Episode 133 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning. It's time to get some inspiration for lunch. This is Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show. There are top chefs lined up to cook this morning.

And some hungry celebrities, ready and willing

to give their verdict on the food. Coming up on today's show:

Jun Tanaka serves his version of roast chicken.

He creates a salt crust for the chicken, bakes it in the oven,

and serves it with peas, broad beans and mushrooms.

Daniel Galmiche cooks the perfect summer fish lunch.

He bakes plaice on lemon grass skewers

and serves it with a creamy tomato and tarragon sauce, and spinach.

And Michael Caines serves a hearty veg and herb soup.

He uses celeriac, carrot, cabbage, courgettes, and peas,

and a whole host of fresh herbs to create the perfect summer treat.

And Arlene Phillips faced her Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would she get her Food Heaven,

chicory with my baked goat's cheese, served with home-made chicory

and orange jam? Or would she get her dreaded Food Hell, onions with

my classic Yorkshire pudding, served with red wine and onion gravy?

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

But, first, it's breakfast time. And we get a BLT with a difference.

It comes with mackerel and two Michelin stars.

What's on the menu today?

Right, we've got some line-caught mackerel, lovely.

And we're making a tomato stock, a nice BLT with bacon, lettuce,

tomatoes, and then some samphire, which is in season at the moment.

And it's all going to come together in a nice, refreshing warm salad.

-Now, you want to get that bacon.

-Yeah, straight under the grill.

Tomatoes, I'll get these on as well.

Before you mention it, I've worn this top as homage to you.

-Thank you very much.

-The last time on the show...

The last time he was on the show, he wore this....

-LAUGHTER

-Check it out!

-ZOE:

-Tangerine!

-Looks like a giant space hopper.

-Never going to live it down.

-Brilliant.

-You got a lot of comments about that, didn't you?

-I did.

Apparently, I've got to keep it, all the time I come on this show,

I've got to have...shirts that are quite colourful. But I think today...

I've beaten you to it to. I've tried. Right, on with our mackerel.

Basically, what we're going to do with our mackerel,

one of the things with a fish like mackerel,

people are put off by it cos of the bones.

If you prep it this way,

you shouldn't have to worry about it because you'll take them out.

Now, get rid of all the...

It used to be quite cheap, but it's quite pricey now.

I think recently because, you know, we are all aware

of sustainability and stuff of fish,

it's been a lot on the TV, things like mackerel has been eaten

a lot more cos these are sustainable fish.

But what happens is the price goes up.

So it's not as cheap as it once was.

You used to buy it for 10p each, something like that.

You could go down to most harbour-sides,

the kids would be selling them cos they'd caught them.

This one is line caught.

I mean, we actually found this. Check that out.

-That was inside it. See?

-It proves it was line caught.

-Or did you just put it in there?

-Yes, I carry a hook everywhere.

So, if you just take the rib cage out there,

and you run the knife along the centre where the bones are,

what it gives you is two clean fillets,

with no bones in them at all.

Which is great for getting kids into oily fish. It's brilliant

-cos of the omega 3 and that in there, it's very good for you.

-Yeah.

-Not for the fish, obviously, cos it gets caught.

-Exactly.

And so many tomatoes in this.

LAUGHTER

You're bored at the moment.

-Just chopping them, you know...

-You have to hurry up.

You blend in with the tomatoes with that shirt, James.

Thank you very much, Angela.

That's me done for now.

You're about to get your comeuppance a little bit later.

Right, the next thing we'll do is we will make the base of the sauce,

which is the mayonnaise.

For that, I've got three egg yolks, I've got some vinegar,

and I've also got some normal, light oil. Olive oil I'm using today.

You can use any oil. Not too strong,

though, because you don't want it to power at the end.

Well, traditional mayonnaise would be made with vegetable oil.

-That's right, yeah.

-Right, garlic? Some chilli?

-That's right.

Explain to everybody what I'm doing,

cos they probably haven't got a clue.

-Yeah, what are you doing, James?

-I don't know, I'm just chopping.

Making a raw tomato stock.

What you do, it extracts all the juice and all the flavour.

The best time to do it is when you've got, like, the glut of all

the tomatoes at the end of the season is make something like this.

-And you can freeze it.

-Right.

-And it has a lot of flavour in it.

-Sugar.

-Yes, that'll help to draw out juice.

-Vinegar.

-Yes.

-Mix it.

-That's got chilli and garlic in there.

-Give it a good mix up.

And then, what you do, just hang that or put it into a colander.

And best to leave it for a few hours. It'll draw all that out.

So, through a tea towel.

-There you go.

-Put that in the fridge,

or if you've got a larder, it'll be fine in there.

-Squeeze and leave it dripping, yeah?

-Yes, just leave it dripping.

Mind your shirt.

LAUGHTER

That's one-all now, Nathan.

I've got to get him back for that picture.

And then, after 16 hours, you end up with this.

-Yes. Which is lots of flavour.

-That looks like dishwater.

Oh, come on, have a taste of it.

Nice, isn't it?

-It tastes like tomatoes.

-Yes, the essence of tomato.

-Why don't you just put a tomato in it?

-That would be cheating.

That would be cheating, of course!

You could make it with a good tomato juice, I suppose, if you wanted to.

-I thought I'd get you working today.

-Exactly.

-The next thing you do is the garnish.

-And we put some tomatoes in it!

Which is nice cherry tomatoes on the vine.

What do you do with the leftover bits of tomato?

When you squeeze all the juice out, you can actually just make

a simple pasta sauce with it, you don't have to throw it away.

Which is a good way of using it.

Or even just cook it down, freeze it and keep it like a passata.

-Is that the right word?

-Yeah.

You don't put salt in it, you just put sugar when you do the tomatoes?

I don't put any salt in until afterwards.

The sugar draws it out. We're going to split the mayonnaise.

-Do you want me to do that?

-If you can do that, I'll do the tomatoes.

Just need that nice and thick.

So, to start this, it's a one pan wonder.

A little bit of oil.

Try not to get... I always cook fish on a medium heat.

Shall I check the bacon, chef?

-There you go.

-It'll be all right.

So, we've got our tomatoes.

Now you're setting it on fire!

-I like to flame the tomatoes for flavour.

-Smoky, Nathan, smoky.

Have you ever had a fire alarm go on in the studio?

I think it's about to, actually. It's just getting ready.

-Now, that was me. I did set fire to four sardines.

-Four sardines?

-Yeah.

When the tomatoes are starting to colour, lay mackerel in.

-Skin side down.

-Bacon.

Crispy bacon is essential.

-Right, OK.

-Lovely.

Now, season your fillets of mackerel with a little bit of salt,

a little bit of pepper.

Not too much, though, cos you've got ingredients in there,

we've got samphire and our bacon. You don't want too much in there.

So, how's the restaurant going, then?

The restaurant's doing really well, actually.

Since getting our two stars,

the fine dining restaurant's been fully booked, which is excellent.

But the one thing for me that I'm really happy about is

the brasserie, with the grill we've got, that's been really busy.

