Episode 119 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning. It's time to warm you up with 90 minutes of great cooking.

This is Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

And welcome to the show.

We've rounded up some talented chefs to cook some

tasty treats for you this morning,

and we're joined by celebrity guests galore, ready to tuck in.

Paul Merrett prepares sashimi style salmon with shallot, chilli crunch

and pickled cucumber salsa.

Matt Tebbutt cooks a lean saddle of rabbit.

He marinades it in cumin, coriander, and serves it with

a warm couscous salad, with pine nuts and piquillo peppers.

And Tony Tobin creates some delicious croquettes.

He uses sun-blushed tomatoes, basil, Parmesan cheese

and mozzarella to make mouth-watering croquettes

and serves them on a rocket and tomato vinaigrette.

And EastEnders star Samantha Womack joined us before her marriage when

she was known as Samantha Janus to face Food Heaven or Food Hell.

But would she get the Food Heaven peaches, with my peach crumble tart

and vanilla ice cream,

or Food Hell walnuts?

You might see her eating a walnut and apple stuffed

rolled loin of pork with honey roast parsnips.

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

But first, Lawrence Keogh fries some rashers for breakfast.

And not bacon, but lamb rashers. Enjoy this one.

Right, what are we cooking?

There might be snow on the roof, but there's fire in the boiler.

Is that what it is? What are we cooking?

We've got the lamb breast.

It's a nice cheap cut, so it's a good credit crunch dish.

Lamb breast, like I said, a lot of it is used for burgers.

I'm going to slow roast it.

I'm just giving it a nice season, actually, on both sides.

So this is kinda like the belly pork?

-Cos you've got the ribs in there.

-You can see the ribs.

But we're going to slow roast this in the oven,

and it takes about two and a half, three hours on 160,

and it just renders down.

It's got a lot of fat in there, so it's just going to render down.

If you want to wash your hands, I'll get the cooked one out.

OK, you take the cooked one out.

So you don't need to baste it or anything?

No, it just sits and renders away, and it bastes the meat.

-There's quite a lot of fat in there.

-There's all the fat that's come off.

If you put that tray on the stove, I'll just lift that off.

I'll lift this off, cos it's very hot. See, it's rendered down.

But there's the bones, OK? It's a bit messy.

And it should just pull out.

And it's easier to do this after it's cooked?

Yeah. Just give them a little twist like this,

and just pull them, actually.

As they come out...

I should have mentioned the other ingredients...

It's fine, we'll do that later.

They all pop out like that. There's a little bit of cartilage there.

We can just run the knife underneath. Mind my shirt.

So if you're going to do this, stick it in the oven and forget about it.

Ideally, do this the day before you want it.

We do about 30 at a time in the restaurant.

I've just put it on this week,

and I've put it on specially for the show, actually.

So the idea is this is available for people for lunch

straight after the show.

If you can get a table!

It's busy on a Saturday.

The boys have done a big number for breakfast already this morning.

And you've got a second site that you're looking for?

We've got a lovely site in London and it's on the river.

And it looks like it could be happening this summer,

so we're all very excited.

We've got a nice new team coming on board for that,

so we're all very excited.

I'm going to get two trays here, James.

Put a bit of grease-proof paper in the bottom, like this.

OK. You lay that on top. Then what we do...

This is why I said we do this the day before...

Put another sheet on top.

And then we press it.

Nice big, heavy weight. And put it in the fridge overnight.

-That flattens down.

-You want me to put that in the fridge?

Pop that back in the fridge.

-Literally, just overnight?

-Overnight.

-Great.

Here's one we did earlier.

Just to explain to everybody, this is for a salad, this dish.

OK. So we're doing lamb rashers.

-Lamb rasher salad.

-Lamb rasher salad.

-Warm salad.

-Rashers normally come from the pork belly.

These are the rashers.

Looks like something that's left on the side of my road in the country.

Look at it!

Just slice it into nice long fingers.

If you're doing a salad, there's enough for about three people

there, per breast, and they're only about two quid to buy.

-You know?

-Enough for three people? You can tell...

-Well, you'd eat one to yourself, wouldn't you?

-Exactly.

You want me to pop that in the grill?

Been round his house and cooked for him a few times.

-That goes under the salamander for three or four minutes.

-Salamander...

That's grill to you or I!

Goes in there, and it just wants a couple of minutes, no more?

Right, I've got some capers here, which I'm going to deep fry.

Yeah, that's a hot pan.

If you're going to do that at home, do it in a fryer.

If the kids are watching, get the kids nearer the stove.

-Right.

-Right, dandelion.

The reason being for that is that they weren't drained?

They weren't drained properly, so I'll have a word with Janet later on.

Sorry about the floor, Janet.

Right, dandelion. Or as the French call them, dent-de-lion.

Because it's called lion's tooth. Dent-de-lion.

We'll put some in that bowl.

Go on, I'll look after that, you carry on doing that.

Clean the mess. Sorry about that. If you're watching at home, viewers.

These are flowers, aren't they? So you're just opening them up.

Yeah, they're just going to pop open like that. Capers are lovely.

Very good for you.

Then if they're let to go to bud, they go to caper berries.

Capers are very common in Cypriot cooking and things like that.

So they're fried. You're making two salads here.

-We're making two salads.

-Chris not a big fan of onions.

Well, I got an e-mail during the week that Chris doesn't like onions.

And particularly raw onions. The other salad ingredients in there...

-You've got some mint, wild garlic.

-Wild garlic, which is in season now.

-And the other name for wild garlic is ramsons, isn't it?

-Yep.

You must use a lot down in Devon.

Yeah, it's in the hedgerows at the moment in Devon. It's fantastic.

We have a lot of it in Ireland actually, in my home,

covering the whole woodland.

Very good if you've got high blood pressure and things like that.

And dandelion is actually good for you,

because it cleans out your liver.

Talking about healthy stuff

and bits and pieces that you're doing at the moment,

-you've just got this new book, haven't you?

-Well, wait for it...

-It's a free book.

-It's a free book!

F-R-E-E. Free book.

You know I had a kidney transplant many years ago. Nine years ago.

I was on dialysis for two years.

When you're on dialysis, people don't realise,

you've got to watch your diet, cos you've got to

watch your potassium and phosphate intakes and things like that.

It's very boring. So you've got to have a very bland diet.

So, when I was on the diet,

I was being told by doctors everything I couldn't eat.

You can't eat spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese.

I told them to give me a list of things I can eat,

so I started developing stuff for myself at home.

This is what's happening.

Literally, you were working as a full-time job...

I was working for Marco Pierre White at the time!

-Running a...

-And you used to nip in between service

-and literally go for dialysis.

-After service...

You know all about this.

After service, I used to go and sit with the lads and do dialysis.

-And it was...

-It was the norm.

-I'm doing a quick dressing here.

-Where can people get the book?

The book is going to be available free.

