17/01/2016 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning. We've got an unmissable line-up of foodie inspiration waiting

just for you today, so sit back, put your feet up and enjoy the show.

This is Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show.

You won't want to go anywhere,

as the next 90 minutes is bursting with sensational chefs,

magnificent food, and a handful of hungry celebrity guests, too.

What better way to spend your Sunday morning?

Coming up on today's show -

spicing things up in the kitchen today

with this spectacular saddle of rabbit is Matt Tebbutt.

Mark Sargeant cooks a quick and easy winter broth, made with clams,

bacon and veg.

The clams are steamed in dry cider

and served with charred country bread.

And Stephen Terry introduces us to a lesser-known

but extremely memorable Italian dish - pasta rotolo.

He makes a paste out of refried roast pork, veg and chilli,

then rolls it up in pasta sheets, before finishing it off in a hot pan.

And presenter Emma Willis faces her food heaven or food hell.

Would she get her food heaven - herb-crusted rack of lamb with

dauphinoise potatoes and a basil and spinach timbale -

or would she get her dreaded food hell -

honey roast duck confit, with puy lentils?

But first, you may not think that prawns, popcorn and pork scratchings

belong on the same plate,

but trust me, this next recipe really works.

Here's Steve Love to show us how.

Come to the hobs, and what's on the menu for you, then?

We have got tiger prawns, which are going to be in a coating

-of popcorn and pork scratchings.

-Yeah?

-That makes the coating.

-Yeah.

And then we do some chopped bacon.

Chopped bacon, I'm going to give you that,

and then you want me to do the prawns, so I will do these prawns.

-Yeah.

-So this is a twist on your...

-We'll do a bacon and onion relish.

-..your dish from the restaurant, then?

-Yeah, it's basically...

-The prawns is an integral part of the dish...

-Yeah.

-..but the other part of the dish is actual pig's head...

-OK.

-..which takes a couple of days to cook...

-Right.

..by the time it has actually been brined down,

-and we use the fat out of the pig's head...

-Yeah?

..to cook the relish and the popcorn,

-so all the flavour goes through it.

-So it's kind of like a fancy

surf-and-turf, then, this, really?

Yeah, I mean, this... The flavours of pork and prawns are brilliant.

I mean, I remember when I was growing up,

we used to have prawn sandwiches,

and we used to put smoky bacon crisps in it for a bit of crunch,

and the flavours were fantastic.

It's nice to know where you lot get your inspiration from. You lot, eh?

But, anyway, we've got the prawns here, which I'm just going to peel.

We weren't allowed prawns when I was a kid.

-Yeah, exactly.

-Funny, that was.

It was a special treat on the way home when we'd been shopping.

-Cos we got the sauce in here, so this is part of it, this bacon?

-Yeah.

Tell us about this, then, and you want me to...

-I tell you what, we'll get the popcorn on.

-Popcorn on, as well.

Yeah. The fat is basically...

Do you want to chuck a bit more in here?

Yeah, get that in, once the flavours are going throughout it.

-So this is your popcorn, which goes straight in.

-Straight in, yeah.

-Lid on.

-And this is in the bacon fat.

-In the smoked bacon fat.

-Right.

So, basically, the fact is what has been rendered out of the pig's head,

-when it's been cooking.

-Yeah.

-Get that turned up.

Oh, and that one.

So the flavour is constant throughout,

so you've got the smoked bacon,

and that's the flavour that we want.

-There you go.

-And wash the hands...

Now, tell us about the restaurant, then,

-because, you know, it's been going for quite a while now.

-Yeah.

-Love's Restaurant itself has been going since 2001...

-Yeah.

..and in Birmingham, we've been just under four years, now,

-so we moved from where we were in Leamington...

-Yeah.

..up into the city, and since we've moved, it's been fantastic,

and it's gone from strength to strength.

Cos, I mean, when you started off,

what really fired off your career is something that, well, around this

time of year, you've got to enter a competition,

and this is the Roux Scholarship that you went to.

Yeah, the Roux Scholarship has

basically changed my career path completely.

Erm, I was lucky enough to win it in 1997,

which took us to Alain Ducasse in Paris,

and, yeah, back then, even before winning the competition,

I'd never set foot in a Michelin-star restaurant to eat.

-Yeah.

-Erm, we went to Paris,

-had a really tough time in the kitchens...

-Yeah.

..but it was fantastic. We learnt every single day.

-Every single day, we were doing something different.

-Yeah.

It was more about the quality of the ingredient than anything else.

But this is kind of the ultimate competition for chefs,

-isn't it, really?

-This is, yeah.

I mean, there's no other competition that I know of where you can

actually win a competition and go anywhere in the world to

work in, for three months, in a three-star Michelin restaurant.

And this is open... This is open right now to any chef in the UK,

-that's under 30.

-Yeah. Under 30, yeah. The...

The closing date is the 28th of January.

Can't sweeten it any more.

-And, yeah, it's...if you're not in it, you can't win it.

-Yeah.

So, yeah, just...

I would say it's changed my... It's changed me so much,

in my thinking, the philosophy,

and how we are and where we are today.

Of course, you guys have known about the competition for a long time.

-Yeah.

-It's like a who's who of chefs who have gone on and won it,

-haven't they?

-Yeah.

-Well, it's fantastic, you know?

Like Steve was saying, you've been in it,

and then you do well in it,

you're under the Roux wing, aren't you, really?

You become part of the Roux family,

and they'll say that, themselves - you are a member of their family.

-There's a lot of nurturing going on.

-Of course, this year,

-it's their 30th anniversary of the entire competition.

-Yup.

You're judging it. I've been a judge for a number of years now,

but we've got... joined by Heston Blumenthal,

and Rick Stein is going to be the...

the guest judges, as well.

So, who's the Len Goodman of the show, then?

-Of all the judges, who's the big head judge?

-I'm not saying anything.

-That'll be...

-Oh, popcorn's going.

-That'll be Albert Roux.

-Is it?

That'll be Albert, yeah, yeah.

But, you know, Brian Turner, he's fathered it, as well.

But it's not just about the one-off day of the competition

and what you win from it, you know.

Even 15 years on, and I'm still in touch with the Roux brothers,

the Roux family, and they're on the end of the phone

-if you need any help.

-Yeah.

When we've opened the restaurants, we've had... I've had conversations.

-Can I put your liquor in?

-Yeah, that's cool.

So, into that, you've got the white wine vinegar,

and the chicken stock,

and that just comes down, with your sprig of thyme.

Popcorn's going for it, isn't it?

-Yeah. Popcorn's almost there.

-What is it about popcorn?

No matter how old you are,

-it's still fun to watch.

-Brings out the kid in you.

Go on, take the lid off. Go on, take the lid off.

-Take the lid off.

