Episode 86 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning. Time to get some cooking inspiration

because we've got some fantastic food for you on today's Best Bites.

Welcome to the show. We've got some amazing chefs

and very hungry celebrity guests for you this morning,

including EastEnders actress Diane Parish

and X Factor star Stacey Solomon.

Sophie Grigson makes a Sardinian pasta and shellfish soup.

She uses fregula pasta and serves it

with a rustic broth made from tomatoes, saffron, garlic, parsley

and loads of juicy clams.

One half of the Hairy Bikers, Dave Myers, brings chicken to the table.

He makes a Mediterranean chicken roulade

and serves it with mushroom orzo risotto and roquette salad.

The boy from North Wales, Bryn Williams

showcases organic Welsh pork.

He roasts a cutlet and serves it with a crispy black pudding

and a ragout of white beans and apple.

And Stacey Solomon faced her Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would she get her Food Heaven - duck in the form of pan-fried duck breast

with squash pickle and peach puree?

Or would it be her dreaded Food Hell -

black pudding served with a delicious Barnsley chop

and an apple and black pudding butter with sauteed potatoes?

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

But first, one of the sunniest chefs you'll ever meet -

Bill Granger serves us some Far Eastern chicken.

-Good morning.

-You've moved.

-I'm over here. Taken the plunge.

Yes, exactly. We've gained Bill Granger and a VAT increase

-at the same time. Brilliant.

-Which is worse?!

What are we cooking, then?

I'm going to do spicy chicken thighs and marinate them with fish sauce,

chilli, garlic, a bit of sugar. And a salad with summery things -

lime, spring onions, cucumber and some rice noodles.

-This is your kind of food.

-It's my kind of year! Summer.

I survived February and we're here.

So it's your kind of year apart from the sport, is it?

-You're not going to mention that.

-Rugby, cricket, football.

I better go well on the omelette challenge.

We can gloat while we can.

Well, it is time to change countries.

-So what are we doing here, then?

-I'm going to chop that garlic

and the chilli. I'm keeping the seeds in.

I don't mind the spice with it.

I'll bang that in the mortar and pestle.

-If you don't have one, just chop it up finely.

-OK.

A little bit of salt just to act as an abrasive

-to grind it down. Not too much, because I'm using fish sauce.

-OK.

-So the chilli goes in there. Red or green or are you not bothered?

-Red.

I like the sweetness. In this dish, it's quite good.

Now you pound it up. I'll use the fish sauce to marinate it in.

I like this dish because it's light. It's great summer food.

There's not too much oil. About three tablespoons of fish sauce.

There's different fish sauces available in the supermarket.

Some has a little squid in it, some has prawns.

Which one would you go for?

I tend to use squid. I find it's a lighter flavour.

If you don't like fish sauce, don't worry.

The way you cook the chicken kills the flavour of the fish sauce.

It just acts as a saltiness, basically. Some sugar.

So you're over here, but you've still got your restaurants,

-ever-expanding restaurants all around the world.

-Yeah.

-Last time you were opening up in...

-Japan.

-Japan.

-Yes, absolutely.

I'm in Yokohama. It's our second Japanese restaurant.

That opened about four months ago. Going great guns.

And the same ethos as you've got in Australia?

Fresh, simple, straightforward food.

I like everyday food, incredibly casual.

Not formal at all. I'll pop that in here. That'll do.

Yeah, great. Just so it's quite rough.

Great. Stick this in here.

-Now...

-There you go.

-..what I'm going to do is separate this.

I'll use half as the marinade...

..and half as the basis for my dressing,

which just makes it easier.

I'm going to cook your noodles, which are pretty straightforward.

That's the great thing. This is almost a non-cook dish.

-Apart from the chicken, a bit of boiling water on the noodles.

-Yeah.

Different brands take different lengths of time.

Usually about a minute will do it. You don't want them overcooked.

Pop the chicken in there. Give that a stir. It only takes 30 minutes.

You don't need to do it longer.

I'll get the one in the fridge so we can get that cooking.

Being chicken, make sure you refrigerate it when you cook it.

-Then you want that in the pan?

-Barbecuing, a great way to do this.

What's going to happen is that sugar will help caramelise.

Chicken thigh, let's face it, it's not that interesting.

But doing this to it, the sugar and the fish sauce

will caramelise and create a great crust on it.

Now pop that down.

You could use skin on, but...

Because we've flattened these out, these will cook really quickly.

-Five minutes.

-And no bones in there.

Yeah, no bones. Makes it easy.

If you're not sure on chilli,

just leave the chilli out or just use a little without the seeds.

Pop another pan on the top and it'll help it cook a little quicker.

Not essential, but today I want to get them done really quickly.

Chefs do like using chicken thighs. You use them quite a bit.

Yeah, that's right. We use them in our chicken and mushroom pies.

-Loads of flavour in there as well.

-Oh, loads of flavour!

Now, how are they going?

Just hook one out and taste it.

I'm going to chop some spring onion. Cut them into lengths.

-And just cut them.

-So you're still busy doing your books?

Yeah, I've a new book coming out in September, October,

which I'm excited about. Bill's Basics.

Doing lots of bits and pieces. We wanted to give ourselves six months

to settle in, get the kids into school.

-You know, when you've got a family...

-How are you finding it?

-I love it. I absolutely love it.

-You haven't hit October yet!

-I know, yeah, yeah.

-When it starts raining.

Look, I've done a February. If I can survive a February, I've done it.

I've got to say, there's no greater place in the world though.

-This weather is amazing.

-So you're based in London, I take it?

-Based in London.

-Will we see a Bill's in London?

I've thought of different places.

I thought about going down to the beach,

but I like central London. It's fun.

I think it's got the best food culture in the world.

Either that or you've been to our beaches!

HE LAUGHS There might be a bit of that!

-It's hard to replace Bondi.

-Yeah, Bondi Beach...Bournemouth.

I know. They always say Sydney's a cross between Bournemouth and Rio.

-Sydney's a cross between...?

-Bournemouth and Rio, yeah.

-And Melbourne's Manchester and Milan.

-Is it?

-Yeah. There we go.

So that chicken... The reason you've done that is to press it down?

-To press it down. How's it going?

-Turn them over.

You can see, it's starting to colour, but I want a little more.

-Keep them on. I'll turn the heat up.

-A little bit more.

I'm going to finish this dressing. I've got the basis in there...

-So this is the dressing that's left over.

-Yeah, some of the marinade.

Squeeze some lime. I love lime. I think it's an Australian thing.

Actually, you know a little tip?

Chop off the end of it.

And that'll release it and make it squeeze a little bit easier.

-Ah, you see.

-It just collapses in.

Lime can be expensive. That's a good way to do it. Lots of lime in there.

-How's that chicken?

-I'll probably turn this over.

You can see how it's cooking.

Putting that lid, that other pan on it really helps.

It starts to colour up nicely.

-Have you been to Australia?

