Episode 3 What to Eat Now

My name is Valentine Warner. Chef by trade, greedy by nature.

I love food and I love eating it when it's absolutely at its best.

Wow!

Having grown up on a farm, I've learned that eating things in season

means you get them at their most delicious.

That's absolutely amazing.

Tonight, I'm giving you the definitive guide

to autumn's fantastic vegetables.

I'll be bringing in the harvest with a passionate pumpkin crusader.

You live like you're going to die tomorrow, but you farm like you're going to live for ever.

I'm visiting an autumn onion fair and guzzling a raw onion

for a Guinness World Record.

Yuk! Wow!

And I'll be trying out biodynamic beetroot on a very kooky farm.

He's got a direct link through the horn right up into the cosmos.

COW MOOS

Some of my favourite vegetables come into season in the autumn.

Morning. What are you after? Pretty much all of it, actually.

Hearty roots like carrot and beetroot, ready to be turned into delicious soups.

Cauliflowers and leeks crying out to be coated in velvety Cheddar-cheese sauce.

Spinach and courgettes, perfect fried in a little olive oil with garlic.

They're plentiful and cheap. So don't hold back.

For me, the most autumnal vegetable of all has to be the pumpkin.

They're far too good just to save for Hallowe'en.

They're beautiful roasted,

make a wonderful filling for ravioli,

are sensational spiced up in soups and curries

and even make a great cake, topped with their own Zinc-rich seeds

that's not just for muesli munchers.

Pumpkins, for me, are really one of my favourite autumn vegetables,

with their fantastic colours and amazing tastes

that vary from very light and delicate to very dense and nutty.

I've come to Oxfordshire to harvest some of the best in the country.

By a stretch of Oxford canal,

Greg has been running one of Britain's best organic pumpkin and squash farms for 20 years.

It's a bountiful place and testament to Greg's passionate environmentalism.

You live like you're going to die tomorrow, but you farm like you're going to live for ever.

You look after the soil because it's the future.

Just over three months ago, the pumpkins seedlings burst through the ground.

Now it's September and they're ready for harvest.

It's immediate, just looking at this patch, that it's incredibly bountiful.

Everything is kind of bursting with growth.

There are all these fat babies lying around sucking everything up and it just looks prosperous.

Yes, very proud of this. I'm surprised you're not fatter.

Ha-ha! Too much work to do! Too much work to do.

In fact, I've got so much stuff I'm thinking about cloning myself.

Those are naked seed

and these are the ones that you cut open straightaway and eat the seeds out of.

There you go. Look at that!

It tastes like melon.

Nutty flavour.

You put these into soups and then put it through a blender, absolutely magnificent.

You just want to go on snacking on these things.

I'm going to get some more baskets out.

Just imagine what it would be like if he cloned himself. 100 Gregs running around.

I think the world would be a better place. It would be pretty barmy.

The first two weeks of September are the busiest on Greg's farm.

The pickers help bring in the harvest that can be as much as four tonnes.

Look at this big, fat baby. What a beauty!

Us Brits are waking up to the delights of pumpkin and squash, demand trebling

in the past five years, and Greg grows a dozen different varieties to meet this growing appetite.

Connecticut field pumpkin.

On Halloween, hallowed Eve, the last of October,

with a face carved in that,

guaranteed to keep the hobgoblins away from your house for a whole year.

What a colour!

That's techno orange. Techno orange.

These are the red onion squash.

The smaller the fruit, the more tasty it is.

They're vibrant little fellows.

These are the blue hubbards.

Yeah? A favourite of yours?

Yes, these are the ones that I like the best.

Really dark, sweet flavour. It bakes.

People in offices, shops, that only have a limited amount of time for lunch,

split open and microwave.

That's radical thinking. If you can get 200,000 secretaries to pop

one of these in the microwave at lunchtime, you'd be onto a winner.

I know. The pumpkins and squash are harvested in September,

but they don't all have to be eaten straightaway.

Stored correctly, they can last right through the winter.

These will last for months. Yes. They're like nature's tinned good.

The next step is to get the orders, to bag them, put them in the car

and deliver them to the shops and restaurants.

I'm going to cook some of the bumper crop to make a delicious soup for Greg,

his daughter Sarah and her husband.

I'm making the same soup recipe with four different varieties so we can find out which is the tastiest.

First, the one we all recognise.

A regular, field pumpkin.

My dad used to make this when I was very small and it was very exciting

because the pumpkin soup was put back into the shell.

It was brought from the table and the top would be lifted and the steam would swirl up.

It wasn't the eating that was so good, but the drama of it all.

I just want to take the lid off the pumpkin.

Be careful with the top because it'll be the lid later.

Take out the seeds and then scrape out all of the pulp for the soup.

Look at all this fantastic flesh.

