Episode 9 Spring Kitchen with Tom Kerridge

Spring is here and we have a great show in store for you today

with some sensational recipes and brilliant guests.

Welcome to Spring Kitchen.

Hello and welcome. We have a great line-up of food and chat for you.

We head out on a spring field trip to see Tom Kitchin in his native

Edinburgh for a simple lamb recipe, with two very special ten-month-old

commis chefs. Plus we delve into the BBC food archive

with Lorraine Pascale, who goes in search of some British street food.

Joining me in the studio, a Michelin-starred chef

whose restaurant empire is growing by the day, Jason Atherton.

And also to talk to us about some of the best seafood on offer

to pair with the fresh spring ingredients, Johnny Godden.

-Hello to the two of you.

-Thanks for having me.

-Are you all right?

-All good.

-Is spring a good time for you?

-Magic.

-And for you, Johnny?

Fantastic. All the different varieties come in.

Fish is changing, everything's great.

And joining us in the studio, our star guest

is the proudly Welsh presenter of the One Show, the lovely Alex Jones.

-Thanks, Tom!

-How are you?

-Very well, how are you?

-I'm good, thank you.

Being Welsh, is it all about the leeks and lamb?

It is, yeah. I love lamb. Welsh lamb, as well as New Zealand lamb,

is probably up there with the best.

Welsh is the best.

I love spring, because we're a bit sick now of the hearty dishes,

which are lovely, like shepherd's pie and the nice things,

but it's nice to lighten things up.

Time for the new-season stuff to come through.

Lots of green stuff. What are you cooking today, Jason?

A lovely little wild strawberry yuzu sorbet,

with little basil meringues and a beautiful basil consomme

you can pour all over it, it's delicious.

It sounds stunning. Later, I will be cooking using cod and cockles.

I will use them to make a cod in parsley sauce,

cockles in a rich mashed potato.

Johnny is my super fish guy,

who delivers fish to me every day. He is based in Cornwall.

And lemon soles - which is where they're coming from now?

Yes, these come from Looe in Cornwall.

Brilliant day-boat lemon soles. They're all little inshore boats,

-so maximum freshness.

-Let's get cooking. Alex, come with me.

We will do lemon soles,

serving them with crushed, minted peas

-and a bit of Marie Rose sauce.

-Ooh!

Probably otherwise known as seafood dressing.

A man from Skegness, you know all about seafood dressing.

I know a lot about fish and chips and seafood dressings, for sure.

Otherwise known as posh Marie Rose sauce.

Johnny, I will need your mad skills

to fillet this fish. As you are up here, you can tell us all about it.

-Yeah, OK.

-The first thing I'm going to do is crack some eggs

because we're going to deep fry this fish in some breadcrumbs.

Does it sound familiar to you, Alex?

Basically, this is a posh fish finger dish.

I heard on the grapevine that fish fingers

is one of your favourite things.

I think fish fingers are very underrated.

Fish fingers are very underrated.

We are doing posh fish fingers with mushy peas.

I have a pan on here with some fresh peas.

Peas come into season now, absolutely beautiful.

We will add some butter to the pan and start sweating it down.

Johnny's filleting that fish like a legend.

You were nervous about doing that, weren't you?

I'm a bit rusty now. See, my boys at work...

I'm not quite as good as them any more.

It looks like you've filleted that fish

like Zorro filleting a fish.

Like Zorro. OK.

Alex, tell us what is going on with The One Show.

Well, you were on it the other day.

I was, and I was supposed to bring you a quiche

with cheddar cheese and I completely forgot.

In the meeting they said to me,

"Don't worry, Tom is bringing a lovely quiche for you."

I said, "Brilliant, I won't have lunch, then."

So he turns up with no quiche, he'd forgotten it in the pub.

Absolutely disappointed, we were.

I am very sorry, but we will try to make up for it,

find out what you like and we're doing fish fingers and mushy peas.

-How does that sound?

-It's my favourite.

Have you got any mashed potato?

Funny you should say that -

we are going to be doing mashed potato later

with cod in parsley sauce.

There couldn't be anybody better

to make mashed potato than Mr Jason Atherton.

In a pan here, I have some blanched peas, some shallots,

gently sweating down in butter.

