South Wales James Martin's Food Map of Britain


South Wales

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'Two of my passions are flying and food.

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'And it's from up here you really get to appreciate

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'the unique landscape that produces the food that I love to cook.'

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So I've taken to the skies to show you how this land

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has influenced our larders.

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'I'm heading inland to an area just southwest of the Brecon Beacons.

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'A region dominated by rugged hills

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'where I'm looking forward to tasting one of the most famous foods

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'to come out of Wales.

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'Farming these hills is all about rearing livestock

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'and some, like Bernard Llewellyn, are positively passionate about it.'

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I've got a bit of a thing for these little black and white things.

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They're called bals or balwen.

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'These are Welsh mountain sheep

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'whose flavour is so linked to their surroundings

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'that they enjoy protected geographical status.

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'Lamb from anywhere else just isn't the same.'

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I just love them to bits.

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They're pretty and they taste really good, which is probably the most important thing of all.

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'Bernard's been farming at Carreg Cennen for over three decades.

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'The sheep roam wild on the exposed hills for most of the year,

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'but every summer, they're brought down to the farm.'

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Well, I've got the last of the sheep to shear.

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They don't shear that easily,

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but they really are iconic to this part of the world.

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'What allows these sheep to stay in the mountains

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'in the worst of the weather are their dense fleeces.'

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It's really warm underneath!

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-Keep it tight on the skin.

-Right.

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Let me show you. Just like that.

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'Even with Bernard's expert tuition,

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'this makes shearing these sheep a rather thankless task.

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'However, cooking their meat is a different story.'

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-Bit more.

-I feel like we should name her Rosemary or something like that.

-Rosemary?

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That's better! Another thousand ewes, you'll be really good. JAMES LAUGHS

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-Well done!

-Hurray!

-Great stuff!

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-I do apologise.

-No, no, no. Don't apologise.

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I'll finish her tail some time.

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I'm not apologising to you, I'm apologising to Rosemary!

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Sorry, Rosie.

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Look at that! I reckon we'll get, what?

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I reckon you might get 30p for that if we're lucky.

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-Don't think we'll get a lot for that one, will we?

-THEY LAUGH

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Rosemary is somewhere round the corner there,

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hiding like a woman with a bad haircut.

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She's tucked away round the corner, not very happy with herself.

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But I thought we'd do cooked lamb with hay.

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It's quite an unusual way to cook it, but one that really

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adds to the flavour of this fantastic cut.

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'Remember, if it says Welsh lamb on the label when you buy your meat,

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'by law, you really are getting some of this treasured lamb.

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'For me, it goes particularly well with this mint and parsley-filled tabbouleh.'

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So what I'm going to do first of all

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is just trim this into lamb chops.

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Now, roughly, you get about seven

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per portion.

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And you can see, what makes this so special

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is really the distinct lack of fat that you get in there.

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But what you get is this beautiful eye of meat, full of flavour.

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But because it's a quite hardy...breed,

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you get a really distinct flavour to Welsh lamb,

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and one that really no other type from anywhere in the world matches.

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So we've got our lamb chops ready. And now onto this.

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Now, this may appear completely madness and unusual.

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You get hay, and you get this from your pet shop, not from your rabbit hutch.

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And you put the hay into a dry, hot pan.

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And what this is going to do is add to the flavour.

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It really gives it a unique taste.

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And then to get a little bit a colour...

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..just a touch of oil.

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And then...

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..no offence to my friend in the back of the shot somewhere,

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a little bit of rosemary over the top.

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With this, we're just going to lay these over the top, like that.

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Bit of black pepper. Touch of salt.

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And we could, if we wanted,

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just for added benefit,

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little bit of garlic in there. Why not?

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We'll cover this with tinfoil and cook this for about 10, 15 minutes.

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'If you want to get a taste of Wales,

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'I reckon these are the ingredients and this is the way to do it.

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'About halfway through the cooking, turn the lamb so it browns evenly

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'and takes in the flavour of that hay.'

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Now, with this, I thought I'd do a bulgur wheat salad,

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and it's kind of like a tabbouleh, really.

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But tabbouleh's not conventionally done with couscous, it's always done with bulgur wheat,

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which is a cracked natural grain,

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whereas couscous is actually a manufactured product.

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But this is it in its dry form.

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You can either cook it straight in boiling water and cook this for about ten minutes,

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or alternatively, you can leave it to soak.

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This has been soaking for about four or five hours.

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And we can drain this, this is just cold water in here,

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just get rid of the cold water...

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..pour this back in,

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and then literally just get a kettle full of water

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and pour it over the top.

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That way, you'll be able to serve this warm.

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And then, a bit like couscous and tabbouleh,

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you need to infuse the flavours into this.

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And to get plenty of flavour, I'm going to use some of this.

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This is harissa, which is like a chilli paste, really, I suppose.

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It's Moroccan. It's very, very hot, very spicy,

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so you only want about a tablespoon.

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However, the camera crew on this set, probably two tablespoons,

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cos they like a bit of spice and a bit of kick.

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And then all we can do now is just very quickly drain

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our warm tabbouleh.

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Now, the best way to do that is over the top of here.

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Check to see if there's no painters and artists over the other side.

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-HE LAUGHS

-Straight over there.

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And make sure Rosemary's not the other side, either.

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Pour it in there. That way, it's still warm.

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Take that straight back over

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and this can go straight into your mix.

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Like that.

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'Mix in the harissa and then we can impart loads more flavours.

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'I've got almonds, apricots and pistachio nuts.

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'Then my favourite with lamb - mint,

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'and a good bunch of parsley.

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'Chop those up and mix them in.'

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And then finally, we've got pomegranate.

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To get rid of the pomegranate, cut them in half...

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..tap the back of the pomegranate and the seeds just fall out.

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Pomegranates.

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Lovely. Mix all that lot together.

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Lemon.

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A good squeeze of lemon.

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Bit of olive oil. Like that.

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Salt and pepper. Season the stuff, as well.

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Plenty of black pepper.

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And then we've got a fancy bowl here. Mix this all up.

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You can see the colours of this, it's just fantastic.

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This is just delicious.

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Look at that. We've got the nice tabbouleh.

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And then the key to this... is the lamb.

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Now, don't worry about the bits of hay. The lambs eat it so you might as well eat it, as well.

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It's not going to do you any harm.

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But look at this lovely lamb.

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It's quite unusual. If you serve this at a table like this,

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everybody will think you've just gone made.

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Either that or just cut your lawn.

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But it really is, there's so much flavour in this.

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And while I leave you with a pretty fancy shot like that

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to keep you lot happy,

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I'm going to go and console Rosemary. Enjoy.

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'Delicious Welsh mountain lamb.

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'A national favourite whose distinct taste is down to

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'the harsh environment of these hills.'

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'Join me next time when I'll be flying over another location

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'on my food map of Britain.'

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