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00:07I'm Prue Leath, cook, restaurateur, cookery school founder, and writer of 15 cookbooks.
00:15That is the most delicious thing that we have cooked.
00:19I'm in my 80s, so I haven't got time to waste.
00:23This series is all about the things that really matter to me.
00:26Family, fun, food, and friends.
00:30Come on, what kind of day have you had? Get it out!
00:33Here you go, you're in jail.
00:35We'll be sharing simple home-cooked recipes.
00:38Oh, brilliant. I'm going to take this bit home and save it for later.
00:41You really do.
00:43She's such a gourmand. She's incredible.
00:46And celebrating the best produce.
00:50I am lucky enough to live in the astonishingly beautiful Cotswolds
00:54with my darling, sometimes darling, husband, John.
00:59Come on, you've had enough.
01:01Coming up today, Olympian-turned-documentary maker Ellie Simmons is back to bake up a treat.
01:08Do you bake cakes at home?
01:10I wish I did more. I baked more.
01:13But the thing is, when you bake them, you eat it, don't you?
01:17Things get quite heated as John and I cook up a Japanese ramen.
01:21It's quite full of chilli.
01:24And I pick up a hack for picking up egg yolks.
01:28What about that? Isn't that brilliant?
01:31Welcome to my Cotswold kitchen.
01:41Mediterranean food is just so good, isn't it?
01:45A few sun-drenched ingredients are enough to create dishes that are both simple and satisfying
01:53and never, ever boring.
01:56My first dish today is a really simple baked feta with tomatoes, oregano, garlic,
02:05all those wonderful, rustic Mediterranean flavours.
02:10And it's really easy to do.
02:17So, you get a block of feta straight out of the packet,
02:21plonk it in a baking dish,
02:25surround it with tomatoes.
02:31I always think the cherry tomatoes have the best flavour.
02:35I like the different colours too.
02:38These ones are a bit big, so I'll whack them in half.
02:49And then, some oregano, or oregano as the Americans call it.
02:59Marjoram, as it used to be called in England.
03:03Some chilli, again as much or as little as you like.
03:07These are just dried chilli flakes.
03:11And some garlic.
03:13I love garlic.
03:15And you know, these big garlic things are quite mild, so you need quite a lot.
03:20Some garlic, the sort of old-fashioned, you used to get when you got garlic,
03:26they were much smaller and much stronger.
03:28And then, generally, modern garlic seems to be much milder.
03:33It seems like a lot of garlic, but you know what?
03:36This is going to be like a dip at the end.
03:40And it's going to go on bread.
03:42So, it doesn't matter if this is a bit heavily flavoured.
03:47In fact, it should be quite heavily flavoured.
03:50Feta is lower in fat than other cheeses and high in calcium.
03:55So, it's good for your teeth, your nails, and your bones.
03:58And then, some black pepper from my Chianti bottle.
04:08Ridiculous, isn't it?
04:13I think somebody gave me this pepper mule because they thought I'm famous for liking a bit of booze.
04:20So, they thought that was a good joke.
04:24Right, and then some olive oil.
04:31When it comes out, it's going to be a dip.
04:36And we're going to put bread in it and just, you know, like a sharing first-course platter.
04:43Or we're going to mix it up with pasta.
04:45So, it's going to be... I'm going to show you two ways.
04:47But first of all, it's got to get baked until it's nice and brown.
04:52This goes into the oven at 180 degrees for around 20 to 25 minutes.
04:58Until the cheese starts to brown and the tomatoes are bursting and squishy.
05:04For one of my two feta dishes, I need some pasta.
05:08So, I'm going to put this into boiling water.
05:12This is boiling salted water.
05:14Pasta goes in.
05:16I cook all thin pasta like tagliatelle, farfali, which is what this one is, or spaghetti.
05:24Anything that's quite fine takes exactly 11 minutes.
05:28So, 11 minutes and we'll get that out.
05:32I'm just going to give it a little stir to stop any bits sticking together.
05:42My baked feta should be ready by now.
05:45So, I'll fish it out.
05:56It smells so good.
05:58I wish you could smell it.
05:59It really smells wonderful.
06:00Do you see it's just beginning to brown and the feta is nice and squishy and soft and the tomatoes
06:07are collapsing.
06:08So, that's about how you want it.
06:11And then you just stick it in the middle of the table, cut some bread, and then cut the bread
06:18into chunks for your friends.
06:22I think that tomatoes and feta and olive oil are the sort of essence of the Mediterranean.
06:31I mean, anybody who's holidayed in the Mediterranean will know how good the tomatoes taste, how great the olive oil
06:37is.
06:38And, you know, why go further?