One onion. Nothing has to be done in any great refinement at this point.

Pop a knob of butter in a pan. Then the onions in.

Black pepper.

A little grate of nutmeg.

Small piece of cinnamon stick.

Now for the pumpkin.

There's so much moisture inside this pumpkin that we're just going to let it cook and cook.

When the pumpkin is soft, add some rich chicken stock and salt

and leave it to bubble away for half-an-hour.

Now, that should be well and truly cooked. Now blend it.

That's about as smooth as I'm going to get it.

And the final ingredient - a good splash of medium sherry.

Then put it back in the oven until you're ready to serve.

Goodbye, sweet, regular field pumpkin.

See you in...half-an-hour.

Now I'm going to make the same recipe with all the others for our tasting.

In this rainy weather, comforting soup should really hit the spot.

Farm pumpkin soup.

That's an amazing table to look at.

That's all your wares.

First up for tasting is the field pumpkin.

Mmm, really nice.

There's savouriness, but there's that extra taste buds sensation.

There's a hint of nutmeg in there.

A hint of nutmeg.

Next, it's Greg's favourite, the blue Hubbard.

The Hubbard squash, in my opinion, has got the edge.

It always has the edge. Mm.

So, this is the red onion squash.

That one is really pale.

Which is the hot favourite?

I'll go for... The blue one. ..this one first.

That also is my favourite.

So the red-onion squash wins the soup-taste test.

Your pumpkins are really delicious.

They've all got totally different properties.

Come back any time, Val. Thank you very much.

We always have weeds to pull!

THEY LAUGH

I very rarely use a microwave, but I couldn't wait to see

if Greg's speedy pumpkin recipe would be the fast-food treat he promised.

First, get your hands on a small squash or pumpkin -

the blue Hubbard is ideal.

Remove the seeds and season well.

Pop in a lump of butter and microwave for around five minutes.

That's good. Greg was right.

It really is quick and delicious and all you have to wash up is the spoon.

Now for another favourite pumpkin recipe.

First, get your hands on any pumpkin or squash.

Scoop out the seeds and slice into wedges.

Arrange on a baking tray and scatter with thin slices of red onion.

Dribble over olive oil.

Add a good blast of pepper... and salt.

Roast for 15 minutes.

Then remove from the oven and turn the slices over.

Next, add some slivers of garlic...

..and a generous handful of sage leaves.

Return to the oven for a final ten minutes.

Arrange the pumpkin slices, but don't forget the wonderful caramelised onion, garlic and sage.

Finish with pine nuts and pecorino cheese for a wonderful sweet and savoury supper.

Courtesy of the gorgeous gourd, the pumpkin.

HE CHUCKLES

Onions are the unsung heroes of the kitchen.

Pokey in salads, browned for stews or pickled with the ploughman's,

these foot soldiers deserve a celebration for the work they do.

The little Gloucestershire town of Newent

has been praising the onion with an autumn harvest fair for over 800 years

and this September, I've come to pay homage at this onion party.

Autumn heaven. There's sweetcorn, cauliflowers, leeks.

It's abundant, abundant, abundant, but above all, it's onions, serious onions.

Later on, I'll be chomping raw onions for a place in the record books.

But first, I'm off to meet Mike Davies,

a member of the Royal Vegetable Society and one of last year's winning growers.

Good morning. Morning.

Pleased to meet you. Pleased to meet you, too.

Welcome to Newent. 3½ kilos. 3½ kilos.

It's a whopper. It's a whopper.

Have you eaten an onion that big? A little bit of seasoning,

on top of a piece of steak, there's nothing better.

That's...that's...Wow!

That's nice!

It's a big full bum of a thing!

Onions are part of the Allium family and there's a huge variety

for the hungry cook to choose from.

Red onions are mild in flavour, so they're great used raw in salads.

That's a good red onion, sliced up.

Forget cooking it, you want to eat that raw.

Shallots are lovely whole in casseroles and stews,

or you can chop them up finely and add them to dressings.

There's so much choice and variety of onions

it's completely overwhelming.

These, you can imagine them bobbing around in delicious pickle.

Fantastic shallots you want to eat.

It's high-quality produce in here.

I bet it tastes fantastic as well.

Here, they go by National Vegetable Society rules.

It's not the flavour, but the size, shape, uniformity

and colour that counts.

I've got a third. I'd have liked to get a first, but...

I think that is well done.

I'm beaten by better shallots, so that's what the show is all about.

Do you think this is fair, what you've been given? Yes.

Those are almost perfect, they are. All the same size.

All is fair in love and war and onions?

Well, yeah, we don't fight over things like that.

Yeah? Yeah, you come along and shake my hand...

I'd be grumbling with gritted jaw.

If you're going to be like that, you shouldn't be exhibiting.

