The way the nation is
eating is changing fast
and we all know we should be eating
a lot less meat.
And l 'm gonna prove to you it's
a lot easier than you may think.
The supermarket shees are packed
full of meat and dairy aernatives,
but which ones are packed full
of flavour?
I 'll experiment
to find out which products deserve
a permanent place in your kitchen.
I 'll be sharing my recipes for
classic dishes and fami favourites
to prove to you you can say
goodbye to meat
without saying goodbye
to your favourite foods.
Move over, bland lentil stews
and soggy nut roasts -
this is how you cook
proper vegetarian food
like you won't believe.
Join me and live life on the veg.
Now, spinach
and ricotta cannelloni is
a firm favourite in my house,
so l 'm gonna show you
a vegan version, and I promise you,
l promise you, you're not gonna
notice the difference.
So the first thing we're gonna do
is tomato sauce.
So, tomatoes... in.
To that l 'm gonna add two cloves
of garlic...
some thyme...
some sa and pepper...
and a good slug
of real nice olive oil.
OK, so give that a stir.
And l like a nice chilli kick,
so l 'm gonna add
some chilli flakes.
That goes into a hot oven
at around about 180
and it's gonna start to reduce
and concentrate all those flavours
and it'll take about 20 minutes.
So onto the next bit,
so this is the ricotta element.
Now, a lot of vegan cheese can be
a bit hit and miss,
so, in order to get that kind
of ricotta taste
and texture,
I 'm gonna use some almonds,
and it's real clever.
There's quite a lot here but we're
going to soak them in this oat milk.
A decent amount of sa
and the almonds will take on that
texture of ricotta.
Now give it a good stir.
Pinch of nutmeg
and then one big fat
clove of garlic.
Squeeze of lemon...
give it a mix
and then final
we're going to add...
some of these yeast flakes.
And the yeast flakes will give it
almost like a cheesy taste.
A real kind of deep umami flavour.
So this is the sort
of consistency you're looking for.
You're looking for ricotta that
you've broken down in a bowl.
It's got that same sort of texture,
that kind of cheesy resemblance
that ricotta has.
So onto the spinach.
Put it in a pan. You keep it moving,
it's going to wi.
Add a decent amount of sa.
So when the spinach is wied down
we need to drain it.
And then give it a good chop.
After it's cooled for
a couple of minutes
stir the spinach into the mix.
So that's the filling done.
Now we need to get on with
the bechamel.
Now for the bechamel we're going to
follow that traditional route
where you need some flour, you need
some fat and you need some milk.
More oat milk.
I n with a good amount of oi
rough haff and haff,
haff oi haff flour.
We'll whisk that in.
You'll start to cook the flour out,
cos you don't want any
of that floury taste,
and then in with the oat milk.
So you don't get any lumps,
add the milk little by little
and whisk it in
and you'll see it thicken instant.
Let's add a decent amount
of mustard.
Stir that in.
And then some more
of these yeast flakes.
And that's going to give
this bechamel
that real kind of rich,
cheesy taste.
OK, then that's it.
Just put that to one side, need to
let that cool just a little bit
and we'll start assembling.
That looks real good.
Nice and deep and rich.
It smel amazing as wel
very happy.
So now we need to fill the pasta.
You need a piping bag.
If you fold
the piping bag over your hand
like this it just makes life
a lot easier -
to control what's going
in the bag with your hand.
So take the end off your piping bag.
Don't take too much off
cos you won't be able to control
the amount you fil
and then pipe it in like so.
Just push as you go.
Then just lay it in
the tomato sauce.
OK, that's it.
So fill as many tubes as you can fit
in the dish
and then, last, be generous
with your bechamel.
And then final we're going to
finish with some breadcrumbs.
Again just to give a bit of
texture and a bit of crunch.
OK, and that's it.
Back into the oven at 180 degrees
for around 30 minutes
or until it's bubbling and golden.
So l know my cannelloni's ready
to go cos I can smell it
and it's looking real good.
There you go.
