Mary Berry's top cooking tips ...plus three of her recipes 

Dame Mary Berry has been a fixture on TV screens since the early 1970s and has seen the face of home cooking change a lot in that time.

The TV cook married antiques dealer Paul Hunnings – famously after he proposed three times – 60 years ago this year.

“Things have changed,” says 91-year-old Berry. “When I got married in 1966, the chaps – or partners – didn’t cook very much. Now everybody’s enjoying cooking.”

Her first TV series was Afternoon Plus with Judith Chalmers in the early ’70s, and by 2010 Berry was a judge on The Great British Bake Off, with many of her own BBC cooking shows between and since, along with publishing over 80 cookery books.

“I absolutely love what I do, I’ve got a lovely team and that makes all the difference. We have a good laugh and we take it quite seriously,” says the food writer and presenter.

At home the couple try to focus on lighter, plant-packed meals. “We eat less meat – we certainly eat meat and enjoy it,” she says. “Slightly smaller portions, because we’re older. Lots of salad, [I enjoy] an avocado caesar salad, or a roasted fennel, onion and potato [bake] with parmesan on top.

“We have vegetarian often – humble pie is one of our favourites, that’s with cauliflower and a cheese sauce, pastry on top, leeks and peas to give it colour – a midweek supper, it’s delicious.

“In my time of cooking things have changed – the vegetables have changed. Butternut squash was not something that was available. When I started cooking, there wasn’t even an avocado.”

For her latest cookbook, Mary All In One, Berry is trying to save busy home cooks washing-up time, focusing on 120 of her favourite recipes through the years that can all be made in one pot.

You can cook more than you think using only one dish, she records. “Fish pies, meat pies, so easy when it’s in one pot. I’ve got a tartiflette, which is really really rich and just delicious. Lots of fish – salmon and fennel in one pot all in together. And stir-fries – you don’t necessarily need a wok, you do need a nice big, ideally non-stick, frying pan if it’s got a lid.”

Recipes include easy midweek meals like chicken noodle laksa, prawn and salmon herb crumble, chicken and bacon pie, or leek and stilton tart. And it wouldn’t be a Mary Berry book without some puddings – think warm chocolate brownie or rhubarb eve’s puddings – all in one pan.

One-pot cooking “takes any stress out”, she adds, but to make things easy, “do all the preparation ahead – even if it’s something like a wonderful roast chicken.

“You add things to the roast at different times (you don’t want courgettes in for an hour and a quarter), but it all ends up in one dish – easy to serve and very little washing up.”

Here, Berry shares some cooking tips to get even the most reluctant home cooks started.

Keep it simple, take your time

“People often say, ‘Oh I don’t cook’, and it’s usually because they’ve got so many other interests, but if you choose something with not many ingredients, something you enjoy, that’s simple, follow the recipes – you will get success,” Berry says. “And give yourself time.”

Read the recipe through first

“When you’ve decided what you’re going to do, read the recipe thoroughly,” says Berry. Many people read them as they go, giving little leeway for time if something takes longer to wrap your head around.

Next, “get the ingredients to hand and just be organised – it’s all in the preparation”.

Don’t buy ingredients you’ll only use a bit of

“My recipes are not complicated,” adds Berry. “I don’t use juniper berries because, what are you going to do with the rest of them in the jar?” She focuses on buying what she’ll use all of in one recipe, or things that end up in many dishes.

“If I’m using something like roasted peppers from a jar, I use the whole lot because if you have a little bit left, you say you’ll use it tomorrow, but you don’t.”

Keep your spices in a dark cupboard

You need a decent store cupboard, Berry says, but many people end up with a lot in it they don’t use – “especially herbs and spices”.

“I grow my own herbs but I limit the spices,” she adds. “They should be kept in the dark – if you think of paprika, if you store paprika in the light, it will no longer be bright red after a year, so you’ve got to keep it in the dark, and it’ll keep its colour and flavour.

“When I first started [cooking] you did use dried herbs because unless you grew them, you couldn’t buy them in a supermarket – they just weren’t available.”

Expand your vegetable cookery

“I like fennel,” says Berry, “but I do notice that sometimes people are given advice to roast them, but it’s very tough. It’s far better to cook it for five minutes in soaking water, having quartered it, and then roast it. It’s absolutely delicious, but first of all, it needs blanching for about five minutes in order to cook through.”

“Roast beetroot,” she suggests, “is absolutely delicious, easy to grow, and not too expensive.

Mary’s All In One – My Favourite One Pan, One Pot, One Dish Recipes by Mary Berry is published in hardback by BBC Books, photography by Tara Fisher.

