- A few fresh ingredients can be wrapped together to make an exotic-looking first course.

Rice paper trick.

Wet your rice paper so it gets soft, and you put cilantro in there, scallion, a couple of dry tomatoes, a piece of avocado.

You fold it this way.

Bring the two sides together, keep folding it, and here we are.

It doesn't take great technique or a lot of time to create good food to share.

I'm Jacques Pepin, and this is "Fast Food My Way."

Happy cooking.

- What do you wanna do today?

- Well, I don't know.

I have a nice menu for you- - Really?

- today I wanna do.

Yes, I think some of your favorite stuff.

- Excellent.

Well, there has to be fish involved.

- You wanna be surprised?

- Okay.

- Okay, so let's go cook, - Let's go.

- And all that.

- You have an apron?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- I have an apron.

So... - Well, tomatoes, I love tomatoes.

- Today we're going to do a tall Greek tomato salad.

A tomato salad with all of the ingredients but presented in a different way.

And after that, we'll poach a salmon.

I know you like poached salmon with a sour cream herb sauce.

- [Claudine] Yes, please.

- [Jacques] We're gonna do a stew of peas and carrots, just like your grandmother used to do, yeah?

- Oh, I would love that.

- [Jacques] And a sweet ricotta gateau with peach sauce.

That's for my granddaughter.

- Yes.

- You know, to do something like this, okay?

(Claudine laughing) - So you see here, we have tomato, cucumber, red onion, olives- - Oh, lots of olives.

- Oregano- - And feta - and feta cheese.

So we're going to do a classic Greek salad, but we're going to build it up to make it very elegant, you know.

- Oh wow.

- So, I'm gonna start cutting the vegetables.

- Do you want me to make a vinegarette?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- Okay, you make a vinegarette with, like in Greece.

- I'll do- Okay, so lemon juice, salt, pepper.

There we go.

Oh, can I put some lemon zest in here too?

- Absolutely, if you want.

- Excellent.

- All right.

- So I'm gonna start with the- - I'm gonna start zesting.

(knife thudding) And I'll do my very best to not get any pith in here, I promise.

- You are?

- I will.

- [Jacques] Okay.

I'm cutting this, the tomato, but we'll keep it to put it back on top.

- Oh, that's gonna be really great.

- Just like a decoration, you know?

Now we can find those tomato in the market.

And then each tomato, I'm gonna cut it into about five slice, except for the bottom.

We'll keep that to put around the tomatoes.

So, one- - Okay.

Is it okay?

Do you mind if I squeeze the lemons.

- [Jacques] two- through my impeccably clean hands?

- three, four.

Absolutely, you do it just as you do at home.

Okay, here we go.

We have a tomato.

- Oh wow.

- I think that maybe you should do one of those and I should do one.

So that'd be yours.

- Oh.

Oh, okay.

(Claudine chuckling) - That'd be mine.

One, two- (knife thudding) three, four, five.

Okay.

- Wow.

Oh, this is gonna be really, really pretty.

- And that we keep, now I'm going to do cucumber.

(knife clacking) I've juiced the lemon.

- Okay.

- I'm gonna put some olive oil in here.

- Good.

- And some salt and some pepper.

(bottle taps) (knife scrapes) - Now the feta cheese, I want to make it look round, so it's gonna be a bit difficult.

(Claudine laughing) A couple of layer like this.

Then remember, we can put some around, some around also as a decoration.

(whisk clinking) So, as we go, I'm gonna start with mine just to show you.

And we can do any of those ingredients.

Doesn't really matter in what order, you know?

I think in between we can drop a little bit, you know, a few grain of salt.

- Oh, that'll be good.

- [Jacques] So here I put a piece of onion.

It's nice if it's- - I have some fleur de sel here, too.

- [Jacques] Huh?

- [Claudine] If you want, I have fleur de sel.

- Fleur de sel, okay.

- [Jacques] I put the second slice here.

And the second slice, I'll cover it with cheese.

So I'll try to get my cheese- - Do you want me- - I promise.

- to get a plate?

Should we put this on a plate, or do you think it's okay to move it?

- It's okay- - Are you gonna move it?

- It's okay to move it.

- You're gonna move it, - Then- - I'm not gonna move it.

- put that there.

- But I'll take my tomato.

- [Jacques] You can take your tomato and start doing what I'm doing here, covering it up.

- Do you wanna a little bit- - And I want you to- - of vinaigrette on there, too?

- Do you wanna put it directly on your plate?

- Yes, please.

- You feel better?

- (chuckles) I would feel definitely more confident.

