Episode 146 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning. If it's culinary inspiration you're after,

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

Welcome to the show.

We have some top-flight chefs aplenty today,

ready to cook for some pretty hungry celebrities.

Coming up on today's show,

the wonderful Angela Hartnett shares her love of the Mediterranean.

She cooks succulent chicken with chorizo,

peppers and sage with spiced aubergines.

And Martin Blunos creates a summery treat.

He sears some chicken livers

and serves them with spinach, peas and sherry.

And the queen of Indian cooking Madhur Jaffrey

brings beef to the table.

She makes an incredible beef jalfrezi

and serves it with broccoli and sweet and sour squash.

And Spooks actress Miranda Raison faced her Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would she get her Food Heaven,

lobster, with my home-made lobster ravioli with sauteed courgettes

and asparagus, or would she get her dreaded Food Hell,

peppers with my Italian-inspired peperonata with stuffed squid?

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

But first, this man has been called one of the founding fathers

of modern British cookery, but on this occasion

I couldn't call him that because he wasn't really doing any cooking. It's Nick Nairn.

-So what are we cooking then?

-There's no real cooking in this.

It's an assembly of lovely ingredients,

things that really get on with one another. We've got this

beautiful smoked haddock which we are going to slice very thinly

and then marinate with a ceviche marinade

which is olive oil, lime juice, pink peppercorns...

Pink peppercorns. They are great for this, aren't they.

They do them in herring, mackerel...

This is the one dish they work in for me.

And then a salad of crab with apple and a little bit of celeriac.

-From the French remoulade sort of thing.

-Like the French version of a coleslaw, isn't it?

-Exactly.

And you're going to make some mayonnaise?

-I'm going to make some mayonnaise.

-You are, but first could you make some toast?

I can make some ciabatta toast. Absolutely.

The idea behind this dish is that you have the toast, the ceviche, and then you have the crab together.

So it all works together.

So we're just going to take some thin slices of this ciabatta.

So you don't actually cook this.

This has already been smoked, but you must get the right haddock.

It's got to be the proper undyed, smoked haddock.

Top of the range quality. And it has to be fresh as well.

Although the smoked fish lasts longer, that's originally why it was

smoked, it has to be reasonably fresh because you are eating it raw.

And of course the acid in the lime actually starts to cure the flesh.

It does pretty much the same thing as if you were actually cooking it

in a hot pan. So we'll carve this.

I'll carve this at the last minute as well.

I like to keep that quite last-minute.

So you've got the toast going in there.

We'll put a bit of thyme on there as well.

-I love this stuff.

-Yeah.

-British ingredients.

It's the ingredient of the mo.

There are some very good Scottish producers doing that as well.

-Of course, there would be in Scotland.

-Yes, we'll get that in there.

LAUGHTER

-The best stuff comes from Yorkshire, though. But anyway, right.

-South West.

-Straight in the bottom there.

-Why don't you make some mayonnaise?

Mayonnaise. Egg yolks, a bit of mustard,

a little bit of vinegar and some of this rapeseed oil.

Mustard is really important in mayonnaise,

because it is the thing that most defines the mayonnaise.

-So put the egg yolks in there.

-What I'm doing is taking the celeriac

and cutting it down on a mandolin.

Thin slices on the old finger-shredder.

If you don't have one of these just take a sharp knife

and go for it with a sharp knife.

And we'll just add that in to a mixing bowl with some of the apple

and we'll bind it together with the mayonnaise.

In goes the crab, a little bit of lemon juice,

and finally a bit of freshly chopped parsley.

So you, like Michael, never stop. Tell us about your new venture.

Yeah. We set up this kind of consultancy business.

Reckoned the recession might throw up a few businesses

that wanted a bit of culinary help, and it has done.

We are working with Hilton Hotels.

There's an iconic local hotel, Dunblane Hydro.

-Scotland had this tradition of Hydro hotels.

-Yes.

And these hotels had fallen into a bit of...

They were getting a bit sorry and a bit tired.

The new owners pumped lots of money into it, 13 million quid.

-Put a new spa in there and stuff.

-All of that stuff. It's looking stunning.

So we're working as consultants in the restaurant.

It's been a while, as you reminded me the other day,

since I did any proper cooking.

And although I won't be there on a regular basis in the kitchen,

my team are in there and I'm excited again.

You know that thing when you start these projects, you're just like,

-"Whoo, it's all going to work!"

-It doesn't last.

No.

LAUGHTER

The honeymoon period.

But we're taking things easy

so rather than just opening straightaway we're taking

the next couple of months to work with the guys there,

build a new team, different tasks,

a new executive chef in there, big Stevie.

And he's building a really good team.

So, exciting times. And they've called it The Kailyard,

which is an old Scottish walled garden where you grow your veggies.

-Right.

-Kailyard - does that mean anything to you guys?

-Yeah, uh-huh.

-Yeah!

-Resonates well.

LAUGHTER I think so. I think it...

-Yeah, anyway.

-Right, we've got the mayonnaise here.

-Beautiful.

Um, and I think, I'm really glad that you're doing that home-made

mayonnaise, because I think, in this dish, it works particularly well.

Do you know what this proves to me, actually, just watching you?

That men can multi-skill after all.

-We can, yeah.

-Oh!

-We can. We are selective about it, but we can.

LAUGHTER

I can go to the loo AND read Autocar.

LAUGHTER

Right, so in we go with the rapeseed oil, but rapeseed oil

-makes great mayonnaise.

-It does.

-Also great dressings as well?

Yeah, it has a very, very high flashpoint,

so it's good for roasting, cos it's 230 degrees, I think,

it goes to before it starts to break down and the other thing

that's good is it's high in omega-3s and omega-6s and omega-9s.

-Don't ask me what they do.

-Nor me.

-But it sounds good.

-Impressed!

-Apparently, that's good for you.

-I think so.

-Hopefully, it tastes good too.

-Yeah. They're all different, though.

-They are.

-You get asparagus-y ones, then the kind of rich nutty ones.

That's a rich nutty one.

-So...

-I've got that, I'll just take my toast.

What I'm doing is just arranging the thinly sliced haddock

on a really nice piece of slate,

-I don't know where that came from, but it's lovely.

-Scotland, no doubt.

An arty and quite Scottish one. Quick dressing, if you wouldn't mind.

-A little bit...

-Quick dressing! Might as well just do this dish myself!

-You know what I mean?!

-This is the payback!

-Peppercorn...

-For the amount of abuse I get when I come on this show.

They will give me some grief today, by the way,

I've had mouth surgery, so if I start dribbling during the show,

it's not because I've had anything to drink, it's that...

-Oh, that old story?

-Genuinely!

You've actually got a bit of cow bone in your jaw now, haven't you?

I have. It's quite a big bit of cow bone, thank you very much!

So if I start chewing like some Jersey cow...but anyway!

Did you really need to have those sort of cheekbones improved?

-That's...

-LAUGHTER

It wasn't cosmetic, Gloria, trust me!

-LAUGHTER CONTINUES

-OK...

