02x06 - Just for the Halibut

[bunniefuu]

[lighthearted music playing]

[vocalizing]

♪ Now, listen to me, baby
You've been walking out the door... ♪

[Meghan] Happy bees!

♪ It's really sayin' something ♪

We are picking some fresh mint
to go into a nice green juice for Clare.

Clare Smyth is an incredible chef.

She is one of the very few
female chefs in the world

to have three Michelin stars
at her restaurant, Core.

When I was living in London,

I went and tried her food,
and I fell in love.

Then asked her if she would cook
the dinner for our wedding.

She's so talented and so down-to-earth.

So I wanna do some of her favorite things,
one of which is green juice.

And this is a lot of love
because I love drinking green juice.

But juicing, the actual act of it,
not my favorite thing.

Since her cooking philosophy is all about
working with fresh, local ingredients,

I thought it would be really fun

to show Clare a little bit
of my community in Santa Barbara.

We have an amazing fish market here.

So I want to go with her
and see what fish she would pick out.

I love thoughtful plating.

And that is one thing
that she is so good at.

Everything looks elevated.

We're gonna learn
how to do some of that. [giggles]

First, we're gonna make her
some green juice.

- [music fades]
- [scatting]

Okay, a knife and a scrap bowl.

[lively music playing]

We have our cucumbers.

Some nice lime and orange.

An entire head of celery.

I don't like the process of juicing.
It's always felt really messy.

But again, I haven't really done it for...



I'm gonna sort of make it
how I'd want to enjoy it,

but probably pull back
on the level of ginger

just because
this is supposed to welcome her.

All right.

Let's do it.

- [Michael] Moment of truth?
- [inhales deeply]

[whirring]

Okay, technology has really changed.

Hear how quiet that is? What's happening?

[upbeat music playing]

She's coming along.

And look, the...
the pulp comes out of that side.

[giggling]

- [Michael] I'm gonna stay out of this one.
- [laughing heartily]

♪ We were dancing in the spotlights
Close together ♪

♪ And we're feeling
Like we own it forever ♪

♪ It's going by the good times
See, no pressure ♪

I'm just gonna add a bit more apple

because my ginger has decided
not to be a backup singer.

[chuckling] She's performing very well.

[upbeat music continues]

Mm, it's very good.

This is why people juice.

♪ We were dancing in the spotlights... ♪

Thing of beauty.

In the fridge they're gonna go. So cute.

♪ It's going by the good times
See, no pressure ♪

♪ Everybody, it will only get better ♪

[happy soul music playing]

[Meghan] I haven't seen
Clare Smyth in so long.

Clare has traveled quite a ways
to come and be with me here.

It's a 12-hour flight from London,
which can be pretty tiring.

I wanna make sure when she comes,
I can welcome her with something great.

And when she's on her way,

I want her to feel loved and nurtured
even when she has left.

So I think to do that,
let's make her a little travel kit.

First, we have our easy canvas bags.

I wrote out, "Safe travels, Clare,"
on some iron transfer paper.

So we'll iron transfer that on.

So, I'm going to put this down.

Put just any sort
of kitchen cloth or towel on the bottom.

And then,
we're going to use a piece of parchment.

So, for this,
we have our adorable mini iron here.

Sticky side here.
We'll see where that's going to live.

Parchment paper,
just because you don't want it to scorch.

That'll sit there on top as well.

This is my June Cleaver moment.

"Hi, darling. How was your day?"

So as that's cooling,
what would we want in our travel kit?

So when I think about when I'm on a plane,

my feet get cold.

So, get nice cashmere socks.

Or there's great blends
that feel like cashmere

that are really easy to wash.

Monogrammed it for her.

Why not?

Eye mask for that great nap
you're going to take.

I chose matching colors
so it feels like a set.

Other small things like earplugs
or breath mints, hand sanitizer,

and even some essential oils.

This one's peppermint.

Just wake you up. It's great.

Very energizing. Some lip balm.

I love lavender sachets.

Now, she can either keep this in her bag

and enjoy it when she's,
uh, asleep on her flight,

or put them in her suitcase
as she's traveling, so when she gets home,

everything, when she opens that bag,
smells delightful.

