14/02/2016 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning, we've got a feast of fantastic food

lined up for you today.

So, make yourself comfortable and stay right where you are.

This is Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show.

The next 90 minutes is brimming with top chefs, sensational food

and a cracking celebrity line-up too.

So, let's get cooking.

Coming up on today's show,

the multi-talented chef and proud holder of two Michelin stars,

Marcus Wareing treats us to a mouthwatering stew

of monkfish and chorizo.

Alyn Williams gives us a taste of America

with his plate of succulent southern fried chicken.

The chicken is marinated overnight in buttermilk

before being deep-fried and served with a classic ranch dressing.

And Kevin Dundon serves perfectly-cooked pork Wellingtons

with apple stuffing.

They're accompanied by savoy cabbage and a rich red wine and port sauce.

And actress Sharon Small faces her food heaven or food hell.

Would she get her food heaven -

a banana millionaire shortbread with banana ice cream?

Or would she get her dreaded food hell - a Mediterranean squid stew?

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

But kicking things off today in the kitchen

is the hugely talented Francesco Mazzei.

He's armed with a humble artichoke today

as well as an abundance of ideas of how to use them.

Right, what is on the menu, then?

We've got this beautiful artichoke.

We do artichoke salads with, as I said,

the Grana Padano cheese riserva.

Got this beautiful stuff called Mammole,

-which if you don't mind, help clean that for me.

-I can do that.

-I need a little knife for this one.

-Yes, there you go.

-Thank you.

So, these artichokes...

You get the small baby ones in Italy.

Yeah, the small baby one as well

-which we mainly use for pickles as well.

-Yeah.

When they're nice and tender, you can also use them for a salad.

OK? But this one are the particular one called Mammole from Rome,

they're also called cimarolo.

-They also...

-I don't know whether you're making this up,

these words...

No, no, it's true. I've been studying so far. Intimately.

Right, OK.

I used to work in Rome and it's a very, very typical dish from there.

There is also a few recipe going on like a fried,

like a Judaea style.

But this time of year, I really like this kind of preparation.

OK, I'm going to also do, as you can see,

I put some garlic and shallot here.

-Cos what I'm going to do is a sauce, kind of dressing with it.

-Yeah.

Going to put some olive oil here.

-The whole point about this is the sauce, really?

-Yes.

Because often a lot of this you would throw away

but you're using it to make a sauce.

We do the sauce here but, you know, you can also...

What you can also do with this is...

the skin is tough, you can add a few potatoes

and you can make a soup out of it, as well.

Which is also very, very good.

It's interesting the fact that we really use all the parts

of this beautiful flower, as I would call it.

Cos it's still quite not used a lot in this country, am I right?

Well, I think people don't know what to do with them, really,

more than anything else.

They are around. But, traditionally, you would cook them whole like this.

Yeah, like the French globe and...

Yeah, you would cook them in what's called a blanc, normally,

-which is a mixture of water...

-Vinegar...

Which is a pan of water with either lemon or vinegar

with some flour in it, a bit of salt and as it comes to the boil,

it creates a top to the water instead of using a lid

and stops them from going brown.

And you can use some mayonnaise, maybe, to serve with it.

-Exactly.

-Yeah, OK. We'll go like this.

One more spoon as well.

And, as I said, this kind of flower is very good for you as well

because it's full of antioxidant, and believe it or not -

I've been studying, as you can see -

the power to level your cholesterol in your blood.

So, it's very good stuff for you, actually.

It's amazing what you can get on Google, isn't it? FRANCESCO LAUGHS

I woke up very early this morning to study.

Right, you can remove the choke.

If you see inside there, there's a little choke.

We remove the one as well because...

We take it out and we don't throw it away

but we put it in the sauce as well.

So that'll be enough for us.

So what I'm doing now?

With the shallot, the garlic,

-the artichoke and white wine...

-Yeah.

OK, we're going to let evaporate a bit

and then we're going to add all together,

the breadcrumbs, a bit of sugar to balance the bitterness

cos the skin and the leaves are very bitter.

Thanks for doing the avocado for me.

Now, the small ones in Italy you can just cook them

in a bit of water and some olive oil, can't you?

What we do with the small one, you can cook like that

or you can also do like water...

bay leaves, a bit of pepper and then you basically...

it kind of pickles.

And then you serve with prosciutto

and also the main ingredient for the famous pizza - capricciosa.

-Right.

-That kind of artichokes.

OK, so, mint in now.

Now, breadcrumbs.

So we have to thicken the sauce a bit.

This beautiful anchovies,

it's basically also the main ingredient we use

for the artichoke, Romana style.

-Carciofi Romana.

-Right.

OK. Bit of salt here.

And the stock now.

So, basically, we're just going to use the liquor from this

-to make the dressing.

-Yes, correct.

-Right.

That's it. OK, now, we're going to cut this artichoke

very, very, very thin.

-Cut those.

-So, in here now you want...

-Put some chilli in there. Thank you.

-Chilli in this.

-Chilli, some lemon juice.

-OK.

Salt and pepper, kind of a bit of Italian version of guacamole.

Yeah? Right.

And then I'm going to add that beautiful Grana Padano cheese, Sue,

-which is not goat cheese, don't worry.

-Good.

-Which is this one that we got here.

-Yeah.

So, what's so special about this one then?

It's a very old cheese.

It's about 800 years, it's been create from the monks.

And the Grana Padano name comes for the Grana...

It's for the Pianura Padana area, that's why it's Padano,

-and Grana because of the beautiful, grainy texture.

-Right.

It's, like, you have a piece of it,

it's like you've got some small piece of marble inside.

It is fantastic.

It's also one of the best...

It's the world bestselling cheese, PDO product, so...

Which is pretty amazing.

When you go to Italy and you try the Parmesan

they have over there,

it really is superior to the stuff we can get over here,

or a lot of the stuff we get over here.

But this one is riserva which is more than 21 months

so it's probably not very common, yet also for the price.

But, again, it's available everywhere now.

OK, artichokes here.

A bit of lemon, bit of salt. OK?

Now, we're going to add the avocado.

We're going to move this one away a bit.

Now, you said in rehearsal about artichokes in a dessert.

What's all that about?

Yeah. I mean, as I said, it's very versatile kind of vegetable.

-Right.

-I know you're laughing there but...

I perked right up, man.

-Cake.

