♪ Leith, voice-over: I'm Prue Leith--cook, restaurateur, cookery school founder, and writer of 15 cookbooks.

♪ I'm in my eighties, 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.

And some of those friends will be joining me.

We'll be sharing simple, home-cooked recipes.

But I don't normally tell people about that bit.

Only people I like.

[Laughs] Leith, voice-over: And celebrating the best produce.

For 47 years, I have been lucky enough to live in the astonishingly beautiful Cotswolds.

Leith, voice-over: And my long-suffering husband John is coming along for the ride.

Can you make that?

Um.

Under instruction.

Ha ha!

[Whistles] Leith, voice-over: In today's episode, John will delve into the secrets of sheepdog training.

Soon as the sheep start to move, he then picks it up, and as soon as I stop, he then stops.

Leith, voice-over: Alison Hammond will be popping round for something sweet and indulgent.

I mean, I've made it so many times and still, I'm still surprised at how good I am.

[Laughter] Leith, voice-over: And I've got the perfect hack for a simple but eye-catching treat.

It tastes absolutely delicious, especially if you serve them straight out of the oven and freshly baked.

Welcome to my Cotswold kitchen.

♪ Leith, voice-over: I love the strong, no-nonsense flavors of my childhood in South Africa.

I remember watermelon in the summer, dark red and really sweet.

And I've always thought the humble watermelon is such an underrated fruit.

Actually, it's very versatile, and I'm going to show you today two of my favorite watermelon recipes.

The first one is fried prosciutto and watermelon.

♪ I first made this dish for Ben Fogle and he was asked what was his least favorite food, and he said there was no point in watermelon.

It was tasteless, watery, and awful.

♪ And so, my challenge was to get him to like watermelon.

So, this is what I gave him.

By the way, when you're buying watermelon, if, when it's cut open, if it's nice and dark and rich, red color, it will taste great.

If it's pale and pink, it won't taste of anything.

But for this recipe, I just need 4 little batons.

Of course, I grew up with watermelon because we used to grow them on our compost heaps at the back of the house.

We didn't get a lot of ice cream as children, but we would get a huge piece of watermelon 4 times the size of this when it was hot.

Just to eat like that.

It's lovely.

And then the prosciutto.

This is wonderful local Cotswold prosciutto, and what you do is you roll up pieces of watermelon in prosciutto.

You have to do this pretty well at the last minute, because if you leave salty prosciutto around watermelon for a long time, the salt will make the watermelon juice run out and it'll get very wet, and then you won't be able to fry it.

So, you need a little bit of oil in the pan.

♪ Sometimes they do unravel a bit, but don't worry.

They taste delicious anyway.

And in fact, if you don't want to do the frying business, you can just serve watermelon with prosciutto in a little salad.

I just love the contrast of the cold watermelon and the fried prosciutto.

And it's very quick, as you can see.

♪ And then we've got a bit of feta.

♪ A few pomegranate seeds, a little bit of rocket, and a little drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

This is the balsamic glaze, the one that's reduced, so, it's quite sweet.

♪ And pine nuts.

Now, I've fried these pine nuts, so, I've not put any oil in the pan.

I've just shaken them over the heat until they're brown like this.

A word of warning if you do that.

As soon as they're colored, tip them out onto a saucer because they will go on frying in there and they'll burn.

If you like, you could add a few mint leaves.

I quite like the flavor of mint with watermelon.

♪ So, that's my very quick, rather posh first course.

And I'm glad to say that Ben Fogle had to agree that this was absolutely delicious, and I hope you'll agree, too.

♪ Leith, voice-over: That is one of my favorite watermelon dishes, but I'm not done yet.

♪ I'm going to do another watermelon first course.

We need something healthy because later, I've got Alison Hammond in here and she will arrive with an overload of chocolate and sugar, I'm sure.

So, this one is very simple.

It's just a prawn cocktail, but it has watermelon in it and it has an Asian dressing.

♪ The great thing about Asian dressings is they don't have any oil in them, so, they're really healthy.

And this is lime juice.

And then this is a bit of fish sauce.

Any supermarket will have Asian fish sauce.

It's sometimes called Thai fish sauce or nam pla, N-A-M P-L-A.

And that is just delicious.

And a little bit of sugar.

About two teaspoons of sugar.

