Lush Lunches Tom Kerridge's Best Ever Dishes

Tasty, amazing. Delicious. 'I love cooking.'

Oh, it smells lush.

'But why not make your food the best it can be?' It worked proper nice.

Oh... Ooh, aah, ooh.

The difference between cooking good food

and great food is only a few little tricks and tips away.

'I want to show you how to turn an ordinary dish

'into something extraordinary.'

-VOICE MUFFLED

-Oh, my God. That is amazing.

-'It's time to push flavour to its fullest.'

-Absolutely beautiful.

-'And liven those up old favourites.'

-Delicious.

-It's delicious?

-It's delicious.

-Really up there with the best.

And add a bit of magic to your cooking with my Best Ever Dishes.

There's nothing better than a right tasty lunch.

It's already bringing a smile to my face, that.

And I'm not talking about soggy sandwiches and a packet of crisps.

I've got some lovely recipes that are full of flavour

and will keep you going till teatime.

From a hearty pie... There's nothing worse than a tight-fisted pie.

..to a decadent dessert.

That is like the ultimate mulled wine, except it's not Christmas.

-It's time to turn up the heat...

-HE LAUGHS

-This has got to be better than a soggy sandwich.

-Yeah.

..and make your lunches lush.

If you've got friends coming round for lunch,

they're going to be well happy with that.

But first, it's time for one of my childhood favourites -

not out of a tin this time,

but made from scratch with lots of lovely fresh ingredients.

Now, we've all grown up on tomato soup,

but I've got a new and improved version that will hopefully mean you

don't reach for those tins again.

Like all soups, it starts with an onion

and a red chilli or two for a bit of heat.

Red chillies and tomato go so well together.

I'm going to use seeds and the membrane - the whole lot.

Give it a little bit of a kick.

Just taste them first to see how hot they are.

If you're brave enough, that is.

Mmm. This recipe will need two.

I know that cos I'm not crying and I can still feel my tongue. Right.

To make this soup into a super tasty one, add four cloves of garlic.

There's lots of flavour going into this soup.

Everything tasting of what it should, but more.

Then chuck in some sugar, some red wine vinegar and leave it to simmer

until everyone's good friends. Time for your tomatoes.

Just leave that tinned stuff at the back of your larder.

These are plum tomatoes, but it don't really matter which ones

you've got as long they're ripe and taste lovely.

In fact, if you have a lot of tomatoes that are overripe,

they would be perfect for making a soup.

Just cut them into quarters, ready to join the onions,

which should be done when you can smell vinegary syrup.

The smell is really quite powerful.

It's a bit like...It's a bit like when you take

the top off the petrol tank of your car and you get those fumes -

that's what that's like. Some people will like that. Some people won't.

I like it. Into that, I'm going to add the tomato.

This looks like a large amount,

but I can promise you that there's a lot of water in these boys.

By the time that's broken down and cooked,

it's not going to be as much as you think.

Trust me.

Just going to stick the lid on, generate a head of steam,

get 'em cooking.

And a few minutes later, once they're nice and soft...

Look at that.

..it's time for my secret weapon.

Instead of dunking this bread in at the end,

adding it now will make this soup lovely and thick.

Just tear it up - big chunky pieces - and drop it into the soup.

Give it a little stir-in.

You can see already the bread begins to soak up all those

juices like a big sponge.

Chuck in a good pinch of cayenne pepper...

Nice and spicy.

..and loads of loads of fresh basil.

Stalks and leaves.

I can't get enough of it. So whilst this cools down...

Just going to turn it off.

..I'm going to knock up a simple pesto

that will take this lunch to another level.

I love basil. It's really powerful.

And sometimes if there's too much of it,

though, it's got a bit of a...suppose almost a chemical

kind of flavour that it leaves on your tongue,

like if you've been licking a car battery.

Don't lick a car battery.

HE LAUGHS

Just grate in a couple of cloves of garlic, loads of fresh parmesan

and a handful of pine nuts.

You could toast 'em first if you want just to give it a little

bit of an extra kind of nutty flavour, but for me, no bother.

Just going to whack 'em in.

Now pour in some proper nice olive oil...

Smells amazing.

Job done. That easy. Hey, pesto.

Right.

Back to my tomato soup, which after 20 minutes chilling, should be

ready to be blended.

