Episode 3 Nigel and Adam's Farm Kitchen

Over half the land in the UK is dedicated to producing food,

but what do we really know about what ends up on our plate?

I'm Nigel Slater, a cook, and I know my way round a kitchen.

And I'm Adam Henson, a farmer, so crops and animals are my expertise.

We're joining forces to get us all

back in touch with where our food really comes from.

So together with Simon, Sarah, Meg and Sam

and their farm in the Cotswolds,

we'll be sowing, growing and harvesting crops.

The steering's not that great, it wanders a little bit.

-So...

-Now you tell me.

-Come on, then.

-Raising lots of different animals.

Don't eat my shoes, eat a bit of this. Is your door shut, ladies?

There we go!

And we'll be cooking and eating everything.

Mm! Give it to me. ADAM LAUGHS

Also, we'll be revealing the UK's top 50 fresh foods

that we all buy, week in, week out.

Together we'll be bringing you the story of what we eat,

tracing it from farm to fork.

And discovering the best way to get variety,

value and flavour from it all.

BIRDSONG

Welcome back to our home here at Old Farm.

Tonight, we're all about chicken, the most popular meat in the UK.

You know, its price and versatility

means that we're all eating it from one end of the country to the other.

In fact, we spend £2.1 billion a year on it.

-Can I eat this one?

-No, no, that's an egg-laying bird. 300 eggs a year.

This is the heavyweight, the broiler.

Looks more like a turkey.

ADAM LAUGHS It does a bit. From day old to oven ready in 35 days old.

-Don't say oven ready!

-ADAM LAUGHS

Also tonight, we unpack the international items

in your shopping basket.

20% of the top 50 foods we buy every week reflect our tastes for foreign fare.

Foods like pizzas, cook-in sauces,

ready meals of lasagne, curry, noodles and chicken Kievs.

We like then so much, we spend 1.4 billion on them every year,

but why are we buying them pre-prepared?

I prefer to eat them when they're made by someone

-who's capable at cooking them.

-HE LAUGHS

I've tried going to the markets and sort of buying ingredients.

Again, I'm not exactly an expert.

Most of the time I do use jars of sauces

because they're just really easy.

I want to change that.

Cooking these wonderful ethnic foods needn't be difficult

and I'm going to show you how, using simple, delicious recipes.

The flavours that we've learned to love from Latin America,

from the Mediterranean and from the Middle East.

I take up Nigel's biggest challenge yet,

growing food normally imported from warmer climes

right here in the Cotswolds.

This is where I'm going to put my bio-dome.

-Is this where you're going to grow my rice?

-Well, yeah.

And in the spirit of international cuisine,

I'm also turning my hand to growing oriental mushrooms.

I've never tried to grow anything pink.

While I throw myself into farm life,

tracing the food we eat back to its roots.

Do you want to get stuck in, Nigel?

-Erm...I will be a hungry observer.

-ADAM LAUGHS

-Pressure is on, guys.

-I've also invited two chefs

from different continents.

Together we'll prepare an international fusion feast

using some of our favourite ingredients

-grown right here on the farm.

-ADAM LAUGHS

First...back to birds.

Vegetarians aside, I can't think of anybody who doesn't eat chicken.

Throughout the world, it is just such a versatile and popular meat.

Yeah, all cultures, all religions.

In the '50s, we had the utility chicken that could lay eggs and produce meat,

-but did neither brilliantly.

-Yeah.

And then we split things up and we specially bred for the egg-laying chicken,

so that bird is now fine and quite lean, the ballet dancer of the chicken world.

And then this one is a specialist meat bird and is the sumo wrestler of the chicken world.

-Look at the size of it!

-Let's chuck that one on the scales.

Whoa! Take it steady. So, do you reckon

-you can do something with this?

-What, with all that meat?

You bet. I certainly can. Erm...could you grow me some rice?

We don't grow rice in this country. We don't grow rice in this country.

I know we don't grow rice in this country. I want you to.

CLUCKING

Well, rice is usually grown in hot and humid climates,

which is why we import 500 million kilos every year,

that's about the same weight as 180,000 elephants.

Supermarkets stock a huge variety of rice from all over the world,

but our favourite is grown in Pakistan and India.

This is basmati rice seed,

it accounts for 46% of all the rice we eat,

which makes it the nation's favourite.

But before I can plant it, I've got to soak it for 12 hours,

so the seeds rehydrate and germinate to give them any chance of growing in the soil.

Which gives me just enough time

to create a tropical environment here on the farm.

Obviously, when it comes to growing basmati rice,

I know the British climate is going to be a problem.

So, I've got myself a temperature-controlled bio-dome

to try and replicate the conditions in Asia where it usually grows.

Apparently, rice needs five months

at a constant minimum temperature of 25 degrees centigrade,

but it also needs to be kept moist, so I'm using troughs to keep it wet.

It looks very similar to the sort of rice you get in a packet,

but this one seed can produce 500 grains of rice.

All I've got to do now... is plant it.

So...make a hole,

get a few grains of rice...drop them in and cover it up.

It's going to take a while, but this is how it's done all over the world.

Drop them in...cover it up.

HE LAUGHS I could be here for some time.

A few grains of rice...

drop them in and cover it up.

I'm not used to sowing seeds by hand,

I could really do with a team on this.

