17/12/2016 Saturday Kitchen

Put off your Christmas shopping for another 90 minutes and enjoy

the brilliant menu of dishes that we've got lined up for you

Joining me in the studio today: the inspirational Italian,

chef Francesco Mazzei, and, making his Saturday Kitchen

debut, cooking Korean cuisine, the talented Jordan Bourke.

How are you feeling today? Very good. Nice to be on the show! What

are you making? I am making a beautiful dish called Insalata Di

Baccala. It is typical from the south of Italy. I am sure you will

enjoy. And in Italy, it is all fish on Christmas Eve? Yes. And what

about you, Jordan? I'm doing a Korean dish with lots of spices,

short ribs, served with rice. And our lovely Irish boy is making

Korean food! They both sound and look amazing.

And we've got some fantastic films from the BBC Christmas

archives from Rick Stein, Nigel Slater, Raymond

Now our special guest is an actor, writer and director

with a remarkable list of achievements behind him!

He's never afraid to play some of the biggest names in history

having portrayed Shakespeare, Charles Dickens,

To tell us about his latest venture, please welcome

Simon, an honour to meet you. How are you this morning? I'm well,

despite everything! 12 shows a week. And finishing into the midnight

hours, like a chef. It is very similar businesses, theatre and

restaurants. You have this build-up to the arrival of the audience, you

have to be absolutely there for them when they come, and keep the

atmosphere for them all the time. We have a team of 20 behind us, but

yours is a one-man show. I have a team of lots of people behind me,

doing the ropes, making things happen, pressing buttons. There is

no such thing as a one-man show. We will be making some delicious dishes

for you. What would be your food held? Anything really sweet. I don't

like cake. What about your food heaven? I love fish. Above all,

green-macro. -- bream. We are going to do an amazing dish for you,

truffle-baked bream, with some flatbread and baked in the oven. It

is delicious. Your food hell would be a chocolate caprese cake, very

much from southern Italy. It is almonds, eggs, sugar, lovely

chocolate, finished with egg whites folded in, and served with pistachio

ice cream. Tempted? You really aren't. I would like it cake free.

We will have to wait until the end of the show to find out which one

you will get. If you'd like to ask a question then

give us a ring now on: If I get to speak to you, I will ask

you if Simon should have his food heaven or his food hell. And you can

get in touch with us on social media, using the hash tag

#SundayKitchen. Over to you. How are you? Let's speak in English. I have

this beautiful black cod. Tell us about the dish. It is a typical dish

from the south of Italy. We usually use a dry or salt cod. But we use

this black cod which makes the dish more interesting. What is the

difference between black cod and the cod you get in the fish and chip

shop? Black cod isn't really a accord, it is the fish itself. It is

the way to recognise the fish. It is similar to Halliburton. It is a

different fish. But when you break it up, it has the texture of cod.

And then we serve it with some lovely potatoes? And Chouly, lemon,

salted pepper. -- chilli. The fishes in the water here because the water

is a little wet osmosis. So it is like curing it? Exactly. Water,

salt, juniper berry, white peppercorn and bay leaves. And you

baked potatoes the oven? Yes. A bit of olive oil here. I will put these

ones in. So life is good. The last time I saw you was at a festival.

You are quite busy. Yes, a busy life. I am cooking on the 31st,

which is going to be amazing. A special menu, but we will keep some

of the a la cart for our regulars. So on the 24th you do a classic

Christmas? Yes, but we keep the typical menu because of our

regulars. So we have this in a bit of oil. Yes, and straight in the

oven. I will move this out your way. How long would you leave it in the

brine? Four hours. It depends how thick the fish is. If you don't want

to do the water like that, just do some salt on top. Then you clean it

nicely. OK. And then you are going to do the chilli? Yes, and the

spring onion. Take the seeds out. I love a bit of chilli. I love the

idea of having the fish on Christmas Eve as well. Brilliant. You are

cooking Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve? Are you mad? That is the one

time you become the boss. You say, guys, sorry, it is you tonight. It

is only one year. I need to be there. It has only been there one

year, but you are going to open another restaurant in a few months'

time? Yes, in upper street. I don't know the name yet. Keeping it quiet!

I am going to do a tractor rear style food. But also some of the

local things, some of the butchers round there. I want to have this

kind of Islington feeling. So stuff that you would eat at home? Correct.

So when you go back to Italy at Christmas, you are going to raid

your mother's recipe books? That's what you should do. Not back to

Italy this year at Christmas, but are you cooking at home? Jess.

Between Christmas and New Year I go to see my mum in Italy for a few

days. And get your ideas from the recipe book! Who is cooking? Are you

cooking for your wife's family? Yes, and the mother-in-law. Do you want

these shall lots in the spring onions? That is all part of the

garnish? Yes. All of this is to refresh it? Yes, to live in the fish

up as well. It is one of the recipes in my book, which is very nice. What

is the idea behind it? On Christmas Day, if it beef? Turkey? But fish on

Christmas Eve? Christmas Eve, 13 different dishes. Some of it is

Carpaccio, or fried fish. You have to taste all of them. I love that. I

love the curse of the Italian mother. A couple more minutes with

the fish. Plenty of time. Some olive oil here. If you would like to ask a

question, give us a ring now on this number:

calls are charged at your standard network rate. I am surprised at

this. Flowers! It is for my daughter. You use flowers in Italian

cooking. Obviously, your restaurant has gone really well. You have

amazing reviews. It is always busy. Yes, doing incredibly well. The fact

that we are in the Savile Row makes it even more your staff are amazing.

I turned up one day with a bang, rucksack, cycle helmet and a bike,

and I was just like this old woman outside! Someone came out and took

all of my bags for me and my helmet. Then I could relax. I felt like I

was the bag lady! Lets get the fish out now. Did you enjoy the food? Of

course. What you do, which no one does in London, is... You do food to

order. We do tortelli to order. We have the

pasta already cut. Don't burn my hair! I've got

hairspray on. I will go up in flames! So do you do the underneath

or just the skin? Just the skin. Careful. It's Christmas! Health and

safety, please! At home, don't do this unless you know how to use a

blowtorch. You can do this with vegetables as well. Cue blanch them,

then cook them with olive oil, chilli and garlic. Let's put some of

these olives on now. And a few shall lots. That is a fantastic dish. It

can be done ahead. If you do not find black cod, you can use salmon.

