This weekend, I'd love you to have a go at this. This is the ultimate meatloaf, right? This is something that I really love. Comfort food at its best. It's big feasting family food.
This meatloaf is always a winner with my lot. Classically comforting and then ramped up a notch with pork and beef for flavor and juiciness, oozy mozzarella, and a jacket of smoked bacon. All served with aromatic fennel, lashings of gravy, and a volcano of mashed potato.
Okay, first job. It's super simple. Let's get the veg cooking. Throw a swig of olive oil into a large pan. Tear up some fresh sage and rosemary. Then add two chopped onions and two carrots to make a rich veggie base. Just a little bit of seasoning.
And we'll slowly fry that on a medium low heat for about 20 minutes, 25 minutes. Let it caramelize. Let the flavors sweeten and really intensify. Then we'll let it cool down and then that will go in the meatloaf and it will make all the difference.
Next up, fennel, the surprising star ingredient to make this meatloaf sing. I'm using four medium bulbs sliced into wedges. They're crunchy and they're an acidy, but as you slow cook them or roast them, they just become sweet and savory and have depth of flavor. Absolutely beautiful.
Lay the bulbs in the bottom of a roasting pan. Add a few chopped fennel tops for extra flavor and season and drizzle with olive oil.
Give it all a good toss. And then roast in the oven for 30 minutes at 180°, which is 350 fah.
Okay, so the fennel has been roasting and look, it's half cooked. That's looking very nice. This has cooled down, right? Right. And it's lovely and sweet and gorgeous. So, let's make the meatloaf. Okay. And meatloaf can be made out of any blend of minced meat. But let's get really into it. This is what makes it good or great to incredible.
For the best flavor, I'm using a kilo of pork shoulder and 1 kilo of beef brisket, but you can go for any good quality mint you like. Add your cooled down veg and 200 g of breadcrumbs to absorb the juices and give the meatloaf lightness. And then we're going to go in with two high eye.
You all right? Yeah. Do you want to do some cooking? Yes. Next, my two little helpers will crack in two eggs. Eggs go in the middle. Add a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. Two teaspoons of whole grain mustard. And then to take this meatloaf to the next level, tear in a bowl of creamy mozzarella. We've got the seasoning and the veg and the breadcrumbs soak up all the fat and it's juicy and delicious. But then you get these little bombs of mozzarella that are gooey and sort of just gorgeous with all the elements added. It's all hands on deck for the mixing.
So try and keep it in the bowl. The points for keeping it in the bowl, I know this is a problem for you. Keep it in the bowl.
Make sure that all the ingredients are evenly distributed so that every bite will be layered with flavor.
Once mixed, form it into a loaf shape and layer in your dish of half roasted fennel.
Now, we're going to roast it, but we want to do more. We want to add more flavor. So, grab the bacon, please, buddy.
Crisscross the rashes of smoked bacon, leaving gaps so the rich fat can kiss the meat and the top can go crispy and golden. Then, to keep it nice and juicy, wet some grease proof paper, cover, and tuck it into bed.
Good night, guys. Pop the meatloaf into the oven at 180° C or 350 fah and roast it initially for 30 minutes.
Okay, so it's had half an hour and it's basically cooked now but without character. I want to create an incredible sauce and there's a really simple way to do that.
Take 500 mls of beef, chicken or veg stock. Add a tablespoon of sundried tomato paste. Then two tablespoons of black currant jam. And give it a good stir. So all we do now is pour that over.
And like any gravy, all the sticky bits off the bottom of the tray will start to blend really nice. Look at that. Finish by scattering some sage and rosemary rubbed in a little olive oil over the meatloaf. Then pop it back into the oven for another 45 minutes to let all those gorgeous flavors come together.
So, the meatloaf is done. And this is what you get, ladies and gents.
Look at that lovely gravy. Gorgeous golden meatloaf. Served with fresh, lightly blanched greens. And then a proper 80s favorite, a volcano of creamy mashed potato erupting with melted butter. Cabbage, volcano potatoes, lovely meatloaf. You ready to try some? Yeah.
You know, the point is we don't want a dry meatloaf. So, if we look in here, it's juicy.
So, there you have it, guys. A classic weekend comforting meatloaf, deeply flavored with smoked bacon and mozzarella on a bed of aromatic fennel, swimming in gorgeous gravy. The ultimate centerpiece for a family feast.
Absolutely comforting, delicious, deep flavor. Really nice. So juicy and tasty. The sweetness from the jam in the sauce is off the chart good. And then the fennel.
Guys, in the cafe, I'm going to look after you. You're going to love it.
Okay, guys. You're going to love this one. We're going to do the most incredible fish pie. And I've done my fair share over the years of these little bad boys. But this fish pie is a really posh one.
This is the ultimate weekend treat. Not only packed with succulent fish, king prawns and scallops, it's got a whole fresh lobster in it, a cream sauce made with procco, and it's topped off with a ridiculously crispy cheesy mash. It's pretty special.
I've got a nice array of fish here. Beautiful hake. I've got some trout, some little lemon sauce, some prawns, scallops. You know, we want a kilo of fish. And you just mix that up. Whatever's in season, whatever's good. All kind of prepped, pin boned, no skin, ready and raring to go. But the star of this dish is the lobster. Mine is boiled in water with some sprigs of fresh dill for 8 minutes.
So, what I want to do is first up show you how to break down this lobster. Now, don't be scared of it. You can actually buy them cooked if you want. I think it's nice always to get a live one in because you know the freshness. We've got the two claws here like that. We can deal with those in a minute. Then you've got the body here. Just twist the tail off. This is where the meat is. Okay. Claw meat and the tail meat. First, let's tackle the tail. Put your weight on it on its side. You hear it crunch. And then we'll pull the meat out. Easy as pie. Okay.
Next, the claws. They'll come in two segments. Just joint it like that and like that. Actually, some of the most incredible meat comes from me. That's my favorite bit of the whole lobster right in there. Such sweet meat. It's a little bit like ribs, you know, just delicious and tender.
Now, for the pins, the best way to do this is use a spoon and the palm of your hand and just crack it like a boiled egg.
