Episode 139 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

You're in the right place for some of the best cooking on telly.

This is Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show.

We've got talented chefs aplenty this morning and they are all ready

to cook for some pretty peckish celebrity guests, too.

Coming up on today's show, Italian stallion Gennaro Contaldo

slow-cooks a lamb hotpot with fresh peas, tomatoes

and potatoes, and serves it all with chargrilled ciabatta.

Our own ray of Australian sunshine, Bill Granger,

drops in to cook a summer chicken extravaganza.

He braises the chicken with lemon, honey and garlic,

and serves it with a shepherd's salad with feta cheese.

Mark Jordan gets his skates on

to cook a seafood lunch with a difference.

He poaches a cannelloni of Jersey skate

and makes a pea risotto with fresh morel mushrooms.

Former EastEnder Ricky Groves faced his Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would he get his Food Heaven - turbot,

with my pan-roasted turbot with ratatouille and chive beurre blanc?

Or would he get his dreaded Food Hell - butternut squash

with my butternut squash and pineapple tarte tatin

with a vanilla ice cream?

And you can find out what he gets to eat at the end of the show.

But first, it's time for Paul Rankin to show us his Japanese side.

Another one of your favourite sort of dishes, really, this one.

It's the sort of stuff I love to do,

where I take these great British

or Irish ingredients and I give them a little kind of Asian spin.

I just love all these flavours. We've got miso-glazed salmon

and I've got to get rocking on the salmon.

-We're going to show how it's been made.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, it's been marinating in this wonderful miso sauce,

this glaze that I've made.

So, just a little bit of salt and pepper going on now.

A little bit of oil in the pan cos we've got to get this started.

-A little bit of oil?

-Yes, please.

-There we go.

What we want to do is sear it and then we are going to spread

some more glaze on it and finish it underneath the grill.

So that's going to cook for a little minute cos we're

-going to show you how to make it.

-I'll show you how to make this glaze.

Another thing I need, James, is I need the cucumber prepared.

If you just sort of half-peel it in long strips.

Chillies, de-seed them, cut into little...

-little slices.

-Slices.

-Yeah, I can do that.

-If you guys need help, I'm here.

-Thank you.

So, this miso glaze we're talking about, it's white miso, which is

fermented soy bean paste.

Really deep, flavourful, interesting flavour.

-You can get different colours, can't you?

-You can.

You kind of use the different colours for different types of meat.

Fish, meat, all that sort of dishes.

And then we combine that with some sake and some mirin.

Mirin is sweet rice wine. And some sugar.

So it's really quite sweet, but the saltiness comes from the miso.

Just be careful when you sear these because of the sugar in this.

-Yeah.

-It wants to catch quite easily but the thing is, it gives us

a beautiful sort of mahogany colour almost right away.

So that's the miso...

going in with the sake...

..the mirin and the sugar.

Just bring that to the boil

and whisk it all together.

It's as simple as that.

Your menu at Cayenne, you say you like mixing traditional

sort of Irish fare with these sort of flavours.

-It's very similar to that on your menu, really.

-Yeah.

I mean, this is a dish we have on the menu.

One of the funny things is, a few years ago when I was doing this,

we found this really, really hard to sell and nowadays people love it.

They can't really get enough of it.

Do you want some of this dressing over the top?

-I need a little whisk.

-I've got one. I'll do it.

So, we pull all this together.

-And, Paul, are you using, of course, Irish salmon?

-Of course.

Always Irish. The lobster is going to be Irish, too.

When we have that, right?

Sardines, maybe Irish.

Maybe not.

With the salmon, one of the things I like to do is remove this little -

what we call this is the bloodline - at the back of this.

And it just makes it a little bit more refined and a little bit...

I prefer the flavour without that little bloodline.

I'm going to pop this under the grill.

You're making sure I get going, aren't you? Good man.

He knows exactly what he's doing. You love this dish, don't you, James?

Yeah. But it took too long in rehearsal,

-that's why I'm cooking most of it.

-I know. You're motoring.

You're flying along. So...

This dish was made famous by Nobu,

and he does a dish in his restaurant called black cod.

Alaskan black cod, isn't it?

And it's a completely different fish

but salmon is also one of the fish that really suits it.

Completely different price as well, isn't it, really?

Oh, I mean, yes, that's a very expensive dish.

Do you prefer oily fish rather than...?

And oily fish tends to work better for this.

The Japanese, they'll sort of wrap it in cheesecloth,

leave it for two, three, four days, and then they cook it.

This one, I kind of like to leave maybe overnight

or maybe an extra day. In the fridge.

-Thank you, James. Thank you.

-One we prepared earlier.

-Next.

So, next, I'm going to show you the pickle marinade.

-Are you in a hurry to get home?

-No!

LAUGHTER

Is there a party or something after, at your house tonight?

-Could that be?

-Possibly. There you go.

-There is a party at James's house.

-Just get on with it!

-We're there.

-We're coming.

So, for the pickle, what we do, we take the vegetables, which is

the cucumber, the chillies...

These are dried shiitake that we've soaked in water

and finely sliced and they work really well for this.

Give them a good salting and then you want to let that sit

for about half an hour so, if you could all come back in half an hour.

-No. We've got one in the fridge, yeah?

-No. We're just going to use...

-This one has been done for half an hour.

-Has it?

-Yes.

-This one has been done for half an hour.

-So you just rinse it off.

Hold on a second. I've got one that's done for half an hour.

-That's the one.

-Yeah. And then we just rinse this off.

-Yeah. Yeah.

So, now I'm going to make the pickle which we're going to

put on top of the cucumber.

So, in goes some rice wine vinegar, some sugar,

a little bit of salt.

Can you use different mushrooms, Paul?

Yeah, I really like the black ones. You know, the trompette de la mort.

The black chanterelle. It looks really dramatic.

-So what's this we're making here? This one.

-This is the...

-The pickle.

How do you work this stove, James?

-I've broken the stove.

-You've broken it!

I think I need to go!

-Oh, there you go.

-See, I fixed it.

So we just dissolve that and then that goes on...

-Do you want any sugar in there?

-The sugar's gone in already.

-That one goes with the...

-OK.

On it goes.

That's going to sit for about ten minutes and then we drain it off.

Got one that we've done. Ten minutes.

Ten minutes, then we drain it off.

OK, now, we're going to serve this with sushi rice, which is

-made with beautiful short grain rice.

-So, tell us how to get this right

cos it's an exact science for them.

The Japanese are obsessive about this. Sometimes you have to cook rice

for a year before you're allowed to do anything else

in the Japanese kitchen.

So you wash it about three or four times until the water runs clear

then you let it sit and drain in a colander for about half an hour,

then about equal quantities of water,

boil it for about 10-12 minutes,

with a lid and then let it sit and rest for about 10-15 minutes.

