Episode 2 Christmas Kitchen with James Martin

Get ready for a festive 45 minutes of great food served piping hot from

our Christmas kitchen. Hello and welcome to the show.

Coming up, Matthew Ford invites us round to see what is on his menu but

this time of year. A Christmas pudding souffle. And we dip into the

archives to revisit Nigella making some jam and chutney. And the Welsh

chef who is the toast of Primrose Hill mob Bryn Williams. And the man

we just cannot seem to get rid of, Brian Turner! My special guest is

the Hotel Inspector trying to create the perfect Christmas in her own

show. It is the. Christmas is a busy time for you? It is. I have got two

kids and I am working and my husband works about 90 hours a week. In the

bakery. What are you going to make for us? It is a seasonal dish of

chestnut soup. A lot of flavour. And these are hand dived scallops? They

are plucked from the bottom of the sea bed. A great treat. It is a bit

of a luxury. Brian, you are here again to try to convince everyone

that we should all been eating turkey. Well the turkey dish is one

that you would really eat before Christmas or during the year. It is

turkey fillets with some Parma ham. It is a classic dish. I am not sure

about that one. You will have to convince me! Well now we are going

to do this deep-fried soft-boiled eggs with some wild mushrooms and

truffle mayonnaise. Christmas is a busy time of the year. You could

make this in advance. The key to it is the boiled egg.

make this in advance. The key to it You take some vinegar and a pinch of

salt and then you put in the eggs. Three medium-sized egg. Ice-cold

water, five and a half minutes. We serve that with brioche and wild

mushrooms. Next year looks busy for you as well with everything you have

been doing. Yes I have been filming another Hotel Inspector and that has

been such fun. You still find it as fun as it always has been? I do love

it, I enjoy every single minute. I am still amazed there are still more

hapless hoteliers for me to help! What is the problem? I always find

if you have got a good shower and nice hellos, you're halfway there.

Quite a lot of the hoteliers I talk to have even got those basics wrong.

I refuse now to stay anywhere that does not have a mattress protector.

A budget help -- hotel in particular, you want to make sure

that your bed is clean. A lot of places do not even manage that, not

even a hot Ratcliff. That is the key. I like proper ingredients. I

like it to be organic where possible. Well you certainly have

got experience from it. Watching the series, it did not really point out

way you come from in the hotel industry. My grandfather is credited

with reinventing British hotels after the Second World War.

Trusthouse Forte had about 800 hotels at the peak. So he did lead

the way. So I think I have got a bit of a pedigree. And you're using your

experience for this new show on BBC Two? So my Christmas show is about

busy mothers, and usually it is mothers, that you can make

everything look great without half killing yourself. Everyone is so

pressured at this time of year and there are also the school plays and

all the presents to buy and cards to send. You end up completely

frazzled. Hopefully this is showing that you can have some fun as well.

So it is a bit of everything. Is it the entire Christmas, all the way

through? I have got some items from professionals, people who do it

better than anyone else. I think with my hotel background I lay a

pretty good table. But I had help wrapping presents, doing the table

centrepiece, lighting. I have wrapped it up a gear and really

enjoyed it. Well we can see a little bit, a clip to show you. This will

be useful for Brian! Wrapping up bottles. I love Christmas and I am

obsessed with wrapping and you live the Queen.

Something that we all dread, the bottle.

I am grabbing on to the bottle so that it does not move. We need to

keep pulling it up all the time to get a bit of tension. You have got

to be quite brutal. With cellophane you can give it a good type. -- tug.

I do need some more practice! I have somebody in my office who does it!

You invited them into your home as well, that is quite brave. I did

have to search might conscience about that. Ultimately I suppose

that it is real. I had a couple of days rushing around for the camera

crew came in trying to make the house look nice and tidying things

away. It was a good way to start Christmas. These eggs are now done.

