Episode 58 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning. There's a feast of fabulous food coming right up

in today's Best Bites.

Welcome to the show. We've got a great selection of Saturday Kitchen recipes

from the archives for you this morning.

The prosciutto wrapped lamb cutlets with green beans

from Australian domestic goddess, Donna Hay.

Michel Roux Snr shares one of his spectacular dishes,

the scallops with mushrooms, topped with mashed potato and cheese.

Simply brilliant.

Galton Blackiston serves Michelin starred classic cooking

at his Norfolk hotel.

This loin of venison in puff pastry with Savoy cabbage

he cooked for us shows why Galton is Norfolk's finest.

And Sherlock star actress Lara Pulver faced her food heaven

or food hell.

It was pan-fried salmon with green chilli

and bean salad for Food Heaven,

or a banana and custard tart with sauteed bananas

lined up for Food Hell.

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

So, let's get things started today with a spicy game recipe

from the brilliant Vivek Singh.

-Good to have you on the show.

-Good to be here.

-Great that you're here.

Now, this dish. Intriguing ingredients, first of all.

Some of which people probably haven't seen before.

But this obviously they have.

Partridges, of course, are quintessentially British.

Fantastic, in season.

It is a great game to work with.

It is the spicing and flavouring which is unique.

This is a recipe which has been inspired by the nomadic tribes

of north-west frontier cuisine in Pakistan.

Obviously, there is no game any more,

there is no hunting any more in that part of the world.

Do you think that's because of the British?

-That's because of my forefathers, really.

-Is it?

I'm from the Rajput family, the warrior princes,

who just go out and indiscriminately hunt and shoot

and left nothing there.

-Right.

-And now I'm here to make sure there's nothing left in Britain.

OK, so we've got the partridge. What else have we got here?

Some of the ingredients, this cheese, this is for you, Katherine.

We'll do a little paneer cheese, grilled paneer cheese for you

because you're a vegetarian, and I will serve it with the quinoa,

as we said earlier.

The partridge is marinated in ginger and garlic paste, yoghurt,

peanuts, dried mango and cumin, malt vinegar and salt.

You get on with that, I'll chop the onions and the tomatoes

and bits and pieces. We're going to serve that with quinoa,

which is something that people will say

is one of those trendy ingredients, that people steer clear of.

They hear about it but think, "I don't know what to do with it,"

and it's this stuff here.

Yeah, it is incredible.

I only came across this less than a year ago.

I thought I knew a lot about food.

Considering that quinoa has been around for 6,000 years,

-the Incas actually considered it the mother of all grains.

-Have you tried it? Never tried it.

The spelling would confuse you. If you pronounce it properly,

-it's 'ki-na-wah'.

-'Ki-na-wah', yeah. It's weird.

It's available. You can get it in the supermarkets so it is around.

But the secret is to soak it.

The secret is to soak it

so it gets rid of the saponins

and the slight bitterness that it may have otherwise.

But just soak it. It's quite simple.

If you soak it long enough,

it germinates in two to four hours, which is...

-which is great.

-But then you got to boil it, don't you?

You don't necessarily have two.

If you're going to have it just as a salad, in a cold salad,

you don't need to boil it.

Right, you've used the scissors for that cos it's much easier.

The shears, the poultry shears, is really good for this.

Now, this is the dressing. This is what...

this is the dressing with the partridge

but also with the cheese as well.

-Explain to us what's in there. Is that yoghurt-based?

-Yes, it is.

It's predominantly yoghurt and ginger-garlic paste.

Traditionally, very effective way to prevent the meat from going dry.

And the marinades work really well.

Because otherwise in the intense heat of the tandoor, if you put something

straight up, it's very likely that you'll end up burning it in no time.

-Right.

-The yoghurt not only flavours,

cos the acid breaks down the meat, but it protects the outside flesh.

-So you can use it for fish and stuff as well, right?

-Yeah.

-Absolutely.

-But it's something that is not something with meat

but you can do this with fish.

-I've seen it.

-Most of tandoori marinades, actually, do take...

-do take yoghurt in them.

-So, plenty of ginger.

-Yep.

Ginger and garlic paste, peanuts, cumin, malt vinegar.

Salt, sugar. It's just a really nice marinade.

And it tenderises, flavours,

and protects the meat all at the same time.

And, peanuts, are they sort of normal

in your, sort of, cooking?

Yes, they are very, very normal.

We use peanuts in very different forms.

We use them to thicken sources,

to texturise, as I'm going to do now in this dish.

I'm going to add a little bit of vegetable oil.

I've had something similar to this with monkfish.

The yoghurt does make an amazing dressing.

-It does and it adds acidity.

-You mentioned the tandoor oven.

Is that... Cos you're always busy, not just in this restaurant,

-but you're opening another restaurant.

-I am.

I am indeed opening up another restaurant in Liverpool Street

in a couple of weeks time, 12th November.

This is the tandoor that makes it special?

One of the features about the restaurant is that it has

a tandoor grill and bar in the centre of the restaurant.

Which...

Can I just ask you to marinade that for me and put it on skewers?

And I'm going to use my fingers and hands to just smear the partridges.

-This is the centrepiece of the restaurant, isn't it?

-It is.

It's just to encourage interaction.

Pretty much, it's so flexible as a concept that guests can come in

and pretty much create their bespoke dining experience.

And that's something we're very excited about,

because I think that's something

which is lacking in the space we operate in.

Right, I've got that one.

Also people have just missed that, you've crushed the peanuts in there?

Yes, some crushed peanuts from the mortar and pestle

which has gone into it.

-What's the idea of yoghurt and cheese?

-Yoghurt and cheese?

You've got cheese, you've got yoghurt on the outside.

Is that to protect it and give it a coating, like, crispy coating?

It is actually flavouring it because the cheese itself is quite bland.

It's...

It's a bit like Cheddar, but it doesn't melt.

-Right. So Indian cheese...

-Is bland. There you go.

This is his first dish, he's just come on. Right, OK.

I've got my cheese here. What do we do? Bake this in the oven?

Bake this in the oven for a few minutes

and then we will finish it off.

This has been in here for how long, roughly, in the oven?

It's been in the oven for five minutes.

This goes on the grill with the cheese.

I'm going to turn that up a bit. That's that one.

-I'll keep my eye on it. Right, now.

-This is the quinoa now.

Just a tiny bit of red chillies, dried red chillies.

And they just release their flavours into the oil.

SIZZLES

-Those curry leaves?

-Yes, curry leaves and mustard seeds,

which are pretty much the basic...

I was watching your dish the last time you were on,

and I tried it at home, and I made a complete mess of it, to be honest.

It's me, I think.

One thing about Indian food, it fascinates me,

because they just throw in, loads of different things in there,

but you can never try and replicate it.

You know what, I have an idea. If you try to replicate these things...

-Buy your book?

