Original subtitles

We're in a time where food prices

and energy costs are going up and up.

So, I really wanted to be as useful to you at home as possible

by developing delicious recipes that you can get on the plate

for under a pound a portion.

Oh!

To do that, I've had to study hundreds and hundreds of ingredients

across four big supermarkets.

Really go back to basics, principles, hacks, tips.

Come on!

We might be cooking on a budget, but this is delicious food.

All the ingredients used have been costed up and each recipe

comes in at £1 a portion or less.

Clever cooking to keep costs down.

Have a look at that. Maximum flavour, minimum cost.

This time I've got a delicious chicken roast that saves time

and money but doesn't scrimp on flavour...

Everything's there, the smoky bacon is definitely there.

...and an utterly delicious recipe

that flips humble ingredients into a beautiful meal.

Oozy, creamy, spinachy ham.

I've got two super tasty family favourites that are cooked in

cost-efficient and surprising ways.

Have a little go at this - you won't regret it.

And I've called on my old pal Gennaro to share some tips

on traditional Italian cooking to keep costs down and flavour up.

You will love it!

Everyone, even if you're cooking

on a budget, deserves a delicious Sunday roast,

and, boy, have I got a good one for you.

My time-saving chicken roast uses one of the cheapest cuts of chicken

and is filled with a super simple, delicious stuffing.

With some clever tips to ramp up flavour, cook faster and cut costs,

this beauty serves six people for 96p a portion.

So, chicken thighs, skin on, on the bone. OK?

Often people are getting it with skin off and the bone out

and you're paying, of course, a butcher to do that for you,

and they're going to charge up for that.

So this is the most economic way to buy your chicken.

It's a beautiful cut, it really is.

We're going to get that skin really crispy.

That meat's going to be juicy and tender and falling apart.

And we're going to stuff it with incredible things that makes

it feel beautiful, exciting and something a little bit different.

So, first job is actually prepping some onions, sweet onions.

These are the smaller onions, which are, by far, the cheapest

you can get in nearly all of the supermarkets,

and they're out of spec ones, right,

so they're either too big or too small,

and it helps farmers sell all of their product,

not just the certain size and specific ones.

So, I'm going to slice two of these onions

and then with this third onion,

I'm just going to quarter it and put it to one side here.

Now, these onions I'm going to put into a pan.

Let's get that onto a medium-high heat. OK.

We want these onions to be sweet and caramelised and delicious,

so we're just going to lightly fry these off with a little pinch

of salt and pepper, for about five minutes while we do

a little bit of butchery, and these are basic skills

that a lot of people have lost,

and there's no real reason for it because it's so simple.

You can see the bone here, right?

Use your two fingers and just go, very simply, on the side of

each bone and just, kind of, chip away.

If you do it badly, it doesn't matter.

And then we have that, a bone,

which you can make the most incredible gravy out of.

The idea of taking a cheap cut of meat,

doing basic things to it to make it fabulous and stretch

more and allow you to add flavours to create incredible dishes.

And all the, kind of, challenges around food prices and energy,

what's amazing is when you can cook,

you can cook around some of these challenges.

Now, I've got one rasher of bacon here.

I'm just going to slice it up and it's going to add a depth

of flavour to our onions and a smokiness.

So, just one rasher goes a long way, I promise you, right.

Now, two trays that we're going to cook in.

First up, we're going to go in with the chicken bones,

but if you want to extract more flavour,

then you need to crack them in half.

And to do that, you use the butt of your knife.

We'll just do one little crack.

You've exposed the bone marrow and you will get

the most amazing gravy.

So, onions are done, OK?

And they've gone nice and golden,

so we're going to leave that to cool down.

And now, the quarters of onions that I put aside, you can put

in this tray with the bones.

The other thing I've got are these lovely carrots here,

which I am going to peel and I'll put the peelings

into this tray because that will give flavour to the gravy

and just drop them in there.

So, that is making good use of the oven space.

The oven is more expensive than the electric or gas hob,

so if you're going to use the oven,

it's good to use it properly and fill it,

and this is the perfect recipe that will express that.

So, just a little oil in there, give that a toss up,

and that is actually a really important job done

because you're going to get amazing

carrots and amazing gravy from one tray, which we like.

Right, just going to wash my hands for a second.

The next thing I'm going to do is an amazing roast potato.

