Episode 36 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning. I've got a hearty helping of fantastic food coming up on today's Best Bites.

Welcome to the show. We've dug deep into the BBC archives

and pulled out these tasty treats today.

This stunning home-made meringue dessert for model Jodie Kidd.

Look at that! Gorgeous.

I don't know what to say.

Antonio Carluccio was one of the chefs

on our very first Saturday Kitchen.

These superb stuff lamb cutlets were

a sensational way to kick off the show.

Ken Hom is the master of Chinese cooking, of course,

and this garlic chicken dish with spicy Schezwan noodles

sees the man at his very best.

TV legend Jerry Springer faces food heaven or food hell.

He wanted a cheeseburger with skinny fries for food heaven,

but did he get mint and vodka panacotta

that was lined up for food hell?

Find out at the end of the show.

So let's begin today's feast with this brilliant exhibition

of baking from Richard Bertinet.

-Good to have you on the show, boss.

-Merci, James. How are you?

-I love...

I love bread. I absolutely love it.

-Pastry chef for many, many years.

-Yes.

It's not the easiest thing to make.

To make it as good as you guys.

But you are going to show us a couple of little tips.

I am going to demystify it very quickly, the myth of breadmaking.

First, to make bread you need good dough.

-That's the title of your own book, I believe.

-The first one, yes.

-The second one is Crust.

-All right. There you go.

-So, there's some flour. English flour.

-English flour.

-How much?

-500 grams of flour.

-OK.

Then some fine sea salt. A good salt here.

I'm going to start off with a salad.

We'll do a little Caesar salad with it. I'll chop the things up.

We've got tomatoes which I'm going to cook with some thyme

in the oven with a bit of Serrano ham so it crisps up

-and some cos lettuce for a little Caesar salad.

-Don't forget...

-French mustard.

-French mustard, I'm sorry.

-Thank you!

He's started already! First time, have you been listening to him?

He started this morning, not me.

-OK!

-Fire away. You're watching, yes?

-So, yeast.

-Fresh yeast, yes.

You can get fresh yeast from your supermarket.

If they've got an in-store bakery they'll have some.

Or your local baker or a food store.

The yeast, I'm just going to rub it gently in the flour like a crumble.

But you keep the yeast and the salt separate, don't you?

Absolutely, yes. Otherwise you will kill it.

Then blend all this together and then I put my 350 grams of water in there.

Now, generally when you're taught at college as chefs,

you're taught to use tepid water and stuff like that

-but with cold water, it just takes longer?

-It will take longer, yes.

The longer it takes to make your bread, the better it will taste at the end.

But the secret is not to use hot water.

Don't. You'll make a pancake otherwise - or crepe.

OK? Now I'll turn all this with my scraper there.

Blend all the ingredients together...

There you go.

..to make a very nice and soft dough.

Now, no hands? You just use the...

I try to keep my hands as clean as possible.

When you get children and things at home, your hands, keep them clean,

otherwise your phone's ringing or anything,

and it just makes it much easier like that.

I'll pop this in the oven, just to crisp this up.

That dough looks really wet there.

I use a lot more water than the traditional British making.

I use, for one kilo of flour, for 500 grammes,

-about 250 grammes, up to 400 grammes sometimes.

-Different flours absorb

different amounts of liquid, don't they?

Absolutely. Strong bread flour usually absorbs quite a lot.

The secret of bread is not the actual recipe itself,

it's being able to see when it's ready.

-Is that right?

-Yes.

The problem with a lot of recipes is the dough is too hard

and then you end up making a brick, not bread.

If you make a soft dough your bread will be much lighter.

You'll get a nice crust onto it as well.

So, we'll cheat a little bit

and I will take one that we have done already.

So you mix everything nicely there. And then...

here's one I made earlier.

One interesting fact that I have got on here as well. I love this fact.

Our researchers do all of this.

96% of British households buy bread

whereas 95% of British households

buy toilet paper.

What do the other 5% use?

-Not sure.

-Shirts like that!

-What do you do with this now?

-I'm going to show you the technique...

You're so in for it! You're so in for it.

-Unbelievable.

-You see the dough is nice and soft and the technique I use

is not the kneading technique where you use more flour to make your dough harder.

So it's not the usual one where you knead it?

You get your hand underneath that and then swivel the dough down

slap it down and you trap some air inside, you see?

-Look at that!

-And then your dough...

You make it look so easy.

There's going to be hundreds of people tonight with it just going everywhere!

But how long do you leave that to prove? Before you get to this stage?

No, you don't. I'm just going a bit faster there.

It takes about five minutes to work your dough.

And then you end up with a nice soft dough and what's on the recipe,

it's what you've got there, you don't add any flour to it.

You don't confuse the issue there.

So, on a wet dough, what you've done a stretch all the gluten

and that makes it come together rather than it being like a dry dough.

-You're just putting air inside the dough.

-Cool.

And when you've got to this stage here. Where is the scraper?

Get everything together.

So where did you invent this recipe? Is a traditional recipe or is it...?

No, I was working in a bakery. I had a piece of dough left over and I was

starving so I just rolled it out and put it in the oven

on a hot tray and it just puffed up and I thought, "Whoa, I like that."

What I like to do is bring bread and food together.

Bread has always been left on the side a bit.

There you go, look at that.

Baby's bottom...

Or...

JAMES LAUGHS

If you like that sort of thing!

OK. So, that's one there.

You leave your dough to rise for...

-It wants to prove now, so cloth over it.

-To rest.

-Proving is afterwards.

-OK.

There you go. So, from there, that's what we end up with.

-Yes.

-With this I will make the puffball now, I will show you.

OK, I am just going to explain what I've got in here.

I've got some garlic which I've cooked in some white wine,

just to take the strength off it a bit.

Put that into a blender with some egg yolks, a bit of Parmesan cheese,

anchovy, a bit of French mustard!

And then I'm going to add some oil just to thicken it up into a nice little dressing

and then bring it back down again with a bit of water

so it's not too thick.

My tomatoes and my Parma ham's in the oven.

So, what next, Richard?

What I'm going to do now is divide little pieces of dough out

to make the puffball.

Roll them nice and tight.

So, as a Frenchman and a baker,

don't you get upset with the English, the way that

a lot of the English buy their bread and they buy it once a week

whereas in France it's traditional that every day you go down to...

There's a demand for good bread. Everybody wants good bread.

You don't buy bread just once a week.

In France we buy bread every day, it's part of your life all the time.

What annoys me is

when you read the ingredients on some of the bread,

we don't or you wouldn't eat it, but you just buy it quite blind.

It is possible to make good bread on big scale

with no improver, no flavouring.

You're going to prove this by cooking it in a domestic cooker.

-Absolutely.

-So what's the thickness of this?

-A couple of millimetres or something like that?

-Yes.

Just one-and-a-half roughly. One or one-and-a-half.

