Nigella delivers her final serving of feelgood food in this episode, sharing the origins of some of her latest recipe ideas and revealing just how and why they came into being. There is a beautiful bowl of steamed clams with Thai basil – a recipe that was inspired by Nigella’s recent holiday in Thailand.
Then there is Nigella’s toasty olive oil granola, which is born out of a need to have a satisfying breakfast at the ready, even on the busiest of mornings. Hunger pangs at the other end of the day led to Nigella’s griddled halloumi with a sweet chilli sauce. Finally, Nigella’s friends are treated to a ‘bav and pav’ feast for supper – griddled bavette steak for main course, followed by a luscious lemon pavlova for pud.
Simply Nigella episode 6 recipes
1. Lemon pavlova
Ever since my first pavlova in ‘How To Eat’, I have been something of a pavaholic. For me, acidity is key. I never understood why anyone would pile sweet fruit on top of something that is essentially – and dreamily – a cross between a marshmallow and a meringue.
2. Halloumi with quick sweet chilli sauce
Most regularly I treat it as vegetarian bacon, dry-fried in a hot pan then dolloped with a peeled, soft-boiled egg. But the idea for this recipe came to me one evening when I felt the need to counter the siren call of the halloumi’s saltiness with some sweet-and-heat.
3. Tamarind-marinated bavette steak
Skirt or flank steak is eaten a lot in America, and in France, but hardly at all here by us. This is madness, as it is so much cheaper than any other sort of steak and so rich in flavour. I think what has put people off in the past is that, in Britain, it has been cooked in low and slow braises, which turns it into shoe leather. Bavette is the external part of the skirt (onglet being the internal connecting tissue) and all you need to do to cook it is, as my butcher puts it, “sear the hell out of it and serve it rare”. I find 2 minutes a side on a very hot, ridged griddle optimum, but this does mean it’s only for those who like their steak blue.
