Episode 82 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning. Get your taste buds ready for an array of fantastic food on today's Best Bites.

Welcome to the show.

We've got the cream of the crop from the Saturday Kitchen larder for you.

As well as some of the best chefs in the land,

we've got some hungry celebrity guests including Ruby Wax and Blake Harrison.

We call in the Italian stallion, Gennaro Contalso,

and he cooks us a seafood pasta dish like no other.

He serves mussels and clams with rocket,

tomatoes and pasta to create the ultimate lunchtime treat.

Hairy biker, Si King,

treats us to a Moroccan-inspired version of meatballs.

He cooks his home-made meatballs in tomato

and onion sauce with peas and baked eggs.

And one of the finest Indian chefs working in the UK today,

Cyrus Todiwala, shares with us a recipe for a spiced cannon of salt marsh lamb.

He serves it with a delicious chicken liver masala,

asparagus, a deep-fried egg and a bread roll.

And one of the stars of The Inbetweeners, Blake Harrison, faced his food heaven or food hell.

Would he get his food heaven, steak? And that is a hearty sirloin steak

served with home-made peppercorn sauce, green beans and mash.

Or would he get his version of food hell? Cauliflower in the form of cauliflower cheese

accompanied by a succulent grilled pork chop.

Food hell? Sounds pretty good to me.

Find out what he gets to eat at the end of today's show.

But first, direct from his restaurant at Rockliffe Hall,

Kenny Atkinson creates a Scandinavian one tray wonder.

Great to have you on the show. It's been about a year since you have been on.

-It's been about a year, yes.

-You have been busy.

We'll get on to that in a minute. I know you want to start.

-What is the name of this dish?

-We are going to do soused mackerel.

We're going to serve it with a salad of carrots and fennel.

It's all cooked in one tray. so it's really simple.

-Sousing. That is the hot, pickley liquor...

-It is, yes.

We are going to add some flavours. I'll get this on the go first.

-So you want me to do the fennel for that?

-Please, yes.

The pickle is literally just a mixture of water, white wine,

white wine vinegar, sugar and I'm going to put a few spices in there.

The spices are basically star anise, some peppercorns

and we're going to put a bit of saffron in there as well.

-Do you reckon it is Scandinavian, this style of cooking?

-I think so.

Basically, sousing, I think, comes from Scandinavia.

But the ingredients I am using are quite Mediterranean, almost like an escabeche.

-A good tapas as well.

-Brilliant tapas.

-I have mackerel escabeche on the menu.

Mackerel is lovely. It is, but the thing about mackerel

it's got to be eaten as fresh as a daisy.

-It has to be. Do you want to get some fresh orange in there?

-Yes.

To get that really fresh environment.

This would not be classed as raw fish, would it?

No, we're going to cook the fish.

-Some salt.

-You looked a bit weird at me, then! A bit of raw fish.

Actually, the hot, pickley liquor is poured over the top of the mackerel.

It is, yes. The hot liquor will actually cook the mackerel.

What we are going to do first is just take the fillet off.

Nice and simple.

-It is one of the easiest fish to learn how to fillet.

-It is.

It's simple and it's not very expensive either, mackerel.

Exactly, so you can actually practice on it and if you make a mess of it, it's not a problem.

Like I say, it is a great fish to pickle.

It's been a year since you were last on but you have been busy.

You have taken over all the food the Rockliffe Hall.

With the success of the brassiere and obviously The Orangery...

-The Orangery is the restaurant.

-It is the fine dining restaurant.

It was just common sense for me to get more involved in the hotel.

-I got made a director, which was quite nice.

-You got made a director?

-Yes. But I'm still in the kitchen.

-Do you get a suit or something?!

No, I don't get a suit!

It means I oversee all four operations at Rockliffe, which is really quite special job.

So tell us about Rockliffe. It's like a country club hotel.

It is a luxury resort, really.

It's not just the hotel. We have the golf club.

A really successful golf course which is one of the largest in Europe.

We have an award-winning spa.

-So we've got everything and everybody really.

-An award-winning restaurant.

An award-winning restaurant, exactly.

So the mackerel, I have just slightly filleted and I am just going to lightly salt this.

This will cure the fish a little bit as well as season it

and it will also keep its texture when we pickle it.

So you could actually do this with salmon as well.

Yes, you can do it with salmon. If I was going to cure it, I would actually take the skin off it

because things like salmon skin can be quite chewy if you are going to pickle it.

-Can you do it with sardines?

-Sardines as well.

Sardines, fantastic. Yes, definitely.

So you have sliced the fennel, James. This dish, honestly, it is so easy.

-What we are going to do...

-I will put that there so you can see it.

..is just arrange the fennel. Sorry, the mackerel on top of the fennel.

And this has just been salted for 20 minutes, hasn't it?

It's been salted for 20 minutes, yes.

-And then the carrots.

-Carrots.

-That just goes on top.

Like so. The shallot rings as well.

So this is why you mentioned the escabeche.

The difference between escabeche and sousing, with escabeche, they

actually pan-fry the fish first, then pour the hot liquor on top of it.

We're just going to basically pour the hot liquor onto it, really.

That's it, James. Really simple. So the liquor has come to the simmer.

I am just going to add a bit of rapeseed oil into there.

-It is almost like a vinaigrette really.

-Right.

-So that comes up.

And literally, James, all we do is pour the hot liquor over the fish,

over the vegetables and leave that to infuse for at least an hour.

If you are going to keep it overnight, put it in the fridge.

But if you're going to serve it, let it get to room temperature before eating it.

-Not straight from the fridge.

-This will last an hour...

Sorry, a week, easily, in the fridge.

-So just put it in like that and leave it for a week?

-Yeah.

Obviously in the fridge. So the next element, smoked eel.

It's a bit of a strange one. It's not everyone's cup of tea.

-I love smoked eel.

-See, me too. It's such a classic English ingredient.

So just take it down the centre line. This has been pre-smoked already.

-Yeah.

-And all I want to do, James, is cut it into neat-sized cubes.

-Ever had a smoked eel? Must've tried it.

-No, never had it.

-Never had it?!

-No, never.

-First time you've tried it.

I'm very bad with fish. I normally make a mess of the PLAICE.

Sorry.

-Don't worry.

-I got that on Twitter, I had to say it.

But this is like a cooked...?

Yeah, it is hot-smoked, so you can eat it straight away like that.

But I think by breadcrumbing it and deep frying it, it just changes

the texture of the dish as well and it adds a lovely, smoky dimensional.

So all you want to do now, James, is just breadcrumb this.

I've got my... Explain to us what's gone in with this orange, then.

So we've got equal quantities of white wine, white wine vinegar

and sugar.

We're literally going to cook it in a stock syrup type thing.

There's a lot of sugar going in here, it's candied.

It's like a sweet and sour orange.

