Episode 143 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Feast your eyes at some of the fabulous treats we've cooked

on Saturday Kitchen over the last year in today's Best Bites.

Welcome to the show. We're taking a short break from cooking live,

but don't worry there are plenty of delicious dishes

from the Saturday Kitchen archive coming up for you to enjoy.

So, today we've got these mouthwatering moments for you.

Our very own Jersey boy, Mark Jordan swings by

with a fabulous duck breast recipe served with dark cherries

that was as good to eat as it looked on the plate.

Angela Hartnett shows us how to prepare some marvellous mezze.

She's serving aubergines with feta cheese and a three bean salad

and chickpeas with cherry tomatoes and sumac.

Each one is as tasty as the last.

And if that doesn't get you in the summer mood,

then Ben Tish's stunning squid dish is bound to do the trick.

The squid is stuffed with chorizo and seared on a hot griddle

with potatoes, sage and peas.

All you need is some sunshine to go with it.

Hollywood heart-throb Antonio Banderas faces

his Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Will he get his Food Heaven,

chicken chasseur with mashed potato or his dreaded Food Hell,

broccoli and cauliflower cheese with baby gem salad?

All will be revealed at the end of today's show.

Right. Let's get stuck into our first recipe today

and it comes from the brilliant Ben Tish.

Now, you can tell our mums were watching the show in this one

as we are both stuffing squid wearing our best jackets.

-James.

-Welcome back, Ben.

-Thank you so much, James.

So, on the menu for you, we've got a little bit of tapas for you.

It's tapas as always.

So, we've got some baby squids here. Very Spanish.

We're going to stuff it with some chorizo. This is cooking chorizo.

It's different from the slicing chorizo.

It's a bit softer and needs to be cooked. We've got some fresh peas.

We've got some sage, new potatoes. If you wouldn't mind cutting them...

-Onto that.

-..and cooking them.

-Yeah, yeah.

And then capers and then we're going to make a little aioli.

-If you could get an afterwards.

-Sounds good.

So, basically a garlicky mayonnaise, in effect.

-OK.

-So, first thing I need to do is peel the chorizo.

Just take the... They'll be a skin on it.

So, this is the softer one that people want to look for.

How do you know which is the softer one,

-like, if you go to buy it?

-Give it a squeeze.

-So, if it's squidgy enough to...to mould.

-Look. Soft.

-Cos some of them are really hard.

-It's like sausage.

-Yeah, yeah.

It will say on it as well it's kind of...

-It'll say semi-cured as opposed to cured.

-Right.

That's when you know it's kind of like this.

Also there's the word 'picante' on a lot of them,

-which is the spicy one, isn't it?

-'Picante' and 'Dulce',

which is the sweeter one.

-So, this is spicy, which...is great for this...great for this dish.

-OK.

So, anyway, just broken the chorizo down.

Break it down as much as you can.

This is going to go into the squid cavity.

Squid... Baby squids are great cos you've got a perfect kind of...

You know, perfect parcel, basically, to put anything inside.

You know, you could put black pudding in there or you could even use

some of this quid, make a stuffing with kind of chopped up squid,

breadcrumbs and parsley and stuff that in there as well.

I feel like I've had an overload of tapas this week

cos I was in Barcelona at that amazing market this week.

-Oh, the Boqueria?

-Yeah.

-Yeah. Fantastic.

-What a place that is.

-You've been there as well, haven't you?

-Yeah. It's just incredible.

I've never seen so much stunning produce under one roof.

Yeah, it's sensational. It's brilliant, isn't it? It's...

-And the restaurants... The tapas bars that are in there as well.

-Amazing.

You do. You queue to get a seat at these tapas bars

and you don't know what you're eating.

-You just pick anything randomly.

-Go for it, yeah.

It's always full of hung-over chefs as well cos they've all gone over

-to Barcelona the night before.

-Yeah, exactly, exactly that.

Lots of glasses of Sherry at eight o'clock in the morning.

-It's definitely what's needed.

-You're cooking squid,

-but octopus is hugely popular there.

-Octopus is really popular, yeah.

I think, you know, it's getting quite popular over here.

I mean, we sell a lot of it in our restaurants. We...

Yeah, it's really popular.

Get it frozen, you know, frozen, defrost it

and you're kind of guaranteed a tender... You know, a tender bite.

-Frozen octopus tenderizes it.

-Yeah, natural tenderizing.

-People often think octopus is...

-Chewy.

I thought that would do the opposite, freezing it.

Yeah, no, no, it works. It sort it out.

So, anyway, I was just saying, I've got the chorizo stuffed inside.

-Don't over stuff the squid.

-Yeah.

Because squid shrinks and the chorizo will kind of pop out. So...

A little cocktail stick in the end of the squid

just to hold it together while we roast it.

-Erm, so, you've got potatoes cooking for me, James?

-They're cooking, yep.

-You want some...

-A little aioli, so eggs, kind of some vinegar and...

-then rapeseed oil.

-And garlic as well?

-Make it nice... Nice and yellow.

-OK.

So, just going to get the squids on.

Now, your pan frying these, but the new restaurant of yours,

you're going to cook everything on a char...charcoal grill?

Yeah, that's right. So, new restaurant opening...

Pretty so... November. Not pretty soon, but November.

But, yeah, we're just kind of in the planning stages of it, but, yeah,

it's going to be everything over kind of wood and charcoal.

And lots of kind of smoking of things beforehand.

So, kind of really natural kind of... Old...

I suppose, slightly older techniques of cooking, if you like.

Lots of fire and smoke and you know...

Well, the great thing with tapas, in particular, the menu..

I mean, I was watching them with the menu they were developing.

It was almost anything. They would run out of something,

-cross it off on the board and...

-Make something else up.

-Yeah, exactly.

-Put something else on. Basically make it up!

It's all quick. It's really quick stuff to...

It can be as simple as just... I mean, I had chargrilled mussels,

which was just basically just mussels in the shell

-on the chargrill.

-Exactly. Exactly that. Exactly.

And then, you know, you're adding other dishes to as well

to make up the whole meal. So...

So, anyway just... Your squid, nice hot pan.

You want a little bit of colour on them.

Cos you got to make sure, I take it, that the inside's cooked as well.

You've got to make sure, yeah, cos obviously the chorizo isn't...

-It's semi-cured, so it needs cooking for a little bit, yeah.

-Yeah.

-Obviously, great on the barbecue, you were saying?

-Pardon?

-This would be great on the barbecue?

-Great on the barbecue, yes.

Squid's lovely on the barbecue, yeah. Definitely.

-OK. It's good.

-Now, straight after this your rushing off,

not to Singapore like this fellow over here. Not to Spain.

Not anywhere near as glamorous as that.

No, I'm going to Regents Park where we're...

THEY LAUGH

No, he's got something on. He's not just randomly going to Singapore.

Singapore, Regents Park.

