Anyone who has had a meal at The Newport in the eponymous Fife village will know that not only do you get heavenly food, the taste of which lingers on the palate for hours, but you also get a generous helping of Jamie himself. Flitting between kitchen and restaurant, chatting to diners and talking them through the ingredients of an immaculately prepared dish, this hands-on approach and passion for the food he works with are the key ingredients of his success.
Originally from Arbroath Jamie started cooking when he was 11.
“My parents ran a kitchen at the golf course and that got me interested in cooking,” says Jamie. He went to college at 16 and after qualifying, he travelled all over Britain and Europe doing “stages”, a French term meaning he did lots of work experience in restaurants without being paid. “I would 100% recommend any young chef does that,” says jamie. “It’s a great way to learn.”
Returning to Scotland, his first job was at the Colliston Inn in his hometown of Arbroath, followed by the Byzantium in Dundee. It was during his time at Rocca in St Andrews that he won MasterChef: The Professionals in 2014.
“I started as junior sous chef at Rocca and left as head chef and the restaurant was awarded three AA rosettes,” he says proudly.
Every chef dreams of opening their own restaurant and at the start of this year, that dream became reality for Jamie and his wife Kelly.
“It means everything to me,” he smiles. “It’s my life, cooking food we love, presenting an experience we want to be part of – it’s special to me.”
Describing his style as modern Scottish, Jamie and the team use as much local and seasonal produce as they can. “We cook food we love to eat and influences come from all over – Indian, Asian, Spanish,” he says.
“Over the festive season the emphasis was on warm spices, heart-warming foods, rich dishes like goose and scallops, root veg cooked in honey, butter and cloves.
“Over January we’ll be using king cabbages, cockles and different shellfish, pork and veg we preserved over the summer. It’s important to always plan ahead – we make all our own preserves and vinegars, as well as bread and butter. Everything is made from scratch and there’s no MSG or preservatives in anything,” he explains.
Jamie waxes lyrical as he describes the moment when the first box of forced rhubarb arrives in his kitchen. “It’s the most exciting thing and there are so many ways to use it – we serve it with mains, desserts and in preserves.
Although Jamie is passionate about all foods, he’s particularly fond of Scottish shellfish and pork. “I love the fat content of pork and getting the rind crisp. Plus it’s so versatile – you can grind it, roast it, sure it. We make our own version of Parma ham – Newport ham! – by curing and hanging it for 10 months.”
There’s only one ingredient Jamie admits to not being a fan of: “I’m not a lover of cinnamon but I’ll still cook with it. If I know it’ll work I’ll use it and to be honest, I love cooking with everything,” he says philosophically.
I ask Jamie if he has a favourite kitchen gadget.
“Well, every chef has their own eclectic collection of knives,” he says. “I’ve got everything from a palate knife to tweezers for putting tiny decorations on food. We also have two pressure cookers in the kitchen – they give an intense flavour in half the time so they’re invaluable,” he continues.
Chuffed to bits and having been awarded three AA rosettes at Rocca and for winning MasterChef, it’s his team at The Newport that he’s proudest of.
“They are amazing and work so hard for the restaurant. It can mean working from 8 in the morning until 2am the following day but since we opened we’ve already had several visits from Michelin and AA who have given us great reviews. We’ve welcomed customers from all over the UK and the world and when someone says that was the best meal they’ve ever had, that really makes the long hours worth it,” he smiles.
His advice to young chefs starting out is to do their research and get into a good kitchen.
“The hospitality industry is so vast, don’t set your heart on one particular route and be open to suggestions,” he advises.
“Write everything down – all the team here have notebooks to write down recipes, dishes they’ve made and so on. And taste everything – even if you think you won’t like it, train your palate. I have a friend who is a sous chef and he doesn’t like trout and oily fish yet he’s always the first to taste it.
“Above all, work hard and be prepared for long hours – preparing good food, good stock takes a long time so you will need to put in the hours. And don’t chase the money – if you’re good the money will come.”
So does Jamie fancy the idea of following in the footsteps of celebrity chefs and appearing on TV?
“No, it’s not something I’m keen to do at the moment,” he says. “There’s so much work to do here and we’re hoping to open a second restaurant – more of a concept restaurant than a traditional one like The Newport – and a bakery locally.
“We’d like to break into Edinburgh one day but we’re happy to stay local for now. We love the area and we love what we do.”
