Episode 107 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

It's time to whet your appetite. This is Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show. We've got a great line-up of seasonal treats

cooked by some of the best chefs around and there are some pretty

peckish celebrities ready for a taste of the action today,

including Joss Stone and Chris Evans.

Michael Caines comes all the way from the double Michelin starred

Gidleigh Park to roast pheasant and serves it with braised chicory,

quince puree, caramelised walnuts and wild mushrooms.

One of the co-creators of Moro, Sam Clark,

joins us to share his version of a Spanish scallop dish.

He pan-fries scallops with Oloroso sherry and oyster mushrooms

and serves them with Spanish croutons called 'migas'.

Anna Hansen brings onglet steak from her modern pantry

to the Saturday Kitchen table.

She coats the meat in a tamarind and miso marinade

and serves it with besan chips and watercress salad.

And Chris Evans faces his Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Will he get his Food Heaven - fat. Which I made a little bit more appetising than it sounds

with my duck rillettes with duck breast, pickled mushrooms

and parsnip and apple puree.

Or will he get his Food Hell - fish with my medley of steamed fish, Chinese greens and plum sauce.

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

But first we go back to the days when Mark Sargeant was in charge

of the restaurant at Claridge's and he had salmon on the menu.

Now, this recipe, tell us what it is first of all because it's pretty straightforward.

Normally, I come on and have about 65 pans

and get myself in a bit of a muddle.

So I thought I'd be nice and simple today. We've got a really lovely cut.

I think it's been a bit forgotten. We've brought it back in the pubs. It is a darn of salmon.

So basically, it's the whole fish and you cut it through the bone.

You can take out the little pin bones down the side.

What that does is, it keeps it really moist.

So you cook it and the bone stops it from overcooking in the middle

and salmon is one of those fish you can have nice and pink and medium rare inside.

It used to be available quite a lot.

There was no other choice ten years ago. Now, the fashion is to take all the bones out.

Posh fillets and all the bones and all that sort of thing,

which has its place and it's lovely. I just think, you know...

You want me to chop the potatoes? Yes. Really nice, crispy potatoes.

So you dice those nice and small so we can cook them in real time.

And these lovely brown shrimps. Morecambe Bay shrimps. They give a really nutty flavour to it.

Capers and some chopped parsley and we serve it with a little watercress salad.

If people can't buy these brown shrimps on their own, you could use potted shrimps.

Potted shrimps, yes. Take the butter off and melt it down a bit and you're away.

So what we're going to do is fasten the little belly part

of the salmon here with some cocktail sticks,

so when we cook it, it doesn't all splay open. I mentioned the pubs.

Is this the type of food they serve in the pubs? Yes.

We've got this dish on at The Warrington, which is our pub in Maida Vale.

Just nice, simple, kind of quick, tasty, non-fussed-over food.

That is what we like doing.

Really nice seasoning. Don't be shy with the seasoning.

You are going to lose some of the seasoning anyway in the pan.

You mentioned that keeping the bone in keeps it nice and moist as well.

Nice and moist so you can get that really amazing colour,

which gives it a fantastic flavour.

Almost like a golden brown crust on the outside.

So it's nice and moist and pink and medium rare in the centre.

That goes in there. Just a little bit of oil in there, that's all? Yes. Olive oil.

What we are going to do is, from the pan we cook the salmon in

we're going to take it out and let it rest for a couple of minutes and then we're going

to make a warm vinaigrette to go in with that.

These potatoes, I am chopping them nice and fine.

So they can cook quickly. Yes, nice and quickly.

You want them nice and crispy and what they're going to do is,

when we put them back into the vinaigrette,

which we will make in the pan, it will absorb all that flavour.

With all the restaurants opening and all the stuff you're doing,

what about the credit crunch? People are talking about it.

Has that affected the London restaurant scene?

I think I'm very lucky because I've obviously got Gordon Ramsay above my door which helps.

Not your name! No.

I just think we are a very special occasion place.

This is Claridge's.

Claridge's, yes. We don't rely on the major bankers

and things like that, that might be feeling it.

I don't know.

I'm sure we will get affected eventually but at the moment, touch wood...

Thanks for that. Cheers. So the fish is cooking. This is the secret with cooking fish.

Cook on one side and then turn it over. Turn it over.

And you've got that lovely layer of skin around the outside,

which obviously, when it is scaled, is going to go nice and crispy.

Adam said earlier in rehearsal

he poaches this and takes the skin off round the outside.

But I think it's nice to kind of give it a really lovely colour,

golden brown colour on there, all the skin goes nice and crispy.

So you've got lots of different textures in there.

You've got the golden brown skin and then nice and moist in the middle.

I suppose if you wanted to, it's coming towards the end of the season now,

March to September for the wild salmon, coming towards the end of the season now.

You shouldn't be buying that on the credit crunch, James! I know.

If you can get... Very expensive. If you can fish it out yourself, fine.

What other fish do you use?

I did it with hake the other day.

Hake on the bone is really good because again hake

is one of those fish, a bit like cod, it's very flaky.

I've done that, but we use string and tie it as well as the cocktail stick

and tie it with a bit of string as well.

It's good if you can get the bottom cut so it's on the tail,

so you go straight through. It stops it from falling apart.

And just pull that bone out after in the middle. Yes.

That's had a few minutes on there.

We'll take it out and let it rest there.

That has got a nice bounce to it.

So it's going to be really juicy and pink in the middle.

We've got that oil there from the fish, which I'm going to pour into the potatoes.

Just to give them a bit of extra flavour.

And then back on the stove, we'll turn that down,

you just really need to use the residual heat in there.

I'm going to fry off my capers. We are using capers in vinegar.

You can get two types. One in brine, one in a salt.

I prefer the one in the vinegar because salmon is quite a rich, fatty type of fish.

The capers just give it a bit of acidity.

Once they are in the pan, they should just pop open. They pop open.

We just want to fry them so they split open in a bit.

So presumably if you don't want salt, you just rinse off the salt.

Yes, but then you are rinsing out the flavour of the capers, I find.

So you just want to fry those. Now, these lovely brown shrimps.

These are incredible. Bags and bags of flavour.

Almost like a nutty taste, really.

Be really generous with those.

You have just come back from your tour around Italy as well,

but in France they have the crevette grise, and you eat the whole lot.

Shell on. Nice and crunchy. Head and everything. Delicious.

So we are just warming this through.

This is like a Chardonnay vinegar. You can use white wine vinegar.

The Chardonnay vinegar has got a slight sweetness to it as well.

So it's obviously acidic but with a slight sweetness.

You can use that part with oysters as well.

Laurence is taking notes for his wife later! I hope she's watching.

So, a touch of vinegar. Have you got my parsley?

Can you put my parsley in there, please?

Chopped parsley has gone in.

A few of those. Potatoes go in.

And then we are just going to add a touch of olive oil.

That just sort of forms the vinaigrette in there.

It's a nice, warm vinaigrette.

It's also not sort of season conducive either.

You can have that in the winter, summer, spring.

There is nothing really seasonal. Maybe the shrimps.

I will put your salmon on there.

And you've got some watercress. Yes.

I want that lightly dressed with a little bit of oil. I will do that.

And that is nice and peppery. This is young watercress. It's very small.

So it's not that mind-blowing, burn your mouth out kind of pepperiness.

Basically, it's a kind of salad, really.

So you've got lots of different textures and flavours.

The spiciness and the acidity of the capers and the vinaigrette.

The rich salmon and the pepperiness.

