It’s a bit annoying that even when I follow Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe properly, his photos are prettier than mine. Case in point, the recipe for sorrel rice with pecorino and egg yolk from his Sept. 9, 2017 The Guardian food column.
This was the second Pecorino recipe I made from that week’s article. The first was the white pizza with potato, anchovy and sage (though I made it more of a socca flatbread with chickpea flour because I’m gluten intolerant). I always read them, but rarely am inspired enough to actually make the recipe, especially one with cheese that I shouldn’t eat, lactose intolerant that I am.
But I was. And I did. In fact, I eventually made all three recipes from Ottolenghi’s column that week.
Mostly I was fascinated with the various flavours of Pecorino depending on the season and aging. (You can use a different kind of sheep’s milk cheese if you like – I’d recommend the fabulous Tomme de Kamouraska if you’re in Quebec), but the flavour will be quite different.) But partly I just had a lot of sorrel in my garden. Good luck finding the lemony green if you don’t have it growing. If you can’t find it, or can’t be bothered, you can sub extra spinach and lemon zest. That’s an Ottolenghi approved substitution, by the way. He won’t be angry at you (or me).
But the best part is introducing the beauty of egg yolk to non-Koreans. I feel as though a lot of people are scared to just stir a raw yolk into a hot bowl of rice, but as long as you do this immediately after taking the rice off the heat (or very thoroughly reheating), the yolk will cook. Having played with egg yolks cooked sous vide at the Modernist Cuisine Test Kitchen, I know that yolks don’t need a lot of heat or a lot of time to cook. Anything over 59˚C is safe (safe = pasteurization). your recently simmering rice will cook your egg much more than that – in fact, too much (it’ll scramble it) if you don’t stir quickly.
The only change I made was using brown instead of Basmati rice. That meant I had to increase the water a little. But the nutritional trade-off made me okay with the morality of cheating on someone else’s carefully designed recipe. Forgive me, Mr Ottolenghi.
Here’s the recipe
Plus, the info on Pecorino, a sheep’s milk cheese, and the other two excellent recipes from that week.
Ah that it were still fig season. And that figs grew abundantly in Montreal.
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