-There is a recipe with artichoke

and the chocolate mousse mint is pretty amazing.

Maybe next one we do that.

-Right.

-So then you don't want me to show you more.

Chocolate mousse and artichokes?

It's chocolate mousse but what we do, you don't mix together,

you basically, you cook the artichoke in glucose, sugar

and a bit of water

-until the artichoke become completely glazed. OK?

-OK.

And then you do a mousse separately with the peppermint

and then you've got fantastic stuff.

Cos you must use a few of these in your restaurant?

Yeah, that's it, yeah, plenty.

-All different kinds of artichokes as well.

-Yeah?

-That's it.

OK, so, we've got the stuff here now. Grazie mille.

I'm going to add a bit of Grana Padano riserva inside.

Believe it or not, a bit of lemon zest as well.

This beautiful Amalfi.

There you are. OK. A spoon.

I've got a spoon, thank you. I'm going to mix that now.

-Salt and pepper in there.

-Salt and pepper there now.

So, recap - chop the lemon, the avocado, chilli.

Chilli, salt and pepper, lemon juice and the fantastic artichoke.

Now, OK, when this one's ready,

we'll leave it to rest a second and we got this beautiful sauce

which we call dressing which you and I cooks here.

We did before and rest it.

What we're going to do, just going to...

How long have you cooked this down for?

-Half an hour.

-Half an hour.

-That's it.

Now we use for dressing but you can, if you add potato and stuff,

you can make a lovely soup.

So, basically from one ingredient you can have...

..the lovely soup and the lovely salad, if you want. OK?

I mean, just these are the leaves, just to show people...

Just the leaves, yeah.

When you do this whole, and you actually eat these, really,

don't make a fool of yourself in a restaurant.

Basically, it's just this top bit here

or the bottom part of the artichoke,

which you just basically pull out between your teeth

and that's the, well, part of the heart.

It's lovely stuff.

-Now, just in a very small...

-Don't go munching on the leaves.

As my sister did in a restaurant, that's not very good.

FRANCESCO LAUGHS

OK, I'm going to...just a little bit of this. Just a little bit.

And we're going to add some olive oil,

salt and pepper and the lemon juice.

-We create a kind of...

-Dressing.

-That's it, dressing.

-Yeah.

-Some olive oil?

-Yes, please.

-Tell me when.

One more.

Now, you're expanding your little restaurant

cos you've got the restaurant

and then you're going to build a cafe on the side of it?

Yeah, we're doing the cafe on the side

and it's going to be like a kind of more rustic food

and also much more affordable than what we charge now at L'Anima.

We plan to open...

It's long overdue, really,

-but we plan to open now in September.

-Right.

OK. Hoping that the world is going to recover from the crisis.

But we're rocking now so we're going to get there.

-OK, so, the beautiful artichokes are here...

-Yeah.

..in the middle of this ring.

All right.

So the avocado also helps to keep it together.

It's kind of like fennel, isn't it?

You can have it, you know, thinly sliced...

Very thinly sliced is very important.

You can serve it on a bed of lovely fish and stuff like that.

That's good. OK. It's got this beautiful...

-It's interesting with the avocado in there as well.

-Yeah.

Bit of omega-3 as well. Got the celery cress on top.

-There you go.

-Over here.

Then I've got this beautiful...

Well, I called it a peeler in rehearsal,

-you called it a mandolina.

-Mandolina, nice.

OK. It's a beautiful shaving.

-Sounds better though, doesn't it?

-It does.

-OK.

-Now, a bit of it of...

Let me take this spoon here.

Bit of this dressing which we put all around,

to that serving.

It's a great way to use up the leaves.

There's so much flavour in there you generally just throw away.

Exactly.

So, bit of leaves like that...shaves.

-Don't need to be that precise. We like rustic.

-OK.

Bit like that.

Maybe a little more of this.

Tell us what that is again.

This is artichoke salad with Grana Padano riserva cheese

ready to go.

-How good does that look?

-And simple.

Looks fantastic.

-Now, I know it's going to taste great as well.

-Look at that.

-It looks, mm...

-Dive into that.

That little bit of lemon in there just helps it to...

-Zingy taste.

-Stops it from discolouring as well.

-Exactly. So, it doesn't get oxidated as well.

-Mm.

It's not really the Sunday lunch you think about.

It's very healthy stuff, every day of the week.

-Great way to utilise the leftovers for the dressing.

-Lovely.

Simple, fresh and good quality ingredients and it tasted fantastic.

Coming up, I cook sage-stuffed lamb chops with Serrano ham

and pasta for actress Suranne Jones

after visiting a garlic festival on the Isle of Wight

with Mr Rick Stein.

Saute chicken with no less than 40 cloves of garlic is on the menu.

It's a classic, I promise you.

RICK STEIN: 'I'm on my way from Southampton to the Isle of Wight

'for their famous annual garlic festival.

'On the way over, I met this really nice chap, he really loved his food.

'I think he said his name was Onslow.

'He was going over for Cowes Week,

'and with all those large yachts from all over the world,

'there was a serious smell of money in the air.

'No doubt people will be eating lobster and popping champagne corks

'over in the marquees, but I had other things on my mind.

'I'd never been to a garlic festival before

'and didn't really know what to expect.

'I'd heard that garlic grows really well on the island.

'And it was a must of things I had to do,

'on my gastronomic tour of Britain.

'But it didn't look very garlicky to me.'

So, we've got circus, candyfloss...

..there's a doll's house shop over there, some sumo wrestlers up there.

There's a clairvoyant and the Army are here.

There's lots of big Army trucks.

I've almost forgotten what we've come here for.

Oh, the garlic - I wonder where it is.

'Now, this was worth coming for.

'Freshly barbecued corn on the cob, brushed with hot butter.

'It had that mouth-popping crunch when the veg has just been picked

'and still retains its sugar content.

'That's the first thing to go, actually,

'when it's been lying around.

'Ah, getting warmer.

'Moules mariniere and a nice smell of garlic

'from some moules provencale.'

Did you say you had some garlic fudge?

Yeah, we've got chocolate and vanilla.

Can I have a vanilla one then?

Yeah.

'Only in Britain could anyone come up with this. Garlic fudge.

'Now, this is a first for me.'

'Oh, dear.'

But the day was full of happy eaters, mainly eating hot dogs.

