♪ 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 will be sharing simple home cooked recipes...

I don't normally tell people about that bit.

Only people I like, OK?

Ha ha!

Prue, voice-over: 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.

Prue: Coming up today, Gold Medalist Ellie Simmonds will be baking a cake she calls "heaven on a plate."

Me?

I could eat sweet things all day every day for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner.

Prue: John is having a perfect day out, visiting a local cheesemaker.

Now, that's delish.

It's heading into the gum teaser domain.

Can I have some more, please?

Prue: And I've got a great hack for a Normandy tart.

Bash it away until it's pretty well even.

Welcome to my Cotswold kitchen.

♪ My first dish today takes me straight back to my childhood and my family.

And that's true for a lot of us, I think.

Food does trigger memories.

The recipe is an old favorite of mine and, in fact, of every South Afrikaans.

And it really brings back lots of memories for me.

It's called bobotie and is a bit like shepherd's pie, except it's curried, and my mother always did it at parties with lots of different salads.

Basically it's lamb mince, but the lamb mince is flavored with all sorts of curried spicy ingredients, and it's thickened with a couple of slices of bread.

So I'm going to start by soaking the bread in the milk.

So then I'm going to fry the onions.

Two big onions.

Oops.

It's a great dish for entertaining because although it's quite simple and it's not very expensive, people always love it.

I think it's the curry that makes it unusual.

Right.

So when the onions are a little bit brown and are looking slightly transparent, like that, you need to add all the other spices.

A bit of ginger, bit of garlic, some sultanas-- Oops-- curry powder, cumin, and then coriander.

And then you just want to fry that for a couple of minutes to get that waft of smell.

OK. Well, that's certainly fragrant.

And then I'm going to put in the Worcestershire sauce and some chutney and some tomato puree.

So it's a pretty classic, simple curry.

So I'm going to turn that down now and let it cook a little bit.

Now I'm going to put a grated apple in there.

You know, curry often needs a bit of sweetness, which is why the chutney is in there.

And I like a bit of apple as well.

Why am I such a messy cook?

Right.

So I'm going to mix all this up, and then I'm going to start frying the lamb.

So that can come into this bowl.

So in goes the rest of the oil.

And I'm very keen to show you-- I'm neurotic about how you fry mince because it makes all the difference.

What you need to do is get the pan fairly hot.

I've got it on eight.

So, hot.

Place half the meat in the pan and press it down onto the base.

What I want is that the bottom of that to fry brown before I do anything.

So don't touch it.

[Sizzling] Can you hear the sizzling?

You want it to sizzle.

It's got to fry, not stew.

That's not brown enough.

You have to really be patient.

But because the pan is hot now, I think I can afford to put the rest of the meat in.

Get it nice and flat.

OK, do you see we've now got properly browned bits there?

♪ OK.

I think we must be there.

Yeah, look.

That's all quite nice and brown.

And then you've got to chop it up.

Right.

So I'm going to put all of this together-- all the onions and stuff.

And then add the bread.

And you see the bread has now absorbed all the milk.

Can be any bread.

This happens to be brown bread.

What I sometimes do at this point, because it's quite tedious mashing it with a fork, is if you just let it get cold, you can just do it with hands.

I use my hands a lot with cooking.

I mean, I actually enjoy putting my hands in the food.

It's rather like gardening.

I like to get my hands into the soil.

I couldn't possibly garden in gardening gloves.

So that's what you get.

That's sort of a good bobotie mix.

Ah!

It's like mud pies.

It's lovely.

So you plonk it into your dish, and then the last thing you need to do before you bake it is make the custardy top.

Two eggs and 275 grams of plain yogurt.

♪ A bit of salt.

A bit of pepper.

♪ And these are called Kaffir lime leaves.

And they're absolutely traditional on a bobotie, but often they're difficult to get in England.

And so I use bay leaf or something.

It's just nice to have a leaf on top.

And then we need, last of all, a few almonds on the top.

