Episode 141 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning. If you want awesome cooking from the best chefs,

you're in the perfect place. This is Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show, the chefs are poised

and the celebrities are feeling hungry, so let's get cooking.

Coming up on today's show,

one of the best Indian chefs in the world

serves up pork with a difference.

Vivek Singh creates a curried pork stir-fry and serves it

with apple and fennel raita.

And one of Italy's finest, Antonio Carluccio, makes handmade sausages.

The skinless pork sausages are served with

a hot-roasted pepper sauce - rustic, but tasted delicious.

And we go back to the very first time that Aggi Sverrisson

joined us in the Saturday Kitchen studio,

but there wasn't a huge amount of actual cooking going on.

But he did create some delicious marinated salmon gravlax.

He confits the salmon

and serves it with a cucumber salad and rye bread.

Oh, and a little bit of ash, of course.

And Lesley Sharp faced Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would she get Food Heaven -

raspberries with my raspberry, basil and clotted cream

summer fruit pudding with basil crisp,

or would she get a dreaded Food Hell - razor clams with

a delicious razor clam, leek and brioche bake

with buttered peas?

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

But first, it's pasty time, but today they're not Cornish,

they've got a little bit of Kent about them

thanks to this man, Mark Sargeant.

And on the menu is?

-A mackerel pasty, which we'll do a little special.

-Sounds good to me.

Also got a little fish and chip shop, James,

-just down the road from me, called Smokehouse.

-Sounds good to me.

So this is the mackerel pasty, so run through it.

You've got mackerel, bit of sausage...

Mackerel, which we're going to butterfly out and open up.

You're going to do a little bit of puff pastry for me,

-with which we are going to seal it.

-Yeah.

We're going to make a nice herby sausage stuffing.

I think sausage and fish is slightly strange,

but it does go well with mackerel.

I think chorizo and stuff like that works very, very well.

-Brilliantly.

-Particularly with mackerel.

Do a lovely pickled cucumber, we've got nice watercress -

-gives it a bit of pepperiness...

-Very summery sort of dish, this.

Yeah, but good to share, cos it's quite a big old portion.

So this is quite a good way...

I mean, obviously, your fishmonger would happily do this for you,

but I just wanted to show you a little bit how to do it.

Mackerel's very good because it's quite easy to pin bone.

And we used to make people practise on mackerels before they got into

sea bass, really, because obviously it's not quite as expensive.

So, we're just taking out the centre bone here, but the idea

of doing this as a butterfly is that we want the thing whole.

Yep. I'll put that in the fridge cos it's quite warm in here.

Yeah, to work with puff pastry, as you know, James,

-you need to work really cold...

-Nice and cold.

-..otherwise it melts.

If you could just take this...

Sausage meat is ideal, but as we've got sausages,

take it out of the skin and then season it up nicely,

a bit of extra salt and pepper, you want quite a basic sort of sausage,

nothing with too many flavourings in cos that's why we add them.

So then you add some nice tarragon - tarragon is a lovely herb.

It's quite aniseedy, but I really like it,

-it goes brilliantly with fish.

-And that and parsley, yeah?

And some parsley, yeah.

So we've taken the backbone out, opened it up.

Just remove a few of these little ribs here,

they come off pretty easily.

-Take that sort of soft belly out.

-Right.

And we're very lucky at Rocksalt

because, obviously, we're hanging over the harbour

and the fish gets landed, you know, next to the restaurant.

-In fact, the boats...

-That close?

The boats come underneath the hangover

and they land, and the other day, I mean, they landed a 25 kilo turbot,

It's absolutely just sensational, it was incredible.

That must be great to have such a variety right on your doorstep.

For a chef, it's incredible.

I've never been able to fully appreciate that before

because living in London

and working in London for the last 20 years has been fantastic,

but, actually, to be on the doorstep where the produce is brought in

and then we're surrounded by incredible farms, suppliers,

-great cheeses, etc...

-Yeah.

..so it's all great.

So, we're going to take these pin bones out.

It's a little bit soft, this mackerel,

cos of the heat, but there you go.

The thing about mackerel, you've got to have it as fresh as a daisy.

-Absolutely. Yeah, definitely.

-Cos oily fish goes...

I mean, degrades much quicker.

Really quickly, and, you know, you want to get them in

and basically cook 'em, which is exactly what we'll be doing.

So I've got that now, butterflied open, the backbone's out,

the pin bones are out.

-I'll carry on doing that.

-There you go.

Going to mix this through and then put this through the middle.

-Can you use any whitefish on that?

-Well...

Not really, cos whitefish has a much more higher water content to it,

so it becomes more flaky, so when you cut into this, it's just going

to sort of fall apart, which is why we use the mackerel.

So put that through.

So the idea from this, James, is really,

I started thinking about how to do something different

to a stargazy pie, you know,

when you've got the head and tail kind of poking out.

I've got to get you the proper...

And then I sort of took it a couple of stages further.

The first time I did it I had the head poking out, as well,

and it was just too much, it didn't really work.

-It just looked a bit odd, to be honest with you.

-Put that over there.

Right, now we are going to make the pie.

Yeah, so good quality puff pastry. Or butter.

Which is good now cos you can buy... Or butter puff pastry nowadays.

It used to be made with margarine.

I was worried when I came in

cos I know you are quite a stickler for making your own pastry and stuff,

but I think you can see we've got quite enough to do, James.

-LAUGHTER

-I'd still have made my own.

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

This is your own brand, anyway, I got it this morning.

I always like to season my pastry, which sounds slightly odd,

but, you know, we've got the fish, we've got all that seasoned, so...

Don't need to do that if you make your own.

COLIN LAUGHS

So, yeah, I'm quite a busy boy at the moment.

I've got the two restaurants opening, which is great, really exciting.

I've also joined forces with the team at Canteen, as well.

We're working on some really great new menus going on there.

So, it's all good for me at the moment.

-It's a busy time for you, then?

-Yeah, at last.

Right, so there you go.

So, crimp that up, just get a little bit of flour.

-Now, if you had the time...

-They're impressed.

..you could make this, you know, actually like a proper pasty -

crimp it and everything,

but I'm just going to keep it quite simple for now.

-Trim off the excess, here...

-Yeah.

-If you could just...

-We are fussy.

-Sorry?

-We are fussy, so don't...

Yeah, I know!

-Don't make it too simple!

-Yeah.

Don't put me under so much pressure, Colin.

Right, so I'll put that onto here.

So you can see we've got that kind of pasty shape now.

Now, as it puffs open, as the sausage meat inside cooks,

it is going to split open slightly, but don't worry about that,

because you are protecting all of that flavour

and the moisture of the fish inside, as well.

Although it's wonderful to eat, this is really just to protect

the mackerel and the sausage meat.

So, good egg glaze. You can decorate it if you like.

