To say Nathan Outlaw has had an eventful decade is something of an understatement, like saying he knows his way around a piece of fish. Ten years ago, the Cornwall-based chef was in full-on expansion mode. Adding to three sites in the county, including his eponymous two-Michelin-starred seafood restaurant, he had recently set up shop at the Capital hotel in London’s Knightsbridge. Soon he would make the leap to Dubai, launching at the hyper-luxury Burj al-Arab hotel. He was travelling a lot, writing cookbooks and not doing as much cooking as he’d have liked. “It was a pretty mad time,” he admits.
Then came the contraction. The Capital was sold in 2017 and Outlaw relocated to the Goring hotel in Mayfair, before Covid shuttered the restaurant. The Dubai stint came to an end after a few years, as did his tenure at the St Enodoc hotel and the Mariners pub in Rock. Now, Outlaw’s footprint has shrunk to just a couple of streets in Port Isaac, where he runs two restaurants, a guesthouse and self-catering properties with his wife, Rachel. But despite all the closures and thwarted dreams, as well as some of the toughest years for hospitality in living memory, he has never felt more fulfilled as a chef.
Dashing between far-flung outposts took its toll, he says, so “it’s a pleasure to be in the kitchen these last two or three years – I’ve been cooking all the time”. (Outlaw is speaking to me fresh from breakfast service at the guesthouse.) The contraction may have been painful but those stints in London and Dubai allowed the Outlaws to buy their own premises for the first time, giving them a sense of permanency, plus he gets to be in Cornwall full time. After more than 20 years running restaurants there, he clearly still loves the county – the locals, the proximity to the sea, the fabulous produce. That’s not to say it’s easy. “People think that, come summer, Cornwall is paved with gold, but far from it. You have to work bloody hard, but the people are lovely and always encouraging. I’d say a lot of my successes are because of where I am.”
His connection to Cornwall goes way back: he used to come for holidays as a child, always hating the long drive home to Kent. When he was 19, he returned there to work. By then, Outlaw had already been working in professional kitchens, first helping his dad out at his catering job in Kent, then in London where he worked with Gary Rhodes and Eric Chavot. Some colleagues had a connection to Rick Stein, so Outlaw hopped on a train and bus to Padstow, asked for a trial at Stein’s Seafood Restaurant and ended up staying for two years. It sparked his abiding love of seafood and it was where he met Rachel, who grew up locally and was working front of house.
When he was 24, Outlaw opened his first restaurant, the Black Pig, in Rock. Rachel had given birth to their son two weeks earlier and they were living in a spare room at her brother’s house. “When I think about it, it’s like, fucking hell,” he says. “But I was just so determined.” The restaurant only lasted two years but it was where Outlaw won his first Michelin star and shaped his style of cooking. “There were only two of us in a tiny kitchen. With those constraints, you can’t do anything majorly adventurous or complicated, so you rely on sourcing great ingredients and cooking them really, really well.”
His approach to cooking is largely unchanged. “I’ve always appreciated simplicity,” he says. “But I want it to be perfect.” Although, these days, Outlaw says that cooking “in a manner that’s fun and enjoyable” is equally important.
When he started offering seafood-only menus in 2011, people told him it was a bad idea, but he proved them wrong, building a reputation as one of the country’s greatest seafood chefs. Now he has taken another gamble. “After Covid, I felt that people would want something a bit more accessible,” he says. “I was finding that the whole fine-dining thing was just a bit paint-by-numbers.” He has dropped some of the formality and stopped trying to second-guess Michelin. Outlaw’s New Road and Outlaw’s Fish Kitchen still have one star apiece, but with the more casual approach he has noticed “a massive difference in the attitude of our team, and also in the customers enjoying themselves and having fun.
“I’ve never been fashionable,” he says. “I’ve always shied away from that sort of thing with restaurants because I think it’s a bit dangerous. So I’m sticking to my guns, sticking to what I know and love. It might be the wrong move but I have to be true to myself.” He laughs. “If nothing else, we will always be that place you can get a good plate of fish.”
Baked bass, fennel, courgette and tomato gratin, tapenade dressing (pictured top)
Bass is a lovely fish to eat and this dish is great for family-style dining. I’ve paired it with a gratin made with vegetables that are truly summer heroes. To be honest, the gratin could be served as a summery veggie meal by itself. My tapenade dressing really complements the other flavours, making them shout summer. You could use it to dress pasta or salads as well.
