Episode 5 Ready Steady Cook

APPLAUSE

CHEERING

Thank you very much! Thank you!

Hello and welcome to Ready Steady Cook,

the 20-minute cooking challenge with a bag of unknown ingredients.

What will the chefs provide for us today? We're about to find out.

First up, in the red kitchen, chef Paul Rankin

with presenter and classical singer extraordinaire, Aled Jones!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

In the green kitchen with chef Maria Elia, teen singing sensation, the gorgeous Faryl Smith!

-How are you, Aled?

-I'm glad you didn't call me a teen singer!

-There was a day.

-You were a teen singer before.

Now people queue up all over the world to see you perform

-but would they queue up for your cooking?

-No.

I enjoy my food, as you can probably see.

I'm not bad in the kitchen, but not as good as him.

It's great to have you back.

See whether you've improved. What have you brought for our chef today?

-Here we go.

-Check it out.

Oh, yes!

-We've got this weapon.

-A bit of a Mediterranean feel about it.

I don't know if there is. Have you seen this ingredient?

-The Welsh lamb.

-It had to be. It was either a leek or a bit of lamb!

And I knew Flossie well!

So I'm looking forward to cooking her!

But I never know how to cook aubergine.

-It's my least favourite vegetable.

-I've never cooked an aubergine!

-I'm off!

He's only pulling you know what. How much did you spend?

-£4.91.

-You never did!

It's like four things and it's mince!

-Get out of it, Paul!

-It was all going so well!

-It was!

-He's cooking for you!

-It doesn't seem a lot. But it is a nice bag.

-A great classic bag.

-The way it goes together is lovely.

-So I thought!

These sort of ingredients are going together really nicely for me.

-So...

-What about this bit?

-..what to do.

I always find with potatoes you can make chips, but you can't make chips from rice!

-But you can put 'em together.

-For me, with the rice, I'll make a pilau.

Nice onion, stalk and herbs and make it lovely and rich.

With one of the lamb we'll go Mediterranean,

combine the aubergines, tomatoes, and I'm thinking meatballs

with roast aubergine and nice tomato sauce thing.

The other one, because lamb and aubergine go well in Oriental cooking,

and this brings it close to the rice as well.

-Tell you what...

-Spicy lime chilli, all that.

Wait till I come back. Time is of the essence.

Aled and Paul. I'm coming back, don't worry.

How are you? Hello, Faryl.

-She's very nervous.

-Welcome.

You shouldn't be nervous with the Ready Steady Cook team.

-They are lovely.

-It's good to have you here.

-Nice to be here.

-Lovely to see you.

-And you too, Maria. Wasn't he chatting away?

-Yes, chatty, chatty.

-You're this wonderful singing sensation.

-Thank you.

We're delighted to have you here.

Is the kitchen a domain you like or are you in studios and stuff?

Like Aled, I do like my food, I've been brought up to like my food.

But I cannot cook at all!

-Not at all!

-You've got the perfect teacher here! Let's see your bag.

-Give it a shake.

-Here we go!

Get it out. OK!

-This is good.

-I really like fish.

I've got salmon cos it's one of my favourites.

-OK.

-I've never had pine nuts before.

But somebody told me they go quite well with the salmon, hopefully,

so I've brought them just to try them so it's something different.

Good. Nice you're adventurous. How old are you?

-14. Just turned 14.

-Great.

That's 15, that's great! Great to have you here. We've got pine nuts.

I've got loads of vegetables and a rather big potato.

And I've just learnt how to peel a potato!

-My friend the other day just...

-It's your first job!

I don't know how it's gonna go, but...

-Where have you been for the last 14 years? Just learnt to peel a potato?

-I've been singing!

-No time to peel potatoes!

-No time. Look what we've got, Paul!

Tattie!

How much did you spend?

Um... £4.84.

4.84. OK, very good. Maria, what do you think?

I'm thinking take the pine nuts and make a crust for the salmon.

Or blitz them up with basil to make a pistou, it's called,

with cheese, like a pesto.

Take some of the potatoes and make dumplings

with the salmon and make a little soup.

Take some potato and make a broccoli soup. One Oriental, one creamy.

And maybe we could stuff the tomato.

-Lovely.

-Sounds fine!

-Yep.

-Lots of lovely things going on.

-Yep.

-Tender taste buds!

Looking forward to it. Fantastic. Faryl and Maria!

-What do you think?

-Sounds good!

OK, you know what happens now.

We give our chefs 20 minutes when I say Ready Steady Cook!

Let's crack on. OK.

-What's up?

-It's nothing!

I'm gonna set you up here. Here's a place to wash your hands.

-Lovely that you helped him, Paul.

-I'm such a nice guy. One of the good guys!

