Christmas Without Overdoing It The Hairy Bikers Home for Christmas

Christmas - we love this time of year.

Yeah, wrapping presents, decorating

the tree, and generally making merry.

And nothing beats a bit of Christmas home cooking shared with family and friends.

Delicious festive food for all occasions, packed with flavour and full of love.

Ding dong merrily on high!

And we'll be joined by some familiar faces to get us all into the festive spirit.

Oh, my goodness!

That is preposterously wonderful.

-Merry Christmas.

-Merry Christmas.

We'll also find out how to make

someone's day with delicious,

home-made foodie gifts.

So, hang up your stockings, tweak your tinsel...

..turn on your fairy lights and relax.

BOTH: We're home for Christmas!

Christmas is the perfect time of year for feel-good food.

There are some dishes that put a smile on your face because of their loveliness.

And others that just put, well, a spring in your step.

We're cooking a delicious nut roast so you can have a break from all that meat.

Plus, a hazelnut, ricotta and pear cake that makes you happy even before you taste it.

And Paul Martin joins us for some festive cheer.

I think one of my best Christmas days was when I was about 12 years

old, getting a chopper bike.

-With a gear stick in the middle?

-Yeah, in the middle, yeah!

-Oh!

-Handlebars up there.

-Yes!

-I was the leader of the pack, guys.

-Oh!

But first, a couple of great ways to use winter veg.

We're going to be making some pumpkin gnocchi, then we're going

to make some wonderful parsnip nests with a winter salad.

But it's for those days, you know, when you've had enough,

you've had enough meat, you just want something fresh,

you want something nourishing and healthy.

And it's nice. Look, there's a little bit of effort involved,

but do you know what? It is quite simple effort, and worth it if you

just follow the steps. I've got some baked potatoes.

Now, they've been in the oven for about an hour and a half,

as has this lovely, lovely pumpkin.

And it's a great idea to use pumpkin in the gnocchi.

It makes the gnocchi lighter. It also gives it a wonderful festive colour, too.

-It does, it's lovely.

-It's like sun-kissed gnocchi.

Right, so I've got four parsnips here, and what we first do is top

and tail them and peel them. Then I'm going to julienne them and fry

them lightly, and form them into nests and bake them.

So peel them first.

This is a peeler with a difference, it's a julienne cutter.

Dead cheap to buy, but watch this.

You just run it round your parsnip and out come...

..like, parsnip spaghetti.

We want quite a lot of this, cos we're going to make 12 parsnip nests.

So we're going to start on the pumpkin now, just taking the flesh out.

The seeds, we don't want, and the stringy bits we don't want, so

we're going to take those out the way

and then just put this flesh to one side.

I'm looking forward to meeting Paul Martin.

-I love "Flog It!".

-Oh, it's great.

-It is.

-He's a nice man as well.

He is, but he's a vegetarian!

And he's had an interesting life.

He's got such incredible tales.

He has.

Pumpkin, by its very nature, retains a lot of water, so what we

need to do is put it into a dry frying pan and dry it out.

This is like parsnip straw, and we just put that into the frying pan,

just to make it soft enough to mould into the nest shape.

Right, I'm quite happy with that.

That's going to be a brilliant basis to the dough, Si.

It's lovely. Now...

..we mix the pumpkin...

..with the potato.

I think that's the great thing, now, mate, isn't it, about vegetarian

dishes? They're part of the mainstream.

Sometimes it's very good to give meat a bit of a rest for yourself

and also, I think, for the planet as well.

Absolutely.

Now, I have to let these go cold cos I'm going to mix an egg through.

And that's the glue that is going to form the nests.

If I do that now, I'm going to end up with parsnip scrambled eggs!

-Not good.

-Not good at all.

Plain flour.

There we go.

Mix it halfway.

We need an egg.

Now we're going to add some lovely

finely grated Parmesan.

Now, although this is a vegetarian dish, we are using Parmesan cheese.

Now, we know that's not vegetarian, but you can get a very,

very good vegetarian alternative Parmesan.

You can, that.

Now, over here, me parsnips, they've just kind of cooled down.

I've got those ribbons and they're quite malleable.

I'm just going to stir this through my cooled parsnip straw.

Just put it into your muffin tin and kind of form it around the sides.

It looks remarkably like a nest.

It's a great one to do with the kids cos it sounds Christmassy.

It feels joyous making nests, you know?

It could be the nest of a small British bird,

like, say, a Christmas robin.

Well, that's very good, mate, it looks lush, that, doesn't it?

-Yeah, it's lovely.

-Lovely thing to do.

Now, you pop this into a preheated oven, 200 Celsius,

for between 15 and 20 minutes.

And these are the crispy parsnip

nests that will form the containers

for our winter salad.

What a lovely way to serve a bit of salad!

Now, when you have the required consistency for your gnocchi,

what we need to do is chill it down.

