Whoa, look at that. People are so busy these days, and I think that many of us are struggling to put good homemade food on the table.
But I've got a solution for you, and it all happens in here. One pan.
These are dishes that I've simplified so you can easily cook them in one pan. Less washing up, less ingredients. Easy little hacks, shortcuts. This is the sort of food that gets me excited. That is a pie in a pan. You got to have a go at that.
From one pan roast dinners to the quickest pastas, party pies to easy tray baked cakes. This is a fresh new way of cooking that will change your life.
Hungry or not hungry that much? >> Hungry. >> And just that to wash up. What a joy.
Welcome to One Pound Wonders.
I'm going to make the most delicious, scrumptious thing that comes in a bun that me and Jules love at the weekend. It's full of color. It's succulent and tasty, and it's my aubergine burger. It is utterly delicious.
Celebrating the humble aubergine in crispy parmesan with mozzarella and sundried tomatoes. This anxious one pan burger takes minutes to make and delivers big on incredible Italian flavors. So pan goes on medium high heat. Get your lovely aubergine and I want you to cut down the length of it. I take this end off first. Go for about 2 cm which is that. And carefully just go all the way through like that and like that.
So, we've got our two slices. If you've got a little bit of the stalk there, we can just take that off. Season this with salt and press it down. That will start to break down the aubergine. So, these two slices go straight in the pan, dry, and that's going to make them toasty and a little bit smoky and most importantly cook it so it's silky soft. The offcuts, don't worry. Put them back together. These will go in the fridge. We'll use them for soups, stews, pasta sauces. It won't go to waste. But I will take now parmesan.
Mozzarella. So first up with the parmesan I'm going to grate some of that and that's going to become the outer crispy bit of the aubergine later. Okay. So I've got buffalo mozzarella. It melts beautifully and I'm just going to cut into four lovely slices. Then I'm going to use some sundried tomatoes. Two nice big ones. Now the thing I love about sundried tomatoes is the sweetness. Slice that up. A little goes a long way.
And then as we're doing classic Italian flavors, we can only add to that with beautiful basil. So just little plump handful like that. And now turn the aubergine. So nothing in this pan at all, but see that we're getting that lovely toasty char, which is lovely. Press it down. Just toast them like that for 3 minutes on each side. Now we're going to give it a coating. So for that we need eggs. One lovely free range egg. And that's going to stick grated parmesan to this creamy smoky aubergine.
Right. So just beat up the egg, hit it up with some black pepper and grate the parmesan. That is going to be our outer coating of the aubergine. So, as this comes up to 3 minutes, it's looking good. You can tell that it's cooked by the fact that it's nice and bendy now, right? The dry frying is genius. You're not sort of soaking it up with loads of oil. So, we are ready now to cover this in beautiful things. Take it out of the pan and go hot into the eggs. Bathe it. Get the fork and just stab it in there and let the egg go through it. And then once you've done that, you take it off and you lay it into your parmesan.
And do the same with this one.
And then we're going to go back into the pan. A little drizzle of oil. Then we'll pick up those aubergines and we'll place them in the pan. And slowly, slowly melt the parmesan. It goes golden. It goes crisp. Crispy on the outside, kind of really soft and gooey on the inside. Let that have about a minute and a half. And when I gently pick it up.
Oh yes.
Just get the mozzarella, pop it in the pan next to it just to get a little bit of heat going through it just to get an ooze on. And then once it's had like 30 seconds, I'm going to place that mozzarella on one side of the aubergine. Like that. And I'll do the same for these as well.
This is now getting seriously exciting.
Go in with our lovely sundried tomatoes.
Push it down. Go in with the basil. Just rip it on.
And then when the underside has had about the same time as the other side, then you're going to just pick this up and squash it over like this. See?
Push it like that up the pan. Don't be polite about it. Don't, oh, you know, just pick it up. Fold it in half. That's your job. If it breaks, don't matter, right? Just go with the flow. Come on. Let's get the ooze on. Right. Buns. Who doesn't love a nice burger? I'm a meat eater, but this is a vegetarian dish that I would absolutely fight for. It's delicious.
So, look, I'm plating up now. And we didn't start it that long ago.
Let's get this on here.
Look at that sizzling deliciousness.
And you pretty much cleaned the pan for you. Your washing up's going to be very easy.
So that, my friends, is my aubergine burger. It's big. It's lush. It's full of flavor. And that for me and Jules is going to be great. What a lovely little lunch. One pan to wash up. Happy days.
A little drizzle of balsamic.
Oh.
Oh, god. That is so good. Um, if you thought you didn't like aubergine, then give this a try, honestly, because it's so juicy. It's not greasy in the slightest. You got that crispy outer layer and then the classic Italian flavors.
So, that is a proper nice weekend treat all in one pan. Happy days.
