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.

LAUGHTER

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.

LAUGHTER

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

Yes!

LAUGHTER

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

There's one ingredient we have in our cupboards

and gardens all over the world that can totally transform

a humdrum dish into a flavourful feast.

I'm talking about herbs.

Where would tomatoes be without basil, curry without coriander,

and lamb without mint?

Here in Provence, they've created their own blend of herbs

and they put it in pretty much everything - herbes de Provence.

But with no equivalent in Britain, I want to create my own simple

mix that will not only rival the French classic, but turn any

dull dish into a truly tasty meal.

And there's one man who can help me.

Bonjour, Marcus. Marcus. Marcus. Stephane. Stephane. Oui.

Enchante. Enchante. Merci.

Stephane has run this herb and spice shop for 20 years,

and has his own recipe for the famous local mix.

Herbes de Provence is...is for me, as a chef, has been something that

I remember from a young chef that the chef de cuisine would say,

"Go and get the herbes de Provence! Go and get the herbes de Provence."

It was always a herb that was used in so much cookery.

What is in it? Some people can change a little bit

because there is no official appellation. OK.

For our, we have savory - sariette. We have thyme - thym...

Oregano. Origan. And rosemary.

It's everywhere in France, herbes de Provence, is the joker.

You don't know to, what to use, put a little bit... Herbes de Provence. ..herbes de Provence,

and OK, it will be good. Lavender is a herb that I have heard...

LAUGHTER

You're laughing at me,

you're laughing at me!

Yes! Yes. Some, some people put in...in herbes de Provence.

I don't use.

Really? Really?

I don't say it's not good, but I don't like in, with, with cooking.

OK. And the only person who said,

"Where is lavender in your herbes de Provence?" are American!

Lavender is, for me, one of my favourites.

I use it in jam, I use it with fish, I use it in salad.

It's quite an unusual... And what I like about it is that

when you put it into food delicately, carefully...

Yeah. ..there's always, "Ooh, what's that?"

You can use the lavender to... Be very careful. ..a topping. Yeah.

Effective. OK. In salad, for fish. Yes.

But for me, herbes de Provence is really general...

Yes. ..herbs and lavender, it's not a general herbs.

I'm a huge fan of dried herbs.

I think they have stronger flavour

and are much more cost-effective than buying fresh.

You're also far less likely to waste them.

I wonder if Stephane feels the same way.

The only herbs I prefer really fresh, it's basil.

Basil, yes. Yes. It's the only one.

Yeah. We have dry and it's really different,

but in winter you don't have the choice.

I think... I think I agree with you. This has been superb.

Thank you so much.

Before I go, I just have to check out Stephane's

collection of spices as well.

I feel like I'm in a sweet shop. A chef's sweet shop.

This one brings back some memories.

This is the one spice that I used very happily on my egg custard tart

that I cooked for the Queen on her 80th birthday.

I was also told that this was one of the most expensive spices

that you could buy back in the olden days,

this little nugget of deliciousness.

Back to herbs, and I want to come up with my own mix to rival

the local favourite. Blending dried herbs is one of the quickest

and simplest ways to add a super boost of flavour to your food,

and mine is sure to bring a taste of Provence to your cooking,

even if it does stray a little from the classic.

I've chosen some special ones - special ones because I think

they pack a punch, they pack flavour and they're also very familiar.

Thyme - never got enough thyme - rosemary, there you go,

but I've also got a few pink peppercorns here.

A, they just bring a little bit of a fiery touch to this mix,

and I just think they just look good, too.

Just put them on your board, take a knife.

You don't need to chop them or smash them.

And just break them. They're quite soft.

And you just put them in and you just mix them up.

It looks interesting, it's colourful,

and it doesn't half smell good, too. So...what we've got here,

we've got fennel seeds, oregano.

There's something for me really, really nostalgic

about dried herbs. And I always used to remember my mum,

my lovely mum, when she used to open a packet of sage and onion stuffing

for our chicken dinner, the memory of the sage flavour was magical

for me. And still today, I use the same stuffing for my roast dinners

with my children and my family, and it is nostalgia, it is lovely.

Pepper. Lots of it.

You know what? The way this is looking right now

and the way it's smelling, this could give herbes de Provence

a little bit of a run for its money. Look at that!

I can actually smell the heat coming off those pink peppercorns.

Fantastic. This, for me, lavender, is the one ingredient

that I think's going to mix it up here in Provence,

and I think it'll bring something very, very special to this herb mix.