Monday, I looked like a hamster, but anyway, right...

-I think you've recovered well.

-Yeah, thanks very much!

-So...

-Apart from the dribbling!

-Thank you!

-So, I thought I'd get that in before you started on me.

-Yeah.

So, lime, this is for almost like the dressing, but it's a marinade

-that, particularly with ceviche, is what it's all about.

-Yeah.

-Cos...

-The acidity.

-..lime and olive oil, that's the secret.

-And the dill and the peppercorns...

-Yeah.

-..for flavour.

-Pink peppercorns in there.

-So a little bit of lemon juice in here

and a tiny bit of creme fraiche, just to soften this up as well.

As well as doing that, you appear on Friday nights in Scotland?

-Friday nights on Landward, just finished...

-Right?

It used to be called Landward with Nick Nairn, cos I was anchor.

I did it for two years, but now, I'm a kind of roving presenter on it.

Um, but I've done a really interesting series

-about the Scottish fishing industry.

-Right.

-And just amazing!

The industry's really recovered, there are fantastic stocks,

the quality's amazing, but you know where it's all ending up?

Overseas! We're exporting!

-We export too much still?

-Far too much stuff, yeah!

Um, so what do I need in here? That's it.

-You were mentioning something about hake, weren't you, as well?

-Yeah.

-Beautiful hake. I mean, 24 hours out the water hake, spanking fresh.

-Yeah.

-Boxes! I mean, thousands of boxes of it.

-Yeah.

50 pence a kilo! 50 pence!

-And it goes to Spain mainly?

-Goes to Spain, yeah.

-That's on the lunch menu next week.

-THEY LAUGH

What percentage...what percentage of fish actually is exported?

When you say it's awful that it all goes abroad?

-Well, I would think, from Peterhead Market, maybe 65%?

-Really?!

-Yeah.

-They always used to say...

-Of the langoustine, 95% goes overseas.

-Good grief!

-45,000 tonnes landed last year.

-A couple of thousand tonnes retained in the UK.

-We cook it a lot on here.

-Do you want crab in that mixture?

-NICK LAUGHS: Oh, yeah!

"That doesn't really taste of crab!" LAUGHTER

-That's cos it's still in here.

-Yeah, exactly!

-Ever the pro!

-LAUGHTER

-You'll get used to it.

-What can I say?! It's cooking and talking at the same time.

-Yeah.

-There you go. Now it's got the crab in.

-Wow!

-Look at that.

-That's better.

-A little bit of the microgreens on top.

Oh, it's collapsed! We'll cover it up with microgreens.

And just a little bit of this marinade over the top.

The marinade should go on at the last minute. If it stays on

more than three or four minutes, it starts to toughen up the fish,

so just at the last minute, keep it really nice and fresh.

Some of those microgreens to cover up the shame

-of the collapsing salad.

-Yeah.

-Oh!

-Want a little cheffy drizzle?

-The weight of that salad!

-Oh!

-No, but with your lovely toast that you made.

-Yeah.

Just that ciabatta, thinly sliced, olive oil, through the oven

and that provides the crunch.

You see, that's the kind of salad I like. It's very soft and really

-just falling apart.

-So remind us what that salad is again?

-That's a lovely salad of crab...

-Yeah.

-..apple and celeriac,

with a ceviche of smoked haddock and some crispy toast.

-All done in 6½ minutes.

-6½ minutes!

-Yay! Very good!

-Mmm.

I'll tell you what, it looks delicious,

even though it has collapsed a little bit.

-Just bring it to me!

-Bring it to you? Here you go.

It's your idea of heaven already!

-We haven't starved ourselves for nothing all morning!

-I know!

If you pressed it down in the middle, it will be really compacted and hard.

Are you going to join in, Louise? Yeah?

-Dive into that and tell us what you think.

-Oh, my goodness!

-Mmm!

-If you try...

-Try some of the ceviche.

-The ceviche as well as the, er...

-Just take a knife and cut that

and tell us what you think of that. But other fish you can do.

-They do smoked halibut like that as well?

-That would work really well.

But as you say, the proper smoked haddock, cos so many times,

-people buy the...

-The dyed stuff?

-The dyed stuff.

-Which is horrible sort of commercial chemical...

-Taste that.

-In your own time(!)

-Orgasmic!

-LAUGHTER

He gets a round of applause for making a dish that doesn't

involve any cooking! Typical! I never get that, you see.

Coming up, I make a summery tomato soup for Dick Strawbridge

made with some tomatoes from my very own garden,

after Rick Stein visits God's own country.

Where else but Yorkshire?

-RICK STEIN:

-I've been coming to the Yorkshire Dales

since my children were tiny and, if anywhere in the country made one

feel more full of anticipation for great local food, I'd be surprised.

I'm on my way to Leyburn.

I'm hoping for some of the best local food anywhere!

I imagined about 100 people at this food festival,

but in fact, there's thousands! This is the third day of it

and there's just an enormous queue out there. I mean, ten years ago,

the idea of people paying to come in here for food, local food?

Well, it just would never happen.

But to me, it's a real sign of how people's interest

all around the country is growing in local food.

And long may it continue.

-You see, they weren't educated, were they?

-Well, I know what it is!

-Do you?

-It must be a curd cheesecake.

-No, it isn't!

-He knows all about fish, you see, so...

-What is it?

-It isn't a cheese at all!

-Yeah, but it's made

-with separated milk, isn't it?

-Yeah. You know when...the first milking?

-Curds and whey?

-Oh, good, you know that bit!

-Yeah.

-Well, a lot of people don't, but it's the curd.

-Yeah.

-And then, you've got the eggs and the...

-Yeah, proper cheesecake,

-not that sort of American stuff, all sweet...

-No.

It's sensational. It's got lots of currants in it.

Um, it's got a slightly cheesy flavour.

It's really good!

'Yorkshire people certainly know how to put you in your place.

'Anyway, into a bowl for the curd tart, sugar and butter,

'cream together with a wooden spoon, then add some eggs

'and then some breadcrumbs, just to thicken it a little

'and, as it's Yorkshire, to make your money go further!

'A few rasps of nutmeg and, finally, a good handful of currants.

'I think it's the currants and the nutmeg

'that makes the tart so special.'

And now, the curds.

Well, Irene was saying at that food festival at Leyburn

that using curds from cheesemaking is so important.

But you're not going to be able to get hold of pure curds,

and cottage cheese is so similar that that's what I'm using.

'Well, I've just baked a pastry case blind.

'You know, with grease-proof paper and beans to keep the sides up.'

So that goes in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Now, I have to say, it's the first time

I ever tasted curd cheese tart at the Leyburn Food Festival,

but also, it's the first time I've ever cooked it,

so, fingers crossed.

'Well, it looks all right to me,

'but I'm sure Irene would find something to say about it.

'Apparently, the tart goes way back to the 13th century

'and it was popular all over the country,

'and traditionally served at Whitsun and Christmas.

'But now, it's only to be found in Yorkshire.'