-Buy the new book, yeah. LAUGHTER

We've just come up with a book which combines the best of curry,

classic and contemporary altogether,

so you can have find dishes like partridges and game,

which otherwise you wouldn't come across in curry books.

But why do you think that people expect a recipe to work

the first time,

yet a concert pianist plays a piece of music will always make mistakes?

Why can't you just...

you've got to keep on cooking recipes and get your own feel for it, don't you?

Trust me, it tasted that bad I just gave up.

LAUGHTER

It's much cheaper to go to his restaurant.

Anyway, we've got the tomatoes in here as well.

-You just want these finely chopped up?

-Yes, finely chopped up.

I've got the curry leaves mustard seeds, onions all going in.

The quinoa itself over there,

we've with cooked that in just a little bit of boiling salted water?

Boiling salted water for 12-15 minutes.

The only thing to take care with quinoa is you will enjoy it

a lot more when you cook it al dente, like risotto.

SIZZLES

There's no point cooking it completely.

Coriander going in there, too.

I'm going to take out the partridge cos this is ready.

You can finish it off under the grill to keep it nice and coloured.

Why aren't you using the leaves?

I like the flavours...the flavour of stem.

I think it's much more intense and it adds a nice texture.

-You can cook the stalks, can't you?

-You can and we leave them to finish.

Yeah.

You go this...

Looking good? Right. And then we've got the quinoa in here.

-Like you say, you can have this cold, hot?

-Yep.

Pour that through it.

-That'll be brilliant.

-That'll be plenty.

It's one ingredient that people should try, this quinoa,

people often are a bit wary of it. Like I said,

you can get it in supermarkets, it is around.

It's like couscous. You treat in the same way.

You cook it exactly the same way as you would cook

couscous or semolina.

There is a traditional southern Indian dish for the semolina,

upma, which is what this is derived from.

And the texture and the flavours just work wonderfully with it.

There you go, you can pop it on the plate now.

And I'll grab our cheese for Katherine.

Now I know, Katherine, you're not a big fan of spicy food.

I love spicy food but I just can't have it

the night before I'm singing.

-Are you singing tomorrow?

-No.

-That's good.

So, that combined with bland cheese I think you'd walk.

That's hot.

That's because it's been in the oven. It's called cooking, James.

There you go, a bit of that.

A few bits of coriander.

-You happy with that?

-Yes, absolutely.

A little bit of that over the top. Remind us of what that is again?

It's chargrilled partridge with peanuts and dried mango,

-served with a curry leaf and tomato quinoa.

-And the cheese.

And that is the paneer cheese,

chargrilled with peanuts and dried mangoes,

-exactly the same way.

-Easy as that, the man's a genius.

He's a genius, but he makes more mess

than anybody else on Saturday Kitchen.

But, there we go. Right, over here.

Now, Katherine, you can dive into that one.

See what you think of that. Then, guys, you get the partridge.

-Dive in, tell us what do you think.

-Smells fantastic.

-You've never tried this before?

-No.

Didn't bode well at the start with the bland cheese business but...

Tell us what do you think of that.

If people can't get partridge, and bits and pieces,

-chicken could work.

-Chicken or guineafowl.

Guineafowl is actually better than chicken, I'd recommend.

-It's really good.

-Is it OK?

-It's lovely.

-Happy?

-Mm.

Partridge is fantastic and that marinade just helps it.

They're cooked perfectly in nine minutes.

Five minutes in the oven, couple of minutes on the grill. Beautiful.

Coming up, I'll be preparing an aubergine gratin

with tomato sauce for actress Linda Bellingham but, first,

here's Rick Stein meeting one of his food heroes.

James Whelan's butchers in Clonmel is not what I'd been expecting.

I suppose I'm always looking for old-fashioned butchers

with wooden blocks, sawdust and great chimes of beef

and ruddy-faced butchers, podgy with sausage.

But Pat Whelan, who's taken over the business, is not just

a successful butcher - he's a farmer as well.

And although he runs a pretty slick operation here,

it's all about good, local produce.

In this area, we're trusted, and it's built over generations.

I'm fifth-generation in the business.

And it's that element of trust, that whole transparency,

it's evident to the people of this area what we do in the area.

It's tangible, we're tangible, and that's what people want nowadays.

They want safe, healthy, properly produced low-density, eco-friendly.

That's what people want.

Now, I'm making a dish with a real Irish flavour, which is steak,

Guinness and oyster pie.

So I've just cubed the beef into good inch to inch-and-a-half pieces,

and then lightly dusting it in flour before frying.

You don't always have to sear the meat when you make a pie

but in this case I think it's important

in order to get a really dark and rich colour.

It makes such a difference to the finished look.

Once it's browned, take it out of the pan and take a little butter

and fry off the onions until they are soft and brown, too,

and add a little salt.

So, those onions are nice and brown and glistening.

So I need to pour the beef back in again now.

The reason for splitting them up is so that you don't overload

the pie and everything has a chance to brown well.

Next, I'm going to add some stout, half a pint of stout.

And half a pint of good beef stock.

Now some mushrooms, just a whole bowl of button mushrooms.

And a bouquet garni. And now some Worcester sauce.

About two tablespoons but you don't need to be too precise.

Quite a lot of it, really.

And now some salt, about a teaspoon and a half.

And lots and lots of black pepper,

about 40 turns of the black pepper mill.

That's good. Now, put a lid on there

and leave it to simmer away very gently,

about an hour or so.

So, you can see that's really nice, dark colour which I was looking for.

Deep, deep brown. The mushrooms are cooked right down.

And look at that sauce.

It's a really nice sort of viscous, a word I'm very fond of.

And, finally, to shuck the oysters.

Now this is the occasion when because I'm doing this on TV, I will

stick myself in my hand, or I'll graze my knuckles on the oyster

shells, or I'll break the oyster shell in half

and all the little filigree pieces of shell go into the oyster meat.

Notice that all the precious liquor from the oyster goes in as well,

giving a nice saltiness to the gravy in the pie.

Give it all a gentle stir.

And pop one of those little ceramic gizmos into the middle.

Seal the edge with some beaten egg

and put a puff pastry top over the lot.

I'm just crimping the edges here to make sure

they seal together nicely and don't fall into the middle of the pie.

Cross in the middle to let the steam out,

and finally, brush with beaten egg.

That goes in the hot oven for about 30-35 minutes, there we go.

I'm just anticipating that coming out and cutting through the crust

and getting the aroma of steak and oysters

and I'll serve it with boiled potatoes, some spring cabbage

and maybe a glass of stout.

We used to do this in the early days of the restaurant

but with only one or two oysters, because they were so expensive.

You need lots for the flavour to come through.

I could have made this series in England, Scotland and Wales,

but I felt I had to come to Ireland.

I've just got this slight worry in talking

to about 30-40 farmers about travels in Britain,

that they don't really feel they're getting any help from politicians.

Over here, I think it's different. Do you know what I think?

People in government over here understand the price of a pig.

I've been coming to Cork for years.

It's a great place for the craic, as they say.

