24/12/2016 Saturday Kitchen

Good morning, and happy happy Christmas, we have a star-studded

line up of chefs, guests and recipes for you on this very special day.

Let's get cooking.

This is Christmas Saturday Kitchen.

Welcome to the show.

We've already got our Christmas jumpers on and we hope you have too.

Look, mine does this.

Ho, ho, ho.

Cooking with me in the studio this Christmas Eve,

the delightful Olia Hercules, who is bringing a touch

of the Ukraine yuletide to the proceedings.

And also joining us, the fantastic Theo Randall,

who is dishing up a festive Italian feast.

Good morning to you both.

Olia, I love your sparkles.

Thank you very much.

Very nice.

Your Christmas jumper, it is not really a Christmas jumper is it?

Happy Christmas John.

It is a very subtle Christmas jumper, it is not maybe

as appealing as yours.

I thought I might have a bit of fun with it.

Olia, you are cooking first, what you going to make?

I am making mushroom and chestnut and apple stuffed pyrizhky,

which are really beautiful brioche-like stuffed

buns from Ukraine.

From the Ukraine.

And then we can discuss the difference between pyrizhky

and all the others, because they are all similar.

With pleasure.

Very exciting indeed.

Festive Christmas Eve bun, wonderful.

Theo, what you going to cook for us?

I am cooking delicious hen pheasant, so pheasant wrapped in pancetta,

stuffed with rosemary.

I am going to cook it with celeriac and I am going to roast it in milk.

And then we will serve it with cavolo nero, so very

interesting flavour afterwards.

You have milk and celeriac and the pheasant all together?

When it cooks down, you get this incredible sauce with the celeriac.

It is like lumpy and gives a lovely flavour.

It sounds delicious.

A wonderful festive feast from both of you.

We have some gifts from the BBC archive too.

There is Christmas recipes from Rick Stein, Nigella Lawson,

Tom Kerridge and Nigel Slater.

Our special guest today is an actress who has swapped life

as an insecure university student in Fresh Meat to become

a 1960s nurse in the BBC drama Call the Midwife.

She is starring in the Christmas Day special.

Please welcome Charlotte Richie.

Good day Charlotte.

Happy Christmas Eve.

And to you too.

Thanks for coming in.

Thank you for having me.

A Christmas Day special, is there something very special

about the Christmas Day special?

Yes, it is longer, is the first thing.

It is also, this one is particularly special,

because it is filmed in South Africa.

You have to tell me more later on, which is great.

What sort of cook are you?

Absolutely terrible.

I have three things I cook.

A fry up, a stir-fry and roasted vegetables.

That is all right.

That is a pretty good repertoire.

That would be all right.

You are here also not just to celebrate Christmas Eve,

but you are going to face your food heaven and hell.

What would your food heaven be?

Pretty much anything chocolate is fine by me,

it's best thing I will eat.

You love chocolate.

I do.

And your hell?

My hell is Christmas cake.

Christmas cake or Christmas pudding.

It is Christmas Eve, Charlotte!

I know, I am dreading it.

This is one of those great dilemmas, you know,

chocolate or Christmas pudding.

Heaven and hell, there we are.

So, for food heaven I am going to make you a delicious chocolate

mousse with a hot chocolate sauce.

Using dark chocolate, brandy and cream, I will whip up

a mousse and serve it on top of a baked praline biscuit and pour

over a rich hot chocolate sauce that melts the praline.

You get chocolate and caramel all together.

You could be facing food hell and that is Christmas pudding.

I will make you the ultimate Christmas pudding dessert.

Mixing left-over Christmas pudding with vanilla ice cream, brandy,

and serve it with almond and marzipan puddings,

and we will have to wait until the end to find out which one

Charlotte gets.

We can catch up and talk about Call the Midwife,

Christmas special and you later on, in the meantime we are

going to make some food.

We wanted to feed you.

Olia, time for something festive, some festive buns.

What you going to make?

I am going to stuff some brioche buns, well, kind of brioche,

with wild mushrooms, chestnut mushroom,

chestnuts, a lovely apple and onion and cinnamon.

These are called?

Pyrizhky.

Pyrizhky.

What do we have to do?

Basically I am going to dice this onions, and I am

going to make the filling.

If you don't mind making the dough, that would be amazing.

OK, so what I have do is make the dough.

We have to slightly warm the milk, then we have honey and yeast,

and we are just going to mix it together and let it activate a bit,

then add the salt and two egg yolks, and then you gradually add,

add the butter first, a bit of melted butter.

It is enriched dough, and then you add the flour into the liquid.

I can do that while you chop away.

So You want egg yolks only?

Egg yolks please.

I have to get this sorted out.

Yeast, honey, salt, milk.

I will do that first.

Thank you.

You are, are you Ukrainian?

Yes, a big mix, but mostly Ukrainian, I suppose, yes.

Tell me about Ukrainian food.

It very regional.

Everybody puts eastern Europe into one basket,

but even within each country it is different.

This is more of a western Ukrainian dish, where they have forests,

so they have all these beautiful apples and beautiful

mushrooms there.

In the south of Ukraine, it is almost more Mediterranean in a way.

So beautiful tomatoes, aubergines, things like that.

Am I right in saying that for the Ukraine

and around those areas, that Christmas Eve

is really special?

It is, it is very special indeed.

Well, actually, Catholics obviously celebrate it tonight,

but orthodox celebrate it on 6th January.

Right, so Christmas Eve, the feast is happening.

The feast, really big feast.

12 dishes.

Is that right, 12 dishes of Christmas?

Yes.

Is this one of them?

It is kind of a thing we do at home.

In fact, my mum, you are supposed to have a pescatarian feast,

but my mum actually stuffs this with fermented cabbage

and slow cooked pork, which is a bit, yes,

not so traditional.

I am making a vegetarian version today because I

thought it would be nice.

So you have mushrooms, you have apples, and you have got

lots and lots of spices there.

It is cinnamon.

Just cinnamon.

