't like it.

Slowly.

-I have to cut the onions. I'll cut my own way.

-No, you don't.

-You want to show off.

-Yeah, I wanted to show off.

Then we also put the oil on.

-Tell me when.

-Go on, go on. Go on.

-When do I have to go?

-Go on.

It's enough.

One teaspoon of peppercorns and one tablespoon of juniper berries.

And I will start to chop the meat.

We have here rabbit.

And sausage, pork sausage.

Wild boar and pork. You have about 200 grams of meat per person.

I like this mixture of everything.

If you have got no wild boar you could just use pork

and chicken and rabbit.

Oh, there's a bit of fat in it. It will melt right through!

What a dish.

-Shall we start to put them inside?

-Yes, yes, yes.

That looks fantastic. And put some red wine in it.

And we just get the lovely colour.

Just a little bit of colour, Antonio, yeah?

Just a little bit, yes.

So 200ml of red wine will give the lovely, lovely flavour.

We put in a bit of rosemary and a bit of sage

and bay leaves, and now comes the Italian thing,

-which is polpa di pomodoro, so tomato pulp.

-How much is it?

This is one and half kilos altogether.

Can you stir it, please?

You notice I didn't put in any salt or pepper, yes?

Not yet, I'm waiting for you.

It comes later, otherwise it makes the meat tough.

Here's the nutmeg.

Gennaro, you have wonderful fingers. Don't grate your fingers on that.

-How much? Half? Quarter?

-Half.

I love it.

So now you put the whole tin of tomato paste

because I would like the sauce to be very concentrated tomato.

OK. Let's turn it down.

-Shall I cover now?

-Cover it.

So that means I have to stay about one hour and a half.

But that is what you are trained to be doing.

Bye-bye, Gennaro. Look. Look here. Wonderful chair.

Ah!

Ah, Gennaro, that's life.

Ah!

Somebody's working and somebody's resting.

Gennaro, from time to time can you look at the meat, please?

-Little baby!

-What is it?

-Come on.

-You were sleeping.

-I had a wonderful snooze.

-Gennaro, would you be so kind as to move, please?

-That is why I like you.

I wanted to see now the way you make a polenta.

So, polenta. We have here three litres of water

at the polenta is the flour of maize.

This is five-minute polenta.

Very delicious, because it goes perfectly with the stew here.

-Now I can already put the butter which is 100 grams.

-Put it all in.

There.

Wonderful.

-How much cheese?

-250 grams of that.

This is the Taleggio that I use this time. It's a wonderful cheese.

Very creamy.

Could be done with fontina as well.

-Can you grate also about 100 grams of Parmesan, Gennaro?

-Yep.

And stir it, stir it.

-Let me just remove all this from here.

-Wonderful.

Look at this.

This is just like a cream.

ANTONIO CHUCKLES

What you do now, you put just in the middle here.

Antonio, hurry up.

-You work that way.

-Cut a little channel there.

And the best thing is to share it.

This is a small version, but there are versions

that are big as a table with lots of polenta, lots of stew.

-Just fantastic.

-Nice for the lovely, big family.

-Mmm!

It's fantastic.

Cheers, Antonio.

OK, so we've had Irish and Italian.

Now we're going Indian, and here's the Hairy Bikers using

an ingredient that was introduced to India in the days of the Empire.

Let's find out more.

Cauliflower is truly a global vegetable.

In fact, it was the British who took cauliflower to India

and did you know it was a Cornish variety of cauliflower,

to be specific?

I didn't know, but I do now!

So to show off its true versatility,

we're now going to make a spinach, potato and cauliflower dish...

This is wonderful cauliflower dish, and normally just with

good old-fashioned white cauliflower.

-But the Romanesco cauliflower, look at it!

-Look at it, man.

It's a wonder, isn't it?

Fabulous, fabulous flavour with this,

and this is what we're going to use as well.

Little bit of a mix.

