‘Produce has always been what gives me thrills’

By Ella Walker

Cookbooks take time to write. There’s recipe testing to perfect, measurements to clarify, photos to style and snap.

With Restore, chef Gizzi Erskine’s latest cookbook, she also had to keep pace with science – a high speed, ever-changing avalanche of the stuff (“It’s moving at a beat daily”). After four years of work, the result is both a recipe collection and, she hopes, “an accessible translation of what the hell’s going on in the world at the moment”.

Restore: A Modern Guide To Sustainable Eating, encompasses dinner (of course), but also the food industry and its myriad problems, all the while drawing on environmental and agricultural science.

A huge amount of research has gone into it, and although “produce has always been what gives me thrills,” the crux of Restore is finding a balance between “really delicious recipes and making a practical guide for learning how to be an ethical, agriculturally savvy eater”.

Alongside recipes for lamb neck stew, salt-baked celeriac, braised courgettes, green shakshuka, black pepper crab and cauliflower pasta, London-born Erskine, 41, examines the environmental concerns around monocropping, explores how to work with waste, and addresses issues within the meat and dairy industries.

“I’m a meat eater, but I’m really a consciously minded one,” she explains. “I believe that people go out to be more like this nowadays full stop, but I think meat has got such a bad reputation; people don’t recognise that it is probably the thing that’s going to save the world.”

While the book has many a vegan and vegetarian recipe in it, Erskine does take umbrage with the idea “we’ve been sold that the only solution is veganism, or eating a plant-based diet,” when this too would likely have its own agricultural repercussions.

“I’m not promoting eating more meat as long as it’s ethical,” Erskine continues. Instead, it’s about understanding where your food has come from, and what’s been involved in getting it to your plate.

Roasted Cauliflower, Preserved Lemon And Chilli Pasta

Serves 4

1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets, and the inner leaves

100ml olive oil, plus 1tbsp for roasting the cauliflower

40g rye bread, blitzed into breadcrumbs

250g ditali pasta

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 dried chilli, crushed

3 free-range egg yolks

200g sour cream

80g Parmesan, grated

Large handful of flat-leaf parsley, leaves finely chopped

2 preserved lemons, pips removed and skin thinly sliced

Grated zest of 1 lemon

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 260C

Spread the cauliflower florets and leaves on a baking tray and drizzle over the tablespoon of olive oil. Season with a teaspoon of salt, mix with your hands so that all the cauliflower is evenly coated in the oil and place in the roasting-hot oven for 15 minutes.

Once the cauliflower’s in the oven, heat half the oil in a small frying pan over a medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and fry for about four minutes until crisp and golden, then transfer to kitchen paper to drain off excess oil and keep them crispy. Set aside.

Cook the pasta in a saucepan of well-salted boiling water for a couple of minutes less than the time stated on the packet.

While the pasta’s cooking, heat the remaining oil in a separate frying pan with the garlic and chilli and cook gently for five minutes, until softened. Set aside.

Drain the pasta, reserving 100ml of the pasta water, and return the pasta to the pan.

Whisk the egg yolks, cream and Parmesan together in a bowl. Place the pasta pan back over a medium heat and stir in the egg mixture, followed by the garlic and chilli oil, parsley, preserved lemon, lemon zest and a generous pinch of black pepper. Mix well over the heat for a couple of minutes until the sauce thickens slightly, check for seasoning and stir through the roasted cauliflower. Serve immediately, with the breadcrumbs sprinkled on top and, if you’re like me, an extra grating of Parmesan.

Braised Flat Beans in Tomato Sauce

Serves 4 as a side dish

3tbsp confit garlic oil or regular oil

½ dried chilli

Pinch of dried chilli flakes

1 sprig of rosemary, marjoram or oregano

400g Slow Cooked Tomato Sauce (see below)

500g flat beans, stalk ends cut off

½tsp sea salt flakes

To serve:

2-3tbsp Greek yoghurt

½tsp pul biber

Good handful of a combination of chopped flat-leaf parsley, dill and mint leaves

For the Slow Cooked Tomato Sauce (makes 6 portions):

3tbsp olive oil

1 head of garlic, cloves peeled and finely chopped

2kg tomatoes (variety)

2tbsp sherry vinegar, red wine or white wine vinegar

Large bunch of basil leaves

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Make the Slow Cooked Tomato Sauce: heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed casserole dish over a medium heat, add the garlic and fry gently for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, blitz the tomatoes into a puree. Add the tomatoes to the pan. Season with salt and pepper, add the vinegar and cook slowly for about an hour and 30 minutes to reduce. Blitz again until smooth if you wish. Tear and add the basil.

Heat the confit garlic oil or regular oil in a wide saucepan (one wide enough to fit the beans in whole) over a high heat, and add the dried chilli, dried chilli flakes and rosemary, marjoram or oregano. Allow to infuse the oil for a minute, then pour in the tomato sauce and lay the beans flat in the pan. Add the salt and a splash of water and cover with a lid. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes. Check for seasoning, remove from the heat.

When ready to serve, spoon over the yoghurt, sprinkle over the pul biber and scatter the chopped herbs on top.

Restore by Gizzi Erskine is out now