Early in her new cookbook Time & Tide, Emily Scott writes that her life in Cornwall could be “drawn from the lines of a Daphne du Maurier story”. And so it appears from the gorgeous book as a whole. When she’s not explaining how to make crab sandwiches and gorse-flower fudge to pack for boat trips, Scott is evoking sea mists and screeching gulls, precarious cliff walks and the whitewashed walls of her Newquay home decked out with nautical maps and seaweed prints.
“I was feeling really romantic that day,” admits Scott, laughing when I ask her about the Du Maurier line and implying that her Cornish existence isn’t necessarily all cream teas and smuggler’s coves. “But it is very beautiful here,” she says of Watergate Bay, where her restaurant, Emily Scott Food, nestles against the sea wall. Demands on her time have only intensified since she cooked for world leaders at the G7 summit in 2021, but her days “always start by the sea, whatever the weather”, usually with an early-morning beach walk with her spaniel.
Scott didn’t grow up in Cornwall but holidayed there as a child and, following a stint cooking in France, moved to the county in her early 20s after marrying a local. She has been running food businesses ever since, beginning with a cafe in Port Isaac which she opened when she was 23. Even after 25 years, she says she’s “never a local”, and for that reason gets a bit awkward when I suggest she has become a face of Cornish cuisine.
“I love the fact that Cornwall is my home and where I’ve made my career – it’s a really nice food scene down here,” she says, namechecking Rick Stein as well as local chefs Paul Ainsworth and Nathan Outlaw. She waxes lyrical about Cornish saffron, asparagus and clotted cream, which she uses instead of butter in some of her baking. Then there’s the coastline. “If you were to ask anyone where the best fish and seafood come from, I think Cornwall would appear on the list,” she says.
The quality of Cornish ingredients gave Scott the confidence to cook very simply at the G7 summit. For the main course, served to Boris Johnson, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel and co at the Eden Project, she roasted turbot on the bone and dished it up with a miso beurre blanc. “Just fish on a plate,” she says, laughing. “That kind of sums up my style of cooking.” Joe Biden seemed to like it. “You’re as lovely as your ability to cook,” he wrote when she asked him to sign her first cookbook, 2021’s Sea & Shore.
That simplicity comes through in Time & Tide too: saffron crops up again in risotto and in monkfish curry. There’s cantaloupe gazpacho, which kicked off that G7 dinner. There are also some French classics including ratatouille and bouillabaisse, a nod to Scott’s half-French grandfather.
Cooking and dining together were important in Scott’s family growing up in Sussex, but her relationship with food hasn’t always been easy. “I was very ill when I was a teenager, I was anorexic,” she says. “Food was my enemy at one point. I was in and out of hospital and just really not in a good place. But then I ended up going out to France” – to stay with her cousin who was running a restaurant with her husband in Burgundy – “which kind of saved me. I decided to live, basically. I found my place in the kitchen.”
She has been working in kitchens ever since. Before her current restaurant she ran a pub, the St Tudy Inn in Bodmin, where she earned a Michelin bib and a spot on the Top 50 Gastropubs list. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she recalls. “I was the chef, the landlady. You have to be everything to everybody.”
When Covid hit, she sold up and looked for a new challenge. The space formerly occupied by Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen at Watergate Bay came up and she agreed to do a pop-up. “They asked me to stay and I said I’d love to but only if I can have the building next door. It’s built on the sea wall, it’s beautiful. I thought they’d never give it to me but they said, ‘Yeah, that’s fine.’”
Two years on, Scott divides her time between the restaurant, TV appearances and writing. She says Time & Tide feels more personal than its predecessor and whatever the Daphne du Maurier comparisons, it really does capture the romance of living and cooking – and cooking for a living – in one of Britain’s most bountiful food regions.
Whole mackerel over coals with garlic and garden leaves (pictured above)
For me, cooking these little fish over coals to blacken the skin is the perfect way to eat them.
Serves 6
good olive oil 6 tbsp
lemon zest of 1
garlic 3 cloves, crushed
chilli flakes 1½ tsp
flat-leaf parsley 2 tbsp, chopped
mackerel 1kg, cleaned and heads removed
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
green leaf salad (see below)
lemon 1, cut into wedges
In a large bowl, combine 4 tablespoons of the olive oil with the lemon zest, garlic, 1 teaspoon of the chilli flakes, 1 tablespoon of the parsley, and some salt and pepper. Add the mackerel, toss to cover and leave to marinate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, fire up the barbecue. Cook the marinated mackerel directly on the bars of the barbecue for 4-5 minutes until caramelised and charred (or use a griddle pan – just make sure it is really hot, as this will help the mackerel not to stick). Place on a warm serving plate and drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and sprinkle with the remaining ½ teaspoon of chilli flakes and 1 tablespoon of parsley. Accompany with a green leaf salad and some lemon wedges.
NOTE Sardines also work wonderfully over coals. If you don’t have a barbecue, bake the fish in a hot oven. For even quicker cooking, ask your fishmonger to butterfly fillet the fish.
Green leaf salad
I love nothing more than a salad of greens. Little gem, romaine, frissé, rocket, round lettuce, sorrel and spinach … For me, I always keep it green. An addition of thinly sliced spring onions, avocado, cucumber (skin off) and some toasted pine nuts with a lemon dressing is just perfect. Don’t hold back, make your salad whatever you want it to be.