Actually, garlic was a symbol

of our emerging culinary sophistication in the '60s -

a point recognised by the garlic growers Colin and Jenny Boswell.

When you walked along the street 25 years ago

and you smelt that smell of garlic coming out of a bistro or something,

it said to you, immediately, in your mind,

it said it was good times.

It meant wine and drink, probably in a foreign country.

Now, when I smell garlic today, I still think of good times.

You're so right.

I mean, thinking about it, I mean, I started my restaurant 25 years ago

and it was garlic.

I can remember I went to a seafood bar in Falmouth

and it was that smell of hot shellfish and garlic.

It was just so exotic and I was thinking, "Yeah, I want to do this."

That's right. You even smoked Gitanes to get the scent.

Well, I was smoking Gitanes at the time but I've given them up.

I've given them up.

I used to smoke Gitanes in that restaurant too.

How did you know?

Now, this was a dish that was on the menu

of every bistro in the late '60s.

Sauteed chicken with 40 cloves of garlic.

You joint a couple of chickens, jointing for saute -

that means on the bone -

and then you fry it gently in butter

to get a nice, brown colour and then,

40 cloves of garlic - seriously.

I mean, that was so adventurous.

Seasoned heavily and then some white wine.

I can remember once using Mateus rose

when I couldn't get some Hirondelle.

Then, chicken stock,

and put the lid on and leave it to cook very, very gently.

And that's it. It's ready.

You just turn it out on the plate, reduce the liquid down a little bit,

nap it over the top and serve it.

What with?

Well, these days it would be mashed potato

but then it was pilaf rice cos that was very trendy.

One discovery I made at the garlic festival

was this humble bacon sandwich.

It was made from collar and it had a lovely,

old-fashioned swiney flavour.

There had to be something special about this bacon.

-That's really good flavour.

-It is, isn't it?

One thing led to another on this trip.

I was supposed to be looking at other garlic products

but I had to find out where this great bacon came from.

How cheering to see these little piglets

rooting around in the sandy soil.

You only had to look at how happy these pigs were

to realise that this family, the Pierces,

were doing something right.

I'm sure it's got a future.

These pigs here, you know, they're doing things they should be doing.

They're rooting around, they're biting my toes now.

And that's what it's all about.

And they have to create their own environment,

I think that's what's key to it.

I mean, pigs are so intelligent.

It gets too hot out here,

they've got to go in the wallow,

get a coat of mud to protect themselves from the sun.

You know, that's what it's all about.

Let the animals do what they should be doing. And they're not bored.

They make their own beds.

All we do is provide them with a lump of straw,

it's up to them to shake it up

and put it round how they want it.

I think that's key to it, you know,

letting the animals express their own natural behaviour.

I suppose if any dish summed up the style of cooking in this series,

it's this.

So, a coating for the chops.

I'm going to use some sage, which I think it's a really nice flavour

but you do have to use it with discretion, in other words,

not too much as it's very, very strong.

I'm going to mix that with some already roughly chopped shallots

and just chop it up really finely to make a coating.

And now I just put that in this bowl here with a bit of butter.

A little bit of salt and pepper in there too.

And now for the chops.

What a lovely cut of meat that is.

Just going to score the chops about half an inch apart one way

and half an inch the other.

Do the same thing on that side.

Just put some of the coating on one side.

Just spread it in with my knife. Like that.

And do exactly the same on the other side.

And then we'll pan-fry them gently.

The problem is so much...

It's sort of intensive meat.

It's flavourless.

You taste something like this pork and it's got,

as the French say about wine, gout de terroir.

You know, you can taste almost where it comes from

and the fat is just a delight.

When you taste it, there's just this feeling of fineness.

So many people, so many people dislike fat. And why?

The fat in meat is where the flavour is, you know?

And it's just like people keep going at me when I'm cooking fish

and saying, you know, "Too much butter, too much cream."

I don't put too much butter and cream with my fish,

but occasionally I love it

and occasionally I like a fatty bit of pork,

I like a piece of sirloin with a lovely, well-aged fat on it.

You know, we're all so sort of driven in this world these days

by sort of worries about health

and so much of it is just rubbish.

I mean, there's only one maxim as far as eating, I'm concerned,

and that is moderation in all things.

You just keep things level.

OK, well, let's add the cider now,

which is the sort of splendid addition to this dish.

This is farmhouse, rough Somerset cider.

So, we'll just leave that to cook away now

for about five to six minutes.

That cider came from a lovely old-fashioned cider farm

on the edge of Sedgemoor, in Somerset,

run by Viv Bennett and his family.

Here, they grow the old-fashioned cider apples

with names like Kingston Black

and Chibble's Wilding and Granville.

Viv fired up his rickety old cider press

and the whole thing was like watching a scene

lifted out of Thomas Hardy's The Woodlanders.

"He looked and smelt like autumn's very brother.

"..everywhere about him

"that atmosphere of cider

"which at its first return each season

"has such an indescribable fascination

"for those who have been born and bred among the orchards."

It's just a path or way of life.

It's something that's always been done here.

I mean, I helped Father since I was old enough to...

I used to have a box, you know, to stand on

so I could reach the top of the trees.

My father made it all his life before him, he's 81,

his grandfather made it here before that.

Do you look forward to sort of cider making time though?

Yes, we look forward to it.

You know, it's like hay making

or a kid who looks forward to Christmas.

You know, it doesn't take as many weeks,

we only perhaps do it a couple of days a week

as and when the apples are available.

The hardest work is gathering the blessed apples in.

I couldn't believe how much juice was coming out of those apples.

What goes into the cider? I mean, do you add sugar or anything?

Nothing at all.

No, it's natural yeast, on the skins, you don't...

Nothing at all added.

There's nothing added, there's nothing taken away.

Those pork chops...

By the time they've cooked, the cider will have reduced down

to a lovely, rich sauce smelling of apples and butter,

a little bit of parsley, shake it all together

and pull the pan off the heat.

As I said at the start, this is the type of food we love at home

and the sort of food I search for in my travels

in pubs and restaurants and never found.

I got beef rendang and creole chicken, but not this.

And I'd serve it with some early sprouting broccoli

and some saute potatoes and that's it.

Going further east into the heart of Dorset

to a blueberry farm run by Janet and David Trehane.

The blueberries are from America

and they're a cultivated form of our native bilberries.

So, how did they get here?

Back in 1949, there was a parson on Lulu Island in British Columbia

and he wanted to cheer us up

because we were so miserable after the war.

