All language subtitles for marcus.wareing.simply.provence.s01e14.720p.webrip.x264-skyfire

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

that has remained close
to my heart...

I 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.
That'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.

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

Modern French food has been
perfected over many, many years.

Now, I will be honest, I wasn't
the best historian in the world,

as my long suffering teachers
can confirm,

but I am keen to make amends - and I
know just the person to educate me.

The mayor's sister is a history buff

and she has offered me
a food history lesson

in exchange for a meal.

Which means just one thing.

If I'm going to impress her,
I've got to do my homework.

There's one simple ingredient
I have in mind

that's not only a classic world-wide
staple, but cost-effective too.

It's been eaten for millennia,

and it turns out it's even grown
here in the south of France.

No, it's not wheat.

It's rice.

Surely a rice dish will impress
my history-loving dinner guest?

So I've come to Valerie's deli
to find out about a variety

that's not only unique
to this region...

Bonjour! Valerie.

..but it's also an unusual colour.

I'm looking for red rice.

OK. I've heard about this,
and I've not used this before.

So why's it grown here then?

It's used mainly because
the Camargue region,

you know, the delta of the Rhone,

the ground is so salty that nothing
else in the beginning would grow.

The only thing that will grow
is the rice,

because that draws the salt
out of the earth

and makes it better
for other crops afterwards.

How do you cook this?

Well, you cook it like normal rice,
but longer -

and depending on if you want it
to be vraiment al dente,

you know, more gritty kind of thing,
some chefs like it that way.

It won't make a very good risotto

which is supposed to be creamy,
and smooth, it won't do that -

but it's very kind of... It's got
kind of a nutty flavour to it.

I was going to ask you what does
it taste like.

Nutty, is it?
Yeah, very nutty flavour.

Cooking rice has always
been a mystery.

Everyone has a different
way of doing it -

one cup, two cup, bit of this,
bit of that,

bit of water, a pinch of salt,
and everyone has this thing.

Rice, you want it to be
a little bit sticky

because when you're eating it the
rice sucks up all of the flavour.

Yeah, the sauce goes into it.

You don't want your rice
falling through your fork.

That's why they have it sticky.

Can it be sticky, like long grains?
Not really.

If you cook it a lot, like,
45 minutes... It'll break up. Yeah.

OK. So could I...

I mean, if I wanted to sort of
let this down with a bit of this

because it's more user friendly,
price friendly?

Yes, you definitely could, if you
wanted to make like a rice salad,

but you'd have to cook them apart.
I mean, it's not much more.

I mean, it's the same almost.

No, because growing it
and processing it and everything,

is the same cost
whether it's white or brown or red.

But you'd have to cook them apart.
Yes.

Because otherwise your white
rice will go pink.

Yeah. That will stain that. Yeah.

So if you are going to mix the two
together, cook them separately...

And this will, in about, like,
a quarter of an hour, 20 minutes,

it'll be ready to go - and that
at least half an hour I would say.

OK. But tasting it
as you're going, you know.

And seasoning the water? Er, yeah.

There's no other secret tips
in there that I need to know?

Not really! Sneaky little
ingredients that a Yorkshire...

Well, they don't have a lot
of rice in Yorkshire, you know.

..a Yorkshire lass would be putting
into her cooking

that I need to know about? Well...

As a Lancashire lad... Ooh!
..I don't want a Yorkshire girl

keeping some secrets from me!

Ah, no, no, no.

OK. Thank you. See you, bye.

I did get one more bit of info
out of Valerie.

It's rice harvest season in Camargue

and as it's France's only rice
producing region,

I've headed down there
to find out more

about this rather unique ingredient.

I'm visiting producer Michel,

and I've brought along Lucille from
my production team to translate.

Bonjour, enchante. Marcus, bonjour.
Marcus. Bonjour. Lucille.

Bonjour, Lucille. Bonjour.

Around 180 farmers in Camargue

produce approximately 70,000
tonnes of rice every year,

ranging from long grain white rice
to Provencal red -

and it turns out this small area
of Provence

is perfect terrain for the crop,
thanks to the river Rhone.

Why does rice growing
work on this land?

La Camargue c'est plat.

He said because Camargue is flat.

Et, on a de l'eau et des ecoulages.

It's very easy to like, bring water
here because of the river,

but it's also easy to remove it
from the land.

So where is the water?

Cos with rice I expected this...

I was expecting to be wearing
my wellies.

Michel explains that water
is pumped into the fields

from the nearby Rhone

and is topped up
over the growing season

as it evaporates
or is absorbed by the soil.

Leading up to harvest time,

they let the water go
so that the crop dries out.

