Naked's what I call my way of cooking
what I cook in the restaurant isn't what I cook at home.
Cooking's gotta be a laugh.
It's gotta be simple. It's gotta be tasty. It's gotta be fun.
I suppose you could say it's striping down the recipe to its bare essentials.
No way it's me - it's the food.
My mate Tim's coming over from Germany
we worked in an Italian restaurant together
and I'm just checking his flights
he's coming from Hamburg and he's going to London Stanstead airport
and it's all on time.
Have you got anything special planned for Tim's visit?
Not really - he kind of shook ma little bit because I just
well you know typical me... oh yeah we'll do this
and I said oh we should get a reunion sorted and then he like
e-mailed me back about 4 days ago
and said I'm coming I've booked the flight
so it was like oh oh gotta get a party together quick.
So I'm basically just get all of the people from work,
that we used to work with. Do an Italian meal.
So I've gotta do a fair bit of shopping
not much it's pretty simple cooking actually.
And then I've gotta go and pick him up a bit later
I'm gonna do him a big sign don't know what I'm gonna write on it yet
but I've always wanted a welcome like that at the old airport.
And I've never had one.
Ah bonjourno... (speaks Italian)
Belissimo...
Can I have 10 slices of your best pachuta my friend? Graci
You taste it?
Yeah lovely... graci
fantastic
Belissimo - can I have the mozzarella...
Graci that's beautiful...
< MOzzARELLA, PEACH AND PARMA HAM SALAD >
Right my darling I'm gonna make a fantastic salad
it's all around like mixed leaves
you can have what you like to be honest but - er - let me get a plate or two.
Big plates - honestly they'll do you a favour
buy a couple of plates and it makes life so much easier
chuck it in the middle of the table none of this plated up business.
Everyone can help themselves.
So look I've got some of this baby chard and a little bit of rocket
which you can get in the supermarket
which it's just peppery and a little bit more interesting really.
All you have to do is like scatter the old salad all round the plate
really really casually sort of one layer really
Do you always use a salad spinner?
Actually I used to slag 'em off like you wouldn't believe.
I tell you what I've found lately instead
I mean it's dead - it's dead tempting to buy those bags of salad isn't it?
I mean I've done it
you open them and they just go horrible really quick
and sometimes they're bruised or haven't been spun properly
and a bit too wet
so I just - and it's much cheaper to go and buy your own ones
but you know it doesn't take any more time.
Give them a little wash spin 'em in the old salad spinner
and then if you put 'em in the fridge with the old lid on
I think maybe because it's protected by that
the fridge doesn't sort of ruin it
and make it sort of wilt quick so you know it's dead good.
And then let's - I've got these fantastic pucker peaches, pucker peaches mate.
Fruit in salads - very, very under rated not done that much really.
You could peel the skins but I actually like the skin personally but
just give 'em a wash.
So all I do is you just cut it like an avocado in the middle - right - twist it
that comes out and if don't come out
it ain't ripe so you shouldn't be using it in the first place.
Try that my old darling. Have a nosh on that. Mmm- lovely.
And then you just rip it like that and a ripped peach looks so much better
than a cut one. Because it just doesn't look commercial and horrible
so I just do that to all of them. Peaches are there.
I've got some - got some nice Mozzarella yeah and er - got this from the deli
and it's Buffalo Mozzarella sounds bit weird
but Buffalo Mozzarella is much nicer in salads
it's really soft and milky as opposed to the sort of
the cheaper stuff which is better for pizzas.
So give it a try - you can get it in the supermarket actually
so just open the bag up and again just rip it into nice little mouth sized pieces
and just kind of put it around the plate in
and around the peaches and the leaves and stuff.
Is it called Buffalo because it's so big?
No - it's Buffalo because it's Buffalo milk.
But they're also very big so yeah.
But er - you're so sweet darling. There you go.
