Food & Drink
Yotam Ottolenghi’s new book Flavour draws on ideas, ingredients and recipes from around the world
Recipes from Yotam Ottoleghi, plus the best Lebanese wines
Ixta’s journey into the world of food, which is evident in so many of the dishes here, was, a bit like mine, anything but straightforward. Despite growing up mostly in London, she spent much of her early years in different corners of the globe, eating, observing and just soaking up some wonderful food traditions and flavours.
If you talked to Ixta, she’d be happy to tell you about her friend’s grandfather, Ferruccio – who, in a corner of Tuscany, makes the best lasagne in the world, and passed a few secrets on to her. She would talk about her grandfather’s home, near Mexico City, where she watched chiles rellenos ( stuffed peppers) being prepared. She’d mention Brazil, where her mother is from and where she fell for pirão ( cassava flour porridge), mocequa ( fish stew) and fried cassava chips, and she’d definitely tell you about Christmas holidays in France and that most glorious of apple pies, pastis Gascon.
When she arrived in my test kitchen – with no formal training and a modest amount of experience, but with a mountain of knowledge, creativity and talent – I soon understood that I could more or less leave Ixta to her own devices. Cooking her own food, which is deeply rooted in the cultures she has soaked up over the years, while also brilliantly incorporating the language of contemporary cooking, she teaches me something new every single day. And for this, I am utterly grateful.
Super- soft courgettes with harissa and lemon
Courgettes aren’t strictly speaking controversial, but they do tend to get a pretty lukewarm reaction from many. The reason for this is probably courgettes’ high water content, which tends to make them, well, watery. There are plenty of ways to combat this – frying and grilling are two examples – but we actually use it to our advantage here, cooking the courgettes slowly in their own juices, making them fantastically soft and enhancing their flavour by a long soak with fried garlic.
Serves four as a side or mezze
85ml olive oil
6 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 tbsp rose harissa
1 red chilli, finely chopped ½ preserved lemon, finely chopped, discarding any pips ( 10g)
1 ½ tbsp lemon juice
1kg courgettes, finely sliced
10g basil leaves, roughly torn salt
1 Place a large, non- stick sauté pan on a medium- high heat with the oil and garlic. Gently fry for 4 minutes, stirring often, until soft, golden and aromatic. You don’t want the garlic to become at all browned or crispy, so turn the heat down if necessary. Remove 3 tablespoons of oil, along with half the garlic, and transfer to a small bowl with the harissa, chilli, preserved lemon and lemon juice. Stir together and set aside.
2 Return the pan to a high heat and add the courgettes and 1 ¼ teaspoons of salt. Cook for 18 minutes, stirring often, until the courgettes are very soft, but are still mostly holding their shape ( you don’t want the courgettes to brown, so turn the heat down if necessary). Stir through half the basil and transfer to a platter. Spoon the harissa mixture over the courgettes. Leave to sit for 15 minutes, then sprinkle with a pinch of salt and finish with the remaining basil.
Portobello steaks and butter bean mash
We’re not mad about calling vegetables a ‘ steak’ or ‘ burger’ or ‘ schnitzel’, but sometimes, using a meaty name helps you understand what’s going on and how delicious it is. You’ll make more oil than you need here; keep it refrigerated in a sealed container to spoon over grilled vegetables, noodles, meat or fish. Serve with some sautéed greens. Serves four as a main
8 medium to large portobello mushrooms ( about 650g), stems removed
10 garlic cloves, peeled
1 onion, peeled and cut into 6 wedges ( 150g)
1 ½ tbsp chipotle chilli flakes
1 red chilli ( 15g)
4 tsp cumin seeds, roughly crushed in a pestle and mortar
1 tbsp coriander seeds, roughly crushed in a pestle and mortar 2 tbsp tomato paste
400ml olive oil ( plus an additional 1 tbsp for the mash)
1 × 700g jar of good- quality cooked large butter beans, drained ( 500g) ( we use Brindisa Navarrico large butter beans, but you can, of course, use tinned or cook your own)
1 ½ tbsp lemon juice flaked sea salt
1
Preheat the oven to 150C fan/ Gas mark 3.5.
2 Put the garlic, onion, chilli flakes, red chilli, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, tomato paste and 400ml olive oil and 1 tablespoon of flaked salt into a large ovenproof saucepan, for which you have a lid. Arrange the mushrooms so they are domed side up, then top with a piece of parchment paper, pushing it down to cover all the ingredients. Cover with the lid, then transfer to the oven for 1 hour. Turn the mushrooms over, replacing the paper and lid, and return to the oven for 20 minutes more, or until the mushrooms are very tender but not falling apart. Use a pair of tongs to transfer the mushrooms to a chopping board, then cut them in half and set aside.
3 Use a spoon to remove the onion, garlic and chilli ( discarding the stem) – don’t worry if you scoop up some of the spices and oil. Put them into the small bowl of a food processor and blitz until smooth. Return the blitzed onion mixture to the saucepan, along with the mushroom halves, and place on a medium- high heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, for all the flavours to come together.
4 While the mushrooms are cooking, make the mash by putting the beans into a food processor along with the lemon juice, olive oil, ½ teaspoon flaked salt and 2 tablespoons of water. Blitz until completely smooth. Transfer to a medium saucepan and cook on a medium- high heat for about 3 minutes, stirring, until warmed through.
5 To serve, divide the butter bean
mash between four plates. Top with four mushroom halves per plate and spoon over a generous amount of the oil and its accompanying aromatics ( you won’t need all of it, though – see intro).
Berry Platter with sheep’s labneh and orange oil
This display of the season’s best can double up as a light dessert or as a brunch centrepiece. You can make your own labneh but it requires draining the yoghurt for a good 24 hours, or you can make everything easily on the day using shop- bought labneh or some Greek- style yogurt mixed with a little double cream. Serves six
900g sheep’s yogurt, or cow’s yogurt as an alternative
½ tsp salt
100ml good- quality olive oil
10g lemon thyme sprigs, plus a few extra picked thyme leaves to serve 1 orange: finely shave the skin to get 6 strips
200g blackberries
250g raspberries
300g strawberries, hulled and halved lengthways ( or quartered if they’re larger)
50g caster sugar
1 lime: finely grate the zest to get 1 tsp, then juice to get 1 tbsp
200g blueberries
150g cherries, pitted
1 Put the yogurt and salt into a medium bowl and mix well to combine. Line a colander with a piece of muslin large enough to hang over the sides and place the colander over a bowl. Transfer the yogurt to the muslin and fold over the sides to completely encase the yogurt. Place a heavy weight over the muslin ( a few tins or jars will do), and transfer to the fridge to drain for at least 24 hours ( and up to 48).
2 Meanwhile, put the oil into a small saucepan, for which you have a lid, on a medium heat. Heat gently for about 7 minutes, or until tiny air bubbles form. Remove from the heat, add the thyme and orange strips, then cover with a lid and leave to infuse, ideally overnight, though half an hour will also do the job.
3 The next day, put 50g of blackberries, 100g of raspberries and 100g of strawberries into the small bowl of a food processor along with the sugar and lime juice and blitz until completely smooth. Put all the remaining berries and the cherries into a large bowl along with the blitzed fruit and gently combine. You can serve it straight away or leave it in the fridge for a few hours, bringing it back to room temperature before serving.
4 Spread the labneh out on a large platter. Spoon over the berries, then sprinkle with the lime zest. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the infused oil, along with a couple of the orange strips and the extra picked thyme leaves.