It's, you know, again, a bit of a cross between

a beef Wellington and a stargazy pie, really.

Um... So, we'll get that into the oven now.

How long would that go in for?

You need a nice, hot oven, about 220 to start with, to set it,

and then you need to turn it down to about 200

and once the pastry's cooked, you know the filling's cooked,

so that's going to be about 25 to 30 minutes.

Just got one in here.

As you can see, the pastry's just slightly opened.

-Looking good.

-Is that one portion or two there, James?

I don't really know.

Depends where you live, mate.

So this is again, the thought behind this was...pasty, pickle.

-Pasty, pickle.

-You have a bit of the old brown pickle -

well, I do anyway - whenever I have a pasty, so I kind of wanted...

Cos that's a very rich dish, so the idea is to get...

Thank you. ..a good bit of acidity in here.

Now, you've got the pepperiness of the watercress,

-which is what you're doing now...

-Yeah.

..and then we just slice these cucumbers which you've deseeded,

and we add a little touch of salt.

Salt immediately starts bringing out the moisture,

and then sugar for a touch of sweetness

because then we are going to add some cider vinegar.

Now, obviously, being back in Kent - which I am loving -

we've got fantastic orchards.

We're very well-known for cider,

but also we make this amazing cider vinegar, as well.

And literally, as soon as that salt and sugar and cider vinegar

hits the cucumber, it starts drawing out the moisture.

So, in an ideal world, you can leave that for 20, 30 minutes,

something like that, but it's absolutely fine to use straightaway.

And then just to give it a bit more earthiness now,

and a bit of extra colour, of course, we add some picked flat-leaf parsley.

So we've got parsley running through the mackerel, we've got

some tarragon through there as well, so lovely flavours all matching up.

This is your bit of lemon and olive oil?

Yeah, lemon and olive oil, it's just a very straightforward dressing,

you just need a nice bit of sharpness from the lemon juice

and the olive oil, cos obviously, as you know,

watercress is very peppery, unbelievably healthy...

Thank you. So, we are almost ready to put this together.

You're nodding over there.

Ready, yeah?

Yeah, that's going to give you bags of energy if you eat that, isn't it?

Well, I love mackerel as a fish.

I love mackerel as a fish,

I just hope you haven't messed it up, though.

-Messed it up?

-With a sausage, yeah.

Going on his last three performances on here, so...

LAUGHTER

I think you'll be impressed.

That's nice, I mean, just taste a little bit of that.

Just got the right amount of acidity in there.

COLIN LAUGHS

-Little watercress salads.

-Yeah.

Nice to put a little bit of grain mustard dressing through there,

but we've kept it quite simple.

-Now, normally, we make this a touch smaller or do it to share.

-To share?!

Oh, yeah. Pop that on the board, I just wanted to cut inside...

-Let me get you a...

-Yeah, just to show you, really, the kind of...

Quite carefully inside, just to show you the sausage meat.

And the fish. And you'll see, quite a bit of moisture came out there.

-See that?

-Oh!

Looks pretty good, doesn't it?

-Stop messing around, get it on the plate.

-Sorry, I'm out of time.

-Just put that on there.

-Looking good to me.

So, James, that is my mackerel pasty with pickled cucumber

and a watercress salad.

Coming to Folkestone.

-COLIN:

-Looks nice.

-Looks fantastic. Go on then, you take it over.

-Yeah, sorry!

-I'm after your job!

-Yeah, go on.

-Now, Colin.

-Thank you, sir.

-Just sit down there. What do you reckon to that one?

-Well, it's big.

-Put it that way.

-Dive into that, tell us what you think.

It's nice and warm. But you could have that cold, I suppose?

Absolutely, yeah. And, to be honest with you,

when I started off, I tried doing it with sardines,

but I found the flesh was just too soft, I couldn't quite get it right,

so you need a kind of small-to-medium mackerel.

I suppose something like that's not best straight out of the oven.

You need to let it rest and let the pastry soak up any of the juices.

-Gold medal?

-Happy man?

-You've done well.

-Yeah, it goes well with it.

It comes with a bit of pickle, and, like you say, instant pickle -

you don't need to cook it, nothing, just nice and simple.

Mmm... Mm, mm.

You can't beat a bit of pasty and pickle, of course.

Coming up, I make a strawberry charlotte for '80s pop sensation,

Nik Kershaw, after Rick Stein enjoys the very best of Wales

while rounding up some of his food heroes.

'I got a tip-off to come here to Cyfarthfa Castle at Merthyr Tydfil.

'I hear they do everything really well, it's a good bite of Wales.

'First of all you have to have your Welsh rabbit and it is rabbit.

'No-one knows what rabbit means and some think it should be rarebit,

'but no-one knows what that means either!'

'But what the Welsh do really well is to make cakes.

'Now this is Teisen Lap,

'which is a very moist cake and it's what the miners

'used to take down the mine

'because it didn't crumble in their lunch tins.'

'And this is the king of Welsh cakes, Bara Brith,

'which means "spotted bread."

'You just slice it and cover it with butter.

'Another traditional dish always on the menu here

'and one I've been really keen to try for ages is Cawl.

'It's a broth using meats, vegetables and a lovely rich gravy,

'which is sometimes served as a soup to start with.'

Now, just take a hamburger, right?

And the buns that they make hamburgers,

they're made in factories

and they're made with lots of sugar

and the pickles that go in hamburgers,

they come out of jars, so why are those foods so popular with people?

Probably because they're advertised, but it's a crazy world we live in

when this is so good, so much better and made with local materials.

I don't understand it, I'm just perplexed.

I actually made a cawl, I used collar of bacon and lamb

and slow simmered it with leeks, onions and carrots.

Then I added potatoes and cabbage,

and I finished it with chopped parsley

and some crumbled Caerphilly, which worked a treat.

Well, that's the way it's going, not just in Wales,

but in Italy and France,

where fast food chains are really taking over,

but they won't be using beef like these famous Welsh Black cattle.

They're a very hardy breed

and totally at home in the central mountains of Wales.

And that's why I've come to Llanidloes in Powys...

to Edward Hamer's farm at the head of the Severn Valley.

'Edward's family have been farming these hills for over 100 years

'and there's not much they don't know about these native animals.'

-So this is where the Welsh Black cattle graze then?

-Yep.

I mean, it's just a beautiful view here

and the fields look so wonderful.

I mean, it's so typical of sort of Britain, isn't it, really, this...?

Well, yeah, this is, you know, typically Mid Wales.

I mean, looking up the Severn Valley here,

this is as typical a Central Wales valley as you could find.

I mean, the patchwork panorama you see,

that's all down to the farming method

and the fact that the livestock are here.

With the shallow soils, the high rainfall

and quite rough weather in the winter,

we can't diversify into anything else.

Livestock is the only thing we could possibly grow.

