Episode 128 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Time to get your taste buds tingling with some fantastic cooking.

It's Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show.

Don't go anywhere for the next 90 minutes because we've got

world-class chefs cooking up some treats for you today,

as well as some hungry celebrity guests ready to

feast on their offerings.

The first lady of Irish cookery,

Rachel Allen, cooks the perfect chicken recipe for a spring lunch.

Pot-roast chicken with pilaf rice and wild garlic salad.

And fresh from Hibiscus, Claude Bosi shows us

exactly what to do with pork pie.

He actually makes a sauce out of it.

Yes, you heard right, he serves the unique sauce

with an apple and breadcrumb crusted piece of halibut and pink grapefruit.

It was delicious.

And the forefather of modern Italian cookery,

Antonio Carluccio, prepares the perfect Easter treat.

He creates a sweet wheat tart with lemon zest, cinnamon,

ricotta and orange blossom water. And it really was stunning.

And Aled Jones faced his food heaven or food hell.

Would he get his food heaven - fore rib of beef?

I could be cooking a beautiful piece of beef

and serving it with roast potatoes and proper Yorkshire pudding.

Or would he get his dreaded food hell, anchovies,

with my warm anchoiade with radishes, Caesar salad

and devilled deep-fried anchovies?

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

But first, if you're a fan of prawns, look no further,

because Bjorn van der Horst is here and he means business.

-What are we cooking?

-We are cooking prawns.

We have these beautiful, beautiful prawns.

It's a dish called El Cremat. In old Catalan it means cremated garlic.

-Yes.

-And it's the base of a dish they use for all sorts of seafood.

-It's great, isn't it?

-Yes, it's fantastic.

-It's just a really simple thing.

-Run through the ingredients.

We have prawns, we have... The base of the seasoning is anchovies,

chilli, garlic and shallots.

Which you would chop up nice and fine.

These together, all over the Mediterranean

-you find this combination.

-Yes.

And they build the umami sensation.

Because they compose all the different flavours that you get

-in your palate when they are all combined.

-That's very topical now.

That's what Heston has been talking about on the news.

The anchovies bring the saltiness, the shallots bring the acidity,

the chilli brings the heat, so altogether,

when they are combined, they bring all this stuff, which is...

Parmesan has this thing, and all over, Italian, Spanish.

The secret of this is good-quality anchovies to start with.

-You need good-quality anchovies.

-Which we've got there.

And don't be afraid of anchovies because you'll see

when we do this that they melt away

and they really just season the oil, it's not your anchovies

that you have when you are a kid, that nasty thing on the pizza.

-Yeah.

-That nobody liked.

These melt away and really give a beautiful flavour,

so don't be afraid of it.

-And rather than using salt, why not use something natural?

-Exactly.

Anchovy is nice and salty as well.

Tell us about these prawns because they number them

for the size per kilo, don't they?

They do, but these are very big prawns.

And there's probably about five or six to the kilo of these.

But if you can't find prawns like this,

you can use 16s to 20s, which are quite easily available

in your local supermarket.

-Which means 16 to 20 per kilo.

-Yes.

And they are a bit smaller and you get more of them and they are great,

and for the summer, it's so easy,

and you can use any fish you want as well.

You can use vegetables for this dish.

For the garlic, you're going to take the centre piece out, aren't you?

-I'll just wash my hands.

-That's the little germ there.

Yes, take the germ out of the garlic because if you don't take it out,

that makes it hard to digest and makes your breath smell

and your stomach upset, is the germ. And often, everyone forgets...

On fresh garlic, that's the little green bit inside.

Dried garlic, it's the little bit inside that.

Yes, and we are going to do the same thing with the garlic for the aioli,

which is a little dipping garlic that we use a lot in Spain.

OK, I'm ready for you now. For your cooked prawns.

-Do you want to take these prawns and finish peeling them?

-Yes.

Like I just did.

-I'll get this started.

-I'll start that.

-You just peel the body and leave the tail on?

-Yes.

The pan is hot, and just put the anchovies in there

and you'll notice they start to melt away.

You can do this with risottos or any kind of pasta dish.

You just melt the anchovies away and it just seasons the oil.

-Then everything else goes in at the same time.

-It dissolves, doesn't it?

You get the hint of it, but not the harsh flavour.

You don't taste the chilli or the garlic,

you taste everything combined together when you are eating it.

You'll notice that later.

That's what's exciting about it.

All combined, that's the umami, that dream thing you're looking for.

But this dish is particularly...

I'm attached to it, one, because my family makes a lot of stuff

like this in the South of France, my Spanish family on my mother's side.

And we have it on the restaurant menu and it's the signature dish.

Where did you get your inspiration from? Is it all over the place?

New York, it could be anywhere.

Yes, and being in New York for so many years,

New York is a melting pot of stuff.

Much like any big cosmopolitan city.

We've got our garlic here.

This is it, El Cremat, we are caramelising the garlic, the anchovy,

the chilli, it's all cooking together. It's starting to caramelise on the edges. The prawns go in.

We don't need to season it because there's plenty of seasoning there.

They go in there, just like that.

And then we do a little bit of Jimi Hendrix stuff.

I have induction in the restaurant, so I don't get the flames.

But this is the good stuff.

The white wine goes in and you want the flames out

and get the white wine reduced,

get all that alcohol out of there, otherwise it's a bit bitter.

And this should be done in minutes.

There we go. Put the lid on.

So any pan you have at home with a lid on,

-and that'll start cooking.

-Right.

In the meantime, a bit of salt.

-On top of the garlic.

-A little bit of aioli.

We'll bring that over there so you can see it.

So, normal aioli, some people use egg yolks.

Yes, the egg yolk is more of a garlic mayonnaise, it's not a real aioli.

The garlic mixed with the olive oil starts to make an emulsion.

I put a little bit of mustard in this.

But you were brought up on this sort of stuff.

Yes, yes, my mother is from a Spanish family

that fled Spain, Franco's Spain, they were political refugees.

And settled in the South of France in Toulouse. And so...

But obviously they still speak with a strong accent

and are very attached to their roots.

And so these are the kinds of things we eat at home.

And my grandfather,

his favourite meal of all time was just shellfish,

maybe some paella, and he'll sit there watching the news

yelling at the television, making aioli.

Lovely. Now, salad?

-You're not too keen on salad, are you?

-I'm learning it.

This is dandelion.

-Dandelion?

-Yes.

-Dandelions are...

Dandelions are great.

We know somebody, Bruno, the truffle man,

he's lost an amazing amount of weight and I asked what his secret was.

And he said I just eat a bunch of dandelion every day.

-Dandelion?

-Yes, because apparently it breaks everything down

that you eat.

So we've got some tarragon, mint, dandelion, a bit of watercress.

-That all goes in there.

-Yes.

And then you slowly add the oil to that, is that right?

-That's it.

-And a little bit of gem lettuce.

-Those prawns don't take long to cook.

-Not long at all.

They are pretty much done now.

We'll make some breadcrumbs with some parsley.

Your restaurant is celebrating its first birthday.

First birthday on 19 May. And we are really excited.