I'm going to put a little bit of chili in it just because it nearly always does have chili in it.

But I don't want to put too much because I don't want to overwhelm the watermelon.

Then just a teaspoon or so of light soy sauce.

And then I'm going to put all the prawns into that.

These are those big, fat prawns which are, I think, very luxurious and delicious.

♪ Put the herbs in as well.

Or some of them.

I've got a few mint leaves and quite a lot of coriander.

I do think coriander is the sort of signature flavor of the Far East.

These prawns are ready-cooked and ready-peeled.

Nice and easy.

The one thing I'm not putting in here straight away is the watermelon because, once again, watermelon will lose a lot of its juice if it's in something salty, and, of course, that soy sauce will be salty.

And that's the reason I'm not putting any more salt in here, but I can almost not cook anything without a bit of black pepper, which is not particularly Asian, but I do like it.

So, that can sit there marinating while I deal with the watermelon.

♪ First of all, I like to use up all the bits that I didn't use before and I'm going to make them into balls.

When you want to make a melon ball, the trick is to work it down before you turn it round.

If you just do that, it's not a proper round melon ball.

♪ You used to get melon as first course when melon was very exotic when I was young, and it would be balled like this to make it look smart.

I just quite like it.

I mean, you could obviously just chop up squares, but I think the shape looks better.

You want roughly the same amount of melon as prawns.

You could use ordinary melon, but when it's in season and when it's really nice and red like this, it's perfect.

And then you just dip it in here.

Let's keep the coriander for the top.

Try and make it look a bit arty.

Finally, top with more of that dressing.

♪ Because we put a bit of chili in this, this is nice and spicy, but it is delicious.

So, that's my watermelon and prawn cocktail with Asian flavors.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Coming up, I'll show you a terrific way to use shop-bought pastry.

There you go.

Perfect canapé.

Everybody will love them.

Nothing like a little hot treat with your drink.

Leith, voice-over: And my pal Alison Hammond joins me in the kitchen.

I've literally been through all your necklaces.

I hope you don't mind.

Is that OK?

Did you nick a few?

I didn't nick them, but I did try one.

[Laughter] ♪ Leith, voice-over: Welcome back to my Cotswold kitchen.

I love entertaining, but I don't want to spend forever in the kitchen.

So, here comes a quick hack.

♪ Before my guest Alison Hammond arrives, I want to show you a trick with shop-bought pastry.

It's a great canapé.

♪ Pastry straight out of the packet.

One layer of it.

♪ Shop-bought pesto.

Leith, voice-over: These canapés are called palmier.

They look nice and classy, but they're dead easy to make.

Don't want it too thick because you've got to be able to roll it up.

But you do need quite a lot.

So, half a jar should do it.

♪ Then you have to try and get it as evenly as you can.

I think that's about right.

And then a bit of parmesan is always a good idea.

So, I'm just going to grate it directly onto the top.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Now I start to roll each end of the palmier up into the middle.

♪ I think this is a good, neat hack to do because it looks quite impressive.

It tastes absolutely delicious, especially if you serve them straight out of the oven freshly baked.

Right.

So, when you get the two sausages together, squish them a little bit together, make them stick, and then you turn them over like that.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Chill the palmiers in the fridge to make them easier to cut.

♪ Needless to say, I've got a pre-chilled batch ready to go.

♪ You can see it's just much stiffer and chillier.

So, turn it over like that.

And then I'm just going to cut it into dinky, little things like that.

♪ They do swell quite a lot, so, don't put them too close together.

♪ I'm told the name, palmier, which is French for palm trees.

So, I suppose if you gave these a stem, they would look a bit like a palm tree.

You can pay 5 pounds for 150 grams of palmier, and they won't be as good as this.

So, make your own.

So, they go in a 200-degree oven, hot oven, until they're puffed up, round, delicious.

And there you go.

Perfect canapé.

Everybody will love them.

Nothing like a little hot treat with your drink.

♪ Leith, voice-over: I've made great friends over the years, and I love to have them over to share recipes and eat together.

♪ So, today, my guest is that irrepressible, unstoppable force of nature called Alison Hammond.

Hello, darling.

How are you?

So good to be in your house.

Your kingdom, shall I say.

Ha ha!

This is incredible.

I hope you don't mind.

I've been through all your jewelry already.

I didn't take anything.

