Emilia Clarke’s dreams come true with our super greens vignole with lamb

20:58Come on. Exactly. What cookery books do you like doing? Because you've got quite a collection ahead. I do, yeah. I go through phases. I'm having a Nigel Slater moment.

21:07Nick:I love Nigel. We love Nigel. I just love him so much. I've been like really, really deep in Nigel Slater cooking for a little bit. Do you follow him on Instagram? Do you do Instagram? I am on Instagram, but I have learnt a phrase for what I do. Post and ghost. Post and ghost. Yeah. You're not... I'm posting that I'm out. You're out, okay. Because that's not good for my mental health. Yeah, no, it's not good for anyone. No. But I didn't realise that Nigel said, I will just go on his Instagram. And Nigel will just do like a picture of like a corner of his kitchen and be like... So chic. A spring morning falls on my fruit bowl and you're like, Nigel.

21:49And it's just like a banana or something. But the way he writes it, oh, he's amazing. So good. And he's like, the dabbled paving flags in my back garden as I have eggs. Yes. Nigel, yes. But that's how his recipe books read. Yeah. We followed him on from the shop once. You did, Remy?

22:11I would too. Like, not in a weird way. Where does he live? I know where he lives. It was with Remy. And we always used to see him. And then, um... We just, we always used to see him. Seriously? Yeah. I'll give you his address later. I don't have his address. I'm joking.

22:30Nick:Oh, my God. I was going to have you two stalking him. That's genius things. Yeah. Well, he does post on his Instagram, like, the climatists outside of his house. Yes. So I think he's not that shy about it. No. No. Anyway, Nigel Slater. So Nigel Slater. Angela Hartnett. Do you do Angela Hartnett's cookbook? I do have Angela Hartnett's cookbook. Oh, my God. And I have, as my aspiration to make the, what is it, the Il Fleur? Il Fleurton. Il Fleurton. Yes. That is in your recipe book. Yes, it is. I really want to make it, but I'm too scared. You can make that. It's the meringues that float in this like creme anglaise with caramel over the top of it.

23:13Nick:Yeah, you basically bake these egg whites. Yes. Yeah, and then basically, as you say, in a vanilla custard, caramel on top. So good. But your recipe book is beautiful. Oh, thank you. That's so kind. I heard that you used to bake, or maybe you still do on set. You will bake for crew and stuff. Yeah, it's one of my favourite things to do. Because I imagine it's hardcore, your job, high intensity, high pressure. But then also I imagine there's a lot of days where you're waiting or there's downtime or stuff like that. Yeah, no, there definitely is that. But I definitely bake to calm down. When you're away filming for six months and you're in Budapest for six months or you're in Portland, Oregon for six months, whatever it is, you're like to be able to do something that makes me feel like I'm home.

24:00Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And so I like doing that. Yeah. Now, given everything that we know about your love of food and your passion for cooking and eating, have there ever been any chef roles that have come across the desk? No, because if there had been, I would have been them. The bear. Yeah. Why can't I be in the bear? Come on. why I know they like get to go and be in restaurants and like do it all I know in another life I would have definitely wanted to have like been in a restaurant yeah really situation yes did you ever think about another option when you were younger when you were growing up no I think about it now yeah

24:39this looks and smells amazing oh my god yeah the mains have arrived you took in Amelia and then Angela please tell us what we have there this looks really fat

24:48Nick:So we have a Super Greens Vignole. Well, I've done it with rack of lamb, but on the website it's with lamb steaks. That is so good. Vignole is basically a vegetable stew. And it's from the Roman region, so the Lazio region. It's all about celebrating the new spring flavours that come in with broad beans, peas, French beans, you know, lovely, all stuff like that. New season garlic, spinach, and we finish it with a touch of tarragon. So what you do is a little bit of garlic in your pan, slices of garlic. Then I've added, and this is a little cheat here, they have this amazing packet of frozen vegetables that you can buy at Waitrose.

25:26Nick:Perfect. And so, you know, you can have this dish throughout the year. Add all your frozen vegetables into the sauteed garlic. Add the artichokes into the pan. Then deglaze with some white wine and water. And if you need to add a little bit more wine or a little bit water, and the point is to cook them till they're soft. So they'll lose a bit of colour, but they'll have more flavour. You know, in Italy, it's not all about having everything bright and green. It's just about having the best flavour. That feels very Roman. Yeah, very Roman. And then finish it with some spinach and tarragon and I've added a little crust of the parmesan in there and then a little spoon of butter as well just to enrich it and some lemon rind.

