Cardiff Len and Ainsley's Big Food Adventure

What you got going on here? Ham, egg and chips?

Great British food.

'As a chef, food is my life.' Lovely.

THEY LAUGH

Don't try that at home!

'But as far as my mate Len goes, we're on a different planet.'

My rules are this.

Never eat anything you can't spell

and never eat anything you wouldn't want to step in.

-This is the chicken's feet.

-Chicken's feet?

-That's right.

-No.

'I've travelled the world but never had the courage

-'to experience new cuisines...'

-Ah!

-LEN CRINGES

'and always stuck with what I know.'

-Look. What's your favourites there?

-Chips.

-Chips.

'But after using a pancake once to wipe me face...'

What is he like?

-'Me family decided enough was enough.'

-Yes.

'And that my taste buds needed to be brought into the 21st century.'

Hot.

There's a lot more to this culinary world of ours than pickled walnut.

'It's time for me to show Len a whole new culinary world...

-I'm going to do it.

-'..that will make his palate purr.'

THEY LAUGH

You're not talking food adventure?

Food adventure indeed.

-Oh-ho.

-Oh-ho.

What's that I see? Is it a tandoori chicken?

-I liked it.

-And that's all I need to know.

For the last decade, I've been a judge

on Strictly Come Dancing.

London born and bred 71 years ago,

my taste buds have been influenced by my nan's cooking.

I've never eaten spaghetti, had a curry and even pizza,

well, it looks a bit exotic.

I was also born and brought up in London but, as a chef,

my palate has experienced and travelled to every part of the globe.

Over the last 20 years, there's been a food explosion across Britain

and now no matter what you desire, every cuisine is catered for.

For me, I have ten favourites that are never far away

from the table at home.

And my perfect dinner?

Well, prawn cocktail to start,

full English breakfast.

Oh-ho and a jam roly-poly.

-LEN GASPS

-It's food heaven!

'My mission during our time together is to educate his taste buds

'and see if I can replace anything on the ten from Len board

'and show him that there's more to life

'than a prawn cocktail from 1976.'

Today, Ainsley and I have brought the shiny silver kitchen

to the capital of Wales - Cardiff.

And let's hope I can get Len's food dragon to roar

with a few new dishes that have never slipped past

his delicate taste buds.

On the menu today...

The Germans give me an eye full.

-Oh, wow.

-Well done.

You can't get your head in this with the lid.

Oh...lovely.

I plate up Italian with a twist

Are you lot ready for this? CHEERING

-Yeah,

-all right, then. Bellissimo.

Hey, Ainsley, you've got a bellissimo here.

'And after 71 years of resistance...'

Here I go.

'..I finally try pasta.'

-This is a bit all right, isn't it, hey?

-It's lovely.

-Weather's good.

-Here we are. Yeah. I'm feeling good about this.

-Yeah.

Cardiff, you been here before, Len?

I have been to Cardiff.

My dad, just after the war, he was an electrician

and he was working down here with my mum who brought me

but I was only a baby.

But we were near Llanelli.

-And the Welsh are just so warm.

-They're warm, they're friendly,

-they've got a bit of soul and passion.

-Yeah.

-What not to like?

-I know.

And we've got the food too, let's not forget that, Len.

-Got some treats in store for you.

-Let's tuck in.

-Yeah.

Come on, mate.

'Len and I are getting our first flavour of the city centre

'with a taste of a country with close ties to Wales.

'It's Italy.'

Cardiff, capital city of Wales,

is one of the oldest multicultural communities in Britain.

As a port city from the early 1800s,

migrants from over 50 countries sailed in to work

in the thriving coal industry.

Due to the volume of coal exported around the world,

Cardiff was known as King Coal.

Many coal merchants and shipping agents were Italians.

Ex-seamen who arrived in Britain after the Second World War

through the European Voluntary Working Service

in response to the labour shortages here in the UK.

Other Italians had already settled throughout the county of Glamorgan

in the 19th and early 20th centuries,

escaping poor farming conditions in Italy

with many famously establishing cafes, restaurants

and ice cream parlours.

These businesses have been passed down through the generations

and many descendants are running the same or similar businesses today.

Italian cuisine, what does that conjure up in your mind, Len?

Spaghetti. I don't like it.

I don't like the look of it, anyway. I've never had it.

There was that lovely moment in Lady And The Tramp

when they were sucking...

-You remember that bit though?

-Course I do.

I don't like the first taste to be the same as the last taste.

No, I like a little bit of that.

And over there. Oh, a little bit of broccoli and a bit of potato.

