CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: Keira Knightley, fennel & citrus roast turkey, and Champagne

0:00Turn up the heat this Valentine's Day with a meal that brings a little steam to the table. Impress your loved one with some succulently sweet and slightly nutty tender stem broccoli, giving you that fine dining feeling without the faff. Simply boil, steam or grill your tender stem in just a few minutes and let this versatile veg take center stage on your Valentine's plate. This is Valentine's cooking, but better with tender stem broccoli. Add a pack to your weekly Waitrose shop, subject to availability. Dish from Waitrose is a cold glass production. This podcast may contain some strong language and adult themes.

1:03Yes, we have to. And little snacks for you. Lovely, thank you. Olives, crisps. It'll be interesting me eating crisps on this microphone, won't it? Well, you've got to eat a whole roast dinner as well. Okay, good. So, yeah, yeah, it's going to be great. Hello, welcome to Dish from Waitrose. I am Nick Grimshaw. And I am Angela Hartland. And it's time to talk Christmas. Christmas! Excited? Yeah, I've been excited since about September. This is true. I don't want to wait. I love Christmas. You're cooking, aren't you? I am. Not today. No. But on Christmas Day, yeah. Big responsibility. How many people?

1:34We have 10 of us. Oh, lovely. Yes. So 10 are coming over to ours. First time I've ever done it, actually. Do you like to expect a phone call every half hour or every 15 minutes? No, but I know we joke about it on here, but I'll be all right. I'll be fine. Yeah, you'll be fine. I actually would like to at one point. Timetable. Timetable. Yes. We'll go for a drink. And then we'll just do it. I want it to be fun and enjoyable. I don't know, like my mum in the 90s. With, like, bright red face and, like, looking really stressed. No. And like, you know. Get loads done the day before. Loads done the day before.

2:06So it's like all Misha's family are coming to us. So I'm going to cook and also Auntie Shen's going to cook as well. Oh, fabulous. Yeah. So Misha's dad's family are of Jamaican heritage. So we're going to have some Caribbean food. Yeah, we're going to have some Caribbean food as well. So Auntie Shen, he's going to take care of that. Lovely. So actually, it's a... The pressure's a little bit off as well. The pressure's a bit off. Fair enough, fair enough. And Auntie Shen's great and she's on it. We've already been... We started talking about it probably in October. Nice, okay. So Philip would prepare.

2:32It's also not that deep. Like I think people, me included, get really stressed out. I would not get, I would love to do a roast. I'd be like, please let's have a roast because it's easy. Yeah. I'd more rather have people. But that's what you're doing, a roast. Exactly. So I don't know why Christmas everyone's like, oh God, don't know what I'm doing. It's no different. You do it every Sunday. No different, is it? Okay? Just a different animal. Right? Right, guys? It's not. Give yourself time. So yeah, but I'd do a starter, timings. Yeah. And I think the pressure's on for a lot of people. So that's why we need you, Angela Hartner, MBEOB, to tell us today over the next hour or whatever our ever-longest podcast is.

3:09I'll write you. I'll open Delia's book and I'll take a picture of her timetable and I'll send it to you because she's perfect. For our Christmas episode today, very excitingly, we welcome the star of the Waitrose Christmas advert, Keira Knightley is with us on Dish in a second. I interviewed Keira Knightley kind of around this time last year when did you watch Black Doves? I've watched part of it, I've watched the whole thing so she came onto the radio to talk about Black Doves and it was just before Christmas time I think because it sort of came out Christmas time didn't it but we had a real good time and she talked all about how she does not James does all the cooking James does all the cooking her husband so James, we need to talk to Keira about this is it the same on Christmas?