I'm always getting teased about how much I love lavender.

I've always loved it. The day I got married,

my wife had a sort of little lavender-plant flower

on her wedding dress and also had some of it in her bouquet.

There's love for you.

There we go. Look at that.

There's a herb mix with a point of difference.

I really cannot wait to get cooking with this.

A little bit of sauteed chicken, sprinkle it over a roast,

maybe even just a piece of fish, put it in a marinade.

This will just keep giving you so much pleasure,

flavour after flavour, time and time again.

There we have it, a little flavour of Provence with a twist.

There is much more to herbs in Provence than just the famous

dried mix, so I'm going to meet Marie at her small farm on the

outskirts of Saint-Remy to discover some of the more unusual ones.

Hey, Marie. How are you? Good! How are you?

Nice to see you. I'm very well. What are you harvesting? What is this?

This is a geranium Pelargonium graveolens rosa.

So, it's a variety of very beautifully smelling geranium.

Geranium as a herb? I've only ever seen it as a patio pot plant.

So we harvest it once a year. Right.

We wait until early October.

OK. And we collect the whole plant,

and then we bring it for distillation.

So, we're going to extract a little bit of essential oil.

Geranium is very used in cosmetics,

because it's really good for the skin. So show me what to do.

So, all you need to know is that we want to leave a few

leaves on each stem. OK. Yep.

So we can still see them and they still have

a little bit of sun contact. What about in food?

What about...? Where does geranium fit in the food chain?

Or does it? It's not an edible plant, but you soak the leaves

either in hot water or in hot milk and you extract

that flavour of rose, and you can use it for cooking.

Really? Yes. It's really nice.

It seems geraniums are so much more than simply pretty plants,

and Marie tells me that she

uses the dried flowers in her own blend of herbal tea.

Where I come from, we make something called a builder's tea.

We've almost got a bit left to go, but do you know what?

I'd love a cup of tea. Can I try one of your herbal teas, please?

Well, OK, then we'll bring this in. Yeah. We have to weigh it. OK.

And then we'll go and make a cup of tea. Sounds good.

Right, here we go. What have you got in there?

I've got calendula flowers, lemon verbena, I've got peppermint.

I also have...horn thorn...?

Hawthorn. Hawthorn, yeah. Hawthorn, erm, flowers

and agastache, which is a variety of hyssop.

Hyssop. Hyssop. Hyssop. Yeah. This is all from the garden.

And I forgot - the little pink flower you see there is geranium.

But you'll see it when... That's quite a mixture.

It's quite a mixture. This is your recipe? Yes. What about yours?

This recipe is someone else's recipe. This is just black tea.

Tea back home is a big thing.

It's for breakfast, it's for mid-morning, it's for lunch,

it's for definitely afternoon tea, with the scones, jam, cream.

Did you bring the scones? I didn't. Sorry. I didn't.

I can't have the tea.

HE LAUGHS

It's for afternoon tea, it's for... Where I come from,

when we've finished our evening meal - cup of tea.

In fact, we actually had a cup of tea with our dinner,

and then we'd have one during the evening,

and then just before bed we'd have another one.

So we are a nation of tea drinkers. Tea, tea, tea, tea, all day long.

Enough talking, more brewing.

Really important you put the teabags in first, you know.

And just to be sure you get a proper brew, a proper northern brew,

I'm going to stick in another one there. It's a brew-off.

I feel like the pressure is on now. I'm flying the flag.

The whole of Great Britain.

Little splash of milk.

No-one in France has ever made me a cup of tea that looks like that.

And you're not even going to drink it. No, it's for you.

SHE CHUCKLES

There we go. I can smell.

Very different colour. And I love doing this, that's what

you see in all the movies, look. SHE CHUCKLES

Sante. On trinque au the. Sante to tea.

SHE LAUGHS

That's good. That's superb. Funny, when I drink that...

You're home. I feel like, yes, I'm at home, but I feel like,

"Right, time to get going." "Let's go!" It's tea, that's it.

When I drink this, it's like...

..I want to go and sit amongst the bushes and relax.

Well, I think the question is, do you like my tea,

and the question, do I like yours? I actually love this.

Yeah, I like it. Job done, then.

SHE LAUGHS

We're both winners.

We're both happy.

When I think of a geranium, I just think of my grandma's house

or someone's pot plant just outside the window or in the garden itself.

I never thought of it as an oil or a tea.

Tea break over, I'm meeting a local chef who's set up a temporary

kitchen in the garden. She is a huge champion of herbs, both fresh

and dried, and is going to show me how she uses them

to elevate the most humble local ingredients in a vegetarian dish.

