Feeding the Kids The Best Dishes Ever

Today, The Best Dishes Ever is dedicated to the children,

keeping them happy with a range of recipes that we know they love.

And guess what?

We've grown up to love them too.

We're starting with a dash through not one dish, not two,

not three, but four - a chilli, a cheese pie

and the wonderfully named beany mince and rumpy-pumpy soup,

all cooked for the Hairy Bikers

when they were visiting the lovely Maureen on a trip to Scotland

for their show Mum Knows Best.

Take it away, Maureen.

Before we arrived, Maureen had made us one of her mum's cheese pies.

It's a simple recipe - layers of mashed potato

and strong Cheddar cheese

with breadcrumbs and more grated cheese on the top.

So, has that been handed down, your recipe?

Yes, it was my gran's recipe, I think.

-Oh, it smells wonderful.

-It's lovely, isn't it?

-Oh, you temptress!

-I've not been called that before.

I've never seen your cheese pie before, have I?

-That's why, you know!

-How often would you cook this, Maureen?

Probably once a week. But definitely after the kids had been ill.

That was their getting better food.

What's lovely about it is, there's a care to it. It's not bought.

-You can buy that but that's not the point.

-You can't buy that.

-You can't.

-That's MY cheese pie.

Exactly, exactly. And it's your kids'.

And it belongs to YOUR family and that's so special.

I've got a family recipe for rumpy-pumpy soup.

Why do you call it rumpy-pumpy soup?

Well, my dad started it off by calling it that

because of the detrimental effect that it has on your system.

-Pump?

-Mmm-hmm.

Maureen's wind-producing soup has root vegetables and lentils

cooked down with a ham hock.

-That's the hock.

-That's the hock.

I would put that in and just let it heat through.

When the children were small, they didn't like the ham in the soup,

so I used to make sandwiches

separately for the adults and the children had liquidised soup.

There was one more recipe that Maureen really wanted to show us,

one that had grown up with her kids.

What are you going to cook now, Maureen?

-We're going to cook beany mince.

-Beany mince?

-Yeah.

That sounds a bit pumpy as well.

That's a common theme in our family.

A lot of methane produced.

You could make a turbine go round, your family.

'Maureen taught all her kids to cook beany mince, but now it was my turn.

'I have a feeling I'm going to get bossed around.'

Do you put oil in? I don't.

-Don't you?

-No.

-No.

-Non-stick pan.

Yeah, you don't need oil, not with mince, cos of the fat in the mince.

I'll be a minute. Shurrup!

Is he quite slow, usually?

He is. He says he's part of that slow food movement.

-I just think he's a bit kind of slow.

-He's a slow cooker!

If I can't cook mince at this point, after five years on the telly,

I'm in serious trouble, aren't I?

Maureen, where did this recipe come from?

It was another one of my mum's recipes.

The next recipe I'm going to show you, though,

shall we say the progression from beany mince, is my own.

'Maureen is splitting the mince to make two recipes -

'her chilli for the adults

'but first, her beany mince for the kids.'

-For beany mince, we need carrots and turnip.

-Now, viewers, what's that?

Beans. What's that? Beans.

These are beans for the chilli and these are beans for the beany mince.

So the beany mince beans go in that pan there

with the beany mince vegetables

that's already been beany mincing. Do you want it all, madam?

-Yes, please.

-Thank you.

-Tomato puree. How much, madam?

-A generous zhoosh.

-A glass of red wine would be nice in it.

-This is for children!

You burn off the alcohol.

The other half of Maureen's mince is to become chilli for the adults.

-Right, who's on the chilli?

-Moi.

-Moi!

-Go on, dude. I'll tell you what, it's hell in there. It's hell!

-Tomatoes. Give it a stir.

-Yes, boss.

-Mr King.

-Yes, darling.

Would you please give me some garlic - two cloves of garlic.

-Do you want them crushed?

-Yes, please.

Thank you. On their way, love.

Right, we've got the mince,

the onions, tomatoes, garlic, stock cube and water.

What's next, Maureen?

Now I would just add the kidney beans - the red kidney beans -

and about a teaspoonful of chilli flakes.

Having an alternative on the stove

means that ingredients can go in that the kids aren't so keen on.

I would let that cook until the mince is well cooked.

-Then season.

-And then season.

-Right. Well done!

To test Nana's recipes, Granddad arrives with Georgia and Alexis.

I think it's your favourites as well - rumpy-pumpy soup, I heard.

Yes!

-Good timing.

-Fabulous!

-Over here?

-There.

-There? Lovely, thank you.

