20/12/2015 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

The next 90 minutes is filled with cracking food ideas

that will give you plenty of inspiration for the festive period.

So don't go anywhere - this is Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show - we've got tasty, seasonal offerings

and the very best chefs and a sprinkling of hungry celebrities,

all at the ready.

So, coming up on today's show...

Dave Myers, one half of the Hairy Bikers

cooks us a fantastic Christmas alternative,

a king prawn and coconut curry.

It's one of my favourites - I love South Indian food.

James Tanner cooks an Asian-style sea bream with sticky rice.

He stuffs the bream with kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass,

ginger and spring onions

and steams it with an Asian marinade.

And Tristan Welch brings a venison casserole

with winter veg and pear to the Christmas table.

He uses the venison shanks, which are marinaded overnight in red wine

and port, and the fabulous Sarah Millican faces

her Food Heaven or Food Hell.

-You're looking nervous.

-I know, I'm nervous.

Would she get her Food Heaven, a passion fruit delice

with tuile biscuits?

Or would she get her dreaded Food Hell,

spiced beef ribs with sticky chilli chicken

and egg fried rice?

Find out what she gets to eat at the end of today's show.

But first up on the menu is John Burton-Race.

He's serving up a spectacular seafood tagliatelle today

but don't let the colour put you off.

-It's great to have you on Saturday Kitchen.

-Yes.

Fantastic! So what are we cooking?

Well, squid ink pasta, it's very straightforward.

-Very straightforward?

-It looks horrible, doesn't it?

It doesn't look too appetising at the moment

but I know it will look fantastic.

It takes about two minutes to make but you need to rest it

at least 20 minutes before you turn it into a pasta.

-So these are the ingredients for the pasta?

-Straightforward ingredients.

You've got 250g of plain flour, you know the strong flour.

-That's the 00 one.

-The proper pasta flour, 00.

-You need three egg yolks and two whole eggs.

-Yeah.

Then there is three sachets of this squid ink.

You can get this in a good fishmonger's shop, or whatever.

-Three of these will make that amount, 250g.

-Exactly.

To bring it all together, right at the last minute,

just a couple of teaspoons, or maybe a tablespoon of a good olive oil.

There's no need to add any salt to that because that's quite salty.

Actually, that's a very good point, James, because this fish doesn't

need any salt at all

-because the next main ingredient are these things here, mussels.

-Yeah.

Mussels are relatively cheap, a good source of protein

but when you get them like this,

with the barnacles on and the beards - that's an unprepped one,

you don't want to cook that.

You have to take off the beard there and then with the back of a knife...

I'll use one of yours because I don't want to ruin one of mine.

-Thank you very much.

-Just chip off the barnacles.

Use my nice, new knife. That's fine.

Chip off the barnacles and then give them a good wash and they're OK.

-There's only a couple in there that haven't been done.

-Lovely.

-Right, so fire away, what are we doing.

-Right, the first thing...

I'll switch the pan on for water for you. There we go.

-The first thing we've got to do is roll out the pasta.

-Yeah.

I suppose...

Um, a little bit of flour for dusting.

Squid ink, Mark, do you use squid ink quite a lot?

We use it really nicely in risotto.

So you finish the risotto with it

and then you saute the squid tentacles, put them on top

and a really nice lightly garlicky,

parsley butter around the outside. It's really delicious.

Lovely. Right...

I've just got a little piece of the pasta, dust it with a little flour

and then start rolling it.

Do it gradually, start on number one and move it up.

You just start it off thick and gradually get thinner and thinner

-as you go?

-That's right.

And then it's the cutting which is again very straightforward.

It depends what thickness you want.

I want a tagliatelle sized one, which is

about a quarter of an inch wide.

Can I chop something up while you're doing that?

-I need the shallots chopped up and some tomato dice made.

-OK.

-And a bit of chopped garlic.

-OK.

Richard you're back in UK and you actually bought,

a while ago now, you bought a very successful restaurant down in Devon.

Yeah, the old Carved Angel, which was run by Joyce Molyneux.

-A very famous English restaurant.

-One of our famous cooks.

Yeah.

-It's called The New Angel now.

-The New Angel now.

-Yeah.

OK.

There we go.

Just feed this through.

So this is just making these little tagliatelle?

-Mark?

-Yeah.

-Come and give us a hand.

-You can hold that.

-Hang out the laundry.

-We need a broomstick, or something like that.

It's true, that's why you leave them to dry, isn't it?

Yes, just try and get some air between them.

There you go.

I hope I don't twist it.

Oh. Sorry. I don't want to lose that bit.

-You've dropped it on the floor?

-I did drop it on the floor.

I'll do that. I'll do the rest. Tell us what else we're doing?

Well, what are we doing with this recipe?

-Right, basically it's like cooking a moules mariniere.

-Right.

A nice, hot pan.

Are we taking this really fine, or...?

-Go to the last one, about number seven on that one.

-Number seven.

-All right, OK.

-You're a lot quicker than he was, James.

-You're a lot quicker than I was, I know.

-A drop of...

It's Mark's...

It's one of Mark's first ever TV appearances, you know on his own.

-Is it?

-His mother text him to say, "Best of luck."

-Oh, no, you can't say that.

-She even bought him some new shoes.

She said, "You're not going out of the house dressed like that,

-"put some proper shoes on."

-Oh, dear me.

Have you seen his socks?

-Yes, you got dressed in the dark.

-I did, yeah.

THEY LAUGH

Right, listen, a bit of fish stock.

It's like making a cup of tea, just a bit of fish stock

and some of this saffron.

This pistil it's called, pistil saffron,

which is more expensive ounce per ounce than gold.

So not too much of that.

Into the fish stock and you bring it up to the boil,

just to get the flavours and the colour out of the saffron.

Get the pan hot, right.

A bit of oil. Butter.

-Add your chopped shallots and garlic.

-OK.

-In the pan.

-I'll get the oil.

I'm just taking the skin off the tomatoes.

-Just blanch it, ten seconds, something like that.

-Yeah.

So you just put saffron in just to infuse that, just a touch.

Yes, into the fish stock.

A few mussels.

PAN SIZZLES

I'd say this isn't that dissimilar to my average day at Claridge's this, being honest.

-Is it?

-Watching all the guys cook while I'm hanging around.

It's all right for you, isn't it? I have to work for a living.

-Right, shallots.

-Shallots, yeah.

Garlic, butter, a little oil, a drop of white wine.

-And the fish stock... Can you see that lovely colour there?

-Yeah.

Fish stock infused with the saffron.

-I'll grab it for you.

-There you go.

-Cheers, mate.

-Thank you.

Let's put the pasta straight in.

-Do you put salt in there, or not?

