Sweet & sour

Rosemary Shrager’s love of cooking started with a block of rancid butter. ‘The first thing I made was scones,’ she tells me as we chat in her eponymous cookery school in Tunbridge Wells. ‘We put them in a local fair competition in Buckinghamshire and they won. I must have been six. I remember my mother saying they were made with rancid butter, that’s why they were different. Sour, but fantastic.’

That word crops up regularly. Her newly opened school is ‘fantastic’, her colleagues are ‘fantastic’, and the cooking is ‘fantastic’. The school is a very personal achievement for her, Mussels St Jean and she exudes an effervescent enthusiasm for it. ‘I just love cooking. The whole process of creating something, it’s total and utter escapism. When I cook, I lose all sense of time.’

Rosemary has worked with some of the flashiest names (Jean-Christophe Novelli and Pierre Koffmann among them) and yet when she was starting out more than 30 years ago, she credited much of her skill to homely Julia Child. ‘I was trying to teach myself, learning from Mastering The Art Of French Cooking.’ At this point she was married to barrister Michael Shrager, and ordered her groceries from Harrods. Whenever she ran into a problem, she would phone The Dorchester or Claridge’s. ‘I would be put through to the head chef, tell them what I’d done, and they’d usually say “Start again”.’

The calls paid off , as in subsequent decades Rosemary has enjoyed a range of roles within the industry. ‘With everything I’ve done, I’ve kept to the food path. If you love something, you never stray from it.’

She has appeared as the cookery teacher in the TV series Ladette To Lady, hosted a regular slot on The Alan Titchmarsh Show, and even took on the role of head chef during her appearance on last year’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! ‘A tail is a tail, kangaroo or otherwise,’ she chuckles.

Rosemary has a boomingly jovial nature, but things haven’t always been ‘fantastic’. In the late 1990s the restaurant she had opened in Cornwall folded, and within a few months she had lost her home and her marriage. It was an incredibly difficult time, which lasted years.

‘I had to go back to London and work; it was the only way I could get my credibility back. But it impacted heavily on my family. The worst thing was missing my daughter’s graduation,’ she says, visibly upset. ‘They wouldn’t let me go, so I couldn’t for fear of losing my job. I will never forget that. It has taken me years to feel good about myself again. The only thing I could do was stay positive and think, “One day, I will do something for myself again”.’

Her new cookery school is a realisation of this. Among the antiquarian streets of Tunbridge Wells, her modern, eco-friendly school aims to pass on the techniques of generations past and inspire an enthusiasm for creativity.

‘Supermarkets have made life easier for people, but it’s also made them lazy,’ she says. ‘We’ve lost a generation who can cook. When I was a child we grew our own vegetables, so I knew how fresh food was meant to taste. When it is available all year round, it confuses people. If they had the skills to cook food in season, they’d discover it’s cheaper and healthier.’

The school is a beautiful space, with the latest kitchen gadgets, expert teachers and, of course, a hefty dollop of passion. ‘I love teaching, because I’m bossy. I love imparting what I’ve learned, and when they get it, it gives me such a buzz. It’s all about putting your enthusiasm back into cooking again.’ Rosemary herself conducts classes, assisted by John Rogers, ‘my little protégé’, who became her executive chef. This 27-year-old Scouser, and the plummy- voiced Rosemary, appear to be like chalk and cheese, but watching them interact, it’s evident they hold respect and fondness for each other. ‘We make a great team. We’re so complementary,’ she enthuses.


Reflecting on the trying times, she says: ‘Had that not happened, I wouldn’t have done anything that I’ve achieved now. The most important thing is, to never look back.’

And as she gazes over her sparkling new cookery school, it is clear that she doesn’t.

The Rosemary Shrager Cookery School: 01892-528700, www.rosemaryshrager.com

Rosemary Shrager’s Absolutely Foolproof Food For Family & Friends, with photography by Christian Barnett (Hamlyn, £18.99).

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FRIED HERB GNOCCHI WITH RACK OF LAMB (pictured above)

Serves 4

Ingredients
For the gnocchi:

• 700g medium red potatoes, washed
• 100g Parmesan, grated
• ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
• 150g plain  our, plus 100g for dusting
• sea salt and white pepper

For the lamb:

• olive oil for frying
• 4 three-rib racks of lamb, French-trimmed
• sea salt and black pepper
• a few basil leaves, to garnish

For the sauce:

• a drizzle of olive oil
• 1kg lamb bones
• 150g onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• chicken stock or water

For the lamb coating:

• 100g dried white breadcrumbs
• 2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
• small handful of chopped herbs, such as chives and chervil
• 4 tbsp finely chopped parsley
• 1 tbsp thyme leaves
• 1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary leaves
• 2 garlic cloves, fi nely chopped
• 4 tsp Dijon mustard

Method
Cook the whole potatoes in a pan of salted boiling water for 20-25 mins. Drain and leave to cool, then peel oƒ the skins and leave to dry. Pass through a potato ricer into a bowl.

