Episode 39 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning. A sumptuous selection of tasty treats coming right up in today's Best Bites.

Welcome to the show.

We've got some marvellous, mouth-watering morsels

from the Saturday Kitchen back catalogue for you to enjoy.

These tempura battered bananas with a white chocolate mousse

for Olympic gold medallist Sally Gunnell.

That just looks lovely.

And it tastes...

I don't know how many calories it's got for tomorrow.

-But you'll be burning them off.

-Mmm!

Theo Randall's food is perfect for a summer weekend.

And this chargrilled beef dish with fritto misto

and chilli sauce would make a sizzling Sunday lunch.

Atul Kochar has a spicy chicken recipe.

It's a country captain curry with crispy shallots

and steamed rice, and it's delicious.

Peter Andre faces his Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Lamb with sweet potatoes, ready for Food Heaven,

or a red lentil tarka daal with naan bread in line for Food Hell.

Find out what he gets at the end of the show.

First, here's the brilliant Scottish chef Tom Kitchin, with a recipe

using something you don't often use very much at home - razor clams.

What are we cooking? Because these are unusual,

people wouldn't normally go for these, but they taste incredible.

They are unbelievable. It's a dish I'm really fond of.

It's on the menu just now in the restaurant.

We're going to open the razor clams

mariniere style, with some shallots and white wine.

You're going to dice up the summer vegetables.

-I've got a lot of veg to dice.

-Off we go.

Just run through the summer veg for us. What have we got?

We have got fennel, broad beans, carrot and courgette.

I'm not dicing broad beans, I hope!

No, we're just going to pod them.

-They're just beautiful this time of year.

-OK. Little bit of that.

-You're going to start the shallot, excellent.

-This is for the clams.

What is it about razor clams?

We should be eating more of them, really.

I suppose it's accessibility, really.

Yes, any good fishmonger would be able to get hold of these.

If you want to try them,

you have to pre-order them at your fishmonger, and cook them away.

The secret is to make sure you don't overcook them.

As soon as you overcook them, you're in trouble.

Into the pan. Shallots.

Make sure you have your lid next to you, ready. In with the white wine.

And lid on.

And cook in almost like the style of mussels, mariniere style.

Yes, we just want them to spring open, like that.

And the important thing to do is,

we're going to keep the shells,

and we're going to keep the cooking liquor to make the sauce.

-Really, they're cooked already.

-Nice and cooked, yeah.

-Just gently opened, like so.

-Ever tried razor clams before?

I love razor clams. I've had them a couple of times.

It's the sort of thing you go to the fishmongers, you look at them

and you always just bottle it and the last minute. "Oh, no..."

You end up...

It's really sad, you end up buying prawns or something like that. But they are delicious.

I think it's not knowing what to do with them.

If people see how quickly they actually are to prepare.

But you don't overcook them, that's the thing.

And they've got that lovely sweet flavour, like scallop.

-But a little bit cheaper, aren't they?

-A lot cheaper.

But I always end up overcooking fish.

I don't know, you know,

you just sort of lose your nerve a little bit.

I know you shouldn't cook it too much, should you?

I think that's the key, particularly with these.

You can tell straight away whether they're cooked.

As long as you don't overcook them.

As soon as you overcook them, they will go very rubbery.

We've really just opened them.

Then we're going to cut them into thin slices.

We'll put them through the vegetables.

Chorizo, which you're going to serve with it,

you serve that in your restaurant, don't you?

Yeah, we serve razor clams, chorizo, tarragon and broad beans,

very similar to what Tom is doing.

Great combination of flavour and texture. Great seasonality.

It's a great dish to have.

It's that meat and scallops sort of flavour,

I know we've had a chef on who cooked pork belly

with scallops as well, fantastic. Fantastic combination.

It's lovely. So I've just diced the chorizo,

I'll pop that in the cooking jus there.

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

-Thank you very much.

So, over here, we're just finely dicing my fennel, courgette.

Funny how I always get to dice everything on this show!

It's all I do, I spend every single Saturday morning doing this.

-Anyway, dicing this.

-Can I ask a question?

-Fire away.

How can you tell what a good chorizo is? There are so many available.

Some of them are big, some of them you get slices of them.

-What's a good test for a good chorizo?

-I think picante.

-Tom, I don't know about you.

-That's an excellent variety, yes.

The word picante means, well, spicy or paprika.

When you get that spiciness and paprika, you get the predominant flavour coming out onto the dish.

I think about an inch in diameter is a good size to go for.

If it's too big, when it gets air-dried,

the outside is over-dried and the middle is still moist.

So about an inch in diameter, you get an even balance all the way through the chorizo.

-Now you're working for Simon Cowell, you're obviously getting paid a fortune...

-He keeps it all himself!

But you can buy one, which is from the Iberico pig,

which is the black-footed pig, that is really the creme de la creme.

-And should you keep it in the fridge?

-Yeah, you can do.

Some of them are air-dried, which you can slice,

and some of them you have to cook.

Yeah. OK, so we've got our cooking liquor reducing with the chorizo.

I think we're going to add a little bit of anchovy in there

as well, which is going to bring that lovely saltiness.

Not too much, because it is quite powerful.

We want this veg frying away, so I'll get this...

Just with a nice little crunch, if you can.

And we've got all the diced veg.

And I've kept the shells there,

which I'm going to serve the razor fish dish back inside the shells,

so that goes properly with my whole philosophy of "from nature to plate."

So people can really understand where it's come from.

Which leads me on to your book, is that why you said it?

THEY LAUGH

-I've not been doing this telly stuff for long!

-Exactly, go on.

-It's not out yet, is it?

-No, it's out in August.

-Right.

It's called Tom Kitchin, From Nature to Plate.

And it's all about my passion for seasonality and, you know,

getting the suppliers known for what they are doing as well,

which is vitally important, I think.

-That's the ethos of your restaurant.

-Massively.

The great thing about Scotland is you have one of the best

larders in the world.

It IS the best larder in the world! It's phenomenal.

-Not further south...

-I'd say Wales has the best.

You're the wrong side of the Pennines, boys, it's Yorkshire. Sorry!

Lovely.

Right, we're going to do the squid last-minute, just going to toss that.

So these little broad beans, you literally just...

I don't even think you need to peel them, they're so small.

So, these are going to get sauteed off.

You want a little crunch to them?

-Yeah, a little bit of crunch, exactly.

-OK.

-You want some herbs chopping, I take it?

-I know you like chopping,

Jim, so I'm going to put the chives on your board.

I spend my life doing this. Right, little bit of herbs.

We've got some chives here.

Why the anchovy, then? Why is that?

Just for that lovely little saltiness,

the anchovy and the chorizo, I think they work fantastically well together.

Right.

There we've got the cooking liquor from the razor clams, reducing,

with the flavour of the chorizo, the anchovy.

A touch of cream.

You get that nice colour from it as well,

when you use that nice picante one.

Exactly. Look at that, all coming together.