-I've never been.

-Never been?!

-Never been.

-Oh, you've got to go.

-Never been.

-Great place.

But you must have been to Oz.

-I have. Are we allowed to plug a restaurant?

-Go on, then.

-You know Doyle's in Sydney?

-Yeah.

It's one of the great settings in the world to sit

and have a really beautiful lobster and nice glass of wine.

-And good fish and chips.

-Great.

-Bill! Fish and chips, mate,

-Whitby.

-THEY LAUGH

I'm actually interested.

I'm hoping the fish and chips win here.

You have to have them in newspaper. You cannot have it on a china plate.

-On newspaper.

-Fancy(!)

-And it's got to be so cold outside

that you're sat there and your nose is dripping into the paper.

Ugh! UGH! That's what I've missed about Sydney.

You get the batter and scrape it off.

-Or is that just me?

-No, you've got to be sitting on Bondi Beach,

-it's hot...

-No.

-There's a drunk backpacker

-passed out next to you.

-No.

-OK.

-No, Whitby wins hands down.

-How are those noodles coming?

-They're ready.

-They're ready? OK,

drain them, plunge them into some cold water

-just to stop them cooking.

-OK.

How are we going here? Great.

That's starting to colour up nicely. Do you need those tongs? Take those.

-Thank you very much.

-I'm also going to put some nuts in here

for some crunch. Oh, you've done it. You've chopped them up.

You're good! Fast.

-Fantastic.

-I'm all over it, Bill. They're cashew nuts, yeah?

Yeah, cashews. Lightly toasted in a pan. I like cashews.

You can use peanuts. Peanuts would be quite traditional in Vietnam.

-A bit of mint leaf.

-Right.

-I'm going to serve these separately.

-You can serve them together.

-Noodles in there?

-Yeah, toss them in there.

-Can I get those tongs again?

-There you go.

-That's nice and chilled.

This is a great barbecue salad by itself.

Even if you just want to do a bit of steak.

Marinate steak in that marinade, too. Very good.

Going to save a few of those onions.

-Mint leaves in?

-Mint leaves and half of the nuts.

-Half of the nuts.

-This is just a classic, healthy, low-fat, too.

There's no oil in that dressing, which is great.

Do you want me to do that and you do your chicken?

-Yeah. Pop it in.

-I'll get that, you can slice your chicken.

-I can slice it. Got another knife?

-There you go.

-Beautiful.

Great.

-It literally doesn't take very long to cook at all.

-No, it's instant.

This is great summer cooking. You're almost...

-AH! That's hot.

-It's just come out of the pan, Bill!

-I know.

Normally I've pretty tough fingers. Australian cooks, we're tough!

HE LAUGHS

-We'll see later.

-We're not.

-They look it, don't they(?)

We're not. I won't pretend.

Right, OK. So in there you can do chicken...

We've got a little bowl. Who doesn't eat meat? Louise.

There you go. A little bowl on there.

Get a few more of those nuts and onions.

Sprinkle it over.

You need more chicken. Have you seen the size of these two blokes?

-OK, another two bits.

-Like bookends! Look at the size of them.

There we go.

-A few onions and you've got it.

-Look at that. Remind us what it is.

That's spicy chicken with fresh noodle salad.

Perfect for this evening. There you go.

There you go. On the barbecue.

-And I need to go to Australia.

-You do.

-Have a seat over here.

-There you go. Louise, there's yours.

-Thank you.

-Dive in.

If you didn't eat meat, it's great with fish.

That marinade would work exactly the same.

And tofu. If you don't eat any meat or fish, bit of tofu,

grilled or barbecued tofu, fantastic.

But like you said, on a barbecue, it's fantastic.

A big bowl of salad, do the barbie. Cold beer.

The secret with that is don't overcook the chicken thighs.

Any chicken like those cuts - breasts, thighs -

don't cook it too much otherwise it will be dry and tough.

Where's the cold beer?

It's coming, John. Trust me. It's on its way. It's on its way!

It's still only quarter past ten.

Not in Australia, it's not!

-What do you reckon? Nice flavour?

-Excellent. That really is lovely.

That chicken would taste great on a barbecue too.

Coming up, I'll be making an easy smoked salmon pate with Melba toast

for Diane Parish after Rick Stein.

He visits Bedfordshire and introduces us to the clanger.

Part of my journey is a bit of a gastronomic history lesson.

Here is the only place in the world

where they make the Bedfordshire clanger.

The word clanger, by the way, means voracious appetite.

They used to make them like this -

a suet pudding stuffed with ham and vegetables -

because ovens were rare so most things were boiled on a range.

But now they bake them in a pastry.

Here we are at Mr Gunn's Bakery in the village of Sandy

using gammon, potatoes, seasoning, onions and gravy.

He puts the savoury filling into one end of the pastry

and a sweet apple filling in the other,

rather like the two-course Cornish pasties.

It's a bit sad you seem to be the last person making clangers

in the whole of Bedfordshire.

How do you see the future of the clanger?

I think it's terribly sad we're the last person and

it's immensely important we continue doing it as long as possible

and I intend to for as long as I'm about, definitely.

Don't you think in this country

we're a bit dismissive of our culinary heritage?

-We don't think it matters somehow.

-In general, I think so.

Modern days, we take the easy way out with ready-prepared meals.

People don't want to turn their hand to making things.

Anything goes in a clanger.

-It's the variety of sweet and savoury that's important.

-Very good.

What I like is this story that when they were working in the fields,

they'd take their clangers in a canvas bag to work

and they'd be working down a row,

Brussels sprout picking or something like that,

they'd take a bite...of the clanger

and really like it, put it back in the bag and throw the bag

down the row and work to the bag.

And then take another bite, as a sort of incentive.

And a jolly good incentive it would have been too.

'You know, when I'm driving over that beautiful bridge into Wales,

'I suppose it seems mundane,

'but I'm thinking about cockles and laverbread in the Gower Peninsula.

'But this country has so much breathtaking landscape

'and great food associated with it.

'This is the farm of Griffith Williams near Harlech, North Wales.

'He's always lived here and like everyone round here,

'his first language is Welsh.'

-I've been working every bloody day of my life.

-Have you?

-But I like it.

-I bet you do.

'These pastures are covered by the incoming tide,

'giving the lambs he rears a unique flavour.'

The colour of the meat is a lot redder.

And the taste is out of this world, really.

Especially in the...

-What do you call the... the outside of the meat?

-The fat?

The fat, yes. That tastes good.

-It is. It's the pre-meat.

-It's lovely.

It's crazy. Griffith has just told me that his salt marsh lamb

is not being sold as salt marsh lamb.

It's just sold as ordinary lamb.

He goes to this trouble to produce something fantastically flavoured

and it's being sold as ordinary lamb.

It's so typical of this stupid country!

We just don't appreciate what we've damn well got.

