Gemma Arterton learns the secrets of a perfect crab, fennel and chilli linguine

6:51Angela Hartnett:Yeah.

6:51Gemma Arterton:I've got two kids now. It's just hard.

6:56Angela Hartnett:It's a hard day. How old are they, Gemma?

6:59Gemma Arterton:Three and five and a half months.

7:01Angela Hartnett:Oh, wow.

7:03Gemma Arterton:Angela's soda bread. I make soda bread. I know.

7:07Angela Hartnett:Is that why you made it?

7:09Gemma Arterton:Yes.

7:11Angela Hartnett:Okay, let's welcome our guests then, please. Angela, let's do it. A brilliant actor is here to spill the secrets about her role as an MI6 agent. In return, we're going to help her unravel the mystery of her, and I quote, claggy, crab linguine. It's Gemma Arterton, everybody. Welcome. Hi, Gemma.

7:31Gemma Arterton:Thank you, Gemma. How are you? Oh, I'm so ecstatic to be here. I'm so happy. Thank you so much, Patricia.

7:38Angela Hartnett:I was very happy that you were coming to see us. because I was saying to Angela, I was like, there's a time when I saw Gemma Utterson all the time.

7:45Gemma Arterton:Out and about. Out and about. Clubbing.

7:47Angela Hartnett:Clubbing on the radio. And I said, there was a time we hosted the British Fashion Awards. We did, we did. And then she said, did it go well? Did you do it again?

7:55Gemma Arterton:And I said, we weren't invited back.

7:58Angela Hartnett:Just the once.

7:59Gemma Arterton:Just the once. Just the once. Maybe we weren't fashion enough for the Fashion Awards. We weren't, no. I'm sure that's not true.

8:06Angela Hartnett:Anyway, it's great to see you. It's great to see you. And I'm so happy that all three of us are hosting the Fashion Awards this year. Heather's back. Heather's back. How are you, though? How is life for you? Great.

8:18Gemma Arterton:Yeah, I'm really well. I've just had another kid, and so I'm in the thick of that. But it's all lovely, and getting back into it again. You know, coming back from the brink of exhaustion, you know. You know, but it's all good. It's all good, yeah. You're managing. you don't look exhausted power of the paintbrush you look fabulous thank you so much

8:43Angela Hartnett:I feel like you should get started I'm looking at this bread and I'm like you've got to have some of the bread and Angela you can tell us what we have here this is your soda bread so it's soda bread which I've never you've not made on dish before

8:56Gemma Arterton:never made bread before but soda bread I do like because it's really easy to make it's literally flour two types of flour wholemeal flour normal flour bicumball of soda and buttermilk and they and a bit of salt and touch the sugar. And you just mix it all together and straighten the oven. There's no proving. There's no room to rise and bat it back. And it's really, really good. It's easy to make. I love soda bread. Yeah, it's good. I know, I've got to make it. I've got to find a gluten-free soda bread recipe.

9:20Angela Hartnett:Yeah, I remember a cracker, which I initially was like, I don't want to eat that. I've eaten 600 of these today.

9:27Gemma Arterton:Do you make that as well then? I make it, yeah. So my husband's Irish, so I'm an honorary Irish person now. Right, okay. And if I do say so. We spent a lot of time in Ireland, and oh, the best is when you go into a bakery, they've just made it that morning, you take it back with you. But it's so easy to make at home because as you said, you don't have to wait for anything to prove. Oh, it's just brilliant. And you can just use your hand to mix it. You don't even need a spoon. No, no, no, just mix it. It's true though, you do, you just mix it all together.

9:57Angela Hartnett:Hey, we're going to talk about your claggy crab linguine, which by the way, they're Jenna's words, not mine. Before we do though, and we are going to start with a glass of a vermentino. Cheers Gemma.

10:09Gemma Arterton:Thank you. And welcome. And thank you so much. We did it. Cheers. Welcome. Cheers.

10:15Angela Hartnett:Oh yeah.

10:16Gemma Arterton:That's lovely.

10:17Angela Hartnett:Yeah, nice minerally wine. That's what you want. That will be fantastic with what we're having today. It will with our crab linguine. Crab linguine. But before we talk about, well your brand new show that we need to talk about, Secret Service, and before we talk about the linguine, we always like to do our likes and dislikes. of our guests. First on the list of loves was anything crunchy. Yeah.