We'll put a pinch of salt in there.

Then we're going to put, just tied together, the stalks from some mint.

We're going to add it to it, as we soften the peas and onions together,

and that flavour will come out.

We will pink the mint leaves and then blend it all together.

-How are we getting on?

-Looking good.

What happens with lemon sole at this time of year? The waters change?

Yeah, the waters warm up, so they come closer to our shores.

That's why we can get the day boat ones.

The boats go out for ten to 12 hours out to sea.

They come back, so when you get your lemons

or any of the day-boat quality fish

we get in Cornwall, it's literally 12 hours old.

And then you get them in a van and send them to me.

All the way to Marlow.

You have not got them at the moment,

but they will be coming on fairly soon.

We can talk about price later on, how does that sound?

THEY LAUGH

Into these peas, I'm going to add a little bit of sugar

and some malt vinegar. Malt vinegar goes

beautiful with fish, chips and mushy peas.

Malt vinegar is fantastic.

Alex, your Sport Relief climbing challenge.

You went up a big hill was how you described it,

but it was more than that.

It was a big hill, they call it a wall.

It was basically a 1,200-foot rock in Utah

that I climbed for Sport Relief. It meant sleeping,

eating and living on this wall for three days.

We raised a phenomenal amount, thankfully,

because I was terrified the whole way up.

It was quite hard going. But, yeah, as I say, the audience got behind me

and we raised 1.5 million.

That is an incredible amount.

That is an incredible amount. That is very well done.

I have done a bit of research

and it turns out that you did a bit of a show

doing some learning to be a cowboy. Thank you, Johnny. You can stay.

You can keep the job.

If you are ever looking at not being a fish man,

you can get a job in my kitchen prepping fish. Well done.

You did a show...something called The Magnificent Seven?

Yeah, I did, ages ago.

I'm one of these people who says yes to everything,

which lands me in trouble

a lot of the time - like the climb, basically.

But one day, a director rang and said, "Can you ride a horse?"

I went, "Yeah".

I couldn't. He said, "Brilliant, we are doing a show

"in Arizona and you will learn to become a cowboy."

So if you need anybody to...

what do they call it? ..Lasso you, I'm your girl.

I am not sure about me, but some customers might be quite good.

HE LAUGHS

And on The One Show, there is the build-up to the Commonwealth Games?

We are doing a lot with that because they start on 21st July.

They have the Baton Relay,

which has been going around the Commonwealth

and is coming back to Britain in May.

We have been doing the show from different places

where the baton's going through.

We are in Caernarfon at the end of May, and then at the Hay Festival.

Then we're doing the Isle of Man in May as well.

We have all of these summer shows from out and about,

wherever the baton is.

Are you travelling with it,

or hosting it from The One Show studio?

We are hosting it from the locations where the baton arrives

and then we will do the build-up to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

We will do the opening ceremony with them on the day before it starts,

on the 24th, and then The One Show breaks for the summer...

while the Commonwealth Games are on.

Nice. What I have got going so far, I have the posh fish fingers

which have been dropped into a fryer at about 180 degrees,

and they're almost ready.

I'm making my shellfish sauce. I have mayonnaise, tomato ketchup,

brandy, a bit of Worcester sauce, a bit of Tabasco sauce.

A pinch of cayenne. And a squeeze of lemon.

So that's prawn cocktail sauce, basically?

It is exactly the same. Marie Rose sauce, shellfish sauce,

whatever you want to call it.

We are going a little bit back to the old school.

Or I am. Mr Atherton's recipe later is definitely modern,

-isn't it? Absolutely lovely.

-That looks lovely.

So that is the Marie Rose sauce for dipping.

-Can I put my finger in?

-You can...

like eating the cake, licking the cake bowl from your mum.

You can taste the brandy!

-Spicy.

-It's got a bit of a kick to it.

You need that spice coming through.

Into the blender, peas, the shallots.

I have taken the mint stalks out.

But I have a little bit of mint here.

We are going to pulse-blend this.

This is going to be the poshest mushy peas ever.

And then the lemon soles, with the breadcrumbs on.

Lemon soles, plate up, come and have a look at this.