The belly part is even better. Or you can use mackerel. And could the

garnish be with something that is warm? Of course. It flakes in

nicely. Look how beautiful the fish is. It doesn't have the fatty nurse.

And you put no salt in it, because there is the brine. Exactly. So this

is on the menu on Christmas Eve? It is. I challenge the British public

to go in there and make him do 500 of them! He will be cursing by the

end of it! A bit of chilli in here, and pomegranate. And the flowers in

there? Not yet. Just been told off there. It is not my name in the

title 's! Let's go! A bit of dressing. A very simple dish.

Perfect. Remind me of the name of this? Insalata Di Baccala. You can

serve this one on Christmas Eve. I hope you're hungry! Slightly

hesitant, but that is fine. Are you a fish lover? I love it. Perfect.

Dive in. Go, Jordan. I love the name. Insalata Di Baccala. You have

to say it with an Italian accent! That is just delicious. You don't

need any seasoning at all. It is so smooth. Absolutely smooth. Let's see

what fabulous wine is going to go with Francesco's cod. We sent our

expert, Susie Barrie, off to Kent. Before she chose a wine, she stopped

by Leeds Castle to have a look around.

With Christmas Day over a week away, I've come to Leeds castle to get

into a festive mood. Before I find my wines, let's look around.

The beautiful salt Codsall add is simplicity itself. What it needs is

a fish-friendly white to wash it down. The wines of North West Spain

make a great partner for dishes involving white fish and potato.

Something like this would certainly be a good match for the salad. In

order to balance the saltiness of the cod and the olives, this dish

needs a wine with a bit more body and weight of fruit. For that, I've

headed to Francesco's home country of Italy and chosen the delicious

Villa Flora Lugana Zenato. The reason this works so well is that

the Alborino is bone dry. The Lugana has a touch of sweetness. It's

barely noticeable but enough to offset the saltiness of the recipe.

When you taste it, you can see it's an easy drinking and refreshing

style of white wine which is exactly what Francesco's dish needs. There's

plenty of ripe fruit for the salt cod and the olives. But that

fruitiness also works really well with a hint of chilli and spring

onions. Finally, there's enough bright acidity to cut through the

richness of those lovely baked new potatoes. So, hers a little taste of

home for your super salt Codsall add.

You just said this is your favourite wine. I don't know how she know

that's. This is a beautiful white wine, I love it. I'm going to have a

definite smile on Christmas with that dish. Susie is the one. She

knows what's going on. Delicious smell. So lovely. Do you like this

sni, yeah, very fresh and the antithesis of the heavy Christmas

sufficient, it's perfect. Danger is you have one too many! Easy to drink

any way. What are you cooking for us after?

I'm doing Korean short ribs. It's marinated in sesame seed oil, soy

sauce, garlic, ginger, all the lovely flavours of Korea and served

in lettuce leaves and rice. Gorgeous flavours going on there. There's

time to ask us a question. Just call:

Time now to join Rick Stein, who's making the perfect fish

I'd heard about some wonderful prawns being caught around

This would be an ideal pre-starter for our meal,

and it's high time we started using these prawns in Cornwall,

instead of sending 99% of them off to Spain!

This is going to be not the first course, but like a pre-first course.

To me, it's one of the best things you can have, when you sit down,

and you're full of joy, having a drink, is to

These came from Falmouth this morning.

You don't need to do anything but dr very quickly, and serve them up

It's just perfect, you just dip it in the aioli and eat them,

you eat them in the whole shell, because by frying them,

the shell crisps up, and people don't mind.

They don't notice, but actually, there's so much

I've seasoned the flour with a little cayenne and some sea salt.

And once the prawns are coated with it, they go straight

into the hot oil, for just a few moments.

Let them drain, and then serve them straight away,

with another sprinkle of salt, and a good dollop of the freshly

The garlicky smoothness of the aioli just goes so well

The Cornish coastline isn't always as benign as the Fal Estuary

The sea and the fishing industry still remain

Cornwall's main claim to fame, and at this time of year,

# The mackerel shoals we hope to fin # And soon we left Land's End behind

# For Cornish lads are fishermen # And Cornish lads are miners too #

But when the fish and tin are gone # What are the Cornish boys to do?

I never fail to be in awe of the guys at the sharp end

Working day and night in conditions which most of us

I must say, it's really nice to be in Newlyn market again,

albeit it is the middle of the night.

They've just landed this beautiful-looking hake.

I don't quite understand why we don't eat more

I think it's the best number of the cod family,

and Phil Mitchell and his boys have been out in the Irish

They've got about 204 boxes, and there's five stone in a box,

Hake is a bit of a good news story as far as fishing is concerned,

there's plenty about, and the Spanish love it.

I've been filming in Spain recently, and one of the ways I love to eat

hake is just cut into thin little steaks, about that wide,

and cooked a la plancha, on a very hot grill,

with just a little bit of olive oil, and served

Seeing that hake sees me want to use it in my Christmas banquet.

My son Jack, who's one of my chefs, came up with this dish.

Braised hake, with a seasonal Cornish salad.

And that is sea beet, from the seashore.

Various different cabbages, red cabbage, hispi, beetroot,

It's the only winter fruit I could think of at the time,

but I just thought, the colours and everything, went

for the Christmas ornament, sort of holly bush.

That's the pomegranate, that's where that's come from.

so in order to extract the juice, it goes into a rather posh food

You can do it at home by simply softening the beetroot

The idea here is to get that rich colour of Christmas.

OK, the first thing we need to do is chop the veg,

It's not really the time of year for a conventional salad,

This is almost like a really vibrant all the different leaves will each

have a very particular influence in the salad,

The whole thing will have plenty of crunchy crispness,

which will complement the warm, flaky fish, and the cavolo nero

leaves will be slightly bitter against the slivers of beetroot.

The chunky fillets of hake are pan-fried in a little butter,

skin side first, of course, to hold them together.

Once the skin's nicely caramelised and flipped over,

Don't they look good as they take a little bit of golden colour?

Now put in a good glassful of sparkling wine to deglaze the pan

Add a ladleful of fish stock, and then cover the pan and let

the fish poach for just a few minutes.

I like the idea of the pomegranate seeds.