You've said that three times now, but where is it from?

It's going to be available free...

He's not even selling it.

..from your GPs, GPs all across the UK,

and renal transplant clinics all across the UK.

It'll be available free for people on dialysis.

It was launched last week at World Kidney Day,

which I try and push every year.

We did a lot of radio last week, also the Chris Evans show.

What have we got in here?

All vinaigrettes are three to one. One part vinegar, three parts oil.

Are you using a special kind of vinegar?

-We're using the rapeseed oil...

-And the Cabernet Sauvignon.

-That Spanish one, which is brilliant.

-Lovely.

That's for Chris.

Right, we're just going to stir that together.

We've got all the mint, dandelion and leaves in there.

We're going to pick up the warm lamb crispy rashers,

just drop them into the salad.

You can imagine in the summer, you're sitting in the garden,

just everyone's sitting down...

Drop it in the salad like that.

-Do you want to toss Chris's one?

-Yeah, I'll mix that together.

And you literally just serve this lamb warm?

Yeah, just warm, crisp rashers.

It's enough for about three or four people here as a starter.

So, just toss that gently.

Did I season yours?

-A bit more salt.

-Yeah. They're just chatting away over there.

There's a dandelion, all your mint...

And what's the red one you've got in there as well?

We've got pretty bulls blood lettuce.

That goes on like that.

I have to say, it smells delicious.

-You grab the capers for me, James.

-OK, yeah.

And these capers have just popped open

and they've crisped up really nicely.

-They've crisped up nicely.

-There you go.

You put the capers on top. Remind us what that is again.

So, we've got crisp lamb rasher salad, with dandelion,

wild garlic, one with spring onions, one without.

-And a stove top full of oil.

-Everywhere.

-There you go, enjoy.

I have to say, it smells as if it's worth the effort,

all that lamb as well. This is the one with onions.

I'll pass this one down.

-That's yours, Chris.

-I hope you're hungry!

-Wow.

-Nice aromas there, isn't there?

-Lovely.

-Tell us what you think.

-It's a nice sort of spring salad.

The clocks spring forward next Sunday, don't they?

I don't know if you've ever had this lamb breast stuff before.

No, I haven't, but it reminds me of a song my mother used to sing.

-What, lamb breast?

-No, listen...

# There, there is a happy land

# Far, far away

# Where pigs eat mutton chops five times a day

# Oh, how those piggies yell

# When they hear the dinner bell

# Oh, how those piggies yell

# Five times a day. #

That's for you, Mum! It's Mother's Day soon. Let's go.

-She obviously wasn't a veggie, then?

-Not really!

What do you think, girls?

-It's fantastic. It's so tender.

-It's worth the effort.

It's a little bit of work, but if you do it the day before, then you're

just chopping it up, warming it through, and you can play with it.

We were talking, me and Mike, earlier, about putting spices in.

-Mediterranean, rub some coriander in.

-It smells delicious.

Don't make the same mistake as Lawrence.

Remember to drain your capers before frying them.

Coming up, I'll be making

a delicious lamb stir-fry for Vic Reeves.

But first, Rick Stein cooks John Dory and fish balls

inspired by his director.

Take a look at this.

I love the heat and tropical scents of Thailand

but, I must say, it's great to get back to the purity of light

and the quietness of Cornwall.

But I still like to cook Thai food in Cornwall.

This is a John Dory. A pretty impressive-looking beast.

Some say it's ugly. It may look a bit glum, but not ugly.

Anyway, the great thing about John Dory is that

it makes really good steaks,

and ideal for this dish which I'm now going to cook,

which we got from Thailand again, from Hua Hin.

It's hard fried fish with a red curry sauce.

First, get my pan hot on my shigiri.

While I get that hot, I'll talk about the red curry paste

I'll make the sauce with.

Now, red curry pastes are all from Thailand and all subtly different.

Here we've got turmeric, cumin, coriander, shallots,

garlic, a little bit of paprika,

ginger, red chillies, Chalky's favourite,

a fish paste called Balachan that smells so much,

and lemon grass.

So I've wazzed that up in a mortar and pestle

to produce that lovely red curry paste.

I'll put a little oil in this pan...

and fry the curry paste hard.

Just let that fry till quite a lot of the moisture's been driven off.

And now some coconut milk.

Just under half a pint, I suppose.

Stir that around.

Now...some brown sugar...

and some fish sauce...

Couple of tablespoons of fish sauce.

And just leave that to simmer away gently. One more ingredient to add.

Fresh lime juice.

It's much better if you can put freshly-squeezed lime juice

in a sauce like that right at the end. It really lifts the flavour.

Fantastic.

OK, that's thickened up.

I've only got the one burner, so I have to put the wok

with the oil on top.

I'll just take my stands over.

On with the wok. I don't know if you've noticed behind me,

but it's happened in another programme I did before...

It takes a lot time doing these things outdoors,

because you get helicopters, then a biplane,

then somebody starts a strimmer on the lawn over there,

and you have to say, "Please cut it off."

Then there's a motorboat...

All these times, you've to stop and wait...

And meanwhile, the tide's coming in.

I'm just beginning to get my feet wet, but here we go.

First one...then the other... That'll take about two minutes.

While they're cooking, I'll finish the sauce, which is nicely reduced.

I'm just going to add a little fresh lime juice.

That'll give it a real zing.

I think we're just about there with the fish. It's crisped up.

That's good. Nicely fried.

And there's the other one, butterflied out.

That looks great.

And now just to finish the dish.

If you can't get John Dory like that, a steak of cod or monkfish would do.

And now some sauce. It's lovely and fragrant and sour and hot,

but, above all, fresh-tasting.

A good sprinkle of chopped coriander.

Just roughly chopped.

And that's it. OK? Do you mind if I go now(?)

Thanks.

"Twas brillig and the slithy toves

"Did gyre and gimble in the wabe."

That always makes me think of that time between dreaming and waking

when you're not sure where you are.

When we're making these programmes, we're always thinking about recipes.

Poor old Dave has these dreams where food is all tumbled together

in strange foreign places.

It was only a dream, but I was in the walled city in Hong Kong.

There's something about other people's dreams - they're so boring.

There were wires everywhere, rats running around the place

and I was undercover, cooking for these gangsters...

'Well, there's one thing you CAN say about dreams...

'If you've got something on your mind,

'you know you're going to inevitably dream about it.

So I thought, what a good idea to try out what he dreamed about,

and see if dreams can bring out the most wonderful dishes and stories.

First of all, he said some fish, so we'll start off with a bit of cod.

We'll just cut that up a little.

And now prawns. He said they should go in with the fish.

I'm a bit disappointed about that.

I like the texture of prawns,

but in the spirit of science, we'll do exactly what he said...

Now an egg. The eggs that bind.

Just a little bit of a blend with the fish and the prawns.

So one egg, I think, will do.