-No.

You'll end up taking your eye out doing things like that.

There you have your... It's smoky bacon popcorn...

Smoky bacon, yeah.

Right, so what you've got in there, you've got this...

-I'll have to turn that on.

-MACHINE BUZZES

That's the pork crackling that's gone in that.

You've got big chunks of pork crackling,

-which have gone in there.

-That's got to come down.

So, basically, what we're going to do is blend that down to a paste,

then we're going to put in the popcorn to make our coating.

All right?

With the garlic mayonnaise, which we've got to make,

-we've basically taken the root out of the garlic...

-Yeah.

..and, basically, that's been blanched three times to soften it.

-I'm putting the popcorn in.

-Yeah, that's cool.

So, basically, you're blanching the garlic three times,

into boiling water, then a refreshing cold,

then back on, just to soften it.

Then, it also takes away the harshness of the garlic,

so you don't get the aftertaste - the bitterness.

Cos you take that centre bit out, you lose that.

Yeah, taking the root out. That's coming down.

-This is ready to cook, these prawns, whenever you're ready.

-Yeah.

-Prawns are... Noise.

-MACHINE BUZZES

-But the prawns have been deveined.

-I can hear you.

Yeah, the prawns have been deveined, and the centres taken out.

MACHINE BUZZES

I just need to slice them a little bit.

And by blanching the garlic, you end up with this, well,

you put it into a mayonnaise, as well, so...

Yeah, just as a dip, so that's not...

That's not how we serve it at the restaurant,

but it's just something that we've done today,

just so you've got that little dip to go on the plate, as well.

-It's lovely with the vinegar from...

-Do you roll the prawns?

-Sorry?

Do you roll the prawns in the powder first or...?

-No, after.

-After, ah, OK.

So, basically, again, we've got smoked bacon oil to go in the pan.

Right, I've got my dressing there, which is the oil,

a bit of vinegar I've got in there as well.

So you want to dress these leaves, and then we can cook the prawns.

So the garlic, you've blanched that three times...

-Yeah.

-..blended it with mayonnaise...

-Yeah.

-..and that's the sauce to go with it, I take it.

That's the little dip, to go on the plate.

We just put the prawns into the oil,

and we're just going to cook those

-for a couple of minutes on each side, or less.

-Yeah.

And that's your mayonnaise to go with it.

So, tell us about the restaurant, then, in Birmingham.

-Yeah, Love's Restaurant.

-Yeah.

-We're in the heart of the city,

just down in the Convention Quarter,

about a couple of minutes away from the NIA and the ICC.

-40 covers, we're family run.

-Right.

I run the kitchens. My wife runs the back of house.

Sorry, the front of house - does the restaurant and does all the wines,

and pretty much does everything else.

Yup.

So, we've got the prawns.

-The sauce is more or less done.

-That's the coating.

-I've got these...

-Yeah.

The only thing we're going to put into the coating

-is a little bit of chicken salt.

-Chicken salt?

We've made... Yeah, chicken salt.

We've made the chicken salt by brining down chicken skin,

and then that chicken skin has then been roasted in the oven,

till it's nice and crispy,

so you get a really nice roast chicken flavour...

-Right.

-.. to the skin, and we use that in quite a few of...

Just, again, just to add a flavour to it that isn't there already.

There's your... There's your prawns ready.

-Yeah, that's cool, and then they just get rolled through.

-Yeah.

Rolled through there.

-I'll leave you to plate it.

-Yeah, cool. Thank you.

So, it's almost, yeah, great.

-It's gluten-free, as well.

-The powder sticks automatically.

You don't have to brush it with anything?

Yeah, just cos of the moisture.

What does the popcorn bring to it? I mean...

The popcorn is just a lovely... A lovely...

We were looking for a coating to go on it.

-I'll baste that over for you.

-Just looking for a coating to go on it,

and basically, it's gluten-free,

which is fantastic to go on the plate,

and the flavour is lovely, of the popcorn.

Just nice and simple.

Yup, that's the dressing that's going on there.

Now, can you remember the dish that

you cooked in the Roux Scholarship that you won? Can you remember that?

Yeah, I mean, to get through it, basically you have to win...

-To win it, you have to cook three dishes perfectly.

-Yeah.

And with those... Those three dishes, from being cooked...

-I had to do... I did an orange-and-almond souffle...

-Yeah.

for the heats, and a lamb dish, which was a leg of lamb.

But this is open to anybody,

so I don't think just cos you're a professional chef?

It's a professional... You've got to be a professional chef working in...

But we've had a... One of the last year's competition finalists,

she was working in a fish and chip shop.

So, you know, it can transform your life, if you enter.

So if there is anybody out there that's under 30

and wants to enter something like this, well, it is

one of the most amazing competitions you'll ever be involved in.

So tell us what that is again?

So, you've got tiger prawns, with a popcorn coating,

-with pork scratchings.

-Easy as that.

-It looks great. It looks...

-Really good.

-First time round, that's good.

-Look at this. It's really good.

-First time, hold your hand out.

-First time and he's nervous.

Don't worry, only 3.5 million people are watching.

Well, dive into that. Tell us what you think.

And the only thing you remembered is an omelette.

Exactly. Tell us what you think,

-cos this is the first time you guys have tried this.

-Fantastic.

Yeah, the combination of pork and bacon is a classic, in a way,

-but this is ultimate...

-Pork and bacon? Well, it's obvious, yeah.

-Pork is bacon.

-Yeah, pork and bacon, yes, yeah.

It goes well, this pork and bacon.

It's delicate, the garlic mayonnaise. Not harsh at all.

-No, it's nice.

-Very delicate. Very smooth. Very lovely.

-It's the ultimate thing.

-Great dish.

-With the acid underneath

-coming through from the relish, as well.

-Delicious.

Simply stunning prawns, Steve.

Coming up, I cook onion bhajis with mango chutney for Bill Oddie,

after Rick Stein gives us a taste of Indonesia,

so I wonder what's on the menu?

I love going out and searching for all the great dishes

all over the world.

I like to go to harbours and markets.

It's a bit like a search for the Holy Grail -

or the seafood Holy Grail, if you like.

Cooks should be a bit like magpies -

travelling the world and picking up things they really love and cherish,

like this prawn caldine...

..but I think it's also quite healthy

to have a respect for the sea and all its moods,

and if you don't get excited about

this simple dish, Assam whiting, well...

And it's great to go to festivals,

where they just adore dishes of seafood,

like pulpo a feira,

and these sweet little barnacles

that come off the rocks of northern Spain.

Over here, they really start them

eating seafood young.

It's very nice to see you.

'A friend of mine said that, us food lovers,

'we're not the Mafia, but the raffia -

'joined by a thread all over the world,

'of enthusiasm for everything to do with food and drink,

'and that includes arguing about it, too.'