And this is something I'm really trying to bring

into the restaurant, this whole ethos of cooking things from scratch

and then straight onto the plate, so you've got 100% freshness there.

OK.

It's interesting when you see people go out

and try to catch these, though. On the sand.

-You've got to be fast.

-You've got to be fast.

They literally just pour a little jug of salted water into the hole,

they pop up, you grab hold of them before they go back down again.

Talking of fast, we've got a very quick way of cooking squid.

Yeah, again, it's the same principle as with the razor fish,

we don't want to overcook it, and we don't want to put it in the cold pan.

I'll move the pan over there!

-I'll do that, then! OK, I'll let you season that.

-That's lovely.

You've got your beans and everything there.

My beans and my chopped herbs.

Lovely. In with the razor fish.

OK, just mix that through.

You've got all those lovely flavours there.

And this is, you know, an ingredient that people don't use all the time,

but hopefully this will inspire a few people to go to

their fishmonger and buy it, because it's really fast and easy.

So, all you've done with that is reduced the cream a little bit,

so it's almost like a congealed sort of sauce.

Yeah, with the cooking liquor of the razor fish when we opened them.

And we're nearly ready to go.

I'll do this while you plate up, that's all right.

So, you're just using baby squid for this one?

-Baby squid, nice and tender.

-Yeah.

We're just going to saute that gently with a little bit of salt

and cracked pepper. Get the shells on the plate.

Like so.

-Extremely hot pan, you want, for this one.

-Yeah.

-In with the razor clams.

-Bit of black pepper.

-Watch your hair!

Sorry, Tom!

-It's trademarked, that hair, you know that?

-It's your trademark?

-Yeah.

There you go. Little bit of that.

So really, with squid, you want to cook it...seconds.

-That's the thing with this one.

-Look at that, that's lovely. Mm!

Not for very long at all. That's it, it's there.

-Tom, I've got your squid ready.

-Thank you.

Nicely coloured.

And then we're just going to get the tentacles and a few rings...

-..over the top, like so.

-Often when you're preparing squid,

you can turn it out and then slice it into rings,

-keeps them nice and round.

-That's it.

-Flowers on as well.

-Few flowers, make it pretty.

-And a few herbs.

-Not too many,

otherwise it'll be like a harvest festival.

-That's it, lovely.

-You know what I mean?

-And there we have it.

-Look at that.

-Isn't that delicious?

-Remind us what that is again.

So, we've got Scottish spoots, or razor fish as you call it down here,

summer vegetables, sauteed squid and some lovely summer flowers on top.

I still like the name spoots! Look at that.

It looks delicious. There you go, have a seat.

-Now, with the flowers on, it does look rather pretty.

-Wow!

Dive into that, I know you like your razor clams.

-Ladies?

-No, after you!

Just the smell of it itself, you can just smell the flavours,

you know it's going to taste good.

With the chorizo, that's a great combination.

It's so fresh as well, and the little crunch of the vegetables

-and the chopped herbs, it should be a wonderful combination.

-Happy with that?

Oh, that's amazing.

Coming up, I've got a banana recipe with an added surprise

for Olympic gold medallist Sally Gunnell.

But first, here's the brilliant Rick Stein.

'I really like this statue of Eric Morecambe.

'It makes everyone who sees it smile.

'But also at night, when blue lights shine on it, it becomes

'a very useful navigational aid for the local fishermen,

'like Ray Edmondson, who goes shrimping in Morecambe Bay.

'Ray used to gaze out of the windows

'where he worked at ICI at the little fishing boats in the bay,

'and he longed to be on board.

'Then he was made redundant and he fulfilled his dreams.

'He is one of the last two shrimpers on Morecambe Bay.'

Cor, just look at all these crabs!

You can make great soup with these crabs.

-What, these?

-Yeah!

-Shore crabs?

-Yeah.

-Oh, I just shovel them back.

I bet you do.

In Spain, I've seen them piled up in Barcelona Fish Market,

-big piles of them, they must use them for soup there.

-Yeah.

-And here's me, shovelling them away!

-I know!

I tell you what, this flipping dog,

I'm glad he doesn't eat my shrimps as fast as he's eating those crabs!

Eh? Dearie me.

They've got to be boiled while they're alive.

Because if they aren't, when you come to peel them, they won't peel.

-Are they soft?

-Yeah, yeah.

'These are brown shrimps,

'they've got a more concentrated flavour than the pink ones.

'Perfect for potted shrimps.

'I went into a local supermarket and asked for some.

'They said, "We don't sell them".

'Here's a case of ignoring something that's more famous

'than the town itself - nearly as famous as Eric!'

I reckon any cook worth his salt should be able to taste

something like this in its natural state, just freshly cooked,

like shrimps straight out of the bay at Morecambe,

or new potatoes straight out of your garden, into boiling, salted water.

Just as a sort of touchstone for how things should taste.

Because sometimes you taste these shrimps,

they've been long frozen and they're dried out, over-salty.

-And you just think, what's all that about?

-Yeah.

But if you could come out here and just taste this like it is,

like it should be, it's just so evocative of where you are, somehow.

If you come to Morecambe, it's worth going to Ray's little shop,

where he sells his own potted shrimps.

He and his wife Pat and son Paul pick out the freshly caught shrimps,

then mix them with butter, cayenne, white pepper, ground nutmeg and salt.

Then, they stir in the freshly peeled shrimps.

They've got to be good, they were only caught

at 11 o'clock this morning!

They are given a good old coating in all this mixture,

based on the original Poulton recipe.

Poulton was the old name for Morecambe.

It was used more as a preservative than for the taste,

but the flavour became so popular,

people came from miles around to buy them.

That's it, really - caught, picked, potted, all in a day.

Everyone say "fish!"

ALL: Fish!

'Across the other side of Morecambe Bay

'is the little village of Flukesborough.

'The word fluke is another word for flounder.

'I went flounder fishing with Michael Wilson.

'I'd never been fishing in a tractor before.

'I felt like I was on a camel in the desert, out of Lawrence of Arabia.

'There are miles and miles of sand, and fishermen put out their nets

'the previous night, below water, and waited until the tide came in.

'And as it ebbed, it revealed the extent of the day's catch.

'There is a remarkable sense of space out here,

'made sharper by the fact that it's borrowed from the sea.

'It can be very dangerous, the incoming tide can outrace you.

'I hoped the ancient tractors were going to start.'

Yorkie! Come here!

'In the nets, there were lots of flounders, beautiful, prime fish.

'The reason flounders are so prolific here

'is because they feed off little shells called henpens,

'and also little cockles.

'I was hoping that local Flukesborough flounder

'would be on the menu back at the hotel, but it wasn't.

'Only a strange fish called a queenfish, from the Indian Ocean!'

How much are you getting for these flounders, then, these flukes?

-All we get is 80p a pound for them.

-Why so little?

-I don't know, really.

People just want plaice.

They've never had flukes, no-one bothers with flukes, really.