10:38Gemma Arterton:Anything. Anything crunchy. Yeah, I just love crunch. It's funny because I would veer away from sloppy food. I don't really like sloppy that much, but a good crunchy anything.

10:49Angela Hartnett:What sort of things are you veering away from in the sloppy arena?

10:53Gemma Arterton:Yeah. Mashed potato, risotto. Not really, yeah, not so much. Anything that's kind of runny, like a runny egg or, Or, you know, I want it to have a bite. I want to know that it's a bit cooked. I don't like raw meat and anything like that. I like a crunch.

11:08Angela Hartnett:You also love ginger. How are you having your ginger?

11:13Gemma Arterton:I like it neat.

11:15Angela Hartnett:Yes?

11:16Gemma Arterton:I like to munch on ginger, raw. I like that hit. But any form, crystallized, pickled, you know, what's the ginger that's in the jar, that one? The pink one. The pickled one. Pickled ginger. Oh, that's delicious. Any ginger.

11:33Angela Hartnett:Any ginger.

11:34Gemma Arterton:Ginger biscuits, ginger nut.

11:35Angela Hartnett:Yes.

11:36Gemma Arterton:Biscuit.

11:37Angela Hartnett:Love. Love ginger nut. The Gemma Arts and dislikes were dill.

11:42Gemma Arterton:Ugh.

11:43Angela Hartnett:Oh, gosh.

11:44Gemma Arterton:I hate dill. No dill.

11:45Angela Hartnett:You hate dill. Sorry dill, but I hate you. Do you know what caused the dill hatred? Is it snuck in something by surprise?

11:51Gemma Arterton:No, it's just, it's inexplicable. I just, because I like pickles. Is it too fragrancy, do you feel? It's very pungent. Even the smallest amount, you can really feel it, can't you? Yeah.

12:03Angela Hartnett:Yeah, when we asked you what you wanted today, you said you wanted a pasta, but you wanted, I loved how you wrote it, saying a simple but delicious pasta like you'd get in Italy.

12:10Gemma Arterton:Oh, but when, I mean, when you go to certain places in Italy as well, and the produce is so good that you don't need to do much with it at all, and you can't replicate it really outside of that place. You know, I just have such strong memories of eating a tomato there and crying because it was unreal. And so making, yeah, a simple pasta.

12:36Angela Hartnett:You can't beat something like that.

12:37Gemma Arterton:Yeah.

12:38Angela Hartnett:Is there anything that you love to make at home that is quite just for you and the rest of the family? Like, oh, I can't believe you're having that.

12:46Gemma Arterton:Basically anything that I make. My poor son just, I could just see him just being like, oh my God, not again.

12:53Angela Hartnett:What we have in. What sort of things? What do you like to cook at home?

12:56Gemma Arterton:I do. Do you know, it's funny. I love to bake. I love to make things that are methodical and take time. My husband's an amazing cook.

13:05Angela Hartnett:And do you think that makes you cook less? Yeah. Because he's good. Yeah.

13:08Gemma Arterton:I have to admit, you know, main course, that's not my forte. I remember when we first got together, cooking him this curry, and it was absolutely disgusting. It was a cabbage curry. but it was like shrank you know like it was meant to be good but I cooked I chopped it too big and I it was so disgusting and last week I said let me do the roast today so that I just get back into it and he went no it's all right I'll do it maybe I took kings and teary deteriorate she was

13:42Angela Hartnett:like let me oh no you're right and do you miss living in the how long have you been in the country now four years and is there anything that you miss or anything that you think country life does really well that the city doesn't and anything that you're missing from being in the city yes

13:58Gemma Arterton:so you can't get good sushi where we are right on your doorstep no miss we always talk about that don't you because you can order you just get it like that it's a gastropub vibes yes so that's why i asked angela to do have pasta today because i don't think you can get good pasta around where we are but you do get good roasts oh yes can't have it all so we accept that um and we don't get like um delivery or anything and we used to spend so much money when we lived in london on takeaways and now we don't ever get takeaways you know it's weird rory does all the cooking

14:39Angela Hartnett:yeah you've got rory that's all yeah The pasta has arrived.

