Episode 16 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 prove they can make fantastic dishes

out of anything we throw at them

are today's three cooks.

Louise, a firefighter, from Shrewsbury.

I just love entertaining, I love cooking,

I love partying, to be honest. It all goes hand in hand.

Daniel, a dad of four from Essex

who likes to keep it simple in the kitchen.

Most of my food would be two-pan cooking.

It tends to revolve around opening the cupboards,

seeing what we've got and what we haven't got -

then trying to make stuff up.

And project manager Elaine, who's not used to cooking under pressure.

I've never really cooked for anyone

apart from my family and friends,

who are always really nice about it.

So, we'll see what they say.

First they have to cook from a box of ingredients

put together by today's guest -

Dame Esther Rantzen.

-Esther.

-Yes.

-Welcome to The Box.

What are you like in the kitchen?

Well, you could say there's two Esther Rantzens, James.

Cos there's the Esther Rantzen who, as a kid, who loved cooking

and then, when I started to get rather a lot of responsibility

and the work became more tiring,

I would just come home in the evenings

and flop on the sofa and eat a cheese sandwich.

I like plain food.

I don't like salt, I don't like pepper and I don't like spices.

-OK, all right. Well, that bodes well for what's in here, then.

-Yeah.

What have you gone shopping for?

-Well, first of all that looks like turkey to me.

-Yes, free-range.

Why turkey?

Turkey's such a fabulous meat, but you only tend to eat it, you know,

at Christmas or Thanksgiving,

or a celebration.

And I'd love to know if there are other ways

that even I could cook it and eat it more often.

Is there any country which you love? A style of cooking...?

-I love Italian food.

-OK.

I like cookery when the actual ingredients speak for themselves.

Well, we've got three home cooks

ready to create some wonderful food with this.

-Shall we find out?

-Yeah.

This is going to be interesting. I'll see you in a bit.

I look forward to it.

Starving hungry, actually, as it happens.

Esther will be keeping an eye on the cooking from the guest room.

OK, guys, welcome to The Box.

Well, first of all, we've got three boxes in front of us -

all exactly the same - that have been bought by our guest,

who is waiting in the wings, watching your every move.

You've got to create one dish using the ingredients

in that box, in 50 minutes.

-Are you all happy now?

-Yes.

Off you go. 50 minutes. Open your box. Good luck.

I've got sea bream.

I usually find fish a bit boring, until I happened across sea bream.

It's got such a lovely flavour

that I slightly fell in love with it.

Free-range turkey, broccoli, asparagus...

I love asparagus.

Usually, if it's on the menu as a starter,

I will normally choose asparagus. I love it.

Peas, carrots, new potatoes.

For herbs, I've got mint and thyme.

Dark chocolate, raspberries,

vanilla ice cream and pastry.

I like a good pudding.

Particularly if it's got ice cream in it.

There's plenty of ingredients for our cooks to choose from.

They can also raid our store cupboard,

packed with the sort of stuff many of us will have at home.

I'm so excited about the ingredients in this box.

You can go with so many different avenues

whether you go sweet or savoury.

Really, you could do the pie with a pastry.

There's great dessert in there,

particularly with the chocolate, the raspberries and ice cream,

so it'll be interesting to see what these lot are going to create.

It's rather fun watching all this.

It's always nice on the people doing the hard work,

but I must say they're making me feel really quite hungry.

Whoa. She's attacking the sea bream.

Right, Elaine. What are we making?

OK. I touched a fish, so I thought I'd follow through

and actually cook it.

-You touched a fish?

-Yeah.

I'm going to go to my roots of Philippines and...

I'd let you carry on cooking

but tell me what Filipino food is about.

In history, we've been colonised by

the Spanish, the Chinese, Indonesians, from way back,

so our flavours are very diverse.

Using the key ingredients - garlic, soy sauce and ginger.

Giving it that, sort of, flavour to the fish.

Well, it sounds interesting. It's not a curry.

I like ginger. We'll see.

So, what are we going to do, then? You've got that...

-Yeah, I need your help.

-What do you need my help for?

I tried to get rid of the fish bones,

cos I don't want whoever's eating it to get choked on a fish bone.