And we can't catch plaice, not here.

What do you think about the British attitude to fish,

that they won't eat flounder, they'll only eat plaice?

We're just a nation brought up on cod and chips now, aren't we?

They won't try any other sort of fish except for cod or...

Cod or haddock, that's all.

To me, there's no difference in that...

to a plaice. That just looks the same as a plaice to me,

except for it hasn't got them little spots on it.

People won't eat it because of that.

'Michael's absolutely right about the fluke or flounder.

'The ones from round here are sensational.

'I mean, they're firm and sweet,

'and the best way I know to cook flounder

'is deep-fried flounder with Costelloise sauce.

'It's quite unusual, but it's like hollandaise,

'only it's made with olive oil instead, which makes it very light.

'So, first of all, you put some olive oil in a small pan

'and bring it up gently to about blood heat.

'Then you break a couple of egg yolks into a bowl and add the juice

'of about half a lemon and about 1.5 fluid ounces of water or so.

'Whisk that together, very, very thoroughly.

'You've got a pan boiling on the heat,

'so you put the eggs over the steaming saucepan

'and whisk very, very briskly to build up your sabayon.

'That will take about a couple of minutes,'

and you've got to have a strong wrist to do it, but it's very important,

because it makes the final sauce so light and voluminous.

Now you pull the pan off the stove and start to add the olive oil.

A little bit at a time to start with.

Just beating it all the time, then you can add more and more and more.

You build up this magnificently light, fluffy sauce,

whisking all the time.

There, it's done. Now to flavour it. First of all, some salt,

and then cayenne pepper.

And I like quite a lot of cayenne pepper in this sauce.

I want it to have a good heat.

Finally, the thing that makes all the difference,

some fresh basil leaves, torn up in your fingers at the last minute,

dropped into the sauce and stirred in. That's done.

And now the flounder. You can give them a very light seasoning

with salt. Not too much.

Now into some flour.

Drop both sides into the flour,

and then tap the fillets to just get all the excess flour off.

You've whisked up a couple of eggs in a bowl,

drop the fillets into the bowl,

turn them over till they're nicely coated

and straight into the breadcrumbs. First one side, then the other.

Now for the deep frying.

Your fryer should be set to about 170 degrees centigrade.

In go the fillets.

Lay them in gently, don't be too hasty when hot oil's around.

Three at a time. Fry for about a minute to a minute and a half.

Lift them out,

and look how wonderfully brown and golden

those beautiful fillets of flounder now are.

Turn them out onto kitchen paper to drain off the excess fat.

And now to serve the dish.

Make a nice little pile of fillets on the plate,

a great big dollop of Costelloise sauce,

and finish with just a little sprig of basil.

I guarantee you won't get a better dish for flounder than that.

I have to agree with Rick, flounder is well worth trying.

As a kid, I was always taken on trips to the seaside

and we often went to Blackpool, just down the coast from where Rick was.

We bypassed the potted shrimp and flounder and headed

straight towards the ice cream parlour for a banana split.

-Yummy.

-Just what you need.

-You know what I used to have at the seaside?

-What's that?

-Those fried doughnuts.

-Fried doughnuts?

-That was it.

-That's all I wanted.

-Candy floss in a bag with a little foam hat on.

I'm going to show you my version. Obviously, banana splits...

Bananas cut down the middle with a little bit of vanilla ice cream,

chocolate sauce, whipped cream. This is a modern version

-with a nice little twist at the end. You'll like this one.

-OK.

We're starting off making two chocolate mousses.

One dark, one white.

First of all, we've got some white chocolate here

and some dark chocolate. Now, the recipe is very straightforward.

Whatever you've got of melted dark chocolate,

it's double the amount of cream.

But it's the reverse for the white chocolate.

So it's double the amount of chocolate for half the cream.

-Why's that?

-Because white chocolate doesn't set as much as dark.

-Hey.

-So you need to put more white chocolate to compensate for it.

So what we're going to do is add this.

This is just melted over a pan of water in there.

Just keep adding the cream. I've not whipped it up too much.

So we just keep adding this together.

Often a lot of chefs will call this a ganache,

which is used for chocolate truffles and that kind of stuff.

So we just fold this lot together. That's that one.

Leave that one to one side. And then over here, we can then take

the remaining bit of cream. Just whip this up, just a touch,

and fold that in. Now, we mentioned at the top of the show,

obviously, you were brought up on a farm

where your love of hurdling started.

Well, I think it is all part of it.

You're born with that natural talent, but I did spend my whole life

outside, playing in the farm, around the fields and whatever.

Wasn't it hurdling the bales, how you started?

Yeah. My dad used to say, "Right, come up and bring me a cold drink

"or a flask," when he was combining. From the back of the combine,

you'd have these lines of straw,

and I would run up the field and I would hurdle over the top

of all these straw... Not bales, but lines all the way up.

Who knows, maybe that was my first introduction to the hurdles.

But I would literally run everywhere,

run up to the field, which would be a good sort of mile away or whatever,

-and run back and jumping everywhere.

-Like I said at the top of the show,

you're one of the... Well, THE only woman in the world to have held...

-what was it, four medals?

-Yeah.

Commonwealth, European, Worlds and Olympics and the world record.

Was that always your dream, to achieve all four?

From a young age, I remember thinking...

I watched the Moscow Olympics at 14 and just thinking,

"That's what I want to do."

Now I just think, what a crazy, crazy, crazy thing to think.

I thought, "I'd love to go to the Olympics,

"I'd love to get a medal," and I always had this dream.

-Fabulous.

-I realised I had, I suppose, a natural talent,

right from a young age.

Right from probably five years old,

I used to beat the boys in sports day.

I used to catch the boys in kiss chase, you name it.

-Oooh!

-Yeah, watch out!

I had that love of running. I just loved that feeling.

What about now? Obviously, you're retired from the sport.

-However, you're still doing the old marathon tomorrow.

-Yes, I know.

I do lots of things. I do a lot of motivational speaking.

I've got three little boys. They're hard work. Nine, six

and two. Charging around after them.

Do you still have that same ethics with your kids?

That kind of stuff when it comes to quality of food

-and always buy British?

-Totally.

I'm very much into what you introduce them to at a young age

and they're more likely to carry on.

Whether that's a healthy way of eating,

not making a big thing about it.

It's normal to have a plate full of fruit in front of you.

Also, I think it's the same with exercise.

If they see you do it, if you get them active

and fun from a very young age, then I think it just becomes a way of life.

You mentioned fruit, I've got the bananas here.

What I'm going to do is just make a quick and simple tempura batter,

which is cornflour,

flour,

sugar, a decent amount of sugar,

and then we've got some cold, sparkling water.

-Whisk this together.

-Does it have to be sparkling?

Yeah. Cold, sparkling water.

This is how you get this really thin batter,

which is what you want. It's not the batter

you'd normally find in Blackpool on your fish and chips.

This creates a lovely, quick and simple, soft batter.

