Great British Veg Hairy Bikers' Best of British

You know, we believe Britain has the best food in the world.

Not only can we boast fantastic ingredients...

..outstanding food producers...

Oh, wow!

..and innovative chefs...

but we also have an amazing food history.

So it's safe to say that that's what the Romans brought to us,

-the art of cooking itself.

-Absolutely.

It's called a sala catavia.

It's like a savoury summer pudding.

Now, during this series, we're going to be taking you on a journey into our culinary past.

Everything's ready, so let's get cracking.

-We'll explore its revealing stories...

-Wow!

..and meet the heroes that keep our culinary past alive.

Pontefract liquorice, it's been my life and I loved every minute of it.

And of course, be cooking up a load of dishes that reveal our foodie evolution.

That's a proper British treat.

Looks good, tastes good. That's going to do you good.

Quite simply, the best of British!

-Coming on lovely.

-Aren't they? They're lush.

Fantastic. Now, us Brits are thought of as a nation of meat eaters, well, that's not entirely true

because there's about three million of us choosing never to eat the stuff.

And, looking at this lot, it doesn't seem to be much of a sacrifice.

Vegetables - they're good for you, they're cheap, they're plentiful,

and, in this country, we have the most incredible range of veg.

And that's the good thing about our climate, isn't it? The mixture of sunshine and showers

produces some of the most fantastic veggies.

In this programme, we'll be celebrating great British veg.

From the passion of award-winning growers...

..to the determined pioneers that showed us how to eat them instead of meat.

We'll be paying tribute to the wartime allotments

that kept our nation fighting fit.

And cooking up some heritage dishes that show veg at its best.

As we explore Britain's love of the humble and tasty vegetable.

First up in the Great British Kitchen,

we're going to cook a recipe that you've probably all heard of but never eaten.

I'm going to take you back to the summer of love.

So dust off your loon pants.

Get your kaftan out.

We're going to make homity pie.

Oh, yes!

And homity pie was invented by the women of the land army in the Second World War.

And it was...well, hearty.

It was a substantial vegetarian dish

that you could actually make with the contents of your ration book.

Now, this delicious veggie treat is very simple to make but really flavoursome -

it's a humble and filling British classic.

We're going to take the vintage line-up of potato,

onion and cheese in a pastry case,

and give it a Hairy Biker twist

by adding spinach leaves, cream and a hint of nutmeg.

Now, what I've got here,

I'm lining this deep pie dish with a wholemeal pastry base.

I've used half wholemeal and half plain flour

because, quite frankly, if I'd used all wholemeal,

my pastry's going to come out like a flip-flop.

'The pastry is really easy.

'You just blend 250 grams of half plain,

'half wholemeal flour, with 150 grams of butter.

'Then add a beaten egg and whizz it until it becomes a rough dough.'

Now, it's a deep fill base.

Homity pie was always deep.

So I don't even have to throw a rolling pin.

I can feel the pastry with my fingers.

And I just form it around the pie tin.

Press it into the dish, up the sides of the dish.

And you'll end up with this wonderful pastry case.

-Look at the fibre in that...

-Look at that.

-Crikey!

More fibrous than a coconut husk.

For the bulk of the filling, you'll need three chopped onions

and 850 grams of boiled potatoes.

I'm just going to kind of break them up with a wooden spatula.

I've got a non-stick pan, so obviously I won't use metal.

Be fairly rustic about this.

More chunky spuds.

Saute the onions in butter for 15 minutes,

then grate a couple of garlic cloves in,

and cook for another two.

Simple yet effective! Takes me right back to the '70s.

I should have got me Aran jumper out.

-I should've worn my cords. I used to wear cords.

-Did you?

-Yeah, baggy ones, you know, for that kind of bohemian intellectual look.

-Did you?

Big glasses like that, and alopecia.

THEY SING: # Those were the days, my friend

# I thought they'd never end

# They'd sing and dance forever and a day. #

Add the onions to the tatties.

That's all the cooking you need to do.

Give it a pinch of pepper and some sea salt.

Then chuck in 100 grams of green and healthy spinach.

Brown paper bag, eh?

Throw me a piece of karma, man.

See...?

And now it's gone.

Nutmeg always works a treat with spinach.

It's a lovely colour, isn't it?

'Next, chop two tablespoons of parsley leaves and stir them in.'

The purity of curly parsley... It's beautiful.

'To give it some richness, you need 100 grams of mature cheese, but not any old stuff!

'Don't forget, this is a veggie recipe.'

This is of course vegetarian cheddar. It's rennet free.

Now, all we simply do is to pop that into the wholemeal base.

We won't pack it too tightly, though, cos we want the cream to run through it.

Yeah. I think that's enough, don't you?

-Oh, that's tasty!

-It would be.

-We'll put another one in.

-All right, mate.

Actually, Dave, it might all go in.

No, no, we've got cheese on yet...no, no!

No!

Right, that's fine.

'You just can't help who you work with!

'Grate some extra cheese onto the top.'

And now, pop on fruit of the cow.

'That's 250mls of cream to you and I.'

