Life

Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage on how to do ‘fusion’ food right

It doesn’t take a huge leap of faith to substitute one thing that may have been in a dish from one culture, with another from a different culture

Chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi and collaborator Ixta Belfrage
Chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi and collaborator Ixta Belfrage Chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi and collaborator Ixta Belfrage

WHEN talking about food, the word ‘fusion’ can strike fear into a diner’s heart. More often than not, it suggests mismatched dishes chucked together with relatively little thought or consideration.

However, Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage are here to change your mind – and respect is at the core of everything they do. Known for his cumin-heavy cookbooks, colourful London delis and restaurants and his love of pomegranate seeds, Ottolenghi is a giant in the food world and for his latest book he has collaborated with Ixta Belfrage, who worked in his test kitchen for four years.

The result is Flavour, a collection of exciting new dishes paying tribute to a range of cultures – and incidentally, it’s all vegetarian. Like Ottolenghi’s previous veggie cookbooks – including Plenty and Plenty More – this is a real celebration of vegetables, not sad beans on a plate.

Ottolenghi says the pair’s approach to writing the book was “pretty similar”, but they brought “very different backgrounds” to the table. “My background is deeply rooted in the Middle East,” explains Ottolenghi, who was born in Jerusalem. “I’ve lived here [England] for more than 20 years and gone through my own trajectory. Ixta has less experience writing books, but tonnes of experiences from being all over the world, and a really interesting background that includes Mexico, Brazil, Italy and France. And so all these stories came together.”

Belfrage explains her “mother is Brazilian and grew up in Cuba via Mexico, so there’s south and Latin American in my heritage; in my upbringing; the kind of food I ate, and where I travelled when I was growing up.” She moved to Italy when she was two-and-a-half, and says “that’s really what feels like home to me, and the food feels like home to me.”

With varied backgrounds capitalising on different ingredients and flavours, you might wonder how the book could come together so seamlessly. However, a similar approach to food ties the duo together, with Ottolenghi explaining: “We both love big flavours and big gestures. Intensity is definitely something we have in common, but the details are quite different” – and the recipes reflect this.

Whether it’s swede gnocchi with miso butter, za’atar cacio e pepe or caponata with silken tofu, the recipes marry together global flavours. For Ottolenghi, “all these cultures” are united by one thing: “The human palate. We’re attracted to certain flavours, so if you substitute anchovies with miso – these two things are from quite different cultures, but they both involve the same level of saltiness, umami, fermentation – things that are really cross-cultural. So it doesn’t take a huge leap of faith to substitute one thing that may have been in a dish from one culture, with another from a different culture.”

The main issue is “being sensitive when you do that,” he explains, “so it actually does work. You don’t mix things just for the sake of it, but you mix it up when it makes sense and is delicious.” Belfrage agrees, and says “one does have to definitely acknowledge where it comes from.”

Something else uniting Belfrage and Ottolenghi is their roundabout way of getting into the food industry. Ottolenghi completed a master’s degree in comparative literature and was considering pursuing a doctorate before changing direction to study at the Cordon Bleu. Belfrage never formally trained as a chef and says she did “lots of random things” before setting up her own catering company and market stall selling tacos.

Both chefs now see this as an asset. As she didn’t have professional training, Belfrage says: “I definitely don’t go about cooking thinking there is a certain set of rules that need to be followed, or ideas that might be taught at cooking school. I don’t think there are any rules when it comes to combinations about flavour.”

“I also don’t have very much experience in restaurants,” she adds. “I just picked things up along the way, and that’s informed the way I cook.”

Anyone who’s read an Ottolenghi cookbook, or has seen the chef speak, will know he has a beautiful grasp of words and way of talking about food – no mean feat. “I think it’s all a big mixture; the cooking, the talking about food, and the ideas that come around it,” he says thoughtfully. “I guess it reflects your personality, and both Ixta and I have had very varied experiences professionally.

“Food is never in isolation – it’s about how you cook, how you present it, what you say to the world, what you say to yourself.”

Ottolenghi FLAVOUR by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage, photography by Jonathan Lovekin, is published by Ebury Press, priced £27. Below are two recipes from the book for you to try.

ROASTED AND PICKLED CELERIAC WITH SWEET CHILLI DRESSING

(Serves two as a main, four as a side)

For the roasted celeriac:

1 large celeriac, hairy roots discarded (no need to peel), scrubbed (900g)

60ml olive oil

2 spring onions, finely sliced, to serve

5g picked Thai basil leaves, to serve

Flaked sea salt

For the pickled celeriac:

1 medium celeriac, trimmed, peeled and cut into thin, 6cm-long batons (500g)

3 celery sticks, cut into thin 6cm-long batons (120g)

2 garlic cloves, skin on and crushed with the side of a knife

3 limes: finely shave the skin to get 6 strips, then juice to get 60ml

150ml rice vinegar

For the sweet chilli dressing:

120ml sunflower oil

5 garlic cloves, very finely sliced

3 red chillies, finely sliced into rounds (30g)

2 whole star anise

1½ tbsp white or black sesame seeds, or a mixture of both, well toasted

2½ tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp rice vinegar

60ml soy sauce

2 tbsp chives, finely chopped

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170C fan. Pierce the celeriac with a fork all over and place on a parchment-lined baking tray. Mix the oil and one-and-a-half teaspoons of flaked salt; rub the celeriac generously with this. Roast for two-and-a-quarter to two-and-three-quarter hours, depending on the size of celeriac, basting every 20 minutes or so, until deeply browned, soft through and oozing a caramel.

Leave to rest for 15 minutes. Cut into eight wedges, brushing each cut side with the oil and caramel left on the tray (you may need to add oil).

Combine all the ingredients for the pickled celeriac with 20g flaked salt in a bowl and set aside for at least two hours, stirring now and then, while you prepare the rest of the dish.

Heat the sunflower oil for the sweet chilli dressing in a small saucepan on a medium-high heat. Once very hot, add the garlic, chillies and star anise and fry for two to two-and-a-half minutes, stirring to separate the garlic slices, until the garlic is crisp and pale golden. Strain through a sieve set over a small bowl to collect the oil. Set the fried chilli and garlic aside, to serve. Combine 40ml of oil with all the remaining ingredients for the dressing.

Preheat the oven to 200C fan. Place the oil-brushed roasted celeriac wedges on a parchment-lined baking tray, cut side up. Roast for 20 minutes, or until golden-brown.

Arrange the wedges on a large platter and sprinkle with a little flaked salt. Add the fried chilli and garlic to the dressing and spoon over and around the celeriac. Top with 200g of the pickled celeriac mixture, avoiding the pickling liquid, garlic and lime skin. Garnish with the spring onions and Thai basil, and serve.

BERRY PLATTER WITH SHEEP’S LABNEH

(Serves six)

900g sheep’s yoghurt, or cow’s yoghurt as an alternative

½tsp 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

Method:

Put the yoghurt and salt in a bowl and mix well. Line a colander with a piece of muslin large enough to hang over the sides and place over a bowl. Transfer the yoghurt to the muslin and fold over the sides to encase the yoghurt. 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).

Meanwhile, put the oil into a small saucepan on a medium heat. Heat gently for about seven 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.

Then put 50g of blackberries, 100g of raspberries and 100g of strawberries into a food processor along with the sugar and lime juice; blitz until smooth. Put the remaining berries and the cherries into a large bowl along with the blitzed fruit and gently combine.

When serving, spread the labneh out on a large platter. Spoon over the berries, then sprinkle with the lime zest. Drizzle with two tablespoons of the infused oil, along with a couple of the orange strips and the extra picked thyme leaves.