All we do is throw the bananas in, just coat them around.

Straight into there. Into our hot oil. Straight in.

-This is my real love, things like this.

-Literally, they go straight in.

Then, what I've done is, I've layered the two chocolate mousses.

So you've got the layers here.

Ideally, what you want to do is stick this in the fridge now.

We'll throw that in the fridge.

There we go.

And then I've got one that I've made here.

What we can do is rub this.

Alternatively, if you've got a blowtorch, just quickly...

Mine would never come out of there. That would be the problem.

-I'd be digging it out.

-I'll just switch this on.

What you can do is take this little blowtorch,

just around the edge. This is where these are really handy,

-these little things.

-Ah!

-Then it just lifts off like that.

-Perfect.

-You see?

-Wow!

-There you go.

What you do is fry off the bananas, and you do this at the last minute.

You can just turn these over.

When you tempura them, they become really nice and crisp.

Really, really crispy, that batter.

I did say there was a little gimmicky thing on the top.

Also, when I was a kid, I used to have this.

-It used to be called Space Dust.

-Space Dust.

-I loved it.

-Here.

-I'm not quite sure what it does to you.

Would you believe, this is actually being served

-in three-star Michelin restaurants?

-No?!

I've actually been to two restaurants this year,

I've eaten in them, and they've actually got this.

Mr Ramsay is one of them and Heston,

although they probably make it themselves, is another.

Crackles in your mouth.

It explodes in your mouth!

And then we take our bananas.

Lift those to one side. I've just got a tiny bit of sugar.

Not too much, because I'm aware that you're running tomorrow.

-Forget that...

-Place that on the side.

..if something like this is put in front of me!

And then, just cos it's you...

A bit of cream.

What you can do this just take

-a bit of cream on the top.

-That is beautiful.

-Where do I start?!

-Dive in.

It's got all the components of a banana split, but modern.

That just looks lovely, and it tastes...

I don't know how many calories it's got for tomorrow,

-but you'll be burning them off. How's that?

-That is...

-That's all you're allowed. I've been told by your trainer.

-No!

-Do you like the Space Dust? It's interesting.

-Well, you've got

the real dark chocolate you can really taste,

-then you've got that crunchy bit and...

-The fire in your mouth.

That Space Dust is easy to get hold of and goes down really well.

Now, here's Theo Randall with a stunning, simple beef recipe.

-What are we cooking, then?

-We're doing a steak.

A really delicious sirloin steak.

And with it, we're going to make a sauce

-with fresh chilli, parsley, garlic, sea salt and vinegar.

-OK.

And then we're going to do a fritto misto of deep-fried

-little violet artichokes, nice and small...

-Bang in season now as well.

-..with radicchio and some Jerusalem artichokes.

-OK.

And I'm going to make a batter with flour...

-This is 00 flour and warm water.

-Pasta flour, warm water,

-a bit of olive oil and then some egg whites.

-Whipped egg white.

I'm going to get the steak on first. It's quite a big steak.

Just throw that in there. Are you using sirloin steak for this one?

Sirloin steak. This is Aberdeen Angus.

Keep a nice bit of fat on the steaks.

It's very important when you cook meat

-to keep fat on, because the fat is the flavour.

-Yes.

So, put a bit of oil on there and a little bit of rosemary on the skin.

On the flesh, rather.

Then that will just give it an extra bit of flavour.

A very hot griddle pan. Almost smoking, the griddle pan.

Pop the rosemary on, both sides.

-Let's put the steak on.

-So you oil the meat and not...

Oil the meat, not the pan.

If you oil the pan, it's going to catch fire.

So, let's do some of these vegetables.

We're just going to put the artichokes...

Just peel the artichokes down.

These are so small, they've got no choke in them,

so you just take the outer leaves off and cut the top off

and you get this lovely, almost sweet, artichoke.

A lot of people think lettuce and stuff like that...

The French cook with it, deep-fat frying it is quite unusual.

The thing is, when you cook it, it almost becomes quite sweet

with the vinegar in there.

When you add acidity to things like radicchio,

it actually makes it sweeter and gives it

a much nicer taste. In Italy, they use radicchio

in lots of things, usually it's just grilled, part of an antipasti.

Just cut the artichoke into quarters.

In Birmingham, they use it as well! You use it, don't you?

Yeah, we call it a "ra-deesh-o."

LAUGHTER

We don't put it in the fryer though, chef.

We use it, but I always find it a little bit bitter.

As you said, by using the batter with the vinegar and stuff in it,

it breaks that up, which is nice.

So, that's pretty much all for the artichokes.

Just cut them up.

People think there's a lot of waste on artichokes.

-Not these ones.

-There's more on the bigger ones.

-With the bigger ones,

you've got to scoop out the choke. Look at that.

-There's virtually nothing to take off.

-Often people get those in jars.

You can cook those in a little bit of olive oil, bit of water in a pan.

Exactly. So, the Jerusalem artichoke, related to the sunflower.

-Did you know that?

-It is. I did know. Do you know why?

-No, why?

Size of the plant. The Jerusalem artichoke plant's up here.

Up there. I know that cos I lost my dog

in a Jerusalem artichoke field once.

All I could see was the trees moving.

But it's amazing, cos you get these little roots.

These are in the ground,

whereas the globe artichokes grow above the ground.

These little Jerusalem artichokes are the root.

It's a very underrated vegetable. It really is delicious.

-Don't eat it raw, though. It doesn't agree with you.

-No.

OK. So, some nice slices.

It is great for purees and soups.

Brilliant in soups with some onion and braised down.

Delicious in soups. And then let's get our radicchio.

The outer leaves... You don't want to waste it,

you could use that for a salad, but take some outer leaves off,

because you want just the heart, really.

-Take that off.

-Do you want a bit of salt in there as well or not?

No, you don't need salt in there.

We are going to need some crushed garlic for the sauce

and plenty of salt in that.

So, we have got the egg white. Just going to fold that.

If you just cut it like that and pull it like that,

you get much closer pieces of radicchio heart.

I'm just going to cut those into 2cm slices.

-You want me to pop that in there?

-Put that in there. Goes in.

-A few sage leaves.

-Enough?

-Perfect.

-There you go.

OK, that steak's all nice on one side.

Look at that!

Smells good. OK, so we're just going to get some very hot oil,

about 180 degrees centigrade. And then just mix the batter.

If you put too much batter, it becomes cloggy and not so nice.

-Right.

-You want it just lightly covered.

Then put things in one by one.

Artichokes, radicchio and sage.

So you're not deep frying it like fish, really?

-You're just lightly coating it.

-Very lightly coating.

The thing about these sorts of things,

if there's too much batter, it's not very nice.

It actually goes soggy as well. You want a nice, crisp vegetable.

And with that batter, Theo,

you don't need to flour it.

No, because you've got the egg white in there, so it seals it.

-There you go.

-OK, so just about half a clove of garlic in that.

Not too much.

If you crush that with some salt, just some nice, coarse sea salt.