Just thought of a non-toxic holly be just for the final dish.

I just remember seeing around the house in wreaths,

dried out pomegranates adorning the middle.

That's really good, it's really imaginative stuff, Jack!

When the fillets are done, keep them and add the juices from the pan

When the fillets are done, keep them warm, and add

the juices from the pan to the beetroot dressing.

Now, put in some rapeseed oil - Cornish, of course -

Mix it all up, just like any other salad dressing.

Put some on the salad, and toss it together just

I can see you've thought about this, Jack, that's really nice.

Just a tad more dressing, do you think?

The whole thing is served on top of thinly sliced beetroot.

And with Jack's pomegranate seeds mixed in with the rest

of the saucy dressing, then dribbled around the edge

of the plate, it all looks like a Christmas decoration itself.

I'm still amazed that this extremely fine fish isn't more

Why on earth do we not recognise our treasures instead

And he's back next week with another festive recipe.

We just saw Rick making a hake dish, and I am going to give

What I'm going to do for you is make these lovely little spicy Moroccan

prawns with couscous, some pumpkin, fennel, spinach, spring onions,

pomegranate and a lovely marinade. It's not about the food. So a

Christmas Carol. Yes, I'm doing it as a one-man show. It's fantastic to

do that particular play at this time of the year, because it's such a

timely story, such a touching story about redemption, a man who gets a

second chance in life. This isn't the first time you've done a one-man

show, is it? I've done about 17. LAUGHTER

OK, Simon, no need to show off now. 17! How does that, I mean, jokingly,

we as chefs are only as good as our team. I know you said that of

course, your team's there and everyone is behind the stage,

essentially you're 80 minutes in front of an audience Yeah, it's down

to me and the writer. Almost all one-man shows are basically story

telling shows. If you tell the story well, you'll grip people. If you

faulter for a second and Barry Humphreys, you know, Dame Edna, he

said to me once, because that's essentially a one-man show, "If you

let the ball drop, for just a second, then it takes you ten

minutes before you can get them back again." That's a particular, like

being on a tight rope. Obviously, I enjoy that. I like the adrenaline of

that. Obviously a Christmas Carol isn't just one man. There's 20

characters. At least. You play every one. Tiny Tim, seriously! I do give

my tiny Tim. At a certain point I play the entire Fezzywig's ball as

well. I have to see it. It's a must. In the end, you know, it's Dickens'

heart which is in that piece, the ten derns, the -- tenderness, the

compassion for people, the injustice that he fought all his life and told

in the most fabulous story with these extraordinary characters.

You're a Dickens fan, you've written books about him. Where did that love

come, was it school? No, when I was about 13 I think I had chicken pox,

which is the most revolting thing you can have, medieval affliction.

My grandmother gave me a copy of the Pickwick Papers. I never scratched

again. I was given over to this amazing world of huge characters and

big adventures and so on. Then I just followed on with reading the

books until the BBC asked me to recreate Dickens' public readings.

Yes! Not only the greatest writer, he could have been the greatest

actor of his age. He just read from a leak turn, but his ability to

create characters and of course, for the audience, who knew the books

almost as well as he did himself, so he just had to mention you know, as

you say, tiny Tim or Oliver Twist and they were at his feet. They

said, I read that they said as soon as he published a Christmas Carol it

was 20 play versions already. Instantly. Almost all of his books

actually in the early years. I mean, there's a play version of the

Pickwick Papers before he'd finished it. So they provided an ending

entirely different to the one he wanted. He had no control over. It

he's always been popular. He's been a book that people read, not

intellectuals, not academics. For many years, until the end of the

last century, Dickens was rather despised by academics. I know.

People went off him in school. But actually he's historically

fantastic. More than that. He's just a joy to read, the freshness and the

imagination. The trick is, I think, that he imagined them being read

outloud. He wrote a lot of his books in installments. The head of the

family would buy the latest instoolment, go home -- instalment

and go home and read them. Some say I find it difficult to get into a

novel. Read it outloud and it will fall into place. We don't all have

your amazing voice! Come on, slightly different me reading

Dickens outloud than your good self. I've marinaded the prawns, rosemary,

orange, garlic, olive oil. I'm making a very loose salad with mint,

fennel, spring onion, touch of chilli. Are you a chilli lover? Love

it. Good. Some celery and we're going to use spinach. Gorgeous.

We're going to have some little pumpkin that we've done, which is

seasoned and a bit of basil. How due do that? Saute it in a man. You can

use the seeds a bit. I will mix it with the couscous. You've done the,

well, sounds ridiculous, very flippantly say, that you've done the

acting bit, incredible writer. Kind of you to say so. Seriously. That's

what I always wanted to do long before I wanted to be an actor, I

wanted to be a writer. I wrote obsessively as an add lessent. I --

adolescent. I had one subject, which is me, even I could see the limits

of that. Then I became an actor, then I had a subject, acting and

actors and the theatre. I moved on and written other things. I've

written a book about Wagner. How do you, I mean, he's a bit love-hate.

History and what he stood for and everything. But his music you can't

not like or you can't realise how genius he is.

And how did you get into the music? I have always loved classical music.

When my contemporaries were listening to the Rolling Stones, I

was listening to classical music. I just naturally loved it. I think

that is how you have become the amazing person you have. You said

your mother made you grow up very quickly. She wanted an adult

companion, not a child! She used to read me the columns from the Daily

Telegraph in my pram! That is how all children should be brought up.

And then you went to Africa when you were around eight years old. One I

was nine, I went to Zambia, which was called Rhodesia in those days. I

hated it because I was a short, fat little child, and it was impossibly

hot. It was central Africa, and there was huge barometric pressure.

