Episode 25 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.

Sam, a supply chain worker from London,

loves showing off his skills in the kitchen.

One of my favourites things to make is pasta.

Making it from scratch is like being a child again

and getting to play with Play Doh.

Beyron, a student from Bristol,

likes minimal fuss when he's cooking.

Yeah, one of my main goals

when I cook is just to use as few pots and pans as possible,

because then I don't have to do any of the washing up.

And Helen, a blogger from Sidcup,

likes the sweeter things in life.

I do love desserts.

If I go out for something to eat,

I feel like I haven't really gone out to eat unless I have a dessert.

I've got to have something sweet or I may as well have stayed at home.

Their first test will be to cook for today's guest...

former Strictly Come Dancing pro

Vincent Simone.

-Vincent...

-Hello, sir.

-..welcome to The Box.

-Thank you very much.

-Very elaborate entrance there as well.

Well, I could have done better but, you know, I'm in disguise.

Anyway, so inside this box, can we have a look?

Let's have a look, yes.

Argentine tango is my speciality,

so I brought a nice Argentine steak

cos I love beef.

-I see you've got coffee in here?

-Yes,

I love everything about coffee.

It's a bit like me.

I love everything about me, I love everything about coffee.

So, every morning, the day doesn't start

if I don't have a little espresso.

What are these fellas then?

These are the amaretti biscuits from Italia.

Hopefully, a little dessert with amaretti and coffee together -

that would be brilliant.

That's exactly what you want? OK.

Hopefully I can guarantee you three nice plates of food in 50 minutes.

-Oh, brilliant.

-So, we'll see you in a bit.

-Thank you ever so much.

-All right.

Now, I have got a great selection of ingredients in here,

albeit just a small selection.

But, as for a dessert?

That's going to be a bit tricky.

Well, ladies and gents, welcome to The Box.

Now, you're all here cos apparently

you're all amazingly creative in the kitchen.

In front of you, you've got a box of ingredients

that's been hand-selected by our special guest.

Now, you've really got to impress him in this round

by creating one dish in 50 minutes.

It could be sweet, it could be savoury.

You've got a big larder behind you.

You might need it.

Open your box, let's get cooking. Good luck.

Today, in my box, I've got chorizo sausage,

spinach,

cinnamon,

coffee

and amaretti biscuits.

Orecchiette pasta is a typical pasta from my region,

which is Puglia.

It's down at the bottom on the hill,

which I call The Stiletto, because it sounds sexy.

Well, my steak has to be medium rare -

a bit like me,

hard on the outside but soft on the inside.

Well, artichoke, I remember my mamma used to make

the most beautiful result with artichokes.

Basil...

and cayenne pepper.

It's very good to have a bit of spice in your dish

because you spice up your life.

Now, our guest's selection of ingredients really are fantastic.

You've got a few curveballs,

like the chorizo and the beef.

I wouldn't necessarily put those two together, really.

Now, the artichokes, you can go two ways - you can either cook them -

alternatively, they're great raw in a salad.

And if you did a wonderful salad with that and the basil

and made a nice little dressing with the steak,

it could be delicious as a simple carpaccio.

So, where does the love of food come from, for you, then?

-I used to love baking when I was little, with my gran...

-Yep.

..making jammy buns and things like that.

I think Helen is going to do something sweet for me.

So, you're going to do a pudding, by the looks of things?

I'm doing a pudding. Still not entirely sure what it is

but we've started off with an amaretto biscuit base.

Please, please, use the coffee.

What is it - like a cheesecakey sort of thing, or not?

We've got cream, we've got coffee,

-so I'm going to do something to combine the two.

-OK.

Hopefully it'll chill enough to hold some sort of shape in there.

It's quite difficult to get the measurements right.

You know, enough sugar, enough cream,

so everything combines

together beautifully.

Now, somebody tells me that you're into tenpin bowling. Is that right?

I am, yes.

I represented Northern Ireland in the World Cup in 2007.

So what's the technique?

Knock over as many pins as possible.

Well, I guessed that's the idea.

Imagine there's ten pins over there in that box.

I saw you did that leg movement. You were like that...

-Kind of.

-A little slow-mo.

-Yeah.

-Shall I have a go?

-Ow!

-Oh.

