[pleasant music] Bienvenue en France.

That's welcome to France to you and me.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): I'm traveling throughout this beautiful country to explore the very best in French cuisine.

Bon appetit.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): It's a personal journey.

It's where I learned to cook.

Magical times.

Magical times.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And it was the home and inspiration for one of my biggest food heroes, Keith Floyd.

And what's more, I've bought his motor.

This was Keith Floyd's very own car for 16 years, and it's now mine.

Gives me goosebumps.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): So join me as I rediscover the food destination that has it all.

This is really, really delicious.

Mm, mm, mmm.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ JAMES (VOICEOVER): My French adventure today takes me to a serene part of northern France.

JAMES: Welcome to Giverny, a small, little village in the east of Normandy.

And it's not just the food that's good here, but it's famous for its art.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Giverny sits on the right bank of the River Seine, where it meets the River Epte.

It lies 50 miles from Paris and couldn't be more different.

[tranquil music] ♪ ♪ This Misty nook was the home of one of France's most celebrated artists.

Now, I've always found there's a direct correlation between artists and chefs, and vice versa.

Generally, if you're good at art, you're pretty good at cooking, and this is a place that I've always wanted to come to because it used to be the home of a certain Claude Monet.

And he wasn't bad with a paintbrush, was he?

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And this beautiful place was his home from 1883 until his death in 1926.

[tranquil music] ♪ ♪ Now, Monet first fell in love with the town of Giverny by peering out of a train window, and it's easy to see why he made this place his home.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And where I'm standing is one of the most famous views in all of France, thanks to his work, Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge.

[tranquil music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I know the man loved his food, which is just as well as he and his second wife collectively had eight children.

That's a lot of mouths to feed.

Come to think of it, it must have been like feeding a hungry crew, so while the mists clear, I'm going to find somewhere nearby to pitch my mobile kitchen.

Now, it's so easy to see why Monet fell in love with this place.

It's absolutely beautiful.

The scenery is spectacular.

And I've lit a fire to keep you warm, but I'm going to cook with it later on because what I thought I'd do-- and I love coloring food, and particularly his paintings were full of color, beautiful colors-- blues, purples.

There isn't much food, to be honest, that's blue, so I thought I'd pick one ingredient that is purple that you can get in the UK.

It's this stuff.

This is dulse.

Now, it smells a bit like tea, to be honest, Yorkshire tea.

Reminds me a bit of home, but this is wonderful, dried out.

Mixed together with a bit of butter and seafood, it is delicious.

I'm going to basically just take the dulse like this and just make a butter.

It's really simple.

We're just going to roughly chop this, not too fine.

It doesn't have to be too fancy.

At home, you can probably pop it in a blender, and you can blend this to a powder.

But that's all you need.

Just roughly chop it really, and take the dulse and throw it in the butter.

In fact, we'll whack a bit more in as well.

It's amazing stuff, this, beautiful color, but all we want to do is just take the butter like that.

But you just mix this together.

Keep it really simple.

That's the key to this.

Now, that's your butter done.

That's easy enough.

The tricky bit is the next bit, and that's crab.

Now I often get asked what my food heaven or food hell is.

To be honest, nowadays, food heaven has to be this stuff-- fresh crab.

Now, this is cooked fresh crab, and what you do to prepare this is pretty straightforward.

You've got white meat, and you've got dark meat.

It's knowing where to find the meat, first of all.

So you've got white meat in all the claws, the front claws and the rear claws here.

That's where the white meat is, and then you've got the white meat in the center part of the body.

The dark meat is in this area of the crab itself, so what you need to do is break this down.

So the first thing you do is remove all the legs like that, so get rid of all the legs.

So that's done.

Keep those because they contain all the white meat.

Now, it's getting into here really.

There is a trick.

The best way you can do that he's often take a fork and use the back end of a fork and insert it.

This is the head end.

You can see where the eyes and the mouth is.

Take the fork and pop it into the back end in here.

Be careful when you do it.

That's it.

Pop it in.

And it should just lift out like that.

And the whole thing lifts up.

Not the most prettiest thing in the world, to be honest-- look, Rob-- but the most tasty.