That'll be great. So we'll just...

empty that out into this bowl.

And in goes the crab meat. And just fold that in nicely.

He said a bit of breadcrumbs, so we'll add a couple of handfuls,

just to bind it to make it easy to mould out.

And now for the flavourings. What was it? Lemon zest first.

Obviously, a bit of an Italian-cum-Chinese dish.

The Italian - the lemon zest and the basil. The Chinese - the balls.

Cos they go in for lots of fish balls.

So he must've been in a right old turmoil in his bed. Poor old Dave!

Mix those in. Looks about right. Just try a bit...

Don't do that if you don't like raw fish, but I do.

Actually, that's tasting pretty good.

This maybe has potential.

You know what dreams are like normally. Forget it.

"In-your-dreams" pasta.

I'll just do about six.

I can't be bothered, cos I want to get on and cook this,

and see what it's like.

So, we can start making the sauce.

First of all, some olive oil.

And then some garlic.

And onion. Plenty of onion...

and just stir that around a bit,

just to get it nice and... Translucent's the word.

And then some nice chopped tomato, and we'll use fresh tomatoes here.

About 15, 20 of them. Stir them round.

And now some herbs. Now, we'll have some bay leaves.

About four of them, I suppose.

And some fresh thyme.

Couple of sprigs.

Good. We'll have some vinegar.

I like a good slug of red wine vinegar in something like this.

Did he say wine? I don't think so. Salt...

..and plenty of pepper... And we just leave that to simmer away.

So that's been going for about

20 minutes and it's nice and reduced and looking lovely.

I'm just going to force the sauce through the conical strainer

with the back of a ladle...

Pushing everything through.

Quite nice big holes in this, so a lot of it goes through.

Only the really rough debris stays behind.

Just put that back on the heat now.

We'll poach off these balls in it.

Look at the lovely coating on them!

They'll poach in about three, four, five minutes.

I've got a big pot of water.

Lots of water when you cook pasta.

Tagliatelle. Cooked it for nine or ten minutes.

Well-salted water.

Then just take a colander and pour the pasta into a nice, big bowl.

Ready to put on the fish balls and sauce.

And now I think we'll just put four balls on this one.

It's not a six-ball dish, this.

I'll just finish this off with a little,

what we call a chiffonade of basil.

Look at that. Lovely green basil.

And a good, generous pinch of Parmesan.

I'm getting quite excited about this.

It looks good. Why not?

You have meatballs and pasta. If they're well-made, like these are,

of course! And pasta perfectly cooked, al dente...

Why not fish balls?

This came out of a conversation about a dream.

You've already heard what I think of people's dreams. Boring!

But I've never tasted this before.

Excuse this - there's bits of pasta hanging everywhere.

Hey! It's all right.

Well, that's one way to create new recipes.

There are so many great Eastern dishes that you can try at home.

I've got another to show you right now from my recent trip.

It's a coconut, tamarind, lamb stir-fry.

It uses this lovely loin of lamb we've got here.

It's the same as sirloin on beef, really,

so obviously it's a smaller piece.

But I'm going to stir-fry that with tamarind, some coconut milk,

some mizuna leaves, which is different...

You can get these from supermarkets now. These little mizuna leaves.

Try it.

Very different to rocket, as well.

-Not as peppery but a different sort of taste.

-It's weak rocket.

Yes, it is like a weak rocket, but I think it's a great herb.

Then we've got some cabbage

and all manner of different things put into stir-fry.

I'm just going to basically thinly slice our lamb, stir-fry it

together, take it out, let it rest, then stir-fry the rest of the stuff.

-I think I cooked this, this week.

-Did you?

-Yeah, on Monday or Tuesday.

Cos you do all the cooking at home, don't you?

Yeah. Well, not all of it. Nancy cooked last night.

She made a cowboy pie, which as very good.

-A cowboy pie?

-Minced beef and haricot beans.

Oh, OK. Bit of that in there.

We throw that lot in.

We stir-fry this. Very hot. That's probably a bit too hot.

But we just get a bit of colour on that.

And that's off.

-So, Vic Reeves, this is your life.

-Yes, please.

-Born James Moir.

-Yeah.

-Father, grandfather, same name, same birthday.

-Yes.

-How weird is that?

-Yes, all from Leeds.

-Failed all exams at school apart from art.

That's right, but that was in 1975 and the whole nation failed.

There was... It was!

The amount of work I put in to my history,

geography and I should have won.

A crown should have been awarded to me, the work I put in.

Fast forward ten years, the same thing was happening.

In 1988, I failed cookery at school. The only exam that I passed was art.

But passing just art was enough qualification to get into

an art college, be a mechanic or be a chef.

That's all I wanted to do. I ended up being a mechanic.

But I wanted to go to art school.

But questions were raised that year, let me tell you, in Parliament.

-That's nicely done.

-So why didn't you pursue art as a career?

Cos you're doing it now.

I'm doing it now, but when I grew up, the thing to do was to get a job

and get something that's going to last for a while,

so my dad said, "Go and work in a factory."

So I did for about four years and decided,

"This isn't what I want to do.

"I'm not going to spend the rest of my life doing this."

So I fled...without finishing my apprenticeship.

We might have came from the same sort of area in Yorkshire,

cos I was told when I was a kid that you couldn't pursue art as a career,

that was the only exam that I passed,

cos all the wealthy artists were all dead.

-You had to get a proper job.

-Yeah, exactly.

My dad said, "Do you know any artists who've been successful?"

So I said, "Andy Warhol."

He said, "Look at him!"

-David Hockney.

-Yeah.

So it wasn't really the done thing. It was go and get a job.

But my dad did say later on that he wished he'd said,

"Yeah, go on and go to art school." Which I did do eventually.

But comedy came about...

You were a group of kids just messing around, weren't you?

Is that where you fell in love with it or got the idea of it?

Yeah, we messed about. There was five of us.

Five mates called the Fashionable Five.

We were a kind of musical group, but more of an adventure group.

We used to have fun, that's what it was all about, having fun as a teen.

And how did you break away from that and then go into stand-up?

Cos you then started off with your little one-man tour, didn't you?

-Is that where...

-It wasn't a tour... It wasn't really stand-up, either.

I had left art school and I put on what I considered to be a bit

of performance art on a stage in a pub, in south London.

And it was...

And I called it Vic Reeves's Big Night Out.

So... And it was just...

It was different every week, it wasn't really stand-up.

It wasn't a routine.

It was just, "Let's have fun".

-Is that where you met Bob?

-Yeah, he was in the audience.

People say that he was heckling,

but I don't think Bob's ever heckled in his life.

He was just there, but as a mate of a mate.

And I said to him,

"Here, do you fancy coming on the stage next week

"and saying these lines?"

I think he had to give me a cheque for all the marvellous work

I'd done for some charity which was a big con.

I said, "You bring this massive cheque on and I'll boast about it."

