Yotam Ottolenghi’s strawberry recipes

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Yotam Ottolenghi recipes

This summer, think outside the box when cooking Britain’s favourite seasonal fruit

Yotam Ottolenghi

Sat 24 Jun 2017 04.00 EDT

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Think of summer food, and chances are you’re picturing strawberries – a tart, perhaps, or just with cream or ice-cream. The link between the fruit and the season is perfect but predictable, so, rather than conjuring up yet more images of picnics and Pimm’s, I want to talk about the inspiration behind today’s recipe for strawberry ketchup.

I came up with the idea earlier this year, when we were preparing for an afternoon tea at a pop-up in Selfridges. The pop-up, called wastED, was the brainchild of Dan Barber from Blue Hill Farm in New York, a great chef, a big thinker and a man on a mission – a revolutionary mission to completely rethink our attitude to the food we routinely waste.

That’s at both ends of the spectrum, as much in terms of the cooking (and throwing away) we do at home – the carrot tops and cauliflower stems, the onion peel and potato skins – as in terms of our whole food system and the way that waste seems to be built into the way our food is produced.

In all our homes and restaurants, food that doesn’t need to be thrown away is thrown away, and the statistics are mind-boggling: we chuck 18m tonnes of food a year in the UK alone, and much of it with a clean conscience. We aren’t yet educated to regard a pile of potato peelings as an opportunity to create something delicious: mixed with a little harissa and olive oil, say, then baked in a hot oven for about 10 minutes, they become lovely little crisps that are just the things to toss through a salad. Likewise, we don’t realise that cauliflower leaves and stalks are as wonderful to eat as the florets: blanched and roasted, for instance, or grated into a “rice” or “couscous” along with the rest of the head. Onion skins and parsley stalks are as useful in a stock as the onion wedges and bouquet garni we usually reach for; stale bread makes the best croutons, overripe bananas the best banana bread.

And so to the punnet of strawberries that inspired my ketchup. They’d been in my fridge for a good two weeks, all bruised, sad-looking, hugely overripe and not in any fit state to eat raw. I could have roasted them into a kind-of-compote for spooning on yoghurt, but instead I blitzed them into an unusual and winning ketchup. So, strawberries will feature on my garden table this summer, but now they’re as likely to be in a jar next to the barbecued meat as served with cream.

Strawberry and basil tart

You can make the cream a day ahead and keep in the fridge, but don’t get ahead with the strawberries: they’ll go too soft if left to sit around for more than three hours. Serves six.

For the pastry cream
300ml whole milk
60g caster sugar
30g unsalted butter, cut into 2cm dice
Scraped seeds from ½ vanilla pod
1½ tbsp cornflour
2 large egg yolks
Salt
10g basil leaves, finely sliced

For the macerated strawberries
400g strawberries, hulled and cut lengthways into 0.5cm-thick slices
3 tbsp caster sugar
2 limes, skin finely shaved, then juiced to get 3 tbsp
10g basil leaves
Seeds scraped from ½ vanilla pod
1 tbsp pistachios, lightly toasted and roughly chopped, to garnish

For the pastry case
320g ready-rolled puff pastry sheet
1 large egg, beaten
1½ tsp caster sugar

First make the pastry cream. Put the milk, sugar, butter and vanilla in a medium saucepan and place on a medium heat. Gently warm until the butter has melted, making sure the milk does not come to a boil.

In a second bowl, whisk the cornflour and egg yolks until smooth.

Remove the milk from the heat, then very slowly pour it over the egg yolk mix, whisking continuously until very smooth. Return the mixture to the pan, and cook on a medium heat for eight to 10 minutes, stirring continuously, until the custard bubbles and thickens. Stir in a pinch of salt, then pour the custard into a shallow, heat-proof dish. Cover with cling-film – you want the film actually to touch the surface of the custard, because this will prevent a skin forming – then refrigerate for at least an hour, until cool and set.

Put all the ingredients for the macerated strawberries except the nuts in a medium bowl, stir gently to combine, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, but no longer than three hours.

Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Cut out a 23cm square from a puff pastry sheet and lay this on an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper. Using the back of a knife, score a square inside the pastry to leave a 1.5cm border around the edges (by using the back of a knife, you’ll make sure you don’t cut all the way through the pastry). Brush the egg evenly all over the pastry, sprinkle evenly with the sugar, then bake for 20 minutes, until risen and golden brown. Leave to cool.

Strain the strawberries through a sieve set over a medium saucepan. Discard the basil and lime zest and transfer the strawberries to a bowl. Set the saucepan over a medium heat for a minute or two, stirring continuously, until the liquid begins to bubble and thickens to the consistency of maple syrup, then leave to cool. Stir the shredded basil into the pastry cream.

Gently push down the central square of pastry to create a space for the cream, then spoon in the cream, smoothing the surface as you go. Arrange the strawberries on top of it – it’s up to you whether you do so neatly or haphazardly – drizzle over the cool syrup, sprinkle over the pistachios, and serve.

Strawberry and harissa ketchup

This is lovely with any grilled or barbecued meat. Makes about 250g, or enough to fill a medium jar. It will keep in the fridge for about a week.

500g very ripe strawberries, stems and leaves removed
2½ tbsp apple cider vinegar
2½ tbsp rose harissa (or regular harissa)
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

Put everything in a food processor and blitz until well combined. Pour into a large saucepan and cook on a medium heat, stirring often, for 35-40 minutes, until reduced by half and the consistency of a thick ketchup. Transfer to a sterilised jar, seal and store in the fridge.

Sorrel ice-cream with strawberries and meringue

If you don’t have an ice-cream machine, freeze the mixture in a shallow plastic container with a lid, stirring it two or three times over the course of eight hours, to give it a smooth texture. For ease, I’ve suggested buying in meringues, but you’ll have egg whites left over from the ice-cream, so make your own if you’re so inclined. Serves six.

200ml full-fat milk
200ml double cream
1 vanilla pod, split open lengthways and seeds scraped out
4 egg yolks
65g caster sugar
Salt
250g sorrel leaves, roughly chopped
3 tbsp honey
2 lemons; finely grate the zest of 1, then squeeze both to get 60ml juice
400g strawberries, stalks removed and cut into ½ cm-thick slices
40g shop-bought or homemade meringues
10g mint leaves, shredded

Put the milk, cream, vanilla seeds and scraped-out pod in a medium saucepan, and warm gently on a medium heat for about five minutes, until steaming. Turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 20 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and a pinch of salt, then pour in about two tablespoons of the milk mixture. Stir, then add the remaining milk mixture bit by bit, whisking continuously, until combined. Once all the milk has been added, quickly rinse out the saucepan, then pour the mixture back in, making sure you scrape in all the vanilla seeds.

Yotam Ottolenghi’s strawberry recipes | Food (2024)

Strawberry and basil tart

Strawberry and harissa ketchup

Sorrel ice-cream with strawberries and meringue

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