Mary Berry – Cook and Share episode 6: Mary heads to Edinburgh. Her late mother was Scottish, so the city holds a very special place in her heart. Edinburgh is full of excitement as it gears up for the marathon. It’s the second-largest marathon in the UK, with over 35,000 participants, and Mary has been given the honour of starting it.
Mary meets runners and their families before the race and offers support along the way before heading to the finish line, where she’s be joined by her granddaughter Grace. Together, they share Mary’s delicious homemade chocolate rocky road with the hungry runners after their epic race. It’s an emotional and exhausting run for many, and Mary hopes her delicious treats will help put a spring back in their step.
Later, she heads to the Royal Botanic Gardens to meet children from a local school as they work on the plots. She shares a recipe for pea pesto spaghetti inspired by the Gardens’ produce.
Mary Berry
Dame Mary Rosa Alleyne Hunnings, known professionally as Mary Berry, is an English food writer, chef, baker and television presenter. After being encouraged in domestic science classes at school, she studied catering and shipping management at college. She then moved to France at the age of 22 to study at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, before working in a number of cooking-related jobs.
Berry’s first job was at the Bath Electricity Board showroom and then conducting home visits to show new customers how to use their electric ovens. She would typically demonstrate the ovens by making a Victoria sponge, a technique she would later repeat when in television studios to test out an oven she had not used before. Her catchment area for demonstrations was limited to the greater Bath area, which she drove around in a Ford Popular supplied as a company car.
Her ambition was to move out of the family home to London, which her parents would not allow until she was 21. At the age of 22, she applied to work at the Dutch Dairy Bureau, while taking City & Guilds courses in the evenings. She then persuaded her manager to pay for her to undertake the professional qualification from the French Le Cordon Bleu school.
She left the Dutch Dairy Bureau to become a recipe tester for PR firm Benson’s, where she began to write her first book. She has since cooked for a range of food-related bodies, including the Egg Council and the Flour Advisory Board. In 1966 she became food editor of Housewife magazine. She was food editor of Ideal Home magazine from 1970 to 1973.
Her first cookbook, The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook, was published in 1970. She launched her own product range in 1994 with her daughter Annabel. The salad dressings and sauces were originally only sold at Mary’s AGA cooking school, but have since been sold in Britain, Germany and Ireland with retailers such as Harrods, Fortnum & Mason and Tesco. She has also appeared on a BBC Two series called The Great British Food Revival, and her solo show, Mary Berry Cooks, began airing on 3 March 2014.
Honeycomb rocky road
A super simple no-bake fridge cake. Rocky road is a real crowd pleaser for kids, but also lovely for grown ups served with a cup of coffee as a relaxed dessert after a meal.
Method:
- Grease and line a 30x23cm/12x9in traybake tin with baking paper.
- Place the milk chocolate in a large heatproof bowl and add the butter and syrup. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and heat gently, stirring until melted.
- Place the dark chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Place the bowl of a pan of simmering water until the chocolate is melted.
- Add the biscuits to the milk chocolate mixture and fold together until well coated. Spoon into the prepared tin. Sprinkle over the honeycomb bar pieces and press down firmly. Drizzle with the melted dark chocolate in a zig zag pattern. Chill in the fridge for 2 hours until firm. Slice into 24 squares to serve.
Minted lamb stew
A delicious lamb stew combining the classic flavours of mint and redcurrant jelly. Use lamb leg if you can’t find neck fillet.
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 3.
- Heat the oil in a deep ovenproof frying pan or a flameproof casserole. Fry the lamb in two batches over a high heat until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Add the shallots, leeks and carrots to the pan and fry for a few minutes over a high heat. Stir in the garlic and fry for 30 seconds.
- Meanwhile, measure the flour into a bowl. Add the wine and whisk until smooth. Pour the stock and the red wine mixture into the pan with the vegetables and bring to the boil. Stir until thickened. Add the Worcestershire sauce, redcurrant jelly, mint sauce and soy sauce.
- Return the lamb to the pan, along with any resting juices. Stir and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and cook for a few minutes, then cover with a lid. Transfer to the oven and cook for about 1½ hours, until the lamb is tender.
- Heat the butter in a small frying pan over a high heat. Add the mushrooms and fry until browned. Stir into the stew and check the seasoning.
- Serve with mashed potatoes and a green vegetable.
A quick and easy midweek pasta dinner. Adding peas to the pesto gives a lovely natural fresh flavour. Use fresh garden peas, if you grow them, instead of petits pois. We have used cashew nuts instead of pine nuts, which is much cheaper and gives a lovely creaminess to the sauce.
Method:
- Cook the peas in a saucepan of boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and refresh under cold water. Drain again.
- Place half the peas in a small food processor and add the nuts, cheese, garlic and basil. Whiz until finely chopped. Slowly add the oil, a little at a time and processing between each addition, until you have a paste consistency. Season with salt to taste.
- Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water according to the packet instructions. Reserve 50ml/5fl oz of the pasta water before draining.
- Place the pesto in a large non-stick frying pan, add the reserved peas and the cooked spaghetti and a little pasta cooking water. Toss everything together over a high heat until well coated.
- Season generously with black pepper and serve with extra Parmesan, if using.
