Christmas Saturday Kitchen Saturday Kitchen

Forget any last-minute Christmas shopping, we've got something far

more important and far tastier instead. This is Saturday Kitchen

and if you've guessed, it is Merry Christmas. Welcome. Cooking

are two top chefs. Probably the best seafood chef in Britain. He

wrote that. From Rock in Cornwall, already with two stars, it is

Nathan Outlaw and next to him, Tristan Welch. I didn't write that

myself. Nathan, what are you cooking? Fish? Of course. I'm doing

a lovely Christmas Eve dish, which I think is when you don't want to

do too much, so it is cured salmon and mackerel pat a and deep-fried

oissters. -- pate and deep-fried oissters. --. Tristan? Venison,

with pears roasted in loads of butter and parsnips. You got some

vegetable? Parsnips and little bit of Cheltenham beetroot and all

cooked in a packet, so loads of flavour. Cheltenham beetroot. We

have got our Christmas feel to the archive too. Today we have Rick

Stein, Nigel slater and the Two Fat Ladies. Our special guest has

standard in some break great shows. Are you a big foody. Yes. I ate in

Nathan's restaurant a lot. You were brought up in Scotland? Glasgow.

When I was up there I learnt a Glasgow salad, a bowl of chips, but

the area on the east coast is so famous for seafood. Very good.

Amazing and obviously great ingredients, but now you are living

in Brighton? Yep. Not so much on the coastline there, but a little?

A little. At the end of this programme I have to cook you food

heaven or hell. There is something based on your favourite ingredient

for heaven or nightmare, hell? What would it be, because you have

travelled all over the place? have. I love garlic and Chile and

pasta, but my heaven are Tom tomatoes. -- tomatos. What about

hell? That's easy, blue cheese. I wouldn't even call it blew cheesey.

It is mouldy. -- blue cheese. It is mouldy. Would you eat a mouldy

loaf? No. Why do it with cheese? For heaven I have something simple,

but sensational. An awe ten thick Margharita pizza. -- authentic

Margharita piz Saturday. -- pizza. Or hell, blue cheese with fresh

figures and a bacon dressing in a creamy blue-cheese dressing.

please. If I have my way it will be pizzas. There are no votes, so I

have a surprise. We'll let fate decide what Julie will be eating at

the end of the show. Keep watching to find out how. Maggie, you wrote

in. Who have you brought along with you? My sister Anne. You are from

Jersey? Indeed. You lived there all your lives? Yes. Big foodies.

If you've got any questions on the foods, fire away throughout the

show. Right, we'll get cooking. It's your local, where you have

been quite a few times and what better way to start that with some

stunning seafood from this man. Great to have you on the show. What

are we cooking? Lovely boot root grilled salmon to be done in

advance. Smoked mackerel pate and deep- fried oissters. -- oysters.

This is like a mixture of different seafood? Yes. I think what is nice

you don't want to be rushing about at Christmas, doing all the

different sort of things in the kitchen. You want to enjoy yourself.

Everyone seems to be stressed out sometimes. I don't know what you

mean! Everybody comes round. This is the perfect thing to have in

your fridge as a back-up. You have got it there if people pop round.

Preparation is the key, more than anything else, really? Yeah,

definitely. Then just making it a little different. Obviously, a

celebration in the entirety, the dish with the deep-fried oysters

that you have not tried before and I would hate to say it, but it's

almost like the nuggets, fried sort of things. Nugget? I build you up

into this two-star Michelin chef and there you are with your

nuggets?! You are cream cheese and yoghurt and horseradish. You don't

like it. I'll pick it out. We have the raw beetroot and sugar. A lot

of salt. You are curing the whole side. Then we have got fennell

seeds, which go very well with seafood and tarragon, which gives

it that sort of an niece flavour, which is very nice. Tar began and

fish are a great combination? Especially with oily fish. Some of

the whiter fish may not be able to handle it, but with this you can.

I'll blend all the ingredients up. I give up. Wouldn't smoked salmon

be easier? Much easier! You blend that up. We have the cure. You want

a balance between the sweet and the sour. We put that on to the tray

and there's a lot of water inside the salmon and it should be drawn

out by the salt. This is like making your own gravalax? Yes. It's

thick, so it will take a bit of time. It will take 30 hours in

total, but you have to turn it over half way. After ten hours start it

off on the skin first and you get dirty with this bit. You rub it

over the fish. That goes into the fridge. You turn that after what?

After ten hours, you'll turn that over and then give it another 20

hours. When you end up is something that looks like this. It goes

really dark? All the natural water in the salmon it will come out and

will leave you with this. You need to wash it off the best you can.

