Episode 129 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning, we've loads of great cooking for you here on Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show. I hope you're hungry

because we've got some great plates of food for you to enjoy,

cooked by some pretty amazing chefs.

And everything that's cooked will be tried and tested

by hungry celebrities who are ready to give their opinions.

The loudest and greediest of Italians, Gennaro Contaldo,

makes pink gnocchi before our very eyes.

He serves the beetroot-infused jewels

with butter, sage and orange sauce.

New Zealand's favourite son, Nic Watt,

gets us all in the mood for a spring barbecue.

He marinades poussin in plum wine and griddles it,

and serves it with pickle and a bean salad.

Silvena Rowe gets creative whilst brandishing Polish black pudding.

She serves it with a succulent hand-dived scallop

and apple mashed potato.

And food-loving farmer Jimmy Doherty

faced his Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would he get his Food Heaven?

Pork, of course, with my whisky and mustard crusted pork chop

with sauteed potatoes.

Or would he get his dreaded Food Hell?

Marzipan, with my marzipan and raspberry tart with Chantilly cream.

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

But first, we celebrate one of the finest

culinary creations on the planet - the Jersey Royal potato.

And who better than Jersey-based chef Shaun Rankin to cook them?

-Welcome back, Sean.

-Thank you.

Like I said, in season at the moment,

-great produce in season at the moment.

-Everything's in season.

Slightly early with the asparagus as well.

Is it the same with the Jersey Royals now? Slightly earlier?

Yeah, you've got a slight early crop this year, which is always great.

As soon as they're ready, get them on the tables, because people love them.

So, what's the name of this dish, then?

We're going to do a sea bass poached in a lemon butter sauce.

We're going to serve that with great asparagus,

just nice, fresh, crunchy asparagus, side of Jersey Royals.

And we'll finish the sauce with some oysters and some creme fraiche.

Sounds good to me. And I know you want to get these Jersey Royals on.

They're small little Jersey pearls, that's what they are,

with some mint and some salt in there, that would be great.

-Jersey pearls?

-Jersey pearls, yeah. It's the size of them, isn't it?

-I mean, look at them.

-Are these from a specific part of jersey?

No, they're cropped all over Jersey

but it's the size that they take them out.

They put them through a process.

Which is the one grown in seaweed? Which is that one?

That is wrack. But it's a traditional way of growing Jersey Royals.

In older days, they put seaweed over to help with the crop.

Do they still do that now? They can't mass-produce it.

A lot of the local guys still do it, because the soil draws in the salt

from the seaweed and it helps with that really nice chestnut flavour.

So, I've got some sea bass here,

which am just going to take one fillet of, for quickness.

We're going to poach this in a lemon butter, as I said,

and I'm going to mix some soft butter

with some lemon juice and some lemon rind.

I need you to do a lemon confit

with some stock syrup and some sliced lemon, if possible.

So, this is just sugar and water in equal quantities?

Equal qualities of sugar and water and sliced lemon put in there,

with a little bit of star anise, just to give it a little bit of kick.

All you do is bring that to the boil, star anise goes in,

-then just slices of lemon.

-And we're done, yeah. Absolutely.

So, tell us about this.

You said there's a connection between this and the oysters.

-What is that?

-There is, yeah.

A lot of the guys that go out pleasure fishing,

just rod and reel type of characters, not commercial at all,

they put chest waders on and as the tide comes into the Grouville Bay,

where the oysters lay,

the sea bass feed off everything that drops off the sacks

that the oysters are bred in.

So, it's kind of, you've got Jersey Royals on one side of the hill

and then asparagus on the other, so it's all there.

But it's got its own unique little microclimate on land as well,

as well as the areas around, I suppose? Particularly the seafood.

It has. I mean, we look forward to the seasons, we can't

wait for the seasons to change so, we get all this fantastic produce.

For our lemon butter, very simple, this.

Wooden spoon... You'll like this dish because it's got lots of butter.

-Sounds good to me!

-Right, the lemon, you've got to pop straight in.

That's the lemon going in.

You bring that to the boil for how long, roughly?

Simmer that for around about 90 minutes,

just so it goes nice and confited and sweet,

and it'll help push the lemon perfume through the sea bass.

Show me what you've got there. So, you start off with that one,

and when we cook it down, you end up with this sugary sort of syrup,

which looks good.

Lots of flavour going into the sea bass.

So, lemon zest into the butter.

And then some black pepper, some salt. Give that a good mix round.

And then I'm just going to put a bit of squeezed fresh lemon into it...

..like so.

You're also over here not just for this,

but also you've talked about this little pop-up restaurant.

-What's all this?

-It's not little, actually!

It's a big one. It's actually at the Dorchester.

They've kindly invited me to come over in the month of May,

from the 14th, and we're there for a week,

bringing all the Jersey produce over - sea bass, asparagus,

lobsters, crabs, all the fantastic Jersey Royals -

and we're just showcasing what we do for a week.

This is at the Grill restaurant, isn't it?

It at the Grill in the Dorchester, yet. Right, so, our butter's made.

How's the Jersey Royals doing, James?

Jersey Royals are on. I'll put the asparagus in.

These asparagus spears, probably no more than about, what,

-two or three minutes? Two minutes max?

-Yeah, absolutely.

Nice and crunchy, nice and fresh.

I don't know about you, but at this time of year

I never really peel the asparagus.

You want that flavour in the skin, don't you?

-They're new season ones as well.

-You don't need to.

It's so young anyway.

Asparagus is one of these great things, when they produce asparagus

and the conditions are right for growing it,

the farmer goes all the way around one end of the field

and then 24 hours later,

it's actually fully grown at the other end. It grows so fast.

Never seen that.

Clingfilm over, spread out, a little bit of lemon butter on there.

We're going to put our sea bass on top.

No, I won't. I'll get my lemon confit first!

THEY LAUGH

We're going to put one of our little lemon slices

on top of the sea bass, like so.

Just put that onto there, skin side down.

So, in that butter you've got just salt, pepper,

butter and lemon zest, that's it?

That's it, yeah, yeah.

And it cooks in a nice little bag, so the fish won't dry out.

It's great to do at home because you can hold the parcels

for five or ten minutes before you have the rest of your stuff ready,

know what I mean?

And they won't dry out at all. So, there you go. Some butter on there.

And all I've got to do is turn the Clingfilm over, and wrap it.

Just squeeze the ends down.

One more time.

I take it you can do this with any sort of fish?

Salmon would be quite nice for this.

Salmon would be perfect as well, wouldn't it?

The lemon cutting through

the oiliness of the salmon would be fantastic.

So, that's your parcel done.

I'll set that in the fridge for around ten minutes

before they go in the steamer.

If you wanted to, and people are into char-grilling asparagus,

at this point what you want to do is take the asparagus out

and pop it into ice-cold water, just to stop it from cooking.