That's it.

And guess what.

I have one I made earlier.

Yeah, that's the baked one.

That's had 35 minutes in an oven at 170.

You know it's cooked when it's nice and brown on the outside, that the color has changed, and it's ready.

I can't wait, so we're going to go right away.

♪ Let me show you what it looks like.

And it smells really good.

Mmm!

It's really good.

Quite mild curry.

The almonds on the top give it a bit of crunch.

Custardy top is very smooth and luxurious.

It's a really nice dish.

That absolutely tastes of my childhood.

Smells like it, too.

It's wonderful.

Welcome back to my Cotswold kitchen, where I'm celebrating my favorite things-- great food, great company, and my best cooking tips.

Before my guest, Ellie Simmonds, arrives, I want to show you a really simple apple hack.

A Normandy apple tart is the best dessert, and I want to show you how to make it.

It's just a very simple way of making sure that all your apple slices are in a row.

You just cut them.

I have to make sure you keep them where they are.

♪ And then you just push them with your hands like that, and they're all in a nice little line.

I've already made some really rich pastry, using flour and plenty of butter in the food processor, but I've got a second sneaky hack.

This is just a loose bottom tin, and you chuck the pastry in, and it doesn't have to be perfectly rolled.

It could be just a mess.

And you just push it with your fingers.

Bash it away until it's pretty well even.

And then push it up the sides with your thumbs.

And then press your fingers all the way around the edge in here, so it's not too thick an edge.

And then you're going to fill it with frangipane.

Frangipane is an almond paste.

It doesn't have to be too smooth.

And then the apples go on top.

Pick it up... and put it in the pie.

I'm going to push it down to secure it well.

And then another one.

I like it because you see the frangipane filling and it rises a little bit when it's cooking, and it looks very nice.

So that's going to go in the oven.

And then when it is nearly baked, I will put some apricot glaze all over the top and shove it back into the oven to finish it off.

♪ I've enjoyed making that tart many, many times.

But now I'm joined in my kitchen by someone with her own favorite recipe.

My guest today has won no less than 25 gold medals, two of them when she was only 13 years old!

Ellie Simmonds, welcome to my kitchen.

Ohh, thank you so much, Prue.

I'm so excited.

It's just so lovely to have you here.

It really is.

Thank you.

And I'm longing to talk to you about those gold medals and your amazing career as a sportswoman, but first, because I'm greedy, I want to know what-- Oh, same here.

Same-- same here.

I love food.

Tell me what you're cooking.

So I am making banana bread.

It's one of my favorite ever things.

Me, I could eat sweet things all day every day for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner.

And this is a dish that you could definitely eat it whenever, any time of the day.

I'm sure it'll be delicious.

Go on, then.

Let's see what you do.

We start.

OK, so we're going to put-- we've got some yogurt here, and then we've got some bicarb.

We're going to add the bicarb into the yogurt and give it a bit of a stir.

It helps with the rising, doesn't it?

Yeah, it does.

It's cool.

You can hear it fizzing.

Can you hear it?

It's like a little... Yeah, I can.

Yeah.

Right.

Anyway, so that's...

Working.

Yeah.

And then we are going to crack some eggs.

So we've got two eggs here.

Oh, come on.

Crack.

[Laughs] This one's taking ages.

Oh.

Well done.

So luckily enough--yeah-- no eggshells there.

Do you want to give these a whisk?

Or should I do it?

I'll whisk a few.

You whisk.

OK. And then we get to next put three bananas here as well.

And they're nice and ripe, I see.

Yeah.

Really, really nice.

Has anybody else in the world got 25 gold medals?

I'm sure they have.

Yeah.

It's a bit of a high number just because I had quite a long career.

So I started swimming from such a young age, but then also my first world championships was when I was 12.

So which bit of swimming did you like best?

Oh, competing.

Oh, you just like competing.

You don't care which bit it is?

Ha ha!

Yeah.

No.

Just competing.