I just tried it on.

[Laughter] Most of my jewelry is not expensive, so, you're welcome to nick of it.

There are no diamonds up there.

Ha ha ha!

Alison.

Yes, darling.

It's so good to have you here.

I'm going to bake for you today because, like, obviously, everyone bakes for you.

I bet you're baking brownies.

Yeah?

Because you made brownies on "Bake Off."

And they became famous.

And they were fantastic.

♪ Very simple ingredients.

You've got your butter.

You've got your dark chocolate.

And I'd go for a quality dark chocolate.

At least 70% dark chocolate.

We've got some cocoa powder, some flour, a little bit of baking powder, eggs, sugar, and the ingredient that is very, very special, very important would be the Daim bars.

Because what this does is it adds chew to your bake and it's amazing.

And crunch.

And crunch.

So, that is the secret.

I don't normally tell people about that bit.

Only people I like.

Well, and a few million people... And a few million people.

Obviously, I like you all.

So, that's it.

So, basically, we start off with a-- is it--I never say this right.

Bain-marie?

Bain-marie, yeah.

A bain-marie.

Pop your butter in.

Mary's bath, it means.

We do this because it just combines the chocolate and butter lovely, like so.

So, get it in...and put your chocolate in.

I could bang this in the microwave if I wanted to, but I'm not going to do that.

And then we just, like, melt that out and that just forms a nice liquid.

And that's how we start, like so.

It was actually my cousin who gave me this recipe, because she came over to my house once, brought me some brownies, and I was like, "These are the nicest brownies I've ever tasted," and I just absolutely loved them.

I was like, "Can I have the recipe?"

And she was-- straight away, she just gave me the recipe.

Because some people are funny, aren't they?

They don't want to share recipes.

I think sharing recipes is so important.

Absolutely.

And also culture as well.

Like passing on cultures to your family through food.

So important, isn't it?

And--and teach your kids.

Yeah.

Well, I--when my mom was not very well, I said to her, "Teach me all your recipes, Mom," and she did.

So, every weekend I'd go over to my mom's house and she'd teach me a different recipe.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Once the chocolate and butter have melted, add the dried ingredients and mix well.

♪ You want to mix that in for me?

And then I'm going to crack these eggs in here.

And then we're going to add an egg at a time.

I might just give that a little whisk.

Oh, lovely.

This consistency is perfect.

Let me get that in.

See how I got you involved?

Sorry.

You haven't even got an apron on.

That's all right.

Let's add these eggs as well.

Just a little bit.

♪ So, how did you get into TV?

The first time I ever heard of you was you were in "Big Brother."

Yeah.

You were one of the contestants.

Yeah.

Way before then, I was on holiday, and they needed someone to do mini disco.

So, I said, "I'll do your mini disco."

Smashed it.

They gave me a job.

I was in Tunisia.

You would've been so good as an entertainments rep. Yeah.

Well, that's what I did.

So, you had to look after the kids?

Yeah.

Look at that.

This is perfect.

Can I just show you this?

Look at the consistency.

See how it's like toffee now?

That's when you know it's ready to go in the tin.

It's perfect.

Smells good, too.

So, if you wanted to, you could just literally put that in the tin straight away.

You got good brownies there.

But we're elevating this, aren't we?

We're elevating this.

Bang 'em in a bag.

Sorry.

I've digressed.

I'm... That's OK. We need to... Give 'em a good smack.

[Laughs] You want them nice and crunchy.

Lovely.

Perfect.

And then just get 'em in.

That's it.

Crunch 'em up.

Get 'em in.

Boom.

Mix all that in.

So, what was I saying?

So, yeah.

So, I saw in the newspapers this new show called "Big Brother," and everyone was saying, "You should do "Big Brother."

You'd win it."

And I was like, "Do you reckon?"

And at the time, I did have a bit of debt.

And I was like, "Oh, I could do with that 70 grand."

♪ If you won it, you got 70 grand?

You get 70,000 pounds if you win it and I was like, "I could do with that."

I went off to the local, like, internet cafe, applied, auditioned, and got-- The rest is history.

But at the same time, the weirdest thing is I also auditioned for "Blind Date" and I got that.

So, I had this choice.

Do I go love or money?

And you know which way I went.

Well, you needed the money.

I needed the money.

And you knew you could get the love anytime you wanted.