I was there for three years, and thought I hated it and longed to

come back to England, but the moment I came back, England suddenly seemed

so small. It was a curious event to happen when one was nine. I love the

idea that you got your first acting job because you wrote to Laurence

Olivier. You were working at the National. I didn't ask for a job or

anything like that. As I had gone so often, I just went to see a play

there when I was 18. Then I suddenly thought, what an extraordinary

organisation. Everybody who works there seems to love what they are

doing. Not just the people on the stage, but people seem to think that

it matters, this job. I thought, that's what I want to do with my

life. So I wrote to Laurence Olivier this letter, explaining to him what

I thought a wonderful theatre it was. And he just replied and said,

why don't you come and work are? I started at the box office. And then

it was a show, and within 18 months of acting, you are on the stage in

the west end. It was Harry Secombe who saw the show. The show was a

complete flop, but it was great. It was fantastic. Well, obviously, what

made you was the big-name, four weddings. I have only seen it twice,

but I have loved it both times. People do remember it. It is great

to be remembered for something that people love so much. People have

seen that film 50, 100 times. I remember reading about it. I grew up

in Essex way, and I remember when it was your funeral, and it was filmed

near Dartford. I thought, what is this film going to be? And as you

said, Richard Curtis, it is the script. Fabulous acting, but it is

the script. What amazed me, not that it was a success in England or

America, but I was in Tokyo shortly after. A little bit later, I was in

Tahiti, and there were queues round the block. Some kind of genius in

film to do that. It was something that everybody could relate to. We

have all had a death in our family, we have all fallen in and out of

love. You want the girl, you want the boy. It was a film very much

about commitment. It was made at the time when eggs was at its height,

and everybody was very terrified. Suddenly it seemed that falling in

love with somebody was a very sensible idea. You haven't just done

for weddings. -- Four Weddings. So here, I have made because close.

Mixed the spinach, all the different vegetables there, roasted of the

prawns and mixed it altogether. I hope like it. This is all yours. You

don't have to give anything to Jordan or Francesco! It is full of

flavour. It's perfect. What will I be making for Simon at the end of

the show? First I'll make a tomato-based

sauce, with garlic lobster bisque and truffle butter

in a casserole dish. Then I'll add the fresh

filleted bream, seasoned I'll top with a bread crust

and bake in the oven. Or Food Hell -

chocolate caprese cake! I'll melt the chocolate over a bain

marie and then fold the chocolate into whisked egg yolk,

ground almonds, sugar and finally Your face is like, no chance! Even

and pistachio ice cream! Your face is like, no chance! Even

if you make it, I am not going to eat it! How are the prawns? Happy?

There is a sort of darkness about the flavour which is fantastic. Just

a bit of marinade there with your garlic, and a bit of olive oil.

Now it's time to catch up with Nigel Slater,

who's busy making some delicious sweet treats perfect for Christmas!

From the bottom of my stocking, to clove-covered decorations,

my next festive taste has been a shining star of my Christmas

But something bright and refreshing to break up a mountain of indulgent

dishes on the Christmas table is my best use for oranges.

There are lots of flavours that instantly say it's Christmas,

but there's also the smell of things too and for me the first

And I'm going to use an orange as the base for a fruit salad.

But first some biscuits to go with it.

And a couple of tablespoons of caster sugar.

What I'm making here are biscuits that will shine and glisten

and be very crunchy to go with the fruit salad.

And just let that melt with the butter and sugar.

Now I'd like a little bit of spice in here.

Going to put a little bit of ginger in.

Now as soon as the butter has melted and you've got a mixture that

looks like thick honey, then in goes the flour.

And because it's Christmas, a drop of brandy.

A few roughly chopped pistachios will add a bit of texture to these

As you spoon on little mounds of the mixture,

sprinkle them on top, before going in to the oven at 150

Those biscuits are go to with my fruit salad and we'll

I'm using a whole juicy orange, and their juice is quite sweet,

so I like to put something in there that'll sharpen

And then for real sparkle, I'm going to stick in

What we've got here is a lovely bright-tasting citrus base.

So got some little clementines here and they smell instantly

of Christmas and everyone will get one of these a piece.

So far, so traditional, but now for a few exotic

And finally these little caped gooseberries - physalis.

So that I'm going to chill very thoroughly in the fridge and bring

Now when these come out of the oven, they are quite

Which means I can pop them round my rolling pin so they make

These warm, rich brandy snaps will make such a delicious

contrast to the fresh, sharp flavours of my fruit salad.

Now I'm just going to take these in to the room.

And then everybody can have some of the fruit and the orange juice

That will look great on the Christmas table.

When you're desperate for something refreshing,

And served with the crisp brandy snaps, it still feels

There are lots of great flavours here, but the orange for me

Occasionally I'll wrap it round a Battenberg cake and then

And I start my little marzipan cakes with 180g of butter.

And that I put onto the machine to cream until it's

While the ingredients are mixing, lightly beat a couple of eggs.

When the butter and the sugar are really pale and fluffy,

you just start to add the beaten egg.

And then the first kick of festive flavour, 150g of almonds.

Going to drop these little nuggets of marzipan -

about 100g of it - into the mixture.

And what will happen is that when we eat our little cakes...

After a brief final mix, simply spoon little mounds of the mixture

But what I want is something in each of those that will balance

And my little fruits are blueberries.

So, as it's Christmas, a little bit of icing sugar.

And then, as soon as they're cool, you can eat them.

It's that little nugget of marzipan that makes this.

When you're eating and you suddenly come across this

Still to come on today's show: Tom Kerridge is very much

He's making his amazing turkey roll, topped with a Christmas crumble,

It's almost omelette challenge time, and in honour of our guest Simon,

it's simple, you just need to make the quickest omelette.

Can one of you "upstage" the other, without causing

Remember to "break" an "egg" not a "leg"!

And will Simon be getting his food heaven, truffle-baked bream.

Or will it be hell, chocolate caprese cake?

We'll find out at the end of the show.

So, on with the cooking. Jordan, how are you? Good. Have you had Korean

food before? I have. I am friends with Izzy, and she does delicious

Korean food. But there are some dodgy things. You can get some nice

stuff down in New Malden, in south London. So what have we got here?

These are the short ribs. They are cut this way, as opposed to a cross.

You can keep the bone in, and then they keep it nice and intact with

lots of flavour, then they get thrown onto the grill. And you will

marinade those? Yes. So you have garlic, pepper, Asian pear. You can

use normal hair as well. Onion, sesame, soy sauce, and the sweetness

of the pair. Should we put the ones that have marinated on the grill?

Yes. This can be done the night before.

