Go Ask Alice; For As Long As She Can Remember, Skye Gyngell’s Food Hero Has Been Alice Waters

By Skye Gyngell

Last Sunday Alice Waters came to lunch. She has long been my hero, both for the way she runs her restaurant, Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California, and for her work and influence in the wider world of food. She was a pioneer of organic and sustainable ingredients long before both became fashionable, and she is, for me, the most influential, idealistic and romantic figure in the whole food world.

For more than 30 years Waters has worked tirelessly with small farmers and producers to ensure that the food served at Chez Panisse is locally and sustainably grown and certifiably organic. Inevitably, menus in the restaurant and its attached cafe follow the natural rhythms of the seasons. Waters is also passionate about educating children about where food comes from, and to this end founded the "Edible School Yard" at Berkeley’s Martin Luther King School in 1994. This involved establishing not just a garden, but an entire curriculum based on organic gardening and cooking. The children learnt to grow, prepare, cook and share the food themselves, supplemented by produce from local suppliers. She has since gone on to establish programmes in prisons and schools throughout the US, based on the same principles.

Words such as organic, local and sustainable have become fashionable concepts and buzzwords in the past few years and perhaps what Alice has achieved does not at first sight – at least to the uninformed anyway – seem that out of the ordinary. But the fact that it’s become common for restaurants to boast that they source from a ridiculously small radius is due in no small part to the quiet revolution that Waters instigated all those decades ago in northern California. In an era when people were still thrilled by the novelty of being able to import exotic ingredients from around the globe, Waters focused on the less glamorous joys of sourcing vegetables from down the road. Throughout, she has worked to sustain community and continuity – the two things that we will need to ensure our planet’s survival.

Was I nervous when l found out that she was coming to lunch? Yes, very! And no, not at all. Above all, I was excited – it felt like a dream come true. I do confess that I arrived at work before 5am on Sunday morning, but as soon as Alice walked in, with her dear friend Sally Clarke, I relaxed. She took my hand in both of hers and fixed me with the warmest, most intimate smile – she said that she had wanted to come to Petersham for a long time, which was to me completely extraordinary. She stayed late into the afternoon, spending time in the kitchen with the chefs, offering advice and telling stories. She also signed my first-ever Chez Panisse book, Chez Panisse Cooking, for me. Chez Panisse opened in 1971 and, as I watched her turning the pages of the book, I swear I could see the memories of those times dancing behind her eyes.

At the end of that particularly warm and beautiful day, I felt happy and content and very, very lucky. Alice Waters has been a hero to me for many years, her influence on my cooking has been profound, and to meet her in the flesh was to risk disappointment. But that did not happen, for even an instant. She was spirited, idealistic and quite enchanting.

This is what I cooked for her.

Skye Gyngell is head chef at Petersham Nurseries, Church Lane, off Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey, telephone: 020 8605 3627

Dorset crab with white asparagus

Alice started with this dish. The sweet, white crab meat and nutty, slightly tart, raw asparagus, is complemented by the rich, lemony mayonnaise.

Serves 4

200g/7oz hand-picked fresh white crab meat (don’t bother with the pasteurised crab meat – its taste is very poor)

4 white asparagus stems

Juice of 1/2 lemon

40ml/11/2fl oz extra-virgin olive oil

1tsp lemon zest

Sea-salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1tsp finely chopped curly parsley

For the lemon mayonnaise

3 organic egg yolks

1/2tbsp Dijon mustard

Juice of 11/2 lemons

500ml/17fl oz of gentle extra-virgin olive oil, such as a Sicilian or Ligurian

Sea-salt

Freshly ground pepper

I use a Magimix for this, but it is easy to do by hand; the trick is to trickle the oil in slowly and to whisk continuously. Place the yolks, mustard, lemon juice and a little sea-salt and black pepper in the base of your Magimix (or bowl). Put the oil in a jug (this is the easiest way to ensure that it pours slowly). Turn your machine on and slowly begin to pour the oil through the funnel at the top. Keep pouring, always slowly, until the mayonnaise begins to emulsify and is thick and glossy. This quality oil will give you a thick mayonnaise that sticks to your spoon; I like it this way, but you can use a little less if you prefer it runnier.