And, same again, it adds a sweetness to the dish.

Bring that to the boil and gently simmer.

Just cook it down for about 20 minutes and then let it cool down

and what you'll find is the sugar and the vinegar will all thicken.

Right, so this is the flour, egg and breadcrumbs.

So the flour... We've got some flour. In the flour first.

-Then into the...

-Beaten egg.

-Egg wash.

-Is that seasoned flour or normal flour?

-Just plain flour.

Cos the eel's already quite salty anyway,

so you don't want to add any extra salt to this.

-Right, you've got the...

-So the eel's done.

-Want me to drop it in the fryer while you plate up?

-Yes, please.

So they go in. They literally want a minute, if that.

-Yeah, about a minute. About 180 degrees.

-A nice, hot fryer.

And I'll give you the plate and you can get ready to plate up.

So is this a dish that's on your brasserie?

It's on our current brasserie menu.

So, same again, really light and seasonal at the moment.

So it's come to room temperature.

All I want to do now is drain off a little bit of that liquid

so we can fish out all the garnish.

-Like so.

-Cos you keep this liquid for a little dressing as well?

Yeah, I'll pour it back on

but obviously I need to fish out the fish.

-So the liquor goes there. "Fish out the fish"!

-Yeah.

Pardon the pun.

So we'll just get some of the garnish out of there, James.

-Scoop out the mackerel.

-And they're fried, they're done.

-No need to salt those, of course.

-No.

Like I say, it's already been brined, the eel,

-so it doesn't need any more seasoning.

-Anything I can do?

Yeah, can you do the carrot ribbons that we did this morning?

-Rolling carrots?

-Rolling, yeah, so we're going to make it look a bit...

presentable.

Life's too short to roll carrots, Kenny.

That's what we have commis for.

Lovely, James.

-So this dish, James, is so, so simple...

-That's these.

So you got the fennel...

-..all in the bottom...

-Yeah.

-..as the base for the dish.

-Like so.

-That's good.

We arrange the mackerel nice and neatly on top.

So you'd have this at room temperature?

It's so better to eat at room temperature.

If it's too cold, I don't think you get the full flavour through.

-There you go.

-Like so.

We mentioned salmon - you could do that with it.

Salmon. You could do it with sea bass

but, same again, I'd take the skin off, James.

-And drizzle a few of the...

-Yeah, lovely.

And then just a few of the rings on top. And then the eel beignets?

Lovely. Just a few nuggets.

Just around the outside.

Same again, it adds a beautiful texture and smokiness to the dish.

-Yeah.

-Some carrot ribbons.

-Don't forget my ribbons.

I've got to get them on!

And then, just to finish the dish off, just a few shoots.

They're actually selling that in supermarkets now,

-the small cresses.

-Yeah, they're getting popular.

This is coriander cress you've got there.

Then we've got this stuff called red amaranth.

Which has a beautiful flavour.

Yeah, any gardeners watching this, you can actually grow that

very, very easily in your greenhouse. Really simple.

-There you go, James. And that is it.

-Yeah?

-And that is my...

What about your orange zest that I spent AGES doing, Kenny?

Sorry, I forgot all about that.

Just a little bit of pickled orange, just on top and around.

And that is it, James.

That is my soused mackerel with smoked eel, carrots and fennel.

How good does that look?

Looks good. Does it taste good?

It's the first time you've ever tried eel, so there you go.

Dive into that. Tell us what you think of that. I think that...

if you're going to try it for the first time,

-try it actually that way.

-Yeah, definitely.

Maybe pan-fry it or something.

It's more easy to eat when it has got a bit of a fritter, exactly.

-The centrepiece has got a bone in.

-Yeah, be very careful.

Just cut down the centre and pull it away and all the bones will come out.

That is really nice.

But it's really interesting, the hot and the... The hot and cold.

It's better than cereal for breakfast, isn't it, that?

It is. Better than a fry up!

Great stuff. Coming up,

I'll be making a chocolate fudge brownie sundae for Ruby wax.

But, first, Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escape

takes him to the beautiful island of Corsica.

'This is the centre of Bastia

'and this is why it's called Bastia, a bastion.

'And, whenever the town was threatened,

'this is where the townspeople came for protection.

'And it was where I met, quite by chance,

'a party of schoolchildren on a history tour.

'And, of course, I couldn't resist asking them

'what their favourite Corsican dishes were.'

Le meilleur plat de Corse, c'est un poulet et les figatelli.

-Celine?

-La coppa.

Er, Jean-Jacques?

HE REPLIES IN FRENCH

Et Remy?

Les canistrelli.

C'est bon.

Fantastic.

Now, I wonder if you asked the same question

of a group of English children,, British children,

very difficult thing to ask,

not trying to rub people's noses in it

but all these kids know their dishes so well

and they're all the sort of dishes that I would suspect they'd choose,

not burgers and chips.

Goodbye!

Bye!

'Most of the children said they really liked figatelli,

'Corsican sausages.

'And here, in the village of Murato - famous for its charcuterie -

'the best are made from the Corsican black pig.

'Pascal Fleury farms his own

'because he says farming your own pigs is the start, if you like,

'of the whole business of making charcuterie to be proud of.

'And this is it, the famous figatelli.'

And it's made with all the bloody offal, notably the heart,

liver, the kidneys, the cheek

and all those bits that don't tend to turn up on the butcher's slab.

But what makes them really special is they add salt, pepper, red wine

and then, most importantly, they smoke them over chestnut wood.

And you end up with, I think,

the best-tasting product on the island myself, too.

L'important, c'est de faire un produit...

'He says that, for him, the importance of making figatelli

'is feeding a passion.

'But it's also about improving the product all the time

'and making something that wins prizes on the island.

'Here, charcuterie is as important as local politics.

..de foot professionelle.

Pascal is saying he's very happy to be making these charcuterie products

because Corsican charcuterie is what Corsica is all about.

But he said he started life as a professional footballer

for Bastia, a football team in Bastia.

But he wasn't strong enough to make the first team

and he remembered that his aunt was a famous producer of charcuterie

and he just copied and learned what she was doing

and now, as it happens, he is possibly the best maker

of charcuterie on the island.

That evening, I went to the village of Sorio di Tenda,

to a local festival where the figatelli

were grilled over a wood fire.

They've been cooked like this for centuries.

But they didn't have pride of place. That went to this, pulenda.

Chestnut flour heated up in water and stirred and stirred

until it takes on the consistency of, well, fudge, I suppose.

I have just been watching him, it is quite hard work.

He has to do this for about half an hour.

Not only, as you can see, is he stirring it, he is twizzling,

is it pollenday?

-Pollendayo.

-Pollendayo, that is the actual baton that he is using.

I suppose it is like poor people's food, like the very similar

sounding pollenta, it is a poor people's food to the Italians.