And how did TV come about from that? Putting the two together?

We went from there to the Albany Empire,

which is a bigger theatre,

which held about 350 people and we did the same thing.

We had a show, which was about three hours long, of very mixed content,

and it was different every week.

So I'd put on six and then a lot of people turned up

and there was a gap, then another series of six of these live shows.

And word got out and people were coming from all around

the country, so word got out and then...

Jonathan Ross was down and Jools Holland, you know,

it was... Word got about and then eventually there was Channel 4

and Alan Yentob from...

Michael Grade and Alan Yentob were in the audience one night

and both wanted us to go and do...

Because that total mix of stuff, you never know what's going to happen,

has followed you in doing Shooting Stars, Vic and Bob.

-It's unbounded enthusiasm.

-But it is.

You kind of, as a guest,

you really haven't got a clue what's about to happen.

You've been a guest and we don't let anyone know what's happening.

A lot of these panel shows, they kind of let people know what's up

and give them lines to read.

But you know what it's like,

when you come on our show, you haven't a clue what'll happen.

No, but that spirit's still there with the new thing

you're doing now, for kids, but adults can watch it as well.

-The Ministry of Curious Stuff.

-Tell us how that came about.

I did a book about two years ago called Vic Reeves' Vast Encyclopaedia

of World Knowledge, which was full of semi-truths.

And it kind of... Someone at the BBC said,

"Shall we make a TV show out of this for kids?"

So that's how it started and then it developed into what it is now,

which is, I'm the boss,

I'm the minister of this government department who finds out

information from the kids and then explains it via the gift of sketches.

-And nonsense.

-With the help of other people

because you've got Dan Skinner as well.

Dan Skinner, who is Angelos in Shooting Stars,

he's playing Captain Length Width.

Who is brilliant in it.

He's great, we've got a good kind of rapport going on.

It's quite an old-fashioned type of comedy that we do in it,

which is good for adults, good for kids but good for adults,

but it's quite an old-fashioned sort of Crosstalk, old '50s radio style.

-And this is for CBBC, is it?

-I think it's the future. CBBC, yeah.

Well, actually it's repeated, it's on Sundays at nine o'clock,

so tomorrow morning, about... just after now.

Just after now!

Right, got everything in there, the lamb's gone back in.

We've got the tamarind, coconut milk.

Everything's gone back in there.

Now, as well as all that, you're an author

and the artist with all your shows, doing bits and pieces.

But you're starting your comedy show.

Tell us about that, is it one-man stand-up or what, in Leeds?

We're going to... We haven't done a live tour for, I think,

15 years, more than 15 years.

So we're going to try some stuff out in Leeds,

at the Leeds City Varieties in March.

-We're going to do three days there and try some stuff out.

-Right.

And I was thinking, we'll try different characters.

Old characters, I think. Something old, something new.

But I was thinking, for merchandise,

because I've been doing a bit of pottery recently.

-I might make some...make some mugs.

-Your own range. Right!

And instead of merchandise,

selling T-shirts, I fancy having a craft stall!

So we're going to have handmade mugs.

-Yeah. Good idea.

-Macrame hats.

-You could sell some of your chutneys.

-That would be quite good!

There you go. There you go.

-Got the lamb there and best of luck with that.

-That looks good.

-And what's that you put it on?

-Banana leaf.

That local ingredient to Yorkshire(!)

-Could you eat that?

-No, I wouldn't eat it.

They normally wrap it up and cook fish in it.

This looks like what I made earlier this week, but let's see

if you can do better. Oh, look at that. Nice.

-Lamb is still pink, see.

-I'll have a bit of that and a bit of that.

That's how you cook it and then put it back in after.

I love tamarind.

-It's quite minty.

-Yeah.

Erm. It's quite an English thing going on about it as well.

Cooked by a Yorkshireman.

The only thing that's English is the lamb and mint,

but other than that, it's not far off.

-I use your Great British Dinners book quite a lot.

-Yeah.

Thank you very much. I don't normally get to promote anything! Ker-ching! There you go, lovely.

If you're bored of roast lamb, try that recipe for this lunchtime.

It really was fantastic. If you'd like to have a go at that stir-fry

or try your hand at cooking any of the studio dishes you've seen 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 larder. And now

it's sashimi time, so let's get some Japanese inspiration from

the talented Paul Merrett.

-Welcome to the show.

-Thanks.

This dish, it's simplicity itself, really.

It's easy peasy Japanese-y sort of food.

I'm not going to pretend this is real Japanese food, it's my take on it.

But it's all about clean flavours and nice, clean presentation.

But a lot of people are sort of scared about Japanese cooking

-because they don't know... Particularly this, raw fish.

-Yeah.

Raw fish is very good for you, indeed.

We're using a bit of salmon

but it could equally be sea bass or bream or something.

-But it needs to be fresh.

-It does need to be absolutely fresh,

-none of that sort of frozen counter lark.

-OK.

-You can't do any of that.

-None of this stuff that's wrapped in clingfilm.

-None of that.

-No, no.

-So we've got the salmon.

-We'll start with the salmon.

We'll just lightly cure this.

While you're curing, want me to slice these onions?

Slice some shallots.

I'm just going to sprinkle a little bit of salt

and a little sugar on top of this salmon.

And what that's going to do is withdraw the moisture

from the salmon slightly, and that process is called osmosis.

Which...

will impress your guests when you sit down at the table, I think.

So we'll just leave that to osmose or whatever the working title

of that is! That goes over there.

You're chopping shallots, I'm going to help you chop a shallot.

And what we're going to do is make a little crunch

for the top of the salmon.

And this is kind of the twist, I suppose, on the dish.

So nice, fine rings of shallot. How many you got? That's fine.

Right, we're ready. OK. These are going to go into a fryer.

Now, I don't actually have a fryer at home.

If I was doing this at home, I'd throw these into a pan of oil

-and just make sure I watched it.

-You want me to do that.

So it didn't flare up or anything. If you stick that in there, great.

-The fryer is set, this one, about 170.

-160, 170. Perfect.

Whilst you do that, I'll peel a cucumber,

we'll start the cucumber pickle. So I'm just going to peel this down.

Obviously you and me have got about five minutes to do this,

I think, haven't we?

If I was doing this at home for friends,

I wouldn't wait until they're all stood in my living room

necking my Liebfraumilch before I started making this. I would get...

It's a glam night in at your place!

Bottle of Liebfraumilch and a cucumber, brilliant!

No, I would do this well in advance.

So if you want to grate that for me?

I'll do that.

You can twiddle those and grate that in a second.

I'm going to do a couple of cucumbers,

because this can sit in the fridge

till the next guests come round and you can do the same thing again.

Cucumbers are simple to grow, aren't they?

-Very easy to grow.

-They never turn out like that, do they?

I've got an allotment and my cucumbers are all gnarly.

-That's how cucumbers should be!