I've washed these, given it a little prick with a knife,

and I'm going to put them in the

microwave for 10 minutes at full whack,

and that's going to par cook them and a little bit of time in here,

will save time in here, so it's all clever cooking.

So, as they cook, let's stuff these incredible chicken thighs.

The first thing you'll be thinking is, like, a chicken thigh,

one of them isn't enough, but we're going to stuff it.

We're going to stretch the meat.

We're also going to tenderise it,

and we're going to make a combination

that is going to slap me around the face.

It is a delicious thing.

So, how do we do that?

Salt and pepper and then we're going to add a herb, dried sage.

You can use any herb you like, but dried is definitely a good-value

way of getting concentrated flavour into your cooking.

Then I want to tenderise this chicken and flatten it out.

So, I'll just take a little bit of greaseproof paper, take something

heavy, like a little small pan or a rolling pin,

and, two at a time, I'm going to bash this out.

This just makes it easier to wrap around the stuffing.

It's a fantastic little principle to learn.

So, let's talk about the stuffing.

First up, I'm going to go with cranberry sauce. OK?

So, a little something sweet, a little sour.

I just take a teaspoon and I plop it in the middle

of our chicken, like that.

Then if you think about a traditional stuffing,

what do you always have? Bread.

So, I'm going to take three slices and some mustard,

and I'm just going to butter it over the bread,

slice them in half, take the bread, put it on the chicken,

it will catch and go crispy.

And then last but not least, our cooled onions with smoky bacon.

HE CHUCKLES Push it all in and roll it over.

The great thing about the bread is it helps you stuff the chicken,

but it also soaks up all the gorgeous juices and becomes,

debatably, the best bit of the whole dish. Right?

It's the bit that everyone fights for.

I've got six bits of string that I'm going to use to secure this.

So, you go underneath the chicken thigh like that, just crisscross

it and do a little knot and then I can send one

underneath and back on top again to secure it.

These simple preparations make a little go a long way,

but also add flavour and drama and excitement.

So look, here we go, into a roasting tray,

we've got our chicken.

Let me just wash my hands.

Let's get our potatoes out...

And they're hot, hoe-hoot!

They're hot and steamy.

So, put the potatoes on here and squash the potatoes.

It will cook quicker, you'll have more contrast of textures.

So, this is going to go in with the chicken

in between the little gaps.

Just give it a little oil, salt and pepper.

Chicken board will get a proper wash.

So, the chicken and potatoes are going to go in for one hour

at 180 degrees Celsius, which is 350 Fahrenheit.

The carrots and trivet will go in for 40 minutes,

and then I'm going to cook the most delicious cabbage

in the most unusual way.

So, this is what they call, in the supermarkets, a sweetheart cabbage.

I call it a pointed cabbage, but basically today,

this is the cheapest cabbage I can get my hands on and it's delicious.

I've given it a wash, then put the knife carefully,

like this, all the way to the end.

Now, we're going to keep the stalks on and that's going to hold

the whole thing together.

I'm just going to cut the cabbage, like that, into a nice wedge.

How beautiful is that? So, we'll get six out of a whole cabbage.

And instead of boiling it or steaming it,

we're going to go to the oven...

...we're going to pull out our carrots and our bones,

and I'm going to lay our cabbage on top.

And it's going to scald and roast,

the outside layers will go golden and crisp and the inside layers

will be soft and steamed.

So, back in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Happy days.

So, the cabbage has had about 25 minutes.

Before I get it out of the oven,

I want to get an old friend out of the freezer.

Frozen peas, just under 500g,

I'm going to do nothing to it at all.

There's enough moisture already on here to steam them.

I'm going to add on top of those our beautiful cabbage.

Can you see how it's been roasted and caught?

So, on the inside it's really delicate, sweet and steamed.

So, I'm simply going to pick

these up, like that, and lay them onto our peas.

As I reheat the peas, just for four or five minutes,

that'll also reheat our beautiful cabbage.

This chicken's nearly done.

All the lovely bits of the old cranberry sauce trying to fight

through, the skin is all golden and crisp.

If I show you one of these potatoes, can you see how crispy that is?

Come on, sticky bits.

So, we can actually turn, if you want to, the potatoes around,

any of those juices that have come out,

we can just drizzle over the top.

So, what I'm going to do is put the carrots back in

with this to carry on roasting.

This goes back in the oven...

