[theme music] Here we go.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): I'm going on my most ambitious British adventure yet-- Yes!

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): --meeting some of the finest chefs in the world.

You've been sweating over, James.

Aw, poor James.

Aw.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Cooking my way from the far South.

Duck on a barbecue is just off the charts.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): --to the northernmost reaches of the land.

It's a magical experience.

JAMES MARTIN: You've got to do this.

It's amazing!

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): And using some of the best produce you'll find anywhere.

FARMER: Come on, pigs.

Come on.

Come on.

GALTON BLACKISTON: Look, look at him.

How can you miss that mouth?

[laughs] JAMES MARTIN: And some of the places require a little bit more effort to get to.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): I'll be traveling by land, air, and sea.

TONY: There, look.

Look, Dolphins!

TONY: Dolphins.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): So join me as I explore the British Isles from Islands to Highlands.

♪ ♪ [upbeat music] JAMES (VOICEOVER): My Islands to Highlands tour continues.

I'm gradually venturing north.

And today, I'm exploring the glorious county of Oxfordshire, which is rich in heritage and awash with natural beauty.

♪ ♪ And I've got not one, but two award-winning chefs with me.

I'm with the legend Raymond Blanc later.

But joining me for the first leg is the highly-acclaimed Monica Galetti, who left her native New Zealand 20 years ago to pursue a career as a chef in the UK.

I came from New Zealand.

And I lived in Guernsey, of all places.

I didn't know you lived in Guernsey.

Yeah, six months.

And then I traveled Europe.

And I sent my CV to Michel while I was traveling.

JAMES: The Roux family, they're not a million miles away from here.

- They're not.

How did you find that, really?

Because it's quite difficult in London.

It's such an eye opener, you know?

Culture shock, or?

Massive culture shock coming from little New Zealand.

You know, the hours were so long.

You know, what you learn in a kitchen like that is what I think is so important.

And the young chefs really need to experience that.

JAMES: It is a gastronomic capital like nowhere else, isn't it, really?

MONICA: I think we're very lucky with the choices we have in London.

But when you come out somewhere like this and you think, wow, why am I in London?

♪ ♪ JAMES (VOICEOVER): This place is so quaint.

Oxfordshire is a county full of history.

It's located right in the heart of England.

Known for its rolling countryside and historic towns.

We're starting off our journey in the city of Oxford itself.

Known as the City of Dreaming Spires and famous the world over for its universities.

Although, these days, it's a gastronomic hub with numerous local food producers taking advantage of its fertile land.

And just east of the city lies a gin distillery, which is where I'm dropping Monica.

I suppose if you're gonna have a distillery, you have it behind a university.

MONICA: I was gonna say!

Where else are you gonna-- better audience to test your cog on.

[laughter] Right, this is your stop.

I love it!

Enjoy yourself.

Let me at it.

There we go.

It's not easy to get out of.

How the hell do you manage?

- Well, I struggle.

That's why I'm staying in here.

Have fun.

Thank you.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Monica will be finding out more of what they do here later.

Meanwhile, I'm due across town at a farm selling seasonal produce.

And I'm told the quickest and most pleasant way to get there is by boat with skipper Nick Gladders.

He's been cruising the inland waterways for six years, and it's easy to see why.

JAMES: So Nick, I mean, this is the way to get around Oxford, though, innit, really?

- Yep.

Yep, definitely.

JAMES: And you're literally not far out of the city itself.

NICK: No, no.

Or are we scooting round the city?

So we're going all the way around the city.

We're heading up to Port Meadows, close to the section where it joins onto the Oxford Canal.

JAMES: It is magical.

I mean, you're not even a mile outside of Oxford, and nothing.

It's just wilderness, isn't it?

It's lovely.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Yes, wilderness and the occasional lock for us to navigate.

So is this your job or my job?

Oh, what, the lock?

If you want to have a go, you're more than welcome.

JAMES: No, I'll leave that with you.

You're a lot younger than I am.

I'll do all the running around, eh?

JAMES (VOICEOVER): It's probably for the best, Nick.

And I'm more of a fair weather sailor.

I'm too old for that as well.

[playful music] JAMES (VOICEOVER): And besides, when it comes to working the locks, no one is as quick as skipper Nick.

♪ ♪ Sorted.

You've done that before.

A few times, yeah.

Not my first rodeo.

Exactly.

NICK: So we're actually in the fastest flowing section on the Thames that isn't tidal, which means it can be quite dangerous, especially because we've also got the lowest bridge on the entire Thames, which is Osney Bridge ahead of us.

So that's the lowest bridge in the whole Thames?

NICK: The whole Thames.

You can see how narrow it is here compared to a lot of other sections of the Thames.

But if we get a lot of rainfall, it can raise the levels very quickly, and then no boat can really fit underneath there.