06:40It's so simple.
06:41It's so lovely.
06:42And this is what you do.
06:44I want a bit of tomato.
06:48I'm absolutely dribbling now because I can smell it.
06:52And it's peppery and cheesy and it's going to be gorgeous.
07:06Mmm.
07:09Never mind for a first course.
07:11I could have that for my whole lunch.
07:13It's just delicious.
07:20So, now I want to show you another thing to do with this dish.
07:25So, we're going to serve it with pasta.
07:32So, I'm mashing it up.
07:36I'm going to put the spinach into it.
07:40So, essentially, I'm turning the dish into a main course or a light lunch.
07:45And because it's really hot and I'm about to put hot pasta on top of it, that will cook the
07:51spinach without me having to do anything except add it.
08:00So, my farfali has now been boiling for 11 minutes.
08:08So, it's just nice and al dente.
08:11And it's still boiling hot.
08:13And I know I'm putting a bit of water in with it.
08:15But it'll all help make that sauce a little bit more liquid.
08:21So, don't worry about the water.
08:24It can go straight in.
08:28People are short on time these days.
08:30And for me, the versatility of this dish is perfect.
08:34Half an hour prep, half an hour in the oven.
08:36And you have your choice of two dishes.
08:38It's just that feta and all the tomatoes just make the most delicious pasta sauce.
08:51And I want a few basil leaves.
09:03It's very cheesy.
09:05It's absolutely delicious.
09:08It's so good.
09:16Still to come, the lovely Ellie Simmons is back in my kitchen making coffee and walnut cake.
09:22Yum.
09:23That looks fab.
09:25Oh, yeah.
09:26That looks really good.
09:28Not saying so often.
09:29And I've got a quirky hack for separating egg yolks.
09:33This is great fun.
09:34I could do this forever.
09:44John and I are very sociable.
09:46And we love entertaining.
09:48And some guests are just welcome any time.
09:51My guest today is no stranger to this kitchen.
09:55Indeed, she is the only celebrity that we've asked to come back for a second time.
10:01She's a gold medalist, Paralympic gold medalist.
10:04She's a wonderful woman.
10:06And she is, you have guessed it, Ellie Simmons.
10:10Welcome to my Cotswold kitchen.
10:11Oh, thank you so, so much.
10:13I feel so honoured to be the only celebrity that's come back.
10:17You know, I feel like this kitchen now is like my second home.
10:20Well, good, good, good, good.
10:21And I'll tell you, one of the reasons is that I never bake cakes.
10:24In fact, my husband has many times said that he should have married Mary Berry.
10:30Yeah.
10:30Because I never, I hardly ever make cakes.
10:34But you make cakes and last time you made banana bread.
10:37Yeah.
10:38And it was absolutely delicious.
10:39And I don't like banana bread.
10:41But since you made it, I've been making banana bread.
10:44And today, you're going to make what?
10:47So, a coffee and walnut cake.
10:54Coffee and walnut cake, you know, it's a really old-fashioned cake.
10:58When I first came to England 60 years ago or something,
11:02it was the cake that posh women had, you know, any kind of event.
11:08And it just does stand the test of time.
11:12So, lovely.
11:12Yeah.
11:13So, we've got everything here, haven't we?
11:16And I think we've got the marge and the sugar.
11:19So, I think in here.
11:21In with the marge?
11:23Yeah.
11:25And then, yeah, a bit of golden caster sugar.
11:31And then this is the time where I think I'll go steady to start off with.
11:37That's right.
11:38Yeah.
11:39So, what is your favourite cake?
11:41I think it might be this one.
11:42Oh.
11:43This one or a lemon drizzle.
11:45I do love a lemon drizzle.
11:46Can't beat a lemon drizzle.
11:49Ellie is mixing 200 grams of margarine and 200 grams of golden caster sugar.
11:56Yeah, that's looking good, isn't it?
11:58We're going to shove the eggs in, are we going to shove the eggs in now, are we?
12:00One at a time with the flour and this.
12:05So, this baking powder.
12:07Okay.
12:07To go in there.
12:10And a pinch of salt.
12:13And a pinch of salt.
12:38And a flour for the flour for each egg mixing gently before adding each one.
12:43Four eggs.
12:45It's looking good, though.
12:47I'm not going to lie.
12:51Ellie, do you bake cakes at home?
13:22Do you know what?
13:23It's so good for your mind and your body, just to swim for half an hour, put the phone
13:27away in the locker, just get in and just, yeah, swim and just be one with the water.
13:33It's nice to do exercise and do sport.
13:35But I've got into pickle as well.
13:38Pickle ball.
13:39Right.
13:39Have you ever?
