>> JAMIE: Hey!

People everywhere are finally coming back together.

So it's time to celebrate some of the love, friendships, and amazing moments that we've all missed out on.

And what better way to show people that you care than to bring them around a table for some delicious food?

So I've created easy-to-follow menus that will turn incredible dishes into epic feasts.

>> Life is about memories.

And today we made a memory.

>> JAMIE: And to make the most of the precious time with those that we love, it's all about getting ahead.

I want to prepare a meal which is nearly all done, so when my friends and family get here, I can be spending more time with them.

Cheers, everybody!

>> Cheers!

These are impressive menus made easy because I'll take you through them step by step, making them for my family and friends, so you can make them for yours.

This is saying, "I love you," through food.

♪ ♪ >> ♪ All together ♪ ♪ ♪ >> JAMIE: Now is the time to celebrate the power that food has to bring people closer.

>> Ah, can't wait to see everyone.

>> JAMIE: And more than anything, cherish those memories with the ones that you love.

>> Cheers, guys!

>> Cheers.

>> JAMIE: It's all about that simple thing of just sitting at the table with someone you care about.

>> This is seriously good.

>> JAMIE: Sharing food and enjoying the moment.

(laughing) ♪ ♪ So for the people coming around tomorrow, I'm cooking up the most incredible feast, heroing a stunning stuffed side of salmon, the perfect centerpiece to impress your guests, served with a punchy potato salad and sticky, slow-roasted tomatoes.

And I want to go that extra mile because I've invited some wonderful people who have been volunteering in their communities to say thank you for everything that they've done over the last 18 months.

Also on the menu, I'm serving up gorgeous cheesy puff canapés, an epic starter of tender asparagus with the most amazing dressing, and for dessert, the crowning glory: my twist on a super-fresh summer pudding.

Let's raise a glass to all of you.

Thank you so much.

>> Cheers.

>> JAMIE: It's the perfect menu to bring people together.

So to get ahead, I want to do two dishes the day before: some cheesy nibbles and my delicious dessert.

♪ ♪ So the weather is beautiful.

I've picked some strawberries-- I'm very excited, because I'm gonna do a thank you dinner tomorrow.

And I think it's a beautiful thing, because we've all been grateful for things in the last year.

Friends, family, you know, people local to us that have done dear things, and to cook for them is a beautiful way to say thank you.

The people that I've invited, they're front-line workers, but they're not paid.

They're volunteers.

So these are people that have stepped up in their community and set up food banks for people that are vulnerable.

These are people that have been sewing PPE.

Like, the clappers.

Vaccinating all of us.

And today, I can get the prep done in advance so I can get ahead of the game and spend as much of my time as possible enjoying their company.

So a great place to start actually in this story is the end.

♪ ♪ So, I'm doing dessert, the quintessential summer cocktail in a stunning summer pudding.

It's gonna be packed with caramelized strawberries encased in beautiful layers of simple bread, and preparing it the day before is the best way to make sure that you can relax and enjoy the feast, too.

Now, a classic summer pudding would have an abundance of, like, berries: red currants, white currant, black currant, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and that's all lovely.

But actually, the seeds used to annoy me quite a bit.

Great flavor, but going just for strawberries is also a simpler thing of joy.

First up, I'm gonna get a little sugar caramel going.

So in a large pan, 200 grams of golden caster sugar goes in.

We're gonna get that heating up nicely.

We're gonna create a lovely caramel.

I've got some Pimm's.

I'm gonna put 150 mils in here like that.

But you could change it up for different booze-- you could have sweet white wines, vermouth, red wine.

All of these are fantastically good with fruits.

And of course, by boiling it, all the alcohol goes away, anyway.

You can let that flame.

Straightaway, it's starting to create the most beautiful caramel, and that is gonna kiss so much flavor onto those strawberries.

But there's more, okay?

I'm gonna use one of my favorite things, which is good old ginger beer.

And, this one's a bit weird: cucumber, but bear with me.

We're gonna put 150 milliliters of the ginger beer into here, as well.

The ginger beer has the most incredible flavor profile: that hot, fresh ginger with all the spices from the Pimm's.

That's going to be amazing with the strawberries.

Here we have got vanilla, one of my favorite little spices.

And you can get this in the supermarket.

Try and get one that is soft.

Not the dried ones, don't buy them if they're dried.

If you can pinch them like that and they're tacky, that's good.

Just run the knife down like that.

And then turn it on its side, and then use the knife just to simply scrape out those funny-looking seeds.

And it's all about that.

The seeds and the pod-- don't waste any.

So these both go in.

Here, we have got, give or take, a kilo of amazing strawberries.

Just take the little hull off the end.

With the big strawberries, I'll just cut those in half.

I'll leave the medium and small ones whole, which is nice-- look at the color of those.

It's just joyful, isn't it?

Have a little look at that.

Don't touch it, because it's very hot, but the smells coming off that are amazing.

And it's gone down to sort of, a kind of dark, golden caramel, and then the water will be pulled out of this fruit, and you're going to create the most amazing sauce, and just lightly cook the strawberries-- but there's one more thing to come.

This, the humble cucumber-- now, bear with me.

So at this time of year, you get a lot of cocktails with cucumber, mint, strawberries.

You know, they put the alcohol in, they top it up, it's delicious; I'll take that, and I want to get it in this dessert, okay?

So I'm gonna peel it, and that peel is, you know, normally the bitter part.

Run the knife down the length of the cucumber.

And use a little teaspoon to just lightly scrape those watery seeds out.

Put that in the compost.

And just slice this up.

What is brilliant about cucumber is, you can cook it, you can roast it, you can grill it, you can marinate it.

There's so many things you can do, but you can take it into the world of desserts.

So by putting about 100 grams of sugar into that, right?

The sugar draws out the excess water, and it starts to change the texture of the cucumber.

