Tommy Banks: Michelin-starred chef shares favourite autumnal places to eat in Yorkshire for people on a budget and his grandma’s apple cake recipe
The Michelin-starred chef Tommy Banks - owner of The Black Swan Oldstead - has shared his favourite autumnal places to eat in Yorkshire for people on a budget and his grandma’s apple cake recipe.
Tommy Banks owns three establishments: the Michelin-starred The Black Swan at Oldstead, Roots in York and The Abbey Inn at Byland as well as the food box business Made In Oldstead.
He was born and raised in the small village of Oldstead and brought up from a farming background, with the Banks farming having lived there for five generations.
The Banks family also ran a B&B from their family home before buying their local pub in 2006, where Tommy became involved in the running of the business and learned how to cook while working in the kitchen.
The Black Swan first won a Michelin Star in 2012 with Adam Jackson as chef and a year later, when Tommy took over as head chef, the restaurant maintained its star. He was one of the youngest chefs to receive a Michelin Star at the age of 24.
Now that we are entering the season of autumn, we have asked Tommy for his suggestions of the best and most affordable places to eat in Yorkshire during the autumn season.
“The Dawnay Arms at Newton on Ouse - we go as a family for their Sunday lunch, which is great, with great options for kids as well,” he said.
“They also have very good game dishes throughout the Autumn.
“Just up the road from Roots, I really like The Minster Inn, which is a really cool pub where they do great pizza.
“Of course, The General Tarleton set menu is of great value – three courses for £30, you can’t go wrong there!”
Tommy also shared his grandma’s Apple Cake recipe ideal for autumn that will be published in his recent cookbook Roots.
“From my cookbook, my Grandma's Apple Cake is a great autumnal recipe, it's nice and easy, I even made one at home last weekend with my daughter,” he said.
Below is the recipe for Tommy’s grandma’s Apple Cake.
Cake ingredients
100g of self-raising flour
25g of finely ground almonds
125g of golden caster sugar
75g of beaten egg
90g of melted butter
Half a teaspoon of baking powder
Quarter teaspoon of almond extract
140g of Keswick apples, peeled, cored and sliced (any apples will work)
25g of Calvados
Decoration ingredients
One to two tablespoons of clear honey
100g of creme fraiche
200g of assorted fresh berries and currants
Method
1 - Pre-heat the oven to 190C (170C fan) and grease six deep 7cm metal serving rings. Place the rings on a well-greased parchment paper.
2 - Thoroughly beat together all the cake ingredients, except the apples and Calvados, to make a smooth batter.
3 - Spread about half of the mixture into the bottoms of the serving rings, then divide the sliced apples between the rings. Give the baking tray a good tap on your work surface to remove air, then spread the remaining batter over the apples. Tap the tray down again, then smooth the top of the cakes with the back of a spoon. There should be a 2cm gap between the batter and the top of the rings.
4 - Bake the cakes in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Run a small knife around each cake and carefully remove the metal rings. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack, then brush the tops with Calvados.
5 - Mix the honey into the creme fraiche to taste, then spoon this onto the centre of each plate. Place a warm apple cake on top and scatter berries around. Serve straight away.
This recipe also makes one cake using a 20cm loose-bottomed round tin; bake at the same temperature for 30-40 minutes, until a skewer or butter knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.