Now, these little fellas here are often called dead man's fingers.

They're not poisonous.

It's a myth.

They're just quite unpleasant to taste.

So what we're going to do is just remove these like that and get rid of those, so we can have a little bowl.

I still have a bowl here for the bits.

Now, a lot of the enjoyment of having a crab is actually the preparation side of it.

It's finding the meat inside.

And what you need to do is just lift this out, and then to remove the head end, you just give it a quick press like that, and get rid of this bit.

It's actually quite pleasant to be able to prepare one like this from fresh, and then in here, you have all the dark meat inside.

All that is all the nice dark meat that we can eat, so just scrape it from the inside of the shell like that.

I'm going to keep this in the shell as well.

Now, you could if you wanted to, crack this part of the shell.

Take a cloth-- and there's a little line.

See, Rob?

Forget about me.

Look.

It's all about the crab on this one.

There's a little line.

Nature's been quite kind to us.

It's created a little drawing like Monet on here.

Look.

Little line on here, and all we do is we crack this carefully.

Do this with a cloth as well, really.

Crack, and you'll just basically get rid of this shell.

So you've got the dark meat in here, Rob, look, it's all here, all this lovely dark meat, which is delicious to eat.

The white meat is kind of hidden, and it's hidden in here, this part.

And it's hidden in the claws.

So the best thing you can do, really with the claws is give it a bit of a whack.

Now for that, can use a rolling pin, a mallet, hammer.

It's entirely up to you, but give it a quick tap on each part of the claw-- [tapping] --like that.

Give it a whack, and then all the matter is you break this open.

And in here, you have the most delicious, succulent flesh.

Fresh crab, it is just one of the prize things to taste.

It's just delicious.

You've got this beautiful-- look at that nugget of white meat.

Look at that.

And we can just put the white meat over the top, OK.

I actually think many people, when they look at luxurious ingredients, instantly turn, particularly with seafood, go for lobster, but crab, when it's fresh like this, is just, I think, one of the finest ingredients out there-- that and langoustine.

So again, give it a bit of a whack.

[tapping] Now when we started this, the smoke was flosting over there.

[coughs] Now, a lot of people will find this sort of fiddly, but for me, part of the enjoyment of having a fresh crab like this is actually this bit.

It's hunting and searching for that little nugget of white meat like that.

And then once you get to this stage, you can take this part of the body here and just take a sharp knife and crack it right through the middle.

And then inside, you've got little pockets in here.

Look.

Little pockets of meat that you can just rip out like that.

You can do this with a fork or a little skewer, but you're just picking out all the nice bits of white meat.

There's actually quite a lot in here.

It may look a bit fiddly.

Once you understand, I suppose, shall we say the biology of a crab?

I don't know.

But once you understand where the white and the dark meat is, you know where to go looking for it, but what you end up with is this.

I mean, just look at that.

How good is that?

Just fresh crab-- beautiful.

So you've got the Brown meat on the bottom, and you've got the delicious white meat on the top.

You can eat it as it is.

Now, do you know what?

I was going to stop at that, but because I'm feeling generous, I'm going to make another one for the crew.

So while you wander off and look at this beautiful scenery and stuff, I'm going to prepare the other one.

See you in a minute.

[vibrant music] ♪ ♪ Anyway, on with the crab.

Look.

Look at these, Rob-- freshly prepared crab.

Just check those out.

And you've even got two ashtrays once you're finished.

Look at that.

Delicious.

Now keep the shells as well, because you can make these-- a wonderful little soup with these.

They make amazing stocks as well.

Stick it in the freezer.

A bit of tomato, a bit of Aromat, some veg, something like that, a bit of water, cook it for about 45 minutes, blitz it in a food processor.

You've got yourself an amazing soup so keep these as well.

Don't throw them away.

But what we're going to do is we're going to turn this into a wonderful dish.

Now, if you thought that was my idea of food heaven, when it's mixed with butter, here we g-- this just takes it to a different level.

So we've got dulse and dulse butter, all right?

And what we do with this, we just take a nice, little bit of butter like that and just pop it on the top.

You're creating a little jacket of butter like this-- and this has an amazing flavor, dulse.

It's really delicious.

So a little black pepper, and now what we're going to do is nestle our nice, little crab in here, in the embers like that.

Just make sure it's upright as well.

And these are just going to cook away now for about five minutes on here, just to allow that to warm through and the butter to nicely melt.

Now, with this, we're going to create a wonderful little dressing.

Now, traditional dressing, a little bit of mustard, touch of vinegar.

I'm going to use walnut vinegar for this one.

One part walnut vinegar, three parts oil.

You can use veg oil, but I've got some olive oil here.

So three parts oil.

Bit of seasoning, bit of salt, bit of pepper.

Few herbs.

I've got some chives.

Just keep it quite rustic, so chop the chives like that.

Just throw those in and mix it together.

I always add a little bit of oil to start off with and then I'll add a bit more.

Just a standard, really simple dressing, really, and then we've got our salad.

I love this.

Just check this out.

Fantastic.

Frisee lettuce, it's wonderful.

I used to use this by the masses when I was younger, mainly because I used to prepare it all the time, being a commis chef in The kitchen.

The dark bits are quite bitter.

Now, they're all right with salads and bits and pieces.

Generally good with chicken, but anything with fish, you want it quite, sort of a lighter flavor.

So you use the central part, the heart of this lettuce, so what we do with this is just grab a knife and open it out like that.

You're giving it a haircut, and you're just using the center bit like that.

That's the heart, the inside, that lovely yellow color.

Now this bit isn't bitter.

It's perfect for salads.

So just a few radishes.

Sprinkle those on the top, and then grab your dressing.

The smell of that crab is off the scale.

Look, forget about me.

Look, get in here.

Look at it.

Look at this.

Rob.

Look, look, look.

It's starting to bubble away.

Look at that.

Look at it in there.

Mmmm.

Grab yourself a plate and grab your nice salad.

Beautiful color.

Look at that.

So with the radishes a few bits of that on, and then you can keep these claws as well.

Just pop them on.

This has just been broken, so they're easy to get into.

And then finally, of course, this is it.

This is the bit that you've been waiting for.

It's on here.

Mm, mm, mmm.

Fresh crab with dulse butter.

Monet, that's what it is.

[pleasant music] Cheaper, but a Monet.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): A simple shellfish lunch, pretty as a picture Local ingredients turned into something to make an impression.

[fun music] I'm on a road trip of northern France, and today I'm driving around Giverny, a place made famous by the artist, Claude Monet.

It's easy to see why he was captivated by this beautiful garden and decided to make this place his home.

It really is beautiful here, but Monet's interest didn't just focus on just the garden.

He was also involved in everything that went on in the kitchen-- a man after my own heart.

[soothing music] JAMES (VOICEOVER): And what a kitchen.

It's like a work of art itself.

Beautiful copper pots line the walls and complement the striking blues of the tiles and the units.

Apparently, the color was to keep the flies away.

You see, that's what I like to hear, practical rather than fanciful, but as well as spending time in the kitchen, Monet actually preferred to relax in the dining room.

For me, chance would be a fine thing.

Claire Joyes, who married the great-grandson of Monet's second wife, Alice, recalls the particular way he enjoyed his food.

For the salad, he was really pouring himself very little olive oil and a lot of pepper.

It was a rain of pepper, [laughs] and it was absolutely uneatable for anybody except himself.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): To make sure that Monet's love of food wasn't forgotten, Claire wrote a book which featured many of his favorite dishes.

He loved English food.

There was no gigot at home without Yorkshire pudding.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Yorkshire puddings with everything-- good man.

Are you sure he wasn't from Malton?

Anyway, when it comes to recipes, it turns out Monet was a bit of a magpie.

CLAIRE: He was going to a restaurant, and there was no way of him going without getting the recipe of what he had enjoyed very much.

There are some recipes who are really signed by the chef himself.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): But with all the recipes collated, what was his favorite?

It turns out that Monet was famous for his love of pike, particularly when it's caught from his beautiful pond.

Oh, the pike in the pond, yes, and it was very amusing because he was paying for it.

It was somebody in the kitchen or somebody from the garden, but it was an extra.