You want quite small florets for this.

It's become quite fashionable recently to roast cauliflower

and, indeed, it works absolutely brilliantly.

And it's a lovely texture as well

and something happens when you roast it.

It just intensifies the flavour somehow. It's lovely.

Little dinky-daudy florets.

Right, the roasting tin.

Mr Cauliflower goes in there.

Mr Snowball with Mr Romanesco. "Hello, how do you do?"

Happy days!

Coat the caulis in oil and season. Lots of pepper.

Put that in the oven, about 180 degrees, for about 15 minutes.

Just keep an eye on it, just till it starts to catch and turn.

We start now to make the curry.

You can use ghee or vegetable oil for this. Don't use olive oil.

It kind of doesn't work with curry.

No, it's wrong.

To that, add a finely-chopped onion.

-Over to you, Lord of the Fiery Furnace.

-Right.

And that just needs to sweat till it's translucent.

We don't want caramelised burger van onions.

No, we don't want any colour on them at all.

-Whatever you do, don't BURGER it up.

-No, that'd be wrong.

Now, this is when the smells start to go up

and this is where the neighbours get jealous.

And the reason?

Because we're grating in a thumb-sized piece of ginger.

Now, one of the best ingredients in Indian cooking, black mustard seeds.

Don't get confused with yellow mustard seeds.

They are used for making mustard that you spread on your sausages.

It will taste rank.

Just put the black ones in and pop them.

The reason that you want them to pop is

when the heat pushes through them they release all their flavour

and all their lovely oils, but you need to let them pop first, yeah?

Next, add curry leaves, fenugreek seeds

and chilli powder.

And some turmeric, or haldi, as it's known.

Look at that! Look at the colours in that. That's lovely.

-It's like a sunset over the Indian Ocean.

-Oh, you're not wrong.

To the onions and spices add uncooked, diced potatoes.

Now make sure at this point that all of those potatoes

get nicely covered.

Look at that.

Right, now we start to put the other stuff in.

Tommy-atoes.

-What do you think? Four? Five?

-Four will do, eh?

Yeah.

In they go, followed by a couple of whole green chillies.

Stir well and season.

Oh, lovely. And a splash of water. Just a bit. Don't overdo the water.

Oi!

See, look at that.

Oh!

That's all coming off now.

Add some spinach, pop the lid on and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Here we go.

-Oh, yeah. Cooked through.

-Lovely.

-Right!

-I'll do the rice.

-I'll get the cauli out.

-Oh, yes. Look at that.

-That's what you want.

-It's just started to speckle up, hasn't it?

-Look at that. Oh, lovely.

So we're going to add that and then we stir it in.

Nice and gentle, cos you want to maintain the potato

and all of those lovely flavours.

-It's nice using Romanesco as well, isn't it?

-Oh, it's brilliant, man.

-It makes an event out of it.

-I so love this recipe.

-Mmm.

Finish it off with some fresh lemon juice.

-It really makes a heck of a difference.

-It does. It's superb.

It kind of brings the whole thing to life.

Don't be shy with it.

Look at that cauli sitting proud.

Proud and loud, that's what we want cauli to be.

So there we have it - the Hairy Bikers' saag aloo with...

Gobi.

-Roasted.

-Yeah.

Mmm.

Let's take a break from countries beginning in I

and look at a couple of cooking methods.

First up, Ital.

What, not heard of it?

Well, it's a Rastafarian vegan style of cooking

and to demonstrate and explain more, here's Levi Roots and his Ital soup.

REGGAE MUSIC

During the '50s and '60s, thousands of young Jamaicans

sailed out of Kingston harbour, bound for a new life in the UK.

For some, one of the ways they could bring

a bit of their homeland with them

was to grow their own Caribbean food.

Granville Prendergast has had an allotment in Bristol

since he first came over from Jamaica.

It's a bit early in the year for any of his Caribbean produce,

but he's got some handsome leeks that are ready.

