Time to get cooking in anticipation of chef, restaurateur and much-loved author Yotam Ottolenghi's rescheduled Flavour of Life tour.
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After postponing the tour twice in the past two years, the dates have been set for 2023 with shows in Canberra, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.
Ottolenghi will be in conversation with award-winning author and broadcaster Alice Zaslavsky discussing the tastes, ingredients, and flavours that excite him, and how he has created a career from cooking.
"After some delay and rescheduling, I'm thrilled to confirm that I will finally be visiting Australia for my Flavour of Life tour in the new year," Ottolenghi said.
"I seriously hope you can make the new dates, so you can listen to me share my food, and some non-food, stories with you all. Thanks for your patience."
In the meantime here are four recipes from four of his best selling books: Flavour, Sweet, Simple and Shelf Love. And in even better news, there's a new Ottolenghi Test Kitchen book out soon, keep an eye out for Extra Good Things, coming in late September.
- Yotam Ottolenghi Flavour of Life tour, Canberra Theatre, January 21, 2023, 3pm and 7pm. Tickets via canberratheatrecentre.com.au
Spicy mushroom lasagne
This particular ragu pays homage to penne all'Aconese, the first dish that Ixta fell madly in love with. It's served at Ristorante Pizzeria Acone, a community-run restaurant in the Tuscan village of Acone, perched at the top of the mountain on which she spent her formative childhood years. The recipe is a closely guarded secret, but the complex, earthy and deeply umami flavour of dried porcini mushrooms is impossible to miss. This is our meatless take on that mythical sauce. The ragu can easily be made vegan if you lose the cream. It can also be made ahead and refrigerated, ready to be served with pasta or polenta, saving yourself the trouble of constructing the lasagne if you're short on time. Reduce the black pepper and lose the chilli for a child-friendly version. If you want to get ahead, the lasagne can be assembled, refrigerated and then baked the next day (once it's come back up to room temperature).
Ingredients
- 750g chestnut mushrooms, halved
- 500g oyster mushrooms
- 135ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing
- 60g dried porcini mushrooms
- 30g dried wild mushrooms
- 2 dried red chillies, roughly chopped (deseeded for less heat)
- 500ml hot vegetable stock
- 1 onion, peeled and quartered
- 5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 carrot, peeled and quartered
- 2-3 plum tomatoes, quartered
- 75g tomato paste
- 130ml double cream
- 60g Pecorino Romano, finely grated
- 60g Parmesan, finely grated
- 5g basil leaves, finely chopped
- 10g parsley leaves, finely chopped, plus an extra tsp to serve
- 250g dried lasagne sheets (that's about 14 sheets)
- salt and black pepper
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 230C fan.
2. Put the chestnut and oyster mushrooms into the large bowl of a food processor in three or four batches and pulse each batch until finely chopped (or finely chop everything by hand). Toss the chopped mushrooms in a large bowl with three tablespoons of oil and one teaspoon of salt and spread out on a large, 40cm x 35cm parchment-lined, rimmed baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes near the top of the oven, stirring three times throughout, until the mushrooms are golden-brown; they will have reduced in volume significantly. Set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 200C fan.
3. Meanwhile, combine the dried mushrooms, chillies and hot stock in a large bowl and set aside to soak for half an hour. Strain the liquid into another bowl, squeezing as much liquid from the mushrooms as possible to get about 340ml: if you have any less, top up with water. Very roughly chop the rehydrated mushrooms (you want some chunks) and finely chop the chillies. Set the stock and mushrooms aside separately.
4. Put the onion, garlic and carrot into the food processor and pulse until finely chopped (or finely chop everything by hand). Heat 60ml of oil in a large sauté pan or pot on a medium-high heat. Once hot, add the onion mixture and fry for eight minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden. Pulse the tomatoes in the food processor until finely chopped (or finely chop by hand), then add to the pan along with the tomato paste, 11/2 teaspoons of salt and 13/4 teaspoons of freshly cracked black pepper. Cook for seven minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the rehydrated mushrooms and chillies and the roasted mushrooms and cook for nine minutes, resisting the urge to stir: you want the mushrooms to be slightly crisp and browned on the bottom. Stir in the reserved stock and 800ml of water and, once simmering, reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until you get the consistency of a ragu. Stir in 100ml of the cream and simmer for another two minutes, then remove from the heat.
