Nicholas: "The name of my dish is "Mother of Glastonbury", and it is inspired by Gene Evis, the co founder of Glastonbury Festival, obviously a Somerset institution."

Michael Caines: "What are you cooking for us?"

Nicholas: "I'm cooking a dish which is based around cider and mushrooms, both things that might be consumed at a festival. I've got some amazing lion's mane mushroom and king oyster mushrooms. They're going to be the centerpiece of the dish. I'm actually going to fry the lion's mane in a cider tempura batter. And then I'm going to make a ragu with trimmings of the king oyster and some spelt. I'm gonna make a veil out of cider vinegar pickle brine, which I'm gonna dot with food coloring. So it almost looked like a kind of kaleidoscope effect on the top."

Notes taken during cooking

Nicholas starts his fermented red pepper glaze using gochujang.

Later ...

Nicholas moves on to his spelt ragu, frying shallots and thyme.

Nichaolas: "I'm just going to let that toast a little bit and then deglaze it with dry cider."

Michael Caines: "Have you got something for me to taste?"

Nicholas: "I do. I've got my fermented red pepper glaze."

Michael Caines: "Ah, yes. So this is a sort of coating?"

Nicholas: "It's going to be dressed over the top rather than kind of tossed in. And so as you kind of bite through, you're going to kind of get like, pops of that flavor coming through."

Michael Caines, out of earshot, speaking to the camera: "Actually, the sauce is really nice, but there's going to be a lot going on. So how will that stand up next to all those other elements coming together on the plate?"

Nicholas: "Next is the cider veil. Vibrant food coloring is drizzled into pickle brine before setting. It's just another layer of trippy, psychedelic visuals for the dish, really."

Plating

Nicholas is first to plate his starter. He fries lion's mane mushrooms last minute for his tempura. Then plates the cider and spelt ragu. Adds oyster mushrooms and sesame inside a sauce split with chive oil.

Next, the tempura is dressed with fermented red pepper glaze. Candied beetroot is added. And the dish is topped with a psychedelic cider veil.