East of England Nadiya's British Food Adventure

I'm a busy mum and I cook every day.

So I try to keep my food exciting.

Anybody hungry?

I like to experiment with new flavours and ingredients.

Is that yummy?

But I've always wanted to find out more

about the food I feed my family.

So in this series,

I'm travelling the length and breadth of the country

to meet the fishermen...

-There's a Dover sole.

-You got a fish, you got a fish!

..the farmers...

-Has anyone ever gone in?

-Yeah! I have!

..the chefs and the producers who go the extra mile

to make British food some of the best in the world.

-Super!

-Yes! Look!

-Brilliant!

I'll explore some familiar foods...

That is so pretty. I feel totally inspired.

..and try some that are totally new.

I mean, you have to be completely bonkers to cook like this.

And I'll be creating brand-new recipes...

This works!

..inspired by their produce...

-Hope you're hungry!

-It smells amazing!

..as I go on my British Food Adventure.

This time, I'm in East Anglia.

This is hard-core farming country

where so much of the food we buy in the supermarket comes from.

My grandfather was a farmer, so I can't wait

to meet some of the people who produce the food I love so much.

This region is the hunting ground of the famous Cromer crab.

It's so exciting!

And it provides the perfect growing conditions for one of my guilty pleasures.

That might have just made of my crisp obsession worse!

But before I head there, I'm cooking something special

in honour of all those hard-working farmers.

One of my favourite sandwiches is a ploughman's cheese and pickle,

but of course I'm not going to teach you have to make a sandwich.

I'm going to turn it into a tart.

Crunchy, tangy pickle and full-flavoured mature Cheddar

served up on a shortcrust pastry shell.

I recommend using shop-bought shortcrust pastry

but I have a trick that just takes your pastry up a notch.

I've got paprika and this just gives the pastry a slight heat

but also gives it this gorgeous orange colour.

No-one would even question that you bought it.

You'll get ripples of this lovely paprika going through the pastry

and it looks like you've made such an effort and really you haven't.

Leave it in the fridge to chill for about 15 minutes.

This is just going to make it a lot easier to work with.

While that's cooling down,

heat your oven to 160 degrees and pop in a baking tray.

Now, I'm going to roll that to roughly about the thickness of a pound coin.

I've picked a really deep tart tin.

This just means I can get lots of filling in it.

Exactly like when you pick up a ploughman's sandwich,

you want lots of chunky pickle and chunks of cheese and this is exactly

what this is about, it's going to be a nice, thick wedge of a tart.

To achieve a crispy base,

the pastry needs to be baked before all the filling goes in.

Stick that straight on to the hot tray.

After 25 minutes,

take the baking beads out and pop it back in the oven

for another 15 minutes.

I'm going to get started on the filling.

Four eggs.

150mls of whole milk.

Just whisk that together.

And now the most important bit.

You can't beat a strong, mature Cheddar.

God, doesn't 250g of cheese look really good?

If I could eat cheese like that and it was socially acceptable

I would totally walk around eating cheese like that for lunch.

But it's not, they say!

Ooh, I love cheese!

You can see that that is baked all the way through.

Now, this is my favourite bit.

It's such simple things, it's pickle and it's cheese.

You know, I grew up on cardamom and cinnamon sticks,

on such intricate flavours,

that sometimes there's that part of me that says, "Do you know what,

"I am not going to have any spices,

"I just want to have something really simple,

"just cheese and pickle."

The whole point of layering is that you'd don't dilute the flavours.

You get a little bit of everything in each mouthful.

Now for the egg and milk.

Don't be tempted to add seasoning,

it really doesn't need anything else.

Just pour it in gently,

just so you don't disturb the pickle and the cheese.

You want everything to stay exactly as you put it.

And it's back in the oven for another 25 minutes.

Oh, look at that - cheesy!

That pastry is lovely and golden, there's a...

It's slightly soft in the centre, which is exactly what you want,

you want to take it out when there's a slight wobble in the middle

because that's going to sit there and it's going to cool

and residual heat is going to just keep cooking it.

Oh, what's better than cheese? Cooked cheese!

It's really important that when you are trimming the edges

that the pastry is still really warm.

And if the pastry was cold, it would just shatter.