Marinade them the night before, OK. The longer the better. If you don't

have that much time, you can just do it about an hour before. The

flavours are all strong. You've got six cloves of garlic, the ginger,

everything in there. So it doesn't take long for it all to get absorbed

in. Nice to give it a bit of time. Looks fantastic. OK. Let's get rid

of this. Yes Jordan I can hear you above all that! Any way, how's the

lovely Irish guy? Sorry. First off, congratulations for amazing food

book of the year, Observer food book of the year, called My Korean

kitchen? Our Korean kitchen. Explain the connection between the book and

your wife? Yes it's the Korean woman in my life who I met maybe eight or

so years ago. I just couldn't believe how little was known about

Korean food at the time. It's a lot better now. Particularly when I went

over there, in comparison to Chinese, Japanese food, close

neighbours, South East Asia as well, so much is known about, it but then

in comparison to Korean food there wasn't that much. It was nice to

bring some of that back. Literally massaged this into the meat, the

marinade, just before you fire it on. Leave that in the fridge.

Ideally 24 hours. The thing is you didn't just meet your lovely wife,

who I've met, and suddenly become a Korean chef. You were cooking for a

while. You've done all this stuff. That's right. It was totally

different to that style of food and cooking. The same principles in the

sense that lovely ingredients just simply cooked. That's what drew me

to it. That's the thing with Korean food a lot of people think that

there's a misconception that it's really complicated because they

think of all the spices and the paste and kimchi and all that kind

of thing, in reality it's quite simple. You can see here. Isn't that

because maybe people don't know where the ingredients come from or

what the ingredients are, does that make it more complicated do you

think? It is becoming easier to get your hands on things now. Everything

we have here you can pretty much get in the supermarket. There is the

chilli paste, we have a bit of miso equivalent, which is just a Korean

miso paste with more power and flavour to it. That's delicious. All

those ingredients you can get even online, if you don't have an Asian

food store near you. People are coming round to it more. You said

the famous word, kimchi. I'm guessing this is yours. That's our

home made one. Wow. One, what's kimchi? There's like 200 different

types, but any kind of kimchi is a fermented vegetable. Is there a time

for fermentation? It's totally up to you in the sense that I like the

fresh, young kimchi which are one month fermented. I've had some in

Korea which are one to two years. Is it vegetable only or can you do meat

or fish? They have fermented fish, they have little, baby prawns, they

are put into kimchi which give it that lovely fish flavour and they

use fish sauce, same as the Thai one essentially. Got you. It is an easy

dish to make, but people are put off by it. I have lots of, in my next

book I'm doing, healthy baking and sourdough and bread, there's

ferments, because I want people to get back into the kitchen and doing.

It before fridges, everyone fermented their food. Every culture

had - We were just saying Italians that they don't do, you say do we

have kimchi in the restaurants. Cavolo nero kimchi would be perfect.

We do the pickling, look at Mrs Beeton's. Angela, you need a job. My

shallots, I sliced them. Put them in pickling liquid. I prepared the

lettuce leaves. You could use like a Chinese cabbage or bok choi. Spring

onions in theory hearsal, I threw them away. -- in the rehearsal, I

threw them away. I managed to save them. I am on it. I'm your chef

today. Fantastic. Just to slice up. What's lovely about Korean food is

it's sharing food. It's like Spanish Tapas. Everything is put down onto

the table at the same time. It's sharing food. So you've got, in most

cases the fish and meat are in small quantities on the side. It's not

like a massive slab of meat or fish and the veggies are kind of separate

to that. You know the bit that you've put to one side, that's the

favourite bit, the bone. Exactly. That's the bit you want to punch on

at the end. Completely. Gnaw on that. Where's our rice? It's. There

-- It's there. You fill up these parcels, like a lettuce leaf

pancake. But you put the kimchi on the table. You'd put the deep,

spiced puree. Exactly, it's Korean miso paste. It's fermented soy

beans. It has an amazing flavour. We're plating up here now to make it

look lover. You could bring them down, all their components and then

have everyone dig in. It gets people straight into it, sharing. Which

rice do you use? You want to use a short grain rice. This is white

short grain. The supery rice is quite ease -- su-shi rice is quite

easy. Ideally if you're going down the... You wouldn't use carnaroli

rice from Italy? Definitely not. If you'd like to try our studio recipes

today, visit the website. We've put our spring onions there. I still

haven't sliced them correctly, got, what am I doing. What is going

wrong. We have to keep it on track. We can bring these bits for people

to help themselves. Let's do a lovely shot of it there. I'm going

to put that there. I will put a bit of that paste there. This is

gorgeous. Have I convinced you yet? One of the things you've convinced

me, there's no coriander in it. That's a bonus for me straight away.

It's a funny one. It's not used at all. In fact, my wife hates

coriander. A lot of Koreans aren't mad on coriander. I knew I liked you

and your wife when I met you! What's the name of your dish? This is

Korean short ribs. Looks fantastic. OK, I'll take that. Bring the

kimchi. I'll bring the paste. We'll bring the extra beef as well. Simon,

Francesco. There you go. Have you had Korean before? Yes, I have. With

moderate delight. That's a good way of putting it.

Hopefully this will be moderately better. You can either go lettuce

leaf like a wrap. Or dive in. And use some of this miso paste. Let's

move all this stuff. You like spicy food, though? I love it. Perfect.

They're not going to talk to me now. They're just munching away. I don't

need to ask them what they think. I ask see Francesco's face. He'll be

round your house tonight after service. You're very welcome. As

long as he brings the cod. Do you like it? Fantastic, so interesting.

You can always tell when people like food. It gets very quiet.

Okay, let's head back to Kent to find out which wine

Susie Barrie has chosen to go with Jordan's ravishing ribs!

Jordan's beef parcels are so tasty and so much fun to make and to eat

that I want to find a wine for them that in the same way is going to

bring a smile to everyone's face. My first thought was to go for a really

bold and fruity rose yay, such as this -- rose, such as this one from

Argentina. That would work really well with the sweet and salty

marinade. This is ultimately a beef dish. When I tried a few different

wines with it, the most satisfying match was undoubtedly a red. This

soft and fruity Bienbebido Queso Tempranillo Vintae from Spain which

is great value. As you can see from the label, it doesn't take itself

too seriously. This wine is made from Spain's most famous grape

variety. It's been aged for a few months in oak. It's very much a

fruit-driven style, but with a rich, rounded texture that's ideal for

Jordan's dish. The first thing you notice in your mouth is that it

isn't too dry or tannic. That's really important if it's to match

the sweetness of the honey and Mirrin. It's full bodied and ripe.