-No salt in this dish at all.

The mussels are quite salty,

-especially at this time of year and the squid ink is very salty.

-Yeah.

In fact, at the end of this dish, I'm going to put

a bit of cream in the stock

-just to take a bit of the saltiness out of it.

-OK.

So these tomatoes just literally chopped...

Put a lid on here.

Nice and fine you want them?

You know, just small diced about half an inch square.

What's happening with the spinach?

That goes in at the last minute.

-That's your vegetables.

-OK.

It's there for flavour, colour, nutritional value

-and sweetness there.

-Right.

And the pasta doesn't take very long to cook,

does it? Fresh pasta, it's very, very quick.

Get the water boiling.

Pasta in, bring it back up to the boil and it's ready.

It literally takes two minutes.

Can you hurry up with that tomato?

-You obviously don't cook for a living!

-Come on!

Right, and James, I hope you're watching...

400 in the restaurant tonight. Go on.

-A bit of cream.

-GUEST:

-Oh, wicked.

-A bit of cream.

-Yeah.

Are you happy with that, Leslie, just a bit of cream.

That's enough tomatoes.

Is there more nutritional value in fresh pasta?

Look at the eggs.

I mean, you know 250g, that's enough to feed a family of six.

-There's five eggs in it.

-Yeah.

-And strain that off?

-Yes.

Up to the boil, strain it off.

Tomatoes in and then a little bit of this baby spinach leaf.

So, so quick and simple.

-There you go.

-Thank you, James. OK, if you...

-There you go.

-Can you just pass me the olive oil, please.

-There you go.

-Thank you, sprinkle it over.

-A touch of olive oil.

-No problem. No seasoning in there, nothing.

-No, absolutely not.

This is one of those dishes where you don't need any salt.

There is obviously a quantity of black pepper in the mussels.

That looks delicious.

There you go.

Let's get it on the plate.

Look at that. Beautiful.

Turn this over and the way you know when it's cooked is

when the mussels just start to open.

They are about half open, but when you open them you can

see they are still very wet and soft.

Exactly, and they continue cooking as they go to the table.

Yeah, if you overcook a mussel it goes rock-hard like a rubber ball

and it's completely inedible.

I'll just put some of this out on top of the pasta.

That looks proper food.

So John, remind us what that is again?

That is squid ink pasta with saffron,

tomatoes and a little mussel.

Beautiful.

Beautiful. Right, let's dive in. STICK FALLS

Don't worry about my stick. That's all right.

Go on, Leslie, dive into that.

Oh, what's everybody else having, that's what I want to know?

-John, are you coming over here?

-Coming.

-Ho-ho!

-Dive in.

-I love mussels, as well.

-Where's the pasta?

-At the bottom.

I want to know what this squid ink tastes like, as well.

It's fishy and salty.

It tastes like mussels, actually.

Can I have a mussel?

-Have I to pass this along?

-You have to, yeah, yeah.

There you go.

We always have arguments about how you should eat mussels, as well.

Whether you eat them out of the shell, or you use another one.

You can eat them how you like but if you get an empty one that's

attached you can use that to pick it out as your fork.

That's fantastic.

-Like that?

-It's delicious.

-That's really nice.

-MARK:

-Yeah, delicious.

-So simple.

-It's so simple.

-How long did it take to make?

-About 26 minutes to be honest.

No, it's all right.

Literally only eight or ten minutes and it's done - easy as that.

Sensational stuff, John.

Coming up, I serve poached salmon for Catherine Tate

after Rick Stein treats us to an elegant dish, one that's perfect

if you're looking for a light supper this Christmas Eve.

Being a Christmas programme, turkey comes right at the top of the list.

It's by far the most popular bird for that all-important lunch

and we get through ten million of them every Christmas.

I'm in Lincolnshire at Woodlands Farm.

Here they raise the birds in small groups.

Andrew Dennis whose idea it is,

leaves them free to forage under the trees in his orchards.

It's an experiment that he hopes will grow as more

and more people want to pay a little bit extra for quality.

They look like dinosaurs.

There's a theory that they are descended from the dinosaur.

Of all the farm animals, they are both far the most abused

and, in fact, that's why we have turkeys at Woodlands Farm

because we're trying to produce, you know,

a blueprint for compassionate sort of turkey rearing and breeding.

In this situation,

they are grazing beneath the trees because one should always

remember that the turkey is a woodland bird and they go up to

roost at night and express their natural instincts in this way.

They are slaughtered by hand, out of sight of each other -

so individually in other words in a stress-free environment,

ie in an old barn, the kind of barn which they would be used to.

It's the quality-of-life that's so important

and the quality of death

and if you can provide for both those things,

I think I'm comfortable with what we do.

Well, I'm driving through the flat Fenlands of Lincolnshire.

It's actually also known as Little Holland

and it's beautifully fertile farmland around here.

This is the very heart of sprouts country.

Sorry, Chalks.

And this is Roger Welbury, the self-proclaimed king of sprouts.

Let's face it, the poor old sprout needs someone to champion its cause.

He thinks they should be called British sprouts.

Why do you think people think they're a joke?

Do you think it's school dinners?

I think the older people realise a bit more

but it's kids immediately think sprouts, "Oh."

It's that... I think it's...

A lot of the kids I've asked, "Oh, we don't like sprouts."

When I've done some demos and things like that and I've said,

"Have you ever tried them?" "No."

It's their mates, they listen to their mates, don't they?

They say, "Oh, he doesn't like sprouts, we don't like sprouts."

If they dressed up... I think, you've got to get away from the

maybe traditional way.

They've got to think more adventurous, more sexy, if you like.

I don't know how you sex a sprout up!

Why not put a bit of chocolate on the sprouts?

If you don't eat the sprout as it is, put some chocolate on it,

or a bit of brown sugar, sweeten it up.

I'm not quite so sure about that.

I don't care as long as I'm selling the sprouts

and folks are eating them. That's the main thing!

What I like in a good sprout, it should be ever so slightly

overcooked but only so slightly that it still has a nice bite to it.

That's what I like to see in a turkey.

It's taken quite a long time to cook.

Every year I am astounded by the detail that you get in magazines

and newspapers about the latest way of roasting turkey.

It's almost like you've got to buy this magazine

because otherwise you won't roast your turkey properly.

And they are ever more elaborate - pages and pages of detail.

Some call for covering in buttered muslin,

others call for a bit of foil here, a bit of foil there.

Over on one side, turn around, take your time,

lower the temperature, up the temperature,

in with the turkey, out with the turkey, back in again,

out again, down the pub, up here

and basically one of the things that really makes me

smile is looking at Escoffier's recipe for turkey,

which just says - roast in a moderate oven.