So, he wrote and put an advert in a little newspaper,

trade magazine, horticultural trade magazine and said,

"Anybody in Britain could have 100 plants for free as a gift."

Only four people took up the offer.

My father was one of them and those hundred plants thrived.

Autumn's my favourite season.

I love picking ripe fruit from bushes and trees.

I think blueberries are typically American.

They're easy on the eye, they're sweet, they're plump,

they're over-juicy and now they're over here.

They've got a flavour which is all their own,

which is totally addictive and above all else,

I think they're so versatile.

Now, this is a blueberry compote and it works a treat.

First, you add some orange zest and then the juice of about one lime

and then a cup or so of sugar and about half a pint of water.

Now, you put that all in a pan

and you put it on a very gentle heat

and bring it up to the boil very slowly.

The object is to poach the blueberries

but not have them bursting on you.

So, as it begins to foam, stir it around

and then pour in some arrowroot,

and as you know, that'll thicken it very slightly.

But the great thing about arrowroot is it keeps the juice clear,

albeit a bit thick.

Now, pour that into a bowl and let it cool down a little.

Now, you're going to serve this with some yoghurt ice cream,

I love yoghurt ice cream.

And the thing is, you're going to serve, of course,

the ice cream cold but the compote slightly warm,

and it's the contrast between the sweet acidity of the blueberries

and the creaminess of the yoghurt that works so well.

That's it indeed but it looked absolutely fantastic.

Regular viewers to the show will know, like Rick,

I'm not afraid to put a few extra calories or two on the plate.

Now, pork chops definitely need some fat on them

to bring out the flavour.

And this is true also of lamb chops, which I love.

And people kind of shy away from them, really.

I'm going to show you a really simple way of actually cooking them.

We've got some Parma ham here or Serrano ham.

We've got a little bit of butter, some sage,

now sage is quite a strong herb

so we're going to deep-fry a little bit

and serve that with a little, simple pasta, really.

What I'm going to do first of all, is take the lamb chops,

using a knife, just create like a little pocket inside each one.

So, cut them inside here.

Don't take this fat off, it's really important that we keep that

cos we're going to crisp them up in a pan.

And there you go in here, and you just literally

take a little bit of this ham, touch of sage,

here we go.

And insert that in the little cavity in there.

-There we go.

-Serrano ham, did you say?

Yeah, you can use Serrano ham, Parma ham,

it's entirely up to you.

Touch of butter in there to keep it nice and moist.

And then we're going to take some of our Serrano ham or Parma ham,

there you go, wrap it up like that.

That's it. Just nice and simple.

No need to overcomplicate stuff.

Cos you're not really into overcomplicated food, are you?

-Not really, you know...

-You were brought up on...

Sunday roast and all that kind of stuff?

Potatoes, meat, yeah, that kind of stuff.

But we used to have chops

but my mum would go around everyone's plate and eat the fat

cos we'd we all leave the fat and then my mum would go

and pick the bits of fat off cos she loved it.

They're the best bit, the best bit, though, isn't it?

So, what got you into acting in the first place?

Well, I was a little bit mouthy at school and so they told me...

my parents to channel my energies somewhere.

So, I went to, like, an acting class

from being about eight and started singing and acting.

And then from there did pro-am productions, amateur productions,

got an agent at 16

and then it just kind of picked up and went from there.

Because, I mean, I was reading a little bit about you last night

and it's amazing that not a lot of people know

that you were in Coronation Street before your main character was.

-Yeah.

-You guested in it as well?

I did an episode of everything northern,

like The Grand, City Central, Corrie

and my first character was called Mandy Phillips.

And then I went back three years later as Karen Phillips.

Not related at all but I think they do like a screen test

so they put you on and if they like you, then they'll get you back.

And they certainly liked you because, I mean,

at one point they were saying you were the show.

I mean, the whole storyline was based around you.

I think it's this wonderful tennis match that happens that,

you know, you start to do something good with the writing

and then they see that and they write more for you

and that's what kind of happened and Karen McDonald really lifted off

and myself and Simon Greggs and Steve McDonald

just worked really well together.

-And then you left.

-Yeah.

You get all that and then you go.

Yeah. Well, I'd started to...

I'd started to repeat myself as an actress

and because in a soap, obviously, you know,

your character has a certain life span.

And I felt like I was kind of

continually going down the same path with,

you know, what I was doing, so, yeah.

But it was a huge thing cos I'd bought a house,

I'd bought a car, I had some stability,

which actors don't get, so it was a big decision.

And I had nothing to go to, so...

To give it all up and, like you said, nothing to go to

but, I mean, since then you've just gone on to do tonnes of stuff.

It's not just on...

Well, films as well?

Yeah, I mean, well, the first thing was I auditioned,

I was in Australia and then I got a call

when I came back and auditioned with Ray Winstone to do Vincent.

And then, the people that I've worked with have just been amazing.

Then I did the West End with Rob Lowe

and things just really, you know, kind of took off for me

and it's been an amazing journey.

Where does your passion really lie though?

Some people say theatre,

you can't beat the draw of theatre as an actress?

-Musicals, singing, that's where I started off.

-Right.

I'm a bit of a... I like to do...

Like, you were talking about Unforgiven

and, you know, that's all kind of a very intimate performance

and all very measured and monitored but I'm a bit of a showgirl.

I like to sing and dance and do the whole lot and, you know,

-eyes and teeth and all that.

-Eyes and teeth.

Right, well, there you go.

Talking of teeth, there you go, we've got our pasta here.

Now, what I'm going to do is take our pasta

and try and incorporate this sage in.

There we go.

And what we do is grab the sage like that and just pop it in there.

Fold this bit of pasta over...

..press it down and then roll it through again.

And then you'll see that the actual sage leaf goes inside...

..the pasta.

I'll just dust that off a little bit.

You'll see it in a second.

The lamb - what I've done is just basically pan-fry it

and then roast it in the oven.

If I get this thinner, you'll see.

-It looks like an expensive wallpaper now.

-Exactly.

It's really trendy, you see.

There's going to be people just hanging this from the curtains -

not.

But look, look.

-And then you've got the sage leaves like that.

-Wow.

-And it goes inside...

-Oooh.

-Very pretty.

-I can cook, Nick.

-I know.

-I don't know what to do next but...

But we'll just pop this through.