Just give me a competition and I'm there.

Put my hand up and I'm ready to race.

Yeah.

So, I mean, it sounds ridiculous because from my advanced age, you look like such a baby.

You know what I mean?

How old are you now?

I'm 28 now.

28 and retired.

28.

Yeah, I know.

Anyway, darling, keep going.

You're mashing... Keep, yeah.

So I'm mashing these away, so making sure that they're smooth as can be.

I think you're going to have a new career as a cookery demonstrator... Am I?

because you're very clear what you're doing, and you explain what you're about to do.

So one could really learn from you, I mean.

[Both chuckle] So, yeah, that's me banana mashed up.

And then we are going to-- Do you want to sift the flour?

Yeah.

I'll sift the flour.

I like to be given the jobs.

Yeah.

So we've got flour, and then we can also put the cinnamon.

Yeah.

I'll sift it with pleasure, but I'll tell you what.

You don't need to sift it.

Do you not need to?

You know, you buy a packet of flour, it says "sifted flour."

That's what it means.

OK.

So we don't...

It's already sifted.

Should we...?

But no.

This is such a good machine.

I'm going to do it just because it's fun.

Yeah.

It looks really, really fun.

OK, so we've got the dry ingredients.

OK. Well, shall I do wet?

Yes.

So we've got the sugar here.

I'm gonna add it to the banana mixture.

Yep.

And then we've got the melted butter as well.

So we're gonna add that in.

So melted butter, sugar, and mashed bananas in there so far.

Yes, yeah.

So it's all the wet ingredients.

Well, you've got the egg yolks here.

That's wet.

Oh, yeah.

Cannot forget that as well.

See, it's really easy, actually, to make this.

And then so I'm going to just mash this around, and then I'm going to put the yogurt that's been bubbling and that's had the bicarb in it.

So now you've got the wet in one bowl and...

Both: The dry in another.

So now, we've got the flour and the cinnamon, and we're going to add the-- All that wet ingredients.

And now you're going to give us a perfect demonstration of folding, I hope.

Yeah, I'll try and do it.

No pressure.

[Both chuckle] But it's important not to beat the air out, isn't it?

OK.

Fold.

That's right.

Fold.

And why do you fold?

Well, what you're doing, which is absolutely correct, is going to the bottom and lifting upwards so that the movement is more top to bottom, not stirring.

It's because you're trying not to knock the air out.

It's wonderful.

Like, you can smell it already.

I think you're done.

You think it's done?

Yeah.

OK.

Brilliant.

As you tip it, you can always knock any patches.

You can knock it out as you go in.

Or add flour.

So, shall I hold that for you?

Yeah.

OK.

I'm a lefty, so... All right.

I'll do it.

Fun.

There are a little, few pockets.

A little, few of them.

But they're all right, aren't they?

It shows it's homemade, you know?

It's going to be fine.

And then the best thing-- chocolate chips.

Aha.

Oh, the chocolate chips are on this type?

I never had chocolate chips on a banana cake.

Yeah, but this is just to add that bit of sweetness, because I love a bit of sweet--more sweetness.

So we're just sprinkling them all around, you know?

OK.

There it is.

Pretty much done.

OK, so now we take these off.

Thank you.

Shall I shove them in the oven?

Yeah.

Shove it in the oven.

It's normally 55 minutes.

55 minutes at 180.

180.

55 minutes at 180.

Yeah.

So I don't like, the banana bread is too thickening enough, we're going to add some cream with it as well.

So I've got some double cream that I'm going to whip up.

Um, but you can have it with anything, really.

So, Ellie, I really wanted to talk to you about adoption... Mm-hmm.

Because you are adopted.

Yeah, I am.

My daughter is adopted.

My daughter has two adopted children.

Oh, wow!

[Indistinct].

And you, all your siblings were adopted, four of them.

Yeah.

I've been adopted for, well, all my life, really.

Um, I don't know if you found it, but it's quite sometimes, it's a subject that people don't really like to talk about too much.

