Oxford-based chef, Sara Hallas, has been named winner of the Pastry Chef category at the inaugural BaxterStorey Heritage Chef of The Year competition. Here, H&C News is delighted to explain the background to her win – and present the winning recipe.
Launched by BaxterStorey, the UK’s largest independent workplace catering company, the competition champions seasonal cooking and is open to the caterer’s chefs across the South and South West.
39 year old Sara is a pastry chef at the BaxterStorey-run restaurant at Saïd Business School in Oxford. Nominated for her passion for using locally sourced, sustainable ingredients, Sara wowed the competition judges with a two course menu and a mystery basket challenge in the final held at The Woodspeen Restaurant and Cookery School in Newbury.
Sara said: “I’m delighted to have won the first ever Heritage Chef of The Year competition. I’m really passionate about working with local, seasonal produce and this competition really gave me the opportunity to showcase the fantastic ingredients we have here in Oxford including locally grown strawberries, elderflowers picked from the bountiful supply growing in our hedgerows at the moment and cream from our local dairy.”
Judging the competition was John Campbell, chef patron of The Woodspeen, Hayden Groves, executive chef and National Chef of The Year 2013 and Rik Razza, head of chef development at BaxterStorey.
The winning recipe: Strawberries and Cream scented with Elderflower
(Lemon and elderflower posset with strawberry ice-cream, almond crumble and lemonade)
Ingredients
- Strawberry ice-cream
- 300g strawberries
- 150ml double cream
- 80g cream cheese
- 70g icing sugar
Posset
- 640ml double cream
- 140g sugar
- Juice of 2 lemon
- 4 elderflower heads
Lemonade
- 200ml Lemon juice
- Zest of 1.5 lemons
- 300ml stock syrup (sugar and water mix)
- 3 leaves of gelatine
Almond crumble
- 75g butter
- 100g flour
- 50g almonds
- 50g sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Seeds of 1/2 vanilla pod
Method
- To make the ice-cream: blend together all the ice-cream ingredients, churn in an ice-cream machine and freeze when ready.
- Next make the posset: heat the cream and sugar, then add the elderflower heads and lemon juice, bring to the boil and remove from the heat. Leave to steep for at least 30 minutes, then strain and set in a suitable serving bowl.
- To make the crumble: rub together all of the crumble ingredients to a slightly more rustic stage than ‘sand’. Spread loosely on a baking sheet and bake at 150c for about 20 minutes, or until golden. Leave to cool.
- For the lemonade: soak three leaves of gelatine in cold water. Heat the stock syrup, lemon juice and lemon zest then add the soaked gelatine. Leave to cool, then strain. Pour into a foam gun and charge with two gases.
Assemble the dish: place the ice cream onto the dish before drizzling over the posset and sprinkling the crumble on top. Add additional colour with freshly chopped strawberries.
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