Scrape off all that cure. Now I know why you wore this Then we need

to wash that off. Plain water? Don't forget, you can find the

recipe, along with all the other recipes, on the website. For the

salad, more beetroot? Yes. I have a little bit of shallots and garlic

there. Diced? That's right. Just diced up. It didn't really matter.

Once you wash the salt off, how long will that keep? Once you've

washed it off, this will last for a good week, maybe even two weeks in

the fridge. It's like the curing process before you do smoked salmon,

but it's good to freeze too, so if you do buy a whole side of salmon,

then you actually can keep it for a long time. It's all dried off.

That's ready to slice and use. We'll take these off and open them

off. The most important thing for oysters is the safety element.

someone else to do it. Hold the oyster very firmly against the

board and don't use too much pressure, there is a little hinge

and you'll hear it and it pops and you can hear that. Then what you do

is - the safest way is to get your finger underneath and come along

the roof of the oyster and at the side you have a little hinge and as

soon as that is released you open it up and what we are trying to do

is get them out and all the juice. In this recipe we are not using it,

but it's very good to make a mayonnaise with. Flour. Egg.

Including the shell! Bredcrumbs. That's right. You use the little

dried ones. Straight in? Yes. You need to dry them off, otherwise

you'll end up with a soggy crumb. You want me to flour them? Yeah.

I'll egg. What's the order? Flour, then egg then the breadcrumbs.

like for nuggets! It's how you do scampi? How do you get the children

to eat them? That's how I got my children into oysters. One minute?

Yeah. Until they are crispy. You take the end off. The texture

changes from the salt and the sugar? Yes. Lovely deep-cut salmon.

If you cut it too thin you don't get the texture of it. It's almost

nothing to eat there. Cut it thicker. I'll leave you to put the

Chevy little pile. Did you season, chef? Yes. Just making sure! Then

we have the deep-fried oysters and there you have it, so beetroot-

cured salmon and pate and a nice salad. If you're doing that this

Christmas I'm definitely coming round. It looks spectacular, I have

to say. There you go. You get to dive into this. Your first dish.

Dive into that. You have probably eaten this already, because it's on

the menu. I'll eat with my fingers. Dig in. What's nice is the

different textures and the hot and cold and it's interesting, but

simple. You would self that altogether in your restaurant?

or individually, but I like it on a platter with ten or 15 people

coming round. Perfect. The oysters are yum. I don't think the girls

will get any. The idea is to pass it down. We need win. We sent Susy

Atkins to Dorset to spread the Christmas cheer, so what did she

choose to go with Nathan's stunning salmon? I'm in Dorchester at a tree

farm. But I'm off to find the wines for the Christmas show. Nathan, I

have made your seasonal salmon and I can tell you that it only really

goes with wines that have a fresh, crisp bite. Since it's Christmas,

you could splash out perhaps on a dry English sparkling wine,

something like this Ridgeview from Sussex. If you are feeding a crowd

then I suggest stocking up on a refreshing still white and the one

I've chosen is the Zalze 2011 and that's from South Africa. Raw

beetroot, horseradish and smoked mackerel aren't the easiest

ingredients to match, but whites with a amp flavour are Christmas

crackers and the grape gives us all the amle that we need. -- apple

that we need. As well as pear, there is some nice fruitiness. I

need the lighter touch in order to pick up on all the fish in the dish.

It's got a really fruity streak. Nathan, I love cured salmon at this

time of year and with the mackerel pate, oysters and a glass of this,

we have a festive feast. Enjoy. Definitely enjoying this, because

it's dramatically going down. It won't come back. What do you reckon

to the wine? Great? She has got it spot on. It works really well with

all the different flavours and it cuts through the salmon. You can

tell she has made the dish, so to get something as perfectly matched

as that, what could you reckon? Gorgeous. A bargain. Just under �7.

The dish is fantastic. I think it's a beautiful wine with it too.

Fantastic. Well done, mate. All the better because it hasn't got

horseradish in it. I forgot to put it in. Tristan has a hearty recipe.

Remind us what it is. Venison casserole. First, it's time to get

some Asian-inspired Christmas ideas with Rick Stein. He is in Bali with

very tasty pork. Look at this. Admission time - when I saw that

wonderful musical South Pacific I thought the haunt song was about

the island of Bali. In a way I still do, because it enVokes a type

of paradise we all strife for. It's an escape to a place that is calm

and serene. Although 50 years on I know the island is a different

place, the sentiment is still the And it didn't come

So I thought this might set your juices flowing.

It certainly had quite an effect on me.

That is fabulous. I just know looking at that, that I will never taste

more succulent or crispy crackling and pork in my life.

And watching it, I just thought when I was setting out on this journey

to Southeast Asia, that this is the sort of thing I was thinking of.

Wood fire. Whole pig.

Rather hot and sweaty.

Lovely aromas. I mean, this babi guling is it.

