♪ Voice-over: I'm Prue Leith--cook, restaurateur, cookery school founder, and writer of 15 cookbooks.

Looks good, doesn't it?

I'm in my 80s, so I haven't got time to waste.

This series is all about the things that really matter to me--family, fun, food, and friends-- and some of those friends will be joining me.

We'll be sharing simple home-cooked recipes...

I don't normally tell people about that bit, only people I like.

Ha ha ha ha!

and celebrating the best produce.

For 47 years, I have been lucky enough to live in the astonishingly beautiful Cotswolds, and my long-suffering husband John is coming along for the ride.

Can you make that?

Um, under instruction.

Ha ha!

Prue, voice-over: Coming up today, a renowned Michelin-Star chef, Tommy Banks, joins me in the kitchen.

I love sprouts.

I don't understand why they get such a bad rap.

Well, I do, 'cause generally they're... Overcooked and bitter.

John is getting in touch with the wildlife on our farm.

Ooh, fox.

Really ni--oh, now, that is good.

And I've got a hack for muffins made with mayonnaise.

I couldn't believe this would work, but it does.

Welcome to my Cotswold kitchen.

♪ I like planning meals for friends and family, and sometimes, you can turn an everyday dish like soup into something really special.

♪ Soup can be absolutely wonderful.

I'm going to make a white soup and a green soup.

And these two soups are delicious in their own right, and the way you present them can make them really dinner-party, exciting, lovely.

♪ Anyway, here we go.

My green soup is pea and watercress, and the white soup is parsnip, slightly spicy parsnip.

Both start off with sweating onions, so that's a couple of chopped onions in a little bit of olive oil.

Let's get the heat on.

So now I'm going to just cook this very slowly until the onions are a bit soft, but not colored at all, just--just soft.

So there are my two.

That's one for white soup, one for the green soup.

I'm actually going to combine these two soups in a plate and make them look as attractive as I can.

Um, I've been doing this-- I can't tell you for how long, probably 50 or 60 years, because I started my life as a caterer, running around London, cooking people's dinner parties.

And people were always very anxious that the first course should look impressive, and this was a fun way to do it.

But I remember once cooking for a very posh lady in Holland Park, and I heard one of her guests saying, "This is absolutely delicious.

Can I have the contact details of your cook?"

But the hostess replied, "Oh, no, no."

She said, "That girl in the kitchen, she is not the cook."

She said, "I do all the cooking.

"I wouldn't dream of having a cook.

She's just there for the washing-up."

And I remembered that I had actually put all the coats, as the guests arrived-- I'd hung them up in the hall, so I put one of my little business cards into the top pocket of every single one of the guests' coats, and I wrote on each one, "Your dinner was cooked by" and you know what?

[Chuckling] It worked, because the next day, that man who'd been praising my food rang up and said would I do his dinner parties?

But what amused me was he said, "You know, "I did admire your cooking.

It was really good.

But I was much more impressed with your marketing skills."

Anyway, I think we now have sweated onions.

Do you see they're rather transparent-looking and soft?

So, into my white one, I'm going to put all the spices.

I've got ginger and turmeric and coriander and cumin, all the classic curry spices.

And I'm going to fry that for about a minute.

And with the green soup, I'm going to add the celery and garlic and potato, just to thicken it a little bit.

So I'm going to turn them down now to sweat slowly, and I'll put the lid on, because what happens is the steam gets trapped in there and helps to stew it without browning.

So a minute of heat, and I can smell that this, that the spices are sort of fragrant, and then I'm going to put the parsnips.

Now, the parsnips have all already been roasted, just put into the oven with a little bit of oil and until they're beginning to brown, and I'm going to put the stock in now.

Now, you need to have a good deal of stock that will cover all the parsnips that you've got in there.

♪ My green soup.

The potatoes are now fairly soft, so I'm going to put the stock in.

And then that--they both have to simmer now until this-- until the potatoes and the parsnips are soft.

♪ Right.