26:01Nick:It's really good. That is so good. Having been a listener, I'm now feeling so smug at being like, yeah, I'm one of the ones eating this. I'm the lucky one who's eating this food. This is so yummy. Thank you. That is delicious. And it's seemingly so simple. So simple. And looks so simple, but so tasty. But it tastes so complex. Also, this is the veg part. You could do, not any time, but you could do any time because you could frozen, but when it's in the height of season, it's a great veggie dish and it's a great accompaniment. You could do that with fish, do it with chicken. You know, we've done it with lamb today, but so it works.

26:37Nick:And then the rack of lamb, I coloured in the pan, a little bit of foaming butter, a little bit of oil, but it has its natural fats. You don't need too much. some garlic and rosemary for about five minutes in the pan, then about ten minutes in the oven. That's it? Yeah, not too long. You can take it a little bit more. I've cooked it rare, but if you want it a little more medium, you can take it a bit more. That's not a problem. It's how you'd like it. When I was with my mum up north, we were talking about lamb, and she was going to make lamb, and she kept saying, oh, I'm nervous to make her lamb.

27:05Nick:Why? I don't know. Why do people get nervous about it? Because you'd serve it pinker? I think lamb's one of the... Chicken, you know, you cook it, that's it. You know, a bit like pork you do. But lamb, it can either be rare or... I personally like lamb a bit more cooked. I think it eats better if it's like a rump of lamb or a leg of lamb, if it's medium. I think if it's too rare, it just feels a bit chew for me. And that's my personal taste. But I think, yeah, I think lamb's hard to cook. And would you do like a slow and low? Yeah, I prefer that. I'd much rather like do a shoulder of lamb, long cooked shoulder or some steaks and stuff.

27:39Nick:But my preference would be, I probably actually, I'm like Eileen I don't avoid lamb really? it's not my mate it's the king of the meat it's delicious but it's not my preference I prefer a chicken to cook you know oh yeah chicken all day I just want to put it in the oven and walk away I don't have to think about it if you were doing like a shoulder of lamb yeah or like a leg of lamb and you were doing like a slow and low situation what are you are you covering it in some like anchovy and rosemary and all of those things or are you just going to season it and then do a little something a bit of both actually if it's a leg I'd put incisions and then put garlic, anchovy, rosemary all in it, and long and slow.

28:17Nick:Shoulder of lamb, I think, is just, I would again do all of that. And then what I would do is cook it on a rack, and then under the rack have loads of sliced onions and potatoes, so all the fat went onto the onions and potatoes, so you have all that sort of lovely flavour from the lamb. There's also a wine pairing, which is a monk wine. A monk wine? A monk wine, yeah. Yeah, a Chianta Classico. So it dates back to the 6th century when we started Dish. Yes. So yeah, an old Benedictine monk style of making wine from the 15th century. Wowzers. Wow. If you want to try this, all the ingredients and the recipe, waitrose.com forward slash dish recipes.

28:56You can get the wine pairing on there as well. And there'll be a video of Angela making this as well, if you want to watch that and then make it. Should we talk about ponies? Ponies! Let's talk about ponies, please. Yes, congratulations on Ponies, by the way, which is your new show, which you can see on Sky and Now in the UK and Ireland right now. Right now. You can see that. So tell us all about ponies. You know, you must be inundated with a script. So I'm always like, you know, intrigued. What was it about ponies that you were like, yeah, this is what I will do. This is what I'll commit to for a while.

29:33Oh, it was really interesting. I read a script that I wanted to watch and also be in, where you're like, sometimes it's just not that complicated. Sometimes you read something and you're like, this is so fun. This is so lovely. It would be me and another girl. That's fun. And then I sat down with the showrunners and the main producer and was like, this is, I want to go for dinner with each and every one of you. This seems like such a no-brainer. And that's kind of how it went the whole way through. and then they also were very generous in how much creative like freedom I had within it. I was a producer not just in like someone you get as an actor they're like yeah I'll give you a producer credit and you're like I just turned up.

30:19I didn't know anything to warrant that. But this one really was that and they kind of really let me in so that was really amazing. So you get the script, you meet them, you get on and then you start when you say you're on it as a producer what does that mean? Are you sort of like giving script notes, directional notes? Just being across everything on the ground. Do you know what I mean? So like knowing what we're trying to get, making sure everyone's good, everyone's happy, everyone's got all the things they need and sort of, you know.