We grow great grass up here and we can convert grass into meat.

COW MOOS

The Hamers have owned a butcher's shop in Llanidloes since the 1700s.

Here, Edward hangs his beef for a few weeks.

Just look at how the meat has developed naturally

and these lovely thick bits of fat...

And you know, not at all like that stuff

they stick around joints at supermarkets.

Well, this is probably my favourite dish in the whole world.

I'm going to chargrill a whole four-rib of beef, look at that,

and you slice it quite thick, a bit more like a steak,

and it's just totally different to roast beef.

Now, I'm going to pre-season this.

A lot of people say don't put salt on meat before you put it

on the barbecue for the reason that it sucks the moisture out

of the beef and stops it from caramelizing on the outside.

But, believe me, this barbecue is so hot,

it's not going to make a scrap of difference

and you get far better flavour, I think,

if you like salt, in pre-salted meat.

The French always do it with steaks.

I think that's the main reason why steak frites in France

tastes different from over here.

OK, so that's seasoned, I'm just going to put a bit of oil on my bars,

just to make sure the meat doesn't stick as soon as it goes on.

Don't use a pastry brush, it'll just burn it to smithereens.

So a bit of kitchen paper's the thing, and on with the beef.

This is a fatty piece of meat, let's be honest about it,

delicious fat, of course, but the one thing you have to do

when you are cooking on a barbecue - a big piece of meat like that -

is keep it moving around the barbecue.

You can't leave it in one place and sort of put your feet up and

have a drink, you know, cos you come back and you've got, like, charcoal.

I mean, a bit of flame is a great taste, but too much is bitter

and horrid, so, you know, you've just got to stand over it.

A little tip - if you don't want to do that,

if you just do the first couple of minutes

on either side on the barbecue

and transfer it to the oven, you get nearly the same effect.

One of the things I'm going to do in a minute

is just add some woodchips,

just to get a little bit of smoke flavour in there, as well.

Not a lot, this isn't a smoked piece of meat,

but it just gives it the taste of the hearth, if you like.

I sort of think about vegetarians

like the cameraman that's looking at me now, and think,

"You poor people, you just don't... You're missing this!"

I don't mind missing curries, I don't mind missing stews or grills

or anything, but missing this...

Nah, nah, I'll never be a vegetarian.

Now, this is making Bearnaise sauce.

As my chef friend Simon Hopkinson said of it...

FRENCH ACCENT: "Don't be so saucy, bearnaise!"

First here, you have some shallots, white wine vinegar,

tarragon and black pepper.

You just put that all on to boil and reduce right down,

and while you do that just crack a couple of egg yolks into a bowl

and then whisk them with a little bit of water

to build up a sabayon over some heat.

You make the sabayon over a saucepan of boiling water

and as you whisk it, it gets more and more voluminous.

You then pour in some clarified butter, whisking as you go,

building up a nice, thick, viscous sauce,

and finally stir in that well-reduced shallot,

tarragon and white wine vinegar mix,

some salt and a bit of fresh tarragon,

just to make the sauce look more attractive

and give that final aniseedy taste.

The salad to go with this belongs to a friend of mine

and is called Patricia Wells' Cheesemaker's Salad

because it does go very well with cheese.

Interestingly, the dressing is made with cream

and shallots that are steeped in white wine vinegar and just salt,

and it's quite unusual just having a cream dressing

as opposed to an oil one.

And, finally, some very nicely thick-cut chips.

Well, I have to say, this is fantastically nice beef.

I mean, I'm really pleased cos it's turned out so well.

I mean, when you look at beef that's cooked to my mind

to perfection, sort of medium rare,

and I smell the smell of the fire and that bit of wood smoke in it,

I just think, "Well, no wonder I enjoy my job so much,"

I mean, it's really about giving people pleasure, you know,

and if you can get something right like this

and you put it down in front of them,

and you just watch their faces when they eat it,

you feel so pleased with yourself, it's as simple as that.

And, as they say in Welsh, "blasus",

or, as I say, delish!

Thanks, Rick.

As last week's sticky toffee pudding masterclass went down so well,

I thought I'd do another with a great British dessert,

this time with a twist for the summer.

It's a charlotte pudding,

thought to originate in about the 15th century,

named after Queen Charlotte,

but normally done traditionally with apples,

but we're going to do some great summer fruit,

particularly strawberries with this, and it is actually a very,

very quick dessert, really, to make.

Normally done with stewed apples,

which takes a little bit longer, but we're going to then just

blend together some fresh English strawberries,

which we've got there...

And then we can make the filling here, which is just,

basically, just normal chopped strawberries,

which we are going to cut up into decent-sized pieces.

The reason for this is we're going to cook it very,

very quick, cos this will take no more than about sort of five

or six minutes to cook, so we've got the fresh fruit in here

and then the reason why I like this pudding is that it uses nice,

thin, proper sliced bread.

None of that fancy sort of

French baguette sort of stuff, boys, you know.

Proper white-sliced bread.

And use a cutter for this, cos we're making it

in one of these little moulds, so, the small disc will be

for the bottom, the large one's going to be for the top.

And then we need three pieces of bread or four pieces of bread.

We just remove the crust.

If you get a larger loaf,

you'll get two nice pieces out of a larger loaf, but

if we just remove the crust, this is just going to go around the edge.

A bit of melted butter, of course.

That's not the reason why I chose this recipe, really,

but a bit of melted butter.

Dip it both sides in the bottom of the mould.

And then what you do with the bread is just overlap it.

And you take this.

And this is where I thought one of the pies, particularly

a meat-based pie, was made back then,

but it is a really simple recipe.

You just normally put stewed apples in,

but we're going to just pop the bread in like that.

Just carefully.

And then one more piece just overlapped in that corner.

Don't be too worried about pushing it into the edges at the moment,

because then you grab the fruit, which we've got here.

A little bit of the sauce.

No sugar at all, just the fresh berries.

Mix this together. Really place it all in there.

This is where, when you're doing it with apples, certainly,

press it down really well, cos these will have a habit

of souffle-ing up, so you can put plenty in, like that.

A decent amount of filling in.

And then just top it with a piece of bread,

just double dipped in that butter again. Press it down.

It's a good dinner party dish, this, because you can make these

in sort of teacups, as well, if you haven't got these moulds.

Pop it in the fridge, and then cook it when you want it.

And, really, from the fridge it's going to take about six minutes,

but from this it will take no more than about four minutes.

Quite a hot oven. 450, 470 degrees Fahrenheit.

About 220 degrees centigrade. Nice and hot.

I'll do a nice little custard.

I mentioned at the top of the show, congratulations on your album.

-This is your eighth album.

-It is my eighth album. It's called Eighth.

Does it get any easier or does it get any better having a break?

It gets harder,

cos you don't want to repeat yourself, you know.

