Episode 13 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're throwing away the cookbooks

and going back to basics.

We're 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.

'Devon cider-maker Jill likes to experiment in the kitchen.'

Sometimes it doesn't turn out right, and my husband says,

"Oh, that's rubbish,"

but next time he gets something good!

'Watchmaker Keith always finds time

'to cook for friends and family.'

I really enjoy feeding my friends.

They always volunteer me for the dinner party.

I then panic as to what I'm going to cook for them.

'And being vegetarian,

'Gurprit thinks she has an advantage in the kitchen.'

I find you have more options because you've got more flavours

and I think there's a lot more colour

in veg than there is in meat.

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

'put together by today's guest...

'Strictly Come Dancing's Craig Revel Horwood.'

I knew that was coming!

Good to see you, Craig. Welcome to The Box.

Now, you've got to be the busiest man in showbiz, really, haven't you?

I have been very busy.

And it's not just television that people know you from, Obviously Strictly...

-Absolutely.

-But a lot of people don't know that you've been in everything,

-from Cats, Moulin Rouge, performing.

-Yeah, Miss Saigon, all of those.

-And you're about to perform again on stage.

-I am, indeed.

I'm playing Miss Hannigan in Annie.

And then straight off the back of that,

-I'm assuming you're doing panto as well?

-Yep, I go into panto as Hook.

So what style of ingredients do you like? What style of food are you into?

I like food that I can manipulate, I can change, you know,

-I can morph into something else.

-Morph?

Like I would start a ragu and then that might turn into a chilli the next day.

-OK, so shall we see what needs morphing in here?

-Oh, yeah.

Quite a lot of things, really.

So what was the idea behind this choice?

Well, the choice was all the things I love using, like pasta,

but I don't like spaghetti.

I like fettuccine because meat sticks to it a lot better.

It takes up a little bit more of the flavour, which is great.

I love orange vegetables like butternut squash,

sweet potatoes, those sort of things.

Well, we've got three home cooks waiting in the wings

and I'm going to leave you to do what you do best -

critique me and everybody else in front of the TV.

-I shall look forward to that.

-Come back.

See you in a bit.

OK, well welcome to The Box.

Now, you are all here because apparently

you are amazing home cooks.

-Able to create something out of nothing.

-Yep.

-Exactly.

You've got 50 minutes.

Open the box and let's get started. Off you go.

Ooh!

I have chosen red and green peppers,

tomatoes,

fettuccine,

carrots

and cream cheese.

I was thinking cream cheese and carrots

because of carrot cake.

And if I allow myself, because there is an awful

amount of sugar in it, I can't stop eating it once I start.

Also minced beef,

chilli,

basil, mint,

coriander,

sweet potatoes,

peas.

I love peas and, in fact, peas have to go with everything,

even with my mash, even in my lasagnes.

I'm a bit of a pea-aholic.

'Our cooks don't have to use all of Craig's ingredients

'and they have a store cupboard filled with the basics.'

Oh, how exciting!

I actually really like this box of ingredients.

The obvious choice to me would be the beef and the pasta

in a beautiful ragu and you get that by simple, plain flavours,

using tomato, garlic, basil and olive oil.

You cook the beef down, add that to the ragu.

That dish, done properly, can be fantastic.

HE GASPS I don't like the way Jill's chopping.

One of her fingers is going to come off.

-Jill, you look as if you are on a mission.

-I am.

-What are you doing first of all?

-No idea!

She hasn't got a clue what's going to happen.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to think about it first?

-It looks good though, doesn't it?

-Well... I don't know yet.

Ow! Nearly chopped my finger off there.

Yeah, well, any wonder, darling. You need knife skills!

Now, somebody tells me you were retired and you're not retired any more.

-Is that right?

-Yeah. We've got cider orchards.

-450 trees.

-Right.

So we make our own cider and cider vinegar

and stuff like that.