Most importantly, to retain that colour of the asparagus.

Then you can roll in oil and quickly char-grill it for 30 seconds.

-Absolutely.

-That's not far off.

-So, you're opening the oysters.

-How many do you want?

-Two or three will be fine.

Are you all right there? Need a hand?

You'll be having one, by the looks of things!

So, there you go, there's the sea bass out.

All I'm going to do is just lay the clingfilm

back over the top of the fish, to keep it nice and moist.

We're going to pour the butter into the pan.

Remember, we're going to make our sauce in this.

Bring that to the boil.

Add a touch of creme fraiche.

We're going to finish that with some chopped chives.

-Asparagus ready, Chef?

-I'll drain this off, yeah.

That's there.

Now, these oysters, obviously you get the native ones

and the round-shaped ones,

but these ones are particularly produced where you are, then?

They are. These are a creamy oyster from the Bay of Grouville.

The thing about the estuary in Grouville

is that you've got massive tidal waves coming in,

flushing fresh sea water all the way through,

so they're feeding very well.

The oysters are nice and they're not salty, but they always

taste like they've been kissed by the sea when you eat them.

Some estuaries around the country, you've got freshwater oysters

but these are absolutely superb.

It's like heightened seasoning as well.

So, there's our liquid.

That Jersey Royals must be pretty much there.

-You must have Jersey Royals on your menu?

-Yeah.

This time of year we put, on the lunch menu for instance,

lamb, sea trout, salmon, we just put Jersey Royals.

Everything has Jersey Royals in the month of April and May. You have to.

You've got to use the ingredients when they are there, I think.

-There's your oysters done.

-Thank you.

I'll probably just take around about four pieces, just for the plate.

-I'll drain these off.

-The Jersey Royals are ready.

Touch of seasoning on the asparagus.

I'm going to dress them in the same butter as the fish,

so you've just got that continuous flavour going through.

Am I right in thinking just Jersey Royals,

you want just with chopped mint and that's it?

Yeah, chopped mint and butter,

a little bit of salt and pepper, and that's it.

Asparagus goes on...

..like so. And your fish can go on the top as well.

Great smell coming from this. And if you want to just clean the skin off.

I think leaving the skin on is quite nice,

but if you want to just tear the skin a little bit over

and show the fish, then it's up to you, for presentation.

That sits on like that.

Now, our sauce.

Oysters are ready, Jersey Royals are ready.

-Not as if you're busy enough, James!

-It's all right.

-A little bit of creme fraiche.

-Salt. It's going really well.

If you've followed this, you're a better man than me at home.

So, just our fish juices, a little bit of creme fraiche in there,

just bring that to the boil last-minute.

-Chopped chives coming, Chef.

-Oui!

Sometimes I think we should just open a restaurant

and just not bother with this show.

We're just going to pop our oysters in and slightly warm them through.

Just put that over there.

-Chopped chives in there.

-In.

-Fantastic.

-There you go.

And then we're just going to spoon this over.

Just slightly warm them oysters through.

They don't need too much cooking. They need seconds, really.

And there we go - steamed sea bass,

lemon butter sauce with poached oysters

-new season asparagus and Jersey Royals.

-Done.

-That was quick, wasn't it?

-It was, wasn't it?

Right, you get to dive into this one.

It looks fabulous, I have to say.

There's probably not a lot else you could put on a plate

that's in season at the moment.

Incredible, that is incredible.

What's amazing is that, you know,

I was glad that you got stuck

on the oyster because the time it took you to cook the meal,

I'd still be trying to get the oyster open.

I think, use a good oyster knife, particularly.

I mean, Jersey, you're close to France.

France, I remember opening lots and lots of oysters in Pornic,

where they used to...

-I think the longer knives help better, don't they?

-Yeah.

Remember once you get them, always, always open with a cloth.

Right, dive in.

It's fresh.

-You'll wait for nobody!

-Oh, potatoes, amazing. Yeah.

Is that where I should start?

Have them and some butter and you're laughing.

-I've never had cooked oyster before either.

-There you go.

I presume you've got to watch the salt content of the sauce

-for that one, don't you?

-You do, yeah, absolutely.

You can improvise if you want to - some caviar,

some champagne in the sauce if you want to as well,

just to heighten the seasoning if you want to.

You know, basic ingredients cooked well for me,

-that's what it's all about.

-That is sensational. Really good.

What a fantastic seasonal plate of food.

Coming up, I cook Thai-style mussels for comedian Shappi Khorsandi

after Rick Stein takes us on his Seafood Lovers' Guide.

And today, he's on the hunt for squat lobster tails

before making some interesting-looking mussel loaves.

Enjoy this one.

We move now about 90 miles up the coast to the Solway Firth,

the North side, Glencaple.

This is called haaf net fishing.

"Haaf" is a Viking word which means channel,

and it's a method of fishing that's been going on for 1,000 years.

These men stand in freezing water with the tide rushing past them,

waiting for that telltale bump of a salmon or sea trout.

Each man is allocated a place in the river

and the guy who's further out stands the better chance of catching a fish.

But as the tide comes in,

he can no longer hold his place in the line and has to move to the back.

And this is what it's all about, a fresh run wild salmon -

so lean and sleek and bright and firm.

I mean, it's well worth waiting for.

Sadly, they're not as common anything like as they used to be.

We only caught just the one fish that day, but at least you can say

it really concentrates the mind on the sheer quality of the wild fish.

I don't think there's any dish

that better sums up British cooking at its very best

than poached salmon, new potatoes,

mayonnaise and cucumber with mint.

First of all, you get a big salmon kettle

and put enough water in to cover the fish.

And you make a court-bouillon.

It's a way of flavouring poaching liquid

that goes back to the Middle Ages.

You put in celery, carrots, onions, bay leaves

and in medieval style, a peck of peppercorns.

Quite a lot of salt.

And then add some white wine vinegar,

because you want to sharpen the bouillon up a bit

to cut the richness of the fish.

Bring to the boil and simmer for about 30-40 minutes,

so that all the flavours go into the liquid.

Now, for the salmon.

You lay it respectfully and carefully into the bouillon

because it is such a beautiful looking fish.

And you bring the bouillon back to the boil

and then take it right down and leave it just to tremble.

And while the salmon's cooking, cook the new potatoes.

Now, these are Jersey Royals

and at the beginning of May they're the best ones around. Fantastic.

Just some salt and a couple of sprigs of mint.

And now the cucumber salad.

First of all, you peel the cucumber

and then slice it as thin as possible.

Toss them into a bowl and just a little bit of salt.

It's best to season the cucumber then,

because it goes right in and makes it much more subtle.

And now you add mint.

This dish always reminds me of early summer in Britain

and nothing fills one with memories of early summer

more than the smell of fresh mint in a kitchen.

Chop up the mint, sprinkle it into the cucumber.