Here we go.

'It's time for a proper family dinner.'

What's first, Maureen?

-First up is Alexis' favourite, rumpy-pumpy soup.

-ALL: Yeah!

-Do you like the taste or the effect?

-Hmm. Taste.

-A bit of both.

It must be great for you seeing the third generation

enjoying the food that you enjoyed as a child.

-Yes. Would you pass that up, please?

-Of course I will. There you are.

-And enjoying it.

-It's lovely. It's really tasty.

-Really hearty, really healthy.

-And it's really pumpy.

LAUGHTER

'True family favourites, like Maureen's,

'are often just kept inside Mum's head, not written down.'

It took a very long time to get the recipe out of Mum

because there wasn't really a recipe to start off with.

It was just a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

But it's just such an easy soup and the girls absolutely love it.

'Their next family favourites are...'

-Oh!

-Beany Mince.

-Yes!

-Nana's chilli.

-Right!

'Both Barry and Elaine have brought their own versions.'

-Oh! I see!

-That's with a bit of zhoo-zhoosh.

-Ah, you've got zhoosh.

-Zhoosh.

-And Mummy's chilli.

-So, you've all... You've all done versions of your Mum's food.

-Yes.

And this, I've got to keep away from Elaine

because this is her favourite.

-It's cheese pie, is it?

-It's cheese pie.

-Oh, yes, look at that!

-There you are, my dear.

-Oh, man!

Cheese pie. It's fantastic, isn't it?

It is brilliant!

-I start beany and work round that way.

-OK.

-It's the beany one.

It's nice. It's very sweet. You can taste the turnip as well.

-It's a great one for children.

-Oh, yeah.

'The chilli that Barry now makes is spicier than his mum's,

'and zhooshed up with lime and coriander,

'but Elaine's is a simpler mince, with fewer veggies.'

I love that progression from all these.

The beany mince is the birth of the children of the chilli.

-Yeah!

-It's just great.

It's like Darwin's stages of evolution, isn't it?

-It is, yeah.

-You know. And then one day man walked.

-Quickly.

-Then one day, man came - Barry with some zhoosh!

-LAUGHTER

-And that was it!

How important is it to you that this is still evolving

and this is still happening

and you've another generation coming on now

that are enjoying those dishes?

Somehow it's how I express my love for my family.

-The proof of it's on the table, Maureen.

-I hope so.

Next, with something that's usually a hit with children

and great for a kids' party - sausage rolls.

So here's a top-quality version.

This is Paul Hollywood showing fellow chef Glynn Purnell

how to make them jumbo style.

I made big sausage rolls, packed full of flavour

and I'm quite fussy about the pastry - no surprises there.

But it all starts with the filling.

Basically, choose whatever sausage meat you like.

I've just got a sausage meat I like, a bit of pork sausage,

a little bit of thyme in there as well.

If you can pop that in there with that

and rip a bit of thyme off and mix it up for us. Thank you.

So, to move on, I'm going to use

and I'm going to make a proper puff pastry.

'Into a bowl of 50/50 plain and strong flour, I add two eggs, salt

'and some water to bring it all together.

'Puff pastry has a reputation for being difficult

'but it's not at all.

'You just need to know what you're doing, so listen up.'

Puff pastry's all about the difference between cold and hot.

-Mmm-hmm.

-If you can get your dough

as cold as possible as quickly as possible,

then you'll end up with something

that, when you put it in the oven, will just go boof!

-It'll just explode in an oven.

-OK. And does that make it crispier?

The crispiness comes from the temperature and the butter.

A good quality butter is key with a good puff pastry.

I tend to use Normandy butter, French butter.

Slightly higher melting temperature

means you can manipulate it more in the dough.

Therefore, if you get a cheap butter, you'll tend to find

that in the dough itself,

it will melt out the side as you're laminating it,

as you're folding it. That's a bad sign.

Has the Normandy one got more oil content in it?

It's the carotin levels you've got to be careful of.

-You know those brightly coloured ones?

-Yeah.

-You want something a bit toned down.

-Yeah.

They're the ones, generally, that are better to use.

'After a few minutes working the dough,

'wrap it and chill it in the fridge, preferably for two hours.'

I've got one which I have chilled and I've also got some butter.

I'll show you what I'll do with that in a minute.

'Now roll out your chilled pastry in a thin rectangular shape,

'big enough to accommodate the butter

'for the all-important turning process.

'You need to have rolled out your butter

between two sheets of greaseproof paper

'so it's thin enough to fold inside the dough.'

Get your butter, pop it on your dough.