-So have we got a particular theme in mind or not? No?

-No.

-Starting at one end of the box and working your way through it?

-Yeah.

So we may even get some chocolate?

Oh, there's chocolate, I didn't see that!

Yeah, that was in there.

You could have gone dessert, you see.

-That's so true.

-Thank you.

I'm looking around over that side.

Carnage. Mayhem.

You've got to think about what's in the box,

rather than start at one end of the box and work your way through it and utilise everything.

What's Jill doing now?

Oh, she's making a pastry.

She might be making a Cornish pasty!

'Jill is not the only one hoping to impress with the beef mince.

'Keith has also chosen to go with this ingredient.'

Oh, Keith knows how to chop. You see, look, that is good.

Yes, his fingers are curved over like that.

Keith, now you look a man as if you know what you're doing.

-Please tell me you know what you're doing.

-I hope so, James!

Yeah.

-I've got some lovely Mediterranean ingredients in there.

-OK.

I'm hoping to come up with a nice, tasty pasta dish

with a little bit of a twist to it, I just found out.

What's the twist?

It's going to have a little bit of dark chocolate in it.

Oh!

-Dark chocolate pasta?

-Yes.

-Are you sure?

-Yep.

With venison normally, and stuff like that, it's quite nice.

-But with pasta?

-We're going to have a go.

All right, OK. All right.

I don't like the idea of that. That sounds ghastly!

The idea of putting... Yes, with venison, I understand.

I don't know about with pasta though.

So are we going to make a sauce out of this pasta, or...

I am. This is one...

-Red wine sauce?

-Absolutely.

-Red wine, chocolate and pasta?

-Yes.

That just sounds awful.

And what do you do for a living then?

-I'm a watchmaker.

-A watchmaker?

-I repair watches.

I know you've got quite a collection.

Well, I like my watches as well. I find it fascinating, really.

-Yeah, the market is quite good.

-Well, this is working.

-Yes, I can see that.

-You've got 38 minutes left.

Whoo-hoo!

Well, Keith's creating a dish that is totally new on me.

I've never mixed chocolate and pasta together

and beef at the same time.

And I don't know whether any Italians out there have, either.

Eeeh.

'With two beef mince dishes underway,

'Gurprit is the only one making something vegetarian.'

Oh, look, yes, sweet potato fries. Very good.

What have you decided to make?

I'm making a nice, simple tomato sauce

with the pasta

and then I'm having some sweet potato chips.

I think you're the only one that knows what you're doing!

So this is a lovely vegetarian sort of dish, as well, really?

Yeah, yeah. I am a vegetarian so I tend to, obviously,

-cook a lot of vegetarian dishes.

-Yeah.

She's very calm, isn't she?

She's got a certain Nigella Lawson-ness about her.

So you're a big fan of Italian food, by the looks of things?

-Yes, I love it.

-Yeah?

I think that's where I fell in love with food, when I first went to Italy.

That's classy. What she's doing is classy.

Everyone else has just panicked and chucked everything together.

Gurprit's doing exactly what I would do.

We've got garlic, we've got olive oil, tinned tomatoes.

And we rely on that - simple, clean flavours

and some basil leaves through it, that's all you need.

Where's the tin?

Jill's steaming away. She has no clue what she's doing.

I love it.

'With time ticking away, a flustered Jill is also adding

'an unusual ingredient to her pasty filling.'

Oh, my God!

Oh, I'm sure that'll be lovely now.

Oh, no!

-What are you making?

-It's a kind of a chocolate...

chilli pasty!

What, a chocolate chilli pasty?

Can I start again?

Oh!

I didn't make the pastry properly.

I forgot to put an egg in it because I'm all flustered.

I feel so sorry for them all.

Right... Oh, my gosh.

Now, up until about five minutes ago

we only had one beef and chocolate dish.

Now we've got two.

Oh, look, she's making another one.

Oh, dear.