Although this is going to be sticky

but it's the type of rice, it's not... You wash the starch off.

It's a little bit sticky but it's lovely.

So, to make it into sushi rice, which is

that beautiful sort of vinegared, salty, sweet -

rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt.

That makes the little sushi rice dressing.

You can actually buy this in a bottle, you know, all ready to go.

So, normally, with the sushi rice, what they do,

they put the rice in a wide bowl, they cut the dressing through it.

But we're just going to serve it warm, so a couple of tablespoons.

-I've seen them with a board as well, haven't they?

-They fan it.

-Yeah.

-Yeah. Because they want to cool it down as quickly as possible.

But we are just going to mix it through lightly.

How's the salmon?

If that salmon's burnt, James!

-Perfect.

-So, is it just normal rice, then?

-No, it's short grain rice.

-OK.

This would be a great dish for you.

-I did this dish with you especially in mind.

-Thank you.

This is, you know, you've got your protein, it's low fat, it's got...

-Rice.

-...beautiful salmon.

-Mushrooms.

-Happy with that?

-Yeah, it's a good one.

-Perfect.

Right, I'll just pop that there.

You can choose whichever one you want.

Are you going to make me rice balls, James?

-Yeah, I've done everything else, so why not?

-Yeah, yeah.

I'm going to drain this off. Just to prove that I...

Right, I'm going to use some water just to keep my hands from sticking.

Because it's a Japanese inspired dish, you want to try

to be a little bit careful with your presentation.

They take great pride in their presentation in Japan

and they're very good at it.

So keep it nice and tight.

There's one.

There's one. Good man.

We are just going to sprinkle these

-with a little bit of toasted black and white sesame seeds.

-Right.

-Good man.

-There you go.

-So they've just been toasted in a dry frying pan?

-Yeah.

A couple of little rice balls.

A little bit of pickled ginger on top.

Some of the sushi that the Japanese serve is sort of cooked fish.

Something like the glazed eel kabayaki sort of thing

on top of the sushi rice and so it really suits it nicely.

A little bit of cress.

-So the idea is, serve that rice warm, that's what you want?

-Yeah.

And a little bit of this spicy Japanese seven spice pepper as well.

Nanami Togarashi.

-And that's our miso-glazed salmon...

-There you go.

A bit of extra sauce.

Miso-glazed salmon with pickled cucumber and sushi rice.

Looks spectacular.

-You can bring it over. There you go.

-Yeah.

-You get to dive into this one, first of all.

-Fit for a Dame.

This is brilliant. I just get to eat all the time.

I mean, how cool is...? Oh, my word. Lovely.

I've got rice between my fingers, but...

LAUGHTER

-Do I tuck in, do I?

-Dive into that.

-I know I'm going to like it.

The secret is cooking under the grill, so you get that

caramelisation on the top. Cos there's a lot of sugar on there.

Very sweet, yeah.

That second glazing really gives you the flavour

with every mouthful of salmon.

-Convinced?

-You want some, don't you?

-Yeah. Feel free!

-What do you reckon?

-Lovely. Oh, yeah, no, this is my perfect meal.

This is awesome.

Now, that was a stunning way to cook salmon.

Coming up, I pan fry a fillet of lemon sole

for actress Olivia Hallinan,

after Rick Stein shares with us some tastes of the sea.

Ah, seaweed smells from sandy caves

And time and mist in whiffs

Incoming tide, Atlantic waves

Slapping the sunny cliffs

Larks' song and sea sounds in the air

And splendour, splendour everywhere.

I like that verse by Betjeman so much

that actually I've put it on the back of my menus in the restaurant.

I think it gives a true picture with all the wonderful

sort of salty points of detail of the Camel estuary.

In fact, miles from the sound of the sea,

where the silvery snake of the estuary curls to sleep,

as Betjeman once said,

amongst all this gloopy mud, Jenny Green,

who gets all our wild herbs and mushrooms -

in fact, a real hunter gatherer, and a perfect subject for Betjeman -

gathers samphire.

I love being out in nature.

I love being outdoors.

It's not just the picking of the food,

although primarily I'll do that.

I mean, look at the scenery and the birds and the wildlife you see.

I mean, I see things other people will never see.

You can't buy this. You can't buy this anywhere.

You can't go to a supermarket and get it, so if you want it,

you have to come across the marshes and pick it yourself.

When it's cooked, the outside becomes almost like cooked pea pods

and when you put it in your mouth and pull it through your teeth,

you're left with very fibrous innards. Whatever that's called.

So, just dip it in your butter, like that,

pull it through your teeth, and all this lovely fleshy stuff comes off.

It tastes lovely. Really sumptuous, really.

That sort of food that people

would pay a lot of money for, I should think.

One of the great joys of a seaside holiday in Britain is catching fish.

Everybody has such fascination with standing on a quayside,

looking over and waiting for a bite.

I think mackerel are a deeply underrated fish.

I think it's cos they're so easy to catch, people sort of regard them

as, you know, a bit like the sort of Ford Escort of the fish world.

But in fact, a fresh mackerel is a total delight.

You tell my son, Charles, that there isn't something special about a mackerel.

I am just going to whip the two fillets off this.

I don't even bother to gut or wash these fish when they are straight out of the sea like this.

There's no need to whatsoever.

The taste better for being left just like that.

No problem filleting a fresh mackerel like this at all, they are so firm

the knife just goes straight through them without any problem at all.

Drop them into a bit of seasoned flour,

seasoned with black pepper, salt.

Some clarified butter in the frying pan.

Clarified because otherwise it will burn when you fry the fillet.

And leave them to cook.

While I'm frying those, I'll cut up some dill

which I'll sprinkle over those cooked mackerel fillets.

I want to tell you a thing or two but you don't always have to

put mint in with new potatoes, you can put dill in,

the Swedish do it and it gives them a lovely, unusual flavour.

Those mackerel have fried quite enough on one side,

I will turn them over.

As they are so fresh they are frying in a deliciously squat sort of way.

When they are older, they go much more long

and they are sort of stumpy and look very appetising like that.

Four delicious fillets.

I would say this is a nice,

good-sized main course for one hungry person.

Just a little bit of dill on the fillets,

maybe on the potatoes as well.

And just a little bit of lemon juice on there

and maybe just a couple of little pieces of lemon as well.

And that, in my opinion, is real fast food.

Do not give that to the cat, it is the most perfect fish.

But it has to be perfectly fresh like that.

Every country restaurant should have somebody like Jenny Green

supplying them.

She's like a heroine from one of Thomas Hardy's more optimistic Wessex novels.

Although she is an urban person originally, because she's gotten

so into her life in the country she seems to fit perfectly.

Well, I'm looking for fallen logs first of all.

When I find a fallen log, I know there's a chance

there'll be oysters on it.

It's usually beech, they seem to like beech for some reason

so if I am going through a field I look for old tree stumps

or logs on the ground, and this time of the year,

nine times out of ten I will find oyster fungus on them.

