Episode 20 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.

DJ Donny's cooking is usually a hit with his mates.

People seem to like coming for dinner at my house.

It's a passion, it's a hobby that I have,

so hopefully there's no pressure on me now.

Manon is from a real foodie family.

In France, my mum was always cooking.

And so, obviously, I love good food

so I think a good way to have good food is just to cook it.

And secondary school lunchtime supervisor Lisa

likes to get competitive in the kitchen.

A few friends around, everyone cooks a dish.

£20 in the kitty each and whoever wins, wins the money.

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

put together by today's guest.

Top chef and bestselling cookery author - Valentine Warner.

-Valentine, welcome to The Box.

-Thank you.

-Now, is this a particular dish that you've got in mind?

-There's no dish.

I hope I've given them an option. There's a lot of crossover in there.

-Right.

-I didn't want to bring in a bucket of tripe today,

-I thought, "That's not fair."

-OK.

-So, it's all pretty user-friendly.

User-friendly, mainly for me, thank you very much.

Well, there's certainly crossover. Biscuits, a bit of rhubarb...

-What's that - rose veal?

-Yep.

-Nice.

Well, as a farmer's kid I'm a massive supporter of rose veal.

It's, kind of, a by-product from the milking process and

it used to have a bad rep over the years -

but now it's bred outdoors, those days have gone.

The bad old days can be put aside - we've got a really good product

and it should be eaten.

And sizzling away over charcoal on a summer's evening - mmm.

Well, we've got three home cooks waiting to see what ingredients

-you've brought in your box, so...

-Let them get on with it.

-See you in a bit.

-See you in a minute.

OK, guys. Welcome to The Box.

As you know, our guest that you'll be cooking for

has picked an amazing selection of ingredients

in the box in front of you.

We need one dish in 50 minutes.

Good luck. Open your box.

In my box today, I've got a British rose veal chop,

broad beans, baby turnips,

sourdough, lovage...

Big family thing,

my mum used to make a lot of chilled soups for the summertime.

One of them was a chilled lovage soup.

It's got a really beautiful liquoricey twang.

It's very, very strong. It's love it or hate it -

..and anchovies, capers, hazelnuts.

Swedish ginger biscuits

and rhubarb is a go-to for me.

It's a great start to the morning.

It's techno-pink. It's really, really good in a rhubarb and custard tart.

It's very good cooked savoury with no sugar in it at all

and maybe with a bit of lamb.

It's an incredibly versatile vegetable.

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

and they have a store cupboard filled with the basics.

She's gone for the Dijon mustard,

one of my favourite ingredients in the world.

I really like this box of ingredients -

particularly the British rose veal.

It's outdoor-reared, it's grass-fed, it's a fantastic flavour.

And above all else, it's treated humanely.

You've got the beans, the capers, the anchovies

to make an amazing sauce with that as well -

something like a salsa verde where you've got those wonderful herbs.

I think we're going to get three very different things here.

-Lisa, how are we getting on?

-Fine, I think. I'm doing a risotto...

Whoa. Straight in risotto? Look at that! OK.

..with veal chop I think.

It's British rose veal, it's fabulous.

-Treat it like a pork chop, really.

-I've never had it before, so...

It looked like a pork chop, so I'm going to treat it like a pork chop.

I love the fact that she didn't go off on a safe route.

"I haven't tried veal - I'm going to cook the veal." Great.

Now, the risotto... How many are we cooking for?

There's only one, you've got about 21 portions in there.

THEY LAUGH

So, tell me about you. You always wanted to be a chef, didn't you?

But your mum talked you out of it.

Yeah. She said, "You're going to cook every day.

"Why do you want to go to college to learn how to cook?"

Well, you taught yourself but what did you end up doing,

-if it wasn't cooking, at college?

-I'm a lunchtime supervisor now.

Lunchtime supervisor? Fantastic. Using amazing food for the kids.

You've got a couple of little ones, is that right?

-A nine-year-old and a 17-year-old.

-Not-so-little one.

-No.

-That's a portion for him, isn't it?

