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5 O' Clock Apron

5 O' Clock Apron

By: 5 O' Clock Apron
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Chef and food writer Claire Thomson invites you to join her as she steps out of her kitchen to discover what's cooking in the home kitchens of Britain and beyond. Claire is renowned for her authentic take on home cooking and loved for her inspirational and no nonsense approach to food and cookery. In this podcast, Claire is on a mission to discover and cook other people's favourite, tried and tested home recipes. Travelling across the country, each episode drops you into the heart of a new kitchen. Cooking shoulder to shoulder with guests from every profession other than her own, aprons on, ingredients out and pans bubbling. Expect to hear much laughter as together they rummage through cutlery drawers, nose through spice racks and fling open fridge doors, chopping and chatting to get food on the table. Everyone can cook something, and Claire wants to know what?claire thomson Art Cooking Food & Wine
Episodes
  • Potato Salad, Gherkins and Mortadella with Gardener Gerald Stratford

    Potato Salad, Gherkins and Mortadella with Gardener Gerald Stratford
    Jul 8 2026
    Gerald Stratford is a gardener and a gentleman. Claire drove to the Cotswolds for this episode of 5 O Clock Apron Podcast. Knocking on Gerald’s front door, Claire is quickly whisked through the house, past Elizabeth, Gerald’s wife, and their dog, Bilbobaggins both sitting in the living room, on through the kitchen and out into Gerald’s garden. And what a garden it is! Gerald’s garden is immaculate and stuffed full to bursting with untold fruit and vegetables, the garden is a maze of walkways and paths, shooting off in all different directions to various raised beds, and to what Gerald’s refers to as his giant growing cages, all shapes and sizes, because there are so many of these homemade structures. Marigolds dot the flowerbeds and pathways, “to keep the pests at bay, we are at one with nature you see Claire, we are part of it, we can’t fight it, but the pests hate the smell of the marigolds, so it does help a bit!” Gerald spends a lot of his time in his garden and has a gazebo set up, with a small induction hob on a table with a chopping board close by; “I thought we could cook in the garden, Claire?” Claire is very happy about this, and the pair dig potatoes and get cracking, cooking in the garden, the potatoes only just dug from the ground less that 10 minutes ago. “Can’t get fresher than that, can you?” Claire says. Gerald wants to make a potato salad that he’s been eating for over 40 years; he was first shown how to make it by his German friend Rolph’s mother for a fishing trip. Rolph is no longer with us, and Gerald dedicates this episode to his great friend, Rolph. It is a touching moment. Gerald is a giant in the gardening world. Fashion designer Alexander McQueen even designed a limited-edition fleece jacket emblazoned with his favourite red cabbage for Gerald. Gerald is an icon and has graced the cover of US Vogue magazine. Whilst his speciality might be growing enormous vegetables, there is a tenderness in the way that Gerald gardens and his viewpoint on growing, that makes this giant a bit of a teddy bear, and a very special one at that. Gerald's Recipe serves 4 as a side dish 800g new potatoes 1 egg yolk, reserve the white for another use 150ml - 200ml olive oil (or use sunflower oil or mix of sunflower and olive oil) 1 tbsp dijon mustard salt and pepper, to taste 2 heaped tbsp Tims Greek Family yogurt splash of red wine, or cider vinegar gherkins, as many as you like sliced mortadella, as much as you like small bunch of parsley, finely chopped Wash the potatoes and put the potatoes in a saucepan and fill with cold water and a big pinch of salt. Boil the potatoes until tender. Drain and cool quickly, Geralds likes to put his potatoes in icy water to speed this up. Meanwhile add the egg yolk and dijon to a bowl and whisk, begin by adding the oil, drop by drop to begin with, then switching to a steady stream as you begin to add more oil. Continue adding the oil, taking care to not add the oil too quickly. Check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste. Add the Greek yogurt and mix well, add the vinegar and you're good to go. Wrap the gherkins in the sliced mortadella and cut each in half if on the large side! Dress the potatoes with enough of the mayonnaise, reserve any excess in the fridge, it is fine for up to x3 days in fridge. Pile the potato salad onto a serving plate, add the mortadella wrapped gherkins, scatter over with the parsley, bit more freshly ground black pepper and serve. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    30 mins
  • Marmitako (Basque Tuna Stew) with Lawyer and Politician Miriam Durántez González