This is the full works with sausage and crispy bacon,

fluffy roast potatoes, glazed carrots and bread sauce.

It's the stuff of dreams, especially if you're a long way from home.

Sales of smoked salmon soar at Christmas time and one of the best

and oldest cures comes from Forman's here in London's East End.

A lot of people think it's an ancient Scottish edition

-because, of course, this fish comes from Scotland.

-Yeah.

Actually, traditional cold smoking of salmon,

and this is a cold smoked salmon, came over to this country

roughly 100 years ago from eastern Europe

and it was people like my great grandfather that brought over

those techniques of salmon curing.

They didn't even realise there was a salmon maker to this country,

so they would import salmon from the Baltic in barrels

of salt water and the quality - a three-month journey in saltwater,

didn't really do much for the fish.

They then discovered this wild salmon coming down every

summer to the fish market from Scotland,

started smoking that fish instead

because they thought we've got a native fish here

let's try this one, and the quality was so outstanding that's

-when smoked Scottish salmon started to take off.

-Good lord!

This fish would have taken about five years to grow to this size

whereas the farmed fish would have got this size in about a year.

-A lot of difference.

-Can you cut us off a slice?

-Absolutely.

Here we are, sir, let's go for...

-This is really interesting.

-Farmed salmon first.

That's lovely.

It's really... I see what you mean by the London cure,

it's really mild and subtle.

We believe the art of successful salmon smoking is to buy the best

quality fish you can get hold of and do as little to it as possible.

Just a touch of salt to cure it and a touch of smoke to enhance it.

-You don't want it to be too smoky.

-That's the London cure?

That's what we call the London cure.

-Let's try some of the...

-Try the wild.

Let's have a go here.

I think they're very different.

I would compare them to a nice, light Chardonnay,

compared to a full-bodied Bordeaux.

They're both great but they're really quite different.

The wild smoked salmon was delicate.

It's a bit like the difference between a native oyster

and a Pacific.

Actually, one of the best farmed salmon around

comes from the outer Hebrides.

It's so good it's almost like wild.

You see, what we reckon is every time we talk about fish farming,

I get a sheaf of e-mails from people saying,

this is the devil's stuff, this is devil's work, you know.

It can't be like that. It's like all farming, isn't it?

There are good ones and bad ones?

It is. We know that the wild fish is just not available now.

-There's over-catching, over-fishing.

-Yeah.

Aquaculture is here to stay.

What we have to ensure is that we do it in the best possible way.

-Yeah.

-First of all, so that we look after the fish that we're growing,

the welfare is to the highest degree,

but, more importantly, you have a product

that is in tandem with nature.

Well, Angus has just told me that he has been

standing on that land just over there looking at these cages

and not being able to see them

because of the waves going right over the top of them.

This is the first time I've actually been at a fish farm which is

truly out at sea and suddenly you can see what

they say about being out in the open sea.

There is like water rushing down here all the time.

Constantly you are getting clean water.

That is the main thing about organic salmon.

It's not only that but the cages are well spaced apart

and I'm sure a low density of fish in the cages.

I mean, it just makes sense to me.

I know people are going to start writing to me

saying you shouldn't be covering fish farming at all but there is

good farmers and bad farmers and it's the same with aquaculture.

They don't have any electronic feeding machines here.

They deliberately feed the fish by hand,

so that they only get what they need

and there's no excess food on the bottom polluting the water.

You've got two.

Well, this to me is a very attractive fish,

a lovely colour as you can see and it's also nice and sleek.

The thing that I always look for in good farmed

fish are the shape of the fins.

I mean, this is used to swimming a great deal.

One of the things that Angus was saying was that

because the fish here are out in a strong current,

their muscles are being engaged actively all the time and you can

feel that. When I just go like that, the actual fillet is really firm.

The other thing, of course, that people worry about is sea lice

and there are no lice on this fish.

Again, that's because the fish are in low densities

and they are out here in the current.

Yet, I'd quite like to do something with that. Eat it, in other words.

Now this is roasted salmon with salsa verde but unusually I'm going

to stuff the salmon with salsa verde

and roast it on a bed of tomatoes.

I sprinkle the sliced tomatoes with a good handful of capers

and then two or three coarsely chopped cloves of garlic.

Next, plenty of fresh thyme and a good amount of sea salt.

Drizzle olive oil all over everything

and then a little bit of water, as well.

Lay the fillets of salmon on top and don't forget to season them

on the inside. Look how lovely and pale the flesh is.

That's because there's no pink dye in their feed.

Now, to make the salsa verde stuffing, using mint,

parsley, anchovies, garlic and capers.

This is actually my own dish.

But it's just the sort of thing I'd like for Christmas,

probably on Christmas Eve -

something a bit different from turkey or goose on Christmas day.

It is actually based on Italian ideas of cooking.

First of all, the course of salsa verde,

which I made really stiff and dry so it makes a nice stuffing.

But also, the tomato that is under there and the water

and the olive oil is a way of cooking the Italians call

acqua pazza, which means mad water. I don't quite know what...

why it refers to that, but maybe as it is boiling briskly like this

it's going bonkers.

But it produces this lovely emulsion which will work really well

with that salmon.

'Oil the top of the fish and sprinkle with chilli flakes,

'some more thyme and a final bit of seasoning.'

That goes in the oven for 25 minutes - a hot oven.

'20 to 25 minutes is more than enough for cooking a fish like this.

'Let's face it, come Christmas Eve, you don't

'want to be locked away in the kitchen all night.

'And an elegant and simple dish like this frees you up nicely

'to enjoy the festivities.

'Those tomatoes are cooked in the juices from the fish

'and have softened in the oil and become sweet.

'This is a six-pan salmon and it will feed a dozen people.

'And do you know, it goes really well with a good glass

'of sparkling English white wine.'

Salmon is probably the king of all fish.

Nothing says Christmas morning more than smoked salmon.

There are lots of ways you can enjoy it

and I am going to show you something slightly different.

But it is a great lunchtime dish, this,

and it is good to do over the Christmas holiday

because you have generally got smoked salmon at home

and also another ingredient - duck fat.

Delia and Nigella made this famous, you see.

-Well, I am never without any.

-Yeah! Duck fat.

What we are going to do is I am going to poach the smoked salmon

in duck fat with vanilla.

I can see you are really impressed with that.

And I'm going to serve this with a pickle.

Now, the idea is this - we make a pickle with water,

rice wine vinegar and sugar.

So we literally put the whole lot together

and we just dissolve the sugar in the rice wine vinegar.

And a pinch of salt. And that's it, all right?

-That's our pickling liquid done. Easy.

-Easy.

And then we take a mooli, which is this stuff,

and I'm just going to basically just peel this.