HE SNORTS

It's a good job you leave it to cool down for 20 minutes,

cos otherwise you'd be covered in very hot soup.

On the plus side, it does taste very nice.

HE WHISTLES

Once blitzed, just pass it through a sieve and it's ready to serve -

almost as easy as opening a tin, but with way more flavour.

See how lovely, velvety that soup is.

That's the bread that gives it that beautiful texture.

All this needs now is a dollop of that lovely pesto.

A drizzle of basil oil and it's done.

And how beautiful does that look?

Oh, that is so delicious.

The only thing I would say is don't wear a white T-shirt

when you're eating it.

Now I think we all deserve a proper lunch, particularly if you're

grafting like this lot here at this North Yorkshire steelworks.

They need something hearty,

so I've got a plan that will put an old wives' tale to the test.

Rumour has it that in the late 1800s, in the golden age of steel,

workers in Pittsburgh would take a piece of meat with them to work

and then put it on the steel as it came out of the hot furnace to cook

it for their lunch.

And I'm here to see if it actually works.

It's not Pittsburgh, but this traditional old metalworks

is about as close as I'm going to get.

-Hi, Andy.

-Hi, Tom.

-How are you? You all right?

-Fine, thanks, yeah.

-This is an incredible-looking place.

-Yeah.

-Got an amazing smell to it.

-You know, that kind of hard-working metal smell.

-That's dirt.

-It's dirt.

-Dirt and sweat.

-30 years of dirt and sweat.

-Sounds perfect for cooking in.

-THEY LAUGH

Now, lunch on a normal day would probably be a ropey old sandwich,

so I want to give these boys a lunch to remember -

a proper steak sandwich cooked on the hot steel.

-Whoa! Cor blimey! How hot is that?

-Oh, about 1,400 degrees.

Centigrade?

So if you're going to be working here, we better get you some gear, some safety gear.

-Some safety kit? Let's go.

-I think so.

Sounds good to me.

Not quite my usual chef whites, but then this is no ordinary kitchen.

-Lunch.

-Lunch.

-Going to take my gloves off.

-Chef's tongs.

Chef's tongs. These are cool tools.

Time to get cooking.

Right. I'm going to need... What I need you to do... Come on, boss man.

..is peel me just a few of these cloves of garlic

-and get it all grated on this little thing here. You like garlic?

-No!

-HE LAUGHS

-In that case, I want extra.

First things first - the meat.

Nicknamed black and blue because of its charred outside and rare inside,

the Pittsburgh black and blue steak uses the cheaper tail

end of the fillet, hammered out to about 1cm thick.

-Doesn't look like a hammer to me.

-Why don't we use a power hammer?

-The power hammer?

-Power hammer.

Anything that's called a power hammer I want to have a go on.

-Good luck.

-I told you this was no ordinary kitchen.

HE LAUGHS

-I'm a little bit nervous.

-Right.

-Put your...

-Left foot.

-Heel down. And then keep it that. Keep going.

A bit harder. Go on. Bit more.

Oh-ho! Look at that. That's perfect!

We're going to romp through these steaks. Next!

-Go on.

-Oop! Hey!

-HE LAUGHS

-That's perfect. One more.

-HE LAUGHS

You got it now.

I wouldn't bet on that.

SPLAT!

THEY LAUGH

This one's for you, chief, all right?

HE LAUGHS

Perhaps stick to a rolling pin in your own kitchen.

I tell you what, I've just had the most fun you can have with a hammer.

HE LAUGHS

-I hope you cleaned the hammer.

-Yeah! Yeah.

OK, back to what I know best.

I'm going to cover my steak in a quick fiery rub.

These are dried chilli flakes. You like chilli? Yeah? Yeah.

You're not into this cooking malarky, are you?

I'm a bit of a boiled egg man if I'm being honest.

Bit of a boiled egg man. Well, I'm hoping to convert you.

Add in some salt, oregano and bay leaves.

Stick it all in.

A bit of mace, some garlic and some cracked black pepper.

This is all big, intense flavours for big, intense cooking,

which is what we're going to do here.

-Do you reckon the steak will stick to the steel?

-I don't know.

-I've no idea. We'll see.

-There's only one way to find out.

Chuck in some vegetable oil and give it a good mix,

and it's ready for frying.

I'm cooking this on specially adapted steel, but take it from me,

best not try this yourself. A frying pan will do the job.