14:45Gemma Arterton:Tuck in because it will go claggy. It's beautiful.

14:49Angela Hartnett:Okay, so we are having what exactly, Angela?

14:53Gemma Arterton:We have a crab with caramelised fennel and red chilli linguine. So yeah, it's based on a crab linguine, but what we do first is we take a fennel, slice it very thinly, put in olive oil in a pan and cook it down very slowly for about 10 minutes so it starts to caramelise. So you put it in a pan with a shallot, caramelise it with the lid on for about five minutes and take the lid off and it will start to brown. And then at the same time, you cook your pasta. So it's all going on at the same time. And then you add your chilli to your fennel, some lemon rind. Once your pasta is cooked, you toss all that into the fennel and the chilli mix.

15:28Gemma Arterton:And then you add your crab, touch of lemon juice and basil. And I've added a little bit of parsley as well. And then we've made a little bit of pangra tartan. I was going to see there's a little crunch on there. So we've added that on top. Thank you. A very hard way. That was hard for me because I had a forkful then. No, you start, Gemma, please. But I wanted to learn and listen. No, no, carry on.

15:48Angela Hartnett:No, get in there and get involved. So that sounded really quick and easy. It is. For me, I always think like fennel is something I've got to cook for ages, but no.

15:57Gemma Arterton:Because it's sliced very thin.

15:59Angela Hartnett:So you do it on the... On the mandolin. Mandolin.

16:02Gemma Arterton:Or by hand, if you're worried about that. So very thin. Very thin. Get that in. Get that caramelized. get it cooking down with the lid on or parchment paper to seal in that sort of steam and it will cook very quickly for about five minutes take the lid off and then it caramelises up you see not claggy

16:18Angela Hartnett:not claggy

16:20Gemma Arterton:obviously the last bit is the cooking water and honestly I mean I've done it times where I've never added cooking water and I've literally cooked for my family one time there's about 20 of them and we're all in Italy and my friend who was with us Salvatore goes he's like this so you forgot about the cooking water I see because he was right I had, because I had, and it would all sort of start. It's that last minute thing. But did you not add it because you were distracted? Because I think that's what I would do. I would get too busy in the, oh, no, I've got to serve now, and forget that bit. I think you forget it.

16:54Gemma Arterton:I think sometimes you don't add enough. So I think the key is what you said. Sometimes there's a couple of ladles. But a couple of ladles, quite a lot of water. So I always add a little bit. And the other key is serve it and eat it. Get it out. You know, if you want to. Get it out.

17:06Angela Hartnett:So how do we avoid what Gemma has experienced and I've experienced where it's going to be claggy?

17:12Gemma Arterton:I think it's having the right ratio of crab and whatever you're doing in your dish to pasta. You know, have enough that it covers and smothers it. I don't know whether you do, either of you do this, but don't pre-cook your pasta. Always cook it fresh. Then don't drain it or wash it off with cold water or anything like that. So straight in there. And then always straight away, I'd add a little bit of the cooking water. And also cook it slightly less. Right. So pack your instructions, maybe say 12 minutes, cook it for like 10 and a half, and then the last 30 seconds or minute and a half, you cook it in the pan.

17:45Gemma Arterton:And that's when you add your cooking water, you see. Do you use brown meat and white meat or just the white? In this we just use white. But you can use brown as well. Because I think sometimes with the brown, there's the risk though that it can get claggy. And I think that's where I've... I prefer just white meat, if I'm honest. Okay, noted. I prefer brown on toast. Brown on toast, we love it. There you go.

18:06Angela Hartnett:And we eat cooked crab or raw crab.

18:10Gemma Arterton:It's raw crab. But what you've done, you've pre-cooked it in the sense that you've boiled the crab and you pick all the meat from it. When you buy it in supermarkets like Waitrose, it will come in a little tub and it's pasteurized and stuff. But if you're doing your crab at home, you know, you've semi-cooked it because you're cooking it to get all the meat out and then you re-cook it or reheat it rather in the pasta. Right.

18:30Angela Hartnett:Is there anything else that you would add to this?