Very, very simple but again very quick.

It looks great as well, doesn't it? Even I'm quite pleased with that.

Put that on there.

Just a little drizzle of olive oil.

Those potatoes have absorbed all that lovely vinaigrette. It's nice and warm.

That looks pretty good, doesn't it? Remind us what that is again.

A nice darn of salmon, pan-fried, with a warm vinaigrette of potatoes,

Morecambe Bay shrimps and capers.

Delicious. Salmon and potatoes to you and me!

It looks and smells delicious. There you go.

You get your first bite for breakfast at 9:45am.

It looks lovely. Dive into that.

The vinegar does really make it, doesn't it?

Salmon is a fatty and rich fish and you need something to cut through that richness.

Where do you stand on the farm organic salmon?

Yes. I don't want to go into that on television!

Rubbish fork. Rubbish fork. Rubbish fork but really nice.

How are the shrimps you used different to the normal shrimps you find?

They are brown shrimps. They've got that really lovely flavour.

It's just what you'd have as a classic potted shrimp.

You can use prawns and things but just to have that flavour,

they've got that really earthy flavour, those brown shrimps.

It smells lovely. The capers are lovely as well.

But with other fish, you mentioned salmon, hake...

Anything with a bone in it really.

Like a round fish and you can cut through it. It keeps it nice and moist.

Sorry about the fork, Laurence, but I'm glad you liked the salmon.

Coming up, Matt Tebbutt makes a chestnut and pear millefeuilles for singer Joss Stone,

after Rick Stein travels the waterways of France

in search of some classic French cooking.

And now the Rosa is about to experience the pente d'eau at Montech.

As you see, we're heading for a puddle of water

and there is a big slope beyond.

A big board will drop behind us and then two enormous railway engines

will pull that whole puddle and us up the hill to the top, where we will...

LAUGHTER

Carry on!

Where we will be deposited on the upper level.

When you think about it, the whole concept of moving stuff

around the country by waterways is remarkable.

In this day and age, you would think that more consideration

might be given to such a gentle, environmentally-friendly means.

It all comes down to time and I'm sure with a little forethought

there must be plenty of cargo that isn't necessarily needed in a rush.

Anyway, the problem of getting boats laden with goods

from one level to another has been answered in a variety of ways.

Not the least of which is the standard and well-known lock,

which we have seen so many of.

But I've never seen anything like this before.

This is just amazing because the power of these two engines,

and it's very nice because they have got SNCF, Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer, on there,

so they are actually two real railway engines, pushing us up here.

When you look at the power of them, it's just amazing.

But when you think that there are five locks going the other way

where water does it, you just realise the incredible power of water.

This is costing somewhere between ?80 and ?90 just to shove us up here.

With the water, it costs nothing.

I suppose it's a bit like Barnes Wallis with the bouncing bomb.

Who would have thought that somebody could have such ingenuity to think

of two engines like this pushing a boat up a slope like this?

It just defies belief. It is such fun.

I know it's boys' stuff but I just love it.

The whole public transport system, not just rail-based,

but canals as well, they've got backing,

they've got faith, they've got optimism.

I think that optimism must have a lot to do with sunshine

and at the moment that seems as never-ending as the canal itself.

And sunshine, of course, brings about bumper amounts of local fruit.

Here, that means great, fat, luscious cherries and so for a time

they pop up in everything, including sparkling aperitifs.

But the inspiration for my next dish came from these fruit farmers.

And I'm going to use their cherries to make a pithivier.

I've got a bit of a confession to make. I'm using packet puff pastry.

But I think that's quite good news.

Ten years ago if I was demonstrating this dish,

I would be making the puff pastry and I would be here all day.

Really, you know, as somebody once said to me,

life is too short for boning oxtails.

I'm afraid it's become too short for making puff pastry.

Much as I like making puff pastry.

But if you are going to do something like a pithivier,

which I really like, it is so much easier to buy the pastry

and concentrate on getting some nice cherries.

You can of course make small individual pithiviers,

which is what I would do in the restaurant.

But now I'm going to make one big family-sized one.

I tried making a pithivier with the stones still in the cherries

because I just like the look of whole cherries in a tart like that.

But actually, the whole business of biting stones wasn't too pleasurable.

It just reminds me,

once we were doing this prune tart in one of the restaurants,

in the cafe, and somebody tried to sue us

because there was a prune stone still in the prune.

And the legal advice came back saying,

"It is in the nature of prunes to have stones in them."

Which I thought was rather good.

The filling in a pithivier is actually very similar to a bakewell tart.

It is unsalted butter and sugar beaten together in a bowl.

And when it's smooth, add one whole egg and one yolk

and carry on beating until it's all amalgamated.

Then add ground almonds and a small amount of plain flour.

Fold it together with a metal spoon.

There is no need to beat it at this stage.

I like to add a good splash of Kisch cherry liqueur

and then the luscious cherries.

I've kept the pastry in the fridge just to make it easier to handle,

otherwise it gets soft and sticky.

Now I make a kind of parcel by spooning the mixture

in the middle and seal the two sheets of pastry with an egg wash.

You've got to do this all fairly quickly, but don't worry if it gets

too warm - just pop it back in the fridge for ten minutes and carry on.

Make a little hole in the centre to let out steam

and then paint the whole thing with an egg wash,

because you want a good golden colour when it comes out of the oven.

I must say, this is the sort of thing I dread.

I'm not terribly good at doing a fancy bit of pastry work like this.

Oh, gosh!

I don't know that it matters that much because when it all bakes

and looks lovely and dark brown and shiny,

it will look fine.

The best laid plans of mice and men.

That pithivier tasted fine but didn't look too good,

so I made another one and this is it.

It's been in a hot oven for 15 minutes

and then a cooler one for a further 35.

I don't know who it was,

but someone said that cookery is not chemistry but an art.

It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements.

I'll go along with that.

Now, if you ask me, this dish is best eaten under a cherry tree

beside the canal with a chilled glass of Muscat de Beaumes de Venise.

I think the crew really liked it because they ate the first one

and now they are back for more.

Steady on!

This is the barge that we're now going to go all the way to Marseille on.

It is called The Anjodi.

We did originally want to book this right from Bordeaux to Marseille

but unfortunately, it was pre-booked.

So we started on the Rosa and we are transferring.

But the great thing about transferring barges is,

you just pack your cases and walk from one to the other, which is

like everything on this trip - it's very relaxed and civilised.

One thing that did bother me slightly is that Bernard seemed to be

particularly happy about this changeover. I don't know why.

This is our new captain, Lee, who is very good with VeloSoleXes.

See you later, Rick. Have a nice travel.

Thank you very much for looking after us so well.

Bonne chance. Bonne chance.

Thank you very much. It's been a lovely time. Au revoir.

Thank you.

Well, parting is such sweet sorrow, as they say.

But I can't help but think it's the beginning of a whole new adventure.

That pithivier did look delicious and there are so many things you can do with puff pastry

and Rick said life really is too short to make your own.

I've got one of my favourite recipes using puff pastry to show you now

and it's a very simple grilled pear and chestnut millefeuilles.

Millefeuilles is quite an old-fashioned sort of dish, don't you think, Bryn?

It's layers of puff pastry built up with a chestnut puree going through some cream.

And I'm going to chargrill some pears and that's pretty much it.

I'm going to make a little caramel sauce to go with it.

So I'm going to make a dry caramel now in a hot pan.

Got the sugar in there. I'm not going to stir it too much.

