Episode 92 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning, get ready for 90 minutes of the finest food on TV.

This is Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show.

We've got some great recipes

and some very hungry celebrity guests for you this morning.

Ireland's favourite home cook Rachel Allen serves up cumin

and yoghurt marinated chicken with a cucumber and dill salad.

And Patrick Williams brings bream to the table.

He pan-roasts the bream with garlic thyme and pimento and

serves it with fried plantain fritters,

spinach and a coconut sauce.

Cyrus Todiwala treats us to a lightly spiced caroo pork.

He serves us a delicious curry with pork, tomatoes, onions,

coriander and a host of spices

and serves it with deep-fried potatoes and a cachumba salad.

And Diane Parish faced her Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would she get her Food Heaven?

An old-fashioned dessert of Swiss roll served with fresh

raspberries, raspberry jam and cream.

Or would she get her dreaded Food Hell, parsley? With my parsley soup

with deep-fried pork scratchings, asparagus and a poached egg.

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

First up - it's a big blast of Australian sunshine

from the brilliant Bill Granger and his spicy meatballs.

-Now, curry's quite an unusual mixture with...

-With pork.

-..with pork.

Not one of the things you'd put together normally.

No, but I think the sweetness of the pork really works.

When I was in India as a 19-year-old

I went to Goa and there you get the pork vindaloo.

-That really spicy pork.

-Fantastic.

That's where the inspiration's from.

And they love their fish out there, Goa.

-All those great fish curries.

-OK. So, what's next?

Next I'm going to add breadcrumbs. You know what... grate that onion.

The good jobs!

By grating the onion you don't have to cook it off.

When you're doing a mince or a stuffing you cook the onion.

-If you grate it it makes it a lot finer.

-No problem.

-And it really makes it a lot easier if you don't have to cook it.

-Yup.

So you grate this. You always get somebody else to do this...

-Yeah, you cry.

-Thanks(!)

-You always hear stories about onions,

how you stop them making you cry but I don't think you can.

Wearing goggles, all that sort of stuff.

Now, I've got a red chilli here. I'm going to take out a few of the seeds.

Not all, just a little bit of spice. And chop it up.

-OK.

-That's great.

So, what type...? You're using... what type of pork?

You want...

-You want a little bit of fat, not too much.

-Not too much.

If you really don't like the idea of a pork meatball you can add

-a bit of veal in there or chicken, I think, would be great.

-Yeah.

Chicken mince and do chicken meatballs.

You need to use the thighs and legs otherwise

if you use all breast it's dry.

It's just dry, you need that little bit of fat in there.

I think this is great football and rugby food.

Now, garam masala to give it that bit of spice.

And the good thing is you can get it made ahead of time and just heat it up.

-Great, so that's going in as well.

-Especially if you are starting at two, you said, going to lunch at two?

I'm there, two o'clock. My mates are holding me a table at this pub.

-Fantastic.

-If you get there at four o'clock you won't get a seat.

-Ah.

Now, some ginger. Again, adding up those spices.

To really freshen it up.

So, when you bite into one you get that great...

-Do you want me to chop some of this as well?

-Yeah, just a rough chop.

So, Bill...you've been travelling a lot. You've just got back from Tokyo?

Yeah, I was in Tokyo for a couple of weeks which was great. I'm opening a restaurant there.

And I did a temporary one for a month.

Why Tokyo?

I've got friends that introduced me

cos Japan is such a fascinating place but

as a non-Japanese speaker it's quite hard, you really got to know people.

So, I met a couple of people and they've...yeah, taken me up there

and got me very, very excited about opening a restaurant.

-And your show's just about to start in Japan.

-Yeah, it's been on air - it started last week.

Which is pretty exciting. Now...great.

The restaurant that you've opened...

It's like a pop-up, a temporary thing just for a month in Daikanyama.

which is a bit like Tokyo's Soho, a really funky, groovy area.

-And this is until you build...

-In March.

We do one on a beach. I have to go to Tokyo to get a beach restaurant.

-You see, I knew.

-You can't get away from the beach.

-There had to be a reason why...

-Exactly. Now...

Wet your fingers and make meatballs about that size.

You can do them a little bit bigger.

And by wetting your fingers it's going to make them...

If these are for me for rugby tonight I want bigger than that.

-Do them bigger than that, they are small.

-You want me to do that?

-I'll wash my hands.

I get all the glam jobs, don't I? So, the reason why you put it into water is to stop the meat

-sticking to your fingers?

-Just keeps it, makes it really easy.

And I'm going to bake them. Traditionally you put them on the stove and fry them off.

I hate the way it splatters oil everywhere and makes a big mess.

-By putting them in the oven...

-You're a big fan of these things?

-I love meatballs.

-I'm watching this very carefully cos I want to make these.

-LAUGHTER

-That will be two dishes a year.

-Make two dishes a year.

-Don't overdo it!

-Christmas - they'll go with the turkey.

-Yeah!

-What's next?

-I'm going to make the sauce.

With curries you always have something acidic so whether it's tomato, lime juice, green mango.

-This one's going to be a tomato base.

-OK.

I'm going to use fresh tomatoes but tinned is absolutely fine.

Chop them up.

When you open a restaurant in Tokyo...

you're famous for your...eggs and your breakfasty sort of food.

Do you have to adapt it much over there or...

No, the interesting thing is in Japan people are really sophisticated with food.

They love food and they love texture and what excites me about Japan is

the food really works cos they love texture - like the fluffy hot cakes.

-They love puddings out there. Chocolate.

-Oh, yeah. Chocolate.

And there's a word called fuwafuwa which is, basically, fluffy,

-and every time they have the eggs or the hotcakes...

-Right.

..they love the fluffy.

-They love the fluffy.

-Love the fluffy.

A little bit of oil on here?

Yeah, that will just get them going, make them brown a bit.

Into a pan I've got some Massaman curry paste.

-Am I going to put this in the oven?

-Throw that in the oven.

Take about 15 minutes.

When I use bought curry paste I always rev them up a bit.

I add a bit of ginger and garlic and finish them off with some lime and sugar.

I've put a little oil in there with ginger.

Just to get it started. Add the tomatoes.

Might add a little bit more.

Smells great with all that sizzling.

Are you at the same numbers as Jackie with your cookbooks?

I wish! That's very, very impressive. Amazing.

-Cos you've just brought out a new one?

-I have.

-Called Holiday.

-Called Holiday.

-Oh, I could use that!

What's the concept behind it?

The concept is about - when I'm busy during the week and running

around I haven't a lot of time to think about creating new dishes.

But when I go and take a break that's when I really create.

-Yup.

-And the book I've divided into six chapters.

I have Barefoot which is really summery food.

Outdoors which is more spring. Harvest and Fireside.

Then a couple of chapters - Celebrate...

and it's all about food I really love to cook and cook away.

-Yup.

-But then when I come back home I...

..incorporate it into my life so those dishes always trigger memories

and I think that's the interesting thing. Food, for me is a memory thing.

These curry meatballs,

basically it's just a variation on when I had curry sausages.

So, you go to Goa and Tokyo and stuff like that

- my food memories are a bacon butty in my grandmother's living room.

Ha-ha. Well, that's what I grew up with - not really good memories.