JAMES: It is pretty low that, innit?

Yeah.

We've also got an allotment just off to our left here.

JAMES: Pretty stunning.

I've never seen this before.

This is a first for me, wild swimming.

♪ ♪ Is it cold?

About 20 degrees.

JAMES: 20 degrees?

No, it's cold.

NICK: So we're just coming up to Rainbow Bridge here.

JAMES: Right.

NICK: And as soon as we come out, we are on Port Meadows.

Port Meadows.

It's beautiful, innit?

♪ ♪ NICK: All right, so here we are at Medley Manor Farm.

Sounds good.

This where I get off?

NICK: Yeah, that's where you get off.

JAMES: Thank you very much.

- No worries.

Cheers.

Cheers, buddy.

Thank you.

♪ ♪ Thank you very much.

[calm music] JAMES (VOICEOVER): Medley Manor is a small family-run farm in the heart of Oxford.

They're known for their fresh, seasonal produce.

And in the summer months, they attract visitors from far and wide who come to pick their own soft fruits.

Now in its second generation, it's run by Charlie Gee.

So this place is a little hidden gem, Charlie.

I mean, how long has the farm been here?

Well, my father bought it in 1958.

And we started doing the soft fruit pick-your-own side of things about 30 years ago-- so, like, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries.

And how are you finding people with a pick-their-own?

It's becoming more popular?

There's a lot allotments around here.

CHARLIE: Yeah, I know.

People love it.

I mean, people like to know where their food comes from.

And going to their local pick-your-own is one of the best ways to find out where it comes from.

Well, I've got my empty pot.

I need to pick some of my own, then.

Sure.

Yeah, go ahead.

There's masses here to choose from.

Thank you very much.

It's looking pretty good as well.

CHARLIE: Good.

[calm music] ♪ ♪ JAMES: Now, for anybody that's been to a pick-your-own place, you'll realize that it's one for the pot, one for me.

This is fantastic.

There's something uniquely British about this.

I know it sounds daft.

I know they've got pick-their-own all over Europe and America, but it just brings back memories of your childhood, doesn't it, really?

And these particular variety are Glen Fyne.

They're absolutely fabulous.

And I'm assuming a Scottish variety because my raspberries are nowhere near what these are at the moment.

You can tell.

I mean, look at the size of that thing.

Beautiful, beautiful.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And I can't wait to make a classic dessert with these fresh raspberries.

And all I need is a quiet spot.

♪ ♪ Now, we came here to do this first dish because this was Oxford's most peaceful setting until about 10 minutes ago, when literally buses of schoolkids arrived.

It's insane.

Anyway, this is wonderful.

It's a classic dessert that you never really see on the menu anymore, really.

It's a Charlotte Royale.

And it uses custard at its base.

Now, I'm cheating for this one because this is where you can do this at home.

This is a little bit of shop-bought custard.

Not the glow-in-the-dark fluorescent yellow stuff, just fresh custard from the supermarket mixed together with a bit of fruit that we got from our wonderful little pick-your-own together with some cream, a little bit of Swiss roll.

And then this is the thickening agent for this.

This is gelatin.

Now, what you do need to do for this is soak it.

But what I'm gonna do is just warm up our custard.

Now, while that's warming up, we can prepare the rest of our ingredients, really, over here.

I've got some whipped egg whites, and we can start whipping this up.

Like I said, this dessert is a real classic.

[playful music] Then once you've done the egg white, we can then turn our attention to the cream.

Now, double cream for this one.

♪ ♪ Now, what you're aiming for is every one of these ingredients the same texture.

So be careful not to overwhip the cream, which is quite handy.

♪ ♪ Now, when the custard is nice and hot, then and only then do you add your gelatin.

And then, mix this over the heat.

So only take it off the heat once all the gelatin has dissolved.

And pour this mixture into the bowl.

Next, we can then make this the same texture by adding some cold puree.

And all I've got in here is some wonderful, wonderful raspberries that I picked earlier.

And we just pop this puree straight in the mix.

But just mix this all together.

So once you've got that out of the way, and move that, then we're on to our bowl that you make it with.

So I'm gonna use one of these little bowls, these glass bowls over here.

What you do need is a touch of oil.

So just grab a little bit of olive oil.

Now, this is quite crucial, the oil bit, because it's gonna be a lot easier to turn out, but also, a lot easier for the lining to go in because it's gonna stick to the inside of the bowl if you use some cling film.

Now, when you pop it in, make sure it goes right into the bottom.

Just overlap the cling film a little bit.

It becomes much easier to take out as well.

A little bit of cling film in the bowl, and then we turn our attention to the Swiss roll.

Now, no need to make it.

You've not made the custard, so why are you bothering making Swiss roll?