-Yep.

-Then I'm going to do the chilli.

-Is this to go on top of the steak?

-Yes.

You've got the nice acidity of the vinegar, which we're going to add.

Some red wine vinegar. Take out the seeds in the chilli.

This chilli smells really hot.

OK, I'm just going to cut the chilli into nice little pieces.

-Hopefully no seeds.

-It's like a little salsa to go on the top?

-Yeah.

I saw this in a place called Panzano in Tuscany.

They had this amazing Bistecca Fiorentina.

-You know, the big steak with the fillet and the sirloin?

-Yeah.

They served it with this plate of deep-fried artichokes.

It's sort of stuck with me ever since.

With a good steak, would you say the rarer, the better, cooking-wise?

It depends on what cut it is.

I'd rather eat fillet raw like carpaccio.

But something like sirloin, you keep all the fat on it and cook it

so it's really crispy on one side. Let it rest and it's just delicious.

-OK, a bit of chopped parsley.

-OK.

-I put the vinegar in there.

So where have you been on your travels to get a tan like that?

-I've been to Antigua.

-Antigua?

-Is that the name of the tanning shop?

LAUGHTER

That's the name of the bottle!

Antigua in Birmingham!

OK, let's just check our fritto misto.

We need to be careful, because if you put too much in there,

it will stick together. It's very important you mix it around.

You've just put a bit of vinegar in here, have you?

-Yeah, and a bit of olive oil.

-All right.

-Some olive oil in there.

-There you go, and let's just taste that.

Let's see what it tastes like.

-Give it a mix.

-A bit of seasoning.

-Looks pretty good.

Yeah, looks good to me.

Mm, delicious. Pretty good.

And these are what, literally two or three minutes in the fryer?

-Fritto misto's a little bit light, not too much colour.

-They ready now?

They're ready. Take those out.

-Steak off.

-Do you want a bit of salt on there?

-Yeah.

-And just get this...

-They're great, those griddle pans.

If you can get one of those from a cookware shop, they're quite handy,

because they're brilliant for fish and anything like that.

-But the secret is to oil the meat, not the pan.

-Yeah.

I've left the fat on. I'll seal that on one side.

It's cooked a little bit rare on that side.

And then... That should do it.

I'm just going to cut nice, thin slices.

On top of that, we're going to add our sauce.

Lovely bit of meat, this. So, pop that on the plate.

I cooked rump steak a couple of weeks back,

you can do the same thing with this.

Rump would be delicious.

So, radicchio, Jerusalem artichokes, all lovely and crisp.

-I'll get a spoon for you.

-Violet artichokes.

Then add some of that beautiful sauce you just made.

There we go.

And there you have my grilled beef sirloin with a fritto misto

of globe artichokes, radicchio and sage.

Not a palette knife in sight!

LAUGHTER

That looks like proper grub to me. Here you are, dive into this.

It just keeps coming and coming and coming. Dive in.

-You won't be able to move this afternoon.

-I know, that's the thing!

You could do this... It's great with chicken

if you don't want to use steak.

You could marinate the chicken and grill it. Yeah, delicious.

-Or even lamb.

-Mm, that's amazing.

The secret is to not overcook the meat, that's the key thing.

Don't overcook it and let the meat rest a bit.

If you let it rest, then it slowly cooks with the residual heat.

-Want another?

-But also season the meat as well.

Season it well because then the flavours can show.

You'll be able to catch more great recipes from Theo

in the coming weeks, all perfect for this time of year.

Now here's Valentine Warner

with some more summertime serving suggestions of his own.

Living in the city doesn't mean that you're tied to supermarket shopping.

The melting pot of cultures

leaves you spoiled for choice at the fabulous markets.

Church Street Market is at the centre

of London's thriving Middle Eastern community and I've come here to find

one of Britain's most maligned summer vegetables.

I'm totally in love with broad beans.

They're my favourite summer vegetable.

Broad beans don't have the best of reputations in this country,

but I'm out to prove that they're more than just

a wrinkly grey side dish at a Sunday roast.

'We Brits might not love them, but the Egyptians certainly do.'

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you too.

-You're the Egyptian representative for broad bean loving.

-Yes, I am.

-Great.

-I hope I do a good job.

'Hebba lives up the road from me and like most Egyptians,

'cooks and eats broad beans on a daily basis.'

-Can we have a lot of beans, please?

-Do you want to chose?

-Are you happy with these ones?

-Yeah, I am.

What do you call broad beans in Arabic?

-We call it ful.

-Yeah?

Ful, yeah.

'In Egypt, the broad bean is a staple part of the diet,

'eaten by rich and poor alike.'

What do you think the English problem with broad beans is?

Maybe people don't know what to do with them and maybe they're a bit

time consuming because you have to unpod them.

-That's the nice, meditative part.

-Yeah, the fun bit.

-Stick those in your nice school bag.

-Yes, my man bag!

-It's a very nice man bag.

-Thanks a lot.

'Hebba and I are hosting a picnic later on

'and we're going to make two different dishes

'with our broad bean bounty.

'As it's her kitchen, it's ladies first.'

We'll need a lot of broad beans over here, so let's get podding.

-That much?

-Yeah.

-Do Egyptian women run the kitchen at home?

Yes, I would say across the board, that's their territory.

Well, I'll just do as I'm told then.

'Hebba's making a traditional Egyptian dish

'called ful akhdar bil khudra,

'a stew of broad beans, rice and beef.'

They feel so nice as well, broad beans.

-I love their fluffy insides and soft, velvety outsides.

-Yeah, exactly.

Everything about them gives a feeling of joy.

-You've got a few left, come on!

-More podding, less chatting.

'And there's me thinking it was going to be a relaxing morning.'

I'm going to get you to do the dirty work.

-Ah!

-Get the beef on soon too.

-OK, so hurry up.

'Under madam's orders, I chop half a kilo of beef into perfect cubes.'

-Is that to Cleopatra's liking?

-Yeah, I would say so.

-Great.

'The approved beef goes into the pan

'along with diced onion, dill and coriander.'

Oh, my God, it smells fantastic.

'But there's no time to idle in Hebba's kitchen

'as she sets me to work pounding 12 cloves of garlic.'

-Keep going, keep going.

-Your bossy side is coming out!

'We add my favourite broad beans

'along with three tablespoons of basmati rice.

'Hebba dry fries the garlic with some chard.'

Wow, what a smell.

'Once it's cooked for a further ten minutes, it's ready.

'After all that hard work, I can't wait.'

-It smells heavenly.

-You can smell all the different flavours.

-Yeah, all the different things.

-Ladies first.

-Give us a spoon.

-Oh, yeah. Sorry! I forgot about you.

I want beans, I want meat, I want...

Don't burn your tongue.

That is absolutely sensational.

Broad beans grow amazingly well in Britain

and a crop sown in early spring

will be ready to harvest mid to late summer.

They're delicious and incredibly versatile,

so why aren't we eating more of them?

