29/12/2012 Saturday Kitchen

Put down the Christmas chocolates and make room

for sensational food from some of the world's best chefs.

This is Saturday Kitchen.

And welcome to the show.

With me in the studio two chefs with two very different culinary styles.

First up is a familiar face to Saturday Kitchen viewers -

his modern French cooking has made him a big hit

with diners at the Vineyard at Stockcross.

It's the fabulous Frenchman, Daniel Galmiche.

And next to him is a chef

who uses a unique combination of Italian and Spanish produce

in his ever-expanding London food empire.

It's Ben Tish.

-Hi, guys.

-How you doing?

-Daniel, what are you cooking?

I'm doing a guinea fowl today, with some truffle,

because it's a festive season.

The festive season, like everybody's got truffle in their fridges!

No, but I mean, you know, just for a change.

Just put under the skin, roasted and a fricassee of baby leek,

some sauteed potatoes, a little bit of pancetta.

-It's very French.

-Very French, yeah.

-So follow that then.

-Yeah, OK.

So I'm going to be doing a lamb leg steak on the grill,

with some spiced squashes, a bit of chilli, garlic in there.

Cavolo nero, the black cabbage.

And a butter sauce with some capers and anchovies in there,

just over the top at the end.

Lamb's particularly good this time of year -

it's that transition between lamb and hogget

before it goes into mutton.

So it's getting the flavour, this pronounced flavour

and it's much tastier than your kind of new season stuff,

so, yeah, really good.

Sounds good to me. Two top dishes to look forward to from our chefs.

And we've got a New Year feel to our BBC archive films too.

Today, they're from Rick Stein, Nigel Slater, Rachel Khoo and Raymond Blanc.

Now, our special guest has been dealing with patients at Holby General

in the hit BBC series Casualty every night for five years.

Five years. She's just directed her first episode, too.

Please welcome to Saturday Kitchen the multitalented Sunetra Sarker.

-Great to have you on the show.

-That was a great introduction.

Your directorial debut as well and not a mistake.

Can I say, that was a great introduction.

I've never been introduced in such a grand fashion.

-Well, I've bigged you up anyway.

-Yeah.

What was it like, going behind the scenes, then?

Because in front of the camera is one thing,

but directing's easy, though, isn't it, really?

Well, I wouldn't say that.

Where's your director while you're saying that?

No, it was really interesting,

I think cos I think doing the old acting for a long time,

I felt I was going to give myself a little challenge and see what it was like

and, fortunately, about a year and a half ago,

Casualty were very kind enough to let myself

and the wonderful Suzanne Packer, who plays Tess,

a chance to do a joint directing debut,

so we did a little shot at it about a year and a half ago

and we really enjoyed it.

-Well, you're here to eat now, anyway.

-Yes!

Of course, at the end of today's programme,

I'll either cook Food Heaven or Food Hell for Sunetra.

It'll be something based on your favourite ingredient, Food Heaven,

or your nightmare ingredient, Food Hell.

Food Heaven, what would it be, if you could pick anything?

I am seafood crazy, I mean, seafood is the...

I you open a menu for me, I'll go straight for where the seafood is -

not the fish, but the seafood.

-Right.

-So I'm a big seafood junkie.

Like lobster and all of that?

-Lobster, prawn, clams, mussels, squid.

-Sounds pretty good.

-The list goes on. However...

-So there's a flip side to this, then.

However, the dreaded Food Hell?

However, what it is, I assumed if you liked seafood, you'd love fish.

And I do like certain fish,

but the flaky, thin, delicate fishes are the ones I prefer.

Whereas the meaty, sort of...

When somebody says, "Oh, it's a meaty fish.

"Monkfish - a meaty fish," I go, "Oh, no, I won't like that."

Yeah, halibut, turbot, those are the same sort of thing.

Halibut, turbot, monkfish. Turbot, particularly.

Well, there go, it's either lobster or turbot.

Food Heaven, I'll take inspiration from the brilliant Indian chef Atul Kochhar

-and make a Goan-style lobster curry. How does that sound?

-Nice.

He's one of the best Indian chefs in the country.

His lobster is gently poached in a sauce

made from coconut, tamarind, chilli, cumin, garlic,

a whole host of other Indian spices

and finished off with fresh coriander

and served with a pile of chips on the side.

He put rice with it, but I like lobster and chips, obviously.

And they're frozen chips, you see. They're proper chips.

And I am Indian and English,

so I think you've done a great fusion job there.

They're not triple-cooked chips, been steamed for 24 hours,

it's frozen chips.

Where do you think the budget's gone with your truffle anyway?

Sunetra could face Food Hell, of course, that turbot.

I've got something classically French in mind -

-turbot with a champagne sauce. Perfect for you.

-Decadent.

Fish is pan-fried in butter, skin side down,

and served with a sauce made from champagne, cream, fish stock

and shallots and served with sauteed leeks and some Brussels sprouts.

-I'd try that!

-He likes that one, but it's not up to us -

as we're not live today, there's no vote.

Instead, we're going to let a foodie surprise

-decide for you at the end of the show.

-Hmm.

There you go, keep watching.

Now, first off, cooking next and waiting at the hobs

is a great New Year's Eve idea from Daniel Galmiche.

-And it uses guinea fowl.

-Yes.

-What are we going to do with it then?

-So we're going to take the breast out.

-Yeah.

Put a little bit of truffle...

I thought, "Festive season, truffle season."

Put that under the breast, pan-fry slightly, oven,

and separately we're going to do a kind of fricassee.

What's the name of this dish then?

It is a pan-roasted guinea fowl with travel and fricassee of potato,

lardons, and baby leek.

Say it in French, cos it's better.

-Ah, c'est un, er...

-Have you forgotten your French?

-Sometimes.

I tell you, I've been saying this all along,

I have been mates with him 15 years and he's from Watford!

I'm telling you right now!

Pin... LAUGHTER

Pintard poulet au truffe avec fricasee pomme de terre,

lardons et poireaux.

Voila.

-Got you there, didn't I?

-Oh, completely!

-It's a mess. It's annoying.

-So you're taking the legs off?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-So after that I can do the breast, yeah.

Now, guinea fowl -

a lot of the guinea fowl nowadays are farmed, of course.

-Yes.

-So you can get it all year round.

-Originally, it is a game.

It was wild, but now it's farmed, you can get it all year round.

Yeah, this is the black truffle.

-Do you want me to slice you a few bits of this?

-Yes.

All right. So we've got...

What is it, for the people who don't know what a truffle is?

What is it? Well, it's a fungi. Yeah, it's...

-This one is an autumn truffle.

-Yeah.

Which is just before the really black truffle season in Perigord.

So the difference between this and a mushroom

is truffles go under the ground.