I'm just going to keep an eye on it because you can see it changing colour already.

Have you got a sweet tooth? Yes. Definitely.

Have you got any favourite puddings?

I just like anything that's really sweet.

I'm not really a chocolate girl, though. I like white chocolate.

I really like creme brulee.

So I'm into all this caramelised gorgeousness.

And vanilla and all that goodness.

Tell us about the album. Your new album is out at the moment. Yes.

It just came out the other day. Excuse the noise.

It's OK. It takes a little bit of rolling around.

It just came out and I like it. I hope everyone else does.

What's it called? It's called Colour Me Free. Where does that come from?

Where does that title come from? It's about being free through art.

Through art? Yes. Really? So any form of art.

Through this kind of art or making music or baking a cake or painting a picture.

Just to be free to be happy doing it.

Sorry to interrupt you. This is the clever bit. The caramel is there.

Put some cream in.

I'm going to get that back on the heat.

You take it quite dark because you can put a lot of cream in there. Have you got a problem with cream?

Because a lot of singers do, don't they? Dairy products and stuff like that.

Yes, they do. I just... Whatever.

Really? I'm good. I've got this tea that I have. You've got what?

I've got a special tea that kind of deals with all that mucusy stuff.

I put cayenne pepper and lemons in it. And ginger. Is that nice?

Some people think it's foul. It doesn't sound great.

But I kind of like it. You put lots of honey in and a mint tea bag.

I drink it on stage. It's quite spicy.

That's not very rock 'n' roll though, is it? No, not really.

People always think I'm drinking some kind of whiskey or something, but I'm not.

I'm really boring. I know. It's a shame.

You cook quite a lot at home? I do.

Have you got any favourite recipes that you cook?

I like to do a lot of pastas. Really? Yes.

Are you hearing that, Gennaro? Bless you. I love pasta.

What is this special macaroni cheese recipe? That is my mum's, actually.

She used to put... Talk us through this because it's quite interesting.

Macaroni and cheese, you usually just make a cheese sauce

and shove it with the macaroni and then you are good.

But there is so much more you can do with macaroni and cheese. Like?

You can give it cornflakes on top. Cornflakes! Really?

It's really good. What does that bring to the party?

That sounds shocking. It's really good.

You just crunch it up and put loads of cheese in it

and you've got a crunchy top.

And then I like to put fruit in my pasta as well.

Fruit in a pasta? Yes. What do you think about that?

You can put fruit inside pasta, yes. I don't know about the cornflakes.

You're taking it very well. I don't know about the cornflakes!

It is good with cheese. You know how you have cheese and pineapple on a stick.

You can do that in a macaroni and cheese. Why not?

I didn't think of that. So I've got three equal strips of puff pastry.

Non-stick baking trays. Sandwich them together.

So you get the nice crispiness of the puff pastry

but you don't get that big old rise.

Some you leave that on there when you put it in? Yes. Stick it in the oven.

200 degrees, 400 Fahrenheit, gas mark six.

It takes about 20 minutes or so. So the caramel is halfway there.

I just want that. What, the caramel?

Just put it in a cup and I'll drink it. You can have it in a minute.

Semi-whipped double cream, OK? Now we'll put that into there.

This is super hot so you don't want to be touching it. You don't want to be trying it at this point.

But don't you want to get out all the rest? Do I want to what?

You've wasted it. No, there'll be plenty there.

OK, so there's the caramel. It looks lovely. It is delicious.

All right, Bryn? That looks nice. It smells so good as well.

OK, so that's that. Right, now you're still only 22.

You've worked with some of the biggest names in the business. Yes.

Do you ever get nervous? Yes. I do. Who makes you nervous?

And when I get nervous, I yawn a lot. Who makes me nervous?

Presumably we're not making you nervous this morning.

No, you guys are just really funny.

I'm not sure we're supposed to be intentionally funny. This is a very serious cooking show.

You are very lovely. I don't know.

I was nervous when I sang with Stevie Wonder. I was very nervous then.

I was nervous when I sang with James Brown too.

And I blame that on Jonathan Ross. Why is that?

Because he sat there, chatting away to him

and we all watch when they do the interviews and I don't know,

I definitely would have prepared myself if I'd have known

I was going to sing with James Brown and nobody told me anything.

So I'm sat there watching them have this interview and he goes,

"Joss Stone is in the back, do you want to sing with her?" And James Brown went, "Yeah, sure."

So I was like, "Oh, my God." So that put you on the spot. Yes.

I had like ten minutes. But presumably you carried it off.

I just made it up. I mean, everyone knows his songs.

What, and you don't think we're doing that?! It seems that way!

But it's so much easier, isn't it, when you don't have the pressure of practising things?

If you just go ahead and just jam... Just do it. Just jam. Yes, just jam.

Which is what I did with the album, so it's the same thing as what you are doing.

How long did the album take to make?

Well, the bulk of it took about a week.

We kind of randomly... Well, I randomly woke up one morning

and I just wanted to make an album.

I was in Devon and my mum had this idea of making a venue called Mama Stones.

Mama Stones? Mama Stones. It sounds like a restaurant.

It can be sometimes, but it's more of a club.

So she has people come down and play.

But it was just the beginning then so she had the building

and it was ready and she was painting patterns everywhere and the builders were in.

I woke up and was like, "OK, let's just do it. Let's just make the album."

And the guys I was writing with at the time were like,

"Joss, we have no songs, we have no studio, we have no musicians.

"How can we just make an album today?"

I said, "Don't worry about it, it's cool." Details, details.

"I'll fix it, it's all good." So we did.

We brought in this studio.

We rented loads of equipment and made a makeshift studio in my mum's place.

Knocking holes through walls, running the leads through.

I sang in the drum room

and the bass player was in the vocal booth they'd just made.

It was just really funny. I got a copy yesterday.

I listened to it last night. It's very good. Do you like it?

Track three. Oh, right. OK. Parallel Lines? Parallel Lines, yeah, yeah.

Get me! Jeff Beck played on that one. Really?

Yeah, and Sheila E did a little bit of loveliness.

Right, so in here, double cream,

cos I hope you're going to make this at home.

Oh, God, I can't remember it. You'll have to write it down for me, love.

It will be on the website. It's fine. OK, so in here, double cream

and some sweet chestnut puree.

OK, so how do you make the chestnut puree? You buy chestnut puree

or you can make it.

You can roast off your own and then you can blanch them

in some sugar syrup. OK.

Do you want to try one of those? Can I just eat that?

These are kind of shop-bought cooked chestnuts. Oh, right.

These are the sort of things you throw through game dishes.

Things like sprouts and stuff like that. OK, sprouts?

Well, sprouts, what else? Cavolo nero. Everything. Lovely.

Christmas time. Stuff the chicken,

chestnut filling. OK.

So it's the same kind of chestnuts.

You've got the sweetness

and these are just the bog-standard chestnut that's been cooked.

So that's going in there for a bit of texture, OK?

Just move that around a bit.

And you can collect your own chestnuts and do this yourself?

Yes, you could. I'm sure Gennaro does. I am indeed.

I have to tell a quick story.

I collect about five kilos of chestnuts.

This was true, I tell you. I put them outside of the garden.

I was there yesterday. I was not swearing.

I was very upset because a squirrel cleared the lot.

What has upset me, how did he manage to carry the bag with him as well?

Really upset. I'm really upset. I won't tell you... Never mind.

LAUGHTER

It's true. If I could drag you back. So this is my cooked puff pastry.

