Ottolenghi – Page 2 – Recipes from Uist

Braised eggs with leeks, lemon and zahtar

We are about to head off to a family gathering, and so tonight’s supper was composed of items that needed to be eaten. This included a very chunky home-grown leek and some fresh local eggs. This served 3

INGREDIENTS:

30g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large leeks, about 500g, sliced into 1/2 cm slices
1 tsp ground cumin
1 preserved lemon, finely chopped or 2 tbsp lemon juice
300ml marigold stock or other simple stock
200g baby spinach
6 large eggs
90g feta cheese
1 tbsp zahtar spice mix
salt and pepper

METHOD:

Melt the butter into the olive oil in a small braising pan which has a lid that fits well.
When the butter starts to foam, add the chopped leeks and cook over a medium heat for 3 minutes or so, until the leeks soften. Season with a little salt and pepper while the leeks are cooking.
Add the cumin, lemon and stock, and boil rapidly for 5 minutes or so to reduce the liquid.
Add the spinach, and cover, cook for a minute until the spinach has wilted right down. At this point, you can cool the mixture down and put it in the fridge for later if you wish. I froze half of it and used the other half for the two of us, and only used 2 eggs.
Use a spoon to make nests for the eggs in the mixture. Break the eggs into these depressions. Sprinkle crumbled feta over the top. Cover with the lid, and braise for 4 minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks are runny. (I wonder if crowdie would work).
Sprinkle with Zahtar spice mix, and then serve immediately, with fresh bread.

Beetroot dip/spread

I made this dip from Ottolenghi’s book, Jerusalem. We had it as part of a meal that included a hot bean and leek dish, some salmon, and bread. This was the best bit. The spices I got mail order from Seasoned Pioneers.

INGREDIENTS:

2 medium beetroot, about the size of a tennis ball
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 small hot red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
250g Greek-style yoghurt
1.5 tbsp date syrup
3 tbsp olive oil
1 level tsp salt
1 tbsp za’atar spice mix
2 spring onions
15g toasted hazelnuts, roughly crushed.
60g soft goat’s cheese or sheep’s cheese, crumbled.

METHOD

Wash the beetroot, and cook without peeling. I boil them in water for an hour, but you can also bake them for an hour in the oven.
Once they are cooked and cooled, peel them and chop them roughly.
Put the garlic, beetroot, chilli and yoghurt in a blender, and puree. I used a soup wand to do this.
Mix in the date syrup, salt, olive oil and Za’atar.
Transfer the mixture to a serving dish, and garnish with chopped spring onions, goats cheese and toasted hazelnuts. A drizzle of olive oil is good as well.

This is best served at room temperature, with bread.

Baked celeriac

So easy. Serve with anything. Ottolenghi SIMPLE. I grew the celeriac.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large celeriac, scrubbed clean and hairy roots removed.
50 ml olive oil
1 1/2 tsp crushed coriander seed
1 lemon in wedges
salt

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 170C
Pierce the celeriac all over with a sharp knife. Rub with the oil, season with the salt and coriander and put it in a small baking dish.
Roast for around 2 1/2 hours, basting with olive oil if required.
To serve, cut into wedges and serve with lemon, a sprinkle of salt, a drizzle of olive oil.

Roast cabbage with tarragon and pecorino cheese

Another wonderfully easy and tasty recipe from the Levant. This recipe is from Ottolenghi’s book SIMPLE. Best recipe book I ever bought, possibly.

INGREDIENTS:

60ml olive oil (4 tbsp)
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cloves of garlic
1 spring cabbage (the pointy kind) cut lengthways into 8ths.
5g tarragon leaves, or 3 tsp dried tarragon
20g pecorino cheese
Salt and pepper

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 220C
In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, lemon zest, garlic, a good pinch of salt and a good grate of black pepper. Put 1 tbsp of this mixture in a separate bowl.
Put the cabbage in a large bowl, season with a pinch of salt, and pour the oil mixture over the cabbages, tossing well to coat.
Arrange the cabbage in a roasting dish, and roast for 15 minutes, until the edges are getting crispy. Remove from the oven to set aside and cool a little.
Add the lemon juice to the reserve tbsp of oil. Add the tarragon.
Put the cabbage on a platter, drizzle over the oil, then add shavings of pecorino cheese and a good grating of black pepper.

