West Country 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?

-Oh-ho-ho-ho!

I like to experiment with new flavours and ingredients.

Is it 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've got a fish! ..the farmers...

-Has anyone ever gone in?

-Yes. I have.

..the chefs...

and the producers who go the extra mile to make British food

some of the best in the world.

-See.

-Yes, look!

-Brilliant.

I'll explore some familiar foods...

That is so pretty.

I feel totally inspired.

..and try some that are totally new.

You have to be completely bonkers to cook like this.

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

So sweet.

..inspired by their produce...

-I hope you're hungry.

-Smells amazing.

..as I go on my British food adventure.

This week I'm in the west -

a land famous for its farming and rich food heritage.

I'll be helping to preserve its sweet legacy...

Mm. Wow.

..and getting stuck in,

to harvest one of our best-loved ingredients.

Yes! Hey! Ah, look at that.

We can't start a food adventure to the West Country without a pasty.

Not only do I love eating them, but I love making them.

The classic Cornish pasty

is filled with beef, potatoes, swede and onion.

But I'm breaking the tradition to create my irresistible

lamb and apple pasties.

For a really great pasty,

you've to start with some really good pastry.

And I have a great short cut to amazing shortcrust pastry.

I'm blending flour, butter, salt and baking powder.

So the butter's mixed in. I can tell because the flour and butter mixture

has become like a breadcrumb texture.

So I pop in my egg yolks.

And just give it a quick pulse.

Finally, water, just enough to bind it.

It's all clumped up together. Get it straight out.

That was almost as easy as buying the pastry.

So I've flattened the pastry dough out,

I'm wrapping it in some clingfilm.

I'm going to chill it for an hour.

Then it's on to the equally easy filling.

Combine lamb, chopped onion, diced potatoes and peas.

Make sure that the potatoes, the meat,

all the vegetables are all the same size.

So that just means that when they cook, they're going to cook evenly.

Now, pasties traditionally have some element of sweetness in them,

whether it be from carrots or swedes,

but I'm adding my sweetness using green apples.

I know that feels like a bit of a weird combination, but I don't like

to follow rules. I like to mix things up.

Apples are a famous West Country ingredient, and I think they go just

as well with lamb as they do with pork.

Mix everything together really, really well.

I am partial to a prank.

And my husband is usually on the receiving end, so what I'll do is

I'll make a particular pasty for him and mark it out.

He'll go straight in thinking he's going to get this delicious,

meaty pasty. But all he's got is peas and potatoes.

I mean, I have got meaner pranks, but that one usually gets him.

Add dried mint for flavour and salt for seasoning

and give it a thorough jiggle.

To ensure your pasty filling is rich and juicy,

add melted butter and some flour.

Because I'm using a raw filling in the pasty,

as soon as it goes in the oven,

it will start cooking and releasing moisture, so it's really important

to add the flour so it help to thicken up all the liquids.

And that is our filling done.

With the pastry nice and chilled, it's time for a work-out.

WHISPERS: Let's roll up those sleeves. Right.

You can tell the pastry is really cold because I'm on my tippy-toes.

WHISPERS: I think I need to go to the gym.

Using a small plate, cut pastry circles.

Brush half of the circle edge with egg.

And this is where you learn whether

you're an over filler or an under filler, and I am an over filler,

I always put way too much in and my then pasties burst open in the oven.

They still taste delicious, don't look as nice.

And I might have overfilled it.

So, try again.

That is perfect.

The pastry needs to be well sealed for the filling to cook.

Using the back of a knife,

gently push to the centre

to just create a scalloped edge and go all the way round.

And once they're perfectly sealed, don't forget the emergency exit.

If that steam's got nowhere to go, it's going to burst.

Finally, coat with egg wash.

This is going to give them a lovely shine all over the top.

Be generous.

Then it's in the oven for 50 minutes.

And when I'm waiting for a fresh pasty, this feels like an eternity.

Let's have a look.

Oh, look at those.

WHISPERS: Let's see what we've got inside.

Oh. The smells coming out of there.

That is packed with flavour.

My hearty lamb and apple pasties.

What could be a more fitting dish

to set me up for my West Country travels?

The west is blessed with mild winters and warm summers,

which makes it perfect for growing soft fruits,

and this year's bounty is particularly juicy.