Hey! Some merry helpers! Right, you can help me plant some rice.

So, Sam, if you go in that row. You go in this one, Meg.

Get a little bit of rice, make a hole, drop them in and cover it up.

These guys grew up on this farm, so know all about planting crops,

but they've never seen rice growing in the Cotswolds.

But there again, neither have I.

Cover it up.

Right, that's it. All I've got to do now is just water it.

This small amount of seed

could yield anywhere between 75-100 kilos of rice,

that's more than enough to feed our 30 guests

at our fusion feast later this year.

Hey! High-five.

Nice one. Let's go and get a sandwich.

SHEEP BLEAT

Spring is the lambing season, which takes eight weeks on our farm.

We've already had 430 new lambs

and there's still quite a few more to come.

Come on, girls.

-So all of these will be lambing?

-That's right. They're all heavily pregnant.

And what they do is let them out into the field during the day,

just to get a bit of exercise

-and to graze what little grass there is.

-Yeah.

We're also feeding the ewes sheep nuts to supplement the grass,

which helps them to produce enough milk for their new offspring,

the latest of which is about to be born.

This is very much a first time...for me.

-In a lambing pen?

-Yeah, and being so close.

-Hi, Sarah.

-Hello. We're just having to have a look at this one, she started showing this morning,

so we've been checking her sort of every half an hour or so.

Still nothing happening. It's just there...the lamb's there.

-Shall I give you a hand?

-Yeah, that'd be great.

Do you want to get stuck in, Nigel?

Erm...I will be a hungry observer.

ADAM LAUGHS OK.

SHEEP BLEAT

Nine times out of ten,

ewes will give birth perfectly naturally by themselves,

but occasionally the lamb is mis-presented and you have to assist.

Its head is twisted to the side,

so its feet are like this and its head's twisted round.

So it's just not quite in the right position.

It's so easy not to think about this.

You know, when you're taking something out of the oven

and putting it on a plate,

but it's where it all starts and it's the beginning of the story.

And if we're going to know about what we eat...

then we need to see this.

Or I need to see this.

The labour's more complicated than we first thought,

so Simon's come to lend a hand.

Good girl.

-Its terribly frustrating cos you just want to help.

-Yes.

Yeah.

Sadly, the lamb's stillborn.

This doesn't happen often, but it's a stark reality of farming.

Our important focus now is to...get this ewe on her feet,

-get her some antibiotics and get her well.

-Yep.

And it doesn't take long.

That maternal instinct just kicks in.

She's licking her lips, wanting to lick a new-born lamb.

-So what do we do about that?

-Well, Simon has now got a lamb...

-that was born as a triplet.

-Yep.

This triplet's mother was struggling to feed her three lambs

as ewes only have two teats,

so hopefully this ewe will accept it as her own.

Get a bit...more gunk on it. ADAM SIGHS

So we're just going to rub the live lamb

on the birth waters of her lamb.

-So he will smell more like her.

-Absolutely.

And, hopefully, she'll think that that's hers and she'll rear it.

Gone from being in the worst position imaginable...

to actually looking all right.

And we've got a little lamb for her to look after.

-So we'll leave her to it...and see what happens.

-Leave her to it.

With over a thousand animals to feed, work must carry on as usual.

PIGS SQUEAL

Quite satisfying, isn't it, feeding animals?

There is something about feeding something that's going to feed me

-that I find...quite pleasing.

-ADAM LAUGHS

-These...are very content, aren't they?

-They're very content.

I love the fact that they just peck away, peck away,

and they move...just moving around.

There are now more chickens in the world than there are people.

What was once a weekly treat has become a daily staple.

In fact, we eat so much chicken,

it appears on our list of top 50 foods four times.

At number seven, its fresh chicken.

All pre-cooked chicken comes in at 22,

offering a whole world of flavours.

And all by itself at 33, chicken Kiev,

thought to be Russian, but claimed by the French.

Other processed-chicken products appears on the list at number 43,

that's your breaded, battered, burgers, nuggets and goujons.

So who's eating what and where?

In Scotland, they favour finger lickin' processed chicken.

Wales eats the most whole birds

and, like Northern Ireland, they love a roast.

Most of the UK prefers white meat,

but London likes the dark meat too and enjoys the most thighs.

But when it comes to chicken Kiev,

it's East Anglia that's eating more than anywhere else.

Launched in the 1970s, the chicken Kiev caused a stir.

It was the first ever chilled ready meal in our supermarkets.

And it's now become a firm family favourite

and we spend 210 million on them every year.

But why buy pre-prepared when you can make them so easily at home?

Chicken Kiev, it's a very simple idea,

it's a chicken breast stuffed with something delicious, usually garlic butter.

I think we'll do something more interesting than that.

I've got some finely chopped parsley and some cheese.

I'm using Taleggio, it's that rather aromatic, soft, creamy, Italian cheese,

but I could use brie, anything that is semi-soft.

I'm going to roll these bits of cheese in the chopped herbs.

Take your chicken breasts.

Now, these have still got the bone in, but they don't have to,

and slice down, but not right the way through...

..to give yourself a nice opening to hold the cheese.

And just tuck it...inside the chicken.

So there's our little...stuffed chicken breast.

Now, part of the joy of a chicken Kiev is that crisp coating on the outside.

I've got a some finely chopped garlic...

