Episode 9 Christmas Kitchen

You'd better watch out, you'd better not cry.

-Better not pout, and I'm telling you why.

-Santa Claus is coming to town.

And Christmas Kitchen is counting down.

Hello and welcome. I'm Matt Tebbutt.

And I'm Andi Oliver, and we are here to help with the final food

preparations for the big day.

So, if you want some recipe inspiration,

some edible gift ideas or suggestions for your leftovers,

then we have everything you need all wrapped up.

Coming up today, comedian Miles Jupp reveals all about

the Outnumbered Christmas special.

And if you want to dazzle your guests with

a dish that isn't predictably festive, then we have

an Italian taste of Christmas for you courtesy of chef Joe Hurd.

And if you've left the Christmas shopping to the last minute

then we have a great gift idea for you, an edible present.

Bake Off star Martha Collison is showing us how to make

mandarin and orange marshmallows.

And, as always, we have wines,

cocktails and mocktails provided by the eternally jolly Olly Smith.

We like Olly being here. Plus, from the archives,

Rick Stein has a great idea for leftover turkey

and the Hairy Bikers are having a Christmas party,

and here's another helping of my favourite, Fanny Cradock,

who's spent hours slaving over a hot stove.

Now, Sarah will take that, and we shall steam it later.

But she's coming over here with me for the one that is ready

as it would be on Christmas Day.

That is to say it's had ten hours steaming.

It's all right, Sarah, I can manage.

-I love that.

-I just love that!

-You can't not love her, seriously.

-No, no.

-Right, shall we get on with the first recipe?

-I think it's time.

OK, so, this is a real kind of retro favourite, retro classic.

-What you making, Matt?

-I'm making a big rum baba.

-Oh, wow!

-Do you like rum baba?

-From my childhood, this is.

-Yeah, exactly.

-I do like rum baba. It felt really posh when I was a kid.

-Mm.

Well, my mum used to buy them, but now I make them!

-Yeah, no, I don't think I've ever seen anyone make one!

-And it's so...

-I think Fanny would be proud of this.

-Ahhh.

-Anyway, I'm going to get on with this.

-An homage.

Let's get our guest over.

Miles, would you like to join us, over here in the foodie area?

Fabulous. Right, this is going to be a test of my posture.

-Rum baba, you like the sound of that?

-I love the sound of it.

-I can't remember being fed it as a child.

-Not really sure what baba is!

The elephant, but that's not what's going on.

Now, you're a very busy man, really.

I've been reading all about, you've been up to an awful lot of stuff.

Let's start with...Outnumbered Christmas special.

Oh, yeah, that was great.

I mean, they're like a real... They seem like a real family.

We were sitting in a caravan in the woods with them and they were

just sort of talking like a...

You know, the older ones were offering advice to the younger ones,

and there was no moaning whatsoever, it was entirely harmonious.

I mean, when I look at... Cos that show's made in quite an interesting

way, there's a lot of improvisation happens, is that correct?

Er, I think there's probably less now than there was.

I cannot call myself an expert on it.

I think now...you know, cos they've got Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin,

who are just great writers, who direct it and produce it,

they do kind of everything, so from my point of view I absolutely

stood where I was told and did exactly what I was told to do.

Are you very obedient? You don't look like you're that obedient.

-Do I look very badly behaved?

-You look naughty to me.

Well, that's a relief in some ways. Yeah, I... Yeah, I'm quite naughty.

I'm quite naughty sometimes! How are you getting on there, Matt?

OK, good, so strong flour in here, bit of salt, some yeast.

Eggs, there's about six eggs going in this mix.

So we get it like this...

It doesn't look too pleasant at the moment,

and then, very slowly, you just add soft butter.

-So, who are you playing in Outnumbered? Tell me that.

-I play...

I don't want to reveal too much about it,

but I play a man who shouldn't be where he is,

or thinks that they shouldn't be where they are. Er, and I...

Yeah, he was going to have a name that was just a job description

but I asked them if they could give him a slightly different name, erm,

-so that I could take a very minor pop at a local politician.

-LAUGHTER

Is that what you've done? I told you you looked naughty! I knew it!

Little victories!

Tiny, pedantic, pathetic victories.

You're going out on tour again, as well.

Yeah, yeah, I was on tour in September and October,

stand-up, and then I've stopped for a bit to do some other stuff

and then, yeah, 4th of January I start again, so it's...

Well, it's a slight panic, I suppose.

You know, you haven't done the show for a couple of months and then...

But then, also, it's exciting, I mean, it's just you and an audience,

and so that... I suppose...

It's not actually necessarily as difficult as it sounds...

It sounds terrifying to me.

I mean, I've always just thought stand-up comedy...

I mean, I've done loads of different performances but I've always got mates with me on the stage!

The idea of being there on my own trying to get people to laugh...

Well, that's the moment, when you go back to the dressing room at the interval and it is just you,

and you think, well, what am I supposed to do for 20 minutes?

But I suppose, yeah, I like doing stuff with a team, as well,

but when you've been doing it a while I think your nerves,

you know, you don't really notice them,

you're sort of compartmentalised.

I mean, I've been doing it for about 15, 16 years.

Olly saw me when I was but a child.

I did, I saw him...among your first gigs, actually,

and I've obviously seen Miles a few times on tour. It is so funny.

Your "getting Hubba Bubba off a musket" story still now sends

-a tingle throughout my entire body.

-Are you mates, you two, then?

-We've known each other a while, we were at the same university.

-Ohh!

So, yeah, we came across each other kind of generally larking about.

A lot of larking about.

In terms of the stand-up, how different is it from, say,

your role in Balamory? When you're looking at the audiences.

I dress identically. No, it's very different.

I mean, Balamory was, you know, lots of smiling and being helpful.

This is me... It's basically me sort of banging on about stuff that

I probably shouldn't worry about.

So, they are two different things, I would say,

but there probably may be some audience overlap.

I mean, that was, what, 14 years ago, that started,

or something, so a child that watched it then would be old enough

and possibly rich enough to purchase a ticket!

I mean, I used to watch Balamory, my kids, they absolutely loved it,

so you're kind of breeding legions of fans from a very young age.

-Very clever.

-I'm not breeding them...

-I can remember watching Balamory.

-You see, Martha remembers.

I'm one of those fans! Does that make you feel very old?

Er, I always feel old, and have done since I was about 15.

-What age are you now, can I ask? If that's not a rude...

-I'm 20.

-You're 20, so you were sort of first intake.

-I was.

Let me just check in on the recipe, what are we doing?

OK, so before I do this...

So this would then sit like this, covered, for an hour,

-to let it rise.

-Oh.

-As you would a bread.

-Like bread.

And then knock it back and then put it in the mould.

-Knock it back, you say that very casually.

-Literally, smash it back.

-Yeah.

-Right. To get the air out?

To knock the air out of it, and then you shape it, put it in here,

leave it for another 20 minutes,

that will rise again and then it goes into the oven. Oh.

So I'm just kind of spinning through this.

-So it's a sort of mixture bready-cakey thing.

-Exactly.

Cakey-bready hybrid, if you will.