'And it's ready to shove in the oven

'at 180 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes.'

And this homity pie, which started life as a frugal feast for the land girls,

was revived by Cranks,

that well-known vegetarian outlet that struck up in the 1960s

in Carnaby Street.

I can remember going there in the '80s

and it was amazing, homity pie was on the menu.

Everything was brown, rustic and rough.

Cranks became so influential,

even the queen of cooking herself, Delia Smith,

went to check it out and meet the founders, David and Kay Canter.

I know that both you and David are vegetarian, but you haven't always been, so how did you come to it?

Well, we were brought up as normal meat-eaters and then we both had back trouble

and we were advised to go onto a whole-food diet

and then I started making my own bread

and gradually we came around to not liking meat.

We didn't like our Sunday joint so we gave that up. We didn't like chicken any more and so forth,

and eventually we came round to being vegetarians.

That's absolutely... We didn't set out to be vegetarians, it just happened.

The whole-food chain became incredibly popular

and made vegetarian food fashionable to eat, helping spread the idea

far and wide.

The great thing about our British food heritage is how it has absorbed different influences,

like vegetarian cuisine.

And our updated homity pie pays homage to the innovation of the Cranks era.

Oh, that looks good.

It's handsome!

-Oh, nice!

-This looks like a super-charged quiche.

'Let it cool for a bit, then carefully lift off the sides.'

'Make sure you've used a spring clip cake tin.'

-Pastry's stood up.

-Ooh!

Mind you, I think it'd survive anything, that.

D'you know, I'm liking the look of this. It's cutting well.

-Eh, that pastry's good.

-Hmm.

Eh, mate...that's all right.

Looks like chicken and mushroom...

..without the violence.

-I quite like that. It'd be great with bacon.

-Shut up.

-It's really good.

-It is, isn't it?

It tastes good, it looks good, and it just does you good!

I can feel the love.

That's enough.

Homity pie has had an interesting journey -

from something people created to eat out of necessity,

to being reinvented as the iconic food of the '60s veggie movement.

But now perhaps it can simply be seen as great food in its own right.

Up there with any meaty pies.

Our vegetarian food heritage owes a lot to the post-war generation,

whose focus was on animal welfare.

ARCHIVE FOOTAGE: 'This is the kind of protest movement that young vegetarians do feel able to get into.

'The girls are on the march against the factory farm.'

But attitudes of the era were hard to change.

Industrialised farming had been a hero of the Second World War,

massively increasing our food supply at a time of crisis -

but now it was in the firing line.

What do you most see against this sort of thing?

Exploitation of living creatures...

for mankind.

But vegetarianism in Britain goes back much further -

and it was just as controversial and political.

To find out more, we're off to leafy Altrincham in Cheshire, to visit the Vegetarian Society.

It's the oldest organisation of its kind in the world!

There's been a lot of bad press about vegetarians.

You know, chunky knit sweaters, nutty yoghurt, mung bean-styled nut roasts, hippies.

But there is a consistent voice to vegetarianism

that's as passionate about the food itself as the politics.

So we've come to vegetarian HQ here in Cheshire

to find out about the long and distinguished movement that is vegetarianism.

We're here to meet Liz O'Neill,

who knows all about the history of the movement.

-Hello, Liz.

-Hello! Good to meet you.

-Liz, I'm Si, nice to meet you. How are you?

Thanks for coming over to the Vegetarian Society today.

Myself and most people tend to think that vegetarianism in the UK -

being a nation of inveterate meat-eaters -

is quite new, but it's not, is it?

-No.

-How far back does vegetarianism in Britain go?

Way back. I mean, 1847 is the founding of this organisation,

but back in 1809

-a guy called the Reverend Cowherd...

-Cowherd!

-..I know, brilliant name!

He founded the Bible Christian Church in Salford

and he preached abstinence from meat

along with a very strong social reform agenda.

He encouraged his congregation into education.

He provided a free burial ground,

which was really important at the time.

Cowherd saw meat in religious terms,

as the ultimate symbol of the fall of man.

He believed that eating flesh inflamed the passions

and excited sensuality!

He died at the age of 50, but the cause was taken up

by Joseph Brotherton MP, who became one of the founders

of the Vegetarian Society.

He and his fellow veggies believed there was a link

between eating meat and violence in society.

All of which made them easy figures of fun for the press.

Let me read you some stuff from the first AGM.

There's a nice quote here from Brotherton,

who was addressing the meeting, and he says,

"There are two classes of persons in society.

"One we may say lives to eat, the other eats to live.

This is in no way about indulgence.

It is absolutely eating to live.

I mean, I think that's something that has massively changed in modern times.

And actually vegetarian food is now a wonderful and exciting part

of the range of vegetarian food.

The Vegetarian Society's run a cookery school for almost 30 years

and the vast majority of people who come through are not vegetarians themselves,

they just want to learn to cook great food.

Well, it's back to school for us.

We're going to learn some skills at the Vegetarian Society's very own cooking academy,

run by chef Alex Connell.

Today what I'd like to do is teach you how to make

one of my favourite dishes which is called ocean pie.

