All language subtitles for J.C.S.2024.S01E03.WEB-DL

Springtime is here.

And there's some incredible
British fruit

and veg bursting with flavour
and ripe for the picking.

From sweet and tender broad beans

to chard the colours
of the rainbow.

These are the incredible ingredients
that are at their best right now.

They're at their most delicious,
most affordable,

better for you and the planet.

So, if you find the time
to make something special,

I've created some exciting
meals for whatever the occasion,

that makes the most
out of what's in season.

From epic ideas for pizza toppings
and pan fried fish suppers...

That is so good.

...oozy risottos and spicy curries...

Full of optimism, just like spring.

...and the sweetest
springtime tarts.

That rhubarb flavour
is just extraordinary.

So, join me at home in my shed,
as I spend

the year cooking what's in season,

in the hope that it inspires
you to have a think about

the way you cook, shop,
or even grow your food too.

Might just put a little bit
of spring in your step. Like that?

There's certain things that you have
to do at this time of year.

Planting your own potatoes
is a thing of joy.

A perfect home-grown potato
with butter and salt is, like,

that's it, that's the meal. Like,
that's it! Like, it's so good.

And of course, if you're going
shopping, Jersey Royals,

you know, right now are incredible,
but to do your own is really cool.

I want to show you how easy it is.
You can do this on a little veranda,

on a little balcony, and get
yourself like a tomato bag

or a compost bag, any bag you want,

and just put some little holes,
just to let it drain.

If you've ever bought potatoes

and you've seen them kind
of start sprouting like that,

these are chitted potatoes.

That's just nature doing its thing.

I just put them on little egg boxes
in a light, cool place.

After a few weeks,
depending on the temperature,

they'll start to shoot like this
and from that,

these will grow up into a plant

and throw off little shoots.
I'll put these in like that.

So, I'll cover this by about
an inch and a half of the compost.

And then we'll water that in,
put it in a nice little sunny place.

As this plant develops over
the next two or three weeks,

we can put extra soil on top.

We don't want the potatoes
to be exposed to the sun,

right, we want to keep them covered.
So, by soiling up,

you just kind of basically encourage
more growth,

and a better potato.
By the time we get to, like,

ooh, June, July,
for the first earlies,

you'll be able to sort
of just break open that bag

and all of these incredible, pearly
white potatoes will come out.

But the earliest new potatoes
available in spring

are Jersey Royals.

At their best from April to June,

I'm dressing these superstar spuds
in a creamy,

wild garlic pesto,
served alongside a moreish filling,

packed inside my show-stopping,

stuffed roast salmon
with Jersey Royals.

A real treat, perfect for big family
gatherings or celebration suppers.

So, we're going to make
a beautiful celebration meal.

It's quite simple to do,
but it feels really fancy

and it feels like a bit
of a "wow" meal.

So, Jersey Royal potatoes,

really one of the true heroes
of springtime.

They're so delicate.
I've been to the island of Jersey

and I've seen them harvesting these
on these really steep hills that

gets loads of lovely sun,
and because of that sunshine,

they're ready early.
So let's get cooking.

Over here,
I have got some boiling water,

a nice, big pan. Season it with
salt and then, of course,

best friends with potatoes,
mint. Get yourself a nice,

big handful in there.
Use the stalks.

I'll keep these nice leaves,

but that is going to basically
make a mint tea.

and we'll boil those
for about ten to 15 minutes.

When they're really fresh like this,
they don't need much cooking.

Next, we're going to make a stuffing
for these lovely sides of salmon

with some seasonal asparagus
AMD wild garlic,

breadcrumbs,
and really flavour it up.

These have been scaled
and they've been pin boned as well,

and often you will find that
salmon fillets are on offer,

which is great.
So, pan's heating up.

Go in with some olive oil,
a couple of tablespoons.

I've got the mint leaves
from earlier.

I'm just going to pick through those

and we're going to make
a really rustic stuffing.

So, we often talk about stuffing
for meat,

but actually,
you can do it with fish beautifully.

Best friends with mint is chilli.

Just the ones you get
in the supermarkets.

Mine haven't grown yet.
Put the mint into the oil.

Go in with the chilli as well,
and freshly foraged,

and it's all over
the country right now,

wild garlic.

