The Kitchen Café

If you think that salad means iceberg lettuce, sliced cucumber and a quarter of a tomato, Chef Neil Forbes and Sumayya Usmani are going to make you think again! They have some mouth-watering sensational salads on the Kitchen Café menu that will transform your summer eating. Also, Flora Shedden helps Chef Kirsten Gilmore to cook up a delicious Lebanese chicken salad and Chef Steven Devlin shows Gillian Russell how to make a warm seared tuna salad with fresh mango.

The Bangalore Torpedo, a Devil's Rib, an Elephant's Trunk, a Bird's Eye and a bit of Scottish Purple Gusto, all varieties of chilli, love them or loathe them chillies are a fundamental part of any curry. In this month's Curry Club, Sumayya Usmani and Ghillie Basan explore how chillies travelled the world and became such an important ingredient to any curry. They make a very quick a simple recipe for stuffed green chillies using mango powder, cumin and nigella seeds. According to Sumayya's family traditions the stuffed chillies are best eat with freshly made chapatti so she takes a lesson in chapatti making from her daughter.Special guest Trishna Singh, Director of Sikh Sanjog and Edinburgh's Punjabi Junction joins Ghillie and Sumayya with her homemade aloo prantha and describes how Leith's female sikh community brings their home cooked, traditional Punjabi style of food into the heart of Edinburgh. Pennie Latin joins Jagdish Kaur Landa in the kitchen at Punjabi Junction to make a lamb kofta curry.

Legendary tennis mum Judy Murray joins Chef Neil Forbes and Flora Shedden at the City of Glasgow College to help them prepare a special Kitchen Café picnic. Judy gets her sleeves rolled up to help Flora with her picnic loaf and Neil demonstrates how quick and easy it is to make an absolute classic picnic food, scotch eggs. Also, Spice Girl Ghillie Basan and her friend Bernie head to the Cairngorms with their tartan rug to talk about some of their favourite picnic foods and memories.

As its Father's Day on Sunday, Chef Neil Forbes and Sumayya Usmani are joined in the garden by chilli sauce entrepreneur Gennaro D'Onofrio to cook up some deliciously marinated chicken kebabs and hand-dived scallops on the barbecue. Also, spice girl Ghillie Basan and her friend Bernie prepare lunch over an open fire using an upside down wok and food innovator Simon Preston visits Reekie's Smokehouse in Edinburgh to hear how they are using chopped up whisky barrels to flavour their meats.

Liver, cheeks and even loin are on the menu this lunch time as chef Andy Cumming joins Neil Forbes and Flora Shedden to cook monkfish, nose to tail. Also, food innovator Simon Preston visits fishmonger Daniel Bee for an anatomy lesson and food historian Fraser Wright tells us about the rich history of eating the more unusual parts of the fish in Scotland, especially in Shetland, whose economy was once solely based on fishing.

For World Milk Day, Chef Neil Forbes and Sumayya Usmani celebrate the sheer joy of milk. Neil cooks up a classic bechamel sauce to go with his pan-fried cod and Sumayya shows us the versatility of almond milk when she makes macaroni cheese. Also, Mary Hillard from Mary's Milk Bar in Edinburgh reminds us about the popularity of milk bars between the 1940's and 60's and how she really enjoys challenging her customers taste buds with some unusual Gelato ice-cream flavours such as beetroot and pickle, goats cheese and even white chocolate chilli and lime!

The brand new Kitchen Café Curry Club indulges itself in Scotland's favourite cuisine. Sumayya Usmani and Ghillie Basan explore the world of curry, not just your weekly takeaway but the vibrant, diverse and exciting flavours of curry culture across the world! Discovering their story, exploring their authentic flavours and most importantly, teaching you how to you can make it in your own kitchen every day of the week. This month Sumayya makes a seasonal fish curry with coley, mint and carom chutney. Special guest Susan Morrison, presenter of BBC Radio Scotland's new history series, Time Travels, might be useless in the kitchen but her love of chillies and fascination with the spice trade led her learn about some of the very early curry houses that opened in Scotland just after the war.And if you've ever wondered how to make the perfect boiled rice for your homemade curry then Ghillie and Sumayya reveal their favourite ways for perfect rice, every time.

Flora Shedden and Sumayya Usmani go absolutely tomato-tastic as they celebrate British Tomato week. Flora makes a delicious bruschetta lunch-time treat and Sumayya talks us through how simple it is to make different tomato chutneys. Also, Pennie Latin joins Ghillie Basan to make a Mediterranean classic melanzane alla parmigiana and we've drafted in gardening expert Nicola Singleton to give Neil Forbes some handy tips on growing tomato plants.

Carrots, kale and parsnip feature on this week's menu as the Kitchen Café team show you how to turn boring old veg into a mouth-watering 3-course meal. Sumayya's on the kale pakora starter, Neil does a roast onion salad for the main course and Flora turns a parsnip into a delicious pud. Also, food innovator Simon Preston visits carrot producer Steven jack in Moray to hear about his many varieties of colourful carrots.

Bread and butter are one of life's simple pleasures so this week, Flora Shedden shows us how to make a sourdough starter, Chef Neil Forbes visits a farmer in East Lothian who grows, harvests and mills his own wheat and Sumayya Usmani heads for Dumfries to meet up with Barry Graham at the award winning Loch Arthur Creamery to find out how to make butter.