Now, that is what I'm talking about, boys. How hot is that right now?

-Oh, eight.

-800, you reckon, Barry?

-800 degrees?

I think I'll leave the hot stuff to the experts, but I've got

a crowd of hungry steelworkers to feed, so this had better work.

HE LAUGHS

-Let's keep our fingers crossed.

-Let's hope the plate's big enough.

And hopefully...

-Oh, my God. That looks...

-HE LAUGHS

-OK, so we have fire.

-Is that supposed to happen?

-HE LAUGHS

-Smells good.

-Yeah.

-Yeah. All right.

-This is like the best cooking ever.

-This has gotta be better than a soggy sandwich.

-Yeah.

All right. Well, it's definitely black on the outside,

but is it blue in the middle?

Oh, look at that!

-Everyone likes their steak nice and pink?

-Oui, merci.

-Oui, merci?

I got to be honest with you - this has worked way better than

I hoped it would.

Black and blue steak. Tell me what you think.

Get your chops around that.

-All right, then, Andy, how is it?

-Yeah, actually.

-Is it all right?

-Yeah, it is. Better than all right.

-Well, I've won over the boiled egg man.

What about the other lads?

-C'est parfait.

-Perfect?

-Yeah.

-Never thought I'd like raw meat.

-No.

HE LAUGHS

-Absolutely incredible.

-Very nice.

-Can taste the iron.

-THEY LAUGH

-Or is it steel? It's steel.

I think that's a result.

Next up, a lush lunchtime salad packed full of flavour

and not a chicken breast or a lettuce leaf in sight.

Now, salads are a popular lunchtime dish,

but let's be honest - they can be a little bit boring.

Now, I've got an amazing salad recipe that's influenced by Asia.

It's dead easy, well tasty and you're going to love it.

Swapping out the chicken for duck legs is what makes the real

difference here.

And cooking them long and slow until they're proper crispy.

Just going to put the duck legs on top of a rack on a tray.

And this way, all the fat will kind of render out and drop down,

and then the duck won't be sat in it

and it won't end up being a fatty piece of meat.

Just sprinkle on some salt and whack 'em in the oven.

That simple - duck leg, salt, rack, tray. Bosh.

Right. These need a couple of hours at 160 degrees,

giving me time to prepare the rest of my salad.

Which, believe it or not, starts with fruit, not lettuce.

Watermelon and pomegranate.

And they add two different things - they add texture

and crunch from the pomegranate seeds, and this beautiful kind of

cold, crispy structure to the salad that comes from the watermelon.

And it's got a beautiful sweetness.

Make sure you get all the skin off, though, cos it is proper ropey.

You don't want to eat it. Just cut it up to nice, bite-sized chunks.

So juicy. It's so delicious.

And it goes so well with duck.

And the same goes for its good mate, the pomegranate.

Now, pomegranates for me have got such a wonderful texture.

All those little seeds, they're bursting with lots of flavour.

Just going to stick them into there. Now, the easiest way of doing it...

..is by turning it upside down and bashing it with a fork.

Empty.

This just needs some greenery now,

and I'm not talking limp lettuce leaves, but mint and coriander.

And then because this is an Asian-influenced salad,

needs little bit of spice.

Chuck in a couple of red chillies.

Then it's in with the star of this salad - that tender, crispy duck.

Look at those boys.

All the fat has rendered down, and it's sat in the bottom of the tray.

And all the skin has gone nice and crispy.

You'll have these little pockets of crispy skin, warm meat,

the heat from the chillies, and that kind of bursting watermelon.

It's going to be delicious.

Really is going to be like a party going on in your mouth.

You know, like an early 1990s hip-hop video where they're all

hanging around the swimming pool in a top pad?

It's going to be a party like that in your mouth.

RELAXED HIP-HOP MUSIC

Right. Time for a tangy Asian dressing.

I'm using lime juice instead of vinegar,

soy sauce and a splash of fish sauce.

But be warned - this is powerful stuff.

You wouldn't want to drink it all on its own, that's for sure,

and it's got a bit of a powerful, pungent smell to it of fermented,

rotten fish.

But honestly, it does taste nice.

And for a final hit of Asian fire, some ground-up Sichuan pepper.

And go easy here too.

Too much of it and your tongue will go numb.

