Prue Leith’s Cotswold Kitchen

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: Coming up today, the voice of an angel Charlotte Church joins me in the kitchen... And this is a bit of honey.

I'm literally Winnie the Pooh.

I'm so obsessed with honey.

Prue, voice-over: John is having the perfect day out... John: I would like to live here.

I'd like to be one of your chickens.

Prue, voice-over: and I've got a hack for making chocolate leaves.

Prue: If you've, um, pinched your holly leaves from the roadside, maybe give them a wash first.

Welcome to my Cotswold kitchen!

[Birds chirping] There's nothing better than simple, home-cooked food using everyday ingredients, and today, the star of the show is the humble but incredibly versatile egg.

Today's recipe looks amazing, but lots of people think it's really challenging to make.

It's a pavlova.

Basically, it's a meringue, big meringue, and it's generally filled with whipped cream and some sort of fruit or fruit puree.

Today, we're going to do one passionfruit one and one blackberry one, so first thing we're going to do is make the compote.

A compote is a simple fruit sauce made by simmering fruit and sugar together.

I'm making a blackberry one.

I put about a third of the blackberries into a pot with a little bit of sugar... and a tablespoon of water, and I'm just going to heat them and then mash them.

[Bubbling] Just bubble it away until you've got a sort of quite a thick syrup there.

Do you see how the bubbles are getting really big now?

We're nearly there.

Great big bubbles is the way to tell.

Right.

That's it.

I think we'll stop there.

Prue, voice-over: Leave it to cool and then get on with the meringue.

Prue: Many people are frightened of making meringue because they think it's really tricky and difficult, and it can go wrong, but there's only two things that make it go wrong.

Prue, voice-over: But I'll show you how to get it right.

Start with a clean bowl, add the egg whites.

Make sure there's no yolk in there.

I have 5 here.

Then 360 grams of caster sugar.

Lots of recipes say to add it slowly, but you know what?

That's a myth.

Look.

All the sugar can go in at the same time.

It just doesn't matter.

Prue, voice-over: The trick I use is to add a little corn flour at this stage.

It helps make the pavlova crisp on the outside and a little bit toffee-like inside.

You have to whip this up.

This is a slight variation on a usual meringue that my niece taught me.

She was the head pastry chef at the Ivy, so she knows a thing or two about making meringue, and she says if you want to get a really perfect pavlova, very, very fluffy and white and smooth, you should have a little bit of white vinegar and a little bit of water and bring them to the boil and add that to your meringue.

So now we're going to whisk this for 15 minutes, and then it'll be perfect.

Prue, voice-over: When I was a student, I didn't enjoy making this at all.

We used to beat it by hand, which took forever.

Thank heavens for modern technology.

Both Australia and New Zealand claim to have invented pavlova in the early 1900s.

It was named after the famous ballerina Anna Pavlova.

Right.

As you see, the meringue is now sort of rock solid.

This is called stiff peak.

It'll make peaks like that and stand up stiffly, and that makes the best meringue.

So I'm going to do two kinds of pavlova.

I'll do 4 little individual ones and one great big family one.

Prue, voice-over: For the large pavlova, place some parchment onto a baking tray and secure it with a few blobs of the mix.

I usually do this free form just with my spoon, and I think you need a little wall because then you-- it can be like a dish, and you fill it with cream and fruit, and you can get more in, so shallower in the middle and...thicker towards the edge like that, but I think it looks nice if it looks a bit casual like that.

So you bake that for about an hour.

Prue, voice-over: Set the oven at a low temperature, about 100 degrees.

For the smaller pavlovas, put some mixture in a piping bag and pipe little rounds with a wall around the edge to keep the filling inside.

So I'll pop them in the oven.

Prue, voice-over: These only need 30 minutes to bake, but I have some cold ones I made yesterday.

Prue: So I'm going to just show you how to fill them.

Honestly with pavlova, you can put any creamy mixture you like in it.

Usually, it's just whipped cream and fresh fruit, but I just thought I'd show you a few combinations that are really quite sophisticated and delicious.

