I'm Prue Leith, cook, caterer, restaurateur, cookery school founder, and writer of 16 cookbooks.

Prue: This looks so delicious.

I'm absolutely dribbling.

Prue, voice-over: I'm in my 80s, so I haven't got time to waste.

This series is all about the things that really matter to me-- family, fun, food, and friends.

Ha ha!

I've got to let it out when I can.

♪ Ah da da da ta da ♪ Prue, voice-over: We'll be sharing simple home-cooked recipes... Oh, I did it.

And what does that do?

Well, unfortunately, it's not quite doing it.

Ha ha ha!

Prue, voice-over: and celebrating the best produce.

I'm lucky enough to live in the astonishingly beautiful Cotswolds with my long-suffering husband John, and now he's agreed to join me in the kitchen, too.

[Pop] Ooh!

♪ Prue, voice-over: In today's episode, my good friends and fashion designers Vin and Omi will be here... Vin was determined that they were going to make me look like I've never looked before.

Vin: It was great.

Prue: Yeah.

Well, I had a lovely time.

Vin: You were great.

Prue, voice-over: John learns a new trick at the butcher's... -Can I have a job?

-Part-time.

Prue, voice-over: and I'll be showing you how to cheat your way to an easy supper.

And that's it.

Supper sorted for tonight.

Welcome to my Cotswold kitchen!

♪ Prue, voice-over: I love eating and cooking almost all food.

Back in the day at my restaurant, we cooked with something that a lot of people are either afraid of or think is very-old fashioned--offal-- but in my eyes, it's delicious and nutritious and cheap.

My first recipe today is deviled kidneys on toast, and I know some of you will shudder at that thought, but I'm on a mission to get people to eat nose to tail.

♪ If you're prepared to eat a steak, then why not eat everything-- kidneys, liver, the lot, and especially as there's so much more flavor in offal, and it's really honestly worth having a go.

So these are kidneys on toast, deviled kidneys.

Deviled generally means very spicy, and the butcher will clean the kidneys for you.

Prue, voice-over: To prepare the kidneys, slice them in half so that they retain their kidney shape.

♪ Use a good pair of scissors or a sharp knife to cut out the white fatty core.

♪ So now I'm going to fry these kidneys in spiced butter.

Prue, voice-over: Mix together 50 grams of soft butter, one teaspoon of cayenne pepper, two teaspoons of anchovy essence or 4 anchovies mashed up, and a teaspoon of mustard powder.

And a little bit of Worcester sauce.

Things that are deviled are always a bit spicy like this.

They usually-- these very things mustard, Worcester sauce, and cayenne pepper.

In the good old days, when I first opened my restaurant, we used to actually have savories after dinner.

We used to do a 4-course meal for a fixed price, and the last course was a dessert or a savory, and the savory would be sometimes things like kidneys on toast, just a little savory mouthful at the end of the meal.

Now you never see that.

Prue, voice-over: Once mashed together, melt a bit of your spicy butter in a frying pan and dust your kidneys in seasoned flour.

Put the kidneys in flat side down.

Don't put too many in at a time because if you lower the heat in the pan too much, then the juices of the kidneys will start to run out instead of getting a nice fried crust.

Give them about a minute and a half on each side.

I don't know why offal is so out of fashion.

I mean, when my children were little, we often ate kidneys or liver.

I used to give the children liver sausage for breakfast, and they loved it.

Right.

So I like to keep the kidneys a little bit pink in the middle... like that.

There's a lot of goodness in offal.

Prue, voice-over: In fact, they're a nutritionist's dream.

They boost your energy and are packed with iron.

Put the kidneys... on the toast... ♪ with the spiced butter... ♪ all over it.

♪ So that is deviled kidneys on toast.

Very delicious and pretty quick to do.

I love deviled kidneys, but I also like deviled mushrooms, so if you can't face kidneys, have a go with the mushrooms.

♪ Prue, voice-over: Heat some butter and oil in a pan.

Chop portobello mushrooms into quarters.

So nice and chunky really.