As the onion fair draws to a close, it's time for the annual raw-onion-eating competition.

First to show their mettle are the women.

CHEERS AND SHOUTS

Then, it's my turn.

The onion-eating competition is nearly upon me. I'm feeling nervous.

Of course, I'm going to give it my best shot,

but there's a hardened air of real onion eating in this town.

CHEERING

Two minutes, 47 seconds. Well done.

The ladies look like tough competition.

Maybe I'm in the wrong category. I'm just about to start the men's.

Here we go. Wish me luck.

This is Jane from the Guinness Records. Give her a welcome.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Do you go in for minimal bites?

Average. You aren't a kind of...

You don't nibble at a high speed all the way? No.

These guys really mean business.

There's even one dressed as an onion.

OK, is everyone ready?

Three, two, one, go.

LOUD CHEERING

It's all in. This one is all in.

CHEERING

OK. Well done.

No Guinness World Record here today, I'm afraid.

That was one minute 11 seconds.

One minute 11?

Yes. The record is 48 seconds, so sorry, but no Guinness World Record.

But well done, everyone.

That was intense, but the sheer competition of it today,

I kinda forgot about how the onion tasted.

It was going down a lot better, but that, I think, was the nerves and the worry.

But, er, yeah. Wow.

I definitely had my fill of raw onion for today,

but I'll never tire of cooking these beautiful vegetables.

Onions are at their absolute best in autumn,

so I've offered to rustle up a special dish

for onion grower Mike Davies.

Onions, amazing onions.

I'm going to make something where the onions are hardly touched.

Start by cutting some ordinary cooking onions almost to their base.

Both ways, in a cross.

Sprinkle over a good amount of salt.

That's the thing about onions - they are quite meaty. If you just roast an onion

and eat it with nothing else,

it's a big, full, chunky, wholesome, filling good thing.

I can't get enough onions.

Add a sprinkle of sugar to bring out their sweetness

then poke some slices of butter in.

Now, some puff pastry to encase the onions.

Strip them naked then you dress them up again.

Roll out a thick layer of pastry

then cut out a base for each onion and place them on a baking tray.

Next, we're going to glue the lids on to the bottom.

It's really got to be very firm.

You want to keep all the steam in which will cook the onion.

Whisk an egg to make an egg wash.

Give it a good, solid coating.

The remaining pastry tops the onion parcel.

Lay it gently over the top.

Again, it's about onion love.

Try not to make any holes in it either.

Glaze the top with the egg wash and it's ready for the oven.

And look at those.

Very, very simple and very, very delicious.

After 45 minutes the pastry will be dark golden.

Mike. Oh, Valentine. Thank you very much.

Onions, onions in pastry.

I think there are few things as restorative.

It's fantastic, isn't it?

Good.

What do you think? I just think onions don't need much, on the whole.

Absolutely. You haven't got to go over the top to make anything nice like this.

Wonderful. Can I say, you've made me a very happy man today.

Your championing the same cause - the onion. The onion!

Today's been a real onion bonanza.

I think it's time we all followed the people of Newent and gave onions the love they deserve.

For a more refined to take on onion and pastry, take a mountain

of onions and get chopping for the most oniony tart ever.

Onions are the workhorses of cooking, but in this tart,

they get to be the star of the show.

Once finely chopped, dry your eyes and add half a pack of butter to a large pan.

Add the onions and cook gently until deliciously soft.

Now make the pastry.

In a blender, mix together some plain flour...

..diced butter...

two yolks and a pinch of salt.

When it's ready, knead well.

Once cooked to golden-biscuit brown, give it a short-back-and-sides,

cool, and then spoon in the onion mixture.

Dress it up to the nines with a showering of Parmesan

and some beautiful silver anchovies and pop in the oven.

As soon as it goes a wonderful, sizzling brown,

whisk it out of the oven and prepare to get your teeth into the tastiest autumn tart ever.

Mmm!

Beetroots are another of my absolute favourite vegetables,

and they're at their best at this time of year.

The sweet crimson beauty makes amazing salads and soups,

but sadly it's usually pickled to death then left on the shelf.

As it's the perfect time to eat it,

I'm on a quest to find the ultimate beetroot at a very special farm.

Food fads and fashions are always changing and in farming, biodynamic is the new organic.

Biodynamic farmers believe everything on Earth grows in connection

with natural forces in the cosmos.

Lunar cycles, astrology and potions

are at the centre of the farming year for around 100 biodynamic farms in the UK.

Spencer Christie grows beetroot using biodynamic methods

at his farm on the Blackwater estuary in Essex.

You have a healthy interest in cowpats. Why is this?

Well, have a look. This is really high in nitrogen, magnesium,

everything that you need for a really good manure to fertilise the vegetables.

The cow is really central to the whole biodynamic farm.

