The concept of Mezcla

Mezcla is Spanish for mixture, or fusion – and this cookbook is Ixta’s ode to the cuisines of the three countries that heavily influenced her life ánd her cooking. She grew up in Italy, her mother is Brazilian and her paternal grandfather lived in Mexico. As a young woman, Ixta got a chance to work, learn and grow in the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen. And she eventually teamed up with Yotam Ottolenghi to write Flavour in 2020. In Mezcla, she creatively combines all this heritage and experience into a truly wonderful cookbook.

A quick overview of the contents

Mezcla has two main sections: everyday and entertaining. Both sections are divided into veg, fish and meat. Although not labeled as such – there’s plenty of variation between recipes for sides, mains, bites and starter-like dishes. The book closes with a desert chapter, divided in quick fixes and showstoppers. Her ‘everyday’ recipes might not be the kind of food that I would whip up on an average weeknight – but the book does offer something for every occasion and timeframe. 

How complex is Mezcla?

Well, I guess it depends on how comfortable you already are with the cuisines Mezcla is based on. My pantry has lots of Italian style ingredients. But some of the more Mexican and Brazilian ingredients are newer to me. Some are a little tricky to get in my neighborhood (like the chilies – you can get them online of course). But I just tried to substitute as well as I could, without letting it stop me. 

However, getting acquainted with new ingredients and flavours is just what makes Mezcla so appealing to me! Yes, some of the ingredients are unfamiliar, but they are introduced in a very accessible way. The different steps in the recipes are not too difficult. It’s just that some recipes take some time to build. Mezcla is totally doable for every excited and curious home cook. 

Who would enjoy Mezcla?

I believe Mezcla is the perfect addition to your cookbook collection if you enjoy a bit of adventure in the kitchen. For everyone who enjoys throwing dinner parties and is looking for a new culinary twist. Or if you just enjoy a good weekend cooking project for yourself. You should be willing to source a bit more exotic ingredients and not be put off by mixing flavours and cuisines. 

What we’ve cooked so far

Giant cheese on toast with spring onion, honey and Urfa butter

This is comfort food at its absolute best! Salty, sweet, spicy, crunchy and warming all at once. It couldn’t be more easy to make: just a little mixing and piling. I went to three different shops to find the Urfa chilli flakes and in the end I forgot to add them to the butter! But this was still so satisfying. Also, I had never tried mature Cheddar before. (Most supermarkets here only offer the plasticy orange cheddar slices.) This mature cheese was so amazing: we already restocked it twice since.

Roasted cabbage with mango and harissa

This is a combination of a salad and a warm vegetable dish – and extremely flavourful! I loved roasting the salty and slightly bitter cabbage leaves in the oven. The mango harissa salsa is really something else. You just combine the ingredients and heat them in a pan. The house smelled amazing! I again would have never thought of this combination, but it’s fingerlicking good. The herbs add freshness to the bold flavours. 

Sticky coconut rice with turmeric tomatoes

I absolutely loved this! I used very ordinary desert rice from the supermarket and soaked it for one hour as Ixta recommends. During the process of assembling everything – I wondered if I would get those beautifully firm rice cakes, but the cooking time was perfect! The tomatoes were deeply rich in flavour. Wish I had doubled them. 

Chard rotolo

Now this was a project. I had never made such a beautiful rolled pasta dish before. But it was a lot less complicated than I expected. You really just blanche the chard and fresh lasagne sheets. You make the rocket paste in a small blender. From there it’s stacking and rolling. 🙂 The recipe has a few photographs of the steps and those really help. And the accompanying tomato sauce is also very easy to make. 

Chiles rellenos with salsa roja risotto

This is one of the dishes that tempted me to buy this cookbook in the first place. And it did not disappoint! It is a bit of work to be honest. Because you have to prepare the peppers first and they get quite delicate to handle and fill once they are grilled. Make sure you don’t grill them too long to begin with. I couldn’t find the habanero and ancho chili, so I used a bit of chipotle. This recipe is a true eyecatcher on any dinner party!

Scallops with curried onions and lime

This is the best dish I cooked from Mezcla so far. I would have never thought of pairing scallops with onions or curry. This dish however was mind blowing! So warm (curry onions) and fresh (lime) at the same time! Caramelizing the onions is easy and so is frying the scallops. Very impressive and super tasty!

Banana, sesame and maple cake

Another surprising recipe. This cake is – as Ixta describes – indeed quite soft and puddingy. I did like it straight from the oven. Because we are just a family of two now, we didn’t eat the entire cake right away. I didn’t really love the leftovers the next day, because of the soft character of the cake. But that’s just my personal taste. 

What’s on my list to cook

I’m already looking forward to cooking much more from Mezcla! Can’t wait to try the porcini ragu, the miso butternut gnocchi, the three cheese quesadillas and the brown butter curried cornbread – to name a few…

Other sources of information

• You can find Ixta on Instagram: @ixta.belfrage. 
• Make sure you check out Flavour. 
• She also publishes recipes in the Guardian.