My first visit takes me to Gloucester,

the gateway to the west...

..where I've come to a pick-your-own farm.

It's berry-picking season, so to me, that means jam time.

I'm here to learn the tricks of the trade

from one of Britain's best jam makers.

And she says I can find her somewhere in the strawberry fields.

I'm searching for Sarah Churchill, who produces award-winning jams,

and she's never far away from a berry.

-Hi, Sarah.

-Hi, Nadiya.

-I thought I'd find you here.

-Yeah.

-Amongst the strawberries.

Basking in the sunshine, picking strawberries. It's lovely, isn't it?

-I hear you're a little bit jam mad.

-A little bit jam mad.

Very busy, crazy jam lady.

So when we're picking strawberries, what are we looking for?

We're looking for a perfectly ripe fruit, just red, no green on them.

How long have you been jam making for?

Well, I'm a chef by trade, so I've been making jam for many years,

but really, as a full-time job, I have been doing it for six years.

Are your counters really sticky?

-Not after I've cleaned.

-THEY LAUGH

-They are at the time.

-That's the only thing that puts me off

-making jam, is the sticky counters.

-It is a sticky business.

For sure.

Sarah has a reputation for her experimental jam flavours.

Today we're making her midsummer berry jam.

And as well as strawberries, we'll be using tayberries.

A little bit of acidity to them,

so that will balance out the lovely sweetness of the strawberry as well.

They're not quite as tart as a blackberry.

-No.

-A bit more fragrant, like a raspberry, as well.

Absolutely, they are really nice, actually.

We are also using redcurrants...

How can that not put a smile on your face? It's so colourful.

..gooseberries,

and my favourite, blackcurrants.

Ugh! That one wasn't ripe.

Well, maybe not that particular one.

Oh, my eyeballs. I think we've got enough.

I think we have. Kilos and kilos of lovely fruit.

We are heading to Sarah's home,

complete with a purpose-built jam kitchen.

-Put me to work.

-Lovely.

Well, first job to do, really, is to take the tops off the strawberries.

Then we can get going making the jam.

The fruit needs very little prep.

A rinse, a de-stalk and, where necessary, some chopping.

I think they look like little aliens.

They do look amazing, don't they?

-Yeah.

-And the flavour that they'll give to this jam is just fantastic.

The reason we use copper is cos it's got great heat retention,

it's got a large surface area for evaporation of water and liquids.

You get that real intense flavour in the jam.

So I'm just going to add some water first.

-So still cooking in a traditional way?

-Absolutely.

Our fruit is simmered to soften the skins before adding the sugar.

Pop it all in, it can go straight in.

Strawberries contain little pectin, but the other fruits do and they'll

react with the sugar to thicken the jam.

We're going to cook this for approximately five minutes.

When all the fruit has boiled down,

Sarah adds her final special summer ingredient.

I've got some lovely lemon verbena from the garden.

Do have a smell, it's really fresh and citrussy and zingy.

I'm just going to pop that in the jam, just literally to infuse it.

-Almost like a beautiful tea, you know?

-Yeah.

We're just going to cook that for a couple of minutes,

that will just give it a really nice, fresh, really zingy taste.

I suppose you know just by looking at it whether it's done or not.

Yeah, but there is a technique.

Dip a spoon in and then you let the jam hang off the spoon...

-So what are we looking for? A drop that...

-A drop that doesn't move.

-You see that's gelled now? You can see, there it is.

-Ah.

It's very, very hot, super hot.

-It's just a case of...

-Oh, look at that. Straightaway.

There's a gel on it.

Mmm!

-Wow.

-It tastes delicious.

It's lovely and strong and gorgeous.

Now all we need to do is jar up the midsummer berry jam.

And I really like to have jars that are well filled,

-so almost up to the top.

-That's why I like you.

A well filled jar.

That is very pretty.

I know exactly how to use this freshly made jam.

It will be delicious in my light, crisp doughnuts.

Mmm, jammy doughnuts.

You can just go to the shop and buy doughnuts, but once you've made them

yourself and realised how delicious they are, warm,

straight out of the fryer,

I don't know that you'll be buying them all the time.

So I'm going to start with the dough first.

And for the lightest, fluffiest doughnuts, I use strong bread flour.

