The Naked Chef (1999) s01e06 Episode Script
Girlfriend
Naked's what I call my way of cooking.
What I cook in the restaurant isn't what I cook at home.
Cooking's gotta be a laugh.
It's gotta be simple - it's gotta be tasty - it's gotta be fun.
I suppose you could say it's stripping down the recipe to its bare essentials.
No way it's not me it's the food.
You're up very early this morning Jamie.
Yeah it is a bit early isn't it - no I've got my girlfriend Jules coming round for lunch today - I've been neglecting her a bit lately so er - down the flower market and get some nice flowers - see if I can er - make up some lost ground.
Are you gonna cook anything special? Yeah yeah - I've got a really nice fish dish - a really good one and er - I'm gonna do like baked chocolate tart - which is like spot on so - she's made for chocolate anyway so Supposed to be an aphrodisiac isn't it chocolate? Hi - could I have a couple of the white and one of the light blue please.
Lovely - thank you very much - cheers mate - bye.
CHOCOLATE TRAT Right this chocolate tart is a real cracker.
I've gotta sweet pastry tart shell - in the freezer, completely frozen - just gonna whack it in the oven for about 10 minutes so it's slightly golden.
Er - cos it's frozen it doesn't seem to shrink - that's a bit of a trick and er - I'll get on with the filling.
So I need some butter - unsalted butter - I need 140 grams.
And I'll just guess it - it's about normally about 3/4 of a pack and I just weigh it to check.
Ooh bad guess.
I'm losing it.
Let's try again.
That's right - so 140 grams of butter and then I've got the chocolate here yeah.
It's dark chocolate.
It's 70% cocoa solids which is - basically this is the best stuff I could get in the supermarket.
So it's 150 grams of chocolate in there.
I'm gonna need a pinch of salt in there.
Just a little one.
When I worked in France I worked with this really good French patisseriere and he always used to say to me - er when you cook with chocolate you must always put er a little pinch of salt in there and it brings out the flavour in the chocolate and I was kind of a little bit kind of - oh yeah mate yeah I believe you.
But what he did was we made two batches of canache up which is like a chocolate bases and er one we sold without and it made all the difference - it really made it lovely jubbly and yummy.
So - pinch of salt.
Cocoa.
I need 8 sort of levelish tablespoons of er here we are eight levelish tablespoons of cocoa powder and that's gonna give it a really good bitterness.
Er - but by the time we've put all the other stuff in there it won't be horribly bitter - it'll just there in the background.
So do you think chocolate tart is something you'd always make it you wanted to impress a girlfriend? I think it's a good thing for the girls cos the girls tend to be er - rather into the old chocolate you know.
Yeah definitely.
I think it's quite a romantic thing you know - chocolate.
I'm just gonna put a little bit of water in a pot.
Er - put it on a little heat.
And let it melt slowly.
Just forget about it - give a stir every couple of minutes.
Butter, the chocolate, the cocoa, the salt all mixed up - be nice and shiny and lovely.
That's basically the base for the cake yeah - where all the flavour's at - that's where it's all happening.
What we need to do now is get the other side of the cake which is kind of the lift and the texture.
And for that I've got four eggs - large, free range.
Nice yellow yolks you know.
Now I need to put 200 grams of sugar in that.
Castor sugar.
Just whisk it up.
One dissolve the sugar and also to get a little bit of air in the there and give the whole texture sort of like a really kind of light pale, fluffy consistency.
So are you planning quite a romantic day today for Juliette? Yeah well kind of - it's a bit of a miserable day so I'm a bit annoyed at that.
But er - yeah I'm gonna make a nice lunch - go out for a nice walk.
Chill out.
Might do something nice in the evening.
Just spend a bit of time together really.
Bit of quality time.
Try and get in the old good books again mate - get out the dog house.
Right, so that's nice and smooth yeah.
And then we've got two little secret ingredients which are a bit different from the norm.
Got some sour cream and some golden syrup.
And basically - the old sour cream gives a lovely kind of acidity - little bit of a sourness which is beautiful - makes all the difference.
Lightens it up a little bit and I want three tablespoons of that.
You can use creme freche if you wanted.
The sour cream's slightly more yoghurty.
Creme freche is probably a bit more creamy but they both have that really wonderful sort of acidity which is lovely.
And then we've got this golden syrup - nice traditional sort of ingredient.
Quite old fashioned really? Quite old fashioned yeah - but I tell you what this - it gives this tart yeah? It gives it a nice kind of toffeeness which is good for flavour but also you know gives it that little bit of a chew.
And I like all that.
Makes a bit of a difference and three tablespoonsish of that.
Must be fantasic having a boyfriend who can cook? You reckon? You tell that to my girlfriend.
She just thinks I'm a bit strange.
