Season 2
What to Eat Now is a British cooking television series produced by Optomen Television in which chef and culinary explorer Valentine Warner embarks on a mouth-watering journey through the very best of autumn food.
The series premiered in the UK on BBC Two on 15 September, 2008. There are 12 half-hour episodes in two seasons to date.
What to Eat Now premiered in South Africa on DStv's BBC Lifestyle channel on Tuesday 29 September 2009, at 18h30. Season 2 has not yet aired in South Africa.
Season 2
In his second season, What to Eat Now: Summer, we’re going to follow Valentine as he lead us through the delights of summer food – one of the most exciting parts of the culinary year for the greedy food lover.
This will be the definitive guide to food shopping, cooking and eating, telling us exactly what we should be all eating during those long, balmy summer days.
Each episode is packed full of delicious recipes and useful tips. Every week we’ll learn six must-have summer recipes learning the perfect way to cook everything from broad beans to asparagus, cherries and apricots to trout and mullet: quick, easy, irresistible dishes that will fill our kitchens and homes with the glorious flavours and aromas of summer.
As well as the three or four ingredients we focus on in detail each week Val will also tell us about the advantages of all the others you can eat now, sharing tips on how to enjoy them at their best.
He’ll leave no stone unturned to make sure we know about every single berry and, fish and meat – not just how to cook them but where and when we can buy all them and enjoy them.
This is seasonal, so it’s great value for money and easy to get your hands on even if you never go further than the local shop.
Val’s enthusiasm for seasonal eating is infectious and once you understand exactly how and why foods appear at certain times it’ll be hard to resist the urge to get up off the sofa and cook them for yourself.
Episodes
Episode 1
This episode is bursting with mouthwatering recipes as Valentine tracks down the best ingredients to make your summer barbecue sizzle.
He reveals his top five barbecue tips, the perfect way to cook beef on the grill, and how to make a lobster meal that will take you to a higher state of consciousness.
Don't waste time and money eating tasteless food flown from thousands of miles away. The best way to eat is to eat food that is in season - it is plentiful, cheap, packed full of flavour and, cooked Valentine's way, it is always absolutely delicious.
Episode 2
Valentine unpacks the best ingredients for the perfect picnic. He reveals his top five picnic tips, searches out salad leaves for the ultimate summer salad, 'bigs up' the broad bean and bakes the sweetest cake.
Episode 3
Valentine gives his top tips on how to make truly memorable meals for special occasions.
He heads to the Cornish coast to conjure up a fantastic fish supper, fresh from the sea; makes a pig of himself with delicious recipes for cooking plump and tasty guinea fowl; and serves up a seriously sticky apricot upside down tart, the perfect summer treat.
Episode 4
He gives his top tips on how to make refreshing drinks, guaranteed to keep you cool, and finds out that there is such a thing as a free lunch, as he harvests wild herbs on a field trip to Glastonbury.
He meets a gardening club who share his passion for fresh peas and cooks up an amazingly tasty dish of Sardinian-style octopus and peas. He also creates the ultimate sweet summer treats - lavender cream meringues.
Episode 5
Valentine tracks down the tastiest tomatoes to create his favourite pizza topping, and wades into a Scottish river to learn the art of tickling trout.
He also brings the gooseberry back into fashion with a recipe for heavenly gooseberry snow, and gives us his top tips on making a delicious meal out of yesterday's leftovers.
Episode 6
Valentine hopes for divine assistance when he makes a heavenly summer pudding for an order of Benedictine nuns, and engages in a battle of the berries to see who should be crowned king - the raspberry or the strawberry.
He also celebrates the arrival of the British cherry season with a sumptuous cherry pie and gives us his top tips on how to keep cool using summer's fruity bounty, including a wonderful recipe for raspberry ripple ice cream.