But, I mean, it's more of a challenge at the moment,

for the mid-range sort of market restaurants to do well.

And Rock in Cornwall is just opposite Padstow, is that right?

That's right. You've got quite a bit of water between you.

You could swim it if you wanted to. It would take about 45 minutes.

-Danny would get up there. Easy enough.

-Danny could do it.

-I can't swim.

-Well, maybe not, then!

Yeah, so we're in Rock, which is quite a nice area,

it's north Cornwall.

And, you know, busy in the summer, goes a bit quiet in the winter.

So, that's the challenge for us, to keep it busy

in the winter time as well.

Right, so our mackerel has just got a bit of colour on there.

Flip your mackerel over.

Do you want more oil in here to make it thicker?

Yes, a little bit more. Then, once...

once you've turned it over, take your mackerel...

I like my mackerel undercooked, depends what you like.

If it's fresh, you should be able to eat it raw anyway.

So, just take that out.

That's taken two minutes. Three minutes maximum.

Now, into the pan we've got some samphire.

It's growing everywhere on the estuaries that at the moment.

-Sea asparagus.

-Sea beans, as the Americans call it.

-Sea beans?

-Yeah.

We've got some of this... little gem lettuce.

I'm not going to put any salt in that,

that's how strong the actual samphire is. You won't need to.

A touch more oil.

Now, if you can, for me, just to the mayonnaise, add a bit of cream,

and some of this very...

I love the way Nathan's like really calm, and James is running around...

-I've done it all!

-..doing all the hard work.

-Haven't you noticed?

-On this programme, I do everything.

-It's good for you.

-Careful with that, James, the tomato juice.

-It's very expensive.

-Is that enough?

-Down to about a sauce consistency. Go on. Keep going.

-What was that?

-Like a sauce consistency. Add it in.

I love it when James Martin looks like he doesn't know what

-he's doing.

-Now you're in trouble for saying that.

-If it splits, it's down to you.

-It won't split, trust me.

-Oh, it's split.

-Is it?

No, it's fine. A little bit more in there.

Come on, it's got to add to the flavour in there. That's it.

Literally, all we do with this is warm it through.

We've got a pan on there.

-It'll take a little bit more, actually.

-You want more?

-A bit more.

I've gone to all this effort to make it.

You're justifying 16 kilos of tomatoes. There you go, right.

-Ready to plate?

-Yeah.

I've got a mixture of all the tomato and everything.

So, you've got the saltiness from the samphire and the bacon,

and then you've got the nice, sweet tomatoes, nice, sort of,

texture of the crunchy lettuce.

Some basil. We forgot that in rehearsal.

-And we forgot it again.

-We forgot it again! There you go.

There you go.

That on its own is very nice, you know.

On top of that, we've got mackerel fillets. They barely cooked.

When it's this fresh, I must stress, you can just, literally...

-In and out.

-You don't want to overcook something like this.

And now we finish that off with our dressing.

Which is our warm tomato mayonnaise dressing.

There we have it. Remind us what that is again.

So, we've got fresh line caught mackerel, basically, BLT.

He's a bit of a genius, is our Nathan.

-He's off. He's off with it already.

-I'm hungry!

-I haven't had breakfast yet.

-Oh, this looks great.

Do I get to go in first?

Norman goes mackerel fishing in Brighton,

just out of the marina, takes the kids.

And they love it, cos they get to gut the fish and cook it.

Well, go and buy it in the supermarket,

get 16 kilos of tomatoes, and you've got a dish!

By week on Tuesday, you'll be all right!

I'm going to get some samphire cos I love samphire. We get it from our fish shop.

That, I mean, that tomato, it is strong in flavour.

-Oh, that's so good. It's worth it.

-It's worth it.

Do I have to share it? Yeah, I do have to share.

Quite fantastic dish, that.

What a great dish for your brunch today.

Next time, you'll remember the bacon, Nathan.

Coming up, I make chilled melon soup

with langoustines and mint for Nick Knowles.

But, first, Rick Stein is travelling through France

and introduces us to a French form of filo pastry.

Good cooking, I think, still rules in France.

The hamburger joints and pizza places haven't taken over yet.

And this is particularly true in the rural areas

where little auberges and family-run food businesses cater for a local trade.

Like Lucienne Chauvel, with her sought-after tourtieres,

the basis of which is this incredible pastry.

I'm just amazed at this.

It's like the Greek filo pastry, but I've never seen it before.

Thing is, she makes it look so easy, it's like stretching a skin really.

But I bet you it's not as easy as it looks.

That's what I like about watching people do something incredibly skilfully,

they just make it look so easy.

I've never seen anybody describe a perfect circle before, but Lucienne's just done it.

And I'm just speechless with the skill here. I mean, it's just, it's just such a pleasure to watch.

She lays these sheets of tissue-like pastry in the bottom of a well-greased pan

and using her granny's apple slicing machine -

well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it - she fans the apple slices around the top of the pastry base.

She adds a very generous glass of Armagnac, which is again local, and some caster sugar.

I just know I'm going to like this.

-Du sucre.

-But just imagine trying to do this in a restaurant. Well, you couldn't.

Sugar and vanilla. Now for the crown.

These tourtieres came about after a meeting about farm diversification.

Lucienne served her pies as a treat to the good people that turned up.

And they said, "Mon Dieu, Lucienne!

"You must make these pies.

-"People will come from miles around to buy them."

-Voila!

And that's exactly what she did.

I'm lost for words. It's just...

If you just think about the French skill with patisserie, this is it.

This explains what it's all about.

It is so light, the Armagnac just gives it a sort of real luxury.

There's no pastry cream or anything, it's just like a vol au vent.

It's just like a breath of wind, it's utterly, utterly, butterly.

This is the way to enter a town.

In this case, it's Moissac,

famous for its fruit and its freshwater fish from the River Tarn.

Bernard, Michel and Julie greet the lock-keepers,

bridge operators and bar owners like old friends,

which they are.

But my main interest in coming to Moissac

is a fruit that's grown in the surrounding hills.

We're not far from Moissac, and that's where the best fruit in the whole of France comes from.

To me, the best fruit are cherries.

Just look at these branches, groaning with the weight of fruit.

Over here, we've got apricots and they're going to be ready

in a couple of weeks or so.

Excuse me while I eat another cherry.

But down there...

you see that strange tractor and contraption in the distance,

that is the most important crop in the area, Quercy melons.

It's the first melons of the season.

And this is day one for all the Dussac family, but Nicolas is the only one that speaks English.

-You know you can see the yellow leaf here.

-Oh, I see.

If you can see a patch of yellower leaves, you know it's riper.

-If you push here, you can see the break.

-Ah, yeah.

All right. I'm cutting the tail.

-It's a heavy one.

-What, for its size?

Yeah, for it's size it's very heavy.

And you can see the straight, very strong...

-Defined.

-Yeah.

-And not too green.

Yeah, because here, if you see this one,

-it's more green, just between, if I push, it can broken.

-I see, yeah.

I had to use my special form of telepathy that would prompt them

to ask me if I'd like to taste one of these delicious sweet melons.