Helen's doing a dessert.

She's using those amaretti biscuits, mixed together with butter,

to create a base for her cheesecake.

Now, she's got to be really careful how she combines the cream and

the coffee together to add enough sweetness.

But you've got to have a little bit of acidity there.

Where she gets that from, I don't know yet.

Beyrom has chosen to cook with the fillet steak,

but he's having a problem with one of the other ingredients.

-Have I messed this up?

-Um...

Technically, yeah.

Most of the flavour's on the board.

However, if you speak to Helen nicely...

Will she give me a new one?

Just look stupid.

Yeah, go for it.

Now, what you do with the baby ones is peel them like this.

You basically just take this off.

So you remove the top part of the leaves - the outer part,

then you've got the lovely choke in the middle,

but with the baby artichokes like these, you can eat the entire lot.

Beautiful.

Beautiful artichoke.

-So, what's the plan, then? The pasta's going to cook...

-Yep.

..this is the sauce which is...

What have you got in this pan here?

So, onions, chorizo,

-a bit of sugar and red wine.

-OK.

I think, if I can mask everything else with a really powerful sauce...

-Right.

-..then it doesn't matter what the rest of it tastes like.

-JAMES SCOFFS

-I'm not sure about the coffee.

I thought I'd try and be controversial

and bang that in somewhere.

Is he going to put the coffee...

in the dish? No!

I'm going to walk away soon.

-You're going to put the coffee in here?

-Well..

I mean, I was going to put everything in.

Open the door. I'll walk.

I might stay.

Sam is also going to use the beef,

pairing it with artichokes and spinach.

Right, Sam, what are you creating, then?

I'm going to cook the fillet of beef - just sear it

and serve it pretty rare, but then with a, kind of,

spicy chorizo sauce.

This is Argentinian fillet.

-It looks fantastic and...

-This is absolutely delicious.

It's highly prized,

so you've just got to be careful when you pan-fry it as well.

Keep it nice and rare in the middle.

So, you're a big fan of dinner parties as well, is that right?

Yeah, really like them.

I started having a few and, yeah, it's a lot of fun.

Right, so who's the best cook in the household, then?

Cos the key is not to make it too good,

-otherwise you'll just keep doing it all the time, isn't it?

-Yeah...

That's kind of how it's happened now.

THEY LAUGH

We've got two people using the beef.

The main thing is, because it's got enough fat in there, it's very lean.

Certainly don't overcook it,

otherwise you're wasting the flavour.

That, pan-fried with those artichokes,

could be a great combination.

OK. Ten minutes left, guys.

Ten minutes.

With time running out, Helen's decided to add

a salted caramel sauce to go with her tiramisu cheesecake.

But Beyron has thrown out his sauce

and he's going back to basics.

Erm, just ditched everything.

You've ditched everything?!

Yeah, but beef, pasta,

warm artichokey salad, spinach.

A bit of basil? Could do a little pesto as well.

-HE GROANS

-Could've.

What do you mean, you could've? You still could do it, you know.

Little bit of basil...

olive oil...

He's not paying any attention.

Look at that. Pesto!

Five minutes to go and I'm concerned about Sam's beef.

-Is this it? That's all you're cooking it?

-Yep.

It's too rare, isn't it?

Ooh, gosh.

Am I supposed to eat that?

That's still got feelings, has that piece of beef.

-I do like it particularly blue but I'm guessing...

-Blue?!

..as I'm cooking it for someone else...

..you've just taken the hooves off.

One minute left, guys. One minute.

-Have you just put lemon in that?

-And a pit.

OK, that's it, stop cooking.

Well done.

OK, guys. Great effort.

50 minutes, we've got three plates of food.

But you're probably wondering who went shopping

for that selection of ingredients.

Now, there was influences throughout that box

from all different corners of the globe.

There was a bit of Argentinian beef

but, more importantly,

a little bit of Italian.

This man is more known for his

prowess on the dance floor

than he is in the kitchen.

If you watch Strictly,

this is one of the best Latin dancers in the business.

It's Vincent Simone.

Hello.

-Vincent, welcome back.

-Hello.

-Hello, bella. How are you doing?

-Hi.

So, how was that for you - watching it all...?

Oh, fascinating, just to see what

-you would come up with, and...