So...I think that parsnip is definitely soft enough, and the potato is definitely soft enough, so, into the green one goes the watercress, and, I mean, it's going to now wilt.

I was thinking of big watercress, but we seem to have got beautiful baby watercress.

♪ And some peas.

♪ Give it a coup-- about a couple of minutes.

In the meantime, I'm going to whizz up the white soup.

So, both of these soups are going to get some milk in them, and then I'm going to liquidize it.

♪ Prue, voice-over: Spoon the parsnip soup into the blender, but hold back some of the liquid.

[Whirring] ♪ Voice-over: Keep going till it's really smooth.

♪ Um, I'm going to put a bit more liquid into that because it's a bit too thick for my purposes.

Voice-over: The secret to this stage is making sure both soups are exactly the same consistency.

It's a fine art.

Right, the watercress is now all wilted and soft, so in goes the milk.

[Blender whirs] So that's about the texture I'm after, but is it the same as this one?

I think they're about right, and I need to taste them.

That's extraordinary soup 'cause first, you taste the peas and then you taste the watercress.

Um, needs a bit of salt.

And then this one.

Fine.

[Spoon clopping] Sounds like a horse, doesn't it?

[Man chuckles] [Spoon clops] Heh heh!

Right, and then, if you're having a dinner party and you want to show off, put the bowls round the table, and you serve these soups chilled.

And what you do is you pour them both from two jugs, in together, like that, and then you can get all arty with them.

But say you do this.

Looks quite fun, doesn't it?

Then maybe you might want to put a bit of pepper on it.

♪ And then... let's try another.

♪ Or you could do swirls or get as artistic as you like, but I think it looks quite fun.

So that's pea and watercress soup and spiced parsnip soup, and they go really well together.

♪ Next, I'll show you a quick hack for a cake mix.

You might have a late-night craving for cupcakes, mightn't you?

And Chef Tommy Banks cooks up some very exciting flavors.

The fermented mushrooms at the end, I dry them, and it smells like Bovril.

That is amazing.

♪ Prue, voice-over: Welcome back to my Cotswold kitchen, where I'm sharing the things that really matter to me, including the cooking tips that make life easier.

John is out in the garden, checking up on the wildlife, and my guest, Tommy Banks, is about to arrive.

But before that happens, I want to show you a very quick chocolate cake mixture with some surprising ingredients.

♪ ♪ I couldn't believe this would work, but it does.

♪ I'm actually going to be making cupcakes.

So what I've got in the bowl is the usual dry ingredients-- sugar, flour, and baking powder-- but there's no eggs in this cake and there's no butter in this cake.

What there is instead of both is mayonnaise, just ordinary bottled mayonnaise.

I'm just going to get that mangled, and then I'm going to put a whisk into it.

[Whirring] ♪ Okey-doke.

And now, the liquid ingredients: boiling water, cocoa, and a little bit of honey.

♪ Voice-over: Time for some therapeutic mixing.

I could do this all day.

Right, I think that's probably smooth enough.

Voice-over: And I've got another handy hack to make each cake perfect.

Going to use an ice cream scoop to fill these cupcakes, because I want them to have about the same amount.

♪ [Chuckles] It's very sticky.

♪ What I like about this recipe, it's got nothing strange in it or difficult to get.

I normally have a jar of mayonnaise knocking around at home, and cocoa powder is in the larder all the time, so you might have a late-night craving for cupcakes, mightn't you?

And this would be pretty quick and easy to make.

Right.

Into the oven, which is at 160, for 25 minutes.

That's quite a long time, might even be 30 minutes, longer than you'd think for a cupcake, but it works.

Voice-over: Et voilà!

Mayonnaise cupcakes.

Later, I'll show you a neat way to decorate them.

I'm always intrigued by surprising new recipes, and now I'm joined by someone who is never afraid to experiment.

My guest today is a multi-award-winning chef and probably one of the most innovative chefs in the UK.

In North Yorkshire, he has two, two Michelin-Star restaurants and a pub and a wine business.

