The Impulse Purchase by Veronica Henry

Author:Veronica Henry
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781409183594
Publisher: Orion

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At the end of the week, Maggie headed back to Avonminster. She drove up the motorway on a bit of a high. Only days ago she’d been panicking that they wouldn’t be able to find a decent chef, but inspiration had struck and she had phoned the college in Honisham to see if they had any promising students on their catering course about to graduate. It didn’t look as if she was going to get anyone experienced, but someone with promise would be second best. And it might be easier to mould someone than do battle with a chef who had strong ideas about what to do in the kitchen. Maggie’s ideas were strong enough, she thought. But she didn’t want to be doing all the cooking. She needed someone capable and she needed them fast.

The college sent over their most able student. Winnie O’Neill was five foot nothing with a blue-black bob and a mass of tattoos over her tiny frame.

‘She’s quite a little powerhouse,’ the tutor told her. ‘You won’t keep her for long if you do get her.’

Maggie didn’t want to do a formal interview. She had a raft of things to be getting on with the morning Winnie turned up. So she sent her into the kitchen and gave her free rein.

‘Surprise me,’ she said. ‘I don’t care what you make. Just make me swoon.’

‘Okey doke,’ said Winnie, cool as a cucumber, and sauntered into the kitchen with her knife roll under her arm.

Twenty minutes later Maggie felt a tap on her arm as she sat at her laptop wrestling with the invoicing program she’d downloaded. Winnie slid a small bowl over to her, filled with warm, salty cashews and macadamias, roasted in maple syrup and a mixture of hot, sweet, mellow spices.

‘Oh my God,’ said Maggie, unable to shovel them in fast enough. Winnie disappeared, laughing.

Over the next hour, she brought out dish after dish. A delicate but crisp potato basket filled with smoked trout and crème fraiche. A perfectly cooked omelette, pale yellow with just the right amount of runniness. A bavette steak with a soy and mirin dressing, topped with seared scallions. And finally, an exquisite blueberry clafoutis, as light as a feather, with a hint of fiery ginger to stop it from being too dainty.

Maggie was blown away. The girl’s technical skills were impeccable, and she had a lightness of touch that couldn’t be taught. She knew when to stop, knew when to let the ingredients speak for themselves and which method would serve them best. She would pay double to have this girl work for them.

‘I want to travel,’ Winnie told her. ‘I don’t know if I want to be tied down.’

‘Work for me and I’ll teach you everything you need to know to take you to the next level,’ Maggie promised her. ‘You’ll get the best jobs that way.’

Winnie looked doubtful.

‘Give us six months of your time,’ Maggie persuaded her. ‘You must be secretly interested or you wouldn’t have come here.

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