A nice cutlass you have there.

-Lord have mercy, I'll cook something nice for you now.

-I hope so!

-Respect.

Man, this is so cool.

I'm going to be doing my Ital soup,

but the best thing about it is I'll be using some leeks

grown by Mas Granville here on his allotment

and I haven't done that since I was in Jamaica,

growing fresh from the ground, straight into the pot.

Ital soup is mouth-wateringly spicy, using sweet potatoes,

crunchy Caribbean greens called callaloo and our usual suspects

from the Sunshine Kit, Scotch bonnet, thyme and ginger.

Master Granville is holding an allotment party tonight

and this soup is guaranteed to warm things up.

Ital is a Rastaman's word taken from "vital" and, really,

it's just saying that it's the Rastaman's style of eating vegan.

Completely fresh, completely natural.

I'm going to start with the leeks grown by Mas Granville

here on his own allotment.

Fresh out the ground.

Chops your leeks thickly as it will add texture to your soup.

Now I'm adding half a block of coconut cream.

And you can use coconut milk or you can use in this block style.

Up to you. Whatever makes it easy for you.

I think that should be ready to drop these fantastic leeks in.

That is proper.

To give the soup body, add what we call the hard food,

chickpeas and two sweet potatoes.

-How you doing, Mas Granville?

-All right, man.

-Lord have mercy, things are going good here.

-That's very great.

-Yes.

It's best to cut up your vegetables small cos you don't want to be

waiting a long time around for things to cook.

Let's get them in.

A few more Ital ingredients.

Lovely chopped fresh ginger and a clove of finely chopped garlic.

Next, I'm going to be adding a piece of thyme.

-Mas Granville, sir.

-Yes, man?

Can I have this piece of thyme that's come from your garden, sir?

-Take as much as you want, man.

-Brilliant, thank you very much.

Dash it in there.

Let's add here my Scotch bonnet, which is so special to me.

Let's chop it up nice.

Now for the callaloo.

Callaloo is similar to spinach, but with a more robust flavour,

closer to kale or spring greens.

Get your callaloo, twist it and turn it.

Here you go. Yeah.

It's fantastic. Old Mas Granville told me

how he grows callaloo right here on his allotment.

It's cool.

It's so good.

You could add salt to it, but I'm not,

because this is Ital and Ital don't have salt.

So that should be about ready now.

I don't know what's warming up people more,

the bonfire or the high-octane Ital soup with its Scotch bonnet pepper.

But what did Master Granville think?

-Not bad at all.

-Not bad at all?

-Not bad at all.

Coming from you, that's a compliment.

# Carry mi ackee, go a Linstead Market

# Not a quattie-worth sell

# Carry me ackee, go a Linstead Market

# Not a quattie-worth sell

# Lawd, what a night, not a bite

# And a Saturday night... #

Thanks, Levi.

Next up, I for "instant noodles".

but this involves more than just boiling a kettle,

as Ching demonstrates now, in a race against the clock.

This is a noodles and dim sum programme.

Now, when most people cook noodles or think of noodles

they think of these ugly, horrible things, instant noodles.

Away with them.

These are what I call noodles, the real, authentic noodles.

Mung bean noodles, rice noodles, egg noodles and my favourite,

we've got the yellow shi noodle and these babies cook up in, like,

three minutes. They're so good.

I'm going to show you how to make my version

of an instant fresh noodle pot that's fresher, lighter healthier,

tastier and as quickly as you can make one of these.

It takes four minutes for an instant noodle pot to be ready to eat

after you've added boiling water.

So let's start this race against my fresh,

easy version by putting the kettle on.

Going to get the wok nice and hot.

The base will be a hot and sour soup.

OK, now, in with some ginger, so just peel the ginger.

The ginger's going to give it an element of heat.

Not spicy heat but a warming heat.