If I go into restaurants, Italian-y restaurants, I have been in them,

I'm not saying I haven't,

and I've had a chicken escalope -

nice - with rosemary potatoes - nice.

And a very nice, fresh green salad.

Italian cuisine is so diverse, there's so much going on.

It is not just pasta.

There's a lot more to it and that's what I want to show you.

-Now, watch my face, see that? That boyish grin?

-Yeah.

That's because what you're saying is, "No pasta."

And that's pleased me.

Well, I'm not saying no pasta,

I'm saying there's more to it than just pasta.

Just make your mind up, it's either pasta or not.

I'm turning me back on you.

Oh, sometimes you just make me want to go...

-AINSLEY GROWLS

-Well, come on, let's go and eat.

Yeah, come on then.

'How can anyone go through life having never eaten

'one of the greatest inventions of the food world?

'It's just a mystery to me.

'I know I've got a real challenge on this one

'but if any restaurant can get Len

'appreciating the fresh and varied flavours of Italian cuisine,

'it's this place.'

'A Cardiff institution that's been serving up

'traditional, homely Italian dishes for an impressive 32 years.

'And it's run by Welsh Italian Giovanni Malacrino.'

-Buongiorno.

-Buongiorno.

-Come on, Giovanni, this is Len. How you doing?

-Nice to meet you.

-Yeah, good, pleasure having you here.

-Lovely to see you too, my man.

'Giovanni was born in the Calabria region of Italy

'and a lot of his staff hail from his home city

'including head chef, Max...'

-Hey, Max!

-Hey, ciao.

-Ciao, how are you?

-Come stai?

'..who's going to ease Len's taste buds in today

'with a classic Italian dish of veal and pancetta.'

Wow, look at this pancetta. Look at that.

All the way from Italy.

Oh, the smell is so fantastic.

Is there very different types of pancetta, Max?

Well, this one is our Italian version of bacon.

This one is smoked, it's much thinner than, like,

-the British bacon.

-Yeah.

We remove the skin because it's hard.

-Now we thin slice the pancetta.

-Who taught you this?

Is this a classic dish that has been with the restaurant?

It's a classic Italian dish from the very, you know,

-like, from the grandmothers.

-Mm-hm.

-And they taught us how to do this.

-Yeah.

Now, how did you get started?

Was it your parents that got you cracking into this business?

I came here when I was three, from Italy, you know,

and when I was 12, my father bought a chip shop.

Within seven days, we had queues coming out the door, you know?

And we were the very first chip shop ever to do spaghetti bolognese.

Really?

I am a true Welsh Italian,

born in Italy and brought up in Wales, you know?

And they say to me, "Are you Welsh or Italian?"

And I say to them, "My heart is Italian but my wallet is Welsh."

-Boyo.

-Yeah, boyo.

Yeah, terrific.

The dish is going to be, like, involtini,

which is - in Italian words - to roll up.

-To roll up. OK. il-folt-ino?

-Involtini.

-It's liars...

-Layers of...

Oh, layers, sorry, not liars but layers.

AINSLEY LAUGHS Doesn't matter, that's beautiful.

And this is the finest veal, is it?

The best you can get.

Noce di vitello in Italian, which is the nice part of the veal.

-Hmm.

-We put the veal on top of the pancetta.

-Just to cover it.

-Mm-hm.

Bel Paese - soft Italian cheese

which melts fantastically in the involtini.

-Can I have a little bit?

-Yeah, you can have all of it.

-We can share, if you like.

-OK.

-Oh, my God, you take too much, Max!

-I'm sorry!

-Ah.

AINSLEY LAUGHS

-Enough, Chef?

-Yeah.

-Beautiful.

-Fantastic. OK. A boiled egg...

-Uh-huh.

..some salvia, sage.

Sage is fantastic.

-So, two or three lovely sage leaves.

-Yeah.

The last bit, we roll it.

OK?

'You roll it, roll it, roll it.

'Essentially, this is beef, bacon, cheese and egg -

'all things Len loves.

'Surely this has got to be a winner?'

What do you think it is about Italian food that,

you know, makes people want to come in and...

It always seems to be a social sort of thing, eating Italian food.

I mean, in Italy we've got a thing called spaghettata.

So, at midnight, you know,

people instead of going out drinking and dancing,

sometimes they just get together

and they just have a plate of spaghetti.

And usually it's aglio, olio e peperoncino

which is garlic, oil and chilli pepper, you know?

And a bit of Parmesan cheese.

'To cook, first the involtini needs to be seared in a pan

'with olive oil.'