Babi means "pig", and guling means "tumbling" or "rolling".

I mean, his skill is marvellous.

I'm just watching him just dampening down the flames, because of course,

pork is very fatty and it could just all flare up.

And it sort of reminds me more than anything of, of sort of like Tudor England,

the roast beef of England

where some guy like this would be right up to the spit

turning it and getting incredibly hot,

as indeed he is, just to see that the thing was cooked perfectly.

Even the cooking process needed the security of offerings

to the relevant gods in an effort to ensure success for the enterprise.

What I'm learning about Balinese culture

is incredible intermingling of religion and food.

And I mean this is almost like a religious ceremony in itself.

And it's a new sort of dimension to food to me, the sort of religiousness of it,

but just thinking, imagine in the Church of England

if you went into church and you had roast beef and Yorkshire pudding

as part of the ceremony.

I'd be in there every Sunday!

Perhaps that's one of the things that makes Christmas lunch

such an essential part of the festive celebrations.

The anticipation of the meal is almost as important as the eating.

I feel with a lot of cookery programmes, myself included, that it's too much about the recipes.

Some of this goes in, some of that. And not enough about appetite. About hunger.

About the absolute anticipation

and watching that pig being cooked over that smoky fire

and the realisation that the skin was going to get ever crisper and ever more delicious.

So, here's to appetite, and to me, at the moment,

I'm thinking this will be about ten on the Richter scale.

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 51 seconds

same. We apologise for

same. We apologise for the

same. We apologise for the temporary

temporary loss

temporary loss of

temporary loss of subtitles.

temporary loss of subtitles. some juice for sharpness. A little

salt. Lastly, palm sugar. I exad practically everyone I came across

-- I asked practically everyone I came across what their favourite

dish was and without hesitation they said beef, rerbgs -- rendang.

It's great to see some different ideas and I've got something a

little different to do with these little things. Brus eltops, used

these before? The plant comes from the top and this is the flower at

the top. It's like a little cabbage. You can see the Brussels are at the

top. It will come out of the ground. The tops are great. I thought I

would do a halibut and seafood because we have Nathan here, to

celebrate his two stars. It is something you can do at home. We

have a little halibut here, which I'll season up. A little salt and

pepper and get that cooking nicely. Just in a gentle pan with olive oil.

The people who are thinking about a diet this Christmas, there is two

kilos of butter, so you won't want to do this dish. If you are at the

gym, run a bit quicker! Who diets at Christmas? Exactly. What are you

talking about? In goes the clams. Straight into a hot pan? Yeah and

then put some wine in and bring this to the boil. This is almost

ready. We are going to make a little sauce out of it. You say

your first acting job was a receptionist? Yes. Part of the job

was to lure the men in and the guy said your Scottish accent is

scaring everyone away, because I think I was a bit aggressive and he

asked me to tone the accent down, so I ended up doing a London accent

and it was my first acting job. rest - the CV reads, huge amounts

on television. Taggart. You did a little? Yes. You did a bit stint at

the programme At Home With The Braith rates? The best way to learn

your trade is to do theatre. I would say to young actors if they

are thinking of the profession, they've got to do theatre, because

you learn so much and get time to make his takes and television is so

quick. Is that because you can make the character your own? You have

times to explore and round the character out and talk about the

play and what it's about and television is so quick now. You

have to be so on it. You feel you haven't learnt anything. I've been

doing it for years and I'm still making it up! You have done theatre

too, but film, you dacked into that? With Dan -- dabbled into

that? With Daniel Craig? Yes. No huge films, but I just did a film

called Tower Block, which was a low-budget independent film, which

is out next year. With the lovely Sheridan Smith and Russell Tovey.

And something new, a comedy? Yes. Nice to do it again. Great script

by a wonder writer called Michael Wynee. Sue Johnston. Stephen Graham,

who is a fantastic actor and Elizabethberg tonne and William Ash.

Great cast. It's hopefully going to be very funny. It's called Lapland?

Yep. Tell us about it. It's about a mad family from Liverpool and the

father has died the year before and that's been the last Christmas and

this year they want to take the family away so that the mother

doesn't have to do lots of cooking and take the pressure off, so they

decide to go to Lapland with hilariously bad consequences.

filmed it in Norway? Yeah. Peculiar food there, don't you find? I ate

reindeer. Just to recap. I've got the halibut and the Brussels are in

the pan like that. I cook cabbage like that. A lot of people boil it,

but it's easier if you put in the water there. This is like I was

saying, this is the sauce. Yum. I love butter. You need more butter

in there, James! You reckon some more. Yeah, go on then! Go on!

whole premise is based on a family on holiday. How many parts of the

programme do we have to watch or is it in one? It's a one-off film. It

will be on around about Christmas time. Not quite sure when, but it's

a one-off. I always fancy doing a pantomime. Yes. I can see you as

Widow Twanky. I actually did it when I was a young kid. What did

you play in The king and - You know you want to skies into a corset and

a pair of heels. -- squeeze into a corset and a pair of heels. No, I

did all that when I did Strictly. I always fancied do is pantomime,

mainly because you have a poster of yourself. Feed your ego. Yes. This

is a little bit of the Brussels tops. Salt and pepper. The idea is

that you can use up all the ingredients. I roast my Brussels

sprouts. Do you put a star in the bottom or not? I do and I roast

them with lots of garlic and olive oil and let them roast slowly. I

cook them with Swede, but they are nicer, just before they turn mushy.

