Pick Me Ups James Martin: Home Comforts

'The heart of my home is the kitchen.

'And it's here that I love to cook delicious meals

'for my nearest and dearest.'

LAUGHTER

'There's no better way to celebrate everything good in life...

'..than sharing some great food with the people you love.

'These are the dishes that I cook

'when I want to bring people together.'

These are my home comforts.

'The pace of modern life means that many of us work long hours.

'And after a hard day, it's easy to settle for food

'that feeds our bodies, but not our souls.'

So I've got a load of recipes that are guaranteed to pick you up

and put a smile on your face.

These are the treats I always cook to boost my mood.

Ohhhhh! Check this out!

'I'll be baking the ultimate fast food for an instant hit of joy.'

Mmmm!

'And cooking an uplifting dish with my mate Michael Caines,

'who can be a bit of a perfectionist.'

Stop being cheffy, just get it on the plate!

'The best things in life are worth waiting for.

'And that's why I get so excited about game.

'For me, a highlight of late summer

'is that taste of the first grouse of the season.

'So I'm going to roast a brace of them with a pear tarte tatin.'

Now, as a cook, there are certain times of year

that we look forward to, and August is one of them.

Not because of the bank holidays

and stuck in traffic behind caravans and stuff like that,

not that I'm bothered about caravans, because I've got them at home,

but it's this...

The Glorious Twelfth. Grouse season.

'You'll find grouse is often available in supermarkets,

'or you can try to buy it at your local butcher.'

So the first thing I'm going to do is make our pear tarte tatin.

And for that, you need some decent-sized pears.

Big, fat pears like these ones, really.

'These are going to be poached in a good amount of water,

'along with some lemon that will stop them turning brown.

'Finally, add some sugar, throw in the pears whole

'and leave to simmer for 15 minutes.'

Now, while the pears are cooking,

we can prepare the second part for our tarte tatin - the mould.

Very, very simple. All you need for this

is just a bit of caramelised sugar.

And to do that, you can just use plain old caster sugar.

You don't need to boil it up in any water or anything, just in a dry pan.

And keep your eye on it.

And this, in about three to four minutes, will turn into a caramel.

'Occasionally shake the pan as it heats up

'and the sugar will start to melt.'

The common and simple mistake that people make with making a tarte tatin

is forget to add this stuff - butter.

Now, what this does is not just only add flavour,

but it alters the texture of the caramel.

You can imagine this is quite liquid when it gets hot

but, as it cools down, it's quite solid.

Now, to try and get these out of the moulds

by just putting caramel in the bottom is really difficult,

so what you have to do is almost slacken this down a bit

with a little knob of butter.

And whatever you do, don't let the caramel get too hot.

Because if it gets too hot, it goes quite bitter.

'As soon as the butter is melted,

'pour around three millimetres of caramel into each mould,

'then roll it around to coat the edges and leave to cool.'

And now onto our grouse.

Now, a lot of people will actually not use the legs

and just use the crown of the grouse.

But to me, really, you're throwing the best part of it away.

It's so good to use the entire lot.

'Start off by seasoning the birds

'and then sear them in some butter to brown them off before roasting.

'The smell alone has started to work its magic.'

This, to me, is my perfect pick-me-up.

If I ever see this on a restaurant menu,

this is the dish that I'll choose - grouse.

I absolutely love it!

'Before placing them in the oven,

'add some chunks of celeriac, along with fresh thyme.'

Check that out.

And that's just a wonderful dish on its own, just like that.

Just a picture of that.

Beauty in a pan, as chefs call it.

Stick the whole lot in a really hot oven for about 15 minutes.

'Now I can get back to finishing off those tartes tatins.

'Cut the poached pear into thick slices

'and place on top of the caramel.

'Then, using ready-made puff pastry,

'cut out some discs that are slightly bigger than the moulds.'

Just dot the top with a fork.

It's quite important when you're doing things like a tarte tatin,

because you want the pastry to cook, as well.