And then, what we're gonna do is slice the Swiss roll.

♪ ♪ And you can have this hot or cold as well.

I'm doing the cold variant.

There's things like Apple Charlotte which, of course, lined with bread and baked in the oven.

And then, what you can do is get your Swiss roll.

And start with one in the middle, bang in the center.

And then, with the rest, just kind of build this around, filling in the gaps as you go, really.

So take the Swiss roll and almost tuck it in on itself.

You don't want big holes in it.

If you get big holes, what happens is the mousse leaks and goes around the outside.

♪ ♪ See, that's what you're looking for, you see?

Nicely lined with a Swiss roll.

Right, then we incorporate all this lot together.

Now, you can mix this while it's still warm, not hot.

That's the most important bit.

And then you combine the two together.

So starting off with the cream, you can see that cream is not over-whipped.

Now, the temptation is to now mix the cream in and then mix the egg whites in.

What I do with this is mix the whole lot in together, so straight in.

And then, by using a whisk, it mixes in almost straight away.

You're almost mixing and actually folding in at the same time.

And you see how light this mousse goes.

Mix this all together.

So we get everything off the bottom.

And then, you can actually do this in layers if you wanted to.

But what I'm gonna do is just take some of these amazing raspberries, just a couple of handfuls straight in the bottom.

Then you take this mixture, and you pour this on the top.

Then what you do is, you take this, and you pop it in the fridge, which I haven't got.

So we'll just put it on the floor because what I have got, miraculously, is I've got one that I've done, which, to be honest, was in my hotel room fridge.

So you take off the little bit of cling film, get yourself a nice little platter, fold the cling film back, put that in the center.

Turn it over.

♪ ♪ And then hold the cling film flat and remove the bowl.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ And we can finish this off with a selection of fruit.

I've got some beautiful fresh strawberries here.

I've got some red currants.

I've got some gorgeous raspberries.

And you pop a few of these around the edge like that, a few of these on the top, and then just a few sprigs of mint.

See, and there you have it, a classic Charlotte Royale.

Cheers.

And no, I'm not going on one of these.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): I'd rather feast on this dessert.

[bold music] JAMES (VOICEOVER): Today, I'm in magnificent Oxford, a city bursting with history and an abundance of fresh, local produce.

With me on this leg is acclaimed chef Monica Galetti.

Earlier, I dropped her at the award-winning TOAD Distillery.

Let me at it!

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Here, they pride themselves on making organic spirits using only local ingredients that are sustainably grown.

Monica isn't just a chef.

She also distills her own gin, so she knows her junipers.

This is right up her street.

And co-founder Cory Mason is gonna give her a guided tour of this very unique distillery.

[upbeat music] MONICA: Cory, this place is amazing.

CORY: Oh, well, thank you so much for coming by.

Let's go meet the stills.

Absolutely.

♪ ♪ This looks like some kind of time machine.

CORY: This is Nautilus, our amazing 2,600 liter-- MONICA: You've named it the Nautilus?

CORY: It is.

This is Nautilus.

And over here, we have Nemo right next to it.

Nemo, the little one!

Yes, absolutely!

Great names!

Tell me about the design.

CORY: So this is made at South Devon Railway, and they make steam engines.

And we called them up and said, would you like to make a still?

MONICA: I love it.

CORY: I know.

So our grain is heritage.

What we're doing is looking back into ancient history.

And what better sums up English history than steam engines?

I actually climb inside it about once every other week to clean these coils out.

Oh, no!

I'd probably have a panic attack.

Hello?

CORY: And yeah, we're able to take our grain, our rye, and through these columns, end up with 96.6% pure ethanol to make our gin and our vodka.

MONICA: Wow!

How does your process differ from other distillers?

Well, one of the things that makes us very unique is that we make everything from scratch.

So literally all the creation of the alcohol happens on-site.

And there's actually a lot of playing with botanicals.

Actually, if you want, we can go check out my lab, and you can see all the fun little experiments we've got going.

- Great!

- Yes.

- I like that!

♪ ♪ So yeah, here is the lab.

This is where we do all the fun flavor work.

A lot of what I research and look into is actually perfume ingredients because perfumists were the original amazing distillers of their time.

And if you can take some of their techniques and some of their ingredients and then apply it to spirits, you get these amazing flavors and expressions.

That's the fun side.

For me, the creative process of the flowers, the botanics, you know, when we were working with gin.

And surprisingly, sometimes, you know, a centimeter of an avocado leaf or a bit of chili-- Yeah!

And as you taste it distilling, how strong or how overpowering it can be.

It's amazing the small amounts you use that set the levels.

These little things, the teeniest bit have an explosion of flavor into your product.

And again, that's why we have this fun lab set up.