It looks good, it smel good,
it's got that slight wobble on it
so I know it's not dry.
That's going to be delicious.
Beautiful crispy.
Let's have a look at this.
So the pasta's nice cooked.
It's real silky,
it's got a real good,
honest, a real good deep kind
of cheese flavour.
The tomato sauce is nice
and rich and that crunch,
the crunch is delicious.
Do you know what?
This is in no way authentic,
but l don't real care
because it tastes so good.
Coming up, l show you how to
transform the modest mushroom
into a meaty and rich
mushroom and ale hot pot.
It's indulgent, it's satisfying,
it's a real treat.
And jane Baxter is making
a selection of Sri Lankan curries
that are fragrant, light
and perfect for a curry night.
It looks great, they smell amazing.
To try any of the recipes from
the series go to...
So when people think about reducing
the amount of meat they eat
or becoming vegetarian,
they do worry about where
the protein's going to come from.
Traditional, that would be meat
and fish and dairy, for example.
But some vegetables contain loads
of protein natural,
like chickpeas,
lenti and even peas.
But sometimes you want to recreate
the texture of meat
and there's one vegetable
that's real good at that.
Mushrooms.
We're all familiar with mushrooms
but there are so many
different types.
These are one of my favourite
things to cook with.
They're so good at retaining
their taste and their texture,
they've all got
an individual taste in themsees,
but when you add them
to a certain dish
they're real good at absorbing
all the other flavours.
Oyster mushrooms,
these are one of my favourites,
and they're often used as
a meat substitute in a dish
because of that texture,
essential.
So for this next recipe
I 'm going to concentrate on these.
So l 'm going to use these delicious
oyster mushrooms in my twist on
a great British classic which
is a mushroom and ale hot pot.
So first thing l need to do,
small baby potatoes in their skins
into cold water.
Plenty of sa.
Right, so while they're cooking,
l 'm going to get on with
the marinade for our mushrooms.
So let's start with some Marmite.
Rea rich, umami, meaty taste.
To that, l 'll add the ale,
about 100ml of ale.
Now we need a bit of sweetness,
so maple syrup,
about a tablespoon of that.
And then sesame oil.
This will give a nice kind of nutty,
roasted flavour
and then we're going to add
some yeast flakes,
a generous tablespoon.
About a tablespoon
of garlic granules there
and then this nice, hot,
smoky paprika.
So, good amount of butter.
When the butter starts
to brown, add your mushrooms.
Then what you want to do
is get a smaller pan
and just weight them down.
Now that's going to compress
those layers within the mushroom
and make them real,
real dense and meaty.
OK, so while that's going on,
let's start frying the rest
of the mushrooms.
Choose the larger ones first
and get those colouring nice
before you add
the smaller thinner ones.
So just check your oyster mushrooms.
When they start to brown,
start to look golden,
take them out
and drop them in that marinade.
When the mushrooms start
to look beautiful golden,
they can go into
the marinade as well.
Give those a stir
and while they're hot
they're going
to absorb all that amazing marinade.
And while l 'm stirring it, l can
smell it and it smel delicious.
Now you can fry off the rest
of the smaller mushrooms.
OK, so on with the base.
Now onion, carrot and celery.
So the mushrooms are done,
so all we need do to now is
to concentrate on this sauce.
So more butter in the pan
and then in with the veg...
and to that l 'm going to add
about three cloves of garlic.
Now, you could add any herbs
you like to this,
but l 'm going to get some
thyme and some sage.
A generous spoonful of each.
I can smell the flavours.
Sudden the food gets elevated
to a different level.
OK, so in with some tomato puree,
about a tablespoon.
Next, some wholegrain mustard.
To this l 'm going to add some
baamic vinegar,
a little bit of sharpness,
a little bit of sweetness.
And then in with
the rest of my ale.
So after a couple of minutes
I 'm going to add our mushrooms
and add all the marinade as well.
This is going to be in the oven
for a while,
so l 'm going to add
a little bit of stock.
This is just vegetable stock.