And to do that, you need to allow

some of that steam that's created when the butter melts

to come out of the pastry.

And if you don't, if you imagine it like a lid on top of a pan,

it gets trapped and can't come out.

So that's when the base of the tarte tatin gets a little bit soggy.

Now, what you need to do with this

is just to carefully put the pastry in,

but tuck it in between the pear...

..and the edge...of the mould,

like you're making a bed.

And then these want to cook now for about ten minutes.

'When the grouse are roasted, take them out and leave to rest.'

What I like to do is, however long it's cooked in the oven,

particularly this, about 15 minutes,

that's how long you leave it out of the oven before you serve it.

It's really, really important this is actually served at room temperature,

so it keeps it nice and sort of tender.

'Scoop out the roasted celeriac,

'leaving behind all those lovely juices.

'They make a brilliant base for the rich sauce.'

Now, I'm going to deglaze this pan with a touch of port.

You can use Madeira with this as well,

but just put a little bit of port in the pan.

'After the port has reduced, add some chicken stock.

'Reduce some more and pass through a sieve.'

So just to finish this off...

We call this monter au beurre. It's to thicken a sauce.

There's no gravy browning, there's no flour,

there's none of that thickener in there, cornflour and stuff.

We thicken it with butter.

Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm!

Salt.

As a cook, I get so excited about the new-season game.

This is the very first time I've tasted grouse this year.

So excuse me if I'm getting a bit excited.

'When the tartes tatins are ready, leave them to cool slightly,

'but don't let them go completely cold,

'because they'll stick to the moulds.

'The last thing to cook is the curly kale.

'Chuck it in a pan with a little water and butter,

'but only for a few minutes.'

Now, you'll see straightaway in this pan...

..beyond the steam,

look at this beautiful colour.

Now, this has taken time to grow in the garden.

I'm not going to ruin it by overcooking it.

That's it. Once it gets to that stage, take it off the heat.

'All that's left to do is flip out the tartes tatins,

'carve up the grouse and plate up.

'And it's all finished off

'with a drizzle of the deliciously rich sauce.'

This is the exciting bit. It's that anticipation

that you've waited six months for something to arrive...

..and you get to taste it for the first time.

That's my grouse dance.

Mm!

It really is...one of the tastiest meats.

'It's well worth the wait.

'And a recipe like this will really perk up your taste buds.

'Packed with nutritious ingredients like kale,

'it's bound to put a spring in your step.'

'Here in the UK, we're very fortunate

'to have an army of dedicated food producers

'working tirelessly to bring us top-quality ingredients.'

Producers like Selina and Andrew Cairns from Lanarkshire.

They're second-generation farmers and cheese-makers.

But these aren't run-of-the-mill Cheddars.

And the milk they use doesn't come from cows.

-Come on, boy!

-BLEATING

It comes from this rare breed of sheep.

And, like Andrew, they're early risers.

I milk them twice a day. At 5.00 in the morning,

again at 4.00 in the afternoon.

I do like getting up at this time of the morning.

It certainly beats having to sit in your car for an hour and a half,

drive somewhere to go and sit in an office, or work for somebody else.

Shepherding a herd of dairy sheep

is actually a very rare job in this country.

In Scotland, certainly, there's only, I think, two people

who are commercially milking sheep.

Throughout Britain, there's only about 12,000 sheep being milked,

which really is quite a small number.

Sheep's milk is better for making cheese.

It has higher levels of fat and protein in it,

which means you get more cheese per litre of sheep's milk

than you do for cow's milk by about double the amount.

The parlour's kitted out to milk 32 sheep at a time.

16 down each side.

We're putting through about 200 sheep an hour.

You always get the odd sheep that's a bit awkward.

These sometimes temperamental animals were brought over to Scotland

by Selina's father Humphrey in the 1980s,

after being inspired by Scotland's long-lost cheese-making history.

I came across some writing of Sir Walter Scott's

describing blue sheep's cheese made in this area.

And that really fired my imagination,

because we love blue cheese.

