Sophie Willan falls for our golden chicken, tomatoes and green beans...

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1:13Hello, welcome to Dish from Waitrose. I'm Nick Grimshaw. And I'm Angela Hartnett. How are you, Ange? I'm very well, thanks. How are you, Nick? Yeah, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good. Busy week? Yeah, I've had a mad busy week. Have you been in Spain? I have. Spania. Yes. Si, si, si. It did make me think I need to drastically learn a language. Or just summer. It can't be good, can't it, for the old brain. Do you just speak louder in English? No, same. Two beers, please. Same volume. Same volume. Thank you. So yes, loud. Same volume, but it did make me think it's, I mean, we've got to learn. Yeah, of course.

1:51Not you. You've got your Italian, haven't you? Just. I need to practice it better. Today we welcome the excellent Sophie Willen's dish. Love Sophie. We love Sophie Willen. Sophie actually did a dish episode with us, which... Our first live gig. Our first live one, which was back in 2024. It's two years ago now. It's about 300 people, 400 people. We did it at a place not too far from here, in sort of King's Cross. London Podcast Festival is what it was at. And we had Sophie Willen on as our live guest. but if you were there, you would have heard it and you would have seen it. But if you weren't...

2:26Didn't record it. We didn't record it. So we met her there and hung out with her there. Yeah. And then afterwards, we all went for a drink together. We're like the whole team because it was like our first live show. Yeah. Sophie came with us, do you remember? Yeah, she was there. And then the next time we saw her was at my birthday. Yes, I shared a taxi with her from, your birthday was such an extravaganza, one venue to another. Oh, did you? Yes, me, her and Jade. Oh, I love that. And Neil, I think. It was quite a few of us piled into this little taxi all the way to the second venue. Well, she said that night when we did Dish Live, I guess it must be when I was near my birthday, and she was like, oh, I hear you're having a do.

3:05Are you having a do for your birthday? I said, I am, yes. She said, I'd love to come along. I said, well, come along, because I'd invite my mutual friend, Andrew. Yes. Andrew Gallimore. Right. And she said, oh, Gallimore says you're having a do. Oh, Gallimore. I'd very much love to come. And did she then bring Jane? Would that be all right? And she brought Jade Adams as well. So yeah, she was like, I'd very much like to come. They were great. Great addition to a party. They were all a great addition to a party. Well, since we last seen Sophie Willen, she's won another BAFTA. She's got three BAFTAs now for the excellent Almost Not Normal.

3:36She's also had a baby. Yes. Which I've not seen her since she had a baby. No, me neither. I can't wait to see her. She's also taken over hosting duties of the Great British Sewing Bee. But before we get her in, should we talk about seasonality? We shall indeed. What should we talk about? Bean season. Bean season. Bean season. Not just green beans, although there are green beans here. Well, there's yellow beans you get in at the moment. You also get the dried beans that you have, like the blotty beans, the cannellini beans, but they're all coming in fresh now. So it really is the bean season coming in.

4:08So these are lovely flat beans, similar to a runner bean, but slightly more tender, I think, than a runner bean. because the runner bean, they've got sort of like, the edge is slightly rougher and you always have to take the side from there. And then you've got your classic green beans and then you also can have a fine bean as well. But yeah, so I love beans. One of my favourite beans. What would you do now? It's bean season. Bean season. These, I would blanch them and then either do them in a really lovely like Dijon mustard vinaigrette, like a really nice Dijon mustard or you can sauté them with a bit of garlic, shallots and then finish them with a load of toasted hazelnuts.

4:44You can put them in a lovely tomato sauce, you know, so basically blanch them and then braise them down in a lovely sort of tomato ragu. So you've got a lovely side dish. My grandmother used to do them in just cook them and just in vinaigrette. But again, like a bit like a potato, when you make a potato salad, put the seasoning on when they're hot. Now we tend not to do that in the UK because we like our green beans to look green, but actually they're not as flavoursome. You know, when they slightly lose their colour, it means when they're cooked and then they've got much more flavour to them.

5:14And then also when they're hot, they'll absorb all that vinaigrette flavor and mustard flavor. So always do something like that when it's warm. That's a good tip. Yeah. A really good tip. You know, Neil's biggest gripe and mine is when they're not cooked properly, you know, and they're squeaky. Yeah. You know, and they just, you know, they squeak basically when you try it. And it's like, no, well, it's cooking beans properly. So how long are we talking? Well, I think you've got to cook them for about four or five minutes. But like anything, the recipe's a guide or even the cooking temp. And then taste it.