[Laughs] How lush is that?

That is the perfect consistency.

Get it in.

Oh, my God.

I'm telling you.

I'm sharing the love today.

Make these brownies at home.

You are going to love 'em.

And everybody will love you.

Look at that.

And then straight in the oven.

Half an hour.

Boom.

♪ Da-da ♪ How good is that?

Little bang.

Get all the air out.

Leith, voice-over: Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on how squashy you like your brownies.

♪ I want to talk to you about your book, which I gave to my grandchildren.

I think it's so interesting.

Tell us about that.

Something that I wanted to see in school when I was at school, because I never had a book that I could aspire to when it came to historical figures, and I just never related to any of the historical characters, the heroes.

So, I created "Black in Time."

So, we go back in time to Black historical figures, and it's for children.

You take certain characters-- I read it from cover to cover, because if you're White and you're-- you've been learning history, nobody pointed out when people were not white, and so many of our great heroes aren't.

Yeah, exactly.

You know, you got Mary Seacole, who was a nurse who was incredible, and she helped out in the wartime.

And all the soldiers literally gravitated to her because she was, like, larger than life, a little bit like myself.

And then you got Septimius Severus, who was a Black Roman emperor.

I mean, how many people know that there was a Black Roman emperor?

Well, the maddest thing is, I didn't know, and I'm a Black woman, and I did not know half of the characters that are in my own book, and that's what was so incredible.

This book isn't just for people of color.

This is for everyone because it's everybody's history, and that's what I loved.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Well, those brownies smell incredible.

Let's see if they're ready.

This is looking perfect, in fact.

Oh, yes.

So, as you can see, the brownies have been cooled.

They have dropped a little bit.

It's perfectly normal.

Don't worry.

Take it out.

[Gasp] Look at this.

It's perfect.

I'll have that little bit.

So, my favorite bit is the edge.

I'm not going to lie.

So, should we go for the edge?

Oh, look at the goo on that.

Oh, yes.

This is perfect.

There you go, darling.

You can add a little bit of ice cream to that.

I'm going to go half of that.

I'm not going to be that greedy today.

I'm going to go for the little piece.

There you go.

A little bit of ice cream on there.

There you go.

[Laughs] That looks absolutely wonderful.

I suppose we shouldn't be so greedy.

We should have left this to go cold, and then it would set a bit more.

But I like it like this.

I do.

A little bit warm.

Oh, my God.

I mean, I've made it so many times, and still, I'm still surprised at how good I am.

[Laughter] How good you are or how good that is?

[Laughs] It's all about the baker.

[Laughter] ♪ Leith, voice-over: Still to come, John gets some tips on the art of sheepdog training.

And you've got the "come home" whistle.

[Whistles] Does it work on your family?

No.

Leith, voice-over: And I've got a hack for a surprising treat that looks great on the plate and tastes amazing.

A delicious star pastry filled with chocolate and hazelnut.

- Prue Leith has been a beloved judge on The Great British Baking Show since 2017.

Now Prue is bringing you a warm, and informative series of her own with Prue Leith Cotswold Kitchen.

And you can stream all ten episodes of season one with PBS passport.

It's our most popular member benefit, and you can take advantage of it today by making a qualifying contribution to your PBS station.

Give now by scanning the QR code or visiting the website on your screen.

- Thats enough.

Come up.

Stop Don't turn it off first.

Otherwise... pssshh - Since Julia Child first aired in the 1960s, PBS has been your home for cooking and how two shows, science programs and documentaries so you can learn how to make a new dish, fix up your home, understand our world, be an informed citizen, and more And that's been made possible.

Thanks to viewer support.

You can continue this tradition by making a contribution to your local PBS Station by scanning the QR code or going to the website on your screen.

Don't forget that you can stream all ten episodes of Prue Leiths Cotswold Kitchen with PBS Passport.

One of our terrific member benefits.

PBS Passport programs are available for you to enjoy on both the PBS app and online, and along with Prue's new series you'll be able to stream so many of your PBS favorites like All Creatures Great and Small, Antiques Roadshow cooking and how TV shows, and so much more.

Hi, I'm Prue Leith and welcome to my Cotswold Kitchen.

Join our culinary adventure only here exclusively on PBS.

Take it from Prue and join this culinary adventure by giving to your local PBS station right now.

