Episode 2 What to Eat Now

Summer, the most exciting time for the seasonal cook, has arrived.

The shops are crammed full of Mother Nature's bounty,

and the choice of ingredients leaves me dizzy with ideas.

Look at that. That is a splendid thing!

I'm Valentine Warner, chef by trade,

greedy by nature.

Go on, open wide. There you are, darling. Yum-yum.

From barbecues to picnics, lunches and teas,

I'll be taking you with me on a mouth-watering journey around Britain...

Whoa, whoa!

Now, I didn't expect that!

-Very...

-HE "SIZZLES"

-but not hot.

-Yeah.

That's really fantastic.

'..showing you what to eat now.' Bloody hell, that's good!

Tonight, it's all about picnics.

Forget soggy sandwiches, bin those papery pastries and eat like a king

with my definitive guide to al fresco dining.

I'll be seeking approval from the lady of the manor...

A "little boy" feel about you. A little pat on the back.

Well done, Val!

..being bossed about while bigging up broad beans...

I'm gonna get you to do all the dirty work!

..and making the cutest of cakes for your hamper.

That's really, really, really seriously delicious!

There's nothing that gets me more excited about summer

than heading into our beautiful countryside

to hang out with a bunch of friends and have a picnic.

For me, food tastes even better outside,

so hoick up your hamper, bundle up the blankets and pimp that picnic!

As a nation, we can definitely be a bit boring

when it comes to our picnic choices.

If you're fed up with soggy sandwiches, be inventive.

There's plenty of other things to make with a loaf of bread.

I'm gonna make an edible picnic hamper,

and it will be full of little goodies.

Cut off the top.

So, I'm hollowing this out to make a space for all the little passengers to hop inside.

Trust me, this is gonna be great.

That is what you're left with. Don't throw this away, it makes very good breadcrumbs or croutons.

Now for the goodies that will fill my bread basket.

First, some mayonnaise.

Add two yolks to a blender, along with a teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

Two roughly chopped cloves of garlic,

and a splash of white wine vinegar.

And here we go.

Very slowly, dribble in sunflower oil.

I like to use sunflower oil in my mayonnaise as well as olive oil,

because made with totally olive oil it becomes very heavy

and it becomes quite bitter.

This is a herb mayonnaise, so I'm adding my seasonal favourites -

basil, chives and tarragon.

And the tarragon will give that, kind of, liquorice,

aniseedy...twang.

Add the herbs to the blender and give it a good old blitz.

Season to taste with salt, pepper and sugar.

Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm!

Wow! It's got a real garlic hit, but I like that.

I think it gets about 8 or 9 on the yum-o-meter.

Put the yummy mayonnaise into a jar.

So, first entrant to the bread suitcase.

In it goes, absolutely perfect.

In go a couple of boiled eggs.

Now for the vegetable crudites.

First up, baby carrots,

cucumber batons and lovely pink radishes.

Even their little whiskers go in.

I like the little whiskers, nothing wrong with them.

Tomatoes, yellow pepper, and finally...

..I can't leave celery behind.

String it.

You get one of your little batons and you have some mayonnaise,

you crack an egg on your knee and peel it, break off a bit of bread.

Just have one last look in there.

I mean, how sweet is that?

Put it under your arm,

bottle of good, cold wine,

and off you go.

For me, a picnic's not a picnic without the crisp crunch of salad leaves.

And they're great to eat right now,

but there's more to the luscious lettuce than you might think.

In the height of summer, there's nowhere I'd rather be

than in a British vegetable garden

bursting with crisp and intriguing lettuces.

For me, summer is salad.

And I've heard of a secret garden,

here in the Yorkshire Dales,

that promises to woo me.

How fantastic!

This fabulous castle is the beautiful home

of Lord and Lady Downshire,

and they've got exacting standards when it comes to leafy greens.

But this couple leave their gardening to the expert.

Chris.

-Hi, hi!

-King of the kitchen garden!

Oh, ho-ho, I'm not so sure about that, but we try our best.

-You're at it already. Can I just drop to my knees and help?

-Absolutely, feel free!

LETTUCE begin!

That's right!

Chris Biggins has been the full-time gardener here for three years,

and is turning lettuce laying into an art form.

That'll look very pretty, red and green and red and green.

Yeah. The green one is "Winter Density", a cos lettuce,

and the other one is a variety called "Bijou".