Turn it over. Look at that. Such a joy. Chop up the meat and that'll go in the pie later. But we're also going to use the body and all the leftover shells as a base for an incredible sauce. So, pop it all in a pan.
What I want to do is just bash this up. Stand back. It could be messy. That's going to give you the most amazing flavor. Trust me.
Then add 600 mls of semi-kinnmed milk. Pop on a low heat with a lid on and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, you can crack on with the rest of the sauce. So, grab another frying pan.
So, we'll go in with some oil. We'll go in with a tiny knob of butter. Finally, chop one fennel bulb, stalks, and all. One carrot, one onion, one leak, and throw it all in the pan. Season, then leave to sweat gently on a low heat.
The whole point is not to rush it. So, if that milk's going for 20 minutes, let this go for 20 minutes and you'll get the most incredible intense sweet depth of flavor.
Next, for the topping, I've boiled and drained 2 kilos of Maris Pipers and left them to steam. Go in with a knob of butter, salt and pepper, half a teaspoon of cayenne for a subtle hum of heat, and finally 75 g of red leester cheese.
I love red leester. It's got that beautiful color. And I'm just going to grate that in. And it's really uzzy and beautifully flavored and very, very British. Then give it a good mash.
I always find adding a little bit of milk just makes it a little bit more fluffy.
Right back to the sauce. Your veggies should now be soft and sticky. So go in with two heat tablespoons of plain flour to thicken and two heat teaspoons of English mustard. Give it a good stir and it's ready for the procco. Really luxurious. Really, really nice. Delicious.
Pour in a large glass. Stir. Then gradually ladle in the flavored milk, stirring again until creamy.
Let's just take a slurp. This is what makes this fish pie go up 10 gears.
Unbelievable sweet, delicious lobster flavor in plain old milk. All you need to do now is build the pie. Grab a big baking dish or you can divide over a couple of smaller ones and simply layer up with sliced kale and chard or whatever seasonal greens you like. Chop the fish into chunks. Mix it all up with the scallops and prawns and scatter evenly. Nothing worse than one of your friends complaining they didn't get a bit of this or a bit of that. And last but not least, our lovely chopped and picked lobster. Gorgeous. What a treat.
Now, time for that ridiculous sauce. This is kind of the engine behind the dish. It's going to join up the flavor from everything that's in there, all the different fishes. Top it off with a little cheddar. Just 50 g. Again, it's more of a seasoning than anything else. So, a nice little grating over the top.
Finally, it's ready for the mash. You can spoon it on if you like, but piping it will give you the ultimate crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside topping. I'm just going to go for a nice double run here.
Pop in a preheated oven at 180° C, which is 350 F, and bake for 1 hour until golden and bubbly.
Ah, come on, Eileene. Welcome to the wonderful world of posh fish pie.
Crispy cheesy potatoes, sumptuous fish, and luxurious seafood. All wrapped up in a flavorpacked lobster and procco sauce, served with whatever veggies you love.
Stop it. Stop it. It's so good. That is probably one of my favorite fish pies ever.
So, I've got a perfect recipe for this weekend. Meat and potatoes. Two best friends. This is a match made in heaven.
This knockout rack of lamb with a feisty pistachio and parsley crust served with a luxurious potato alorno is as big on flavor as it is easy to cook. First up, the potato dish. Let's start with that.
Into a large pan, pour 600 ml of milk and 400 ml of double cream. Then throw in three or four bay leaves, a couple of sprigs of rosemary, a pinch of pepper and salt, and six anchovi fillets. It will give you the most incredible depth of flavor that you won't want to be without. Grate in half a nutmeg. Then you want to add eight cloves of garlic. Yes, you heard it right. Eight cloves of garlic. Pongy gorgeous garlic. This is the dish to do it, guys.
Bring it to a light simmer on medium heat while you finally slice a kilo of potatoes.
This potato dish is one of my favorite potato dishes ever.
Next, slice up two bulbs of fennel and two onions. So, let's have a little look at that. We don't want to just boil and boil and boil it. It's an infusion just to get the party started. Fish out the rosemary and the bay leaves. Grate in about 50 g of parmesan. Then add the potatoes, fennel, and onions to the pan. And even if it's a bit messy, it's okay. Mix it all together. Then pack it down. I'm just going to do a nice final layer of potatoes on top. There's no reason to do this other than it just kind of looks cute.
Cover with tin foil and then whack it in the oven and bake at 180° C or 350° F for an initial half an hour.
Next, the lamb. One rack feeds two people. Rack a lamb. It is the prime cut on the whole animal. Absolutely beautiful. Ask your butcher for a French trimmed rack of lamb with the cap meat removed and the senus trimmed off. But if you get one that's still got a top layer of fat, it's easy to trim that off yourself.
I want this rack of lamb to be so tender, so melt in your mouth. Nothing should get in the way of it, right? Cuz we're going to put a lovely crust on top of here. And I don't want to chew on anything. I want it to be tender, tender, tender. Put a little olive oil and butter into a hot pan. Season the lamb with salt and pepper, and sear for a few minutes.
The raka lamb is seared golden, but it's completely raw inside. And then what I want to do is the most unbelievable crust.
Into a food processor, drop 100 g of pistachios with a bunch of flat leaf parsley. Tear in 75 g of bread, two cloves of garlic, and grate in half a nutmeg. Lid on and w it all up.
While that's going, smear the lamb racks generously with Dijon mustard. Don't worry, it's going to mellow out in the cooking. It's going to really make this dish. Don't be stingy cuz it sticks this crust together and it gives you the most incredible the most incredible flavor.
Pile the herby crumb onto the lamb and press down to form a crust. Meanwhile, take the foil off the spuds. Give them another grate of parmesan on top if you fancy, and put them back into the oven and bake for a further 45 minutes.
10 minutes later, put the lamb into the same oven. It'll need 25 minutes to cook and 10 to rest. So, the spuds and the meat will be ready at the same time.
Right, little clean down, glass of wine, and then I'll show you how to serve it up.
So, the lamb has been out just resting, so all the juices can kind of go back to where they came from. It's looking beautiful. What I like to do is just put a rack just like that on a board and let people kind of slice their own at the table. Look at the color. Really, really nice.
