Four years ago, when the restaurant industry had come to a juddering halt under successive lockdowns, Marcus Wareing said that while he feared for the sector, he knew he’d always be OK. “If restaurants ever close, I’ll always find something else to do,” he said. “I’d go into gardening, farming, or even be an HGV driver.”
The wheels of the industry are still turning, but 54-year-old Wareing’s involvement with it has indeed come to an end. He closed his restaurant, Marcus at the Berkeley, on Boxing Day last year, and for the first time since he was a teenager, he no longer has a kitchen routine to put structure into his days. So how’s the truck driving coming along?
“Never say never — I grew up on a bloody forklift truck,” says the son of a vegetable wholesaler. “But no, I haven’t taken up trucking. Still, two out of three isn’t bad.”
The gardening and farming has taken place on his smallholding in Sussex, where he’s able to spend more time now that he’s not having to commute from his southwest London home to the restaurant, but he’s hardly put himself out to pasture. He returned to our screens this week as tormentor-in-chief on MasterChef: The Professionals, his tenth series of the long-running show, and spent a happy summer eating his way around the south of France in the BBC’s Simply Provence. Now he’s back on French soil, as it were, with a new cookbook, Marcus’s France, which he describes as his most personal yet.
So how does it feel no longer to be chained to the stove? “It feels great,” he says with a big smile. It’s not that he wasn’t still enjoying it, but the restaurant world was changing and he wanted to get out before he was hit by the freight train that he could see coming down the track. “Fine dining was becoming more and more difficult to run, with ever more chefs producing ever more complicated food. Then there were changes in government, changes in policies, in service charges, in landlords, changes in staff from the EU. It was all building up and I sat down with my wife Jane and said, ‘What’s the f***ing point?’”
Stepping away from the only job he’s known since catering college has inevitably led to some soul-searching for Wareing, exacerbated by the death this year of his father, Raymond, at the age of 84. “It’s certainly been a big year,” he says with understatement, “what with the restaurant, my kids on the verge of leaving home [his youngest, Jess, is in her second year of A-levels], and Dad passing away.”
The new book is dedicated to his father. “He was the rock that started this journey and I would not have done any of this if it hadn’t been for him. And that is absolutely God’s honest truth. He put me to work at the age of 14, then he put me on a train to London and told me never to come back, saying, ‘There’s nothing in Southport for you.’ It sounds tough but it was done out of pure love.”
It gave Wareing the work ethic necessary to succeed in the brutal restaurant scene of the Nineties, most notably at Gordon Ramsay’s Aubergine, where 18-hour days earned it a reputation as the SAS of kitchens. Wareing’s father was a constant supporter, offering words of encouragement when times were tough. Giving up was never an option. “And even the weeks up to him dying, there was still a strength in his conversation, in his handshake, in his hug. Even in his final few months, he’d shake your hand and nearly break it.”
• Why MasterChef’s Marcus Wareing has quit the restaurant industry
In Marcus’s France, Wareing relives his own journey. “Although my two passions in life were boxing and working with my dad, I had decided to leave the relative comfort of his fruit and potato warehouse and follow my older brother into catering. When I first went to catering college in 1986 my training was all about classic French recipes. I learnt the basics of filleting fish, portioning chicken, making sauces, gravies, pâtés, terrines and pastries, all in the time-honoured French style. It launched my career as a chef.”
Although very much a recipe book, each chapter reflects a period in his life: his time working for Albert Roux in New York at the age of 21, working in Paris for ten months with Guy Savoy, and exploring markets in the south of France on family holidays.
French cooking at home has fallen out of fashion recently, but he believes it still offers the best grounding. “I think chefs and cooks are doing it without realising it, if I’m honest with you. Any young modern chef will have to know how to make a fish stock or a basic sauce. Whether it’s making pastry or whisking a vinaigrette, it all started in France.
“I’m not saying that France is the best place on the planet for food; I’m saying that this is a place that has influenced me all of my life. It’s just that it resonates with me as a cuisine that has allowed me to express myself.”