13:41No, I've obviously seen it as the sort of fashionable thing.
13:46Yeah, pickle and paddle.
13:47But I've got really into that.
13:50I'm just, yeah, I'm not the best at it, but I enjoy it.
13:56Next, Ellie gently folds in the remaining flour and baking powder.
14:03Then adds 15 grams of instant espresso powder, dissolved in 15 millilitres of boiling water.
14:12So where are we?
14:13So I think it's, do I need to, I might just.
14:15That looks absolutely brilliant, doesn't it?
14:16Yeah.
14:17You've got all the flour in now.
14:18Yeah, just.
14:19Great.
14:20Okay, and the coffee you've gone in, yeah?
14:22Yeah.
14:22Coffee then?
14:22Coffee.
14:24Everything then?
14:24Yeah, everything then.
14:25I think it's ready to put them both in.
14:28When you do half, do you just normally do it to eye?
14:31I go, one dollop there, one dollop there, one dollop there, one dollop there.
14:35Before starting, the tins have been lined with baking parchment and greased.
14:40I used to bake with my grandma growing up.
14:43Did she teach you?
14:44Yeah, she did.
14:45Like, she used to make fairy cakes and butterfly cakes.
14:48You know, when you put the middle and put a bit of ice in.
14:51Yeah.
14:51And the best thing was always eating a bit at the end, you know, putting your finger in
14:56when it's...
14:56I know.
14:57That is what tastes the best.
14:59Yeah.
15:00Before it's cooked.
15:01I think that looks like it's half, doesn't it?
15:04Yeah.
15:05That's perfect.
15:08We can lick that.
15:09Yeah.
15:10Right.
15:10Don't lick it all.
15:11Half of it's for me.
15:13So this is going in at 160, in for 25 to 30 minutes.
15:19Okay?
15:20Yeah.
15:21My turn.
15:22Yeah.
15:24Here you go, on your chin.
15:26That's good.
15:27That's the best thing.
15:29I'll have a bit from here as well.
15:32Mmm.
15:33That's nice.
15:34And it's really good in coffee, isn't it?
15:36You can taste the coffee.
15:40So, Oli, now we've got your cakes baking, I've got time to grill you, because last time
15:46you were here, you were just about to do a documentary.
15:49All your documentary had been filmed, but it hadn't come out yet.
15:53Yeah, my documentary talking about my adoption, because I know your daughter, she's also adopted.
15:58She's adopted, yeah.
16:00So, yeah, I spoke about that, and I spoke about my journey to find my birth mom, and also talking
16:05about disability in the fostering and adoption, and how many children in the care system have
16:13a disability, are seen as harder to place into families, and, yeah, it was, it went down
16:19so, so well, and it's really opened up the story, and opened up the conversation of adoption.
16:24My husband was adopted, but the fact is, there are many, many more adopted people than we realise.
16:31Yeah, very much so, and I think opening up and talking about it, we've all, I know some
16:36people probably don't want to, but having that connection and knowing someone that's similar
16:41who's gone through the same experiences, because sometimes people have trauma, sometimes there
16:47could be reasons, it's just opening up.
16:49And I think what it did, I was really, really proud of the documentary, and, yeah, it got
16:54a BAFTA, so I was like, I was literally, oh, it was one of my proudest achievements.
16:59Of course.
17:00Like, I can't believe we got a BAFTA.
17:03My BAFTA, actually, my parents have my BAFTA, and it got delivered to theirs, and normally
17:08I have all my stuff at my own place, but they kept it straight away, and it's in their,
17:14like, in their living room.
17:16Well, they, they sort of deserve it, because they did the adopting.
17:18Yeah, they did.
17:20They deserve it so, so much, because they've done amazing things, and they've got five of
17:25us, but they've also fostered so many other children as well, so there's so many people
17:30like them in, in this country that just give back to so many people.
17:35I've just done another documentary talking about, um, what the decisions and the supports
17:42that caregivers and women and couples go through when they get a diagnosis of maybe a disability
17:49or an illness.
17:50It was just, yeah, again, to educate society and to educate the UK about having a disabled
17:58child, and whatever choice a person makes is the right choice for them, but it's just,
18:03again, educated and knowing that there's support out there, no matter what choice you make.
18:07Do we do the...
18:08Yes, do we do the icing, so this is icing sugar.
18:12So I've got some bit of coffee, so I'm going to put that in just to, like, moisten it.
18:18We're making butter icing, so next Ellie adds 150 grams of softened butter to the icing sugar
18:24before giving it a really good whisk.
18:57This is looking good.
18:58It's time to take our cake out of the oven.
19:02So Ellie, I think we're done.