And I think that looks amazing already, so what have I forgotten
oh yeah - Parma ham - get this in the supermarket get 'em to slice it for you.
Ask them if you can taste it first the Parma ham right and if you just notice
if it's too thick, sometimes they do it too thick and it drives me up the wall.
It's like eating a bit of old shoe... so say can I have it a bit thinner please?
Just get a nice strip like that and just tear it up
and just kind of almost sort of drape it in and around the cheese
and the peaches and the leaves.
I can't really stress how fantastic this salad is
because if you imagine like the peppery leaves
like a bit of oil and lemon over it fantastic yeah
salty like Parma ham right
and the milky Mozzarella and the juicy, juicy peach.
Fantastic
Just a little bit of salad over the top just a little
and got some lovely mint here
just kind of pick it - rip it -just a little bit on the top's quite fresh
and I think brings the flavour of the peaches out quite nice
and once we get a nice bit of oil and lemon juice on there be lovely.
But I won't do that now because I'll have to do it later
otherwise it'll kill all the salad leaves.
So you can sort of do it this far in advance?
I can do - well - I should do it there and then but I can do it this far in advance
and get away with it
so all I have to do now is take it out the fridge a little bit
before I need it so it just gets to room temperature'ish
squeeze a couple of lemons, double the amount of olive oil
bit of salt and pepper - all over it. Beautiful mate.
And a bit of bread with it or something?
Yeah
< TWO NUT CHOCOLATE TORTE CHEESECAKE >
Two nuts chocolate torte cheesecake mould
but you can pretty much use anything you like really.
I just find it easy cos you can click it out.
Butter - 250 grams of butter.
What do I need? Oh - grease proof paper - right -just rip off a bit
little square that you know is gonna cover it yeah?
And what I do - bit like making a paper airplane
actually it's nothing like making a paper airplane
you fold the paper in the middle and then you turn it around
fold it into the middle.
Then you basically you just keep folding into the middle - like that
I do one more - so you guess or much that is into the middle
put your finger where it is and just rip it up.
Ohh - lovely! - So that's gonna line the bottom yeah.
We just need to get a bit of butter on it and that'll stop anything from sticking.
So just very thinly line the bottom and the sides
and just put a bit of butter on this.
Yeah - lovely - and then stick that on the bottom - nice and snug.
Right - so there's nothing gonna stick. Right - forget that now.
So - I need 300 grams of nuts it's called 2 nuts Taut
because it's got two nuts in it basically
we've got walnuts and almonds and I need 150 grams of each yeah
which is pretty simple to remember.
And these are 100 gram packets so there's 100 grams of almonds
and I'm not gonna get the scales out or nothing like that.
Just pour out the nuts and divide it into two - same with walnuts
I think where at all possible not use the scales okay.
So just divide the old nuts into half again.
What I'm gonna do - got the old Magimix chuck the nuts in there - okay.
And we're gonna whizz it up until it's a powder - 30 seconds, 40 seconds.
Lovely - so look what we got yeah it's fantastic
that's what it should be it's like powder.
Right chocolate - it is a chocolate Taut we need 300 grams of chocolate.
One we're gonna put here - two
I'm gonna crumble up 200 grams of this
and chuck it in with the nuts and er we're gonna whizz that up as well.
Makes a bit of a noise but you just wanna break it up into pieces. - Alright?
Better than watching telly.
Anyway we'll lose this into a bowl now we're gonna put the butter in here
just plonk the whole lot in there rip it into two or three.
We need 100 grams of sugar lovely. And pour that in.
And that's just for a little bit of extra sweetness.
And we wanna whizz this up for about whip - I wanna whiz
whizz this up - so it gets nice and shiny and creamy.
So I need 6 eggs yeah - cor organic of course.
I'm gonna crack my eggs in here very carefully.
And then what I do - I pinch the yolk and plop 'em in one by one
and that's gonna really enrich and that.
And make it nice and silky and beautiful.