And then from the oven, we want our potato and fennel, our forno, serve it sizzling just like that. Garnish with fennel tops. Then dish up with a side of green beans. Let's get in there with the lamb.
And of course, the point of the lamb is with that sauce from the potatoes. Just tender. M. So good.
Gorgeous pink lamb with a wonderful green crust served with garlicky fenoy potato alorno.
This is a proper little gem for the weekend. The guys in the cafe are going to go nuts for that. Cheers. Enjoy. Ah, you want pie, do you? Well, I've got a pie for you. We are going to make roasted meat pie. You heard it. Roasted meat pie. Not just boiled meat pie. Roasted. Extra flavor, extra texture, and extra smiles. Come on.
This pie is packed full of roasted succulent gamebirds to give you a special something this weekend. We have a chicken over here. But then we have malard. We have pheasant. We have a beautiful grouse. We have partridge. The list goes on and on that you could use, but mix it up.
We're going to dress them with olive oil, seasoning, and crushed juniper berries before bashing up some thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves for an aromatic herby hit. Beautiful natural colors and flavors. Then it's an hour in the oven at 180° C or 350 fah.
So, while those birds roast away in the oven, let's start the story with the ragu. We're going to start off with some gorgeous smoked drycured bacon. The flavor that you get, the smoke, the fat that will render out. Couple of bay leaves go in, maybe a little sprig of rosemary, and then we can start adding the veg. This is a classic ragu base of juicy carrots, sweet red onions, leaks, and celery.
You know, it's this frying and the breaking down of all the natural sugars. That's where the massive flavor is. That's where you're going to put something in your mouth and go, "Wow." Once the veggies have softened, add some chunky potatoes and season. Oh yes.
Because the birds are going to be roasting for like another 45 minutes, let's let that slowly sweat off for 45 minutes. Oh my lord. The flavor you will get by just slowing it down is amazing. And it'll be so worth the wait.
What a beautiful, beautiful site. Literally just pull the whole thing apart. What you're going to feel is the difference in texture. For the people that have never eaten game before, this is your opportunity, guys, because you can have your chicken and just a few bits of game. And then if you like it, add a little bit more next time and a bit more next time. The grouse. And now we're on to the pheasant.
Normally, if you're getting game birds in season, it's very reasonable. All these bones will make a brilliant stock for another day. There's just flavor and value everywhere. Don't throw nothing away.
Two tablespoons of plain flour go in. That's your thickening agent. And then in with about 500 ml of cider. Cheers to that. Give it a stir and boost its flavor even more with good chicken stock and those incredible roasting juices from the tray. Maximum flavor and all that delicious meat. And that, my friends, is going to be the most mega stew ever.
So, we'll strain it before it goes in to give you the perfect pie consistency. And then we've got loads of gravy for pouring later.
Pastry time. We're going to go half butter, half sew it. To that, we're going to add 800 g of plain flour, a good pinch of salt, three lovely eggs, and then find that fat, and just use your thumbs to mix it in.
A splash of water, and the whole thing should start to come together.
It's going to look a bit rough and ready. That's fine. You want to keep it short. If you keep kneading it, it won't be crumbly. Right. Can you see there's still chunks of sew it in here. I'm going to wrap this up and I'm going to let that cool down and then we'll fill it.
And be patient. It's the weekend. Chilling it will stop your pastry shrinking during cooking and make it easier to roll.
Let's make this pie. I want to go about half a centimeter thick. Then roll it back up. Olive oil into a dish. Get right up the sides. We get our filling. What's nice about it chilling again is the gravy kind of solidifies.
You want to just chivy in this edge, this rim like that.
Just tuck it under like this. What I want to do is put my thumb in here and pinch around it. You know, you can get all kinds of cutters. You can get leaves, you can do plats, you can do shapes, all sorts. But to be honest, at the weekend, I've put enough love into it. Just use two fingers and a thumb and you'd be amazed what you can achieve.
And a beautiful roasted meat pie has been born. Happy days. Just egg wash the center part. And I do want to just create a little star to relieve the steam. And look at that. It's going to be amazing.
After an hour in the oven at 180° C or 350 fah, your wonderful weekend feast will emerge. Look, you can see how crispy that pastry is going to be. Wow.
A guys, look at that. Look at the flake. Look at the thickness of that pastry there. You know that people are going to fight for that. There's never enough pastry, is there? But we got it bottom, side, and top. And a big old handle, a love handle, which you'll definitely get if you keep eating too much pie. But for this weekend only, yes, just hit it up with some seasonal greens.
It is nuts. Loads of different flavors happening there. Different chunks of meat.
It's the weekend. Time for some beautiful finger-licking ribs. This is a proper weekend treat. Mount melt inyou mouth whiskey wood smoked baby back ribs with homemade barbecue sauce and a perfectly light potato salad.
Not American style, not Asian style or Korean style, British style. So, first up, you'd normally make a rub, but I'm going to switch that for a flavored salt. And we're adding 100 g of sea salt. And then probably around 50 g of white pepper. Whole corn's going in like that. Two tablespoons. And then I'm going to use 10 fresh bay leaves.
Just use a couple of tablespoons of the salt and give them a nice massage with splash of olive oil. You can save the rest for another recipe.
So before we wrap this up, we want to add a little bit of moisture. So you could use water or you could use a little whiskey. Just a shot.
That's the ribs oven ready. The sauce is just as simple. Kicking off with a splash more whiskey. Just because I'm flamboyant these days, what I want to do is just set light to that. It will just evaporate the alcohol and bring out more caramelized rounder notes. You don't have to do it. Just don't burn the place down.
This is going to give the ribs a knockout sticky glaze full of British flavors. Brown sauce, tomato sauce, and worshshire sauce. This is a crazy sauce. It couldn't be simpler. We're decanting stuff that most of us have in our cupboard. A whole jar of English mustard, a bottle of apple juice, and a jar of runny honey. It's quintessentially British. It's about that tang and that beautiful finish on the pallet. Bring the whole lot to a boil, and it's ready to reduce in the oven.
I am going to put the ribs on the top, whack the sauce in the bottom. We're going to cook it 140° C.
Leave the ribs alone for 3 hours and enjoy the weekend. By the time you're back, the ribs will be beautifully soft. If I pour the meat here, you know, it's tender.