This one pound wonder is a dish that's full of life, full of flavor. And if you come home from work and you're a little bit tired, this is going to wake you up and give you something delicious. We're talking textures, flavors, color, surprise, but ultimately we're taking everyday things like oranges, carrots, salmon, and we're going to bring it to a new place.
This super easy sesame seared salmon is delicious and full of great little hacks to prove that fantastic textures and flavors can be created in no time at all and all in one pan. First up, if I'm going to cook that bit of salmon, it's going to take about 7 minutes to cook, give or take. And very simply, cut it in half using the length of the knife right down to the skin. Right, that's now going to take 3 or 4 minutes to cook. So, I've got a little optional extra for the salmon, which I love to do, which is salmon cracklings, right? It's very simple. Let me just show you. You get the skin of the salmon like that. And you just simply put the knife into it and you cut along the skin. And you get that, right? And when you put that in the pan, that will go like a delicious crisp.
A little seasoning of salt like that on the skin and the salmon. A little pinch of pepper.
Then we can encrust it with something delicious. I'm going to use sesame seeds. Absolutely brilliant. If you get like two heaped tablespoons on a plate, we don't need any flour or eggs to make it stick.
We'll simply lay the salmon on the sesame seeds like this. Push down. Very, very simple. And then when you take it up, look at that. So that encrustment will go golden and crisp and it will be so so delicious. And I'm just going to do it on one side because I love that contrast between the crunchy sesame seed crust and then just the natural flaky salmon. So it's a really lovely little tip. Now before I cook that, I'm going to make some grains. Really, really delicious. Uh, you can get little pouches of grains, all kinds of different grains, and they're really convenient. This one's got barley, red rice, quinoa.
So, put a little swig of water in there. That will soften the grains up. So, while they're slowly heating up, I'm going to take these leftover sesame seeds from the salmon, and I'm not going to waste those. They're going to go in the pestle and mortar and make the most delicious dressing. I'm going to take about a tablespoon and just kind of grind them like this.
And what's interesting is, see how creamy that is. So, next, a nice big handful of mint leaves. Smash up the mint to a paste. And as soon as you've done that, in no time at all, take your orange, cut it in half, and we'll squeeze that in.
A nice little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, pinch of seasoning, and a little splash of red wine vinegar. Bang.
So this is now a creamy minty dressing.
So, in it goes.
Can be room temperature, cold or hot.
Now, we're going to cook the salmon. So, pan's back on. Just wipe it out. Medium high heat. So, we're going to go in now with the skin. The natural fat will come out. I'm not going to put any oil in this pan at all. Just use the natural oils from the fish. So all those natural oils are coming out. And then sort of getting the pan ready for these beautiful salmon fillets. Look how lovely and golden that is. Then we go in with these lovely sesame seed salmon fillets. Right, they only need 3 minutes on one side and 1 minute on the other. So this really is super fast cooking. Right, wash me hands.
If we just twizzle our board, I'm going to take the everyday carrot to make a lovely ribbon salad. So, we will peel, peel, peel, and keep peeling until you can't peel anymore. So, this will be a really quick, exciting little salad.
Little pinch of salt, a little pinch of pepper, some mint leaves, and we can dress that with just a little oil and a swig of vinegar or a little squeeze of citrus.
I want to show you a little kind of hack ingredient. Harissa. It's really a cool chili sauce. It's not blow your head off hot. It's North African. It's peppers and chilies and spices blended and pounded with oil. And if I just take a little bit of that oil. Chili, mint, carrot. Really good friends.
So, let's turn them. Let's have a little look at what we've done. Look at that, guys. Sizzling, golden, and perfect. I'll turn the heat off now. In fact, I don't want to overcook the fish. Look at that. So good. The natural oils in the fish and the natural oils in the sesame seeds. All of which are so good for you.
I'm going to take one last orange and peel it finely. Slice it. Orange, chili, mint, carrot. Really, really good.
You got the little crispy bits. Yum. My kids go absolutely mad for those crispy bits. Then we've got that lovely harissa.
Couple of bits of mint. So there you go. Two lovely different plates. Right, let's have a little try.
I'm telling you, the combo, the chili, the orange, the crunch, the sesame, it's absolutely blooming delicious.
So, look, there's the little bit of crunchy skin with the chili sauce. That is delicious. That's a one pound wonder that's quick and it's really exciting. Give it a go.
I want to let you into a little secret that makes a massive difference to my life. Batch cooking. A big old pan of food. Could be a bolognese, a soup, a stew. In this case, I'm going to show you how to make a beautiful veggie casserole, right, with roasted squash, chickpeas, mushrooms, tomatoes. But from that, you can do so many different dishes.
This hearty one pan batch of chickpea and squash casserole will save you time and money. And it guarantees you a whole range of versatile dishes packed full of gorgeous roasted veggies.
