All language subtitles for marcus.wareing.simply.provence.s01e01.720p.webrip.x264-skyfire

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.

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.

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

LAUGHTER

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

When you think of France,
certain things spring to mind.

Baguettes, boules,

fashion, frogs' legs,

but there's an everyday ingredient
we all adore

that's even more popular here
than potatoes,

and whether you consider it
a fruit or a vegetable,

there's no denying that in Provence,
tomatoes are king.

How good does that look?

First brought here in 1790,

this region is now France's
biggest tomato producer,

and they produce a lot.

You've got your little
cherry tomatoes,

you've got your plum tomatoes,

you've got these big stunning
tomatoes, even these orange ones.

That looks familiar,
look at that, like a massive heart.

So I've fallen in love,

but how do I know
if these toms are ready to buy?

It's not too soft.

It's not firm.

There's a,
there's a loveliness about it.

And their aroma?

They smell ripe.

They smell sweet.

They smell delicious.

Could they get any better?

What I love about markets
here in Provence

is that
everything's affordable.

Well, affordable
compared to British prices.

What more could I possibly want?

Even more choice?

How many varieties
have you got here?

I have 50 varieties.
50?

Yes.
Bingo!

That's quite a lot. Yes.

Why do you grow so many?

I love to, to cultivate,
and the taste is not the same. OK.

And how about a top tip
for storing them?

Back home, lots of people
put the tomatoes in the fridge.

Never! Never? Ever?

You lose every flavour of the...
From the tomato? Yeah.

It's clear to see from this market
alone

that tomatoes here are a big deal.

So I imagine they're the star
in a lot of delicious local dishes.

Can I pay for those? Thank you.
Thank you.

I'm making it my mission
to find the simplest,

yet most impressive
Provencal tomato recipe.

I've heard a lot
about a traditional,

versatile and above all,
easy sauce.

Seems like the perfect
place to start.

Merci, au revoir.
Au revoir. Au revoir.

This is an amazing
batch cook recipe.

Make it in bulk and store it
in the freezer for those days

when you don't have time to cook.

It's delicious with pasta, fish.

The possibilities for using it

to bring a taste of Provence
into your kitchen are endless.

I've just chopped up a little
bit of garlic, small white onion,

just half of one.

I've got some local oil.

Into my pan.

I'm just going to get that
gently frying off.

The nice thing about tomato sauce,
you don't need

to use expensive tomatoes.

You could use tinned if you want.

All you're doing is, you're just
concentrating the flavour.

You're taking the humble tomato,
chopping it up,

adding it with a few ingredients

and just making it taste
that little bit better.

Look at that green tomato.

I was actually quite staggered
by the variety of tomatoes

on the stand.

Incredible, actually.

Pinch of salt.

Twist of pepper.

And of course, herbes de Provence.

Well, it wouldn't be a Provencal
tomato sauce without this.

It's a blend including rosemary,
thyme, and oregano,

but you can use any dried herbs you
have hiding away in your cupboard.

It's really easy to go to a
supermarket

and buy a ready-made
tomato sauce, but personally,

you know, I think they are a little
bit expensive

and if you can find
yourself some affordable tomatoes,

some tinned tomatoes, you can
still do great things with them.

You really, really can.

So, as that cooks away,
the water starts to evaporate,

the flavour of the tomato
just gets stronger and stronger,

and the more flavour
comes out of it.

Fantastic.

Little bit of sharp vinegar

and you've got yourself a lovely
little sweet and sour tomato sauce.

And there we have it,

a super-simple delicious tomato
sauce with just a few ingredients.

But is it the ultimate
easy tomato showstopper?

I don't know, I think
with a bit of schooling,

I can do even better.

And I've got a secret weapon
up my sleeve,

but before I reveal all,

I need more tomatoes,

so I'm stopping by Fabien and
Laurene's farm

for a bit of pick your own.

I just have to find them first!

So far, all I can see are weeds
that are taller than me.

Where are they?

Fabien?
Yeah?

Where are you?

I'm here.

Where's here?

Here!

How do I get...?

Ugh.

LAUREN LAUGHS

Ah, bonjour, bonjour!
Bonjour!

Look at these two,
buried in tomatoes and weeds.

It's like a jungle.

Bonjour! Bonjour.
Bonjour. Bonjour.

Nice to see you again.

I've got to ask you,
why all the weeds?