We're cooking with what's available
and what's in season.

If you can't get wild garlic,
don't worry, just use parsley,

but this is incredible. It's so
perfumed. In with the flowers.

Tear them up, like that.

The lovely thing about wild garlic
is it's not too pungent.

You know, it's got a subtlety
to it that I really love.

You can get it down
the farmers' markets.

Put a little bit of lemon zest
in there as well.

So fragrant.

We've got asparagus,
which is really gorgeous.

Keep the tips cos they're
very beautiful.

I'm going to use them for later on.
And then, where they click,

that's where the tender bit
kind of leaves the woody bit.

These can be used
for lovely soups, sauces,

and what I want to do is get
the stalks here,

which are still tender and gorgeous,
and just finely slice them.

And just a couple of minutes
of frying

the chopped up asparagus stalks,

just brings out
the sweetness really beautifully.

And then I'm going
to take these tips,

and we want to cook them a bit,
just take the rawness

out of them cos they're going to
cook in the stuffing, of course.

Season it up. So, some sea salt,
some black pepper.

Go in with a handful or two
of breadcrumbs.

They're kind of brilliant, really.

They'll absorb some of
the cooking juices from

the fish when it comes out.

Let that get to room temperature,
or cool.

You never want to stuff anything
with hot things,

so just lay it out flat
and that's the fastest way to do it.

So, stuffing, done.
Let's try the potatoes.

Very good. So, these are done.

Turn the water off and leave them
to steep in that minty water,

so the water goes in,
and then, of course,

you can leave it and when your
friends, guests get here,

you can just give it a little fire
up, drain it and then,

beautiful wild garlic pesto
over the top.

It's going to be pretty special.

And if you don't want to do it
with wild garlic,

you could do it
with any herb you wish.

I'm going to add a little
bit, actually,

of parsley to go with it,
cos I think garlic

and parsley have a nice affinity
with each other.

So, pestle and mortar.
If you haven't got one,

a liquidiser, food processor.
All of these things will work.

Salt. This is obviously
for seasoning

but I need the abrasion.

Now we're going to make some noise

and bash out all those natural oils
and flavours.

And then we're going to go in
with the next ingredient

and that's nuts.
You could use hazelnuts,

almonds, pine nuts,

pistachios.
A little handful going in.

So, the almond is quite neutral,

the wild garlic
and parsley is feisty,

and now we want something salty
and creamy in here,

which will be the cheese.

Parmesan, which is great,
but also I'm going to use cheddar,

about 50g of cheese in there.

Olive oil,

about three tablespoons,
and go from banging to muddling.

Now, the one tweak that

I do that isn't
particularly traditional,

is just a little squeeze
of lemon juice.

It just cuts through the oil.
Let's have a little try.

Oh, my Lord! Ooh, that is good!

You cannot compare home-made pesto
to anything in a jar.

That is full of life,

full of optimism, like,
just like spring.

So, out comes the string,
butcher's string.

Every house should have some.

So, what you want is like,

five, six or seven bits
of string like this.

Get your lovely salmon fillet

and we're going to go straight on
top like that.

You don't have to do it perfect,

it's there just to secure
the fillets.

Just a little salt and pepper

and then we're going to take
that incredible pesto

and just put a nice couple
of tablespoons on each side.

Save back some for the new potatoes.

I'm going to lay bits
of asparagus like this,

then we'll go in
with that lovely stuffing on top.

Just pat it down,
take this lovely fillet here

and simply put it on the top.
Super, super simple.

Last but not least, we're taking
vibes from surf and turf,

so I have a little prosciutto.

That whole thing about cured meat
and fish really does work.

Look at this beautiful thyme.

At springtime, it's
tender like this.

It's like a little posy.
Grab some oil,

put that over the herb like that.

That'll release
the incredible flavour.

When the fat on
the thyme goes onto the fat on

the prosciutto, which
then goes through

and across the fish,
it's going to be dreamy.

So, all we have
to do now is tie it up

and what I do is I double knot.
One, two,

and that just helps you secure it
nice and firm.

And tie it,

nice and tight.

Tie it in a knot.

It's not about looking pretty,

it's not even about being accurate,

it just has to be secure.