18:33Gemma Arterton:You could add a bit of garlic, a bit of dried chilli. But I think you've got enough ingredients there. It's like Gemma said earlier, the thing about Italian food is less is more. You don't want to start adding more ingredients. They don't like that. They don't need it. Three or four ingredients maximum. That's what they like.

18:48Angela Hartnett:They don't need it. You have made a pan grattata for you and Gemma. Because crunch.

18:54Gemma Arterton:Yeah.

18:54Angela Hartnett:How do we do this again? Bread crumb, pan fry it.

18:57Gemma Arterton:Pan fried in a touch of butter, olive oil, and you can season it up with a clove of garlic, which you remove, or a bit of rosemary, and you can add a little bit of lemon if you want. Can you pre-make pan grotto to have in the fridge and then you can just chuck it in? You can leave it outside. It's only bread. Outside? Well, I mean, you can leave it in your kitchen. Not on the doorstep. That's what I thought you meant. If you put it in the fridge, it could go soggy again, so you'd leave it outside. So, yeah, if you're having this the next day, you can make it the day before. It's easy, yeah, it's not a big deal.

19:30Gemma Arterton:Or keep it in your larder, yeah. it's really good this is beautiful

19:34Angela Hartnett:if you want to try this dish at home all the ingredients in today's show are of course available at Waitrose and you get the recipe on waitrose.com forward slash dish recipes the wine pairing minerally we love so minerally it's like a gravel driveway delicious delicious it's a vermentino which is considered the perfect pairing for a crab pasta.

20:04Gemma Arterton:Perfect pairing. Don't think that. It's all meant to be.

20:06Angela Hartnett:Say if you weren't at the back of King's Cross right now, Gemma, where would you... Where would you...

20:14Gemma Arterton:I think you were.

20:15Angela Hartnett:I think you were. Like, where would we like to be doing this? Like a crab linguine with a glass of white wine.

20:21Gemma Arterton:Oh, my God. Where would you like to go? Well, we were talking about it earlier, because, yeah, a mouthy lemon. A mouthy. Oh, a mouthy. I mean, if I could be in Amalfi all the time, it's the most stunning, beautiful... There's a great restaurant in Sicily called La Pinetta, and it's on the beach, and if you eat there at a certain time, by the time your meal's finished, your feet are just covered in the sea, and that's the sort of restaurant you want to be eating this in, because you're just literally in the sea.

20:52Angela Hartnett:We could dip them in the Regent's Canal. We could, yeah.

20:58Angela Hartnett:Hey, we should talk about your new show. Yes. Oh, yeah. Andrew and I watched, I watched it, you've watched it. Yeah. We both thoroughly enjoyed Secret Service. Quite our kind of show.

21:10Gemma Arterton:Is it? Oh, good. Definitely.

21:12Angela Hartnett:That works well. Definitely one for you as well. I know that you love a spy situation.

21:17Gemma Arterton:Did you enjoy making it? I did. I loved it. It was a great team. We have the director, James Marsh. It's kind of like a big deal. He did Man on Wire that won an Oscar and in Theory of Everything. And anyway, I loved him. And we had this wonderful cast. And also the producers I worked with before on this other show I did called Funny Woman. So it's like a nice family. And yeah, I got to play. She isn't a spy, but she's a spy handler. So she trains spies. Right. And it was really fascinating, actually, delving into that world, which is a real world. like these people that work for MI6, which is different to MI5, which is something I learned.

22:03Gemma Arterton:What is the difference? MI5 is home turf. MI6 is international. Everything emerging.

22:10Angela Hartnett:Did you know that? I did know that. Did you? Yeah. Wow, I never thought. I just thought about different floors.

22:15Gemma Arterton:Yeah. I did? They do have different buildings. All right. Different buildings. There's a little bit of a lot. You want to be MI6 then, don't you? That's right. MI6. You want to be MI6. Internationale. You want to be international. You're head of the Russian desk, aren't you? That's right, yeah. And it feels like in those first two episodes we saw, you've just recently been promoted or they're just checking out how you're doing and stuff. Yeah, she's a sort of maverick, young. Youngest head of the Russia desk. High-pressured job, obviously, because of what's called the new Cold War, what's going on with Russia at the moment and the influence they're having over certain nations and governments.