And it's going to allow it to absorb all the lovely spices from here and the fruitiness from here.

So at this stage in the game, I've just turned it up, I'm gonna go in with the strawberries.

We don't want to overcook the fruit, so about three or four minutes.

And then we're gonna go in with the cucumber and all the juice.

(chortles): All I want to do is let that just come up to the boil.

And that's it, that's all the cooking.

The room is smelling so good.

It's, like, that jammy smell.

Then I want to take just a couple of sprigs of mint, chop it up like that, and that goes into our lovely stewed fruit.

Now, I've got 11 slices here of simple white bread.

Not flashy, not sourdough.

Then I want to remove the crusts.

Certainly those old recipes heroed and used up breadcrumbs and bread all the time.

And summer pudding is one of those recipes.

Cut these into little rectangles, right?

So it looks like old-school, packed lunch dinners.

This is where the fun starts.

I'm gonna get myself a little bit of cling film.

Get yourself, like, two or three sheets.

And once you've got it, I'm going to just put my hand like that.

And this is just really handy for guaranteeing that it pops out in a beautiful way.

Just pull it all flat, and then, pull it like that.

You just pick up one slice of the bread, and just lay it in, and let it suck up some of that beautiful sauce, like that.

And then lay this into the side of this mold.

And we let it just kiss the bottom and push it against it.

Take another one, and then we're gonna let it overlap, like so, because that's going to give it stability, and it kind of becomes one instead of slices.

I've made so many summer puddings in my life.

When I was a kid, at my mum and dad's restaurant, I used to work with Paula.

She was an amazing pastry chef, and her summer pudding was her big hit.

We serve it with cream, you know, a little bit more fruit and garnishes.

Really, really nice.

So all the fruit now goes in.

So we'll reserve this sauce for later, and we'll just reduce that down to make it really syrupy, and that'll get poured over this beautiful dessert tomorrow.

And because we've only cooked it for, like, a minute and a half, you know, the fruit still has its shape, and it can now be compacted into this amazing sort of form when the guests are here.

I'm gonna take maybe just a little kiss of juice.

Just for old time's sake.

And then these last bits of bread are gonna make a nice little lid.

Using that bread is so amazing, and bread is something that's so wasted-- it's one of the most wasted things.

And the last one in the middle, like that.

And we can push it down-- now it's a bit more robust.

And now what I'm gonna do is bring that cling film back in, and create a little bit of tension.

Okay?

So bring that over.

And this is just gonna help give you that amazing shape.

There's no flashy way to do it.

Just bring it in, press it down, and then get yourself some plates that fit inside this mold, right?

So a little bit of weight, and the right size helps you put pressure on.

So summer pudding done, that's just got to go in the fridge for at least ten or 12 hours.

All the flavors will get better and better.

It will go into a nice shape.

Then you can turn it out, right?

And you can slice it-- it will be amazing.

That's reducing down.

The last thing I'm gonna show you is a flavored mint sugar.

It's a brilliant way of using up any leftover herbs.

Things like mint, even basil, are amazing, okay?

So bash it up, bit noisy.

(pounding) And then once you've bashed it up, just put a nice amount of sugar in there.

Let's say, like, a couple of tablespoons.

And then we muddle it.

And the sugar will change color, and it will start dehydrating the mint and preserving it.

Then all you have to do is literally sprinkle that sugar on a plate or a tray.

Overnight, that will go a little bit hard, almost stick together a bit.

So in the morning, you just break it up, right, like that.

And then you put it in a jam jar, and it's good to go, ready to be used in your cooking.

You can put on all kinds of things, from your porridges and your yogurts, but this on the clotted cream, with a slice of that, is going to be joyful.

So sugar done.

Summer pudding done, I've got the syrup here, which looks like a nice consistency.

Now, I'll put that into a little jug, and tomorrow, I'm gonna reheat it.

That will go on top of that lovely summer pudding.

Look at that lovely, sticky syrup.

So there you go, recipe number one done.

A summer pudding, but not as they know it, and I really hope they love it.

♪ ♪ And another easy job that I love to do in advance is get some nibbles ready for my guests.

I'm having a nice, chilled, cheeky glass of rosé, and I want to do one more dish that contributes to this amazing meal tomorrow, when my lovely guests come around.

So I want to show you how I make the C-word: canapé.

♪ ♪ These puffy cheesy balls of deliciousness are going to be perfect to kick things off tomorrow night.

Canapés are like the beginning.

I've done the end of the meal already, the dessert.

Now let's go to the very beginning.

You turn up, you get a drink, right?

You want something gorgeous and salty, something to get your taste buds going.

And canapés have always been a nice, posh, French way to do that.

And when I was about 13, I worked as a work experience boy about ten miles down the road, and this family ran this brilliant business and the canapés were amazing.

It just blew my mind.

So I'm gonna do an expression of one of those dishes.

It's gonna be a big, puffy, cheesy ball of gorgeousness.

They're about that big, pop in your mouth-- it's gonna be gorgeous.

I mean, don't get me wrong, olives are nice.

Crisps are nice, but these are next-level, and that's what we want.

So it all starts here, in a little pan.

I've got 50 grams of butter, and I'm gonna melt it.

And essentially, this is a version of a choux pastry.

I'm gonna put that in the pan with 250 milliliters of water.

Bring it to the boil.

When the water and the butter comes together, you can see it just becomes this kind of creamy liquid-- at that point, I'm gonna grab a spoon, and I'm going to add some flour and semolina.

100 grams of plain flour goes in.

The flour, of course, is going to give it the structure.

And the semolina will give you flavor and color and a crunch.

So 50 grams of semolina, mix that up with a little pinch of salt.

Just keep stirring it until it kind of cleans the side of the pan and you're cooking out the flour a little bit.

Turn the gas off.

Take this off the heat.

Let it cool down just a little bit.

And then the cheese.

