“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.