And my answer would be, not half!

Lovely colour, wow, look at that!

Let's try some then.

Fantastic.

Mmm.

That's just the south west of France in a bite.

It's sunshine,

it's honey, honey sweetness, delicious.

Do you know, I think that's the best melon I've ever tasted.

Yeah.

Nicolas was saying they've hit the jackpot with this particular crop,

because all the other growers planted their melons

about two weeks earlier than they did, in March,

and unfortunately, everybody else was hit by a frost

so that, in fact, although they planted later,

they're the only ones around with a really good crop,

so they got top prices and just hit the jackpot.

Nothing beats a ripe melon picked early in the morning

in the field where it was grown.

But this is a really good way to serve melon at home.

Melons, I think, have had some pretty bad luck in the past

in the way they've been treated by us chefs.

We make those horrid chilled balls from them, covered in raspberry or kiwi fruit coulis,

or they're more commonly had with the inevitable dried piece of Parma ham. I've had lots of those.

This is different.

It's melon with its sister, the cucumber,

and beautiful ripe tomatoes,

all sharing one large, family-sized plate with slices of fromage de chevre - goat's cheese.

I made this for a lunch party the other day, intending it to be a starter.

But after some good bread, a chilled bottle of Chateau de Caseneuve -

mmm! - and some more good cheese, it was quite enough.

So, sprinkle it with some coarsely chopped fresh garden mint, and now for the dressing.

It's a standard dressing made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, a little sugar and some salt.

That adds, along with the mint, a spike of sharpness.

I love these Quercy melons, they're just the best melon in the world.

So sweet. They just have such fond memories for me of that day working with Nicolas in the melon field

and then going back to the farmyard afterwards and drinking Pinot de Charente and eating Quercy melon,

and meeting all his family, particularly his grandparents

who had been married for 60 years and were very happy people.

I said to them, "Excuse me, but what's the secret of your happiness?"

He just pointed up, like that.

I thought he was pointing to the sun and the melons and the sweetness and the light.

The crew, understandably, thought he was pointing up to the bedroom.

But, in fact, he was pointing up to God.

That is so sweet!

What a fantastic and so simple salad from Rick, there.

Nick Knowles has joined us. How are you doing, Nick? You all right?

-Very good.

-You've been practising for the lunchtime?

Yes, I've been jogging all the way here.

I turned down the taxi and said no, I want to run.

-Because you are doing the runs. At lunchtime.

-Yes.

-How many...?

-It'll be more of a stroll, I think.

-Yes, how many people do you think are going to take part?

-Thousands.

It's much, much bigger this year than it was two years ago

when we did the last Sport Relief.

It's getting bigger and better every year.

Yes, absolutely, well, we always said,

Comic Relief is obviously the big earner.

But Sport Relief has the potential to be the biggest.

Sport, everybody gets involved in sport, so, each year it gets bigger

and bigger, and we're looking forward to a good one this year.

Well, I'm going to cook you a dish, hopefully,

I'll make you a dish to give you some energy for lunchtime.

-Yes, nothing too heavy.

-Nothing too heavy, just a nice, simple salad.

We saw Rick do it, very simple.

What I'm going to do, I'm going to create it into a little soup.

Nice, different variation of using melons.

Rather than melons how they used to be at weddings,

with a lump of cheese in a cocktail stick, horrible,

but we have here, just a little bit of cantaloupe,

some watermelon, to add lots and lots of moisture into the soup

because we want a fair bit of liquid.

Mint, some lime,

I've got a little dressing here of vinegar, a little bit of olive

oil, and we're going to get on with the langoustines in a minute.

So, the first thing, we take some melon. This is seedless watermelon.

-I'm a huge fan of watermelon.

-Watermelon is delicious.

When I'm anywhere hot, I always eat, make sure I eat watermelon,

because it has the correct nutrients to stop you

-getting sunstroke.

-Yes, very good for you as well. Very, very good.

But this is one without seeds.

I'm sure when you just grow it like this,

if you want to grow melons, I've started to grow

a few melons in my greenhouse at the moment.

But a bit of melon, and then we have got some of this wonderful colour.

I'm using a mixture of the two, really,

purely the fact that you get a nice pink colour for your soup.

But then, what I'm going to do is just add a bit of lime juice,

just try and get more juice out of the lime.

Put it in the microwave for about eight seconds. That's all it is.

In there. And then take some wine, a good quality white wine.

That's the tip with this. Really good-quality white wine.

You can either use a bit of Sauvignon blanc, Chardonnay,

it's up to you. Blend it all up.

And you will instantly get this lovely, rich, rich colour. I mean,

Bill, you're into modern food in Australia,

is this the kind of thing you do with melons?

Yes, my kids might think it is a smoothie,

so I have to keep it out of their sight. It looks fantastic.

It's so simple to do, that's like, it's

so much easier than a gazpacho, really.

-This is going to be a cold soup.

-It's a cold soup.

-You don't warm it at all.

-No.

You don't warm it at all, otherwise it will start to split,

and obviously, you don't want warm melon anyway.

But it's just a simple little soup like that.

That's what I was wondering, when you said soup, not being a chef,

-I thought.

-It's a trendy term.

But what type of things do you get to cook?

-All kinds of stuff.

-Because you're a busy man.

Last week, you were in a prison.

-Yes, I've only just got out of prison.

-Exactly.

I was in prison all week in Cardiff, last week.

And I do a travel programme for the BBC,

so I'm hopping around the world.

-I did 54 flights last year.

-Did you?

-Yes.

-So, you travel a lot.

What's your favourite, favourite food from around the world?

I genuinely, I suppose, as a sort of genre food, it is Italian food.

Because they keep it simple,

and the fresh herbs, the basil, just to crunch the herbs

and smell the herbs and have that sort of sense.

You mentioned basil, which is your food heaven.

Why is that? Is that because of the Italian theme?

This is just one of those things.

I sort of go through periods of time when I like a particular herb,

and it's not a period of days or weeks, but a period of years.

I was in love with coriander for years.

And every thing I cooked was coriander, now, Basil,

for some reason. I love.

I have a big club of it in the kitchen, which every time

I walk past, I'll sort of crunch it, so that I can smell some of it.

Coriander, I believe now is England's most popular herb.

-See, we're learning.

-That's his fault!

-Blame everything on me!

-We learn a little bit.

-Learning all the time.

What I have here is a little bit of langoustine,

and I want to talk about this just for a second,

but these lovely langoustines here, this, again, is one of the great

things that we have is a product in the UK, particularly,

I was fishing about a week ago in Scotland, I actually went

with a fisherman on Loch Fyne. On Loch Fyne itself.

And actually caught fresh langoustine.

And this ridiculous thing is, we actually export them.

-Predominantly.

-Really?

-Yes, to Spain and Italy and France.

They love them over there.

But we tend to not eat them, but they are a fantastic product.

Didn't know you could get them.

Dublin Bay prawns, but they used to be put into scampi,

breadcrumbs, it's such a waste just to breadcrumb that. It's awful.