Pork chops with fennel, sage and onion
MATT RUSSELL
Pork chops with fennel, sage and onion
Serves 4
Ingredients
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 x 150-200g pork loin chops
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
• ½ bunch of fresh thyme
• 15 fresh sage leaves
• 2 tsp dried sage
• 50g cold butter, diced
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160C fan/gas 4.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat while you season the chops well with salt and pepper. Sear the chops on one side for 3 min (you may have to do this in two batches). Transfer the seared chops to a heavy ovenproof casserole or baking dish, unseared side down.
3. Cover the chops with the onion and fennel slices, separating the slices as you scatter them. The chops should be completely buried in the onions and fennel, so their juices will seep into the chops.
4. Top with the thyme sprigs, fresh and dried sage, and diced butter. Season well.
5. Cover the dish with a tight-fitting lid or seal with foil. Bake for about 1-1½ hours until the pork feels tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife. Two or three times during cooking, remove the lid or foil and tilt the dish so the juices run into one corner. Scoop up the juices and drizzle them over the chops, to baste them.
6. Serve the chops with the onions and fennel piled on top and the buttery juices spooned over and around.
• Marcus Wareing: the recipes I cook at home
Easy tomato, onion and olive tart
Serves 4
Ingredients
• 1 x 320g sheet of ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 1 large or 2 small red onions, thinly sliced
• 2-3 tbsp black olive tapenade
• 4-6 ripe tomatoes, sliced (use a mixture of sizes and colours)
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• Handful of fresh thyme leaves
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Salad leaves, to serve
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan/gas 6.
2. Put the puff pastry on baking parchment and cut out a large circle (as big as the pastry allows – you can use a dinner plate as a guide). Brush the edges with some of the beaten egg, then fold over and crimp the edges to make a rim. Use a fork to prick the base of the pastry case all over (this will prevent the pastry from puffing up too much in the oven), then brush beaten egg all over the pastry case.
3. Bake for 12-15 min until golden and crisp (the pastry doesn’t need to be completely cooked through at this stage). Remove from the oven and set aside, but leave the oven on.
4. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan and add the onions, salt and pepper. Fry over a gentle heat for 10-15 min, or until softened and caramelised.
5. To assemble the tart, spread a thin layer of tapenade over the puff pastry base, followed by a generous, even layer of caramelised onions. Arrange the sliced tomatoes on top, then scatter over the garlic slices, thyme leaves, a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
6. Return the tart to the oven for about 12 min, or until the pastry is fully cooked and the tomatoes are warmed through. Serve with a fresh salad of your choice.
Quick coq au vin
MATT RUSSELL
Quick coq au vin
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
• 4 tbsp duck fat or butter
• 2 celery sticks, quartered
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• ½ tsp table salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 whole large chicken, jointed into 8 pieces
• 250g smoked streaky bacon, cut into 1cm lardons
• 250g button mushrooms, halved if large
• 200g small shallots, halved if large
• 2 tbsp brandy
• 750ml white wine
• 3 bay leaves
• ½ bunch of fresh thyme
• 500ml good-quality chicken stock
• 2 tsp cornflour (optional)
• ½ bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves chopped
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160C fan/gas 4.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the duck fat or butter in a large frying pan over high heat and, when hot, add the celery, onion and carrots and cook for 10 min, or until softened. Add the garlic and fry for another minute or two. Remove from the pan and set aside in an ovenproof casserole dish.
3. Combine the flour, salt and pepper, then dust the chicken pieces all over with the seasoned flour. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of fat to the frying pan and fry the chicken in batches until golden brown; each batch should take about 10 min. Remove from the pan and add to the dish.
4. Add the bacon, mushrooms and shallots to the pan and fry for 5-7 min until well browned, then add to the chicken in the dish.
5. Deglaze the pan with the brandy then pour this over the ingredients in the dish. Place the dish over the heat, add the wine, bay leaves and thyme (tied together with string) and bring to a boil. Simmer rapidly for about 15 min, then add the chicken stock and simmer gently for a further 15 min. If needed, mix the cornflour with a little water and stir into the sauce to thicken.
6. Cover and place in the oven for 40–50 min, or until the juices run clear when a chicken thigh is pierced with a knife in the thickest part. Remove the herbs tied with string, stir in the parsley and serve.