-One-and-a-half millimetres!

-That's precise.

-OK, so in there.

Now, this is special. You've heated up a stone in there.

-We've a baking stone in the oven.

-You can buy these from a cookware store so don't worry about that.

In there for a long, long time.

Your oven's preheated and the stone stays hot all time, keeps the heat into it.

If you cross your fingers now, hopefully it should puff up.

So, that stone, you could make pizzas and stuff on it as well.

You can make pizza or even your roast.

If you roast your meat on top, it keeps a nice heat onto it.

-It's really good.

-I'll leave you to cut that.

We've actually got one we've already cooked

but you should actually see that start to puff up.

You need to leave it in for about ten minutes to get it nice and hot.

Yes. So we're going to fill up the...

OK, you can fill it all up when you're ready.

-So, in here we're going to put a few bits of salad.

-A bit of salad, yes.

You don't want anything too wet to start with, otherwise...

The crust is so thin, you don't want it seeping through the crust.

-That's for you.

-No, go on.

-Put this in there.

-It's like a big salad sandwich.

-Well, sort of.

But, I mean, bread...

This, itself, is in a nice little case

but way back in Tudor times it was served as part of the table setting.

-It was actually part of the plates, wasn't it? People used to serve food on it.

-Yes.

What annoys me a lot, if you go into a restaurant sometimes,

they serve you bread and you have your starter and then the bread goes away.

-I like my bread all the way through the meal.

-All through the meal, yes!

This is what we end up with. These are fantastic.

-The puffballs are nice, aren't they?

-They're unbelievable!

-OK.

The trick with this one now is to make a little hole there

and put all of your ingredients inside.

While you make a little hole, look at this. If you just check this out.

You can actually see it starting to rise up.

The secret is keep it in a nice hot oven I suppose. That's the secret.

A nice hot oven, yeah.

If you want ten perfect ones, expect to do 20 of those, yes?

-Look at that!

-Whoa!

Look at that! What a shot!

-FRENCH ACCENT:

-The magic puffball! Very good.

-A French accent!

-You can come back! What's next?

We've got our salad. I'll start stuffing it inside there.

-You and your tomatoes...?

-Yes, they're ready, yes.

You can bring all of this in here, fantastic.

I believe back in Tudor times, this was called a trencher,

when they used to serve bread as a plate and then people would

eat off it and then they'd give the bread to the poor...

-Bread was the first thing.

-..or the animals.

-What are you looking at me for?

-Just saying!

It's full of history, mate, full of history.

-Some anchovies... Stuff it in.

-Bit of this one, stuff 'em in.

-Be gentle with my puffball.

-I am gentle.

-You British men!

British brute!

-Get 'em in!

-I'm not surprised they don't win the rugby.

-Get in there!

-You've still got to win it yet.

-I know.

JOHN COUGHS OSTENTATIOUSLY

-There's an Australian over there.

-I know, exactly.

-Is that enough?

-That should be fine.

-One more.

OK, a bit more salad to close it up.

-Brilliant, isn't it?

-Are you ready?

I've got my dressing separate. This goes on in the end.

Here we go. Plate there.

-OK, I'll get you...

-Look at that.

-You take it to the table like that, and then...

-Take it to the table.

You've your dressing ready. I've got my dressing. I'm there.

Crack it open like that.

And then you eat from the inside. There you go.

-So, Richard, remind us what that is again.

-The magic puffball.

A magic puffball. Easy!

So, voila.

Fantastic. Right, come on over.

-Have a dive in.

-Thank you.

-Tell me what do you think.

-Merci. That looks so beautiful.

-Are you going to attempt something like that?

-Um, yes!

I'm going to be there all night doing my... Can I taste it?

-Yes, you might want a fork.

-Yes, I might.

That looks amazing.

Amazing, you could use it for a variety of different things.

-Oh, you can make anything you want.

-Oh, gorgeous. It's really good.

-Any filling. It's just nice.

-Don't you put soup in there sometimes?

Well, I make another dish

which is a bit thicker and you make a soup bowl.

It's baked in a different way, but you can make a soup bowl with it

and you can serve your soup bowl or your Indian takeaway and serve it in the bowl.

Takeaway! That's a lot of work for a takeaway!

What about little ones, like kids school lunches?

-Yeah, you can do that.

-That would be a clever thing to do.

You can do some tiny ones and make them square

and make some mousse inside.

For your little kid. You'll be coming back from the West End...

-Dive in, what do you reckon?

-Oh!

Clever, isn't it? Really clever.

Instead of the crouton, you get the bread as well.

Coming up I've got a stunning home-made meringue dessert

for model Jodie Kidd, but first here's Rick Stein.

The soil around Etna is extremely rich

and the lemons grown round here are world famous

and so is the granita,

a real Sicilian delicacy, made by Aurelio Licata

in the town of Sciacca.

He says his machines may look a bit old,

but they treat the lemons very gently and don't break the skins.

He only wants the juice and not the mashed-up pith.

HE SPEAKS ITALIAN

MACHINE WHIRRS

Then the lemon juice is mixed with sugar

and a little water and poured into this wonderful machine.

I think the creation of machinery like this

is a real testimony to man's ingenuity to create something really refreshing.

Sicily is home of ices in the Western world,

but they say it was the Arabs

who gave them the inspiration with their ice-cold sharbats or sherbets.

Granita is much grainier - which is what granita means - than a sorbet.

I just love watching this as the icy shavings turn to slurry which gets

thicker and creamier until it's time to serve.

I think a lemon granita is an Italian icon -

up there with Mario Lanza, caponata and the motor scooter.

Well, I'm in Porto Paolo which is just outside Menfi. I'm with Vittorio

and I'm really looking forward to eating this though which is...

which is porcini - the ceps, wild mushrooms -

with tomato, olive oil, a bit of white wine.

And he's going to do that with some vongole. It'll be perfecto.

He puts in some chopped tomatoes,

oil - olive oil of course -

garlic, the vongole,

basil...

Basilico!

Basilico, of course!

..chilli flakes.

And then he chops up a fresh green chilli.

Giorgio Locatelli told me about Vittorio in London

and that's why I'm here.

He rates him as probably the best seafood chef in Sicily.

He puts in some parsley and a good dollop of white wine

and then he gets the pasta going.

Oh...

Mwah! I've only just met Vittorio but the thing about cooks -

I know I like him. The reason I like him

is he wants to please me and that's what good cooks are all about -

thinking about who they're cooking for and pleasing them -

and he's just given me that clam because he knows I'll like it

and I've tried the sauce already and it's absolutely delicious.

I mean, he's a star!

And then he puts in the porcini, which literally means

"little pigs" in Italian,

and he gets on to make the pasta.

The thing that keeps cropping up with me with Italian cooking is generosity.

It's all about families,

it's all about big portions,

it's all about steaming bowls of lovely food.

Who could fail to have their appetite excited

about something like this?