We get to come here and play.

MONICA: I can't wait to see what your next creation is going to be.

Cory, it's been a great tour, but I'm ready to try some of this gin.

I think I do as well.

Should we go?

[bright music] ♪ ♪ MONICA: Not a bad way to end a tour.

Absolutely not!

MONICA: Cory, tell me, what is so special about this rye or the wheat that you use?

I've got some here.

These are amazing.

These are all ancient grains.

So we didn't work with a farmer to begin with.

We actually met and worked with an archaeobotanist.

And his whole life's goal and mission is to resurrect ancient grains and ancient methods of farming that are sustainable, no pesticides, no fertilizers.

MONICA: And seems very low-maintenance at the same time.

CORY: No maintenance.

So it's an ecosystem that's left alone.

It brings butterflies.

It brings insects.

There's animals living there.

And we get a commercial harvest that's as large a yield as modern organic farms.

So what we have at the end of that is, we have a really unique flavor.

We have a viable commercial product that then supports this method of agriculture.

James, that is definitely one you want to add to your collection.

- Yes.

Thank you so much.

Well, cheers.

[upbeat music] JAMES (VOICEOVER): What a fascinating place and something a bit different to cook with.

Now, thanks for the gin, Monica.

I'm gonna use this to create a wonderful little dish.

It's a soused mackerel with gin.

Very simple to do, really.

It all starts off with beautiful, fresh mackerel.

And I've just got some fillets over here that the fishmonger has just removed the central bone.

So we're just gonna take the mackerel.

And then, to prepare this, what you do is, you get yourself a really sharp knife and then cut it through the skin like that all the way through, not fully through the flesh, just through the skin.

And you can do it the other way so you're, like, crisscrossing the top.

It is absolutely delicious and one of the most underrated fish, I think, we have in the UK.

We don't use as much as I think we should do, particularly fresh.

[calm music] And then again through the other side.

So just like a little crisscross over the top like that.

I'll get rid of the fish.

♪ ♪ So once we got to that stage, very simply now, we can make our nice little marinade.

It's really easy.

It utilizes some of this gin.

You can actually pickle it in a little bit of gin.

So you just put the gin neat straight on it like that and then some lemon.

Squeeze the lemon over the top like that.

A few bits of peppercorns, and the reason for pink ones, they're much milder in flavor than the green ones and particularly the dark ones.

And the difference between this and smoked salmon, you don't leave this overnight.

It's just gonna sit in here for about 20 minutes, something like that.

A little pinch of salt over the top.

So you can just leave that to one side.

And meanwhile, we're gonna create a dressing with this.

We've got some red wine vinegar, some red currant jelly, and some mustard.

And it starts off, first of all, with the red currant jelly.

And we just put that in the pan.

So you roughly want equal quantities of red currant jelly to red wine vinegar.

What I'm gonna do now is just bring this to the boil.

And it'll go quite liquid at first, and then it'll thicken up again.

So while that's reducing down, we can turn our attention to our beetroot over here.

And I've just got some cooked beetroot.

And what I'm gonna do is just chop this up into dice.

Pop it into a bowl.

♪ ♪ Now, you can, if you want to, use the preprepared beetroot, the precooked one in the supermarket.

Don't use the one that's crinkle cut.

I've seen that before.

I might give the game away.

But also, don't use the one that's already pickled.

It's too strong, particularly with everything else that you're doing.

♪ ♪ Now, I'm actually gonna serve this also with some pickled onions, just rings of pickled onions.

[slicing] But make sure it's nice and thinly sliced.

Important to keep your eye on this jam.

You can see the texture of it straight away when it's about right.

You can see the bubbles starts to disappear.

So once you get to this stage, we can take it off.

We can then pour it into the bowl.

And you can see the texture changes.

We can then add the mustard.

So it's important to use Dijon mustard for this and not English mustard.

English mustard is way, way too strong for this one.

Give that a quick mix.

And you'll see, instantly, it goes into a creamy dressing which is perfect, a bit of salt.

And it's the dressing that doesn't require any oil as well, a bit of black pepper.

♪ ♪ Take your spoon.

Grab your dressing.

Just mix this together.

♪ ♪ And this instantly dresses this wonderful beetroot.

♪ ♪ We can then take our little bit of beetroot.

♪ ♪ Try not to dress it in too much of the dressing as well.

♪ ♪ So once you've got the beetroot done, we can turn our attention to the mackerel.

Now this is not cooked.

It's like soused.

It's different to ceviche.

You can see that if I turn this over, what the acid has done to the fish.

It's kind of cooking it.

That's why it's important not to have it in the dressing for too long.

You just want it to basically just gather that flavor and then you're done.

So take your nice bit of fish and place it on the top.

Pickled onion.

♪ ♪ French creme fraiche.