A hot and sour soup base has got to have the hot

so it's got to have the chilli.

Oil into the wok.

I've got here some fresh shiitake mushrooms, so just slice.

In with the ginger and the chillies and the mushrooms.

Smells good already.

Fresh vegetable stock.

This is a good cheat, or you can use the cubed vegetable stock.

You can get these in the supermarket. Just pour. That simple.

Kettle is bubbling away so I need to work quick.

I've got some bamboo shoots in water and some bean sprouts. Just drain

into my version of a pot.

Let's go for some spring onion for fragrance.

And how about some baby corn too?

These are fresh noodles.

You can cook dried if you have more time.

Now, some seasoning. The sour.

I've got some balsamic vinegar, some sherry or white wine,

little bit of dark soy sauce

and this is for colour.

And some light soy sauce.

Now, the kettle's just come to the boil.

Mmm, chicken and mushroom flavour.

I don't know what's in there.

Those are just some dried flavouring powder. Not good.

They now need to soak for four minutes.

Now, I need the kettle cos I need to cook my noodles.

In with my egg noodles.

Great. Just drain.

Look, lovely and bouncy and fresh.

How's my stock doing?

Great, it's come to the boil.

In with some cornflour to thicken.

And some water.

So just pour in. Give that a good stir.

Quick taste.

Mmm. Some strips of chicken. Cooked chicken breast.

You can keep it vegetarian if you like.

And then ladling stock.

Just delicious, authentic hot and sour suan la huang.

So I need to just zhuzh that one up.

It's not ready for two minutes.

And look, my instant noodle soup is done.

My fresh but easy noodles have beaten the shop-bought noodle pot

by two whole minutes.

I like it, but will my quick and healthy noodle soup

go down a treat with some instant pot noodle users?

At the English National Ballet,

a surprising number of these elite performers are partial to

an instant noodle snack between classes

and at the end of a performance.

The perfect place to do a blind taste test.

This is how the test works.

My fresh noodles are in a pot with a pink sticker,

while the shop-bought instant version has a green sticker.

This is Pot Noodle, no?

The dancers put whichever pot they prefer on the table.

The one they don't like goes in the bin.

So leave the empty cup that you thought you really liked the taste of

up here and the one you think is no good in the bin.

You don't know how to hold chopsticks.

Oh, some more guinea pigs!

Well? Now, which one do you prefer? This one or this one?

-This one.

-That one? You want this one in the bin?

LAUGHTER

-Oh, you want to eat them both?

-I like both.

-You like them both? OK!

So, how are we doing, James? Do you think we're doing well?

-Absolutely.

-Shall we count them up?

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

We've got eight pinks and one green.

And so by a ratio of eight to one, my home-made, healthy,

fresh noodle pot is the winner.

It's now time for pudding, and here's an inspired I dish

from Raymond Blanc, an iced coffee parfait.

Next, an iced coffee parfait made with a sabayon,

something Raymond believes should be in the repertoire

of any aspiring cook.

I'm going to enter that exciting world of sabayon. And simple as well.

You can do it so easily in your home.

Begin by adding sugar and sweet white wine

to the magic ingredient in this recipe, eight egg yolks.

The egg yolk is amazing.

As we whisk them we create an emulsion,

but it would collapse in no time, obviously, if you don't cook it.

Heat the mixture in a bain-marie.

The heat breaks down the egg yolk proteins,

creating bubbles that make the mixture expand.

Now it's really starting to be very exciting, here.

And already it's about a quarter of its volume up.

That's a miraculous egg yolk.

It's quite amazing what they do for you, you know?

So, of course, you could do that with a proper electric whisk.

-Adam?

-Yeah?

-You sure that you've given me the best whisk?

The biggest whisk?

Voila.

You don't like me, do you?

And never stop, like I've just done here.

You are in great danger of scrambled eggs at the bottom, OK?

While whisking, bring the mixture to eight degrees centigrade.