So these are gorgeous, crispy, puffy balls of cheesy heaven.

So I'm gonna go 100 grams of your cheddar, or in this case, Lincolnshire Poacher.

You can blend the cheeses if you wish.

You can have fun with it, go Gruyère, go Comté.

Go to any country you like.

But 100 grams is a good place to go, then parmesan, 50 grams.

Parmesan is a little bit drier, saltier, but it has kind of this amazing cheesiness that really, really works well.

Then, this has cooled down a little bit now.

And what we're gonna do, bit by bit, is crack in three eggs, one at a time.

If you just stir it in, can you see how that just absorbs the egg?

So it looks kind of messy and a bit ugly for a second.

Keep stirring until that second egg's gone.

Now in for the third one.

In we go with the cheese.

It doesn't matter if there's a bit of a chunk in there.

We're going cheesy, baby.

What I love about this recipe is, it's very few ingredients being brought together in a really simple way.

You can see it's really well mixed now.

And that's it-- that's the whole thing done.

I'm just gonna put that into a little dish.

We'll put this in the fridge now for a couple of hours.

It will chill out, relax, and also, it will become easier to handle.

And then we'll roll that into 24 beautiful little balls.

This is the perfect bit of prep to get done ahead of time.

♪ ♪ So this has had now two hours in the fridge.

You can see it's firmed up, and it's much more malleable.

Now, let me give you the best trick ever for not getting sticky and all dirty, right?

Just fill this with water.

And then by having wet hands, this will stop that batter sticking to you.

And we now need to make 24 little balls.

So pretty simple, divide it roughly.

Don't stress about it, and then each one we're gonna do into six.

So we're cutting them into little portions, basically.

There's a trick, take a little bit of water on your hand.

And then we're just gonna roll it into a perfect little ball like that, and that's what you get.

A nice, shiny, perfect ball.

Ultimately, this is the first impression that your guests are going to get, right?

And it's gonna be delicious, and it's gonna be salty, and it's gonna be cheesy, and it's gonna go beautifully with their drink.

These are cheese balls personified.

And, oh, I dropped the ball.

Oh, no, I can't get away with that.

Ultimately, this is the first impression that your guests are going to get.

It's so nice to make a bit of effort-- they're gonna remember this.

They're gonna absolutely love it.

And what's great about this recipe, you can even freeze it.

You can do it months in advance.

You can do it for Christmas, do it for birthdays, do it for those special occasions.

This is a really nice, quite therapeutic job to do.

There we have 24-- sorry, 23, I dropped one-- shiny, beautiful balls, and I'll put them in the fridge with the summer pudding, and then tomorrow, I've got two great things to get this party going.

Fantastic.

I can't wait to serve them up to my guests at the feast.

♪ ♪ >> ♪ All together ♪ ♪ ♪ >> JAMIE: It's the morning of my thank you feast, and I'm already ahead of the game.

Today, I want to crack on with my main course, a stunning salmon centerpiece, and a super-easy side.

♪ ♪ So it's a beautiful day.

So I'm very, very happy, we're gonna be outside.

And my guests get here later today, which is very exciting, and I'm kind of getting on to the next bit of my meal.

I've done the beautiful summer pudding, I've got those gorgeous cheesy puffs, and now it's the kind of, the centerpiece of the meal.

I'm gonna do a mega fish dish, we're gonna put it in the middle of the table, and have them being able to help themselves.

So I want to make it really special.

Incredible on its own, but epic as part of a feast, this stuffed salmon is packed full of flavor.

I've got a side of salmon there which you'll see come up on bargain, on deal, all the time in fishmongers and supermarkets around the country.

You could do this recipe in little steaks, if you wished, but this, getting a whole side, right?

This is a joyful thing.

What I'm gonna do is make, like, a little marinade, and we're going to get that into the fish in the most beautiful way.

I want to use some little condiments from the pantry.

We're gonna use olives, and we're gonna use beautiful small capers, and some anchovies.

And these three together are like the trinity of working with fish in the Mediterranean.

I'm gonna get a little, hm... What knife should I use today?

I think I'm gonna go for this one.

We'll start with the anchovies, right, because these tend to be the controversial ingredient.

The oil is a gift, don't throw it away-- it's very, very nice.

Anchovy can divide people.

"Oh, we don't like anchovy."

(murmuring in imitation) The main reason that people hate anchovies is because rubbish ones get misused, often on pizza, and then that puts them off for life, it's such a shame!

What I'm doing is just cutting these anchovies into little strips, and you won't taste them, but they will disappear and melt into the most amazing kind of seasoning, this deep umami.

It's gonna be amazing-- you have to trust me, this is worth it.

Then we're onto capers.

Beautiful, little, fine capers, and again, when you get them in jars, in brine or in salt, they're just very salty, so our job, actually, is to pull the salt that's preserved them so beautifully out, so we can taste the fragrance.

The same thing with olives.

Lovely green and black olives-- you don't need that many, right?

Ten or so, because all we want is a little half, a little quarter to go with this salmon.

With the olives, just put them down, squash them like that, and then you can take the stone out very easily.

And by buying an olive with the stone in, its a much, much more tasty olive, always.

If you've got a harder olive, like these green ones, what you can do is just use a knife and just cut the sides off, that's absolutely fine.

And sweep those olives into there.

I'm going to take some chilies and a little lemon.

With the chilies, I just want a few little beautiful flecks for that gentle heat-- I don't want it to be spicy.

Just gentle, gentle, subtle heat.

Then some lovely yellow chilies.

And then a little bit of lemon zest, actually, I'm feeling.

I'm kind of making, like, a beautiful marinade, and you could use this for lovely pork chops.

You could use this for getting, you know, in and around a lovely roast chicken or something like that-- they're lovely flavors.

And rosemary is the key herb that I want to do with this, because rosemary is very much associated with roast beef and meat, and actually, what I want to do is give this side of salmon the respect you would give a lovely leg of lamb or, you know, fore rib of beef, right?

