00:06I don't believe it's possible to live well without eating well.
00:10Now, of course, this means different things on different days.
00:14But whatever the day, I want food that makes me feel good,
00:18not just when I'm eating it, but when I'm cooking it too.
00:25Food of the Gods.
00:26Simply Nigella is about dishes that do just that.
00:31Recipes that relax and restore, uplift and enrich.
00:36It is so seriously good.
00:40Food I've enjoyed with family and friends.
00:43Divine.
00:45As I've settled into my new kitchen and where I am in my life right now.
00:50I just can't wait to sink into this lemony lusciousness.
00:55I believe with all my heart that what and how we cook can make us feel better and more alive.
01:03Absolutely delicious.
01:05For me, a meal, however simple, is a celebration of life.
01:09And life is there to be celebrated.
01:37For me, one of the joys of cooking lies in marrying the comfort of the familiar,
01:41with the excitement of the new.
01:43This never means striving for novelty, but simply responding to fresh enthusiasms.
01:48And that's certainly how my chai muffins came about.
01:59Taking tea in muffin form seems to me just about ideal for breakfast.
02:05And the tea I choose is chai.
02:12Now I do know that chai just means tea.
02:15But the thing about this is that it brings such scented richness without heft.
02:22And I think the best vehicle for conveying this wonderful scent is the light fragrance of almond milk.
02:34Need about 225 mils, just under a cup.
02:40And I infuse the milk with chai simply, if inelegantly, by tearing a couple of tea bags.
02:51Letting the tea spill out.
03:01And on top of what is now almost a chai latte, a teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
03:09There is cinnamon in chai.
03:10It's a mixture of spices, normally cardamom, ginger, maybe a teeny bit of black pepper.
03:16But I'm adding a bit more cinnamon.
03:19Stir it together, although at this stage,
03:22the cinnamon will stay this rather Aztec brown powder on top.
03:29It doesn't worry me, don't let it worry you.
03:32Heat on.
03:33Just till it's almost bubbling, don't let it boil.
03:36So the spices really infuse the milk.
03:40And, along with the almond milk, some almonds, 75 grams.
03:49I'm chopping them so that some are quite rough.
03:55And others are splintery shards and there's a teeny bit of dust.
03:59Of course they have a flavour, but so important they have texture.
04:05Right, so that's the nuts chopped.
04:09Off with this.
04:11Let's pour it to get cool.
04:14Can you see that wonderful colour?
04:17And I can get on with the dry ingredients.
04:22Now we get to the spelt flour.
04:26Spelt used to be known as Dinkel wheat, which I rather like.
04:30And in fact in Germany, where spelt is very popular, it is still called Dinkel.
04:35About 400 grams.
04:39And two and a half teaspoons of baking powder.
04:45And 150 grams of soft, light brown sugar.
04:50Wonderful and sandy.
04:53I use unsweetened almond milk, so that's why I have the sugar.
04:56You need it.
05:00Just going to mix this up a teeny bit.
05:02The dry ingredients.
05:05And then I can get on with the wet.
05:09My time-fused milk is cool enough, so on top of that,
05:14I want 150 milliliters of oil.
05:18About two of these.
05:23Any vegetable oil is fine here.
05:28And finally, two eggs.
05:39I want to whisk these together, but I'm going to have to go slowly and patiently, so that I don't
05:45splash everything.
05:46Although, it doesn't come naturally to me.
05:54And that's enough.
05:58So, I spoke too soon about the dry ingredients, I did forget to put in my almonds.
06:03I don't want all of them now.
06:04I just leave a few back to sprinkle on, just before they go in the oven.
06:11Here we are.
06:13And in goes this rather gorgeously tinted liquid.
06:19And the wonderful thing about making muffins is that it doesn't matter how badly you stir, because a lumpy batter
06:30makes the lightest muffins.
06:33Right, my spice speckled mixture is ready.
06:36I'm just going to fill a muffin tin.
06:42I like to use an ice cream scoop to fill.
06:49Makes me feel very decisive as I release the batter.
06:56This is quite a calming way to start the day.
07:04It's quite interesting that despite being infused with tea, they do look rather coffee-coloured.
07:10Now, sprinkling tins, I have reserved these almonds.