-Very nice indeed.

-We Celts look after one another.

-Absolutely.

Except when it comes to rugby, when the Irish give you a good digging!

LAUGHTER

-I love that expression.

-What I'm gonna do now is

-Aled's gonna make a famous spinach soup.

-Oh, Aled! What goes into it?

Spinach!

Loads of it!

Loads of spinach, a bit of garlic.

I'm gonna give you that, and an onion.

-Onion, a bit of butter.

-It's exciting when the chefs are rushing around,

getting things started.

-OK, Paul.

-A pot on for Aled.

Now, I'm going to do the pilau, which is the first thing I need to get on.

The second first thing I need to get on - that's very Irish, the second first thing! -

the first thing I need to do is get the rice out of the packet!

-Is that the second first thing or the first second thing?

-Yeah!

-I'm gonna make a little rice pudding, an orange and cardamom-scented rice pudding.

-Nice.

-Lovely.

-How much onion do you need?

-You need about a third,

-so I'll take the rest.

-OK.

What about you, Aled? Are you a rice pudding fan? Do you like pudds?

I'll eat anything.

-The only thing I'm not too keen on is sushi.

-OK.

-You don't like sushi?

-I had a bad experience of it. I went to a place in Japan as a kid and...

Were you a recognised child or was it a family holiday?

-No, I used to sing a lot in Japan.

-OK.

-And...

-Can I help you with that onion?

-Carry on!

I can't talk and peel!

-He's so tough on me!

-I'm glad you said peel.

I went to the most famous place for sushi, with only four tables.

And the woman, the fish was in the cabinet. She had four cats in this place.

It was no bigger than this little desk. So she stroked the cat,

-moulded the rice, stroked the other cat, moulded the rice.

-No way!

Got the fish out, stroked the cat, and gave me two lumps of sushi.

I had two cameras on me. It was going live onto their news bulletin.

I stuffed one in that cheek and the other in this cheek

and I went, "Very nice!"

and when I walked out I spat them both in the bin!

So that was my first experience on live TV in Japan.

What was it like going there to perform?

I had a good innings as a boy. But I wasn't singing soprano in Japan.

-I was narrating Hansel and Gretel in Japanese!

-Wow!

-With the Vienna Boys' Choir.

And you had to learn it and everything.

-I've got loads of chat-up lines like...

-(SPEAKS JAPANESE)

Which means, "Who's eating my chocolate house?"

Really handy with the women!

-OK, let's let them get cracking on here. Paul, are you OK?

-Yeah.

We'll come back and see you. Let's get down the other end.

The boys are busy there getting started.

Four minutes have gone already. Let's find out how Maria's got things going here.

-What are you doing?

-Faryl peeled the potato.

-We're getting the potato on...

-Yay!

-Mashed potato.

-Now she's preparing the broccoli.

-Did you enjoy peeling that potato?

It was OK. Took me a bit of time.

Why didn't you cook? Was it Mum and Dad?

Yeah, I just... Well, I come home from school,

and I've got homework and then I've got singing. I don't have time to peel potatoes!

Good for you!

We've decided to invite some of Faryl's family along.

A couple of Faryl's family, just to find out what she was like growing up.

She really is a singing sensation.

-Who shall we go to? Dad's here. How are you doing?

-How are you?

Good. Was she good in the kitchen, growing up?

-She'd have a job to spell the word kitchen, to be honest!

-Thanks, Dad!

-Doesn't wash up, doesn't dry up.

-He's making me sound really bad.

-You did it all for her?

-I do the majority of it, yeah.

Dad's there with Nan. Was Nan a big influence on your life, too?

Yeah. Nan's done a lot of cooking. She taught me to make Welsh cakes.

My granddad's Welsh. He had the recipe

-from his Nan to make Welsh cakes.

-So it's been passed down?

-I'll get it soon, so yeah,

Nan's taught me how to make Welsh cakes. That's all I can make.

I don't think Maria's making those. What tips do you want today? Happy with how she's preparing the salmon?

I'm happy with anything that she does!

-It's nice having someone cook for you.

-Yep!

We'll get back to you and have another chat. Chef, what's happening?

Carry on with your basil there.

I'm just preparing the stuffed tomato here.

-So I've got onions.

-OK. And loads of extra saucepans here.

-Potatoes boiling. What's happening in here?

-Potatoes for my mash.

This is my soup. This is for my poached egg.

-Uh-huh.

-OK, and then I'm gonna get Faryl to scoop out the middle here.

-Then I'm gonna get my crust on.

-There we are, Chef.

-A spoon to get that out.

-I've got the spoon.

-Happy?

-Yeah. Faryl, next job is to scoop this out gently.