But it is now more of a social thing. When it is stirred enough, it is

celebrated like the piping in of the haggis.

CHEERING

But to me, it is something, I wasn't in a tremendous rush to try it.

I was fascinated to see that once it had cooled down,

it was cut by a piece of string tied to this man's finger.

Corsica moves in mysterious ways, I feel.

THEY SING

Mmm, interesting.

I don't know whether I like it on its own, it tastes very chestnut-y.

But with a single sausage, it goes together very well, the smoky taste

and the chestnut taste. It just reminds you of Corsican forests.

Well, I won't be cooking that back home in Padstow.

But I do feel very strongly about this, my interpretation of Corsica.

Of all the islands in the Mediterranean, Corsica

is about forests and mountains.

In the winter, it gets really cold so this really reflects it, this dish.

We have game in the form of wild boar.

We have wild mushrooms, we have figgitello, of course.

You can't get it in the UK for some reason,

so I have had to use chorizo instead.

The other thing about this dish is chestnuts, I will finish

it off with a load of chestnuts, just thrown in at the last minute.

I suppose they would be the food symbol of the whole

island of Corsica.

I came up with the idea at that village, really,

when they were celebrating all those particular foods of the area,

and for me as a cook, I think that's really quite important,

to sort of use the local ingredients, come up with a dish,

and it sort of sets a picture of the dish, and the country, in my mind.

Having marinated it in red wine for 24 hours, I drain it off,

and then fry the wild boar to brown the meat.

I'm just putting the pork in two batches, otherwise it'll boil

in its own juice, rather than caramelise.

Now, if I was still in Bastia, I would be putting in figatelli,

but because I couldn't find it anywhere, I'm using chorizo.

Corsicans watching this will be most indignant, I'm sure.

Now for a spoonful of tomato puree, and flour to thicken the stew.

That will help absorb some of the fat.

This is the new-look me.

No measured amounts of flour or anything, just bung it all in.

Next, vermouth - it has a really herby flavour -

and the residue of the red wine marinade.

It's so important to really, really sear meat

when you're making a stew.

I mean, the Corsicans know that, they stew everything.

I was reading somebody rather jokingly said, you know,

they'd stew their grandmother, if you gave them half a chance.

That was the sort of jokey implication of it.

But it's really lovely and velvety now,

and I know it's going to end up tasting - and the colour is so good

when you really caramelise the meat.

I put in some dried porcini mushrooms for a woodland flavour,

and some home-made beef stock.

I season this well.

It's a rich dish. Comforting, autumnal food, I say,

perfect for when the wind is whistling through the Mackie

in the back end of October.

I cover now, and gently simmer for an hour to an hour-and-a-half.

Then add some fresh ordinary mushrooms and chanterelles,

and then put in the essence of Corsica - chestnuts.

These come from a tin, and I am very pleased they did too,

because it would take longer to peel the blooming things

than cook this entire dish!

Add chopped parsley, cook for a further ten minutes, and serve,

with a good chunky pasta like penne.

After all, Corsica has many strong links with Italy.

Bon appetit.

How delicious did that stew look?

Now wild boar is delicious, much easier to get hold of this day,

as is chestnut flour, and Rick came across that in Corsica.

You can use it in quite a few recipes.

I'm going to show you and Ruby a simple recipe. Chocolate brownie.

A double chocolate fudge brownie, with banana ice cream and toffee sauce.

Now there's food.

There, that's what it is.

So we are going to do - I'll explain what we have here.

We've got butter, eggs, some of this fudge.

We've got baking powder, chestnut flour,

and a little bit of the cocoa powder.

So first thing I'm going to do is throw our sugar in there,

with our eggs, and start whisking this up.

And then in the pan there,

I've got some dark chocolate, of course, and some full-fat butter.

Butter! Thank God! THEY CHEER

This is only half of it for this recipe! There you go.

So give that a quick mix. There you go. Straight on there.

And we'll whisk this up. So where have you been?

You...

Because we saw you on your TV programmes and bits and pieces.

Where did you go for five years?

Well, funnily enough, I went back to school.

I go to Oxford now to study brains, and now you're cooking them!

You ARE seriously studying at Oxford, aren't you?

Uh-huh. But then...

Well, I wanted to write a comedy show that was really kind of dark too,

so was like a rollercoaster ride.

So I finally came up with a show called Losing It,

which is at the Menier CHOCOLATE Factory...

Chocolate factory, yeah!

..until the 19th. And it is very...

It's about how the fact that we do not have

an instruction manual, as human beings.

You know, we don't know how to live our lives.

I mean, I say, even my domestic appliances have one, you know.

My washing machine says, "Put in white powder."

If I did that, I'd end up in rehab!

So, you know, I'm an adult, and yet I dress like I'm 14.

I borrowed my daughter's thong. I can't find it.

You know, all the stuff that we never discuss. We never compare notes.

We're just winging it here.

And then, at the end of the show, it goes into, you know,

one in four people have a mental illness.

I AM that one in four.

And some of us...

it's on a spectrum, really just dive off the deep end.

So it gets dark, it gets light, it's funny.

We've been touring it for two years in mental institutions.

And if you can make THEM laugh, and you can make anybody laugh!

But it's incredibly popular,

because you've sold out as soon as you opened.

-You've increased it, what, another five weeks?

-It's on till, yeah...

And there's another woman, Judith Owen, who's a genius,

but we didn't like cabaret, so she sings under me, like a film score.

So nobody's done this before.

So whatever we're doing hasn't been done before,

which is what I was trying to do.

It's not stand up, it's, you know, it's a great story.

-Sounds fantastic! Sounds fantastic!

-Now, you can...

Now I can whisk this up? There we go.

Right, we've got sugar and the eggs in there. Just whisk this up.

Very, very quickly, like that.

And then all we need to do now

is then grab our chocolate like that, throw that in.

So that's the chocolate and butter. There you go.

Throw all that lot in there,

and then you've you got this selection here.

-Cocoa powder, chestnut flour...

-I like hazelnuts.

-You can put hazelnuts in if you want.

-OK.

I'm keeping the theme going, so I've got fudge going in here.

But you literally just pass this through a sieve.

Now, with chestnut flour, you really do need to pass it through a sieve.

And, actually, cocoa powder,

because sometimes it has got little lumps in it.

-A little bit of that.

-You don't like lumps?

-There we go.

Give this a quick whisk. You can swap this over.

We can use our whisk for this.

Give that a quick mix.

And it all starts to come together, and then we throw in fudge pieces.

-Right.

-Throw the whole lot in. Pop it into our tray.

-But when we first saw you, of course...

-You know what's so funny?

I'm talking about Losing It, and he's cooking.

You know, it's such a great combination.

And yet, there's a soupcon of mental illness here too.

-LAUGHTER

-But when we first saw you...

One in four, I think I see the one. But, OK.