Tommy Banks, welcome to my kitchen.

Thank you for having me.

It's a real pleasure to be here.

I've got some lovely hogget for you today.

♪ Hogget.

You know... Yeah.

you'd better explain hogget, because most people think it's pig.

So, hogget--well, a hogget is a lamb once it's over a year old, but before it's two, so when it becomes a mutton.

Yes, it's sort of-- sort of mature lamb.

Yeah.

And we keep Herdwick sheep on our farm, and they're great 'cause they're the beautiful, fluffy sheep, but they're very slow-maturing, so, actually, you never really-- And they're quite small.

Yeah, they're tiny.

Think it's got good flavor, though, and I like the fact that it's just grass-fed.

And then, with the fat, you just want to, um, score it to allow it to render down, really, 'cause I think one of the most beautiful things about-- whether it's lamb, hogget, mutton--is always the fat.

I know.

It's my favorite.

That's where the flavor is.

So I like to start it in a--in, like, quite a cold pan, really.

It won't stick because it's the fat.

Tommy, you've got a multitude of ingredients there.

I want to know what you're going to cook.

So I wanted just to cook something that was very... where I'm from and using the ingredients I've grown.

So I've got some lovely faggots that I made I'm going to roast off.

They'll be absolutely delicious.

I'm going to make a little pesto, using some spinach and nasturtiums and a bit of Parmesan and some pumpkin seeds in the pesto.

Nasturtiums in the pesto?

Yeah, just that little bit of pepperiness, I think.

You know, I like, like, rockets or nasturtiums are very, very nice and that sort of thing.

And then, I've got some Brassicas, so I got some sprouts and broccoli, which I'm going to cook down in fermented mushroom juice, which sounds a bit-- You'd better explain fermented mushrooms.

Yeah, so this is basically my soy sauce.

So all the mushrooms that aren't quite good enough for the menu, we blend them up with salt and ferment them to make, like, a sour umami sauce for cooking with.

And then I've also got this little product here, which is the fermented mushrooms.

At the end, I dry them, and it smells like Bovril.

I'm just going to use that as a little seasoning on the dish as well.

That's already starting to render down, so the faggots go into the pan.

♪ That is amazing.

It's almost like, because it's salty... Mm-hmm.

it could be anchovy pesto.

Exactly, and it's delicious, isn't it?

♪ So, I've got a nice render on the hogget.

I'm just going to seal it off.

I'll get some butter and some Aromats--ooh-- some butter and Aromats in there, 'cause that's flavor.

It is interesting how butter is the-- is the sort of classic fat of choice because of its flavor.

Yeah, so that's just-- I'm just going to let that butter color a little bit, then I'll whack it in the oven, and it'll only need a couple of minutes.

I'll turn it a couple more minutes, and it'll rest up, rest up really nice.

So, Tommy, when you first opened The Black Swan... Yeah?

How old were you?

I was 17, but, I mean, I had no interest in being a chef.

I wanted to be a professional cricketer.

I left school without any qualifications and was dead-set on being a cricket player.

Cricket.

And then I got--unfortunately, I got an illness.

It's called ulcerative colitis, which meant, uh...I couldn't play cricket anymore, um, and I just sort of fell into cooking.

And the first cookbook I ever had was your cookbook.

Really?

"The Cookery--" The Bible.

The Bible, yeah.

Bible.

'Cause the chef there at the time, he said, "You need to get Prue Leith's 'Cookery Bible,' "because there'll be a recipe in there for everything, and you won't be able to go too far wrong with that."

And he's right.

There is a recipe for everything in it, isn't there?

Pretty well.

Yeah.

You need 3 hands.

Ah!

[Whirs] I got it.

Gadgets in the kitchen, isn't it?

And so how did you get to own the pub?

So Mum and Dad used to run a bed-and-breakfast in the farmhouse, basically, and, yeah, they decided they wanted to have a go at running the local pub, put me and my brother in charge, so I was 17, he was 19.

Crazy.