♪ ♪ A nice scoop full of this.

And finally, they call these little shiso cresses, different types of cresses-- mustard cresses, a little bit of garlic chives, that kind of stuff that just add a real whack of flavor.

♪ ♪ So there you have it, a simple dish, a lovely beetroot salad with gin soused mackerel.

It's good though, innit?

♪ ♪ [upbeat music] ♪ ♪ JAMES (VOICEOVER): Today, I'm exploring the glorious city of Oxford.

It is spectacular.

The buildings are stunning.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Next, I've been told about a sustainable grocer that only stocks fresh local produce.

And it's run by Peter Slade and Victoria Borondo.

And I can't resist taking a look.

Wow!

Hi there, guys.

PETER: Hi, James.

- Good to see you.

- Good to see you.

- Nice to see you.

- Hi.

Now, what a fabulous place!

This is like a little Aladdin's cave.

It's a chef's paradise.

Were you guys involved in food at all before you set this place up?

Yeah, I'd work for a couple of years in a kitchen garden, so, you know, growing carrots and peas and tasting them straight out of the pod and out of the ground.

And that's when I really made that connection with food and how it's produced.

And yeah, the journey started for me, and it was really exciting.

But a bit different to opening your own shop, though.

Yeah, definitely.

I think we just got so enthusiastic about all the local producers and suppliers in and around Oxford.

And to support them and have your own shop, just be a dream.

JAMES: Because I get a lot of people live and work in Oxford don't understand that there are producers literally a stone's throw away from here.

Absolutely.

And you've got some directly in the city itself.

Yeah, we've got a few guys actually using land within Oxford, using people's gardens, any spare bit of land to grow some produce, bring it straight into the shop.

So there's always something different every day.

And it's super fresh, super tasty.

JAMES: It's definitely local because that looks like it was just picked this morning.

Exactly.

Yeah, I mean, that's the best thing about the shop is the fact that things are cut, picked, brought into the shop, and then we sell it that day, and it goes like that throughout the whole week.

JAMES: I see you've got a spectacular dairy here.

PETER: Yeah, so we've got cultured butter from Lords Farm near Bicester.

This butter is fermented, so it builds up, like, really, that rich buttery flavor.

Fantastic.

Anything else?

This is when I go shopping, you see?

I'm gonna take-- can I take that?

VICTORIA: Yeah, great.

JAMES: And also what I love about this, I mean, you've got bottles of milk, proper yogurt, and cream in a pot.

PETER: Yeah, this is really thick cream.

This isn't pouring cream.

This is scoop out with a spoon, yeah.

Yeah, it's really good, from a small micro dairy.

Josh has 15 cows, doesn't he?

See, this is the great thing about-- we're missing shops like this, you know?

And you get to return the bottles, and we just take them back to the dairy, and the jars, and they just get reused each week.

JAMES: I love it.

VICTORIA: Yeah.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): This place has got my creative juices flowing.

And I've got a French recipe in mind which uses some local-grown garlic, fresh bread, and garden veg.

Thank you, James.

JAMES: Thank you very much.

- Amazing.

- Good luck with everything.

- Thank you so much.

- Good luck.

Fantastic shop!

Thank you.

Amazing place.

[calm music] JAMES (VOICEOVER): Now it's time to use those ingredients to make a hearty seafood classic with a twist.

Now, this is a great dish, a variant of moule mariniere meets mussel soup with pan-fried cod cheeks.

First thing we're gonna do is take some onion and some garlic and chop this nice and fine.

I'm gonna add the addition of a little bit of leek and some celery in there for a nice little bit of flavor.

But chop up the onion creating what the French call a mirepoix.

It's just a selection of different veg just all diced up.

A little bit of garlic going in there, a touch of leek.

It's up to you whether you use the white of the leek, the green of and the leek.

It doesn't matter.

Make sure you cut it all about the same size as the onions.

So chop through and chop through again.

[chopping] The same thing with just a couple of sticks of celery.

I like celery, actually, cooked in stuff.

You get this slight sort of aniseedy sort of flavor.

Get a pan on.

Classically, butter, no oil.

Get the butter in the pan and take the mixture of veg and get those sweating down in the pan.

Fresh thyme, you don't need to chop it.

Rip it up.

So we just soften these up nicely.

And then what I can do is add our mussels.

Now, I've got these glorious mussels over here.

So these can go straight in.

These have had their beards removed.

Classy like a moule mariniere, a good glug of wine.

And then because I want to make a sauce out of this as well, I'm not just gonna do it with wine, I'm gonna do it with a little bit of chicken stock, a little bit of stock.

Or you can use water.

It's up to you.

Bring this to the boil.

Pop the lid on.

So while the mussels are cooking, we can turn our attention to the cheeks.