When we first saw you, it was Ruby Wax Meets...

-Yes.

-And I loved that programme!

-Thank you.

-Why didn't that continue?

Because you can't get the access to celebrities that way you could

when I was a child (!) You know, now there's...

You know, they're surrounded by their PR, their security...

They just hold up their films like it's a can of soup. Whereas...

You didn't allow people to promote, nothing?

They could a little, but they had to let me live with them for three days.

But then, you know, I made them laugh, so, you know...

I lived with Hugh Hefner for three days in the mansion.

-I mean, you did some outrageous stuff on it.

-I know.

-You locked Fergie out of the house.

-No, no, that was planned.

But nobody could tell when I was faking it and when, you know,

it was the real thing. So it was good. I've never had that much fun.

-I remember the Bette Midler one.

-Yeah, she didn't want to leave her...

It was a ten minute interview,

she didn't want to leave her hotel room, and then,

because I, you know, made her laugh, which was a big challenge,

I got her into Harvey Nichols

and had her singing down the escalator.

LAUGHTER And eating fish in the fish department.

But your way of doing it, it was kind of like, dare I say,

Louis Theroux is now.

Well, no, I was funny.

LAUGHTER

But you know what I mean? It was that way that you got...

No, I mean, I know how to, you know, flirt a little bit and...

so, you know, it wasn't investigative journalism.

Really, it was a relationship.

And it was fantastic, proving a huge success.

Right, we've got your toffee sauce, which is butter, cream, and sugar.

Yeah, why are you laughing at me?

All the things that are fattening in your fridge,

just chuck it all in here.

None of that olive oil in this one.

Just put it straight on my bottom, you know.

Exactly, exactly. Pass the middleman.

And then our ice cream. You're going to like this one. Frozen bananas.

All you do is blend them with buttermilk, sugar, and vanilla,

and the whole lot goes in.

But before you did the Ruby Wax Meets...

you were a writer?

I wrote some of...I script-edited Ab Fab, yeah.

-But what brought you to the UK in the first place?

-I was...

I wanted to be in the Royal Shakespeare Company,

and so I went to drama school

and I did tongue exercises for three years

to get the English accent I have today.

And then I got into the Royal Shakespeare Company,

because Trevor Nunn really liked what I could do with my tongue.

-This was all with Helen Mirren and...

-No, Rickman.

Alan Rickman and Richard Griffiths and Zoe Wanamaker, yeah.

Helen's a little older, thanks.

So why did you turn into acting, then?

Because I thought I could be a great Shakespearean actor,

and then Alan Rickman said,

"I think you better go into comedy, quick."

And he directed all of my shows

and even this one, he handed me to Thea Sharrock,

who is a brilliant director, and so the show is born.

-But this is the best thing I've ever done.

-Fantastic.

-We look forward to it.

-Can I talk about my forums?

Go on. I'm just going to blend. You don't mind me blending while...

I'll shout. OK, every... BLENDER WHIRS

-Can you hear me?

-I'll stop.

OK, every Thursday, because the audience are so interested in,

you know, so many people have problems,

but we have no place to meet,

we've started a forum every Thursday where, between two and four,

and it's free, if you come in and you need help or you're a carer,

or you know somebody that's ill,

we have a whole staff there who can direct you where to go in the country

to get help or where medication is, or what a good shrink is.

And then we have, like, Camila Batmanghelidjh is speaking next week.

Between two and four on Thursday at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

It's free, and I serve cookies. There!

-Sounds good. Right...

-BLENDER WHIRS

Blend this. That's just buttermilk, bananas.

Takes about 20 seconds to blend.

Meanwhile, I'm going to take that little pot here.

-We've got our chocolate brownie.

-Wow!

Our DOUBLE chocolate brownie, which we can break up.

Serve it warm as well, that's a good thing.

This has had about sort of 45 minutes in the oven.

And then very quickly, you end up with ice cream in here.

How does it end up frozen?

Because you've frozen the bananas,

cut them into chunks, freeze them, blend it with buttermilk,

a bit of sugar's gone in there, vanilla,

and we end up very, very quickly...

That's us. Just get that bit.

It turns into ice cream.

And you can do this with strawberries, with apples...

I know you like yoghurt smoothies.

You can do the same thing with that. Exactly the same thing.

-Like, I've been listening to this, you know (!)

-There we go.

You've got ice cream.

Wow...let me taste. Let me taste.

LAUGHTER

Oh, I love you. HE LAUGHS

A lot.

-Check that out!

-Yep.

-There you go.

-I'm very titillated.

Because all these people are watching this...

Oh, my God!

..at gymnasiums...

See, with your English foods, with your yellow custards

and your toad-in-the-holes...THAT'S food!

-LAUGHTER

-Yeah!

-If you are at the gym, you need to run a lot faster.

-Yeah.

Alternatively, you can eat one of these.

But I personally wouldn't bother. You might as well eat that.

I'll eat this. You come to my show, Losing It.

I will do. Tell me what you think of that.

It's very good, isn't it?

It's better than anything I've ever experienced.

I'm not just saying that. LAUGHTER

And that's a great dessert to serve with your Sunday lunch.

And if you'd like to have a go at that recipe

or any of the recipes from today's show,

they're just a click away on our website at bbc.co.uk/recipes.

Now, we're not live today, so instead,

we're enjoying some of the fantastic cooking

from the Saturday Kitchen back catalogue.

Next up is the one-man whirlwind that is Gennaro Contaldo.

He treats us to his tasty seafood pasta. Take a look at this.

-Welcome back, Gennaro.

-Thank you very much!

And on the menu, of course, for you, is pasta. So this is kind of...

Well, people looking at this would go, "It's small penne,"

but you've got a name for this, haven't you?

-It's tubetti, because they're little tubes.

-Tubetti.

-Tubetti.

Now, if you make them smaller, you call them tubettini.

And if you shorten them again, you make, like, cannellini.

-And so, and so, and so.

-What? What cannellini?

-All right, Antonio. Just start the complaints.

-Right.

-So this is fresh pasta you've got in here?

-It's fresh pasta.

I made it because it's special for you.

And I'm going to show you later how to make fresh pasta,

-because you never cook fresh pasta and you never make it.

-Right, OK.

OK, first of first, what I need from you, if you can actually, OK,

chop those in half, remove the seeds and do me little squares.

Not too little. And it's OK...

Whatever you want to do.

Little-ini, you want it?

Little-ini, si!

Here, I have the tomato which James is cutting,

I have some zaffron, some garlic, chilli, a little drop of wine...

-You have what? Saffron?

-Saffron.

-I said it...zafferano?

-Zafferano.

OK, mussels and cockles.

OK, first, olive oil straight in.

Abundant olive oil, like Antonio says.

Now, of course, we've been watching you

on your second series around Italy.

HE LAUGHS Did you love it?