-A tavola!

-Pronto. >

..tavola.

Well, this is the best bit of the whole job for me.

I always manage to splatter my shirt at moments like this

but I don't care - I love being in Sicily!

Mmm! Delicious!

Lovely al dente-ness about the pasta.

Excuse me.

In the hotel last night, there were some Americans

who said they'd met up with a strange Englishman

who was writing a book about Sicilian food

while exploring the island on a scooter.

Well, we all knew who they were talking about -

Matthew Fort, the Guardian's food writer and a friend of mine.

Food - have you had any decent meals yet?

I just had a slice, a big slice, of swordfish just grilled,

a little bit of oregano, lemon...

a lemon which... Lemon seasons it,

and lemon becomes almost salty when it's used in that way.

Just a perfect... I mean, God knows, it couldn't be simpler

but why can't we do that?

Why can't I do that? It's humbling, to be perfectly honest.

I totally agree and I think that's what makes this place so fantastic.

What a great way to taste the food of Sicily.

Matthew mentioned such a good dish -

simply grilled swordfish... Don't wave, Matthew!

..with a Sicilian classic sauce - salmoriglio.

I like doing these sort of simple dishes

with char-grilled food, with barbecued food outdoors.

It's the sort of thing where you can have a couple of friends sitting by

and have a bit of a chat and a glass of wine.

I always think it's quite nice when you're cooking, to have people around

but you don't really want them too close when you're in a busy kitchen

doing something rather over-complicated.

But this salmoriglio's really straightforward.

This is olive oil, water and lemon juice.

I'm adding oregano, flat-leaf parsley and celery tops.

Then I put in garlic,

freshly-ground black pepper and salt.

And this salmoriglio is probably the most popular sauce in the whole of Sicily

and it's really good with roasted meat.

So now to grill those lovely swordfish steaks. All they need

is a few flakes of dried chilli and a bit of seasoning.

Swordfish are best in late spring to early summer.

I was told that the Sicilian fishermen say something in Greek before they start fishing.

Now this is to trick the fish into thinking that it's Greek fishermen,

who are not very good at fishing, rather than Italian who are!

Well, that's what the Sicilians say. Well, they would, wouldn't they?

I've cooked the swordfish for four minutes on each side.

Now, that's really important so that it's nice and moist in the middle.

I mean, basically this is a classic, isn't it?

I mean, if you think of the perfect fish for a barbecue, it's swordfish

and the salmoriglio goes so well with it.

And just a green salad and some chips.

Nothing fancy. That's perfect for me.

I suppose Matthew is still on his scooter buzzing around Sicily.

It would be so good to have had lunch with him and yap about fish,

cheeses, tomatoes, great sauces, breads...

well, until the wine ran out!

Fabulous food as always from Rick,

and that sauce is perfect to go with almost anything

you cook outside this weekend, if the weather lets you of course!

It's been a bit rainy this week but that's brilliant for fruit and veg

-and you are diving into my fruit and veg already.

-It's so good.

-This is from my garden.

-I went out and picked this yesterday.

-I can't believe it!

-In the rain! Just for you.

-In the rain?

-Exactly that.

-Good man!

What we going to do is a little meringue but I thought, with child,

I thought I'd do a little fancy meringue swan for you.

-You're doing a fancy meringue!

-A fancy meringue for you.

Oh, my goodness! We're getting in the mood with Wimbledon coming up too.

All that kind of thing. Strawberries and everything else.

We're going to start off the meringue with egg whites,

four egg whites, but now, of course,

you can buy egg whites that are all pasteurised.

-Can you?

-So... Yeah.

-Oh!

Which I've used, and I have baked these ones,

but, if you can't find those... They're in supermarkets already.

Very popular in America as well,

but they've just started to come over.

Egg whites you can buy all ready in a tub in the supermarket,

already pasteurised.

I love that. I'm going to do that with the fingers.

I do it with the egg, with the top of the shell.

-Takes forever.

-Back and forwards. You don't need to do any of that.

-I like the fingers.

-Now, brought up in the Bahamas?

-Barbados.

-Barbados! Nice place to be brought up.

-Lovely. Lovely, lovely.

Yeah, my parents had a family home

in Barbados and so we used to always go back there

for the holidays, but lived here.

And that's where you got spotted by the great Terry O'Neill, of course.

It was indeed. On the beach.

While we were on holiday there and I was about 15-years-old

and they said...

Terry went up to my mum and said, "Oh, I think she could be a model,"

and I was very engrossed in horses

and showjumping as a junior and I was just going up to the next level.

Your family are quite heavily into that.

My dad was, yeah...

Was about to go to the Olympics with the showjumping team

until something happened to his horse.

But an amazing showjumper

and then went on to play polo.

So I kind of took after him

and was being a youngster, doing all the showjumping scene.

-Yeah.

-And then got spotted for modelling.

And I was just about to go up to seniors

and I needed to get a horsebox,

because I hadn't ever had my own horsebox.

So I thought, I'll give modelling a go

and maybe that will enable me to buy a horsebox.

Give it a go. I wanted to buy my grandad a lawnmower

so I went to be a pot washer.

You went to be a model!

But there was quite a bit of controversy at that particular time

about, you know, thin models.

Yeah, I came in...

When I started modelling it was the time of the quite androgynous,

girly-blokey kind of look, very dark photographs.

It was that period. I mean, fashion goes in this huge circle.

One minute it's very South American, beautiful, voluptuous,

then it's Cindy Crawford,

and then it'll go into androgynous look and waif,

and then it'll all come back again, so I came in at that period.

I've just got meringue here, I'm just going to show you this.

We need to take a little bit of the meringue, 200 grams of sugar.

Throw it in. There's no need to...

All that sort of messing around, folding in the egg whites.

Just, literally, throw the sugar in. All right, that's that.

-Just chuck it in.

-We're going to take the raspberries.

-Also, funny enough, out of my garden.

-Amazing.

We just carefully fold these in, like that.

And then this is where we start to build up our swans, you see.

So we take this

and place two pieces on each one. This is its wing.

-That's its wing?

-Kind of.

If it's going to be like a work of art, I won't be able to eat it.

It won't be a work of art - it won't be that good!

I'm sure you'll be able to eat it.

The idea is, you just pop this on there.

It's a great way, obviously, raspberries, strawberries,

-bang in season at the moment.

-Yep.

Really, really fantastic fruit in season at the moment -

especially in this weather.

It's going to go crazy with all this rain.

I was about to say, with all the rain.

-Yeah, it's going to make it go crazy.

-OK.

-Excuse me.

I know I shouldn't have licked my fingers, but it is delicious.

And then we take this and we just pop a little bit on here.

-Now, this is...

-What's that? To stick the thingy down?

To stick the thing, because if you've got a fan oven

-it'll look like the National Lottery balls.

-I'm terrible with ovens,

because I was brought up in the country and we're all AGA.