Yeah, it's harder, and you haven't got the sort of youthful vigour

and energy that you did have.

Come on! I was watching your videos last night.

-No!

-You've got to go on YouTube and watch some of these videos.

No, you really don't.

LAUGHTER

You really should do.

I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, what was the...?

There were two of those, that was the very first single

and the first one was, basically, for some bizarre reason,

me walking about with loads of chickens.

There were chickens in this.

There are chickens in it, do you want to know what was in it?

-You tell me.

-Listen to this. Listen.

You had maypoles, knights in cardboard armour,

painted kids, a pinball machine, chicken, a boat, a moat,

a goat, and you covered in a funny looking white powder.

-Yeah.

-That was it. That was the '80s.

THEY LAUGH Absolutely.

It sounds like one of my pastry chef's dreams.

We re-did that.

We re-made that one when it was re-released in the following summer.

-Was that your biggest song to date?

-That was one of three, I guess.

Wouldn't It Be Good and The Riddle were big, as well.

Wouldn't It Be Good was launched first?

No, it was the other way round.

I Won't Let The Sun Go Down was first

and then it was kind of a minor radio hit.

And then Wouldn't It Be Good came out in 1984 and that was, that

went massive and then we rereleased I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me.

What you feel about that?

What do you feel about the old songs now?

You've written the new ones,

you've written for loads of people, as well,

so song writing's in your blood. What do you feel about the old ones?

I think you have to respect them

because they've been very good to me.

And they still are over the years. And I love playing them live.

I still love playing live.

It's like a shared experience when the crowd's into it.

And they're great things to have in a set,

because you can sort of play a new one

and when their eyes start glazing over you can chuck in an old one.

And the new one, it's obviously great song writing in the new album,

I was listening to it.

But you also play quite a lot of instruments,

particularly the guitar.

I do a lot of it myself, cos I'm cheap, basically!

LAUGHTER

It's the best way. And a bit of a control freak.

That's why that happens.

You've collaborated with some pretty major artists.

People that we will know about now, Gary Barlow,

-that kind of stuff, Ronan Keating, you've co-wrote for, as well.

-Yes.

The Gary thing, that wasn't our finest hour, either of us.

-We probably wrote the worst song we've ever written.

-Really?!

-Yeah.

Together, yeah.

That was during his, the period when he was,

yeah, just made his first solo album and he couldn't get arrested.

He doesn't phone me up now, I don't know why!

THEY LAUGH Funny.

We'll forgive you for that one.

So, when does your tour start? Cos this is promoting the new album.

It starts September 19th, is that correct? I've got to get it right.

-Check with the wife.

-Check with the wife!

And it finishes on the 28th

at Shepherd's Bush, so we go, Sheffield...

No, geographic, let's start at the top - we go Glasgow...

It's the cheaper way if you go north to south, isn't it?

We don't actually do this, though. Because that would be too easy.

We're playing Glasgow, Liverpool, Sheffield, Bristol, Birmingham,

Bournemouth, London, Oxford.

I think that's all of them.

What about your fan base? Have they followed you along?

Is there a new fan base, as well?

There's the old guard are still there. Bless them.

But there are new people.

There are people that don't even know the old stuff,

which is quite astonishing.

Cos the new album is a good mix, a mixture of folk

and rock and a bit of everything, really.

I'm very confused, James, that's the problem.

I've been exposed to so many different kinds of music,

that's just what comes out. No kind of plan.

Because I've got track three going round in my head,

-that Runaway track. Great track.

-Thank you.

What would be your favourite from the album?

-Mine was number three and ten, I would have said.

-You know what?

Number 11 is... I kind of like.

There's a track called The Bell, which I'm very proud of.

And Runaway is good. It's a masterpiece, basically, James.

-THEY LAUGH

-It is.

-Everybody has got to go and buy it.

-Exactly. They do.

And go on the tour with you as well. There you go.

Right, we're just going to basically,

I've made the little bit of custard there.

I've got my strawberries.

That pudding just sits in the oven, really. That's the key to that one.

And all you do with this is just, just a nice, hot oven, that is

the key to it. Leave that in just for 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, just to recap what we've got here.

This is basically just custard.

We've got double cream, milk, and the vanilla, sugar, eggs,

egg yolks, fundamentally and, basically,

we just heat it up and pass it through a sieve.

Four egg yolks gone in there. Pass it through a sieve.

You know it's ready when it goes through the sieve

and you end up with this.

This is what looks like the omelettes

that we normally get on Saturday Kitchen.

In the bottom of this pan.

It just starts to separate in the bottom but not in this pan.

It's very important that it doesn't separate,

otherwise it tastes very similar to scrambled egg, that kind of stuff.

And what we do, we take this, this is fresh custard sauce.

And we could actually mess around

with a little bit of liquid nitrogen.

-You could?

-If we had any.

And then turn that into ice cream, but you can just put that

in an ice cream machine, it churns into ice cream.

It's as simple as that. A few strawberries on top.

Keeping it nice and simple, and because, obviously, if you do watch

Saturday Kitchen, you'll know that I am into healthy food and all that.

-Yes.

-We just put a little bit of that on.

But I forgot to mention,

the actual videos were almost as good

as the haircuts back in the '80s.

-You had a serious head of hair in the '80s.

-I did.

You know, I've gone for the low-maintenance version.

-Gone for the low-maintenance!

-Yeah.

It was a lot of work, that was. You wouldn't believe it.

You like your puds, don't you, James?

I do like my puddings. And we just pop a little bit of that on there.

When you watch it on telly, you don't actually believe

those ovens are real, you think they're fake ones.

Here's one I did earlier, like Blue Peter.

We've got Antony Worrall Thompson out the back! There's no back to it!

THEY LAUGH

There's smoke coming out of them and everything! Wonderful.

It's really happening live.

-Gregg Wallace is around the corner washing up!

-THEY LAUGH

And there you have it. It'll be hot but delicious, as well.

You didn't get this on Saturday Superstore! THEY LAUGH

-A bit of that. A bit of that.

-Ashley is too young.

He's thinking, what's he talking about?

I'll have to get on YouTube!

-You don't remember tapes and stuff like that, do you?!

-No.

-Oh.

-Happy with that?

-Mmmm.

Well, Nik, I'm glad you rate our food above the food

on Saturday Superstore! Just don't tell Mr Mike Read, of course.

If you'd like to try cooking any of the studio recipes

you've seen on today's show, all of the recipes

are just a click away at bbc.co.uk/recipes.

We're looking back at some of the best cooking

from the Saturday Kitchen archives now.

If you want pork this Sunday lunchtime

then look no further, because Vivek Singh is here.

He's cooking a stir-fry with a difference.

Welcome to the show. Top, top class Indian cook.

Now, what are we cooking today?

We'll do a Kurgi style stir-fry of pork using kokum.

Served with a sort of apple and fennel raita.