It feels old-fashioned but it's not.

Normally my food heroes are cheesemakers, piemakers,

brewers, beef-rearers, but this time it's not a person at all.

It's a market, the English Market here in Cork,

and it's the gastronomic heart of the city.

When you talk to foodies anywhere, you mention Cork,

they start talking about the English Market.

To me, it's the most successful market in the whole

of Britain and Ireland, and why is it successful?

Mainly because there's none of what I call the cheap trainer syndrome.

Those stores that sell nothing but cheap horrible footwear,

or otherwise luggage shops.

Here, it's all food and every time I come it's even more exciting

and it all just works.

It's theatre too, and the leading players are Paul and Pat O'Connell.

I've been in the market since I've been knee high to a grasshopper.

My mother was here before me. It's a family tradition.

It's a wonderful market, absolutely superb.

You've been around, you've seen the wonderful array of stuff -

cheeses, fish is obviously as good as you get anywhere in Europe.

We're lucky in the sense we've got Castletownbere next to us

which is a major fishing port.

It's gone back to basics, it's gone back to quality food,

which to me is what the market was always about.

-It is the heart of Cork City.

-Every time I come here, it's busier.

-That's so exciting.

-We're still not making any money, Rick!

LAUGHTER

They're so funny, those boys. They really are a tonic.

Rubbing shoulders with the relative newcomers to the markets,

the chillies, the olives, and the foccaccias,

are the old fashion staples for which Cork is famous -

tripe, for instance.

more popular here than any place I've been to.

And this sausage made with lamb's blood called drisheen

has got an extremely soft texture like set custard.

The reason why the people round here love offal so much

stems from here, the deep-water dock at Cobh just outside the city.

They exported enormous amounts of salt beef and salt pork

to the British Empire but they couldn't pickle the offal,

so that got used as wages for the slaughterhouse workers.

This is the famous corned beef.

They used to favour the fattier cuts like brisket

but topside is more popular these days.

What about this spiced beef? What's that spiced with?

Spiced beef, initially it goes through the same process

as corning beef and then it's put into a wet spice barrel

for maybe a week, then it's dried spice. Various spices.

Nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon. It's traditionally a Christmas dish.

A lot of people think that corned beef comes from America

but it doesn't, does it?

It went there from Ireland originally.

-Can you get corned beef and cabbage in restaurants around here?

-You can.

The restaurant upstairs, the Farmgate Cafe,

take some off us every week and maybe two days a week,

they have it on their menu.

-Do you know if they've got it today?

-It's not on today.

-They've Irish stew on today.

-That'll do!

This is corned beef and cabbage, one of Ireland's best-known dishes

and a real favourite of mine

because it relies on really good raw materials simply cooked.

Unlike the corned beef that we know in England

which comes in tins and is all jumbled up and pressed,

this is actually corned beef which is more like ham.

I'm just studding some onions here.

I'm going to add a few flavouring vegetables to the water

I'm going to cook the corned beef in.

One other little bit of information here -

corned beef doesn't mean anything to do with corn.

It just refers to the sizes of the coarse salt

they used to salt the beef with which looked a bit like corn.

There you go, I've put some bay leaves in there

and a few peppercorns. Plenty of water just to cover this.

I'll just bring it to the boil, skim it and then leave it to simmer

for several hours until it's tender and lovely.

Just at the end of simmering the corned beef,

I add the vegetables I'm going to serve with it.

First, potatoes and carrots,

and after they've had a chance to cook for 10 minutes or so

and take on the flavour of the stock, add the cabbage.

A hispi cooks very quickly.

I just drop those in literally minutes before everything is done

and take it off the heat.

This is what I call a no-faff dish,

because everything's cooked in the same pot

and it's great if you've got loads of people.

So often I plan things far too complicated,

have a couple of glasses and then everything gets spoiled.

This is a no-spoil dish.

Look at that, how succulent it is.

So different from the tin variety.

This represents the very best of what this country has to offer.

One more thing, I don't thicken the stock.

This is not an English gravy

but a refreshing well-flavoured broth which moistens the meat.

Upstairs in Cork Market is this magnificent cafe.

I don't know about you

but going around markets makes me very hungry indeed,

and this is the perfect place to sample what you've just seen.

This is tripe cooked in milk

and then in a white sauce with onions and parsley

and drisheen, which is a lamb's blood sausage.

It sounds pretty grim but actually it's very delicate.

I just think it's great you can come up here to this Farmgate Cafe

and eat dishes like this and Irish stew

and nice thick rashers of Irish bacon with some good liver.

It just gives you a flavour of Cork.

And if only all markets in Britain were as good as that one.

If you don't live anywhere near Cork or don't have access

to fantastic produce like Rick was trying,

there's only one fail-safe way to get some of the best produce at home

and that's grow your own.

I've got some, each week, these are from my garden.

-I'm impressed.

-Aubergines, look at those.

-Why is it this colour then?

-They're just different plants.

You've got a white one, dark one and a yellow one.

Grown in my greenhouse.

All the tomatoes are gone now because it's started to freeze over

but basically, I'm going to make a simple little dish with this.

First thing I'm going to do is cook the garlic in the pan.

We're going to make a tomato sauce. Garlic, olive oil,

plenty of olive oil. A can of tomatoes thrown straight in.

That goes in there.

Going to cook this down with a touch of sugar, some basil.

Rip up the basil leaves, cook that for three or four minutes

and that's going to be the basis of a similar sort of thing to lasagne

but I'm going to make it with fresh aubergines.

Stuff that with sultanas, pine nuts,

mozzarella that's produced from Hampshire.

This is amazing. They've got buffaloes roaming...

-..The Hampshire plains.

-They have, genuinely they have. Absolutely.

You've got two shows today, the Calendar Girls.

How many years has it been going now? Couple of years now?

Two years. We started in 2008 and I created the role of Chris

which was played by Helen Mirren in the film.

-Which is Miss...

-October.

-Miss October you are.

In the calendar, she's by a fruit press.

In the play, I say in the play I've made my costume out of

-some garden twine and a few orchids.

-And a few orchids.

Is it based on the actual movie itself

or have you adapted it a little bit more?

Absolutely. What the play has which you can't do in the film,

the film took them to America, which was what they did in fact,

but you get much more of a sense of all the ladies of the WI.

Helen Mirren and Julie Walters were very much the stars of the film

whereas in this, we're all in the church hall together

and you very much get that WI feel of lots of ladies.

Anybody that doesn't know the story, explain what the story is then.

It is extraordinary.

Angela Knowles, as she now is, her husband John died of leukaemia.

They all sat down, the rest of the ladies that she was at the WI with,

and Trish Stewart, who was her closest friend, they decided...

This was 2000, 1999, long before anybody thought of doing a calendar.

-They decided to take their clothes off for this calendar.

-As you do.

When you think about it, coming from a small village in Rylstone,

which is where they came from, and how it must have affected their families...