And he was paying for the pike, yes, JAMES (VOICEOVER): So Monet may have had a few dishonest staff, but he certainly loved proper, honest food.

He didn't like when it looked like being decorated.

You know, the very amusing, lovely flock blah blah of la cuisine de modele won't be his cup of tea.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): So the food-loving artist like the art on his plate to be more rustic than fine, and I'm going to celebrate the main man with the local pud.

That garden, I have to tell you, was absolutely spectacular, and it is quite possible, when Monet went off on his travels with his easel and his paints, that he came across this-- a classic Normandy tart, tarte normande.

I'm going to show you how to make it because it's a wonderful dessert, but it starts off life as a sweet pastry, first of all.

So we've got a little bit of flour, some sugar, just some caster sugar, a little bit of butter, eggs, and water.

And what we do is we rub the butter and the sugar and the flour together.

The key to this is to do this with the tips of your fingers, just softening the butter as you're doing it.

So by doing it by hand, rather than sticking it in a machine which so many people do, it makes the pastry much lighter, but also much more delicate and prevents it from shrinking too much.

So you can see you've got that lovely sort of texture, almost like a crumble, really.

You want to do this until just it starts to disappear nicely, so you don't really see any major, big lumps in there.

And then you can grab the egg.

You can use a whole egg.

You can use an egg yolk.

I'm going to use an egg yolk for this and just mix it together.

Bring in a bit of water-- and start to incorporate this together.

Quite quickly, the pastry will come together.

Now particularly when you're doing this by hand, you get to feel the texture.

You get to feel exactly what the pastry is doing, and that looks pretty good to me.

What we need to do now is just take your pastry, wrap it up, and then chill it.

Pop it in the fridge.

That's going to go in there for about an hour.

Now I've got one in here that's chilled, and all I'm doing really is just softening the pastry.

I'm not working it.

Otherwise, if you don't warm up this pastry when you roll it out, it can split.

Right, the pastry is just warming up a bit.

Now you get your flour and roll it out, so every time you roll it, you turn it.

[pleasant music] There is an art to it.

The pastry there is a case.

It's not the most important part of the taste, but it is the most important part, whether you're going to get the dish right.

So once you get to that stage, now I'm using a nonstick tart tin here.

If you haven't got one of these, you can butter yours, and then all we do is quickly roll it up over the top.

Roll the tart in.

Don't allow the rolling pin to touch the tart tin.

That's the key.

Hold it above it.

Let it fall onto it, and then basically you just carefully tuck it in right into the corners.

And you should see some of the tin through the pastry itself.

Now, another tip is trim the pastry off after it's cooked.

If you do it this way, you'll end up with a perfect edge.

So just grab our tray now.

Lift that up.

Now, the filling is predominantly three ingredients.

You've got some full-fat creme fraiche, and that's where this dessert stands alone really, I suppose.

Four whole eggs.

Throw that in like that.

Now, a good pinch of sugar.

Not too sweet.

That's the key, but also the main ingredient, I think, is Calvados.

You put a nice glug of Calvados in there.

Give that a mix together and take our little tart here and then pour this in the center.

Now I've got some classic French apples here.

Any eating apples really will work brilliantly for this.

Just chop the apples up and leave the skin on as well.

It just adds a nice texture to this.

Right.

Next, and get your apples, and you go round in a sort of circle like that.

Now, to stop the apples from falling into the center, just put a few in the middle like that.

Don't worry about the pips.

It'll do you good.

Fiber, lad.

That's what my granddad said.

Fiber, that's what it is.

Get it down here and then what we can do is pop this in the oven.

Now, set the oven about 180, 190, something like that.

This now needs to cook for about 40 minutes.

Cheers.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And after that, this pastry pleasure is ready.

Just wait until it cools down.

I'm exploring northern France in and around the beautiful village of Giverny, made famous by Claude Monet and home to one of the most famous lily ponds in the world.

And having learned a little bit about the great man and his love affair with food, I don't think that different.

Now, whether you're driving around town in an old 2CV or at home painting with eight kids running around all over the place, every now and then, it's good to let somebody else do the cooking.

And if Monsieur Monet was alive, I bet he'd eat here.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Welcome to Le Jardin des Plumes, Giverny's very own Michelin-starred restaurant, built by Gustave Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame.