It is great, I have to say.

Where does this series take you, then?

For people who haven't watched it before.

Do you stick predominantly with the south, or do you go all over?

Well, we started from Calabria,

which was fantastic, to do with the children,

and then we moved on to Liguria,

which is right at the other side of Italy.

And next one, we will start at the mountains, which is Valtalina,

and then we'll come down to Lazio, near Rome.

Oh, Antonio will love those.

-It's so funny, it's incredible.

-Rome is fantastic, isn't it?

-They've got a wonderful fish market in Rome.

-It has, indeed.

Almost all over Italy it's got fish markets.

Don't you think so, Antonio? Why you look at me with that funny face?

ANTONIO CHUCKLES Why, you always look...why?

No, because you're funny, that's why.

Thank you very much! OK.

Well, first of all, a little salt.

Salt, you always need salt inside of pasta.

-Why?

-Huh? I don't know. You say.

LAUGHTER Why?

Because you need to give the pasta the lovely...

Those need to be seasoned. So the salt goes straight in.

Inside here, you can see I put cockles and mussels,

a little drop of wine...

Cover for a little bit.

Shaking, shaking, because Antonio does it.

Because this is fresh pasta, it cooks in minutes.

So about four minutes for that?

Four minutes, yeah, that would be all right. It's done.

Now, you use semolina flour for this one, don't you?

Durum wheat, semolino. Have I said...?

-Semolina.

-Semolina?

Why you always manage to correct me? You get inside!

That should be enough. Mussels done.

-OK, little zaffran.

-Saffron, yeah.

Saffron. Ah!

A little? That's quite a lot there.

It's quite a lot.

-It's not quite a lot!

-He says it's too much.

You want to come here to cook for me?!

Considering how expensive it is, Gennaro. A pinch is...

Did you want to come here to cook for me? No?

It's always "Too much!" "Too little!"

Then a nice bit of wild rocket.

Now, as well as that,

as well as wandering around Italy as well,

cos I know you're backwards and forwards and bits and pieces,

you've got this new idea that you and Jamie are setting up.

-Tell me about this.

-It is, indeed. It is Food Revolution.

On the 19th of May, people all over the world,

they have to cook nice food.

The children and everybody is really going to enjoy it.

So don't forget to apply at revolutionday.com.

-That's it.

-That's it.

So it's all about eating healthily and everything else?

It is important. People have to eat healthily.

But Antonio said one thing very important.

We have to teach the mother and father, the parents, to eat well.

Because we've seen it, or rather, it's coming on.

I don't think we've seen it yet, but I know you actually filmed it.

You filmed at an eating contest, didn't you?

Oh, yes. That was gross, actually. In Rome.

And there were people eating pasta

and the competition was who puts on weight

within one hour. More weight.

-LAUGHTER

-Who put on the most amount of weight in one hour?

Six kilos of pasta in one hour.

GENNARO LAUGHS Tell them about the scale!

Oh, yes. Gennaro, naturally...I ate a little bit, but just a little bit.

And to check which weight I put on,

Gennaro very sweetly put food on the scale behind me.

However...

But you have to listen to what I said to him in Italian in the film.

No! No! No, I think they'll cut it!

However, there is justice, because nature has a way of getting its own

back on people, and tell us about this ant thing that you were doing.

-The what?

-The ants.

Oh! Well, Antonio...

Trust me, Antonio, I was driving him in a car,

in this Cinquecento. He never moves, always sits like that.

"Can you get me this? Can you get me that? Can you get my water?"

I had to make sure I had a water close everywhere round me.

And then we were driving along, up to Liguria.

There was a fig tree, and he said, "Oh, Gennaro, I fancy some figs."

So what I actually had to do, get on the wall,

get a branch of a tree, get it inside the car, and...

HE SLURPS Lovely!

-Oh, he was eating it off the tree?

-Of course!

Then, there were chestnuts.

"Ah, we're going to get the chestnuts!" I said, "OK,"

Little Cinquecento was open. Right, on top.

He said, "OK, go the chestnuts."

Well, I didn't know there was an ants nest on the wall.

JAMES LAUGHS And because I was concentrating on,

"Give me this, give me that,"

I started to realise they were everywhere.

So the camera rolling, because it was what they want. So I'm starting...

Unfortunately, I had to remove my trousers and this...

LAUGHTER

You would seem a little bit...

You know, if Gennaro wouldn't be there, he should be created!

All right. So run through what we've got in here.

-You've added the pasta to this?

-I have inside garlic and chilli.

Then I put the mussels, a little drop of wine,

and then I add this saffron inside. Season a little bit.

-And you had some olive oil in there?

-And then I added some olive oil.

It is one to drop it and adjust a little bit.

-You've reduced the liquor down.

-Of course I did!

I wanted the pasta to get the lovely flavour. Lovely Amalfi lemons.

Er...

-Gennaro, why did you do that?

-I love it. I, er...

Oh, you want a grater?

Thank you. I was going to...

Now, the great thing about your food, it looks great as well.

Oh, thank God for that! Why did you say that?

Yeah, but this is part of a little book that you're doing as well,

-on photography and food?

-It is, indeed.

We had a fantastic photographer, David Loftus,

which he was on a camera, mostly everything.

Making sure that the food was good.

Whenever we turned around he was there, "Click, click, click!"

What a lovely man! Can I say hello to him?

-You can do.

-I love you, David!

There you go. Well, take a look at that.

And there we have it. So you can explain the dish.

What's this in Italian?

Tubetti con cozze e vongole con zafferano.

-Didn't I say it right, Antonio?

-Yes.

-That's what it is.

-Let's see.

JAMES LAUGHS What do you mean, "Let's see?!"

-Let's taste.

-Now, you made that with fresh pasta.

If people are using dried pasta at home

like penne, the slightly larger one, cook it for a little bit longer?

That can use it, yes. They can use linguine, long pasta, as well.

And then they can use also spaghetti as well.

Also, if they don't have the short ones, they can also use penne.

-It's very good, Gennaro.

-Thank you very much.

And that's all the liquor from the mussels in the clams,

basically created a sauce out of it.

What you have, with mussels, it's very important to have them alive.

Those were all alive, which retains a little bit of seawater inside,

so when you mix with the garlic and the chilli

and a little drop of wine, they open up.

Once they open up, you get the pasta and everything,

and you cook with the pasta.

You finish with the pasta inside, which then amalgamated

and they get a lovely coating around it.

Enough, now! Enough, now!

I tried to keep him quiet, but it never works!

Now it's time for those Two Fat Ladies.

Today, they're in Jersey,

treating the potato farmers to a fantastic tasty meal.

Marvellous to be in Jersey.

Phew! Imagine picking potatoes on these hills!

-The pickers will be starving.

-They come from Madeira, you know.

Madeira? Time to practise my rusty old Portuguese.