Alex's ocean pie hasn't got fish in it, obviously,

but it's got seaweed to give you that flavour of the sea,

as well as the veggie ingredient of choice - tofu.

I sometimes think what's been the curse of vegetarian food

is the lack of care and sophistication of ingredients.

I'm like you, I think tofu in general is a brilliant ingredient, but you need to work it.

Yeah, if you play around with it, add loads of flavour to it,

you get all sorts of textures.

You obviously have done cooking before?

-No, never. No, it's my first time.

-Really?

-Yeah.

It's falling apart on me!

I just lifted that off cos it was just starting to crisp.

-Your tofu!

-My tofu's done, is it?

Just...it should be fine now to turn over.

Look at that. It's lovely.

You've got to watch tofu - it's a delicate ingredient.

Is it working out? This is nice.

Very good.

-I like this recipe, Alex. I think it's going to taste great.

-Thank you.

The tofu we're using is the smoked type and we're seasoning it with paprika and soy sauce.

Oh, voila!

The other main ingredients are oyster and button mushrooms,

fried up with shallots and the seaweed.

This really is extraordinary -

with the seaweed and smoked garlic and the oyster mushrooms, it really does taste of the sea.

There's a logic to this which really is working.

'The ocean pie is made in a series of layers, starting with the mushroom mix...'

'..which is topped with the tofu and then a pea and parsley white sauce.'

It's a very good example of how vegetarian cuisine works with lots of interesting seasonings,

also lots of interesting textures.

Really good, really well thought-out recipe. It's fab.

Perfect.

-Have you done that before?

-Yeah!

'And last of all, you pipe some mash potato on the top,

'and sprinkle on some cheese.'

I've gone for the rope effect,

and Mr King has gone for the multiple duchess.

Voila!

Sir!

-What's going on?

-Finished!

Ready for the oven! We've finished!

-Come here.

-I'm a bit scared.

-Come here.

Genuinely, I am scared.

Oh...blocked.

Tilt!

Do you not do that with cheese spread in the tube?

It's good, innit?

It's really good.

Next time we have a class, I will show the students.

-It's an ice-breaker, chef.

-It is.

'I think we've given something back there.'

'After 20 minutes in the oven, the pies are ready.'

There is one lovely ocean pie.

CHEERING

-Look at the piping skills there!

-Oh, Mr King! Little belter.

Hey, that's a well-risen pie, madam.

-There we go, young man.

-Nice!

Last but not least, there we go.

Oh, nice, well done, that looks brilliant!

Well, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so they say.

This is really good.

I shall definitely do this at home. Just fantastic.

I think I did it a bit wrong, cos it's still a bit not cooked.

I enjoyed it and it tastes delicious.

I think our British vegetarian food heritage, is doing very nicely -

like the rest of our food, it's worth celebrating.

-It's got a past, it's got a present.

-That's right.

-It's certainly got a future.

-Absolutely, absolutely.

'Vegetarian cuisine has come a very long way from its temperance days.

'Back then, it was all about the denial of pleasure,

'but now it's the exact opposite of "eating to live".'

Nowadays, meat-free food is good enough to entice anybody.

It's not just the standard of British veggie cooking

that's improved over the years - it's also the sheer variety.

One of the greatest additions to vegetarian food in Britain

has been Indian cooking.

The main religion of India is Hinduism, and, traditionally,

many Hindus believe a vegetarian diet benefits body and soul.

And their dishes have an incredible variety of flavours

and textures that will knock your socks off.

Luckily for Manchester, Monica and her mum Anita

are so passionate to spread the word about vegetarian Indian cuisine,

they've set up a private supper society called The Spice Club.

It's an underground restaurant that we run from our home.

We like to show there's more to Indian food than just curry.

We like to serve food that you can't really get in Indian restaurants -

food that I grew up on, and food that my mum grew up on in India.

There's so much variety.

There's so many different types of dishes in Indian cuisine.

It's nice to be able to show some of those dishes

at The Spice Club to some guests.

They don't have that concept that Indian food is so vast and diverse.

I think it's quite special.

It does bring a big smile on your face.

Immigration in the '60s and '70s

brought thousands of families from India to Britain.

They mainly settled in cities, and many took up employment in factories

or the NHS.

And with them came a huge diversity of regional cuisines.

Anita grew up in the Hindu tradition of the Punjab,

where delicious vegetarian food is part of family life.

I've learned so many vegetarian dishes from my mother,

and this is how I have learned and taught Monica.

I think this is how she developed all the interest in food.

Mum wanted me to be a good Indian daughter and have all the values,

so she made sure that I knew how to cook.

I'm a proud mum.

She makes lovely food.

If it's fresh, it's green.

Yes, it's good. ..It's good.

Just as well, because 13 guests have signed up

to tonight's supper club via social networks online.

The star of the feast is kofta masala, made using lotus root.

Hi, Dad. What have you got?

An Asian vegetable which Monica's dad has been out to buy.

It's been grated, mixed with flour, herbs and spices,

and rolled into balls.

They are a family favourite, even with non-vegetarians.