It's starting to crisp up a little bit.

-Absolutely.

-Beautiful.

And the smell, that smoke, that smoky smell is wonderful.

-Is it nice?

-Yeah, yeah.

As long as it's all like, you know, it's nicely all around,

that's enough.

Cos the oven is going to cook the dish.

Look at that, nice and crispy.

We add a little bit of vino bianco, white wine.

-Whoa!

-Fantastico!

-Look at that.

Don't try that at home!

HE LAUGHS

Now, I'm going to let you in to a secret here,

I have never had Italian...I've never had spaghetti ever.

I'm 71, never tried it.

What is your...you know, if you were going to say to your chef,

"Chef, I'm hungry, I'm going to sit down, have a nice meal."

What would you have?

I'm very passionate about spaghetti

and there's a reason for it, you know.

Many years ago, when we were young we were quite poor, you know.

My mother used to make spaghetti, for my sister and I, make spaghetti

but it was just spaghetti with potatoes, onions

and that was it and a bit of cheese, you know?

We used to hate it but we couldn't leave the table

until we ate the spaghetti, you know?

So I used to pre-dig holes in the garden

and as soon as my parents left the room,

I jumped out of the room and I'd actually pour it into the holes

and then cover it over.

And then one April Fool's Day,

-on the telly they were showing spaghetti growing on trees.

-Yeah.

So I said to my sister,

"If spaghetti starts growing now, we're in trouble."

I went and got my mother's detergents, weed killers,

and we put the weed killers all over the garden

to kill off these spaghetti trees

and my father never ever could imagine

why every plant in his garden died.

And my pasta dish spaghetti is my favourite.

Because, as a kid, it was always with a boring sauce,

I now love spaghetti with meatballs.

-I have never had a meatball.

-Mmm, they're nice.

-And now we add a little bit of the tomato.

-Yeah.

But that's not just tomato, Chef, what have you got in there?

Olive oil, the extra virgin one, some red onion...

basil, a little bit of oregano.

-It's almost like...I could eat that alone.

-Absolutely, salt and pepper.

Last into the pan is the Napoletana,

a classic slow-cooked tomato sauce with onion and basil.

Napoletana need basil, OK?

-It's just the kiss.

-OK. The kiss? AINSLEY SMACKS HIS LIPS

Now, that's it, we just put it in the oven for about five minutes

and that's it, we're ready to eat it.

Looking forward to it.

From the smell, I think he may be ready

-to dish up the stuff.

-Yeah, ready when you are.

Yeah, come on.

-Ainsley, I'm peckish.

-GIOVANNI LAUGHS

'Ooh, I'm so glad Len's keen.

'Giovanni must have done a good job of selling Italian cuisine to him.'

Mamma mia. How about that, Len?

-How about that?

-Eh?

I must say, it looks...nice.

-Is this an egg?

-Yeah, well done, bit of egg.

-Bit of egg.

-Yeah.

-Wrapped in a sausage...like a Scotch egg?

Hmm, you could kind of say it's Scotch egg

but that meat is kind of ground down, this is a beautiful veal escalope.

-It's a traditional dish in Italy.

-Vitello.

You'd have this dish at weddings, christenings, the occasional Sunday.

-Hold your horses right?

-All right, mate.

Now, watch this.

'I know it's not pasta but I still want him to love it.'

-Hm. It's nice.

-Yes!

Mamma mia.

You know, I've convinced meself over 70 odd years

-that I don't like stuff.

-Mm-hm.

And I like it.

-You've ruined it all, really.

-There's nothing wrong with that.

Normally, I've got to be honest,

all this, no. Give me a nice tomato.

But, I must say, this is lovely. It's not just a tomato, is it?

-No.

-It's got...

-It's got the onion, you've got the basil

and you've got a little bit of acidity

which can come in the form of a little bit of vinegar

or white wine. And then a little bit of the tomato sauce,

which takes hours to prepare, Len.

Do you know what I will call this?

Cos I do speak quite fluent Italian

-but this is Bon Jovi.

-Bon Jovi.

-Oh-ho-ho, Bon Jovi.

-Bellissimo.

'Bon Jovi? All right, Del Boy.'

'Well, let's see if Len's still smiling with his next dish.

'He didn't seriously think I'd bring him to an Italian restaurant

'and let him get away with not trying spaghetti?

'Oh, no.'

This is spaghetti with home-made Italian meatballs.

Just because I don't want you to get...

..we'll get you ready so you can be as messy as you want.

There we are, get you ready.