And you were in the kitchen and he was in the front?

Yeah.

We didn't really know what we were doing.

We were just trying to make it good.

Mm.

I think there's a lot-- there's a lot of good in that, you know, just trying to be good, trying to make-- Yeah, yeah.

I've got you.

Think I've got the hang of it now.

Heh!

Give it a good shake.

Yeah, exactly.

So, so yeah.

We kept--we sort of kept going, and the idea was just try and make it as good as we could make it.

So this is the pesto.

Prue, voice-over: Tommy is blitzing nasturtium leaves, spinach, two cheeses, pumpkin seeds, and both sunflower and rapeseed oil.

All right.

I'm glad that's over, using this little blender.

Mm.

Really good.

OK, what comes next?

So... Sprouts.

I've got some lovely Brussels--so I love sprouts.

I don't understand why they get such a bad rap.

Well, I do understand 'cause, generally, they're-- Overcooked and bitter.

And boiled.

I don't think, actually, boiling any veg does it a lot of favors, and I'm always roasting.

So I'm just going to put them flat-side down in the pan.

That's rendered lamb fat that you whizzed up with fresh mint, right?

Exactly that, yeah.

Super-delicious.

I don't know if there's ever been a year where I've cooked and I haven't done lamb and mint as a combination.

I just think it's one of the best things.

No, I absolutely agree.

Lamb and mint, a wonderful combination, but that's a revelation to me--lamb fat, and whizzed-up mint.

So, sprouts are just cooking away there, and that's in the, um, fermented mushroom juice.

♪ Yeah, so that's nice and warm.

OK, so the lamb just wants to rest up now.

Made some lovely faggots.

That was one of the first things I sort of, uh, cooked at the pub.

We used to do faggots and mash.

I just think they're such a delicious thing, but I think, because they got offal in them, people worry.

I never--why don't people like offal?

If you are prepared to eat, you know, the bum of a... Heh!

Yeah.

lamb, which is basically what the leg is... Yeah.

but you're not prepared to eat any other bit of it, you know, it's crazy.

It is, and I think, though, some bits can be quite strong, and that's what puts people off.

But faggot's a meatball, really, isn't it?

Yeah, it's a meatball.

It's a meatball made with offal, but it's just such a delicious meatball.

I use a little bit of chicken liver, just 'cause I think that's softer.

Yeah.

And then there's the lamb's livers, kidney, and heart in there as well.

So I think they're-- they're, like, maybe entry-level faggots, so they're not too offal-y, but they're really, really delicious.

So, Tommy, what's happening now?

So I'm just going to finish this.

I'm going to put a little bit of that green, minty lamb fat in the sauce, and I've got a little bit of fermented turnip as well.

This is where a French chef would put a bit of butter in.

Yeah, yeah.

So, what's that?

This is the pesto that we made earlier.

All right.

Like to do a nice circle of that.

So I actually do these-- these sprouts like this and the broccoli all the time at home.

So you actually cook like this at home?

I bet you don't go... Oh, not this.

You don't go-- No, no.

I do the veg, but yeah, no.

I wouldn't be doing circles of pesto at home.

Heh!

I mean, I cook a lot at home.

I hear a lot of chefs who don't, but I really do 'cause I enjoy doing it.

Ha ha!

So...

I'm quite excited for you to try the faggots.

I think they're absolutely delicious.

So what's this?

So this is... this is just a little puree of the fermented turnips.

And I think, for a lot of people at home, when you talk about a fermented-- these mushrooms and thing, people are like-- [imitates explosion]-- "That sounds so chef-y," but actually, it's just a very simple preserving technique that people will have done for hundreds and hundreds of years, before we had fridges and freezers.

That's turnips, and-- Yeah.

I quite like this sort of--the texture of it, and by fermenting them, this almost does the job of mashed potato, but it's, um, really sour and umami and that sort of, I think, the flavors you need when you've got a faggot on the plate and you've got a big chop of lamb as well.

So what's that now?