And then, last, another bay leaf.
So, give that a stir
and you want to bring that
back up to a boil
to get all those flavours
coming together.
So while we're waiting
for the potatoes,
we can put our mushrooms into
the serving dish...
with all that stock.
OK, so our potatoes are ready.
We need to tear them apart
in their skins.
Very, very kind of rustic.
So while they're hot,
add some more butter,
a generous slug of olive oil.
Now l know there's
a lot of butter gone into this dish
but this is a bit of a treat,
this is not an everyday thing.
And then, last, some cheese.
So make sure you give this
a real good mix
so everything is coated
nice and even.
Once it's on this finished hotpot,
it's going to be delicious.
Another generous sprinkle
of grated cheese
and now that's ready
to go into a hot oven at about 180
for about 30 to 40 minutes until
the top is nice charred.
THAT looks real good.
It's real hot and real heavy.
You've got the bubb
hotpot underneath
and that kind of almost
spider web of cheese
and crispy potato on top.
That's going to be delicious.
Mm, that's so delicious.
It's real super, super rich.
You real would think that
is full of meat stock
and it real isn't at all.
All those strong flavours that we
put in that marinade just bringing
together the most delicious taste.
This is rich,
it's indulgent, it's satisfying,
it's a real treat
and do you know what?
We all need those once in a while.
Jane Baxter takes inspiration
from her trave
and creates vegetable-based dishes
that are original and surprising,
so l 'm real excited
to see what she's got in store.
So, Baxter,
what are you treating me to tonight?
Sri Lankan curries.
Shall we go and do it then?
Yeah, let's do it.
When l say, "We,"... Me.
..I meant you.
We're going to start with the rice.
When I cook rice, I do it by sight.
I soak the rice really well
for about an hour
and then I always put
the water up to first knuckle.
OK. Top tip. And that's... yeah.
I 'm going to write that down.
I think you should!
First of all, cook
a little bit of onion with the rice,
with a few aromatic spices.
We have bay leaves,
cardamom and cloves.
OK. And cook those first
for a little while
before we add our drained rice.
Sunflower oil here.
Bay leaves, curry leaves,
I 'm just going to add
a little bit of garlic, sliced,
and I 'm going to drain the rice.
The rice has been well soaked
and rinsed and in it goes.
Season it with some salt
at this point.
We're just going to use
a bit of water,
bring it up to the boil.
We're going to simmer this
for about five minutes. Mm-hm.
Turn it right down and then we're
going to put a tea towel on.
It absorbs all the steam
and rice is fluffier.
I will try that. l 'm going to write
that down. I think you should.
Rice is on, what now?
Let's do the pineapple curry. OK.
Prepping pineapples,
I take the core
and I 'm just going to go around
and do this with each section.
Let me just check on the rice.
OK, that's nearly absorbed.
And just leave it like that?
Just cover it.
I 'm going to leave it
for five minutes on a low heat
and then I 'm going to turn it off.
Right, pineapple's all prepared
and now we're
going to chop up our onion... OK.
And our pepper... Mm-hm.
And our chilli.
Let's talk about curry leaves, then.
They're not spicy
but they add something
and I think what they add
is really hard to recreate.
Look, we're using coconut oil... OK.
But you can use sunflower oil
or a flavourless oil.
We're going to add our curry leaves,
cinnamon stick and
the mustard seeds.
You need to bring out the flavours
of these in the oil. OK.
I mean, automatical, l can
smell that, right?
So you're releasing the flavour,
you can smell it.
Before they start popping
and going everywhere... OK.
I 'm going to throw in our onion.
So this is going to cook
for about five minutes.
So the onions and peppers
and spices are sizzling nicely.
I 'm going to add the chilli. OK.
I 'm going to add
a little bit of garlic,
I 'm going to grate this in.
I n with the spices,
we've got some curry powder
and some turmeric.
All sunny colours.
Ooh, that smel good.
And in goes the pineapple.
Stir it really well. Mm-hm.
And now I 'm
going to add my coconut milk. OK.