..which I'm going to fry in butter with roughly chopped streaky bacon.

And then a couple of big handfuls of breadcrumbs.

What I want is a coating for the chicken

which is really interesting and has got masses of flavour.

Coat the chicken with a little olive oil...and season.

Now the crumbs.

Just put these loosely over the top

and pat them very lightly onto the chicken.

And this really hasn't taken very long.

And then that goes in the oven at 180...for about half an hour.

Till the cheese starts oozing out

and the breadcrumbs turn golden and crunchy.

Just look at that!

Why would anybody want to buy a processed-chicken dinner

when they could make something like that for themselves so quickly.

There's an old saying, "Ne'er cast a clout till May be out,"

which means keep your winter woollies on till May's over.

And this year, it rings true.

But despite the weather,

our traditional British crops are doing well.

And I'm just glad I've got my own greenhouse.

I wanted to grow chillies, but it's too late to plant seeds

as I need them to fruit by early autumn for our fusion feast.

So I've bought small pots at 50 pence each.

They're actually good value, each one will produce around 20 chillies

and the longer you leave the fruit on the plant, the deeper the flavour.

These little chillies should be ready just in time for our feast.

My rice plants would have enjoyed the wet conditions of May,

but they wouldn't have survived the cold.

Luckily, they're protected in the bio-dome.

Hey, this is looking pretty good.

It is tropical in here. It's supposed to be like Asia and it is.

It's been the worst spring that I can remember,

but in here, this atmosphere is perfect for the rice.

We have to water it twice a day and it's growing very well,

but it's not in the bag yet.

It's supposed to grow to about this high before it sets seed and produces the rice.

I like to impress Nigel and I reckon

there's quite a lot of space around these rice plants

and one of the things he loves cooking with are mushrooms.

And in this temperature and this atmosphere in here

that's really damp, I reckon mushrooms would grow really well.

Come on, you little beauties, keep growing.

Mushrooms don't grow from seed, they grow from spores,

and I've bought some Asian ones to impress Nigel.

But I can't just plant them in soil like my other crops,

these mushrooms need to be mixed with damp straw to nourish them.

And these are pink oyster mushrooms.

I've never tried to grow anything pink.

Farming's so diverse, I've never even seen mushrooms growing.

And it does seem a bit of a miracle

that anything's going to come out of here.

I'm putting them into plastic bags to keep them damp and moist.

And as mushrooms like growing in the dark,

they're going into black plastic bin liners.

In a couple of weeks, if they do grow,

I'll puncture the bags and the oyster mushrooms will poke through.

And as we pick them, they'll keep re-cropping.

Well, that's the theory, anyway.

At number 39 on our list

is something we don't necessarily think of as being foreign,

but most are - chilled dips.

They're one of the easiest ways to spice up meals

and are made with ingredients our parents would only have eaten

abroad on holiday, but today are found on every high street.

Aubergines originally from Southeast Asia,

avocado pears native to Central America,

Middle-Eastern chickpeas, oils and spicy sausages.

So why are we spending 131 million

on ready made dips when they're so easy to make?

So I've got a trio of dips influenced by our taste for travel.

The first one is aubergines and chickpeas

It's a hummus.

One of the great joys is the amount of ingredients

that are available now but weren't a few years ago.

The first time I saw an aubergine or an avocado,

I'd actually no idea what to do with them.

Ideas that come back from holiday,

ingredients that are suddenly are at our fingertips.

Scatter the sliced aubergine with crushed garlic...

..and give a generous splash of olive oil.

Now I'm going to put that in the oven at 200...

for about 10-15 minutes until they soften.

So that's the aubergine hummus on its way.

Next, a herb, bean and creamy ricotta cheese dip.

And I'll be using lots of home-grown herbs in each of the dips.

You know, to think that most herbs, even 20 years ago, came dried.

Coriander is our biggest selling fresh herb.

Never even heard of it until a few years ago.

I've got some mint and it's got the most amazing freshness.

So these herbs...are going to get mixed into a dip

with ricotta cheese and some haricot beans.

Either a fork or a vegetable masher.

I just want them to be lightly crushed,

I want to keep some texture in these dips.

Then my pile of herbs.

Now, this is lovely, but I want to lighten it,

so I'm going to use some ricotta.

It's soft, it's fresh, it's milky, it's gentle.

It's so Italian.

Now for a bit of seasoning...and a quick mix.

All that needs now is just a little trickle of olive oil.

Extra virgin works best.

And now for my third dip. A chorizo guacamole with chives.

I remember my father bringing an avocado home in the mid-'60s

and we didn't know what to do with it.

And now they've become so incredibly popular, I mean, they're everywhere.

Avocado makes a really good dip

because its flesh is really quite soft.

You can crush it very easily.

When you cut them, they colour very badly quite quickly,

so I always use a bit of lime juice with them.

This will delay them turning brown for a couple of hours.

Then crush and add a little olive oil.

And now for my fresh chives.

And then...one of my absolutely favourite ingredients,

chorizo, a Spanish sausage.

Now, a lot of these come with a little bit of skin on - just peel it off.

Then chop it roughly and add it to the avocado

and give it a little stir.

You know, the really clever thing here...

..is the coolness of the avocado...

and then that lovely peppery heat of the sausage.

So back to the aubergine hummus dip.