Like you said, gone on to do tonnes of different things,

I have to say, it's my mother's favourite show,

she never watches this thing, what I'm doing, but Unforgiven...

Would she like the DVD which is out now?

-Oh, is it out now?

-Yeah, yeah.

Now, tell us about that then cos that was just...

-it was a big success for you.

-It was.

And I'd done quite a few TV series and bits of theatre.

But, you know, it's hard for a woman to get a really, really good script.

There are a lot of good scripts out there but for something that's so...

To play someone that is a double murderer

and you're kind of leading an amazing cast, by the way.

It was just, you know, like, the supporting cast was brilliant.

And it doesn't come around that often.

You know, to get a script like that so I was really lucky

and, yeah, very fortunate to play that character.

But almost opposite to what you were playing for years

on Corrie, as well.

Yeah, and that's what I was saying about it being measured.

And I had a great director, David Evans

and Sally Wainwright, who wrote it, is an amazing writer,

Red Productions.

The team was just like a dream team.

So, I'd love to work with them again and maybe create something else

cos it was just perfect, it was brilliant.

Talking about working with them again, what's next then?

What's next for you?

At the moment, I'm actually going on in aid mission

which I did for Christian Aid about...in 2004

so I'm going to revisit Africa

with a friend of mine and we're going to go and do an aid mission.

And then complete polar opposite to come back from that,

I'm going to work a musical which is like a rehearsed musical

and then see if that goes and maybe take that on

further into the West End.

-There you go. Coming to a city or town near you as well.

-Maybe.

I'm just going to go through what I've done.

Over here I've got some butter.

Like I said, I'm not afraid to put a few calories in.

We've got our pasta here. I'm going to drain off.

Which all I've done is literally just rolled that through,

that's made tagliatelle, fresh tagliatelle in there.

Just drain that off.

I've deep-fried from sage as well.

Pop that in the butter.

Bit of salt and bit of pepper.

Make it look so simple from scratch.

No, it is, really.

We've got...these ovens haven't got a back on them

and we've got somebody swapping the lamb round at the back.

And we've got our lamb, which has been cooking nicely.

Now, that's just nicely cooked.

And all we do now is just simply serve it.

It's just a case of confidence, isn't it?

Like, when I'm watching this... I'm a panicker, I just panic.

Men call at multitasking, do they?

LAUGHTER

I'm not even going to enter into that.

Yeah, we'll move on.

As the producer's going, "Move on, that's time, that's enough."

"You're in trouble."

Right, we've got it here. Look at that.

And then I've got my lamb chops.

Place them on there.

I'll save you the fat, Mum.

Do you want four? There you go. Four.

Deep-fried sage.

Buttered pasta with deep-fried sage and lamb chops.

-Gorgeous.

-So, what do you think of that pasta? Dive in.

So, it's sage and that sort of stuff.

No parsley cos I know what you like.

I think sage and potato and pasta is great.

Plenty of butter.

-It's really quite an Italian dish that, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Got that sort of saltimbocca-ish feel to it.

-Mm.

-Like that?

-Mm.

Now, putting sage into a dough is a great way

to pack pasta with flavour.

It's a lovely combination.

If you'd like to try cooking any of the studio recipes

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

just click onto our website...

Today, we're looking back at some of the best recipes

from the Saturday Kitchen archives.

Now, Marcus Wareing is certainly a class act

when it comes to classic cooking and flavour combinations.

And he's got a very moreish monkfish and chorizo stew on the menu today.

Enjoy this one.

Right, what are you cooking then?

Well, today we're going to do monkfish...

-Yes.

-..with some chorizo sausage.

And we're doing an almost sort of a minestrone...

-Right.

-..type of vegetable broth.

-OK.

-With your onions...

-You want me... picking out the onions?

-Yeah, you want to chop the onion.

-Yeah.

-Got a lot of dicing in this, haven't we?

-Yeah.

-And some of those.

-OK.

-And they're served...

And just inside we've got some split yellow peas

which is going to help make it a little bit broth-like.

-It's the monkfish that you're going to do at the moment.

-Yes.

-Tell us a bit about this.

-This is it, this is how it comes.

This is how we get it in the restaurant.

Obviously, the head always comes off the fish

because I think the head represents about two thirds...

-It's about 60% waste on a monkfish, isn't it?

-It is, it is.

Often called anglerfish and stuff like that.

They used to eat it a lot in the '70s in scampi,

-it was actually used for.

-Really?

Awful, sort of ruined it, I think, in scampi.

Great piece of fish but it was the look of it

that put a lot of people off cos of the big head and the old...

Yeah. So, what I've done is just taken...

nicked off the skin and then I just pulled it back.

Just pull it straight off the tail.

-In we go with the...

-OK?

-Yeah.

-So you've got the onions in.

-I'm just going to...

-Going to pop the cooking sausage in as well.

-That's it.

-The great thing about monkfish is there's one bone.

-It's very easy to do yourself.

-Very simple.

Beautiful, round fish. Just take off one fillet.

Your fishmonger can do this. It's very easy to do, but there we go.

Straight underneath.

Skin it, take off the bone.

It's a good fish, very versatile.

-The French use it a lot, don't they?

-Yeah, I love it.

-Very meaty.

-Being the French, they eat everything,

the head and everything.

Yeah, well, maybe not, maybe not but, you know.

-The nice thing about it, there's not a lot of waste.

-No.

But I've had... The delicacy as well with monkfish is the liver.

I had this dish, I think it was ankimo, which is like a...

Yeah, it's a Japanese sushi.

They take the liver, the raw liver and serve that as a...

-It's a delicacy over there, it's treated like foie gras.

-Really?

Yeah. I had that recently, which was really, really nice.

The thing I always find about monkfish,

is what I like about it in this dish is it can also be quite watery.

When it cooks, it has a tendency to bleed.

I love cutting it into sort of scallops like this.

What we're going to do is, James,

we're going to season it with paprika and salt.

And we're going to mix 50-50.

Now, you use this idea quite a bit in your restaurant, don't you?

-We do.

-Curry and salt?

Yeah, we have our scallops,

-we use curry powder and salt 50-50.

-Yeah.

Almost exactly the same as what we've done here, really.

And it's just a beautiful, nice seasoning.

It just has a nice little flavour.

So, you've got your paprika and your salt.

And this is the smoked paprika that you can get,

-that sort of delicious...