And season it with a bit of salt...
Yeah.
Pepper, and let it simmer
for about ten minutes
so that all the flavours combine.
Just ten minutes, then?
Yeah, just ten minutes.
You don't want it
to go sort of really soggy.
So l 'm quite surprised
because, with all those kind
of strong curry flavours,
the coconut milk is
the dominant smell I 'm getting here.
You know, you're getting
a little bit of pineapple,
but l thought this was going to be
a real sweet curry.
No. But it's not. It's not.
Roughly chop the coriander.
Whack this in.
OK. Right.
OK, so that's finished
and it can just sit to one side
while we get on with the beetroot.
OK. Beetroot curry is
a dry one, grated.
We're going to cook it from raw.
So I 've got the beetroot
and it's best to get this job
out of the way first
cos grating
beetroot is a little bit messy.
I was going to say your hands are
going to go bright red, right? Yeah.
It's a lovely smell,
isn't it, the fresh beetroot?
So here's our beetroot all grated.
Next bit is chilli,
onion and ginger.
And like the pineapple curry, we
just need to have everything ready
so that, when we fry
the spices, it can all go in.
Right. Fry the spices.
It's now time to fry everything off.
So we're going to add
our coconut oil.
That's quite a lot of cumin.
It's very strong.
I 'm not going to put
all of this in. OK.
I 'm just going to put
a couple of teaspoons in. OK.
Mustard seeds
and the curry leaves.
So you need quite
a lot of curry leaves?
Yeah, well, you buy curry leaves
in a packet.
It's almost like a little bush.
Yeah.
Yeah, you just get one sprig of it
and pull them off
and the smell will hit you
and it's gorgeous.
I 'm going to add the daal. Yep.
Oh, not too much then?
No, not too much.
I 'm smelling those flavours already.
It smel great.
It is gorgeous.
We're going to add our onion...
and chilli... Mm-hm.
Along with our garlic and ginger.
Right, just give this a few minutes.
There's a little bit of turmeric
and a funny spice,
asafoetidia or asafoetida.
Quite sort of sulphurous.
Sulphurous, yeah.
You sort of generally add
it before you're going to add
your main ingredient,
just to get the flavour in there.
And now the beetroot,
along with a little bit of coconut.
So we're just using
desiccated coconut.
A pinch of sugar.
So we're going to season it now
with salt and pepper.
So I 'm going to turn this down now
and cover it
and just let it cook gently
for about ten minutes.
I 'm kind of feeling bad.
I 'm just sat here writing things.
Things don't change much, do they?
Have a drink. Cheers.
So we're near there, then.
Yeah, I 'm just going to add
a bit of coriander
to the beetroot,
which should be ready.
That looks good.
Steaming away nicely.
Never had a beetroot curry, jane.
Well, here we go.
You're having pineapple
AN D beetroot.
I mean, it's not looking like
a curry. This is quite a dry curry.
It's a really good method
of cooking vegetables.
You could use carrot,
grated cabbage, kohlrabi. OK.
You know, it's very versatile. OK.
OK, let's serve up. Let's go.
Let's go.
It looks great
and it smel amazing.
Right, let's try this.
Mm! How is it?
Real delicious.
Spicy, real, real spicy,
got that crunch from the daal.
You really taste the beetroot,
you have all those textures
and the pineapple's quite spicy.
I have to say the rice is delicious.
Just that little bit of onion
at the start. Yeah.
This is delicious, so love
as aays. Cheers. Brilliant.
Coming up, l 'm not a fan of tofu,
so l 'm on the hunt for
a dish that will change my mind,
and l 'll be showing you
a delicious recipe
for churros that's fun to make
and uses sweet potato.
Very naughty.
To try any of the recipes from
the series, go to...
Takeaways have become a massive part
of all our lives in Britain
with most of us having at least one
once a week.
But how easy is it to get
a vegan fix from a takeaway?
Now, my go-to is aays
a Chinese for
the amazing flavours and textures.
