Party Food Hairy Bikers Everyday Gourmets

Gourmet food. A feast for the eyes and the appetite.

Mouth-watering recipes...

The sort of thing you find in the very best restaurants across the country.

But these ones are dirt cheap. And guess what?

They're made by us!

The hairy bikers are going posh!

And we're going to do it without blowing the weekly budget.

And tonight, baby, is party night!

-Come and get it, kids!

-Come on! Grub's up!

We'll show you a host of party treats that won't put you out of pocket.

There we have it. A centre-piece.

We'll meet the chef that turns the ordinary into the extraordinary.

It's exciting, isn't it? Like Christmas for vegetables.

Get a history lesson and learn how the royals raved it up.

Wow, that's amazing! That terrine does have wow factor.

And throw a massive thank you party for some truly deserving people.

Join us in our quest to show you how to make exceptional dishes

for next to nothing.

It's the art of making every day gourmet.

# Let's get in the mood

# A real cosy mood

# Let's have a party. #

Ooh, we do love a good party.

-It doesn't matter how big...

-Or small.

It's a perfect opportunity to push the boat out to wow your friends and family.

But we believe that at the heart of every good party

is spectacular food!

Parties are all about the celebration and getting everybody involved.

But having a bash doesn't have to put a dent in your wallet.

With a bit of thought and creative flair,

you can turn everyday ingredients into a spectacular smorgasbord

that everyone will want to dive into.

You know, sometimes, people refer to us as being a big pair of dumplings at parties.

Who? Who has?

-But dumplings can go to parties.

-Right.

And we're making a very well dressed and cared for dumpling.

The Japanese gyoza!

Hai-o! It's the kung fu of dumplings, the Japanese gyoza.

It's fabulous. It's tasty, it's flavoursome, and most important, it's cheap.

Sometimes you pay over a pound a piece in a restaurant.

-Ours are five for a pound.

-That's all right, then.

Every good party starts with a canape

and these Japanese gyozas are a bargain,

using up a lot of store cupboard staples.

For every cook, or everyday gourmet, you need a pantry.

It can be big like this,

a cupboard or a biscuit tin.

But to the cook, this is your artist's palette and these are your paints.

Look, we've got loads here. We've got spices.

Coriander, dill seeds, garam masala, turmeric.

If you take ordinary foods, quite inexpensive,

and dress them and treat them the right way,

the world's your oyster, literally.

Look, oyster sauce.

Using your store cupboard sauces

means you can splash out on more expensive ingredients

like crabs and prawns.

Oh, look at that.

Belter!

-There's a lot to a little dumpling!

-You're not wrong.

You've got two balls of stuff,

one ball of dough and you make blinkin' hundreds.

That's the great thing about them because they're cheap.

Really, it's very simple. It's an assembly. All the fillings are an assembly.

You mush it together with your hands to make sure the flavours are all the way through.

The fish products and the meat products, fantastic. I'm just going to do that now.

These gyozas want to be delicate. So finely chop spring onions, prawn and cooked crab.

I love crab. I really do.

It is the most deep, fantastic sea flavour. I just love it.

Add a tablespoon of oyster sauce...

..sesame oil...

..and the zest of a lemon.

Then mash it all together with your hands

so all those flavours party on together.

Well, that end of the table becomes a cacophony of confusion.

This end is just a picture of Zen simplicity.

Here we have flour, crafted from the north face of Mount Fuji.

The local discount store, actually.

Flour. Some fine sea salt.

Give it a little stir.

Simple. So, boiling water goes in pastry.

You think, "He make unholy mess."

It's true, but it'll come right in the end.

And the chopsticks, apart from looking a bit authentic,

stops you from getting your fingers burnt!

When the pastry forms a ball, chill in the fridge and then get ready to roll.

You want it thinner.

Thinner than a jellyfish in front of a searchlight.

That thin. That transparent. That see-through.

As thin as a window!

No, cos you can get thick windows.

So use a cutter. Make big 'uns, little 'uns, some as big as your head.

This is like an average eight millimetre gyoza.

Then just cut out discs.

If you're making a huge batch - I have been known to make 70 at a time -

just flour your discs and stack 'em.

Then you're ready to build.

Brush the rim to guarantee a seal,

and then you're good to gyoza!

Oh, what timing. What timing.

Take a spoonful of filling,

place a piece on there. Not too much.

Then fold over like so

and seal.

This is the good bit. You turn it like that

and then you make a pleat on the top, a crimp.

And that's your gyoza.

Then just repeat.

Make as big a batch as you want, and fry the bottoms in oil

for a bit of crunch.

-See, that's what you're after.

-Perfect.

-So you've got a crispy chew.

Carefully add some water and steam

for a mere two minutes.

Then take the lid off for a minute,

and they're ready to serve with a soy-based dipping sauce.

They're done. I'll turn those off.

And just dress with some sesame oil.

Look at that. A lovely coating of the oil.

It really is a dumpling to take to a party. It's a posh dumpling.

Do you think Dave likes them? He does, doesn't he?

-Tell you what we need to do.

-Yeah?

-Quality control.

-Oh, I do think so.

-I think so.

Phwah!

Thank you. Do you come here often? I haven't seen you before.

I do come here, yes.

Oh, God, that's good!

Oh, yes!

We think these are the best.

To prove it, we've roped in some hard-core party animals.

Come and get it, kids!

Come on! Grub's up! Gyozas!