This might be nice. As long as she hasn't

put too much chocolate in because that would be hideous.

Keith, how are we doing?

OK, I've oversalted it a little bit.

It's like eating a burger and a Twix at the same time.

THEY LAUGH Oh!

'With just minutes to go, Jill is attempting a second dish.'

It's because she's panicked.

I'm worried about what's going to come out of that oven.

-Oh!

-OK, you've got a minute left!

OK, that's it!

Stop cooking.

That includes you, Jill.

Oh!

Well done.

OK, we have three dishes. Well, three and a half.

And I'm going to put you out of your misery

because the person who put that amazing selection

of ingredients together is a massive foodie.

But you'll probably know him

as one of the meanest judges of them all

on Strictly. It's Craig Revel Horwood.

-Craig.

-Hello.

-Welcome back. I thought you'd do a runner!

I tried, but then I was stopped at the front door

and hoiked back in, darling.

Now, you watched it all unfold.

Yes, I did.

Is this what you anticipated?

-No. No, not at all. I've got to be honest.

-Right.

-You were most interesting, my darling.

-Thank you.

So, Jill, what did you make?

It's a beef pasty with chocolate and chilli,

with al dente pasta.

Way too sweet.

I've had enough of that one.

-Do you want some water?

-Erm, no.

I'll need a glass of wine after that, darling.

Well, that's OK, but it's not...

I wouldn't like to have that as a meal.

-I have to be honest, darling.

-I wouldn't either.

But there is flavour in it.

-There is flavour in it. Well, it's there.

-It's there.

-And to be honest, there is actually flavour in this pasty.

-Mmm.

You went overboard and you put too much chocolate in,

but the idea is definitely there. The pastry was a great idea.

I liked the way you made the pastry, with grating the butter.

-It's not a bad effort.

-Thank you very much.

-Well done.

-Well done, darling.

-Thank you.

-Keith.

-Hello.

-Craig.

-Hi, pleased to meet you.

Nice to meet you too.

-Now, another chocolate masterclass?

-Yeah.

-Right...

OK, what did you do?

I've done a sort of ragu pasta sauce

with a dark chocolate hint to it

-and some herb bread.

-Right.

Way too much chocolate.

I couldn't eat a whole bowl of that, to be honest.

Now the chilli's kicking in...

which I like.

A hint of chocolate, potentially,

I think could have actually helped it along.

I think you've just overdone it.

It's just a shame you put that chocolate in there, but certainly

-the pasta's well cooked, so well done.

-Thank you.

Gurprit, how are you?

-I'm not too bad now it's all over.

-Not too bad?

It's all over!

-And no chocolate in this?

-No.

-Wahey!

Right, what did you do?

A simple red pepper and tomato sauce with some pasta.

Some sweet potato chips, lightly spiced on the side

and some garlic bread.

Hmm... That's actually very tasty. I love sweet potato.

-You can't go wrong.

-Yeah.

-Dead easy.

Sling them in the oven, they're done.

-Flavour-wise, I like it.

-Yeah.

-It just needs some meat.

The thing about it is, you've actually done the hard bits right.

You've got the pasta perfectly cooked,

you've incorporated the pasta in the sauce.

-I would've drizzled a bit of olive oil, or something over it...

-You'd have done a chef-ey drizzle.

A chef-ey little drizzle, darling.

But it's not up to me to decide.

It's up to you to decide which dish you like the most

out of the three that you've just tasted, so...

-It's kind of over to you, really.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

So an interesting selection of dishes in the end. What did you think?

I thought so too. I mean, everyone did their best

to create something and came up with completely different things than I had expected.

-Not what I anticipated, either!

-No!

So, Jill's pasty, what did you reckon?

Well...it just needed to be simplified.

Keith, I just think you overpowered your entire dish a little bit,

but I thought it was very, very tasty and had the potential,

actually, to be something I would serve up at home.