We want the barbecue sauce to just coat it. You know, it's quite good to pour it instead of brush it. I think you get a better appearance. We can just move our ribs around and just coat them. Gorgeous.
So get your bars out of the oven and then what I want to do is just rack them up like that. All the leftover sauce can be bagged up or used at the table for dipping. So these go back in. These need another 30 minutes for the sauce to fix to them.
And there's a genius hack that I do all the time to get them all smoky. You can easily get yourself some wood chips sold for smoking. You can get fruit woods or even bourbon and whiskey barrel. If you're blacking it at home, a metal uh sie like this, you can just grab a little handful of these chips. You just catch them on fire. So, it's not dangerous. Okay. And then we'll put this in the oven. You can see the flame subside and the smoke rotate around the whole oven. It's a brilliant little hack for a little house smoker. You don't have to do this, but if you do, make sure your sif is stainless steel. And if in doubt, check with your oven manufacturer that it's safe.
So, let's do an epic potato salad. I'm massively reducing the usual calories by using yogurt instead of mayonnaise flavored with good extra virgin olive oil, whole grain mustard, finely sliced pickled onions, and a little vinegar from the jar and chives.
And then last but not least, a little surprise ingredient, pear. You know, that little bit of sweetness and crunch really works well. This is about having contrast and surprise.
Mixing chopped up softboiled new potatoes whilst they're still warm so they absorb all the dressing much better. It's still creamy. It's still absolutely indulgent.
Give it a last kiss of extra virgin olive oil and a flourish of chives. Now, let's get the ribs.
Smells amazing. That barbecue sauce just tightens up. It's the perfect surround for that tender, delicious meat. Wow. Let's get a nice wge of that potato salad. Get those beautiful, beautiful ribs.
Amazing homes smoked British ribs finished with a little extra sauce and sliced radishes for a peppery crunch. And that, my friends, is a beautiful, beautiful plate of food. Come on, let's get in there.
Oh, tender meat. So spicy, sweet and sour. And proper potato salad. Really joyful. Perfect for the weekend.
There's nothing better than cooking something delicious for friends or family. And you don't have to wait till the end of the weekend to do a beautiful roast. Introducing pot roast pork wrapped in cured meat with sage and garlic and a side dish of cilerak spinach and some compotted apple and rhubarb. Oh yes, let's do this.
So this is a beautiful piece of pork loin. It's about a kilo. We've removed belly and fat to make it convenient. So it's going to cook really evenly, but we have lost flavor. So we've got to add it back in. So we'll do that by creating an amazing marinade and wrapping it in the cured meat.
First up, I'm going to use a fantastic herb, sage. The smell is amazing. And then I'm going to add a little bit of salt and pepper. Take your pestle and smash it up.
Then go in with two cloves of garlic. Once the garlic has been smashed, then finish off the marinade process with two tablespoons of oil and about a tablespoon or two of red wine vinegar.
That, my friends, is unbelievable flavor potential. Pour it over the pork and then we can have a nice little rub.
Let's have a look at the cured meat for wrapping. So, take a piece of greaseroof paper. We'll rub that with a little olive oil. And then here I'm using a cured meat called copper de Palmer, but of course you can use Palmer ham, use whatever you can get your hands on. And I'm just going to lay out this incredible cured meat. Turn this. Take that amazing cut of pork. We're using simply rolling and gravity to wrap that.
Okay. Now, at this stage, we want to secure it. So, I'm going to take some string, do a double knot, and pull it fairly tight. Right. We want to secure that to the pork. And there you go. Something truly beautiful and ready for cooking.
So pan goes on. Just a little bit of olive oil, a little knob of butter, and as it starts to bubble and fry, we'll go in with this incredible piece of pork. Listen to that. Come on. That's what it's all about. Now, we will just move this pork around and we'll achieve a little bit of light golden color.
While the pork browns, slice up a stick of celery. Cut the red onion into wedges and add to the pan with a couple of sprigs of rosemary. It's just lovely savory flavors. This is going to be beautiful.
So, you know, as it starts to fry and get golden crisp, then we add a little keiante. Just a little. We don't want to boil. And that's going to create the most amazing sort of humid delicious environment where the fat and the keiant is just kind of creating this shiny cream that just basts the meat. That's pot roasting.
So, it's going in the oven for about 40 minutes. Every 10 minutes, I'll turn it and baste it. And this will give you golden, delicious, moist pork. What I'll do now is bang this in an oven at 180°C or 350 fahhe. It's going to be truly amazing.
So, as that beautiful pork cooks, what could go with it? I'm thinking celery. You can steam it, grill it, you can mash it, you can pretty much treat it like a parnip or a potato, but also most of the flavor is in the skin. So, I've had a proper little scrub up. Generously sort of cut off those loes of skin. There you go. So, all I do here is a little seasoning and a little oil. Carac cracklins in the bottom of the oven.
Into a new pan, add a tablespoon of olive oil, a few sprigs of thyme, and go in with the chopped carak. And about half an hour of cooking and that will be beautiful.
As that's happening, I want to do a compot apples. Very, very traditional, quite British. But then I'm kind of rifting off into the wonderful world of rhubarb. Sour. It's got that kind of weird sort of tropical slap.
Chunk up the rhubarb and add to the roasting tray. Then peel and chop a red and green apple. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, a tablespoon of brown sugar, a splash of red wine vinegar, and throw in a knob of butter. So give it a nice little mix up. This goes in the oven.
Let's have a look at our pork and give it just another drizzle of the keianti. Look at that. Just move it over and just add that juice and it's going to be amazing.
Put the pork back in the oven and let it cook away. Remembering to turn and baste it every 10 minutes.
Come on. Look at that gorgeous simple simple sauce. Now going to let the meat rest in its juices. Right about 10 minutes. That will give you a tastier, more tender cut of meat.
And then here we have got the carak. I want to bring some greens into the story. So, baby spinach, two bags. Get it in there. Use the residual steam. Couple of minutes and then it's plate up time.
So exciting. The smell is phenomenal. Look at this. Come on. Color, flavor, smells.
That's what it's about. If I just push it, look at the moisture coming out of it.
