Episode 11 The Box

Across the country, lots of us are working out what to cook tonight

from the ingredients in our cupboards.

To inspire you, we are throwing away the cookbooks

and going back to basics.

We are pitting three resourceful and creative home cooks

against one another to see what they can come up with.

Whoever does it best will be our Cook Of The Day.

Ready to show they can think on their feet are today's three cooks.

Clare, a writer from London, likes inventing her own dishes.

My chilli recipe is my pride and joy,

it has been evolving for many, many years.

I'm not telling you what's in it, though.

Matt, a mechanical engineer from Glasgow,

describes himself as a persistent cook who learns from his mistakes.

I'm not really a classical "chef".

Once I'm sort of let loose,

we will just see what happens.

It normally comes out all right at the end.

And Emma, a project manager from Gateshead

who loves getting creative when cooking for her family.

I love to cook from scratch. I have no problem opening the fridge

and creating something from what is in the fridge.

Occasionally follow recipes, occasionally do my own thing.

Their first test will be to cook from a box of ingredients

put together by today's guest -

EastEnders icon, Jessie Wallace.

-Jessie, welcome to The Box.

-Thank you.

-With a heavy box, by the looks of things.

-It's very heavy.

It's really heavy.

Now, how did you first start in TV,

were you a make-up artist first of all?

I was a make-up artist and wig maker back in the '90s

and I was sitting in the wings watching Helen McCrory in a play

and I thought, "I want to do that now."

So I left and went to drama school.

Now, what about food? Are you interested in food?

-I love food...

-Cook much at all?

-I love cooking, I cook all the time.

Right, shall we have a look then?

Well, you've got maple syrup in here, which I absolutely love.

That with chicken, that kind of works.

It just reminds me of the '70s.

Tastes that make me smile, basically.

So I'm looking forward to seeing what they do in 50 minutes

to create a dish using this lot of ingredients, from the '70s.

-So we will see you in a bit.

-See you, then.

-See you in a bit.

-Bye.

1970s.

I kind of remember chicken kiev,

chicken in a basket

and prawn cocktail.

This is going to be fun.

Jessie will be watching what they get up to

from the comfort of the Guest Room.

OK, guys, welcome to The Box.

Now you all claim that you're creative home cooks, is that right?

All used to thinking on your feet?

Off you go, good luck, open your box.

My ingredients are chicken breast, tomatoes, mushrooms, risotto rice.

I think my favourite ingredient in this box is the peppers,

because you can do so much with them.

I chose maple syrup, filo pastry and pistachios

which reminds me of baklava. That's why I chose those.

Camembert and Stilton just reminds me of the fondues we use at Christmas.

I want them to use everything.

Our home cooks need to impress Jessie

because she'll be choosing the winning dish from Round 1.

OK, I'm going to give you a big hint.

Our guest is a big fan of 1970s food.

I actually quite like the selection of ingredients in here.

There is actually so much you could choose from.

I would do the filo pastry

in a nice little tomato and filo pastry tart.

We've got some wonderful Camembert cheese

which you could bake in the box,

scoop it out and use as a base for a nice little tartlet.

We've got some mustard in the shelf,

a little bit of fresh thyme over the top.

That would taste absolutely fantastic.

Right, Clare, what are we up to?

I'm going to make some onions and some mushrooms and some blue cheese

in a bit of cream and put it inside that chicken breast

and then roast it.

That sounds nice. That's got a '70s twist to it.

You're going to put cream in it?

Yeah, just to sort of bind it all together.

-I wouldn't put cream in it.

-No?

-No, I wouldn't

because you've got your dairy which is all your cheese anyway...

-All right.

-..so you could in theory combine all three cheeses together,

if you wanted to, because they would work really quite well.

Maybe a bit of Camembert... A bit... Do you think? OK.

You don't have to use the blue cheese, you could use Camembert.

I like the blue cheese, though, I was thinking blue cheese and Camembert.

-You see, this is where nobody listens to me.

-Oh.

Emma's also using the chicken but has decided to roast it

in a maple syrup and paprika glaze and serve it with the risotto.

The key to risotto is keeping the flavours nice, pure and simple.

Classic Italian food.

And to do that, you could slice the peppers,

you could use the tomatoes, use the herbs and use the Parmesan.

I heard you're a big fan of food from your childhood?

-Yes.

-So this shouldn't faze you, then, should it?

No, not really, although I'm not cooking the stuff that my mum

-and my gran used to cook, I have to say.

-What were you brought up on?

The usual meat and two veg.

Emma is a real home cook.

Like she said, meat and two veg,

I could imagine she makes a lovely roast.