And now add some white wine vinegar and stir them together.

This cucumber salad's what British cooking is all about.

It's simple and it's fresh

and it goes so well with the salmon,

which, incidentally, is just about ready.

I think it's a good idea to take the skin off first.

Just cut very, very carefully around the sides of the salmon

and peel the skin off.

It's very satisfying when it comes off in one piece like that.

Cut down the centre of the fish.

Part it slightly and lift those fillets off.

Now, doesn't that look appetising?

Onto a plate and a good pile of the cucumber salad

and about three or four good new potatoes next to it.

Finish with a good dollop of home-made mayonnaise and then eat.

Do you know what?

Of all the fish dishes that I make,

this is the one that I love to eat most often

and the one that I always eat at home with Jill and the boys.

Why is it we all seem to want to rush off to hot Mediterranean beaches

and sit cheek by jowl with lots of other people,

when there's places in Britain like the West Coast of Scotland?

It's so good for the soul.

But this is a seafood lover's search for nirvana

and the one worrying thing about this paradise

is that there is very little fish to be had here.

Certainly, lobsters are getting scarce.

But there are a few surprises.

A fisherman's just given me all these squat lobsters.

They're still alive, some of them.

I'm going to have to cook them fairly quick, cos they don't keep very well.

Do you catch many of these?

Well, I don't fish for them but if I wanted to catch them,

I could catch a hell of a lot of them, yeah.

-Why don't you fish for them?

-Because there's no market for them.

You should go out and buy these squat lobsters!

The recipe I like is based on potted shrimps.

You take about a pound and a half of squat lobsters

and you boil them in well-salted water

for about three to four minutes only.

Then you go through all the laborious business

of taking the tails off and taking the shells of them.

It leaves you with about six to 8oz of squat lobster meat.

Now, you take a block of butter and just melt it very gently

in a saucepan and add some finely chopped fresh ginger and lemon juice.

Then you drop in your squat lobster tails,

stir them around a little bit,

and just leave them to infuse in the butter and ginger

and lemon juice for about a minute.

Now, you take some very, very finely sliced basil,

not a lot, just about half a dozen leaves, and stir them in.

Then you pour the butter and squat lobster mixture

into your ramekins and leave them in the fridge to set.

And to eat?

Well, I like to turn them out of the ramekins onto a plate

and just eat them with plenty of very thinly sliced brown toast and butter.

They're just delicious.

Of all the places I went to on my journey,

the Summer Islands were the most magical.

And as if by magic,

I found a little cafe serving just the sort of seafood I wanted.

This is Achiltibuie smoked salmon and it's quite special.

It should be quite special, because Achiltibuie is beautiful.

It looks out over the Summer Isles.

The reason it's special is it's smoked over whisky cask shavings

and it's cured with molasses, juniper berries and rum,

as opposed to just salt, which most smoked salmon is cured with.

But I'm eating it here in this little cafe

just a few miles up from Achiltibuie

and I just saw the sign which said "seafood, teas and coffees."

I just thought, well, I'll just see what they've got.

I walked in, and just totally an unprepossessing sort of place,

but they had the smoked salmon and they had the langoustines,

and they had the mussels out of the local loch,

and I just thought, well, this is the sort of place I'm looking for -

a place that just serves what the local fishermen are catching.

I mean, that's all I ask, nothing more!

Lochs like Loch Fyne are really the domain of little boats.

Little boats that can go creeling for langoustines.

Look at the size of that! It's like a small lobster.

If they just kept the loch to 16-18 foot boots

and banned the big trawlers from dredging it up,

just think how prolific it could be -

beautiful langoustines, smoked herrings,

smoked queenies, lobsters, velvet crabs...

The Spanish adore those.

Why don't we eat them?

I'm just thinking of Galicia and glasses of alborino.

And the mussels, with their lovely orange flesh.

They're grown here in Loch Fyne too, on ropes.

This is the latest way of harvesting them.

Their shells are really thin and the meats are fat

because they don't have all the stress

of being battered around in the tides.

And they're really quite clean.

It's amazing how mussels have caught on.

Of all seafood in this country, they're the sort of litmus test.

I remember when it was seriously avant-garde

to have a plate of moules mariniere.

But how things have changed.

I got this recipe out of Jane Grigson's Fish Cookery book

which is, actually, I think, my all-time favourite.

And it's called mussel loaves.

But I think this an occasion where the French sounds more romantic.

Moules en crustard. You think, "Oh, I like the sound of that."

That's that one done.

I'm now going to get some melted butter

and coat the inside of these crustard with butter.

Then I'm going to pop them in the oven to crisp them up.

And now to do the mussels. Just open a bit of white wine here.

The wine just gives them a bit of steam to start with.

Then just add the mussels, put a lid on.

Give it a good shake and let the steam do the business, cook them.

You get all the lovely liquor out of the mussels which is

the basis of any sauce which you're going to, I think, cook with mussels.

Just pour those through this colander.

I'm now just going to pick the meats out of these mussels.

That's a very easy job to do.

It's a lovely day outside today.

You know when the tide is high on a warm day like this,

you get this lovely warm smell of sea water.

I love that.

I'm going to slice up some leeks into very small pieces

and then sweat them off in a bit of butter,

which is a sort of technical term for just reducing them, cooking them

very gently, so that they go into what the French call a fondue.

They've always got these great words.

Like, it's a sort of sauce, almost.

Now, I'm just going to add some mussel juice.

The mussel juice is, to me,

the most important flavouring element of this whole dish.

Just stir that in. And now some butter. About 3oz of butter.

It's quite rich, this dish, but it's British.

So, just stir that in.

It's melting in nicely, liaising nicely.

And now some cream. About a couple of tablespoons of cream.

In that goes.

And now some beurre manie. Just a teaspoon or so of it.

Beurre manie just means kneaded butter in French.

It's just a mixture of softened butter and flour,

and it's an excellent way of giving a sauce a little bit of thickening.

That's fine. And now the mussels. Tip those in. Stir them in gently.

I don't want to break up the meats at all.

That's very nice. Oh, it's smelling good too.

Now, a great big wodge of chopped up chives, fresh chives, like that.

Just stir that in.

And that's done. That's ready.

Now, let's get the buns out of the oven.

There they are. Nice and crisp.

Just stick those on my worktop.

And now just fill them with this lovely mussel mixture.

I mean, I know this is quite old-fashioned, this sort of dish.

It's what I'd call the best sort of pub food

and it's the sort of thing we sell in our cafe.

I wonder if these sort of dishes will come back

into general fashion.

I mean, at the moment, everyone is into fusion cooking,

but I suspect that'll probably go the same way as nouvelle cuisine went.

Out the door, basically, and we'll be left with local food like this.

Great stuff from Rick, as always.

Mussels are one of my favourite ingredients to cook with.

There's so many different ways you can use them.

