Adam Smith Kitchen Confidential

From his idyllic country setting, Adam Smith, award-winning head chef at the Burlington, shares how he uses the best produce from Yorkshire's larder

Cooking With

May is a special month, when we see the first crop of delicious and crunchy Yorkshire asparagus appear. Wild garlic is also blooming in woodland areas this month. Our garden here at ‘The Dev’ (The Devonshire Arms Hotel) is a source of plentiful fruit and vegetables, herbs and edible flowers. It’s an amazing asset for the kitchen team because we grow and produce many great ingredients – often things that are hard or expensive for us to buy in.

We can pick produce at the optimum time and serve it up in the restaurant that same evening, which is fantastic. The focus in our garden is threefold: herbs, ingredients that are more cost-effective to grow for short periods of the year here and there, and speciality products that are a little tougher to get consistently from suppliers. So, we planted over 150 fruit and berry bushes this year, like raspberries, tayberries, loganberries, pineberries and many more varieties.

As for herbs, we have what I call core herbs, such as rosemary, thyme and bay, as well as lesser-known ones like lovage, sweet cicely, angelica, anise hyssop, borage for its flowers, nasturtium and many more. My favourites are delicate lemon verbena and the very aromatic bronze fennel. Vegetable-wise there are several types of lettuce, beetroot, turnips, peas and beans, cauliflowers, cabbage and rainbow chard.

My food philosophy is based around using Yorkshire produce at its best. To make an ingredient shine is to treat it simply, to highlight its natural flavours. The process of developing a dish is quite simple too. First I see what is at its peak and of great quality.

Once we have our ingredients we look into how we are going to marry them together and make them taste the best they can. We make sure that we have a good mix of textures on the plate, such as our starter of marinated scallop, with avocado, radish and pig’s head croquette. This is a favourite of mine for its simple, clean looks and great taste. The classic theory of ‘what grows together, goes together’ works well for me (thedevonshirearms.co.uk)

Who i'm using

Fruit and veg comes from Delifresh in Bradford who also provides dry goods. Hodgson Fish in Hartlepool sends us fish that are second to none. For meat, it’s R&J – butchers as passionate about the product and Yorkshire as anyone I have ever met.

Quote

‘The classic theory of “what grows together, goes together” works for me’

Recipe

To make my turbot with asparagus, smoked eel and morels, start by melting 65g of butter in a pan and adding 400g asparagus, sliced as thinly as possible. Cover with a lid and allow to sweat until soft. Turn up the heat and add 400ml of vegetable stock and cook for 4 minutes. Add 25g spinach and cook for another 2 minutes. Blend into a purée and reserve. Now slice 2kg Maris Piper potatoes as thinly as possible and slice 2 smoked eel fillets thinly. Douse the potato in 500g clarified butter and pack into a terrine mould, layering eel and potato. Cook in a steamer for 75 minutes or a steam oven (set on 100 degrees) then put under a heavy weight for 12 hours. Season a filleted turbot then cook in a hot pan for 1 minute. Add 40g butter and a splash of water and braise for 4 minutes. Add 12 morels to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Add the purée and potato to the plate and place the fish on top.