Gurprit, I thought your vegetarian dish was a delight, actually.

It had grace, class, style. I thought it was very good.

Now, you've got to pick which dish you like the most

out of the three that you tasted.

So which one would it be?

After tasting all the dishes and all your hard work...

I'm going to choose...

..the vegetarian one.

-Well done, darling.

-Thank you.

Gurprit, well done.

It tasted fresh and I thought your pasta was cooked to perfection.

Really, really good.

OK, well, well done. Round two.

In front of me,

I've got three boxes of ingredients.

We've got shellfish...

..global...

..and meat.

Gurprit, because you cooked Craig's favourite dish,

you get to decide not only what you'll be cooking with,

but what your fellow contestants will be cooking with, as well.

What would you like Keith to cook with?

I'm going to go with shellfish. I hope that's OK.

That's a good choice for me.

Two boxes left over

and we've got Jill stood there waiting.

-I'm going to go for meat to Jill, if that's all right.

-Thank you.

-Jill, are you happy with that?

-Yeah.

And I'll be pleased to know there's no chocolate in there.

-That leaves you the global box.

-Yes.

And all three of you, 50 minutes to create a dish to impress me.

Collect your boxes. Let's get cooking.

'Now these three cooks get a second chance

'to prove they can think on their feet.'

Oh!

'Gurprit chose to cook from the global box,

'which today has a Moroccan theme.

'I've put in some diced goat meat,

'baby aubergines,

'dried apricots,

'chillies,

'fresh coriander and parsley.

'Couscous,

'ras-el-hanout

'and preserved lemons.'

Now you've had time to see the contents of all the boxes,

which one would you pick?

I quite like the global,

only because that will be really full of flavour.

Moroccan-ey...tagine...

Moroccan-ey, tagine-y type of stuff and I love all that.

And interestingly enough, the meat in there,

quite unusual, goat.

Yeah, I've enjoyed it any time I've had it.

And, you know, at home, I've never cooked it myself,

but that'd be a nice little bit of a challenge for me, that one.

Right, how are we doing?

Not too bad.

I'm just really grateful I got to pick the box.

I'm so glad I didn't get shellfish or the meat.

So the idea is what?

-Is this a tagine sort of thing?

-Almost, yeah.

Just a quicker version, really.

So I'm going to make some nice couscous

-with the lemons there.

-Preserved lemons?

-Yes.

Obviously I didn't touch the meat.

Yeah. You ever cooked with goat before?

-No, but I have eaten it in the past.

-Yeah. It's pretty good.

Particularly that, that's the shoulder, so it's slow-cooking,

which really lends itself together with this.

And do you know what sort of spices I've put into this box as well?

-It's almost like a harissa sort of spice.

-You often get it...

which this one has, it's got rose petals in it.

-Rose petals?

-It's got saffron.

-Interesting.

-Rose petals.

-OK.

Ras-el-hanout, have you heard of it?

Yes, I've heard of that.

-That's what that is.

-Wow.

Now, the key to it, it's got to go in at the beginning of the cooking.

-OK.

-So get that in there, sharpish.

-Now.

-Good luck.

Now, Gurprit decided to go for the global box

and she's doing a vegetarian tagine, that famous stew,

but it's actually not a stew, it's the pot that you cook it in -

this round-shaped clay pot with a funnel-shaped lid.

But you can get away with it in real-time,

particularly using the aubergines, easily in about 20-30 minutes.

'Keith got the shellfish to cook with.

'Along with the crab, there's potato, lemon grass, chillies,

'sweetcorn, fresh chives, brandy

'and some Gruyere cheese.'

The way you tackle a crab is quite straightforward.

Inside the claws, you've got the white meat,

inside the shell, you've got the dark meat,

each require a little bit of work to get the crab meat out,

but trust me, it's worth the effort in the end.

Look at this chopping.

Well, he looks as if he knows what he's doing!