♪ The thing about mushrooms is they absorb any amount of fat, so don't give them too much because you'll end up with fat running out of them, and so you don't want that.

So just put your mushrooms in there.

[Sizzling] I do love mushrooms because they have such a sort of umami taste, and they're great for vegetarians because they've got real strong flavor.

I love them.

Prue, voice-over: Cook the mushrooms for 2 to 3 minutes or until browned.

Prue: Right.

We'll make some toast.

♪ And chop a bit of parsley, which is going to go in at the end.

If you're chopping parsley and the stalks are quite tender like this, then I just screw them all up in my hand like that and slice like that.

♪ And then you can turn it round and chop it a bit more finely if you want to like that.

♪ So when your mushrooms are sort of half cooked like that, you want to add everything else.

Prue, voice-over: 4 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce, two tablespoons olive oil, two teaspoons English mustard, 25 grams of butter, two teaspoons of hot paprika, and 4 cloves of garlic thinly sliced.

You need to really mix it up well so that you don't get all the mustard in a lump.

And then when you've got everything mixed up together like that, you want to put the best ingredient of all, which is the creme fraiche.

Prue, voice-over: Add 300 grams and give it a good stir.

The lovely thing about creme fraiche is it's basically like whipped cream, but because it's quite thick, it doesn't thin your sauce too much.

It melts a bit of course, but it makes the most delicious sauce.

I'm going to take a piece of garlic.

This piece of bread has just come out of the toaster, so it's nice and crisp, and I'm taking a piece of skinned garlic, and I'm just rubbing it all over the toast.

Prue, voice-over: Take the mushrooms and sauce off the heat and fry a duck egg to go on top.

Duck eggs are a great source of nutrition, and compared to a chicken egg, they offer more protein, more omega 3, and 50% more vitamin A. They're very good for baking.

They're slightly bigger than a hen's eggs.

Prue, voice-over: Once the oil is hot, break the egg straight into the pan.

Prue: Do you see I've got a bit of egg shell in there?

You can fish it out with the actual shell.

It is the best thing to fish it out with.

Better than your fingers.

Do you see?

When you're frying an egg, the trick is to pick some of the hot oil up and pour it over the yolk.

Otherwise, the white tends to overcook before the yolk's cooked.

OK.

I reckon my duck egg's cooked, so I'm going to put my... mushrooms on top.

And a duck egg on the top.

♪ A bit of chopped parsley on the top.

♪ Let's put a bit of that on there, as well.

So now we have very simple kidneys on toast deviled and slightly more complicated deviled mushrooms on toast.

You can do both of them like the first one.

You can just mix all the deviling ingredients together and cook your mushrooms in it.

♪ Prue, voice-over: Coming up... Look at that.

Prue, voice-over: my guest Omi is determined to keep things spicy... And you've got all the seeds in there and everything?

-Everything.

-Oh!

Prue, voice-over: and I'll show you a secret hack to use all of a banana.

Don't tell John.

♪ Prue, voice-over: John and I eat a lot of fruit, but John loves shopping, and he tends to buy too much, so sometimes we can't eat it quickly enough, and as I'm not one for waste, I have a very quick hack for a banana fit for the compost.

Do you know John won't eat bananas if they are at all dark?

If they look even speckled, he doesn't like them, but he loves banana smoothies.

What I haven't told him is how I make them.

♪ This recipe was taught to me by Rupy Aujula, who's an Indian doctor, so I can't take all the credit for this.

It's Rupy's recipe.

These are, as you'd agree, overripe bananas.

You take the ends off, leave the skins on.

You know, in most fruit, the skin and just under the skin is where all the vitamins are or at least nearly all the vitamins are, so banana skins are very good for you.

♪ So that goes in there.

Prue, voice-over: Add 200 mils of milk.

Prue: We might need a bit more.

If it's too thick, we'll put in a bit more.

Prue, voice-over: 200 mils of Greek or plain yogurt, two teaspoons of cinnamon, half a teaspoon of vanilla essence and some maple syrup.

Now, I know that these bananas are going to be really sweet, so I'm not going to put all the maple syrup in.

I'll put in about half a tablespoon, and then we'll whiz it up.