'Broad beans are so popular in Egypt,

'that they're dried and used all year round

'in dishes such as ful medames, the national dish.'

-That smells absolutely delicious.

-Yeah.

'The beans are stewed over night with lentils

'and chickpeas in an Egyptian slow cooker.'

This is all-day Egyptian breakfast.

All day Egyptian breakfast!

'Hebba's mezze style Egyptian creations

'will be perfect for our picnic.'

That is outstanding.

Wow, I feel nervous about cooking in front of you now.

Well, I think you should be!

'And now I'm in charge, I'm making a dish named fruitalia,

'which is a deliciously different Turkish omelette.'

If you put some water on and peel two nice big handfuls of broad beans...

'And it's payback time.'

How does it feel being bossed around in your own kitchen?

If you call this bossed around, then I'm not feeling bossed around!

The thing is when you're bossy, you have to be wearing the trousers

-and you have to be firm.

-Well, I am.

When these are cooked, you are then going to shell all of them.

-Oh, my God.

-You want bossing around? You get bossing around.

'The beans are blanched in boiling water and,

'once cooled, are peeled of their skins.'

I'm just trying to catch up with your rate

of de-shelling and podding and everything.

I'm just struggling a bit.

'Fry the onions in olive oil with a pinch each of cumin, salt and pepper.

'Then whisk up six large free range eggs.'

Look, bright yellow.

Techno green beans. In goes the egg.

'Add the beans, crumbled feta cheese

'and roughly torn mint to the frying pan.'

Mint and eggs are actually very good together.

-It seems like quite an odd combination.

-I'm excited to try it.

'The fruitalia cooks on the hob for a couple of minutes

'and is finished off under a warm grill.

'But it's also great served cold, so perfect for a picnic.'

-So this is my contribution.

-Mm-hm.

I'm feeling it doesn't quite match up to your two winners.

Wow. It's nicely coloured. Mm-hm.

Ow, ow, ow!

That looks divine.

-See, nice and runny in the centre.

-Yeah, I like my egg like that.

Mm. That is so good.

Delicious, soft and eggy.

Yeah, and the feta just melts away in your mouth. It's so nice.

-Mm.

-Would you say we've done the broad bean justice?

Oh, yeah. Big time.

The great thing about picnic food by definition is it is portable.

You can eat it outside, you can eat it at work,

you can eat it in your car. You can eat it anywhere.

'We're eating ours with friends on Hampstead Heath,

'London's premier picnic hotspot.'

-Have a mean slice.

-Thanks a lot.

We tried to do three very different things with broad beans

and I think we've accomplished our mission.

-I like the egg with the broad beans.

-It's really, really good.

-What do you think of the ful?

-Absolutely delicious.

I had my hand slapped and was told to stop eating it,

because you'd be arriving later.

LAUGHTER

-I think we made a very good team.

-I really enjoyed it.

Cheers to the broad bean.

-And shukran, thanks for a very nice day.

-Thank you, shukran.

Chives and chervil, marjoram, parsley and basil.

Perfect made into a salsa verde,

spooned over sliced new potatoes

and packed into the hamper.

In the fish mongers, two great value treats to look out for

are the much underrated bream

and the deliciously delicate trout.

Fantastic poached and flaked into salads.

Also look out for big, juicy cherries.

Lovely made into a sweet, red-blooded pie.

If you're celebrating a special occasion with friends this summer,

where better to do it than on Britain's beautiful coastline?

Some of my most memorable meals have taken place on the beach.

It's hard to beat fresh fish plucked straight from the water

and cooked simply on a barbecue.

'I've come to Newquay in Cornwall

'to cook some of the local summer fish on offer.

'I've roped in a team of anglers to do the hard work.

'Using a variety of techniques, they'll be trying to catch

'as big a haul as possible.

'The deal is they catch it, I'll cook it.'

Good morning, everyone, on what I hope will be

a very fishy and eventful day.

-Does it feel fishy today?

-I can smell it in the air.

-You can smell it? OK.

-It's looking quite active out there.

Yeah, I saw the birds. They're all after something.

Where there's little things, there'll be bigger things.

So, the idea today is that you go out and catch it

and bring it back and I'll cook it.

We're approaching it from different styles.

-You're going out on your kayak.

-I am, yeah.

-You two are fishing from a boat.

-Correct.

-And you're spear fishing.

Yeah, I'll be the one getting in the water and getting a bit chilly.

Seems like a nice day, visibility wise,

and hopefully there's some quarry for us.

What are the kinds of fish that are going to come back today?

We can look at things like pollock, gilt-head bream,

couch's bream, black bream, gurnard, ling.

John Dory, if you're lucky.

There's some of them are moving in this area.

They actually breed here during the summer.

-Might even get an octopus.

-Yeah, that would be quite fun, eh?

So it may surprise some people that actually

there's a hell of a lot of variety around here.

-Yeah.

-And very tasty varieties.

-Yeah, that depends on you, doesn't it?

-THEY LAUGH

Shall we get on with it? Because fishing time is precious.

-Let's go catch some fish.

-Let's do it.

Their oceanic shopping list has certainly whetted my appetite,

though the fish I'm hoping for above all would be a sea bass.

This wonderful, meaty treat

moves closer inshore with the warmer summer waters.

If we could bag ourselves a freebie today, I'd be over the moon.

My fishy gang are using every weapon at their disposal

to try and land the best catch of the day,

but there's no knowing what they'll come back with

and that does leave me with a slight dilemma

of what to serve with our pot luck fish supper.

I'm going to make a really delicious chargrilled red pepper dish

that goes fabulously well with all types of barbecued fishes.

So take a good pick of peppers, stick them straight on to the barbecue.

The idea here is to really get them as blackened as possible.

All the taste is in that lovely charriness.

It's very hot, but I have a perverse joy in working with the pain.

Out on the water, Katie and the guys' expertise is paying dividends,

but if catching your own fish sounds a little too strenuous,

seek out the day's freshest fish at the local fishmongers instead.

Well, the tide's creeping up behind me. I'm going to peel the peppers.

They are nice and cool and just look how easily this comes away.

Really simple. It just slides off.

And I can smell them. It's a sweet smell.

Absolutely delicious.

It's quite a slimy work.

It would be tempting to wash the peppers to just rinse off any black bits,

but don't do that or you'll rinse away all the lovely

charred taste that you've just achieved.

Tear the skinned peppers into fat, finger-sized strips,

add the zest of a lemon and season.

A really good grinding of black pepper - nothing wimpy here.

Finally, chop some fresh garlic, add a generous handful of capers

and some chopped anchovy fillets.

Finish off with a liberal glug of olive oil

and some roughly torn mint and basil leaves.

This is really ballsy stuff.

It's sweet peppers, tangy capers and lemon,

kind of, really "rargh" anchovies and a real...

..stab of garlic.

It's not subtle cooking, but it's really tasty.

The question is, just what am I going to be serving

with my roasted red-pepper salad?

-Hello.