I really get envious of people who grew up with grandmothers who

could cook amazing dishes - I didn't have that.

It was like fast food and pre-packaged everything.

I've got to invent those memories.

-What's happening in here?

-Tomatoes in there. Just cook them off

for a couple of minutes, you just want to soften them down.

-And I'm going to add some chicken stock.

-Yeah.

-And coconut milk.

-Yeah.

-And cook that for a few minutes.

-I'll lift these off.

-And pop the meatballs in.

-Do you want me to...?

Yeah, pop them in.

At home I just give that a couple more minutes, pop those in.

And if you want to eat the meatballs like that they're great

just with some rice or...or some potatoes or some mango chutney.

-OK.

-Fantastic. Now... This one's been simmering over here. You can see the great colour.

-I'll swap that for you.

-Thank you.

-There you go.

-That's really rich.

I'll give that a bit of a stir.

Gives it that really rich colour. Delicious. I'm just going to finish that off.

-Now, as it's reducing now it will change colour, won't it?

-It will.

It really gets that more golden colour from being a little bit anaemic in colour.

-OK.

-I've got some...lemon.

-What's next?

Now, finishing it off - for me, when you cook, finishing things off

and really lifting the flavour is important

so a little bit of lemon or lime juice or yuzu, if you can find one.

Yuzu! Hopefully I'll get to cook that later. I do like that stuff.

It's great. Especially being in Japan you see so much of it.

-But you see the fresher stuff?

-Yeah, but still. Bit of sugar just to...

temper that sourness of the tomatoes.

-And the smoothness of the coconut milk.

-There you go.

-Just going to serve it with some boiled rice.

-Lovely.

And this is a dish that is inspired by those travels to India

and the history of eating my mother's - not so great - curries.

-But...

-This will be your starter in the Collins'

household in Beverly Hills later.

LAUGHTER

Christmas starter. Now, the meatballs...

Put a few on there.

-CHEF: Put the meatballs inside the turkey.

-Few of those.

-Good idea.

-Instead of serving...

I love the leftovers in a baguette tomorrow for a post-rugby...

-Oh, yeah!

-..sandwich. Pop that down there.

-Hangover cure.

Perfect hangover cure. Now, I'm going to finish that off...

Clean it up there...with a few of these nuts. Give them a rough chop.

-A few cashew nuts.

-Yeah.

Just to give it that texture...those smooth meatballs with a bit of crunch.

Lots of fresh coriander and you've got...perfect rugby food.

-Remind us what that is again.

-Spicy pork meatballs in a curry sauce.

They may have lost the rugby...

but they can cook.

LAUGHTER

Oh, there we go. Right.

Jackie, over to you. This is where you get to dive in.

-I can have a taste?

-At this time in the morning. Yes.

-You've got to try.

There's a bin there if you don't like it.

-LAUGHTER

-Charming(!)

-No, dive in. Tell us what you think.

-Fantastic, yeah.

I thought you might like them rugby-ball shaped.

ALL: Yeah!!

-Little footies.

-Oh, mmm!

-It's good, isn't it?

-You mentioned chicken and stuff like that.

-Absolutely.

Minced chicken, pork and veal, beef.

-Shall I move it along?

-Yeah.

-You've got to take a bigger mouthful on this show. It never comes back.

-Oh.

LAUGHTER

-Oh, really!

-You could use chicken...

Anything. But I think you want that... but chicken's good.

Cos you've got that mild flavour with that spicy curry sauce.

And most people would go for the green curry paste.

After you've cooked it in the oven then you don't get crispy meatballs, you get...

Soft, and that's by putting them in the sauce. You lose that crispiness anyway.

Cos, I agree with you, when you fry meatballs, I wear sunglasses.

And all that fat splatters everywhere.

Fat's coming at you so I've got the sunglasses on!

-Sunglasses...

-Sunglasses in the kitchen.

-Bjorn...?

-But he had a great idea, he said I should stuff the turkey

with meatballs.

That's a good one, yeah.

PUBLIC GUESTS: Very nice. Lovely.

Sorry to tease you about the rugby, Bill.

Coming up - I'll be making home-made scampi and chips with tartare sauce

for ex Blur band member turned cheese maker, Alex James.

After Rick Stein showcases some fruits of the sea.

SEAGULLS CRY

I'm not actually skiving. If I smoked I'd be out here for a smoke

because it's a bit of a quiet time in the kitchen and

we're waiting for the next batch of orders. Very busy in there tonight.

It is quite tough in the restaurant in a sense that people are always

wanting me for something, you know, like if it's not the customers,

if it's not the staff, it's the chefs, it's all...

..pressure and I look out of my bedroom window across Trevone Bay

and I look at some boat like my friend Johnny disappearing into

the blue horizon - no worries except he's got to catch the fish.

And I'm thinking, "God, it would be so nice."

But, I don't know.

One day last winter I was standing up at Lelizzick -

just out near Stepper Point at the end of this estuary - with my boy Edward,

looking at some trawler going out to sea for a five-day trip.

And it was really rough and they were sort of disappearing

behind great piles of waves.

And I was thinking - "Nah, not for me.

"I'll stick in the kitchen, I think."

Many dishes that were extremely popular in the '60s and '70s

have just disappeared from restaurant menus.

I mean, things like scallops mornay. This is another...

Baked cod Portuguesa I'm going to do now.

And look at this cod. Look at the gills in there, OK.

If anybody wants some instructions on what fresh fish should be like,

this is it.

Yellow, green mottled effect on it. A beautiful piece of fresh cod.

People have actually accused me of only using wonderfully fresh fish

but what else can I do? I live by the sea.

I wouldn't want to use old stuff.

Look at the way this is filleting, you can

see how fresh it is cos it's just dead easy to fillet a fresh fish,

it just comes off in great firm pieces.

It's the best part of being a cook, I think.

Anyway, let's cut this into three or four sections.

I think three is probably enough. Give everybody a nice portion.

So, I'm just going to put a bit of butter in this pan

and I'm going to brown the fish in here.

That's a very important point with all these baked fish dishes.

If you brown the skin of the fish first,

when the dish comes out of the oven it just looks wonderful.

Won't take more than about a minute.

I'm just going to turn those over now.

Yeah, look at those...that's what I mean, you see.

Lovely brown colour on the skin.

Breaking up a little there but that doesn't matter.

That's fine. That's all I need now.

I can take those out, put them to one side

and put the rest of the sauce ingredients in the pan.

Now, this is a all-cooked-in-one-pan dish

so you get all the scrapings of the fish at the bottom of the pan.

And into that pan I'm going to put some finely-chopped onion.

The pan's looking a bit dirty and the butter's a bit brown

but it doesn't matter.

It's not a fastidious dish, this.

Just leave these onions to soften a bit for five minutes.

Now, into the pan goes some chopped tomatoes.

Plum tomatoes. Lovely colour they've got.

This is a very important point of the dish...is some chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

Because I think of cod Portuguesa...

a bit of a challenge to me really to think of a dish -

you think in supermarkets, you think bland, boring, watery sauces.

But the sun-dried tomato really lifts it. It's like puree

but it's got a much more sweet and intense flavour.

And into the pan I add about a pint of fish stock.