Not very far, as well, they're only about sort of four inches,

five inches below the ground, often just on the surface as well.

That's why they use dogs now to go get them, rather than pigs.

-Like that. A little bit of seasoning.

-Right.

Just basically slice the potatoes - they've gone in to be blanched.

-Yeah, correct.

-And I won't waste any of this.

-No.

Now this is an English truffle as well, isn't it?

Because in France, whereabouts are the best French truffles from?

-Would you still say Perigord?

-Yes, but some in my region in...

Next to my region, in Burgundy, there is quite a few truffles as well.

-Different flavour.

-Yeah.

-But I think the Perigord ones are...

And the difference between the white and dark...

White and black truffles is massive, isn't it,

in terms of value, really, more than anything else.

Yes, absolutely.

So what would you be paying?

-They're are about £3,000 a kilo, aren't they?

-Correct.

Now they're going to go...

-At the moment, they are £900 a kilo.

-No!

-For black ones.

-If you...

-That's the autumn, so a little bit better.

-The black can go up to 1,400.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

The white one's £3,000 a kilo.

3,000, yeah. So we're going to pan fry.

So when you put something under the skin, whether it's chicken or duck

-or guinea fair, you don't want a high heat.

-Yeah.

Because the muscle under the skin will stretch too much

-and you could see the truffle, so just start on a lower heat.

-Yeah.

Right, so I'm going to put these

-and blanche these in there quite quickly.

-Yeah.

I'm going to take them out.

Now, you're cooking it just skin side down.

Skin side down first, yes.

There's a sink there if you want to wash your hands. There you go.

Now what about the pancetta in there? We've got sliced here,

but you can buy this stuff diced nowadays as well.

-You can buy diced, yes.

-Is this for the potatoes?

-This is for the potatoes.

-Want me to chop that?

-A classic kind of fricassee.

-Do you want me to chop that one up?

-Yes, please.

-OK.

And you want a little bit of thyme and parsley in the water, really.

Yes, please, give it a touch of flavour.

-And one crushed garlic as well.

-There you go.

-That's it. Right.

-Merci.

That's done.

Now, with guinea fowl, would you cook it a bit like pheasant?

-It can be quite dry, if you overcook it, this.

-It can be.

So I would recommend not to cook it to a high heat as well.

-Right.

-You can start it at a low heat

and push up the heat a little bit,

so we've got a lovely nice-coloured skin and a bit of crunchiness.

Of course, the Vineyard's extremely busy

-over the Christmas period, because...

-It's really good, yeah.

Yeah, cos not only is it a great restaurant,

but you've got a great hotel and a BIG restaurant.

A big restaurant.

I think we're one of the biggest restaurants outside London.

So we can do a lot of covers, yes.

Right, we got our guinea fowl there. You want me to swap these?

You pop that one on the tray. I'll pop out on there.

Get these in the oven, I'll take the others out.

-You can finish off the potatoes that we've got there.

-Yes.

-So how long would you cook these for, then?

-About eight minutes.

-About eight minutes.

-You roast the skin first, a bit on the other side.

-Ooh! Sorry!

-Don't forget, you can find these recipes,

along with all of the other studio recipes from today's show,

on our usual website...

LAUGHTER

-What're you doing?

-Sorry.

-Wait.

-It's Christmas time! Look at that!

Don't worry, carry on, nobody's noticed.

Nobody's noticed, too close to the steam! Oh, no!

-That's a great one.

-Yeah. Right.

I don't know - I turn around and leave you for two minutes. Right.

-Where's my bacon? Pancetta.

-Sorry.

Your bacon was here, but you were setting fire to the studio.

Right, and you've also got...

I mean, you brought a book out last year on classic French cooking.

-You're working on another one.

-That's correct.

What is that going to be on? Spanish cooking?

No, it's what we are doing at the Vineyard at the moment -

modern French but I'm going to try and adapt

every single thing for home -

i.e. no water bath, no dehydrator, no vacuum-pack machine.

You mean people don't have dehydrators

and vacuum-pack machines at home(?)

No. No, of course they don't. And that's why I'm going to do that.

Some I'm going to adapt every single recipe

and you can have the same result without using all of the machines,

so it's a big, big challenge. But really nice.

But this is what I call classic French cooking,

the simplicity of it.

Exactly. It all goes together very well, I like it.

But there's a lack of butter in there. Do you want some?

I will put a little bit more, yes, because I know you like it.

-There you go. Right, ready when you are.

-Yes.

I'll take a little bit more truffle and just dice that up.

We need truffle to put on the top, a little bit of chopped truffle.

-I'll get it, yes.

-A little bit of parsley last-minute.

The plate's there.

We're ready to plate when you are.

I need some of the water there.

That is more truffle, yeah.

What's this for, then?

That is just to do a small sauce quickly, a la minute.

Oh, right.

-Butter?

-A little bit of butter, yes.

Just deglaze the pan.

-And the truffle in here.

-Truffle in there, yes.

-A little bit more.

-Yeah, yeah, OK.

You can be a little bit generous with the truffle.

Like this.

A little more on that one.

That's why I've only got chips left

at the end of this programme, you see.

-Because I've used all of the budget!

-Frozen chips as well.

Is there any cheap man's substitute for truffle?

-I've got truffle oil at home.

-It's a seasonal mushroom.

Yes, a drop of truffle oil is very nice. Allez. We go.

OK.

-So you drain this off.

-Yes.

-Yeah. There you go.

I'll leave you to build it up if you need to.

I'm going to keep this paper tissue away from you from now on.

Yes. Please. I don't want a fire again.

And those just like this.

There we go.

Me, I like to cut a little bit...

..like this - you can see the truffle through the skin.

-Lovely, lovely and moist.

-A touch of...

of moisture in here.

Like that.

There you have it, it's all seasoned, ready to go.

And with some truffle.

I think it's a really, really nice dish for this time of the year.

-A little bit of a difference using guinea fowl.

-Want a bit of that on?

-A little bit, yes. Why not?

-Why not?

-Let's be crazy.

There's about 50 quid there,

60 quid, 70 quid, 80 quid.

-Finished with that?

-Yes. Happy with that.

So tell us what that is again.

Pan-roasted guinea fowl with truffle under the skin,

fricassee of potato, leek and truffle.

Easy as that.

That looks lovely. I know it's going to taste pretty good as well.

-Should be. Should be. Lots of truffle.

-Have a seat over here.

-You get to dive into this one.

-Wow, that looks amazing.

-This is a proper Christmas treat.

-Very special.

Tell us what do you think of this, then. I'll be...

Potatoes, pancetta and truffle are going to be going well.

-Yes, I really like the combination always.

-Classic combination, classic.