-For this you'll need a thermometer.

-Oh, my God. What's wrong with it?

Adam, this...

Can you just... I'm not a mechanition.

I'm not a good technician, OK?

Thank you.

And now we are at exactly eight degrees.

Voila.

So you've got that wonderful, fluffy mousse, here. Look at that.

Just nice. Completely melts.

Ice.

I want to cool it down before I add the whipped cream.

Now I'm going to add whipped cream into it.

Of course, with your whipped cream into your hot sabayon

you're in trouble.

The whole thing would collapse, would melt down, OK?

When cool, add a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Voila. And very little.

Although the sabayon is sweet, the pepper will provide a gentle kick.

Vive la difference.

-Now whip some cream into soft peaks.

-So there is 200 grams of cream here.

So quite loose. It will go off the whisk, you know?

Plop!

Then add it to the base.

The sabayon is now ready.

That sabayon, I could use it in hundreds of different desserts,

but this time I'm doing iced coffee parfait.

Add a small cup of strong coffee and fold into the mixture.

Oh, lovely.

And think there's only 200 grams of cream in here.

Hardly a sin, is it?

And even if it was, who cares?

Then pour it into a mould and put it in the freezer for 12 hours.

Voila.

Adam, presente, thank you.

Now, decorate the dish.

Anything you have. Just a bit of texture.

Nougatine you can buy, a biscuit you can crumble. Simple things.

Raymond's using caramelised walnuts, a drizzle of caramel

and vanilla cream.

So, your parfait is ready. A quick dip.

One,

two, three.

So warm up your blade.

Voila.

Voila.

Voila.

Just a few textures around. Whatever textures you have. Very simple.

Voila. C'est parfait.

No more, no less.

Thanks, Raymond.

Our next I is for islands.

Floating islands of loveliness from Rachel Khoo.

Iles flottantes means floating islands,

and, basically, you have this cold sea of creme anglaise

with a floating, light meringue in the middle.

I need a pot.

First, the creme anglaise, or custard as we call it in England.

And this is full-fat milk. Just tastes a lot better.

Take half a litre of milk, add fresh vanilla.

We're going to add the pod as well. There's flavour in there. OK.

Indonesian long pepper.

It's got this very sweet kind of peppery smell.

All you need to do is grate it.

OK, that's enough.

I'm going to add my milk to four egg yolks and 80 grams of sugar.

And you just want to mix it together.

So the milk has come to a boil and you can turn it off now.

You can fish out this vanilla pod.

Give it a little rinse in some cold water.

And then put it out to dry. Put it in a bottle of rum.

Spicy rum!

OK, we're going to incorporate our milk with our eggs.

Egg yolk's a little bit sensitive to the heat,

so what you do is mix that in slowly and keep on whisking.

Make sure you get all the vanilla grains.

The creme anglaise needs to be the consistency of double cream,

so put it back on the hob to thicken it.

Keep it on a nice, low heat.

Whisk constantly.

Creme anglaise would make a great accompaniment with apple crumble.

It's a good one to have in your pocket.

"Have in your pocket?" Don't have any creme anglaise in your pocket.

I'm going to switch this off.

This goes in the fridge till it's well chilled.

Leave it in the fridge for four hours.

In the meantime, I can start making my crunchy praline topping.

Heat 75 grams of sugar and 25ml of water together

until they make a syrup.

The sugar's dissolved and I'm going to add my almond slithers in now.

You're looking for your mixture to go a golden brown colour.

When it gets that dark colour, it's time to switch it off.

While it's still hot you want to pour it out onto your baking tray.

Spread thinly to cool. Now time for the meringue.

I need to weigh my egg whites. Grab my scales.

We need 60 grams.

Oh, yes!

60 grams.

Now, I'm going to start off with just half of it in there.

And add 45 grams of icing sugar.

I'm making a classic French meringue mixture,

which will be soft and fluffy.