That's one that's been rested, Si.

-Lovely.

-We're going to make, kind of, gnocchi sausages.

Then we're going to cut them into little gnocchi shapes.

Then we're going to put a fork on to make that gnocchi-like indentation.

Oh, that's great, mate. Bit rustic, bit lovely.

Now, we need to make the winter salad for the nests and also some

sage butter for our lovely gnocchi.

So in this salad we've got some beautiful chicory, little bit of

taste, we've got some finely sliced onions.

Now, what we've done is we've just taken the edge off those onions by

just putting them in freezing cold water for a bit, and then we've got

some hazelnuts and some beautiful red cabbage.

Now, the salad dressing.

We've got some hazelnut oil...

..as a base for the dressing, some sherry vinegar.

Some mustard.

And we've got the zest of half an orange...

..and the juice of a whole orange.

Again, it's quite a festive dressing.

Isn't it funny that oranges are so kind of tropical and Mediterranean,

and yet they've become such a big part of all our Christmases?

-Simon, there's your dressing.

-Thank you.

That's a great winter salad, isn't it?

It's lovely, lovely, and really, really simple.

Me nests!

We melt the butter and fry some sage leaves.

And the sage will just give up all its goodness

and flavour into that butter.

Phwoar!

Right, let's put the gnocchi on.

And just pop them in carefully.

And when they swim to the surface...

-..they're done.

-You sounded like David Attenborough, then!

I did! I want to build our nests.

Ah, Kingy! Now, that looks Christmassy.

-Doesn't it?

-Yeah.

There we go, look, boom!

It's more of a hatch than a float.

Look at that! These are happy dumplings.

Just put them in the sage butter,

let them bathe, let them relax.

We've tortured them for a minute.

Oh, man,

this smells fantastic.

It's the smell of butter and dumplings.

Now, I would season it at this stage.

And now we're just going to wilt some spinach down into it.

And that sage butter has given

the spinach such a wonderful gloss, as well.

Let's stick it on that plate.

-That's enough, we don't want the spinach any more, do we?

-No, we don't.

This is fabulous, and we can't finish off without some wonderful

Parmesan cheese all over the top.

Now, if that doesn't say Christmas, I'll eat me hat.

-Which first, Si?

-Gnocchi.

Mr Gnocchi. Yes, I know, this would be our favourite.

Bit of spinach.

Mmm!

That is really good gnocchi.

It's perfect gnocchi.

Now, this is fun.

This is going to make you feel a bit of a giggle.

That is so tasty.

It's glorious.

-Absolutely love it.

-Love it.

It makes me feel good.

Feel good about the food you eat.

Marvellous.

Squash and sage gnocchi, with

winter salad and parsnip nests.

It's light and packed with flavour.

Christmas is all about sharing...

..food, memories and, of course, presents.

Christian Bigland has got a great idea

that's not only delicious, but good for you, too.

This is definitely my surprise Christmas gift, and I think it

will just be rewarding for those who are receiving it.

So kimchi is a preserved cabbage,

with Asian heat and flavours added to it.

For Christmas, I've chosen red cabbage.

In Korea, for example,

you would probably take years to make a kimchi.

What I'm doing today is going to be more the quick route to a kimchi,

which can actually be eaten straightaway after it's made,

or you can keep it, and the longer you keep it,

the more the flavour develops, so it keeps on giving.

This is looking great. This is looking really good.

I can't wait to see the looks on their faces

when they open their kimchi present, because it's a first,

and it's going to be delicious.

I'm hoping they're going to eat it on Christmas Day.

The more time you put in, the more love you put into your gift,

ie you've made it with your own hands.

I think they're's far more value in that

than buying something off the shelf.

Whatever time over Christmas,

I think kimchi's got a place, and there it is, there it is,

the alternative Christmas gift.

It's going to be a cracking kimchi Christmas.

We're talking about food that makes you feel good, so to join us,

we have that complete picture of health himself, Mr Paul Martin.

Hi, guys! Hello!

-Happy Christmas!

-Happy Christmas!

And it's going to be a vegetarian one, I gather!

Oh, it is, but really it's just about good food, food for everybody.

We know you're a vegetarian.

We've done you our nut roast.

And it's a break from all those big, heavy flavours as well.

And this is a great one for the big day itself.

So you're going to be really creative.

A lot of people get put off by a nut loaf because it does look like

-a house brick, doesn't it, really?

-It does.

-It does.

-And some of it tastes like a house brick.

-Indeed, yes.

Well, we're going to start with some sherry vinegar.

-OK.

-And some cranberries.

What we're going to do is bring that up to temperature so they plump up

all lovely. While that is happening, I'm going to fry off some shallots

in the pan.

At the minute, I'm just wilting down some spinach in the butter.

It's been washed well, it's still a bit wet,

and that's enough liquid to cook the spinach.

How long have you been a vegetarian for?