...for, give or take, ten minutes while I make some beautiful gravy.

So, get a medium heat on and then

a couple of tablespoons of plain flour.

Go in with some boiling water, use a spoon to really scrape

all the sticky bits off the bottom and sides, and then squash

the onions and the carrot to really get all the maximum flavour

out of that and then simmer that for, like, 10-15 minutes

until it's the thickness that you like

and also check it for seasoning.

Around the same time, our carrots,

potatoes and chicken are going to be ready,

and then I'll show you how to plate it all up.

OK!

Oh, come on!

Chicken, beautiful potatoes,

I've got the carrots in there as well.

Look at that. Crispy, golden.

I've got the gravy basically done.

Then you can see here, I just put a lid on top,

give it a little shake.

Literally, that's just a little pinch of salt

and a tiny drizzle of oil,

and that's going to be delicious.

Let's plate a portion up.

Lovely potatoes.

Look at that, you can see how the squashing gives you

the really crispy bits and nice fluffy bits.

Look at this.

It's such a nice way to cook the cabbage.

Load it with peas.

Then got the lovely carrot.

Let's get onto the chicken.

So, these are like little gifts, right, wrapped up.

Just remove that little bit of string

and then slice the chicken in all of its glory.

And that thigh meat is just beautiful, it's juicy,

and you've done a fantastic job of

adding value to this incredible cut of meat. Right?

We've stretched it. Even down to the gravy.

Push it through the sieve.

It's nice and thick, proper home-made gravy.

It's something a little bit different, but that,

any day of the week, is a thing of beauty.

So, let's try some.

Let's go straight in with the chicken.

Oh! The thigh is juicy.

You've got all of that lovely stuffing in there, the crispy skin.

Everything's there, the sage, the onion,

the smoky bacon is definitely there.

So, look at the potatoes, you've got the crispy skin here,

and then on the inside, it's so fluffy.

Because they've cooked with the chicken,

they're almost, like, stocky,

and then the cabbage, you've almost got the roasted side here.

On the inside it's just pearly white and fresh and tender.

Mm!

That's what roast dinners are all about.

It's incredible value, but also it's a beautiful thing

that you can enjoy with the people that you love.

To deliver you really reliable pricing,

I've taken the average cost of each ingredient and quantity used

across four major supermarkets,

and this comes in at 96p a portion.

Come on!

There's nothing simpler to make than a home-made pancake batter,

and I want to give you the tools and principles to turn

that into the most delicious show-stopping dinner.

This cheesy pancake stack uses humble ingredients to really

make a meal of things.

With layers of pancakes, delicious spinach sauce,

smoky ham and oozy cheese,

this beauty will make eight people very happy...

...for 97p a portion!

So, pancake batter is a really versatile thing to use.

You can go sweet, you can go savoury, you can go thick or thin,

there's loads of things you can do.

I've got a very simple recipe.

So, starting off with two eggs,

I'm going to go 70ml of milk

and then 70ml of water.

I want a nice little pinch of salt, I would do that whether

I go sweet or savoury, just to bring out the flavour of the flour.

So, I'm using plain flour, 120g goes in, so it's all in one bowl.

It could not be simpler.

So we call it a pancake,

the French would call it a crepe.

Actually, the inspiration for this dish

comes from a trip I did to Provence.

You go to a little bistro and you'd have this sizzling dish come out,

and it was basically layer upon layer of pancakes,

a lovely bechamel cheesy sauce with spinach and tomatoes and ham.

And, basically, I've replicated that memory and it's delicious.

The only thing I haven't got is the tomatoes,

but what I have got is a lovely little side salad as well.

So this is a lovely lunch, a really nice dinner,

and I absolutely love it.

So, what I'm going to do now is get a 26cm pan

on a medium-high heat.

We should be able to get six pancakes.

I'll just put a little oil onto there.

So, in there we go.

I'll just move the pan around,

just get it to fill out on the edges.

Pretty standard that the first

pancake is always your problem pancake.

So that's going on the bottom, by the way, of the dish,

but it's about adjusting the temperature so you get

a really nice colour.

So, the first one is done,

so just put that here, like that,

and then straight in with the next one...

...all around the edge.

After you've done the first one you get your mojo,

get your pancake mojo.

So, pancake batter to me is a really helpful thing

to have in the home.

It's great for Yorkshire puddings, toad in the hole.