But adoption is tremendously common.

Oh, it is.

And thank God it is because, you know, it's the best thing that can possibly happen to a child.

I mean, you do not want children in care homes.

You want them in families.

Yeah, you do.

And my parents, who are the most amazing parents, like, they didn't just adopt me and my other siblings, but they fostered as well before us.

And I think sometimes we forget about fostering and how amazing that is.

Actually, what matters is that child feels loved.

Yeah.

Oh... And you obviously did.

And I find it interesting because it's like you're from a different side, you know.

Like, I'm the one who's been in your daughter's shoes, whereas you're, like, in my mum's shoes.

Mum's shoes, yeah, yeah.

So it's interesting to see the-- Well, I'm so fascinated by your parents because they must have had to take you to swimming galas and stuff.

Oh, they did.

They did.

They--yeah, sacrificed a lot for me.

My mum was so glad when I passed my test when I was 17, I was like--and so she didn't have to get up in the morning.

[Both chuckle] So shall I get your cake out?

I'm sure it's done now.

Shall we have...?

Oh, please.

Could you?

OK. Are we good?

Is it looking good?

Oh, brilliant.

So it smells nice, doesn't it?

Yeah.

Ooh, wow.

I'll put this in.

Stick it in right in the middle.

Yeah.

That-- Melted chocolate but no cake.

Yeah.

So melted chocolate but no cake.

Brilliant.

Take this?

Yeah.

That's fab.

Now we can find it's in the paper.

Oh.

That's good.

Yeah.

Brisket.

Yeah.

Brisket for a biscuit.

That's nice.

"Brisket for a biscuit."

Ha ha!

Treat yourself afterwards.

And let it cool for a bit.

Prue: Right.

Look, look, I think you can peel this now.

Yeah, peel it.

because it's, um...

It looks really good, if I do say so myself.

Shall I cut it, then?

In and then...

It would be easier to cut if it wasn't hot, wouldn't it?

Yeah, but it's nice hot, isn't it?

I really like it hot.

And then that looks really good, doesn't it?

Mmm.

Yummy.

And then I'll cut it in half again.

Do you want a whole slice of a half a slice?

Half a slice.

There you go.

Fine.

Is that enough cream...?

Yeah.

No, that's lovely, darling.

Do you want a sprinkling of cinnamon on it or...?

Yes, please.

There.

We'll do the fancy.

[Making percussive noises] Yes, exactly.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll do myself a little bit of cream as well.

OK, let's have a go.

Taste test.

You know what?

It's terrific.

Is it good?

It really is.

That's fabulous.

And if you eat the top, it's banana, cinnamon, and chocolate and cream.

Ohh.

All the deliciousness in one.

I'm going to do the same.

But it's just-- it's a classic, and it just wins all the time, so that's nice to hear it from you.

Oh, thanks, Prue.

Mmm.

Prue: Really good.

Prue, voice-over: My husband John and I are keen eaters and drinkers, and we do like the best produce.

Chin-chin.

And when it's local, it's even better.

One of the joys of living in the Cotswolds is that it is full of great foodie places.

And today John is out visiting a cheesemonger and cheese maker, the wonderful Simon Weaver.

Prue: The Weaver family have been farming in the Cotswold countryside for three generations, and today they're using their own organic milk to produce award-winning cheese.

[Cow moos] Their secret?

Happy cows.

John has gone to meet Simon in his creamery to see how it's made.

Oh, don't fancy him in that hat.

Simon, you've been a farmer for many generations.

What made you...?

Well, yeah, we have.

We've been farming for a long time.

But around 20 years ago, actually, we decided milk prices were really, really low, and we decided we want to become, really, more of a food producer and get closer to the customer ourselves.

Prue: Simon produces seven different types of cheese, from soft French-style cheeses like Brie to hard British ones like his famous Single Gloucester.

Simon: We've separated the curds from the whey.