♪ Prue, voice-over: For a nondairy version, a nut or soya milk will work just as well as will a vegan yogurt.

♪ And there we have a whole banana smoothie.

Don't tell John.

♪ Mmm!

That is so good.

There you have it.

Banana smoothie.

Waste not, want not.

♪ Prue, voice-over: I might be in my 80s, but now and again, I like to take on a challenge and remind people that there's still life in the old dog yet.

♪ Recently, I paraded the catwalk in a latex dress.

Just an average Saturday afternoon, and you're about to meet the designers who persuaded me to do it.

My guests today are Vin and Omi, who are ideologists who are absolutely obsessed with sustainability, and they are two of the most interesting people I know, so I'm very pleased to see you.

Welcome, Vin and Omi, to my Cotswold kitchen.

Thank you very much.

Omi, you're going to do the cooking, I understand.

Omi: Yeah.

So what are you gonna cook for us?

So this is my late grandmother's recipe.

♪ I need to know what an ideologist is.

I think of you as fashion designers who are on a mission to get everybody to use only sustainable fabrics, but you do much more than that.

Fashion is the second largest polluter-- The industry is the second largest polluter in the world.

Prue: Is it?

Omi: It is, so we thought let's use that like our canvas to convey a fun message because sustainability can be so serious.

We thought, "Right, we'll make our own textiles.

"We'll research that.

"We'll look at how we can produce organic, wonderful textiles that are eco-produced," and we were one of the first people to get recycled plastic from the oceans and rivers and turn that into textile, and then we've worked with King Charles to look at his estates and see how we can take the plants from his estates and turn that into textile.

About 6 months ago, you did a fashion show and persuaded me to get dressed up in a long white dress, which was made out of bark from willow trees.

Omi: That's correct.

Yeah.

And it was dyed with beetroot juice... Vin: Yeah.

Prue: and it was incredibly elegant and smart, but it was interesting because Vin was determined that they were going to make me look like I've never looked before.

♪ Vin: I remember the tussle trying to get your glasses off you.

You were like, "No."

Yeah, and you looked great without it.

Just the once.

It was great.

Yeah.

Well, I had a lovely time.

It was amazing.

Vin: You were great.

-Anyway, that's enough of that.

-Yeah.

Prue, voice-over: I could chat to these two all day, but we do need to crack on with the cooking.

So Omi's putting 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil into a large pot.

Add two chopped red onions, two sliced garlic cloves, and one tablespoon of grated ginger.

I like cooking with chicken bones, so just chicken thighs filleted without the bones is great, as well.

Because it'll be quicker.

Yeah.

Omi: Yeah.

Prue: OK.

So I'm gonna chop all that in there.

♪ Then I'm gonna put the curry powder.

So this is just hot curry powder.

Prue, voice-over: And Omi adds 4 generous teaspoons of hot curry powder and two generous teaspoons of hot chili powder.

I normally put half the bottle of chili powder and half the bottle of curry powder.

Um, it just makes it a lot yummier, and then you just stir it around.

for a bit.

Do you like chili?

I like a bit of chili, not a ton of chili.

Vin: OK.

Prue, voice-over: Add 500 mils of chicken stock and enough water to cover the chicken.

Put the lid on and simmer for 20 minutes.

So the next thing we're gonna do is we're gonna boil some hard-boiled eggs.

♪ Whilst that's cooking, we're gonna cook the rice.

Now I like to put a pandan leaf in my rice because it just smells so nice at the end.

Prue: OK.

You know, it's really fragrant.

I like Thai jasmine rice because it's fragrant, it's fluffier, it's softer.

Prue, voice-over: Omi has got 480 grams of jasmine rice, which goes into the rice cooker with the tide pandan leaf until the water is absorbed.

♪ Rice done.

Now, this is also my grandmother's recipe.

Chilies, and I take that everywhere I go.

Prue, voice-over: Omi is making a sambal, which is a condiment commonly used throughout Southeast Asia.

He's adding 75 grams of bird's eye chilies with the stalks removed.

And then shrimp paste.