19:05Ooh, they smell lovely.
19:07They smell wonderful.
19:09They smell good.
19:11I just love it.
19:12Yeah, and you can see they're nicely shrunk.
19:14Oh, yeah, they look good, don't they?
19:15Shrunk round the edge.
19:16Yeah, brilliant.
19:19Leave it five minutes before removing the cake from the tins, and then allow them to
19:24cool completely before icing.
19:27You said you like it thick, don't you?
19:29Not too thick.
19:30Yeah, it's thin.
19:34This is looking lovely.
19:36The first mention of a coffee and walnut cake was in a 1934 ad for self-raising flour,
19:43at a time when companies would frequently put recipes on the back of their packets.
19:49That's perfect.
19:50Do you think?
19:51That looks even, do you think?
19:52Yeah.
19:52Yeah.
19:53Absolutely.
19:53Now.
19:54Then I stick this one on top?
19:56Yeah.
20:00Next, Ellie adds a second layer of icing.
20:04Yeah.
20:05Oh, yeah.
20:06That looks fab.
20:08Oh, yeah.
20:09That looks really good.
20:11I'll say so more sense.
20:13She finishes off with piped rosettes, and finally the walnuts.
20:20So here it is.
20:22I know.
20:22Go on.
20:23Lovely.
20:25Perfect.
20:26Wow.
20:27Oh.
20:29Oh, that looks fabulous.
20:31Then I'll do one more.
20:32And I've got the perfect companion for Ellie's cake, a pot of Welsh tea.
20:38Oh, that's exciting.
20:39Oh, it's a good colour.
20:40Yeah, it looks fabulous.
20:42The flavour of tea is said to contrast well with the sweetness of cake.
20:47Well, I'll take any excuse for a cuppa and for cake.
20:51Cheers.
20:52Cheers.
20:53Well done.
20:54I think that's brilliant.
20:58Come on, then.
20:59The star of the show.
21:00We need cake.
21:03Oh, yeah.
21:03Look at that.
21:04That's great, doesn't it?
21:06Okay.
21:06Really good.
21:07I'm going to go for the icing top with the walnut.
21:13Mmm.
21:14Very good.
21:16Mmm.
21:19That is a lovely recipe, isn't it?
21:21Mmm.
21:22Ellie, it's so good of you to come twice.
21:25But I'm so glad you did, not least because this is really good.
21:29It's really good.
21:30I hope to come again.
21:31It's such a great day.
21:33Good.
21:40Still to come, John gets artistic with a local sculptor.
21:44I'm enjoying this enormously.
21:46Will you have to take it all off and start again?
21:48Definitely.
21:48You probably will.
21:50And a food hero is putting tea on the map in South Wales.
21:55Now we just take it out and allow it a bit of time to cool.
22:08Welcome back to my Cotswold kitchen.
22:11My husband, John, is never happier than when he's working on some new project for the garden.
22:18And I'm a bit worried because he's gone off to see a friend of ours who is a brilliant worker
22:25with bronze.
22:27I don't want him to come back with a great bronze statue.
22:32Hamish Mackey is considered to be one of the world's foremost wildlife sculptors.
22:39Ever the art lover, John has driven down the road to Hamish's studio in Oxfordshire to find out more.
22:46Oh, morning, Hamish.
22:47Good morning, John.
22:48Sorry I'm a bit late.
22:49Five minutes.
22:50Well.
22:50Naughty boy.
22:51Better late than never.
22:52I know.
22:53I say this is so exciting.
22:55Do you know, I would love to have done this.
22:57I would rather have a career in art than anything else.
23:00It all started for Hamish when he made a sculpture for an A-level project.
23:05He sold it for £50 to someone's parents, who then took it to a foundry to be cast in bronze.
23:12When he saw the finished result, it ignited a passion that became an incredible career.
23:19But what are you going to show me?
23:20I've been working on some elephants.
23:22Right.
23:22This is a commission to make a family of elephants, which started with a trip to Tanzania.
23:29And working in Tanzania, I worked from life.
23:31So back of a vehicle, direct observation, which makes me get the subject into my head.
23:38I sculpt something while I'm there, take lots of pictures, and then I bring it back to my studio.
23:42And then from these maquettes, I then start making the real things, slightly bigger things.
23:49Hamish's work can sell for tens of thousands of pounds.
23:53I just hope John doesn't get too carried away.
23:57The sculptures start with what we call an armature.
24:01So this is an anatomically correct skeleton of a baby elephant that I can change the position on,
24:07depending on what I want it to be doing, what sort of position I want it in.
24:10And the next stage is to sculpt it using plasticine.