I've got you a really simple recipe now,

which is like a Thai, fragrant, coconut...

Almost like moules mariniere, but it's done with coconut.

-It's very simple. With straw fries.

-Lovely.

-Chips and mussels are...

-The best thing.

-Just the best thing.

Running through the ingredients. Mint, coriander...

-This stuff is holy basil. It smells a little like mint.

-Yes, it does.

Is it because it's by the mint and it's rubbed off?

No, it does actually smell like mint. It is fantastic, this stuff.

We've got lemon grass, Thai shallots, kaffir lime leaves, garlic,

ginger, palm sugar, lime,

coconut milk and some Thai fish sauce.

And obviously, I've got my chips here. Firstly, we make a paste.

We grab the leaves from this... We can take the coriander, mint,

and all that stuff...

Just grab the leaves, keeping some of it for later.

Place all the leaves in a pestle and mortar...

with the lemon grass that we've got...

The garlic can go straight in...

And we slice this through the root.

Now, comedy - it's always been in your blood, really.

Do you think most comedians...

Cos when you chat to most comedians, it comes from the school,

they were always the joker at school.

-Was that you?

-Um... No. Not really.

I was quite shy at school.

My brother was the joker in the family.

But didn't you use to tell jokes at parties and stuff with the parents?

Yeah, I did.

I think I was six or seven when Thatcher became Prime Minister

and I was obsessed with her and I used to do impersonations of her,

and it was my little party trick.

I'd do sort of jokes that my dad pushed me into stand-up,

which is kind of true.

I used to impersonate Thatcher at dinner parties,

and they'd go, "Oh, look, she's doing Thatcher.

"Isn't she funny?" And I got the real taste for it...

I'm giving that to him. He's going to do that.

Speaking of your father...

He was Iranian born, hugely famous...

-He's a writer, a satirist...

-Very famous in Iran.

Yes, but the government in Iran aren't really keen on satirists.

This is what I want to talk to you about.

Anyone who doesn't quite agree with them,

I don't know if you've noticed...

-Cos there was regime change, wasn't there?

-Yes, in 1979,

there was a revolution, when they got rid of the king - the Shah...

I'm going to eat the basil.

-Iranians eat herbs. We're very herby people.

-That's all right, go on. You can eat it.

-Oh, that is lovely.

-Nice, isn't it?

-I grow it in my garden, actually.

-I do like growing herbs.

-You can grow the holy basil the same.

Yeah, so, he fell foul of the new regime.

I like saying that - fell foul.

But your upbringing, it was kind of surreal, really.

You say it was normal.

Normal for kids is playing on the playing field and everything,

but not normal looking for bombs underneath cars and stuff.

Yeah, that was problematic when we were kids.

I think everyone thinks their childhood's normal.

I don't think anyone at eight goes, "This is weird."

So, does Glynn and his liquorice stick.

My dad continued writing...

I think the liquorice stick was really normal.

Thank you. This isn't normal, me sitting here grinding.

This isn't normal.

Yeah, sorry.

It's really funny talking about terrorism

and turning over to someone with a pestle and mortar between his legs.

-DEEPER ACCENT:

-Pestle and mortar, you know it's from my country.

That's not an Iranian accent, by the way. I can't. I'm not an actor.

You moved over here when you were four?

As my dad put it to the nursery school teacher, three and a half.

I was three and a half when I moved here.

Yeah, and he still had death threats, my father still had death threats.

A plot was uncovered to assassinate him in 1983. An unsuccessful plot.

After that, we had to check under our car for bombs,

and my dad would look under the car and go,

"Does anyone know what a bomb looks like, cos..."

But a lot of people would look at comedy as kind of like

-a release from it all, wouldn't they?

-Yeah.

Also, I think, as children,

you always try to please your parents,

and because my dad was very funny and very, sort of,

centre of attention and showman, kind of thing...

-Cos he's a writer.

-Yes...

but he was a very gregarious person.

And, you know, I would get an A for things at school

or get great marks on an essay and he'd be like,

"Oh, that's nice, dear."

But if I came and did a little jazz hands

and told some jokes, he'd go, "Oh, isn't my daughter magnificent?"

So, it became...

It's part of our family's culture, I guess,

to just laugh our way through things.

Is that where you get your love of writing as well?

-Cos you've written your book.

-I've written a book.

Thank you for mentioning my book. Yes.

I wrote a book called

A Beginner's Guide To Acting English,

which is written as me as a child and everything that happened

in Iran and everything that happened to us when we were here.

It's me from the age of three till 11.

Yeah, cos I've always grown up,

coming down at two in the morning for a glass of water

and my dad would be there writing.

Cigarette in one hand, writing in the other.

I never smoked, though, like him, but I do like to think that I...

Yeah, I write. I don't write as well as him,

but I write in English, he writes in Farsi, so there's no competition.

I'm just going to run through this. We've got...

-Can I help you with anything?

-No, it's all right. Chips are in.

I'm just sitting here nattering about myself.

In we go with the oil, there we go. A bit of that goes in as well.

-In we go with the mussels.

-I love mussels.

These are already picked, by the way.

In we go with the paste, which we got in here.

Which of course is all the pounded ingredients. That all goes in.

It's all very professional.

-And then we get the coconut milk.

-THUD!

Oops, a lime's gone.

Coconut milk can go in. And then the Thai fish sauce.

Give that a quick mix.

Now, the idea is, we just put the lid on, bring this to boil

and continue to cook it. Chips are cooking away nicely.

Meanwhile, I'm going to go get my lime.

-It's disappeared.

-I'm always too scared to cook mussels.

I think the secret is that mussels need to be

-absolutely fresh as daisies.

-How do you know?

-How do you know when a mussel is fresh.

-Basically, wash them.

If they're still open once you've washed them, then throw them away.

If they're talking to you, cook 'em.

Yes. Basically, yeah.

The most important thing is, really - raw, if they're still open

once you've rubbed them around, then throw them away.

-They should close.

-Oh, I see.

We'll bring this to the boil.

These will only take about a minute to cook.

Apart from the book and bits and pieces, your tour,

you're bang in the middle of it.

Yes, I'm touring. I'm touring all over the UK.

Another thing that you're doing -

this Channel 4 thing that's happening on Monday.

Yeah, I did it. We recorded that on Tuesday.

-It was at the O2. 15,000 people.

-That must have been amazing.

It was a real trip.

I'd done the NEC in Birmingham, drawing you in here, Birmingham.

-Thank you.

-That was a good experience.

I did Rock With Laughter with Lenny Henry just before Christmas,

so I kind of had stadium experience.

No, it was really intense. Just the...

Like, I was outside my dressing room,

having a chat with Catherine Tate, cos I used to work with her

on the circuit and I hadn't seen her since she became dead successful.

We were having a chat about our kids,

and after a couple of minutes it just...

Well, she was dressed as Nana.