It's just some little nasturtium leaves, 'cause it's in the pesto.

I just finish with a nice little chop of hogget and then the sauce.

And yes, I absolutely don't cook like this at home, Prue, but... Heh!

I didn't really think I could turn up to your house, you know?

I know.

Ah, that looks so good.

Mm-hmm, smells good.

I just love the smell of hogget fat.

And that's it, really.

Just a bit of hogget and some Brassicas.

Well, I think it looks wonderful.

Really good.

Ha!

Thank you.

I hope you enjoy it.

♪ The mint really comes through, and it's only a little bit in there.

Mm.

Yeah.

Mm.

I want to taste that.

It's just got so much more flavor, hogget, hasn't it?

Mm.

That's lovely.

Right.

I want to tell you, I'm a bit nervous about this, um... Oh, really?

fermented turnip.

Oh, it's nice.

It's a hell of a hit of flavor.

Mm.

None of my food is shy.

It's always packed full of flavor.

None of this is bland.

Yeah, it's great.

You can come again.

Oh, thank you.

I'd love to.

Lovely.

♪ Prue: Still to come, John and his mate Jimmi have a new toy to record the wildlife.

John: This is like spaghetti junction, so let's set it up here.

Prue, voice-over: And I have a trick to make decorating cakes less messy.

I screw it round like that, so that I know it won't squish out the top.

♪ John and I really love our new house and garden, but it's also very important to us to nurture the wildlife on our farm.

A few weeks ago, John and Jimmi, the bird expert, checked the boxes they put up for the owls.

Oh, isn't that beautiful?

Your first barn owl.

Can you see all the heavy speckles on her?

Yes, yep.

So that means it's a female.

Prue, voice-over: We often see animal tracks on the ground, and at night, we can hear all sorts of hoots and barks we can't identify, so John wanted to find out what else is living on our land.

John: Now, Jimmi, this is the far end of the farm, and it's a water meadow.

Nobody comes down here, but just here is the adjoining of two huge fields, and I can see by the tracks that a lot of things are coming and going, and I'm really, really curious to know what's happening down here.

I've got just the gadget, John.

So this is what's known as a camera trap.

Right.

And so what we can do is we can leave this remotely set up, and it'll be triggered by any animals that pass through it.

I love it.

And then I'll leave this here with you, and inside it is an SD card.

And you can take the SD card out, and you and Prue can review the footage at your leisure.

Providing we have a 4-year-old who can connect it all and put it together.

Provided you've got someone of a certain era that can work the technology, yes.

Heh!

Yes.

OK. OK, this is like spaghetti junction, so let's set it up here.

Right-o.

So this is perfect here, because this is the only bridge that's crossing this stream here.

This is probably the likely point that a fox or a deer or any other wildlife are going to use to get from point A to point B.

Do you need it hidden?

No, not at all.

This is a small metal bracket that we can fit to the post there and then screw the camera trap on.

So that--the camera's set up like that, pointing across the gateway, so then all we need to do now is just open it up.

There's a monitor, a little LCD screen so you can see it, where it's pointing.

If I'd stand here, you want something that shows from my ankle to my knee, don't you?

Yeah, that looks absolutely spot-on there.

Do you go any higher or not?

What happens if it's a deer?

Well-- It'd get a Muntjac.

Would it get a roe?

Yeah, that's the problem you've got, really, as to what species it is.

Well, we'll actually have badgers, foxes.

So this position now will easily trigger and catch a badger, a fox; anything, as you say, about knee-height, Muntjac deer.

OK. A roe deer, it'll probably just only shoot... Well, we'll know what it is, yeah.

through there.

But of course, if we put it higher, it'll miss all the lower stuff, and then you'll get that there.

Right, OK.

So you switch on?

So what we do is just turn it on so it starts recording, and then close it up, then leave it.

Right.

Prue, voice-over: The camera records day and night, so now it's all about patience.

♪ Prue: It's been over a week since the camera trap was set, and John is back to find out what's been recorded.