Taste Of London. It's a big kind of restaurant festival,

so we've got one of our restaurants is kind of exhibiting there,

if you like, Opera Tavern.

So, yeah, we're going to be there in the pouring rain. Can't wait.

-No, no, have you seen outside? It's actually sun shine now.

-Oh, is it?

Brilliant. Well, that's good news.

So, just got some butter going on in there as well.

And I want to take the butter so it's... Starts to go slightly brown.

Like a nut brown butter flavour.

I've got the tentacles in there as well. I think some people don't...

Actually like the look of the tentacles, but they are delicious.

-Yeah.

-You've tentacled?

-I'll go for a tentacle, yeah.

-I'm not fussy.

-I love how you say that.

And of course potatoes...

Me gusta. That's what I like to hear.

Potatoes, a huge part of the diet over there. As well as the pork.

Yeah, they love potatoes and pork

and just saying this combination of meat and fish, pork and fish,

is actually quite common in Spain. Yeah, so, anyway, James.

You're sauteing those nicely for me. That's good.

You see the butter's starting to turn just brown.

The squid's nicely sauteing.

-There we go.

-The secret to tapas... It is simple,

but there's a lot of work involved in the last minute cos...

Yeah, it's all...it's all about cooking at the end. Exactly.

Yeah, so, yeah. It's a very fast service at our restaurants

and, you know, all the guys are kind of very concentrated.

-Concentrating and faffing everything in there.

-Yeah.

-I'm liking that.

-We're nearly there with this aioli,

so you want a bit of vinegar in there to sharpen it up.

A little bit of vinegar'll sharpen it up.

It'll just kind of cut through cos it's quite rich.

Got plenty of garlic in there, James?

There's plenty of garlic in there.

Good, good. That's what it's all about.

So, just throw my peas in there

and the butter'll just cook those through. These are nice, seasonal,

erm, fresh peas, so they don't need much cooking...

-much cooking at all, yeah?

-Right.

And sage you're using as well?

I'm going to put some sage in there as well, yeah.

Goes nicely with squid. Nice little kind of unusual addition.

There we go. So, get that in there.

So, with the larger squid,

I suppose, you could just cut it up into rings

-and then saute it off with...

-Exactly.

And you could put the chorizo in there as well and just kind of...

And then probably throw the potatoes in and make a bit more of a...

You know, kind of a medley of things, basically.

-Yeah, good.

-Garlic's on in there.

-Garlic's gone in that.

-Just going to grab a little bit of butter.

-OK. No worries.

-So, that way we can finish it. A little butter in there.

-Thought you'd need looking for some butter, James.

-There you go.

Thank you. Right. Good. So, that's really good.

Peas are there, squid's there.

-You can see the nice kind of beet colour on there.

-Yep.

That chorizo is going to be cooked through.

And some capers in there as well.

That's going to add a nice bit of sharpness, you know?

A little bit of acidity in there. I'm a big fan of...a big fan of capers.

Of course, your year's been busy cos you've got the book out now as well.

Yeah, the book's out. It came out... Kind of the beginning of the year.

I talked about it when I was on at Christmas.

-That's been going really well.

-Yeah?

-Got some nice press on that.

Why tapas for you, then? What made you... Was it a trip to Sp...

Obviously, a trip to Spain. What was it?

Well, a trip to Spain, but, you know, I think, tapas...

I just think it's a lovely way of eating, you know?

It's very sociable.

You get to try lots of flavours, you know? You're not...

If you go to a restaurant, a regular restaurant, if you like,

you've got starter, main course

and you're kind of fixed to that format.

But with tapas, you know, you get to try lots of different things

and, it's just a great way of eating, I think.

I also think it's particularly good for London

-where space is quite critical as well.

-Exactly, yeah. Exactly that.

OK, very good, James. Thank you very much.

The potatoes are nicely sauteed. They were seas...

-You seasoned those, did you, James?

-Seasoned. They're done.

-OK good.

-So... Just checking.

-Just checking.

-Just checking.

-Smells good, guys.

Yeah. It's smelling really good. There we go. Potatoes just there.

That's great. Thanks, James.

Now, loads of flavour in here. Just take...

Remember to take the cocktail stick out, obviously,

you don't want to get that stuck in your teeth.

All right. There we go.

And like you said, careful not to overfill them.

Don't overfill them, else they'll explode, basically.

I've kind of had that many a...many a time on the service at Salt Yard.

And, erm, you know, it's not fun.

OK, so. Then just spoon all of this delicious, kind of,

buttery sage and peas over there.

There we go. Oh, it smells good! Smells really good.

OK, spin that around. The tentacles look great as well, I think,

-when they're cooked in the kind of...

-Yeah.

-They look really good.

And then, yeah, lovely aioli on the side.

I'm not going to taste it, James, you made it. I'm sure...

-I think it's all right.

-I'm sure it's going to be good.

-I think it's all right.

-Really good. So, that on the side to dip it in.

-So, give us the name of that, then.

-There you go. Yes.

So, that's sauteed baby squid stuffed with chorizo, some new potatoes,

peas, sage, capers and a lovely aioli on the side.

How good does that look?

That was fantastic. That looks...

Oh, I know it's going to taste great.

Yeah, this is going to be good.

-Dive into that one. Tell us what you think of that.

-Mm.

-Smells amazing.

-It really does look good.

-Yeah.

You should be getting a good waft of garlic often that, I would imagine.

-Absolutely lovely.

-Yep. Let's do this.

-It's just... They serve it.

When I over there in that market, they literally,

-straight out of the pan, pour it on a plate.

-Exactly. Bosh.

-Done.

-Yeah.

-Next person, basically.

-It looked pretty easy as well. I know...

-It is.

..there's a bit of, you know, faffing around, but it looks easy.

Well, with the aioli. I mean, you can get that made beforehand, can't you?

You can have like a little batch of aioli in the fridge.

And like you said the squids are different sizes,

but the lovely ones are the tiny ones that you get in the market.

Chipirones. Yeah, there called.

They literally take like 30 seconds to cook. Just flash it on the grill.

-That's it.

-It's so good.

-Happy with that?

-Mm.

I'm not surprised Kimberley Walsh was happy.

That squid was simply stunning.

Coming up, I'll be serving a whole sea bass

for actor Richard Wilson.

You better believe it! You get it?

But first here's Rick Stein enjoying some southern French food

as he drifts along the Canal du Midi in his barge.

He's just passed Bordeaux

and he's on his way down to the Mediterranean,

but his crew are beginning to miss one or two home comforts.

I'm well over two thirds of the way to the Mediterranean from Bordeaux.

Pootling along at a sedate 4mph.

At this pace, you notice subtle changes along the way.

The cicadas get louder and people seem a bit more relaxed.

Very relaxed, in fact.

However, the film crew are desperately missing British food

and they keep wittering on about baked beans and sausages.

