KEEP IT SIMPLE
DUCKSOUP FINDS THE BEAUTY IN UNCOMPLICATED COOKING
‘Minim al ingredients, little cooking, and maximum flavour:” this is the Ducksoup philosophy. There’s an elegant simplicity to the dishes from the tiny London, U. K. restaurant. With an eye to unfussy, fresh flavour pairings and beautiful presentation, this restaurant tome is perfectly suited to home cooking.
“Everything we do is completely honest… ( It’s) just us cooking the food that we want to eat every day,” restaurant cofounder Clare Lattin says.
In Ducksoup: The Wisdom of Simple Cooking ( Chronicle Books, 2017), Lattin and executive chef Tom Hill begin with the goto ingredients that underpin their food at the restaurant: fresh pasta, ricotta, organic lemons, nuts and spice blends. The chapters then unfold by the degree of cooking involved.
There are “quick things”: raw, salted or cured recipes suitable for a weekday lunch or dinner. Then, dishes that require progressively more cooking: lamb chops, cumin and garlic yogurt; grilled poussin and green sauce; and wild boar ragu. And finally, desserts and preserves: almond and strawberry tart; preserved lemons; and drinking vinegars.
Along with a few friends, Lattin opened the Soho spot in 2011. The menu changes from week to week, shifting with the seasons. She says that although they’re cooking completely differently today than when they first opened, the more than 130 recipes in the cookbook all share the ethos of “simplicity and seasonality.”
They strive for an atmosphere of “humble conviviality,” Lattin says; the food reflects inspiration from travels to the Middle East, Scandinavia and the Mediterranean. Their creativity is stoked by “pure seasonality, following the sun and listening to our hearts,” she adds.
Lat tin describes the Ducksoup approach to cooking as “intuitive assembly”; not “restaurant cooking.” Sometimes, these assemblystyle dishes involve little actual cooking, she says, but they always rely on an understanding of ingredients, flavour marriages and cooking methods.
“One of our favourite dishes is blistering a few tomatoes, serving them with some ricotta, loads of olive oil and a sprinkling of marjoram that might be growing on the front doorstep (recipe follows),” she says.
“( Intuitive assembly) is just getting to know a few wonderful ingredients that you like, and trying to bring them together in different ways. But not going crazy – not trying to overcomplicate it.”
The art of Ducksoup’s pared- down approach lies in presentation as much as composition. In one of the book’s four short essays, Hill offers advice on how to allow “the ingredients speak for themselves.”
For example, tearing open figs, ripping herbs — working with your hands connects you with ingredients. It also has the added benefit of visual interest and enhanced mouthfeel for the eater.
“In presentation, we try to represent the ingredient. So, if it’s a peach, we like to tear it or if it’s tomatoes, we don’t want to dice them up. We tend to blister them so they just become a little bit more beautiful versions of themselves,” Lattin says.
“We respect the architecture of the ingredient. So, you can identify it on the plate. Food has lovely lines to it and lovely shapes. We want to see what things are.”
Excerpted f rom Ducksoup: The Wisdom of Simple Cooking by Clare Lattin and Tom Hill ( Chronicle Books, 2017).
BLACK FIGS, LABNEH, PISTACHIO & SUMAC
Serves: 2 ❚ 3 tbsp ( 45 mL) shelled pistachios ❚ 2⁄3 cup (150 mL/160 g) labneh ( strained yogurt; recipe follows) ❚ 4 black figs ❚ 1 tsp (5 mL) sumac ❚ Extra-virgin olive oil Warm the pistachios in a dry frying pan over medium heat; you don’t want to colour them, just wake them up a little. Lightly crush them and set aside.
Spoon the labneh onto the plates and then, with the back of a spoon, rough- ly spread it over the plate, keeping some depth and texture ( you don’t want a flat, even circle).
Tear open the figs and gently place the halves over the l abneh. Sprinkle the pistachios and sumac over them and finish by dressing with a little olive oil.
LABNEH
❚ 2 cups (500 mL/500 g) fullfat natural Greek yogurt (see note) ❚ 1 tsp (5 mL) salt Whisk the salt into the yogurt. Pour the mixture into cheesecloth suspended over a bowl ( you can also use a large coffee filter) to allow the excess liquid to drip through. Depending how thick you want your labneh, leave it overnight for medium- firm or 3 days for super-firm.
Note: Don’t be tempted to use a fat-free version, as it won’t be the same.
BLISTERED TOMATOES, RICOTTA & MARJORAM
Serves: 4 ❚ 4 San Marzano or medium red tomatoes ❚ Extra-virgin olive oil ❚ 1 garlic clove ❚ 1 or 2 thyme sprigs, leaves picked ❚ 14 oz (400 g) mixed red and yellow cherry or baby pear tomatoes ❚ 2 large Pink Oxheart tomatoes ❚ 3⁄4 cup ( 175 mL/ 200 g) ricotta ❚ Handful of fresh marjoram or oregano ❚ Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat t he oven to 325° F ( 160° C). Cut the San Marzano tomatoes in half from top to bottom and arrange on a roasting pan, skin-side down. Drizzle with a little olive oil.
Thinly slice the garlic clove using a sharp knife or mandoline ( be sure to use the guard, as it’s when slicing small ingredients like this that you can cut yourself ). Lay the garlic slices over the tomatoes, sprinkle the thyme leaves over them, and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the tomatoes are nicely caramelized.
Meanwhile, place a frying pan over high heat and add a little olive oil. When the pan starts smoking, add the small red cherry tomatoes and blister them so that the skin goes black and starts to pop. Season with salt, place on a pan to cool, and set to one side.
Slice the yellow cherry tomatoes in half but cut them at a slight angle rather than straight across — this will give them a bit more shape and adds to the texture of the dish. Set aside. Cut the large Oxheart tomatoes in half from top to bottom and then cut each half into 3 or 4 chunks, alternating the angle of your cut.
Once your roasted tomatoes have started to cool, you’re ready to serve. Divide the roasted tomatoes among four plates. Place the large chunks of tomato in and around the roasted tomatoes, then add a small pile of blistered red cherry tomatoes, and finally scatter the yellow tomatoes over them. Add a spoonful of ricotta (slightly to the side rather than dead centre) and sprinkle with fresh marjoram or oregano leaves. Finish with a drizzle of extravirgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper.