James Martin's Foodie files

TV chef James Martin shares his culinary secrets with Weekend

GORGEOUS GARLIC If you go out for a walk at this time of year, you may smell wild garlic before spotting it with its broad leaves and white flowers. It’s tasty in salads, though quite pungent. A good way to have it is to wash the leaves, wilt them in a little butter, then serve with peas or purple sprouting broccoli. It’s delicious with beef, chicken or fish and great in soups.

FISH BUSINESS There’s a lot of talk about fish quotas at the moment, and I think we should eat more of our own produce. Dover sole is delicious, yet if you go to Hastings on a weekday you’ll see lorries with French and Spanish number plates lined up waiting for the harvest to come in. It’s the same for langoustines, which are produced in Scotland but sent abroad. We should eat the fish we produce in the UK. It’s as simple as that.

CUTTING EDGE If you’re looking to buy a new kitchen knife, I always think the handle’s the most important bit. Many people go for knives that look good on the shelves without actually picking them up, and some of these fancy-looking knives are not good to use and end up giving you blisters. So pick it up, hold it, and if it’s comfortable in your hand, it’s a good knife to buy. Then use a diamond-edge sharpening steel – they aren’t expensive – to keep it in good condition.

RITZ PARADE I had a special treat recently with a phenomenal meal at The Ritz, cooked by chef John Williams and his team. If you were asked to draw a chef, it would be him – with a pristine white apron and tall chef’s hat. The head waiter asked, ‘How hungry are you?’ When I asked what he meant, he said, ‘You tell us when to stop.’ We had soup, beautiful langoustines, amazing salmon, roast duck. The food just kept coming…