Now, tofu is a staple ingredient
in Chinese cuisine
but it can ao be used as
a bad substitute for meat
and it can be quite bland.
So l 'm off to try a Chinese takeaway
that ao happens to be vegan.
Hey, how you doin'?
Hey, man, how are you?
I 'm good thanks. OK,
I need to try some good tofu.
Came to the right place.
Actually we have
a very special dish on tonight.
Right. It's called Mapo Tofu,
it's like a kind
of braised silken tofu,
kind spicy and Sichuan style. Yeah?
Nice. Very delicious.
Sounds good.
OK. I 'll have some of that.
All right, let's do it.
Now l 've had a few run-ins
with tofu over the years
and not all of them have been great.
But l 'm real excited about this
because it's going to be spicy
and all those flavours I love.
All right. Nice.
Thank you very much.
Already looks better than any
tofu dish I 've tried before.
Mm, this is delicious.
This is real, real spicy.
I haven't had it like this before.
So you've got that nice kind
of soft texture of the tofu
and it's almost quite cooling,
against that real sort
of spicy, vinegary sauce.
Now this tofu starts life
real quite white
so you can see how it's soaked up
all those flavours
and it real is just kind
of a good vehicle for lots
and lots of spice and lots
and lots of deep flavours.
And it's now available in all
the major chains throughout
the country so you can enjoy
a meat-free takeaway.
And this has changed
my mind on tofu.
I 'm going to revisit this in
the kitchen.
So this is my recipe
for tofu Pad Thai.
Let's get going.
So let's have a shallot...
couple of cloves of garlic...
spring onions we're going to use
in two ways.
So l 'm going to save the green tips
and just shred them real,
real quite fine
and that's going to get scattered
over right at the top
as a last-minute kind of addition.
And then, with the main bulk of it,
just cut it into chunks.
And then the spring onions become
kind of much more of
an ingredient rather than a bit of
an afterthought thrown
in at the end.
OK, so next peel the outside of
the carrot,
then either cut it as thin as
you can or, if you have them,
use a mandolin.
OK, so we're near there.
The last thing is this
pickled ginger.
Now, this is gonna give you
a nice kind of acidic quality
to the Pad Thai and this is dead
easy to get hold of,
all supermarkets sell this now,
and it's a real nice addition
to have in your cupboard.
OK, so on with the sauce.
So this is a vegan fish sauce.
It's say main,
it's incredib strong,
it's incredib fragrant.
Soy sauce,
again for more kind of sa
and deep umami flavours.
This is tamarind
and tamarind is acidic.
It's the main ingredient in
brown sauce,
so if you like that, you'll
like this.
This is a store cupboard essential.
This is miso paste.
And if you've got it and you add to
any dish you like, it's
a real flavour enhancer.
And then last good old
tomato ketchup,
sweetness and about
a tablespoon of that.
OK, so the last ingredient is
a bit of sugar
and the brown sugar in my opinion is
so much nicer than caster sugar,
cos already you've got those kind
of carame notes.
It lends itseff to so many dishes.
And then we're just gonna mix
that with
a little bit of water.
So we're near there.
A bit of coriander.
st*lks go in first,
just to cook them down,
and the leaves you don't real
wanna cook,
you just wanna chop a few up
and throw them in and that,
again, keeps that kind
of vibrancy.
OK,
so those are the main ingredients,
let's talk about the tofu.
So this is silken tofu.
It's a bit like blancmange.
But this is gonna be
the base of this dish.
So this is gonna replicate that
kind of scrambled egg element that
you get in a classic Pad Thai.
And then this... is puffed tofu.
Now this is already fried,
and as soon as that hits hot oi
it starts to crisp up.
So this has got a very,
very different texture.
This is soft and meing and this is
a little bit kind of meatier.
So noodles in.
These are rice noodles,
classic ingredient of Pad Thai.
They'll take about three minutes.
While that's going, l think we'll
crack on with the cooking.
So high heat, and this is all fast
and last minute.
So we're gonna fry this in
a nice clean oil.