Now, Watership Down, that's quite exciting. Tell us a bit...

An enormous budget, it seems to me,

something like 20 million or something.

Yeah, not all of it's spent on me, it must be said.

Oh, sad. That's a shame.

But I'm afraid that's the way the business is going.

Yeah, that's an enormous animation, Netflix and BBC,

and it's four-hour-long...

And I think when they did that film in the '70s, or earlier,

it was sort of 72 minutes or something.

This is four hours, so it's a big new adaptation.

Which rabbit do you play?

I play Blackberry, the sort of professorial kind of rabbit.

Oh, what's happening? Hang on... Stuff in the pan.

So then, after the second proving, goes in the oven about sort of 190,

200, until it's set, time obviously depends how big you make it.

-Cos that is a massive baba.

-It's huge.

It will feed a good sort of, I would say, ten, 12 people.

-I mean, all you need is, you know, a slice.

-And what's in here?

Right, OK, so on with the alcohol.

So this is the good bit, so this is the sugar syrup.

So roughly equal quantities of sugar and water.

-Simple sugar syrup.

-Exactly.

How Christmassy are you, then, Miles?

I'm pretty Christmassy, I've got a family

-and so we like to just go for it, really.

-What you doing?

Big tree, big meal, lot of my relatives,

or my wife's relatives, who are now my relatives,

live near me now, so, yeah, there'll be lots to do together

and my children are young and excited... I mean, where are we now?

They've been excited about Christmas for some months already,

so we're really getting near the pressure point.

We'll encourage as many people to come round as possible, I suppose.

-It's spiced beef I like making.

-Ooh, what are you doing?

Soaking your baba in the rum syrup?

Exactly, so now I've just put a few holes in it, get the skewer,

or a knife, just to soak it up, and basically ladle all over the

rum syrup, and that's it, and it will all get absorbed very slowly.

I mean, you could make the cake up in advance,

couple of days before, and then soak,

or even do the whole thing before,

because the alcohol's going to sort of help preserve it.

-Then you're putting a bit on at the end.

-Just a touch of the neat over the end.

It's quite a serious proposition, isn't it, the rum baba?!

Well, do you know what, it's decadence, isn't it?

-And that's what Christmas is kind of all about.

-Yes. I'm all for it.

-The sort of pudding you need a big nap after.

-Yes, exactly.

Well, yeah, you'd be hard pushed to finish that off.

-So there you go, that's my '70s retro classic, rum baba.

-Lovely.

So would everybody like to come and have a try? Have you got a knife?

Now, obviously you could set fire to it if you want, if it's '70s.

I just so really want to set it on fire.

-Here, Olly, do you want to do the honours?

-Happily, yeah, happily.

To carve. Carve the baba!

-In you go, guys.

-Lovely, thank you.

-Right, there you go, Olly.

Get it onto a nice plate.

Now, if it's a little bit dry

make sure you get some syrup over the top of it.

I don't think it is. It looks rather moist and delicious.

I mean, I know I absolutely love boozy cake,

but could you make a non-alcoholic version?

-What would you pour over it?

-I guess you could make fruit syrups.

You could put toasted nuts with it.

-That would be nice, wouldn't it?

-Cinnamon and nutmeg, allspice.

-Dive in, dive in. Have a...

-Thanks very much.

-That would be nice anyway.

-Excuse fingers.

-Cinnamon-y, nutmeg-y...

-Mm.

-Oh, hello!

-But the flavour of the rum works well with it.

-It's so complementary.

You've got that warmth,

the little fiery warmth that sort of kicks up in the...

It's subtle, it's not overpowering.

-Mm.

-Mm.

-There's a lot of syrup and you did think - wow, heavens!

-A bit too much.

-But it's really light.

To do like a rum cocktail twist.

-You could have with lime, make it into a Mai Tai or something.

-Mm.

-Lovely.

-A dollop of cream with some rum-soaked raisins.

-We're in.

-That'd be lovely.

-Olly has two great dessert wines to go with Matt's dish.

-One's a luxury and one's a little bit less.

-Mm, go and get it, Olly.

Now, while Olly sorts the wine, it's time for our daily Christmas quiz.

Now, sometimes chefs get so involved with their descriptions of food,

it's hard to actually tell what they're talking about,

so your challenge today is to guess what this chef, Raymond Blanc,

is going on about. Have a listen.

'Lovely colours, uh? Purple and um...

'It looks like Pinot Noir has been poured into the ocean.'

There's water there. He's definitely on a boat.

Yeah, octopus or I'm not sure, the purple seaweed.

I can't remember what it's called. Is it called dulse?

I'm not sure, but there's like a purple seaweed that you can eat.

-OK, so seaweed...

-It could be just a very strange gravy.

Let's have a look.

Lovely colours, uh?

Purple and um... It looks like pinot noir has been poured into the ocean.

There are a few oysters here. We won't cancel Christmas yet, eh?

Imagine Christmas without oysters! Impossible!

-Oysters.

-Oysters.

-Not octopus.

-Pinot Noir from the sea.

Pinot Noir is very sort of lyrical way to describe it.

Right, so Olly's got our wine. Now, Olly, you've chosen two wines.

-One luxury, one less.

-I have.

And with rum baba, and with all puddings actually,

the rule of thumb is always to pick a wine that is slightly

sweeter than the dessert, or you risk a bit of a clash.

The thing is, sweet wines are not everybody's cup of tea and I

think part of that is that they're very intense,

they tend to be quite viscous, they've got a rich texture,

so if you're kind of new to sweet wines,

or you're not that keen, if you get a really good value one,

serve it in a tumbler with some crushed ice. It's delicious.

-A nice little aperitif.

-Oh, OK.

-With the Christmas cake, gorgeous.

-Yeah.

There's lots of different ways to get sweet wine and the first

wine, we're going to actually try our Christmas Santa hat first.

And the way that this particular Muscat

has been made sweet is they stopped the fermentation quite early,

cos when things are fermenting,

they're basically just eating the sugar,

so if you stop it early, you get a really wonderful sense of sweetness.

This is Muscat St Jean De Minervois, which they then fortified,

so it's about 15% powerful.

This is really lovely.

I'm a big fan. The fear is that it's going to be sickly, isn't it?

That's always the worry, but this is really rich and loads of flavour.

-I have poached peaches in this.

-Ooh!

-Have you? How decadent!

-I know.

I am!

But it was beautiful. You've got this beautiful Muscat syrup.

-It was really lovely.

-Such a good flavour. Always has that slightly orangey flavour.

The second wine we're going to taste comes from New Zealand.

We're going to try the Seifried Sweet Agnes Riesling.

And Riesling is one of those great varieties that has incredible zing to it.

So this is much more of a kind of zesty and sweet delicacy and

this one, believe it or not, goes incredibly well with chocolate flavours.

If you have chocolate at Christmas, you've got your box of chocolates, this is the wine to go for.

Late harvest is how... I can see Matt's making the face.

-He's in there.

-That's delicious.

But late harvest, they leave the grapes on the vine for longer.

It comes from Nelson, northern tip of the South Island,

incredibly sunny.