Anyway, I'm going to mix this together,

and while I'm mixing that together,

tell us about your food hell, which of course, is okra.

-Yes, okra.

-Or ladies fingers.

Ladies fingers, that is the thing which normally, would attract me

to it, but it's in actual fact, I don't like it because it's slimy.

When I grew up, I grew up in Southall, early years,

and so all of my friends ate fantastic exotic food.

My mum cooked straightforward English, meat, two veg.

Herbs were the work of the devil, basically.

But my friends, of course, it is

a very huge Indian, Pakistani, Afro-Caribbean community,

Southall, and so, going around to friends houses, it was

always curry and, like I say, Afro-Caribbean food,

rice and the peas and all that kind of thing.

And goat stew, so it was great.

Okra was just the one thing that I couldn't bear,

-because it was so slimy.

-If it is overcooked, it becomes slimy.

-It's not very pleasant.

-Yes.

And it had no, as it was on its own, it appeared to have no taste,

so it had the texture of someone having

sneezed on the back of a turtle.

If you like that sort of thing! Hopefully, this is not.

This is part of the langoustine. Looking little bit yellow.

Sneezed on the back of a turtle! Thanks very much! Yeah!

Part of the langoustine, it's a little bit of vinaigrette,

little bit of white wine vinegar, olive oil, a touch

of vinaigrette, now the secret for the soup, once you make it,

just give it a quick stir, because it will actually start to separate.

-So, just a touch.

-There's no herb in this?

This is basically melon juice?

Just melon and white wine, and that's it.

Really, so you have all of this lovely flavour,

so, it's a weird combination, but particularly in the summer,

with the beautiful weather we're having, it is

just so nice to have something refreshing.

And what I've done here,

just put a little bit of whipped cream with some mint in.

You could use basil if you wanted to make this with basil as well.

A little bit of mint gone in there, just a touch,

because mint is quite a strong herb.

A hot spoon, into some hot water, and then just quenelle on the top.

You see, look, there is something, that is actually anti-gravity.

If I tried to pile prawns up and put a quenelle, it would

now be a small jumble of a mess on the bottom of the bowl.

Demolish them with a spoon. Dive into that. Tell me what you think.

-Well, let's try a little bit of that and that and that.

-It's so simple.

Build up your energy for lunchtime?

-You know what, that is a work of genius, that is.

-You like that?

-That's fantastic.

-You look surprised!

-I've known you a long time!

Gone are the days of chicken and chips. It's good, that, isn't it?

That's really fantastic. Really refreshing.

Langoustine are very good, aren't they?

Perfect for a hot summer day.

Now, if you'd like to try cooking any of the studio

recipes you've seen on today's show,

all of those are just a click away on bbc.co.uk/recipes.

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

cooking from the Saturday Kitchen larder.

Now it's time for roast chicken with a difference from Jun Tanaka,

ably assisted by John Torode and a salt crust.

-What are you going to cook for us? Come join me, young man.

-Yes.

I'm going to do roast chicken, it's going to

be cooked in a herb infused salt crust.

It sounds a bit poncey, sounds a bit difficult, but it's not.

It's quite simple to do.

With some fresh peas, broad beans and some mousserons,

-which are these lovely little things.

-Fairy ring mushrooms.

-Is that what they're called?

-They are called that.

So, we've got to get on. A fair bit to do.

So, if you could chop the shallots for me and start potting the peas,

the broad beans, chop some chervil and I will get on with the chicken.

If I'm doing all of that, what are you doing?

Preparing the chicken, making the salt crust.

So, this is all of the sauce.

The idea of the sauce is to go with this fantastic chicken of yours.

Why are you roasting it in salt crust?

Because, now, chicken, it can be a little bit bland.

If you don't cook it properly, you don't season it,

and the salt crust, what it does,

it actually protects it from becoming too dry,

because you make this kind of dough which encases the chicken

and then inside the dough, you've got some coarse sea salt,

some rosemary and thyme,

and that is going to penetrate into the meat giving it loads of flavour.

While protecting it.

-Your roasting a chicken, you're taking all the bits off.

-Yeah.

You've taken off the leg, you've taken off the wings.

You can't cook the perfect roast chicken whole.

That's not possible,

because the breasts always cook before the legs, and I swear by that.

Genaro? What do you think about that?

You can't cook a whole roast chicken perfectly?

Well, I thought, and I know for sure,

-I cook the perfect roast chicken.

-Really?

Because of the different textures of the leg

and the breast that you don't agree?

-Yes, the breast will always cook before the legs.

-I see.

But can't you just take the legs off and roast them a bit longer

while you eat the breast?

-Yes. What do you mean?

-Can you do that?

You might as well take it off at the beginning

and then roast it separately.

Because you're classically trained, aren't you?

You're a classically trained chef, you're not just a little boy

around town, you have worked with some of the great masters.

-Have you chopped some of those?

-Yes, sorry.

-I'll keep a little bit to stuff the bird as well.

-Yes.

So, you've trained with some of the greatest chefs in the country.

Is it true that actually,

-it was your father that put you in the right direction?

-Yes, it was.

Basically, when I started cooking 20 years ago,

I wanted to work in the best possible restaurants.

And back then, 20 years ago,

the best restaurants were predominantly French restaurants.

-Do you want to get that sauce on?

-Oh, yes.

Cheers. Because otherwise we will not have time.

-If you could put the herbs in there, that would be good.

-OK.

-So, salt, butter in there, is that right?

-No, egg yolk.

-And then one egg.

-And then the herbs go in.

-And the shallots go in.

So, that is your sauce going on there.

-So, you wanted to work in classic French food.

-Yes.

Basically, I just wanted to work in the best possible restaurants.

And, you know, work in the top Michelin star restaurants,

and back then it was predominantly like I said, it was French.

But how did your father know all about great

-restaurants like that?

-Because he was a businessman,

lots of business meetings

and he was lucky enough to eat in all of the different

restaurants, so, I asked his advice for where I should work, basically.

So, in here, I've got the salt, the rosemary, thyme,

bit of flower, and you work that until it becomes like a dough,

so you're making like a bread dough.

And if's too wet, you just add a touch more flour.

And if it's too dry, you add a touch more water,

and you end up with something like this.

It's important you have to rest it for about an hour.

And very simply, roll it out to about half a centimetre in thickness.

-So it is basically like a pastry casing.

-Yes. Feel that.

-It's just like almost like a bread.

-But it's got a lot of salt in it.

You're not going to be eating that afterwards, are you?

No, that's just going to flavour the chicken and you don't need to put

any excess salt on the chicken before you put it inside the salt crust.

Are you baking chickens inside things? Is that what you do?

-Well, I do. I used to bake a chicken in clay.

-In clay?

It's fantastic, you know?

Because it does get through all of that moisture, and the flavour,

it can't escape anywhere. So, he's right.

The way he's cooked the chicken, he cook perfect chicken.

That doesn't mean he cook chicken better than me.

I never said that, I never said that.

There is a ferocious contest going on today

because later on we know about the omelette challenge,

and you two are going to go head-to-head.