-It is actually really difficult to fillet...

-Yeah.

..so, the easiest thing is to cook the fish

and remove it afterwards, which I'll show you.

So, are we going to use the asparagus for this and the potatoes?

I haven't decided yet. Is it too late to decide?

No, it's not too late, but time's ticking on, so you better hurry up.

-All we've got is a bit of fish here, at the moment.

-Yeah, exactly.

-Nothing else.

-Yeah, I'll think of something.

I'm looking forward to this, a taste of the Philippines.

-Hopefully, yes.

-Ish.

-Yes.

Sort of.

I think I'm safe in Elaine's hands.

I don't think she's going to put masses of spices in that.

Elaine started, funnily enough,

trying to fillet the fish, then realised how difficult it is.

The easiest way is actually to fillet it or take the fillets off

once it's cooked.

Now, the key to that is actually cooking it perfectly

and that requires real concentration.

-Louise has also chosen the sea bream. Louise.

-Hello. Hi, James.

-You look as if you know what you're doing.

-Well, I think I do.

-If I don't burn anything.

-You're a firefighter?

-Yes. Firefighter.

How on earth do you become a firefighter?

I wanted a change in direction, so I applied about nine years ago

and was so lucky to get into Shropshire and, yeah,

I've been very happy ever since.

Wow.

What's the idea of this dish, then? What are you going to be doing?

I'm actually doing a basic risotto. I've got Garlic, onions, etc.

I am going to be sticking some lemon, thyme

and I am going to be doing asparagus peas, actually.

I'm intrigued by the risotto.

She's using my favourite vegetable, so that's all very nice.

I was once in the jungle...

for another programme

..and we tried to make a risotto. It was not successful.

What are you going to do with the fish?

I am actually going to bake it whole.

I'm going to stuff it with lemon and use some of the mint.

I'm going to be squeezing lemon juice over the top,

so I'm hoping to get the flavours of lemon through the risotto. Keep it fresh.

The idea is to keep it nice and simple, is that right?

Yeah, I was doing, to be quite honest,

because I just want fresh flavours.

I actually like the sound of Louise's dish.

She's cooking that sea bream en papillote.

If it's prepared properly, it's the best way to cook it.

That paper bag - it keeps all the moisture in there.

So, while Elaine and Louise have gone for the fish,

it looks like Daniel wants to win Esther over

with her favourite poultry.

-Bread-crumbed and escalloped.

-Oh, lovely. This is the...

That's the plan with a little bit of a hint of paprika through it,

just to try and lift the flavour, cos turkey's a bit bland.

So, the idea of this is what?

We're going to do a little turkey pan-fried?

The key to that is cook it in plenty of butter.

Yeah, well there's a little butter in there, just starting to soften.

That'll go on very shortly.

-If I was cooking that, I would do it in half a block of butter...

-OK.

..in a pan, rather than a griddle pan.

In...not a griddle pan, OK. I would certainly listen to your advice.

Just a little advice. It seems like a lot of butter - and it is -

but one thing you don't want to do is dry it all out. All right?

I'll go with your experience on that.

You see, there's a lot of butter, a lot of breadcrumbs,

a lot of flour,

a lot of calories.

-Mmm.

-Careful with your potatoes. You're burning them.

-Yeah, thank you.

-That's all right.

Which is what I've just done to the carrots. Don't look at them.

Well, they're slightly caramelised.

They were perfectly inoffensive carrots. What's he done to them?

They could taste really nice, actually.

They should be slightly dark, cos they're covered in honey,

but not really burnt.

Why is he covering his carrots with honey?

So, where does your love of food come from, then?

Proper farm cooking. Grandad was a farmer

and everything I'm doing here today would be, more or less,

what we would eat on the farm.

You describe your house as a bit of a zoo.

It's a massive zoo, to be honest, yeah.

My wife can't stop saving animals. She's a bit of a Dr Doolittle.

She saved a dog years ago from almost certain death -

a long-legged Jack Russell.

And then, she saved a ginger cat that we found

outside my mum and dad's, in a bush.

And then, one more that she saved from... It was dumped behind a car.