Okay, we'll take our parchment paper off,
and let's see how we did here.

We're going to delicately peel this up.

[jazzy music playing]

Now we're talking turkey.

Oh, sugar.

We need not get so overzealous
until we're there.

Lovely.

We can now fill this bag for her.

Put all these in in a nice, organized way.

Eye mask.

[music fades]

A carry-on size of love.

♪ Let's get it cooking in here ♪

[Meghan] Clare!

Oh, my gosh. Are you good?

- [Clare] Yeah, you?
- [Meghan] Oh, yes! I'm so good.

I'm so happy you're here.

- I made some green juice.
- [Clare] Very cool.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

- Very cool.
- [Meghan] It's all greens from the garden.

Do you drink juice every day?

Actually, yeah. Being a chef,
I just try to make sure I get, like,

everything that I need
almost before I go to work.

- After that, it's all good.
- [laughs]

- All bets are off.
- Yeah.

- Let's see how I did.
- Smells great.

- [Meghan] Mm!
- [Clare] Mm.

- It actually turned out really well!
- Delicious! It's really good.

[Meghan] So today
we are going to the fish market.

I'm so excited about that.
I-- I love going to market.

We're going to make seafood
with seasonal vegetables.

Particularly, fish is different
everywhere in the world, so...

- Really?
- Yeah, how the fish cooks.

I would have never thought of that.

For example,
in California, the water's so cold,

the fish is like--
is sweeter and delicate.

It suits more poaching
and things like that.

Whereas, like, some warmer climate waters,
it's more like grilled barbecue.

[Meghan] It makes me think
of our wedding menu.

Remember? We had the map
where everything was sourced.

We really wanted people to appreciate
where every ingredient was coming from.

I mean, that was the most delicious meal.
Everyone still talks about it.

I still remember doing
the, um, your anniversary.

- We surprised you.
- Oh, yeah! Oh, my gosh!

Yes, that was so fun.

In that beautiful little old chapel.

[Clare] It was so funny
because of all the old buildings.

We'd, like--My team was always
laughing because you're going through,

trying not to touch anything.

Everything is shaking as they're going
through the old creaky floorboards.

There's all these antiques everywhere.
Like, "Nothing get knocked down?"

- We were like ninjas for everything.
- Everything around you is historical.

- "Don't touch anything."
- Like, "No, freeze.

We've had such good meals.

That's all because of the obsession
with the bread, the potato...

And speaking of potatoes,
I also made you salt and vinegar crisps.

- Wow.
- I've never made a potato chip before.

But I made those.
They turned out pretty well. [laughs]

- They turned out okay?
- Yeah, great.

Yeah, well, you know, trying new things.

♪ Tastes like magic ♪

♪ Driving me crazy, loving me daily ♪

♪ Just like magic ♪

♪ Magic, we got magic ♪

Potatoes have landed.

Let's make some
salt and vinegar potato chips.

Or as Clare would say, crisps.

We have two russet potatoes. We need salt.

We need some vinegar powder.

Not real vinegar on them.

It's a real "choose your own adventure,"
but in the spirit of classic,

I would say either a malt vinegar
or, mm, a white wine vinegar.

Balsamic doesn't sound quite right to me.

Let's do a white wine vinegar.

Vinegar powder is gonna add flavor
without making them soggy.

I'm also going to fill this bowl
with some cold water.

[lively music playing]

You just want it in the cold water.
It'll help take some of the starch out,

so they'll be nice and crispy
when you fry them.

Oh, that's not pretty.

[chuckles] That's not the shot.

[chuckling] Okay.
This is a good old-fashioned mandoline.

Watch your fingers.

Okay, I'm happy with that.
Look at those nice slices.

We'll put it in the cold water.
Do you see the starch coming out there?

Let's add some more.

I think we're good on our potatoes.

So we have some oil coming to a nice heat.

We're thinking 325,
like a lower, slower cook.

You could do it a bit higher than that.

I really like frying in peanut oil

because it has a high smoke point
and neutral flavor.

We need to get some moisture out of these
before we put them into the oil to fry.

It's going to help them get crisper.

And we all like a really good crispy,
salty potato chip or crisp.

You don't call them soggies.

I'm going to take these
on their little to-go hammock.

