Say Cheese The Best Dishes Ever

The Best Dishes Ever today sees our line-up of top television chefs

all saying cheese, with a range of recipes that feature

all different types, used in all sorts of different ways.

The great thing about cheese is the choice

and the fact there is so much versatility out there.

Well, we've put together some of the most interesting cheesy dishes.

So, let's get started

with two of the biggest champions of cheese around.

It's the Hairy Bikers.

Next up in our Best Of British kitchen,

we're cooking up a goat's cheese recipe.

Yep, it's not just cows we have to thank for great cheese.

Goats, sheep, buffalo and even the odd donkey contribute, too.

There is no simpler meal than cheese.

But, if you really want to push the boat out,

what better way to celebrate great British cheeses

than a souffle?

The souffle.

It's kind of like the Hyacinth Bucket of the cheese-cookery world.

But, you know, the French may have invented the souffle,

but we've been cooking souffle since the early 19th century.

And there's no souffle better than ours.

Which is...

The goat's-cheese-and-chive souffle.

And the thing is, I think chefs over the years

have encouraged people to think it's unobtainable.

-It's difficult.

-Mm.

It's not.

It's not, no. And you know what?

We're going to show you why it's not. You know why?

Cos it's not that hard.

And souffles generally all start with infused milk.

Milk that's infused.

And what we do is, you push certain flavours through that milk

that pervades the whole entity of our risen, Vesuvial mass.

Oh, yes.

The souffle.

Milk goes in a pan.

We bring this to a boil.

I'll get a small onion.

And we're going to make, like, a little bouquet,

a little bunch, of thyme.

So, we infuse the milk with onion, thyme and bay.

I mean, the French were making souffles

as early as the late 18th century.

And that great French cook Beauvilliers,

he gave us his recipes for souffles.

I wish I was called Dave Beauvilliers.

So much more romantic, isn't it?

Dave Beauvilliers would be a racing driver, do you know what I mean?

-Thyme in milk to infuse.

-Yeah.

Onion.

The leaf of bay.

Look in there.

Boilio de milkio.

Bring the milk to a gentle simmer and remove from the heat.

And just leave that for 15 minutes

and you'll have a pan of infused milk to make your sauce.

Shall we have a sit down?

Well, I think that has experienced an infusion transfusion.

-I think it probably has.

-I shall strain it off.

Marvellous.

I'll use this little pan here.

Mm-m-mm.

Now, we are so confident that our souffle is going to rise,

it's going to go beyond the dish.

Souffle dish.

It's going to be massive.

We want it up to there.

So, what we've done is, we've built an extension to the dish.

It's just a piece of grease-proof paper or baking parchment

folded over and tied round.

So, it's effectively given us a souffle dish like a chimney.

Now, I've really got to liberally cover that with butter.

So, while Dave's doing that, I'm going to make a cheese sauce.

Same thing as usual, we start with a roux.

And it's got to be thick, eh? Really thick.

It's a special white sauce, isn't it?

-It is, it's beautiful.

-British goat's cheese.

-That's a treasure, isn't it?

-That is.

-Look at that.

-Absolutely gorgeous.

Look at the colour of it. Look at it, it's beautiful.

It's like a bleached polar bear, isn't it?

Cannae get any whiter or purer.

You know.

-Lots of butter.

-DAVE LAUGHS

A souffle. It's a dish with pretence, isn't it?

I can't even say soo-fley.

-You know. Even I go French on a souffle.

-On a souffle.

Next, add 50g of plain flour to the melted butter.

Then, separate four eggs and leave to one side.

Right, what I'm going to start to do now

is just add this beautiful infused milk to our roux.

Oh.

Look at that.

That's what we mean when we mean thick.

-You could put windows in with that, couldn't you?

-You could, aye.

-By heck, this cheese is good.

-Yes.

It's a useful creature, the goat.

It's been around since Neolithic times. And do you know?

It's the most eaten meat on the planet.

-I don't know why it's never really caught on in Britain.

-Mm.

Because by crikey, it's tasty.

It is. I mean, you can eat its meat, it produces milk.

-It's no good at dancing, though.

-No, no, that's true.

-You cannot dance with it at a dinner party.

-And they do smell, goats.

-They do.

-They do. They honk.

And do you know? Interesting thing.

A goat can die of loneliness.

How mad is that?