It was the most surreal thing - having a chat with

her about children and the schools, and it's Nana.

I just thought, "I love my job, it's great."

Your tour, are you still halfway through the tour?

I'm about halfway through. Yeah, it's great fun.

I play little theatres and art centres.

I love the people that come to my shows.

You can pick on your chips.

We've got our mussels, which are not far off.

We're just going to add lime juice to this.

-All we're missing is a pint of beer.

-A pint of beer. True.

The famous dish obviously mussels, chips and beer.

A bit of lime juice. Then we'll just grab this and just give them a mix.

They should just open up nicely, which these lot are.

You've got that nice green paste. Then I can lift these off.

You happy just eating the chips, are you?

I'll just have them. Would you like some chips?

Let me take the chips over.

Lovely, thank you.

While you're diving in the chips, look. You've got the mussels here.

They've just opened up nicely, like that.

So, you don't cook them for very long.

I normally cook things until they start to smell of burning.

Definitely don't want to overcook mussels. They go like bullets.

Basically you just... Dive into that.

-Exciting!

-You've got all the flavours of Thai.

You can, of course, put chilli in there.

Dive in, tell us what you think.

-I eat with my fingers. Is that all right?

-You can, yeah.

In England we produce a massive amount of seafood,

but I think mussels are actually, if you get them absolutely fresh,

they're delicious.

-Mm!

-Easy as that.

Mussels and chips? You can't go wrong with that.

If you'd like to have a go at cooking any of the great food

you've seen on today's show, all the recipes are just a click away at

bbc.co.uk/recipes.

Today we're looking back at some of the fantastic cooking

from the Saturday Kitchen archives.

Now, get ready for some chaos. I mean cooking from Gennaro Contaldo.

Watch carefully, cos in there, there is a recipe somewhere.

Welcome back. Welcome back.

Thank you very much.

Welcome back. You're cooking something slightly different today.

-Yep, well...

-Obviously Italian.

-Course it is.

Every time I am on the show I'm only allowed to cook pasta and things.

Only joke. This time I thought, "Let's do some gnocchi."

Gnocchi. Right, gnocchi. This is beetroot gnocchi.

Beetroot gnocchi. That's fantastic. You get a lovely colour.

Beetroot is good. Very healthy.

You should have more beetroot.

Thank you.

Beetroot gnocchi.

Beetroot... Orange and beetroot goes ever so well.

I'm actually going to have a sauce with orange juice

and finish it off with orange zest.

-You will love it.

-OK. What do we need to do to make the gnocchi?

First thing, put a bit of salt in the potato.

Can you rice this potato - squash?

-I don't understand why they call it a potato rice.

-Potato ricer.

This is a potato ricer.

We're going to mash them. They go through here.

Some people say you do gnocchi with potatoes.

-Other people do it with choux pastry.

-Yes.

What's the difference?

-Well, the original...

-Different areas of Italy?

Yes, different areas. Also, it goes... Yeah, different regions.

Let's put it this way.

-Is the beetroot cooked first, Gennaro?

-Sorry?

-The beetroot's cooked already?

-The beetroot is already cooked, yes.

I don't have to do anything.

When you've got a machine like that, who's going to use it?

He's ricing the potato nicely. Don't forget to put a bit of salt in it.

Always we forget to put salt... What do you call them, papa or peppa?

Pepper.

-How long have you been in England?

-Three years.

-Three...

-THEY LAUGH

-Everything goes well.

-It's like 30 years, right?

That's inside, it's already done. Come on.

Come on. Come on. I'm waiting for you.

-It's coming.

-While I'm doing that...

James, you lost your touch of fastness.

I've never lost my touch, mate. Never lost my touch.

Look how tall you are.

I can guarantee at the end of the programme, you won't be so tall.

Right. You've got the potatoes.

Any particular potatoes that you want to use for this?

-King Edward would be nice.

-King Edwards. There's your potatoes.

-Salt inside.

-Then you put them...

I'm just going to get rid of that beetroot.

That's all right.

There you go.

Then... It's quite easy. Once you've got the potato nice and cooked dry...

-You can bake them as well.

-You bake them in the skins, take them out.

Just put some of this beautiful sauce...

I call it a sauce, because it does give a kind of sauce-y colour.

Then salt. A little bit more salt again.

Again, I'll put a little bit of flour. Just enough.

Does that have to be 00, Gennaro?

-00 would be fantastic.

-That's the pasta flour.

Yeah, it's a pasta flour.

Then you give it a nice mix.

Don't move that flour because I might need it.

-Sorry.

-OK, just in case.

Blood oranges, too. Do you use blood oranges?

This is the season. Poor Janet.

This morning she really tried very hard to find me

those blood oranges, we can't find them.

This is the season of a blood orange.

For those of you who don't know who Janet is,

she's our home economist who gets the food for us.

-She's unbelievable.

-She's brilliant.

She is really good. Bless her.

OK. Then you mix the rest with your hands.

-Children love to do this. You make sure...

-It looks like Play-Doh.

Yeah. This is why my children love it...

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." I have to do this recipe yesterday.

How old are your children?

They're six years old. They're coming up for a birthday.

Bless them, they watch me.

Hello, darling!

Where are you? You can see, Chloe and Olivia!

-Bless them.

-Right.

-We've got flour.

-Let me just wash my hands. I need to wash my hands.

-Can put a little bit of flour for me, on the chopping board?

-I'll do that.

-There you go.

-That's good.

Little bit more. That's it.

You cut it. You roll that out like little sausages.

make sure the little children do that.

Then, again, a little bit more flour.

You roll all three together.

Whenever I talk to you, you're doing something different, something new.

Still doing Jamie's restaurants?

-Oh, fantastic.

-One in Brighton.

-Brighton, Kingston.

-And a new book.

New books as well. Oh, yes.

Oh, yes. Books as well. The end of the...

Hold on a minute, what are you talking about, the end of the year?

I'm not talking about anything, mate.

I can't get a word in edgeways.

Slowly you go like that. Look how quick.

-Sometimes you roll these, don't you?

-Yes, you roll these.

Traditionally you would roll them, yeah?

Depends on the region, like you said.

If you roll it, just put the end of the knife and just go round it,

like that.

-OK? Then you've got a little gap.

-That holds in the sauce.

-That absorbs the sauce.

-But you can't be bothered.

No, can't be bothered.

OK.

-Have you got somewhere to clean?

-Not on my black trousers.

While this one is doing... I'm moving the frying pan. Easy to do it.

You've got a nice bit of butter here. Watch me.

Just watch me, what I'm doing.

Butter goes straight in. OK. Then sage goes in.

-Can you give me a little bit more sage, please?

-Yeah.

-Come on.

A little bit more.

You use a lot in Italian cooking then, sage?

Can I have a little more sage, please?

Yeah, you can have as much as you want.

Put it in. Ah, fantastic.