-Since I was about 16.

-Oh, really?

When I grew up in Cornwall. Yeah.

And was it a moral issue for you rather than the taste of meat?

It was a moral issue, yeah, yeah. Behind where we lived,

we were sort of on the coast in Falmouth, and there was an abattoir

behind and when the wind was blowing in the wrong direction,

-you got that nasty smell.

-How strict a vegetarian are you, Paul?

-Do you eat cheese?

-Oh, I love cheese, yeah, eat cheese, eat egg,

lots of milk. Yeah, I mean, I do...

Up until about the age of 19, I had a bit of chicken, you know,

a bit of white meat, but then I kind of thought, "No.

"If I'm going to do it, do it properly."

-Do it properly.

-Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so no meat.

I think when you're cooking vegetarian food, you have to be

aware of the flavours and textures.

Sometimes it's harder to cook.

Yeah, everything's kind of built around the meat, isn't it?

You kind of work outwards, so, you know, it's kind of easier

-to actually serve a meal up.

-It is. This is the perfect break.

-Brilliant.

-But it is a bit of a celebration as well,

because we've still got a wonderful mushroom gravy, we've still got

a wonderful cranberry sauce, and all the trimmings,

so it's still a full-blown Christmas meal.

And it's nice to have everything with it, isn't it?

You know, the parsnips and the Brussels and the peas.

I think it's only fair, you know, it's only fair, I think.

-Yeah, yeah.

-So what's Christmas like in the Martin household?

We put the music on, we've got the CDs on, you know,

bit of Nat King Cole, and all the Christmas carols.

Lush. And is food a big part of that?

Major, yeah. And we all get stuck in, and I prep all the Brussels,

put the little crosses on the bottom, you know,

we get the roasties ready, we get the parsnips ready, you know,

we do the whole thing properly.

But what do you cook on Christmas dinner?

-Well, we do a turkey.

-Turkey is not vegetarian.

No, I know, but we do have a lot of, you know, meat eaters.

-And that doesn't bother you?

-It doesn't bother us.

-Oh, brill.

-So we put the turkey in the oven, we do all of that,

we have proper gravy, you know, from the stock.

-Yeah.

-And then we have, you know, like a nut roast as well,

so it's pretty good.

Actually, that's very similar to our households, too.

Yeah, you know, and everyone shares in with the veggies.

All of the earthy flavours of the nut roast's now starting to come

together, so we got the onion, we've got some olive oil,

we've got the mushrooms in there, and then...

-I can smell it.

-..I've just grated some parsnip, OK?

And that again is a sweet note, and really earthy.

Look at how that spinach has come down.

Gosh, that's come down to nothing, hasn't it?

I've just wilted that in butter, and we're leaving that to drain cos

what you don't want to do in a nut roast is put in wet spinach,

because it just makes the whole thing fall apart.

-That's a good tip.

-Now, to get a bit of chewiness I've got freekeh,

which I've just cooked according to the packet -

it's just been boiled till it's soft.

You could use spelt. Spelt's really good in this.

It's a bit like barley, and it gives it a chew, but it's so good for you.

So you put the freekeh into a bowl.

Now, to that I've got some nuts here, and it's mixed nuts.

I've got some pecan nuts, almonds,

cashew nuts, and hazelnuts, and I suppose this is the engine room

of your nut roast. So we just put that into a little processor.

You can do this by hand, but this is just so quick, and just blitz this.

So we don't want it chopped up too much.

That's starting to smell really good.

The chopped nuts go in with the freekeh.

It just smells fantastic. It's got a woody smell to it.

I'll just give you a little whiff. It's woody, isn't it?

-Oh, gosh, I could eat that now!

-It's all right.

These are vac-packed chestnuts,

because if anybody's done it themselves,

by the time you've tried to peel off all the brown skin,

-you've probably lost the will to live.

-Yeah.

But for the nut roast, these are ideal, and chestnuts and Christmas -

to me, they go together.

-They do, actually, don't they?

-Yeah.

You'd be interested in this - somebody bought me

a Victorian chestnut roaster. You basically open the hatch,

put your chestnuts in, light your fire underneath

and turn the drum slowly, and the roast chestnuts are epic.

-Oh, how nice.

-And that's something that comes out every year.

-I'm not going to put that on "Flog It!", though.

-No!

Hang onto that. That would be a keeper.

-That's what we say, "It's a keeper!"

-"It's a keeper," yes.

Were you always interested in history?

I think I got that from my mum's side, yeah.

My mum was a graphic designer, she was an artist, an illustrator.

-My dad was a teacher.

-Oh, wow.

Yeah. So, yeah, I didn't follow in his footsteps, that's for sure,

-I didn't have the brains.

-Oh, well, I have to say, I don't know,

I think through the programme you learn such a lot, so I think you're

an educator as well as a presenter and, you know, it's an amazing show.

That's kind of you guys.