This is lemon curd, and I'm going to put a layer of lemon curd drizzled all over the bottom.

It just gives a really nice sharp contrast to a sweet meringue.

Excuse my fingers.

I promise you they're clean.

Prue, voice-over: Next, whip up some double cream into soft peaks and be careful not to overwhip it.

Now I'm going to put some limoncello in there because there's nothing like limoncello.

It's a lemon liqueur and really good, and then I'm gonna put the cream all over it.

I think I first had pavlova as a child because it was our sort of summer treat, and we used to have it at Christmas because summer is when Christmas is in the southern hemisphere.

It was quite funny.

We would have Christmas with all the English traditions.

Like, my father would dress up in a red dressing gown and a white beard and look like Father Christmas in the sweltering heat.

It was crazy, really, but, you know, it was just traditional, so we had to do it.

Next, spoon on the blackberry compote.

Prue: And then I'm going to put some little chocolate leaves on there, and I'll show you later how to make these, and then a little sprinkling of candied lemon rind.

So there we have a fresh fruit pavlova of blackberries with a bit of chocolate and lemon rind on top.

Now for the mini pavlovas with a zesty filling.

I've got passionfruit and mango basically, and this is actually passionfruit jam.

It's really delicious and very sharp and fresh and not too much sugar.

Prue, voice-over: Now for the mini pavlovas with a zesty filling, then something special to add a little kick.

This is passionfruit liqueur, which you could add a tiny bit if you like.

And then a big blob of cream... and mango on top.

You know, I'm always saying cooks' hands are the best tools you can have.

So we've got cream, passionfruit jam, passionfruit liqueur, and mango.

Prue, voice-over: Finally, I'm going to give it a little life with some mint, which tastes really good with fruit.

Like that.

So there we have passionfruit and mango mini pavlova and a big one.

Well, I think this looks pretty good, so let's see if it tastes pretty good.

Mmm.

It's really nice because the acidity of the mango is just terrific with this luscious cream and the very sweet meringue, and I quite like the mint, as well.

In fact, I like it a lot.

In fact, I'm gonna have another go.

Prue, voice-over: Next, how to make those chocolate leaves... I always do it on the side where you can best see the rim.

Prue, voice-over: and Charlotte Church channels her inner chef in my kitchen.

Charlotte: It's OK.

I'm used to, uh-- ha ha ha-- failing somewhat.

Prue, voice-over: Welcome back to my Cotswold kitchen, where I'm celebrating my favorite things-- wonderful food, friends, and family, but also my best cooking tips.

Now I'm going to show you how I made the chocolate leaves for the pavlova we had earlier.

First of all, you have to melt some chocolate.

It needs to be dark chocolate, good quality, and you melt it by putting it over a saucepan of water like that.

You don't want the bottom of the bowl to touch the water.

You're trying to steam it, not boil it.

Prue, voice-over: Once the chocolate is melted, get some leaves.

Prue: These ones are bay leaves.

So get a bit of chocolate and then cover the leaf, and I always do it on the side where you can best see the rib.

Prue, voice-over: Only cover one side of the leaf.

Otherwise, the chocolate won't release once it's cold.

Prue: We'll do a couple of these, and then I'll do a couple of holly ones.

Move them about a bit while they're drying because you don't want the chocolate to stick to the plate.

So I'm going to use the back of the holly leaf.

If you've pinched your holly leaves from the roadside and they're dusty or anything else, maybe give them a wash first.

Prue, voice-over: And make sure you don't use any poisonous leaves.

You can paint the chocolate on if you don't want to mess with a teaspoon, and then you leave them to dry.

Prue, voice-over: Now for the fun part-- removing the chocolate from the leaves.

Prue: These have been chilled for a few hours, so they are now ready to come off.

You need to just hold the stem and just bend it a little bit like that, and then the leaf will come off.

Have to be a bit gentle.

Let's try a holly one.

You should be able to see the ribs on the leaves so they look really realistic.