Just scan the QR code or go to the on screen website to make your contribution.

Thank you.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Welcome back to my Cotswold kitchen.

♪ The Cotswolds has been shaped by agriculture and food production, and the outdoor lifestyle is one of the things my husband John loves most about the place.

♪ John has long embraced country living in the Cotswolds.

Leith, voice-over: And he always enjoys meeting local people who are working the land.

Today, he's popped off to a nearby farm to see if he could pick up a few tips from a farmer who is training a young sheepdog.

[Whistles] Leith, voice-over: Jon King has been working with dogs for over 30 years.

[Jon whistles] Dogs are an extra worker for me and they are really good.

[Whistles] We've got around about 300 sheep, so, they've got to be able to do a lot of work.

Leith, voice-over: Agriculture accounts for over 80% of all land in the Cotswolds, and dogs play an integral part in working with livestock in the area.

♪ Jon: So, my dogs are trained to a standard which I want.

I then train other people's dogs to perhaps not the same, but just to get them started, and then I do obedience training and things like that for people who want a dog to walk nicely on a lead.

And did you start off training your very, very first dog all yourself or did you get... Oh, no, no, I did.

I had-- my first dog I ever had was a little dog called Trim, and she was terrible.

Really?

[Laughs] Terrible thing.

But from there you learn.

Each dog you train, you learn a little bit more about dogs and how you should have done it and what you should do, and just talk to people.

Is there a mutual respect between sheep and dog?

Sheep can work out what a dog is like.

I don't know how they pick this up, but you can send the dog up the field, and the sheep will almost turn on the dog and walk towards it.

They know that it hasn't got enough power to move it.

This little chap has got oodles of it.

They watch him all the time.

Leith, voice-over: The latest addition to Jon's pack is a young border collie called Rip.

So, Rip's only 6 month old, and he barely comes back to me at the moment.

He's got no--no manners, no anything on him at the moment.

So, he just comes out and he just wants to meet the sheep.

But when he's going to meet the sheep, we can do little things with him in a circular pen.

If I just walk towards him.

And that's just the first little bits there.

He's working.

Now he's stopped there with me, and it's called balancing.

He's got to the point where he thinks, "Right, "I've got this side, Dad, you've got that side.

We'll hold 'em," and he doesn't know what he's doing.

It's just something naturally he's doing.

So, if I walk round this way again, hopefully he'll come back round, and it's the movement of the sheep.

As soon as the sheep start to move, he then picks it up, and as soon as I stop, he then stops.

And it's that process, that little bit of a process there, then we start putting words to his actions.

John: What can you do with him now?

Jon: Literally just sit in a circle.

OK.

So, I won't let the sheep out with him at the moment, because it's too much of a draw for him to chase them.

So, next I was going to put Rip away and we'll let the sheep out, and I was going to get a fully trained dog out and show you what the end product should be like.

[Panting] Leith, voice-over: Meet 8-year-old Lynn.

She is going to round up the sheep and deliver them safely back into the pen... [Jon whistles] Leith, voice-over: with Jon's guiding signals.

[Jon whistles] Leith, voice-over: Farmer Jon, that is, of course.

We do want the sheep to come back.

John: So you stay calm at all times.

Absolutely.

I don't swear at them at all.

I've never lost my temper with any of them.

The more you shout, the more you jump up and down, the less likely the dog is to do anything for you.

[Whistles] That's "stop."

♪ And you've got the "come home" whistle.

OK. [Whistles] ♪ Oh, isn't that good?

Does it work on your family?

No.

Not yet.

[Laughs] Leith, voice-over: Don't get any ideas, John.

[Jon whistling] Leith, voice-over: Research has found that sheepdogs follow a simple set of rules and decide their next move based on whether the flock is together or not.

[Jon whistling] When they get really close to me, I don't like blowing the whistles a lot.

Stop.

It's a lot softer.

It's a lot nicer for them.

[Indistinct] And they respond to that.

Stop.

The dogs.

And then they just-- just--stop that.

Stop, stop.

Like she's about to run the sheep into the back of us in a minute.

[Whistling] Leith, voice-over: I suppose I'd better signal for John to come home.

Shame I can't whistle.

♪ Earlier, we did a neat cheat with shop-bought pastry.

And now I've got another trick for you.