So they've had 10-15 minutes.

The basis of any hummus is chickpeas,

they're cheap and easy to use.

I'm warming them in a little olive oil

with some of my rosemary to infuse the flavours.

I'm going to put half of the aubergines...into the food processor

with half the chickpeas and some seasoning and then a quick blitz.

Then return to the pan with the remaining aubergines and chickpeas.

You know, the commercial ones are good,

but we can do so much better at home.

So there, three gorgeous dips.

Very easy to make and the flavours that we've learned to love

from Latin American, from the Mediterranean and from the Middle East.

Even the farm animals need to go to bed.

Come on, hens. CLUCKING

Is your door shut, ladies? There we are.

CLUCKING There we go!

There are 130 hens and broiler chickens on the farm

and they're all free-range, which means they live outside during the day,

but at night, they go inside to be kept safe from the foxes and badgers.

What are you doing out here?!

CLUCKING

All those beautiful wives and he doesn't want to go to bed.

It's all quite idyllic,

but in reality, few of us buy free-range chicken.

OWL HOOTS

COCK CROWS

To meet demand for the three million chickens we eat daily,

farming has become intensive.

And while it doesn't enjoy a good press,

95% of us buy birds reared in this way.

So we've come to an RSPCA-approved

Higher Welfare extensive chicken farm

that positively encourages visitors.

-There's room for both of us in here.

-You're looking good.

Looking very good.

I'm used to seeing livestock intensively produced,

but Nigel isn't.

BIRDS TWITTER

What are your first impressions?

NIGEL SIGHS

How many birds in here, Clare?

In this house today, it's just about 39,000.

-39,000?!

-Yes.

It might sound a lot, but what that works out to be

is when they're fully grown, it will work out to be about 13 birds per square metre.

That's around two less per square metre

than is standard in intensively farmed birds.

And these are given longer to grow.

-How old are these?

-These are 26 days old today.

-Yeah.

And they're all 26 days,

so they all come in on the same day they're born,

so we haven't got different age groups in the house at any one time.

OK. And how long will they be in here for?

They will be here until day 49. So seven weeks.

You're...an organic man, Nigel, aren't you?

I'm a free-range man.

I'm just wondering how much space

this lot would take up if you put them outside.

-It'd be rather a lot, wouldn't it?

-It would.

It seems to me that if you are going to feed a growing world population

and you don't want to take up acres and acres, we'd need another planet

to produce the amount of poultry we produce.

And this is a very sensible way of doing it.

I have an idea of how I think a chicken should spend its life,

but this isn't it. This isn't it.

What do you pay for a chicken, Nigel?

Hmm.

-Up to about 20 quid.

-And your oven-ready bird would be about what?

-Well...

-Five or six quid?

Yes, I believe so, but a whole bird, that would be.

-I think we eat too much chicken, is the answer.

-Do you think so?

I think we eat too much chicken. I think maybe if it went back

to being a special-occasion thing like it was when I was a kid,

rather than the, "Oh, we'll have chicken,"

-we wouldn't eat quite so many of them.

-Yes.

Do you know where your birds end up once they've been processed?

Yes, we know they'll go to one of the supermarkets.

And we can go to the local shop after processing and actually see our birds on the shelf

with the farm name on it, so that we can see exact traceability for it.

And I like the idea of being able to see where my food comes from.

-I want to know the whole story.

-Yes.

Whether I choose to take this route or not,

but I have the option of knowing the whole story of what is on my plate.

And that, to me, is absolutely crucial.

If you want to know how your chicken was reared, here's what to look for.

The cheapest chicken you'll find is standard

and each supermarket labels it to appeal to the budget shopper.

The birds are reared intensively indoors

at around 15 birds per square metre.

Higher-welfare birds, like the ones we've just seen,

enjoy improved living conditions,

but check packaging as they vary with each supermarket,

or look out for the RSPCA Freedom Food logo.

Free-range chickens have daytime access to the outdoors for at least half of their lives,

where they have a minimum of a square metre each.

Organic birds get to go outside for at least a third of their lives,

and get two and a half square metres each.

They eat organic food and roam on organic land.

Corn-fed refers only to what the chickens have eaten,

not their living conditions,

so check the label if you want higher-welfare standards as well.

Living on the farm is a great life, especially for the dogs.

-Bonnie!

-Bonnie, the youngest, loves the freedom.

Running through the fields, rounding up the animals,

teasing the horses and just getting dirty.

Come on. Bonnie Dog, come on.

-Here she is.

-Oh!

-She's a real stinker!

I think she's been rolling in something.

-If you just hold onto her a sec while I fill the bath.

-Yeah.

-Oh!

-THEY LAUGH

Come here.

Come here. You're not getting away.

How's that paw? Is that paw all right?

Sweetheart, what have you been doing?!

-HE LAUGHS

-How are you at blow-drying?

-SHE LAUGHS

-Do I look like I'm good at blow-drying?

-OK. Do you want to do the honours, or shall I?

-Happily!

There you go. But don't get me.

Oh, you're going to be so beautiful afterwards!

And you're going to smell a lot nicer.

Off you go.

Oh. There, that's better.

-I smell worse than the dog now!

-SHE LAUGHS

I bet she heads straight back to those muddy fields.

On a busy farm, there's one thing that's essential to keep everybody ticking over.