Dry pork? No longer. No way, Jose. Different vibe, but it's going to put a massive smile on your face. The idea of sauce, gravy, right? We're not going to have pints of the stuff. Sorry. But what I'll give you in return is flavor like you've never had before. And we've got a roasted rhubarb and apple compote, crispy cracklings. Ladies and gentlemen, pot roast pork wrapped in cured meat.
Oh, that is so good. Nice bit of the old cured meat, the silky soft pork, and that piante juice is so good. Little kiss of sweetness from the compote. That, my friend, is a little fork of heavenly beauty.
Oh, what a way to start the weekend. This is an opportunity to do something a bit different. Friends coming around, 10, 12, 14, 16. It's going to be phenomenal.
And it's not a difficult thing, but it all comes down to timing. So, let's kick off with the duck.
It's a fabulous thing. People go wild for duck. It always sells out in restaurants, and a lot of people don't do it at home. It's a really, really generous, easy bird to cook. Just give it a rub with oil, salt, pepper, and a grating of cinnamon, and pop some sage inside. Then onto the chicken thyme.
One thing you can do, just pop herbs just for 5 seconds in some boiling water. That wakes up all the natural oils. Into a pestle and mortar, add a pinch of salt, three or four garlic cloves, and give it a good old bash. Then muddle in some oil.
Then we can just squeeze it over the top like that and rub it all over. Get amongst it. You know, there's no polite way to get flavor. Just have to get your hands in and have a good old rub up. Pop a lemon inside. And that's it. Both birds are ready for the oven. About 1 hour 20 for the chicken and 2 hours for the duck at 180°C. I'm going to put my chicken in right on the bars. Look at that. And my duck in right on the bars. This isn't bonkers. Trust me.
We're going to catch all the beautiful fat and juices in the tray below, which is going to be the base for our amazing sauce, and it's going to give you the most ridiculously good caramelized veg ever. So, first up, just get yourself four or five lovely small onions. Leave the skins on. Fennel. Loads of people see it but never ever buy it. Cut the lovely herby top off.
Pop those on the bottom shelf. And you can prep the game birds with a rosemary and olive oil marinade. Pigeon in the countryside, when it feeds on beautiful, lovely natural foods, it's an incredible meat. Almost like steak. So good. Quail, just like a slightly more interesting chicken but very small. Partridge is one of my favorite game birds. Just absolutely gorgeous. It's just a celebration of meat and roasting, and it's just a wonderful thing.
Next up, Cumberland sausage. Get your butcher to roll a nice big one and skewer it with rosemary and bay. Once your chicken has had an hour and 20 in the oven, all this is ready to go in. Woohoo. So, look guys, this is what I'm talking about. So, that chicken is gorgeous. Everything is timed to perfection, to come together at the same time. So, chicken out, rest for 30 minutes, and we've made room for the rest of our meat. The duck's as good as gold, right? We can just put that in the back like that. The quails and all the game birds, we can put these in and around. We're going to cook this for about half an hour.
And then under here, just look at that. Got those lovely roasted fennel and onions. Put the sausage straight on top. And then back with the door closed. Meat and veggies roasting away. You can crack on with the polenta. Think mashed potato. That's what it's going to kind of work like. And it's going to be scrumptious. Cook as per packet instructions. This lot is going to serve about 15 people. Once it's oozy and thick, enrich with butter and parmesan. That's going to turn your polenta into something truly delicious.
We're just going to fold that through and it will just make it shine and go really nice, and then beat it in. That looks so good. Now the moment of truth.
Look at that. Sausages, veggies, juice. Looking very, very good. All of our birds here really, really good. The duck's had pretty much 2 hours. The smaller birds, just over half an hour really. Let's get that fantastic Cumberland sausage over there. And then you can see here the veggies and they've overcooked. Right, that's the point. We want it to be overcooked and sweet and gnarly.
Next for our lovely rich sauce. Pour away the fat and save for another day. And go in with some Chianti. Don't be shy. Bring it to the boil. Scrape the bottom. Can you see that? That sticky goodness got the flavor of 10 kind of stock cubes. Okay, once the wine starts to reduce, in with a tin of good plum tomatoes and the juice of your chicken. Flavor, flavor, flavor, guys. Time to bring all this roasted loveliness together.
So, this is the exciting bit. Grab yourself one massive board, or you can divvy it up onto a few smaller ones.
So, now it's time to hack up the meat. It doesn't matter how you do it. You can half some, leave some whole. Whichever way you do it, just get it in and around that polenta. And the idea is that everyone gets to share a bit of everything.
And then we've got our onions and fennel that are just sort of beautifully caramelized. And then last but not least, you got the gravy. Little bombs of sauce. Finish off with some gremolata, which is a garnish of chopped lemon zest, garlic, and parsley. And you've got yourself a proper celebration on a platter. Crispy skin, succulent meat, layer upon layer of herby awesome flavor, caramelized veg, and the most creamy, cheesy, gorgeous polenta, all drizzled with that deep rich sauce. That is a roast misto. The guys in the cafe are going to go wild for that.
Okay, guys. Roast chicken. It's one of the most phenomenal, comforting, gorgeous meals, and we all love it. Why don't we learn to take it up to the next level? I'm going to show you not one, but two ways to reinvent your Sunday roast. Mix it up and create something surprising this weekend.
First, a showoff bird that demands your attention. Super tender with awesome finger-licking flavors. This is beer butt chicken.
Yes, beer in butt of chicken. Beautiful. This method of cooking chicken was kind of American-based. It was based around the barbecue, but also it's kind of cowboy. So, first you need a dry rub made with smoked paprika and cayenne pepper.
Then, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, and just a touch of cumin. Finally, some dried chilies, brown sugar, salt and pepper, and whiz up.
Have a little taste. Rubs are always going to be super intense, but try and use your brain anyway. Am I getting sugar? Am I getting some lightness from the fennel seeds? Do I want more savoriness, you know, from oregano or coriander seeds and stuff like that? So, you can kind of tweak it to your liking.