Serves 4
thyme leaves 2 tbsp
olive oil 3 tbsp
sea salt and black pepper
bass 4 x fillets, about 160-200g each
For the tapenade dressing
pitted black olives 150g
capers in brine or salt 1 tbsp
salted anchovy fillets 2
garlic 1 clove, finely chopped
olive oil 4 tbsp
sea salt and black pepper
For the fennel, courgette and tomato gratin
olive oil 2 tbsp
shallots 2, peeled and finely sliced
fennel 2 bulbs, trimmed and finely sliced
garlic 2 cloves, peeled and chopped
courgettes 2, finely sliced
tomatoes 4, finely sliced
full fat creme fraiche 300g
parmesan 150g, grated
sea salt and black pepper
To serve
thyme leaves 2 tsp, picked and chopped
lemon zest of 1, finely grated
First, make the tapenade dressing by blitzing all the ingredients in a food processor until you have a smoothish mixture. Season to taste, then keep to one side.
Next, chop the thyme leaves for the bass and mix with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, then coat the bass fillets all over and leave to marinate while you get the gratin prepared and cooked.
Preheat your oven to 180C fan/gas mark 6. Warm a large frying pan and add the olive oil. Sweat off the shallots, fennel and garlic for 5 minutes, stirring the mixture so that it softens evenly.
Place the courgettes, tomatoes, creme fraiche and parmesan in a large bowl and then add the shallot mixture. Mix everything together well, season to taste and transfer to an ovenproof dish. Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
Remove the gratin from the oven and place the fish on top. Return the dish to the oven and cook for a further 8 minutes.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle over the thyme leaves and lemon zest.
Serve immediately with the dressing on the side.
Baked saffron rice, tomato and coriander chutney
This rice dish is easy to make and is a real winner too. Don’t be tempted to add any more saffron though, 1 teaspoon of the strands is enough. And don’t be tempted to peek under the foil before time either. You need to keep the steam in to finish the cooking.
Serves 4
sunflower oil 2 tbsp
unsalted butter 50g
white onion 1, peeled and finely chopped
carrot 1, peeled and finely chopped
celery 1 stick, finely chopped
fennel 1 bulb, peeled and finely chopped
red chilli 1, deseeded and finely chopped
garlic 1 clove, peeled and finely chopped
vegetable stock 650ml
basmati rice 300g, soaked for 10 minutes in cold water, then rinsed until the water runs clear
star anise 2
fennel seeds 2 tsp
saffron strands 1 level tsp
sea salt and black pepper
mint 2 tbsp, chopped
coriander 2 tbsp, chopped
For the chutney
ripe tomatoes 4, halved and sliced
red onion 1, peeled and finely chopped
coriander 1 tbsp, chopped
cumin ½ tsp
cayenne pepper 1 pinch
white wine vinegar 3 tsp
olive oil 3 tbsp
Preheat the oven to 180C fan/gas mark 6.
To begin, make the chutney by mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl. Season well to taste and leave to one side while you make the rice.
Heat a large ovenproof saucepan over a medium heat. Once hot, add the oil and butter, and allow the butter to melt but not brown. Add the vegetables, chilli and garlic to the pan and cook gently for 5 minutes until they begin to soften.
Bring the stock to a simmer.
Add the rice, star anise, fennel seeds and saffron to the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Stir together for 30 seconds, then pour in the hot stock. Stir again, then cover tightly with foil and place in the oven for 14 minutes.
Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 5 minutes, keeping the foil intact. When the time is up, remove the foil, then gently stir the mint and coriander through the rice.
At this point you can either serve the rice hot or allow to cool completely and chill.
Mackerel tartare with cucumber and apple chutney
Mackerel is my favourite fish because it’s sustainable, versatile and tasty. This is a great starter and it’s pretty easy to make. If you wanted, you could increase the amounts and add some good quality bread to create a delicious light lunch. One word of warning though, the mackerel needs to be super fresh to get the best result.
Serves 4 as a starter
For the mackerel
mackerel 2, very fresh, filleted, pin-boned and skinned
shallot 1, peeled and finely chopped
mint 2 tsp, chopped
tarragon 2 tsp, chopped
flat-leaf parsley 2 tsp, chopped
good-quality full-fat Greek yoghurt 2 tbsp
lemon juice of ½
sea salt
ground white pepper
For the chutney
cider vinegar 50ml
caster sugar 40g
sea salt
cucumber 1, washed, halved, deseeded and grated
crisp green apple 1, peeled and grated
chilli ½ small, deseeded and chopped
tarragon 2 tsp, chopped
mint 2 tsp, chopped
To serve
extra virgin olive oil
mustard cress 1 punnet, washed
To make the chutney, put the cider vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt in a small pan and bring to a simmer. Mix the cucumber, apple and chilli together in a bowl, then pour the vinegar mixture over and stir well. Put to one side.