Very summery, very seasonal, but an inverse raita,

it'll be really thick, very little yoghurt,

-a lot of texture and flavour.

-We've got pork shoulder.

Some pork shoulder here. You could use belly if you wanted.

-You could use some neck chops, if you liked.

-OK.

We're going to be marinating it with some dried bay leaf.

-What's he doing? Look at him.

-Take a seat!

He's in the naughty chair.

We've got some bay leaf, we have some turmeric, some salt,

some star anise.

Really sweet, woody flavours.

-Some black peppercorn, kokum, as I said.

-What's this stuff?

It's actually a black mangosteen.

It's the dried skin of a black mangosteen and the juices are,

it's all dried with its juices in the sun.

It's used to impart sourness into southern Indian dishes,

along the West Coast, as well.

And they just put a little bit in water?

You soak them in water and you get this lovely, pink colour.

Now, we need to do the marinade for this first.

Let's go with the marinade. First things first.

We've got the pork in here. I'll pick up the spices.

Pretty much the bay leaf. A little bit of turmeric.

Be wary of adding too much turmeric. Because that will make it bitter.

-Peppercorn.

-Too much turmeric makes it bitter.

-Yes.

I've said it before,

but turmeric, you should always be able to see turmeric, never taste it.

Let's get this ginger and garlic paste.

-Pureed garlic and ginger together?

-Yes.

And we add a little bit of the liquid from the kokum.

Where can people buy these from?

These are actually available in South Asian stores around Tooting.

I got mine from Tooting six months ago. And they keep really well

The great thing is, you can keep them in the dry cupboard for a year

and they don't go off.

Just wonderful sourness, really depth of flavour.

And it's meant to be a very effective blood purifier, as well.

-They make them, they use them in drinks and all sorts of things.

-OK.

Another surprise ingredient, I use a little bit of dark soy sauce.

This is where you get your style of food from?

It's a collection of all different ingredients.

An Indian feel to it at the beginning,

-but then other ingredients added to it.

-As well.

And this, in street food, we often see soy sauce being used in India.

We think of soy sauce as our own.

If anything, the second most popular cuisine in India after Indian

-is Chinese.

-Chinese?

-Yes. So, there we are.

-This goes in the fridge?

It's great if you marinate it overnight. Nice and marinated.

You can see it's been sitting and taken all the flavour

and really nice and simple, very easy. Just tip it in a pot.

-Let it come to a boil.

-No need to seal it?

-No need to seal it.

You want it braised. And the slower the better. The longer the better.

This is the kind of meat that you use,

the kind of cut you use, you don't have any, there's

-no danger of it going dry or anything like that.

-OK.

You cover that and cook that for how long?

We're using shoulders, cook it for an hour and a half,

so, 60 to 90 minutes. Really nice and tender. Really slow.

And while we've got that, let me move this.

-There you go.

-Bring my stir-fry along.

-Get the wok nice and hot.

We've got one that we've done over there.

That's been stewing away nicely.

Now, chopping onions for this, because this,

this is the second bit. You could do that in advance and finish it off?

Cook it at this stage and keep it in the fridge.

It's really, really, I'm just going to do a taste test.

Really nice, sweet, intense flavour.

You can actually serve it like that if you're having it as a curry.

When you were last on the show, just the Cinnamon Club,

Cinnamon Kitchen was just about to open. You've got that open now?

It's been going six months now.

Cinnamon Kitchen and Anise, that's a lovely...

What's the ethos behind that?

It's a lot more relaxed and contemporary surroundings.

A lot more accessible.

Same ethos of creativity and innovation and whatever have you.

Same style of cooking. And food.

Because the Cinnamon Club's an amazing room.

It's fantastic. It's a Grade II listed building.

Really, it used to be the old library. It's a beautiful building.

Very imposing structure.

But a lot of people might find it sort of slightly intimidating,

as it's got a special occasion feel to it.

And we wanted to move away from it. And avoid that kind of an image.

So we created something more accessible.

Now, you see here,

I've got this whole red chillies that have almost been burnt in the oil.

Don't worry about it burning, because that is what you want.

You want the oil to be flavoured.

So, this is the difference between cooking at home

and the type of cooking that the Indians do.

You've got cinnamon in there, as well.

-Is that just chilli?

-The chilli which has been burned.

You blacken the chilli in there, as well?

Yes, you brown the chilli in there.

Some sprigs of curry leaf, keep aside.

As well as the restaurants, books, of course.

Your never-ending stream of books.

Now, I love doing books every so often.

My last book came out in October, curry classic and contemporary.

I look back every now and again and see, it is a great

document of law, almost, of what I've been thinking at the time.

And sometimes I go back and think, my God, I was really thinking that?!

But it's very fun doing books and so the last one was doing really,

really well, and hopefully start work on another one in not too long.

You're saying for the garnish for this I've just got some fennel

and some peeled apple - cos you're allergic to the skin.

It's the skin, all of a sudden I'm allergic.

I don't know. It's very strange.

So, we have the apple chopped up and the fennel in there.

The little baby fennel. And a tiny bit of yoghurt in there.

A tiny bit of yoghurt.

Normally in the raita in India you would use loads of yoghurt,

and a little bit of whatever flavouring your using.

You'd use things like beef flavoured with cumin...

You could flavour it with mustard, you could use some vegetables.

I like to do it the inverse way.

I call it the inverse way,

where the proportions are actually sort of reversed.

And you have very little yoghurt.

-Lots of vegetables and it adds a really nice crunch.

-Texture to it.

There we go. A little bit of yoghurt, like you said.

-And you want a little bit of sugar. What's this?

-Got a bit of sugar.

-And a bit of dried fennel seeds.

-OK.

All gone in there. Bit of that. Give that a quick mix.

-We've got about 30 seconds left.

-OK.

There we are.

I'll pop that in the pot there.

So, what's next for you? Are you taking over the world?

I'm just having a lot of fun working on Anise.

I didn't realise I'd have so much fun doing a bar.

But I realised that...

I would have thought that was obvious!

THEY LAUGH

A great excuse, a great reason to get into work, really.

Look at that. It's so simple that dish, as well.

There we are. Kurgi style stir-fried pork

with kokum and apple and fennel raita.

Kokum, and you've got that little bit of stuff.

A little bit of coriander cress. Just sprinkle on there,

and a little bit of coriander cress onto the raita.

-That's the stir-fry.

-Told you. He's a genius.

-Thank you!

The true test, though, is taste.

I'll tell you what, I tasted this in rehearsal, it is

absolutely delicious. Vivek, have a seat over here. Dive into that.

Straight into the meat. None of that veg.

-I've got to try, what's it called, kokum?

-They're quite sour.

-THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER

-OK.

Mmmm. That's beautiful. That's amazing.

Amazing, isn't it?