We're going to give it the same love and attention.

So I'll take the stalk, and run my hands down like that, and I just want the leaves.

Got some lovely thyme tips in here.

Beautiful.

Get a little bit of oregano.

We'll take the juice of half a lemon.

Squeeze it in.

Now, that lemon juice-- and it could be a little bit of white wine, if you wanted to-- will draw out the excess salt in the olives and the capers and the anchovies.

Just mix that up, now.

And if you want to do this the day before, the flavor will get even better, okay?

So it's a nice job you can get ahead.

Now, let's have a look at this lovely fish.

Look at that, it's a beautiful thing.

It's been scaled, it's been pin-boned, and what I want to do now is both brutal but delicate.

I'm gonna take a knife, stab it right in about two centimeters, and I'll do that every kind of inch and a half, all the way down the salmon.

And that's going to create, like, a little pocket for us to put this, right?

And then that flavor will penetrate the fish, and it's going to turn the everyday salmon into something spectacular, something special, a centerpiece.

And then we can take these ingredients...

I want to take a little bit of everything-- think of it like a little culinary bunch of flowers, right?

Bit of the chili, little bit of the anchovy, and I'm going to do that every single time for every single cup.

And yes, it's fiddly, but this is about spending five minutes, just five minutes, making something everyday extraordinary, right?

It's worth it because it's just gonna make more flavor.

It's gonna be more presentable.

It's gonna make people go, "Wow!"

And it's a weird sense of gratification when you do it.

Don't ask me why.

It's a bit like making an Airfix model.

You know, this is like when you start putting the transfers on the plane.

(laughs): But it's that kind of thing, right?

♪ ♪ Now, what's nice, as well, is, I'd never have time to do this when my guests are here.

So this is a perfect job to get done now.

And I've got that little bit of thyme.

If you're thinking, "Well, I'm not gonna be bothered to do that," then that's fine.

Because actually, you could just chop all that up really quickly and throw it on top and it would taste delicious.

If you didn't have a side of salmon, you could do a little fillet, and do the same thing.

So just roast it off.

But for me, it's those simple little moments of caring, and actually, I'm really enjoying myself.

This is super-chill.

Just, you know, give me a glass of wine and put some tunes on, and I'm super-happy.

Like, this is as good as it gets for me.

And when I think about, like, is it worth it, it is on a culinary level.

But when I think about the volunteers that are coming to dinner tonight, they are really the ultimate human beings, right?

Because they're not getting paid to do the job.

They're using their common sense to step up in their community, look at what is needed, and help.

Like, that is what it's all about.

So when I meet those people, they always inspire me.

They always want to make me try a bit harder and do more myself.

And it kind of gives me hope that humans are amazing people.

So I can't wait to feed them.

And I just want to create the perfect vibe, because I want tonight to be calm, chilled, delicious, and just full of laughter and joy, and good banter-- look, the last one.

Basically, I'm traying this up, so it's another job done.

It will go straight back in the fridge.

Have a little bit of a wash-up.

I want to just grab a couple of carrots.

A couple of tomatoes-- two or three, not much.

Let's just mix all those up.

Carrots around, let's take a little lemon.

Just little slices of lemon.

It's just gonna create a slightly more tasty, humid environment for the fish to cook.

And you will get, like, a really simple natural sauce in and around it.

I'll oil the bottom of the tray like that.

And then of course we've got the skin on the bottom of this fish, right?

And that will also protect the fish, as well.

We've still got the excess marinade here, and I will just sprinkle this along here.

Fragranced with beautiful Mediterranean flavors.

This is a fairly standard size of salmon.

This will go in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius, which is 350 Fahrenheit, and I cook it for exactly, exactly 20 minutes.

And then I'll take it out, and I'll let it rest for at least ten minutes.

And it will just flake and be beautiful.

So fish, done.

I'm going to do now a kind of very simple side dish to go with this.

So this required a little bit of time, care, and it was very nice and therapeutic-- this is the opposite.

This is crash, bang, wallop.

♪ ♪ These sweet, slow-roasted tomatoes are the perfect accompaniment to just about any meal.

Cherry tomatoes, I'm using.

You could use any tomatoes you want.

But the cherries are good, I've given these a wash. You can get different-colored tomatoes these days, which are lovely.

This is about 1.2 kilos.

It's lovely to grow your own tomatoes, absolutely.

But also, if you do buy them, put them on the windowsill, get them really nice and ripe.

Get them on the vine, if you can, it does make a difference.

So what I'm gonna do is just halve not all of them, but some of them, and by halving them, you've got access to more of the juices, and the truth is, you could just throw them all in whole.

But I like to do a little bit of both.

A good seasoning of pepper.

A good seasoning of lovely sea salt is gonna go in.

Grab this lovely bulb of garlic.

If it's a nice sort of new season's garlic, I can just cut it in half, like that, and put the whole thing in there, like that-- happy days.

Then you want about one or two tablespoons of nice olive oil.

Then the secret ingredient: vinegar.

Red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar-- whatever you like.

So a couple of tablespoons in there.

And then oregano, a classic with tomatoes, dried or fresh.

That is the combo.

You don't have to do anything more than that.

This little side dish brings such sunshine to a whole table, and actually, it's a principle and recipe in its own self.

So that with spaghetti, amazing.

That stirred through a risotto, amazing.

That on a pizza, that in a quiche, you know, that into a lovely warm salad...

This method of cooking tomatoes makes it so delicious.

I'll cook that in the oven later.

So I'll leave that there.

Just cover it and this can go in the fridge.

So two more jobs done.

And I'm getting very, very excited about tonight's dinner.

I think I'm gonna go and do the table next.

♪ ♪ With a few hours to go, I'm gonna rustle up a gorgeous potato salad and a crowd-pleasing asparagus starter.

