Harriet Mansell on the pleasure of foraging for seasonal produce at Robin Wylde in Lyme Regis, Dorset
Words Billie Brand
Photography Elliot Sheppard
Dishes such as tempura sea beet with smoked cod roe, and lobster and shiitake tart epitomise what Robin Wylde does best: Harriet uses wild foods that live and grow along the coastline in Lyme Regis, Dorset, to create exciting – and often surprising – flavours and textures. Just a short walk away is Harriet’s second venture, Lilac, where the focus is on natural wine and small plates that change with the seasons. Her home cooking, however, is much more simple: wholesome vegetarian dishes, just like those she grew up on, are her go-to. Here, Harriet talks us through her love of local produce and discusses the importance of a mealtime ritual – plus, she shares a recipe for mackerel and smoked carrots.
Harriet: “My meals have been focused on seasonal vegetables since I was a young age. I grew up in Tidmouth, Devon, and my mother would make vegetable concoctions like stews for dinner during the week. Of course, it wasn’t like that all the time – I also had things like fish fingers – but my earliest memories of food are of seasonal vegetables. I remember having courgettes and aubergines with tasty herbs – basil, parsley, dill, fennel, thyme and so on. Simple but flavourful ingredients.
“I was raised as an only child – I do have a half-brother and -sister, but they’re considerably older and weren’t living in the house. It was my mum, my dad and me, and we would sit at the table together for dinner every night. It was very traditional. My mum was raised to believe that mealtimes are shared. We’d sit at the table to eat and have a conversation and then I’d be dismissed when dinner was over or once I’d helped with the washing up.
“I think that’s how it should be – about everyone getting together. I think that’s why I appreciate where food comes from. I love to tell the story of food and I think that stems from the traditional reverence of mealtimes.
“I went to a school that was really alternative. The focus was on playing in the field and in the woods, and it was in quite a rural location. We were always picking and identifying things from the ground. Interacting with nature and the world around me was such a big part of school and it had quite an impact on me. From an early age, I was foraging and became aware of ingredients and interested in flavours. We’d hunt for mushrooms and wild garlic and would learn what was and wasn’t edible. It opened my eyes and fed into my desire to use wild foods.
“My first paid job was working at a fruit and veg store when I was 12 years old. There were vegetables that I had never seen before! I remember seeing a celeriac for the first time – even though it’s commonplace, particularly today, it’s not something I had as a kid.
“I was 13 when I first said I want to have a restaurant when I’m older. It’s always been my goal. I loved the idea if having a restaurant with a buzzy atmosphere, and the idea of sharing a space with people. After university, I kept dipping back into hospitality – I did a ski season, I worked on a yacht for a summer – and realised I love it. I threw myself into cheffing in my twenties and never looked back. I’m 34 now and happy as ever. I’m knackered, sure, but happy.
“The name Robin Wylde is inspired by my food. It’s seasonal, local and very English. The first thing I thought of was a robin, which lends itself to a nice, gender-neutral name, and then Wylde is a nod to the foraging. Robin Wylde sounds like a fictional character – and I liked that.
“My approach to home cooking is completely different to the restaurant. At Robin Wylde, it’s all about trying to surprise with the flavours and textures – at home, it’s much more rustic. I’m big on eating veggies at home. I like to eat what I grew up with: really nice chunky veggie stews, ratatouilles, a bright-green herby courgette and coriander dish with loads of nuts, seeds, tahini. It’s very simple. For me, that’s yum.
“Normally, I take all the leftover veggies home from work home and pack a load of herbs into them. I find that’s nourishing and tasty. I always use seasonal, local food – it’s not a fad, I really believe that it is what’s best for you and the environment.
“I don’t cook at home in the week because I eat every meal at the restaurant – we have our staff meals together. It’s always vegetarian and tends to be salads with veggies and nuts and seeds for some crunch, or nice soups. I think it’s important for your sanity – if you don’t sit down and have a meal with the people you’re working with, you’re just on the go constantly. And it’s really important that the food’s very wholesome and nourishing. You’re on your feet a lot, so you need to be healthy.
“I’m such an advocate for using up whatever is around you and I don’t like waste. Even if I’m cooking at home for people, I will go straight to the fridge and figure out what I can cook with what’s there. I’m not a recipe follower – it’s all about using whatever ingredients you can find that will work and treating them in the most sensitive way to create flavour.
“The best way to get inspired is to go to your local farm shop or the best available shop to source local food. There’s no point in looking for ingredients that aren’t in season because they’re not going to taste as good.
“Once you start to get a hold of ingredients that are in prime, cooking becomes more exciting. You’re going to feel like you performed a little bit of alchemy when you’re just using the most simple, lovely ingredients together. The best advice to anyone is to go seasonal, go local. You can’t say it enough.”
Harriet’s recipe for mackerel and smoked carrots
“It sounds very simple, but actually each element has been quite carefully considered because the mackerel has to be super fresh – there’s nothing better, it tastes so good. The result is almost my Dorset take on ceviche. It’s very simple in its components but because of the way the ingredients are blended, you’ve got this humble dish with maximum flavours and textures. A little tip – you’ll need a BBQ to smoke the carrots.”
Serves four
For the main dish
2 whole mackerel
100ml smoked rapeseed oil
20ml pine vinegar (make this, sit Douglas fir or larch pine needles in white wine vinegar for a week to infuse)
4 carrots
50ml pear vinegar
1 tbsp honey
2 sprigs fresh coriander
Salt
A few chives
For the caesar
3 egg yolks
300ml coldpress rapeseed oil
Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dijon mustard
50g coastal cheddar
6 anchovies
1/2 clove garlic
Half the juice of a lemon
Black pepper
First, light a BBQ and wait until coals are flaming. Place unpeeled carrots straight on the fire. Periodically check on the carrots and turn them until all the skins are blackened and the inside softened.
Once cooked, remove the carrots from the BBQ and allow to cool slightly before handling. Peel the blackened skins and finely slice up the carrot and then season with pine vinegar, salt flakes and a touch of honey to sweeten.
Next, finely chop chives. Make a 10% brine – this involves 10% of table salt dissolved in your water. For instance, for 1 litre of water add 100g salt. Stir until the salt is dissolved fully. You will need enough water to submerge the mackerel.
Fillet the mackerel and place it in the brine for half an hour in the refrigerator. Next, remove the mackerel from the brine – there’s no need to rinse. Skin the mackerel and slice the flesh from the bones, before chopping into approximately 1cm pieces for the tartare. Store in the fridge until it’s next needed for the recipe.
To make your caesar dressing, start by making your mayonnaise (you can use shop-bought if you don’t want to make it at home). Take 3 egg yolks and 1 tsp dijon and mix in a bowl, and slowly add the oil while whisking to form a mayonnaise. Blitz with the rest of the caesar ingredients and a good amount of freshly ground black pepper. Check seasoning by adjusting salt and lemon, Worcestershire sauce.
In a mixing bowl, add the mackerel, chopped chives, a good glug of smoked rapeseed oil, a good splash of pear vinegar and sea salt flakes. This will have to be a taste thing – I cannot specify quantities. The mackerel tastes different daily, and takes different quantities of the ingredients – but what you are looking for is a smoky, lightly tangy and well-seasoned end product.
Time to plate: serve the mackerel, followed by a drizzle of the caesar, then the smoky carrots on top. Garnish with fresh coriander.
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