But at Homps, there's a shop run by Shirley Preston that sells just that,

but who would want to eat baked beans in France?

People from the boats that want their bacon and eggs in the morning

when they're on holiday.

People that have lived here because there's a big English population

in this area now.

People in holiday in gites. And quite a lot of French people.

-French people?

-French people.

-Wha...

-Yes, I was surprised, too.

-What on earth would they want?

Erm, marmalade. They love the biscuits.

-Tea, of course, because French tea is very weak.

-As we know.

Very weak.

-What about bread? I heard they liked our sliced bread.

-Yes.

Well, I get it in fresh every two weeks. And it's gone like lightning.

And that's one of the things the French like, believe it or not.

I know the film crew are eyeing these tins and jars

with wistful expressions and of course we've been on the canal

for over four weeks without a roast dinner.

Actually, I really fancy beans, but not the type that Shirley sells.

I'd like to cook this, a ragout of lamb with fresh haricot beans

that can be bought, it seems, at every market stall in France.

As a cook, it's a pleasure to be able to use fresh haricot beans

and not the dried ones as I'm normally used to back at home.

The lamb was a bone shoulder, perfect for ragout.

Chop it into quite large pieces

and give it a little colour by quickly frying it in some olive oil.

Add a spoon or two of plain flour,

which will help to thicken the finished dish.

Then, set aside the meat

while you fry off a couple of onions with garlic.

Say three cloves in the same pan.

Add peeled and deseeded tomatoes and when they've softened,

put the meat back in.

Now make up a generous bouquet garni with dried thyme,

which came from the hillside, and bay leaves.

You need just over half a bottle of good, southern French rose

and a dollop of tomato puree.

Cover the whole lot with stock.

In this case, it's chicken stock that Louis the chef

made the day before, and season generously.

And for the moment, that's it.

So, I just dabbed that lovely bouquet garni down inside there.

And put on the lid.

And then for 30 minutes cook it at an absolute tremble.

The French - in true French style - have a word for this.

It's called 'mijoter'

and there's no word in English that means the same thing.

It just means a little bubble of heat on the top.

And then you get the perfectly cooked ragout.

Add the beans after an hour and a half.

And because they are fresh, they cook in about 15 minutes.

You don't want them all soft and mushy.

They've got to be, well, like baked beans, really.

Fish out the bouquet garni and then to finish it off,

a persillade of chopped parsley and garlic.

I had this at a student's brasserie in Paris

near the Sorbonne when I was young.

Where I had to queue for ages to get a table.

It was so cheap and it was served in a deep bowl with baguettes

and a carafe of really rough red wine,

which to me, in those days, tasted lovely.

There's no better way of travelling.

You arrive, in this case,

the southern city of Narbonne, seeing only the best of a place.

No industrial sprawl, no traffic jams that put your nerves on edge

and no searching for that elusive parking place.

Lots of people had assumed

that I would be skippering this 100-foot barge

all the way from Bordeaux.

If that had happened, I don't think we'd have made it to Toulouse.

The fact is that these big barges only just fit the locks and bridges

and it takes a great deal of confidence and skill

to get us this far.

Even the steering wheel's too big to go under these bridges!

We have a low one.

It seems they go the miniature sized wheel driving my lorry.

-That's interesting. I haven't seen that before?

-No...

we haven't been this low before.

So, when we pop out of here and into the lock and on and moving.

Missed by two inches at the back there. That's not bad. Phew!

Lee, the skipper, insisted we saw Narbonne.

In fact, we had to branch off the Canal du Midi to do so.

The canal was first built by the Romans 2,000 years ago

and it runs exactly the same course today,

cutting right into the heart of the city.

There was a market by the side of the canal when the Romans were here

and there's still one today.

I really wanted to cook lunch for the barge crew.

I'd been thinking about barbecued sardines

with chilled rose for weeks now.

These were caught last night

using a bright lamp to attract them to the surface.

What do you have with sardines?

I mean, nothing more than a very simple salad. Nothing to sort of...

No big deal. I mean, nothing's a big deal here though, is it?

I mean, you come in here...

It's just so much easier to plan what you're going to cook

when you can see everything and it's so appetizing and exciting.

It's not in little packets. There you've got fish.

You got the tongues galore. You got, you know, oxtails.

You got lovely vegetables. It's easy to cook anything!

Cooking shouldn't be difficult!

This salad is so simple.

Lovely ripe tomatoes, sweet pink onions, chopped flat leaf parsley,

chunky grains of sea salt and virgin olive oil.

I know that if I were here for any length of time,

I'd live off these wonderful salads and fresh fish

straight from the market.

I always remember seeing a documentary about Picasso

when he was in his mid-70s,

sitting down and eating grilled sardines

and drinking glasses of, I suspect, cold red wine

surrounded by attractive women.

And I remember thinking, "What a life! I must eat more fish."

Cheers.

But I was interested to find out from Louis, our chef,

what people liked to eat on board.

Normally, just a bowl of pasta or a few nice salads.

As much fish as possible. Plenty of sardines.

Oh, that's good. Would they be picking them up and eating them?

I think it be very Victorian with a knife and fork, to be honest.

Well, Sonya, you're Canadian,

what do you think of the food back in England?

I've only been to London, but I did live in Scotland for while

and they deep fry absolutely everything including pizza.

QUIET CHATTER

I'm not saying that all the meals I've had along the canal

have been fantastic, but I think people down here

wouldn't even begin to understand the concept of a deep-fried pizza.

Lock keepers come in all shapes and sizes.

Sometimes they are gnarly, old, unsmiling men,

who give off a whiff of distaste

at the bright, white Noddy boats queuing for their attention.

Then there are the relief lock keepers, students mainly,

who zip up and down the double locks on mopeds

and eagerly open the gates and wave the people on

with gusto and enthusiasm.

I've noticed that locks cause great concern

amongst the newly acquainted boating fraternity.

They are a place for mistakes can happen.

Nimbleness on board counts for a great deal.

Thick-waisted and flat-footed have a pretty hard time

under the watchful eye of the keeper

and bored holiday-makers, who've got nothing better to do

than watch the Noddy boats gather like so many plastic ducks in a bath.

Such is barging.

Now, hopefully, there could be some sunshine this weekend.

So, it's a good chance to get the barbecues going.

For today's little Masterclass, I thought I'd show you how to handle

one of the most impressive things you can do outdoors

and that's a whole roasted sea bass.

And I'm going to make my own harissa paste.

These are the whole sea bass that you get nowadays.

This one's a farmed one. You can distinctly tell the difference

between a farmed one and a line-caught one

and that's due to the size, mainly,

because if this was in the ocean, then they... Line-caught,

-they would have to throw it back...

-Right. Too small.

The farmed ones, you can get like this from the supermarket.

First thing, before I prepare that, I'm going to get my harissa paste.