These are the balls which taste better than meat.

You can bite into it and they are meaty.

They're absolutely delicious.

The secret to this kind of cuisine

is the layering of flavours and spices,

so the kofta balls are served with a masala - that's Indian for gravy.

It's made with tomato and cream, and, you've guessed it, more spices.

It's a balance of ingredients, a balance of different spices.

Each spice has its own flavour,

it has its own benefit.

That's the nice thing about this food -

it's made of so many different types of spices,

and they're blended together and it just creates

a unique flavour profile that's unlike any other cuisine.

Almost 12 hours after they first started cooking,

four types of lentils, seven different sauces, and 26 spices later,

the five course vegetarian feast is ready.

Fingers crossed everything turns out well and everyone enjoys it.

Just in time because... The supper club guests are here.

Hi.

Monica and Anita are hoping their guests' perception

of vegetarian food is about to change for ever.

We'd like to think we're taking you on a bit of a culinary journey

from the north of Manchester, all the way to the north of India.

The Indian street food starter katori chaat goes down really well.

It's really good. A flavour explosion.

Next, the lotus root balls, shahi kofta masala,

accompanied by the chickpeas, okra, dahl and the dumplings.

It was absolutely amazing.

I've never been a fan of okra, and the stuffed okra

has converted me, it's a gorgeous dish.

The lotus leaf koftas were delicious.

As meat eaters, we didn't miss the meat.

They were like meatballs, very fleshy, delicious tasting.

The highlight of the meal.

Far better vegetarian food than I've ever eaten out in any restaurant, I have to say.

I'm really proud of my wife and my daughter,

for the simple reason they're making people taste the real,

authentic Indian food that Indians eat in their own house.

Empty plates, a good sign.

No Indian meal would be complete

without a traditional Indian pudding.

I've never had cardamom ice cream before but it was gorgeous,

definitely have it again.

Vegetarian cooking doesn't get better than Monica and Anita's -

dishes like theirs have gone from being Indian specialities

to much loved British favourites.

So relieved everything went down well and I think the vegetarian food,

everyone really enjoyed it. It's been a brilliant night.

This is the result when you eat vegetarian food!

'And it's not just Indian food that's influenced how we cook vegetable dishes.

'There's a whole host of cooking techniques and ideas we've borrowed from Italian cooking.

'Team them up with British veg and you're onto a real winner.

'And we've got the perfect recipe for people who grow their own.

'Fresh garden vegetable risotto.'

-Say that again.

-Riso'-oh.

-Riso'-oh.

-We're cooking a...

-BOTH: Risotto!

There's loads of TV chefs that have shown you how to do a risotto on the telly,

but this is slightly different because it's us that's showing you and we're not chefs.

When a risotto is done properly, it can be as simple as you like, it's one of the best things to eat.

'Add a glug of olive oil to the pan, a large knob of butter and grate in a clove of garlic,

'then finely chop an onion.'

What we're going to do is we're going to cook this... We're sweating the garlic and the onions.

We'll sweat them down. We don't want any colour on them. They just want to be slightly translucent.

-There's nowt wrong with British onions and we grow good varieties of garlic in Britain now too.

-Yeah.

The dressing for the top of the risotto is minted olive oil, so I'll get that on now to infuse.

Just chopped mint in olive oil. Apart from the colour side of it,

I'll just drizzle the mint oil on top of the risotto and we've got peas and green beans in this,

it'll bring those veggies to life.

Oh, it's only my nail!

-Try and keep that out of there.

-I know.

-It is a vegetarian dish after all!

-After all!

-FORCED LAUGHTER

Oh, the fragrance coming off that mint is fantastic.

A great fan of the fragrance of mint was Pliny in Ancient Rome.

He made his students wear a wreath of mint around their neck.

He thought the aroma stimulated their minds and made them brainier.

I tell you what. Chop some more mint. We'll need more than that.

'Pop the mint in a bowl and pour over loads of lovely olive oil and let it infuse.

'Next, we want to add some building blocks of flavour to the onions and garlic.

'Four sprigs of thyme, a bay leaf and some lemon peel.'

We're going to remove this, so just do it like a potato peeling

and amuse yourself and try and get this strip of zest as long as possible.

-And look, we are using the Amalfi lemon!

-Yeah.

Pop it in.

Before we finish it off with the veg, we'll remove the lemon zest, lift the bay leaf out and stalks.

-A few leaves of thyme are nice.

-By then, they've done their job and there's no need to have them in.

-Rice time?

-I think so.

-This is the other must with risotto.

You must fry the rice in all this to glaze it with the oil and butter before you start adding the stock.

Watch what happens when we put it into the pan.

Now, as soon as the heat hits that rice, the grain will open up slightly

-and it will just get covered with that beautiful, beautiful, oily loveliness.

-It goes like pearls.

-It does.

-You know what I love about this dish, Si?

We tend to cook meat and fish and they're the backstage players, the vegetables.

On this, the veggies are given the respect and importance they deserve.

'Pour over 150 millilitres of dry white wine and simmer it until the liquid has reduced by half,

'then it's time to start adding the stock.