-And it's sweet as well.

-Yeah.

Cos they have sweet and they have a hot smoked paprika, don't they?

-This is the sweet one.

-That's right.

So, basically you've got the onions there, James.

-That's right.

-Yeah. With the sausage.

I've got my...

There's a lot of chopping in this, I know that for a fact.

-Bouquet garni.

-Yeah.

I've got one clove of garlic

and some sun-dried tomatoes straight into there.

And we're just going to very lightly sweat those down.

You can tell he's got about 20 chefs doing this around him.

-You know what I mean?

-Little bit of tomato puree.

But congratulations

cos you kept your second Michelin star again this year.

-Yes, which was great.

-And last time you were on the show

you were kind of like, you know...

-It was the day I took over.

-The day you took over, very first day.

-So, exciting times.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, it was a big day for me last time I was here.

-Yeah.

And it's been about three or four months now and...

So, what's it like running your own restaurant then?

Being the boss, I suppose?

Truthfully, it's always been my dream.

And it was a big day for me doing that and I actually love it.

It's another massive challenge for me, taking on the business

and running it in one of London's finest five-star hotels.

I just think it's one of the best things I ever did.

But it's going very, very well,

but you've got to keep your attention to detail

on everything, haven't you?

Now there's other things.

There's a whole operation side that you have to think about -

-salaries, tax, VAT, the usual.

-Yeah.

But it's great. It's another line, it's another...

And the rubbish as well, cos you've changed...

in the kitchen you've got clear rubbish bags.

It's funny when it's your own business, James,

you look at things a little bit differently.

Even going as far as putting

clear, see-through bin liners into the bins.

You just want to, you know, it's a tough time now,

we've got to just... It's a great awareness for the staff, you know?

It's very easy to just have your produce and just throw it away.

And, for me, it's just to be aware that,

"Look, guys, everything counts." Basically.

So, all those vegetables in there, James, what we're going to do...

I'm still chopping.

-Still chopping. Good.

-Carrots, leeks.

-That's it.

Just a little bit of the paprika and salt seasoning.

I'm even doing the mushrooms as well.

Just do a few mushrooms, James, keep going.

Well, last time you... Yeah.

Those are your own, just bung it all in any order.

The peas - we soak them overnight, put them into a pan,

boil them up with a little bit of water,

boil them to the boil for about 20 minutes until they're almost soft.

-Now, these are the yellow split peas.

-That's right.

Just throw those in there.

That's a super dish, isn't it? It's nice and comforting...

Yeah, I think that combination of the sausage and the monkfish

is a classic combination.

Monkfish is one of these things that, you know, people sort of,

like you said, it used to be used for scampi.

But it's become really trendy now.

It is and we use it in the restaurant and this is quite a...

It's almost a hotpot type of thing.

It's very Spanish, very...

You make a big pot of it, put it on a table

and just sit back and enjoy.

-So, I mentioned the cookery books as well.

-Yeah.

Is there another one in the pipeline?

-Yeah, just finishing one now.

-Yeah.

And I've called it...it's going to be called Nutmeg And Custard

and that's to do with the custard tart for the Queen.

You can't get away from this dish.

I know, it's been on the menu now for two and a half years

and still customers come to the restaurant yesterday

and still ask for custard tart.

It's really quite strange.

So, anyway, we're going to cook the monkfish,

this doesn't take very long to cook at all.

No, just a bit of olive oil, the mushrooms are in the pan.

Right. I'll turn that pan up.

James, if you could just put some chicken stock, cover that.

-And this is cooked like this for how long?

-About 45 minutes.

And we end up with this that we've got here,

that lovely sort of sausage combination as well.

-There you go.

-OK.

-Then you want some parsley chopped?

-That would be great.

Little bit of parsley.

-And a bit of coriander in here or just plain parsley?

-Just parsley.

Going to go in at the end,

you can just chop that up and put that in now, James.

Now the fish is in.

Knob of butter.

-So, straight back to a busy service as well today?

-Yes, with...

-Hundreds of tables for two?

-As soon as I've finished here...

Like you said, not talking to each other.

Straight back to the restaurant, we're full for lunch.

Normally, I never open for Saturday lunch but today I am.

You can tell he's the boss, can't you? You work them hard.

-The demand, James, has been...

-Yeah, yeah.

-It has.

Just saw pound signs roll...

You're right, actually.

You got me there.

There you go. Right, so you've got parsley lightly chopped,

-there you go.

-Straight in there.

That goes in.

The nice thing about this is you can just eat this.

If you didn't want any of the fish, you can just serve it with chicken.

The amount of chopping I've done, I'll to taste this, don't worry.

The monkfish, literally,

you just sprinkle the salt and the paprika over that.

-That's right.

-But like you said, you mix the equal quantities

-of salt and paprika powder.

-Yeah.

For this one, it's just 50-50 of paprika.

But I think the paprika...with the paprika being so sweet

and the smokiness of it, it's not very hot, it's quite mild.

So, I think people would enjoy this dish.

-And it goes well with most white fish as well.

-Yeah, it does.

So we've just given that a few minutes.

-Almost done.

-Yeah. OK.

Bowl's there, ready.

Yeah, sausages are ready. We'll put it together.

You see how much oil has come out of that.

Huge amount of oil. All I did was just put them in hot oil,

turn the gas off and just leave them to sit and turn them over.

You just pop that in there while I get a spoon for our broth.

OK, so I'm just going to put the monkfish in the centre of the plate.

Do you want to season that or you've done that?

It's already done. Ready to go.

Monkfish piled up.

-A few of the sausages.

-This is a great combination.

It goes so well, it's fantastic.

You could almost do a sauerkraut and smoked sausage as well.

This is not...

This is a dish...it's sort of a dish I did in the last book

which was monkfish... Not monkfish, sorry, sole.

And I've just adapted it

cos we're using the monkfish at the moment at the restaurant,

it just goes so well.

And then just take the soup, the stew, straight over the top.

If you could just grab some of that coriander cress, James,

and sprinkle a little bit on top.

I'll leave that with you to do the chef-y drizzle.

-The chef-y bit.

-Chef-y drizzle.

-OTHERS LAUGH

Coriander cress, this is the new sort of trendy leaves.

It's nice, they're lovely, they're really good.

Bit of oil over the top. Remind us what that is again.