-So I'm going to do the sweetcorn in a patty.

-Yeah?

And I'm going to do a potato crab cake.

-Now do you cook much shellfish at home?

-Yes.

The trick is obviously not to overcook it...

-You know crab is one of my food heavens.

-Is it?

With a bit of horseradish maybe?

You've heard about me and the horseradish!

Well, good luck.

Thank you.

Keith got given the shellfish box

and he's gone down the same route as what I would have done, really,

and utilised the potato as the base for a simple crab cake.

It's that combination of equal quantities potato and crab,

mixed together with hopefully some of that lemon grass and chilli,

but what it needs is a nice little sauce to go with it.

'Gurprit gave Jill the meat box,

'featuring a boudin blanc, or white pudding,

'white beans and French beans,

'potato, red pepper and tarragon.

'There's also some wild mushrooms,

'pine nuts, puff pastry

'and some Camembert cheese.'

I mean, this is a classic French inspired box of ingredients, really,

from the tarragon, the white beans

and of course that white pudding.

White pudding, you treat it exactly the same as black pudding.

The one thing you don't want to be doing

with either of them is overcooking them.

They can dry out really, really rapidly, so it's better to

just pan-fry it nice and quickly, but also to serve it with a sauce.

-Is this like a work in progress, like last time?

-Yes.

-OK.

But I was going to make little tartlet thingys...

-Can I give you a little bit of a word of advice?

-Yes, please.

Right... Put some cream in.

Go on.

-More than that.

-That much?

A bit more.

So, mustard.

And it's better to use, I think, grain mustard for this one.

So that could be a great little sauce to go with it. Taste this.

Thank you.

-That's nice.

-Tastes nice, doesn't it?

-You've got about 10-15 minutes left.

-All right.

What Jill has done is actually utilise the white pudding

and the puff pastry to make little tartlets.

Now, that's going to go with a sauce.

The thing is with Jill, you've got to rein her back

from using all those ingredients

and putting everything onto one plate.

'With not long to go,

'Gurprit is thinking about the flavouring for her couscous.'

-You've cooked this before?

-Yes, a lot.

OK, so you've got lots of herbs.

You see I've lined it up so you do know I'm on the right track.

But you've got one other ingredient in here, which I think needs to go in here,

-which is dried apricots.

-OK.

It's that combination of sweetness in a tagine that really,

really sets it apart.

Soft fruit, like some dried apricots,

goes particularly well in there, all mixed together with the couscous.

'With minutes to go, Keith seems to have everything under control.'

Now, we all need to go around to Keith's house, because he's used

to cooking massive dinner parties, is that right?

-18 covers?

-20!

-20 covers minimum?

Yes, I have done a few like that.

I did steaks for 20 people once and that was just a nightmare

because everyone wanted them different

and I was just sweating like some terrible pig in the kitchen

and I never got to drink or see anybody.

'Jill's tarts are cooked

'and she's also decided to make some garlic bread.'

If we mix this together, that's your garlic and your butter

and when you put garlic butter, it's got to be that.

-Really?

-Yes.

-It's a bit unhealthy, isn't it?

Don't you worry about that, Jill. You're cooking for me!

-That smells good.

-Delicious.

-And not a chocolate in sight.

-I love that!

45 seconds!

OK, that's it!

Stop cooking!

'Jill had to create a dish from the meat box.'

-OK, Jill.

-Yeah.

-What did you do with it?

So I made a white pudding tartlet

with wild mushroom and beans

and garlic bread and baked brie.

-Camembert.

-It all looks the same, really, doesn't it?

-All looks the same, dunnit?(!)

-Are you pleased with it?

-I'm very pleased with it, yes.

-Good.

Mmm! That's a bit of a turn-up, darling, isn't it?

-That's actually something I could eat!

-Thanks!

-That's really nice.

I'll have a little bit more.

I like it. It's rich.

Certainly the sauce, with everything else, it's lovely.