And I've decided to bring along a jar of my own herb mix

to see if I can convince her to give it a go.

Hi, Marcus. Bonjour, bonjour. Bonjour! Wow, look at this.

What are you making? Alors, we're making root vegetable with panure.

What do you want me to do?

Cos I'm rolling up my sleeves cos I'm getting ready.

We cut, OK, dry bread.

Tsh, tsh. Yes. Very hard.

I've brought you a present. Ah! This is my herb mix.

Ah, ouais? So, herbes de Provence with many different herbs,

but there are two things that are

in here - pink peppercorns... Yes. ..and lavender.

Ah, lavender. Oui. Ah, see? OK. I'm always surprised,

everyone's surprised when I say lavender. Mm!

Maybe we could put this into the cooking. With salt? Oui.

I love! Thank you!

Well, that's a bit of a result.

We're adding the very hard bread to a food processor to make crumbs.

It's definitely worth using your stale bread,

to keep costs and waste down.

Break it smaller. It's better. Yeah, exact.

With almonds, oregano, seasoning and my special herb mix added,

we're ready to blitz the bread.

Great way of using stale bread, and the almonds are giving it

a little bit of colour. The herbs have given it... Mm!

And that's going to work beautifully with the vegetable.

When I was at school, we always had to have them in the right order.

Ah, yeah. Flour, egg, crumb, pane.

Pane. Pane. OK.

Now you put these vegetable inside, but, before,

we break these eggs, like omelette, with salt

and pepper and in the pan.

In the pan. Oh, look, you've got some bread in there, look.

Or is that a shell? Ah, it's bread. Are you sure? Are you sure?

Yes, I'm sure.

HE CHUCKLES

I love to catch the French out when it comes to cooking.

Very difficult thing to do.

Salt. You see, in England we put the salt in the flour,

never in the egg. Ah, yes.

Alors, me, inside, flour, the eggs and the panure.

OK. Because I'm French.

SHE LAUGHS

So mix this in.

So, production.

Now to bread, or "pane", the veg, and Natasha's using carrots,

beetroots and my favourite, parsnips.

This is all starting to feel rather British.

Right, what's next?

Alors, now oil. Please. Oil.

It doesn't take too long to get all the veg nice and golden brown.

Oh, look at those.

Super.

Now I clean. OK.

Can you pick up for me parsley? Parsley.

OK. Ouais, yes. Just parsley.

Where? Where? Maybe...here. It's a jungle. You go.

Parsley, parsley, parsley.

Where is it?

No, it's not that. That's for sure.

Ah! This is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I'm getting trapped. Oh, God, there's all sorts of stuff in here.

Where is it?

Ah, here we go. That looks familiar. Good old-fashioned curly parsley.

You know what? You don't see much of this any more.

When I look at this, I think of what my mum used to buy, was a dish

called - well, we're all very familiar - cod in parsley sauce.

Absolutely famous. And I'll never forget it, cos the parsley sauce

was all chopped up in a square piece of cod just in a little bag and

then you just used to warm it up in a pan of boiling water.

That... That reminds me of home.

Found it! Thank you. Like a little bouquet. Mm.

It's good, isn't it? It's very nice.

Now, we cut.

What are the herbs for?

That is for the butter, OK?

Ah! For the butter and that we serve with potatoes.

OK? Ah, OK. So parsley butter. Oh, the garlic smells incredible. Yeah.

Along with the fresh parsley, Natasha adds dried oregano.

Do you use a lot of dried herbs in your cooking?

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. A lot? Yes, much.

Why?

It's good for stomach, it's good for your...your humeur, l'humeur?

Your brain, yeah. Exactly. And you can do a mix.

Yeah, different flavours. Like you have... Yeah, yeah.

And the herby butter is used to smother some simply boiled potatoes.

Plenty of butter.

She's not French, really. She's from Yorkshire. Butter is life.

Butter is life. You don't hear that often in Provence. I like you.

You can come and cook in my place. That's perfect.

Yes, it's perfect. I love butter. Now...

Salt. More salt. Always.

More pepper. Yeah. Oh, get in there!

Voila. Parsnip.

Beautiful. But there's one thing missing.

One thing missing?

Beetroot. Ah! Ah! Yeah.

It's a good job I'm here. Yeah.

And with that, the breaded root veg with garlic

and herb potatoes are ready.

Happy? Yeah. I'm very happy.