5. Combine both cheeses and both herbs in a small bowl. To assemble the lasagne, spread one-fifth of the sauce in the bottom of a round 28cm baking dish (or a 30cm x 20cm rectangular dish), then top with a fifth of the cheese mixture, followed by a layer of lasagne sheets, broken to fit where necessary. Repeat these layers three more times in that order, and finish with a final layer of sauce and cheese: that's five layers of sauce and cheese and four layers of pasta.
6. Drizzle over one tablespoon of cream and one tablespoon of oil, then cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil, increase the temperature to 220C fan and bake for another 12 minutes, turning the dish round halfway. Turn the oven to the grill setting and grill for a final two minutes, until the edges are brown and crisp. Set aside to cool for five or so minutes, then drizzle over the remaining tablespoon of cream and oil. Sprinkle over the remaining parsley, finish with a good grind of pepper and serve.
Serves 6.
- From Ottolenghi Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage. Published by Penguin Random House Australia, $55.
Za'atar salmon and tahini
If you haven't yet paired fish with tahini, then you're in for a real treat. This version combines tahini with herbaceous za'atar and sour sumac, our ever familiar but much treasured test kitchen staples. We strongly recommend using creamy, nutty tahini that's sourced from countries within the Levant. Eat this shortly after cooking, as cooked tahini doesn't sit or reheat very well.
Ingredients
- 4 salmon fillets, skin on and pin bones removed
- 2 tbsp za'atar
- 2 tsp sumac, plus 1/2 tsp extra for sprinkling
- 60ml olive oil
- 250g baby spinach
- 90g tahini
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp roughly chopped coriander leaves
- salt and black pepper
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220C fan.
2. Pat dry the salmon and sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, combine the za'atar and sumac, then sprinkle this all over the top of the salmon to create a crust.
3. Place a large ovenproof sauté pan on a medium-high heat and add a tablespoon of oil. Once hot, add the spinach and a pinch each of salt and pepper and cook for two to three minutes, until just wilted.
4. Top with the salmon, skin side down, and drizzle the top of the fish with 2 tablespoons of oil. Bake for five minutes.
5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together the tahini, garlic, 21/2 tablespoons of lemon juice, a good pinch of salt and 100ml of water until smooth and quite runny.
6. When ready, remove the pan from the oven and pour the tahini all around the salmon (but not on the fish at all). Bake for another five minutes, or until the fish is cooked through and the tahini is bubbling. Spoon over the remaining tablespoon each of lemon juice and oil and top with the coriander and extra sumac.
Serves 4.
- From Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love by Yotam Ottolenghi and Noor Murad. Published by Penguin Random House Australia, $49.99.
Hot charred cherry tomatoes with cold yoghurt
One of the beauties of this dish lies in the exciting contrast between the hot, juicy tomatoes and fridge-cold yoghurt, so make sure the tomatoes are straight out of the oven and the yoghurt is straight out of the fridge. The heat of the tomatoes will make the cold yoghurt melt, invitingly, so plenty of crusty sourdough or focaccia to mop it all up with is a must alongside.
Ingredients
- 350g cherry tomatoes
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3/4 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp light brown sugar
- 3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- 3 thyme sprigs
- 5g fresh oregano: 3 sprigs left whole and the rest picked, to serve
- 1 lemon: finely shave the skin of 1/2 to get 3 strips and finely grate the other 1/2 to get 1 tsp zest
- 350g extra thick Greek- style yoghurt, fridge-cold
- 1 tsp Urfa chilli flakes (or 1/2 tsp regular chilli flakes)
- flaked sea salt and
- black pepper
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C fan.
2. Place the tomatoes in a mixing bowl with the olive oil, cumin seeds, sugar, garlic, thyme, oregano sprigs, lemon strips, 1/2 teaspoon of flaked salt and a good grind of pepper. Mix to combine, then transfer to a baking tray just large enough to fit all the tomatoes together snugly. Roast for 20 minutes, until the tomatoes are beginning to blister and the liquid is bubbling. Turn the oven to the grill setting and grill for 6-8 minutes, until the tomatoes start to blacken on top.
