From quick dishes with inspired combinations to longer ones for when you have the time to experiment at leisure, MEZCLA is packed with 100 recipes for every day and every occasion.

After five years of honing her abilities in the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen and co-authoring the bestselling Ottolenghi FLAVOUR, Ixta’s first solo cookbook is an exciting and personal delve into her culinary history and food influences.This is not cooking for beginners, one has to be confident to multitask and keep an eye on pots and pans, bowls and marinades all at once. The third dish I tried was equally surprising and very quick despite being in the Entertaining section.

She focuses mainly on food and travel but with a lifelong love of the arts – especially visual arts, theatre and literature – she enjoys writing reviews for London Unattached.Having spent her youth absorbing the diverse culinary traditions of Italy, Mexico, and Brazil, Ixta Belfrage’s style of cooking has always been defined by her inventive ingredient combinations and her bold approach to flavour fusions. I am off to source some of her ingredients that are new to me – azeite de dendê or red palm fruit oil being top of my list. Notice to Internet Explorer users Server security: Please note Internet Explorer users with versions 9 and 10 now need to enable TLS 1. These lovely flavours made us slow down to properly appreciate the bounty of gorgeous vegetable dishes gracing the table. Windows users should also consider upgrading to Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge, or switching to Firefox or Chrome.

She is a die-hard Francophile – speaking French helps tremendously – but put her anywhere and she is happy.Ixta’s aim is to help you put vibrant, colourful, and flavour-packed food on the table, on any day of the week. I was at this ploy again with a terrific recipe for charred red pepper sauce with omelette noodles from the Entertaining section. Sprinkle over the chilli flakes, spoon over the ricotta (break it into chunks) if you are using it, garnish with the other half of the leaves, basil and chives and the pine nuts. Light and fluffy on the inside, crispy and salty on the outside, Ixta’s cassava fries (or macaxeira frita) are topped with chilli butter for an added kick.

In her introduction to Mezcla, Belfrage explains that the book is not only about the fusion of ingredients but is also an ode to the multi-faceted influences from her childhood.Sometimes the novels chosen are new, often they are from the backlist and occasionally re-issued from way back.