And in profusion like this. They seem to breed, almost.

There are masses of them.

They're much nicer than the shop, well,

all wild mushrooms are much nicer than shop-bought fungi.

They have a very perfumed scent and a wonderful delicate flavour.

I have to go out every day looking for wild food.

I do it because, A, the type of things I pick and eat,

and my children,

you can't get them in supermarkets. You simply can't buy it.

If you want it you have to get it yourself.

In this field alone, we could live here, set up a little campfire

and we could eat all the way around this field

There's food in abundance but other people just walk past it.

They don't know it's here.

This is a great autumnal dish, John Dory and wild mushrooms.

In this case I am using chanterelles, which are

even better than oyster mushrooms.

I need a dark, almost beefy stock for this and in goes a mirepoix

of carrot, onion and celery.

And into that goes some dried ceps for that slightly beefy flavour

which comes from dried wild mushrooms.

Thyme and celery herb.

Now, we add some balsamic vinegar for a slight tartness and colour,

and then some Pineau de Charentes, a sweet wine from the Cognac area.

Some chilli, just a little bit, and finally a good, rich chicken stock.

So, we leave that to cook for about 30 minutes to simmer away.

Now we are going to caramelise the garlic and shallots.

Bang some butter in this hot pan.

In goes the garlic and the shallots, both cut to about the same size

so they will cook at the same sort of speed.

I want to get this really, really hot to bring out the natural sugars

in the garlic and shallots and also add some sugar as well.

I have no qualms about using plenty of sugar in savoury dishes

as long as they are balanced with tart things like wine, lemon juice, or salt.

I need lots and lots of temperature there to get those really brown.

The temptation to pop one in the mouth is simply irresistible.

I am going to add a little bit more chicken stock and cook that down

till it's gone to a lovely syrupy glaze, a bit like a sweetie.

Now to fry off the John Dory, I am looking for colour

so I have a jumping hot pan here.

I want to just caramelise the outside of the John Dory.

I have dark sauce, I want brown sauce,

everything has to look autumnal and brown,

but when you cut into the fish you get this lovely

streak of white in the middle of it which is incredibly satisfactory.

That's got a nice colour. That's all I want at this stage

because I will finish off the dish by braising it.

First of all I will put some of these caramelised

garlics and shallots into the pan.

Then the Dory on top and now some thyme on top of that.

Some of this wonderful dark stock that has been

simmering for 30 minutes, all over the place,

we are talking real-time now.

You can't stop and do it again.

Lid on. And now for the autumnal chanterelle.

They're so wonderful.

Give them a fry to get the flavour out of them.

I used to be very nervous about mushrooms,

and Jenny who gets all our mushrooms used to bring out six or seven

different types, blue ones and black ones.

All of them, I used to eat a little bit, wait a night and see

whether I woke up in the middle of the night dying before I would

give them to any of my customers.

Shows how dedicated I am to my public!

Right, we are in a spot of bother here.

There are people coming through the front door

so I have to do this a little bit quickly.

There's that beautiful flavour going on there.

And the chanterelles as well.

I just think this is wonderful. A certain amount of hurry.

Lovely, lovely, lovely.

There's the phone going, gosh, gosh, gosh. And that is it.

Two great recipes from Rick there. Wild mushrooms make

a fantastic sauce to go with fish and are often hard to find,

especially at this time of year as the season start to end.

But there are loads of simple sauces you can do with fish

and I will show you a really simple one right now.

It's with sorrel and peas, a classic combination.

I will use this lemon sole.

Lemon sole is not actually a sole, it is a flounder, like the turbot.

That part of the family of flatfish.

But the way you actually fillet it is straightforward.

There are four fillets on a flatfish,

and thankfully, this little sole has a nice line down its back.

What we can do is follow that line with the knife,

until your knife hits the bone. It won't go any further.

Then all we do is lift off the flesh like that

and in long cuts.

Really make sure you have long cuts,

otherwise you end up ripping the fillet. Like that.

This just comes off.

Easy as that. I can see you looking as if, I am never going to do that.

You never know.

You've tried some unusual food while you've been acting.

I have!

-One of my first jobs, I had to eat snails.

-Snails?

It was a CBBC drama, I remember sitting at the table,

-it was a French episode, and I got to...

-And?

-No.

-Never again?

But I could say to my friends that I had eaten snails.

Those years and years of practice have done you a world of good.

This is straightforward. Straight the way down there.

Like I said at the top of the show,

-acting has been in your blood from such a young age.

-It has.

It's kind of, through school,

I started off in children's television

and then read drama at university.

Your mother turned around and said the same thing as my mother told me.

When I said I wanted to do cooking, she said,

-"Get yourself a proper job, son."

-My mum really encouraged me.

So I could make her dinner all the time, probably!

I will leave that little bit on the side.

In this pan over here,

I will quickly put my shallots in this pan as well.

We have some baby onions,

I will roast those off nice and quickly in the pan

with a little bit of fresh thyme.

They'll go straight into the oven, nice and quick.

-Like I said, your acting has taken you all over the place.

-Indeed.

Currently appearing in this new... Tell us about this new series.

It's hugely popular.

Sunday night, 8pm, called Lark Rise To Candleford and it chronicles

the rivalry between two neighbouring communities,

Lark Rise and Candleford.

And my character has been sent off to Candleford to support her family

by working in the local post office.

She's having to adapt to a completely new life, new everything, really.

And is TV where you want to go in your career?

Most actresses want to go into film.

I would love to do a really good film,

I would love to do a bit of everything, really.

Definitely, film is the top of my list.

-You certainly have time on your side, aged just 24!

-Yes. We'll see.

I will literally just fry this off.

These fillets don't take long at all.

Sole fillets, you have a little bit of butter and olive oil.

Similar to what Rick did, he used clarified butter,

which is great if you can get it.

The Indians use this stuff called ghee,

which you can actually buy already done, which is clarified butter,

which is basically, the salt and the impurities

in the butter that burn, that's why you end up with this brown.

But if you use olive oil and butter,

you get a lovely colour to it at the same time.

A bit of salt, a touch of black pepper. That's going to go on there.

Oops, that's olive oil. Black pepper.

Bit of black pepper.

Very quickly we will make a simple sauce using this sorrel,

which I will slice. You mentioned unusual things that you tried. Snails wasn't the only thing.

-I have tried kangaroo pizza.

-Where on earth do you try kangaroo pizza?

In Australia. I was actually with a really good friend of mine and we were travelling for a few months.

With food, if I know it's something like kangaroo, then I'll say, "No, no, no."

But she didn't tell me it was kangaroo.

So there was me munching away on this pizza and afterwards she told me that I had eaten kangaroo.

-It is quite gamey, a bit like venison.

-It's really chewy, yes.