Now we're looking for the Le Pres Manor and the grand siegneur.

I do believe we've been going up and down this same bit of road.

Follow the coast, they said.

There can't be that much coast, can there?

HORN BEEPS

-Hello! Good morning!

-Hello!

Morning!

-Buon dia!

-Buon dia!

-Buon dia!

-Buon dia!

We're lost. We are looking for, um...

El casa de Senor Maistre.

-Mr Maistre?

-Mr Le Maistre?

-Le Maistre!

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-Le Pres Manor?

-Le Pres Manor!

We've finished in the fields and we're going now to Le Pres Manor.

Oh, good! I think these are the people

we're going to cook for, Jennifer.

We're going to cook for all of you.

Cozinhar per todo.

-Yeah?

-Yes.

-Can you follow the tractor?

-Of course!

-We're going now.

SHE SHOUTS IN PORTUGUESE

Just as well you speak Portuguese, dear, isn't it?

-Not much of it.

-More than me!

I get a bit muddled.

THEY CALL OUT AND LAUGH

Heaven knows where we're going. Very exciting.

Very appropriate we should be going to cook

for the lord of the manor, for his workers. For his gang.

I like a gang of workers to cook for.

-Yes, they're sweet.

-Very jolly! A jolly gang!

-They're a cheery lot.

-Yes, very.

Oh-ho! Something on the door.

Let's have a look.

"Ladies, I'm round the back in the bread oven with my cabbage!"

Whoa! THEY CHUCKLE

We best go see what he's up to!

Let's go round the back and see if we can find the bread oven.

-Cabbage, is it?

-I suppose this is the right place.

Round the back, he said, didn't he?

-It must be round the back.

-Nice little...

What is this?

Oh, no. Hello. We found you. The grand seigneur. Hello.

-What a lovely sight.

-Hello, I'm Clarissa.

I'm just doing a bit of cabbage loaves. You can help, if you like.

-Yes, surely.

-What do we do?

-Just put them on the paddle.

-Right in the middle.

-Yeah.

-And then, one leaf on top.

-I mustn't waste time.

-No, no.

-I must get them in as quickly as I can.

Because it's your workers we came to feed, isn't it?

What I'm really looking for are the proper kitchens.

-Oh!

-To cook for the Portuguese people.

-That's right.

If you go out the door and straight across the yard,

it's in front of you. You can't miss it.

-How long will these take?

-Half an hour or so.

-Fantastic.

I've never seen anything like it.

I look forward to seeing it.

We'd better go and find kitchen and then we'll see them later.

-Bye-bye.

-Farewell.

-That way?

-Yeah.

Very curious that idea

of wrapping your bread in cabbage leaves before you cook it.

It's deeply sinister. Why do think they do it?

We haven't tasted it yet. Does it keep the moisture in, or something?

Possibly it does, or gives it some sort of strange, esoteric flavour.

-It may be wonderful.

-Old cabbage smell.

It may be wonderful.

I'm going to make a lovely, luscious, chocolate pie - spelt PYE.

And this is an 18th-century recipe from Hannah Glasse.

And it has the most unusual crust.

It's made with simply ground almonds, egg white and caster sugar.

No butter. No flour.

And I'm going to start by weighing out six ounces

of ground almonds.

And put it in my bowl with two ounces of caster sugar.

Now, this is unbleached caster sugar.

As you can see, it's the most beautiful, pale, golden colour.

And the white of one egg.

-And I'll mix it all together using my hands.

-Of course.

Naturally.

The thing is that you've got to

really squish it together into a paste.

There we are. I'm just going to chill this.

I'm going to bring back one that I've chilled in the tin.

That's what I like - no nonsense.

-That's the chilled one.

-There you are.

-You see?

-Yes.

-But not yet cooked.

You can see my fingerprints in it very clearly.

Good.

I'll pop it into the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. And now...

I'm just going to break up my chocolate.

I've got some very good chocolate,

70% cocoa solids - that's the answer

The more cocoa solids you have, the better. It's a chocolate pie.

-Just keep breaking away.

-How much chocolate have you to break?

Quite a lot. All the stuff I've got here.

I'm going to tell them what I'm up to then.

I'm doing that good old thing, boeuf Stroganoff.

There's no ritual for it.

It was invented in Russia but I imagine probably by a Frenchman.

I'll probably get hundreds of Russian screaming about that.

There is one essential, which lots of people forget,

it's got to be fillet of beef.

What you do is...

have your fine piece of fillet, like this, and cut it into strips.

-I wonder who Count Stroganoff was?

-I don't know.

I've got a book that tells you such.

I like to envisage Count Stroganoff dashing in his Hessian boots.

Twirling his mustachios and flashing his sabre.

-Oh, yes, all of that.

-Right.

Now I'm going to put the onions on first.

I've got a pan here with about two ounces of butter in it.

To which I'll add a drop of olive oil. Now, onions.

I wonder how the Indian onion shortage is going?

Are we having an Indian onion shortage?

The Indians are having an onion shortage. There were riots last year.

My dear, think of all the bhajis.

Now I have a great excitement to add to this.

Apart from my ordinary field mushrooms, and the little,

brown-topped ones, are these glorious things here on the island.

-Yellow oysters.

-What do they taste like, I wonder?

-Try a bit.

-They've got a very good scent.

-Mm.

-Reminiscent of something.

-But what is it?

-They've got a curious aftertaste. Sort of...

I nearly had it there. Damn!

Anyway, we'll pop them in and see what happens.

-Might murder everybody.

-No, no.

Pretty, pretty.

I'm going to melt my chocolate.

They are wonderful, these yellow oysters.

-I wonder if they'll keep their colour?

-Bit of sea salt.

Some nice, freshly ground, black pepper.

Good and rough in the pestle and the mortar.

Now then, I'm going to make my little mixture. I've invented it.

One teaspoon of sugar - that's all you need.

Two good teaspoons of powdered mustard.

-Mix it up.

-It's going to be unusual.

A slurp of port. I may add more port.

I just may add more.

Yes. It makes me think you just may.

I remember roughly dishes in Portugal cooked with port.

I think it's better for cooking than drinking.

But that's because I don't like it much.

-Fine, great pans these.

-They are wonderful.

Better than going to the gym.

Anything is better than going to the gym!

In this pan, we'll do the meat by itself.

When you're cooking meat, don't crowd the pan.

Just have lots of space in-between them

otherwise they're going to go stewy.

A quick searing is what we want.

Right, well, that's the last of the beef strips.

Put her old friend back on the stove

Now for some lovely Jersey cream, soured.

This is what they always put in at the end

to make a wonderful sauce with all the juices in it.

What you should do really, is finish it all off and serve immediately.

But as we need to serve it later,

I'll take it off and chop some parsley.

There we are, that's done now. I'll just bring this across.