24:14So what I'd really like to do is to get you to have a go.
24:19OK, I'd better get my coat off.
24:20OK.
24:21Let's have a go.
24:21I'll get you some plasticine.
24:23Show me just how you apply it.
24:24So literally just sticking it on like this.
24:26And at this early stage, it can be quite...
24:28Rough.
24:29Crude.
24:30Yeah.
24:30So I'm sort of thinking about the guts.
24:32And you want to think from the inside out as you're doing it.
24:36I'm enjoying this enormously.
24:38Good.
24:39Out of interest.
24:40Is what I'm doing...
24:41Will you have to take it all off and start again?
24:43Definitely.
24:43You probably will.
24:45But this is just the start of the process.
24:48In Hamish's foundry, the real magic takes place, under the guidance of his expert team.
24:55Right then, John, come on in.
24:57Thank you, thank you, thank you.
24:58So this is the first stage.
25:01And James is chief mouldmaker.
25:05Morning, James.
25:06So I make a sculpture, which is a positive original, and then it comes into here.
25:12And James' job is to make a silicon rubber mould, which gives you a negative.
25:16And then from that negative, we then produce a wax.
25:19Right.
25:20I can show you one.
25:22Amazing, amazing, amazing.
25:24Matt's working on over here is a rodier.
25:27So this is the silicon rubber mould.
25:31Right.
25:31And you can see it's a negative of my clay original, which is positive.
25:37So we've obviously got a mouth and an eye, ear.
25:40And it gets painted up with wax to produce a hollow wax positive.
25:45Right.
25:46So once Matt's finished seam lining the wax, it then gets sprued up.
25:52And the sprue system is basically a feed system for...
25:59Pouring in there.
26:00Bronze to pour in there, as you say.
26:02These are called runners.
26:03Yep.
26:04These thick ones.
26:05And then the gases will come out of the risers.
26:07The wax is then coated in a couple of layers of ceramic, inside and out.
26:13It's all about creating and strengthening a final ceramic mould that can hold the bronze.
26:20The next stage is to pour in the molten bronze.
26:24I hope those boys have got good oven gloves.
26:28So this crisper weighs about 60 kilograms.
26:31And the bronze is at about 1,140 degrees.
26:35Just a little bit hotter than a pasta bake then.
26:41This is Felipe.
26:42Felipe is one of our chasers.
26:44So here he's...
26:46We've cleaned up all the runners and risers, the pipes.
26:49We've got rid of all the ceramic.
26:50This was cast in two halves.
26:52And Felipe is now going to weld across here.
26:54And then eventually this weld line will be chased with hammers and chisels and files back to my original texture.
27:01And it's one thing for me to put a fingerprint through wet clay.
27:06The skill of these guys is to put that fingerprint back across a weld.
27:10The end result is these incredible pieces of art that not only capture every stunning detail of the animal, but
27:17they sit so majestically in the landscape.
27:21I've never seen John so quiet.
27:23No, John, you're not having one.
27:32We've all done it.
27:34We've failed to separate eggs properly.
27:36So here's a nifty hack for dealing with unruly eggs.
27:49First of all, separating yolks from egg whites.
27:54If you've broken the whole egg into a bowl and you're only meant to drop the white in, then you're
28:00supposed to be able to do it with the bottle.
28:02Now, I have to say, I've seen this on the internet, so this is a steal.
28:07So if it doesn't work, it's not my fault.
28:10If it does work, I'm very impressed.
28:14What about that?
28:17Isn't that brilliant?
28:22Well, I don't know what I'm for, if the internet can do it all.
28:28This is great fun.
28:30I could do this forever.
28:32While we're on the topic of eggs, I've got a couple more tips and tricks to show you.
28:38The way chefs are taught to do it is to make a good round crack all the way like that,
28:43and then just break it apart,
28:45and let the white run off, and then do this, you know, backwards and forwards until you get the white
28:50in the bottom and the yolks in the top.
28:53But you know what?
28:54If you can't do it like that, just do this.
28:57Nice clean hands.
29:01Drop the white.
29:04Lastly, here are some nifty ways to remove unwanted eggshell.
29:09What you do is you can either just stick your finger in, put it against the piece of shell, and
29:15pull it all up aside like that, and it'll come out.
29:17Or you can use the old eggshell and fish it out like this.
29:23That also works.
29:25Or you can put your finger on a cloth, which works even better than a bare finger.
29:30So there are lots of ways to get the eggshell out.
29:32Don't worry.
29:32Not really difficult.
29:37My food hero today has taken on anything that the British weather has to offer.
29:44It's an almighty challenge.
29:46But you know what?
29:47She's winning.