You can see in here we've got little cubes of the curd, and we're allowing that to acidify, that all the bugs are working on it.

And in a moment now, once the whey is all drained out, then we'll tip the back.

Prue: The whey is drained off, but it's not wasted.

It's sprayed back onto the land that the cows graze to fertilize it.

Then the curds are turned into cheese.

John: It looks hugely physical work, and it seems to be time critical.

They look as though they're working against the clock.

Is that right?

Yeah, absolutely.

They are.

Because--the cultures are growing in the curd all the time, the curd is becoming more acidic and it's becoming-- the dry matter is rising in it all the time.

So we've got to work really hard to make sure that you get everything in the mold, everything's even.

It's then moved into a really hot room where it's turned.

How many times do you turn them?

Well, four times in total.

OK.

So once off the table and then three times in... John: In the hot room.

Simon: In the hot room.

I mean, this is a very hands-on as against the big producers.

Yeah.

No, I think it's a really artisan product.

We're using all our own milk, so the milk we've used to make this cheese has come out of the cow this morning, so it's incredibly fresh.

But what we want is that fresh taste because we're really--we want you to eat our landscape, really... Ha ha!

I like that thought.

That's good.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I like that very much.

Prue: The next stage is the hot room, where the cheeses are drained and turned.

John: What have we got here?

They seem to be a lot different shapes and colors.

Simon: All the cheeses are coming in from the process that we've just seen.

Yup.

The cheeses are coming in here, and they're going to sit in here for about a week.

So if you look at these, these will be yesterday's cheeses.

So this is a little, um, Cotswold Brie...

Right.

240 gram, which is your standard sort of size.

These are blue cheeses.

So they're Cotswold blue, which is a blue-veined one.

But we're waiting now for these to mold up.

So they're going to sit in here for a week.

And here's some that we did probably last week.

Right.

And as you can see, the mold has grown.

So you can see how it's got lovely-- a little lovely furry mold on it.

And they're now ready, and they'll go in and be wrapped.

And should you eat the rind...?

No.

Absolutely.

It should give a lovely mushroomy flavor.

And that's really essential to part of the taste experience.

Oh, right.

I've always been intrigued.

What is the difference between Camembert and Brie?

Traditionally, Brie was made in bigger rounds and was thinner...

Right.

and Camembert was made in smaller rounds but thicker.

Right!

Well, I think I'm looking forward to...

Right.

getting eventually to having a taste.

[Chuckles] Fantastic.

Right.

Prue: Simon sells his cheese and milk direct to customers from a vending machine on the farm, just yards from where the cows are milked.

John has taken off his sexy blue outfit and is about to get his first taste.

So, John, this is the cheese that we saw being made this morning.

This is, uh, about two weeks old, so it's quite a fresh cheese.

But as it gets up to room temperature, it should become more buttery and soft.

I quite like them when they start to run.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, there becomes a moment-- Our cheeses are still live, so they're still working.

So take them out in the morning, eat them in the evening, and then you should get that lovely runny...

I like that very much.

It is really pleasant on the palate.

Really nice.

My father had a lovely expression for some cheeses, and he used to call it "gum teaser," which I think, really, is very good.

So this is lovely.

This is very... creamy and nice.

Well, when we set out to make cheese, we wanted to make a cheese that people would eat every day.

Well, you've done it.

That's lovely.

Yeah, yeah.

So this one is the blue-veined cheese.

And you can see now, John, that the blue veins are running through the cheese.

Actually I'm going to have a bit of that as well because-- Now, that's delish.

It's heading into the gum teaser domain.

Can I have some more, please?

Yes, you can.

[Laughter] There's a vending machine.

[Laughter] Prue: Next, I'm going to show you a recipe which sounds a lot more daunting than it is.

One of the best kept culinary secrets is how to make pâté.

It sounds so posh and French, but actually, it's really easy, and you can usually do it with something that's in your store cupboard.

Today I'm making one with sardines.