-OK.

-OK?

-Yep.

-Shove the rest in there.

-Sorry if I'll get it everywhere.

-Don't worry.

Cut that across. I'll cut it and you can scoop it all out.

-Be careful, all right?

-Don't show Aled I'm getting help!

He won't mind about that.

-Are you very competitive too, then?

-Yeah. Well, it's Aled, you know?

-Is it?

-Yeah, he's very competitive.

-Have you ever performed with him?

-No. Don't you like my voice?

-Don't you want to sing with me?

-I didn't want to say, but... I love your voice.

-We'll perform together in the future.

-Thanks!

-When I'm a boy soprano again!

How did you cope with being famous at 13 or 14, Aled?

As long as you enjoy yourself. Don't take it too seriously.

-Any tips for Faryl?

-No, that's it, really.

She's got a great family and always got a smile on her face. And a brilliant voice.

SHE SINGS CALON LAN

Am I right in saying your nan goes to all your concerts?

-She comes to all of them.

-Her nan goes to my concerts, as well!

-Nan, you better not vote for Aled! Vote for me!

-What about the salmon?

-What are you doing?

-We're making a crust here for that.

So Faryl, I need you to put your finger on here...

-OK.

-..and get blitzing this up for me.

About 12 minutes to go. Plenty of time.

-Looking good.

-Press that for us.

Press that.

There you go. Making your own breadcrumbs now, or crust topping.

-Pine nuts in there, too?

-Yeah.

-Nutmeg.

-Tell me when to stop and I'll stop.

-Keep going.

Wonderful.

OK.

-OK, stop.

-We're gonna put some pine nuts in there

and that's how you get a lovely crust you can put on top of salmon

or on top of lamb, too, Maria.

Lamb, anything. A nice bit of white fish. Cod is quite nice.

I'll put them in there.

-Off you go.

-Will you put olive oil in there or not, Chef?

-I might put butter.

-Lovely.

-A bit of salt.

-Beautiful. All coming together.

OK, I'm gonna leave you to get on with it.

Interesting finding out about those things.

Often we think you get one mixture of breadcrumbs and herbs and stuff, and you can only put it on fish.

But she says lamb, pork, something like that, even chicken.

Bake that lovely crust in the oven.

What have you done here, Chef?

That's my Mediterranean burger

which is gonna go with the aubergine.

Tomato. In there we've got a bit of onion, a bit of garlic,

-some rosemary, some parsley...

-Shall I do a bit more?

-Oh, that's way too much.

-OK. I did try and ask you!

Don't worry about it.

-He's tough on me.

-Fine.

-All chefs are tough. They've only got 20 minutes!

I've put the water in there. I'll let that cook out a bit, get a bit of flavour.

You could crumble a bit of stock cube in, maybe half.

-Yep.

-Up there, I've got tomatoes roasting

-with some ginger, some chilli powder, some sugar.

-Finished with the sugar?

-Yes, I think so.

-OK, you're gonna blend these together.

Yes. This one's gonna be meatballs.

I want a touch of soy for that.

OK. Half way now, guys. Half way. Ten minutes already gone.

A tiny bit of sesame oil.

-Beautiful.

-So it's quite nice to have that bit of sweetness with...

Oh - that's too much!

I love a lot of sesame oil in my Oriental meatballs!

-Funny you should say that - me, too!

-So Aled,

let's put a touch of orange in there.

A bit of zest will be nice. We've got coriander and chives in there.

I want you to make some tiny meatballs.

-Straight into the pan, Chef?

-Yeah, actually.

-No, do it on a board and then we'll...

-OK.

-Good man.

OK. Lovely. That's going all right.

Now, I need to get this one going cos it's gonna be a big burger.

-This smells fantastic.

-We've got some nice flavours going on.

We've separated the two of them into the Mediterranean and the Oriental.

That'll give a nice flavour profile difference.

Talking about flavouring things, what will you do with the aubergine

-to make Aled like it, cos you're not a big fan.

-Not really. Are you?

It soaks up a lot of oil. It's like a sponge.

Aubergine is such a beautiful vegetable.

It's so interesting, that soft texture.

As long as you get flavour and it's not too oily. One of the keys...

..is not to cook it with too much oil, Chef?

-Sometimes you brush it with oil.

-Deep-fried aubergine is lovely.

-But you've got to have everything hot.

-OK.

-Maybe not as hot at that!

-That is extremely hot, isn't it?

-That is hot!

-Not to worry.

-We've got the rice.

-With the cardamom and orange.

-Yeah.

I'm gonna keep adding moisture to it.

-OK.

-It wants to soak it all up.

I've got in there so far,

I've got cardamom, orange zest,

-and cream, a little bit of butter.