Just a touch of it as well.

Just a touch of it as well.

Not too overpowering, because we want to taste

the mushrooms and apple.

Do you have a sort of a childhood memory of the first time

you ever ate these?

Yes, I guess.

You think those lovely sort of festive buns and festive things,

do you not remember the first Christmas things you ate?

Do you not remember what the first Christmas...?

I always remember my mum's mince pies are legendary,

and she has this kind of short crust pastry that is not that sweet,

but the filling is really sweet.

I used to take the lid off and put brandy Buttner in the top.

How old were you when wow were having brandy butter?

Too young!

I think memories are great like that.

So this dough, you make the dough like that,

and because it is yeast, it has to prove, does it?

Yes, it is going to prove for like, until it doubles in size.

All of that butter goes in?

It is a really rich dough.

The best recipes get created by mistakes almost,

so my mum had left over dough.

She adds vanilla to this, a tiny touch.

And she was supposed to fill it with a sweet filling,

and then we had that pork and fermented cabbage thing left

over, with spices, and she filled them and it was the best thing

I've ever had.

You could use this for a sweet filling

as well as a savoury filling.

Exactly.

So you just use apple, cinnamon and sugar.

Yes.

Sounds good.

Take that and that will go across and that is going to prove

and double in size.

So cook your mushrooms over quite a high heat.

I want to get a nice colour on them to get a richer flavour.

Right.

So when you use mushroom, what sort of mushrooms do you use?

So I have some chestnuts, mainly for texture, and then I have

wild mushrooms for flavour, but you can go with

whatever you like.

It is not a set recipe, play round with it.

Get what ever mushrooms you want, as much flavour as you can.

These stoves sometimes are a bit funny, you need to give

them a bit of welly, turn them up.

A welly?

A bit of welly, like a bit more ferocity.

You learn something every day!

Onions and mushrooms and apples and chestnuts,

I suppose we associate that with the stuffing of

the inside of a turkey?

Do you?

Cool.

Onions, apples...

Stuff goose with it.

Yes, delicious, absolutely.

So you are really making a stuffing for a bun which could be used

as a stuffing for anything.

A bit more noise going on, which is good.

You can add a bit of buckwheat, slightly cooked buckwheat into this,

it would be lovely.

They all cook off.

I have my dough here, the dough that has risen,

do I knock that back?

Yes, please.

So yeast dough, when it rises, you have to be able to knock it back

and it takes the air back out of it.

Make sure you get covered in flour!

Do you like my Santa jumper?

Yes, I particularly love it.

Very hipster.

Charlotte said it is really bad and that is why it is really good.

Exactly.

That is exactly how bad it is.

Terrible.

Mine, I was given advice by my friends that it was lovely,

and I thought that is probably the worst thing about it,

it is quite a nice jumper.

That is the problem with Christmas.

It needs to be huge and terrible, like that one.

How many balls...

Thanks very much.

I appreciate that.

Just a big Santa face.

How many balls am I going to get out of this mixture here?

Do 100g balls, that would be 100g.

So six?

Yes.

Fine, let us do that.

Or eight.

OK, so that is that, then you put apple in there?

Yes, just diced.

It smells amazing.

So oniona, if you have time at home give them about 15 minutes to really

kind of mellow and become soft and lovely.

They are like that.

Roll with it.

In you go, drop your apples in and you keep it separate.

Interesting.

Only because I want these to get good colour, basically.

Do not overcrowd the pan, do it in batches.

So they are all frying away, and they take a good sort

of 15 minutes or so, and you have the mixture we made

before, in the full knowledge that the mixture has to be

cold, doesn't it.

Yes.

Because you can't put a hot mixture inside a dough bun.

You can't.

Otherwise it will melt.

Yes.

What do I do, roll them in balls?

Roll them in a ball and do it how you would do with bread,

make it smooth, make a really nice smooth surface.

So I am going to add the chestnuts to my onions and then

a bit of garlic as well.

Right.

Tell me, when you, with things like this, how we pronounce it?

Pyrizhky.

With the pyrizhky, do you travel and research,

how do you get the inspiration?

My family.

But yes, travel and research, but very natural.

Because your first book is called?

Mamushka.

Which is actually a phrase used in the Adams Family.

Yes, it is.

You join these together now.

That is cooked?

Now season it really well.

You have to really season, and pepper, I don't use pepper

as a seasoning normally.

If I use it, I use it as a spice.

So put quite a big kind of pinch in there, to give it a bit of heat.

So lots and lots of pepper.

A pinch of cinnamon, not too much.

That goes in.

Good.

Boom.

Join them together and that is your filling done.

Fantastic.

What you will do is show me how to make one of these buns,

then I will follow you on.

Sure.

Let me take these out of the way.

Thank you very much.

Go from there.

That is good.

How do you make these buns?

So I will show you, so we basically we take a piece of dough.

There is my dough there.

And I need a rolling pin.

A rolling pin?

It is over here.

You got one?

That is cool.

I can borrow a bit of your flour.

Flour your surface really well.

Flour the top of the kind of dough as well.

And while you make these I will bring them out of the oven.

Then you roll it out into a roughly 15 centimetre disk.

And this dough, I know it will feel really soft but it is forgiving,

and you can put quite a lot of filling into it as a result.

Right.

Because you can stretch it.

It is very malleable.

So we will take a spoon, which is over there.

Those buns smell amazing.

Don't they smell fantastic.

The other thing is that lovely smell of Christmas.

Onions and chestnuts and apples and cinnamon

and all those things which - and amazing all across

the world you get the same.

We talk about the Ukraine, the UK, where ever you go,

there seems to be that wonderful smell of Christmas.

So quite a lot of filling.

You want it to be tasty, but the dough is tasty as well.

So look, and then that is it, then you pinch it together, like that,

as you would for Polish buns.

Then a bit of flour here.

Flip it over.

And that is it.

What is clever, you put the seam underneath and then it

goes on a baking tray.

So how would you serve those?

I really like it with hot sauce.

