MEZCLA: Recipes to Excite

Product Information

Meanwhile, make the salsa fresca. In a small bowl, mix the tomato, chilli, onion, oil, lime juice and half a teaspoon of flaked salt. Just before serving, stir in the coriander.

Already! Everything has been simply fantastic. The short rib mole was a wonderfully complex dish, with a simple preparation. (Watch out for the chili paste, and adjust accordingly to how spicy your paste is!). Working in the Ottolenghi test kitchen is pretty much the dream job for an aspiring chef. What’s it like to be part of such a dynamic team? What I thought: WOW. This recipe is described as a speedy version of Ottolenghi’s Mushroom Lasagne (one of our all-time favourite recipes to make), but due to the three hours needed to make it, we usually reserve that for special occasions. Belfrage spent nine months at Nopi, which she admits to finding “extremely difficult – I was one [woman] of 15 or so men in the kitchen”. While she says things at the Ottolenghi group are different now and there’s much more of an emphasis on a more equal gender split in the kitchen, she was happy to soon find her way to Ottolenghi’s test kitchen – a team of chefs and cooks coming up with new recipes. When I meet Ixta Belfrage on a fall morning in East London, the vibrant pink beret she’s wearing is the exact hue used in the cover design for her hit cookbook, Mezcla , recently released in the U.S. “Oh no!” she laughs. “It’s a total coincidence, I promise.” Whether accident or design, however, it does feel appropriate given Belfrage’s unique style of cooking, in which the rich, considered color palettes are almost as exciting and varied as her flavors.

{% title %}

When I started working in restaurant kitchens, I was one of only 2 women in a team of 15 men, and the other woman soon left. I hated that imbalance and whilst there's definite improvement in that department, I’d love to see more women getting into the industry and making it a 50/50 environment. Cooking has always come naturally to me but it is thanks to him that I use ingredients like harissa, tahini, za’atar etc with vigour. Just like everyone else, he introduced me to them and encouraged my sense of curiosity when it comes to combining flavours. My food is unapologetically ‘fusion’ and that is thanks, in large part, to him. Add the habanero (or chilli flakes), tomato purée/paste, miso and plenty of pepper. Continue to fry for 3 minutes, stirring every now and then. Turn the heat down if the mixture starts to catch or burn.

The recipe I’ve chosen is the rapturous (and vegan-friendly) Tomato Salad with Tahini Ginger Sauce, Chilli Oil and Crumpet Croutons. And yes, I did say Crumpet Croutons! Meanwhile, put all the ingredients for the bechamel in a blender with about 10 twists of the pepper mill and blitz smooth.As the recipe promises, you’ll have leftover marinade - which we discovered paired well with leftover takeout rice and a fried egg for an impromptu lunch the following day.

Scotch bonnet chillies are very hot. If you prefer less heat, use one or two mild red chillies instead, or leave out the chilli altogether; there’s plenty of flavour coming from other directions here. The coconut milk is all but undetectable – it just helps create a creamy base for the sweet squash. Dende Marinated Shrimp with Burnt Lime - We now live in an era where it’s perfectly acceptable (dare we say, seductive?) to use words like “burnt” or “charred” in a recipe or menu title. What a time to be alive! First, I know that these are not chiles rellenos in the true sense of the dish. They are not made with Poblano chillies, they are not filled with traditional ingredients,* they are not battered and deep-fried. They are, however, inspired by chiles rellenos (one of my favourite dishes of all time) and they are also, quite literally, chiles rellenos – stuffed (chilli) peppers.** Once the tomatoes are roasted, stir in the drained butter beans and a tablespoon of water. Turn the grill to its highest setting. Top the beans with the bechamel, leaving spaces here and there for the tomatoes and liquid to bubble through when grilled, then drizzle with oil and grill, again near the top of the oven, until golden brown and bubbling – depending on the strength of your grill, this will take anywhere between five and 12 minutes, so keep an eye on it. (If you have a blowtorch, use that to get a uniform char on the surface once the bechamel has heated through.) Remove and set aside to cool for five minutes.

Tomato, Tahini and Ginger Salad with Crumpet Croutons

Gnocchi would also work really well here instead of the beans; cook them in salted water before adding them to the roast tomatoes. Although if you can get your hands on queso Oaxaca/quesillo, please use this instead of feta and mozzarella. FLAVOUR is, in part, a book about the science of food and the science of flavour. What game-changing processes and techniques will readers discover in the book, and how will their cooking game level up as a result? Ixta is an alchemist with flavour. Thrilling recipes full of life and imagination. I can't wait to cook everything.' Jessie Ware