Original subtitles

There is one special place where I worked as a young chef

that has remained close to my heart...

Didn't think I'd come to France and find the Barnsley chop.

..and one region in particular that is full of passionate producers

and incredible ingredients.

This is Provence.

We are going to be discovering the secrets

of the very best and simplest French cooking.

That is a discovery.

SHE LAUGHS

Nice and easy, simple dinner for one.

I'll be sharing tips, tricks and techniques...

We've got flavours of Provence.

There's sunshine for you.

..and enjoying a bit of friendly rivalry along the way...

That was close!

I'm a little nervous.

THEY LAUGH

I knew I wouldn't be able to fool them.

Yes.

ALL LAUGH

..all in the name of bringing you a simple taste of Provence.

It's fair to say that when it comes to our national classic dishes,

the French and us Brits like to do things differently.

However, there is one food that unites us all.

It's as humble as it gets but utterly delicious,

and perhaps the ultimate comfort food,

both sides of the Channel - chips!

Mm.

Or should I say frites?

Absolutely delicious.

But there's something missing, and that's fish.

Fish and chips up and down the country is a dish that we love,

that we are recognised for.

It's one of the things we do well.

Just down the road from where I lived when I was growing up in Southport,

there was a fish-and-chip restaurant,

and I have to say, I did love going there.

Friday night fish and chips in my house was an absolute treat.

A British classic.

It can't be beaten, surely?

But the French also have a passion for poisson.

45% of households eat fish at least once a week,

and I want to find out what kind of fish they like,

and if there's a dish here to rival great British fish and chips.

One thing I do know, there is a delicious but simple French sauce

that pairs perfectly with fresh fish -

and chips, if you ask me -

a classic aioli.

It's essentially a garlic mayonnaise,

and I have a foolproof recipe

that is guaranteed to bring a taste of Provence to your kitchen.

Over here, they like it pretty strong,

but I've got a secret twist that I think will make it even better.

I'm going to put something to the test.

And what I've done is I've got my garlic

and, rather than putting whole garlic or chopped garlic, raw garlic,

I've roasted mine in a little tinfoil cup here.

Very simple - just cut off the top of the garlic,

little bit of oil, salt, pepper,

wrap it up and just bake it in the oven,

180 degrees for about 15 minutes till it's nice and soft,

and there we have it - that's your roasted garlic.

It's far less powerful than raw garlic,

not to mention better on the breath.

Now, the base of an aioli is a classic mayonnaise

made with three egg yolks.

I used to love doing this at catering school.

Don't bin the whites, though.

They can be stored in the freezer

until you have enough to make a batch of meringues.

A spoon of Dijon mustard.

Just break those up.

Little pinch of salt and start whisking away.

And all we're doing at the moment, we're aerating the egg yolk,

and you know how you're aerating it cos it will double in size.

Now, this recipe is one third veg oil, two thirds olive oil.

We start off with our veg oil.

You don't want to pour it in too quickly, just nice and gently.

If you add the oil too quickly, it's just going to split.

I think that's enough of my veg oil.

I'm just going to give a little splash of white wine vinegar

cos this needs letting down.

And I know it's getting a little bit thick

because everything on the table's shaking and moving around.

So there we go. See, it's just let itself down.

We now start to add the olive oil.

And this is where mayonnaise

takes on a whole new dimension.

Combining veg and olive oil

gives aioli the perfect balance of texture and flavour.

I'll tell you what, it isn't half a workout.

Keep whisking to incorporate the last of the olive oil

until you have a rich, thick sauce.

Don't think, "Oh, my gosh, I'm not going to be making that with all that olive oil,

"It's too expensive."

You can make this dish quite easily with just simple veg oil.

Or how about this for a total cheat?

You could add your roasted garlic to a jar of shop-bought mayonnaise.

I think we're about there.

Here's my garlic.

When it's cooked, it calms down,

and it's sweet - still garlicky, but sweet.

All we do is just squeeze that in there.

That's quite a lot of garlic.

Actually, I think that needs another one.

Squeeze it in.

That's the bit that's going to get the neighbours chatting.

And just mash that in.

All right, let's give that a little taste.

Give that a little twist of pepper,

pinch of salt,

little squeeze of a lemon.

Oh, that's good.

There we go. Done.

But here's the real test.

I'm going to an event called The Grand Aioli,

and they have fish, they have vegetables there,

but the main part of the gathering is this.

This is without doubt very different to what they serve,

but this is my version,

and I think this roasted garlic in this mayonnaise

could go one way or the other.

They're either going to love it or hate it.

That's good.

A few chips in there.

