Reece Shearsmith is treated to a showstopping salmon en croûte

Dish

Hosts Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett welcome actor Reece Shearsmith to discuss his new book, 'Things I Took From The Dark: The Musuem of

Key takeaways

• Reece Shearsmith's new book explores his collection of strange objects, ghosts, and monsters.
• Angela Hartnett recommends using medium-priced extra virgin olive oil for finishing dishes like salads and pasta.

Main topics

• Reece Shearsmith's new book
• Olive oil selection tips

Notable quotes

It's the little upgrades that make life truly delicious.

Conclusion

A charming blend of culinary expertise and spooky storytelling that ce

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) It's the little upgrades that make life truly delicious. Like President Butter spread on toasted sourdough melted into hot crumpets or baked into homemade cakes. Made in Normandy with French butter making expertise, President is the number one butter brand in France, bringing a rich, creamy, indulgent taste to your kitchen. President Butter, a little taste of the French good life every day. Selected stores subject to availability. Speaker 1 (0:30) After Faye Fruits Yoghurt, I'm never going back. So fruity, so thick, so gorgeous from the pack. It's called Faye Fruits Yoghurt. It's a smooth and fruity snack. Passion fruit or strawberry flavour. My way. And taste the coconut. Give me that Faye. Go down the shops for this fruity snack. After Faye Fruits Yoghurt, there's no going back. Speaker 5 (0:50) Coming up on Dish with Rhys Shearsmith. Speaker 4 (0:53) It's me and Bob and Matt Berry. We meet for meals and we talk. We have our gossip club. Right, okay. Which is where we just chat about people that we find themselves at the lucky table. Oh. And don't really deserve it. Oh. But you met your wife? In a coffin. Oh. And we just got very close in that coffin. And the next thing is, I married it. You married it? They put the blindfold on the wound. It sounds like Chris E. Banks. Speaker 5 (1:24) Dish from Waitrose is a Cold Glass production. This podcast may contain some strong language and adult themes. Speaker 5 (1:37) Welcome to Dish from Waitrose. I'm Nick Grimshaw. And I'm Angela Hartnett. Hello, Speaker 3 (1:42) Angela Hartnett. Hello, Nicholas Grimshaw. How are you? Speaker 5 (1:45) Yeah, I'm good. Speaker 3 (1:46) Are Speaker 5 (1:47) you? Speaker 3 (1:47) Yeah, very good. Thank you. Speaker 5 (1:48) We have a great guest today. We do. Rhys Shearsmith is going to be on. Speaker 3 (1:53) Oh, your Bake Off competitor. Speaker 5 (1:54) Rhys, of course, the creator and star of so many great things. The League of Gentlemen. Psychoville. Inside number nine, some really brilliant... He's brilliant. Iconic shows, I feel. Truly iconic. So Rhys is going to be here. Rhys I've met before because I've done Bake Off with him. And he's so great. Speaker 3 (2:12) Nice. He's Speaker 5 (2:13) such a lovely guy. I'm looking forward to it. He's going to be here to talk about his book, which is called Things I Took from the Dark, The Museum of Me. And it's all these sort of objects and laws and ghosts and monsters and things like that. So perfect for this time of year. He's really smart and really funny. but really gentle. Speaker 3 (2:31) And when Speaker 5 (2:32) he was on Bake Off, he was so incredible. The stuff he was making, truly artistic. Speaker 3 (2:39) Looking forward to meeting him. Yeah. Speaker 5 (2:41) So he'll be here in a second to talk all about his new book. Prior to that. Food and stuff. Prior to that, we're Speaker 3 (2:46) going Speaker 5 (2:46) to talk about olive oil. A Speaker 3 (2:48) glug of olive oil. Now, olive Speaker 5 (2:49) oil is a good thing to talk about, I feel, with you. Oh. Because there's aisles of olive oil now. Everywhere. Isles of it, okay? Mainly in Waitrose. Which one's which? What do you get? What do you cook with? People say, don't cook with that one. You've got to cook with that one. Don't use this one. So we're going to have an olive oil lesson here. Yes. With you, Angela Hartner, who I believe you're 40 % olive oil, aren't you? Blood type olive Speaker 3 (3:14) oil. Speaker 5 (3:15) 90, 90, 90. 