-Hit that with a touch of sugar.

-Add brown sugar and vanilla in there as well.

-OK.

Coming up to the eight-minute mark now. The aubergine is happening.

What was it like, being used to family suppers in Wales,

and then travelling the other side of the world?

It's interesting. Where I'm from in Wales we always had farmers' markets

-and I joked about knowing Flossie.

-You still have them.

-That's what it was like.

So we knew what we were eating all the time. Vegetables from the garden, fish from the sea.

You knew the farmer that was supplying you. Now I go to Australia a lot, singing,

and it's the same there. Everything's so fresh. Brilliant.

-Have you got a more sophisticated taste now?

-I think so. I love food.

-Because it goes well with wine!

-Chef, what's happening now?

-I'm starting the...

-I saw you brush the aubergine and chargrill them.

I'm starting the Oriental-style aubergine.

I'll put a bit of onion in there to roast.

Now, some people might think it's slightly strange

to sweeten up the aubergine.

But we're gonna be hitting that aubergine with vinegar and sugar

-to give it a touch of sweetness and a bit of coriander to finish it off.

-OK.

-What about my soup?

-Coriander, sugar, vinegar.

-Say again?

-The soup.

-I'll take it out here.

-Let's have a look at this.

OK, that's cooking down quite hard now.

Can you get some vanilla for me, please, Aled?

This rice here is ready to rest. The water has evaporated off.

In there was onion, a bit of butter, in goes the rice. Stir it to coat it.

And a bit of stock and cook it until the water evaporates and let it rest.

-That's how we finish it.

-Just let it rest.

How often do so many of us take it straight from the stove and serve it up?

It's a bit gluey, isn't it? The best thing to do is, as Paul said, let it rest.

My mum used to cook fantastic rice.

Make a few holes in the rice, put the lid on, let it steam through.

It separates beautifully.

If you want to check out any of the recipes, go to the website:

-Ooh, what's in there?

-Some ginger, tomato puree,

-some cayenne.

-Mmm!

-A little bit... Keep going! Keep going!

-You need two hands at once.

-I know.

-And some chilli.

The oven's ready.

-And now salmon.

-You've got your crusted salmon in there.

-What's Faryl doing?

-She's making the pistou, like pesto with no pine nuts.

-Good, if you stop there.

-I think that's it.

I've got to say you're such a cool girl.

Most people if they've suddenly arrived with all this stardom around them,

they just want to disappear.

-But you go back to school and hang out with your mates!

-Yeah.

Obviously you have to go home and see my friends and stuff

and we like shopping and having sleepovers. Normal stuff.

I go back to school and see them.

When I go back home, it's just like it was at the start.

Like I hadn't even gone on Britain's Got Talent.

-Football, too. You got to the final this year, your team.

-Yeah, the girls are really good.

-Whoops!

-I've been playing since I was about seven

and my dad is the chairman of the team, so I've kind of had to!

-I'm joking!

-Go on, score! What are you doing there?

-What position do you play?

-Defence. The strong one.

-I know!

Now, tell us about this music, then.

I wouldn't say overnight, cos you said you've been singing from a very young age.

What's gonna happen now? Where do you see yourself going?

A number one-selling album, 24 or 29,000 sales in the first week.

-It's incredible.

-Yeah, it is.

-Do you pinch yourself sometimes?

-Yeah,

because I'm like, as Aled said, surrounded by my family,

-I think you can deal with it OK.

-Grounded.

-Yeah,

and because I go home. If I was in London all the time,

I don't think I'd... If I was working all the time I wouldn't handle it.

-But no, it's great. And I love singing.

-It's controlling it, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-The right management and having the love of the family.

Your Pops. What a lovely smile Dad's got there. Look at that.

Yeah, after Britain's Got Talent I had the first album out.

-I've got a second one coming out as well.

-Are you proud of her, Dad?

Yeah, yeah. Don't start me crying!

-He's emotional.

-He better not cry on Ready Steady Cook!

Look at this. Tell us quickly what's here. Two-and-a-half minutes or less.

-What do you want on there?

-A bit of soy and a bit of sesame.

-Ainsley, do you want to blitz this up for me?

-Yeah, OK.

Where am I gonna do that, then?

-Do that right here.

-Tell me how much you want.

I'll take this down here cos there's no space.

Here we are. Two minutes to go.

You see, this is very strong.

What we called toasted sesame.

It's very strong, so we're talking drops like that.

-See that? Little drops.

-OK.

-That'll be enough there.

-And just shake that on. Away you go.

-How much?

-Don't be frightened.

-A little bit.

-A drizzle.

-Away you go.

-Risk it.

-OK, right.

-Go on!

Go on, go for it!