To turn his dream into reality,

Humphrey wanted the French Lacaune breed,

which is known for its high milk yields.

But there was just one problem -

nobody in France wanted to sell him any.

I would write to the breeding stations in France

and never got replies.

And it seemed to be very difficult to make any progress.

And then a vet I knew contacted me and said,

"Humphrey, are you still interested in these Lacaune sheep?"

And I said, "Very much so, but we can't get them."

Humphrey's friendly vet was able to find

some Lacaune crossbreeds in Denmark.

The flock is now almost 400-strong

and thriving in the stunning Scottish uplands.

The climate and the soil, the way the soil is handled and so on

affects the unique quality of the cheese made in that area.

I think that applies more to cheese, in many ways, than it does to wine.

Because you'll find the microflora,

as it's called, of the milk,

is unique to this particular bit of land.

Microflora are harmless bacteria which affect the taste of the milk.

They're killed during the pasteurisation process.

But the family make their three cheeses with unpasteurised milk,

allowing the flavour to shine through.

But perhaps the most important ingredient

for the continued success of the business is Selina.

Luckily for me, Selina was willing to take it on.

And she's done wonderfully well in carrying it on.

I'm very proud of that.

Recently, she's developed a brand-new cheese variety called Corra Linn,

named after a local waterfall.

It's like a Cheddar in the way we make it,

but sheep's milk is a lot sweeter,

and that comes through in the flavour.

So it's more gentle on your palate than a Cheddar.

I suppose some people compare it to Manchego or Pecorino.

It's just as well Selina makes a lot of cheese,

because she provides post-training meals for the local rugby team.

There's always a bit of a scrum

to get to the family's tasty and nutritious cheese.

It's very tasty. It wasn't too strong. It's mild.

Really nice, yeah. Really nice.

It's got a good flavour.

It gives a good flavour to the pasta, so it's nice, yeah.

Definitely eat it again.

'Sheep's cheese is the key component in one of my all-time favourites.

'This is a pick-me-up that's unbelievably quick to cook

'and guaranteed to make you smile.

'It's my delicious nduja and sheep cheese pizza.'

I've been quite fortunate to travel in this job,

and to the home of pizza, which is Naples.

And I've seen the best pizza and tasted the best, I think, in the world.

And it's all to do, I reckon, not just with the topping, but the base.

And the base is this recipe.

It's the best pizza dough recipe I know.

'Start off by weighing 200 grams of semolina flour

'and 800 grams of 00 flour.

'Now, there's no point just guessing this,

'you have to measure it exactly, otherwise it won't work.'

In we go with the sugar. About a tablespoon of sugar.

A good pinch of salt into the flour.

'Add some warm water to seven grams of fresh yeast.

'Mix it into a paste and pour in.

'Finally, add another 650mls of warm water and get stuck in.'

Now, for me, a dough like this, and including bread dough,

is much easier and better to make by hand first of all.

It's all about the texture, really.

You don't want it too dry, you certainly don't want it too wet.

But you've got to make sure there's moisture in it,

otherwise, when it's cooked,

it kind of tastes like a biscuit, really,

when it comes out of the oven.

We can start to bring all this lot together.

And just, basically, put it onto your board and knead this.

You can see the texture of it is quite sticky to my fingers.

That's what we're looking for, really.

It may appear too wet, but don't forget,

all that flour is still soaking in all that liquid.

'The dough's texture starts to change the more it's kneaded.'

You'll get a natural resistance to it when it's ready.

Like that. When you press it, it should start to bounce back a bit,

which that's doing now. That looks pretty good to me.

I'm just going to pop it into a bowl.

Leave it outside, or anywhere warm, really. Cover it over.

And it just wants to slowly prove

for about an hour, an hour and a half.

'After that, divide the dough into portions

'that will make a pizza base each and leave for another hour.'

When these have proved a second time,

we're then ready to make our wonderful pizza.

And use a combination of the semolina flour

and the 00 flour to roll it out.

I am going to roll it out and pin it out.