Now, the chestnuts, I've just chopped roughly and I put them into

the freekeh and the crushed nuts.

I'm going to take that spinach and just again chop that roughly.

Do you cook at Christmas?

No, I get involved with the prep, you know, and I help lay the table

and organise the booze and stuff like that, you know, the nibbles,

but my poor wife's there, stuck in the kitchen, doing it all.

Now, the spinach has been chopped, and that goes into the bowl,

and now breadcrumbs, and we give that a mix.

Now, Kingy's lovely rooty veg mixture goes in with the nuts

and the spinach. Now, the splash of Christmas, Kingy.

Sherry plumped cranberries.

Sweet, acidic, beautiful.

The thing is, though, we need something to hold it together, or else

we could end up with a tin full of Bombay mix without any flavour.

-Which would be wrong.

-Wrong. It's a roast. So, three eggs.

Then mix. Now, presents, Paul.

Are you really good at buying presents?

I like to buy tactile objects that don't cost a lot of money, you know,

something like an old wooden turned bowl that's got cracks in it,

which cost 30 quid, but it's survived 200 years.

And that, you're holding that history, and that means something.

-Yeah. Exactly.

-I'd far more receive presents like that.

I'm lucky because I'm in those places where you're foraging around

old antique shops and markets, and I came across this wonderful old

tarred brush and it was about that wide and had an old

oak-turned handle and you could see it was something like a naval brush

for putting tar on the old ships.

-Oh, wow!

-And it was just to die for, and it didn't cost that much,

and I actually gave it as a Christmas present to Sir Peter Blake

the artist, because I know he collects wacky things like that,

because we interviewed him on the show, twice now on "Flog It!",

and I've got to know the guy, you know, and went to his studio,

and I bought him this as a Christmas present, and he just said,

"It's one of the nicest things I've seen,"

because it was so tactile, and all the hair was still there.

-Oh, lovely!

-It was all clogged in tar at the top.

-And you could smell the tar!

-How lovely.

But where are you going to get another one?

But it makes a great silhouette on the wall.

You'll never find another one. Never.

And that was a Georgian brush.

-Looks good, doesn't it?

-It does.

-Yeah.

We put this in the inevitable 180 Celsius oven for about an hour,

which gives us ample time to make a vegetarian gravy,

some cranberry sauce, and to have a nice cup of tea.

I love a nice cup of tea.

-Lovely.

-Thank you very much.

-It's great have you on the show, mate.

-Thank you for inviting me.

It really is. It's lovely. We can sit and have a big chat on.

-I love it.

-It's so nice to find out, you know,

you've done so much telly from "Flog It!" and many other series,

but you've had such an interesting life, and it all winds up with you

having such a wonderful grounded Christmas.

You know, Christmas for me is all about the family coming together,

you know, and being a happy, loving unit

and sort of sharing times and memories.

When my mum and dad were alive, we'd go down to Cornwall,

and Charlotte's parents live in Cambridge, so we'd go over

to Cambridge or they'd come to us so, you know, you take it in turns,

and you move around the country, but you all pitch in, wherever we are,

we always pitch in, do the washing up, you know, do the cooking,

the dress setting, and just stuff like that, and kids entertainment.

Do you have many brothers and sisters?

Was it a big Christmas down in Cornwall?

I have one sister down in Cornwall.

We always had a lovely family Christmas down there where we had

relations come to us. Because they all lived in the Home Counties,

and Cornwall's a nice place to go for Christmas,

so everyone would gravitate west, so we always had a house full.

Dave and I have got a present for you.

I bet you'll never guess what this is, Paul.

I think I can. Is it a mini pair of drumsticks?

I couldn't possibly say.

Is it? It feels like it.

-You'll have to open it.

-It can't be pencils.

-Oh, it is, look.

-Yeah!

-I can see the little acorn heads.

Oh, look at that.

-Perfect!

-You see, you had such an eclectic, amazing life, Paul,

but the drumming has been such a huge part of it, too.

Yeah, it has. I grew up playing drums. I love drums.

I was taught by a jazz drummer, I learned to read music.

I played a little bit with Spike from The Quireboys, The Dogs D'Amour

with Tyla, did an album with him, did a little tour with

the Average White Band, I was the support group for them.

Yeah, I've played on a few albums, done a few tracks,

-never earned an awful lot of money, being a drummer.

-You never do.

You don't, actually, because you don't get the royalty for writing

but, you know, I was a big part of the rhythm section, and it was a big

part of my life, you know, because I played at least sort of

three or four hours a day, I was so passionate about it, and so focused.

-Yeah.

-And nowadays I can pick the sticks up, I've got a kit at home.

When everybody's out, I can just get on the drums when I'm not filming,

-and just have a play.

-Oh, go on, give us another para-diddle.

-Hey! Brilliant!

-Brilliant, brilliant!

I think that signals that the nut roast is ready!