I've got a butternut squash there. Very carefully put the tip in the center and then go carefully all the way down and then rotate it carefully all the way down and then take these seeds out. So, what I want to do is amplify flavor of veggies all the way through this recipe. So, you don't just get kind of boiled veg, you get delicious food. So, by roasting the squash, we're going to literally double or triple the flavor. I'm only going to put a little bit of olive oil on this squash and salt.
And that's it. Now, the oven is at 180° C, which is 350 Fahrenheit. Straight onto the bars, skin side down, and that will start concentrating the flavor there. So, I've got 400 g of your everyday cheap mushrooms.
I'm just going to literally break up these mushrooms and go in dry to the pan. No oil at the moment. It's going to dehydrate the mushrooms and concentrate their flavor. Let's give this a little stir. You can see the moisture coming out of the mushrooms. So, let that crack on for 10 minutes.
Okay, let's talk about more veggies. Four onions peeled and four peppers. And with the peppers, thumb goes in, right? And then you can split open the pepper like that. Take the seeds out. And then I'm going to tear it up chunky. Big chunks, like 2 in chunks.
As I stir it, it's almost squeaking because it's scorching it. It's charring it. So, it's giving it a toasty, smoky flavor.
So, roughly chop the onions and in they go. Salt and pepper. And we'll let that carry on and scald and steam and intensify for another 10 minutes. And then I'm going to get some chickpeas, some tomatoes, and some tapenade. It's chopped up olives. What I love about this is it's a flavor bomb waiting to happen. So, that's a nice little hack and an ingredient that I love to have at home always. And two garlic cloves will be enough. Peel this garlic and finely slice. So, we go in with two tablespoons of olive oil and two garlic. Then we can go in with the tapenade. Two tablespoons straight in there. Deep flavors seasoning. Again, I'm going to go in also with 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar. And what that will give you is this beautiful kind of sweet and sour veggie base deep in flavor. And when that's cooked away, then and only then we can add the wet stuff. The tin tomatoes, whole plum. You'll get a sweeter flavor. Two tins, clean hands, scrunch it. This is what the nonnas do in Italy, the grandmothers. And then once you've done that, fill these tins up with water.
That will clean the tin out and also gives you the perfect amount of moisture to really make this into a lovely casserole stew.
And then the chickpeas. Now, you can go for cheap tinned chickpeas and they're nice, but the extraordinary chickpeas are the jarred ones, right? They're more expensive, but they're twice the size. They're twice as delicious and they're creamy and amazing. So look out for these in delis. You can get them online. You can get them in certain supermarkets. So whether using jars or tins of chickpeas, go in with them. Juice and all. Right. All the juice. That juice is very useful.
Beautiful. Bring that to the boil. Let me just wash me hands.
So, as that comes to the boil, you'll see that begin to thicken. So, give it a nice stir. Tiny little bit of seasoning, not too much, cuz it's going to reduce down. Hopefully, what you've got from this method is that I'm commanding flavor out of veggies at every stage. And I'll finish it in the oven. Let's check in on the squash. Look, we've already got a nice bit of color there. You might want to use a pair of tongs, but I'm going to place that squash on the stew like that. Just push it down and then place this back in the oven.
So, we'll carry on cooking that at 180°C, which is 350 Fahrenheit for like an hour and a half until everything is just gorgeous and cooked through. And then you can stir that squash in big hunks through it. That amazing casserole took less than half an hour to put together, to get to that stage. And then you let the oven do all the work.
So it smells amazing. It's had an hour and a half. Look at it blipping away. I love it when it does that.
Proper hearty food.
Get yourself a spoon. Now, the reason that I've roasted the squash on top is so you get maximum roast, which is maximum flavor. Also, the skin on butternut squash is utterly delicious, like candy. Get a spoon in and just break it up into little hunks of squash. Give it a nice little mix up. Then have a little taste.
Mmm.
You can adjust with a little salt and pepper. And something I like to do is just a little thimble of vinegar just to bring the flavor out, make it a little bit kind of lighter, more tangy. That is a great dish in its own right.
Oh, massive flavor. So, there you go. One pan squash and chickpea casserole. What are you waiting for? You need to get some of that in your life. So, I'll let that cool down.
What I tend to do is freeze most of it. But from this dish, there's so many things you can do. You can rustle up loads of different dishes with flavors from all around the world. Go Italian and simply have it with toast, delicious pesto, and buffalo mozzarella. Or serve it Spanish style with chorizo and potatoes.
And I love to spice up my chickpea and squash casserole with curry paste to turn it into a gorgeous veggie curry.
>> Look at this. >> Or my favorite curry. >> Do you prefer veggie curry to me? >> 100%. >> Pat, sort your dad out. Go on. >> This is the best day ever.