I always use them at Christmas on a yule log, but you can use them for anything like our pavlova.

Then it's lovely to put chocolate leaves all over them.

Prue, voice-over: I'm now joined by someone who shares my love of nature but is better known for her unmistakable voice.

My guest today is honestly the most remarkable woman.

She started her semiprofessional career at the age of 3.

By 12, she was enormously famous.

One of our favorite singers with a voice of an angel.

She is of course Charlotte Church.

Welcome to my Cotswold kitchen.

Thank you so much for having me, Prue.

I'm excited.

Have you cooked on television before?

I don't think I really have.

Well, we'll do it together.

Yes, please.

But I need to know what we're gonna do.

I would love to do a bit of chicken yakitori.

I really love Eastern flavors, that umami.

Yeah.

So a bit of chicken yakitori would be great.

OK.

Why don't I do the marinading bit... -Yes, please.

-and you chop these pok choi how you would for a stir-fry?

-OK.

Roughly.

-Roughly.

Roughly.

Ha ha ha!

Prue, voice-over: Yakitori is a delicious Japanese dish flavored with ginger, soy sauce, and garlic, and this is my version.

We've got some chicken thighs here skinned and boned and cut up, some gluten-free soy sauce, which is--I think is called... -Tamari.

-tamari.

Mmm!

Tamari.

And this is a bit of honey.

I mean, soy and honey are such a great classic combination, and as you say, they give it that umami flavor.

I am literally Winnie the Pooh, as well.

I'm so obsessed with honey.

I can eat whole jars full in one session.

Prue, voice-over: I'm going to add a splash of sherry for sharpness.

So that's our mix, and we're going to marinate this, and then we'll have a chat while it marinades.

-Wonderful.

-And then we'll do it.

I'm almost there with the pok choi.

So that can go in there.

Mm-hmm.

And then we're going to also have some mushrooms in the stir-fry.

How do you feel about fungi, Prue?

Oh, I love mushrooms.

Yeah.

They're pretty special.

Prue, voice-over: 3 years ago, Charlotte opened a retreat in the Welsh countryside called The Dreaming, and I want to find out what inspired her.

So, Charlotte, was it because you suffered so much as a teenager?

Is that what made you think, "I've got to understand mindfulness"?

I think, you know, that we're always in one way or another creating something that we need in order to do our own healing journey, but also--this sounds so cheesy--ha ha ha-- I am deeply in love with humanity and life, and I've got so much compassion for suffering that people are going through, and I see it, and I'm just really, really motivated to do my small bit.

Just tell us about it.

People come there for a variety of reasons.

Some people are there to relax and try and switch off because they find it really difficult to switch off, and, yeah, people just have experiences of letting go and shedding tears and accessing more joy and play.

Let's just talk about the Arwen project because that's so interesting.

This is a sort of forest school really.

It's more of a learning community in the forest.

So I think generally our ideas of forest school is, like bushcraft stuff, survival, outdoor living, those sorts of things, which we cover, but it's also, like, "Why can't we learn "Shakespeare in the woods?

Why can't we learn about physics in the woods?"

It's such a natural desire.

I mean, I was brought up in South Africa, and so we had a lot of lessons outside anyway because the weather was so good, and we all loved lessons outside, even though they were given by the same teachers and we were learning the same stuff.

Absolutely.

I think it's so much more of our natural way of being, isn't it?

Charlotte, we could yatter on for hours... -I could talk to you for days.

-but we have to do this cooking.

Let's do this cooking, yes.

This is a cooking show.

Of course.

Sorry.

Let's crack on.

Ha ha ha!

OK, so I thought you could get cracking on the cauliflower.

Absolutely.

Which you just have to grate it.

OK.

Be careful with your fingers.

-This is quite sharp.

-OK.

Will do.

Prue, voice-over: We're making cauliflower rice, which is a low-carb, vitamin-packed alternative to rice, and it's so easy to make.

While Charlotte grates the cauliflower, I'm prepping garlic and ginger.

I think we've done enough of this.