John: Goodness knows what could be coming.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what's on this little chip.

I've brought my laptop, so I'm going to put it in and see what's been happening here.

♪ Right.

♪ Oh, cock pheasant.

Quarter past 8:00 in the morning.

That's good.

Down one.

Oh, crows.

Or jackdaws.

They must like this spot, 'cause they're at it again.

♪ Ooh, a fox.

Really ni-- oh, now that is good.

You're very nonchalant, Mr. Fox.

Oh, deer.

Oh, lovely.

Roe deer, it looked like.

Rather difficult to tell.

Um, maybe I go back.

No, I think a Muntjac, Muntjac.

Fox.

The nighttime ones are so much better.

Fox looking right at the camera.

Two foxes, one Muntjac, pigeon, loads of crows, few magpies.

No rabbits, no hares, no badgers.

I mean, this is wildlife heaven, but they're not crossing between the two fields.

Well, Jimmi said when he next came down, he'd bring more cameras, so, uh, I think that'll be fun.

I will find other places.

There's a little watering hole up here.

I think that would be good, so that's what we'll do.

♪ Prue, voice-over: Next, I'm going to show you a clever trick to make your cupcakes look a bit special.

Well, earlier, we made these mayonnaise cakes, and guess what, they worked.

Now, I thought I'd ice them.

Voice-over: I've already made some classic butter icing, but I want to show you how to decorate the cakes without getting in a mess.

Here is a piping bag, the piping nozzle already in the bottom there.

It is difficult to hold a piping bag and to fill it, so the trick is to turn the top of it over like a cuff, like that, put it on a jug, and push it down like that... and then it's much easier.

♪ And then, you need to shake it down and push it down so-- so that the icing goes right to the bottom of the bag.

Most people hold the piping bag too far up, and then it's very difficult to control, so hold the piping bag one hand round the top here.

I screw it round like that so that I know it won't squish out the top, and with your other hand, guide it and keep it right low down.

♪ And round and round and round until you've got enough cover.

The thing about cupcakes is they always have too much buttercream on the top, but--heh heh!-- they're wonderful.

♪ Since they're so extravagant anyway, why not top them with edible flowers?

This is a dahlia, nasturtium, and that's a borage flower.

♪ So that's quite an easy way of making cupcakes look very pretty.

And of course, I like the color.

I mean, this goes perfectly with my outfit.

♪ The secret to good food is definitely getting the best and freshest ingredients, and fortunately, here in the Cotswolds, pretty well everything I want is on my doorstep.

Living where we do, there's no shortage of local producers supplying the wants of foodies like me.

But today's food heroes work incredibly hard, growing and supplying fruit and veg all over the area.

♪ Woman: I'm Emma, and I run something called the Kitchen Garden People, which is a community-supported agriculture project.

We grow food for local people, and they share the risks and the benefits of farming with us by paying us a fixed rate for our vegetables every month, while we provide them with really nutrient-dense food that's harvested on the same day that they come and collect their veg boxes.

So today, we've got French beans to do in the tunnels, rainbow chard, and then celery as well, just cutting whole heads off.

Emma, voice-over: On a Friday, our volunteers arrive and the rest of the team head out to the field, and then we're going to be doing the curly kale that we're harvesting, probably from 9:30 till about midday, and then all the vegetables and herbs and flowers go into crates.

♪ Emma, voice-over: What's exciting is that we've got a lot of volunteers.

Some people initially come to learn how to grow produce.

Man: I've been coming for the past 3 years.

I'm a chef, and it really opened my eyes to how great fresh produce can be.

Some people initially come because they want to spend time outdoors and want the sort of physicality and the exercise.

Woman: I just love coming here.

It's--I mean, it gets me outside, it's sort of healthy, and it keeps me in touch with the seasons 'cause you're always picking something new every week.

But, actually, what most people continue coming back for is the connection they make with each other.

Woman 2: We have people from age 4 to 74 coming along here and all interacting together and working together, and it's just such a great way to connect in society again, which is something we've really lost, I think.