-They taste better.

-Right, there we go.

-But they hide, don't they?

My cucumbers got ruined last year

because of red spider ant or something.

-And I went online and they said I need a bomb.

-A bomb?

I thought I was going to get arrested or police

-were going to come round, me online.

-Bomb in a rucksack.

But apparently you do and it's literally the way you get rid

of red spider ants in your greenhouse.

-Right, we need our grater. Where's our grater gone?

-I've got it here.

Grate that and what you want to do is squeeze...

-I'm going to leave you to it, I'll do my shallots.

-OK.

Nice and golden, then take them out and we'll drain them

-on that paper, OK?

-Right.

I'm going to squeeze the moisture out of the cucumber, there we go.

So you're basically cooking these until they're crisp, right?

What we're doing is, what's actually happening in that fryer,

when you throw something in the fryer and it bubbles, it's the natural

moisture in whatever you're cooking coming out of the food, into the oil.

So that's what creates the bubble.

-And so really, you're almost dehydrating it.

-OK.

There we go. Squeeze all that out.

-I might do the other half as well. Then...

-How long do you leave this?

-You've got the salt.

-You know what?

You don't have to do it at all if you don't want to.

I prefer the firmness of the flesh after it's been cured.

Up to three hours, I would say. As a sort of guide.

Tell us about your pub,

because you have left the world of fine dining.

-A lot of chefs are doing this.

-God, they miss me.

-Yeah!

It's true, you spent your entire career, didn't you,

chasing Michelin stars and all that sort of stuff.

I did, and I caught one eventually, which was nice.

And I think I got to a point...

I think, really, children brought it on.

I became much more real about food

and I just felt that I wanted to do something a little bit more earthy.

And so for me, a gastro pub was the way forward.

I mean, I can't get it out my system.

I still do all that arty-farty plating stuff.

But we use much more rugged ingredients

and we're slightly less poncey, I suppose, would be the term.

I'm just chopping a chilli.

That water, you can actually still utilise that, can't you,

for dressings?

Absolutely. You could drink it if you really wanted to.

-Right, are these onions OK?

-They look absolutely lovely.

Drain those and give them a good old pressing on the paper.

-I'll drain those out.

-So you withdraw the oil, OK?

Now, into here, into this pan... I'm going to take the lid off that.

Into this pan I'm going to add some oil.

All I need is a hot dog now and I'm happy! There you go.

-I'm going to press these.

-I'm going to reveal every secret!

Your stilettos will definitely be coming in for a comment!

-Thank you.

-OK, so, garlic and chilli in there, OK?

Talking about '80s, he's got white socks on.

I have! Especially with Kim Wilde, I've got me white socks on! Right.

Cucumber in, OK?

And then on top of that, I'm going to add some soy sauce.

Little bit of that. It's sort of a feeling, really.

You add as much as you want to add. You can always add more later.

A little bit of white wine vinegar.

Some sugar.

As with any pickle, you're sort of going for that sweet and sour

balance. That's what you want. OK.

And then finally, we're going to throw in some spring onions.

There we go.

Is it the type of thing you can make beforehand and it's better

soaking, or could you serve it out the pan?

The cucumber pickle? It'll develop.

Definitely, the flavours will be better 36 hours on.

So, again, don't leave it

till the last minute to make it.

There we are. Throw that in.

I've got to say, this is the first ever time I've just been

stood here, pressing onions in between pieces of kitchen paper.

-You've got to get all that oil out. Get it out, mate.

-It's all out.

So they're nice and crispy.

OK. So you can see that, it's warm,

it's got the tang of the soy sauce, the spice of the chilli.

That is just right. Now, we're almost there.

We're going to put these into the blender, OK.

It's a little food processor.

So, they go in.

And then we're going to add to that some of these ingredients here.

Some sugar and some salt,

and the red ones in the middle are dried red chillies.

-There is a bit of sugar in Japanese food, isn't there?

-There is.

That sweet little tang is good.

So, dried red chillies will give it a kick,

so we'll add plenty of those.

They look like quite a sturdy bunch over there, to me.

-They need waking up, it's early still. If you blend that.

-Right.

Now you're just basically taking this to a nice little crumb.

-Yeah, nice little crumb.

-I have to say, I've never seen this.

-Have you seen this before?

-It's technique now, I like this.

-No, but I've noted it down, James.

-It'll be on his restaurant menu.

You can see it.

He's got too many restaurants for his own good!

OK, I'm just going to cut the salmon into a block.

And what I should do, actually, is just wipe some of that salt

-and sugar off.

-Will I make this wasabi?

-I'd love you to.

This is powdered wasabi you've got here.

You could buy a tube of it.

You don't have to use the powdered one if you don't...

Which of course is Japanese horseradish.

-There you go.

-Right, OK. How we doing?

-I'm just getting the wasabi.

You get the wasabi. I'll get this ready.

Bit of water, that's all it is.

-It's this green colour.

-Put that on the board. There you go.

It is actually quite fiery, this stuff.

Yeah, again, use sparingly if you don't like it fiery.

I, personally, I do.

-So you can go for it.

-I don't like it.

-You don't like wasabi?

-Oh, I can't stand the stuff.

-Oh, James, that's terrible!

I'll eat the other bit!

Oh, that's awful. OK, a little bit more.

OK, and we're just going to upturn that onto there.

Give that a bit of a press, so that it sticks.

Really, I'm using the wasabi almost as a glue, for the crunch.

-We turn that back.

-That looks great.

You lose the board for me, if that's all right. Turn that over there.

And we'll just take some nice slices.

How many guests we got?

-I didn't count them.

-Four.

Well, five including you, you can do six slices

-but I won't eat the wasabi bit.

-Oh, God. All right. So, nice and thick.

-You want a little bit of texture.

-I'll get the pickle. The idea is,

-you want to sit that in the fridge.

-Chill that down.

Get the other pickle, I'll keep everybody happy here.

This has been cured for about an hour, something like that.

There we go. Now, the secret about salmon is

that what you want is a nice, clean presentation,

so just going to lay those slices back on the plate.

There we go.

Looks so clean and just looks great, doesn't it?

And you've got that crunch on top,

which just gives it a bit of texture, which I think it needs.

OK? And then...

-There you go.

-Cucumber pickle - love it.

Give a good old dollop of this,

because it's the sort of thing that everybody's going to love.

Dollop of that on there.

There you go, salmon sashimi my style with a shallot

-and chilli crunch and cucumber pickle.

-Easy as that.

-As Kim says, it's so cool. It's so simple to make.

-Yeah.

-There you go.

-Have a seat. And then dive in, this is where you get to taste.

-Wow.

-Thanks.

-Taste this bit and see what you think.

-Fantastic.

You mentioned that you could use other types of fish as well. Sea bass could be one of them.

Sea bass would be great. Bream, I think, is very nice raw as well.

-Any of those fish.