So, we've got caraway seeds, cumin seeds. We've got smoked paprika,

red wine vinegar and garlic and a little bit of chilli

and some tomato puree.

Not tomato ketchup for this one. But tomato puree.

So, we just chop up the chillies.

Now, harissa's that famous paste that you get

when you're on holidays,

which goes really, really well with fish and chicken

and all manner of different things. And what you...

It's very simple to actually make it yourself,

so just throw that in a blender with these spices.

Like I said, we've got caraway, little bit of cumin seeds,

some of the smoked paprika that you can get.

You can get the sweet one or the hot.

It's entirely which one you go for.

If you go for the hot one, it even hotter.

Red wine vinegar.

Pop that in as well.

And then the tomato puree.

Really just get a decent amount of tomato puree.

I was saying, this is this fantastic stuff that you get

in sort of Moroccan markets, Turkish markets,

which have the bowls of it.

When you realise how quick and easy it is to make, which that is...

A good pinch of salt.

And that's your harissa paste done.

-How do you spell it?

-Harissa.

-Harissa.

-Don't look at me. H-A-R...

-I-S-S-A.

-There you go.

-Ah, harissa.

-Harissa.

Then what we're going to do is use these little...

These are called 'ratte'. I can spell that.

-That's R-A-T-T-E.

-THEY LAUGH

These are little ratte potatoes,

which they have traditionally in France,

but we grow them in small quantities over here.

And they're used a lot in salads over in France as well.

-They are fantastic.

-A really firm texture, isn't it?

Yeah, nice firm texture, particularly good with this.

Then you've got your sea bass, which we can then just simply prepare.

Now, what you need to do with this is remove this fin here.

You see it's quite sharp. These things here. So, remove that first,

otherwise, somebody's going to dive into that when it's cooked.

So, we just use a sharp pair of scissors

and remove all fins first of all.

And then trim off the tail cos sometimes these burn a bit.

Remove these little bits of fins there.

And sea bass is an amazing thing, really.

It's lovely as it sits there, but you can imagine in the ocean.

It's really a predator of the ocean.

-Because the size of its mouth. It's massive.

-Whoo!

-Look at that.

-It goes... Catching live mackerel and...

-Sardines.

-I mean, it really is a predator of the sea.

-Yeah, huge mouth!

-It's fabulous.

-Yeah, it's called 'wolf of the sea' in French.

-'Loup de mer'.

-Yeah.

And then what we're going to do is just score the top like that.

And I'm going to cook this en papillote like this.

Now, I always found your, sort of, career fascinating

because when you read about you, really acting,

you've always wanted to do it, but when you're at school,

you thought the one thing that people remind you of

and is distinct about you is that's the voice,

but you thought that was the bit that was going to let you down

-when it came to it.

-Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I just thought I was very, very nasal. And...

One of my teachers told me that I'd never be able to speak properly.

So, yeah, I just didn't have the confidence, you see?

I had no role models in Scotland in the early days.

It's something that you've literally been wanting to do,

-you know, from such a young age, really...

-Yeah.

And then to even do it when you had a different...

-You were a lab technician as well.

-I was! Yeah, for 10 years. Yeah.

But you were still...still doing that, your amateur dramatics.

Amateur dramatics, yeah. I still did it.

And eventually, when I was 27,

I decided to go to RADA, to the Royal Academy in London.

And then it all sort of changed your life from there,

but even then you still...

-Oh, I...

-It wasn't even really the confidence.

-You thought your voice would be still an issue.

-Absolutely.

Absolutely. And...

I'm surprised when people say, "Oh, you have a very nice voice, Richard."

I mean, I still don't think I've got a very nice voice. But...

I still hear a nasality in it, but... Yeah.

But that's kind of the thing that stands you apart, I'm assuming.

I suppose so. Yeah, taxi drivers always say,

-"Oh, I recognise you now from the voice."

-Yeah.

Gives me away.

There's your little harissa over the top

and then what we're going to do is grab our potatoes

and just pop these all over the top.

I'm using a little bit of buttered grease-proof paper

and some tinfoil, rather than...

Cos if you just cook it in tinfoil it generally sticks.

The harissa paste goes on there and then this you can just rub all over.

-And what's the flavour of that harissa paste?

-Quite spicy.

-Quite spicy.

-Hot.

-But you only want a little bit of it...

So, yeah, hot and spicy, really.

A little bit of it.

And then you can get some of this oregano,

which we can just pop in the cavity like that.

A pinch of salt and pepper.

And then I'm going to wrap this up and then bake it in the oven,

but if you've... Do this on barbecue,

generally barbecues got lids nowadays,

so you could just pop that in the barbecue

and cook that for about 15 minutes.

But also looking at your career, what's fascinating, you've...

You know, obviously you've been a rise, rise, rise but...

It has been a rise, rise, rise

because theatre is a huge part of your life.

-Yeah.

-And always has been.

-Yeah.

And you continue to still do it now because...

I mean, you're doing stuff now. Tell us about that, then.

I'm...I'm rehearsing at the moment for Theatre Royal, Bath

for A Little Hotel On The Side, a Feydeau farce.

Erm, starring Richard McCabe

and I'm playing the hotel manager Bastien in act two.

-Right. So, it's...

-I don't have too much responsibility.

So, when is that...when is that out now? Is that out, now?

-Oh, that's out on 15 August.

-Right.

-This month!

-Right. This month.

-Gosh.

I shouldn't be here.

And on top of that, you're basically... You're doing...

Not just on stage, but offstage as well

cos directing is a big thing for you as well.

Yeah, I've got a production,

a new play by Robin Hooper called Love Your Soldiers,

which is a play set in Afghanistan,

which goes to the Lyceum in October.

So, when was the real turning point of your career,

because literally I said it was just a steady rise, but you did...

-I mean, Passage Of India you played a small part in.

-Yeah.

-I mean, that film went on to be huge.

-All over the world.

-Yeah, that was very exciting, yeah.

-Was that something that set you up,

or was it other things that you think...?

No, it was probably television. It was things like Only When I Laugh

and then One Foot In The Grave was the big...explosion, as it were.

Obviously, we've got to talk about One Foot In The Grave.

-Of course! I'd love to.

-I couldn't believe...

It was 12 years ago it stopped?

-Yeah.

-Oh, my goodness.

-12 years ago. What...what...

Why the decision to stop it?

Was that something that you and the writers decided?

Yeah, that was David Renwick, our brilliant writer,

he decided he had written the man and that was about enough.

-Would you...

-And he said,

"I'm thinking of killing the Victor." I said, "Yeah, kill him!"

THEY LAUGH

But doing something like that that's hugely successful,

the temptation is just to keep going, isn't it?

Yeah. We would only ever do six episodes at a time.

The BBC wanted more, of course, but we only...

He would only write six and I only wanted to do six at a time.

-But I also found it... The writing is key to this...

-Ooh, yes!