Little slices of lemon,

they'll just kind of go jammy
and gorgeous,

and give off some nice juice
and that'll be fantastic.

This will absolutely feed 12
people generously.

Look at that!

Something a little bit different

and if you wanted to do this
the day before a party,

whack it in the fridge, happy days.

What I would recommend,
just like a cut of meat,

is take it out of the fridge
an hour before you cook it,

just to come up in temperature.

But I've preheated the oven
to 220 degrees Celsius,

which is around about
450 Fahrenheit.

Whack that in the oven like that

and immediately turn it down
to 180.

That higher temperature is going
to roast up the top,

get it crispy, and then by turning
it down immediately,

it's going to evenly cook through
that salmon.

35 minutes and that should be
absolutely beautiful.

Conker, in your bed.
Good boy! Good boy.

So, I've just put
the new potatoes back on to heat up

and I'll finish those in a second.
This smells incredible.

It's so joyful and look at that!

What an incredible thing! I love it.

So, just like a cut of meat,

give this a basting...

...and get some of those flavours
back over the salmon.

You can see how the prosciutto
has just gone so beautiful.

Ho-ho! Just remove that paper.

So, I'm just going to take these
new potatoes...

They smell amazing!

Right, let's remove the mint.

So while they're hot and steamy,

put this incredible pesto
over the top.

Some will break up,
some are whole.

They're pearly white,
tender, nutty, creamy.

These are the ultimate potatoes.

The smell coming off
this is incredible.

So, we're letting this lovely
salmon rest.

When you let it rest,
the moisture goes back

to all parts that moisture
should go back to,

and also it just helps
it hold its shape in

the most beautiful way so we can get
a lovely cross-section and slice.

Let's take the thyme off
cos we're not eating that.

It smells incredible!

Come on, let's plate a portion up.

The first slice is always
the tricky one.

Look at that!
Look at that cross-section.

Let's get a nice little slice.

Onto the plate,
look how juicy that is!

Get some of those beautiful
new potatoes.

So, there you go, lovely people.

That is a dish definitely worthy
of celebrating springtime.

That, with a little bit
of salad here, is going to be

a meal fit for a king.

Beautiful, look at that.

Can't wait to try this.

I'm going to go for
the new potatoes first.

I'm not even going to cut it,
I'm just going to go in whole.

Mm!

So delicate.

Creamy, nutty,

and that wild garlic pesto
is just incredible with it.

Let's have a little go
at that salmon.

Just wants to flake in the most
beautiful way.

Ho-ho-ho!

Wow! The sweet asparagus really
harmonises with the fish,

which is delicate,

but then again,
on the outside of the fish...

Crunchy, golden, delicious
prosciutto with that taste of thyme.

That, my friends,

is a dish worth celebrating
with people that you love.

It's a great springtime treat.

How about that?

Edging towards the end of spring,
broad beans,

they're in, they're well in.

Let me show you what's inside cos
I just think they're magical.

Look what's in there!

When this outer skin is green
like that...

...it's tender.

Sweet and delicious,
fresh. It's kind of like a pea,

but its more kind
of slightly classier cousin.

And on the same stem here,

you can see you've got smaller ones.
They're a treasure.

In here, these were planted out
in early April

and they're older and bigger,

and they're going to be in
the supermarkets right now.

As they get older,
they go a little bit more white.

So, look at the difference
in colour. Can you see that?

That's why you'd want to peel those.

You can blanch them
and just pinch the skin off

and it's a faff but it's kind of
worth it cos it only comes around

like, four, five weeks
of the year, really.

But peel them and
they are delicious,

but you just need
to cook them slightly differently.

Beans, beans everywhere.

I'm elevating these sweet and creamy
broad beans to another level.

They're in season right now,

perfect with silky Parma ham
and salty pecorino,

and I'm popping them
out of their cosy jackets

and treating them to a herby,
citrussy dressing

to make a truly
special broad bean meze.

Broad beans. Delicious.

I've got those slightly white,
leathery ones.

I thought that would be
really useful,

just to show how I would approach
them because, often,

you know,
people don't quite know what to do.

Do you have to peel them?
Do you not have to peel them?

And also, like, I've got those broad
beans that are small

and I've got a few little surprising
ways to treat that,

that I think most people
don't know about.