♪ ♪ So I've got my guests coming around shortly.

I've got a lovely meal to celebrate them, incredible volunteers that have been working on the front line for all of us, and I've done an amazing salmon that is in the fridge, ready and raring to go.

The gorgeous tomatoes, and a lovely summer pudding, and the cheesy puffs.

So now I'm gonna do two beautiful side dishes that I think will just help the whole thing come together.

♪ ♪ I'm going to do a simple side dish: a potato salad, but with my take on an old classic.

I've dug up some nice new potatoes.

The thing with new potatoes is, always cook them in boiling water, okay?

So you can keep as much vitamin C as possible.

And I've seasoned that water, as well.

It's a classic potato salad, but this is another level.

These potatoes are now cooked.

When they're really fresh like this, they probably only take about eight minutes of cooking.

Drain the potatoes, then move them around a little bit, and can you see how the outside is starting to break up?

And that's really good, because it's gonna make this potato salad really oozy and creamy.

Now, this is the perfect time to flavor your new potato salad, when it's hot and steamy and open to taking on flavor.

So I'm gonna make a lovely dressing for that.

Traditionally, a potato salad would be, like, mayonnaise, okay?

So I'm going to kind of change it up.

I want to make it fresher.

Me and my missus, we love this.

It's a really good family favorite.

So about four tablespoons of yogurt.

It could be natural, Greek.

Whatever floats your boat.

That goes in-- obviously, much healthier than mayonnaise, but also much more flavor.

Then we're gonna go in with three or four teaspoons of English mustard, right?

It won't be too hot, but it will have a little bit of attitude, and then, one or two tablespoons of nice extra virgin olive oil.

If you wanted to really get the flavor going, it's just, steal a little bit of lemon zest.

So just a few little strokes gives you that amazing, fresh flavor.

The juice, just squeeze it through your fingers, in case there's any pips.

I've got one.

When it comes to the herbs, I've got some chives.

Choose any soft herb you want-- mint, parsley, basil, they're all good.

Finely slice it.

I think what's really nice is, because potato salad is so often bought pre-done, when you actually do it yourself, you got kind of bigger chunks of potato, a really nice dressing-- real attitude.

One thing I also like to do is take a little bit of feta cheese and just crumble that in, so you get, like, a little kick of that every now and again.

Salty, creamy, tangy.

In we go.

So now we just kind of fold it up.

And what I quite like about this, and it is intentional, is, the potatoes are just almost on the edge of being slightly overcooked.

What you get is that starchiness that makes it even more kind of comforting and oozy and creamy.

Gonna have a little try.

Ooh!

Oh, I love it, oh, it makes me so happy.

Oh, what is it about potatoes?

Mm!

That is delicious-- the English mustard is proper rocking.

It's not too hot, it's just there.

That is one side, beautifully done.

Of course, you could serve it now, as it's kind of lightly warm.

But you can let that get to room temperature.

I think that's my favorite.

And if you want to put it in the fridge, that's absolutely fine, too.

If you want to kind of embellish it, there are some edible flowers, here-- pansies, violas, marigolds.

Just give them a little wash. And look, it's just a fancy way to do it.

Finding them in the supermarkets now, right?

Why not?

They're delicious.

Are they essential?

No.

They're not essential, but how many things in life aren't essential, but you do it anyway just to make it lovely and exciting?

So a beautiful potato salad made with love.

It's kicking flavor.

Done.

So that can go over there.

Now, greens.

I'm bringing beautiful green into our rainbow of colors for the roast salmon.

I've given these a nice wash. We've got kale here.

Cavolo nero, black cabbage.

Of course, spinach or any nice cabbages are all good.

So for me, there's two reasons why I want to do something nice with cabbage in this menu.

I want to have something that feels fresh, and sort of irony, like a little base for the whole meal, right?

And it's really important that we need to eat more greens.

So the second challenge is, how do we make them delicious?

So if you want to get the best out of your greens, boil them hard and fast in salted boiling water, okay?

You can serve this hot, and you can reheat it in a little pan, if you wish.

But I'm going to serve this room temperature.

And I'm going to cook these cabbages separately, because they take different times to cook.

Let that drain a little bit.

And then I'm gonna put it over here, straight onto the clean surface and lay it out flat.

And you could put it in cold water, and that'll cool it down fast.

But also, you're gonna lose the flavor and the nutrition, again, down the sink.

We don't want that, we want it going in you.

Get everything out of this pan and then we'll just cook the next batch.

Any of the off-cuts can go into our lovely composting.

And when you finish with this water, you can save it and use that in soups, as well.

What I like about this method is, I don't actually have to tell you how long to cook the individual greens for, because you just test it and try it.

And when it's a pleasure, it's ready.

And when it's not, then you cook it more.

(laughs) And I'm gonna dress it up.

So while the savoy cabbage just carries on cooking, let me show you how to take the everyday greens up a notch.

The idea of using fruit in dressings is amazing.

So just four blackberries like that.

This is the kind of thing that makes me so excited about cooking.

Four blackberries could completely transform how and where we go with a dressing and how it flavors.

And then how that sits next to the potato salad and the sweetness of the tomatoes.

We're gonna go in and we're just gonna crush the blackberry.

And watch your outfit.

But the color, look at the color.

And again, this is what food's all about.

Look at that-- oh, my Lord.

How many things in the world of food are black?

I mean, it's just the most amazing color everywhere.

So now we just stomp it up, crush it up.

And it has that lovely fruitiness, it has that color, it has that tartness.

That is, like, super-useful when you're trying to elevate things like greens or putting it with roasted meats, you know.

It's really, really exciting.

Now we're gonna kind of go back into more traditional dressing kind of ingredients.

Let's say a couple of tablespoons of red wine vinegar.

Right?

We're gonna do at least double the amount of extra virgin olive oil.

Seasoning, right?