Wow. Nice and crispy.

In here, while you weren't looking, I dolloped some dark rum. Nice one.

Do you like rum? Yes, I do. I love dark rum.

So you could use whatever you like really. OK.

What kind of rum did you use? A little layer of this.

Just a dark rum. OK, any dark rum is good? Absolutely. All right.

I'll keep that in mind.

A little splutter of Armagnac, something like that.

Make it up as you go along. Lovely.

Jam. What? Just jam. Absolutely, just jam. Just jam.

Is this a new phrase I'm not familiar with? It's a musical thing.

You have to remember the age gap between me and you.

You're making me feel old. How old are you? 35. Oh, you're still young.

Well, kind of. I don't say jam. Just about, just about! You are.

Right, OK. Now this will all come together in a minute. Wow.

So there's your little sandwich.

Let's get some icing sugar. It's very posh. It is posh, isn't it?

How are you going to pick it up? I'm quite impressed myself here.

Wow. That is the tricky bit. Careful. So, caramel sauce on the plate.

Oh, lovely. OK. A bit like that.

That's enough of that.

Put more on if you like. Lovely.

And then let's put that on there without dropping it. Oh, God.

GENNARO SQUAWKS

Thank you, Gennaro(!)

Wow, that looks lovely. Look at that.

That's my chestnut pear millefeuille. Tuck into that one.

I don't want to ruin it, though.

Go for it. Smash it up. That's the point.

That's the whole joy of cooking.

I love that you just did the pastry thing. I've never made pastry before.

Crack into it. I can't. I feel bad.

It's all just going to be ruined.

It's so pretty. Do you want me to smash into it for you? It's OK.

I've got it.

And if you'd like to try making millefeuille, or fancy having

a go at any of the recipes on today's show,

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

Now, we're not live today

so instead we're looking back at some of the delicious cooking

from the Saturday Kitchen Cookbook,

and next up is Michael Caines. He cooks pheasant with a little help

from a large pot of wooden spoons.

Welcome back, Michael. Long overdue. I know. What are we cooking?

I'm doing a wonderful pheasant dish. We've got these breasts of pheasant.

We're going to pan-roast.

We've got some chicory here, a little bit of bacon

and then we've got caramelised candied walnuts going on over here.

And quince, which we're going to turn into puree

and some wild mushrooms, a little bit of chopped parsley there.

Sounds good to me. This is a quince, by the way. It is.

I'll let you cook the pheasant over there, but this is a quince.

Fantastic. It's a cross between a pear and an apple.

Don't bite into it. It's rock solid. Absolutely.

You can only really peel it with a knife but it is fantastic stuff and

it will go brown very quickly

so I'll cook that with a touch of water, some sugar.

Little bit of lemon juice in there,

just to keep the colour as well, which is great.

and then I'm going to get straight over to my chicory, which takes

time while that's roasting off lightly.

Just show you how to cook the quince.

We've got in here sugar, water, lemons to stop it going brown.

Cook that for 15 minutes? 15 minutes, yeah.

Where are the best pheasants?

Well, they're reared now on farms wild so you can get them anywhere.

From the South West to Scotland, to Norfolk, no problem.

Absolutely stunning. But you get great pheasants where you are?

We do. Gidleigh Park. Can I put that in the... Yeah, pop it in the oven.

That wants to go in there for about four minutes.

Turn that down a little bit. So here I've got my onions, sliced.

You don't have to chop them, because that way you can see them.

We've got a little bit of garlic going in here, James,

which we just tap like that, whole.

Now, we've got a wooden spoon for this. Great. Check this out.

Because I mentioned we had the world's worst wooden spoons,

now we've got a bonfire load of wooden spoons.

Which one do you want? Well, any one.

These have all been sent in by our viewers. Which one do you want?

Do you want one from...

Look at that one. That's a proper one. That looks good.

This is a proper one. There you go. Fantastic.

Chrissie Cullick, Tamworth in Staffordshire. There you go.

We're going to use your wooden spoon. OK.

Well, I've got two spoons here. I like this one.

This one's come all the way from Germany. It's like a boomerang.

Look at that thing. Boomerang spoon.

Little bit of stock in there. Pretty cool or what? Chicken and water.

So this week we like Rolls-Royce. Yes.

LAUGHTER

How many do you think you're going to receive? None!

Right, so look, James, up to the boil and that's it,

and we're going to end up with something that's already

pre-cooked like this. How long did you cook that for?

That's going to take at least 20 minutes.

I should imagine no more than 20 minutes slowly.

That takes the bitterness out of it.

It does, and then all we do, we take our braised chicory.

We're going to chop it up and put it back in the pan with those

wonderful lardons, smoked bacon flavour, which we put in like this.

Now you call this endive? Endive.

You know, Sam never had pheasant before. Never had pheasant? No.

Wow, you're going to love this. Let's hope so anyway. Let's hope so.

It's worthy of two Michelin stars, not quite three.

Now tell us about Gidleigh then.

You're there, you've got ABode, of course,

the growing chain of hotels that you've got. Yeah.

How many are you up to now? Five now.

Remember, you popped up earlier this year.

We'd just opened our Chester hotel.

We have a wonderful restaurant on the fifth floor. But we have five.

Manchester, Chester, Canterbury, Exeter and Glasgow.

It's going really well, despite the situation across the country.

That's the advantage of having a mobile phone number,

cos I couldn't get in cos you were full. I know.

The things you do for your mates.

I was actually on service at Gidleigh Park.

I thought, "Who's going to call you in the middle of service?"

It's always a chef, isn't it?

We've got the puree of quince here. This has been cooked.

I'm going to get the... Just a touch of this liquid in.

Just need a few mushrooms.

That pheasant's only had three minutes. OK, let's have a look.

Just going to turn that over a little. Perfect.

I like a little bit of colour on the skins,

so I've just turned them back the other way. Right, OK.

And finish off with some mushrooms.

We're going to deglaze a pan.

Daniel was talking about his favourite sauces with beef earlier.

Simple. Just put into the pan the mushrooms with the cooking juices

and the fat that's left.

A lovely selection of mushrooms at the moment.

We're using quite a lot of mushrooms today but that's because

they're in season and you really do have a stunning array.

A lot of spoons. First Manston Guides, Leeds.

Thank you very much for your spoon.

There you go. Right, so these walnuts here looking good.

Are you frying the walnuts after? We are. Straight into the fryer.

Caramelised first and then fried? Absolutely.

You have to be careful with these, don't you?

That sounds like a real good snack. Got to be careful cos it's very hot.

Just a bit of seasoning here. OK, need my plate.

The producers in my ear are saying these could be a nice bar snack.

They can be a great bar snack.

It's obviously the type of bar he goes to

because they're far too posh for me.

You're lucky to get pork scratchings where I come from. Blimey. Poor man.

Caramelised walnuts? I know, stunning.

They are absolutely stunning.

You know you can get caramelised pistachio nuts as well?

They're really, really good. These are just like that.

I'll tell you a great story with bar snacks while you're doing that.

My sister, we took her to a trendy bar in London.

She's munching on these bowl of nuts and she's chewing on it,

and she told me after 20 minutes chewing on these nuts,

"What are these things that I'm eating?"

I looked down and they were the stones of the olives

that everybody else had been eating in the bar!

LAUGHTER

Sounds like a classy upbringing!

That's very hot, though, James. It's hot, that, chef. So be careful.

What I'm going to do now is leave... Once you've done that...

I'll do this. You plate. If you just take them out and put them there.