My wife and I are excited

because we are building a bar now on one of the sides of the restaurant

and we're going to do some really funky dessert cocktails

and tapas-type things that we are naming appeteasers.

So they are like appetisers,

but they are bit of a tease because they are examples

of miniature versions of dishes that we have in the restaurant.

So come in, have a drink, have a funky beer

and enjoy a little taste of what we do in the restaurant.

It's fun. People like to eat that way. I do as well.

It's very trendy now, all that tapas and grazing stuff.

That's the aioli that's done.

In here we've got a bit of parsley. Do you want some garlic in there?

Yeah, a touch of garlic.

And the prawns you put in that, is it like bisque you put in there?

What we put in there earlier was... it's a bouillabaisse soup

but you can buy fish soup at your local supermarket.

-Yeah.

-Pre-made. And they make very good stuff now.

-So you can do that quite easily.

-Ready when you are.

-Yes, that's it.

-I'll sprinkle a little bit of this on top.

-A bit of parsley in there.

I'll put some of this on there as well.

And drizzle a bit of olive oil.

And there we are.

You can almost serve it in that pan, it's just delicious.

In the restaurant, we serve it in the pan directly.

-And we put a lid on.

-Yes.

-And then at the table we take the lid off.

-Yes.

-And you get all the steam. You get a bit of a prawn facial.

-A prawn facial?

-A prawn facial.

And you've got this sourdough with it as well.

Yes, you need the bread because...

-I know everybody is on this no-bread diet at the moment.

-Who? Not me.

Me neither. But you want the bread to soak up all the sauce.

And the heads are important.

Do not be afraid to stick your mouth to that and suck on the head.

-Cos it's good.

-The flavour of that. There you go.

And this sauce goes right over the top of it. Just like that.

-A drizzle of that.

-A drizzle of the persillade over the top.

Remind us what that dish is again.

This is Prawns al Cremat with aioli,

a nice green salad with fresh herbs

and toasted sourdough bread.

How fantastic does that look? Amazing.

And it tastes absolutely amazing too.

There you go, dive into this. I don't know where you start.

-Dive in.

-I feel like I shouldn't go first this time.

-No, no.

-Dive into that.

-I feel a bit greedy.

You've probably got that bit you can peel off and chop that bit up.

-God, you could stick a saddle on them.

-I didn't know

-prawns grew to this size.

-You can find them this big.

They're like each trilobites from prehistory.

Obviously... Dive in, dive in.

But the smaller ones, all it is is just the cooking time.

The smaller ones will cook more quickly

so you just get your stuff ready and then boom, boom, boom.

But the secret is that caramelisation of the garlic.

Yes, that's the key to it. Caramelising the garlic,

that's what gives the sauce that big depth of flavour.

-And yes...

-These prawns, what, Indian Ocean?

These are Indian Ocean prawns. Madagascar or Saudi as well.

-I had similar ones in Kerala, they were really big.

-Happy with that?

He's in his element.

You can do this with monkfish, clams or mussels or anything,

it works well.

That's a great recipe for today's lunch.

Coming up, I cook brill and sea bass for Frances Barber,

but first Rick Stein goes mushroom hunting

after finding the best turkeys Norfolk has to offer.

When I think of Lancashire, I think of hotpot. Yorkshire, puddings.

Cornwall, pasties. And in Norfolk, a turkey.

Not any old hybrid turkey, you know, the ones that look

as though they've been blown up by a bicycle pump.

Bred for ever-plumper breast and meat at the expense of flavour.

This is the home of the famous Norfolk Black.

It's as near as you'll get to the wild turkey

the Pilgrim Fathers found in the New World.

Here in the village of Thuxton is the farm of James Graham,

fourth-generation turkey farmer.

With the Norfolk Black turkey, this is a pure breed.

It's just as you would find it out in South America.

And therefore it still has all the characteristics

of a breed of turkey that's outside.

They're a slow-growing turkey so they lay the meat on very slowly

and the texture of the meat is also a very fine grain of meat.

You can carve it ever so finely and thinly.

And that is a sign of a very slow-growing, textured bird.

Therefore it's got more moisture in the meat,

therefore it holds the flavour.

The Norfolk Black would have died out 100 years ago had it not been

for James's great-grandfather who started this farm.

I must say, after talking to James, I've got a bit of a problem.

You see, 75% of the food that we buy in this country is sold

through supermarkets. But they just can't deal with this sort of product.

It's too small, it's too good,

it doesn't fit in with their way of doing business,

any more than the fish from small boats does.

Where can I buy in the UK fish from a small boat landed that morning

and sold on the supermarket counter?

Where can I buy in the UK the product of a small turkey farm

where the turkeys are allowed to run free range? I can't.

And it's only because they control so much of the market that I think

they ought to be a bit more open-minded about what they sell.

Whenever I've had turkey, it's always come with the Christmas trimmings.

You know, Brussels sprouts, bread sauce, chipolatas.

But it doesn't have to be like that.

I got this idea from a holiday in Italy.

First of all, you fry off whole cloves of garlic in olive oil.

Now lots and lots of fresh sage leaves.

Now add some fennel seeds, some cracked black pepper,

a big pinch of sea salt.

And then the turkey.

I can't resist the taste of fennel seeds with Italian roasts like this.

I turn the bird in a flavoured oil,

making sure the coating goes all over.

And now I'm just going to stuff three-quarters of the garlic cloves

and most of the sage leaves into the cavity.

I'm just going to put that in a really hot oven now

for about 30 minutes just to colour it up nicely.

Just use the giblets and some root vegetables to make a standard stock.

I know someone who keeps roasting the bird with the giblets inside,

still in their plastic bag.

So, it's about half an hour now.

So I'll just have a look at that.

That looks extremely nice.

The other part of the Italian roast is white wine and lemon juice,

which I'm adding after half an hour.

This gives both the skin and the gravy a very pleasing tartness.

I'm covering the bird too, which keeps it moist.

Then, interminably it seems, back in the oven again

for another hour-and-a-half to two hours,

depending on the size of the bird.

While the bird is roasting, I make some rosemary and garlic potatoes,

the right accompaniment to this dish.

It's just diced potatoes, rosemary, garlic and seasoning.

This is a great dish for summer.

You don't have to eat turkey in the depths of winter.

And really, white wine is the choice here.

A great white Burgundy, like a Pouilly-Fuisse,

or an upmarket Italian pinot grigio.

While the bird is resting,

throw a generous quantity of good Italian olive oil over

the potatoes and roast them in the top of the oven for about 40 minutes.

Pour off the excess fat from the bird,

keeping all those important juices at the bottom of the pan,

and add the giblet stock to make the gravy.

Now this is a treat.

The Norfolk Black is such a fine-grained meat that you can

slice it thinly like this without it falling apart.

And now to serve up.

The potatoes, all crisp and aromatic,

and the garlic slightly caramelised

and the gravy, no thickening in that, thank you.

And now the salad.

Some bitter leaves with carrot and a white wine vinegar,

olive oil and Dijon mustard dressing.

That just emphasises the fact that this is a great dish for the summer.