I think it is - I can smell it in the oven!

Never has a nut roast had such an introduction.

-Absolutely, it's brilliant!

-Snare drum rolling.

-You're off!

About ten minutes until the roast is ready.

Right, I'll do a beautiful sauce, mushroom sauce,

little bit of cream because it's Christmas,

-to go with your nut roast.

-Very nice.

-How's that sound?

-Yeah.

It's not like a gravy, it's more of a sauce.

Shall I do the cranberry? So, I want the juice and zest

of an orange, and I can pop in some fresh cranberries.

Look at those. Beautiful.

I mean, that says Christmas.

-It does, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

-It's just that bright red.

And sugar.

I know there's quite a lot,

but you don't eat a whole pan of cranberry sauce.

You can if you're Paul's size, but you can't if you're our size.

-That's where I'm going wrong, dude!

-I know, it is!

So, Paul, what was Christmas like for you when you were a child?

It was fantastic. I think one of my best Christmas days was

when I was about 12 years old getting a chopper bike, you know,

a bright orange chopper bike.

-With a gear stick in the middle?

-Yeah, in the middle!

-Oh!

Handlebars up there. I was the leader of the pack, guys!

My mum and dad were too poor to buy me a chopper bike.

Yeah, do you know? They were quite pricey, they were.

-Yeah, I know!

-Do you know they've held their value?

-Trust you to know that, honestly!

-Do you know what I did with mine?

I went out and bought the tassels to put in the handlebar grips.

-Yeah!

-So they flew, and also I nicked some pegs from the

washing line, got some playing cards, and made it sound like

an engine. You know when you clip the pegs onto the forks?

-Yes!

-And you drive along, and it goes...

IMITATES ENGINE That's exactly what I did as well!

Great days. Lots of Action Men, lots of football kit.

You know, the World Cup, Pele, I had a Pele shirt, I treasured that.

-Oh, you are joking!

-No, no, I treasured... Not the real thing,

but obviously a replica shirt, number ten, Pele, Brazil.

I recently got two number ten shirts,

Pele and Diego Maradona, at an auction, I have to say.

-Oh, brilliant. Are they signed?

-Yep.

-Lucky man!

How much do you reckon they're worth?

-Original ones - they played in them.

-Oof!

I'd say about...

..2,000 to 3,000 each.

Back of the net!

So, Mrs King,

would you be happy if we put a reserve of £75 on the shirts?

Definitely not.

That's not good telly. "Oh, yes, oh, no that would be great."

-"Oh, thank you."

-Was that supposed to be me?

I love it!

But I tell you what - sport on Boxing Day. My dad used to take me

to Craven Cottage or to Stamford Bridge, you know.

Oh, that was a big treat.

My dad was a Chelsea fan or a Fulham fan, so if one was playing away,

-we'd go and see the other.

-You'd do the other.

-Big treat.

-And the trip up there must have been quite something.

Oh, it was epic, yeah. It was really nice, yeah. Good day out.

So, Paul, what other recollections do you have from your

Christmas childhood in Cornwall?

There was a lot more snow when I was younger.

-Wasn't there?

-Yeah!

-Even in Cornwall!

-Yeah!

-You should have seen it up in Newcastle!

It was about that deep, you know,

some Christmases, I can remember it being that deep.

You'd go out the back door, and it was that deep,

and we lived opposite the retired Bishop of Rutland.

-Oh, right, OK.

-The Knitting Bishop, he was known as, and, you know,

I tell you something, he invited us around for a sherry and a mince pie

when I was about 15, so we all trooped over to his place,

and when I got stuck into this mince pie, it was a proper mince pie.

It wasn't like, you know, fruit mince, it was a proper...

Mince mince! Oh, I quite like them.

-Oh, it's lovely.

-Oh, it's lovely.

-Well, it is if you like meat!

-Yeah!

Now, look, that's the cranberry sauce.

As you can see, the sugar - it's like jam making.

It's changed completely, it's gone syrupy and thick. It's so simple,

and it's probably the best cranberry sauce you'll ever have.

-Doesn't that look good?

-Yeah.

-Now, that's Christmassy.

-That is very Christmassy.

-Looks beautiful.

-Now, some Marsala.

We want that sweet note of the Marsala, but not the alcohol,

so what we need to do is boil that off a little bit,

reduce it by at least half, and then we're going to add some stock,

and finish the sauce with a little bit of cream.

-Beautiful.

-Now, our sticky red cabbage.

I've just got some beans that have been blanched.

I'm just going to toss those in butter.

Oh! I can smell that, it looks fantastic.

-Can I have a quick look?

-Yeah.

-Oh, I love the colours.

Do you know? There's something quite special about red cabbage.

It just looks the part, doesn't it, rather than green cabbage?

Glossy and lovely.

I grew a giant cabbage, and I took it to the Malvern Giant Veg show.

-Did you win?

-No, I didn't make the table. But, do you know what?

It took up the whole of the car. I'm not joking.

It was 1.4 metres across, it was that big, it was huge,

beautifully formed, got it in the back of the car,

got it up there, and it was the smallest one there.

-What?!

-Yeah! I mean, they're giant, they're massive, great big things.

The world of competitive veg growing can be a harrowing one.

-I think we're ready, dude.

-We are ready.

-Should we...?

-I think we should dish up.

Now, it is a Christmas dinner, so we want to serve it properly.

-It's nice to see it on a bit of blue and white.

-Yes!

THEY LAUGH

But the nice thing as well about antique crockery...

-You can use it.

-You can use it, it looks fabulous.

You can see the textures all binding together, can't you?

It's held together beautifully.

Yeah, it looks like a proper feast that you can get your teeth into.

-I'm licking my lips.

-That's a good thing.

So, we've got some beautiful, slow-cooked red cabbage,

we've got some beans tossed in butter, we've got cranberry sauce,

we got our lovely mushroom sauce to go with our nut roast,

and, of course, it's not Christmas without roast potatoes.

It's just full of goodness.

Looks brilliant. Can I get stuck in?

Please do, Paul. It'd be our pleasure.

Red cabbage! Oh!

-Help!

-Go on, there's a bit of space.

That is fantastic.

-Hey!

-Oh, brill.

-Let's have a go.

-That is the best nut roast I've ever had.

-You can taste all the flavours all at once.

-Yeah, good.

-It's just fantastic.

-Oh, yeah, that's great.

It's moist, it's together.

It's beautiful, sweet, savoury, and it's a good cutter.

-Yeah. Merry Christmas, Paul.

-Merry Christmas. Oh, man.

He'll be wanting some pudding next.

Yes, yes, I suppose. Would you like pudding, sir?

-Where's the red wine?

-It's on its way.

-On its way!

If you want a break from meat but still want the satisfaction

-of a roast...

-Our nut roast will put a smile on your face.

If you're looking for a gift for foodie friends,

then why not make your own?

Eshe Brown has a beautiful idea for a present.

It's a great gift because it looks beautiful, and it's lovingly made.

I think gifts like that are so much nicer because they're personalised,

and it takes a lot more effort than to just pop to the shop and pick up

something that's in the gift section, so I think people

are going to love this as a gift.

This recipe involves dried rosemary and red currants.

It's quite nice, you can buy preserving bottles,

but it's quite nice to pick up ones with unusual shapes,

so something hexagonal or with bevelling, that sort of thing,

and it just gives it a bit more of a unique look as well.

Virgin olive oil's obviously the best to use, but you can just use

ordinary oil because you're infusing it with lots of flavours,

so it just makes it taste really lovely.

It's looking beautiful. It's like little gems in the oil.

You're not limited at all to just those flavours.

There's so many different things you can experiment with.

So this one's thyme, lemon, and orange peel.

We've dried the citrus fruits out and popped them in there with it,

and it's going to taste lovely on chicken.

So this is the same - it's rosemary and redcurrant,

but I've added edible glitter to it.

It doesn't add much to the flavour,

it just looks really pretty and Christmassy.

It's just like a snow globe. So Christmassy.

Just means that if you're giving it as a gift it looks a little bit

more special, and a bit different as well from what you can

pick up from a shop.

Well, Paul, your wish is our command.

We got a bit of Malbec!

-Are you going to join me?

-Absolutely.

-It's Christmas.

-The spirit of Keith Floyd is upon us.

-Merry Christmas.

-Merry Christmas.

-Merry Christmas!

-Christmas cheerio.

-Lovely.

-Right, so we need to move on to something sweet, a dessert.

-Yes, indeed.

-But how do we follow our rather successful nut roast?

We have an idea. We're going to do you a pear and hazelnut cake.

What a good combination!

It's really special, and it's laced with eau de vie,

it's laced with hazelnut liqueur.

This is a proper grown-up treat.

-That's fantastic.

-But it's lighter than an angel's kiss.

It... Ooh!

Have you been kissed by an angel?

I certainly have! A couple of times, really!

Oh, thanks, mate.

This is the flour in the cake. Noddle oddle!

And that is the hazelnut. Now, they have been hazelnuts.

You buy them, they are already skinned, put them in a

food processor, and about the same texture as ground almonds.

Now, while Dave is doing that, I am going to start to

cream together six eggs and some caster sugar.

Now, this is very important for this cake.

You start low like that,

and then as soon as you've got the first egg in,

turn it up to full.

And then just keep adding eggs.

If you don't get the air into the eggs, into this part,

your cake will be like a carpet tile.

So that's quite key, then, to really give that a good beating?

Yeah, you need to get...

What we're looking for, Paul, is that the colour will change,

it will triple in volume, and it will go a really light pale colour.

Into the hazelnuts, I mix the flour.

And in this pan, I'm melting down the butter.

Do you guys go on a diet after Christmas?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Right!

Flipping heck, yes!

But, Paul, I gather one of your claims to fame is you actually

did work on the movie, Santa Claus.

-I did.

-What did you do? Were you an elf?

No, do you know what I actually did?

I was in this little tiny art room,

and I had to make half a dozen pairs of antler horns, literally.

You know, be creative with papier mache and wire mesh.

Wow, so how did that transfer itself to antiques?

I bought a flat in Richmond, right on the river, right near

Eel Pie Studios in St Margaret's, where Pete Townshend worked,

and I bumped into Pete. And because I played drums and I was this,

you know, keen semi-professional drummer and I had a van to carry

my drums around in, he said, "Do you want to work for me?"

So I worked for Pete Townshend for a couple of years,

which was really great.

You know, as a studio gopher, you know, moving kit

for Elton John and The Who, and people like that, and yeah,

so I had a great time there,

and I met somebody in his studio that was into antiques,

and on the weekends, we used to go off and do the markets.

And it was really... Getting the exposure to the Portobello Road

and Camden Lock and Camden Passage, about the age of 24, 25, 26,

I kind of thought, "This is what I want to do.

"I want to be one of those crazy eccentrics," you know, selling stuff

and having wodges of 50-pound notes in your pocket.

You know, those were the days.

-Yeah, but how lovely is that?

-Yeah!

-How lovely is that?

So, Paul, what do you have for dessert on Christmas Day?

-Are you a traditionalist?

-Traditionalist, yeah.

I've got to have it with custard, though.

I'm not a big sort of clotted cream or single cream...

-Brandy sauce?

-Brandy sauce, yeah, we do set fire to the pud as well.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, we do. And we still hide, you know,

old sixpences in for the kids.

-I thought you put sovereigns or the odd groat in yours.

-Yes!

-I wish!

Our mission is to preserve that volume, so as Mr King folds gently,

I'm just going to put the flour and the nuts in.

So that has held up really, really well.

Because there is quite a weight of nuts in there,

I will just fold in the melted butter.

You can't let this set too much.

No, you can't, because what we want to do, as much as possible,

is maintain the air in that eggs and sugar.

I've got two tins here that have been prepared.

A simple sheet of baking parchment,

just half in this tin and half in that tin.

And we want to make sure that the cakes are the same size.

You don't want a lopsided cake.

Pop these into a preheated oven - it's 170 Celsius this time -

for 12 to 15 minutes, until risen and golden.

-Beautiful!

-Beautiful.

So when the cakes have baked, you need to leave them to cool,

pop them out of the tin, put them onto a cooling rack,

-and you end up with two cakes like this.

-How lovely.

-Aren't they lovely?

-Oh, they do look good, yeah.

But there are two elements to the next stage of the cake.

-OK.

-One is the pears. I have to peel them,

prepare them, poach them in the syrup and eau de vie.

The water of life. And what are you doing, Si?

Oh, there's a filling that's as light as clouds.

Angels sit on it without a care.

It is a load of ricotta and cream, and then you mix it up

with some sugar. It's great.

So, Paul, I think we've established, you're not a strict vegetarian.

-You will eat cheese.

-I will eat cheese, yeah.

I love my dairy. I possibly have too much dairy,

-but I couldn't live without it.

-Yeah.

Now, I need to get on with the pears,

so first off, I start making my syrup.

So I want the juice of one lemon.

Do you know? My kids love making cakes. They love baking.

It's a great thing to do with kids.

Yeah. They decorate them all with Smarties and cover it all

full of chocolate. It's lovely.

And now the caster sugar goes in.

And just let that reduce down to a syrup.

What I'll do while that's happening,

I'm going to peel and prepare the pears.

Now, I do this at the last minute,

because obviously the pears will go brown. So how did you get

from wheeler-dealer-ing to where you are now?

I was sitting in my antiques shop in Marlborough,

and a researcher walked in,

and she originally worked on Noel Edmonds' Swap Shop.

-OK.

-She used to run around with dungarees on, she was called

Patsy's Prizes, giving out the prizes with Keith Chegwin.

-Oh, yeah, OK.

-Cheggers!

And she came into my shop with a little camcorder,

so I let her film, and then she said,

"Can you talk to me about this piece of Queen Anne furniture,

"this kneehole desk?" So I kind of told the history.

"Circa 1815, just think, it probably saw the Battle of Waterloo.

"You know, the Duke of Wellington." And she spent about an hour with me,

had a couple of glasses of wine, and left,

and two days later, I had a phone call. They said,

"Look, we believe you've got the potential to become a TV presenter.

-"How do you fancy screen testing?"

-Result, dude!

-But do you know what?

I was so scared, I was really, really scared.

And they said, "Look, we want you to present an antiques show,

"and would you screen test for it?"