We've got pan-fried monkfish, chorizo sausage

and a little minestrone soup with paprika and coriander.

Cooked by a two-star Michelin chef on Valentine's Day.

What more do you want?

What more do you want indeed? It smells delicious.

Right, over here then, Marcus.

Got my cards. There you go, have a seat. Dive into that, Nina.

-OK.

-Tell us what you think. Now, I know you love the lamb.

-Yes.

-Tell us what you think of this.

-Yum, yum.

Oh, my goodness.

OK, you're not getting any.

Get that cress out of your teeth before you go meet your hubby.

-It's a great combination that.

-Lovely.

-Classic combination.

If people can't find monkfish,

any other fish if you try and do that today...

Anything - sole, sea ba...anything.

-I think...I think all white fish go with it quite well.

-Yeah.

I just go with a nice white fish.

Turbot will be delicious as well, quite meaty.

-Even...

-Yeah.

-What do you think of that then, Gareth?

-Mm. Mm.

-Gareth is just happy to be eating.

Fantastic flavours.

And, remember, if you don't want to splash out on monkfish,

any white fish would work well.

Now, it's that time of the week to join a certain Mr Keith Floyd,

he's continuing his tasty tour of Britain and Ireland today

and he's fishing for some Scottish salmon.

Enjoy this one.

SWEET, PSEUDO-SCOTTISH MUSIC PLAYS

Yes, look, I'm really sorry about this music.

but the truth is the BBC library was shut that day

and we had to borrow this from my producer.

Which on balance is better than his other record,

Richard Clayderman Takes The High Road.

Actually, I'm not so sure.

Oh, dear, here's the loch again, noted for its kippers,

fine oysters, plump prawns.

-CASH REGISTER DINGS

-Aye, thank you!

Now to business. If, like me, you've just become a gardener,

what a fine place this is, in May in particular, to nick a few cuttings.

Of course, poaching an azalea is one thing,

but don't mess with the salmon

or you'll end up split and smoked too,

like this superb Loch Fyne beauty.

-CASH REGISTER DINGS

-Aye, thank you!

So, there we are, that's just about it.

I know you've had a good trip round the estate

and I've been, as you can see, slaving away here.

Just to recap, poaching the gigot in water

with these lovely root vegetables and it's ready for the laird,

whom I've kept waiting.

I promised him lunch at... Well, we always do that.

Run over time a little bit.

Anyway, in there it goes.

Now I'll just pass it up to myself...in the lift.

OK, Keith?

-SINGS:

-Hey-ho, hey-ho, it's off to work I go.

-There we are, lord, sorry it's late.

-Oh, it's only five o'clock.

'It's pity that mutton has gone the way of so much

'of our culinary heritage.

'There's no comparison between imported lamb

'and mutton happily raised on...

-'SINGS:

-..bog myrtle, heather and thyme.'

Now then, what I forgot to mention to our viewers

was the indispensable caper sauce.

Have a close look, Richard.

You melt some butter, put a little flour in to make a roux,

then you add some milk.

Then, as it thickens, you add some of the stock from this into it.

And then, finally, some beautifully chopped up capers,

which you then pour over this.

This is sort of piquant and creamy.

And it goes brilliantly with the mutton.

-Right, John, I can just give you a bit of this stuff...

-Lovely.

-..and leek, I think.

-Right.

I mean, if you've been out hauling up oysters

and things like that all day

or chasing venison or whatever you lairds do.

-Reading The Sunday Times.

-Reading The Sunday Times. Right.

-It's very exhausting.

-KEITH LAUGHS

-Thank you.

-How's that?

-That's lovely.

-Oh, and a carrot - you must have a carrot.

-Yes.

-There you go. You tuck into that.

-I will.

-And I'll serve myself.

-Thank you very much.

Now, I mean, this is...

Actually, I think it's a three-year-old wether,

and I should think that you and I are the only people in Great Britain

-eating such a strange dish today.

-Yeah, what a shame.

Because it's not available,

and...mutton is almost a pejorative term, isn't it?

Mutton dressed as lamb.

How can we get people to eat things like mutton?

I think it's very much think up to...

I think we've got...WE have got to market it -

the farmers have got to try to think of ways of getting it

-to the marketplace as hill mutton.

-Yeah.

Rather like the small vineyard owners

might market their own single vineyard wines,

-that sort of thing.

-Sure.

Anyway, John, we've got to get on,

-they've got to get to work and find some scenes stuff to do.

-Right.

So, thanks for letting us use your house.

-Thank you for letting us muck up your day.

-Not at all.

We've had a fabulous time.

At the end of the day,

I had a most excellent boiled gigot of wether,

and I must thank you for that.

Well, thank you very much.

-Slainte.

-Slainte.

-Slainte, as they say.

Meanwhile, back on the river bank....

-That was a bit better.

-That was much better.

That is a bit more encouraging.

I've only got a couple of hours to catch

a really superb salmon for Lady Maclean's lunch.

Peter's going to help me. I'm dressed in the right stuff.

Shouldn't be any problem. It's just that...

-That was quite a good one, again.

-Very good.

-Yes.

I'm actually getting a bit better at this.

We'll get the lunch - don't worry. And if not...we'll just starve.

There you are now - the fish is after your fly.

-He's on!

-I've got him!

Right, keep the rod up. That's lovely.

-Right, how do I get the...?

-I'll just... No.

-Wind this in, if you can.

-Right.

-Hold that. Wind it in.

-Once you get on the reel...

-Right. Now, this is...

Now you've got in on the reel - that's lovely.

-This is...

-Don't rush it. That's it, that's it.

Let him go... Keep your rod up.

All you've got to do is keep the rod up. Lovely.

Let him go if you want to go.

-Wind in now.

-Hey, hey.

-Very good.

I actually cast that one, too, didn't I?

-That's extraordinary thing about it.

-PETER LAUGHS

-Oh, he's gone!

-He's off again.

-He's off.

-PETER LAUGHS

-Well...

-Keep trying.

-That is just my luck, but never mind.

Once encouraged like that, just keep on doing it -

there's not problem there.

-That was a great shame.

-Very good.

-What did I do wrong?

-No, nothing.

You just didn't take it very well.

-Right.

-We'll take it a wee bit better there.

Pretty impressive though, hey? First... More or less first cast.

-We have to start all over again now.

-Yes, or Lady Maclean will go hungry.