You won't be able to taste anything. Just get your hands in...

..give it a good mix around. Look at that.

Don't it look beautiful, the reds and the greens?

That freshness coming from the mint and the coriander.

I'd take this over a lunchtime chicken caesar any day.

As far as salad goes,

that's a bit better than a few limp lettuce leaves.

As far as flavour goes, like a 1990s hip-hop pool party.

That's my kind of salad.

Now, if you want to pick up some top-notch grub for lunch,

head for your local farmers market.

They're a great place to pick up fantastic ingredients

-and get a bit of inspiration.

-Thanks very much.

-Thank you very much.

You're very kind. Cheerio. Bye-bye.

But if you ask me, nothing beats a good old-fashioned pie for lunch.

There's some people making classic British pies really, really well,

and I'm here to meet one of them.

Paul Sykes has been handmaking traditional pies for three years

and now sells a whopping 600 pies a day.

-Hello there, Paul.

-Hi. How are you?

-I'm Tom. Nice to meet you.

-How are you? You all right?

-Great, thank you.

My God, this looks incredible. What flavour pie's that?

So that's chicken and mushroom pie.

I know it's rude to speak with my mouth full, but that is incredible.

The mushrooms in that are beautiful.

There's plenty of filling, and that's what I like to see.

Plenty of filling and good-sized pieces as well.

So what do you think it is, Paul, that people love about pies?

Old-fashioned, traditional comfort food.

That's it - in a little pastry case.

-Well, what makes your pastry so great?

-I use suet crust pastry.

It's a proper old-fashioned guarded recipe, packed full of flavour,

nice and crispy on top, slightly dumpling-like in the middle.

It's all about getting different flavour into that pastry.

Anyone can make a suet pastry. We do it slightly differently, so...

But you're not going to give that away.

-I can't give that away - not on camera.

-THEY LAUGH

By using a tasty suet pastry,

Paul has taken the pies to a whole new level.

-There you go, mate. Thank you very much.

-Thank you very much. Who ate all the pies?

These won't last long in my hands,

but I've been inspired to make my own twist on a classic.

A ham and mushroom pie that packs a big flavour punch

and has a little bit of culinary magic in the pastry.

Now, ham and mushroom pie really is hard to beat, but I've got a little

extra tweak that's going to make this dish even tastier.

Like Paul, I want my pastry to be just as tasty as the filling.

So to get some real powerful flavours in there,

I'm adding mushroom powder.

Now, you can buy dried mushrooms already powdered.

I'm just going to blitz these up in a spice grinder.

These are dried porcini mushrooms. A quick blitz and they're done.

I'm making shortcrust pastry,

so just add flour and butter to your magic ingredient.

Now, this dried mushroom really is

going to make a difference to the pastry mix.

It's going to give it a really nice depth,

an earthy kind of flavour that runs through the pie.

Just bring it all together with some egg and water.

And just as it's beginning to lump up a little bit,

you can just finish working it together with your hands.

You can just feel the pastry come together.

It's nice, soft, it's easy to work with.

And while that chillaxes in the fridge,

I can crack on with my pie filling.

And this pie, like Paul's, is going to have loads of it,

starting with these meaty chestnut mushrooms,

fried up first in lots of lovely butter.

So they get these beautiful little brown caramelised little

tinges on the outside.

And that starts off that lovely, sweet, nutty, mushroomy flavour.

That's going to be at the heart and soul of this lovely pie.

Once cooked, remove the mushrooms from the pan

and chuck in some onion.

Now it's quite strong,

cos as you chop it, should make you want to cry a little bit.

And that's all right. Just don't let your mates see.

Give your onions a quick fry-up.

You see those onions have started to brown from the mushrooms.

They've just taken on all that kind of mushroom juice and flavour.

So, again, very simple ingredients, but every little bit,

trying to get as much flavour out of it as possible.

Mushrooms and onions done, it's time to move on to my pie's rich sauce.

This one starts off with a simple white sauce and is pimped up with

ham stock, double cream, white wine and mustard.

More flavour, more taste, more rich. Just more.

Smells lovely.

All this needs now is some freshly chopped thyme and some proper ham.

Nice, big chunks, so when you eat it,

you got lovely, crumbly, flaky pastry

and a massive cube of lovely ham.

Then whack the whole lot into the white sauce, give it a stir,

and it's job done.