Then season as well. Don't forget to season as well.

-Little bit of blackberry.

-Blackberry?

-Blackberry?

-Black pepper.

JAMES LAUGHS

You can go online and get the recipe for this.

-This is it.

-He's lost me already.

-Orange juice?

-Look at that. Lovely.

-Try and get it in the pan as well.

I need somewhere to clean.

Can I put my hands on your beautiful...

Hey!

You don't like that?

-The sauce is ready. Look. Coming along.

-You want some butter?

-No! I've got the butter already there.

-All right, OK.

I'm cooking, not you cooking.

Then you put the gnocchi in. Finish the gnocchi inside the sauce.

The reason why, because you want this lovely gnocchi.

My goodness me, look at the colour.

Just a minute, I have to kiss the frying pan.

Oh, look at that!

Oh, it's lovely!

Now, don't forget the Parmesan,

because she has to give that extra flavour.

Can you find me the best, best plate you ever had on the show? Thank you.

-That one?

-That was a perfect one. That was the one I was...

The only one we've got. Right, so Parmesan's gone in there.

It creates a nice little sauce with it, doesn't it?

It's nice, because don't forget with the flour on the gnocchi,

the Parmesan and everything.

And then you put them out slowly, slowly, slowly.

You make sure they're nice.

You see that green of the sage, which you kept for the colour.

That bit of white of the Parmesan, which stays on top,

and with the lovely red, it almost makes an Italian flag.

-How long do they cook for?

-Sorry?

How long do they cook for in the water?

-About two or three, two minutes?

-Yes, two minutes.

-So, remind us what that is again?

-Not finished yet.

Before you remind again, this is the best one, the zest of an orange.

Bank Holiday will be over at this rate.

And this is beetroot gnocchi with orange sauce.

Subtitles available on Ceefax!

You're a legend. Right, come and have a seat over here.

Jade, this is where you get to dive in first of all. Try that.

-You do actually get to try it.

-This is good.

We haven't got a bin, I'm afraid.

-Have you ever tried beetroot gnocchi?

-Never.

-This is a first.

-Oh, it's really nice!

-Oh, bless you.

-Isn't your father part Sicilian, as well?

-Yes.

-There you go.

You see? You see? The motherland sends an attraction.

The motherland is Yorkshire, mate.

-The motherland is Yorkshire, no country!

-Dive into that.

Beetroot is really nice, peculiar flavour

but I think it goes very well with that.

People, if they don't like beetroot, this is a good way of getting it.

It is, because when you cook, you don't

get the full flavour of beetroot.

It is mulled down, but the colour is good.

But with the beetroot and orange, it goes well,

and the sage gives an extra kick, which makes the dish fantastic.

Gnocchi like you've never seen it before.

Now, it's time for a piece of the action thanks to the

brilliant late, great Keith Floyd.

Today, he appears to be wandering the streets of Frome in Somerset.

Here's one of me in my new boots. Like them?

You know, it's not easy to find the culinary craftsmen of yesteryear,

when England was truly merry,

but my spies tell me here in ancient Frome, there is one.

Margaret Vaughn, with whom I'm going to have a teddy boys'...

I mean, teddy bears' picnic.

As you can see, with Richard's brilliant camerawork here,

I'm in the baker's kitchen. This is bread.

And do you know, one of the worst expressions that has

crept into the English language is "the best news since sliced bread".

There has been no good news since sliced bread.

It was the most terrible thing that ever happened to us,

and this is the living - and bread is a living, organic thing -

this is the living proof of the mistake we as a nation

and the bakers of the new vogue have made.

My friend, I know nothing about bread. Look at this.

Bill and Ben, the flowerpot men, I think. Has that come from there?

But my friend Margaret, tell me all about this wonderful bread.

There are so many varieties. I don't know any of them.

I know I'm an expert in many things. Bread isn't one of them.

-What have we got here?

-Everything.

-What is this one?

That's a vegetable bread. That's tomato bread.

A tomato loaf, just made with pure tomatoes,

a white dough and tomatoes.

-Brilliant.

-And that's rather fun. That's an onion loaf.

Come really close. You can see the flecks of onion around in there.

-Can I rip this open?

-Yes! Smell it. Smell it.

You can see the pieces of onion.

Oh, gosh, that's beautiful.

That's lovely toasted for supper with a slice of cheese on it, Keith.

-Or dripping.

-Oh, absolutely marvellous.

-First-class.

-This is the cheese loaf.

-This is a cheese loaf?

That's a very light one. That's beautiful.

-Very, very light.

-I wish you could smell. Can we have...?

Can we afford some little sachets to be attached to the Radio Times,

please, so they can break them open and smell what we can smell here?

-Half the joy of breaking bread is wafting it out.

-Mm.

Everybody comes past the bakery in the morning...

SHE INHALES

..it's a great temptation to come in.

Now, this one, you know, in the days when...

I've been baking bread for a long time.

You don't look old to have been doing it for very long.

-Oh, I do love you, Keith.

-HE LAUGHS

You're one of my newest, nicest friends.

You're my best friend...ever.

Well, I use... I remember once we were having a party

and I didn't have any tins, it seems extraordinary now,

I remembered being friends with an old village baker

and he told me they used to bake them in terracotta.

-So, I bake these in the flowerpots.

-Wonderful.

-They're tremendous.

You get this lovely crust here. Just look at this.

-Just feel it.

-Oh, it's superb, isn't it?

You've got to rip that one, Keith,

because inside you get this beautiful continuity.

It is slightly... It's quite extraordinary.

It does taste different. And the crust is heavenly.

You've never read Private Eye? When people go on too much,

the editor says in brackets afterwards,

-"(That's enough bread - Ed.)"

-Oh! No more bread now?

No more bread now, cos we've got to do a little work.

We need some dough. We're going to...

Richard, if I can just smile gently at you...

There's a very special thing that happens to Margaret's bread,

and she makes things called trenchers. And this is a trencher.

And this is what people used to eat their food from

before plates were invented.

Hence the "trencherman", cos he was the guy who kept these warm

whilst spit-roasting the meat.

Keeping these warm. you'd slice your meat,

put it on there and you had a trencher.

And that is where a "trencherman" comes from.

Which brings me on to a little pet hobby of mine.

This is not dissimilar to a pizza.

In this country, we think pizzas have only just been invented.

Throw me over some pizza dough. Thank you very much.

Handmade dough, by the way,

which Margaret's going to show me how to roll out in a moment.

We all think that pizzas,

which have become, in my view, a kind of gastronomic dustbin,

a kind of pastry case filled with yuk,

is nothing to do with where pizzas originally came from.

They were made by a baker one day who had a little bit of dough left,

rolled it out and put nice things on it.

But we've been doing that in this country since the Middle Ages,

before the Middle Ages! You see? Nothing new under the sun.