Well, I've just come out of the festival

and it's very heartening, because most of the producers in there

are united in a real belief in what they're doing.

Sadly, there's one or two people

that are clearly just buying the produce in the local wholesalers,

putting a country stamp on it

and flogging it as if it's farmhouse produce.

But I think the public have got a nose for that sort of thing.

I think they can sniff out the impostors!

And that's really important for the future of festivals like this

and farmers' markets.

'Farmers' markets are still in their infancy, but already,

'they're a lifeline to many small producers.

'About three years ago,

'Katrina Palmer and her partner Steve took over

'a lovely 200-year-old walled garden near Richmond in North Yorkshire.

'The garden had stood derelict for years

'until they took charge of it and began growing organic vegetables.

'And what a perfect haven for Chalky!

'It was just like being in Mr McGregor's garden.'

-How fertile is the soil, then? It looks very fertile.

-It's fantastic.

No problem with it. It just grows and grows stuff. It's fantastic.

When it's in full production, you can see how green and healthy it is.

-What was it like when you first got here?

-It was completely overgrown.

I mean, it had been derelict for almost ten years.

So you can imagine the amount of weeds that were in here.

But it's a bit of responsibility as well.

You sort of feel a bit overwhelmed sometimes, but it's fantastic

when you're picking something and taking it to the market

and when you get the people saying, "That tastes fantastic,"

that's the best thing, and they come back again and again.

Do the people around here remember it like it used to be, then?

Yeah, they did, we had an open day last summer

-and the first lady that walked through the gates...

-Yeah.

..was someone who used to live in the house, and her father

had planted the orchard, like, 50 years ago, so she came, and we often

get comments from people who say they remember it from a long time ago.

Do you think people more understand about pulling stuff

-straight out off the ground?

-Definitely. So often,

at the markets, people say, "Oh, look, dirty carrots!"

They go, "Oh, that's just like my grandma used to have,"

or something like that, cos that's what they associate it with,

with it being old-fashioned, good-quality vegetables.

'I don't know whether it was the loveliness of that garden,

'but those organic leeks tasted hotter

'and more peppery than any leeks I'd ever tasted before.

'Katrina and Steve turn them into leek broth.

'They simmer carrots and onions and vegetable stock together,

'then they add lots of leeks and parsley

'and whizz it all up and put it in jars.'

But the thing that, actually, that really we were enjoying that day

was that it was full of rabbits! It was like Mr McGregor's garden

in Beatrix Potter and Chalky was just going mad, you know,

and he finally cornered a rabbit

in the greenhouse, but I suppose he might be getting a bit old,

but the rabbit just hopped out

while he was looking the other way and he got away, thank goodness!

Well, Katrina and Steve make 12 litres of their leek broth

every week and sell it at the local farmers' market,

but if you're asking me for a really special vegetable soup

to celebrate that walled garden, it would have to be soupe au pistou.

That comes from Nice and it's got lots and lots of vegetables,

all very small and cut up,

so it looks really attractive, but the really important thing

is pistou, which you stir into the soup right at the end,

and it gives it a really vibrant flavour of basil.

But first, I need to cook some soaked haricot beans.

So I put them in the saucepan, with plenty of water,

and a large bouquet garni and some garlic

and that needs to be cooked for about 30 minutes.

Now, I'm just going to sweat off some vegetables with some olive oil.

Um, and the reason for doing that is just to bring out the flavour a bit,

make them a bit sweet, just gives the soup an extra dimension.

So first of all some onion.

And then, some leek. And finally, some carrots.

So just sweat those off for about four or five minutes.

And now to add the rest of them. First of all, some green beans.

And next, some potatoes,

which I've cut up into quite a neat little dice.

Next, some courgettes. They're going in

at the same time as the potato, but it doesn't matter,

cos all the vegetables are slightly overcooked in the soup.

And next, I've got quite a lot of tomato,

which I've peeled and de-seeded and chopped up.

Now, my haricot beans. I'm adding the cooking liquor from the beans,

cos there's lots of flavour in there.

Just pour those in, but I just keep back the bouquet garni.

'Well, the final ingredients to go in there are just some garden peas.

'They go in last, cos they take the minimum time to cook.

'And then some pasta, and I just break up spaghetti,

'so there's little pieces in the soup.'

Now for the pistou. First of all, some tomato.

And quite a lot of garlic.

And some Parmesan.

Now, you can see there's a lot of similarity

between pistou and the Genoese pesto. The only difference being

that, um, pesto has pine nuts and pistou doesn't.

So just put all that basil in there. Don't even worry about the stalks.

So we're ready to go.

'And this is an occasion to use the very best olive oil,

'extra virgin, of course.

'I always think basil tastes much better raw than cooked.'

Oh, that's heavenly! Really lovely!

Oh, we now add that into the soup.

And without this, it would just be minestrone,

but, with this, it's soupe au pistou.

Well, I have to say, as a way of summing up

all those vegetables in that great garden, this cannot be beaten.

And if you never make any other dish in this whole series,

you've got to make this one.

As always, great stuff from Rick. And it's a fantastic time of year

for soups, with different varieties of vegetables in the garden.

-I'm sure you've got a few?

-A lot!

-Masses! And I have got a lot.

This is a lot of stuff from my garden.

These are from my garden, tomatoes here, and a vast selection as well.

We've got sungella, gardener's delight, sweet millions,

moneymakers, little plum romas there, all different types.

I thought I'd do a really quick soup, like a four-minute soup.

-Really quick.

-Right, sharpish.

-So I better get on.

-You want to have a taste of a couple of these.

-Absolutely.

So we're going to use a variety of different ones, really,

-up to you which ones.

-Oh, they're good!

But we use a little bit of cherry as well. These little moneymaker ones.

-You can't buy tomatoes that taste like that, can you?

-I don't think so.

To me, there's nothing better than going to the greenhouse

and getting fresh tomatoes and that sort of stuff.

-The flavour's just second to none.

-Yeah.

And they're so simple to grow, aren't they? That's the key to them.

So, literally, straight in a pan like that.

We're going to fry these off and roast those,

-as a little garnish to go with my soup.

-Right.

A very hot pan, that's what we need for soup,

and we just cut the tomatoes straight in half...

..and throw them straight in a pan with some olive oil.

-So there's no onion going in here whatsoever.

-Just tomatoes.

I'm going to put a little bit of garlic in there.

And that's about it, really.

There you go. They go straight in.

I don't know what the boys think over there, but I am a great lover

of soups, but also, people always make the assumption that soup

should just be a load of vegetables thrown in a pan and boiled.

It has to boil for a certain amount of time.

It's very important that you don't just put loads of stuff in a pan

and just boil it.

Everything starts to deteriorate.

You know, you wouldn't boil, er,

cauliflower and broccoli for 30 minutes,

so why would you do it in a soup?

But some people do. You may as well drink the liquid

-and throw away the...

-Exactly!

-Exactly.

-All the flavour is in the liquid.

-It's amazing.

-So a little garlic in there. I'll just start that.