Delicious.

Now, in order to find a Provencal dish to really rival fish and chips,

first, I need to know what kind of seafood is available here.

With 700 kilometres of Mediterranean coastline,

there's no shortage of fresh fish.

And fellow chef Arturo

has brought me to meet some of his suppliers in Carro,

one of the last coastal villages in Provence

where local fishermen still bring their daily catch

to sell directly to customers on the quayside.

It's stunning, isn't it? Yeah. The sea wall.

We're here just in time to see fisherman Claude and his crew

arrive at the dock.

Interesting to see how much they've got.

And we're not the only ones.

CAT MEOWS

But he's got quite a good catch of fish in there, looks really good.

And I can't see any ice in the boat,

which means they've got to basically go out, fish

and bring it back while it's fresh.

Yeah, exactly. That's why they fish twice a day.

All you see now, it's going to be sold in a few hours.

Yeah, so it's going to be gone.

Ah, that looks familiar.

Lovely.

British classic. Yeah!

MARCUS LAUGHS

Mackerel - one of my favourites.

Ah, now there's the fish for your bouillabaisse.

That is what bouillabaisse soup comes from. That's it.

All the little fishes, little combination of everything.

You've got snapper, you've got a little bit of red mullet,

you've got some crayfish.

Is he happy with the catch? Yeah.

Vous etes content de ce que vous avez peche?

Is it good? Oui, ca va.

So much more relaxed down here!

So, it doesn't look like a lot,

but it is a beautiful catch, I have to say.

Hello. Bonjour. Bonjour!

This is Emmanuelle, who runs the quayside stall

selling her husband's catch.

Can I, er... Can I help?

Est-ce que, est-ce qu'il peut aider? Oui. Bien sur. Yeah?

That's quite extraordinary.

So, this is the monkfish.

The head is practically two thirds of the fish.

Normally, they just bring the monkfish tail back

and the head just goes back in the water.

I've never seen a monkfish landed as a whole fish before.

Even I'm better looking than this thing.

All the customers are waiting

and I just feel like I'm holding her up.

This is completely different to what I expected.

So, it's like only like, what, ten kinds of fish,

so it's very limited but super seasonal.

..le couleur. C'est beau, hein? C'est magnifique.

It's a kind of mullet called a grondin.

With such a local selection,

the regulars are sure to have their favourite way to cook.

Could you ask the lady what she's making?

Qu'est-ce que vous allez faire avec le poisson, avec le rouger?

Ils vont etre frits.

She's going to fry them. Ah!

And what does she eat with it?

Avec des rougers? Du pain, du vin blanc.

ALL LAUGH

White wine, bread and fish. My kind of lady.

THEY CONVERSE IN FRENCH

What's she asking for, these ones? Elle veut les petits.

Petits?

Oui, the poisson frit, des oignons,

vous faites les bien revenir, de facon ce qu'ils soient caramelises.

So...fried onions,

little bit of caramelisation.

La tradition.

Voila.

So far, everyone is planning to keep it simple.

This gentleman is buying a lot of fish.

Qu'est ce que vous allez faire alors avec tout ca?

Soupe de poisson. Soupe de poisson? Ouais.

Where's the best bouillabaisse in this region?

Marcus voudrait savoir ou on mange

la meilleure bouillabaisse dans la region.

Maison? A la maison?

So, bouillabaisse is famous in the region of Provence.

Ouais.

Where I come from, one of the most famous dishes is fish and chips.

Has he ever had fish and chips?

No, no. Jamais. Never. Jamais.

Eh, moi, la cuisine anglaise c'est pas trop mon four, eh.

He's not really keen on, uh...

You're not keen on English cuisine?

Non, non, la cuisine, ils melangeant le sucre, le sale, le...

A lot of, uh...

A lot of sweet, of salty, uh, marmalades.

Cuisine de Provence...

The cuisine de Provence c'est tres, tres bon.

Pour moi, oui. C'est pour vous.

Bouillabaisse is a really economical way to eat fish

because it uses a lot of smaller rockfish in its stock

that can't really be eaten otherwise.

Some can even be poisonous.

The vive. That's dangerous.

Yeah, it's a dangerous one. Oui, c'est ca.

EMMANUELLE LAUGHS

Ah, ha-ha!

But it's very good for the bouillabaisse, apparently. It's good flavour. Yeah.

What's affordable? What's a good-value fish?

Le merlin. Le merlin.

The whiting. The whiting, yes.

You can do it in a bouillon, you can do it in the oven,

you can deep-fry it if you want.

Yeah, and do you know what this fish is also good for?