I know my sons would have died if I'd said to them,

I'm just go to pop up to the church hall and take my clothes off for a calendar.

They had no idea. This was for the Yorkshire Show,

sell a few calendars, make a few bob.

They had no idea it was going to be the success of...

And they've raised nearly £3 million, which is just phenomenal.

And I think inspired a whole raft of women.

When we the play, we play to 8,000 - 10,000 women a week

who can't believe that we're taking our clothes off at our age.

I can't believe I'm taking my clothes off at my age! It inspires people.

So many women of a certain age become invisible, we all know that.

Actually, I think it's how you go at life.

You have to say, "I'm not going to be invisible, I'm going to get out there."

It's a great story to it.

Theatre's been in your blood, really,

you've done a lot of theatre over your career.

-Yes.

-Obviously we know you from television,

and you've done a few films as well?

Yes, I've sadly never sort of... There aren't many films in England.

Theatre's first love because it's live,

and it's the one area actually as an actor that are in control.

Where you're not edited.

They can make you look very good on film,

just by the director cutting you out.

Is it more nerve-wracking in the theatre?

I would always think it's much more nerve-wracking.

Yes, it's much more, because it's live and you can't dry.

You must know from this, cooking and talking.

I'm terribly impressed that you can speak and cook at the same time!

This is nothing.

This is a walk in the park compared to a show that

I normally do when I'm with you, and that's Loose Women.

It is the most frightening thing I've ever done in my life.

-No, no, no. Carol is quite scary.

-You're all scary!

It's very funny, a lot of men who come on,

you look at them and they're all sitting with their hands in their laps like this,

looking very nervous, as if we're going to physically attack you.

Loose Women's great.

It gives me a profile, it's lovely to have that thing going on in telly

and to be able to go out on the road obviously and do my acting.

Absolutely.

This is the aubergines. What I've done is pan-fried them,

salt and pepper, filled it full of mozzarella, some toasted pine nuts,

some sultanas, a bit of rocket, salt and pepper.

And I've got my sauce here which is almost done.

The thing about sauce, this one,

you've got to season it really well with salt.

But importantly, just have a little bit of sugar there just in case.

Just to sweeten it up.

Now, although it's only tinned tomatoes...

Do you know, that's the hardest thing I think, James, is salt in food.

Proper cooked, you know...

I think it's this salt, particularly the British sea salt,

the Maldon salt, Cornish salt, that kind of stuff is the best one.

It's not table salt. The two don't taste anything like each other.

Basically just pile this on the top like that.

-Good for a dinner party, this.

-Very good if you've got vegetarians.

-They always cause me grief.

-Absolutely, if they eat mozzarella.

We've got mozzarella over here which we're going to slice up,

sprinkle that the top and pop it under the grill.

There you go. On the top like that. But Loose Women keeps going.

Loose Women ploughs on!

I seem to have become surrounded by women at this stage in my career.

Do you rehearse that? It seems a lot of it is ad-libbed,

go with the flow and that kind of stuff.

We go in in the morning and discuss what we're going to talk about.

We start to talk about subjects that researchers have found.

-Then do the opposite!

-Then we stop, otherwise you can talk it out.

They prefer, obviously, if we have differing opinions.

And it can get quite heated. It's a bit like group therapy.

-It can get quite heated.

-Doesn't it frighten your...

Try that. That's the British mozzarella.

Doesn't it frighten your partner Mr Spain?

I mean, you kind of talk about...

-I know.

-He must be straight away on the phone going, please don't...

Denise is the worse for that.

Poor Tim. She has reduced Tim's life

to what he does in the downstairs toilet, frankly.

And Mr Spain has given me instructions

not to be quite so intimate in my...

But that's the point, it's the honesty is what people like.

It is unfair with the partners. Mr Spain has benefited from it,

expect when he goes on his flights TO Spain,

because the whole plane turns round.

Looks at him now. I think he quite likes it secretly.

But I think if you're not honest, people wouldn't watch it.

-It's the fact that we do bare our souls, really.

-You certainly do.

A little bit of rocket and Parmesan salad with that.

-I need to pick a wooden spoon.

-You've got a very good array of wooden spoons.

As I said, those people who missed it,

I said please send us in your wooden spoons

because I couldn't stand the wooden spoons we had on this show.

This is from Susan Guilfoyle.

You've come back again! We had her last week. That's the tomato sauce.

That's all right! I think she's got mice in the cupboard,

someone's eaten the end of it.

That's your tomato sauce.

Like Cyrus said, you can keep this for a week, tastes fantastic.

All you can do now, pop it under the grill,

literally only wants about 30 seconds.

Something like that. And it can just melt nicely. Which that is.

-Pretty good.

-How nice!

-Then you can lift this out.

If you've got all your kitchen gadgets, you need one of these.

-Cos this browns it off.

-Ah, yes. I'm a bit nervous about this.

-Mr Spain is a bit nervous about this.

-Is he?!

-Yes!

This could become a form of abuse.

A bit of that over the top, then you just lift this on there.

It will be very, very hot, Lynda, very, very hot. So be careful.

-So exciting!

-So that's your...

You realise this is all going to show, my lack of costume,

all this aubergine's going to show.

It's very hot, just try a bit of mozzarella.

I just need a bit of this as well. I need to get some of this out.

Put it on the plate. I'll pull it off to one side. Lift it all out.

That's the home-grown aubergines, the mozzarella cheese.

It's really good mozzarella.

If you can get hold of that, it's in the supermarkets.

It saves all that 24 hours waiting...

Mozzarella has to be eaten as fresh as possible.

It's the opposite conventionally of cheese,

which is left to get better with age.

There you go. Happy with that?

You can find that recipe for that aubergine gratin on our website.

Just click on to bbc.co.uk/recipes. Now we're not live today.

Instead we're looking back at some of the great dishes

from the Saturday Kitchen archives. And here's another great one

from Australian food phenomena, Donna Hay.

-Great to have you on the show.

-Thank you.

-Flew in yesterday.

-I did indeed.

-Little bit of jetlag?

-No, fresh as a daisy!

-Fresh as a mackerel, one might say.

-What are we cooking?

I wanted to show you my no-fail dinner party lamb recipe,

lamb with quince paste, we're going to wrap it in some Parma ham.

The reason I like this, we've got the side dish in the baking pan

as well, when we finish the lamb, and the sauce.

-So you don't have to get stressed out.

-Saves on washing up.

-It sure does.

-Exactly.

You've got to look glamorous at your own dinner party.

I'm too busy sweating like a pig in the background.

We've got some double lamb cutlets here.

They're nice and thick so they don't dry out,

that's my other no-fail thing.

It's got a little layer of fat.

Lamb's quite close to your heart, cos your husband is a sheep farmer?

-He is, indeed.

-And a butcher.

-And a butcher as well.

My dad was a sheep farmer. I spoke to him this morning.

We had 80 sheep.

-How many sheep have you got?

-7500, because of the drought.

That's a lot of sheep. Because of the drought?!