Tomato and basil, sprouts and bacon, avocado and toast, cheese and oatcakes some of the greatest food combinations to pass our lips. A good cheese on the perfect oatcake is one of life's luxuries. In today's Kitchen Cafe Neil Forbes explores the right oatcake for the right cheese with Chris Young. Flora Shedden and Kirsten Gilmour combine mascarpone cheese with some biscuits to make a sweet and delicious baked cheesecake with topped macadamia nuts. While Simon Preston explores the much unsung delight of cottage cheese with cheesemaker David Mitchell and Edinburgh's Michelin starred chef Paul Kitching to find out not just what cottage cheese is but how we can use it on more than just a baked potato...in some leek and potato soup or with a wee drop of tomato sauce perhaps?

Masterchef winner Gary Maclean joins Neil Forbes at the City of Glasgow College to celebrate the inexpensive and versatility of all things porky. Gary cooks up a delicious chorizo and white bean stew with slow cooked and pan fried pork belly and Neil creates the ultimate club sandwich layering crispy dry cured bacon, chicken, mayonnaise, grain mustard and tomato sandwiched between 2 slices of pan fried sourdough. Also, food innovator Simon Preston visits Fred Berkmiller at Edinburgh's Gorgie City Farm to find out about his recent delivery of rare breed Mangalitza pigs which looking at them can be mistaken for sheep.

Neil Forbes and Sumayya Usmani join Chef Andy Cumming and the fishmonger students at the City of Glasgow College to cook up a mouth-watering lunch time treat that is just bursting with flavour. Also, Ghillie Basan and her son Zeki prepare breakfast on an open fire after going food foraging in the woods.

This week Neil Forbes heads for his allotment to unearth the last of the winter veg and start spring planting, expert gardener Nicola Singleton is on hand to advise. Sumayya Usmani has the perfect recipe for all the leeks and kale Neil up roots - a spicy soup flavoured with aromatic cumin and nigella seeds. Meanwhile Flora Shedden and her mum Tiffy get seasonal with homemade hot cross buns while Shereen Nanjiani wants to know how to perfect a melt in the middle, melt in the mouth hot chocolate fondant pudding. The answer? Get top chef and king of desserts Mark Greenaway on the case of course. Seasonal, spicy and stuffed with sensational recipes this week's Kitchen Café might leave you seriously hungry...you have been warned!

Spice girls Ghillie Basan and Sumayya Usmani are in Edinburgh to talk to food vendors Scott Kirkham and Hal Prescott, the driving force behind Edinburgh's street food scene. Hal shows us how quick and delicious street food can be when he cooks us up fresh crab with tarragon, mayonnaise and mint slaw served on a bed of fries. Also, Chef Neil Forbes hears about how stripped back cooking can be when he talks to Thomasina Miers about her new cook book, Home Cook.

Bake-off star Flora Shedden, top chef Neil Forbes and celebrated food writer Sumayya Usmani team up to celebrate the sheer joy of all things foodie. If you're passionate about cooking and eating and getting the best out of Scotland's amazing natural larder then look no further. Each week the Kitchen Café team will be bursting with ideas, advice, recipes and ingredients to make every step into the kitchen a whole new culinary adventure!As well as helping you cook up a storm in your own kitchen with a wide range of exciting seasonal ingredients, it's a series about the stories behind those ingredients - who's producing what, where and how in Scotland. Each week the team delves into a range of topical and seasonal subjects. Alongside great recipe suggestions we'll be exploring food history and trends in food and nutrition as well as recognising - but most of all enjoying - the essential role food plays in all aspects of contemporary Scottish life. From cooking with the kids to feeding the family, from treating y

We are unashamedly meaty on this week's Kitchen Cafe! For National Butchers' week, Chef Neil Forbes gives us a masterclass in how to joint a chicken and Sumayya Usmani turns the simplest of ingredients into a deliciously spicy and different quick lunch or midweek tea. Plus, we visit rare breed goat farmer Ruth Harris in Strathaven and find out about the art of charcuterie from craft butcher Rachel Hammond at the Edinburgh Farmers' Market.

Whether it's chicken and leek, fish and potato or mushroom and ham, what's your favourite pie? Bake Off's Flora Shedden and chef Neil Forbes celebrate National Pie Week. Also, Sumayya Usmani finds out what goes into a world champion scotch pie when she talks to John Gall from Brownings The Bakers in Kilmarnock and Fiona Burrell from Edinburgh New Town Cookery School gives us a lesson in short crust pastry making.

Bake-off star Flora Shedden, top chef Neil Forbes and celebrated food writer Sumayya Usmani team up to celebrate the sheer joy of all things foodie. If you're passionate about cooking and eating and getting the best out of Scotland's amazing natural larder then look no further. Each week the Kitchen Café team will be bursting with ideas, advice, recipes and ingredients to make every step into the kitchen a whole new culinary adventure!As well as helping you cook up a storm in your own kitchen with a wide range of exciting seasonal ingredients, it's a series about the stories behind those ingredients - who's producing what, where and how in Scotland. Each week the team delves into a range of topical and seasonal subjects. Alongside great recipe suggestions we'll be exploring food history and trends in food and nutrition as well as recognising - but most of all enjoying - the essential role food plays in all aspects of contemporary Scottish life. From cooking with the kids to feeding the family, from treating y

Bake-off star Flora Shedden, acclaimed food writer Sumayya Usmani and top chef Neil Forbes join forces in the kitchen in a programme bursting with flavour but be warned listening to this might seriously increase your appetite! Special guests Fraser Wright and Shirley Spear roll up their sleeves in the kitchen to help Flora make pancakes whilst comedian Des Clark sets Neil the challenge of making a lasagne from start to finish using only the freshest of ingredients.Packed with fresh flavours and fresh faces, grab a fork for the delicious Kitchen Café...radio has never tasted so good!