-Yes, it is.

-Well, good luck.

-SHE LAUGHS

Lisa's doing, like, a little Caribbean influence.

She's got the honey, the mustard,

a little bit of spice in there as well - which she's marinating.

So, when it's char-grilled, she should get

a wonderful caramelisation and sweetness with it as well.

It's quite unusual that that she's doing a risotto to go with it.

Will it work? We'll wait and see.

It's not just Lisa who's keen to cook with the rose veal chop.

Donny is, too, and his accompaniments are making an impression.

He's putting the rhubarb and the beans together - great.

-Donny, you look like a man on a mission here.

-Well...

Everything's prepared, look at this.

..what I'm going to do, is get some garlic and oil

on the go with a little bit of anchovy,

a little bit of the capers,

a little bit of the herbs

-and make a sauce...

-Nice.

..for this - with a little bit of butter in at the end

-and a little bit of cream.

-Nice.

Anchovy sauce with a veal chop is a very good thing.

I've also got, like, a rhubarb chilli jam on the side.

-Fantastic!

-So, yeah, I hope so. I hope it turns out.

I'd either have the chilli jam he's going to make with the chop

or I'd have the cream sauce -

but I probably, in fact I know I wouldn't, cross the two.

So, what did you do for a living, then?

I started off as a DJ and I've got a disco company -

weddings our speciality.

It's the Donny Hughes Road Show, which is very...

-The Donny Hughes Road Show?

-Yeah.

It took a bit of time and effort to get the name right

-but I think we're there with it just now.

-You're there with it?

So, what's happening with the biscuits?

-The biscuits are just for your supper later on.

-Can I have one?

Yeah, help yourself.

Donny's doing a variant on a classic Italian dish -

that's salsa verde really, but he's making a sauce.

Now, the use of rhubarb is nothing new in savoury dishes -

particularly in a jam or a chutney like this.

It goes particularly well with fatty meats like pork,

but it'll work fantastically well with this veal.

'There's two veal dishes on the go

'but Manon has decided to come up with a dessert.'

The colour of her cheeks, her T-shirt and her apron -

she's a stick of rhubarb.

-How are you?

-I'm OK.

-Yeah?

-Now, you're originally from France.

-Yep.

-Whereabouts in France?

-Brittany.

-All right...

-So, it's not far.

-..so the North?

-Yeah.

-Not very far away.

No, not very far away.

C'est quoi, la?

So, this is just like rhubarb with...

I thought you were going to speak to me in French, then.

Donc, c'est de la rhubarbe avec un peu de miel.

-Oui?

-Et donc je vais fair une confiture.

-Oui.

Un peu comme une marmalade.

We'll just keep talking in French, shall we?

-So, you're making that confiture - you're making a rhubarb jam.

-Yeah.

-You got a bit of sugar in?

-I put some sugar, yeah.

The thing with rhubarb is you've got to taste it.

Don't have too much sugar

cos you need a little bit of sharpness in there as well.

Then I'm going to do a little tartaleta with the rhubarb as well.

-OK.

-And then here, I'm going to do, like, a cream with some lemon zest.

I think that's a very good idea.

So, what's in the pastry then? Cos you've got hazelnuts...

So, I have hazelnuts, all the biscuits

and some batter and some flour -

and I just mixed it all together.

OK, well, that's very nice, rather than three meaties.

We've got a pudding.

Now, Manon's making a sweet option.

She's used some biscuits to make some pastry

together with the hazelnuts, baked a little tartaleta case blind.

She's filling it with the rhubarb

and then top that with a nice little custard.

It's hot.

'We're well over halfway through the cooking time

'and Donny and Lisa have decided to griddle those rose veal chops.'

A chop like this should take about 3-4 minutes on each side

as long as the char-grill is really hot.

The pan doesn't look hot at all.

There's no smoke coming out.

It's just sitting on a cold pan heating up.

Take it off...off. Take it off.

Look, a nice crispy bit of fat.

Good work, Lisa.

That's a star move for me so far.

-Things are looking pretty pretty over here.