3:52will she be getting involved? you sort of do associate her with Christmas because of Love Actually. Of course we do. We always think of her. Yeah. Yeah. I've not yet watched it. I will. What, Love Actually? I mean, I've seen it, but not... You only watch it at Christmas, don't you? True, true. So I've not yet watched it, but I will. Yeah, of course. Keira Knightley only seen this film once. But that's the same as us. You know, we say we don't listen to this, so why would she watch her movie time and time again? Yeah, yeah. That makes a lot of sense, yeah. It's not a great look if you walk past Keira Knightley's house and you see Keira Knightley watching Keira Knightley in the lecture, is it?

4:24She's lost it. She's lost it. So she's not going to sit and watch it. I do feel sad for people that can't, that are the star of a cultural moment and they can't enjoy it like we can. Yeah. Do you watch telly on Christmas Day? No, never. Not for any particular, we just don't do it, but it's just we're always away from a house. We're either in a restaurant. And so there's no TV there. I mean, obviously we don't. And there's too many of us. We play cards. Yes. What we tend to do is sort of finish lunch late and then cards come out. and we all play like games and stuff, which I like. And then it ends up everyone like music.

5:00My mate Adam who always comes reminded me of the Christmas he was dancing to ABBA with my mum at like, you know, she was 85 and they're just dancing around the room alongside my, Neil's nieces of four years old. So it tends to be, it ends up like that. More of a party. Yeah, exactly. Boxing Day, I do the movies. Yeah. Yeah, Christmas Day, it's all family and cards and playing. Well, good to know. Well, we'll come over. We'll be there. Come and dance in. I'll tell you when the disco's starting. Disco raves. I actually might come. You should definitely come. It's always open house in the sense that we've had friends that have Christmas with their family and then they pop in for drinks and stuff.

5:35I like it. That's my point about Christmas. You know, it should be for everyone. Okay, well, everyone, let's listen in and watch it. Pop in to Angeles once your family are doing your editing. So we have Keira Knightley on the way. We have a huge Christmas feast on the way, which I'm so excited about. one of the things in the feast, famously at Christmas, sprouts. Sprouts, yes. So they can either get them obviously in a little packet or you can get them on this stalk. And at the top of the stalk, you get these beautiful sprout tops. You can use all of those. They're like little cabbage leaves. You can use those as well.

6:07And then we've done them today, which I'll talk about later, with pancetta and chestnuts, which work brilliantly. Or you can, some people have them raw. They make a little salad out of them. Or you can roast them with, if you don't want bacon, have a little bit of white wine and some shallots in there. I think the key is cook them quickly, not too long, and don't boil them. Just cook them in a tiny little bit of water and saute them off. That, for me, is how to do them, and then they'll be delicious. So just a little bit of water? Yeah, a little bit of water. So basically you're sauteing them in a pan with a bit of butter or the bacon or the shallot, and then you just add a little bit of water to cover the base and then sort of quickly cook them, and they'll only take about 10, 15 minutes.

6:46Shouldn't take any longer than that. Okay, that's good. Sliced. Yeah, sliced, yeah, in half, yeah, just like this. And I don't believe in all this cut the base and all that. I never sort of understand that nonsense. No. I think you just have to just cut them in half and prep them. Cut them in half. Yeah. Yeah. All right, well, I look forward to a sprout later, Ange. Okay. Disguised in lots of different flavours. Yeah, exactly. But for now, should we get Keira Knightley in? Let's do it. Okay, let's do this. It's time to welcome our guest. We have with us a very brilliant actor and somebody that is sort of in more homes or as many homes, I imagine, at this time of year as Father Christmas himself.

7:22A round of applause for the excellent Keira Knightley is here, everybody. Thank you very much. Hi. Thank you. Hi, Keira. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Welcome. Thank you very much. Are you feeling Christmassy? I mean, I've got a Christmas tree behind me. So I'm feeling super Christmassy. Yeah. You have a Christmas lamp as well, just in case you didn't know it was Christmas. And a Christmas lamp. A Christmas lamp. I don't think I've ever seen a Christmas lamp before. Well, hello. Well, here we go. And it's dead nice to have you on. Thank you for having me. So much to talk about today. Obviously, Christmas.

