- [Narrator] We are Sorted.
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when it comes to all things food.
From cooking battles to gadget reviews
- Ben, it's not worth it!
- and cookbook challenges
to a mid-week meal packs app.
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- Welcome everybody to Sorted.
Now, you may remember, a little while ago,
we did the ultimate midweek meal budget battle,
where basically these guys watched us panic.
- Well, today, it's payback time.
We're gonna give you each a 10 pound budget.
We're gonna put 45 minutes on the clock
and we want you to serve up four identical plates
for us to eat.
- Now, behind you, there's a bunch of surprise ingredients.
You've got 10 minutes to work out
what you're gonna cook.
- Ebbers, you're up first.
Load up the spreadsheet.
It has an itemised list
of every ingredient and how much it costs.
You're gonna love it.
- I love a spreadsheet.
- Oh, exciting midweek meals
start with celery, oh.
- A little bit of creme fraiche.
A lemon.
- [Barry] Ohhh.
Committed.
- I love a bit of thigh.
- Now, Ebbers, your time is up.
I've currently spent six pounds, 78,
but I'm going to leave myself
just under a third of my budget left,
for some other things that might come to me as I create.
- All right, James, you're up.
- There's the pork chops.
They look delicious, but only going to use three.
Cause they're expensive.
That's four pounds, 50 already.
Potatoes.
Little bit worried about how many peppers I want,
because I want four, but that's quite expensive.
- [Barry] Almonds are expensive.
- Yeah, I know.
Oh, I really want a lemon.
How much are lemons?
- [Ben] 35 pence.
- I know I'm being spenny here, but I'm going parsley.
Okay. Well, I've actually got the start of something.
- James, you've spent nine pounds, 32.
Ebbers, you've only spent 6 pounds, 68 so far.
- [Barry] Are you ready?
- So ready.
- Yeah.
In three two, one...
- [Both] Budget!
- First thing I'm going to do
is get some water on the hub.
- [Barry] They've taken off. They're moving really quickly.
I don't even know what they're making.
What are you doing?
What are you making?
- I think I'm going to go for a Ratatouille-style gratin,
with some potato cakes, like almost latkes.
And then I'm going to serve that with some
pan-fried
chicken thigh,
but all of the flavours and spices
are kind of Mediterranean.
- And James, what are you doing?
- I'm doing some Mediterranean-inspired stuff.
- Are you doing the same thing?
- So, I'm thinking I'm going to do
like olive oil mashed potato, like crushed potato.
So I've kept the skins on.
They went in first because they need to
come to a boil and cook.
And then I'm thinking I'm going to do a Romesco sauce.
If I can afford it, some serrano ham or parma ham
or whatever that is.
- That's not actually for sale.
- Is that snacking?
Who gave you pocket money?
- [Jamie] One pound, 50.
- I think this video's about under a minute in
and we're snacking ham.
- I paid for it!
Watching two chefs,
work their way around the kitchen like this,
is fascinating to me,
just trying to get inside their brains and how they cook.
I suppose it's the inspiration for
the Packs app, midweek meals.
How can you cook like a chef
and not even have to think about it?
- They're gliding around the kitchen
and not faffing about anything.
Everything's got a reason.
Everything's got a point.
- So far, I've peeled and diced a red onion,
couple of cloves of garlic, two courgettes and two peppers.
So, for me, I'm bulking this out with lots of veg,
but that's about half a pepper and half a courgette,
per portion and I'm going to sweat them all off in the pan.
Then add tomato sauce, reduce it down
and that's going to become the basis of the gratin.
So onions had a head start
while I chopped up all the rest of the veg,
then the garlic has just gone in
and then the peppers and courgettes.
- After my potatoes,
the first thing I've done is start my Romesco sauce.
So I've just really roughly chopped up pepper and onion.
That's been tossed with oil and salt and pepper
and a little bit of smoked paprika.
That's going in a super hot oven for 20 minutes maybe,
until it blackens and softens.
I've also, while I've been doing that,
charred my sweet corn, which I can just leave on the hub.
And then the almonds, which I have to actually look after.
- I might've gone in a little bit hasty.
I don't think I need my celery today.
- [Jamie] No returns on fresh vegs, I'm afraid, mate.
- [Barry] Especially if it's celery.
- [Jamie] No one else is gonna want it, are they now?
- I'm gonna make kind of potato rosti, piley bits.
