Mary Berry's Absolute Favourites - Season 1

First aired: 5/15/2015 6 episodes

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Episodes

1. The Seaside

Aired: 5/15/2015

Mary draws on inspiration from some of her earliest and fondest memories from her childhood holidays and regular trips to the British seaside. To start, Mary prepares some delicious goat's cheese and shallot tarts with a different, but delectable, walnut pastry - perfect for a picnic hamper or day out at the sea. To follow, a family favourite - her right royal crab and cod fishcakes with tomato salsa, followed by a special dinner party classic of sea bass with brown shrimp and caper sauce. As well as cooking her seaside favourites, Mary visits the Botany Bay on the Kent coast, where she indulges in one her favourite seaside passions, prawning, before cooking up a new dish of seafood linguini that she's really come to adore. Finally, Mary visits an ice cream parlour in Broadstairs that has hardly changed since she was a child. This inspires her to create her favourite ice cream treat - a knickerbocker glory that's both easy to make and guaranteed to have everyone asking for more.

2. The Countryside

Aired: 5/22/2015

Mary is inspired by her love of the great British countryside. Brought up in the country, Mary still loves to go walking with her dogs and family, as well as forage for wild ingredients. In this programme, she begins by preparing some delicious mushroom Scotch eggs - perfect for a country picnic hamper. Mushrooms are one of Mary's all-time favourite ingredients and tonight, assisted by expert advice, she goes foraging for wild varieties in the New Forest, before cooking her delicious garlic mushrooms on toasted brioche. To follow, Mary makes a simple game dish just perfect for a dinner party or family supper - paprika pheasant with mushroom sauce. Getting out and about in the British countryside is one of Mary's passions, and tonight she tries her hand at fly-fishing on the River Test. As something she's never done before but always wanted to do, she enlists the help of expert angler Charles Jardine.

3. Herbs

Aired: 5/29/2015

Mary takes inspiration from the herb garden. Only dried herbs were available when Mary started cooking, but these days there are an abundance of fresh herbs that can turn an ordinary dish into something spectacular. First up, Mary demonstrates her favourite summer salad - watermelon and feta with lashings of fresh mint - before turning her hand to her grandchildren's favourite comfort dish of succulent tomato and herb meatballs. Her pesto lemon chicken is easy to assemble and is perfect for a summer lunch or light dinner, as is another of Mary's dinner party favourites - salmon, potato and prawn salad platter. As well as planting herbs with her granddaughters, Mary visits the Dairy in Clapham, south London, where the chef Robin Gill opens Mary's eyes to new ways of using fresh herbs. She finishes by adding a herby twist to her all-time favourite cake - a lemon drizzle cake, which she flavours with fresh lemon verbena from her garden.

4. Farmers' Markets

Aired: 6/5/2015

One of Mary's pleasures is to shop for fresh, exciting, seasonal ingredients, and in this episode it's the local farmers' market that inspires Mary. There's nothing like meeting local producers and the feeling of knowing where your food comes from, and in this programme, Mary visits Guildford Famers' Market to source some wonderful fresh ingredients to take back to the kitchen. Firstly Mary prepares a delicious soup using one of her favourite seasonal vegetables - asparagus. Next it's a dinner party classic - chicken with lemon creme fraiche and asparagus. Farmers' markets are great places to source speciality goods like sunblushed tomatoes, fresh olives and chargrilled artichokes - all of which Mary uses in her spectacular five-market salad tapas. For busy mum and dads on the go, Mary reveals a one-dish wonder - a delicious sausage supper that all the family will love.

5. The Allotment

Aired: 6/12/2015

Mary Berry takes inspiration from the great British tradition of growing your own on the allotment. Like many others, Mary's father turned his flowerbeds over to growing veg for the war effort and ever since then, Mary has been hooked on growing her own fruit and vegetables. In this programme, Mary travels to the Tangmere allotment in East Sussex, where she meets people from all walks of life growing their own, cooking and sharing recipes. The visit inspires Mary to cook some of her favourite dishes, including a recipe her own mother cherished - ginger orange poussin with freshly dug new potatoes. She also makes a classic chutney to use up any leftover harvest veg, a dinner party treat of winter root vegetables using a new cut of lamb, the foreshank, and an absolute strawberry crowd-pleaser. Whilst down at the allotment, Mary helps to prepare a harvest feast to celebrate the end of the growing season.

6. The Home

Aired: 6/19/2015

Mary cooks dishes inspired by her home and family. No matter how busy Mary is, her top priority is to have the family round for a meal and three generations of Mary's family visit her in the kitchen and get involved with the cooking. To start, a delicious Malay fried rice. It's Mary's husband Paul's favourite dish and bursting with flavour, it never fails to be a real crowd pleaser. One of Mary's joys in life is cooking with her grandchildren and it's no surprise that Mary's next dish, a delicious chicken pasta bake, has become one of their favourites! Next, the family come together to enjoy a delicious harrisa spiced lamb casserole - a perfect alternative to a Sunday roast. Then it's back to the kitchen where Mary's granddaughters are on hand to help make three different flavoured scrumptious biscuits, all made from the same dough. To finish, Mary makes her easy lemon meringue pie.