Hugo Arnold, The Master's Table
I've never met Rosemary Shrager, but I'd very much like to. Her beaming generous face shines out of the cover of Rosemary: Castle Cook, clear blue Scottish sea behind her and a tray of shellfish in her hands. The author runs a cookery school on the Isle of Harris and from these pictures it looks like a warm, comfortable escape from your worlds of stainless steel and an absence of natural light. Am I suggesting a return to school? Perhaps, for if there is one thing this book shouts louder than anything else it is the need to focus on ingredients.
We keep trying to guess what the next food trend is going to be, but my own prediction is there won't be one. We have developed, evolved, been exposed to too much for an 'Italian style' revolution to hit us again. What will happen however, is a growing awareness of ingredients, by both chefs and the public. In this we are only moving in the way America has already gone. You don't get roast salmon there, it is "roast line-caught Shellfish bay salmon".
In the land of Rosemary Shrager everything is wild, fed on the Atlantic-washed Isle of Harris in most cases, sourced from nearby if not. What Scotland lacks in warm sunshine it more than makes up for with a varied weather pattern producing some of the best ingredients in the world - think grouse and venison, lobster and crab, lamb and beef.
What use is this to me? I hear you ask. Most of this product is available country wide, either direct from the producers or via one of the growing band of specialist suppliers like Heritage Foods based in Bristol.
Ms Shrager's book focuses on how wonderful simplicity can be. Her scallops arrive in the shell and still alive, pulsating as she prepares them, either to be seared and served with rocket and red pepper salsa, or fashioned into a mousseline, or combined with egg noodles and ginger and baked in a paper bag - she is nothing if not versatile, Ms Shrager.
Are some of these recipes a little old fashioned I couldn't help wondering. In her introduction Ms Shrager states her style as being "based on classical French tradition with my own personal twist". Her mentors are Pierre Koffmann and Jean-Christophe Novelli, two chefs who may, over the last few years, have fallen into the unfortunate category of having been usurped by more media-friendly, more of-the-moment practitioners. Fear not I couldn't help thinking as I read more, everything comes full circle and while seafood feuilletes may sound old-fashioned, it looks and reads as a delight.
Ms Shrager is not afraid of crossing continents, yet there is a more assured hand with the traditional dishes. Wild salmon with sorrel and courgettes for example, which may sound straightforward but how often do you find sorrel on restaurant menus? Not often enough in my view. Her twist comes in dishes like smoked haddock lasagne, sole with spinach tortellini, or monkfish with ink fettuccine, caper and rosemary sauce. For more Eastern-inspired dishes, look to the likes of Oriental sole, lettuce-wrapped fillets of fish with a mushroom duxelle and served with deep-fried leeks and a soy and ginger-infused sauce.
Amhuinnsuidhe Castle (the name means sitting on the river in Gaelic) is pretty remote and the emphasis of Ms Shrager's school is on using the local ingredients to best effect, as well as indulging in the non-urban, unspoilt and rather unique environment. The pictures in the book, by Christopher Simon Sykes, highlight the unique light of the Western Isles. The food photography lacks definition in places, but conveys the spirit of the food well.
Classics like oxtail are covered, while more traditional dishes like a saddle of lamb stuffed with kidneys and spinach are like dipping into a rather juicy yesteryear. What a welcome change it would be to see something like this in place of the more mundane roast rack of lamb. I may sound old-fashioned but too often I find myself eating restaurant dishes I could easily prepare and do. Short-order cooking is just what you need arriving home after a busy day. Eating out should allow access to those pleasures you do not normally have time for. A stuffed saddle of lamb is a dish I'd travel to.