These local school kids are our guinea pigs

to prove that all ages can enjoy gourmet party food.

Dippy sauces as well.

What do you think of the dumplings?

-ALL:

-Good!

Yeah? Well, I think you like them, don't you, man?

They're super. You don't have to be old and posh to enjoy good food.

-Girls, can you get some at the back? Have you got any?

-No.

-Come on. Here you are.

-Wa-hey!

-What are you doing?

-Come on, Kingy!

Ready? Charge!

See? Kids. Gourmet.

Box ticked.

And our party adventure has only just begun.

We're off to Wales to find out why one lady wants to throw a surprise party

for a group of very special people at an amazing place.

On the outskirts of Swansea is a community farm

where people of all ages and abilities

have found a haven.

Kate Gibbs is the farm training officer.

A wide range of people from different backgrounds, different traumatic events.

Health problem, mental health problems, learning disabilities.

Everybody's welcome here, whatever their issues, or even if they have no issues.

They turn up and become part of the community.

Everyone's kind of equal here, and that's a really rare thing.

This charity relies heavily on volunteers,

many of whom originally came in their own hour of need.

It's the people that make it as much as anything. Everyone is so lovely

and everyone's so enthusiastic.

It's a good farm to work on

and especially with meeting new people and stuff.

It's really good, yes. Really good.

People come back. They come once to see something, to try something,

and they keep coming back until we've got them hooked.

They're building things for us. It's wonderful.

One of the biggest projects has been the building of a new training kitchen,

overseen by Bob the Builder!

Come on, then, muscles!

But carried out largely by the volunteers.

In terms of labels, we've got the full gambit, really.

There's people with learning difficulties,

people with mental health issues,

people with physical disabilities.

I couldn't tell you which label applies to which person.

I didn't bother to find out. The whole approach was more about what people could do

rather than what they couldn't.

The kitchen is almost complete, and Kate and Bob want to throw a surprise party

for the volunteers who helped build it.

It would be so lovely to give something back to them.

Just to say thank you, cos they're amazing!

They're meeting us in secret to get the ball rolling.

Swansea community farm. If you had to sum it up,

what does it mean to you?

It's about enrichment. It's about enriching lives.

It's enriched my life an awful lot being involved in it.

And now I'm welcoming other people to have their lives enriched by it.

It's a valuable community resource. It's free to access.

It's just a place where everybody's welcome, which is unique.

It's a really welcoming place.

It's a really comfortable, easy place to be.

You can see that people get a huge amount out of the place.

Myself as well. I've been working there for the duration of this project.

I've gained a huge amount from it.

So just a guesstimate, off the top of your head,

how many people have been involved in the farm?

Over the course of its life, hundreds have been involved.

So are we talking about a party for hundreds?

No. What we've decided to do,

to narrow it down to the core 35 staff and volunteers

-that have been a big part of this particular project.

-Right.

So 35 people. Clearly there's an emotional thing going on as well,

and we want to make it special and great.

Uh... Money.

Being a charity, that's not something we have a lot of.

We've put aside £100 for this,

which I know might be a bit of a challenge!

Right. 35 people, 100 quid.

-That's £2.50 and a glass of lemonade!

-Yes.

-Oh, that's fine.

-It'll be...

-Fine. How many courses?

-Three.

-Three.

-Three.

-It's not going to be easy, is it?

Let's go and have a look at the farm.

'The community farm has been going for 20 years,

'all thanks to the hard work and spirit of volunteers.'

-Away they go!

-It's feeding time!

'To keep the party a surprise,

'we've come in early before the volunteers start.

'But one man in on the secret is farm manager Chris.'

Pleased to meet you.

-It's a farm!

-Definitely a farm.

-They're good looking pigs.

-They are, aren't they?

-Lovely.

-They are beautiful.

Is there anything we can do? Do you need a hand at feeding them or...

Well, most of our animals go out

-so we need help putting them out and feeding them.

-Great.

-Smashing.

I've got some food for the pigs and piglets there.

-That's our piglets.

-How do you feed a pig?

Just throw it in, over in that corner.

-Right.

-Not the bowl, just the feed!

I'm glad you said that, Chris!

Girls, it's chow time!

Now, this is a working farm,

and some of the pigs here are reared for their meat.

And it's top-notch stuff.

So it's no surprise that we're thinking that pork would be a fitting main course

for the party.

Or lamb.

Listen, can I just have your attention a minute?

Thank you.

-I...

-Baaa!

-You at the back, cut it out!

-Can we do...

-Baa!

-Can we do this in an orderly fashion, please?

-Thank you.

-Baa!

Right. Off we go.

Nice and orderly.

Come on, then, girls.

Go on, then, girls. Go, go, go.

Look at that. Genius.

-It's what you'd call a good mixed farm.

-Definitely.

What have you got? We've got pigs and sheep and dogs.

We keep ducks and geese. We have chickens, free range chickens.

-We keep bees, which is amazing.

-Wow.

We show people how to produce honey.

And we've got an allotment, so we grow food as well.

What a lovely thing to do, a great thing to do, to say thank you to everybody who's helped.

It is such a fabulous, fabulous thing you do here.

They give their time and skills so freely.

You can't thank them enough.

We should have a look round, mate, and see if we can base most of it out of the farm.

-It would be wonderful.

-Fill the plate.

-Doesn't taste better!

Look at this beautiful load of onions here. Brilliant.

-Bay leaf.

-Bay leaf, fantastic for the pork.