-Yeah.

-We've still got lunch over here though.

-I know.

-Your mother's not going to be happy when she watches this.

-No, I know.

I'm looking forward to eating all of their food.

Chill out on the cream, Donny.

No.

-You OK, Lisa? How are you doing?

-All right.

I'm coming round your house if that's a portion...

-SHE LAUGHS

-..I tell you.

OK, 30 seconds.

Manon - I think we might get something good out of her.

Has that rested?

OK, that's your lot.

Stop cooking.

OK, well, well done, guys. Now, you're probably intrigued to know

the person who put that amazing box of ingredients together.

He's a cookery author, he's a chef -

so you've got your work cut out today.

It's Mr Valentine Warner.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-Hi.

Valentine, good to see you again.

-Good to be back.

-How was that - watching it behind the scenes?

I felt incredibly positive about the whole thing actually.

Lots of passion about what you were doing, very visible on screen.

And, the glorious moment for me

was when you had your chop sitting on the skin-side

trying to get it crispy before it lay on its side and I yelped.

-Yelped at the TV?

-Yeah.

-So, what did you do, Lisa?

I did a pan-fried chop with broad bean risotto

and a lovage and caper sauce.

-Sounds good - and are you pleased with it?

-Yeah.

OK. It looks good to me.

It's rested as well.

-Bang on.

-Thank you.

-I'm pretty impressed.

-Thank you.

The veal chop is perfectly cooked.

Your sauce around the edge has got some really nice sharpness in it -

which it needed.

The whole thing is just really enjoyable.

-Good work.

-Thank you.

You may have never cooked with British rose veal before -

that is as good as you'll get in any restaurant, trust me.

-Oh.

-Fantastic. Perfectly cooked, lovely and moist,

great to get the skin nice and crispy.

-It's a common mistake that you don't.

-It's really good.

-Thank you.

-It really is good. Well done.

-Cheers.

Fantastic job.

Donny the DJ, meet Valentine.

-Hello, Valentine. Nice to see you.

-Hello.

Right, so what have you done?

So, it's a pan-fried veal chop with baby turnips

cooked off with the broad beans and a chilli rhubarb jam.

There's great texture with that jam, anyway.

Good veal chop.

I would say a little bit creamy and it's slightly lost its definition.

-OK.

-In its own right, I like your rhubarb -

I think it's a very interesting and different thing to do.

That could be bottled, jarred, sold...

-Forget the DJ-ing, that should be on a shelf...

-That's it, yeah.

-..cos that is fantastic!

-That's good to hear.

-It is brilliant.

Great with cheese, that is a fantastic part of the dish.

The veal - it's so difficult,

if you'd never cooked it before, to get right.

You've got it absolutely perfect. That is perfectly cooked.

Right throughout the centre as well and it's so difficult

to get it cooked, especially around the bone area as well.

It's not an easy thing to get right so brilliant job.

-Great effort.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very, very much.

Manon, meet Valentine.

-Hello, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you too.

What did you make?

So, I make a rhubarb tart with a biscuit shortcrust,

then a little marmalade with a bit of lemon zest

and an infused ginger creme anglaise.

The real thing that's come out of this for me is marmalade and rhubarb,

I'm really enjoying that a lot.

Nice creme anglaise and, all in all, very, very good.

-Thank you.

-And that pastry is absolutely knockout.

-And you made that using the biscuits, the hazelnuts.

-Mm-hmm.

Now, the key to that is plenty of butter.

You made it lovely and short.

The best pastry is the hardest to work with, as you know.

The more flour you add, the easier it is to work with,

-but it's not good.

-I'd quite like the recipe for that pastry.

-That is very, very good so well done.

-Thank you.

You've got a really difficult decision today.

You've got to choose what is your favourite dish

out of the three that you've tasted.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Well, I don't know about you but I'm impressed with that.

I'm super-impressed.

Overall, an incredibly high standard.

Seriously, I'm really, really impressed. Well done.

Right, Lisa - what do you reckon?

You were thinking on your feet, obviously.