Well, thinking about that trip to the salt marshes near Harlech,

I suppose was getting a little bit over the top about it,

but it does seem to me to be really silly

when you've got such a brilliant product as salt marsh lamb

not to shout it from the house tops.

Funnily enough, on my way back from Wales that time,

I stopped into an M&S store in Bristol

and, lo and behold, on the butcher's counter there was salt marsh lamb.

So this is sort of an exhortation to all the other supermarkets.

Come on, chaps. Let's have salt marsh lamb everywhere.

Funnily enough, I was doing a bit of cooking

in Downing Street not so long ago

and I chose Welsh salt marsh lamb for the menu

and Jacques Chirac was over with most of the French cabinet,

just for a little chat, and that's what I cooked him and they loved it.

So I've got here a best end of salt marsh lamb

or a rack as it's also called.

It's quite small. Lovely meat.

Look at the marbling there. Because it's small,

I've actually made it an eight cutlet rack.

Normally you just go for six. We're heading off into the shoulder.

I'm just going to roast that for about 20 minutes

and serve it on a bed of beans and peas.

First of all, the beans -

I'm going to poach them with bay leaves, carrots and thyme,

plus some chopped shallots and garlic, and cover them with water.

I put that on the heat and simmer gently

until the beans are quite soft. I like lamb and flageolets,

but I think the beans on their own are a bit dull.

I'm taking them off the heat and straining them,

but I'm keeping that well-flavoured cooking liquid.

Back into the pan with the beans,

slice the carrots up and add some fresh garden peas,

a little more finely-chopped garlic and some olive oil.

Now a slice of butter.

I like a mixture of olive oil and butter in some dishes.

Sauteed potatoes, for example.

Finally, some seasoning of salt and freshly-ground black pepper.

Now to roast the lamb. I'm seasoning it well on both sides.

It's a very attractive joint

which really does bring out the trade skills of your local butcher.

It only takes 20-25 minutes to cook.

I bought this oven some time ago

because I like to see how the joint is progressing.

Cooking appeals on many levels and it's very attractive

to see the fat as it crisps up and the braster,

as Griffith would call it, running out of it.

As it comes out of the oven, the aroma is delightful.

I'll keep the rack warm now

and pour the fat off from the roasting tray

and put the tray back on the heat

and de-glaze it with the liquor from the vegetables

and pour it through a sieve back into the pan

so the vegetables and gravy become one.

This is, I think, a really good dish to do

when you've got three or four friends round.

It's got sophistication without all the sweat

of long roasting and preparing loads of separate vegetables.

Finally, add lots of chopped parsley.

Now to carve the lamb.

I only began to cook racks of lamb

when I started my restaurant in the mid-'70s.

Then it was regarded as quite posh.

It's not a roasting joint I remember from my childhood,

but I urge you to try it. The meat always comes out so juicy

and succulent and pink, and that's how I like it.

I got the idea from these vegetables from an old French recipe book

called Cuisine De Terroir.

Like all good recipes, they're totally unaffected

by fads of TV cooks and never fade from fashion.

Thanks for that one, Rick.

Last week's croissant masterclass went down really well.

Not that many of you will make it, but it went down really well.

I thought I'd show you something

that a lot of people don't think about making themselves - pate.

And two different ideas for this recipe.

We're going to do a pate and Melba toast, the old classic,

named after Dame Nellie Melba. An Escoffier dish, really.

But pate, obviously a French dish. It was originally pate en croute.

Pate translates to a pie. It was always encased in the pastry.

They'd throw the pastry away.

They used that as a medium to carry stuff with

and they used to eat the filling.

-So it's Tupperware!

-Kind of. Home-made Tupperware.

That kind of stuff.

Before plastic, of course. So we... We've got a selection of pates.

You've got various different ones.

Some are cooked before you place it in the terrine, some are not.

Some are set in the terrine.

I thought I'd do you a very quick smoked salmon pate.

-I know Wolfgang's got his strawberries.

-I love salmon too.

-From Scotland?

-Scottish smoked salmon.

That's what we're going to do now.

We're just going to quickly make this pate.

It's very, very quick. You just blend it.

-I'd never know how to make pate!

-You won't believe how simple it is.

All you do is blend the smoked salmon.

You can do this with salmon or smoked mackerel. Just blend it.

It depends on how coarse or fine you want the pate.

If you want it really fine, once blended, pass it through a sieve.

We just blend it like this

and then we add, just basically, these ingredients here.

-We've got some creme fraiche, full fat creme fraiche.

-Of course.

That gives it its acidity. Some double cream. Just a small amount(!)

-And some lemon juice.

-It's a diet dish, I can see it already!

-Exactly! Boot camp after that one.

-Some lemon juice on there.

Then just a smidgen of black pepper. No salt in here.

Just a bit of black pepper.

This is seriously how quick it is. You just put the blender on.

And you blend it until it starts to thicken up in the blender.

No more than... 20 seconds.

That's it. Done.

-Oh!

-And we take the pate out of here...

-..and you place it in the dish.

-It's fantastic. It's so easy.

That's a lovely thing to have on the table in summer

with some pitta bread or... Well, that's what we're going to have.

But of Melba toast, Diane, get it right!

I think some champagne may be appropriate!

-Absolutely.

-Melba toast, too.

We're going to do that with breakfast radishes.

You make Melba toast is with sliced bread over here.

And then pop that under the grill,

toast it both sides and then it's literally made a little bit later.

I'm going to do a dressing with the smoked salmon as well,

with some breakfast radishes.

Sherry vinegar, mustard, lemon juice.

Watercress and a bit of beetroot with it as well.

So reading about yourself,

when you first started, acting wasn't one of your true loves.

You kind of fell into it.

I didn't have a true love at school. I sort of was just...

I wasn't the most studious of children!

-So I was mucking around near the drama department at school.

-Right.

And a teacher came rushing over to me

and said, "Someone's sick. Do you want to be in the play?" Yeah.

So I said I'd do it. I thought it'd be a giggle.

I just thought it would be funny.

And I did it and there was a line I had and it got a laugh.

And I got a real buzz from that. Look at that!

A strange, evil sense of power...

I was the same when I was at school. It was the nativity play.

-I played a king. Somebody was ill.

-I thought you played the baby!

I had one line! I messed it up and they put me on lighting.

-Oh, no. It's an honourable job.

-I could have been in EastEnders.

It could have been you! You could have been Phil Mitchell.

I doubt it! So we've got these little breakfast radishes.

I made a dressing out of mustard,

sherry vinegar and some oil. Just a tiny bit more oil in here.

Straight out of doing that, RADA?

Yes, what happened was

you have to make your career choices

out of what exams you're doing. And I wasn't doing great.

So then I got put in a miscellaneous group of people.

My options didn't work out the way they were supposed to.

I was supposed to be a landscape gardener, apparently.

-Right.

-I don't like worms.

And then I went to see somebody

who saw the special people who didn't know what they wanted to do

and he said, "What have you enjoyed the most?"