I think, probably, pancakes is one of the first things I learned

to cook, along with an omelette.

So, there we got the last one. Six done.

I'm going to use the same pan to make a nice little sauce.

I want two tablespoons of olive oil and I'll go in

with some sliced garlic.

So, now is when we can make things a little bit fancy.

Let's get the flavours of France going a little bit here.

I don't want to cook it too fast, I don't want it golden,

just soften up the garlic.

Then I'm going to go in with four tablespoons of flour,

just regular plain flour.

Then use a spoon to bring this all together.

Slowly, bit by bit, add some milk.

Every time the milk kind of cooks into the flour,

we're going to add a little bit more.

It's a really useful sauce to make, you know, whether you're using

it for your lasagnes or cannellonis

or, you know, over a little bit of fish.

You can see it's getting thicker and thicker and it gets

easier and easier every time you add a little bit of milk,

last bit of that milk goes in.

So, that's a very rustic version of a basic white sauce.

Now that memory of mine, in that Provencal bake,

had spinach, you know, it had the cheese, right?

We're going to go with that vibe.

And the best way to get spinach in there is actually not fresh,

it's frozen, and it's also the cheapest way to get it in there.

So, I'm going to use just under 250g of spinach.

I have frozen spinach in my freezer all the time. It's super useful.

I use it in curries, stews,

I use it in lovely little flatbreads.

It's really nutritious, and you take what you want, you don't waste any.

You can see it starting to defrost and you've got those lovely,

sort of, laces of green spinach in the white sauce.

A little pinch of pepper and salt.

One way you can really kick a little bit of flavour

into this is to add a little mustard, so you could go French,

you could go English.

So, that little bit of mustard gives

it delicious flavour, amazing colour.

And I'm just going to let that tick away for a couple of minutes

until all the spinach has defrosted.

Right, let's put it all together and make

something really scrumptious.

So, in this recipe, we have got a nice little side salad,

I'll come to that later.

Cheese and ham.

Now, if you didn't want to use ham, you could use leftover meat,

you could go vegetarian, use mushrooms.

It's a really flexible recipe that will have your back,

no matter what you want, no matter what you like,

and it's good on the wallet.

The principles are worth their weight in gold.

So, we've got the sauce, we've got our pancakes, we've got the ham,

now I'm just going to grate some Cheddar.

So, look, 250g, I'll leave a little bit to grate on top,

but you can see why we're going to love it. Right?

Pancakes, ham, cheese, creamy sauce.

It's going to be a good thing.

So, these things that I'm trying, to tap into to get these £1 meals,

like, these are old techniques and finding those ways to create

something really special out of just humble ingredients.

So, first layer goes in to a nice ovenproof dish,

we'll then go in with our sauce.

We'll go in with some lovely cheese.

Imagine that melting in the layer.

We'll go in with some lovely ham.

Just repeat now.

Even if you put this together badly,

it's still going to cook up and be amazing.

Look at that, who could argue with that?

Creamy spinachy sauce, Cheddar cheese, lovely smoked ham.

This is totally child's play...

Actually, get the kids involved in this, they'll love it.

You know, that's going to taste good.

Every layer will start to ooze and melt.

And I've still, by the way, got that last little chunk here.

A little bit more cheese on this layer.

Look at that, come on!

Cook that in the oven for half an hour at 180 degrees Celsius,

which is 350 Fahrenheit,

and when it's golden, blipping and gorgeous,

then you can enjoy it.

Oh! It's looking pretty special.

Let's get her out.

Smells amazing as well.

Here she goes.

My legs used to get up there,

but my trousers are holding me back. HE CHUCKLES

Look at that! Come on!

Look at all the crispy bits.

Every now and again, it just goes, blurp...blurp.

So, what I like to do is let that sit for five minutes,

and it's so much easier to serve.

So, if I put this just to one side here, I want to show you, probably,

the simplest of salads that you could possibly do.

With three tablespoons of olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper,

one tablespoon of red wine vinegar.

And here I've got what is normally

the cheapest salad leaf, that and iceberg.

So, this is round lettuce, it's soft, it's sweet,

and, actually, we eat the whole thing even the stalk.

We'll just slice that up, nothing will go in the bin.

So the simplest salad leaf, beautifully dressed,

served with this beautiful thing.

Come on, let's get in there now.

Go right to the bottom.

The first one's always the tricky one.