You want to get nice Asian shrimp paste, not none of this Western supermarket shrimp paste that you get.

Where do you get it from?

You can get it online.

So go to Asian food stores online, and shrimp paste usually will come in this color.

Prue, voice-over: Omi's combining two tablespoons of shrimp paste with the juice of 5 limes, then blending.

This is gonna be a hot dish.

You're trying it first.

I'm not trying it.

Look at that!

And you've got all the seeds in there and everything?

-Everything!

-Ohh!

We're talking about being sustainable.

We've got to use everything.

Ha ha!

No waste.

Yes!

All right.

No waste.

So that's my grandmother's version of a sambal belacan.

She'll probably be in her grave screaming at me, going, "You missed out something," but I don't think I have.

Maybe she is thinking not enough chili.

Vin: Yeah, really.

Omi: Maybe she's saying that.

Prue, voice-over: For the cucumber salad, slice one cucumber into rounds.

Make a sauce by adding to the blender 50 grams of dried shrimp paste that's been soaked for an hour, drained, and dried, and two tablespoons of sambal and the juice of 3 limes.

♪ Blend the ingredients together and pour over the cucumber.

♪ While I peel the hard-boiled eggs, Vin is having a go at frying the poppadoms in hot vegetable oil.

Vin, do you cook at home at all?

What do you think?

Um, I would have said no.

You're right.

I don't-- I don't cook much at all, no.

It terrifies me as you can see.

When the dough curls up like that... Prue: It's done.

Omi: Then you know you're done.

I mean, it's all about science, isn't it?

I suppose I should get into it, but--OK.

so I'll hold that and do that, yeah?

[Sizzling] Prue: It's magic.

It's lovely.

Vin: It's magic.

It is.

Omi: Flip, flip, flip!

I'm getting into it already.

Flip!

Quick!

Really.

Quick.

Flip.

All right.

Prue, voice-over: Once peeled, add the eggs to the curry pot.

Ideally, I mean, if we have guests coming round for dinner, I normally cook the curry the day before because it tastes better by the time they arrive the next day.

I think they're done there, darling.

Funnily enough, we don't often get guests coming back.

For more.

Ha ha!

Omi: I beg your pardon.

Vin: We don't.

Heh he heh.

♪ Prue, voice-over: Omi serves his grandma's curry on banana leaves.

You can buy these from any good Asian supermarket.

Omi: I like to make everything look pretty.

Put the rice in a little bowl and then shape it a bit so you get a nice little dome.

Can you tell we do fashion?

Prue: Go on.

Everything needs to look pretty.

Um... and then you want to do that.

♪ Prue: Very pretty.

Vin: Oh!

Very good.

Ta-da!

Prue, voice-over: Add the salad and take the chicken off the heat.

Let's get a nice chunk of curry with the onions and stuff.

Let's put it there, and then if you want to be really adventurous... Yes.

Go on.

we'll put some of this wonderful sambal belacan.

Prue: Oh my God.

Vin: Oh, no.

Not on the food.

We'll just put it at the edge.

He's gonna put it on the side so we can-- Yeah.

You have the choice not to-- not to have it.

And then we're gonna garnish with some coriander.

So it's nice and lovely.

Vin: It's looking good.

Prue: Yeah.

It looks lovely.

Spring onion.

I like spring onion raw.

Me, too.

You don't have to have it, you know.

You could chuck it in the curry, but I like it raw.

Yeah.

And chuck some of that over the chicken.

Like it's not hot enough.

And then, of course, pièce de résistance-- poppadoms.

Prue: Beautiful!

Voila!

Hello, darling.

Prue, voice-over: I've called in my chief chili taster.

John's going to try this before I do to check it's not too hot.

-I made curry.

-Yep.

And everybody's apprehensive because it's... Hot.

Prue: But you're going to give us a lesson on eating with one hand.

Well, all I do know is that you use the ends of your fingers, make up a little ball, push it in with your thumb, but make sure that the center of your hand is always clean.

-Is that right?

-Bingo.

You don't like the skin, do you?

I love the skin.

No, you like the skin.