It's a very special day, isn't it?

Because we have a couple of little surprises for you both.

-But anyway...

-Oh.

So you've put that inside the cavity, lemon and rosemary...

-Bit of garlic.

-Yeah.

And then I've just seasoned it with black pepper and you just, literally,

-roll the chicken inside the pastry, like that.

-Yeah.

And if you're having a dinner party,

imagine pulling something like that out in front of your guests.

That is pretty exciting. There's your peas and your broad beans.

I'll take that to the oven.

And that goes in at 200 degrees for 25 minutes and it's really

important, once it comes out, you rest it for another 25 minutes.

This sauce - mousserons, and shallots and stock.

Little bit of Sauternes, sweet white wine.

-You don't have to use Sauternes.

-Right.

You can use regular white wine,

-a little bit of white wine vinegar to cut through the richness.

-Yeah.

And I'm going to finish it off with a little bit of creme fraiche.

The creme fraiche is quite sour.

Why would you use that rather than cream?

Does that make it a more stable sauce?

No, I just prefer the flavour of creme fraiche.

It's got that sourness, like you said,

and I think it just creates a better sauce.

The best part is when you crack it open. Smell this.

All the aromas that come out.

Fantastic. But you got soggy skin.

Ah, but then what you do afterwards, you take it off the bone,

-and then you crispen it up.

-OK.

So the idea is that this is twice cooked, really.

Steamed first and then it's fried off to get a bit of colour into it.

And then our sauce is simmering away absolutely beautifully.

Just caramelise it off.

I'm going to sort of flip it over, just to finish cooking underneath.

25 minutes in the oven, it's going to be slightly pink.

And the idea now is to add that little bit of heat to it,

-get the crispy skin and just finish the inside off.

-Yeah, exactly.

But this feels like, to me,

such a shame to lose all those lovely flavours in there.

-Can we not do a pastry around the outside?

-No, you can't eat this.

-Have you ever tried?

-Yes, I don't want to eat that.

But is there not a way you can do it without so much salt?

-Uh...what...

-OK, we won't worry about that.

-It's the salt that flavours up the...

-OK.

-Ultimately if it's loads of flavour, nothing's wasted.

-OK, fair enough.

And you could do this crust with a whole sea bass

or you could use it for... What other things could you do?

The best roast beef ever.

Honestly, fillet of beef in this salt crust, I swear to you,

you will not cook another piece of beef in any other way.

That's difficult for me.

I run a restaurant that does beef

so I think that's going to be a bit of a hard one.

-Try it, honestly.

-I will try it.

But the food that you're cooking now, it looks quite precise.

Is this the sort of food that you would expect to eat

if you came to Pearl?

Yeah, I'm thinking about...I'm going to put this on my lunch menu,

-actually, in a couple weeks' time.

-OK.

And, you know, it's great for lunch. Lunch is a quick service.

You can have all these nicely warm.

And the great thing is, it stays warm inside the crust.

-So you can do them ready to go for service.

-And then open them up...

Could I make that the day before and then put it in the oven

and have it ready for all my friends coming round?

-Yeah.

-Rather than being stressed.

-The salt crust, once it's made,

it'll keep for about a week in the fridge, all rolled out.

And, you know, pretty simple.

Peas and mousseron, these lovely mushrooms.

It's funny, people think mushrooms are autumn but, they're not,

they also come in spring, like mousseron and the great morel.

But everyone also thinks they're French but they do grow in England.

-I haven't seen that.

-Morels in England, absolutely.

-Where's that?

-Well, we'll find out. I'll get the facts.

So, lovely crispy skin.

-And then that...

-Your asbestos fingers.

..goes straight onto the top and it is that simple.

It looks delicious. Just remind us what we've got.

That's roast chicken cooked in a herb-infused salt crust, peas,

-broad beans, morels. Summer on a dish.

-Mmm.

This is looking fairly sensational.

Cutlery at the ready. You get the first taste.

I'm so pleased you grilled it off cos one of the joys of eating

-chicken is a crusty skin.

-It is. Without it...

-It's the best part.

-Absolutely.

Right, what do you think of that? Like the smell?

Yeah. Looks fantastic.

You said that we had to feed you first before you started

-to tell us some jokes.

-Before I became amusing, yeah.

But you are just naturally amusing, aren't you?

Um...yeah. Well, I'm funny looking.

Which is a start, so...

-I've got a big mouth now.

-It's delicious, though, isn't it?

Fantastic.

That's a great way to guarantee moist chicken every time.

It's Floyd time now.

Today he's on the hunt for scallops off the coast of Dorset.

Strange little programme, this one. You will, with a bit of patience,

see a great chef prepare my favourite dish - which is a bass -

feast on the humble sprat, and with any luck,

indulge in the first scallops of the season,

which we're dredging for in West Bay off the Dorset coast.

To most people I suppose a scallop represents an ashtray, you know,

seen in a seaside hotel or something.

But to me, a scallop is one of the most succulent and versatile

of all the shellfish that surround the shores of Great Britain.

We've come out to catch them and you know in the normal kind of

colour supplement cookery programme or the television cookery programmes,

they all make a big song and dance about walking round

the market saying, "I only come to buy the most fresh fish."

Well, here on Floyd On Fish, we actually go out and catch it.

The scallops you can cook in all sorts of different ways.

The Japanese, for example, eat them raw.

The Chinese stir-fry them with bean sprouts.

The French often cook them with a fish veloute, a thin, creamy,

white sauce. Maybe with a little parsley and a few mushrooms.

Often, the British, cos they're a bit tedious about fish,

invariably surround it with mash potato

and smother it with cheese and whack it under the grill.

That's all wrong. Anyway, enough chat.

We've been here since five o'clock this morning.

I'm going to have a little snack to start the day.

Just to really put me in fine fettle, a beautiful fresh, succulent scallop.

Bon appetit.

If catching them isn't enough, you've also got to clean the little things.

And you need plenty of fresh running water,

a cloth in case you damage your hands,

the scallop, and a knife.

Now, the technique here, is to run the knife in,

which is quite tricky...

and right the way through, round the back.

And this does take a little while.

Drag the knife and it opens.

Revealing, I'm afraid, this horrible sort of mess inside.

So we'll run the knife underneath the scallop there.

And take it out...

..under the tap.

Throwing away the little, nasty black pieces.

And this other piece of membrane,

leaving only the red or pink coral

and the white main flesh of the fish.

And then into your colander.

OK, scallops. Very simple.

Some chopped streaky bacon is an essential ingredient.

The rich yolk of a free-range egg.

Some good yellow Dorset butter.

Some freshly chopped parsley.

A little bit of watercress to add that je ne sais quoi to the dish.

A little bit of lemon juice.

Pepper. Salt you can't see, so don't bother to look for it.

And a drop of wine.

OK, you know very well that on this programme,

despite the jokes and great international scallop festival

and our producer, David Pritchard, we are actually seriously concerned

about good food and fresh food.

So, if this takes a little time to cook, bear with me

because we don't pull things out of the oven that we just happen

to have ready, like all those other TV programmes.