Because they're a herd creature, you see.

So, if you've got a goat and you've only got one of them

and he's looking a bit miserable,

buy another one because they need a friend.

Put half of this cheese into here

to make an even thicker sauce.

Quite how, I'm not entirely sure.

But we'll put it in there like that, look.

Can you... I can't resist, I think we've just got to have a taste

of this wonderful cheese.

-People say goat's cheese...

-Oh.

-I think they get confused with the Greek feta.

-Mm.

They think it's going to be salty and crumbly.

This just melts in your mouth.

-Beautiful.

-Mm.

-Right, mate, we're ready for them eggs.

-Right, now.

-Yolks.

Take it off the heat and just add these bit by bit.

And whisk like billyo.

Who was billyo? I wonder.

Look at that - it's turned this beautiful, slightly golden, colour

and lustre with those egg yolks.

Now, remember, it is off the heat now.

We don't want to cook this any more at this point.

Chives.

Chives are wonderful.

And the chive is the smallest member of the onion family.

Again it's a food pairing, it's a marriage,

with the goat's cheese made in heaven.

-Better not be shy with the chives, huh?

-Oh, no. Absolutely.

Just whisk them in to the cheese mixture.

It's funny, it's so heavy that you begin to think,

"That's never going to rise."

It is.

Next, whisk the egg whites up into stiff peaks.

Add a pinch of salt as this will help to firm up the eggs.

Oh, I think we're there.

Don't overdo it, it'll actually go dry

and then it'll turn back to liquid.

Now, is this firm enough to stay in the bowl without it falling out?

Yes, it is.

That's perfect.

Now, housewives all over the country, children and men who cook,

have a go, it's a laugh.

Now, we've put one spoonful in and you can mix it in quite roughly.

-That's just to get it moving cos that's quite a stiff...

-That's it.

Now, into that, we fold in the remaining goat's cheese.

This is the chunks.

Now, remember, the rest of the cheese is in a sauce,

but we want, like, little cheesy, chunky bits

to come through the souffle.

And then we're going to fold the egg whites in.

Now, Delia Smith always says you always fold with a metal implement.

Why? Because it's got a thin edge.

The thin edge. And you fold like King is with a cutting movement.

The cutting movement. Folding. You're folding, you're not mixing.

And we want to lose as little of this volume as we can.

So, now we start...the fold.

So, look. Like that.

One.

It's a fine balance, isn't it?

And just be patient with it, don't be hasty.

I think that's pretty even, isn't it?

Oh, aye, you won't get no better.

Finally, fill the pre-prepared butter dish with the mixture.

Just that little bit extra,

we're going to sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Now, it's important the Parmesan cheese

doesn't touch the brown paper.

If it does, it'll stick.

So, keep the Parmesan cheese around the centre.

And if it sticks, it will stop the souffle rising.

And put this into a preheated oven, 200 degrees Celsius.

In a fan oven, 220.

In a hot oven.

And put it in there for half an hour.

Now, you shut the door and leave it.

Ho-ho-ho! You know we said about it rising?

-Yeah.

-We weren't kidding you.

Look at that. That's a souffle.

Go on, Kingy.

With all the quality of a provincial mayoress, cut the string.

We declare this souffle...

-BOTH:

-Open.

-Now, look at that.

-Oh, man.

What a beautiful, lovely gorgeousness.

-That is beautiful.

-That's beautiful, isn't it?

But inside, it's just going to wobble.

Br-r-r-r-r-r.

Are we ready?

HE EXHALES

Ps-s-sh-hew.

THAT's a souffle.

Look at it. It's cooked on the outside,

it's just cooked so in the middle.

I guarantee you a taste of paradise.

-Oh.

-Oh!

-Great.

But you know, this is cheese.

But it's cheese with its best suit on.

-It even makes you think posh, doesn't it?

-It does.

It's hot.

-Oh, makes every night an occasion, doesn't it?

-Mm.

-Mm.

Now, there we have it.

There's nowt cheesy about this.

This dish is best served with a frilly green salad,

dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette.

Just look at that golden mountain of fluffiness.

Thanks, lads.

Now, we're moving on to mozzarella, made from buffalo milk.

This deliciously different cheese originally came from southern Italy,

but here we're talking Hampshire.

And James Martin is cooking for his friend, Jody Scheckter,

a former racing champion who now works

as a mozzarella-producing livestock farmer.