The Ukraine meets Asia.

Really it is good for breakfast, lunch, anything.

Look at that.

The smell in here is amazing.

Remind us what you made?

I made pyrizhky stuffed with wild mushrooms,

chestnuts and apples.

Amazing.

She

It's time for Christmas Eve feasting.

I love Christmas Eve.

Bring those over here.

I really do.

And things like this, I just think, you know,

buns and bits and stuffing and mushrooms and chestnuts...

I love Christmas.

Do you know why, I'm just a proper kid at heart.

I am salivating. This smells so good.

I am taking this. It is too big.

What do you reckon?

Eat disgracefully.

That's it. Eat disgracefully.

That's more like it.

That's fantastic.

Of course, we need wine to go with the outstanding dish.

We sent Jane Parkinson to Manchester to explore the Christmas markets

and to choose us a festive wine.

And we've loosened the purse strings because today is almost Christmas.

It's the last day before Christmas and I am here in Manchester to do

a little last-minute shopping.

So before I find today's wines, let's see what this award-winning

market has to offer.

I confess I wasn't quite sure what to expect

when I made Olia's pyrizhky.

It's delicious and the down-to-earth nature of this recipe takes me

to a wine that is fresh and fruity.

Something like this Chinon from France would be

a delicious option.

However, with the earthy mushrooms and chestnuts in the filling,

I'm thinking of one grape in particular,

and that's Pinot noir.

So I've chosen this Sancerre Les Champs Clos 2014.

It's a beauty, from France.

Sancerre, of course, is loved by us all as a white wine

made with a Sauvignon blanc grape.

But, they make red wines in Sancerre, too.

And always from the Pinot noir grape variety.

And because this is cool climate, Loire Valley territory,

the winds usually have a freshness and spice to them, so they're great

with food, which is why it is such a fantastic grape for Christmas.

The aroma is so bright and so fruity, I can smell red

cherries and raspberries, too.

The hedgerow fruit flavours of this wine is why it works

so well with the chestnuts and the mushrooms.

And because of its cool climate spice,

it also works really well with all that black pepper

and the cinnamon.

Finally, because this wine has a freshness from start to finish,

it even matches the crunch of the apple.

Olia, what a brilliant vegetarian recipe to serve up this Christmas.

And this is the frisky French red to serve alongside it.

I hope you like it. Cheers.

Olia, what do you reckon to the wine?

It smells delicious.

It's pretty good.

Theo!

It's got to be Christmas.

I mean, this is like expensive wine going on here.

You know me, though.

All the friends around on Christmas

Delicious.

I think that's absolutely delicious.

And because...

You've got something to drink, which is brilliant, because you're

going to make something very soon.

Can you remind us what you're going to make us?

I had better put that down.

I am doing roasted pheasant with celeriac.

The pheasant is wrapped in pancetta.

I am going to cook it with a bit of milk, a bit

of cream, a bit of marsala.

It is delicious.

With cavolo nero.

What d'you reckon, Charlotte?

It's very nice.

We are doing all right.

What a great way to spend Christmas Eve.

Rick is in full festive mood today making us a pear souffle.

One of my favourite festive ingredients.

A pear for a Christmas banquet, of course.

What a brave man.

Now this is a new discovery for me in Cornwall.

A delicious sparkling perry made by Andy Atkinson near Fowey.

Pears in Cornwall have been around for many many years.

Perry in itself is a very traditional drink.

And Christmas is all about that, it is all about tradition.

Cider gets all the good press, if you'll pardon the pun,

but I reckon it's time to raise the profile of Cornish perry.

The pears are washed and pulped.

And every last drop of juice extracted.

Nothing is wasted, even the pulp is collected

and used for animal food.

But sadly for the animals, they get it before it's fermented.

Merry Christmas.

That's convinced me.

I decided to use pears in the Christmas banquet.

And this time I've asked my pastry chef, Sam Eden, to come up

with a suitable dish.

She's going for a pear souffle.

She is using soft, ripe, sweet conference pears.

And she is stewing them down with sugar and a small amount

of the perry to enhance the flavour.

Then she simply breaks them up into a sort of smooth compote

and thickens it with cornflour,

also slaked down with a perry.

She adds it slowly, because you can't afford

any lumps in a souffle.

What I really like about it is it is going to be really

light because you are just using cornflour.

And you have some egg in there, I guess?

Yes, we mix it with a meringue which is just egg white and sugar-based.

So it is more stable, which is great for a party

because everyone is always scared they are going to collapse.

We don't want that. It is too embarrassing.

Especially with all the people we are going to serve.

I really love a souffle.

It is a mark of a good pastry chef to be able to make a lovely light

and simply flavoured souffle.

I am sure you know how to make meringue, with egg white,

sugar and plenty of arm aching whisking until you get

your peaks to stand up.

When you have done it, simply put half into the pear

compote and mix them thoroughly.

Then put the other half in and fold it in gently,

so as not to lose the light fluffiness of the meringue.

Pipe it into the buttered and sugared ramekins and make each

one looked tidy with a flat top.

Now they are almost ready for baking.

I love my Christmas puddings, but occasionally this

would be a welcome change.

It is some days since my pastry cook days.

I cannot...

Why do you rub your finger around that?

Because it helps to bring the souffle away from the edge.

It helps it to rise nice and flat.

I see. You learn something every day.

After about seven minutes they will have risen with a golden top.

We are serving it with a home-made ice cream, again infused with perry.

And some very smart and festive pear crisps.

Christmas, weeks of planning and preparation and before you know

it, the guests are turning up.

Among them is Simon Reid, a man who knows heaps

about the history of Cornish food.

At Christmas, traditionally, what do the Cornish do?

What special things happen in Cornwall?

In this part of the world one that was popular was cormorant pie,

layered with bacon and raisins.

Which is absolutely disgusting!

I would like to welcome you to this little lunch of Cornish produce.

We are starting with Falmouth Bay shrimps.

Actually, they are a bit of a prawn, really.