Rice needs to be in water from
the moment you put it in the soil

until you're ready to harvest.

That not only makes rice
semi-aquatic,

but different from other grain
crops like wheat, oats and barley.

What harvest is this, then?

Alors c'est du riz blanc, oui,

c'est ce qui est utilise courrament
dans la consummation courrent.

So it's the white long grain rice?
Yes, exactly.

For commercial use? Yeah. Long,
ah, oui. Alors. I don't need you!

A quick harvest when the sun shines

can make or break a small
farmer like Michel -

and without his huge harvester,

production at this level
wouldn't be possible.

Can I... Can I have a go?

Bien sur.

Pas de probleme mais il faudrait
laisser un cheque ou quelque chose.

Cheque?
He talked about money, why?

He said it's OK,
but he needs a deposit

in case you damage the crops.

Ah, no, no.

I promise, in straight line.
Tres bien.

I love straight lines.
Tres bien, tres bien.

C'est possible? C'est possible.
Ah, yes! Proper machine.

The purpose of this mammoth machine

is to cut, separate
and clean the rice.

Yeah, I've driven a few tractors but
nothing quite as big as this one.

The bigger they get, the better.

Wish me luck.

Michel has 20 hectares of rice
fields,

which produce 50
tonnes of white rice

and 20 tonnes of red
that need harvesting every year...

..and the key to success is keeping
this going in a straight line.

Each day, the combine harvests
between six and seven hectares

of rice, depending on the weather.

So it takes Michel and his team
around five days

to gather all of their crop.

Maybe longer this year,
with me pitching in.

Oh, no, there's a wobble!

MARCUS LAUGHS

I hope Michel was joking
about writing him a cheque.

That was incredible! Incredible.

Having learnt that driving
a combine harvester well

is a skill I don't have,
it's back to the job at hand.

It's not the white rice
I came to see.

I need to research
Provence's unique red rice

if I'm going to stand a chance
of impressing the mayor's sister.

Voila, Marcus. De riz rouge. Hein?

This just... This looks identical
to the white rice.

Si, si, si, si.
Mais si vous allez voir,

la difference c'est quand
on enleve la premiere enveloppe,

donc on enleve la balle.

Uh, he's saying, yeah,
outside is completely identical.

The difference is inside.

Yeah, you can see the difference
there, yeah, of course.

The colour intensifies as it's dried
out before

being packaged and sold...

..and Michel tells me the
red rice that grows here

actually only dates back as far as
the '80s,

when a white rice cross-pollinated

with another type of wild red rice.

So this really only grows
in Camargue,

and it's something the region
is fiercely proud of.

How far away is it
from harvesting, roughly?

So he said harvested
is 13% of humidity,

and currently it's about 18%.

The red rice needs another week or
two to dry out,

but Michel doesn't just use
high-tech machines

to get maximum yield from his crop.

He also embraces techniques that
are about as organic as you can get.

Puisque on a pas parle
de...du canard.

Why is Michel talking about ducks?

Because he said they're the only
one in France that use duck

to remove the weed from the rice
when it's growing.

Et ici, Marcus, imagine-toi,
mille canards.

1,000? 1,000 ducks normally here.
1,000 ducks? Oui.

Qui font leur travail. Regarde ce
qu'ils mangeant, ils mangeant ca.

They eat this.

Ca c'est des deux plantes.

These are the two plants
the ducks eat? Voila.

They'll... Those two plants
normally are, like,

restricting rice to grow properly.

Ducks have three advantages.

It's organic.

It's very good publicity
for their production.

Et economique a des chefs etoiles.

And then it's also economic because
then they can sell the ducks

for chefs to cook
in their restaurant.

It's a good job the ducks
don't like rice.

Ah, oui.

And how do you remove the duck?

Ah, ben, on les appelle.

Non! No, no.

MICHEL WHISTLES

No! No way. Si, si, si.

No way. "Canard, canard!
Allez les canards, allez!"

THEY LAUGH

Now, you can't get a better way
of farming than that.

Nature in perfect harmony.

I've certainly got my creative
juices flowing.

Merci. Merci beaucoup.

What I've found out
about the red rice is

that it's part of this landscape.

It's what this area is all about.

It's organic.

It's a small crop
compared to the white rice,

but it's unique to this region.

I've still got some work to do

to figure out exactly what to cook
with the rice -

but while I was in Camargue,
near the coast,

I took the opportunity to grab
some sardines

for a quick Provencal lunch.

I'm told even the Romans
were big fans

of these cheap and cheerful
oily fish,

so maybe the mayor's sister
would approve.

