All language subtitles for Marcus.Wareings.Tales.from.a.Kitchen.Garden.S02E04.1080p.WEBRip.x264-CBFM

A year has passed on my East Sussex
smallholding. I've been spending

more time out of the kitchen and in
the garden.

This helps me get away
from absolutely everything.

I mean, you can't not love this.
Come on!

I've had plenty of successes...

I've got a glut of ingredients
that I'm going to be sharing,

and that's a lovely thing.

..and a few failures, too.

I've just been to feed the pigs,
and they're not there.

But with the help of my friends
and neighbours...

Come on, put your back into it.

I thought farming was just about
animals.

No-one talks about fencing.

..I'm going to bring in more
produce...

I'm going to see if I can get
some wheat in the ground.

..more livestock...

I've never seen so much poo
in a field in all my life.

HE LAUGHS

..and use every inch of my garden...

Here we go, first Wareing potato.

It's hard work, but it's worth it.

..all year round.

You know autumn's just around
the corner when the sun goes

behind the clouds.

Because I know a better
understanding of ingredients...

So much more to learn,
so many new dishes to cook.

..will lead to some incredible
new recipes...

This place is on fire.

It just gets better and better
and better.

..as I discover the secrets
of a kitchen garden.

Set within the rolling hills
of the High Weald in East Sussex

is my smallholding.

A few years in,

and I'm still loving every minute
of life here, even if it means a lot

of hard work.

At my pond, the water level is low,
so it's the perfect time to do some

much-needed maintenance.

We create this little, this little
shoreline beach with this slate,

chopped-up slate.

But every year, this all just gets
washed into the pond.

So it's giving me the chance to put
this sort of barrier, like a defence

mechanism that you see on the coast.
Just trying to improve

it all the time.

I've had success with cabbages,
tomatoes and potatoes this year,

but when I started the kitchen
garden, I also wanted to experiment

with more unusual crops, ones
that would give me new flavours

to inspire my cooking.

The problem is, they're much harder
to grow, like my wasabi plants.

The leaves don't look great, though.

A gift from a friend.

It's not a vegetable I know
much about.

This is where the heart
of Japanese food comes from.

Wasabi is a flavour that is huge,
it's massive.

You know, it's from
the horseradish family,

and it's a vegetable
that I don't think of using

because I don't make sushi.

What I want to find out is
what can I do with wasabi?

Is it crushing it down,
is it slicing it,

is it marinades, even wasabi
ice cream?

It has been done before.

What I don't want to do,
I don't want them to die.

What I need are some tips on how to
grow healthy wasabi plants.

So I've come to Hampshire,
where they've been producing

it for over ten years...

..but the location seems to be
Britain's best-kept secret.

This is not what I expected.

I have to say, this does
look a bit weird.

No signs, no directions.

And they've got this black,
black covering.

Let's go and find someone.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think
I'm in the right place,

and you should be Josh.
I am, hello!

Good to meet you - Marcus.
Nice to meet you, Marcus.

The first thing I have to say,
why the cover?

The wasabi doesn't like a lot
of light,

it doesn't like heat. Where it grows
in mountainous valleys in Japan,

it sort of only gets sunlight
through the middle of the day,

underneath a dappled sunlight
cover through trees. Right.

So to replicate that sort of thing,
we put covers over the top to keep

out the sun and the heat.

Show me, show me,
show me how it works.

The first thing you feel

when you walk in here
is the temperature drop.

Yeah, it's just to keep
the heat and the sunlight out

because these plants do not like it
if it gets sort of above 20 degrees.

In Japan, they are grown in
fast-flowing rivers with slate.

So to mimic that, we've used
old watercress beds,

put mounds of pebbles... Yeah.
..with different sizes in them.

So we get a better sort of flow
rate through, tapped into some

springs at the edge of the farm.

We don't have to pump it,
we don't have to do anything,

it's just straight out the ground
and flows along the farm.

I can't believe the size of these
12-month-old wasabi plants.

They're huge compared to my
two-year-old tiddlers.

As these get older, we'll end
up with dinner plate-sized leaves.

Let's lead on. I'm learning more.
HE CHUCKLES

Is there anything that you can do
with the leaf?

