Sabrina Ghayour interview: TV chef on her new book, Castle Howard supper clubs and life in Yorkshire

“When I first came to Yorkshire I wasn’t sure if anyone knew me or if they’d like my food, because I’d never really been to Yorkshire properly. But I was wrong because people came up to me and said, ‘finally you’re in our neck of the woods.’”

Sabrina has established herself as the go-to girl for simple, tasty Persian and middle eastern-inspired food and has a string of bestselling cookbooks to her name. She’s also a regular guest on popular foodie shows like BBC’s Saturday Kitchen and Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch and Steph’s Packed Lunch.

She recently teamed up with Castle Howard to run a series of supper clubs at the grand stately home in the Howardian hills. The self-taught cook has been running supper clubs for the past 12 years though this takes them to another level. “Supper clubs are how I made my name,” she says. “I started doing them in my flat in London, which people thought was crazy back then. So it’s kind of nice to come full circle and to work with such an amazing venue.”

The collaboration came about after she was invited by Castle Howard to a preview of last year’s Christmas display. “I met Nick Howard and the team and they said they loved my books and I said, ‘really, you have my books?’ So I sent them the new one. They asked if I ever wanted to do a supper club there and I was like ‘of course, who wouldn’t?’”

The first one, in June, sold out in a flash. “Their team of chefs are so nice to let some random person come into their kitchen and just take over. And it went so well, almost too well, because everyone at the dinner wanted to rebook for the next one.”

Her October supper club has already sold out and coincides with the launch of her latest book, Flavour, which continues her passion for creating simple tasty recipes.

“It’s about helping people add to what they probably do at home by just giving them a few new ideas that are simple, flavourful and can freshen up a recipe. It might be a bit of seasoning like a hint of oregano, or a squeeze of lemon, or drizzle of honey, to help bring things to life,” she says.

There are more supper clubs planned which will be announced once the dates are confirmed with tickets again expected to sell like, well, hot cakes.

Sabrina’s story is an intriguing one. She was just two when her family fled to the UK from Iran and because her mother didn’t really cook it was left to her to take charge in the kitchen. “I was the only person who cooked in the house so it’s kind of an extension of what I’ve been doing since I was six.”

She learned through trial and error and watching the likes of Ken Hom and Madhur Jaffrey on TV. “I was cooking Christmas dinner by the time I was 10 or 11.”

It might sound as though she was destined to be a culinary star but this certainly wasn’t the case. And there have been plenty of challenges along the way. She was working as an events organiser for a City firm when she was made redundant out of the blue in 2011. “I lost my job and had loads of debt but knew the only thing I was good at that I loved doing was cooking.”

A turning point came a short time later when she heard that legendary chef Thomas Keller was holding a London pop up of his famous Michelin-starred French Laundry in Harrods at £250 a ticket. “I made a joke on Twitter that I should do my own for £2.50 and call it The French Launderette and the next day it went viral.”

It led to her setting up Sabrina’s Kitchen specialising in Persian cooking. Numerous people who came to her supper clubs encouraged her to bring out a cookbook but nothing materialised. That is until Persiana was published in 2014. This became a runaway success, topping the bestseller lists and winning Best Cookbook of the Year 2015 from Food and Travel Magazine. It has gone on to sell more than a quarter of a million copies in the UK and is now seen as a modern classic.

Sabrina’s books have garnered praise from the likes of Nigella Lawson and Tom Parker Bowles and she believes their popularity is down to the fact her food is rooted in family and the home.

“I’ve always tested my recipes using supermarket products because I want my food to be accessible so that people actually cook these recipes – I want my books to be used.”

Not that she ever takes success for granted. “If you called me in 2011 and told me I’d be a chef in a year I’d never have believed you.”

She says her background in hospitality and marketing and the work ethic this engendered in her was crucial. “I did 17 hour days, seven days a week, when I first built my career. I hurt my back so that ten years later it’s still reoccurring. I grafted and slogged; I did everything myself because I couldn’t afford any help. I dragged shopping trolleys all over London filled with chopping boards and groceries because I couldn’t afford a taxi to my clients’ houses to teach them cookery classes,” she says.

“I spent 20 years in the industry working in different departments. So I’m lucky that I can walk into a kitchen and be the head chef for the day, but it took graft. People message me all the time saying, ‘I really want to write a cookbook’, or ‘I really want to be on TV, can you tell me how to do it?’ But I don’t give them too much advice anymore, because nobody wants to hear that there’s no quick route into this world.”

These days Sabrina’s work means she divides her time between London and Yorkshire. “There are things London offers that Yorkshire doesn’t, but it does make it all the sweeter to come home to. Yorkshire very much feels like home to me, or North Yorkshire I should say. My friend who owns a bakery in Leeds says, ‘that’s how I know you’re not from Yorkshire because you keep saying you live in Yorkshire and you don’t, you live in North Yorkshire,’” she says, laughing.

“I feel really at peace here. Sometimes I don’t leave the house for ten days at a time. What I love about this pocket of North Yorkshire is it’s beautiful three-sixty-five. Winter, grim and grey as it can be, has a charm. The rain can be a bit pants but when it’s foggy or snowy it’s still beautiful and I find that astounding. There aren’t many places in the world where you can drive through any time of year and go, ‘God, it really is beautiful here.’ And I still do that all the time whether it’s the hills behind me or a pretty town… I’m still a stupid southern tourist.”

Sabrina Ghayour’s new book, Flavour, is out on October 12. For more information about her future supper clubs visit www.sabrinaghayour.com. Sign up to Castle Howard’s newsletter to hear about future supper clubs, which can be booked via its website www.castlehoward.co.uk