- Okay, fine.

So I'll cut that for you.

- Salt on this.

- Now this, I don't have to put salt on that one.

(spoon scraping and clinking) Now I'm putting more tomato.

- Do you want a little bit of vinegarette in between?

- Yeah, maybe at the third one.

- Okay.

- Now I'm putting cucumber, right?

I haven't put cucumber in the other one.

So let me- - [Claudine] So what, can I peek in yours?

I did onion.

Am I supposed to do something else?

- Okay, yeah, I mean- - Just an onion?

- Yeah, you have the onion.

- Okay.

- You have the tomato.

So we just built it up with the same ingredient that you would... I mean, conventionally, that salad, what you would want to do is just to put it on... (spoon scraping and clinking) Cut all of those ingredient.

Yeah, you wanna see the edge here, so you wanna try to make it so that it's going to look good... (Claudine chuckling) Put that there.

- You're missing round feta.

- Maybe put that right on top.

(sauce trickles) Good.

(spoon clinks) You do that for 200 people.

- Right, no problem.

Let's do it.

- Here, I get you one.

(knife clacking) Okay.

- [Claudine] Oh, that's perfect.

- [Jacques] Yeah, and you can add small pieces.

- And then I can put a little piece.

- Small pieces on the side here, like this.

Okay?

I have more pieces here.

- Oh, this is really nice.

- Okay, I put one, two, three.

I think I'm gonna put more cheese now again.

I have another one here.

- [Claudine] I'm gonna put a little bit of dressing and maybe a little bit of fleur de sel.

(knife clinking) - [Jacques] Fleur de sel.

- I like fleur de sel.

And I actually, I also really, really, really love onions, so.

- [Jacques] Good.

- Oh look, I can put this whole thing on here.

Perfect.

- This one.

What did I add the first, the onion?

I only have one, so there is another onion.

(Claudine chuckles) The onion is great because- - You have to take it apart and see what the first layer was.

- It fit exactly.

Now, the problem is for people to eat it.

How do you eat it, Claudine.

- I think what I would probably do is tip it all over and eat it.

- And cut it?

- Yes.

- Yeah, I think you can cut it right in four pieces like that.

It just fall over, and it's great.

- Okay.

(chuckles) - So, I'm putting mine back here.

- And me too.

- And I'm gonna put it on my plate.

- [Claudine] Okay.

- Here, but you see, now we have to build up a little bit of thing to put around.

- All right.

- The same garnish.

For example, we didn't put olives because the olive eat a little bit too- - Well, yeah, it wouldn't go inside very nicely.

- Okay, so this is oil pure olive, and they have pit in it.

- Do you want me to chop them?

- We wanna cut them in two pieces, yes?

So you know, you crush it like this.

You crush it like this, and then the pit comes out.

- [Claudine] Oh.

- [Jacques] Yeah?

- So I don't have to spend eight bucks more a pound to have them bit it.

I can do this.

- No, we can do that.

We have some kalamata.

Those kalamata are cut.

So you know what, why don't you cut the olive in small pieces?

- [Claudine] Okay.

- I'm gonna cut a bit of the cheese to put around.

(knife clacking) So this is little dice that you put around, you know?

The same ingredient that we put to start with.

You're making a mess there.

Okay, fine.

- (chuckles) I'm not making a mess.

I am chopping these.

- I'm giving you a little bit of onion.

(knife clacking) But I say you can take all of those ingredients that we have there, cut them into large dice, and you have your classic Greek salad.

- [Claudine] And this is a perfect little summer kind of thing too, I think.

- [Jacques] Yeah.

- [Claudine] Little summer lunch.

- And then I didn't put much dressing, so I wanna put more dressing on the outside.

- There you go.

- Oh, you have that?

- Mm-hmm.

Except for this piece.

- Okay, so maybe I'll fill up that hole here to start with.

(sauce trickling) - [Claudine] Oh, nice.

- Okay, here we are.

- Wait, I want mine to be filled up too.

Do you wanna add some oregano?

- Yeah, I just did.

- I mean, traditionally, we would.

- Oregano always.

I mean, in Greece, you're going to have tomato, of course, a great deal.

But you know, lemon juice, which we have in the dressing.

Oregano, this is your classic thing, to put a few pieces there if you want.

- This is so pretty.

- Fresh oregano.

That's it.

Now, you see, you're in a restaurant and you cut that coarsly and present it conventional way- - There you go.

- you charge $3.50.

You do it this way, you charge $15.

(Claudine chuckling) This our tall Greek tomato salad.

