A Culinary Tribute To Princess Diana On Her 60th Birthday From Her Chef #princessdiana

winston [Music] winston [Music] come back with that leg of lamb princess diana would have been 60 years young this week it's not often that you meet someone that makes a huge impact on your life but for me princess diana was one of them i never did any charity work until i met her and then i saw the huge difference that she made in people's life when i started cooking for her she was patron of 119 different charities working out at the gym every day and just looking the best she ever did the first time i saw princess diana was at buckingham palace the royal wedding i slept outside the palace with my family just to watch the royal wedding just to see this fairy tale princess the next time i saw her was in the kitchens of balmoral castle the princess came into the kitchens at balmoral castle and she was as beautiful close up as she was in that coach driving down the mall the day of the royal wedding i think hello and goodbye is all i remember saying to her that day but i became a familiar face in the kitchen after that and she come down to the kitchen she came down with prince william when he would go riding on his pony shetland pony smokey and he'd have a glass of orange juice and i remember her coming down to the kitchen windsor castle not long after harry had been born and she she said hold harry for me i want to eat some cereals i said you're all highness i've never held a baby before in my life and she laughed and she said hold harry i'd get to know her then over the next 11 years that i work for the queen windsor for christmas and sandringham new year and balmoral castle especially and of course western isles on the royal britannia too and she'd always be in the kitchen she loved coming in the kitchen and just sitting there and chatting and she'd often just sit up on the counter or on the chest freezer and she loved talking about phantom of the opera and the miserable we both loved going to the theater and i think um she always used to trump me i would say oh well i went to see uh phantom of the opera and got amazing seats and she'd say yeah i went to see it too and i was just a few rows back and then went to actually have dinner with andrew lloyd webber okay that's pretty cool i joined princess diana and started cooking for her william and harry just after the separation of her and prince charles then spent the next four years until the accident cooking for them on a daily basis i cooked through the dark ears the you know bulimia how she went through into that and how she came out of it too and conquered it and just looked the best she ever did and she said to me darren you take care of all the fats i'll take care of the carbs at the gym and she was just looking the best she ever did she was an incredible caring woman and everybody knows that but she she cared as much about the people behind those palace gates as she did those in front and whenever it was the staff's birthday or at christmas and families too she'd send out personalized christmas cards birthday cards and and gifts too she'd love giving gifts when my daughter kelly was born she sent a big hand-tied bouquet of flowers to the hospital to wendy and congratulations on the safe arrival of your little lady i mean she she never missed anything she cared about all of her team she really did she had a real risky sense of humor that day when when i walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge and there right in front of me was a a birthday cake for prince william she loved that risky thing she loves shocking and and it was william's birthday and and i think he went bright red when he saw this cake but that just typical of the princess she wasn't really one for watching movies she liked to eat around 6 30 at night and then she'd watch the the british soaps she loved eastenders one day she came into the kitchen one morning just after breakfast and she said i can't believe he died last night and i was like oh i'm sorry you're all highness who and she was talking about a character in eastenders you you had to stay up with it you had to stay up with her movies she just wasn't really bothered about and in fact one day we had clint eastwood come for lunch at kensington palace and i cooked the meal he really enjoyed it and he wanted to thank me personally i went into the kitchen clint eastwood stood up and he's taller than me and his cowboy boots and he has a real piercing stare and he looked at me and stared and says thank you that was the best meal i've ever had and i just looked him back in the eye and i said thank you sir did it make your day and he laughed and i laughed and princess diana was just what are you talking about made your day she never watched movies at all we had celebrities at kensington palace all the time and um she came into the kitchen one morning and said uh darren we've um we've had an invite um to go and watch uh the making of mission impossible at pinewood studios in london for me to take william and harry and of course they were young then and they they probably love the pyrotechnics and everything and uh do you think do you think the boys would be interested and i i remember saying um i'm not sure about the boys your highness but if you get to meet tom cruise she said darren i'll crack the funnies and she came into the kitchen later that day she'd been the boys absolutely loved it all those explosions and things but uh she came in picked up some fruit walked out and didn't say anything but as she was walking out she said that's another one off the list he's too short she's met tom cruise she chose the menus from a menu book i would write two or three days menus just so that i could get ahead and order the food in and prepare it and things and didn't always go to plan uh she'd change the menus she'd just say uh what's for what's for lunch today and i'd say it's um chicken whatever and she's saying i really would like some salmon so it's like okay then it's salmon so i'd be off to selfridges to buy some salmon and and cook lunch for her then but when she was entertaining especially if she had the boys home william and harry then i had to change the menu completely and make it nursery friendly so that the boys would like it you know just sort of comfort foods that william and harry would like but also a dish or two in there that i know that she would enjoy too an example here i had the princess and harry for lunch i suggested soul florentine for the princess and spaghetti bolognese or shepherd's pie for prince harry but then she invited a friend so she changed the menu completely made it her own she chose the tomato moose one of her favorites for the first course and then she went with lobster thermador another favorite for the entree and then they had the pear flan for dessert the i think all three of those recipes are in my first pork um i said those many many times um at at the palace at kensington at lunchtimes when she was eating on her own she would eat in the kitchen