-I thought that was a parsnip.

-No.

What's a mooli?

Well, it's similar to a...

Parsnips are creamy inside.

This is a, yeah, Japanese radish.

-Oh, OK.

-And we just peel these like this.

Now, about yourself. You started life as a... Well, serious acting, really.

How did you get into comedy, then?

Because you have almost gone full circle now. How did you start?

Yeah. Oh, there was just too many people auditioning

for The Bill when I was...

when I was a young hopeful,

so I thought, "Oh, I'll try and make people laugh."

But you were in the Royal Shakespeare Company, weren't you?

-Yeah, I've done a lot of theatre.

-Yeah.

I did want to do comedy and I realised that the way to get into

comedy was perhaps to do stand-up, so I started doing stand-up.

So I went from kind of being classically trained,

then going round the clubs of Great Britain.

And one place for stand-up in particular -

we have had a lot of comedians on the show - Edinburgh Festival.

-Yeah.

-That seems to have launched their career.

-Yeah, definitely.

-And it did the same with you.

-It did.

Edinburgh is like a big trade fair, really, for comedians.

You know, if you get... If you just catch a wave,

it can happen really quickly and I was lucky that it did, yeah.

And then almost gone full circle

because, you know, you are into acting now as well.

-Obviously the comedy is still there.

-Yeah.

But how do people take you in the industry? Because most people...

Do you get branded as a comedian?

I'm sure I do. I don't really...

I don't really care as long as I get asked to do stuff.

-It's a job, it doesn't matter.

-They can call me what they like.

Erm, but, yes, I think when I went into Doctor Who...

Because even though I had been doing lots of straight stuff before,

my show kind of launched me out into the public as quite a, you know,

quite a definite comedian, doing quite broad characters and stuff.

So I was really lucky to get the opportunity to start again

in Doctor Who, really, and launch myself as something else.

It was only meant to be just one appearance, was it?

It was only a one-off a couple of years ago

for Christmas and then it kind of...

It came back again.

And then literally you are... I mean, Christmas Day is busy for you.

-It always is every Christmas.

-I am all over the schedule, love.

Yeah, you are all over the place. Tell us about Doctor Who and...

Yes, well, I can't really say too much about Doctor Who because...

You know, it would spoil it.

But you can say something that is happening later.

I can say something that is happening a little bit later,

-at 10.30.

-Tell us about this one, then.

I have got a Christmas special called Nan's Christmas Carol -

it's my old lady character. And we have done a comic retelling

of Charles Dickens's Christmas Carol

and she is effectively the character of Scrooge.

-Right.

-And... As you know because you pop up in it, don't you?

I do pop in it. We can't say exactly because...

We can't spoil that surprise.

Also we can't say that at this time in the morning,

-can we, what you said about me?

-No, we can't.

Which is really nice, thank you very much! She said...

She knocked on the dressing room and said, "Are you OK with this?"

You said this line and I said, "I don't really have a choice, do I?

"Because you have already done it."

No, that's not true. You were very game.

-But David Tennant is in it as well.

-Yeah, he is.

We've got lots of special guests.

And the guy that I couldn't keep my eyes off off Only Fools And Horses.

-Yeah, Roger Lloyd-Pack.

-How fantastic was that?

Brilliant, yeah, brilliant.

And Ben Miller and Madness - everyone. Oh, everyone is there.

Everyone is there.

And films and stuff like that.

I mean, you are partial to the West End and stuff like that,

so you are a bit of a jack of all trades.

Yeah, I think as long as you have got options as an actor

you are doing well and I have been lucky.

-You never know, a cooking show might be on your list.

-Oh, it will.

If you had seen my fairy cakes...

I mean, seriously, Jane Asher, watch out!

Right, look, there's your pickle. All right?

So, this is the mooli, which is just...

All I've done is just pour that hot pickle,

or hot pickle in liquor, over the top.

And it just sits on the plate like that. You just plonk that on there.

It is quite limp.

It's supposed to be like that!

I know, I'm just saying

my textural observation is that it's a little bit limp.

-That was supposed to be a compliment.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you, Chef.

-It is slithery and it looks slimy too.

So, there is your salmon, which is poaching away nicely.

-With the quack-quack fat.

-Yeah, with the quack-quack fat.

-That's gone in there.

-Oh.

Now, when I told my folks that you were coming on...

"Bothered", where does that come from?

Where does your inspiration for these characters come from?

Because it is kind of iconic now, isn't it?

Yeah, that sort of caught on and I didn't expect it to.

I don't know, I just said it one day and then...

So it wasn't scripted or is it just...?

It was scripted but it wasn't scripted... It was scripted once.

But we did it in front of a live audience

when I was trying out my live shows and I said it and then

just because the audience were responding

I kept saying it again and went on a roll.

So it was a bit by accident that that kind of came to be.

But where do these ideas for these characters come from?

-Where do they...?

-My mad old head.

-Is it? You just kind of make them up?

I don't know. I suppose...

Really, I suppose I am logging people that

I meet all the time, really.

I have got a really good character coming up.

It is quite a lairy Northern chef.

SHE LAUGHS

Thank you very much. That wouldn't surprise me.

-There you go, there's your... Look at that.

-Wow!

-You can't say that's not pretty. Look.

-I can't say it's not pretty.

I have done it on a roof tile.

-Just for you, Catherine.

-Thank you!

-Straight out of the bathroom.

-Tell me what you think.

-Thank you.

Bathroom? You've got a fancy bathroom if you've got that in your bathroom!

It's off my roof, love, this.

Tell me what you think. This is literally... What's that?

-Four and a half minutes.

-It was four and a half minutes.

Yeah, and you have got a pickle.

Yeah, I can't pick it up.

Oh, God.

-In your own time. Don't worry.

-I will, thank you.

-It's a bit sweet.

-Sweet? Have some water.

I just... Thank you.

Don't worry. Tell you what -

I made you a cheese and tomato sandwich earlier

because I just knew that was coming!

-Look at that!

-Proper white sliced bread.

You see, there is just no pleasing some people,

but I hope you enjoyed the cheese and tomato sandwich, Catherine.

Now, if you would like to try cooking any of the studio recipes

you have seen on today's show, all those are just a click away at

bbc.co.uk/recipes.

Today we are looking back at some of the delicious

recipes from the Saturday Kitchen store cupboard.

Now, if you are looking for something alternative to warm you up

over the Christmas holiday then Dave Myers has a Christmas curry

that would take centre stage at any Boxing Day banquet.

Good to have you on the show. What are we cooking, then?

It is one of my favourites.

I love South Indian food and Kerala parathas are different

because they kind of...they are flaky.

-This is a doughy sort of thing.

-Yeah.