29:49A hundred miles south from here, in the Vale of Glamorgan, second-generation farmer Lucy George is doing something seldom
29:58seen in the UK.
30:00We're at Peterton Tea, which is still the only commercial tea farm in Wales.
30:05I have heard of tea from the southeast, but south Wales? Really?
30:11So this is a leaf that we picked yesterday.
30:13It's been withering overnight, which is a physical and chemical change for the leaf.
30:18You can smell the leaf and start to smell the aromas coming through.
30:23Well, I take it all back.
30:26How has she managed it?
30:28There's two main types of tea plants.
30:32So there's Camellia sinensis sinensis and Camellia sinensis asamica.
30:36I think the complexity of tea has really surprised me from a sort of growing perspective.
30:44There's so many different methods you can employ.
30:47Jeanette helps Lucy to harvest and plant.
30:50As a local person, I have known this field all my life, basically.
30:56I've known this field when it was just a proper meadow with cows grazing on it.
31:01And then now here we are today, I suppose 50, 60 years later.
31:07What we're producing is a speciality tea product, so it's focused on a loose leaf, whole leaf.
31:13And the idea behind that is that it's infused several times.
31:15So we recommend it's infused at least three or four times.
31:19And on each infusion, it will give you different flavour profiles as the leaf unfolds and the flavour develops, basically.
31:27But growing and planting in this environment hasn't been straightforward.
31:32In the very beginning, we started to plant out.
31:36Some like to live, a lot decided they wanted to die, and it was a bit frustrating.
31:43Over the years, it's safe to say that I have killed off a lot of tea plants, probably more tea
31:48plants than most people see in a lifetime.
31:50It certainly hasn't been kind on production here, and for me, it actually just sparks that sense of, well, I'm
31:57determined to make this work,
31:59and to actually see these through, and to come up with a way that they could be adapted to suit
32:04this climate, basically.
32:06The tea plants are grown both outdoors and in polytunnels.
32:11Having originally planted seeds she bought from Georgia, Nepal, and Western India, Lucy now collects around 25,000 seeds a
32:20year from her own farm.
32:22From what was a fruit farm in 2014, Lucy's properly turned over a new leaf.
32:29The number of tea plants has grown, and the yield is going to keep increasing over the next five years,
32:35so the signs are good.
32:38I'm getting, obviously, more experienced in the picking.
32:42It's only the bud and the top two leaves that we normally pick.
32:47And I say pick, they're plucked, they're not picked as such.
32:51You don't pinch them, you pluck them, you bend them over, and then snap it off.
32:56So the oxidisation of it doesn't start until it goes into the tea processing room.
33:03Growing and picking is only half the story.
33:06Once picked, the leaves are withered, so they lose their moisture.
33:10They are then rolled and oxidised, so they begin to brown.
33:15Then they go in a dryer, where the leaves become what we recognise as tea, and the flavours begin to
33:22come out.
33:24This is black tea that's now fully dried.
33:27So now we just take it out and allow it a bit of time to cool.
33:31Oh, it smells really good at this stage.
33:34The whole process takes 24 hours.
33:38After that, I bet Lucy could do with a good cup of...
33:41Ah, there you go.
33:43The tea here is grown organically, and promoting biodiversity is key.
33:49By planting certain trees to help shelter the plants from strong winds, what's good for the tea is also good
33:56for local wildlife.
33:58And very little goes to waste.
34:00When Lucy began, the farm was only producing whole, loose-leaf tea.
34:05Now, any broken leaves that would have been discarded in the past get used to make the fashionable drink kombucha.
34:15And Lucy's not done yet.
34:18It's been a very long ten years, I'll give it that.
34:21It's certainly sort of, yeah, been a very long journey.
34:25Very difficult at times, but also I don't think anything beats actually sort of having a cup of something that
34:33you've grown from seeds,
34:35seen it through all the years.
34:37The nation's favourite drink, made in South Wales.
34:41What an achievement.
34:42I'll certainly raise a cuppa to that.
34:49Still to come, John gets stuck into some Japanese food.
34:54It's slightly more untidy than spaghetti.
34:57You have the biggest mouth I've ever known, so...
35:00Really good.
35:02Oh, that looks really good.
35:05Ah, God, that's good.
35:07That is delicious.
35:15John loves it when I have a go at recreating any meal we've enjoyed on our travels together.
35:22So today, I'm going to try to make a now-famous Asian dish that started life as a modest street
35:29food.
35:29When John and I were in Japan on holiday, we had a couple of absolutely beautiful ramen.
35:43So this, I reckon, is the most simple but beautiful ramen.
35:48So we're going to make it.
35:50So you have to peel the ginger.