And I was awful. I was absolutely awful.

Had no idea how to talk to a TV camera.

So I had a few rehearsals in a graveyard in Sheffield

on our first day's shooting.

I got up an hour early with the cameraman and sound man,

and I was kind of going through my pieces to camera, you know,

walking and talking, landing on the mark, turning,

looking in a different direction, and I just couldn't do it.

So, thanks to some clever editing and some very nice directors and

cameramen, you know, they kind of nurtured me through it, really.

-I'm very lucky.

-I bet your mum and dad were as proud as punch.

Yeah, they were. Yeah, my mum was my biggest fan, and my biggest critic,

-obviously!

-Well, of course. But mums are.

-Yeah.

-These pears won't wait much longer.

What I've done is I've quartered them, I've peeled them,

and I've cored them.

Now, into the syrup, we lace it with eau de vie, the water of life.

So put that in the syrup. Smell that, just a bit boozy.

It wasn't a lot you put in, was it?

-Oh, that's good.

-Oh, it's grown-up. Now, into this we put the pears.

I'm going to poach them down.

We want them to retain the shape, though, we don't want a mush.

After simmering for about 10, 15 minutes, and left to go cool,

you'll be left with that.

Right, so now we need to put the pears into that

wonderful ricotta mix.

-And this is the filling for your cake.

-Mm.

What we want to do is to pour in about two thirds of the syrup,

-give it a good mix.

-Beautiful.

-There we go.

Right, now it's time to build our Christmas treat.

The reserved syrup, I'm just going to paint onto this.

It's a bit of a rum baba thing, really.

And then we put our ricotta.

I think that's enough, Si. We're going to make some praline

for the top, with some jaunty caramelised hazelnuts,

and then a chocolate sauce to serve.

-Oh!

-This one's for you, Paul.

-I can feel the pounds going on now!

-Don't you worry about it.

-No, it's light, it's fabulous.

Paul, what do you like to do on Boxing Day?

My kids go pony riding, we've got some ponies,

so we take the ponies down along the canal,

and go for a wander around the village, which is quite nice.

Take the dogs. Just getting out and about,

-getting outside in the fresh air.

-Nice.

-Getting out of the house.

Yeah, because you've had your big Christmas dinner,

you've had your lazy day, you need to go for a walk, yeah, absolutely.

But we've also got, you know, all the animals on our little

smallholding, so we've got the pigs to look after, ducks and chickens

to look after, three cats, three dogs, two ponies, two horses.

You know, there's a lot to do every morning.

-So what do you do with your pigs, Paul?

-Well, we're just

fattening them up, really, to go off to market, basically.

I love it! We've got a vegetarian pig breeder!

It's brilliant, isn't it?

It's all right, lads, we've got a nut roast.

Oh, do you know? With the ponies, the kids' ponies,

we put antlers on the ponies, we've got those stick-on antlers,

so we take them for a walk around the village with these...

-Oh, brilliant!

-..furry antlers on. It's ever so funny.

So basically we pop the hazelnuts in.

Now, this is the fun part.

This is going to set like a big slab.

-That will go hard and brittle, then? You can actually snap it?

-Rock-hard.

Now, we need to spread it out, so it's like one layer.

-Do you have to work fast?

-Oh, yes. Yeah.

So, as I'm doing it, I'm just breaking off odd ones like this.

I can start with about a dozen. The rest can set into a slab.

-Well done, mate.

-Oh, it's sticky, isn't it?

-Very, yeah.

-It's also very hot.

-I think that's there, mate.

-I think they are.

And when it's cooled, it looks like this.

Now, we put that into a food processor,

and process it into crumbs, and that is praline.

And that's it.

I don't mind if there is a scattering on the dish,

-because I think it looks so lovely.

-Absolutely.

-Yeah, it's kind of frosty.

-Yeah. The snowman.

So, the chocolate sauce.

Now, all that's in the pan is butter, cream, dark chocolate.

Now we're just about to tickle it with the festive feather that is

Frau Anjelica, or hazelnut liqueur.

It's looking like Christmas!

Oh, look at that chocolate sauce.

Now look at that. See? Just look at the strata.

It's firm but fair.

That's teasing me.

Paul Martin, Merry Christmas.

-Thank you.

-Merry Christmas.

-Merry Christmas, guys. You're spoiling me!

That's fantastic. Exceptionally light.

-It is, isn't it?

-It's what I would call a slightly grown-up cake.

It doesn't need an awful lot of chocolate.

No, it doesn't, does it?

This cake is perfect for a winter's day.

Put the kettle on, cut a slice, and smile.

All of this really sums up the essence of Christmas -

it really does - and great company as well.

-I'll drink to that.

-Cheers.

-Cheers, Paul. Merry Christmas.

-Merry Christmas, mate, to yours.

-And Merry Christmas.

-And Merry Christmas.

-Merry Christmas.

And Happy New Year.