I got the impression that your family cooks a lot -

there's a kind of absolute confidence in there.

Donny, lots of love going on in here,

loved the fact that he took the rhubarb out

and decided to cook it, and it works.

Manon, that was bonkers, that tart.

It was just really, really good.

-Thank you.

-Well, it's not up to me.

The decision is in your hands, which dish you liked the most -

and good luck with this one, because this is tough, today.

It's impossible.

This really is the hardest competition I've judged ever.

I have chosen Lisa.

Lisa, well done.

You stopped, you thought.

The sauce that went with your veal, I think,

was actually as good as the veal.

Lisa, you nailed it.

OK, guys. Round two.

This time, three more boxes of ingredients.

We've got fish...

..global...

..and then we've got a basic box.

Now, Lisa,

because Valentine chose your dish,

you get to decide what everybody else is going to be cooking.

Which one of these three boxes would you like Donny to cook with?

-Global.

-Global box.

You don't know where it is in the world. What country it is.

-Good luck with this one.

-Thank you.

That leaves Manon. What box would you like her to cook with?

-Basic.

-The basic box. Are you happy with that?

-Yeah, very happy, yeah.

-OK.

That leaves Lisa the fish box.

-Confident?

-Yeah.

Well, you've got 50 minutes to impress ME this time.

Collect your boxes and good luck.

Now, these three cooks get a second chance

to prove they can think on their feet.

Lisa chose to cook from the fish box.

I've put in some smoked haddock, quail's eggs,

spinach and cherry tomatoes.

There's also some rice, yogurt,

curry powder and bay leaves.

Now, for me, there's only two real stand-out dishes in this box.

It's either kedgeree or curry -

there's very little else you can do with this.

Particularly with that smoked haddock

and those quails eggs and the rice.

That's really the shining flavours in that.

-Lisa.

-Hi.

-How are you getting on?

I saw you munching away on a quail's eggs.

Yes, cos I've never had them before,

so I wanted to try them and see how long they take to cook

cos I've never cooked them before.

There's quite a basic rule on them providing the pan's not too big -

but if you put six in a pan that big,

cover them in cold water, bring them up to the boil.

30 seconds - straight out and then cool them down immediately

-and they'll be runny in the middle.

-Excellent.

If you want them to be hard in the middle,

-cook them for a minute once they come to the boil.

-OK, cool.

So, what are you going to do? Cos you picked the fish box.

You've got rice in here, we've got smoked haddock...

I'm going to keep it really simple. I'm going to roast my tomatoes,

I'm going to cook this spinach with some onion

and I'm going to poach my haddock.

-OK. We're not going to have it with the rice then?

-I doubt it, no.

And what about the curry powder? Is that going to go in there?

-I thought that was like a kedgegree box looking stuff.

-It's a what?

-Kede...

-Kedgeree?

-Kedgeree.

-That's the one.

-"That's the one."

-"The kedgeree thing?"

I thought that was a new dish you were going to spring on me there.

THEY LAUGH

-Lisa, are you happy with your box?

-Yeah.

-You are?

-Yeah.

The thing is, about giving the French lady, Manon a basic box -

that's what they do in France.

They pride themselves on making something out of nothing.

-Well, now the competition starts again, doesn't it?

-Exactly.

-Now, do you cook fish a lot and that's why you chose it?

-Yeah, I do.

Well, how are the quail's eggs incorporating into the dish, then?

I'm just going to boil them and slice them and put them on the side.

Sounds pretty good to me.

Well, now you know how to cook them, we'll leave you alone.

(Curry powder can be good with the tomatoes.)

-Thanks.

-Did you hear that?

-Yeah.

Now, Lisa actually chose the fish box and I think

she was a little bit surprised when she lifted the lid off.

She wasn't expecting a bit of smoked fish, but...

We'll wait and see.

'Lisa gave Donny the global box.

'Which today has a North American theme.

'There's waffles, maple syrup, popcorn and peanut butter.'

'Along with Monterey Jack cheese,

'chicken wings, bacon, tomatoes,

'iceberg lettuce and corn on the cob.'