I'm not going to spin this around my head.

'I'm rolling out the pizza bases really thin,

'so they cook in no time at all.'

I'm going to then just top this with a tomato sauce.

What it is is just tinned San Marzano tomatoes,

which are just blended up into a puree.

There's no fancy tomatoes been cooked down or anything like that.

Just out of a tin, in a blender, done.

As easy as that.

Now, I'm going to top it with this delicious sheep's cheese.

It tastes fantastic. Slight taste of almost Pecorino.

Now, another thing that I'm going to put on this pizza...is this stuff,

which is nduja. It's from Calabria.

It's a sort of spicy, soft salami.

It's just delicious!

And it melts wonderful over this pizza.

'To finish, some fresh basil and olive oil.

'And it's ready to go in the oven.

'It's about 500 degrees in there,

'so it's only going to take a minute to cook.

'You can cook this at home on a pizza stone in your oven.'

Already that cheese has started to melt.

That lovely nduja, there's lots and lots of oil in that.

It's starting to melt, too.

And that oil is going to just mix in with that cheese and taste fantastic.

Mmmm!

I was always taught, too, never to eat anything that's bigger than your head.

Now, I have to use this because my sister will be watching it.

Thank you, sis, you bought me this for my birthday.

It's just what I always wanted!

This is definitely the ultimate pick-me-up.

Far better than any of that stuff

you'll find delivered on the back of a motorbike,

sweating in a cardboard box for 15 minutes as he gets lost.

To me, it's one of the best-tasting dishes ever.

You can't beat pizza.

'The soft nduja and melted sheep's cheese topping

'is certainly oozing with a feel-good factor.'

But when it comes to the ultimate pick-me-up,

I'm going to plump for sweet rather than savoury.

Chocolate, to be exact.

I just couldn't be without my secret stash.

But were our ancestors as mad about it as we are?

Food historian Ivan Day has studied

the origins of our national chocolate habit

and discovered that it wasn't a case of love at first bite.

When the Spanish first encountered chocolate

in Central America in the 16th century,

they absolutely hated it.

It was so bitter that they thought it was only fit for the pigs.

By the time it arrived in England in the mid-17th century,

we had learned to sweeten it with sugar and even add milk

and booze to it to make it more palatable.

I'm going to make a really alcoholic chocolate drink from the 1690s

that was called wine chocolate.

Before brewing up this delicious-sounding drink,

Ivan makes chocolate from scratch

by grinding roasted and crushed cocoa beans, known as nibs.

He then gets to grips with a pretty hefty piece of kit.

I'm going to sprinkle some of my ground nibs onto this metate...

..which is a great big, saddle-shaped slab of stone

with a hot charcoal brazier underneath it.

So this stone is pretty warm.

If I start to roll this down across it,

it's going to grind it up even further

and produce that magical substance, chocolate.

As chocolate wasn't an instant hit in Britain,

traders tried to boost sales by claiming

it could cure just about every known ailment.

OK, so...that's chocolate.

I'm ready now to make some hot chocolate drink.

And before long, the chocolate sellers' tall tales

were taken seriously by many.

Even certain members of the medical profession.

I'm going to make my drinking chocolate

from a recipe from this book

by a physician called William Salmon.

Salmon supported all of the claims

that the early chocolate dealers made

about its medicinal virtues

and tells us about even more.

"That it excites divinery

"and procreation and helps conception."

So he's advocating it as an aphrodisiac

and a fertility medicine.

To get this lovers' brew to first base,

Ivan warms some water in a 17th-century chocolate pot.

And then the most essential ingredient, of course,

is the chocolate.

Now, this is exactly the same as what I made on the metate,

except I've grated it, so it will melt a little bit more quickly.

Now, as well as the pot, we need another tool,

which has its Spanish name.

It's called the molinillo.

Ivan uses the molinillo to help dissolve the chocolate.

He then adds sugar and a good slug of port.

Then a really important ingredient which Salmon tells us about,

which is a very small quantity of starch.