22:53Gemma Arterton:So she's in this job and she's worked very hard to get there. And it's a, you know, she's passionate about it, but it's, yeah, it's tentative. It's often that people leave and are fired in those positions often because it's such a high pressure job.

23:08Angela Hartnett:But I was saying earlier that I love that when... I've only seen the first episode, but you're in. And I love that. Because I hate when I watch something and nothing happens. And people say, oh, what?

23:18Gemma Arterton:It's a slow burn.

23:19Angela Hartnett:And I'm like, we haven't got time for a slow burn. I like that we start and we are immediately in. And I also really like that it's not, you're not spoon-fed exactly like this is the baddie and this is the goodie. No, no, no. You're just like watching, trying to figure things out. Like kind of like a good book, you know, like you're interested into what is, you know, Well, this is based on, this is a book adaptation.

23:40Gemma Arterton:Well, there we go. So there you go. It is a series of books, Secret Service, by Tom Bradby, who has done the adaptation, who's also the ITV News at 10 anchor. Oh.

23:51Angela Hartnett:And he's in it.

23:52Gemma Arterton:Yes, he does feature in it. He's in it. Right, yes. He's like, I know, I put myself in it. Oh, my God, I didn't know that.

23:58Angela Hartnett:But when I saw him in it, I was like, oh, my God, how big it is.

24:02Gemma Arterton:It is him. And he bloody made it. And they get lots of people from ITV to be in it to make it feel legit. So like Robert Peston and like GMB people. Yeah, yeah.

24:11Angela Hartnett:I think that's fun, though, because it makes it feel legit. I love that. I always hate when I'm in a drama and not in one, watching one. When is that going to happen? No, but when I'm like well into a drama and then they've got like rubbish graphics that the news wouldn't have. And I'm like, just use the news ones. Use the real people, please. And it also felt like I like knew you in it.

24:32Gemma Arterton:Well, that's nice in a way though, that you say that because she's meant to feel, because sometimes you watch spy shows and they're kind of like unattainable people. But these people that work for, you know, Secret Service are real people that are living amongst us and they have, you know, they have lives and have kids and families and relationships, whatever. And to make it feel real.

24:55Angela Hartnett:When can we see the rest? Because now we're in. When can everyone who's listening and watching? I'm so sorry.

25:00Gemma Arterton:You're going to have to wait to the end of April. I think it's the end of April.

25:03Angela Hartnett:Okay, end of April on ITV.

25:05Gemma Arterton:Yeah, on ITV, yeah. And ITVX.

25:08Angela Hartnett:And ITVX. Well, we actually looked in into some of the key qualities that you would need to join MI6. Oh, God. Because it's never too late. You never know, Nick. You never know. And these are sort of towards the top of the list, the things. So let's look at these, Ange. Curiosity. Yeah, we're curious. Yes. Yeah. Trustworthiness.

25:30Gemma Arterton:I think we're all trustworthy. Yeah, we're trustworthy. I believe so.

25:32Angela Hartnett:Problem solving skills. No.

25:34Gemma Arterton:No, that's why I'm a bit rubbish. Really? Well, I'm good at problem solving people problem solving. Like if you said to me, oh, by the way, blah, blah, blah, I would be able to empathize and chat you through it. I'm not sure I would be able to if you gave me, I don't know. I'm trying to think of a problem that a spy would have. Well, it never ends. Well, no, that's what I'm saying. You're caught somewhere. Oh, no, do my editing in a spy.

25:59Angela Hartnett:Courage. Are you courageous? I don't think I am.

26:03Gemma Arterton:I'm not sure in the heat of the moment that they said, tell us everything or I'll kill you, that we both wouldn't go, what do you need to know? I just want to feel we would.

26:13Angela Hartnett:Big fan.

26:14Gemma Arterton:You know, they'd have little my dog, Betsy, and they're like, she's going, I'll tell you everything. What do you need to know? I think we'd be rubbish, wouldn't we? Yeah, definitely. If we thought harm was coming to something we loved or someone we loved. I'd just tell them anyway.

26:28Angela Hartnett:Yeah. I'm also a daydreamer. I think you've got to be quite in the room. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. You've got to be like, sorry. You're just right now. Being held above a cliff. Can you say that again? No, you've got to be...

26:41Gemma Arterton:That would be so true.