7:51Obviously. Obviously, we've got to talk about the Christmas. I don't think anybody's actually said I'm like Father Christmas before. I think that was the first time. So thank you for that. Yeah, you are. That's a lovely compliment. I'm going to take it, yeah. Well, before we came, before you joined us, we were talking about Christmas films and the essentials we must watch and we talked about Love Actually, of course. Yeah. No, you've only seen it once. I have, yeah. And she agrees that's normal if you're in it. If you're in it. I mean, it would be weird if I was watching my own. It would be very weird if you said it actually 20 times always, every Christmas, yeah, yeah, yeah.

8:20No, I've seen it once. Yeah, that's a new. Very nice. Yeah, really nice. Very lovely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks so much. Yeah, yeah, lovely. Really nice. Yeah, yeah. It's amazing, though, that the memes of Love Actually, like, keep on going. Keep going. That meme is on. Yeah. Oh, it's me. Yeah, yeah. I know somebody said that to me the other day, and then they wanted me to say it, but I hadn't seen it, so I was like, I don't know what you're talking about. I thought I realised that there's whole languages that are going on, and it's actually quoting me at me, but I don't realise that. Yeah. It's a really good one.

8:50Can you remember when Keira watches back the video of the wedding and it's all close-ups of you? Yeah. And there's lots of great memes. I get sent a lot of dog on my algorithm because I have two dogs. Right. And one of them was like, my dogs, when they get into my phone, and it was you being like, it's all me. Because that's all my phone is. It's all me. It's all me. It's all me. Hey, we had, speaking of the Christmas app, we had Joe Wilkinson. Oh, lovely Joe. Yes. I didn't realise, it was only about an hour, an hour before we finished filming that I found out he was in Traitors. Oh, right. So I didn't manage to get any gossip at all out of him.

9:27I was just suddenly like, who won? He was like, I signed an NDA, I can't tell. Oh, no one, yes. He wouldn't tell us either. No, he wouldn't. He was very... Yeah, he was. He was talking about the kiss. That's basically the episode. Great. He was talking about the kiss with you and he was like, I'm so nervous. He was brilliant. He was so lovely. He's got such a large beard that I didn't get close to his mouth. As we were watching Traders and my kids kept saying, did you kiss him? And I was like, kind of. He sort of bounced off the beard.

10:00We're going to start with the champagne because Christmas. Great. Do you like champagne? I like champagne. Yeah, come on then. Cheers. Merry Christmas. Welcome. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, Nick. Lovely. I know. Delicious. It feels like Christmas. I feel when we go out, it should be snowing. It's going to be really disappointing. It's actually quite warm out there as well. I know. Hey, I wanted to ask how your Christmas day begins. Do you have a plan? Is there a ritual, a tradition? I mean, I have two children. So my Christmas day begins with this kind of screaming noises. Santa Claus has been!

10:38You know, all that. And then it's me trying to go, no, you're not allowed to open the presents yet. No, it's four in the morning. No, that is too early. yes he might have been but I think we need so we've got like a 7am rule oh okay yeah yeah yeah it's not being open before 7 before 7 coffee has to be made yes what about you Ange what's your morning morning Christmas do you have a brekkie don't do brekkie because we're going to eat well we're going to eat so much at lunch I don't do brekkie in general well not never no sort of late no I never really have breakfast oh I can't do that oh me neither I'm starving when I wake up no no because we have I don't know finishing late yeah anyway don't do it and then generally don't do presents I don't have kids but I do have a lovely niece who lives near it.

11:16So we'll see with little Elsie, maybe with her we'll do that. And then it's just, and then we start, you know, taking our time, getting ready for lunch. And cooking together. Yeah, cooking, radio on, cooking a bit with Neil and then my friend Adam, he always comes so he'll always help as well. Basically we've got the drink open by about 10.30. Yeah, well that's why I was late. That's what's happening. Okay, so I think that that is, but again, I'm waking up very early on Christmas morning so obviously that's not happening at 7am. But it is happening by like 11. Yeah, that's fair enough. Or maybe a Bucks Fizz.