And this is the chap making an impression on the hungry public-- Eric Guerin.

Nice fish.

Eric opened Le Jardin des Plumes in 2012 and won his Michelin star in 2015, and today he's cooking zander, not Monet's beloved pike.

But he's serving it up in an impressionist style.

Freshly caught just down the road a few hours ago, Eric salts the fresh water fish for a couple of hours before he confits it in a combination of goose fat and olive oil.

And then a sauce is made from the bones, local mustard, and-- White wine.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Thanks, Eric.

He then adds cream, water, black pepper, curry powder, and the sauce just needs to reduce.

For the garnish, I just take celeriac and horseradish and wrap it.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): OK, horseradish, it's not my favorite thing, but I'm not one to get in the way of an artist at work.

I'll give it a go.

Some mayonnaise.

[fun music] Just a little bit.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): A little bit of seasoning completes the garnish.

As the fish and the sauce finish cooking, salsify gets cooked in butter, and the whole lot is served with dried salsify flakes.

Mustard seed caviar and mustard leaves.

Just a little sauce and, voila, a lunch worth framing.

- Hi, James.

- Hi.

Thank you.

Well, it certainly looks spectacular.

It's a really, really good fish.

You've just got to be careful of all the bones, but I'm pretty sure this one's all right.

Beautifully cooked.

Mm.

The sauce has just got that little hint of curry, and for me, this is a dish that it kind of represents everything that France is now in terms of food, because things have moved forward.

Because when I visited France for the first time when I was younger, you would never have that as a dish on the menu-- but this is modern cooking, not too far, but clever cooking as well.

It's really good, and what's quite fascinating about this place is that you're only a stone's throw away from Monet's house.

I reckon he'd approve.

Mainly he'd come here to get away from his eight kids.

Eight kids.

It's obviously before TV.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Come to think of it, I'm sure I saw Eric fishing in Monet's pond earlier.

I wondered what he meant when he said the fish was from just down the road.

[fun music] You might not have zander in your fridge at home, but you're bound to have eggs in your cupboard.

So why not whip up one of these?

If you've got any French bistro or restaurant, they're bound to have a dish like this on the menu.

It's a classic omelet, but I'm going to fill it full of wild mushrooms and serve it with wonderful French Bayonne ham.

But first of all, we need to think about stuffing from the omelet.

Now for that, I'm going to use just a touch of butter and throw in our mushrooms.

So we're going to use trumpets of death, which are these things, and I'm going to use some of these, little chanterelles.

If you don't want to use these, just use normal button mushrooms, field mushrooms.

They're really good as well.

They impart lots of flavor.

[pleasant music] So we throw the mushrooms in.

Now, at the same time, we can get our filling for our omelet.

I'm going to use a four-egg omelet for this one, because what I love about French cafes and restaurants, where you often see just omelets on the menu, is they serve it for two people often.

And generally, if four people order the same omelet, they'll do a massive omelet, and it just comes to the center of the table.

And you kind of chop it up really.

It's not done individually.

There's a reason behind it, as in, it has to be baveuse, slightly soft in the center.

And that's the trick to getting a really good omelet, and when you're training as a chef in serious restaurants, this is so often a dish that the head chef or the owner will ask a young chef to prepare.

This is a true test to whether you can cook or not, so no pressure.

So the mushrooms can come off.

We've seasoned that.

Now, so often with an omelet, you can either add a touch of cream or a little bit of milk.

Not too much.

You're not turning it into scrambled egg.

The key to this is to cook an omelet without color, and that can be quite tricky, to be brutally honest with you, because if the pan's too hot, and it colors, technically it's not a proper omelet.

But to make a classic omelet, a real, proper one, it has to be done like this.

So first of all, don't get the pan too hot, and now you can start heating it up.

And what you do is you basically just start drawing the egg in the center as it cooks.

Now you can see the egg just start to catch on the bottom.

Just keep drawing it up, and gradually you'll get to a point where it kind of looks like scrambled egg.

And at that point, we stop.

So what we're looking for is a baveuse omelet, ever so slightly underdone.