Right. I'm just going to add the mushrooms now into the pan.

While they're resting, a little bit of sea salt on your walnuts

and the other tip is, don't put them on anything other than parchment

otherwise they'll stick. Where's the little metal ring gone? Over here.

It's got the pan on it. Right.

OK, so a little bit of butter into the sauce.

We actually thicken the sauce with the butter.

We call it monte au beurre.

I'm going to take a little bit of my puree while we're waiting for that.

Beautiful quince puree, James. Just how I would have done it. Is it?

You're going to put that on as well? Yeah. There? Yeah, beautiful.

That's really good.

What we're going to do, I've got a little bit of xeres vinegar

and some chicken stock here just to finish the sauce.

That's that sherry vinegar, yeah? Exactly, sherry. Just a drop.

Not too much. It can be a little overpowering.

Don't forget, it's a very hot pan.

I know you're waiting for me.

You said that twice because you picked it up twice.

I'm kind of reminding myself.

Then, look, just a little bit of stock here.

Quick reduction and you've got some parsley chopped as well,

which we'll add.

Just whisk that in. Let me test the seasoning.

Little bit of salt.

Little bit of pepper in here.

So, breast on.

Candied walnuts around, which is beautiful, and over.

And then just spoon on the wild mushrooms like so.

Remind us what that is again.

In here we have a wonderful pan-roasted pheasant with wild

mushrooms, quince puree and braised chicory with a little bit of bacon.

Easy as that. Good.

How fantastic does that look?

Well, you've never tried pheasant for the first time.

Have a seat over here. Amanda. Thank you. Dive in.

That smells good from here. Smells good, huh?

And if you can get that quince, it's fantastic. Great.

The thing about quince, if you bite into it raw, it's dry.

You wouldn't eat it. A forbidden fruit.

But when it's cooked, a little bit of sugar, stunning, isn't it?

It's absolutely fantastic.

It's a base with apple tart, quince, as well. It is a delicious fruit.

Now, no cooking live in the studio today, so instead we're looking

back at some of the great recipes from the Saturday Kitchen archive.

Still to come on today's Best Bites, things get busy in the kitchen

when John Torode versus Atul Kochhar

in the Saturday Kitchen Omelette Challenge.

Despite being nearly neck-and-neck on the leaderboard,

both men could do much better.

Find out how they get on a little later on.

Anna Hansen cooks onglet steak, modern pantry style.

She coats the meat in a tamarind and miso marinade

and serves it with besan chips and watercress salad.

And Chris Evans faces his Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Will he get his Food Heaven - fat with my duck rillettes with

duck breasts, pickled mushrooms and a parsnip and apple puree?

Or will he get his dreaded Food Hell -

a selection of steamed fish with Chinese greens and plum sauce?

You can find out what he gets to eat at the end of today's show.

And now it's time for some Spanish inspiration from Sam Clark,

and I apologise in advance

for my stripy shirt I'm wearing in this clip.

What was I thinking?

Good to have you on the show, boss. Thank you very much.

Welcome to the show.

What are we cooking

cos we've got basically quite a few small ingredients

but fantastic tasting food?

Yes, we've got wonderful diver-caught scallops... Yeah.

Which we're going to have with some Oloroso sherry and some migas,

which is the Spanish breadcrumbs, made with bread, old bread,

and flavoured with a little bit of saffron and oregano...

And about three tonnes of garlic, by the sounds of that.

Quite a lot of garlic. They like their garlic.

Bit of oyster mushrooms and then, of course,

one of my favourite ingredients, the lovely smoked paprika.

So, what do we need to do first?

Could you get some onion, chopped finely?

I knew I'd have to chop something. If we can get that softening.

I, meanwhile, am going to prepare the migas. So, this is day-old bread.

So, tell us about migas.

Is this a fundamental part of Spanish and Moroccan food, or...?

Well, specifically Spanish,

but every culture has its own way of using old bread.

You know, in England we use bread sauce, and in Spain

they thicken gazpacho with old bread, and they also make this migas.

And it's used, really, as a carbohydrate instead of potatoes

or rice, it's just a way of having something else on your plate.

And I like it, particularly in this dish because it's got a lovely

crunchy texture, which contrasts well with the soft, unctuous scallops.

So, do you... You do need day-old bread, I take it?

Well, it'll just fry that little bit more crisply.

But you can use bread on the day,

but it'll just take a little bit longer to cook.

And it's just a nice way of using up old bread

as opposed to throwing it away.

Now, I mention Moro, those people who have never been to Moro,

it's Spanish and Moroccan influenced. Yes.

How did it all come about?

Because you trained in the UK in some amazing restaurants... Yeah.

..we've had many, many chefs on the show, as well, from the River Cafe.

Yes. How did you get that influence with Spain and Morocco?

Well, I cooked Italian food for five years,

and I adore Italian food - I mean, it is hard to beat - but I just felt

I needed to have more flavours, I needed to taste more flavours.

I was impatient, really,

my wife and I were impatient to try different things.

So we travelled around, and we just loved the whole lifestyle of Spain,

and the whole way they ate, with the tapas and the small bits...

So, I'm going to add the garlic now. Yeah.

Because the garlic - it seems like a lot of garlic, and it is.

But we cook it slowly... LAUGHTER

But we cook it slowly, it's almost like confit garlic,

because then the garlic will go wonderfully soft,

and it will also add a different texture to the...

to the plate.

So, that's that.

That goes in.

That'll take - that'll cook quite slowly, so that the garlic goes soft.

And here's some... This is ready.

And you put the bay... What do you put in there?

A few bay leaves as well?

Put in some bay leaves, which gives a wonderful aroma. Right.

So, that's got wonderfully crispy,

and you can see the garlic's gone wonderfully soft,

melt-in-the-mouth soft, and really mellow.

Now, the secret is to just slowly cook it.

You don't want to brown it first of all, you want to gently cook it.

That's right. So then I'm going to sprinkle on a little bit of saffron.

And give it another...

Now, the saffron that you've done is put it in water. Yes.

Just in boiling water?

Unless you're making a stew, you always infuse the garlic...

Sorry, infuse the saffron, just to get the flavour out of it,

and then it'll disperse more evenly. OK.

If you eat a dry bit of saffron, it doesn't taste of much. OK.

So, that's going to finish off crisping up, it's pretty much ready.

Yeah. Now we're going to cook... Smells delicious.

..the scallops and the mushrooms in - not a huge amount of oil,

because we're trying to replicate the Spanish technique of a la plancha,

which is where you sort of griddle food.

Now, you've actually seasoned these quite a while in advance,

you're a great believer in - you season it... That's right.

With seafood and shellfish,

if you can try and get the salt to penetrate the fish beforehand,

and give it a little bit of a head start,

then you just get that wonderful taste of the sea,

you're heightening the taste of the sea.

So, not too much oil. Because I want the scallops

and the mushrooms to get that slightly charred taste.

And this would be the famous grill that you're talking about,

the flat grill that they cook quite a lot of food on. That's right.

And the plancha pan, it's just a cast iron griddle,

and you just get that seared, blackened quality,

and don't have to use very much olive oil.

Now, you and your wife set out on this tour round Spain,

but you ventured into Morocco because you wanted to follow

the spices, is that...?

Well, we had a camper van,

and the idea was that we cook the food on the van.

We could buy the wonderful ingredients,

and then we would try to cook the famous dishes as we were going along.

Yeah.

So, look, that's how we got the lovely sort of blackened quality.