Go for it! Is it coming out too quick?

OK, you've got one-and-a-half minutes to go, guys.

Help!

OK, just helping you with a bit of the soup here.

-Do you want this rustic fashion or lovely and smooth?

-Rustic.

There you go.

I'm gonna go now and leave you guys to get on with it.

-Finish doing that.

-OK.

A minute to go, from now.

Let our chefs get that food on the plates. One minute, guys.

-Keep going.

-Oh, here we go.

-Not bad.

-Can we get a soup plate?

-50 seconds.

Audience, encourage them. Say, "Come on, Chefs!"

AUDIENCE CALL OUT

Well done to all of you. OK, about 35 seconds.

You vote for what the chefs did with the ingredients they were given.

Not because Faryl's got a lovely voice!

Aled has too, mind you!

Coming up just past that 30-second mark.

Let's get that food...

Faryl, can you get that over?

Where is it?

We're coming up to that moment, audience, where you help me count down.

These guys spent only five pounds on this.

Nine,

eight, seven,

six, five,

four, three,

two, one!

Stop cooking!

APPLAUSE

It can go on that plate.

Brilliant. Well done, guys.

OK, let's check out today's menu.

Paul and Aled have come up with Aled's spinach and garlic soup

with crispy croutons and cream.

Followed by Oriental meatballs with spiced vegetables and pilau rice.

We also have a burger with roast aubergine, spinach and balsamic tomatoes

and finally, orange and cardamom rice pudding.

In the green kitchen, Maria and Faryl have come up with

broccoli and potato soup with cream and herb pistou drizzle,

Carpaccio salmon with a soy dressing and sesame seeds.

Pine nut crusted salmon with creamy mash, broccoli florets and poached egg. And finally,

beef tomatoes filled with pine nut, salmon and a beautiful pistou dressing.

-Looks absolutely fantastic. What does Aled think of it?

-Great.

Find out. Chef, explain to us while Aled tucks in.

Aled may as well tell us about the spinach soup. Are you surprised?

Very surprised. He forced me into it. I've never cooked one before!

-The surprise is, I don't know what's in it!

-I said, "You're cooking this!"

We started with onion and garlic, sweating them off.

In went the water and a stock cube and cooked it till we got the flavours coming through.

In goes the spinach and we added cooked rice to thicken it up

then we blitzed it up, checked the seasoning.

-But don't keep it cos it loses its colour.

-The spinach went in near the end.

Fantastic! Oh, so good!

What's nice about this one and people often don't think,

"Asian is just chilli and ginger",

but we're adding the layers there.

We've got the chilli, the ginger, the herbs,

and we're adding sugar and a bit of acidity.

My mouth's full, but what's amazing is it tastes so different.

-Even though it's lamb. The flavours are so different.

-He creates lovely flavours.

-What genius!

On our website, all of these recipes.

This one, it's like a Mediterranean burger.

A grilled big crouton on the middle

the softness of the aubergine to add moisture to it.

And the lamb is done with a bit of onion, garlic,

black pepper, rosemary and balsamic tomatoes so everything is working together.

This one, that works together and that works together.

-That works cos it's rice pudding.

-It's so good!

The orange and cardamom rice pudding.

-I love that combination.

-Ten out of ten?

-Oh, I'd say ten. Fantastic.

-That is absolutely amazing.

-Glad you're enjoying it. Aled and Paul!

Isn't this exciting?

It's come to you in such a hurry.

You did really well for someone who doesn't know their way round the kitchen.

Or to the kitchen!

There we are. Into your soup.

The potato and broccoli soup with parsley and chervil in it,

finished with cream, and then we put the basil pistou dressing on the top.

That's really nice. I've never had that before. That is really nice.

Easy to make at home. Then with the other part of the salmon,

-we blitzed up...

-Cut into the edge.

Blitzed up breadcrumbs with pine nuts and some basil

and garlic to make the crust.

All binded together with butter.

Put it in the oven to bake and made a creamy mash

-with poached egg to give it depth.

-How does that taste, Faryl?

The creamy mash is really nice with it. Really nice.

I've never had any of this before so it's all different to me.

-Really nice.

-That's what it's all about.

-The tomato collapsed.

-It was rather ripe, I have to say.

-Absolutely.

Take the lid off. We chopped up all the salmon and garlic and onion,

sweat that down with tomato puree to give it sweetness.

Then we put in some chilli, ginger and cayenne with pine nuts to give it crunch

and then we put in some coriander and baked it in the oven

-and put the basil oil just there.

-A little pistou round the edge. Very nice indeed.

-Not too hot?

-No.

-You don't want to burn your throat! You need that!

Not pesto, pistou. We keep reminding you of that. It's different.