Basically, the red one would get to the size of the green one, and in a perfect garden,

you'd have red, green, red, green, all of a size.

-Stop, go, stop, go?

-If I can stop them using them in the kitchen, we'll be all right!

Chris is giving me a guided tour of the garden

before I get to meet the lady of the manor,

and the lady does like her lettuce...a lot.

This is kind of Salad Central, this place. Endless possibilities.

Chris is currently growing eight different varieties.

And I'm planning on working my way through each and every one of them.

-Swiss chard.

-Swiss chard.

That's ruby chard, it's the mixture of red and yellow leaves.

Chard is a very delicious thing.

Rocket, which is really kind of going nuts, there.

-Yeah, try some.

-That's pokey! What have you been spraying on that? Wow-ee!

-Special liquid mix!

-Aagh!

There are around 50 amazing varieties of lettuce

grown in this country each year, and they're at their best right now.

I've just spied, round the corner, sorrel.

One of my favourite things in the salad bowl.

-Aah, sorrel! It is nice, isn't it?

-Not even the tops of vegetables escape my clutches.

They're a seasonal treat and great in a summer salad.

I love pea-tops. That is such a delicious thing.

It's got everything that peas have, but in leaf form.

Tasting the leaves, one at a time, just isn't me.

I fancy a cocktail of radish, "Bijou",

rocket and "Winter Density".

I don't mind a little bit of mud. A kind of sample cigar.

The ultimate simple salad recipe.

Nice, that, isn't it?

Lettuce might be easy to grow in this country,

but her ladyship's tastes are getting more and more exotic.

I grew up with these things that her ladyship in the house particularly likes.

Things like chickpeas. We tried to grow them last year and it's a tropical plant. It struggled.

I mean, to get a decent crop... We got a few, we got a handful - it really wasn't worth it.

-A handful or something?

-Yeah, a handful of chickpeas, yeah.

So I've met the master of the garden - now for the mistress of the mansion.

So, at last, permission to pick!

-We'll have to rein you back.

-And we're gonna raid your kitchen garden senseless!

'Janey is renowned for her picnic prowess,

'and we'll be throwing one for the family later on.

'We're both making a dish, so we're on the hunt for the greatest greens.'

You do your thing, I'll do mine. No peeking!

No peeking? Oh, all right. It's a competition, then, is it?

It's always a competition.

'And I hope she knows I wasn't kidding about the raiding!'

I love the lettuce season, and I feel like a kid in a candy shop.

I love the speed with which you pick everything.

You only have one life.

You could stop to look at some of it along the way.

-Well, I've been looking at it all day.

-OK.

Now I know what I need to do.

I'm not being greedy,

I just really like lettuce.

He's pulled up half the garden down there!

I'm nearly done. I've got to go onto the other side of the wall to get some carrots.

I think I've pushed my luck far enough, so time to get cooking.

The family will be choosing their favourite dish at this afternoon's picnic.

What are you doing with yours?

I'm going to do our family favourite. Chicken wraps with lots of salad ingredients -

cucumber and tomato and pepper - and I'm making some of my dressing.

I'm going to make just a big green salad

but with lots of lurky little things hiding among,

like spies in a wood.

I'm using leaves that pack a punch -

tasty chard, lemony sorrel and peppery radish-tops.

-I really enjoy using those things.

-You can buy me a new one if you break mine.

Why, was I a bit rough with it?

I want my salad to have a wealth of texture and colour,

so I'm adding my seasonal favourites -

peas, broad beans, spring onion, carrots and radish.

Do you think my salad's looking pretty, or do you think it looks...

-ugly?

-No, I think it looks beautiful!

-You're looking for a little pat on the back?

-Yeah, constantly!

A sort of "little boy" feel... a "little boy" feel about you!

A little pat on the back!

-You've done really well!

-Yeah, I fired a stone through your greenhouse window, actually!

Did you?!

Vinaigrette is a picnic-hamper staple that will brighten up any salad,

and mine is so easy that you'll never have to buy the bottled stuff again.

Mix chopped garlic with salt and Dijon mustard,

sugar and white wine vinegar.

Give it a stir to stop it splitting

when adding a serious glug of olive oil.

My summery salad dressing looks great, but I'm not sure about the look of Janey's vinaigrette.

It's very sort of dark, and sort of gloopy.

