was back on today, as he welcomed The Inbetweeners star James Buckley into his iconic TV kitchen.
Joining Buckley on was his wife Clair Meek, with whom he presents the tongue-in-cheek podcast In Sickness and in Health.
Today, James cooked up a ‘hearty and warming’ beef and Ale Pie, complete with tender chunks of slow-cooked beef in a rich ale and red wine sauce, all wrapped in golden, flaky puff pastry. He served it with sweet, buttery carrots simmered with star anise.
While Buckley was eyeing up the food before him as James assembled the delicious-looking meal, he seemed to grow impatient as his stomach began to rumble.
As the food was nearly ready, Martin said: “Right, so we’re just going to take our little pie. This is our pie with our beautiful filling…”
James Martin cooked a pie on the show today (Image: ITV)
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James and Clair were special guests (Image: ITV)
At this point, Buckley interrupted: “You are doing that so slow, James.”
Taken aback, Martin replied: “Sorry mate.” Buckley then admitted: “I’m so hungry, I can’t wait for this. This looks absolutely amazing.
“We’ve got to make it look good!” Martin insisted, before reiterating: “We’ve got to make it look good for TV, you see?”
Soon after that, Martin passed the tasty-looking dishes to his two guests, as the camera crew applauded.
James explained why he was taking his time (Image: ITV)
James cooked up some tasty dishes on today’s show (Image: ITV)
“There we have it, your first dish: meat pie and carrots,” Martin said, as the couple quickly tucked in.
Meek expressed her excitement, before Buckley added yet another cheeky comment, lifting the lid on how TV cooking shows often operate.
“You’re not about to do that TV thing where we have a couple of bites and then you take it away from me, are you?” he asked innocently, as Martin started laughing.
“No,” he said: “You’re left with it but yeah, that’s the puff pastry and everything else – super tasty.”
He went on to promise the pair that this was “just the starter”, revealing they had “more coming” later.
Other mouth-watering dishes Martin prepared on the show today included Welsh Rarebit with Bacon & Chutney and his ‘Best Ever Bacon Butty’.
Later on his he was also seen preparing blackened rice with squid, which ‘combines rich, squid ink-infused rice, tender squid, and a surprise garlic butter centre, all wrapped in crispy breadcrumbs’.
He served with a roasted red pepper sauce and a dollop of crème fraîche – and the guests seemed like they were in food heaven.
James Martin’s Saturday Morning airs every Saturday at 9.30am on ITV.