Puttanesca-style salmon traybake
Serves 4
If you make the tomato anchovy oil a day ahead here, you can then delight in the fact that a midweek supper can be on the table within 20 minutes. The fuss-free cooking method – all hail the traybake! – plus the dialled-up flavours – all hail puttanesca! – makes such a winning combination.
• 200g fine green beans, trimmed
• 6 spring onions, cut widthways into thirds
• 200g mixed cherry tomatoes, halved
• 6 skin-on salmon fillets (about 720g)
• salt and black pepper
Tomato anchovy oil
• 85ml olive oil
• 8 anchovies, finely chopped
• 2½ tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 2 tsp coriander seeds, lightly bashed in a mortar
• 8 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
• 2 preserved lemons, flesh and pips discarded, skin finely chopped
• 2 tsp maple syrup
Salsa
• 60g pitted Kalamata olives, halved
• 60g capers, roughly chopped
• 1 preserved lemon, flesh and pips discarded, skin thinly sliced
• 10g basil leaves, roughly chopped
• 10g parsley leaves, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp lemon juice
First make the tomato anchovy oil. Put the oil, anchovies and tomato paste into a small sauté pan and place on a medium heatOnce the mixture starts to simmer, cook for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add the chilli flakes and coriander seeds and cook for another minute, until fragrant. Remove from the heat and add the garlic, preserved lemon and maple syrup. Stir to combine, then set aside to cool.
Preheat the oven to 220°C fan.
Place the beans, spring onions and tomatoes on a large, parchment-lined baking tray.
Drizzle over 3 tablespoons of the tomato anchovy oil, along with ¼ teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper. Toss to combine and place in the oven for 12-13 minutes, until the beans and tomatoes are starting to soften and taking on a little colour.
Meanwhile, arrange the salmon fillets on a plate and, using a spoon, drizzle the remaining tomato anchovy oil (as well as all the solids) evenly over the fillets.
Once the beans and tomatoes have had their time in the oven, nestle the salmon fillets among them and bake for a further 8 minutes. Set aside for 5 minutes, out of the oven, to rest.
While the salmon is baking, mix all the ingredients for the salsa in a small bowl and season with a good grind of pepper. Spoon half the salsa over the salmon and serve the fish warm (or at room temperature, which works just as well), with the rest of the salsa in a bowl on the side.
Butter beans with roasted cherry tomatoes
Source the larger butter beans, or judiones, for this if you can. They’re softer, more buttery and much creamier than the smaller ones (which come in a tin). This dish works well as part of a mezze spread, or can be eaten as it is, with something like crumbled feta or olives on top.
Once made, the beans keep for up to 3 days in the fridge: just bring them back to room temperature before serving. The crispy tomato skins are a great thing to have around as well, to add to salads and pasta dishes. The recipe comes from a restaurant called Bar Rochford in Canberra, where they’re served with fresh green beans. They keep for a week in a sealed jar.
Serves 4
• 500g cherry tomatoes
• 85ml olive oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp thyme leaves, roughly chopped, plus a few whole thyme leaves to garnish
• 1 tsp fennel seeds, toasted and lightly crushed
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 80ml dry white wine
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 x 700g jar of good-quality butter beans, drained and rinsed
• salt and black pepper
To serve
• 75g thick Greek-style yoghurt
• thick slices of sourdough (or any crusty) bread, toasted (optional)
Preheat the oven to 210°C fan.
Toss the tomatoes with 2 teaspoons of the oil and spread them on a parchment-lined baking tray. Roast for 20 minutes, until the skins have loosened and the tomatoes are soft and have shrunk a little. Remove from the oven and transfer the tomatoes, along with all their juices, to a shallow bowl to cool.
Re-line the baking tray with a fresh sheet of baking parchment and reduce the oven temperature to 100°C fan.
Once cool enough to handle, pinch the skins off the tomatoes and place the skins on the lined baking tray. Return the tray to the oven for about 45 minutes, until the skins are dry and crisp, giving them a good stir a couple of times during baking. Set the skinless tomatoes aside.
Put the remaining 75ml of oil into a medium saucepan and place on a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, oregano, thyme, fennel seeds and bay leaf and cook for 10-12 minutes, until the onion has softened but has not taken on too much colour. Add the wine, simmer for 2 minutes to reduce, then add the paprika. Cook for another minute, then add the reserved tomato flesh, with 1 teaspoon of salt. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes, stirring often so that the tomatoes break down. Add the beans and a good grind of pepper and stir to combine. Cook for a couple of minutes, just to warm through, then remove from the heat. Spread the yoghurt over a serving plate and then pile the beans on top. Crumble over the dried tomato skins, finish with a sprinkling of thyme leaves and serve.
Egg sambal ‘shakshuka’
Wrapped in banana leaves and day-old newspaper, the little packs of coconut rice, spicy sambal, egg and cucumber are sold on nearly every street corner in Malaysia. This recipe is inspired by it. The egg and tomato sauce mingling in the pan reminds us of the Middle Eastern shakshuka which Yotam grew up eating. Serve with rice, flatbread or any bread you like.
This can be made in advance, up to the point just before the eggs are cracked into the sambal. The sambal lasts well in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Serves 4
• 1½ tsp fennel seeds
• 2 whole cloves
• seeds from 2 cardamom pods
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1½ tbsp medium curry powder
• 60ml olive oil
• ½ tsp black mustard seeds
• 20 curry leaves
• 1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced (160g)
• 10g ginger, peeled and finely grated
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 10g coriander, stalks finely chopped and leaves to serve
• 150g datterini (or cherry) tomatoes
• 2 tsp sambal oelek
• 1 x 400g tin of crushed tomatoes
• 100ml tamarind concentrate
• 300ml water
• 15g palm (or light soft brown) sugar
• 5 eggs
• salt and black pepper
Put the fennel seeds, cloves and cardamom seeds into a small, dry frying pan and place on a medium-low heat. Toast lightly for about 2 minutes, until fragrant, then grind to a powder in a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar. Add the cinnamon and curry powder and set aside.
Put 3 tablespoons of the oil into a large sauté pan (for which you have a lid) – about 26cm wide – and place on a medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and 10 curry leaves and cook for 1 minute, until the seeds begin to pop. Add the onion and cook for about 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are starting to colour. Add the ginger, garlic, coriander stalks and fresh tomatoes, cook for another 5 minutes, then add the fennel spice mix.
Cook for 2 minutes, until fragrant, then add the sambal oelek, tinned tomatoes, tamarind, water, sugar and 1¼ teaspoons of salt. Stir well and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 20-25 minutes, uncovered, until thickened.
Crack the eggs into the sambal and sprinkle a little salt and pepper over each egg. Cover the pan and cook for 7-8 minutes, until the egg whites are fully cooked and the yolks are soft.
Meanwhile, put the remaining tablespoon of oil into a small pan and place on a medium heat. Add the rest of the curry leaves, cook for about a minute, until very fragrant, then remove from the heat. When the eggs are ready, drizzle the oil and fried curry leaves over the eggs, scatter over the coriander leaves, and serve. l
An edited extract from Ottolenghi Comfort, by Yotam Ottolenghi, Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley. (Ebury Press, $70, on sale September 10).