As well as great acting, but the writing...

-There was one...one episode that you did purely in a car.

-In a car.

Didn't actually get out of the car. The whole lot in the car.

-Stuck on the motorway. Yeah. Behind the horse's arse.

-Backside.

And a horse box.

That was a brilliant episode. It was very, very difficult to do

because we were pretending it was summer

-and we were filming it in the middle of winter.

-Yeah.

-It was...

And because we were filming it in the car all the time,

the car had no windscreen and it was freezing.

And we were... in summer shirts and things.

-Awful.

-And where does that...that famous line,

which I'm not going to get you to do,

where does that famous line come from?

-Was that something that you wrote or something that...?

-No, no.

It was just Victor...tended to say it quite a lot.

It was never meant to be a catchphrase.

And then gradually it caught on.

Well, look. You can open this up and you've got this fish...

So, ideally, if you're doing this on the barbecue, of course,

you can cook it the same way.

Now, I've put grease-proof paper in here

because you can see it doesn't stick to the tinfoil.

And if you open this up...

So, how long would you do that for?

This has had about 20 minutes in the oven.

Between 15 and 20 minutes. Something like that.

And pop that in there, on the plate and you can serve it in that paper.

-And is there fennel in it?

-There's no fennel in here.

It'd be good with fennel, wouldn't it?

-Yeah, we just got the right salad for that.

-None of that. No.

Lemon over the top. Like that. A bit of salt

and then finally a little bit of... I'll put some of this.

A little bit of rapeseed all over the top as well. Just a bit of that.

James, were the potatoes first before you sliced them?

No, they will cook in real-time as well

cos they steam while they're doing it as well.

-And they are thinly sliced.

-Yeah.

-Ooh!

-Have a...have a try into that.

Gosh. Lovely.

So, give us the name of the play you're playing in.

-A Little Hotel On The Side.

-Yep. And where is that?

Theatre Royal, Bath opening on 15 August.

Erm, going on until the end of August.

-Well, best of luck with that.

-Thank you.

Tell us what you think of that one.

I'm going to rehearsal this afternoon. Mm!

-Happy with that?

-I'm happy with that.

-He's happy cos it's got no fennel in it as well.

-Lovely.

Now, if you would like to have a go at making that sea bass recipe

this weekend, then go to our website, which is bbc.co.uk/recipes.

You'll also find all the studio dishes on there, too.

Now, the show was not live today, so instead,

we're looking back at some of the great things

we have cooked over the last year on Saturday Kitchen.

Next up is a woman who knows a thing or two about Mediterranean food.

It is the brilliant and Michelin-starred chef

Angela Hartnett, and she is making meze under the watchful gaze

of a certain Ann Widdecombe. Enjoy this one.

On the menu for you, we've got three different dishes.

Three, lots of work this morning, I'm afraid.

-Straightaway, you dive into it.

-I know.

-What's the name of this, then?

Well, it is like, I suppose, a Mediterranean meze, really.

It's just all stuff that I think you love to eat in the summer.

And to me, it's like it evokes the summer, it's sort of holiday food.

You know, you go away.

Lovely olive oil, lovely vegetables. So, all good stuff.

A little bit of your Italian influence coming into this?

Yeah, little bit. And also there's some great books out there.

I think who does it really well - Simon Hopkinson has great ideas.

And Ottolenghi. You know, all those sort of things are fabulous.

So we are going to put our aubergines straight on the grill -

-bit of oil, bit of salt. Just really get a nice grill there.

-OK.

So, I'm doing the... In there, we've got runner beans,

we've got French beans in that one as well.

We are just going to make a dressing of onions,

garlic and chilli for this one.

And there are all very simple to do, and is also the great

thing about all of these dishes - I think you can adapt them slightly.

So, you know, if you've got basil, tomatoes, you can do something

with that. And it is a great way of using bits and bobs in the larder.

Especially the chickpea one, you know?

You put loads of mint in there, you can even put tomatoes, etc, etc.

I'm going to start the chickpeas off as well.

You've got free spices going in there.

Yeah, so we've got sumac, some chilli and some cumin,

so I'm just going to put a little bit of oil in the pan,

toast those off a bit with the oil and then add the chickpeas as well.

And we'll hold a little bit of the sumac powder back,

cos we'll put that on the yogurt as well.

Now, it has already been a busy year for you,

-because you've got, well, your restaurant in New Forest.

-Yep.

I'm doing Lime Wood Hotel. It is called Hartnett Holder and Co.

And it is basically, how we've done it is

it's myself and the chef there, Luke Holder, who's fantastic.

And the Co is obviously all the staff, cos we've made it

a real team effort. And you were down there with us

cos we were doing that brilliant filming for the Roux Scholarship.

Absolutely. Which is coming out in what? This week, isn't it really?

Well, yeah. It starts on Monday. So two weeks, I think. Two weeks.

Every night for two weeks. And that, to me, was fantastic,

filming down in Lime Wood. Cos we had all the smokehouse.

You did that amazing dessert,

which really shocked all the scholars.

They had never seen anything like that.

I was doing pasta out in the middle of the sun. So it was quite...

It also shows what cooking is about.

It's not just about fancy techniques and everything, it is about basic,

proper desserts, really great pasta and really for them

-to really show their skills as chefs.

-It is proper cooking, really.

-No water vats or anything like that.

-No! God, no.

They weren't allowed any of that stuff.

So... And it was great to do.

And also, I think, because it's the Roux Scholarship,

we had so many other great chefs. I mean, you were doing it.

We've got Andrew Fairlie doing it,

Rick Stein, Raymond Blanc is there. There's a host of people.

Andrew Fairlie was the first Roux scholar, wasn't it?

He was, yeah. Oh my gosh, yeah, I know.

I mean, when I saw... What was the name of your dessert called?

It was Gateau St Honore.

I mean, to be fair, I didn't know it was.

I was like, "What is that? What do those poor guys have to do?"

I think they were quite shocked

when they saw what they had to do.

It is actually a cake name after the patron saint of pastry cooks.

-And who's that?

-Uh...

-Gat... Sant Honore.

-Sant Honore.

But it was a choux pastry dessert that they make as a disk with

choux buns all the way around it, filled with cream.

And they had to do that with no recipe?

Yeah, I was a bit cruel, I didn't give them any recipe.

It was quite funny to watch.

-So did they have to make puff pastry as well?

-Yeah.

-No... Yeah, they made a choux pastry and then they put...

-Yeah?

-This one is into there. That's the chickpea one, yeah.

-A challenge.

-This one is the bean, that's the chickpea.

-That goes in there.

Good, good, good.

So what herbs...the spices you've got in there?

So, in there, I've got cumin, I've got chilli and I've got sumac.

And then we put mint in there, parsley, a touch of lemon.

In with the aubergine, I'm going to put some fresh garlic,

like, with a little bit of oil.