So you put two sardine cans with their oil into a blender, and then a bit of cooked spinach.

You'll need to make sure that you've got almost all the juice out of it.

So that goes in, and some butter.

This is a nice soft butter.

I'm going to put in about 40 grams.

And then I think it's a good idea to have a little bit of lemon.

Now for the noisy bit.

Blitz for about 30 seconds.

♪ You can go on as long as you like.

If you want it really smooth, whiz it some more.

If you don't mind a few lumps in it, stop whenever you like.

I actually like pâté with a bit of texture.

It's lovely, really lovely.

Put the mixture into small pots or even little tea cups.

You want to smooth the top as best you can.

Try not to get any bits up the side.

Get it is as flat as you can.

If you want to eat it straight away, it's ready straight away.

You could put a little bay leaf if you like just to make it look pretty.

If you want to keep your pâté for a week or two, it's worth putting some clarified butter on the top of it to keep all the air out.

Clarified butter is heated to separate the solids, leaving behind a lovely clear liquid.

So this is clarified butter.

And it's been melted and then cooled, so it's cold enough to go on.

Don't put too much on, just enough to make sure that no air can get into your pâté.

That's it, really.

It goes in the fridge.

The butter will set on the top.

You'll still be able to see the bay leaf through it.

Pâté just means "paste."

And the interesting thing about pâté is you can make it with all sorts of already cooked things.

Obviously, in sardines.

Same with mackerel from a can.

You can do it with smoked salmon, cooked chicken, and fried chicken livers.

All you do is whiz it up with butter, basically, and then any other flavorings you like.

And that's it.

Food plays a big part in our house, and I do like to find the very best.

I think it's really important to champion good food producers and growers, not just in the Cotswolds but in the UK.

And today's food hero is an unusual one, based in stunning Pembrokeshire.

Prue: This is Owen and his partner Michelle.

They love chilies and each other.

We met online.

[Laughs] Owen: 12 years ago.

Match.com.

And, yeah, there you go.

Heh!

Well, we just hit it off straight away, didn't we?

Yeah.

We had similar taste in music and food and that sort of stuff.

So, yeah, um, yeah.

Things go from there, really.

Prue: But six years ago, they realized that in their working lives, they were less content.

I was a supermarket manager, and we both became a little bit disillusioned with it.

It was long hours, long traveling.

I didn't really get to see much of Michelle or the children and wanted a change, really.

Prue: And they saw the answer in chilies.

Michelle: I've always liked hot food anyway, so we just thought, try growing a few plants, and that's what we did in the back garden.

We literally bought a six-by-four little polytunnel, put it in the corner of the garden, grew a few varieties.

We made a few sauces and jams that we quite liked, neighbors liked, friends liked.

We did a few figures one evening over dinner, and we thought, "Actually, we can make a small business out of this."

Prue: But getting the recipes right was a case of trial and error for Owen.

Owen: We found that some of the early sauces started splitting, so you'd get, the vinegar would be in there, or any liquid that was in there, would split away from the main body of the sauce.

Nothing really wrong with it, but it just didn't look too nice.

Prue: And practice soon made perfect.

Owen: We went to our first farmers market.

That was really successful.

We had a local shop come and give us an order to have our products on their shelves.

And it sort of went from there, didn't it?

On this side we have some cayennes.

Here we have a full row of aji limons.

Every day, you have to come and check on them.

And I think what I enjoy is watching them grow.

And when you see the first little flowers and then, yeah, it's really good.

As we go down, these are absolutely stunning.

Little Purple Nagas.

And then over that side, we have Carolina Reapers.

Prue: The Carolina Reaper is the world's most potent chili, over a hundred times hotter than anything you'd buy in a supermarket.

Owen: When I first tried a Carolina Reaper, I was absolutely shocked to the core how hot that was.

When I say crying, dribbling, eyes running for a good half-hour, that's no underestimation of what happened.

Ha ha!

We pick these with our bare hands.