Serves 4
round lettuce 1
little gem lettuce 2
spring onions 4, trimmed
cucumber 1, peeled
avocados 2 small ripe
lemon juice of 1
extra virgin olive oil 3 tbsp
toasted pine nuts 50g
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Prepare your leaves: wash them in a colander and dry off (placing them gently in a clean dish towel is how I do this). Arrange the leaves in your favourite salad bowl.
Thinly slice the spring onions and cucumber, and add the slices to the leaves.
Carefully cut all the way around each avocado lengthways, going as deep as the stones. Hold each avocado in your hands and twist until you can pull the two halves apart. Pull out and discard the stones and use a teaspoon to help you scoop the avocado flesh out into nice half rounds. Add to the salad.
In a bowl, mix the lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil together with a pinch of sea salt and a couple of grinds of pepper. Mix into the salad and serve immediately, sprinkled with the toasted pine nuts.
NOTE Edible flowers are so beautiful to add through your leaves to give a pop of colour: try nasturtiums, borage, violas and amaranth.
Helford blue, spring onion, leek, creme fraiche and thyme tart
Shortcrust pastry, blue cheese, sweet leeks, free-range eggs, mascarpone and herbs. Soft, pale and delicious helford blue cheese is one of my favourites. I always have it on my cheeseboard and its creamy texture works beautifully with the alliums here.
Serves 8
For the shortcrust pastry
plain flour 250g, plus extra for dusting
unsalted butter 100g
sea salt a pinch
free-range egg yolks 2 medium
milk 2-3 tbsp
For the filling
unsalted butter 50g
leeks 225g, trimmed, washed and sliced (discard any tough outer layers)
spring onions 4, trimmed and sliced
thyme leaves 2 tbsp, plus extra to garnish
creme fraiche 100g
double cream 100ml
free-range eggs 2 medium, plus 1 egg yolk
helford blue cheese 150g (or similar, such as Cornish blue or barkham blue)
Cornish sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
To make the pastry, combine the flour, butter, sea salt and egg yolks in a food processor and pulse. Once combined, let it down with a little milk until it all comes together as a dough. Cover with clingfilm and leave it to rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to 1cm thick and use it to line a 22cm fluted loose-bottomed tart tin. Chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C fan/gas mark 6. Blind bake the pastry case for 20-25 minutes, then trim off any excess pastry.
For the filling, melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat, add the leeks, spring onions and thyme, and gently cook for 8-10 minutes until softened.
Whisk the creme fraiche, cream, eggs and egg yolk together in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
Arrange the leek and spring onion mixture over the base of the tart, crumble the helford blue on top, then pour over the cream mixture. Bake the tart for 25-30 minutes until golden and firm in the centre.
Leave to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serve with extra thyme leaves on top.
NOTE The pastry freezes well raw or even when blind baked. Swap out the leeks for slowly caramelised red onions and the blue cheese for goats’ cheese. Always cook alliums slowly, as this brings out their natural sweetness.
Simple tomato salad, basil
Any tomato can be used for this recipe, but the larger beef tomatoes work particularly well. Slice thinly and arrange on a plate with basil and thyme leaves, good olive oil and a dose of sunshine (if possible).
Serves 4
beef tomatoes 4, at room temperature
fresh basil 1 bunch, leaves only
fresh thyme 1 bunch, soft leaves only
cider vinegar 2 tbsp
good olive oil 4 tbsp
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Slice the beef tomatoes and layer with most of the basil and thyme leaves on your favourite plate. Season with sea salt.
Whisk together the vinegar and olive oil, then drizzle over the tomatoes just 15 minutes before serving the salad.
Tear over more basil and thyme, and season with more salt and black pepper.
NOTE Always store tomatoes at room temperature (cold tomatoes are just wrong) and handle them with care. Although tomatoes, like many ingredients, can be bought all year round these days, there is nothing more delicious than a ripe summer tomato.
Seaside madeleines
I have tried to perfect these beautiful light sponges, which I have great affection for. Hot from the oven and brushed with warm apricot jam, one is never enough. I use recycled scallop shells as madeleine moulds and they work beautifully.
Makes about 12
unsalted butter 100g, plus extra for greasing
plain flour 100g, plus extra for dusting
baking powder ¼ tsp
Cornish sea salt a pinch
free-range eggs 2 large
lemon zest of 1
golden caster sugar 100g
apricot jam 3 tbsp, warmed, for brushing
icing sugar for dusting
Gently melt the butter in a pan, then allow to cool. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder, then add the salt. Combine the eggs, lemon zest and sugar in a stand mixer and beat on a medium speed until the mixture has thickened. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, then pour in the melted cooled butter and stir together. Cover and chill the batter in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (see note below).
Preheat the oven to 180C fan/gas mark 6. If using scallop shells as your moulds, wash and scrub them, then dry, brush with butter and dust with flour, tapping out any excess flour. If using regular madeleine moulds, simply butter and dust in the same way. Ladle the batter into the buttered and floured moulds and bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Eat warm, brushed with warm apricot jam and dusted with icing sugar. I love madeleines this way, but of course dipping the ends in melted chocolate is also extraordinarily good.
NOTE If you have time, it’s best to leave the batter to rest for at least 1 hour or – if you can – overnight. These are best eaten immediately and if there happen to be any left over, they make great sponges for tiramisu or trifle. Wonderful with morning coffee or delicious dipped in a sweet sauternes after supper.
Time & Tide by Emily Scott (Hardie Grant, £28)
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