-So much flavour in it.

-without the half-kilo of butter in there.

Happy with that?

Those three ingredients are just magical, I think.

-Try a bit of guinea fowl. It's beautiful poultry.

-Yes, nice.

I think you're going to enjoy it.

Do I keep the truffle inside or do I take a bit of the truffle with it?

-No, with the truffle with it, yeah.

-OK.

It looks really nice and moist, that guinea fowl.

It's not a strong as what people think.

It's nowhere near like pheasant.

-There's £50 on this fork.

-Yeah, there probably is.

What do you reckon?

-I really like guinea fowl, I think it's very good.

-It's beautiful.

-Really beautiful.

-Thank you.

-There you go.

Right, as usual, we need some wine to go with this.

We set our wine expert, Susy Atkins, to the Welsh capital today,

so what did she choose to go with Daniel's gorgeous guinea fowl?

I'm in Cardiff,

renowned for its wonderful New Year's Eve celebrations.

Time to leave this lovely castle behind,

and head through the portcullis in search of wines for today's dishes.

Daniel, for your wonderful, luxurious guinea fowl and truffles,

I'm tempted to go straight to Piedmont in northwest Italy,

home of the truffle and of wonderful accompanying red wines,

such as this Barbera D'Alba, which would be a super match.

But I've got a grape variety

that I think is marginally better with truffles

and it is Pinot Noir, and so the wine that I've chosen is...

..the Domaine de l'Aigle Pinot Noir 2010.

Pinot Noir's soft, juicy,

slightly earthy character

is spot-on with truffles,

especially when they're part

of a dish with poultry or game birds.

But make sure the Pinot Noir

you choose is French -

bright New World examples

are just too overtly fruity

in this instance.

Mmm, this is a really perfumed,

very aromatic wine.

It is giving out wonderful scents

of red berries -

so strawberries, cherries

and plums in there too.

Mm, this has all that

succulent red berry fruit

that I want from Pinot Noir

and which go so well

with the tender guinea fowl

and that juicy leek.

But this wine comes from

the deep south of France,

not Burgundy

and it's a bit chunkier

and richer as a result -

I think that's what makes it work

with the pancetta and all that

lovely truffly flavour.

A note on the finish -

just a subtle hint of smoky spice

and that makes this the perfect

Pinot Noir for winter drinking.

Daniel, this is the perfect time of year

to splash out on a fine French red

and for your sumptuous guinea fowl and truffles,

I've got the perfect Pinot Noir.

Cheers!

Cheers, indeed. I mean, that is pretty serious.

-That has gone down dramatically, hasn't it, really?

-Yeah.

-Absolutely beautiful.

-Absolutely fantastic.

-Really good.

Now, Pinot Noir is certainly a wine

I'd choose with that, particularly with duck as well.

Completely. With poultry, I think it's ideal.

And I'm really good fan of Pinot Noir, so, for me,

I'm in heaven, actually.

It's interesting she mentioned it's a great match with truffle as well.

-Yeah.

-Because I would go with a truffle with heavier sort of...

you know, Burgundy, Bordeaux.

A lot of us would do that, but actually this one is really delicate.

-It works really well.

-Happy with that?

-Lovely.

A little bit more money, it's priced at £9.99, but I think,

-you know, you can taste the quality as well.

-For New Year's Eve also.

A special time of the year.

Later on, Ben will be showing us a recipe

that'll be great for a New Year's Eve party. Remind us what it is.

I'm going to be cooking char-grilled lamb

with some spiced butternut squash, black cabbage

and a little butter sauce with capers and anchovies.

-Char-grilling at New Year's Eve.

-Yep.

But first it's time to find out where in the world Rick Stein is.

He's taken to the water to explore the northern part of Vietnam.

He's visiting a remote fishing village,

but stand by for a daring sea rescue. Oh, yeah.

They said I couldn't leave the north of the country

without coming here, to Cat Ba Island in Halong Bay,

especially if I enjoyed seafood,

which is an understatement in my case!

Most of the people who live around here do so on floating villages

and fish is their only livelihood.

The best way to see this part of the world

is from the deck of an old junk

and Huyen San was my guide for the day.

There are two kinds of floating village here.

The one that we passed by near Cat Ba Island,

it's just where they have the fish farm and they raise the fish there.

But their family lives on the land

and the children and everybody,

they all live on the land, studying, working on the land.

But the other floating village is the traditional one

and we don't know exactly how long it has been exist.

And, as I know, the whole family, they live there,

generation to generation.

And what they do for life is go fishing.

-Can we buy some clams?

-Yes. Yes, sure.

-I think we can get in and buy some.

-OK and she'll keep the dogs off us?

THEY BOTH LAUGH

'This area is famous for Cat Ba oysters,

'something I've never heard of before.

'They're grown in baskets suspended in the clean water of the bay,

'on a rickety framework of fish pens.

'Some have fish in and some have these famous Cat Ba oysters.

'I must say, I was a little bit worried about falling in -

'it was very, very rickety.

'But it was fascinating, the way there were growing them.'

THEY SPEAK IN VIETNAMESE

That'll probably be about enough, yeah.

Everything I see in Vietnam is about practicality.

I mean, they're just the most clever people at doing things.

And, in fact, I saw these clams -

they call them oysters here for some reason -

cos they certainly aren't. DOG BARKS

But they fetch really good... Shut up! Shut up, dog!

SHOUTING: They fetch really good money!

'This very new hotel prides itself on cooking these Cat Ba oysters.

'But they're not really - they're clams!'

Well, I was thinking of stir-frying these on the boat

but the weather closed in and I'm very pleased it did, actually,

because what I failed to notice was they've actually dropped these

briefly into boiling water just to take that rather

unpleasant-looking outer skin off and now they look totally delicious.

And he's stuffing them with a mixture of shallots, spring onions,

peanuts and fried onions

and there's just a little bit of colour in there,

but I think it's natural colour.

I'm just going to try and find out what it is.

Well, I've been really looking forward to this.

It's so good, this kitchen. There's so much activity

and that guy over there is a real top gun chef, the one on the wok.

Heaven knows how much gas it uses up.

Ah! I mean, apparently you can only get these clams around here,

around Cat Ba Island.

People come from all over North Vietnam, South Vietnam,

the whole country to eat them. CAT YOWLS

That's a cat in the background there.

HE LAUGHS

But I can see why, they're very, very good.

They fetch a really high price.

Just incidentally, that little colour they put in at the end

is called annatto seeds - they use them in Mexico, too.

It's just a natural red colour.

'And so this is how they serve them over here,

'along with a sculpted carrot.

'They're strictly for the serious seafood lover,

'they're just a little bit tough.