And a slug of white wine. I like the word slug.

It doesn't mean anything particularly but everybody

knows what I mean.

Just leave that to simmer away for about ten minutes.

Now...that's just about there. A bit of salt and pepper.

Black pepper. Good, robust flavours.

So, that's nicely reduced now,

that sauce and into there we put the fish...

for the last bake.

And that goes straight into the oven.

OVEN DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES

So, that's been ten minutes in the oven.

Just got it out and we're nearly ready for dishing this up.

So, onto the serving plate goes these pieces of cod.

So, now just to reduce the sauce down a bit with some parsley

but before that I'm going to put in some butter.

And this is where being a really serious cook comes in.

It's taking the trouble to do a final reduction like this and just finish

it with a little bit of parsley and pour it right over the fish.

And there it is.

-Chalky!

-Chalky!

-Chalky!

-Where is he?

-Good dog.

-Good old Chalky.

-You can have some crab pasty in a minute.

Wait for me!

-Come on.

-If you've got to take your Valentino slippers off...

CHUCKLING

You know, it's a funny thing about brilliant Augusts in Cornwall

but all your friends seem to turn up.

They suddenly have a burning need to see you, do you know what I mean?

A couple of friends turned up last night.

A cook called Simon Hopkinson and my main wine merchant Bill Baker.

And we had a couple of bottles, you know, or three!

And we argued a lot about food as we always do.

We fell out.

I think I went to bed in a bit of a huff, all that sort of thing,

just a normal night.

But today we're going fishing.

And I'm going to bake these pasties, these crab pasties.

And the crab comes from the bay just nearby where we're fishing.

And erm...we're going to go fishing for mackerel.

But first of all, let's make these crab pasties.

Now, this is puff pastry and Simon says you shouldn't make

pasties with puff pastry, you should use short pastry.

Just interrupting my flow here to say - into this bowl now, first of all, some leeks.

Just finely chopped leeks and some saffron which I just steeped in a little bit of water.

Actually, just thinking about this, the crab as well -

lovely local crab from just down the road, nice chunky pieces.

Those three ingredients, for me, are just so resonant of Cornwall.

The local leeks. Saffron - they used to grow that in Cornwall.

And the beautiful crabmeat, brown and white.

And a little bit of butter.

And a few breadcrumbs to bind everything together. Some salt.

Good bit of salt and lots of white pepper.

OK. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah.

We were arguing about the pastry, you see, because...

..I think puff pastry tastes better but no true Cornishman would say

pasties should be made with puff pastry.

But it just tastes better, to me.

And you know the whole thing... the slightly apocryphal tale

about you dropping a pasty down a tin mine

and it would still be in one piece when it hit the bottom.

Well, I think that's a little exaggerated

but a pasty...the pastry has to be able to hold the filling

and short pastry won't do it.

So, we'll just fill up our little pastry disc with crab and leek.

Now, I've got six pasties here cos there's three of us.

There will be three for Bill, erm...

two for Simon, one for me and one for Chalky. Hang on...

Chalky can have a bit of mine, I think.

I think I'm going to put a dollop of clotted cream in there -

there we are.

Now, let's go. Mould all those lot up and bung them in the oven.

Actually, something like crimping I could do for ever.

It's just so therapeutic.

You know, a lot of jobs in the kitchen are like that.

I think cooks are actually well-adjusted people.

I know we do get a bit baity but that's cos it gets so hot.

And then we'll just egg-wash them,

put them in the oven for about 35 minutes at gas six.

There's something so satisfying about going out in a boat with friends

and talking about food.

I think it's the sea air, it just gets your appetite going

and you love talking about it.

But I wish Bill wouldn't call them "parsties" they're "pasties".

I'm stuck on the rowlock. Chalky, move your arse.

LAUGHTER

Out in the open sea now, it's all a bit worrying.

I did bring some champagne

but I don't think that's appropriate for parsties, really.

-Pasties.

-Pasties. Oh, it's getting a bit choppy, isn't it?

-So...

-Have one of these split ones.

-And these are made from puff pastry?

I don't want a split one, I want a perfect one.

-Mmm.

-Simon, have...

-No, no, it's fine, it's really fine!

Yep, OK.

-Well done, boys. Keep rowing, keep rowing.

-I caught a crab!

I nearly did, actually.

Well, this was a bit unexpected, wasn't it, Mr Stein?

Having to do a bit of work for a change, you two.

Instead of standing around in kitchens eating all day.

LAUGHTER

Great stuff there but I've got a feeling those boys got

through more than just a half bottle of rose.

Now, I'm too young to remember the 1970s, of course,

but certainly I never had Rick's Portuguese cod up in Yorkshire

but one dish that I loved up in Yorkshire which is

kind of like very uncool now is scampi and chips.

I'm going to bring it right back into modern day.

I'm going to use an actual ingredient that used to be,

back in the '70s, put in scampi - monkfish.

But these - instead of the tail - I've got monkfish cheeks

which they have a lot in France. I was visiting France not too long ago

and they've got these lovely monkfish cheeks or you can

get them from cod cheeks - the ones Rick used a little bit earlier.

But one of the things you have to do with the cheeks -

there's a little sinew there. Just remove that sinew.

It's really important otherwise they become really tough.

Really, you need a good fishmonger to do this.

A bit like Paul did with your good butcher to get your steak,

you need a good fishmonger because they remove these when

they catch the fish otherwise these are just thrown

back into the ocean once the tail's removed and they just go to waste.

Monkfish cheeks, they're just...

Not the sort of thing you can buy in any old supermarket.

Not really, but you saw it here on Saturday Kitchen.

Hopefully we might be able to convince the supermarkets to

hopefully sell them cos they are a brilliant piece of meat.

I'm sure you've tasted them before but...

-I don't think I have.

-You haven't tasted them before?

They are brilliant. Monkfish cheeks or cod cheeks taste unbelievable.

Are monkfish the big ugly ones?

Yes, they are sometimes called angler fish, frog fish,

all that kind of stuff.

It was deemed back in the '70s as poor man's lobster,

but the meat is unbelievable.

Nowadays, they are a lot more expensive.

We are doing this in a batter using flour, one egg,

a pinch of salt and some of this Yorkshire ale.

Of course.

A good pinch of salt

and then I'm going to mix this in with some fresh herbs.

This is the old Black Sheep stuff,

but they do one called Riggwelter, which is even stronger stuff.

Which is good as well.

You need a proper sort of beer, rather than a lager to make this.

Give this a mix together and make sure it's loose, this batter.

Then we're going to add in some chopped dill

and I'm going to cook this nicely in a deep fat fryer.

Tell me, how on earth do you get from appearing in Glastonbury

all around the world, Blur, to a farm making cheese?

-It's quite simple.

-Was it that quick?

My wife and I bought a farm on our honeymoon.

-We bought the dream, country living.

-Yes.

So we had to start making something

and cheese is kind of my favourite thing.

It's your favourite thing from your childhood as well, isn't it?

It's kind of the tastiest substance in the universe, isn't it?

People are incredibly passionate about it.

I get in taxis and sometimes the driver will recognise me

and go, "Blur, that was all right, but cheese?"

Cheese? It's unbelievable, that.

People do get excited, it's something that people get really excited about.