Lovely - all you have to do now is get it all together
so just mix these up until it's nicely mixed.
Right - now the best bit egg whites.
Flavour -lift - we have to get 'em together,
but I wanna get these really stiff so at the last minute
add a good pinch of salt and that kind of helps it to be stiff
and whip it up my old darling.
I've got a bit of a mad day because I've got - got to go and pick ...
has given me some mushrooms for the main course and
and now I've gotta go and pick up Tim from the airport
so I can't be late otherwise the poor old boy
he thinks he's going into London cos it's Stanstead airport
but it's not as central
it's out in the wilderness where I come from so he'll be getting... London
Jamie where are you?
Done. Right so - er add a little bit first
fold it in just to loosen it.
Now as it's air that we've got in the egg whites
what we need to do is get it in there into the mix
without sort of knocking all the air out of it - otherwise it won't rise.
So what we do is we call it like a folding action
do sort of movements like that that kind of fold in from the outside to the middle
and maybe change and go from the middle to the outside.
It's good for a couple of days
I mean when it's got a bit stale just crumble it up
and add some ice cream over it. Mmm- baby - so here we go.
Shake it so it's flat. And you can cook it straight away
but the reason I held this other 100 grams of chocolate back
if you get the chocolate and just push it in with your finger
and just sort of put it here
there and everywhere.
Cos when they cook - when you cut into it
you have that lovely like sea of chocolate
that lovely taut and then there's just a little bit with like running chocolate
that comes out - it's fantastic and I love that.
Beautiful - in the oven about 190 for about an hour
just test it with a little knife if it comes out clean - we're off mate.
Cool. Let's go
How are you?
I'm alright mate How are you?
Alright
Have you got those mushrooms?
Yes I've got them Good man
I spent all day yesterday to collect those mushrooms
And they're beautifully honestly they're nice...
Show me show me show me...
Okay hold on a minute... I'm too old.
You're not too old mate. - Look at those yeah... fantastic...
oh thanks mate - that's brilliant.
Listen... cos I'm going on the train to pick up Tim
I've bought my own box cos it fits in my bag
can you just put I only need half of that lot...
...this is too small...
No no - it's only for 7 people just half of those...
Half of these ...I collected these mushroom
you just wanna bloody half of these mushroom... hold on a minute...
Hello Jamie Baby... hi how are you?
How are you?
Great not bad at all.
Right you ready for tonight?
Yeah that's great - so what's on the menu?
Secret mate - I'm not telling I'm not telling you anything...
Cheers...
So I'll see you a bit later...
I'm all day in side
See you Tonight
See you later
Bye
< SEA BREAM WITH MASHROOMS & POTATOES >
So are you happy to see Tim?
Yeah it's fantastic seeing the old boy
still on good form - he's just having a little sho
Getting cleaned up cos I said he's I said he smelt.
So what we got is thinly sliced potatoes in the tray - the oven's on full whack.
A really nice seasoning potatoes and salt and pepper
you can't really go wrong roasted, fried, whatever.
Add a little bit of olive oil. Just enough olive oil to coat them really.
And just sort of with your hands
just - you wanna make sure every bit every slice gets a bit.
Just lay 'em out nice and flat so it's like one layer
whack 'em in the oven for about 15 minutes.
Give 'em a nice good roasting yeah.
So while that's cooking got some nice mushrooms from Ginaro - right.
And I'm a very big mushroom fan.
I've got Chantarelle here got Girolle here - the classic...
old oysters - trumpette d'amour and pierre de mouton.
Right - they're not cheap. But I think wild mushrooms have character.
They have a certain flavour, certain texture - they cook in a certain way.
It's turned something very - quite normal into something that looks exciting
and that's what it's all about.
If you haven't got much money get don't use button mushrooms
forget them forever - get your Chitakes or your field or Portobello mushrooms
slice 'em up - cook 'em well with a little bit of this
and maybe a little bit of dried mushroom porchini - morrell
they're quite expensive but you need the smallest amount
and it will liven 'em up and make 'em taste fantastic.