-Delicious. Do you want to try?

-Share a bit.

It's got to come back this way! If you don't want to use pork,

you could use chicken?

You could use chicken, any other sort of...

Wild boar is a good substitute if you're not averse to it.

You could do this with sausages, really. You don't need to braise it.

My mother is watching, I think

the kokum would be a little bit difficult.

If I told her to get wild boar she'd switch off!

That's a great recipe to try this summer, of course.

It's Keith Floyd time now.

Today, he's in Newlin getting a little rustic French inspiration.

Hello, gastronauts.

Do you know, "it was a valiant man

"who first adventured upon eating oysters."

I don't suppose you know who said that, do you? No, you don't.

It was King James I, and I know,

because we were playing a curious and rather trivial game.

And talking of trivial pursuits, if you like, in this bubbling,

fishy, fun-filled programme, I'm going to tell you

the mysteries of the bouillabaisse, how to improve your sex life

and explain the contents of my little black case.

OK?

The oyster. The poor, crazy oyster.

These aphrodisiacs, once the staple diet of apprentices,

are now consumed by Gucci-shoed executives who also swallow

big deals and wine regardless of expense

and are quite ignorant of the labour of love here on the beautiful

Helford River, which provides the currency of their credibility.

And a labour of love it is.

In this damp, dim shed, a beautiful girl,

her fine fingers clad in gloves, chips away the barnacles to make

the pale, silver-grey and sometimes creamy brown shell more appealing

before they are hand graded on this clacking Victorian roundabout,

and slid into the purifying tanks

to await a seaweed-wrapped train journey to Paddington.

My love of oysters, like all true love, has caused me pain.

Good friends have shied from the Zinc Bar and would-be lovers have said,

"No, no, if you don't mind, I might be sick."

How sad.

I felt good, even involved in this gentle industry,

and my mouth watered as I plucked fresh mussels

from the tanks to cook later.

But something was wrong.

On this fine, autumnal day, with the drizzle falling

and the soft river lapping, I felt uneasy.

The man who owned the place was clearly distressed by the frenetic

activity of a film crew and it wasn't until we struck up a conversation

about rugby that this shy and gentle man began to trust and tell me about

his life and work on the river, and Len Hodges is passionate about that.

Len, I am speechless.

This incredible view and these fantastic oysters,

and you live here, I mean, you must be the happiest man in the world?

Well, yes, I do love my work and I love the food I produce, too.

Tell me, everybody knows oysters in restaurants and things, but we've

seen them coming out of the river and stuff - how old is one of these?

They vary between five and seven years.

It depends on if you get two hot summers in a row

and get a very big growth, then you'll get them in five years,

but if you get cold summers, they take longer to grow.

I'm just going to carry on eating a few of these for a moment.

You don't mind if I don't talk to you, do you?

We don't really care much about you, this is...

What else has come from the Helford River,

all your territory, if you like?

-Cockles?

-Yes, the cockles.

-They're yours too?

-That's right. The winkles.

-The winkles.

-And the mussels.

-And the mussels. Are you going to have a mussel?

-Thank you.

We may as well enjoy ourselves. They're a very rich, orange colour.

Can you see that? They're such a beautiful colour.

Last year on my birthday, at the very ripe old age of 40,

I sat out in a brilliant pub in Bridgeport in Dorset,

and just tried to eat 40 oysters,

one for each year of my life, and I got to 37.

How many is the most you've ever eaten?

-Would you eat lots and lots?

-Oh, yes.

-I've eaten 60, 70 at a sitting.

-Have you really?

-But the ideal amount, I think, is nine, ten oysters.

-Yes.

One of the very important things, of course, is opening these damn things.

I have had a feast, I'm having a great time, I don't want to stop,

but can you just, for them, you know,

people who apparently count, they want to know

how to join in our good time, just show them

how you actually open the damn things.

Well, the important thing is to make sure

that your thumb is there like that.

A lot of people open it like that, and then it goes into their hand and

it's cut, and we've lost a good oyster eater, but if you get your

finger like that, or thumb, rather, like that, and you're in control...

Come down on that, because he's got these big fisherman's hands,

and you're not going to be able to see it unless you get...

It's a cookery programme, it's quite important. Can you put it in?

Right. Thank you.

And then you cut the mussel in the centre, lift it off.

Go over it like that, gently, in case you're taking any shell in.

Cut the mussel underneath and turn it over and bring the fat side up.

And hand it over to me.

And just do another one, because the cameraman isn't terribly

keen on oysters, I don't think he paid attention.

-And that's a beautiful oyster, that one.

-A plump little dream, isn't it?

But we are today enjoying this, it's all very luxurious for us,

but 100 years ago or so it was a stable food

of apprentices and working men and stuff like that,

it was what people ate to survive, wasn't it?

-It wasn't a luxury then.

-No.

When you go back to the 18th century,

oysters were produced everywhere.

And, in those days,

there were 400 million went into Billingsgate alone.

400 million into Billingsgate?

That's very interesting, because the last time we quoted that figure,

my director said I was talking nonsense.

And it's now just been proved by an expert, Mr Prichard,

thank you very much. 400 million.

-Into Billingsgate?

-That's right.

How much would they have cost in those days?

Well, they were very, very cheap.

I've got a letter that was sent out years ago and they were,

I think it was 45p for 100, something like that.

45p by today's rate, for 100 oysters.

No, old p that is.

-And so, what would they cost today?

-Well, in London now

-they're anything from £5.50 to £15 a dozen.

-Good Lord above.

And who's making all the money there?

You're not making all that money!

Well, I think everyone's making a little,

but we've got the little and...

The rest is somewhere else, I think!

How would you describe the taste of them?

Could you? To me it's like having a taste of scent,

rather than an actual thing.

There's no unpleasant texture, it's delicious,

but how would you describe it?

Well, I think it tastes of the sea.

It's fresh and it leaves a lovely taste in your mouth

and gives you an appetite for your next course.

-Does it give you an appetite for women?

-Well, I don't know about that.

But, I think the story for oysters does indicate

that they help your sex life.

Well, I'll tell you what,

eating these wonderful oysters, drinking the wine,

the whole bit, it's given me such an appetite,

I actually want to go and cook something myself now.

-Can I borrow your kitchen for a moment or two?

-Yes.

And may I say I've enjoyed your company very much.

-That's kind of you.

-I'll lead the way.

-OK.

Off we go to your kitchen then. Make a bit of a change from the rain.

I think we've done our bit out there,

we can have a bit of fun for ourselves now.

So, you see, the importance of my little black box is

it's actually got the tools of my trade in.

And if the worst comes to the worst, if the BBC goes bust, I can still

get a job as a cook any day.

And, in fact, actually, a cook is what I am,

and although I've been enjoying myself with the oysters outside,

Len did give me some mussels.