These are the mussels and clams. They go into the pot. With all that

butter. In with the chives. They go in the pot. Then we have some

cockles. They are pickled. It's those that give it the sharpness to

it too. Don't worry about all this butter. I'm not. I would if I were

you. Black pepper. You just want to melt this nicely. There you go. We

just literally put the mussels and cockles and everything else over

the top. Then you need to put a bit of cherval, which is a herb, which

is part of your five a day, because it's a vegetable. I don't have to

share this with anyone? No. I've got my mood heaven soup over here.

Lovely and crispy. What will we cook at the end of the show for

Julie? Heaven it would be Tom tomatoes and a stunning Margharita

pizza. Traditional Tom tomatoes and cow' milk mozzarella and basil

leaves and bake it in a very, very hot oven. Or blue cheese all

dressed with creamy dressing and figures. Nathan, what do you like

the sound of it? The pizza with blue cheese on it. And the bacon

mate. You are having a laugh. No, no. You have to wait until the end

of the show to see what fate decides. Now, it's time for some

easy baking ideas from Lorraine Pascal. Today is is rosemary and

You may notice that my roof I only grow things that I can eat

pumpkin muchins. -- much fins. I have got chilllies, mint, some

thyme and oregano and basil, but but what I need right now

in my pumpkin and on the weekends when things

I make a whole batch for breakfast, lunch

Now for the flour. And then 130

the product will be quite heavy.

I want these muffins to be nice and light,so it's good to use a combination.

Then one teaspoon of baking powder. This will give it a nice rise.

And half a teaspoon...

..of bicarb. That'll make the crumb really tender.

And now a good pinch of salt.

And then sift it all together. Usually, I don't sift my flours.

But the reason I'm doing it with this

is because I want to get the bran from the wholemeal flour to sprinkle on the top.

It just makes it look really, really good. Extra decoration.

OK, so those are the dry ingredients.

Now I'm going to get on with the wet ingredients.

So I need two eggs, free-range or organic if you can.

Whisk them up a bit, and then the pumpkin.

I've got 240 grams and I've boiled it already.

100 ml of plain yogurt, 275 ml of milk.

60 ml of vegetable oil.

A few squidges of honey. Makes them nice and sweet.

OK, and just a quick stir.

And now I'm going to put the wet and the dry ingredients together.

So they say when you're making muffins, you should only do about eight stirs,

otherwise the crumb gets very chewy.

So in everything goes.

And it's a very liquid, unattractive mix.

So just really gently mixing it together.

Just roughly mixed, but that'll do fine.

So now I'm going to pour it back into this jug

and make it much easier to put it into the muffin cases.

There! You see, it doesn't lookvery attractive at all, but it does taste very good once it's cooked.

I'm going to put it in the muffin cases.

So you've got these baking parchment squares here.

They're about 14 centimetres squared.

You can use the little paper cups that come ready-made, but I like to use these

because it gives it that lovely deli feel when it's baked with the spiky bits coming out.

It's a bit of a faff, but it is worth it in the end.

So I just start off with some oil. Just a spray oil is easiest.

And then take one of your squares.

Push it all the way down into the hole,

then take your muffin mix and just pour it in.

Right the way to the top.

And then take your reserved bran and pumpkin or butternut squash

and just sprinkle on the bran.

Put these little squares on as well.

I like to put some on the topbecause otherwise, all that lovely colour gets lost in the mix.

Then lastly, I like to put on some pumpkin seeds

to give it some extra crunch.

Right, now I'll just get on with the rest.

Don't they look good?

So I'm going to put these in the oven at 200 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes

and once they're cooked and cooled, I'll freeze them.

So that's 11 for the freezer

and one for me.

Muchins. Still

Muchins. Still to

Muchins. Still to come,

Muchins. Still to come, Nigel slater's enjoying the Christmas

cheese. After a tour of the shops she is stuffing mushrooms with

Stilton and walnuts. Tristan and Nathan will be helping celebrate

breaking all known omelette records. You can see it all happening in

just a few minutes from now. What will we cook for Julie - heaven or

hell? Pizza or Stilton? Tristan, what do you like the sound of?