So I only know how to cook on an AGA.

You can't do these in an AGA.

-You can't?

-Well, you can, but I end up burning it as well. Do you?

These are its neck, you see? Now, make sure they're nice and thin.

Because Janet, our home economist, did this yesterday

and they looked like big fat ducks.

Sorry, Janet. You put that in the oven, and you end up with these.

And these go in at 200 degrees Fahrenheit, 100 degrees Centigrade.

And they go in

-and they're lovely and soft and sticky, you see.

-OK.

-I did these.

We're just going to finish this off. Add some more raspberries to this.

-Right.

-And while we're doing that,

because you're a jack of all trades now.

-Model, polo player...

-I know. I'm very confused, I think,

-in what my career path should be.

-..dancer, presenter...

golfer and racing driver.

Yes. I know.

-Because we're often on the race track together, aren't we?

-Yeah.

Down at Goodwood.

When it comes to sport, you're big on sport at the moment

-because you're doing this swimming thing. Tell us about that.

-I am.

Today, we're launching the British Gas Big Dip.

They've put a 25-metre pool

right into the middle of Clapham Common

and basically people can go along and they can swim,

they can do aerobics classes in the water,

there's a wonderful beach there - it's quite mad, it's brilliant.

-I went..

-This is purpose-built?

-It's purpose-built

and it's there for a month and then it goes up to Manchester.

And people can go along, take their whole family. They can sit on the beach,

relax, hopefully, if the sun comes out.

Or they can take part in a huge number of activities.

They've got volleyball, they've got water polo,

they've got fitness, aerobics in the water.

So this is all about encouraging people to swim as a family,

-that's the thing?

-Exactly, and to get out and be active and get sporty.

You know, we're hosting the Olympics next year

and it's a big drive to get people involved in doing sport.

You're nodding about swimming.

I'm a dolphin.

-I'm a Black Sea dolphin, myself.

-You are, a Black Sea Dolphin!

I just remember swimming at school.

You get the Bahamas and the Black Sea,

-I just got my local pool with a plastic brick.

-Exactly.

You always used to cheat.

You were like this... in your pyjamas, do you remember?

One foot on the floor.

Hopping along.

But it is great to get everybody involved in it.

Yeah, and swimming is such...

And I've found, actually, while I've been pregnant,

it's a lovely thing to do,

because the reason I really got into swimming

is that I've got a charity foundation I was raising money for last year.

So I thought, the best thing to do is do the marathon.

And so I started training for the marathon

and I'm just not built for running, I'm just...

Nor am I, love!

THEY LAUGH That's a good excuse.

As I'm about to put a load of cream on!

Great timing.

"Running's not my bag."

So I actually... My body couldn't handle it

with my bones and everything, so I did a swim.

It's called the British Great Swim

and you swim a mile and you can still raise money for charity

and it's very tough, actually, and you have to swim in open water.

-That was on the Thames, wasn't it?

-It was on the Thames.

But they have amazing other locations.

I should have done Lake Windermere up in the...

Where is Lake Windermere? I've got baby brain at the moment.

Up in the Lake District.

-And it's absolutely beautiful up there, but I chose the Thames.

-Yep.

Which was... No, it was great.

But it's quite daunting, swimming in open water,

where you don't have lines to follow,

and you're just in kind of murky water.

-And surrounded by these things.

-Look at that!

-These are your swans.

So you've got these.

Remember, you can do them out of normal eggs if you want,

I've actually done these out of pasteurised eggs

this morning for you.

-Specially.

-Especially for you - don't forget you can buy those anyway.

-And you get the little swans like this.

-That is like so sweet.

And you can, if you want, you could take that,

and do it as a tail.

-Oh, hello!

-Have you seen this?

-What can I say? Museum work. Museum work.

-It is! I don't want to eat it.

-This is all a bit fancy, this, isn't it?

-You're showing off, aren't you?

-And a bit like that.

And then, like most things in the UK, it's raining.

Oh, his bottom fell off.

-His bottom fell off!

-His bottom fell off.

It's raining!

Look at that. It's gorgeous.

Oh! I don't know what to say.

Just dive in it.

-Oh, the bum's going off again. Oh, dear.

-Just ignore that bit.

There we go. Stick a bit of mint in instead. How do I attack that from...

-It's kind of one of those massive... It's messy.

-Just dive in.

-Basically, in the cream, we've got some double cream.

-Oh, yeah, look.

A touch of vanilla,

I've got raspberries, which are blended through it.

Right at the last minute you dice in the fresh strawberries as well.

But if you're going out and you're near a garden centre this weekend

because you don't want to go to the course because it's bound to be raining,

get yourself strawberry and raspberry plants.

They're so simple to grow.

And how delicious are they?

You've just made a pregnant lady very, very happy.

-Thank you very much!

-LAUGHTER

Now, here's a real trip down memory lane.

All the way from our very first Saturday Kitchen,

and one of our very first recipes

from the brilliant Antonio Carluccio.

Buongiorno, Antonio.

Buongiorno to you,

and congratulations for your new programme.

Thank you very much. Thank you for coming on.

-I wish you a lot of success.

-This guy's an absolute genius.

So tell us what we're going to be cooking.

Costoletto di Agnello Ripiene.

-They are sort of stuffed lamb chops.

-Stuffed lamb chops.

My type of food, actually. So explain to us what we've got.

We've got the lamb chops here.

Yeah, wonderful lamb chops here. They're a bit too fatty for me,

so I will take away a bit of the fat.

You can ask the butcher to do it for you.

Now, you wouldn't use this fat, because back home in Yorkshire

we'd use this to make great roast potatoes.

-Yes, I know.

-Yes!

-Moving on.

-And I like it as well.

In fact, I was quite glad that the wonderful girl there

said that she liked offals.

She like offal, yeah. Natalie loves offal. So now, there we are.

I'll get rid of that for you.

-They are French and Italian-trimmed now.

-OK.

-This is what we call French trim.

-Exactly.

So you go to your butcher's, or your supermarket,

when you're buying these, get them to French-trim it.

-And they are to be quite high, like that.

-So quite thick.

So you are allowed to do an incision in it. And leave a space there.

-So you're making a nice little pocket inside.

-Yep.

-Lovely.

The pocket will be filled now with two special things. Oh, look at this.

Oh, look at that. Here, I'll do that one for you.

We'll rescue that one. So what's going to go inside these?

Now, we have Fontina cheese from the Aosta Valley,

which is a very lovely cheese.

-This is a cow's milk cheese?

-Yes, it tastes really of Alpine pasture.

And if people can't find any Fontina cheese?

They can use Gruyere or something melting. Then...

So, we fill it now with the Fontina.

Can you cut me two or three pieces of that, please?

-With pleasure, not a problem.

-And then we put here...

So I just want to go back to when you first came to the UK.

It wasn't food that brought you here, was it?