It's a big week for cheese next week. The British Cheese Awards.

There are 905 entries in the British Cheese Awards.

And you are going to hold it on your farm, is that right?

Yes, I feel like I've died and gone to heaven. I can hardly sleep.

I'm so excited at the thought of 905 different cheeses.

I mean, it's like a...football pitch worth of cheese.

Particularly in the UK, we are famous for it, but do you think

we don't realise how good the cheeses are right on our doorstep?

Yes, I think that certainly we are competing

with the French for quality now.

It's not all brilliant,

but the really good stuff is as good as anywhere.

Yes.

I think it all started with...

I think we've all become gourmandised, really.

It's taken the last 20 years or so.

You just couldn't get decent cheese 20 years ago.

Also, people don't realise it's seasonal as well.

People think Stilton in the middle of summer, it's really winter stuff.

It still has its seasons as well.

Some cheese more than others, but it does change.

It changes colour as well, Cheddar will change, throughout the year.

I can't believe I'm talking to Alex James, famous for Blur,

about cheese. You've got a new book out, haven't you?

Is it on Monday, you've got a new book out?

Not about cheese, not a recipe book, though that'll be following.

Yes, well, I arrived in the countryside with nothing to do, really,

so I thought I'd better write it all down before I forgot it.

-And it's about...?

-It's a book about the rock'n'roll years, really.

I got married, so that's really like the end of all that, I suppose.

You've kind of arrived somewhere when you get married.

-It can't really carry on.

-Do you miss all that?

Sometimes, I miss Father Christmas as well.

You know, that was great when I was five.

I think the best time for being in a band is

when you are young, really, it's the best job in the world.

When you are young. But it's kind of the worst job in the world

when you're married with three kids, actually.

JAMES LAUGHS

-Right, I've just popped the fish in.

-What's going on here?

I'd be worrying that something was going to happen

-if I left it on that long.

-This is mayonnaise.

What I'm going to do is, all I've got in here is egg yolks.

-You can take it too far, can't you, mayo?

-Not really.

Not if you make it like this.

We've got egg yolks in there, a touch of mustard powder,

-rather than normal mustard.

-What sort of oil?

-This is rapeseed oil.

I'm not going to use total rapeseed oil,

I'm going to do half rapeseed and half veg oil.

Traditionally, mayonnaise would be made with vegetable oil,

but rapeseed oil is this new British ingredient now,

rich in omega-3 and all that stuff.

-Good for bees, rape.

-Good for us.

-In with the rapeseed oil.

-No, bees like it.

-Bees like it?

-Yes, honey bees. They do.

It's not very popular in some parts of Oxfordshire.

-They consider it a bit garish.

-Do they?

-The colour, yeah.

Rapeseed oil is delicious. In there I'm going to put my chips.

These have just been blanched.

On a cooking show, I don't need to show you how to make chips.

You do, I need to be shown how to make chips. It's so hard.

You need to watch Heston Blumenthal for that stuff.

-It's tricky, isn't it?

-It takes about four weeks, whatever he does.

I just blanch them twice, that's all I do.

-Just blanch them twice.

-We've got our mayonnaise.

Look at that lovely colour, fresh home-made mayonnaise.

I'm going to add this and transform it into a tartare sauce,

which we've got here.

Just a bit of chopped onion, chopped herbs, gherkins.

So it's a pimped-up mayonnaise, that's all it is, a tartare sauce.

Yes. It's...

Pimped mayonnaise, never heard that before, but yes, that kind of stuff.

We are just going to chop all this up.

-Scampi is a sort of a traditional dish now, isn't it?

-Yes.

Like a ploughman's lunch is as well.

I remember chicken in a basket and that sort of stuff. They were great.

You get a really nice chicken, nicely cooked chips.

Did you eat a lot of that, James?

I used to eat a lot of that, mate. That's where you got your perfect cheeks from.

I spent a lot of my life travelling in Berni Inns, mate!

I remember my dad once caught a monkfish.

Have you ever seen one? They are just...

-The problem with monkfish...

-They're like from outer space.

They've got like a fishing rod from their face.

Yes, it's to attract their prey.

There is about 60% waste on a monkfish,

that's why they are so expensive.

The tail is the best bit, right?

Well, you're going to taste these cheeks.

Hopefully, you will change our mind because I think these are brilliant.

Monkfish cheeks, cod cheeks, in France, they absolutely adore these.

Bit of salt.

And they sell them by the masses, they just taste unbelievable.

In here now, we're just going to grab some fresh herbs,

we've got dill, a bit of chives and some parsley.

No poncing around, none of that finely chopped stuff,

this is a proper, chunky tartare sauce.

Capers go in. Lemon.

I'm going to cut that through there, squeeze of lemon.

-Do you put lemon in everything? I do.

-A bit, yes, I love lemon.

Just mix this together.

-Oh, yeah!

-And it's kind of like...

Now, Mr Rankin there would delicately place that. That's mine.

I'm just going to pop those on there.

The old monkfish cheeks. Pile up the chips.

There you go.

It's nice to go back to chips

because we had Mr Springer on and he wanted fries.

-Have you got any ketchup?

-And more lemon.

-There you go.

-That looks amazing.

-Dive in.

You've never tried them before. Squeeze over the lemon.

Oh, really lovely.

Very meaty.

-Oh, it is.

-They taste amazing.

-Oh, delicious!

For me, lunch doesn't get any better than that.

If you'd like to try your hand at making scampi chips

and tartare sauce, or have a go any of the other recipes

you've seen on today's show, they are just a click away at bbc.co.uk/recipes.

Now, we're not live today, so instead we are looking back at

some of the great cooking from the Saturday Kitchen back catalogue.

Next, it's time to spatchcock a chicken the Rachel Allen way.

-It's a pleasure to have you on our show.

-Thank you.

-Looking forward to it.

-That's a lot I've done in three years.

It is, I know, you've done a lot in three years.

-Tell us what you are going to cook.

-I'm going to make a yoghurt marinade.

I'm going to toss the whole spatchcock chicken in it,

you know, flattened chicken.

Then I'm going to cook it on the grill pan, finish it in the oven

and serve it with this cucumber and dill salad.

First things first, what do we need to make first?

-Could you chop some mint, please?

-I thought I'd get some work.

-I've got yoghurt for this marinade.

-I will grab a knife.

-Thanks.

Toasted cumin seeds, a lemon, a bit of olive oil,

a couple of cloves of garlic, mint or I also love coriander in this.

And chilli would be good in this, a bit of chopped chilli.

-Always room for chilli.

-And mushrooms.

I'm swaying the boat already.

So I'm going to put the yoghurt in,

about 300 millilitres of natural yoghurt.

And just a tiny bit of olive oil.

And a lemon.

Which I'm going to cut and juice.

Could you...? The mint could go in there, please.

What else do you want me to do?

Would you mind bashing up this cumin?

These have been toasted, haven't they?

Yes, it brings out the nutty flavour.

You recommend using whole seeds rather than powder?

I like them when they are still a little bit coarse with it.

The skin will be nice and crunchy and crispy.

I think most people, when they have spices in their cupboards,

when the label changes colour, because they were bought

for the wedding about 15 years ago, they are kind of ruined basically.