What I'm looking for are the local dishes, without the finesse,

but full of honesty and freshness,

that come from places that haven't been messed about with,

so that the food remains as unspoiled as they are,

but, really, the most important place in my life is Cornwall.

Well, I must say, I've got a real taste for cooking outdoors,

cos we've been all over the world, with lovely,

sunny weather everywhere, and it's a lovely, sunny morning.

It's one of those mornings, you know, in The Wind In The Willows,

when Badger says,

"When I was a boy, mornings were always like this."

Well, the great thing about England, of course,

it isn't always like this, but today, it is,

and the buttercups are out, and the crab apple blossoms out,

and the bay's off turbot fishing for the first time.

You know, it's like spring slipping into summer,

and you feel so, sort of, optimistic.

Oh, I'm going to cook a really optimistic dish,

which is nasi goreng, but I'm going to finish it off

with some local mackerel that I caught yesterday and grilled.

Now, first of all, I've made up this nasi goreng paste.

I just whizzed everything up in a liquidizer,

and what I whizzed up are peanuts, red chillies, garlic,

shallots, shrimp paste.

Now, this is called belacan, and I once said it's a bit like

something Chalky sort of rolled in.

It smells totally disgusting.

Actually, he's around here somewhere.

I'll give him some in a minute.

And then, here we've got some soya sauce,

but Indonesian soya sauce. It's called ketjap manis,

which is where the word tomato ketchup comes from.

It's quite sweet.

And, finally, some tomato puree,

or you can use tomato ketchup if you prefer.

Now, I'm going to fry off the nasi goreng paste,

so, into this very hot wok,

I'm going to just put a couple of spoonfuls of oil,

and add the paste.

Now, I really like this cooker I've got here.

My friend Ruhi in Goa gave it to me.

and, like, we've used loads of, sort of, gas cookers,

but they just don't work outdoors,

but the more the wind blows, the hotter the charcoal gets,

and it's just fantastic.

So, just stir that around, and now I'm going to add the rice,

which I cooked about two hours ago, and let it go cold.

It's very important not to use freshly cooked rice,

cos it never tastes quite as good,

and just stir it around,

and we're just trying to warm the rice through.

Now, while I'm waiting for that to warm through, I'm going

to cut up this omelette.

In fact, these are made from eggs from my son Edward's chickens,

and look how lovely and yellow they are.

There's nothing like free-range chickens.

In fact, I really like having chickens in the garden.

Hens are really, sort of, soothing.

I sort of go and talk to them in the morning.

There we go.

That looks lovely, and now, some flaked onion.

Now, we've deep-fried this earlier, this flaked onion.

You can put what you like in them, but they always seem

to have the omelette and the onion flake,

but, quite often, they have prawns too,

so these are just some peeled prawns to add to the flavours.

So, in those go, and next -

and this is my, sort of, bit of, personalisation of the dish -

is some mackerel.

Now, I just caught these mackerel yesterday.

I promise you, I caught them,

and we grilled them this morning, and just let them go cold.

You just flake the mackerel off,

and just throw it in there,

but I don't want to waste your time doing them all,

so I've done some already.

So, here we go.

Lots and lots of mackerel.

You can see what a lovely breakfast dish this would be like.

It's sort of a bit like kedgeree - the same sort of idea.

Now, a bit of green texture.

First of all, some cucumber...

OK, just roughly chopped-up cucumber,

and some spring onions.

They go in too,

and we're just about there.

A little bit more seasoning,

in the shape of some ordinary light soya sauce.

A vigorous shake of that,

and finally, some salt. I mean, look at that.

It just makes me think of, sort of, spring,

all those lovely green colours in there now -

green and yellow, like buttercups in the field.

That's just about it, so we'll just dish it up, and give it a try.

The smell of dishes like that -

hot rice, fish and spice -

is as evocative to me as music is.

I know this is an Indonesian dish,

but it takes me right back to the tropical beaches of Goa.

Chalky! Come on, boy.

Back to the fishnets, smelling of tar,

the scent of burning charcoal

wafting out of the bamboo-shack restaurants that line the beaches,

and freshly-caught fish, drying in the early-morning sun.

And it's here that I first discovered how to cook

really fresh tasting curries,

and we always stay at the same hotel,

and the kitchen here, well,

the chefs, they're all like the ones at home.

They're all dead young and enthusiastic,

really bright and really keen to talk to me about

how things are cooked,

but the man I owe the greatest debt to, who runs the hotel, is Ruhi,

and there's nothing he doesn't know about Goan cooking.

Goa and Kerala are known for their spices,

so we get the spices, blend them,

mix it up with the food,

and make an adventure out of it,

and ask other people to taste it.

You see, the Portuguese ruled for 500 years in Goa,

and they taught us what the spices were,

we could export the spices,

and we learned from them how to use the spices, how to make curries.

What, you think the Portuguese

-helped you to realise what you'd got?

-Realise...

They got the wealth and we got the health out of the spices.

That's the thing about it.

Well, Ruhi's first of all fried off some onions and garlic

and turmeric in some oil,

and then he adds lentils and water

and brings it all to a gentle simmer,

and simmers it away for about 30 minutes,

until the lentils have all broken down, and the dhal is thickened.

Then he takes it off the heat,

and here comes the bit that really matters.

He adds some more oil and black mustard seeds,

and fries them until they pop.

Then he adds a good quantity of strong Goan garlic

and then plenty of red onions.

Again, they're really strong in Goa - a lovely, biting flavour.

Now he adds some tomato, all freshly fried.

And then some green chilli, finely chopped and, again,

only just fried for a little time

so that the colour and flavour is preserved.

Finally, a little asafoetida,

that really pungent spice from India.

A little goes a long way.

Now, he pours that into the dahl,

and this is his original touch, because all those last-minute

fried ingredients give it such a lift and make it so special.

-Delicious.

-Goans love food.

Every Saturday, Sunday, for them is a feast day,

and after having a couple of shots of the local brew, caju feni,

their appetite doubles up and they really go for it. Just go for it.

Then he fried the fish but, first of all,

he took some turmeric and lime juice and marinated this black pomfret.

In England, you could use John Dory,

sole or even fillets of haddock or cod.

He fried it on both sides

and dressed the dish with a simple salad of onions and tomatoes

and finally, he adds a sweet, fresh-tasting masala dahl.

OK.

To try Ruhi's dish.

Pomfret - perfect.

The dahl...

..to die for. I mean, Ruhi's a natural cook,

and it just shows in this beautiful, simple dish.

There are so many great and simple Indian side dishes,

just like that classic yellow dahl that Rick was trying there,

and one of the most well-known is, of course, an onion bhaji,

and it's incredibly simple to make,

and tastes so much better if you do make it rather than buy it,

but I am going to serve that with a simple mango chutney.