Add some golden raisins, some pine nuts and toasted breadcrumbs,

-cos they're going to go on top.

-Right.

-OK, so it all just...

-All mixed together.

-We mentioned the restaurant you've got

in New Forest, but Murano, where you are based, really,

-that's in Central London.

-Yeah.

So that is going great. And, you know,

it's like anything, it's your team.

I've got great guys there - Diego is the head chef,

Pip, who's the sous chef, you know. And they all, you know...

I can't trust the kitchen without these guys,

cos they are there doing the whole thing.

You look after your team and make sure they have a good time.

London never ceases to amaze me. It never stops, does it?

-In the restaurant scene.

-Oh, my God, it's just going more and more.

-Yeah.

-I can't quite believe how many restaurants are opening,

-but they are.

-But they all seem to be full, you know?

Well, you know, food is the thing.

Also the great thing now about London - we are getting lots

of neighbourhood restaurants.

It's not like before that you had to go into Central London

or Covent Garden.

Now everyone has got a local restaurant.

Where I live, sort of Shoreditch way,

you just don't have to come into town, you know.

You can have all your sort of great time out there in the summer.

Right, so my aubergines are done.

You want them when they are really nice and soft.

I'm going to move this plate over this way. Sorry, James.

Just finish them off here.

So the dressing for this one, which we have got in here,

we've got mustard, is that vinegar?

Yeah, mustard, a little bit of vinegar and oil.

And oil. This is for the bean one.

And you put them on top like this, so the heat of the aubergines

is going to carry on cooking them as well.

And they are so nice, aubergines, as well.

They're just beautiful when they're grilled like this, fresh, fantastic.

I'm going to get this bread up for you as well.

-You want me to do these flatbreads?

-I do, James.

I like you to work a bit. You know how it is.

I had to do all the work on the Roux Scholarship.

I was there whipping cream, doing everything.

-I'm getting my own back now.

-Yeah, exactly.

But Nigel's not... Nigel's will be easy.

So, I'm going to sprinkle all the pine nuts, breadcrumbs on there.

So like that. And you can smell the garlic, which is great.

Finish it with a touch of the mint and the parsley.

And we're going to put some crumbled feta on top as well.

And then finish it with a bit of oil and a touch of vinegar.

-Right.

-That is sort of one meze dish.

-So what is in here, then?

What's in your dough here?

So, in the dough here, it is literally a touch of flour.

Some people make it without yeast, I put a little bit of yeast in.

Flour, salt and a bit of water.

And that's it. And just let it prove up. And then really hot pan.

-Or you can do it in the oven as well.

-Or on the griddle pan.

Or a griddle pan, exactly.

So what you want is that sort of blistering effect.

We've got some yogurt here that we're going to put in here,

cos it is nice.

What the idea is that you have the sort of, if you like, the dough,

and then you feed through, have it all together, eat it.

A little bit of chilli powder on top. This one is ready to go.

So this dough has probably proved, what, for about an hour?

Yeah, an hour and a half, just so... You see it starts to bubble up.

You want that sort of golden, exactly like that,

that lovely sort of goldeny flavour.

-I'll put that back.

-OK.

Did you want to come and have a vegetarian breakfast, Nigel?

-Are you happy about that?

-I'd love to, yeah.

-You'd love to?

-You're up to that?

-Right, you got some black pepper in here.

-Yeah, lovely.

-Some salt in this one.

And then the final thing with those is we are going to put a lovely soft

boiled egg on top as well.

-A little bit of salt.

-Some oil.

-A little bit of pepper.

And then we'll cut our sourdough.

I'll give you that, I'll do this.

Sourdough. I'll give you that.

So give that a really nice toss. I'm going to use my hands a bit in there.

And the secret to make a great bean salad is,

as you've done it perfectly, James, is to season them when they are hot.

You know, cos then they absorb all that sort of vinegar,

oil and chilli sort of flavours.

It is that horrible thing like potato salads

when they make them with cold potatoes.

-It never takes any of the flavouring.

-Yeah.

-OK?

And then we put our sourdough there.

A little bit of yogurt.

-Oh, and our little eggs on top.

-And you've got...

-Another one there.

-Another one on there.

I'll leave that with you. You can chop it up.

I just wonder whether there'll be enough for us all.

Wondering whether there is enough(!)

-You're hungry!

-Looks good.

-Have you got a big appetite?

-Generous portions.

Give us the name of this thing.

So, we're going to call it a Mediterranean meze.

Chickpea salad, grilled aubergines, bean and egg salad,

fresh flatbread and yogurt sour cream.

-Did you put the vinegar on the top?

-A little bit, oh, yeah.

Always forget something.

White wine vinegar just over the top of the aubergines.

-Beautiful.

-It looks fantastic.

-Bon appetit.

It looks pretty good to me.

I don't know where you start with this one, to be honest.

Do you start on the left and work to your right?

I'm not quite sure where you start with this one.

-Isn't that absolutely lovely?

-Do you like vegetables, Ann?

Well, I love meze

and I love sitting outside, you know, in the open.

Either in Greece or in Italy or wherever, and just enjoying meze.

Or in the car park in Clapham.

Dive in, tell us what you think of this one.

Like I say, you mix and match. And the chickpeas,

-those weren't dried chickpeas.

-No, soak them. You can do those.

You can use dried or there is tinned, you know.

-That's it with beans - white beans...

-That's very good.

And just, you know, it's...

-Great.

-Happy with that one?

-I love these.

Yellow beans, they are just coming into season now.

Particularly when you have those warm.

I think that is the key to any vegetable.

Serve it at the right temperature, sort of tomato salads

that are served from the fridge.

-Very nicely seasoned.

-Thank you. That was my one. Brilliant.

-Well done, James.

-One-nil.

So, that is your summer party food sorted.

Right, it is time to open the doors

to Rachel Khoo's little Paris kitchen.

She is exploring the world of classic French cuisine,

and is cooking it all on a little, tiny gas hob.

I left my Croydon home behind many years ago to come to Paris

and train at world famous Le Cordon Bleu.

Living here, you soon realise it's a culinary melting pot.

It's unlike anywhere else in France.

The influence of so many cultures

and sheer range of ingredients make the capital truly the city of food.

I definitely think in Paris you are a bit spoiled for amazing produce.

There are fresh food markets in every neighbourhood.

-What kind of spices do you have on that one? Pork and spices?

-Yes.

And you still can go to these little shops which are specialised -

the cheese monger, the fishmonger - and you have a personal relationship.

-Rachel!

-Bonjour!

And they pass on their passion, and you learn things.

Everybody has a point of view on food.

Most people lived here in tiny apartments

and there are some big challenges to overcome.

It's quite small. Look.

I'm short and I can do this.

So you get a sense of how big it is.

This kitchen is the beating heart of my restaurant,

and to make it work, I've had to keep it simple.

Will it close?

It does.