♪ Emma: Once we're ready and we've harvested everything, we load everything onto carts and wheel it from the field back up to the pack house.

♪ [Indistinct chatter] Emma: So we started off 30 boxes a week on a very small piece of land.

We grew incrementally.

In the last couple of years, we've been providing 180 boxes a week, and they each get a share of the produce.

Our veg box size varies, depending on the time of year.

♪ The benefit of community-supported agriculture is that our customers are paying a fixed amount every month for a variable amount of produce, and if we suddenly have a glut of something that we weren't expecting, that's fine.

We just put it in the boxes and, you know, they get a bit of a bonus that week.

Conversely, if we have a crop failure, our customers know that they're sharing the risks.

A lot of people suggest, you know, that we should-- we should do a lot more veg boxes, but actually, I really disagree; I think, in order to grow local food for local people, you have to have a connection to your locality and you have to have a connection to your customers, and that's what really makes it work.

It's really something based on trust.

♪ I love growing vegetables.

[Chuckles] There's something about watching a plant grow, being able to witness and enjoy the cycle from beginning to end.

It feels really, really good.

I think it's-- yeah, it's good for the soul.

♪ Prue, voice-over: Still to come, John joins me in the kitchen to make the perfect lunchtime treat.

So feel that.

Definitely cold.

Definitely cold.

Prue, voice-over: And, as ever, he's full of insight.

You're supposed to go on like this until you get-- Bored?

No.

Heh heh!

♪ Well, it's the time of the day when John turns up in the kitchen, hoping for something.

Oh, right.

[Chuckles] And I'm hoping you've turned up with some booze.

Good.

I'm going to make a tomato and goat's curd galette, which is a kind of pastry flan, and a little salad to go with it.

Quite light.

♪ Pastry.

This is some flour, just plain flour.

So you sift the flour, chuck the butter in... and you need to chop up the butter a bit more than this.

I saw Tommy Banks here this morning.

Heh heh!

Did you both have a very good time?

Do you know I love that lad?

He's amazing and, of course, he did a complete 3-star Michelin-type meal of the kind of cooking that I never do-- [chuckles]-- and it was amazing.

More than 60 years ago, when I was taught how to make pastry, my tutor said you had to drop it from a great height to get the maximum amount of air in it.

And lose half the... [Scoffs] [Chuckling] It's OK. You can clear up after me if you want to.

If you were making any type of flan, is this the base?

No, not any type.

OK.

This is just short-crust pastry we're making.

Oh, right.

OK. You're supposed to go on like this until you get-- Bored?

No, until you get-- ha ha!-- till the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

And if you shake it like that, the big lumps come to the top, and then you can just concentrate on them.

Anyway, I think that's good enough.

And then you put a bit of water in.

You going to catch up with that big lump behind there?

Oh.

♪ Yes, sir.

Thank you.

And then, when you've got it sort of looking more or less like that, you flour your hand and bring it all together into a lump.

Mm, a tiny bit more water.

You want to have the-- as little water as you can, because the more water you have, the tougher the pastry.

Would you like to remove that bowl?

Yep.

Thank you.

And that.

It's really important with pastry to let it rest before you put it in the oven, so I'm going to just put it like that, and then we'll wrap it up roughly and put it in the fridge to chill.

Can you go put that in there?

In the fridge?

In the fridge.

Prue, voice-over: Chill the pastry for at least 20 minutes, preferably for an hour.

Prue: And, John, while you're there, can you get out the one I made earlier?

[Sweeping] Oh, what a mess.

[Clicks] Right.

So feel that.

Definitely cold.

Definitely cold.

And I'm just going to roll it out a bit more.

Prue, voice-over: Roll the pastry into a circle the size of a dinner plate and put it on baking parchment.

So this is my pastry, and I'm just going to prick it so that it, um, so that it doesn't sort of bubble up in the middle or anything.

♪ And now, I'm going to spread it with goat's curd.