-Helen, what did you come up with?

You decided to go down the dessert route.

Yeah, so it's, kind of, a tiramisu

with a salt caramel sauce.

This is exciting.

It's nerve-racking.

Mmm, bella.

It's lovely!

I love the cream.

-I can't actually taste the coffee.

-OK, maybe more coffee.

Bit more coffee next time.

I love the biscuits, obviously.

They're my favourite.

And the caramel sauce - it's amazing.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Congratulazioni.

-Thanks.

My turn.

The cream, it's basically just whipped cream -

that's all I can taste.

I can't really taste coffee.

It does need plenty, plenty more.

The salted caramel, though, is really nice.

It goes brilliantly with the biscuits.

-Good effort, well done.

-Thank you.

-Thank you, bella. Thank you for that.

-Sam, meet Vincent.

-Hello, Sam.

-Lovely to meet you.

Right, what did you make?

So, we've got a fillet of beef

with spicy chorizo sauce,

served with some artichokes and spinach.

I love beef.

JAMES EXHALES

Spicy.

Whoa.

We need some water.

I think milk might help.

The steak looks a bit undone,

but I don't mind it.

-It's actually quite nice, quite soft.

-Yep.

-The sauce is very spicy.

-Yep.

I don't mind a bit of spice every now and then but...

But, goodness, that's...

-That kills everything in you.

-Yep.

I mean, there are good points and bad points, I'll be honest with you.

The artichokes needed about another couple more minutes -

they're not quite cooked.

The beef is perfect.

When it wandered back into that pan the second time...

-It's absolutely perfect.

-Yep.

The thing that just overpowers EVERYTHING is that sauce.

I mean, that is like rocket fuel -

-but good effort, well done.

-Cheers.

-OK, Beyron, meet Vincent.

-Hello, Beyron, nice to meet you.

Now, you were originally going to throw everything all in together?

-Yes.

-I don't see coffee in there.

-No.

-OK. Do I see amaretti biscuits?

-No.

Good. Right, what do we see, then?

So, it's a cumin, pan-seared fillet of beef

with a warm artichoke pasta spinach salad

and a pesto dressing.

I'll try the artichoke.

Mmm, nice.

Did you have any salt when you cooked?

I did.

-I didn't find the salt.

-No.

The steak is lovely.

-The pasta is a bit too hard for me.

-Yeah.

They're called orecchiette, little ears - very hard.

Little ears, a bit like mine.

Overall, I'd just like a bit more seasoning.

Well, I for one think the artichokes are nicely cooked.

The beef is nicely cooked - nicely charred on the top.

It's when you get underneath it that problems lie -

and that's the pasta. It's still quite raw when you chew it.

That said, the spinach is cooked and the pesto was really nice

until you put lemon in it.

But, on the whole, really good effort.

So, what did you think about the standard overall?

-Very good, actually.

-Now, you've got to pick a dish.

Which dish do you like the most?

It's kind of hard for me. I love you all.

But I think I'm going to go with Sam's dish.

Sam, well done.

APPLAUSE

That was a lovely round of applause from your fellow contestants there.

I loved the steak, I loved the spinach,

and it was too much but I loved that spicy sauce.

OK. Second round.

This is quite simple, you've got to impress me this time

cos I've gone out shopping and

I've bought the ingredients for three boxes.

We've got a basic box...

a shellfish box...

and a bird box.

Now, Sam, because you cooked Vincent's favourite dish,

you get to choose not only which box you would like to cook with,

but most importantly,

which box you would like your fellow contestants to cook with.

Which box would you like Helen to cook with?

The basic box.

I don't know. Maybe would have preferred the bird, but basic's OK.

Which leaves two boxes left,

shellfish and a bird box -

and Beyron there.

He can have shellfish.

Thank you.

-You happy with that?

-Yep.

That leaves you the bird box.

All three of you, 50 minutes to create a dish

to impress me this time.

Collect your boxes and let's get cooking.

Sam gave Beyron my shellfish box,

which contains razor clams,

mussels,

fennel,

pasta flour,

vermouth,

chilli,

dill

and fresh chervil.

-I love mussels.

-Right.

-Shellfish is one of my favourites.

-OK.

The one thing you don't want to be doing, though,

with razor clams is overcook them because they're very, very tough.

