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MEZCLA: Recipes to Excite

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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! 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.

Tap the caramel to make sure it has set hard. Place the pudim dish in a large, high-sided baking tray. Pour the custard through a sieve into the pudim dish. In FLAVOUR we shine a light on lots of processes, the most important of which, I think, are infusing and charring. Charring vegetables teases out inner flavours that really make vegetables pop, flavours that you might not have known lay dormant in that vegetable; smokiness, sweetness, bitterness, for example. Infusing is a double whammy, because when you’re infusing, you not only get a wonderfully aromatic oil, but the aromatics used can then serve as crunchy and crispy toppings to that dish. We use this combination of infused oil and crunchy aromatics countless times in the book and it doesn’t get old. Try the Pappa al pomodoro with lime and mustard seeds, for example, where an infused curry leaf and mustard seed oil forms the base of the sauce, whilst the crispy curry leaves and mustard seeds are used to top the dish, adding lightness and crunch.What’s it about? Having spent her youth absorbing the diverse culinary traditions of Italy, Mexico, and Brazil, Ixta Belfrage’s style of cooking has always been defined by her inventive ingredient combinations and her bold approach to flavour fusions. In MEZCLA, her first solo cookbook, she draws on her many influences to create a truly exciting and unique set of recipes. The Spanish word mezcla translates as mix, blend, or fusion, and that’s exactly what this book is; expect classic Italian dishes infused with vibrant Mexican flavours, traditional Mediterranean ingredients sitting side-by-side with Brazilian spices, and thoroughly idiosyncratic twists on familiar favourites. You’ve had an unconventional – and dazzling – career trajectory. Can you tell us a little about how you came to be a chef? The base of the marinade is red palm oil and ghee. To these, ginger, garlic, onion, red chiles, Scotch bonnets, lime juice, tomato paste, sugar and chipotle are added - creating an intoxicating blend that is vibrant and pleasingly spicy. 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. While the butternut is roasting, put the orzo in a bowl, pour over just-boiled water to cover and leave to soak for 10 minutes. Drain, then rinse under cold running water to separate the grains.

Place the mascarpone, yoghurt, vanilla paste and maple syrup in a large bowl and whisk together until completely smooth. Keep the bowl in the fridge until ready to serve. 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. First make sure to soak the rice for at least 2 hours, or overnight. When you’re ready to start cooking, turn the oven broiler to the highest setting. Yotam has said of you: “She teaches me something new every single day”. What are some of the most valuable lessons you have learned from him in turn? Unsurprisingly what I love most about London is the incredible food scene, and of course there are some stand outs. My favourite restaurant is Bright, and I also love P. Franco, Brawn, Singburi, Testi, Xi’an Impression and Kiln.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. Drizzle the cream into the sauce. Toss the coriander and the remaining sliced onions together with a tiny bit of oil and salt and arrange on top. Serve from the pan, with the lime wedges alongside. Gnocchi would also work really well here instead of the beans; cook them in salted water before adding them to the roast tomatoes. Meanwhile, put all the ingredients for the bechamel in a blender with about 10 twists of the pepper mill and blitz smooth.

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.Grill for 7–9 minutes near the top of the oven, until the cheese is bubbling and browned in patches. Set aside to cool for a few minutes (but not for too long, as the melted cheese will begin to harden). Although if you can get your hands on queso Oaxaca/quesillo, please use this instead of feta and mozzarella. 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!).

The maple curried corn bread was amazing, as was the fish in charred tomato broth.. which was deemed by my husband the best thing I have *ever* cooked The other two recipes were met by a audible “wow” after the first bite from the hubs. Place the baking tray on the middle shelf of the oven. Pour hot (not boiling) water into the larger tin to come halfway up the sides of the pudim dish. Bake for 45 minutes, until set on top but still wobbly. Remove from the oven and leave the pudim to cool for 1 hour before removing from the water bath and refrigerating overnight. 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. To assemble the lasagne, cover the bottom of a small baking dish with lasagne sheets, about 20 x 20cm or a similar size, then spread over a fifth of the ragù. Follow with a fifth each of the cream, Parmesan and chives. Continue layering in the same way until you’ve used up all the ingredients. Drizzle over ½ tablespoon of the habanero oil, cover tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes.Ixta Belfrage is a talented chef bringing something new to the table, literally.After five years of honing her abilities in the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen and co-authoring the bestselling Ottolenghi FLAVOUR,Ixta’s first solo cookbook is an exciting and personal delve into her culinary history and food influences. Ixta has spent her life exploring and enjoying food in Italy, Mexico and Brazil, so it’s no surprise that MEZCLAis a fusion of different cultures and food traditions. MEZCLAtranslates to mix Spanish, and every dish lives up to this definition, bringing aspects of traditional dishes into something new and exciting. My mother is Brazilian and grew up in Cuba via Mexico, so I have grown up eating Latin and South American food and that has always inspired the way I cook. My family moved to Italy when I was two and I spent my formative childhood years there, so Italian food is another love of mine. I spent my childhood soaking up flavours in Brazil, Mexico and Italy and that has made my cooking style, as I said before, ‘unapologetically fusion’. I love mixing flavours and cultures! Often combinations might not look like they’ll work on paper, but when done considerately, it can result in some of the most exciting dishes. Second, I also know that this is not risotto – it is not made with arborio rice, and it is not cooked in the traditional manner. However, the texture of the end result is very much like that of a good risotto. It would be remiss of me to call this dish something like … oh, I don’t know, ‘Stuffed peppers with spicy rice’. Not only does that sound really boring, it also takes away from that crucial inspiration.

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