The first time I found a patch of chanterelles on the way to Bodmin

from Padstow was of the same order of excitement as seeing

my first kangaroo in the bush.

It's that jolt of being there and seeing it with your own eyes.

With mushrooms, you never forget that musty smell

of dead leaves, autumn and earth.

I'm in a secret wood in the middle of Norfolk with Clive Holder,

a mushroom hunter extraordinaire.

And he showed me a host of golden chanterelles,

enough for a thousand risottos.

-They're supposed to smell like apricots, these.

-And they do.

-They do a bit.

-Yes.

They are so fresh. They're quite peppery when they're raw.

A lot of chefs won't like a mushroom, for example, this large.

They've got what I call supermarket syndrome.

Everything's got to be small -

-baby vegetables, baby mushrooms.

-Absolutely.

And what they would like is something about this size

that they can present

as a little button girolle on the side of a plate.

These ones unfortunately would have to be,

and it seems sacrilegious to do so, to be torn.

But when you do, that white colour in the middle there

denotes this is a true chanterelle as opposed to the false chanterelle,

which is yellow all the way through.

I've been searching for mushrooms for more than ten years now

and I've never come across such a developed patch as that.

That really knocked my eyes out. You live for something like that.

It's like finding the first cep of the season, it's so exciting.

What way do you like to cook chanterelles?

I just like them plain, fried with olive oil and butter.

I love the names that mushrooms have been given over the centuries.

Look at these amethyst deceivers.

They, like all mushrooms, have to be cooked using a lot of heat

and very quickly. Otherwise they stew.

And as they are 90% water, they tend to turn sloppy.

So it's really not a good idea to wash them.

Just give most of them a brush.

Here I've sauted them with kidneys, a great breakfast dish.

So, first of all, the kidneys.

Take about three kidneys, cut them in half

and that gives you three halves per person.

If you are fastidious,

take out the sort of fatty bits in the middle,

but, you know, you don't need to, it's really quite nice,

particularly in a lamb's kidney, which is quite delicate.

I've tossed the kidneys in seasoned flour

and now I fry them in hot butter,

not long because I like them rosy pink on the inside.

I turn them over once.

Halfway through, throw in the mushrooms and some salt.

I've always been a bit cautious with wild mushrooms.

It's great in France where you can take them

into a local chemist for identification.

Just try taking them into Boots!

Now take the kidneys out of the pan to continue cooking the mushrooms.

Add a little more butter, put the kidneys back in

and toss everything together,

then pour over some buttered toast.

And that's all there is to it.

Finally, sprinkle with a little bit of parsley and serve.

So simple and so good. If you haven't tried it, you jolly well should.

Oh, yes, that's those common earthballs I was on about.

-Oh, yeah.

-There's loads of them.

I just want to...

This is really interesting, actually, as a chef and restaurateur,

but Clive was just saying that

if you look at these common earthballs, which are worthless,

look at the inside. What does that remind you of?

Well, black truffle.

And some unscrupulous chefs in London

just take thin slices of this common earthball,

obviously take the outside off,

and then just steep it in truffle oil.

You know, it's not very expensive to have

olive oil flavoured with white truffle and call it black truffle.

These are worth nothing.

And, well, ten quid for that? Thank you very much!

But do only go mushroom picking if you know what you are looking for.

Take a reference book

or someone that really knows what they're doing.

Rick found some really lovely ones out there in that film,

but there are plenty which make you very, very ill.

This week's masterclass isn't on mushrooms,

it's a skill that can be a bit daunting -

how to cook the perfect piece of fish,

and I'm going to show you, not only with a flatfish, but a round fish,

so we've got this beautiful bit of brill there, which I have filleted

and then we take a round fish like sea bass,

or you could do this with salmon,

and cut yourself a nice sort of piece of it, like that.

And what I do with round fish like this, in particular sea bass,

is just basically score the skin.

Now, this will stop it from curling while it's in the pan,

but the way that you cook these two

is very similar but different, all right?

So, the way you cook this is a low heat.

That's the thing with this one.

A little bit of oil. This is for the round fish.

So, just a gentle, gentle heat, non-stick pan,

touch of salt on the fish themselves,

no black pepper yet, and then place the fish in the oil.

Just hold it down like that.

This will stop it from curling.

If I lift my hand off, you'll see it starting to shrink up,

so what you do is just keep your hand on it and press it

and it just seals the skin.

It's really important that you do this because, otherwise,

you put it in the pan and it will curl up.

To keep it nice and flat,

that way you will get the skin nice and crisp,

but most importantly, because sea bass is quite expensive,

we want to preserve that flesh in there

and by doing that, we can crisp up the skin

and we only cook it all the way through on one side,

so gentle, gentle heat like that.

Meanwhile, our flatfish, we've got this beautiful bit of brill there.

We can cook this differently,

so hot pan on the stove, a little bit of oil in here

and I cook it in half oil and half butter, all right?

We can season that up and once the butter starts to foam up,

which that is, a touch of black pepper on here as well.

And I always put this on the non-presentation side,

so the presentation side stays nice and white,

black pepper underneath, so skin side down,

or presentation side down, like the fish over there.

But we cook this very, very quickly.

So, half oil, half butter.

Because it is thinner, you want it to cook quicker.

It will take about 60 seconds to cook all the way through.

So you see one flame is nice and fierce,

the other one is still kept really, really low.

And we leave those for a couple of minutes

and we can then serve that with a classic beurre noisette,

which is capers, chopped shallots, some butter, of course,

and then I'll make some little lemon flowers with some watercress

and serve that with a nice little lemon in muslin,

just so you can just squeeze it over the top.

So cook it very, very quickly like that.

Once you get to that stage, grab yourself a palette knife.

Because you have the butter and the oil in there,

you've got keep your eye on it much more.

This one will just literally tick away nicely,

take about five minutes to cook that all the way through on the skin side

and we finish this off very, very differently.

But then we can turn that over and cook the other side,

so we only turn that over...

Well, we hardly ever turn that over,

this one, you can keep flipping it over, but ideally only once.

That's the little beurre noisette that's going to go with it.

But, first of all, congratulations on not just Silks,

but being on the front page of a national newspaper this week

because of your birthday, which is tomorrow.

Why is that?

With that knife in your hand, are you thinking of filleting my face?

Well, I was going to say, because it was all...

Well, you can tell us the story. Go on, then.

Well, you know, as I'm doing a lot of press for Silk,

which starts on Tuesday,

-nine o'clock, BBC One...

-That's the plug!

-That's the plug!

In the old days, you know, in my 40s,

I was always asked by journalists, was I going to have children,

why hadn't I had children?

And it's kind of sort of a theme that now I am in my 50s,

it's got to be something else

they are going to ask, because clearly those days have gone.

And these days,

it seems to be that all women of my age are asked about

some form of cosmetic surgery

and I was trying to make the point that these days,

because there are all sorts of fillers and Botox

and all kinds of Restylane and everything available to women,

if that's what they want,

that we are never going to see women's faces

that I call "like my nana's face" used to be.

You know, on Saturday afternoon I'd have tea and toast with my nan

and all those little wrinkles and stuff like that.