-Fennel.

-Lovely.

-Strawberries.

-Strawberries. Redcurrants there.

-Tarragon.

-I bet that's gorgeous.

-Oh, yeah.

This farm is chocker-block with free party goodies

which will give us the produce to produce a party!

If there's any left! You're not meant to be eating it.

Leaving us to buy ingredients that we can't get on the farm.

Thing is, knowing our ambitions,

£100 to throw a party to feed 35 people, plus us,

so we're close to 40,

is quite a daunting task.

-Yes.

-But this is like the Garden of Eden.

I feel more confident that we can achieve something truly spectacular

having walked round and seen what we can actually get from the farm.

We're there, man. We're there. What are they going to drink?

Water.

We want to throw a party as wonderful as the people who run this farm.

And on such a tight budget, that means meticulous planning and research.

A good celebration needs to be memorable

and thankfully, us Brits know how to put on a do.

And no-one knows how to party more than the royals.

They've been doing it for centuries.

And king pin was George IV.

His appetite for hell-raising would make Prince Harry blush!

Georgie-Porgie's taste for fine dining, gambling and fast living

helped drive his dad, King George III bonkers. Literally.

So, in 1811, after his dad went mad,

our George had a free rein to indulge himself.

And this was Beach Party Central, Brighton Pavilion.

The new king specially commissioned it for entertaining,

with food as opulent and over-the-top as the architecture.

But believe it or not, amongst these lavish surroundings,

there are everyday gourmet tips to be had.

Good grief, Mother!

I love this. This is the place to have a party!

This is a place to party.

-Crikey!

-Hi, Ivan.

'Ivan Day is a food historian,

'and we want him to tell us what made George IV the ultimate entertainer.'

What George did was, he sought out Europe's greatest pastry cook and chef, Antonin Careme,

who came and worked here.

He produced food which was incredibly visually opulent,

as opulent as the glass and the silver and the porcelain on the table.

But even small dishes were really beautifully made.

So much trouble went into making them.

But remember, Careme wasn't working by himself.

He had a whole team of very, very skilled people who backed him up.

The problem that Dave and I have,

is that we need party food that isn't and doesn't need a Hollywood budget!

Well, I think we can do that.

If we choose one of his vegetable dishes,

something called a chartreuse,

it looks very fancy, but actually the ingredients can be very cheap.

It'll still have bling factor?

Total bling factor.

It will look absolutely beautiful.

-Result.

-Careme's kitchen.

-We'll follow you.

-OK.

You'll be the first person working in here since Careme himself.

-No!

-Try not to break out!

Even the kitchen was fit for a king

with steam-powered state-of-the-art ovens

capable of catering for hundreds.

George loved it so much,

that the party would often end in this very kitchen.

Well, all the best parties do, don't they, dude?

Without wasting any time, I've already made the Chartreuse for you.

This is exactly the sort of thing that Careme would have made for the Prince of Wales.

Careme truly was a magician in the kitchen,

capable of transforming ordinary ingredients

into centre-piece spectacles.

Let's quickly get that out.

This is always a really frightening moment.

Is it going to come out of there?

-I'll see if I can lift that up. Is it coming out or not?

-I don't know.

-Is it coming out?

-Look at that!

-Is it going to come out?

-That's amazing!

-That really does have wow factor!

-I didn't know what to expect.

-It's fabulous.

-Isn't that extraordinary?

-Yes.

-That's amazing.

So it's a vegetable dish.

Carrots, cucumbers on the outside.

But revealed, or hidden inside it, is meat.

So the origin of it, they say, the story is,

-that the monks were not allowed to eat meat. They were vegetarians.

-Sure.

And this wonderful pattern of vegetables on the outside,

hides the fact they have a secret store of partridges and pheasants

and truffles lurking inside!

-I can now see why that would take a day to do.

-Yes.

This is the ultimate way to pimp a shepherd's pie!

Isn't it? Meat inside, put the veg...

That does look spectacular.

So, in essence, he was an artist, but with food.

Well, the distinction between food and art at this period, it melts together.

-Right.

-Food was considered to be an art form.

-Yes.

What I love about food like this, it's a sense of occasion, isn't it?

You can tell all the time and care that's been put into it.

I think we've forgotten the art of how to make a statement dish

or a nice big centre-piece.

What's great about party food

is it gives you an opportunity to show off to your mates.

The Chartreuse is a perfect example of a dish that's dressed for dinner.

Time and effort can make up for a lack of expensive ingredients.

I think we should try and come up with a centre-piece dish

at the surprise party in Swansea later.

And our centre-piece doesn't have to be savoury.

Careme had a sweet tooth to boot.

Careme made a Charlotte Russe, a Russian charlotte,

for Tsar Alexander I in 1830.

There are lots of charlottes around. Our charlotte is...

a sweet chestnut and chocolate charlotte.

And you know what we've done as well?

Because it looks great. We've got raspberries on the top

-and we're going to attempt...

-A spun sugar orb!

-See?

-See? A charlotte can cost about 60 quid in a top patisserie.

We're knocking ours out for not 40, not 30, not even 25.

20 quid, to you and me,

and you can get lots of portions out of it.

-Eight to 12, depending on how piggy you are.

-Exactly.

-It's a belter.

-It's mega.

-We'd better get started, Hero.

-Should we?

First off, a bain marie to melt chocolate.

When buying plain chocolate for any recipe,

always get the highest cocoa content you can afford.