'If I was cooking clams the Southeast Asian way,

'and let's face it, we've got plenty of clams, I'd do it like this...

'hot oil, say peanut oil, and then chopped garlic

'and matchsticks of ginger,

'and a good, generous helping of chopped red chillies.

'Well, I like a bit of spicy heat.

'Now I'm going to put in a black bean paste.

'I mean dry black beans that I've chopped up,

'not black bean sauce, which isn't quite so good.

'I love this. It's really nutty and goes well with the ginger.

'This is how I went about making them.

'They're fermented soya beans and they've been salted

'and left to ferment and, during the process, they go black.

'I sprinkle them with sugar and chop them as finely as I can

'before adding some sesame oil

and then smashing them up with a spoon to make the paste.

'They really give a nice toasty, dark undertone to the dish.

'Now the clams go in.

'I'm using carpet shell clams.

'When we were leaving that floating raft,

'I asked the lady how she would cook them

'and she said she liked them cooked in beer.

'So why not?'

And now for the beer. Southeast Asian beer.

The right thing.

Not too much. Oh, my God!

HE LAUGHS

I feel like one of those Formula One racing drivers.

HE LAUGHS

Sorry about that.

If I can get something...

If it's possible for something to go wrong, go wrong it will.

Anyway, there's the beer in there.

So I'll just put the lid on there now. Let them steam away.

'While we were out on that junk, something quite unusual happened.

'I noticed a flash of white coming from the base of one of the islands.'

What are they doing?

-I think they went out with a small boat, the bamboo boat.

-Oh, yeah.

A small boat. And there's a problem with the boat - it sank.

-The boat sunk?

-Yeah.

'Fortunately for them, it was low tide

'and, even more fortunately, we just happened to be passing by.

It sank... It sunk just around this area.

And they swim from this, where the boat sank, back to that rock.

SHE SHOUTS IN VIETNAMESE

-The two women and the baby, they cannot swim.

-Oh, poor things!

THEY SPEAK IN VIETNAMESE

'So there we are, we come all this way to make a cooking programme

'and end up saving the lives of this entire family.

'Anyway, back to the clams, which have opened.

'All to do now is to throw in some chopped spring onions -

'they don't need to cook - and dish the whole thing out.

'A fitting memory to a great place.

'I've loved it all -

'the differences between North and South are pretty apparent to me.

'But I think it's the smell of the street food

'which will be a lasting memory,

'the sort of thing that will bring me back time and time again.'

For today's masterclass, I thought I'd do a bit of baking.

With New Year's Eve just around the corner,

the perfect opportunity to show you

some simple savoury stacks or biscuits

that would work really well with champagne at a New Year's Eve party.

Now, you can actually buy these, you could bake your own,

alternatively, I'm going to do a bit of both.

I'm going to cheat.

I'm going to cheat by using ready-made puff pastry, all right?

The secret of ready-made puff pastry is you can do so much stuff

with it and I'm going to do three different ideas.

And all using two pieces of puff pastry,

but you've got to buy the all-butter puff pastry.

So the first thing I'm going to do is little palmiers,

which is a classical French little dish

and it uses butter, sugar, cinnamon and puff pastry,

traditionally done with sweet palmiers.

Yeah, correct.

But it's the way you actually fold the pastry,

but you can actually make savoury ones

and I'm using this stuff, which is Gentleman's Relish.

All right? Which is an anchovy paste. Now...

Well, that's nice with it.

-Some people love it, some people don't like it.

-I really like it.

-But this anchovy paste...

-It's good with a drink, isn't it?

My grandad used to smother this on his toast. All right?

It's one of those ingredients that you walk past in the supermarket,

not knowing really what to do with it, really.

But it's actually a great ingredient that you can use for this.

So this is a nice little paste that we've got in here.

All I'm going to do is paste that

with a little bit of double cream, all right?

Just to smooth it, cos it's too thick to be to use straight away,

so what you can do is just mix this together

and then, using part of the puff pastry, we can then spread this out.

-With champagne, James, it's fantastic.

-What's that?

With champagne, for aperitif.

You start off with the puff pastry like this.

The way you make palmiers is think of it like a book.

You fold over the book...

like that.

So you fold it over.

Then you spread more of this mixture on the top.

So this would be normally butter and sugar

and spices that you spread over this.

And then you fold your book over.

-Like that.

-Very good.

-Really nice.

Now, you can go to the fridge, pop this in the fridge to firm up.

And then we've got... I made a slightly larger one here.

But...

you've got a larger one,

is just the size of the sheet of pastry that you do.

Now, you need to chill it, because when you cut it through...

..you end up with these.

If you didn't want to use the Gentleman's Relish, James,

could you use anchovy...

sorry, not anchovies, olives in there? Black olives?

You can use whatever you want paste, I suppose.

The idea being that it's so simple for people to do at home

and you've got this paste in the middle and, as they cook,

they open out into like a heart shape

and that's where "palmier" comes from, you see?

Oh, I'm going to impress the family with this.

Yeah, you are. I'm going to do the cheese straws.

And we're going to do a little tomato tart.

How were you starting to act, then? How is it for you, really?

-Was it something you always wanted to do?

-Oh, God, no.

No, I started...

I was a child actor, sir. No, don't protest, but yes, I was.

I was 15 and I got dragged into Brookside

without having a clue about acting and I was shocking, I was awful.

I don't even know why I'm still here!

I didn't know what I was doing, but I think there were quite low

on numbers for Asian Scouse actresses

at that time, in 1988 or whatever.

There wasn't many girls they could choose from.

So I think they went scouting around schools and bus stops

and dance classes and I was at a bus stop

and I was one of those lucky people -

"You have the right face for this character on Brookside.

"Come along for an audition." And I was like, "Yeah, right. As if."

I didn't have a clue. I wanted to be a candyfloss seller, you know.

-I had big plans!

-You had big plans. Right. I never knew that!

Yes, so I got dragged in, three episodes became three years,

carried on doing school and thought, "Why not? I'll give it a go."

I went off to university and had a whale of a time.

What was that like, doing that when you're at school?

What did the kids think?

I often find that when people do something like that

and you have to go back to what is the normality of school.

-How was that?

-You know what, it's strange.

Because from my point of view, I missed out on all the fun classes,

so I'd have filming during art, sports, free time.

That was when it was scheduled for me to not be at school,

-so I missed out on all of the laughs.

-Right.

My mates at school were like, "Where are you going?

"Are you going off to do Brookside? Are you going off to film?"

Like, "What's it like?"

Of course, I was so young and green to it all,

I didn't really know what I was doing

and I'd come back going, "Yeah, they'll pick me up

"and take me off to wardrobe and I've got to learn these lines."

-So it was a novelty.

-I was on a pig farm -

-I didn't think I'd do this for a living.