Right, Matt, this looks very technical,

-what have we got going on here?

-It looks technical.

-What are we doing?

I am going to try and make some form of baklava.

He's making baklava.

-You cook for your girlfriend quite a lot, don't you?

-I do, yeah.

-Are you a big dessert fan?

-Not...

I love eating dessert, I like to take my time over desserts

cos they can kind of stress me out a little bit.

You can't stop, you've got to keep cooking.

This is definitely not going to be ready.

Matt's attempting to do a baklava, which is a classic

sort of dessert, which is spicy, it is sticky,

but it has to be cooked for a decent amount of time.

In 50 minutes, this is quite an ambitious thing to try, really.

I attempted to make it once.

Never again.

We're halfway through and Emma's maple-glazed chicken

is roasting away nicely but Clare hasn't got hers in yet.

-Can I just tell you something that we should be doing here?

-Uh-huh.

See this little fillet, this is a really nice piece, there.

And then what you do with this fillet is, we bat it out a bit.

So what got you into food then?

I think because I'm greedy.

Greedy people eventually have to learn to cook

-so they can eat the things that they like eating.

-See, look at that.

-That is beautiful.

-That is a beautiful thing, isn't it?

That is beautiful.

I'm looking forward to sticking a knife right in the middle of that

chicken with the Stilton, Camembert and mushrooms, I think she put in it.

So what else are we going to do then?

I might make a little side to go with it.

Perhaps a pepper with some tomatoes in it and some herbs.

You could do a ratatouille-style thing.

You've got some garlic in the back, we've got onions.

At least James is helping. He's not just letting them get on with it.

He is giving them tips.

Whether they listen or not is a different thing.

Or what if I had a pepper and cut it in half and roasted it

-with some tomatoes and herbs?

-You're going to do that, are you?

-I don't know.

-Just do a roasted pepper.

-That's twice you've ignored me.

-I'm so sorry!

Has he put it in the oven yet?

It's halfway there!

A baklava should be assembled

and then cooked in the oven for about an hour but because Matt

doesn't have the time, he is baking his in layers separately

and repeatedly coating them in the syrup so they don't dry out.

He's going to use that whole bottle.

It is sweet and buttery, right? You can't go wrong.

-I'm not saying anything. It's nice.

-Good.

JAMES COUGHS

I think that's pretty awesome.

I'll be the judge of that.

-We have maple-roasted chicken.

-We have.

Why have we got a slice out of it?

I was just checking it was cooked.

I'm going to slice it up to present it. It's tactical.

Tactical? This looks like somebody has eaten it already.

OK, so we've got the rice. How are you going to finish off the rice?

Do you fancy putting mushrooms in?

No, I'm going to keep it quite simple.

Can I show you something? Have you ever seen a turned mushroom?

-A what mushroom?

-A turned mushroom.

-No.

I haven't done this since I was at college.

Are you watching? This is very 1970s.

Bit time-consuming, isn't it?

I have never seen that done before.

-That is a 1970s turned mushroom.

-That's beautiful.

Turned mushroom?

It looks like garlic.

-You need about another four.

-Four?!

-Off you go.

Can I finish my risotto first?

With just five minutes to go,

Matt is finally ready to assemble the baklava.

Now, it looks promising, but will it be sweet

and sticky enough or have the layers dried out?

Ooh, hey, look at that. There is a lot of maple syrup.

Remember, our guest is tasting this

so make sure your plates are clean, tidy.

You eat with your eyes first.

What, a raw mushroom?

It's raw.

OK, that's your lot, stop cooking. Step away from the hobs.

OK, guys, well done. We've got two savoury dishes and a pud.

Great effort.

But you're probably intrigued to know who put that box of ingredients

together, and I can now tell you that

if you're a fan of EastEnders, you'll recognise this person

straightaway. Please welcome Jessie Wallace.

-Jessie, welcome back.

-Thank you.

-Did you enjoy that,

-watching that behind the scenes?

-I really enjoyed it.

I liked your little contribution, a raw mushroom,

it looks like a garlic bulb.

You were supposed to cook it but, you know, I try my best.

Some people listen, some people didn't.

Anyway, Clare, what did you do?

It's a stuffed chicken breast

and it's got some balsamic peppers on the side.

What's in the middle of the chicken?

It's got some onions and mushrooms and garlic and a bit of blue cheese.

-Lovely.

-Chunky onions.

-I was a bit nervous,

-my hands were shaking, sorry about that.

-It's all right.

Dive in, tell us what you think.

-I like that.

-Thank you.

-It is lovely.

-What did you like about it?