5:42You know, cut a bean, put it in your mouth and check that it's cooked. We don't want it squeaky. We don't want it squeaky. And would you put them in cold water afterwards? No, I don't. No, no, because again, if I'm adding the vinaigrette, if I put it in the cold, yeah, I want it in the hot, absorb it. It doesn't bother me that it loses its colour. No. I want the flavour. That's what you want. Before we get Sophie in, I've got an email from Ellie from Australia. Ellie. Hi Ellie. He says, Hi guys, weekly watcher of episodes. Absolutely adore you both. Thank you, Ellie. but I need to settle a very heated debate I'm currently having with my partner.

6:16He thinks roast tomatoes belong on a roast dinner. I, for one, am deeply upset by this but what are your thoughts? Love from Ellie in Adelaide. Well, hi, Ellie. Hi, Ellie. A roast tomato on a roast dinner. The only roast I would argue you could put it on, not listening, it's everyone's preference, isn't it? It's chicken. I could put it, I could see it in the summer, some lovely roasted tomatoes. But would you call a roast, like, because if I, on a Sunday, roast a chicken and do it with vegetables and salad and potatoes, I wouldn't call that a roast dinner. I wouldn't call that a roast dinner. You feel that's just a lovely chicken supper?

6:55Yeah. Do you know what I mean? I get you, I get you. Whereas a roast dinner... Well, listen, I'm... Maybe it's gravy. Maybe it's the gravy thing. Yeah, because you wouldn't put gravy with roasted chicken, salad and potatoes. No, no. But you could put your roasted tomatoes. But then if you're doing it, as you say, with your sage and onion stuffing, your potatoes, your cabbage, whatever you put on it, we agree with you. No tomatoes. No tomatoes. We're saying that. I mean, I wouldn't fall out of love about a tomato. No. I think there's bigger problems in a relationship than that. Yeah. But, you know, I would...

7:26Like what? Well, you know, if you went off and had an affair or something. You know, I think that's something to worry about. It's a classic case of she doesn't care. Yeah. I mean, you know, I think I'm glad you care so much, but honestly, don't worry about it. Yeah, do what you want. Do what you want. Give him the tomatoes. You don't have the tomatoes. Sophie Willen has a food thing that will cause more of a problem than this. What's her one, remind me? It involves crumpets and pot noodles. Oh, yes. Like, that's when we've got to have a tour. Yeah. You know, it's not pineapple on a pizza. That's divorce.

7:58That's divorce. We hate that. Yeah, it won't be going down there. But tomato we can live with. More importantly, is it a ripe tomato? That's the key. That's the key. If it's not a ripe tomato, then definitely divorce him. Yes. If you do want to get in touch with us, you can do so by emailing us dish at waitrose.co.uk. Right, let's get Sophie Willing in, shall we? Yes, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's welcome our guest. They are here, Angela. Thrilled to say that our guest on Dish this week has not one, not two, but three BAFTAs. Almost too many. Yeah. It's rude now, really. Greedy. So many. Yeah, greedy, greedy.

8:37Please make some noise for the massively talented writer, comedian, actor, up there with the pasty barn in terms of the greatest things to come out of Bolton. It's the one and only Sophie Willen, everybody. Hi, Sophie. Hi, Sophie. Three bastards. And it's greedy, really. Three bastards. Where are they? They're in my living room at the minute, but I'm having an office built in the garden, so they'll be bobbing in there. The BAFTA office. well yeah why not well I don't want to do that you know you see people on Zooms and they've got all their awards behind them I think a bit naff isn't it so they'll just be in another bit of the office it's good to remember when you're writing and you think this is shit and you go it's alright we did okay I've written good yeah I've written good it also helps when you're hung over and you look over at them and you go I'm not a complete it's okay that is good yeah because if you hung over and you're like oh I'm terrible and you're like, oh, actually, it's all right.

9:33It's all right. So this is the last time we saw you, you were moving into this house. I was, yeah. And it's all sorted now? Yeah, it's sorted, but then I met someone too quickly. Oh. So he moved in. Oh, okay. And it's a small space. Right. Well, basically, what happened, I split up with someone, I think that's when I saw you. Yeah. Was that? Dancing at Nick's party. Yeah, I went on field, put DTF. Right. I tell you what, I had the busiest two weeks of my life. I was exhausted. And then I went on the normal arts and then I met Canna, which could have been a civilised date, but I actually got really pissed, you know, by acting.

10:12You know, a bit nervous. A bit nervous. Yeah, and I got a bit drunk. And then we were walking back and I just suddenly needed a piss and everything had closed and I was, I just, and then I ran to just this big building. I wasn't really looking and I just squatted and he went, that's the Houses of Parliament. I couldn't believe he called again after that. He was like, we should move in together. Yeah. Let's do this. As I left, I went, oh, probably never see each other again, but great to meet you. Then he messaged me. So that was quite nice, actually. And that's it. Now he's in. Now he's in the house.