-It was the wine.

-1975. Yes.

I was a wine merchant, yes, at the time.

And I tasted various, various restaurants at the time

and I thought, "My goodness, the English cuisine is non-existent."

-You go to France, you eat French...

-Yeah.

-And I couldn't believe it.

So when, later on, I met Gary Rhodes and others, I said,

look, you have wonderful ingredients here in Britain,

-why don't you do something fantastic British?

-Yeah.

And now all of you are doing it.

The food has definitely changed over the past ten years, hasn't it?

-It's got better.

-Yep. Much better.

-Lovely, another bit of cheese.

Now, one thing that fascinates me as well,

I was in Rome last week and the markets fascinate me.

-Oh, yes.

-Oh! They're so passionate in Italy.

-With the big matronas touching everything.

-Exactly, it's fabulous.

But I think in the UK we're starting

to appreciate our own food, which is good.

Yes, because the most important thing

is to buy good food at the beginning. Yep.

Only like this, you can have...

-Right. What do you want me to do now?

-An egg.

-An egg.

-I can beat that up for you, no problem.

-Thank you.

I can do that.

There we go.

-Then we do flour first.

-Yeah.

To make sure that the egg sticks better.

-And breadcrumbs.

-Let me move that for you.

So on breadcrumbs, you would use fresh bread?

This is fresh. I mean, I would use eventually the dried one,

which are very good as well.

You let them dry first, and now then, you take away all the moisture.

And another one here.

-You can already put them in the...

-I can put that in there for you.

-Put a couple in. I'll move that.

-So a simple...

Now, when I was in Rome, as well,

they have a dish called... Is it Saltimbocca Alla Romana,

which has got the sage?

Yes. Sage and a little bit of pancetta, eventually.

-But that's with veal.

-Yeah.

-Little pieces of veal with that.

-Lovely.

Now we put the other one here.

Wonderful.

And while this is cooking, and it will take a very short time,

we do the salad. This is a wonderful thing.

You're very lucky today, because I have actually given you

spring onions from my garden.

LAUGHTER

-I've only got two!

-Oh, yes.

-And you've got them!

-That's all I've got.

-That's lovely.

-Now...

-I'll move that board for you. There you go.

Fantastic.

Got the helpers in there.

So we put also the green in the salad, because it's a lovely

sort of coarsely chopped, not the sort of fine, fine food.

Or refined food.

Rather a little bit coarse.

-I'm glad you're using all of it, anyway.

-Yes.

The world's most expensive spring onions, these things, I tell you.

Lovely. Then we have a bit of rucula, we can put it like this.

-It's already washed.

-That's my favourite.

-Rocket?

-Rocket, yes.

When you're using rocket as well,

why on earth do people in the UK do this?

-I don't know.

-This is the most important bit, it's fantastic.

The stalks as well. You must use the entire lot. Right.

-Can I just turn over...?

-No, leave it.

-Slap.

-And so then we cut a little bit of celery,

because it gives another extra dimension to the salad.

I remember a wonderful story,

I don't know whether you remember this, about eight years ago,

me and you were sat outside a restaurant,

and there was a party going on in the background...

I'd just started television, this guy's the master, really.

Who inspired me...

-You and me, we were sitting outside.

-We were sat outside.

-We didn't fall in love.

-No, we didn't fall in love, no.

You were telling me about

-all of your love life and life and it was fantastic.

-Listen,

-this is the best element for this salad.

-The mint.

In salad, it's lovely.

-Now you can turn it.

-Thank you.

-Now I can turn it over.

-Do something.

Do something, right, OK.

Wonderful.

Now this lamb doesn't take very long at all, does it, really?

-Serve it nice and pink.

-Yes, it's pink, has to be.

Then we put salt on the salad and a little bit of oil.

I'll clear this.

The oil first, because if you put the vinegar first then it bites the salad.

Now extra-virgin olive oil when you do that, and normal olive oil

when you use it for frying.

-Yes, and then a bit of pepper.

-But mint in salad leaves.

It's fantastic.

-Ever put mint in salad leaves?

-No.

-It's fabulous.

Just take a bag of supermarket salad

and just chuck loads of fresh mint in it.

-It really does taste superb.

-And then you mix it with your hands.

-So what have you got in there? White wine vinegar.

-It has to be a good one.

This one is a bit on the weak side.

But if you have a very strong one it is better.

And the salad is ready.

Lovely. I'll bring the plate across.

Now, how long did take to cook the entire meal? Look at this.

-Do you want a cloth?

-Thank you.

That's so simple, just like that.

It smells so fresh as well. It must be the onions.

Another little bit, I think they're done.

-The plate...

-I'll give you the tongs.

Give me two plates, because otherwise I can't make it.

-Yes, another one.

-You can have a pan, how's that?

No, that's fine, that's fine.

One.

I want to put all the...

So you've just seen just a couple of the fantastic salads

that we've got on offer today.

Lovely.

There we are.

Looking good.

-What do you reckon, guys?

-Fantastic.

-Smells lovely.

The master of Italian cooking.

-And you don't do anything fancy, put the salad underneath?

-Nothing.

-Look at that.

-That is the real thing.

Oh, lovely.

Explain to us that dish again. What is it in Italian?

HE SPEAKS ITALIAN

Fabulous. But the real test is of course the eating.

This salad smells divine.

Come on over, Antonio. Come on over. Have a seat. Join me. There you go.

Natalie, you first.

Join me as well, come on. It's always me on my own, come on.

Now be careful, it's hot.

It's lamb, hang on a sec. Lamb's my favourite, actually.

-One of them.

-A think it's superb, just pan-fried like that.

Of course, it's a great dinner party dish, this,

because you can prepare it in advance, put it in the fridge.

You can eat it cold as well.

Cold lamb, there's nothing better. It's fabulous.

Yeah, I like it cold when it's not really hit the fridge.

What we're talking about earlier.

Natalie, you can't eat it all. Here.

It's delicious.

Really nice.

I'm not sure about the comment on the stalks with the rocket.

-Well, I just love using the whole thing.

-I don't mind a bit,

but something you buy it and it's like...

When you buy the one which has long stock like that,

you have to go to certain more expensive shops...

-Sure.

-I love rocket just with Parmesan.

Olive oil. Just on its own.

-Simon, what do you reckon?

-The mint in the salad

is fantastic. And the lamb is obviously lovely.

In Italy, do you mind to do that?

-No, in fact, they do that.

-Yeah, that's what I like to do.

While he's munching on a lamb chop...

Yes, as unpolite as the Irish.

Now that was the first of so many great dishes

we've enjoyed from Antonio on Saturday Kitchen over the years,

and we'll be sharing more of them with you

on Best Bites in the coming weeks. Now, here's Valentine Warner

with some summer suggestions of what to eat right now.

Us Brits love slapping meat on the barbie.

Tender lamb chops, juicy pork and crispy-skinned chicken.