They really can be cooked in
so many different ways.

So, first up,
when they're young like this,

they haven't created that kind
of fibrous structure.

The whole thing can be enjoyed
dressed and devoured.

They're delicious. So, I'm just
going to finely slice some little

bits of broad bean there.
Very simple.

Do it at an angle
and get a little cross-section.

Also, don't forget those little
inner leaves.

If you take those off,
these are delicious.

So, broad bean, inside,
outside, and leaves.

Dress it with some olive oil.

Lemon juice is always really joyful.

Salt. I'll dress this up like that.

That's looking beautiful.
You can use prosciutto,

Parma ham.

Just do little waves
of cured meat around a plate.

So, savoury, salty and fatty.

And then I'll just take those lovely
broad beans.

And then finish off
with just a speed peeler

and a little pecorino,
but it could be Parmesan.

That is a really, really simple,
easy preparation.

A few little nice mint leaves here.

So, there you go. That's the first
plate with broad beans.

And then,
those slightly older broad beans.

Often, people are like,
"I don't like broad beans,"

and that's because of the skin.

It gets a little bit kind
of dry, tannic,

and it's not so sweet and delicious.
So, we need to peel them.

The easiest way to do that
is in a pan of salted,

boiling water.
They don't need much cooking.

A minute is all you need.

This is an Italian-style
of cooking called sott'olio,

under oil, marinated. It's brilliant
for celebrating anything green

and delicious,
especially at this time of year.

The asparagus goes in.

I've also got some little
Swiss chard.

Spring onions go in.

How many times do you go into
your fridge

and sort of see random bits
and pieces

and they look really boring, but
actually there's little procedures

and recipes that can make them
really delicious?

I definitely, definitely don't
want to overcook it,

so we're about possibly
a minute in.

These lovely leaves, look at them.

Just put them out on
a nice big board.

Cos everything's
so delicate in spring,

doesn't need much cooking.
I've seen nonnas do this,

grandmothers in Italy, you know,

with all kinds of
the bounty of spring.

Anything that's shooting. But look
at that, what a picture!

Can you see how this one
is kind of trying

to escape from that little
leathery case?

So, the heat's done all
the hard work for you.

Cover the bottom of the plate
with olive oil.

Delicately cut the asparagus
into little bits.

Look at that beautiful Swiss chard.

And then we can start podding
the broad beans straight in there.

It's actually a pleasure at
the weekend when you've got time

to do these sort of things,
it's so nice,

and I don't know what my kids
think of me, like, you know,

they come into the kitchen
and there's always things steaming

and getting marinated and I'm always
making noises and if things are

good, I'm always screaming
with excitement.

I... And I think,
"I know they think I'm weird,"

but I think it's so exciting.

When things are in season
and at their best,

it should be at its cheapest,
and most nutritious.

As a cook, it never gets boring.

So, we have the olive oil,
then we could go lemon juice

and we could start twisting
in some herbs.

A nice little bit
of golden marjoram.

That is beautiful,
isn't it? Gordon Bennett!

A pretty perfect vegetable at a
pretty perfect time of the year.

That is what cooking in season
is all about.

Little forkful of springtime
right there.

So simple, so clean,
and just full of life.

Look out for broad beans right now.
Get down the markets,

the supermarkets and get inspired.
Just have a go and enjoy.

So, lettuces,
they absolutely love springtime.

You just get such a whoosh,
a flurry of growth.

Sort of typical ones here,
like the oak leaf.

Such a great lettuce.
You get those in the supermarkets.

This is gem, standard gem.

Like, probably one of the most
common leaves that you can get in

the supermarket,
and the thing I love about lettuces,

there's pretty much a lettuce for
every single month of the year.

Most of them love springtime

and they prefer it to be a bit cold.

If it's a bit hot,
they're not really sure about it.

When you harvest some
of these lettuce,

if you leave the base still
attached in the ground,

you'll go back two weeks later
and it's started growing again.

Most of these, or versions of these,
you can get in good supermarkets.

Right, this for the chickens,
this for me.

I'm taking crunchy,
new season salad leaves,

at their very best in spring,
and pimping them up with my twist on

a classic French dressing,

served with a stunning roast chicken
and nuggets of tangy cheese,

in my roast chicken
springtime salad.