26:44Angela Hartnett:You're such a daydreamer. Yeah, I'd be bad. Yeah. Discretion.

26:49Gemma Arterton:That's where we wouldn't be good.

26:51Angela Hartnett:I think you'd be good at that. I think you'd be good.

26:54Gemma Arterton:No, I'm not. I'm too transparent. Maybe you're just a good actor.

26:58Angela Hartnett:And I'm like, no, she is good.

27:00Gemma Arterton:In real life, though, I blush really easily. But then I guess if you're a spy, you can just pretend to be another character for you your whole life.

27:09Angela Hartnett:Yeah. Because you're lying to everyone you're meeting, but then you've also got a lie to your family and friends.

27:15Gemma Arterton:I just couldn't do it. I'm too much of a gossip.

27:18Angela Hartnett:Yeah, you're like, guess what? Guess what's happening in Russia? Guess what I did? You've also had a very successful career on the stage as well. Yeah, I did a bit of a stage. Would you do the stage again? Was it something you'd like to do again?

27:33Gemma Arterton:Yeah, it's always going to be there. I love it. And yeah, I'll get back there.

27:37Angela Hartnett:I always think it's so terrifying.

27:39Gemma Arterton:Do you know what's funny though? I love that. And then when it opens, so you rehearse, That's my favorite thing ever, rehearsing. Then you get it up and you do the technical bit and you, you know, test it out. And then you have press night. That's terrifying. And then it's open. And I'm like, oh, it's open now. I'm just doing it now. But I like the... You like the anti-dressing. Yeah, I like that. I like that. And when I was doing a long run of something, which I found really hard, because I'm not good at the things that are, you know, time consuming, I was writing to a lot of people that I found iconic to invite them along just so I'd get that buzz knowing they were in.

28:20Gemma Arterton:So who did you write to? Michael Caine. Oh, wow. And I'd be like, oh, so-and-so's in the audience tonight. And all the actors backstage were going, ooh, do you want that? Oh, do you want that? You want that. Ooh, there is.

28:33Angela Hartnett:Yeah, because you've got to do it.

28:35Gemma Arterton:Yeah. And wasn't one of your first, if not your first, was it at the Globe? Yeah, it was. Which is incredible to have done that. Maybe that's why you like the fear. It was a baptism of fire. They're the people and they can touch you. Yeah. And you're battling with pigeons and whatnot. Yeah, because it's open air, isn't it? Yeah, during the day, if you're doing a matinee, they sit on the top. And we had a bun fight in our show. We had a brioche roll fight. And they knew that after a while, they knew it was going to be at that time. So they congregate at the top and then come down and get the brioche.

29:08Gemma Arterton:But that's when I had my serious monologue. Okay. So I get really f***ing on the pigeon.

29:15Angela Hartnett:You're like, I'm doing Shakespeare. I'll be like, no, no, no, no. Come on. Back into the series. Wow. And then do you have any pre-show things that you have to do? Is there any superstitions or anything that you always like to do before you take to the stage?

29:28Gemma Arterton:You know, it's funny you ask because I used to be a little bit anal about warming up and making sure I was, you know, You know, I'd do yoga before and I'd get all myself warmed up and do the vocal exercises and all the tongue exercises. But actually, now I think I just want to have fun and get loosey-goosey. Some of my thank you so much. That's all right, my love mate. Delicious. I did this play with Tamsin Greg and Rupert Friend and Harry Lloyd years ago. And we used to play this game called Bum Slap before the camp.

30:01Angela Hartnett:Oh, before you got on stage.

30:02Gemma Arterton:So we wouldn't necessarily warm up, but be on stage before, you know, the audience come in, obviously. And you have to run around and smack each other's bum. Basically, you have to smack as many bums as you can. And it was the best warm-up ever because it got you all, oh, yeah, and then you were like, you know, you were all loosey-goosey. I think I'd rather do bum slap than any of the old rituals anymore.

30:28Angela Hartnett:That's a good one for us, Ange, next time we do Dish. A little Ange bumslap to get us going. We'll see how it goes. We'll see how it goes. Oh, my God, desserts.

30:38Gemma Arterton:Oh, come on. There you go. Little lemon posset. Come on. Oh, I'm betting that's very tangy.