-This is my dream!

-Season that with a bit of salt.

Flatfish, Johnny, are you a big fan of flatfish for deep frying?

Huge fan, yeah, I think they come up lovely.

It tastes great, I think,

and there are some crushed, minted peas.

A little bit like posh mushy peas.

-Seafood dressing. And your lemon soles. Get in there.

-Ladies first.

Get eating, help yourselves.

Are you sure? There won't be any left.

Throwing knives and forks around. Get in there.

-Posh fish fingers. Marie Rose sauce.

-Amazing.

Very simple, very nice.

-Mmm.

-Happy?

-It's amazing, yeah.

-Good. Posh fish fingers, brilliant.

In every show, we're getting out and about

on special spring trips with some of our favourite chefs.

Today, we joined Tom Kitchin and his lovely family in Edinburgh

for a classic lamb rump and peas.

Look out for his gorgeous twin boys.

After those dark days in Scotland in winter,

I am desperate for something green, for spring to bud to life.

I am looking for peas, asparagus, broad beans,

spring lamb. It is so busy in the restaurant

with everything changing on the menu.

Two covers - one razor fish, one scallop...

And everything is changing at home as well.

Seasonal cooking with the kids.

Get them podding the peas, keeping it seasonal and keeping it simple.

Welcome to my home here in Edinburgh. This is my wife, Michaela.

The oldest here, Kasper.

Axel in the middle and the two twins, Logan and Lachlan.

Let's get inside and do some cooking.

For my Spring Kitchen recipe, I am going to do something

that really symbolises spring for me.

Rump of lamb with spring peas, wild garlic and lettuce.

Spring on a plate.

I have two of my harshest critics with me this morning.

HE LAUGHS

The first thing we are going to do is to season the rump of lamb.

We use the best cooking salt we can find.

A nice twist of pepper on top.

In with some oil into the pan.

You have to get nice colour on the lamb.

I pop that skin-side down,

because it will release the natural fat of the lamb.

Turn it over. We want that nice crispy colouration all over.

Before it goes into the oven, I have been to the garden

and got some sprigs of rosemary.

It marries flavours. And a clove of garlic on top, as well.

For me, cooking at home is about marriage of seasonal flavours.

Peas, lamb, garlic, rosemary, they naturally go together.

Smell that. Get it in the oven!

That's cooking at about 180, 190, depending on how good that oven is.

Just two or three minutes on one side, turn it over

and then out and rest it for that lovely, pink lamb.

Then on to the labour part of the job. Podding the peas.

This is where I like to get the kids involved. Nothing better.

Real childhood memories for me of podding the peas and eating the peas.

You eat more peas than you actually pod.

Now we get ready with the carrots.

Instead of blanching it in water and losing all that flavour, we'll cut it

nice and small, so we can actually cook it

in that pan from the lamb cooking juices.

Then we move on to the lovely baby gem lettuce.

This, we are going to use at the end of the dish,

just fold through the ragout. And then this.

You are walking along the banks of the river, you smell garlic

and you are surrounded by garlic

and it grows wild on the banks of the river.

Pick it, put it in your salads and pasta.

Today, I am putting it in my peas.

I'm going to blanch the peas very quickly in boiling salted water.

In we go. Literally a few seconds.

Now we are ready to go. Let's take the lamb out of the oven.

That's the lamb cooked. Let's carefully take that out.

All of that garlic and rosemary. This is the secret, guys.

Normally, that goes into the dishes.

Keep that pan, it is full of flavour.

Now let's make our fricassee.

I haven't had to add much more oil

because of the natural fat of the rump of lamb.

I've sauteed these bacon lardons,

just get these little bit crispy

and they will give a lovely saltiness to this dish.

Mm. Lovely. In with our carrots.

You could use fennel, celeriac, anything you have in the fridge

or in the garden, even better.

Sweat that down. In with the peas.

You see already, the colours are vibrant. It really symbolises spring,

just by looking into that pan.

Add a spoon of chicken stock.

That will start to cook really fast.

As it is a green vegetable, we want to cook it as fast as possible.

If we cook it too long, they won't be vibrant and green.

A little knob of butter.