Most supermarkets stock little punnet of like...
Do you wash them?
No - well Girano very kind of him has clean them up for me
but with wild mushrooms if you wash them they'll soak up all the water
and they'll cook and taste of nothing you're diluting the flavour.
What you do is you brush them with a brush
and you get like maybe trim them up with a knife and I'm gonna fry these off
so first of all - I'm gonna just chop up a little bit of garlic
just about two cloves really just for flavour.
Olive oil right - hot pan - and I'm just gonna put the mushrooms in.
And then the garlic - when the mushrooms cook the water will cook out of the yeah?
And normally that's when people think oh they're cooked.
What I will say is let the water come out carry on cooking it
cook the water away and then there's so much flavour in that water anyway
cos it's from inside the mushroom let it cook back into it again
and then you get that nice fried thing happening.
The other trick is
get a good bit of salt and pepper in it now cos like mushrooms are like
they're like sponges really and when they cook... sucking it all in
and if it's just a little bit of oil and garlic
well then yeah you know it's not the end of the world,
but if you've got salt and pepper then it's like yeah
it's tasting good you know. So - next bit is the old fish and herbs so...
I would like to serve this with Sea Bass but it's not always available
and it's quite expensive, so I've got Sea Bream
and I think they call it Royal Bream cos they've got a little crest on its head
which is supposed to be a crown.
So what I'm gonna do is I haven't got a plastic board so
so I'm just gonna put a bit of cling film on the board
cos I don't like fish fish on wooden boards.
Why's that?
Well just you know you get fish juice on the old board
and then you go and make a cheese sarnie the next day and it tastes of fish.
Not very nice. So anyway. Put your old fish on here -these herbs
I've got some flat leaf parsley and I've got some purple basil
but you can use any fragrant delicate herb I would
I wouldn't use tarragon but you know things like green basil, dill, fennel tops
so right. With the fillet - lovely fillets
I pinch it at the breast - breast it's not a chicken!
Right pinch it at the fillet yeah so it kind of puckers it up yeah?
And then you just at an angle slice like that -just a little bit
with all of them. You can do one, two, three, four slashes
we'll just go listen can you hear starting to fry.
So it's starting to you know it's gone shiny now and the moisture's gone
and they look fantastic I'm turning it off.
And what I'm gonna do now is just er
with my hand just kind of open up that slash yeah
little touch of salt to get it in the cracks.
Pinch some herbs and just sort of push 'em in there to the gap
just you know gives it the flavour a little tickle.
Just finish these old fish.
Right - so the fish looks pucker.
Potatoes - yeah - yeah - they're soft well they're cooked,
they're soft and they're slightly golden which is just what I want
just gonna let 'em cool down a little bit cos if we start wanting to move 'em
about they'll just break because they're hot.
Nice knob of butter into the old mushrooms at this point when the heat's off
and that'll melt and we'll squeeze in some lemon - probably only need one.
Yeah lovely! - Nice chunk of parsley right - potatoes
get like a palette knife or one of these and just sort of - where's my old cloth?
Here
Right - basically just scrap up the potatoes
very carefully because you don't want to break 'em
so they'll be a little bit stuck but they'll be nice and golden.
Whether you do this for two people or ten just simple - simple, simple simple.
Put all these lovely mushrooms and all the juice - don't leave anything
all the herbs - get it onto the old potatoes
you can mix it up anyway you like really
make sure that mushroom juice and butter and flavour goes on to the potatoes.
And just shake it - so it's flat right and it just looks so damned good now.
The fish is going on top yeah skin side up.
Right - and it's going in the top of the oven so the fish skin will become crispy
but because this is already cooked at the bottom right
you're gonna heat and cook it a touch more won't get that much heat.