MUSIC: "Everything Stops for Tea" by Jack Buchanan

Hello, Simon. HE WHISTLES

-Hiya.

-There's a good man.

There we are. You can stop washing for a minute. Have a cup of tea.

I'll have the little one, you have the big one.

Tea, it's one of our oldest and most loved imports.

Quintessentially British, there's no other drink that defines a nation more.

-Here you are, Sarah. Look, I'm tea boy.

-Oh, lovely.

We get through a staggering 165 million cups every day.

And most of that is made with bags filled with tea imported from India and Kenya.

But with the huge variety of everyday tea available,

how does price affect flavour?

I've bought a range from a leading supermarket to find out.

There's budget at 27p per box of 80 bags,

mid-range at £1.15 for 80 bags,

and the most expensive at £1.25 for 50 bags.

And I've invited Adam to see if he can taste the difference.

-Hello.

-Hello. How you doing?

-Right, cup of tea, sir?

-Yeah, I'd love a cup of tea. I deserve one.

-Would you do a little tea tasting for me?

-Certainly, yeah, love to.

And what I want you do is to tell me which of these three teas is the really cheap one

and which is the more expensive one.

'I've brewed each pot for three minutes.'

OK. I like tea. Let's try it.

'Now, this is tea number one...

'at a third of a penny a cup.'

-Very nice.

-Then...a drop of this one.

'This is tea two, the most expensive at 2½p per cup.'

Mm. Instantly more flavour from that one.

'Tea three, mid-range, at 1½p per cup.'

-Do you drink a lot of tea?

-Yeah, I love tea. I could drink it all day.

I like them both. I like... Out of them all, I'd say...

-I'd guess this is the cheapest one.

-Well, you're right there - that is the cheapest one.

And then I'm struggling between these two, but I think...I would say

that the middle one is probably the most expensive.

-Clever boy.

-I got it right?

-You're absolutely right.

-Look at that!

-You're absolutely right.

And we're not talking about very fine, very expensive teas -

these are the sort of teas you have every day when you come in from the garden or the farm or whatever.

So what makes the expensive one expensive?

Well, let's have a look.

'Actually, the bag gives away a lot.

'The cheaper bags have smaller perforations, which is just as well.'

Now, that is the cheapest.

OK. And will that look very different, then, to the most expensive?

Well, let's have a look.

I don't think I've ever ripped open tea bags before to see what's in 'em.

-Well... Now, if you look at these two...

-Oh, yeah.

-This one here is very fine.

-Yeah.

-Now, these are called fannings. It almost feels like dust.

-Yeah.

This actually might be slightly older leaves,

there might be a little bit of stem in there.

And it's very, very finely ground.

Now, that means it will brew really quickly.

You can just dunk that in and out of the tea

and that'll become a builders' tea in a few seconds.

'And that's because tiny tea leaves infuse very quickly.'

-The more expensive one - now, feel that.

-Yeah, that's much more gravelly,

-more like sand, much coarser.

-Much more coarse altogether.

And is that likely to be a better tea leaf, then?

It will very probably be a younger leaf and it won't include the older leaves down below or the stems.

The more coarsely ground the tea is...it takes longer to brew.

'As the leaf pieces are bigger, the perforations will also be bigger to allow more water to flow through.'

'And finally, our mid-range tea.'

Oh, yeah, it's a similar colour to the first one and, yeah, medium fineness.

-Absolutely between the two, isn't it?

-Yeah.

'Well, it just goes to show if you're a fan of a quick cuppa

'buy cheaper tea bags - they'll brew in no time.'

-CASH REGISTER CHINGS

-There we are. Milk, sir?

I'll have a splash of milk. Thank you.

And something to go with it - maybe you've baked a cake lately?

-Have I baked a cake? You'll get a biscuit.

-ADAM LAUGHS

I just love tea.

BIRDSONG

Having spent my whole life farming, I know what to expect from my crops.

Experience has taught me how to nurture them and how to deal with any problems that might arise.

But growing tropical crops

is proving a bigger challenge than I imagined.

My mushrooms are doing incredibly well,

growing in the dark and feeding off the straw.

They've now burst through their bags and look absolutely amazing.

But the rice, which I thought would be similar to growing any other grain, doesn't.

Now, I've never grown rice before, but I've grown a lot wheat in my time

and I tell a sick plant when I see one.

And this has got something seriously wrong with it.

This rice has got some kind of fungus on it, it looks like a mildew,

and it's making these plants very sick.

In fact, the ones down here look like they're dead.

'So what I need to do is discover what's causing this problem

'and come up with a solution.'

And I need it pretty quickly.

It's been confirmed the rice definitely has a fungal infection

and there's only one possible culprit.

How was I supposed to know this might happen?

'I've got Simon spraying the rice with a fungicide,

'which will hopefully cure it, but the mushrooms have to go.

'I must say, I'm rather pleased with the first crop - just look at them!

'I don't want these to spoil,

'so we're going to put up a new home right next door.'

Hey! It's nearly done already.

Oh, that's it. There's a danger it's going to blow away.

It's hardly a pop-up greenhouse.

The amount of trouble we go to for Nigel's fancy mushrooms,

he'd better cook something nice.

The foreign influences on our food

are really obvious when it comes to our favourite takeaways.

In fact, we're each spending £700 a year on them.