My absolute summer favourite is barbecued beef.

All the better if it's locally reared - and you don't have to live in the countryside to get it.

Something exciting is happening in our towns and cities.

Cambridge. Famous for the university...

rowing...cycling...

and cows?

Angelika Von Heimendahl always wanted to keep cattle,

but like many, she never imagined she'd be able to become a city farmer.

She's taken advantage of ancient laws that allow people to keep cattle on common land,

and now has 60 cows dotted around the city.

-Hi.

-Valentine.

-At last, the cattle queen of Cambridge.

-One way of putting it.

There's cars all around us, it's the middle of a city.

It's bang on in the middle. You couldn't have more traffic all around them.

And how does everyone feel about having the cattle around?

I think people have been very, very positive. It's a lived-in space, rather than an empty green.

There's common land available for grazing all over the country.

These cows are red pole, which are the original East Anglia breed,

and they're farmed for both milk and meat.

In an age where you could say we're quite removed,

cities and country are quite removed, this is kind of wonderful.

-I think it's great for children around here to see cattle in Cambridge.

-And you're farming it.

-And it produces wonderful meat.

-D'you get people knocking on your door at night going,

"Got any of those steaks?"

I have neighbours who say, "Have you got anything in the freezer?"

I'm hosting a barbecue later, and have invited the herd's nearest neighbours, the local rowing team.

So I need to get my hands on some of Angelika's beautiful beef.

-Hi, are you Andy?

-Yes, I am. Good to meet you.

-How are you?

-Very well.

That's a splendid looking piece of meat.

It's been lovely hanging out with these cows this morning, what, 200 metres from here.

It's so important now, with customer satisfaction, if they're happy where the product's come from.

They can see it themselves, cycle past it on the way to work.

While the rowing team work up an appetite,

Angelika has agreed to give me a hand with my recipe

of sirloin with chimichurri sauce.

Looks like something they used to burn witches on, doesn't it?

Well... Yeah, are there any witches? I can see one of your cows right down on the end.

-I'm standing on the other.

-They've moved away from us, haven't they?

-I don't blame them.

We're going to go Argentinean,

chimichurri sauce to slosh around on top. A lot of chillies and garlic.

-So you're going to cut one, so do you want to stink or do you want to sting?

-Stink.

Stink. OK, you can do the garlic.

'I chop a handful of spicy red chillies, whilst Angelika sets to work on ten cloves of garlic.'

-Would you like a bigger knife?

-No, I'm all right.

You chop like my mother.

Well.

'I hope the rowers aren't in any rush.'

'Add a generous amount of dried oregano and salt.'

They're building up an appetite for us later.

'And I've taken over the chopping so they actually get fed today.

'Add plenty of parsley, red wine vinegar, olive oil and cold water.'

What's the water for?

Just to loosen it up, it's not something that should be too thick

and the thing is that it has to sit for a while.

One, two, three days, it's just going to get better and better.

'Rub the beef with a little sunflower oil and add a generous scattering of salt.'

With such big pieces of meat, I'm going to cook with the lid

and the whole thing acts like an oven, rather than being bashed from one side.

'Don't be frightened of cooking big joints on the barbecue - they'll be fantastically juicy.'

-Do we agree we both like it rare?

-Yes, I like it rare.

-Well, the rowers can just have what they're getting.

-Whatever's left over!

Add the beef, fat side down, and sear.

-Smell it already.

-Straightaway. I'm really excited about eating this.

We want ours rare, so cook for about 40 minutes.

This is the perfect summer alternative to the Sunday roast.

And lid on.

It's so tasty, all it needs is a simple tomato, red onion and basil salad on the side.

You can hear it sizzling away in there.

Ooh.

The sirloin needs to rest for a good ten minutes,

which leaves the rowers plenty of time to sort themselves out.

Oh, my goodness me.

COW MOOS

Ah, that was approval, approval from the cow.

Come on, guys. Dinner's ready.

Come and get it. It's her beef.

Those cows.

You can't get it more local than this if you tried.

-Amazing. Awesome.

-Good.

Lovely. It's wonderful.

That sirloin, I think it's fantastic,

really fantastic and flavoursome.

The chimichurri on top, slightly pokey,

it's a very joyous affair going on on the plate.

Proof positive that fantastic local food is available everywhere,

even in the most unusual of places.

There must be no beef left.

-Is that a challenge?

-Yeah, it is, actually.

-Including that?

A big lump of sirloin's great for a crowd,

but if you're cooking for two, how about lovely British rose veal chops?

At this time of year, I like to serve mine with a delicious Italian salmoriglio dressing.

First up, the marinade.

Coat the chops with olive oil, fennel seeds and the rind of a lemon.

Roughly slice a whole bulb of garlic and scatter on to the meat,

along with a handful of rosemary.

Add some thyme and roughly torn sage leaves, and mix.

Leave to infuse in the fridge for a few hours.

Then add the chops to the grill and season well with salt.

The heady, herby, lemony smell will definitely whet your appetite.

Five minutes each side should do.

Whilst the chops cook, prepare the sauce.

Finely chop lots of marjoram leaves and add a generous amount of olive oil.

Zing it up with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt.

Allow the chops to rest, then spoon over the dressing.

And there you have it - herby, heavenly barbecued veal chops.

Wow, wow, wow.

Wow.

You can cook almost anything on a barbecue.

Don't stop at sausages and burgers - be creative.

Here are my top five weird and wonderful summer sizzlers.

First up, lamb's liver.

Not what springs to mind when you think of a barbecue, but why not?

Brilliantly cheap and deliciously tasty.

Thread onto a skewer...

It is sensational on the barbecue.

Sprinkle with ground cumin and salt. Then grill.

Snatch them away quite quickly.

They'll be perfectly pink in the middle.

Finish with onions, coriander and lime.

I can't tell you how good that is.

If, like me, you love to make bread,

why not barbecue it? It's so much easier than you might think.

Make a simple dough, roll it into hand-sized pieces

and throw on the grill.

Look at that - magic bread. It's impressive stuff.

Turn up with the bread, fling it on, puffs up, everyone goes "wow".

Lettuce - not just for the salad bowl.

Gem lettuces.

Perfect dressed with olive oil and salt.

The slight char-grilled taste and the soft crispy lettuce is really fantastic.

As are spring onions, done the same way.

Well, fried onions - it's always a good smell.

A squeeze of juicy lime.

You can't get easier than that.

And finally, the wonderful.

Fruit can be great barbecued, and pineapple has to have a place on the grill.

Chuck it on the hottest part of the barbecue.

Burnt sugar always smells good.

Even better splashed liberally with white rum.

Boozy, refreshing, hot, caramelised, delicious. Grilled pineapple.

Fish is a summer staple on the barbecue,

but what about shellfish? For me, lobster is the king of the grill.

I absolutely love them.