So there is a local restaurant
down in Winchester,

and he uses pretty much the whole
plant,

so he will use the leaf
instead of nori,

he'll stir-fry the stem.

You can actually pickle the stem

and you end up with, like,
a pickled wasabi.

In fact... Pretty cool.
..have a try.

Mm. That's good. It's really nice.
Thank you. It's really good.

It's warm and peppery.

It's rocket-like... Mm. ..but rocket
with muscle. A bit of a hit, yeah.

It is, isn't it? Yeah.

We actually also sell baby leaf
as well.

Ooh, there's a little aftertaste,
there's a little numbing

of the palate and the tongue. Yeah.
That's tongue-numbing,

that's almost...

Ooh! Yeah.

There you go!

But it's the root I'm particularly
interested in.

Out she comes, one big wasabi plant.

And then from there, what you can
see,

the root, which is dripping-wet.

Water.

The smell... Quite a strong smell
as well, isn't it?

Yeah, you can smell it.
Wow, that is so strong!

So if you go in there, you can see
it's quite large.

Into there... Yeah. ..and just grip
it gently and pull.

Pull and tug and shake
all at the same time,

and voila, you have your own
fresh wasabi.

Look at that.

You're going to have a go
at cleaning it up.

What you need is your knife.

One, two, three.

Then you peel off these tiny,

little plantlets, taking

off the last little nodules
at the bottom...

..cleaning it up quite nicely,

so it ends up looking almost
like a fat pencil.

Give it another quick rinse,
and then you take your scrubbing

brush, just like you would
with a set of nails,

and you scrub up and down it.

We like to send them out almost
unblemished. Yeah.

For tasting purposes, you literally
want to turn it

into a pencil. Take the last

of that top of the crown off.

A bit more. There you are.

To get the flavour,
we have a very fine tooth grater.

So, basically, as the cell walls
break down, it creates a chemical

reaction and then that gives
the wasabi its flavour.

Big circular motions with the end
of your pencil.

So it immediately
turns to a bright green paste.

If you try it now,
dip your finger into it...

It's not as strong as I thought
it would be.

Give it a couple of minutes, it'll
be a lot stronger. Really? Yeah.

It's so enjoyable, actually.

Do you know, I think what I get from
it is that real fresh,

just out of the... Out of the
ground. ..out of the pebbles.

Yeah. It's brilliant. Thank you,
Josh. That's all right!

As well as the wasabi,
watercress is also grown here.

As a chef who's used it in many
dishes, that's piqued my curiosity.

So I'm meeting Tom, the man
in charge.

I've never seen watercress
like this. How does it work?

You can walk on this, so it's fine.
Actually get in there?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah,
we can get in there.

So you can sort of feel
it's quite thick below us.

It's spongy, nearly. It's like a
carpet. Yeah, yeah.

That will all stand
up by tomorrow morning. Really?

It responds to geotropism,
it's called. It's basically gravity.

If you put watercress down

like that and leave it in the fridge
or leave it outside, it'll stand up.

It's not a short crop,

but they would have shipped it that
way round.

I'm noticing that there's
an incredible similarity

between what we've just seen
with the wasabi,

the water, the gravel.

It's not cut the same, but then,
it's got that strong, peppery

flavour as well. The chemical

that's found in wasabi and found in
watercress is called isothiocyanate,

and that is the compound
that is signatured by that flavour.

So the wasabi isothiocyanate
is just really excessively powerful.

Yeah. The watercress one
is still powerful, and if you

consume it straight from the
watercress bed, you'll get

a much bigger hit, but that, over
time, slowly dissipates.

I had no idea there was so much
to watercress...

So we're going to collect the
watercress into these 12 trays.

..or for that matter, harvesting it.

But I'm about to learn fast.

I suppose the obvious question
is how does it work, what do you do?

So you're going to sit here
and you're going to operate

it with this joystick. So it's just
literally keep it in a straight

line? Keep it in a straight line,
get to the end, stop, that's it.

And then what? You've passed
your proficiency. Right.

THEY LAUGH

Feel a bit nervous.

LAUGHS: There's always a first!

All right, straight line.

I think the whole day
has been really interesting.