Very clean and crisp and you can taste all the flavours.

The chicken is really juicy.

Mmm, it's lovely.

So I think really the flavour's there, you've got the blue cheese...

To me, cos the onions and garlic are quite chunky,

it is quite raw.

Yeah, the garlic press fell on the floor so I had to just chop it.

-I said you'd blame your tools.

-Exactly.

-It just doesn't look...

-No, it's a bit of a mess, isn't it?

It just doesn't look as...probably as nice as it tastes,

-to be honest, but on the whole, I think, a good effort.

-Well done.

-Thanks, guys.

-Well done.

Emma has prepared a maple syrup and paprika roast chicken

with a thyme and lemon risotto and roasted peppers.

-'70s or not?

-That is '70s.

-Is it '70s?

-I don't know about that...

That wasn't... What do you mean, the mushroom?

I worked really hard on that

and you've just plonked it on there it at the end.

Let's try a little bit.

Looking forward to the risotto.

Mmm, that's lovely.

And the maple syrup is quite subtle.

I thought it would burn but it's not, it's really sweet

and with the risotto, it goes lovely.

-And the peppers are nice, yeah.

-Thank you.

-I like that.

-You've mentioned everything but my mushroom.

Erm... I don't know what to say about that.

-It's very good.

-Thank you very much.

-Well done.

It's very good, I'll tell you the reason why.

Nice glaze over the top of the chicken,

you kept that lovely and moist.

Particularly with the risotto, that's where you have nailed it,

the texture's really nice, right amount of seasoning as well.

-That is a great dish.

-Thank you very much.

Very good, well done.

Right, Matt, what did you make?

I made a pistachio baklava with a simnel cream.

-That's what you wanted, wasn't it?

-Exactly what wanted.

-Yeah? Awesome.

I think you're a bit of a dark horse because I kept thinking,

when is he going to put it in the oven? But it looks lovely.

Hopefully it'll taste good.

Oh, wow.

Oh, it's lovely, the texture.

Mm-mm-mm-mm.

Oh, yeah.

We'll see if the big man likes it.

Do you think it needs more maple syrup?

It's kind of worked although you haven't cooked it all together.

-That is a really great effort in 50 minutes.

-Yeah, it's brilliant.

-Well done.

-Well done.

-Thanks.

You looked as if you enjoyed that.

I did, I loved it. I've always wanted to do that on the telly.

Have you? You get to decide, out of the three dishes you just tasted,

which one is your favourite.

So which would you pick?

It has to be Matt.

-I just found him really interesting to watch.

-Thank you.

-It's just... It's just gorgeous.

-It's awesome.

Well done, Matt, but don't forget, you two, we're still only halfway.

There is still all to play for

because I get to pick the Cook Of The Day

based on what you cook out of the next three boxes.

And these are going to be a little bit more complicated.

OK, well done, so far. Round 2.

In front of me are three boxes of ingredients.

We've got a posh box...

..a basic box...

..and an egg box.

Now, Matt, because Jessie decided that your dish was her favourite

in Round 1, you get to decide not only what you will be cooking with,

but what everybody else will cook with as well.

What box of ingredients would you like Clare to cook with?

I think I'm going to give you the basic box.

I'll give it a go.

What would you like Emma to cook with?

-Emma, you can have the posh box.

-Thank you.

That's the one I would have picked, actually.

-That's the one you would've picked?

-Yes.

-There you go.

-I like posh nosh.

OK. Matt, that leaves you the egg box.

And that leaves all of you just 50 minutes to create a dish

to impress me this time.

Good luck. Collect your boxes.

As these are my boxes,

it will be up to me to decide who will be our Cook Of The Day.

Jessie's favourite cook Matt chose the egg box for himself,

which contains a goose egg,

fish eggs,

bacon,

black pudding,

Portobello mushrooms,

spinach

and chervil.

It's actually quite a tricky decision, which way to go.

Do you use the salmon fish eggs or do you use the goose egg?

I'd probably have done a variant on an eggs Benedict,

with the crispy bacon - certainly the black pudding -

and the baby tomatoes.

And, of course, you've got the use of the Portobello mushrooms,

the spinach, the chervil -

all those ingredients kind of lend itself together really nicely.

But the thing about it is the poached goose egg,

that's got to be absolutely perfect.

So, Matt - what are we up to here on our little piece of paper here?

It's kind of like an eggs Benedict kind of thing,

but with the goose egg.

So we're going to have hollandaise, bacon, spinach on some toast.

-Cos it would normally be done on a muffin, or on a crumpet.

-Yeah.