You could easily make these before Christmas. Just fine some mushrooms

and a little bit of stock. And we are going to make some mayonnaise

using this rapeseed oil. It is fantastic stuff. Some egg yolks and

some mustard and vinegar all going in there. It will begin to get

bigger. I have got some truffle. You can use truffle oil or truffle

essence just to give it a lift. But I have got a bit of truffle left

over. Very Christmas like. Now in January we have got a new programme

coming out, on the 19th of December. On BBC Two. And then January,

something else as well? I have just filmed the last Hotel Inspector and

that comes out in spring. So life is busy. I love it. It is a really good

combination. I managed to work it run the family. And in this series

of the Hotel Inspector you go back to see some people again. Yes it is

interesting. I enjoyed it more than I expected. It is such fun going

round the country and seeing different bits. I am so London based

otherwise. And it is interesting how different things are now when you

get outside the M25. Well hopefully they might put this dish on the menu

in those hotels. We have got some toasted brioche which is wonderful.

Wild mushrooms. Brian would do this with button mushrooms. And then

there's truffle. The fresh truffle. You can actually buy these now from

supermarkets. But just supplement it with a bit of truffle oil. A bit of

salt and pepper. This is also great with smoke salmon. The eggs have

just been soft-boiled. Just like that. The idea is when you break

into it there is a nice liquid centre. And then some of this over

the top. And this is the truffle mayonnaise. When I look at the Hotel

Inspector I always find it is personal decor that lets the hotels

down. I think it is a bit unfair to judge people's personal taste. I am

not a Martha Stewart. I do not think everything should be pale or match

perfectly. But people's personal space is different from public,

commercial spaces. And hoteliers have to realise that. Well we look

forward to those programmes. Especially the one on the 19th of

this month. I will break up these eggs. You want to time them at five

and a half minutes. You can see that they are lovely and soft in the

centre. And that creates a nice dressing as well. You can get your

husband to make the brioche. Happy with that? The turkey coming up! We

have been looking in to the home of great British menu judge Matthew. He

is showing us how to make a Christmas souffle.

When it comes to Christmas I am traditional. I love carol services

and midnight mass. Mistletoe and crackers. And I loved roast turkey,

that smell of caramel and richness. I love the smell of Christmas

pudding, the spice and the fruit. The wonderful sense of warmth and

comfort. I have got just the recipe. Let us go into the kitchen.

You know the problem, at the end of Christmas lunch or dinner you cannot

face another mouthful and someone brings on the Christmas pudding

flaming in brandy. You think oh golly, I just cannot face it. By

turning it into a souffle you get all of the flavours, all the fruit,

the nuts and spices. But just reduced to a beautiful airy desert.

First off, we always have brandy butter with Christmas pudding. But

even better is rum butter. I have gone and bought some. Any left over

is for the chef. The essential thing of making rum butter ice cream is

the ice cream part. I just put in two egg yolks like that. I will just

them both together. -- bland those together. What is ice cream without

cream? And so, in we go. Keep on beating. Or in the cream. -- pour

the cream. There is something mesmerising about good cream. That

is thickening up. Now, I will add a splash of milk. That will help to

lighten it up. We whisked that. And that is ready to be put into the ice

cream machine and be churned until it is light and fluffy. Add now for

the clever bit. Let's put the milk over here to heat up. The next thing

to do is to tip the Christmas pudding into the food processor. I

am now going to add the cakes. -- egg yolks. It is becoming a lighter

mixture. I will put in the remainder of the eggs. The smell. It is all of

Christmas. You do not need to eat it, really. Now, this is the tricky

bit. Let's have a taste of that. That is

so delicious. The next stage is to beat the eggs. Using a big whisked,

whisk like that. It is coming on beautifully well. Now, we are ready

for the final folding. We put in one third. You turn it over. The idea is

to incorporate as much of the air as possible. You do not want to beat it

out. Be gentle about it. It takes a little time. What else are you going

to do on Christmas Day? People seem to be afraid of making souffle, but

I cannot think why. It is very simple. If it tastes as good as it

looks and smells, anybody who eats it on Christmas Day will have a

memory for the rest of their lives. It is ready for the oven, 190

Celsius, gas mark five. Bon voyage. That is magnificent. I am gobsmacked

how lovely that is. Dusting of icing sugar over the top. What is

Christmas pudding without brandy butter, or, even better, rum butter,

particularly in ice cream form? It has that sort of light airiness in

the souffle. It has an almost cakes like texture from the pudding. There

is the melting sweetness of the rum butter. It is just about the most

beautiful thing I have eaten in a long time. Let's have just a little

bit more. And a very happy Christmas to you all.