OK, Charlotte.

I put some sesame oil in your pan and in mine.

I'm going to do the stir-fry with the chicken and that, and you are going to make the rice.

-Yes.

-You stick that into there... OK.

and cook it for about a minute.

Yes.

Turning it around every now and again.

[Sizzling] I think I'm cheating because mine is hotter than yours.

Ha ha ha!

It's OK.

This is how I'm used to-- ha ha ha-- failing somewhat.

I don't think so.

Oh, it smells so good already.

I love those smells.

It's good smell, isn't it?

OK.

Now I'm going to lift the chicken out and try and leave the marinade to add later.

OK.

Is that because you don't want the meat to sort of stew?

-I want me to fry a bit.

-OK.

Here we go.

I'm starting to sizzle.

Now, I believe would be... That's right.

So you've got to do that for a minute.

Just folding through.

This chicken has honey in it, so it'll, I hope, brown because the sugar will begin to... Caramelize.

-Right.

Yeah, yeah.

-Beautiful.

Ooh!

Looks gorgeous.

So should I start to add these bits?

That goes in last, and then all of those.

Everything else first.

Prue, voice-over: Charlotte is adding rice vinegar, spring onions, sesame seeds, coriander, and finally tamari to the cauliflower.

Now I want to thicken this sauce a little bit.

OK.

I'm gonna put some corn flour in it.

OK.

I'll just make it thicken a little so it will all stick to it.

OK.

So now I'm going to take that off.

Prue, voice-over: I'll now fry the mushrooms and the pok choi.

And then the meat goes back in the pan.

So then I'm going to put my marinade back and keep it moving because it's got that corn flour in it, which will thicken when it boils.

Oh, of course.

And I'm going to put the coriander.

Gorgeous.

And the chili.

You like chili?

I love a bit of chili.

And a bit of sesame.

Great.

And then we need those two plates.

-Yes.

-Don't we?

Why don't you dish up a bit of collie rice on one side?

Collie rice on one side.

Do you want any sort of shape, Prue?

Ha ha ha!

Look.

You're the artistic one.

-OK, sure.

-You do what you like.

OK.

I'm gonna go for a bit of a crescent moon sort of vibe.

OK.

You make another crescent moon here, and I'll put the stir-fry in the middle.

Beautiful.

Oh, this is great, Prue.

I'd be happy to come to your house most Saturdays if you'd have me.

-Ha ha ha!

-We'd love you.

-Ahh.

-Right.

Shall we go for it?

Absolutely.

Yes, please.

Ha ha ha!

Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mmm.

Lovely.

Cauliflower's so delicious.

Really getting all of that ginger and-- It's quite gingery, isn't it?

Mmm.

It's beautiful.

Going in for the mushrooms.

I think this is a great alternative to rice.

Absolutely.

This is the first time I've ever had cauliflower rice, so thank you for the intro.

-Not the last time?

-Not the last time.

Now that you've come and taught me how to do it, Prue, I can take this home with me.

Prue, voice-over: I may have been teaching Charlotte today, but I've been taking some lessons of my own recently.

I have never been able to sing at all... Mmm.

and, you know, my throat just closes, and I--it hurts and so on, so I thought, "Right.

I'm going to learn to sing."

Ooh!

I now got so enthusiastic that I now have a face-to-face singing teacher, -Do you?

-and I'm 84.

This is no time to learn to sing.

-Yes, it is!

-But it is such fun, and I love it so much.

It's really wonderful, isn't it?

And if you sing in this area here in our house, it's like an echo chamber... Yeah, it reverberates.

so it sounds like you've got a really big voice.

Ahh!

Gorgeous.

So I drive my poor husband mad singing.

Oh, that's beautiful.

Thank you for having me.

It's been delightful.

Well, I want to come to your Dreaming.

Yes!

Please come and see us.

Ha ha ha!

Prue, voice-over: Still to come, my husband John is trying to win brownie points.

Man: There we go.

John: Happy Prudence.

I might even get a sticker when I get home.