I want to get my hands on one, and at this time of year,

I won't be needing a boat or a lobster pot to do just that.

I've been looking forward to spending a sunny day at the beach, bagging one for myself.

As Britain's coastal waters warm up over the summer,

lobsters become more active and will scuttle inshore.

This makes them easier to catch,

their price comes down and this is good news

as I love delicious, sweet lobster.

And what a glorious day for going to try and catch some.

This typical British summer weather isn't going to put me off.

Freshly caught lobster is such a treat, it's definitely worth getting your socks wet for.

So I've come to North Devon, to meet local lobster gaffing expert Charlie Braddick.

Charlie, I can't say I've ever met anyone like this before,

knee-deep in a rock pool.

There we go, we've got to get wet to get these things.

You're going to tell me the secret art of lobster gaffing.

'Gaffing pre-dates lobster potting, and is the art of catching lobsters

'in the rocks during low tide with a gaff.

'Charlie uses a bamboo cane with a hook on the end.'

Try and hook it into them and then you can pull them out.

You lead the way. Time to get wet!

'He's worked the area's rocks his whole life,

'so knows exactly where all the little hidey-holes are located.'

If I was a lobster, I'd be in there too.

You would? And I'd catch you.

I feel like Bilbo Baggins crossing Mordor.

Come on, keep up.

'Despite the weather, Charlie insisted that I come gaffing today.

'It's a spring tide, meaning the tide should be a long way out,

'leaving plenty of lobster hiding places exposed.'

This is rock-pooling for grown-ups. It reminds me of childhood holidays.

But you had a little net then. I've got a gaff now.

'And I'll brave anything to land a lobster.'

Feel anything boxing your cane?

Oh, yes, yes.

Shall I have a double check?

Come on, maestro.

That's what was boxing it.

A velvet swimming crab.

Not what we want. Edible, but slim pickings.

In Devon, as we're eating them ourselves, there's no limit to how many lobsters we can catch.

But frankly, I'd be happy to get just one right now.

There's a lot of good, tasty seaweed lying around.

Rather you than me.

-Another hole here.

-Great.

-I feel I can hear something moving around.

-Can you?

In you go.

Is there anybody in...? Yes. Oh.

There's a lobster here.

Well, no - it's another crab.

-Next hole.

-Next hole.

'Gaffing is dependent on the tide being out, and unfortunately for us

'it's now coming in, and time's running out for our lobster hunt.'

Here we go.

Got one? Yes!

'Spoke too soon.'

Kicked his claw off.

We had a lobster for a second.

Sadly, it...it was all rather a disarming experience!

'Lobsters regularly shed limbs to avoid danger,

'but are able to re-grow them,

'so this escape artist won't be armless for too long.

'But time and tide wait for no man, and I'm going to have to look for lobster elsewhere.'

-Well, that's fishing.

-That's fishing for you.

Charlie sent me to meet an old friend of his,

who thinks she's got special powers when it comes to this elusive crustacean.

-Felicity.

-Val, hello.

-The lobster whisperer at last!

-That's right.

Retired fishmonger Felicity Sylvester is mad about lobsters.

And she's got two big 'uns at the ready for me.

But before I'm allowed to cook them, she's going to show me her peculiar skill.

I'll hypnotise this one. I learned it from an Indian gentleman.

He said to me, "If I threw you in a vat of boiling water you'd tense up and be very tough."

Because the terror before you entered the water would make you very unrelaxed.

So he convinced me really, that to hypnotise a lobster

would actually enhance its favour.

So this is lobster yoga?

You use the claws to put him, as you said, into the yoga position.

And you say...

Go to sleep, lobster.

Go to sleep, lobster.

'Felicity believes that by hypnotising the lobster,

'it invokes a becalmed state - therefore a more relaxed death and juicier, more tender meat.'

Go to sleep, lobster. Go to sleep.

'Even I'm starting to drift off.'

He shouldn't move now. OK, so it's your turn.

So I up-end my lobster.

And sort of try and make sure it's got a nice yoga position.

Go to sleep, lobster. Go to sleep, lobster.

You cannot resist the power of my charms, lobster.

Go to sleep, lobster.

He is succumbing to your charms, Val.

Ignore the chillies, lime and garlic.

Oh, now, don't be cruel to it.

Sorry, sorry. No, I am taking this deadly seriously.

I'm not thinking foodie thoughts.

No. No, no, no. Whisper to it.

(Go to sleep, lobster. Go to sleep, lobster.)

That's one of the most extraordinary things I've ever done or seen.

There you go, you see.

'And with the lobsters deeply hypnotised,

'my preferred method of killing them is by piercing them firmly through the indent on the back of the head,

'which kills them instantly.'

Any movement that might occur in the lobster

after it's been cut in half is purely nerves, the animal is dead.

So we're going to go Mexican on this one. Lots of garlic and chilli.

'I'm making Lobster Mojo de Ajo, a dish inspired by my travels in Central America.'

'Whilst Felicity peels a whole bulb of garlic, I chop up a couple of smoked chipotle chillies.'

I like this chilli because of its fantastic, fruity,

strong, smoky taste.

'The chopped garlic goes into a pan with some light olive oil for about ten minutes.'

Glug that in, just so the garlic's coloured.

'But it mustn't burn, so keep the heat very gentle.'

That garlic's changed colour, it's a dark ivory colour. Take that off.

'Add the chopped chillies.

'Throw in a teaspoon of salt and the juice of one lime.'

Can you taste that little bit of lime in the oil?

Mmm.

I'm going to crack the claw.

Cos you don't want to be doing that once it's cooked.

Brush the punchy oil onto the lobster, and barbecue for around four minutes each side.

I'm feeling very lobster-like.

Stand on your head and I'll hypnotise you!

Once it's turned a bright pink colour, it's ready to eat.

Dress with the chilli and garlic from the oil, and tuck in.

Mmm, that's so good! Whoa.

Fantastic.

I have to say, that's the way it should turn out.

Tasting extra tender, don't you think,

because of it being hypnotised?

Of course, a very tender hypnotised lobster.

And the rich, sweet meat, the smoked chilli.

Yes. It's lovely. Absolutely lovely.

I'm going to finish this half.

Now, we're not cooking live in the studio today,

we're showing you highlights from the Saturday Kitchen recipe archives.

Still to come on today's Best Bites -

Atul Kochhar goes up against Cyrus Todiwala

in the all-Indian omelette challenge.

They call Ken Hom the wizard of the wok -

this garlic chicken recipe with Szechuan noodles

is seeing the great man at his very best.

Talk show host Jerry Springer faced his Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Did he get the mighty cheeseburger and skinny fries for Food Heaven,

or a mint and vodka panna cotta with sauted strawberries,

that was lined up for Food Hell?

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

Now, here's Paul Rankin with a sizzling summertime recipe.

-What are you cooking?

-It's a char-grilled tuna.