And I thought it would be quite good if I cooked

a few of Len's mussels which have come from the river,

which is right outside this kitchen where I'm sitting now.

Erica's kitchen. It's really great. I'm standing, not sitting.

But one of the very important things about mussels,

and this is a mussel here, it's got this beard, this is the bit

that attaches itself to the rocks with, it's held on by this beard.

Obviously, it's inedible.

Vital thing, rip that right off and by the way,

it's quite a hard task, but you've got to rip that thing off.

Another thing that mussels often do to you

and confound all of your best laid plans is often they're full of mud.

And if you've cooked them, as you'll see in a moment,

and one of them's full of mud, then you've blown it,

so the essential test with every mussel, push it sideways, like that,

and if it was full of mud, it would have separated

to reveal two halves of mud. That one is good.

So, just to repeat that, do clean off everything.

If it's got barnacles, scrape it. Use a knife. Scrape it away.

Get them as clean as you can. Right, that's enough lessons.

What we want to do now is get on with the actual cooking

process of these things, because they're beautiful.

And Erica, whose kitchen this is,

cleaned a pile of them for me earlier on. Speeds things up.

Makes life a lot better.

Because mussels are fun, because you can cook them in white wine, which is

one of the primary ingredients of this particular little dish.

I'll just open that. Just some dry, white wine.

If you can't afford dry white wine, use some dry cider.

It doesn't matter too much.

If you're going to stop eating mussels because you have got

no wine or cider, then use a little drop of water.

But if you can, use some wine.

Other ingredients are one onion for the amount of mussels we're doing.

A load of garlic.

Make sure they can see this garlic, and then quite a bit of parsley,

we'll say about that much parsley, and we want a bit of butter.

And you can't economise on these things, you know,

chuck in a quarter of a pound of butter into a pan like that one.

While that butter is melting,

I'm going to crush these cloves of garlic.

There's no need to peel them, by the way,

because you won't actually be eating garlic, you will just be using the

flavour of it, so you're wasting your time, you could be better off having

a glass of wine instead of painfully getting garlic skin under your nails.

Actually, on the subject of wine,

it's a myth that you have to drink white wine with fish.

You can drink anything you like. Red wine is perfectly all right.

And I'm going to have a drop of that just for the moment.

Under this intense pressure we have been working this morning...

to eat oysters and cockles and things.

Right, a little slurp goes down very well.

We've got to chop the onions. You can always show off doing this.

It's quite good. You chop it finely like that.

And then back like that.

And you never cut your fingers which is quite important,

because the resulting mess is an inconvenience.

Chop, chop, chop.

Fast as you like, slow as you like.

Although I'm sort of showing off in half a way,

I'd rather you didn't show off at home and cut your fingers.

I'd rather you enjoyed the mussels, you know.

Take your time over it.

Actually, I think, with things like this,

it's a cheap meal to prepare, it's a feast as well.

So, now we want to get all of these elegantly prepared ingredients

popped in to the melted butter. Chuck them in.

Just to remind you again, I'm sure you haven't paid proper attention,

it is parsley, garlic, onions and butter.

Right, maximum heat.

I don't cook on electricity all that often, as a matter of fact,

so it's like on the last thing we did on that damn boat,

you made me cook on a camping gas thing, now, electricity.

Anyway, so, in they all go.

All the lovely mussels. Might add a drop of white wine.

Talking of which, I actually haven't had a drink for a while.

I don't think it would do me any harm to have a quick slurp.

Cos it's hot in the kitchen. One needs a drink from time to time.

Now, put the lid on. Let them stew away for a while.

You can just stop, because they've got to cook for a few minutes.

Come back when I'm ready, OK?

OK, you can come back now. All right, bring your camera in.

I will take the lid off, and it's all gone well.

You'll see these little dreams opening up.

Now, you see, look at those bubbling away.

Always test the stuff.

Already tasting terribly good.

I'll give those a little stir around with the thing here.

You see how they're beginning to open.

Incidentally, any that don't open through this,

after this cooking process, don't eat them.

The ones that don't open are going to be dead.

Come right in there, Malcolm, would you, please?

You've got wonderful colours in there, you have got steam

bubbling up, you have got the whole heart of food happening here.

Come closer, closer. Ladies and gentlemen,

and one too many people that we met on this trip

that all thought we were a bit strange,

there you have a magnificent dish of moules mariniere.

Gosh. OK. There we are.

The cooking is done, we have got Erica's mixing bowl.

I'd actually wanted some rather fine porcelain,

but beggars which we are, I can assure you, we can't be choosers.

Anyway, these mussels are cooked.

Tip them into the bowl.

I'm not going to put all of the juice in,

that's why I'm using this spoon with holes in.

Because we don't want to burn our little artist's fingers

when we eat them with our fingers.

We're going to drink the sauce a little bit separately later on.

That was one for the Queen.

I'm actually quite hungry, despite all of the oysters we had earlier on.

Hold on a minute. Hold it, hold on.

They are hot.

Hot.

But good. Very, very good. Tell you what, if you hold a minute,

just keep gazing at these, can you come in closer.

I want to get Erica a moment. Hold on there. Just keep looking at them.

They're very beautiful. Erica, could you spare a moment, please? Erica?

-Yes.

-I am sorry to interrupt you.

You couldn't come through to your kitchen, could you?

Because what I'd like you to do,

we've left you a dreadful mess here. Come around. Look at Erica,

because this is HER kitchen. We've ruined it all morning,

we've trampled over the lawn, we've abused her oyster farm,

we've drunk her wine, we've used her electricity and gas,

and all I've got to offer you is either,

and the choice is yours, one of my mussels or a big kiss?

-Oh.

-Which would you have?

-A big kiss.

-Thanks ever so much.

We've really enjoyed being here, and that's everybody.

It's been great. Thanks a million.

You're welcome. Very welcome.

Try a mussel at the same time.

I wish you wouldn't interrupt.

It's my programme, for God's sake! Have a mussel anyway!

They're quite hot.

And then let me give you a little bit of juice, if I can find it.

I know they're in here, because I've been looking around the kitchen all morning.

And eat that one.

Put a little bit of juice in there, as well.

And see how you like it. If you don't like it, tell them.

Cos I can always lie about it later.

If you do tell them you don't like it, we'll cut it out,

-so they'll never see it.

-No, I adore them.

-Lovely.

-Beautiful.

-Thanks a lot.

What a great piece of cooking from Mr Keith Floyd.

As ever, we're looking back at some of the fantastic

cooking from the Saturday Kitchen back catalogue.

Still to come, when Brian Turner met Nick Watt in the omelette challenge.

Brian was keen to beat Michel Roux Senior's time.

And Nick wanted to make a sub 30 second omelette,

but would either of them better their times? Find out later on.