We are not going to see faces like that any more

because we live in a very different world.

-Character, you mean.

-Character faces.

And I was warming to my theme, as is my wont,

and at the end I had my tongue very firmly in my cheek, saying,

"And, therefore, I'm saving up for my own face-lift."

Then it sort of went a bit mad. I've had...

certainly 15 to 17 offers of a face-lift if I want one.

You've got 18 now. Five minutes, I'll sort it for a fiver.

-Well, when you were...

-I can fillet fish brilliantly!

When you were filleting that fish, I thought, "He's coming over here."

You don't need it! You don't need it!

No, it was actually a joke and, you know, I should know by now,

it's very hard to joke in print and I've learned my lesson, sadly.

But for anybody that did happen to see the article itself

and all the subsequent articles, I'm not having a face-lift

and I'm not going down the back of the sofa

trying to find extra pennies.

Because, in your career, you have played amazing characters.

You know, those facial expressions, you need that, you know!

-Well, you do! You need those facial expressions.

-Of course you do!

-If you just look one... one monotone...

-The Botox stance.

Well, you play these hard-hitting characters.

-Wasn't it the theatre where you first started in your 20s?

-Yes.

Well, any actress needs a different version of a facial expression,

but what I would like to say, as well, is that I'm not against

any form of cosmetic surgery if that is what people want to do,

if that is what women want to do, and I think it's not fair

to be labelled as therefore being vain

and introspective and shallow,

if that is what you want to do,

but it certainly isn't what I intend to do.

Good. Anyway, moving away from cosmetic surgery...

-Yes, as you've got that...

-As I've got the knife in my hand!

This is the piece of fish. You just press it like that.

You don't want too much resistance. If you press it

and it just starts to flake a little bit, that's when it is cooked.

You can see that is just cooking, you can see it halfway up the side.

We will continue to cook that.

I'm just going to wrap this little bit of muslin for you as well.

The characters you play, like I said,

you've played that all your life.

I mean, the theatre was a huge influence on you from a young kid,

but you managed to step straight into it in your 20s.

You've played such huge characters.

Well, I've played...

You know, I was in the RSC and at the National Theatre

and at The Globe and I played Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth and...

-Like you do!

-And Viola in Twelfth Night

and, you know, I love Shakespeare, I love the theatre.

But you are one of the few to play Shakespeare not just

as a serious thing in the theatre, but also on TV.

How does that translate?

I'm assuming, in theatre, you get much more people who know

a little bit about the character a lot more

when they're watching in the theatre.

Well, I... I don't... I mean, I...

You know, my love for Shakespeare is that he tells cracking good yarns

and so it often puts people off because they think

they are not intellectual enough to be able to understand it,

but his stories are basically simple.

They are normally about revenge, jealousy, sexual jealousy, ageing...

They're political, universal and domestic

and they are very, very simple stories normally.

So King Lear, which I did with Ian McKellen

and we toured the world with, we filmed at Pinewood and it's...

The story is about an old man whose children reject him

because he is a tyrant

and he then realises that actually there is more to life

than the fact that he thought

that ruling the world and his particular empire

was all that there was and family life was more important

-and it's a tragic story.

-Those strong stories you've got now,

is it translating to Silk on television,

because you play, again, this hard-hitting character?

Tell us about the new series that you are playing in that.

The new series, it's the second series of Silk,

which stars Maxine Peake, Rupert Penry-Jones and Neil Stuke

and it was a huge success last year and this is the second series

and there are several new characters entering the narrative,

one of which is me.

I play this veteran barrister called CW, who is a Queen's Counsel

and Martha Costello, played by Maxine, brilliantly,

-is her first year at the bar as a silk.

-And the silk is what?

-You get your silks, don't you, as a promotion?

-Exactly, exactly.

And you are then a Queen's Counsel and the stakes are higher

and, consequently, there is a great opening bit where I say to her,

"Now, I actually am very sisterly outside court,

-"but inside court it's going to be you and me."

-The Lady Macbeth of the courtroom!

It's the lady Macbeth, that's what she is called.

I'll show you how to finish off

this fish, cos we just basically

turn that over and you can see

that beautiful skin on this side.

Then we take some butter and this is the difference between

doing this at home and in a restaurant.

We take the butter over the top.

I've made my little beurre noisette sauce over there,

in the pan that we have the watercress in,

and this goes over the top of the fish just to finish it off.

It continues to cook that and then we lift it all out

and there you have the perfect bit of cooked sea bass.

We then take this beurre noisette sauce, which has got the capers,

the shallots, the watercress in there as well, just over the top.

We serve that with a touch of lemon flower,

which is just a peeled lemon,

and then you've got a little bunch of watercress on the side.

And there you've got some of that.

-That's all you want, really.

-Now, that looks amazing!

-Nice and simple.

A little bit of fish, but dive in, tell us what you think.

Is it insulting to a chef that I put pepper on before I've tasted it?

You can put pepper on because you need your energy for this big walk.

Yes, I'm doing a MoonWalk at midnight tonight, so actually,

I am supposed to carb up today, so they said!

Yes, it's for breast cancer and if anybody would like to sponsor,

you still can. It's Walk The Walk

and I am in a team called the Booby Dazzlers.

And this is where you walk around London just in your bra?

-Apparently so. It's at midnight.

-Yes, there is

a reason why he is staying there later, in a hotel room. Like this!

JAMES LAUGHS

Don't worry, Frances, I really wasn't going to give you a face-lift.

If you'd like to try cooking any of the recipes from today's show,

all those are just a click away at BBC.co.uk/recipes.

Today, we're looking back at some of the great cooking

from the Saturday Kitchen archives.

Next up, Rachel Allen is here

with a one-pot wonder for all the family.

-Good to have you on the show.

-Hi, James.

-What are you cooking?

I'm going to make chicken pilaf.

It's classic, simple, gorgeous chicken,

cooked in a casserole pot with white wine, stock, herbs,

carrots, onions and some peppercorns.

-So perfect for Nigel to start off this morning(!)

-Yes, sorry, Nigel!

OK, so we've got chicken. Let's carry on first of all.

So, I'm going to just put the whole chicken into a casserole pot

and... Or, you know, a large, heavy saucepan.

-So, this is what, a 2.5 kilo chicken?

-Yes, this is about...

Exactly, 2.5kg, 5lb.

Add in some white wine, a glass or two of white wine,

and some chicken stock.

This is very simple, fantastic, actually,

if you have a large enough saucepan,

to put a couple of chickens in, make enough of this.

You know what, it makes a little bit of chicken go a long way, actually.

Break a little bit of carrot in for some flavour.

Now, this is a free-range, organic one?

Yes, get as good a chicken as you can, obviously,

because the flavour is going to come through.

A couple of sprigs of thyme and some black peppercorns

and, thank you, you are chopping up the onion.

-The carrot and the onion...

-Slow cookers are quite trendy.

You could do it in that, couldn't you?

-Absolutely! Yeah.

-It's coming back now.

The thing that my mother used to use.

Used to be the wedding presents in the '60s and '70s.

My mother used to use it and she...