And a touch of tomato puree, just for colour, that's all you'll do.

With soups in the summer,

do you find it harder to sort of sell it to people as an idea?

I think, well, if you see the speed at which this thing cooks,

you know, a very hot pan, you almost get this char-ness

on the, er, tomatoes, then people will actually give it a go, I think.

-The idea is, make things as simple as possible.

-Yeah.

In we go with that, a little bit of chicken stock.

You can use, of course, vegetable stock if you wanted.

A little bit of chicken stock, brought to the boil.

And we'll just mash these down. That's all we're going to do

with these ones. It doesn't take very long.

Take about sort of two minutes, that's it.

-You're not joking, this is quick, isn't it?

-Exactly, very, very quick!

When you started, I remember first watching you on TV,

it was Scrapheap Challenge?

Yeah, I was still serving in the Army at the time.

I went along for the very first series ever, that was back in '98.

It was a fantastic show. I think it is a fantastic show.

It's kind of like, you go around this...

You kind of make a hovercraft out of a supermarket trolley

-and a dishwasher?

-And it is that ridiculous, isn't it?

-Yeah!

But I think the British love it,

-because it's that sort of garden-shed invention.

-Yeah.

And the ideas people come up with, you're never sure what'll happen,

and somehow, it always gets pulled off.

Because it is only a day building.

People ask "Do you get more than a day?"

-No, it's a day building.

-Were you into this because of...

When you were a kid, you used to take things apart

-and put them back together?

-I used to take things apart.

Putting them back together was never my strong suit.

-A load of bits left over?

-We've still got them back where my mum is.

There's sort of a garage full of bits that I've got left over.

They'll be very useful one day, you don't want to throw it away.

But I think if you're prepared to experiment, then you learn.

I suppose being an engineer in the Army helped,

particularly doing stuff like that.

Spur of the moment, think on your feet kind of stuff.

The beauty about being in the Army, you are used

to getting things done on time.

It's too easy for your day to disappear.

Four minutes, you can have a soup done,

cos you're focused on getting it done.

The Army says, "No good you turning up to the war two days late."

It's that sort of a mindset. So you have to get things done properly.

Yeah. And that led you on from there

to producing your own stuff on this farm.

What I mean by that is you actually make your own...

power and stuff like that.

It's this incredible system that you've got down there.

I've been reading this new book that you've got.

You've got your own ovens that you build, and smokeries.

It's amazing, because we have been doing it for a long time now.

The whole idea of being self-sufficient.

You can't do it all the time, we're not completely self-sufficient.

But why not make your own electricity?

I don't like paying electricity bills.

But understanding it is the difficult part.

When we wrote the book, it was all about explaining to people

so they could actually get their

head around what has to be done.

And it's a matter of having a go.

I hear excuses, but no real good reasons not to do it.

You don't need a smallholding.

I'd kind of love to have a go,

but I am not very good with technology.

While we were away

on our five weeks' break,

the only bit of technology

that I bought was an iPod.

And I went in the shop and they said,

"How many songs have you got?"

They've got 16,000, 20,000, 50,000, all that sort of stuff.

I've got eight.

LAUGHTER

Keep wiping them off. I'm not good with technology.

But the fascinating thing about the book is,

it's almost going back to how it was before, isn't it?

Although you've got modern things in there...

When we were writing it, I was doing MasterChef at the time.

And James, my son, who co-wrote it with me,

he ended up putting a lot of it on paper.

And the technology has to be understandable.

You have to get your head around it.

There's such a breadth of knowledge we've picked up over the years.

Cos this isn't new to us.

As a family, we have been growing our own food, doing our own cooking

and thoroughly enjoying it for years.

I have to say, I did stop at the old toilet that you've got there.

It's a lovely place to go to read the paper.

LAUGHTER

I like the idea...

You've got to put a handful of sawdust in afterwards

-and close the lid quickly.

-Yeah.

LAUGHTER

There was one instance when one chap was using it.

If you don't close the lid, you don't know what'll go in there. He was sitting down.

A compost toilet. Sat down, and a bird flew up between his legs.

LAUGHTER

Steve's only comment at the time was he was really glad

he was sitting on the toilet.

So, yeah, it is good to stop things going in there.

Brilliant.

And this farm itself, you are going to open it to the public?

-This is...brave!

-No, we've been running courses there.

But we are starting to do a bit more catering.

Well, we've got a love of food down at our end.

The idea of sharing it with people...

When people come on our course over the past five years,

we feed them anyway.

-Now I think they're expecting more.

-Well, I think so!

Because of your experiences from MasterChef, as well.

-Well done, by the way.

-Thank you. It was great fun.

Before that, you were an enthusiastic cook.

Didn't you used to go and work in restaurants?

I did MasterChef cos I wanted to have a chance in the kitchen.

Not the high-pressured job they talk about.

But since completing filming, which was done in February,

I actually work as a sous-chef in a local restaurant.

-Just purely because you get the buzz.

-Because you wanted to?

Yeah. And I learn more. You know, working in a restaurant.

And Brett, who owns the restaurant,

he made me wash the dishes to begin with as a KP,

but once you learn your way around, it is an awesome experience.

It is where everybody starts. I started on pot wash.

I don't know about the guys over there...

-I'm quite good at washing...

-We all do it.

-Yeah.

I am quite good at it, as well.

Well, Danny, you can wash that butter pan that you ruined before.

I think there's no hope for that.

-That's in the bin.

-We can recycle it.

So, you've got a little cream of tomato soup.

Nice and quick and simple. Just a little bit of sugar

gone in there, just to flavour the tomatoes, as well.

I don't know whether the chefs over there put a bit of sugar in?

Yes, sometimes balsamic vinegar, as well.

A touch of double cream over the top.

A little bit of olive oil.

-It looks summery, doesn't it?

-Well, I think it is.

You eat with your eyes. But, also, you mentioned that soup at the top,

if you can cook stuff like this in literally, what,

five minutes, from start to finish,

it is actually very simple.

A little bit of basil on at the end.

-Wow!

-And there you have it.

-Well done.

Simple little cream of tomato soup.

And we've got a little bit of bread to go with it. It's very quick.

-Fresh basil.

-Fresh tomatoes from the garden.

It's a huge difference, isn't it?

-That's good.

-Happy with that?

-Yeah.

You've got recipes in the book, haven't you?

Well, it's more kitchencraft.

We are making bread, making cheese, etc. It's good.

That's really tasty.

Growing your own tomatoes is easier than you think.

If you haven't done it this year, then have a go next year.

They taste fantastic. If you'd like to try cooking

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

all of those recipes are just a click away

at bbc.co.uk/recipes

Now, today, we're looking back at some of the best cooking

from the Saturday Kitchen recipe book.

And now it's time to go back to

an early episode of Saturday Kitchen,

but do not adjust your set, because Martin Blunos

really is wearing one of the brightest pink shirts

you are ever going to see.

Martin Blunos, I have to say, you are a genius.

Cos it's simple cooking

you turn into this just amazing tasting dish.