30:44Angela Hartnett:Oh, I bet it's good. Oh, yes.

30:46Gemma Arterton:Oh, it's a bit runny in the centre. But that's what we want, though, isn't it? Yeah, that's what we want, yeah.

30:51Angela Hartnett:Mmm, that is so good.

30:52Gemma Arterton:Mmm, that is so good.

30:54Angela Hartnett:So tell us what we have here, Angela.

30:56Gemma Arterton:So we have the best lemon posset. It's a recipe by Martha Collison. and lemon posse is one of the most simplest desserts to make because it's literally double cream, sugar, lemon juice. That's it. That's it. And it's just having the right quantities. You boil your cream, add your sugar in there. You can put a bit of the lemon rind in there to enhance the flavor in the double cream and then you add about 90 mils of lemon juice and it's the chemical reaction of the cream with the lemon juice that sets it. So you don't need anything like gelatin or anything to set it. And then you set it, you either make it the day before, set it overnight or three hours or something like that in the fridge.

31:35Gemma Arterton:That's a good dinner part. And then I grated a little bit of lemon rind and then we made some homemade shortbread on the side. That's beautiful. But it's inspired by your lemon meringue pie. Yes. So tell us about that. Well, lemon meringue pie is one of my favourite puddings, desserts. Because I do like making pastry. Right. But I also love the curd, making the curd. Getting the meringue right and all that, you know, for me that's the tricky bit. It's not an easy dessert to make. No. I've made it lots of times when the meringue starts to wobble when I cut it. Yeah. And I don't know what I've done, whether I've overbaked the meringue or I haven't done the right temperature, but my mum always makes a great lemon meringue pie.

32:13Gemma Arterton:Do you do a deep meringue or a kind of medium? I sort of try and do a deep one, I think. Yeah, that's hard, I think. But I think that is all the timings of making sure your pastry comes out and then you put your curd in, then you've got your egg whites going and stuff, but you can't rush it. Because I did it once where I cooked it and then went to cut it and it hadn't set. So it literally went all over the plate. And that was in front of my family.

32:36Angela Hartnett:Oh, no. They were very fine. They were like, oh, it still tastes delicious.

32:40Gemma Arterton:But, you know, I had... And my mum just, you rushed that, didn't you? I'm like, yes, mum. And she knows mum is harsh, Chris. She knew, she knew.

32:49Angela Hartnett:Gemma, it is time for your fast food quiz. Tell us your favourite way to eat eggs.

32:55Gemma Arterton:over easy over easy over easy I was like over easy I was like

33:01Angela Hartnett:what over easy yes I was like I was like what

33:10Gemma Arterton:that would be some weird fetish I was like

33:13Angela Hartnett:whoa okay I was like what

33:16Gemma Arterton:what's your favourite sandwich food peanut butter and jam

33:20Angela Hartnett:mmm what's the best form of potato um

33:23Gemma Arterton:well I have thought about this. I had the best potato ever in Inishman, this island off the coast of Ireland, and they just grow them there with seaweed and it was insane potatoes. Oh, wow. With like seaweed butter and stuff. No, so the islands of Inish, the Inish islands are off the coast of Connemara and they grow the potatoes there with seaweed as the fertiliser. They have soil there, but they just serve them boiled with butter. Oh, wow. Oh, delicious. I love a good taste. That's good. Can I just say, that is an answer.

33:58Angela Hartnett:That is what we want. A seaweed fertilized. Listen up. Thanks, James. Island off of island potatoes. Yeah, yeah, exactly. We want them now. Some people just say chips. Yeah, exactly. And you go next.

34:09Gemma Arterton:What's your favorite crisp? Ready salted chip sticks.

34:13Angela Hartnett:Oh.

34:14Gemma Arterton:I don't know if you can get them anymore.

34:16Angela Hartnett:Ready salted chip sticks. Great packaging. Do you remember? Yeah, C through E. Yeah, that's right. What is the best cheese, Gemma Arterton? You've got to pick one cheese.

34:26Gemma Arterton:Stinky Bishop. Oh, nice, yeah. Lightly strong cheese this year. I do, and I like one that smells the house out, you know. And very soft and runny, yeah. That's good, my potato. What's your favourite pasta dish? I think it's crab linguine, although I do like a very simple tomato pasta, but no, I'm going to go with that.