As a first timer, it's like going to the hairdresser's, isn't it?

Look, now I'm sorted, yeah.

Shame it hasn't got arms through here.

I know, that hasn't.

'He's definitely unsure about this,

'even when it's smothered with Parmesan cheese.'

Shall I give you a little demonstration?

As Italians, we do this. It's quite easy.

We just do that and then we're ready to eat it. Simple, eh?

Yeah. 'Maybe for you, Giovanni, but I've got to say,

'I'm glad I've got this bib.'

You can use a spoon. You twist it against the spoon.

'I may be a bit of a twinkle toes

'but this...well, it's going to take a bit of practice.

Now, here goes. I am going to go for that.

-The moment.

-And you've got to try the meatball, as well.

-The moment. OK.

'This is a real gauge of whether Italian food

'is going to get a ten from our Len.'

Here I go..

'Hold the front page, I'm going in!

'First time ever spaghetti has passed

'these 71-year-old laughing chops.'

'Now, he's just dragging it out for a bit of drama.'

Hmm.

Why have I been frightened all these years?

AINSLEY LAUGHS Thank you, thank you!

I've been trying to tell you.

If it's cooked beautifully,

if you get real, talented people cooking something

that they're passionate about,

nine times out of ten, the taste is magnificent.

'Phew! What a relief.'

-Now, look. In goes the fork...

-Yeah.

I tell you what, Giovanni, he's got the technique, all right.

It's like a dance, it's like the waltz.

He's doing the waltz with our spaghetti.

Don't make his head too big, what's wrong with you?

-There you are.

-In there.

-And a meatball.

-Push it on there.

This is a double whammy.

-Yeah, yeah. So that way it won't fall off at all then?

-Yeah.

You should have a meatball fork.

-What do you think, Len?

-I like it.

'I think we've just passed a Len landmark moment.

'Could spaghetti make the board after all this time?'

-Mate.

-What an experience.

-You and you...

-My pleasure.

..have convinced me I had nothing to fear with the spaghetti.

In fact, I'm going to toast it.

-Salute.

-Spaghetti.

-Oh, spaghetti.

'Here's to Len facing his fears. Salute indeed.'

You know what, Len?

I kind of feel that you've been missing out all these years

on wonderful Italian food.

And I saw you eat that spaghetti and it just brought great joy.

It did. The course prior to that, the Italian Scotch egg,

I'm going to call it.

The veal. Veal with the smoked pancetta.

And the egg in the middle.

That was very, very, very tasty.

And the second course, the spaghetti, I enjoyed.

But the veal with that wonderful tomato sauce

which you just kept eating more and more of that....

I really, really enjoyed that.

Just tell me, though, would you eat spaghetti again?

The answer is in the affirmative, I would indeed.

Yes, that's enough, that's all I want to know!

Yes!

Who'd have thought that Cardiff would open my world to pasta?

Oh, yes, Ainsley, a great start.

Len, I feel like I'm the one dancing on air

and this is just the start

of what I hope to be a great taste sensation day for you.

Let's see what the locals have got to offer.

In the centre of Cardiff,

this family-run delicatessen and restaurant

is a specialist cheese shop, stocking over 150 different cheeses.

Cheese? I love it.

And I tell you what, I can't wait to get stuck in.

'Ainsley, I've got this covered, you head down to the kitchen

'and see what you can rustle up.'

'Whilst Len's having a chat with Eva about all things cheese,

'I'm going to unearth the secrets behind a simple, classic dish,

'dating back to the 18th century.

'It's got to be Welsh rarebit.'

Can I tell you something? I love cheese.

-Now, if you were going to cook, you know, Welsh rarebit...

-Yes.

..what cheese would you use? What is the ideal?

The ideal cheese for Welsh rarebit

would be something like a Black Bomber.

-Can I have a look?

-Yeah, it's a Cheddar cheese.

Oh, look at that. Now, that is a chunk of cheese, isn't it?

'We're under way in the kitchen with owner Polly

'with the rarebit mixture.'

So, within this mixture I've got some Black Bomber Cheddar.

-Mm-hm.

-So we just crumble that in like that.

-Can I have a little taste of that?

-Of course you can.

Go on, then, just a bit of that.

Mm. Oh, lovely.

-So it's a fairly mature Cheddar with a bit of sea salt in it.

-Yeah.

So we do put a little bit of garlic in there, as well.

A bit of wholegrain mustard, bechamel sauce.

We do use Welsh cheddars in it so it keeps it truly Welsh.

Yeah. It's very nice.