The garden of Provence. Avec le beurre anglais.

Avec le beurre anglais. Le beurre anglais. Et...

Les patates, les pommes de terre. Ah, ah, ah, the pommes de terre,

and also, aussi, vegetable anglais, cuisine anglais.

Et oui, c'est presque cuisine anglaise, c'est ca.

Love it, love it.

SHE LAUGHS

I'm going for the potato first. I have to.

I'm really impressed. I'm surprised at how much flavour there is here.

I am very... I am, honestly. Do you know why this is so good?

Because there is this, the special chef mix!

No, no, no, no. It's the lavender, it's the lavender.

Lavender, yeah! For as simple as this may be, it is

incredibly delicious and cost-effective.

Humble carrots, parsnips,

beetroot, potatoes.

It doesn't get much simpler, and in the heart of it

are the flavours of Provence, which is absolutely delicious.

I am really inspired. Very, very good. Merci.

And the inspiration keeps on coming.

There's a restaurant in town that does something with herbs

and lamb that I've never seen before.

Bonsoir! Bonsoir, Marcus. Nice to see you.

You've got lamb under there, haven't you, in here? I do.

You flame it. Oui. With eau de vie? Is that correct?

Yes. I've never heard of that before!

Eau de vie is a type of brandy, and this one is infused with herbs.

And it goes very well with the kind of herbs

we do use for cooking the lamb itself.

And what are those herbs? Thyme, rosemary, you know, origan.

So, quite classical flavours. Definitely.

But yet the little point of difference is without doubt

the liquid, the alcohol. Exactly. You need to try, for sure.

So...

Whoa. Yeah, it's quite strong. Well, I can't...

MARCUS COUGHS

CHEF LAUGHS

Sante. Look at that, straight down.

What's the aroma? What's the herb?

The most important thing coming, I believe, is oregano.

Oregano, oregano. Yeah. I'm going to be honest with you, OK?

I cannot imagine this with lamb. Why? Because I think it's bigger

than the lamb, I think it's stronger in flavour.

Definitely. And I think that will change the lamb,

and I'm not sure if it's for the good.

There's only one way to find out.

All right. Oh, that smells good. We can add just a few like that,

we'll be caramelising and burning, give a bit of roasted flavour.

Ah! OK, so you light them, as well? And that gives you the aroma?

It will from itself burnt.

Will you take this wonderful drink on the top?

Tell me when. Continue.

Perfect. Let's do the second one.

OK, pay attention with the bottle.

All right.

OK.

So you're putting the alcohol in and you're allowing the herbs to burn.

That's quite an unusual thing to do with lamb.

I've done it with lots of other meats but never, ever flamed lamb.

I'll tell you what, I tell you, I have to say it smells incredible.

It is. Would you taste? Oh, yes! Please. Absolutely.

Bon appetit. Ho, ho, ho! Here we go.

Mm! The lamb is beautiful. Thank you.

The lamb is beautifully cooked, love the herbs, but just that

little flavour of the eau du vie just sitting on top, it's like

any fortified drink, any fortified wine, it's powerful, it's big.

I think the question I was thinking, does it work with lamb,

and the answer is yes, it does. Look, I saw this little bit here

fall in here. Please, please, please. Yeah, I want to try.

And you have the top of the herbs... You were keeping this for yourself.

..roasted. Leave it for the sauce. That is exquisite. Thank you.

I've brought something with me. Did you? Just stay there.

Where is it? I brought it here.

So, since I've been in Provence, right, I have been

inspired by all the flavours, and I've created this dry rub.

And you've got a dry rub, I can see you've got a dry rub on your lamb.

Yeah. But in here, my combination is the herbes de Provence,

red peppercorns and lavender. And lavender?

Lavender... Yes. ..because I think it is the flower

of Provence, and it is a little bit unusual, but then, so is this.

How do you feel about a bit of lavender on the lamb?

I never tried with the lamb. I will do tomorrow. Thank you so much.

Merci, merci. Thank you again.

I've managed to convince a few chefs in town to cook with my herb mix,

but the ultimate test will be if Stephane from the herb shop

thinks it's good enough to rival his favourite - herbes de Provence.

So I'm cooking him and his wife a deliciously simple

and crowd-pleasing dinner - baked haddock in a lentil sauce with

mascarpone cream, loaded with my own special mix of herbs and lavender.

This is a dish that we cook quite a bit in our house,

and our family love it.