I want to rub it with oil, get in all the cracks and crannies, and then in with the rub. But I want to get it to stick to every part of it, create what the barbecue boys would call a bark. Okay, which means like a kind of layer of flavor. It's going to kind of protect the chicken. It's also going to absorb into the kind of frying, cooking, roasting fat. And it's also just going to give that outside layer of chicken just a smash of flavor. This dish has got to have attitude.
Next, it's time to raise the bar with a rather unusual way of keeping our chicken lovely and moist. The beer up the jacksie. Now, this is something I've wanted to do for a long time, and I'm referring to the chicken right now.
Okay, so I've got about an inch left in there. The most exciting bit. We find ourselves a roasting tray. We find ourselves an orifice. And then we ease it down.
That beer can is there for a reason. It will keep the chicken super moist and infuse it with a light beery flavor as it cooks in the oven at 200° for an hour and 20 minutes. Baste it with good quality barbecue sauce 10 minutes before the end. While that cooks away, I want to show you another way to reinvent the roast with showstopping bird number two, chicken in a crust. Why would you put chicken in a crust? To keep in all the flavor. So really simple. Couple of kilos of flour. This is like blowout. This is the weekend. This is taking it to the next level. Mix up the basic pastry dough by adding water and a pinch of salt.
This pastry crust is going to seal in the chicken, keeping it super juicy and tender. And when you serve it up, I guarantee it will look nothing like your guests have ever seen.
Next, this is a weekend blowout feast, so I want to up the ante with an intense flavored butter for my chicken.
I'm pulling out all the stops. So, I've got some gorgeous girolle mushrooms sizzling in some olive oil, butter, and garlic. You know, you can hit it up with some lovely kind of woody mushroom herbs. Thyme, gorgeous, marjoram, lovely, right? I want to pump up the flavor with dried mushrooms. Any dried mushrooms. Some are expensive, some are cheap. Here's some porcini. You just go straight over with some boiling water from a kettle. Just cover it. The flavor that will come out of there is ridiculous.
Notice that the dried mushrooms now are limp and soft even in a matter of a minute. So go in with the dried mushroom. Look at the color of that water. Okay, it's like gold. This is serious stuff.
Leave those rich flavors to reduce and intensify.
Time to prep the chicken. I'm going to use a spatula and we're going to get that under the skin. So, grab this little piece of skin here. Use your finger to separate the skin from the breast meat. Once you've got a couple of fingers in there, go in with this spatula. Once you've created the pockets under the skin, chop the cooked mushrooms with some chopped parsley and a teaspoon of truffle oil. Then, simply squash in a pack of butter. This flavored butter, just ridiculous. Get it into little holes. Carefully push it down into the chicken. Look at that. You got flavor going all down that breast there. That's serious flavor. Now we're ready to put it in pastry.
You want it to be about a centimeter thick. Then just going to take a nice little cut at the top here. Okay. So, we got two bits. A larger piece for the bottom into the tray. Tie it up nice and tight so it will stay put once inside the pastry.
Now we're ready and raring to go. We're going to put that second bit of dough over the bird like this. Tuck her into bed. Then we can cut off the excess and we're ready to crimp it at the edge. We're keeping the humidity in. We're keeping the flavor in. It's all staying in. The whole theory of it is just amplifying flavor and it's dramatic. And when you put that out on a Sunday roast table, everyone's going to go, 'What? What's that alien that's just landed on planet Earth?' Put in the oven for an hour and a half at 180°C.
Now the beer butt chicken. Here he is. Shiny, gorgeous, finger-licking good. Roasted in all of those beautiful, awesome spices. That is mega flavor. Just finish it with shredded spring onion, some coriander, a little bit of chili, and that will be absolutely incredible.
Then the chicken in a crust. It is something very, very special. Get in there. Find the biggest knife you can find. Get a cleaver. Get a spade. Right. Cut around the outside.
Oh, chicken.
And when you slice into it, you'll see exactly what happens. When have you ever seen chicken like that? Completely and utterly beautiful and tender and gorgeous. That lovely flavor under the skin. It's just ridiculous. So guys, that's amazing chicken dishes that will blow your mind and completely reinvent the norm.
This is a French squash. You got an acorn squash there, cricket ball squash, butternut squash here. You can get these in all the supermarkets, I think good delis or farmers markets. I'm going to use this one. And I want to take essentially the lid off of this part of the squash. It's very simple. I just put the knife in here, right? I stick it in. Hands are away. It's all safe, right? And we just rock it sort of around like that. And you can get someone to help you, you know, if you're not entirely sure. But you just rotate it until it joins up again.
And then that exposes this, a natural bowl that I'm going to cook in a way where you eat the whole thing, but also it can hold things. And I'm going to fill this up with lovely sweet leek white cheesy sauce. Okay. So, let's take the seeds out. Go around the bowl like this and just disconnect all those amazing seeds. And if you want to, you can wash these and roast them with a little spice. You can save them, put them in a little envelope, and try and grow them the next year. Don't worry about the stringy bits because they are full of flavor.
This first bit of preparation is so, so simple. A little drizzle of oil around the rim and also on the inside. We're going to go in with some salt and some pepper. And there's one other little spice that I want to use as well, which is nutmeg. Now this is a mighty spice of Christmas time. About half of one grated. Smells amazing. Put that into a little dish where it snugly fits. So in the oven we go.
1 and 1/2 hours. 180°C, 350°F. Okay. Three nice large leeks. Just take the outer layer off, which tends to be a little bit more fibrous. Just split the leek down the length like that. And then when I wash it under the tap, wash it away from the stalk. Just open up the leek and just wash any grit away. And actually, this little bit of water here is not a bad thing because I'm going to start frying it and it's going to steam nicely before it fries. So, right, leeks washed.
Finely slice that about a quarter of a centimeter. And then as it gets to kind of the whiter part here, then about a centimeter thick will go because they're more tender. I'm going to use garlic as well. Two cloves. Don't need much. Just a little slice there. I'm going to cook this in a large pan. Whack that onto a nice high heat with some butter and olive oil. This is going to serve like 10, 12 people, right? So, our job here is to make these leeks like the best leeks ever. So, when that butter starts to bubble, in we go with the garlic.
I'm going to use thyme, but you can pick any herb that you love, but just a little thyme really makes all the difference. Take the darker green part of the leeks first, and that can benefit from a little bit more direct cooking.