-I bet you didn't!

So we've got our little tartlets, just to show you that.

That's our puff pastry and a bit of basil pesto.

Boccaccini, which are these little things over here.

-You've been a lover of Italian food.

-Absolutely, yes.

-But these are actually made in Hampshire.

-Really?

Yeah, these are made at a place called Laverstoke Park,

which is... He's got his own buffalo herd.

Amazing.

Little boccaccini, cherry tomatoes over the top,

pop them in the fridge and cook them when you want it,

and then we're just going to do some simple little cheese straws.

But, I mean, Casualty, going in something like that,

-particularly for the length of time that you're in it.

-I know.

That must take over your life, that show, because I often think

the script must be a nightmare when you look at it.

Cos I'm dyslexic, I have trouble reading this autocue, let alone...

I mean, some of the words you have to read and understand.

Do you know, they just go in and out the short term memory.

I can't hold on to them for longer than a couple of days, so I don't

actually learn my lines until the day before,

which is my way of doing it. A lot of people like to do it earlier.

There are some of the guys at work who are so thorough,

they'll get their lines down weeks beforehand, but for me,

because of the length of the words,

and because also it changes so much in the moment medically,

you've got a medical advisor on the floor,

you've got your lines which you've learnt, and if you learn them

too thoroughly, you've got no room to add "Can you pass the syringe?"

Or "Can you do this?" Or "Let's get five milligrams of naloxone"

-or whatever it is.

-Whatever it is, yeah(!)

You get told to add things along the way,

so if you've got it too fixed in your head,

you can't then be flexible enough to change it.

-Do you know what I mean?

-Yeah, absolutely.

So you've directed a bit of the show.

So what can you tell us about 2013 with Casualty?

It's going to be exciting.

We come back on air on January 5th, I think,

and we've got four new student nurses joining,

so we've got a bit of prey.

-Ooh la la!

-Ooh la la!

-Exactly.

We're all standing there making them look silly

while we look like we know what we're doing,

but that's the main point of bringing junior nurses in,

just to show how great we are.

Do you still go to the hospitals and get experience from that?

Cos I spent a lot of time in hospitals working with,

particularly, the nurses and the patients with hospital food,

and I found it a fascinating mix,

and somehow they look at comedy to get away from the day to day.

Oh, yeah. I mean, I've been playing doctors and nurses

and stuff like that for years.

I was a nurse on No Angels, and I was a nurse on Brookside,

ironically, and then I was a doctor on Casualty.

So I could have actually got a medical degree in the time

I've been on television playing a doctor.

I was going to say that then.

Imagine people in the street, something happens, they say,

-"Are you a doctor? Can you help us?"

-My father is a doctor.

-A lot of my family are doctors, so...

-Oh, right!

I'm sort of flying the flag slightly.

So do they have something to say when you...

They don't believe a word of it. They don't believe a word of it.

Well, there's your little puff pastry canapes

that I've done literally in this amount of time.

You've got your tartlets here with your pesto, roasted tomatoes,

boccaccini, we've got poppy seeds. Salt is the key to this.

A little bit of salt, because you need people to drink more.

So salt is the key to that. That's the trick.

That's why they have these at parties.

-That's the trick!

-Covered with salt.

I missed you twisting them.

How did you twist them into looking like them?

-That's a trick of restaurants.

-Twist, twist, twist.

And I stick that to there, cos otherwise they shrink and unravel.

So I do that with the tray.

So basically, you just bake these in a really hot oven.

The easiest thing with these, really, I suppose,

you could actually pop these in the fridge

and bake them when you need to.

The secret, I think, with anything with puff pastry,

you need to serve it warm. So if you make them...

and all I've done is warm these up.

Now, I haven't shut the oven door with this wooden board in,

which my mother did last year...

LAUGHTER

..and these wooden boards are glued together.

We had a giant Jenga to put back together when it all fell apart.

-They've become that!

-Yeah.

So these little palmiers become

this sort of heart-shaped thing as they expand.

Oh, that's amazing.

And they've got the anchovy in, so that's really simple.

Yeah, and they do look like shortbread biscuits,

like Scottish shortbread biscuits.

People still love this.

-Yeah, it's crunchy - people love that.

-Try that.

There's nothing worse than cold puff pastry.

-No, it's got to be warm.

-Absolutely right.

If you just warm them through. They're so delicate.

And when it's warm, you feel the frailty as well,

-of the puff pastry.

-The cheese, all I've done is grate...

you can put either Emmental or Parmesan.

I've just put a little bit of Parmesan and some poppy seeds,

but egg washed to make it stick together.

-White egg wash or both?

-Just a little bit of egg yolk.

But the secret is that salt,

because that salt really lifts your palate.

-Salt, poppy seeds and grated cheese and egg wash.

-That's what it is.

Easier to say than a script from Casualty.

So what I'll be cooking before the end of the show,

she'll be there facing Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Food Heaven would be lobster and a Goan-style lobster curry.

The lobster is cooked in a sauce made from coconut milk, tamarind,

chilli, garlic, ginger, lots of other Indian spices.

I'm going to serve it with some fresh coriander at the end,

and of course, you can't have a curry

without a big pile of chips as well.

You could of course do rice, but you could be facing Food Hell, even.

That meaty piece of turbot.

The fish is cooked skin-side down with plenty of butter

and it's served on a bed of sauteed leeks and Brussels sprouts

along with a sauce made from shallots, cream, fish stock

and right at the end, a splash of champagne.

But you have to wait to the end of the show

to see what fate decides.

Now it's time for some more tasty French food from Rachel Khoo.

She's making a 1970s dinner party classic - it's quiche Lorraine.

In the UK, most people go to the supermarket,

buy a quiche Lorraine. It's got a soggy crust,

the bacon's not particularly nice, the filling's like...bleurghhh.

My quiche Lorraine is the exact opposite.

'My first job is making the shortcrust pastry base.

'Most busy Parisians would usually buy this.'

I'm going to start off with 90g of soft butter, unsalted.

'Add a teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt and cream it all together.'

OK. I'm going to add my flour...

'I've got 180 grams of plain flour.'

..two egg yolks.

They give a lovely yellow colour and a richness to the pastry.

'Then add a couple of tablespoons of cold water.'

Just want to mix everything together and what'll happen is,

it'll get this kind of sandy texture.

At this point, you can use your hand to bring the dough together.

You see, it's coming together.

Clingfilm.

Put your pastry in the fridge.

Best is overnight.

If you haven't got the time, half an hour to an hour.

'Chilling the dough makes it more pliable.'

'Remember to take it out of the fridge

'about half an hour before you use it.

'It'll be easier to work.'