Cool nights as well, helps preserve that zing.

Olly, those are both absolutely delicious, I have to say.

I just think sweet wines are such good value for money cos

they're not that popular at the moment and you can pick them up and

enjoy them at Christmas time with all those luxurious things we have.

That Riesling, phenomenal with blue cheese. Good for the Stilton.

-Right, shall we vote?

-Yes.

-Yeah, have your vote.

Which one do you think is less? Let's try that one first of all.

-I think Santa is less.

-Santa is less. Are we unanimous?

I'm going to go with the Santa.

Really? Don't be swayed by us.

-The Muscat St Jean De Minervois, what do you think, Miles?

-Yeah.

-Peer pressure. You're absolutely spot on.

-Yay!

-Yay!

-It's phenomenal value for money. It's a fiver in Sainsbury's.

-Wow!

And I think for a sweet wine of that calibre, that really is stonking.

-Five quid?

-Five quid. It's a little bottle, but it's brilliant.

Luxury, we've got our Seifried Sweet Agnes from New Zealand,

that was a bit more money. That's £13.99 in Waitrose.

Slightly lower alcohol, 10.5%, slightly bigger bottle,

but really amazing,

multi-award-winning, sensational wine.

-And you would have them both with ice, would you?

-Do you know what?

I would probably have the Muscat with some crushed ice.

I think the Seifried is just so beautiful, I might not.

The Muscat, absolutely. Have it over crushed ice. It's gorgeous.

Also, you can pour it over onions and sweat them down,

they go beautifully glossy and sweet.

-Get you and your recipe tips!

-Well, you know...booze and eating.

-You stick to wine.

-All right.

No, I like that idea. I think it's good.

Right, coming up, Bake-Off star Martha Collison makes a beautiful gift.

-What is it, Martha?

-I'm making some marshmallows,

cranberry and orange, especially for Christmas.

-Very nice. Very nice.

-Yeah.

-Boxed up and everything.

Looks so pretty.

Plus, Matt and I are going head-to-head in our daily cook-off -

a bit of festive friendly competition.

It hasn't got serious at all.

Today, we are going to battle it out to prove

who has the best recipe idea for chestnuts.

But, first, let's have our daily visit to the Hairy Bikers.

Today, they are looking for some inspiration.

All we need now are some devilish desserts.

Not liquid ones, like our vodka...

..but ones which brim with cream, sugar and chocolate.

Now, we've got wind of a smart young pastry chef called Brett.

He has already dusted the sugar in Michelin-starred pastry kitchens.

We reckon he's just the ticket to get our party a sweet twist.

Much to our surprise,

the sweet-treat tip-off has led us to a semi in Cheshire.

Sometimes, we are like culinary detectives,

seeking gems to delight our tongues.

-Brett! Hello.

-How are you?

-Dave. Pleased to meet you.

Pleased to meet you, man, how are you?

-Please, come in.

-Brilliant.

Bursting into Brett's kitchen

is like catching a chef in the middle of service.

He just can't stop baking.

Honey and chocolate tort,

hazelnut and milk chocolate cheesecake,

white chocolate and chocolate chip cheesecake,

then there's a chocolate brownie with a white chocolate mousse,

spray-painted with milk chocolate.

The ingredient that gets Brett really excited is chocolate.

So, no surprise that in the oven are some miniature chocolate fondants.

And, not satisfied with the gooey, soft centre

these have to offer, Brett adds a topping.

What I'm going to do is I'm quite literally just going to separate

the two batches.

Mascarpone cream icing, done two ways, light and dark.

That's quite heavy, isn't it, with the mascarpone?

Giving it a bit of legs.

It won't run as quickly as it would if it was without mascarpone.

So I got a little star nozzle,

and that is just going to go into the bottom of my piping bag.

And I'm just going to cut the tips.

I'm getting the idea of this now, Si.

It's two tall chocolate ripple torts.

-Brilliant.

-Yeah. Well, this is the sort of thing

I think everybody at home is

going to want to have a go at, you know?

I can't wait to see this.

With two piping bags,

one full of chocolate and the other plain white icing,

you can create a Mr Whippy whirl...

..sprinkled with chocolate pearls.

-Cheers.

-Cheers, chin-chin!

-Party on.

-Chocolate...

They are incredible.

I think Dave and I have ridden into sweet Nirvana,

perfect for our party menu.

Now, one other little tipple has caught Dave's eye, and nose,

and mouth's attention -

a miniature trifle in a shot glass.

I'm thinking these would be a real treat for our guests

who like the classic touch in a pud.

-Nice, isn't it?

-That's lovely.

The cake bit is a basic Genovese sponge recipe -

just eggs, sugar and flour.

Now, we know trifle needs custard.

And Brett's uses a classic creme anglaise laced with vanilla.

Oh, yeah.

The fruity bit is provided by a simple raspberry puree.

That's easier than opening a tin, man.

This is the bit I'm looking forward to.

And the one ingredient that says Christmas?

So, all we need now is a little bit of sherry.

Hark! The sound of Christmas.

Just take a banana, peel them down,

cut nice little discs,

and all I need now is a small cutter that fits nicely into my glass.

I love chopping out.

So if you could take a few of the sponge discs and drop them

into each one of them, please, chef.

Make the bottom a little bit boozy - not too much.

-Creme anglaise.

-Creme anglaise.

And just the same thickness as the sponge, if you can.

Separate it by using a small slice of banana.

Just drop it in with your knife, and them press them down.

This isn't as easy as it looks.

-Good 'un, good 'un.

-That's the style I want.

A little bit of raspberry - fantastic.

What do we need for finishing touches?

I've got some lovely little redcurrants

that we can stick on top.

Nice.

What about if we give everybody a sweet canape like that, look,

with a bit of sponge and a bit of banana,

put it in your mouth like that,

as we give them the bottles as they come through the doors,

and they go like that...

It's not the sort of party I want to go to.

Well, it was just a suggestion!

But fear not - Brett will come to the ball

and bring his sweet touch of class with him.

Thanks, guys. Now, here at Christmas Kitchen,

we want to give you more than just your traditional festive flavours

so, every day, we invite a chef

to bring some international flavours to our kitchen.

Today, Joe Hurd has brought an Italian flavour to Christmas.

Now, Joe, what are we doing?

We are going to make a pappa pomodoro,

which is a classic, kind of, Italian bready tomato soup,

celebrating land and sea,

and we're going to finish it off with some octopus,

some big gambero rosso...

-Beautiful.

-They're like monsters, aren't they?

And some squid. So, this is really typical.

-Is it a kind of celebration dish?

-It is.

I mean, because on Christmas Eve -

La Vigilia in Italian cooking, in the Italian home - is...

You traditionally have fish.

It's a holiday of obligation,

so you usually have things like a fritto misto

or a baccala, fried cod.

Back in the south, in Calabria, we'd have the local, kind of,

shellfish and seafood, so this is quite traditional for me.

What I'd like you to start by doing, Matt, is to make a salmoriglio,

which is a really, really nice dressing,

usually used for things like marinating fish, or...