I said I liked doing those plays and I liked drama.

He said, "There's a course at East Herts College.

"You can do theatre and performing arts.

"You do the technical side of theatre

"and you perform and you do a couple of A Levels."

I went off and did that and had this amazing teacher,

leader, mentor, called Miss Delaney.

And she encouraged me to audition for RADA.

I just didn't think people like me went to RADA.

Do you know what I mean? I didn't think I would ever stand a chance.

I auditioned and I think there were drunk and they let me in!

-You got in.

-I got into RADA.

-Straight out of that,

doing the classics at RADA,

you went straight into theatre. Theatre was the big thing.

I suppose a lot of actors and actresses,

when they're doing that, that's the medium they want first.

That's where you want to go. That's the engine room.

It's where you want to start.

And I started out playing Ariel in The Tempest, which was a dream role.

And we toured all over. Everywhere. We went to Chipping Norton, Lincoln.

-Everywhere!

-I know.

-Chipping Norton, you know that, Wolfgang.

I know it. Right in the suburbs!

-He summers in Chipping Norton.

-I have my summer house there!

-That's right. That and the Hamptons.

-Exactly!

And then we went to Japan. So I performed Shakespeare -

they have a theatre called The Globe

built on the theme of the proper Globe theatre,

the Shakespearean Globe Theatre -

in front of the Japanese. That was fantastic.

It was great fun.

How do you get from that to your first TV job? You did all manner.

-All sorts.

-You were doing Lovejoy! You were in Lovejoy.

-You were in EastEnders before the part you play now.

-Yeah.

I played a character called Lola Christie.

I was only in it for six months, but you just step into EastEnders

breathe the air and people go crazy.

It was a real pop star show then.

Well, it still is. It takes over your life.

But they were superstars back then.

Patsy Palmer and Martine McCutcheon and Sid Owen, Danniella Westbrook,

they were superstars.

And a lot more people watching because we didn't have digital TV.

So it was crazy being in the show back then. Now it's a lot calmer.

-It's a lot more like an actor's gig, a job.

-An actor's gig.

-But it must take over your life as well?

-It doesn't.

It's one of those jobs you can be a family person.

As a mum, when I first turned up, I was the only woman

who had children in the place.

And gradually more mums are coming in

and we're all finding our way of doing this job

and supporting our families,

being with our families. It's a great job to do

and still be part of your family life.

Isn't it quite difficult?

People link you directly with the character that you play?

They do, yes. They do.

People sort of think... It's never been a problem,

but there was... I don't know if you remember this,

but there was a bit where Denise, my character, was dead.

-Do you remember that?

-I don't remember that!

What a job, where you can be dead

and then come back to life. I was dead and it was brilliant,

but I had to lie to my family, to everybody, tell people,

"I'm leaving the show. I'm dead."

But because you appear in people's living rooms,

they look at you slightly differently. This is a true story.

Last night I came out of a great restaurant with Mr Pierre Koffmann.

The legend, Mr Pierre Koffmann.

And this lovely old lady ran across the road.

I was just about to get my pen just to sign something.

She turned around to me and said,

"James, it doesn't matter what they say,

-"you don't look as fat as you do on TV."

-Get off!

-That's not nice.

-Lovely, innit?

That's not nice. People say that to you all the time.

They say, "Oh, you're much prettier in real life. Much prettier."

Well, you know, what kind of demon do I look like on-screen?!

But I think they mean it well. They mean it well.

We've got our Melba toast. There you go. Nicely curled up.

All you do is toast it both sides,

take the crusts off and then slice it down the middle,

that's why the thin bread is really handy for this.

Then you just toast it on the other side and it curls up like that.

-I don't think I've done Melba toast since I was about 16.

-I love it.

I wasn't paying attention to what sort of bread that was.

Just plain white sliced bread.

What have I to do to make a sort of...thing?

-Do you want me to feed you?

-Could you do it for me, please?

-Do aeroplanes.

-Try that.

What about us here? Are we on a diet or what?

-You just get a bit of radish.

-Oh, thank you!

See how quick and easy that was?

There's no excuse not to be making that for lunch today.

If you'd like to make your own pate

or try any recipes from today's show,

they're just a click away on our website -

bbc.co.uk/recipes

We're not live today, so instead we're looking back

at some fantastic cooking from the Saturday Kitchen archive.

And first up, Sophie Grigson gets trendy with pasta.

We're going to be cooking... proper name, fregula con arselle.

-Right.

-Which is fregula.

-This stuff here.

-Doesn't it look odd? It doesn't look like pasta.

But it is a form of pasta.

The toasting of the pasta gives it a kind of bouncy texture.

It's quite odd to describe, but it's lovely. I adore it.

-And it's quite a trendy ingredient.

-Trendy ingredient. All right, OK.

-But this is very classical Sardinian.

-OK.

So besides the fregula, we have some clams. Lovely fresh clams.

We have saffron, sitting in some hot water, tomatoes, garlic,

a little bit of chilli, a little bit of lemon -

we're just using the zest of that -

parsley and some fish stock. Very straightforward.

As usual for the show, for the fourth week running,

this is all I get to do - prepare tomatoes and that's it.

But it makes you an expert, doesn't it? Extra good at them.

I'm going to chop a bit of garlic and parsley.

That'll be fried gently as the basis of the broth.

-This is more of a brothy stew.

-Yeah.

-Or a stewy broth.

I was joking earlier. You've seriously written 20 books, is it?

-I'm on my 20th.

-On your 20th.

-I've just started writing my 20th.

I think. That's if you include lots of little ones, pamphlet-y.

-Your first book was on veg, was it?

-No, that was my third book already.

Third, fourth? Third or fourth.

My first book was a collection of recipes from the...

No, that was my second book. From the Evening Standard.

I can't remember any more!

You get past a certain number and they mist up...

-Oh, you're so fast.

-But this love of writing, it came from your mother.

Well, both my parents were writers.

I was brought up in a household where writing was the thing.

My dad worked in the study upstairs. (We had to be quiet going past...)

All the time, not to disturb him. It was very much a writer's household

where the word was important and food was important,

although my mum didn't start writing about food until I was six or seven.

Can I just turn this down a bit?

Ooh, that's very hot. About to disappear here.

Put it over there. There you go.

So food was always part of the household.

Lunches and meals were important.

But it was only when my mother started going to France,

we all started going to France.

My parents bought a house in France, a cave in France, in fact.

A cave with no running water, no electricity.

Everybody thought they were totally mad. This was the early '60s.

And my mum got very interested in the food. Are you all done?

-I'm all right.

-You're still on the case.

-That's your clam pan.

I wanted to do it the other way round but OK.

If you tell me that's my clam pan, I'll believe you.

So here's we've got a bit of garlic going in...

But your inspiration - you mentioned France -

still comes from travelling and stuff?

I don't travel as much as I used to. Once I had children, I couldn't.

And when you have children, it starts getting more expensive.