You don't have to. When I'm cooking in the restaurant, or at home,

the one thing people ask about is the sauce.

This is a great way of cooking and creating a sauce from nothing.

You have the natural flavour of the lamb and now you have the ragout.

The peas, the carrots,

the chicken stock and the lamb mixed together

makes that wonderful sauce that we're all looking for.

To finish the dish, I want to throw in

that raw lettuce and that wild garlic.

We will gently fold it through

so there is still a little crunch of the lettuce in against the peas.

That seasonal garlic.

Look at that. That is really spring cooking at home.

Look at that, a vibrant ragout of spring peas, carrots, bacon lardons.

That was real home cooking, but fast.

From start to finish, we're doing less than 20 minutes, guys,

for something as tasty and seasonal as this.

For my rump of lamb, I just need to remove the string.

Any of those cooking juices, don't waste them, get them in there.

That's flavour!

Then with our lovely fricassee...

Just pour that in. Mm.

And then the rump.

Look at that.

Then the last piece on there like that.

And there we have it. My spring dish today is rump of lamb

with a ragout of peas, lettuce, wild garlic. It looks really tasty.

It would be rude not to tuck in, though, wouldn't it?

Really great flavours.

And with that lamb, mmm, that's delicious.

Thanks very much, Tom. That looked absolutely lovely.

Two great commis chefs. If you are looking for more chefs, he has two growing there.

I see a restaurant concept coming up.

Absolutely. It is time for Jason Atherton to cook.

What are you going to cook for us, chief?

Tom, I'm going to do a lovely strawberry dessert.

Wild strawberry yuzu sorbet. A little strawberry salad,

some basil meringues, a little bit of marshmallow.

It looks complicated, but it is quite simple.

We have a bit to do, though, so we will crack on.

So, I have the yuzu juice, some wild strawberries...

-What is yuzu juice?

-It is a large lime that grows in Japan.

It's a cross between a grapefruit and a lime.

Have you heard of yuzu fruit before?

Never. I thought it was...what is that stuff they get in Greece, ouzo?

There's none of that here.

Not that nasty stuff they give you

in those dodgy Greek restaurants to help soften the bill.

TOM LAUGHS

-It's not that.

-It's a fantastic fruit, it tastes absolutely amazing.

It has a wonderful citrus kick to it.

When you go to a Japanese restaurant,

the dressing has that real sourness.

It's always yuzu juice.

-All right, OK.

-It's great for cocktails, actually.

Quite healthy, I'd imagine.

It's really healthy. As you say in Wales, Alex, it's banging!

THEY LAUGH

Great accent(!)

So we blend that with the strawberries and the yuzu juice.

We have a little strawberry jam, so we have strawberry puree.

In there, we'll put a bit of gel creme,

which is like a maize, starch substitute.

-It will thicken up the jam.

-Like cornflour?

-Yeah.

It's a way of making a really quick jam,

and it thickens up really quickly but you don't have to cook it for hours

and lose the flavour of the fruits, it keeps it quite fresh.

-And a little bit of vanilla, like a vanilla syrup.

-Yeah, exactly that.

-Basically a quick jam.

-Quick jam means I'll turn it up.

As our stock syrup melts, we are ready to make a sorbet.

Really quickly melt it. We're not looking to boil it at all.

So, we are using wild strawberries in this recipe?

Yes, and we have some Gariguette strawberries.

These start to show at the very start of spring. A good tip,

because they are super-expensive,

so when they come into the tiny punnets,

put them straight in the freezer in a little Tupperware container.

You can keep them for ever. That's something I learned in France.

Absolutely beautiful. Have you had wild strawberries before?

Instead of buying them, can't you pick them?

If you know where they are. Have a try of those.

They don't really grow in Balham, Alex.

They are not known for wild strawberries, though,

in south-east London!

Oh, they are nice. They taste like tinned strawberries!

LAUGHTER

I might as well have gone to the supermarket

and got tinned strawberries.

I tell you what, tinned strawberries

and fish fingers, we are on to a winner!

So, the jam, I bring it to the boil

and into that we put a bit of this soaked gelatine, is that right?

That's it. So, in goes...

This will thicken up nicely.

So these wild strawberries, they have almost a rosy flavour to them.