I actually quite liked it until she told me it was kangaroo

-and then I said, "Oh, no."

-I think I would rather eat this stuff.

This is sorrel. You've probably never tried this. It's fantastic.

It needs to be cooked quite carefully

because it can be quite bitter.

If you overcook it, not only does it go bitter,

it goes brown very quickly.

To make your sauce, it's very straightforward.

We've got here a touch of wine and reduce that down with the onions.

A bit of stock, we can use chicken stock or fish stock.

Just a bit of fish stock.

The fish, on the other hand, I have literally flipped that over,

turned the heat off and left it.

The residual heat from that pan will cook it right the way through.

Double cream of course. I always double cream all of it.

Frozen peas. They just go straight in.

It's really this simple.

The French do another classic sauce called sauce Albert,

which is really very good with fish.

We're talking about fish and sauces.

It has lettuce, and also, if you put lemon in double cream

it won't split, if you use single cream, it will split.

But you use lettuce, peas and horseradish, a great combination,

with your worst ingredient, trout.

I like horseradish.

Because you have the frozen peas,

when they come to the boil they defrost and cook.

In with the sorrel and that is it. Salt and pepper.

Do not cook it any more than that. Otherwise the sorrel will go brown.

We've got our little shallots here,

which have been roasted off, which are perfect.

All we need to do now is serve this.

If you do overcook sorrel, it goes bitter.

So literally just warm it through in the pan.

We can pile this on the plate, it keeps the lovely green colour.

-And we can pour that on there.

-That smells really good.

It's just literally just the peas, it's a really simple sauce.

Then you can grab some of your onions, which we've got here.

A few bits of that on.

-It's worth getting up on a Saturday morning for, isn't it?

-Definitely.

Then we can grab our bit of fish,

sole, which is cooked right the way through. Four fillets on there.

-Wow.

-Dive in. Tell us what you think.

Tell me what you think of sorrel for the first time.

You might hate it. It shouldn't be bitter if it's just cooked nicely.

-Silence.

-No, that is really good.

Silence speaks 1,000 words.

If you would like to try cooking any of the dishes you've seen

on today's show, they are just a click away at bbc.co.uk/recipes.

We are looking back at some of the mouthwatering cooking

from the Saturday Kitchen back catalogue.

And now get ready for chaos because Gennaro Contaldo is here

and is cooking an Irish stew, Italian style.

I am going to cook this slow, a slow-cooked lamb,

slow-cooked with cherry tomatoes, peas, potatoes, carrots, celery.

What is the name of the dish?

-It is Agnello con piselli e patate.

-Sounds good to me.

-It is a stew!

-What have we got here? Run through the ingredients?

We have this fantastic lamb which is lovely and cut in chunks.

Then we have onions, carrots and celery.

We have fresh peas, tomato, potato, chilli, garlic and anchovies.

-Plus you will prepare for me some lovely crusty bread.

-I am.

First thing is first, we can start and I need to put some

extra virgin olive oil, which is a branded olive oil, Antonio say.

What are you eating?

-What I'm eating? The fish.

-Is it the fish and chips still?

-It is lovely.

-Best dish I have had for a long time.

-You like that one?

-Yes.

For me it represents Britain.

It represents Britain.

This is what he say all the time when I cook the best one,

just that season a little bit with the salt. And then mix, mix, mix.

-Once it is mixed...

-You have shoulder of lamb, by the looks of things.

Shoulder of lamb. You can use any part of lamb.

But the shoulder is nice, because the shoulder has a little bit of fat,

it takes a little bit longer to cook but fantastic flavour.

-Shoulder or neck fillet..

-Neck as well. Everything that goes in.

Nicely. Turn the gas on. Turn that one on.

It's gone down the side there.

Did you think I will collect the carrot? I'll do it.

There we go. I don't want to do it.

Then, start with that one.

You make sure you seal it.

Not seal it, no, you sweat them. Not too much.

At this stage, add some anchovies.

Look how much anchovies are there. That's good.

Stir them with the anchovies inside and do not be afraid of them.

-Anchovies and lamb are a great combination.

-It is. And mince. Put in some garlic.

Leave them all together, they have to cook very slowly.

When it is sweat, get all the mix inside.

Which I season with salt and pepper.

-If I make a mistake, to say paper.

-Pepper.

It's got a double D, I don't want to hear it!

Seal them, seal them nice.

I watched the programme the other day, wasn't a lot of cooking got done.

There was a lot of cooking got done!

I watched, you were there with no tops on.

Cooking in the sunshine.

-Do you know what I mean?

-It was his idea! We were supposed to go down...

You looked like a pair of space hoppers.

-You don't have a clue what space hoppers are.

-I think I have an idea.

-You haven't got a clue.

-What is a space...? What is it?

-A space hopper.

Just carry on.

Then you've got half a glass of wine.

Vinegar, if you ask Antonio why you put vinegar inside there.

-Why do you put vinegar inside?

-I have no idea!

LAUGHTER

It is an invention of Mr Contaldo.

It is not an invention! It makes it a little bit tastier, the lamb tastes a little bit wilder.

-Mutton goes as well.

-But it's lamb, not mutton.

I don't want to say anything. I have had this complaint for a long time.

Why you put it, it is a fantastic dish.

-If you tell me it enhance the flavour, OK.

-That is what I said!

-But not change anything.

-Not change anything!

-Then you have chilli inside. Then you have fantastic thyme.

-Some thyme.

Why is the thyme fantastic?

It has a lovely smell, lovely flavour and mixed with the lamb, carrots,

-and thyme, rosemary, garlic, it is fantastic.

-OK.

Go on, go on!

Tell us about your business that you are doing outside filming

and everything else, because you are busy running the 15,

training the guys at 15 and all of Jamie's Italians as well.

It is indeed. 15 is very dear to us.

The foundations, they always need help and we are always there to help them.

Plus running around. Jamie's Italian. Bless them.

I train all the chefs. Not just me.

We have quite a few people, like my good friend Jules,

always there with me.

Plus we do many other things. Me and Antonio look after the family.

-Yeah.

-OK. Any more?

That's it.

-You've got a book out as well with this series.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Two Greedy Italians. Come on, Antonio.

Well worth buying, obviously.

-Two Greedy...

-I guessed that.

..Italians.

-Right, have you finished with...?

-We're nearly there.

-OK, let me help you.

-Fresh peas.

-Fresh peas.

This time of the year is fantastic to use fresh peas.

If you don't have fresh peas when you do this dish in the winter time,

frozen peas, they're also good.

Mine aren't ready in the garden. My peas are only about that high.

Have you discovered that sometimes if you buy peas far in the season,

they are so hard and so big that it's better to buy the frozen ones.

Tell me, why don't you put potato...?

-I was going to say, I was going to...

-If you put the potato inside.

No need to peel them?

Don't need to peel it. Don't need to peel at all.