So before we actually start to tip it out, just check.

It.

Looks pretty good.

Now we can grab our mushrooms, sprinkle a few of those on like that, and then you kind of need everything ready.

And for that, you need a damp tea towel.

You see, I told you, omelets are not just straightforward.

There's an art to them.

[pleasant music] And they'll start to roll over.

Roll over like that.

Grab your serving dish.

And when you get to one point, get your cloth, and then start to bring this together.

So you're molding this into sort of a rugby ball.

Now, you're going to finish that off with some cream, just a touch.

A little bit of the mushrooms go over the top, and then some of this amazing Bayonne ham over the top of that.

Now grab yourself a bit of cheese and pop that under the grill for about a minute.

And then finally, just a few bits of chopped chive, and then what I like about an omelet is a little bit of watercress.

So there you have it.

omelets for you and me will never be the same again.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): I'm on my French adventure in and around Giverny, a beautiful, serene part of eastern Normandy with a unique connection with art, food, and nature.

[fun music] It's quite interesting, when you drive through France, particularly the opposite way around-- many people drive from north to south-- but when you go from south to north, it feels different.

It feels much more relaxed, but it's also quiet.

There's been nothing, no traffic, nothing for miles and miles and miles.

Just hope we don't break down, because there's no phone signal either.

Do you know what?

I love this car.

All my mates took the mick at me when I bought it.

Sure, I wanted it because Floyd owned it, but it's just a fantastic car.

It's brilliant.

It's comfy-- proper comfy.

Just needs satnav because I don't know where I'm going.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Luckily, after a couple of wrong turns, I'm on the right route-- without any flat tires, thankfully.

And here, hidden away along the Route du Cidre, in the golden glow of the autumn leaves is La Mouette where something rather important is going on.

Handbrake.

Now, Normandy, of course, is famous for so many different things, but dotted around the countryside is a vast selection of orchards.

And I've picked the perfect time to arrive.

It's autumn, and it's harvest.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And I soon discover just why there's nobody on the roads.

Today is a public holiday here in France, and the day that the owners of this beautiful orchard ask all their friends and family to come and help with the immense apple harvest, whatever their age.

All the apples from this ancient orchard are turned into luscious, golden Normandy cider, and the man given the important job of being in charge of the tractor is this guy JAMES: Joel.

Hello, James.

- Good to see you.

- How are you?

Yes.

- What a fantastic tractor.

Look at this.

Now, this is great because everybody in the village helps out.

I work here just for my friend with helpers.

And you just do it because you're a friend of the owner.

Yes, of course.

Because I know this gentleman as well, because I can recognize a Frenchman in England.

You're a trader, market trader.

- Yes, in England, yeah.

- OK.

Bolton we met, didn't we?

- In Bolton, yes.

I saw you in Bolton.

I remember, was it two years ago?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Good.

Exactly.

So we've got quite a few apples to pick up anyway, so you want me to give you a hand?

Yeah?

OK.

[tractor starting] [fun music] It's quite heavy, actually.

[fun music] ♪ ♪ OK.

Just watch where you're going.

Just watch where-- JAMES (VOICEOVER): Careful where you're heading.

Because I've got an abundance of fruit here today, I've got something perfect for the hard-working apple-pickers.

Beignets.

Now, it's based on kind of like a donut, and a lot of people think donuts are American.

Now I'm going to upset the Americans here because I actually think they're from this country, here in France, because it uses an enriched yeast dough.

To make it as really straightforward.

What you start off with is replacing water, which is traditional in obviously bread, with milk, a little bit of milk, and then we use good, old Normandy butter-- a nice amount of butter in there.

And then this is part of the enrichment process, really.

When you think of bread, you think of yeast, you think of salt, you think of flour and water.

Well, the enrichment comes in the form of adding rich ingredients to it, so milk, butter.

But of course, you start off with flour as well and strong flour for this one, as opposed to soft flour, which a lot of desserts are made with.

And to enrich it even more, we add a pinch of salt-- and an egg.

So crack the egg straight in here, and then sugar.

You need the sugar to basically activate the yeast a little bit.

It really speeds it up, the process, but by adding more sugar, you're enriching the dough.