A little bit floral?

-Yeah!

-They are sweeter, not as bitter...

They are beautiful. In Cornwall, there are a lot of strawberry farms?

Yeah, lots, but they don't go too well with fish.

Rhubarb and fish?

You say that, but with mackerel,

the white strawberries, they go well.

Little sour strawberries.

That doesn't sound right.

You were talking about working overseas in France, Jason,

you have worked for some of the biggest names in the industry.

Pierre Koffmann, Marco Pierre White and then, of course, Gordon Ramsay,

where you opened Maze restaurant.

Yep, ten years ago...you get less for murder!

TOM LAUGHS

Ten years with Gordon

and you just had your three-year birthday at Pollen Street Social?

Yeah! I was taking my kids

to Paris for the weekend over the Easter holiday.

I was on the train. Somebody texted me to say happy birthday.

I was like, "My birthday's in September."

I realised it was for Pollen Street's third birthday,

-last Friday.

-That time seems to have flown by.

-Incredible.

And the restaurant business has gone from strength to strength?

Yes. We are super-busy. We have the new restaurant opening imminently

over at Sea Social, the top of Tower 42.

That's our latest restaurant.

Views all over the city.

And that is our sixth London restaurant

and our 15th worldwide restaurant.

That is incredible. From three years to 15 restaurants. Amazing.

We have a big team.

I don't get up every day and try to cook in 15 restaurants.

We have 1,000 people work for the company around the world.

That is incredible. You know every single one of them by name?

Oh, yeah, of course! They all get birthday cards signed by me.

What a great boss. You are opening one in New York, I hear?

Yes, it will be called Social on Madison.

The address is Number 1, Madison.

That is in the old Met Life building.

In 1907, it was the world's largest, tallest building.

I always said I would not go to New York as it is such a tough city,

but when you get the opportunity to go, you have to do it.

No British chef has ever gone over there and done it properly

and conquered it. Not conquered it,

but just to open a restaurant in New York. How cool is that?

-Created a restaurant that stays there for longevity?

-Yeah.

Well, what an amazing opportunity.

We'll quickly blend this. I've made a stock syrup with lemon juice,

sugar and water. But I need it chilled.

This is to make the basil consomme.

That goes in there chilled.

-You do it really quick. You want to keep the colour.

-So this is a basil soup you are making?

Exactly that.

That goes in there like that.

Basil and strawberries are such a great recipe.

They go so well together.

Pass it through. See the beautiful green colour?

-Beautiful.

-It is a little sweet.

Chill it down. Make it before you want it,

so it is super-nice and fresh.

If you don't use it as a dessert,

you can put it in a cocktail if you are feeling adventurous?

Yeah, we love cocktails. Do you like cocktails, Alex?

I love a cocktail. I like an espresso Martini.

It works well a the beginning of a night.

Keeps you going!

I like it at about three in the morning. They sort me out.

Yes, later on in the night!

We will start assembly now. We have our little Gariguette strawberries.

I will get your sorbet.

-What did you call the strawberries?

-Gariguette.

They have a beautiful, perfumey flavour.

You know the usual strawberry shape like a heart?

These are really long and thin.

Where do you buy those, then?

Any supermarket has them these days, they are quite popular.

-They originated in France, but they are grown all over Britain.

-OK.

You really don't cook a lot, do you, Alex?

I would love to say I am amazing in the kitchen,

but it is one of my flaws, to be honest.

I am good at tomatoes on toast.

-I hear you have been practising a dish.

-My new dish is salmon salad.

That doesn't sound like cooking, does it?

I don't feel a restaurant contest coming on there.

Salmon and salad?

Yeah, but I cook the salmon, it's a start.

-I season it well!

-A good piece of salmon...

-It is going to sing!

So, what we have here are the strawberries

and the wild strawberries in the bottom of the bowl.

Every time I use a strawberry I put lime with it or lemon,

just to bring it out.

A lot of people like pepper

but I just like lime, I think it brings it out really nicely.

So, two different types of strawberries,

the lime and the yuzu and the strawberry sorbet?

Yep. And the beautiful jam you made.

Can you crush me... Cor, that is heavy!

TOM LAUGHS

-I need to get back to the gym!