Why do you let them grow?

It's organic,
we don't use products, so...

Nothing?
It's nature.

This is it.
You have to accept it.

Does it not fight with
the growth of the tomato?

Yes. It does?

It's good for the tomatoes.

We have more taste like this.

So the fact that the tomatoes
are fighting with the weeds

is making the tomato plant stronger
and stronger and stronger...

The taste is better like this.

In my farming, in my growing,
I love perfect lines,

I love perfect walkways.

This here, for me, this is hell.

It's quite extraordinary.

But give me that basket.

You know, look at that.

This beauty, this deliciousness,

this stunning collection of tomatoes

is amongst all of this.

I love the fact that you can keep it
that simple and deliver,

you know, this beautiful product,
because a lot of farming,

and farmers, would never do this.

We know that there is
less productivity

because it's more difficult
to let it grow, we know that,

but we know that it's better
for people.

It's better for taste,
it's better for us,

and it's better for soil.

There's a tomato in here that's,
well, is it even a tomato?

It's like a...
It's a peach.

It's got, like, a fur.
Yeah.

Can I try? Yeah, of course. Yes.

Can you do me a favour?
Can you just hold that for me?

I have something that I think
would make this better.

OK.

Oh!

Is this OK?

You are so crazy.
Ah, I'm a chef.

I'm a chef.

Now, we're going up
to different levels.

I have to say...

That is fantastic.

That is a discovery.

There is a fruitiness about it,
and the texture of the skin

is completely different to
all of these, the texture is soft.

Oui.

That's incredible.

I wonder what other
mysterious varieties are hidden

amongst the undergrowth?

We love this one, because there is
a story behind this tomato.

The name of this tomato
is la tomate du voyageur.

It's travel tomato.
Ah.

Because they just take
a piece like this, look,

they eat it and after, they keep
the rest for the next traveller.

The next journey? Yeah.
Oh, yeah.

That's like,
it's like a little brain. Yeah.

Now for the real reason I'm here,

to pick tomatoes for a very special
kitchen

where I'm going
to be getting some advice

from a very important
local cook, and here's a clue.

What were the school meals
like when you were at school?

They weren't good.
Was it? Yeah. Really?

But everything changed.
I think now, it's better.

Really?

My dad used to provide fruit and
vegetables, potatoes, to all,

to quite a lot of schools
where I'm from. Oh, cool.

And the school meals were very basic

and then when they stopped the
potatoes, the fruit, the vegetables,

it just got worse and worse.

Ah, oui.

But do you know the worst thing?
Custard?

Oh. Pink.
Ah! Yeah.

With a bun on top
that had pink icing sugar.

Bleugh! I know.

You guessed it,
I'm going back to school!

I think that's absolutely perfect.

Where better to learn
the secrets of simple,

delicious French food than with
one of the local dinner ladies?

Meet Maude and Sebastian,
who works with the school.

Hello. Bonjour.

I brought a present.
Super, merci.

Unbelievably, Maude is preparing a
three-course lunch for the children,

and it's not because she's trying to
impress me, she does this every day.

Today's meal starts with
a chilled gazpacho

with cake and cream for dessert but
the main event is soupe au pistou,

packed with fresh, locally grown
vegetables, beans and pasta.

It's a minestrone soup
in the style of St Remy.

C'est une minestrone Provencale.

D'accord!

C'est pas Italien?

Non, c'est pas Italien.

It's quite unusual to see
this many vegetables for children.

This is proper fresh cookery.
It's beautiful.

Yes, it's...

I want to come to school here!

I'm definitely too old for that, but
I am a student in Maude's kitchen.

Six goes in...
Six?

And after she instructs me
to add some tomatoes to the soup,

I'm on pesto duty.

Come, come with me.
Basilic.

Garlic.

Olive. Olive oil?
OK?

All these ingredients
in front of me,

the freshness of them is like
any top restaurant would use.

I mean, the basil itself
is beautiful.

Pesto's something
I never had at school.

Definitely not fresh basil.

Well, I suppose that was
a long time ago.

This, to me, sounds very expensive.

This is the best produce.

I don't think back home
in the UK, that we would,

could afford to do this.

How much does it cost
to feed a child?

A meal costs ten euros per child.

But the price the families pay

is between two and three euros.

Cooking organic is, of course,
a bit more expensive,

but when we changed our practice,
we also decided to reduce waste,

because in our normal kitchen,
you would cook more and waste more,

so it's reduced the price.