The smell is amazing. In with some salt and pepper. Get that seasoning happening. Go in with the whiter part of the leeks.
Put the lid on. Turn it down to a medium heat. I'm going to cook this for about half an hour. And that environment of frying and steaming is going to tenderize those leeks like you wouldn't believe. I'll give it a stir every now and again, and these will be soft, tender, and gorgeous.
So, this smells amazing. It's had just under half an hour. It's shrunk right down. And I've added a little splash of water here and there as well. And that just ensures that it's really tender and soft. Add a little bit of seasoning. I'm now going to turn it into a white sauce. One heaped tablespoon of plain flour. You can use gluten-free flour. No trouble at all. And that of course will start to thicken with the butter and the oil that we put in. And then we'll add about 500 mls of milk.
Just gently stir that in. It will thicken. It will go shiny. And it will give you that kind of really comforting, unctuous kind of silkiness that you get from a bechamel sauce, but obviously with leek in it. At this time of year, we're all kind of getting our hands around a fair old bit of cheese. So, you can use whatever you want. I'm using cheddar because it's nice and oozy. If you want to mix it up with other chosen cheeses that you love, of course, who doesn't love a little bit of Red Leicester? I'm just going to put a little bit of Gruyère in there, which is fairly mild. It's not too funky, but it's going to really melt in the most beautiful way.
Take it over to our white sauce, and I'll turn the heat off. Now, I don't want to boil cheese, but that residual heat of the sauce is just going to melt it into the most amazing sweet leek cheesy fondue white sauce. And this over your typical cauliflower cheese is like game changer. Next level. Even a spoonful over a little fillet of fish baked in the oven. Joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy.
I want to show you how it all comes together. I've got some breadcrumbs here. About 100 g. And some walnuts. Just scrunch the walnuts into the bread. And then a little olive oil like that. And some salt. And this will be an incredible little crunchy topping for this dish.
I've got the pumpkin here. It's had an hour and a half. Look at that. It smells amazing. It smells really festive. Super, super cool. You can see it's shrunk a little bit. That shrinkage means concentration of flavors. And what it gifts you with, which is really unusual, is this little broth. It is utterly festive. Take some of that amazing pumpkin broth. And this method of cooking pumpkin like this, I just love. And if I'm doing a curry, I will do this and just spice it slightly differently. And this juice you can put into your rice. If you were doing like a North African dish, a tagine or something like that, cook that as well. You know, this is a really cool, really cool technique.
So, fill this up with the beautiful white sauce. You can kind of just go over the rim of the pumpkin. So, be generous. Just look at that.
And then on top of this, I'm going to go on with those beautiful breadcrumbs and nuts.
Just do a pile like that. And the great thing about this recipe is you can do it the day before, right? So, Christmas Eve or even the day before that if you want, right? You can put it all together, let it cool down, cover it, put it somewhere cold, and then on the big day when the turkey comes out, you can get that in the oven. And you just blast that until it's blipping and gorgeous. Look at that. Come on. Imagine that on Christmas day, right? Let's get it in the oven. Let's finish it.
So, in the oven now for 20 minutes until golden, blipping, and delicious.
Look at that. Come on. Get a little platter or a cake stand and just move it over. Come on. That's something different, right? Let's just serve up a little portion just to show you. Beautiful silky creamy leek sauce with a chunk of that lovely squash.
That oozy cheesy sweet leek sauce and those crunchy bits.
So good. Oh my lord. Imagine that in the middle of the table on any Sunday roast, Christmas time, special occasion. It is a beautiful, spectacular thing. And whether you scoop it or slice it, do whatever you want, it's utterly delicious.
20 seconds to tell you about my brand new book, Jamie's 20-Minute Meals. Of course, it's meals that are cooked in 20 minutes. No kind of shortcuts like when we did the filming. It's all in one take, no edits, and it's just beautiful, delicious, nutritious meals, colorful, textural food from all around the world that you can give to your family in 20 minutes.
This is a one-tray wonder. It is so easy and by doing it yourself at home, you know, you're going to save at least half the money than going out and getting it right. It's going to be a glorious feast of color, gentle, wonderful spice, and I think this could be a classic in your home like it is in mine. So, let's do it.
People think that chili is always about heat. Wrong. Wrong. Because often it's about controlling the heat and finding other flavors in chilies. So, what I've got in this dish is I have fresh chilies, easy to get hold of, smoked dried paprika, and then harissa. This is like a ground dried chili in oil. So, that's going to give you layers of juicy, sumptuous, spiciness. We're going to go in with two tablespoons of harissa. If you've never bought it, please try it. It's got a really juicy, fruity, round kind of chili flavor. It's not attacking. And then a couple of tablespoons of lovely olive oil. Right. Then season it up with salt and pepper. And then a good couple of tablespoons of red or white wine vinegar. Look at that. So, you know that's going to kick with flavor.
Into that, we're going to go in with a whole bulb of garlic. Now, this isn't going to be too strong because when you cook whole garlic cloves like this, it goes mild and sweet and you get wonderful perfume. Then, I'll go in with 10 fresh chilies. The standard chilies you'd get in a supermarket. Often they're the red ones or the green ones, sometimes the yellow ones, but they're all going to go in the tray by roasting them whole. It's a very, very gentle heat. It's just complex and interesting and exciting. So, take a knife and just prick each one of those chilies. And that will just stop them from exploding, which is always exciting, and also just let a little bit of spice out.
So, this is now the marinade for this chicken. I'm going to do a simple piece of butchery that everyone can do. Very gently. Don't put too much weight down. Cut down the back of the chicken. It's very, very simple. Open that out like a book. Like that. And then we'll go on top of the chicken and just press it down. It makes it cook more evenly. So, we put this in here and get that vinegar and that oil and the garlic and just have a proper little rub. Now, if you want to wear rubber gloves, go for it. And then use all the garlic and chilies to rub that marinade all over the chicken.
Oh, I forgot one thing. Two onions. Don't forget the onions. Now, the onions, you can go white or red or both if you want, but this is going to give the sauce the sweetness and the silkiness that we definitely want. Get the onions in there. Beautiful.