And I'm gonna pane these, so a mixture of flour, egg, and breadcrumbs.

First of all, a little bit of egg in here, lightly beaten, a bit of seasoned flour, and just a little bit of lemon zest in the crumb.

[grating] So we've got these gorgeous little cod cheeks.

Now, I'm gonna simply pan fry them.

But you can actually just pan fry these without the breadcrumbs.

And you could pop them straight into the stew as well.

They're just fabulous chunks of meat, beautiful!

So we take the seasoned flour in with the beaten egg and then in the crumb.

So once they're done, we'll leave those to one side and wash my hands.

[bright music] ♪ ♪ So now what we can do is take our mussels.

Look at these gorgeous mussels.

And we can lift these out.

Absolutely stunning!

Look at these.

It's like a bowl of happiness, innit, really?

Look at that.

Gorgeous!

Nice little bit of those.

And what we do is, with this liquor, this juice, we're gonna reduce this down to create a nice little sauce.

And while that's cooking, I've gotta pick all these mussels.

But this is the boring bit, so I'll see you in a bit.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Now, once you get to this stage, classic like moule mariniere, we can add some double cream to this.

So the double cream goes in.

And then keep this going because this is gonna create a wonderful little sauce.

You can either deep fry these cheeks or plenty of butter.

This is French style of cooking.

When you got enough, a little bit more.

[sizzling] And we pop our cheeks straight in the hot butter.

Now, while our sauce is reducing and our cheeks are cooking, we can think about the vessel to serve it in.

I'm actually gonna use one of these little cobs over here.

And for that, we can just cut the top off it and then hollow out the loaf.

And the idea with this, it's like a vessel that soaks in all that lovely juice, this juice over here that we're gonna serve it in.

Keep your eye on the cheeks as well.

Like I was saying, you just tip these [sizzling] And then into here now, we can add our mussels as this reduces.

[bright music] And all we really need to this is add some chopped parsley and a little bit of lemon.

♪ ♪ Add the parsley.

You need salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

♪ ♪ A little bit of lemon, just put a touch in here and a little bit in with the cod.

Just look at those.

It's fabulous!

And then we can then grab our hollowed-out loaves.

We can take our lovely mussels and our sauce and fill it up.

The important bit is, when you're hollowing it all out, not to pierce the loaf, really.

It's a good idea to use a little bit of sourdough or something like that.

Garnish that with a few mussels in amongst it, a few bits of those.

♪ ♪ And then a few nuggets just to add a nice little texture to go with it.

♪ ♪ And then, all along the riverbanks, you do get wild watercress.

This just finishes it off.

♪ ♪ This is not wild watercress, if you're asking.

It's from the supermarket.

Enjoy.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Moule mariniere in a bread bowl with cod cheek goujons.

What a feast!

JAMES (VOICEOVER): I've been touring the historic city of Oxford, sampling some of the fine fare this magnificent city has to offer.

Now I'm heading out of town to a place close to my heart and home to someone who, in my eyes, is one of the finest chefs in the world.

JAMES: If you look at the people that this gentleman has trained over the years, people like Marco Pierre White, Eric Chavot, Heston Blumenthal, the list goes on and on and on.

This man is a genius.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And his restaurant ain't half bad either.

JAMES: Here we go, Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons.

The first thing you notice when you come in is the attention to detail over everything-- the grass, the garden, everything.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): This perfectly manicured 15th-century manor house is home to the one and only two-Michelin-star chef, Raymond Blanc.

Since 1984, this genius has wowed guests with his truly amazing dishes which celebrate the 90 different herbs and veg grown right here in his two-acre kitchen garden.

What a place!

So the magic thing that you've done here is, you've managed to surround the main hotel and restaurant with this fabulous array of gardens.

I mean, there's 12 here?

So I have 12 gardens, OK?

They're all inspired by my travel, the marvelous people I've met, books I've read, fabulous gardeners I've met.

My papa was very responsible for the culture that he has given me here.

There's about 70 varieties of vegetables growing always.

That's how much I love vegetables.

I love gardens.

And of course, it feeds our tables.

That's garden to plate.

JAMES: I mean, we've got beans here.

We've got haricot beans.

We've got courgettes over here.

And we've got these amazing potatoes.

I've never heard of these, Agata potatoes.

It's a whole story.

Do you want me to say it?

Go on then.

I wanted to treat my mum.

And I took her as a-- Can I just say, because your mum's nearly 100.

She's 97, and she's there!

You must go and see her, OK?

- Well, she's not there.

That's-- that's-- - Yes, she's-- JAMES: No, that's a statue, Raymond.

She's not actually there.

- Yes.

For me, she's there, OK?

Stop, stop.

Go on, anyway, she's there.

She's here.