Fish and chips. Ouais.

A voila. Ah, la cuisine anglaise. SHE LAUGHS

La cuisine anglaise, oui.

MARCUS LAUGHS

I've worked with fish a lot in my career,

and it's really good to come into Provence

and to come down to the coast

and to see that places like this still exist,

that they're still functioning.

I'll tell you what, though, it'd be really interesting

if I came down here and set up a fish-and-chip van.

I bet I'd get a queue

and I bet they'd enjoy it.

When it comes to seafood, it really doesn't have to cost the earth.

And there's one cheaper, plentiful and sustainable ingredient

that, when paired with potato,

makes a dish that's probably as close as I'm going to get

to fish and chips in France.

Moules frites.

I've heard that local chef Guillaume...

Bonjour. Bonjour.

..who's known in the region for turning everyday traditional recipes

into modern dishes,

has given this French classic his own Provencal twist.

Moules frites, mussels and French fries.

Now, there's a classic. Yes.

It's quite hard to beat a classic.

What are you doing that's a little bit different?

The idea was to combinate all the saveur of Mediterranean. Yes.

With the difference is, with the mussel,

we cook with sauce tomate and a lot of spices and meat.

And you still have French fries?

Yes, but it's not really French fries.

Ah, a twist on French fries? Yes, you will see in the kitchen.

OK. Looking forward to it. Come on, let's go. Show me.

I'll take my watch off.

There we go. You can always see a chef's prepared.

That looks great.

Quite a lot of spice there.

Harissa, smoked paprika,

piment d'espelette, cumin,

thyme, rosemary.

Mussels look really small. Yes.

I chose this one because the meat is very big inside.

What can I do?

Alors, if you can peel onions, and I will do ham. OK.

Why not just do moules frites?

Because I sought recipes to use this ham.

You wanted to bring the ham into the dish?

Because the moules frites is quite basic, isn't it?

Yes. It's very simple.

And this recipe...

Yeah, I'm very happy that we're serving with mussels, yeah.

I don't mind snails, but I prefer mussels.

Voila, I think we are ready to cook. We're good to go?

When normally we're cooking mussels, very, very hot pan,

mussels go in, white wine, lid on, wait for them to open.

Are you doing the same? Not at all.

OK. I didn't think you would.

GUILLAUME CHUCKLES

We will prepare the sauce

and at the end, we will add the mussels.

So, what's first?

Alors, I start with olive oil. OK.

Everything's olive oil. Yes.

Everywhere I go, it's olive oil. GUILLAUME CHUCKLES

Onions first.

ONIONS SIZZLE

And then you're going to put in the lardons and then the garlic.

Nice.

Ah!

Yes, look, now we can smell the fat of the ham. Yeah.

And in this recipe, it's very important.

Next, Guillaume adds the minced pork...

..followed by his selection of herbs and spices.

And now it changes completely.

Now we are almost on the other side of the Mediterranean.

MARCUS LAUGHS

On the North African side. Yes, that's it.

I like that.

Mm, mm.

In goes tomato sauce and the dish changes again,

almost like an Italian ragu.

I've never had mussels in a sauce like this.

Can I taste?

Uh, it's missing a last ingredient, breadcrumb.

Very important to take the water in the sauce.

So that when you cook the mussels,

all the juice of the mussel dilutes the sauce.

Exactly. That's it.

Mm. That's big.

Strong. Yes. Avec ca... Ha-ha-ha!

That's good, though. Yes. In a good way.

And I get the pieces of the ham and the pork as well.

Oh, that's good.

And for the finish, we will put the mussel. OK.

Maintenant, une minute. Une?

It's very fast. They are little and it's already hot.

I think that's... That's it? Yes.

That smells incredible.

Right, I can't wait to try that, but what about the chips?

Alors, the chips. Not doing chips, are we?

And that's the panisse. That's the panisse.

Similar to polenta,

panisse is made from chickpea flour, garlic and water.

Now we cut like French fries. I need...

Ah, whoa, whoa, whoa. French fries, they're not that thick.

French fries are thin.

GUILLAUME CHUCKLES

In France... That's what we call at home a door wedge.

Alors, in France... We put this in the door to stop it from closing.

GUILLAUME SCOFFS, MARCUS LAUGHS

I'm just joking!

The name of this cut is pommes pont neuf.

Pommes pont neuf, that's it. Voila. Yeah, big thick chips.

Is this classic like this all over France or just in the region?

From Marseilles.

And do they do different shapes in other areas of France?

You can find socca near Nice, Cote d'Azur,

but it's flat like a crepe. Ah.

