Chefs Stage

Lesley Waters is well known for her cookery books, and television appearances on Ready Steady Cook (BBC), Great Food Live (UKTV), and This Morning (ITV) and The James Martin Saturday Show.

Lesley has had her immensely successful cookery school in West Dorset, which is now based in Shaftesbury, where she also lives with her husband. Originally a Londoner born & bred, Lesley was quickly charmed by the beauty of Dorset area and inspired by the superb quality of the fresh local produce available right on her doorstep. She likes to cook seasonal food whenever possible and her simple, modern style creates dishes that are easy to recreate with stunning results.

Lesley studied French Cuisine for three years at Ealing College, which included time as a chef at the Waldorf Hotel. During this training period, she won one gold, and two silver medals at Hotelympia and was awarded a scholarship to the Hotel Intercontinental, Dusseldorf. She joined Prue Leith’s Restaurant and was quickly promoted to senior chef. She then worked as a freelance corporate chef and caterer for government officials before joining Leith’s School of Food and Wine as an instructor, rising to head tutor. Here she perfected her cookery demonstration and food photography skills. She has often represented British food at international cookery displays, taking as her theme ‘good food for health’s sake’.

Lesley is passionate about healthy eating and keeping fit and is a qualified fitness instructor.

She has worked in television since 1989 and her varied career has included writing and presenting. Most recently, in addition to regular appearances on This Morning, Lesley appeared on the Chefs: Put Your Menu Where Your Mouth Is for BBC1, Food Network’s The Big Eat, ITV’s You’re Back in the Room, and The James Martin Saturday Show.

An accomplished writer, Lesley has written many cookery books, including collaborations with Sainsbury’s and Weight Watchers and is regularly in demand for her food journalism. Her book titles include: Fifteen Minute Feasts, Four Seasons Cookery, Classic Starters, Juice Up Your Energy Levels, Broader Than Beans, Cooler Than Chillies, Healthy Food, and A Year at Abbots Hill.

A revised edition of New to Cooking was published with Ryland Peters & Small in September 2013, and Deliciously Dairy Free was published by Hamlyn in 2015.

Over the years Lesley has worked with a number of high-profile brands. She is currently an ambassador for Teflon and was the face of Lidl Supermarkets 2010-2012. She headlined The British Club Singapore’s Best of British Festival in 2017, and regularly appears at events around the UK such as Telegraph Travel Show, BBC Good Food Show and Be:Fit London, and she is Patron of Planet a cancer charity.

Carmela is a passionate Italian cookery tutor who specialises in the art of making pasta as is known as a pastaia – specialist pasta maker. Carmela is also an event planner, cookery demonstrator, recipe developer, food writer, founder and chef of a sell out Italian supper club and author of five beautiful Italian cookery books.

Congratulations to George McIvor who has been awarded an OBE for services to the catering and tourism industries and charitable fundraising and will be compèring with us on the Masterchefs Stage at Gatcombe Food Festival.

Since he took over as chairman of the MCGB in 2006, the group’s training masterclasses have grown to reach over 1,000 apprentice and student chefs per year. McIvor also works with charities including Leukaemia UK and the Teenage Cancer Trust.

“I am deeply humbled to be recognised in the King’s New Year Honours List. I strongly believe in encouraging young people and children to participate in and enjoy food. Their natural inquisitiveness and eagerness to learn is something to be encouraged. I am very grateful to my fellow chefs and supporters who enable our work.”

Ben is one of the UK’s foremost Celebrity chefs and was the first winner of Britain’s Best BBQ’er awarded by the British BBQ Association.

He has his own food and drink company that advises pubs, restaurants and hotels on al fresco dining and regularly gives talks and demonstrations all over the world.

From a young age, I knew I wanted to be a chef. My mother is a phenomenal cook and I learnt about meat, fish and game from her. Even now she won’t let me in her kitchen! I started my catering training in Bournemouth studying 7061 and 7062 Food Skills and got my first job at Forte’s Restaurant on the seafront as a commis chef. The kitchen worked with an old-fashioned brigade system, so you moved around doing everything from peeling to washing! It was great training.