You say it's truly Welsh. Welsh rarebit - is it Welsh?

-I don't know the history of it.

-Oh, yes.

I make it, I'm in Wales, I'm Welsh, I'm making Welsh rarebit.

Is it really?

-These are Welsh cheeses, I'm taking it.

-Yeah.

We have three Welsh cheeses by here.

This one in particular has laver bread in it.

It's like a cheese sandwich all in one.

Like, got a bit of bread in it already?

Laver bread which is seaweed.

Oh, seaweed. Of course it is.

-May I try a little bit of this one with seaweed?

-Yeah, please.

Oh, it's lovely.

That I like, full-bodied and tasty. Got a bit of after burn.

HE CHUCKLES

-It's creamy without being sort of gooey.

-Yeah.

-Have a cheese sandwich.

-Nice bit of relish.

-What do you like? Bit of pickle?

-Little bit of pickle.

What? In it or on the side?

-In it.

-No, see, I don't...

You like a bit on the side, do you?

I like a bit on the side. Don't be cheeky.

I like it on the side and then I can mess about with it.

'Polly's secret touch for her rarebit

'is a cheese with garlic in called Green Thunder.'

Recipes will change naturally over time

so different generations will add different things,

take different things away so that's what we've done.

-Yeah.

-Yeah. So it's just adding something new,

taking something away so it just recreates and regenerates each time.

Mmm. Is the secret to keep it lovely and chunky like this? This bread?

-Yeah.

-Cos that really is a door wedge job innit, eh?

-Yeah.

It's a bit of height on the plate,

there's quite a good feeding off that.

Yeah. Beautiful POLLY GIGGLES

I can smell the mustard. Is there a touch of beer in there too?

There is. We use Welsh beer.

It changes, you know, day to day which type of Welsh beer

but usually a strong Welsh ale

cos you'll taste that.

It soaks into the cheese, as well.

'Mmm. Delicious. It's almost ready to go under the grill.'

-Some more Green Thunder on top...

-Oh, look at this.

-..more garlic. More calories. Never mind.

-Oh, wow.

'That's all right, love. Len can dance it off.'

'Now, let's just pop that under the grill

'until the cheese has melted

'and you get that lovely, oozy golden, bubbling, oooh...

'Welsh rarebit.'

This is the Caerphilly.

This is gorgeous but I think I prefer this.

It's a little sharper.

-Now, oh, what's this? Spiced caws?

-Caws...

-Caws.

..is Welsh for cheese.

-It's more smelly than it is tasting it.

-Than it is tasting.

It's quite gentle, isn't it?

So, out of the three, which one's your favourite?

The Teifi. The Teifi with laver bread.

That would be number one.

-That would get at least a nine.

-A nine?

-Yeah.

-Great.

Caerphilly, I like it a lot, you know, about 8.5 or so.

And this one, a little bit too creamy for me

so I'd have to give that a...seven!

To be honest with you,

I prefer cheese when it's not been grilled or whatever.

I like it just bon ordinaire in a sandwich.

So the Welsh rarebit is not...is not my favourite thing.

Well, you need to try our particular Welsh rarebit.

I'm going to, I'm going to keep an open mind.

'Well, it's time for Len's verdict.

'We're serving the rarebit with Polly's mum's chutney.'

Lovely. Ainsley, I'm waiting!

All right, all right, all right, hold your horses.

I'm going to first try it chutney free.

Chutney free.

And then I'm going to have another go with the chutney.

It's nice.

It's nice, isn't it? Oh!

And I tell you why, cos it is a proper bit of bread.

And when we used to have it at home,

it was a sliver...you know, normal cut-loaf sort of thing.

Thin bit of bread,

like a cheese slice slapped on the top.

And of course, it weren't very tasty.

This is the proper gear, as we say.

Lovely flavours. You can taste the garlic

and she has chucked a combination of cheeses there.

The way she just crunched it on top, it's just like... Oh!

It is powerful flavours.

I am going to give it one more go.

Just to show you how bad I am at cooking, I can't even cut!

Stick that down. I'm going to have

a go with this bit of chutney stuff.

It's Polly's mum's chutney, what do you think?

I am not going to upset Polly's mum, I'll tell you that.

HE LAUGHS

-That was excellent.

-Hm.

Considering I don't nearly... I'm not a big punter for

Welsh rarebit...

Yeah, but a real taste of Wales.

This is really contributing to our Welsh visit, isn't it, eh?

Well, Ainsley, I'll tell you what, that is another Cardiff

feather in your cap, mate.

This really is turning into a bit of a Len love-in! Woohoo!