Souffle, very brave. He seems happy. I think it is to add venture a song

Christmas Day, but if you have any spare, use it a couple of days

afterwards -- to an adventurous. Brian Turner will try to convince us

that Turkey tastes better than it looks in the great Turkey challenge.

He will cook a seasonal soup. For that, festive favourites. My

Christmas tip is to never be too ambitious. In other words, cook only

dishes you really know and you are confident about. And have fun. One

of the biggest problems with people at Christmas is they panic and start

to do something they have not done before, trying to be like a

restaurant. They get too stressed out. Chill out, have a great time.

The problem is you spend so much time in the kitchen cooking far too

much should and complicated food. Keep it simple with a side of smoked

salmon, slicing it, with bread, scrambled eggs, and a really nice to

roast -- nice roast dinner. I think roast duck is the most delicious

thing on Christmas Day. If you want a red wine that goes with Turkey and

roast salmon, might tip would be Pinot Noir. On a budget, go to

Chile, then go to New Zealand, and if you want to splash out, go to

Burgundy in France. And now it is time for Christmas cheer. I am

making a simple soup. Parsnips with chestnuts and scallops. A bit of

luxury. We will do a classic soup. Normally, you would use onions, but

this time, leek. You could roast off the parsnips if you wanted that

roasted flavour. At the chestnuts. -- add. We are peeling them, but you

can deep-fried the peelings. As you said before, this dish, you could

start it off way before, a couple of days before Christmas, have the soup

ready and serve it for Christmas Day. Christmas Day, I am with Brian

Turner, as less work as possible on Christmas Day. It is about having

things ready. People try to do too much. They do not prepare enough. Do

the soup the day before, do your Turkey, whatever you're doing, on

the actual day, and that is enough. If you wanted, you could roast of

the parsnips now. They are fantastic at this time of year with Sherry, if

you pour that over the top. I would not peel them. Scrap them down. --

scrub. If you roast them, honey, soya sauce, and chopped rosemary is

really nice. Now we will add the chestnuts. These are obtained. They

are already cooked. They have that roasted smell. They are inside 18 in

a bag. You can get them sous-vide. They are a lovely flavour. It is a

lot of work. This is a simple recipe. Chicken stock. You can use

vegetable stock, but if you use that, it is too sweet. Scallops. You

have the rounded shell and the fact shell. Take the flat shell and I

like to use a table knife rather than a chef's knife, so you do not

damage it too much. Put the knife along the flat shell to open them.

Beautiful. Imagine the soup has come to the boil, you simmer it for 20

minutes. It is a busy time of year for you. One of the first Christmas

is your restaurant has been open throughout the season. We normally

close around Christmas but we are closing for three weeks in January.

We are refurbishing with a new kitchen and new toys for the chefs!

We are changing some of the restaurant and closing for three

weeks, which is why we are open for that length of time. Do you have

turkey the menu? Not in the restaurant. I have it at home

sometimes. I can take it or leave it. I will put this on now. If it is

cooked properly, I will eat it. If it has been placed in the oven for

three hours, taken out and served, I cannot do with that. It needs to be

cooked more. That is the problem, many people do not cook it correct

Lee, they'd try it out. Being a professional chef, and you are

learning to be a great chef! It would always be perfect in your

house. I did it one year for the family and took the legs off. I

cooked the Crown and she went mental, she did not enjoy it. She

thought, where is the turkey? I chopped it up and she was not too

happy so that was the first and last time I did Turkey in my house. We

pass this. As professional chefs we like to pass things. There is no

cream in this. The parsnips, the starch is thick enough to thicken

the soup. The chestnuts give it colour. And also thickness. And then

put it in the fridge, a couple of days in advance, and then breach --

bring it out. Turkey soup always tastes better a view days later.