-Yeah, it really is.

-Yes, very nice.

-You've excelled yourself, darling,

-in the culinary arts.

-Oh, you're so kind.

I like the way you've cooked the beans and peeled them in half, you had time.

-It's very chef-ey.

-It is very chef-ey.

-I'm learning!

Do you want to go halfers on this bread, darling?

Yeah, we'll break it in half.

So the whole point of that, with cooking it inside,

-look, you get this lovely...

-Goo-ey.

-..sticky cheese and everything else.

Mmm. It looks lovely.

Mmm. I love that.

It's a vast improvement on the last dish.

And a good effort, well done.

-Thank you very much.

-Well done.

-Bravo.

'Keith had to create a meal from the shellfish box.'

-Keith, what did you do with it?

-I made two little crab cakes.

I did some sweetcorn fritters as well

and there is a dipping sauce there as well.

Mmm. That's nice.

Crab cakes are a little bit squidgy, squidgy...

-Needed a bit more time.

-Yeah, but the flavour is all there, I think.

I think what you've got is two very different dishes here.

You've got fishcakes. You haven't drained the potatoes enough.

But also, you put the brown crab meat in there,

-which, when you do that, is quite liquid.

-Right.

But the surprising thing for me is these sweetcorn fritters.

-They are fantastic, particularly with the dipping sauce.

-Good.

-So great effort. Well done.

-50-50. Thank you.

'And Gurprit chose to cook from the global box.'

Right, Gurprit, you chose the right one there, didn't you?

-Yes, it was perfect for me.

-Moroccan-inspired. What did you do?

So, it's couscous, with a nice aubergine and onion, tomato-based tagine.

Now you didn't cook the goat, that's still in the box?

-No, yes, that's correct.

-OK, well, it looks good.

-It does. It looks very impressive.

-So, if you want to dive in.

Mmm. I like the sweetness in it. That's really nice.

-That'll be the apricots.

-Yeah. I like it.

You know, it's light. It's nice and moist too.

I mean, this can sometimes go a bit wrong, can't it?

Particularly with just vegetables, when you have no meat.

It can go wrong because of the couscous.

You've definitely cooked that before because that is beautiful and light.

-It's a good dish, that, well done.

-Thank you.

-But I've got to decide, on the basis of all these three dishes...

-Yes.

..who gets today's cook of the day.

You've all upped your game, so this one's going to be even more difficult.

Well, Craig, if that was a theatre performance,

-the second act did better than the first.

-It certainly did. Absolutely.

And on the basis of the three dishes that I've just tasted,

and seriously, everybody upped their game in round two.

Today's cook of the day is...

..Gurprit.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-You happy with that?

Very, very happy, yeah. Thank you so much.

As a vegetarian tagine, with those aubergines, you did the right thing,

cooked it out for long enough,

but really, the shining light for that was that lovely couscous.

It's nicely cooked. The right amount of spice in there.

-On the whole, a cracking dish. Good effort.

-Thank you very much.

-Well-deserved.

-Thank you so much.

-Well done.

-So are you going to cook this again? You've obviously cooked it before!

-Yeah. Hopefully.

I think the husband deserves to try the winning dish.

Exactly. But the key to it is that ras-el-hanout, as well, if you can find it in the shops.

-Definitely.

-But that's a great effort, well done.

-Thank you very much.

Keith, Jill, come on over. Hard luck.

Jill, you're an absolute star.

-Thank you.

-Congratulations, darling.

-Thank you very much.

Congratulations. Come over here, my darling. Don't be nervous, don't be shy.

And a little turn.

Your dancing is better than your cooking!

I can't dance either!

That's all we've got time for today.

Join us again soon, where we meet three more great home cooks,

some more great big names and also some more boxes of ingredients.

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

'And if you'd like to have a go in the kitchen,

'go to bbc.co.uk/dishup

'for easy recipes and tips.'