Just make sure they're nice and clean. Just have them all inside.

It's such an easy dish to do. Everybody can do it.

Just put everything inside.

-I need these for the leftover.

-You do need those for the leftover.

You can put some on top. Just a few.

OK. Water?

Yeah, water just goes in.

A whole glass of water. Leave the potato on top for this minute.

Then lower the gas to minimum temperatures.

-Cover. Are you ready?

-Yeah.

OK, let's put this one away. Have you done my bread? Yes, you have done.

-I've done it. I did it about 15 minutes ago.

-Are you sure? OK.

-Can I have that plate.

-Fresh peas in this one, yeah?

Yeah, little fresh peas go inside.

OK. After 50 minutes, after about 45 minutes, don't break it.

This is what you get.

Let's move this one from here.

I move this one on top here.

Oh, my God.

Whoa! I'm cooking so good.

Do you want some butter in there?

No, I don't want butter. I need some olive oil.

Why don't you taste it first?

Why do you have to tell yourself about yourself that you are cooking?

-Let us tell other people.

-I wanted to make sure...

Let them taste the food first.

Do you want some salt and pepper in there?

No, I don't want much. I don't want salt now.

-No salt and pepper.

-No salt.

I did it already, the anchovies already there.

I actually can put a little bit of pepper on top.

HE GASPS

When God made Italy, he looked from afar. He said, "It's too beautiful.

"I need to balance it and create the Italians."

LAUGHTER

Two crusts of this fantastic ciabatta. Where's the olive oil?

Drizzle over olive oil on top.

This is agnello con piselli patate fresche.

-So it is lamb stew.

-Lamb stew and peas. There you go.

It's in need of some butter though, isn't it, Chef?

-It doesn't need butter!

-I'm only joking.

Over here. There you go. Dive into that one.

My mum used to make lamb stew. It didn't look dissimilar to this.

It didn't look different. We didn't have the garlic bread.

We didn't have the anchovies.

But the anchovies break down anyway.

You blokes, you put anchovies in everything.

I didn't put anchovies in it. It was these two.

What was it you put anchovies in earlier?

The anchovy is a very nice flavour and it doesn't taste fishy

if you put a little bit.

The Romans used quite a lot of it.

Salty, is that why you use it?

-Gennaro, it looks very Irish to me.

-It looks very Irish to me.

Like Irish stew.

What a great one-pot wonder.

I'm glad Antonio enjoyed his fish and chips.

It's Keith Floyd time now.

Today he's on the hunt for sprats and a mackerel.

Oh, and he meets a young chef working in Padstow,

who goes by the name of Mr Rick Stein.

Ignored by gastronauts, the poor sprat has little chance.

To add insult to injury after an unscheduled stop on the A38,

this lot won't even get into a tin of cat food.

But actually, these nutritious fish are inexpensive and tasty.

Forget the sardine, a smoked sprat makes a smashing cocktail snack,

and they're delicious lightly fried.

There we are. Couple of moments. Just turn them over.

Use your fingers if you're worried about anything.

I think at the same time we'll just give another grind

of pepper while they're still in the pan.

There we are.

Sprinkle a little parsley over them.

If you'll just bear with me for a moment...

light squeeze of lemon juice.

Another couple of seconds and they'll be ready to eat

as a really delightful appetiser, or indeed double them up,

have a whole plateful and make a meal of it.

Whichever way you like.

Of course, glass of dry cider or glass of white wine or whatever.

Even brown bread and butter and a cup of tea

go down very well with that too.

This is food for everybody, not just the gastronauts, but for everybody.

There we are. Couple of moments and the sprat - cooked beautifully.

You'll probably be sitting in your living rooms now

reminiscing about the sardines you had on your Mediterranean holiday,

thinking, "Why can't we get food like that in England?"

Well, the point is we can.

The humble sprat, seven,

sardines, for me at least, nil. Try them.

It is really beautiful. For the price, who needs sardines?

So off I go again,

this time to Padstow in north Cornwall

'where I'm happily anticipating a lunch of bass

'with one of the most agreeable cooks I've met in a very long time.'

It's coming in really well, now.

Every day, the line fishermen are catching them.

So they're coming in in small quantities,

which means they're sold quickly and they're nice and fresh.

'After a lesson in selecting bass,

'we bought some fresh line-caught fish,

'even though they cost a little more,

'and stopping only briefly for a pint and a packet of crisps,

'we got down to the serious business of cooking bass with a vengeance.'

One of the most important things about Floyd On Fish

is the drinking that goes with it,

because no good cooking comes without good drinking.

Today we've conned our way into one of the best kitchens

in the West Country,

in fact, probably one of the best kitchens in England,

certainly according to the RAC, the Sunday Times, Egon Ronay, et al.

Rick Stein's restaurant here in Padstow was voted one of the best,

in fact THE best seafood restaurant in the country,

so what better place could we come to

to cook my favourite fish, which is a bass?

For me, this is the king of fish. You can grill it, you can steam it.

You can cook it in fennel, flaming with Armagnac.

You can cook it in a bouille, that classic Mediterranean dish.

You can roast it, Rick tells me, too.

That's what we're going to do with this one.

He's going to show us how to do it.

Rick, you'd better come into the body of the cook.

If I may say on behalf of us,

I'm sorry we've ripped you off in this way.

-Welcome to your kitchen.

-Cheers.

-The wine is very nice.

-It jolly well is, isn't it?

Tell me... Tell me all.

Right, well, what I'm going to do is roast or bake...

I call it roasting on the menu cos it sounds unusual to roast a fish.

Does that freak the customers?

Well, I think it gets some raised eyebrows because it seems odd.

But we do roast it.

We put it in a hot oven and baste it, as you would roasted joint.

I'm going to stuff it with ordinary root vegetables.

Can I bring the cameraman down to see these vegetables?

Would you like to explain what we've got here?

Yes, starting from here we've got celeriac, which is

like celery but comes in a root form. Carrots, fennel, onion, leeks.

Here we have sorrel, which we're going to finish the sauce off with.

A nice tart flavour, the sorrel has,

which really brings out the flavour of the bass.

So you've all got that at home, those are the ingredients.

You could use any root vegetable you fancied.

-This is Nick's very special recipe.

-Rick, dear boy.

-Rick.

Oh, I'm terribly sorry. Once you've seen one cook, you've seen them all.

-Never mind. I'll call you Charles for the rest of the programme.

-Why not?

Look, this is a television programme, film is very expensive,

get on with the cooking.

What I'm going to do is gently sweat

these root vegetables off in a bit of butter.

Because the cooking is so quick in the oven, the hot oven

and the bass, they wouldn't have time to cook as a stuffing.

I take a few of these vegetables cos we're only going to cook one fish.

-Which, incidentally, is jolly expensive fish.

-It is at the moment.