I use it to finish off meat, but the clue's in the name,

salmoriglio - it's, kind of, salt, olive oil, oregano...

-Right.

-..and a little bit of lemon.

Very contentious dish in my family,

everybody makes it slightly differently.

-OK.

-What I've got here is some wonderful tomatoes,

conserva tomatoes.

These are the ones which are packed in their natural juices.

So there's no sugar, nothing in there.

I've got a little bit of soft sourdough.

You could use anything -

I mean, I like to use the altamura bread you get in supermarkets

but, you know, even if you've got your soft, plain sandwich bread,

you can do it.

What it does is give a lovely consistency to this.

A nice alternative to pasta -

I mean, people think Italians have been eating pasta for years.

The reality is the Italians haven't had pasta for years.

They had it when industrialisation came.

Got some lovely octopus...

Let's just talk about this a sec,

cos this is one of my favourite ingredients, but,

if you buy the English octopus,

it can be incredibly tough, can't it?

Exactly - in Italy, the Mediterranean octopuses,

slightly smaller.

-Yeah.

-They come into season quite nicely around November, December,

through to March.

And they are really, kind of, sweet, kind of tasty.

They don't need too much cooking.

Just going to add a little, tiny bit of micro-basil into this.

It doesn't need too much,

because the tomatoes are already preserved in...with basil.

And this is a very dense soup, isn't it?

-Almost like porridge.

-It is. It's quite thick, very hearty.

I think wherever you get, like...

In Italian, we say "torrone", which is like,

"people of the ground", peasant classes -

where you've had a history of having stale,

slightly, kind of, manky bread,

the natural thing to do is to, kind of,

soak it, cook it, make the best of it.

Matt, could you, for me...

I've got these wonderful gambero rosso.

-They're amazing.

-It's like...

It makes the Loch Ness Monster look inadequate!

Do we want olive oil in there?

Yeah, we'll put a little of olive oil into that,

make it a bit of an emulsion - thanks, Matt,

make a little bit of space for the...

-There we go.

-So, salt the squid, then get it on quite quickly?

Get it straight on. Only needs a couple of minutes.

We'll put the tentacles on first,

cos they take just a little bit longer to cook.

If you have time, there's lots of water in squid,

so you could dry it out a little bit.

Italian food, like I said, it's about the land,

it's about the sea, and for me,

the best thing about the land with Italian food is the tomatoes

and when it comes to the sea, I mean, you know,

the octopus, the squid...

It's just out of this world.

Wonderful wine, as well. A wonderful nation of wine.

Apparently, they do nice wine, as well, yeah!

LAUGHTER

All I want is a nice gavi with this.

I'm thinking that would be delicious.

Well, we're quite... Where we come from, in Calabria,

we tend to get these really kind of, you know...

It's the wine your Uncle Giuseppe makes.

We never really get to taste the amazing stuff,

even though the wine Giuseppe makes is pretty good.

Sounds great!

So, just need a few minutes, Matt.

I'm going to get them out of there and put them on there,

cos that's clear.

Just going to put these on here. We're not going to serve them there.

Is there a reason you cook it whole before you chop it up?

-Or do you just...?

-Yeah, I'm going to kind of slice into it

a little bit, just so you get these lovely kind of rings,

you see that lovely shape with the slight, kind of, diamond effect.

It's going to absorb all the flavour of the tomato,

it's going to take all the flavour

from Matt's wonderful salmoriglio, as well.

It's interesting, isn't it, how these things are reflected

in different parts...of the same part of the world

in different countries.

I had, in Spain, a really beautiful thing

that they call a parrillada and it was really like this.

We were right by the sea, everything had just come out,

just full of flavour, and the smells just take you right back.

Historically, we all enjoy such a mixed, kind of, culinary culture

in the Mediterranean - the Greek influence,

the Moorish influence, the influence from France,

from the Angevins...

It's all, kind of, like, quite similarly linked.

You do get these wonderful kind of similarities.

-That's delicious.

-Just tossing that with a bit of the salmoriglio.

You could make this with a parsley, as well,

you could do it lots of different ways, and we'll put...

Is that a classic?

Yes - this is a real classic, Sicilian...dressing, which...

What's in that, Joe? Chilli, basil, olive oil, salt?

-Chilli, basil, olive oil, salt.

-A bit of lemon.

-A bit of lemon.

We've put some anchovy in there. Anchovy's a big flavour-multiplier.

I really like this as a bit of a sharing dish -

like I said, on Christmas Eve, it's lots of big sharing plates.

Traditionally, you'd have things like, in Naples,

the fritto misto

or the, kind of, pickled,

boiled vegetables, as well,

and you can have this as just kind of like a fish course,

you know, between everything else, and I think the pappa pomodoro,

it means you can also have a bit of pasta if you want, too -

it doesn't rule out pasta.

-Right, we good to go?

-Yeah, we'll start plating up.

-Your prawns are ready.

-Perfect.

So, what we need to do now is just really simply plate up the squid

and the octopus and all that lovely seafood.

-Those tomatoes are fantastic.

-They are.

I mean, you could just eat those out the jar.

Makes such a difference, doesn't it?

So, if we couldn't get hold of those extra-spesh, fabulous tomatoes,

is there a particular one you'd recommend people to use?

All I'd recommend when buying tomatoes is buy whole plum.

When you start buying the chopped tomatoes,

especially the Italian ones,

they use lots of different sizes and they use the round tomatoes -

we don't really use round tomatoes very much for sauces,

because they've got high water concentration.

If you use the plum tomatoes, the whole ones,

just a good-quality one...

I used to always champion going to buy the cheaper ones,

but you need to add to them, you need to get more, kind of...

I mean, they do make some brilliant tinned tomatoes now, don't they?

They do, but Italy shares its wealth of fantastic tomatoes with the UK -

-thank you.

-Pile those on, do what you're going to do...

So, we'll just, kind of...

-Wow.

-Wow.

-Look at that pile!

-That's what I call a party.

-That is a party on a plate.

It is a party on a plate, isn't it? We'll just finish off with

a little bit more of the salmoriglio over the top.

Oh...mmm...

Is Christmas Eve the bigger day for eating, would you say?

Well, every day's the biggest day!

LAUGHTER

San Stefano is, well, Boxing Day pizzas.

Remind us what it is, Joe.

This is a pappa pomodoro with octopus, squid,

and lovely red prawns from Sicily.

Looks amazing.

OK, let's get over there.

Making all these things, though - just told me...

Such a contentious sauce, as well, though.

It smells so incredible. Look at this.

I'll have all my family in Italy call in saying this is the wrong way to do it.

Of course! You can just block their number, though.

-There you go.

-Oh, wow.

What have we got here, these little...?

-Dig in, guys.

-So, this is the pane carasau -

this is a Sardinian flatbread.

It's a bit... You wouldn't expect that landing on Christmas Eve,

but if you did get it, you'd be pretty happy...

How are you still single?!

LAUGHTER

Seriously.

THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER

-Wow.

-Incredible.

-That's brilliant, thanks very much for that, Joe.