That's my bit.

That's your bit.

Leave it to cool before diving in.

I mean, to look at it, it just looks like an ordinary tart

but you know and I know

there's something a little bit special inside.

I mean, look at that.

You've got that delicious, tangy pickle

and that lovely cheese on top.

Now, I love a cheese and pickle sandwich, but if I can say so

myself, this is so much better.

Mmm, cheese and pickle.

So simple but tastes amazing.

Now, it's time to leave the kitchen and head to East Anglia

to see for myself where some of my favourite ingredients come from.

My first stop is on the beautiful North Norfolk coast in Cromer,

an area world-renowned for its crab.

I love seafood, be it prawns, mussels, squid.

But my all-time favourite is crab.

And I've never been out on a boat to catch my own,

and I reckon that if I'm going to catch crab, I'm catching them today.

And the man to help me fulfil my dream

is Richard Matthews, who's been fishing from this beach

for the last 40 years.

-You were born for this.

-I was born for this, he says.

I have never been on a boat.

-Haven't you?

-In the sea. Never, no. This is my first.

Right, now, we're going so we can catch some crabs, shall we?

Let's go catch some crab!

It's so exciting.

We're in, we're in. Going.

What a gorgeous morning.

We're now going to pick up this pellet here.

-This is what you're aiming for?

-This is what we're aiming for.

Pick the buoys up. Buoy goes down to an anchor

and the anchor then goes to the pot.

-Ease her down.

-I'll just pick the buoy up.

They've got the first pot up.

And it's full of crabs.

On an average day, Richard catches over 250 crabs.

That's not a bad crab.

Nice, hard shell.

Good quality. It's a male.

See the shape?

Female.

-What's that one, Nadiya?

-Male. Is that a male?

No, is that a female?

-Have another go.

-Oh, no, that's a female.

-Yeah.

-I think I can tell a male and female crab apart.

We'll make a fisherwoman of you yet!

Or maybe not.

Aren't you feeling very well?

My sea legs have got the better of me.

I'm just going to... I'm just going to give myself

two minutes to look out into the horizon.

Oh, I'm going to be sick.

Are you feeling all right, Nadiya?

I'm feeling really sick right now.

We've all been there, my beauty.

Some people are fine, and other people are horrendous, you know.

It's just the luck of the draw, I think.

She's all right. She's a tough 'un, I can tell that.

We'll get you back in that kitchen, darling.

We're going back. I could not be happier.

I feel safe in a kitchen.

We've got a big copper on the boil at home,

we'll get these crabs sorted.

Hold tight.

Oh!

Right, are we getting off?

-OK!

-All right, you're fine!

That's one way to get off!

Lovely land.

Starting off this morning, I thought I was really excited about this bit.

I'm so glad it's over.

I am so glad it is over.

Come on, then. Let's go and get back in that kitchen.

I've experienced the hard work that goes into catching them,

but now I want to know what makes these particular crabs so desirable.

The Cromer crab is a very sweet crab.

Brown meat content is phenomenal.

Very sweet. I think that's all down to the chalk grounds they're on.

I'm sure that's what makes them different from everywhere else.

The beauty of cooking crab is in its simplicity.

They're chilled first to stun them...

Put these crabs into this net for me, love.

..and boiled in salt water.

Once we get this back to the boil,

we're going to give them 16 minutes to simmer.

Nice, gentle simmer.

Just enough time for me to sample the height of Cromer fashion.

I mean, that is just pathetic.

Oh, look how they've changed colour.

Right, now, I'll show you how to do this and you'll be away, won't you?

All right, when you pick these up...

Over the back.

You don't want to have your crab on a plate and see mud, do you?

-No.

-Do you want to try one?

Oh, my God. It's hot!

-I'll come back in five minutes...

-No! Don't leave me.

I mean, it looks easy enough, right? A crab and a jet wash.

It is not that easy.

Fun, though.

But I don't want my husband to see this cos he's going to

expect me to wash the car.

I'm not washing the car.

I think I might have done that one.

I've caught them, I've cleaned them, but now I can't wait to taste them.

I think my summer rolls recipe will be the perfect way

to showcase the famous delicate flavour of Cromer's crab.