30:47Nick:Feels like you're putting more on your plate than maybe. I sort of love it. Okay, right. I love being a bit too busy. Okay. Just like just a little bit too busy. But then with this job, the learning of the Russian was just a bridge. That is impressive. It was really, really hard. Say hello to us and how are you in Russia? Could you do that? I don't know anymore. No, you could. Strasvizy. Yes. Wow. There you go. Yes. I think that sounds very impressive. So it's like 1977 in Moscow. Yes, in Moscow. So you have these two women who have husbands who are CIA operatives out in the field. Something goes wrong, they die.

31:26It's not a spoiler. It's what happens at the first leg. And so you're left with these two women grieving in very different ways, having had very different marriages, very different people, but both of them are in this kind of, huh, what am I going to do with my life? They find one another and the rest is you. Yes. I feel like I can only say what happens up until episode one. No, that's good. That's what we do on. Yeah. And then basically it's these two, the two of us try and figure out how to be spies. Yeah. But we know nothing. Hence the persons of no interest. This particular show is, it's fast and it's like, it grabs your attention, but it's also about female friendship, which I love.

32:09And you've just got two girls just having a nice time. Well, no, sometimes they're having a terrible time. Sorry, they're having an awful time.

32:16Nick:But also, it's set in the 70s. Yeah. And you think of where the world was then and the craziness of where the world is now. You know, and then these two, I mean, You can't imagine that as a woman in the 70s where it wasn't the most liberated of countries being in Russia. And you see all that, how you're dealing with that in your friendship together, really. Absolutely. No, that's definitely right. How was getting the Russian dialect and the language and all of that? It was so hard. It was so hard. I had this amazing language tutor called Fabian, who was incredible, and we did this like very complicated six-step process that involved a memory palace.

32:58Nick:Yeah. And involved making stories out of the individual sounds of the words. Right. We would break them down into individual syllables and each syllable would have what was the image that came out of that syllable. Okay. So let's say you've got like a paw and a paw and moo. Yeah. There's a, pachimu is a word. So paw, chi, moo. And I would visualize what those things were. So maybe there's a cow for moo and there's a dog's paw for paw. Chi, chihuahua. Exactly. I'm learning Russian. And we would put those, we would make that into a story. So the paw does something and then there's a story. So I learn the story.

33:44Nick:Right. And then we put the story in a memory palace. Oh my gosh. And then I learn that. so I've learnt the story to learn it in the memory palace so poor is over here and Moo is over here and so in every scene that I'm doing Russian you're witnessing my brain being like go into the room find the story do one of these I know wow which is why I can't speak it but that's a mad way to learn isn't it and you script and you've got to think about the shot and your mark and you're producing it there you go jeez it's busy and it's busy it was quite busy pretty busy and you went and did it in Budapest. Yes.

34:20And we heard that you cooked for yourself even in the midst of this. Yes, I found a fishmonger. They were Italian. And yeah, and I found a really lovely like organic, nice veg delivery service and they would deliver me food and I would cook it. Every day you were doing this? Yeah. Wow. But sometimes like, you know, fish doesn't take that long to go. You're like eight minutes in the oven. It's fine. Yeah, okay. Respect. Thanks, man. Respect, yeah. Well, you can see ponies on Sky and now, right now. Yeah, right now. I would love to talk to you about a few things. Yes. Game of Thrones, we want to talk about momentarily.

35:00But I want to also go pre-Game of Thrones and talk about West Side Story. Yes. You played Anita in a school production. In my school production, yes. Of West Side Story. We've got a clip of it. No, we don't. No, we don't. No, we don't, we don't, we don't. Oh, my God. We don't. Oh, my God. You know, Angela also was in West Side Story. Angela, who did you play in West Side Story? Tony. Tony.

35:26Nick:I was basically this height when I was 50. I had a deep voice. And it was an all-girls school. So someone had to play Tony. We could do a little school. I was going to say, I could do a little divide the room.

35:43Maybe, maybe. We've all been there. I never did a school production Wow I don't think they had it at my school No, I don't think they did We had asbestos But no school production No school production But when you were doing that When you did that Were you like, okay This is what I'm gonna do Or were you just having a laugh No, no, no I was like three when I was like I'm gonna be an actor Really? So yeah, by the time I got to West Side Story I was like, come on Should have dressed in real Like, yeah how did she know so young is it something you've seen on TV so my dad was a sound designer for the theatre he actually designed the sound for West Side Story oh wow

36:26Nick:okay he came and did and mic'd us all for my school no way that was so cute he was taking it so seriously just a bunch of like I don't know what were we 14 or something it was very sweet so he was doing the sound for Showboat when I was like two or three and I went to go and sit my mum and I I love it I went I went I got my ticket yeah glass of champagne yeah yeah yeah yeah see what this is about then reaches for a martini on the way home mini mini she's only two she's only two

37:14oh my god that's so funny sorry you went to see it with your mum I went to see it with my mum and I was silent for the two and a half or two hours or whatever of the production and then at the end stood up on my seat and like was just enraptured by the whole thing and then very quickly after that was like I'm going to be an actor it sort of almost turned into law where I was like, ah, yes, I will be an actor. Like, it was just a part of who I became, I guess. And when your mum and dad looked for it, were they like, yeah, come on. No, my dad, no, was not, because he knew actors. So he was like, don't be them.

