Nigel Slater’s Simple Cooking

6:00pm – Saturday, June 30 on ABC1

English food writer Nigel Slater continues his exploration of brilliant culinary combinations and this week he’s turning his attention to the textures of soft and crisp.

Success in the kitchen isn’t just about tastes and flavours – contrasting textures can really lift a dish. Nigel will be making a classic savoury pie with a puff pastry crust and a reworking of his favourite childhood pudding, poached pears. He’ll even be putting traditional pizza ingredients together in a new way to make an original dish.

Nigel also travels to Brighton to meet a couple who have their own seafront smokery, who’ll be showing him a soft and crisp recipe of their own.

6:00pm – Saturday, June 23 on ABC1

English food writer Nigel Slater continues his exploration of how simple combinations can produce the most delicious dishes. This time he’s looking at how spicy flavours work so well with something cooling.

From a classic chicken curry to a spicy tomato stew with yoghurt, Nigel shares some of his favourite dishes. And to prove just how versatile this food pairing is, he’ll cook up a new version of a traditional pudding.

Nigel will also be travelling to Bristol to meet a man who’s passionate about pepper. He prepares a dish of soft fruit with special peppercorns that leaves Nigel speechless.

6:00pm – Saturday, June 16 on ABC1

English food writer Nigel Slater’s food is understated, handcrafted home cooking that is easy to accomplish and without a trace of what he affectionately calls ‘celebrity cheffery’. In this series, Nigel explores classic food culinary pairings to work out why these combinations taste so good, and how we can use this knowledge to make us better cooks.

As he says, it’s not just about loving food, but understanding it too.

This week Nigel’s successful food marriage spotlight is on surf and turf – the classic culinary pairing of fish and meat. From mouth-watering recipes like trout with Parma ham and lamb shanks with anchovy, Nigel shares his all-time surf and turf favourites. And to prove there’s more to this perfect pairing than just meat and fish, there’s a sweet treat in store too.

Nigel also heads out to find out how one fisherman keeps his crew happy by cooking the freshest surf and turf recipe – a simple dish of scallops and chorizo – right off the back of his boat.

6:00pm – Saturday, June 9 on ABC1

English food writer Nigel Slater’s food is understated, handcrafted homecooking that is easy to accomplish and without a trace of what he affectionately calls ‘celebrity cheffery’. He believes that making something good to eat for yourself or for others can lift the spirits in the way little else can.

In this series, Nigel explores classic food culinary pairings to work out why these combinations taste so good, and how we can use this knowledge to make us better cooks. As he says, it’s not just about loving food, but understanding it too.

Each week Nigel cooks his favourite recipes that illustrate a single principle. Every recipe is utterly delicious, simple and most importantly, easy to tweak to your own taste and mood. And on a mission to find out about other people’s favourite recipes, Nigel heads out to sample the dishes of fellow passionate cooks around the country.

In the first episode, Nigel explores one of the oldest and most successful culinary pairings in the kitchen – sweet and sour. From pork chops and gooseberry to rhubarb with caramel sauce, Nigel cooks five very different dishes that all work for the same reason – the delicious marriage of something sweet with something sour.

To help further understand this pairing, Nigel meets friends Van and Anh who cook Nigel their own take on sweet and sour – oriental lemon grass and sea bass parcels served with a pineapple dipping sauce.

Nigel returns the favour with a beautifully simple monkfish, lime and chicory wrap.