Now, something there's always plenty of at Christmas is leftovers,

especially turkey leftovers,

so here's Rick Stein with a great idea to use them up.

I don't think I'd make a biryani with my leftover turkey.

Out of all curry recipes,

the best one I've found was across the Bay of Bengal, in Sri Lanka.

You start by frying off some spices -

they're cloves, cardamom and some cinnamon.

I'm cooking this in coconut oil,

which you can get here in Asian supermarkets.

Into the spices go some finely chopped onions,

They're allowed to soften until they're transparent.

Then a spoonful of crushed garlic - a loving spoonful.

Well, it is Christmas.

And about the same amount of ginger - loving, again.

Now, some roasted Sri Lankan curry powder,

which has a great depth of flavour,

chilli powder, and some ground turmeric.

Get that all mixed through,

then put in some chopped and deseeded fresh tomatoes.

Best not to use tinned ones for this -

they're a little bit sweet,

and you want to end up with a sharper taste.

Now put in a twigful of curry leaves

and while they begin to infuse the curry,

you can soften up a couple of sticks of lemon grass -

don't bash them too hard this time.

Then some pandan leaf, coarsely chopped -

very subtle, a must-have in Sri Lankan cooking.

I'm sure they'll be in the supermarkets in a year or two.

And lastly, to finish the sauce, a tin of coconut milk.

I remember saying not so long ago

that one of the things I remember about leftover turkey

was the curries I always had when I was a child

and how it wasn't, sort of, the best thing.

Well, this is slightly different.

I mean, Sri Lankan curries were a bit of a revelation to me, anyway.

I mean, I'm rather used to 90% of all the Indian restaurants

in Great Britain that originated in Bangladesh,

so coming onto Sri Lankan curries was just marvellous,

and that trinity of flavours in most Sri Lankan curries -

pandan leaves, curry leaves and cinnamon -

when you taste that,

it takes you right back to that lovely island.

Now for the rest of that cold turkey -

whatever you've got left.

I've still got some white breast meat to use,

but the legs are just as useful.

Hopefully, you'll have some reasonably chunky pieces,

because they will be more satisfying.

Season it all with some salt and then,

for that specific bit of fire,

put in four or five hot chillies, seeds and all this time.

Let's not be shrinking violets about this.

You want some heat.

Lastly, the juice of a lime -

I wish I'd learned the trick of massaging the fruit

before we filmed this bit,

because it certainly does make it easier to get more juice out.

One of the things I need to add here is that if you're stirring

these curries or other dishes with leftover meat,

do it very gently, otherwise it all breaks up and goes into

a rather unattractive sort of mush.

You want lumps.

A final taste...

That's it. That is delish.

Serve with rice and that is the end of your cold turkey, oriental-style.

Still to come, Olly Smith's going to be using my leftover rum,

not that there's much left over, to be honest,

to make cocktails - he's got a great mocktail suggestion.

Move over, cupcakes - there's a new sweet trend in town.

Marshmallow sales have increased almost 50% this year.

-Did you know that?

-Yes, I did.

-So why not give some as a gift?

Bake-Off star Martha Collison is here to show us how.

And we're going back to 1975 to get a classic Christmas pudding recipe

from the fascinating Fanny Cradock.

This time of year, shops are full and they're stocked with

seasonal foodie gifts and produce like cheese, nuts and dried fruit.

So every day, we're going to bring you recipe ideas to use them up

should you get them.

Today, it's Andi's turn.

-You're going to cook gift.

-Going to cook with a gift.

-What could it be?

-What could it be?

-What could it be? What have you got me?

-Go for it.

-Tea.

-Tea.

And you do get weird tea in a hamper.

This is green tea, matcha green tea, we're going to use today.

But, of course, you could use any kind of tea.

I'm going to make tea-poached prawns with a green tea and seaweed butter.

-OK.

-It's got a little honey in it,

to give it a little richness and sweetness.

It's a little bit fancy, but it's Christmas,

I think we can do things a bit fancy.

What flavour is the matcha going to bring?

The matcha... Well, matcha tea, it's quite earthy green tea,

-and you've got to be careful with it cos it's gets quite bitter.

-Mm.

Could you start peeling these for me, while I'm doing these?

-Seems to be my job today.

-Your job is peeling today.

-Do you want the shells?

-Um... No, don't need the shells.

Keep them, though, cos we'll make a stock.

That's what I would normally do with them.

You just pull open the teabags...

-Now, you could use...

-Want the heads on, or...?

Do I want the heads on? No, I don't, actually.

I think I want them really easy,

so they pop nicely on the toast and we can cut straight through it.

You could use Earl Grey tea, Lapsang Souchong,

anything that you like, really,

but I just think the key with it is make sure it's not in too long

when you're doing the poaching.

The butter, which I'm starting here, is going to be passed anyway.

-We're going to put it through a sieve.

-OK.

-So, that it doesn't...

Obviously, so that you don't have loads of bits in your teeth

when you go to eat it later.

So, this lovely butter...

-You've got dried seaweed there as well.

-I've got dried seaweed.

This is wakame seaweed, which is... It's quite earthy, wakame.

You could use a different type of seaweed, if you like.

-Right.

-There's dulce, all sorts of different ones.

They're really easy to get these days.

It's getting quite big, selling in supermarkets.

Because it's the kind of thing, a few years ago,

if you'd said seaweed to people, they'd be going, "What?"

-Now, people are quite used to it.

-Really good for you.

It's really good for you. Iron, antioxidants...

What else has it got going on?

-All the good stuff.

-All the good stuff.

Probably a superfood, like everything else.

This butter, you literally just want to infuse it.

You're not cooking it, per se - we're just getting these flavours...

-What's that?

-This is a little honey,

to work against the slight bitterness of the tea,

to give it a bit of balance.

-You can see, in there, it's already a pretty green colour.

-Yeah, OK.

One of the things I like about this recipe is that it's green butter.

I just really like the colour!

I really like green butter.

Now, I'm going to put on... Here we go...

Quite slow at this.. They're slippery.

And more tea, but... Yeah, that's all right.

We've got garlic, bay, we've got more tea going into

this liquor here, which is poaching liquor.

And the prawns are going to go into there and poach quite gently.

It's quite quick, this. It's slightly fancy, once it goes...

-Once you've done your prawns.

-Oh, yes. Say what?

Once you've peeled your prawns.

You could buy peeled prawns. So, that's the poaching liquor here.

You've got garlic, bay, and you've got green tea.

This is one that has already been infused,

because I wanted to make sure...

So that's what it looks like when it starts, yeah?

Looks like that and then after a while,

-it comes up and you get a depth of colour too it.

-OK.

I always take the bags back out at this point,

so that it doesn't get bitter.

-So how long?

-The poaching? Or the bags?

The bags. How long for those?

I guess I would leave these in for about eight minutes,

something like that?

-Like making a cup of tea.

-OK.

You know with green teabags, you leave them too long,

-you get that awful taste?

-Hm.

So I'm going to put these onto toast, as well,

that's just two slices of normal, shop-bought brioche,

and then...this butter...

-There we are.

-Thank you very much.