One of my favourite things about
growing veggies is just going out,

cutting salads, like when I'm doing
it, I'm thinking about what am I

going to do with it,
what do I fancy today?

I'm almost creating recipes
as I'm doing it,

and I want to do a version
of a classic French salad,

a roquefort salad. It's so good.

I want to put a little
warm element to this, so I'm

going to do a really beautiful
spatchcocked roast chicken.

So, let's start with
the marinade for the chicken.

I'm going to use some
beautiful herbs here.

I've got some oregano.
It's a brilliant herb,

beautiful,
savoury herb with citrussy notes.

Very good with lamb,
very good with chicken.

Actually, it's very good with fish,
it's good with everything.

What I'm going to do is just get all
these leaves off

the stalk. Like a handful.
A generous handful we got there.

And we'll get those in
the pestle and mortar.

If you haven't got one,

you can use a liquidiser, or you can
chop it if you want.

A nice, generous pinch of salt and
pepper.

And give it a ruddy good bashing.
Excuse the noise.

BANGING

Once you've got it to a kind of nice
little pulp like this,

right, we can go in then with
a couple of cloves of garlic.

Once the garlic's smashed up,

then loosen that with olive oil.

That's about three tablespoons.

And we go from bashing then
to muddling,

and that is how you extract
incredible flavour.

Now, we want to little bit of
acidity to balance that,

so it could be lemon juice,
it could be vinegar.

It doesn't really matter. So, a
little bit of lemon juice goes in,

and that over the chicken is going
to be amazing.

Look at the colour. When I roast it,
by the way,

I'm going to put a very simple
trivet of a couple of onions,

just cut in half like that,

and I leave the skins on

because they kind of protect
the onions

and allow them to really kind
of caramelise and go jammy

and sticky and gorgeous.

And then a little bit of
garlic.

Again, leave it in the skins, and
later on,

I can squeeze the garlic out
and it's sweet

and caramelised and gorgeous.
Now, for the chicken,

the easiest preparation ever is
to spatchcock

the chicken.
You pick it up like that,

you get a knife.

You're going to do one little cut
down the back

and that's going to open it out like
a book.

And just flatten it out.
By making it flat,

you've increased the surface area,
it's going to cook quicker.

But also we've got this kind
of thing between

the breast meat that cooks quicker
than the leg meat.

So what I want to do is encourage
more flavour in this breast meat.

You get the skin at the back

and you stick your finger under
the breast,

like this. Right to the end.
Try not to tear it anywhere,

right, and you do it on
the other side as well.

So now we've got
a pocket between the breast

and the skin,

and then I can put
the marinade under there,

I can put a knob
of butter under there.

Hi. Hi, babe.

How are you, all right?
You all right?

Yeah, good. In my little shack.

No, I love it.
Lunch is being prepared.

Um, can you grab that butter
and bring it over here?

Can you cut me two slithers
of butter,

about a centimetre thick, please?
Yeah.

If you can pass me that cos
I've got chickeny hands.

I just take the skin and the butter

and I put it underneath like that.

And take some of this marinade,
and not just put it on the top,

but also put it inside as well.

Take these onions.

I'll face them down like that.
And the garlic.

And I'll take our beautiful chicken, right.

That is going to taste incredible.

All of this marinade here,
don't waste any of that.

We'll put that on top.

So that's going to go in the oven
for about 50 minutes to

an hour at 200 degrees Celsius,
400 Fahrenheit.

I'm going to have a little wash up.

Um, how was River today?

Fine, fine, fine.
Is he on good form?

Yep. He's up so early these days.

4.30?

OK, so we're going to do lardons.
If you can just put

a little bit of olive oil in
there, J.

Yeah. Does it matter which one?
That one's great.

Lovely, smoked streaky bacon.

This is just stuff from
the supermarket.

I want the lardons to be,
like, golden, crunchy,

but still soft enough to be
a pleasure to eat.

Put a little bit
of black pepper on these as well.

So after about a minute, you can see
that's nice and golden.

Look at that!

Lardons done, and I'm now going to
do some croutons.

Use any bread that you can get your
hands on.