I'm going to start with my red onion.

Summer rolls are basically a Vietnamese salad

wrapped up in soft rice paper.

And remember, the skin of the spring roll is translucent,

so you get all that lovely colour coming right through.

Slice your veg as evenly and thinly as you can.

We used to have a test in our house.

If you can't see through the vegetable,

then you've done it wrong.

My dad would be unimpressed by that one.

But then again, he WAS a chef.

My dad bought us actual real-life sharp knives

when we were probably about six years old.

He said, the worst that you're going to do is lose your finger. So...

What it meant was that we knew how to use a knife properly.

That's our vegetables ready.

Now for my star ingredient.

When you've got something as fresh and as delicious as this,

you want to enhance the flavour, you don't want to mask the flavour,

so, I'm keeping it as simple as it gets.

I'm going to season it. Just a little pinch of salt.

Crab and lemon - a marriage made in heaven.

I'm not adding any of the lemon juice.

Smells delicious.

Next up, the dipping sauce. I'm using the juice of four limes.

Squeeze all that juice out.

It's all right.

I don't need my eyes to cook anyway, I just need my hands.

Add a tablespoon or so of palm sugar...

..and a splash of fish sauce.

Be careful. Use this sparingly.

It's really salty and it's fishy.

Finally, add one red chilli and two centimetres of ginger,

both finely chopped.

This is a bit of a sweet, sour,

salty dipping sauce.

The key to make this successful is to not have

any one of those elements overpower another.

Perfect.

Get that on there.

We've got some gorgeous rice paper here.

Look at that. But, as you can see...

..they just snap, so we need to soften these.

-How you getting on there, Nadiya?

-Hello!

Richard and his wife Alison have arrived, just in time to help me.

We've got some rice paper.

Dip that into the water, in there.

-There you go.

-Yeah, ready.

Lay it out nice and flat.

-Got it?

-Bring it on, Nadiya. Bring it on.

Right. You come on that side, I'll take your one.

This is great if you're having a party and you want everyone

-to get stuck in.

-Right, OK. I'll remember this.

-So, coriander...

-OK.

-Generous or not?

-No, I just like to do a couple of strips.

-How's that, my love?

-There you go. Perfect.

Now you've got these lovely, colourful vegetables.

Red peppers. Go on, you go for it.

-Onion. I like onion.

-You like onion?

Carrots.

Kind of tuck it all in. Then grab your crab, your delicious crab.

-This is what you cooked this morning?

-Yeah. It is.

Right, now, you take one edge and fold it over.

Then you take the other edge and, again, fold that over.

Then you take this edge and you go, nice and tight,

over and then just roll.

Roll, roll, all the way.

And that is your summer roll.

-Lovely.

-How hot is that sauce, Nadiya?

Now, it has got chilli and has got ginger.

-Are you going to try it?

-You don't like hot, do you?

Try yours first, darling.

Don't be a wimp, come on.

-All right, I'll go for it.

-As you went in the boat.

Mmm! Very lovely.

That really is nice.

-Enjoying that?

-Yeah. Come on, let's go for a bit more heat.

Oh! Well done!

-Mmm, it is lovely.

-This is the best crab I've ever tasted.

Lovely and fresh, sweet.

-Best you'll ever get.

-I think so.

-Beautiful. We make a wonderful team.

-We do!

But I am never going on that boat again.

-You are.

-No, I am not.

I am not.

That was fantastic, but my trip's about to get even better.

East Anglia is famed for its potatoes.

So I'm heading to Ely in Cambridgeshire because

I've been told these particular spuds produce the best crisps -

my absolute favourite snack.

Hi, Ross.

So I'm really excited to come to this muddy field

to meet potato farmer Ross Taylor.

You suddenly feel really tall.

So, tell me, what is so good about these potatoes?

It's the soil. 4,000 years ago, it was a forest

and the trees decomposed and left us here with

this beautiful black gold.

You get the taste from the soil, the peat, the oak.

-Do you want to have a go on the tractor?

-Yes, let's go.

It's a busy time for Ross.

He's only got a four-week window to plant well over

half a million potatoes.

On the back of the machine is the seed potatoes.

And then dropping the potatoes into the ground.