10:48Yeah. This is the problem. You put DTF, and then before you know it, you're decorating a nursery. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's really difficult. It's all very quick, all very quick. It's too much. Yeah, it's been a bit difficult. Well, a lot has happened then since we've seen you. Jesus Christ. I crammed a lot in that two weeks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's quite the fortnight. And how have you been getting into, you know, mum life? Have you been enjoying it? I've done all right. Yeah, I mean, I thought I would really struggle and I've just normally struggled, which I think is good, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. I don't think anyone's like, it's easy.

11:24No, no, and I'm glad I've done it later. I think if I'd have done it younger, I'd have found it really difficult. But I'm very lucky he's a very chilled out baby, which I don't know where he's got that from. But he's lovely. Maybe his dad? No, he's not. No, he's not. He's got that Caribbean energy as well. So he's like a Caribbean and a northerner. I mean, it's like, I don't know how he's managed to be. But he's lovely. And we're getting in a good routine. You know, just there's not much sleep at the moment. Is she taking turns to look if you're working? or your heart is working? Yes, but then it's difficult because we're both working at the minute.

11:59So, but you work it out, don't you? Last night I did the night shift. Yeah. He woke up at one, screamed till 3.30. And what do they want? Like, what is that? He wants comfort. Comfort. So I gave him a bottle, that was fine. You know, we all want comfort at 1am, don't we? So you've been up at what time today? One till 3.30. But it's all right. That's all right. Yeah. Because this was later, so I was pleased about that. Yes. when I've been filming something and then the cold time's at six in the morning oh that's and if you've been up through the night that's horrific but this is doable yeah well welcome I'm drinking Prosecco and cheers we are drinking Prosecco you've been up for hours she's done a day's work already cheers everybody and well actually we should say kind of welcome back to Dish because we were talking about before you came in we have done this before but it was a live show yeah so like Woodstock or something you had to be there yeah yeah didn't it yeah I don't know but no we had a great time it was lovely it was brilliant it was good fun then saw you again at your 40th yes that's right yeah me you and your husband in the back of the cab sloshed do you know what's funny I got the pictures back and you had on you had fantastic makeup on that night I remember and you had sort of a 1940s wet look oh yeah she did yeah she did all the face that's right proper look it looked great in the Gatsby or something yeah that sort of hair looked so good anyway I must have seen you and give you a kiss because all my pictures after encountered you lipstick on my nose like a lipstick mark and I'm like so in all the pictures of my birthday I've ruined them for you.

13:36It's like Rudolph nose of like your lipstick on yeah and I was like why do I like that and then as I went through I was like Sophie Willis. I think I did that to a few people actually. There was a few lipstick mouths. There was. A lot actually in all the pictures. I'm a friendly girl. Oh, there's a bit Sophie as well. Look at that one. Well, thanks for coming today and thanks for sharing your food likes and dislikes as well. We always like to start with these. These are fantastic. So we're going to start with your food loves. You said pot noodle on a crumpet. Yes. You said, I know I don't want to discuss it.

14:14Pot noodle on a crumpet. Have you ever? Never tried. I've done a pot noodle sandwich. Delicious. Well, you know where I'm going then. Yeah. Absolutely delicious. Love a crumpet. Love a pot noodle. Carb on carb. Carb on carb. Lovely. Delicate. Yeah. You know, you've got your crumpet beautifully cooked. It has to be toasted perfect, not soggy. Yeah. And then, you know, you make sure you drain your noodles. You don't want to get all that. And then you just delicately sort of sprinkle them on. It's a delicacy. Would you do, it's a delicacy. Yeah. Would you do a condiment on top of that? I do put a bit of soy sauce sometimes.

14:49Oh, yeah. Jazz it up with it. Salt and pepper. Always salt and pepper my crumpet. Okay. And the crumpet needs to be like hot, firm, because sometimes you do it one, I always have to do it like three times in a toast. Yeah, I don't think people toast them enough. No, they don't. And actually get quite angry about that. Yeah, I'm with you there. If you have a crumpet, it's got to be like that. And like enough butter that it sort of... Yeah, and you've got to move fast with the butter. Yes, yeah. Because if you leave it too long, it's... It sits on the top. No, you've got to move fast. Okay. Have you ever done pot noodle sandwich?