You have to pay for them to come or find somebody to look after them.

And now, just to make life worse, I've got a dog as well.

My children are now old enough to parcel off left, right and centre,

but I haven't got anybody to sit my dog overnight.

You mentioned travel in France.

-But you're doing, like, cookery weekends?

-Yeah!

It's just wonderful. To be able to combine two of my favourite things -

travelling and eating.

And going to markets. We're going to Barcelona.

They're long weekends. Gourmet weekends.

-I hate the word gourmet but...

-I was in Barcelona on Tuesday.

-Monday or Tuesday.

-How was Barcelona?

They've got an amazing market.

-Fabulous.

-Probably one of the nicest markets I've ever been to.

La Boqueria. It's an absolutely fabulous market.

I love going in there in the morning

and people are having breakfast. In fact, on my Barcelona tour,

that I'm doing, one thing will be breakfast at La Boqueria market.

And I love those salt cod stalls where they sell it ready prepared.

-Absolutely gorgeous.

-I can see Jerry's looking...

Big fan of markets, Jerry? Wander round when you go out and about?

Well, the stock market is in trouble.

They're talking AND they're cooking?

-We're talking and cooking.

-And there's smoke coming out!

-It's steam.

-It's steam. It's meant to be there.

Whoops. Am I burning my garlic?

-Good job I've got you to watch over me.

-Is this what a kitchen is?

-This is what a kitchen is, Jerry.

-How are those tomatoes?

-Happening.

-What have you got in the pan there?

-I've just got garlic,

chilli and parsley. Chilli flakes.

I'm going to put my... Ooh, look! Wonderful stock... In that goes.

You're going to throw over half the tomatoes in a minute.

Let's raise the heat here. This comes up to the boil.

-And I need some salt and pepper in there.

-Right.

The tomatoes go into the broth. You do need for this dish...

You cannot get away with ready-made stock powder.

It has to be the real thing.

It's a really important flavour.

Big fan of seafood, Jerry? I know you like your beef.

Yes, I like seafood.

Right. There you go.

Tomatoes, go on. Take those. I'm doing them as quick as I can!

-It's very nice having a sous chef.

-You mentioned Sardinia for this.

Where did you get the inspiration for this?

I teach about once a month at an Italian cookery school,

just off Marylebone high street. And I love doing it.

I love teaching people, doing lessons with enthusiastic cooks.

We cook up a fantastic meal every time. Strangers at the beginning,

all great friends by the end of the day.

This was a dish where I was doing a bit of research,

I wanted to find out how fregula was used and then, to my horror,

I was teaching it for the first time

and it turned out my assistant - I'm just sitting here watching,

it's great watching you cook -

my assistant turned out to be Sardinian.

And she said, "Wonderful!

"My mother made this every week! It's the dish of my childhood!"

I said, "Oh, my gosh.

"She really knows what it's meant to taste like."

So I was very anxious. She was delighted.

-And they always do it with clams?

-Yeah, it's a big clam dish.

There's lots of other fregula dishes as well.

-By the way, I've got my clams.

-Yeah.

Into a little bit of water. They're just opening up.

In a covered pan. They won't take long.

They're beginning to open already.

-Thank you. You can stop now.

-I've just finished!

-That's fine, then!

As soon as that comes to the boil,

you pour in the fregula. We've got some already cooking here.

-OK.

-My clams are nearly ready.

-The saffron's in hot water?

-Just hot water.

Lovely saffron threads. I always say to buy the threads, not the powder.

We mentioned the saffron, which we've got here.

On your travels, often people go to Tunisia and stuff like that...

Cheap saffron! What a bargain!

People instantly think cheap saffron,

but you can't buy cheap saffron. It's got to be the real McCoy.

There is no such thing as cheap saffron.

If it's cheap, it isn't saffron.

What do you think it is? The outer cases of the saffron that they sell?

The cheap stuff? At best, it's something dried marigold leaves.

At worst, there are forms of crocus...

Saffron is a very particular kind of crocus.

They can use other forms of crocus which actually are toxic.

You don't use so much as to cause a problem,

but it won't get the flavour and you'll be wasting your money.

Never buy cheap saffron and never buy what one of my chefs did

when they went over to Tunisia.

They bought a kilogram of oregano.

-I can see what's coming!

-It was OK

until he brought it through Customs. It was in a clear bag.

-He couldn't walk straight afterwards!

-Oh, my God!

-I think a pair of rubber gloves were involved.

-Oh, poor boy!

I'm putting my clams in here

and then I'm also going to add the saffron at this point,

right at the end, to preserve that flavour.

-And you want some of this juice? We just let this settle.

-Yes.

So you don't get that grit.

An awful lot of grit gathers right down at the bottom.

-Give it a few minutes to settle down...

-I can see it.

Because it is one of these really horrible things.

Ever had a mouthful of gritty shellfish?

-Or mussels with...

-There we go.

So that's our dish. It's very simple and straightforward.

Stick it in the pot.

It's so refined having you. Would you do this in my kitchen?

It would be great. All the boring bits and carrying the heavy pots.

-I'd feel so ladylike.

-I'll get your lemon.

-OK.

-So that's going into...

-And that's how it's served?

Grated lemon over the top, a drizzle of olive oil,

extra parsley, but that's it.

So it's fresh, it's light. It's full of flavour.

It's so Mediterranean.

You ought really to be sitting by the sea somewhere.

-OK? Are you going to do my little...?

-Explain what it is again.

This is fregula, which is the pasta, con arselle. With clams.

-Fresh from Sardinia.

-With some grated lemon on top.

-And that's it.

Pasta!

A little round of applause over there.

-This is what you get to dive into.

-Does this come in a TV dinner?

Heat it in up the microwave.

We can give you that. You can take it home. Tell me what you think.

-Don't you get to eat this?

-No.

-Is this a trick?

-No!

Little do you know the secret ingredient!

OK.

-Wait - do you need a spoon?

-You want a spoon?

-Yeah.

-You can't eat soup with a fork!

-That's what I'm thinking!

Tell us what you think of the pasta.

The pasta, OK. You don't want to eat the whole...

-Don't eat the shell!

-In your own time(!)

-I'm ready. It's got shells in there.

-I can take out the shells.

Well, fine! Why don't you put your fingers in my food?!

-Have you ever had...?

-I'll see you in hell! Here we go.

I remember Pierre Koffmann saying

he had somebody in his restaurant who was served sea urchins.

-And chewing on the shell.

-The plate came back empty.

-It's very good.

-That's all you get. Pass it down.

-You can keep the spoon!

-You have to eat a lot more on this show.

Could you make it with mussels and stuff like that?

I don't see why not. I'm not sure if their sweetness would be as good.

But of course you could. And clams are harder to get hold of.

Steve? As a starter?

-You can really taste the lemon.

-Good. Getting it through.

Thanks, Sophie, for making me prep all those tomatoes!

Now it's time for some classic TV and a slice of Keith Floyd.