-Not a naan bread.

Well, I'm kind of Northern - it is fried bread...

Go on, mate, go on!

..with white flour.

But to go with that, again a South Indian curry with curry leaves,

-asafoetida, all the lovely things.

-Run through the...

Because you want me to do the onions and that sort of stuff.

The basic for it to start off...

If you could do some onion, chilli, ginger and garlic

and just puree it up.

What I am going to do is pop my whole spices.

-I've got some mustard seeds...

-Right.

..and some fenugreek powdered.

-Did you get this idea from your travels or...?

-Yeah, very much so.

And some curry leaves, which I love.

You just need to pop them, just to release the flavour.

Now, making bread live on television.

It's a bit of a worry, but here we go.

Now, the bread mix - it's flour...

-Oh, you can smell it already.

-Just plain flavour?

-Yeah, ordinary plain, white flour.

-OK.

-Some salt...

..some sugar...

-All I am doing is just chopping... Don't worry, it's fine.

-That's fine.

Ground glass in the paratha!

-That makes for interesting eating!

-It's a great texture.

Take care you don't get any eggshell in.

LAUGHTER

You know where that eggshell's been, dude, don't you? You know.

Oh, I know. At least we know that glass has been in a dishwasher.

Exactly.

Like a lot of Asian food, condensed milk is brilliant.

Put that in the bread and all you do to make a dough...

..is blitz it. We add some milk.

Yeah, don't try this at home.

You don't get this on a late-night shopping channel.

But it's the only way to chop it.

My spices have popped now, look.

Just watch the ball of dough here.

Come on. We are going to cook this, the onions,

the chilli and the ginger, and just sweat that down.

-It's appeared.

-It has.

-Yeah.

-The ball of dough.

Now we need to chill that for half an hour so it...

LAUGHTER

Why is it always me?

Have you got one? Here's one you made earlier, dude?

-And here's some dough I made earlier. It's chilled.

-Right.

Now, this is where it gets interesting.

That needs to sweat down nicely.

You need to do the prawns, yeah?

Look at those big, big prawns.

If you could kind of pop their heads off, peel them,

leave their tails on for that kind of balti house chic,

cut down the back so they butterfly and they look like

a set of boxer's knuckles on the plate.

Fantastic.

-Cooking metaphors.

-OK.

-We will give that a stir.

-That smell is fabulous.

-Oh, I know. But I've a lot to do, a lot to do.

Take a piece of dough about the size of a lime.

Dust your board.

-Now, this has to be rolled really thin.

-LAUGHTER

Why couldn't I ever do a stir-fry?

-Some chefs do that on here, you know.

-Aye, exactly!

I could have done a chilli.

It's really rolled thin.

Because it is like puff pastry, you know, with the butter

and everything, it is a special paratha and I want two per serving.

Oh, there's nothing mean about my cooking.

What do they serve them with, then?

-Is it garnished for something or what?

-What, the parathas?

-Yeah.

That's your bread, it's your carbohydrate.

-Is it traditionally served for something or not?

-Breakfast.

A lot of these parathas for breakfast with idlis and dosas.

It's heaven.

These prawns go great and the thing is,

it doesn't matter what culture or cuisine you have,

if you have got bread, great gravy, you have got paradise.

Exactly. Bread and gravy, dude, it's the thing.

Now dust that over...

..with melted butter like so.

This is the trick.

You make, like, a concertina.

Like that. This is brilliant.

It's origami, isn't it?

You'll all be doing this come Boxing Day, you know.

-Right, prawns in.

-Yeah.

What I am going to do is just take this little...

Yeah, you need to take the black bit out because that's its...

-Poop shoot.

-Yeah. Now, look what I've done here.

I have got my concertina dough and I am making a walnut whip.

Tuck in the ending.

You will see the purpose of this, it will all come clear.

We roll that out...

..like so.

-I love these...

-They are fantastic.

But where the butter's gone with the dough,

it's going to make a nice flaky bread.

-Flaky fried bread.

-Oh!

Yes, it's a Homer Simpson moment coming on.

It's a minute on each side.

Is my gas on?

There you go.

"Is me gas on?" Somebody put another 50 in the meter, will you?

-How are you doing, James?

-I'm getting there. They're done.

-Oh, fantastic.

-Do you want those in?

Yeah, I just want those colouring up first.

-Water.

-Is that going?

-Yeah, it's going.

-Great.

Do you want the turmeric in there as well?

Yeah, the turmeric and a pinch of one of my favourites - asafoetida.

There's various spellings but the middle spelling of one is "fetid".

And it does indeed smell like a dead cat, but a pinch...

-It's amazing, it's heaven.

-Right, in goes the coconut milk.

Yeah, and just let that boil for a minute whilst my parathas do.

"Add cat stock."

LAUGHTER

No, I tell you, there's something...

South Indian food has thousands of years of alchemy to it

-and it works.

-Oh, it's brilliant.

-It is.

I think what we found when we were in India was the skill,

the absolute skill of balancing spices and flavours - just superb.

It does look like a little sort of Catherine wheel thing.

-It's like Catherine wheel/ Danish pastry.

-Right.

And we just fry those off.

They'll traditionally just fry them off or they'll bake them

-in the oven or...?

-Fried. It's a parathas, parathas is fried.

Look at that.

And always fried in oil?

Oh, yes. Or ghee, ghee would be good.

That's clarified butter you can buy now.

I like to be healthy, really.

SI LAUGHS

Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh!

Body's a temple, dude, body's a temple.

Temple? Mine's a Taj Mahal!

Well, you know, like... We've been cooking...

Oil isn't really hot enough. Well, that one's going.

I mean, we've been cooking kind of Christmas food

with our highly-successful Christmas special since September.

I was craving something with spice and taste.

Apart from food, you're on Mastermind, is that right?

-I am.

-Are you?

-I am. December 28th, BBC One.

-What is your specialised subject?

-The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

-Really?

-He said that with such a smirk, didn't he?

You look a bit shocked, Don, there.

Not half as shocked as John Humphrys.

I need paddles for Don, here! What's happened?

-You can season that.

-Apply my magic and season it.

Now, some lime wedges.

So, were they a rock band, dude, or what?

-I've got you down for it next year.

-Eh?

-Look at that. See?

Now, a good paratha, see how it flakes?

Oh, look at that!

It's soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.

-A bit like yourself, mate, bit like yourself.

-Aye.

Outward, rock-hard exterior.

And, as ever, I like a few sprinkles on top.

-But it's...

-Smells lovely.

-It's proper...

The thing is, all the spices retain their identity.

It's not kind of a mishmash of mud.

Yeah. Beautiful.

I think that's the skill in that particular cuisine, isn't it?

