Success - on a plate

THE words ‘dinner’ and ‘party’ have too often induced in me a feeling of dread, especially when the party is mine and I am responsible for producing the dinner.

And, given our national obsession with TV cookery shows and celebrity chefs, everyone thinks they’re a ‘foodie’ now, putting even more pressure on the poor, beleaguered amateur home cook, Cue chef Matthew Hyde and his wife and assistant, Ashley, who appeared in my kitchen this week, offering to whisk all my worries away.

Having a private chef come and cook dinner in your own home is a growing trend in North Yorkshire. And Matthew and Ashley are two of the newest faces in the business.

When I learnt that the couple, remarkably, catered for their own wedding reception for 120 people when they married in September, I reckoned they could cope with anything.

And with their imaginative three-course menus, bursting with delicious organic, locally sourced Yorkshire fare, costing as little as £20 per head, it is hardly surprising that they are in demand.

Since they started their York-based company, Baba Ganoush, last April, they have catered for everything from birthday parties to murder mystery evenings in clients’ homes. Much repeat custom from satisfied diners has meant they are now taking bookings more than six months in advance.

Apart from producing mouth-watering food, Matthew and Ashley are just the sort of warm, friendly, happy couple who you would feel comfortable having in your kitchen. Although one hostess, they confess, did ask them to stay hidden, while she served up dishes to guests as if it was all her own work.

Happy to remain in the background while hosts talk with their guests, if that’s what they prefer, Matthew is more used to diners wanting to talk to him about ingredients or asking for cooking tips and recipes.

He brings luggage labels to jot down notes for those who are interested, and he’s also willing to do a bit of a cookery demonstration, if that’s what guests want. A few children recently even had a quick lesson in how to make Yorkshire puddings before grown-up guests arrived.

Ashley, who also works as a conference co-ordinator, is on hand to lay the table, pour wine, serve the food and clear away, as well assisting her husband at the stove.

Arriving laden with everything from an attractive printed menu, beautifully laundered linen napkins, candles, flowers, crockery and cutlery, she understands exactly why the dinner party is something I have come to dread.

“It’s not as if you can sit down, relax and enjoy talking with your guests. As host or hostess, you spend most of your time jumping up and down to check the oven, serve up dishes, clear away plates and make sure everyone‘s glass is topped up,” she says.

The pair even do the washing up and clean down the kitchen, something I often leave until next morning, since I’m usually too shattered once the last guest has gone: “We provide a service that’s completely stress-free,” says Ashley, Both Ashley, who grew up in Wales, and Matthew, who was raised in York, developed a passion for food from the home cooking they enjoyed as children, particularly the traditional, local fare produced by their grandparents.

Matthew, who used to help his grandmother make everything from cakes to toffee apples and Turkish delight, knew he wanted to be a chef from the age of ten.

After catering college, he spent 12 years working in restaurants and hotels throughout Yorkshire, including the Marriott, Jamie Oliver’s and the Blue Bicycle in York. But he always wanted to set up his own business.

When he and Ashley first met, while working for the Marriott hotel group, they discussed what they wanted from life. He said he wanted to make exceptional food. Ashley, who by this stage was organising weddings and events, said she just wanted to make people happy.

And so the idea for Baba Ganoush was born: “It mean’s ‘poor man’s caviar’ and that’s the whole idea, really,” explains Ashley. “I like to take simple ingredients and create something really special.”

Family and friends who regularly enjoyed Matthew’s cooking encouraged them, with one aunt and uncle donating £300 to help set up the business. The couple work from the quirky kitchen, complete with stainless steel chef’s bench, in their two-bedroom terraced house in the centre of York.

With Ashley in charge of marketing, they printed off 1,000 flyers to advertise the business and distributed them all over York, going on to promote themselves through their website, Facebook and Twitter.

“People are commenting about our food and sharing pictures and recipes, spreading the word about us,” says Ashley.

Their clients love the fact that Matthew, inspired by helping his grandfather on his vegetable patch as a boy, is passionate about cooking with fresh, seasonal ingredients, many of which the couple grow themselves in their allotment and greenhouse.

Diners usually get to enjoy a range of their home grown produce, from onions and garlic to herbs, pumpkins, courgettes, potatoes and tomatoes, with Matthew’s home-made bread baked with flour from nearby Holgate Mill.

