Episode 1 The Good Cook

Love food?

Love cooking?

This series will show you how professional secrets

can transform good food into amazing food.

Oh, gosh, that looks good.

I'm Simon Hopkinson

and cooking means the world to me.

I love cooking, it's my life, it's my passion.

As a child and teenager, eating was always an adventure.

I opened my first restaurant at the age of 20

and have been in and out of kitchens ever since.

But now I'm better known for my cookery books.

I love every minute of it,

from peeling a potato to roasting a chicken,

to making a sticky toffee pudding and pouring lots of cream on it.

For me, nothing beats cooking at home.

It's my real inspiration.

I want it to be as good as it possibly can be.

And I want to share my love of it with you.

I'll be introducing some new ingredients

and also cooking classic dishes that everyone can make.

That is just how it should be.

Follow my tips and you'll be able to create outstanding dishes,

good enough for a restaurant

but made from the comfort of your own kitchen.

Making the ordinary extraordinary.

If you follow my lead, eating at home will always be a treat.

I just love it.

I find the process of cooking food every bit as enjoyable as eating it.

I want all the meals I cook to be terrific.

Even a simple baked pasta can be sensational.

I'm going to show you how to make a delicious supper

using dried porcini mushrooms.

Do it this way and pasta will never be the same again.

Dried porcini - they're something I'm never without.

Fantastic in soups, risottos,

in a wonderful pasta dish I'm going to cook.

It's a wonderful thing to have.

The great thing about dried porcini is they keep in the cupboard

for months and you can pull them out when you want to turn pasta into something really special.

Smelling fantastic, already.

The last thing you want is for the milk to boil over,

especially when it's flavoured with such a wonderful ingredient.

I think that's fine.

I'm going to leave that to steep now, for at least ten minutes.

While the mushrooms mingle with the milk,

move on to the most crucial part of this recipe,

a simple white sauce.

Begin with butter and flour and keep stirring.

This is as far as you should take it, sort of pale golden.

Now, these should be ready.

Pour in the flavoured milk and put the porcini to one side.

You'll be adding them later.

If you are worried about lumps, don't be!

I've got a simple, good solution.

Whenever making white sauce,

start off straightaway with a whisk, you really can't go wrong.

And now we'll return to a spoon. This is a very gentle process.

A touch of seasoning.

And some pepper.

Sauces such as this shouldn't be rushed.

I love slow cooking.

I did enough fast cooking in a restaurant kitchen

to last a lifetime, really.

That is about ready. Not too thick.

This is a dish to use dried pasta.

I don't understand supposedly fresh pasta in supermarkets.

It's very rarely found in shops in Italy.

Dried is it - and nothing wrong with it.

This is going to cook more once it's in the oven, bathed in its sauce.

So we want to keep it slightly underdone.

Just give it a wiggle about.

Straight into the bowl.

You can use everyday streaky bacon here

but it's worth paying the extra for pancetta.

You only need a bit.

This is smoked and cured. It gives a nice, extra little bit of flavour.

Tip in the porcini...

..and the wonderful sauce.

Make sure you butter the baking dish well

so that the pasta doesn't stick when you come to serve it.

More butter, more butter, more butter.

Oh, gosh, that looks good.

Finally, I couldn't envisage this dish without a Parmesan topping.

I tend to be quite generous with it.

Oh, go on, a bit more.

It's the porcini in this pasta that will make it truly delicious,

and those that grow in the dark forests of Northern Italy

have a really intense flavour.

While growing in the forest, they are a protected delicacy

and pickers are very, very secretive about their favourite patches.

Local artisan producers choose the mushrooms for selling fresh,

or for drying.

The trademark green gills are where the rich and nutty taste lies.

The drying process intensifies their flavour.

You can find dried porcini in most supermarkets.

They are a touch pricy

but their unique aroma and flavour, for me, are irresistible,

especially with this gorgeous pasta.

Fantastic, smelling amazing. I love this golden crust from the Parmesan.

You see the little porcini poking through.

It actually reeks of these wonderful mushrooms.

I am so looking forward to this.

Try and spread the crust around, because it is the best bit.

