Mezcla Recipes to Excite [A Cookbook]

100 recipes for everyday eating with built-in wow factor, from the Ottolenghi protégé and co-author of Ottolenghi Flavor shaking up the food world.

MEZCLA means mix, blend, or fusion in Spanish, and in her first solo cookbook, Ixta Belfrage—loved for her inventive ingredient combinations—shares her favorite mezcla of flavors. Helpfully divided into quick recipes (for when you need something great on the table, fast) and longer recipes (for when you have time to slow down and savor the process), here are one hundred bold, impactful recipes inspired by Italy, Brazil, Mexico, and beyond. 
 
There are quick, flavorful recipes such as Giant Cheese on Toast with Honey and Urfa Butter, Piri Piri Tofu with Crispy Orzo, and Chicken with Pineapple and 'Nduja, as well as dishes to spend more time over: Chiles Rellenos with Salsa Roja Risotto, Sticky Coconut Rice Cake with Turmeric Tomatoes and Shrimp Lasagna with Habanero Oil.
 
Creative, colorful, and always delicious, this is food for every day and every occasion.

Ixta Belfrage’s style of cooking draws inspiration from three countries she grew up travelling to, eating in, and obsessing over. Brazil (where her mother is from), Italy (where she lived as a child), and Mexico (where her grandfather lived). She cut her teeth at Yotam Ottolenghi’s NOPI restaurant before moving to the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, where she worked for Yotam Ottolenghi for five years, contributing to his columns in The Guardian and The New York Times. In 2020 she co-authored the New York Times bestselling Ottolenghi Flavor and in 2021 she was named one of the most influential women in food by Code Hospitality.