The other day she came walked in and found me watching - the telly was on and she found me watching the rotisserie and the roast chicken just going around.
She thought I was really weird and very sad.
So just mix this up together.
Just until it's smooth basically.
Right - so that's all done.
That's all mixed up.
Let's just check on the old choc.
can use this spoon again.
Nearly there.
So this is where all the chocolate is really like mega flavours.
Just lovely and shiny.
Right so now I will get my spatula which is a bit of a handy tool in er - in the dessert situation because it means you can get everything out of the bowl and why it's important to get everything out of the bowl is cos like desserts and baking and stuff is a bit more like chemistry as opposed to cooking.
Now whereas you're doing sort of roast and meals and stuff you can be a bit more - you can personalise it a bit more freely and do what you like but quite important to weigh everything you know what I mean otherwise you find that either doesn't taste as nice or it hasn't risen or something like that.
Which is always a bit of a downer.
Ever had any terrible disasters? Oh mate - I've had so many disasters you wouldn't believe - I've lost count.
I've had so many bad ones.
Yeah - I mean I make all my mistakes at home.
I try to anyway.
Right - that's looking good - right - tart shell.
So the tart shell I put in for about 10 minutes I suppose - just until it's slightly golden and we know it's just about cooked.
But we're gonna plunk this straight in there now and it's gonna go mad - absolutely mad.
The chocolate's gonna puff up - look absolutely pukka.
Just carefully put it in the old oven - I normally spill it at this stage.
And I cook it for about 40 minutes at about 150 - be spot on.
RADISH AND FENNEL SALAD I'm gonna make a really, really fantastic salad - it's so simple I'm almost embarrassed to tell you about it.
But basically it's a combination of raddish - quite mustardy and fennel - really nice and aniseedy - really like crisp - little gem of a salad.
What's I'm gonna do right - get myself a bowl.
I got these from the supermarket.
It's a really good thing cos like just lately in the supermarket I mean like over the last 2 years, er - like we've got loads and loads of radishes all a sudden.
Like we used to have to have the boring old round ones.
Now we've got oval ones and we've got oval ones with sort of white bits and they look funky and some are really mustardy and some aren't quite so mustardy.
You get those big er - what they called - mouly sort of like the Asian type ones - black ones, white ones.
No it's just brilliant.
I think they're terribly, terribly underrated and really, really tasty.
So what I do is basically these have got lovely leaves on - er - I've given 'em a wahs.
There's no dirt of anything on - I just cut the stalks off about an inch above the raddish and as far as I'm concerned that is perfect.
I wanna eat all of that - you know there's no point in chopping in all away and then what I do is just slice off one end and then I roll it onto that flat edge and then just slice as fine as I possibly can.
Is it something that goes very well with fish - this? Oh you wouldn't believe how good it goes with fish.
If you imagine like the nice sort of fragrant tasty old fish and then this kind of zing really nice sort of crunch salad.
I mean to me that just makes complete sense.
And that's what cooking's all about really you know - you don't just do things because they're fashionable or cos you're told to - you do things cos you like to eat them together do you know what I mean? I've got some leaves here.
Right - and you just pick out any dodgy ones - I won't want all of them but I'm gonna keep about half of them.
Just er - finely slice 'em.
They're really tasty as well.
And we always chuck 'em away in England.
I don't know why - nothing wrong with it at all.
They're quite like sorrel - almost you know quite a fresh flavour.
What does sorrel taste like? You know when you put a battery on your tongue - gives you that kind of zing - well it's kind of like a very light version of that - it's quite zingy - quite juicy, quite fresh.
And er - basically quite nice.
And I'll show you these old fennels - look at these.
Absolutely fantastic.
You can do anything with this.
You can roast it.
You can stew it - you can pan fry it.
You can do what you like with it.
It's really, really fantastic.
But in salads they're brilliant and I'm just gonna take the old bottom off.
Right - and normally you can pick that old bit off - put it in stocks or whatever.
In actual fact I'll keep that - er - and put that in the fish.
It'll add loads of flavour and then round the top just take it off and er - I've got these bits left over in actual fact I'll put those in the old fish as well.
That's - some people chuck that away and it makes me really angry.
It's like the herby part and they're absolutely fantastic - really delicate - really good looking - really fresh looking, so we'll keep them for salad.
What I'll do is put the old fennel on a flat edge and just slice it as thinly as you possibly can.
Just keep turning it onto its flat edge and you just get really nice big shaves.
And if you've got one of the mandolin things you can use one of those - be bit careful.
The raddish and the fennel - they're quite strong flavours aren't they both them? Yeah - well I mean I think they're fantastic.
I mean the thing is right sometimes flavours like have a bit of a ruck do you know what I mean and it doesn't work, but quite frankly I reckon these are like best mates do you know what I mean.