90. So yeah, it's all different types. When you are, not you, because you've got your chef hat on, but when we are in the supermarket, what should you be getting? What should you be looking out for? Speaker 3 (3:26) I think that if you're, you know, for most people at home, I think go for a medium-priced olive oil. You know, you don't need to go for the most expensive. And if you can afford, you know, middle of the road, I think that's a good option. I think go for an extra virgin because a lot of the time you're using it to finish stuff like salads, put on a bit of pasta, finish a bit of fish with it. What does that mean, Speaker 5 (3:45) extra virgin? It's Speaker 3 (3:46) not being unblended and it's a purer version of olive oil. And what it is, is you don't really want to cook with extra virgin olive oil. and hence why they want them in small little bottles because you don't want it to be in the sun. You want it in a cool place, not in the heat. So generally people say don't cook with an extra virgin olive oil. But sometimes when I make things like a little pasta dish, I'll use an extra virgin olive oil because I'll put that in maybe then a little bit of butter and then saute all my onions, sofrito and stuff. So you get all that lovely flavor. But you wouldn't necessarily use that to fry a piece of fish because that's going to go to a really high temperature. Speaker 5 (4:21) Okay. Speaker 3 (4:21) So we've got... That's the cookie one. So you see that's more blended and much lighter in colour. This is a nice extra virgin one that we do use a lot on this show. So try that one. Do you like that one? Speaker 5 (4:33) Should I try it? Try Speaker 3 (4:34) it, yeah. Speaker 5 (4:34) Do you remember when we had Angela Scanlon on and she was talking about she has an olive oil shot in the morning? Speaker 3 (4:39) Yeah, loads of people I know do. You just literally like that. Speaker 5 (4:42) Do Speaker 3 (4:42) you like that one? Speaker 5 (4:43) I mean... Speaker 3 (4:44) It's hard when you eat it, it's like... It's tough like that, yeah. Speaker 3 (4:50) But with other stuff and finishing, it'd be perfect. Speaker 5 (4:53) Yeah, Speaker 3 (4:54) absolutely, yeah. You stink to your collagen broth in the morning. No, I can't be having that as a shot. Speaker 5 (4:59) Are there any olive oils that you should have with, say, a vegetable or a fish or a meat? No, I don't think you Speaker 3 (5:05) don't. I think go find an olive oil that you like. I don't like them too strong and peppery and too harsh on the palate. Smooth olive oil. And, you know, I buy just a... standard Italian variety that you get from Waitrose and I use it for salad dressings I use it to cook with you Speaker 5 (5:21) know Speaker 3 (5:22) I think for me if I'm absolutely honest vinegar I think is the one where choose spend your money on vinegar because vinegar I think can transform a dish Speaker 4 (5:29) whereas Speaker 3 (5:30) olive oil I think it's Speaker 4 (5:31) a Speaker 3 (5:31) great base for so many things but vinegar can really cut through the fat and sort of light and then change the whole value of a profile and your Dijon mustard okay Speaker 5 (5:39) Good advice. There Speaker 3 (5:40) you go. Speaker 5 (5:41) How would you feel if someone came to a dinner party and brought you a bottle of olive oil over a bottle of wine? Speaker 3 (5:46) I wouldn't mind. I'd love that. It's quite a good option. Yeah, Margot actually did. Margot bought me a bottle of Georgian olive oil. Margot Henderson. I thought it was a bottle of wine until Neil and I happened to realise it was a Speaker 4 (5:57) bottle of olive oil. And you were like, oh, great. No, but that's a good gift. But I really Speaker 3 (6:01) liked it. I love a gift like that. Because Speaker 4 (6:03) you have it Speaker 3 (6:03) for longer. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's a really nice gift. Next time you're over. Shall we welcome our guest? Speaker 5 (6:08) Mmm, let's get him in. Let's get him in. Let's welcome Rhys Shearsmith to Dish. Speaker 4 (6:15) Welcome. Nice to see you. How are you? Nice to see you. Lovely to see you, Rhys. How are you? You Speaker 3 (6:19) good? Speaker 4 (6:20) Yeah, I'm really good. Thanks for coming. Thank Speaker 3 (6:22) you for having Speaker 4 (6:22) me. Of course. This is all set up. Yeah. Nice to meet you, Rhys. Got a knife for me. Last time we were together was probably Bake Off. Yeah, it was. Oh, Speaker 3 (6:34) I heard you won. I Speaker 4 (6:35) did. No one doesn't know that. No. Everyone knows that. Well, Speaker 5 (6:40) Rhys, come on in. Speaker 4 (6:41) Can I come in? Yeah, come Speaker 5 (6:42) on in. Speaker 5 (6:44) Now, Angela, as it's not yet Halloween. Speaker 3 (6:47) No, not yet. Nearly. Nearly. Speaker 5 (6:50) Very exciting. We are allowed to go a little bit early. Yes. I thought I could use it to introduce our guest today. Of course. I've got some sound effects to help introduce our guest. I've got the sound of a creaky door. I've got the howling of a wolf. I've got a spooky bit of thunder. Oh, Atmos. And I've also got a devilish laugh. Speaker 5 (7:21) Terrifying. Speaker 4 (7:22) Please Speaker 5 (7:22) welcome Speaker 4 (7:23) Rhys Shearsmith, everybody. Speaker 5 (7:25) Thank you. Speaker 3 (7:29) Thank you, everyone. Scary, Speaker 5 (7:31) that laugh, isn't it? Oh, my God. You'll have that all Speaker 3 (7:34) day. You'll have it all day. Speaker 5 (7:35) We should download that as a text. That's nice. I thought it was you. No. Not that terrifying. Speaker 4 (7:41) Hi, Rhys. Hi. Welcome. Speaker 5 (7:43) Thank Speaker 4 (7:44) you very much for having me. How are you? I'm good, yeah. Very excited. And like you said, because it's only... A few weeks away. Halloween has already begun for me. Wow. It never really goes away, to be honest. I'm very big on it. Are you Speaker 3 (7:56) decorated house already? There are things that Speaker 4 (7:58) people would think are Halloween-y. All year round in my house. Werewolf fetus. Yeah. Oh. Sort of vampire killing kit. Yeah. Just by the door when Speaker 3 (8:10) you walk in. Yeah, yeah. The Speaker 4 (8:12) house is a sort of museum to scary things. Scary stuff. Do you like it, Ange? Because you live in quite a spooky part of town. Speaker 3 (8:19) I Speaker 4 (8:20) live Speaker 3 (8:20) in an old house, so it naturally feels spooky. Haunted? Well, you don't know, do you? When you're by yourself there, it does creak. A friend of mine said, he goes, the noise is in your house. We're so used to them, so maybe, I don't know. Maybe we need to check it out. Do you believe in ghosts? Speaker 5 (8:38) Do I believe in ghosts? You can be persuaded to believe. I feel like, I'm not, no, I'm not a hard no, but I've not experienced one. Speaker 3 (8:46) Yes, that's, that's. Have you? I've not experienced one. Do you believe in them? I would like to believe in Speaker 5 (8:52) that. Speaker 3 (8:52) Yeah, that's what I feel Speaker 5 (8:52) like. Speaker 3 (8:52) I would like to know the people that have left this life that I would like to see again would come back and just sit on the end of the bed and have a chat. I don't know. Speaker 4 (8:59) I don't like that shit. Oh, no, I do. At the end of the bed in that time. Just have a little chat. No. I need an appointment. Oh, okay. If they made a diary appointment. Not a jump scare. Speaker 5 (9:10) Yeah. Okay, okay. Not in the middle of the night in the dark. Why Speaker 4 (9:12) do they always come back and they've got nothing of Speaker 5 (9:14) any interest to say to people? Speaker 4 (9:16) Yeah. It's Speaker 5 (9:16) just like, oh, I Speaker 4 (9:17) know where your keys are. Yeah. I like that picture of us in the caravan. Speaker 5 (9:23) You're kidding me. You've managed Speaker 4 (9:24) to come from the other side. What are you telling me? Is Speaker 5 (9:28) that Speaker 4 (9:28) it? That's true. Do you believe, Rhys? Speaker 5 (9:30) I Speaker 4 (9:31) love the idea of it. Yeah. And I always have. And I'm obsessed with it. But I think, no. I think it's the power of the mind. Right. Is what it is. And you want to believe. And it obviously answers a lot of comforting questions, doesn't it? To think, oh, everyone is there waiting. Yeah. But no, I think it's... I think it's bullshit. Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. You Speaker 3 (9:54) don't believe in the afterlife, then? Speaker 4 (9:57) No, I don't think so. Until I go to a funeral and I'm sat there and I think, oh, it's nice this. I want to believe it. But I think that's just Speaker 3 (10:04) a comforting thing. Speaker 4 (10:05) Yeah, I think. It's Speaker 3 (10:06) the Speaker 4 (10:06) same as like having a big marshmallow or something like Speaker 3 (10:09) that. Speaker 4 (10:09) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly the same. Speaker 3 (10:12) Afterlife marshmallow? Afterlife Speaker 5 (10:14) bag of marshmallows. We were just talking over there about... the last time i saw you was was bake off yes so it was me reese philippa perry dizzy rascal And normally they don't put four best friends on it. Speaker 1 (10:25) But they Speaker 5 (10:27) made an exception. And we were all housemates, so it just made sense. It was fine, yeah, we knew each other. We were like, we'll all just do this now. Speaker 4 (10:33) But it was one of the first times where I've been me on things. Okay, yes. And it was new for me to dare to do that. I'm an actor and I try to hide behind characters and I'm quite happy in that environment. And I'm not really... Celebrity-like. Speaker 3 (10:48) Yeah. So Speaker 4 (10:49) that was one of the first forays into, I thought, well, I've got to do it. Yeah. Because it was a fun thing. And I did enjoy it. And I thought I could bring in my artistic ways and Halloween. Because I made all Halloween things. You Speaker 3 (11:01) did. Speaker 4 (11:01) Right. Yeah. And it was nothing Speaker 5 (11:03) to do with Halloween. No. It was like March or something. Speaker 4 (11:06) Yeah. I think it was, maybe it was September. Speaker 5 (11:09) Oh, okay. Because it was coming. Speaker 4 (11:10) Because I remember them saying, we need it to be. seasonal because of getting the pumpkins. I wanted pumpkin for my pumpkin tray bake. Which, by the way, got the Hollywood handshake. It did. Huge, huge, huge. Speaker 3 (11:25) There we go. Speaker 4 (11:28) I didn't get a sniff of Hollywood. Speaker 5 (11:29) No. Speaker 4 (11:30) He didn't Speaker 5 (11:30) come near me. Speaker 3 (11:31) He did, he had to. Speaker 4 (11:32) He had to. He didn't want to, but he had to approach you. Speaker 3 (11:36) But you won the whole thing. I won the whole thing, yeah. Speaker 4 (11:38) It was a biscuit selfie we had to do, remember? Yes. And it was all types of biscuit that you can imagine. I did two, ginger and shortbread. All right. But I did it in the shape of a little toy theatre. Speaker 3 (11:50) Oh, sweet. With me Speaker 4 (11:50) on the stage like Hamlet, because I never play it other than in a biscuit. With a camera pointing at me doing a selfie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was enough to wow them. It Speaker 5 (12:00) was. I remember being really wowed. It was really intricate. Yeah. Yes. It was amazing. And have you kept the baking up? Have you carried that on? I do a bit. Speaker 4 (12:09) I mean, I've got a really sweet tooth. I've got to be careful with that because you can find yourself... I'll make a cake today. And then it's every day you're making cakes. Yes, Speaker 3 (12:17) yeah, yeah. So Speaker 4 (12:18) you've just got to be disciplined with the ones you choose. What do you get when you win Bake Off? You get the Starbaker apron. Oh, you get the Starbaker apron. Which I've not worn it since because it