Add caster sugar, dried yeast, and salt.

And always put the salt on the other side of the yeast.

If I put that salt on top of the yeast, it will just kill it.

It's like salt on a slug, and that never works out well.

And now for my liquids, I've got milk and I've got some melted butter,

and then to that I'm going to add one egg.

That wet mixture goes in with the dry.

And then I've got a dough hook attached to my mixer.

Put it on,

and then keep mixing it till the dough comes together.

If you've got a wobbly table, hold it down.

It's a good arm work-out, this, I can feel my bits going.

I really can.

The dough will take around five minutes to knead.

It should look like something that's come out of a swamp.

That's perfect.

Roll it into a ball and plop into a greased bowl.

Cover with clingfilm and leave it to prove.

On a day like this, that could take ten minutes to double in size.

Because it is so warm.

The yeast will break down the sugar, creating carbon dioxide,

causing the dough to rise, and hey presto!

That has definitely doubled in size.

Knock all that air out.

And this is just going to make it easy to shape.

A few years ago, my mum decided she was going to come round

and so I decided to fry some doughnuts.

My mum doesn't often give out compliments,

but she ate more than one.

And to me, that was a compliment.

Divide the dough equally into 12.

And then just roll them into little rounds.

So that's the last one done.

And this needs another prove.

Once again, the dough needs to double in size.

And the way to tell whether they are ready or not is to just push them

and it should spring back, and those are springing back, which means they

are perfect, they are ready to fry.

I've heated vegetable oil to just 190 degrees.

Being gentle is the key.

So these take about three minutes on each side.

And the worst thing to do to doughnuts is to fry them

in really hot oil cos what'll happen is,

the outside will get golden really quickly

and inside you'll just have uncooked dough.

So, slow and steady wins the race.

Throw them straight into caster sugar.

So they're coated.

Then pop them straight on the plate.

Now to fill these golden balls of loveliness

with our midsummer berry jam.

Whoa, whoa, careful. Pick up a doughnut and then

create a little bit of a cavity.

And this is just going to give me space to stick my nozzle in.

And squeeze.

And as soon as it's full, I should feel the nozzle just push back up.

Lots of oozy jam.

The tricky bit is trying not to lick your fingers.

There you go.

Oh, look, there's no room on the plate.

What am I going to do with it?

I should just stick it in my face.

I'm so tempted to eat it, but I've promised Sarah and her family

a jam-packed plate of doughnuts, and I'm not going to let them down.

Who fancies some doughnuts?

-Yes, please. They look fantastic.

-The most jammy one.

-Go on, help yourself, Andy.

-Fantastic. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Nadiya. That one looks fabulous.

Mmm.

Sugar...

-Messy stuff.

-Very messy, but very delicious.

Yes, they are lovely.

The doughnuts are so fresh, and the jam is amazing.

It's really nice.

And you don't even like jam with seeds in it, do you?

No. Normally I don't, no, but this is really nice.

Yay, that's good!

THEY LAUGH

Soft fruit is a staple of the West Country.

But the area is also home to some rare specialities.

I'm heading to Dorchester

to meet one of a handful of British garlic farmers.

Mark Botwright is known locally as Mark the Garlic.

-Hi, Mark.

-How are you doing?

-Where are you?

-I'm here.

Let's go and get some garlic, shall we?

I've offered to help with the harvest.

As the ground is wet today, we're having to do it by hand.

So how many acres of land do you have here?

Ten acres in here. This year there's 97,000 bulbs in this field.

Mark supplies to wholesalers,

delis and specialist shops throughout the UK.

So how do you know it's ready?

So you can see here the bottom two leaves are dying back.

That's what we're looking for, that's a sign of real maturity.

-Shall we dig some up?

-Let's do it, come on.

I'll loosen it up.

If you kind of grab the bulb down here...

Yep.

Oh, look at that.

That is a beautiful big bulb.

-What are these bits here at the end?

-They are called corns.

And they would grow into another bulb eventually.

They're totally edible, so you can take them off.

Oh, are they? I can eat that, like that?

-It will be quite strong.

-Oh, that's so nice.

-Super fresh.

-Strong, spicy.

You can eat the whole plant, really.

Here we have the bulb, the stem and the neck,

and then this is the scape.