'Failure is a solitary thing, and I was sad to lose the fish

'and injured that when I took my next one,

'the crew had lost interest and were busy filming rare flowers.'

John, get the blinking camera - I've got one!

'He didn't even know the name of the plant.'

Richard, I've got one!

Now, we did something that we shouldn't do,

but Lady Maclean's far more important

than actually scruples at the end of the day,

and I'm afraid what we did was we put a little spinner on

and, in fact, we've got one. So, honour, in fact...

is salvaged, I think...

..if I can hold it just the last...

-Thank you very much, Peter.

-There you are.

-There. You see?

There's lunch for Lady Maclean.

She'll be very, very pleased with us, I think.

I'm certainly very pleased with me,

cos we never cheat on this programme -

that's the one really good thing about it.

OK. How is that? Three or four pounds?

-That's lovely. About three pounds.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-That's absolutely fine.

-OK.

-Absolutely fine.

-Ideal for your cooking.

Following the knocker routine to the letter,

we arrive at the home of Sir Fitzroy and Lady Maclean.

This man causes a great conflict of interest -

we nearly ditched the cookery programme

to make a documentary about Fitz

who some say was Ian Fleming's inspiration for Bond.

-MEN SING JAMES BOND THEME

-"The name's Bond, James Bond,

"007, British Intelligence."

He was good mates with Churchill

and was parachuted into Yugoslavia to find Tito, which he did.

Nowadays, he writes wonderful tales

and probably still has the odd word in the corridors of power.

This is absolutely brilliant, isn't it?

Do you like the little house I've borrowed for today?

Actually, it belongs to a friend of mine who has a hotel.

We didn't like her hotel because it was a bit smaller

than the house she actually lives in, you see.

We always like to beg, borrow and steal these humble little abodes

but nothing humble about my efforts today, nothing humble at all.

This is the king of fish, must make me the king of anglers

because up here in May... Which is now May, you see.

You'll be watching this in the winter probably

but this is May. ..the rains haven't rained,

the rivers haven't speighted, the salmon aren't running

but I got one.

I mean, I did promise about a 5lb one

and I'm sorry this is only about 3.5lbs.

-Veronica, I hope it'll be all right.

-It's marvellous.

I didn't believe you were going to get one, you know?

I was absolutely certain you would come

and I'd have to take one out of the fridge of farmed salmon.

This is a well... Is it freshly run? Has it got lice on it?

-It has.

-Well, it's been up for three days.

-Do you know, you'll know about that?

-Yes.

The different fish comes up the very day.

People are put off by that, it has a louse with a streamer on it,

-which you just wash off cos it's from the sea.

-Right.

And if it comes up two days, it has a louse without a streamer

-and this has been up three days.

-Three days, you see.

It's really beautiful, fresh, wild salmon.

-I should say that Veronica...

-Not very big

but all the better for that.

I actually like a small salmon better than a big one.

It is very good. I ought to interrupt her there

before she takes complete charge.

Lady Veronica Maclean

is one of the countries leading cookery book writers.

She's travelled extensively,

she's the wife of that amazing adventurer, Sir Fitzroy Maclean

and what she doesn't know about cooking,

and as you've heard, about salmon, isn't worth printing.

She knows the lot. Anyway, how shall we cook it?

How is the proper, proper way to cook this salmon?

Well, I've cooked it always like I cooked it, you know,

it was always cooked in my home as a child on a very great river,

much better than the West Coast rivers, the River Beauly.

And we cooked it in a fish kettle, covered...

Whatever the size of the fish, this is what's mysterious,

-just covered by about a finger of water.

-Right. So, Richard...

So, we put it in the fish kettle.

-Cold water is the first thing.

-Cold water?

Now, Richard, I want you to be particularly good today.

We all know you've won the Glenfiddich Award

for being quite a good cameraman but I don't want any mucking about.

I want this all covered very carefully, OK?

-There's... Into the salmon.

-There it is, about a finger of water.

Now, honestly, the business of putting a couple of peppercorns,

a bay leaf and a tiny bit of white wine is all nonsense

but it looks good.

But it simply doesn't... That's enough.

It simply doesn't matter.

Some people say if the salmon came out of the sea

that it's best to cook in seawater,

but I quite often just cook it in plain cold water,

-one bay leaf and that's it.

-No salt?

-No, no salt.

-No salt at all?

-No, fish don't need salt.

-Good.

Richard, the lady's speaking.

I did ask you to start this thing properly.

Lady Maclean is talking to you and the customers at home,

would you look at her, please. Thank you. Now, what were you saying?

-Do you always wear your hat on in...

-Sorry, it's...

It is rather a magnificent hat. Has it got a fly in it?

-No, it hasn't.

-It ought to now that you've caught that.

It's my fishing hat. Yes, I'm sorry about that. Take that, could you?

-Thank you. Right. So, we want to put that...

-Now, we're ready.

-We're hat-less but ready.

-OK.

-And we've got the lid, yes?

Well, this is what I love and live by,

which is my glorious 30-year-old cooker.

-There we go.

-And we put the lid on. And then the next...

It ought to fit tightly and it does.

Now, the next thing is that that is in cold water

and we don't forget it.

But the moment it comes to the boil, a nice sort of rolling boil.

-Right. How long will that be? 20 minutes, perhaps?

-Yes,

-cos it isn't, you know, there's not a lot, about half an hour.

-Yeah.

I never can tell, it depends on your heat.

But you don't want to put it on the hottest,

-you want to have it on a hot heat but not the very hottest.

-Right.

And then when it comes to the boil you, literally,

stand with your watch on your hand

and you cook it for anything between one and a half and three minutes,

-let it boil.

-OK.

-And that's all.

-Right.

And then you let it cool in its steam.

Well, shall we go and have a wee dram to celebrate our success

-catching the fish...

-I think so.

-..and also to welcome us here

-cos it's rather good, isn't it?

-Very nice idea. Why not?

Oh, you haven't got one. Excuse me.

It's over there.

And this is a very curious thing about this Scottish lady,

this grand, grand... You can follow the microphone around as well,

if you can, you know, you don't have to be difficult.

..is she doesn't drink that much Scotch whisky, she drinks...

-I do outside.

-Outside?

-Outside on the hill.

-But inside...

In the hill. I'm sorry to say I like bourbon.

Well, Cheers to us.

Thanks for having me here anyway and we'll get on with the cooking.

It's lovely having you.