Shallots and garlic.
And we'll give those a minute,
and then we'll add
the spring onions.
Little bit of sa,
but not too much.
OK, so after a minute or so go in
with your thick spring onions,
give those a minute
and then in with the carrots.
Already this is smelling
real good.
It's strong shallots,
strong garlic and onions.
I n with the ginger,
and then last
the coriander st*lks.
Right, we're good.
We don't want to lose too
much texture,
so then in with some
of this silken tofu.
Put this in like so,
and then break it up,
and then automatical it takes on
the look of that scrambled egg
that you get in classic Pad Thai.
And then immediate chuck in a good
handful of
the puffed tofu.
Keep it moving all the time,
you want a high heat,
but don't want anything to catch.
So in with some sauce,
and that puffed tofu will start
absorbing all those flavours.
OK, so last in
with some fresh beansprouts.
These are gonna give it
a real crunch,
so you wanna add them right at
the end.
So then check the noodles,
and you want them just almost
underdone cos they're gonna carry
on cooking in here.
At this stage we're pretty
much there.
So fresh coriander,
right at the end.
Some spring onions.
And then last some peanuts.
And just crack them a little bit.
And then finish off just with
a few chilli flakes,
as hot as you like.
And then last but not least, lime.
And there you go. Super quick,
super easy and real,
real tasty.
That's my Tofu Pad Thai.
Mm. lt's just vibrant
and interesting.
It's just fantastic comfort food.
You know what, who needs a takeaway
when it's this delicious
and this easy and you can make it
at home?
Now churros is the perfect sweet
treat and,
just like doughnuts,
they're at their very,
very best when they're fresh
fried.
And they're real,
real easy to make,
so you don't need to be buying them.
Now, my version has got a bit of
a secret ingredient,
and it's this - it's a sweet potato.
We're gonna come on
to that in just a bit.
But what l need to do first is
to bake it.
Right, so to go
with this I 'm going to make
a chocolate sauce.
Real simple to make.
I 've got some milk,
we're gonna heat that up
and then l 'm gonna make it orangey,
so l 'm gonna infuse it
with some orange zest.
This is pretty universa
this chocolate sauce.
You can keep it and you can use it
for all sorts of things.
Using the zest of the orange
brings all those kind of delicious
oi into
the chocolate mix.
There's two oranges in there.
My milk has now been scalded
so it's bought up to a boil
and then pour it over
the chocolate.
Give it a good mix and that's it.
Working with chocolate can be
quite tricky,
especial milk chocolate,
which is why l heat the milk up here
and then pour it over
and do it off the heat.
So this is the kind of perfect job
you could give your kids.
So there you go,
that is what you're looking for -
nice, silky, glossy chocolate sauce.
Right,
so let's put that aside
and on with the main event,
the churros.
So into the pan with some water,
100g of butter and then, to that,
l 'm gonna add 180g of flour.
And then beat it.
And as soon as it comes
away from the side of
the pan, that's it,
it's done. So stop,
put it into a bowl
and then let it coo
cos the next stage you're gonna
add some eggs.
If you start adding eggs at this
stage it's gonna curdle
the mix and it'll be a disaster.
And a nice thing to do is just
to push it against
the side of the bowl like that
and that just allows it all
to cool a lot quicker.
OK, so while that's cooling let's
get the sweet potato.
The sweet potato's been in
for about sort of 35
to 40 minutes, just until it's soft.
If you can put a knife through it
then it's good.
That's great. OK.
When your mix is cool enough,
you need to add three whole eggs,
but one at a time.
Now when you add the eggs,
don't be put off by
the fact it does get a bit sloppy
and you think you've gone wrong.
But if you keep beating it,
like a bit of a workout real,
it'll come together.
OK, so once those eggs are all
incorporated then that's it,
leave it alone.
And now the clever bit.
So the sweet potato.
What you need to do is
to split it open
and then pull out the inside.