-When I saw those little chicken wings sitting there...

-The global box?

..yeah, that sticky, crispy chicken wings

and something corny - I like that kind of good food.

Donny, somebody's shining down on you, aren't they?

Well, I have to say that I'm not disappointed

with the global box, which is...

So, what are you going to make then?

..quite nice. I'm actually going away from America -

I'm going to do the chicken wings.

And I've just got some star anise,

some coriander, a little bit of caraway

and a little maple syrup as well -

and then I'm going to make a satay sauce

with a little bit of soy sauce and we'll see how it goes.

You've really gone on an adventure.

And I've still got this, the sweetcorn,

so I might do a lollipop thing with the sweetcorn.

A lollipop thing with the sweetcorn?

-Well, in Mexico they roll the corn in mayonnaise...

-Yes.

-..then they roll it in grated cheese...

-Perfect.

..then put chipotle and lime juice on it.

Perfect. That's the kind of vibe I'm going to go with.

And you're not using my waffles - my lovely waffles?

I'm not using your waffles, no.

THEY LAUGH

I don't believe it.

Donny's doing nothing American in this.

We've got a satay sauce,

we've got chicken wings coated in a bit of maple syrup

and some Asian, sort of, spices - and then these sweetcorn lollipops.

I've no idea what they are but...

..I'm kind of intrigued to see what they're going to come out like.

'Finally, it's Manon's basic box.

'There's gammon steak, potato,

'Cheddar cheese, tomatoes,

'frozen peas and some pineapple rings.

'Together, all these ingredients should cost under £6.'

To me, the basic box, really... You know - gammon, egg, pineapple.

-Gammon and pineapple...

-Come on!

..chips and the really crispy, runny egg, I mean...

-Manon...

-Hi, again.

-..you got the basic box.

-Yep.

What are you going to make?

So, I made some fries, oven fries,

with a bit of paprika on top.

And then I'm going to grill the pineapple

-and I'm going to grill, also, the gammon.

-And that's the little sauce

-that's going to go with it?

-Yes. I'm going to see what it tastes like,

if it doesn't taste good then I'm not going to put it on.

So, where did you learn to cook, then - was that from your mother?

Yes, definitely from my mum.

At home, we always have people around for dinner.

I have quite a big family as well.

-All right. Are you going to use the mustard at any point?

-I'm not sure.

-We could make some mayonnaise.

-Make some mayonnaise, yeah.

OK, yeah, to go with the chips. Yeah, I know how to do mayonnaise.

Do you want me to help with anything?

Not that...I'm saying anything. He can help you.

-So, it's just cheese?

-And you've got cheese as well!

-Yeah.

The key to getting Manon's dish right, although it's simple -

it's basically just gammon, pineapple and egg,

is to make sure the components are cooked properly.

One thing you don't want to be doing is drying out that gammon.

It must be done quite quickly.

Particularly if you're going to pan-fry it.

The key to a good mayonnaise - a good whack of Dijon at the bottom

and white wine vinegar or lemon juice, salt, it's got to be tasty.

Preferably I like to start with some flour oil and finish with olive oil.

If you make it all with olive oil, it can be very heavy and very bitter.

So, I tend to use olive oil as the flavour at the end

-rather than all the way through.

-OK.

How are we doing, Lisa?

I've decided to do some rice.

You've decided to do some rice?

-It's kind of kedgeree, sort of, style.

-Yeah, kind of, but separate.

The key to that is, you want to make

-sure you've got a little bit of curry powder in.

-I have.

-A little bit more.

-More?

You finish it with a touch of cream and some butter

-but cook the rice a little bit longer first.

-OK.

Well, Lisa's looking under control.

-She changed tack slightly with the rice.

-Yep.

I hope she's not making it too complicated

by changing it at the last minute, but it's all looking good.

Now, what about Donny?

I think Donny is in heaven over there - he's ambitious.

What I love about Donny is, he tries to cook as many different things

as he possibly can in the time given.

One minute to go.

OK, that's it, guys.

Stop cooking.