I returned home and studied part time the HCIMA Certificate and Diploma whilst running our newly “converted from a cow shed” restaurant named after me, “Big Ben Restaurant”, the pun being I am short! What a fantastic learning curve running a restaurant and a licensee under 20! From chips with everything to fine dining and lobster bisque in 2 years. From the occasional customer to weddings in a marquee for 200. You bet I was a quick learner!

Always singing, I won a bursary to study Opera for two years in Florence, Italy where I also worked at Masaccio’s restaurant and learnt to cook over 100 types of pasta! Following this I was offered a job with Conran at Cantina Del Ponte in London and I jumped at the opportunity to be the Special Event Chef for Global International, London which took me to number 10 Downing Street, the Foreign Office and the European Cardiff Summit cooking for Nelson Mandela.

A few years later friends took on the Pumphouse at Hotwells and asked me to launch a new kitchen at this busy harbour-side public house. After two years, I increased sales from 200 to more than 2000 covers every week. During this time, I offered to barbecue for a friend’s wedding. I’d been used to cooking on barbecues, but when the guest list hit 100 and I had to use three grills it was a totally different situation – and I loved it! They entered me into Britain’s Best Barbecue Contest and my prize was to visit Kansas City and learn from Slaughterhouse Five, a chain of barbecue restaurants. That was in 2003 and I’ve been hooked ever since!

My top dishes that go down a treat on the barbecue include pork – pulled pork and pork ribs, chicken trio – thigh, breast and wings, king prawns and scallops, and beef brisket. You can’t beat a sirloin steak! With meat, it’s easy to overcook beef and chicken can be quite dull. Pork is great and very forgiving on the barbecue. A fish kebab works well and so do fruit or vegetable ones. Jacket potatoes work well too. Cook them, scoop out the inside and mix with cheese, peppers, onions, and chopped bacon. Re-stuff the skins and pop them back on the grill.

Then a couple of years later the brewery Marston’s Pub Company from Burton upon Trent who owned the building asked me to join them as Catering Development Manager for 1500 pubs across the country. I won several awards for training, was made a Fellow of The British Institute of Innkeeping and won the Morning Advertiser “Food Champion of the Year.”

Four years later I was head-hunted by Scottish & Newcastle Pub Company based in Edinburgh to become their Food Development Manager where I was responsible for all catering development within 2100 pubs.

After many years working for big corporations I set up my own consultancy business and wrote my first book, The Haynes BBQ Manual that is available in over 75 countries. I advise several National companies and regularly write for the media, working continuously on projects for the Master Chefs of Great Britain and the Seafish Industry Authority and I am the Ambassador for Love British Food and Monolith Grills. My favourite item to barbecue is fish, because you can char-grill, steam in foil, wrap in banana leaves or cook on wood (planking) – the options are endless! Mackerel and sardines work well, all you need are fresh herbs, oil and flavours and the end taste is fantastic.

There are also some unsung barbecue heroes such as sweetcorn, as well as aubergines and courgettes. Octopus is great and literally takes just two minutes to cook. All it needs is a marinade of tomato sauce, a few chillies, a bit of brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Don’t forget desserts. Bananas, peaches and pineapple are fabulous on the barbecue. Wrap a banana in foil and place on the grill. When it’s soft to the touch, slice it open and pour in a generous measure of chocolate & cherry liqueur cream. Simple, but delicious.

A few years ago the World BBQ Championships were in Morocco with the best teams from 80 countries competing. I was a judge, and it was amazing and fascinating to witness the different styles of barbecuing from around the world. The Moroccan competitors wore their traditional dress and sat on stools hand-turning the goat they were barbecuing for three hours. The team from Argentina cooked their meat on a huge metal cross and threw charcoal on the floor below it. They too hand-turned the meat – and danced while it was cooking!

In my spare time, I support my favourite charity The Eleanor Children’s Charitable Trust and have travelled across Romania distributing aid to orphanages, schools and hospitals.

I am a Director and Ambassador for Love British Food and Outback Barbecues and Board Treasurer for the Masterchefs of Great Britain.