Here's the little trick. This is when things get even more exciting. Simply, I'm going to get a rack like this, and I'm going to do that. Now, what's brilliant about cooking it directly on the bars is you get 360° roasting, right? The crispiest skin and the juiciest meat, but most importantly is it rains down all of its juices on whatever is below. So, to start with, it will be the garlic and the chilies. That's going to make the most amazing chili sauce you've ever had, right? And then I'm going to put the potatoes underneath it, and it's going to carry on raining. I'm putting it in my wood oven here, 180°C, which is 350°F, for an hour. After half an hour, the chilies and the garlic will come out and I'll make the most amazing sauce. But until then, time for a big clean down.
So, the chicken's cooking beautifully. I can hear it. I can smell it. It's so, so good. Now, potato. I normally cut them into wedges. Easy peasy. But this time I am going to show you one of the weapons of being a dad with kids, the crinkle cutter. I know it kind of probably seems a little bit daft, but all the work I did in schools, one thing I did learn was if you put a whole fruit out, half the kids won't take it. If you cut it up, you know, crinkle cutter, little fruit cutter, they all eat it, right? So that is the spirit for me. Make food fun. Make it exciting. So spuds are done. Let's get the chicken out. It's had half an hour, so it's already roasting up a treat.
Come on. Look at that. Just beautiful. So, see all the fat rendering here and crisping up that skin. Look at the flavor, right? That's dripping down on our amazing chilies and onions and garlic. Take a plate and remove all these beautiful whole ingredients. These will now become one of the best chili sauces I think you might ever try. So, out with the onions, garlic, and chili.
And now in with our crinkle-cut potatoes.
Sometimes I put a little cheeky bit of vinegar in just to help the sticky bits come off the bottom. And then they start to kind of dress the potatoes.
And by the way, if you wanted to put parsnips in here, carrots in here, you know, nice root veg, they taste incredible. Right now for the third expression of chili, the smoked dried paprika. Happy days. So, a little teaspoon seasoned on top like that. So, the chicken goes back on top to carry on cooking. That will go in the oven for another half an hour. So, that's an hour in total. And then when the chicken is roasting, that's when we'll get a little bit of color on those potatoes.
Now, for one of the most amazing chili sauces. For this, I'm using a blender. You could use a pestle and mortar. No worries. So the onions can go straight in because they're soft and marmalady and gorgeous. That will give you kind of the sweetness and the texture that we want. Then when it comes to the garlic, squeeze those incredible little cloves that are now soft out of the skin and in there like that. That garlic, even though it's a whole bulb, is mild and fragrant and sweet.
Now, now with the chilies, if it's just all about heat, you can't taste nothing. So take the stalk off, split it open, and just take the seeds out like that. Then what you've done is minimized heat and maximized flavor. This is going to give you the most incredible rounded, balanced chili flavor straight in the liquidizer. So let's get rid of all these seeds. That's the hot stuff. Have a little clean down and make sure you wash your hands. Otherwise, you could get caught out.
To make this into a beautiful sauce, we fragrance mint. Mint and chili are literally like best mates, right? Since birth, right? It's such a good combo. Then a swig, about a tablespoon of vinegar, because you want that tang, and a nice pinch of salt, right? We'll whiz this up with a little splash of water. Enough to kind of make it a nice saucy texture. And then just whiz it up in the greenhouse as you do.
Here we go.
Right. You got to test it for salt and vinegar. Just a kiss more. You need the tang. You need the seasoning. It's got loads of fruit. It's hot, but not in a kind of aggressive way. It's sort of gentle. It's sort of like chili, but in kind of like silk sheets. So, the chili sauce, just put that into a nice bowl. Look at that. And what's really cool about this recipe is if you only made that with green chilies, then that will be green. If you went yellow, it'd be yellow. If it be red, it'd be red. And of course, this is a bit of everything. So, yes.
To contrast all of that, I'm going to do an amazing one-minute slaw. Anything crunchy, apple, onion, fennel, carrot, cabbage of any description, cucumber, anything crunchy you've got in your fridge. Have a little mind sweep. And then we'll take those kind of clanky old frumpy things and we'll make it into like a thing of beauty. So grate the apple core and all straight through there. Easy. Soon as you've done that, we'll go on to like your white cabbage.
Long strokes and then you get really nice texture. And then you can kind of mix it up with some red cabbage if you want to. Onion, cucumber, always a winner. Long strokes, fresh. Then if you've got things like fennel, really nice. So you take your everyday standard coleslaw, start making it a little bit posh.
Carrots of course is standard, but the kids absolutely love it. Maybe something you haven't done before is sweet corn, and those lovely little capsules of the corn are just so sweet. So, this nutrition and this freshness in contrast with the crispy skin and that gentle heat and then the chili sauce. Win win. Look at that boss.
All I'm going to do now is dress this with some nice yogurt, whole grain mustard, a heaped teaspoon, hand action, and then just give it a nice little dress up. Now, to give it tang, lemon juice. So, this is what I'm doing when I'm trying to come up with recipes, like just have contrast and freshness. But look at that. A beautiful messy plate of beautifulness. Bit of olive oil just to kind of say I love you.
Rainbow slaw in seconds.
Wow. This chicken has had an hour. It's got nice color on it. So, as per normal with any roasting joint, you know, you let it rest, right? Give it a couple of minutes. And by opening that chicken out, what you do is get perfectly cooked wings, breast, and the lovely juicy thigh drumstick there. Look, the actual bone comes out. Amazing, right? Spuds.
Look at that. Beautiful. Sizzling away properly gnarly and crispy and really nice with the skin left on them. Joyful. So, we got a lovely bit of thigh there. Got a nice little drumstick. Then we got half of that little wing. Just gorgeous.
Let's get some of those spuds. And then our friend, Mr. Chili Sauce. Come on. Yes. Bit of slaw. So, there you go. That is a beautiful plate of goodness. Little squeeze of lemon maybe. Right. Bit of spud, bit of chicken.
Chili sauce. There you go. That is what you call a little mouthful of joy.
You have to make that. That has got so many layers of flavor. A chili sauce to die for. It's not hot. It's got layers and layers of flavor. And it's a one-tray wonder. What you waiting for? Go. Kids' lunch.