There is no voting? You know what, I would like pizza, but it has to

be the bacon and the blue cheese on it. I'm not on the fence here.

That's not fair. What I would really like - It's not up to you.

It's not up to the chefs. Instead, we are letting fate decide and I'll

explain how at the end of the show. Cooking next is a regular here on

Saturday Kitchen. He's cooking one of his Christmas family favourites

this morning. Is that right? Certainly is. What is it?

favourite cut of venison is on the menu. The foreshank. Like the lamb.

I've never seen people cook this before. It's from the front legs of

the old deer. Marinade this? Yes. Red wine and port. Loads of it in

there. This is slowly cooked? What is the name? Venison casserole.

With roasted pears and parsnips and Cheltenham beetroot and all these

wonderingful things. Look at the array of ingredients. Real seasonal

treat. Red wine and port and thyme, peters can dorns bay leaves and

juniper berries. -- peppercorns, bay leaves and juniper berries. We

marinade that overnight. At least overnight. You can do it for two

for three days. That's what I would do. A couple of these. This is one

of my favourite seasonal sort of - it's not a vegetable, but I use it

as a vegetable, but it's pare and they roast beautifully -- pear and

they roast beautifully in loads of butter. Cut them in half. Cut out

the stalks there. A pinch of salt on them. Do you want me to dice the

bacon? Absolutely. Small or chunky? Chunky. It's really a flavouring

agent. I'll get that fried off in agent. I'll get that fried off in

the pan too. It's nice to fry off the venison shanks in the fat from

- You mention you get them from the butcher - there is a lot of butter

going in there? Too much for you? It's enough. I think it really

helps and if you want to make it more Christmassy, chuck in cinnamon

and cloves and get the spice going. Touch of olive oil for the venison.

These are onion squashes? Yes. Did you know that the squash family

really derives from the cucumber? You heard it here first and it

wasn't in a Christmas cracker. much of the mulled wine! Or not

enough. I'm going to season the venison shanks and pop them in and

let them fry away there. Keep all the port and red wine, because we

are going to use that in the casserole to give it a rich flavour.

Nice golden brown colour on that. These have got the little seeds.

You get so many different types. Unbelievable. 700-odd different

types. The onion squash is my favourite. I like it because you

can eat the skin on it. I've just thrown it away. System breakdown!

We can put it back. They'll never know. Obviously, it needs to cook

first. How big? Nice wedges. Little? Yeah. It's either that,

Nathan or Kenny, how big? Can I have sort of Kenny Atkinson meets

Nathan Outlaw wedge? Bingo! venison steaks are coloured. It's

really dark. That is what we are after there. Look at that.

Beautiful and rich flavours. Put in the vegetables first. Crikey, maybe

it was the mulled wine? Your house is going to stink. Like I do round

me mum's. Cut up the vegetables roughly. Carrots, celery, and your

onion. That's a big onion. You are taking a break? Yes. From cooking?

No, not from cooking. I'm taking time out from London. I'm moving to

Sweden and taking a year out in Sweden. Tax man, that's what it is.

You are earning too much money. it's not. It's about getting back

to core values in cooking. Sweden? Yeah, because we are going

to live in a nice rural location, close to a wild forest and get a

bit more closer to nature. That's the yd. -- idea. What am I doing

with these? You are going to cut them in half. We'll cook them in

paper. I've popped the parsnips in there. He has been drinking? I have

not. I would love one. That's all got in about 15 kilos of butter.

Yes. What is this some This is the James Martin method of cooking. I

have coloured off the vegetables and shanks and put in the marinade,

with thyme and the rest of the beautiful herbs. Now the stock.

Cover it up like so. Put a lid on it. Let that come back up to the

simmer, while we cover it in tin foil and pop it in the often. --

oven. Can you make me a vinaigrette? Vinegar and olive oil?

Yeah. It gives the beetroot a bit of acidity and this squash too.

Salt and pepper in there. Great idea for Christmas, put it in the

oven. This can be done the day before, so it doesn't matter if

you've had a drink, all right?! helps! It might help, yeah. I'll

grab this thing. I'll get the vegetables. Super. How long will

this go into the cooker? Three hours. It's well worth the wait.

The vegetables, they take about 30 minutes. Temperature? All at about

140C for the casserole, and hotter for the vegetables. Look at this.

Look at that lovely richness. does looks good. This is my

favourite winter vegetable right now, even though it's not a

vegetable. Turn them over like that. We'll take out one of the shanks.

Those. I was wondering where it was. Look at this. This is so exciting.

Look at that meat. It falls off the von. Like the lamb -- off the bone.