I'm going to get a bit of that, and I'm going to get a bit of this, which I'm told is fairly lethal.

Very lethal.

OK, now.

I'm sorry about that.

Vin: then it's not hot enough after all this buildup.

♪ OK.

Out of 10?

Out of 10, how hot?

Prue: How hot?

Vin: Oh, he's coping with it really well.

That's really nice.

Yeah?

Vin: He's still alive.

♪ Like a pro.

What do you think?

Omi, I honestly think that's been a triumph, and to me, it's a revelation because I would never have thought just shoving all the ingredients in like that.

You know, you broke every rule... Omi: Of cooking, Prue: of cooking, and it absolutely worked.

It's brilliant.

Will you be able to do it again?

Yes, even I can do that.

Very nice.

♪ Prue, voice-over: John and I love to eat al fresco when the weather allows.

I'm hoping we can manage it today.

Well, John has gone off to the butcher to get some meat for our barbecue.

I'm a little anxious because John tends to get carried away, and I bet you he comes back with half the butcher's shop.

♪ -Morning, Trevor.

-Morning, John.

How are you?

-I'm really well.

-Good.

What a lovely day.

Prue, voice-over: Before John gets carried away shopping for the barbecue, He's keen to utilize Trev's skills.

He wants to learn how to tie sausages.

John: Is this-- Trev: I've saved this all ready for you.

That is one big, long length.

If you turn round and put that like that -and squeeze it... -Squeeze it.

Oh, yes.

-Turn it.

-Yeah.

Then you pull that one through, but you double it and then squeeze it, twist, push that into there.

♪ Do you reckon you can do that?

-No!

-Come on.

Have a go.

John: OK.

Trev: One finger.

Right.

One finger.

Yeah.

Now pull that through so it comes up to two sausages and squeeze it.

Oh, I'm with you.

So I-- Squeeze it with that one with your thumb.

-OK.

-No, this thumb.

This thumb?

Yeah.

And then twist that... Twist that.

and then--yeah.

John: Bring that through.

Trev: Pull that through and make.

Do the same thing?

Do a sausage link?

♪ Prue, voice-over: Sausages are hung in a fridge or cool larder for about 24 hours.

This helps them to stabilize and hold their shape when they're cooked, and allows the meat to tenderize.

Do I lose points if it splits?

You want a bit more.

Pull a bit more.

-Pull a bit more?

-Yeah.

It's a doddle.

Can I have a job?

No.

Part-time.

Ha ha ha!

Prue, voice-over: Don't give up your day job, darling.

I think we'll leave the sausages to the experts.

That just hangs up like that and dries.

We'll go and hang that in the fridge, and that's what it looks like.

Those weren't too bad, John.

-Were they?

No-- -Yours weren't too bad.

I was too enthusiastic there.

That's all right.

No problem.

Thank you.

Do you know, I really enjoyed that.

Very, very interesting.

Prue, voice-over: That's the sausages sorted.

Isn't it About time to get on with the shopping, John?

John: I know we're trying a new barbecue, so we want to have new ideas.

Now, what have you got?

Go for the lamb.

You can have some nice gigot chops or some racks.

OK.

And what are these wonderful things here?

-The-- -This?

-Yes.

-This is a tomahawk... Ooh!

I never heard of a tomahawk.

or a T-Bone.

And what is a tomahawk?

Tomahawk is a ribeye just on the bone.

Obviously, if I was a Viking, I'd have that all to myself, but do you-- do you--do you slice it up?

-How do you cut it?

-No.

You cook it first like that, then you slice it up nice and rare.

Slice it up.

OK.

Lovely.

And then there's the chicken.

What do you call that lovely chicken?

I know, that's very good.

Oh, this one.

The cushion.

John: The cushion.

Trev: The cushion, the chicken.

Yeah.

John: OK.

I think that looks very good.

Okey-doke.

-Well, let's start.

-What do you fancy?

Definitely the two lamb steaks and the crown of chicken.

Uh, the tomahawk... and the thighs.

You won't starve then, John, will you?

No, no, we won't.

So that's very good.