And this is the sort of starch they used to starch their ruffs.

And what that does, it actually will stop the whole thing from curdling.

Starch can be poisonous, but the type Ivan is using is safe.

True believers in the supposed benefits of chocolate

probably didn't care what was in it, though.

One of the earliest advocates of chocolate was Lady Ann Fanshawe,

who was the wife of the English ambassador to the Spanish court.

She actually had 23 children.

So I think Salmon's claims that it was good for fertility

probably were true in her case.

OK, so I think it's time

to serve myself...some wine chocolate.

It's amazingly rich and thick-looking.

It just goes straight into the back of your throat

and then right up into your brain.

It really was the original pick-me-up.

'I wouldn't have needed much persuasion to tuck into chocolate

'when it first arrived on these shores.

'These days, it's the essential ingredient

'in so many great sweet treats,

'including this undisputed classic, the chocolate eclair.'

The combination of cream, fat, chocolate,

altogether in a lovely pastry case

is just my idea of food heaven.

'I'm starting the choux pastry mix by putting exactly

'200mls of water in a pan.

'Along with a pinch of salt and some sugar.'

I remember working in France aged 14, 15,

where I actually mastered the art of choux pastry.

Because I spent a lot of time on a pastry section

just doing little, tiny chocolate eclairs.

Ever so small. About this big.

And I had to make about 300 every single day.

So you really master the art of a good recipe.

So the important thing I was told in France

is to use diced butter.

What you don't want to be doing is a big lump of butter in here.

Because it's really important that the butter melts

before the water boils.

Because the water is really important in this recipe.

It creates steam. That steam is what we need for the choux pastry to rise.

So we must have as much water in the recipe as possible.

And that's why, if you keep boiling this mixture now,

you don't end up with 250mls of water,

you'll end up with probably 200mls of water.

So the recipe becomes unbalanced.

'When the butter is melted,

'add 150 grams of good-quality, strong, plain flour.

'Keep it on the heat and mix.'

The way to tell whether it's ready is actually not by looking at it,

but by listening to it.

And it almost sounds like fried bacon in a pan.

You can hear it sizzling.

At that point, we can take it off.

'The choux pastry mix now has to cool down,

'so spread it onto a tray and pop it in the fridge for five minutes.

'After this, add the eggs, four of them in all.'

The trick with this is to add each egg one at a time.

One thing you don't want to be doing is throwing all the eggs in together,

otherwise you'll just end up with a bowl of scrambled egg.

And then, finally, just give it a blast

on full power for about 30 seconds.

'When the choux mix is rich and smooth, it's ready for piping.'

I like to use quite a decent-sized nozzle.

Round nozzle for our eclairs.

These are serious chocolate eclairs, these ones,

not the piddly ones I was used to in France,

those are proper big ones.

Fill your piping bag...

..full of the choux.

And then it comes to what many people find is the tricky bit.

And the actual piping bag doesn't touch the metal tray.

You're almost drawing the mixture on.

Now, this hand is moving the speed of the bag,

this hand is forcing the mixture through.

And it's how quick or how slow you do each movement

denotes how thin or thick you want the eclairs.

You start at one end and work your way through it.

Every single one the same.

Every single one the same.

If you think this is tricky, try doing this with a French chef

and with a meat cleaver behind you.

Shouting and screaming at you in a foreign language.

And certainly a language that your French teacher didn't teach you.

What you will end up with is little points on it.

And what you can do is just use a little bit of water on your fingers

and press the points down on the choux pastry.

Otherwise, if you leave these little points on it,

they'll kind of burn.

But also, don't forget, we're going to coat this in a nice fondant icing.

So you want the tops...as flat as possible.

'Sprinkle some water over the tray.

'In the oven, this will turn into steam and help the eclairs to rise.'

And then you set the oven quite high.

About 220 degrees, 450 Fahrenheit.

Quite a hot oven.

And these are going to bake now for about 25-30 minutes.

'I can now start making the topping

'with 100 grams of dark chocolate in a bain-marie.