Now for a visit to my favourite place!

This is a perfect larder cake

as it uses up loads of delicious dried ingredients

which can be turned into gourmet treats.

The frooty-tooty part.

-Dried cranberries.

-Yes.

Dried sour cherries.

'A top tip to transform them

'is to soak your dried fruit in orange liqueur overnight.

'Any brand will do, and they'll be plumped up treats by morning.'

Plumped up.

Now, the essential part of the charlotte

is the boudoir biscuit.

Or ladies' fingers.

They're a very porous biscuit.

I've got a cake tin, a bit of greaseproof on the bottom so it doesn't stick.

And this is a mixture of half stock syrup and half orange liqueur.

It's orangey, it's syrupy. It's good.

What I'm going to do is cream together some butter and some sugar.

Very simple.

You can go now, cos this bit's boring!

Take your boudoir biscuit,

and on the side without the sugar, dip it.

Don't dip it for too long

or your ladies' finger will fall to bits!

Syrupy side out, put it up against the side of the tin.

Repeat until you've got them all the way round.

It's brilliant, this.

Add 175g of sugar to the same amount of unsalted butter.

-But all throughout history, you've got to have a centre-piece, haven't you?

-Yeah, you have.

Even at a Sunday roast, the centre-piece is the joint of meat.

At a party, the centre-piece has to be something that guests look at for a long time,

like a wedding cake.

"Oh, look." When you've had your hors d'oeuvres,

your nibbles and everything, you look at it and think, "Ooh, I'll have that later.

"The work that's gone in that."

Cream your butter and sugar together.

The challenge is getting that last finger in.

It's like when you're tiling the bathroom.

"If I can get a whole tile in here, it'll save a lot of bother."

Just slide your finger in.

Oh... BLEEP

-That'll be a no, then!

-Yes. Here we go. Yes! No halves.

Look at that.

See? They're all locked in.

-Excellent.

-Give us a look.

Well done, dude.

That was a close thing.

Here, I have a can of vanilla chestnut puree.

'It's two pounds a tin, but it's a real luxury and worth every penny.'

Shall we fold the chocolate in as well?

Yes, why not?

There you are. Berries go in with the liqueur.

-Oh, these are...

-Away!

Sour cherries and cranberries.

Sweet, sour, beautiful.

'Then another ingredient worth spending your money on

'are ground almonds.

'Add 150g to your mix.'

Perfect.

Cream, double, whipping.

-Whip till soft peaks.

-Soft. And we mean really, really soft.

It's just as the blades leave a trace in the cream.

Softer than a day-old chick that's just had a wash.

That's it, really.

Now gently fold in the cream.

'This cake is a belter

'as it combines the strong flavours of sour cherries

'and the soft texture of a chocolate mousse sort of filling.

'But don't get too excited yet.

'It needs to be placed in the fridge for eight to 12 hours.'

As die-hard party monsters,

me and the Kingy are all set for a wild night while we wait.

-"Wrim"?

-Yeah.

It's that Egyptian cooking pot.

The round one that you stick in the clay oven

and then it's got, like, a "wrim" in the top.

It's not funny to cheat.

"Mangetout".

There you go. Scrabble.

Hold on. Hold on.

One, two, three, four, five, six...

You've got eight letters! You're only supposed to have seven!

You cheating toad!

If you put that one back, you can have "mangetou". That's singular.

-We're fine, now. Think it scored 50 points.

-You...

"Mangetout."

Oh, look at that, man.

Ooh.

Now, you're all sitting at home thinking,

"He's got to try and get that out. I look forward to that!"

Let's wait a few minutes till it comes to room temperature.

We'll keep you in suspenders.

'Bring on the old sea haul that spun gold out of everyday sugar

'that'll cost you nuppence!'

Now, use white caster sugar for this.

Do not attempt to use golden caster sugar.

It doesn't work! It goes crystalline and horrible.

Do NOT stir it!

Because if you stir it, it'll congeal and go into one big lump.

Just leave it.

It'll start to ripple, it'll start to melt,

then it'll go caramel colour

and then we make art!

'After five minutes, the sugar is ready to spin.

'Dip the bottom of the pan into some cold tap water.'

SIZZLING

Just a little bit. Not too much.

Now, we haven't got long to work now, once it's going.

That's it.

What we're aiming for,

the effect is kind of like a controlled ginger bee hive!

-Wooo!

-Look at that.

It's brilliant, that, mate. It's done well.

-Look at that.

-It's a minter. Look at that, man.

-Like a haystack.

-It is.

-Do you think I should stop?

-Yeah.

That's brilliant, that.

Right. So.

This is a loose-bottomed cake tin.

So, in theory, we put this on here,

the loose bottom will shoot up

and therefore the charlotte will be released from its steel-like confines.

However...

It could stick.

Ooh.

Come on. Come on.

Come on, you beauty.

Right. All we've got to do now is get that onto the plate!

I think what we should do...

-Do you have a plan?

-I do.

-Excellent.

-Not sure whether it'll work, but it's a plan!

It's not going to break.

I've got the plate ready.

Now, what we can do, apart from being decorative and practical,

we'll put some ribbon around it to hold all the biscuits in together.

-How's it looking?

-Lovely. Absolutely spot in, actually.

'Whip up some cream to place on the top

'and decorate with luscious raspberries.'

This is the sort of job, if I got it when I was little,

my mother would make me whistle to make sure I wasn't eating the raspberries!