Just like the best chips back home,

the panisse is deep-fried until golden and crispy.

Wow. They look good.

Smell the spice.

Beautiful.

You've taken a classic and you've made it your own.

All we need to do now is dive in. GUILLAUME CHUCKLES

There we are, one of those.

Oh, wow. Wow.

It's delicious.

It's really, really, really delicious.

This is probably one of the best mussel dishes I've tasted.

Oh, thank you. It's really, really good. Thank you.

And maybe if I'd have come to your restaurant,

I may have passed by this dish and thought,

"Mm, not so sure about mussels."

But I'm so pleased that I've come and tried it

because it's absolutely incredible.

In fact...

..if you go start the washing up,

I'll finish this dish off and you leave this one with me.

THEY LAUGH

Guillaume clearly takes risks with his food,

so will he approve of my take on a classic aioli

for the upcoming festival?

I've done a little twist - I've cooked the garlic,

I've roasted it in the oven in tin foil,

so it's a little soft and sweet.

Do you think that's OK?

In Provence, we eat with the raw garlic.

They like it strong, raw? Mm-hm.

Just with garlic and olive oil only.

No eggs, no mustard, nothing.

OK, that's going to be interesting. Wish me luck.

BOTH CHUCKLE

Guillaume's twist on moules frites is delicious,

but it's certainly not traditional.

So I'm turning my attention

to Provence's most classic fish dish, bouillabaisse,

to see if it can give my beloved fish and chips a run for its money.

There is one ingredient that is very familiar and popular

in this region of France,

and it has a little bit of a mystery about it,

but it is very much involved in the flavours of a bouillabaisse.

In fact, it is one of the main ingredients,

and it's even grown in this area, too.

That is saffron.

It's so popular in Provence.

I have literally just got the last one.

There is nothing left in this little basket.

Made from dried crocus stamen,

gram for gram, it's the world's most expensive spice.

But a little goes a long way,

as you can see by the size of the jar.

Bonjour. Bonjour.

Just this.

Can you guess what I'm making with this?

Bouillabaisse? Ah!

Soupe de poisson. Soupe de poisson. Yes, yes, of course.

D'accord. C'est pour le bouillabaisse.

Making it the traditional way can take hours,

using all those small rockfish

to make a deeply complex flavoured stock

which forms the base of the soup.

My recipe is just as delicious,

but takes a fraction of the time and no rockfish in sight.

Bouillabaisse - it's an absolute classic here in Provence.

But I'm going to make a simpler version

and a stripped-back version,

and for the base of it, I've got some vegetables here.

We're going to start off with a couple of cloves of garlic.

Slice that up along with half an onion

and get them into a pan with olive oil.

Pinch of salt, twist of pepper.

Next, chop celery, including the leaves,

and fennel with its fronds.

Nothing is wasted.

Then fresh plum tomatoes.

I've made many a bouillabaisse in my professional career,

and in one particular kitchen, it was probably one of the biggest jobs.

Boxes and boxes of fish used to come over from France.

It used to take us about a week to get through it,

to prepare all the fish,

to get it all cooked down and to get it all blitzed up.

In a classic bouillabaisse, there's pieces of fish -

fish heads, fish bodies, everything.

And it's all the fish that generally you don't see on menus

cos it was the fishermen that used to make this dish.

It was seen as the poor man's soup,

the soup that was the fish that never got sold.

So, rather than throw the fish away, they'd be chopping it up.

And as years have gone by,

you've had little bits been added into it

such as the saffron and the liqueur and the white wine

and it's just got richer and richer.

That simple soup of the olden days,

it's become a soup now that sits on a fine dining menu.

Right, smoky paprika.

Couple of star anise.

A little pinch of our saffron.

Don't put all of it in, just put a little pinch in.

A little, a bit of this goes a long, long way.

I need to get it into my soup before it turns my hand yellow.

Now we're just going add in a little bit of tomato paste.

Mix that up.

And the saffron starts to bring it to life

and you see that it's started to have that little red, yellowy tinge

come into these vegetables just beautifully cooking down.

Now for a real taste of Provence.

I've got a little bit of my pastis.

That's my fennel liqueur.

Pastis is an aperitif that they drink a lot of down here.

Little bit strong for my liking, but it's great in a soup.

Mm. That's the smell I've been waiting for.

HE COUGHS

A massive explosion of fennel and aniseed.

I may not be cooking the same soup I used to cook

when I was back in those restaurants,

but there is one thing that is familiar - it's that smell.

It's the aniseed and the saffron cooking.

That's the familiarity.

That's the flavour I'm looking for.