'Make up 750 millilitres of stock. You can use vegetable or chicken and make it fresh or from a cube.'

When you're making your risotto, you have your working pan

and next to it you have your stock pan with the stock just at a simmer,

with a ladle standing by ready, one to the other, one to the other. The result is epic risotto.

Look at the consistency. That's reduced by half.

The rice has absorbed some of that liquid and now we can start to add the stock,

about half a ladle at a time.

'Now for the veg.

'Chop a generous bunch of asparagus to add, along with a handful of runner beans,

'some peas and one of my favourites - broad beans.'

One thing we do like to do with beans... These have been blanched.

We skin 'em, double pop 'em.

I think this is what puts people off broad beans - that tough outer skin.

It's a bit of a faff, but look at that beautiful thing.

The best thing about going to my Uncle George's house was popping the beans straight off,

literally pulling your peas straight off and popping those pea pods... Oh, fabulous!

When I was a kid, we used to get peas in their pods.

Me mam sat me down to pod the peas for dinner.

She made me whistle cos she knew if the whistling stopped, I was eating the peas.

You can't rush a risotto, can you?

No, it's done when it's done.

It says on the back of the rice packet, "Cook for 12 minutes." It takes longer.

It takes about 20 minutes to cook the rice in a risotto and you've got standing time as well.

You just want it to relax and that's when you should eat it.

The rice is getting slightly softer, but it's still quite hard,

so just keep letting it absorb and let it absorb slowly.

Look at those, fresh as a fresh thing!

Look at all the different hues of green. It's just building up into something really lovely.

'When you only have a couple of ladlefuls of stock left, remove the thyme and lemon zest

'and stir in the asparagus, peas and broad beans, then pour over the remaining stock.'

Look at that!

And then just... nice and gently fold it over.

Cook this for three minutes, then put the lid on and leave it to stand for five.

-That looks fabulous. It looks a really attractive dish.

-That's like St Patrick's Day on a plate.

Since we're handling vegetables, I'm finding a new-found calmness and gentility.

-You know what I mean?

-No.

I feel more centred, more part of the earth. I look at those beans.

You haven't got sandals on? You'll be riding a pushbike next!

I've got one.

You haven't?!

-You haven't?

-I have.

-Have you?

-Yeah.

-It's got 15 gears and everything.

-Has it?

-Yeah.

Cycling is wrong.

I'm fed up with beer, beef and indolence.

I want green stuff, freshness, feel the air pouring down my lungs without the aid of Ventolin.

This is an expose on Dave Myers' secret life.

It's only when I'm looking at the risotto. I don't think it'll last.

Are we ready for the "fet-AH"?

'You'll need 100 grams of feta, but be careful, it's quite salty,

'so when you season, you should only need pepper.'

Gently fold that in.

Oh, you see, you're calming down now.

I can feel your anger's going out as you stir that risotto.

Every time you breathe out, green love goes in and anger goes out.

-See?

-Look at that...

..and tell me that wouldn't be fantastic

with some freshly barbecued spring lamb.

-That'd be great.

-It would.

-Little cutlets just charred in a little olive oil.

Yeah, but if you didn't have lamb, it's still nice. Just cover that and let it steam in its own steaminess.

The pan's off the heat now. Look, I've turned it off. Look.

No heat. Let it sit.

'Now bring a pan of salted water to the boil and blanch the green beans for a couple of minutes.

'While you're waiting, shave some nice, big curls of Parmesan

'to pop on top of the risotto when it's finished.

'Once you've drained the tender runner beans,

'pop them back in the pan and toss them with a knob of butter and a generous amount of ground pepper.

'Stir the remaining butter into the risotto and that's it, time to dish up.'

Oh, look at that!

-That's the texture you want, isn't it, Si?

-That's absolutely perfect.

Now, to the top of that...

-Oh, yes!

-..some of these lovely, buttered, peppery beans.

And some lovely Parmesan shavings.

And they're just going to relax down on to the risotto.

-I think that's enough.

-I'm going to put a little drizzle of mint oil...

All that mint oil is just going to be so fresh with the veg.

It looks great, doesn't it?

And there we have it - our homage to Britain's gardeners.

A most fantastic, British, vegetable risotto. Brilliant!

A dish that could make a vegetarian

out of a pair of hairy 'uns.

Well, for a short while maybe.

'Oh, beautiful, creamy gorgeousness!

'Risottos are the perfect way to reap the benefits of that toil in the garden

'and make the most of your home-grown produce.

'We Brits have a long and fruitful history when it comes to the allotment garden.

'It could be said to go back over 1,000 years

'to when our Saxon ancestors cleared woodland for land to be held in common for cultivation.

'When this common land disappeared into the hands of a few wealthy landowners in the 16th century,

'they graciously allotted small parcels of land to their tenants.

'So the poor had something to stick their pitchforks in rather than them.

'Hence the term "allotment".

'During World War Two, they became very important

'as growing your own became a necessity, a duty no less.

'When food rationing was introduced, we were encouraged to utilise every piece of ground and grow veg.'