They're perfectly fine, but the minute you expose the flesh or cut them open, then you could be in a lot of trouble.

That's when you need to be wearing gloves and be very careful what you touch-- Things like eyes, mouth, nose.

Prue: And eating them can get competitive.

Owen: The world record-holder is a British woman, who ate 100 of these in an hour.

No matter where we go, what shows we're doing, on the whole we tend to find... Women have a better tolerance.

the women have a better tolerance of the heat than the men.

Yeah.

Prue: Michelle and Owen put their love and attention into perfecting the growth of 15 varieties, and each needs special attention.

Owen: The hotter the variety or the more rare the variety is, they come to be a little bit more temperamental.

They need the right temperatures.

They need the right feed structures as well.

Owen: What I enjoy most is, is coming up with new flavors, new sauces, trying out different ingredients that perhaps we've never tried before and just experimenting.

We generally find that if we like the sauces-- it's got good flavor, good texture, and, you know, a decent amount of heat-- then generally, that would be a good sauce and lots of people will like it as well.

Prue: But surely the hardest part of the job must be working with your husband.

Michelle: We work really well together, don't we?

Yeah, most of the time.

Yeah.

We just know what needs to be done...

Carry on.

and we just get on with it.

Prue: Hmm, I'm not sure my husband would work with me full-time.

♪ Well, I'm pleased to say that John is back in the kitchen with me.

And, John, you've brought me some Brie, and we are going to make a bliss on toast.

I'll show you the picture.

This is what we're aiming at.

Can you make that?

Um, under instruction, yes?

"Under instruction"?

If you do what you're told.

That's right.

OK. We're actually going to make it with Brie and chili jam on soda bread with a few blackberries.

First, we've got to make the soda bread.

OK, that's good.

And you love soda bread, so you might as well learn how to make it.

I do.

Yup.

So first of that, and you have to sieve the flour first.

OK.

So which goes-- This one?

And that's plain flour.

Yeah.

OK.

I've never made bread of any nature before... Oh, good.

so this is a first.

All right, well, you sieve that.

OK. Am I doing the-- ooh--the right thing?

Yeah.

That's right.

Perfect.

And then you have to put these things in.

OK.

So that is four level teaspoons of sugar... OK. 1 1/2 half level teaspoons of bicarb.

I would always, if I saw a recipe, I would do a heaped.

I know.

That's the problem.

And most people do.

I don't know why we don't keep saying "level."

And one teaspoon, level, of salt.

OK?

Yup.

And then that is brown flour.

OK.

So that goes in?

Whole-wheat flour, wholemeal flour.

I very seldom sieve anything, but you do need to sift this one, because we want to put some of the bran, which will be left in this--in the sieve, we'll put on the top to make it look nice and crunchy.

The lovely thing about soda bread is that you don't need any yeast.

It rises because it's got bicarbonate of soda in it, which makes it full of air.

So that's the base for soda bread.

I've got to do this because you...

I don't like sticky.

I don't do sticky.

you don't like your fingers to get sticky.

I know.

Honestly, John, you'll never make a cook.

I mean, half the joy of cooking is getting your hands involved.

Oh, that's just one step beyond me.

So we got 1 1/2 ounces, which is 45 grams of butter, and we're going to rub it in.

Have you got all the way down to the bottom?

Yeah.

I'm just checking.

[Chuckling] You've become an expert in five minutes, and will be telling me I'm doing it wrong.

Actually, almost everything I do, you'd come along and tell me a better way to do it.

So it's quite unusual for you not to be telling me how to do it.

OK. And then... we're going to mix in some buttermilk.

You can buy buttermilk in most supermarkets.

And that, again, buttermilk makes bread much lighter than ordinary whole milk.

So I've got 400 mils of it here, but I'm not going to put it all in because you never know until you try exactly how the flour is going to react because flours change all the time and you don't want to have too much, so start with 2/3 of it or 3/4 of it.

And I mix it with a knife because I don't know why, but it's just much easier to do it like that.