-How many would you have without the drought?

-About 12, I think.

-I don't count them all.

-What's the name of this one then?

Oh, don't!

Poor little thing. Now we've got some quince paste here.

You're using the little best ends like that,

you can get the butcher to prepare that, French trim, best ends.

And I prefer to clean the bone.

It's a dinner party, you want to look zhuzhy.

Zhuzhy, I like that word!

To make the pan sauce, you have to have

some hot chicken stock, so I need to pop that in here.

And a little bit of white wine.

We want to warm that up, you don't want to start from a cold start.

Just pop that in the pan to warm it up. Let me get a little...

I prefer to use a little butter knife here.

We've got the sweetness of the quince paste on the outside of the lamb.

-Do you want me to do these beans?

-That would be great.

But just take the tops off, not the tails.

-Take the tops off, not the tails.

-It's about the dinner part glamour.

You started off like this, didn't you?

Food stylist, is that how you started off?

Yeah, I started as a food stylist assistant

and worked my way up from there.

-This is why your magazines are very stylish, aren't they?

-They are.

You know, it's my idea that if you make people drool over the photos,

once they go to the recipes, find out how easy they are to cook,

they're going to get into their own kitchen and have a little go.

It's sold in the UK, but also in 80 countries worldwide?

Yeah, crazy. Crazy stuff.

But magazine work is so busy,

there's not much time to think about 80 countries, that's for sure.

-You've got the quince there.

-Yeah, but you have to do this bit slowly.

Allow me to do this bit slowly.

This stuff as well, you can buy this this time of year,

it's in delicatessens and supermarkets,

it's called membrillo, which people can get from...

It's Spanish, but the English grow quite a lot of it, quince.

-Cross between a pear and an apple.

-Yeah, it's lovely.

Slightly sweet, but goes great with cheese, particularly Stilton.

Does it have to be very ripe, quince?

Yeah. I don't know if you grow quinces, but it's quite tough to peel.

I recently planted some, actually.

They're a bit of a pain to peel, but you cook it down with apples,

it's cross between an apple and a pear.

-But it makes the most amazing...

-Does it have to be really mushy?

No, it can be hard, you can stew it down like a pear.

It will go that colour once it's stewed down.

Yeah, goes a lovely pink colour.

Can you use anything else other than quince?

Well, the quince gives it a nice sweetness,

so anything that's a sweet paste. If you didn't like the sweetness...

I like the sweetness of the saltiness of the prosciutto.

-You could also do a little mustard...

-Apricot jam, maybe.

-Exactly.

-Apple jam?

-Whatever you want, Atul. He's thinking about his restaurant!

This will be on the menu, love!

You have to be careful folding this in,

you don't want the quince paste to run out.

That's the only bit that you have to be cautious with. Into the pan.

-Do you want a bit of oil in the pan?

-No, I'm going to do it dry.

There's a little bit of fat on the prosciutto.

-There's a sink there to wash your hands.

-Thank you.

Now, we need those butter beans as well to go in

-with the green beans, if you grab those.

-I will do that, not a problem.

Because it's a dinner party menu,

I prefer to use the ones that come in at jar.

The fancy ones. These come from Spain, Portugal.

Drain them off as well. They're really fat and juicy, aren't they?

They're lovely. They give it a nice creamy consistency

with the green beans. So we've got our side dish over here.

I'm just trying to pull off some fresh thyme to go in there.

How did it all start for you? How did your career start?

You've gone on to do so many different things, won countless awards.

You started off as a food stylist and then progressed from there?

Yeah, I did some training, but more home-cook training

than chef training.

I guess that's where the success of the recipes have been.

So many people are frightened of cooking at home

or think that they can't cook.

So I try to make the recipes as accessible as I can.

Do you think even now, because of your magazines,

you still do the stylist in your magazines, don't you?

I love doing that creative bit.

So, yeah, I love doing that bit.

I think the secret is making people stop

when they look at the photograph,

so they really get excited about cooking it.

It's all about getting people to cook more at home.

And apart from the magazines, I mentioned 3.5 million books,

are you bringing out anything else?

I've been working on a homewares range.

I've got a small, nice little cupcake-y range,

lots of Christmas things, chocolate.

But I've been working on some designs for homewares as well,

some ceramics, so that's all coming very soon.

The empire is building. I'm just peeling these.

-I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing.

-You're doing the right thing.

We're going to make some caramelised parsnip ribbons to go on the side.

Just peel the parsnips as you have, and then with that nice thick peeler,

is the best way to get into the ribbons.

Tell us what you're doing there.

I'm just going to seal this off

so the prosciutto's nice and brown and crisp.

We're going to cook it on top of this bean number.

Just to seal it through.

And the reason I like to finish it in the oven is because

it doesn't dry out. Even if you do run a little bit late,

topping up your friends' glasses of wine at your dinner party,

it won't be too much of a drama. It's less likely to dry out.

-So, shall we pop these parsnips?

-Those go on there.

You can actually deep-fry these, but this is slightly different?

Slightly different, I want them to roast

with a little bit of butter and brown sugar.

-Just toss it about.

-Paper on the tray?

-A bit of sugar?

-Yeah.

My aversion to washing up,

especially after a long dinner party, so paper on the tray.

I like to add a fair bit of salt with that sugar.

Just toss those around.

10 minutes in the oven,

and then make sure you bring the middle ones to the outside.

I have to say, I didn't set this oven.

Because it's live, I'll prove to you the show's...

Don't cook these for as long as what these have been in the oven.

-Because...

-DONNA GASPS

-Ohhh!

-See, I'm not to blame for that.

Somebody else set the oven. They are currently collecting their P45!

LAUGHTER

-What were they?

-We'll just serve it with that, shall we?

Yeah, we should. I'm just going to pour over some of that mix.

-These things happen at dinner parties. They do.

-Often not at mine!

-HE LAUGHS

-Not at yours!

This goes in the oven. How long does this go in for?

They are quite thick, those lamb cutlets,

-so probably 15 minutes, 10 to 15 minutes.

-What temperature?

-180?

-Which that is.

-Right.

-They do look sensational.

There you go. I'll get you a plate.

That would be great.

So, let me move these to the side.

So what you've got here is nice veg.

Can't believe you burnt my parsnip chips!

I didn't, I didn't put them in the oven!

You said, "Don't worry, I know it's live but I'll look after you."

-Donna, look, there you go, look.

-Gee, they look really appetising(!)

Can't wait to come back to your dinner party, Donna,

it was fantastic!

Hope we're serving a lot of wine.

-Do you want me to cut that for you?

-Yes, I think you should.

-I'll cut this for you.

-I'm a shattered woman.

I'll cut straight the way through.

Come on, you can't get shattered just over your burnt parsnips!

What temperature do you burn parsnips at?

-There you go.

-What temperature do parsnips catch fire?!

Just let me grab a little spoon, I'll put a bit of that on.