We serve them
small quantities

and then if they want more,
they can have more. Ask.

It turns out the tomatoes that
went in the soup were just blanching

so they could be added to the pesto,
and hey presto,

it's now pistou,
hence the name of the dish,

soupe au pistou.

Now it all makes sense!

What other types of food
do you feed them?

I mean, this smells delicious,
by the way.

Calamares. Calamari? Mm.
Squids. Squid?

Yes.
You feed children squid?

Yes.

With, a la c'est trois,
with a bisque d'homard.

Bisque..?
Vin blanc, yes.

With um...
Sorry, sorry.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Lobster bi...

you serve lobster bisque
to the children of this school?

Oui, c'est ca.
Yes! Les calamares with...

With calamari?

I can't believe
what she's just said.

You're kidding me?

Lobster bisque, bisque homard...

Oui, bisque d'homard.
To children?

Aux enfants, oui, bien sur.
Yes! Il y a eu plus rien.

Ils ont tout mange, avec le...

et on, on met la sauce,
c'est l'aioli.

I don't, I can't believe that.

I can't believe that I,
that, that a school chef

serves her children lobster bisque
with squid and aioli,

and they eat it all?

Yeah. Wow!

And they are back, because the food
and the meals are very tasty,

the children eat lots of it

and then that contributes
to reduce food waste.

That's a proper meal.
That's...

That's a proper meal, yes.

That's cooking
at its very, very best. Mm.

So, this restaurant is
almost like a classroom?

I need to come back to school!

Now I know I've come to the
right place to get some advice

about the best tomato recipe
in Provence

and it's not pistou Maude
is recommending, it's a tart.

Des bonnes tomates mures deja.
Mm.

Good tomatoes.
Good tomatoes.

Apres des, d'huile d'olive.
Oui.

Sel, poivre. Oui.

Herbes de Provence.

So cook the tomatoes in the oven
with oil, salt...

Yes. D'accord, apres?

Apres au four.
Au four.

Uh, a 180.

Oui. 180 degrees.

Mais avec un petit peu d'humidite.
With some moist.

Mm, roast tomato tart,
I can definitely do that.

Et les aubergines.
Aubergine.

Meme cuisson que les tomates.
OK.

Et apres tu...mozzarella avec un
peu de creme ou de mixer.

So, mozzarella, cream on there,
and that's going to go on top

of aubergines,
cooked tomatoes, and pastry.

Oh, and there's more.

Et apres tu peux faire une,
juste une huile.

That's not a very simple recipe,
is it? Uh...

Apres c'est pas ma specialite, huh?

She's a chef Michelin!

Oops, that bell means
the students are lining up outside

and I've been distracting Maude
in the kitchen.

We need to feed these kids!

Can I do that?

The soup needs to go into
big containers and to be taken

into the dining room, where
the children receive table service.

It's honestly like
a fine dining restaurant,

but all my talking in the kitchen
means we've made a mistake.

I forgot to put the pasta
in the minestrone.

That's my fault.

Mix it.

Now it's finished, there we go.

Crisis averted.

And just in the nick of time

as the kids come
piling into the dining room,

ready for their lunch.

Do you know what's
really interesting,

what I find quite extraordinary is,
these young kids right now

are about to have
a three course lunch.

I grew up in the wrong country,
I think.

So well behaved!

So quiet.

Not one single person that has
sat down

has touched
the bread on the table.

If that was in my school
when I was growing up,

all those bread baskets
would be empty by now.

Not because we'd have eaten them,

because we'd have probably
thrown them at each other!

Ah, here's the soup.

The first course is a true
celebration of tomatoes,

although not exactly Provencal,
gazpacho.

My wife loves this,
I bet she wishes she was here now.

But perfect to cool the kids off
on this rather warm day.

Mademoiselle, voila.

Voila, monsieur. OK?

Good? Good? All good?

Good, good.

Not so much?

I'll speak to the chef.

Main course is up, seems like the
pistou I made is going down well.

It's quite incredible that all this
fresh veg, they're all eating it.

It's fantastic to see such young
people eating local great food

and cooked with real love
and attention.

And look, they're,
they're all eating.

Superb!

I'm already doing seconds and I've
not even finished the first round.

These kids know what
good food's all about.

The boys over there have got
their hands up, they want more.