I'm a passionate motorsport fan, and I've known Jody for years.

So, fasten your seatbelts

as I show him how to make a super-quick light lunch.

With his mozzarella in pole position.

It's all about the cheese, with one of my favourite go-to recipes,

Parma-ham-wrapped mozzarella with plum chutney.

I know I've got my work cut out

cos I know you only like it with olive oil, don't you?

Yeah, olive oil or a little bit of tomato and fresh basil.

I think that's the way.

The most wonderful way of eating mozzarella.

So, what comparisons is there between Formula One

and, sort of, farming? Is there any?

When you're young you can race and when you're old you can farm.

Oh, so that's about it, is it, really?

Yeah, no, I mean, everything takes dedication and passion.

If you're going to do it well, it takes those things,

whatever you're doing in life, I think.

Why buffalo and why Hampshire?

I mean, because it's an unusual combination, but...

I went to see a farm that had buffalo on it and came...

And then one thing led to another

and then the obvious thing was buffalo mozzarella

because that's the most famous thing from buffalo milk.

Did our research, I had a lot of contacts in Italy

and I looked at the right machinery, I got the right consultants

and started to produce buffalo mozzarella.

Right, I'm just going to go through my little chutney here.

I know you like your mozzarella just as it is...

-Yeah, I'm just looking over here.

-So, turn away at this point.

But I'm just going to do this with a lovely little simple chutney.

And first of all, you almost caramelise the sugar in a pan

and by doing this it speeds up the process of the cooking.

The fruity flavour perfectly complements the salt of the ham

and the creaminess of the cheese.

But Jody's going to take some convincing.

Into the sugar, I'm putting 500g of chopped plums and a diced onion.

And a dash of malt vinegar goes in with one star anise

and half a teaspoon of cinnamon.

And five minutes or so later, it'll be ready to go.

We've got a selection of different mozzarellas here that we've got...

You got the different ages.

This is opposite to conventional cheese

-which gets better the older it is, generally.

-Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This is the opposite. So, the oldest here is four days old,

two days old and I'm assuming this is made yesterday?

-Yesterday, yep.

-Yesterday.

I mean, you can see already it starts to break down a little bit.

It was quite interesting when I first brought it out,

people only liked the very old

because they didn't understand in Italy they like to take it

right there and they like the juices to fall out and it's really fresh.

It is a very different taste, isn't it?

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

I normally like it after about a day,

but even sometimes, when it's really, really good,

that day is beautiful, beautiful.

-So, the middle one's the two days old.

-Yeah.

-And then this one's the youngest.

-This one's made yesterday, yep.

The flavours...

You haven't got that feta cheese, sort of rubberiness, but it's...

It's cleaner. It's much cleaner.

Much cleaner, much... Yeah, fresher taste I always think.

So, that's the chutney.

-That's done.

-Yeah, yeah.

We'll just leave that to one side, it's really quick.

Get the pan on nice and hot for this one and then we want some, erm...

A little bit of Parma ham that I'm going to use for this one.

But your farm's quite unique,

whenever I sort of drive past there, there's always something going on.

You've got your own abattoir, you've got...

I mean, all manner of different things. I see...

Is it hops growing, as well?

Yeah, I've got hops. I've got hops that haven't grown for 100 years.

But often when you think of farms,

they're particularly good for one thing, ie, a dairy farm.

What makes that farm so special

in terms of the variety of stuff you can produce there?

Well, I think the mixed farm is more healthy.

That's the way nature was and that is the way the farms are.

And what about the farm itself?

I mean, by your dynamic it's literally only a stone's throw

away from here, but it is one of the only farms in the UK

that produces that, at that level.

What does that mean, as opposed to organic sort of stuff?

I look at ourselves as a natural farmer.

We follow nature and that really cures of most of the problems

and gets all the conservation things...

I always say, "That's free."

Yeah, I mean, I equate it with...

When I was a young kid, we were brought up on a pig farm.

And when you saw the plough in the field...

And so you saw all the birds following it.

Now, you kind of don't see it any more, do you, really?

They're killing the cycle of nature and all of those things

are what makes the soils and the foods good.

And we look at everything from the soils

through to the grasses, the animals.

I've got a lab studying the soil with a doctor of microbiology.