The parsnips are amazing usually, nice and crunchy and crisp.

They were in rehearsal. This is what it should look like.

Have we got it? There you go. Lovely golden brown, look at that.

So, Donna, just to remind us what that is again?

Prosciutto-wrapped lamb cutlets with quince paste and beans, and...

-And a little sort of...

-Caramelised parsnip ribbons.

-Parsnip coleslaw!

Brilliant, well done!

-Right, follow me.

-OK.

-There you go.

-Dive into this.

-That looks fantastic.

Those parsnips are going to be a treat, don't miss out on those!

-We'll get the parsnip chips out.

-A bit of the ham here.

It's great, lamb and ham, fantastic domination.

The quince adds that sweetness. I think lamb does benefit from that.

It does, like a mint sauce.

A bit of sweetness and a bit of cut through, a similar theory.

You've got the quince paste, nice sweetness,

saltiness of the Parma ham.

-It's fantastic. Would it work with chicken?

-Yeah, absolutely.

The great thing about that, like you said,

the beans can go in the pot, you can almost do that during the day,

then put it in the oven and forget about it.

Totally. You've got to look good at your own dinner party.

-Can't be stressed out.

-That's stunning. Absolutely lovely.

-Hey, come on, guys! I'm waiting!

-He's waiting, come on!

-I wanted one of these raw parsnips!

-OK, you can have one.

-Fantastic.

Tell us what you think, Atul.

The flavours are beautiful.

-It's the first time I've had quince and lamb and it works.

-Really?

-Yeah!

Those parsnips just go to show that things can go wrong

even in the most perfect of kitchens.

Now, here's Valentine Warner

with another selection of seasonal food thoughts.

Right now, it's the perfect time

to tuck into one of my favourite game birds, duck.

They've spent the summer months fattening up on fresh grain

and lush vegetation, so they're in prime condition

and ready for the pot.

Delicious, wild mallard. One of my favourite things to eat.

I'm just going to take the breasts off the duck.

I'm cooking the mallard, one of the biggest and tastiest breeds

of wild ducks, with Puy lentils and chanterelle mushrooms.

Just knowing what I'm moving towards is making me feel hungry.

The meat just smells rich from here.

It's a wonderful dark colour, just showing a varied diet.

And look, one delicious-looking wild duck breast.

Now this, you really don't want to go throwing away.

The carcass makes absolutely delicious stock.

When you've been for a walk in the wet woods

or out in the cold country path in the middle of autumn,

come back and a big mug of duck stock

with lentils bumping around in the bottom, heaven.

Now, that is delicious.

Doesn't that look tasty?

Just going to score the breasts, this will help it crisp up a bit.

Fried duck breasts make a fantastic quick supper,

and you can buy them ready prepared in butchers and most supermarkets.

On with the rest of the dish.

I've got some lentils here, the fantastic Puy lentils.

Great with fish and especially with game, and even more so duck.

In the pan, with one big fat shiny bay leaf, on the heat to cook,

until they're tender and a little bit biting.

Not undercooked in the middle, but they should have a little bite.

Now, one fat stick of celery.

One...shallot.

And then some good carrots.

I want everything chopped up really nice and small in this. Teeny, tiny.

And then one good fat clove of garlic.

Again, like everything else in this, I want it nice and small.

Now we get onto the meat.

Four good rashers of bacon,

sliced into nice little kind of matchstick pieces.

A tiny splash of olive oil, just to get the bacon going,

don't go swamping it in it.

Separate it out a bit,

trying not to cook the bacon in whopping great clumps.

You feel you're getting somewhere straightaway,

the minute you start smelling fantastic sizzling bacon.

So this is the time to add our vegetables. Yum. That's very pretty.

Look at all those fantastic colours.

In some circumstances I'd want to fry the mushrooms very hard

but today I don't.

I want them to just give up and wilt a little bit.

'Put the chanterelle mushrooms in with the vegetables.'

A tiny little bit of oil.

And a good amount of salt on the skin.

I want to frying pan incredibly hot

so the skin starts sizzling straight away.

SIZZLING There they go.

The lentils can go back in their pan.

And everything should be mixed.

A last slug of olive oil.

And...a dash of red wine vinegar.

This is so earthy.

It's really of the ground and the duck is going to go so well with it.

I'm just going to turn the breasts. Look at the skin.

These ducks just smell absolutely delicious.

Look how pretty that is. That's a happy thing to look upon.

That makes me feel calm - I don't know why.

The duck breast'll sit here briefly.

Slice them on an angle nice and thinly.

That is going to be a very, very delicious thing

and I can't wait to try it.

So fantastic lentils, earthy mushrooms, carrots, celery.

It's really of the ground

and a duck's flown down and ended up resting on top of it.

And it's had a life, and you can taste it.

And wild duck - again, and again,

and again - is something I want to sit down to.

Mmm...

'This Sunday lunch, forget chicken and go for a whole roast duck.

'It's quick, easy and utterly delicious. I promise you'll love it.

'Chop a handful of succulent prunes and soak in brandy.

'Then finely shred a crisp, red cabbage.

'Add vegetable oil and butter to the pan.

'Then throw in the shredded cabbage and fry.

'Add some whole cloves...

'..a couple of bay leaves

'and season well.

'When the cabbage starts to soften, add a glug of red wine vinegar.

'Sprinkle in some sugar.

'Next, add your drunken, brandy-soaked prunes.

'Now it's time to get stuffing.

'Finally, rub the bird all over with butter and season.

'Then roast in a hot oven for around 25 minutes.

'When the bird's turned a sizzling dark golden brown,

'whisk it out of the oven.

'Then simply scoop out the sweet, steaming, cabbage stuffing and carve.

'Super fast, super succulent and super delicious.'

Wow!

'If you've eaten oysters, the chances are they're rock or Pacifics.

'Elongated and gnarled, these imports are farmed

'and harvested here throughout the year and are great value for money.

'But today, I've come to Falmouth in Cornwall to experience

'the ultimate seasonal treat - the British native.'

Oysters are definitely one of my autumn favourites.

And the oysters from the River Fal are reputed to be

the best in the country. The trouble is they have to be

collected by sail power and this makes it a very hard job.

'The 1st of October marks the start of the River Fal's six-month

'oyster season and I'm very excited to be meeting Marshall and Les,

'skippers of the beautiful Three Sisters oyster dredger.'

-Nice to see you. All right, Les? Marshall?

-Hello.

-Morning.

-We're all ready to go now.

-Ready to go?

-Yeah.

-Where do you want me? Not there?

-On the edge of the boat.

'Traditional oyster sailing boats have been part of the Falmouth

'landscape for more than 500 years.

'This is proper old-fashioned fishing -

'no GPS or sonar - the only way to find oysters is by trial and error.

Marshall's going to put us on a hot spot.

'But with 80 years' combined experience,

'these boys clearly know what they're doing.'

And here we go.

-First for the season!

-Here we go.

Whoo! The rope goes slack when it touches the bottom.