I'm in Manchester to see how some of these meals are cooked.

So, I'm looking for inspiration for a dish

that I can rustle up really quickly

without having to turn to the takeaway menu.

Something to spice up my Friday night.

'As we're spending £15 million a week on Indian meals alone,

'my first stop is Curry Mile and the Mughli Restaurant.'

-Hi.

-Hi, Nigel. How are you?

-Very well.

-Good, good.

-This looks good.

-Chicken leg and thigh piece.

-Yeah.

I think the dark meat always works a lot better with Indian cuisine - it just soaks up the flavours in there.

Our chef, this is one of his favourite dishes that he found when he went to India last year.

-It's tandoori chicken, which I think is known and loved throughout the UK.

-Yes.

And then its pulled away and then added to the butter masala sauce.

-So what spices are in there?

-Basically, it's a mix of bay leaves,

-black pepper and green cardamom.

-Yeah.

And that is the base of the butter chicken sauce.

This is...sounding seriously delicious. I mean, seriously.

How would you serve this?

The mushroom and tamarind rice we make tends to go really well with it

and customers seem to like the combination.

Look...at...that!

All right.

This is just so, SO delicious! It's luscious!

Thank you, sir.

It's completely luscious!

You know, I loved that and I love the simplicity of the spicing.

I like the idea of using the dark meat, as well.

Within a stone's throw of Curry Mile is Manchester's Chinatown.

The first Chinese restaurant opened here in 1948

and now there are over 35 in four small streets.

'Bonnie is a third-generation restaurant owner.'

So...a hive of activity.

Yeah. So this is the sweet and sour chicken.

Everyone knows sweet and sour chicken is something you'll go to the takeaway to get.

I don't quite get it - it's the most popular dish here?

In the UK, yeah, it's probably one of the most popular dishes.

Well, it might be the UK's favourite Chinese dish,

but it's not mine. I much prefer dim sum - steamed dumplings.

So these are the chicken, mushroom and bamboo shoot ones that I love.

-These are my favourite.

-Which mushroom is it?

-It's a Chinese mushroom.

-Shiitake?

-Shiitake, yeah.

I love mushrooms.

So what do you think it is that WE like so much about this food?

It's so much about sharing -

everything comes to the centre of the table.

There's no, "This is mine and that's yours." It's all about the sharing.

Oh! Wow!

It's a little snow-white bun.

It's this little parcel with treasure inside it.

It's like Christmas, but better.

Its gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous!

My final inspiration is a short stroll away to Europe.

Loula has been running her successful Greek Cypriot taverna for over 30 years.

-Hi, Nigel. Come, come.

-What are you doing?

I'm making kotopita sto tigani,

which translates - chicken pie in a frying pan! Not in the oven.

-OK.

-And here is my mixture.

-Now, what's in here?

-Chicken?

-Would you like to taste a little bit? It's chicken with lots of...

Lots of little tasty bits?

Yeah. Just taste a little bit. See what you think.

-Leeks, chicken, dill?

-Yeah, dill.

-Delicious!

-Oh, thank you.

-So I've got a layer of the myufka, which is Turkish pastry.

-OK.

The reason I don't use filo pastry

is because it's very fine and it will break.

-And then you put a layer of this chicken. And I'm using breast.

-Yeah.

We only use chicken breast because our customers love chicken breast.

-Yeah.

-All right, so you do a bit of patchwork with your yukfa pastry,

tuck it beautiful. Now we're going to cook it.

-I can see the pastry's going crisp there.

-Yeah, that's right.

-But, you know, underneath... Can you see?

-I can.

It's getting brown.

It's so lovely to see something with chicken that I've never seen before

and that's really, really easy.

-My grandmother used to make us a similar one.

-Yeah.

If she had some left-over chicken,

-she used to just shred it and...

-So it's a handed-down recipe?

-Yes.

-Shall we...take it out?

-Yes, please.

-Oh, look at that.

-Here we are.

-Oh, isn't that beautiful?

-Look.

-Just look at that!

-And just... You slice it...

-That is so beautiful.

It's just wonderful.

-I can't wait to tuck in. I really can't.

-SHE LAUGHS

And I often surprise all my family with...with pies.

-It's so lovely!

-SHE LAUGHS

Have another bit.

That is absolutely gorgeous!

You know, I'm loving this pastry

and I think... It's making me think about...something at home,

something different. Something back at the farm.

DOG BARKS

The summer is usually a wonderful time for farmers -

the results of all our hard work and effort over the previous months are clearly visible.

The fields are full of thriving crops.

But it's a different story in the bio-dome.

It's my worst nightmare.

I'm surround by dead and dying plants, which is fairly depressing.

I've spoken to the rice experts

and they say there could be a combination of reasons.

Firstly, the mushrooms and the intensity of the sunlight

just doesn't seem to be enough to get these plants to go right through the growth stages

to produce seed - the rice at the end of the day, which is what we need.

If I was growing these on a commercial scale,

it would be financially devastating.

And...I'm absolutely gutted.

I can't pretend I'm not disappointed either,

but growing rice in the Cotswolds was always a big ask.

I suppose that's why some foods will always have to be imported.

'I've been thinking about my visit to Manchester

'and how the most ordinary ingredients

'are flavoured and cooked to each culture's taste.

'So I'm going to take...'