Whenever we say to the kids we're going to be making a lentil dish and

we're going to add some cod onto it, they're like, "Mm, not so sure about

"fish, not so sure we want it with a lentil dish," but I guarantee

you when this dish goes down on the table it is always a crowd winner.

First, chop some onions and get them in the pan with a pinch of salt.

What I love about this dish, it's all done in one pot.

Twist of pepper.

And sort of one of the things that really makes this stand out is this

smoked paprika, which is the paprika flavour that sits in the background.

This alongside my herb mix, I think it's going to work great.

Mm. Already you can smell the lavender just jump out at you.

Few more.

I'm really going to pack this full...

..of herbs.

Dash of paprika.

And finish with a good dollop of tomato paste.

Mm, beautiful.

Now for the lentils. I'm using green ones.

You can soak them overnight, if you want. You can wash them.

You don't have to.

You can put them straight in and they'll do their magic.

And what I love about lentils - like rice, so user-friendly.

Economically, you can get a massive meal for very, very little cost.

Now we're just going to add in some tomato juice.

Bring that up to the boil, have a little taste.

When you have a little taste, just remember not to take

any lentils, cos they're not cooked.

Rookie error, I think.

Next, add in fish stock. And there's nothing fancy needed here.

Whenever it says on the stock cubes use one stock cube to

a pint of water, I always put two in. I just like that little

bit of extra strength in a stock, and it's cost-effective.

It's not too expensive.

If you haven't got fish stock, then chicken works just as well.

Bring your lentils and stock up to the boil, lid on it.

Mine's going to go on the fire.

You can put it in the oven at 180 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

Now for the fish.

And I have bought some beautiful haddock. And you can use any

white fish, but I just think

haddock, like cod, perfect.

And again, this is another dish that is really... You know,

if you've got some fish in the freezer, get it out, defrost it.

Perfect. I also think with this particular type of recipe, with

these lentils, you can even cook some sausages if you want to

and put those on top, or even some little meatballs would be

absolutely delicious in this dish.

Cut the fish into equal portions.

What I need to do now is get my lentils down, put my fish on top

and put it back on the stove for another ten minutes.

An extra sprinkle of my herb mix and it's back on the heat.

Look at that. Sometimes we cook it till it's completely cooked

and all the milk and the water starts to run out of it.

That means you've overcooked it. What I always like to do with fish

is just slightly undercook it, especially in a dish like this,

and it will just continue cooking, cos that is a very, very hot dish.

Finally, finish off with basil, grated lemon zest

and dollops of mascarpone.

Couldn't finish the dish without my special herb.

A little bit of that on top and there we have it.

Cooked lentils, baked haddock finished with a mascarpone cream.

Simple, hearty and healthy,

I'm sure this will be a winner in your house as much as it is in mine.

But what will my friends from the herb shop,

Stephane and his wife Laure, think?

Hello! Bonjour. Come in, come in, come in. Hello. Thank you.

Nice to see you again. Thank you. How are you? Hi.

This recipe, I've used your herbs, your flavours with a little twist.

STEPHANE LAUGHS Just a little twist, and you can see

them scattered along the top there. Yes. Maybe lavender.

Yes. Ah! She's got a good eye!

Yeah, it's only the Americans that love the lavender.

Well, I love lavender.

We can feel the herbs in the lentilles.

Really good. It's very good. Ca va?

Mm, perfect. You are a chef.

Well, that comment is exactly what I was hoping for.

Marcus, with this recipe you can come back any time.

MARCUS LAUGHS As long as I cook for you two.

Yes. It was really nice to come to see you in the shop and just to

see all the different ideas and the different flavours, and that's

reignited some recipes that are very old to me that my mum

used to make. OK. Using dried herbs was everything we used -

we never had fresh herbs at home, and you forget to use them

sometimes, so it's really nice. Lavender is really present. Yeah.

Floral. Just not too much, but really present. Yeah.

Maybe now I can change my recipe.

Maybe I can put a little piece of lavender...

Maybe.

Now that you've seen my herb mix, this recipe,

would you put this in your shop? Yeah, sure. Probably, yes, sure.

Probably. Sure. Yeah, sure. Sure! Brilliant. Success. Marcus' recipe.

Marcus' recipe. Sure.

MARCUS LAUGHS

I'll take that. No problem. Yeah, I'll take that. That sounds great.

So, my lavender herb mix gets the big thumbs-up,

and next time you want to give one of your recipes a super

boost of flavour, it's simple - get those dried herbs

from the back of the cupboard and start experimenting.

I promise, you won't be disappointed.