Dorset, Somerset &amp; Bristol

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="853" height="1280" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/03/00-Miranda-Rose-Shearer-1.jpg" alt="Miranda Rose Shearer chef somerset" class="wp-image-65323" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/03/00-Miranda-Rose-Shearer-1.jpg 853w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/03/00-Miranda-Rose-Shearer-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/03/00-Miranda-Rose-Shearer-1-333x500.jpg 333w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/03/00-Miranda-Rose-Shearer-1-100x150.jpg 100w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/03/00-Miranda-Rose-Shearer-1-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/03/00-Miranda-Rose-Shearer-1-350x525.jpg 350w" sizes="(max-width: 853px) 100vw, 853px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Tom Waller Food Envy Photography</figcaption></figure>



Private chef and author Miranda Shearer has cookery in her genes – her mother is chef and food critic Tamasin Day-Lewis – and she&#8217;s travelled and cooked around the world for over 20 years. She trained with some of the West Country&#8217;s best,&nbsp;worked at Highgrove for Prince Charles, as a private chef for Sir James Dyson, and set up the kitchen at The Firehouse Somerset. 



Now she&#8217;s co-owner of <a href="https://www.thekitchengardensomerset.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Kitchen Garden Somerset</a>, a private dining biz serving up everything from brilliant brunches to sophisticated suppers and wild parties. She and partner Carol also teach at the Kitchen Garden Cookery School and run yoga and brunch days, flower workshops and lunch, painting workshops and lunch (get the picture?). She found a few minutes in her very busy schedule to answer some Muddy questions.



What was your first ever job in the kitchen?



When I was four! My mum used to make wonderful tarts for her dinner parties on a Saturday and I got to use the scraps to make jam tarts. When my mum worked away filming, I took on the role of making Sunday lunch aged about nine. I managed to get the art of timing a roast chicken, potatoes, carrots and bread sauce down to a T. I went onto work for Sally Edwards in her riverside kitchen when I was 17 and doing ‘A levels’ and then for Barny Haughton MBE at Quartier Vert in Bristol. 



Your career highlight … so far?



I have had many career highs and lows. I worked as a local journalist fresh out of university [then] retrained as a barrister. In hindsight, it was inevitable that I would end up starting my own business. It was born out of a truly difficult time in my life [and] I decided to take the leap. Being the co-owner of The Kitchen Garden Somerset is my career highlight to date.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="2254" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_13.jpg" alt="miranda shearer kitchen garden somerset" class="wp-image-102032" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_13.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_13-532x800.jpg 532w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_13-665x1000.jpg 665w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_13-266x400.jpg 266w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_13-768x1154.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_13-1022x1536.jpg 1022w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_13-1363x2048.jpg 1363w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: Simon Biffen</figcaption></figure>



Can you sum up your food philosophy?



&#8216;Everything in moderation&#8217; is where I stand today. My philosophy on food has been cultivated over many years. My mum was the food columnist for The Telegraph for most of my childhood, so I grew up with ‘mama organic’. We were dragged to health food shops, and forced to eat lentils, chickpeas, brown rice, pasta and stone-ground wholemeal bread. We were taught that meat and fish were something one ate once or twice a week. We learned about farming, growing vegetables, where meat came from. We were never allowed to eat a McDonald&#8217;s or a ready meal, much to our disgust. I would not change how we were brought up. It gave me a healthy gut and a digestive system, an understanding of eating the right proteins, the right amount of carbohydrates and fat, and a deep knowledge of how to cook, season and pair vegetables and legumes properly.



Ever cooked for anyone famous?



My uncle Daniel Day-Lewis was impressed with my Sunday lunch skills at the age of nine. I probably rolled out the Queen of Puddings just for him and my dad. We have cooked for several A-list clients, but I cannot disclose our VIP guest list!



The dish you’re most proud of creating



I&#8217;m proud of a lot of dishes that we put on our seasonal menus. The latest one was a harissa, lemon and garlic roasted chicken supreme (breast on the bone for flavour), cavolo Nero, saffron risotto and romesco sauce. It looked so autumnal and colourful and it had every flavour you would want to eat together, mouthful after mouthful.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="2048" height="1363" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/05/00-kitchen-garden-230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_100.jpg" alt="miranda shearer kitchen garden somerset" class="wp-image-95251" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/05/00-kitchen-garden-230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_100.jpg 2048w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/05/00-kitchen-garden-230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_100-800x532.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/05/00-kitchen-garden-230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_100-1000x666.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/05/00-kitchen-garden-230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_100-400x266.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/05/00-kitchen-garden-230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_100-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/05/00-kitchen-garden-230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_100-1536x1022.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: Simon Biffen</figcaption></figure>



What’s been your biggest mistake at work?