Ready?

Don't throw them in.
You don't want the oil to...

Oh, oh!

Oh my gosh, how exciting.

Ah!

[jazz music playing]

Two to three minutes for each batch.
We don't want to overcrowd them.

We want a nice, golden brown if we can.

At least the edges
are getting nice and crispy.

There used to be a song
I learned in elementary school.

♪ Fish and chips and vinegar ♪

♪ Vinegar, vinegar ♪

♪ Fish and chips and vinegar
Pepper, pepper, pepper, salt ♪

[upbeat music playing]

So I'd say that's been about two minutes.
I think we're almost good.

What is more satisfying
than the smell of fried potatoes?

All right, we can start seasoning them.

So while they're still warm,
let's get some flavor on them.

Some salt and now our vinegar powder.

[music ends]

Really good!

[playful jazz music playing]

- Would you like a chip?
- Oh my gosh, they look so good.

[laughs]

What flavor are they?

- Salt and vinegar.
- [gasps]

Yes.

- So today we're doing Parker House rolls.
- Yeah.

Which I've never made before.

- And some local fish.
- Yeah.

And then I want to learn
some of your ways with plating techniques.

Cool.

[music continues]

[Meghan]
This is about to get really "chef-y."

Where shall we begin?
We're beginning on these rolls?

[Clare] Yeah.

- Here, I'll take that for you.
- Thank you.

Mm-hm.

Beautiful.

We have our flour, caster sugar,
salt, milk powder, pepper, yeast.

When we were living in London,

we became obsessed
with your bread to the point...

Remember, even if I,
we didn't come for dinner, I'd say,

"Can I just pick up
a loaf of bread for Valentine's Day?"

'Cause I thought,
"Okay, I'll give you the recipe."

I looked at it and I was thinking,
"This is going to be tough."

On that bread alone,
there's two different types of starters.

And we make like a stock for it as well.

Like a bread stock
with infusions and stuff.

What does that mean? A bread stock?

So, you know where you would use water?
We thought, "Let's flavor the water."

It's always about getting max flavor.

So today we're doing
not the bread that I'm used to,

but another bread that you said
is pretty easy and delicious.

- Yeah.
- Good old Parker House rolls.

They're really just a dinner roll.
A classic dinner roll.

Yeah. We've got the flour,
and milk powder, sugar.

We've got salt as well.
We're just putting in the pepper.

- Like four grams of pepper going in there.
- Great.

And then we're gonna get
all the liquid ingredients

mixed together with the yeast.

- Olive oil.
- [mixer whirring]

[Meghan] And some egg and water.

[Clare] And some, some herbs.

When I'm doing like US shows,

I'll always have to be like,
"cilantro" or like, "sunchoke." Or--

[Meghan] Like the dinner for our wedding.

- What is sunchoke in...?
- [Clare] Jerusalem artichoke.

- [Meghan] Oh, Jerusalem artichoke.
- Zucchini. Everything's--

- Courgette.
- Courgette. Eggplant.

Arugula.

- Aubergine, rocket.
- Yeah.

My kids, they'll say a little bit of both,
but never cooking terms,

because I guess
Papa's not cooking as much.

They both say "zeb-rah," though,
instead of zebra.

So as this is now setting up,

how will we know when this dough is done?

So you start it off like...
until it comes together,

like on a lower speed.

And then, when it's, like,

coming into... All into, like,

one ball like that, we turn the speed up,

and then that starts to knead it
about eight to ten minutes in total.

- Oh, wow.
- In the machine.

- That long.
- This is like, the kneading process.

But it will come together, and you see,
like, the elasticity of the flour.

- You can see it's really pulling already.
- [Meghan] Mm-hm.

Can people do this
if they don't have a mixer?

- By hand.
- Could you knead it by hand?

Absolutely. It's a good workout.

I'm sure. Good for the arms.

[laughs]

[whirring stops]

[Meghan] Whoa.

You can see it's, like, one nice dough
and it's, like, really elastic.

- And that's like--
- That's...

- That's what you're looking for.
- Incredible.

Really nice.

Oh, yeah.

- And then we'll cover it with cling film.
- Cling film. [chuckles]

Plastic wrap. Oh, what do you guys say?