They have a real good laugh together and I think it really works.
And you know sometimes it works like that and sometimes it doesn't.
But whop all that in there.
The old fennel tops just roughly or finely chopped.
Chuck 'em in there and then I want some oil - just about two or three tablespoons - basically just enough to cover what you've got.
Er - I probably need about a lemon - one lemon for this - er - but you do it to taste normally.
I don't want any pips they're horrible.
Get that in there and then at a guess I wanna good pinch of salt.
A good pinch of pepper and then just mix it all together.
And the colours you know I can feel it's lovely and crunchy and actually - just get a plate - Get all this nicely mixed up and let's have a little taste.
Ah yeah - that's - I know this is the most simple recipe in the whole wide world, but to me things like that, that work just sum cooking up all for me - especially at home, you want things to be simple, you want really good results.
And I'm just well chuffed with that.
That's what cooking's all about.
And so quick? So quick mate - I'm excited.
See you after long time - it's nearly 3 weeks.
You look smashing.
Really nice you look.
So you ask me to make something really nice for you? Yes mate - I'd like some of your lovely bread - just a little loaf or something.
Oh my God! You always do exactly the same thing every - always go over the top.
You pick him up and you say Juliette Because I'm busy and you know you're busy as well That's beautiful mate.
- Okay look after yourself - chow.
Take care.
Chow Bella! POTATOES AND DILL I wanna do some new potatoes to go with the fish.
I'm doing it really really simply but there's a real kind of knack of doing if really, really good.
And what I did - I got my new potatoes and I give 'em a scrub with a green scrubber - so that kind of layer of skin has come off and it kinda leaves it a bit rough.
So when you put all the lovely oil and herbs and lemon juice on later it just it just coats it - sucks it all up and just - the all round potato tastes absolutely beautiful so what I've done is I've just boiled them once - after I've scrubbed them in salted boiling water.
And I've got some really nice dill.
All I do is just pick off all the nice bits, get rid of the horrible fat stalks.
Tell you what is was so nice of Genoa? To do that you know - bake the bread for me.
He's done it for me - he does it for me all the time.
But Italians are so romantic and you tell him you're cooking for your girlfriend and they start doing heart shapes and big ones and - kind of makes me feel a bit bad about all the times I've stitched him up at work.
I remember once we had a big shipment of the white truffles come in cos he was a mushroom man - he used to deal with all that and they're like 1400 a kilo and he was kind of brushing them and weighing them to make sure that ship - you know the shipment was er - you know all above board and so on - the old invoice - and the phone went and he went to answer it and I went and swapped about a 1000 worth of truffles for new potatoes and er - when he came back he started realising that things weren't quite right and he started sniffing 'em and groping 'em and started swearing in Italian and I disappeared the fridge kind of like really laughing looking through the kind of joint in the door.
Then after about three minutes of that he turned round and saw me like really like laughing my head off in the corner in the fridge and er - ran over and said don't ever do that again - you nearly give me a heart attack! Oh God I feel bad.
Right so just chop this - er - dill up - kind of rough and then just chuck it in an old bowl.
See how these are going.
Yeah - the nice thing about really good new potatoes is that they should be almost creamy - do you know what I mean - these are really good - mmm - Shake off all the steam.
But we'll let 'em go for a minute but while they're still hot we're gonna dress them and that's just gonna make 'em taste so good you wouldn't believe.
And the funny thing is it's really simple things like a little bit of scrubbing, dressing 'em while they're hot - things like that, that make things taste so much better and people always go what did you do? So you think it's the little things in cooking that make the difference? I think it's the little things and the little bit of care that counts.
Just put 'em in - bit of dill - squeeze over a lemon.
Olive oil -just a little lug - enough to coat.
Salt and pepper.
And just dress it - or toss it - mix it up - whatever you want to call it.
Would you use any other herbs other than just dill? Oh God yeah - I mean like - things like dill and mint are like the classic sort of new potato partners you know - but things like parsley when it's really good and fresh er - basil's lovely.
You could do coriander if you're in the mood.
Just anything - any sort of delicate herb really.
BAKED FISH IN FOIL This is an absolutely fantastic way to cook fish.
The trick is that is we make a tin foil envelope and we cook - that means we cook everything in it - got the herbs, got the fish - got the lemon juice - we've got the oil and all these things cook away and basically you've got your main course meal and you've got the sauce all made for you.
Roll out a bit of tin foil four times bigger than your fish right.
Basically it's because we're gonna double wrap it just to be safe you know so it's a nice thick bag.
Fold it in half like that and then I've got a really nice fish.
It's a lovely sea bass.
And I went to the fishmonger and I've had it scaled and gutted for me so I haven't got to do any of that malarkey.
