Episode 47 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

There's a mouth-watering menu of fantastic food in today's Best Bites.

Welcome to the show.

We've got these tantalising treats from the Saturday Kitchen recipe archives.

A pan fried of scallop of salmon

that I cooked for comedian Robert Webb.

That's gorgeous.

Atul Kochhar is one of an elite group of chefs

which holds a coveted Michelin star.

His spicy stir-fried squid with apple salad

is worthy of every award going.

Sophie Grigson has something perfect for your supper tonight.

It's a slow roast pork chop with orange gremolata,

and it's delicious.

Actor Hugh Bonneville faced his Food Heaven or Food Hell.

There were beer-battered oysters with watercress and red onion salad for Food Heaven,

and caramelised apricots with vanilla ice cream

waiting for his Food Hell.

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

But first, here's Theo Randall

with a delicious Italian twist on a simple roast chicken.

OK, we are doing a chicken, so we've taken the chicken off the bone.

Talking of chicken, just flip it over. This is like half a chicken.

This is half a chicken.

We've taken like the L-shape of the bone out,

so there's no bone in there at all.

-So this would be the thigh and the leg.

-Exactly.

-This is the breast.

-We're going to get the prosciutto

and use it like a seasoning.

-Prosciutto is quite salty.

-OK.

When you cook the chicken with the prosciutto,

it'll season the chicken breast and keep it nice and juicy with the mascarpone

that we're going to put in with the rosemary and lemon.

-Yeah.

-And you'll get the nice cooked leg, as well.

-If you're worried about doing this, get your butcher to do it.

-Yeah.

You want him to de-bone half a chicken.

-De-bone half a chicken and take the leg bone out.

-Right, OK.

Can I get the student behind the counter at the supermarket to do that?

Get your butcher to do that, really.

-So let's make the mascarpone mix first.

-OK.

-Just put that into a bowl.

-Can you chop some rosemary?

-I can chop some rosemary.

We need a bit of lemon, lemon zest and lemon juice.

So, just zest that.

Now, what is nice about the mascarpone is the mascarpone,

when it cooks in the pan, it kind of congeals

and you get these lovely kind of nuggets.

It's different to sort of creme fraiche, isn't it?

-It's completely different. It's more of a cheese.

-It holds better.

And do you think this cheese... There's quite a high fat content.

Very high fat content. mascarpone is very, very unhealthy!

Like he says. It literally is about half fat, isn't it?

-I think it's like 58% fat.

-But it is fantastic. It's fantastic stuff.

You can get some less fatty ones.

You don't want to use cottage cheese, do you?

-No! Can I have some black pepper?

-Yep, black pepper.

-Chuck the rosemary in.

-Rosemary.

OK, so, the most important part of this dish

is to make sure that the mascarpone stays intact through the cooking.

You want to open the chicken breast out with the skin inside there,

so you get a little kind of pocket.

-Right.

-And then put the prosciutto in, into the breast.

So it's kind of like an Italian Kiev.

See, everybody is jumping on this European wagon.

If you want a foolproof Kiev technique, talk to me, darling.

I don't think it's a chicken Kiev, but I know where you're coming from.

OK, so you put the mascarpone in.

Then use the prosciutto to,

kind of, seal it. So you end up with this big lump of mascarpone.

-Can you see that?

-Yes.

-That's the mascarpone there.

There's also a great way of doing that with the chicken whole? You can loosen up the skin underneath.

Classically, they put the ham between the chicken breast and then you put, like, truffles and butter

and all that kind of thing.

But this is like a really simple way you can do it.

-So you just keep it nice and moist?

-It keeps it moist.

That's the whole point. It sort of bastes it during the cooking. Again, prosciutto in, on the leg.

Nice bit of mascarpone, fold it over and stuff that all in. Just wash my hands.

Now, is this one or two portions?

This is probably two, because it's quite a big chicken.

-You can get a smaller chicken.

-Where I come from, that's one.

That's one - that's a starter!

Salt, black pepper.

Right, now, we just want to get a very hot pan, a bit of olive oil.

If you use butter, it's going to burn, so you need to use oil.

I'm going to start our broccoli. You've got some purple sprouting broccoli here.

You've got purple sprouting broccoli and you've got Romanesque broccoli.

It's more like a cauliflower, and it looks more like cauliflower,

but it tastes like broccoli. And you've got purple sprouting broccoli.

It's amazing stuff, when you see it. It's fantastic.

-Kind of weird.

-Like a chameleon.

-A chameleon's eye, exactly.

So let's put the chicken in.

It's very important to get the skin nice and crispy,

so I'm going to leave that to cook for a minute or two.

Would you ever cook this whole, like cauliflower or just take the...?

-I think just take the florets off.

-Just blanch them quickly?

It's very nice - anchovies are very nice with it.

Classically, you'd probably do like orechiette with Romanesco

and anchovy and garlic and use it like a pasta sauce.

-So that's sealing away.

-I think broccoli, we should use more of.

I think that a lot of people don't really eat it, because it's part of that sort of brassica family.

-It's so sweet. Simply boiled...

-Don't overcook it.

-Don't overcook it.

You can do lots of things - cream, you can add all manner of stuff.

Just boil it and dress it with some olive oil, it's just delicious,

particularly with this dish because it's quite fatty.

We're going to make a sauce, as well, to go with the chicken.

I've actually tried growing this at home, and I found it quite difficult.

If you can give me any tips, then please give us a ring.

I find it quite difficult to grow.

Going to pop this in the oven now. It's got a nice seal on the skin.

So you're going to cook that on the skin side?

Cook on the skin side for about five minutes, then turn it over.

Look at the chicken. You've got this lovely juice there,

which is all, kind of, like reduced chicken gravy.

I spoke to our guests about travelling.

You've been away quite recently, somewhere quite unusual.

I went to St Moritz, and I was guest chef at the St Moritz Food Festival.

We had this amazing... The last day was amazing.

We had cooked this, we did one of the courses. I had the canape course.

It was a, kind of, duff deal.

2000 canapes, at seven o'clock in the morning, on the lake,

which is, like, ten-foot frozen.

There was 400 people in this tent,

and we went into the kitchen at seven o'clock, in this tent, and it was absolutely freezing.

I had, sort of five chef's jackets on and salopettes,

at seven o'clock in the morning,

trying to do these little canapes. Absolute nightmare.

But it was good fun.

So, anyway, we've got our chicken here.

Broccoli's just cooking away.

So, squeeze of lemon juice into the chicken. Get those little bits out.

Then we're going to get some nice -

for this mascarpone cream, we're going to, sort of, make the sauce.

So the sauce is basically made out of the mascarpone, as well?

-Yeah, but it's also made out of the, kind of, cooking juices.

-Yeah.

So you've drained off the fat.

I've drained of the fat, because you will get the fat from the chicken,

and just, sort of, emulsify that together.

-Broccoli doesn't want very long?

-No.

You mentioned a great pasta dish with broccoli, as well.