Take it all the way down to the corners

and then with this bit here...

That's perfect.

With this bit here that's exposed, a third of it, you fold over.

And then this bit goes onto the top.

-A bit like you do with a croissant dough.

-OK.

You need to pinch that down now and seal it in.

Seal the butter in. That's a lovely cold dough.

The butter's beginning to soften already,

so as soon as it hits that butter,

that nice cold dough begins to solidify. That's a good thing.

'Once the butter is sealed in the dough,

'you can then roll it and fold it a second time to double the layers.

'Each fold is called a "turn" and the more turns your dough has,

'the more flaky your pastry will be.'

This is what we call a single turn, over the top.

Flatten it down, then the exposed bit over the top of that.

Seal it in again.

That's had a single turn,

so it's had the butter put in and a single turn.

It needs at least another four of those. In between each one,

you chill it down and you chill it down

to get that butter nice and hard again.

As a young apprentice in the kitchen,

the pastry chef would leave a message, "Turn the puff."

You'd go, "Which way?" But you'd know

cos he made a little mark into the pastry

on how many times or what side to turn it.

That's had one turn. One knuckle in. That'll go in the fridge.

You wrap that up, tuck it under and then pop that in the fridge.

Now, because it's had...one turn, I know.

Next time, if you forget, you've always got the turn.

I know this one is good to go.

'The turning process doesn't take long.

'Most of the day, your pastry will be chilling in the fridge.'

In a professional kitchen, you'd probably see that - four turns.

You'd probably have four notches sitting in it.

I want to turn this one more time.

You can see how yellow it's gone, from the other one.

Because the layers have got so thin,

the butter's beginning to show through the dough.

That means it's nearly ready to use.

I'm going to roll this out.

Nice and gently. Start from the middle again.

Come back down.

A lot of people are a bit scared of making puff pastry,

but if you've got the time and you plan it nice, it's worth doing.

It is worth it.

What I need to do is roll this out as quickly as possible

before it gets too...warm.

Now let's look at this. You see this there?

If you can see that area there, it looks like marble.

In fact, it looks like marble all over the place.

It's an indicator that the butter's got to such a level,

when it's nice and chilled, it splits with the butter.

It's a good sign of a puff pastry.

Indeed, it's a good sign for any laminated dough,

including a croissant and a Danish pastry.

'A laminated dough is a baking term

'for the process of alternating layers of dough and butter.'

So now I'm happy with that.

What I've got is my pastry ready to rock and roll.

Get stuck in.

'Next, take your sausage mixture

'and spread it out all the way along your pastry.'

Sausage meat all the way along.

'Adding pickle or caramelised onions

'gives my sausage roll an extra flavour dimension

'and a little tang that works brilliantly

'with the herby sausage meat and buttery pastry.'

And then roll it up.

-This is a serious sausage roll.

-That's a proper sausage roll.

I want some big jumbos, so I'll trim off the end first,

make sure it's nice and straight.

'Mark out where you want to cut and slice into good-sized portions.

'Once cut, put the rolls on a baking tray lined with baking parchment

'and brush them thoroughly with a rich egg wash.'

Give it that rich yellow colour.

'Then put them back in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.'

When it comes out the fridge, you double egg wash.

You egg wash it all again. Then with the back of the blade,

just run your knife from the top over to the other side.

And what that does is create a lovely pattern

on top of the sausage rolls.

You do this on all of them, then you bake it off

at 200 degrees Celsius for about 15-20 minutes

till they're beautiful and golden brown.

The secret with the egg wash is don't let the colour kid you.

You think it's going dark. Stick with it.

It'll flake up and it'll be absolutely beautiful.

It'll be a bit tight inside because it's constricted,

but you'll end up with a gorgeous-tasting puff pastry.

Let me show you this.

Those there are proper sausage rolls.

You can see the way they've split, the way they've been cut.

Beautiful colours.

Filled with the sausage meat of your own desire.

And there you have it - sausage rolls.

'Make your sausage rolls any size you want,

'but don't expect them to last very long. They go down a treat!'

Now, you really can't have Paul Hollywood

without his beloved Mary Berry, can you?

It just doesn't feel right.

And after those sausage rolls, I feel the need for something sweet -

something like a good old-fashioned knickerbocker glory.

This is my basic ice cream that I make time and time again.

Very, very simple and you don't need an ice cream machine.

It's just those three magic ingredients -

eggs, cream, sugar plus vanilla.

Meringue is the base of this ice cream.

'To begin the meringue, start whisking the egg whites.'

Add the sugar gradually.