Dark and gloopy. So that gets poured on everything,

-and I don't mind if you put your finger in it.

-OK, great!

I don't know whether it's there yet.

That's very nice indeed.

It turns out the gloopy vinaigrette

goes very nicely with the chicken wraps,

which doesn't bode well for my chances of bagging the best dish.

It's very delicious, and your vinaigrette is very nice.

Although I would say that I think you should stop describing it as "a thick and gloopy sauce"!

Could you give me a name for it?

Dark and Stormy.

-Dark and Stormy?

-Mmm.

Let's hope the same can't be said

about the weather,

as we head outside for the picnic.

Brilliant, well done, everyone.

Janey's husband, Lord Nick, and the family

are joining us to see whose salad leaf creation is king of the crop.

Will it be my ultimate summer salad, or the lovely lady's chicken wraps?

Nick, I'm slightly worried that after this afternoon

-I haven't left you with much to eat in your kitchen garden!

-Is the garden stripped bare?

-Yeah.

Have two wraps - it's going to be a few weeks before the lettuce comes back.

Have you tried all the things that grow in your garden?

I'm not sure I've had all of them.

-Do you know what's there?

-Yeah.

-Do you go round nibbling a lot?

-What do you think?

-It's good!

-It's good?

-Very good!

Thank you very much!

I've so enjoyed this, absolutely delicious!

I'm afraid, Mummy, you've been outshone this time!

Victory at last!

Rocket to red chard, sorrel and spinach,

salad leaves are at their best right now, and you don't have to have a castle to get your hands on them.

The shops and markets are full to the brim, so get stuck in!

Lettuce isn't just something for the salad bowl.

Soup might not be something that you associate with summer,

but my chilled English garden soup

is delicious served out of a flask at a picnic.

Gently fry garlic and shallots in butter.

Peel and de-seed a cucumber, roughly slice and add to the pan.

Give it a good grating of nutmeg,

and cook over a medium heat until soft and translucent.

Tip fresh summer peas into the pan, along with chicken stock,

and let it bubble gently.

Spoon the mixture into a blender,

and blitz until smooth.

Tear in a whole round lettuce and a handful of de-stalked sorrel leaves and blend again.

Add creme fraiche, season with salt and white pepper,

and give it a final blast in the blender.

Once chilled, pour it into a flask for the picnic

and serve with prawns.

Delicious. Refreshing.

Lettuces, vegetable gardens,

summer, with prawns on top. Yum.

I'm an enormous fan of picnics

and know all the shortcuts when it comes to packing the hamper.

Here are my top tips to make eating al fresco a breeze.

The corkscrew - why can we never find it on a picnic?

And like children's mittens tied through their coats,

tie it onto your picnic hamper.

You should never, ever, ever have that problem again.

Salt and pepper - essential at a picnic.

One for salt...

and one for pepper.

It now leaves extra room to have a fat piece of cheddar or a slice of pie.

Lettuce can wilt when prepped in advance, but Little Gems are great carried whole.

Natural cups - really useful, hard to damage.

Mmm!

Ice - essential on a picnic, but how to keep it frozen?

And a thermos flask is as good at keeping things cold

as it is keeping things hot.

So, forget about warm orange squash.

Take a lemon, squeeze over ice, add sugar.

Give it a good stir.

And finally, sparkling water. Quick as you like it, lemonade!

Aah! Oooh! That's really sharp!

It's sweet, it's cold, it's everything you want on a really hot summer's day.

Living in a city doesn't mean that you're tied to supermarket shopping.

The melting pot of cultures leaves you spoilt for choice at the fabulous markets.

Church Street Market is at the centre of London's thriving Middle Eastern community,

and I've come here to find one of Britain's most maligned summer vegetables.

I'm totally, totally in love with broad beans.

They're my favourite summer vegetable.

Broad beans don't have the best of reputations in this country,

but I'm out to prove that they're more than just a wrinkly grey side dish at a Sunday roast.

We Brits might not love them, but the Egyptians certainly do.

-Hebba, hi!

-Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you, too. You're the Egyptian representative for broad-bean loving?

-Yes, I am! I hope I do a good job!

-Great!

Hebba lives up the road from me, and like most Egyptians, cooks and eats broad beans on a daily basis.

Can we have a lot of beans, please? Are you happy with these ones?

-Yeah, I am.