Today he's in Provence and look out for the largest glass of wine

you're ever likely to see on TV. Enjoy this one.

# I go to parties Some times until four

# It's hard to leave when you can't find the door

# It's tough to handle This fortune and fame

# Everybody's so different I haven't changed... #

Anyway, that's enough self-indulgence.

Now for a short burst of architecture,

the director's favourite bit.

It says, "Here the buildings grow organically,

"taking in influences of the landscape and climate.

"And not the best design for living.

"Villages cling to the sides of mountains like raspberry coulis..."

I must have written that bit. Et cetera.

Anyway, I've had a long and wonderful lunch

and I've been wittering.

All good lunches must end with a fine digestif -

eau de vie, the water of life.

You may think that last remark was a bit corny,

but it was a source of inspiration for me to live in this place,

Ile-sur-la-Sorgue, deep in Provence,

a town full of little rivers and canals, full of water wheels.

Used to be very famous for silk spinning.

Before they invented insecticide and blasted the whole place,

freshwater crayfish and eels lived in the river.

Anyway, it's Sunday morning

and Sunday is so different in Provence from England.

In England, all we do is get up late, read the papers,

have a quick half in the pub, watch religious TV and go to bed

and dread Monday. Here on Sundays, everybody gathers.

It's a great melting pot. Farmers come in to sell,

visitors come in to buy, people trade, they touch, they sniff,

they smell, they get really carried away by the food.

And the other good thing about the food down here

is that it comes from so many influences.

Gosh, I've got myself an incredible mess this morning.

After all this driving, all this shopping,

and it's about 100 degrees outside,

I promised some very old friends... Excuse me if I have a little...

I promised some very old friends a mind-blowing Provencal lunch.

Great. Trouble is, we got lost. The crew went that way, I went that way.

The director went sky-high because we couldn't find anybody.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, here I am in the kitchen

and I'm happy to be here. I'm going to cook marvellous things.

The first thing, although I didn't plan it,

the director said, "I really want some fish soup."

So I went to the market and bought some fish to make soup with.

And, Clive, if you come in close, you'll see wonderful tiny fishes.

That one, for example, miniature whiting.

This one, poisson de roche. A rockfish.

Pieces of conger eel, red mullet and little miniature gurnards,

the things they use for lobster bait in Cornwall.

Anyway, those are the fish you buy here

under the name soupe de poisson.

You don't ask for a kilo of assorted fish.

It's sold by the dish. A very simple, but classic thing.

Other ingredients you need

are some finely-chopped leeks, some finely-crushed garlic,

some very expensive saffron, but the French don't care about expense,

when it comes to eating and some really good olive oil.

Also you need, because I have driven a long way, all those mountains,

and all the markets and shopping and the excitement of being home again,

I need a slight drink.

Anyway, come with me, Clive, please, over to the pan

and my first action is to put a drop of olive oil in here.

The pan, as always with me, is already hot.

I'll turn it up to maximum.

It's not my kitchen. As usual, the BBC,

we've begged, borrowed, conned and stolen our way in. In we go...

with the leeks. Stay there, Clive.

I didn't get the garlic, which I forgot to bring over. In we go.

And the saffron goes in much later.

While that settles down...

It's what we call mijote - cooked very gently over a hot flame.

We let that sweat down. Mijote. You're learning a little French.

Come back over here and help me carry all this fish.

The sound man will go bananas. I just crashed a pan.

But you can't help that when you're cooking,

especially in this temperature.

Also, I need to get a move on because I promised lunch at 12.

It's now three o'clock, French time. When you're watching, it's winter.

In all those fish go.

Right, stay on there, please.

I need some salt. Where's the salt? I don't really know where I am.

Sea salt is best for this.

Try not to use the refined stuff. Put that over there.

Then to speed up the cooking process, you add some water.

To speed it up, I'm using boiling water already.

OK. Like that. That's all we do for the moment.

While that simmers away, Clive, I'd like a good look at it.

It epitomises the beauty of French fish cookery.

The wonderful colours - the pinks, the yellows, the greens, oil on top.

We shall add more oil to that.

Later on when it's cooked, when we put it through a little mincer,

that will help make it more wonderful. I need a little rest.

When I was here, about 15 years ago, I painted a masterpiece.

I'm a pretty clever chap. I could have had two careers.

You have a look at that. I'll see you later.

For those of you who can't afford a cook book

and really insist on knowing how long things take to cook,

that was about 30 minutes. Let's see how it's getting on.

It is bubbling. The fish has broken away from the bones a bit,

which is exactly what we want. Whack in our saffron.

And to enrich it, tap on the edge,

stir it round and whack in some more olive oil.

Look, the beautiful ochre colour.

The colour of the mountains of Apt, one of the regions around here.

Fabulous colour. Now all I have to do, which is fairly difficult,

is to lift this great pot over...

and we have to do the business of putting it through the mouli.

We get rid of all the bones and just have this lovely soup.

I can't do that on my own, so, Monique...

SPEAKS IN FRENCH

This is my friend Monique.

We've been friends for hundreds of years. She is going to help me.

She actually owns the house here with her husband Pierre.

Lovely lady. Merci. THEY SPEAK IN FRENCH

Right, Clive, watch this carefully.

First of all, to make this excellent soup

you need a beautiful lady with blue eyes. That's essential.

I need my spoon to lift that in.

THEY SPEAK IN FRENCH

We've never worked together before. It's always a little bit difficult.

You need a lady with beautiful blue eyes,

the sunshine, good friends and four pairs of hands

to make this brilliant soup. There we are. Voila.

OK?

Now you keep like that. You get really attractive ladies to do it.

And you stand back with a glass of wine. It's a pay d'hommes.

On the other hand, it isn't really a male-dominated countryside

because they start ordering you around any second.

-A little bit of juice in there so it goes properly through.

-Merci.

And you grind away like that. You grind and grind

and then while that's happening, you show the punters, the people,

the customers - he's just passed me a note because I forgot -

the aioli, which is a wonderful mayonnaise flavoured with saffron.

you put that onto pieces of bread

and eventually float it in the soup, which you will see in time.

Anyway, you've seen enough grinding, enough aioli, enough turning around.

I made some other dishes, they all go to the table.

And we'll rejoin you in a second.

# Oh, Boston beans, soy beans

# Green beans Cabbage and greens

# I'm not keen of buying a bean

# Unless it is a cheery, cheery bean boy... #

I'm going to ask in a moment - you won't need me to translate -

when I ask these people, ca vous plait, messieurs et mesdames?

-Magnifique!

-Premiere!

-Vraiment?

-Oui!

Well, they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

We're wonderful, they're wonderful. And I'm really tired.

I'm looking forward to a siesta, a shower

and a dip in my Jacuzzi, which I've got in my luxurious hotel room!

# I love coffee, I love tea

# I love a java jive and it loves me

# Coffee and tea and the java and me

# A cuppa cuppa cuppa cup... #

It's very difficult for me to sit at a table and talk to you.

