TV chef James Martin tells Ella Walker about exploring US cuisine, and his great friend Antonio Carluccio.

It might be two years since he quit Saturday Kitchen, but TV chef James Martin is still faintly defensive of his decision to leave the hit BBC show.

"There was no channel to go to, I didn't jump ship or anything like that, contrary to what people said," he explains. "It was too much. It was just work, work, work, work, and I didn't mind it, but then I wasn't getting any younger. I could do it when I was 30, I'm bloody 45 now."

A work-life balance had been somewhat elusive for the Yorkshireman, who didn't take a holiday from the Saturday Kitchen studio for a decade, spending his weekends wistfully "linking to Rick Stein going out and about".

"I did really get pangs of jealously," he admits - but it's finally his turn to barbecue beside a creek, smoking a cigar as the sun goes down (check out page 144 of his latest cookbook, James Martin's American Adventure, for photographic evidence).

The book and accompanying ITV series (a follow-up to last year's French Adventure) sees Malton-born Martin eating and cooking his way across the US, travelling 13-odd thousand miles in eight weeks, by motorbike. "A lot of TV land is, you arrive in a car, sit down with a chauffeur and off you go; I didn't want to do that," he says. "None of that bloody stuff - I want whatever fauna to hit me in the face and to talk about that when I get there."

Exploring Trump's America takes some getting used to

When he started the trip, Trump had just got into power, and, exploring middle America, says Martin, "you realise why".

"I've never seen anything like it," he recalls of Texas and Louisiana, where he says the mentality is: "'I'm having my gun, I'm having my pick-up, that's what I'm having; don't tell me otherwise'.

"You can walk around a supermarket and buy a M16 machine gun," notes Martin, disbelievingly, "but to them, everybody else has got 'em, [they're thinking], 'I've got to protect my family'. I'm not saying it's normal, far from it, but you can understand it."

Driving along one road in Texas, it became something of a joke among his crew that every three miles there was "a Dunkin' Donuts, a rifle range or a lap-dancing club - for like 100 miles! It was quite surreal".

Focusing on the US through its cuisine though, rather than purely its culture, gives you a whole new perspective on the place. "Food is a great leveller," says Martin.

US food is more than just meat and colossal portion sizes

Once you've adjusted to the portion sizes ("Everything's big in the States, but you can't tell the Americans - just don't eat it all if you don't want to"), there's so much more to grub in the States than burgers and barbecue (although of course, Martin still tackles both) - even if it's hard to completely detangle food from politics.

Take 'sea air' strawberries. Riding along the coastal roads of Santa Cruz, Martin spotted Mexican pickers collecting the scarlet fruits. "It was that moment in time Trump was on about Mexicans. I thought, 'Here we go, what's going to happen?' It's a bit like the UK. Brits don't want to pick strawberries, so who else is going to? Someone's got to. It's crazy."

Government rhetoric aside, what makes the strawberries taste so "amazing" was the exceptional environment they grow in. "You get this particular mist, this chill," explains Martin, "and it coats the ground about two miles inland. It's not fog, it's just this real thin, really weird, peculiar layer of dew that hovers."

In Fort Worth, Texas - "It's like Disneyland meets cattle. It's really odd, they do these big longhorn cattle drives and ride up and down the street" - it was the climate he had to contend with while cooking. Martin remembers cracking an egg into a bowl before prepping the rest of his ingredients for a recipe, and when he went back to his egg, "it was cooked, that's how hot it was. That was the only time we've gone, 'No, we can't do this, things are cooking before they're even in the pan'."

Most poignant, though, ended up being a visit to an artichoke farm, where Martin made pasta with artichokes, cavolo nero and Parmesan, a dish his much-loved friend, the late Antonio Carluccio, once cooked for him.

Martin dedicated his new cookbook to Antonio Carluccio

"He showed me how to prep artichokes properly," he remembers. "So I cooked this artichoke dish not knowing what would happen, but I did it in the middle of a field on an artichoke plantation."

The book is dedicated to Carluccio, who Martin says had a "massive" impact on him. "I remember being at award things, and probably the two most uncomfortable people in there were me and him, and we used to pull a chair up outside," he recalls. "It was all going on at one about two years ago; he'd won an award and I'd won an award, but we weren't even in the building, we were outside just chatting.

"Food was our great love. He, like me, didn't like pretentious cooks, he had no time for the stereotypical TV chef - he liked people who were passionate about their jobs. He said, 'If you're put on that step to talk to people and to teach people about food, have respect for it and understand your subject'. I admired that, and I learnt from it, and hopefully I'll learn from it to this day - yes, you can have fun like he did, but don't disrespect the food, because it takes an awful lot of time and hard work to produce."

