Cooking with Ali from Hitch Cooks
Ali Hitch has always been a bit of a closet-cook. He has spent years cooking for his family and friends and has kept his culinary talents under wraps until now. Since lockdown, he's been sharing his favourite foods with everyone and loving the support from his mates. Ali thinks all kiwi blokes should get on the tools in the kitchen. His point of difference? He's not afraid of butter, salt and fresh chillies.
The kitchen can be a confronting place but Ali has inspired us in so many ways. Here, Ali shares three incredible recipes for quarantine cooking!
Za’atar eggs with leeks
Ingredients —
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large leeks chopped 2cm width
1 white onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt and white pepper
300ml chicken stock
1 lime (juiced)
1 bag of baby spinach leaves (250 grams)
6 large free range eggs
1 packet of chevre cheese (about 1 generous cup) or another salty cheese (feta or crispy halloumi works well too).
1 tablespoon za'atar
Method —
Lets go!
In a large deep pan, melt butter and olive oil and heat until foaming. Add the onion and crushed garlic and soften for 2 minutes and add chopped leeks and season with salt and pepper. Sautee the leeks until soft, around 3 minutes. Add stock and lime juice, then bring to the boil. Cook off the excess liquid (around 5 mins). Then add in a bag of spinach leaves, fold in carefully and let it sit for 1 min.
Now reduce your heat to medium and make 6 indentations in your leek and spinach mixture. Crack an egg into each of the spaces and pop some more salt on top of each. Then let simmer until the eggs are cooked to your liking (approx 5 mins) Dot around the crushed up cheese. Take off the heat and mix your za’atar with remaining olive oil and paint on top of the eggs. Best served with crunchy toasted sourdough to mop up the juices.
This recipe serves 5 saucettes.
The Hitch Burger
Ingredients —
400g free-range chicken thighs (skinless, boneless)
1.5 cups of potato starch
4 brioche buns
4 tablespoons of mayonnaise
2 teaspoons of wasabi paste
Homemade pickled onions
½ cucumber
Iceberg lettuce
Olive oil
1 cup cooking oil
Marinade:
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of fresh ginger finely ground
1 tablespoon of chilli oil
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
Black ground pepper
Method —
First marinade your thighs overnight or for at least 2 hours before cooking with the above ‘marinade.’ Heat your frying pan with cooking oil on medium to high heat. Once ready, you take your thighs and coat them with potato starch. Now you shallow fry one side until looking golden on the bottom. Turn your thigh and brown on the other side. Cut your buns in half. Make a wasabi-mayo sauce by mixing them. Slice cucumber and shred iceberg lettuce. Toast your buns either on the grill or in the oven so they are warm and toasty. Construct your burgers and top with pickled onion. Goes well with an Asahi beer or any Japanese-style lager.
This recipe serves 4 saucettes.
Spinach, kale, mushroom and ricotta ravioli with caper butter
Ingredients —
Inside:
1x 250g bag baby spinach and kale mix
200g ricotta
4 portobello mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic
Rind of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon of butter
Pasta:
2 cups flour
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sauce:
100g of butter
4 tablespoons capers
Salt and pepper
½ cup pinenuts
Lemon juice
Method —
To prepare the pasta, make a flour well on your clean benchtop, sprinkle salt over flour then make a well in the centre. Drop in your eggs and olive oil and slowly mix into the flour with your hands until a dough ball forms. Then, roll out thin on a floured benchtop and cut 10cm wide strips and as long as you like.
For your filling, melt the butter and garlic in a pan, then add finely chopped portobello mushrooms and fold in a bag of spinach and kale. Sautee until soft and wilted, add ricotta cheese and mix. Set aside to cool down.
Place small spoonfuls on your pasta strips and make sure they are spaced. Then carefully put the top layer of pasta on and stretch and press down around the outside area of the filling to remove any air. Slice into individual squares and make fork indentations on the sides.
Boil a pot of water, and add the pasta in batches of 4-5 to it. The pasta will sink then will take around 2-3 minutes for it to float. Once floating pop, remove with a slotted spoon and place carefully on your plate or bowl.
For your sauce, add butter, capers, lemon juice and pine nuts to a frying pan and gently stir until melted and golden. Pour on your little ravioli pillows and voila! Serve with a glass of nice white wine.
This recipe serves 4 saucettes.
Thank you Ali & Gracie. Follow Hitch.Cooks on instagram here.