It's about 2 pound which is more than enough for me and Jules.
You normally - you lose about a pound like at least half in bones and stuff.
Do you always make this dish with whole fish or could you use steaks? Oh you could use whatever you like - you can use cuts - I like to use whole fish when I possibly can because all the kind of bones within it kind of help to make the meat really tasty and the juice really tasty and juicy as well you know.
So I'm must scoring it at an angle - not deeply at all - just a little bit thinly and what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna get a good pinch of salt and I'm gonna sprinkle that on the fish on both sides - I'm gonna kind of go against the grain and push that into those gaps.
And do that on both sides.
And that's to get in all that flavour right in there.
And then a good pinch of pepper on both sides and do exactly the same - just push that right in there and you know that - that's what it's all about really.
Little things like that make things really, really tasty.
So what I need now is kind of the really delicate kind of flavour enhancers and you can do what you like you know let your imagination take - take you really, but I've got some bay leaves.
I've got this red onion.
I've got these bits of fennel that were left over from the salad which were a bit stringy.
And some fresh basil which is good - really, really nice basil.
Now what I'm gonna do is finely chop this fennel.
And we probably won't eat this fennel - you could but we probably won't eat it because you know I just want it to enhance the sauce really.
And then all you've gotta do is just mix it all up a bit and then make - lay it all out - kind of equally over here.
Pat it all down.
And then put the fish on top of it - like just like a trivet? If you're roasting a bit of meat or something like that.
And just push it to one end.
Why do you do that? To keep the bottom of the - the bottom side of the bass off all the liquor and the juice cos you don't want it - you don't want the top sort of steaming lovely and bottom kind of boiling away.
And I'm gonna peel - peel an onion and slice it really thinly and these red onions seem to be nice and - and sweet.
And the thing about red onion as well - when you cut it quite thinly and it's a really delicate taste.
Just break it up a little bit and just kind put it all around - and I tell you what we will do - we'll put a little bit of salt in the cavity - in the actual cavity of the fish - just before we put anything inside it and then we'll shove some onion in there.
And just push all these things tight next to it so they all kind of hug in it really.
And then what I want is I've got lovely basil - you know I wanna stuff that cavity right full of lovely fresh herbs and keep the stalks on - you can bruise 'em or snap 'em or break 'em just to get the flavours going a bit.
But just stuff that right in there - full you know like well OTT you know.
But just imagine all those flavours in the belly - all kind of steaming as it cooks into the belly and then you know all this around it making that lovely juice which is so tasty.
And then pick all these bits of bay leaf - just kind of rip 'em over.
What other combinations of fish and flavouring could you make? There's so many - you can just let your - just let your imagination go wild.
I mean - you can do like Monk fish studded with anchovies - rosemary, white wine, butter - you can do? with cherry tomatoes and olives - you can do Salmon with asparagus and mint.
You can do - you can do Cod with chick peas and chillie and lime and parsley.
You can do - give me another thing? Trout? Give me trout - smashed up thyme and lemon - very, very nice.
You know all wrapped up in a bag - goodness - cook 'em away.
They're all fantastic like that but you know if you like two things together then think well can I incorporate it into the bag.
I mean this can be a simple or as complex as you want.
I mean if I just did this with like flat leaf parsley and lemon it would still be gorgeous you know.
And no washing up either? No just chuck it all away - no washing up.
And I like that cos I - you know I'm not partial to scrubbing I must admit.
Nice lug of olive oil.
And what we want is a good knob of butter - about a good two, three ounce knob of butter.
You can put it on it - inside of it - er - you know around it - whatever.
And then the final thing that makes it really really work - is about two or three lemons - two juicy ones of three if they're not so juice.
And this lemon's gonna - well it's gonna flavour it but it's also gonna melt with the old butter to make the most outrageous sauce you can imagine.
Get it all on there.
All done -just push the old fish forward a little bit.
You can't really go wrong here unless you're really rough and you - and you pierce the tin foil.
So fold it over in half - just like you would like an envelope or - or a Christmas present or something like that.
And push the two ends together and then really tightly and firmly fold cos you don't want this to leak.
Right - and then you go to one end - just until you can start to feel the flesh you know.
And then the last one right and then the last trick is just where you've folded it just kind of bring it up so it's not kind of flopping onto the tray - so there aren't any little gaps then it won't escape.
Right and that's it - all done - all raring to go.
Just gent very, very carefully - you don't want to pierce it now - put it onto the old tray - in the oven - 220 degrees - 8 minutes per pound.
Two pound fish - 16 minutes - so whack it in the oven - when it comes out the oven the little trick is actually that - let it rest for about three or four minutes.
Let it chill out.
And that just makes it taste a lot better.