(gentle music) Okay, it looks beautiful.

- It does look beautiful.

And I know we have to wait to eat it.

What are we gonna cook next?

- Next, stew of peas and carrot.

- Oh, like Mamie?

- Like your grandmother- - Oh cool.

- exactly.

- Remember that, she did it with a small potato also.

- Oh, that's right.

- Today, we're not- - That's right.

- going to put potato.

Carrot, you know?

- Should I start cleaning the scallions up - a little bit?

- Yeah.

When you put a carrot, you know, always cut the two end of it.

And then on your hand, one steak to do the carrot.

You do the carrot, huh?

(Claudine chuckles) Yes.

- But if for some reason- - You wanna do this one?

- You want do it?

Okay.

- Okay, so make sure you make it pivot on your hand without your finger being higher than the carrot.

- All right, well then if I have to do the carrot, you wanna chop these?

- Okay.

- Okay.

- Let me see.

(Claudine chuckles) Good, good.

Okay, you don't need me anymore more.

(knife clacking) - Okay, so we have the carrots here.

- Yep.

(knife clacking) So you want to put a piece of butter in there?

- Okay, so this is, this is pretty hot.

So I'll put the butter, and then we'll add- - Go ahead.

You can add this.

- Okay.

Can I put all of this butter or is that too much?

- A couple of tablespoons.

That's just a bit too much, yeah.

- Okay.

(knife clacking) - Okay, there is your onion.

- This one over here, yeah.

(knife clacking) So we have the scallions (knife scrapes) - [Jacques] Your onion, you wanna saute that a little bit.

(hands rustling) I think you have practically enough.

(knife clacking) - I think so.

- I'm just finishing this.

(Claudine chuckling) Okay, and then I'm gonna cut your carrot.

And of course, what you have there is the peas.

And the peas, those are frozen tiny peas.

You know, the baby peas?

- They're good, I think- - And they are.

- [Claudine] the frozen ones.

But Papa, I know Mamie always did a little bit of flour.

Do I put the flour in now or should I wait?

- No, not yet, not yet.

Not yet.

- Okay.

- A little bit.

(knife clacking) (food sizzling) A little bit of a roux she used to do, yeah?

You know what, you can put a bit of olive oil in there.

(pan clanking) - Okay.

(food sizzling) (knife clacks) - That's that region of Provence.

Your grandfather didn't like olive oil.

(knife clacking) - [Claudine] You're kidding?

I had no idea.

- My father, no.

He was used to peanut oil, you know?

That's what he liked.

- Oh wow.

Should I put some Herbes de Provence or dried oregano- - Put - or something in there now?

- a little bit of dried thyme.

Yes, dried thyme or whatever.

Then you can put your flour in it while I finish the carrot, Like one tablespoon.

- [Claudine] Would you use, this is all purpose flour, right?

- Yeah, yeah.

Sorry, that- - Could you use Wondra for this?

Like a cooked flour?

- Oh yeah, yeah.

- Yeah?

Absolutely.

You cannot put it there.

You have to stir it right away.

It's going to form lump here.

- Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

(wooden spoon clattering) (wooden spoon scraping) See, look, right away.

- Just keep your flour- - [Claudine] Right away.

(chuckles) (food sizzling) Right away.

No lumps.

(carrots thudding) - [Jacques] Okay, and then- - Should we put- - there you are.

- [Claudine] some water in it?

- Now you put your water.

(water gurgling) (food sizzling) Yeah, that's it.

So you wanna bring that to a boil and cook it, probably three, four, five minute.

So I have some zucchini here.

- Did you cut them with a mandolin?

- You can cut them with a mandolin or otherwise, if you have a really good vegetable peeler, you can do it with a vegetable peeler like this, you know, in big streak.

- Oh wow.

(peeler whooshing) - Oh, that's very nice.

- That's a nice garnish.

You know, serve that sometime, a salad like this.

I do, you know?

But I don't want to eat them raw, really, so you put them in the oven, but it's not like they have to go in the oven a long time, three, four, five minutes at the most, you know?

Three minute just to get them soft, a little soft in the oven, you know.

- [Claudine] Okay.

Should we put some salt on there?

- So they are not raw.

- And you put olive oil on here, right?

- You can put a little bit of olive oil in the bottom, or you can put nothing at all.

It's fine.

This is a non-stick pan, so it should be, you know, you shouldn't have any problem.

Otherwise, you can put a piece of aluminum foil, even, or something, if you don't want to dirty your pan.

(Claudine chuckles) Okay, a dash of salt on top of it.

- All right, so I'll put this - This is to make it sweat, too.