James Martin's American Adventure by James Martin, photography by Peter Cassidy, is published by Quadrille, priced £25. Available now.

HOW TO MAKE JAMES MARTIN'S PASTA WITH ARTICHOKES, CAVOLO NERO AND PARMESAN

Don't be afraid of prepping your own fresh artichokes.

"The first time I had this dish cooked for me, it was by the late, great Antonio Carluccio. It's testament to Antonio as a great cook that this was the dish that sprang to mind when I found myself in the middle of a field of artichokes - simple Italian flavours done well," says TV chef James Martin.

"You can use any type of pasta for this. Have a go at preparing fresh artichokes if you haven't done so before - they taste so good. Pour the olive oil into a large bowl and stir in the garlic and lemon juice."

Ingredients:

(Serves 4-6)

4tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 Meyer lemon or an unwaxed lemon, juiced

8 small artichokes

1tbsp sea salt

500g fresh ziti pasta or dried penne pasta

225g butter, chopped

100g fresh peas

100g cavolo nero, shredded

Small handful of basil leaves

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

50g Parmesan cheese

Method:

1. Pour the olive oil into a large bowl and stir in the garlic and lemon juice.

2. Prepare the artichokes by cutting the top off each one, about halfway through the middle, then trim the stalk at the base. Take off all the leaves and use a spoon to scrape out the choke (the furry bit). Discard the leaves and the hairy choke. Use a vegetable peeler to strip away the tough outer peel of each artichoke heart. Cut each into quarters lengthways and add to the olive oil mixture. Stir together.

3. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, and stir in the salt and pasta. Stir the pasta through the water to loosen the pieces. Cook for two minutes, then drain into a bowl, reserving 120ml of the pasta water. If using dried pasta, cook following the timings on the pack.

4. Pour the artichoke and olive oil mixture into the hot pan with the reserved water and the butter and place over a low heat. Heat gently until the butter has melted, then simmer for five minutes.

5. Add the warm pasta to the pan with the peas and cavolo nero. Shred the basil leaves into the pan, season and grate over the Parmesan. Stir everything together then spoon into warm bowls and serve.

James Martin's American Adventure by James Martin, photography by Peter Cassidy, is published by Quadrille, priced £25. Available now.

HOW TO MAKE JAMES MARTIN'S BANANA FOSTER

This is way better than a banana split.

"This dish was created at Brennan's in New Orleans in the 1950s, for the crime commissioner at the time. We saw it being served at the Palace Cafe, a fantastic old-school place with chefs' hats, penguin waiters and top-class service, with food from another era," says TV chef James Martin.

"The chef cooked me blackened fish with spices, and while I waited for it, I watched the front-of-house team serving this classic banana dish. There, they make it on gueridon trolleys, pushing them around the restaurant, but doing it in the comfort of your own home is much easier.

"This must be served hot," he adds. "I've put pain perdu with it but pancakes would also be delicious. It wouldn't traditionally be served with whipped cream and pecans, but it works."

Ingredients:

(Serves 3)

3 medium eggs

2tbsp caster (superfine) sugar

4tbsp milk

4tbsp butter

3 thick slices of brioche, cut from a loaf

5 bananas, peeled

4tbsp dark brown sugar

1/4tsp ground cinnamon

2tbsp banana liqueur

2tbsp rum

25g pecans

300ml double (heavy) cream, whipped and chilled

3 scoops vanilla ice cream

Method:

1. Put the eggs, caster (superfine) sugar and milk into a bowl and whisk together.

2. Place a large frying pan over a low to medium heat and add two tablespoons of butter. Dip the brioche into the egg mixture, and once the butter has melted, place the brioche into the hot pan. Cook for one minute on each side until golden brown. Transfer the pieces to a warm plate.

3. Wipe the pan clean, then return it to the heat and add the remaining butter. Once the butter has melted, add the bananas, keeping them whole. Cook until golden brown on one side, sprinkle with half the brown sugar, then flip the bananas over.

4. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the top, add the cinnamon then pour in the banana liqueur and rum. Flame to burn off the alcohol. Simmer for a couple of minutes until the butter and sugar turns into a sauce, then stir in the pecans.

5. Spoon the bananas and the sauce all over the brioche, then top with the whipped cream and ice cream. Serve.

James Martin's American Adventure by James Martin, photography by Peter Cassidy, is published by Quadrille, priced £25. Available now