Open the scallops and cut them in half. I will see the scallops. You

do not have to cook them all the way through because we will serve them

in a bowl with the nice hot soup. If the soup is a little bit thick, add

some stock. This will not discolour? The chestnuts will make

it go brown. I mentioned the restaurant is busy. You have your

second book out also. This recipe is about vegetables, about showing what

you can do with vegetables rather than boiling, steaming and roasting.

It was highlighting what else you could do with different vegetables.

Any other soup if people do not like parsnips and chestnuts? Like Alex

Polizzi! It is a setup. It is nice that you do research when you come

on the programme! Parmesan soup goes well with the scallops. Keep things

seasonal. Butternut squash? I would. That looks lovely. It looks bouncy.

Just the soup on its own, wonderful. We have kept chestnuts back and we

are going to great them. That gives texture. I say to my daughter, she

has two try everything. Chestnuts, when you find them, you can find

them in a tin. You can sometimes have a puree. But do not buy a sweet

one. You have not put into much. With a big meal after, that is a

nice start. There is no cream. Lots of flavour. What makes it is the

scallops. And not the parsnips! You cook game in the restaurant. This

would be fantastic with pheasant. Roast chestnuts with game birds,

lovely. Do not overcooked the scallops because when you pour in

the hot soup, they will keep on cooking. Do you think people get

frightened about cooking scallops? Do not overcooked them, that is the

key to it. Converted with past its? No. Wait for the next bit. Brian

Turner is continuing with his quest to make turkey tasty. First, we will

pay a visit to Nigella. Something so comforting about

reading old cookery books, especially these, this is my stash

of chutney and jelly and pickling and preserving books. This one,

let's preserve it, is a fantastic title. I'd bought it at a

second-hand book shop in Cornwall, ages ago. It is almost as old as me

and cost 28 shillings at the time will stop preserving is cosy. Things

in jars and cans. At this time of year particularly, the idea of

filling up shelves and hunkering down, it makes you feel warmer and

safer. And also chutneys and jellies do a double duty, making great

presence and they are imperative for leftovers. If you have not had a

leftover turkey turkey sandwich without my jelly. Put them in the

process and you are away. without my jelly. Put them in the

Beautiful. Right, you need jam sugar for this, that makes it easy. Jam

sugar is sugar that has pectin added. Look at that snowy mountain.

Otherwise, it is so much work. On top of the sugar, cider vinegar.

I want the sugar to dissolve into the vinegar but it is important not

to stir it. Because the jelly should be clear. And now time to add this

incredible Christmas confetti. The colour seeps into the vinegar so you

end up with a coral jelly flecked with fiery crimson. Turn up the heat

because this needs to come to a volcanic boil for about ten

minutes. Take a look at it every now and again because I do not want it

to boil over. This is really hot stuff. I am just

going to let it cool a little bit. As it cools those beautiful flecks

of pepper will just disburse evenly. I do not trust myself to

poor neatly. So I am going to use the label to put it into these jars.

-- ladle. It does double duty, it is a Christmas gift that you want to

give or indeed receive. But you have two keep some back because for me it

is compulsory with Christmas leftovers. This should keep the home

fires burning over Christmas. There are some pickles that I have

to have in the store cupboard all year round, but some just say

Christmas. For many years I had a godfather who would send me some

crystallised ginger for Christmas. I use to think what kind of present is

that? But when I got a bit older I thought that I could use it in

cooking and I started to use it in my chutney. And now it just makes

Christmas and it is straightforward to make. Peel and chop cooking

apples, beetroot and red onion. Great in some fresh ginger and chop

up some crystallised ginger as well. The peppery warmth of the ginger

does counter the get the sweet as of the beetroot and shop less of the

Apple. It makes the perfect chutney. Sprinkle in some soft brown sugar,

some salt and ground allspice. For over some red wine vinegar and then

turn the heat on and let it come to a boil. Let it bubble for about an

hour and then most of it will be mushy but you will have some chunks

of beetroot. Then just pour it into your sterilised pop. There should be

enough for about six. - pots. Over Christmas three quarters of you

will serve turkey on Christmas Day. The rest of us are highly

intelligent! Brian Turner has got another turkey recipe to tempt us in

his turkey challenge! The second jumper on the list as well! What are

we going to do? These turkey dishes are not all for Christmas Day. This

one is definitely not. You can buy these, this is quite a large turkey

breast, I have to say. It has got rings like a piece of wood!