Salt and pepper.

But also, seasoning doesn't have to stop at salt and pepper.

You can take kind of cool, elegant spices, like fennel seeds.

You can toast them, if you wish.

I mean, just look at that.

Let's have a little try.

(snaps fingers, exhales) So when I'm thinking about a dressing, I definitely want it to be a touch too salty and slightly too acidic.

If it's a little bit too much now, then, later, when it's on all this goodness, it'll be just perfect.

If it's perfect now, it'll be bland later.

Look at the colors!

Wow!

(exhales) I love it.

I just love it.

So, I could throw that in there now, but we still got a problem-- why?

Water, right?

The water in and around those greens is going to stop these greens being as delicious as they could be.

So another little tip.

And that is, put it in a clean tea towel, take up the sides.

You'll be amazed how much water comes out of these greens.

Just give them a little turn like that.

That was going to be a load of water that you were going to pretend to eat.

So get rid of as much as you can.

And then if you want to, you can just kind of chop this up into nice bite-sized pieces.

I can feel that these are much drier now, which is beautiful, because it's gonna suck up this beautiful dressing.

And now we get in there with our hands and we have a little dress-up.

So, there you go, gorgeous greens and amazing potato salad.

I'll have a little clean down and then I'm going to prepare my starter.

♪ ♪ (birds twittering) ♪ ♪ So I really love this-- it's really simple, it's fresh, it feels really elegant, and I think it's gonna be perfect to complement the fish.

♪ ♪ Tender asparagus with the most gorgeous dressing, soft-boiled eggs, and topped with crispy smoky bacon croutons.

Asparagus is a fantastic vegetable and we're just going to click off... (asparagus snaps) ...that bottom woody part.

If I was doing this just for my family, I would just throw this in the water and cook it.

But because I've got guests, I'm actually going to put a little bit more care in and take the outer bit of skin off.

And all these little trimmings and the stalks, nothing will go to waste.

If you fry that off with garlic, onions, herbs, you know, and then whizz it up with a little bit of parmesan, stir that through a pasta or a risotto, or a bit of stock in a lovely soup, it will be absolutely amazing.

I've got a pan on a low heat, and I'll finely slice this smoky bacon.

It's so delicious with the eggs and the asparagus.

I'll put a little bit of oil into a pan.

Slowly fry the bacon to be crispy.

Add a generous pinch of black pepper.

I'm gonna whack my asparagus in for about two-and-a-half to three minutes.

Lid on, fast-boiling water.

While that's cooking, I'm gonna show you the fastest little French dressing.

In a blender-- this is our best friend-- I'm going to go in with most of this parsley.

Just tear it in like that.

That's going to give you the most beautiful irony taste and green color.

Some of these little parsley leaves here I'll just pick into the bowl, just for later.

Little pinch of salt, pepper.

We'll put about six tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and olive oil in there.

I'm going to blend both so it's not too peppery.

Two tablespoons of white wine vinegar.

And then two generous teaspoons of good old French mustard-- love it.

Now to that, I'm gonna take the spring onions and I'm going to take just the green part off.

And that will give that lovely French dressing a nice oniony tang.

And I'm just gonna give it a little kiss of water.

Just a little bit, just so it blends nicely.

Now, when I blend that, it's going to emulsify to make the most beautiful dressing that's full of life.

♪ ♪ So let's have a little look at this.

Oh, my Lord.

Taste.

Oh!

(chortles) Oh, I got it right on the seasoning.

That doesn't normally happen.

I'm gonna put about one-third of the dressing into this bowl here.

I'm gonna put the rest into a nice serving platter.

And then this has had its two-and-a-half minutes.

You want that asparagus to still have shape and form.

When we dress the asparagus, this is the time to do it, when it's hot and open to flavor.

Give it a little toss-- look at that.

Oh!

And I'm starting to decorate myself, as well, but that's all right, 'cause I'm going to get changed in a minute.

A very simple preparation, but a beautiful way to really big up asparagus.

So now we've got the water boiling here, go in with eight eggs.

And if you're nervous, do nine.

We're going to cook it for six minutes-- we will time it.

The white part of the spring onion was intentionally not used, because it's slightly sweeter than the green part.

And I want to finely slice it and put that in the water with that little bit of parsley.

So that's a nice, dare I say it, little garnish.

This will be fresh and mild and crunchy, and we like that.

I want to do some croutons.

Just get yourself a little loaf.

Brown loaf, it could be a white loaf.

Whatever you want, it doesn't matter.

Take the crusts off, just 'cause I want this to be elegant.

I'll use these for bread crumbs.

I want to do nice little centimeter slices, and actually, this bread I'm using is pretty stale.

Just line it up.

Quite handy for croutons.

In this pan, do you see all that lovely bacon fat there?

All right?

I'm gonna put these croutons in and I'm going to reserve just a little bit of these croutons, because I've got guests that can't eat meat.

We'll do a separate batch minus the meat.

Turn the temperature up a little bit and I'll toast these croutons off until lightly golden.

The eggs have had six minutes, so I'm just going to drain it.

And then I'm gonna run cold water onto it.

I want to arrest the cooking.

I want them to be soft-boiled in the middle.

So cold water, five minutes, and then we're good to go.

Look at those croutons!

Come on!

Oh!

Smoky bacon, really nice.

So I'm basically set up like a restaurant.

I got my sauce, my garnish, beautiful asparagus, marinating, sucking up all of that lovely dressing.

I'm gonna put in now my beautiful cheesy puffs, 20 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius, which is 400 Fahrenheit.

And that's enough time for me to be a bit more presentable, put on a new shirt.

And then I'll show you how to make the most beautiful Rossini cocktail.

Something extra-special to get the party started.

The guests will be here shortly, so I'm just adding the finishing touches.

As far as everything looks here, I've gone with festoons, whether it's mains-powered or battery-powered, they're brilliant-- always handy to have around, just slung it over the tree there, hanging it up.