The soup, c'est bon? It's good?

Third course is home-made
lemon polenta cake

with a mint-infused
Chantilly cream.

Oh, did you hear that noise?

Of course it is.

Oh, wow!

Great day at school.

I never thought I'd say that.

Just look at how happy
these children are.

I hope I can get this reaction
from Maude later.

I've decided she should be
the judge of my recipe.

I've taken her advice and opted
for a roast tomato tart,

but my version is super-simple
and if I may say so myself,

absolutely beautiful.

I'm excited to show you this one.

So, frozen pastry
is absolutely fine,

especially for a tart like this.

This frozen pastry, defrosted.

Good to just take it out overnight,
put it into the fridge.

First thing I'm going to do
is make it look pretty.

Little bit of eggwash
around the outside,

and what we're going to do is,
we're going to create an edge.

It is pretty hot out here,
so I'm doing this quite quickly.

My first finger down of my left
hand, and then with my thumb

and first finger, just pull it over
the top, and that just creates

a beautiful little edge that'll be
nice and crunchy and crispy.

There we go, over the end,
quickly done.

That's it.

To stop the centre of the pastry
from puffing up when it bakes,

just dot a few holes with a fork.

I need a little bit more eggwash.

Perfect.

That's my pastry base,
and there we go.

Pop that in the oven, 180 degrees C,
about 12, 15 minutes

until it's nice and crunchy.

But by magic...
here's one I made earlier.

Look at that.

What you've got there is, you've got
a lovely, perfect base,

and you see the golden colour,
that's from the eggwash,

and that's going to protect the
pastry when I put my goodies on.

So, that's my base ready to go.

I've got some beautiful tomatoes

that I'm going to put onto
the grill, get them nicely charred,

and I'm going to make a lovely
tomato paste,

so an intense flavour of tomato, and
then finish it with sliced tomatoes,

a bit of thyme leaf and some
sliced garlic on top,

and then into the oven.

I'm using a mixture
of tomato varieties.

Different shapes, sizes and colours

to really celebrate this
most Provencal of produce.

I love tomatoes.

My dad bought the tomatoes
from the marketplace.

My mum and my brother were tomato
pickers in the summer holidays,

and all they did was
just pick tomatoes.

Fabulous memories,
but when I was growing up,

we had a couple of varieties.

We certainly didn't
have 50-plus varieties.

Touch of olive oil,
sprinkling of salt on each one.

It was quite funny when I was in the
field with Fabien and his wife.

They did laugh at me that I came
with my own little pot of salt.

The tomatoes did taste good,
but just add a little bit of salt

and they just go up another level.

Right, look at that.

These are ready for the grill,
over we go.

Straight on.

Face down.

Look at those!

How beautiful are they?
Look at that.

Stunning!

Tomatoes on the vine,
every single one of them perfect.

Oh, one fell off.

Mm.

And what we're doing is,
we're just getting a little bit

of roasting going on.

One of my favourite parts
about a fry-up back home

when I was with my family was that
my dad always used to make tomatoes

in a pan, chopped up tomatoes

with just a little bit
of salt and pepper,

and he just used to fry them until
they stewed, but I always remember

they used to caramelise and just
taste fantastic

and he always put white pepper,

never a pepper mill, he didn't have
one of those,

white pepper, and I always remember
the warmth and the heat

and every now and again he would
always, as a bit of a laugh,

make us sniff the pepper pot,

knowing full well that we'd spend

the next 15 minutes
sneezing our heads off,

and they thought it was quite funny.

If you don't fancy firing up
the barbecue for this,

you can do what Maude suggested
and roast the tomatoes in the oven.

Once they're done, they're added
to a pan with olive oil and garlic

and cooked down to reduce
the amount of moisture.

That's it.

Just going to put a few thyme leaves
in here and the point of this,

the real reason is,
I don't want to have my pastry,

I don't want my pastry to go soggy.

Even though I've cooked it,

I still want it to be nice
and crunchy and crispy.

I've got a lot of memories
of pastry cases,

or pastry or apple tarts
that my mum, and plum tarts

she used to make, and every single
time, the pastry was soggy.

I'm sorry, Mum, but it was.

My dad will always bring home
a batch of plums

or a massive batch of apples,
and he'd say, "Get them cooked,

"get them into an apple pie,
get them into something,

"get them into a crumble."

And my mum would have to do
this batch cookery.