-Ah, the mermaid returns.

-Yeah, I got my legs back.

-What's in the goody bag?

-I've brought about eight or nine mackerel.

-Stiff as a board.

Super fresh. That lovely green, shiny...

-I call them the tigers of the sea.

-Wow, look at that. Good offerings.

-Thank you.

-Go forth to the sea and clean your fishies.

-I shall.

The spear fisherman.

I thought you were going to come out of the sea like Ursula Andress

holding a spear gun.

-Nothing quite so elegant.

-Look at those.

Too fat pollock expertly shot through the head.

Spider crabs, which...

there's not much of a taste for in this country,

but these are really good eating.

And those are whopping great mussels. Thank you very much.

-It was my pleasure.

-This is great.

Ah - the boaters.

Wow, you've had a haul, guys.

-There we go.

-Let's have a look. Bring your box closer.

I'm going to stick it on the ground. There we go.

Another fat pollock and another good fish,

but not seen a lot on the fish counters - a ballan wrasse.

I think they're delicious.

I've actually eaten a few myself and, yeah, I think they are quite good.

Well, we might not have got a bass, but we've certainly got variety.

We can have a mixed fish grill for everyone. That's today's special.

It doesn't get more special than super-fresh fish

and so long as you remember my two golden rules,

it's super simple to cook on the barbecue.

If you put them on a wet, it's guaranteed that they'll stick

so they should go on as dry as you can possibly get them.

A good, crusty layer of salt

also helps the fish stay slightly raised off the barbecue grill.

It's crucial not to overcook fish on the grill.

That way, you'll get the best of its wonderfully succulent flesh.

The smell coming off this fish is really fantastic.

Can we have some mackerel, guys? Mackerel ahoy!

You couldn't get it fresher than that, eh?

If it was any fresher, you'd have to spank it.

Help yourselves to a beer, by the way.

-Shall we have these as a little starter?

-I reckon.

Pop a few of these open.

So, those can simply sit on the grill.

If you're celebrating a special occasion with friends or family,

it doesn't get much better than this.

Fresh as you like, grilled on a beach barbecue.

Mm. That's absolutely perfect.

-Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

-Thanks for that, Colin.

Colin, come and have a mussel.

Try that.

-They don't need anything on them at all.

-That is excellent.

They don't need a thing on them.

With starters over, it's time for our main.

Plates of beautifully barbecued mackerel, ballan wrasse and pollock,

laden with my cool roasted red-pepper salad. Heavenly.

-It's good, isn't it?

-It's just completely melts in your mouth, that does.

-It's nice.

It's really nice. It's lovely.

As we're tucking in, I spot a spear fisherman coming from the waters

and it looks like he's caught something mighty special.

You've got the one fish we've been looking for all day.

-Where did you get that?

-Just out there. About 20 metres out.

This guy has just come out of the water and he's got a bass.

-If I cook it for you, can we put it on our barbecue?

-Of course you can.

-Would you like to come and eat?

-Yeah, sure thing.

-Fantastic.

-Well done, dude.

-No worries.

What better way to finish the day

than with my all-time favourite summer fish, the sea bass.

-You ordered the bass.

-Lovely.

-There you go.

-Can I just pick at a bit?

-Yeah, pick at a bit. Well done, by the way.

-That's good.

-You're a genius.

-That is nice.

You couldn't get more fresh as well, eh?

Really firm, really meaty.

You can actually slightly taste this slight, kind of, crabbiness to it

from all the little shellfish it's been picking up

on the bottom as well as the other little fishes it hunts in the sea.

It's an amazing-tasting fish. Absolutely delicious.

You don't need to go to the seaside to enjoy fabulous fish.

Here's a simple sea bass recipe that brings the beach

into your kitchen and makes for a really special snack.

Thinly slice a red onion, plunge in boiling water

with bay leaves and peppercorns and leave to soften for 30 seconds.

Dice a couple of avocados, add a squeeze of lime juice,

a pokey green chilli, some fragrant coriander and a dash of sunflower oil.

Drain the onions, smother in the juice of an orange and lime

and sprinkle with dried oregano and salt.

Leave for an hour and they'll turn a punky electric pink.

Sprinkle the sea bass with a perky cumin and chilli seasoning

then grill for about five minutes.

Layer the ingredients onto a warm tortilla

and indulge in these ludicrously tasty bass tacos with pickled pink onions.

Wowee.

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

Instead, we're showing you some of the highlights

from the Saturday Kitchen recipe archives.

Still to come on today's Best Bite...

Two-Michelin star chef Sat Bains takes on London boy Adam Byatt

in the Saturday Kitchen omelette challenge.

Nathan Outlaw is probably the best seafood chef in the world.

This Cornish pollock recipe with squid and mussels

is totally delicious, too.

Pop star Peter Andre faces his food heaven or food hell.

Did he get the roasted loin of lamb with sweet potato for food heaven

or a red lentil tarka dahl with naan bread for food hell?

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

Now, though, it's time to spice things up

with a cracking curry recipe from Atul Kochhar.

-So, what are we cooking?

-Well, we're cooking curry kapitan,

-which is a recipe I picked up in Penang in Malaysia.

-Yes.

And the ingredients and need for that

are shallots, lemongrass, ginger flower,

lemon - or lime, you can use - belachan, which is a must ingredient.

-If you can't get belachan...

-This is shrimp paste, yeah?

You can use a fish sauce just in case.

-You can buy it, but that Thai fish sauce, you could get away with that.

-Absolutely. Absolutely.

And palm sugar, which is a must, kaffir lime leaf, turmeric -

we're using powdered turmeric,

but we should have used fresh turmeric stems.

-We can't get fresh turmeric easily.

-Well, you can't get this easily.

I'll get a knife for you, James.

It looks like something you'd buy in a flower shop in a service station.

-What this?

-Come on, James.

-This is ginger flower.

This is ginger flower, so you've got stem, root and this is the flower.

It's got a unique flavour and taste of its own. It works really well.

We need a campaign to get this coming to the UK.

And this is one of the things you've picked up on your travels?

-Absolutely.

-Right, so we're going to make this paste.

If you can make the roundels of onions for me, please.

I'll chop a few of those as well. We can then start making this paste

because this paste is pretty straightforward, isn't it?

Yes, it is. We just chop it roughly and then put it in the blender.

Ginger.

I don't need to peel the ginger for this because it's a beautiful paste.

A bit of garlic. Plenty of garlic. So tell us about Malaysian food then. Why Malaysia's?

Malaysia was the hub of spice route.

Melaka was the main place where all the ships would go and dock

first before they would actually go into Indonesia to get the spices.

And Chinese were actually trading with Malaysia

from the sixth century onwards.

English and, I would say, European ships went there very late,

not until 15th century and that's when the monopoly

from the Arab traders was broken

and Europeans started selling to Malaysia.

And that has kind of brought a new world of new spices into Europe.

-Candlenut as well, James.

-Candlenut.

-Yes, which is like...