I have just published British & Australian Secrets on Amazon with Australian BBQ Chef Ross Yarranton and my Original BBQ Sauce has won GOLD at the Taste of the West Awards

“I am on a mission to bring the joy of outdoor cooking to the world and working with chefs to explore the wonderful possibilities of traditional British food to Gatcombe.”

The job of a head chef is tough in any kitchen, but to hold the position at a three-Michelin-starred restaurant for four years is probably one of the hardest things to do in the industry. Steven Doherty managed it, turning him into one of the greatest chefs of his generation, but nowadays he’s better known for his simple, unfussy cooking in the heart of the Lake District, celebrating local produce and classic British dishes.

Steven joined Albert Roux’s iconic Le Gavroche in 1978 as a commis chef, working his way up to becoming Albert’s sous chef in 1982. When the head chef position became available he went for it, and Steven became the first Briton in history to run a three-starred restaurant. He was in charge for four years, maintaining the incredibly high standards needed, until Michel Roux Jr took over from him in 1988.

‘It was hard work, it was driven and you had to deliver every single day at every single service; at that level you can’t allow failure,’ says Steven. ‘I suppose I was a bit disappointed when Michel Roux Jr took over from me and if he hadn’t come back I might still be there to this day, but the move actually opened up all sorts of doors for my career.’

His first opportunity came from Albert, who made Steven group executive chef for all his restaurants and operations. ‘It was an extremely rewarding and interesting part of my career, working with some amazing people and gaining a grounding I’d never get anywhere else,’ he says. ‘I suppose I technically went down a rung in terms of cheffing but went up two or three from a learning perspective. The job was more managerial but I was still always in the kitchen.’ In 1993 he went on to open the Grand Hotel in Amsterdam for Albert and stayed there for two years, until a yearning to do something different took him to the north of England.

‘I saw an advert for The Brown Horse, in Winster, to become a partner in the business, so I went for it,’ explains Steven. ‘At that time the big pub groups were being broken up so there was a lot of interest in the industry. I was there for eighteen months and it was incredibly successful. I suppose The Brown Horse was the first gastropub in the Lake District – prior to that, there wasn’t much going on apart from the usual pub stuff.’ He was soon winning all sorts of awards for his food, which combined high quality with relaxed, country pub surroundings. While these are quite a common sight these days, Steven was one of the first to run a pub in this way.

The second Steven arrived in Cumbria he fell in love with the county, and has remained there ever since. After The Brown Horse he and his wife moved two miles down the road to the now famous Punch Bowl Inn, where they spent then next ten years. During that time the Punchbowl became one of the best country pubs in the UK, known for its incredible food. It wasn’t until 2003 that Steven moved on to begin working with cookware company Lakeland.

‘We were contacted by Lakeland who asked if me and my wife could set up and run their new flagship café at their largest store in Windermere. We were involved in the design and structure of the business, and it’s been very successful over the years.’

Steven’s cooking style has changed drastically over the years, but the ethos behind his food is still the same as when he was at Le Gavroche. Quality, consistency and good service are things he holds in high regard, and while his dishes may have changed, the care and attention that go into them certainly haven’t.

‘Obviously I can’t use the top end ingredients we worked with at Le Gavroche, so throughout my years in Cumbria I’ve always used cheaper cuts and fish,’ he explains. ‘We use Cumbrian produce wherever possible; there’s great pheasant, amazing lamb, venison and we used to use quite a bit of char from Lake Windermere. Lyth Valley damsons are incredible – I introduced Michel Roux Jr to them when he came up here years ago and I think he still uses them to this day in a foie gras dish.’

It’s safe to say that Steven’s working life is now much more relaxed than the years he spent in a three-starred kitchen, but he still misses the rush of cooking at such a high level. ‘I do miss the days at Le Gavroche – working with those incredible ingredients was great, and whenever I do special dinners now I love getting my hands on things like scallops, lobsters and turbot,’ he says. ‘But if you speak to anyone who worked there when I did, they’ll all tell you the pressure was immense. It’s a massive load to carry on your shoulders. The long hours also mean it’s a bit of a young man’s game; like footballers, you struggle to continue performing at that level when you’re older.’