Chicken Tartiflette

A rich and comforting twist on an Alpine classic. Mary says: “It’s a take on the classic tartiflette, which is a dish of potato, bacon, onions and Reblochon cheese that is traditional in the Alps. Choose a smoked cured ham of your choice, and waxy potatoes, ideally La Ratte or small new potatoes.

“If you can’t find Reblochon, use Brie or Camembert instead.”

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 8 slices Parma or Black Forest ham
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 750g waxy potatoes, thickly sliced
• 2tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 6 small skinless boneless chicken breasts
• 200g button mushrooms
• 150ml white wine
• 150ml pouring double cream
• 250g Reblochon cheese, rind removed and diced
• 1tbsp grainy mustard
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 1tbsp freshly chopped thyme

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C fan/200C/gas mark 6.

2. Snip two slices of the Parma ham in to small pieces.

3. Put snipped Parma ham, onions, potatoes, oil and garlic into a large, shallow roasting tin. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and toss everything together. Roast in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, until the potato slices are nearly tender.

4. Meanwhile, put remaining slices of Parma ham on a board. Place the chicken breasts on top of the ham and wrap one around each breast. Season.

5. Remove roasting tin from the oven. Stir in the mushrooms, wine and cream, and add the cheese. Sit the wrapped chicken breasts on top of the vegetables and return to the oven for about 20-22 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the vegetables are tender.

6. Remove the chicken from the tin and place on a warm plate to rest. Stir the mustard, lemon juice and thyme into the tin until combined.

7. Carve each chicken breast into three and place over the vegetables and sauce. Serve piping hot.

Tips

The first stage of cooking the vegetables, before adding the chicken, can be made up to two hours ahead.

Not suitable for freezing.

Aubergine Caponata

A vibrant Mediterranean-style dish packed with aubergine, olives and capers.

“Traditionally made with green olives and red wine vinegar, I prefer using soft, black-pitted olives and white wine vinegar, as I always have them in the cupboard,” says Dame Mary Berry.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 8tbsp olive oil
• 2 aubergines, cut into 2cm cubes
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into 1cm cubes
• 3 large garlic cloves, finely grated
• 500g passata
• 115g soft pitted black olives
• 2tbsp white wine vinegar
• 3tbsp capers from a jar, drained
• 1½tbsp caster sugar
• 3tbsp freshly chopped parsley

Method

1. Heat three tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan that has a lid over a high heat. Add half of the aubergine and fry until browned. Remove aubergine from pan and set aside. Heat another three tablespoons of the oil in the pan and fry the remaining aubergine. Set aside with the rest.

2. Heat remaining oil in pan. Add the onions, celery and pepper and fry over a high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and fry for a few seconds. Return the aubergine to pan, add passata, olives, vinegar, capers and sugar. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, cover with a lid and bring up to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes.

3. Remove lid from pan and simmer for another five minutes, until the sauce has reduced and the vegetables are soft but not mushy.

4. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with crusty bread, couscous or as a vegetable side dish.

Tips

Can be made up to a day ahead and reheated to serve.

Freezes for up to a month.

Lemon and Passion Fruit Traybake

A zesty, crowd-pleasing traybake that’s ideal for sharing or gifting.

“Traybakes are so versatile and are perfect for sharing or wrapping as gifts. Passion fruit curd is readily available and it is wonderful to be able to buy it so easily, as we love it!” says Dame Mary Berry.

“This recipe also works well with lemon or orange curd instead of passion fruit.”

Ingredients (makes 16 pieces)

• 225g baking spread, straight from the fridge, plus extra for greasing
• 225g caster sugar
• 275g self-raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 2tbsp milk
• 2tbsp passion fruit curd
• Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
• For the icing:
• 300ml pouring double cream
• 4tbsp passion fruit curd

1. Preheat oven to 160C fan/180C/gas mark 4. Grease and line 30 × 23cm traybake tin with non-stick baking paper.

2. Measure all the traybake ingredients into a large bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk until combined and smooth.

3. Spoon cake mixture into prepared tin and level the top. Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes, or until the cake has shrunk from the sides of the tin and springs back if pressed in the centre. Leave to cool in the tin.

4. To make icing, combine cream and half the curd in a large bowl and whip until soft peaks. (Be careful not to overwhip, as curd will make it thick.) Spread icing over the surface of the cooled cake.

5. Drizzle top of the traybake with the remaining curd (see tip) in a zig-zag pattern. Cut into 16 pieces to serve.

Tips

If your curd is very thick, you could loosen it with a little water, or warm it gently, in order to drizzle it to decorate it at the end.

Can be made up to a day ahead. Freezes well un-iced.

If you overwhip the cream and it starts to curdle, save it by adding a little more liquid cream, a spoonful at a time, till it becomes smooth again.