..which we'll have left to infuse,

we then have to put that into the fridge for about 10-15 minutes,

just so it's got some texture to it.

Just going to drop these prawns into the poaching liquor.

-Just so that it's got a little bit.. Can you turn that up for me?

-Mm-hm.

Just so that you can work with it, basically, and then we turn it

into a ballotine, like this,

or you can just leave it in a bowl and spoon it out.

-Right. OK.

-This is just a handy way

to keep butter in the fridge, you know?

Just a really nice... And you can cut bits off, use it for...

Put this it on steak, you can put a bit on fish...

You can do anything you like with it.

Andi, is there a particular way of selecting really good prawns,

or from a particular source?

-What should we be looking for?

-I've got...

I've got a really brilliant fishmonger, I'm really lucky,

he's incredibly helpful, which is really good.

But, basically, you don't want them...

I think with all seafood and fish,

you don't want it when it's smelling really high.

When people talk about, "Oh, it smells of fish", that's not good.

You want it fresh, you want the little...

Did you see the little heads,

there was a certain sort of pinkness around the edge?

That's kind of what I look for in a good prawn? What about you?

Firmness - you need to be able to kind of push the body and it comes

back to life and, like you said, Andi, you don't want to smell it.

When people are like, "Oh, yeah!", you know...it's not right.

Should be...a neutral smell.

-Right, so...

-Are you browning this butter?

No, take it off now for me, please. Thank you.

That's lovely, and this is toasted. We're about to plate up, now.

See, it's quite simple.

And remember, you can use any kind of prawns you like.

I think I can take those out, now. Can you pass me a set of tongs?

Yeah. I've got you the...

-Oh, thank you.

-OK.

-So helpful, Matt.

-I am helpful.

Want to pass that toast out of there for me, as well?

-Let's put it straight onto the...

-You take that.

-Thank you, my dear.

Of course, all today's studio recipes,

including this one from Andi, are on the website.

Go to...

Right, just pile them on,

and you really don't need to cook these prawns for very long,

cos they'll go rubbery, which is a bit boring, obviously.

-We don't want that.

-They don't take any time at all.

They don't - soon as they've gone pink, I'd get them out, really.

-Mm-hm.

-I now want those giant red prawns you had, they're amazing!

-I've never seen such things.

-We all want giant red prawns.

Then we just pour a little of that over, or you could take that...

Look at that - sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.

The other... The slices, you could just put a couple

of slices on and then put it under the grill.

-But there we go.

-All right?

-Yeah.

Want to take that off there,

before it starts smoking up the whole place?

There we go - that's poached prawns, tea-poached prawns,

with a green tea and seaweed butter.

Right, let's go and eat some more prawns.

Lovely, lovely, lovely. Here we go. More seafood, people, more seafood.

Wow...

-Very, very quick.

-Very, very quick,

which is really nice at Christmas, where there's so many fancy,

long things that you're doing - it's quite nice to be able to...

-People come round, something lovely to just knock together.

-Yeah.

That seaweed, you could fry, as well, crisp it up.

You could, put it on the top, anything you like. Garnish.

I thought you didn't like garnish?

I like a little bit of garnish on food.

Just not on cocktails - just gets in the way under your nose.

-Thumbs up, great.

-You like that?

-I love the seaweed butter.

-It's good, right?

And you can have it on anything.

You could put that on a piece of grilled fish,

you could put it on a bit of steak or a lamb chop, something like that.

Yum, yum, yum.

-Yeah, you can just taste that...

-Just it's not too strong.

It's nice cos the sweetness of the prawns and the brioche just

-complement each other.

-It's a perfect balance.

And it works with the slight bitterness of the tea, I think.

Miles?

-Decadent.

-We are.

-Man of few words.

Later on, Bake Off star Martha Collison will be showing us how to

make one of this year's most popular sweet treats, marshmallows.

How are you going to flavour yours?

-They're going to be orange and cranberry.

-Very nice.

-Very seasonal.

-And we are unwrapping another Christmas treat from the archives.

A helping of Fanny Cradock, always welcome.

Today she is showing us her Christmas pudding recipe from 1975.

Miles, do you have any lovely, gentle Christmas memories? Or dark ones?

LAUGHTER

I have a feeling that it might be dark.

Well, I can remember in the '80s, there was a year when there was

a mad rush on Optimus Prime. Not everyone got one and I managed to get an Optimus Prime.

-What is Optimus Prime?

-It's one of the great Transformers.

THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER

The one voiced by Orson Welles in the film.

And there was another. I got Snake Mountain another year...

-From He-Man.

-..if you want something from the other side.

OK. OK.

LAUGHTER

It's also quite commercial, isn't it?

-It's all about the presents for Miles.

-It's a little bit secular.

Well, let's hear from more of the nation's favourite faces and

their reflections on Christmas.

I always associate a turkey because I love the size of it

that you can have

and the stuff that you can have afterwards. Curried turkey, turkey sandwiches.

But the rest of my family are not turkey mad

so we usually end up with three good-sized chickens.

So we have the same amount of food and the same amount of

leftovers but... I would like a turkey but the family

prefer the chicken so that's what we have.

One of my favourite Christmas moments was when my grandad

always used to fall asleep Christmas Day,

especially after having so much alcohol all day.

And he always used to fall asleep with the Christmas hat on

that we used to always pull from the Christmas crackers. And it's

just a memory that I'll never forget.

I associate Brussels sprouts with Christmas more than any food.

But I have to tell you this, it's an exclusive, I can only eat

them on Christmas Day because otherwise it just gets a bit smelly.

Now, there's been an explosion in the marshmallow world this year

-with sales nearly doubling...

-Imagine that.

-Imagine it.

..downloads of recipes tripling and a whole host of new flavours filling the shops.

So if you want to give someone the most on-trend gift this year,

then Bake Off star Martha Collison is here with her home-made cranberry and

orange marshmallows. Why has it gone mad for marshmallows?

I think it's gone mad just cos people have got a little bit

-tired of things like cupcakes. They take a while to make...

-I am so over cupcakes.

-Are you?

-Yeah.

-I like them sometimes but I think...

-Oh, no, I can't do cupcakes.

It's a bit of news, a bit of nostalgia as well.

People remember marshmallows, the very plain kind,

-but they are such a versatile base. You can do anything with them...

-Right.

Do you condone melting yours on fires on sticks?

-I'm not against it.

-Doing the toasty thing.

-I'm not against it.

-Really?

-I like... I don't mind it...

-See, I don't get that. Maybe I'm just too British.

-Stick it in the fire and it chars. I'm not a fan of that.

-OK.

You're being very aggressive about the marshmallows.

I feel quite strongly about things and that's one of them. OK.

You need to cook, I need to stop talking. What's in here?

Orange juice and cranberry, right?

Orange juice, cranberry juice, that's the base liquid.

I'm adding in some powdered gelatine to just start sponging.

OK. You just leave that alone.

Yeah, so that stays in there whilst we heat up some syrup.

-It's kind of moving.

-So we just stir it in.

-Yeah.

-Looks a little bit weird.