We have lots of nice courses to come, all with a Cornish theme,

so let's have a bit of a drink.

ALL: Cheers.

Somebody once told me he would not come in my restaurant

because he did not eat fish.

I don't eat fish. It looks good.

Everybody has got fish, so I got fish, as well.

Thank you very much, I am touched.

What was that one you were saying about some goat,

a story about a goat?

The first time I came here there was a well on the green.

I imagine in years gone by all the people came to the well

for the daily water.

I looked down the well and could not see the water.

I threw a stone down and never heard the splash.

I thought, that is very deep.

I must get something bigger.

There was a railway sleeper and I dragged it over and got one

edge on the wall and edged it up on my shoulder.

Until I got the sleeper, about 12 foot long,

crashing down the well, and I could see the sleeper

crashing down the well, but out of the corner of my eye, a goat.

He tried to kill me.

He put his horns down.

A goat.

And he had a nasty look on his face.

He was trying to butt you down the well.

I jumped out the way.

Don't start me laughing.

This goat jumped straight down the well.

I just saw a goat disappear in the distance, gone.

A fella came walking across the green.

He said, good morning. I said, oh, good morning.

He said, you haven't seen a goat? I said, no.

Well, he said, he can't have gone very far.

He is tied to a sleeper.

Thanks, Rick.

I've got to say, souffles and pears, it looks

like an amazing feast.

Pears truly are one of my festive favourite fruits.

And so, Charlotte, I am going to make you something sweet.

Something sweet and festive.

Something I think is delicious.

I am going to cook poached pears in red wine, so like Christmas

mulled red wine and I am going to show you how

to make the most basic, brilliant, fail-safe custard,

that does not split and does not curdle.

Great.

It is amazing.

Are you a pear fan?

I am a huge pear fan.

Are you a red wine fan?

Yes.

By the looks of the last little bit there...

It's embarrassing that I drank that so quickly.

It's television. It's terrifying.

I will simply poach pears

and poached pears are a great way.

You can store them, keep them,

serve straightaway.

I have a couple peeled.

I will peel some more.

And when you peel them, I tried to do them in a continuous swoop,

because if you do them on one line, when you take them out the pot,

they have that lovely line on them and you get a sculpted effect.

They are very pretty.

Also you have more control.

Christmas time and Call The Midwife.

Yes.

Where are you going to be off to on your Christmas special?

Well, we are off to Cape Town in South Africa.

What?

Yes.

A change of scene.

That is not Christmas.

Well, they have Christmas there.

Of course they do.

Other people celebrate different...

Celebrations.

It is basically going to be a warm Christmas, which is unusual.

I think it's a welcome change.

I think all of us were really chuffed to find out

we were going to South Africa.

It was a lovely treat.

Also, it is so beautiful, it was so beautiful there.

What is the storyline?

What is the story about?

The essential reason we are there is we operate in a nunnery

which is where all the midwives live alongside the nuns.

We are contacted by a mission in Cape Town, who has lost one

of their most important patrons - people in charge and we are called

out to sort of tend to the clinic and to stop it dosing down.

We go together.

To help out?

Yes.

I am just going to chuck these bits in here quickly.

Bay leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise, vanilla,

lemon and orange rind.

They go into the pot.

I am going to flavour this.

Imagine you are making mulled wine.

You do brandy and then you do sugar and then,

if that comes out...

Sugar, and a whole bottle of red wine.

This is my speedy way of getting it out, you twist the bottle

and it turns really fast.

Out it comes.

When you get cast for something like Call The Midwife.

Do you have to learn how to be a midwife?

I mean, I think you could.

It would be beautiful.

I didn't, because I was so afraid of being an actor in

somebody's birthing room.

I could not imagine anything worse than lingering while someone

is in pain and giving birth to their child.

I consulted books that are specific to the 1960s and midwifery,

and we have an amazing midwife who we consult for any kind

of technical knowledge, called Terri Coates.

She has been with the show from the beginning.

She was with the first manifestation of the show and knows

everything about midwifery and specifically 1960s midwifery.

If I am panicking about where my hands are supposed to be,

which is already awkward, she will be there to help.

There are a couple of things here.

One is that I do know that you loved Call The Midwife before

you were cast in it.

I did.

What was it like when you got the call?

I mean, it was amazing, obviously, but also suddenly worrying

because I had to think about how I wasn't going to let on that

to accidentally call everyone by their character names

and be super uncool.

I was really...

Is it super uncool?

I think so.

I think it makes you seem mad.

If you go on and call people by their character names,

as if you think they are real.

Because you are working with some amazing people.

Heroes?

I would say so. All the actresses on the show.

It is not so much all their individual careers,

it is also what I have found having worked on it is the

generosity of the team.

I think it is unusual to have a show with so many within it

women in it on a prime-time show about women's issues,

and to have so many women working so well together.

It's such a stereotype that women in particular are competitive,

actresses, and I haven't found that at all on the show.

The other thing is these issues and what was going

on was not that long ago.

When you think about it it was only 50 years ago and we look back

and think some of the stuff is pretty Draconian.

Yes, it is, and what is sad is a lot of the prejudices that existed

then still exists now.

What is more alarming is when you watch the show and think

how some things have not changed and that is quite scary.

Yes, it is in living memory for so many people.

It is interesting in that respect.

It is not a mythical past.

No, not at at all.

That is what is so lovely about it.

There is the truth in it, which is fantastic.

My pears here, poached in red wine, brandy, spices, sugar,

lemon rind, orange rind.

Custard - 400ml of cream, 400ml of milk.

For everybody out there, this is a fail-safe custard.

Scald it - and when I say scald it you bring it up so it

just starts to bubble.

Egg yolks - six egg yolks, and then sugar, 100 grammes of sugar,

and cornflour and flour into a bowl.

You whip it till it goes white.

I am going to pour the milk mixture over the top.

That will go back into the pot and come to the boil.

Yes, it comes to the boil and it will not scramble.