And turning them into a tasty meal
is not just quick

and cost-effective -
it's super simple

Don't even need to pin-bone them,

because once you've cooked them,

you can pretty much
eat the pin bones,

but you can just pull them
out when they're cooked.

So, cut along there,
from the belly to the tail.

Just nick off the head.

I'm going to butterfly mine,
which is the simple technique

of opening up the sardine
and removing the backbone.

Just bring your knife inside gently,
breaking the bones,

and it just opens up, look -

and because the fish is so soft,

what you do is just put your little
knife underneath,

cutting through the bones,

cut off the end.

There's the bone.

The key is just to move gently.

The flesh, the bones are incredibly
thin and delicate.

You do not need to put any
pressure on this at all.

Just take your time.

One of my first jobs

when I moved to London

in a very, very large, deluxe,
five-star hotel,

I was given the chance to work
in the fish section,

where, for eight months,
all I did every day

was fillet fish and shellfish
and more fish.

But whenever I used to go home
and see my mum and dad,

there was always the comment
that I did smell of fish

and as hard as I tried
to scrub that off my hands

and...and not my clothes, but mostly
just the aroma of raw fish,

it did used to make everybody laugh.

"Are you a fisherman
or are you a chef?"

Right, ready to cook.

Trust me, this'll be one of the
quickest lunches you've ever made.

Good glug of oil.

And I think what really goes well
with sardines is plenty of pepper.

The oily fish, very strong
flavour of the sardine.

Pepper - the perfect contrast.

They are delicate,
so avoid griddling them

because the skin sticks.

And if you're thinking of a barbie,
then it's best to cook them whole.

So, once your pan is hot,
in they go...

Just gently shake,
just to prevent it from sticking.

Just get a little bit of "incy"
colour on there.

..and start counting.

20 seconds, I'd say, and you can see
the colour changing already.

Already starting to cook.

That's how quick they are.

Flip it over...

..and out.

Pour over the pan juices...

..and, by my reckoning,
that's possibly the fastest way

to bring an authentic taste
of Provence into your kitchen.

Less than 30 seconds.

It doesn't get much quicker
than that.

Look at that.

Lunch.

There's another ingredient
growing in Provence

that has also come as a complete
surprise to me.

Originating in Asia and introduced
to Europe by the Romans,

this is the first time it's been
grown here since antiquity.

We know it as a salty snack,
but there's so much more to it.

It's pistachios!

Benoit. Bonjour.
Welcome in Provence. Thank you.

I would never have guessed that
these trees were a pistachio tree.

For me, they almost look like
a pear tree or a little apple tree.

We started six years ago
with a farmer group,

and the pistachio tree needs
six years to become productive.

Sorry, sorry, whoa, whoa.

Are you telling me after six years
this is the first...

Harvest. ..year of harvest
of fruit? Yeah, yeah. Wow.

I can't...I can't think of it
as a fruit, because it's...

I just think of it as the nut. It's
a shell fruit. It's a shell fruit.

Yeah, like almond, walnut.

They contain a shell-covered,
greeny-purple seed.

That's the bit we've been
eating for centuries.

Benoit is one of a pioneering group

trying to future-proof this region
against climate change

by turning this former vineyard

into a crop of heat-loving
pistachio trees.

In south of France, in Provence,
we have a lot of problems

with climate change.
Less and less rainfall,

more and more heatwaves,
and the pistachio tree

is really, really adapted to this
new climate condition.

And is this a lot for one
particular tree?

No, it's a small harvest for a tree,
because they are young.

Yeah. They are still young,
but the tree will continue to grow,

and in five or six years we will
have a big, big harvest on the tree.

The rose colour is when the fruit
is ready to be harvested.

OK. But when the fruit is unripe,

it looks like another fruit,
which is mango.

If you look, this fruit
is quite yellow,

and this is because this species
of pistachio

is the same family as the mango.

The skin of the pistachio is
equivalent to the flesh of mango.

Of the mango. Soft.
And the shell of the pistachio

is equivalent to the stone
of the mango.

Hey. You're winding me up.

Are you serious? Seriously?
Yeah, seriously.

Yeah.

If you take the fruit,
you have a first skin,

you can remove it,
and inside you find the nut.

Is that good to eat?
Yeah. It's ready to eat.

It's a fresh pistachio, so maybe the
taste will be surprising for you.

I want to try,
I want to try your first one.

The fresh-fresh. This one is fresh.

I don't recognise it. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Because it's fresh pistachio.
Yeah.

You know what's really funny?

I don't actually feel like I'm
eating a pistachio, but yet I am.

Yeah. I feel like
I'm eating something

that I've never eaten before,
because this does not taste... No.

..like the pistachio that
I'm familiar with.