11:43Yeah. Yeah, I'm not talking a whiskey on a groany here. No, obviously not. Just a little orange juice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's 12 o 'clock. No, no, no. I hear you. You guys have not met before. No, never. We were just saying before you joined us. Although I actually used to live over the street from you. Yes, that's right. Well, we knew, but we never saw you. No, well, I saw you. Well, thanks for saying hello. I did. What a great name for that. You had big dark glasses on and you were walking your dog and you were looking incredibly cool. I had big dark glasses. Big dark glasses. And I was like, well, I can't just go over and say hello.

12:17Oh, I so wish you had. But anyway, so you were, I saw you there. But yes, and then I've got drunk with your husband. Oh, yeah. How many times? Quite a few. Quite a few. Quite a few. So how do you know Neil? So our mutual, I think the real mutual friend is Dan Keeling at Noble Rock. Yeah. So Dan has a magazine and the restaurant's Noble Rock. Kira, you write for it. I write for it. And he always has this amazing party, which we've spoken about, called Beaujolais Nouveau Day. Yes. James, Kira's husband always goes. Goes and gets very, very drunk. With guess who? Neil Borswick. Yeah, exactly. And I'm there, and by the time I'm drunk, I'm calling James Nick, and he's looking at me going, that's not my name, I'm sure.

12:55He doesn't remember, though. He's so drunk, he has no idea. He just comes home and he's like, everybody's so lovely, and everybody don't. And so there's been parties we've been at, and there's lots of people and stuff. So now the frost is gone. We can talk, we can chat. Hello. Look, we can say hello. Yes. I'm just obsessed with the thought of Angie and Big Big Glasses. I am. Honestly. I love the idea of that. Do you still have a dog? I do. I was wondering whether I still have dark glasses. It was a small dog. Yes, probably Alfie. It was a small dog. Yeah, Alfie. It was a small dog. Yeah, because that was quite a long time ago.

13:29Yeah, yeah, it was quite a while ago. And then we mutually share, your mum and I mutually share a painter as well. There's so many random connections. Chris. Oh, Chris. Chris. Not Gies. No, not Gies. It's a different painter. Maybe how many painters she's got. Chris. Oh, that one. You know Kira's mum, a lot of painters. She loves painters. Loves a painter. Yeah, loves a painter. And he never says to your mum, he goes, no, I'm with Kira's mum. I went, so you're not actually with Kira, you're with a mum, and I'm still getting turned down. Oh, there you go. Yeah, but that's fair enough. That's fair enough.

13:58I might like to chat. Yeah, he loves to chat. Likes a painter. Likes to chat. There you go. Anyway, so there's the connection. There's the connection. I heard that you wanted to talk to Angela about canapes. I don't have any canapé action. Okay, this is my extent of canapes. Pretty much mine as well, Kate. Okay, fine. I wouldn't, you know, beat yourself up about it. So, I've got a friend who's a wonderful hostess. And she said, she was throwing a party and she said, oh, don't worry, just bring canapes. Oh. And I was like, oh. I mean, I don't know. I didn't, apart from this, maybe a bit of saucisson, you know.

14:30But like, that's the whole of my canapes. The two things I do do on Christmas Day is I get some either sourdough or baguette, butter it, and then some smoked trout. put that on top, squeeze of lemon and black pepper. And rather than a sort of tiny little bit, it's like, you know, a sort of half a piece. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I do that. And then I do do a Parmesan sort of crisp. What do you mean? So as in, basically bake Parmesan pastry. So pastry with Parmesan through it, roll it into a log like this and then cut them. So Parmesan biscuits is what I'm saying, not crisp. And then you cut them and you bake them on the tray and that's all.