I use two sheets of baking paper to roll out my dough,

because that way you don't need to use any flour,

you don't make any mess,

and also your pastry won't stick to the board.

It's a bit hard at the beginning to roll it out, so if you bash it,

it softens it up, makes it easier and it's fun too.

It's a bit therapeutic.

If you have anger issues, this is what you need to do.

'Roll out your pastry base so that it overlaps the top of the tin

'by a few inches all round,

'and don't forget to flour and butter your tin.'

OK.

Peel off your paper...

..and then you want to gently push it in the tin.

'Once the pastry's firmly in, you can get rid of the excess

'and fill in any cracks.'

All you need to do is take your rolling pin

and then roll over the top.

As simple as that.

'The base just needs a coating of egg white.'

This acts like a barrier between the filling and the pastry

and stops the filling making the pastry soggy.

'Chill the base to stop it from shrinking when it bakes.

'Now you can crack on with the traditional filling.'

All you need for your quiche Lorraine is eggs,

smoky bacon and cream.

Any additional ingredients, it's not a quiche Lorraine any more.

'To start, some smoky bacon.'

Throw in your lardons, 150g,

and you need four eggs and two egg yolks.

I'm going to add my double cream, 300ml,

or I sometimes use creme fraiche.

Salt, black pepper.

'Most Parisians have their own little twist on this recipe,

'but for once, I'm sticking to the classic.

'Only three ingredients make up this filling,

'so get the best quality you can.

'When your lardons are crispy,

'drain them and scatter into your pastry base.'

Almost there. Just need to pour this creamy egg mix in.

So easy.

Put it in the oven slowly.

Don't rush this part, otherwise it'll land on the floor.

'Leave it for 40 minutes at 180 degrees.

'For a veggie version, add roasted vegetables,

'or if you fancy fish,

'asparagus and smoked salmon make a great combination.'

The perfume of quiche Lorraine. Nothing more appetising.

Going to get it out my little oven.

Mmm, yum. Bit hot.

Take the whole tray. Ooh!

That quiche looks perfect.

It's got the crust, which is crisp, golden top, it's set nicely.

'The filling should set with a slight wobble.'

So cut yourself a slice.

Wow, I've cut myself a big slice.

So simple, yet...

really delicious.

# Je te garde dans mon coeur... #

I've got crumbs all over my mouth, it's so tasty!

In France, this quiche is traditionally served warm for lunch

or as a starter, and who can resist when it tastes this good?

'This is a tricky one which requires a bit of practice,

'but I promise you, the end result is worth it.'

I had the perfect recipe to recreate

that Parisian patisserie experience at home -

a grapefruit and pepper meringue tartlet.

Start off by zesting my grapefruit.

'This is for the grapefruit curd,

'which will sit in the base of the tart.'

Oh, beautiful smell from the grapefruit.

It's a bit like aromatherapy. A great way to start the morning.

Cut it in half.

'Give it a good squeeze and pour 90ml of juice into a pan.'

I need one egg...

..and one egg yolk.

'To your mix, add 100g of plain sugar,

'a tablespoon of cornflour,

'and a pinch of salt, then get it on the hob.'

You just want to whisk constantly until it thickens up.

It's almost there. All right. It's bubbled. Switch off the heat.

Add 50g of cubed soft butter. Looks like it's done.

I'm going to pour it into my bowl.

It's got a great consistency.

You do need to chill it a little bit, cos it will set.

In the fridge it goes, just to chill.

'Filling done. Next task, the base for the tarts,

'and for that, I've already prepared a Breton biscuit mix.

'The recipe is on my BBC web page.'

And what you do is this kind of snail shape first.

So you go out all the way in. OK.

And then the ring around that side,

because you want a little dip in the middle

to put your curd in the middle.

They go in the oven for about 12 to 15 minutes.

'Next up, the meringue topping.

'Get a pan with 100g of sugar and 40ml of water to make a hot syrup.'

Here comes the science part.

I have my thermometer here, and I'm going to put it in.

I need to get 118 degrees Celsius, because if it's not hot enough,

your meringue's not going to be stiff enough. If it's too hot,

then your meringue's too stiff

and you're not going to get a nice finish on the meringue.

So 118 degrees Celsius is the perfect temperature.

I'll put my egg whites in my mixing bowl...

..and add a pinch of salt. So we're not far off.

We're at 107 degrees Celsius and it's starting to bubble.

Come on! 118. OK. Let's take that out.

And then you want to pour it along the side of the bowl,

because if you don't pour it along the side,

you pour it on the whisk, and that makes spun sugar.

I'm going to go and look in the oven. I think the biscuits are done.

Let's have a look.

Yay! They look perfect.

I'll add a little bit of black pepper to my meringue.

The spiciness from the black pepper

works really well with the acidity of the grapefruit.

That looks perfect.

I'm going to turn it off.

Ahhh.

Wow. Look at that meringue.

And that will look beautiful on our tartlets.

OK, I just need to get my grapefruit curd out of the fridge,

cos that's been cooling down.

Just add a couple of tablespoons in.

'If you don't have time to make the filling,

'you could cheat a little and buy some lemon curd from a shop.'

OK, meringue time.

# Que reste-t-il de nos amours? #

Look at that.

Just put it on top.

# Une photo, vieille photo

# De ma jeunesse... #

OK. You will need a blowtorch. Not any old blowtorch.

I have a very big blowtorch.

Lightly brush the meringue.

This will caramelise it and add a little crispness.

And that's it.

All that's left to do is to eat them.

Let's have a little look inside.

So, when you cut in, you've got a little surprise.

Isn't that stunning?

# De mon passe...

# De mon passe... #

That looked delicious. Still to come this morning on Saturday Kitchen,

Nigel Slater is looking towards the New Year for his food ideas too.

He's making a horseradish dressing, to go with lentils

and leftover beef that he hopes will help the hangovers.

Raymond Blanc is on the hunt for game.

He uses it to make pheasant and mushroom pithiviers

and they look delicious.

Daniel and Ben take the last Omelette Challenge of 2012.

Both will want to be in the centre of the pan,

but whose hopes will be scrambled?

-AUDIENCE GROANS

-And who will be celebrating?

You thought it was over, didn't you? But it's not.

You can find out in a few minutes.

What we'll do is cook for Sunetra at the end of the show.

She could be facing food Heaven,

lobster in that Goan-style lobster curry with chips,

which is a cracking dish, or food hell, that king of fish,

or king of meaty fish, turbot, in a classic champagne sauce.

Of course, it's not up to our chefs today.

Instead, we'll let fate decide.

I'll explain exactly how at the end of the show.

Right, let's carry on cooking.

Next is the man behind not one, not two, but three

of London's top tapas restaurants. It's the brilliant Ben Tish.