34:46Angela Hartnett:Crab linguine. Final answer. Final answer, crab linguine, correct. What is your favourite item on a roast dinner?

34:54Gemma Arterton:Roast potatoes. And finally, what's your favourite dish from your childhood? Oh, my God. You're going to take me back. I'm sorry. No, no, do you know what? I think my mum actually did these, she called them potato pies. They were jack potatoes, but you bake them, bake, bake, bake, bake, so they're nice and crispy. Then you scoop out the insides, mash it all up with loads of butter and milk and cheese, cheddar cheese, put it back in the oven, sprinkle a bit of cheese on top. And that was my favourite thing ever that she cooked.

35:24Angela Hartnett:That is the way to do it. Gemma, we come to the end of the show question. For your chance to win the Waitrose goodie bag as wheeled on by Angela Hartnett. We've got a new trolley.

35:36Gemma Arterton:It's a little bit too low, isn't it? It's only got two wheels. We need a different trolley. We need a different trolley.

35:43Angela Hartnett:All you've got to do is answer this question, Gemma. Oh, God. To win the Waitrose goodie bag, Please tell us in as much detail as you care to give, what is the best strategy when it comes to a hotel breakfast buffet? What are you eating first? What are you eating last? How long are you there?

36:02Gemma Arterton:So you order your coffee. In that time, you go up and have a look at the buffet. Have a look. Come back. Look at the hot menu. Okay, I'm going to have that on the hot menu. Order that when they come with the coffees. then go over to the buffet because you know what's coming so you know how much room in your tummy you need and then just get everything from that

36:26Angela Hartnett:that's the correct answer the giving bag is yours I love the mythology of that

36:32Gemma Arterton:I love that one of the things I hate about breakfast buffets is the hoverers you know you just want to go there and get what you want but you don't want the person with the plate hovering hovering hovering it's like get out the way yes I need to get my cheese that I never have for breakfast usually

36:52Angela Hartnett:I definitely have things that I never would have for breakfast yeah it's true you're like yes some ham yeah why not it's half seven in the morning yeah we'll have a bit of cheese and ham yeah well Gemma the goodie bag is yours of course

37:04Gemma Arterton:oh thank you

37:05Angela Hartnett:Gemma thank you so much thank you so much

37:07Gemma Arterton:that was really fun

37:08Angela Hartnett:thank you a round of applause for Gemma awesome everybody thank you thank you Massive thank you to Gemma Ardston for joining us on Dish. Before we go, we love when we get messages from you guys. So we thought we'd finish today with an email from Laura, the title of which was just love. Oh, Laura. Love, love. It's like getting an email from you, Andrew. Love, love. Hi, Andrew and Nick. I just want to tell you both what an absolute joy is to listen to your podcast. I just discovered it this month. And I've been binging it non-stop. Since listening to the podcast, I've been totally inspired to give cooking a go.

37:49Angela Hartnett:To put it into perspective, last year I made a Betty Crocker birthday cake for a mate. There are three ingredients in a Betty Crocker cake mix. I forgot the eggs. I put it back into the oven. Just flour and milk. 20 minutes in, I remembered I'd forgotten the eggs. So I took it back out, scrambled it all together again with the eggs and shoved it back into the oven. my friend said it tasted like cement and proceeded to throw it up into the toilet so not a successful time with Betty Crocker since Dish has come into my life I have hosted a five course dinner party and my guest told me that at least three of the five were edible so she's improving two to go thank you for all the doing, keep the podcast coming well thank you so much Laura and that is

38:43Gemma Arterton:oh bless Laura that's going

38:44Angela Hartnett:in the right direction

38:45Gemma Arterton:yeah she's trying she's trying I love that

38:48Angela Hartnett:yeah well that's all they'll do to you and shout out Betty Crocker and if you do want to get in touch with us you can email us of course dish at waitress.co.uk well thank you and thank you Laura and we'll see you next week see you next week

39:05Angela Hartnett:if that episode has left you wanting more find us on Instagram TikTok and YouTube just search dish.

39:12Gemma Arterton: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.

39:24Angela Hartnett:Waitrose, the home of food lovers.