Let's get in there, let's hope for the best.

Look at the layers. Layers!

Oh, yes!

Gorgeous, oozy layers.

That with a few little salad leaves is a thing of joy.

Little pepper.

Right, come on. Let's go for a bit of edge.

I know this is going to be too hot...

...but| have a plan.

A cold, tangy lettuce leaf, go on.

That's the mouthful right there.

Mm!

Oozy, creamy, spinachy ham.

Utterly delicious.

Mm!

That is not a compromise. What I've tried to do for you is

keep the flavour up and the cost down.

It's the principles that I think have value.

A good celebration of pancakes, what you can do with them.

It really is an absolute cracker.

Served with a dressed salad.

This cheesy pancake stack serves eight people.

And what's not to love when this beauty makes the most

of humble ingredients to come in at under a pound a portion?

To work out the costings for all the recipes in this series

and be super accurate,

I looked at how much of each ingredient was needed.

Where it was just a pinch of this,

or a tablespoon or a teaspoon of that,

I've costed only the amount used in the recipe

rather than a whole jar of mustard.

I found out how much each ingredient costs in four of the biggest

supermarkets and took the average price of each.

The only things I've assumed you already have are salt,

Pepper and oil.

I got the total cost for all the other ingredients in the recipe

and divided it by the number of people it serves to get

our final figure.

And this cheesy pancake stack

works out at a tasty 97p per portion.

I've had a lot of fun developing the next recipe.

It's naughty, but very nice -

and it's all done in one pan.

My very cheeky home-made pizza is so fast to make,

you don't even need to turn the oven on.

With a properly crispy base, it's topped with tomatoes, onions,

red peppers and oozy cheese.

Served with a crisp salad, this dish really delivers on flavour

at 80p a portion.

So, this cheese pizza is brilliant, right?

You can start and finish it from scratch much quicker

than your average takeaway.

It'll be a fraction of the price,

and we're not even going to turn the oven on.

It's all happening in the pan.

So, 250g of self-raising flour,

that's going to give you the, kind of, sponginess, the crispiness.

We're not going to use any yeast, and have it proving

for hours and hours. No, no, no, no, no.

A nice pinch of salt.

Then 150ml of cold water.

Get a fork, taking just little bits of the flour.

You don't want to bust the well, so go round in circles.

You'll see it getting thicker and thicker.

Then you can just start bringing the sides in like this.

And this little dough that I'm making, this is brilliant

for quick little flatbreads, for little naans.

This is a brilliant principle in itself.

Once it's come together, just knead this dough for a minute or two,

and it's going to be definitely done from start to finish in much

less time than your average delivery will come through the door.

So, it's a bit of a win-win, really.

There's your dough.

Let it just relax for a second.

So, flavour - onion and pepper.

I'm going to use half a pepper,

and a runaway onion.

Just take the stalk out and the seeds,

and we'll slice that up.

I'm going to finely slice...

...the red onion and the peppers.

Obviously the finer you slice the peppers,

the quicker they'll cook.

The pan is getting hot.

We're going to go in with a nice glug of olive oil,

and we will scrape the onions and peppers in.

Now that's getting nice and hot,

just add a little drizzle of water,

and put a lid on.

It's going to cook the peppers and onions quicker.

It'll bring out the softness and the natural sugars.

Also by using a lid, it's more time-efficient and economical

for costs, which is great.

We can give it a nice little shake, like that.

Let's get some Cheddar cheese.

Grate 50g, which is just about half of this.

I'll have a little bit just to put on top when I finish it.

Have a little try.

Yeah, it's already sweet, super quick.

Just put that on your board,

and then, the pan goes back.

So, this is when things get quite different.

Wipe out your pan,

get your dough, and just press it out.

So, look, this dough was so quick.

No proving, no waiting for hours for the yeast to ferment

and do its business, right? We're cheating here.

So, just use your hand to push this out.

We're going to go in now with the dough.

Hot pan, lid goes on.

You can see there's a little bit of humidity there.

It's got the heat underneath.

You can see the little bubbles coming up - that's the raising

agent, the self-raising flour kicking into action.

So we're ready and raring to go.

So, still fresh pizza, right? Still got love.

It's just breaking a few rules.

Let's flip it.

Look at that colour.

So, we're going to turn the heat down a little bit now.

And then, we're going to go in with half a tin of tomatoes,

and you can use your hands to push this out.