-I enjoyed that.

-Yeah.

I think I am making it too easy for Len.

Note to self - up the challenge, son,

otherwise we'll end up with a brand-new Len board at the end!

But sticking with all things Welsh,

this country has such a strong food identity,

and Welsh cakes are a traditional treat

and a favourite with just about everyone.

They are cooked at home and found in shops and bakeries all over

the country, just like this one at Cardiff's indoor market.

The small, sweet cakes are crisp on the outside

and soft and slightly crumbly on the inside.

Traditionally, the sugary dough

is either plain or full of mixed spice and dried fruit

like raisins and sultanas.

But nowadays, all sorts of flavours can be found.

At the moment now, we are making chocolate Welsh cakes.

And they are absolutely delicious.

We keep them for about five minutes on this side

and then turn them over.

And there we are.

Not too much, just a nice light sugar.

Wonderful. And that's done. And that is how it is done.

They are best served like this - hot, straight from the griddle.

How delicious!

The relationship between Britain

and Germany has a long history.

It is said that the English Saxons

descended from three German tribes

around 400 to 600 AD.

And today, in Wales,

Germans are one of the largest overseas communities in Cardiff.

Across Britain, we have a long history of twinnings

with towns around the world,

and Cardiff and Germany have one of the oldest links.

So, next on Len's plate today

is a taste of Germany.

A lot of our cities around Britain are twinned

-with some of our continental friends, do you know?

-Yes.

Yeah, Dartford is twinned with New York.

-Is it really?

-No.

-THEY LAUGH

No, but Cardiff is actually twinned with Stuttgart.

-Nah.

-Yeah, I'm telling you.

Well, I've been to... I'll let you into a little secret.

I've been to Germany a lot, A LOT.

I used to teach a lot of dancing in

Germany, mainly in Dusseldorf,

so I have learned a little bit of German over the years,

especially the food, because I was very finicky

what I was going to have.

Yeah, OK. I know that, Len. That doesn't surprise me.

-So I know that peas are Erbsen.

-Yeah.

And cauliflower is Blumenkohl.

-Wow.

-Yeah, I know all that!

And Kartoffel is potato, and so on.

All I know, it'd be Lebkuchen or something like that!

It's just a biscuit, kind of a gingery biscuit or something.

German food I am prepared to have a go with.

So let's go, let's get in there,

get out the old Wiener Schnitzel and off we go.

Cor, you are really taking me by surprise, you are.

I don't mess about.

Every corner we turn in Cardiff is putting a smile on my face

as this day just gets better and better.

But call me old-fashioned, but I just can't see it continuing.

Ainsley, please, have faith!

Well, we have been invited by the Cardiff Stuttgart Association

to sample some authentic dishes from their homeland.

-Nice to meet you.

-Lovely to meet you.

Helga is going to introduce us to the group who either come from

or have ties to Germany,

and they all get together once a month.

-Come in, please, and say hello to all the lovely ladies here.

-Hello.

'The dishes today have been prepared by members Eric,

'Eva,

'Inge and Tabia.'

Hey, look at this,

there's some wonderful smells over here. What have we got here?

Well, this is a chicken dish and it is typically for North Germany.

And it is made with mushrooms, peas and lemon.

-Lemon juice.

-Look at that.

Do you mind if I have a little smell? This looks gorgeous!

This is a...

Oh, this is like a really good sort of chicken soup. It is one of those

that you want to have when you are feeling a little bit sort of fluey.

This is exactly what my mum has done it for.

What is happening over there, Len?

Well, I am just seeing this little bit of carving going on.

These little funny little bits.

What I am doing is I am cutting up these

which are called Maultaschen.

The filling consisting of mincemeat, sausage meat,

vegetable, onions, egg,

hard bread from the previous day.

And this is going to be fried.

The dough is some flour, egg and water.

It is a bit like ravioli, isn't it?

It does look like it.

Maultaschen translates literally into the term 'mouth pockets.'

It is the same shape but not quite as big,

-but with a quite different filling, you know?

-Right.

Looks like my fearless friend's pasta phobia is over.

And what are you getting on with, Eva?

I am trying to make some Spatzle in here.

Spatzle?

It is a very simple dough made of flour, eggs,

a little bit of salt and water.

And I have put in a little bit of nutmeg.

Where is this from then, Eva?

The very southern part of Germany.

Something your mum used to do or just a traditional German recipe?

Oh, yes, it is a very traditional German recipe.

And housewives in Germany, where I come from, get judged

by how many eggs are in the mixture.