It smells fantastic. A little extra Parmesan.

The porcini really come through in this dish.

It's a very, very delicious, very special dish of pasta.

Cooked this way,

Pasta can be transformed into something really special.

Dried porcini adds punch and it's a great meal for all the family.

Good food is absolutely central to my life.

I genuinely look forward to cooking every day.

Ingredients are important, and nothing gives me more pleasure

than buying favourites that I know can be turned into lovely meals.

See you again, thanks, bye.

I fell in love with food the first time I went to France.

My eternal memory is of a white butter sauce.

It's such a living memory, that I want to cook it for you now.

The classic fish for this sauce is salmon,

but today I'm going to use scallops.

Whatever you choose, it's the irresistible sauce

that will astonish your friends, and it really isn't hard to make.

And we need a shallot.

This does, for me, require finely chopped shallots.

Straight in there.

We're going to need some white wine.

And the same of vinegar.

I'm going to need a little whisk for this.

You want to do this quite gently,

because you don't want the pan to scorch because that's

going to colour your sauce, it's going to make it not white anymore.

So this needs to be a gentle simmer.

So what you want is a sort of... a little wet mush of shallots.

The nearest description I can get. That's fine.

At this point I'm going to switch the heat off,

and add the first... three of four lumps of butter.

Because of the heat of the pan, this will start to melt.

Add the butter piece by piece.

If you throw it all in at once it will separate.

A little bit more butter.

The first time I ate this sauce was in the Loire Valley,

when I was a teenager.

One of my last holidays with my parents, who were...

brilliant, for me, thinking back,

because they were good cooks themselves,

so I learned to cook in the kitchen from quite an early age.

A holiday in that part of France, when I first had this sauce,

I was astonished at its taste, even at sort of 13, 14.

It was one of those memorable moments,

key moments of my culinary learning.

A touch of seasoning and that's it. A simple sauce

and as good as you would taste in the finest restaurant.

Now, those scallops.

If they're not your cup of tea

then almost any fish works well with this sauce.

Add a touch more salt and pepper...

The absolute key to cooking scallops perfectly

is to use a really hot griddle.

Great, let's go.

They will only need a couple of minutes on each side.

Please try not to overcook them.

There we are. They really are very easy to cook.

This is one of the easiest and most successful ways of cooking them.

It's fast, and when they're really fresh, like these are,

then you don't have any problem.

Straight on the plate.

Five is a nice serving of scallops, I think.

An odd number - three, five, seven, always looks better.

And the lovely, lovely white butter sauce.

And somebody might think,

it's spoiling the lovely caramelisation on the scallops.

Sorry, this is scallops with a sauce,

and the sauce goes on the food.

It doesn't go under the food, it doesn't get drizzled on the side.

It's scallops and white butter sauce, and it's lovely.

I'm going to eat the thing, not look at it!

So, just a few chives,

and I think that is a very pretty little plate of food.

You may look on it as being quite a restaurant dish, and it is,

but I don't see any reason why you can't do it at home.

Oh, memories. Everything it should be.

It doesn't get much better than that sweet scallop,

and the buttery sauce.

A marriage made in heaven.

This quick recipe is an impressive starter

and will delight your friends,

or you could indulge in it as a treat for two.

France continues to inspire my love for food and cooking.

In the south, a remote harbour town produces a small fish

that packs a huge punch.

Without a doubt, some of the best anchovies I've ever tasted

come from here.

And you'll always find them in my fridge.

The local producers use traditional methods

to prepare these little fish.

They are stored in salt for three months before being filleted.

As far as I'm concerned,

anchovies are one of the sea's greatest treats.

There isn't a supermarket I know that doesn't stock them.

And this famous French recipe really gives them a chance to shine.

I love anchovies, and they are essential to my Salad Nicoise.

I've been making this salad for over 30 years and it still excites me.

Trust me, make it once and you'll fall in love with it too.

For the dressing, simply mix some garlic with some fruity olive oil.

Then it's curtain up for the rest of the cast.

Firstly, fat, juicy tomatoes. Cored, then sliced.

Make sure they are peeled -

you want the sweet juicy flesh

to easily mix in with the other ingredients.