Aluminium instead of aluminum foil?

- Aluminium?
- Tin foil.

[Meghan] Tin. Great.

So, about an hour and a half
for this to rise.

- Until then, we can go to the fish market.
- Yeah, sounds good.

- Yeah, yeah.
- Great.

- Cool.
- Let's do it.

[lively music playing]

[Meghan] Phew! It's chilly in here.

- Hi.
- [Brian] How's it going?

- Meghan, how are you?
- [Clare] Nice to meet you.

What time did everyone start this morning?

- Oh, we get in and start around 4:00 a.m.
- Wow.

[Brian] Feed the people, you know.

♪ You give me good love ♪

♪ Good love ♪

♪ Talkin' about that good love... ♪

[Meghan] This is truly ocean to table.

Okay, what should we get?

- This is gorgeous. My...
- Yeah.

This is some local tuna that we got in.

- [Meghan] Oh!
- [Clare] That tuna looks great.

[Meghan] I mean, that would be delicious.

Oh, look at those. What about these?

[Brian] These are our beautiful
local rock crabs.

- [Meghan] Really meaty claws, too.
- Yeah, they look good.

[Meghan] You have a bounty.

[Brian] These are local spiny lobsters.
No claws on these guys.

- He's trying to get out.
- He'll flip a bit.

Hey! Woo! Sorry, buddy.

What's the most populous fish in
the region? What do you catch regularly?

I mean, I would say our most popular fish
is going to be the halibut.

- Yeah, okay.
- Yeah.

[upbeat music playing]

Halibut.

- This is, uh...
- Oh, my gosh!

- [Clare] They look great.
- [Meghan] They're huge.

- We'll get them up into 30, 40 pounds.
- Huge!

Yeah, I mean, this guy's probably...

- [Meghan] That's enormous.
- This guy's probably close to 20 pounds.

How hungry are you?

How much fish am I taking home?

- [Brian] How big's the party?
- It's a party of two.

Okay, all right.

[Meghan] So, if we choose,
you think that one is a nice size?

- [Clare] Looks great.
- Like this guy?

[Clare] Beautiful.

I mean...

- Oh! It's cold.
- [Brian] Yeah.

- I mean, obviously.
- [Clare] Guess the weight of the baby.

Lili's about 35 pounds.

Oh, I better try one side.
I'd say like... 23 pounds?

[rock music playing]

I was way off.

- Thank you.
- Here we go.

What was the weight? Eight pounds?

It was eight pounds on the nose. Yeah.

Twenty! I was like, "Well, you know,
if my daughter weighs this,

I'm gonna give it--" Great.
Well, thank you so much.

- Appreciate that.
- [Brian] You're welcome.

Thank your team for us.

- Bye, guys.
- Absolutely.

[playful jazz music playing]

[Meghan] Okay.

And we did it.

So... [chuckles]

This is like the most glamorous... halibut.

Did you see my quote on the board today?
"Just for the halibut?"

[laughs]

[in Peter Griffin voice]
Just for the halibut, see?

[in normal voice] Oh, my gosh.
Okay. Back to the Parker House rolls.

- Oh, look at how she rose.
- [Clare] Yeah. It looks great.

You can see, like, how much it's changed.
Like, doubled.

- Kind of, you know...
- Squidgy.

Yeah. We put some--
Some air in there, which is a good thing.

I'm going to start to roll these out.

We need like 30-gram ba*ls of this.

I am legitimately surprised that you have
to actually measure a little dinner roll.

That's why you have
all those Michelin stars.

[Clare] That's like the level of detail.

But you want them to be a similar size.

- [Meghan] Yes.
- So it cooks evenly and looks nice.

Do you ever knead dough
to get frustration out?

- [chuckling] Yeah.
- [Meghan] Of course.

So you can shape, like, the rolls
by pulling them into the center.

And then you have, like, this roll.

- Sort of a dumpling in the shape.
- Yeah.

And then you can use your hand
on the table to roll it into a ball.

- Almost cupping your hand over it.
- Yeah.

Keep the thumb on the bench,
and then it'll, like, roll it.

Everything in cooking is muscle memory.

- Like-- Everything is written.
- Like life.

And you can't get good at it
without doing it.