Woo-hoo!

Tonight, I'm going to cook some mouthwatering treats.

And I am starting with one of my favourites -

a simple twist on a classic French recipe.

The Parisians absolutely love croque madame, and I love them, too.

But I like to make them a bit different

and put them in a little muffin tin.

The croque madame is a Parisian version of a British bacon butty.

But here it is more of a lunchtime snack.

The first thing I need to do is make my bechamel sauce.

My pot, which is hanging in its special home.

I'm going to start off with a tablespoon of butter.

Tablespoon of flour.

In it goes.

Grab a whisk.

Flour and butter melted together is called a roux,

and the roux will thicken up our bechamel sauce.

Pour 200 millilitres of milk, slowly to avoid getting any lumps.

Add nutmeg and Dijon mustard.

Then season. And that's it!

My little take on the classic bechamel.

That's perfect.

OK, now to making our muffin cup.

We're going to use sliced white bread,

which is not something that you tend to eat in Paris.

They have some beautiful baguettes, so sliced white bread...

Don't tell the Parisians.

OK, slice the crust off.

Now, grab a rolling pin and flatten

the bread to about half the thickness.

I wonder if I could do two at the same time. Oh, yeah!

You can do two at the same time.

I've just discovered that.

And then to get that croque crisp, coat the bread in butter

to stop it getting soggy.

No crunch, no croque.

OK.

All my bread slices are in there. I'm going to put some ham in.

If you don't want to use ham, you can leave it out.

It is really nice, actually, just with the creamy sauce,

the egg and the cheese sprinkled on top.

OK, for the eggs, ideally, you want to have a really small egg.

But these are the regular size I can get in Paris.

I'm going to do a little trick, which is

you crack it open and then you just pour out some of the egg white.

If you put the whole egg in there,

then it will overfill the muffin tin

and you won't have any room for the sauce.

OK, I'm going to add my bechamel sauce.

Tablespoon of sauce.

OK.

Then I grab my grater.

Cheese.

Can't have the croque madame muffins without a bit of cheese on top.

I'm using a Gruyere, but you could use a mature comte which is

one of the favourite cheeses for Parisians,

or the English equivalent would be a nice, mature cheddar.

A lot of flavour in there.

I think that is enough cheese on there.

Oh, there's a little bit left, I'm going to have that.

Yum. I love cheese.

OK, finishing touches.

A bit of melted butter on the edges.

Put your muffins in the oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes.

If you don't like the egg runny, then keep them in for another five.

That smells really good.

Let's have a look.

Oh, wow!

That's pretty amazing.

Sometimes it is the simplest of dishes

that gives you the most pleasure.

And this one really brings me a little joie de vivre.

Can you hear that crunching?

That is a croque madame muffin.

I live in a so-called up-and-coming part of Paris called Belleville,

or beautiful town, but in reality,

this area is a little rough around the edges.

It's home to a large North African community,

who settled here from France's former colonies.

Ah, super. Merci.

Like most districts in Paris, Belleville has a twice-weekly

food market.

Ah, oui. Super.

The North African influence brings with it a wide variety of flavours.

Oh, last one, last one.

-You try?

-No, no, thank you, I'm good for eating. Merci, monsieur.

-Merci.

-Au revoir.

-Au revoir.

I'm here searching for some mint, and this is the place to find it,

as it is popular in Moroccan cooking.

I am making a lamb stew and I need some mint.

-How much?

-Three bunches, please.

-Three bunches, yes.

-Yeah.

-All right.

-It's good, yeah?

-It's good mint.

For a good mojito.

-Yeah, a good mojito.

-Yes.

Bye! Au revoir!

Most people think of French stews, they think of really heavy,

winter stews.

Winter season is over and now what is in fashion is a spring stew,

so what we are going to do is a light stew, which has a light broth

with lots of green, fresh vegetables and some spring lamb.

Start off by putting garlic and half an onion into a big casserole pot.

I'm a bit lazy, so I try and put everything in one pot.

Anything to save washing up, that's my motto.

So, I've got a cut of lamb, which is fairly cheap. The neck.

And the great thing about the neck part is it has the bone,

which gives you the rich stock, and a bit of fat.

So that is the perfect combination for a stew.

Searing the lamb will caramelise the sugars that come to the outside

of the meat and create extra flavour.

You can actually smell it.

When the meat starts to brown, it gives off that lovely, rich,

meaty smell.

Makes you very hungry.

So, while that is browning, I'm going to grab two carrots.

And I'm just going to get my other bits and bobs.

My makeshift herb box is just the job in my little flat.

I'm going to need some bay leaf and thyme for my stew.

Now, add enough cold water to cover the meat.

No need for stock, as the herbs and flavour from the meat do the job.

I'm going to put the lid on that.

And that's that.

You just let that simmer along and, in two hours' time,

you have dinner ready.

And in the meantime, start making the mint sauce.

Now, this couldn't be simpler and it is so tasty.

Chop the mint finely.

Add a teaspoon of salt and sugar.

Some hot water and white wine vinegar.

The French might serve this with Dijon mustard, but for me,

it has got to be the mint.

Then leave it in the fridge to chill.

And voila.

Then sit back, relax and let that stew scrumptious magic happen.

Wow!

That certainly smells good.

So, I think we can finish off with some fresh vegetables.

Now I'm going to add the beans.

I'm using beans and peas,

these are classic ingredients for this type of French stew.

To make it more filling, you could use broad beans and new potatoes.

That is looking very spring like, with that bright green colour

and the orange.

Lamb and mint sauce, the French always go,

"Oh, you've got to be kidding!" They can't...

You know, they can't comprehend that idea of putting mint sauce with meat.

It's like... Ugh!

OK, so I think the vegetables are done. Yeah, they look great.

I'm going to turn it off, actually, cos it's all cooked.

Mm, that's really good. Yeah.

For me, that doesn't need any seasoning

because you have the lovely meaty flavours from the lamb,

you've got the carrots which add a bit of sweetness

and then you have got the bay leaf and the thyme.

That is perfectly flavoured for me.

So there is my spring lamb stew with a dollop of homemade mint sauce.

A simple but much loved Parisian supper.

With a big helping of mint sauce, it is a little taste of home.

My food is influenced by classic French dishes, but living in

this cosmopolitan capital, you don't have to go far to find inspiration.

I'm meeting Abdul Bijou at his Moroccan cafe.

He's going to show me another use for fresh mint.

I drink mint tea with every French dish I can eat, so no problem.

Because Muslim people don't drink alcohol like French

with their meats.

You can add pine nuts, almonds or lemon to your tea,

but Abdul's going to show me the classic recipe.

-What is the first step?

-The first step?

-Yeah.

You take the tea, green tea, you put

-three spoons.

-Three teaspoons.

-Yeah.

Then you take the sugar.

To make a pot of tea for this size, we will need six sugar.

-Come again, six cubes of sugar?