Look at that for a pie filling. It's lovely, rich, creamy, mushroomy.

Big lumps of meaty ham.

See it's already bringing a smile to my face, that.

Now, it's important to stick this into the fridge

and leave it to go cold.

Cos otherwise when you roll the pastry out and you put

the filling in, if it's warm, the pastry will start to go soft.

You won't get a nice crispy crunchy pastry.

And while the filling relaxes, I can get on with rolling out my pastry.

That already looks like it's going to taste of mushrooms.

Just a keep a third back to make the lid later and roll out the rest.

Now, this is a great pie to be making

if you've got friends coming over for a spot of lunch.

You can make it up in advance, leave it in the fridge. It's no bother.

It'll sit there having a perfectly nice time for a while.

And stick it in the oven about 45 minutes before they're coming.

Job done.

Its way better than making a load of sandwiches.

All this needs now is proper helping of filling.

And don't be shy - get it all in.

There's nothing worse than a stingy, tight-fisted pie.

Then roll out a lid to keep it all in there.

A pie without a lid is not a pie, it's a tart.

Just saying.

And remember to cut a hole in the middle to let out any steam.

Then brush the egg with eggwash and stick it on top.

Roll the pastry out.

Try and make sure that you get that little bull's-eye

right in the middle.

I was little bit off there.

Definitely not going to get a 501 finish.

And give it a haircut to pretty it up.

Make it look like you're well professional

and you've worked in a pie shop for years.

I look like I've worked in a pie shop for years.

Coat it with eggwash

and sprinkle on some thyme leaves a bit of sea salt.

Can't wait to get that cooked.

Then whack it in the oven at 190 degrees.

Love pies.

And 45 minutes later, it'll be done.

Here you go. Look.

Beautiful mushroom pie.

If you've got friends coming around for lunch,

they're going to be well happy with that.

This next dish would slip down nicely after that pie -

it's a really simple way to tart up a special lunch.

Now, making a dessert at lunchtime I know sounds like a bit of a faff,

but this one is dead easy, super tasty, lovely, luxurious,

and proper lush.

First thing you're going to need is four leaves of this gelatine.

Just leave it to soften in cold water for five minutes

while you measure out the sugar for your creamy muscovado base.

I love muscovado sugar. It's got that very rich, dark taste.

Very toffee-like.

And because it's slightly unrefined,

it's also got a real bitter kind of kick to it.

Then pour in some black treacle, some hot milk,

whack in the gelatine, add loads of double cream

and pass it through a sieve.

Simple.

So you can see how easy that is to do.

You got some mates coming over for lunch, get these made,

stick 'em in a fridge, no worries.

Whilst these set, I'm going to whip up a sweet and sour plum topping

to turn this ordinary dessert into something extraordinary.

Now, these plums, they're naturally really sweet and juicy

and delicious.

We're going to kind of give 'em a sour kick.

Just leave some sugar, vinegar and wine in a pan to reduce down...

..with a cinnamon stick, vanilla seeds, and lemon zest.

Have a little taste.

Oh, that is beautiful.

That is like the ultimate mulled wine, except it's not Christmas.

Then bung in your fruit flesh side down.

Can imagine doing it with mangoes or peaches.

I would just swap the vinegar to being a white wine vinegar

and cooking it in white wine.

If you look for the colour of the fruit, and match that to

the colour of the wine, you're going to be on to a winner.

And when it's nice and soft, it's ready to be chopped up

and served on top of those muscovado creams.

Very happy with these.

You can see....

..nice little wobble on it, give it a little tap. That is perfect.

That means it's just set. It's going to be nice and soft.

Now gently just spoon some of the lovely plums on the top.

Make sure you get some of that juice.

And then crush on some crumbly ginger biscuits.

And what's going to happen with this lovely ginger spice,

it's going to mix with the dark treacle...

I like treacle.

It tastes really, really nice.

They're the kind of flavours that go so well together.

And that, my friends, is a dead easy, lush lunchtime little pudding.

Plenty of room.

Right, people - no excuses.

I'll serve it up.

Take the time to treat you and your mates to a proper hearty lunch.

After all, you deserve it.

-How's the pie, guys? Good?

-Delicious.

-Is there any more?

-Actually, funny you should say that - there is.

-Mmm!

THEY LAUGH