While Margaret makes us a trencher, I'm going to make us a pizza.

And you're going to have to talk me through this,

-because I've never done this before.

-Oh, well, I'm sure you have.

-You've made pizzas, haven't you?

-I've made pizzas, yes,

but not with an expert baker overseeing what I'm doing,

so I'm bound to roll it out the wrong way.

I never feel very expert. I'm an amateur.

-What do you mean, an amateur?!

-Well, I am really.

-Doesn't it feel lovely?

-It's beautiful.

-Very sexy, isn't it?

-I always feel I want to make love to it!

-Yes!

-Very sensual.

-Later, dear, later.

-Is that a promise?

Oh, no jokes about buns in the oven, OK? From ANYBODY.

-But it is a very sensual thing, isn't it?

-It's delightful, isn't it?

-You're teasing me now. Have you got a roller?

-Yes.

Now, you really have to go at this. It's not like pastry.

You know, it's just like most lovers.

It tries to get away from you to start with,

and then you really get hold of it.

Stop, Margaret! I can't take any more!

LAUGHTER

You passionate beast, you!

I've always said on this programme,

we've never had anybody on this programme

who's never been full of love and happiness,

often wine as well, it's true to say.

-I haven't had any wine.

-Yes, you have!

-Oh, have I?

-Yes, course you have.

-Did you pour me one?

-Of course, I did, my darling.

-I was too busy getting the dough ready!

I have been standing rather a long time. I've only got a wee one.

That's great. Mine's going to go on a small plate.

But mine's shrinking back again. What the hell...? Margaret!

Well, obviously you're not a gentle enough lover.

-How dare you cast "nasturtiums" upon my...!

-You have to coax it.

-Right. Now, then, I think...

-That is coaxed.

Can you pass me a fork, please, Andy, from behind you there?

There is a thing called a docker.

All the bakers watching are going to be saying,

"Oh, my goodness!" This is docking.

Yes, but we're not all professionals at what we're doing.

It's nice to know the terminology, which is for pricking it...

-For pricking it, yes.

-It's called docking.

-Yes, it's docking.

-Which is very important.

We're putting these onto plates with a little bit of flour

-and...lard underneath?

-Yes. Yes.

And the vegetarians amongst them, of course, can do vegetable...

They can use vegetable oil.

But then they're going to spoil the flavour of the things.

Well, I think so. Do you know, I used to make bread originally,

and we used to get real good dripping from the butcher.

Sorry to interrupt you, Margaret. For my little bit,

I hope it's self-explanatory what I'm doing here.

Tomato crushed up onto the...

onto the bread...

anchovy fillets...

..and a simple pizza should have no more than things like this on it.

It's not meant to have artichoke hearts and sweetcorn

and all the junk.

Elizabeth David very correctly spoke of the wonderful quiche Lorraine

that in the '60s was degenerated into a culinary dustbin,

and I regret to say the same applies to the pizza.

It's become a travesty of its original, simple, delicate flavours.

And what's the bottom of them made of?

They're sort of hard cardboard-y things.

And you get this lovely gooey stuff on the top.

Well, sometimes it's lovely. It goes through this lovely Gruyere cheese.

-What cheese are you putting on?

-Oregano... Oh, grated Gruyere.

-Ah!

-OK? And a bit of olive oil to make that look...

for it to shine a little bit later.

A fraction too much there, but never mind.

-Can I have the docker?

-You can have the docker. Can I be your docker?

-You can be my docker!

-Great!

That's the final bit, you see.

Into your sexy dough we'll make a few marks with this fork.

So, they're ready, but they can't go into the oven for...what?

Oh, I would say about ten minutes. They ought to prove.

-What does "prove" mean?

-Well, you've still got this live yeast in there,

-and it has to come to its full maturity.

-It has to rise.

-It has to rise, yes!

-OK!

Now, there's a marvellous old test, very quickly, a marvellous finish.

I think a lot of people who are making bread

get really worried about how long to prove it.

A tiny piece of the dough, the same dough, pop it into tepid water.

It goes to the bottom, and when it comes to the top,

-it's ready to put in the oven.

-OK.

-Simple as that.

Well, by the magic of television, that has come back to the top.

-No, not quite.

-I know it hasn't, but by the magic of television it has.

And so off this goes. Bring the spatula in, bring our baker in.

-There we go.

-The peel, the peel!

-The peel!

-Yes!

Right, run along with the peel and into the oven, please.

Thank you, Robin.

'Trenchers are great, it's true,

'but with a slice of beef and a drop of real gravy, they're BRILLIANT.

'But of course, the Beeb couldn't afford a joint this size,

'so I've bought it myself... with the fee from my last series.

'A bit extravagant, but you can't beat a good British roast, can you?'

Right, Margaret and I would like to register a protest

that we don't approve of lean bread beef,

and we don't think housewives really want it, either.

We think that they've been conned and hyped

by the doctors and advertising world.

It's beautiful. Just those veins through it like that,

just to give it the flavour.

-Delicious.

-It's not quite ready, but...

-Well, let's pop it back in the oven.

-It needs to go in.

I would suggest without the top.

Without the top, cos the vegetables have got to brown, and so on.

Thank you, my darling.

-Oh, that looks lovely!

-Looks all right, doesn't it?

-Yes!

-Do you know, I think even my...

-Aren't you clever?

-Yeah!

Even my Italian friends, who make real pizzas, would approve of that.

You've taught me something today.

I mean, I'd never made a pizza. I suppose we have the trenchers...

-It's the same thing!

-Exactly the same things. Of course they are!

-You are so clever.

-There we are, there's a little bit for you.

-See if you like that.

-Thank you very much.

-Oh, is it too hot?

-Oh, it's terribly hot!

-Have a quick swig of wine.

Cool your fingers down.

Here, here's a little tiny bit.

-See how that is.

-I like your filling. Oh, I've missed my olive.

-Oh!

Oh, now that's a real crust! Can you tell? It's real!

And the middle is soft and gooey. Look at that!

That's excellent, isn't it?

And of course it's doing exactly what the trencher does.

It's all soaking in, look, Keith, instead of it all sitting on the top

-and you cut through and get that piece of cardboard.

-Right.

-Aren't you clever?

-I'm pleased. Oh, do you know...

-Oh, I think you're brilliant.

-..all we need to complete a brilliant day

is, as they say, "If music be the food of love, then play on".

A little music, a little relaxation would be the thing.

-How lovely! Could we?

-We could. I think we've earned it, don't you?

-Oh, I would like to. Shall we go?

-Yes.

..imagine you're making love to it. Terrifying!

-Oh, that's marvellous!

-Yippee!

-Thank you very much.

Thank you, David, that was absolutely brilliant. That was our lutenist.

Oh, yes, thank you, David! I love the music. It was gorgeous.

-"Lutenist" sounds a bit like a strange religion.

-It certainly does!