You may not be lucky enough to own an ideal kitchen garden like this.

But the flower garden will grow beetroot just as well as begonias and is more fashionable too nowadays.

There may be room for vegetables on top of your Anderson shelter or in the back yard

or even on that flat bit of roof.

'So we patriotically picked up our shovels and did our bit

'in the 1.4 million allotments up and down the UK.

'But as rationing ended, factory-produced food started to fill shop shelves

'and interest began to wane a little.

'But all that changed in the 1970s when applications for allotments suddenly soared.

'I wonder why that was?

'Like Tom and Barbara, people were buzzing with the romantic notion

'of heading back to the land and becoming self-sufficient.'

I hope it's going to be a family effort. This is my wife and Leonard, the father-in-law.

'But it was harder than it looked.'

How much experience have you had?

So, you know, this is it, starting from rough, both the plot and me.

'Getting an allotment is one thing, making it work quite another,

'but luckily, there's always someone at hand who is happy to offer advice.'

-Professor, it looks a bit weedy and rough.

-It is a pretty rough plot.

But we can get this into good fettle.

We've got a good soil depth and, as you can see, we've got a soil that has a pH of 5.5.

That means, Mike, it's a bit lime-deficient.

'Yes, and getting your pH balance right is just the start.

'If you're not careful, you can come under attack from all sides.'

-The smell of the rotting tubers...

-And the weed-infested rubbish tips.

Cabbage root fly. Rabbit attack.

-Coral spot.

-The hoverfly larvae.

-Slugs.

-Carrot fly.

-Moles.

-Wind scorch.

That is death.

-Get cracking, lad, because you're on your own.

-Thank you, Tom, Harry.

'But we're a hardy and tenacious bunch, us Brits,

'and won't let little things like that put us off.

'Today's allotments are more in demand than ever.

'In some places in London, you must wait up to 40 years.

'40 years? I'd be 60 by then(!)

'Mathematics was never your strong point.

'Alas, neither's gardening, but thankfully for the nation,

'a passion for horticulture runs through our veins and is deeply embedded in our past.

'When it comes to growing veg, some people have really excelled themselves.

'Proud Britons have been showing off our home produce at village and agricultural shows for years.'

# ..and your parks so grand

# Talk of your wonderful gardens down at Kew... #

'Many were first introduced around the latter half of the 19th century

'to celebrate rural pursuits and crafts in the face of the growing might of the Industrial Revolution.

'But when it comes to green-fingered success,

'the shows that really matter are those hosted by the Royal Horticultural Society.

'These days, people travel from all over the world to see their show gardens and displays,

'but, if like us, you don't know your Dicksonia from your begonias,

'they also offer delights of a more edible variety.

'And in an arena where the standards are high,

'Medwyn Williams is well ahead of the field when it comes to growing champion vegetables.'

That's one of the longest.

They reckon that... That's about my height from the floor and I'm about five foot eight.

That's not bad for a July parsnip.

These are the best I've grown for this time of year.

It just gives you a great thrill. It's a good buzz.

'His passion for vegetables has paid off. With 19 consecutive gold medals under his belt,

'our best of British veg-growing hero is hoping for his 20th

'at the Chelsea Flower Show of the North, Tatton Park.'

I really want to win the gold medal. It's the winning thing that counts.

We've never had less than a gold anywhere ever.

The problem with that is there's only one way to go.

I don't know what I'd do if I came in here on Wednesday morning and I saw a bronze or something like that.

'But it's taken a lifetime of dedication and hard work to get to this point.

'Back at his home in Anglesey, Medwyn will stop at nothing to grow the most perfect veg in the land

'and it's an obsession that took root at an early age.'

We've been growing vegetables for the last three generations, really.

And quite honestly, it was a matter of necessity very often because we were quite poor,

so the veg in the garden was packed just for eating,

but after a while, my dad started getting into this exhibition game for showing his veg.

I used to love that experience.

It all started for me when I was in primary school

and about eight or nine years old.

My dad gave me three packets of seeds in my hand.

He was very wise because he gave me radish, mustard and cress -

three seeds that germinate very quickly, thereby catching the imagination of a young child

when you see these green shoots coming out of the ground.

And they harvested quickly. I invited my friend Gareth over.

I cut the bread like gravestones with lashings of butter

and we had a sandwich of radish, mustard and cress, six weeks after I sowed them.

That was, to me, the start of my gardening career.

From then on, I was hooked on what made these things grow, what made them tick

and how I could grow them better and better.

# Well, what do you know, he smiled at me in my dreams last night

# My dreams are getting better all the time... #

'He's been honing his skills for years and with the competition season looming,

'this year, Medwyn is going for broke.

'He has a fantastic, new, state-of-the-art greenhouse

'which he's hoping will leave his opponents for dust.'

This is the latest weapon in my armament.

It's the best greenhouse you can possibly buy.

I don't think any of my opponents have one of these

and I hope they don't because I want to keep one step ahead of them.

# My dreams are getting better all the time... #

-'Good grief! Medwyn certainly knows his onions.

-The size of them are enough to make your eyes water!'