It's really, you know, all the flavours

and spices are balanced perfectly so they hit you.

How could this not taste wonderful? There's no mystery to it.

-No, there's not.

-It's absolutely banging good grub.

-And you want a few sprinkles?

-Yes, please, James.

Remind us what that is again.

This is Keralan flaky parathas,

proper traditional Kerala parathas

with lovely king prawn and coconut curry.

And it's designed to be with bread, so you just scrape the gravy up.

-Easy as that.

-Yes. Thank you.

There you go. Right, over here.

-Dervla, I know you like your curries.

-I do, I love curry.

-Dive into that.

-That's done in literally no time at all.

-This is incredible.

It's such a big difference watching from home and actually coming here,

and the smells are fantastic.

-Here you go.

-All right, OK. I'm tucking in, no pressure.

Dive in.

The secret is the onions and stuff like that. The paratha is just...

Yeah. I think your dry spices, you need to roast them

to release the flavour, like the mustard seeds.

And you've got your base with your chillies, ginger and everything,

you mix the two together and again, it keeps that level of spicing.

And the idea with this is literally it just flakes off into pieces.

Yeah, it's flaky bread. But it's so tasty.

That looked good and certainly tasted good.

Now it is time for another tasty trip with a certain Mr Keith Floyd.

Today he is paying a visit to the French Basque country.

These are the Pyrenees, the mountains that stretch from

the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean

and separate France from Spain.

You usually see them out of the left-hand window

of the aeroplane on your way to Lloret de Mar

or Torremolinos, but these mountains have a profound

influence on the Basques who live here

and this is reflected in the distinctive

and highly-spiced cooking of these fiery, independent people.

These farmers aren't posing for picture postcards, you know.

They are an essential part of this unique region and the landscape

is dotted with these rather delicious-looking stacks of fern.

They remind me of crunchy walnut whips.

But the Spanish influence abounds.

The cooking is highly-spiced and gutsy,

and it is simple to cook and not wildly expensive.

Oh, dear, this place is like a morgue. There is nobody here.

Not a soul, look.

48 different tables and not an order in the place.

Well, it is January, after all.

And you know how we bust into these places and we scrounge things

and we put their patrons to a lot of inconvenience?

I thought they could have the afternoon off

and I'd cook my own lunch. It seems quite elementary, doesn't it?

And one of the things that the Basque people are very proud about

are their red peppers. Come down here a minute, Clive.

They love their red peppers, they love their green peppers

and they love their onions.

In fact, those are the colours of Pays Basque.

Also, they are very proud of their Jambon de Bayonne,

which is an essential part of this wonderful chicken dish

I am going to cook for you today.

Slide over here a bit, old bean.

Little pieces of roughly maize-fed free-range chicken

that I am using - just the legs because that is quite economical.

I have seasoned them with salt and pepper.

Over here a bit, some beautiful fresh tomatoes which I have peeled,

skinned and crushed up.

And then one thing which the little dish must have

is some of their famous red pimento powder, which is a little bit spicy.

So, what I am going to do is a bit of chopping up, a bit of cooking.

A little glass of Monsieur Bonnet's special wine

because it is Mr Bonnet's hotel that we are staying in.

And as they say, a day without wine is like a day without...

You know what I mean.

So, the director says I haven't been doing enough chopping.

I haven't been demonstrating enough of my culinary skills recently.

So we will put that to rights and chop up a few onions like that,

because we need to fry those in a moment in some lovely lard.

This is a dish in the Pays Basque...

You don't use olive oil down here, you don't use butter,

you don't use corn oil.

As I said before, in fact, you use either goose fat,

duck fat or pork fat.

I have to chop those green peppers up, which I am doing quite swiftly.

Are you going to show them this, Clive?

Come on, I'm doing my best here to be a bit jolly sporty on this

quiet January afternoon, dashing away with the old sharp knife.

As you see, people like to watch me

do this because they hope I am going to cut my fingers.

But I never do.

Right, cut all those up, then this one.

Very elementary, very simple.

Then we need some Bayonne ham cut into little tiny pieces.

I will explain where all these bits go in a minute

when we move over to the stove, but that will be in a little while.

Chop, chop, chop those into small bits.

A bit finer, I think.

Pleased with me so far?

I'm quite enjoying myself. I have got the whole hotel to myself.

There are about 800 rooms here and there is only the BBC crew

staying in it, which must be a bit of a turn-off for the owners.

There we are, a bit of chopped parsley, which goes in later.

Lovely fresh thyme. Look, I've made a little rainbow. Isn't that pretty?

A bit of chopped thyme down the edge there.

My little bit of pimento I'll put there just to add the effect.

Stay on that, Clive.

No, stay on that, please. Thank you very much.

Because we are going to cut, because I am going over to the stove, OK?

OK, you see, into this little pan... The ideal meal for one person,

but that's the trouble with borrowing things -

you have to take what you're given.

..are the chopped onions, the little pieces of Jambon de Bayonne,

which is ham from Bayonne, get it?

OK. And some lovely, lovely lard.

Next we put in the already-seasoned little leglets of poulet au mais,

that is to say chicken which has been raised on corn.

A lot of that is grown around here.

I do hope the cameraman has taken a picture of those corn stalls,

otherwise that little remark will be quite pointless, won't it?

That's why the chickens are yellow.

Anyway, back to the pot, if you don't mind.

Let those take a nice golden colour in this quite brisk heat.

Turn them all over.

Next in go my red and green peppers.

Stir those well in, let them take the lard,

get them seasoned well with the bits of ham.

Now, if the director...

Oh, I can manage myself. It's over here.

Into my little bit of parsley here - look very closely -

I've put that fierce red pimento powder, OK?

And the garlic, to flavour this dish even more.

Got it, Clive? Good. So that goes in.

So it all takes the heat really well and then finally these

chopped tomatoes, all their juices.

Stir it in like that.

Give it a good...

..good shake like that and let it simmer.

Clive, can I speak to the customers, please?

That will take about an hour and 20 minutes to cook, OK?

I'm going for a stroll. I've booked a table in the dining room.

I'll see you in there, OK? Bye, now.

MUSIC: Bolero by Maurice Ravel

BBC research has shown that you find these pictures of mountains

just as exhaust... I mean fascinating as I do,

but they were the birthplace of Ravel, you know,

and look what he did for Torvill and Dean.

It is said he used to hum it as he strolled on his way down

to Saint-Jean-de-Luz for a plate of grilled sardines. Yum-yum.

But, seriously, this former whaling port is a great place in winter.

The Sun King Louis XIV got married here,

Hemingway liked it and I like Hemingway.

We had a good meal.

A roast chicken, new green beans,

mashed potatoes, a salad

and some apple pie and cheese.