You've got one farm here that's
growing the watercress,

and then you've got the other part

of the farm which is growing wasabi,
which sort

of seems like it's a million miles
away, which I think is brilliant,

and there's a lot to learn,
and I've learnt so much today,

and I'm going to take that back
to my farm, and I'm certainly

going to take these flavours
back to my food.

Job done! Not bad!

Where are they? Oh, there they are.

HE WHISTLES

Tch-tch-tch.

It's an early start on the farm, and
my first job is to give the ducks

and my two new geese their
breakfast.

They're all waking up,

I'm trying to wake up, and they had
a little bit of a wash

before they started eating.

They're no different to us,
in a way.

I'm hoping the new guard geese
that I brought in to protect

the ducks will keep predators away.

Quite good having a bit of security
around the pond. It's almost like

they're the mum and dad and these
are the kids. But then I do have to

question that there's only three
ducks

in front of me, and where's the
other one?

There's one missing.

The guard geese haven't done their
job.

I think probably a good idea
to have a look around.

I think if anyone could search
a duck out, you can, Es.

WHISPERS: Let's go!

Come on!

DOG YELPS

I can't find her anywhere.

She's definitely not in here.

And I think with the dog
being around, she would

have popped up. Whoa!

It looks as if the fourth duck
has been taken by foxes.

Can't keep losing them.

Maybe the guard geese have
not quite settled in.

They're certainly not doing their
jobs if we've lost one,

that's for sure.

They're just enjoying themselves
a little bit too much.

I've always loved experimenting
with unusual flavours in my cooking,

and anybody that knows me knows
how much I love lavender.

I've been growing it in abundance,

and one idea is to use it to make
lavender ice cream.

So I'm visiting artisan gelato
makers Latchetts in East Sussex.

Dairy farmers for 300 years,

they have now turned their hand
to a new enterprise.

Hello! How are you doing?

Hello, everybody! How are you, are
you well?

Yeah, you? Yes, I'm good.

Heading the family business
is Grant.

So why ice cream, then?

I went to Italy, or Sicily, and fell
in love with the gelaterias,

and the gelato, and what they were
making, and everything else.

I was getting more and more
frustrated that as farmers

we've got no connection to our end
user.

So I thought, well, ice cream,
gelato.

And that's what we did.

Grant's agreed to make up a sample
of gelato using lavender

from my garden.

So all of our gelato is made
from a base mix... Yeah.

..which is just milk,

sugar and a stabiliser to make sure
it actually holds together.

Eggs? No eggs.

So it's not like ice cream,
you've got no eggs.

And this is only 7% fat, opposed
to ice cream, which is,

what, 20, 24%?

This is why it's so good.

You can infuse lavender,
you can infuse cheese, you can do

whatever you want to do
with it because you haven't got

that fat coating your mouth.

You get the actual intensity
of the flavour.

Having been infused with my
lavender, the milk sample

is ready to taste.

So tell me what you think,

cos you're an expert...

I think it needs more, myself,
but I like lavender.

I agree.

Adding cream also infused
with my lavender will hopefully

strengthen the flavour and give me
the taste I'm looking for.

That there, that's nice. See, I
wouldn't go any more than that,

but it's your ice cream, so...

I agree with you. I think you're
right.

Yeah. Because if I'm going to eat
lavender and I'm going to taste

lavender, whether it's in a parfait,
whether it's in an ice cream,

gelato, whatever, I want
to taste it.

I think that's ready.
I think it's ready.

All that's needed now is to churn
and freeze the mixture.

There we go. While that's churning,
can I come and taste some

of your other ice creams? Yeah, of
course, definitely. I saw some

pretty interesting combinations
back there.

We've made some special
ones for you. Sure, lead the way.

As well as selling popular flavours,

Grant also specialises in the more
unusual.

Horseradish gelato - really? Yeah.

You want to try some?

That is really good.
That is very good, actually.

You'd never think that would work.

But the gorgonzola and pear, I can't
bear to smell that cheese,

let alone eat it.
But here goes.

My goodness me.
You've actually converted me.

HE CHUCKLES

That should not work.

It shouldn't work, but, yeah, it
does. It does work. Yeah.

Let's hope my own lavender-infused
gelato packs the same tasty punch.