-It caught you by surprise?

-It did.

A little bit of strawberry jam around.

Consomme, marshmallows, a little herbs.

Is that crushed enough for you?

It smells incredible. The smell of basil.

Because it's nice and fresh.

Then we make these little strawberry meringues.

-If you can get a spoon for me.

-Is that too big?

-That is fine.

Toss them about in there.

That will freshen them up.

So these are normal, little meringues, dressed in basil?

Yes, crushed basil and just sprinkle them all over.

That goes on like that.

And we have some nice little strawberry marshmallow

we knocked up earlier.

You don't have to put the marshmallow on.

And then we sprinkle on a little bit of crystallised basil...

Look at that. Come on over, guys.

It smells incredible, the strawberries and the basil.

-You can't beat it.

-And the last little bit...

-Oh, wow!

-Do you do this at home, Alex(?)

-Yeah, all the time(!)

-You can see that there will be

so many different tastes and textures.

Textures is really important in cooking.

Yes, people come to our restaurants to be surprised.

So that is the dessert - yuzu, wild strawberry sorbet,

a little strawberry salad,

-marshmallows and little basil meringues.

-It looks so pretty!

-Get in there.

-I don't want to spoil it, but all right.

Come on, Johnny, don't be shy.

I can't get a look-in.

Sorry.

THEY LAUGH

I'll deduct the wild strawberries off your fish bill, Johnny.

-Mmm!

-How are we doing?

That is lovely! They are so fresh and zingy.

We are taking a dip into the BBC food archive.

Today we are off to see Lorraine Pascale,

who's trying British street food

before making her own tinfoil Thai trout.

Great things are happening at the moment with outdoor dining.

Britain is having a street food revolution.

I just love eating outside when the weather is finally good.

At the moment, I'm in Whitecross Market.

I'm going to find out more about the great food on offer

from chefs Claude and Jan.

See that green bus with the Union Jack on the window?

That is where I'm headed.

-Hi!

-How are you doing?

-Good, I'm Lorraine.

-Nice to meet you.

Would you like to come inside?

I would like to come inside!

-What have we got today?

-I'll run you through it.

We have some beautiful Cornish fish, just in today,

all caught yesterday. We have mackerels.

We are making a mackerel burger

with some lovely British chorizo from Yorkshire.

Sounds good to me, let's go.

'Because they only use sustainable fish, their menu changes,

'depending on the catch of the day.'

Come and get your burger.

Enjoy!

Ready to go on top. A little bit there...

That is a banging chorizo mackerel burger.

That is a banging chorizo mackerel burger.

Here goes... Mm!

My God, that is good! Seriously, seriously good.

-Well done, boys.

-Thank you. You made it.

-I'm impressed.

So that was just such a brilliant experience.

I think that the great thing for me is,

we have the boys, they have set up on their own.

They used to work in amazing Michelin-star restaurants.

Now they are bringing this fabulous food to the street. Perfect.

The boys' spicy chorizo and fish combo is brilliant

and perfect for a really simple, entertaining dish.

So now I'm off to Brixton Market in search of another fishy ingredient.

The thing I love about this dish

is that it is ready in under half an hour

and it is great for an everyday dinner, but also beautiful

for entertaining because you serve these wonderful parcels of tinfoil,

open them up to reveal this colourful, vibrant, tasty fish.

But first, there is a little bit of veggie prep.

'Chopped spring onions, slice fresh ginger into strips.

'Slice up red chilli, cut one celery stick and one

'carrot into matchsticks.

'Throw in a clove of garlic.

'Tear up some coriander. And you are ready to assemble.'

Right, I am going to lay all my squares out together.

And I have my trout here.

It is a really delicious fish, quite underused.

If you don't want to use trout, you could use salmon or sea bass.

And I've put the veggies on top.

Spring onions for a bit of bite.

Chilli and ginger for a bit of spice.

And garlic, of course. Now, the coriander. I am just using the stems,

and they add a slightly different flavour to the leaves.

Plus, a squeeze of lime. Soy sauce.

And sesame oil. This is such a quick, simple, easy, tasty dish.

Wrap up the parcels. Just scrunch it together so you get this tinfoil

Cornish pasty. And that's it, ready for the oven.