-What do you call broad beans in Arabic?

We call it - SHE SPEAKS IN ARABIC

HE SPEAKS IN ARABIC

In Egypt, the broad bean is a staple part of the diet, eaten by rich and poor alike.

What do you think the English problem with broad beans is?

Maybe people don't know what to do with them,

and maybe they're a bit time-consuming because they have to unplug them...

-But that's the nice, meditative part.

-That's the fun of it!

-I'm gonna stick those in your nice straw bag.

-In my man bag!

It's a very nice man bag!

Thanks a lot! Great!

Hebba and I are hosting a picnic later on,

and we're going to make two different dishes with our broad-bean bounty.

And as it's her kitchen, it's ladies first.

OK, Val, we're gonna need a lot of broad beans over here, so let's get podding.

-That much?

-Yeah.

Do Egyptian women run the kitchen at home?

-I would say across the board, that's their territory.

-Well, I will just do what I'm told, then!

-Yes!

-Hebba's making a traditional Egyptian dish -

a stew of broad beans, rice and beef.

They feel so nice as well, broad beans. I love their fluffy insides and soft velvety outsides.

-Yeah, exactly!

-Everything about them gives a feeling of joy.

-We've only got a few more left, come on!

-More podding, less chatting!

And there's me thinking it was gonna be a relaxing morning.

-I'm gonna get you to do all the dirty work.

-Aagh!

-Get the beef on soon, too.

-OK, OK, so hurry up.

Under madam's orders, I chop half a kilo of beef into perfect cubes.

-Is that to Cleopatra's liking?

-Yep, I would say so.

-Great.

The approved beef goes into the pan along with diced onion, dill and coriander.

My God, it smells fantastic!

But there's no time to idle in Hebba's kitchen,

as she sets me to work pounding 12 cloves of garlic.

Keep going, keep going!

Your bossy side is coming out!

-Yes, it will!

-We add my favourite broad beans along with three tablespoons of basmati rice.

Hebba dry-fries the garlic with some chard.

Wow, what a smell!

Once it's cooked for a further ten minutes, it's ready.

And after all that hard work, I can't wait!

-It smells heavenly!

-You can smell all the different flavours.

-You can smell all the different things!

-Mmm! Ladies first.

-Give us a spoon.

Oh, yeah, sorry! I forgot about you.

I want beans, I want meat, I want...

Don't burn your tongue!

That is absolutely sensational.

Broad beans grow amazingly well in Britain,

and a crop sown in early spring

will be ready to harvest mid to late summer.

They're delicious and incredibly versatile,

so why aren't we eating more of them?

Broad beans are so popular in Egypt that they're dried and used all year round

in dishes such as ful medames, the national dish.

-That smells absolutely delicious!

-Yeah.

The beans are stewed overnight with lentils and chickpeas in an Egyptian slow cooker.

-This is all-day Egyptian breakfast.

-All-day Egyptian breakfast.

-Yeah!

Hebba's meze-style Egyptian creations

will be perfect for our picnic.

That is...outstanding!

Wow! I feel nervous about cooking in front of you now!

Well, you should be!

And now I'm in charge, I'm making a dish named fruitalia,

which is a deliciously different Turkish omelette.

If you put some water on and peel two nice big handfuls of broad beans...

And it's payback time.

How does it feel being bossed around in your own kitchen?

If you call this bossed around, then I'm not feeling bossed around!

You see the thing is, when you're bossing around, you have to be, you know, be firm and...

Well...I am!

When these are cooked,

you are then going to shell all of them.

Oh, my gosh!

-You want bossing around, you get bossing around!

-OK.

The beans are blanched in boiling water,

and once cooled, are peeled of their skins.

I'm just trying to catch up with your rate of de-shelling and podding and everything...

I'm just struggling a bit.

Fry the onions in olive oil

with a pinch each of cumin, salt and pepper.

Then whisk up six large free-range eggs.

-Look, bright yellow!

-Mm-hm.

Techno green beans...

In goes the egg.

Add the beans, crumbled feta cheese

and roughly torn mint to the frying pan.

Mint and eggs are actually very good together.

-It seems like quite an odd combination, but it actually...

-I'm excited to try it.

The fruitalia cooks on the hob for a couple of minutes and is finished off under a warm grill,

but it's also great served cold, so perfect for a picnic.

-So this is my contribution.

-Mm-hm.

