“I always get obsessed with things,” says head chef Ramael Scully, explaining how he recently spent £100 on eBay buying 1.5kg of the rare spice, Grains of Paradise.
“It’s like drugs,” shouts his friend, collaborator and boss, Yotam Ottolenghi – but then, if you’re as consumed by food and flavour as these two, addiction is inevitable.
What makes Ottolenghi food – which you’ll know if you’ve ever eaten at an Ottolenghi restaurant, bought an Ottolenghi cookbook or read an Ottolenghi recipe in the Israeli chef’s Guardian column – is the sheer number of ingredients involved.
“Haha, we’re not Italian cooks. It’s not like four great ingredients put on a plate,” says the 46-year-old restaurateur with a laugh.
“Of course, a fresh tomato with olive oil is a great thing, but that’s definitely not the way I grew up – otherwise it wouldn’t be Ottolenghi.”
He explains it wouldn’t be NOPI or Scully food either – and this is the pair’s current project, a restaurant standard cookbook based on the food served at NOPI, Ottolenghi’s renowned eatery in London’s Soho.
Jerusalem-born Ottolenghi first met Scully – who grew up in Australia but has Chinese, Indian, Malay and Irish blood – in 2005, hiring him as chef de partie.
Scully became a chef to travel the world, and got a lot of practise cooking for his sister while their mum, a nurse, did split shifts, but he originally had plans to become a marine biologist or fireman.
“I surfed for so many years, I always loved the ocean. And I liked fire – I used to burn a lot of stuff.”
“You do a lot of burning still!” says Ottolenghi, who, in a world without food, would concentrate all his efforts on writing.
“Food without stories is normally quite boring,” he notes
Tomatoes With Wasabi Mascarpone And Pine Nuts (Serves 6)
- 250g mascarpone
- 1tbsp wasabi paste
- 10g chives, chopped
- 10g tarragon, chopped
- 1 spring onion, finely sliced
- 2 banana shallots, sliced widthways
- 2tbsp sweet sherry vinegar
- 1tbsp olive oil
- 1kg mixed tomatoes, cut into slices and wedges 1cm thick
- 20g pine nuts, toasted
- 5g mixed basil leaves
- Coarse sea salt and black pepper
Place the mascarpone, wasabi, chives, tarragon and spring onion in a bowl with half a teaspoon of salt and a grind of black pepper. Mix well and keep in the fridge until needed.
Mix the shallots with the sweet vinegar, oil and half a teaspoon of salt in a separate bowl. Pop this in the fridge too.
To serve, divide the mascarpone between the plates and spread to form a thin layer.
Place the tomatoes on top, followed by the pickled shallots. Sprinkle with the pine nuts, scatter over the basil leaves and season with a third of a teaspoon of salt and a grind of black pepper.
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