[cheerful soul music playing]

♪ In my soul, in my mind
In my heart I know... ♪

- Get a nice smooth, round top.
- I'm telling you--

So there's no, like, lines in it.

But no one thinks about the level of focus
and love that goes into a dinner roll.

- At your restaurant.
- Yeah.

[chuckling]

And you can fill them.

[Meghan] Oh, yes.

Wait a minute. What was the one?

At the wedding,
you had that beautiful braised--

It was the lamb one.

[Meghan] That was the most delicious meal.

[Clare] You know what else was?

- Your fried chicken at the after party.
- Yes! The late night bites.

[Clare] It's not really
something I typically do.

So we had to try and create
a recipe for fried chicken.

- And you did.
- We did.

And we kept it.
We still do it for only an off-menu item.

Oh my gosh. I love that
we have created something off menu.

- Yeah.
- Our off-menu item is the fried chicken.

- You know, we're done. That's it.
- Yeah.

If that's my claim to fame,
I'm thrilled. [laughs]

[music ends]

- [Meghan] What do you need?
- [Clare] Paper.

- [Meghan] Paper towels?
- Yeah.

- [Meghan] Just to give it a wipe around.
- That'd be great. Thank you.

[Meghan] You're welcome.

- The basics always work.
- [Clare] Yep.

[Meghan] You don't need fancy gadgets.

Cooking, like equipment,
as well for people at home is the same.

If you buy good things,
it lasts a lifetime.

It's like my grandmother's
cast iron skillet. Right?

That she would fry chicken in.
My mom had that same skillet.

It's not about being fancy.

[Clare] Exactly.

And then these need to go in.

- [Meghan] About how many in each one?
- [Clare] Ten per. Leave, like, a gap.

And then as they rise...

They'll fill out that space.

...they'll fill it out.

This whole technique
is them all sitting snug together.

But you could just put them
on a baking tray?

- Yep.
- Let them puff up on their own.

[Clare] They'll work just fine in that.

- Once cooked, you can tear them off.
- [Meghan] Fabulous.

We'll proof these.
They'll take about an hour and a half.

We're gonna cover them as well.

And then they'll, like,
take 20, 25 minutes to bake.

[Meghan] All right.

I also made a compound butter.
That'll complement our Parker House rolls.

Awesome. Cool.

[rock 'n' roll music playing]

Compound butter is really
just taking the basic butter

and adding any sort of flavoring.

It could be something herbaceous.
Something savory. Something really sweet.

Make a cinnamon sugar butter
with pressed flowers.

We know I like my edible flowers.

Either way,
it's just a way to update butter.

And nothing's better than butter.

All right, so you see, we have
our beautiful, cultured, salted butter.

Some herbs. You can use whatever you like.

I'm going to do some marjoram, some basil.

And I also just roasted up
some garlic for about an hour.

See that gorgeous caramelization you get.

It's gonna bring out
some of the sweetness.

All right. Let me just grab a knife
to chop some herbs.

My husband always laughs when I say herbs.

He's like, "Herbs." He's, like,
"You're so American, 'erbs, 'erbs."

[upbeat music playing]

Once that way, and then the other way.

See, I always put my hand
at the top of the blade right there,

just so it's almost like, um,

makes it like
an old school paper cutter. Right?

This is about
eight ounces of cultured butter.

You can start to spread it out
just a little bit like that.

And we're going to fold
all the goodness into it.

We're also going to zest one lemon.

Clean, good lemon.

You don't want the pithy part of the lemon
because it can be a little bit bitter.

But this will have
that beautiful citrus flavor we're after.

This is a great hostess gift too.

It costs you very, very little.

It's so impressive and thoughtful.
I think that's really the point.

Okay.

Let's add our herbs and our garlic.

They'll squeeze right out.

Mm!

Perhaps do this dinner with good friends.

This is not first date compound butter.

Super, super easy to mash
and cream this all together. Okay.

[pleasant music playing]

All we're doing is rolling that up.

Once it's all sealed,
we chill it and serve it sliced.

This looks like a big salami.

Or an enormous piece of saltwater taffy.
But look.

Here we go.

- [Clare] All right. Halibut.
- [Meghan] Halibut.