-Mmm!

-What do you think?

-It's fantastic.

What about the shallot bit on the top? Dive in, guys.

What about the shallot bit on the top?

-I love that little crusty...

-Good.

-I love it.

The crunchiness with the softness of the fish.

It's nice and healthy as well, there's a good sort of feeling.

Normally found in hot dogs and stuff like that, but you crisp it up.

It's a great little dish, perfect for a nice little light Saturday.

I think so. I think so.

Just up to Stuart to come up with a main course now!

No, delicious, I love it. And very low fat as well.

I think the girls like it as well.

That shallot and chilli crunch was truly delicious.

Now it's time for a classic slice of magnificent Keith Floyd,

who is travelling around Britain and Ireland.

Today, he's in Wales.

-KEITH:

-"And I saw in the turning so clearly a child's

"forgotten mornings,

"when he walked with his mother through the parables of sunlight

"and the legends of green chapels."

That was Dylan Thomas.

It's easy to become quickly influenced by this old strange land.

But without being bogged down by history, by poetry,

or a 27-year crash course in Welsh mythology,

it's very hard to sum up the enchantment of this place.

But, here, you can FEEL it.

My old chum, Colin Pressdee, is a kind of professional beach bum.

I mean, well-educated, but his days of happiness are

strolling along the Mumbles coast under the black clouds,

looking for winkles and cockles,

digging for crabs and ENJOYING himself.

-They seem to be about right.

-Yes, they're coming to the boil.

Shall we just try one? What exactly have you done with these winkles?

They're boiled in a really good court bouillon

with plenty of flavour, onions, carrots, celery, the standard three,

fresh lovage from the garden and a few other fresh herbs,

bay leaves, plenty of salt and pepper to give them a good flavour.

-You can even boil them in sea water.

-Would that not be too salty?

I always say the water for winkles should be as salty as the sea.

-Mmm. They are jolly good.

-Absolutely splendid.

We've got problems here. That song.

I don't know the words. The tide's rushing in, the table is sinking

in the sand, and I have to cook something really brilliant.

We've collected cockles and mussels so I'll make a brilliant cockle and mussel chowder,

a soup of potatoes, onions,

carrots and things that you can pick up for nothing.

Do you mind if we let people know that you can pick up things from this beach?

Are you afraid that hordes of people, the dreaded perfidious Albion

will descend on your lovely Welsh coast and rape it clean?

Well, the beaches here have abundant supplies of cockles,

mussels and winkles.

I wouldn't show you lobster holes or where we catch the bass.

-But cockles, mussels, winkles, there are plenty of them.

-Good.

Anyway, the usual quick spin round the ingredients...

finely chopped carrots, onions, potatoes cubed like that.

To the left - cockles and mussels,

which we've already boiled in a little water and kept that water to one side.

We've shelled the cockles and mussels. They're totally fresh.

The next thing we did - into this pot we put some butter.

We melted the butter, we put in the chopped onions and carrots, let them soften,

then we added the stock from the cockles and mussels.

We added the potatoes, let them simmer for about 20 minutes, till they were soft.

Then our next phase was to add some cockles - a few spoonfuls.

Beautiful fresh cockles. A few of the mussels as well.

I've done that the wrong way round!

Then we add a drop of milk. And it isn't easy, you know,

doing these things on the coach...

It's not the coach, is it? "The Day We Went to Bangor"!

The wind's high, the weather's coming in, the table's sinking and it's very difficult.

We now put some milk in like that.

Some lovely fresh thyme goes into the pot.

Some fresh marjoram goes into the pot.

My old chum, Colin, is chopping some parsley. That goes in.

We add a few little chives as well.

This is something you can ALL do on your merry hols, "on the beach".

Remember that awful novel? Something terrible comes out of the sky and blows everybody up.

Anyway, that goes on. Just one last quick lingering look, Richard.

That goes on for about 20 minutes

and we're going to go and try to catch some bass or a lobster.

-Shall we?

-Let's go and have a try.

-Let's spin off into the sunset over the rocky shores.

-Right.

WATER BUBBLES GENTLE MUSIC PLAYS

The sun isn't the only thing that's sinking in the west today!

The table has all but disappeared.

But it doesn't matter because our soup is ready. It looks good.

Do you want to see that really close, Richard?

My finished soup for the punters, please! This is spectacular.

This has cost us nothing to make,

apart from a few potatoes, a drop of milk, a bit of onion, etc.

-The rest we have pillaged from the sea.

-Indeed.

Here it is, from the seashore itself. Tell me about this soup.

Mm.

Le gout de la mer, the flavour of the sea.

The French would go mad over it and here it is on our shores.

You don't have to go to France -

it's here, all on the shores of Wales... and beautifully cooked.

Wonderful. The flavour. I love this style of soup.

It's something which really gives that wonderful flavour of the sea.

-THUNDER RUMBLES

-There's the thunder again.

One of the big problems we have is - THEY can't taste it.

TRY to explain. Imagine you were a wine critic or something.

Well, the colour is superb.

Look at that mixture of colours,

the cockles, the mussels,

the chives and the milk and those little dots of butter on top.

The aroma is of the sea - cockles, mussels and herbs mixed together.

-Is this Wales on a plate?

-This is to ME what it's all about.

I was brought up on the seashore and I love it. This is the flavour of the seashore.

-Do you want to go back to work?

-I think we can do something else.

Work is a very hard thing to do when you can enjoy this for nothing, here on the seashore.

Here we are, Bill and Ben, the Flowerpot Men, on the coast, from Swansea, goodnight...for now!

These programmes ought to be renamed "Gullible's Travels".

I keep meeting fishermen who tell me their river or stretch of coast is heaving with fish!

I'd set my heart on a plump bass

but as the tide ebbed and the sun set, I returned home with a bucket

of seaweed, known here as laver bread.

I was going to open this section of the programme with Welsh rabbit

but when I came into Colin's wine bar here in the Mumbles -

the Mumbles mean things like that - really nice things -

I was impressed by the fact that great artists used to come here -

Wynford Vaughan-Thomas came here.

He wrote to me once because he had trouble with his pollacks.

Kingsley Amis wrote one of his books in the Mumbles.

It became the film "Only Two Can Play".

Anyway, we've come here for something special, cockles. Richard, right in on the cockles.

Not things in jars of vinegar that have been packed in Holland

and left stewing on a supermarket shelf for ten years.

These have been picked... You didn't do that right!

These were picked by loving, caring people.

They're not salted or vinegared. They're fresh. They're delicious.

The other brilliant thing from the Mumbles is laver bread.

Look at this, Richard.

This has been cooked for about six hours. It's like slimy spinach. It's very nice - and good for you.

Colin here makes a fabulous gratin of cockles and laver bread.

It's very easy to do. Richard, pay attention.

The ingredients are some poached cockles, fresh breadcrumbs with Welsh cheese grated into it,

some laver bread and garlic butter.