So I'm grating the potatoes into a clean tea towel,
over a bowl so I can squeeze out all the moisture.
Then I'm going to season it quite heavily,
because potato is a good vehicle for flavour.
And the flavour I'm going to add is two things
from the staple's cupboard,
smoked paprika and dried oregano.
- If you watch what the chefs are doing,
they're constantly cleaning as they go.
Ebbers has got all of his rubbish in one bowl.
James has got nothing anywhere.
And it's these kind of tips that they give to us,
also go into the Packs' recipes.
I mean that when you get to the end of your meal,
you haven't got a Huttlestorm in the kitchen.
- I have an apology to make.
The beauty of the Packs is that it's all tried and tested.
I'm making this up as I go along.
Important to squeeze the liquid out of potatoes.
Do that before you add the smoked paprika
and the oregano.
Because otherwise you just, well, I mean,
it'll wash out.
- Oh Ebbers!
- It was silly.
It was silly.
Anyhow, blobs going into the pan,
which is a combination of butter and oil
and they'll fry until they kind of go crispy and golden
and I'll flip them.
So I think midweek,
you generally don't go for long slow cooks.
So the protein choices, therefore cook relatively quickly.
In fact, this dish, there's so much veg and things,
it's a really good veggie dish.
- [Jamie] It's really annoying me that
you're not calling it a G-ratatouille
- I've just changed the name of my dish!
- How long have we had?
- You've had 15 minutes.
Why are you putting smoked paprika on the board?
- This is my Romesco sauce.
I've chopped the parsley on the board.
I've then toasted the almonds and put them on the board.
And zested the lemon onto the board.
Little bit of smoked paprika on the board.
And I put a little bit salt on.
And then as soon as my onions and peppers come out,
they're gonna go on the board.
And I'm just going to chop on the board, until it's a paste.
- [Jamie] James! You put the baking paper
in your frying pan.
- [Barry] James, that's not how you use baking paper.
- So I want to get this crisp.
I could put it in the oven,
but it would be a waste of a baking tray.
And I've got this pan I've used three times.
If I put it in a dry pan, I don't want to fry it.
So if I put it in a dry pan, it's gonna stick,
so I've put some baking paper on it.
You sometimes do it with fish, as well.
- How much that costs? Couple of quids?
- Oh, it will come out.
- Come on, not on the tea towel, guys.
- Yeah, that's ruined.
- I don't think we get that back.
I think we have to take it out of his cost.
- [Jamie] 22 minutes left.
- That actually isn't that long, is it?
- So we're about halfway.
Veg softened, but still with a bite.
I'm gonna go in with tomato.
That is lovely because of the sweetness of the peppers
and the courgette all cooked off with the onion.
It's been seasoned with salt.
I'm also going to add a dash of vinegar
and it just sort of (whoosh)
brings it to life.
Seasoning triangle, right?
(both whooshing)
I've used some breadcrumbs from the staple's cupboard,
but I'd like to go back to the pantry
and get some Parmesan
and I'm gonna make a Parmesan crumb,
which is going to go on top of the ratatouille,
and into the oven to gratinate.
(upbeat music)
With my chicken thighs, again like my potato cakes,
I've got eight of them.
No I haven't.
I was shortchanged.
I thought I bought eight.
I thought there was eight on that plate.
The shop said eight!
Anyway, I'll season them
and they're gonna go under the grill.
I don't want to do anything to them just yet.
I want them just to grill with amazing chicken flavour.
Then I will throw them in kind of a dressing at the end.
While I'm waiting for the potato cakes to finish,
the gratin to colour,
quick wipe down, clean up everything I have already used.
- [Barry] 15 minutes left.
- Little rostis.
Oh, they look good.
Now they're almost cooked.
I'm just going to finish them in the oven to cook through.
And because if anything, they're already a bit early.
I was too quick.
- So I've chucked in a couple of garlic cloves,
with this to roast off.
So, put one in my mash and one in the sauce.
- Am I allowed free herbs?
Cause these are about five weeks old.
- No, no, no.
- They came from my window sill.
Like they're still alive.
They're still growing.
- Stop bringing plants into the studio from your flat.
- You can buy them.
- And Ebbers, you've still got over three pounds to spend.
- So like I can buy some. Can I buy my own herbs?
- Buy your own herbs.
- [Ebbers] Excellent.
- [Barry] I think I remember the first time I saw a chef,
creating a sauce, on a board.
