Ottolenghi Bloc

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First time in ages I’ve remembered to take a picture of something I’ve cooked, and it’s this Ottolenghi recipe from April, lamb salad with pomegranate, made into a full main course with bulgur wheat (I also made the braised lamb dish from the same column back when the weather was colder - it’s pretty good).

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I made this, but with ox cheek rather than diced beef, slow cooked for four hours. It tasted pretty great. I served it with pico de gallo, guacamole, and a corn salsa (corn, onions, lime juice, honey, and allspice).

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Kimchi being prepared, and as served with twice-cooked pork and brown rice.

I used Maangchi’s Easy Kimchi recipe (except I couldn’t get napa cabbage, so I used normal white cabbage, and I couldn’t find Korean chilli powder, so I used normal chilli flakes - but significantly less than the amount in the recipe, because apparently Korean chilli powder is not very hot). I was paranoid about it going mouldy, but it didn’t, and in fact it’s pretty good; the fermentation gives it a real zing.

I braised the pork belly on a very low heat for three hours, with a little bit of broth made from soy sauce, dry sherry, and grated ginger. I let it cool a bit, chopped it into chunks and fried it on a high heat, adding a little bit of the broth to glaze it.

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Haggis with tatties and neeps.

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Smoked haddock and horseradish risotto with roast brussels sprouts

I got the idea for a smoked fish and horseradish risotto from The Flavour Thesaurus (which is an incredibly useful - as well as very entertaining - book). I thought the sprouts would add some colour, and their bitterness would go well with the salty risotto. Serves 2-3.

400g smoked haddock

1 litre vegetable stock

1 small onion, finely chopped

butter

180g risotto rice

1 glass rosé wine

3 teaspoons horseradish sauce

juice of half a lemon

brussels sprouts

Poach the haddock in the stock on a low heat for 10-15 minutes.

Cut the sprouts in quarters and put them in a roasting dish.

Drizzle the sprouts with olive oil and stir well to make sure they are coated with oil (some of the leaves might separate from the sprouts; this is fine).

Roast the sprouts in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes (they should be a bit brown; any lose leaves will brown more, adding more flavour).

Remove the fish from the stock, skin, flake and set aside. Reserve the stock.

Sweat the onion in the butter on a low heat until translucent, but not browned.

Add the rice to the onion and stir until coated in butter.

Turn the heat up slightly and add the wine.

Bring the stock back to the boil, and keep on a low simmer.

Add a ladle-full of the stock and stir once (lots of risotto recipes tell you to stir continuously, but I find if I do that the risotto gets too gloopy). 

When the stock has been absorbed and/or evaporated, add another ladle-full and stir again.

Keep adding stock a ladle at a time, and stirring periodically, until the rice is soft; I usually find this takes about half an hour.

Add the lemon juice, horseradish and flaked fish, and stir.

Serve with the sprouts on the side, or scattered over the top.

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I made Yottam Ottolenghi’s whole roast sea bass with soy and ginger for Christmas Eve. It’s very straightforward (put everything in a pan and put it in the oven, basically), and it’s very tasty while also, being light and delicately flavoured, a good contrast to massive roast dinner we had on Christmas Day.