We've got our lovely peppers and onions.

That cheese - put some on the edge, as well.

So, a small amount of ingredients go a long way on a pizza.

Salt and pepper,

maybe a little drizzle of oil.

The temperature's turned down to medium. Lid goes on top.

Let that cook for about two minutes until the bottom's crispy

and the cheese is oozy, OK?

Enough time to knock out a really simple salad.

So, I've got round lettuce.

I'm going to use a carrot and a speed peeler to turn

the humble carrot into something a bit more beautiful, right?

How quick was that?

It smells so good!

If you're talking about being clever,

you know, budget-friendly,

you got an oozy top, crispy base.

So, let's dress up your salad, a little bit of olive oil,

vinegar, salt, pepper.

You know, this is a cheat's pizza, and that's what we want

in a busy life, right? I might've broken a lot of the rules

in this pizza, but I like it - super quick, incredibly budget-friendly.

Let's get amongst it and have a little try.

Uh-huh.

MU FFLED: That's hot.

Mm.

You've got sponginess.

You've got a crispy base.

Mm!

The veggies are sweet,

soft, seasoned.

You've got the ooze from the cheese.

Much cheaper than a takeaway, much faster than a takeaway,

but as a principle, and without even turning the oven on.

Naughty, but very nice.

And what's not to love when a few simple ingredients can turn

into a delicious crispy pizza?

Served with a dressed salad,

it comes in at 80p a portion.

This time, it's not just me in the kitchen.

I've called upon Gennaro, my old friend and mentor,

to share one of his own low-cost meals.

Italian cooking is full of clever ways to create beautifully

tasty food, using whatever simple ingredients you have to hand.

Perhaps you've got something left, your brain starts to go!

So, Gennaro's creating the dough instead of spending it,

making spinach and ricotta-stuffed tortelli,

filled home-made, silky-smooth pasta parcels,

finished in a butter and sage sauce.

And the best bit -

this dish comes in at 88p per portion.

You will love it!

This dish is kind of a classic.

Almost everybody in Italy do make this one, actually,

this is one we call many different names -

to rte lli e mag r0.

The word magro means "without meat".

The making of pasta is so simple, it is super flexible.

You can make almost anything you like.

Let's start to make the pasta now, it's ever so easy.

Here, I have 200g of flour.

Just ordinary flour, nothing special about it.

Just empty all on the table like that.

You make a little bay.

Then a couple of eggs.

One - fantastico.

Two.

Get a fork, start to mix it.

So easy, you can do it with your eyes closed, look!

Slowly, slowly, slowly, you add just a little bit more flour inside,

because you want it to get thickened up a little bit.

If you've got children at home,

just tell the children to give you a hand!

They love to get hands inside the mix.

But look, it starts to thicken up.

OK, all together,

"Go-go, Gadget, go."

Ancl this is where your hands are going to start to get sticky now.

Ancl then, you start to knead it.

Really knead the dough.

OK, that's good.

Remove everything off your hands.

It's clone.

Look how beautiful it is!

But it needs to have a rest.

So, I have a cloth.

I'm going to put them on the side here, to have a little rest

for about half an hour.

OK, it's time to make the filling.

Now here I have 400g of frozen spinach

which I defrosted and squeezed all the water out.

It's roughly chopped.

I have here 100g of ricotta

with a little pinch of salt.

If you don't have ricotta, perhaps you have some cream cheese.

If you don't have cream cheese, don't use it.

This is the principle of Italian food, is use whatever

you have and make it the best.

Then you need some Parmesans.

It's about 25g.

Put a little bit of... black pepper inside.

Just mix it.

OK. It's clone.

But...!

The dough needs to relax a little bit more, so I'll go in,

I'll come back in 20 minutes.

Wow! This is what I'm talking about.

It's clone. This one will feed about four people,

and I'll start to use one for now.

Let's make sure they're now covered again.

Just roll it out a little bit.

What I'm doing, you see, this is - where I come from,

this is what you used to do - my mother used to do,

my father used to do.

When I make with my hands...

...it's more...part of the culture,

it's more me.

Doesn't matter if it becomes square or round.

You don't want it too thick.

Now it's lovely and thin,

it's time to start to make the lovely tortelli.

So, here I have a cutter, which is about eight centimetres.

Make sure you do close to one each other.

One more.