Fantastic.

It sort of keeps everyone relatively happy and relatively busy.

I think this is what you might call 'machismo cooking'.

Well, Daniel could have pulled off a good move here

by going for the turkey Milanese style.

The key to cooking anything Milanese style is

to start it off in foaming butter, first of all.

Make sure you're escalope is nice and thin before it's coated.

Place it into the pan.

Basically, don't touch it. Don't even...

Just leave it. As the butter starts to brown,

the lovely crumb starts to colour underneath and, then,

and only then, do you flip it over and cook the underside.

One thing you don't want to be doing is keep flipping it

over in the pan, otherwise the breadcrumbs, kind of, fall off.

'With just five minutes to go,

'Elaine's sea bream is out of the pan.'

I want to get rid of the bone.

-Well, you've got to make sure it's cooked first of all.

-Yep.

-I can see... Look, that is perfectly cooked. So, all you do...

-Ah, yeah.

..if you take... Lift your knife underneath.

Ever so carefully, just lift this off.

You've got your bones removed.

See how difficult that is to fillet?

-Yeah.

-Now you've got a nice piece of sea bream.

-What have you hidden?

-I've hidden my risotto.

-Can I take a look?

Yeah, I just want to take a little bit...just absorb some of steam,

stop it going as much.

Are you going to finish that off with a touch of cream or...?

-I actually want it to be quite a dry risotto.

-OK.

And Daniel's being all chefy, turning his peas into a puree.

Needs more...something.

-Thanks, man.

-Cheers, Dan.

Let's just hope our cooks have done enough to impress Esther.

Now, Elaine is putting some rather nice looking sauce on it.

Dan is balancing... SHE LAUGHS

Very modern.

Out comes the origami.

Do I get the whole fish? I'd like the whole fish.

That's your lot, stop cooking.

Well done.

Now, you're probably wondering who put that impressive

box of ingredients together.

Well, the wait is over, cos I can now tell you

this lady started in television in 1968.

She's then gone on to win OBE, CBE and, more recently,

she's now officially a dame.

It's Dame Esther Rantzen.

-Well...

-Esther, Welcome back.

-Look at this!

What did you think of it when you were watching?

I thought they were brilliant, all of them.

And I was so pleased it wasn't me having to do the cooking

and having to invent so quickly. I thought you were fantastic.

So, first of all, Daniel. What have you created?

A pan-fried escalope of turkey, with roasted vegetables

and a pea and mint puree.

-Wow.

-OK.

-Caramelised carrots, I understand.

Caramelised with honey.

Yeah. Very caramelised, yeah.

Mmm. Very crunchy. It has a certain gritty quality.

It's supposed to be the breadcrumbs, but I think he turned the heat up

a little bit too much.

-Right, I'm going to try some of this delicious, um...

-Pea puree.

Pea puree.

It's a healthy pea and mint puree.

That is really rather nice.

No, I actually think it's a very interesting combination of flavours.

For me, there's a bit too much butter and a bit too much cream.

I think, with the breadcrumbs, it was the right thing to do.

If anything you've probably just,

ever so slightly, overcooked the turkey,

just coloured it too much - which has then overcooked the filling.

I like the pea and mint puree.

-Good effort.

-Well done.

-Well done, thank you.

-Thank you.

-Elaine, meet Esther.

-Hello, how do you do?

-Lovely to meet you.

-And you.

-What have you done?

Because you decided to use the sea bream. What have you made?

I made a pan-fried sea bream,

with garlic, ginger and soy.

Also, with the broccoli, I just fried it in garlic and oil

and, then, boiled potatoes.

I didn't mention the fact that, when I eat garlic,

I have actually anaesthetised a whole row of people

-sitting in the theatre in front of me...

-Right.

..and all I have to do is breathe out.

-So, you're feeling strong are you?

-Yeah.

-So, the garlic's in the broccoli, is it?

-And in the fish.

-And in the fish.

-And in the sauce.

Everywhere you look, there's garlic.

That's rather fascination.

-Is that a good thing?

-It's a good thing.

-Oh, I'm glad.

-I think this is nice.

-Thank you.

You've, kind of, got it right with that dish.