07:16So, 20-25 minutes in a 200 degree oven.
07:22And then we are ready to go into battle for the day.
07:25Day.
07:34Day.
07:36Day.
07:38Day.
07:41Day.
07:43Day.
08:06I absolutely adore beef short ribs,
08:10known poetically by butchers as Jacob's Ladder.
08:13The meat is just so sweet and tender.
08:17Okay, well, I am making my Asian flavoured ribs as usual,
08:21please, Adam.
08:22And the thing about this, when I cook it,
08:24I need the ribs cut into chunks of about five centimetres.
08:42Now, my short ribs.
08:44For me, these things so sweetly when imbued with Asian flavours.
08:48Now, Asia is a large continent and there are rich pickings
08:52and I take full advantage of that because I have a compulsion
08:55for buying ingredients from this part of the world,
08:58partly because they can look so beautiful.
09:02I mean, I love her.
09:04But also because I rely on them to provide such bold flavour.
09:10Now, I'm going to start now.
09:11I could stay here, but I won't.
09:14This, my Chinese rice wine.
09:16We're all used to cooking with wine, in other words, grape wine.
09:19But you use rice wine in cooking and it's like a revelation.
09:25The best way I have of describing this, I suppose,
09:27would be to say it's like dry sherry mixed with a little bit of brandy.
09:31So, there's this warmth and depth.
09:34And I also want hoisin.
09:39Now, what hoisin brings is that most fashionable of tastes, umami.
09:44In other words, intense savouriness.
09:46But here, it's matched with an equally rich sweetness.
09:51So, everything is balanced.
09:53And to complete this, we need just a sprinkling of dry chillies.
10:04There is a certain graphic beauty to these flintstone hunks of meat.
10:11And, yes, they are striated and feathered with fat.
10:15But it's this fat that gives so much flavour.
10:18And there is also the crucial matter of the bones.
10:23There is an old English saying,
10:26the closer the bone, the sweeter the meat.
10:34So, a goodly amount of hoisin.
10:41You don't need stock because there's so much flavour from the short ribs.
10:45So, water.
10:46Simply water.
10:52And some Chinese rice wine.
11:02And a little bit of soy.
11:04Not too much.
11:06Not a secret ingredient, but a fantastic one.
11:17And now, I want fennel.
11:19I want cinnamon.
11:20I want star anise.
11:22I want ginger.
11:23And I want cloves.
11:23And I do this lazily and easily.
11:26With some five-spice powder.
11:32Quite a lot.
11:35But the glory of long, slow cooking is that flavour is always mellow.
11:40You can be bolder.
11:42And don't be frightened by the amount of chilli.
11:47This gives warmth.
11:48It's not going to blow your head off.
11:53I want a small amount of sesame oil.
11:56I don't need any extra fat, but I do want the toastiness of the sesame oil.
12:03Stir everything together.
12:05Just so I can get an early preview of this rather feisty fragrance.
12:12And a final ingredient.
12:14I want four fat cloves of garlic.
12:19I just grate them straight in.
12:24And because of the long time in the oven, and the resting afterwards, you don't get any acrid hit from
12:31the garlic.
12:32Just sweet mellowness.
12:34And now...
12:37For the sacred anointing.
12:45Brilliantly mixed.
12:51This spicy bath that the beef will braise in is scant.
12:58But that doesn't matter.
12:59I have a plan.
13:01I'm making a little covering for it.
13:04It's got a lower roof that stops any of this from evaporating and keeps every bit of flavour in.
13:12And now, a lazy long and slow braise in the oven.
13:17And deep pleasure awaits.
13:37After the beef ribs have had a good four hours in a really low oven, let the rich stew cool
13:42without its lid or paper covering.
13:48Are you ready?
13:52As soon as the ribs are cool enough to the touch, I put on my CSI gloves and tenderly remove
13:58the bone from each chunk.
14:11Then, this is crucial, put the stew in the fridge for at least a day so that the flavours deepen
14:17and yet mellow at the same time.
14:30When you're ready to serve, lift out the now hard layer of fat that will have risen to the top.
14:36Again, I glove up for this and it's a job I adore doing.
14:48And all that's left to do now is reheat the aromatic stew in an oven for about an hour, making
14:53sure it's piping hot before serving.