-Oh, yes.

-It really does!

-Anyway, this is the business, chaps. Richard?

You can have some, since you've been such a good cameraman.

In the good old-fashioned way -

-you put the meat and I'll put the vegetables.

-Right.

You hum it and I'll play it, darling, all right?

Did you cook that fairly high?

You did, I noticed my oven was quite high when you put it in.

That's all unctuous. Bound to be delicious.

-And the goodness has come out of these.

-Mm.

Lovely.

Anyway, here's to us

and here's to everybody who loves food and friendship and fun.

We don't know when we'll be back. Probably next week,

with another crazy programme. It might be goat's cheese. See you then.

-With the serving wenches.

-With the serving wenches.

You've got to be a serving wench.

You've got to become a serving wench. Come on!

Fantastic stuff.

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

from the Saturday Kitchen back catalogue.

Still to come, France versus Australia in the omelette challenge

today as Michel Roux Senior battles against Bill Granger at the hobs.

But how would they both do? Find out a little later on.

And Silvena Rowe puts Polish black pudding on the menu.

She serves it with hand dived scallops and apple mashed potato.

And foodie farmer Jimmy Doherty faced his Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would he get his Food Heaven, pork, with my whisky

and mustard crusted pork chop with sauteed potatoes,

or would he get his dreaded Food Hell, marzipan,

with my marzipan and raspberry tart with Chantilly cream?

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

Now, it's time for some New Zealand sunshine thanks to Nic Watt,

and here he brings a little bit of the Far East to the table.

So, what are you going to cook for us today, Nic?

I've got some beautiful corn-fed chicken here.

We're going to marinate it in some umeshu, which is a plum wine.

Essentially marinate it in the umeshu

-and serve it with a lovely pickle salad.

-Right.

So, what with got here, just to explain the umeshu.

Umeshu is a plum wine. It's sweet and fruity.

This is more associated with apricot.

So, we're going to use this for the punchy little flavour.

We've got some seaweed paste to give some depth of flavour,

-a little bit of that umami.

-What's that called?

-Nori paste.

And we've got some oil, some soy, some bansankan sauce.

Of course you have! What's that?

It's like a barbecue sauce. It's a fruity flavour.

Again, the barley miso. Lots of fruit flavours coming through here.

Looks like my wife's cupboard, you know? She uses all of those things.

-And I love it.

-You can get it all from a Japanese pantry.

100%. And then we've got some shallots here.

We're going to make a quick pickle.

Served with some fresh herbs and some edemame with a touch of green chilli.

These are these green beans? OK.

-So, you want me to make the paste?

-Absolutely.

You're going to get on with the baby chicken.

Often they're called poussin if you look for them in the shops.

Great, nice and simple. Great for a barbecue, aren't they?

The beauty of this recipe, I try to keep it really, really simple.

Summer's coming round.

As the weatherman told us, it's going to be a spectacular day today.

So, it's perfect for a marinade.

You can put this in for anything from the night before

if you really want to get those flavours deep into the chicken,

or if you were using lamb, for example.

-Or you can do it in a couple of hours. It's really, really nice.

-OK.

You're using the baby chicken there.

But you're just using the crown?

-So, you basically take the undercarriage off?

-Absolutely.

I want to keep the bone on, because we're doing this in theory on a griddle, a barbecue,

you want to keep the bone on to hold that flavour in.

Because that is what

your restaurant has become famous for, the griddle.

Yes, it's robatayaki cuisine, which is open charcoal cooking,

essentially.

Which dates back from...

Everybody associates Japanese food with raw fish and rice.

But there's a whole another element, which is this robatayaki,

which is the open charcoal cooking, which dates back centuries,

when the fishermen in the south went and caught their fish,

and they used to cook it and pass it around oar to oar to each other.

-Right.

-So, we just bring that into the modern market.

Now, what we're making is a paste with all these

ingredients. But not these little things themselves.

So, you just use the liquid ingredients.

We've got some spring onion, a little bit of Thai shallot in there.

-What key with this is to keep the...

-That's an unusual...

-It's quite strong, this stuff.

-Have a little taste. It gives the umami.

That sixth flavour, savoury flavour. It gives it some depth.

But you keep your mix a bit rough. You don't want it too smooth.

I don't want a really smooth paste.

That's not at all what I want.

So, we're going to throw in the oil and all the ingredients here.

So, they are just going to go like so.

-Could you use this marinade with fish as well, or...?

-You could.

If you were going to use it with fish, I would suggest

something like salmon where you've got that fat content.

And I would marinate it much less. But it really is.

Because it's quite fruity, and it's not overly pungent,

-it is quite versatile.

-Now, you mentioned lamb with that as well.

-That works well?

-Absolutely. Lamb I would put in for longer, though.

You just need to tweak it round.

With lamb, I would hold the same amount of ume, but with salmon,

I'd reduce this down. It's a little bit too alcoholic.

Would you use the shank of lamb for that?

Yes, absolutely. It would be very, very nice.

So, you can see this is quite rough in its chopping. And we just go like so.

There's a sink back there if you want to wash your hands.

-And we go like so.

-Just give this a quick mix?

-Absolutely.

We're going to griddle that.

So, you've got the chopped fruit in there, as well?

-Yep, we've got the chopped fruit as well.

-And then marinade this?

-Yes, please.

-How long do you want it in the fridge for?

A couple of hours is perfect for the chicken.

It smells absolutely amazing, this. Right, we've got our...

That's what I was looking for.

What I am going to do is just popped this on the griddle, because I want

to emulate that barbecue flavour, so I wanted to get some caramelisation.

We've got a relatively sweet, fruity marinade,

so you want that bittersweet balance.

The bitterness coming from the caramelisation.

So, we just go like so. And see this reserved?

This is perfect if you get a pastry brush,

give it a little baste just before they go back in the oven.

So, we've got some shallots going.

I always find with the miso, when you are using the miso marinades,

you need something just to cut it,

just to cleanse that palate a little bit.

So, what we've got here is a little bit of rice wine vinegar.

Now, I mentioned your restaurant in London.

-You have opened another one.

-A little bit of mirin.

-Absolutely.

-Yeah.

-And some sugar.

-Actually, a few, since you... Two.

Yeah, we have opened a Roka in Macau,

which is going very successfully.

We have opened a Roka in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Absolutely, we are super happy and we open one in seven weeks...

we open one in seven weeks in Hong Kong.

Why can't you choose Watford, or somewhere like that?

Well, we have another one coming to London, maybe we should have a look at Watford.

Let me speak to the investors.

Or York, my mother wants to taste your food.

-Or Bray on Thames.

-Exactly.

I was thinking of going out towards Bray, I have heard there is

-a couple of...

-Yeah, yeah.

-beautiful restaurants out there.

Heston and I, we are getting lonely.

I actually had Heston in the restaurant a couple of Sundays ago.