You shall go to the party!

I crown you

Queen Charlotte!

The king of puddings.

There we have it.

A centre-piece.

Cinderella, you will go to the ball.

This epic pudd is grand enough to grace any party.

Treating food as art

is one way to turn the everyday gourmet.

Careme has taught us that when it comes to throwing a party,

presentation can really lift your food.

Take your everyday fillet of fish, for example.

Don't poach it, steam it.

By putting it in parchment,

you lock all the fishy flavour

and create a centre-piece.

A filet au poisson en papillote.

Or fancy fish in a bag, to you and me!

Moving on to afters.

Don't spend 30 quid on this boring everyday cheeseboard.

Instead, make up individual plates using small cuts of each cheese.

You'll save a fiver, but your guests won't think you're cheap.

They'll think you're chic!

Finally, collect up all your old bits of leftover chocolate

and melt them down in a bain marie.

Then spread onto greaseproof paper,

throw on some beautiful edible sparkles

and allow to cool.

Before breaking up into sexy shards.

Just think, you've saved cash

and elevated the everyday into the gourmet!

There are gourmet tips and secrets to be found everywhere.

We're still looking for a perfect menu for Swansea

and are yet to crack a veggie option for the surprise party.

So we're going to Lancashire to hook up with world-class chef

Nigel Howarth.

He's got some previous, I can tell you!

In 1994, he was awarded Egon Ronay Chef of the Year.

A year later, he gained Michelin star status

and has held onto it ever since.

That's more than 15 years.

-Wow!

-Here we've got the herb garden.

'Nigel loves to cook with ingredients fresh from the restaurant's garden.

'Just like the Swansea farm, it's a paradise for the veggie palate.'

Nigel, this certainly is a great resource to have for any restaurant.

This is like the engine room of the kitchen.

It is. It's a great backdrop to have.

But from a point of view of basic ingredients,

you can go no further.

It's a great platform to have.

It's great if you have time to come into the gardens,

think about what you might want to cook

and you know the ingredients you have coming in from the fishmonger or butcher.

Or, as we've been doing a lot of vegetarian,

what vegetables you're going to use.

Then you've got your herbs here to mingle and cross pollinate with.

It's a great thing to have.

One of the almost unique things about Northcote is you do cater very well for vegetarians.

We do. We have a great following for vegetarians.

And when we look at our menus,

we do exactly the same for vegetarians as we do for non-vegetarians.

So we have our gourmet menus, our a la carte menus.

We have exactly the same for vegetarians.

So if you're a vegetarian, you feel no discrimination.

It's all very well having a garden,

but you still need to know how to make the most of it.

And Nigel is the master.

OK. This dish we're doing is salt-baked vegetables.

In this case, we're using a sweet potato,

a swede and a red beetroot.

What does the salt baking add to the dish?

It heightens the flavours of the vegetables.

It's a beautiful way...

It's like encasing it, well, you are encasing it, in a salt crust.

-You know when traditionally you'd get salt-baked fish?

-Yes.

It's the same principle, but doing it with vegetables.

It really heightens the beauty of the vegetable.

This could not be simpler.

Table salt, and a couple of egg whites to make it sticky.

Have a go at popping some salt on there.

Hands are clean.

Just mould it around it.

-Like so?

-Yes, like so.

And that sets like a proper crust around it.

All the salt doesn't permeate it,

cos you've left the skins on.

It just seals it

and obviously enhances the flavour by allowing a bit of salt to permeate through.

And you can keep the salt for doing the frosty paths in winter!

-Absolutely.

-Nothing's wasted.

-It looks like rock salt after.

'Now prepare for the Myers to show his incomparable instinct for gourmet excellence.'

-Look at that, eh?

-We'll pop those in the oven

at about 160

for about an hour.

Lovely. Do you mash it, or..?

-Sorry?

-Do you mash it or cut it?

Mash it? No, no.

-No, just pop that in like that. Mash it?

-No, when it's cooked.

-You can mash it.

-Puree.

-You can mash it.

But we're going to cut it today!

Right?

Smashing.

-"Can we mash it?"

-"Can you mash it?"

-"Can you mash it?"

'After an hour, the salt-baked veg is ready to bash.'

It's exciting, isn't it?

Like Christmas for vegetables!

'Because it's been encased in salt with the skin left on,

'none of the flavour has escaped.'

We're going to cut these into shapes.

I'll square the swede up in this case.

Now, guess what you could do with that, Dave?

-You could mash it.

-Mash it!

My mother used to mash everything!

I didn't know that parsnips didn't come mashed!

-How's that?

-I've never tasted beetroot as good.

It's like beetrooty beetroot.

-It's just...

-Yeah.

'To contrast the sweetness of the veg,

'Nigel makes a simple cheese and white wine sauce.

'Now the master presents his art.'

We pop that there.

A leaf like that.

A little bit of the bronze fennel at the back.

We put the fondue into the bowl there.

And there's your dish.

Mate, that is fabulous.

-Thank you.

-Absolutely beautiful.

-And it's very simple, isn't it?

-Yes.

-And it's also very affordable.

-Yep.

'We're hooked on Nigel's salt-bake veg.

'It's definitely going to be used in our veggie main course

'to treat the community farm volunteers.

'And we've got some great ideas forming for the meat-eaters main and the pudd.'

'But what are we going to do for a starter?'

'Well, you can't have a party without canapes, can you?

'And our canny plan is to use as many ingredients as we can from the farm.'