So I'm going to get that on first of all.

It's really straightforward.

I have got the normal, conventional mango, and the green mango there,

a mixture of the two, or you can just use all of the same type.

We've got a little bit of vinegar, some sugar and then the spices.

I've got mustard seeds, coriander seeds, black pepper,

some cumin and some chilli.

I'm going to toast these off first of all.

These go straight into our pan.

So, nice, hot pan, just to get the flavours toasting away.

They will just start to smoke, which you can see there, and start to pop.

Then, straightaway, into our chutney,

I can then throw in the mango.

This all can go straight in as well.

This is a really simple way of making a chutney, to be honest.

I learnt this off my Indian chef mates as well.

It's a fantastic dish. You just throw in the mango.

You cook this in two parts. Firstly, you cook the mango

and then you blend half of it after it's cooked.

Throw in the vinegar and the sugar,

bring this to the boil,

and literally just gently simmer this for about 20 minutes.

Once it's cooked for about 20 minutes,

then all we do is just cool it, blend half of it into a puree,

add it back to the pan, stick it in a jar,

and you have got your very own mango chutney.

-Easy as that.

-You look at me?

-Yeah.

LAUGHTER

Now, Bill, you're obviously famous for your wildlife.

Where does the interest come from?

That comes from being a kid.

I don't mean because, when you are a kid, you're wildlife,

but it was my hobby from being...

six or seven, something like that, and I'll never know why,

really, it just developed from classic egg-collecting

naughty schoolboy when I was a kid, you know...

Because when you went to university, you studied English...

I happened to read English at university.

-It put me off literature for life, I can tell you.

-Yeah.

But while you were there, you were writing.

I started writing comedy stuff and that kind of thing

and about a year after I'd left university,

along with John Cleese, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Chapman,

all those people, we suddenly realised that's what we did.

-Yep.

-That's what you did.

So, your hobby from your childhood has now become

-a full-time job for you now.

-Totally. I am very fortunate.

It is a second life. In a sense, it is reinventing it.

But I think what has happened to me now

is that I'm beginning to put the two things together,

because I very much regard this new series I'm doing, which is

rather unimaginatively titled Bill Oddie's Wild Side,

BBC Two, Wednesdays, eight o'clock, and that stuff,

but that's very different from the previous wildlife series,

because I do regard it as an entertainment show as well.

I am very interested in people's relationship to wildlife.

For example, what people are prepared to cook and eat,

and what the traditions are, and folklore in particular, because,

I don't have to tell you,

herbs and so on and so forth all exist out in the wild.

Now, at some point, if you think about it, somebody took a chance.

I've done an item in the new series about herbal medicine,

and you say, well, in the past,

somebody must have must have been trial and error.

What a terrible job!

"I'm a tester for an apothecary and will go out

"and eat all that field and see whether anything makes you better,"

and it could only have been like that.

You mentioned herbs and spices. I've got a few here.

We've got coriander here. I've got some spices here.

I've got the same spices as in this chutney,

But I've got some black cardamom.

You need to take this out of the husks, which we've got there,

the little black seeds, and in we go with some salt.

I'm just going to blend this up.

I think my bluetits would like this, by the way.

If we put this on the bird table...

The idea is, you throw everything in there, lid on,

-give it a quick blitz...

-Is that a blender?

I haven't seen a blender since they were made of white plastic.

It's one of those little coffee grinder things.

It should just blend spices.

GRINDER WHIZZES

Oh! Dearie me. Give me a heart attack.

There we go.

Very noisy, cooking. A dreadful business.

In we go with the spices. We've got some onions.

Now, this is easy, to make an onion bhaji. Look.

In we go with the sliced onions. Raw.

You mix those with the spices first,

give them a quick coating all the way round.

In we go with the coriander.

Throw that in. So you get the flavours in.

Now, I've got some chickpea flour, which is going to go in there.

Some lemon...

James, that chickpea flour is a really important ingredient.

-It contributes to the flavour.

-I think it does.

It also crisps up, that's a secret with this.

Basically, you just want enough water to mix...

Now, what you don't want to do is make them soggy,

but you do need to bring them together

so the onions start to stick together, which is really that...

Nothing worse than a soggy bhaji.

Terrible.

When you get them, they are all sort of fried

and they are stuck in a bag and they sweat horribly.

-They do.

-We just deep-fat-fry them.

So the idea is, once you get all these flavours together,

you pop these in there. You mentioned your new series.

What is the most unusual thing you've filmed?

Well, it's actually not just the filming.

One of my favourite sections is... Well, there are two things.

One is things which I have been filming myself in my garden,

so I've been getting behind the camera

and filming my delinquent fox.

If anybody's watching this week... He gets another episode next week

because he's...great delinquency,

and I had to sort of reconstruct what he did, so if anybody

saw that, that's on, the continuing story of my fox, and a lot

of the sound things are the things that I find most extraordinary.

I've got this wonderful sound man. The way he puts it, he says,

"I like to put the microphone places you wouldn't put your ear."

Wasn't it a shrimp that you filmed eating in a rock pool?

Yeah, we've had shrimps, we've had the sound of wasps chewing wood

to make the paper that they make their nests of.

It's absolutely incredible.

And the nice thing is, it's things we didn't expect.

Next week, a shag, which is a bird, I hasten to add, actually

eats his microphone as well, and that's well worth watching!

But it's all these things you didn't realise make sounds,

that's the point of it, and they do make wonderful sounds.

Everything in nature makes a sound, even though we don't know it.

-Fascinating. There you go.

-I expect food makes a sound too.

-Let's have a listen.

-These are your little onion bhajis.

-A bit of salt.

-Now, if I had my sound man here,

he would now get a coat hanger with a microphone on,

stick in there and we go, "Listen to that bhaji sizzling."

That's your chutney.

What you do is, you blend it and then once it is

in the little pot, you end up with this beautiful, rich chutney.

That looks fantastic. It's not my idea of breakfast.

-You'd rather have a bacon sandwich?

-No... Give it to them. Exactly.

Bill, don't worry, I'm going to rush off and get you a breakfast!

Well, at least the others enjoyed it.

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

you've seen on today's show, including that one,

they are just a click away at bbc.co.uk/recipes.

Today, we are looking back at some of the finest

recipes from the Saturday Kitchen archives.

Now, Mark Tebbutt is an honorary Welshman who trained under

the likes of Marco Pierre White and Alastair Little.

Today, he's serving up a succulent saddle of rabbit. Enjoy this one.

-Good morning to you.

-Welcome to the show. Happy New Year.

-And to you.

-What are we cooking? OK.

-Saddle of rabbit. Lovely, lean,

healthy meat. Saddle of rabbit.