Then we took the last bit of salmon and cut it really fine to make salmon Carpaccio.

Then we put some soy sauce on.

-Mmm!

-And a bit of sesame.

-Too much soy sauce!

-That's all right.

Actually, it tastes all right. The soy sauce is all right!

It's the first time you've had raw fish? It's a triumph for you today.

-A triumph for both of you.

-It all tastes lovely.

-Well done. OK.

Maria and Faryl!

OK, ladies and gentlemen. What's it gonna be?

Will our studio audience go for Aled with Paul in the red kitchen

or is it gonna be a green kitchen win with Maria and Faryl?

Nobody knows. You'll find out in a few seconds

when I ask our audience, please, pick up your keypads and all vote now!

Let's have a look at this.

Are you gonna go for that juicy burger with the aubergine

or the other side? Look at that.

The salmon with the crust on top.

Looks mainly red at the moment.

Let's find out. Computer, sort this out. Who's won today's 20-minute challenge?

It's a red kitchen win!

Oh, well done, guys. There you go.

That's not fair! I'm only 14!

-ALED:

-She's not gonna sing with me now! What have you done?

There you are. Your Ready Steady Cook winner's plate.

-I almost dropped it then.

-I saw you kinda slip with it.

We'd like to make a donation to your favourite charity.

My charity is Hope House, a children's hospice in North Wales.

-Does fantastic work.

-Absolutely. Great to see you.

-Thank you.

-Thanks.

-Pleasure.

-Very nice indeed.

Sometimes you want a plate, but you put it in a cupboard or put it up on the shelf.

-Here's something you use every day when you're having a cuppa.

-Thanks!

I do like my cuppa, so that is gonna come in handy, yeah.

-We loved having you on the show.

-Thanks for having me.

-Hope your success grows.

-Thank you very much!

Thank you, Maria. Well done. Lovely food once again.

What can I say but a warm thank you to Faryl Smith

and Aled Jones.

-APPLAUSE

-OK, my darlings, see you later.

OK, time for today's Quickie Bag Challenge!

-Our Quickie Bag Challenger today is Miranda Cobham from?

-Hampton.

Great to have you here.

You're an air stewardess so you travel the world.

You're in need of some help, when your boyfriend, sitting next to you, comes to visit.

Tell our chefs what your challenge is today.

I'm a fitness fanatic and a healthy eater, but I just can't cook!

I just eat salads, tuna salads, all the time.

So something I can cook easily!

You've brought some interesting ingredients.

-I have indeed.

-OK, I'll take this away

and you can come over afterwards and have a try.

Is your boyfriend a bit of a cook too?

-He's really good at cooking and he loves it.

-Lovely.

-You'll come and have a try?

-Love to.

-And your name is?

-Paul.

Paul. Paul and Miranda, ladies and gentlemen.

OK, she's sick of giving her boyfriend, Paul, tuna salad every night

so she wants us to do something wonderful with this.

Lovely ingredients, Miranda.

Some spaghetti, fresh scallops,

a couple of chillies, sun-blushed tomato and asparagus.

Spring onions, too. What do you think, Paul Rankin?

Um, for healthy eating it's very important to get your balance of stuff right.

So the balance of protein, carbohydrate and fats is really important.

Fats are OK as long as it's the right type of fat.

So I think I would like a really simple sort of pasta

with seared scallops, spring onion and the asparagus

and then I would make an aromatic chilli herb oil

to put over it. Not too much. You can add water to loosen it up.

Then I think it would be lovely to do a steamed or grilled scallops

with asparagus and soy sauce, that sort of thing.

Something clean and light.

And we could maybe do another pasta or maybe a soup

with some pasta in it.

Soups are always a really healthy option.

-Great health food.

-Mmm. Well, her boyfriend Paul is in the navy.

I wonder if that will be enough for him. We'll find out in a moment.

He looks a hunk, doesn't he?

I'll cook for you when she's away!

I'll cook for you when he's away!

What are you gonna do, then, Maria?

We could bake these in the oven, on the shell with a bit of chilli

and spring onion and soy.

We could finish that with coriander.

Then we could take the rest and do a little tomato and spring onion,

-well, tomato, spring onion...

-Sun-blushed tomato.

-..and chilli pasta.

Then we could make a salad. We could shave the asparagus. Vanilla and asparagus go nicely together

so we could make a salad to start with.

-Um...

-That sounds pretty good to me.

We've only got ten minutes.

Couple of lovely ideas. Both chefs have come up with something fresh and simple.

But who will our studio audience go for?

Please pick up those keypads, guys.

Is it gonna be red for Paul Rankin

or green for Maria Elia?

The choice is yours. All vote now.