'By using meringue as a base,

'we're adding the air at the beginning

'and then there's no more need for whisking.'

There we are. Not coming out.

Very proper meringue.

The next move is to whip the cream.

Real cream. Never use substitute.

This looks just about right.

Take all the cream and put it on top of the meringue like that.

Fold it in, keeping as much air in as possible.

So, that is beautifully smooth now.

In goes the egg yolks and, at the same time, vanilla extract -

about a teaspoonful.

I know that this is going to be simply delicious.

And when it freezes, because it's all so frothy,

you don't get any of those ice crystals.

This is ready for freezing.

'This is now the base for any ice cream flavour.

'Why not try stemmed ginger, fruit, raisins or even a drop of brandy?

'It's that easy to make your own ice cream.'

I've got one in there all ready.

A good tip is to actually chill the glasses in the fridge first

and I'm going to start off

by putting some pineapple in the bottom.

Then a little raspberry puree.

Then I'm going to put a scoop of ice cream

right in the middle, like that.

This really is a very simple, back-to-basics ice cream.

And I think that is good enough to eat right now.

Mmm.

So, how do you think I'm doing

with my great revival of real dairy ice cream?

I bet you can't wait to have a go at home.

Thanks, Mary. But before you do rush off to try that,

here's Lorraine Pascale, showing us how to cook

what is, apparently, the favourite meal of the entire nation,

let alone kids. It's pizza.

I do love to make a pizza from scratch.

There's something very therapeutic about making that dough.

So I start off with 300g of strong bread flour.

Just pop that in...

to the bowl. So I need a good pinch of salt.

And then yeast.

Now, it's wonderful to use fresh yeast, but it does take time,

so I like to take a short cut and use this fast-action dried yeast.

So easy.

And then some water - not too cold, not too hot, just warm.

That goes in there. 175ml of warm water.

So, I start by getting the spoon in, and then here's the best bit -

you get your hands in and squidge it all together

and then just knead it for a little bit, for about five minutes.

So, to test whether you've kneaded it enough,

just take the dough like this, in a ball,

and just pull it back on itself, giving you a nice taut top.

Then pop your finger in the flour, and press it,

and it should spring back all the way.

I'm happy with that. So now I'm ready to roll this out.

Just keep pushing.

So, a bit of flour on there to stop it from sticking.

And then the easiest way to transport your dough

is rolling pin in the centre of the dough,

then just fold it over...

..and then drag it across

to your baking sheet.

'One of the reasons this recipe is so easy

'is that you don't even need to make your own tomato sauce.

'Passata, straight from the jar,

'is just as good when you're in a rush.'

I like to leave a margin around the pizza, a border,

just cos I think it looks nicer.

Lovely pepperoni here.

Slice it up.

'Pizza is all about what you put in it and on it.

'Pepperoni is the nation's number one topping.'

No rules for pizza.

Just do what you want. There.

'Next I'm going to spice it up a bit

'with some beautiful red piquant peppers.

'And finally a whole ball of buffalo mozzarella.'

And I'm just going to tear over the top.

That's going to go all lovely and gooey in the oven.

There, and that's it. So simple, so easy.

'That needs to cook for about 8-10 minutes in a really hot oven,

'about 240 degrees, so it cooks quickly and gets lovely and crisp.'

Yes!

'So there you have it - a beautiful pepperoni pizza

'in less time than it would take to have one delivered.'

That looks perfect.

I'm going to finish it off with some fresh basil.

Bit of colour and another flavour layer.

Just rip it up, over the top.

Look at that. Perfect.

Cut into this.

There's only one way to eat a pizza, and that's with your fingers.

Mmm.

Really good.

Now, kids and adults can go for different things

when it comes to food, but cooking two completely different dishes

can be a bit of a pain sometimes.

So, it's always good to double up,

which is what James Martin does in today's final recipe,

using bananas in two recipes to keep everybody happy and satisfied.

Pretty good, huh?

'I've got some families coming over later on,

'and I'm going to serve a classic banana split for the kids

'and a caramel coated banana

'with passion fruit souffle for the adults.'

There's one dish that reminds me of my childhood more than any other

and that's bananas and custard.

The flavour, I think we all know, is just superb.

But this dish takes it to another level.

'I'm going to start off with the bananas for the splits.

'I'm going to grill them with some fresh rosemary.'

You want about four sprigs and then, just with a knife,

insert the rosemary in the top.

And you don't want anything too pungent,

because it'll put the kids off,

but I think just a little bit of rosemary, like this,

makes it really special, because the flavour and the smells you get

while it's cooking are just great.