Can you look at me a bit? We're having a lot of trouble with Richard today! Always gets excited.

Put a bit of laver bread into a little gratin dish.

Very simple. We put lots of lovely, fresh cockles on, like that.

We sprinkle our breadcrumbs and cheese over the top.

A little bit of garlic butter and - up to me again, Richard - we pop that under the grill...

for 3 or 4 minutes till it's golden brown, crunchy and delicious.

Meanwhile, have a look at this.

It's...really interesting. Do pay attention.

Now to the gentle art of cockling.

Well, it SHOULD be the gentle art.

All you need is a humble rake, a plastic bucket to fill,

a vast expanse of unpolluted shore and an idea where they're hiding.

But I didn't know that you also needed a licence.

I think it's a bit mean of the white fish authorities to call up the cocklebusters

in their specially developed, twin-oystered UB-40s

to drive these worthy citizens from the beaches.

One of the important things about us, you know, when we are

making a TV programme, we don't interrupt their business

-by closing it down for three days. Customers must come in, life must carry on.

-That's right!

Absolutely true. Anyway, you've enjoyed the cockle beds,

you've enjoyed all of that, and I have to tell you,

when I first came to Swansea, I quite frankly thought

that the Mumbles was a television puppet show!

Anyway, we must now go back to the very important thing - laver bread.

Imagine, like the guy who first tasted an oyster,

who was the first man to eat a piece of laver bread,

and why did he do it? Anyway, enough of that,

you'll find the answer on page 94, as usual.

We've stewed the laver bread for about six hours.

It's been rinsed in water, and I put it into a little gratin dish

with the cockles on top, the breadcrumbs, the wine-grown cheese on top,

garlic butter, and now, about five minutes later,

and four or five bottles later, it is in fact ready. Right.

And the proof of all of this... Ow!

Burnt my fingers again.

Close-up on that, Richard, I really want them to see it sizzling.

Look, it's beautiful, delicious, it's golden, it's crunchy,

and I'm going to have some. Now you can look at me,

because they really love me eating, these people.

-Great, isn't it, ladies?

-Yes.

-Absolutely supreme.

-Oh, boy.

-Mmm.

Anyway...

That's really good. These are my new friends.

Television's a great way to pull birds.

On to the next sequence for you. I'm going to enjoy myself.

Anyway, what are we going to do tonight...?

And now the sensible bit.

Here at the village of Llandybie, where Margaret Reece

has cooked me a wonderful dish -

a plump farmyard duck, which has been salted for about 24 hours

and then gently simmered.

A legacy of traditional Welsh cooking

from before the days of the deep freeze.

I've got to lift this heavy pot off the stove

but quite frankly, you're looking at a wounded Floyd today.

Yesterday I was stupid enough, at the age of 43,

to play rugby and I was the only English cook to score and convert

a try at Cydweli in South Wales.

Considering that my normal exercise is running for a bar stool,

I think I did quite well.

It might take me a second or two to get this over.

Goodness knows how you manage this, Margaret.

I'm all panicked!

I'm not putting that on.

The BBC don't insure me, they don't care about me.

I'll just lift the lid off.

If you come in close here, there is the stock,

there is the duck, the onions have been sitting in there.

You won't eat this broth or drink it, I should say,

because it is terribly salty.

That has had the effect of taking the salt

out of the duck and leaving the flavour of the spices

that Margaret has used to cook it.

I've got to lift this back out of the way, I suppose.

All we need then, Margaret, I think,

is to try this, don't we?

Can you give me a fork? Right, I can only cut this once

because we've only got one duck.

Look at that, it's pink and beautiful.

My goodness me. Can I have a quick slither of that?

That is brilliant.

That is really superb.

Unlike any other duck I've tasted.

It has a succulent and juicy flavour.

Do you know what you drink salted duck with?

You drink it with Margaret's elderberry champagne.

Elderflower champagne, sorry.

Which is also quite unlike anything else I've ever tasted in my life.

It's brilliant.

This then, the next bit, is my contribution

to vegetarian cookery,

something really close to my heart, get it?!

I can't stand the stuff.

It's a Glamorgan sausage, an ancient Welsh recipe

made from tangy goat's cheese. Have a good sniff of that.

It's wonderful!

You chop that up. You add it to some chopped onion,

bind it with egg and breadcrumbs

and you end up with some stuff that looks like that, OK?

You form it into sausage-shaped things -

that's why it's called a Glamorgan sausage -

and you roll it in the breadcrumbs.

Margaret tells me she sometimes puts chopped nuts around it.

It ends up looking like that.

Come round here, Richard. One of those fluent panning shots,

whatever you call them...

It's a tracking shot, actually.

..which I have greased with a piece of salt bacon,

very important, that.

A couple of twizzles like that, get a bit of grease into the hot pan

and then pop these in for about three or four minutes on each side.

"How many sides does a sausage have?" I hear you cry.

Several is the answer.

Anyway, this is a coracle,

the most ancient boat known to mankind.

And here in Wales, they use it late at night.

Two of them, in fact, with a net stretched between them,

to catch the sewin, or the sea trout, or the salmon.

I refuse to go on one of those, so we're not doing that in this programme.

Especially after my wound sustained playing rugby, so in the meantime,

I'm going to have a little slurp of this excellent elderflower champagne

while I get Margaret to come and give me a hand,

because something here has been fascinating me.

Something which she cooked earlier. Look at that.

It's very beautiful, but what is it?

That is one of my latest creations. It's laver bread roulade.

The laver bread, as you probably heard already,

is the seaweed found on the seashores of Wales,

and that is a black mess. It doesn't look all that appetising.

Now, that is combined with eggs and...

just eggs, and made into this cooked sort of souffle,

which is then rolled and filled, in this instance, with low-fat cream cheese,

flavoured with a little orange. Maybe you could put some ham in.

Vary that as you wish, but it's used as a starter.

-Or as a nice buffet dish.

-Absolutely.

Do you mind if I just savage the end a little bit? A little taste.

This laver bread is really good news.

Anyway, have a whizz round here and see how the sausages are getting on.

I think it's time to turn them over.

Yes. Close-up on this, Richard, please, so we can all see

what a little golden brown sausage looks like.

A couple of minutes on each side.

I think it's time for me to taste one.

I think it's time for me to say "diolch yn fawr iawn",

which is Welsh for "thank you very much", to Margaret.

-And how do I say goodbye?

-Goodbye? Prynhawn da.

-Prynhawn da.

-Which is "good afternoon".

That's Irish. That's not Welsh! Thank you very much indeed.

It's always great to see the man in action once again.

Now, we're not cooking live today so instead, we're looking back

at some of the great cooking from the Saturday Kitchen archives.

Still to come on today's Best Bites,

when Nick Nairn met Tom Aikens in the Omelette Challenge, I can reveal

that one omelette was under-seasoned and one contained cheese.