15:01And now, the wonderful thing about my short ribs is that because they're cooked so gently and for such a
15:09long time,
15:10is that they are meltingly soft, but they still hold their shape.
15:15I think they need nothing more than a little sprinkle, some coriander, its earthiness is the perfect partner here.
15:25And a few pinpricks of sweet heat with some chilli.
15:32And frankly, you know, I have been uncharacteristically patient.
15:38Took a long time to cook, my patience limit is reached, so I'm gonna treat myself to a bit now.
15:45What I like is a spritz of sharp lime on all that rich sweetness.
16:14It doesn't matter who I'm cooking for or what the occasion is.
16:17I always want my time in the kitchen to relax and inspire me and allow me to savour the moment.
16:25When I have people over, I don't do formality, I do cosy.
16:30And I feed my friends my fish tacos because a bit of DIY at the table really helps people relax.
16:37And I can't think of anything better after than my salted chocolate tart, which is so much easier to make
16:44than it sounds.
16:45No pastry is involved for starters, I just potter about in the kitchen the night before, crushing up some biscuits.
16:54For the base, I like to use chocolate sandwich biscuits, which I break up roughly before dropping them into a
17:00food processor.
17:07Next, I add some good dark chocolate.
17:12I give this a blitz until I have beautiful earthy rubble.
17:19On top of this, I add some soft unsalted butter and smoked sea salt flakes.
17:24Though you can of course use regular sea salt flakes.
17:28This gets another blitz until the butter is incorporated.
17:35I tip this mixture into a loose bottomed flan tin, then press it down and around the edges with my
17:41hands,
17:42before smoothing it with the back of a spoon.
17:48I leave the lime case in the fridge to set overnight,
17:51so that all I need to do the next day is melt a few luscious ingredients together for the filling.
18:03I begin by finely chopping a slab of chocolate.
18:06Again, it must be good and dark.
18:13So, I have already laid the foundations for my salted chocolate tart.
18:17In other words, made the base.
18:18And now, for the filling.
18:20I'm going to start off by using a word that I love,
18:24which is I'm going to slake some corn flour in milk.
18:31This gives a satiny lusciousness to the chocolate filling.
18:43Right, that's done.
18:45Filling very efficient in a warm kind of a way.
18:48And now, I need some cream.
18:51A lake of cream.
18:56I've used very good dark chocolate, so I need a bit of sugar.
19:02And then, the cosy sweetness of vanilla.
19:08You can use extract, but I love this goo.
19:13So, that's the light side.
19:15Now, come with me, if you will, to the dark side.
19:18And I mean dark.
19:22Some instant espresso.
19:24I use this a lot with chocolate,
19:26because it provides a really deep, dark hinterland.
19:36In life, I have no truck with bitterness.
19:39In the kitchen, I'm drawn to it.
19:41So, I want some cocoa.
19:44And although sieving is my least favourite job in the kitchen,
19:47I am prepared to do this now, because it's worth it.
19:55I've promised a salted chocolate tart, but I'm going one better.
19:58Smoked salt.
20:00I am a person of passions, and I love this stuff.
20:04It brings a slight note of the bonfire.
20:08Now, the chocolate goes into the pan.
20:12Here.
20:17And then, finally, an ooze of extra virgin olive oil.
20:23It would be more usual to use butter here,
20:26but the thing is, to me, butter just merges in with the cream.
20:29It doesn't add anything.
20:30And this brings a sort of slightly grassy, peppery savouriness,
20:35as well as gleam.
20:39And on we go.
20:40At this stage, I just want the chocolate to start melting.
20:46Then I can add my slaked corn flour.
20:54Right, so the chocolate's melted now.
21:01In this goes.
21:05The corn flour helps this mixture to thicken,
21:08and without eggs, which makes life very simple.
21:12I mean, you saw how easy the tart base was to make.
21:18This is even easier.
21:19I mean, it's embarrassingly easy.
21:25Now, it's quite easy to tell when it's ready.
21:27I mean, you can see how thick it is, but this is scientific method.
21:32Lift up the spoon.
21:34Draw your finger across the back.
21:37And you can see it's not trickling.
21:40That line is staying there.
21:42That means, turn off the heat and pour into a jug to cool.