-Macadamia, isn't it?

-Macadamia nut, yeah.

Turmeric - I would use turmeric root, but we don't have that.

I'm going to toast the belachan.

-Now, this thing smells like the devil.

-Come on, James. It's food.

It does smell like the devil though, that.

-Do you want me to throw all this lot in as well?

-Yeah, please.

-All this?

-All of it.

-All that?

-All of it, chef.

-I'm just checking.

-All of it, chef.

-And my ginger flower as well.

-Just chop that out?

-Chop that out, yeah.

Whole thing. Leave the stem alone. Don't need the stem. That's it, chef.

-That's it, that's it, that's it. No more.

-Right. Toasting that.

-And that also goes in. Sorry.

-Whoa!

-Oh, where's James? Fainted.

-Not good, is that stuff, is it?

It's great stuff, what are you talking about?

I've been to the factory also, James, and I had no mask on.

I cannot describe the smell of that thing.

We're going to make a perfume for you later and you can take that home.

Shrimp paste perfume. Right, once it's cooked it tastes really nice.

I'm sure it does. Lovely. Right, lemongrass.

Everything, chef.

-Everything.

-Everything in. A little bit of water for me, please.

-And blend it all together.

-Water, blitz.

So the only thing that we haven't got is the leaves over here

and the palm sugar, there.

The palm sugar, which goes in later.

-I'll get the wok going, and this pan is here for...

-Now, chicken.

-This is the marinade for the chicken.

-Yeah. On the skin...

Sorry, skin on, on the bone, add turmeric and salt.

Maybe just a dash of oil as well.

So the spice is the same in Malaysia?

You get that same cross-reference with spices in Malaysia and India?

Yeah, pretty much the same. The biggest, starkest difference that I saw was

Malaysia uses all the fresh spices

whereas rest of the world, even, I would say,

India too, uses mainly powdered spices.

So there is a unique flavour to it in every Malaysian dish.

It's purely because the fresh spices give very different flavours.

-Don't you want to marinade that in the fridge?

-Uh... Yes, chef. THEY LAUGH

The idea was he was supposed to marinade that one in the fridge.

I'm very confused with you today.

Don't worry, nobody noticed.

-I'll take that one out.

-Take that one out.

So how long will we marinade this for, chef?

Normally I would marinade it overnight.

Or you could do it for 30 seconds.

-It's James' world.

-Now, in there we've got...

-This is just turmeric and salt.

-Turmeric and salt only.

-That's it?

-And a little bit of oil. OK, I think the spices are ready.

-OK.

Could you actually make that beforehand?

-I suppose you could do and keep that.

-Easily. Easily.

-You could make loads of it and freeze it.

-Right.

-Now, you call this a captain's curry.

-Yes.

Why the reference with the captain's curry?

A long time ago,

the first time I came on this show, I cooked captain's curry,

but that was from the Western Ship.

It was one of the English ships which was sailing,

maybe in India or Malaysia or Indonesia.

Picked up the spices and cooked the curry for the captain,

which the captain loved.

And since then it was kind of knighted as captain's curry.

The Chinese ships used to sail to Malaysia from the sixth century onwards,

and obviously, the Chinese don't use curries.

But they picked up spices from Malaysia

and started using it on the ship.

The captain obviously loved it and it was called captain's curry.

You need to be on the Discovery Channel, mate, with all this history.

-Should I? Another plug here.

-Right, we've got our onions in there.

-You want these fried little onion rings, is that right?

-Yes, please.

-OK.

-Shallots, sorry.

-Shallot rings. They don't take very long.

The idea of this, you cook it until it separates, is that right?

You have to cook the spice paste until the oil separates.

-That's very important.

-Don't put the chicken straight in,

-you need to make sure it's separated.

-Exactly.

Otherwise, the garlic, ginger and raw onion flavour will be too strong.

Right. I'm frying off these little onion rings here.

So what was the most interesting thing you found out there?

You talk about the ginger flower, anything else you found out in Malaysia?

I went and stayed with a tribe in Sarawak region for a few nights.

And that was an eye opening experience. It was very different.

It's a different world altogether.

They gather all of their food from the jungle.

They use different types of jungle leaves

and the food that they cook is absolutely unique.

I learnt a chicken recipe which is cooked in bamboo.

And they get this leaf from the jungle called bungkang leaf,

and the chicken is marinated in this leaf, stuffed in the bamboo

and then barbecued over an open fire. Absolutely delicious.

Nothing much in there, little bit of ginger flower and ginger stem.

-And bungkang leaf and salt.

-Bungkang leaf?

-Bungkang leaf.

Coming to a supermarket near you! There you go.

-So, anyway, you're cooking that nicely.

-Cooking that through.

What do you want doing with this? Just cucumber and mint?

Yes, slightly thicker slices, please.

And leaves to be picked nicely, washed, kept on a red towel!

-Right.

-Is that all right for you? Thicker?

They're all going for their own particular rally.

-Yes, thicker slices. Sliced chilli.

-Sliced chilli.

Now, the last time you were on, you had, what?

Three restaurants, four restaurants? Now, how many?

-I had two restaurants that time.

-Two.

-No, three.

-Three!

-How many have you got now?

-I've got four restaurants.

-Four restaurants.

-Tell us about this one then.

-The fourth one is called Colony.

It's in Marylebone High Street.

And it's called Colony

because I like to do food from wherever English colonies used to be.

And inspiring food from there.

So not necessarily food from the colonial period,

but from those particular places, so I've got food

from Malaysia, Asia, India, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean as well.

There you go. Where's your coconut milk?

Well, the chicken has gone in now. Coconut milk.

-This is tinned coconut milk.

-Yes.

If you try to make fresh coconut milk,

you would have to buy a truckload of coconuts in this country.

And then maybe two will work. And palm sugar. Add a pinch of salt.

And then you cook that for how long?

-It'll cook for a good 20 minutes.

-Yes.

-And then funnily enough...

-We let it simmer.

-..we end up with this.

-Pretty much.

-In here, you want a few of these onions, is that right?

A few of those onions go in.

It's quite unusual putting the onions at the end of cooking.

The idea of these onions is to get a nice crunch.

With a lot of Indian food, you caramelise the onions first off.

Normally, Malaysians would do that too, but this particular recipe

uses towards the end, so you get a nice crunch from the onions.

There's your cucumber, ready.

-And you want some mint in there as well?

-Yes, why not.

-In this one?

-Yes, please.

-There you go.

That's ready.

Last time I tried to arrange something like that,

you were laughing at me, so I haven't bothered this time.

I wasn't! There you go. Pop that there.

-So just plain rice with that.

-Plain rice.

-You can use glutinous rice. Very simple cooking as well.

-Absolutely.

-Absolutely, and it cooks fast. Comes across very well.

-Ready?

I am ready, chef.

-Here we go.

-Then we have the crispy onions.

-Put that on top.

Some of the sauce. Crispy onion, chillies. They go on top.