'The trout goes into the oven for 12 minutes at 200 degrees.

'I'm serving this with some tasty noodles.

'In goes some sesame oil, one sliced red pepper, and stir-fry

'for one minute. Then add 300g of medium egg noodles.

'Stir-fry until piping hot.

'Add a little bit of soy sauce to taste. '

These are ready. They smell incredible.

Take them out.

I like to serve these really simply.

I have my plate here, a nice piece of slate, noodles.

And you just serve them

so the guests can open them at the table themselves.

And just reveal those wonderful colours.

Look at that. And finish off with the coriander.

Sprinkle on the leaves and serve like that.

And I'm going to dig in.

Mmm-mmm!

Good.

Thank you, Lorraine. I'm a big fan of trout.

Throughout the series,

we are showcasing key seasonal spring ingredients

that are at their best at this time of year.

Today, I'm going to be making my version of a classic,

cod in parsley sauce, with cockles and mashed potato.

Jason, you're going to give me a hand.

I can't think of anyone better to make the mash.

You can get on with making mashed potato.

I'm going to be using cod.

Good at this time of year, Johnny?

-Yeah, brilliant. Spring cod.

-Spring cod?

-Yeah, spring cod.

It's a bit different from winter cod. They are a lot smaller.

I have put it in a bit of clingfilm

and dusted it with some flaky sea salt.

That salt draws out the moisture.

I have put it in the fridge and left it for a couple of hours

and it has firmed up where the salt has drawn the moisture from it,

which stops it being so flaky and gives it a wonderful texture.

Put it into a pan with some baking parchment and a bit of butter.

It's a very hot oven and I'm going to cook it for about seven minutes.

Into the oven. In the meantime, I'm going to cook my cockles.

The cockles are going to go into a very hot pan.

These have been washed.

-Cockles need to be washed, Johnny.

-Yes, but they also need to be purged.

When you buy them from the shops,

they have been through a purification system, 48 hours,

to kill the bacterias,

so they are fit for us to eat.

So if you were to pick cockles from the beach,

-you couldn't eat them straight away.

-Not really.

There are toxins in the water that can make you ill, so it is best

to buy them from a shop so they've been purified.

With a bit of vinegar, they're all right, aren't they?

Cockles and vinegar is a classic thing. Down in Barry Island.

Classic Swansea, yeah. We used to eat them all the time as kids.

Really? It's kind of a dying thing. Cockles don't seem to be around

-at the seaside so much any more.

-I love 'em.

-Yeah, they're great.

-My favourite seafood, I love them.

I've put the cockles into a very hot pan.

Some shallots, and some white wine.

We're going to steam them until they open, similar to mussels.

We're actually going to make the parsley sauce by melting

a little bit of butter.

I'm going to put some flour in here as well.

This is going to make almost like a classic white roux sauce.

You know those kind of sauce bases.

I've not made one for a while, but I know them.

I have to say, I am transfixed by the machine Jason is using.

-This one?

-It's a potato ricer.

I've seen one in the cupboard, but I have no idea what it is.

You bought one, stuffed it in your cupboard

and didn't know what to do with it.

-What did you think it was for?

-To be honest...

You went to the supermarket

and said, "I am going to buy one of these."

What did you think it was for?!

It was not actually me who bought it

but I have seen it in the dishwasher sometimes.

I've seen it in the dishwasher!

So your fella actually cooks quite a lot.

Well, he is trained as a chef.

You're very fortunate.

Is this why your cooking repertoire is not very large?

To be honest, it's the only reason I'm with him,

because otherwise I would starve.

Fantastic. OK, so making the base of a white roux here.

We've got butter, flour, and in here we have steamed cockles.

As soon as they're open, cooked,

we are going to pass that cooking liquor through a little bowl

which has been lined with a sieve and some muslin cloth.

The muslin will take any extra grit that might be around from

when it was picked, just in case.

-Even after the purging.

-They're actually in sand beds.

They lie in sand beds, half a foot under the sand,

so when you pick them they're embedded with sand.

Is that right?

Even 48 hours in the water, they can still have a lot of grit in them.