Spices from the Indian restaurant,

that lovely thin pastry from the Greek one,

and the idea of a little treasure wrapped inside a little parcel from the Chinese place.

'..to create something exciting.'

I've got some chicken thighs here - that lovely dark meat.

Just brown it in a little olive oil.

I'm going to spice it up, so... a little cayenne pepper.

Turn the heat down a little bit - spices burn easily.

And some turmeric.

That'll give it an amazing colour!

And then garam masala.

And then a good stir.

So spices fried off with the chicken.

Just a lovely warm smell in this kitchen.

Into that goes 200g of shop-bought basmati rice.

Sorry, Adam, but needs must.

And then straightaway... 400ml of stock.

And it can be anything - it can be chicken stock, it can be vegetable.

Some salt and pepper.

Just mix it up, stir it a little bit.

I'm going to bring it up to the boil.

Turn the heat down a little bit to a simmer and put the lid on.

So after about nine or ten minutes...

..what we've got is a really moist and juicy rice.

And now for the filo pastry.

I buy mine ready made.

Layer with a peppered butter to keep the sheets separate.

So then...spoon on the filling.

And this really is the Cantonese bit -

it's the idea that I'm making a little parcel

and inside it there's treasure,

there's something that is very spicy and very tasty.

Now, this is going to feed four people

and I've actually only used four chicken thighs,

because I've got the rice and everything going on.

Which makes this dish really good value at about £1.60 per person.

There's nothing hot about this dish. It's warmly aromatic.

Just neaten it up a bit into... a block.

Seal and roll the edges to create the parcel

and decorate with a final sheet by ripping and dipping in butter,

then place loosely on top.

So into the oven at 200 degrees for about 30 minutes.

It's all crisp, it's all buttery.

So...I'm going in.

This pastry's so crisp it shatters like a fortune cookie.

And there's our pie.

A little bit of India and a little bit of the Greek Islands.

'I'm still upset that I failed the rice challenge,

'and although Nigel is being pretty decent about it,

'as a farmer, it's hurt my pride.

'And now the mushrooms look awful - like they're about to die -

'and I just can't let that happen.'

We moved the mushroom bags out of the poly-tunnel

because we were worried they were affecting the rice,

and now we've brought them in here they're not doing too well.

And seeing as the rice is dead,

I think I'm going to move them back again.

Hopefully, a burst of tropical heat

will restore them to their former glory - fingers crossed.

With less than 24 hours

before our guests arrive for their fusion feast,

it's time to collect our fresh ingredients.

Wow, these have come on very well.

I've deliberately left my chillies on the plant for as long as I can,

for that depth of flavour,

which is exactly what I want for my recipe.

There's nothing quite like a home-grown chilli for perking things up.

THUNDERCLAP

'Oh, dear.

'I'm going to dress the barn for the feast -

'not exactly my field of expertise,

'but then nor was growing rice or mushrooms.'

Got palm trees and everything.

As the food is going to be fusion, I want to give this an exotic feel

to reflect the spicy foods we'll be serving.

Do you want to join the party?

Well, you can't - you've got to lay some eggs.

Well, that's me done. Tomorrow, it's all up to Nigel's kitchen.

So today it's going to be really busy on the farm -

I'm being joined by two guest chefs,

and between us we're going to be cooking up a worldwide feast.

-Morning.

-Good morning.

We're going to try and please all our guests

and we've got a selection of international dishes.

I'm cooking a roast chicken but with Thai spices.

Omar will be bringing the taste of the Mediterranean to the Cotswolds

with an unusual twist to the Spanish omelette,

called Broken Eggs, using potatoes and eggs from our farm.

And Jeremy will be cooking a couple of Asian favourites,

including spring rolls, so he'll be needing Adam's oyster mushrooms,

some home-grown spring onions - but sadly not my curly carrots.

So I'm making what is in effect a Thai spice paste.

It's the idea of taking our beloved Sunday roast chicken

and spicing it up a bit, changing it, and giving it a new life.

I'm going to make the paste with aromatic lemongrass,

fresh ginger, garlic, spring onions and my chillies.

I think the red and the yellow have a slighter softer heat

than the green.

Throw everything in together and blitz.

All the flavours in there are very hot, bright and fresh,

and I want something a little bit earthy, so I want turmeric in there.

Some amazing smells going on there.

And finally, just add a little light oil to loosen the paste.

All I'm going to do is brush very generously onto the chickens.

And this is a very fresh-smelling spice paste.

Its lovely earthy turmeric back notes,

and of course the heat of the chillies.

What I'm hoping for is a really beautiful golden colour.

Now, I've only got room for one chicken in my oven here

so the others can go off to the big farm kitchen.

They need to roast for around 80 minutes, and I'll remove

the foil halfway through, to crisp up the skin.

'With no rice to offer up to the kitchen,

'I really don't want to go empty handed to Nigel,

'so I've got all my hopes riding on the mushrooms.'

Wow! What a difference.

Look at them!

Fantastic.

They've had a second bloom since coming back in.

There's some nice pink ones.

'And whilst it's not quite as good as the first crop,

'at least I've got something for the kitchen.'

Well, I need a good bowlful for Nigel and I've never grown

mushrooms before, so I think it's quite a good attempt.

See if I can pick these lovely big ones.

I'm pleased with that - my first effort at growing mushrooms.