Broccoli with anchovy and chili and orecchiette is a very nice one.

-OK.

-So what shape's the orecchiette?

It's the shape of pasta where you put the thumb on the pasta and you get...

-It's like an ear, is it?

-Like an ear, exactly.

Right, so, finish off this. Olive oil.

Olive oil. It's very simple. Salt and pepper. Look at those colours - beautiful.

It's fantastic, isn't it?

-Then, a nice, sharp knife.

-Give it a quick mix.

Just going to cut the chicken in half so you can see what it looks like.

This is enough for two, really. As it's for you.

Look at the colour of that. Just, literally, broccoli should be like this.

And I love these little...

So, look at the skin. It's all, kind of, crispy and moist.

There we go.

Cut this in half. Cut the leg first.

So you can see the prosciutto in there?

And then the breast, which should be really succulent. There we go.

-That's a proper portion, isn't it?

-It's a huge portion, that one.

-That's a Yorkshire portion.

-Don't get that in his restaurant! I've been there.

And then finish off with the sauce.

The secret is don't boil it because it'll split, or not?

Just be careful not to go too much, because it will split,

you're absolutely right. And there you have it.

-Theo, remind us what that is.

-That's pan-roasted chicken stuffed with prosciutto and mascarpone

with rosemary and two types of broccoli, purple sprouting and Romanesco.

You look at it. I'm going to grab that bit of chicken. Enjoy.

Mm-mm-mm.

It is delicious. Hope you're feeling hungry. Look at that.

Me first?

Yeah, dive in. Tell us what do you think.

-Here we go.

-Basically, that chicken, that idea of lemon and mascarpone,

could you do it with something else? It wouldn't work very well with game.

No, the only thing you can really do that with is probably guinea foul,

-which it would be even nicer with because it's much darker meat.

-Thank you.

-Delicious.

-Like that?

-Mmm.

Is it something you would attempt to make at home?

You're quite busy, you guys, but is it something you'd ever try?

I wish I could do that. God, the sauce is incredible.

The sauce really makes it. Having something simple like broccoli, it, kind of, goes together.

It's not heavy.

Simple flavours, mascarpone, a little bit of rosemary and lemon.

I've recorded this so I'll do it with you.

Coming up, I'll be cooking salmon for actor Robert Webb,

but first, here's the brilliant Rick Stein.

One of my favourite places on the West Coast of Scotland is Loch Fyne.

I first came here about 18 years ago to find out what the oysters were like.

I met up with one of my great seafood heroes, Johnny Noble.

'Johnny's a Scottish laird and an oyster farmer,

'but he also produces smoked salmon and mussels.'

This is fun.

What do you think of your own oysters, then?

I think, of course, entirely unprejudiced, that they're the best in the world.

Do you?

-I seriously do.

-Can you tell the difference?

-Yeah.

There's a special taste in Loch Fyne.

There's no doubt there is in other lochs and other waters,

but there's a special taste to do with the salinity.

It's as if you could taste the loch.

You can't really describe taste too easily.

I know lots of people try and they normally get it hopelessly muddled.

But it is the very essence of the sea and, to me...

Like we export to Hong Kong, Singapore,

when I sample one of our oysters

in the captain's room at the Mandarin,

I shut my eyes and it's so evocative

that I could be back here.

-Oh, that's lovely.

-Yeah, yeah.

And the West Coast of Scotland

is probably the richest potential for quality shellfish growing

in the world.

Further down the loch,

Gordon Goldsworthy grows scallops in lantern nets.

'It's such a sensible way of growing them,

'far better than dredging up the seabed.'

There's no doubt that, if it's managed properly,

you can farm scallops successfully.

What do they feed on, then?

Scallops are filter feeding animals, and they feed on,

if you like, microscopic plants known as phytoplankton in the sea.

Much in the same way as sheep and cows are grazing on grass,

the scallops are grazing, if you like, on the grass of the sea.

So they're primary producers.

They can produce a beautiful white protein, which everyone wants.

No bones, sweet meat. Absolutely fantastic.

It's all done without the use of any chemicals or feed

-or pollution or anything. Do you want to pick one?

-Yeah!

That one there seems to be beckoning.

-Can I open it?

-Yeah, sure.

-Thanks.

Don't know if I am doing this the right way, but...

Soon find out.

God, they're so clean. There's no grit in them.

Yeah, that's right. They're never on the seabed.

Never on the bed? God, look at that. And the roe.

It's a, sort of, seafood lover's delight, this.

Let's get that roe out, as well.

Fantastic. Look at that.

Get rid of that. You could eat the whole lot, let alone...

Do you mind if I just cut into this one, then?

Just try it. Gosh, they're sensational.

I mean, that is a, sort of, serious seafood moment for me.

Just looking down in the depths of that water, it's so clean.

It's just reflected in that taste. It's so salty and so sweet.

You wouldn't want them any other way.

I'm never going to cook another scallop.

I was in the restaurant a couple of weeks ago,

and I suppose I could say I was a bit disappointed

to hear a woman say that she wouldn't have the scallops,

when she was reading the menu, because they were too plain.

She wanted something, sort of, complicated and covered in garnish

and all that sort of stuff.

I'm not saying that I'll always like my seafood very simple,

but I tend to prefer it like that.

This dish, grilled scallops, with roasted hazelnut and coriander butter,

is exactly that, and they're done in the shell.

That looks great.

So, first I put some roasted hazelnuts into a food processor.

Now, I roasted the hazelnuts for about ten, 15 minutes in a moderate oven.

The thing about roasting hazelnuts with the coriander in this butter

is they work together in a sort of elusive, magical way,

and with the sweetness of the scallops,

it is simple, but it's just very effective.

Next, I add some shallot.

About one shallot, chopped up into four bits

to make it easy to whizz up in the food processor.

And now some lemon juice, about the juice of half a lemon,

and that just cuts the richness of the butter.

Now, a great deal of parsley and a great deal of coriander,

big handfuls, equal quantities of both.

Now some salt, quite a lot of salt.

I'm going to use unsalted butter later on,

so I'm going to compensate with extra amounts of salt.

Fresh pepper, freshly ground pepper next.

Quite a few turns of the pepper mill.

And now for the butter, unsalted butter.

It has a much better flavour for this dish.

Lid on the food processor and blend everything till it's nice and smooth.

That'll take about a minute or so.

And now for the scallops.

You have to buy scallops that are still in the shell for this dish.

The shell adds so much value, I think, to it.

Take about six scallops on a tray

and a good dollop of the butter on each one of them.

Then slide under a grill.

Don't get it too high up against the heat,

because you want the scallop to cook without burning the butter and the parsley,

so about midway up the grill.

You need to grill those for about five minutes,

maybe a bit longer, depending on the heat of your grill.

I always find the smell of hot shells are sort of...

I once said in an earlier programme, it smells like hot beaches to me.

It just makes so much difference.

I don't think people really realise the effect that a smell of a lobster shell

or a mussel shell, or in this case, a scallop shell,

the effect it has on the dish.

