Mushroom Oat-sotto

or Ris-oat-to?

Dear Community,

I’m starting this month’s newsletter with a heap of new recipes from around the web - hang on tight, there’s quite a few:

I have many newbies on New York Times Cooking app/website. And as a gift to my newsletter readers, I am including a GIFT LINK BELOW for all of them (I only get a few free links a month with my own NYT Cooking subscription). So even if you are not a subscriber, you can still check out these recipes for free using my link - leave me a comment on NYT Cooking if you enjoy the recipe (to counteract the mean ones LOL):

Soy sauce noodles with cabbage and fried egg

Teriyaki tofu

Stir-fried tofu and ginger - I wanted to create a different version of tofu here. Not crispy, not fried, but bouncy. This is a ginger forward dish, the way I like it.

One-pan creamed spinach with eggs - great pantry meal!

Mapo potato - yes you read that correctly. All the joy of mapo tofu, but with potatoes. Yes, it is as good as it sounds.

Cheesy kimchi French toast - cheese and kimchi toastie (an Australian grilled cheese) meets French toast. You’re welcome.

On ABC Everyday, we are still celebrating summer vibes:

Artichoke ‘Lobster-Less’ Rolls - great party or barbecue dish for the veggies. Many people on social are telling me this isn’t a lobster roll. Yes I know it’s not, it’s an artichoke roll, inspired by lobster rolls, which I don’t eat because I’m vegetarian.

Cauliflower ‘chorizo’ tacos - smoky and complex, a great dish for the transition of the seasons

Over at TASTE PODCAST, I spoke to host Aliza Abarbanel about my Arthur Street Kitchen days, Aussie salad sandwiches, my IG song choices, and my upcoming US release of Tenderheart. It’s a fun chat, I hope you’ll listen.

I have a REALLY EXCITING PLANT-BASED project coming up - news very soon. I hope you will all join me on this journey. It will be free and delicious.

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Tenderheart News

I just received an early copy of the US edition of TENDERHEART. And it is so pretty. A slightly revised cover - hello zucchini - with beautiful and generous quotes from Nigella, Molly Yeh, Dorie Greenspan on the back (and from Nik Sharma, inside), a sunny golden spine and enough tweaks and new directions to make this edition feel very new and sparkly. Next month, I want to take you on a deeper dive on the process of writing Tenderheart, why I wrote it and share a recipe from the book.

You can pre-order here. For Canadian friends, click this link, and for UK, here. For those in other parts of the world where stockists are less clear, Amazon USA should send to everywhere, except Australia and NZ, of course. I’m not always sure about stockists, but if you have questions, please ask and I’ll do my best to answer.

For those who have asked, you can pre-order ANYWHERE - your local indie bookstore is a great place - but I know some prefer to shop online (no judgement, I do it too) and if so, the pre-order link is a great place to start. Our friends at Now Serving are selling preorders with signed bookplates too. Preorders are very, very important to authors so if you’re interested in this book, consider it. There will be bonus content coming to everyone who preorders so hold onto your receipts.

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This month’s new recipe

I am writing this on a particularly cold day in New York City. The howling winds outside reassures me that yes, it’s okay to stay in today and eat porridge.

This recipe is part porridge, part risotto. It is made with oats, but cooked like risotto. It is inspired by my recipe trip to Copenhagen, where a porridge chain called GRØD consistently attracted queues, serving traditional danish porridge with seasonal toppings. GRØD means porridge in Danish and that can be everything from sweet oat porridge to savory risottos, eaten at any time of the day.

The name “oat-sotto” is a bit of a laugh really. I’m not being serious with it. It’s just a nod to the dish I tried at GRØD called “barley-otto”. Just as bad haha. A few people on Instagram suggested I call it RIS-OATO which is much better!

Use whatever mushrooms you have on hand for this dish. A tip: rehydrated dried mushrooms like porcini would work here too, and even better, you have yourself a ready made mushroom stock for the recipe!

Mushroom Oat-sotto

Serves 4

extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons (28g) vegan or regular butter
1 onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 sprigs thyme
200g (7 ounces) shiitake mushrooms, sliced
250g (8.8 ounces) white button mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar)
1 cup (180g) steel cut oats (use gluten free for gf)
4 cups (1 litre) mushroom or veg stock, hot

Recommended toppings
sliced radish or turnips
sliced scallions
raw sliced mushrooms

Heat a large pot on medium high. Add the butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and when the butter has melted, add the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes until softened.

Throw in the garlic and thyme and stir. Then add the mushrooms, season with 1 teaspoon of sea salt and some black pepper. Stir for 7-8 minutes until the mushrooms are tender and most of the liquid has cooked off. Add the tamari or soy sauce and vinegar to help deglaze the pan.

Stir in the oats, ensuring every grain is coated. Add 1/2 cup of stock and stir. Leave to cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has been absorbed, before adding your next ½ cup of stock. Continue adding stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition of liquid, until the grains are tender (you may not need all of the stock). Remove from the heat.

Ladle the porridge into bowls and finish with a drizzle of olive oil and your choice of toppings.