Right, butter into pan.

And as I often make the point on these programmes,

when we're going to cook with butter, we mean butter.

We can't use anything else.

The into our pan goes a little bacon.

And we'll let that sweat down a bit because out of the butter -

I know this is difficult for you to see - but out of the butter

and bacon fat we get some nice juices in which to saute the scallops.

And after all,

if you're going to have a star at an international festival and it's

called the Scallop Festival, then I would say the scallop is the star.

And we'll plop those in.

Two of those.

Three. Four.

Just gently turn them, don't let the butter or bacon burn.

It's a good hot pan, good copper pan.

Very stylish provincial cooking this is.

You don't have to move the camera to look for me,

they know I've got to move to get the food in.

It's the pot that counts. Heaven's sakes.

Everybody in TV's so concerned about doing their job properly

they miss the damn point of the whole thing, which is FOOD!

Love, fun and affection. OK.

Scallops going into the pot.

Just stay with those for a moment.

Might invite you back on the next show if you keep it up like this.

You're doing very well.

Right, there are the scallops being very lightly cooked in butter.

I know those of you who like me

so much will be very disappointed right now that you can't see me.

I said stay with the pot!

Now come to me, come back.

Look, this is very difficult for me. I am a cook.

I present television cookery programmes. But I'm not a director.

I do rely on competent staff.

Would you get it right in future, please?

Thank you. Right, pot. Back to the pot.

We've got this hot and bubbling away nicely.

A soupcon of wine.

Stay on the pot. Cos I have to go away.

Then we're going to add a little parsley.

Because we like colours and flavours and flavours

and colours come out of cooking pots.

And smiling faces and cheerful cameramen.

Got it? Right.

Thank you very much indeed.

Now, Steve, this isn't really for you, this next bit,

it's for the actual customers who are watching us.

These scallops are nicely cooked now and if we leave them in there

any longer they will turn into pieces of rubber

and that would be a terrible thing to do.

So we're going to take them out to arrest the cooking process,

as far as the scallops are concerned. But we must continue with the sauce.

Just check this, please. You've got this little residue of juices,

which we're now going to create into a beautiful sauce using some

fresh cream, which we'll stir in.

OK.

For you at home, this plate here, that would be kept warm.

But since none of you are going to taste this - only me - and I like

my food slightly tepid, I don't give a damn whether it's hot or cold.

But when you're trying to impress your bourgeois friends,

cos only people who watch these sort of programmes are always doing that,

make sure it's hot.

We've bubbled the cream up cos we want to get this sauce, which is

cream and parsley, little tiny drop of white wine, bacon and butter.

Looks quite nice. But we haven't got the richness that we really want.

So we're going to quickly -

cos I'm costing too much money cos of the film.

If you knew what they paid me,

you wouldn't believe what a nerve they've got - egg yolks into here -

to ask me to worry about the price of film.

Stir the egg yolk in very, very quickly.

Otherwise we'll get a scrambled egg.

We just want to use the egg to thicken the sauce

and then we pour it over the scallops, like that.

And then our little bit of je ne sais quoi,

which we were speaking of earlier, goes on over there.

A final grind of pepper. A spoon for me.

And thank you all so much for coming, Come up, come up.

Thank you so much for coming.

I caught these, I cooked them, I'm going to eat them. Good night.

It's always great to see the main man in action. On Best Bites,

we're looking back at some of the great cooking

from the Saturday Kitchen archives.

Still to come - the tension is high in the omelette challenge

as Mark Sargeant tries everything in his power to distract Theo Randall

from getting a decent omelette time.

Find out how they both do a little later on.

And the hugely talented Michael Caines serves up a warming

veg and herb soup. He uses celeriac, cabbage, carrot, courgettes, peas,

and a load of fresh herbs to create the perfect summer lunch dish.

And Arlene Phillips faced her Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would she get her Food Heaven, chicory with my baked goat's cheese,

served with home-made chicory and orange jam?

Or would she get her dreaded Food Hell, onions with my classic

Yorkshire pudding, served with red wine and onion gravy?

And you can find out what she gets to eat at the end of today's show.

Now, if you got time, then Daniel Galmiche has the plaice -

fish, that is. Take a look at this.

-Hi, James.

-The reason why I've taken my jacket off is for a reason

because I'm going to be creating this thing. What are we cooking?

Plaice. Look at that - lovely. From Dorset. It's the season.

-Yeah.

-You're going to fillet that for me.

OK, so we're going to serve that with what?

-We're going to skewer that with some lemongrass.

-OK.

-Which will give a nice freshness to it.

-I'll get on with this.

Just to show you what you need, this is filleting knife.

See that? See how it bends?

Compared with a boning knife, you use to take the bones out of meat.

Look at that - it doesn't bend at all. Fillet knife bends.

That's what you want for this.

You've got a natural line running right along the top of the fish.

You follow that over.

And then just carefully fillet this out.

Now, notice how he's given it to me.

There you go. So what are you up to?

Right, first I'm going to do a tomato as soon as the water's boiling.

-Going to chop some shallots.

-Got one fillet off here.

And the other fillet off the other side.

The secret of filleting stuff is long cuts with the knife.

No jagged cuts. Just long cuts.

-Yeah, so you don't make any line in the flesh.

-Yeah, exactly.

So you don't damage the fish itself.

Just get through that bone. And that's it, really.

So you're chopping the shallots?

For the sauce and to put some in the small braising dish,

so I'm going to skewer it, like I said, with some lemongrass.

-You mentioned plaice is bang in season. It is a fantastic fish.

-Lovely.

We used to use it a lot.

It has kind of fallen out of favour with sole, I suppose.

People go more for the old sole because it is classed as a cheaper fish.

-But it's great.

-But the sole is actually more expensive.

-Yeah.

-Much better, that, I think, when it's fresh like this.

-Yeah.

But if it needs to be absolutely fresh, which this is, it's just beautiful.

It goes quite wet, doesn't it, if you're not careful?

Yes, I think you've just got to cook it properly.

-So you've got lemongrass. You're going to skewer it?

-That's right.

I'm going to go through the fish with it. Should be nice.

So tell us about the Clermont Club then.

-It something different for you.

-It's very different.

The reason I chose that is because... I put my name to the restaurant.

We're trying to open to the public for the first time

and that's a difficult part

when somewhere has been members for a long time.

So we're trying to make sure that everybody's happy with it.

But we're starting to do some really interesting food, like we've done

in every other restaurant I've been in. A bit more fussy.

-It's working.

-Just to show you how to remove the skin now.

So we've got the fillets,

you basically insert the knife underneath and just, watch this,

wiggle, wiggle. Wiggle the skin.

So I'm going to blanch that.

The fillets just come straight off like that.

Again, underneath.

You make that look so easy.

If I did that, I'd just destroy the whole thing

and it would all end up in the bin.

You could ask your fishmonger to do it for you if you need to.

-That's what I would do.

-It just comes straight off.

-Beautiful.

There you go. You can make a new handbag with that.