It is fail-safe, fantastic, it is delicious and wonderful.

So that is my custard.

Solid.

So it's like a creme pat?

What's that?

Is it creme pat?

Well, not quite, because it is less flour, less cornflour,

but you need to boil it up.

But I think people are scared of custard.

I love custard, and this is a real simple way of doing it.

Talk about things that don't change, my son is at university,

and you were for quite a long time at university as a

character in Fresh Meat.

So what, how do you take from being a university

person, who was quite bad, by the sound of it.

Quite naughty.

Were you naughty?

The character did things I don't necessarily approve of,

but you know, each to their own - and she's not real.

Yeah, she was a great character, but made mainly

mistakes all the time.

So it was fun to play that, but her university experience

was far more scandalous than mine.

Do you think that is where your whole wonderful

life of acting started?

I think so.

I mean, I have been doing it sort of since I was like 15.

I did it at school, and I loved it, but I kind of didn't really know if,

never really imagined - if you say it out loud, it sounds -

I didn't know it would be a real job when I was younger,

I think that is where, the first kind of really big job

I got and I think they took a big risk on me.

Yes.

You are continuously busy, you have gone from Fresh Meat

to Call the Midwife, you are doing Christmas specials

and you are doing panto.

So I am doing panto, but it is sort of an anti-panto.

Is that like an antipasto?

Exactly, because I am a good cook and that is the kind of pun I make!

But it is basically sort of taking the panto structure

and slightly subverting it, and it is great.

I am doing it at the moment, it is on the New Diorama Theatre.

It is a small cast of seven, small venue, which is really nice,

and it is singing and comedy, and it is sounding great.

It is called?

It is called Ricky Whittington and his cat.

Ricky Whittington and his cat.

It is based on Dick Whittington and his cat.

Of course.

Far away from the original.

Talking about Dick Whittington and a catd, now I have a pear.

How I got there, I'm not quite sure!

Any way, there is the pear.

Look at that, steaming beautiful majesty of a pear in red wine.

I have taken some of the syrup - they need to cook for about 40

minutes - take some of the syrup out, and then that syrup starts

to thicken, and you pour that thick syrup across the top.

That goes there like that.

That looks amazing.

What you do is take my fail-safe, delicious, almost the best

custard in the whole world, you stir it round with a spoon

a bit, and you pour some custard round the outside first,

so it goes like that.

Wow.

How is it looking?

Really good.

That is the right answer, thank you very much.

There we are.

Now, I am going to tell you, it is hot.

It is very hot, but look at that.

Simple, red wine, the taste of Christmas and custard.

Yum.

I am trying to look like I'm cool about it, but not.

Take a tiny bit off there.

This is going to go everywhere.

Do you want me to cut it up for you?

Yes, please.

This is what I love.

and I still have to cut up their food for them as well,

especially when they come back from university.

Did you used, when you were at university, did

you take your washing back to your parents' place?

I didn't, actually.

My son turns up with his washing all the time.

I love it.

There he is.

I think for Christmas I might buy him a big box of soap powder

and a washing machine.

I think that is a good idea.

This is delicious.

There we are.

Simple enough, that is, they all do that, so what will I be

cooking for Charlotte at the end of the show?

For food heaven I am going to make a light and fluffy chocolate mousse

with chocolate sauce, using dark chocolate

of course, brandy and cream.

I will whip up a mousse and serve it on top of a baked praline biscuit,

and pour over hot chocolate sauce, so the biscuits melt.

Or, Charlotte, you could be having your food hell,

which is Christmas pudding.

There we are.

I will make the ultimate Christmas pudding dessert,

mixing left over Christmas pudding with brandy, and vanilla ice cream

and serve with almond and marzipan pudding.

And of course, some brandy butter sauce, so you are numb

by the time you eat it.

Time for more fantastic festive food from the BBC archive.

Nigel Slater is using up his left overs today and making his festive

version of bubble and squeak.

And a perky turkey.

Yes, you heard it right.

Perky turkey.

I remember when I was a boy, the shops actually closed

between Christmas and the New Year, so the house was full of food.

But these days, the real fun starts on Boxing Day.

I just love opening the fridge and seeing

what treats I can knock up.

Starting with transforming my left over bird into

something quite magical.

I like to call this one my perky turkey.

All the flavours of Christmas Day are very traditional,

they are very much of the flavours we grew up with.

We know what to expect.

So for any of the days that follow, I want something

completely different.

So the garlic is going to form the base of a very un-Christmassy

sauce and transform my left over turkey.

So I mixed that with a bit of salt and turned it into a garlic cream.

And I am going to put some flavours from the cupboard with it.

I am going to start with some soy.

It is dark and aromatic and salty.

And to that a bit of chilli sauce.

It can be very sweet and mild or, if you like, something really fiery.

Then some honey.

I could use maple syrup, I just want something very sweet

to balance the saltiness and the heat of the

other ingredients.

A dollop of grainy mustard will add a bit more heat.

Finish off with a drop of groundnut oil.

Your sauce just needs to be runny enough to coat all of the meat.

Now, to wrestle that turkey.

The lovely thing about taking turkey off the bone is that there

is all these little bits that lie at the bottom of the bird.

So everything that is hiding away here, full of flavour.

It is just too good to waste.

Drizzle your sticky sauce over the shredded meat and toss,

so that all the turkey is well covered.

I will leave that cooking, just until the sticky

seasonings caramelise.

All of the flavours in the oven are very hot and sweet,

and aromatic, and I want something completely different

to go with them.

Blushed blood oranges.

They are so beautiful.

This is a great excuse to flow in my favourite festive fruit.

I know it is Christmas when there is a pomegranate round.

When I was a kid, my father used to sit and eat them with a pin.

The juice is amazing.

In those days after Christmas, sometimes if you squeeze

a pomegranate in the morning and put a bit of fizz in with it,

it is fabulous way to start the day.

It is just a matter of putting your salad together,

starting with a handful of peppery watercress, the fruit

and then your sizzling turkey.