It just adds so much value.

Lochs like Loch Fyne are really the domain of little boats.

Little boats that can go creeling for langoustines.

Look at the size of that. It's like a small lobster.

If they just kept the loch to 16-18 foot boats,

and banned the big trawlers from dredging it up,

just think how prolific it could be.

I asked Johnny to give us a tableful of what the loch contains.

Beautiful langoustines, smoked herrings, smoked queenies,

lobsters, velvet crabs. The Spanish adore those.

Why don't we eat them? I'm thinking of Galicia and glasses of Albarino.

And the mussels, with their lovely orange flesh.

They're grown here in Loch Fyne, too, on ropes.

And this is the latest way of harvesting them.

Their shells are really thin and their meats are fat,

because they don't have all the stress of being battered around in the tides.

And they're really quite clean.

It's amazing how mussels have caught on.

Of all seafood in this country, they're the sort of litmus test.

I remember when it was seriously avant-garde

to have a plate of moules marinieres, but how things have changed.

I got this recipe out of Jane Grigson's fish cookery book,

which is actually, I think, my all-time favourite.

It's called mussel loaves.

But I think it's an occasion where the French sounds more romantic,

moules en croustade. You think, I like the sound of that!

Funnily enough, when I told my wife Jill I was doing this dish

for the TV series, she said, "Oh, that sounds a bit '70s."

I said, "Precisely! That's exactly what it is and jolly good, too!"

So that's that one done.

So now what I'm going to do is get some melted butter

and coat the inside of these croustade with butter.

And then I'm going to pop them in the oven, just to crisp them up.

And now to do the mussels. Just open a bit of white wine here.

The wine gives them a bit of steam to start with.

And then just add the mussels.

Put a lid on.

Give it a good shake.

And let the steam do the business, cook them.

You get all the lovely liquor out of the mussels which is the basis

of any sauce, I think, any sauce that you're going to cook with mussels. There we go.

Just pour those through this colander.

OK, I'm just going to pick the meats out of these mussels. Easy job to do.

It's a lovely day outside today.

You know when the tide's high on a warm day like this,

there's this lovely warm smell of seawater, love that.

The next thing is, I'm going to slice up some leeks

into very, very small pieces,

and then sweat them off in a bit of butter,

which is a technical term for reducing them,

cooking them very gently so they go into what the French call a fondue.

They've always got these great words. It's a sort of sauce, almost.

And now I'm just going to add some mussel juice.

The mussel juice to me is the most important flavouring element of this whole dish.

Just stir that in. And now some butter, about three ounces of butter.

It's quite rich, this dish. But it's British.

So, just stir that in, melting in nicely. Liaising nicely.

And now some cream, about a couple of tablespoons of cream. In that goes.

And now some beurre manie, just about a teaspoon or so of it.

Beurre manie just means kneaded butter in French,

and it's just a mixture of softened butter and flour.

It's an excellent way of giving a sauce a little bit of thickening.

That's fine, and now the mussels. Tip those in, stir them in gently,

I don't want to break up the meats at all.

It's very nice. Smelling good, too.

And now a great big wodge of chopped-up chives,

fresh chives like that.

Just stir that in. And that's done, that's ready.

Now, let's get the buns out of the oven. There they are, nice and crisp.

Just stick those on my worktop.

And now just fill, fill them with this lovely mussel mixture.

I know this is quite old-fashioned, this sort of dish.

It's what I'd call the best sort of pub food,

it's the sort of thing we sell in our cafe.

I wonder if these sort of dishes will come back into general fashion?

At the moment everybody's into fusion cooking,

but I suspect that will probably go the same way

as Nouvelle Cuisine went.

Out the door, basically.

And we'll be left with sort of local food like this.

Why is it we all seem to want to rush off to hot Mediterranean beaches,

and sit cheek-by-jowl with lots of other people,

when there's places in Britain like the West Coast of Scotland?

It's so good for the soul.

But this is a seafood lover's search for Nirvana.

And the one worrying thing about this paradise

is that there is very little fish to be had here.

Certainly lobsters are getting scarce,

but there are a few surprises.

A fisherman's just given me all these squat lobsters.

They're still alive, some of them.

I'm going to have to cook them fairly quick, they don't keep very well.

Do you catch many of these?

Well, I don't fish for them, but if I wanted to catch them,

I could catch a hell of a lot of them.

-Why don't you fish for them?

-There's no market for them.

You should go out and buy these squat lobsters.

The recipe I like is based on potted shrimps.

You take about a pound and a half of squat lobsters,

and you boil them in well-salted water for about 3 to 4 minutes only.

Then you go through all the laborious business

of taking the tails off and taking the shells off them.

It leaves you with about 6 to 8 ounces of squat lobster meat.

Now you take a block of butter and just melt it very gently

in a saucepan and add some finely chopped fresh ginger and lemon juice.

Then you drop in your squat lobster tails,

stir them around a little bit and just leave them

to infuse in the butter and ginger and lemon juice for about a minute.

Now you take some very, very finely sliced basil, not a lot,

just about half a dozen leaves, and stir them in.

Then you pour the butter and squat lobster mixture

into your ramekins and leave them in the fridge to set.

And to eat?

I like to turn them out of the ramekins onto a plate,

and just eat them with plenty of very thinly sliced brown toast and butter.

They're just delicious.

Of all the places I went to on my journey,

the Summer Islands were the most magical.

And as if by magic,

I found a little cafe serving just the sort of seafood I wanted.

'Well, this is Achiltibuie smoked salmon, and it's quite special.

'Well, it should be quite special'

because Achiltibuie is beautiful, it looks out over the Summer Isles.

The reason it's special is it's smoked over whiskey cask shavings,

and it's cured with molasses, juniper berries and rum,

as opposed to just salt, which most smoked salmon is cured with.

But I'm eating it here in this little cafe just a few miles up from Achiltibuie,

and I just saw this sign which said "seafood, tea and coffees".

I just thought, "Well, I'll just see what they've got," I walked in,

just totally unprepossessing sort of place.

But they had this smoked salmon and they had the langoustines,

and they had the mussels out of the local loch.

And I thought, this is the sort of place I'm looking for.

A place that just serves what the local fishermen are catching.

That's all I ask, nothing more.

OK, well, at this time of year in Cornwall,

life's a beach, if you know what I mean.

I know no better dish to cook on a beach for surfers

and people like that than fish tacos. So here we go.

First of all, I'm going to cook some fish in a bit of batter.

It's monkfish which is ideal for this dish because it's nice and firm,

and I'm looking for a firm, good, chewy fish for these tacos.

I got the idea for these tacos from a friend of mine who'd been surfing

out in Mexico, it's called the Baja California,

it's that sort of little finger of land

that stretches out in the Pacific from the rest of Mexico.

He said there's these fantastic dishes of tacos

that you can get on the beach. And it fired my imagination.

I thought, I love tacos anyway,

those sort of Mexican tortillas with things in it.