Underneath, it has got this lovely visit. -- fillet. You can put that

aside to use on another occasion. Is it because it is tougher at that

bit? ! Yes, chef! Make these nice and thin but please do not attack

them. Respect the meat, if you would. I have got some ready. Just

respect the food! I have got some that we have already done. So we are

ready to go. Sage is quite strong. So we just put one leaf. We want to

use that to add flavour. He once to mask the flavour! It is

saltimbocca, you have to use Sage for that! It is that classic Italian

dish. That goes on there. Then we need this wonderful prosciutto.

Alex, tell us how to pronounce that. In the meantime you can get that

letters ready. -- lettuce. A bit of all in here. It cooks quickly and

then we put a cocktail stick through. And then it goes into the

pan. This really is a family dish. You would have this in the lead up

to Christmas? These days you can buy just the breast. Butchers are very

good these days and they want to help you. There is no reason why you

could not have a stuffed leg coming up to Christmas. I tried that. I

like turkey if it is cooked properly. The chefs now, they pan

the turkey -based agreed to order. My problem is when it is cooked for

three and four hours. That is my issue. Why is it so big? Do people

buy turkey other than at Christmas? I rest my case. They come into

season over Christmas. Just traditionally. But it is not

traditional, really. It is American. It is not. King George VI said we

should have turkey at Christmas in this country. Just smell that. It

smells wonderful. It smells of prosciutto! A little bit of thought.

A bit of pepper. How are we doing with the salad dressing? What do you

want in that? There is some mustard there and some sherry vinegar. Some

lemon juice as well. Even in my Italian family we always had turkey

at Christmas. It was so big, two or three people had to carry it in!

Just words that out weekly. With a bit of white wine. -- just print

that out quickly. I suddenly feel as if I am a cousin of Alex! I am

depending on you. A bit of chicken stock. Why not turkey stock? I think

chicken stock is good in many dishes. It is neutral and it takes

the flavour of what you are actually cooking. A squeeze of lemon juice

and then just reduce it down. I am desperate to start of this turkey

challenge pretty well. It did not go my way yesterday. You leave that to

rest? Not necessarily! When you first came down to London in 1822,

did you think you would be stood here wearing a turkey jumper?

Probably not! But I am proud to wear this. It is turkey time. I picked

them! Just put some butter in. It gives it a lovely shine. And it will

thicken up. I like it to be made without flour. So pan-fried those.

Take them out and put in some white wine and chicken stock, reduce it.

Look at the shine that that has got. That is what you want. And you can

boil it when it has got butter in? I do have talent! I will get you a

spoon. That is extremely kind. Put a bit of salad in the middle. Is this

what you would have at Christmas? Absolutely. Boxing Day, New Year's

Day, any day you can think of! I will just have a quick taste. Just

thinking about the lemon juice. That is key to it? It just lifts it. I

know what you're going to say, you want another dish for the salad. It

looks spectacular. Do you leave the cocktail sticks in? I do. Normally I

am serving the two adults who are mature and know what to do! But if

you have got time you can let it sit for a while and then take out the

cocktail sticks. But you can get round that. I think that is a dish

and a half. Turkey saltimbocca. It smells fantastic. And it looks

lovely. It has gone quiet. That is a good sign. It tastes of Reagan. --

they can. It is not bad. I would not know that it was turkey. If you

close your eyes, are you enjoying it? Marvellous. The turkey is just

cooked. Now we need to decide if this is where the of going into the

Christmas recipe book. Or if it is not good enough it goes into the

bin. Thumbs up for me. It has got to go in. I will put it in! Then I

changed my mind! That is all from us today. Thank you to the guest. All

of the recipes from today are on the website. That one is on there if you

really want it! See you again soon. Goodbye for now.