With the hot stickiness of the turkey, and the bite

of the fruit, those pomegranate seeds will add that bit of sourness,

and just really finish that off.

The trick to perking up the turkey, is to leave it in the oven long

enough for the sauce to get really sticky.

I promise it will be worth the wait.

So, for Monday night's supper I am making some little sprout

and parsnip patties with cheese.

I am glad when I find a few roast parsnips knocking around,

because I can make them into little cakes.

Once your parsnips are squidgy, roughly chop your left over greens.

There is no real quantity here, I tend to work on the principle

of about half greens to half starchy roots.

Season really well with salt and pepper.

I am going to pop a little bit of cheese inside each one,

I am using goat's cheese because that is what I have got.

It is just as a contrast to sweetness of the parsnip.

Take one of my little cakes like that, then

a little bit of cheese, popped in the middle.

Like that.

This will soften.

If you want it to ooze, then you can use something like mozzerella.

It would be really nice with a good old fashioned

Wensleydale or a Cheshire.

I am going to use a bit of flour.

I just want that little bit of crispness on the outside.

Breadcrumbs or polenta would do just the same job for you.

Just keep an eye on them every now and again,

just tipping them up and checking, see if they are forming

a little crust.

It is that thing of having a crisp outside and a soft middle.

That combination of textures that just makes something so good to eat.

While those are cooking you can think about what you want to eat

them with, maybe a bit of the pork pie that is probably

still in the fridge, or a fried egg dropped into the pan

as they cook.

I fancy one of those tangy chutneys I found under my tree this year.

It so works with the chutney.

The parsnips are sweet, and then you have that lovely

tang of cheese inside.

That works very well.

Nothing gives more pleasure than using up something that

could so easily have ended up in the bin.

And I promise everyone will love these patties,

even if they are not a sprout fan.

even if they are not a sprout fan.

A perky turkey.

I have to say they look great.

Happy Christmas Nigel.

Still to come today on Saturday Kitchen.

Tom Kerridge is getting very organised this Christmas Eve.

He is preparing carrots with star anise for the big day,

with a generous helping of mulled cider.

The big question is will Charlotte be facing food heaven - chocolate?

Or food hell - Christmas pudding?

Ooh!

Of course it is not up to our chefs, instead

we are going to let fate decide.

I will explain exactly how at the end of the show.

It is fun, I promise.

I promise it will be fun.

As it is Christmas Eve we thought we would mix up

the Omelette Challenge and ask our chefs to make

a special festive breakfast, rather than a normal omelette.

There we are.

So, "Yule" both have to use your imagination.

To "spruce" up the Omelette Challenge.

There will be "snow" excuses.

You both have to come up with a "cracker" of a breakfast!

Yes!

Puns aside, there is a man who knows how to cook great food.

Theo Randall, come join us, young man, and cook us

something truly delicious.

What are you going to make for us?

You always make such amazing food, which you make look so simple.

I am going to cook pheasant.

Yum.

I love a pheasant.

So we have a pheasant here, and I have some rosemary,

and we will stuff the pheasant.

I am going to wrap it in some pancetta, and we are going to seal

it off and use some Marsala, some milk, some cream,

and we have some celeriac which we are going to cook

in with the pheasant.

You get this amazing sort of, like, earthy flavours

and the milk gets seasoned, the milk tastes of the pheasant.

So you are using the milk as a sauce?

Pretty much, but the cooking, it steams the pheasant.

Pheasant is a bird that can overcook and it can be quite dry.

Do you think people are frightened of things like pheasant?

I think pheasant is the most wonderful bird to cook.

I think people worry the breast is going to be perfectly cooked,

but the leg will be undercooked.

So for me, I would say it is like a small chicken.

Treat it the same way.

The breast is the thing, as you say, dries out.

I try to cook mine breast side down rather than breast side up,

but you are doing this instead.

Well, I am going to seal it off in the pan, we are going to put it

in the pan with Marsala and the milk.

We can cook it around so it steams.

I am going to put a bit of paper on top, and it will steam,

as it cooks, which makes the leg cook quicker.

This is like my vegetable Christmas tree.

That is a beautiful thing.

I love celeriac.

It has five times as much fibre as a potato.

Brilliant, so we should eat it and it makes us feel good.

It should make you feel very good.

People are scared of pheasant and partridge, I think people

are scared of celeriac.

Actually, it's not that difficult because you peel the outside off

and chop it up in the same way you do a potato.

Yes, and also it's good to buy celeriac with the leaves.

When you get a lot of celeriac, it is all trimmed off and may be

too old and does not have a nice flavour.

Great tip.

What you will do is cut it up and it is going to be

poached and cooked already.

This is the way I do it, I start from the top

and cut around the outside. Turn it and away it goes.

You've got your pheasant. What pheasant?

It is a hen pheasant.

Girls are more tender than boys.

Always go for the hen.

It is... The boys are a little bit tough.

The girls are softer.

A bit sort of butch.

Talking about being butch, have you squeezed my bauble?

See what happens.

Do I have to? Yes.

Ho, ho, ho.

It is pretty cool.

Amazing how that does that!

A bit of butter.

More seasoning on the outside. Season it nicely.

It is cooked in milk, remember.

We will put the pheasant in there.

Your Italian world, very few people would think about a game

bird cooked in milk.

Where do you get these ideas from, how do you continue to refresh them?

The thing about milk, there are some classic Tuscan dishes

where they cook pork and lamb and veal in milk.

It is another way of cooking and the thing about milk,

once it reduces, it has a lovely flavour, because you get the flavour

out of the pheasant into the milk.

You are kind of creating your own sauce.

Of course everybody forgets, milk, you change it, it becomes cheese.

Exactly.

You end up with that lovely cheesy flavour.

Absolutely.

You are sealing it.

Sealing it to get not so much colour, to get a little bit

of the fat out of the pheasant.

Then we will get rid of some of that fat and pour the marsala in.

A lovely Christmassy flavour.

