Yotam Ottolenghi’s blue cheese recipes | Food (2024)

Swiss chard galette with dolcelatte and sumac (pictured above)

The dough is the star here: buttery, flaky and easy to put together. Use a stronger blue cheese, such as roquefort, if you prefer. The sweet raisins are fantastic with the savoury chard and cheese, but you can also leave them out.

Prep 20 min
Cook 2 hr 25 min
Cool 15 min
Serves 4

For the crust
80g plain flour
35g wholemeal flour
½ tbsp sugar
½ tsp flaked sea salt
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried thyme
115g unsalted fridge-cold butter, cut into 1½cm cubes
60ml ice-cold water

Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas 6. Melt the butter and a tablespoon of oil in a large saute pan on a medium heat, then fry the onion, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, until it’s completely softened and deeply caramelised. Set aside.

Make the crust by whisking both the flours in a large bowl with the sugar, salt and herbs. Add the butter and incorporate it into the flour by squashing each cube between your fingers. Don’t overwork the butter – you want chunks throughout the dough – so a light squish will do. Add the water and use your hands to gather the dough together into a shaggy mess – it will be quite wet.

Transfer the dough to a well-floured work surface and roll out into a rectangle about 28cm x 18cm. Fold the longer ends in towards each other, so they meet in the centre, then roll over once with a rolling pin. Fold in the shorter ends in the same way, roll out once again, then fold in half, so you’re left with a square. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Use a knife to make small, 2cm cuts about 8cm apart all around the circumference of the galette. Take one of the resulting dough strips and fold it inwards towards the centre. Repeat with the next strip, pulling gently so it overlaps slightly with the previous one and seals the previous fold. Repeat with all the strips all around the edge of the galette, then refrigerate for 30 minutes. Brush the edges with egg wash and sprinkle with the remaining sumac.

Bake for 25 minutes, until golden and cooked through, then leave to cool and rest for 15 minutes before serving warm.

Leek, potato and stilton cakes

Serve the cakes as they are, drizzled with lemon juice, or with fried eggs, smoked salmon or grilled bacon. If you can’t get hold of dried Iranian lime, use a teaspoon of lime zest, or just leave it out altogether.

2 large potatoes (900g)
60ml olive oil
3-4 leeks (400g), trimmed and finely sliced
½ tsp ground dried Iranian lime
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and roughly crushed
10g tarragon, roughly chopped
15g mint leaves, roughly chopped
1 small preserved lemon (15g), skin finely chopped
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
Salt and black pepper
100g stilton, roughly crumbled

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan on a medium-high flame. Add the leeks and fry for seven to eight minutes, stirring frequently, until soft but still bright green. Add the leeks to the potato, along with the Iranian lime, cumin, herbs, preserved lemon, lemon zest, three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and a generous grind of pepper. Mix together, then form into 12 6cm-diameter x 2cm-thick cakes.

Heat the grill to its highest setting. Put a large frying pan on a medium heat with a tablespoon of oil. Once hot, add six cakes and fry for about four minutes, turning once halfway, until golden brown on both sides, then transfer to a baking tray. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and repeat with the remaining cakes. Dot the stilton on top of the cakes and put under the grill for two to three minutes, until melted and browned on top.

Serve hot with a crisp fried egg alongside, if you like.

Grilled red cabbage with gorgonzola and grapes

This is a recent wintry addition to the menu at my new restaurant, Rovi. We bake the cabbage for hours, then grill it with cheese until everything is intensely soft and seductively unctuous. Get ahead by braising the cabbage the day ahead, before finishing it under the grill.

1 small red cabbage (1.1kg), cut lengthways into 6 wedges held together by the stem)
300g red grapes
50g soft dark brown sugar
300ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp red-wine vinegar
2 tsp juniper berries, crushed in a mortar
40g unsalted butter, melted
Salt and black pepper
60g gorgonzola, torn into 1-2cm pieces
2 tsp thyme leaves
200g soured cream

Heat the oven to 170C/335F/gas 3.

In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, stock, vinegar, juniper, butter, three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and a generous grind of pepper. Pour this over the cabbage wedges, so they’re well coated, then cover securely with tin foil. Bake for two and a half to three hours (depending on the size of the cabbage), basting a few times, until the cabbage is completely soft. Remove from the oven, put the wedges and cooked grapes on a plate and strain the liquid into a small saucepan – you should have 150-200ml. Reduce on a high heat for four to six minutes, stirring frequently, until you have about 50ml of thickened liquid left.

To serve, drizzle two teaspoons of the thickened syrup over each cabbage wedge, sprinkle over the thyme and spoon over the soured cream or serve on the side.