The idea of fish tacos, they probably use snapper there,

but I'm using monkfish -

it just appealed to me.

So I thought this all up. I haven't actually got the recipe,

but I know there'd be some sort of salsa in there,

so that's what I'm making now.

In there I put lots of red onions and some tomatoes,

and bungs of chilli, because I know the Mexicans love chilli and so do I.

Here we go.

These aren't particularly hot ones,

but some of those Mexican ones will blow the top of your head off.

And now, vibrant flavours like lime juice. I love lime juice in salsa.

Give that a good squeeze. And plenty of coriander.

I'll put half that in there.

And a little bit of sugar, just to bring out the flavour a bit.

And plenty of salt.

Just stir that in a bit, and that's all the salsa is.

And while I was making the salsa, up comes the monkfish fritters.

Just turn them over a bit.

I just like the idea, what appealed to me

was just having fish actually in batter in something like a tortilla.

And what I'm going to do is just ask...

Let's just make this up first, I'm just going to ask Rudy,

the Australian lifeguard on this beach, to come up and try one

because I have a feeling he's probably been to the Baja.

Because these Australians are like swallows,

they come and spend the summer here,

then they go off to more exotic climates in the winter.

So in there first of all I put some sliced lettuce,

then some of these bits of fish.

And then lots and lots of salsa. Rudy?

This is a bit of soured cream to go on the top.

Do you want to come up here and try this taco?

-Sure.

-There you are.

It's a fish taco from the Baja, have you been down there?

-Yeah, down through Baja? Sure.

-Have you tried these down there?

I've tried many varieties of taco before down in Baja.

-Have you tried a fish taco?

-A fish taco? You got it, I have.

So where would you eat that down there? What do you think?

I think it's lovely. It's not as oily as down in Baja.

Chalky, you won't like it cos it's got lots of chilli in it.

You can have a bit of the fish, all right?

That's your first taco. I just say this is great beach food, don't you?

-Simple.

-Yeah.

-Easy to do. It's plain, simple and it's lovely.

I'd just like to set up a little store at Constantine...

I can see it - mariachi bands, have a palapa down here,

a few sombreros, we'll have a ball.

-And a few beers.

-Lots of them!

Mas cerveza, por favor! We got it.

"'I'm free, I'm free!'

"The open air was warm

"And heavy with the scent of flowering mint,

"And beetles waved on bending leagues of grass,

"And all the baking countryside was kind."

Some people accuse Betjeman of being too simple,

but isn't it that simple detail that tells it all?

And it's just the same with cooking.

This is what Cornwall is all about to me.

It's this lovely smell you get in off the sea,

it's so sort of bright and sunny and cheerful.

And food reflects the way you feel sometimes.

The dishes I really think about being in summer

are things like salmon and lobster.

And, well, salmon in particular, we have really nice salmon here,

it's wild salmon, and it's got that wonderful slightly nutty taste about it.

Farmed salmon? It's OK, it's OK.

But the wild thing's got this sort of nuts, it's sweet nuts.

What I do is I take some champagne - it's a bit posh.

I make a sauce,

I put some fish stock in which I make with turbot bones, Dover sole bones.

And a bit of cream, a little bit of butter in a pan,

and just let it reduce down with some champagne.

When I wrote this recipe,

I said, you just use a little bit of champagne for this recipe.

You're going to have to open a bottle.

Now, what are you going to do with the rest?

So there's the sauce, all coming down nicely.

And then you just take some salmon, a big fillet,

an eight or nine pound salmon, so you've got a two, three pound fillet.

And you just cut really thick, juicy cross fillets,

I can't remember what the French word is.

And you fry them very quickly in a pan, just salt and pepper.

Cook them for no more than a minute on either side.

Now the point of that is so that they're still almost raw

on the inside, because salmon, it's like tuna

and one or two other fish that really, really benefit from being undercooked.

So it's just sort of whizz, whizz, then out of the pan

while you finish off the sauce.

What you do is take some double cream,

and you pour some more champagne with the double cream and a bit of salt,

and whisk, whisk, whisk until it's all light and fluffy and peaky.

Then put some chives in as well, some chopped chives.

And just take your sauce which is reducing down on the stove top,

and you whisk in the whipped cream and chives.

And the whole sauce goes whew...! Right up in a sort of foam.

As soon as it foams up, on the plate, decorate with a couple of chives,

and to me, that is just a chef's idea of summer.

It's a taste of summer. Everything reminds me of summer.

Now, the sea is such a huge inspiration for many chefs,

not only Rick. There are loads of things that live in the sea

or near the sea that are brilliant to cook besides fish and shellfish.

I've got an unusual ingredient here,

it's a leaf from a plant called the sea aster or pig's ear,

which is quite relevant because your play is called...

-Fat Pig.

-Fat Pig!

-Indeed.

-Precisely!

-That's brilliant. This is all linking together.

See, I'm thinking. But this stuff, this is what they call sea aster or pig's ear.

It's grown on cliffs around Britain and France.

It's a little salty, very similar to samphire. Have a taste of that.

You can eat it kind of raw. This stuff is kind of unusual.

It's got a rocket taste.

It's strange, because it looks really like a pig's ear(!)

I don't know, but that's what it's called.

I don't make the names up, I just cook it! That's all it is.

Because it's from the sea or near the sea, you can get it from your fishmongers.

Not down your local supermarket, I doubt, for quite a while yet.

We'll serve that with salmon, scallops and some bits and pieces.

I'm going to thinly slice the salmon,

grill this and serve it with scallops. Place that on there.

Now, you can't get time to cook much at home,

because you're probably the busiest guy we had on the show.

As well as today, you've got two shows.

I've got a matinee, so I should hold back

on too much of that wine. It won't be a normal Saturday morning

where I normally just crack open several bottles.

But this is your new play, Fat Pig, tell us what it's about.

Well, it's by the slightly famous

and posh American author Neil LaBute, and it's about...

I play this character Tom who meets and falls in love with

a woman called Helen, who is charming, charismatic, funny, open and great.

But she's politely described by the stage direction as being "a plus size and then some".

So she's a bigger lady.

And Tom and Helen get it together,

but then Tom works with two rather nasty people in the office

played by Kris Marshall and... off of My Family and...

-You've got a great cast in this.

-Jo Page off of Gavin And Stacey.

Who conspire to basically make his life a misery,

because they don't think he should be going out with a fat girl.

And then we sort of find out

whether Tom's going to be brave enough to not care about

what they, as representing "society", care.

And it's something new for you.

We know you from the TV and radio and stuff like that,

but this is something new.

Well, it's my first West End show.

I mean, I did a tour with David at the end of 2006,

but that was our own stuff, our own material.

This is a bit further outside my comfort zone.

I'm playing an American, putting on a funny voice.

-How are you finding it?

-It's great, I really enjoy it.

Is the stage as hard as people say it is?

I don't think it's that hard

if you know what you're doing and you practise!

It's fine.

It's a long old run, that's going to be the different thing.

It's at the Trafalgar Studio, is that quite a large theatre?