Prue, voice-over: And I have a food hack to work out how fresh your eggs are.

If the egg was really floating, then I wouldn't use it for anything.

Prue, voice-over: Good food is about great ingredients, and here in the Cotswolds, we're lucky enough to be surrounded by them, including one versatile staple we eat on a daily basis.

John has gone off to see a local farmer whose chickens produce the most wonderful eggs.

Just outside Stow-on-the-Wold, there is a family farm that's been championing free range eggs for more than 15 years.

John: I've come here this morning to see Billy.

Now, Billy supplies wonderful eggs to the entire community around here, and personally, I love eggs cooked any which way, so I want to find out how he does it and also see his very happy hens.

Goodness me!

How many do you produce a day?

So we're producing around 11,000 to 12,000 eggs a day.

And do they all funnel through here?

They all funnel through here.

They'll come in.

So they're laid-- they're laid every day, and then we're selling eggs that are laid today.

Billy, I noticed "Woodland Eggs."

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So what we've got, we've got a load of woodland out the back where we keep all the chickens.

So would you like to come and have a look?

I would.

[Chickens clucking] Prue, voice-over: Billy's late dad ran a smallholding here from the sixties, but today, the place is home to Billy's Lohmann Brown hens.

[Chickens clucking] John: Now, Billy, I would like to live here.

I'd like to be one of your chickens.

I think this is just such an idyllic spot.

-I mean... -Thank you.

This is really, really nice.

Now, how did you get into it?

Um, well, it started--ffrr-- 2009, I suppose.

Um, I had 15 chickens and had 90 eggs.

I bought these chickens, and then I had 90 eggs suddenly.

I was like, "How am I gonna get rid of 90 eggs?"

You start selling eggs to other people instead?

Yeah.

I mean, I suppose like roadside sales.

We've got a little stone barn.

Dad let me have, you know, his little shed, and, uh, started selling eggs in there.

Prue, voice-over: What started with 15 chickens has now grown to 8,000 on this site alone.

John: Presumably, when you went from tiny to realizing you've got to go much larger, you had two options-- intensive... -Yeah.

-or holiday camp.

Ha ha!

Yes.

Which--what made you choose this?

Well, like, Dad, let me have this wood for my chickens to start with, so I had 300, and they'd come out in here, and then I got a thousand in another barn in the other field, and, um, I found that the production in this site was better than those because of the woodland, and when you look back, they are a jungle fowl, so it's just like give the chicken what it wants, and it will return you what you want.

Prue, voice-over: Across two sites, Billy's hens produce 4 million eggs a year, but they do eat well, and they have a very special diet.

Billy: We put in all sorts of different, you know, vitamins and minerals because, like, as much as it's lovely to think that the birds get everything they need from scratching around outside, because an egg is such a superfood, they need a lot more than that, and all us producers keep our feed ration very close to our chest.

OK.

So you're the sort of Worcester sauce of the egg world.

You're not letting anybody know what your vital ingredient X is.

-Absolutely.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-I love it.

So happiness and welfare and general well-being-- I think we call it now mindfulness... -Mindfulness.

-produces good eggs.

Absolutely.

[Chickens clucking] Right, Billy.

Eggs for Prue.

What have we got?

We've got amazing little pullet eggs.

-Right.

-So these are the first eggs that the chickens lay when they come to us.

-So you've got those.

-OK.

And then we've got what we call the wonky veg of the egg world.

These are baking eggs, so they're slightly rougher on the shell, they're white, and... I love the description.

Yes.

My daughter wrote that, and then we've got our best eggs here.

Let's have the best eggs.

-Let's have the best eggs.

-That would be really good.

So what you can do in this little shop of ours is you help yourself, sir.

OK.

John: There we are.

Billy: There we go.

Happy Prudence.

I might even get a sticker when I get home for good behavior.

Yeah.

Prue, voice-over: well, you'll get your sticker, John, if you drive home without breaking any.

I've got a hack today, which will show you how to identify whether an egg is fresh or not.

It's really simple.