Like the lamb? Absolutely. How much would you pay? Don't pay over �2

for one. The lamb have got quite expensive? They are. Everyone is

using them, that's why. I love the smell that comes out. Get it on the

plate. All right! I'm not even in charge of my own recipe. Look at

that, the roasted pear. Lovely. Couple of parsnips. Do you want a

bigger plate? You know what, let's put it in the casserole? The sauce

too? Yes. Spoon. Lovely. Plonk all the vegetable on top in the middle

of the table. A few chestnuts? are in the sauce. I love them. They

are lovely with crushed parsnips. Venison shank casserole with

roasted winter vegetables and a pear. It looks delicious. I like

you have the side dish by the side of it. Do you want the butter

salted. There you go. I think there's enough for everybody! I've

never tried this piece of venison. Have you? Never. It looks lovely.

Smells amazing. It's so tender. It's got a sticky feel. I've never

seen that in any supermarkets. You go to the butcher and it's put into

mince? What a shame. That's delicious. It's so tender. It melts

in the mouth. Pass it down. Back to Dorchester to see which wine Susy

Atkins has chosen to go with the Your dish makes loads of good

matches with full-bodied reds, but I'm after a great one. If you are a

fan of classic European-style wine then head for the Rhone valley in

France. Something like this Rasteau. I have gone one better and the win

I've chosen is the Tabali Reserva Carmenere 2009 from Chile. It comes

from the country where it delivers a spicy note and good twist of

black pepper. Great for big, red- meat cast roles. Look at that

really dark inky colour and the scent is backed with spice, but

there is brambles in there too. There it is, that distinctive spice,

clove, cinnamon, a very savoury edge and it's that which goes so

well with the venison, the hints of smokey bacon and the port and red

wine. This is a well-balanced, very elegant wine with a fresh streak of

black current and that's important when it comes to matching the tangy,

sweet fruits and vegetables. The parsnips, the pears and the

beetroots cooked in vinaigrette. Tristan, the venison is a proper

winter warmer, chestnuts and parsnips and all. Happy Christmas.

They are enjoying it on this table. It's going down well over there.

Great wine. I love red wine from Chile. Pepper to it too. Goes great

with game and great value. �7.99. Very fruity. Great with beef.

works with that, but not only the meat, but the vegetables. Will the

boys be happy, because what I have got for you guys is I've got you a

present. You shouldn't have. I did say I shouldn't have, being a

Yorkshireman, but it's something to wear. Lovely, a jumper. It is a

tradition. You all have to get into the fresive spirit, so something

for you to wear -- festive spirit, so something to wear for the rest

of the show. While they get to put some of these on, it's time to -

you've got to see this in a moment, it's time to get some seasonal

ideas from Nigel and he's tucking Like everyone,

I'm a sucker for a Finding something for

means making a bit who really knows what

with one that will change A lot of people say they want

and we'll be, "Do you want the strongest or the nicest?"

You wouldn't go to a wine shop and say, "I want the strongest wine you've got."

That'd be a really weird way to buy wine.

It's not about strength, it's about flavour.

So much can affect a cheese's flavour -

its age, the way it's produced, and even the animal.

For every cheese on this counter, I could take you to a field somewhere,

point to a herd of cows or goats or sheep and say,

"The milk in this cheese came from those animals there."

And that for us is a better guarantee of quality

than almost anything else.

And there's a knack to storing cheese, too.

Cheese doesn't really have to be kept in the fridge.

It predates refrigeration.

We started making cheese because we didn't have fridges to keep milk.

So it's like pickling milk.

If you've a shed or garage or a larder, keep it in a box in there.

It'll be much happier than it would be in the fridge,

cos that's when it tastes the best, when it's happy.

That sounds a bit weird, but it's true!

Stilton is the classic Christmas cheese.

It's funny cos people get freaked out by mould and bacteria

and it's like, actually, without it,

we wouldn't have cheese or wine or bread or beer.

But these are friendly bacteria. They're ripening the cheese for us, doing us a favour.

It's very buttery,

it melts in your mouth, and it doesn't have the metallic bitterness

you can get off a young cheese with a blue mould in it.

It's almost sweet, actually.

Sometimes by about 6pm in the evening I get a bit sick of it,

but by the next morning I'm fine again.

It's really good.

One of the things I love to do with a bit of leftover blue cheese,

and it could be any sort of blue cheese,

is to use it with mushrooms.

So, I'm going to stuff some big Portobello mushrooms

with the last bits of the Stilton.

A really simple supper that just melts in your mouth.

But this is one of those really quick dishes.

It's something that I do in those days after Christmas

when I don't want to spend a great deal of time

in the kitchen.

as well as a good splash of water.

And what happens is because mushrooms are so spongy,

they soak up the butter

which flavours them, but they don't get greasy because of the water.

Today, I'm chucking in some thyme, but any kind of woody herb will work.