Going to marinade that up in some chilli, some lovely dry spices,

some cumin, coriander, chilli,

white peppercorns, black peppercorns,

a bit of coriander stalk, a bit of mint, garlic,

marinade all of that, A little bit of couscous,

and I am going to jazz... Couscous can be very dull,

so I am going to jazz that up with some shallots,

red wine vinegar, bit of sugar, so you've got that sweet-sour thing,

these piquillo peppers, which are smoked and hand picked,

a few pine nuts and the rest of the herbs.

So, you want me to get on with the couscous?

If you could start that, I'm going to get the rabbit in

and start cooking it.

It will take about four, five minutes, I'd say.

Now, we are going to make this marinade in a second.

This has been in the marinade for how long?

A couple of hours, and leave it at room temperature.

A little bit of salt on that, help bring out those spices.

Leave it at room temperature, just to speed the process up, really.

So, the couscous, just boiling water over it, let it sit there.

Meanwhile, do you want me to...

If you could toast those and I'll just keep an eye on this.

Toast those off, grind them up. I'm just going to take the rabbit apart.

-No oil in here? Just dry-fry?

-Absolutely.

-OK.

So, this is the saddle, this is this part of the rabbit,

so I am just going to remove the loins.

You could use wild rabbit.

I tend not to like the wild rabbit, because where we live,

out in Wales, I go running round the roads and you see these rabbits

and they have got myxomatosis, and it's not pretty,

and I just wouldn't want to eat the beast.

-So, farmed rabbit?

-Farmed rabbit for me.

And also, there is a big difference in flavour, isn't there?

-The wild rabbits are much more gamey.

-Exactly.

It is a different beast altogether.

It is much darker meat and much richer, much gamier.

And obviously not always as tender as the farmed boys.

It's one of those things that does farm very nicely, actually.

-How are those spices?

-All right. Toasting them off.

Is rabbit the sort of thing you cook?

Rabbit, I don't know.

I love it, to be honest,

but I don't think people really appreciate it.

We have a lot of trouble selling it.

I think it's the pet connotations.

It's that Watership Down business, isn't it?

In Europe, they have masses of it, even in supermarkets.

They sell it all over the place.

And they come in whole. You've got the heads.

They are not pretty beasts, but there we are.

Amazing fact I found out about rabbit -

most of the rabbits come from Africa. Do they?

-Yeah, and basically...

-Where did you get that fact?

They were brought over on ships

-because they were easy to breed.

-Oh, OK.

That's where the old rabbit comes from.

It obviously provided meat for the sailors, I suppose.

So I've basically just ground that down.

This is your spices, the garlic, the dried chilli and everything else.

OK.

These belly flaps, incidentally, could be braised off...

With the buttocks of the rabbit as well.

LAUGHTER

Buttocks! Presumably that's the rump?

Yeah, I would have thought so.

Buttocks. I am going to put that on the menu, see if that sells.

Rabbit doesn't sell. Maybe buttocks...

-Right, OK, where are we going?

-All in there?

-OK?

-Just chopping that up.

-Bit of oil.

A couple of tablespoons of oil.

-Yeah, OK.

-That's going to go in.

OK. Give that a little mix. Lovely.

Just rummage that around in there and leave it, as I said, room temperature.

You could put it in the fridge and forget about it,

but room temperature is good. It will just speed the process up.

-Leave that there.

-OK.

-That's coming along nicely.

So, you're just going to pan-fry that rabbit?

Yeah, just really, really gently. Gentle heat.

Right, OK, so you have done the couscous.

A bit of red wine vinegar.

Good quality vinegar.

I mean, simple ingredients,

so get the best quality red wine vinegar you can get.

Now, the couscous, just hot water and leave it to sit over there.

-Just pour it over the top.

-Absolutely.

And not too much water, because you don't want that sort of cloggy mess.

A little bit of sugar. Sugar to taste, really.

It's essentially...

You know that shallot vinaigrette you serve with oysters?

It's that's kind of...

A lot of people, when they're thinking about couscous,

would just go for lemon and lime to flavour it,

but good red wine vinegar will work.

-It's different to malt vinegar and white wine vinegar.

-Yeah.

Red wine vinegar has got that depth of flavour. You could make your own.

We make our own in the restaurant, which is very nice.

All the used-up dregs of the red wine.

A few finely cut shallots.

Yep.

As I said, a little acidic taste.

And you are just going to drop those in the red wine and sugar,

just to soften, and that's going to be the base of the couscous.

-So, the lovely little peppers...

-A few herbs. Nice.

The old roasted peppers.

They are peeled by hand, apparently.

They're fantastic. They're wood roasted.

-Great value for money, as well.

-Yes, they are.

They're obviously slightly more expensive than...

Be about four or five quid for a jar,

but there's quite a lot of peppers in there.

And they're a great flavour. A great smoky flavour.

Right, so into the bowl...

the couscous and the peppers,

rough-chopped herbs in there...

A little bit of...

Tell you what, let me borrow that.

So, tell us about your pub.

-It won quite a few awards when it was set up.

-Yes.

We have been going six years now, and we have done very well.

We just put our heads down and got going, and it is paying off nicely.

Why Wales? Was it the fact that you were born there, or you moved there?

We moved there when I was six months old, and I met my wife in London.

She was Welsh. So it kind of made sense.

We were moving out of town,

we wanted our own place, and it made sense to

go there rather than move where we didn't know anyone.

So, that's essentially why we ended up there.

And it is a lovely place to live.

A lot of the suppliers we used to use in London,

-from my neck of the woods...

-And you're not just busy in the restaurant,

because you were there working over Christmas and New Year,

but currently books and stuff like that, doing new programmes?

Doing a book, Market Kitchen, which is going really nicely.

-This is the show on UK Food?

-That's right.

And it's like this - you get really good chefs on. It's amazing.

It's an amazing opportunity to meet these people.

So, we're doing that, writing books, it's busy.

In go the pine nuts. Remind us what we have got there. The peppers...

The peppers, shallots, red wine vinegar, a bit of sugar,

the coriander, mint, and the couscous, obviously.

A pinch of salt and we are essentially there.

Can I use my fingers?

And if people didn't want to use couscous, there's bulgur wheat now.

-Yeah. Or qui...

-Quinoa.

-Quinoa. I can't even say it.

Are you using much quinoa these days?

It hasn't been off the menu(!)

-It opened your eyes, didn't it, that programme.

-It did. It was a wonder.

Right, OK, so, you want it nice and pink in the middle.

-Just lay it over the top.

-That's pretty much it.

There you go.

Spiced saddle of rabbit with the warm couscous salad.

It's as simple as that.

Well, it looks fantastic. It smells fantastic.

But does it taste fantastic?

Right, Matt, over here. And Matt, over here, there you go. Dive in.