You know what? The interesting thing

was we're working with a lot of the top athletes now.

And they always used to do supplements.

Right.

And when I started working with some of the nutritionists

they all wanted good, healthy, natural food.

Which was really surprising to me.

That they're going back to what we grew up

for thousands and thousands of years.

But when you were in Formula One, it wasn't supplements, was it?

-It was a beer after work, wasn't it? It was the year...

-No, no, no, no.

Come on, it was the James Hunt era and all that...

I went out with him a couple of times, but, no, no, no.

I didn't know what I was doing

because I didn't eat butter for ten years.

-See, that's what I keep telling everybody.

-You must eat butter.

-I mean, butter's very healthy.

-Yeah.

All of this other stuff that's so processed, you know.

Right. So, we're just going to chargrill

a little bit of bread with that. And then very quickly,

look, you just take this. And you need a hot pan.

We're going to pan-fry it.

And get this ham really crispy on the outside,

-so you just seal it off like that. No salt and pepper. Nothing.

-OK.

I can see you're sort of turning your nose up at this already.

Just very, very quickly pan-fried.

-And then some of these. You'll like these.

-What are they?

-Sesame seeds.

-Oh, my God.

-It's a good job I know you, isn't it, really?

-Yeah.

I'm lost a long time ago. I think I'm just going to...

-Come on, right, look.

-..eat this here.

Look, when we're behind a wheel, you can teach me.

When you're in my kitchen, I'm teaching you.

There you go. Right. A little bit of the chargrilled bread to go with it.

It's really quick, all right?

So, we'll just cook this so it doesn't melt the mozzarella, at all.

And then, look, you've got the little bit of chutney.

Come on, you can't say that doesn't look good.

-It looks lovely, my lad.

-Not yet! Not yet.

And then we just put that on here.

All right?

And then olive oil.

Just pour that over the top.

Happy with that?

-I'll tell you when I try it.

-Come on, it's not that bad.

Right, you've got to try this.

OK.

There you go. Knives and forks.

Tell me what you think.

-So, I put a little bit of that on there.

-Yeah, you put...

I just made that bit, that's supposed to go with it. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

It complements. It doesn't improve, it complements.

What?

-What's wrong with it?

-You try it.

That's delicious.

I suppose, from my point of view...

As you know, I say I don't like to put anything with that.

This becomes a completely different dish, doesn't it?

Sorry.

Jody's a bit of a purist when it comes to his mozzarella,

but take my word for it.

If you want a flavoursome light lunch in a hurry,

they don't come any faster or tastier than this.

Now, we've got some little party pieces for you.

Far more exciting than cheese straws, or cheese and biscuits.

These are two terrific canapes from Mary Berry,

using blue cheese and goat's cheese.

Two canapes to get the taste buds going.

Fig-and-blue-cheese tartlets

and doughballs with goat's cheese, pesto and tomato.

Now, this is a bit of an alternative to bruschetta and a lot easier.

You buy these little fellows in supermarkets

alongside fresh pastas and fresh pasta sauces.

To stop the doughball from rolling over,

slice a little bit off the top,

then cut in half and place on a baking sheet.

A smidgen of butter on the bottom will help it brown.

For the topping, mix 150g of soft goat's cheese

with one tablespoon of red pesto.

Then chop some fresh thyme and add to the cheese mixture.

So, I'm going to spread that on each of these little buns.

And make sure you do it right to the edges,

otherwise you'll have a dried ring around the outside.

My grandchildren and I love pizzas

and if I'm not cooking, and I take them out to have pizzas,

I always love the doughballs.

And so I was very delighted when I found you could buy doughballs

in supermarkets.

Now, slice 12 cherry tomatoes in half.

Just like the doughballs, take off the outside end,

so you have a flat surface with less skin.

These go down well on all occasions.

They're original, they're fun, they're easy to make,

they have a lot of plus points.

Finally, grate 25g of Parmesan

and place a good pinch on each doughball.

Then, pop them in the oven at 180 fan for ten minutes.

In the meantime, let's get on with the blue-cheese tartlets.

Start with two 25cm, square sheets of filo pastry.

Look how thin it is. It's just like silk.

Whenever I see it, I think of when I made it at college.

It was such a task. We had such fun because you have to pull it and

pull it, getting it wafer thin.

I've never made it since.

It comes in nice packets and you can buy it in the supermarket.