And what we're after is a soft dough.

So, yeah, this would be about right.

I might put a tiny bit more in.

I always say it should feel like a baby's bottom.

You know, lovely and soft.

You know what a baby's bottom feels like.

I've had four of them, so I do know.

Um, then you need to flour your hands.

Tip it all out on a floured board.

Oops.

This is a trick with soda bread.

It's the same with making scones.

You want to be very light with it, not mangle it, because you're trying to keep what air you've got in there in there.

So you put it into a bowl, and then you make your bread dough ball nice and smooth like that.

And then I use the back of a baking tin because it's always so much easier to get it off.

So then that goes on there.

And then you flour your rolling pin and you push it right down to almost the bottom.

Why do you do this?

So that you get the sort of additional soda bread instead of...

I know I'm a bit silly, but is that bread for four?

It could be four very hungry people.

And then we're going to put some... of the reserved bran all over it.

And then we're going to stick it in the oven straight away, So you don't have to wait for it to rise or anything.

Now, it goes into that oven.

This one?

Yeah.

In a fairly hot oven, about 190, for 40 minutes.

And we should have soda bread.

♪ Right.

So our bread is out of the oven, and we're about to make Brie on soda bread with chili jelly and blackberries.

And I want to just talk to you a little bit about the chili jelly, because we haven't got time to make it now.

But this is one I made earlier.

I used a basic apple jelly recipe and added a little bit of chili from the Pembrokeshire growers.

It's so satisfying to do.

And look at it.

It's so beautiful, isn't it?

The color is so good.

So shall we taste it?

OK. Do you see?

It's lovely.

It's just set like a jelly.

Isn't that beautiful?

I'm just waiting for the... Chili.

Yup.

It's coming through very nicely, actually.

I mean... Mmm.

Um, no.

Oh, yes.

I can feel it now.

Yeah.

Me, too.

Mmm.

Delicious.

Right.

So could you give me two slices from the middle?

Quite thick, because I've got to toast them.

Is that too thick?

No, I think that's fine.

Let me have a look.

No.

That looks lovely.

And into the magic toaster.

Just does it all itself.

Now, in the meantime, this is the Brie.

So I'm going to cut it into strips.

But we could taste a bit at the end, couldn't we?

There you are.

OK.

Thank you.

It's good?

Very good.

Lovely.

And then we're going to have an assembly job here.

You're going to butter them.

OK. Then put the Brie on it, then a little chili jam... and a bit of rocket and a few blackberries.

That's beautiful, Mr. Playfair.

There we are.

But hang on.

I think-- All right, this is going to be yours.

Now I'm going to do one rival one.

I only put one on.

I know because you're a mean beast.

[Chuckles] I think that looks just as pretty as yours.

But I like this one because I like to see the chili jam, too.

Mine's got a surprise element.

Yes, yours is hidden-- hidden secrets, hidden secrets.

Anyway, so that is our Brie, blackberries, and chili jam on soda bread.

So, John, your cocktail to go with our Brie on toast.

I've got a sloe gin fizz.

I'm guessing I'm going to put the sloe in first, then some lemon, then the Cava, because the Cava will... Froth up.

Froth up the lemon.

Now the lemon.

I have a lovely gadget here, which I adore, because it takes away all the slight nervousness of... [Pop] taking--opening champagne.

So here we go.

What about the blackberries?

Do we want one of them?

OK.

Very good.

Pretty color, isn't it?

It's lovely.

Chin-chin.

Goodness.

That doesn't half improve a Cava, doesn't it?

[Chuckles] Really.

It's quite dry.

It's quite dry.

So should we try it with our bliss on toast?

Thank you very much.

Ooh.

Do you think that goes well with it?

Oh, I think that is delish.

I think the two are absolutely perfect together because you get the creamy cheese, which is quite mild... Yeah.

then the little kick of chili, the bitterness from the sloe.

No, I really like that.

I think that is-- That's another winner.