If you put an egg in water, if it lies on the bottom of the bowl, it's fresh.

This egg is less than a week old.

We just bought it.

This egg is at least a month old--hoo-- and as you see, it stands up on its end.

If it was really stale, say, 8 weeks old, it would float completely.

This is--this is floating, but it's floating underwater.

These eggs, the older ones, are perfectly good for cooking, baking, and so on.

If the egg was really floating and bobbing along on the top, then I wouldn't use it for anything.

For a poached egg or scrambled egg or boiled egg, you really want to taste the egg, you need it to be really fresh, and the fresher the better.

and here's how you know if you have a super fresh egg.

Do you see there's a little bit of watery egg, but almost all the albumin is a nice sort of almost jelly-like circle around the yolk.

That's what a fresh egg looks like, but if you've got an egg that's a few weeks old, it's gonna have much less of that nice jelly.

You see, you can't even see the albumin, and that means when you drop it into the water, white goes all over the plan in streaky bits, and it's absolutely hopeless, and that's what would happen if you did it with that one.

So that's my hack for telling whether an egg is fresh or not.

There's nothing better than produce really well made, and that's what today's food heroes obsessively aim for.

In Bristol, husband and wife Nicola and Ross have assembled a team to produce a premium range of jams, marmalades, and preserves.

Nicola: We've got 10 core flavors that we make all year round.

We've got Sonata strawberry, Maravilla raspberry.

Passionfruit Preserve is one of our top sellers, and then we also have 3 chili jams.

Prue, voice-over: The team have developed 18 different products, but the couple's love affair with jam started a long way from Bristol.

Nicola: The idea for the business actually came from a holiday that we had many years ago now.

We went to Sri Lanka.

Ross: 2015, a long time ago.

And we stayed in the most beautiful little hotel and every morning for breakfast, they had these little pots of homemade jam, and, yeah, I was like, no one's making jam like this in the UK, so I came home, started making jam, and here we are now.

Prue, voice-over: Nicola started producing small batches in her own kitchen and sold them at local markets.

I remember that first ever sale was so exciting.

When someone came and actually gave me money for my jam, I couldn't believe it.

Ha ha ha!

About a year into the business, I did a trade show, and there was a German man that approached me at the stand, and he pointed at the Seville marmalade, and he said, "I like it.

Can you make me 8,000 jars?"

And I kind of stopped for a minute and went-- I said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course, I can make you 8,000 jars."

-Sure.

Prue, voice-over: What makes her produce distinctive is that each one is made from a single variety of fruit.

Nicola: We make the jam ourselves in house, which means we can make sure the quality is where it should be.

Prue, voice-over: And it all starts with good ingredients.

One of their suppliers Jake grows gooseberries in Ross-on-Wye, Jake: We grow Invicta gooseberries for jam making because they are resistant to mildew, they produce a good, consistent crop of nice, plump berries.

So gooseberries are naturally tangy.

If you're brave enough to eat one, you'll find out, so lots of sugar, and then you'll have a nice acid backdrop to give you loads of flavor.

Prue, voice-over: Once picked, the gooseberries are prepped in the kitchen, ready to be made into preserves.

Nicola: We put the gooseberries into the pan about an hour ago, and we've cooked them down slowly, and now we've got to the point where we're now adding the sugar.

Prue, voice-over: Most jams contain 60% of sugar.

Nicola: Our jams don't actually contain that much sugar because we use more fruit than you would do traditionally, so therefore, we call it a preserve and not a jam on the packaging.

Prue, voice-over: Once the jams are made, there's a very important job that everyone gets involved in.

Ross, voice-over: We try and sit down every two weeks, the whole team, usually a Wednesday afternoon, and we try various products just to check that everything's where we want it to be.

Nicola: That's quite a good set now I think.

I think we've got that spot on I'd say.

Prue, voice-over: From a modest kitchen table to a factory making 8,000 jars a week, Nicola and Ross have turned their fruity passion into a way of life.

Ross: Sometimes it amazes us how far it's come.