37:52They're arseholes. They're a nightmare. Please don't be a nightmare. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I knew Game of Thrones was big, obviously, and I knew it had become bigger than like a telly show, but the stats were so mental. It won over 50 Emmys. Wow. It's crazy. And attracted 44 million viewers per episode. I'm so glad I didn't know that at the time. Yeah, the time, yeah. But what was crazy was that was actually your third role on screen. Yes. Was that? Yes. Holy shit. I know, mental. Did we know it was going to be big before it started? No. They weren't like, listen, this is going to be huge.

38:33No, no, no. No. So they had shot a pilot already without me in it. and HBO were like, needs a bit of work. So then they recast a bunch of people, my character included. And so I didn't know that going into that first season that everyone was like, ugh. We've got to make this work. They didn't really like the pilot. Right. So we had to redo it. So I think there was a little bit of that kind of energy going on. But yeah, first season was like madness. We were just like, woo, drunk, let's go. Like partying all the time, having the most amazing time and kind of no one taking it. Yeah. But then I think some of those shows like Game of Thrones,

39:11Nick:the longevity of it is the first season in some respects doesn't land. You know, there's lots of stuff I've invested in and it's by season two or three that I think this is genius. You know, and I watch a lot of comedy and stuff and I think, yeah, you know, you think of some of the big, like Seinfeld, even Veep and stuff. It's like first thing you're like, come on, and then you hit with it. But the thing is, the fans stuck with it, didn't they? The ones we invested and then it grew and grew and grew. Because it already had the books. and the books were like very famous and very beloved yeah when did you get a sense of like shit it's massive like was there a day or I definitely never let myself ever get there like I never let I never wanted to never got complacent about yeah I was always the best and be like he's gonna jinx it yeah don't say it keep it chill

40:05I was saying before you came on, I was like, we like Amelia Clarke, she's a good guest.

40:09Nick:Yeah, you did. And I'm not the only person to say. I'm only going to disappoint. Yeah. And you've let us all down. Very unfriendly. Yeah. And quiet. Yes. I was like, no fun at all, is she? No, but we found this, and it's true. Lots of great people, you might hate this, but lots of great people have said lots of great things about you. Emma Thompson told Time magazine, they didn't even ask, she rang them, and she said, she said, Amelia Clarke has the courage of a small lion, the stamina of a Welsh pit pony, and the soul of a clown, a powerhouse to watch, and an ally to die for. Yes, good. That's brilliant.

40:52Emma Thomas, right? Come on, that's nice. Do you want to do the Sophie Turner one?

40:56Nick:Yeah, so Sophie Turner told BAFTA that she falls in love with you every time she looks at you at that smile and her eyes. Oh! Love her as well. I love her so much. She's good. She loves you. She's such an angel. And when you've watched someone grow. Yeah, of course. She'll surpass you in high. Literally. She was like, you're 14. How does that happen? Literally. We had a really nice time when Sophie Turner came on. She's great fun. She's amazing. I loved her. Although the pepperoni, I literally was getting flashbacks. Yes, I was going to say that. Yeah, I was going to say. Licking the poop. She made me taste one.

41:32It was disgusting. They're making me taste one. I mean, polar opposites. Yeah. With that list. Come on. Yes, exactly. She was like, lick a pepperoni. To Angela Hartnett. Come on, Sophie. Come on, Sophie. Sort it out. We loved her. We did love her. There's a little cross next to her name. That's all I'm saying. You know. But I like that she knew. She was like.

41:56Nick:She's like, yeah. I don't know. The honesty, yeah. I don't like mint, strawberry, people pretending. I thought because you're here and you like a martini, we could make a martini. We've done an elderflower mint martini. Delicious. So cheers with gin. Cheers. Never dirty. Cheers, never dirty. I've done myself a mini one because my bedroom is off. Yes, that is. A mini one. Shout out Reaters. Shout out Reaters. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's delicious. Oh, that's dangerous. That's really good. It's just like that little floral bit at the back there. So if you say for wet, you're adding more vermouth. Yeah.