You need to keep spices... When they're open about three months...

Buy them in small quantities and use them up.

Especially, as well, buying whole spices rather than ground.

-Exactly, much easier.

-And grind them.

Get someone like me to grind them for you.

It's very handy having you, James.

-You don't want pips in there, to you?

-No, that's right.

We'll hide those.

So, grind it all up.

A couple of cloves of garlic I can grate in, or they can be chopped in.

-So you are grating it?

-Yes.

-Why grated and not...

It just makes it really fine so the flavour will be infused through the marinade.

We pop that in as well. How would you feel about Irish food?

-It's on a bit of a culinary revolution, isn't it?

-It is.

But I think it's probably just a bit of a full circle, as in...

all those great things that we've always been very well known for.

You know, people are now actually appreciating them.

We're also very lucky because we've got so many amazing producers -

sausage makers, vegetable growers,

-fruit growers, all our wonderful...

-All kinds of stuff.

Yes, all the artisan producers. So we are very lucky.

-They are now thriving and doing well.

-Sounds good. What is happening here?

Nothing else in there. I'll just put a bit of pepper in.

But don't put any salt into this marinade

because that's going to draw all the liquid out of the chicken,

giving you a dry chicken. We'll season it with salt on cooking.

For the chicken, start off...

I would use a smallish chicken for spatchcocking.

I'm going to flatten out the chicken,

which is much better for cooking on the barbecue,

rather than cooking it whole.

This is where the cook the smaller chickens, the little poussins.

Yes, the little ones.

Turn the chicken over

and I'm actually cutting with these really sharp scissors.

-James, you can do this if you want to.

-OK.

She can't cut through it, that's typical. Right, OK.

I'd better wash my hands.

Particularly spatchcock, we mentioned cooking them

on the griddle, but for barbecues, you could cook it on a barbecue.

This is a good way of doing it. It cooks it right the way through,

if you are worried about chicken not cooking through.

Exactly. Cooking a whole chicken is tricky on the barbecue.

-But like this, perfect.

-There you go.

So, I can actually turn the chicken over and you just need the kind of...

LAUGHTER

I didn't expect this in the morning.

Beating a chicken up.

So just bash it out a little, like that.

-And even then, just score the legs a little bit.

-That helps the legs cook.

Yes, they are the last bit to cook.

-OK.

-OK. So, put your chicken out.

-I'll move that to one side.

Thank you, James. And pour over your marinade.

A marinade like this is so versatile.

As I said, you could have chopped coriander leaves in there

and instead of cumin you could put in our ground coriander seeds

and mess around with it.

So this is barbecue. Do you cook much barbecue at home with the kids?

-I try, yes.

-It's a very male thing.

-I love it, absolutely.

-A couple of beers, get the barbie on.

-Hunter gatherer, yes, burnt it.

Definitely burnt it.

-What's next?

-This is going to go to marinade.

If you have half an hour, fine,

but if you have a few hours, or even overnight, it will be even better.

-Pop it in the fridge.

-Yes. Would you mind putting that in the fridge?

-I'll put that in the fridge, yes.

-And would you mind getting my...?

Yeah! Would you mind doing this and that and everything else?

There's another one in there.

There you go. I'll get it in there. Lovely.

This has been marinating for a few hours so this will have even better flavour.

Look at that one. What's next?

I'm going to put a tiny bit of olive oil on this really hot grill pan

or barbecue and throw the chicken, legs akimbo!

Have you got a fire alarm at your house?

Yes! You know what they should have done?

Now we're barbecuing!

-Skin side down first.

-That's fine. It will soon die down.

-Yeah.

Just cook it for two minutes on this side. Then we'll turn it over.

Do you want to stand that side so people can see it?

-Screen the smoke.

-I'll look after that. You're going to cook this one.

I'm going to make this salad. Really simple.

-Cucumber, dill, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

-OK.

-I could actually... Would you mind cutting...?

-There's a theme going over here.

-Would you mind?

-Yeah, would I mind?

-Delegation is a very good thing.

-OK.

-Do you want the seeds out of this?

-Please, yes.

-OK.

-I prefer to take the seeds out otherwise it gets a bit watery,

especially if it's sitting around for too long.

Lovely.

I'm just crushing the lemon before I cut it to make it easier to juice.

You can pop a lemon in a microwave. Did you know that? 10 seconds.

I heard that. I don't have a microwave.

I don't have a microwave either, but you could do if you've got one.

Yeah, right(!) Either do I. I don't have a microwave either.

Yeah, yeah!

-Right.

-So...

-We have got to chop this up?

-Yes. I like that. Rustic wedges.

That's what you're getting, because there isn't much time left.

-This is rustic. We're thinking rustic.

-All right.

Anyway, we've got our lovely cucumber.

I'm going to turn that chicken over a second.

So you cook that, particularly if you're doing it on a barbecue, you

cook it on the barbecue either before or after it's cooked.

-Absolutely. Or all on a barbecue all the way through.

-But...

-There you go.

-Lovely.

Look at that. Stick that in the oven. Lift it up.

Stick it in the oven. And how long do you cook it for because it's quite big?

That one will take about 45 minutes in a good hot oven,

if it's had five minutes on each side.

Otherwise, if it's a small chicken or particularly like a little poussin,

that would take 20 minutes.

Something like that would be nice.

-It just so happens I've got one here.

-Here is one we prepared earlier!

-It looks lovely. Fabulous.

-Lovely.

-I'll pop the old cucumber in here.

-Fantastic. Thank you.

There's already the juice of the lemon in there.

I'm just chopping lots of dill,

but also coriander or mint would be good with this too.

Give the tongs a quick wash. There you go. I'll lift this out for you.

-It keeps it lovely and moist, doesn't it?

-It really does.

I've done stuff not just with chicken, but you can take monkfish

-and put yoghurt marinades on there as well.

-Monkfish is really good.

Monkfish would be perfect for this marinade. Really good.

-Some sea salt and some pepper.

-Sea salt and pepper. Anything else?

-Olive oil.

-I'll leave you to portion that chicken up.

-OK.

If you have five, 10 minutes,

allow the chicken to rest before you carve it.

-Yeah.

-Take a plate and a knife

and I would just cut, let's see...

Put a leg...

It comes through so easy. There you go.

-It smells amazing.

-It smells good.

-It does smell good.

And that's with a bit of... The skin is nice and crispy

and the rough pieces of cumin are really nice.

-Doesn't that look fabulous?

-There we go.

-Finished?

-That's it.

Just remind us what that is again.

That is the yoghurt and cumin marinaded spatchcock chicken

with cucumber and dill salad.

-That's it. Perfect.

-That's it.

-Right, you said it smells good.

-Big time.

-I'm sure it's going to taste good.

-Here you go.

-Is that just for me? No way.

-Paul's at the end. He gets it last. You first.

-Do I?

-Dive in first.

-Lovely.

-Tell me what you think. Is this the type of thing you'd attempt at home?

-I've got to get this recipe.

-Who does the most cooking in the house?

-My wife Yvonne, definitely. That is gorgeous.

-It's nice, isn't it?

I have to say that but it's really good!

Oh, man! I've got a bit of skin. Hang on. Lovely.