I was just thinking, you've got enough time to make it.

A sort of soda-style thing?

What's that for? Your hollandaise? In that pan?

-That's my hollandaise, yeah.

-That's some white wine vinegar.

White wine vinegar, onion and black peppercorns.

Matt gave Emma the posh box.

In here I've put some venison fillet,

butternut squash,

French beans,

fennel,

red currants,

pears,

some good stock

and some fresh thyme.

Really, with this box, you don't waste anything,

because everything works well together.

This is a dish all on one plate.

I'm expecting nothing left from that box of ingredients. Nothing.

-So, Emma - posh nosh.

-Yes, posh nosh.

-What are you going to do?

-I'm assuming that's venison.

-It is.

I'm going to pan-fry that, really rare, high heat,

keep it quite rare. I've done a lingonberry-type compote already.

-Mmm.

-That looks quite nice, yeah.

-Thank you very much.

And I'm going to do a red wine and beef reduced gravy.

-I'm going to do buttered green beans.

-Lovely.

Mmm, that sounds delish!

-And are pears going to go in this?

-No.

-No?!

-That classic accompaniment with venison?

-Yeah.

Are they going to go in it?

Erm...possibly.

All you've got to do, really, is just take the pears.

Now, you can cut them into pieces.

The thing about these, you don't even have to cook them.

Because all you do is you get some sugar,

-then get yourself a blowtorch.

-Yeah.

Watch.

Caramelise it that way.

But what this is doing is actually cooking the pear at the same time.

Perfect.

-Let it cool and it goes crispy.

-Yeah.

You guys have a taste.

-Ooh.

-You see that? You get the crunch.

-Like a toffee apple.

-Or a creme brulee top.

-Mmm.

-Yeah.

-Mmm!

-Mmm!

OK, that works.

Emma's definitely going the right route,

doing the classic cooking of this.

And that's the key, really, when you're cooking the venison -

nice hot pan, some butter, salt and pepper, some of that fresh thyme -

so it colours at the same time as it cooks.

I love the idea of the nice little jam that she's got with

the redcurrants as well, that's going to really work.

It's all about the sauce as well,

when she's using the stock to make that nice sauce.

Now, looking at the three boxes of ingredients,

-which one would you have picked?

-I'd have chose posh.

-Would you?

Because I'm quite posh at heart.

What would you have done with it?

Just mash it all up, I don't know. I don't know what I'd do with it!

I'd pan-fry the venison...

Clare got my basic box, which contains minute steaks,

carrots,

cabbage,

potato

and coriander.

Great, basic ingredients, that should cost you less than £10.

-My favourite one is the basic box.

-Right.

Because in there you've got everything that I love.

Right then, Clare - what are we up to?

There's nowhere to hide, really, with this basic box, I think.

-It's just straight down the line meat and veg.

-Yeah.

So, I've got the steaks - I've put a tiny bit of Dijon mustard

on them, and a little bit of brown sugar, and I'm going to fry them.

And then, over here, I've got some carrots in the oven that I've

-roasted with a little bit of honey.

-Nice.

-They're done there.

And then, this may or may not be a potato puree,

-depending on how it turns out.

-What's the mustard for then?

-I'm just putting a tiny bit in this sauce.

-All right, OK.

You're going to finish that with a bit of cream, or...?

That's what I was thinking of doing.

-Instead of putting that mustard in, I would probably...

-Oh, whole grain?

If you're going to put cream in it, then grain mustard would be the one.

-OK, that sounds nice.

-I would've said, rather than Dijon mustard...

Yes, it's all right - I'm following your advice this time.

What Clare's done is roast off the carrots, which are really nice.

She's cooked the green cabbage with some caraway,

and the minute steak at the last minute's going to get pan-fried.

Now, I'm hoping that we've got some mash with this

and a nice little creamy mustard sauce.

But the mash is proving a little bit too difficult.

With time nearly up, I'm concerned that Matt has left some of the best

things still in the box.

Are you going to use the black pudding at all?

-I was... No, I'm not going to. I was going to, but...

-What?!

My favourite ingredient in the world. My food heaven ingredient.

-I love it too. I'm going to use it.

-Yeah.

It's the right idea.

Look at my mushrooms! Look, look! What are you doing here?

Matt, look - you've got these lovely mushrooms, look!

-This is a Portobello mushroom.

-Yeah, I know.

-Well, get it in the pan!

-Now, the key to black pudding is what?

-Not undercooking,

it's horrible when it's undercooked.

-No, it's worse when it's overcooked.

-OK.

Because it's like one of those hockey pucks.

Five minutes left.