The thing I always worry about with rabbit is,

A - that it is going to be tough.

And that is because of my experience on CCF camp...

THEY LAUGH

I tried to make a hunter's stew, this is aged 14...

-That's old rabbit, innit?

-Yeah.

-Old rabbits you have to stew for longer.

I didn't realise you have to do something before it goes in the pot.

You have to braise it to seal it,

so it ended up being like little rubber bouncy balls.

It will. I mean, you can overcook it and it will go tough...

We went hungry that night.

-That's the joy of farmed rabbit as well.

-Here we go.

-It's very, very tender.

-I'm sure this isn't tough.

The first time we've had rabbit on the show.

-I can't believe that.

-Yeah.

-It's great.

-It's really... It's a really juicy meat, isn't it?

-There you go.

It's really soft.

We used the loins, but the other cuts, you would slowly braise?

The legs and stuff like that?

Yeah, the neck and the forelegs and what have you,

you could stew down and put through pasta,

the rear legs you can stuff. It is a great meat, rabbit.

And normally, what, one rabbit per two portions, something like that?

Well, one saddle for a little starter for two.

-You could get a couple of meals.

-One leg each.

-That's delicious.

-James?

-Loving the spices with it.

It's really, really nice.

-It would work well with lamb.

-It would also work with chicken.

Lovely.

Tasty stuff there, Matt,

and if you fancy trying that dish at home, just remember not to

overcook the meat, and make sure you give it plenty of time to rest.

Now, let's join a certain Keith Floyd as he continues

his culinary tour around the UK.

Today, he's in Northern Ireland and treating us to a dish

that he considers to be the perfect TV dinner - beef and oysters.

You know, after years... I mean literally decades,

on the road making these cookery programmes,

I can play a sort of gastronomic blind man's buff.

I can put a mask on,

I can taste a dish and I can tell you where we are.

In fact, I am so good at that kind of thing

that if I wanted to make another fortune,

I could invent another board game. I'd probably call it Gastropoly.

No, that doesn't ring right. I'd probably call it Culinary Pursuits.

You know the kind of thing?

You'd throw a six and it landed in Yorkshire, you'd get a pudding.

You throw another six in Lancashire and it gets a hotpot.

For example, where are we now? Richard, spin the camera around.

Give them a clue. Look - cranes, hoists, jigs and stuff like that.

This is also where they built the Titanic.

And if you were to eat this dish now,

which I'm going to have served to me,

you would know exactly where we are.

Even if I might trip over this step,

one look at this dish will say one word to you - two syllables.

It's delicious.

You've got it, it's Belfast, and the famous Ulster fry,

the backbone of Northern Ireland, the meal that launched 1,000 ships.

Look at it. It's soda bread, it's potato cakes, it's sausages

and wonderful Irish bacon - the best beacon in the world, in my view.

Eggs, tomatoes and stuff like that,

and they eat this at any time of day.

In fact, I wouldn't dream of starting a show without it.

Good breakfast, even though it is a quarter past five. Brilliant.

Before I started making the scrumptious little programmes,

all I'd seen of Belfast was pictures on the news, pictures that,

for some strange reason,

didn't dwell on the culinary heritage of this proud city.

I must confess, I didn't actually come here with a song in my heart,

but after a blinding breakfast at Benny's caff,

and few pints of the Imperial Stout, not to mention an ear-bashing

by the most-loquacious people on Earth, I thought I was in Florence.

This is the kind of thing that gets you arrested in these programmes -

walking around the streets of Belfast,

gazing at the buildings and the things behind you,

and talking to yourself, whereas, really, of course,

I'm thinking about the deep and profound culinary meaning

of this splendid city here in Northern Ireland.

I'm meant to cross the road here but I forgot to do that!

Because La Direxion, as our producer is affectionately known,

insists on giving a sense of place,

here's one of me, yet again strolling through

another anonymous city centre of these fair islands.

It's a great pity.

You wouldn't even know you were in Belfast, a city that exudes

joie de vivre like buckets of Guinness washing around your toes.

We went to celebrate the architecture of this city

by going to probably the most famous pub in the world, but the BBC,

through painstaking research, turned up when, of course,

this architectural jewel was clad and tarpaulins, camiknickers...

and shut!

HE LAUGHS

According to Oscar O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, there are three great arts -

painting, music and ornamental cake decoration,

of which architecture is but a subdivision.

This is a brilliant pub, you know.

John Betjeman said it was the best in the universe,

the best in the entire world.

Artists through the generations have adored it.

In fact, James Mason used it for his great film, Odd Man Out.

The advantage, of course, he had over me

was that he had a real director, Carol Reed. But look at it.

It is a cathedral to drink, isn't it?

And that is not just a quick pun.

This was actually made and decorated by Italian craftsmen -

plasterers, sculptors and painters who were moonlighting whilst

building cathedrals and stuff. What a wonderful way to earn a living.

Much better than making spaghetti.

Come in, my son. I'll hear you confession now.

Richard, don't look so serious. I know you've been a naughty boy

but that was only a little joke.

What we are really going to do here is,

because I'm a kind of a sleuth, a detective, champing round

the lanes, the byways, the pubs, the bars,

the bistros of these great British Isles of ours,

Ireland included, looking for things, I need help.

So, I read the Belfast Cookery Book, and it says

pizza Napoletana fritto misto, quiche Lorraine,

all that sort of stuff. I thought, "That's not Irish food."

Somebody who knows about Irish food is my great mate,

and we are friends, unusually, because often I say

we've been friends for minutes, but we've been friends for years...

-Yes, this is true.

-This is true, is it not? This is Niki Hill.

She's the leading writer on the world's oldest English-speaking

or English-written newspaper,

-which is called the Belfast...

-News Letter.

-The Belfast News Letter.

-250 years.

-Man and boy?

-Yes.

It's a brilliant paper.

She wrote very nice things about me in that once,

that's why I've invited her on to my programme today,

to pretend to be an expert. Because you are an expert, aren't you?

-Of course, yes.

-On everything.

-Yes.

-On food in particular?

-Yes, very much so. A great eater.

-And a great eater.

Is this stuff, this champ, this Irish stew, this hot whiskey,

this Murphy's, this brown bread and butter, these oysters,

is this Irish food?

The stew is not quite right. Well, it's a stew is a stew is a stew.

The champ is not quite right.

It is almost right, because champ is a big mound, it's like making cement,

it's a big mound of mashed potato with scallions in it.

What are scallions, for our English-speaking viewers?

Scallions our spring onions, and the spring onions must be

stewed in milk beforehand, so they are all nice and soft.

And then you make a big hole in the middle, as I say,

like making cement, and you put the butter in and you make cement.

And it's high in whatever you like to think, but it tastes gorgeous.