Add a pinch of salt.

And a couple of drops of lemon juice.

I'm going to add my egg white.

In it goes. I think that's ready to go.

Done.

Perfect.

So...

Soft peak, but you should still be able to turn it upside down

and hold it over your head.

That's when you know your meringue's done.

Finally, you need to cook your meringue in a pan of simmering water.

All you need to do is take a spoonful

and form it into a nice dollop.

Just want to gently put one in like that.

OK.

The island's puffing up nicely.

Turn it around. While the other side cooks,

it's time to bring all the ingredients together.

Need my ladle.

So a couple of ladles of cold creme anglaise in your glass.

You just pop it on the top.

Carefully.

And, finishing touches, our praline.

So you can pop it on your island.

I love this dessert. It's absolutely one of my favourites.

Forget the creme brulee, forget the creme caramel,

this is the dessert you want to be eating.

Yum.

# ...je te garde dans mons coeur #

Let's end with the best I of all, ice cream.

Lemon meringue ice cream, no less,

courtesy of the marvellous Mary Berry.

And for my third recipe I'm going to be making

lemon meringue ice cream with fresh lemon balm.

It's very quick, very easy. No ice cream machine needed.

So, in the bowl I've got some double cream.

Make sure you get pouring double cream.

And I'm going to whisk that until it just holds its shape.

It won't take long.

That is nice and frothy, just holding in its peaks.

So I've got whipped cream, then I'm going to add meringues.

Now you sometimes have meringues left

and they're sort of broken in the bottom of the tin.

So don't crush them into a fine powder.

Just break them into decent-sized pieces, just like that.

And that's one of the ingredients later.

So there are the meringues, then I'm going to put lemon zest

and lemon juice.

So I've got a nice lemon here.

While we were foraging, we found a sumac tree

and the fruit of that was very lemony.

You could put a little of that in too.

So in goes all that zest.

And here's a tip I use in my baking too.

If you're doing a lot of lemons, squeezing them,

it does help if they're warm,

so if you just put them in a microwave for a short time,

something like that, just warm them,

you'll get that much more yield out of them.

Tip the juice in there.

And for more lemony flavour I'm adding lemon curd.

So in goes half a jar.

That's about right. And now, lemon balm, or you could use mint.

I've got a big pot of it here. Now, this is one from a nursery.

It's a little bit leggy, so if I'd bought that one,

once I took it home I would cut it down and it will shoot up again.

In fact, if you keep nibbling at it and keep it low,

the leaves are beautifully fresh.

It comes just like this, or you can have it variegated.

It's a lovely aroma.

So I'm just going to just pick off the stalk, and then chop it.

I am not speedy like the chefs but I do have all my fingers.

That's it. So there's the lemon balm going in.

And I'm going to mix all that together

before adding the final ingredient, sugary meringue,

in fairly chunky pieces, like that,

to give it texture and sweetness.

Then give it a stir, pour it into a loaf tin

lined with clingfilm - it helps to get it out.

Pop it into the freezer to set overnight. Told you it was easy.

And so to my sauce. All you need is the pulp of three passion fruit.

The aroma is lovely.

And the rest of the lemon curd.

And it's such a simple sauce.

And it'll just make the ice cream taste that much better

and also it looks very smart and special.

And you can make this in advance too,

so all you have to do is slice and serve.

Feels very, very cold and set.

Thanks to the clingfilm it should come out easily.

So, let's cut a slice from that.

So let's see how that is. You can see the flecks of white.

That is the meringue.

And the green is the lemon balm.

So let's just lift that onto the plate.

Like that. Spoon on some of your passion fruit sauce

and finish it off with some freshly-picked leaves.

So there we are, lemon meringue ice cream with fresh lemon balm.

That's the last of today's dishes. Now it's your turn to get cooking.

Thanks to all our chefs, and do join me

for more remarkable recipes next time.

See you soon.

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