Friends that know me very well

know how angry I get about that bit left on a bean.

Why would you not take it off?

Beans done. You won't get me being a lazy bean picker.

I'm just as fussy about how I cook them.

Good food is all about details.

Three minutes in boiling salted water.

Plunging them into this ice water will help them keep the colour.

They can stay in there for a little while.

Want perfect eggs as well? This is how you do it.

Put them in cold water, bring them up to the boil,

switch off the heat,

put a lid on, leave them for four minutes, exactly.

KITCHEN TIMER RINGS

Ah. Eggs.

Ice cold water stops the eggs cooking,

giving a runny yolk which looks impressive

and is gorgeous mixed into this salad.

It is tips like these that can make all the difference.

Now it's time to put on a show.

Don't be shy with the capers.

Most supermarkets have them, and also black olives.

It must be a black one,

green ones absolutely don't work in a Salad Nicoise.

Pretty, pretty olives.

If you can, hunt down some small fresh artichokes.

They give a lovely texture to the salad. A faint bitterness.

This is fun, I tell you.

Herbs are so important, too.

I'm using chervil. You could also use parsley,

but please put in basil, it is essential!

Now, for me, the most important part, the thing I love most -

I couldn't make this dish without anchovies.

Anchovies are part of my life, really.

I do love them.

A little bit of vinegar, but not too much, just a little trickle.

Now I'm going to cut these actually in the salad,

because I don't want to waste any of that lovely, lovely yolk.

It oozes sunshine now that it's got the eggs on.

Add the garlic dressing.

So, it is stir time.

It's a very clever salad.

It's all about fresh and sweet and oily and salty,

and every component is a star,

but this one gets dressing room number one.

Salads should never be dull.

There are so many flavours in this, everyone will love it and want more.

Some Ricard, please.

I have always enjoyed a nice drink, and alcohol - good alcohol -

has always played a very important part in my cooking.

For my next recipe, red wine is an essential ingredient.

I am going to make coq au vin.

Look, if you can make a decent chicken casserole, you can make coq au vin.

It's easier than you think.

A good wine is important,

one that you'd like to drink as well as to cook with,

and I'm going to show you how to make a really gorgeous coq au vin for a dinner party.

Thank you very much, thanks, bye.

Don't be intimidated by a coq au vin, my recipe takes

the basics of a rustic stew and turns it into something exceptional.

I'm going to put this on the flame.

While the wine comes to the boil, begin to make the stock.

This is my dad's old peeler.

And it's one of my most treasured possessions,

and it peels brilliantly.

These are just to flavour the wine, these vegetables.

They're going to be discarded once they've done their work.

My nice, friendly vicar allows me

to snip bay leaves from round the corner, which is very nice of him.

I don't want any harsh alcohol left in my delicious coq au vin.

There is an easy way to get rid of it.

This gives a softer,

more rounded flavour to the finished dish eventually.

When the flames have gone, so has the alcohol.

Add some thyme to the vegetables...

..spoon in some redcurrant jelly

and add a couple of spicy cloves.

Simmer until the wine is reduced by a third.

Then sieve the vegetable-infused marinade and leave to cool.

Now prepare the chicken.

I like coq au vin made from legs and thighs, and these are easily

found in the supermarket, and are perfect for coq au vin.

I've been always of the belief that coq au vin is made without skin.

Some may disagree with me,

but the first time I was taught to do it,

there was no skin, so take it off.

Cover the chicken in the marinade so it soaks up all the flavour.

Quite a nice sort of massaging moment.

This is going to go in the fridge for at least five to six hours,

but I prefer overnight.

And into the fridge.

Here we have the marinated chicken.

It's been in overnight,

it's gone a wonderfully deep purple.

Now move on to the other fundamental coq au vin ingredients.

Oh! The smell is wonderful.

While the bacon is sizzling, dry the chicken, season lightly and flour.

The flour that sticks to this gives it a nice crust,

but it also thickens the sauce as it cooks in the red wine.

The best way, when you want to remove the fat from something,

is just put your pan on a tilt and it all drains down.