This is the bit, it's the
best bit.

It's the bit I've been waiting for.
That's my garden in your gelato.

Here we go.

I can't believe how much
that's changed from...

That is very floral, isn't it?
It's lovely, though.

It IS good, it IS good.

Now that it's fully
mixed in, and it's frozen,

it's almost as if it's got
a little bit more intense.

I wouldn't go any further
with lavender. I think that's

definitely at the top end there.
That's enough? Yeah.

But for my taste buds, for what I
like, that's perfect. Yeah.

Everything in that tub is
East Sussex.

And it's absolutely...
Doesn't get much more local.

It doesn't get much more local
than that, actually,

and it's absolutely great.

I'm really glad to have contributed
another unique flavour

to Grant's gelato selection.

What a great story. A family that's
been farming for over 300 years

is now making gelato.

And the lavender from my garden is
now sitting in almost

an Italian-style recipe, a gelato.

I have to say, I am inspired.

After visiting Josh at the wasabi
farm, I realise I've got my work

cut out if I'm to make a success
of my own wasabi plants.

I think now that I've been to see
Josh, it's quite clear to see

that there's not a lot of health
in these.

I'm going to take them out
and I'm going to move them,

I'm not leaving them here.
This does not look good.

My plan is to relocate them
to the pond, where it's wetter.

A bit nervous, actually.

Oh. Still so dry.

Of course, Josh's was full of
moisture.

I want to try one of these,
I've got to.

I want to know if this has got
flavour.

Cos I'm not going to go and plant
these and waste time and money

if they're dead and there's nothing
there.

So I'm going to sort of do
that thing that Josh showed me,

down to like a pencil.

Ooh, it's smelling good.

You know what? We might have a
little bit of success here.

It's certainly smelling wasabi.

Proof's always going to be in the
eating, so let me give it a go.

Oh!

HE LAUGHS

Well, as you can see
by my expression, that...

HE EXHALES

..my goodness me...

That's making my eyes water.

Wow! That's hot,
that is seriously hot.

I mean, probably wasn't a good idea
to take a slice, but that's got

great flavour, that tasted wasabi.

I'm very happy. I'm going to get
all of these rehoused, re-potted

and into a new home.

I don't have a spring like Josh,

but by putting bark and tree stumps

along the edge of the pond,
I'll create a dam which will keep

the plants moist.

So this bit of wood here
will just help the water level.

When it's started to rain

and this gets up to the right
height,

the water should just sit
underneath and moisten

all of that bark.

Water.

I know it's not Japan, and I know
it's not a Japanese garden.

What you've got there is you've got
a lot of pleasure from the wasabi

for, well, possibly years to come.

Just got to get it covered now.

It's not perfect.
Let's put it this way,

it's in a much better place
than where it was.

And I'm pretty happy with that.

And it's actually quite cool
to be able to open up another area

of the farm for produce.

I didn't think of wasabi down here.

Looking forward to experimenting
with them, taking it into my cookery

and seeing where it fits.

It's a delight to see the rest
of my kitchen garden thriving

and producing an abundance
of vegetables.

So, inspired by all the fresh
produce and my visit

to the watercress farm,

I want to create the perfect supper
dish for my wife, Jane, and I.

What I'm going to make is a green
garden soup with the addition

of some fabulous watercress.

These are all sort of things
that you'd have in the fridge.

You've got some gherkins, you've got
some peas left over, a courgette,

a little cucumber, got some
herbs, some dill and a little

bit of chives.

Iceberg lettuce, and of course,
some watercress.

All the ingredients for this soup
are raw.

There's no cooking needed
whatsoever, so everything needs

to be soft, and it's just going
to be mixed together, marinated

together, and then going
into a blender.

What we've got here is a courgette.

That's going to be my first job.

This is just a really quick
and easy soup to do.

We're not cooking anything.

Courgette skin can taste sour,
but grating it and adding salt helps

break down that bitterness.

Just mix that around gently
with your hand.

Then take out these gherkins.

We've got here is the juice
from the bottle, which we're going

to put into the soup.

I'm going to slice up some
of this baguette because bread helps

bind everything together.

So just by putting some
of this bread into this liquid,

it'll soak it up and then it can go
into the courgettes.