-I'm feeling it doesn't quite match up to your two winners.

-Wow!

-It's nicely-coloured.

-Mm-hm.

Ow, ow, ow!

-That looks divine!

-You see, nice and runny.

Yeah, I like my egg like that.

Mmm! That's so good!

Delicious. Soft, eggy...

Yeah, and the feta just, like, melts away in your mouth. It's so nice!

-Mmm!

-Would you say we've done the broad bean justice?

Oh, yeah, big time!

The great thing about picnic food, by definition, is it's portable.

You can eat it outside, you can eat it at work,

you can eat it in your car, you can eat it anywhere!

And we're eating ours with friends on Hampstead Heath,

London's premier picnic hotspot!

Have a mean slice.

Thanks a lot.

We tried to do three different things with broad beans. I think we've accomplished our mission.

I like the egg with the broad beans.

-Val, what do you think of the ful? Have you eaten this ful?

-It's absolutely delicious.

I had my hand slapped and was told to stop eating it because you'd be arriving later!

-I think we made a very good team.

-I really enjoyed it.

Cheers to the broad bean,

and thanks for a very nice day.

Thank you!

Cold cuts are a classic picnic partner

and paired with baby broad beans, make a delicious summer salad.

If you're short of hours in a day, this is the recipe for you.

Cool blanched broad beans quickly to keep their vibrant colour.

Finely dice a clove of garlic,

and add to the beans along with a pinch of salt and a twist of pepper.

Give it a good glug of olive oil,

roughly tear in a small handful of Spanish cured ham,

and finally, add a splash of sherry vinegar.

Super simple, and totally yummy.

If broad beans aren't your bag,

at this time of the year, the shops and markets

are crammed full of seasonal goodies

to make your picnic pack a punch.

Vying for our greedy attentions at the moment are summer-soft herbs.

Chives and chervil, marjoram, parsley and basil -

perfect made into a salsa verde,

spooned over sliced new potatoes and packed into the hamper.

And in the fishmonger's, two great-value treats to look out for

are the much underrated bream and the deliciously delicate trout,

fantastic poached and flaked into salads.

Also look out for big, juicy cherries,

lovely made into a sweet, red-blooded pie.

It's brilliant to have something sweet on a picnic,

but transporting cakes can be a terrific waste of space,

and quite often they get squidged and sat on.

This is very easy to make, it's a portable pudding - honey buns.

These cute little cakes are delicious soaked in a sweet, honey syrup.

First up, the cake batter.

Mix together flour, sugar and instant yeast.

If you can get into it!

Then, a pinch of salt.

Add three eggs and soft butter and give it a good beating to aerate the batter.

This is looking very rich, very soft, glossy...

Come on!

Work it! Work it, hard!

Spoon into a muffin tray,

leave for an hour to rise,

then bake in a hot oven for 12 to 14 minutes,

but keep your eye on the little fellas,

as they have a tendency to cook quickly.

And now I'm going to make the delicious, hopelessly sweet syrup.

Place 500ml of water and 500g of sugar in a saucepan.

I love sweet things and I'm pretty hyperactive already,

but two honey buns eaten at 7 o'clock in the evening, and I'll be still going at 5 in the morning.

Add the zest of one unwaxed orange

and place the pan on the heat to dissolve the sugar.

Nice and clear. Now the honey's going in.

Allow the syrup to cool, then add the alcoholic kick -

three generous tablespoons of orange liqueur.

Careless tablespoons.

Oops!

Let's turn this... Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow...

I get so excited, I forget to take precautions!

They look amazing, but they also smell amazing!

And that smell of warm baked stuff...mmm!

Once cooled, add them to a jar and soak in the sweet, sticky syrup.

Packed like this, these will last for a month,

but they rarely last a day, really!

Because I can't resist the urge to dig in!

Mmm, that's really,

really, really, seriously delicious. Seriously sweet.

So there's more to picnics than grizzly pastries and soggy sandwiches.

Roll your blanket, hoick up the hamper

and make picnics the perfect pastime!

It's what summer was invented for.

Tastes great!

Yum!

Next time, it's summer food for special occasions.

That is a summer belter.

-I go grappling for guinea fowl...

-Go on, go on, get it!

And send Cornwall's finest fishermen out on a mission.

You won't get it fresher than that.

If it was any fresher, you'd have to spank it!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]