Slice the mackerel fillets into 4 equal strips lengthways, then slice across those to give small dice roughly ½cm each. Place the mackerel in a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Season and mix gently.
To serve, divide the tartare between 4 plates, drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with the cress. Add the chopped tarragon and mint to the chutney and stir in. Serve the tartare immediately with the chutney on the side.
Poached eggs on toast, summer piccalilli salad
You may associate piccalilli with winter but when you look at the ingredients, you’ll see everything is really summery. The spice mix gives a flavoursome warmth and isn’t harsh at all. If you are worried about poaching eggs, use soft boiled eggs instead. Do give this a go, it’s one of my favourite meat-free summer recipes.
Serves 4
For the wet spice mix
cayenne pepper ½ tsp
ground ginger ½ tsp
ground turmeric ½ tsp
yellow mustard seeds ½ tsp
sea salt 1 tsp
garlic 1 clove, crushed
dijon mustard 1 tbsp
cider vinegar 100ml
water 100ml
honey 50g
For the salad
cauliflower ½ small, finely sliced or shaved on a mandoline
red onion 1, peeled and finely sliced
cucumber ½, peeled, halved lengthways, deseeded and thinly sliced
cherry tomatoes 8, halved
tarragon 2 tsp, chopped
chives 2 tsp, chopped
sea salt and black pepper
For the eggs
turmeric 1 tsp
white wine vinegar 3 tbsp
free-range eggs 8 very fresh, large
sea salt and black pepper
To finish
sourdough bread 4 slices
salted butter softened
To make the spice mix, add all the ingredients to a pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook gently, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a syrupy consistency. Leave to one side to cool.
Place all the salad ingredients together in a large bowl. Add 4 tablespoons of the spice mix and gently combine. Leave the salad to mingle while you cook the eggs.
To cook the eggs, bring a large pan of water to the boil, then add the turmeric and vinegar. Crack the eggs into 8 ramekins and line a tray with good quality kitchen roll.
Toast or griddle the sourdough and keep it warm.
Turn the water down to a simmer and add the eggs quickly but carefully. Cook for 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove and drain on the kitchen roll.
Butter the toast and place a slice each on 4 warmed plates. Add a pile of the piccalilli salad, then nestle 2 eggs on each plate. Serve warm.
Cherry fool, thyme and lemon shortbread
I have to admit that I’ve eaten much more of this dish than I should. I love cherries and serving them in this fool is great as they cut through the richness of the cream. The shortbreads are “melt in the mouth”. It might be wise to make a double batch as I guarantee they’ll be eaten.
Serves 4
For the shortbreads
unsalted butter 250g, softened
golden caster sugar 80g, plus extra for sprinkling
lemon zest of 1
plain flour 330g
cornflour 1 tbsp
thyme 2 tsp, picked and finely chopped
For the fool
cherries 300g, pitted
golden caster sugar 3 tbsp
lemon zest of 1
thyme 1 tsp, picked and finely chopped
double cream 200g
full fat creme fraiche 200g
icing sugar 3 tsp
cider brandy a splash (optional)
To make the shortbread, beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until a dough forms.
Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead gently. Flatten down and cover with a damp cloth. Chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 160C fan/gas mark 4. On a floured surface, roll out the shortbread dough to the thickness of a £1 coin. Cut into your desired shape (I like rounds). Reroll the trimmings to make more biscuits.
Place the biscuits on a lined baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes until they begin to turn golden at the edge. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with sugar. Once cool, place on a wire rack.
To make the fool, place the cherries and sugar in a pan with a splash of water. Place on a medium heat and cook gently until they begin to collapse. Add the lemon zest and thyme, stir and leave to cool.
Put the double cream, creme fraiche, icing sugar and brandy (if using) in a large bowl and whisk until the mixture forms floppy peaks. Spoon equally into 4 glasses. Top with the cherry compote and stir through gently to form a ripple effect. Chill for 1-2 hours. Serve with a shortbread biscuit (or two).
Nathan Outlaw is chef-owner of Outlaw’s restaurants and guest house; outlaws.co.uk
The Observer aims to publish recipes for sustainable fish. For ratings in your region, check: UK; Australia; US