Well, I think the thing is that's the way we are trained

and the way we eat now.

It is more about flavour and sourcing the right ingredients

-and good ingredients.

-Great ingredients. What you are going to cook?

We've got the chicken livers. They are super fresh.

You can get these from the butcher's.

Most of them are selling fresh livers now.

You can buy frozen, but buy fresh.

They do deteriorate on freezing. They break down.

The rest of the ingredients, we've got a little bit of butter.

A little bit of butter. We've got the sherry. And that gives a richness.

We've got peas, we've got a little bit of English mustard,

shallots, garlic, nutmeg to flavour,

the spinach, which goes with it.

So, it is seared chicken livers with spinach, peas and sherry.

-Right, first thing...

-What it is, I am going to show you this, actually.

These are livers that haven't been trimmed.

That is a trimmed liver.

So you can see, what I've taken away, or what I will take away,

is this white bit here.

This is the sort of fibres and the sinews.

If you buy them with that already cut out,

you tend to find that the livers start to break down.

So buy them fresh and whole. You can trim that off.

Also, if there is any green on there, that's the bitter part.

That's the gall sack. So that will really be bitter.

Take that out as well.

So I will trim that.

While I do that, if you could...

I knew I'd have to do something.

I've got the shallots and garlic.

If you can chop those up nice and fine for me.

-We'll pop those into...

-Diarmuid should be doing this.

He spent eight weeks in the kitchen, he has got to chop something.

LAUGHTER

That is it. If you take this away.

And there is that little sinew.

And if you leave the sinew in, it goes tough.

It's goes chewy, very chewy.

So trim that away

and there are all your tubes and pipes there.

Just get rid of that and you get a lovely, clean a bit of liver.

What do you think of that, Nicola?

LAUGHTER

It is a good job she didn't go out last night!

I mean, it sounds worse than it is.

You clean them up, they are really nice.

They are sweet, they are very good for you.

I think the secret with this is don't overcook them.

A lot of people are put off by the bitterness.

It can get there even if you overcook it.

That's right, yeah.

I think they tend to go very grainy and dry, as well.

So I've seasoned these up

with a nice bit of salt and pepper.

Again, season them right at the last moment,

because the salt will actually cook the flesh,

because it is very, very delicate.

So we've put in a bit of oil in here.

Just ordinary olive oil, nothing fancy, because if you

put in a good oil, what happens is you burn off all the flavour.

Take a bit of our butter, just going to pop that in.

Butter. Now, this accent...

What is all that about? Because you don't come from Somerset, do you?

-Your parents are Latvian, aren't they?

-That's right.

I am second-generation Latvian,

but I was born in a little place called Peasedown St John,

just outside Bath. There you go.

You see, that's just melted down.

Going to pop that in to fry off.

The reason I am putting oil and butter is that oil gives us heat,

butter gives us flavour.

I'll wash my hands.

You are obviously from Bath. That's obviously...

The Lygon Arms is where you achieved your two Michelin Stars?

No, no. My first restaurant was in Bristol. Myself and my wife,

we moved out of London, sold our properties,

bought a restaurant and that was where we got two stars.

That was back in '88, '89.

And getting two Michelin Stars...

most chefs aspire to get just one.

Then obviously the top accolade is three.

Two is incredibly difficult to get.

I think what it was is, we were so worried about losing one,

that I think you just consolidate.

LAUGHTER

You know what I mean? And it's down to consistency.

So it's how consistent you are.

Because you can have good days and bad days.

But if you're paying top dollar for something...

It's like going to the theatre.

You pay top money and...

Consistency is the key.

Not to have chefs that only last eight weeks in the kitchen...

LAUGHTER

-Then what are they going to do? Become a gardener.

-Exactly!

Precisely. There you go.

Look at him. He's not done very well, has he?

Right, I've just fried those off.

They've got a bit of colour, just turn them.

If you can chuck those onions and garlic in.

That bit of shallot and garlic

isn't going to soften up too much.

It'll keep a bit of bite and crispiness.

It's also going to let the flavour into it. OK?

Now, what I am going to do now is here I have a bit of mustard.

This is English mustard.

I find that English mustard has got a nice bit of kick to it.

Gives a bit more spice to it.

So we're going to put a bit of that in.

So, Latvia. What is the traditional dish over there?

-It's not cabbage, is it?

-No.

-Beetroots.

-Beetroot, that's the one.

I knew it was something like that.

It's Eastern European, and I call it "peasant food".

But when I say that, my mum gives me a clip round the ear.

She's like, "I'm not a peasant." I say, I don't mean it that way.

It's like from your neck of the woods, it's great, wholesome food.

Don't call northerners peasants. I tell you what, you'll get lynched.

LAUGHTER No, but you know what I mean?

-It's that wholesome, real food, about taste, and that's what it is.

-Home cooking.

Yeah, that's right.

Um, and I think classically, I think it was a lot of one-pot cookery.

-Yes.

-Bung it in a pot, they go off and do their work

and come home and there's a hearty dish waiting for them.

-Right.

-The mustard's gone in.

-Yes.

-Now I'm going to pop the sherry in.

-Yes.

And this is a real good sweet sherry.

The reason you use sweet sherry is because

you want it to reduce down and give you a nice little bit of glaze.

That's that sweetness from the sherry.

We're burning off the alcohol, alcohol is horrible, hard and bitter.

Get rid of that, that will be gone.

-Flames look a bit like your shirt there.

-What?

-What are you trying to say?

-I'm not trying to say that.

You know, obviously your wife dressed you this morning.

LAUGHTER

-Real men wear pink.

-No, it's not pink! It's fresh raspberry.

-That's what your wife told you.

-Yeah. OK.

Now, I'm going to lift these livers out.

-OK? Now, they're just coming out of that...

-Pink raspberries.

-Pink raspberries.

LAUGHTER

-Mind you, Diarmuid's got it on as well.

-Yeah. That's right. Right.

-Slight difference in the shirt.

-They're resting now.

-I've got the juices that are left. I'll pop it into that spinach.

-Yes.

Now this spinach, we're going to wilt it down, so...

Just a little bit of baby spinach?

Little bit of baby spinach, already washed and bagged,

-and I've got a little bit of water here.

-Yes.

A bit of water in, and that water's going to turn to steam.

What happens with that steam is it softens the spinach up much quicker.

Also, a nice little bit of,

yeah, if you could pop that lemon in half for me, that would be great.

Plenty of nutmeg on there,

because that's a great accompaniment with the spinach and with the liver.

You're also going to serve, well, you've got potatoes over there.

-I've got the potatoes. I want you to crush those up for me.

-There you go.

These are just boiled, boiled and drained,

crush them with the back of the spoon, bit of salt and pepper and then do a little bed. OK?

-These are just new potatoes in their skins, yes?

-Yes, in their skins.

-Lovely.

Boiled in a little bit of saltwater, and then well drained.

-You see...

-Also you put the peas in, these are just frozen peas, or..?

They're frozen peas. I mean,

you can use fresh, but frozen peas are produced and packed,

um, pretty much within, I think is it six hours, or four hours?