♪ So, these little pastries are savory, full of pesto.

Now I'm going to show you another hack with shop-bought pastry.

Also puff pastry, but with chocolate spread.

So sweet.

♪ So, you need a circle of puff pastry like that, which I cut out around the bottom of a cake tin.

[Clatter] And you spread it all over with chocolate spread.

♪ One tablespoon should do it.

Quite thinly, because if you have it too thick, it will run all over the place when it gets hot and it'll be too sweet.

It's really sticky.

Don't go right to the edge or you'll give yourself problem later.

♪ And then we need some hazelnuts all over it.

These are chopped, toasted hazelnuts.

♪ Leith, voice-over: I've cut a second circle of pastry to lay on top.

And then I plonk my other one on top.

♪ And then you need to chill it, because you're going to start cutting it and twisting it, and it'll be really messy if the chocolate is melting.

Leith, voice-over: An hour or so in the fridge should do it.

So, this one has been chilled already, and I just need to make a mark in the middle with a glass.

It's my guide and now I'm going to cut it... from the middle to there, then the opposite way.

Then down here, always not from the middle, but from there.

Shop-bought pastry is obviously a million times quicker than making puff pastry yourself.

I do occasionally make it just because it's great fun making it, but then you go again.

So, I want to end up with 16 fingers.

Leith, voice-over: Transfer to a baking tray before you start to shape the pastry.

So, now you take two of the fingers and you just twist them both like that, over and over, and then stick the ends together.

Then take the next two.

Same thing.

It's traditionally called a star bread, and it's made with two thin layers of bread dough.

It's a German thing, I think, and made at Christmas time with a very spiced bread spread with some sort of cinnamony, sugary middle.

Leith, voice-over: Continue to twist and stick the pastry all the way round.

And then...I'm going to brush it with egg.

OK. That should go into the oven for about 25 minutes at 180 degrees, and it should look lovely.

♪ And there we are.

A delicious star pastry filled with chocolate and hazelnut.

♪ Leith, voice-over: I never get bored with food because there's always something new or a twist on a classic to get excited about.

♪ I really like to champion local producers.

It's so great to be able to get quality ingredients close at hand.

And just down the road, there's a wonderful smokehouse.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Based at Daylesford Farm in the Cotswolds, Smokin' Brothers produce smoked salmon that is snapped up by the UK's best restaurants.

♪ Set up by 3 friends from Italy who stumbled upon the craft by chance.

♪ Man: So, everything really started when we moved into London.

We were 18, 19, and we just were kind of finding our way in life.

I just remember one day meeting this Norwegian guy and he was talking about his project.

He wanted to make the best smoked salmon in the world, and we just got really interested.

And then we learned everything from the beginning to the end of the process of salmon, and I started trying to develop my own business.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Now the boys continue to produce what they believe to be a unique product on the market, and it all starts with fresh fish.

♪ Man: So, the salmon come, of course, with ice.

To keep it properly refrigerated, fresh fish should stay at a-- maximum should--between zero and 2 degrees.

Yeah.

When we receive delivery, we need to check, you know, the freshness of the fish.

And we can do that by, you know, checking the gills.

They need to be red, not gray.

This fish has been harvested about 4 or 5 days ago.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Once the salmon has been cleaned and filleted... it's salted for 10 hours to draw the moisture from the fish.

♪ Then it's time for the next stage of the process, replicating an ancient method.

Man: The past, smoking, it was not a cooking method, it was a preserving method.

So, the first thing, it was to dry the fish as much as they could.

The best way to dry fish, it was let the wind do the job.

So, what we are trying to do inside our chamber is, like, taking that Nordic wind and bringing it inside a chamber in which we can 100% control it.

Alessandro: The smoke is generated by a fireplace with some wood dust, which we burn, and then we have a system of pipes that convey the smoke inside the main chamber.

Vincenzo: So, this is a mixture of juniper, beech, and oak.

Juniper being the most chunky bits.

And it's what really gives the majority of the flavor of the salmon.

And then the beech and the oak are very mild and they are dust because so they can slow down the process of smoking.

♪ Leith, voice-over: And the packaging meets the boys' overall commitment to sustainability, from the wooden tray the salmon sits on through to the biodegradable packaging made from potato starch.