Place the crab in a mixing bowl. Pick over to remove any shell. Wash and pat dry the asparagus. Slice finely on the bias (discarding the tough, woody end). Place in the bowl along with the crab, add the lemon juice, zest and olive oil and toss lightly to combine. Season with a good pinch of salt and a couple of grindings of black pepper.

Finish with the parsley and divide among four plates. Spoon over the mayonnaise, and serve with extra lemon.

Halibut and clams with acqua pazza

Acqua pazza means crazy water in Italian. It is peasant food at its best: simple, but with lots and lots of flavour – perfect for sopping up with bread.

Serves 6

6 fillets wild halibut (approx 200g/7oz each)

35 clams

2 yellow onions, peeled and finely sliced

3tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil

1 dried red chilli, crumbled

1 bunch of marjoram leaves, roughly chopped

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

1tsp fennel seeds, warmed gently in a pan to release the flavour and then ground

2 tins good-quality tomatoes

3 cups of water

Sea-salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place a large saucepan over a medium heat, pour in the olive oil and allow to warm through. Add the onions, dried chilli and fennel seeds, turn the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Add the garlic and marjoram and a good pinch of salt and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and the water and turn the heat to medium, and stir well to combine. Cook for a further 20 minutes, returning the heat to low again for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

While the acqua pazza is cooking, clean the clams under cold running water, discarding any bruised or open ones. Season the halibut fillets generously with salt and pepper.

Place a pan on top of the stove and add a little olive oil. When the oil is hot, lay the halibut in it, skin-side down, and cook undisturbed for 2 minutes.

Place the clams in the acqua pazza and lay the fish, skin-side up, on top. Cook for 3 minutes, or until the clams open. Ladle into bowls and serve with chewy peasant-style bread rubbed with garlic and drizzled with a peppery, new season’s olive oil.

Malenca, sheep’s milk ricotta and green tomatoes

Malenca is a type of air-dried beef from Italy; it is similar to bresaola, which is a perfect substitute. This dish is as light as air – it is simply a combination of wonderful produce.

Serves 4

12 slices of Malenca (or bresaola or Parma ham)

110g/33/4oz sheep’s milk ricotta

2 green tomatoes (available at this time of year from good greengrocers)

1 bunch of basil, leaves only

80ml/31/4fl oz extra-virgin olive oil

Sea-salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Pound the basil in a pestle and mortar (or puree it in a blender) until you have a smooth paste; this is easier to do if you add a pinch of sea-salt. Drizzle in the olive oil gradually, and stir to combine.

Lay a slice of Malenca on each plate and top with a teaspoon of ricotta. Slice the tomatoes into rounds and lay a slice on top. Season with a little salt and pepper and spoon over a small amount of basil oil.

Continue layering in this way until the beef, ricotta and tomatoes are all gone. Finish with a final drizzle of basil oil.

Serve immediately. This dish is about simplicity and freshness and best eaten as soon as possible.

Melon sorbet

The first of the season’s melons have arrived from Italy. I love this time of year, when these perfumey fruits begin to come in, getting sweeter week by week. You can make this as a granita if you don’t own an ice-cream machine.

Serves 6-8

2 ripe melons

220g/71/2oz caster sugar

400ml/14fl oz water

A good pinch of salt

A squeeze of lemon juice

1tbsp rose syrup

Slice the melons in half and scoop out the flesh, discarding the seeds. Place in a blender and puree until smooth. Add the lemon juice and a pinch of salt, then set aside.

Place the sugar and water in a pan. Place over a medium heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes to ensure the sugar has dissolved and until it has reduced slightly (you are looking for a subtle, viscous quality).

Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely before stirring into the fruit. Finish with the rose syrup and churn in an ice- cream maker according to instructions.

We sometimes finish off this sorbet with a type of minty crush. It is a very imperfect science – simply lime-zest, fresh mint leaves and caster sugar pounded together in a pestle and mortar. Its flavour is sharp and fresh.

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