Mezcla was both conceived and written over a period of six months during a period of strict pandemic-related lockdowns in London, and the book was very much influenced by its author’s own emotional state. Some recipes, to be sure, include ingredients you might not have in your kitchen cupboards already, but there’s generous room for manoeuvre and plenty of recipes that provide adventure more accessibly. I also loved the spicy freshness of the tahini ginger sauce with the tomatoes and cucumber, the flavour was so moreish.

The subtitle to Ixta Belfrage’s first solo cookbook, Mezcla, promises “recipes to excite”, and boy does she deliver. Often combinations might not look like they’ll work on paper, but when done considerately, it can result in some of the most exciting dishes. If you don’t mind mess in the pursuit of flavour, these Torta ahogada, or drowned sandwiches, are a whole experience rather than just a meal.All I want is for people to be excited by new combinations of different things and hopefully come up with their own,” Belfrage adds. I actually made up a little batch of extra sauce to add to some chips the following day – it was that tasty! Place the mascarpone, yoghurt, vanilla paste and maple syrup in a large bowl and whisk together until completely smooth.

Ixta has spent her life exploring and enjoying food in Italy, Mexico and Brazil, so it’s no surprise that MEZCLAis a fusion of different cultures and food traditions. If I'm being perfectly honest,” she says, after a pause, “I had a really difficult three months at the end, where I was going through a really traumatic, serious breakup. But Belfrage also says that it’s just in her, this appetite for making taste and flavour: “It’s the one thing that comes naturally to me. It's easy to believe Belfrage might follow in Ottolenghi’s footsteps in bringing new flavours to British home cooking. 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.At the same time, there is blatant appropriation when things aren’t referenced properly, when you don’t cite your inspiration, and when you’re just presenting ideas as if it’s your own without note…” She trails off, wrinkling her nose in disapproval.

Ixta’s aim is to help you put vibrant, colourful, and flavour-packed food on the table, on any day of the week. She has never trained as a chef (“People often assume I know how to cook everything, but I don’t know. Infusing is a double whammy, because when you’re infusing, you not only get a wonderfully aromatic oil, but the aromatics used can then serve as crunchy and crispy toppings to that dish. Put the passion fruit pulp into a large bowl with the condensed milk, whole milk, tangerine zest, chilli flakes, eggs, yolk, vanilla and a pinch of salt.Add the cooked rice to the pan with the salsa roja, stir together and gently heat through for a minute. Super easy to make and a great recipe to prepare and assemble ahead of time so that you can just put it in the oven when you’re ready. Charring vegetables teases out inner flavours that really make vegetables pop, flavours that you might not have known lay dormant in that vegetable; smokiness, sweetness, bitterness, for example. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.

This took me around 20 minutes from start to finish and I couldn’t believe how packed with flavour it was; such a good recipe for a tasty weeknight meal. The resulting cookbook, Mezcla – a comprehensive and colourful introduction to Belfrage’s distinct culinary approach – is the kind of deserved happenstance that has defined the 31-year-old chef’s career. The joy in cooking is being able to just taste it and grab this and grab that and throw whatever you want in—and just go with your gut without thinking about it. Once the onions have caramelised, it’s quick to throw together, so would make a good weeknight dinner – I made it for lunch whilst working from home and it felt like a real treat. I have to say that this changes every time I open the book, but some of my all-time favourites are the Spicy mushroom lasagne, the Miso butter onions, the Coconut and turmeric omelettes, the Turnip cake and the Tangerine and ancho chilli flan.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. Everyday eating with special occasion energy - from the Ottolenghi protégé shaking up the food world.