Coming up, Icelandic chef Aggi Sverrisson gets creative with

salmon and creates some delicious marinated salmon gravlax and he

confits the finish and serves it with a cucumber salad and rye bread.

Oh, and a little ash too.

And Lesley Sharp faces Food Heaven Or Food Hell, would she get her

dreaded Food Heaven, raspberries with my raspberry basil

and clotted cream summer fruit pudding with basil crisp or

a dreaded Food Hell, razor clams with a delicious razor clam leek

and brioche bake served with fresh, buttered peas?

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

Now, it's time for a little bit of Italian hilarity thanks to

Antonio Carluccio and a few interjections from his fellow

greedy Italian, Gennaro Contaldo. Oh, and a couple of fig leaves.

-Great to have you back on the show.

-Lovely to see you again.

It's one of the only dishes that I do remember.

-I have a present before we start.

-Right.

I was in the garden and I found this. One is for you

and one is for Gennaro.

-It's a figleaf!

-THEY LAUGHED

Always me!

-I don't know how you know about it, but anyway!

-I imagine.

Mamma mia!

-Right, what's on the menu?

-Handmade sausages.

Now, let me increase the gas.

I'll do that for you.

I want powerful gas.

So, I put them immediately to cook so that we have them ready

when we're finished the recipe.

So, you want me to chop the garlic and chilli for you?

It would be nice. A little bit of that.

What's the name of this dish in Italian?

Salsicce fatte a mano.

Handmade sausages.

You can make this with any...?

That's the point. You can make with any meat, a combination of any meat.

Even chicken or whatever.

Best, naturally, is pork.

And you put only this, because they are freely there.

And I started taking lovely mince here,

which shouldn't be too fat, but neither too lean, either. And...

-Put it all in, go on.

-Yes?

-Just mix it all in.

-What's it like working with him again?

-Difficult. THEY LAUGH

Very difficult. So, the garlic is there.

This is a fantastic combination. Fennel seeds.

You find in Italy, there is one sausage,

big sausage, in Tuscany called the Finocchiona,

and it is based on fennel. Then some red wine.

-I think I've tried that before. The fennel seeds.

-That is wonderful.

Salt. And pepper.

And then you mix it.

What meat are we using today?

-What's this one?

-Pork. Just lean pork.

-And you get that from the shoulder? Where would you get that?

-Anywhere.

-Minced pork.

-Like you said, not too fatty.

-No.

-A little bit of fat, otherwise it's too dry.

-Black pepper.

-A little bit of pepper, yes.

-Tell me when.

-When.

-Do you want some salt in there?

-Already done.

And then you have the meat here.

And very simple to make sausages.

Or any other shape you like.

-Just without the skin.

-Yes.

Now, tell us about this series thing,

because it's on at the moment, you and the guy over there.

-It's fantastic.

-It's magical to watch, I have to say.

-Very difficult to make.

-Why?!

Because the constant talking of my co-presenter.

I love him, actually,

but sometimes he is a nuisance.

THEY LAUGH

He's a lovely nuisance. And I know him for 30 years,

so, Gennaro, that is really...

The best one, do you know when is the best one?

As soon as we're doing a scene, which is extremely hard work

sometimes, then we're looking for Antonio, where is Antonio?

We look around.

Antonio, come on, then you find him under this lovely pergola,

with the grapes and the figs...

HE SNORES

Now, where have you been on your travels on this series?

We've been in Bologna, where he made a very big joke about me

wanting to marry a sort of Bolognese girl.

I don't think it was a joke!

HE LAUGHS For me it was a joke.

Where are the other places you have been?

-Because you went to your place of birth?

-Yes, his place of birth.

And next Wednesday

we are in my place where I grew up.

And it is just fantastic.

-And this is Piemonte.

-Yes.

-I can show him a little bit of culture.

-Right, OK.

HE SPEAKS ITALIAN

-So we have this antagonism all the time.

-OK.

-Right, are you doing the peppers here?

-Yes.

-Basically, just blackening them on the stove here.

-Fantastic.

Best would be on the charcoal, obviously,

-because it is very special...

-Charcoal, yes.

-Would you like this, by any chance?

-Thank you, that would help!

Next time, make sure you have got charcoal there, please, James.

-Charcoal, we will do our best.

-So, we are now here, the roasted peppers.

Which are happening there.

And you have to take it off.

Please do not put them in a bag or something like that.

-They could have done with a little bit more cooking.

-OK.

I did them in rehearsal. I apologise for that one.

So, the reason why we chargrill them is the smokiness?

The smokiness. And the taste. The pepper change completely taste.

You see, from this condition here, if you do a little fillet of this,

just put a little bit of garlic, parsley and olive oil,

-you will have wonderful pepper salad. Nice salad.

-Right.

Got the char-grilled peppers here. Without the charcoal.

These are cooking away nicely.

You make these and you pop them in the fridge,

how long would you rest them in the fridge for?

Half an hour, hour, just to relax a little bit.

Just to firm them up a little bit.

Like you said, you can use any meat and a mixture of pork,

-you could use pork and...

-You can use whatever you like.

Incidentally, you can also use curry powder and all sorts of things.

-I've got some chilli and garlic here.

-Put it in.

-And I will do the other one for you.

-Let me see. Washing, washing.

-Behind you!

-Behind you!

Has Italy ever won the Eurovision, or what?

Yes, they won with a song called Non Ho L'eta. That was years ago.

-Remember that?

-# Non Ho L'eta... #

-THEY ALL SING

-Remember that?

-You and me, we can go immediately there, and we lose.

-In 1964.

That was in the days when, whatever country won the Eurovision,

it would be a massive hit, possibly number one in the UK as well.

We bought it. We had that single at home.

And now, even if you win for the UK,

you don't necessarily go to number one, so...

-Do you know what the words Non Ho L'eta means?

-No, no, I don't.

I am underage.

They usually sing, I am not so...

I am not in the age to be able to love you.

-Oh, really? I'm too young?

-It is a very much Berlusconi thing.

Oh. I didn't know that.

-Things were very different back then!

-LAUGHTER

Right, what's happening in here then?

So, now, we have the pepper, the roasted pepper, we put some capers.

And some anchovies into that.

Incidentally, the anchovies were used by the Romans

to flavour all sorts of dishes,

including pasta.

It was done with anchovy sauce.

The anchovy entrail...

They were...

They were fermented.

And the garum was used to flavour also.

-Do you want to put some?

-Wonderful.

-A little bit.

-Ready?

-Yeah.

It'll soon turn into a sauce.

So, that is the oil, capers, garlic, bit of chilli.

I take it there is no need to pass this as well?

Pass it through a sieve? Black pepper?

No, I think the chilli is fine.

And this is called Pepolata, incidentally.

You're the only person that I allow to do that on our show.

-Tastes wonderful!

-Happy with that?

-Yes.

Mamma mia!

THEY LAUGH Lovely, lovely.