Less than that, mate. I used to be brought up on a farm,

they used to come and take our peas on the night and by sort of...

used to start picking them about two o'clock in the morning.

By six o'clock, they'd all gone.

-Really?

-Yes, all done, in a bag.

-Yes.

-Frozen on the field.

You can't really get fresher, if you think about it,

because, um, you know...

He can, he can go out in his garden and pick them.

LAUGHTER That's the only other fresher way,

but no, if you buy peas in a pod, and they've travelled,

-say from Spain, or halfway around the country...

-Yes.

..they start breaking down.

They lose their colour and they lose that, the sugars go to starch,

and they're just not, not as superb as when you pick them super fresh.

We've had a problem with peas and broad beans,

-stuff like that, particularly in the UK because of the weather.

-Yes.

There's been a shortage of peas...

They need quite a lot of water, don't they?

Everything is suffering. It's an incredible year in the garden,

but it makes us more aware so we have to take precautions, save water

and make the most of the water that we just pour down the drain or lose.

-So we have had a big problem.

-Yes.

With trees, shrubs and vegetables, the most important.

-There you go, if you have a bath...

-What?

Keep the water, chuck it on your peas, there you go.

Right. Lovely, right. LAUGHTER

Everything is wilted down, everything is back here,

finish with a bit of lemon juice,

that's going to be our sharpness, our bit of acid.

I've popped those in a little nest. Salt, pepper and crushed potatoes in there. No butter, nothing.

No, that's it, lovely. There we go.

And we're just going to lift out some more of this here.

And it's nice and sort of rustic,

but you've got plenty of flavour. We'll get more of these peas to

run down the side with those lovely juices.

I love how chefs say, once they've piled it up and it drops off the pile,

"I'll just do that nice and rustic now."

That burnt thing that happens is "caramelised", isn't it?

-Remind us what that is again.

-You've got seared chicken livers, with spinach, peas and sherry.

Looks great.

Right, but the real true test is in the tasting. So, Diarmuid...

-Very good.

-Are you a fan of chicken livers?

-Absolutely, yes.

-Are you sure?

LAUGHTER

-That was said with feeling.

-As he dives in the potatoes, there you go.

Chicken livers at ten o'clock in the morning.

Mmm. Ah, they're so...

-Nice and soft?

-Yes.

-It's that slow-cooking that does it.

Pass it down. I think, Nicola will just then pass it further down...

LAUGHTER

-Yes.

-No, she's going to be brave.

-I'm going to try, I'm going to try.

-Go for it.

-Well done.

-It might alter your views.

-Mmm.

-There you go, look at that.

-Mmm.

-That was natural.

-Nice.

The only thing about liver is it makes my mouth all dry,

that's why I don't like it.

I think that's because you can overcook it as well, it makes it go bitter.

-Yes.

-I think that's going to be the main reason for it.

-Mmm. Mmm.

-Mmm.

-The type of thing that you try?

-Mmm, definitely.

Because you're not, not a big fan of inside the kitchen, are you?

-The wife does most of the cooking, but...

-And I tend to, as KP duty...

-LAUGHTER

-Exactly.

Don't forget, if your cheffy stack topples, it's rustic, of course.

It's Keith Floyd time now, and this week, he's in the USA,

but not for all the glitz and glamour. He starts his journey

in the Louisiana swamps.

HELICOPTER BLADE WHIRRING

EERIE MUSIC

SLOW GUITAR INSTRUMENTAL

WHISPERING VOICE: Sha, sha...

INSTRUMENTAL CONTINUES

The Bayou, Louisiana,

is the gastronomic heartland of the southern states,

home of crawfish and philly gumbo,

and lots of other dishes immortalised in rock'n'roll songs.

Amongst these stunted trees,

coincidently destroyed by Hurricane Floyd - no relation, of course -

you can feel the spirit of General Jackson,

who beat the living daylights out of the Brits

at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.

ENGINE WHIRRING

That curious machine is a mud bug harvester.

Mud bugs are what the locals call crawfish,

an aggressive lobster-like crustacean that lives in the same swamps

that produce the wild rice they ultimately meet on a plate.

This symbol of Louisiana cuisine

is farmed in vast quantities here in the Mississippi Delta,

and those not eaten by these winged predators,

I'm sorry, I don't know what they're called, end up in pots with Cajun spices and garlic,

spreading the gastronomic spirit of Louisiana right across the states,

as my Cajun chum explained so succinctly.

GUNSHOTS

-That'll keep them away...

-By the way, he was only scaring those birds,

although he does eat the occasional one.

Anyway, onto cooking sketch number one,

with a guy who irritated the hell out of me,

but he cooks a great jambalaya, so he can't be all bad.

I've got trouble on my hands here. This is Chris,

he knows everything about Cajun cooking

and he's going to teach me how to make a jambalaya, the classic dish of this Louisiana swamp region.

What are all these ingredients here?

Before we get started with ingredients, I'll tell you something,

one thing about a man making jambalaya in South Louisiana,

it's an important part of our diet,

and I want to tell you something before you go too far.

Told you I was going to have trouble with this guy.

If you mess up, I've got something to hammer you.

-FLOYD LAUGHS

-Is that fair enough?

-That's fair enough.

If you mess up my jambalaya for the people sitting out here,

we are going to settle the odds up.

That's all I wanted you to know. Right now,

we'll keep that down in the background.

Now we start talking about ingredients.

-Let's talk about what we put in the pie. Remember what I dropped here?

-Right.

-You thought that was lard, didn't you?

-I did.

-That's alligator fat.

That's all, not much more than that, but really it was lard

and I'm going to tell you why. Lard is a coarse fat,

-good, good flavour. Can you hear that pot sizzling?

-Yes.

-It's time to drop that sausage in it, Floyd.

-All of it?

All of it, I'll give you the spoon from here on out,

you can do all the work you want to do. How's that? Huh?

God, this is good. I'll be eating a meal here today somebody else cooked for a change.

How long do we cook this in here for, then?

What we're going to do, we're going to cook this down

until we get some of the oils out of the sausage.

All we're trying to do...

-This is hot sausage. You like hot sausage?

-I do.

Good. This flavour of this sausage is going to carry this jambalaya.

That's the flavour that's going to carry it. So be careful with that.

Don't break 'em all up, just hit 'em a little bit lightly.

Don't just stir them. There ya go! Let it saute for a few minutes.

All we're looking for is to get some of the oils out of the sausage.

Getting the oils out lubricates something you know nothing about.

-While that's happening there, what's in there?

-You really want to know?

-I really want to know.

-Mississippi river water.

-Mississippi river water?

-Yeah! We get good chemicals come down our river.

-Yeah!

-This has very good flavour in it. That's all that is.

Is that a good shot?

I'm tellin' ya. Look. Let me tell you what I really have here.

Chicken stock and a little kitchen bouquet.

-Kitchen bouquet.

-You're familiar with kitchen bouquet.

-That's a bouquet garni. OK.

