“Always be led by the produce – things that grow together go together! “
Luke Holder is Chef Director and Partner at Hartnett Holder & Co restaurant at Lime Wood, the luxury country house hotel in the heart of the New Forest.
Luke, together with TV chef Angela Hartnett and their team, create locally-sourced Italian-style dishes with a respectful nod to the seasons.
What do you like most about your role?
I am a hands and heart person. I like working with my hands and love being led by my heart. Having a relationship with Mother Nature in a fast-paced environment where no two days are the same is brilliant. I love seeing young people grow within this environment and find passion and purpose, especially those who have found academia may not be for them.
How do you and Angela collaborate on the HH&Co menus?
Angela and I have become great friends over the years. We certainly share the same values when it comes to food and often eat out or go round to each other’s houses to eat. When we are together food is always in the conversation mix. When it comes to menu planning Angela trusts us at HH&Co, but when she’s in the kitchen she will always offer her thoughts. It’s a collaborative effort. I have a sweet tooth and Angela certainly doesn’t, and our differences complement each other. I have become a better chef, and the kitchen has grown, by having her palate around us.
The food has evolved a lot since the early days of HH&Co. You have to keep moving forward with the changing attitude of the modern diner. Hotel cooking is slightly different from restaurant cooking as we have an audience who might be here for various reasons apart from the food. We must be able to offer daily changes on the menu for longer staying guests, and the needs and wants of various customers’ dietary needs. I think we do that really well and a lot of the dietary dishes sit well under the HH&Co philosophy. Currently we are focused on making a non-alcoholic offering that really hits the grown-up market – watch this space!
What was your culinary journey, your inspiration and career highlights?
I have lived and cooked in London, Thailand, Italy and Dubai. Career highlights include cooking at the three Michelin star restaurant Enoteca Picciorri – living on a beach in Thailand, going to the fish markets and writing the menus half hour before service started!
Also cooking alongside Michele Roux at HH&Co was something I will never forget!
Do you have any go-to Hampshire ingredients?
Hampshire has so much wonderful produce. Tunworth cheese is truly world class cheese! New Forest asparagus is just so good! New Forest strawberries!
All these things map out the seasons; I love them! Then there is the larder within the forest: wild garlic, porcini mushrooms, pannage pork. So much to enjoy.
Do you have a signature dish?
Definitely the polenta ravioli with truffle – one of the most popular dishes at HH&Co.
How do you facilitate local, seasonal and sustainable within the demands of a busy, top kitchen?
We are now working with Four Acre Farm, a small, no-dig, community-led farm in Ringwood. We take as much as they can give us and love cooking with the gluts that the farm produces. Our menu reacts to the produce coming out rather than trying to dictate and ordering in produce; we are happy to receive the items and then write the menu.
We are now starting to put together the most amazing bean growing season – I love beans, having lived and worked in Italy, Tuscany specifically, where the locals are known as the bean people. I want to be able to reproduce that here! Kate at Four Acres Farm is just amazing and has such a passion for sustainability and low-impact farming which sits right alongside our philosophy.
Recipes
Polenta Agnolotti – Italy meets the New Forest
This dish is one of the most popular at Hartnett Holder & Co restaurant at Lime Wood, the luxury country house hotel in the heart of the New Forest.
It was created by the restaurant’s Chef Director and Partner, Luke Holder and TV chef, Angela Hartnett.
Method
- Tip flour onto your work surface, making a well in the centre.
- Add your eggs to the well.
- Pop the yolks and begin to gently incorporate the flour from the outside edges into the middle.
- Bring the flour and eggs together until it starts to form a loose dough.
- Bring the flour and eggs together until it starts to form a loose dough.
- Combine enough of the flour so that your dough holds itself and is not dry and crumbly or soft and wet.
- Your dough should be firm to the squeeze with a slight tackiness and good elasticity. Roll out the dough into a large sheet.
- Remember, the amount of flour required will depend on the size of your egg yolks and how well they have been separated from the albumen. The 200g of flour is just a guide amount – you may not need to incorporate it all into your dough.
For the polenta mix
Bring the water to the boil and then sprinkle in the polenta, cook out for 1 hour then blend with the Parmesan, butter, and olive oil. Pass and set in the fridge in piping bags.
To make the agnolotti
- When chilled, pipe a straight line of polenta mix lengthwise on the pasta sheet, leaving enough pasta at the top to fold over the filling. Fold the pasta top over the filling. Press firmly to seal.
- Use a wheeled pasta cutter or a sharp knife to cut the filled tube of pasta away from the rest of the sheet, making sure to keep the sealed strip intact.
- Use the tips of your fingers to pinch the tube of pasta into equally sized sections, creating a seal between pockets of filling. Use the wheeled pasta cutter or a sharp knife to separate the sections.
- Quickly cut through each, leaning the tube of pasta in the direction you’re cutting. You should be left with small, individual pockets of filled pasta. Place the finished agnolotti in a tray of loose polenta.
- Repeat until all of the pasta sheets and filling have been used. At this point, the pasta can be cooked right away.
- Place the agnolotti into salted boiling water.
- Slowly melt butter, add the cooked artichoke hearts, oven-dried tomatoes, a few leaves of oregano and the chopped truffle.
- Add the cooked pasta and a touch of water to make it into a silky emulsified sauce and enjoy!
Ingredients
Pasta
- 200g pasta flour
- 9 egg yolks (free-range- organic are best)
Polenta mix
- 300g polenta
- 300g aged parmesan
- 2500ml water
- 100g butter
- 50ml of olive oil
Agnolotti
- Cooked Artichoke Quarters
- Oven-dried tomatoes (Cherry tomatoes cut in half, seasoned with salt, sugar, thyme and garlic, dried in 90 degrees oven for 90mins)
- Oregano
- Chopped truffle