So we pick this scape when it's about 10 or 12 inches long,

kind of like that. You kind of use them like asparagus.

-Yeah.

-And they've got that soft garlic flavour to them.

-Try a little bit?

-Yeah.

-Really sweet.

-Mmm!

That's so different to the little buds.

-Much stronger, but sweeter.

-Mmm.

-Yum.

-Do you want to have a dig?

-Yeah, go on.

-You stick it in there.

-That one we're getting, right?

-Yeah. Straight down?

-Yeah. A bit of a wiggle with the fork.

Careful. It's not working.

NADIYA GRUNTS

This nine stone is not coming in handy today.

Yeah, no, that's not happening.

Well, there's about another 55,000 to do in these last few rows.

Do you think we'll get them done this week?

I can hang around for about eight weeks.

That's good, I think we'll need that. Maybe even nine.

The earth's moving.

I have that effect.

-There it is.

-Wait, wait, wait.

Yes! Yes.

-Look at that.

-Lovely.

That makes me happy.

So we'll take these few boxes back to the polytunnel.

All freshly picked bulbs are destined for the drying shed

for a minimum of six weeks.

Curing the garlic allows the pungent flavour to develop.

Oh, my goodness, that smell.

It's almost candy like.

For a garlic lover like me, this is heaven.

But Mark has developed a speciality garlic

that top chefs are going crazy for.

This preserved version tastes like

a refined balsamic vinegar and is used as a flavour enhancer.

I kind of stumbled on this 4,000-year-old Korean recipe.

What they did out there was leave them out in the summer sunshine

in the pots for three months.

The sugars and the amino acids within the bulb react

-and actually turn the bulb black.

-Oh, look at that.

Mark's black garlic takes 100 days to produce

and is a highly guarded secret.

This is after four years of perfecting.

-Can I try some?

-Yeah, of course you can.

It's delicious. It's almost treacle like, but you lose the spice of the

garlic, but it's still garlicky.

That's yummy. So how do you like to use your black garlic?

My favourite is... Get a whole chicken

and then loosen the skin around the chicken

and make it into a paste like that and then literally smear it

with your hand underneath the skin,

and then roast the chicken like that.

And it takes a chicken to a completely different level.

-It's absolutely amazing.

-Sounds nice, yum.

The black colour and intense flavour of these quirky little cloves

remind me of char-grilling garlic,

which is straight from my Bangladeshi roots.

I'm going to use this amazing garlic in a really delicious dressing for

my coriander, apple and walnut salad.

This special nutty garlic dressing

is the perfect complement to fresh, crisp, summery greens.

And it all starts with four cloves of garlic and a gas hob.

Burning vegetables is quite trendy at the moment.

And my family have been doing it for as long as I can remember.

They've been burning garlic absolutely forever.

That charred, charcoal flavour adds so much to that dressing.

So if you don't have a gas hob, this is perfect for a barbecue.

You could stick the whole bulb into the barbecue and let it burn.

Carefully heat the garlic on the smallest hob ring on a low flame.

It's burning the outside but it's softening the inside.

So while that roasts and blackens gently, I'm going to get started on

the dressing, and this is really quick.

I'm going to add some olive oil.

And I like to do my dressing three parts oil to one part vinegar.

I'm using balsamic to give my dressing a richer flavour.

A good pinch of salt.

And for added creaminess, one tablespoon of mayo.

My garlic has been roasting in its skin for around ten minutes.

I love that smell, it reminds me of home.

It's deliciously sweet and nutty.

It's soft on the inside, it's cooked.

But it's not just the flesh that makes this recipe so special.

This is the good stuff.

Do not let any of this get away.

Squish the cloves, then chop finely.

You get that charred flavour. Then you've got that soft flesh

of the garlic that's cooked through. Mmm.

That goes straight into the jar.

This is the fun bit.

Nice and tight.

This dressing will keep in the fridge for a couple of

weeks. So all the effort now is totally worthwhile.

You have to really go for it.

I'm just going to give it a little taste.

Just check that it's got enough seasoning.

And if it's garlicky enough.

Mmm. Perfect.

For me, when I'm making a salad, it's about having something

fragrant, having something crunchy,

having something tangy and a really good dressing.

So this is my tangy.

Any crisp, juicy apple will do.