35:54Oh, I've watched you do that.
35:55Yeah, okay.
35:55Scrape a bit of that.
35:57Yeah.
35:57And then, um...
35:59Am I skinning it or getting some ginger off?
36:02No, just skinning it.
36:03Okay.
36:04And then you're going to grate it to get about a teaspoon of grated ginger.
36:08What I love about ramen is that it has three main components.
36:12The broth, the noodles, and the topping.
36:15But the combination of elements is endless, which means you can really experiment with it.
36:23And in the meantime, I'll tell you about the stock.
36:26This is freshly made chicken stock, and I do recommend making a good chicken stock.
36:31Next time you have chicken bones, simmer them gently with any vegetables you can find,
36:37without bubbling them too strongly, because you just want the stock to stay clear.
36:43And this stock is perfect, because it's absolutely clear, but it's really well-flavoured.
36:48However, I'm now going to turn it into Japanese stock by putting a few extra flavours into it.
36:55Um, a bit of soy sauce, about a tablespoon.
36:59I'm going to put a little bit of chilli, not as much as this, because this is quite strong chilli
37:04flakes.
37:05And then you need to add a teaspoon of grated ginger.
37:09Although my assistant seems to be struggling in that department.
37:13It's being a chap that does it.
37:18Go on, keep going.
37:21I'm just taking a bit of my thumb off.
37:24Oh, you wounded.
37:25Yeah.
37:25So you grated yourself.
37:27With my casualty now nursing a plaster, let's crack on.
37:32So, I'll tell you what, you'd have found this much easier if you'd peeled both sides of the ginger, not
37:38just one side.
37:39So instead of just trying to do it on the side, you can do it from the top.
37:43And then you just...
37:52Oh, no, that works.
37:53And then to get it out, you just go bang.
37:55And it comes out there.
38:00So it's quite a good little machine, really.
38:01OK, I give in.
38:03In goes the ginger.
38:05I hope John can slice a couple of cloves of garlic without injury.
38:09You're doing chopped garlic, not sliced garlic.
38:12So now I want to cook the noodles.
38:16Is that OK?
38:17Yeah.
38:17All right.
38:18That's perfect.
38:18So that needs to go into that stock.
38:22Do I do that?
38:23Yeah.
38:24In there.
38:27Good.
38:29These are Japanese noodles, and they are absolutely delicious, and they cook very quickly.
38:37Now, do you want me to do this chicken?
38:39Yes, and then when you've done it, you can put it...
38:41Equal portions?
38:43Yeah, half of it in that bowl and half of it in this bowl.
38:46I've already cooked around 400 grams of chicken, which is about two breasts.
38:52And this is spinach, which is going in the bottom of the bowl.
38:57We went to Japan for three weeks, and we thought we'd see all over Japan in three weeks.
39:01We never got out of Tokyo.
39:03It was so interesting, and so...
39:07Until we didn't...
39:08We went to four islands.
39:10Oh, yeah, and the islands.
39:10We went the length of breadth.
39:12We only didn't do honshu, the top one.
39:14We didn't go Kyoto, where everybody says you have to go.
39:17So we have to go back, is my point.
39:19How long do you boil that for?
39:21Two minutes.
39:22Two minutes.
39:23So put your chicken in there, please.
39:25Put my chicken half and half.
39:27Yeah.
39:29Half and half.
39:31And then you can peel those eggs.
39:37These are hard-boiled?
39:39Yeah.
39:39They're just running in the middle, jammy eggs.
39:43Oh, okay.
39:44So don't squeeze them too much.
39:46Yeah, be careful with them.
39:47Okay.
39:49The eggs won't be added to the ramen until the end.
39:52So then I'm going to put the noodles in.
39:56I was trying to keep them separately so that they'd be easy.
40:00Right.
40:01So in go the noodles.
40:06I mean, you can see why ramen is a proper meal, because, you know, the bowl is full of food
40:12before you add the stock.
40:16So it's more than just...
40:17Watching them making the stock was fascinating.
40:20That was the secret of ramen, was the stock, wasn't it?
40:22Go on, tell us how they did it.
40:23Well, I mean, they seem to spend days putting absolutely every bones and...
40:31Lots of bones.
40:32Vegetables, everything.
40:34Yeah.
40:35Okay.
40:36And then we're going to pour stock on top.
40:44Is the stock bones and vegetables and everything?
40:47Yeah, this one is the chicken bones and veg and onions and garlic.
40:54And then you put...
40:55Do you remember, there was always a couple of...
40:58Okay.
40:59Eggs on the top.
41:00Yep.
41:02And the spinach will wilt just with the hot stock.