It doesn't feel heavy. That makes it ideal for this style of light but

flavoursome beef dish. Finally, there's a creamy note from the oak

and that just rounds everything off perfectly. So, Jordan, your dish and

this wine are definitely made for sharing with friends and what could

be more fun than that - cheers! You like this? Absolutely. In Korea

you wouldn't usually have the red wine with. It you would have sake.

This is really nice. Lovely with the meat. It works well. Susie didn't

have this paste to try it with. But actually it doesn't go against. It's

not too spicy. Really nice. You like red wine? I love red wine. But it

was very good with this dish. I wouldn't expect to have red wine

with this dish, but it balances perfect. It's got the spice in it.

It's lovely combination. Perfect. They're very happy campers here at

the moment. Simon said it was the spring onion cutting that made the

dish. I tend to agree with him! It's now time for a Christmas treat

from the maestro Raymond Blanc. He's making a duo of

delectable desserts! This is relatively easy

to cook in your own home. 'A light iced chestnut parfait

covered with fluffy whipped cream, 'chocolate swirls

and magical mushrooms. 'The chestnuts Raymond

is using come in two forms. 'First, crystallised,

known as marron glace.' 'Raymond is also using chestnut

puree, both sweetened So far,

no beating, no chopping, 'The chestnuts will flavour

a parfait, a light ice cream that So here I have

got all the textures and the flavours, and here

is to bring the lightness, 'The base for the parfait is a foam

made by whisking eight egg yolks, '100 grams of sugar,

and 65 mils of water.' You'll not see a drop

of sweat on my forehead. 'To this, Raymond adds the heated

reserved syrup from the marron And then just by doing that,

I'm cooking my eggs here 'A little sabayon loosens

the chestnut puree.' 'Whipped cream is folded

into the cooled sabayon.' Then, of course, you add

all your chestnuts. This is a chestnut parfait

mixture, it's ready to go Adam, can you please put

that in the freezer? 'Once frozen, Raymond covers

with whipped cream...' Viola! 'Now it's time for Raymond

to find his inner child. Marzipan, coloured red

for the tops...' Funny shape, THEY LAUGH I'll go

away and practice. '..some chocolate swirls.' It

might tell you a lot 'Now, time to decorate.' Of course,

you put your little fun bits here, 'Pastry chef Benoit Blin has heard

about Raymond's buche. But not his love of hats.'

Benoit is a reindeer. It's a shame that you don't

wear your beautiful hat. Voila!

You wear the other. When I am feeling bullish,

I go for it, you know? For me, it's one of the very

best Christmas desserts 'There are some Christmas traditions

that it is very hard 'Raymond is going to

end his Christmas feast with a work of art.' Ah,

the garnishes, yeah? 'A wintery forest floor of chocolate

tuile, 'chestnut parfait mushrooms and intricate chocolate leaves.'

I always love the idea of a dessert which smiles at you,

which makes you smile. 'This is Raymond's chocolate

and chestnut Winter Still Life. Raymond is using the same chestnut

parfait he made for the Buche de The whole idea

was to recreate a lovely mushroom. You could use that mould,

individually, it would work well. 'For the stalks, meringue.' Just

pipe it, very simply, cook it in the oven and you just

put them in. 'The upside-down mushrooms now need

to be frozen.' It's a fantastic dessert because effectively you can

prepare it two weeks All the work has been

really done before. and has those wonderful

textures, you know? And a lot of it you can actually

buy in a pastry shop. 'First some chocolate

sauce.' I want a lovely

smooth, light sauce. I want the chocolate

to completely disappear. Now, carefully placed layers

of tuile biscuits and grated chocolate.' It's all about that

floor which has decayed 'Raymond's Christmas favourite,

marron glace.' Without marron glace, 'Forest floor deliciously littered,

now set it aside.' This forest floor can be prepared at least one hour

or two or three hours in advance. Put it on the side in your probably

bedroom, because you haven't enough 'Just before serving,

remove the frozen mushrooms from their moulds and dust

with cocoa.' It's important you put it on the plate totally hard frozen

because within quarter of an hour, the chestnut puree will be velvety

smooth, silky, melting, OK? It just looks like it's been

picked this morning. I hope it will put a little smile

on your face, as well. That was sensational, Raymond. Let's

speak to some of you at home. First up, Lisa from Chatham. My question

is, I bought some dried sheet of seaweed, and I've only really put

them in my vegetarian food, like tofu and mushrooms, curries and

things like that. Is there anything else I can do with it? And you are

vegetarian? Yes. You can make an amazing cold soup, like in Korea,

where they put the seaweed into water to refresh it, then put it in

with onion, rice wine vinegar, salt, and then a bit more water. It is a

cold soup and is absolutely delicious. Lisa, heaven or hell?

Being vegetarian, I don't want the fish. We will let you off! Simon, a

couple of tweaks. David says, I have a packet of Italian product, any

suggestions what I can do with it? Something you can use it for is meat

or pasta. You can make a south of their the capers, and then you put

it on top of your skull ups, put it on the grill. That means he is

coming round. Next week, Simon. -- next tweet. I have a kilo of Turkey

fill it that I have no idea what to do with it. Any Christmas ideas?

Jordan? My mum does this leftover turkey stew the following day, which

is always delicious. Put in pretty much all the leftovers, and

coriander. Your favourite! You could probably put in parsley. And cream.

Perfect. Now back to the phones. Bill from East Kilbride. Good

morning. I am planning to cook a whole sea bass for Christmas lunch,

and would like some ideas for a recipe. Francesco? Sea bass is

amazing. You can do a rock salt sea bass. Mix a kilo of rock salt to a

kilo of fine salt. Mix in some dill and some lemon zest. Fish on top,

then salt began on top, and bake it in the oven. When it comes out of

the oven, crack it on the table, and you will be the winner. So it is a

salt baked sea bass? And heaven or hell? I think it has to be heaven

for a consummate thespian. And Amanda from Cardiff, your question?

I would like an alternative for a traditional Christmas pudding. I

will take that one. A lovely sticky toffee pudding is fantastic. Still

has that pudding effect without the heaviness of a Christmas pudding.