I never understood how she put it in the dishwasher with the plug.

-Until she electrocuted...

-Exactly. She always got me to switch it on!

-But that is what happens.

-Not advisable! Don't do that at home!

So, bring this up to the boil and then we will put it into an oven.

Not a hot oven, just an oven at about you know, 325 to 350, say 160.

-And...

-How long does that go in there for?

-It needs a couple of hours.

-OK.

We want it to be really nicely cooked.

As you can see, the legs should feel incredibly loose,

like if you give it a tug, it will come out.

Do you want me to take it out?

Yeah, thank you.

I knew I'd have to do something.

-So, take this out.

-Take your chicken out.

All the juices we are going to use for the sauce,

so we need to pull the chicken out

and then I can take the meat off the bones

and we need to strain the juices

because we are finished with the carrot and the onions.

-You want me to strain the juices as well, then?

-Yes, please!

Actually, shall I just stand here and tell you what to do?

-You usually boss me around all over the place.

-You like it.

Drain off the fat. Now, tell us about America. That's exciting!

Yeah, it was great. I went over... with Tourism Ireland, actually.

It was just coming up to Patrick's Day,

so the Americans wanted to see what food was like in Ireland,

you know, what really goes on, food-wise,

so I was over there trying to show them how good it actually is

and our wonderful produce and, yes, I did a few things on...

I was on the Today show

and the Martha Stewart Show and quite a few...

There's tremendous numbers of people watch these programmes.

98 million apparently watch the Today show on NBC.

-Really?

-Yes, it was great. It was busy. It was fantastic.

-I didn't get to see one shop in New York.

-Not one?

-Not one.

I think my husband organised it that way!

I'm just going to take the meat off the bones.

Continue on with the whole chicken.

And of course the brown meat is so good, look at this lovely meat from the legs.

Thank you, James. Meanwhile, you are making the whole thing.

I'm doing everything else. Go on.

-You need to then de-grease...

-I've de-greased it already.

-That's perfect.

The sauce is going in. What I can do now is bring it up to the boil.

You need to boil it down.

Give it about five minutes to reduce a little bit.

You want me to make a sauce with that, a roux?

Yes, a bit of roux would be great. Equal quantities of butter and flour.

A couple of ounces of each. And I can add the cream into the juices.

Just a little bit of cream for one chicken.

But, really, one chicken like this would serve about eight people.

-With chicken pilaf, it is six to eight people.

-Eight?

-OK, you might be a bit of a pig.

-Where are you from?

You've got kids.

It's quite nice made the day before

and left in the fridge, make a lovely chicken stock out of it.

Yes, yes, really good.

Exactly, and it just reheats really gently and nicely.

-It's a bit of a classic, isn't it?

-Yes, it is.

-Are you serving this with pilaf?

-Yes, with pilaf rice.

Pilaf rice is made from cooking a small onion, chopping it finely,

and cooking it in a little bit of butter until it's really soft

and then adding in the basmati rice, stir it around in the heat

-for a couple of minutes and then add in chicken stock.

-Right.

Chicken stock comes up to the boil, it gets covered, goes into the oven

or on top of the hob, cooks for ten minutes and the rice soaks up

all the chicken stock,

so you've got incredibly tasty, flavoursome rice.

-Yeah.

-There's the chicken. That's done.

Wash my hands. The juices and the cream are coming up to the boil.

-My roux is happening.

-Your roux is happening.

-So we've got...

-That's a good flavour.

Sometimes I add a tiny pinch...

a squeeze of lemon juice into this as well. But fantastic.

I love it how you sit there all sort of casual and relaxed

-while a dressing needs to be made.

-For the dressing...

-For the dressing...

-I'm going to mix together a little

bit of olive oil. Olive oil here.

And a little bit of rice wine vinegar and then, what's so good with this

chicken dish is a little bit of honey, grainy mustard and garlic.

-So you've come back from the States.

-Yes.

You've started writing a new book as well.

Yes, I started that last autumn... and nearly finished.

-This is to go out with the series that you do?

-Yes.

It is going to be quite exciting.

-It is going to be quite different and a whole new look.

-A whole new look?

You're in a bikini? What's that? What's that all about?

No, it's going to be...

It's going to be quite different and really out and about quite a lot.

All the blokes were going to Sky Plus then. So we've got the chicken...

-Got the chicken. Fantastic. So the chicken...

-It's hot, that.

-It is.

That's why I didn't carry on.

-OK.

-The dressing is made for the salad.

The garlic, the mustard, the honey... A little bit more honey in.

Olive oil, vinegar. That's ready. For the salad, these gorgeous wild garlic leaves.

-Carry on.

-Lovely. And the chard leaves.

-Wild garlic.

I love wild garlic. You kind of smell it when you're driving along in these country roads somewhere.

-It's fantastic.

-It's so good. It is so good.

-It's great in pestos, soups, stews, salads.

-Adam's nodding.

-You use it as well, don't you?

-Yes, we use it loads.

It's a short season

but it's something that we take as much advantage of as we can.

I'm going to do something in a minute.

We actually use it at the moment, make a puree out of it and fold it into a Chantilly. It's fantastic.

-Really gives a wonderful aroma.

-Yum.

-Lovely.

-Couldn't you pick your own?

-Absolutely.

There's quite a lot of it when you're walking along on

on these pathways, but go further in,

otherwise people walk their dogs...

It's not advisable. But it's fantastic stuff.

And in a couple of weeks it will have the little white flowers.

It's got beautiful white flowers on it. It's fantastic stuff. Beautiful.

And so good for you. This is natural, wild food.

-OK, there's the salad ready to be tossed.

-That's coming up to the boil.

-Great. Yes, a bit of parsley.

-Don't worry, I'll chop parsley as well.

You could put... Tarragon would be great too. Marjoram.

Really, normally this is quite simple and without any major flavouring.

-Fantastic.

-The sauce is quite a classic, isn't it?

-Like a veloute, almost.

-It is really.

-Exactly.

-Like fricassee.

-Great with wild mushrooms as well.

-Mushrooms would be...

Your girolles would be great in it too.

-OK. There's those.

-OK. That's ready to go.

-This salad...

-Now you're putting flowers in here as well.

-Yes.

Just for a bit of colour. A little bit of, you know...?

-Why not?

-Very girly.

-Is that a bit girly?

You won't catch me using those.

-I'm no pansy.

-Flowers go in.

-There you go.

-No, it's pretty.

-We've got a bowl here.

-We've got the pilaf rice here already cooked.

-Don't worry, I'm carrying on.

-Where is my spoon? Actually I can...

A bit of the old wild garlic.

What amazes me watching as a novice, how do you chefs know...?

If I follow a recipe, which I've done twice in my life,

it takes me hours to measure out the things.

But you just chuck things in, throw oil...

How do you know, how do you learn how many ingredients to use?

You kind of get used to it. You get the feel.

I wouldn't know what to feed a snake! Thank goodness.

-It's just one. That's easy.

-Just one.

-One mouse.

I suppose it's different to something like baking

where you do need to be more precise, where it's more of a science,

-but with something like this...