But they're those robust herbs that just seem right with the earthiness of mushrooms.

And a little bit of pepper.

OK.

Well, those juices in the pan from the butter and the mushrooms

and the herbs, they have a wonderful smell.

It's really sort of rich and earthy - I'll just soak the mushrooms in it.

I'm just going to crumble a little bit of cheese onto those.

It has a really deep flavour and also it's quite rich.

You really don't need a great deal for the flavour to come through.

And then this is quite a soft texture.

You've got the soft mushrooms -

all very velvety and silky -

and then you've got the cheese which melts and becomes quite creamy.

And I want a contrast there, I want something a little bit crisp.

There's something about walnuts that work so perfectly with Stilton.

I'm going to turn the heat up, and what happens,

all the juices are going to concentrate

as they bubble away

and I'll end up with something that is the very essence

of mushroom and Stilton.

I'm really happy to eat these

as a light lunch or maybe even supper,

but they'd also make a very, very nice meal

with some rice on the side, or even as an accompaniment to steak.

The juices which you really

don't want to forget

in the bottom of the pan

is very rich, and it's a mixture of very soft velvety textures,

and also the crunchiness of the nuts.

And it still smells just like Christmas.

Use the biggest, freshest mushrooms you can

to absorb all the delicious juices.

Don't

Don't laugh.

Don't laugh. It's

Don't laugh. It's not funny. When the producers said I have got the

easiest outfit to wear! Don't you laugh. You look ridiculous. What is

that? I think I'm meant to be a bauble. That makes all the

difference. It's very nice. Let's get down to the serious business of

omelette making. Nathan, I can't bend down, because part of this

costume is going across my backside. Nathan you are down there. Tristan

you are somewhere on the board, which we can't see. Usual rules

apply. If you can't tell this is a Christmas show, the producers have

got nothing better to do than stick holly on this. How about you make

it for once, James? Clocks on the I can't get to the pan. I'm going

to burn me bauble! Get it over and done this, so you can get the silly

suit off. It's hot in this suit! Oh, dear! Come on then. There you go.

It's beautiful. APPLAUSE

The bauble has done it. I'm not doing pantomime on second thoughts!

It would help if this was on the plate. I can't get me arms out!

Nathan, surprisingly enough you are not quicker. 32.48. Tristan, you

did it in 17.28 seconds. APPLAUSE

You are going back on, because it's not an omelette. James Martin.

Where is your omelette Will Julie get heaven, tomatoes with a

Margharita pizza or Stilton with figures and little gem salad? We'll

find out after a vintage helping of festive food TV from the Two Fat

Ladies. They are making a meal and being Christmas they look to cook a

goose. Julie, you've pulled! I'll make the stuffing first. First, I

take this, this is the liver, which has been chopped up with the

shallots and it's going to be fried in butter. Not for long, because it

will continue cooking in the bird. Here I've got some reduced port. It

started off as a quarter of a pint, but it's down to two tablespoons.

It is like syrup. You pour that in. Wonderful smell. Now we have got

liver pate, which we add. Plop that in while it's still hot, because

then you can break up the lumps more easily. Mix that all in

nicely? Now we put in the breadcrumbs. Always necessary in

the stuffing, they soak up everything and blow it out a bit.

Then we put in all spice. Put in three pinches. Then in thyme.

Finally, we put the prunes in. Soak them in tea likerly grey or

something hot -- like Earl Grey or something hot like that. Then put

in some Vermouth. Then put in quite a lot of ground, black pepper. Just

a little salt. Not too much. Mix that all in. Now I'm going to do my

little trick. Your little trick? that the skin will be nice and

crispy, I'm going to take this off to the sink, as is my way, and pour

a kettle of boiling water on it and that makes the skin go tight and

when it cooks it gets very crisp. The Chinese always do that with

their duck. I've been chopping endlessly lots of red cabbage,

because one of the perfect accompanyments for goose is red

This is a Swedish red cabbage dish And in this pan I've got

As the butter melts, I'll just stir the cabbage around in it.

I'm going to add a variety of things.

What I've got here is some grated raw onion...

..and some black treacle - the secret of this recipe.

I love black treacle. So do I. Love it!

Why do I associate it with pirates?

Because it's from the Caribbean - rum and molasses and treacle.

Some freshly squeezed lemon juice,

and some apples, which I've peeled and cored and sliced.

And then a good slurp of red wine vinegar.

And some salt.

And some freshly ground black pepper.

Then just stir it all together well.

Leave it over a high heat to start with,

then transfer it to a lower heat and cook it for about two hours.

Now that you've dried baby's bottom,

are you going to put talcum powder on?

Now then - salt the cavity.

You only want to pack it loosely.

It's very festive string - you can keep it for the presents. Also, you can see it.

You want a nice grid to put it on.