Pea and feta fritters

This is from Ottolenghi’s book, SIMPLE. These pea fritters are good hot or cold, as part of a light lunch or a side dish as part of a feast.

INGREDIENTS:

500g frozen peas, defrosted
120g ricotta
3 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp lemon zest
wedges of lemon, to serve
3 tbsp za’atar spice (from seasoned pioneers)
100g white flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
20g mint leaves
200g block of feta, crumbled into large chunks
about 800ml oil
salt and pepper

METHOD:

Mash the defrosted peas using a soup wand or blender, just until the mixture is coarsely crushed.
Transfer the peas to a bowl, add the ricotta, eggs, lemon zest, 3/4 tsp salt, a good grind of pepper, and mix well.
Add the za’atar, flour and baking powder, mix well, and then fold in the feta and the chopped mint.
Pour the oil into a saucepan, and heat to a medium to high heat.
Using a pair of dessert spoons, form the mixture into smooth ovals, and drop them into the boiling oil. They should fizz and bob to the surface, and cook to a wonderful crispy brown in about 3-4 minutes. You’ll need to ensure they are flipped over in the oil to cook on all sides.
As each batch becomes cooked, lift them out in a slotted spoon and put on a towel to drain the oil, before adding to the serving dish.
Serve with the wedges of lemon.

Ottolenghi – SIMPLE

I’ve been cooking from SIMPLE all week, and the food that I have produced has been astonishingly delicious. The recipes are generally quite easy, and the ingredients are usually available locally. Many of the ingredients I have grown myself, and I am totally in love with this book.

Another plus: lots of recipes. The book is not stingy. The recipes themselves seem to be easy to adapt to what is available as well. Where fresh dill has not been available, dried dill has worked. I have swapped the cheeses in some of the recipes, and used lemon as well as lime in others.

If I could only have one recipe book, this would be the one.

Tomato, Chard, Spinach, Lime, Mint, Almonds

Sorry about the wee hiatus – keep having many things to do. This is an astonishing mix of flavours and textures, and I was raving about it at work. Clair – this is the recipe I was talking about. It is from ‘Simple’ by Yotam Ottolenghi. Even better, it uses lots of ingredients from my garden.

INGREDIENTS:

60ml olive oil
50g flaked almonds
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp caraway seeds
2 cloves of garlic
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
500g chard leaves – roughly shred the green leaves, and finely chop the stems
150g spinach, roughly shredded
1 tsp grated lime zest
2 tbsp lime juice
35g chopped mint
35g chopped dill, or 3 tsp dried dill leaves.
8 spring onions, chopped into 1 cm pieces
salt

METHOD:

In a frying pan, put in half the oil, heat to medium, and then add the almonds and the paprika. Fry for 2-3 minutes, until the almonds are golden brown. Remove them from the heat, and strain the oil from the almonds, which should be set aside in a bowl.
In a large pan, heat the remaining oil over medium to high heat. When it is hot, add the crushed garlic and the caraway, and cook for a a couple of minutes until they start to sizzle and brown.
Add the tomatoes and chard, and 3/4 tsp salt, and stir. The pan will look very full. Cover the pan, and cook for around 20 minutes, stirring every so often. If you are using dried herbs, add them at this step.
Remove from the heat, and stir in the spinach, lime juice and zest, herbs and spring onions.
Serve with the almonds sprinkled on to.

I successfully reheated this the next day, although it did wilt the spinach a bit too much. I ate it with pitta bread and labneh.