-Hello, sir.

-How's it going?

-So, what are you doing?

Having never cooked razor clams before,

I might do a little mussel broth -

and then I'm going to make some flatbreads, cos I can't make pasta.

So, a flatbread with a soup - is that what we're after?

A broth. A hot broth.

These razor clams, are you going to use these?

I would like to.

-Do you want me to show you how to cook them?

-If you're willing.

Right, I'll just step over there.

They're actually really simple, OK?

So, frying pan...

You want a little bit of white wine.

Now, if you take your razor clams...

Cos they've already been washed.

..throw those in the pan.

Together with the mussels.

Straight in.

Take some tinfoil,

place that over the top,

and what you're going to do is cook these for about...

three to four minutes.

So, what's in our pot, here?

Fish stock, fennel,

some cardamom, some garlic, some black peppercorns,

some caraway seeds.

-So, that's going to be the base of the broth...

-OK.

..hopefully.

Now, Beyron got the shellfish box.

Now, what he's planning to do is an alternative...

I call it a soup, he calls it a broth -

that's the North/South divide.

But in the pressure cooker went some fennel, cardamom -

lots and lots of flavour in there to get a nice bit of stock going,

and, hopefully, he's going to use some of that wonderful juice

from the clams and the mussels

to add back into the mixture,

and then maybe, hopefully, put a little bit of cream in there

to stabilise everything.

I don't know about making flatbread with pasta flour

but he's pushing the boat out with this. He's under pressure.

Helen got my basic box.

In it, I've put some lamb neck,

red lentils,

a potato

and green cabbage.

These are great ingredients

that should cost just over...

£8.

Particularly when lamb's in season,

this is probably one of the cheapest cuts you'll get from it, really.

But it's knowing what to do with it

because it does require long, slow cooking.

Then the lentils - cumin and lentils

go brilliantly well together, and particularly with the lamb.

Right, Helen.

How's things going?

-I think I've got a vague idea of what I'm doing.

-A vague idea?

I'm thinking about doing a, kind of, stew - flavoured with

a, kind of, vague Indian twist thing. I'm making it up.

I've got an idea in my head, we'll see what comes out at the end.

Now, are you used to making things up on the hoof like this?

Yeah, and they're normally weird and wonderful -

maybe not certainly looking great,

but I think they're normally quite tasty.

If you want spice into this, if you keep the skin on the ginger,

-you get the heat, but without the chilli.

-All right, OK.

-It's fantastic.

-That's a good tip.

Well, Helen got the basic box.

What she's doing is, sort of, a stew, really,

but everything's put in one pot.

Now, I'm a bit sceptical of putting the cabbage in there, all in one go,

cos I'm not a great lover of overcooked cabbage -

but if everything's cooked in the right order,

it could taste really nice, this dish.

Sam chose the bird box for himself,

which contains chicken livers,

bacon,

mushrooms,

a red onion,

red cabbage,

sourdough,

pistachio nuts,

some port

and fresh sage.

The dish that I was thinking about

when I put all these ingredients together,

was simply just toasted sourdough

with a lovely sauce made out of that port, the wild mushrooms,

a little bit of herbs,

maybe a touch of cream in there, just over the top,

with some sauteed livers.

That, and something like the crispy bacon to go on top,

but it's a fantastic box of ingredients, this.

-So, Sam, you got the bird box.

-Yep.

Are you quite pleased with what's in there, given what everyone else got?

First impressions, I was like, "What have I done?"

But now I can kind of see

the different parts of the dish coming together.

We've got the pasta machine out and,

unfortunately, I haven't got his flour,

-but plain flour will have to do.

-OK.

I've done it before and it's not that bad.

-So, you're making your own pasta?

-Yep.

-Oh, hello.

So, we'll stuff that with...

almost like a chicken liver pate.

And then serve it with a, kind of, bacon and mushroom sauce -

so a bit of a twist on livers and bacon.

I presume this is the kind of stuff

that you do for these dinner parties, is it?

Yeah, we do pasta a lot,

just cos it's one to show off with -

and that normally goes down pretty well,

so hopefully it'll do the same again today.

Well, Sam's obviously practised making pasta before, because

it's quite a tall order to make your own pasta in here.