♪ Iacopo: Some of the main choices for our packaging was for sure to have a single material packaging with natural ink, so that the box is truly fully recyclable, so, there is no coating of any kind of plastic, but there is a special technology, using UV to make them water resistant.

So, yeah, there is not any chemicals involved.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Finally, the friends opt to slice the salmon vertically rather than horizontally, very different from most smoked salmon on the market.

♪ Vincenzo: It's a little bit thicker, and by slicing it all the way through, you'll have a piece of the loin, you'll have the belly, and then you have the closest part to the skin.

So, in each of these parts actually has a different flavor.

And I think it makes it so much more interesting and the taste is so much better.

♪ Leith, voice-over: So, the boys have really taken to this smoking business.

What's their secret?

♪ Obviously, as a business, we want to expand and grow.

But for us, the important point is never lose on quality.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Still to come, my husband John will be joining me in the kitchen with tales of his school dinners.

John: And if you've got a dry pea, you could pull it back and hit the wall on the other side of the dining room.

♪ Leith, voice-over: John can be a reluctant comrade in the kitchen.

To make matters worse, today, I'm cooking something he's not a fan of.

Oh, well.

Here goes.

♪ This is something that I know you don't like, I'm afraid.

[Whispers] Pasta.

Pasta.

Why don't you like pasta?

We used to get it at school.

We had macaroni cheese.

And you always had one little cold bit that stuck up like that, and if you've got a dry pea, you could pull it back and hit the wall on the other side of the dining room.

I mean, it was elastic.

Ugh.

More than elastic.

I tell you, it was-- Listen, everybody loves pasta, and it's my mission today to make you love pasta.

Because if I can make Ben Fogle love watermelon, which he was convinced he hated, there's a chance.

We're going to make pasta from scratch.

Which, of course, you don't have to do.

You just buy it in a packet and it's fine.

I use a dried packet all the time.

But this one is really easy.

Leith, voice-over: The first thing you need is 400g of double zero flour.

Easy to remember, like 007.

And what it is, it's a high-gluten flour, mostly from durum wheat in Canada.

It's what Italians will always use for pasta and the French will usually use for baguettes.

It's a really great flour.

So, that's 400 grams of it going in there.

So, this is an egg pasta.

[Egg cracks] Leith, voice-over: Crack 4 eggs before adding a tablespoon of oil.

♪ You need to--you need to mix this together.

♪ Just so that you can pour it evenly.

♪ [Whirring] So, pour it in slowly.

[Whirring] Certainly changed color.

That's the egg yolks.

Leith, voice-over: Once the mixture resembles large breadcrumbs, tip out onto a flat surface.

♪ [Humming] Well, I'm very impressed, ha!, to be honest.

Ha ha!

Well, you don't know yet.

It's all in the eating.

Right.

Then we need to bring it all together into a lump.

Pick up all the little bits.

Can't waste any.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Resting the dough for 10 minutes will make it easier to roll.

♪ We're going to roll it through the machine to get it nice and thin.

And I'm going to start by putting it on one, which is quite fat.

I'm going to start it quite slowly.

[Whirring] You see, it just squishes it.

Leith, voice-over: Passing the dough through the pasta machine, gradually decreasing the space between the rollers, will make it thinner and thinner.

[Whirring] And I would say it's thin enough when you can see through it.

So, John, that's what you're going to do.

You're aiming for that thin.

OK?

OK.

So, I give you a lump, shall I?

♪ Leith, voice-over: Of course, I wouldn't want it to be too easy for John.

The old-fashioned way with a rolling pin is just fine.

And then you'll need to flour the pin so that it won't stick.

Will this mix make any type of pasta?

Well, the shape of the pasta depends on the machine.

The only kind of pasta you can make by hand is ravioli, because you do it, you-- you make it in big sheets and cut it out.

Or, um...tagliatelle, because it's strips.

If you can't do it with a knife, you need a machine.

But it's the same pasta that you'd use for any shape.

I'm getting very close.

Look at that.

Look.

[Whirring] It's definitely thicker.

You definitely need to do a bit more.

Oh, I can finish it on my fancy machine.

No.

Leith, voice-over: John loves a challenge.

♪ Can you--Do you want to feel the difference?

[Whirring] Mine's slightly more muscular.

Yours is slightly more muscular.

OK, now you have to cut yours into...

Strips.

Nice, little strips.

Have I got a knife?