    Marmitako (Basque Tuna Stew) with Lawyer and Politician Miriam Durántez González
    Jul 1 2026
    Miriam Gonzaléz Durantéz is a force, and Claire loved cooking with her for this episode of 5 O’ Clock Apron Podcast. Worth noting here that Claire is keen to get the elephant in the room over with as soon as Claire and Miriam start cooking in Miriam’s immaculate London kitchen with Claire quizzing Miriam on her title of Lady Clegg. Miriam is quick to dismiss the title, with characteristic grace, as one she doesn’t necessarily identify with, saying it was given to her, because she is the wife of Nick Clegg. Clegg being the one-time deputy prime minister for the U.K. Miriam is a busy woman with a distinguished career to showcase, splitting her week between London and Madrid. An international lawyer, founder of the charity Inspiring Girls and, just as pressing, now shouldering a new responsibility of politician. When Claire and Miriam meet to cook and record this episode, Miriam is in the midst of setting up a new political party in Spain (she can’t say the name of the party at the time of the recording), aiming, she tells Claire; “to stop the country from going further right” and as Miriam says; “I’ve been involved in politics all my life, now is the time for me to stand up”. For the episode, Miriam cooks a Basque tuna stew called Marmitako, clearly an intuitive and skilled cook, she is also quick to hold Claire to account during much of the cooking process; “no Claire, your peppers need to be thinner” and “no, Claire,this is how you prepare the potato, you need to do it like this and you need to listen for the crack as you cut the potato”. Claire is enthralled throughout, because this, in a nutshell, is what this podcast is all about. Food and cookery knowledge shared through the prism of good conversation, two people cooking side by side, chopping and chatting about why a recipe means so much to them, and how it fits into their lives. Miriam’s stew is undoubtedly delicious, as the cooking is wrapped up, husband Nick walks into the kitchen introducing himself, meanwhile Miriam’s son waits patiently to eat the dish his mum has just cooked; “he’s always so hungry, he eats all the time, teenage boys” she says with a chuckle. Conscious of the clock, Claire makes tracks to leave, after all Miriam, has got a lot to do, a plane to catch, a country to run and so on and so on…. Miriam's Marmitako, Basque Tuna Stew Serves 4 500g fresh tuna, cut into large chunks 2 tbsp plain flour 2 peppers, green, red or yellow 2 onions, finely sliced 3 garlic cloves Small bunch of parsley 200mls dry white wine 1kg waxy potatoes, peeled Salt and pepper, to taste Olive oil, quite a bit to fry tuna and shallow fry the potatoes 1. Dust the pieces of tuna all over with the flour and season well with salt and pepper. 2. In a large pan, add 3 tbsp of olive oil and fry the onions and the peppers over a moderate heat until softened, around 10 minutes. Push the onions and peppers to one side of the pan, add a splash more olive oil and fry the pieces of tuna to get a little golden in colour, but not cook all the way through, though this will depend on the thickness of the tuna. Remove the pan from the heat and keep to one side. 3. Use a pestle and mortar or use a small food processor or blender to blend the garlic, parsley and white wine together. Keep to one side. 4. Use a small saucepan and fill 1/3 with olive oil (working in batches and using a smaller pan will help you to use less oil). Use a small knife to make small, sharp indentations in the potatoes and “crack off” small pieces of the potato, about the size of a shell on walnut is a good approximation. This is Miriam’s way, and she suggests preparing the potatoes likes this gives them a better texture once cooked, see reel for video explanation. Fry the potatoes in hot oil at 180C until nicely coloured and nearly cooked through. 5. Put the tuna, onions and peppers back on the heat, add the parsley, garlic and wine mix and add the fried potatoes, mixing gently to combine. Bring the pan up to the boil and simmer for 30 seconds. Put a lid on the pan and reduce the heat to moderate – low and continue cooking until the potatoes are soft, the tuna will be cooked through. 6. Remove from the heat, check the seasoning and serve. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    34 mins
  • Black Bean Chilli with Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Oxford University Michael Wooldridge