Now, what you want to do with this is basically just melt the butter a little bit, but have it not too hot.

The key to this is having it this temperature.

Stick your finger in-- perfect.

And then that's going to activate our yeast.

Now, you can use fresh yeast for this, but obviously a lot of people will use the dry.

So a couple of sachets of dried yeast, but you really want the sort of yeast that's sort of warm temperature like that.

And it's going to start to activate once I add it to the flour.

So what you do is you just add a little bit, first of all.

Bring this to a dough.

Now, many people, when they're making brioche and particularly bread at home will never add enough liquid.

It's quite unusual, this, and it's when I learnt how to do this and really mastered the art, is you want it to be sort of, I don't know, tacky, like that.

So although this is an enriched yeast dough, the texture wants to be that.

It wants to be quite claggy.

It's quite unusual, really, but when you make bread properly, this is what it should be, this sort of texture.

And if you've got moisture in here at this point, then the bread's going to be moist, or certainly the beignets are going to be moist when they come out of the oven or the fryer.

So that's what we're looking for.

Now, what you need to do now is then cover this over.

Leave it.

Give it about sort of an hour, an hour and a half, something like that, and let it prove.

What I've got over here is one that's been proved nicely in here, and you've got this sort of soft mixture.

This is the best bit.

This is the bit that you want to do.

Stick your nose over it.

[inhales] Do that.

It's like really good beer.

It's got a really unique smell to it, but you can see, although this has been proven, the texture is the same.

It's quite claggy, which is exactly what we want for our final stage, really, in which we're going to make these beignets.

Now, I'm going to serve this, of course, with some apples, but I'm going to caramelize the apples and do this wonderful sort of caramelized apple cider sort of compote to go with it.

I'm going to use brown sugar, so over here for this one, Rob.

Get in here.

So this is basically just Demerara sugar.

We just sprinkle this in.

This is going to go in the base of the pan like that.

Sit it in there, and let it caramelize nicely together with these apples.

So we've got the wonderful apples from the orchard.

Stick these in in chunks, and basically just put these randomly in there as well.

[chopping] So stick them in as well like that, and keep this really simple.

But we're going to caramelize the apples.

Now, what the brown sugar will do is give it a really unique sort of flavor with it as well.

What you have to do is be careful, because so often it can catch on the bottom, so just keep your eye on it.

Get the pan nice and hot.

There's nothing else in there, just the sugar and the apples, but you'll get this delicious flavor.

This combined with the cider, it's a wonderful combination to make.

If you want to make a toffee sauce at home, then use Demerara sugar-- it's a good tip-- instead of using white sugar.

There's a much better depth of flavor.

But keep your eye on it because so often it can catch and burn.

So I'll just mix this together, and it will happen quite quickly once you get this started in here.

Now it looks like kind of sticky toffee apples, which is exactly what we want, but we want to caramelize this, first of all.

And then you add this mixture-- some proper cider, Normandy cider.

[sizzling] Just deglaze it a bit.

Keep it on the heat.

Now, what will happen to it, it'll all sort of stick together and congeal together.

Keep it on the heat and keep it cooking.

And it'll start to reduce down into this lovely little compote, which is delicious with our donuts.

So I'll keep that reducing down a little bit, keep my eye on it, but then we'll take our donuts and get our apples ready.

So with the apples, you can chop these into chunks-- and pieces like this.

And I think this is a great way to fill the donuts.

It's the perfect way to do it.

You just take a nice piece of our dough, take the apple, fold it in, and then roll it up.

So you've got, like, a little, hidden gem inside.

Now, this is the opposite to a traditional sort of jam-filled donut that a lot of people will know.

Normally, these are then just cooked as they are and then injected with a jam after it's cooked.

But I think this is better because you could mix and match the different types of fruit, of course.

You don't have to use apples for this.

You can use a whole fresh raspberry if you wanted to, a little bit of banana.

Now, normally for this, I would make two or three, but obviously with the crew that we've got here, I've been told to make the entire lot.

Funny that, isn't it?

Look.

All you do is just put the apple in.

Mold it up.

It's just a great way, I think, to enjoy a nice, little donut, and they're so simple to make.