Keep it moving, otherwise it will set.

And to this I'm going to add some lovely Jersey cream, pouring cream.

What you must make sure of, is that the cream is at room temperature.

If you put cold cream straight out of the fridge

into this hot chocolate, the whole thing will seize up.

-What will?

-The whole thing.

If you pour cold cream into hot chocolate, it just sets immediately.

-Use quite a lot of elbow grease. Keep working it.

-That's a wonderful smell.

Thank you. Yes, it is, isn't it?

And what I do, at the end, is put a whisk through it.

Just to put some air into it.

Now this pie crust, as you can see,

is already cooked and I've allowed it to cool.

-I'm just going to pour the chocolate into case.

-Yum.

Ha-ha! Doesn't that look lovely?

When this has cooled a bit,

one can decorate it with some toasted almond flakes.

Sprinkle them over the top.

And...

some yellow rose petals.

Goodness!

-That's very far-fetched.

-He loves me. He loves me not.

It's wonderful. You should have a great shower of them coming down.

Like one of those wonderful Alma-Tadema pictures.

-A cloud... A cloud coming from the ceiling.

-He loves me not.

-Anyway, doesn't that look lovely?

-Ravishing.

-Have you been reading your almanac lately?

-It's not a thing I often do.

Oh, well, there you are.

Had you done so, you would know it's the spring equinoctial tide.

Well, in Jersey they are probably witching.

Ah, but even better,

what I really want you to do is take me to the beach on the bike.

-Of course, yes, sure. To the beach.

-To the beach.

You'd better put some wet things on.

-Look, Jennifer, no parking on slipway or beach.

-Never mind.

I've got permission.

Aha, my almanac was right!

The tide is out, it's a new moon, and it's the time of the year

when we are allowed to hunt for ormers. Ears of the sea, Jennifer.

They are like a giant limpet, aren't they?

Well, they are sort of sea snails really. They have green horns.

The denizen of the deep.

I'd rather you stop, Jennifer, I don't think it's amphibious.

SPLASH

# I am the gay caballero coming from Rio Janeiro. #

-Are you happy sitting on that rock?

-Yes, I'm here with the sea.

I'm Milly, a messy, old mermaid. I'm Will o' the rocks and I know it.

-I'm happier here than in puddles.

-Well, no spirit of adventure. Look,

every rock you turn over, there may be an ormer underneath.

-I've got some little winkle things here.

-Well, that'll be useful!

There's some shrimps in here, too. It's the suspense. Ooh, look!

-You've got one?

-Yes!

Do they swim in, or are they brought in?

Brought in with the seaweed, I suppose.

-Or do they live there for ever?

-There we are.

-Bravo!

Look at the size of that.

It looks like a tortoise.

-They are rare. They're worth a lot of money, dear.

-I know.

Usually where you find one, you find others, you see.

-They eat the seaweed, you know.

-Grazing.

-No, they actually eat it.

-Oh, they eat it.

-They really do eat it. Like cows.

-It's good, isn't it? Quite nice to eat.

-If you say so, yes.

Well, the Japanese eat it.

Got it! It's another big one.

-Isn't that good? Yes, they're quite big the tides here.

-Yes, watch it.

Don't go out too far because it comes up very quickly

and you'll get towed away.

-Yes!

-Another one? Great.

-Look, look, look!

-A beauty.

That should do us for a little snackette, I think.

-Yes, I'm keen to try. Do we have to beat them hard?

-Yes.

I suppose I have to do that bit, too?

One way of getting rid of frustration and anger.

They look like sliced calamari, or something.

Right, I'll just clean another one now.

What is it? Against every adversity the British will barbecue.

-They look rather tempting now.

-Yes.

-Have a go.

-Thank you.

-A dainty morsel. Lovely.

-Thank you very much.

-Mm, lovely. Yummo.

-What? The taste?

Mm.

-It's a lovely flavour.

-Yes.

-It's fairly whelky.

Much more flavour than a snail. Good texture too.

Jennifer, that tide's coming in a bit.

-Oh. It will rush us, won't it?

-Probably.

Perhaps we had better go.

-Stop it!

-We're stuck. We're sinking.

Look at that! That's what we want! Stop! Stop! Turn round.

TYRES SQUEAL

Go back! Go back! On the wrong side of the road, Jennifer.

What'll we do?

-Go up to it. Have a look.

-It's all right. It's clear.

-Yes, yes, that's right. Drive-through shopping. That's what we want.

-Yes.

How wonderful.

Isn't it sweet? We can take quite a lot because we like these things.

-Yes.

-Look! Look. What a treasure.

-Oh, lovely. A churn of cream.

-A churn of cream. How wonderful.

-Isn't that sweet?

-Wonderful.

-I'll put that between my knees.

Now, I require carrots, onions and garlic. And tomatoes.

A bag of mushrooms.

We're cleaning it out. Look, there's a box. Would you like the box?

A very good idea. Give me the box. Put everything in the box.

Now that would be about... A fiver will cover it, won't it?

Drive-in shopping. Amazing

Extraordinary. Isn't that amazing?

-I mean, what an extraordinary island.

-It's extraordinary.

I keep thinking I'm in Portugal. It's full of Portuguese.

Right, well, if we walk up the hill there,

we can catch up with those diggers

and pick up the last of the potatoes

and have a nice bowl of them with the dinner.

They must be starving.

The first from the ground. Think how delicious!

Covered in butter or cream and herbs.

Well, here you are. That's not too bad, Jennifer.

-Look how far we've come!

-Yes, far too far!

-Watch this, Jennifer.

-Be careful! Ooh!

THEY LAUGH

OK, well done!

-Very good exercise!

-Yeah!

Well, you're getting to a really steep bit now.

-I'll leave it to the experts.

-OK!

How about that then, Jennifer?

-Bravo, dear! Fearless Freddie!

-SHE LAUGHS

Da-dum! Well, how are you doing?

You haven't gathered many yourself.

Nope, it's no occupation for a gentlewoman!

Very suitable employment!

It is the duty of the gentleman to give employment to the artisan,

-is my feeling!

-CLARISSA LAUGHS

-Right, OK.

-I think they're great artisans, doing all that.

I think they're brilliant.

Well, I think that all looks very nice for them.

Give it a last little touch.

-Keep them warm after all their endeavours.

-Very good.

Let's put another slug in, I think. I'll measure it this time.

That should be enough.

Da-dum! Look at that! Doesn't that look nice?

-Oh, it's lovely. Isn't that splendid?

-Mmm!

It looks great. It's stayed so sort of perfect.

THEY CHATTER IN PORTUGUESE

Boeuf stroganoff. A drop of port will transform this fine dish.

Seductively sublime.

Who can resist the aphrodisiac of chocolate pie?

THEY TOAST IN PORTUGUESE

Well, we won't forget Jersey in a hurry.