And then they'll be pulling along the bottom?

No, we'll gradually drift down across the seabed.

ENGINE TURNS OFF

The engine's been switched off

because you're not allowed to use it when you're dredging for oysters.

-And why is that?

-It's preservation. It keeps stocks better.

If you went round with the engine all the time, you'd catch everything.

-Yeah.

-You'd only have a month's fishing instead of six.

Here we go - second for the season.

'With the lightweight dredgers launched, the Three Sisters

'sails a graceful course across the estuary, dragging them along behind.'

I'll pull one up first.

'After three or four minutes, it's time to find out

'if the dredgers have hit oyster gold.'

And I think it's full of weed. Marshall put us right on the weed.

This is your hot spot, eh, Marshall?

'Seaweed is the oyster fisherman's biggest enemy.

'It clogs up the dredger's blade

'allowing the oysters to roll underneath.'

A lot of weed to start the season.

Don't know what that is.

'Now we have to sort through it all to see

'if we've unearthed anything worth keeping.'

Velvet swimmer. Sea slug.

There's a a lot of activity going on under this boat.

-There's an oyster.

-Look at that! Fal River native oyster.

-What a little beauty.

-That's what we call a ringer.

He's just large enough to keep. That's how we check.

I do it by eye because I've done it so long. That one'll hang.

-If it hangs in the ring, you can keep it.

-Yeah.

-That's without your finger underneath it, mind.

-Yeah.

'Smaller oysters are thrown back in to mature,

'spawn and perpetuate future native oyster stocks.

'But anything ring size or over, is fit for keeps.

There you are, try pulling that one up.

LES LAUGHS

-This is easy.

-Uh? It's not bad the first two or three.

-It's when you've been there six hours doing it.

-Oh, flipping Nora.

You end up with arms like an orang-utan.

-Anybody fancy a...?

-I fancy one.

'Oysters aren't the only seafood we're catching.

'Marshall's uncovered a prawn.'

-Marshall'll eat anything.

-Well, Marshall's quite right. This is good.

-As long as you don't put the head in.

-This is a glass prawn.

This is good stuff.

-They taste exactly the same as cooked.

-Mmm...

-Mmm.

-Beautiful prawns.

With all this hard work, it's nice to get

these perpetual little snacks coming over.

Sorry, I haven't been doing much work.

-There's a lot of oysters here.

-Yeah. A hot spot here now.

Here you are, Valentine.

There's your definitely number ones. That's the top grade you can get.

-Look at those, guys.

-Be about four years old.

How do you rate the Fal native against all the other oysters?

The best in the world.

They're much sweeter.

Do you think they make you a better lover, Marshall?

Well, I got twin boys at the first shot.

And I stopped doing it after that.

And, Les, what do they do for your performance?

Well, I've never eaten an oyster in my life?

Les has just made a very large admission on the Three Sisters.

That he's never eaten an oyster in his life.

'Oysters aren't everybody's cup of tea

'but I find it difficult to believe Les has been exposed to so many

'delicious Fal natives and hasn't been able to stomach a single one!

'I, on the other hand, am finding them increasingly hard to resist.'

-Can I try one?

-An oyster?

-I so want to try one.

-I've been holding back all morning.

-All right.

One of the best.

River Fal oyster, standing on the Three Sisters boat.

I can't say... I just can't describe how good that is.

You do feel...mmm...

It's phenomenal.

And straight away you get that grrr...

I mean, really...mmm-mmm...thing.

-Can I have another one?

-Why not?

Mmm... SO good!

I'll shut up, stop eating and get on with it.

-Eating all the profits.

-Is he?

THEY LAUGH

'After a day on the estuary, we head back to shore with over 1,200

'of possibly the most fantastic oysters I'll ever taste in my life.'

There's so many delicious ways to guzzle these things.

I love them raw but here's a couple of ways of jazzing them up.

'First, a Mexican style tomato salsa.

'Finely chop a tomato, shallot and hot green chilli.

'A squeeze of orange and lime.

'And a small handful of chopped coriander.'

OK, that was one. Here's two.

'Finely chop segments of lemon.

'Add celery, baby capers and a little salt and olive oil.'

Everything chopped in both of these things like little, tiny jewels.

Two very good accompaniments to these fantastic oysters.

-Guys?

-All right there.

-All right there.

-Are you ready to try some oysters?

-No, I'm not trying them. I don't eat oysters.

-Come on!

-I'm a non-fish-eater.

-How can a salty seadog like you

-not eat oysters?

-I'm a bacon and egg man.

-I'm the tester.

-I'm going to try you on a little pico de gallo,

a little Mexican style.

-Marshall's our connoisseur.

-He certainly is.

-Just a little bit too much.

-Too much?! Fair enough.

-I think oysters being raw is the way to eat them.

-I mean, look at that.

You couldn't get them any fresher, straight out the water.

-That's beautiful, see.

-Right. You don't really need that salsa.

-That's the way to eat them.

-OK.

-I'm going to try you on something else now.

-OK.

-Something else for you to dislike.

-Right.

-Here we go.

Round two in how not to please Marshall.

That's a little bit of celery and a little bit of caper.

And a little bit of lemon.

That's better, because I managed to get the oyster spread out

and chewed it up before I hit the...

-Let's just pretend I didn't make those.

-No, that was good!

No, listen, it's fine, we're all entitled to out opinion.

If we had a pile that big, we could do a speed eating contest.

Do you know something?

I think it's one of the few things I could maybe beat you.

-No. I would guarantee you'd be a non-starter.

-You could out-eat me?

But you just don't know.

I know who I'd put my money on, put it that way.

-Guys, cheers. All the best. Thanks for a great day.

-Cheers.

-Thanks a lot.

We're not cooking live in the studio today.

We're showing you some of the highlights

from the Saturday Kitchen recipe archives.

Still to come on today's Best Bites,

Stuart Gillies takes on Rachel Allen

in the Saturday Kitchen omelette challenge.

Norfolk's finest Galton Blackiston has the perfect Sunday lunch idea.

It's venison in buttered puff pastry

with buttery Savoy cabbage, and it was utterly delicious.

Star of BBC hit show Sherlock,

actress Lara Pulver faced her food heaven or food hell.

Will she get the pan-fried salmon with chilli and green bean salad

that was for food heaven,

or a custard and banana tart with sauteed bananas

in line for food hell?

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

Now let's enjoy something very special from the legend himself,

the three-Michelin-star chef, Michel Roux Snr.

It's a real honour to have him, the godfather of cookery himself.

I've bigged you up enough, Michel Roux.

-What am I supposed to do after all what you say?

-Just cook the scallops!

What are you cooking for us?

Scallops, in the shell, which I'm going to cook a la Parisienne.

We've got scallops, I'm going to open one and prepare it.

They're served on a bed of mushrooms,

then we've got a little sauce which is made with a roux, obviously,

as the name indicated - flour, a little butter,

and then you've got a bit of cream, but before anything, fish stock.