Mrs Currie, if she's still in power,

I don't know, I don't follow politics,

says that the Northern Irish people are even worse

than the naughty people up in the North

for eating high-cholesterol, fatty foods.

Well, you know, it's eating and drinking.

We talk about having a feed of drink. We have a feed of food too.

I don't care. It's lovely.

Without the Ulster fry after a night's drinking, you'd be done for.

How much has food changed?

I mean, trotting up and down the streets here, the Golden Mile,

-which I think once was a street of brothels...

-Not quite.

No, it was all insurance companies, but it's now all restaurants,

because everybody decided, when the Troubles hit Northern Ireland

in 1969, they said, "Where am I going to go for my holidays?

"I'm going to get the hell out of here."

So, they went to France and Spain

and they came back saying, "I want paella and I want all these goodies,"

so, hence, the Golden Mile and hence all these restaurants.

But, listen, I am not an interviewer.

I'm getting fed up with this journalistic bit.

At the end of the day, this is a cookery programme

so, if you excuse me from trying to interview you,

which I do very badly, I want to go off and do some real cooking. OK?

So, let's drink to ourselves, let's forget the camera,

because we are fed up with them.

-We can talk about the Golden Mile as it used to be 50 years ago...

-Ohh!

-..when they're not listening, and stuff like that.

-In this booth?

Well, what about this booth?

But it's really interesting, isn't it?

In Portrush, it's great to find

a little restaurant that celebrates the area.

George McAlpine is one of a growing breed of young chefs

who are not content to pay lip service to the French

but develop and exploit local produce to create dishes

that are second to none.

Here, he is cooking salmon, halibut and lobster in a light,

creamy champagne-and-butter sauce.

Although it looks extravagant, this dish is quite simple,

but what makes it superb is the freshness of the fish,

and lobster isn't essential, by the way,

and the immediacy of the cooking and serving.

You have to admit that was a virtuoso performance

from my new chum George here.

George, bring that in a minute, because I must taste it,

but look, this is a town like Clevedon in Somerset.

You would hardly find this sort of dazzling selection of stuff there,

and yet, here we are, on a blustery Northern Irish coast.

George, I must just taste this. Excuse me.

Hmm.

Divine.

But what's this got to do with Ireland?

-Where has all this stuff come from?

-This is all locally caught.

We are on the harbour in Portrush.

-It's all caught by local fishermen.

-It is absolutely supreme.

Look at this.

This, I have never seen before.

Richard, come really close into that, please.

It's got caul on the outside, like a faggot.

-Where did this dish come from?

-It's actually brunoise of vegetables

and fillet of lobster roasted in the oven, served with a lobster sauce.

-And is it your own...

-Yes, yes.

-Where do you get your...

Do you wake up in the middle of the night, like a musician,

and run for the Yamaha and say, "I must get that tune down",

or is it carefully thought out kind of thing?

Some days things come to you easier than others

Obviously, you have to work at it and try different ideas

and try and blend them, get them to work nicely together.

This has really come to me in a major way.

Now, Richard, look at this.

I am going to cut right through the middle of this.

See these very finely diced vegetables on the top,

inside the caul, and the wonderful fillet of turbot at the bottom.

I must just taste that and this fabulous, rich fish sauce.

You should feel very jealous, you lot. Hmm.

Now, this also fascinates me. What are those? Richard, over here.

They are little pork fillet chimneys wrapped in puff pastry.

What is that stuff on the top?

It is mushroom duxelles.

That's sort of minced mushroom and onion and stuff like that?

Yes, and it is served with a rosemary jus.

Wonderful. Richard, come back here.

A lovely, rich, meat, glazy sauce, flavoured with rosemary.

Hmm-mm!

And this, over here, quick!

We just haven't got the time to do this brilliant young chef justice.

What is this here?

-It's a fresh-orange terrine filled with fresh summer fruits.

-Ah!

A masterpiece. I have to say, George,

that I award you the Imperial Stout for being brilliant...

-Cheers, Keith.

-..for being young.

You make me feel like a passe 40-year-old,

but it is my programme so shoot off, if you don't mind.

I'm going to do some cooking now.

So, Richard, stay with me.

Off with the coat and on to cooking sketch right away.

So, this, then, is the beef simmering gently

in beef stock and stout.

Absolutely perfect. Richard, I hear you cry, "What beef? What Guinness?

"What stout? What stock?"

Actually, this is the classic,

modern way of cooking beef with oysters and Guinness,

you could say the perfect TV meal.

No, not that one, my dear, this one, actually.

This is the perfect TV dinner, look.

Wonderful local oysters, fabulous fillet, little shallots,

a bit of brown sugar, wonderful meat glaze,

the reduction of beef bones and stock and stuff like that,

a little butter and some stout, and as I always say, back to me,

Richard, please, if it isn't good enough to drink,

it's not good enough to cook with. So I'll just check.

Absolutely perfect.

Right, we haven't got very much time, so I have already

poached my fillet of beef in some meat stock and some stout, OK?

I've got it reduced down to that, with a few shallots and a bay leaf.

Now for the important part of making the sauce.

Come in very close, Richard. You may walk. You have actually got legs.

Because of the bitter sauce you get from this stout

and the beef stock, a little bit of brown sugar, like that,

dissolve it in, then whisk in a few little knobs of butter.

A huge whisk.

And we whisk that till it gets creamy, shiny and unctuous,

which will take a second or two.

While that's just finishing off there, I must now concentrate,

because I am going to offer this to George in a moment.

You've seen what a brilliant chef he is.

Just taste...

Brown sugar is essential. It takes the bitterness away

and gives it a superbly unctuous flavour.

Back a bit, please, Richard.

Right, sauce onto the plate first of all.

Strain through so we don't get the shallots and things. OK. Like that.

Which is perfect.

Save a bit of that.

Now, while I cut up the meat,

I am going to pop my little oysters in for a second or two.

OK. You can have a close-up into there, Richard, if you can get it.

Just warm the oysters through. They are naturally raw.

You just want them glazed with the sauce.

They are only there for a second. OK. You have seen those? OK, back.

Over the difficult bit. We just carve that down.

Oh! Cooked, if I may say, to perfection. Pink in the middle.

Thin slivers of fillet of beef, like that, one, two, three.

Maybe, because this is for George,

maybe I should make a bit of a better effort there

and overlap them, like that,

and a bit of my julienne of vegetables...

Trembling hands. Do you know, I've made hundreds of these programmes,

I still get very nervous cooking for really talented people.

It is genuinely true, you know?

I haven't cleaned that as well as I might.

Right, oysters...

Oysters can go round here.

Like that.

And I'll get a bit more of this sauce.

Now, OK, under the pressure, I don't suppose

I've presented that as beautifully as George would do but, George,

come and have a taste, tell me what you think.