It is a brilliant Christmas...

And if I do not have any marsala, what do I use?

Any sweet wine - you can use port, even something like whiskey,

which would give it a nice flavour.

Sweet sherry, maybe?

That lovely sweet sherry you have in the cupboard for Christmas.

Restaurant dish, this?

We do do it in the restaurant.

It is one of those things I'd would serve in the middle

of the table at home, but we do a variation

in the restaurant.

Talking about restaurants, you continue to grow your empire

going from one restaurant to how many?

We have three.

We have a restaurant in Bangkok, a restaurant in Kensington

and the one that I cook in in Park Lane.

Let's get rid of some of this fat.

Where should I put it?

You can put it anywhere you like.

A bowl.

Here we go.

There you go.

Theo, can you keep the fat?

You don't chuck it and then cook eggs in it, or something?

Yeah, that would be delicious.

That's a good idea.

Infused eggs.

So, let me get the marsala.

Put that in.

Then we will add some flame.

Just to get rid of the alcohol, so the children can eat it.

Bring this up to a simmer.

We are creating almost a stock with the marsala,

the milk and the cream.

Now I know why you have taken so much fat out,

otherwise it would be greasy.

I want to get the flavour of the butter.

Then we will pop the celeriac in.

This has been blanched.

Boiling salted water.

It is important you bring the it up to the boil

so when the pheasant goes in it does not lower the temperature.

In goes the celeriac.

While you do that I am cleaning the cavolo nero.

People I think get frightened of this, as well.

Take out the big hard stalk.

What you and I do, always boil the cavolo nero first.

What I called twice cooked.

Always boil it twice.

Can I tell you a story about cavolo nero?

When my daughter was little, we had lots of friends over

on Christmas Day and I cooked these ducks and I covered them

with honey and roasted these great big ducklings.

I had this big bowl of cavolo nero.

My daughter came up to me, she was about three.

She pulled my arm.

She goes, daddy, I am not eating roast duck and I'm definitely not

eating crocodile skin.

Isn't that sweet?

Lovely.

That is it?

You just do that.

The marsala deglazed the pan.

Now you are going to cover that with paper.

Yes.

We will do a cartouche, OK?

Folded over.

I will put that in the oven for you. Thank you.

While you get the cavolo nero on.

You can make it into a round.

That is the clever bit. Put it on top.

We are going to cook it 12 minutes at about 180 degrees in the oven.

Then we will take it off after 12 minutes to get

colour on the pancetta.

That is yours. What temperature?

180, please, for 12 minutes. 180 for 12 minutes.

It is quick.

Quite quick, yes.

That is amazing.

A lot of people would cook it a lot longer.

You take off the cartouche and how long?

You leave it five minutes after you put the cartouche,

just to get colour on there.

You want to let it rest, because it is important for a bird

like that to let the residual heat carry on cooking.

A little bit of olive oil.

That looks amazing.

If you would like to give Theo's recipe a try, you can,

and any other studio recipes, because all you have to do

is go to the website, bbc.co.uk/saturdaykitchen.

All the recipes are there. And you can try them.

I love the way you cook, Theo.

You have this lovely relaxed way of doing it.

You have your lovely pheasant trussed.

Can I take the trussing off it for you?

Yes, let's take that off.

Make sure you get the juice out of the pheasant.

Put that pan on the stove.

Let's get this nice and hot.

Look at that, the bacon is crispy.

It is Christmas, birds and stuffing and bacon and lovely vegetables

and everybody hanging around the kitchen.

One thing I love about Christmas is everybody in the kitchen.

Everybody around and eating and drinking.

You know what they say, too many cooks spoil the broth.

I am out of the way, don't worry, I understand.

They also say many hands make light work, Theo.

That was said in my ear by the gallery.

As you can see, it is nice and juicy.

It is almost like steamed.

Turn the cavolo nero.

You do that and I will look after the cavolo nero.

If you cannot find pheasant, what would you use?

You could do this with anything, you could do it with guinea fowl,

that would be really nice.

The point is it has a gamey taste.

You could do it with grouse, partridge.

Pheasant is one of the most underrated game birds.

Does this sauce now thicken up?

Just bring it to a simmer. It should be thick already.

The legs are pink but juicy as well.

Do you use the breast, as well?

Definitely.

You would not use the whole bird on one plate, would you?

I would probably eat a whole bird!

No. This is for two people.

Yes, it is.

Do you want the cavolo nero on the plate?

A little bit on the plate, not too much.

Get the bottle out of the way, nothing worse than having

a bottle in front of you.

That cavolo nero smells amazing, looks amazing.

I fluff it up so it sits nicely.

A nest for the pheasant.

We will put the leg on, that is beautiful.

Pheasant on top. Nice and juicy pheasant.

And we will get some pancetta.

That pan handle is hot, be careful.

Pancetta on the side.

And we get a spoonful of that beautiful, juicy celeriac.

The way you work, you chop up bits of bacon, you chop up the bird,

you allow its beauty just to be there.

Honestly, I love watching you cook.

I love you, John. It is a big love-in.

It is Christmas Eve. It is just absolutely fantastic.

Theo, can you tell us what that is?

We have got pheasant cooked with marsala, cream, milk,

celeriac and cavolo nero.

Delicious.

Ta da!

# Christmas time, mistletoe and wine.#

There we are.

I am ready for this.

I haven't had a lot of Christmas birds and roasts

yet, so far this year.

I've had a couple.

But I love pheasant, I love partridge.

The thing about game birds, they have so much flavour,

you have to cook them carefully.

Cooking them really fast and letting the rest a long time is a good bet.

Wow!

What is nice about that, you got a wow without asking.

Olia, what do you reckon?

Mmm.

There you go.

I'm sorry... That is OK.

It is OK because we are back to Manchester Christmas markets

to see what Jane Parkinson has plucked from the shelves and chosen

to go with Theo's amazing pheasant.

Theo's fantastic pheasant is elegant yet comforting.