Just take off the crusts.
You can use any bread ,really -

white bread, stale bread, all fine.

I quite like the sourdough,
it just adds a lovely flavour.

Just drop that into your vinegar.

Just gently roll the bread
in that lovely gherkin juice.

I like the gherkins in the soup,
I love the zingy-ness

and the acidity that it brings.

Just chop those up. Everything that
you're doing can be roughly chopped,

it's all going to go into
the blender, into the courgettes.

Just mix that in.

Next, I'm adding some chopped dill
and chives from my kitchen garden.

Just take off the large stalks
of the dill and just gently

run your knife through it.

Don't want any rosemaries

or thymes or bay leaf.

They are herbs that are removed

or you cook into something.

It's not the type of herb that you'd
put into a dish like this.

Just mix those around.

Now I'm going to add my bread.

You can see that's soaked up all
that beautiful juice.

Mix those in.

Now it's time to blend.

What happens is, when you start
to blend, all of the waters come

out of these ingredients and that's
pretty much all you need.

In goes some iceberg lettuce.

Just pack it all in, some cucumber.

And of course, I've got
my little watercress.

Good pinch of salt, glug of oil.

Lid on.

BLENDER GRINDS

Now just wait, let the machine
do the work.

And with the vegetables
blended together, you could

have more ingredients like yoghurt.

All right. Perfect timing.

And there we have it,

a lovely green colour.

Absolutely incredible.

I've got a bowl and my sieve,
just a normal flour sieve,

it doesn't need to be too fine,

just to take away any little bits

and pieces that we don't want.

As it's going through the sieve,
it's just making it much finer.

When I was growing up, watercress
was a luxury ingredient.

It was quite rare to be seen.
You didn't see it very often.

Usually just a garnish
in restaurants on a steak.

You know, most people just put
it to the side,

no-one ever really ate it.

But I just think,
A - it's good for you,

it's got great iron in it,
and it's got beautiful flavour.

Great for soups. Brilliant for when
you're making vinaigrettes.

I just love the pepperiness
of watercress.

And there we have it. And there's

our beautiful, beautiful soup.

What I love about this soup
is that it pretty much just takes

care of itself.

It's just getting a lovely
combination of the courgettes,

the cucumber, the gherkins,
and of course, that lovely

little touch of yoghurt, and the
blender does the work for you.

I'm serving my soup with home-made
sourdough croutons.

So, the seasoning, just soak

them in oil, and then I'm just

going to get them onto the grill.

These won't take long. Very quick.

These type of dishes are the type
of dishes that Jane

and I really enjoy.

In fact, the whole family do.

Great garden ingredients, blended

together with a few other bits
and pieces, and it's magic.

Now we can start to serve up.

Some beautiful little borage
flowers here.

These are lovely.

Drop some of those on top.
Sprinkling of oil.

Pinch of pepper.

I love pepper in my soup.

Got my croutons.

And to finish the dish off,
I've picked a local goat's cheese

to have alongside.

You can use any type of cheese
that you like,

but a lovely, mild goat's cheese

works an absolute treat with this
soup.

And there we have it. Green garden
soup finished with watercress,

borage flowers, drizzle of olive
oil, croutons,

and a local goat's cheese.

I better go and find Jane.

I don't want to spill it.
Don't want to ruin my presentation.

Hello!

JANE LAUGHS

Go on!

Fantastic...

Oh, wow! Looks amazing.

There you are, I know you like cold
soups.

Lots of people say, "Ooh, I don't
like cold soups."

Actually, they're really tasty.
I love it. Fresh.

What I'm finding is, the more people
I go out and meet, I'm getting

disciplined in understanding how to
grow things, where to put them

in the garden, where
to put them on the farm.

It's all the work you've put in in
the spring and the summertime -

just right there in a bowl,
it's delicious.

Just the flavour of the garden
in a bowl.

And after such a hot day, there's

nothing better than a cold bowl
of soup and a glass of wine.

Everywhere I go, and all the people
I meet, it's inspiring me

in a completely different way,
a way that I never thought

I'd be inspired when it comes
to food.

Cheers to that. Cheers, Jane.
Cheers! Thank you very much.