Tuna's a lovely summer sort of fish.

Going to sort of pepper it and coriander it. To give it a little bit of spice and flavour.

-Little bit of salt going on there, as well.

-Coriander seed? Not...

-Coriander seed, absolutely.

And the vinaigrette or salsa that we're going to do,

we're going to roast the red onion and tomatoes

under the grill - bit of olive oil and coriander seed.

Then we add lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and a bit of fresh coriander.

We're going to serve that with these matchstick shoestring potatoes and a little salad.

-So, let's get cracking.

-You want me to do the old potatoes? You do the tomatoes.

You get that sort of cut up first,

-but...

-Now, for these potatoes, you can't really do it without using a mandoline.

You can spend ages...

You can if you're very good with a knife.

And to a certain extent, they don't need to be perfect, you know.

The trick with the shoestring potatoes is to use a good potato, first of all. A fairly new one.

What would people go for, really?

-You know, new season Maris Pipers or Cyprus potatoes. That sort of thing, you know?

-Yup.

And those are going to cook up really well for you.

Now, with the tomatoes, I just give them a little nick. I take out the little stalk.

It's a sort of cheffy thing, you don't really need to do that.

About 10 or 15 seconds into boiling water.

And especially for something like this sort of vinaigrette, I like to take the skin off, yeah?

Something like a salad, I wouldn't always take the skin off.

And then whack them into cold water.

So, the idea is with these potatoes, just cold water...

-just to crisp them up. And then just dry them off really well. That's the secret.

-Yeah.

Before you deep-fat fry them.

But also, you don't want to deep-fat fry them too hot, do you?

No, no. Because what you're really trying to do is crisp them up.

If you cook them too high, what's going to happen is that they'll go brown,

but they'll still be soggy in the middle.

-So you won't get that lovely crispy effect that we're after, you know?

-OK. So, what - about 160?

About... Yeah, 160, 170.

-160.

-160.

-Yeah.

But you can start them at 170, cos they're going to drop the temperature...

170.

Make that 165.

-I thought you were going to peel the tomatoes for me.

-I'm doing my chips.

And he's totally decided to do something else!

It's great, isn't it? Cos I'd rather do my own chips.

It's great making chips, isn't it, Nat?

-Do you like your chips?

-I like my chips.

-I thought so, aye.

Thank you very much.

Right, do you want me to peel those?

Well, what I would like you to do,

because I need to get the onion started...

You can chop the onion if you want.

I'll chop them up, yeah.

Cut them in half like this...

-and then just squeeze the seeds out.

-You don't want the seeds?

It's no big deal, but we don't really want the seeds.

So the red onion, it's quite a rustic recipe.

It's not one of those recipes you're going to read - apart from the shoestring potatoes -

and say, "No, I can't do that, I can't do julienne cut

"or I can't do shoestring fries or something."

We're just going to cut these in nice chunks.

It's nice and rustic, it's simple...

and it's all about the good ingredients.

So this time of year, we're talking fine olive oil,

nice fresh red onions, you know.

They've got nice bite at this time of year. And the tomatoes are full of flavour.

So, the other thing I need to get in there is the coriander seed.

Now, coriander seed has a lovely sort of orangey, slightly spicy flavour and aroma to it.

-Nat, you're not a big fan of coriander, are you?

-No.

-Coriander seed or coriander leaf?

-Cos the two taste totally different.

-Obviously.

-Which don't you like?

It's the leaf I think that I'd probably identify.

He's about to put a bush of that in it as well.

You're a man of poor taste, Nat!

Fennel's the veggie of the gods.

IRISH ACCENT: You're hardly cooking the tuna at all.

They invented ovens for a reason.

Sushi's out the window.

-This is a cracker, man!

-No, I think you're right...

So if we just mix those up a little bit...

All the way from Ireland to cook fish and chips, that's all it is.

Whack 'em under the grill, really good hot grill.

Just until they're starting to blister.

Now, we haven't even started the tuna yet.

Well, you've got three minutes left.

Three minutes left. Are you serious?

-Yes.

-Talking too much. OK, here we go.

Ground up the pepper and the coriander.

Now, there's nothing quite like freshly cracked pepper.

So, I think this is a step that makes a huge difference.

Yeah, OK.

The tuna. These lovely tuna steaks.

No funny bits on it. No skin, et cetera.

-Little bit of salt going on there.

-Yup.

Do salt on both sides.

Little bit of pepper... No, we've got the pepper in there,

that's right. So, I'm only going to crust it on one side, yeah?

And this will not take very long to cook. This will take about two and half minutes,

-is that how long it'll take to cook?

-Yeah, it's kind of like that. Because it's all you've got left!

Ah, perfect. So, on to a really hot char-grill.

Whack it up. And now I need some lemon juice, James, please?

Yeah, it's coming, Chef. Yeah.

-Lemon juice.

-I like the way you call me Chef!

So we're just going to give a little criss-cross onto this.

Chips are going to be great, anyway, that's the thing...

If it's sticking... Your fish might stick for two reasons.

One, your grill's maybe not quite not enough...

Number two - if it's a little bit wet it might stick as well.

Now, I mentioned you've been extremely busy.

How many restaurants have you got now, in Ireland?

I've got like, three main restaurants - Cayenne, Roscoff, Rain City -

and then I've got five cafes.

And it's all too much, it's all a bit too much.

And struggling for chefs, is that right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah - if there's any chefs out there, you want a job...

I'm your man. You'll work beside me.

It's not as hectic as this normally.

Yeah, you could make chips all day, it's brilliant.

I'll make you work harder than James Martin!

I need a decent-sized bowl for this.

-They've stolen all the bowls.

-There you go.

Now, lovely roasty, toasty in there.

You could add a touch of sugar, if your tomatoes weren't sweet enough.

In goes the lemon juice. Remember we've got the coriander seed in there already.

In goes the fresh...

..coriander.

I'll turn that over.

And then lots of extra-virgin olive oil.

Lots of extra-virgin olive oil, yeah.

-How much?

-Plenty.

Perfect, perfect. OK.

Bit more salt in there.

And it's as easy as...

-Where's the fries? Have you seasoned those?

-The chips are perfect.

-Seasoned?

Yeah, a little bit too much salt now. But other than that...

Little bit of fresh rocket going onto this now.

This is what's going to give it a lovely salady...

Got a spoon? I'll give that tuna one more turn.

No, leave it, James. You're going to ruin it...

Lovely bright colours. Lovely, fresh easy to eat.

And use a good quality olive oil. As good a quality as you can afford.

-Yeah.

-Chips go at the back.

-Make them nice and high.

-You could do this

-on the barbecue tomorrow.

-It's exactly that sort of thing.

If the sun is shining, buy yourself some tuna.

That will be nicely rare in the middle. Just as I like it.

And that is my seared tuna

with roast red onion and tomato vinaigrette.

Don't forget the chips!