3. While the tomatoes are roasting, combine the yoghurt with the grated lemon zest and 1/4 teaspoon of flaked salt. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
4. Once the tomatoes are ready, spread the chilled yoghurt on a platter (with a lip) or in a wide, shallow bowl, creating a dip in it with the back of a spoon. Spoon over the hot tomatoes, along with their juices, lemon skin, garlic and herbs, and finish with the picked oregano and chilli flakes. Serve at once, with some bread.
Serves 4 as a starter.
- From Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi. Published by Penguin Random House Australia, $55.
Cinnamon pavlova, praline cream and fresh figs
This is a stunning dessert for a special occasion. It also has a nice element of surprise, as the meringue base is not quite what you might expect: gooey - almost toffee-like - rather than dry and crispy. This is due to the brown sugar in the mix. Combined with the praline cream and fresh figs, it's absolutely delicious. Pavlova is the dessert to make when you have a bit of time and are feeding people you adore.
Ingredients
- 20g flaked almonds
- 50g dark cooking chocolate (70% cocoa solids), finely chopped
- 600g fresh figs, cut into 1cm discs
- 3 tbsp honey
Meringue:
- 125g egg whites (from 3 large eggs)
- 125g caster sugar
- 100g dark muscovado sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Praline cream:
- 50g flaked almonds
- 80g caster sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- 200ml double cream
- 400g mascarpone
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170C.
2. Spread out all the almonds (for both the pavlova and the praline, 70g) on a baking tray and toast for seven to eight minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven, divide into two piles (20g for the pavlova, 50g for the praline) and set aside to cool.
3. Reduce the oven temperature to 120C. Cover a large baking tray with baking parchment and trace a circle, about 23cm in diameter, on to the paper. Turn the paper over so the drawn-on side is facing down but still visible.
4. First make the meringue. Pour enough water into a medium saucepan so that it rises a quarter of the way up the sides: you want the bowl from your electric mixer to be able to sit over the saucepan without touching the water. Bring the water to a boil. Place the egg whites and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk by hand to combine. Reduce the heat under the saucepan so that the water is just simmering, then set the mixer bowl over the pan, making sure the water doesn't touch the base of the bowl. Whisk the egg whites continuously by hand until they are warm, frothy and the sugar is melted, about four minutes, then transfer back to the electric mixer with the whisk attachment in place and whisk on a high speed for about five minutes, until the meringue is cool, stiff and glossy. Add the cinnamon and whisk to combine.
5. Spread the meringue inside the drawn circle, creating a nest by making the sides a little higher than the centre. Place in the oven and bake for three hours, then switch off the oven but leave the meringues inside until they are completely cool: this will take about two hours. Once cool, remove from the oven and set aside.
6. Place the chocolate into a small heatproof bowl and set it over a small saucepan of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl is not touching the water. Stir occasionally until melted. Cool slightly, then brush the chocolate inside the meringue nest, leaving the top and sides bare. Do this gently, as the meringue is fairly delicate. Leave to set for about two hours.
7. Make the praline. Place the 50g toasted almonds on a parchment-lined baking tray (with a lipped edge) and set aside. Put the sugar and water into a small saucepan and place over a medium-low heat, stirring until the sugar has melted. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally, until it turns a dark golden brown. Pour the caramel over the nuts (don't worry if they're not all covered) and leave until completely cool and set. Once cool, transfer the praline to the small bowl of a food processor and blitz until fine.
8. Place the cream, mascarpone and blitzed praline in a large bowl and whisk for about one minute, until stiff peaks form. Be careful not to over-whisk here - it doesn't take much to thicken up - or it will split. If this begins to happen, use a spatula to fold a little more cream into the mix to bring it back together. Refrigerate until needed.
9. To assemble, spoon the cream into the centre of the meringue and top with the figs. Warm the honey in a small saucepan and stir through the 20g almonds. Drizzle these over the figs, and serve.
Serves 10.
- From Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh. Published by Penguin Random House Australia, $55.