So we went south of France.

It was beautiful.

It was lunchtime.

And I've heard that very, very close in island next door, there was a beautiful bouillabaisse being made.

So I said, Mama, shall we go?

She say, of course, mon fils!

We arrived to see this beautiful island.

And it was a nudist-- how do you call that?

- Nudist?

RAYMOND: It was a nudist-- - Nudist beach?

RAYMOND: No, no.

Yes, we arrived there, and it was a nudist-- You took your mother, who's nearly 100, to a nudist beach?

No, for a good ratatouille.

JAMES: [laughing] For a best bouillabaisse!

OK, so we arrived there.

It was full of naked bodies.

So, I said, Mama, is it all right?

She said, of course, mon fils.

I had five children.

So we went, OK, in the restaurant surrounded by nudist guests, OK?

And we ate the best bouillabaisse I ever had.

But what was the best in that bouillabaisse was the potato.

And now I grow it here.

And that's the best potato.

JAMES: Please tell me we're not having bouillabaisse today.

No.

No, my friend, no.

I'm not eating it naked in front of you.

[laughter] JAMES (VOICEOVER): In fact, Raymond's gonna cook me two of his famous dishes using the freshest apricots and beetroot grown right here in his garden.

Sometimes, I just love my job.

And as it turns out, Raymond's staff love their jobs too.

Over 25 members of his team have been working at Le Manoir for over 10 years.

But that doesn't surprise me, not when you get to create dishes like these.

RAYMOND: Bon appetit.

Maitre!

Voila, your humble servant.

Yeah, right.

We will start by-- that goes this way.

[french] And you're going to finish by one of my oldest classics, cassoulet of apricots.

And that's a classic, OK?

A beetroot terrine, slightly pickled.

It's lovely, that.

Taste it with the other piece there because that's a kick, you know?

You've got the sweetness there, the richness of the fruit, and you have the horseradish spicy.

JAMES: Can I try that?

RAYMOND: I'm not sure.

Go on.

Go on.

You've had this on the menu a long time.

Yeah.

They are classic because they're classically beautiful, whether it is a painting, whether it is a beautiful dish.

And they can last forever because they have certain qualities, aesthetic and taste and textures and temperatures, which makes them live forever.

I don't like it.

What?

[laughing] The apricots are beautiful.

Yeah.

Absolutely beautiful!

- It's lovely to see you.

- Cheers.

- Really lovely to see you.

- Cheers.

A ta sante.

Do you want me to cook for you?

I would love to, yeah.

Yeah.

Chicken with morels?

Oh, that'd be fantastic!

If you're tasting my chicken morels, you'd better be nice.

You know what?

You are taking a dish that my mum used to do about 70 years ago, OK?

That dish is a heart of my Franche-Comte, of my terroir, of my county.

So that means that when I talk about chicken morels, I get very emotional.

OK, I might get emotional in a minute.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): I think I've set myself up for a fall this time.

I do not want to mess up his mother's recipe.

[upbeat music] See that?

Solid as a rock.

No nerves whatsoever.

Why would you be nervous cooking for a legend outside of his two-star-Michelin hotel and restaurant and cooking his mother's favorite dish that he's just happened to have ate for 60 odd years?

Anyway, we're going to do chicken with morels.

So the first thing we're gonna do is get our chicken prepared.

And what we need to do is remove the wishbone out first like that.

Then what we're gonna do is basically just break this down into pieces.

So we're just gonna remove the little knuckles.

The legs over here, you just cut either side.

Break its legs like that.

So there's your legs and your thigh.

Now, to remove the chicken breast, cut right along the top like that all the way down and just cut through.

So there's one nice chicken breast.

The same thing again.

Then, we're gonna break this down even more.

So I'm gonna take the legs and the thigh and trim that up.

♪ ♪ Next, to clean this little knuckle up, what we're gonna do is just take another knife and cut around the top part of it like that.

Just take the knife, whack it.

And that means you've got a nice clean bone, a nice clean cut to it.

So whack in one go.

And then what we can do is actually start to color this.

So I've got some wonderful butter here, local butter.

You can tell it's fabulous.

Look at the color of it.

And we can cook this in a little bit of this butter.

In we go with the thighs and the legs.

So while that's cooking, we can then French trim our chicken breasts.

Remove the skin around the bone like I've done before with the leg.

Trim this up.

[sizzling] Crack it like that.

Now, to make sure the bone stands upright, what you do is you just trim this little knuckle here, loosen that, and then the bone stands upright.

Pop that straight in the pan.

So once your nice bits of leg and thigh are colored, we'll just take them out and pop the chicken breasts in.

Meanwhile, while this cooks, we'll just get rid of this board.

And I'll go wash my hands.