-You slosh the olive oil all over the place.

-It's amazing to see.

-Bit of the sauce as well?

Thank you. Some lovely sauce and the rice soaks up the gorgeous sauce, doesn't it?

-Rachel, remind us what that dish is again.

-What you've just made!

Yes, remind us what I've just cooked.

Chicken pilaf served with pilaf rice

and a really gorgeous wild garlic garden salad.

Done.

Thanks to... Sorry!

-Right, there we go. Over here.

-Sorry, Nigel.

-Nigel, you've got the bowl of salad. There you go.

-Thank you very much.

-Dive into that, girls.

-Thank you very much.

-Dive into that, Adam.

-Tell us what you think.

-Jump in.

-You could make that...

You don't have to make it with chicken as well.

If somebody's got guinea fowl or stuff like that, you could use that.

Absolutely, yes. Bit of pheasant, rabbit even.

-I can eat the flowers, can I?

-Yes. Absolutely!

-The chicken is really moist. It stays really moist.

-It does, doesn't it,

cos you're not losing any juices.

And I think you're right with the lemon juice.

A little bit of lemon juice can cut the fat of the cream.

Nigel is coming back again.

He got up at 6.30 this morning just to eat a bowl of wild garlic and flowers..

-It's great, isn't it?

-It's a good way to start the day.

The flowers are nice as well.

-It's nice, isn't it?

-It is.

-If you cook with it, it's fantastic.

It's so good. I love it.

-Wilted leaves.

-It's lovely. Really good.

It doesn't even get passed down to Adam.

LAUGHTER

Forget me.

It's great to see wild garlic on the menu now that it's back in season.

It really is fantastic stuff. It's Floyd time now.

And today he's got fish to fry. And look carefully at his glass.

For once, I don't think it's filled with wine.

This is going to make fish and chip fryers throughout the land furious,

to see Floyd fiddling about with fish.

But this is the veritable institution,

the heart of everything that's good about British cookery

and along with the fish which has to get up frying speed,

and it starts to sing when it's cooked, in go the chips.

What about fish and chips? What about them?

How many times do you know that you are getting cod

when you ask for cod?

And those of you who are blushing right now, you've every reason to blush

because you know and I know that sometimes you put pollock in,

don't you, and ling, and don't tell them.

Anyway, over here, some very important things about fish and chips.

Fish and chips. Pay attention.

This is Britain's first and most...

LAUGHTER

That's all right. It doesn't matter. It happens in every classroom.

Pay attention and no laughing.

And you at the back, sit still. And you, Director.

To continue with the lesson.

The first and most popular fish and chips were invented in Britain,

but it was the French who invented the chips. I'd never be a...

Hey, come over here. I wouldn't be much good as a teacher, would I?

Never mind.

Second most important fact. Chips were invented in 1865.

I shall be taking notes after the end of the class.

Winston Churchill called them good companions.

I think he must have known JB Priestley.

Another staggering fact is, we eat more cod

in this country than our fishermen land. So we have to eat more breast.

And finally, my little children gastronauts, my pupils,

big cod is best. OK? Right. Put that down there.

I can understand why they've gone on strike. They do need the money.

But I think it's time for a little slurp. That's why I'm a bit nervous today.

A bit of Panda Pops here.

Look at that. It's a petillant little number, isn't it?

Oh, boy.

By Jove, I needed that. Right.

Let's go and have a look and see how the old fish and chips are getting on.

It's magnificent.

# Golden brown. #

I don't think those chips are meant to be stuck to the fish.

I'm sorry about that.

Look at that. That's beautiful.

I can put one of those up here ready for sale.

I wonder if the BBC will organise me a customer.

A customer. No, it's Fred. How are you?

Very well, thank you. How are you?

Fred, I've got to tell you, the famous fisherman from the Plymouth Barbican, owns this shop.

That's why we're here. Here you go. I've cooked you some fish and chips.

Tell me what you reckon. I've done the best I can.

I've never done it before.

I'll soon tell you. If it isn't right, I'll tell you it's not right.

Is the batter all right? Is it crispy?

Beautiful, yes, you've done a good job. For a chef, you're not bad.

And the fish is white and firm. That's how it should be, isn't it?

It's beautiful. Fish has got nice moisture in it.

-You've done a good job.

-I have to say it's very good, fresh fish.

It wouldn't have been so good if it had been frozen fillets, would it?

No. You can't beat fresh fish all the time.

This has come out of a big cod, this piece.

The cod that I buy are between 10lb and 36lb in weight.

-And the bigger the cod, the better the fish and chips.

-Yes, much better.

The flake is better, it tastes better. Got more body in it.

You've got something to eat

and there's not a lot of bone in it at all.

There shouldn't be any bone in it when I finish doing it.

Right. And for anybody who wants to fry them

really properly, why won't you tell us your batter recipe?

I can't tell you the batter recipe

because, obviously, it's been in the family for so many years.

You know your mates, don't you? Dear, oh dear.

That's the last time I buy you a pint in the Dolphin.

What are the essential tips for cooking a piece of fish and chips?

You must have your pans at the right temperature

so that as soon as you drop it in it doesn't go to the bottom.

It comes straight up.

I've got a little treat in store - my own kind of fish

and chips with my own batter and my own fish.

All right?

On the subject of frying fish, there is more ways than one

of filleting and frying.

For instance, this sort of Mediterranean version uses

thin slivers... I've chosen cod, monkfish, squid and prawns.

And Fred's excellent batter.

You could use anything you like.

Little bits of kidney, olives, vegetables.

It's called fritto misto, and you can do anything this way.

All you do is dip it into the batter. Not too much batter.

Flick a bit off, pop it in.

With the prawn, we will try

and make the prawn look rather attractive,

hopefully having it only half battered

so that the head is going to stay red, I hope,

and the bottom bit will be covered in beautiful pink batter.

Similarly, a little bit of squid.

In they go.

There's more to fish-frying than meets the eye.

Still, you've got those little electric ones,

odourless ones at home. Cut up the fish in small bits,

make the batter, pop it in, put the lid on. Open a bottle of Pepsi pops.

Can I have another bottle of Pepsi pops, please, David?

You haven't done much this morning except witter.

Open it as well and pass it over to me,

because it's hot behind the frying machine.

And we'll have the assistant director take this plate away

and wipe it off. Thank you very much. And Panda Pops for me.

Where's the glass. Thank you very much.

They are being a bit more helpful today.

It's cos they want to get to the pub, that's why.

While I toast Fred, fish and chips and the great British institution

of fish and chips, the fritto misto will have cooked.

Shall we see how it's getting on?

And there we are.

My little Mediterranean-style fish minus the chips.

Fritto misto. Delicate, light, delicious, fun.

A summer's evening's little treat in the garden.

Wash it down with some vintage 1986 cherryade.

And it is cherryade. So there. There it is. My little deep-fried fish.

Real Floyd unidentified frying objects.

# With the fish and chips on a Saturday night

# With the fish and chips it's a bit of all right

# What a lovely bit of grub when you're returning from the pub

# There'll be nothing like the British with the fish and chips. #

While I've been discovering the culinary delights of Fred's chippie,

these enterprising cooks have been beavering away in their dustbins and clay ovens.