Take it out to the table - it's all puffed up.
Whip it open - steam
What I cook in the restaurant isn't what I cook at home.
Cooking's gotta be a laugh.
It's gotta be simple - it's gotta be tasty - it's gotta be fun.
I suppose you could say it's stripping down the recipe to its bare essentials.
No way it's not me it's the food.
You're up very early this morning Jamie.
Yeah it is a bit early isn't it - no I've got my girlfriend Jules coming round for lunch today - I've been neglecting her a bit lately so er - down the flower market and get some nice flowers - see if I can er - make up some lost ground.
Are you gonna cook anything special? Yeah yeah - I've got a really nice fish dish - a really good one and er - I'm gonna do like baked chocolate tart - which is like spot on so - she's made for chocolate anyway so Supposed to be an aphrodisiac isn't it chocolate? Hi - could I have a couple of the white and one of the light blue please.
Lovely - thank you very much - cheers mate - bye.
CHOCOLATE TRAT Right this chocolate tart is a real cracker.
I've gotta sweet pastry tart shell - in the freezer, completely frozen - just gonna whack it in the oven for about 10 minutes so it's slightly golden.
Er - cos it's frozen it doesn't seem to shrink - that's a bit of a trick and er - I'll get on with the filling.
So I need some butter - unsalted butter - I need 140 grams.
And I'll just guess it - it's about normally about 3/4 of a pack and I just weigh it to check.
Ooh bad guess.
I'm losing it.
Let's try again.
That's right - so 140 grams of butter and then I've got the chocolate here yeah.
It's dark chocolate.
It's 70% cocoa solids which is - basically this is the best stuff I could get in the supermarket.
So it's 150 grams of chocolate in there.
I'm gonna need a pinch of salt in there.
Just a little one.
When I worked in France I worked with this really good French patisseriere and he always used to say to me - er when you cook with chocolate you must always put er a little pinch of salt in there and it brings out the flavour in the chocolate and I was kind of a little bit kind of - oh yeah mate yeah I believe you.
But what he did was we made two batches of canache up which is like a chocolate bases and er one we sold without and it made all the difference - it really made it lovely jubbly and yummy.
So - pinch of salt.
Cocoa.
I need 8 sort of levelish tablespoons of er here we are eight levelish tablespoons of cocoa powder and that's gonna give it a really good bitterness.
Er - but by the time we've put all the other stuff in there it won't be horribly bitter - it'll just there in the background.
So do you think chocolate tart is something you'd always make it you wanted to impress a girlfriend? I think it's a good thing for the girls cos the girls tend to be er - rather into the old chocolate you know.
Yeah definitely.
I think it's quite a romantic thing you know - chocolate.
I'm just gonna put a little bit of water in a pot.
Er - put it on a little heat.
And let it melt slowly.
Just forget about it - give a stir every couple of minutes.
Butter, the chocolate, the cocoa, the salt all mixed up - be nice and shiny and lovely.
That's basically the base for the cake yeah - where all the flavour's at - that's where it's all happening.
What we need to do now is get the other side of the cake which is kind of the lift and the texture.
And for that I've got four eggs - large, free range.
Nice yellow yolks you know.
Now I need to put 200 grams of sugar in that.
Castor sugar.
Just whisk it up.
One dissolve the sugar and also to get a little bit of air in the there and give the whole texture sort of like a really kind of light pale, fluffy consistency.
So are you planning quite a romantic day today for Juliette? Yeah well kind of - it's a bit of a miserable day so I'm a bit annoyed at that.
But er - yeah I'm gonna make a nice lunch - go out for a nice walk.
Chill out.
Might do something nice in the evening.
Just spend a bit of time together really.
Bit of quality time.
Try and get in the old good books again mate - get out the dog house.
Right, so that's nice and smooth yeah.
And then we've got two little secret ingredients which are a bit different from the norm.
Got some sour cream and some golden syrup.
And basically - the old sour cream gives a lovely kind of acidity - little bit of a sourness which is beautiful - makes all the difference.
Lightens it up a little bit and I want three tablespoons of that.
You can use creme freche if you wanted.
The sour cream's slightly more yoghurty.
Creme freche is probably a bit more creamy but they both have that really wonderful sort of acidity which is lovely.
And then we've got this golden syrup - nice traditional sort of ingredient.
Quite old fashioned really? Quite old fashioned yeah - but I tell you what this - it gives this tart yeah? It gives it a nice kind of toffeeness which is good for flavour but also you know gives it that little bit of a chew.
And I like all that.
Makes a bit of a difference and three tablespoonsish of that.
Must be fantasic having a boyfriend who can cook? You reckon? You tell that to my girlfriend.
She just thinks I'm a bit strange.