Who needs bowls? Bowls have edges.
They restrict you.
Boards, do what you want.
- [Jamie] You have 10 minutes left.
- For my dressing, I've got lemon zest, lemon juice,
lots of fresh mint, olive oil.
And I'm going to season it.
- [Jamie] Nine minutes.
- I honestly thought I had eight chicken thighs,
which would've divided nicely between four plates.
- This feels like a real problem.
- I've got to chop them all up
and it's not how I wanted to plate them, but.
- James has only got three pork chops, for four people.
(rock music)
- Oh, this smells good.
- I love the way that chefs think.
All of that oil, butter, fat,
that's come from the pork chops
has now gone into the mashed potatoes...
flavour!
(intense music)
Two minutes.
- Now all of the chicken, all of the juices,
in with all of the herbs and lemon.
(intense music)
- Last minute.
- Ebbers! You were doing so well!
- Yeah, you can charge me for it.
- 10,
nine,
eight,
seven,
six,
five,
four,
three,
two,
one.
(alarm ringing)
Step away from your budget meals.
- There we go.
I'm hungry now.
- That was quite therapeutic.
- And that is how two chefs do a midweek meal
in under 45 minutes,
for less than a tenner, for four people.
(upbeat music)
Well, chefs, you had 45 minutes.
You had 10 pounds each to prepare four plates,
in a midweek meal.
I think it's fair to say that
we weren't expecting a disaster
and we didn't get a disaster.
- It's spectacular.
- James, how much did you spend?
- I spent nine pounds, 85.
- Ben?
- I ended up with seven, 39 spent.
And that was even buying my own herbs.
(laughing)
- Should we start here?
- Start here, yep.
Chicken, potato and veg gratin.
- Cheers!
(upbeat music)
- That chicken has a surprising amount of flavour,
considering I took the Mickey out of you
because you just cooked plain chicken
and then you were rolling it in the lemon zest
and the lemon juice after it cooked.
- Your rostis are crispy on the outside, soft in the middle.
It's bold trying to make rostis in half an hour,
but they are brilliant.
- I think they're the best bit.
It's not something you think to do midweek,
but it's not actually that difficult.
- I'd absolutely seasoned the potato cakes,
after squeezing them.
Maybe eight chicken thighs.
But otherwise, yeah.
- James, over to you.
- Again, looks...
like a complete dish.
Different elements.
Not necessarily... none of them complicated,
but coming together looks like it makes
a really awesome dinner.
Cheers.
- Cheers. - Sorry.
- Tell me James, did you get any flavour
into that Romesco sauce?
I'm obviously being sarcastic.
It's full of flavour.
- Oh good.
- The smokey char.
I liked that from the corn and the Romesco.
- I really love the idea
of keeping certain elements simple
and then having like a flash of inspiration and flavour,
sitting somewhere on the plate,
that you can just add in whenever you want to.
But everything else is just cooked really simply,
but really well.
We've had a lovely time,
but it now comes down to the crux of the matter.
We need to decide on a winner.
- Chefs, do you mind giving us a moment?
- Yeah! (beeping)
(laughing)
All right, we're going to close our eyes,
three two, one, and we'll point out a winner,
and that will be our winner, okay?
Three, two, one.
Open. - Oh goodness.
- Did you say that one?
- Yeah. - Oh no.
- Try again.
(laughing)
(soft music)
- After much, much...
- It was tricky.
- Deliberation.
- Yeah, it was, it was very, very close.
We had to look at it, not in terms of what was our favourite,
but where we thought the best dish ended up.
And overall our favourite dish was...
Ben's.
- Ooh.
Thank you!
(clapping)
- We thought each element had a really decent
packet of flavour in it.
And whereas James' was really, really good.
And we said the potatoes are simple.
The pork is simple
and they were both cooked really, really well.
There was one standout bit on your dish,
which was the Romesco sauce
and therefore everything else
slightly pales into insignificance.
- Whoa! - Meant sincerely.
- I was fine.
You took a long time to decide. It was okay.
I accepted the result and then that.
- It's obviously been really hard for us to pick a winner,
but let us know who your favourite is
by commenting down below.
- And if you're looking for midweek meal inspiration,
make sure you sign up to our Packs app.
All the information is down below.
Save money, save time.
Don't waste food.
(beep)
- I thought you said... - Yeah...to me a lot.
- [Co-Worker] Nice.