- So filleting knife, flexible.
- [Meghan] Ah!

The first cut is really to go through,
like, this skin layer.

So it's almost, you're following
the seam in the fish itself.

[Clare] Yeah. Slide it down.

You can see, I'll bend the knife
rather than cutting it.

- Use the flat of the knife, and then...
- [Meghan] To move with it.

Okay. So now you can see.

[Meghan] Oh wow, that's beautiful.

- Would you like to do the others?
- Yes, please.

[jazzy music playing]

That's it.

- So nice.
- But see, I left a little bit there.

- I couldn't feel through it.
- We'll put that in the stock. Don't worry.

- [both laughing]
- Exactly. None goes to waste.

Extra flavor.

♪ There's a joy ♪

That's really, really good.

- Woo!
- [Clare] Look at that.

Then we're going to portion.

♪ A feeling... ♪

So these are two beautiful pieces.
These we will store away.

[Clare] Yep. Next.

- [Meghan] Next.
- [Clare] Parker House rolls.

♪ Say good morning to a beautiful world ♪

[Clare] So they are looking good.

You can see that they're ready
when you touch them and they spring back.

They're going to be so good.

- How long do they stay in here for?
- Like 20, 25 minutes.

[Meghan] Okay. 375.

[music ends]

- Fingers crossed.
- Alright.

We'll make the broth to poach the fish.

Like, we want to put
lots and lots of flavor in.

We want lots of vegetables.
It's cool for whatever's in season.

We want to pack
as much flavor into this as possible.

We'll use it for poaching the fish
and turn it into our sauce.

[Meghan] Okay. Here we go
on all this fine dining detail.

[Clare] You want to reach perfection.
You need to have things blocked out.

You can't do it if you're trying
to cook everything at the same time.

- This broth is not an exact recipe.
- [Meghan] This is all gonna go in.

[Clare] All going in.

♪ I see you, baby, acting cool ♪

- Mm!
- Put a couple of bones in there.

- [Meghan] Good idea.
- [Clare] More vegetables in there.

♪ Gonna take my time ♪

Some garlic. Spring onions.

[Meghan] There's daikon here.

Thyme, chicken stock, chervil, parsley.

♪ I know for sure... ♪

Uh, button mushrooms. White peppercorns.

We'll take some of this,
so if you cut it down there...

And then we're actually
going to use fennel again in our garnish.

- Because you don't like it.
- [laughs]

You know me well.

♪ Burnin' deep inside ♪

And I'm using shallots
because they're, uh, sweeter.

Mm. "Shallots."

It does sound so much more elegant
the way that you say it. "Shallots."

- A bay leaf.
- A bay leaf. Some thyme.

So the harder herbs
we're going to put in now.

- Okay. More delicate.
- And then softer herbs right at the end.

And then we're going
to put in some white wine.

- All for broth.
- [in UK accent] "Broth."

[laughs]

Now we're going to put chicken stock in.
This is just like goodness.

- [Meghan] Flavor. Flavor and flavor.
- [Clare] Yeah.

And we're going to let it simmer
for like 30 minutes.

[Meghan] If you're gonna be
in a kitchen at this level,

you have to love what you're doing.
It has to be a labor of love.

- Yeah.
- Otherwise, it would just feel tedious.

What do you cook on a Tuesday night
after a long day at the restaurant?

- What do you go home and cook?
- Easy. Pasta. Roast chicken.

Same as everyone.

I think roast chicken's
probably up there with, yeah.

I like it on the barbecue.

But beer can style, where you get
the chicken roaster and you put it on.

- Simple. [giggles]
- [Clare] Yeah.

- Next. Preparing the veg.
- [Meghan] To serve with the fish.

Yep. I love, like, every vegetable.

There's so much you can do.

My favorite thing is to take
a really humble ingredient,

and turn it into something spectacular.

And it's much harder to do that than,
like, take a lobster, or some caviar.

It's really about what you have that's...

- Seasonal, fresh, best in class quality.
- Yeah.

We're going to blanch them all.
This is what you would do in a restaurant.

You want to cook everything individually.

Courgettes will take a few seconds.

- [Meghan] Okay.
- As will the peas.

- Put them in the same ice bath.
- [Meghan] Yes.