Which, again, just gives complexity to the whole dish.

And then you've - it's quite a weird way you've gone now, I mean,

in the East End of London you've been working on allotments, as well.

We've had an allotment for seven years,

and we were just so inspired by the people on the allotment,

we thought we had to write about it in our cookery book.

So, we've got a cookery book out,

and it sort of talks about these wonderful people from Turkey

and Cyprus who taught us a lot about how to cook.

And you've brought some of those influences of growing bits

and pieces over to your allotment, or not?

That's right. I mean, we...

They sort of showed us how to eat in the centre of London

in a very Mediterranean way,

and use parts of the plant which I just wouldn't have thought of eating.

So, they cook with the less familiar parts of the plant,

like the shoots of the courgette and the tops of the onion and...

Celery tops. Yes, nothing is wasted, it's really tasty.

But the allotment, sadly, is no longer there now, is it?

The tragedy was that just after we decided to do the cookery book,

the Olympic Committee won the Games,

and so the whole area's been flattened,

so it's no longer there, it's already been flattened.

Here we go. It's now a car park.

Right. Those are blistered and blackened. OK.

We've got some onions here...

Now, these are the onions I'll have been cooking,

but obviously a lot longer. Yep.

So, I'm going to turn down the heat.

Perfect.

We can probably start to put the migas on the plate.

OK, you want this on the plate. I think we're ready.

What happens with the sherry? Where do you put that?

I'm going to glaze the pan now with the sherry,

I'm just going to put a little extra salt... Yeah.

A little extra pepper.

And this should just - basically, typical Spanish food,

just throw it on? Throw it on, please.

Throw it on. Yeah, maybe not all of it. Just see how you go.

LAUGHTER

I've got to get a spoon.

So, this Oloroso sherry, if you... HE COUGHS

It's strong, that, innit?

It's a fantastically rich sherry. It can be sweet and it can be dry.

Yeah. This one is dry.

But actually, sweet is quite good as well.

Just, you need a little less of it.

And it's aged in barrels for a very long time,

and it's got this wonderful complexity and richness,

and it goes very well with the mushrooms. What about the onions?

Ooh, gosh, thank you. There you go.

You're allowed to forget one thing, don't worry. Thank you.

Nobody'll know, don't worry.

Now, do you often go back to Spain for inspiration?

It's quite good to keep it topped up, I suppose.

Well, we're lucky enough to have a house in Spain,

and we go there about six times a year and, um...

Get loads of inspiration.

..and learn a lot from the people in the village. Wonderful.

Now, there's one more thing to go over the top. Two more, now.

The oregano... Few more bits of that. Little bit of oregano. Yeah.

And then this stuff, which I absolutely adore.

This is one of our key ingredients, definitely. Smoked paprika.

Smoked paprika. Just gives that sort of depth of flavour, and another...

And it comes in two forms, sweet and hot. Yep.

Which one would you recommend people buy?

Generally they pick the wrong one.

I think it's more traditional to use the sweet one,

but I quite like a bit of spice. You can go either way.

So, Sam, remind us what that is again.

Pan-fried scallops and oyster mushrooms with Oloroso and migas.

Simple as that.

Right, follow me over here, Sam. Here we go.

This just gets better, doesn't it? Look at this.

This is a great job, James. Steak, tortellini...

I want your job! ..ice cream, scallops.

I don't get to eat any of it,

by the time it goes down there, it never comes back.

Delicious, I love scallops. Fantastic.

People who're not keen on scallops,

could they mix it with anything else?

I think it's very good with monkfish as well.

Also, in the spring or early summer, I use asparagus instead of mushrooms.

Right. But monkfish, also,

that dish that people almost used to give away ten years ago, and

now it's become, kind of, really trendy and quite expensive now.

Yes. The sherry's amazing.

What do you think, Tina? Delicious. Nice? Absolutely delicious.

And the bread's really interesting,

particularly that bit of saffron in at the end.

It just gives it a sort of - makes bread from being a poor man's thing,

suddenly the saffron makes it a million dollar thing.

But it's almost like our version of chips, which would go with...

Innit, really? It's great, there's a bulkiness to the dish as well. Yes.

I can't wait to taste it.

Lovely and smoky. Yeah, that's the smoked paprika.

Michael, dive in, tell us what you think.

It's wonderful, I think that paprika just lifts it. It's lovely.

And you put it on right at the end, not cook with it.

It can burn, paprika, it's so fine. And chillies and paprika,

they can burn, so you always add it at the end.

Lovely. That IS good - beautiful.

Would they serve that as a main dish or...?

That is a main dish, but migas can be as tapas,

and often they put bacon inside it as well.

Be a canape where I come from in Yorkshire, that.

And those croutons are a great way to use up any old bread,

and they tasted delicious.

Now it's time for the Omelette Challenge.

Both John Torode and Atul Kochhar needed to pull their socks up

where their omelette times were concerned, but would they manage it?

Let's find out.

All the chefs battle it out against the clock and each other

to test how fast they can make a simple three-egg omelette.

Now, John, currently at 39 seconds here. Not doing too bad.

Long way to go, though, mate. 25 seconds you've got to get onto.

Quite a lot to shave off. That's tough. Pretty tough.

And one second behind, Atul,

do you think you can go any quicker than 40 seconds?

Well, if I can get it to 39, would be great.

Hopefully, because I think Jun Tanaka could have done two by then.

Oh, my God. Choose what you like from the ingredients

in front of you, I'll taste it

to make sure it's an omelette and not scrambled egg.

The time starts when I say,

it stops as soon as the omelette hits the plate. Are you ready?

Yep. Three, two, one, go!

Go on, lads!

This is to see whether they've been practising.

Try not to get any shell on there.

Come on, Atul, get the butter in there.

Come on, I could do quicker in the microwave.

You've got a bit of shell in there, John. Where?

Is that protein? Oh, yeah, I can't see it.

It's gone.

No, it's not gone, it's still there.

Atul's are now all stuck to the pan.

Argh! Come on, Atul!

The concentration on these boys' faces. Argh!

They say that it's not serious until we actually go live.

One's finished here. GONG

Atul, you've got... Bad one. Yeah, don't worry.

Rugby'll be on in a minute.

I'm sorry.

GONG I tried my best.

Oh, look at that.

If the Michelin inspector's watching... Agh!

LAUGHTER

There wasn't enough ingredients for it. That's the problem!

That's true.

Well...

it IS a kind of omelette.

What are you talking about, that "is a kind of omelette"?!

Perfect omelette! It's... Well, it's...

you know, it's not... Well, yeah, anyway.

This one.

This... Blonde. Looks good. Oh, yeah.

Looks good.

Nice shape, nice taste.

Atul.

Failed. Precisely.

Right...

Not even going to time that one.

Cos it's not really an omelette. Right... John.

Er...42.

No, you've gone 32.

42 seconds you reckon? Yeah.

I can tell you...

You're quicker than 39 seconds.

Ooh-hoo-hoo!

Ooh!

Look at his face!

He's going on the board right here at 34 seconds. Oh, well done!

Whoa!

Pretty good.

I'd better put that back, she'll be watching,

I'll get killed next time she's on.

Now, that's not a bad looking omelette, John.

Now it's time for me to get bossed about by Anna Hansen,

as I help her make a posh steak and chips.

Get ready for chaos.

So, what's on the menu for you? Right, So...

onglet steak, chips.

Onglet steak and chips.

Anyway, you wanted me to get started over here,

cos we've got some of this sort of stuff...