What I'm doing at the moment is cleaning off the dead skins on these onions,

so hopefully, they'll be on one good skin for Tatton Park.

I'm quite pleased. They're about 18 inches and there are bigger ones here.

But when you consider that the world record for the heaviest onion is 16 pounds, over 16 pounds,

that is a big onion, that's nearly as big as my head and I've got a big one!

Every show, of course, is different.

The pressure is on. The more shows I do, everybody wants you to fail.

And I'm determined I'm not going to fail.

There will be, hopefully, over 40 different kinds of vegetables there.

When I get to Tatton, we have tables in front of us and we start building dishes.

We create a picture with the material that we've got.

I firmly believe that vegetables are more colourful than flowers

with the added benefit you can eat them and that is the best part of it all.

It's the taste of growing your own veg. There's nothing quite like it.

There you are. That's a nice bulb.

'With his prize veg all on site now at Tatton Park,

'it's time for the painstaking operation of showing them off at their best.

-'His wife Gwenda takes charge of the staging.'

-We've only got two baskets of carrots.

'While Medwyn's in charge of quality control.'

Isn't that a little rude? I can't help it. It grew like that!

There's too much of a gap here now.

I strive for perfection, but settle for excellence.

-Put it in front of the tomatoes.

-I have settled long ago. She will not settle.

She is perfection personified.

'Can you imagine how good all that lot would taste cooked up?

-'Yeah, you'd certainly get more than your five a day.

-More like 500!

'Wow, it looks amazing, man!

'After all his hard work, Medwyn can only stand back and hope the veg he's carefully nurtured from seed

'can win him his 20th gold medal.'

I think that people will be amazed at the absolute range of colours there are in vegetables.

From those little packets, we've got this fabulous display - 20 foot wide, 40-plus varieties.

What more can a man ask? Contentment.

Well, that's it. That's good enough for me.

'Let's hope the judges enjoy their greens.'

OK, any other comments before we go to our first stage of the judging?

Once the judging starts, you're not allowed in the marquee.

I've done everything I can and it's up to them.

I'd like to be a little fly on the wall,

just to be there listening to them to hear what comments they make.

'Medwyn's looking nervous.

'Time to put him out of his misery.'

Medwyn...

After all these years and your beautiful, beautiful display...

-Yes?

-What do you think your medal's going to be?

Give me a Valium first.

-It's gold!

-Oh!

Congratulations.

-Yes!

-Congratulations.

Just the job.

Yes!

'That's a "turnip" for the books!'

I started at the very bottom of the ladder and I've now been able to creep up slowly,

dragging the vegetables up with me to the top rung.

This very method here of staging vegetables with the leeks upright and the celery upright,

that is a very, very old tradition going back 100 years-plus.

This is something that I'm trying to uphold, really,

and I'm proud of that.

'For the last recipe, we want to pay tribute to those people like Medwyn who make Britain great.'

-This is a small one.

-That is a belter!

That's the baby one. I couldn't carry the biggest!

'Their dedication and perseverance highlights just how magnificent vegetables can be.

So now us meat-starved hairies are jumping off the vegetarian wagon.

But only to demonstrate that when meat's on the plate, vegetables can still be the star of the dish,

even the humble marrow.

This recipe is a fabulous way for using up your marrow or indeed your overgrown, distended courgettes.

I mean, marrow can be tasteless, big and boring.

People have said that about us, but we're still on telly, so don't give up on your marrow.

Who said that? Just folk? You should've let us know.

I can live with it. I've got broad shoulders.

'We're about to prove the marrow can be great by packing it with a punchy sauce

'made of British beef and fresh British vegetables.

'Flavoured with red wine and a bit of chilli to give this humble vegetable a bit of a kick.

'And to top it off, we've got a lovely bit of mozzarella.'

-I'll start with the onion.

-Right oh. I'll start with the carrots.

Basically, we're going to build the stuffing for this marrow first and it's a lovely stuffing.

It's like a bolognese. It's got minced beef in it. It's lovely.

'Add a good glug of olive oil to a pan

-'and fry the onion and carrots with two stalks of finely diced celery sticks.

-Cook it over a low heat.'

Have you seen what we're doing with this? We're just cooking it down, getting some heat through it.

We're building the flavours up because poor old Mr Marrow hasn't got much of his own.

'Next, add some nice minced beef to the pan and brown gently.

'Then chop two garlic cloves and sprinkle on a bit of sea salt.

'Using the side of your knife, blend it to a paste and then add it into the pan.'

-Lovely. It's nice and brown. A bit of dried flavouring now.

-Yes, indeedy!

A teaspoon of dried oregano.

Dried herbs are great for this because we want the oregano to cook in for a long time with the meat.

And a teaspoon of chilli flakes.

If you don't like it spicy, don't put your chilli flakes in.

-'And finally, a teaspoon of caster sugar.'

-Give it a crush.

'And a bay leaf.' You can smell it. It's lovely.

And the base to the stuffing is tomatoes.

You can use fresh or tinned.

If you're using tinned tomatoes for this recipe, use one tin.