Putting these on top, these are really easy to get and they make a huge impact straightaway.

So I love that.

The table, I normally would have, like, a wooden top, but it's really nice to have a tablecloth.

Bit posher, bit more smart.

And I've been thinking vintage plates.

These are literally just secondhand ones that I picked up years ago.

They're not even the same, right?

(laughs) And also, I've got some menus done, which I almost never do for friends and family.

But because I want to make an impression, because they deserve it, that's what I've done.

So I'll put one down and then I'll just take a little flower that I've picked from the garden.

It's simple, it's clean, it's fresh, it's beautiful.

And I think it says that I care, and I do care, and I hope, I hope they feel it.

♪ ♪ Let's check in on our cheese puffs.

This smell is phenomenal.

Oh, I'm very pleased with these.

Look at that.

So gorgeous.

Really golden.

Oh, look at that, you can see how crispy they are.

They'll be really puffy and hollow on the inside, and it will just be like cheese heaven.

So let that cool down.

What I'm gonna do now is turn this oven down to 180.

And these beautiful tomatoes that have been out for a little bit now, macerating, they're going in for an hour.

And then when the starter goes out, I'll put the salmon in, because it only takes 20 minutes.

So at this point when I'm doing nice little dinner parties, absolutely, I just use an alarm, right, on my phone.

One, two, three alarms, all the different times.

You'll never remember it, right?

So back at the pocket, happy days.

So with the cheese puffs, let's load them up on a nice little platter, something like that.

Let's just try one of these beautiful little cheese puff balls, right?

Let's just rip it open.

You can see how airy it is.

See that?

Let's have a try.

Mm!

That is properly delicious.

It's, like, chewy, crispy, nutty, crisp but soggy, but really cheesy.

With all the food prepped and ready, there's nothing like a bit of strawberries and prosecco to welcome my guests on arrival.

When I went to Italy on my honeymoon, I had the most amazing Bellini.

It was so good.

And the waiter's, like, "I poached the peaches, "and peeled them, and I mouléed them, and I made this purée."

And about two days later, I saw him pouring peach purée out of a pre-made bottle.

The point is, is that you can make it lots of different ways and it doesn't have to be a faff.

So this one here is just the purée of gorgeous ripe peaches.

And personally, I love it skin and all, and just put it through a sieve.

A little bit of prosecco, mix it up, happy days.

Or, if you want to do a Rossini, we have beautiful ripe strawberries.

Get yourself a little coarse, clean sieve and just rub the actual strawberry.

And you've just got the simplest form of a natural strawberry sauce.

Now, by the way, that over ice cream... (laughs): Or yogurt is absolutely delicious.

Just take a little bit of your gorgeous strawberry purée.

Just, like, three little teaspoons is all you need.

It's the essence of pure strawberry.

And then it's a bit of a faff when you do the first bit, right?

You put a little bit of the prosecco in, and it normally froths up a little bit.

Look at that, gets a bit funky.

Take it up to about half a glass and then get a spoon in and just agitate it a little bit.

And then as those bubbles subside, we'll just gently top it up, but I quite like it when it goes over the edges.

So there you go.

That, my friends, is the Rossini.

Let's have a little try.

(exhales softly) (exclaims) It's just delicious.

That is joy.

Right.

They will be arriving any second.

So let's get this beautiful strawberry purée out there.

I'm just gonna put a little bit of prosecco in here so it's easier to pour-- that's a little nice cheat.

And then I'll pour this into the glasses out there.

We're ready and raring to go.

Let's get out there.

Mm!

(people talking in background) Welcome.

So nice to see you.

>> Hi, Jamie.

>> JAMIE: Hello, darling.

Come round here-- welcome!

Let me look after ya.

So this is a Rossini.

So it's a strawberry Bellini.

Got a little nibble here, as well.

These are little cheese puffs.

>> Ooh!

>> Wow!

>> JAMIE: My guests are a brilliant bunch of volunteers who have done amazing things for their local communities.

>> We set up a mutual aid group in Bounds Green when the virus started.

And then that man over there, called Ishraq... >> I'm responsible, apparently.

>> ...came round and said, "We have to set up a food bank."

The first day, about 30 people came, and about the second, third week, we were up to 70.

>> We've had what, 500 some weeks, 600 people?

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> JAMIE: It sounds like you guys are just being problem solvers, through and through, basically.

>> I mean, we're all volunteers, and it's for community.

We all do it for the love of helping the vulnerable.

>> JAMIE: From serving 600 people a week at their food bank to sewing PPE and vaccinating people.

>> I think the other thing is, though, we had a lot of fun.

>> It's so rewarding because we're getting to know the guests, as well.

>> JAMIE: So what you're saying is gossip's gone up in the local area.

(laughing) >> Absolutely.

>> JAMIE: Listen, may I ask you to sit down?

Because I'm gonna go and get your dinner.

>> Those cheesy puffs are so nice.

>> They are gorgeous.

>> Have to have another one.

(laughing) >> I was gonna say, can we have another one while we wait?

>> JAMIE: I'm sorry, everyone was sat-- we're all yapping.

Oh, you want the whole lot?

Take the whole lot, then.

(laughing) Right, let me go and get starters.

(people talking and laughing) What a fantastic group of people.

They're so lovely and they're loving the cocktails.

They're loving the nibbles.

So let me get the salmon out of the fridge and we'll just let that come to sort of a normal room temperature.

Look at that.

I think they're gonna love it.

Fingers crossed, fingers crossed.

Okay, so, starter.

The asparagus is looking lovely.

It's absorbed so much of that dressing.

So let's finish it off.

I've got these eggs that I've peeled.

What I did was leave two of the eggs just in a little bit longer so that they're a little bit more cooked.

So I've got some really loose ones and some nice slightly firmer ones, just in case they like it a little bit firmer like that.