When he’s not heading off early to grab the best produce at York and Leeds markets, Matthew forages locally, gathering everything from hazelnuts to watercress from the hedgerows and woods.

Also employed as a development chef for a number of restaurants in York, in his free time he hunts and fishes, regularly including the rabbit and venison he has bagged, along with locally caught trout and pike, on his menus.

When the couple arrive to prepare a three course lunch for myself and two friends, I am impressed by Matthew’s thoughtful approach. He prides himself on using every part of the meat from the cuts he sources and treats ingredients with respect.

He explains that he created the flavoursome ‘potted pig’ which, along with salmon and Yorkshire rarebit, makes up part of our ‘Yorkshire picnic’ starter, from a whole pig’s head, which he buys from Leeds Market for about £1.25.

Having boiled it for four hours, he pulls off all the meat and adding all-spice, nutmeg and ginger, mixes it with butter to set. Not something I can imagine having time to make for a dinner party, on top of all the other courses.

The crayfish cocktail with cucumber and lettuce jelly, topped with wasabi foam, looked like a work of art, and didn’t taste bad either. It also included a new ingredient to me - tiny, chick pea size Peruvian red peppers.

Having watched Matthew carefully prepare a beautifully smooth champ potato, along with a range of unusual Autumn vegetables, including orange beetroot, yellow carrots and salsify – something else I had never come across - on my hob, I wanted to know how he cooked the ‘Chicken Three Ways’ which had me scraping my plate clean.

Again, using every bit of meat, the leg was ‘confited’, or submerged in butter, while the breast was pan roasted. The boned thigh, wrapped in bacon and stuffed with chestnut and sausage meat, was sautéed for about four hours. I can’t imagine ever finding time for this, alongside making the sort of tasty home-made chutneys and jellies that accompanied our dishes.

Desserts included a Yorkshire parkin dish which Matthew had infused with essence of rhubarb and treacle over a period of three weeks, alongside locally picked blackberries and rowan berries.

Ashley, who confesses that she is no cook, lets Matthew, who is inspired by chefs such as Valentine Warner and Ferrari Adria of the renowned El Bulli restaurant in Spain, take control of the kitchen at home: “His head is always stuck in cookery books, he thinks about food all the time,” she laughs.

Keen to keep their prices within reach of ordinary diners who simply want something different for a special occasion, Matthew and Ashley travel throughout the York and Harrogate area with Baba Ganoush and are planning to move to a larger outside catering unit next year: “We’re competing with restaurants in York doing deals,” says Ashley, who suggests a minimum of four to five guests, depending on menu choice and location. They’re also happy to cater for large numbers and offer a canapé party menu, starting from £6 a head.

When Matthew cooked in hotels and large restaurant kitchens, he rarely met his diners: “It was a bit like working in a dungeon. Going into people’s homes now is fantastic. I just love getting feedback and seeing people enjoy their food. I never tire of seeing the look on people’s faces as they take their first bite.”

Baba Ganoush

T: 07500 060497
W: www.babaganoushdining.com
E: info@babaganoushdining.com
Floral table centrepiece supplied by www.auroraflowersyork.com - Tel: 07570 011803.

Other private dining chefs in North Yorkshire

Gilly the Cook, formerly celebrity chef Rosemary Shrager’s assistant at Swinton Park, is based in Ripon and caters for special occasions in your own home gillythecook@gmail.com
Yves Quemerais, relocated from Paris to Harrogate in 2012 to set up French Chef at Home www.frenchchefathome
Chris Pragnell runs an outside catering arm alongside his York-based Café No 8 www.cafeno8.co.uk Whaheed Rojan, from South Africa, is now living in Harrogate and runs Round Table Dining www.theroundtabledining.co.uk

Matthew's top tips

1. Salt & Pepper can be your best friend and worst enemy so always season to taste

2. When cooking a piece of meat always rest it for as long as you have cooked it to ensure the flavors are not lost.

3. Don't be afraid to experiment with different ingredients. You can always knock up some cheese on toast if it goes wrong - but think of the delicious meal you could have if it goes right!

4. Use seasonal local produce whenever you can. York Market is excellent and the produce is guaranteed to be better quality than any supermarket. Get to know your local butcher, fishmonger and cheese maker. Their recommendations and advice are priceless.

5. Grow your own herbs. It costs next to nothing and takes up very little space. We have a tiny concrete courtyard filled with herb pots - so if we can do it you can too!