The odd couple: Yotam Ottolenghi's recipes combining meat with fruit | Food (2024)

The other option is to go with dried fruit to begin with. Whether it's whole apricots, figs or prunes in a tagine, medjool dates with roast chicken, or chopped apricots mixed with minced lamb and stuffed inside a bird, as the dried fruit plumps up, it both takes on the flavours of the dish and gives back a deep sweetness. Smaller dried fruits are just as good at swelling with flavoursome liquids: blackcurrants, say, left to plump up in brandy or sherry vinegar before being mixed with shredded chicken or pigeon in a Moroccan pastilla; or tossed into awarm roast chicken and bread salad with bitter greens.

Another approach isto boil a lemon or orange in water for an hour, then whizz to a puree. Add honey or sugar and you have a base for all manner of spectacular dressings and marinades for chicken, lamb or oily fish.

Lamb koftas with pomegranate jam and tahini

Use a food mixer with a dough hook attachment to break down the meat – this will make your koftas juicier (you can do it by hand, but you'll need a good half-hour and a lot of elbow grease). I'm a recent convert to pomegranate jam – this is the second week in a row it's featured here – and am currently spooning it over all sorts of meat. Makes 30 koftas, to serve six.

For the pomegranate jam
250g pomegranate seeds (ie, the seeds of 4 small pomegranates)
80g caster sugar
1½ tbsp lemon juice
¼ tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

First make the jam. Put everything in a medium saucepan on a medium heat, add a pinch of salt and bring toa gentle simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the mix is jam-likein consistency, then set aside; once cooled, you may need to add atablespoon or two of water to thinitdown a little.

While you're working the lamb, give thetahini a stir in its jar, to evenit out, then pour into a bowl and add 100ml water and a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Whisk to a thick, pourable sauce – if need be, add a little more tahini or water to get theright consistency (you want it like double cream) – then cover withclingfilm and set to one side.

Put a griddle pan on a high heat and, once it's smoking, cook the koftas in batches for just a minute ortwo, turning so they get charred on all sides. Transfer to a baking tray and roast for about eight minutes more, until cooked through.

To serve, drizzle the warm koftas with some of the sauce, then spoon a little jam on each and sprinkle with coriander. Serve at once with any remaining sauce on the side.

Fried veal cutlets with apple and pistachio salad

Pork or lamb make perfectly good substitutes in this dish. Serves four.

70g panko breadcrumbs
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
70g parmesan, finely grated
2 tbsp chopped thyme leaves
Salt and black pepper
40g plain flour
2 eggs, whisked
4 rose veal cutlets
About 500ml sunflower oil

For the salad, put the oil, orange-blossom water, lemon juice, mustard and garlic in a bowl with a third of ateaspoon of salt and a grind or two of black pepper. Whisk to combine, add the remaining salad ingredients, stir gently and set aside.

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Put the breadcrumbs, lemon zest, parmesan and thyme in a bowl, add half a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper, and mix. Put the flour in a separate bowl and the eggs in a third.

Fill a large sauté pan with enough oil to come 1cm up the sides, put on a medium-high heat and, when hot, add two cutlets. Fry the cutlets for three minutes, turning once, until golden and crisp. Use tongs to transfer to a rack on a baking tray, then fry the other cutlets. Put the cutlets in the oven to finish cooking: depending on the thickness of the meat, they'll take anywhere between eight and 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, leave to rest for three minutes, and serve warm with the salad alongside.

Hawaiian pork chops

1 small 750g pineapple, peeled
6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
20g ginger, peeled and finely grated
60ml light soy sauce
120ml coconut cream
75g caster sugar
90ml sunflower oil
1½ tsp chilli powder
50g salted and roasted peanuts, finely chopped
1½ tbsp ground coriander
40g fresh coriander, chopped
Salt
6 pork chops

Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Put a ridged griddle pan on ahigh heat. Lift out the pork and scrape off the marinade back into the bowl. Sprinkle half a teaspoon of salt over the chops and griddle them two at a time for three minutes, turning once, until nicely charred on both sides. Transfer to a deep-sided 32cm x 22cm baking tray. With the pan still on a high heat, griddle the pineapple slices for two minutes, turning once, until charred on both sides, and add to the tray. Spoon over the marinade and roast for 10 minutes, until the pork is just cooked (timings may vary, depending on the thickness of the chops) and the sauce bubbling. Rest for three minutes, sprinkle on the rest of the coriander and serve.

• Yotam Ottolenghi is chef/patron of Ottolenghi and Nopi in London.

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