The other day she came walked in and found me watching - the telly was on and she found me watching the rotisserie and the roast chicken just going around.
She thought I was really weird and very sad.
So just mix this up together.
Just until it's smooth basically.
Right - so that's all done.
That's all mixed up.
Let's just check on the old choc.
can use this spoon again.
Nearly there.
So this is where all the chocolate is really like mega flavours.
Just lovely and shiny.
Right so now I will get my spatula which is a bit of a handy tool in er - in the dessert situation because it means you can get everything out of the bowl and why it's important to get everything out of the bowl is cos like desserts and baking and stuff is a bit more like chemistry as opposed to cooking.
Now whereas you're doing sort of roast and meals and stuff you can be a bit more - you can personalise it a bit more freely and do what you like but quite important to weigh everything you know what I mean otherwise you find that either doesn't taste as nice or it hasn't risen or something like that.
Which is always a bit of a downer.
Ever had any terrible disasters? Oh mate - I've had so many disasters you wouldn't believe - I've lost count.
I've had so many bad ones.
Yeah - I mean I make all my mistakes at home.
I try to anyway.
Right - that's looking good - right - tart shell.
So the tart shell I put in for about 10 minutes I suppose - just until it's slightly golden and we know it's just about cooked.
But we're gonna plunk this straight in there now and it's gonna go mad - absolutely mad.
The chocolate's gonna puff up - look absolutely pukka.
Just carefully put it in the old oven - I normally spill it at this stage.
And I cook it for about 40 minutes at about 150 - be spot on.
RADISH AND FENNEL SALAD I'm gonna make a really, really fantastic salad - it's so simple I'm almost embarrassed to tell you about it.
But basically it's a combination of raddish - quite mustardy and fennel - really nice and aniseedy - really like crisp - little gem of a salad.
What's I'm gonna do right - get myself a bowl.
I got these from the supermarket.
It's a really good thing cos like just lately in the supermarket I mean like over the last 2 years, er - like we've got loads and loads of radishes all a sudden.
Like we used to have to have the boring old round ones.
Now we've got oval ones and we've got oval ones with sort of white bits and they look funky and some are really mustardy and some aren't quite so mustardy.
You get those big er - what they called - mouly sort of like the Asian type ones - black ones, white ones.
No it's just brilliant.
I think they're terribly, terribly underrated and really, really tasty.
So what I do is basically these have got lovely leaves on - er - I've given 'em a wahs.
There's no dirt of anything on - I just cut the stalks off about an inch above the raddish and as far as I'm concerned that is perfect.
I wanna eat all of that - you know there's no point in chopping in all away and then what I do is just slice off one end and then I roll it onto that flat edge and then just slice as fine as I possibly can.
Is it something that goes very well with fish - this? Oh you wouldn't believe how good it goes with fish.
If you imagine like the nice sort of fragrant tasty old fish and then this kind of zing really nice sort of crunch salad.
I mean to me that just makes complete sense.
And that's what cooking's all about really you know - you don't just do things because they're fashionable or cos you're told to - you do things cos you like to eat them together do you know what I mean? I've got some leaves here.
Right - and you just pick out any dodgy ones - I won't want all of them but I'm gonna keep about half of them.
Just er - finely slice 'em.
They're really tasty as well.
And we always chuck 'em away in England.
I don't know why - nothing wrong with it at all.
They're quite like sorrel - almost you know quite a fresh flavour.
What does sorrel taste like? You know when you put a battery on your tongue - gives you that kind of zing - well it's kind of like a very light version of that - it's quite zingy - quite juicy, quite fresh.
And er - basically quite nice.
And I'll show you these old fennels - look at these.
Absolutely fantastic.
You can do anything with this.
You can roast it.
You can stew it - you can pan fry it.
You can do what you like with it.
It's really, really fantastic.
But in salads they're brilliant and I'm just gonna take the old bottom off.
Right - and normally you can pick that old bit off - put it in stocks or whatever.
In actual fact I'll keep that - er - and put that in the fish.
It'll add loads of flavour and then round the top just take it off and er - I've got these bits left over in actual fact I'll put those in the old fish as well.
That's - some people chuck that away and it makes me really angry.
It's like the herby part and they're absolutely fantastic - really delicate - really good looking - really fresh looking, so we'll keep them for salad.
What I'll do is put the old fennel on a flat edge and just slice it as thinly as you possibly can.
Just keep turning it onto its flat edge and you just get really nice big shaves.
And if you've got one of the mandolin things you can use one of those - be bit careful.
The raddish and the fennel - they're quite strong flavours aren't they both them? Yeah - well I mean I think they're fantastic.
I mean the thing is right sometimes flavours like have a bit of a ruck do you know what I mean and it doesn't work, but quite frankly I reckon these are like best mates do you know what I mean.