So, we'll start making the chips.

You've got some turmeric and ginger, which I'd like ground.

Minced, should I say? Minced. You want this grated then, really?

Grated, minced.

And I've got chickpea flour,

which is also known as besan flour or gram flour.

And first of all, this'll set together.

And the idea is actually an idea that came to me,

it's based on a southwestern French dish called panisse. Right.

And basically it's just boiled-up chickpea flour, seasoned,

fried and then seasoned, and that's it.

But I've added a kind of Indian twist to it, with the...

And this is fresh turmeric? ..turmeric.

This is what fresh turmeric looks like? Yep.

And it's great, because it stains your fingers,

it's like you smoke about 50 a day, it's lovely.

Exactly. Like your woodbines. Yes. It's good, innit?

Notice how she's given me this to do. Yeah, exactly.

So... So, where's the idea of this style of cooking come from, then?

Is this cos you travel a lot, or your New Zealand background?

I think it's a combination of things.

The New Zealand background, yes. I need a knife...

Um...

Kind of relatively young immigrant nation,

lots of people trying out different things, but also I like to

have lots of variety in cooking, otherwise I get quite bored.

I like lots of different ingredients, so that's...

Is all of New Zealand like that, in terms of where food...

Cos geographically-wise,

you've got quite a lot of countries nearby... Exactly.

Do you take influences from everywhere, is that the key? Yeah.

We've pretty much got every nationality represented there now,

and everyone comes with their own influences and foods,

and so on, so we just kind of lap it up.

And also, New Zealanders travel a lot

and I think that's a big thing as well.

They go abroad and they come back with amazing ideas,

and then do their own version of it at home.

Cos you actually trained with Peter Gordon, didn't you?

Peter Gordon, yes. My mentor.

Your mentor. Incredible chef.

He's famous for food like this, mix and matching different ingredients.

Yeah, it's what he does, and he's a genius at it, I have to say.

I suppose what was called, about ten years ago, fusion food,

wasn't it, really? Yeah. Yeah, I'm not touching it.

This is turmeric. Hurry up. LAUGHTER

"Hurry up," she says. Right, great.

Yeah, it is fusion food,

and I mean, I think a lot of people think badly about fusion, still,

but when you think about it, it's what we're all doing.

And modern British is more and more fusion, isn't it? Yeah.

Everyone's using...

People experiment with more and more ingredients. Yeah.

But sometimes it's a bit overdone, isn't it, really?

But I think it's like any food, it can be done well or badly.

I've had plenty of pretty poor French meals, and Italian meals,

and what have you. So, you know.

In the hands of the right person, it's a great thing.

Understand the ingredients, yeah.

And fortunately, today I am that right person.

Right...

LAUGHTER

I'm not arguing.

Right, I'm just pouring this in.

It's similar to making polenta, it goes lumpy quite quickly,

so you need to keep stirring it.

Tray that's been in the freezer. Yeah. Lightly oiled.

Lightly oil...polenta, and the nigella, or black onion seed.

Black onion seed in the bottom. Or kalonji,

or whatever you want to call it. What are they called? Kurunji?

Kalonji. Kalonji. Kalonji. There you go.

So, do you want me to whisk that up? Yeah, you can whisk that up.

OK.

So, in there we've got the turmeric, the ginger... Yeah.

Coriander, cumin seed, fresh curry leaves and a bit of green chilli.

Yeah, and this'll actually thicken up very, very fast,

you'll see this. Yeah.

So tell us about this steak, then.

This is onglet steak, or otherwise known -

they call it hanger steak in America, or it's skirt steak.

It's a really beautiful cut of meat, super tasty,

because, basically, it's actually two bits that hang together like this,

covering the diaphragm of the cow, which is over all the offal, so...

You're selling it to everybody, aren't you?!

LAUGHTER Mm!

It really is delicious, I mean, it's a steak, it's got great flavour

and great texture, so it's absorbed all those kind of offaly... You know.

Now, it's unlike some of the conventional steaks of that

sort of place, cos you'd have to slow-cook them. This one you...

This one, you cook it quickly. Super, super, super rare.

Right, you can see how that's gone.

Is that it now? Yeah, little bit more.

Come on, work it!

You don't have to go to the gym later now.

Gym?! I've saved you. I don't go to the gym anyway, love.

Can't you tell?

I thought you were looking pretty fit. Easy now, Chris.

Thank you very much.

Is that it? That's it. OK...

There's your spatula. Spatula.

Sits in the tray.

Yeah. Let's get rid of that.

Right. So, as you can see, it's pretty porridge-like.

Just flatten it out.

Going to flatten it out with my fingers.

Flatten it out with you bare hands.

Go on, be tough. Now it's boiling hot.

Yeah, but it's...come on!

It'll clean off the turmeric, James. It's fine.

Burn it all off. Look, I just destroyed our watercress!

Put some of this on. Yeah...

Yeah, a bit of dust really helps me, there.

LAUGHTER That'll protect you.

It makes a difference. Yeah. Carry on.

OK, so I'm moving on with the marinade.

I'll let you carry on burning yourself.

What's in the marinade, then?

So, in the marinade is den miso, and this is something

I learnt years ago, I think it's a Nobu...seasoning thing.

The black cod... Yes, it's what they put on black cod.

It's white miso, which has been cooked up with sugar,

mirin and sake, and basically you just bring it up to the boil

to dissolve everything, whisk it together.

And you end up with this... Yeah.

What's happened to our watercress? I had an accident. Sorry.

I was trying to help, and I hindered.

Right, so that is all that lot boiled up, yeah? Yeah.

Could you chop me a garlic, please? Yeah.

Thanks. Do you like the way he's doing all the work?!

This is how I run my kitchen. That's right. Chop chop.

OK. We have a little bit of thyme...

And the other thing I'm putting in here is tamarind, and for me...

So, basically, you've got the salty-sweet of the miso,

and then the sourness of the tamarind.

And it works really well with the offal kind of flavour of the steak.

And the tamarind comes as a lump like that,

with the seeds in it and everything.

Yeah, and that's the best way to buy it, too.

You can buy it already in a pulp, in a fluid form, but it's no good.

You just put that in hot water, don't you?

Yeah, hot water, boil it a bit and then pass it through a sieve.

So, this is it.

Right...

And then basically this doesn't need much trimming,

just a little bit of cleaning up.

The chips. Put that in the...

marinade.

Think they're about there? That looks wunderbar.

Give it a go.

Oh-ho! Ooh!

Ooh... Maybe give that another 30 seconds.

LAUGHTER

Bit late now, innit?!

Before you start cutting.

I've never seen him quiet!

So, tell us about your book, then. LAUGHTER

The Modern Pantry Cookbook. Yeah. It's a fabulous book!

Yeah. It's kind of about ingredients that are in the modern-day pantry,

as it were.

Especially when you're living in London, things like besan

and using different cuts of meat and curry leaves and miso.

Like den miso, for example, or tamarind, instead of thinking

about it in terms of savoury, maybe doing a dessert with it.

Like, we do tamarind chocolate truffles. OK.

They look great. Right.

I'll go and get the steaks. So, have I got another steak?

Yeah, I'll go and do that as well. Sorry!

I'm going to go and do the chips as well.

Come on, James! Push on. There you go.

Chips. Chips. You're getting big chips, is that all right? Yeah.

And then if you can just make sure they're dusted a bit more

with polenta. Yeah! LAUGHTER

I've never seen you work

so hard in all the years this show's been going on.