'When that's melted, add 150 grams of icing sugar,

'along with four tablespoons of cocoa powder, and mix.'

Now, immediately, it actually goes to this crumb.

Now, if we use the leftover water that we've got in here and a spoon,

especially when this is hot, it will bring it back.

Get this to a paste, really.

Don't add too much water in at the start,

otherwise the fondant will end up going lumpy.

'Add more water until you've got a wonderful, shiny, smooth glaze.'

You don't want it too liquid,

otherwise it's just going to fall over the top of your eclairs.

And also, you don't want it too solid,

otherwise you'll be spreading it on with a knife.

Because you've got the chocolate in there, it's going to set.

So what you need to do...is keep it warm.

To do that, the leftover water over a pan is the perfect place for this.

'When the eclairs are cooked,

'take them out of the oven and let them cool down.'

Now, I'm going to fill these just with plain whipped cream.

The cream's nicely, softly whipped, which is exactly what we want.

Just soft peaks like this.

Makes it much easier to get inside the eclair.

Now, there's one thing you need in an eclair,

and that is cream, and plenty of it.

Now, instead of cutting this, which a lot of people do,

and filling it with cream, and when you bite into it,

bang, the cream goes to your granny sat next to you,

what you need to do is fill the tops.

It's a great trick that I learned in France.

So using an old pen, without the ink, otherwise we'll get letters,

you put the pen into the top.

One at each end...like that.

And then what we do is get your cream.

Now, you want to create just a small hole in the piping bag.

Not too big. Just a little hole.

Make sure you've got a steady stream of cream, like that.

And then starting at one end, you put the cream inside that hole.

And squeeze. And you'll see the eclair expand...

..as it fills full of cream.

'They look good already, but I'm going to turn them into something really special

'by dipping them into the warm chocolate fondant,

'sealing the holes on the top, as well.'

Ohhhhhhh! Check this out!

Mm-mm-mm!

Little twist there.

If that is not a thing of beauty...

..I don't know what is.

Now, normally, if this was a cooking exam at college,

or with that French chef just behind me,

I'd get big-time told off

if any little bits of chocolate were dripping down the edge.

But this is my house and he's not here.

I mean, come on, it's a chocolate eclair!

'That's right, no more words needed.

'An eclair made well is paradise on a plate.

'Naughty, but who cares?'

Giving yourself a boost doesn't have to be so indulgent.

Sometimes a simple drink will do.

A steaming cup of tea or coffee

is usually enough to revive our spirits when we're feeling low.

But Bath-based couple Ash and Lottie

have come up with a clever caffeine-free alternative

that will still give you a lift.

Chai is actually an Indian recipe that dates back about 5,000 years.

It was originally used for medicinal properties,

helps cool you down in the summer.

The couple started the business when Lottie was diagnosed

with a chronic digestive disorder.

I had to drastically change my diet.

And caffeine was one of the things

that I had to completely get rid off.

But obviously, there was a void to fill. I loved my cups of teas

and I loved my coffee in the morning.

Which is why we then started making chai.

Which sounds simple enough, until you hear what goes into it.

Ready for the ingredients? Take a deep breath.

We use 100% whole spices in our chai.

Ginger, cardamom, cinnamon,

star anise, cloves,

mixed spice, fennel, nutmeg,

allspice and vanilla.

-Nailed!

-Yeah!

-LOTTIE LAUGHS

But it took a bit longer to nail the perfect blend of those ingredients.

We did have an awful lot of terrible batches that we had to dispose of,

but in the end, we found this recipe, it's a brilliant recipe.

Initially, Ash's chai recipe

was designed as a healthy caffeine-free pick-me-up,

mixed with warm milk as a treat for Lottie.

But everyone who tried the drink loved it so much that the couple

decided to turn it into a business they could run from home.

We couldn't think of a name when we started,

so we thought we'd just name it after our kids, Henry and Joseph.

Now they've got a recipe and a name for their chai,

Lottie and Ash are keen to push it to the next level,

spreading the word to reach new customers.