15:07And you can make that like weeks ahead, put it in the freezer. Oh, okay. Yes. And just buy pastry. Yeah, you can buy the pastry. Shop-bought pastry with parmesan, what do you do? No, you don't buy the pastry. It's basically flour, butter and parmesan. Oh, okay. You can manage that. You can manage that, yeah? Flour, butter. Because I've also bought cheese straws and that sounds like a posher version of buying cheese straws. Yes, and if you've got the time or the inclination, you time it so they come out slightly warm. Yeah, okay. And then already people are like, oh my God, they're warm, these are amazing, and really it's so easy.

15:38Because we did gougères. There you go. Which was delicious, but they're actually quite fitly. That's a more faff, yes. It was a more faff. This is much even. Like a little cheesy puff. Yeah, like choux pastry. Delicious. And you're piping it. But actually it meant there was no kind of talking. No, no, no. Get some James to make the parmesan. Ask him to call Neil. So James and Neil can basically take care of canapes. They're on canapes. They can do that, yeah. And I'm sure if you James ask nicely. James is on all cooking duty. There you go. He's doing the whole thing. No, I'll probably, like I will be KP.

16:10you know I'll do a bit of like cleaning up chopping all the rest of it but he's it's 100 % his his baby and he loves it doesn't he he loves cooking he absolutely loves it like he's completely obsessed by it he loves loves loves it yeah and do you not love it or do you just he loves it more so actually it's an act of service allowing James to do it I used to cook and used to really enjoy it but can't say I was ever very good at it and wasn't you know timing is not my I get very distracted I'll have a chat right at the moment that everything's ready and everything burns I'm that You know, it's that thing.

16:42Whereas he's got one of those brains that is like, he loves it. It's methodical. He goes through, you know, he does it all. So basically it just kind of got to the point where it was always just disappointing when I cooked. And it was always really good when he cooked. So I was like, all right, over to you. Yeah, you do it. Yeah. Before we eat, we thought we could do your likes and dislikes. We always like to do this. My food likes and dislikes. Yes, yes, yes. Not as in life likes. Not just generally. Not just generally, actually food. No, not just generally. Okay, go on. We thought we'd start with your general non-festive food loves.

17:12Yeah. And then we're going to go Christmassy. Yeah. Quite short but sweet. You said you love anything spicy. I do. You love chilli, any noodle soups. I do. You told us that you had no dislikes at all. I mean, not really. No, me neither. No, I mean, I'll give anything a go. Like, what's that very famous pasta that you have in Rome that's intestines? Looks like intestines. No, it is intestines. It's a pasta sauce with intestines. Oh, I don't know that one. and it smells quite specific. Yeah, because the French do it, which is andouette. Andouette, which also smells... With the mustard, which I can't eat that.

17:46No, and the smell of that, I find very tricky, but actually I've then eaten it and gone, oh, I like that, that's fine. And what about, is it like a tripe bolognese, something like that maybe? Yeah, it's kind of a ragu, but with tripe. I mean, I found that I didn't love that. No. I don't love an upfront dill. Oh, yeah. Interesting. I like a background dill. I love this. But an up front deal I find a little trickier. So the Gravelax, for example. Not your thing. Well, again, I would eat it, but I would say that personally, I like it to be more background. You would say, Dill, back off. Back off.

18:18Back off, Dill. And you can stay there and I'll appreciate you, but I need a little space. Yes. Don't come into my area. Don't not too close into my zone. I think we need dish merch with background deals. I love that. I think that should be the new question. What is your background dish? Yeah, up front. Yes. Well, maybe that's it. Maybe if you're actually sort of fine with everything, you need background foreground. Background foreground. Background deal. Okay, well, let's go foreground. Christmas foreground. On the Christmas wish list, we had crisps and olives for starters. Hello. Turkey. Yep.