But time is getting a bit tight now

and the Navy laid on this splendid taxi for me.

Don't bother to stop. Don't want to hold you up.

I'll just jump out here. There's no end to a cook's devotion to duty.

Fearless, intrepid, debonair - they don't call me Wings for nothing.

In fact, they don't call me anything.

To my face that is.

When the Navy want a disaster, they organise it in an impeccable manner.

The one thing they'd overlooked was the BBC could come

and cock it up completely. Do you know what happened?

Our little helicopter bringing me here, big helicopter actually,

blew the whole place about as if it had been a tornado

in the West Indies or Wales, wherever they have tornadoes these days.

And actually, although I was going to cook you a brilliant dish,

I've spent all morning on my hands and knees,

you can see the mud on my trousers, picking up the bits and pieces. Enough excuses.

I'm still going to outcook this lot whatever happens, even though they've tried to sabotage it.

Richard, quick spin around the ingredients.

Naturally, because we're in Cornwall, I'm going to do a Portuguese dish.

Portuguese man-of-war it's called. I think it's a battleship or a boat.

I'm not sure. There's some pork. There's some onions.

Garlic, bacon, parsley, tomatoes, mussels, cockles, scallops,

olive oil, prawns and, because the helicopter wrecked it, I've had to

borrow tomato sauce from the field kitchen here.

I did make my own, honestly, but they blew it away.

Enough of all of that. A quick swig of what made the Navy famous...

till the rat-bags took it away from them.

And over with me into the frying pan.

The combined resources of the BBC and Navy have built me

the most extravagant and beautiful kitchen.

Onions in.

Stir them round just for a moment.

Then we put our pork in...like that.

That has to sweat down for a few moments with my bacon, which is there.

Over this way. This is quite funny.

Cooking in a square pot for the Navy. It's Floyd versus the Navy

but in fact they've been so kind to us I don't care if I come second.

There's a bunch of generals... No, they're not.

What are they called? Admirals! ..standing over there

and they are going to get to eat all of this shortly.

And that is the end of phase one.

Navy pilots, by definition, are a retiring, shy and sensitive breed.

They insisted that I wave goodbye

so they could get back to their flower-pressing and crochet.

Bye-bye, Crispin. Bye-bye, Your Royal Highness.

But now the other ranks have to finish off their gastronomic exam piece for the admirals to judge,

providing the Brylcreem boys keep their distance

and don't blow the kitchen to bits again.

The problem here is we are in a disaster area.

This is a busy kitchen. It's only made of mud and clay

and wattles made on The Isle Of Innisfree and all that nonsense.

What I want you to do now, and pay attention,

nautical manual number 19, page 27, Portuguese dish, phase two.

Go from now. Pass me the bits and pieces. In we go with the mussels. Thank you.

In we go with the prawns. Thank you very much indeed.

In we go with the scallops. Thank you very much indeed.

In we go with the cockles. Thank you very much.

In with the Royal Navy's own tomato sauce. Thank you very much.

A bit of pureed basil like that. Thank you.

Bring in my parsley, would you?

Thank you. Put that in. There we go.

Chilli powder to give it a bit of spice and flavouring.

A bit of paprika to make it brilliant. It didn't come out.

It never does when you're trying to do things properly.

Then we stir that round, put the lid on, like that.

In five minutes... Where's my rum? In five minutes we'll delight the generals,

the admirals with the finest foods of the northern hemisphere.

That is to say Portugal and HMS Raleigh. Good luck to us all.

MUSIC PLAYS

It's going to be a bit of a mixed menu today. Fish and liver.

I've had a brilliant time and mine's really good, but we'd better ask the admirals what they think.

What do you reckon to what your food has been like this morning?

I think it's been jolly good.

A first-class effort considering the conditions they've been working in.

I'm particularly keen on the vegetables today.

-Nice and crisp and crunchy with a lot of flavour.

-Absolutely splendid.

-What about you?

-I think it is beautiful. Very tender and a different taste.

What about the curry? The chaps who had curry,

-what do they think?

-George, you had the curry.

-Splendid.

Nice and spicy.

I think somebody let the salt pot fall into the soup, though.

-We've got over that dish.

-Right. All in all, how many out of 10?

-About 11.

About 11. You can't get much better than that.

What I'm going to do now, the brass hats as we call them

in the trade, have had a bean feast.

I'm going to feed the boys. That's where my heart is.

Great. This little masterpiece is absolutely ready.

All it needs is a sprig of parsley,

and I'll get the Blue Watch over here to see what they think of my cooking.

Hey! You lot! Do you want to try and eat something?

-Yeah, come on.

-Come on, then.

-Come on, then, lads. Come on.

-I'll just dish this up.

This is going to be a very testing time, one way or another.

Have a go at this, because you've been working hard

for the admirals and generals.

This is a Portuguese dish of shellfish and pork

in a spicy tomato sauce which I nicked from one of you lot.

You know that. So, they all gave you for your efforts 11 out of 10.

Could you be nice to me and tell me honestly what you think?

I have been under very difficult circumstances.

I'll lose my job if you do this to me badly. Be really nice to me.

-How many out of 10?

-Three!

-Three!

The tomato sauce was very nice.

Thank God we've got an air force, that's all I can say.

A classic piece of Mr Floyd there.

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

the fantastic cooking from the Saturday Kitchen back catalogue.

Still to come, two of London's finest chefs, Anthony Demetre

and Lawrence Keogh battle it out in the Saturday Kitchen Omelette Challenge.

Now, Lawrence was in fourth position on the leaderboard.

Could he make it any further up? Or would Anthony overtake him?

Find out a little later on.

The legendary Antonio Carluccio prepares the perfect Easter pud.

He bakes a sweet wheat tart with lemon zest, cinnamon, ricotta and

orange blossom water, and believe me, it really was stunning.

And Aled Jones faced his food heaven or food hell.

Would he get his food heaven, that full rib of beef?

I could be cooking a beautiful piece of beef served with

roast potatoes and proper Yorkshire pudding,

or he could be getting food hell, anchovies, with my warm anchoiade

with radishes, Caesar salad and devilled deep-fried anchovies?

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

Now it's time to go back to the very first appearance

of one of France's finest chefs, Claude Bosi, and what

great French culinary masterpiece did he have to share with us?

A liquidised pork pie. Tasted good, though.

-Good to have you on the show.

-Thank you.

-The first time you have been on.

-Yes.

-So what are we cooking, then?

-An interesting dish, to say the least.

-I hope so.

-We're doing halibut.

-Right.

-With breadcrumb and English mustard.

-Yeah.

-And pork pie sauce.

-A pork pie sauce.

Now, that's not one you get in a service station, that, is it,

-really? You've made this one.

-We did, yeah.

-You've made this one.

Fire away. I know you want to get the halibut on.

We're going to get on and do the crust as well.

I'm going to start that for you. What stocks have we got here?

We've got fish stock and apple juice.

-The apple juice is just Bramley apple.

-Right, OK.