They're salivating further down so there you go. Try that.

Tell me what you think.

Really nice. Keeps it lovely and moist, that yoghurt sauce.

-It does, doesn't it?

-Nothing worse than when chicken gets dry.

-And chicken really can.

-Dive in.

-Will do.

Is this the type of thing that you'd cook at home?

-Yes, I love chicken.

-You live by the sea down in Devon and fish,

particularly different types of fish you can put in...

-Absolutely. Monkfish.

-Yes.

That's really tasty.

-PAUL:

-The fennel with that chicken is fantastic.

-RONAN:

-It's very good.

That's a great one for the barbecue this weekend.

Now it's time for the legendary Keith Floyd to

continue his way around France.

This week he visits the Pays Basque region.

These are the Pyrenees - the mountains that stretch from the Mediterranean to

the Atlantic Ocean and separate France from Spain.

You usually see them out of the left hand window of the aeroplane

on your way to Lloret de Mar or Torremolinos,

but these mountains have a profound influence on the Basques who live here

and this is reflected in the distinctive and highly spiced

cooking of these fiery independent people.

These farmers aren't posing for picture postcards, you know.

They're an essential part of this unique region.

The landscape is dotted with these delicious looking stacks of fern -

they remind me of crunchy Walnut Whips.

But the Spanish influence abounds. The cooking is highly spiced and gutsy.

And it's simple to cook and not wildly expensive.

This place is like a morgue. There's nobody here. Look.

48 different tables and not an order in the place.

It is January after all.

You know how we bust into these places and we scrounge things

and we put their patrons to a lot of inconvenience?

I thought they could have the afternoon off and I'd cook my own lunch. It seems quite elementary.

And one of the things that the Basque people are very

proud about are their red peppers.

Come down here, Clive. They love their red peppers.

They love their green peppers. And they love their onions.

In fact, those are the colours of Pays Basque.

Also they're very proud of the Jambon de Bayonne which is an essential

part of this wonderful chicken dish which I'm going to cook for you

today. Slide over here, old bean. Little pieces of lovely maize-fed free-range chicken.

I'm using just the legs because that's quite economical.

Season them with salt and pepper. Over here - some beautiful

fresh tomatoes which I have peeled, skinned and crushed up.

And one thing that the little dish must have is some of their famous

red pimento powder which is a little bit spicy.

What I do is a bit of chopping up, a bit of cooking, a little

glass of Monsieur Bonnet's special wine because it's Mr Bonnet's hotel

we are staying in. And as they say, the idea of a day

without wine is like a day without you know what I mean.

So, the director says I haven't been doing enough chopping.

I haven't been demonstrating enough of my culinary skills recently.

So we'll put that to rights and chop up a few onions like that.

Because we need to fry those in a moment in some lovely lard.

This is a dish in the Pays Basque. You don't use olive oil down here.

You don't use butter. You don't use corn oil.

As I've said before, you use either goose fat, duck fat or pork fat.

And I have to chop these green peppers up which I'm doing quite swiftly.

Are you going to show this?

Come on, I'm doing my best here on this quiet January afternoon

dashing away with the old sharp knife.

You see. People like to watch me do this cos they hope I'm going to cut my fingers.

But I never do. Cut all those up then this one.

Elementary. Very simple.

Then we need some Bayonne ham cut into tiny pieces.

I'll explain where all these bits go in a minute

when we move over to the stove.

That'll be in a while.

Chop, chop, chop those into small bits. A bit finer.

Pleased with me so far? I'm quite enjoying myself.

I got the whole hotel to myself. There's about 800 rooms here.

There's only the BBC crew staying in it. Which must be a bit of a turnoff for the owners.

There we are. A little bit of chopped parsley which goes in later.

Lovely fresh thyme. Look, I've made a little rainbow. Isn't that pretty?

Chopped thyme down the edge there.

A little bit of a pimento I'll put there just to add the effect.

Stay on that, Clive. Stay on that, please. Thank you very much.

We've got to cut cos I'm going over to the stove, OK?

OK, well you see into this little pan, the ideal meal for one person -

that's the trouble with borrowing things,

you have to take what you're given -

are the chopped onions, the pieces of Jambon de Bayonne,

which is ham from Bayonne. Get it? OK.

And some lovely, lovely lard.

Next we put in the already seasoned little leglets of poulet -

chicken which has been raised on corn. A lot of that is grown around here.

I do hope the cameraman's taken a picture of those corn stores

otherwise that remark will be quite pointless, won't it?

That's why the chickens are yellow.

Back to the pot, if you don't mind. Let those take a golden colour in this quite

brisk heat.

Turn them all over.

Next in go my red and green peppers.

Stir those well in. Let them take the lard.

Get them seasoned well with bits of ham.

If the director... I can manage myself.

It's over here. Into my little bit of parsley here, look very closely,

I've put that fierce red pimento powder, OK?

And the garlic to flavour this dish even more. Good. That goes in.

It will all take the heat really well and then finally these chopped

tomatoes, all their juices, stir it in like that.

Give it a good shake like that

and let it simmer. Clive, can I speak to the customers, please?

That will take about an hour and 20 minutes to cook.

I'm going for a stroll. I've booked a table in the dining room.

I'll see you in there, OK? Bye.

BBC research has shown that you find these pictures of mountains

just as exhaust... I mean fascinating as I do, but they

were the place of Ravel and look what he did for Torvill and Dean.

It is said he used to hum it as he strolled on his way

down to St-Jean-de-Luz for a plate of grilled sardines.

Yum yum. Seriously, this former whaling port is a great place in winter.

The Sun King, Louis XIV, got married here. Hemingway liked it.

And I like Hemingway.

"We had a good meal, a roast chicken, new green beans,

"mashed potatoes, a salad, and some apple pie and cheese."

Sounds good, doesn't it?

Almost as good as my brilliant chicken Basquaise. Look at that.

Isn't that delicious?

Anyway, as you can see it's down to me and Ernest at the

moment so if you wouldn't mind I'll get on with my lonely little supper.

So if there are any publishers out there,

I really want to be a novelist, OK?

So cop this little piece I've just written.

'The cold winter air cleared my head

'and the mountains capped with snow looked fine. Jake wanted to

'stop at the Auberge for a drink. I said no. We'd miss the dealing if he did.

'We walked into Espelette as the sun broke the ridge. The horse fair

'was going good and the men did their business.

'This is actually quite extraordinary, isn't it?

'Pulitzer Prize for me, I shouldn't be surprised.

'Pablo was grilling Bayonne Ham over charcoal.

'I took a long pull from my flask and watched Clive take mood

'shots of men quietly discussing pelote with the easy passion of the aficionado.

'The women sold hard mountain cheeses on rough tables

'and stacked spice mountain sausages like gold bars.

'Jake said it was time Clive won an award for his photography.

'I took another draw from the flask

'and wandered off to buy a gateau Basque...

'Which is filled with custard and tastes really good. Did you like that?'

Anyway, back to the real business. A cooking sketch.

I've borrowed this wonderful old farmhouse which belongs to

a family of elver fishers.

So you must come into my kitchen, as we say in the trade.

Do you know, I have cooked in some grand

kitchens in my time, in the restaurant kitchens of five-star hotels,

on boats, by the side of the river, over camp fires, but I've never felt

so much that I'm right in the heart of things as in this beautiful place.