So, anyway, we've got our fish.

And then what do we do with this next?

Next... I will need the board anyway.

So... The idea with flatfish like this,

you have a smaller fillet on one side than the other side.

So you see these are bigger than this side.

So basically again skin it underneath, nice and simple.

We can trim off the roe afterwards. But it does come off nicely.

It especially helps if it's fresh. We can trim this off. There you go.

Your fish all prepared, sir.

-Super.

-There we go. Just wash my hands.

-Can I pick up the board?

Absolutely. Now, you're going to skewer this in lemongrass.

-Is that right?

-Yeah. To give a little bit something different.

Nice and fresh... You need to roll the fish.

Now, where do you get your inspiration from?

Because you're still classically French trained

but very into British seasonal food.

Is that the French way of looking at food anyway? The classic seasonal sort of dishes?

You're a big fan of British produce as well?

Absolutely, yes. I use probably...

I would say about 80% of my produce are British.

I mean, you've got tremendous produce.

There's nothing new about that. You always had it.

And the only thing I would say that I use which is not British

is some of the poultry. That's all.

The rest, everything comes from Britain. Definitely. It's tremendous.

What would you say is the main difference between the Brits and the French?

The French have a massive history with food.

Do you think it's the appreciation for great ingredients?

Because we kind of understand what food is

but really don't appreciate what's on our doorstep.

The difference I would say, James, when we eat in France,

we're more with the parents when we dine and we talk about things.

I think the education is more round the table, if you know what I mean.

And when I came in this country,

I realised within some of the places I was,

sometimes it was the children having a meal with the nanny,

kind of high tea, and the parents eat on their own.

And in my country that doesn't happen.

If you know what I mean?

And I think that is the difference because at the same time

-you can talk about the produce, you can talk about what you...

-Yeah.

-So what's happening now? We're going to seal that, are we?

-Yes.

I'm going to season a little bit first.

I'm going to seal it first to give it a nice...

You've got lemongrass in,

but what you maybe didn't see is you use a metal skewer first of all.

Yes, because it's easier to go through.

In rehearsals, he took about two hours to do that bit!

-You thought I wouldn't say that, didn't you?

-It's OK!

-Actually because I did take a little bit longer.

-There you go.

In we go with some butter and some olive oil just to colour this, yeah?

Yes, just to colour a little bit. We're going to make it really nice.

Now, this sauce is slightly different.

You're going to use whipped cream for this as well?

Yes, so I tend all the time... When we do this kind of sauce

with cream, we reduce much more of the liquid itself.

So we've got much more intensity and really rich in flavour.

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

And that means you just have to put a touch of whipped cream in it

which lightens the sauce. It's much better.

Otherwise I find it very rich, very heavy, very sickly sometimes.

-And I don't like it. So we often do that.

-So...

The fish is pan-fried slightly.

Nicely caramelised and a bit of colour. It's going to warm up.

The lemongrass is going to disperse a bit of flavour in it. But not too much.

And you just roll these up into little paupiettes?

-Yes. Paupiette, which is a very French word, as you say.

-OK.

-Now we're going to put a little bit of white wine.

-Tinfoil ready.

This is a very classic way of cooking.

I remember doing this when I was at college.

-But still, the old ones are the best.

-I like it. And the difference

like you said earlier would be the cream. It makes the dish extremely nice.

-So how long do we cook this for, then?

-Seven to eight minutes

in a 200-220 oven.

Right, I will grab the other fish... There we go.

Out here, this is our fish.

So this has been eight to ten minutes, something like that.

Absolutely. I need some tarragon.

Bring that over there. If I lift this off... Look at that! Beautiful.

-So you want me to cook the spinach?

-Yes, please.

-The sauce is very, very quick, isn't it?

-Very, very quick.

-Almost instant sauce.

-So basically have taken the skin from the tomatoes,

the seeds from the tomatoes and used that as a base for the plaice.

-There we go. Oops. The sauce is going to go straight in?

-Yeah.

OK. I shall wilt down that. Bit of black pepper, bit of salt.

The cream's there ready when you want.

That's it. Just a little bit like that.

I'll bring that over.

-So, the idea with this sauce, you bring it down?

-Yes. Just a bit.

-You want the tomatoes as well?

-Some of the tomato in it.

-There you are.

-Some of the tarragon.

-So the restaurant itself, members' club, you mentioned.

-Yes.

-Is that stopping you getting another Michelin?

-For the moment, it does.

Because we're not open to the public, so that means the guide can't come and judge and see what you're doing.

So that's the frustrating part of it because, you know,

I like doing things, and people come and try what you're doing.

There you go. So, the spinach, nice and simple, literally 30 seconds.

-Done.

-That's it, yeah, done. Lovely. A bit of salt in here.

-I'll pop your fish on.

-Thank you, monsieur.

-There you go.

Little bit of cream. That's no more than that...

-I'll put that on there. There you go.

-One spoon is enough.

Yeah, looking good.

And then...stick that on there.

And that's it.

England will be playing in the European Cup, if you don't hurry up.

-Yes, I know.

-In two years' time!

-LAUGHTER

So, Daniel, remind us what that is again.

That's a big fillet of plaice skewered with some lemon grass

and a light, creamy sauce with tarragon and tomato.

A la Francaise.

-Battered spinach a la Francaise is very light and refreshing.

-Brilliant.

Et voila!

Oh-ho! Right, come on over here.

-This is where you get to dive in again.

-The girls are very excited.

Can't believe you're eating again!

-Ohh!

-It's a hardship, coming on this show.

-It is. It's just exhausting!

Dive in. The lemon grass will just infuse into...

Yes, it will give a slightly refreshing flavour

on the top of the tarragon itself. It should be really light.

-Good portions.

-Oh, very light. That's lovely.

-Matt and the girls, dive in.

-Tres bien, Daniel! Very nice.

-A whole fish like that is not very expensive anyway.

-Plaice is a good...

It's in season, and all produce in season are much cheaper than,

-like you said, using a Dover sole or...

-Mm-hmm.

-Mmm!

-I'm getting nods from over there. They're diving in.

-It's good, isn't it?

And those lemon grass skewers are a great way to serve whitefish.

Theo Randall and Mark Sargeant were virtually neck-and-neck

on the leaderboard when they met for the Omelette Challenge.

And Mark was determined to get the upper hand on Theo.

But would they both improve? Take a look at this.

Right, let's get down to business.

All chefs that come on the show battle it out against the clock to

test how fast they can make a pretty straightforward three-egg omelette.

-Get out of it!

-Hey, hey! Now, it's going to be exciting today

because these guys are almost neck-and-neck on our board.

You've got in here... There you go. Mark is there with 32 seconds.

I am five seconds behind, so it's hardly neck-and-neck!

It's sort of like waist-and-neck, isn't it?

-Well, you were on the bin for about two years!

-All right, yeah, yeah!

We've got there, 32 seconds, and Theo, 27 seconds.

Do you think you can break into the blue bit?

Well, we both want to be in the blue, don't we?

-I want to be in the blue.

-You've just been to France, the home of omelettes.