15:18No, never. Also good. Is it not soggy, that though? That's where I... No, again, drain it. You want to do it slightly drier. Yeah, okay. Between bread, obviously. Yeah, between bread, like white, cheap bread. This is obviously my pre-gluten days. Does it hold together? I was going to say, even if you drain it. You're not travelling with it. You're eating it over a sink or something. Yeah, okay. You're hungover, let's be honest. You've got bigger problems, you know. You've dropped a leucoside in your bed. It's a disaster out there. It'll be a Warburton's loaf again, I bet you. A Warburton Toasty Loaf.

15:50Which is a Bolton company. Right. Yeah, it's from Bolton. Someone said, is there any dynasties in Bolton? I was like, well, we've got Warburton. That is the only dynasty. It has been there for years. Yes, it's the fifth day. Did you always have it, the orange one, Toasty Loaf? Oh, yeah. It's almost a bit too big for the toaster. Yes, it is. Yeah. I love that toast. It's so good. You also said Lancashire potato cake. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And love potato cake. I've had one for years. I've had one for years. No, because you've, have you, do you go back up? I do, yeah. And we used to go to a bakery called Martin's.

16:24Do you know Martin's? Yeah, do you know Martin's? Not a chicken chain. Well, it's Wigan, Presswich. Yeah, your end. Yeah, my end, olden. Yeah. Right. And you get potato cake from there and we always get that on a Saturday morning. Oh, that's good. Yeah, Green Olshes is another one they do. Would you have it with a fryer? Or how would you have it? I just think they're lone wolves. Yeah, low-waves. Okay, right, okay. Just loads of butter. Do you toast them? No. Toast it. Yeah. Take it out. Bob holes in it. Right, okay. And then you put your butter on your salt and pepper. And if you've got proper ones, they're delicious.

16:53They're really lovely. Oh, so good. Right, okay. Oh, can we have a potato cake one day? I need to try it. I'll just check toast in the oven. She's leaving. I know, I know. You also have put butter pie. Yeah. I don't know butter pie. You should do. Yeah. Sorry, that's quite accusatory, isn't it? You should do. It's a Lancashire, like, you know. I don't know it. Oh, it's lovely. I think it is butter beans in a pie. It's delicious. But only in Lancashire. And you can't really get them that much now. Right. But it's one of the best. They do them at Green Alshers. Right, yeah. I've never owned a butter pie.

17:25One thing that I always remember as a childhood, as a childhood delicacy, it reminded me of like potato cakes in Millbrook, was black peas. Do you remember you had black peas on like bonfire night? I actually got my cousin to bring me some down for bonfire night. You stew them off, don't you? Right. I don't actually know what... So are they black beans or are they peas? They're peas, dried peas. So you can get a bag of them. And you put them in water, and I think it's with vinegar now, I can't remember, and then you serve them in a little cup. Right, okay. So a bit like mushy peas, but not as mushy.

17:58Not as mushy. No, not as mushy. Yeah, and you have them with red cabbage as well. That's really nice. Oh, okay, nice. Love a bit of red cabbage. Yeah, that's nice. as for dislike she said deconstructed food I had a lemon meringue pie but it wasn't was it deconstructed deconstructed I had the meringue little piece came and then a bit of lemon where they go like that really original and then a few crumbs of the pastry I was furious because I was pregnant as well did you send it back well no I ate it I was pregnant as I ate it but I was so angry about it yeah I have had a deconstructed veal shin, which I've never quite recovered from, all in little jars.

18:39Oh, no. It was just nonsense. It was absolute nonsense. No. What's that? Don't give the name. In this Italy, two-star in Italy, in Northern Italy. Wow. Given that something like a braised... Two Michelin star. Yeah. Not a two-star hotel.

18:57To clarify. Yeah, yeah. Do you find that a lot in the chefing world? It went through a phase of it. I don't think people did it so much anymore because I think people are going back to the fact people just want to eat honest cooking. But I don't see it so much. You do get it occasionally, you do. I don't know where it all came from, but it certainly was a trend for a while, yeah. But the thing I would deconstruct is a vanilla slice. Right. That's the only thing I'd deconstruct because it structurally is problematic. It's hard to eat, yeah. What the f***? Have you ever, because you eat it like a sandwich and the custard drips out?