Now, brush melted butter all over the pastry.

I often use a paint brush with a broad head

which allows you to cover the surface quickly.

Then, cut each sheet into 25 equal squares.

Place two squares on top of each other, to form a star shape.

And place in a mini muffin tin.

I love having people for dinner

because it's time to catch up when we're all busy.

And I always do a seating plan.

OK, you might think that's a bit old-fashioned,

but we do boy, girl, boy, girl all the way round.

And then, if there's lots of people for dinner,

I move them after pudding.

And I usually say the men stay exactly where they are,

they always make a muddle when you try and move them,

I always say to the girls, "Do two places to your left

"and then you've got somebody new to talk to."

After ten minutes, the doughballs should be ready.

Remove from the oven and set aside.

Then, put the filo parcels in for five minutes

until they turn a very light brown.

In the meantime, dice three figs.

Then, mash 100g of Dolcelatte cheese

with three chopped sage leaves and a squeeze of lemon juice.

By now, the filo will be ready.

I'm putting them on another tray because they're very delicate.

You can imagine, if these were filled

and you were trying to pick them up, they're a bit heavier then.

And you can't get them out without breaking the edges.

Fill each case with a small cluster of the figs,

a dollop of cheese mixture

and top it all off with a sprinkling of paprika.

I'm using it here because this is going to have very short time

in the oven, because I don't want the pastry cases to get any browner.

So, this will give the effect of being brown on the top.

Then, it's back into the oven at 180 fan

for four to five minutes until the cheese has just melted.

So, these I think look very attractive.

They're not difficult to make.

So, that'll be one delicious mouthful

and everybody's going to rave about them.

Ah, thanks, Mary.

And here's something else for you to rave about.

We try to end on a cake when we can,

and this is a gorgeous-looking cheesecake

brought to you by the lovely Nigella Lawson.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

My children are bigger than me now,

but luckily I've always got lots of

other people's little ones surrounding me. So, I'm happy.

And it happens that my chocolate-hazelnut cheesecake

is just perfect for this sort of thing.

Because the cheesecake needs to sit in the fridge

for a good long while, I always get started with this the night before.

The base is made like most cheesecake bases.

That's to say, a mixture of digestives and butter.

Then I add two other ingredients.

Some chocolate-hazelnut spread and some chopped hazelnuts.

I then blitz all these ingredients together

until they resemble damp sand.

Tip this mixture into a cake tin and press it down smooth.

The base is made and ready in the fridge.

I now have to make the topping.

Which is as easy as uno, due, tre.

So, uno, it is a cheesecake, so we have cream cheese.

As easy as this is, I have got some very strict stipulations.

And chief of those is that the cream cheese must be at room temperature.

You will never get a gorgeously smooth texture in a cheesecake

if the cream cheese is fridge-cold.

Due, icing sugar.

Not an awful lot, because there is sweetness to come.

This, incidentally, is a no-bake cheesecake.

So, it's just a question of mixing up a topping,

slathering it onto the base and putting it into the fridge to set.

And now, tre, and very important...

Chocolate-hazelnut paste.

Now, I do know... I really do, that cheesecake is not Italian.

But you know what? I have a pot of Italy right here.

The chocolate-hazelnut paste originally called Pasta Gianduja

was one of my early discoveries

when I first went there and I just fell in love with it.

I'm determined to get every last bit out of this.

Now, I'm just mixing these three ingredients together.

And while they're mixing, I shall slink off and retrieve my base.

Looks perfect to me.

All smooth and whipped.

This is my treat later.

There's not a huge amount of mixture here.

But you don't want this to be overwhelmingly rich,

you just want it to be gloriously indulgent.

It's actually rather therapeutic trying to get the top smooth.

It doesn't need to be too smooth

because I am going to scatter some hazelnuts on top.

Ready toasted, ready chopped.

Actually, it does occur to me that this entire cheesecake

is made out of ingredients that come from packets or jars.

Should I be embarrassed?

I'm not.

I love the sudden bronzy-gold topping.

Tutto a posto.

Both cheesecake and cheesecake-maker can now chill.

INDISTINCT CHATTER AND LAUGHTER

It's cake!

Thanks, Nigella and to all of today's chefs.

And we'll have more of the Best Dishes Ever next time.

Hope you can join us, take care.

Bye-bye.