I think she's got it right.

You've got the Asian, sort of, flavours which is wonderful,

I love what you've done with the broccoli.

Potatoes are just, well, they're just nice potatoes. Nicely cooked.

-What can you say?

-You see, I think that the fish is the start.

-And the sea bream is just simple, but it works.

-Clever, isn't it?

-Very clever. Well done.

-Thank you very much.

-So, we've gone from Asia to Italy, by the looks of things?

-Yes.

What have you created with the sea bream?

Sea bream with mint, lemon, tiny bit of seasoning -

then I'm serving it with spring risotto.

I do like sea bream, a lot.

It's a really nice fish, isn't it?

-You see, that tastes gorgeous!

-Good.

-That tastes gorgeous.

Hopefully, each forkful, you're still getting different flavours.

-Hmm. Really nice!

-You were right to cook it en papillote.

You've got to keep it whole, it keeps it lovely and moist.

You've got the flavour of the fish.

There's very little other flavours

other than the fish, the lemon and the few herbs.

-That's exactly what you want with this.

-I agree.

Now, THAT'S worked.

The risotto, to me, hasn't. Risotto should be quite loose and liquid.

It should have cheese in it.

If it hasn't, finish it off with a bit of double cream.

You've got to decide which is your favourite dish

out of the three that you've tasted.

It's really difficult, isn't it?

-So, do you want time to think about it?

-I need time.

-Good.

Thank you.

-Now, Esther, you seemed to enjoy that.

-Yeah.

What did you think of everybody's dish in general?

-Well, I think they were all very interesting.

-Interesting.

Which one would you prefer to eat? Which one would you go back to?

I think I'm still relishing the memory of the turkey,

so I don't need to relive that now,

though it was delicious.

And I did love the Filipino sea bream

but, you know, I'm going to have to pick your fish, Louise.

-It was just so delicious.

-Well done, Louise.

I love it when the ingredients are so lovely they do the talking.

OK, guys. Round two.

Now, in front of me, I've got three boxes that I've gone out

and shopped for the contents for.

Now, Louise, what Esther has done is given you the power to decide

what everybody else will be cooking.

We've got pasta,

pudding

and a posh box.

I can see Daniel there has got his very special poker face on.

So, first of all, what would you like Daniel to cook with?

Does he look like a pudding man?

Or does he look like a posh man?

I think I'm going to go for posh.

-You're quite happy with that, aren't you?

-Yeah.

Anything but pudding, I was quite happy.

So your poker face definitely worked.

That just leaves Elaine and two boxes to go,

what would you like Elaine to cook with?

I'm going to be brave myself,

so I'm going to give Elaine pasta.

Thank you so much(!)

Why have you chosen those two boxes?

For Daniel, first of all. Why's that?

I've got to be honest,

I wasn't too sure if you'd be that keen on the posh box.

I was trying to be calculated.

You haven't seen his car. He's an Essex lad.

It's blinged to heaven outside. I've seen it. Why the pasta for Elaine?

As I said, I'm going to try and be brave and try tackle a pudding.

OK, guys. Just to remind you, you're cooking for me this time

and I get to choose,

based on what you're creating with these three boxes of ingredients,

the cook of the day.

Collect your boxes. Good luck.

Which one would you have picked?

-I think I would have picked the pudding...

-Really?

-..cos I like puddings.

-OK.

Inside the pudding box, Louise has got mangos, passion fruit,

desiccated coconut, Greek yoghurt, fresh chillies and white chocolate.

Louise, why did you choose the pudding box for yourself?

I do genuinely enjoy baking,

and that's where I started, I suppose - baking. Baking cakes, etc.

And yeah, I was up for the challenge.

Because we've done savoury dishes, I was quite happy to try a sweet dish.

I'm going to try and cook a little white chocolate tart.

I've got a little bit of pastry I've just done

with some coconut, in white chocolate, double cream.

I think it sounds gorgeous.

Chocolate? What could be wrong with chocolate?

-Put it in a little tart. What could be wrong with that?

-Exactly.

Sounds very nice. Needs a bit of testing.

-That's all right, that'll work. Mm-hmm.