Add 50g Parmesan, nutmeg and  our, season and mix well. Divide into 6 pieces, roll each into a sausage as thick as your little  nger; cut into 2cm lengths and dust with  our. Press the cut side of each piece on to the tines of a fork with your thumb.

To make the sauce, heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the bones and brown on all sides. Add the onion and garlic and cook until browned, then add the tomatoes, redcurrant jelly and thyme. Pour in stock or water to cover the bones, bring to the boil, then simmer for 1 hour, until liquid, to intensify the  avour. Strain through a  ne sieve into a saucepan.

To fi nish the gnocchi, heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large frying pan, add a batch of the gnocchi and cook gently until browned on all sides. Set aside and cook the remaining gnocchi. (You can do this in advance and reheat in a hot oven to serve.)

For the lamb coating, put all the ingredients, except the mustard, into a food processor, season and combine. Skin the racks of lamb, keeping as much fat as possible. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large frying pan, add the racks, fat-side down, and cook for about 2 mins. Transfer to a large roasting tray, fat-side up, place in an oven preheated to 190C/gas mark 5 and cook for 10 mins. Season with pepper and set aside. Brush 1 tsp of mustard on each rack, then press the coating down over the mustard (not on the bones). Return to the oven for 8-10 mins.

Finish the sauce by seasoning it and reducing it a little further. Remove lamb from the oven and leave to rest for 5 mins. Reheat the gnocchi in the oven. Carve each rack into ribs and arrange on each serving plate. Surround with the gnocchi, garnished with basil, and with the sauce spooned around.

MUSSELS ST JEAN

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1.5kg mussels
• 400ml white wine
• 50g unsalted butter
• 35g plain flour
• 600ml milk
• 1 rounded tbsp medium-hot curry powder
• 150ml double cream
• sea salt and black pepper
• 2 tbsp chopped curly parsley

Method
First, clean the mussels if they have not already been cleaned.

Put the wine into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the mussels, cover with a lid and cook, shaking the pan, until all the shells have opened. Discard any that do not open.

Remove the mussels and strain through a sieve lined with € ne muslin, reserving the liquid. Now remove and discard the top shell of each mussel.

Wipe out the saucepan, melt the butter in it, then add the flour and stir to make a smooth paste. Pour in the milk gradually, stirring constantly, until it starts to simmer. Now add the curry powder, half the mussel liquid and the cream. Bring to the boil and whisk well. Season with salt and pepper and add the mussels. Pour into a large dish and sprinkle the parsley on top.

HOMECURED BRESAOLA SALAD WITH ROCKET AND SPICED MORELLO CHERRIES

Serves 12 as a starter, or 6 as a main course

Ingredients
For the bresaola:

• 1½ bottles of red wine
• 600g coarse sea salt
• 400g soft brown sugar
• 1 tsp saltpetre (optional)
• 1 tbsp crushed peppercorns
• 1 tbsp juniper berries
• 6 red chillies, chopped
• 1 cinnamon stick
• a few sprigs of thyme
• 1.8kg piece of beef topside, the same width throughout

For the spiced Morello cherries:

• 750g Morello cherries from a jar
• 300g caster sugar
• 100ml port or water
• generous squeeze of lemon juice
• 3 cinnamon sticks For the vinaigrette
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 150ml extra virgin olive oil
• 150ml walnut oil
• 150ml sun ower oil
• 1½ tsp caster sugar
• fine sea salt and black pepper

For the rocket salad:

• 6 handfuls of small-leaf wild rocket
• 18 large radishes, thinly sliced
• 1½ red onions, very thinly sliced

Method
First make the brine for the bresaola. Put the red wine, coarse sea salt, soft brown sugar, saltpetre (if using), spices and thyme into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn o” the heat and leave to cool completely.

Fill a large, non-metallic container with boiling water to sterilise it, then pour it out and leave the container to cool.

Put the beef into the sterilised container, then pour over the cold brine. Leave in the fridge for 4-5 days, turning the beef every day.

Remove the beef from the fridge, pour o”ff the brine, wipe the beef clean and dry it well. Wrap in a single layer of muslin so that it can breathe, and hang it in a cool, dry place for 3-4 weeks.

To prepare the spiced Morello cherries, put all the ingredients into a small saucepan and heat until simmering.

Simmer until the liquid is reduced to a syrup, then set aside to cool. Remove the cinnamon sticks before serving.

To prepare the vinaigrette, put the Dijon mustard and white wine vinegar into a small bowl and whisk until combined. Gradually pour in the three varieties of oil, whisking all the time. Add the caster sugar, then season with salt and pepper to taste.

To prepare the rocket salad, put all the ingredients into a bowl, season with salt and pepper and add 2 tbsp of dressing. Toss when ready to serve.

To serve, slice the beef very thinly, then cut into strips. Toss the rocket salad and place on serving plates with the beef arranged on top. Dot a few cherries around the plate and drizzle with a little of the Morello cherry syrup.