No, it's a 400-seater.

But the audience, the people on the front row

are basically on the stage with you.

Whereas people at the back are sort of up there,

so you have to play to both audiences.

So that's worth bearing in mind. You can't do much...

There's a love scene, you're sort of yelling sweet nothings to make sure they hear at the back.

I'll just recap what I've done here.

I've got my scallops and taken the roe off, put it in the pan here

with some white wine and a touch of double cream.

I've got the salmon which is grilling under the grill.

I thinly sliced the salmon, salt and pepper,

popped it under the grill, three minutes, something like that.

This is just to make a simple sauce.

I'm going to take the scallops now and slice these up.

Basically, this pig's ear, you treat it a bit like spinach.

Very, very last-minute cooking.

But with the scallops, a bit of seasoning,

salt and pepper. Over there.

And then some olive oil.

You don't oil the pan, you oil the scallops.

Give that a quick mix and they go in. There.

When it comes to cooking, not much success in the kitchen,

is that right? You called the fire brigade once.

Yeah, I've never shown that much interest,

I always think I'm going to burn the place down.

I did call the fire brigade out.

It wasn't my fault, I was in the bath

and my flatmate went out to the launderette

and she was toasting some muffins and left the grill on and the grill pan caught fire.

And there was a small fire in the oven and I thought,

I could take it out, but I don't know how high these flames want to go. It's not a big flat.

So I called the fire brigade.

I did the same thing to Claridges, and nearly burnt the whole of Claridges down.

-With muffins?

-Not with muffins, no!

I called the fire brigade and they told me to evacuate the whole flat

so everyone was slightly... I must say, I did put some trousers on before I called them.

-I had to evacuate Mick Jagger!

-So that's at home.

When you go out to eat as well, a few disasters.

One thing I thought was funny was the old vinegar incident.

Yeah, there was a time when David and I,

the first time we got taken out to lunch

by our producer, we were very small and excitable.

It was Gareth Edwards, who now makes our sketch show with us.

I was slightly nervous, and we were out there having this meal.

And there was a tiny jug of what I thought was white vinegar,

but actually turned out to be sparkling mineral water.

So I just poured it on to my chips and it started to sizzle.

Gareth was polite enough to ignore this and David was just staring

open-mouthed at me, going, why are you trying to sabotage our career?

-By behaving like a maniac?

-But you were professional though.

You didn't do anything, just sat and ate your chips.

"This is what I normally do,

"just pour sparkling mineral water on my chips, what's the problem?"

Brilliant. In we go with the butter in here,

and we've got this pig's ear or sea aster.

Remember to look out for it because I think it's great stuff, this stuff.

Need to wash it really well, though. Just saute that off.

We've got the scallops in here nicely.

In this pan here, I've got the roe and the gubbins from the scallops.

I've taken away the outside part and I've got the roe in there,

just give it a bit with the stick blender

just to make a nice, lovely little sauce.

The colour of the sauce will change slightly.

Plus I'm a Yorkshireman, and you know how I like butter on this show.

A little knob of butter in there. Give that a quick mix.

Take that off.

That's your sauce done. The salmon you see now is cooked.

Nicely finished off. And all we do with that is lift it onto the plate.

Do this quite carefully, says he!

-In fact, you do this in two pieces!

-Ideally, in two pieces.

There you go. Lift that on there. It keeps it nice and fresh

if you just basically pop it under the grill as it is.

And then the sauce can go in here at the last minute.

Back into the pan. There we go.

Bit of chives.

Seasoning, salt, black pepper. Give that a quick mix.

And that's your sauce done.

All we now do is just pop this on the plate. Remember this is the...

Keep the colours nice and green, but you've got the scallops

and the pig's ear.

-That sits on the top. Easy as that.

-Do I get to eat this?

Yeah, probably the first time anyone's tried pig's ear on television.

-Very good.

-There you go. Try that.

I'm feeling very historic.

Normally I'm just watching this show at home eating toast

-and feeling bad.

-Tell us what you think of that.

-I think it's better when it's cooked.

-Oh, that's gorgeous.

Now, next up is one of the finest female chefs in the country.

Clare Smyth. And she's giving us a masterclass in artichokes.

Now, what are we cooking? Keeping it very simple today.

Yeah, keeping it really simple.

I'm going to cook a dish that's called artichokes a la barigoule.

It's a Provencal vegetable stew,

and in it we've got some nice purple artichokes, baby artichokes.

-Coming into season now.

-Yes, they'll be in season in March,

spring through the summer. Some baby onions,

some little radishes,

little long radishes here that are really tasty.

Some baby turnips, button mushrooms, carrots, a little bit of garlic,

it's all going to be cooked in some white wine.

A bit of chicken stock, finished with a little bit of parsley.

And then really nice extra-virgin olive oil.

I know we want to get certain ingredients on first of all.

I'm just going to start with the bacon.

I'm going to start sweating the bacon off on a really low heat,

-I'll start cutting some lardons.

-You want the carrots thinly sliced.

I mentioned the old three-Michelin star club, that's rare enough.

How many have we got in the UK, restaurants with three?

There's a fourth now.

-We've got four.

-Yeah, we just had the fourth.

But what is even more of a rarer club, you're one of only six women to have three Michelin stars?

I think it's either six or seven, I'm not entirely sure.

-There's not so many.

-Pretty good.

What about that for Breakfast, Chris?

-Unfortunately.

-Simple as that. We'll thinly slice these.

The idea of this dish, where does it come from?

You're a big fan of French food, of course.

Yeah, and I really like cooking with vegetables.

I actually like really simple food, really light,

I'm really inspired by vegetables and the ingredients.

So I'm just going to put the bacon in a pan quickly,

then I'm going to put the baby onions in there.

Is that influence from people you've worked with in the past?

It is like a Who's Who of probably the most famous chefs in the world.

-Get rid of that.

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

But it is, I mean, Alain Ducasse.

Thomas Keller.

I spent a little bit of time at the French Laundry with Thomas Keller,

just a couple of weeks though. But yeah, some of the most amazing...

I've been lucky enough to work with some of the most amazing chefs.

-Working with Gordon's not too bad either, he's a great guy!

-"Not too bad either"!

Yeah, so yeah. I've been quite lucky.

I've always been really inspired by the produce.

I loved working down in Monaco.

There's amazing produce,

you're lucky because you've got Provence, you've got Italy.

Amazing ingredients.

Now, the old three-Michelin-starred restaurants, like I said,

there are rare. Purely the fact...

The amount of staff that it takes to run them.

So you were head chef at what age?

-I was 29.

-29, head chef there.

-Taking over a brigade of how many?

-16 chefs.

-16 chefs.

Wait for it. How many in the front of house as well?

-In total, there's 41 members of staff.

-And seats in the restaurant?

There's 45 seats in the restaurant. So it's a huge team.

LAUGHTER

We do about between 90 and 100 covers per day. So...

I mean, it is incredible, absolutely incredible.

Right, now, tell us about these artichokes.

