Gary Barlow shares his favourite recipes from his childhood

Barlow shares the recipe that he grew up with and one he would like to pass on to his kids
Sing songwriter Gary Barlow
Gary Harlow
Ridhi Radia10 April 2017

One of the UK’s most accomplished and successful singer song writers, Gary Barlow and his wife, Dawn, recently celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary. They have three children, Daniel, 16, Emily, 14, and Daisy, eight. Here, he shares the recipe he grew up with and the one he wants to pass onto his kids.

The recipe I grew up with – The best Cheshire potatoes

I had a happy childhood in Cheshire: my parents were one of the few couples in history who never argued and we always had dinner together as a family. My older brother Ian and I were taught to sit at the table and eat with a knife and a fork. It was strict in a nice family way. We weren’t well off, but we weren’t poor. My dad had two jobs, so we had a colour telly before anyone else and a record player.

My mum and dad loved music and we used to listen to The Beatles, Abba and the Bee Gees. Dinner had to fit between dad’s jobs, so we’d eat early at 5pm. He worked as a product manager, then in the evening he’d work on a farm doing tasks like getting the cows in from milking. One of my childhood memories is sitting at the table eating Cheshire potatoes. Cheshire potatoes are the absolute best – light, fluffy and sweet.

In the first two or three weeks of the season, you get all the little ones, and you don’t have to peel them, just scrub, boil and eat with bacon and a bit of butter. You don’t need anything else: that is a dinner from heaven, right there.

The recipe I’d like to pass on – Mum’s ultimate roast chicken pie

My mum was the cook and we had a rota of evening meals that never changed – Monday was fish fingers, Tuesday hamburgers. Friday was the night I looked forward to most because there was no school for two days and we had chicken pie. I love pastry, it’s warm, it’s filling, it’s British. A pie is a treat now but, whenever I go to mum’s, I always request chicken pie.

I’d love to pass that recipe on because, when I went to live on my own, it was one of the first things she taught me to make. My greatest fear is going back to where I was in 2002, when I didn’t have a record deal and I was very fat; I don’t want to use the F-word but I am going to have to, because I was. So Dawn and I are pretty strict with our own eating. At the moment we are loving Persian and Thai food.

I often do a Thai fish curry. I know the basics and I make it up as I go along, and often cook one a day in advance. A curry always tastes better the next day and, because I’m out all day working, I cook stuff to take with me. I also do a really good spag bol and sneak in a bit of Worcestershire sauce; that always gets clean plates. I try not to be a food fascist around the kids. We’ve never forced them to eat anything they don’t want to. Dawn and I often eat separately from the children, as I frequently don’t get in until 7pm or 8pm, so unfortunately family meals aren’t quite like the ones I remember from childhood.

Mum’s ultimate roast chicken pie (serves 6)

Barlow's mum's roast chicken pie
BBC Good Food

Make your own pastry for total indulgence, or if you’re rushed for time, ready-made shortcrust will be almost as delicious.

Prep: 45 min. Cook: 2 hrs 15 mins

For the pastry

250g flour

1 tsp salt

60g cold butter

60g cold lard

For the filling

1 whole chicken, rubbed with butter or drizzled with olive oil

1 tbsp olive oil

6 rashers smoked streaky bacon, chopped into lardons

3 leeks, sliced into rounds

45g butter

45g plain flour

225ml milk

200ml chicken stock

100g petit pois

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

25g pack parsley, roughly chopped

1 egg, beaten, to glaze

BBC Food recipes

1/9

Method

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 5. Season the chicken and roast for 1 hr 30 mins until the juices run clear when you cut into the leg.

To make the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a bowl, then grate in the butter and lard. Rub the mixture with your fingers into breadcrumbs, then add 2 tbsp cold water. Continue to add cold water, 1 tbsp at a time, until the mixture binds together. Be careful not to add too much. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest while you make the filling. (Alternatively you can use ready-rolled shortcrust pastry)

In a large, non-stick frying pan, heat the oil, then fry the bacon. Once browned, reduce the heat, add the leeks and cook until they have softened. Mix the butter and flour into a paste and add to the pan, stirring to coat the bacon and leeks. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly to ensure the mixture doesn’t get lumpy.

Add the chicken stock and petit pois, cook for 2 mins, then add the mustard and remove from the heat. Once the chicken is cooked, remove from the oven, leave to rest briefly and carve the meat, discarding the skin and bones. Add this to the pan along with the parsley.

Turn the oven up to 220C/200C fan/gas 6. Roll out two-thirds of the pastry and use to line a 25cm pie dish. Spoon your filling on top, then roll out the remaining pastry for the pie topping. Brush the edges of the pastry in the pie dish with water, then lay the top over it. Crimp and seal the edges and use any off-cuts for decoration. Brush with the beaten egg, then make an X-shaped cut in the middle for steam to escape. Bake for 45 mins until golden.

Per serving: 751 kcals; Fat 43g; Saturates 19g; Carbs 44g; Sugars 5g; Fibre 6g; Protein 46g; Salt 2.4g

The best Cheshire potatoes (serves 6)

Barlow's Cheshire potatoes
BBC Good Food

Prep: 10 min. Cook: 30-35 min.

Method

Boil 750g Cheshire potatoes (scrubbed but not peeled) for 30-35 mins until softened.

Fry 6 chopped rashers smoked bacon until crispy.

Once the potatoes are cooked, toss into a large bowl with the crispy bacon.

Sprinkle with salt and top with 40g good-quality butter cut up into pieces.

Serve while the butter is melting.

Gluten free, Per serving: 214 kcals; Fat 11g; Saturates 5g; Carbs 21gl; Sugars 1g; Fibre 2g; Protein 7g; Salt 0.9g

‘To read the feature in full, see the April issue of BBC Good Food out now

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