A couple of months ago we had a fascinating visit to Kilver Court from two young chefs who have caught the media’s eye, Jonray and Pete Sanchez-Iglesias of Casamia.

They are the youngest chefs ever to achieve a Michelin star and British to boot, although you wouldn’t know it from their surname!

Their parents had created a great Italian family restaurant in Westbury on Trym many years ago, although their father is Spanish by birth.

This was all converted to their current operation that Monty and I visited last weekend. We were absolutely bowled over. Remember the last time we  sat down to a Michelin star meal was in our very own Charlton House. We were awarded our first Michelin star within 9 months  of opening our hotel and restaurant in 1996. We held on to it until 2003 when we felt that we no longer believed in the fine dining ethos as we embraced the much simpler concept of local, seasonal and organic food.  

So I suppose you could say that we sat down with some trepidation to savour or critique what was to be an 11 course tasting menu. The like of which we last put together ourselves with our own chef Elisha Carter, to in turn ourselves be critiqued by Giles Coren, the Sunday Times food critic.

Casa Mia quickly filled with gourmet diners who were clearly there for an expected treat. Our welcome was genuine and calm,  a good sign of quiet confidence. The young waitress, Kate, had a wonderful naivety and charm that was brimming with enthusiasm, she couldn’t speak highly enough of her bosses.

The first selection of appetisers arrived with a fanfare and of course with brother Jonray presenting, warm and enthusiastic as we remembered him.

Now the dishes started to come thick and fast, but light and each dish ever more inventive, presentation always a theatre, Heston watch out, there was something really genuine and sincere with what they attempt to do with seasonality that I suspect is still to fully develop. The   miniature scrambled egg was presented in an egg box, complete with wisps of straw. Every dish was supported with a wine that had been cleverly chosen to bring out the flavours and senses of both dish and wine. The sommelier Andrew just loved his job and with maître’d Matthew and dad , Paco, they made the meal a really memorable occasion. For the last desert courses, already clutching our sides, we headed to the experimental kitchen to join the Brothers for a final few rounds of one piece de resistance after another. Finally the carefully engineered toy size British Trifle arrived, they must have known that was what my Granny had given me as a child!

I have to say we were seriously impressed. To create a great meal of many courses consistently is nearly impossible, to do it with a committed team with charm and belief front of house as well as back is tough, to do all that with enthusiasm, passion and absolute brilliance is unique. We had spent 6 hours with the boys, by the time we left at 1.30 a.m. , a life  we would never have dreamed of going back to , but we had also made friends for lfe and rediscovered our taste buds.

5 stars from me and we will be back.

 Mini Scrambled Eggs

 Trifle

 Breast of chicken

Jerusalem Artichokes are just coming into season at the moment. This inexpensive yet delicious vegetable has a sweet, nutty flavour, and lends itself perfectly to soup making. Contrary to what its name suggests, the Jerusalem Artichoke originates from North America, and is famed for its vitamin C, phosphorus, potassium and iron content.

I thought I’d share one of my favourite winter recipes, ‘Jerusalem Artichoke Soup’. It just wouldn’t be the same without chopped walnuts, which give the artichokes an added luxurious kick.

Ingredients

3 knobs of butter
3 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
750g Jerusalem artichokes
A generous handful of thyme leaves
1.1l of stock, vegetable or chicken
155g crème fraiche
350ml milk
Salt and pepper
200g walnuts, roasted for approx 10mins in an oven at 200c, so the skins rub off easily

Instructions

1) In a large pan melt the butter and gently fry the onion and garlic for 5-10 minutes.

2) Add the chopped artichokes and thyme and cook over a gentle heat for another 10 minutes.

3) Add the stock, 2/3rds of the walnuts and bring to the boil. Simmer for approx 30 minutes until the artichokes are tender.

4) Remove the soup from the heat, allow to cool, then liquidize.

5) Add the crème fraiche and milk, and season to taste. Reheat gently being careful not to boil.

6) Serve with remainder of the walnuts chopped up on top and garnished with a sprig of thyme and a swirl of cream.

I do hope you enjoy it!

Back in September, Monty and I welcomed chef Yotam Ottolenghi to our family home in Somerset to film a piece for the BBC 2 series ‘The Great British Food Revival’. We showed him around our walnut orchards, discussing the future of Britain’s walnut industry and the reasons behind our choice to grow this famous British nut.

We decided to start growing walnuts at Sharpham Park after studying old maps of our estate, dating as far back as the 1500s. It all started to fit the picture when we found walnuts, scallop shells and chicken bones neatly stashed in a 15th century wall, where a hard working mink had carefully disposed of the remains of his lunch and plastered them into the wall as he built it!

Although the majority of our 300 trees are of French origin, we have a growing number of British trees, helped along by our resident squirrels. Sadly at present, a large proportion of Britain’s walnuts are actually imported from abroad, despite the fact that our increasingly warm climate lends itself perfectly to walnut growing. Over time, we hope to be able to compete with the Chinese and Californian imports to help put fresh and local produce back on the plates of Britain.

Describing fresh walnuts as a ‘party in the mouth’, Ottolenghi took a sample from the farm and turned them into a delicious chicken dish, ‘Miso Chicken with Grapes and Walnuts’. This, alongside various other recipes for walnuts, cobnuts and cherries can be seen on the programme.

My son Freddie's amazing walnut pesto, which we served with our spelt pasta, sadly ended up on the cutting room floor, but you can see it in our next blog - it was recently featured in Hello! Magazine.

If you missed the programme, you can find it on BBC iPlayer.