on a tray at the table and just chat while i was sort of preparing food for dinner that night if william and harry were home then obviously she'd eat with them and of course if she got guests then she'd enjoyed lunch with them and william and harry would actually go and eat with nanny in the nursery i always enjoyed seeing her in the kitchen and you know she would just talk about anything and everything that was going on um sometimes it was the soap operas and other times she'd say damn you won't believe what the queen told me and i'm like whoa and and and if i'd upset her it wasn't often i don't think but if i did then she would actually have lunch in a sitting room not in the kitchen one time i remember coming to work in the morning and the princess was going to the gym early and i raced back i'd been up home and i raced back from nottinghamshire my hometown and was pulling into kensington just as she was pulling out and we stopped inches apart and i knew only one of us was going to reverse and that was me i reversed back went sorry she just drove off face like thunder i think she was really mad that i was speeding in there she didn't come into the kitchen for three days and eventually i prepared lunch and i plated it like a smiley face sent it in for lunch and she walked into the kitchen with a plate and put it down on the table with a knife and fork and she said i suppose you think that was funny people always asked what was her favorite foods what did she really enjoy eating and the charities too you know the charities if she was going out for lunch they would call the palace and say what does the princess like what's her favorite foods and i had the office call call me one day and they said um what's the princesses favorite what's she eating right now i said oh she loves salmon and didn't think anything more of it it's about two weeks later she came into the kitchen and she said oh darren what's for lunch today i'm starving please tell me it's not salmon what is it with salmon and you chefs everywhere i go these days everyone's serving salmon and i thought oh my gosh that's that's me as soon as she gone i served i called the office and and said oh she loves chicken and then i made a point of changing it every week i cooked for the princess monday through friday and weekends i'd actually leave food in the refrigerator for her plastic wrapped and if she wasn't going out i hadn't been invited out then she would just help ourselves to that i used to put a little sticky note on it with a number um stuffed bell pepper had a number two it meant put it in the microwave and pressed two she wasn't a good cook one time it was one sunday she had a friend come over and they decided to cook pasta and some spaghetti sauce and they got chatting the pasta boiled over and it put the pilot lights out on the gas and she came into the kitchen a bit later on she could smell gas she called the palace fire brigade monday i came into work and she came running into the kitchen she said darren you won't be leaving i cooked at the weekend but i nearly set the whole palace on fire but what it was was the the pilot lights had gone out she said i was so nervous i called the palace fire brigade and they all came over but the best part was i had 12 hunky firemen all to myself you're all highness her favorite foods were the stuffed bell peppers stuffed eggplant she loved bread and butter pudding i think that was probably her favorite dessert she loved eating lychees she would eat a whole bowl full she'd sit there and just sheldon herself and just eat those lychees she loved those but one of her real favorite meals was a dish called egg susette and i'm going to share that with you now you start by making a potato until it's soft in the center once cooked allow to cool slightly and cut one third into the potato lengthways carefully scoop out both pieces of potato into a bowl be careful not to damage the larger shell [Music] then add butter egg yolk this will help make a nice glaze on the pipe mashed potato and then salt and pepper mash with a fork it doesn't matter if there are a few lumps just as long as they are small enough to pipe put it into a piping bag preferably with a star tip and carefully pipe around the edge of the large shell [Music] onto a baking sheet and into the oven 400 degrees and cook till the potato is golden brown [Music] while it's cooking boil some water in a pan place a bowl on top of the pan and add the egg yolks and whisk in all the time add a little melted butter and keep whisking you can remove it from the heat if it gets too hot then add a little more melted butter a squeeze of lemon juice and keep whisking [Music] add some salt and pepper and then the remaining butter to make a nice sauce set aside and keep warm [Music] put the pan back on the stove and bring the water back to the boil add a little vinegar and salt and crack an egg and add that to the water stir the water in the pan and cook until the eggy's egg white is firm but the yolk's still runny [Music] in a saute pan add the olive oil and stir in the spinach season it with salt and pepper and a little nutmeg too and cook it until it's soft and just wilted [Music] place the spinach into the center of the potato shell you can also add a little crispy bacon here too if you want to and then add the egg on top of the [Music] spinach carefully remove the potato to a serving plate [Music] coat the egg with the sauce you can leave the sauce off if you want to if you want a dish that's a little healthier clean the plate though it is for a princess sprinkle with a few finely sliced green onions parsley or tarragon egg suse you can see why it was one of princess diana's favorites she requested it at least once a week she loved that poached egg on the top a little hollandaise sauce some spinach on the bottom sometimes i put some soapy bacon on there as well and then soft mashed potatoes around the side she didn't always eat the shell but i mean that's a meal in itself that a nice bowl of salad and she just sit here at the counter top in the kitchen and just eat away tastes delicious after i've met i'd always do a spare one for me when she's gone happy birthday royal highness the recipe is in the description if you want to make this at home if you've enjoyed the video give me a thumbs up subscribe if you haven't already there'll be lots more videos coming soon see you again soon

Channel: Darren McGrady

Views: 220,300

Keywords: Royal family, Food, British food, The Queen, buckingham palace, foodie, celebrity chef, eating royally, prince william, prince harry, queen, britishroyals, monarchy, royal, royalty, Delish, Darren McGrady, Royalchef, yummy, food, royal eats, british food, Gordon Ramsey, queens chef, windsor castle, queens food, food network, recipes, dallas, dallas caterer, texas, wedding caterer, corporate caterer, Princess Diana, baked potato, BJP, stuffed potato, poached egg, spinach, lady Di

Id: icQ5S8FU9ss

Length: 17min 14sec (1034 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 30 2021