And then we're going to give it a lovely little glug of white wine.

And this is where it gets really simple -

shop-bought fish stock.

What I love about recipes like this, you can do it in,

you know, in a big batch.

Just don't add the fresh fish into your soup

until you're about to eat it.

Leave the soup to simmer for five to ten minutes

while you prepare the fish,

and you don't need too much.

And I've got a little bit of hake,

but it could be cod if you wanted to,

could be a bit of plaice if you've got that.

Don't normally use salmon in a bouillabaisse,

but it just looked delicious,

so I thought I could introduce it into the soup.

And of course, just a few mussels

just to bring in that shellfish element.

What I love about the mussels,

you can actually buy them already pre-cooked,

but if you've got them raw, it's very simple.

Just got a hot pan that I've got on the grill.

Just going to drop them on. Splash of white wine.

And you watch those open up in no time.

Just two to three minutes,

and then make sure you discard any that remain closed.

How good do they look?

Beautiful. And that juice.

Oh!

That beautiful mussel stock, there's only one place for that,

and that's in there.

Lift out the star aniseed.

These will never break down with a blender,

so just make sure you lift them out before you put your mixer into there.

And that is ready to blend.

Into your soup.

I'll go to bed smelling like a fish soup - that's OK.

There we go.

Look at that.

Now it's time to cook the fish.

You can use whatever fish you like.

If you've got some fish that you've had in the freezer for a bit

and you think, "Ah, I need to use that,"

this is the perfect dish for it.

Drop your fish in.

Let it cook away. There we go.

Open up our mussels,

lid back on.

And just let that just simmer away for about two to three minutes.

In fact, while that's just cooking away,

I'm just going to chop up a little bit of parsley

just to finish it off with.

There we go.

Sprinkle a bit of that on top.

There we have it. That smells and looks incredible.

There we have it -

my simple version of the bouillabaisse.

Perfect served with my roasted garlic aioli.

The flavour...

..that's coming out this soup is fabulous.

I'm loving this roasted garlic aioli.

It's a little twist on what the locals are used to,

but I'm going to give it a test, I'm going to let them try it.

I can't wait to see what you think.

Every year, there's a special gathering in Saint Remy

called Le Grand Aioli.

It's a traditional lunch of simple boiled fish, snails and vegetables

served with copious amounts of aioli.

I've been warned that the locals like it strong...

..so I wonder how my more subtle recipe will go down.

I think the event's going on down there, but I need to find the kitchen.

Think I've come to the right place.

Ah! Ha-ha-ha!

ALL: Bonjour!

Bonjour monsieur. Chef de aioli? Oui.

MARCUS LAUGHS

Bonjour, enchante.

Marcus. Pierre. Pierre.

I believe this is the man in charge.

Yes, this is a chef of aioli of Saint Remy.

Can you ask Chef why they celebrate aioli? Yes. Why?

Ah. Pourquoi est-ce que vous celebrez l'aioli alors, aujourd'hui? Pourquoi?

C'est la fete du village...

Pierre explains that it's part of the celebration for the annual town fete.

It's such a strong tradition here,

I'm starting to feel a bit worried about my contribution.

I've made my own aioli. Yes.

This is aioli anglais.

I would like the chef to try my aioli

and I want to know what he really thinks.

Aioli. La, la.

You want some? He wants some.

He's been waiting. There we go.

Well, that's a bad start!

For him, it's...

Yes.

It's like water. You...

It's not good consistency? Yes.

Compared to Pierre's, I can see what he means.

It's like a glue.

MARCUS LAUGHS

And you, when you do that, it's like water.

C'est bon, huh? No. For him, no.

Non. No good. Voila.

No? Alors. No. Donne.

At least it tastes delicious.

No good?

Ouais.

It doesn't taste of gar... You must taste garlic?

Yes. More ail.

Just how garlicky should it be?

HE COUGHS, SHE LAUGHS

Whoa! Et oui, et oui. Whoa!

C'est ca. Voila.

Voila?

Cru, mixee cru.

What the chef is saying is the garlic's got to be raw. Yes.

My garlic is cooked and that's why it's not so strong.

Will he eat this or shall I just take it back home with me?

So... I understand.

Merci beaucoup. Maybe next year. Yes, yes.

Next time, I'm bringing fish and chips.

I've just been schooled by a master of aioli making,

and he was having none of it.

It's the first time, I think,

where I've been anywhere where I've brought food

and I wasn't allowed to serve it.

Sometimes, classics shouldn't be messed with.

But what an incredible experience it's been,

discovering the great fish dishes of Provence.