I know you might criticise the presentation,

but see if the flavours are there.

Well, it looks very good.

It certainly tastes very good.

Do you want to tell several million people what you really think?

It's absolutely fabulous

and I think that's one for our new menu.

-Really, truly?

-Yes, I do.

Can I taste it? Let's see how I feel about that.

Beautiful oysters, beautiful beef...

Well, I told you George was a man of integrity.

Everything he said is true.

Those oysters are perfect, the beef is brilliant,

the sauce is fantastic. I am a bit proud.

Brilliant work, Keith.

As ever on Best Bites, we are looking back at some of

the most flavourful recipes from the Saturday Kitchen store cupboard.

Still to come...

John Torode and Atul Kochhar

face each other at the omelette challenge hobs,

but how did they both do?

Find out in just a few minutes.

Stephen Terry introduces us to a fantastic Italian dish,

pasta rotolo.

He makes a paste out of refried pork, veg and chilli,

then rolls it up in sheets of pasta

before finishing it off in a hot pan.

And presenter Emma Willis faces her food heaven or food hell.

Would she get her food heaven,

that herb-crusted rack of lamb with dauphinoise potatoes

and basil-and-spinach timbale, or would she get her dreaded

food hell, honey-roast duck confit with puy lentils?

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

Now, this next dish is a must-try midweek supper.

It'll have you in and out of the kitchen within a matter of minutes.

Mark Sargeant is here to show us how it is done.

-So, what is on the menu for us today?

-We've got some lovely clams.

I love clams, I think they are really fantastic.

I prefer them to mussels, but you cook them in exactly the same way.

We are going to cook clams with really nice smoky bacon,

the bacon and clams go really, really well together,

a little bit of anchovy as well,

just to melt that down and dissolve, give a bit of impact and flavour.

We're going to make it more of a kind of stew,

so we'll have carrots, celery, leek and some onion in there.

-Sweat all that down.

-The secret ingredient is this.

Cider. Obviously, with moules mariniere, you do it with wine.

You do it with beer sometimes?

-You can do it with beer.

-Like Belgium.

And then we are going to chargrill some bread

and put that in the bottom of the bowl,

so it soaks up all the juices.

Of course, there is perry that you could use as well.

-Perry, that's pear cider, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-That is fantastic as well.

We will get this smoked bacon going.

Really good-quality, very dry, smoky bacon.

We want all the fat and flavour to come out of that.

I've got to ask, years at the restaurant,

-just lost its Michelin star.

-Apparently so.

-I heard that yesterday.

-That was a bit low.

I wouldn't say it's now I've gone, necessarily.

Yes, that is the news, which is very, very unfortunate,

but, knowing Gorden, he is going to do his best

to get straight back in there and get that back.

And you were there side-by-side 13 years with him.

Yeah, yeah. He's like my big brother still.

This is a very positive move.

There is nothing untoward, or anything like that.

It was just time for me to have a bit of a change

and take things in a bit of a different direction,

but still got him on the side.

So, you are looking after two restaurants now?

Yeah, two restaurants, which have got fantastic chefs already,

so I'm not actually physically cooking there.

So, we've got The Swan down in West Malling, which is in Kent,

and that is actually a village that I am originally from,

so it's kind of like, I can go home a little bit now, back to my roots.

That's been going for ten years.

Fantastic chef there, doing really good British food,

and then you've got the other one, as you said earlier,

it's attached to the Globe theatre, Shakespeare's Globe theatre,

so that is The Swan at the Globe theatre.

Basically, the food is fantastic,

you are right on the riverside, it's got an amazing location.

Yet again, another fantastic Marco Pierre White trained chef

-there as well.

-Have you ever thought about going on stage, or not?

-Well, depends.

-Where are you leading this one to?

Because I've got a little test.

Othello. Do you want me to do Othello?

No, I've got a little test for you.

-OK.

-In here, I've got three quotes from Shakespeare.

They are all food related,

and I want you to name the play for one point,

the act and scene...

LAUGHTER

-I know these.

-Of course you do(!)

-Right, are you ready for the first one?

-I'm ready.

"Truly, thou art damned, like an ill-roast egg, all on one side."

Where was that from?

Macbeth.

-You're just going to say Macbeth to all of these, aren't you?

-No, no.

That was from... You've got the answer. Where was it from?

It's Touchstone from As You Like It, I think, isn't it?

That's an extra point. Here's another one.

" 'Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers."

I apologise for the Yorkshire accent.

-IN YORKSHIRE ACCENT:

-'Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers.

The Merchant Of Venice?

Merchant Of Venice? No, it was from...

-Romeo And Juliet.

-Look at that.

-If memory serves.

Yeah, act 4, scene 2. You are doing useless at this.

And the last one...

"If music be the food of love, play on."

Othello.

Everyone... It's Twelfth Night.

Act 1, scene 1. I think that is the opening line, isn't it?

-It is, yes.

-There you go.

Oh, well, that wasn't very good, was it? I got nil points, as they say.

Mind you, the last book that you ever read was Peter and Jane, probably(!)

Roger Rabbit.

More importantly, about the food, James,

so, we've got all the vegetables in there.

Bacon, the carrots, onions, celery,

sweated it down really nicely with some thyme.

You forgot the leeks.

That's because you... Get them in, then.

We could easily just have said I hadn't forgotten the leeks.

Give that a really good shape up.

I've done more for you, but you have changed the subject.

Those clams are going to steam in there really nice

and start opening up, but just to get them going, I've got the cider.

I'm going to get some cider in there. Just a little splash.

-Is this the organic cider?

-It's a really good-quality cider.

Don't put anything in there that is too sweet.

-You want it nice and dry.

-The proper stuff.

-That's going to steam in there.

You don't want too much, just to help it get going a little bit.

Now, the idea of this bread is that we chargrill the bread.

We are going to put a slice on the side,

to have nice and crunchy with it.

We are also going to put a slice in the bottom of the bowl,

and when I tip the clams and all the juice on top of that,

it's going to absorb all that and go slightly soft,

so it's going to be a little bit like a Italian veg soup,

so it is going to melt in and thicken it up slightly.

You mentioned moules mariniere.

What should people be looking for with shellfish in particular?

Clams and mussels.

It's the classic thing that everyone knows that if they are open

and don't close when you knock 'em or tap 'em, they are no good.

They are going to be bad and make you ill.

But when you are preparing the clams, you should soak them beforehand?

Ideally, yeah,

because there is quite a bit of dirt on the outside of the shell.

Give them a really good soaking, preferably overnight,

if you can, change the water a couple of times, and that is that.

And obviously get them from a good-quality supplier.

I like using the ones we've got here - nice medium -

-so you get a nice chewy...

-Not too small.