And I think you will log is brilliant. I know it isn't your

thing, Simon. But you could also do a plate of cheese. A little bit of

savoury with some salad on the side isn't a bad thing on Christmas Day.

Heaven or hell? Definitely heaven. So now it is time for the omelette

challenge! You are so happy. Francesco, you are

right up there, 18.1 six. You practice a lot at the restaurant?

No. And Jordan, how are you feeling? I have done no practice.

You both know the rules - you must use three eggs but feel

free to use anything else from the ingredients

in front of you to make them as tasty as possible.

The clocks stop when your omelette hits the plates.

Let's put the clocks on the screen for everyone at home please.

Jordan is old school! Francesco is feeling the pressure. Shell as well!

An added bonus! Looking good. Not bad. That looks a bit like an

omelette. Crikey! Not bad. There is less raw egg than you normally have

it. Let's have a little taste here. Have some more if you like! It's not

too raw. There is a crunch in yours that I might end up getting! That's

not bad for your first attempt, Jordan. It is important to have some

shell in there. That is actually seasoned! Jordan, argue on the

board? The shell might be the decider whether I get on there or

not. So you are on the board. You are 28.1 six. Very good. You are

somewhere around here. Francesco, have you beaten your time? I don't

think so. No chance! So let's keep that one then! Loser is the world.

So in honour of Simon and Christmas, A Christmas Carol is what we are

going to play. So will Simon get his food heaven,

truffle-baked bream, or food hell, We'll find out which one you're

getting, after Tom Kerridge treats us to a sensational turkey recipe

for the festive season. A turkey has a special

place in my heart. Every year we used to have turkey

roll on Christmas day. So first thing I'm going to do

is get on to making the stuffing mix to go inside my turkey roll,

cos stuffing, for me, is one To 800 grams of sausage meat,

I'm adding 400 grams of cooled, sweated down onions and 160

grams of breadcrumbs. What they do is they absorb all

the fats and all the lovely juices. Christmas wouldn't really be

Christmas unless we had Dried cranberries have

a wonderful flavour. They're a little bit

like little sweets. Give it a good season, and next

a tablespoon of juniper berries. I'm going to crush 'em

in a pestle and mortar, it releases all that lovely oil

and that smell and flavour. And I can't make a Christmas

stuffing without using sage. It already looks

Christmassy, doesn't it? And into this stuffing,

I need some chestnuts, I'm using already cooked,

vac packed ones. These are lovely and soft,

and what they do is they start to absorb all the juices

and all the flavours Give it a right good mix - a real

good squeeze and a move around. This is going to be well tasty

inside my turkey roll, so I'd better How many people actually

like turkey leg? On Christmas day, everyone wants

breast meat, and making this amazing turkey roll is a real cost-effective

way of doing Christmas lunch without having loads and loads

of turkey left over. Now, I have here about a 2

to 2.2 kilo turkey breast, This will feed about

eight to ten people. I'm removing the skin off the breast

because it never really crisps up. Take this fillet out that sits

underneath the breast. When you cook this, the whole turkey

breast will kind of curl up. So we definitely don't want to use

this, but I am going to keep it, cos this will make amazing turkey

nuggets in the new year. Next, trim up the meat

to remove any fat or sinew. I'm just going to kind of butterfly

it out into a rectangle. Get yourself a massive

roll of clingfilm. And then I'm going to stick my

rectangle of turkey breast onto the clingfilm and then put

another layer of it on the top. Now I'm going to bash

it with a rolling pin, and this is for two reasons -

tenderises the meat and allows you to roll it nice and easy and it

also relieves any Christmas tension that you might have, especially

thinking about all those relatives So once you've finished bashing

out your Christmas Santa and your turkey, roll another layer

of clingfilm on top. Then season the meat and slap a nice

dollop of that wonderful I'm just going to spread it nice

and evenly over me turkey. Fold it into itself,

and with your hands, just kind of tuck it right in,

and then just keep rolling it. You keep pulling the

clingfilm nice and tight. This is the point where I tell

you that I have shares You move the turkey to, like,

a 45 degree angle and then roll it Adam, can you please put

that in the freezer? So what I'm doing is trying to get

a long piece at the end. Now, this way of cooking

in clingfilm is wonderful, cos what it does is it keeps

in all the moisture By tying this equal distances apart,

you'll end up with the same So when you steam cook

this, it cooks evenly. Place a wire rack inside a baking

tray for your beautifully wrapped Don't worry about the clingfilm

melting, the wire rack in the baking tray keeps it away

from any direct heat. Now, you can see already

the steam coming up, and that's going to cook

that turkey beautifully. Then simply cover it

with tinfoil, and its bye-bye The oven's on quite a low

temperature, 120 degrees Centigrade. Now, I'm going to cook

that for about an hour It's the highlight

of Christmas for me, All you do to supercharge

the leftover stuffing is line a terrine mould with the smoked

streaky bacon and fill Fold the bacon back

on top of itself. Bake it for about 45 minutes

in a low oven then it's under Now my turkey's been in the oven

for a couple of hours. While this rests for about 40

minutes, I'm going to make an incredible crumble topping

to scatter over the turkey. This is some sourdough and it's just

been toasted lightly through the oven to dry it out

and make it go all Just bash this up and give some

delicious pork scratchings Now I have made my own,

but as it's Christmas, I'll turn a blind eye

if you buy a packet. And these give a wonderful

crunch and it also adds You just know it's going to be

proper lush on that turkey. Chopped dried cranberries will add

magnificent sweet contrast to the crumble and thyme gives

a lovely herby freshness. Finally, for a soft nutty taste,

chopped pistachios finish That is going to be an amazing

flavour, but most importantly, incredible texture to go on top

of my turkey. It might not seem like the done

thing, but I'm going to smother my turkey in some homemade brown sauce

but you can buy your own. Brown sauce is actually made with

dates which are proper Christmassy. Now, I know you're thinking,

"He's gone mad at this point," but trust me,

it allows the crumble You know that is the perfect,

most beautiful turkey roll ever. Christmas dinners will

never be the same again. Right, time to find out

whether Simon is getting his food For your food heaven, I am

going to make truffle-baked bream. First I'll make a tomato-based

sauce, with garlic, lobster bisque and truffle butter

in a casserole dish. Then I'll add the fresh

filleted bream seasoned I'll top with a bread crust

and bake in the oven. Or will it be food hell,

a chocolate caprese cake! All the things you don't like,

sugar, dairy, oh, my gosh. You're not acting at the moment. You

genuinely really do not like that. It was 2-1 with the public vote. It

was down to these two chefs. So Jordan, what did you do? Sorry,

Simon. I have to go hell. Oh, my. Heaven.