The tomahawk.

Yep.

And some chicken thighs.

You want them with a sauce on or the-- No, I think so, yes.

Yeah.

Why not?

That's got a Chinese on it.

Yep.

That would be different.

Two each.

Yeah, that would be lovely.

Thank you.

♪ Anything else?

Prue, voice-over: Don't forget the pork mince, John.

♪ Is that everything, John?

I think that's going to be lovely.

Yes.

-Thank you very much.

-OK.

Thank you, Trevor.

Cheers then, John.

Give my love to Prue.

Absolutely marvelous.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Cheers.

Prue, voice-over: Just as I feared, he's bought enough to feed the Cotswolds.

I love the idea of ready prepped meat, as I'm all for saving time in the kitchen and cutting a few corners where I can.

♪ Some days, you just crave a bit of comfort food and not have to think about what you're cooking.

♪ So here's a hack for the perfect cheat supper, which I'm ashamed to say I absolutely love and have been making on and off for 50 years, and we still have it occasionally when I'm really tired.

♪ All you need is chicken portions.

You could get a packet of 4 from the supermarket, and you put the chicken in a dish, ovenproof dish like that, and then you get a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, and you plonk that all over the top.

♪ You can ziz it up a bit.

If you want it to taste of curry, you could mix the soup with a bit of curry paste, or you could fry an onion and then add a bit of curry to that, then put the chicken in and the sauce on top.

I know the sauce seems to be a bit thick, but when it comes out it's thinner again.

♪ And that's it.

Bits of chicken, condensed soup on top, push it in the oven.

Cook it for 25, 30 minutes, and that is supper sorted for tonight.

Do it in the air fryer, too.

♪ Tucked away in the suburbs of Bristol is a market garden with a social conscience, and they are my food heroes today.

♪ Ollie and Jimmy run this not-for-profit social enterprise.

They're on a mission to give everyone the opportunity to afford fresh locally grown veg.

Jimmy: Lush Greens is a community market garden, which is essentially like a small urban veg farm.

♪ At the moment, there's huge inequality in access to fresh, healthy, nutritious, locally grown veg, and so we're here really to get people involved in the growing of local food that they're going to eat and to collaborate to get food to those that need it most.

♪ Prue, voice-over: A huge part of the project are the volunteers.

Jimmy: Some people come super regularly same time every week through sort of thick and thin, whatever the weather, and it's a real mixture of people.

Different ages, intergenerations.

♪ Woman: Just once a week, I'm here, like, most of the day.

It's amazing how much I've actually learned about growing, and it doesn't matter what the weather's like, you always feel better after you've spent a day outdoors.

♪ In June, we're picking things like rocket and spinach.

Usually picking lettuce, sugar snap peas, mangetout, and then in the sort of height of summer, we'll be getting things like summer beans-- Summer beans, French beans, runner beans, courgettes, cucumbers.

Yeah, and then as we sort of move through into autumn, we'll get things like leeks and squash, and there are some sort of staples that, you know, just continue throughout the year-- beetroot, chard.

We'll move on to a sort of spicy oriental salad mix come autumn.

Once upon a time, market gardens would have sort of served cities and towns with, you know, most of the veg, if not all of the veg that people were consuming.

♪ Prue, voice-over: The team produces veg boxes for the local community.

The way that that works is we have, like, a pay what you can afford system, so we have, like, guideline prices for different income levels, but then people pay-- people pay whatever they want to around those, and the idea there is to improve access to good quality locally grown veg.

We'll have some people paying 3 or 4 times as much as other people, but the people who are better off at the moment, they can, you know, subsidize those who haven't got so much to spend.

Prue, voice-over: They also provide boxes to local food banks.

There's no electricity on site.

We've got no refrigeration, so it's really important to pick and then basically get it to the users at the food bank as quick as possible, just so that it remains nice and fresh.

♪ Prue, voice-over: For the last few years, they've been delivering to a range of foodbanks every week.

It's a really brilliant partnership because it means we get fresh veg every week, which means we can put together really healthy food parcels for our clients.

♪ -Hi, Ollie.

-Hiya.

-Hi.

I'm Deb.

-Where do you want this then?

I'd like it over here, if that's OK.

Ollie: Cool.

Deb: Fantastic.

What have we got today for you today?

A lovely salad for you today.

-Brilliant.

-Picked this morning.

Should all be really fresh.

OK.

And it needs rinsing?

Yeah.

Need to be washed before using.

We've got some broad beans, as well, which I'll go and grab now.

-Excellent.

Thanks so much.

♪ Ollie: We're not saying we've cracked it, but hopefully, hopefully things like this, local food production, nature friendly, involving the community, hopefully these things will contribute to a shift in our food system towards one that is better for people, better for planet, better for soil, and better for the rest of the living world.

♪ Prue, voice-over: Still to come, It's John's turn to get his hands dirty in the kitchen.

So I've got to get sticky?

You've got to sticky it.

I know you don't like it, but go on.

It's fun.

Prue, voice-over: Growing up in South Africa, I have many happy memories of eating outside, and as soon as we have a bit of sun, I do like to have a barbecue.

John went off to the butcher this morning, and as I predicted, he has got carried away and bought half the butcher shop, so I've had to put a lot of meat in the freezer, so all we're going to do is some burgers, some lamb steaks, and a whole chicken, and that's quite enough for one day.

♪ Prue, voice-over: While John fires up the barbecue, I'm going to get on with caramelizing the onions.

Everybody loves caramelized onions, so it usually takes a very long time to caramelize onions.

What you do is you slice them very finely like this, and then you cook them very, very slowly for a very long time.

They can take about 45 minutes, and I haven't got 45 minutes, so I'm going to cheat.

Prue, voice-over: Just add a bit of sugar to the onions to help speed up the process.

And if you do that-- because that will make it a bit too sweet-- you need a bit of vinegar to counteract the sweetness.

So I'm going to put in a bit of vinegar.

So basically what I've got in here now is onions, water, vinegar, sugar, and the oil that we started off with, so I think that will do.

♪ Prue, voice-over: While the chicken cooks on the barbecue, I'm going to get John to help make the burgers.

You can make a burger out of any good minced meat, so I'm suggesting you make a pork burger.

It's cheaper, it's very good flavor, and it's dead easy, but mostly burgers, if you've got good meat, all you need to do is to squish the beef up into the right shape, and that'll do because it's like a steak.

So if you put the pork in there, plus the spring onions and plus a bit of smoked paprika and just salt and pepper and mangle them all and then shape them.

-Is that just minced pork?

-Minced pork.

-Is there any-- I mean, what about the grade of pork?

Is it--what's the difference between that and sausage meat?

Um, not a lot except sausage meat has breadcrumbs in it already, so this is just pork, and it can come-- I mean, I like it to have a little bit of fat in it.

Do you see those little white things are fat?

Because the flavor is in the fat.

So this is probably shoulder of pork because it's got a bit of fat but not too much.

-So I've got to get sticky?

-You've got to sticky it.

I know you don't like it, but go on.

It's fun.

♪ Prue, voice-over: I've added two finely sliced spring onions to 500 grams of minced pork and a teaspoon of paprika and some salt and pepper.

Mix together with your fingers.

♪ I think lamb steaks are the most wonderful thing to have on a barbecue.

They've got so much flavor, and they're just great, and these steaks are cut across the leg.

It's the leg, and that's the bone of the leg, and you have to persuade the butcher to do this because most butchers slice the other way without the bone, but I like the bone, and then you get across the grain, and it makes a great steak.

So I'm going to marinade them.

Um, the only thing you need to worry about is if there's fat all the way around like that and skin, when it cooks, it can sometimes-- that shrinks, and it twists the steak out of shape.

So it's a good idea to cut through the steak-- you can do it with scissors or with a knife-- in just a few places like that, just through the outside so that if it has to open up it'll open up without twisting the whole steak out of shape.

Prue, voice-over: Marinade the lamb steaks in olive oil with crushed garlic and rosemary and leave for at least an hour.

If time, overnight.

We're gonna have a salad with all this barbecue feast.