Prue, voice-over: Still to come, John joins me in the kitchen to cook with some of those lovely eggs... I'm sure you can make an omelette.

What is an omelette?

Ha ha ha!

Prue, voice-over: and I hope he's going to help rather than hinder.

My sous chef here has not buttered the toast.

[Arf] So continuing our egg theme, we made meringues with egg whites this morning, and we're now going to make omelettes.

I'm sure you can make an omelette.

What is an omelette?

Ha ha ha!

I just want to show you the most efficient way for making omelettes for lots of people, so say you're going to make, um, two-egg omelettes for everybody.

Then you put two eggs for each person into a jug.

Want me to do this?

Yeah, you could do that.

And then you line up whatever you're going to flavor your omelettes with because everybody likes their omelettes differently, and you're running a call order system here.

OK.

Stop there.

It's lovely.

So two eggs for each person and then a bit of salt... a bit of pepper... and a splash of water.

About a dessert spoon each.

Prue, voice-over: As it cooks, the water creates steam and makes the omelette fluffier.

Then beat the mixture.

So...heh heh.

Go on.

A bit of welly.

Well, I'm just a bit worried that it goes everywhere.

I love that machine.

You gave me that little machine.

You're so lucky.

-I am lucky.

-Ha ha!

But you don't-- you don't give it-- you don't do it-- give it justice.

Prue, voice-over: I have a trick for making sure everyone gets the same sized omelette and everything is fair.

So you're divvying it up.

You're divvying it up evenly so that you can see that you've given everybody about the same amount.

Prue, voice-over: Now for the cooking.

Put a blob of butter in a hot pan and let it melt.

Right.

Am I pushing these around?

Yeah, we're waiting for them to move about a bit.

Billy said eggs are superfood.

Nutritionally, it's just got everything in it known to man according to him.

But I do think they are the most brilliant food because they--you know, they're so well-packaged, they last for ages, they're full of protein, and they're delicious.

OK.

So when you've got the butter bubbling away, just beginning to fizz, just pour the eggs into it.

All right.

I'm going to give you a demonstration, and then you're going to do the next one, and you will probably do yours better than me.

I know how irritating you can be.

Do you want to put your egg in?

Can I have my egg?

Yep.

OK.

When it begins to cook round the edges-- do you see, like that-- you just pull it into the middle.

It's not quite there yet.

Do you see yours is beginning to-- Yeah.

-Pull it in.

-Go all the way around?

Just pull into the middle.

Yeah.

That's right.

And then from the other side.

OK.

Oh, I see.

So you've got a sort of ridge.

That's right, and then tip it while it's still liquid.

OK.

Prue, voice-over: Make sure the uncooked egg is moved around the base of the pan so it all gets cooked, but before it's cooked right through, fold it so that it's still soft in the middle.

So do I start folding that now or not?

Yeah.

Prue, voice-over: Now we are going to make one with fillings, but let's see if John has mastered the omelette technique.

Make sure it covers everywhere.

Do do do do dee That's fine.

It's got to cover all those holes... -I know.

-before it sets.

Trying to get-- I'm enjoying this.

This is good fun.

OK.

Now, when it's like that, you put the filling in.

I like ham and cheese, OK?

However much you want, and it's a good idea to put it in the middle.

OK.

I don't want anything else.

So now you have to fold it up.

-OK.

Can I fold it over?

-Yeah.

Yeah.

That's right.

OK.

Stroke of genius.

-OK.

-And then?

Tip it up.

Perfect.

Mr.

Playfair, that's a very good omelette.

There we are.

Good.

Then dare I put a bit of green stuff on it?

-Well, um... -No?

The Beatles wouldn't like that.

No, they wouldn't.

No.

John's talking about when the Beatles came to my restaurant.

They wanted a fry-up, an English breakfast, and Ringo said, "And don't put any green stuff on it," so I didn't.

OK.

That's omelettes.

Prue, voice-over: Next, scrambled eggs.

They're simple to make, but I've got some tips to make them absolutely perfect.