It's about £3, £3.50 a pound.

Excuse this rotten, old pepper grinder,

but it doesn't half churn out some chunky...

-Salt?

-Salt. Just a bit of salt.

-On a low heat.

-Do you want to come back over here?

-Sure.

Sorry to interfere, but the cameramen do insist on getting photographs

of what we're doing for the benefit of our viewers, Charles.

RICK LAUGHS

OK, they've got to cook away for four or five minutes. Stay with us.

I'm not going to give you a grinning smile,

I'm going to have a glass of wine and talk to...Rick

-about the rest of the process.

-Right.

Sorry, I was thinking, while that's cooking, thinking about these herbs.

-You want the herbs explained or the weeds?

-Take out the weeds.

I'm terribly sorry, Charles. Rick.

When I was on a recent holiday in Cornwall,

all I could see the farmers growing was fields and fields of tyres.

Here you are, deep in darkest Cornwall.

How do you get herbs, why do you use them?

30 seconds, starting from now,

on the importance of fresh herbs in the kitchen.

For my style of cookery, which is simple, I'm not involved

in elaborate cooking at all, herbs are the most important part.

They've got to be fresh herbs, so I have to grow them myself,

cos as you probably know, Keith,

trying to buy herbs in a greengrocers in England is a joke.

The last load of herbs I bought from a greengrocers,

which I managed to get sent into France,

was a small packet of fresh dill which cost me £6.50. OK?

The tarragon I bought was seven quid.

There's a lot of incentive to grow your own herbs.

It's more expensive than certain other substances, isn't it?

THEY LAUGH

Also known as herbs.

-But in your new cookery book, your first cookery book...

-Yes.

..you'll devote a chapter to growing herbs?

You can't buy them, so you've got to grow them.

Not just things like this... Can I just reach into my basket?

Here's something I've just grown for the first time this year.

It's called Good King Henry, OK?

And all who sail in him.

You can use it as a vegetable or a herb.

It tastes a bit like watercress, a bit like it.

It is a bit watercress-y.

Superb with fish, I should think.

Blanch it and serve it with fish on it. Absolutely wonderful.

It's brilliant.

You try and buy that in a shop.

Just throw the seeds anywhere. There's no problem growing it.

I reckon that, very finely chopped in vinaigrette

over oysters and things or raw seafood, would be superb.

True professional.

Absolutely perfect.

How's the pot getting on?

It seems to be...

Yeah, they're just nicely...sweated down.

Cameraman, could you come over, please?

Soft, but still a bit crunchy, really.

That's the state we want the vegetables to be in.

Slightly caramelised.

It doesn't matter

that they've slightly burnt,

cos that's the aroma I want

when we send the dish out to the restaurant.

Good, good.

So we go on to the next phase,

which is going to be stuffing the fish, isn't it?

It is indeed, it is indeed.

What I've done is actually gutted this fish, very skilfully,

or not, if you like. Leaving a bit of...

So the stuffing is going to stay inside.

I'm going to show you that. He hasn't hacked this to death.

He's used very sharp knives to cut a small incision, clean it out.

Incidentally, he's already peeled the scales off previously

and cut off the dangerous spine of the bass.

Very sharp and slightly poisonous too.

Rick is now going to stuff his vegetables

into the centre of the bass.

I'm just going to get a spoon.

I'll just amuse the crowds while you get your act together, OK?

Don't worry about me, just enjoy yourselves.

We can afford it, we've got the place for free.

Typical, the BBC are such rip-off merchants.

It doesn't actually need a lot, but it doesn't half improve...

I'm just going to... Are you going to bake it on here, perchance?

Just brush it with some butter. there's a pot behind you.

Then we want salt and pepper.

I'm just going to put a few of these root vegetables underneath the fish.

What will happen when they're roasting is they'll actually burn,

which you might think is very bad practice,

but it doesn't half make the flavour... It's actually a smell.

when you take it out into the restaurant,

you've got this tremendous smell of root veg.

What is interesting is, in these days of nouvelle cuisine,

the photograph on the plate at £20 a head, you're actually serving

a whole fish with the head on, the way I like to see food served.

But is there a...

Is nouvelle cuisine here to stay, does it affect your customers,

are they frightened of seeing a fish?

Well, you get the odd one that wants the head taken off it.

It comes in about 50 seconds after it's gone out,

"Don't like the head," which is... What's wrong with a fish head?

The Chinese have fish head soups, for God's sake.

There's nothing wrong with them.

But then some people are very squeamish about such things.

But on the whole,

I find that the customers prefer to get the whole fish.

Of course it cooks much better anyway.

You get the flavour all the way through from the bone,

from the head, as you say.

I was cooking a hare earlier on in the year.

Someone said, "I hope it won't look like a hare." I said,

"Damn right it's going to look like a hare, it's what we're trying to do."

Come down to this. This is a fish.

It's going to cost you a lot of money, obviously,

cos it's taken Rick and I to cook it. But it's a real fish.

We want to see real food on the plate,

real fresh herbs he's grown, stuff like that.

-I'm waffling. Get it into the oven.

-Top of the oven.

-Top of the oven.

-What sort of heat?

-Absolutely flat out, Keith, to tell you the truth.

You've got no worries about it toughening up,

you're not going to toughen a fish up.

The more heat that you can hit it with

and the quicker you cook it, the better.

You'll find it comes out very, very juicy. No problem.

We're now going to make Rick Stein's fabulous sorrel sauce

to go with his bass.

But I'm afraid I've made a few modifications.

What he's already done in this pan is chop some shallots, added some

dry white wine and fish stock, and reduced it to that consistency.

At home, it may be out of the question to make a fish stock.

You can take my word for it, you could eliminate the fish stock

and just use the white wine.

Then, scrupulously following his recipe,

fresh sorrel in whole leaves and fresh sorrel chopped, goes into the

chopped shallots and the reduction of white wine and fish stock.

Into that we pour about half a pound of melted butter.

This is unsalted butter.

If you're using the salted variety, melt it first

and then skim off the salt from the top,

otherwise you're going to spoil the delicate flavour

of this beautiful sauce. So there we are.

That's the sorrel and the melted butter, the white wine reduction,

little bit of white wine vinegar, if you like, fish stock,

which I've said is dispensable.

All of that now just cooks away on the gas for a few moments.

Our two other ingredients - our two eggs.

I never say anything like, "Separate two eggs,"

cos I've seen people take one and put it that side,

and one and put it that side, which is highly daft.

A liquidiser.

If, going back to my merry jape about breaking eggs,

if you were doing these the old-fashioned way,

by making an egg liaison sauce with a hand whisk,

then you wouldn't use the whites.

But using the magi-mix thing, you can use the whites

because it whizzes up so beautifully.

OK, this is absolutely terrific.

Rick's had to go off and do some real cooking

for people who actually pay money for this.

I've been left all on my own. Help.