They have a real good laugh together and I think it really works.
And you know sometimes it works like that and sometimes it doesn't.
But whop all that in there.
The old fennel tops just roughly or finely chopped.
Chuck 'em in there and then I want some oil - just about two or three tablespoons - basically just enough to cover what you've got.
Er - I probably need about a lemon - one lemon for this - er - but you do it to taste normally.
I don't want any pips they're horrible.
Get that in there and then at a guess I wanna good pinch of salt.
A good pinch of pepper and then just mix it all together.
And the colours you know I can feel it's lovely and crunchy and actually - just get a plate - Get all this nicely mixed up and let's have a little taste.
Ah yeah - that's - I know this is the most simple recipe in the whole wide world, but to me things like that, that work just sum cooking up all for me - especially at home, you want things to be simple, you want really good results.
And I'm just well chuffed with that.
That's what cooking's all about.
And so quick? So quick mate - I'm excited.
See you after long time - it's nearly 3 weeks.
You look smashing.
Really nice you look.
So you ask me to make something really nice for you? Yes mate - I'd like some of your lovely bread - just a little loaf or something.
Oh my God! You always do exactly the same thing every - always go over the top.
You pick him up and you say Juliette Because I'm busy and you know you're busy as well That's beautiful mate.
- Okay look after yourself - chow.
Take care.
Chow Bella! POTATOES AND DILL I wanna do some new potatoes to go with the fish.
I'm doing it really really simply but there's a real kind of knack of doing if really, really good.
And what I did - I got my new potatoes and I give 'em a scrub with a green scrubber - so that kind of layer of skin has come off and it kinda leaves it a bit rough.
So when you put all the lovely oil and herbs and lemon juice on later it just it just coats it - sucks it all up and just - the all round potato tastes absolutely beautiful so what I've done is I've just boiled them once - after I've scrubbed them in salted boiling water.
And I've got some really nice dill.
All I do is just pick off all the nice bits, get rid of the horrible fat stalks.
Tell you what is was so nice of Genoa? To do that you know - bake the bread for me.
He's done it for me - he does it for me all the time.
But Italians are so romantic and you tell him you're cooking for your girlfriend and they start doing heart shapes and big ones and - kind of makes me feel a bit bad about all the times I've stitched him up at work.
I remember once we had a big shipment of the white truffles come in cos he was a mushroom man - he used to deal with all that and they're like 1400 a kilo and he was kind of brushing them and weighing them to make sure that ship - you know the shipment was er - you know all above board and so on - the old invoice - and the phone went and he went to answer it and I went and swapped about a 1000 worth of truffles for new potatoes and er - when he came back he started realising that things weren't quite right and he started sniffing 'em and groping 'em and started swearing in Italian and I disappeared the fridge kind of like really laughing looking through the kind of joint in the door.
Then after about three minutes of that he turned round and saw me like really like laughing my head off in the corner in the fridge and er - ran over and said don't ever do that again - you nearly give me a heart attack! Oh God I feel bad.
Right so just chop this - er - dill up - kind of rough and then just chuck it in an old bowl.
See how these are going.
Yeah - the nice thing about really good new potatoes is that they should be almost creamy - do you know what I mean - these are really good - mmm - Shake off all the steam.
But we'll let 'em go for a minute but while they're still hot we're gonna dress them and that's just gonna make 'em taste so good you wouldn't believe.
And the funny thing is it's really simple things like a little bit of scrubbing, dressing 'em while they're hot - things like that, that make things taste so much better and people always go what did you do? So you think it's the little things in cooking that make the difference? I think it's the little things and the little bit of care that counts.
Just put 'em in - bit of dill - squeeze over a lemon.
Olive oil -just a little lug - enough to coat.
Salt and pepper.
And just dress it - or toss it - mix it up - whatever you want to call it.
Would you use any other herbs other than just dill? Oh God yeah - I mean like - things like dill and mint are like the classic sort of new potato partners you know - but things like parsley when it's really good and fresh er - basil's lovely.
You could do coriander if you're in the mood.
Just anything - any sort of delicate herb really.
BAKED FISH IN FOIL This is an absolutely fantastic way to cook fish.
The trick is that is we make a tin foil envelope and we cook - that means we cook everything in it - got the herbs, got the fish - got the lemon juice - we've got the oil and all these things cook away and basically you've got your main course meal and you've got the sauce all made for you.
Roll out a bit of tin foil four times bigger than your fish right.
Basically it's because we're gonna double wrap it just to be safe you know so it's a nice thick bag.
Fold it in half like that and then I've got a really nice fish.
It's a lovely sea bass.
And I went to the fishmonger and I've had it scaled and gutted for me so I haven't got to do any of that malarkey.