Once you learn how to make the dough-- and particularly that texture, that's the crucial bit, not to make it too dry.

But I'm going to take our nice, little fritters here-- and start to cook these.

Now, the key to this is start the oil quite low, first of all, and then heat it up.

So often when you're making donuts, the oil can be too hot.

You can just pop them straight in like this, and then once they're all in, then turn the heat up.

But you can see now.

Look at this, Rob.

Look at that.

Cidery apple compote.

Just check that out.

You can just serve that on its own.

It's wonderful with a nice, little bit of ice cream, but even better with the donuts.

This is the key to this.

You've just got to wait.

Look at that.

Mmm.

See, these are proper, homemade ones.

You know what I mean?

Not the ones with holes in.

They look pretty good to me I think that is about there as well.

Have a bit of a taste.

Yeah, I'm happy with that.

That'll do.

Now, don't worry about them cracking like this.

This has got the fruit inside.

As the fat hits the fruit, you can see it starts to break open like that.

There's nothing wrong with that.

They're just nice.

Look at that.

Roll them around.

Now, as they're starting to heat up, you can see the oil starts to change color nicely like that, and then what we do is get our tray ready.

And then what I tend to do is this, really It's a good trick.

All right?

I suppose this is because I'm a bloke, and I don't like washing up.

This is the trick.

You may not find it impressive, but this is my trick.

Look.

Sugar.

Tissue paper.

It's not a magic trick.

It's just a trick.

Look.

And then you take the beignets.

Put them on the paper.

And the paper drains off the excess fat like that, and then just like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, you just go sphee.

Well, slightly slower.

You've got the sugar underneath.

I'm quite impressed with that.

Roll them around the sugar all over.

Sprinkly, sprinkly.

And then you take your nice-- look at this-- caramelized, sticky-- never mind me.

Just get on here, Rob.

Look.

Just get on here for this finishing bit.

Look.

Look at this.

It's like the ultimate toffee apple.

Look at that.

Mmmm.

Over the top.

And then you grab these little fritters.

[pleasant music] Look at that.

Just take the apples and just drizzle this over the top.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Freshly-picked Normandy apples turned into a warming autumnal treat, and if you've got a hungry bunch of harvesters to feed, these little fellas won't last long.

[background chatter] But what does our hardworking tractor driver think?

It's not too bad.

Not too bad.

I'm saying, lovely.

[laughs] JAMES (VOICEOVER): Thanks, Joel.

It's better than your driving.

- Mmm.

JOEL: Thank you.

Well, what a great day I've had in Giverny.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): A place that has its own distinct personality, not the same as any part of France I've been to before-- It feels different.

It feels much more relaxed.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): --where local produce is turned into works of art.

JAMES: It certainly looks spectacular.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): A place that made such an impression on one man, he turned it into his lifelong home, and in turn, immortalized it for the world to see.

A tranquil part of Northern France that has left me feeling inspired to put paintbrush to paper.

Ah, there's the Monet shot.

Sorry.

Well, it is my favorite.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Pretty as a picture.

Local ingredients turned into something to make an impression.

Coming up on my French adventure around Giverny, we hear how Claude Monet liked his salad.

A lot of pepper.

It was a rain of pepper.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And I make a locally-inspired rustic treat in my home kitchen.

[fun music] [fun music] [pleasant music] I'm on a road trip of northern France, and today I'm driving around Giverny.

This pastry pleasure is ready.

Just wait until it cools down.

[pleasant music] [fun music] Coming up on my French adventure in Giverny, I try a delicious fish dish in an impressionist style.

But this is modern cooking.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And I'll show you how to make the perfect omelet.

[fun music] I'm exploring northern France in and around the beautiful village of Giverny, made famous by Claude Monet, and home-- --for you and me, will never be the same again.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Still to come.

As I round off my French adventure in Giverny, I find just how dangerous an orchard can be.

Just watch where you're going.

Just watch where you-- [fun music] JAMES (VOICEOVER): And I give Monet a run for his money.

[fun music] I'm on my French adventure in and around Giverny, a beautiful, serene part of eastern Normandy with a unique connection with art, food, and nature.

[pleasant music]