It's also the kind of dish that doesn't require a wine that is too

heavy or a wine that is too complicated, so if you are looking

for a bargain, something like this Rosso Viino da Tavola would be

a great buy for it.

However, there are some serious flavours on the plate here,

and not just the pheasant, but the celeriac, too.

I have chosen a wine that is pretty new to the high street

and it is a belter for Christmas.

Welcome to the tasty world of Nicosia Etna Rosso 2014.

It is from Sicily.

It is made on the volcanic soils that surround Sicily's Mount Etna.

It is usually a blend of two grape varieties that

are very local to the area - nerello mascalese and nerello

cappuccio, which are a lot easier to drink than they are to say!

This has a beautiful aroma of black cherries but there is also

cloves and licorice spice.

It smells quite seasonal.

The sweet and savoury beetroot flavours in this wine work well

with the gamey pheasant meat, also with the richness of the celeriac.

Because it is quite fresh, it even works with the extra virgin

olive oil that goes over those steamed greens.

Theo, here's to your fabulous pheasant with this little slice

of Sicilian sunshine this Christmas.

Cheers.

I am really sorry, I am still eating.

Theo, what do you think of the wine?

I love Etna Rosso and this is a particularly good one.

It's really delicious and it's nice, it is really tangy.

Goes really nicely with the pheasant.

Etna Rosso, I have not really had it before.

It is amazing.

A lovely nose on it.

Charlotte?

What does that mean, a nose on it? It smells good.

Yes.

Olia, what do you reckon?

Very smooth. Like the sauce in the dish.

Really nice and smooth.

Well, I'm ready to eat food so I am going to hand you over because time

now for a treat from the delectable Nigella Lawson.

She is making surprise, surprise, a totally indulgent desert.

Yum.

I say bring it on!

# Sleigh bells ring, are you listening?

# In the lane, snow is glistening.

# A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight,

# Walking in a winter wonderland.

I am something of a pava-holic, but I have to say my cappuccino

pavlova, or cap-pav, as we call it at home,

is my first foray into a fruit free, but far from fruitless version.

Obviously a pavlova is to some extent a meringue,

so you need egg whites.

Four egg whites, but I am getting mine out of a carton.

Because at this time of year, it helps me to know I can

make my pav at the drop of a hat.

A pinch of salt.

And then whisk away.

Once I have soft peaks but definite peaks, I can start adding my sugar

and my coffee element.

This is a cappuccino pavlova.

So I will measure that out now.

I need 250 grams of caster sugar.

And four teaspoons of instant espresso powder.

Instant espresso powder is just that, it is like instant

coffee but stronger, and powder, not granules.

I love it.

Mix it up.

I am too impatient for this so I am going to warp speed nine now.

Just waiting for soft, but pronounced peaks to form.

And now I have a wonderful snow, very appropriate

for this time of year.

Now my white snow is going to be tinted ecru.

Adding the sugar and the coffee gradually, because I do not

want to deflate the wonderful bulked up egg whites.

Ah. Peace.

And look at this. It is so beautiful.

It is like a really expensive satin lingerie, that colour.

I don't want to waste any.

I was taught how to make pavlova by the Grand Dame

of Australian cooking writing, Stephanie Alexander,

so I do what she tells me.

Which means two teaspoons of cornflour.

And I need one teaspoonfull of white wine vinegar.

Now, I am not a scientist, but I have it under advicement

that it is these two elements that make this not a crunchy meringue,

but a pavlova that is crisp, on the outside, and just

exquisitely marshmallowy within.

Fold them together.

It is also the way you cook it, because normally meringue

is at a very low temperature, but with a pav, what I do,

what Stephanie taught me, I put it in the oven,

relatively high moderate oven at 180, and then

the minute it goes in, I turn it down to 150.

We are talking centigrade here.

Then it cooks for an hour.

I leave it in the oven to get cool overnight.

And I can sleep the sleep of the innocent.

I am thinking roughly of forming this, these gorgeous splodges,

into a disk of about 23 centimetres in diameter, but I am not measuring

and I am not good at maths, so that is the plan, Stan.

I think we need to move from a curved implement to a spatch now.

I want to smooth this, almost as if I am forming

the crown of a boater, or just a cake.

So smooth on the top, or as smooth as I can, and straight

sided around the outside.

It looks small now, but it really does swell in the oven.

So I have got a cappuccino pavlova.

Obviously not Italian, not an Italian in identity,

but totally Italian in inspiration.

So, this goes in the oven.

I go to bed.

All I need to do before people arrive is up end the pavlova base,

cover it with whipped cream, and cover the whipped cream

with a dusting of cocoa powder.

In other words, it will look like a cappuccino.

That looked delicious.

Because we are not live today, we asked some of our favourite chefs

to send in a question because it is Christmas.

Up first, Nicholas is from Sweden.

Good day, Nicholas.

Hi, this is Nicholas calling from Stockholm.

I was wondering if you had a wonderful cocktail

recipe to share with me.

That would be great, thank you.

Christmas cocktail for Nicholas?

Go on.

You want it now?

Those guys love fermenting stuff, use a bit 06 your fermenting liquid

in your Bloody Mary as a little...

So a Bloody Mary, Christmas Day, Christmas morning.

Bloody Mary, a bit of fernmented juice in.

What is your favourite Christmas cocktail?

I love an Aperol spritz, but I think at Christmas time

I would get a pink grapefruit, I would take the skin off and put

that in the cocktail and it would be delicious.

I love it.

Or blood oranges.

You guys can talk about your favourite cocktail later on.

Next up, we are excited to have Tom Kitchin from Edinburgh.

Good day, Tom.

My wife is Swedish, so we celebrate Christmas on the 24th

with traditional Swedish fare, then on the 25th we have the good

old British Christmas, and on the 26th it is my mum's birthday.

It's a bit crazy.

Tell me, what happens in your house?

What happens in your house, Charlotte?

People sleep, much to my dismay, until 11am, so I have to wait

for ages for Christmas Day to start.