It's about 2 pound which is more than enough for me and Jules.
You normally - you lose about a pound like at least half in bones and stuff.
Do you always make this dish with whole fish or could you use steaks? Oh you could use whatever you like - you can use cuts - I like to use whole fish when I possibly can because all the kind of bones within it kind of help to make the meat really tasty and the juice really tasty and juicy as well you know.
So I'm must scoring it at an angle - not deeply at all - just a little bit thinly and what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna get a good pinch of salt and I'm gonna sprinkle that on the fish on both sides - I'm gonna kind of go against the grain and push that into those gaps.
And do that on both sides.
And that's to get in all that flavour right in there.
And then a good pinch of pepper on both sides and do exactly the same - just push that right in there and you know that - that's what it's all about really.
Little things like that make things really, really tasty.
So what I need now is kind of the really delicate kind of flavour enhancers and you can do what you like you know let your imagination take - take you really, but I've got some bay leaves.
I've got this red onion.
I've got these bits of fennel that were left over from the salad which were a bit stringy.
And some fresh basil which is good - really, really nice basil.
Now what I'm gonna do is finely chop this fennel.
And we probably won't eat this fennel - you could but we probably won't eat it because you know I just want it to enhance the sauce really.
And then all you've gotta do is just mix it all up a bit and then make - lay it all out - kind of equally over here.
Pat it all down.
And then put the fish on top of it - like just like a trivet? If you're roasting a bit of meat or something like that.
And just push it to one end.
Why do you do that? To keep the bottom of the - the bottom side of the bass off all the liquor and the juice cos you don't want it - you don't want the top sort of steaming lovely and bottom kind of boiling away.
And I'm gonna peel - peel an onion and slice it really thinly and these red onions seem to be nice and - and sweet.
And the thing about red onion as well - when you cut it quite thinly and it's a really delicate taste.
Just break it up a little bit and just kind put it all around - and I tell you what we will do - we'll put a little bit of salt in the cavity - in the actual cavity of the fish - just before we put anything inside it and then we'll shove some onion in there.
And just push all these things tight next to it so they all kind of hug in it really.
And then what I want is I've got lovely basil - you know I wanna stuff that cavity right full of lovely fresh herbs and keep the stalks on - you can bruise 'em or snap 'em or break 'em just to get the flavours going a bit.
But just stuff that right in there - full you know like well OTT you know.
But just imagine all those flavours in the belly - all kind of steaming as it cooks into the belly and then you know all this around it making that lovely juice which is so tasty.
And then pick all these bits of bay leaf - just kind of rip 'em over.
What other combinations of fish and flavouring could you make? There's so many - you can just let your - just let your imagination go wild.
I mean - you can do like Monk fish studded with anchovies - rosemary, white wine, butter - you can do? with cherry tomatoes and olives - you can do Salmon with asparagus and mint.
You can do - you can do Cod with chick peas and chillie and lime and parsley.
You can do - give me another thing? Trout? Give me trout - smashed up thyme and lemon - very, very nice.
You know all wrapped up in a bag - goodness - cook 'em away.
They're all fantastic like that but you know if you like two things together then think well can I incorporate it into the bag.
I mean this can be a simple or as complex as you want.
I mean if I just did this with like flat leaf parsley and lemon it would still be gorgeous you know.
And no washing up either? No just chuck it all away - no washing up.
And I like that cos I - you know I'm not partial to scrubbing I must admit.
Nice lug of olive oil.
And what we want is a good knob of butter - about a good two, three ounce knob of butter.
You can put it on it - inside of it - er - you know around it - whatever.
And then the final thing that makes it really really work - is about two or three lemons - two juicy ones of three if they're not so juice.
And this lemon's gonna - well it's gonna flavour it but it's also gonna melt with the old butter to make the most outrageous sauce you can imagine.
Get it all on there.
All done -just push the old fish forward a little bit.
You can't really go wrong here unless you're really rough and you - and you pierce the tin foil.
So fold it over in half - just like you would like an envelope or - or a Christmas present or something like that.
And push the two ends together and then really tightly and firmly fold cos you don't want this to leak.
Right - and then you go to one end - just until you can start to feel the flesh you know.
And then the last one right and then the last trick is just where you've folded it just kind of bring it up so it's not kind of flopping onto the tray - so there aren't any little gaps then it won't escape.
Right and that's it - all done - all raring to go.
Just gent very, very carefully - you don't want to pierce it now - put it onto the old tray - in the oven - 220 degrees - 8 minutes per pound.
Two pound fish - 16 minutes - so whack it in the oven - when it comes out the oven the little trick is actually that - let it rest for about three or four minutes.
Let it chill out.
And that just makes it taste a lot better.
Take it out to the table - it's all puffed up.
Whip it open - steam