Cotswold chef is one to watch for

“You will love it,” they insisted as they went on to describe the exquisite little garden at the rear and the succulent food that head chef Dave Watts produces. When I discovered that Dave has just landed the much coveted award of ‘Chef to Watch’ in The Good Food Guide 2013, I was convinced. It’s always such fun to experience the creativity of a chef with culinary flair who has begun to make his mark in the world. Even better when I am invited into his kitchen to watch him in action, as I was. (Dog had to wait in the garden of course, but as he was supplied with a dish of ice cold water, he didn’t seem to mind).

Dave joined Cotswold House Hotel as the head chef for its two restaurants The Dining Room and the Cotswold Grill, earlier this year and has rapidly established himself as one of the most exciting and talented chefs to emerge from the UK restaurant scene. Winners of the Chef to Watch competition are nominated by their customers and then checked by members of the Good Food Guide’s inspection team. Consultant editor of The Good Food Guide, Elizabeth Carter said that Dave Watts produces exquisitely balanced, often complex dishes that are beautiful to behold. She went on to say that his dishes are well thought-out, and ingredients superb.

As Chipping Campden stands in the heart of the Cotswolds, surrounded by lush pastures, acquiring fresh, local, seasonal ingredients is never a problem. He describes his style of cooking as ‘rustic neat’. He says: “It’s modern British food, but nothing is overcomplicated. My aim when preparing a dish is to let the ingredients speak for themselves through natural shapes, textures and flavours”. Dave owes his love of seasonal food to Oxfordshire’s celebrity chef Raymond Blanc of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, where he worked and trained for eight years. Not only did Raymond teach him the cooking skills that mark him out from others, he instilled in him a passion for newly harvested food.

Since moving to Chipping Campden, Dave has become particularly impressed by Cotswold Gold extra virgin rapeseed oil, which he now uses for most of his dishes. Whilst he accepts there are times when adding a little butter can enhance a dish, he prefers the health-giving properties of rape seed oil.

It’s a product that Raymond Blanc certainly uses as it creates a delicious flavour and has a vibrant golden colour. Dave particularly likes the fact that it is extracted using the traditional cold pressing technique.

While in his kitchen Dave took me through one of his favourite recipes – seared Scottish scallops, garnished with pearl barley and wild mushrooms which will be part of his forthcoming autumn menu. The scallops are harvested by hand by divers who pluck only the best from the sea, leaving the others to continue to grow. Watching a master craftsman cook up a meal in front of you is an amazing experience, particularly when the chef is as creative as Dave Watts. He began by making a cep purée flavoured with lemon juice and then proceeded to cook the pearl barley which was roasted and them simmered in white wine and fish stock. The scallops are placed into a pan with a little oil and cooked gently until they caramelise, whilst the wild mushrooms are seared in a separate pan, and finished off with a squeeze of lemon.

When the scallops are done, Dave removes the pan from the heat, and turns them over, allowing them to rest on the other side for a couple of minutes. Dave is convinced that meat and fish need at least five minutes to rest after being subjected to intensive heat.

Treating the plate as his canvas he worked as an artist, spooning an autumnal twirl of pearl barley mix on which the scallops sat. He then carefully placed the mushrooms on to the arrangement, along with a garnish of baby spinach leaves no bigger than a finger nail. “These are the touches that make my dishes special,” he says with the confident smile a young chef destined for great things.