So just cut them into sort
of rough dice.

Nothing very specific.
So, J, do you mind

just sprinkling those onto there?
Yeah.

And the only missing trick is
the dressing.

Dijon mustard is
the beginning of the story.

A nice, generous one or two
teaspoons.

Olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Try that.

Delicious, right? Nice, yeah.

So, two tablespoons
of lovely red wine vinegar.

What you can do - if you're geeky
- is you can blend

an olive oil with
an extra virgin olive oil.

Um, the extra virgin olive oil
will be more mustardy,

more peppery, you know,

more like cut grass flavours
and super heart healthy.

Normally, it's like three or four
times the amount of oil

to vinegar.

And then a little honey,
a little teaspoon going in there.

That's very good.

Oh, that is really good.
That's so much better.

Yeah. Let's layout
the salad and we'll be good to go.

One of the things to watch out

for when you grow your own
lettuce is,

cos nature is part of
the salad leaves,

you will get little kind of,
you know,

worms and slugs
and things like that,

so you got to wash them like
two, three times,

just to stay on top
of that, cos we've had

a few members of
the animal family...

Yeah, the kids go mad.
Yeah, the kids go... bonkers.

Sometimes I lie
and say it's a crouton.

To finish that off, let's have this
little bit of radish.

Now it's time for
the really classic bit,

the roquefort.

What we're doing is taking
an average salad to

the next level.

Last but not least,
a nice handful of grated walnuts.

I got the lovely lardons.
That is a fine salad.

Jools, put a few croutons on
the top.

Beautiful dressing.

Look at that. Thick,
gorgeous French dressing.

Just finish it with some
lovely herbs.

Fennel...

And you've got those lovely chive
flowers right now.

Look at those.
And these are bang in season.

So, Jools, if you can sprinkle those
over the top in

a nice flourish,
I'll finely slice these.

The chive flowers are like
the most delicate,

sort of fragrant, sweet flavour.

That chicken's had about 50 minutes.

The spatchcocking at 200 does
roast very,

very fast.

Look at that chicken.

That is full of deliciousness.

This is my idea of heaven.

Just plate up two lovely plates
of food

and have a nice little bit
of lunch together. Hungry?

Yeah. You can tell if

a chicken's cooked nicely if that
meat just kind of comes off

the bone, not... Just easily.

Can you see how juicy it is?

Completely moist,
beautifully cooked through.

And I know someone that might want
to try it.

Let's get a bit without any
of that garlic flavouring. Conker!

He was literally just going on
round to find you. Yeah.

Can't believe the dog gets
a bit of chicken before me.

Let's get in here,
take out a nice little wodge.

Make sure you've got a little bit of
everything on there.

There you go, the love of my life.

Why don't you sit at my desk
over there,

and I'll come and join you?

I haven't set up
a proper table here yet.

How is it, J? Amazing. The... the
best lunch ever.

Really?

Yeah, it's right up my street.

Does that mean you'll come over
to my little shack more often?

Yeah, I will. Definitely.

I'm going to have to get
a table here, though.

Mm.

I love it. It's so good.

Leaves, crouton, bacon, dressing.

The cheese is the best bit.

That explosion of cheese. Hmm. So
good.

Yeah. Such a delicious salad.

Gorgeous. And that roasted chicken,

it's a really good way
to cook it. So juicy. Jools?

Mm-hm?

When we've finished this... Yeah.

...can you help me with the
washing-up? Absolutely.

I've been experimenting
a lot recently

with savoury ways of cooking
with rhubarb - delicious -

but when you cook rhubarb
and sugar together

and you get that syrup
and that flavour,

it's absolutely lip-smacking.

I love it - and it really shouts out
springtime. Amazing.

So I'm giving this seasonal tart

and tangy rhubarb a date
with its soulmate from

the sweet shop - creamy,
sweet, vanilla-y custard.

Wrapped up in crumbly almond pastry,

topped with crunchy brittle
and a juicy,

sweet and sour rhubarb syrup,
to create a sensational,

flaky rhubarb and custard tart.

Rhubarb is definitely one
of my favourite ingredients,

but before we get onto that,
we're going to make the pastry,

and this is no ordinary pastry.

We're going to do an almond
and vanilla pastry.