Prue, voice-over: Slice up some lettuce.

Layer up all the lettuce leaves, one on top of the other... ♪ and just chop through them.

Prue, voice-over: Add two spring onions finely sliced, then cut up an apple.

I think the trick is to keep your fingers bent so that you can use the back of your knuckles as a guide, and you just move-- move your hands very slowly.

I mean, in very, very little bits each time, and then when it gets difficult because you're getting near the end, then put it on its side to finish the job.

Prue, voice-over: To stop the apple browning, mix the salad in the dressing made from 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise, two tablespoons of red wine vinegar, and two tablespoons of olive oil.

What makes things go brown is oxygen.

It's the air.

So if you can keep the air off them, which is what oil does, they're not going to go brown.

♪ So, John, do you remember at the butcher's you bought this beautiful cushion of chicken?

I did.

Look.

We cooked it in the barbecue.

Ooh!

I say, that looks good.

Isn't that great?

Lovely.

Did you just put it in in a pan?

-Yeah.

-Ooh!

I've never seen that done before.

Bit of butter on the top.

Prue, voice-over: This chicken cooked at 200 degrees for an hour under foil and then uncovered for 35 minutes to brown.

If you've got a probe, it should reach 70 degrees inside, and the juices should run clear.

Prue: So I'm going to cook the steaks and the burgers at the same time, but the burgers are going to go onto the slightly cooler side of the barbecue.

[Sizzling] It's just hot enough to sizzle a bit when you put them on.

There.

If you do that, just push them down gently, you make sure that all the bottom is in contact with the pan, and it'll get nice and brown evenly, and then we've got my steaks here, lamb steaks, and they're going to go on the hot side of the barbecue.

Prue, voice-over: Earlier, I marinated these in an Italian herb sauce called gremolata.

It's made from chopped parsley, garlic, the zest and juice of a lemon, olive oil, and some salt and pepper.

♪ I grew up in South Africa, where we ate outside a lot, and this would have been called a braai, but my memory is never having such a fancy barbecue as this.

It would be a--you know, a sticks driftwood collected on the beach, and my uncle would catch the fish, and then we'd bake it in the embers, and we'd braai mostly fish because we were at the seaside, but it was wonderful.

Prue, voice-over: Cook your steaks for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, depending on how pink you like them.

Looks good, doesn't it?

Look.

Do you see, you can tell by the fact that it feels quite firm that it'll be maybe sort of medium.

Looks good.

It has the tram lines.

Looks good.

If it feels very soft, it's really rare.

If it feels really hard, it's overcooked.

Prue, voice-over: Once the burgers are cooked, serve them in buns and top with a bit of apple salad and caramelized onions, and why not toast the top of the burger buns?

♪ -And... -Lovely.

Lovely.

What do you think?

Good?

So delicious.

The caramelized onion are quite sweet, do they do what ketchup does.

-OK.

-You know, sweet and vinegary at the same time.

And the salad's nice and crunchy.

Apple's crunchy, pork is really good.

Congratulations.

Very, very nice.

I've very rarely had a pork burger.

Mmm!

Prue, voice-over: After polishing off the burgers, John and I then tucked into the lamb steak, and it was divine, and now for the chicken.

♪ For somebody who wasn't hungry, I'm doing very well.

I think because it smells so good and it looks so good.

Oh, it's really good.

♪ You know... I think a lot of people are nervous about barbecuing because they really don't know what they're doing.

Of course, if you have a barbecue like this one, it helps a lot because it controls the temperature, and you can sort of almost set it like and oven, but it's not that difficult if you just know when something is cooked by the texture of it, and you can use a probe to get the temperature right.

Well, I don't know if you know, when I went to the butcher's, I did come back with a lot more... I do know.

unusual things to put on the barbecue.

I do, and they're all in the freezer waiting for you to demonstrate this.

You know, normally when you go to barbecues, it's always exactly the same thing.

I think I can call that a success, don't you?

-I'm right behind it.

-Well.

I think this weekend we're going to give it another go.

-Chin-chin.

-Chin-chin.

♪ ♪