-Welcome back, Ben.

-Thank you.

-On the menu, we've got lamb.

We've got lamb. We have got lamb indeed. It's lamb leg steaks.

Really good time of year for lamb. It's full of flavour.

-It certainly is.

-Yes...

Is that transition between that goes from lamb to,

before mutton, it goes to hogget.

Hogget, yes. So it's over a year old, I think.

And it's the incisors, isn't it?

-Exactly, full of flavour but not overpowering like mutton.

-OK.

What we'll do today,

we've got beautiful squash, butternut squash, spaghetti squash,

that you are hopefully going to kindly chop up for me.

You don't peel these, do you?

I don't, no. I think if you're going to roast them,

slow roast them, you don't need to.

-Sounds good to me.

-And it's full of flavour.

What do we do with the lamb then?

-The lamb, we're going to chargrill them.

-Yes.

So I'm just going to get some salt and pepper onto these. There we go.

-Is that about right for you?

-Yes, that's lovely.

-Good.

All like that.

Try and keep them the same size, so they cook evenly.

-I'll do that, chef.

-Thank you very much.

Butternut squash, I love this, it's great, not only with savoury dishes,

-but it's fantastic with desserts as well.

-Yes.

-You can make amazing ice cream out of it.

-Yes, ice cream,

-panna cotta as well. It goes with panna cotta, brulees even.

-Yes.

So, just a bit of olive oil rubbed onto the lamb.

-And we'll put these on a hot chargrill.

-Yes.

So I guess most people have probably got these,

but, a barbecue would be great

if you fancy barbecuing outside on New Year's Eve,

-but, yes.

-Can you marinade them in advance?

-Yes, you could do.

You can add some rosemary, or thyme and garlic

if you wanted to do that. But this lamb is so full of flavour,

I think you want to, let the meat do its own thing.

What about getting the barbecue out...

-Yes, why not?

-..on New Year's Eve?

Have you been to Liverpool on New Year's Eve?

After a few glasses of champagne, why not?

Yes, after a few glasses of champagne.

So the lamb's just going away there.

-There's a sink if you want to wash your hands.

-Thank you.

-I'm just removing the little seeds out of this.

-Yes.

You don't want the seeds, that's the thing. They can be quite...

-quite bitter.

-Yes.

-So,

I've got here as well some cavolo nero,

nice seasonal Italian vegetable, really full of flavour.

-It's brilliant to grow, this stuff. I've grown it in the garden.

-Yes.

-About, a few seasons now, and it's fantastic to grow it.

-Yes.

It grows later in the season as well.

Yes, it's really hardy, isn't it?

I mean, at the restaurants, we get our cavolo nero

from a place called Organically, which is just outside of London.

-Yes.

-And it's gorgeous, yes. They grow it especially for us.

Now, you're stripping it from the stem.

-Stripping it from the stem.

-Yes.

-So it can be quite tough, this.

So we we're just taking the leaves off.

-It's a good vegetable.

-It's really good, really full of flavour.

-Yes.

And I know it's fantastic with calve's liver and stuff like that.

Yes, it stands up well to, to, kind of, meat.

-So, yes, we've got our cavolo nero leaves peeled off here.

-All right.

And then with the squash, what we're going to do is

stick salt and pepper, some olive oil, some butter on there

and then we're going to add some chilli and garlic on there too.

-Yes.

-And then just let everything cook together, basically.

So why the Spanish and Italian influence in your life?

Why the love of that?

Well, I just think they're not that far removed

when you get into the culture of the food.

And, yes, we couldn't separate what we wanted to do,

so we thought, let's do both.

I have to say, I mean, I've been around the markets around Europe,

-To me, really, the Spanish markets have the edge, I think...

-Amazing.

-..incredible, aren't they?

-Especially the seafood.

When you go to the market and you see fish and seafood you know,

it's like this alien stuff.

-I mean, they really know their stuff out there.

-Pork as well.

Meats in Spain are incredible.

-Yes. Iberico pork...

-And charcuterie.

..we use a lot of Iberico pork at the restaurant

and it's like nothing else. I mean, you've had it, James.

Yes, it's the black-footed pig, isn't it?

It's supposed to be bred on acorns and wanders down the orchard...

-Yes.

-It's hard, I mean, incredibly, what's the, a leg of,

-Iberico, like a ham there...

-Yes...

-£1,000, something like that?

Well, yes, it's like 50, 60 upwards a kilo, so yes, really expensive.

-These go in the oven.

-They go in till they're nice and soft

and when we pull those out, we're going to put, drizzle it with honey,

-so we get a nice bit of sweetness.

-Don't forget all of today's recipes,

-including this one from Ben...

-Yes.

-..are of course on our website...

You can find dishes from our previous shows...

I've got some honey.

OK, so honey drizzled on there. I'll just cut this cavolo nero,

-I am going to, a little bit of butter and olive oil in a pan.

-Yes?

And I'll put the cavolo nero in there.

So I'm going to braise it slightly

and then add a little bit of water on top of that.

-There we go.

-I was going to say, you don't need to blanch it...

You don't need to, it just, you lose the flavour really, you know...

-Yes.

-..if you do that. So, butter in there,

-you can get a bit of caramelization on it.

-Yes.

-So, cavolo nero is just kind of starting to wilt there.

-Yes.

I'm going to get a bit of water into the pan.

Now, I mentioned, well, you can say your restaurants.

I mean, you've got your third one opening now.

Well yes, the third one, Opera Tavern, that's kind of going well

and then we're looking for, we're looking to open one next year.

-Right.

-Slightly different concept.

-Right.

Kind of based around grilling over wood, and, er...

-Grilling over wood?

-And charcoal and that, that's it.

-So, natural cooking.

-All right, sounds good to me.

-Cool.

-OK, so the last bit of the dish, James.

-I'll move this over there.

Thank you very much.

We'll be doing a...

And if that's not enough, you've just finished your first cookbook.

First cookbook's finished, we just got that this week.

-Saltyard food and wine from Spain and Italy.

-Yes.

So it's kind of a collection of recipes,

you know, from the three restaurants.

And 20% is kind of new stuff that I've added in,

a kind of a nod to the home cook.

So, Spanish style dishes. Some simple stuff in there.

But there's also some more laborious stuff in there as well.

So you can take your pick, really.

Now, you've got Spanish and Italian influences here.

-But this is classic French.

-This is classic French.

-Yes, bravo!

-Thank you.

-I was on with Daniel,

so I thought, yes, I had to do that. So,

a classic little butter sauce, beurre noisette

is basically browned butter or nut butter.

-It's really quick and easy and it's delicious, isn't it?

-Yes.

I know you're a fan of that.

Anything that's got this amount of butter on it, I'm quite happy.

THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER

Take your butter till it just turns nut brown,

a bit of salt and pepper in there. There we go.

DANIEL AND SUNETRA TALK QUIETLY

There we go. I've got a lemon as well.

-Do you want to..?

-Just cut that in half.

You just see it's just started to catch on the bottom.

-And then, to that we're going to add some anchovies.

-Yes.

Anchovies work well with lamb. Nice bit of saltiness there.

This is where you've got to be careful with salted butter...

Yes, exactly that. Add some capers in there.

-It's a little bit like the dressing for a skate wing, isn't it?

-Exactly.

-Like a, what is it, Grenoble?

-Yes, a kind of Grenoble.

-Yes.

And then, lemon juice at the end.

What that will do is just add the sharpness,

but it will also stop the butter from cooking any further.

-Very simple little dish.

-Very simple, yes.

-Very effective.

-OK, good.

-We're ready when you are.

-Ready indeed. OK...

-There you are.

-Thank you, yes.

So, some squash on the bottom of the plate.

So that's just got honey in?

Honey in at the end, just to add sweetness.

That works nicely with the chilli, the kick of the chilli.

-Yes.

-Pop that out the way.

-Your cavolo nero.

-Thank you.

-Black cabbage.

-Lovely cavolo nero.

Full of, full of flavour and goodness.

-Out on there.

-You've seen how quick that takes to cook as well.

-Yes.

-It's a very much underrated vegetable.

-I think it is.

And your lamb, I mean, you want it,

exactly how a lot of chefs have been telling everybody,

however long it's in the pan, it needs to rest for the same time.

It needs to and that just relaxes the meat

and it just looks nicer when you slice it, you know.

It's all evenly cooked all the way through, nice kind of pink.

This is from the leg,

but another great cut to use for this would be the rump.

Rump would be good and also, I like lamb neck cuts,

lamb neck fillet, that's really nice as well.

-Rump, you'd probably have to flash through the oven...

-Yes, so...

Just put my lamb over the top of there like that. That's it.

There's your sauce ready.

A little bit more salt over the meat and spoon over the sauce.

-There we go.

-GIGGLING FROM THE TABLE

There's butter in there.

-That's a great dish, that.

-Not for the health conscious, really.

Don't worry about that, Ben. Don't worry about that.

-It's New Year's Eve, we can...

-Tell us what it is again?

-Start the diet in the new year.

-That is chargrilled lamb leg,

with spiced squashes, cavolo nero,

and a butter sauce with capers and anchovies.

-How fantastic does that look?

-Thanks very much.

-That looks fabulous. Is it going to taste fabulous?

-Yes, definitely.

Have a seat. Thanks very much. Dive into that.

You've already had guinea fowl, a bit of puff pastry.

Now, grab your knife and fork.

-This one's mine.

-Dive in a bit of lamb.

-Ah!

Now, we mentioned that lamb.

Particularly January time, this time,

this is the ideal time, I think, to buy lamb.

You've got a really earthy flavour.

People think new season's lamb is the time, but it's not.

It's now, if you want the flavour. It's delicious.

-I like this transition flavour of lamb, really good.

-Yeah, really good.

What do you reckon?

It's warm, yeah. With the squash, it really works.

-The sweetness.

-The skin as well.

-Exactly.

-It's tender.

It's such a cliche,

it's such a good combination of flavours, I can't tell you.

My mouth's still watering after I've tasted it.

-That's how good it is.

-Brilliant.

Let's go back to Cardiff,

to see what Susy has chosen to go with Ben's beautiful lamb.

Ben, whenever I think of barbecued lamb, as in your lovely recipe,

my thoughts turn to Spanish reds. Soft, sweet and mellow.

And, for many people, that means the Rioja region.

And there's no doubt that something like this Montino Rioja Reserva

makes an excellent partner.

But I've chosen something slightly different,

I've gone to the neighbouring region

which, I reckon, makes reds that are just as good in quality.

And the wine I've chosen is the Marques de Almeida, 2011,

from Ribera Del Duero.

The reason so many Spanish reds go well with lamb

is the tempranillo grape, Spain's most important variety.

Its lovely, juicy, red and blackberry fruit,

combined with a bit of vanilla oak, goes perfectly with this meat.

Mm, This is a deeply coloured wine

with a really rich aroma of blackcurrants and strawberries.

Mm. What I love about this wine is,

although it is rich and ripe, with a little hint of spicy oak,

it's perfect for winter drinking.

It's not too heavy or tannic.

So, that sweet tempranillo fruit goes beautifully with the sweet lamb

and the caramelised squash.

But, this is a young Spanish red. It's only 2011.

And that lively character, that fresh lift,

is what works with the salty anchovies and the capers.

Ben, I've found this sensational Spanish red

to go with your barbecued lamb.

A perfect dinner party duo. SHE SPEAKS WELSH

Happy New Year!

-And it's Spanish as well.

-Yeah, brilliant.

Absolutely brilliant. Absolutely delicious. It's nice and spicy.

It's almost slightly mulled quality to it.

But it works perfectly with the lamb.

There's been a lot of food and wine matching on the show over the years.

This combination is probably the best I've ever tasted.

-That wine is just incredible.

-Superb. Yeah, superb.

Amazing. I'm speechless.

I think, with all lamb, really,

if we're looking for a dish to go with lamb,

-buy that one, it's great.

-Brilliant.

Let's get some seasonable seasonal food ideas.

This time, from Nigel Slater.

He's got his eye on New Year's Day, and some help for hangovers.

But he's going to struggle to win me over today,

as it's all about horseradish. It's the food of the devil!

New Year's Day.

And I fancy something that's really going to wake me up.

This early in the year, I really don't want to do too much cooking.

But I want to eat very well.

So, something really straightforward and simple.

And I'm not particularly superstitious.

But I do have a few little rituals.

And one of them is, at the beginning of the year, to eat lentils.

They're supposed to bring good luck, or, at least, wealth.

So, for my first supper of the year,

I'm in the mood for a lentil and beef salad,

with an unusual ingredient that, I promise, will blow away the hangover.

Put some lentils on to boil.

I always pop in some aromatics, like garlic, onion and bay leaves,

just to give the lentils a bit more flavour.

Next, it's time to make a tangy dressing to go with the lentils.

Whenever I make a salad dressing, I have an unusual habit

in that I put the salt into the vinegar,

and dissolve it, before anything else.

And, I do that, just to mellow the vinegar.

It just takes that really sharp bite off it.

I'm going to put a little bit of mustard in this.

Grainy or smooth, whatever you have will do.

Add some pepper, and a good glug of olive oil.

Now, for that secret ingredient, fresh horseradish.

There's something about fresh stuff, that has a real zip to it.