And then put that into the oven.

- All right.

- Three, four minutes.

It's about 350, 400 degree oven.

Just a little bit just to soften it.

So this now is boiling very nicely, see?

- Okay, so now it's totally boiling.

- [Jacques] Yeah, and now, you see the thickness of it, just with a bit of flour.

You have just a little bit of viscosity here.

(pan clanking) - That's nice.

But we're still gonna wait for the peas.

- Oh yeah, yeah, we still gonna... So maybe if you want, you can get the salmon.

- Okay.

- It's in the refrigerator.

It should be in the refrigerator.

Always keep your salmon refrigerated, or any type of fish, until the last moment.

I think it's better.

And always get the freshest fish that you can get.

That's very important too.

We're going to do a sour cream and herb sauce with that too, which is quite easy to do.

- There you go.

- Let's see what we- - This looks beautiful.

- Yeah, those are nice.

This is from the back filet of the salmon.

You see that thing when you do a steak, when you do a salmon like this, like a steak, they call very often, they take the whole salmon, cut right through.

But then there is the bone in the middle.

- [Claudine] Right.

- If you wanna do it without the bone, you take a piece of filet like this.

But with the skin.

See, I have the skin here.

- Okay.

- And here is what you do.

You cut through the skin.

(knife rustling) And you don't cut totally to the end.

Cut about 3/4 of the way down, maybe a little more.

(knife clinks) And then you turn this way.

- (gasps) Oh, that is perfect.

- Look at that.

Isn't it?

- [Claudine] You're really cool.

- [Jacques] No bone inside.

- [Claudine] (chuckles) You're really cool.

That's excellent.

- Okay, so maybe we can put the peas in there now because I think that it's nice and... Okay, we have a pound of pea here, right?

- [Claudine] Yes.

One package- - That looks good.

- One pound.

- Look at that.

Now, look at that.

- That is perfect.

It's funny because I forgot that Mamie always makes a roux.

But like just a little tiny one.

- A little bit, yes.

You want to taste it?

(Jacques slurps) - Need salt?

(mouth squelching) Put some salt in there.

- I did.

- And we could put a a dash of of sugar, even.

That's fine.

- You wanna put sugar in it?

- When you put peas, you know, sometime you do.

- Huh.

- So, are you going to do a sauce with that?

- I'm gonna do a little sauce.

And it's gonna be pretty simple.

Just mayonnaise, sour cream, some chives.

And some salt and pepper.

- So that won't take too long to cook.

- Salt and pepper.

- I can put that to cook, right?

You wanna do that at the last moment.

And the salmon, those are about four, five-ounce pieces.

And you can see the thickness is a good inch and a quarter.

It'll take about four minutes.

It depend how you like it cooked also.

I mean, I like it slightly undercooked in the center.

And your mother like it practically raw.

- Practically raw.

- Yes, I know.

But I don't have to cover it now.

And the best is to do boiling salted water.

I think that's the best way of doing it.

- Just salted water?

- Yes.

You see, the salmon didn't even come back to a boil yet.

- [Claudine] Wow.

(knife clacking) Oh, do you want me to put some lemon zest in here, too?

- Sure, we can put it on top of the salmon.

- Well, before I cut the lemon in half, maybe I should get some zest.

- Here we are.

- That looks good.

- Spoon.

(spoon clinking) - I didn't put any salt and pepper in there yet, so I know that I'm wrong.

- No, no, no.

(Claudine chuckling) No, you're not wrong.

Okay, a lot of pepper in there, it will take.

Not too much, though, just a little dash.

(spoon clinking) Maybe a dash of lemon juice, but it's, I mean, - Oh, I'm gonna go it it.

- the sour cream.

(spoon clinking) Mm.

- Do you want some lemon juice?

- Not much then, if you do, just a little bit.

- Okay.

- Look it, the peas are bright green now.

And that's what you want.

(pot clanking) Type of stew that my mother used to do when I was a kid.

But she would add those tiny fingerling potato to it.

So it was practically a whole meal.

So let's check on the salmon with this.

This is the thickest part.

And I can see, you know, that is still quite raw in the center.

- [Claudine] Okay.

- It still hasn't come back to a boil, but it's okay.

It doesn't really have to boil.

It can poach in that water at lower temperature.

- Oh, the zucchini are in the oven.

- Okay, I'm gonna go get them.

- Forget the zucchini.

How long have they been there?

Maybe too long.

- I don't think so.

- Okay.

- I think they'll be just right.

(oven rack rattling) Then again, I am an optimist.