That is a nice, clear stock. The white wine and the cockle liquor.

We will slowly add that to the flour and butter

and cook it as if you're making a white sauce.

You want all of that flavour going through to make the sauce.

For your cod and parsley sauce.

You can see a little grit at the bottom,

so we won't add that, because nobody wants a gritty sauce.

-Oh, no. Oh, no.

-Bring it up to the boil and cook it out.

Into this, we are going to add a little cream and a little milk.

Jason is making mashed potato.

I have the butter and the milk going in. I always keep it warm.

When you're making mashed potato at home, keep the potato warm

so it can accept the fat and keep it nice and smooth.

-The more fat, the more luscious it is.

-Cream or milk in mashed potato?

Milk and butter together, warm it up.

-No cream?

-You can put cream, but it becomes too rich.

-Olive oil is great.

-Yeah, that works with certain dishes.

It becomes really rich and beautiful.

Keep the potatoes nice and warm.

You don't do mashed potato like my mum,

where you put the potatoes on on a Monday

and take them off on a Friday?

They are full of water,

and she puts it through one of those contraptions and water comes out.

She goes, "There you go, you can have that with your liver, son."

Much of the best mash is actually made from...

It goes very well with baked potatoes.

If you use baked potatoes, it does not have that water content at all.

So you cook baked potatoes and then you mash them?

Peel them while they're warm.

Do you cook them in the skins?

Cook them in the skins like a baked potato,

then take the middles out, and use the middle to make the mash.

Keep the skins to make a stock or anything,

so you get this baked potato flavour, which is lovely.

The cockles have been cooked until they're open.

We will pick them from the shell. They're a little bit hot

-but if you have asbestos fingers, you're all right.

-As all chefs do.

As all chefs do.

How fast can you drink a cup of tea?

Actually, really good. A cup of tea goes down very quickly.

-That is another chef's trick.

-You get so used to the heat.

-That you can neck it.

-Yeah, that's it, neck it.

Just brought this white sauce again, a little milk and cream.

And the cooking liquor. We are going to pass it through a sieve.

-Do you want me to chop a bit of parsley?

-Yes, please.

That would be fantastic.

-Little bit of the white sauce.

-Look at these flash knives.

-Very cool, Japanese.

-They're lovely, aren't they?

To that, we will add the cockles

and a little bit of the cockle liquor.

Jason is going to chop some parsley. Add that to it.

And then you're going to have to taste it for me, chef,

because I have a shellfish allergy,

which means you have to taste it

-and everyone else will eat it.

-No problem.

My cod has been baked in the oven for about 6½ to 7 minutes.

It's just cooked, you can feel it nice... That's beautiful.

Lots of people worry about cooking fish too much,

but when it's been salted and you cook it quickly,

it's absolutely delicious.

Leave it to rest for about a minute or two.

Also, any fish from the cod family will work well.

Again, that salting process firms up the flesh.

Any big white fish, like hake. Is hake around now?

It's around this time of year, but it is very flaky and looks loose.

When you salt it, it will tighten it up.

Same as smoked haddock as well, or haddock.

Anything from that cod family. And we're going to put...

Why do you put it on paper?

Just so it doesn't stick. Just in case.

-Just in case.

-If you've got a bad pan, it can sometimes stick.

Then we're just going to pour the cockles

-and the parsley sauce over the cod. Come on, guys.

-Come on.

Come and have a little taste of the 1980s retro dish.

-Well, I was going to say, this is a Wednesday meal.

-Wednesday, 1980s.

-We'd have cod and parsley sauce every Wednesday.

-Well, there you go.

-Get in there, guys, have a little taste.

-No, honestly, ladies first.

-Absolutely.

-OK.

-Have a little taste. The mash OK?

-The mash has got to be OK, surely.

-That's amazing.

That is better than a Wednesday cod and parsley sauce.

-That is an everyday cod and parsley sauce. Amazing.

-Good.

I'm glad you like it.

That is all from us today.

Thank you to Jason Atherton, Johnny Godden and Alex Jones,

and of course, Tom Kitchin.

The recipes are available on the website.

Go to bbc.co.uk/springkitchen.

Thank you very much for watching, and we will see you next time.

Take care. See you later.