For weeks they had all carefully deliberated over what food to make, what drinks to serve and how to design the invitations. And on the night itself they laid a beautiful candlelit table and delivered a feast of cep soup, turbot, mullet and baby octopus, all finished off with gorgeous quince ice-cream. No detail was overlooked. There were fabulous roasted chestnuts and glorious ruby-red prosecco diluted with pomegranate juice, while a young sommelier, Jack Lewin from the River Café, picked the wine.
An incredible array of people came, interested to see what these three young (their average age is somewhere in the early twenties), very serious cooks were able to produce. Rose Gray and Ruthie Rogers came, Sam and Sam Clark of Moro came too, as did the wonderful food writer Lindsey Bareham. Clare, an extraordinary pastry chef from Chez Panisse, who we know as "Clare Cakes", came all the way from deepest east London. That so many people came to dine at a slightly overcrowded table on a cold, wintry night in Richmond is a tribute to the three of them.
In a couple of weeks, Stevie is leaving Petersham. He's very talented and I've loved our time cooking together - he brings an inquisitiveness that keeps me on my toes. So I wanted to write this piece about him and his friends Joseph and Blanche to say goodbye and thank you. All three are brilliant at what they do and I'm sure destined for good things.
I asked Stevie for the recipes for this piece (they are, after all, nothing to do with me). I'm not sure which one of them wrote them out in the end, but when I was given them I just had to smile. The recipe for the turbot was three sentences long. "Season the fish well outside and in the cavity," it said. "Roast in the hottest oven until cooked. This should take 45 minutes." The presumption of knowledge and confidence reminded me of Elizabeth David's writing. What it says to me is that their natural affinity with food is so great, they assume you, the reader, must have it as well. I have re-written the recipes, I hope in a slightly more reader-friendly manner. I hope they won't be too critical of that.
Skye Gyngell is head chef at Petersham Nurseries, Church Lane, off Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey, tel: 020 8605 3627
Roast celery, potato and clams
Serves 6-8
4 Cyprus potatoes (or King Edwards)
3 celery heads
1kg/2lb clams
Sea-salt
1 glass Pinot Grigio
3 small dried chillis, crumbled
40ml/2fl oz extra-virgin olive oil
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas4. Peel the potatoes and cut into small wedges. Remove the outside greenery on the celery sticks, discard and cut the remaining yellow heart into similar-sized pieces to the potato.
Clean the clams by rinsing under cold, running water. Season the celery and potato with sea-salt and dried chilli. Roast in olive oil and the Pinot Grigio in the oven for 20 minutes. When soft and lightly coloured, add the clams and continue to roast until they have opened up. This will take no longer than 4 to 5 minutes. Serve immediately.
Cauliflower and cep soup
Serves 6-8
1 medium floury potato
1 head cauliflower
2 garlic cloves
Water, enough to cook the potato
Sea-salt
1 good-quality cep per person
60ml/2fl oz crème fraîche
Cut peeled potato into large cubes. Remove, and roughly chop florets of cauliflower. Slice garlic. Remove caps from the ceps and chop the remaining stalks. Reserve the caps. Cook the potato with the garlic in salted water (not too much water as this forms the liquid content of the soup).
When the potato is half-cooked, add the cauliflower and, when both start to soften, you should add the cep (omega) stalks. Break up the soup by whisking it or puréeing it until it is a liquid. Adjust the seasoning and add the crème fraîche. Pour into bowls and place the cep caps, very thinly sliced, all over the top.
White beans
Serves 6
250g/8oz dried white beans, such as cannellini
70ml/31/2fl oz extra-virgin olive oil
1 dried chilli
4 cloves garlic, chopped
A small bunch of thyme or sage
Soak the beans in cold water for 8 hours. Rinse them, then place in a pan with cold water, 40ml (2fl oz) extra-virgin olive oil, the dried chilli, the garlic and the thyme or sage. Cook over a low heat for around 40 minutes. Don't add any salt at this stage (otherwise the beans won't soften - if you need to, you can add it at the end). Drain them, season with salt and drizzle with the remaining olive oil and serve.
Roasted octopus
Serves 6-8
1 medium-sized octopus
1 bulb fennel, peeled and diced
3 celery stalks, washed and roughly chopped
6 parsley stalks
5 cloves of garlic
120g/4oz good-quality tinned tomatoes, drained
2 dried chillis
8 peppercorns, whole
2tbsp good-quality red wine vinegar
Remove the central beak of the octopus (if you feel unsure of how to do this, check with your fishmonger). Clean it and pat it dry.
Next, place all the ingredients, except the vinegar, in a baking tray. Cover with foil, place in a low oven (160C/ 325F/Gas 3) and cook for one and a half to two hours. Remove, slice the octopus into big chunks and serve with some of the resulting liquid, along with the vinegar.
Roasted baby mullet
Serves 4
1 large fennel bulb
4 cloves garlic, peeled
12 small black olives
2 dried chillis
25 dried fennel seeds
30ml/1fl oz extra-virgin olive oil
4 baby mullet (allow one per person). Ask your fishmonger to scale and gut them
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas4. Remove the outer leaves of fennel and dice. Cut the garlic, stone the olives. Crush the fennel and chilli.
Place a large oven-proof pan on top of the stove over a medium heat. Add the oil and braise the fennel slowly. (omega) Next, add the garlic, chilli, salt and pepper. Add the fennel seeds after about five minutes. Once the fennel is soft lay the mullet on top and place in the oven until it is cooked. Serve immediately.
Quince ice-cream
Serves 6-8
4 quinces
350g/111/2oz caster sugar
1 vanilla pod
A half bottle of Moscato D'Asti
40ml/2fl oz double cream or crème fraîche
The juice of half a lemon
Sea-salt
Place the whole quinces in a pan with the sugar, vanilla, and wine. Cover with foil and cook on a very low heat for three and a half to four hours until they're really soft and a burnt-orange colour. Cool and push through a sieve. When completely cold add the cream or crème fraîche, lemon and salt. Place in an ice-cream maker and follow the manufacturers' instructions.
Pomegranate and prosecco
Serves 5-6
1 bottle of prosecco
10 pomegranates
Take the pomegranates in your hand and gently beat them all over with a rolling pin. This helps to loosen the seeds. Cut each one in half and remove the seeds, making sure there's no pith left behind as this will leave a bitter taste. Put them in a Magimix, purée and then pass through a colander or a thin piece of gauze. Pour into a jug and refrigerate until ready to use.
For every champagne flute, fill the first half with the pomegranate juice and then the second half with the prosecco. Serve immediately.
Q&A: Skye answers your culinary queries
Q. Since I moved to Kent I have got an eel trap so I wondered if you had any ideas on what I could do with the eels that I catch. Also I have a good supply of parasol mushrooms, can the two go together?
Steve Hales
A. Personally I wouldn't do eel and mushrooms. I don't think the flavours stand up together. If you can find a local smokery, and I'm sure in Kent you'll be able to, I would get the eel smoked. It's beautiful served in a warm salad with pancetta and crème fraîche with some fresh grated horseradish in it.
The other thing you can do if you can't find a smokery is cook the eel with prunes, bacon and a tiny bit of red wine in a stew.
Q. I have no imagination when it comes to cooking steak. Grilling it is all I can manage. Any bright ideas?
Martin Rees
A. Good-quality steak stands up to very short cooking. Often at Petersham we don't even cook it at all. To do this you need to put it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes until it's firm then slice it into pieces about an eighth of an inch thick. Place each slice between parchment paper and very gently beat with a rolling pin. Lay in the fridge or serve straight away. It's delicious with green tomatoes, salty capers and extra-virgin olive oil.
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