The cow's horn is an amazing conduit for spiritual messages, if you like.

Take him over there with his horns pointing upwards.

He's got a direct link through the horn right up into the cosmos.

So the cow's horns are a direct kind of aerial to cosmic alignment?

Absolutely. You can see it, you can see the way they're pointing upwards there, just like a TV aerial.

Do you talk to your cows? Of course we do. I told them you were coming.

I thought I was in tune with nature, but Spencer takes it to a whole new level.

To fertilise his beetroot and other vegetables he grows, Spencer

keeps several compost heaps, but of course this is no ordinary compost.

So, this is a big, active pile. Yes!

With the moon pulsing down on it.

What we're going to do now is add the magic.

Right. Is this your magic box?

This is the magic box, yes.

If you can make a hole going down about half a metre.

OK, this is the first preparation.

This is yarrow that has been dried and put in the bladder of a red deer,

a stag deer, hung up over summer

and then buried over winter.

This is getting really witchy now.

Spencer attends to his heap with love and attention and makes me apply for more potions,

all representing aspects of the human body.

In the heart of the heap is the nettle.

I'd never have thought that building a compost heap

could involve so much witchiness.

Lovely. Five months ago Spencer's special compost was used to plant beetroot seeds

and it has nourished the plants through the summer.

Now autumn's here, it's time to unearth some of his magical crop.

Look at these. Wow-ee!

These look really fat and healthy.

I mean, this is a coconut of a thing.

This is the first biodynamic beetroot I have ever clasped in

my hands and what a belter this one is, too.

And, of course, this being a biodynamic farm, there's a reason we're harvesting today.

On the moon calendar, today is a roots day

with the gravitational pull at its least,

and in Virgo, which is an Earth sign.

So we are picking beetroots at a most auspicious time.

Sounds good to me.

An auspicious time for beetroots.

Can I have a nibble of some of your raw beetroot? Absolutely.

That's got a super skin on it, hasn't it?

Wow! What a colour there.

This is an utterly delicious beetroot and it just hits you straightaway, first bite.

Biodynamic, I'm not totally sure if I...

But it's a very, very, very delicious beetroot, and that's, you know...

That's as much as you can say, really, isn't it?

What more can you want?

You can easily get your hands on fresh beetroot at this time of year from lots of shops.

For the best flavour it really is worth buying them raw and cooking your own.

Spencer's conjuring up a raw beetroot salad for me and I'm

hoping to align my cosmic beetroot with some zingy flavours that will send his taste buds into orbit.

I'm going to get straight on with it. I'm boiling my beetroot

and the golden rule with any beetroot,

whether you're roasting or boiling them -

don't peel them until they're cooked because you'll lose a lot of their fantastic taste.

Right, right. Leave the skin on.

I'm just taking that off.

I'm going to go and boil my beetroots.

Okey-doke. Well, I shall get peeling with mine, then.

I think Spencer's going to go a bit hippy healthy

on the whole thing, but I want to do something

a little bit more exciting and fiddled a little bit.

Does your beetroot creation have a name?

Yes, it does. What is it?

A beetroot and sultana salad.

OK, fair enough.

Just as it says on the tin. Yep, yep.

Mine is also going to have a raw element for your sake.

It's going to be beetroots with green sauce.

I'm going to start off with these little anchovies.

Finely chop anchovies, onion and garlic to give the sauce attitude.

Then add capers for their sharp, salty flavour.

I'm putting in a little bit of Dijon mustard now.

Parsley and mint add wonderful, herby freshness.

And some olive oil brings it all together.

I'm going to go and check my beetroots.

OK. I think I'll put a few sprigs on the top.

Spencer finishes his raw beetroot and sultana salad with fresh parsley.

The beetroots are boiled. Well done.

Perfect. Mm.

Wow!

I think we've done well here. Good, quick cooking.

Very quick. Yeah, yeah.

Spencer's partner Shannon comes to share my first biodynamic meal.

Welcome to the beetroot festival!

You've been busy. You're just in time for the beet fest.

I'm going to tuck in.

Ooh! I tell you what.

What? That's amazing!

It's got an incredible aftertaste to it.

And the textures, the two textures are superb together, aren't they? That's incredible!

Well I'm enjoying my health... My health salad here. Good man.

Shannon, what do you make of that?

I think it's beautiful, and I could eat the whole lot.

Thank you. Well, please go ahead and eat the whole lot.

Your beetroots, they're excellent.

They're nothing short of excellent. Well, that's wonderful.

And the biodynamic - all of it has been thrilling and extraordinary and magical

and strange and, um, odd, but look what it's produced!

Oh, that's great.

I'll never quite understand how the moon and the magic affected Spencer's beetroot,

but what I do know is they're the best I've ever tasted.