18:47Got that. Yeah, roast potatoes. Got those. The roast potatoes, I know you've done good roast potatoes. They look really good today. Do they? I've been filming them. That's how bad it has been. That is a delicious roast potato. Brussels sprouts with lardens and chestnuts. Yes. Yes. Sticky toffee pudding. Yeah. Wow. Which again is quite contentious, but it's actually my mum. My mum makes a really, really good sticky toffee pudding. Yeah, so she normally does pudding and that's it. Although last year, because what we've noticed is that we get so full that by the time we get to dessert, actually the sticky toffee pudding is too much.

19:19And so actually last year we did an apple crumble, which was weird, but kind of totally great because it gives you the bit light at the end. It was like, yeah, so actually that was last year, but I still have a place in my heart for sticky toffee pudding. I also think puddings, you can do what you want at Christmas. You're allowed, aren't you? Yeah, I don't think everyone has to have Christmas pudding. You can do a cake, you can do other stuff. Whatever you want, or cheese, like you and I. Will you do a dessert Christmas day? We'll do Christmas pudding, because my mum loves it. I love Christmas pudding.

19:44Traditional Christmas pudding. Yeah, she loves it. And will you make it? I make it. I have a couple, there's quite a lot of us, and we do a little taste test. We get mum to actually taste which one she loves. Wait, wait, wait. You mean more than one of you is cooking? You do different? No, no, no. I'll make a Christmas pudding. And then my friend Richard Corrigan has sent a Christmas pudding for my mum. I'll normally buy a carved angel one and we'll have a St John one. And then mum will do a taste test to see which one she likes the best. Wait, does she go for different ones every year? Well, the thing is, we have to not tell her because if she knew it was Richard Corrigan, she would just say yes straight away because she loves Richard Corrigan.

20:20Over her daughter, that's why I'm saying it. She'll go, Angela, you've messed that up this year. She'll say... That's mum. Ruthless. Right, I'm going to go and get you some Christmas food now. So help me through the rest of the Christmas Day. Do you have like any other rituals? Do you watch a film on Christmas Day? Do you all like to get together and watch a film? We will watch a film. We'll go for a walk, which obviously the children hate. Go on a Christmas Day walk. Yes. If we're somewhere where you can jump in the sea, I'd totally do a cold swim on Christmas Day. Yes, love. I quite like that.

20:49Yeah, and then, yeah, there will be films. There will be films. What do you watch? We were talking before you came in about... We were, well, my preference would be like a Die Hard vibe. Yes. My children are not old enough for that yet. No, for Die Hard. So, you know, Elf. Yes. Elf classic. Elf works. I mean, it's great. But yeah, I love that you'd, when you said that you'd only watched Love Actually once. Yeah. And I guess you've got to have that. Like I've interviewed so many people, like you were talking about someone mentioning to do a line to you and you're like, what's that? Yeah. I remember interviewing Kristen Wiig and saying to her, oh, will you do this line for me?

21:21My friend's getting married from Bridesmaids. Yeah, and she's like, I have no idea what you're talking about. I have no idea what you're talking about. No, that's the problem. I'm like, I've definitely got a delete button in my head for every single line that I've ever said in any film that I've ever done. And it's like literally as soon as I've done the scene, it's gone. Like it's not, I mean, even if I had to redo the scene, I've got to relearn it. So then when people kind of come over and they get a very particular look on their face when they're obviously quoting me. And then you're like...

21:48And I'm like, I get the look, but I have no idea what the line is. And you always wanted to act, You knew at a young age that you wanted to do it, right? I did, yes. How old were you when you were like, this is... Apparently, I was three when I first asked for my agent. No. Yes. I love that. So my mum is... I'm obsessed with you at three. A bit much. My mum's a writer and she was an actress and my dad was an actor. So I think there were agents always calling the house. And then I was like, well, I want one. Well, I want an agent. Why has everyone else got an agent? Everyone's got an agent. I need an agent.