I love all those Portuguese having a lovely, jolly time.

-They were sweet, and so good you could talk to them.

-A little bit.

Well, I think they were very touched. I think they liked it.

-And the ormers. Wasn't that exciting?

-That was amazing!

I have something for you. There you are.

Oh, the shells! They're so beautiful!

You can have them for ashtrays.

Look at the pretty, wonderful colours inside.

Yes, it's lovely, isn't it? Mother-of-pearl.

And I didn't realise they were in the abalone family.

Have you never read..?

I hope you haven't! Abalones! THEY LAUGH

And as for me, ploughing up a hill... SHE LAUGHS

-It was a wonderful feat!

-Mmm!

I shall be able to go home and bore

many an unfortunate guest for months to come at dinner parties.

Yes, sometimes, apparently, those fields of potatoes wash into the bay.

That must be very boring for everybody.

THEY LAUGH Yes, very probably!

Bang-bang! A duck!

I think you missed. THEY GIGGLE

And we'll have more from those wonderful Two Fat Ladies next week.

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

but instead, we've got some fantastic cooking

from the Saturday Kitchen archives for you instead.

Still to come on today's Best Bits,

Allegra McEvedy tried her hand

at the Saturday Kitchen omelette challenge for the very first time.

She battles against seasoned omelette pro, Michael Caines.

See how they both fare a little bit later on.

And the incomparable Cyrus Todiwala shares with us

a recipe for a spiced canon of salt marsh lamb.

He serves it with a delicious chicken liver masala,

asparagus, a deep-fried egg, and a bread roll.

And The Inbetweeners star, Blake Harrison,

faces Food Heaven Or Food Hell.

Would he get his heaven, steak?

And I could cook him a juicy sirloin steak,

serve it with a home-made peppercorn sauce, green beans, and mash.

Or would he get the dreaded Food Hell - cauliflower?

That's cauliflower cheese,

accompanied by a tasty grilled pork chop.

Find out what he gets to eat at the end of today's show.

Now, whenever we have the Hairy Bikers in the studio,

we know we're going to be in for a chaotic time,

but you're also guaranteed some pretty hearty grub too.

Here's Si King, and he doesn't let us down.

-What are you cooking for us today, Si?

-I've completely forgot!

THEY LAUGH

It's kofta tagine.

It's meatballs in a really rich tomato sauce

with some peas and eggs on top.

Great with bread, great with couscous, great with chips.

-Great. It's all-time great.

-It's great. Great, great!

-So you want me to chop the onion, do you?

-Yes, please.

Now, here we've got some minced beef, OK?

You can use lamb as well.

-Move that out the way.

-That would be perfect.

Thanks, James. Perfect.

And into that, I'm going to chop...

Get off!

..into that, we're going to chop some garlic.

Yep. So where does this recipe originate from, then?

It originates from Morocco,

and we cooked this in a place called the Jamaa el Fna,

which is the big, big, square, in the middle of Marrakech.

And we had about 200 salivating Moroccans going,

"Give us a bit! Give us a bit!" It was mad!

And dentists there and you get people

eating broken glass, you know.

I think after the broken glass, the meatballs went down a treat!

THEY LAUGH

-Do you remember that bloke that sold second hand dentures?

-Yes!

-That was remarkable!

-Yeah, those were a great fit.

They managed to come away with us, so...

LAUGHTER That and worms, yes!

First time I've eaten a carrot for four years!

And, into this, what we do is we put some cumin,

some chilli, some ground ginger, and some paprika.

Stick that in there.

The onion, that's great.

And then, James, could you chop me some parsley and coriander?

-The dreaded parsley, see?

-Sorry! Sorry!

I tell you what, we'll leave the parsley out

-and we'll put the coriander in, eh?

-All right, OK. Coriander.

-Success, at last!

-LAUGHTER

And what we're doing is we're separating this egg, kind of...

-..and putting that into the mix.

-OK.

Just to bind it a little bit.

And then we'll put some salt in, a little bit of pepper.

Now, this is the bit my seven-year-old son, Dylan, loves.

I hope you're awake there, Dyl! If you're awake, get up!

He likes getting his hands in it.

You mentioned tagine. They cook a lot with chicken out there,

particularly lamb, as well.

-But I suppose you could do lamb mince as well?

-Absolutely.

Lamb mince you could do with this as well.

They do some fantastic things

with the preserved lemons as well, and olives. It's great.

Oh, the salted lemons, absolutely beautiful!

So, could you cut us a bit of onion and put it into that pan for us?

Me hands are a bit, you know.

-OK.

-So the onion goes into the pan with some oil.

-I'll do that. You're all right.

-No, you're all right. I've got it.

I'm just going to have to dirty your bottle.

Some onions in there. Just sliced onions. Yeah.

Just sliced onions, yeah. That'll do.

-Right, what's next?

-Let's form the balls.

You form the balls, and you want walnut-sized balls, eh?

-Nothing more than that.

-Right, so you're using water as well?

You can, yeah. Put that on your hands.

I, however, never do.

Which is why my hands are like that, and yours are like that!

And just brown those off.

Yeah, I suppose this is great, like you said,

the kids would love to do this kind of stuff.

Oh, it's great, it's great.

It's brilliant for them when they come in from school,

because you can do it so far and then just before you serve it,

put the eggs on. It's great.

This type of thing, these will actually freeze really well.

Yeah, they will. It will freeze really well.

Yeah, before you cook them,

it will be almost like an instant little snack, I suppose.

-So, that's that.

-OK, I'll continue to do those.

-So what's next?

-What's next is...

-Do you need to brown those off?

-We need to brown these off.

Right, they're kind of nicely brown.

And then we add some tomatoes.

Tinned tomatoes, they're brilliant, they're fresh,

they're freshly picked. Get them into the pan.

A lot of the time, they can be better than the fresh ones,

-depending on whether they're in season or not.

-Absolutely.

And then we've got some tomato puree.

-Mix that in.

-And then, the other ingredient,

I mean, in every tagine, really...

or every tagine that I've ever cooked - honey.

Honey, yes. It's that wonderful flavour that you get in Morocco.

There's a lot of cumin and a lot of honey used in the cuisine.

-You could add almonds, particularly with lamb, as well.

-Yes, absolutely.

All that kind of flavours.

-Flaked almonds in there.

-Flaked almonds, good.

And you keep that going. Now, that needs to...

-we need to put some peas in.

-Yep.

-It's great if you've got an upset tummy, isn't it, cumin?

-Yeah.

Just have it dry with some water and it kind of sorts you out.

-To have with his cooking!

-LAUGHTER

Hey, that's nice (!) What a love! What a support that is!

No, I didn't mean that!

Do you know... And then, lid on.

And then this is what it should look like after about ten minutes.

-Where have you gone?

-I'm here.

Don't leave us like this. People are watching, you know.