Let's clear all of that boys I'm going to give you some jobs.

Jordan you're cracking on with doing the pastry. The little bread on the

top. You're going to do the tomato sauce. What's that? This is a

truffle butter. Mmm. These mushrooms are, we have a lovely lady Alex who

does the make up and her mother picked these mushrooms in Epping

Forest and dries them. Italian mother-in-law. You'll recognise

this. Beautiful. Porcini. Amazing smell there. Absolutely beautiful.

We're going to do that. What we're doing first is we have our bream

fillets here. I'm going to slice a bit of lemon. We're going to put

that through the centre with a touch of rosemary. That's beautiful. Just

fold that in like so. Take out the pip there. You're OK on the tomato

sauce? I'll see what I can do. I don't need to tell you how to do

that. Can you imagine, the insults of how to tell a southern Italian

how to make a tomato sauce. Brilliant. Touch of rosemary. Then

put the fillets on top. Then, OK, you're there. Fish sandwich. You

need that slightly -- knead that slightly. We are going to tie it

like this. How do you prepare? I mean, I've got the worst habits of

eating after service, because it's late. It's 11pm and the last thing

you should be doing is eating or drinking at that time of night. How

do you prepare? Do you have something earlier in the evening

before you go on? I have something at 6pm. The show is at 7. 45pm. Then

really, after the show I really have just a starter. I go to a restaurant

and have a starter. Because big meals after the show are a

catastrophe. Do you feel you have to wind down? You need a good hour or

something to relax? No, not really. Not at all. You're kind of energised

not manic. If you're manic you're doing something wrong. Yeah exactly.

It goes on till what? 7th January. Perfect. Two shows a day. It is.

Busy man. Have you any favourite dish to eat after a show? You're

going home to prepare after this? Last night I had a fish soup in

Koffman's. Perfect, yes! Absolutely, the perfect thing to have at the end

of a show. Nice a light, comforting. Delicious. We have our lobster in

there. Our tomato sauce that we have made here. We're going to put that

in. That act as a thickening agent. We've put our mushrooms in there as

well. This is, where this is fantastic it's a real, I sound like

I'm doing the puns for the eggs now, show stopper. We are putting these

lovely herbs in there. This is Luke's dish, who I work with. It's

not my dish. We put on the pastry and take it to the table and carve

it open. Fingers crossed we get it like. How's it looking? Getting

there. Trouble butter in there. Tiny bit of salt, not too much.

Everything is quite rich any way. You can get rid of all that stuff

there, my love. Jordan's made what we call like a flatbread. It's

basically flour, water and a touch of salt. That is it. Nothing more to

it. No pastry in the sense of the word of no butter or anything. I

think that's looking good. Let's lift that over then. That's going to

sit on here. We will move that there for a minute. This is the trick. You

pull that way and you basically stick it this side then knot it

round. There you go. That is looking good. We knot it in so it stays like

this. What are you cooking Christmas Day, Korean? Actually no. I think my

family would shoot me. We are doing Korean the night before and then

we're going to go traditional on Christmas Day, just to keep them all

happy. Keep them all happy. I remember one year I made, someone

asked me and I said are you doing it, no one year I made duck and it

was like a Peking duck and it was so dry. My mother push today aside. She

said, "-- pushed it aside. She said, "Perhaps stick to Turkey next year."

We put clarified butter. And then rosemary afterwards. Take you to the

oven now. Put that one in there. We will take this in. Oh, this is

looking very good. I'm going to get you to, if you can shut that oven

for me. That is fantastic. Right, beautiful. So Simon, Christmas Day

is your one day off in the next few weeks. Yes. Thank God. No, it's

wonderful. Makes it more special. Of course. It's very private. Just me

and my husband. Who's going to do the cooking? He will have to do, I'm

afraid. You're working Boxing Day and Christmas eve, that's only fair.

Can we clean up please, boys. Sorry, Angela. They just don't do

it! You let it come out of the oven. You let it rest a little bit because

let the steam relax and the pastry relax a bit. Then we basically cut

it so we have this lovely crust. I need that board, my love. You can

cut that into segments. Excuse me, I'm going to get a little spoon

here. You can smell all those mushrooms. You know the aromas of

the truffle. We're going to put this, yeah. I'm going to ask you a

quick favour, you can tell me, can you do the voice of scrooge? I can.

What would you like to say that he loves the sea bream, no, no.

Something from Dickens. I want to hear Dickens. Well, a culinary

alugs. He says, "If I had my way, every idiot who goes about with a

merry Christmas on his lips would be boiled with his own pudding and

buried with a stake of holly through his heart."

APPLAUSE Brilliant. You have to do that 30

different voices. I do. I'm going to get the wine now. Forks, we've got.

Right, let's move the pot so you can eat a bit, yeah. Beautiful. Here's

the wine. You've got some knives and forks. You guys tuck in. Simon,

please. Have some food. There you go. Gentlemen, some wine. Could you

pass those out? Sure. Susie has chosen a Chardonnay from 2015, ?10

from Sainsbury's. It smells lovely. Susie's done great for us. Do you

like that? It's sublime. Thank you, Luke. Got to thank Luke. Thank you

Luke. Thanks. You're happy? Would you put this on your 15 million

course fish menu? Yeah. We need to do a commission based charge for

Christmas eve. Are you happy Simon? My mouth is full, that's a good

sign. They're not talking to me because they're eating away. It's a

fantastic thing that they love it. No, it's brilliant. That's all from

us today on Saturday Kitchen Live. Thanks to our fantastic studio

chefs, Jordan Bourke and Francesco Mazzei,

the wonderful Simon Callow and wine guru Susie Barrie

for her top wine recommendations. All the recipes from the show

are on the website, Next week, John Torode is here

for the Christmas Eve special, But don't forget Best Bites tomorrow

morning at 9.45am on BBC Two. -- 10am BBC Two.

Happy Christmas!