But it will steam and all those lovely mushroom flavours will cook into the
into the fish and then in return the fish is gonna sort of like
all the juices will cook out the fish and go into the potatoes. Lovely.
So now we just drizzle it with a bit of olive oil - make it go crispy.
In the oven for about five, six minutes.
< SALSA VERDE >
I'm gonna make a sauce to go with the fish
It's called Salsa Verdi and it's an Italian word for - green sauce
which doesn't sound quite as impressive does it - so we use the Italian.
But basically... sounds like Tim's got the old basket ball...
and we need to finely chop it.
Oh Timmy come and give us a hand Tiger!
Coming
Alright handsome - eh looking very swish mate.
Mmm- you smell good too...
So what you like me to do then?
I've got some herbs in the old in the old frigo
you can have the big board because you're a tiger.
I'll get you a big chopper there you go mate - big enough?
Thank you - that will do
So what sort of herbs have you got there?
Tim chops up herbs?
Basically we've got parsley, mint and basil
and classically it should just be parsley but I like the basil and mint
cos it lightens it up a bit and it's going with fish so
kind of makes sense to me. I finely chop my garlic
I need some gherkins - gherkins, mustard, capers and anchovies - there you go.
So we use about 7 anchovy fillets
Very strong flavours?
Yeah
Smells nice -just chop 'em up.
It's a bit of chopping
I mean to be honest you can do this in the Magimix
it's just that I think that when you do it by hand it looks a bit more rustic...
I have a connection with Germany before before I met Tim
was my first girlfriend her name was Helgar Buge right?
She was German and I was about 12 and she was about that much taller than me.
And I went out with her for 2 weeks snogged her mate
...China in your arms, giving it some of that...
smooching, dancing, and I really like her and then she chucked me.
She chucked me and I cried and - but then when I went to youth club the next week
everyone was laughing at me cos she told 'em that I kissed like a cartwheel...
but it wasn't me - it was her fault anyway cos she was so tall
I was like... like a goldfish I suppose but...
I've learnt since and I've improved.
I love gherkins and I think it really really gives
you have these in Germany?
Yeah they come from Germany
Is that where they come from? What they called?
Well in Essex we call 'em wallies...
Anyway - capers right -just a nice handful of capers. Drain the old water.
And you know what we're looking for here by this stage
when we've chopped a bit is - same parts - equal parts of capers,
gherkins and anchovies right. As much garlic as you want to taste
yeah and then when you look at that whole pile
that should make up like one part to sort of four parts of the chopped herbs.
And if you do a bit more or a bit less it's not the end of the world,
but what you're doing is varying the flavours and the tanginess.
And you can vary it if you're serving it with meat - or boiled roasted meats, fish
even sort of like grilled vegetables and stuff like that are fantastic so...
that looks beautiful mate. Just whack it in that glass bowl
there's some half decent olive oil over there.
I add it to loosen really... so quite a bit... little bit more
yeah that's lovely. Two big teaspoons of that French mustard my old darling.
And that looks good mate.
So I'm gonna add all of this to here and we just stir it all in
it's nice and loose with the olive oil and that's what you want
so it's kind of you know it'll just fall off the spoon.
But if you taste it now - it'll be it'll be kind of bland yeah
so you need to liven it up a little bit.
You need something acid like vinegar or lemon juice and
personally I prefer vinegar so start off with about two tablespoons.
And when it's all mixed up give it a little taste.
Little bit more. Can you put a bit of salt in there my sweet?
Just do it to taste - but talking about taste my old darling
show Pat your - your tongue ring...
Can you imagine having that done to yourself
I mean I couldn't do that as a chef
because you'd lose all your taste buds wouldn't you?
You don't at all - you don't taste in the middle of the tongue
you just taste on the edges... like you know - you don't taste in the middle.
It just seems a bit scary to have a blooming great rod of metal
put through my tongue. Cool - taste...
Fine
Pucker - that'll be nice - that'll be even better in about half an hour.