Sounds good, doesn't it?

Almost as good, in fact, as my brilliant chicken Basquaise.

Look at that. Isn't that delicious?

Anyway, as you can see,

it's really just down to me and Ernest at the moment

so, if you wouldn't mind, I'll get on with my lonely little supper.

So, if there are any publishers out there,

I really want to be a novelist, OK?

So cop this lot. A little piece I've just written.

The cold winter air cleared my head

and the mountains, capped with snow, looked fine.

Jake wanted to stop at the Auberge for a drink. I said no.

We'd missed the dealing if he did.

We walked into Esplette as the sun broke the ridge.

The horsehair was going good and the men did their business.

This is actually quite extraordinary, isn't it?

Pulitzer Prize for me, I shouldn't be surprised.

Pablo was putting Bayonne ham over charcoal.

I took a long pull from my flask

and watched Clive take mood shots of men quietly discussing pelota

with the easy passion of the aficionado.

The women sold hard mountain cheeses on rough tables

and stacked spiced mountain sausages like gold bars.

Jake said it was time Clive won an award for his photography.

I took another draw from the flask

and wandered off to buy a gateau Basque.

Which is filled with custard and tastes really good.

Ha-ha! Did you like that?

Anyway, back to the real business. A cooking sketch.

I've borrowed this wonderful old farmhouse

which belongs to a family of elver fishers.

So you must come into my kitchen, as we say in the trade.

Do you know, I've cooked in some grand kitchens in my time,

in the restaurant kitchens of five-star hotels,

on boats, by the side of the river, over campfires,

but I've never felt so much that I'm right in the heart of things

as I am in this beautiful place. Look at the floor, for example.

Ancient slabs that have been trodden by Napoleon's soldiers

and generations of fishermen, peasants

and people who make these wonderful, wonderful hams.

Clive, go up and have a look.

Superb Bayonne hams

which have been salted down for a month,

they've been allowed to dry for three or four days,

they've been rubbed in piment rouge

and hung up there to last for a year so they can fry them on sticks

or, like I'm going to, cook over this wonderful wood fire.

You'll see madame sitting next to me quietly.

She's been here, her family have been here, since 1832,

when they started keeping records. She's about 84.

She's a wonderful ladies who's allowed us in

but, listen, I must get down to a little bit of cooking

and you probably saw the rifles over the top there.

Well, they shot these pigeons that I've got in the pot here.

Very, very simple Basquaise dish which is called a salmis de palombe.

A little stew of pigeons. If you can come very closely in, Clive,

I've got bits of carrot, bits of the very same bacon that's hanging

from the roof of this kitchen, little bits of garlic,

bits of onion and the pigeon's beautifully golden brown.

All I have to do to finish off this wonderful, wonderful dish,

sprinkle a little pepper.

I'm sorry I'm slurring my words a bit. It's very, very hot down here.

Little pepper, little salt, a little fresh thyme,

a little fresh parsley, flame it with the Armagnac of the region.

Then... Oops, I've dropped the wine! Stay there.

We can't interrupt a good thing just because I knocked over the wine.

We pour the wine in.

Like that.

Get a good look at that, Clive, because the lid's going on

any moment now.

OK, there goes the lid. It takes about an hour to cook, that.

That's better. I was enjoying a cigar in these tranquil moments.

Yes, you see, the director likes

the warp and weft of the elver fishermen of the Adour river.

Sadly, I don't care for elvers.

I know they're celebrated on the River Severn back home,

where they cook them with eggs and make elver cheese,

but these little silvery threads are hardy creatures, you know,

swimming all the way from the Sargasso Sea

just to end up cooked in olive oil and chillies.

It's a brilliant programme, isn't it?

Cooking, eel fishing, the wonderful nature sounds,

the little coots, the weary farmers wending their way home on Mobylettes

late at night and me stuck watching the river flow, really,

with a little pile of stones and a super simple Basquaise soup.

Clive, come into this and have a little look what I've been doing

while everybody else has been getting cold.

I've been bubbling up haricot verts and cabbage

and goose fat and making myself the perfect warming winter snack.

We don't have tins on Floyd on France, you know,

we do everything really properly.

How I made this soup - whole, hard, white cabbage, very finely sliced.

A pound of white haricot beans, dried ones,

soaked in water overnight.

A good dollop of goose fat melted in the pan.

Pop the things in. A litre or two of water.

Bit of ham or pork or sausage if you have it to enrich it.

Let it simmer for three or four hours

and have a really fabulous time.

Now, what you can do while I enjoy myself here enormously

is get on with elvers part two.

An extraordinary thing happened here.

Madame, walking through shot right now,

flatly refused to let me film in her kitchen

at Chez Pablo in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

Luckily, the chillies, an essential part of this dish,

were not so bashful.

I don't know why she wouldn't let us in.

After all, everyone knows how to cook elvers,

or pilbal as they're called her.

You simply toss them into very hot olive oil

with finely chopped chillies for a moment

until they turn white like spaghetti

and serve them piping hot.

You can hear them sizzling in little earthenware bowls.

Could you fade up the sizzling noises for a moment, please?

ELVERS SIZZLE

Thank you.

And you eat them with small wooden forks that don't conduct the heat.

I have to say, though, I was very surprised to learn

that even British elvers are shipped in tankers

down to the Spanish border

where, as you can see, they're enthusiastically consumed

by one and all

and, at about seven quid a head, that's quite expensive.

I wonder if she enjoyed hers.

I'd rather have a pigeon.

There, you see? You've actually cooked it

and they, poor things, poor souls whose kitchen we've interrupted,

whose life we have tipped upside down, are going to have to eat it.

Monsieur, j'espere que mon petit plats est monjable

et que vous gouter un peu.

FLOYD SPEAKS FRENCH

This is the moment when the normal hubble and bubble

of a busy farmhouse goes very quiet.

There's something about me and the BBC

that turns vibrant, lively, beautiful Basque characters

into statues. I wonder if it's my food.

Tres bon!

-Fabuleux.

-Fabuleux, oui, oui, oui.

There'll be more from that legend next week.

As ever on Best Bites, we're looking back at some of the tastiest recipes

from the Saturday Kitchen library.

Still to come on today's Best Bites,

Nick Nairn and Vivek Singh go head to head in the omelette challenge.

See how they both get on in just a few minutes.

And the talented Tristan Welch

cooks us hearty and warming venison shank casserole

which he serves with winter veg and pear.

He marinades the shanks with red wine and port, thyme, bay leaves,

peppercorns and juniper berries

and caramelises the pears and parsnips in butter.

And Sarah Millican faces her food heaven or food hell.