It's so joyful.
250g of beautiful butter here,

unsalted, and 250g of ground
almonds.

Right. Then we're going to go in
with 250g of plain flour.

So, very easy to remember.
250, 250, 250.

So, what I'm going to do first is
just use my fingers

and thumbs to just rub
that together.

When you make this into a pastry,

it really is a delicious,
crumbly, sweet,

short pastry, full of flavour,

so I think this works really well

with the rhubarb, which is
quite tart.

Then I'm going to go in with one
egg.

At the same time, I'll add a good
teaspoon of vanilla paste.

This is going to be full of flavour.

Then you can put 100g
of icing sugar.

Not super sweet,

but enough to convince it that it's
not kind of savoury.

We're definitely going into
the world of sweet.

What we're going to do now is pop it
back in the fridge

to rest and also firm up
so it's much more pliable

and you can roll it out nicely.

We're going to have half for
the base and half for the lid.

This is not a shortcrust pastry,

this is an almond pastry,
so it's a little bit wetter.

Then you just want to tear off two
little bits of greaseproof paper.

And this is going to do two things.

It's going to cover the pastry,

but it's also going to help you roll
it out nice

and thin later, without it breaking.

Beautiful.

Now they go in a fridge for half
an hour until they firm up.

So, we have a kilo
of beautiful rhubarb.

And I'm just going to roughly slice
it into sort

of inch chunks.

If I can just enjoy
a little slither...

I love it, I love it.
Me face goes like this.

I used to do this
a lot when I was a kid,

don't worry about it.
Used to dip it into sugar.

So that definitely needs sugar.

HE LAUGHS

So, for one kilo,

I'm going to go in
with 200g of golden caster sugar.

So get that in to balance
that sourness.

I'm going to carry on the theme of

the vanilla cos I just think it
works so well.

So a little teaspoon goes in.

I'm also going to peel this
lovely apple.

This is a cooker,
and it's stored over winter,

so before we get into
the next season of apples,

this is last season's.

So, have a little peel up,
and then we want to remove the core.

When I was a kid,
my mum used to core them

and then stuff them
with brown sugar and dried fruit

and nuts and things like that.
Utterly delicious.

Haven't done that for years!
God, I got to do that again.

This apple is not only best friends
with rhubarb,

but the pectin in
the apple really helps give

the rhubarb some stability.

Just a little swig of water
to help it along.

Let that simmer away
for about ten to 15 minutes until

the apples and rhubarb have stewed
down nicely.

Now, I cheated a little bit cos
I put my pastry in

the freezer,

which actually speeds up that
resting, I think, in this case.

So, what we're going to do is roll
this out now

and do the base of the pastry case.

I'm going to put this into

a 26cm - or ten inch - pastry
case mould.

So, this little cheat here with
the greaseproof paper is brilliant.

If it starts going a bit wonky,
you can reshape it.

Very easy. A lot of tears,
rolling pastry out.

A lot of people scared to do pastry

because of it breaking
or shattering,

and I think the greaseproof paper is
a brilliant little tip.

That is a picture.
That is a picture right there.

Let's have a little look.
Let's check it.

It's always good now actually
to have a little taste.

No, it's good. It's cooked.

So I'm just going to put
a little pan down

and save some of this syrup,

and that you can use to serve
with your tart

and maybe a bit
of ice cream or cream,

or clotted cream, or creme fraiche,

or whatever kind
of makes you happy in life.

Back to our tart shell,
and then just roll it out again.

I think we're just about...

...good... to... go.

You can't get this wrong
because you're measuring it, right?

Perfect.

Put it over your mould like that.

Whip it off, nice and quickly.

If you do it and it sticks in
anyway,

shape or form, do not worry.
You just patch it,

right, like a little Band-Aid.
No worries at all.

This is a rustic tart.
Plug any holes.

Get a little fork
and give it a little prick.

And that's now going to go in

an oven which has been preheated
to 180 degrees Celsius,

350 Fahrenheit, and I'll cook it
for exactly ten minutes,

and it'll be cooked but blonde,
and that'll be perfect.

OK, the custard.

Pan - back on the heat.

600ml of beautiful whole milk.