Yeah, thanks very much, Chris. Cheers!

He's making up for it.

Right, chips.

Done. Right, steak.

You don't want to put that in too hot a pan, do you?

Cos it'll burn, Anna.

That's exactly it. There's so much sugar! Yeah.

Over a really high heat, it caramelises too fast.

So, a moderate high heat. Yeah.

And that will do it.

As you can see, it's going a little on the too-golden side.

But it will be fine.

But the secret of this is always cook it medium rare? Medium rare.

In fact, rare, preferably. But medium rare if you have to.

Anything more than that, it becomes like leather...

shoe strings. I don't...

Sorry? I don't like rare. You have to taste it.

Well, you've had it on this.

Cos the French, actually, all they do is take the hooves off

and walk it past the kitchen, don't they?

They show it the pan sometimes!

It's still got a pulse, hasn't it? Exactly.

Right, you want me to do a dressing, don't you? Yes, please.

Which...? Or do you want me to do something? What's this?

That's pomegranate molasses. What's this? That's cider vinegar. And...

Olive oil. ..this is the extra virgin olive oil.

All right, we're there. Salt and pepper, please.

Yeah.

So, basically, this is your recipe, I've just done everything, really.

This looks like people panicking cos they've remembered

they've got guests coming. LAUGHTER

Everyone's in the lounge... Quick, quick!

Using a fork. I haven't got time to go over there and get a fork.

But anyway...

Give it a quick mix.

This is great.

Right, I'll do your chips, don't you worry.

You concentrate on your beef. Well, OK.

It's done.

LAUGHTER

Oh, the beef's done!

I know. That's great, isn't it?

Cos the other very important thing about this cut of beef,

though, seriously, is you've got to rest it properly.

Because it's got a very loose grain, and you are serving it super rare,

so it has to have plenty of time to relax. Yeah.

And get to know itself again.

You've taken the salad over there, I want it back. Oh, sorry.

Over to you. So, in the dressing for the salad was...? A bit of oil.

Yeah. Pomegranate molasses. Yes.

And... There we go, look at that. Perfect.

That is how you should eat this. I told you it still had a pulse.

I'll have yours, Irene.

Those people with HDTVs now are going to be going,

"What on earth is that?"

That's how you should have it, hanger steak. Exactly.

And wait till you try it. You cut it longways. You have to taste it.

Yeah, against the grain.

Although when I was in America recently they cut it with the grain.

I'm not sure why.

But, for me, you need to cut against the grain, because it's so coarse.

That's what it is. And it makes it a lot easier.

So remind us what there is again. Tamarind miso marinated onglet steak

with turmeric and curry leaf besan chips.

That's what it is. And watercress.

Thanks for that.

There we go. Right, you get to have a seat over here.

I feel like I need a seat now, after that.

Dive into that. Wow!

Look at this! Steak and chips the modern way. Yes.

The pantry way. Well done, Anna.

Thank you. The Modern Pantry way.

See James getting in your way a lot up there.

I know. You really weren't much help. I had to stand still

and not do very much so that he could...you know.

He was all over the place.

Rude to talk with your mouth full. That's amazing.

It's incredibly tender. Yeah.

It is, surprisingly. It's quite offaly, as well.

I notice how you don't mention the chips.

I spent most of the last eight minutes making...

I thought the chips were good, they were just a bit soft.

They could've done with 30 seconds more.

My arm certainly got a work-out there.

TV presenter Chris Evans has always had a thing for fatty meats,

but has never been a fan of the healthy option of steamed fish.

But when a celebrity guest faces their Food Heaven or Food Hell,

their fate is, of course, out of their hands.

So, what do you think he got?

Everybody in the studio's made their minds up.

Chris, Food Heaven, fat. Fat, fat, fat.

And I've got the king of all fattening foods, duck rillette.

I love my fat, fat is flavour. Roasted duck breast, wonderful dish.

Alternatively, you could be having a plethora... Of fish.

Fish is fine, but just not forever,

which it may have to be in my case, because of the old cholesterol.

How do you think these lot have decided? It wasn't looking good,

was it? No. Especially the first lady, she went, "HELL."

All right, it's not a trailer for a horror movie,

it's just Saturday Kitchen!

I think they're going to go heaven. I think they're big fat fans. They are.

All of 'em. Great!

Lose the fish, take it away. Bye, fishy!

Bye! Going to get the duck on. Now, this duck is pretty special.

I was in, er...

I'm going to get you to peel and dice that, that's the parsnips.

Peel and dice the apples, please, and prep the mushrooms. Yep.

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

this is Lissara, from Ireland. Wonderful, wonderful duck.

I was over in Ireland, Northern Ireland, last week,

and they took me to this farm, I tasted it in the restaurant,

it is just incredible, the best duck I've ever tasted.

It already looks magnificent. It is fantastic,

and what it is, it's a cross between an Aylesbury duck

and a Pekin duck, so white-feathered, beautiful,

beautiful duck, but unlike duck, it doesn't actually shrink

when it's in the oven.

You can see from the colour of the fat on here that it's corn-fed,

and what they do is rear it outdoors,

and they bring it in in the evening and feed it corn.

It's wonderful duck.

What I find amazing about what James is doing now is that he's talking

and he's boning the duck,

and he's got everything else going on as well.

It's just - how you do this job, I have no idea.

I say on the radio often, we find it hard to talk up to time -

you cook up to time, this is unbelievable.

How long do you have in your ear now? What are they saying?

They're going, "Six minutes left, six minutes left."

"Tell Evans to shut up." All right.

LAUGHTER

No, he said, "Ask him about his book." Yeah, OK.

Tell me about your book.

Second book's out, Memoirs of a Fruitcake, it's all about...

They're saying, "That's enough of the book." Thank you.

I'm only joking!

It's all about the fact that we do our job, and we do it well,

and it prepares us for everything to do with our job

apart from, perhaps, success.

And when you get too much success too quickly, you don't

know what to do with it, and I...

This book proves I didn't know what to do with it!

But it kind of made you what you are, though.

Oh, absolutely, and if I hadn't gone down the route I went down,

I wouldn't have met Tash, wouldn't have Noah, my son...

But it wasn't the right path to go down

from an experience point of view.

There's a lot of turbulence on this flight.

There's a lot of turbulence. I'm glad I ended up where I ended up,

but there for the grace of God, you know?

Yeah. Right, just going to show this. This is duck confit. Yeah.

You salt the duck, 15g of salt per kilo. Roughly.

You measure the salt, normally. Yeah.

15g of salt per kilo, lose that out the way...

All right? Where's that going? Can I take that home?

You can take it home, yeah.

It's the most beautiful raw-looking duck I've ever seen.

Trust me, Lissara duck, it is amazing stuff.

And then you've got the salted duck -

now this needs to go in there overnight or for 24 hours.

You wash off the salt and you cook it in duck fat.

That's the confit, isn't it? It's the confit part of it.

It's very important that you immerse it in duck fat.

It's a very old style of cooking, this. Mm.

To cook confit. It's fat on fat, isn't it?

It's a way of preserving the duck, all right?

So it kept in the duck fat. You're going to then shred that.

We've got our parsnips and our apple cooking away nicely.

Next, I'm going to do the pickled mushrooms, pickled girolles, OK?

I tell you, sometimes, when we do TV shows, we really worry about

finishing on time, and all we've got to say is, "See you next week."

And you've got to get all this done!

I don't know how you do it, I'd have a heart attack every week.