A lot of people think you need egg whites to make the base of a

-marshmallow but actually this method is a lot easier.

-OK.

I means there's no double whipping.

You just leave that to sponge, to soak in.

You can actually use any liquid for the base.

-Yeah, I've never seen it done this way.

-Yeah, well, hopefully it will work.

LAUGHTER

Fingers crossed.

-Do you do a lot of baking gifts at Christmas?

-I do.

I think it's really nice to give someone something home-made

and sweets are especially good cos they last for a while.

You're not giving someone something that will only last a week.

Cos we're always swamped with food at Christmas.

-Marshmallows will last for almost a month.

-A month, really?

Yeah, the egg ones seem to disintegrate a bit quicker

but gelatine ones, they seem to last a bit longer.

Right, sorry, Martha, what's in here?

-In here we've got golden syrup, caster sugar, and a little bit of water.

-Right.

And we're bringing it up to 130 degrees which is also kind of

-the hard-ball stage.

-Yeah, OK.

It's quite important that it gets to that temperature otherwise we

will be either really runny marshmallow or really, really firm.

So that's quite an important thing.

But sugar thermometers are really cheap. Put it on your Christmas list.

They're only about, I'd say under £10 for a kind of decent one.

-Yeah.

-And they are so helpful at making caramels, making any kind of sweets.

And if you took it too far you just add a touch of water, right?

It's one of those things you've just got to watch it and try not to take it too far.

But you can see here we're coming up to 130 degrees.

-This has been boiling for about five minutes.

-What's this going to do to the mix?

So we're adding two brown liquids together, which you'd think would

look horrible, but we should get this amazing white foam start to emerge.

-OK.

-So this is now up to temperature.

They will react together and then as you whip it, it will start

to trap air,

which gives it that volume that you expect in a marshmallow.

This is kind of the tricky thing, isn't it?

Because this is going to be running and you're going to be pouring

-this molten sugar.

-Yes. I just turn the hob off.

We want this on a medium low speed. Start it going.

-Then we're going to pour the hot sugar down the side.

-Sure.

Try and avoid the whisk or you get kind of spun sugar lumps in

-your marshmallow.

-Yeah. And my shirt.

-Dangerous.

Hot sugar can be a little dangerous.

So we're just going to pour it down the side of the bowl.

LAUGHTER

-Matt is getting away from you.

-I'll just turn it up.

This is probably not one for the kids to try first of all, is it?

-Yeah, you might need an adult to help you with this.

-Yeah. A grown-up like me!

LAUGHTER

A jolly, merry grown-up like you.

So how has your life changed since you got involved in Bake Off?

It's completely, completely different.

-You were the youngest contestant, is that right?

-Yeah, I was.

I've always wanted to work in food anyway, so it's been an amazing springboard into

a career of writing recipes and working with supermarkets and stuff.

-It's just been brilliant.

-You must have been so young when you started baking.

Was it baking first or did you go cooking, baking, how did it work?

I think it was cooking first.

My mum started me off with a bit of cooking, making roux sauces,

making gravies, just being generally useful. But my parents don't bake.

It doesn't really run in my family so I think I felt a little deprived

that I hadn't had the baked goods that all my friends had, so I

started making the different things, and really fell in love with baking.

-So now we want to turn this up to a high speed.

-OK.

And this will whip into a lovely white foam.

You've just done a recipe book, is that right?

I have, yeah. My recipe book is called Twist and it's all about

this kind of concept, taking something simple

or basic, like a marshmallow, or a cupcake, or a layer cake, and

then putting flavour spins on it or different textures or twists.

Yeah. Anything weird have you tried or anything unusual?

Anything weird? Ooh! Oh, I don't know. Seaweed...

-Think about it.

-I'll have a think.

Right, so I've got a tin over here.

-You can see it's starting to thicken now.

-Yeah.

And then you're waiting for it to cool down a bit.

This is a tin that I've lined with clingfilm and

a little oil to stick it down.

-OK.

-The main thing, marshmallows can get really, really messy,

so you need a little bit of oil and hot water to help contain it.

Yeah, just a bit of oil on the tray, any old oil, right?

Just a little bit of flavoured oil on the top of the clingfilm

and under the clingfilm. So our marshmallow is lovely and thick.

You can see the strings start to kind of pull away from the sides.

Which means you're getting to that lovely kind of airy, inflated stage.

So I'm just going to put a little oil on a spatula cos otherwise

you'll find that this is impossible to get out of the bowl.

-OK. That's not going to affect the recipe?

-It shouldn't do.

I normally smooth over the top.

So if I lift this out now you'll see this amazing pillowy cloud

-of marshmallow.

-Look at that.

-Wow.

-It looks a bit like Italian meringue.

Yes, it's a lot like Italian meringue.

And I find the best way to get everything out of a whisk is just to push through the inside.

Go from the inside out.

-Get all of it out like that.

-OK, shall we take that off?

Yeah, take that off.

Lovely. And you can smell the orange and cranberry from the marshmallow.

-It's those lovely festive flavours.

-Nice. So what's this here, then?

-That is some cranberry powder.

-What are you going to do with this?

That's going to go on the outside because even though this

has obviously got cranberry juice and orange juice in it you

-can't really see the colour.

-Yeah.

-Cos the air makes it completely white.

Whatever base you use it always goes white.

-So where would you get this from?

-You can get that from health food shops, from online.

-It's pretty reasonable online...

-Wow!

-It's very strong on its own.

-Wow!

LAUGHTER

-What is that? Is that...? Oh, my word.

-Is it a little tart?

-It's almost like a natural sherbet...

-Wow!

-..but mixed with sugar.

-Just without being really sweet.

-Yeah.

-Like a really bitter sherbet.

But when you mix it with the icing sugar and you put it on

a really sweet marshmallow with orange in it then it really

-does taste, it lifts it.

-So you use it sparingly, then?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-LAUGHTER

-Probably should have mentioned that. So we've got the marshmallow...

-Thanks for the heads-up(!)

It's in the tin. It went in quite smoothly with not as much mess as I was anticipating.

This needs to set at room temperature, about one to two hours.

This is a marshmallow that's been set and removed from the clingfilm.

We're going to cover this in our kind of cranberry,

-very tiny amount of cranberry powder.

-Yeah.

So we've got some icing sugar which is going to go, sieve it into a bowl.

You don't want any lumps on the outside of your marshmallow

-so just sieve that in.

-So that's what you need to sweeten it up?

Yes, definitely. And also, when you eat the marshmallow,

which is literally like a big lump of airy sugar,

-you'll realise that you kind of need that tartness.

-It takes the edge off it.

-It does.

-OK.

I like to do them in sherbet as well, so sometimes I make

lemonade marshmallows, using lemonade as a base, in the summer,

-with a bit of lemon sherbet on the outside.

-Could you use coconut milk?

-Could you make a coconut one?

-I think you could. You can use normal milk.

You can do hot milk marshmallows which are quite nice.

We're going to use one teaspoon of this. Have we got a teaspoon anywhere?

-Teaspoon, yeah.

-Thank you.

-There you go.

-Lovely, thanks very much.