They had a bit of a false start, but we've got some for the feast.

Jeremy's still finely chopping vegetables for the spring rolls -

we are expecting to feed 30 people.

Spring onion, carrot, pepper.

Absolutely, yeah, that's kind of the base

but we really want the mushrooms to be kind of showcased here.

-Hey.

-Our mushrooms!

Now, I know there's not very many, but there are beautiful colours

you can do something with underneath.

-Not quite enough for 30 people, but...

-No, sorry.

I'll leave Nigel to get on with the food as our guests arrive.

They're a mixed bunch - some love spicy takeaways

but have no idea how to make them, others are less adventurous.

Do you like foreign, oriental and spicy food?

I just can't take it at all.

So how would you cook a curry?

If the wife isn't in, then a jar, every time.

I wouldn't understand spices at all.

I can cook just a chicken breast and put some sauce on it.

But...I don't think you can class that as cooking.

No, you can't.

OK, so, we take a bit of our mix.

Jeremy's bound together the vegetables with oyster,

sweet chilli and soy sauce, and some sesame oil, ready to be rolled.

Roll and tighten, roll and tighten, roll and tighten.

It's harder than it looks.

Just stop before the end there - here's your Pritt Stick.

So that's my glue.

Yep. Straight over the top...

..and then finish it off.

-Like that?

-Perfect. Let's have a look.

Not bad - it's rolled well. Just a lot of mix in there.

So only another 58 to make.

Omar's main dish for our feast is a gorgeous combination

of Spanish classics - chorizo and padron peppers mixed with garlic,

some of our home grown potatoes and onions and a lot of oil.

I have never seen anyone with three bottles of olive oil in my life!

I'm going to go straight with the Spanish onions into the oil.

You're not even fazed by cooking for 30, are you?

No, not really because I am used to it. The real lessons

of Spanish cooking are life and food is always best shared.

I'm with you on that.

Potatoes go into the pan with the onions for around 25 minutes,

and, while Omar looks after those, my chicken should be almost ready.

How we doing there, Nigel?

So does that mean I still have space for my spring rolls to keep warm?

-Yeah.

-Perfect.

Doesn't it look great?

So I'm just going to give it a little bit of a rest,

just so it can gather its thoughts.

Now, what's going to compliment my spicy chicken is

the chorizo in Omar's recipe.

He's frying it with garlic in traditional clay dishes.

We are going to just put a few spoonfuls of potato in each mix.

And then into that go those padron peppers for a couple of minutes.

And we are going to be OK, time wise?

Oh, yeah, the eggs will cook very quickly.

How's the spring rolls?

-The spring rolls are keeping warm.

-Nearly there.

-Yeah, very close.

The pressure is on, guys.

Looks good, hey?

Looks very good.

Nigel, I've got a lot of hungry people out there.

If you can give me a quick hand by jarring these peppers...

While Adam makes himself useful dishing up Omar's

side dish of roasted peppers,

I'm about to find out why this dish is called Broken Eggs.

And this is what makes them special.

You see? That is not scrambled, not fried.

And the yolks break.

Yes, and the yolks break, give it a try.

Why didn't mine break?

Some will, some won't. This terracotta will remain very

hot for a good four minutes, and that will cook thoroughly the eggs.

OK, and then we'll be at the table.

Start to plate up, because mine is ready to go.

Yep, I'm there.

-This is ready, too.

-Fantastic.

Let's go for it.

Every culture has its own take on a chicken and rice dish.

Jeremy's cooked a side dish of coconut rice -

sadly, it's not with our basmati.

And now for the best bit.

So, if you'd like to start serving it up between you.

'This is the wonderful thing about food.

'It brings together not just flavours, but cultures -

'for all of us to celebrate and enjoy.'

It's broken eggs with padron peppers, spicy chorizo,

potatoes, onion.

Sweet, sour, salty, all in one.

It really is a mixture of flavours from all over the place.

What do you think about the combination of flavours?

It's so nice.

Interesting having so many different things all combined together.

And beautifully cooked.

It's exciting food.

It's all coming together well.

Whoa, more food! Smelling good.

What a surprise.

HE CHUCKLES

What have you got here, Nigel?

You never stop, do you?

This is our mushrooms, and, look, these Chinese greens.

Oh, lovely.

-Yeah, do you want to join me?

-I would love to. I'm quite hungry.

I'm not going to pretend I wasn't disappointed about the rice,

because everything else has done so well.

If you think about the things we've grown that haven't been

grown before here, I really wanted the rice to work.

Yeah, well, likewise, it was very disappointing,

but, you know, you gotta try these things.

I know.

I know, sometimes things work, sometimes they don't,

sometimes you just have to take a punt.

These combinations of flavours that you've been throwing

together in one meal, I'm really enjoying these.

Particularly seeing as we've grown them ourselves.

-He's a great man to know, you know?

-So is he.

'Next week, we'll be looking at our heritage foods

'and how the way we consume them has changed.'

How about we use some pollock?

'As pork is our most traditional meat, we rear our own piglets

'to see how modern farming has made a lean, mean pork-making machine.'

You've got a complete sausage virgin here.

'And as our time on the farm comes to an end,

'we take our produce to market to raise money for charity.'

I might have some of your rolled oats.

All Nigel's recipes are available on our website, so get cooking.

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