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July 2006
"A Touch of French Flair"
Maxine Cordon from the Evening Press meets the female French
chef who has taken over the kitchens at Hazlewood Castle
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Yorkshire has crafted its share of celebrity chefs: Brian
Turner, James Martin, John Benson-Smith, to name three. Benson-Smith
ran the show at Hazlewood Castle, the country hotel near Tadcaster,
until he left to set up a new business in Jersey. Hazlewood's
head chef’s hat has passed to Valerie Hamelin, a 28-year-old
from Angers, in west central France, who is in charge of Haslewood’s
latest venture, Restaurant Anise |
This informal French restaurant is in the cellar-like spot that
formerly housed the Prickly Pear bistro. The fine-dining restaurant
1086 is no more, with the building instead dedicated to conferences,
banqueting and weddings. Valerie’s fiancé, Carl, is
the sous chef at Hazlewood, but works on the banqueting side. They
work in separate kitchens so Valerie doesn’t get to boss
around the 35-year-old Yorkshireman - at least, not at work. However,
the couple - who are getting married at Hazlewood next February
- are used to working together. They met while working at the five-star
Hanbury Manor hotel in Hertfordshire, then spent a year in the kitchens
of a luxury cruise ship.
Valerie says: “It was a six-star cruise ship, and it was
very hard work, but we loved it. We started in South America and
finished in Bangkok. For the first three months, I was sea sick,
I tried everything from special bracelets to all kinds of medication,
but I was just white, grey, green. In the end they gave me an injection.
It was a last resort because I have asthma. If it hadn’t worked,
we would have had to have left the ship.”
But Valerie is made of sterner stuff. “I’m tough. I
set my goals and I’m always busy doing something.”
she says. She left France ten years ago, ostensibly to perfect her
Englis culinary skills. As a reward for passing her chef exams in
France, her tutor set her up “with a good place in London”.
Spells at The Anthenauem Club and the RAC Club, both in London’s
Pall Mall, followed, before Valerie, fed up of the daily commute,
landed the job at Hanbury Manor.
Valerie and Carl moved to Yorkshire after leaving the cruise ship
and were quickly taken on at Hazlewood. “We had never heard
of Hazlewood Castle, but were driving past, and just decided to
pop in without CVs,” she says. “We bumped into John Benson-Smith
in the corridor and asked if he was looking for chefs. He told us
to come in for an interview the next day and we started three days
later.”
The couple helped out with JBSs Masterclasses, where guests come
for lunch, a tour of Hazlewood, and a cookery lesson. One day, John
was tied up in Jersey and Valerie had to run the class on her own
- much to her delight. “I really enjoyed doing the Masterclasses.
For me, it’s another way to show the guests what we do in the
kitchen,” she says. With co-host Carl, Valerie says the two-hour
lesson flies past. “It’s great fun. Carl is very enthusiastic.
He is very much a people person. He is a true Yorkshireman and loves
chatting to people.”
At, Anise, Valerie is focussing on building up a regular clientele.
The key, she believes, is offering seasonal produce at affordable
prices. The evening menu - which includes linguine of fresh crab
and chillies; rump of lamb with ratatouille and rosemary polenta,
and Cointreau and vanilla crème brulee- offers two courses
for £21, three for £25.
A lunch menu runs from noon until 5pm, serving salads, soups,
croque monsieur, steak frites. Coffee, tea and scones are served
from lOam-5pm. There is a kids menu too and everything is home made.
Valerie says her French friends and family tease her about English
cuisine, but she says it has improved. “My friend’s husband
came to England as a student and had peas with mint. He has never
come back,” she says. “But in the last ten years I have
seen big changes in England. There are some really good places now.”
Valerie’s ambition is to run her own place, “perhaps
a tea shop”. Like many brides, Valerie has been dieting ahead
of her wedding. She has lost a stone in six weeks by going to Weight
Watchers and using its ‘points’ system. She said: “People
always ask me how I can lose weight when I am a chef. But being
a chef has helped; I have lots of imagination and can make recipes
up so I’m not eating the same thing twice.”
And the experience has given her plenty of food for thought. “Perhaps
I could do a Weight Watchers Masterclass one day,” she says.
Somehow I think that one might be a sell-out.
THE Masterclass begins at 12.30pm. It costs £89 and includes
a two-course lunch and a glass of champagne served in Restaurant
Anise, followed by a two-hour cookery class in the kitchens of Hazlewood
Castle, ending with tea and cakes. The next one is in August. For
more Information, call 01937 535353.
Here is one of Valerie’s recipes from her Hazlewood Masterclass
Chocolate brulee (Serves four)
Ingredients:
600ml double cream
300g dark chocolate broken into pieces
4 egg yolks
60g icing sugar (sieved)
100g caster sugar (for glazing)
Method:
Place the cream in a heavy-based pan over a moderate heat until
hot (but not boiling), remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate
until melted and smooth.
Put the egg yolks and icing sugar into a bowl. Whisk until well
blended and then stir in the warm chocolate cream. Pass through
a sieve, into a jug.
Stand four ramekin dishes in a roasting tin and pour the chocolate
mixture into them.
Pour warm water into the tin to surround the ramekins, enough
to come half way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake in a pre-heated
oven 120c (230F Gas ½) until just firm. Remove from the bain-marie
and leave to cool.
Chill until required (up to 48 hours)
To serve:
Sprinkle a good covering of caster sugar over the top of each dish
and place under a hot grill to caramelise. Serve within the hour.
NOTE TO NEWSDESK
For more information contact Natalie Sykes on (01937) 535353.
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