The batch that we've done today is quite a big batch.

It's for the Bath Boules festival that's coming up.

And this is that festival. A massive social event,

attracting hoards of hungry visitors and scores of stallholders.

So we're here, we're set up, we're getting people involved,

getting some samples out and getting people trying it.

And it's being taken down really, really well. People are enjoying it.

It's incredible. The chai spices are really nice mixed with milk.

It's really good.

We find a lot of people out there haven't tried chai, so...

-Or don't even know what it is.

-Yeah.

So giving out free samples is a good way of getting people into it and...

Raising the awareness.

-One cold latte and one cold regular.

-OK.

It means a lot to us. Working as a couple, yeah, it's hard,

but it's also very rewarding.

-It's pretty much our life.

-Yeah.

Essentially, we're working together and living together.

And it's a little reminder every day of the kids

and just knowing that, at the end of the day,

they're proud of us for doing it.

'There's only one pick-me-up that's better than great food,

'and that's sharing it with great company.

'So today, I've asked over my good friend Michael Caines.

'He's a Michelin-star chef,

'but, like me, he loves cooking unfussy food at home.'

-Hey!

-How you doing, buddy? You're actually here!

'And he's going to help me create the ultimate feel-good dish.

'My perfect cottage pie.'

-It's great.

-Yeah.

-It's one of the dishes I was brought up with.

-I'm sure you had it at home.

-Yeah.

-We'll do that with just mashed potato and carrots.

-Good.

Properly-cooked carrots, as my mother called it. Not al-dente stuff.

-No, these are proper cooked.

-Got to be soft...soft carrots, as well.

'I'm starting off by dicing up some celery.'

So, what were you like as a kid, then, eating at home?

Well, we always got around the table. We had a lovely garden.

Helped Dad do the gardening. Mum cooked every day.

And cooking dishes like this at home,

it sort of takes me back to my childhood, which is great.

'To start the cooking, brown off 600 grams of beef mince in some veg oil.'

When was the moment...? Because when I was a young kid,

I remember it was quite early on.

Probably about seven or eight years old that I thought,

"This is the job that I want to do".

Mainly because I saw Keith Floyd once, who did a dinner,

and I was only about eight and he stood up on a lectern and fell off.

And I went, "That's what I want to be when I get older!"

Because everybody applauded him. And I just thought, "That's me."

-Showman.

-I'll have a bit of that!

There were no James Martin's on TV when we grew up.

There was no Jamie Oliver, there was nothing to really inspire you.

There was Keith, but nothing as a career.

So I kind of didn't think of it as a career.

I just thought of it as a hobby.

But when I found out I could cook for a living, that was it.

I was about 16 years old and I haven't looked back since.

I went to catering college and I went on from there.

'After finely chopping two onions, three cloves of garlic,

'a celery stick and one carrot,

'chuck it all in with the beef.

'Then add Worcester sauce for some spice,

'and two tablespoons of tomato puree.

'Finally, a splash of red wine.'

And just burn off the alcohol and reduce it down a little bit

and then we've got this beautiful beef stock, which we're going to put in. Look at that!

'This beef stock is nice and thick

'because I've reduced it down a few times.

'But some butchers can do this for you.'

You can't make this with the powdered stock, really, I don't think.

-No.

-You want to invest in some good stock.

I like to taste at this stage.

Do you know what I'm going to do at this stage? Get the carrots on.

My gran used to put carrots like this, even back then,

bit of salt, some sugar

and a nice nub of butter in it, as well.

Carrots have got a natural sweetness.

But they become something else when you cook them like this.

-Obviously, butter.

-This is where I blame my gran, you see?

MICHAEL LAUGHS That's where it all started, with the carrots.

-She's got a lot to answer for, clearly.

-Tell me about it.

'The carrots should be left to cook for at least half an hour

'so they go really soft.

'After the mince has simmered away for half an hour,

'put it in the fridge to chill.