Let's have a look. OK.

Pressing away there. Greens coming back

but reds are equally strong, too.

Right, who has won today's ten-minute Quickie Challenge?

And you can see by one it's a green kitchen win!

Maria Elia, your ten minutes' cooking time starts now!

Let's do it. OK. What can we do for you?

-I'll get stuck in to the scallops.

-We'll get some water on for the pasta.

-Maria needs to be down here with me.

-I'll do it here.

OK. What did you say about these sun-blushed tomatoes, Maria?

We're gonna make a little salsa for one.

-And we're gonna make a little pasta sauce for the other.

-OK.

-Beautiful.

-And we're gonna put... Have you got the scallops?

-I have.

I'll just tip that out to make it a bit easier.

Gotta go back to Miranda and find out

what about this tuna fish salad?

What goes into your tuna fish salad?

And why's your boyfriend Paul so bored with it?

It's just salad and tuna, and a bit of beetroot if he's lucky!

-Really? Are we talking about tinned tuna here?

-Yes.

-OK. So nothing fresh, really?

-No.

You should change the tinned tuna to fresh tuna.

You just get a really hot griddle like we've got now,

season the tuna, a bit of salt and pepper,

and then sear it on either side so it's nice and rare in the middle.

That's all you have to do. Very easy!

She says, "What's searing, Maria?" What about Paul?

-Are you a good cook, Paul?

-I like to think so. I have a go.

-Yeah?

So when you get to the house, what type of things do you cook?

-Spicy food. I like my jerk chicken.

-Wonderful.

-Being in the navy, have you spent time in the Caribbean?

-Two years in the Caribbean.

-JAMAICAN ACCENT:

-So you like it spicy?

Me know you're talkin'!

LAUGHTER

-OK, let's see what to do.

-Could you slice a bit more asparagus?

-I'll do that, Chef.

-Thank you.

-Lovely.

Right. Tell me what you're doing there.

-He's been literally...

-I'm gonna take the beards off the scallops. I'm washing the shells.

Scallops are not the easiest shellfish in the world to get out of the shell.

What you're trying to do

is there's a muscle - it's kind of hard to show you now -

that attaches it to the shell.

If you get your knife in about half an inch,

and slit that muscle, then the top will pop open

and you go in and release the meaty part of the scallop from the top shell.

It's easy once you're in like that.

What do you look for? Any tell-tale signs of freshness and stuff?

A little bit of juice, the clacking shut and open and all that stuff.

It's a nice, fresh briny smell.

No sort of fishy smell. It shouldn't smell fishy.

It should smell lovely and briny of the sea.

-OK, let me just get Paul...

-We're gonna do one in the...

-One in the oven.

-Chop these two.

-We've got about six minutes left.

We are not panicking. They don't take long to cook.

-All that fresh food...

-Don't panic, Ainsley! Don't panic!

-It really doesn't take that long, OK?

-That's right.

-Lovely.

-It's adventurous of you to bring scallops in.

I always wanted to try them.

-You know, you can get the fishmonger to open them for you.

-Yeah.

That's probably easier. Best to start off simple.

-OK, did you put salt in this water?

-Not yet.

-Not yet. OK.

-I'll get a bit in there for you.

-OK.

This is for my scallops that we're gonna fry with...

-We've got the first one.

-..the linguine.

-Do you want me to knock up the topping for it?

-Yeah.

A squeeze of lime, some spring onions.

-A little bit of aromatics going on top.

-Maybe a bit of tomato.

And some lime and we'll bake that in the oven.

A bit of scallion, a bit of tomato.

-Lime and soy.

-And a bit of coriander. Lovely.

-Team work here.

-I know, guys. We like a bit of that.

I'll put a bit of toasted sesame which is nice with those flavours.

-It makes it come alive.

-The rest of the asparagus we just griddled.

OK. We're half way, guys. We have a Quickie Question from one of our audience members.

-Listen up. You OK there, Maria, for now?

-Cool, thank you.

-Right. Today we've got in the studio Mark Lattery, is it?

-Latter.

-How are you?

-Good.

-Bit of a cooking fan?

-Yeah, I love it.

There's so many cooking programmes on TV now.

-Yeah.

-You've probably been inspired. But you get stuck dealing with pork?

-It's not appropriate with that healthy food, but pork crackling.

-Guys?

-Listen up.

-The best way to make really good pork crackling.

Absolutely the best, the best, the best way in my book is the Chinese way.

It's got some similarities to the English or British way

in that one of the keys is to get the rind as dry as possible.

Add lots of salt into it. The British way is this.

Slash the pork skin, pat it dry, rub plenty of salt into it and into the grooves

and you cook it in a hot oven for a fairly lengthy time,

at least an hour to get it blistering and starting to dry out. Start it high and lower it.