Because enormous quantities of fat will come out of this.

And you don't want the goose resting in it.

We get a good sharp fork and we want to pierce the skin all over.

But you don't want to pierce the flesh.

The skin is so full of fat, you can just stab pieces.

This bird is between 9lb and 10lb and it'll take two-and-a-half hours.

We'll open this.

Don't burn yourself. There, that's very cosy.

For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful. Amen.

Christmas is coming. The goose is getting fat.

Please put a penny in the old man's hat.

Red cabbage - such a suitable colour for Christmas.

Time

Time to

Time to find

Time to find out whether it's heaven or hell. Heaven - if you

haven't guess it already, tomatoes there and they are going to make a

delicious pizza, just with cheese, nothing else. No pineapple or

Stilton, nothing else. Just simple as it is and classic little pizza

or hell - pile of Stilton over there. Two ways, blue-cheese

dressing or deep fry some still ston. We know what these guys --

Stilton. We know what these guys wanted. Fate will decide in the way

of two crackers. It's so cruel. Don't blame me. Inside one of these

is heaven and the other is hell. Pick a cracker. OK. 50/50. It's

easy. You want that one. Are you sure? It's not going to be like

Deal or No Deal, is it? Pull the cracker. Inside there. You are very

lucky. It's heaven. It is Christmas after all. Just to prove a point.

Girls, you can open that one. There you go. It should be hell. First,

if you lose the other stuff. I'll pop the pizza in the oven. Sits in

there, nice and hot like that. It's a very, very hot oven. It's got

pizza stone in it. To make a dough. You use plain flour, or double zero

flour here. If you can dice me up the mozzarella. This is cow's milk.

We are not going to use this. You use the tomatoes. They are tinned.

Then semolina and we've got salt and we have sugar and the yeast,

dried yeast going in. You can blitz that. Blitz this to a paste. Add

this. We mix this together to form a dough. I learnt this over in

Italy this summer. What they do, or rather I thought the best bit of

what they do is they make this the day before and it's like a sour

dough. You leave it to prove, because traditionally you think of

pizza dough you use plain flour, but I do it like this. This

restaurant had been doing pizza since 1830. They had two on the

menu without or without cheese. No pineapple. That's such a great idea.

Four drinks on the menu and that's it. Don't work it too hard. You

leave it to prove like we have got here. I'll lose this to one side.

It's this proving that creates the dough. If you knock it back you see

the texture of it. Wow. All we do then it comes back into the bread

dough and if you smell that. It's like sour. I need flour and

semolina, boys. Loads of it. No rolling pin and no spinning it

around your head. The texture of it is totally unique. He just pinned

it out. It's really interesting, because I would have spread it out

over ol will have oil. No, all done like -- olive oil. No, all done

like this. None of that spinning it around your head. None of that.

on, Nathan, show them how it's done, one handed. It was the simplicity

that they did and obviously just doing it, because of where Naples

is in terms of geography, the tomatoes need volcanic soil or ash

to produce really good-quality tomatoes. That's why they taste so

good and the mozzarella is produced just over the other side of the

concane know and that's where you have the perfect -- volcano and

that's where you get the perfect land. You can almost see right

through it. It's literally straight out of a tin, but make sure when

you are buying these that they are San Mozano tomatoes, because they

are very sweet and they have less seeds. It would be sacrilege to put

blue cheese on that. Put the mozzarella on top. I beg to differ.

This is pecorino cheese, which is not parmesan. Then you have basil

leaves. This is where I thought it was quite unusual. Normally you put

olive oil on this. They use peanut oil and when you taste it. Because

they've run out? No, because it has a pepper taste which really works.

You pop that over the top. On the MEP ewe they have the same as that,

but on a wood-fired pizza oven, which has volcanic rock on the

bottom to keep in the heat. This is really hot, is this cooker. It's in

there about 550 degrees F. You want to get it really hot. That is food

heaven. It's not far off, is it, really? The less work you do with

it the better. That's good. knows what he's doing. Straight in

there. Grab yourself a knife and dive into that. Don't save any for

these lot. Where is the blue cheese? Girls, bring over the

glasses and we have a decent bottle of bubbly. We have a Louis Chaurey.

From Marks & Spencer. �15. Perfect. We have a little present for you

this Christmas. I saw it and I thought of you, mate. There you go.

You can have a glass. Tell me what you think of the pizza. Cheers.

It's absolutely heavenly. I think this peanut oil works. Delicious.

Do you have to open this? We saw it and bought it for you. Check that

out. I'm a happy man, you see. Now, actually, my new year's resolution

I'm going on a diet. What are you laughing at? You can eat it with a

spoon if you like. That's all from today. Thank you to Nathan and

Tristan. Thank you very much for the present. Thank you to Julie