Emma's calmly plating up her venison,

but Clare's still having problems with her potato.

-That's mashed potato?

-Well, it's not mash - it's potato puree.

-Potato puree?

-Yeah.

-All right.

I didn't realise the butter was salted.

That's a bit different.

I'm looking forward to trying all of them. Because I'm a real meat-eater.

-And I love black pudding.

-It's lovely, isn't it?

-Yeah.

When it's cooked properly.

OK, that's it, stop cooking. Step away from your hobs.

Stop cooking.

Oh! Yeah, that's probably a good idea.

-An egg box without an egg.

-Never mind.

That would've been good, wouldn't it?

First up, it's Clare, who was given my basic box to cook from.

What did we end up with?

We've got minute steak with a red wine and mustard and cream sauce.

There's some potato puree in the middle.

There are some caraway cabbage and some honey-roast carrots.

Erm...

Again, not the most interesting plate of food to look at.

No, it's a bit brown.

But one thing you have got, I can see straightaway,

is you've got the cooking of the steak, the colour on it, right.

But did you overcook it?

Oh, it's tender.

Not as much taste as I thought there would be.

If anything, the pan could've been even hotter.

I tell you the reason why - the steak is overcooked this end,

and at this end,

-it's kind of still blue.

-Yeah.

-The nicest part of this dish actually is the potato puree!

-Is it?!

I don't know how the hell that happened, but it tastes really nice.

-Thanks.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

Next, it's Emma, who was given my posh box to cook with.

What did you do with the venison?

I've done a pan-fried loin of venison with braised fennel

and buttered green beans with a redcurrant compote

and an onion and red wine gravy.

I saw the butternut squash somewhere, where is that?

Yeah, I decided against it.

-That sauce looks fantastic.

-Thank you.

That venison's really rich,

and the sweetness - it's a really good combination.

Listen to me! "It's a really good combination!"

The fennel is cooked perfectly.

The French beans are cooked perfectly.

I love this chutney thing that you've done with the red currants.

The sauce is the best part of this entire dish.

-Is it a jus?

-No, it's sauce.

We're not in France.

-A "juzz"!

-It's not a coulis, it's not that.

But, the venison, on the other hand -

the people watching this at home would probably think

this has still got a pulse in certain places.

But I'd be more than happy with that.

-That's a cracking plate of food.

-Thank you very much.

-So, well done.

Finally, it's Matt, who chose my egg box to create a dish from.

-I wish I'd had the posh box.

-Well, you chose it!

-No, no - I've made my own bed, it's fine.

-Yeah.

So you ended up with the egg box - would did you do?

Goose egg Benedict, basically.

With the black pudding mushroom under it with the hollandaise.

-Has it turned out how you wanted?

-No.

-What do you mean?

I would've presented it a bit better.

I think it's going to be slightly overcooked.

-No, the egg's cooked nicely.

-Mmm-hmm.

-Phew.

-I love that. I love the muffin - it's really light and fluffy.

-Thanks.

Black pudding is dry, but I like it like that.

I could eat all that.

Thanks.

It's kind of a dish of two halves, really.

You've got all the bit around the edge

which I wouldn't necessarily eat - the raw bit of mushroom

and the skin on the black pudding.

But certainly, if you took all that outside bit away,

the hard bit, the bit in the middle, the crumpets, the bacon,

the egg and the hollandaise - you've got that right. It's perfect.

Thank you.

-I'll take that with me.

-Enjoy.

Based on the three dishes that I've just tasted,

I think you're all fantastic.

And if you cook this well, I'm coming round for dinner.

Now, of course, I get to choose the Cook Of The Day.

And for me...

..that is...

-..Emma.

-Oh! Thank you.

-Well done.

-APPLAUSE

Thank you.

The sauce, to me, was really the shining light of this.

It was fantastic.

-So there you go.

-Thank you very much.

I think a great effort. Don't you, Jessie?

-I thought it was lovely, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-So, Emma - you enjoyed it?

-Yes, it's been really good fun.

Would you do it again?

I would do it again, yes.

Second time was easier than the first round.

-Yeah, really enjoyed it.

-Well, well done.

So, Clare, Matt - come on over. Commiserations.

-You picked the box of ingredients.

-I know, I know. That's awesome!

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

Yeah, it's a fantastic plate of food. So, well done, Emma.

Thank you for joining us, Jessie.

Thank you for watching, and join us again next time,

when we'll meet three more great, enthusiastic home cooks,

all ready to win a box using a box of ingredients.

I'll see you again soon. Bye for now.

For more budget recipes and tips, go to bbc.co.uk/dishup.