But who would make it onto the board? Find out in a little while.

Tony Tobin makes some makes some great tomato

and mozzarella croquets.

He uses sun-blushed tomatoes, basil, Parmesan

and mozzarella to make delicious croquets and serves them

with a rocket and tomato vinaigrette.

And EastEnders' Ronnie Mitchell, actress Samantha Womack

faced her Food Heaven or Food Hell. Would she get her Food Heaven,

peaches with my peach crumble tart and vanilla ice cream,

or would she get her dreaded Food Hell, walnuts,

where she might be eating a walnut

and apple-stuffed rolled loin of pork with honey roasted parsnips?

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

Now, if you're looking for something lean

and tasty to eat this January, then Matt Tebbutt has just the recipe.

Take a look at this. Welcome to the show. Happy New Year.

-And to you.

-What are we cooking?

-OK, saddle of rabbit.

Going to marinate that up in some chilli,

some lovely dry spices, some cumin, coriander, erm, chilli,

white peppercorn, black peppercorns, bit of coriander, bit of mint,

bit of garlic. Marinate all of that. Little bit of couscous.

I'm going to jazz - because couscous can be very dull -

so I'm going to jazz that up with some shallots, red wine vinegar,

bit of sugar so you've got that sweet/sour thing.

These piquillo peppers, which are smoked and hand-picked,

a few pine nuts and the rest of the herbs, that's pretty much it.

I'll get on with the couscous, firstly.

You start that, I'm going to get the rabbit in.

We'll work backwards. I'll get the rabbit in and start cooking.

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

We're going to make this marinade in seconds,

but this has been in the marinade for how long?

A couple of hours, just to... And leave it at room temperature.

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

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

OK, couscous, just boiling water over it, let it sit there.

Meanwhile, do you want me to, er, toast these spices?

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

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

-OK. No oil in here, just dry toast them?

-Absolutely.

-OK.

OK, so this is the saddle, this is this part of the rabbit.

I'm just going to remove the loins.

You could use wild rabbit. I tend not to like the wild rabbit

because where we live, out in Wales, I go running round the roads

and you see these rabbits and they've got myxomatosis, and it's not pretty.

-And I just wouldn't want to eat the beast.

-So, farm rabbits.

Farm rabbits, for me.

And also, there's a big difference in flavour really,

-the wild rabbits are much more gamey in flavour.

-Exactly.

It's a different beast altogether, it's much darker meat

and much richer, much gamier.

-But obviously not always as tender as the farmed boys.

-OK.

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

-How are those spices, all right?

-All right. Toasting them off.

-Is rabbit the sort of thing you'd cook?

-Rabbit, I don't know.

I love it, to be honest,

but I don't think people appreciate it so much.

We often have a lot of trouble selling it,

only because, I think, it's the pet connotations, you know.

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

-Exactly.

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

they sell it all over the place.

You see, when you get them in, they come in whole, the heads.

They're not pretty beasts, but...

-There we are.

-Amazing fact I found out about rabbits,

most of the rabbits come from Africa.

-Do they?

-Yeah, and they were basically...

Where did you get that from?

Originally because they were brought over on ships

-because they were easy to breed.

-Oh, OK.

That's where the old rabbit comes from.

It obviously provided meat for the sailors, I suppose.

So, basically, just ground that down.

This is your spices, the garlic,

the dry chilli and everything else.

OK. These belly flaps, incidentally,

could be braised off.

With the buttocks of the rabbit as well.

GIGGLING Yeah, that was intriguing.

Presumably that's the rump, isn't it?

I would have thought so, yeah.

Buttocks, I'm going to put that on a menu, see if that sells.

Rabbit doesn't sell, maybe buttocks will.

Right, OK, where we going then?

All in there?

-OK. Yeah.

-Bit of oil.

Just chopping that up.

Couple of tablespoons of oil.

Yeah, OK.

-That's going to go in.

-OK. Give that a little mix, lovely.

And then just rummage that around in there

and leave it room temperature, you could put it in the fridge

and forget about it but room temperature's good.

OK. Just speed the process up.

Right, OK, leave that there.

That's coming along nicely.

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

Yeah, just really gently, gentle heat.

Right, OK, so you've done the couscous. Bit of red wine vinegar.

Yeah.

Good-quality vinegar, I mean, simple ingredients,

-So best quality...

-The couscous in here, is just hot water

-and leave it to sit over there?

-Absolutely.

And not too much water

because you don't want that sort of cloggy mess, you know?

So a little bit of sugar, sugar to taste, really,

and it's essentially, um...

Shallot vinaigrette you serve with oysters,

-it's that kind of...

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

would just go with the lemon and lime to flavour it,

but good red wine vinegar will work.

It's different to sort of malt vinegar and white wine vinegar.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Red wine vinegar.

-That depth of flavour.

You can make you own, we make our own in the restaurant,

which is very nice. Just all the used-up dregs of the red wine.

A few nicely finely cut shallots.

-Yep.

-A little bit of acidic taste.

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

just to soften, really.

-So, there you go. The lovely little peppers.

-Few herbs. Nice.

Your roasted peppers.

They're peeled by hand, apparently.

They're fantastic. They're wood-roasted,

I think great value for money as well.

They're obviously slightly more expensive than...

You pay about four or five quid for a jar

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

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

Right, so, into the bowl.

The couscous and the peppers.

-Rough-chopped herbs in there.

-Yeah.

Little bit of, erm...

Tell you what, can we borrow that?

So tell us about your pub,

it won quite a few awards originally when it set up.

Yes, yeah, we've been going six years now and we've done very well.

We sort of just put our heads down and got going

-and it's paying off nicely.

-And why Wales?

Was it the fact that you were born there as a kid

-or you moved there?

-We moved there when I was six months old.

And I met my wife in London,

she was Welsh.

So it kind of made sense, we were moving out of town,

we wanted our own place and it make sense to go there

rather than move to another part of the country

where we didn't know anyone,

so that's essentially why we ended up there.

And it's a lovely place to live.

A lot of the suppliers we used to use in London

-are from my neck of the woods.

-Not just busy in the restaurant,

cos you were there working over Christmas and New Year,

currently books and stuff like that, doing new programmes.

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

-This is the show on UKTV?

-That's right.

And, you know, well, like this, you get really good chefs on.

It's an amazing, amazing opportunity to meet these people.

-There we go.

-Doing that, writing books. It's busy.

In we go with the pine nuts.

Remind us what we've got in there. The peppers, the...

Peppers, shallots, red wine vinegar, bit of sugar, coriander,

mint and the couscous, obviously.

Little bit of pinch of salt and we're essentially there.

-Can I use my fingers?

-And if people didn't want to use couscous,

-there's bulgur wheat now, there's...

-Yeah, or quinoa.

-Quinoa.

-I can't even say it.

-Are you using much quinoa these days?