- Okay?

(door thuds) - No, I think they'll be okay.

- I mean, because you don't want them, just want them to soften a little bit.

That's it.

They're beautiful.

Okay, you know what?

We can arrange a plate.

Or maybe, what plate are you going to give me?

- You use this plate, I think.

(plate clinks) - Put a piece of salmon on top, so- - No, put zucchini.

- Yeah, but I mean to put a piece of salmon on top of the zucchini later.

- Okay.

- So let's do this.

Or maybe we do kind of a Japanese with butter.

I mean, you- - [Claudine] What?

What do you gonna do?

I'm thinking in my head here.

(Claudine chuckling) You know, doing a garish like this.

- [Claudine] Oh, that's very pretty.

- [Jacques] And it's edible.

- And you know, okay, and in my head, I was thinking that we could wrap the zucchini around the fish.

- Yeah, you can do that too.

(plate clinking) - Or between this- - This could be nice as a bed for your salmon.

- That's very pretty.

- Yeah?

- Let me get this.

- Okay.

And I'll check the salmon again.

(spatula clinking) That piece is smaller.

(plate clattering) And that piece is probably cooked enough.

- [Claudine] Well, here is the plate.

We can take them all out, if you like.

- That piece may be the best piece of all.

This is part of the belly.

(utensils rattling) I can see, you know that part here, part of the belly.

- How can you see that it's part of the belly?

- No, because I know it goes up like this.

You see the center?

- That looks- - [Jacques] It's still a bit wet.

- Yeah, but that's what mom likes.

- Yeah.

So let's put it on this side.

It looks better.

All right, and removing the rest of that salmon so it doesn't overcook.

(spoon clinking) Here we are here.

(spatula clinking) Great.

Keep it warm there.

- Oh, that is a perfect idea.

(food sizzling) - Can even keep it one with that on top.

- Wow.

(chuckles) Okay, so here's the sauce.

- Yes.

- We can put a little bit of lemon zest either on the sauce- - You have more sauce, now?

(spoon clinking) You're a bit short with the sauce here.

- Yeah, but I didn't mess up the side of the thing so I decided to stop while I was ahead.

- Okay.

- 'Cause it looks pretty.

(bowl clinks) - [Jacques] You wanna put a couple of this on top?

- Yeah.

Do you want some on the sauce too?

- Hmm?

Yeah, you can put a bit in there.

- That looks absolutely beautiful.

- This is the poached salmon sour cream and herb sauce.

And a little bit of fleur de sel, beautiful on top.

A bit of crunchiness.

I'm going to set this.

- And this is my lunch.

I'm very excited.

- This your lunch, yeah.

- [Claudine] Dinner.

- You have a big bowl of peas and carrot here.

Okay, and this is a stew of peas and carrot.

(gentle music) Just like your grandmother.

- [Claudine] Absolutely.

- And now I'm going to show you a fast de dessert for your daughter.

- Oh good.

- A sweet ricotta gateau with a peach sauce.

So, why don't you open some champagne for us?

- I think that is a splendid idea.

- I love graham crackers.

So what I'm going to do is to put a tablespoon of sugar.

This is ricotta cheese.

And a little bit of vanilla in there.

And you mix it.

Makes it special.

(spoon clinking) Here we are.

I love ricotta cheese, you know, - [Claudine] It's wonderful.

It smells really, really good.

- Yeah.

And then you can put a little bit on your plate.

One of those graham crackers, you can cut it in half or break it, really.

- Just regular graham crackers?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Oh nice.

- Put that on top.

That way it'll hold.

Put a good tablespoon of that here.

Hmm.

Put that on top.

Very simple.

Then I have a sauce here.

This is a peach sauce.

I'm going to put a bit of cognac.

Well, if you do it for my granddaughter, don't put the cognac, (Claudine chuckles) maybe put a little bit of water, you know.

And then we'll put some of that right on top.

You go like this.

- So did you just use an apricot jam?

- Just a jam.

A peach jam or apricot jam, you know.

And on top of it, a couple of hazelnut on there.

(nuts cracking) Break it like this.

- Okay.

(chuckles) I'd be scared I'd break the bowl.

(chuckling) - [Jacques] That's it, Titin.

- That's wonderful.

Shorey's gonna love that.

- Shorey's gonna love that.

And this is our sweet ricotta gateau with peach sauce.

(gentle music) This is good, Titin.

(glasses clink) - It is.

- It's great to cook with you.

Cooking is love.

When always cook for the other.

Right?

- That's true.

(gentle music) - Happy cooking.

- Happy cooking.