19:30Yeah, yeah, yeah. You need serrated knife to go down. But then even smaller, it pushes out. So you have to deconstruct yourself. So I end up cutting through the middle of the vanilla. Yeah, because you want the icing on both sides. Yeah, I'm with you there. Disaster. I love a vanilla slice, though. I love that, yeah. They are really beautiful out there, but hard work. Hard to eat. Hard to eat, though. What's the thing that you made here with the layers? Mille foie? Mille foie for Stephen Graham. But similar to a vanilla slice. Mille foie? Yeah, where it's layers of puff pastry. was you do puff pastry and then we put cream through and our raspberries then more puff pastry then cream raspberry but it's like the construction of vanilla and as soon as Stephen touched it it did like that but you serrate it you know that's how you got to touch it so is there an actual method then you're saying to eating it no I think you literally know when you're ordering it it's going to go everywhere yeah but why do they sell them in Gregg's because if you're on the go yeah you can't be like say you just like on your lunch break you'd be late when you're like sorry boss I've had an incident with a vanilla slice.

20:33In the end, they were. I think for that very reason, to give people an excuse to be late, you know. I think it's take your time, isn't it? But it's not an on-the-go food. No, it's not an on-the-go food. It's not one for the cheese. Not like a sausage roll. No. That's all encompassed, isn't it? You know what? Yeah, quite crummy. Oh, that could be crummy, yeah. Yeah, but that's a bat-off as well. Yeah, a bat-off. I have a tray every time I eat because of these. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. When we did the live show, Sophie, we had a really nice time because we had margaritas. Oh, I know. I know that you're a fan of margaritas.

21:06It was your go-to cocktail when we did the live show. But then we also spoke a bit about Gaviscon. Yeah. And your love of the wonderful beverage. Is there a beverage? Medicine? And we spoke about this here that we've got on the table now, tequila rose. Tequila rose. It's basically Gaviscon with tequila in. Yes. Oh, I didn't tell you. What? After I spoke about it on your show, They sent me loads of them. No way. I got loads of them. Did you? Yeah. Tequila Rose. My agent's got them the **** I've ever given them. I bet he's drunk them all. But it's lovely. If you've got acid reflux or, you know, you've been out and had a wild night and you've got to go out again, you think, oh, start with those.

21:48It's really good. Sort you out. It's a bit like Yazoo, isn't it? Yeah. The milkshake. Yeah, yeah. My mum. The bottle's quite something as well, I think. Yeah, it's lovely. My mum's got a real sweet tooth. Yeah. She's obviously got issues with drugs. But we don't drink much, because she likes sweet things. I took her to the pub, it was Christmas Eve. I was like, just try one. She was like, f***ing hell, they're brilliant. And I've not been able to get her off them. She loves them. She loves them. I'm going to go and get you something sweet. Okay. Other dislikes that we discussed was, you don't eat coconut because of an allergy?

22:25Well, I've realised now I'm not allergic. to coconut anymore. You are joking. No, I'm not. Well, I was intolerant. And I used to just, you know, swell up like a blowfish. And then, but now I don't. Well, congrats. Great, because I live with the chef and he's always doing Caribbean food, which has a lot of coconut in it. So I'm really relieved. Oh, yeah, great news. You know. Great news. You also described breakfast buffets as a bit creepy. They are creepy. A bit creepy. They are a bit creepy. Why are you? Well, have you ever been to a breakfast buffet that's not, Well, maybe you've got to nicer places.

22:58The ones I was going to... The scrambled egg's been there for years. I do not like that. And then there's the watery layer around the egg. No, it doesn't work. And the fried eggs always look poached, which I get very upset about. If you've not got a crispy layer around an egg, **** off. Yeah, yeah. And we also spoke when we did our live show about your granddad. Yeah. And your granddad's love of food. And he enjoyed cooking, didn't he? Well, he was a chef. Right. He was a sorcier, Angela. Do you know what that is? Oh, yeah. A sauce man. Yeah, he was in charge of all the fish and meat and doing all the sauces.

23:30Which I think is a big thing, isn't it? He's this, like, second after the head chef. Isn't he? I know, it's a big role. Yeah, but he's very passionate about food, but he's quite hard work. He's got a Keith Floyd energy as well. He drinks way too much. Oh, right, loves a little chat about it. By the time you get your food, he's hammered, you know. And you can't be in the kitchen when he's cooking because he gets quite domineering, you know. And didn't he have a great story of you guys being with him in Mallorca, maybe? The thing about Grandad, he's wild. He wanted to cook something, so he went out to get a punitive tomatoes.

23:58He actually came back with two Miocan strangers. And they didn't speak the same language, but Grandad does that annoying thing. You know, when he's speaking to a Spanish person, he just starts speaking a little bit like he's talking in a different language. But he's not. Yeah. And he brought them back, and me and his wife were just sat there. He was like, these are my new friends. Like, get everywhere. And we all just sat with them. like what the f*** is going on? Who are these? Yeah, that was weird. Yeah. Yeah, and there was another time me and him, we went out and he's really good at gambling, Grandad.