Artichokes, these are baby artichokes.

What we're doing is just pulling the leaves off.

Pulling them down and snapping them, rather than pulling them up

because you can tear chunks out of the artichoke flesh.

-Can I put these in as well?

-Yeah, put those in.

We're just sweating all the ingredients really slowly,

sweating them in a nice olive oil. A little bit of salt in there.

They call it sweeting as well, sweating,

just letting all the juices come out of the vegetables naturally.

We've got the artichokes, we've peeled all the leaves down

till we've got to this stage, then just peel the stem.

These are different to the larger artichokes people are used to,

you can eat the choke on these ones.

Yes, you can just cut them in half.

If it's not spiky, you can leave it in there.

They're really good for you, you know.

They're really, really good for you. They actually lower cholesterol.

-Oh, do they?

-Yeah. And you can eat them raw.

-I think a lot of people are maybe scared of them.

-It's the preparation.

Yeah, not knowing what to do with them.

Theo Randall has been on the show,

he's a big fan of cooking these whole,

cut them in half and cooking them whole.

-They are delicious. You can eat them raw as well.

-Yes.

Just going to put the button mushrooms in there.

Artichokes are nearly ready,

I'm just going to turn the heat up a little bit.

I'll get a little bit of this.

Just cut the tops off, you can see where the...

..where the white starts and the green starts, you just cut that off.

Just cut them in half.

We put them into a little bit of acidulated water,

just some water and lemon juice.

-I've got a vitamin C powder in there.

-Vitamin C powder?!

-It just keeps them white.

-Right.

If you don't put that in there, they're just going to go grey.

-You want artichokes nice and white.

-Vitamin C powder?

-Yeah, use it all the time, James(!)

-Lemon.

-Lemon juice.

Yeah. What I'm going to do, I'm going to cut these a little bit smaller,

into quarters. You want to try and take all the green off the artichokes

because it tastes really bitter, you want the nice white flesh.

You can shave those and put them in salads.

If you dress them with a little bit of olive oil and lemon juice,

a bit of salt, they're amazing.

-Really, really fresh.

-You've got some stock in there now.

Yeah. Now I've turned the heat up, I'll put the artichokes in,

you want to cook them quite quickly otherwise they go grey.

What's the idea of this vitamin C?

-Is it because the lemon juice makes it taste...

-It doesn't leave a flavour behind.

Just going to put a bit more salt on those artichokes.

That's all sweating really nicely.

For me, that's something that really inspired me,

just beautiful vegetables like that.

-We call it barigoule, this.

-Yeah.

-What is it named after?

Barigoule is actually a mushroom. It's a mushroom from Provence.

Little-known.

It looks a little bit like a button mushroom

but yeah, it's a little bit sort of a milky cap mushroom,

It's a little bitter in flavour, actually.

You don't see them around too often.

OK, in there,

so I'm going to put a bit of sliced garlic in there as well.

It's all sweating really nicely.

OK, now the heat's up, I'm going to pour in a bit of white wine.

There was always a myth with three Michelin stars that surrounds it...

I mean, what's the idea of it?

Just...

Is it a secret way?

It's not just yourself, obviously, it's front of house,

-it's a mixture of everything.

-It's a huge team of people, really,

it's a sum of many people's work.

It's like a sports car that's driven by a massive engine in the back

-for a really small restaurant.

-Yeah.

You know, it's a real privilege to work in an environment like that.

You've got amazing ingredients, everything you need.

You can work with amazing people, front of house are amazing.

-They'll be happy when you get back there.

-Yeah!

-Right, so that's the chicken stock.

-A bit of chicken stock just gone in.

A little bit of chopped parsley.

So we're just cooking this really quickly.

You want the vegetables just to be cooked

and just check it for seasoning.

Now, if people can't get a table in the restaurant,

-they can get a table, what, two Saturdays a month?

-Yeah.

Go on, tell us about this. You're doing little classes?

We do a masterclass now,

one or two Saturdays a month,

where we have 12, up to 12 people

that come into the kitchen and cook with us,

they do a three-course meal

and then afterwards, they invite their friends,

so their friends come and eat their food and they play chef for the day

so if it's not good, they can only blame their friends.

It's nothing to do with us!

But yeah, it's a really fun thing to do.

-Really great people.

-Because the restaurant's open Monday to Friday?

Monday to Friday, yeah.

OK, now as that's cooking, we've kept the lid on

-so we want to cook it really, really quickly.

-Yeah.

We've got our bowl here.

And now you're just going to serve that with some bread?

Just a little bit of bread, yeah.

We're just going to let that stock now, we take the lid off,

let the stock reduce down a little bit.

I'm surprised you get time to do anything, really,

you're not just working at the restaurant

but is it Greece you're going to next?

Yeah. I've got a little project in Greece.

Really, I've just been invited.

It's a project, I'm going to cook for 60 people,

a few dinners in May,

but most of my time is really spent in the restaurant.

It takes, like, 100% focus.

-You know, it's nice to be closed on a Saturday and Sunday.

-Exactly.

And just one team,

that commitment it needs for three Michelin stars.

-We've got our parsley there.

-Yeah.

We're going to reduce that down a bit.

We'll put a bit more olive oil in.

Where's my black pepper for you? There you go.

And just finish it with a little bit of pepper.

In goes the parsley.

Now, these are two different...

We've got parsley, Chris, going in here. Doesn't matter, does it?

I can go with it, yeah. She's got three stars! It's going to be good.

I'm allowed to.

OK, so that's done now,

so we've got all this sauce,

all the juice of all the vegetables in there.

Of course, if people are looking for artichokes,

there's two different types - Jerusalem and globe.

-These are baby globe artichokes.

-These are the baby globe artichokes,

so that's all going in there.

-The Jerusalem ones look like ginger, more of the root.

-Yeah.

So that's a really healthy stew.

That goes on the side. Remind us what that is again.

That's artichokes a la barigoule.

-Easy as that.

-Easy.

A la barigoule. There you go. Over here, Clare. Grab a seat.

-Wash my hands there.

-Parsley and all, Chris, there you go.

I've a new word - acidulated water.

-Acidulated water.

-The other question - with all those people,

do you do any peeling or slicing any more?

Or do you just go, "one of those, one of those..."

No. Yeah, I like to be very hands-on. I love cooking.

Yes, so do I, but not really when that happens.

-What do you reckon?

-It's hot, it's hot.

The key to this is the freshness of all the ingredients, its simplicity.

It is, and it's all the flavours locked inside.

We haven't lost anything anywhere. It's all in the one pan.

-Mmm.

-Happy with that?

-And it's very simple

because you've got your sauce, you've got everything together.

James, you'll not get any of it.

-Neither will you two girls.

-I'm waiting. Come on.

And don't forget,

that recipe is waiting to be downloaded from our website.

Just go to bbc.co.uk/recipes.

Now, here's Valentine Warner with some summer food ideas.

If soaring summer temperatures have you craving something sweet,

follow my top tips for ice-cool treats

using the very best of summer's fruity bounty.