You might have watched some of my programmes.

Some of you have never seen me before.

Some will think I'm an arrogant twit and you don't like me.

I'll let you into a secret.

The only reason I'm sitting here is because once, nearly 20 years ago,

I met a man who profoundly influenced my life.

He was a local lad, actually, a simple chap.

Left school when he was 15, took over a cafe he couldn't afford.

It was full of rough drunks sometimes, shotguns.

All sorts of bizarre things happened while he served them

bowls of steaming Provencal soup

and crude bread and litres of rough wine.

20 years later, he's cooking some of the finest food.

You won't find him in the Michelin Guide.

He's not the Roux Brothers. He's called Claude Arnaud.

He's a simple man who cooks brilliant food.

He's my hero. That's why I'm here in Provence.

And there's nothing magic about cooking.

Good cooking comes from years of learning, dedication and discipline.

When I started, 20 years ago, what I know now is

I would have given my right arm to have worked under a man like Claude.

He's very strict, I know,

but he is a perfectionist and he drives these blokes,

but not only is he harsh on them,

he fills them with enthusiasm and dedication. Look at that.

The way this guy is folding up

the envelope for his fish en papillote.

In Britain, we don't take that kind of trouble.

Those of you who write about me dipping my fingers in food

better stop after you've seen this. I'm not too sure about that!

Anyway, the cooking will get rid of anything nasty.

And he drinks plenty of pastis, which is a hygienic sort of drink.

Cut it open and the aroma comes wafting out.

Fresh courgettes, tomatoes, onions, lemon juice,

fresh bream and herbs. It's delicious!

Cooking under a guy like this makes me a little nervous

and there's some blinking canaries twittering away, and the director.

We've already started making this wonderful dish,

which Claude has explained to me.

It's a very white chicken breast fried very gently in butter

and then served with a curious beetroot sauce.

To save camera time, we've already cooked that for about four minutes

on each side, very gently,

so it hasn't coloured or dried up. That's very important.

And I put it on there.

EXCHANGE IN FRENCH

I cover that so it doesn't dry, he tells me, while it's...

EXCHANGE IN FRENCH

I've got to lift off a bit of the grease.

C'est chaud. Ha-ha!

It takes two to tango.

We've never worked together before. I've always been a customer here.

C'est bon? Take away a little bit of the fat.

And a little bit of shallots.

Which I let just soften. Is that right? C'est vrai?

OK. I leave them there for about 30 seconds or so, so they soften.

Un verre? I've got to put nearly a glass of white wine in.

And let that, I think, reduce a little.

You can see, can't you? I don't even know the hot part of the stove.

In my own kitchen, I'd know, but it's funny how

working under these really good people makes you a bit nervous.

We have to let that bubble down for a second or two.

Have a glass while that's reducing.

As you know, that's what I really enjoy - wittering on and drinking.

And actually to have to really do this is a bit worrying.

That's nearly ready now.

C'est bon? No, it's not.

I have to leave it a little longer. What'll we do?

I'll ask the director.

-What will we do while I wait for that to evaporate?

-Walk out of shot.

I'm going to walk out of shot.

Some years ago, a painter from Paris came down here on holiday.

And, like everybody does, he fell in love with the place and stayed,

painting wonderful pictures.

The trouble was he was broke and couldn't pay his bills,

so he gave the hotel these pictures, which are now worth a fortune!

Who said cooks are daft?

We've reduced the shallots and the white wine

and then we put the creme fraiche in, fresh cream.

We just let that reduce a tiny bit on this very hot stove.

Salt and pepper. Stay there, Clive. Salt and pepper - I forgot that.

A little bit of salt.

A grind or two of pepper, like that.

I tell you what, it's about 102 degrees outside in the shade.

It really is. This is July in the middle of Provence,

it's damned hot and unbelievable in here, about 130.

Now there's a tip for all of you making cream sauces.

As soon as it sticks on the spoon like that, it's ready.

OK?

Now I put in... He's a bit hard, this guy!

Like that?

This is beetroot, cooked beetroot, mashed up with butter.

OK? And look how lovely it turns into this lovely purple sauce.

I'm not going to take this...

I was cooking it too fast there.

So that's ready.

Et maintenant?

God, I'm glad I'm a television presenter and not an apprentice!

There's another important thing he's just telling me.

The little bit of juice from covering it gets poured in there

just to enrich the dish.

That's just the sort of detail we don't do in England, do we?

And then I sieve this through

because we'll put the chicken on top of this beautiful sauce.

Like this.

No?

I can't do that. I put this over here. Follow me around, Clive.

I'm getting a proper lesson here. OK?

Now what have I got to do?

-Like that?

-OK.

CLAUDE SPEAKS IN FRENCH

I see. Right. I've got to slice it like this

and then put it back together again.

Notice we're both wearing plasters, Claude and I.

That's how close we are.

In fact, culinary-wise, we're miles apart. He is streets ahead of me.

I've never admitted that on any programme I've ever done before.

I put the garniture on, the garnish on,

which is very thin slices... Voila. Comme ca.

Very thin slices of tomato and courgette,

baked in olive oil, onions and herbes de Provence.

Then I put a few little bits of julienne carrots, lightly cooked.

And little haricots verts, green beans, like that.

Et voila.

C'est bon. C'est bon.

He said it's bon.

I found it a bit difficult. He's a bit exigent, as we say!

I could have put a little julienne, very thin strips,

of beetroot over it to make it really superb.

He says, "What do you expect from someone like you

"who makes TV programmes?" Bon!

Claude, merci beaucoup.

Now we're not cooking live today,

but we've got some fantastic cooking from the back catalogue instead.

Still to come on today's Best Bites.

We look at the first time Michel Roux tried the omelette challenge.

He's against a very reluctant Rachel Allen.

Seeing a he's written a book on eggs, he was bound to impress.

See how they get on a little later.

North Wales' very own Bryn Williams roasts some delicious organic pork.

He serves pork cutlets with crispy deep-fried black pudding

and a ragout of white beans and apple.

And Stacey Solomon faced her Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would she get her Heaven - duck in the form of

pan-fried duck breast with squash pickle and peach puree?

Or her dreaded Food Hell - black pudding served with Barnsley chops,

apple and black pudding butter and sauteed potatoes.

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

Now it's time for Hairy Biker Dave Myers to share with us

a summery chicken delight.

-Mr Martin...

-How are you doing, boss?

-Tops.

-What are we cooking?

It's a Mediterranean chicken roulade.

We laughingly call it Mussolini's Roly-Poly

because that's kind of what it is.

-OK.

-I'm making like a risotto, but with orzo.

This is wonderful little pasta.

It's pasta grains. It looks like rice, but it's pasta.

I've pre-cooked it, so it's halfway there.

-I'll just put a bit of oil in.

-It takes about eight...

-Eight minutes.

