All language subtitles for marcus.wareing.simply.provence.s01e12.720p.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.

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.