Eggs love a little bit of pepper, A little bit of salt.

And then I'm just gonna garnish it with some of these lovely herbs.

Parsley-- any light herbs.

Could be tarragon, could be chervil.

And remember those lovely little bits of spring onion, and they've all crispened up lovely.

So just a little bit of mint there.

A few little pops of flower.

And for me, this starter could also be a fantastic simple little lunch, you know, asparagus, eggs, lovely croutons-- absolutely gorgeous.

Okay, so what I'm gonna do now is put this beautiful salmon in the oven for 20 minutes exactly at 180 degrees Celsius.

Then I'll rest it for about ten to 15 minutes.

Have a little look at this.

This is our beautiful slow-cooked tomatoes.

And they're literally 20 minutes away.

Can you see how this garlic is getting soft and you can squeeze all the garlic out?

Look at that.

It smells amazing.

And the two together are gonna be sublime.

So back in with the tomatoes.

Look at that.

I think they're gonna love it, fingers crossed.

In with the salmon.

And that's it.

And we're ready and raring to go.

20 minutes in the oven, ten minutes resting, and that will just be flaky and gorgeous and not overcooked.

So let's take this out and let's start serving.

(people laughing and talking) ♪ ♪ Let's raise a glass to all of you.

Thank you so much.

>> Cheers.

>> Cheers.

>> JAMIE: Cheers.

(glasses clinking) Enjoy.

We'll go for you first, Mary, if I may take your, your plate.

>> Thank you very much, that looks delicious.

>> JAMIE: Normally, if it's family, we just all dive in, and it's chaos.

But I thought, you know, you've been looking after other people, all of you, so well for the last 15 months.

>> Thank you very much.

>> JAMIE: So enjoy and have a little tuck-in.

(laughing and talking) >> I didn't ever think asparagus could taste this good.

>> It's amazing.

(laughing) ♪ ♪ >> JAMIE: Ah, that's brilliant.

They absolutely loved the starter.

Such nice people.

It's going down really well.

So timing-wise, everything is just spot-on.

The salmon has had just over 19 minutes.

Let's have a little look.

Yes.

That's perfect.

Can you see all the natural juices that are coming down here?

And then we can baste.

Almost like a cut of meat.

Look.

Beautiful.

We'll let that rest now for ten minutes.

Don't serve it straightaway.

Let it rest.

And then look at that.

Those beautiful, slow-roasted tomatoes just blipping away.

And the gift of an hour has made the concentration of the smell and everything just incredible.

So look, that's good.

We can let that sit.

(people talking in background) Here is the salmon, guys.

Look at that.

(all exclaiming) We're not gonna kind of portion it officially.

We're just gonna kind of let gravity just sort of flake... Look at that-- look, look, look, look.

So look how beautiful that is.

>> Wow, beautiful.

>> JAMIE: So I'll take your plate again, Mary.

>> Gorgeous.

Thank you so much.

>> JAMIE: Because the tomatoes are sweet, the potatoes are really comforting.

>> Yeah.

(laughing) >> This salmon is out of this world.

It's like eating velvet or something.

(laughing) ♪ ♪ >> JAMIE: Let's turn out that beautiful summer pudding, right?

This is what it's all about, having a little bit of show.

I'm just gonna get a hold of that cling film.

And this will help ease this beautiful dessert.

I'm gonna take a nice plate, put it over the top, simply turn it upside down, and that will just plop out nice and easy.

Wow!

Beautiful!

Got some little wild strawberries that grow out in the garden, clotted cream, bit of mint, to just make it look all nice.

And then I've got that lovely sauce, which, I can pour some on now and some at the table.

This is gonna work great.

Do you remember this, the mint sugar?

Okay?

And this has gone hard.

It's completely dehydrated.

Mush it up like this.

So when I serve up a little portion of that, I'm just gonna put a tiny pinch of that mint sugar in there.

It's gonna be bloomin' tasty.

Right, you lovely people.

(all cheering) Dessert.

It's an old English...

It's a twist on an old English classic: summer pudding.

Clotted cream, some little mint sugar.

>> What's mint sugar, then?

>> JAMIE: Put your hand out and you can try it-- look, that's just...

It's just really nice.

>> Oh!

>> JAMIE: But...

It's good, isn't it?

>> Oh!

>> JAMIE: You see?

>> Just give me, give me the pot.

>> JAMIE: Not too much.

>> That is lovely.

That is a thing of joy.

♪ ♪ >> This is delicious.

>> JAMIE: So in here, there's cucumber in there.

>> I could-- I thought it was something in the background.

>> So the twist on the cucumber is absolutely amazing.

Wow!

♪ ♪ >> JAMIE: I think what's extra- special about you lovely people around the table is, volunteerism just feels like the most wonderful gesture of community spirit and citizenship and all of that stuff.

Cheers, guys.

>> Cheers.

>> JAMIE: Thank you so much for coming.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you so much.

>> Cheers.

>> JAMIE: So nice to meet you all.

You're all amazing.

>> Cheers.

>> Cheers.

>> ♪ All together ♪ ♪ ♪ >> JAMIE: For more information about this episode, recipes, and behind-the-scenes fun, make sure you go to jamieoliver.com/together.

♪ ♪ To order my companion cookbook, "Jamie Oliver Together," visit shopPBS.org or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

(talking indistinctly) >> Lovely weather.

Good people.

It's good to have friends together.

>> JAMIE: Guys, here's to you.

Cheers.

>> Cheers.

>> JAMIE: Bless you all.

(laughing) It's the simple things in life that give us the happiest memories.

>> That pork's amazing.

>> JAMIE: It's tender but crispy.

>> It's amazing.

(laughter) >> JAMIE: It's laughing, talking, sharing and eating.

We can hug tonight!

We are hugging!

You ain't going without a hug.

(laughter) Seriously.

♪ ♪