    Black Bean Chilli with Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Oxford University Michael Wooldridge
    Jun 24 2026
    In this episode of 5 O’Clock Apron Podcast, Claire drives to Oxford to cook with the Professor of Computer Science and Head of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford, Michael Wooldridge. Michael’s field of work has been in Artificial Intelligence (AI) since 1989, a landscape which has seen wide-reaching change. Michael’s Wikipedia page, and in particular, the awards and honours section is extensive and hugely impressive. He has written over 350 scientific papers and contributed to many academic books, and his most charming, for the layperson, is the bite-sized Ladybird Expert Book on Artificial Intelligence first published by Penguin Random House in 2018. As with every episode, Claire knocks on the front door of Michael’s house having never met or indeed cooked in Michael’s kitchen before. Michael is a bean enthusiast, and to keep within a sensible timeframe, but still wanting to cook with dried beans from scratch, has a huge pot of just-cooked black turtle beans ready and waiting on the hob. Together Michael and Claire cook Michael’s favourite weeknight black bean chilli, a dish he regularly cooks at home for his wife and two grown up children, the question posed throughout the recording by Michael is, “How hot should we go?” More chilli is generally the answer, with some additional extra spicy seasoning that Michael is a fan of. With the black beans bubbling, Claire quizzes Michael on the future of big tech, on whether robots cleaning our houses and loading our dishwashers will happen any time soon, will AI help with the future of food and farming and food insecurity, what is easier to program: driverless cars or grandmaster chess players? With the potential of AI a near constant topic in the news these days, it is with trepidation Claire considers the future of the workforce as we know it, only to be told by Michael “not to worry, the robots aren’t coming to get us, just yet!” Cooking with Michael Wooldridge in this episode of 5 O’Clock Apron Podcast is a lesson in reassurance. With anxiety levels in society seen to be generally on the up, and for some, at a tipping point, cooking something delicious for dinner, whatever your line of work, is an opportunity for some much-needed calm and - most important of all - something tasty to eat on the table come dinnertime. Michael’s Black Bean Chilli Recipe Serves 4 Ingredients; 400g dried turtle beans (you can pre-soak the beans in cold water for an hour or two, or overnight, but Michael thinks this is unnecessary, and his beans were, once cooked, delicious) 1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes 1 whole red chilli 1 large red onion, peeled and finely diced 150g diced chorizo 2 tbsp of olive oil 2 - 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped 1 tbsp smoked paprika 2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp dried oregano, or more to taste Dried chilli flakes, to taste Jerk seasoning, Michael used Dunns River Jerk Seasoning, to taste The juice of 1 lime Small bunch of coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves roughly chopped Method; Put the beans in a large saucepan and cover with plenty of water, bring to the boil, skim off any frothy residue, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for around 1 – 1 ½ hours. Keep an eye on the water levels, top up with more water, if necessary, the beans should be fully submerged, at all times. Add the tin of the tomatoes and the whole chilli and continue cooking until the beans are fully cooked through and the sauce is thickened and creamy, not too soupy, just right. Put to one side. In a frying pan, add the olive oil and the onions and fry over a moderate heat for around 5 minutes to soften, add the diced chorizo and the garlic and fry for a further 3 - 4 minutes, until the fat from the chorizo begins to exude in the pan. Add the ground spices and the oregano and cook for 1 minute more. When the beans are a good consistency in the pan, thick and creamy, add salt to taste and the chorizo, spices and onion mix in the pan. Add the finely chopped coriander stalks and stir to combine and keep warm. Check the seasoning on the beans, adding salt and more chilli, to taste, if necessary, then add the lime juice and the chopped coriander leaves to serve. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    29 mins
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