Prue, voice-over: Goat's curd is a moist, mild, and fresh cheese with a milky flavor, made to be eaten before it matures into something stronger and harder.

I'm only going to put the cheese in the middle, and that's more or less all right, and then these are tomatoes that have been slow-roasted for two hours.

But with something else, a bit.

With a bit of oregano on top.

Ah.

Right.

I mean, this has been in the oven for two hours at 140, so that's a long time.

I mean, the great thing about slow-roasting is you get rid of so much of the juice 'cause it evaporates, the water, but the flavor-- So you get a concentrate of tomato.

Yeah, you get a concentrated tomato.

♪ I think it looks rural.

Rustic.

Heh heh!

Rustic.

Rustic.

Heh heh!

Yes.

This definitely is rustic.

Yes, yes, very.

Oh, that's delicious, and it's going to be even more rustic because I'm now going to just make an edge like this.

Prue, voice-over: Fold the edges in to contain the cheese and tomato mixture.

This is what makes it a galette, which means "flat cake" in French.

I rather like that.

That's very good.

So, a few oregano leaves to go on the top.

I've been heating the baking tray in the oven because I really don't want a soggy bottom.

This pie will then hit a really hot tray, and the heat will start to cook the pastry from underneath, so... OK?

We're good?

And can you open the oven for me?

Yep.

Prue, voice-over: The galette goes in the oven for 40 minutes, until the pastry is nice and brown.

Good!

Right.

Now I think I deserve that drink you promised.

♪ This is... a pinot noir.

OK. 2020... OK. from France, OK?

That's it?

Yep.

Quite rich.

♪ [Smacks lips] Mm.

Oh, it's just delicious.

Very good.

It's lovely.

Mm, and a bit of acidity at the end.

It's nice and rich and--on the mouth.

OK, uh, now... Lovely.

we have a... pinot from New Zealand, 2019.

So this is also pinot noir.

This looks a little lighter, doesn't it?

Here we are.

Ahem.

♪ [Smacks lips] Much lighter, isn't it?

Very fresh.

Amazing.

2019.

I would say this is-- I prefer this one.

Which is that?

The New Zealand...

The lighter one.

because I think I could drink it at any time of the day.

All day?

All day.

They're both lovely, but I do think this is slightly more serious drinking.

I mean, if I was having a meal, I'd rather have that.

This is, as you say, much lighter, isn't it?

It's infinitely quaffable.

This is slightly more serious.

Is that a bit more sophisticated, then?

Mm.

OK. ♪ Prue: Right, well, I guess my galette must be ready, so I'll get it out.

♪ Wonderful there.

[Sets down baking sheet] [Sniffs] I think it might be too hot to touch, so we'll leave it while I make the salad.

And the salad, I absolutely love.

This is that Japanese mustard called mizuna, which is peppery and delicious and sort of giant rocket and all sorts of lovely leaves.

And then the odd nasturtium flowers, which--ha!--they just always lift a salad and make it look fantastic.

And here, I've just got a classic French dressing: oil, vinegar, a few finely chopped shallots, and a bit of mustard.

Prue, voice-over: A quick toss and it's done.

Right.

Shall we taste it?

I know it'll be a bit hot...

It's very hot.

but we'll blow on it.

It would be a better idea to let this cool a little, 'cause if it cools a bit, the cheese will set a bit more.

But now, that's short.

That's really short pastry.

Like, it crumbles.

♪ Little bit of salad.

♪ I'd be happy with that for lunch, wouldn't you?

Definitely.

Pretty.

I must say, the pastry looks really good.

So that's my tomato galette with goat's curd and a spring salad with edible flowers.

Well, I think it looks great.

I am a bit worried that-- I'm not going to taste it right now 'cause it'll burn my mouth, I know that.

Yeah, it will.

But, um, the pastry looks really good, and I'm not really a great pastry fan, but that looks good.

♪ Mm.

[Smacks lips] It's delicious.

Good?

Very, very hot?

Mm.

Very, very hot.

Very hot.

♪