James Martin: Home Comforts

Long and lazy winter days are the perfect times to enjoy some indulgent home-cooked meals. For James, those dishes are a perfect chicken and mushroom puff pastry pie and some slow-cooked spare ribs. Also thisepisode, food historian Ivan Day reveals how slow cooking years ago meant a very indulgent spit roast. And one of Wiltshire's local microbrewers, Alasdair Large, visits the kitchen to see what James can cook with his own locally produced beer.

James has the perfect antidote to the winter chill with his ultimate comfort food recipes. Dishes include a warming beef and red wine pie and a tasty chicken fricassee, as well as homemade marshmallows inchocolate dipping sauce. James also meets the farmers who are producing the highest quality salt marsh beef, and the man who is one of only three pure chocolate makers in the UK.

James offers a culinary twist on some beloved midweek suppers. He creates his own toad in the hole with onion gravy, as well as showing how simple it is to create a delicious blackberry and apple millefeuille out of homemade puff pastry. James also meets a dedicated family of fish farmers who have been producing top quality trout for over 30 years. And historian Ivan Day reveals a sweet but surprising midweek staple enjoyed by the Tudors.

James proves that beautiful home-cooked recipes can be just as speedy as convenience food, with a menu that includes a simple chicken escalope with lemon, nuts and thyme and an icebox chocolate cake that needs no cooking. James's neighbour, ex-F1 driver Jody Scheckter, drops in with buffalo mozzarella from his award-winning farm, while food historian Ivan Day creates a quick quince ice cream using one of the country's first three-minute ice cream makers.

A night in front of the TV calls for a tray of the best homemade treats, so James is preparing squid with the ultimate dipping sauce as well as the perfect finger food: a British tapas of chicken wings and wedges with his own tomato sauce.

Plus the show takes a trip to County Durham to meet Catherine and Richard Furze, who have turned their love of American popcorn into a thriving business. Meanwhile, historian Ivan Day recreates the favourite finger food from the Frost Fairs of yesteryear - mutton pies and baked pippins.

James proves that fast food does not need to cost a fortune, as he prepares a menu of must-have, home-cooked takeaway meals. These include cod and chips in a beer batter with homemade mushy peas, a Thai chilli beef classic, and chicken in black bean sauce.

Historian Annie Gray cooks the curry that delighted Victorian dinner tables, and husband and wife team James and Nicola Adedeji reveal how they turned their family recipe for African sauce into an award-winning business.

James cooks his favourite winter warmers, including jacket potato skins hot from his own patio pizza oven and a chocolate and clementine steamed pudding.

He also tries to impress local sheep farmers Tess and Steve Gould with a warming winter hotpot made from their prize mutton. And food historian Gerard Baker prepares a popular medieval stew, hodge-podge.

Delicious home-cooked recipes don't have to break the bank, as James proves by creating three meals from a single ham hock and prepares his personal take on tartiflette, a popular Alpine dish. Artisan jam makerJennifer Williams shares the secrets of her foraged fruit preserves and joins James to share some traditional teatime treats made with the help of her jam.

James devises perfect recipes to replace those ready meals for one. On the menu is an easy-cook steak and chips with homemade bearnaise sauce, and a quick salted caramel cheesecake. Historian Ivan Day recreates kippered salmon, a dish popular with single scholars who relied on quick and easy meals in their university lodgings. And cake maker Serena Whitefield explains how her love of making healthy flourless cakes has grown into a flourishing business.

James shares the recipes that remind him of his Yorkshire childhood, including his grandmother's roast shoulder of pork and her indulgent classic pud of parkin served with rhubarb. Historian Gerard Baker delvesinto the history of another childhood favourite - gingerbread. Plus, we meet the award-winning producers of Yarty Cordials.

James shows how every night can be a treat night with some great home-cooked recipes that can turn a mundane meal into something special. There's cinnamon rolls, roast lamb with homemade mint jelly and luxurious vanilla-cured salmon. Food historian Gerard Baker reveals the history behind a traditional treat - the trifle - and there's a trip to the Dorset flourmill producing some of the region's award-winning organic flour.

James proves that a hectic lifestyle is no bar to delicious home-cooked food with a menu of meals that can be prepared in advance. Recipes include a slow-cooked chicken chasseur and the perfect pork loin stuffed with chestnuts and sage. There is also a visit to former French chef Thomas Maieli, who has said goodbye to his LA lifestyle cooking for the rich and famous to pursue his personal passion - creating the very best homemade duck confit.

James shares his easy but delicious home-cooked recipes made with the help of some store cupboard staples. These include the world's best macaroni cheese made from dried pasta, a cheat's tomato soup made from tinned tomatoes and basil, and a white chocolate and whiskey croissant pudding. Historian Gerard Baker delves into the history behind our store cupboard spices, using them to create a medieval farced partridge, and artisan food producer Nick Greef explains how he has turned his South African grandfather's recipe for the perfect biltong into an award-winning business.

There's nothing like the taste of home when you're feeling a bit under the weather, and in this episode James serves up his own pick-me-ups, including a nourishing squash and lime soup and a vitamin-packedpoached haddock with egg.

Wild pig farmers Roy and Sarah Hunt visit the kitchen with a selection of their New Forest bacon for James to create his own take on a comforting cheese, tomato and bacon snack. And historian Ivan Day recreates our ancestors' answer to convalescence food - an alcoholic posset.

James shows how anyone can impress their dinner party guests with some simple home-cooked recipes that look like restaurant dishes. He cooks a stylishly simple beef wellington, a show-stopping passion fruitdelice, and a clever custard souffle using ready-made custard as a cheat.

Historian Ivan Day looks at macedoine jelly, a Victorian dessert with the real wow factor. Norwegian artisan producer Ole Hansen explains how his family's passion for perfect smoked salmon led him to start his London-based business.