Then, always use your hands.

A little filling.

One.

In it goes, it's so extremely easy.

You grab one, and you close it.

Just put them up together, press it.

Ancl again, you get the other one...

...squeeze it...

Couldn't be easier than that.

We get a fork.

Form each one - they stop the spinach from escaping.

Look how pretty they are.

See that bit left? Roll it out. Look!

I've actually clone another four.

See? No dough goes to waste.

So lovely.

Right.

Let's make the sauce.

100g of butter - salted or unsalted.

I love sage.

A bundled sage, if you can.

A few, you know, just a few leaves.

Let it melt nicely.

A little bit of pasta water.

The water will evaporate.

The butter will stay inside,

and the sage will fill the pasta.

It's fantastic, indeed.

Ah! Oh, yes.

It cooks for about 3-4 minutes.

No more than that.

Give them a little stir, so they don't stick together.

Ready now.

Oh, my, look at that - the way they expanded.

I want all that butter and sage sticking on it.

Right, let's put them inside.

Oh, yes.

Little bit of grated Parmesan.

Ancl we have tortelli al magro,

with the spinach e ricotta.

Delicioso!

I'll swallow.

Mm.

Mm!

Mm...the flavour is incredible.

The sage comes right through the spinach.

I confess that the ricotta...

I don't know why I'm talking so slow, because I'm enjoying it.

It's only a fraction of the price of what you buy in the shop,

and a million times better.

This is the essence of Italian food.

This is what it's all about.

Maximum flavour and minimal cost.

Lots and lots of love.

Gennaro's homemade tortelli serves four people.

And the handful of ingredients to make them come in

at 88p per portion.

The love, though, that's for free.

In the last few months, microwave cooking has absolutely skyrocketed

because it's one of the most cost-effective ways to cook.

So, I'm going to use a microwave, yep, I am -

but I'm going to give you a family classic that absolutely

does not compromise on flavour.

My microwave chilli con carne is a brilliant cheat to save

both time and energy with this family favourite.

A beautiful minced beef and butternut squash chilli

served with fluffy rice and topped with a tangy, crunchy salsa.

This super simple dish serves four,

and comes in bang-on budget at £1 a portion.

I had never made a chilli con carne in a microwave.

And look, I've made chilli con carnes in different various ways.

But, like, if the country is really using microwaves a lot more

because it's incredibly cost-effective,

then I have to respond to that.

So, how do you get the best flavour in a microwave?

It is a challenge, but I think I might've got there.

First up, I've got 250g of minced beef here.

I need to flavour it now and brown it -

and I never would've thought that I could brown meat in the microwave,

but you actually can.

So we're going to go in with a big pinch of black pepper,

and then, a nice pinch of salt.

And I'm also going to go in with a little stock cube,

so I'll just crumble that in.

I'm going to put in a heaped teaspoon of ground cumin.

Now, this spice is something special, it has this savoury,

really, kind of, quite meaty depth of flavour.

I'll give it a little bit of olive oil,

just to, kind of, allow the spices and seasoning to get

into the minced meat.

So, what I'm going to do is put that in for ten minutes,

and I may well give it a little mix-up and, kind of, break it up

as we do that.

So, ten minutes, here we come.

Boom, off it goes.

Now, any good stew or ragu, or, kind of, chilli needs

a nice vegetable base.

So, I've got one onion, two sticks of celery,

I've got two fresh chillies, then two cloves of garlic.

So, we're just going to finely slice the garlic like that.

Celery - I'll just cut into little lengths.

Now with this celery here, put this aside -

and that will come back in a beautiful way a little bit later.

So, celery done.

Finely slice the onion.

I'm going to just steal a little quarter of onion here,

and hide that again with the celery.

Then we're going to take some chilli,

and just use a teaspoon here

just to scrape out that little white membrane and the seeds.

I'm going to use half the red and half the green,

and put this aside.

Again, I'll just run my knife through it.

Now, butternut squash, be very careful -

just angle it in, keep your hands away,

cut through.

So, I'll use this for another dish.

I've got 400g here - and what I'll do is very carefully, again,

put it on a flat edge, put my knife here,

and just rock it down.

And then, we're going to go through that half again into quarters,

just tap or cut the skin.

Right? It lets the heat in.

MICROWAVE BEEPS Look at that, done, perfect timing.

Now, we go in with all these lovely veggies.