The Chinese way, which is incredible, they do their pork belly with,

is they will score or pierce the skin

and they will rub it with salt and vinegar

and let it dry out in the fridge overnight.

Then they cook it in a hard oven with a top heat

and it's like popcorn, the crackling, it's so amazing.

Try it if you're in a good Chinese restaurant and see crispy pork belly on the menu,

-I would highly recommend that you try it.

-How about that?

-Great.

-Never done that before?

-Never.

-Maria,

-anything to add?

-It's best to cure and salt your pork the night before.

I don't use vinegar because I don't do it the Chinese way

but you can either start your pork low and then whack the oven up to keep it moist,

and the fat melts into it and whack the oven up.

-If you want you can take the fat off.

-Three minutes.

-Take the pork out then put the fat back in.

Take it off. That would be nice. That can be a problem.

And really, it's good quality pork, too.

Go to your butcher's. You don't want that pink slimy stuff on top.

Go to a good quality butcher and it'll make all the difference.

-Good luck.

-Thanks.

-Good question, ladies and gentlemen.

We like to know what to do with our pork.

-Two-and-a-half minutes.

-Could you check the pasta for me?

-Check the...

-Pasta.

Pasta is gonna be there for sure.

I'll just do that. That's fine. That's ready to go.

Don't try that at home, guys, the old fingers!

OK.

-Lovely. How are you doing there? All right, Maria?

-Yeah, good.

-Good.

-Do you want me to make a ponzu sort of thing?

-I've got the asparagus.

-Good girl.

I've got asparagus with vanilla, olive oil.

Is this what you want, Maria?

-These scallops are sliced as thin as possible.

-Sashimi.

-A Japanese sashimi type thing.

-Two minutes to go.

I'll put these into a bowl, mix them with balsamic

and with the remaining tomatoes.

All coming together now. We've got the raw fish there.

Let's pull this together, guys. Coming up for the two-minute mark.

That's right.

OK, here you go.

What are you doing there, Paul?

-Finishing off the pasta.

-Take the other one out of the oven

and we'll top that with spring onions, tomatoes.

Whoops!

There you go.

Right. What do you want in here?

Perfect. Maybe some nice coriander on the top.

-How about a splash of sesame seeds?

-Let me get that pan out. OK,

-about one minute ten seconds to go now, guys.

-OK.

Paul, that's gonna go with the tomatoes and balsamic.

-Do you want it cold?

-Yeah.

-Here we go.

-Tomatoes in with it?

-Nice and cold.

-One minute exactly.

Scallops on the top there. Thank you.

-Thanks very much, Chef.

-And a little coriander and lime.

And a bit of lemon over the asparagus.

-I'll get that done for you.

-And a bit of chervil.

-OK.

-There we are.

Trim that round there a bit more.

I've completely lost the edge of that. About 40 seconds to go now.

Let's do that. Using too big a knife for the actual job, I think.

Wa-hoo!

-OK, there, Chef?

-I'm trying to get some of the oil off this.

-I know these guys are healthy.

-Yeah, but a little bit of oil is OK.

-Yeah.

-I just don't want him hitting me or something!

-No, olive oil is good.

..Nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four,

three, two, one.

Stop cooking!

APPLAUSE

Well done, guys! Very nice indeed.

Miranda and Paul, come and join us.

-Paul, would you be happy to turn up to the house and have this put in front of you?

-I'd be made up!

-I'd be surprised!

-Have a bit of a taste, both of you.

-Pick up your forks.

-Turn up your nose and say, "That's a bit fancy!"

Take some of the scallops and twist a bit of pasta round it.

-How did you do that, Maria?

-We got some garlic and chilli,

sweating that off and added the tomatoes and white wine and reduced it.

We didn't cook the scallops in that or they'd be too rubbery, over-cooked.

So we cooked the scallops separately.

You could add it to the pan but pull them out before you add the spaghetti.

-And finish with parsley.

-What do you think, Miranda? Good?

-Gorgeous!

-You like it?

-Definitely be trying that one!

-Write up those recipes.

-It's a nice way to do asparagus. Griddle it with olive oil.

That would be nice if you had some Parmesan cheese, finish it with balsamic and add tomatoes.

-Paul, verdict?

-Fantastic!

-Put some goats' cheese with that.

-Beautiful.

-We've got delighted people.

These guys seem to do it all the time.

When we invite people on the show, they cook remarkable food for them.

None more so than Aled and Faryl. Come and join us, guys.

You're fine there.

Come in here. That's all we've got time for today.

Hope you've enjoyed the show. Join us soon on Ready Steady Cook for more cooking surprises. Bye!

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