Probably offering to make a bunch of tarts in my first chef job and ruining each one. Burnt pastry, scrambled fillings. I just remember sweating a lot and being mortified. My head chef had a lot of patience.



You’re tired, starving and impatient: what do you cook for dinner?



One of my favourite childhood dishes is savoury ham and cheese pancakes with a béchamel and grated cheese over the top. Prawn and leek lasagne is a good one to pull out of the freezer. I always have a bag of peas and prawns and an old leek or two lying around. Cauliflower or macaroni cheese. Clearly there is a theme here… something with a béchamel!



What would you cook to impress a date or a mate?



For my date, a whipped smoked cod&#8217;s roe to start, then a dry-aged and well-hung côte de boeuf, followed by&nbsp;my mum’s treacle tart recipe, which is completely off the chart.&nbsp;For&nbsp;my mate, I would do a shaved fennel, blood orange and burrata salad, a hunk of roasted monk fish, watercress and olive oil mash and a fine ratatouille, followed by the best&nbsp;tiramisu recipe ever.&nbsp;



Your favourite local markets and suppliers?



I work closely with Rita and Adi at Pitney Farm Market Garden, who have just won Young Organic Grower of the year award at the National Organic Conference. The Meat Men in Kingston St Mary, Harry Bowditch of Phil Bowditch Fish Mongers in Taunton – he is a brilliant buyer and knows his stuff when it comes to fish. We use local cheese makers for all our cheeseboards and Granny Gothard’s ice cream and sorbet to pair with all our puddings.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="2254" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_140.jpg" alt="miranda shearer kitchen garden somerset" class="wp-image-102033" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_140.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_140-532x800.jpg 532w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_140-665x1000.jpg 665w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_140-266x400.jpg 266w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_140-768x1154.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_140-1022x1536.jpg 1022w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2024/10/230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_140-1363x2048.jpg 1363w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: Simon Biffen</figcaption></figure>



Favourite cookbook?



I am a woman of very few cookbooks. If I had to pick one that has stuck by my side for all the years I have worked in private dining, it would be The Art of the Tart by my mum, Tamasin Day-Lewis. It has a fail-safe recipe for every tart you could ever want to eat.



Is there a kitchen gadget you not be without?



Most chefs these days would probably say an air fryer or a Thermomix. I still say my Magimix, KitchenAid for breads and puddings, my Oxo potato peeler, Le Creuset pans, and my little coffee pot I bought in Menorca while starting out as a private chef 10 years ago. Although it exploded this week so I might have to find a new one!



What mistake do inexperienced cooks tend to make?



Too much cream, and butter, no layering of flavours, and never enough herbs. Many slather food in rich mayonnaises and micro herbs. Neither do much for a plate of food. I prefer micro herbs and edible flowers in a salad rather than picking them off a pudding.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="998" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/05/00-kitchen-garden-230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_50.jpg" alt="miranda shearer kitchen garden somerset" class="wp-image-95246" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/05/00-kitchen-garden-230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_50.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/05/00-kitchen-garden-230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_50-800x532.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/05/00-kitchen-garden-230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_50-1000x665.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/05/00-kitchen-garden-230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_50-400x266.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/dorsetsomerset/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/05/00-kitchen-garden-230713_Cocktails-and-Canapes_50-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: Simon Biffen</figcaption></figure>



How can we be more sustainable in the kitchen?



We should take far more responsibility at kicking back on how our food is wrapped and delivered. We should try and reduce food miles, cook seasonal foods only and not support large supermarkets and wholesale companies as much. We can be more sustainable by using smaller, more local producers. Reducing menus, making our food instead of buying it in, cutting down on portion size, and also being clever with leftover prep. There is always a way to turn yesterday’s leftovers into today’s special.



Essential – and most overrated – ingredient?



No ingredient is essential and overrated I don’t think. Essential – but most overused – ingredient is salt. I think there is a place for truffle or yuzu, but they can also be overused and misused.



Can you share your best cooking tip?



Slow it down, practice makes perfect and add more fresh herbs. People try and cook things they have never cooked before fast, and then get annoyed that it does not turn out well. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither were its famous dishes. Cooking and layering flavours take time. Following a recipe from a food writer is often key to producing a good dish.



What three dishes should every home cook master?



A seriously good roasted chicken. Homemade curry from scratch. A good salad dressing.



<a href="https://www.thekitchengardensomerset.com/">The Kitchen Garden Somerset</a>, Tel <a href="tel:+447899665635">0789</a><a href="tel:+447899665635">9 </a><a href="tel:+447899665635">665635</a>.

What’s cooking? Somerset private chef Miranda Shearer

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