You can see, like,
how bright and beautiful they all are.

Blanching preserves that color,

that vibrancy on the plate
I think is always so stand-out.

Next, we're going to strain off the broth.
That's good to go.

- It smells so good.
- Mm. It's amazing. It's really good.

Fantastique.

So we began with our...
deluge of vegetables.

Every vegetable you could think of.

And the carcass of an enormous fish
as far as my measurements are concerned.

[Clare laughs]

[chuckling] And some chicken broth.

And it all whittled down
to this fragrant, gorgeous bowl.

But you won't get that with one vegetable
and an onion in a pot.

- [oven beeps]
- [Meghan] Oh, that'll be our rolls.

- [Clare] Moment of truth. [chuckles]
- Oh my gosh, they're beautiful.

- Woo!
- [Clare] So beautiful.

[Meghan] Look at those ladies.

- We let those rest?
- [Clare] Yes.

- [Meghan] Next.
- We're going to get the clams ready.

- [Meghan] It will go on the fish and veg.
- [Clare] Yep.

A few have opened.

Is that problematic for clams
before you put them in?

- [Clare laughs]
- [Meghan] Knock, knock.

They should close.

They're alive, they are.
And they will start to close back up.

But if they don't open properly
when you cook them, just don't use them.

Oh, wow.
Oh, it's like a "Do not disturb" sign.

[Clare] Yeah.

- [Meghan] Okay.
- [Clare] Right. Clams.

Clams.

[Clare] I'll put them
directly into a hot pan.

Very hot because we want to cook them
as fast as possible.

- So a little bit of wine.
- Okay.

- These are, like, little neck.
- [Meghan] Little neck and manila clams.

Manila clams, yeah.

I'm also going to use a bit of our broth.

They take, like, seconds to cook.

You just want to release them.

- [Meghan] Mm-hmm. To open them up.
- [Clare] Yep.

And then that will, like,
steam them and cook them.

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ Some people like to drive real fast ♪

♪ They don't want to take it slow ♪

- How restaurant-y do you want to be?
- Very.

Okay. In the restaurant,
I will take this out.

♪ I'm a little different... ♪

Because that's the stomach and everything.

And we will just eat this.

What?

[Clare] Yeah,
so we prep every one like that.

It's, like, about purity.

- So we're doing it restaurant style.
- Yeah, restaurant style.

- Restaurant style.
- I can do it. I'll help.

♪ Steam train comin' ♪

Oh, no,
I still have some stomach in there.

♪ Oh, yeah! ♪

[Clare] Next. Finish our broth.

So we're going to put that into a pan
to poach the fish.

- You want to try that one?
- Yeah.

Mm!

- And the next piece, fish.
- [Meghan gasps]

- Here we go.
- Here we go.

- [Meghan] So you took us to...
- [Clare] 140.

[Meghan] 140 Fahrenheit.

[Clare] So it's not boiling.
It's not simmering.

- It's poaching.
- Mm.

And it's that difference,
that perfect temperature.

It's very gentle.

In this style of cookery,

you've got layers and layers
and layers of very delicate flavors

that are married together.

I think, really, when you're cooking
at like a high level, haute cuisine,

it's like a symphony of flavors
and a harmony and a balance

and lots of things happening.

It's like classical music,

and understanding the beauty
and finesse of something.

There is a place for everything,
but I think everything now is fast.

It's a bit of a shame
because they miss so much beauty.

It's the same in food.

I also find the moments
where we can be super present

and sink into how beautiful this is,
as opposed to how fast, as you say,

the immediate gratification
that people crave.

Yeah.

[smooth jazz music playing]

I'm going to use
some of the broth that I had again,

like originally,
just to warm the vegetables.

That's a great idea.

Awful lot of work has gone into this dish,
but, like, now we're just chilling.

Now we're coasting.
I don't know, does it ever...

Does it feel this calm in the kitchen?
At the restaurant?

Yeah, because if it doesn't,
we're not in control.

Quiet, calm.

- [Meghan] Zen.
- Zen.

- Yes.
- A moving meditation.

[Clare] Take the fish out.

- [Meghan] Oh. Wow.
- [Clare] Right.

Okay, plates.