So she'd roll out her pastry,
she'd put it on a plate,

put the apple puree on,
put the pastry on top,

put them in the freezer and in the
freezer, we had a chest freezer

and we'd have about six
or seven apple pies,

all raw, none of
the pastry was cooked.

Then whenever we wanted an apple
pie, she'd just take it out

the day before, and you can imagine
what's going to happen,

all the apples
are just going to go watery.

Put it in the oven,
it was cooked, looked like that,

nice and colourful,
put it onto the table to cool down.

Guaranteed every single time,
ten times out of ten,

as you went in to take your slice
of apple pie, the pastry base

was always soggy -
in fact, it was raw.

We just had to eat around it.

And it always used to make us laugh

because we could never
solve the problem

until I went to catering school,
and then we solved the problem.

The secret is to cook the pastry
before adding the filling.

Right,
the tomatoes are looking good.

In fact, if I take away the olive
oil and I take away the garlic,

it's a little bit like what my old
man used to make for our fry-up.

Right.

I started with three large ones
and all those cherry tomatoes.

And that's what it comes down to,

and that's by removing
all of the water.

It's sweet, it's delicious,
it's concentrated.

We've got a little
bit of garlic in there

and we've got some thyme,
salt and pepper.

Just smells delicious.

If I'm going to impress Maude,

I need to make this look
as good as it's going to taste.

So I'm slicing
some more tomatoes to put on top,

and I have
a little secret ingredient.

So, put a little bit of tapenade
on the base.

This adds an unexpected
salty, briny hit of flavour.

Now for my tomato paste.

Get a generous amount on there
and spread it out nice and evenly,

then arrange
the sliced tomatoes on top.

Just make it look pretty.

That one under there.

Now all it needs is
some sliced garlic, thyme leaves,

a drizzle of olive oil
and seasoning.

Exactly the same ingredients
that went into the tomato paste.

It really is so simple.

There we have it.

180 degrees for about 12 minutes.

Serve it with a fresh salad,
little vinaigrette.

Absolutely delicious.

School's out for the day.

I'm hoping Maude and Sebastien
will be pleased with my work

and confirm that this is
the ultimate simple,

show-stopping
tomato recipe in Provence.

Thanks for inviting us.
Ah, pleasure. Thank you.

Nice to see you, Maude.
Nice to see you.

Tarte a Provence. Tres belle.

Merci! Very nice. Merci!
Magnifique. Smells very good. Oui.

It really is a thing of beauty.

I'm rather proud of it.

Perfect served alongside
a simple green salad.

She's giving it a close examination.

Don't worry, Maude - you won't find
a soggy bottom under there.

Mmm, la il y a...

I think she likes it.

C'est tres, tres bon.

It's perfect.

Result!

Um, do you think
the children at school

would eat something like this?
Comme ca... Oui!

THEY LAUGH

Of course. Bien sur!

The children are connoisseurs.

So, I suppose if we're going to
put tomato tart on the menu,

what time do we need to get started?
Shall I come and help?

Er, c'est six heures, sept heures?
Tomorrow it's Wednesday.

Yeah, oui. Not school.

Oh! Oh, no.

THEY LAUGH

Ah, oui! Really? Day off.

Lucky kids.
Having a day off, I mean.

Not because they won't
get my tart for lunch.

I hope Maude doesn't mind
that I didn't follow all her advice.

When we were at school,

Maude said she was going to
put some mozzarella.

Well, she told me to,
I didn't put it on.

I think Maude was thinking of pizza.

THEY LAUGH

The mozzarella would work.

But I-I like this - it's clean.
Pas besoin. Yeah, it's fresh.

Pas... Yes, c'est ca.
Simple is better. Perfect.

There's no confusion. C'est ca.

And when you finish this,
apres, the fromage.

Avec le vin rouge.
Avec le vin. Ah, oui. Oui? See.

Us chefs, we talk alike. Le vin.
THEY CHUCKLE

It's been wonderful
to learn so much from Maude.

Not only is she a fantastic chef,

she's an example of why
the simplicity of Provencal cooking

is so special.

To get her seal of approval
on my tomato tart

was the icing on the cake.

Or should that be
the cherry tomato on top?

Maude and Sebastien
loved the tomato tart.

I think that was a success.

Even if I can't quite
take all the credit.

You can't really fail when
you've got tomatoes as good as that.