Look at the floor.

Ancient slabs that have been trodden by Napoleon's soldiers and

generations of fishermen, peasants and people who make these wonderful hams.

Clive, go and have a look. Superb Bayonne Hams

which have been salted down for a month.

They've been allowed to dry for three or four days.

They've been rubbed in piment rouge and hung up there to last

for a year so they can fry them on sticks, or like I'm going to,

cook over this wonderful wood fire.

You'll see Madame sitting next to me quietly.

Her family have been here since 1832 when they started keeping records.

She's about 84. She's a wonderful lady who's allowed us in.

Listen, I must get down to a little bit of cooking.

You probably saw the rifles over the top.

They shot these pigeons that I've got in the pot here.

A very simple dish called salmis de palombe, a little stew of pigeons.

If you come very closely in, Clive, I've got bits of carrot,

bits of the very same bacon that's hanging from the roof of this

kitchen, little bits of garlic, bits of onion

and the pigeons beautifully golden brown.

All I have to do to finish off this wonderful, wonderful dish

is sprinkle a little pepper.

I'm sorry I'm slurring my words a bit.

It's very hot down here.

A little salt, a little fresh thyme, a little fresh parsley,

flame it with the Armagnac of the region then...

Oops, I've dropped the wine.

Stay there. We can't interrupt a good thing like this

just because I knocked over the wine. We pour the wine in. Like that.

Get a good look at that, Clive,

because the lid is going on any moment now.

OK, there goes the lid. It takes about an hour to cook that.

Ah! That's better. I always enjoy a cigar in these tranquil moments.

Yes, you see, the director likes the warp and weft of the elver

fishermen of the Adour River, sadly I don't care for elvers.

I know they're celebrated on the River Severn back home,

where they cook them with eggs and make elver cheese,

but these little silvery threads are hardy creatures,

swimming all the way from the Sargasso Sea,

just to end up cooked in olive oil and chillies.

It's a brilliant programme, isn't it?

Cooking, eel fishing, the wonderful nature sounds,

the little coots, weary farmers wending their way home late at night and me,

stuck watching the river flow, with a little pile of stones

and a super simple Basquaise soup.

Clive, come into this and have a look.

While everyone else has been getting cold,

I've been bubbling up haricot vert and cabbage and goose fat

and making myself the perfect warming winter snack.

You don't have tins on Floyd On France, you know.

We do everything really properly.

How I made this soup, whole, hard white cabbage,

very finely sliced, a pound of white haricot beans, dried ones,

soaked in water overnight,

a good dollop of goose fat melted in the pan, pop the things in, a

litre or two of water, bit of ham or pork or sausage if you have it to

enrich it, let it simmer for three or four hours and have a fabulous time.

Now, what you can do

while I enjoy myself enormously is get on with elvers part two.

An extraordinary thing happened here,

Madame, walking through shot right now, flatly refused to let me

film in her kitchen at Chez Pablo in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

Luckily, the chillies, an essential part of this dish,

were not so bashful.

I don't know why she wouldn't let us in, after all,

everyone knows how to cook elvers or piballe as they're called here.

You simply toss them into very hot oil with finely chopped chillies for

a moment until they turn white like spaghetti and serve them piping hot.

You can hear them sizzling in little earthenware bowls.

Could you fade up the sizzling noises, please?

SIZZLING

Thank you.

And you eat them with small wooden forks that don't conduct the heat.

I have to say, I was very surprised to learn that even British

elvers are shipped in tankers down to the Spanish border, where, as you can

see, they are enthusiastically consumed by one and all.

At about seven quid a head, that's quite expensive.

I wonder if she enjoyed hers. I'd rather have a pigeon.

There, you see, you've actually cooked it and they,

poor things, poor souls, whose kitchen we've interrupted,

whose life we've tipped upside down are going to have to eat it.

Monsieur, j'espere que mon petit plat c'est mangeable.

Il faut que vous gouter un peu...

THEY LAUGH

THEY CHAT IN FRENCH

Un peu de sauce.

This is the moment when the normal hubble

and bubble of a busy farmhouse goes very quiet.

There's something about me and the BBC that turns vibrant,

lively, beautiful Basque characters into statues.

I wonder if it's my food!

-Bon.

-Ca va?

Oui, oui.

A legend at work.

We're not cooking live in the studio today, instead we're looking

back at some of the stunning cooking from the Saturday Kitchen archive.

Still to come...

Michael Caines and Daniel Galmiche already had respectable times

on the leaderboard, but would they be able to break into the top ten?

Find out a little later on.

Cyrus Todiwala makes a delicious pork curry.

The curry is made with pork, tomatoes, onions, coriander

and a whole host of spices.

It's served with deep-fried potatoes and a kachumber salad.

Diane Parish faced her food heaven or hell.

Would she get her food heaven - an old-fashioned dessert of Swiss

rolls with fresh raspberries, raspberry jam

and cream or would she get her dreaded food hell - parsley,

with my parsley soup with deep-fried pork scratchings,

asparagus, poached egg and crispy bacon?

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

Now it's time to revisit the first time Patrick Williams

came onto the show, he's serving up a Caribbean inspired treat.

-What are we cooking then?

-We've got roast bream.

-Yes.

-With fried plantain fritters and a coconut and curry sauce.

I'm actually using fresh coconuts.

We've got a lot of ingredients here, just run through them first.

-We'll talk about that later.

-OK.

Very quickly - I've got some onions, peppers and tomatoes for my sauce.

-Fresh coconuts, little bit of curry powder.

-Yeah.

I've got ground pimento seeds, which have been freshly ground.

In them you have cloves, cinnamon and...

-Something else.

-Yeah!

LAUGHTER

Garlic butter and spinach.

Over here we have the coriander, self-raising flour,

-beer and our plantain.

-We'll get onto that.

-I'll chop these.

-Yes, for the sauce, OK.

-I'll take my fillet straight off the bream.

-Why bream, why not snapper?

I've used bream cos you need something quite meaty,

-that can hold the sauce.

-Yeah.

So, ordinarily, you'd go on something like snapper. OK, easy to fillet off.

I'll go straight in against the bone.

You can just put your knife straight in against the bone

and go straight down.

But I'm just going to take simple strokes and take it off, you can

see what you're doing all the time rather than hit and miss, he says.

When most people think of the Caribbean,

they think of beaches, you're on a mission to say there's a lot

-more to it, the food, the ingredients.

-Yeah.

The ingredients are fabulous, the food's fabulous, it's really vibrant.

It's just gorgeous.

I was on a press trip recently for the Jamaican Tourist Board

in Kingston, just going around eating, really.

Eating lots of jerk, fresh fish. It's just letting people know...

I think they think that the Caribbean is a one-trick pony,

so many people have been to the Caribbean over the years,

conquered it, and left bits and bobs of their culture there.

That needs to be pushed through into the food itself.

That's what I'm trying to do.

You were removing the bones underneath, you can use a pair of tweezers to do that,

use the missus's tweezers, but

don't forget to wash them before

they go back in the make-up bag!

-OK.

-Bit of that.

-I'm using a bit of the allspice on it.