Would she get her food heaven,

a passion fruit delice with tuile biscuits,

or would she get her dreaded food hell,

spicy beef ribs with sticky chilli chicken and egg fried rice?

You can find out what she gets to eat at the end of the show.

Now for a taste of Far Eastern sunshine

to warm you up at this time of the year.

The talented Mr James Tanner has a fantastic fish dish on the menu

that will hit the spot.

-Mr Tanner, how are you doing?

-Very good.

-On the menu is what?

-We've got a beautiful steamed whole sea bream

with some wonderful selection of different spices.

Oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, ginger, bit of lemongrass in there.

-That kind of thing.

-That's quite unusual for you, really.

-Not really.

-Really?

-No, not really.

You like all those flavours?

To me, this is very easy, very great cooking. Shall we get started?

-What do you want me to do?

-If you can take the zest off the limes

and then I want you to cut them into little segments for me,

and we're going to do a little bit of sweet-and-sour lime

with this dish, while I talk about this wonderful fish.

We've got a sea bream.

Now, I got a lot of my inspiration for this recipe, believe it or not,

years ago when I was on holiday sat on a beach,

which sounds quite cool, doesn't it?

And I don't do that a lot. Believe me, I'm usually at work,

but I was in the Far East and the lady cooked this

and the closest fish I can use is,

what we have in British waters, sea bream.

They had an Asian-type bream fish.

It's very good on price. This is very, very good this time of year.

This has been scaled and gutted, OK?

So, if you run your fingers on it, you're not going to get any scales.

You eat the skin if you want or you can peel it off, guys,

-when you eat it in a moment.

-It's a bit like sort of John Dory

-in terms there's plenty of meat on there.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

In the continent, it's also called dorade, as well,

which is what they use on the terminology.

I'm going to serve it head-on but a lot of people don't like it.

If it was my missus, she said, "Oh, it's looking at me."

You know, it's one of them, but I'm going to leave it on.

We're going to get a sharp...

Did she say anything about when you left the house with that jumper on?

-She chose it, mate.

-Did she?

Yeah, get all trendy and everything.

I'm getting down with the kids.

Everything's been taken off it, scales-wise.

I'm going to make three incisions. I've done the other side.

You were rambling on about my top.

But the idea is this really helps the flavour impregnate into the fish

as it cooks and it retains the moisture

which is very, very important. We're going to pack out the fish.

I'm just going to get a clean-off, wash my hands.

-Now, mackerel, as well, you could use for this.

-Definitely.

Mackerel, at this time of year, as well.

If you wanted to go for a flat fish

and use something what we call a tranche, which is on the bone,

you could definitely use... Brill's very good at the moment,

-I think, as well.

-A good thing about keeping the head on the fish

-is you get to eat all the beautiful cheeks.

-Exactly. Flavour.

-Beautiful parts.

-All about the flavour.

You're really selling this, Nick.

Right, so, I've got two bowls here.

I'm going to go Shaoxing wine in one of them, which is a rice wine,

touch of fish sauce,

which is lovely, fermented, strong, salty flavour. I'm not using salt.

Oyster sauce, go for the good stuff.

You can get the cheap variety. Go for the better stuff if you can.

The juice of an orange. So I just slice that in half.

-If you can put your lime zest in there, please.

-All of it?

Yeah, go on. Actually, no. Do about three quarters.

I'll have the rest.

That's great. I'll take that bit there.

OK, right, can you, as well, slice my chilli?

That'll be fantastic. Bang the chilli in there.

In the meantime, I've got two bowls. Here is the reason why.

I'm just going to batter out a bit of lemongrass

and we're going to pack the fish with kaffir lime leaves,

so we rip some of them up.

Touch of your lime zest, touch of lemongrass.

-Where's the chilli going?

-The chilli's going in your bowl, yeah.

OK? So that gets ripped up.

I'm going to take the lemongrass.

Doesn't have to be really small.

I just want that lovely citrusy, oily flavour to come out of it

-which is fantastic.

-You want all this chilli in there?

Yeah, it's quite a big one so a little bit more.

Lovely. Looking good.

The kaffir lime leaves, you can freeze these really well.

-Yeah, you can.

-Have them dried.

They freeze beautifully and, as you've torn them up

and you've bruised them, you bring out all that aroma,

and, for curries, for all sorts of things...

For South-East Asian cooking,

I noticed when I was there, they used it a lot.

They use it in loads of different things

and, also, you know like curry paste that you buy?

You get a lot of that in curry paste and that kind of thing.

I'm going to add a little bit of ginger.

We're just using one of these. You can use a box grater if you want.

-A bit of that there as well.

-How many of these do you want?

Actually, one and a half will be fine. That'll be great.

OK, so a touch of ginger. Just scrape that off and that goes there.

And then the rest of the ginger, if you use that bigger grater,

can you put some of that, about a tablespoon,

-into that marinade mixture?

-No problem.

-Cool, right.

While you're doing that,

we grab all of these ingredients up.

Now, last time you were on, you extended your empire, didn't you?

You had this little cafe.

Well, we've got Tanner's which is, believe it or not...

Now we're coming into the new year, I'm into my 13th year of business.

-13th year!

-We are business teenagers, which is quite cool.

Brasserie, six years old,

because I opened that a week after my daughter was born

and she's six soon so that's coming up,

and the cafe we've had now for what?

I suppose it's been about six, seven months.

So, yeah, you know, just cracking on with stuff, you know, I love it.

And you've been doing a new book, is that right?

Yes, the other one went really well.

I'm concentrating because I'll end up grating my fingers.

I'll talk. You grate, all right?

Do you want all this?

No, about a tablespoon. That's fine.

OK, yeah, no, so the last one went very well

and I've been asked to do another one

which is lovely, to be asked, actually,

and... Good ideas, different stuff.

It's going to be called Tanner's Twists and it's traditional recipes

but with a little bit of a twist to it.

Your own kind of thing going on and just fun food.

Something for the family, something to cook at home, that kind of thing.

You know, not too cheffy.

And, no, you know, it's interesting researching recipes

and also you know what the work goes into books, you've done loads.

It takes up a lot of your time but very enjoyable.

Spring onions -

I'm reserving some back for the presentation at the end,

in the meantime, the white of the spring onion

which is the strong flavour...

If I just turn this around you guys can see better.

If you put that there,

-then you can see.

-Right, OK.

So we've got the kaffir lime leaves,

bit of lemon grass, spring onions, that kind of thing.

This stuff, we just give it a little mix-up...

-Don't you want any of this in it?

-No, not yet.

-All right.

-Calm down.

Right, and then what we're going to do is we pour this over the top.

-OK?

-Yeah.

-So there you go.

Now, you get a bamboo steamer set up - or a metal steamer,