21:48Now, it's got to be cool enough so that it doesn't melt the biscuit base.
21:54But I still want it to have a bit of flow to it,
21:57so when I pour it into the base, it will just ripple in.
22:02To prevent it's getting a skin, I'm going to scrunch up some dampened parchment,
22:08which I have about my person, as one does.
22:11Let's put it on the top.
22:13My mother taught me this.
22:17So once this has cooled down a bit, I can build on my foundations.
22:29And that's perfect.
22:32Put it to wave its way into the tin.
22:57Just a little shimmy to make it flat and even.
23:03And now it needs to go in the fridge to set for later.
23:07A deep, deep joy awaits.
23:14So that's pudding for my deliciously laid-back lunch sorted.
23:17I'll make the main course while my guests settle in.
23:20I'll have a teeny bit of a wait,
23:22but this one is definitely best served fresh out of the oven.
23:25Torture you.
23:26That modest amount.
23:31While my fish tacos are inspired by my many visits to taquerias
23:35on the west coast of America,
23:37rest assured, no frying is involved.
23:41These are lovely hake fillets, which I've just sliced lengthwise.
23:44And on the hake, I want some paprika for just a gentle kick.
23:55And the fragrant earthiness of cumin.
24:00A bit of salt.
24:01A bit of salt.
24:02A bit of salt.
24:03A bit of salt.
24:07A bit of salt.
24:09Just sprinkle this over.
24:17rather messily
24:25I'm roasting the fish so I need a bit of olive oil
24:33I don't want to bombard them with flavour
24:35because there's so much going on with the fish taco
24:38and that's the point but a bit of garlic always good
24:49and now wonderful anointing
24:55I roast the fish at a very high temperature for a very short time
24:59so the garlic doesn't burn
25:05right into the oven
25:14now I do know that you wouldn't find corn niblets in a taqueria on the west coast of America
25:19but this is what I do
25:20a can of corn niblets
25:24a bit of salt
25:27chopped red chilli
25:30and some chopped coriander
25:32or cilantro as they say over there
25:39mmm, perfect
25:43and a quick decant
25:54along with the corn
25:55I like to have some mayo spiked with chilli sauce on the side
25:59as well as a tangle of red onions that I've steeped in lime juice
26:09just gorgeous
26:10just gorgeous
26:17I have to concentrate so I don't drop them
26:27and now I'm going to add a touch of much denigrated iceberg
26:32it gives such great crunch in the tacos
26:36a teeny bit of coriander
26:41I'll just grab my tortillas and it's taco time
26:46with the fish and the tortillas
26:50I'm afraid I'll have at me the tortillas myself
26:52yeah
26:53oh, thank you
26:54yeah, fine
26:58great
27:01okay, it's very interesting
27:06the psychology of the different fillies
27:08I have the serving spoons
27:09and I think she gets them
27:11just fold it over like a new cornish puffy
27:18I'm sorry, I'm not waiting for all of you
27:19I know
27:20I feel like I should have a little bit mayonnaise
27:23but
27:23how did you do yours?
27:25you went for a side hand
27:26I went for a woodpecker
27:27I went for a woodpecker
27:30we're all going to have a neck ache by the end of it
27:33mmm
27:39yes, you have made your favourite
27:40oh my gosh
27:41that looks beautiful
27:43give me a slice
27:45no, you can't give me a slice
27:52there we go
27:53that looks so good
27:57mmm
27:58mmm
27:58mmm
27:59mmm
28:00mmm
28:00that's so delicious
28:02cheers
28:03yes
28:04yes
28:05hello
28:07yes
28:10hello
28:15yes
28:18hello
28:33We're used to making stews with wine made from grapes.
28:37You try using this Weiss...
28:42OK, I don't know what's happening to me.
28:44I can do it. I know it's not that.
28:45It's because I'm saying Weiss... Weisswine.
28:49I'm not, you know, I'm not managing to say rice.
28:53It's Chinese rice wine and it will just change your life.
28:57Oh, what am I doing?
29:00Sorry. OK, OK, OK, OK, OK.
29:02Right, last time I've got to get it done, otherwise you're just going to have to find someone with dark
29:07hair
29:07and slightly too much weight on her and make her do it.
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