Well done.

'We're starting with Lisa's dish from the fish box.'

Lisa, what did you do?

I did a poached piece of haddock, some curried rice,

pan-fried spinach and roasted cherry tomatoes.

-And we've got PART of a quail's egg.

-Part of a quail's egg.

-Great.

It's tasty.

It's simple.

You know, I really like those punchy greens -

and I like the way you've treated your haddock,

so good, hearty, simple.

Hearty and simple, it is. For me, the haddock is a little bit too dry.

It's a really common mistake, but you've got to poach it,

keep it in the poaching liquid, lift it out and serve it straight away.

The greens are lovely. You've got that nice spicy kick,

you've used chilli flakes in there as well which is really quite good.

I love the roasted tomatoes. I think everything tastes lovely

when you've got a bit of everything together.

It would be nice just to have it all

combined together if that makes sense - but a great effort.

-And continue practising with your quail's eggs.

-I will.

-Well done.

-Thanks.

'Donny had to come up with something from the global box.'

-Donny, you got the American-style box, What did you do with it?

-Yep.

Spicy chicken wings with satay sauce

and we did some sweetcorn wrapped in bacon and some cheese on the top.

-It's fun.

-Yep.

And it's effective and fun and if I was in America and on the road

and stopped for a quick thing - great.

I really wanted to eat more.

-I love the sweetcorn.

-Thank you.

Donny, I think it's great. I'm going to do this at home actually.

It's a really good idea with the sweetcorn. Great effort.

-Thank you.

-Thanks.

'Finally, Manon had to cook with the basic box.'

Manon. Great to see you, are you happy with this?

-Yeah, pretty happy, I think.

-What did you do?

So, I made a gammon steak char-grilled

with some roasted pineapple

with some chips with paprika and mayonnaise.

Your gammon's juicy -

which, considering you haven't cooked it before, it's really juicy.

Nice chips...

..and a soft egg. I mean...

It is gammon, egg and pineapple, isn't it?

Which is exactly what I wanted when I put this box together.

You did the right thing with the pineapple -

you left it on the char-grill.

A lovely caramelisation with it,

but it also softens the pineapple as well. It's beautiful.

I think, with the fried egg,

it definitely was the right choice, right at the last minute.

-In the pan, runny yolk, I think that's a great dish.

-Fine stuff.

-But it's not up to you to decide...

-I know.

..today's cook of the day, it's my choice -

and this is going to be a tricky one.

-I think I need time to think.

-Thank you.

Valentine, I'm sure you'll agree, the standard of the food has been fantastic.

Really high standard. It's been a joyous experience -

-the whole thing.

-It really has.

So, today's cook of the day...

..I think is well deserved.

It was a tough decision for me, really...

..but it's Manon.

Thank you.

-Well done.

-Thank you very much.

-How do you feel?

-Yeah, good.

I never thought I would win it. I was really worried.

The chips were wonderful. But the key to it, really,

is cooking that gammon nicely.

Allowing it not to dry out in a pan.

-I really enjoyed that.

-Yeah, I'm really happy.

You've never cooked gammon before,

-are you going to cook it again, I suppose?

-Yeah, definitely.

Maybe do the same dish because it's really nice and tasty.

There you go, congratulations.

-You can take a picture and show your mum that.

-Thank you.

-Yeah, definitely.

-There you go. That was a great effort.

They were proper oven chips.

For oven chips, they were really good, too,

I always like some kind of a fire but those were really good.

Yeah, and I think I have to say,

if you've got chefs coming round for tea,

then steak and chips or gammon and chips with pineapple -

-that's the way forward.

-It was just brilliant execution.

-Donny, Lisa, come on over.

-Thank you.

-So close with that chicken, so close.

-Well done.

You're an absolute star, you should have given her the fish box.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

Well, thank you very much for joining us, Valentine.

-Great effort done by all.

-Well done, all. Really good.

And I'll see you again soon where we'll meet three more fantastic,

enthusiastic and very talented home cooks,

some more big names with a passion for food,

and some more boxes of great ingredients.

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