The more eggs you put in, the better housewife you are.

Ah! Or the richer housewife you are.

-Yes. Of course.

-Do you know what I mean?

And how do you cook it then, Eva?

-You put the mixture into here, which is a Spatzle press.

-Yeah.

And then you need some boiling water.

And you then just press it in here.

And they get... They look like pasta.

Pasta. It looks like spaghetti.

Yeah. That is going to be very interesting for our Len.

Lenny, are you watching this, boy?

Just because I enjoyed the spaghetti this morning, Ainsley, doesn't mean

I have to have it with every meal, does it?

Spatzle is traditionally served with lentils,

cooked down with smoked bacon and German sausage.

Well, once again, we have a feast in front of us!

We have got roast pork with dumplings, red cabbage,

Helga's stuffed Maultaschen

and Tabia's chicken served with rice,

all washed down with some lovely German beer.

Let's start in the German way. Prost!

-ALL:

-Prost!

Oh, you can't get your head in this with the lid.

Oh, I like that. Lovely!

Do you want to try that lovely chicken one there, Len?

The rice there. Just a touch of that.

Mit Erbsen? Is that what it is, peas?

No, no, no. I've had spaghetti today.

-THEY LAUGH

-No, give over.

My Aunt Betty was German.

My Uncle Jim...

I called him Uncle Jim from Germany although he wasn't.

He was from London. And he married

a German girl who became my Auntie Betty.

Can I share something with you?

On my mother's side, my great-grandfather was German.

-No!

-Really?

-Yeah, promise you.

-Really?

-Yeah, Strudwick. Absolutely.

So is this typical food from one area of Germany or would you

say, you know, that certain things are from different parts?

I, I think, represent the north of Germany

where all the other ladies

are more from the southern and eastern part, I understand.

This is my dish I brought here today,

which is typically northern German, I would say.

What is better, is it the southern food or the northern food?

Debate! Debate, Len. We've got a bit of a debate here, mate.

-No debate.

-There is no debate, I agree,

because it is clearly the north.

The nicest food is the food that you grow up with,

whether you live in the north, the south, wherever.

It is what your mum used to cook

and what you used to grow up eating.

And that is always the best.

Hear, hear.

He seems to know more about this cuisine than me,

but there are a few new dishes on this table

and I think he's going to be tucking in.

-Very tasty.

-Yeah? Loving it?

-I'm loving it!

-It's delicious.

-German food, here you go.

Now, I must say, the pork is delicious.

These little parcels - very, very nice.

-The Maultaschen.

-Ah, the Maultaschen!

'They are not parcels, they are ravioli but only in a German style.'

'Oh, yes, very funny, Ainsley. Think you are clever?

'Well, I am going to find a way to get you back!'

I think the two of us should give them a round of applause

for their hard work and delicious food.

-Beautiful. Thank you very much.

-Thank you very much.

-ALL:

-Hey!

Ha-ha!

That was really good, wasn't it?

I tell you, those ladies, I think they did brilliant.

There was such a spread and such a diverse...

Different foods, different flavours.

Who doesn't like, you know, roast pork with a bit of crackling

and this and that? You know, lovely.

I mean, it was the textures, too, that I found really interesting.

You know, and the fact that they made all those things right before

-your eyes. That made it special.

-Yeah.

I found the food very, very nice.

The hospitality and our welcome,

-it would be a ten because they are such lovely people.

-They are.

Hey, the food tour continues!

Oh, yeah. Ho-ho!

To round off our day in Cardiff, I have got one last taste test

for Len. And as I need to get back in his good books after rav-gate

in Germany, I have got a take on a fabulous classic Italian dish

called Madonna del Piatto,

or for me and you,

spinach and ricotta pancakes.

Let's start off with the egg, OK?

Break that egg down.

And then we are going to add some of that milk.

And just add enough milk, and whisk that together

until you get a double cream consistency.

I am just going to season that up now with some salt...

A little bit of white pepper.

I generally like to use white pepper when I am making pancakes like this.

Because black pepper would leave those little visible flecks

in the batter.

Get a little bit of oil in our pan now.

Just a touch.

Don't over do it, OK?

Of course, you could use a little bit of butter. I kind of like using oil

cos I sometimes fear that the butter is going to burn in there.

Once the batter is mixed and your pan is nice and hot,

pour in a steady stream of batter just to cover the base.

Roll that around your pan so you get a nice thin pancake.

You don't want it too thick.

Having said that, if it's a little bit thick, no-one will know

cos we're going to coat it in that lovely tomato and bechamel sauce.