It's actually a method I also use

for when I make bacon and eggs of a weekend morning.

I really want to eat one of these now, but I'm not going to.

Now fry the chicken, but take your time.

Do be brave with not turning the chicken too quickly.

You want this crust to form on the chicken,

and if you turn it too quickly what will happen is

the flour will stick to the bottom of the pot

and leave the chicken bare again.

It won't have its nice floury coating.

Very nice, looking gorgeous.

Cook the mushrooms and shallots separately with some butter.

Add a couple of bay leaves.

Add the shallots, mushrooms and bacon to the chicken.

It's the sauce that makes this coq au vin so delicious.

For even more flavour, I add a splash of brandy,

but, just like the wine,

don't forget to burn off the harsh alcohol.

But take care.

It's a good idea to put the bay leaves in after, actually.

Go out, that'll do.

Right, in with the marinade.

Lovely.

On with the lid,

and in there for about an hour.

Tricks I learned as a chef can be done easily at home,

especially when it comes to presentation.

A bit of geometry going on here.

See if I can get them all on. Bingo!

Fried bread dipped in some chopped parsley

is the classic French garnish and a delicious finishing touch.

I like to serve this at the table in a handsome dish.

You want your family or friends to help themselves.

Believe me, they'll be fighting over the spoon.

Do you know what? I can't resist having one of these now.

It's really so delicious, this.

It's worth the time and effort spent.

It's one of the great dishes of the world, ever.

Time spent on the marinade and being patient with the chicken

helps to make this recipe truly fabulous.

Chicken stew need never be the same again.

I have always had a sweet tooth.

And I try not to indulge it too often,

but now and then feel the urge to treat friends to a dessert

that I think is irresistible.

Sticky toffee pudding, made the traditional way.

I don't think I know anybody who doesn't like it.

It's sweet, it's luscious.

The most important ingredient

to get this pudding tasting like it should is dates.

Soak the chopped dates in boiling water for about five minutes.

The dates really are important,

and people do play around with this pudding far too much.

It's...

..nuts, bananas, dried apricots, prunes...

Who wants, in this really soft, luscious pudding, bits of nut?

I certainly don't.

Drain the dates and keep the liquid.

Put all these ingredients into a food processor.

Because I love it so much, I'm going to put a tiny bit extra in.

Finally, add the liquid from the dates.

It just looks a mess at the moment, doesn't it?

But it does turn into the most lovely, golden-looking batter.

It is quite nice and smooth, so you can still see the dates.

So, one big sticky toffee ready to go in the oven.

And this is at gas mark 4,

180 degrees, centigrade.

Now I'm going to do a little idea of my own, really.

It always rises more in the middle than it does on the outside...

And because I want the surface to be flatter than this

to take the toffee topping, what I do is to just remove...

I know it doesn't look very good, but it's going to be covered with the topping.

It allows the sauce to cover without bits of the sponge sticking through,

which would scorch under the grill.

So, for the sticky toffee topping.

First of all, double cream.

And molasses sugar.

Lovely, lovely, dark, treacly sugar.

You'll find it amongst all the other sugars in the supermarket.

A slightly salted butter.

Melt all the ingredients together and keep stirring

until it quietly comes to the boil.

All over in one go.

And under the grill, until it's bubbly and sticky.

For even more of an indulgence,

I make an extra butterscotch sauce to serve on the side.

And that's ready.

No calories in this pudding at all.

Here it comes.

Sticky, sticky.

Here goes.

Cook's perk.

So, the lighter sauce,

we pour a little round like that.

A bit of cold cream.

You wouldn't think so, but it's surprisingly light.

It's almost delicate.

It almost has, not a jelly-like consistency,

but it has a wobble about it.

The sauce is important, the cream you really don't have to do,

but I love the contrast of it cold.

What you should never, ever do, and don't be pushed into it,

is to say, "We'd love some ice-cream with that."

You cannot take any more sugar.

Truly one of the world's greatest puddings,

and it is so easy to make at home.

I just love it.

Next time...

I'll be showing you five more super recipes,

all of them special,

all of them easily made in the comfort of your own kitchen.

Restaurant quality, but made by you.

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