No. And it's a lot of sugar.

It's, er, it's sweet. Soft.
It's soft. Yeah.

My memory of pistachio in the
kitchen is a pistachio paste.

Yeah. And sometimes it has a real
element of, um, almond.

OK. And maybe almond from the
manufacturer was added into it.

Plus colour, because
it was also quite green.

This is a problem.

When you buy pistachio ice cream,
you don't find the real... Flavour.

..flavour of pistachio.
And do you know why that is?

It's because most people never, ever
get to taste the fruit like this.

Yeah. Because the flavour
we're familiar with... Yeah.

..it's had some form of treatment,

whether that's a puree
or salted dried nut.

Yeah, yeah.

So is it like grapes
where there's...

..there's a date in which you
have to harvest them?

Did you wake up one morning and say,
"That's it. Allez. Off we go"?

For the pistachio,
we have to find the good moment

when the shell is open... Yeah.

..but the skin is not cracked.

Can I help you finish harvesting?
Yeah, please. Should we go?

So you just literally just
take them off?

So you just have to pick the fruit.
I will help you.

I think this is absolutely
fantastic. I really do.

It's not often you get, in life,
especially as a chef,

to do something completely new,
something unexpected,

especially from a tree
that you've never seen before...

..in such a beautiful
place like Provence.

It's just very special.

And that's got me
thinking about my recipe.

Pistachios have such history.
They're even mentioned in the Bible!

If I can use some in my recipe,

surely this will impress
the mayor's sister.

Actually, I have got someone very
special coming to see me

to have a little...a little bite to
eat, of which one of my recipes

has pistachios in. OK. And I was
thinking about using the dry ones.

Could I take
some of your fresh ones?

It will be an honour for us. Yeah.
I won't take too many.

Yeah. You've got to make a living.

THEY LAUGH

This is their very,
very first harvest

and I think to be here
is an absolute joy.

There's a little bit of regret,
I have to say,

that I've not discovered the origins

of this particular
ingredient before,

because I've just got a whole
new-found respect

for the simple pistachio nut.

Research done,

I've settled on a knockout recipe
fit for any VIP guest.

Made from layers of simple
but delicious ingredients,

it's a Camargue-inspired red rice
salad with pistachio nuts.

Right, I'm going to start off
with my red onions,

and I want to get them onto
the grill.

Most importantly, leave the root,

because it's the root that keeps
the onion, holds it together.

Nice glug of oil, pinch of salt,
twist of pepper.

And straight onto a hot grill.

I love the smell of onions sweating
away on a barbecue or over a grill.

It's fantastic. It reminds me of the
seaside back home in Southport.

I used to walk along the seafront,

and every now and again you'd
come across a van

selling burgers and hot dogs

and there was always a tray
of onions just on the side,

all burnt and caramelised.

Don't worry if you haven't got
the barbecue fired up.

Roast them in the oven instead.

There we go.

What we're going to do now is we're
going to add the marinade into it.

So just drizzle a good
glug of olive oil - don't be shy.

Balsamic vinegar.

The older they are,
the more expensive -

but the cheaper ones are just
as good in a dish like this.

And just a little sherry vinegar.

And for a final twist...

I just think that the cinnamon,
just a touch of the cinnamon,

just works beautifully
with the onion,

the balsamic and the sherry vinegar.

Then back over the heat
to marinate.

As the onions start to cook,

they'll start to release their
sweetness, too.

Now to my next bit. I've got this
beautiful kale from the market,

and I'm going to put them onto
the grill and just crisp them up.

A little bit of oil.

When I was growing up,
one of the things I used to love

when my mum and dad,
on special occasions,

used to take us to a Chinese
restaurant up in Southport,

was the crispy seaweed.

I could never, ever
get enough of it -

and I think this just reminds me
of that.

See here, look.
It's the gentle burning.

You've got your crunchy bits,
you've got your soft bits

and you've got the little
vein in the centre.

Nice. Now it's delicious and edible.

All it needs now is a pinch of salt.

And there you have it.

Crispy kale.

Smells good, too.

That's done.

And to top my salad,

I'm opting for another simple
but super tasty local ingredient.

Pomegranates. We see these on trees
all around Provence.

Another ingredient
that my dad used to have,

only ever at Christmas.

And every now and again he'd bring
one or two of them home

that he couldn't sell,

and I guarantee you
they'd be sitting in that fruit bowl

day after day, week after week.

I think it was cos we just didn't
know what to do with them.

Because every now and again,
my dad would cut one open

and then he'd get me a toothpick
and just...

..just pick them out one by one,

and I used to think to myself,
"Really?!"

