This winter I took myself on a trip to the Southern Hemisphere, leaving my kitchen behind for a few months with the need to wind down after a super busy year.
I had often heard copious whispers of Australias top tier food scene throughout London and I was excited to finally get to eat in some of the countries most celebrated restaurants. But, one of my favourite food experiences of the trip actually ended up being a home-cooked meal, by a writer I had spent years admiring.
Julia Ostro is a Melbourne-based food writer and cookbook author who has inspired me for as long as I can remember. Her approach to home cooking is so simple and relatable, yet beautiful and inspiring. I popped over to her house for the afternoon. We ate creamy ricotta and spinach filled pasta swimming in a puddle of sage butter and chatted over being food writers.
Here, Julia shares the recipe for her delicious tortelli, along a Q&A. Julia has three gorgeous cook books (A Year Of Simple Family Food, Around The Table, Ostro and one more on the way!) that I implore you to buy if like me, you love home cooking!
Thank you Julia!
Esther x
Spinach and ricotta tortelli
Serves 4-6
400 g tipo 00 flour, plus extra, as needed
4 eggs
Fine sea salt
Semolina flour (semola rimacinata), for dusting
Spinach and ricotta filling
600 g English spinach leaves
200 g full fat ricotta
1 egg
Good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
Butter and sage sauce
100 g lightly salted butter
12 sage leaves
To make the pasta dough, tip the flour and a good pinch of salt onto a clean work surface and combine. Create a well in the centre and crack in the eggs. Gently whisk the eggs using a fork, then slowly bring in the flour and mix to incorporate. When the dough becomes stiff, use your hands and a pastry scraper to mix until the dough comes together.
Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. You want to knead with a rocking motion, pushing the dough away from you, then bringing it back to the middle of the piece, rotating 90 degrees then repeating. This encourages a smooth surface and a nice round shape. Cover with an upturned bowl or cling wrap and then allow to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, for the filling, set the ricotta on a plate lined with a paper towel and drain any excess liquid. After 30 minutes, transfer to a bowl. Set aside.
Cook the spinach in a large pot of boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Refresh in iced water. Drain and squeeze out all the excess water. Finely chop and add to the ricotta, along with the egg, nutmeg and seasoning. Mix well, then set aside.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one-quarter of the dough using a rolling pin to create a rough disc about 1cm thick. Roll the dough through a pasta machine set to the widest setting. Fold the dough in half, rotate 90 degrees and pass through the rollers again. Move to the next setting, folding and rolling. You can do this a few times through the first few settings to encourage the pasta to form a straight, strong sheet. Continue to roll the dough through the settings until the pasta is around 1mm thick. If the dough feels sticky, use semolina flour to dust.
Once you have a large, rectangle pasta sheet, spoon heaped tablespoons of the filling onto the sheet, along the longest side, around 1.5 cm apart. Fold the pasta sheet over itself and use your fingers to press around the filling to seal and remove any air. Once the parcels are sealed, cut into tortelli using a fluted pasta cutter or pastry cutter.
Transfer to a tray or tea towel dusted with semolina flour and set aside. Repeat with the remaining filling and pasta dough.
Cook the tortelli in a large saucepan of salted, boiling water for about 3-4 minutes, or until al dente.
Meanwhile, for the sauce, melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add the sage and swirl around to perfume the butter. Add a spoonful of the pasta water and swirl again to emulsify. Simmer for 1-2 minutes to reduce slightly.
Drain the tortelli and transfer to a serving plate. Top with the melted butter and sage and a generous scattering of grated parmigiano reggiano.
Tell us 3 other simple fillings for ravioli?
I love making potato filling, with mashed potatoes with butter, grated Parmigiano Reggiano, nutmeg, salt, pepper and lemon zest.
Similarly, ones with roasted and mashed pumpkin works really well, again flavoured with nutmeg, Parmigiano Reggiano.
My third favourite is ricotta, lemon and pecorino! Super quick and easy and so delicious.
An interview with Julia Ostro
Tell us about your style of cooking/writing?
My style of cooking is very much centred around seasonality and simplicity. Growing up in a Maltese home, this had more to do with frugality, than anything else, but as I’ve grown up, it has deeply inspired the way I cook. When I lived in Italy, this only cemented the idea that cooking with the seasons and keeping it simple is such a joyful and rewarding approach to cooking. I am a home cook and so my cooking reflects this – it’s unfussy, approachable and hopefully delicious.
I love storytelling, and I personally love reading recipes which have an anecdote or something interesting alongside them. Of course not every recipe has a beautiful story to accompany it, but I really do enjoy teasing out memories of childhood, travels and different experiences to bring the recipes to life.
How did you start out?