Bramley apple, and I like the Bramley because it's quite nice and sharp.

Right, OK.

For the fish, a bit of oil, a dash of butter, and straight in the oven.

-So why halibut, then?

-I just like halibut.

It's quite nice, not too watery, it keeps its shape.

It's the perfect fish. You could do it with monkfish,

but you have to salt it first. The crumb, you've got...

-I'll do the apples for you.

-OK.

Crumb, you've got salted butter, a lot of salted butter.

-I just like the flavour of it.

-Do you use unsalted butter in the sauce?

-No.

The only time I use unsalted butter at the restaurant is for the

puff pastry, but even all the pastry we are doing, we use salted butter.

Now, tell us about Hibiscus, then, because it's ten years?

-Ten years old, yeah.

-Ten years old.

-Ten years this year, and it's been busy.

We started in Ludlow ten years ago

and we decide after three or four years ago to move down to London.

And for any foodie out there who doesn't know Ludlow,

it really is the capital of food outside of London.

Absolutely beautiful, yeah.

Because it was where, Shaun Hill and some of the great chefs,

it was almost like a little place with some amazing restaurants.

Yes, it was. And beautiful produce. The produce was absolutely stunning.

I've got the crumb made. As soon as you've got the apple, chuck it in.

-It's ready. There you go. Is that all right?

-Yeah, perfect.

-There you go.

-Perfect.

So it's bang in the centre of Mayfair.

Bang in the centre of Mayfair on Maddox Street.

-And as well as that you've just opened a pub.

-Yes, nice English pub.

Anthony opened a French restaurant. I open English pub.

-He's more English than me!

-But you are a huge fan of British produce.

Yeah, I love it. I think you have to be... You come to a country,

-you have to adapt yourself.

-Yeah.

And the produce, if it was rubbish, I would not use it,

-but it is fantastic.

-But classically French trained.

Explain some of the places you were in, two and three-star restaurants.

Yes. I had the chance to have... That's for you guys.

Maybe you are not going to like the sauce, so you can try the pie.

-Do you want pie?

-Some two and three-star restaurants in Paris.

-I've been lucky to train with Alain Ducasse, Alain Passard.

-Yeah.

Fantastic kitchen, and he teach you how to actually cook,

to understand what food is about.

You see the pork pie, you put everything, the jelly,

-the pastry, everything.

-There's a lot of jelly in this pork pie.

-Yes, and the jelly is apple.

-Right.

-Made with Bramley apple juice, just to get the sharpness to it.

-Yeah.

-We're nearly there.

-How is the pork pie?

-It's very good.

I want to go to his restaurant!

-OK, I'll take the fish out. It should be ready.

-We've got cabbage with this.

-Yes, you've got some cabbage.

-Spring greens.

-Yes. And some...

-Grapefruit.

-Grapefruit.

-I'll do that. You can start on the fish.

-OK, I'll do the fish.

-Explain to us this crumb that you've done there.

We've got breadcrumb, salted butter, apple and hazelnut.

We put the apple in at the last minute just to get the bite to it and the freshness.

So that's just the diced apple, you don't need to

-cook it out any more than that?

-No, no, you don't cook it.

-That's had three minutes.

-Yes.

-There you go, perfect.

The fish, you cook it halfway through. You turn it over.

And you put the crumb to it.

-On there.

-That's it.

-Yeah.

-That's it.

You could do this with all manner of different fish,

-couldn't you?

-Yes, a short way to do it is with scallops.

Scallops and pork pie?

I mean, scallops and pork go fantastically well together.

Yeah, I mean, Gary Rhodes put out scallops and black pudding.

It was one of the British classics. It was on every menu in England.

Now, explain to us, pork pie. Go on. How did this come about?

You didn't just take that and throw it in?

No, the idea was that in the beginning for the lunch menu,

that and a simple salad. And at the moment to trial it, it broke in part.

And it was something like 11 o'clock, just before the lunch service,

and we needed to find something.

Half of the pork pies go into pasta ravioli.

We did a pork pie ravioli. And the other half go into a sauce.

-And that's how this dish was invented?

-That's it.

As a Frenchman, we're quite tight. We don't like to throw anything away.

-But in there, you've got the apple juice and the stock?

-That's it.

-Looking a bit bemused there.

-Yeah.

-Would you liquidise a turkey and then serve it with cranberry?

-Yeah!

Yeah, no problem.

So that's blending. We've got the cabbage here.

Yeah, the cabbage.

A bit of olive oil.

-Pass it through.

-You happy with that?

-Yeah, perfect.

-Pass it through a sieve.

-Do you serve a straw with that, Claude?

-No, no, we just need to serve, actually, a bit thick.

-That's OK.

I'll just blend it for a little bit longer.

Yes, please, thank you very much. The cabbage goes in, spring greens.

-You got a...

-A bit of salt, just to get the water back in.

-You say you want to serve a straw with it?

-Pork pie smoothie.

-Milkshake!

-It's a smoothie.

-I put it in a bottle for you, if you want.

The wheat allergy will be perfect.

That's what I bring that dish for!

-The fish has had about a minute.

-That's it, we're nearly ready.

-I'm going to pass that through. Cabbage just as it is.

-Yes.

-OK.

-Cabbage as it is. And we put it in the middle of the plate.

-Yeah.

And that just goes in there.

-So you're just basically straining out...

-Straining the fish.

-Straining there. The fish has had about another minute.

-Put that in.

-You just do this exactly the same with scallops?

-Yes, exactly the same.

I have to say, it's a first.

Best advice, if you are going to do this recipe,

don't go and get one from a petrol station, a pork pie, and blend that.

It doesn't taste like this one.

You can, but you have to be careful with this seasoning.

-This one has been seasoned by ourselves.

-Yeah. But that's a proper pork pie.

You would say so? Are you saying the French pork pie?

Are you saying the pate en croute?

No, it's not pate en croute, that's a pork pie, definitely a pork pie.

-It's got "Made in Melton Mowbray" on the bottom, then?

-No, it don't.

I took a look before I came. The pork pie sauce goes in the middle.

Yeah.

It does seem very labour-intensive to basically make one meal,

take that, liquidise it and use it as a sauce for another meal.

I like making the life of my chefs difficult.

You spend ages doing that hand-risen water-crust pastry

and all that, and then just put it in a blender and blitz it.

I love the coriander with grapefruit. I think it's fantastic.

Next week, salmon with a sausage roll reduction!

-I'm thinking about it!

-Don't give him any ideas! It will be on the menu.

Tell us what that is again.

OK, we've got halibut with English mustard crust, spring greens,

-pink grapefruit and pork pie sauce.

-I'll tell you, the man's a genius.

Have a look at that.

Who would have thought it? You are about to try it.

Tell us what you think. There you go. Over there.

-Taste the fish and everything else.

-I will.

-I'm not sure about the grapefruit.

-Try it.

-I don't know!

I don't even like it when pineapple shows up on a pizza.

Food doesn't belong!

Tell us what you think of the sauce and everything.

The sauce has got its own seasoning anyway, it's peppery.

-There's like that much sauce!

-I'll get some more.