And then he's planning to make a sauce out of those wild mushrooms.

Now, I'm hoping that he does more of a cream sauce

rather than red wine sauce,

because cream and mushrooms work brilliantly together.

With 15 minutes to go,

Helen has decided to make a ginger and garlic toast

to accompany her stew.

And I'm going to see how Beyrom is progressing with his shellfish.

Really, with your razor clams, they're so easy to prepare.

You've got the centre part here,

which you can basically just trim off,

throw that back into the pot

and then you've got this piece.

Try that.

Mm.

-Like them?

-Really good.

-Taste like scallops, don't they?

-Yeah.

Now, the whole point about this meat is you don't overcook it,

so you put this in right at the last minute,

together with the mussel meat.

-Smelling good?

-Mmm, amazing.

It almost smells as I do.

Amazing. JAMES LAUGHS

Just minutes to go and Sam's sauce has split.

-Didn't realise that hob was still on.

-What have you put in it?

Just cream, butter, bacon.

Back on the stove.

If you want to bring a sauce back,

bring it to the boil and that'll be ready.

Ten seconds.

That's it, stop cooking.

Well done.

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

It's kind of a lentil Irish stew,

so a little bit of an Indian-Irish fusion.

With a ginger and garlic toast on the side.

I love everything about you, but this - I like it very much.

First of all with the lamb,

it's kind of halfway there.

-Needs a little bit more cooking.

-Yep.

Having said that, it tastes really good.

-The bread is a bit weird.

-OK.

Ginger and garlic bread? I'm not quite sure.

The lentils, for me, are the best part of it.

You've cooked them nicely.

There's lots of flavour in there and it's well seasoned,

so you should be very happy with that.

Sam chose my bird box.

The idea was to, kind of, try and make a chicken and liver parfait

to go as the ravioli filling -

and then with a bacon and mushroom cream sauce

served with garlic bread.

Is there mushrooms in it, or...?

They were definitely in the pan,

-they've not quite transferred to the plate as I'd hoped.

-Right.

The pasta seems nice and soft.

-If I was in a restaurant, I would buy it.

-Thank you.

Well, what you have done, really,

and what you have done really well is make pasta.

You've done that really nicely with the ravioli.

And I actually quite like the sauce.

I like the crispy bacon in it -

shame about my mushrooms that have disappeared.

It's just a shame about the liver,

it's slightly overcooked.

But on the whole, a pretty good effort, so well done.

And lastly, Beyrom got my shellfish box.

So, it's a mussel and razor clam

broth with chilli tomato,

some aromatic spices

and some bread thrown in as well.

I'm looking for my razor clams, where are they?

I think, overall, it's nice.

I would prefer it to have more fish in it.

-It's quite close to being actually quite nice...

-OK.

..because you've got the right amount of spice in there.

I like the caraway, I like the cardamom,

I like the way you used the pressure cooker to cook the fennel in there.

The actual base ingredients are really nice.

Now, to make that even better

would be to reduce that flavour down a little bit more.

-Having said that, it's a great effort...

-Thank you.

..cos you had a lot of things to do in there,

you had a lot of things to prep.

-Did you enjoy that?

-Loved it.

Yeah? Do you fancy having a go?

I would love to do what these guys have done today.

But it's up to me to decide who is today's cook of the day,

based on those three dishes.

You've all upped your game, I have to say.

-Don't you think?

-Yes, definitely.

But the cook of the day today, and well deserved...

..is you, Sam.

-Thank you very much.

-Well done.

How do you feel after that?

Yeah, it feels like it was all worth it.

Getting there and getting something

on the plate that you enjoyed to eat is an amazing feeling.

I mean, a great-tasting plate of food, I have to say,

but the reason why I've got to give it to you,

the credit for making that pasta -

it's lovely and cooked and the sauce is fantastic to go with it,

-so congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

This can sit pride of place for your next dinner party, you see.

-Have you enjoyed the experience?

-Yeah, it's been a fantastic day.

-Well done. Thank you for joining us, Vincent, as well.

-My pleasure.

Come on over, guys.

Commiserations, you were so close.

Well done. All right, dancing straight away.

That's the end of the series.

That's all we've got time for.

Thank you so much for watching.

Hopefully see you again soon.

Bye for now.