You can buy fish stock. We all know that.

-And that's all served on a bed of...

-Yes, on a bed of cous cous.

Cous cous with a little diamond of broccoli.

-So the cous cous you can start.

-I'll get that on the go.

Same quantity of cous cous and hot water. Not boiling water.

-Yes, chef.

-Scallops. How do you do the scallops?

If the scallop is open, and normally, it's slightly open,

you take a very hard knife, sharp knife.

And you follow the flat leads. You can take a cloth if you want.

I don't need it,

but I suggest that people take a cloth to avoid cutting your finger.

You can see that there is nothing left there,

because you don't want to lose the scallops.

These are hand-dived scallops.

Try not to go for dredged ones.

Now, you can take the knife there, or you can take a spoon,

so I'll take a spoon and get that... Beautiful.

Yes, they are hand-dived scallops. Look at them. Beautiful.

Beautiful scallop.

And we keep the shell, brush the shell, it's important,

under the cold water, and then we serve the scallops in it.

So what do you do there now?

You take the membrane, all that little rind around it,

and you've got a beautiful...

-Look at that. Aren't they lovely?

-Nice, fresh...

-Beautiful.

Then you've got the corail, which is the little yellow bit there.

Try wherever you can to buy it in the shells, because a lot

of the stuff like that you buy in the supermarket's been frozen.

And the are full of water as well.

That's what they do. They're very naughty.

They soak them in water and sell them for more expensive.

-So they're heavier.

-Absolutely.

Now, you prick a bit the corail, just a little bit,

because when you are going to cook it, it won't burst, you see.

And then you keep that lovely little bit for the sauce.

That's for the sauce. And now I'm starting cooking the scallops.

I'm just making your nice bit of potato.

-Thank you, yes, the pommes de terre duchesse.

-Which is just potato.

Absolutely, potatoes mixed with a little egg yolk.

And then you add in it, which is very important,

you add a little egg yolk and butter.

And that's it. It's very easy. So scallops go there.

You've got mushrooms as well, which goes in that,

and I've got someone who's been very nice with me, who did get me

a little mushroom cut, but I'm going to cut you a couple of mushrooms.

I need a bit of exercise, so here you are. So a few mushrooms.

No, I leave the tail on the mushroom,

because they look better, and I never cut them too thinly, because

if you cut them too thinly, there is nothing left of the mushroom.

And never wash them, really, because they're like a sponge.

You're absolutely right.

If needed, you wipe them a bit with a kitchen cloth.

And I've baked these potatoes to quite a nice fluffy mash.

-Irish potatoes, of course.

-They are the best.

How can I say no after what I said before?

So, here you are, you see, that takes a few minutes to cook and then

I'm going to put them into a little bowl, so you turn them over, you see.

We've got a sink behind you, Michel, if you want to wash your hands.

Yes, you're quite right. Now.

-Nearly there, chef.

-Good.

Where did your love of food start?

Did it come from other chefs, your parents?

Mother, father and grandfather,

we've always been in catering for 150 years.

But it's been in your family, you've passed on the generation as well.

Absolutely right.

Yours and Albert's sons are now running both restaurants.

You're absolutely correct.

We've always been and we've worked together for 20 years, Albert and I.

So you see, now I'm straining, draining

and straining the fish stock and the mushrooms.

Just to seal them.

Very lightly cooked, very, very lightly cooked indeed.

So it's that and I'm making my sauce.

Now... So here we are.

-I'll move this out of the way for you.

-Thank you very much.

You're very good commis.

If you can see, my hands are shaking!

-Here you are.

-Go on, chef.

-We have to start by something.

-You never call me chef, James.

-No.

So, the butter, melting the butter. Look at that. Lovely.

Now, I'm very pleased with that.

You could have made the sauce into a big pan,

but a medium sized pan is always better.

-Yeah.

-And then I'm doing my roux.

I'm just popping my egg yolk into my mash. There we go. Season it.

-Is the flour there?

-The flour's there, chef.

-Thank you very much.

Thank you. Short-sighted.

So do you think, about the roux,

the reason why a lot of people make the mistake with roux,

and particularly white sauces, they add too much flour to it.

Yes, they do, and the other thing they do,

they sometimes make a roux and they put the hot liquid

with the hot roux, and that doesn't do the job.

It blocks the sauce, you see.

And you've got little pieces in the sauce,

and you've never got a smooth sauce.

-Always one hot and one cold.

-Absolutely right.

And you look at the roux. Light roux. Not too much flour.

And then you take your stock.

Now, what I'm doing, I'm putting hot in hot. Well, I've done it before.

But I suggest you don't do it.

Here we are.

-I'm just filling up my little piping bag there.

-You're doing very well.

You're going to do the little border of the scallop.

Look at that sauce coming out now. You see, it's almost finished.

Obviously, a bit of seasoning.

I like black pepper, because it leaves little dots. There you are.

-I'm cutting the scallops.

-I'll get you a knife.

Thank you. I don't need that any more.

I clean my fingers, I'm all right, you see, I'm a good boy!

-Do you want me to do the scallops?

-That's it.

-You do that.

-I do that.

I do that on a plate, in fact.

You see, that's a shaving, very, very little shaving of the broccoli.

You see what I'm doing? I'm not taking the floret.

I'm just taking the shaving like that.

These are the diamonds you were talking about.

-That's the little diamond I was talking about.

-How is my sauce doing?

Sauce is doing OK. So what do you do with the rest of the broccoli then?

The rest of the broccoli? Make a soup, or you serve it as a veg.

Nobody will see that I've been taking a little bit. That's the cheeky part!

You know, so you've got two fold.

You're taking money from both side.

OK. So, the cous cous, have you moved the cous cous

and stir it a bit? Please, with a little fork.

Now we're going to put the broccoli in it,

and a bit of olive oil,

just a little touch of olive oil.

-That's it. We've got enough.

-I'll do that. You can do the scallop bit.

Thank you, that's marvellous.

Well done. So we've got the mushroom.

Mushrooms on the bottom, very important,

it gives you a little cushion.

-Do you want olive oil in there?

-Yes, please.

Just a little spoon. Look at that, lovely mushroom.

They very barely cook, you can see that,

and the scallops have been beautifully cut by my friend James.

He's a good man, that man James.

He's done a good job! No sabotage.

Now, we're going to put the little corail on the top.

As if I'm going to dare to sabotage this!

The corail is always nice, because when it's too big, you cut it in two.

Look at that. Beautiful.

And it's going to look nice on the top. Voila!

So we've got that there.

-Can I have the duchesse?

-Yeah.

-That's it.

Well done. So I can pipe it, or you can pipe it. Do you want to pipe it?

I'll leave you to do one. I'll great the Gruyere cheese.

Voila.

So that's the border,

which stops the sauce to go,

but on the same time,

you can enjoy the potatoes, because pommes de terre duchesse are lovely.

You can even cook them as a little galette if you have some left.