Cored and sliced.

I've got rocket leaves and coriander.

So herbs make such a difference to a salad.

Then I'm going to add...

my apple.

And for the crunch, walnuts.

Yum.

It's like a twisted Waldorf salad.

Now for my dressing.

Just use your fingers to slowly get that dressing coating everything.

And obviously I'm going to have to taste it.

Mmm.

Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.

And to dress the top,

I'm going to use some of those scapes that I picked with Mark.

They're so subtle.

And that's my apple, walnut and coriander salad

with my taste of home - burnt garlic dressing.

Hello, hello.

-Hello.

-Fancy some salad?

Mark and his family

have never tasted their garlic like this before.

I hope they like it.

See what you think.

That's beautiful. You can really taste the garlic.

It's a really good idea. It's great.

That's really good with the apple.

-You like the apple?

-Yeah. It makes it really sweet.

Apple and garlic is such a good combination.

Tell you what, though, I'm going to need a mint after today.

I've eaten my own weight in garlic.

THEY LAUGH

My husband is not going to want to come anywhere near me.

The west boasts a bounty of beautiful food.

I've been inspired by some gorgeous flavourings.

But no West Country adventure would be complete without a cream tea,

and I'm going to put my own twist on this afternoon delight.

I have gone off-piste, I'm going tropical.

I've replaced clotted cream with coconut cream

and I'm making a fruity fragrant pineapple jam.

It might be more West Indies than West Country

but these sunshine flavours

give my cream tea a taste of the exotic.

I'm starting with the jam

and for that I'm using canned crushed pineapple.

And the one thing you can guarantee with tinned pineapples

is that it is ripe and it's sweet.

Squeeze out the juice.

You want about 280 grams

of the pineapple.

Put the pineapple on a high heat with an equal amount of jam sugar.

Got my spice grinder.

This is where it gets even more tropical.

For heat I'm adding pink peppercorns.

And for a citrus hit, kaffir lime leaves.

Give that a whizz.

It's getting pretty tropical in here.

Get those spices in quickly because it only takes five minutes to hit

the 105 degrees the jam needs to set.

It's there. Right, turn that off.

Now leave it to cool.

Look at that pineapple jam with all the lovely flecks of lime.

Now it's on to my scones.

To the flour I'm adding caster sugar,

baking powder, salt and butter.

Mix all that butter through.

You don't want to use your whole hand because your hands are warm,

whereas your fingertips are slightly

colder so you just want to be quite gentle with it.

Very light touch.

When it looks like breadcrumbs, add whole milk.

Gradually just bring that dough together.

Cream tea traditionalists, if the pineapple jam

wasn't shocking enough, look away now.

We're aiming for a square.

Yes, that is what I said, a square scone.

I want each one to be around 5cm by 5cm.

I am going to eyeball it.

I'm not going to eyeball it. I'm going to measure it.

Oh, wow! Look at that.

There is nothing wrong with being a cooking nerd.

And these aren't your dainty scones,

these are going to be big ones.

A brush of milk and they're ready for the oven.

Now to further throw out the rulebook with my coconut cream.

Most people would leave their coconut milk in a cupboard.

I keep mine in the fridge.

The fat in the coconut milk solidifies

and comes to the top and you're left with this delicious cream.

Look at that.

I could just eat it as it is.

But it's even better with icing sugar

and vanilla bean paste.

That has to be the simplest, most delicious cream ever.

And they are looking perfect.

Oh, that smell!

If golden could be a smell, that's what this smell is.

I mean, pineapple, coconut and delicious scones.

That is like a match made in heaven.

It is like sunshine on a plate.

You can have them cream first, jam second or the other way round.

Just enjoy them.

There's a tropical treat in store for my brother and sister.

Scones, anybody?

-Me first, me first.

-I'm going to go jam first.

-Being a rebel.

-Rebel.

-Yes.

Thank you, West Country, for giving us the cream tea.

It's really nice.

You like this? Are you not talking?

-I'm just enjoying it, that's all.

-That's one way to shut you up.

Yeah, exactly.

Next time, I'll be in Wales, working with a classic ingredient

worth shouting about...

Stand! Jack! Good boy!

..and unveiling the secrets in a surprising discovery.

It's exciting!

Wow!