So, celery, garlic, onion.

What I'll do is just place these pieces of squash on top like that,

and I'm going to stretch that meat to go a lot further.

And guess where we go now?

Back in the microwave. Let's get our money's worth.

Ten more minutes.

Now, as that's cooking, I want to do a little salsa.

So, those little bits of veg that I put aside is our little

opportunity for colour and a little flourish, and a little slap around

the face of, like, tang and heat, and crunch.

Actually, I'll steal just a little bit of squash,

just get a couple of little thin slices like that, and then,

slice them one way and slice them the other way.

And, of course, you could use anything crunchy that's

in the fridge, but you don't need much for it to do the job.

So, you want a salsa to be seasoned with salt,

and then, about a teaspoon of red wine vinegar.

Now, it's the salt and the vinegar here that'll lightly pickle this.

And most of this salsa came from saving back little bits of the base,

right, so we were going to use it or cook it anyway.

So, it's just being clever with ingredients.

MICROWAVE BEEPS All right, stop now.

Have a little look in here.

Take the squash out, just for a second.

So, I'm going to use the potato masher to break up

the minced meat and the veg.

This will amplify flavour,

and it will give you a really interesting, delicious texture -

more similar to a ragu that's been on a pan,

on a hob for hours and hours, blipping and blipping away.

We've got three ingredients now that we go in with.

Two tablespoons of tomato puree,

and then, we'll double up on the tomatoes

by using chopped tomatoes.

What I do now is use the masher to mash all of this up,

and really get it nice and smooth.

Next tin - kidney beans, put all the juice in there.

And if we just put half of the tin in there,

I want to show you, like, a little trick.

What you can do in the microwave, is you can take a humble beam,

and you can pop them like popcorn -

which means you get a really crisp outside, and then, the inside

just comes out, which is really, kind of, like, beautiful and fluffy.

So, if I just mix this up now,

this goes back in the microwave for ten more minutes.

I'll pop the squash back on top.

Every microwave's slightly different.

So, you're going to use your common sense on the next cook,

but we're mainly there.

Now I'll give you a little tip to make the perfect rice.

This is foolproof, OK?

Use the tin from the beans, and then, just use your hands to

top it up with long grain rice.

Then we're going to fill this up with water to the top, twice.

Two-to-one, works every time, in a pan or in the microwave.

Then we take a little pinch of salt.

I need a lid for it, so I'm going to put a plate on top -

and at the same time, I'm going to pop these beans.

So, as soon as that chilli is done,

that goes in, and then, everything's going to come together

in the most beautiful way.

Ha-ha!

Look at that, blipping away.

I checked it at ten minutes, and it wasn't quite cooked enough.

And then, I just broke up the squash.

So, this had 20 minutes now - I'll have a little taste.

It's good flavour, lovely heat.

Correct that seasoning with salt and pepper.

Just put a plate on top, right, and we'll put that over here.

That will stay warm, for sure.

Now we're going to cook the rice.

So, beans will pop in about four minutes, and this rice will

take about ten minutes.

Once it's absorbed all the water,

and it's light and fluffy. we're good to go.

Ha-ha!

Look at that. We've popped beans.

You can use any beans.

And this, in a salad.

This, at the end of a stew - brilliant.

And just because it's cooking on a budget doesn't mean that

it has to compromise on flavour or creativity.

Here we go.

So, let's just check our rice.

Look how light and fluffy that is.

Let's do a portion. Nice, big wodge of fluffy rice.

It's still nice and hot.

Look at that. Beautiful.

Then we can finish it with our little embellishment -

some popped beans go on top.

And then, we've got our tiny little salsa here.

Vibrance and crunch, and tang.

Beautiful.

Let's get in there.

Oh, it's really tasty.

You know, I was worried about not being able to achieve depth

of flavour, but I think browning off the meat,

we've really solved that.

Popping the beans gives a wonderful texture.

That little salsa is, like, electric, it's full of life.

That is a really cost-efficient way of making a chilli con carne.

So, what are you waiting for?

If you've got that microwave fired up,

have a little go at this.

You won't regret it.

My cheeky microwave chilli con carne feeds four people.

Served with a tangy salsa and perfectly fluffy rice,

it comes in at £1 a portion.

If you want to try any of these great-value dishes and get

inspiration for loads more,

then simply head to the website

and get all the recipes for free, with love.

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