So, what we're going to do...

..is sage and anchovy crisps

for you.

The first thing you need is sage.

And the second thing you need to know

is that a platter of these will cost you about two quid.

Ooh!

Result!

For this, we have three pots for the thing to be dipped into.

The three pots are going to be beaten egg, polenta and flour.

You could use breadcrumbs if you want,

but polenta's cheap, it's a bit trendier

and it's crispy!

It's so crispy. Crispier than a locust with eczema!

Where do they come from?

How do you get crispy and locust and eczema in one sentence?

-You know what I mean, though.

-I do know what you mean.

-Snap, crackle and pop.

-It's wrong. It's just wrong.

So you need 40 sage leaves in total.

20 of which I'll pass over to my mucker here

and the other 20... I'm going to need another bunch of sage.

-Why don't we do ten for now?

-Why don't we?

As long as you've got one each. And the skilful canape waiter,

you take one, and just when the fat bloke's going like that,

it's gone, hasn't it. It's away.

"I'll have another one." "No, you'll have to wait for the mini Yorkshire puddings

"filled with fillet steak." Not on this, though. Too expensive.

Have you ever... You know when you go to a party where it's all a bit...

What happens is, I end up following people round.

The fellow with the canapes and the fellow with the champagne. Do you?

I just follow them. It's great.

-And you just...

-Do you mind? That's vulgar.

-Is it?

-Yes.

To be seen chasing around a stuffed sage leaves? Not in my best suit.

Well, you know...

Anyway, I stand to his left all the time

cos when he turns round, he bumps into you and pours you champagne just to get you out the way!

'The sage and the anchovy deliver a full-on flavour bomb

'which your guests will be blown away by.

'This is dead simple.

'Sandwich one fillet from a tin between two leaves.'

There's enough oil in the anchovies to make sure the leaves stick without too much problem.

'Individually coat each sage and anchovy leaf

'in flour, egg and polenta.

'Pop them into hot oil to guarantee a healthy crunch

'and it'll only take a minute.'

-Look at that.

-Ooh, crispy.

-I think they're done, dear heart.

-Absolutely, my dear fellow.

So we decant.

'A pat with some kitchen paper will guarantee your crisps don't go soggy.'

Listen.

HARD CRACKING

Look at that.

Canape number one.

Canape number two.

Now, we know they've got plenty of lamb at the farm.

So what we could do is dress an everyday meatball

with jewels, ready for a party.

'The trick here is not in the making of the meatball itself,

'that's fairly standard,

'but in the glaze you dress it with.

'Warm equal quantities of honey

'with one of my latest store cupboard favourites.'

Pomegranate molasses.

It's the new age balsamic vinegar.

Drizzle it on and people go, "Ooh, that's different."

'An everyday ingredient in the Middle East

'yet here it's considered gourmet.

'It'll only set you back about three quid a bottle

'and gives your meatballs a tangy, exotic kick.

'Paint your cooked meatballs generously.

'Once dressed with a scattering of pomegranate seeds,

'you can work a room.'

Last but not least, canape number three.

There's nothing like a paradiddle before your parmier!

-You're not wrong!

-Great.

It's very easy, you know. Guess what?

This sage leaf plays a big part in our canapes

on account of it's cheap.

These puff pastry parmiers are laced with parmesan,

anchovies and our wise friend, sage.

I'm just going to take them off like that,

and then we'll fry them in some sunflower oil.

And then Mr Myers has got the hard bit.

Not really, you see.

Because it's bought frozen puff pastry.

We've used this before. Lots of cooks and chefs use it.

It's a really good product.

But really, for making canapes,

you get such a lot for not a lot of money.

Oh, mucker, you're good with pastry, aren't you?

-I love pastry.

-You do.

Fry your leaves in very hot oil to get them crisp.

Break them over your pastry

and sprinkle with parmesan.

-Kingy.

-Hello.

-That wonderful, inexpensive ingredient,

the anchovy.

Now, I'm going to chop these, very simply, quite finely.

And then sprinkle those on top as well.

We don't need much cos it's a salty little fellow.

Now, the crack is, we take that.

A parmier is heart-shaped.

So, to get that shape,

we put that to the middle.

And that to the middle.

'Repeat the process until you have this.'

Put that on there. You're thinking, "That's just a glorified sausage roll, not a parmier."

At this stage, it is a glorified sausage roll.

The parmier perfection will happen in due course.

'To make the parmiers go gold, coat in egg yolk.

'Then you'll have to contain yourself while they chill in the fridge for half an hour.'

THEY HUM

As you can see, this has rested.

It's achieved a state of happiness.

'Slice the glorified sausage

'and lightly press so you get an archetypal heart shape

'that will make your guests go, "Ahh!"

'And don't forget to brush on a bit more egg yolk.'

Pop those in a pre-heated oven, about 180 degrees Celsius.

In a fan oven for about 12 to 15 minutes until golden and puffed up.

Thank you.

-That smell of baking. The cheese!

-It's great.

-Perfect.

-Oh, yes.

-They look so good.

-Every one is uniform, it's perfect.

The word parmier means palm tree.

Some people call them pigs' ears, elephants' ears,

glasses or French hearts.

-Yes.

-We call them yummy.

-Yes.

These are going to go down a treat at the farm.

Care for a canape?

You do, don't you?

'We're pretty sure we've got the whole surprise party menu cracked.

'We'll have plush parmiers to kick off the festivities.'