42:36Nick:See, I think I would like that. Yeah. I prefer it. Yeah. Me too. I would have vermouth on the rocks. Quite happily. What are we going to have that next? There we go. Let's go for it. Buckle in, everyone. Lovely, yeah. Buckle in. Shall we do the Amelia Clarke fast food quiz? Yeah, let's do it. Okay, let's do it. quick fire responses please for your favourite way to eat eggs hard boiled mashed up with salt oh okay weird I know no not weird do the break what's your favourite sandwich Philly oh um club sandwich yeah delicious delicious that is actually maybe the correct answer specifically my dad my dad is no longer with us but my dad made a club sandwich that was like next level oh bless dad so good what is your favourite form of potato Chips.

43:25What's your favourite herb? At the moment, thyme. Okay. Yeah. And what is your favourite crisp? The real answer is prawn and cocktail. Mmm. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I love it. Pure judgement. No, it's just a tell. It's a tell. The smell is tough. No, the smell is heaven. The smell's the best thing. It's almost good. Do you remember skips? Oh, yeah. Oh, so good. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. It's a tough smell. But if I'm being, then also just like salt and vinegar. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I can go with that. But like, you know, Skips. Skips, everyone loves the Skips.

44:05Nick:What's your favourite kitchen utensil? The lemon squeezer. Just because then you've got no pips. Got to do that. Do you have a favourite pasta? Spaghetti. Okay. Yeah, to twizzle. Yeah, classic. I prefer it to like a shape. A shape, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Favourite Sunday roast? Oh, well, now I've had the lamb. I sort of want to say lamb. Yeah, say lamb. I think, I think... York quiz. Yeah, I think. What do you advise? I'm looking down to him and I want the right answer. Whatever you want to be. Yeah, I've got lamb. Yeah, lamb. Lamb, lamb. What's your favourite dish from your childhood? That's really hard.

44:43My dad was an amazing cook. He was so good. But he did, and he made so many things. I was like 10 eating skate wings. Do you know what I mean? That's very impressive. Yeah, we were introduced. But then he made this macaroni cheese that he would put thick cut smoky bacon in and leeks.

45:06Nick:Oh, I like the leek introduction. Oh my gosh. And then it was so good. And he did loads of different types of cheeses in the sauce. And then the top is nearly burnt. Yes. But you've got the leeks that are all nearly burnt. and then underneath they're just like sweet and soft and you cover the top in parmesan. Wow. See how you hear about the bacon and stuff, the leeks isn't a addition. I like that. Oh yeah, I like that. I feel like I could taste that. Oh yeah, totally. Because it almost tastes like a leek gratin. Yeah, yeah. It's basically the vibe. But with crunchy and pasta. Well, you passed the fast food quiz.

45:41Definitely. Thank you. You passed. For your end of show question and the chance to win the waitress goodie bag, we heard that you said you would like to write a love letter to Tahini. We would now like to hear the love letter to Tahini. Okay. Did you say this? I said I could. You could. Write a love letter to Tahini. The team would like, right. So do it. So you like it. Put your money away in our place. Yeah. Go on then. Turn the bullet through. So could you? I wrote something. Oh. Because I was so paranoid. Oh my God. They want me to write like a great little love poem. Is it on your phone? To Tahini.

46:21Wait, I love this. Okay, this is my love letter to Tahini. Okay. Liquid gold and me. You've just got home. It's late and you're cold. You caught up on dish episodes and that first date had the cheek not to even take you to Murano's. Despondent and dissatisfied, upon entering the kitchen, there's a sight for sore eyes. You reach for the tub, the one you know oh so well, full of liquid gold. So you dip and you bite, dip and bite, and all of a sudden you see, with perfect clarity, one more bite and it's going to be all right. Oh my God, Amiria! That's amazing! Wow! Come on! Wow! Amiria, that's fabulous!

47:11You do love tahini. I really do. You do. You do. Obviously the goodie bag is yours. Obviously. Obviously the goodie bag is yours. Amelia, thank you so much. Thank you. You can see Amelia's show ponies right now. Thank you so much. Congrats on the show. Thanks for coming. That was great. You're so welcome. Thanks for having me. Amelia Clark, everybody. Yes. That was so fun. This is amazing. It's a good bag. Yeah. Do you have both of Angela's books? I don't have this one. I have the weekend cook. Take that one then as well. Thank you. There you go. Amazing. It's good, that one.

47:51If that episode has left you wanting more, find us on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Just search Dish.

47:58Nick:If you want to make any of the meals I cook on Dish, head to waitrose.com forward slash dish recipes for all the ingredients and the recipes. Dish from Waitrose is a cold glass production. Waitrose, the home of food lovers.