'It's a nifty trick that will make

'putting on the mashed potato topping much easier

'because the mix will be firmer.'

You know what, it looks delicious, doesn't it?

It's no good me doing it, seeing as you're here.

-Yeah, delicious.

-Happy with that?

-Really intense. Beautiful.

-Doesn't need salt or pepper?

Maybe just a...maybe just a little bit of salt.

THEY LAUGH Go on, put a bit more in. I know you want to.

No, no, no, no. It's rich

and the stock's reduced and it's just intensified. Look at it!

-A good cottage pie, that.

-Proper, that. Proper.

'For the mashed topping, we're using potatoes

'that have been pierced with a fork, put on a bed of rock salt

'and baked for about an hour, keeping the flesh nice and dry.

'When they're cool enough to handle,

'scoop them out and pass through a ricer.'

So, are you the only chef in the family, then, or...?

Yeah. No, I'm the only chef in the family.

And there was no real history of anybody in the industry, as such.

I was adopted at the age of six weeks, but I found my father

and what I did find out is that, when he came over from Dominica,

when he first came over, he was a cook.

-Oh, was he?

-Yeah, he was a cook.

Isn't it amazing what you're nurtured and natured?

But he died, unfortunately, a few years ago.

And when I read his eulogy, they talked about his ability

to cook food with a small amount, a limited amount of ingredients

but yet it all tasted incredibly fantastic.

-How weird is that?

-It was mad.

It was like reading a short story about myself.

It was really, really quite incredible.

In life, you don't know where you're going, unless you know where you're from.

So in that regard, it was very worthwhile.

'After ricing all the potatoes,

'add 100 grams of butter and 150mls of milk.

'Now, I think it should go in cold, but Michael has other ideas.'

-You put warm milk on, do you?

-Well, it just...

-Oh, controversial!

-Well, you see...

-Oh!

-You don't have to.

No. I don't have to because it creates too much washing-up, but...

Ah, see, that's a good point, actually. Go on, then.

See, that's a cheffy... That's interesting...

You're doing the cheffy thing. I'm cooking this for me at home

and I'm thinking, "That's another pan to wash up."

That's a massive point because I'm banned from cooking at home

-because of the amount of pans...

-Precisely.

Warming up a bit of milk. Pointless!

The reason why I'm warming it up is because, you know...

No, you're not! THEY LAUGH

It makes perfectly good mash without warming up. You know it does.

Ah, brilliant!

'After barely showing it the hob,

'pour the milk on top of the potatoes, mix and season.

'Now it's ready to go on top of the mince.'

What I like to do is use this fork to create a little bit of, er...

-Artistic pattern.

-Yeah, but also, that will help with the glaze

when you put it in the oven.

-Butter on the top?

-Oooh, a bit of butter, go on, then.

Because that's nice for the glaze. Something as simple as that, really.

And it is a very wholesome, hearty and simple dish.

-Happy with that?

-Yeah. It looks delicious.

'The pie goes into the oven

'set at 220-degrees centigrade for about 15 minutes.

'By then, the carrots will be soft and ready to eat.'

-I don't peel them.

-No. A lot of people peel.

And actually, carrots, I think, taste better

for having the skin on, especially this size.

-You're taking away the goodness, as well.

-Absolutely.

-Think there's enough there for me and you?

-I think we're spoilt.

-JAMES LAUGHS

-I'm just going to reduce this glaze down and put it under...

Stop being cheffy, just get it on the plate!

Just going to reduce this down and add a little butter(!)

-Get it on the plate!

-Relax into this cooking.

Just get over here!

Cor blimey!

This is the food that you want, innit, really?

When you come back from a busy day at work,

this is the kind of stuff that you want.

-I like the carrots, too.

-Tried my best.

'Pick-me-up food is all about delicious recipes

'that nourish the soul and put a smile on your face,

'no matter what kind of day you've had.

'Even if your mate deserts you when it's time to do the washing-up.'

You can find all the recipes from the series on our website:

See you, James!

Unbelievable!