-Yeah.

So, Moroccan people have a sweet tooth, then.

Yes, they like sweet things. OK?

Then three branches of mint.

-Fresh mint.

-It is really important.

You can't have dry mint because there is not all the perfume.

-And you squash that into...

-You squash that

and you put it in the teapot.

-Then.

-Yeah.

-You add the water.

-So this is boiling water.

-Yeah.

-You can already smell some of the mint.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Wow.

So now, we just have to wait.

Leave the tea to boil for about ten minutes or

until the green tea leaves float to the top.

Show me the magic.

With the tea done, there is the art of pouring.

-OK, I can see you pouring it from up high.

-Yeah.

Is there a reason why you do that?

OK, for us, it is to mix the water and the sugar.

-OK?

-Yeah.

-And then you have to cool it.

-So you do it twice.

-Yes.

-So it is not all sweet at the bottom.

-Yeah.

-OK.

-So now...

-That's ready to drink.

-It is.

-All right.

-Have a nice tea.

-Thank you.

The perfect after-dinner drink to serve your guests.

My flat is a triumph for making the most of a small space.

One of the things which is a bit annoying

I have to do every day is fold out my futon.

I have a futon bed, so you fold it out every day,

you've got to put your bed on there, you go to sleep.

And in the morning, you've got to put it back.

Cos if you don't put the bed away,

then you are literally cooking in bed.

And that's not good.

But by night, my modest home is transformed into a magical

little restaurant for two.

-It's so good.

-Thanks!

It's juicy, it's...

People come from all over the world

and they are always really surprised

that A - an English girl can cook,

B - she can cook French food

and C - she can cook French food which is delicious

on a little stove with a little oven like that.

There will be a few more great ideas from Rachel next week.

We are not cooking live for a few weeks,

as we enjoy a short summer break,

but this gives me a chance to share some of my favourite recipes

from the last year on Saturday Kitchen with you instead.

Still to come on today's Best Bites -

Tom Kerridge, takes on Brazilian super chef Alex Atala

at the Saturday Kitchen omelette challenge.

Find out who triumphed a little later on.

Jersey boy Mark Jordan dropped in to show off his tan

and his cooking skills.

He pan roasted duck breast

with poached cherries, leeks and carrots.

It is a recipe you simply must see again. It really was superb.

And Antonio Banderas faces his food heaven or food hell.

Will he get his food heaven -

chicken Cheshire with mash potato - or his dreaded food hell -

broccoli and cauliflower cheese with baby gem salad.

Find out the results at the end of today's show.

Now, let's get some inspiration from a great chef

from the Northeast, Kenny Atkinson.

He's got scallops on the menu, so take it away. Way-ay, man.

-Great to have you on the show. Welcome back.

-Thanks, James.

-So, on the menu we have got sort of chicken and scallops.

-Yeah.

Surf and turf, but not with lobster.

No, we're going to do some

roasted scallops but we are going to confit the chicken wings

-in honey glaze.

-Sounds good to me.

Confit them to make them much softer.

To break down the texture, yeah, keep them moist.

But we want to take the bone out as well,

-it is a boneless chicken wing.

-All right.

You want me to get on and do this little chutney sort of thing.

-So just peel and brunoise the apple.

-OK.

-We got those.

-Yeah.

-Now, we're just using any apple for this?

-Yeah.

I think Granny Smith to keep the texture lot better.

Also with the acidity, I think it works really well.

So literally just very simple - water, sugar,

a little bit of vinegar and some cider vinegar.

OK, sounds good to me.

So, chicken wings, James, obviously very inexpensive.

-You are going to break these down even more.

-Yeah.

So you've got the whole wing there.

All I want to do is, using a sharp knife, above the knuckle,

straight through on one side.

And on the bottom, same game, straight through.

So what we are left with is a beautiful joint of meat like that.

-Yeah.

-And what I want to do, James, is just some duck fat,

just drop those wings into the duck fat

with a little bit of garlic and a little bit of thyme.

-Yeah.

-I'm just going to slowly confit that for about an hour,

-hour and a half, at about 160.

-Now, you traditionally do this with duck,

-But you'd salt it first. But you can cook anything in there.

-Yeah.

It's just a good way of keeping the moisture.

You could poach if you wanted to, but I just find,

using duck fat just helps keep the moistures a lot better.

The wings you could obviously keep for stocks and for sauces,

but we're not going to use that today.

-So, garlic in there as well.

-So, a little clove of garlic.

Now, since you were last on,

-you've left the place where you were working.

-Yeah.

-And a new venture.

Yeah, it has all this week just been boxed off. We have made a deal...

-There's a sink in the back if you want to wash her hands.

-Brilliant.

We made a deal on a beautiful, Grade 1 listed building

on the Newcastle side.

Absolutely stunning. Just been restored to its full glory.

So, what was it, a mill or something?

It used to be three merchant houses done in the 15th century.

-Yeah.

-So this just goes in the oven, James.

-OK.

So, yeah, we've done a deal on that.

And then, hopefully, all fingers crossed, we should be open,

looking to open by late August, mid-September.

Now, you're famous for your Michelin-starred sort of food,

-but I take it this is much more of a brasserie sort of thing.

-Yeah.

I think... It's a formal dining, James. I wanted to strip back.

-I want it to be accessible for everybody.

-Yep.

And I think the location we've got is absolutely perfect for that.

So these are the wings we've done earlier, James.

Just going to take them out onto a plate and show you.

-These have all been cooked now.

-Now, you could cook those...

You're popping those in the oven, but you could gently cook them

-on the stove.

-You could do, if you have it on a real low heat.

It lets you just lightly take them over.

Take four out of these.

-So, as you can see... Obviously, let them cool down in the oil first.

-Yep.

And what we want to do then, James,

just carefully just pop the bone out.

Like so.

So you keep the wing intact.

So the reason why you put it like that is so you can take the bone

-out as well.

-Yeah. Cos I don't like the bone in.

I don't want the fuss of trying to eat around it.

I want you to be able to eat it with the scallop without

the fuss of worrying about bones.

You're making it look a bit easy, though, aren't you?

How long would you give those in the oven, then?

I would say about an hour, an hour and a half.

They won't take long, James.

-So, we've got the sugar, we've got the vinegar.

-Yeah.

-You are using cider vinegar for this.

-Yeah.

You could use white vinegar if you wanted to,

I just like the flavour the cider vinegar gives.

And then over here we've got a little puree, yeah?

Yeah the puree, same again, adds a little bit of richness to the dish.

It's literally 250 grams of finely diced celeriac, a clove of garlic,

50 grams of butter, half a pint of water and just reduce that down...

And one shallot. Reduce it down very quickly

until it starts to absorb into the celeriac

and lightly just blend it with a little bit of cream

and then you've got yourself a lovely, smooth puree.

I've got some vanilla in there, by the way as well.