We're going to have it with prosciutto, and I'm gonna start the prosciutto to fry that first because it takes a bit longer, and I love fried prosciutto because it gets really crisp.

[Sizzling] Prue, voice-over: Let the prosciutto sizzle away, and this isn't just a breakfast dish.

We often have it for a quick Sunday night snack.

So when you when it starts to get crisp, turn it over.

Nice and bubbly.

And then as it cools, it gets really crisp.

I'm going to put it on the paper so that it is not too greasy.

Prue, voice-over: Now for the scrambled eggs.

So, John, if you can break those eggs-- no, I'll tell you what.

I'll do the eggs, you do the bread.

Can you cut a couple of slices of bread and toast them?

How thick do you want the toast?

Um, you know, like we have scrambles.

-That sort of size?

-Yeah.

Prue, voice-over: This time, I'm adding milk, not water, to the eggs, which makes a creamier mixture.

Depends how you like it, but I like scrambled eggs to be quite buttery, so I've got a decent lump of butter.

Pour in the scrambles for however many people you're doing.

You don't have to do them one at a time like the omelettes.

Prue, voice-over: And keep the mix moving on a medium heat so it cooks evenly.

Can you butter it, darling?

OK.

Ahem.

I've come off the heat because my sous chef here has not buttered the toast.

I like scrambles to be still a bit wet, not absolutely dry.

So I'm going to keep it off the heat until he's done.

Prue, voice-over: Time to bring it all together.

Right?

Do you see?

We now have scrambled eggs, and you want to take the bits out that are set first, plonk them on the toast because they're going on cooking on here.

And I'll just do the last bit.

Are you doing your usual generosity and this is mine and that's yours?

-Mm-hmm.

-OK.

Is that fair, more or less fair?

Yeah, yeah.

And I'm with-- I'm with Ringo.

No green stuff.

No green stuff for you, but I'll have a bit of green stuff on mine.

I love parsley.

I'll put parsley on anything.

Right.

Sunday night Scrambled eggs.

It's been an egg day.

We started with egg whites, with making the meringues and ended up with that and then omelettes and scrambles.

Did you make that?

I did.

Far too tidy for you.

It is too tidy for me, isn't it?

So ouvre ta bouche.

OK.

Bub bub That's very nice.

It's got nice consistency.

And the egg is delicious.

You can actually taste egg.

Yeah.

Prue, voice-over: Now let's try the scrambled eggs.

So are you able to do that one?

-Yeah.

-There we are.

Higher.

Ahh.

Mmm.

Heh heh.

-Are you speechless?

-Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Are you speechless?

Mmm!

Heh heh heh.

That's very good.

I'm very pleased with that.

I would have it again and again.

-And it is delicious.

-And the prosciutto.

I mean, the simplest things are always the best, I think.

You have good ingredients, don't mess them around too much, perfect.

And that's why it's Sunday night fodder.

Prue, voice-over: And as usual, John has selected a wine that might work well with our eggs.

I'm most surprised about this.

Normally, the label is what sells the bottle.

I mean, that is subtle beyond belief.

Anyway, it must sell because it's very good.

It's called Little Beauty.

It's Pinot gris 2013, Marlborough, New Zealand, and made-- -2013?

-Yeah.

That's quite old for a white wine.

It's quite sweet.

It's a dessert wine.

No.

I don't think-- it is sweet, but it's not-- it's more soft than sweet.

Not a dessert wine, as we know dessert wines, but it would be good with dessert, so let's try.

Are those tayberries or blackberries or-- Blackberries.

They're enormous blackberries.

I know.

Could I have a leaf?

You've got a leaf.

You want a chocolate leaf?

Yes, please.

Again, what appeals to me is it's not too sweet.

It's just perfect.

Well, that's what blackberries do for you and the lemon curd.

There's a layer of lemon curd under there.

Aha!

That's the secret flavor coming through.

It's very light.

I mean, you could go on eating, and that's a problem.

Ha!

You wouldn't let me.

Well, that's it for today,