Whizz the thing up.

WHIZZING

OK, this is the moment of truth, my friends. Maximise the power.

Everything in.

To think of all the marvellous ways they're using processors nowadays,

it makes a fellow proud to be a cook.

There we are - the perfect Rick Stein sauce. Look at that.

Isn't that beautiful?

Tastes very good too. I hope he'll like it.

Runny, almost the consistency of custard, made with egg yolks,

butter and fresh herbs.

Perfect for the bass, which should now be ready,

if you'll excuse me, I'll go and get it.

Wow, it's looking good.

Right, let's get that on the plate.

It smells wonderful.

No garnish at all. It doesn't need it, does it? It's so beautiful.

OK, look, that's magnificent.

Let's see if we can get a table,

and we can talk and drink and eat to our heart's content.

I'll take this. Grab the sauce. Taste that sauce, actually.

Is it all right?

That's very nice.

-This is quite incredible.

-It is.

-This has to be the best table in the world.

-Look at this.

-The best climate in the world and the best fish in the world.

-Absolutely.

The bass, isn't it?

-What a fabulous fish the bass is.

-What a fabulous-looking fish.

They always stand out on a fishmonger's slab, the bass.

Beautiful, silvery, firm-looking fish.

Why are we so anti-fish in this place?

I know not in your restaurant, because you're just fish,

but the British as a whole reject this.

As far as I'm concerned,

I've got the breaking strain of a hot Mars Bar when it comes to fresh bass.

-It's a brilliant fish.

-It is. It's absolutely wonderful.

I can't understand why the English are so anti-fish.

I think you've got to get the setting right.

-What could be better than a setting like this?

-Not a lot.

Certainly when they come to the restaurant,

they're a lot keener on fish because we're by the sea.

I think they feel it right to eat fish in that sort of setting.

Whether they would back at home, I don't know.

I must say that this is absolutely delightful. It's really grand.

It's going down well.

You're not smiling today just because this is the most brilliant bass

you've cooked in a long time, not just because it's such a nice day.

You remain cheerful and happy despite the hard hours and the dreadful work.

-Yes.

-Why are you so fond of fish?

Well, it's a marvellous food to work with,

that's what all chefs say, isn't it?

It's the most dull thing you've ever heard.

I'm talking to you as a man, not as a chef.

Chefs are two a penny, you know?

Yeah, I just really like the look of a fresh fish

coming into the restaurant.

It just really excites me. You get such good fish here.

You just want to get on and do something really good with it.

A piece of meat is a piece of meat - finished.

But a fish straight out of the sea, you just feel,

"Wow, I'd really like to make that something special."

I'll drink to that.

-What a magnificent day.

-What fun.

All the customers standing on the quay,

we can't say goodbye to them fast enough.

Thank you very much for joining us for our lunch.

I hope you'll join us for the next Floyd On Fish programme,

cos believe me, my gastronauts, this is the way to eat fish.

KEITH LAUGHS

What a fantastic old film clip there.

As ever on Best Bites, we're looking back

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

Still to come, Tristan Welch was already in the top section

of the omelette challenge leaderboard,

but Richard Bertinet's time was closer to a minute

when they met at the omelette challenge hobs,

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

Mark Jordan serves up a fabulous fish lunch.

He poaches a cannelloni of jersey skate

and makes a delicious pea risotto with fresh morel mushrooms.

Former EastEnder Ricky Groves faced his Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would he get his Food Heaven - turbot?

My pan-roasted turbot with ratatouille and chive beurre blanc.

Or would he get his dreaded Food Hell - butternut squash?

My butternut squash and pineapple tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream.

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

Chefs travel far and wide to appear on Saturday Kitchen,

but none had to travel further than Bill Granger

on his first appearance on the show, way back in 2006.

Bill travelled 10,000 miles from Australia to cook lunch for us.

Luckily, it was worth it. Take a look at this.

Bill Granger, it's a pleasure to have you on the show.

-It's wonderful to be here.

-It's very early. Have you got a bit of jetlag?

Yeah, it's about ten o'clock at night. I'm just getting ready to go.

-It's great to see you in person.

-Oh, good.

-I'm looking forward to this.

-Fantastic.

-What are we cooking?

-A honey, lemon chicken.

Even though I'm so associated with Sydney, I grew up in Melbourne.

When I was growing up, two things were big - Neighbours

-and apricot chicken.

-Apricot chicken?

Apricot chicken, which was a tin of apricot pieces,

a pack of chicken noodle soup mix and chicken all stewed in a pot.

I used to like it as a kid, but as a grown-up,

I want something a little bit...

-But Australia's food's changed so much.

-It's changed so much.

From not really having a food scene, having really bad food,

now it's exploded. There's the most incredible range of it.

-Lovely chicken. What are we going to do here?

-Sprinkle it with salt.

Really important to season it really well. Lots of pepper.

Put it into a pan. Make sure your pan is nice and hot.

-You don't want stewed chicken, you want it seared off.

-Nice colour.

Yeah, with a great golden colour. You can even see the smoke coming off.

You're keeping the skin on the chicken as well,

-keeps it nice and moist.

-Lots of flavour.

They say it's not so good for you, but it's all that great flavour.

You can do it without the skin,

but what is important is to do it on the bone.

That's going to keep it moist. Pop that in.

You can actually buy these in packs as well, which is good.

Oh, they're easy. You can do it with chicken legs.

If you want to make it cheaper,

which is a great value way of using chicken,

or use the whole chicken cut up into pieces.

Pop that in.

-Most people would panic.

-Yeah.

If you've got a smoke alarm, be very careful. Open the windows.

It's really going to give it a great colour.

While that's doing that, I'm going to chop up a red onion.

I always tend to use red onions, I like the colour and the flavour.

You can use them for salad or cooking.

Chop it up like that.

How do you think Australian food's changed? Right now it's really...

Yeah, I think because there was no food tradition in Australia,

there was nothing to forget, there was nothing to fight against.

When I think of Australian food, I think of produce -

great fresh flavours.

Australians aren't really a subtle lot, we like strong flavours.

-You're into your Asian themes as well.

-Yeah, well, it's close.

We're so far away from everywhere else, it's the closest place to us.

-Nicking stuff from Ken's neck of the woods.

-Exactly.

-They've always been stealing.

-Yeah, they've always been stealing.

-Turn it over.

-The colour of that's lovely.

Yeah, you want that really wonderfully seared skin.

Now I'm going to add a lemon to this as well.

Chop off the ends. I'm using a whole lemon.

This is really using those great strong flavours

that I think are like Thai food.

Those lovely sweet and sour flavours.

-Yeah.

-Chop this up.

I think often we just use the juice and the zest,

-but not the whole lot.

-Yeah.

If you stew it down, you're going to mellow the flavour

so it's not too strong. Take that out.