Cook the pancakes for about 30 seconds on the first side,

then flip over and cook for a further 15 seconds on the other.

But don't stop after just making one.

Keep going until you have made enough to fill

the base of your pan. I am going to make about 12 pancakes here.

And I think two or three for a portion,

or indeed if you are doing a starter portion,

you only need one, really.

This dish is constructed like lasagne -

there will be pasta-like layers with ricotta, spinach, bechamel

and a wonderful Napoletana tomato sauce.

Let's prepare that spinach.

I've cooked this spinach down

and you can see that it is just cooked. I've drained it off

and I've squeezed out all that excess water. It is really important

that you do that. And then we can chop it up and start to season it up.

OK. Now, let's just pop that into the ricotta.

Warm it up with a little bit of nutmeg spice.

The smell of nutmeg, I just love it!

Add a pinch of salt.

And pepper.

Just combine that together.

You can see that is that wonderful sort of creamy texture.

Now, I am going to set my pancakes on top of a little bit of the sauce.

I've got a fantastic sauce that I've cooked down here.

Wonderfully rich, wonderfully flavoursome.

And, of course, the same with the white sauce.

Let's get the spinach ricotta mixture inside the pancakes.

OK. Now we are just going to roll these up. OK?

And pop it into your tray.

A bit like a production line, really.

That's it. Now I am just going to put a bit of tomato sauce on top.

Mm! I've cooked my tomato sauce down with chopped tomatoes,

garlic, tomato puree,

a little hint of caster sugar and a touch of basil.

Next, we have more bechamel sauce just ladled on top.

Finish it with a grating of Parmesan.

Use the best quality Parmesan that you can get, OK?

And just grate that on the top.

Lovely. Quite liberally.

That's it. I am just going to pop that in the oven.

At about 180 for about 15 to 20 minutes

until it is lovely and golden.

Fantastic.

Oh... When that dish is piping hot, cooked through,

and that lovely cheese looks like toffee, ho-ho,

then it's ready.

Wow, that looks good. I wonder what Len is going to think of this.

There is only one way to find out!

Time for Len's taste test.

Are you ready for this, Len?

-Yes, come on.

-Ready for a bit of the old tasting?

-What is this?

-This is Madonna del Piatto.

OK, Madonna, here you go.

-Oh.

-It's creamy, isn't it?

Very creamy.

The spinach, I like.

-It's nice.

-It is a lovely, lovely, creamy dish.

Time to share my Madonna del Piatto with the people of Cardiff.

Are you lot ready for this?

-CROWD:

-Yeah.

-All right, then.

Ladies and gentlemen, Cardiff,

indulge yourself in Madonna del Piatto

pancakes with spinach and ricotta.

Grazie, grazie.

Bellissimo!

Eh! Ainsley, you got a bellissimo here!

-Nice and creamy.

-Creamy.

-It's absolutely gorgeous.

-Nice and creamy.

-It's good. Very, very good.

-Really good?

-Oh, very good, yeah.

What score would you give it out of ten?

-Ten, ten for Len.

-Ten for Len! Wahey!

-What about you, madam, what did you think?

-Very moreish.

Moreish. Ainsley, you just got a moreish.

-A moreish?

-Yeah.

-Lovely.

Well, we can't have any more cos it's all gone.

But, of course, we saved a portion for Giovanni.

This man is an expert.

-What would you give it out of ten?

-Obviously... Oh, 11!

Hey-hey!

Why don't you come on the tour? Len, get lost!

You can come with me, mate.

What a day, Len.

-Cardiff, who'd have thought it?

-I know!

Italian, did that win you over? Because...

Well, the Italian was... I was very concerned.

It was much tastier than I thought it would be.

We finished off with a bit of the old German fare.

-That was quite nice.

-I tip my hat to those ladies

-for preparing such a diverse amount of food.

-Mm!

'So, after a day after European discovery

'with tasty Italian classics...'

Why have I been frightened all these years?

Thank you, thank you!

'..and hearty German home cooking...'

I'm loving it. It's delicious.

German food, here you go.

'..will any of today's dishes make it into Len's top ten?'

Well, I surprised myself

with how much I enjoyed the Italian dishes.

That veal and pancetta

was delicious,

but it might not be enough

to permanently replace

good old British beef in my heart.

But it certainly gives steak

and chips a run for its money.

Bon Jovi.

-So, has it been a bad day?

-It has not been a bad day.

In fact, it has been a lovely day.

It has been an experience,

and you are helping to give me a more mature palate.

I certainly am.

And that is what I want.