I have always loved to cook since I was a young girl. I loved being in the kitchen and from an early age volunteered to cook for family dinners and special occasions. I was also always reading cookbooks and “inventing” new recipes. This followed me all the way through school but then upon graduating, stepping into a professional kitchen didn’t really feel right. I went on to study Italian and politics at university and whilst studying and working in Italy through those years, I began to write down the recipes I was cooking and eating. This turned into Ostro, my blog, which slowly began to grow a small following. At this stage, I was an Italian teacher so it was just humming along in the background until I was approached by my publisher whilst shopping at the local farmer’s market. Now, we’ve just finished working on our fourth book together!
What are your go to ingredients?
Extra virgin olive oil, lemons, red wine vinegar, anchovies, nutmeg, good-quality tinned tomatoes, flaky salt, fresh bay leaves, French shallots, harissa, parsley and garlic (I could list so many more!)
What three pieces of equipment could you not live without?
A good kitchen knife, mortar and pestle and microplane.
How did you go about writing your books?
I love writing books so much. They are of course so much work, but I love the process of bringing one to life and seeing people cook with it in their kitchen.
I work rather loosely when it comes to starting a new book. Usually I have a vision for what the book will be based on a list of recipe ideas I have written down. I then build it out from there. Sometimes the idea is really strong from the beginning or it can develop a little later as I solidify the recipe list and get a feel for how everything is working together.
I kind of have to pinch myself that I have published three, soon to be four, cookbooks. It’s something I really enjoy.
What are your biggest influences in food?
My biggest influences in food come from so many places. I am a really massive cookbook lover and one of my first cookbooks was River Cafe: Two Easy. I was sixteen, in high school in a country town in Australia and it really opened my eyes up to a different world of cooking. My childhood laid the foundations for my love of food, but then books like the River Cafe, and authors like Claudia Roden, Patience Grey and Nigel Slater helped to build my understanding. When I lived in Italy, this was really where I felt such a strong pull to the kitchen. First studying in Florence and then working as an Au Pair in Southern Tuscany where I just had the best food and life experiences. Those times really influenced the way I cook, eat and write. And I can’t forget my beautiful husband, Nori, who has taught me so much about Japanese cuisine, which influences my cooking so much.
What are your most cooked meals?
I love making a good roast chicken and it is probably what I tend to make when I am having friends over or on a rainy Sunday. I just love it. Pasta is a constant – whether that be fresh or dried, I am always cooking pasta! Whether in the summer time with a simple sauce of cherry tomatoes and basil, or with a wintry ragù, it’s something I never tire of cooking or learning about.
What’s the one dish to make anyone fall in love with your new book?
Ok, there are so many!! I’m really excited for it! Maybe though, to pick one, it would be the halloumi, feta and swiss chard pie. It has a dead easy olive oil pastry and which is the most delicious envelope for the salty green filling. The greens pie in my first book, Ostro, is still one of the most cooked recipes from my books so I think a pie is a good choice to call out!
Can you tell me about a particularly memorable meal you have had and what made it so special?
In 2022, Nori and I went back to Japan. We hadn’t been back for over two years because of COVID and were itching to be there. It was still closed to tourists so being back there was a surreal and once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was just the two of us and we were able to eat in places we usually couldn’t go with the kids. A very memorable meal was a yakitori restaurant we went to in Nakameguro. It wasn’t that it was the best one in Tokyo or fancy or anything like that, but I remember sitting there, Nori ordering all of the skewers on the menu and ice cold kabosu sours and just feeling so free. The yakitori was super delicious and has become our favourite spots.
How do you source your ingredients and what do you look for when selecting them?
I spend a lot of my week sourcing ingredients. For me it is such a joy and I think getting the right ingredients and as best quality as you can, is actually the most important thing for home cooks, or just for cooking in general. So I’m not afraid to drive 40 minutes to buy cheese or go to four different shops to find a particular potato variety. I also have a nice relationship with some farmers and wholesalers here which is really lovely. Ingredient sourcing is like a pastime for me!
When it comes to selecting ingredients, the number one rule is that it is in season. I would 100% rather change the idea or improvise a little than buy out-of-season produce.
Which dish do you recreate at home that reminds you of a special place?
Ħobż Biż-Żejt translates to ‘bread with oil’ and it is a Maltese open-faced sandwich. Spread with kunserva (tomato paste) and topped with plenty of extra virgin olive oil, it’s topped with things like tuna, capers, olives, shallots and parsley. It is so nostalgic for me and is a complete childhood memory, reminding me of standing at the gates of Valletta as an 18 year old in Malta for the first time, eating a tin foil wrapped one that had been made for me by my Aunt who I had just met. I love making it in summer with ripe tomatoes and good-quality tinned tuna.
What do you think it means to be a good home cook?
Being a good home cook means being comfortable in your kitchen and confident in yourself to improvise a little. It’s about using all of your senses and intuition to adapt and make do.
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