Can you get me a plate? Just a plate so I can put that on.

I'll get you a bowl to put it on.

Great. Fantastic.

One second.

-Terrific. Pop that in there.

-Pop it in a bowl.

Yeah, pop that in the bowl.

Now you can see that great colour. You really want to get...

Is that for the colour of it or predominantly the flavour of it?

Cooking's about process.

It's about layering up lots of different flavours.

I think it gives it texture. Food for me is texture.

Put the onion in here, not the lemon, yet.

I'm going to add some garlic to this. A lot of garlic.

This is a dish to share with whoever you're going to wake up with.

But rather than chopping it up, which is going to make it strong,

I'm going to use it whole. That makes it quite mellow.

About a dozen cloves of garlic.

There's a classic dish - chicken with 40 cloves of garlic.

Absolutely, yeah.

When it's cooked whole, it really gets quite sweet.

Cook that down for a minute.

There is a way you can get away with using garlic,

if you poach it in milk for a couple of minutes.

If you don't like the strength of garlic but like the flavour,

-you can still use that amount.

-That's a good idea.

You can just poach it in milk, take it out.

Very good idea. I don't mind the garlic.

My father hated it growing up.

Mum used to always say put lots of garlic in everything.

He'd say, "Garlic in that?" She'd go, "No, no.

"Of course not."

Pop the chicken back in there.

Get rid of that, then sprinkle that lemon on the top.

Add some chicken stock.

I'd love to tell you that I make all my own, I don't.

The bought-in stuff nowadays is good.

It's great. Fantastic. The way...

What we can buy now has changed so much. Honey, lots of it.

Again because you've got that lemon and all of that garlic,

you really want to balance it out with sweetness.

No wonder you're on about your teeth.

-All that sugar. Pop a lid on it.

-You want some of this?

-Yes, of course.

Oregano. As much as I love fresh herbs,

you could use a bit of dried oregano for this.

This is one time where it's not going to matter so much.

The secret is dried herbs at the beginning of the cooking.

Absolutely. You don't finish it off.

I remember trying to make pesto when I was about 12 with dried basil.

As you can imagine, it wasn't very good.

Tell us about how you got started in cooking.

Was it the scrambled egg that got you involved?

Yeah. I started a cafe. We did breakfast and lunch.

We became really known for our scrambled eggs.

The New York Times wrote about it. It took off from there.

-You've got the omelette challenge.

-I'm scared.

I wish it was a scrambled egg challenge.

-How long do you cook that?

-That's cooked for 25 minutes.

You can see what's happened - it's got a wonderful thick

-and syrupy colour.

-Turn the heat down a little bit.

-Yeah.

Turn the heat, let it cook for 25 minutes.

The thing about chicken skin is you want it crisp.

-What I'm going to do is pop this under.

-Do you want me to do that?

-Yeah, under the grill.

-Do the salad.

You can finish that off. Turn the heat up a bit.

-You want to make that sauce nice and silky.

-Yes, Chef. No problem.

I like having an assistant.

Working already.

-Under the grill.

-This salad is made with chickpeas.

Chickpeas are a great thing, but I don't cook my own,

I just use them straight from a tin with some olives...

and some cucumber.

What I have learnt from Asian cooking is

the way you cut things is so important.

Rather than doing boring old rings, cutting it in lengths,

then going diagonally across like that.

You see? Getting tips. He's nicked all your ideas, Ken.

Actually, I met Ken a long time ago.

He was in Australia filming a TV series

and was brought to my 21st birthday.

Was he?

Yes. I've known Ken a long time.

-He drank a lot of wine.

-He drank a lot of wine.

OK, pop it in there.

-Some parsley as a salad leaf rather than a herb.

-Just rip it up?

-No, no.

Just use it plain.

-Chicken.

-Oh, the chicken. Watch that chicken.

-I'm watching it.

I have spent a dinner party picking off black skin.

-Then you could just call it blackened chicken.

-It's all right.

I think good cooking is often about learning how to fix your mistakes.

-Fix your mistakes?

-Yeah.

-Flake it off.

-And call it something different.

-Feta cheese.

-Feta cheese. You can get sheep's, goats', cows'.

I like the sheep's.

I think it's the shepherd salad. Sheep's is a bit milder.

It's a bit cooked. If you take it in a little pot

and just put it with a little olive oil, touch of salt, not too much.

-It's quite salty.

-Yeah, it is.

A little bit of lemon and fresh thyme then roast it in the oven.

Fantastic. Barbecued bread.

Australian - got to get the barbecue in there.

Barbecued bread.

Toss that around. I'm going to use my hand.

This is that great crunchy...

That thing of texture, with that really syrupy, rich chicken.

-I'll go get it.

-Thanks.

Pop it on the plate, the salad.

For winter, if the salad was a bit light,

you could serve this with some steamed rice

and some blanched pak choi.

Do you want me to pop that on the plate for you?

-Yeah, pop on a couple of nice pieces.

-How many?

-Two.

-Two?! I'm a Yorkshire man.

-Three.

-Two?

-Double that.

-Two?

That's just a starter, isn't it?

Have you got a spoon there?

-There's a spoon there.

-Look at this sauce.

It's reduced down to a really thick, caramely consistency,

-you can see that.

-Lovely.

That delicious sauce. Pour that over.

While you pour it over there, just remind us

what you're going to call that.

That is beautiful honey, lemon chicken,

-with a really tangy shepherd salad.

-Lovely.

Right, but the real true test

is you've got to feed this crew over here.

-Oh, this is where it gets...

-Have a seat.

-We're ready.

No chopsticks.

Dive into that.

-I don't know where to start.

-You don't know where to start.

This is a great thing, cos kids love it as well.

If you've got kids and you're trying to entertain

-and cook food that everyone likes.

-I think it's the sweetness,

that honey that kids like. That's why they like Oriental food as well,

-the sweet and the sourness.

-Yes, they have a taste of everything.

-Yeah.

-Mm.

-Here you go, dive into that.

-Absolutely delicious.

A good breakfast anyway.

LAUGHTER

you're the foodie of the house. Is that something you'd attempt?

It's quite quick and easy.

Yeah, my biggest problem is trying to be too overcomplicated

when I'm cooking. So this is exactly... Yeah, good start.

See, he's a real chef. Keep it simple.

Ken, dive in.

You dive into that one. There's a little bit left.

I would like this maybe with a little bit of harissa.

-Harissa, yeah, that spice.

-That Moroccan...

-It's Moroccan inspired.

-Mm, fantastic.

-That salad's great. I think the shepherd salad.

A bit of sheep's feta in there. You've got to make it evocative.

What a great dish for a summer lunch.

It shows why Bill became a regular on this show.

Tristan Welch already has a pretty respectable time

on our omelette challenge leaderboard,

but Richard Bertinet had a lot of catching up to do.

Would they both manage to get a decent time?