41:08Spring onions to finish, along with some sesame seeds.
41:13I mean, you can have more than...
41:15I mean, that's a hearty meal, isn't it?
41:18And it's healthy.
41:19I liked it.
41:19It was very good.
41:20We want one more thing to have, which is very Japanese,
41:24which is soybeans, which are edamame,
41:27and they come frozen and raw.
41:31Edamame are young soybeans harvested before they ripen,
41:35and they're a nutritional powerhouse.
41:39Loads of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals.
41:43Most UK supermarkets stock them.
41:47These go into the microwave for three minutes.
41:56And now we want to flavour the edamame.
42:00So, two tablespoons of cider vinegar,
42:05two of sesame oil,
42:08two tablespoons of oyster sauce.
42:13And then, a little bit of chilli.
42:17Not too much for me.
42:19So, if you love chilli,
42:21you can put all that chilli in,
42:23and all the sriracha.
42:25Sriracha's chilli sauce.
42:27But I'm going to put half the chilli sauce
42:31and half the chilli.
42:36And a few sesame seeds.
42:40Next, we fry it all in a hot pan
42:42for not very long at all.
42:44Maybe 30 seconds.
42:46And then dish up.
43:00Right, taste time.
43:02So, your hot stuff with the chopsticks.
43:04OK, thank you.
43:07This is a real Italian job, isn't it?
43:10This, uh...
43:12Dum, dum, dum.
43:23Well, as you know,
43:24I don't normally like pasta,
43:26but this is very tasty.
43:30It's quite full of chilli.
43:34You love chilli.
43:36It just makes me cough a bit.
43:38Ooh, that is really good.
43:40Mmm.
43:43It's a really, really nice stock.
43:45It's, um...
43:47Mmm.
43:48And the soy in it
43:50gives it a bit more flavour, too.
43:54It's slightly more untidy than spaghetti.
43:56You have the biggest mouth I've ever known,
43:59so...
44:00Really good.
44:03Really nice.
44:05Adami beans.
44:07Mmm.
44:12Delish.
44:13Now, um...
44:15Woodchester Valley.
44:16It's a Cotswold.
44:17White wine.
44:192023.
44:20Now, you wouldn't naturally think
44:22of having a drink alongside a soup,
44:24but the crispness of white wine
44:26can cut through the richness of the broth
44:28just perfectly.
44:30Oh, God, that's good.
44:32Absolutely lovely.
44:33And goes really well with this stuff.
44:34I'm discovering that there are now
44:36five or six,
44:38maybe more by now,
44:39um,
44:40vineyards in the Cotswolds.
44:41I thought there were none.
44:42I thought they were all
44:43in the south-east of England.
44:46Anyway.
44:46Let's keep going.
44:48I must say,
44:50I don't mind John forking out
44:52on a good bottle of wine.
44:53Indeed, I heartily approve.
44:56I got a bit nervous
44:57when you went off to Hamish
44:59because I know he is so expensive
45:01and I do love his sculptures.
45:05And I just thought you'd get carried away
45:07and come back with a huge,
45:08great thing we couldn't afford.
45:10Well, I had the angel of the devil
45:11on my shoulder, plus you.
45:13So, uh, however tempted I was,
45:16I didn't.
45:17But I still am.
45:18There was a hair
45:20that I really, really wanted.
45:22It was about this size.
45:24I mean,
45:26an extravagance is normally,
45:28I don't know,
45:28what is an economy
45:29is normally regretted
45:30and extravagance rarely is.
45:32So I think I'm going to go back
45:33this Sunday
45:33and have another look.
45:34No, no, no.
45:36No.
45:38Looks like we'll be cooking ramen
45:40all weekend
45:40just to keep John in the house.
45:43I feel so guilty
45:44because we loved ramen
45:46when we did it,
45:47when we had it in Japan.
45:49I thought I'd be cooking
45:51at the minute we got home.
45:52We never have.
45:53I think I've done it once.
45:54And this is so delicious
45:56and so healthy
45:57and not expensive.
45:58So I'm changing my...
46:00I will try harder.
46:02Really?
46:02I think this is delish.
46:03Very, very, very good.
46:04It is very good.
46:05And the nice thing is
46:07that you put it together
46:08so quickly.
46:09Yeah.
46:10There we go.
46:11Good health.
46:13So that's it for now.
46:15But next week
46:16we'll be back
46:17with another interesting guest
46:19and I hope
46:20more delicious food.
46:21See you then.
46:24We'll see you then.
46:25We'll see you then.
46:26Bye.
46:33Bye.
46:35Bye.
46:39Bye.
46:40Bye.
46:42Bye.
46:42Bye.
46:46Bye.
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