-Let's see.

I'll see if there's any left over.

There's not going to be much left over if I don't get Esther

out the way. Come on.

White chocolate isn't, in fact, chocolate.

It's gorgeous cocoa butter, really. There's no cocoa solids in it,

so when you're actually cooking with it, you almost have to add

double the amount of white chocolate

to a dark chocolate recipe - which enables it to set.

Now, also, when you're cooking with white chocolate,

you've got to be really careful,

because it can burn really fast.

Now, there's no question Louise is a confident cook,

but getting that tart cooked and set in the time is a real tall order.

'Louise chose the pasta box for Elaine...'

(I've never made pasta before.)

-You've never made pasta before?

-No.

'Inside, it's got double zero pasta flour, baked potatoes,

'gorgonzola, pork sausages, tomatoes, pine nuts and basil.'

-Looking at what's in your box...

-Yes.

..there's another famous Italian dish that's not pasta...

-Gnocchi?

-Yes.

-Yes.

Gnocchi. Do you know how it's made?

So, we've got some baked potatoes here. Stick that on. Squeeze.

Salt and pepper.

-Whole eggs or egg yolks?

-Egg yolks.

Correct answer.

For this, about two egg yolks

-and we use some of this double zero flour, OK?

-Yep.

And we mix all that together.

Just one hand, one hand. That's it.

You see, it's starting to come together now, a bit more. That's it.

-Make sure it's all mixed in.

-Yeah.

Now, you take a little knife...

-..like that. So, the key to this is, cook it like pasta.

-For sure.

Boiling salted water. And make sure that is boiling first.

It'll sink to the bottom and then it'll rise to the top

and the minute it rises to the top, take it out, into cold water,

and then what you do is, very quickly pan-fry it -

-but no more than 30 seconds in the water.

-OK.

See, and you've now made gnocchi, for the first time in your life.

Well, I say, "you..."

-No, yeah.

-..mainly me.

-SHE LAUGHS

Yeah.

Elaine's definitely chosen the simple option

with the gnocchi and that's really the key to this dish.

Simple flavours, classic Italian favours,

all brought together in one plate.

Finally, Dan got the posh box.

Inside, it's got fresh halibut,

samphire, cockles, capers, chorizo,

wild rice, hot pepper sauce,

spinach and fresh Parmesan cheese.

So, what makes this posh, James?

The key to this, really, and where I spent all the money -

the entire budget in all three boxes - was on that halibut.

Because halibut really is the king of all flatfish. That and turbot.

What are we going to do, Daniel?

I'm doing a samphire and cockle risotto,

with a pan-seared fish filet,

with chorizo on the side

and I'll run that through with some lemon juice,

to pull it all together, hopefully,

and some butter, some cream and some Parmesan.

-What's in there?

-Mainly vegetable stock...

-OK.

-..and some white wine, some garlic and some mushrooms.

-Oh, wow.

Some garlic and onion, sorry, softened down.

And there's a little bit of butter,

but there will be some cream and Parmesan going on at the end.

-He's cooking for me, Esther.

-SHE LAUGHS

What can I say?

Halibut is such a wonderful fish.

Nowadays, it's farmed around the UK, particularly in Scotland.

And because it's farmed, the price has come down,

but you've got to keep the flavours really simple around it.

That's why I've chosen the cockles and the samphire and the chorizo.

Because you get this amazing oil with it

and, then, just a classically pan-fried bit of halibut on the top.

Our cooks still have half an hour to go

and Elaine is blanching her gnocchi...

..but I think she's frying it way too soon.

-How long have we got left?

-Um... half an hour, isn't it?

-Yeah, does it take half an hour to cook gnocchi?

-No, probably not.

SHE CHORTLES

Thank you.

What else are we doing?

Well, I want to just make a simple Italian basil and garlic,

and tomatoes, with broken sausages -

just very nice, kind of, true to the flavours and...

-That sounds good.

-It sounds delicious.

OK, 12 minutes left, guys.

12 minutes.

Out of all of them, I think, certainly,

Daniel's got the best one, with the posh box,

because halibut is really the king of all flatfish to me.