They take their time and make them properly. You know, this isn't...

I expect them properly! Michelin-starred chef and all that sort of stuff.

-Choose what you like in the ingredients but...

-Give me the minute, then!

-Are you ready?

-Yeah, I'm ready.

-Three-egg omelette cooked as fast as you can.

-The clock stops as the omelette hits the plate.

-Get off my trousers!

Are you ready? Are you ready? I'm stood on their feet. Ready?

Three, two, one, go!

Just a little, a little knob of butter, then?

-I like a bit of butter.

-See, look, Theo's doing it differently.

Now, often what happens with this, it sticks.

Is it going to stick this time?

And I want an omelette, not scrambled egg. And not a fried egg.

It's got to be an omelette. It has got to be an omelette.

They say they are not competitive, these chefs,

-and they don't really want to do it. Look...

-Ohhh!

He's beat... Unbelievable.

There we go. Pretty good, pretty good, pretty good.

Half of it's left in the pan!

-Two-and-a-half-egg omelette, cos the other half...

-THEY LAUGH

-It's the pan.

-Oh. It's the pan, blame the pan.

This one here looks... This is...

I don't know how you've managed to do this.

Mine looks quite impressive. Look at that.

I don't know how he's managed to do this omelette,

-cos he's got the egg white and egg yolk separate.

-Quick and edible.

-But it's raw in the middle! It's raw!

-No, no, no, no, no, no!

LAUGHTER

It's all right.

It's all right. I'll let him through.

This one's cooked like that.

Most people think that's just not cooked, it's baversed.

-It's not seasoned.

-It's not seasoned, but it's...

Thank you!

Right. Theo...

-Ahh! Oh, I'm obviously beating you anyway.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Do you reckon you've beaten your time? You were quick.

-No, I don't think I did.

-You reckon?

You were quicker than Mark, but did he beat your 27 seconds?

-Don't think so.

-Obviously, you've been practising,

because you were absolutely bang on at 27 seconds again.

-Ah! Again!

-I've made it.

-So you know you've made it.

-So you've done it, you've done it!

-Oh, I don't care about...

-OK, I just want to beat...

I just want to beat "Baldilocks" there.

I've got to beat him, please. 24.5 seconds.

Now, the reason you're saying this, this one is a mate of yours,

-isn't he? One of the Gordon Ramsay...

-Well, sort of, yeah.

-25 seconds.

-Yeah.

-You reckon you've beaten him?

Well, no, I hope so, but maybe not.

-He'll be sat at home laughing, because you haven't.

-Oh!

-You're just out of the top ten at 26 seconds.

-Can't believe it!

-I demand a recount!

-No, that's it.

-No, I'm sorry!

26 seconds, and I have shaved another two seconds...

-And I've burnt my hand.

-And it's not seasoned as well.

But, anyway, you got on the board!

Well played, Mark, and I am glad both omelettes were edible.

It's always a pleasure to cook with the magnificent two-star

Michelin chef, Michael Caines, so when he decided to make summer

veg soup, I knew it was going to be pretty special.

-It's good to have you on the show.

-Thank you.

It's a pleasure. What are we cooking?

We're going to do this summer vegetable and herb soup.

And we've got celeriac, some leek, some carrot and some shallots there.

We're going to sweat that down with some butter.

-Add some white wine for acidity.

-Yeah.

Then a second stage where we add the stock,

bring it to the boil, then we add our cabbage...

This is the second stage, this bit?

Absolutely. Peas, all the green veg, whilst it is boiling.

Finally, some tomatoes, sorrel, chervil, chives there.

-A little bit of creamed butter to finish...

-Touch of sugar as well.

Yeah, lots of sweetness. Got some wonderful basil, too.

-Yeah. I know I've got a lot of chopping to do.

-You like chopping.

If you want to do them, and I'll get the shallots on the go.

You know, it's one of those soups that I actually have in our menu now.

But, at the same time, you know,

I've worked in some great kitchens for some great chefs.

Robuchon, in France...

Now, Robuchon is like the king of chefs, isn't he, really?

-Three-star Michelin.

-Yeah, he's a bit of a legend.

-A total legend.

Now, a lot of people think of veg soup, but it is actually

on the restaurant menus of three-star Michelin restaurants.

Because it is...

-If you cook it right, it is an amazing soup, isn't it?

-Yeah.

I mean, Blanc uses it as well. But Robuchon did it with mussels,

cockles, a little bit of scallops through there.

Just fantastic. So it has a real varied appeal.

You can use it as a backdrop for all sorts of things.

So, it is a really good little base stock.

-And, of course, I'm using chicken stock.

-Yeah.

You don't have to use chicken stock.

You can use just water for vegetarians.

But the chicken stock just gives it a little bit of meatiness

and lifts everything up really, really nicely. Good.

And celeriac, a root veg that people don't really use so much.

I love the stuff, but...

You know, it's great with remoulade in it,

that salad with mustard and mayonnaise, raw, it's lovely.

It's one of those underused vegetables,

because a lot of people don't know, you know, what it is like.

The flavour is very similar to celery but it is a little bit...

Well, I think it's sweeter as well.

When you cook it, you've got this wonderful, you know,

mild flavour, and you make a great puree from it.

You can roast it in the winter as well.

But I'm going to use it just to create a nice little base stock,

a lovely flavour.

A little bit of salt in there, James. Just to draw out some moisture.

We're just using some unsalted butter.

We're going to need the carrots in with that.

Now, Allegra, are you making a lot of soups in your restaurant?

Yeah, we do a different daily soup and it is always seasonal.

-They change every quarter.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, good English produce.

There you go.

So it's like a chunky minestrone veg soup, this one, you know.

And, I suppose, really, you could take the same soup

and blend it in the blender.

But I think that takes away some of the character of it.

And I think it's a common mistake with veg soup as well.

People just think, I'll stick a load of stuff that's kind of in the fridge.

Going off a bit. It's got to be with fresh produce. Fresh as a daisy.

But also the cooking time is quite important.

A lot of people think you just throw it in and boil it.

Notice how I'm using just the root veg to start off with.

That's because we don't need to worry about the colour going on it.

We add these fresh, vibrant colours in at the end.

It's going to be good.

Once we've got that going we've got a little bit of white wine which

we're going to deglaze the veg with.

Take that down to nothing.

The object is to give a nice backdrop of acidity to the soup

because we're going to finish it with some butter and cream

so that's going to enrich it.

You want a little bit of acidity coming through.

You've got some water here.

If you're vegetarian put twice the amount of water

but I'm using half and half.

Little bit of chicken stock.

That just adds a little meatiness to the texture.

It's coming from the veg and the meatiness is a stock with

-real substance.

-How long do you cook that for?

-Bring it to the boil.

Only takes about five minutes to come up to the boil

so we've got a base that we've already made.

Nice bit of flavouring in there.

Really taste the celeriac.

As well as all this stuff you're doing at the moment,

you're also doing a lot of food festivals, as well.

Not just opening restaurants, hotels.

I've been up here in London and had a look at the Taste of London,