By Steven Saunders • Published: 08 Sep 2019 • 8:00
From left Willie Pike MBE, Steven and Bruce Sangster.
This week Celebrity Chef from Ready Steady Cook & Fellow Master Chef Steven Saunders, proprietor of The Little Geranium in La Cala serves a tasting menu lunch for his Michelin chef friends…
I HAVE many fond memories of growing up, working with and befriending some of the best chefs on this planet!
My main training was at The Savoy in London in the 70’s and I worked under Trompetto the head chef who was at that time known as one of the world’s best chefs.
When I bought my first restaurant (The Pink Geranium) I became friends with Marco Pierre White who had Harvey’s in Wandsworth until my wife suffered seafood poisoning eating his classic oyster dish and the two of them had a major fall out over it and of course then Marco and I never really talked again!
Then in the early 90’s I became friends with Gordon Ramsay and Gary Rhodes. Gordon is a great sporting fan and I met him when we were both guests of Frank Warren at a boxing match in London.
I remember Gordon telling me that the difference between us (me and him) was that I was a TV chef (I was on Ready Steady Cook at that time) and he was a real chef! I argued the point of course saying how necessary TV is to ensure a busy restaurant.
Then I saw him a few years later when he was on every channel ever created and I was more focused on my kitchens. I went over to him and said “hi Gordon, there is a difference between us.” He said “really what’s that?” “Well you are a TV chef and I am a real chef,” I said.
He didn’t laugh but the others around him did! We sort of fell out after that!
Then there was Gary Rhodes and I really liked him but my daughter (then about 10) met him at a film premiere with me and told him…” There’s only one real chef on the TV and that’s my dad!” So I was doing well falling out with my peers!
However amongst the few casualties I also got to know and like many chefs who had Michelin stars around the world like Jean-Georges from New York, Paul Rankin from Belfast, Andrew Turner from London, Alan Murchison from Reading, Nico Ladenis from London and the great Joel Robuchon who had more Michelin stars than all of us put together!
Other greats like Bruce Sangster and Willie Pike were also friends and would visit me from time to time at The Pink Geranium near Cambridge.
Willie is undoubtedly one of the world’s finest pastry chefs, has an MBE and runs his own Master Chef consultancy company and Michelin star Bruce Sangster famous from Sangster’s in Elie, Fife, has now just retired.
When Willie and Bruce turned up at The Little Geranium I was more than delighted to see them with their lovely wives. We chatted about some of the chefs and some of the good old days and then they sat down to our lunch tasting menu which consisted of six courses.
Willie and Bruce messaged me afterwards saying what an amazing experience it had been! One of their favourite dishes is our Galician Beef, simple but delicious and you too can cook like a Michelin chef if you follow these basic but necessary rules to achieve perfection!
Steven Saunders’s opinions are his own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.
Galician beef is ranked amongst the top by chefs worldwide for its quality and rare breed beef. If you cannot find it ask your butcher to order it for you because for this dish the quality of the beef is essential.
Ingredients (for four)
For cooking the beef
To cook the beef
Parsley pesto
Put all the ingredients into a food blender apart from the salt. Blend to a fine puree, taste and season.
Carrot and mustard puree
Put the carrots into a saucepan and cover with chicken stock and the cream.
Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for around six to eight minutes until soft and tender.
Place the warm carrots into a food processor.
Purée until smooth, adding a little of the cooking liquor as required. Stir in the mustard to taste season and serve.
Follow Steven on Instagram … saunderschef – Email any questions … steven@thelittlegeranium.com The Little Geranium, Winner of Best Contemporary International Restaurant 2019-Costa Del Sol – www.thelittlegeranium.com
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Steven Saunders FMCGB - The Little Geranium - La Cala de Mijas & Marbella
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