I have to say, I have never been on a tractor

and this is quite an experience, this is.

My family, they're from a farming background and they grow rice.

Being on a tractor is such a luxury that my grandad would have loved.

All he had was two buffaloes.

They would be just attached to these hooks and,

depending on how deep he wanted to go into the soil,

he would pick the heaviest person on the lightest person.

If he didn't intend on going too deep,

-I would stand on the back of the hooks...

-Wow.

..and spend all evening tickling this soil with these buffalo.

-It is a similar principle to what we do here.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

The way we're doing this has not changed much since the 1940s.

I mean, if my grandad had something like this...

he might have lived longer!

Oh, oh, oh!

-Are we supposed to be doing that?

-Yep.

Has anyone ever gone in?

Yeah. I have.

I've been in the river before.

So now, all the potatoes that you grow, do they all become crisps?

-Every single one.

-Really?

-Yeah.

How many bags of crisps?

We get 4,000 bags, roughly, from one tonne of potatoes.

-What?!

-Yeah.

-That's about as many as I'll eat in a year probably.

-Yeah.

All this talk of crisps is making me peckish...

..so we're off to the factory on Ross's farm to see if these

East Anglian crisps can live up to the hype.

I'm very excited... And it's still warm!

Still warm.

-It's got a very unique, nutty flavour.

-Yeah.

And you know, it hasn't even been flavoured yet.

Our crisps don't need flavour, they're beautiful by themselves.

That might have just made my crisp obsession worse.

In fact, it's got me thinking.

Is it possible to improve on a bag of crisps?

I think it is.

I'm going to use Ross's crisps in an indulgent treat.

My crispy chocolate salted peanut dessert.

I know what you're thinking, but bear with me.

It's a winner.

I've hijacked the farmhouse kitchen so I can test my recipe out on Ross.

First and foremost, let's use our crisps.

I'm making the base first.

Trust me, it works.

I'm using lightly salted crisps.

Now, if you're a maverick and you want to go all the way out there

and get barbecue flavoured crisps, you are free to try that out.

Let me know how that works out.

They don't look like crisps but, I assure you,

they still smell like crisps.

But that's about to change.

Using unsalted butter and golden syrup,

I'm going to create a match made in heaven.

Salty and sweet works, we all know that.

Although I do have a sister who says that salty and sweet don't work.

We're not friends any more.

So the butter has just melted

and I'm going to pour that straight over the crisps.

Yes, that really is butter, golden syrup and crisps.

Once it's all mixed together, tip into a greased tin.

Use the back of a spoon and just push that into the ridges.

Once you've done around the edges,

just flatten it till you've got no gaps.

Bake it for ten minutes so the base will stay nice and crispy.

Now to my decadent filling,

which starts with dark chocolate and unsalted butter.

I'm going to set this over a bain-marie.

Cooking it slowly over a pan of boiling water

will stop the chocolate splitting.

I've decided to use dark chocolate, so it's quite a grown-up dessert.

Now, if you wanted to make this for children,

you could just use milk chocolate.

I mean, if your kids are not getting enough chocolate and crisps

in their diet, this is the best dessert for them.

While the chocolate melts,

I'm whisking three eggs and 150g of caster sugar.

You may need to do a bit of multitasking at this point.

This is perfect.

You can see, if I run my beaters through it,

it's almost the consistency of double cream,

which is exactly what you want.

Once melted, wait a couple of minutes for your chocolate

to cool down before slowly adding it to the egg.

What you're looking for is a mixture that's thick and glossy...

..and delicious. I mean, I could eat this

just as it is, but I won't.

I will finish this recipe.

Now for the salted peanuts.

Now I've got two of my favourite snacks in here,

a bag of crisps and a bag of peanuts.

It's the ultimate indulgence,

so perhaps it should come with a government health warning.

And pour that straight in.

And then give it one final little flourish

of the peanuts that you reserved.

Don't do anything by halves.

If you say crisps, put crisps in.

If it says chocolate, get chocolate in,

and if it says peanuts, you've got to see peanuts.

Now all it needs is to go back into the oven

and be baked for another 25 minutes.

Crisps and chocolate, who'd have thought?

You can skip the whole tart bit entirely and just get

a bowl of chocolate and crisps.