-That's exactly right.

It'll give you a good colour and a great flavour.

-We're going to add a little trinity here.

-Trinity?

-You know what trinity is.

-Well, I can see it now, yeah.

-OK, what is trinity?

-It's green peppers, celery and onions.

That's all that it is. That's exactly right.

This is a basic seasoning group we use in South Louisiana.

Whether we're making a jambalaya, whether we're making a gumbo

or Creole, this is a basic seasoning group that we use.

-Right.

-We're just going to add this to the pot.

-Right.

I tell you what else you can add to this dish right now.

-You can put a little bit of chicken in there if you'd like.

-Already?

Yeah! Go ahead, drop it in. Heat it up real good.

Does that look like chicken to you?

Well, I don't trust you any more, Chris.

What do you mean, you don't trust me? Would I lie to you?

I think you might!

Let me show you.

This is what we had the back part of.

-That's a little bit we had left in the freezer.

-That's a big chicken.

That's a big chicken. How you like the looks of this baby, huh?

-Do you think you can open him up? Go right ahead, huh?

-Oh, my Lord.

CHRIS LAUGHS

Floyd, I would not put alligator meat in this pot.

-You know why?

-Why?

-Alligator is 6.95 a pound.

-Oh, right.

Pretty expensive.

-We're using raccoon today.

-Raccoon?

-Yeah. Don't you prefer raccoon?

Oh, dear! CHRIS LAUGHS

-Rocky Raccoon!

-Rocky Raccoon!

-Crept out of his room!

-How is that looking? Pretty good?

-That's looking very good.

-Fantastic!

-How about dropping a little garlic in there?

-A bit of garlic in there.

This guy's learning how to cook. He's finally learning real food.

Real, real food. That's what he is learning now.

-Hey, this stock's boiling up away here now.

-Yeah.

-You see how the chicken base has come to the surface?

-Sure.

-Now it's time to pour it in that pot.

-In this pot.

-Yeah.

-Now, it's not hot, the handles aren't hot.

-OK.

Just to recap on this, for a second, if I may, it's lard.

We fried in the lard this spicy New Orleans sausage,

then we added the trinity - not the Holy Trinity but the trinity! -

of celery, peppers and onions,

then the chicken or, in this case, the raccoon meat went in.

We could have used alligator meat, but that's too expensive,

and now in we go with the stock, OK?

-You know a Cajun philosophy for making a jambalaya?

-No.

Do you have any idea?

If it walks, crawls, swims or flies and you can catch it,

you can put it in that pot.

-How's that, huh?

-Right, what about the rice? When does that go in?

We have to bring this to a boil.

-But we need to add a little salt.

-Salt, which is where?

-Put about two teaspoons of salt in.

-Is this the salt?

-No, no, no.

Leave that alone. Don't even touch that.

-This is called Joe's Stuff.

-No, it's salt.

-That's salt?

-Yeah.

I just use Joe's bottle!

Well, that's pretty close. I'd put a little bit more in.

-A little bit more. You're cooking five cups of rice.

-Right, OK.

-It needs a bit more, then.

-Yeah, that's what I'm getting at. OK.

-A little stir.

-Get back to the alligators.

-I'd love to get back.

They eat anything that gets in their way.

Female alligators that have baby alligators,

that is probably the meanest creature you ever run across.

-Worse than the mother-in-law, in fact.

-Well, I don't know.

My mother-in-law... The first job I ever had was taming alligators.

You ever tried to tame an alligator?

I used to have to stand there and run my hand through the mouth

once I got it open.

-You know who got me that job? My mother-in-law.

-Yeah.

-KEITH CHUCKLES

-I realised what was goin' on!

-I put the rice in?

-Yeah, that's boiling!

What we're going to do now, we're just going to put the lid on here.

We're going to lower the fire. Now, lower it real low.

I am not looking to bring it back to a boil.

-How we coming here? Let's see what you got here, Floyd.

-Very low.

Ah, yeah.

Oh, there you go. All I want is a simmer. That is perfect.

I tell you what, have you cooked before?

-No.

-Huh? Well, why do they call you Floyd Of Fish?!

I'm just curious, that's all!

OK, what we have to do now, Floyd, we time this for ten minutes.

-Can you tell time?

-Like, nine cans of that and that's ready?

No, no, ONE can. This is a quarter- can. I need a whole can of Dixie.

-Right.

-Yeah. How much did you have left in your...?

Yeah. By the time you've finished that and I've finished this,

ten minutes'll be up, and then we're going to turn our jambalaya off.

At that point, we have to let this thing sit for about 20 minutes.

-This rice'll cook itself...

-Right.

-..right in the pot, and that's what's nice about it.

-OK.

They call New Orleans the Big Easy.

It's a city that likes to sleep late and party hard.

Once extremely prosperous, the failing oil and shipping industries

have left their scars on this most European of American cities.

It reminds me of a cross between Avignon, Seville and Liverpool.

The streets rattle to streetcars

and rock with the jazz that fills the food-scented air in this humid city.

These flags flying for Mardi Gras - "Fat Tuesday", as you know -

owe their colours to a British Victorian touring theatre group

playing Lear - dear, dear Lear - at the local theatre,

and the organisers of the first carnival borrowed their costumes

for the carnival king and queen.

So it's all down to Shakespeare, really.

"Laissez les bon temps rouler" - "let the good times roll"

is the motto of this naughty place,

the home of Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire,

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, etc, etc.

I could go on, but I am more into Faulkner,

another great Southern writer.

New Orleans is a superstitious city.

Palm readers, witches, diviners

and clairvoyants of all kinds

hang out on the streets in their dubious little studios,

but with its Indian, French, Spanish and slaving heritage,

it is not surprising.

# I love, I love you, baby, and I want you to be my girl

-# Come on, baby... #

-Along with fortune-telling and music,

your Big Easy native is never happier than when eating beignets,

a French-style doughnut, in the Cafe du Monde, the hang-out of

musicians, artists, tourists and the potpourri of New Orleans demimonde.

Ah! I hope you like these little jewels of commentary.

They are quite important, really.

Anyway, the central grocery store

at the turn-of-the-century of thereabouts, created

the famous muffaletta sandwich, presumably by Senor Muffaletta.

They are slices of salami, ham and Swiss cheese,

smothered in olive oil and pickle. Do you really like them?

# Yes, I do!

# Yes, I do!

# Yes, I do!

# And I want you to be my girl! #

ENGINE STARTS

I am not keen on being a tourist and wild horses would not drag me

onto anything called the Creole Queen.

I should be telling you all about the Mississippi,

but this isn't a look at life and all I know about it is that

it is very long, very wide and the Americans like it very much.

And if it wasn't here, there wouldn't be jazz in the world.

In the French Quarter,

you can't move two paces without being tempted to eat something.

The Creole and Cajun dishes of this place

make it the Mecca of American cuisine.

Louisiana is rich in produce of all kinds, a bit like Provence, really.

And its spicy, tasty,

uncomplicated dishes are many weary gastronaut's dream.