And I reckon I've got about three! LAUGHTER

-Go on!

-Could you cut me half an onion up

into small kind of like briquettes?

-Rickets?

-Briquettes.

-It's a technical term.

-Chopped, you want?

Aye, chopped onion.

I can't try and be fancy.

-It always falls on stony ground.

-Chopped onion, chopped garlic, OK.

-Shall I do that?

-You can do that one. There you go.

We'll get this under way and sweat the onion down.

You mentioned that you've been on your travels - Africa, Cape Town.

They do an amazing food festival out there.

Yeah. Our programme's done really well out there.

It's quite funny because all these people you don't know,

they come up, these big Afrikaans housewives,

going, "How are you doing?"

They give you a smack on the back and ask for your phone number.

Which Dave duly gives them. "Do you want my e-mail address?"

-Chopped mushrooms...

-This was in Cape Town?

Yeah, it was lovely. There was us and Brian Turner amongst others.

-Then we were at the TT at the Isle of Man.

-That was good.

Eating masses of scallops and stuff. Kingy's been in Australia.

We've been working on our new series.

This one is going to go out in the summer?

August the 18th unless they change it. That's just mushrooms.

-Which is highly likely!

-The title is what?

-It's The Hairy Bakers.

-Bakers?

-Think of the Hairy Bikers, but with flour.

I got that, Si. Thanks very much.

It's like Windy Miller meets Motorhead.

LAUGHTER

We've never been able to do baking before, with being on the road.

-Windy Miller meets Motorhead, right, OK.

-It's brill.

-It is.

-I think you want this pan though.

-No, no, that's fine.

-I've got to put the orzo in there. There you go.

-That'll be right.

You do the chicken. I'll carry on with this.

We're frying off the mushrooms, the garlic and the onions.

Garlic, porcinis and the regular mushrooms.

Then toss the orzo in that when you feel happy.

-Put some stock in, maybe some mushroom juice.

-I'll do that.

Tell us about the chicken.

It's a roulade which means like a roll-up.

It's like a rollmop with chicken.

First off, I've got to turn the chicken into scaloppini,

-which means...

-Say that again?

I'm going to beat my meat.

-That's it.

-Scaloppini.

-Yeah, or an escalope.

-Right.

-Take the chicken, put it between clingfilm.

If you don't use the clingfilm, it'll burst and go everywhere.

It comes out of the side of that clingfilm like bullets.

-It does.

-Terrible.

It's like how you create another classic dish from the '70s,

the old chicken Kiev.

-It is, but without garlic butter.

-Exactly.

-Oh, you see...

-ALL TALK AT ONCE

I do love chicken Kiev.

-Butter and garlic, chicken. Perfect.

-There's a chicken in here somewhere.

Come on, love.

-Are you there, Dave?

-Yes, I've got three strips of pancetta

and I'm going to make a pancetta blanket.

This is just the same method as risotto and it works really well.

Lay the chicken fillet, battered, onto the pancetta.

And on to that...

I want about four perfectly spaced basil leaves.

-Do you want me to do the tomatoes?

-Yes, please.

-What do I do?

-Just half a couple. That'll be smashing.

-OK.

-And some dolcelatte.

I tried this with Stilton and it kind of had the overwhelming flavour

of kind of dead socks.

I tried it with mozzarella

and it had the overwhelming flavour of nothing, but dolcelatte,

-it works beautifully.

-It's that one in the middle.

-It's creamy.

-It's the balance between fire and ice.

-But dolcelatte...

-Smoke and water.

You've got a dolcelatte torte as well, which is really nice.

-Yes.

-Which is the one with mascarpone cheese in it.

That's really good.

-No, this is for stuffing my chicken, James.

-OK.

This is for Mr King and his sun-blushed tomatoes.

-You're racing ahead.

-I'm racing ahead.

Get off my tomatoes, you two!

Most important thing to do, season.

-How's my orzo?

-You want to cook this like a risotto.

-Absolutely.

You don't want to add too much stock, so you have a load left over.

No, just add as required.

I'll temper that, I've got a nice finish, but what I do need

is a nice rocket salad with a bit of olive oil and balsamic.

-Is that what you want me to do?

-Yes, please.

-Just while you're there!

Roll this up like that.

-Balsamic vinegar in it?

-Yes, please.

-OK, there you go.

-Secure it with a couple of cocktail sticks.

It's a great dinner party dish.

You can do about 100, put them in a roasting tin

and put them in the oven just before your guests come.

-You've got a big table, Dave.

-I have, actually.

-It is.

-Just sear that.

You secure it with a cocktail stick.

Or you could just seal it like that and, hopefully, it would stay.

Yes, but I have no confidence.

I'm washing my hands because I've been handling fresh chicken!

You're not washing your hands

-because you've handled fresh chicken, are you?

-Yeah.

This is absorbing all those wonderful flavours

of the porcini mushrooms and chicken stock. This is doing nicely.

Just sear it. Lovely.

-Are we doing all right?

-I'm doing all right, yeah.

-Is that all right for you?

-That's magic, yeah.

There you go. I'll grate the Parmesan.

When your roulade has sealed and seared

and gone a nice golden colour,

you put it in the oven for about 20 minutes. That'll make you sweat.

LAUGHTER

This is a fireproof plastic handle.

-OK.

-Now, the orzo... That just needs a finish.

That's delicious. The new series is brilliant.

It's four episodes. The first ones,

we're doing bread, pies, pasties, celebration cakes.

-And tea-time treats.

-Is it still on the motorbikes?

-Oh, aye.

We rode from Cornwall to Aberdeen last week.

-We have shares in haemorrhoid cream.

-Do you mind?

-I'm not afflicted. This is lemon thyme.

-Yeah.

James, lemon thyme, it reminds me of furniture polish to smell.

Does it you?

-No.

-LAUGHTER

-It smells of lemon.

-Does it?

I think so. It goes great with a wild mushroom orzo risotto thing.

Smell that. It's lemon thyme.

Does it remind you of furniture polish? Not me.

The thyme's going in there.

-The thyme's going in there.

-Lemon?

-Lemon.

-You want lemon in here as well?

-Yes, please, some lemon juice.

-I really need to taste this.

-I'll get the chicken.

We've made a mess on the guests' table here, Myers!

No...! And some Parmesan cheese.

You can tell when this is cooked. The cheese starts to melt out of it.

It just cooks through in the middle.

It's a dish I love. It's a lovely summer dish. Orzo's great.

I've got my cream out and everything.

-Sun cream.

-There we go. So, there's your chicken.

-Thank you.

OK, we'll get it on a plate.

-Do you want me to season that? The pasta?

-I've done it, I think.

I'll just get that out there.

Look at that, what a bobby-dazzler!

There's your spoon.

I'll just cut this at a jaunty chef's angle,

so you'll see the middle.

Look at that.

You see, the chicken is juicy because of the pancetta.

All the dolcelatte, the tomatoes kept it moist, the basil.