-Yeah.

I find when you go out in London,

sometimes you don't get the depth of flavour you're

looking for in food so we tend to season quite

a lot of the things we have at The Terrace before we cook them.

I'll marinate the day before or the morning they arrive.

The British palate, how does that take with Caribbean food?

-Do you have to simmer it down a bit?

-That's the whole twist.

What we do is,

modern British food with a Caribbean twist.

So what it is...

We've dulled it down a touch...

I'll just wash my hands quickly.

A touch, but not too much, things like curry goat

and the jerk chicken are the best sellers at the restaurant.

OK. So there we've got the garlic...

-Garlic, thyme and the pimento straight on it.

-Bit of salt, yeah?

-Yeah.

-I'm going to do the plantain.

-OK.

-Grate the plantain?

-Yeah.

Grate it, make the batter using the beer, flour and egg.

-You make it like a bhaji, is that right?

-Yeah.

That kind of thing. It's quite a nice texture, James, for the dish itself.

When you put things together you think about flavour, colour,

but also textures are very important.

Spinach is quite soft, as is the fish.

It's good to have the nice crunchiness of the plantain fritters.

-OK.

-Here, I'm just going to crack my coconuts.

Now, I'm using the back of a cleaver, not the sharp side in my hand.

-I wouldn't try it at home, you should be really careful.

-Go on.

There we go, did really well there!

And this one as well...

You can actually just use a corkscrew and the same will happen.

Go into the top, make a hole.

-I would say you can buy it but it tastes nothing like that.

-No.

You can buy the tinned stuff, but it's far too strong

-and it's just not right.

-OK.

So that's done.

Fresh coconut milk really adds a total difference to this.

-Fresh coconut milk is far too strong, it would overpower the flavour.

-OK.

So we've got that, I'll make a little batter

and then grate the plantain in.

I've got curry powder in the pan, onions sweating away.

I'll pop a bit more oil on top.

Just till they get that cooking.

It's always very important to get your spices in as early

as possible and get as much flavour out of it.

I know you're doing sort of modern, British, Caribbean food,

but you were classically trained?

Yeah. Classically trained, French, but...

French-trained, worked at some top restaurants throughout the years,

some very top chefs, Marco Pierre White, Richard Neat,

worked at The Ivy, places like that.

But the thing for me was, fantastic doing it all,

but it's always Italian or...

French. Or classically French.

If you want anything more than that, it's a bit difficult.

So I thought I'd best do it myself.

So, I'm doing it at The Terrace,

just cooking something a bit outside the box

but using all my classic experience, to actually put it together.

-OK. So I'm going to grate this plantain.

-OK.

We've got the bream in skin side down. Get it good and brown.

-Couple of minutes?

-Yeah, and that's it.

-We serve our fish just under.

-Sorry, you want to say something?

With the batter,

could you use a dark beer or has it got to be a light?

It's just preference, really.

I would've sat that, let it ferment for a bit, give that a nice flavour.

Depends what sort of flavour, what sort of strength you're looking for,

-in the actual dish.

-You could convert that to a sweet batter as well?

-Yeah, definitely. You could use plantain as a pud.

-Ah, right.

-You just add sugar to it?

-Yeah, bit of sugar.

That's the type of stuff we're looking for. A bhaji sort of mix.

-You want small fritters in there?

-Uh-huh. OK.

Just wilting down the spinach.

We've got some beautiful English spinach now which is

just coming in, which is really good.

I'll get your tomato and get that in. Blanching away.

A bit of butter in the pan to get that golden brown.

Working away. That goes in there, ten seconds?

OK, a quick blanch, yeah. I've got the coconut milk in the pan.

-So, a bit of butter, James, just to thicken it up slightly.

-Yeah.

-The coconut milk is a really delicate flavour.

-Yeah.

As well as the restaurant in the UK,

you're working on several others as well, aren't you?

Well, we've got a few plans, we're working in a complex called

GoldenEye in Jamaica,

James Bond Beach, just on it.

-This is Ian Fleming?

-Ian Fleming's property.

Chris Blackwell actually owns the island outpost, that whole thing.

-Yeah.

-So, 2010, they've broken ground already, we'll go out in 2010

and use my style of Caribbean food out on that complex.

Interesting.

-We've got a few other ideas up our sleeve for the UK as well.

-Right.

-Are you ready there?

-I'm doing it, Chef.

-OK, OK.

OK, so the fish...

Can you do the sauce in advance, then just finish it with the butter?

You could, but I think it really does need to be finished there and then.

Yeah.

The freshness of it is absolutely amazing.

-Just taking the skin off the tomato.

-OK.

-Peeling it off.

-Basically just blanch it for ten seconds.

-Thanks, James.

In boiling water, into ice cold water.

The fritters here looking fantastic.

-I suppose they're a dish on their own?

-They are,

it's a good vegetarian dish and we use them

a lot for canapes, canape parties for vegetarians.

The reason I blanch the onions,

and tomatoes is I just don't like the skin.

Once the skin starts to boil in the sauce it's just not the same.

-OK.

-So, at the last minute, the tomatoes go in.

-Yes. Straight in.

Fish straight on top of the spinach.

I could have used callaloo, which is a Caribbean version of spinach.

-What's that, the fine leaf?

-Yeah.

-It's a fine leaf, I would've chopped the stalk through it as well.

-Yeah.

Something different. Or you can use something like pak choi

if you don't want to use spinach.

So some variations on the base of it.

OK. Nice bit of sauce over.

There you go. You are famous for your goat curry as well, aren't you?

Apparently so. All the legal eagles around the area quite like the dish,

it's one of the best sellers in the restaurant.

You know, goat is quite popular at the moment and very good for you.

So we've gone from curried goat to this. Remind us what that is again.

We've got pan roasted bream, with fried plantain fritters

and a curry and coconut sauce.

Try it at home, lovely.

It looks and smells unbelievable.

-Yes, it smells delicious.

-Have a seat there, Patrick.

Dive in, tell us what you think.

Another dish, that's three you've had!

-I know, it's fantastic.

-Tell us what you think of that one.

-Particularly the plantain fritters.

-It's a nice touch.

Adds real sweetness to the dish.

Lovely, light curry feel as well, spicy.

if people can't find bream or snapper what could they try?

You could go...salmon. Skate would be really nice.

Something we fish quite regularly.

Things like pollock, again,

another amazing dish to use for it, would be really good.

What do you reckon, guys?

-Mmm. Delicious.

-Lovely.

It's spicy but the plantain just mellows that out.

Really, really good.

If you didn't have a deep fat fryer, how would you do it?

You could carefully, at home... You wouldn't need a lot of fat to use.

You could shallow fry those.

And you've got a damp cloth as well, just in case!

Now it's time for Michael Caines and Daniel Galmiche to attempt to

get onto the top ten of our omelette challenge leaderboard.

They may be looking good, but can they cook an omelette?

Take a look at this.

Right, to business,

all the chefs that come on the show battle it out against the clock

to test how fast they can make a straightforward three egg omelette.

That's all we ask.

But, Daniel, last time you were on you did it in 34 seconds,

-pretty respectable time.

-That time was tough.

You're seven seconds behind Michael here with 27 seconds.

Yeah, not good!