You can have my knife.

Thank you.

♪ Leith, voice-over: While John cuts his by hand, my machine will do the hard work.

♪ Oh, look at that.

That's art.

Any chance of promotion?

[Laughs] Well, if, at the end of the day, I've got you liking pasta, it will have been worth any amount of marital misery.

♪ So, that's our homemade pasta.

I think the most important thing is to make sure they don't stick to each other, the pieces.

So, if you flour them all, you can cook it straight away.

When I was first teaching this method of making pasta, we would have everything hanging on sort of clothes rails, long strands of pasta for all the students all over the place.

And, actually, I didn't realize that you can just cook it from fresh.

You don't have to dry it.

I was drying it for at least 4 or 5 hours, but you don't need to.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Once the pasta is ready, bring a saucepan of water to the boil.

♪ This is really such a simple dish.

Just before the pasta is due to come off of this cooker, you put in a packet full of baby spinach leaves and they immediately wilt as soon as they hit the hot water.

And then you drain that and put it back into the pan and mix it up with some smoked fish.

Any kind of smoked fish.

I've never done it with smoked salmon before, but I bet you it's going to be good.

♪ OK, well, I've got the water on a decent boil now, and so, the pasta is going to go in.

The most important thing is to make sure that they go in not all in a fistful but in--separately, like that, so they don't all click together.

And the other thing that will stop them sticking together is a bit of oil in the water.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Move the pasta while it cooks to ensure it doesn't clump together.

Why are they always so long and thin?

I mean, do they do it so that they see how awkward it is to eat?

You know, you're twiddling around with.

I think it's easier to have a long one to twiddle around your fork, because if they're short, they don't go round, don't get into... An eye socket.

The last bit always smacks me in the face.

[Laughter] ♪ Right.

So, what we're looking for is pasta that's cooked, doesn't taste floury, but still has a bit of bite and chew to it.

That is not just falling to bits.

Still a bit more?

I'd say it's pretty done.

OK, so, I'm going to now add the spinach to it, to the water, and then get it up to the boil again.

♪ Leith, voice-over: The spinach will only take a minute or so to wilt and then you can drain it.

♪ I'm going to keep a little bit of the pasta water back in case when I mix the salmon in it's a bit too dry.

Then the pasta water will help.

♪ Leith, voice-over: Rinsing fresh pasta in hot water removes excess starch while ensuring the pasta remains hot.

♪ Back in the pan and take your pieces of smoked salmon or smoked any fish.

Put them in there with the pasta and give it a turnaround.

Leith, voice-over: And that is literally it.

I'm going to-- Poor John's standing there.

In anticipation.

Well, until we taste it with the salmon, I don't want to add any salt.

Whoo-hoo!

All the goodies coming.

Pasta with smoked fish and spinach.

You want?

Yeah.

Thank you.

♪ I still don't understand why it's so long.

Anyway.

Delish.

Really good.

Tastes good.

Yep.

I could take to this quite easily.

♪ Leith, voice-over: And as usual, John has an accompaniment.

But he's got a bit of a challenge for me today.

John: Right.

I've got two wines for you to taste.

Should be very interested in your answer.

♪ Well, one is pink and one is white.

Tell us if you can identify why they're different.

That's lovely.

♪ Mm.

♪ Which would you drink more of?

And very delicious.

But this is the one that I'm more familiar with.

So, what's the difference?

I'm not really surprised, because that's nonalcoholic and this has alcohol in it.

[Laughs] OK.

It's familiar to me So... because I'm used to the alcohol.

Yes.

There you are.

A pasta with smoked salmon and spinach.

Who doesn't like smoked salmon?

Who doesn't like bubbles?

And the two go to work really well together.

Can you help, please?

♪ Thank you.

Saved the day.

Brilliant.

♪ - Perhaps best known in the U.S. as a judge on The Great British Baking Show Prue Leith has been a culinary legend in the UK since she opened her first Michelin starred restaurant in 1969.

Now that you've experienced Prues kitchen wizardry in this episode from her new series, Prue Leiths Cothswold Kitchen, You can enjoy more from Prue by streaming all ten episodes with our popular member benefit, PBS Passport.

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Leith, voice-over: So, that's all for now.

Join me next time for more recipes, and I'll have another wonderful guest in the kitchen with me.

♪