Works just as well.

But I think as soon as you set eyes on the gorgeous final result,

it proves it was worth the effort.

Never imagined a cake being made out of crisps.

Go on, dig in.

But will Ross, his sister and his niece agree?

Yum!

Very nice.

-That's amazing.

-Can you still taste that it's crisps?

-Yeah, you can.

-But it's not a bad thing, is it?

It's a really nice combination.

It means a lot to me that you actually like it.

Honestly, it is absolutely lovely.

-Crisp king.

-We should start selling these.

From crabs to crisps,

I'vw had an amazing time sampling some of the beautiful bounty

East Anglia has to offer, and I've only just scratched the surface.

But now I have to say goodbye.

I want my final recipe to be a celebration

of some of the other fresh produce the region excels at.

Of course, the humble spud will have an important part to play.

If only we could eat crisp chocolate tart every day of the week,

but we know that there's got to be some sort of a balance.

So I'm making a herby chicken and potato salad.

Fresh new potatoes and crunchy vegetables,

topped off with succulent, marinaded chicken.

A delicious and healthy summery treat.

So I'm going to start off with the potatoes.

I just think life's too short.

Don't peel them, get them straight in.

Get all that goodness in there.

Leave them to boil until they're tender and soft.

I'm going to butterfly the chicken.

I know that sounds like a really cheffy term,

but it is actually really easy.

I'm slicing down the middle of the chicken breasts.

Try not to go all the way through.

Just opening it up.

It looks like a butterfly - that's all it is.

And what that does is it gives you a really even cook.

And that is it. You've butterflied a chicken, as easy as that.

And I'm keeping it simple with the marinade, too.

Just two spoonfuls of plain, thick yoghurt,

salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

And then a teaspoon of ground ginger.

I could have used fresh ginger,

but it doesn't quite have the aroma of ground ginger.

This works so well.

The juice of quarter of a lemon.

A good handful of parsley.

And just whizz it all up.

Now, if you feel like it is not blitzing up that well,

just add a little bit of extra oil.

Now pour all that lovely, green goodness on top of the chicken

and get your hands in.

You can use a spoon but if I can avoid doing any washing up, I will.

I'll use my hands for everything.

Let that marinade just coat all of that chicken.

The longer you leave it, the tastier that chicken's going to get.

There's a trick that my dad taught me

when I was learning to boil potatoes. If it's not cooked,

no amount of shaking will let that potato fall off.

So if you shake it, it should fall off, which means...

..it's cooked. I mean, that might just be gravity.

I don't even know what my dad's talking about.

This is kind of almost my healthier version of a potato salad

with the use of yoghurt, which means it's a little bit lighter,

a little bit friendlier on your waist, but just as tasty.

So, I've got some yoghurt and I've just seasoned it with some salt and pepper.

Add a good glug of olive oil, apple cider vinegar and Dijon mustard.

And that's going to give it a little bit of heat.

Some honey for sweetness.

That...

..is just right.

And finish it off with some fresh chives.

Stir in your potatoes.

And I want to serve it all on a crunchy bed

of fresh courgette and carrot.

Ribbon these carrots.

The longer the carrot, the better the strips.

And that's the point when it's had enough.

Just eat this bit, it's fine.

And to vary the texture, I'm grating the courgette.

Mix the two together.

And now for that lovely potato salad.

And our chicken that's been marinading, and just...

As that cooks on each side,

it's going to get a lovely golden colour on top of it.

Look at that.

That is going to add shed loads of flavour.

That chicken is cooked perfectly.

I love chicken salad.

That is going to be succulent as ever.

You want to do this right at the last minute to get lovely,

hot bits of chicken on top.

And drizzle with more of the dressing.

Yum.

And that is my herby chicken salad.

It looks colourful, it smells great

and it is going to be delicious.

Chicken salad!

It's a dish that's wholesome, fresh and earthy -

the perfect ode to East Anglia.

This journey hasn't let me down,

but there are plenty more places for me to visit.

Next time, I'm off to the capital to experience the future of food...

Ooh!

Do you think we've flavoured these with salt and vinegar?

They taste like salt and vinegar.

..and meet a man who cooks using scent.

That is intense!