A teaspoon of our cranberry powder and also

a teaspoon of cornflour, which kind of stops them from clumping together

-when you're keeping them as a gift. It's quite important.

-Right.

-A teaspoon of that as well.

Sieve that into the sugar.

It gives it a lovely pink hue which I think really shows you what

-type of marshmallow they are as well.

-Mm-hm.

-So push all those little bits in.

-And these will keep for a month?

They will, I think. I eat them for a month.

I'm not sure I probably should. But there's not really anything in them

which should go off because sugar's a great preservative and...

-Yeah.

-But saying that, they probably won't last for a month because they're quite addictive.

Nice. Would you keep them in the fridge or just like an airtight container?

-I keep them in an airtight container.

-Yeah.

We're just going to sprinkle over half of that mixture. I'll just

-use my hands to spread it out and press it on.

-That is remark...

-Aesthetically that looks so satisfying.

-So much fun.

-It is.

-It's like a massive pillow.

-Yeah.

-It's this lovely thing.

I made a lot of marshmallow on Bake Off to make

a kind of ski scene, so I made loads of snow using this

and it was just so much fun. It's looking good.

I recommend cutting it with a hot knife because it means you get

-a much crisper cut.

-And is that how you stop it sticking? Hot knife?

Yeah, if I kept going now you'd find that all the pieces kind of

deform slightly, so if you just clean it in between each one in

some hot water using a little tea towel or a piece of kitchen paper.

-OK.

-It's just the easiest way to stop... Cos you don't want to go

to all this effort making it set and then kind of hack it into

horrible chunks. So you just kind of press down.

It should cut through really nicely and form this kind of lovely...

-You can see the texture there. It's so bendy, so foamy.

-Right.

-Do you find this quite relaxing?

-I do, actually.

I love making marshmallows.

Slice up all of these. I'll pop these in the box as well.

-Let's take those over.

-Lovely.

-They are sticky, aren't they?

-They are.

They are on the edges. But they firm up.

See, this is one that I made yesterday. It's already... It holds its shape really nicely.

-It's got almost like a slightly crisp crust on the outside.

-Yeah.

-They're really simple...

-How long does it take to set, then?

About two hours at room temperature but you can leave it overnight which is what I do sometimes.

Does it need to be covered when it's setting?

I normally just put a little piece of oiled clingfilm over the top and that should

stop it from sticking and stop anything sticking to it.

Right, well, let's go and eat them. Remind us what they are.

These are orange and cranberry marshmallows and they're the perfect gift for Christmas.

OK, let's go over there, Martha, and see what they think.

-There you are.

-Wonderful.

-Thank you.

-I sprinkled a little bit of extra on that one. Try that.

-Is that the cranberry powder?

-See if you get the tang.

-I'm going to go here, I think.

-I feel like I should have a bit as well.

-They look like something you'd wear!

-OLLY:

-I am the marshmallow man! I can confirm!

-Mm.

-Wow!

-Wow!

-MARTHA:

-They've got that zing from the cranberries.

You get that cranberry at the back of your throat.

It's good, they're not too sweet because you don't want...

-That's delicious.

-They could be really sweet.

-Fantastic...

-Thank you.

..with the cranberry over the top.

-You need it, otherwise it becomes quite sickly.

-Yeah, yeah.

-It's nice to have that tartness...

-Yeah, sharpness.

-What do you think about that, Miles?

-You can really taste that it's properly made and not

something that's just come out of a sweaty supermarket bag.

Martha, what's your best piece of Christmas advice?

Christmas advice, I reckon these days that so many people don't like mincemeat.

And mincemeat goes into so many Christmas bakes.

What I would say is, don't write it off, make your own,

but put in all those delicious dried fruits, like dates and prunes and maybe a few figs.

-Almost put a twist on it.

-Yeah, put a twist on it. Put on a bit of Amaretto or something.

Make it different. Then I think young people will like it.

Cos a lot of people my age don't like mincemeat and it's nice to give a little bit of new life.

-Don't like mincemeat?!

-I know.

-Oh, these young people!

-Anyway, that's Martha's tip.

Here's more of my cheffy friends with their cooking advice to get you through the season.

Brussels sprouts really divide opinion.

Here's a great way. Take all the leaves, all the tops

from the Brussels sprouts, blanch them in boiling salted water and

then bring them back in foaming batter with smoked bacon and shaved chestnuts.

A really great variation on Brussels sprouts. Merry Christmas.

It's no use coming back with a load of shopping and you've got

nowhere to put it.

So empty your fridge,

empty your freezer, make room for the shopping.

Onions, cabbages and potatoes can all go in a cool cupboard.

Make room for your turkey, your smoked salmon and crab.

Beers and other juices can go in your back garden. Have a great Christmas.

If you want a Christmas dessert for Christmas that's really

different and easy,

just use a shop-bought pudding,

crumble it up, mix it with good quality softened vanilla ice cream,

throw in a bit of brandy and then freeze it in a bowl.

Then before you want to serve it, get some clingfilm,

put over some melted chocolate, turn out your ice cream pudding,

put that over the top, and it looks amazing.

Now, earlier I showed you how to use rum in

a dessert and because obviously we hate waste here's Olly Smith

with a couple of cocktail suggestions to use leftover rum - if there is any.

-And you've also... You're going to do us a mocktail?

-Yeah. Absolutely.

-I think we're going to do...

-Of the same...?

-The same type, exactly.

It's a cheat on the daiquiri. One with alcohol and one without.

-OK.

-But it's all about the rum - and the rum is regional, you know?

Depending on where it comes from in the Caribbean,

you've got different flavours, quite mellow from Barbados,

-bit more punchy from Jamaica.

-Yep.

So, all I've got in my pan here is some butter and some Demerara sugar,

and I'm going to add to that just a couple of cloves.

I think you can overdo it on cloves quite easily

in a hot buttered rum. Some people like it incredibly clovey, but...

It's a really strong flavour, clove, isn't it?

Yeah - and especially when you cook it, it can get a bit bitter,

as well, so I'm just going to stir that through a bit.

-What's that, cinnamon?

-It is a bit of cinnamon, yeah. Exactly.

-So, we gently warmed it through, you've got a bit of infusion.

-Yeah.

I think the thing is, obviously you don't want to boil it,

-because you don't want to lose the booze.

-Mm-hm.

I always put it into a little jug....

-Very nice jug.

-It's lovely, isn't it?

-It's lovely.

Well, it is all about making it simple,

and I think hot buttered rum,

people think it's going to be loads of different ingredients,

-it's going to be very complicated - actually...

-Exactly what it says.

-Yeah.

-Butter...

-Heating things through...

Getting that mellow Christmas spirit.

-Have you ever tried butterbeer?

-No.

-What, you mean from Hogwarts?

-Harry Potter? Yes.

-Harry Potter, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Is it really delicious?

It's very good. Yeah.

-Who's that for?!

-That's not for me!

-That one's yours!

-What's that all about?

-What's that all about?

-Are we ready to go?

-Hang on a sec - we're going to add some hot water yet.

-Oh, right.

-You don't HAVE to add the hot water.