'These are put onto the grill for ten minutes.

'That'll give me time to make the grown-up version of this dessert.'

We make a batter, first of all, using some cornflour,

a little bit of sugar and some fizzy water.

Just mix this together to form a nice little paste.

You just want some firm bananas for this

and then just trim these up, then coat them in the batter

and then deep-fry these.

You want the oil reasonably hot, not too hot.

'They'll only take a couple of minutes to cook

'and, while that's happening, I can get the caramel going.'

Don't use granulated sugar, it must be plain caster sugar.

Straight out of the pot -

no bits of tea and coffee stains in it, as well.

Very, very clean, otherwise your sugar will recrystallise.

You'll know when you've gone wrong, because if you're stood here

in about five minutes and it still looks like a big sugar lump,

you've got to throw it away and start again.

'When the bananas are done, lift them out of the hot oil

'and drain them off.'

Now, the whole idea of this is to cook it without colour.

You're not frying fish and chips.

This is the first stage of the cooking.

'The kids' bananas are ready to be flipped,

'and I can turn my attention to the caramel.'

You want to make sure it's nice and even caramel, with no lumps in it.

'When the lumps have disappeared, and it's got a nice, even colour,

'throw in some sesame seeds.

'And now I can start dipping the bananas.'

And then with a spoon,

make sure it's fully coated in this caramel, so roll it around.

Be really careful with this, because it's extremely hot,

and then when they come out of the caramel, into ice.

This will set the caramel immediately.

It's better to do one at a time, really.

You don't want all the bananas stuck in the pan,

otherwise it just ends up as one congealed, big lump -

a big mess in the bottom of the pan.

'Once they're done, I can start making the souffles

'by buttering some ramekins and coating the inside with sugar.

'After that, get three egg whites, and start whisking them,

'which is the most crucial part of making a souffle.

'You have to get the right amount of air into them.'

You can speed up the process

by using a pinch of salt, a little bit of sugar

but, really, just whisk this up so it's nice and firm.

Once they're fully whipped up like that,

they should be nice and firm peaked. That way you're guaranteed

to get the maximum amount of air into the egg whites.

For our filling, I'm just going to use this ready-made custard

and you want about two, maybe three tablespoons for two souffles.

I've got some lovely passion fruit.

Make sure you buy it with a wrinkled skin.

There's so much more juice and flavour in there.

The old-fashioned way would be to stand here and cut and fold

and figure of eight and 20 minutes later, you're still messing around.

The whole point about a souffle,

and this is when you're working as a pastry chef in a restaurant,

you haven't got time to be doing that,

so you actually learn a quick method and that's just chuck it in.

The sooner it is in the oven, the better.

'Using a palette knife, I'm creating a dome

'over the top of the souffle.

'Then, using my thumb, I'm making a frame around the edge, as well.

'This will stop it going wonky when it rises.

'Then throw the whole lot in the oven

'at 230 degrees centigrade for eight minutes.

'The bananas on the griddle are done.'

I can feel, inside, they're bubbling inside, as well,

so they're lovely and hot. And then take a knife

and cut this down the middle,

and they almost steam in their own jackets, really.

It's just fantastic.

Pop a little bit of those on the plate.

You've got another thing the kids will love, the passion fruit.

These have got a wonderful sweet flavour,

which I think the kids will love.

It doesn't matter how old you are, you've got to have some ice cream.

'That's the kids' dessert done,

'and the adult one is just about ready for serving.'

Just a touch of the custard on the plate.

It's a chef's thing.

So often, people are put off by doing souffles at home,

purely the fact they think it's really complicated and difficult,

but you're never going to know until you actually try to do it.

But, by using this ready-made custard,

I think you end up with just fantastic results every time.

Not bad, eh?

Icing sugar over the top.

Ever so carefully, lift these on, and there you have it.

'Sesame caramel-coated bananas

'with passion fruit souffle for the grown-ups

'and barbecued rosemary bananas with passion fruit for the kids.'

-There you go.

-Thank you very much.

'The proof really is in the pudding, and this is a tough crowd.

'Time to see what they think.'

-Dive in, everybody.

-Ooh, this looks good.

Doesn't matter how old you are, you can still enjoy bananas and custard.

Of course you can.

'With a little bit of thought, there are loads of simple ways

'to make two different dishes from the same set of ingredients,

'which will keep everybody happy around the dinner table.'

Thanks, James. Those look like real winners.

And thanks to all our chefs today.

I'll be back soon with plenty more of the finest recipes

on The Best Dishes Ever. See you next time. Bye-bye.