PHIL Vickery is rather enjoying the pause lockdown has inadvertently offered us. "It's like an enforced holiday," says the chef and telly presenter, noting how, alongside the stresses, traumas and sadness, it's also meant we've been able to hear the birds sing. "You know that frenetic pace of life? Everything seems to have calmed down."
Throughout, he has presented his cookery segments for ITV's This Morning from his back garden in Buckinghamshire – which has been both "good fun" and "a bit odd" – while being intermittently interrupted by his farming neighbours blasting their horns as they go past. "I have to give them a bit of a ticking off," he says wryly.
Meanwhile, he's found himself intrigued by peoples' changing shopping habits ("Tinned artichokes were sold out. Things like refried beans were all gone") and been surprised by what he's developed a taste for himself ("Petit pois in a tin, the sort of thing as a Michelin star chef, you'd think, 'Nah' – but do you know what? They're actually all right").
Although, he hasn't been making banana bread: "No, no, no – I don't do fads. Haha. I might go back to it in three or four years, when everyone's forgotten about it."
Now 59, (he'll turn 60 next May) Vickery has also been "eating healthier than I ever have in my life. I have the time now," he explains. "All my kids have grown up and gone, I'm a single man now, so it's a lot easier I think."
Vickery and Fern Britton, his wife of 20 years, split in January. They share their daughter Winnie, who lives in Cornwall with Britton, and Britton's grown-up children – twins Jack and Harry and daughter Grace – from her previous marriage.
"It's been an adjustment," says Vickery on this newfound world of cooking for one, "but I rather like it. I quite like the fact I can cook what I want, when I want.
"I do eat some obscure things sometimes," he admits jovially. "I had lamb hearts the other night, which I love, and I like things like chitterlings (pig intestines). I boiled a pig's head and made brawn, which is lovely, and the snout I chop up. I'm constantly trying new stuff. I love what I call 'old style' cooking.
"I tell you what I bought the other day," he breaks off enthusiastically, "some swordfish! It was delicious.
"So it's nice to have nice food and not have to worry about, 'Oh I don't eat this', 'Can I have a bit of that?', or, 'I don't like pepper'," he continues, adding with an affectionate laugh: "One of my sons can spot a bit of spinach or some speckled black pepper on pasta at 500 yards."
Vickery is currently celebrating the release of his latest cookbook, Diabetes Meal Planner, written with food scientist Bea Harling BSc. Every recipe is checked rigorously by Diabetes UK too, even "down to half grams" of things like salt, fat and sugar.
"They are very, very sharp people and quite particular," says Vickery of his collaborators, describing how scrupulous and complex the recipe-writing process was – so much so, he says with a laugh, the team had no qualms about knocking recipes back to him, until they were exactly right and met their guidelines with precision.
And while his younger self might have jostled against such restriction, for Vickery now, after years of experience writing gluten-free and diabetes recipes, it instead provides a framework in which to be imaginative and "box a bit clever". Like his approach to getting "flavour out of things without the salt – through vinegars, spices like fenugreek, cumin, smoked paprika", which he uses "as condiments".
"Match those with acids, soft herbs," he says, "it's actually quite interesting."
He may write scientifically robust, healthy cookery books, but that doesn't mean he's averse to the odd bag of crisps. "What I adore is chilli flavoured Doritos," he says rapturously, adding: "My weakness at the moment is clotted cream, Rodda's," as well as "a bit of Bombay mix with my glass of wine."
For many, Vickery is as beloved for This Morning as he is for starring in the original incarnation of Ready, Steady, Cook.
He was also a restaurant chef for two decades, until 1999, earning a Michelin star at The Castle Hotel, Taunton. Does he miss the clatter and heat of cooking in restaurants? "Absolutely not," he says. "[Working] every Christmas Day, every New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, every birthday, every holiday... and my hand was slightly forced at the time when I came out of it, but looking back, it was fabulous. But there's absolutely no way I would do it again. It took me about five years to get out of that routine."
Diabetes Meal Planner by Phil Vickery with Bea Harling BSc, photography by Kate Whitaker, is published by Kyle Books and supported by Diabetes UK, priced £22. Below are three recipes from the book for you to try.
TORTILLA MUFFINS
(Makes 6)
4 sprays 1-calorie sunflower oil cooking spray
1 banana shallot, finely chopped
30g chopped pepper
4 eggs
1tbsp 0 per cent-fat unsweetened Greek-style yogurt (see tip)
A few basil leaves, chopped, or a pinch of dried herbs
Freshly ground black pepper
For the topping:
30g reduced-fat Cheddar, grated
3 cherry tomatoes, halved
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan and line a muffin tin with six cases. The cooked egg mixture tends to stick to the cases, so ideally use a non-stick silicone mould tray, so the contents pop out easily and no oil is needed.
Heat the cooking spray in a small pan and fry the shallot and pepper until softened, about five to eight minutes. At this point you could include any little extra bits like sauteed mushrooms or a handful of chopped spinach leaves, to wilt at the end.
Beat the eggs with the yogurt, herbs and seasoning in a small jug, add the cooked vegetables and mix all together. Pour the egg mixture into the six cups, half-filling each one. Sprinkle with cheese, press half a cherry tomato on top and bake for about 15-20 minutes until set.
Nutrition Tip: Though these recipes use low-fat dairy, try using other unsweetened alternatives such as small amounts of full-fat dairy, which contains some beneficial fats, live yoghurt or even cottage cheese.
FRAGRANT TURKEY PHO
(Serves 4)
1/2 x 10g reduced-salt chicken stock cube
10 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
1 small fresh red chilli, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1tsp fish sauce
2 small skinless turkey breast slices (approx. 250g), fat trimmed
200g cooked rice vermicelli
200g beansprouts
6tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander
4tbsp roughly chopped Thai or any fresh basil
10 fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
Juice of 2 large limes
Freshly ground black pepper
Method:
Place one litre of water and the stock cube into a large saucepan and heat until just simmering. Next add the onions, chilli, garlic, fish sauce and some pepper. Simmer for three minutes.
Cut the turkey into very thin slices and then add to the stock: it will cook almost straight away. Stir well.
Add the vermicelli noodles and beansprouts and bring back to a simmer, then turn off the heat. Add the herbs to the Pho along with the juice from the lime and serve straight away.
Nutrition Tip: A leaner meat than chicken, turkey is a good source of B vitamins, selenium, zinc and phosphorus.
SILKY CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
(Serves 2)
150g silken tofu, drained
2tsp vanilla extract
1tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
5g dark chocolate
Method:
Pat dry the tofu and then puree in a food-processor or blender for a few seconds until smooth. Add the vanilla, sift in the cocoa (to avoid lumps) and blend briefly. Melt the chocolate on low power in a microwave until runny. (If the chocolate cools too fast the texture might become grainy instead of mixing in smoothly.) Add to the tofu mixture in the food-processor. Pulse until smooth.
Divide between two little serving dishes, such as ramekins, and pop in the fridge to chill until ready to serve.
Nutrition Tips: Serving with a few cherries or raspberries on the side will add some useful fibre. Dark chocolate with a high cocoa content (70 per cent or more) is a good source of iron, magnesium, copper, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium.