Now it may seem like
an unusual ingredient,
but sweet potato, it's
a natural form of sugar
and it's used throughout the world
in many different desserts,
including a doughnut actual
and it real is delicious,
it gives a kind of a nice nuttiness
and ao a nice kind
of caramelised flavour.
That is coming together beautiful.
Great colour and it'll be
a great flavour.
OK, so the mix is ready,
now it needs to go into
a piping bag.
So then you turn it and
you're ready to go.
Now, at this point, the best thing
to do is to put it in
the fridge for about sort
of 30 minutes to firm up,
because when we squeeze it into
the hot oil it keeps its shape
a lot better.
So while the dough is chilling,
l 'm gonna do the next bit.
For that we need some sugar
and we need some cinnamon.
And we're gonna mix the two,
about a teaspoon - maybe two
teaspoons of this,
with quite a lot of sugar.
Now, don't be startled by
the amount of sugar,
we're not gonna use all of this by
any stretch of the imagination.
The idea is that you layer a tray
and then you can toss
the churros in it
and they get a nice even coating.
Now, churros
want to be piped about that long
and we're gonna pipe them very
careful away from you
into the hot oil.
Then give 'em a snip, and then
just roll them around.
And there you go,
you can see they take no time at all
and that's what you want,
a nice kind of golden
crispy outside.
And they're gonna be beautiful
soft in the middle.
Now, when they've got
a nice even colour all
the way round, lift them out,
just drain them a little bit,
but while they're still hot
put them in the cinnamon sugar.
And then in that way
the sugar will stick beautiful.
OK, that's it,
so let's put this together.
So be generous with
the churros cos once you start
eating them you'll want more,
and more.
Get your chocolate...
and there you go.
So much better than the stuff
you'll buy in the shops
and real, real easy to make.
This looks real inviting.
I need to eat it.
Oh, that is so good.
Very naughty.
Coming up... Ooh.
Welcome to my kitchen.
My friends Sam and Shauna visit from
Barry Island
and make a black bean cassoulet
with smoked beetroot inspired
by their love of Louisiana
and South American cooking.
This is Southern soul food.
It'll make you feel better.
To try any of the recipes from
the series go to...
To try any of the recipes from
the series go to...
There's such a variety of flavours
in veg that no matter what taste you
crave
there's aays a different
veg that will satisfy.
Ooh. Welcome to my kitchen.
My friends Sam and Shauna are
transforming beetroot to show me how
to get a smoky barbecue flavour at
home in the oven.
So barbecue?
Yeah, so this is gonna be
a black-eyed bean cassoulet.
Nice. So it's a nod to
the French Creole roots
of Louisiana. I love a cassoulet.
But the cool thing is we are gonna
cook our beetroots directly in
the charcoal in the oven.
This will give you a lovely warm
earthy taste to our golden beets.
Take it away.
So what we're gonna do is we're
gonna line this tray
with a little bit of foil.
We've got a little bit of charcoal.
Right. Pop your beets in.
So one of the key things is
to add a little bit of water in.
OK.
So the water will help steam it.
We're gonna put
a tight seal around this. Yeah.
It'll just make it
so it'll just steam
and we can re-use that charcoal. OK,
so I just wanna make a couple of
little pricks in these beetroot,
because when it steams I want some
of that charcoal flavour to go in...
Right... and this is one of
the ways of doing it. OK.
OK, so there it is, it's all ready.
I 'm gonna make a tight foil seal,
we've got our water in
and then about 45 minutes in
the oven at round about 160.
OK, so they're gonna steam
through the charcoa Yeah.
OK. Yeah, beets in the oven.
So I am cracking on
with our holy trinity
of Southern cooking.
Every culture has sort
of three veg that they start
a soup or a stew or something.
Mm, like carrot, onion, celery,
for example. Exactly, exactly.
And the one that really hits home
for Louisiana is green pepper,
celery and onion.
OK.
So what's going on in here then?
So this is how we're gonna make our
cashew creme,
so this is one of the easiest ways
of making something creamy that is
dairy free.