Now, take for instance, the oyster po' boy, prepared by my chum,

Leah Chase. "A po' boy?" I hear you cry.

People said, "That is for a po' boy,"

because he doesn't have much money and he has to buy

something that is a lot of food, and cheap, and can go far.

And the po' boy was a kind of cheap sandwich, you know.

That's good. And you want to put just a little pickle on there.

Give it a little dash here.

Nobody comes to New Orleans without getting an oyster po' boy.

They all come here to get it when they are here.

Sometimes, I have had people right off the plane, right here,

getting my oyster po' boy.

And when they are going back, they take the oyster po' boy with them.

When my daughter was pregnant,

she is in Los Angeles, "Send me an oyster po' boy."

What we call an oyster loaf, we put the whole bread, and ship it to her.

You know, oyster loaf. And people never go home without it.

They're typical New Orleans.

You haven't come to New Orleans unless you eat oyster po' boy.

SIRENS

Because the BBC could not afford a taxi,

I flagged down this passing police car

and later hitched a ride on this fire engine

to visit one of New Orleans' most famous restaurants -

K-Paul's Kitchen, run by my new chum, Paul Prudhomme,

who believes passionately that cooking is not only

good for the soul, but for the sanity of America.

Many of our psychiatrists in this country recommend that

a family that is under stress, both members are working,

that are under tremendous stress during the week,

to cook together on weekends.

Because it is relaxing, it is enriching

and you can make your life better.

And there is nothing in the world that you do more than eating.

You don't change your clothes more often,

you don't brush your teeth more often.

You eat more than you do anything else.

And I think America is finding its eating sphere,

its eating enjoyment and its eating love.

And we are at the head of it, because in Louisiana, we have

been doing that, we have been living that way for the last 100 years.

So we have this huge amount of different dishes

that we have to offer America. And the whole world.

So Cajun and Creole is where it's at.

There's a time in the programme when I have to try to convince my host, in this case, Paul,

that I do know a little bit about cooking myself.

He said OK, if you are so smart,

just go and make me some smothered Cajun-style okra.

Just go and do it. So I have.

I have prepared for myself a sunshine tray of Louisiana food.

Starting from your left, Clive, we have got onions,

we have got the lovely mixed bell peppers - red, yellow and green -

we have got chopped okra, or lady's fingers

as we call them in England, we have got skinned,

de-pipped and chopped tomatoes, we have got chicken stock at the back,

we have got Louisiana sausage here and we have got some butter.

And swing over the left to the pan,

and you will see the first stage of my dish going along here.

Onions, peppers and okra, going ahead there in butter.

Into that we put some more of this magic Cajun mixture.

"The pink wonder", as it has come to be known amongst our crew here.

Stir that around a little bit.

So this dish starts to absorb the flavours.

I think I still have to put more butter in that.

Paul, you can't see him at the moment, but he is in fact watching me

with an eagle, eagle eye.

-With great interest.

-So, into that, some tomato.

Now, what we are going to try and do here is...

We have got that lot starting to cook

and we have to relay it all again on top so that the food is going

to cook in a different sort of textures and flavours. Hopefully.

So more onions in, more peppers and, and now some more okra in. OK.

And now, some more of the Cajun magic.

On top of that. I put in probably a bit too much, doesn't really matter.

Stir around.

I'm going to have to employ some magical television stuff, here.

Because obviously, if I let this cook on camera, it would

last for about 35 minutes, which is far too long. So, right now,...

Do you mind if I have a word with my viewers? Fine.

Lots and lots of minutes have gone by now. Right, back to the pot again.

Bit of sausage, this is a spicy sausage. We pop that in.

OK. Then we are going to add a bit of this wonderful chicken stock.

And how heartening... Back to me again, please, Clive, if you would.

I was amazed by the sophistication of the cooking

when I came to America. I didn't expect to find reduced chicken stock.

That is really good news, it's wonderful. Right back into there.

OK. Now, that has been bubbling for not nearly long enough,

but I want to add some more tomato.

Because this is okra smothered in tomato.

Put that in.

Get plenty of tomato in this. Right. Now, you just stay with that, Clive.

Just keep looking at that for the next 35 minutes, OK?

So there we are. The proof of the pudding is of course in the eating.

Mine is the one with the wooden spoon in it.

Paul's, the more mature, more reduced-looking one,

is the one with the metal spoon in it.

All we have to do, Paul, to see where I have gone wrong,

where I have gone right, is to taste it, I suppose. Can I try yours?

-Yes, and I will try yours.

-OK.

You really have done a wonderful job.

As a matter of fact, I think, since we have identified

whose is whose with the spoon,

I think we will kind of switch spoons, there!

This is... The taste comparison is very, very close. There is...

There is a little more depth in the one that is cooked a long time,

but this is, this is, this is good. Really, you have done a super job.

What a great jambalaya.

As ever, on Best Bites, we're looking back at some

of the fantastic cooking from the Saturday Kitchen recipe book.

Still to come on today's Best Bites: both Daniel Galmiche

and Jason Atherton had a long way to go

to break into the top ten when they met at the Omelette Challenge hobs.

How would they do? Let's find out a little later on.

The inspirational queen of Indian cookery, Madhur Jaffrey,

shows us how to use up roast beef.

She creates an amazing beef jalfrezi and serves it with broccoli

and sweet and sour squash.

And actress Miranda Raison faced her Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would she get her Food Heaven - lobster with my home-made

lobster ravioli with sauteed courgettes and asparagus -

or would she get her dreaded Food Hell -

peppers with my Italian-inspired peperonata with stuffed squid?

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

Now it's time for a one-pot wonder Spanish-style - take it away,

Angela Hartnett. What's on the menu?

What we are going to be doing today, when I take that little leg off,

we are just going to bone the chicken down to eight nice pieces.

Saute that off - we're going to serve it with some roasted peppers,

some beautiful chorizo, finish with sage, a touch of lemon juice

and you're going to make me some aubergine with some onion

and tomato, finish with some cumin, coriander and a bit of basil.

-Sounds good to me.

-So, quite Spanish.

I only asked you for the name of the dish, not the entire description, but anyway, that's...

-You know me, I like to talk, James.

-HE LAUGHS

I'm trying to do that to stop you dancing, you see.

That's what the producer said.

-He said, "Talk, talk a lot."

-So, chicken.

You're going to cut that in to... saute, yeah?

Yeah, just so it's sauteed down. So it's quicker to cook, you know.

And I like the idea because it's sort of a one-pot wonder, really.

And then you can basically put it all on the table,

everyone can eat it out of the pan,

it's sort of the best way to do it, I think.

-The colander's back.

-The colander's back, yeah, but there's no...

Well, there are tomatoes in this dish,

but none at the moment for that, so...

You salt the aubergine, yeah?

Yeah, we were having this little discussion.

You see, I do it, not so much cos of the flavour

and the bitterness, cos I think you're right, there is none,

but I think it's more the fact that it takes out some of the liquid,

-so that when you fry it it's not so oily.

-And there it is.

-There we go.