[bright music] ♪ ♪ [sizzling] ♪ ♪ So when your chicken is nicely sealed like that, take it out the pan.

Put that to one side.

And then, really, you almost want to decant this butter.

We want the flavor in the pan, but I don't want that fatty layer over the top because it's all about this stuff.

This is vin jaune.

It comes from Jura, which is a region of France which is quite close to Switzerland.

And it's like a Sherry style, really, this one.

You can use Sherry if you can't get hold of this.

But it's really unique to this dish.

You want a little bit of that in here, some chicken stock, and just a touch of cream.

I'm gonna use a little bit of double cream to thicken it up even more.

And then what you can do is then add some of these, our wonderful morels.

These really are highly prized, these fellows over here.

Never wash them.

With morels, you basically just want to use a little mushroom brush just to clean them.

We take the entire lot, pop it into your sauce because you get lots of flavor from this as well.

Give this a quick stir, and then pop the chicken back in.

Now, I'm only gonna cook the legs and the breast for this one.

You could, if your pan was big enough, stick the thighs in as well.

So bring it to the boil.

Pop the lid on, eight to 10 minutes, and we're nearly there.

[calm music] ♪ ♪ We're gonna take our chicken to rest a little bit.

But the important bit is, when your chicken's cooked, you can then take this sauce and reduce this further.

Meanwhile, I'm gonna prepare our veg because I've got the veg literally from the garden here.

I've got some wonderful chard.

Look at this rainbow chard.

The stem looks a little bit longer than the leaf.

But what you can do is just chop it up and just take the little stems here, a little bit of water.

Then, we're gonna take a touch of this butter, a little bit of salt, and literally on the stove for about two or three more minutes.

Meanwhile, that sauce won't be far off.

Cheers.

♪ ♪ So when your chard is just about there, you can then take the leaves and just pop that in.

A touch of black pepper, that's all you need.

Maybe a little bit of a pinch of salt, that's it.

Meanwhile, we can then concentrate on our sauce.

So you can see this is reduced down nicely.

You could, if you wanted to, finish this off with a little bit more butter, just a touch in there.

Season it up, some salt, a couple of twists of pepper.

[grinding] And then what I think it needs, just a tiny little bit of lemon juice, just a little squeeze.

And then the chicken goes back in there.

So our chard is cooked.

Next up, you can grab your chicken.

RAYMOND: I'm famished, you know?

I've been waiting a long, long time.

JAMES: It's a good job you're a mate of mine.

You know that?

RAYMOND: [laughs] Right, this is gonna go back in it.

You've got to wait another minute.

Is that right?

RAYMOND: OK.

JAMES: So demanding!

[playful music] Some of this gorgeous rainbow chard over there as well.

But then, of course, it's the sauce with morilles.

Mushrooms, just a few of these over the top and this reduce sauce to go with it.

Right, come on then.

In you come.

Bon appetit, chef.

That looks beautiful.

Commencez.

That looks really beautiful.

[upbeat music] I don't need the truffle.

That's too fancy, truffles.

JAMES: You can have it.

There you go.

Go on then.

That looks lovely.

It's perfectly cooked, yeah?

Absolutely!

Just get that, perfectly cooked.

RAYMOND: Beautiful texture, wonderful flavor.

Keep going.

RAYMOND: You don't have too much cream either.

JAMES: Keep going.

I noticed that you put a bit of lemon juice.

- Is that right?

- Of course.

Is it?

But if you did put a little bit of marc du Jura inside, a million times better.

No, no, no, not that one, the marc.

the marc, the grape, no?

The grape, which is fermented to make an alcohol.

And the marc du Jura, one tiny little drop, you'll be amazed how it-- - So out of 10?

Six?

Just let me finish.

I just started.

♪ ♪ JAMES (VOICEOVER): And while Raymond continues to pull apart my food, I'll sum up the glorious time I've had in Oxford.

It's beautiful, innit?

JAMES (VOICEOVER): I've sampled some fine pick-your-own.

It's one for the pot, one for me.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And top-notch chef Monica Galetti hunted out an organic local distiller.

MONICA: Wow!

CORY: I actually climb inside it about once every other week to clean these coils out.

Oh, no!

I'd probably have a panic attack.

Hello?

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And last, but by no means least, catching up with my hero, my old friend, and someone who is very hard to impress, yes, he's still going.

10 out of 10 for the cooking of the chicken.

It's just the sauce is about a four?

RAYMOND: More flavor.

You give, and then you-- - No, no, no, no.

- --you take No, no.

JAMES: Anything else?

- No.

You've got enough love.

You can see a lot of love here.

And you've been sweating.

Oh, James.

Oh, poor James, aw.

Oh my god.

Just get on with it!

Go away.

Ladies and gentlemen, Raymond Blanc.

James.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