First up, my cucumber and lime granita.

Granita's like sorbet but not quite as refined.

It's basically put in the freezer, stirred every now and again.

It's quite grainy, like a kind of grown-up slushy.

Start by peeling a couple of cucumbers.

Blend to a pulp, then push through a sieve

and collect the luscious green juice in a bowl.

Cucumber water - amazingly refreshing.

A glass of that on its own, cold, would be fantastic.

But I'm going to make it even tastier

by adding fragrant elderflower cordial and lime juice.

Fantastic combination. Pop the mixture in the freezer

and stir regularly until you end up with a crushed-snow texture.

That is amazing. Oof!

For another easy-peasy summer fruit recipe,

why not try my adult version of an old kids' classic?

Freeze pineapple juice and grenadine to create two-toned lollies.

Fantastic rocket fruit lolly.

Mmm.

When strawberries and raspberries arrive in the shops,

I know the British summer has well and truly arrived

but these red, succulent berries can really split the nation.

Are you a raspberry fan or a strawberry fan?

Which fruit is the tastiest?

I've come down to Crockford Bridge Farm in Surrey to find out.

-Hi, how are you doing?

-Very well indeed.

-Good, good.

Owners Paul and Caroline Smith

have been growing strawberries and raspberries here for over 25 years.

-How are your children today?

-Very happy. They're very happy.

-Can I try one?

-You may.

Now this is Flamenco.

That's juicy.

That's really juicy, and very sweet.

-Yes.

-And fat, and giving, and generous and good.

-They're very nice. They're very nice strawberries.

-That's fantastic.

Do you want to try a different variety over here?

-Yeah, I want to try every single variety you've got.

-Over here.

'I plan to munch my way

'through all of Paul's six varieties of strawberries

'before moving on to the raspberries.'

These are Albion. West Bromwich Albion, that's how we remember it.

That is as classic as it gets.

Strawberries are the epitome of the British summer.

Just because the tennis at Wimbledon is over,

it doesn't mean we have to stop enjoying them.

-Can't resist another one.

-It'd be wrong not to eat another one.

-Good.

VALENTINE BELCHES

Sorry! LAUGHTER

Sorry, bad strawberry reflux.

Time to rate the raspberries.

This is Glen Ample.

We call it the thoroughbred racehorse - it's hard to grow,

-but it's a great raspberry.

-Can I get picking?

-Yep.

Let's find you the...

Can we just talk about the taste of raspberries over strawberries?

-Yes.

-I like them both

but if I had to have one for the rest of my life, take the strawberry away.

That is so delicious.

'But apparently, the nation doesn't agree with me.'

Last year, 8,000 tonnes of British raspberries were sold in the UK,

compared to 60,000 tonnes of strawberries -

a statistic which completely baffles me.

-Look at that.

-Glen Ample.

-That's one fat...

-Juicy raspberry.

Mmm.

That says it all. Raspberries over strawberries.

'I believe the British raspberry has been overshadowed by the strawberry

'for far too long.

'It's time we upped the raspberry's profile, and I have a plan.'

I know the strawberry is the national favourite

but in a straight challenge, I think I can turn heads to the raspberry.

Strawberries and raspberries will go head-to-head

in a battle of the berries, as I try to persuade the general public

that raspberries can be just as tasty as strawberries.

Paul will push the nation's favourite

whilst I'll champion the underdog.

I want to take you on in a strawberry-versus-raspberry

no-holds-barred, anything goes except for biting and pinching...

-Right...

-And loser buys lunch.

-Loser buys lunch, yeah, I'll be up for that. No problem.

-Great.

Paul better beware.

I don't like losing.

MUSIC: Theme from "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"

The day of reckoning has arrived

and we've come to Canary Wharf in London's Docklands.

With swarms of office workers out on their lunch break,

I'll be trying to promote the raspberry over Paul's strawberry.

-I'm going to win this.

-Are you?

I'm going to win this. No problem.

'Paul may think this is a one-horse race

'but I'm wearing my lucky raspberry-coloured shirt.'

-Strawberries versus raspberries.

-Yes.

The punter comes up.

They can only have one

and the winner is the person who gets rid of their fruit first.

-I'm ready to go.

-Are you?

-I'm ready.

-Let battle commence.

-Let battle commence.

Come and get your raspberries! Delicious raspberries!

-Pick up my strawberries!

-Delicious raspberries!

-I'll have some strawberries.

-Do you want cream?

-Why do you want strawberries?

-They're lovely.

They're not as interesting as raspberries.

You're a statistic if you eat strawberries.

These strawberries have aphrodisiac properties, this variety.

Raspberries! You've got to have raspberries.

-Have you ever even raspberries like this before?

-No, I haven't.

Do you want to change? Will you change?

OK, great, raspberries, fantastic.

-Our raspberries are steaming ahead.

-Come on!

Raspberries! Amazing raspberries!

Don't take the strawberries. They're for...

-Yes!

-He's done it!

-Yes!

-I won! I won! I won!

-You're on the best side.

I don't believe it!

Thank you very much.

'What a result! It may have been my raging enthusiasm

'but the raspberry has won.'

-That was a great, great competition.

-It was ferocious.

-It was close.

-A nation of gannets.

-Definitely.

The raspberry is champ, but it's not just delicious raw.

It's also fabulous cooked

so what that way to celebrate my triumph

than with my tongue-tingling raspberry and almond tart.

How could there be any doubt at all

that the raspberry is a superior fruit to the strawberry?

I've made a 25-centimetre pastry tart base with a simple sweet pastry.

So I'm going to start with raspberry jam.

A couple of really big tablespoons.

Now for the lovely almondy frangipane filling.

Blend butter and sugar into a cream

then add ground almonds, flour,

beaten eggs and vanilla extract.

Take the frangipane...

Give the blades are good pass over with the finger...

Mmm.

It is so rich and delicious

and the perfect vehicle for holding the raspberries.

And now for the star player, the raspberries.

I'm not going to be mean here.

This is about raspberries, and I want to get as many in as possible.

Bake the tart for 50 minutes,

removing it halfway through to sprinkle with flaked almonds.

Aha!

God, it smells good.

Nutty and sweet and just great.

Oh, yes.

Raspberry jam, moist almonds, squishy raspberries,

crispy pastry. This is a winner.

This summer, be sure to put seasonal fruits on your shopping list.

Apricots, with their soft velvety skin and fragrant flesh,

make wonderfully fruity custard tarts.

Melons, a fantastic seasonal treat,

are delicious partnered with Parma ham

or turned into brilliantly refreshing sorbets.

Summer's juicy peaches aren't just perfect lunchbox fodder -

they make a great dessert when baked with honey and lemon.

If you're still in need of some sweet summer recipes,

I've one last strawberry treat it would be criminal to overlook.

I love an afternoon tea and cakes in the summertime,

and my favourite tea has to include scones, clotted cream and jam.

Sieve self-raising flour into a bowl

and add some chopped butter.