Pan-fried fish with crushed new potatoes and sauce grenobloise
MATT RUSSELL
Pan-fried fish with crushed new potatoes and sauce grenobloise
Grenobloise is perhaps one of the lesser-known sauces of France, but it is definitely one of my favourites and one that I learnt to make at college. Hailing from the city of Grenoble, at the foot of the Alps in southeast France, it was invented there as a means of making fish that was past its best — due to the landlocked location of the city — taste amazing. Packed with zingy flavours and not too dissimilar to another French classic, meunière, it has a base of a nutty brown butter. It pairs perfectly with all sorts of fish and seafood. I particularly love it with salmon or any firm white fish.
Serves 4
Ingredients
• 4 x 120g cod, haddock or sea bass fillet portions, skin on
• Olive oil, for drizzling
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 600g new potatoes
• 20g butter
• Lemon wedges, to serve
For the grenobloise sauce
• 2 slices of white bread, crusts removed
• 100g butter
• 50g capers
• 1 lemon, peel and pith removed, and cut into segments
• Small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Method
1. First prepare the croutons. Lightly roll the bread with a rolling pin to flatten, then cut into 1cm dice and set aside.
2. To make the sauce, melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and cook for 2-3 min until foaming and beginning to turn a nut-brown colour. Add the diced bread and cook for 3-4 min until crisp and golden brown. Remove from the heat and stir through the capers, segmented lemon and parsley, then season to taste with salt (bear in mind that the brine from the capers is slightly salty).
3. Cook the new potatoes in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 10-15 min or until tender, drain and crush lightly with a fork, then add the butter, season with salt and pepper and set aside.
4. Heat a frying pan until hot, drizzle the fish with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper, then fry skin side down for 3-4 min, or until the skin is golden. Flip over and cook for another 2 min on the other side, or until the fish is just cooked through.
5. Serve the pan-fried fish with the sauce spooned over, the crushed potatoes on the side and lemon wedges for squeezing.
Cherry clafoutis
MATT RUSSELL
Cherry clafoutis
Serves 4
Ingredients
• 50g butter, plus extra for greasing 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 4 tbsp demerara sugar
• 400g fresh black cherries, stones removed (pitted weight approx 360g)
• 150ml double cream
• 150ml milk
• seeds from 1 vanilla pod
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2 eggs
• 45g caster sugar
• 45g plain flour
• 1 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting
For the lavender cream
• 200ml whipping or double cream
• 1 tsp edible lavender flowers
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp icing sugar
Method
1. Lightly grease a round metal skillet or ceramic dish, about 23cm in diameter, with butter and sprinkle with caster sugar (this will help the clafoutis to rise). Preheat the oven to 160C fan/gas 4 and place a baking sheet into the oven to heat up.
2. Put the demerara sugar with 2 tablespoons of water into a small heavy-based saucepan or frying pan. Place over medium heat and leave to melt and caramelise to a deep golden colour, swirling the pan occasionally (do not stir) to get an even colour – this will take 5-8 min. Add the butter, whisk well and simmer for 1-2 min until well combined.
3. Pour the caramel into the prepared dish, then quickly, while the caramel is still hot, add the cherries in an even layer on top of the caramel.
4. Put the cream, milk, vanilla seeds and lemon zest into a small saucepan and gently bring to the boil. Remove from the heat.
5. In a deep bowl, whisk together the eggs and caster sugar. Whisk in the flour, then gradually add the hot milk and cream, whisking continuously. Pour this batter over the cherries, then place the dish into the oven onto the hot baking sheet. Bake for about 45 min or until golden, puffed up and cooked through.
6. While the clafoutis is cooking, make the lavender cream. Place the cream into a saucepan, add the lavender flowers and heat over a low heat until it just starts bubbling at the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat before it starts simmering and set aside to cool. Once cool, strain the cream through a sieve and discard the lavender. Add the vanilla extract and icing sugar and whisk until it forms soft peaks. Spoon into a serving bowl.
7. Remove the clafoutis from the oven, dust with icing sugar and serve immediately with the lavender cream alongside.
Marcus’s France by Marcus Wareing (HarperCollins £26). To order a copy go to timesbookshop.co.uk. Free UK standard P&P on orders over £25. Special discount available for Times+ members