This is the piece that I think,
even if you can't do all of these layers

and all of these techniques,
or you don't have the time,

you can't find the ingredients,
or feels overwhelming,

you can learn
how to beautify your plating.

[Clare] Definitely.

We're going to start with the vegetables.
These vegetables are so beautiful.

We'll go with them as they are in nature.

We'll put a pile of these
in the center of the plate.

[Meghan] Okay.

[Clare] I'll put my fish on the top,

but I kind of want to see
the vegetables as well.

The same side facing up,
we'll put facing up.

Yeah, and I like it served like that,
because where the skin was,

it was the natural top of the fish.

[Meghan] Right.

It always feels natural to me
as a presentation side.

We're going to put our clams.

- Dotted around.
- [Meghan] Yeah.

[Clare] Nasturtiums. Fennel flowers.

Like a beautiful look.

[Meghan]
Start with the base and accessorize.

Right. And, like,
these are beautiful garnish,

but they're delicious as well.

So you're also adding
like a ton of flavors.

- [Meghan] There's a purpose.
- [Clare] Yeah.

It's freshness, texture, and brightness
back into such a beautiful dish.

Then we have, like, all our herbs.

This is actually a carrot top.

It will all go into the broth,
and then you're eating it,

and you get these little bursts of flavor.

[Meghan] Mm.
Tasting it in different textures.

So we've got our beautiful minestrone
of vegetables, poached fish,

and then we'll get, our broth back there.

[Meghan] Some sauce!

[Clare] I like to serve
the broth on the side.

Finish it with a splash of nasturtium oil.

[Meghan] Beautiful.

[funky music playing]

[Meghan] Stunning.

It's so pretty!

- Put the oil in yours.
- Okay.

Nasturtium oil.

- So you can just, like, do that.
- Alright.

Oh, my goodness.

Beautiful.

- [Clare] Let's do it.
- Thank you.

- Thank you. Great.
- Cheers, thank you.

- Cheers.
- To a great day.

[Clare] As long
as that wasn't too painful.

- [Meghan] Not at all.
- Do you think the fish is worth it?

[Meghan] I learned so much.

Mm.

This is delicious.

The flavors are beautiful.
We should try our bread too.

Oh.

Mm-mm. Yum.

Let's try some of this.

Mm-hmm.

[Meghan] Mm!

It's so good.

You know this, I don't need to say it,
but my goodness, you're a... stellar chef.

- [chuckles] Thank you.
- Thank you for teaching me your ways.

My goodness.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

How many years ago did we meet?

- Six. Almost seven, right?
- Six, almost seven.

Yeah, I was just engaged at the time
when I came, trying to find you.

Life has changed. The world has changed.

You've opened so many more restaurants,
gotten more stars.

I'm so proud of everything
you've accomplished

and what you're doing,

and I have a couple gifts for you
before you travel back.

So, a few things.

I decided to make
a little travel kit for you.

- It's my handwriting, and I--
- I just love all this stuff that you do.

You just make everything so beautiful.

- Eh, just personal.
- You did it with the menu for the wedding.

You had it all, like, drawn,
and it was beautiful.

- Stunning, because it is personal.
- Yeah.

It's, like, stunning.

You have that, you can open that later,

and then this is a card
and a book of just--

I know how much you love nature as well
and sustainability,

and this is a beautiful book that
sort of captures our sweet community here.

[Clare] So cool. Thank you so much.

- God, of course.
- So kind.

Of course, I'm so happy you're here.

I learned so much from you today.

You start at the fish market,
and you see how committed they are

to making sure you have
something incredible on your plate.

Yeah.

And then you do all the steps
and all the behind-the-scenes.

Just the amount of love
and labor in the process

is what's made it so delicious.

Yes, it might be dressed up
and on a white tablecloth normally,

but it's just a lot of people committed
to best-in-class products and quality,

and wanting to appreciate
every small detail.

You get more pleasure out of something
when you understand how it's made,

when you see all the beauty in it,
when you understand the people.

You really love it so much more
when you can appreciate it.

I think we have loved this meal
with all of our hearts.

It's what food is supposed to do, right?

- Thank you for everything.
- Thank you.

- So good to see you.
- Good to see you, too.

[upbeat music playing]