Fingers at the ready.

Pinching it together with the flour,

pinchy pinchy pinch.

Think about something nice. # Da da-da da-da... #

Once you've got a breadcrumb-like consistency,

blend with a pinch of salt, caster sugar and some milk.

Whole milk, none of that white water rubbish.

As soon as the dough forms a ball, take it out

and knead until it's smooth. Then roll it out. Not too flat,

you want them to be nice and puffy.

I always feel really swizzed in teashops.

My scones are always too small

and I feel too mean to order another round.

They should be big in the first place.

My greedy nature means I don't do dainty,

and these fat, square scones always hits the mark.

These are real whoppers.

Even better, they're square whoppers.

Brush the scones with milk to give them a wonderful golden finish.

Get them in the oven.

15 minutes, 220. Finished.

Ooh.

Big, fat, fatty fat squares.

Look at that. Belter.

Normally, you'd let them cool down a bit

but I don't really see the point in that when they look quite this good

so just...

Oof! Ooh, look at that.

HE INHALES

My whopping square scones deserve to be fully loaded,

so don't hold back on the butter or the jam.

Strawberry, of course. Mmm.

This is looking very good.

Finish off with a generous dollop of the essential clotted cream.

That's really, really delicious.

A scone, clotted cream, butter,

tonnes of strawberry jam.

I mean, that's about as British as you can get.

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 Bites,

you can see if top Irish chef Richard Corrigan

is any good at classic French cooking

when he takes on the Saturday Kitchen omelette challenge.

Sophie Grigson makes great home-style food.

These slow roast pork chops with creamy orange leeks

would be perfect for Sunday lunch.

Actor Hugh Bonneville faced his Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Did he get the beer battered oysters with watercress and red onion salad

that was for Food Heaven,

or caramelised apricots with vanilla ice cream

that was in line for Food Hell?

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

Now, here's Atul Kochhar with a spicy seafood recipe.

On the menu is Mauritian-inspired stir-fried squid

with Granny Smith apple salad.

I know Monty's going to slate me for my apples, but...

-Moving on!

-I'll take any advice from him later.

OK, so the whole basis, it's based on the dressing first of all,

-you want me to get on with that.

-Yeah, the dressing,

James, I will need to take julienne of this for the apples

and for the dressing,

there's a galangal,

which you just need to use the white part,

very little, not too much.

-Yep.

-Palm sugar. Palm sugar.

All to be pounded together

with lemon juice, peanuts and some chutney...

I'm saying chutney! It's chilli sauce.

Chilli sauce. This galangal's

-similar to ginger.

-It's similar to ginger.

It's more fragrant, and you should

always use in less quantity than ginger,

because it can make your dish very bitter.

-OK.

-And I think it's becoming slowly easily available in this country.

-What's the difference between galangal and ginger, then?

-What's the difference?

It belongs to the same family, but it's more fragrant.

-Do you peel it the same?

-Sorry?

-Do you peel it the same way?

-Yes.

-I hope you do, cos that's how I've done it!

-LAUGHTER

Use only the white part of it.

-I think it grows the same, doesn't it?

-It grows the same, yeah.

It's so much sweeter!

It is really nice. You can get it in supermarkets now.

They're doing those little Thai packs

where you can get often galangal, lemongrass,

which we've got here as well,

and a little bit of Thai shallots in there.

You can get that all as a pack already.

I think Oriental ingredients are becoming slowly more accessible,

more easy to get here.

I think it's about us using it more often.

Whoops!

We've got some of this lemongrass.

Tell us about Malaysia, then. Why did you go over there in the first place?

Well, it's a new series which I've done for the Good Food Channel,

and it starts tomorrow night at 8pm.

It's called Atul's Spice Kitchen: Malaysia.

I went to Malaysia first in the series

to see what other influences

exist in Malaysia other than just Malay.

But I found out there are huge influences. This country is just amazing.

It has got Chinese, a bit of Thailand,

Indonesia, Japanese as well.

So it's a country which truly we can say

that it has got everything from the world.

So it's quite a diverse culture, and everything has grown

side by side, helping each other,

and they have come up with a great fusion cuisine, so to speak,

which is truly Malaysian.

-Yeah.

-And it's quite rich, quite diverse, and I think it's growing.

It's about time we that recognised this cuisine in this country

and used it more often. There are some fabulous ingredients.

-I'm a person who cooks with spices every day.

-Yeah.

I was taken aback, the amount of spices they use

and the way they're used.

Are they different to the way you incorporate them in India, or not?

We do use a lot of ingredients in Indian food as well.

But something like, er...

turmeric, I would use dried turmeric powder.

Or if I had the dry turmeric, I would make a powder out of it.

-But they would use fresh.

-Right.

-They would use fresh turmeric root, mince it

and then use it.

So it has got a different flavour altogether.

And then ginger, we would use

only ginger root here, sometimes ginger stem,

but they would use ginger flower as well, which is amazing.

I'd never used it before I had gone to Malaysia.

And I learned so much in terms of balancing of the flavours.

-They always go after fresh spices, because they grow so many.

-Yeah.

There's a sink there, if you want to wash your hands. There you go.

I've just added the squid, and it's a good practice

that once you have sorted the squid, add a little water

so that it kind of loosens up the squid. Not too much salt, as well.

Now, you want these thinly sliced?

-Er, julienne, chef. Think julienne, chef.

-All right.

And some spring onion as well.

You're using Granny Smiths. Any reason why?

It just balances the flavour of the squid very nicely, tartly.

-When you've got all these English apples...!

-I know. Don't pick on me.

I'm glad you raised this point!

LAUGHTER

But there's loads to look out for.

I have to say, we are now in October,

at the peak of the apple season,

and as you know, there are about 600 different varieties of apple,

every one of which is better than Granny Smith.

Exactly. You grow your own.

I've got about 40 different varieties in my garden,

and you can have wonderful russets like Rosemary russets,

Egremont russet...

Obviously, everybody knows Cox's orange pippin, but actually

it's by no means the best and it's very difficult to grow.

But there are wonderful pippins - Ribston pippin,

-I've got Stoke Edith pippin...

-There's so many different ones.

Over 1,200 varieties of British apples, originally.

-And you're using none of them.

-Er, I'm sorry!

-The serious point is...

-What do they use in Malaysia?

..is if you're using an apple...

I don't think Malaysians grow apple. They always import it.

..is that that will have been shipped over from France,

whereas there are wonderful apples growing here, just down the road.

And one of the important things

is to try as few food miles as possible

-as well as beautiful apples.

-I grow them in my garden.

But unfortunately I didn't bring any in.

Shame on you, Atul Kochhar, for using French apples.

But the dog likes my apples. There you go.

Well, I'm sure you'll pat me, Monty, for this. The dish is brilliant.

-You'll enjoy it.

-I'll forgive you your apples if it's delicious.

-Anything else added to this?

-And I've just added

-the toasted cashew nuts in there.

-Lime juice?

-Lime juice, chef. That's it.