We've a little bit left in here,

and put three tablespoons
of custard powder,

so this'll be nice and vanilla-y

and also it will set quite nice

and thick, cos you want it
to hold its shape.

So, as that milk comes up to
a simmer,

then I pour a little bit
of it into here

And then pour it back into here.

And I've got 100g of sugar,

just to sweeten it up
and make it delicious.

When I came up with this recipe,
what I was trying

to recreate in tart form was those
fantastic old-fashioned rhubarb

and custard sweets that you used
to get from

the penny sweet shop when you
were little.

And they were delicious.
That's what I was after.

And I'm now going to go and get the
pastry case out of the oven.

Yes!

So, let's just get that out,
nice and carefully.

So that smells absolutely amazing.
So it's quite blonde

and it's only got brown around
the edges.

And to be honest, we're going to get
the rolling pin

and we will just get rid
of those edges.

That simple.
And when I get the pastry on top,

it's going to make it look
absolutely beautiful.

So, look, this is blipping away.

Straight into this tart like that.
Look at that.

And let that cool down.

That will then hold this
rhubarb here.

And this lovely syrup here -
it's loose, right?

Pop that on a heat.

Let that simmer down
and this cool for about 20 minutes,

and then I'll show you how
to put it all together.

So, what I've got is
the custard that's semi-cooled down,

and it's created a little bit of
a skin. Can you see that?

And that skin is your best friend
cos it's going to stop

the rhubarb kind of going through.

So let's just put that to one side.

I'm going to do an egg wash.

This is going to make it go nice
and shiny on the outside,

on the top of the tart.
But not only that,

it's going to help us glue
the side of the pastry to the top.

Paint the inside like that.

Then we're going to take our rhubarb
and just lay it on the top...

...and create that lovely layer.

I've really enjoyed experimenting
with rhubarb over

the years. You know,
that syrup here,

you can use that with champagne,

like a little kind
of rhubarb Bucks Fizz kind of thing.

You can use it with, like,
pates and parfaits and terrines.

Just kind of cuts through
the richness.

What a beautiful thing.

So we're going to go for the final
little roll on our pastry.

And I'm just going to literally hold
it with one hand,

put it over, no stress,
and then just pull it off.

And if that pastry's nice and cold,

it'll come off like that.

I'm just using the side of my hand
here to press down.

And you'll create a seal.

Simple as that, right?

Get your egg wash on.

Right, let's get that in the oven.

So, while that beautiful tart is
cooking for half an hour,

I've got a fantastic little hack
that transforms your everyday flaked

almonds that you get in a pack

to something beyond delicious.

Just take a tablespoon
of icing sugar,

a little, half tablespoon of water.

Yeah, perfect.

And then put in
the almonds like that.

If you mix that up,
it coats these almonds.

And if you put that on top of
the tart,

it creates the most beautiful
almond brittle,

crunchy on the outside.

And that will be amazing
with sort of ice cream

and over chocolate desserts.
It's a beautiful thing.

HE CHUCKLES

Look at that. Oh, I love
it! Beautiful.

So, with ten minutes to go,

I'm going to take this incredible
almond brittle...

...and put them in and around.

It's just fun.

Oh, there's one last little one.
Go on,

you go there, fella. So now,
back in the oven for ten minutes,

and that's going to be
a beautiful thing.

HE SIGHS

The sun's setting
and looking amazing,

and this beautiful tart is going to
put a big smile on my face.

Let me give you a little tip. Get
something that fits just within

the sort of hole underneath
the pastry tart mould.

And then if you're lucky, that'll
come off.

Look at that! Look at that pastry!

Almond and vanilla pastry.

Oh, yes. Let's have a little try,
shall we?

Ah!

Come on. We've got this,
tart, we've got this.

Pure bliss. Come on.

Layers of custard and rhubarb.

Those fantastic almonds.

And just a little bit
of creme fraiche.

And then this beautiful syrup.

Oh, yes!

Whoa-ha-ha!

Oh, wow. Pastry is incredible.

And that rhubarb flavour is
just extraordinary.

So tangy and so delicious.

It reminds me of school dinners,
it reminds me of my nan,

it reminds me of my mum.
Humble... and utterly delicious.

And what a celebration of spring.

The perfect end to
the perfect spring day.

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