OK. It's just put some cashews in
water overnight,
pop 'em in the fridge,
and they just basically turn into
something that you can use as like
a yoghurt or a cream cheese or
a fromage frais. Right. OK.
Yeah. So I 've just got
a little bit of olive oil in here
and I am gonna start frying off our
three veg.
I 've just got a little bit
of garlic here as well.
A little bit? Just a little bit. OK.
And the black-eyed beans,
I mean, I absolutely love these
because they've almost got like
a meaty texture to them.
So already, you've got some stock
here, haven't you, Matt?
Yeah. Obviously, we're using
vegetable stock.
Little veg stock. We'll be putting
that in in a minute.
Throw my garlic in.
Oh, that's smelling good already.
Oh, doesn't that smell great?
So we just wait for the veg
to soften. OK.
And then we're gonna add our magic
ingredient, which is our
Creole seasoning. Yeah. OK.
So this is all dry ingredients,
it's paprika,
onion powder, garlic powder,
basil and we've got
a little dried thyme in there,
a little dried oregano,
a little black pepper.
So I 'm gonna go
for about three of these.
OK, so quite hefty,
then? BOTH: Yeah.
I mean, go hefty because it's
got so much flavour to it.
So that's pretty pungent already.
Oh, yeah. lt's love.
Smells amazing. Mm.
Let's have a smell.
That smells like the deep south of
America, right there.
That's Louisiana in a pan.
So we're ready for our liquid
elements now,
and the first part
of that is passata.
We're going in with
a whole one of these.
Yeah, so it's about 500g
of passata there.
OK. And then I 'm going in with
a little bit of vegetable stock.
So that's it,
our beans are going in.
Oh, that's looking good.
That's looking great. Lovely. Right,
so that is almost done.
Where's your cayenne pepper, Matt?
Just there. This one? Lovely.
I 'm gonna add a little teaspoon
of that in
because I like it with
a little bit of a kick.
Right, and I 'm gonna go in
with some of my parsley. Lovely.
Just go in with some of that.
And all of this beautiful oregano.
So these are our cashews
and here we go,
just a little pinch of salt.
I 'm gonna put in some
of this parsley cos I do really
wanna have that freshness in it.
So, lemon juice, you can do that
to taste as well. Yeah.
So you can be quite generous.
OK, let's get some water.
And it's usually about 100ml, 150ml.
OK, so, yeah, hold the top. Go!
MACHl NE WHl RRS
So now we're gonna add a little bit
more water through the top.
All right,
so let's have a look at this.
Right, I 'm gonna see if our
beetroot's ready,
so let me go grab...
Oh, my gosh, that smells amazing.
Mm.
All right, wait for this.
Oh, wow.
So you can smell that?
Yay, barbecue smell.
Smells exactly like barbecue.
Yeah.
All right, so now we want to try
and get the skins off these. OK.
So, basically, all you wanna do
is just push the skin off.
So we're gonna cut these into sort
of like orange segments if you like,
because then we're gonna pan
fry them. OK.
OK, so let's get these in.
And they just won't take that long.
Screaming hot pan,
make sure it's really hot cos all
you're doing is you're just
caramelising the outside,
so you're not trying
to cook them at all.
All right, these are looking great.
So let's get some of this on.
So I 'm gonna take some
of our cashew creme,
just gonna sit it on top.
This is southern soul food that you
pour your heart and soul into.
It'll make you feel better when you
eat it. Will it? Yes, it will.
Will it? Yeah. It'll
nourish your soul.
OK, and then... Because we know
you don't have a soul.
There you go, a bit of micro cress,
some lovely violets,
little bit of borage there.
There we go. All right.
Beautiful. Done. Can we eat it?
Let's eat. Let's go. Of course.
Wel listen, this is real,
real tasty.
It's been nice having you.
Thanks for doing this,
I real appreciate it.
Well, thanks for having us. Cheers.
You make sure you leave the rest,
though, don't take it.
If you'd like to try any
of the recipes from
the series go to...
We'd love to see you making these
at home,
so make sure to tag any pictures...
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