'Then for the veggies, inspired by Mr Howorth,

'a salt-baked vegetable tart.

'And for our meat-eaters, we're going to do a pork shoulder,

'which we'll place alongside delicious baked apples

'and a nasturtium salad.'

'Finally, if we're to come within budget,

'we've got to use all the eggs and berries we can find on the farm for our pudd,

'which is going to be a nod to the decadent days of George IV.'

'A party centre-piece, a luxurious double-layered pavlova.'

The result of this for me, I fancy a party!

-I'm in the mood now.

-It gets you going, doesn't it?

-It does.

And now we know how to do it for next to nothing.

Which is always good for us.

-The true everyday gourmet wing never sleep.

-No.

-We create.

-We invent. We indulge.

-We eat.

-And we don't let poverty stand in our way.

-No.

That said, there is a key ingredient in our menu

that we're going to have to buy.

So we're off for a quick pit-stop at Swansea market.

Kate, down on the farm, knows a bloke here who might do us a good deal

on some local goats' cheese.

Without the cheese, we don't have a hors d'oeuvre.

We don't. Nor do we have a main course for the vegetarians.

So we're sincerely hoping that Paul, the cheese man,

is going to be sympathetic to the cause.

We love markets. There's something wonderful about being able to see food

without it all being wrapped in plastic.

-Paul.

-Hello.

-I'm Dave. Pleased to meet you.

-Nice to meet you. How are you, sir?

-Fine, thanks.

Look at that cheese!

'If you ask nicely, you might get yourself a free lunch.'

We've got some absolutely beautiful Welsh goats' cheese.

-Oh, yes.

-Fantastic. It's called Ranscombe. It's absolutely gorgeous. Would you like a taste?

-Yes, please.

-Yes, please.

-Welsh cheese,

especially Welsh goats' cheese, for me, it's just the best.

Yes. There are some absolutely wonderful goats' cheeses being made at the moment.

-And some lovely Welsh cheese.

-Look at the texture. Fantastic.

That's heaven.

Swansea market started off as a market house in 1652.

Here, people shopped as they had shopped for hundreds of years,

buying directly from the producer

and getting specialist items from specialist stores.

The stall-holders knew everything about what they were selling

and took pride in customer service.

Every sale had a personal touch.

Of course, this nearly came to an end in the middle of the 1950s

when some wise-crack invented the supermarket

and the public fell in love with them.

So handy if you only want one article.

You can just pop in and take it off the shelf and pop off again without any queues.

For the first time, thousands of products were available

under one roof...

Watch your spicings.

..speeding up the whole shopping experience.

But all you could find out about the product was what was written on the packet.

The personal touch had gone.

Don't get me wrong. They're good for a lot of things.

But when it comes to fresh, locally sourced produce, I don't think you can beat a good market.

Luckily, they've been making a bit of a comeback over the last 20 years.

Now, just like the good old days,

you can have a banter with the stall-holder

who knows everything there is to know about their own niche product.

And that's good news for us, as far as our cheese mission is concerned.

So where's this going? What are you going to use this with?

Well, we're doing a big meal to say thank you to all the volunteers

that's worked at the farm and made it what it is, you see.

If any of that cheese makes it to the kitchen!

Which is unlikely!

Lovely. That will be really nice.

Mission accomplished.

Hard goats' cheese, one kilo of.

And soft goats' cheese, one kilo of.

So I hope it all goes well.

-Thanks for being so open-hearted about it. Thank you.

-Thank you.

Right. We've got the best part of a day to gather the rest of the ingredients

and cook up a storm at Swansea Community Farm.

Let's do it!

This is where people from all walks of life can come and forget their troubles.

Which is exactly why ex-chef Gordon originally came here.

We had a problem in the family. My wife's twin was very ill over Christmas

and then unfortunately died,

which was a very sad time in our lives.

The community farm gave Gordon and his family

something constructive to focus on,

and now he's a key volunteer.

I thought because they helped me get over a very difficult patch in my life,

that I'd help out a little bit.

In the end, you become quite obsessive. I was here four or five days a week.

This farm wouldn't survive without volunteers like him.

Every single thing that you can see on the farm has been built by volunteers.

So they've invested everything they can over the years.

Not only the ones involved in the build, but over the years,

people have invested time, effort and energy into this.

And what better way to say thank you

than by throwing a surprise shindig.

We're meeting up with Kate and farm manager Chris to get cooking.

Right. Let's get this party started!

I think it's very fitting that the first meal ever cooked in this kitchen

is your very own pork.

-It's magic.

-Look at that!

How beautiful is that?

'By using pork from the farm,

'we've saved some money to pimp it up with a shed-load of spices.'

'So brace yourself for the rub of a lifetime!

'Soft brown sugar, paprika and cayenne pepper.'

'Salt, coriander, cumin powder and fennel seeds.

'English mustard and black pepper.'

Get your schnozzle in that.

-Oh, that's amazing.

-Gorgeous.

Rub the spice mix all over the skin.

We've decided to pull the pork,

a process where you shred the meat and mash it in its juices.

But we have to cook it first.

Right, Pinky and Perky,

see you in five hours after your little sojourn

on the sun bed of flame.

With 35 people to cook for, we're going to need some help.

So it's quite handy having a chef on site.

The only thing is, we need to press-gang him.

There he is. I can see him.

The Gordon.

He's our prey today.

Eh, up, mate. Do you want a hand?

Hello, Gordon.