If you're using fresh, it needs to be seeded and skinned and use about double the quantity.

They're canned cherry tomatoes cos we're feeling a bit flush.

It's up to you if you use tomato paste or not.

If you use fresh tomatoes, you definitely will need tomato paste.

But we'll just use a little bit of tomato paste.

Now, the marrow is full of water,

so the sauce that we stuff it with has to be really, really thick.

It may look like I'm using a lot of flour, but I'm not, we need this to be like wallpaper paste,

really claggy.

Now what we're going to do is we're going to add about 150 ml of red wine...

-..which is just about a glass.

-A large glass.

And about 300 mls of good beef stock.

Look at that.

And then just very gently, cos our pan's a bit small...

-DAVE LAUGHS

-Just move that around.

Put that in.

Then what'll happen is that flour that Dave put in before will just absorb all those cooking juices

and it'll taste fantastic.

Now we leave that to cook for about half an hour.

Which gives us time to prep the marrow and to make a yummy cheese sauce.

-I'll make the sauce and you can prep the marrow.

-Fantastic. Nice to get my hands on you!

'For the cheese sauce, first make a roux.

'Mix 15 grams of melted butter with a dessertspoon of plain flour

'and then add 250 millilitres of milk slowly,

'a bit at a time.'

-Mate, listen, before I cut into this beast...

-Yeah?

The thing is, when we cook with marrow, we always give it a name.

-Do you remember we did one in Wales and we called him Dewi?

-Oh, yeah.

This is an English marrow.

I think... And this programme is about British gardeners.

Shall we call him Percy?

'Get a big, sharp knife and split it in half from top to tail,

'then get a spoon and scoop out all of the seeds.'

Of course, where we take the seeds out, it leaves us with a very, very convenient cavity to stuff.

This is a good marrow.

-Is it nice?

-It's firm. It's not all water.

Right, I'm going to add to the white sauce some Cheddar cheese.

And to give our Cheddar cheese a little bit of zip,

just a little bit of Parmesan.

There we go. Now, if we put this in the roasting tin like this, it will roll about all over the place,

so I'm just going to cut a level bottom.

There you go. And it will sit there loud and proud.

Now it's time to put Percy in his tin.

You don't have to, but because I'm paranoid, I'm going to oil the bottom of the tin.

I don't want the marrow to stick.

You know when you do a Sunday lunch, you have to have a main event brought to the table?

We are in tough times. A stuffed marrow is a good Sunday lunch thing, isn't it?

-It's not quite your roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, but it is an event for the family.

-Certainly.

'Season the cheese sauce with a pinch of white pepper and salt,

'then whisk it until it's blended to perfection.'

That is the consistency of the cheese sauce that you're after.

'Take the cheese sauce off the heat and cover it with Clingfilm to stop it getting a skin on top,

'then check the mince to see if it needs any seasoning.'

That really has no seasoning at all. By golly, it needs some!

'Add salt and pepper to taste, then it's time to stuff the marrow.'

So with a happy heart and a cheery grin...

We're just about to give Percy a grin...

Hey! ..when we put the mince in.

-We could do cookery and poetry, couldn't we?

-No.

It'd be like Pam Ayres, but butch.

Now the time has come not to harrow,

it's time to put our mince in that marrow!

We're going to put the top on with cheese,

as much as you like, if you please!

LAUGHTER

Then we're going to bake it...

All right, all right, shut up and get on with it!

'Once you've removed the bay leaf, spoon as much of the mince into the marrow as you dare,

'then pour over a generous drizzle of cheese sauce and top with some chunks of torn mozzarella.'

Mozzarella is good. It's like a living, breathing thingy.

It's great. Buffalo mozzarella comes from, unsurprisingly, the buffalo and the milk of said buffalo.

-I bet it's a swine milking a buffalo!

-It's hard to catch.

-Come here!

-On you go.

'Finally, cover it in foil and pop it in a pre-heated oven at 160 degrees for an hour.

'Then remove the foil and cook for a further ten minutes.'

-Ooh!

-Percy... Perky Percy, look at that!

The cheese is bubbling up like that.

-Whoa!

-Right...

-I get excited like this.

Look at that.

That's it. You just put it side by side and that makes a lovely, lovely thing.

The first thing that strikes me about this is there is a lot of good food there for very little money.

It does look tasty.

-You can serve it with a green salad or a great big bowl of chips.

-Lovely.

'Marrow can be a great base for lots of sauces. We used minced beef,

-'but you can experiment with different fillings.

-Italian sausage is particularly delicious.

'Or keep it vegetarian to make the most of your home-grown produce.

'We British are so privileged to live in such a fertile land.

'There can be few things more satisfying than growing your veg.

'Except perhaps eating them. Yum-yum!

And in a country that was once the heaviest consumer of meat in Europe,

it's remarkable how we've embraced vegetarianism.

But with such great veg on offer, perhaps it's not so surprising.

Well, Great British veg, it's flavoursome, cheap and full of variety. You can't beat it.

If you want to find out more about the series, visit...

..to discover some amazing facts about the history of food.

And to find out how to cook up the recipes in today's show.

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