Try three of Jamie’s recipes
Scallop, hazel nuts and pumpkin
To prepare the scallops:
Ingredients
1tsp olive oil
1 shallot peeled and finely sliced
75g butter
½ lemon zest only
1tbs of finely chopped chervil
1tbs of finely chopped chives
45g of hazelnuts finely chopped
6 scallops cleaned, white meat only
8 slices of Iberico ham
Heat a frying pan until warm, add the olive oil, shallots and fry gently until softened with no colour. Place the butter into a bowl, along with shallots and other ingredients except the scallops and mix well. Heat a medium frying pan until hot, add one tsp of olive oil and cook the scallop one side until golden. Turn over in the pan and add 2 tbs of the hazel nut butter and baste. Remove from the heat and allow to rest for one minute.
To make the butternut squash puree:
Ingredients
2 tbs olive oil
1 onion peeled and roughly chopped
1 butternut squash peeled and roughly chopped
75mls chicken stock
75mls double cream
Heat the oil and butter in a large pan and gently fry the onion until soft. Add the butternut squash and roast in the pan for 5 minutes. Pour in the chicken stock and simmer gently for a further 5-10mins until tender. Pour in the double cream and season to taste. In a food processor, blend the squash until smooth, pass through a fine sieve into a clean bowl and keep warm.
To serve:
Spoon the butternut squash puree into the centre of the plate, top with the scallops. Arrange the iberico ham slices and finish with more hazelnut butter.
Venison, chocolate, pumpkin & coffee
5oz venison loin
1 tsp extra ground coffee
25g 80% chocolate (higher the better)
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds (lightly roasted)
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 butternut squash (peeled, bottom, split & deseeded & top cut into 3cm wedges)
Save all trim from squash
50g butter
50ml rapeseed oil
Salt & pepper
50g fresh sage
Mix together: 75ml jerez vinegar, 100ml pumpkin oil, 1 tsp honey
- For the squash, wrap the bulbous end in tin foil with some oil and salt & pepper and bake at 180’c for 20 mins until tender. Cut the end into 3cm wedges and blanch in boiling salted water for 4-6 mins until cooked through. Roughly chop all the remaining trim into the same size and place into a heavy based saucepan with a knob of butter, cook on a medium heat for 12-15 mins until tender. Transfer into a blender and blend until a smooth puree is formed (may take a touch of warm water to loosen the mix) keep all elements warm
- Season the venison loin and roll in ground coffee, tap off any excess. Place into a hot frying pan with 15ml of oil and seal all the way round until golden. Add 25g of butter and baste on a low heat for 2-5 mins. Remove from pan and rest for 5 mins
- To serve, cut the roasted squash into nice wedges and season. Roll 2 of the blanched cylinders in the seed mixture. Place a spoonful of the puree on a warm plate followed by the cooked squashes. Cut the venison in half, add to plate and dress with jerez.
Pear, ginger and honeycomb
Serves 4
To make the honeycomb:
Ingredients
Vegetable oil for greasing
400g caster sugar
110ml honey
2 tbsp glucose
110ml water
1.5 tsp of bicarb
Line a baking tray with grease proof paper and grease with the vegetable oil. Place the sugar, honey, glucose and water into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook until the temperature reaches 60degrees, check this by using a sugar thermometer. Remove from the heat and quickly beat in the bicarb with a wooden spoon. Pour the mixture onto the lined baking tray set aside until hard and break using your hands.
To make the parfait:
Ingredients
3 free range eggs separated
500ml double cream
150g caster sugar
100ml ginger syrup
1tsp chopped stem ginger
Place the egg yolks, syrup and half the sugar into a bowl and whisk until thick and creamy. In a clean mixing bowl whisk the egg whites to form soft peaks, fold in the remaining sugar to form a raw meringue. Whisk the meringue mixture into the set egg whites. Place the cream into separate bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form, fold the cream and stem ginger into the ginger mixture. Line a rectangular loaf tin with cling film and pour the parfait mixture into the tin and freeze for up to 4 hours.
To make the pears:
Ingredients
750g caster sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2 lemon zest
1 piece of root ginger
1 vanilla pod spilt length ways
1 star anise
2 ripe pears peeled
In a pan, big enough to hold the pears snuggly, tin in all ingredients except the pears. Half fill the pan with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes to infuse. Drop in the pear, cover and gently poach for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside, leave the pears to fully cool in the liquid.
To make the toffee sauce:
Ingredients
500ml double cream
175g demerara sugar
175g butter
1tbs golden syrup
1tbs black treacle
Gently heat the cream in a saucepan add the sugar and butter. Whisk until melted, add the syrup and treacle, bring to the boil and allow to cool.
To serve:
Cut the pears into quarters removing the seeds, arrange on the plate. Remove the parfait from the freezer, cut into rectangle and place next to the pears. Crumble over the honeycomb and finish with toffee sauce.
www.thenewportrestaurant.co.uk