I thought the pasta one looked gorgeous,

with the tomatoes and cheese and everything, but,

unlike Elaine, I wouldn't know the first thing

about making pasta, at all.

I thought pasta comes in packets.

It, kind of, comes in packets,

but you've got to make it before it goes in the packets.

Yeah, well, I understand. Not me, but I know what you mean.

OK, that's your lot. Stop cooking.

Well done.

'Daniel had to come up with a dish from the posh box.'

What did you do?

I made a risotto, with cockles and samphire,

and I've pan-seared the halibut

with some spinach, just wilted down in some butter and lemon -

and then, just the chorizo on the side,

-which is just dry seared in a pan.

-Sounds pretty good!

Well, let's dive in. Tell me what you think of it, Esther.

Mm! That is good!

That is very nice.

-What do you think?

-It's a cracking dish, that.

-Excellent, thank you.

-Well done.

And I'll tell you why.

First of all, the fish is perfectly cooked.

And the risotto's gorgeous.

The risotto is really nice. You haven't added too much seasoning

in that, because you've got the samphire, which is really good.

You've wilted down the spinach.

The chorizo, kind of, works with it, on the side.

Probably could have done with going into the risotto a bit, maybe.

You've got a nice flavour in that,

but certainly, with the cockles, you got the seasoning

absolutely bang on. I like it.

-Well done.

-Fantastic, thank you. Thank you.

Elaine had to create a dish from the pasta box.

-What have you made?

-We have gnocchi and tomato basil.

I used the sausage for pork meatballs,

a bit of pine nuts

and topped it off with Parmesan cheese.

The key to this, like all Italian food,

is to keep the flavours nice and simple.

-It's all about the taste.

-I hope you like it.

Mm.

-Mmm.

-Thank you.

Mm. That's good.

It's good, cos it's a lovely savoury taste in the tomato and everything.

It's not too greasy. It's just... I think it's delicious.

I think you've done the right thing.

You've taken the sausages out of the skins,

cos otherwise they can toughen up.

That's the first thing.

Now, you know how to make gnocchi and how easy it is,

that's another one. You've pan-fried it, which is the right way to do it.

You get a nice colour on there.

The pine nuts were great.

The key to this dish is all about the sauce, though,

and you did that fantastically well.

Tomato-based sauce - simplistic.

Garlic, tomato, basil, olive oil.

Nothing else, but you've pulled it off, cos that tastes fantastic.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

-Thank you very much.

-It's delicious.

-Thank you.

And, finally, it's Louise. She chose the pudding box.

So, what have you done?

Coconut pastry, white chocolate ganache with lovely fresh mango,

passion fruit and lime. And I did check the chillies.

They're not too hot at all,

so I just used them as a slight garnish and colour.

-Looks pretty good to me.

-Looks gorgeous.

Mmm.

That's very interesting, isn't it, with the coconut?

Well, I'm enjoying it. I'm going to have a bit more.

Now, I like the idea, with the mango and passion fruit with the lime.

The little sauce there with the chilli, that's a great idea -

but to me, the tart could have done...

Not any longer cooking time,

it's just that the base needs a little bit longer.

But I think, as a dish, that's a great effort, so well done.

Well, Esther, I thought the standard today was fantastic,

-don't you think?

-Ooh, brilliant. I don't know how they did it.

Inventing from scratch in that time,

I don't know how they did it.

Do you fancy having a go?

Certainly not. HE CHUCKLES

'I now need to make a decision based on these three dishes.'

The cook of the day, for me...

..is Daniel.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

Great combination of flavours and the samphire in there

really did work, so congratulations and well done.

-There you go.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

So, what's this going to be full of - pet food? -

when it gets back home?

With four children and three dogs, probably bric-a-brac.

-Bric-a-brac or sweets.

-Yeah.

-More than likely sweets.

-Exactly.

Well, Elaine, Louise, come on over.

Well, thank you very much for Daniel.

-Thank you very much for DAME Esther Rantzen.

-Thank you.

Thank you, James, and well done, all of you. Brilliant.

Thank you for watching.

Join is again next time, where we'll meet three more great home cooks,

but also some more boxes of unusual ingredients.

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

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