But anyway, I've learnt how to use
them since then,

and these are great.

Look at that. What a beautiful
colour. That's sunshine for you.

OK, so just to get these seeds out,

just turn them over, and you can
sort of just tap them out.

Just crush it a little bit, and
they just sit beautifully on dishes,

especially in
North African-style food.

They bring vibrancy,
they bring crunch.

Wish my dad had shown me this
when I was trying to eat them,

rather than sitting there
with a toothpick.

Look at that. Beautiful.

I think my onions are good to go.

Drain off the marinade,
it'll make a perfect vinaigrette.

And what's really lovely
about this dressing

is that lovely little flavour of
cinnamon just sitting in the back -

and that's your dressing
ready to go.

And finally, here's my red rice,

already cooked as per
Valerie's instructions,

with some added spring onions
for crunch.

I don't need to do much to it.

I think keeping this simple,

layered with all the other
bits of goodies

that are going to go on top,

and I think that's going to be
absolutely sensational.

Kale, crunchy kale,
and just start to build the dish up.

Just keep the outside of the rice
so you can see it.

I love this bit.
And you know what you're doing,

you're just building up the layers.

Just a few more onions.

Sprinkling of the pomegranate.

Next, it's not historic,

but it's certainly retro,
and perfect for a salad.

It's cottage cheese.

And finally...

A few of these beautiful
pistachio nuts.

A simply stunning salad...

..packed with some of the oldest
ingredients around...

..but can it impress
pistachio farmer Benoit

and the mayor's history-loving
sister Mireille?

Bonjour. Bonjour. Please come in.
Come in. Bonjour, Marcus.

As if the stakes weren't
high enough,

Mireille's brought along some of
her own Roman-inspired dishes

to rival my salad.

Ah! Please, please show me.
I love goodies

There are sardines with raisins,
celery and coriander.

A little different to how
I prepared mine earlier.

Ooh. Ca c'est une terrine
de joue de boeuf.

OK, terrine of beef.

It's made from an old recipe
of beer during the Roman empire.

Really? Yeah.

Et ca c'est du concombre,
ils le faisaient frire.

Fried cucumber. Fried cucumber?
Fried cucumber?! Yeah.

Et ca c'est la sauce
de poisson au sel.

Oh! Fish sauce. Yeah, yeah.

How old are these recipes?
Deux mille ans.

2,000. 2,000 years old?
Yeah. 2,000?!

2,000, yeah. Wow. Oui.

It's from an old book.

Apicius, the writer,
was cuisinier de l'empereur.

So the cook of the emperor of Rome?

Fascinating.

And it seems the emperor
liked a rather weighty loaf.

I would imagine it's quite heavy.

Yeah!

THEY LAUGH

I knew that was going to be heavy.

LAUGHTER

Et ensuite, nous allons,
la cochlear, c'est une cuilliere.

C'est quoi ca?
It's a Roman spoon. Avant.

I actually feel more like
Marcus Aurelius, actually.

THEY LAUGH

But how does my salad compare with
these traditional Roman dishes?

Mm. C'est pratique
pour les morceaux.

Mm. It's really good. You like?

It's fresh. Fresh. Yeah.

The taste of onion, caramelised.

Et qu'est ce que, qu'est ce que vous
avez mis la?

Cinnamon. Canelle. Canelle.
Yeah, canelle.

Was cinnamon, was that around
2,000 years ago?

Oui. Yeah? Oui, oui, bien sur.

Can we try this one? Oui. Alors.

Cucumber. Cucumber. Concombre.

Fish sauce. Pas beaucoup, hein?

Tu fais gouter aussi quand meme.

Interesting.
I think the cucumber is unique.

The sauce is superb.
Yeah, it's a taste we don't know.

C'est tout simple. Yeah.
Can I...can I try those? Tell me.

Les sardines.

Le pique, voila, voila.

Dry flavour, but sweet and sour.

Ca c'est!
This is good on everything.

They put it... On everything.
..on everything. Yeah.

Et meme dans les desserts.

Not dessert? Even in dessert.
Even in...!

THEY LAUGH

I love this, I love this.

Delicious, delicious...delicious.

Et delicious. And delicious.

THEY LAUGH

OK. You are...you are a real Roman.

Maybe that's why my name is Marcus.

It's Roman.

THEY LAUGH

Cooking with the red rice

and finishing my dish
with pistachios was brilliant,

and I couldn't have done that
without their beautiful ingredients.

LAUGHTER

Sante.
Maintenant, maintenant on boit.

When you think of simple,
delicious food,

I think we have a lot to thank
the Romans for.

That was a lesson today,
and I really enjoyed it.