-Dave.

-Gordon.

-Hello, mate.

-Don't step on that.

-Oh, no. Very nice to see you. How are you?

I'll come round that way.

Right.

Come to help?

It's more like we need you to give us a hand.

We have an idea that you can cook and we need people that can cook.

-Can we get you in the kitchen?

-Yes.

-We'll have a monster beano.

Absolutely.

Before we're spotted by any of the guests of honour,

cos we don't want to spoil the surprise,

we need to plunder the farm for as many ingredients as we can muster.

Oh, look at those!

I'm on egg duty.

Thank you very much for your bounteous harvest.

Look at that.

That's a pavlova in the making.

It's thanks to you lovely ladies.

And I'm on veg detail with lord of the allotment, Lawrence.

-One more.

-I'll get the next one.

-I can see one.

-See if we can see the same one, Lawrence.

-That looks not bad. That one looks bad.

-They should come out without a pull.

-There is something...

-Pull.

-There is something.

-We've had a lot of wet weather, so they're not doing as well as they should.

You need the sun to ripen these.

-But they're just so sweet like this, aren't they?

-Yes.

-Fresh picked.

-There's nothing like it, is there?

-There is nothing like it.

-Straight out of the garden, into the pot.

While Kingy is away getting the veg, we'd better make the pavlova,

cos the meringue takes an hour and a half in the oven.

-Take eight eggs.

-OK.

-I'm glad of the help.

You've got experience in cooking, haven't you, Gordon?

I trained as a chef back in the mid-'80s

and worked as a chef for a little bit

and I've always volunteered here and do some cookery demonstrations here.

And I helped build this fantastic kitchen.

That's the amazing thing. You've got this fantastic kitchen,

they've got you. You can cook.

So you've got the complete cycle from field to plate.

A pavlova is a big old meringue

and a great centre-piece of a pudd.

It's a mix of egg whites and sugar added bit by bit.

When it's thick enough to form peaks, spread it on some baking paper.

It's got a sheen on it like a polished polar bear.

You put this into a pre-heated oven, 100 degrees Celsius, a cool oven, for an hour and a half.

Then we've got the meringues, they can cool down

-and build the pavlova.

-Fantastic.

A pavlova is naked without being dressed by fruit and cream.

We're using the farm's gorgeous gooseberries

flavoured with the juice and zest of an orange which is then stewed in sugar.

Let that cook.

When they're cooked and cooled, fold into the cream

and spread on your cool meringue.

For a bonny headdress, I'm adding some strawberries.

The last thing for the pavlova, a nice sprinkling of icing sugar.

In homage to Nigel Howarth,

these are the salt-roasted vegetables that we did at Northcote.

They're so good.

What we've done... Look at that.

We've got the lovely beetroot in there, from the garden.

These are going to be laid on a bed of roasted courgettes,

fennel and cherry tomatoes with garlic and lemon.

What we're going to do, Dave, on top of here now,

I'll interleave some slices of the goats' cheese

with slices of beetroot

so it should look really fantastic. It should look really good.

Bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

Remember that pork? After five hours, these little piggies are ready to pull.

We mash it into the juice.

This is superb. Honestly, it's superb meat.

We're there.

The table's set for 35 volunteers. I hope they're all hungry

because we've knocked up a delicious gourmet banquet.

All we need now is some bellies.

The thing is, if you're here, we're going to have a problem.

Can you go and hide upstairs for us?

Shall we take the parmiers with us?

-Yeah.

-Definitely.

This party is for these incredible people who keep the farm thriving

and built its brand-new kitchen.

They think they're coming for a good old opening of the kitchen

with a local news crew in tow.

But now Kate and Bob can finally tell them what's really going on.

It's great to have you all here to celebrate the opening of the cafe.

We've got a wonderful feast in store for you.

Talented as Kate and myself are,

we couldn't have done it all by ourselves

so we drafted in some help.

Hello!

Haven't you all done well?

Magic. Look at that.

I think a big round of applause for you all, cos it's fantastic. Well done, guys. Fantastic.

Ladies and gentlemen, fill your boots!

-There you go.

-What are you looking forward to the most?

-The pork, probably.

-Good lad.

Come here, you, you loony!

-What does this mean?

-It's just amazing.

It's great to see everyone so happy and thrilled.

Look. Silence has descended across the table.

Everybody's eating. So it's all paid off.

It has. And I'm here crying!

You're not, are you?

-No, not at all.

-You're not. Come here.

No, you're not crying. That wasn't tears.

-Stuffing?

-Yep.

-I think it's going very well, don't you?

-It is. It's really, really good.

-Do I get a kiss as well?

-Yeah, come here!

-Well done, you. Well done.

-Thank you. We brought it off.

We did. It's brilliant.

-Are you chuffed?

-So chuffed. It's fantastic.

-The spread looks amazing. You could see people's reactions. They were so pleased.

-Good.

You know what, Kingy? We've managed to feed a lot of people for not a lot.

And the gourmet spread has made this a party to remember.

-Thanks, Mother.

-Happy faces, a proper surprise.

-It's a good party.

-It is, mate.

Mission accomplished.

We're going to show you how to make your lunch time truly gastronomic.

-That's a luxury lunch.

-Oh, yeah.

We'll discover where to find great value ingredients...

It's the world's biggest pick'n'mix!

And spring the ultimate surprise on a very deserving dinner lady.

You'll be wanting me to help, won't you?

Yes, I will!

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