Hungry to make stylish food that is also sustainable, talented British chef Russell Impiazzi creates the most delicious dishes using every single part of his ingredients to impart maximum flavour with zero waste.
The Gault & Millau Sustainability Champion of the Year 2023 is a well-known and respected figure on Dubai’s culinary scene, recognised not only for his Michelin Star-style food but also for his inspiring dedication to green gastronomy.
As Executive Chef at Sofitel Dubai The Obelisk, where he oversees five restaurants, Russell has implemented a zero-food waste to landfill policy, supporting the UAE’s goal of cutting food waste by 50 per cent by 2030. His initiatives include in-house composting and collaborating with the UAE Food Bank to repurpose surplus food into meals, producing over 20,000 meals last year alone.
Russell heads up the sustainability committee at the hotel, which has been awarded the prestigious Green Key Certification along with the Dubai Sustainable Tourism Stamp Gold Tier, one of only 11 hotels in the Emirate to do so. Suffice to say, Russell inspires positive change both inside and beyond his kitchen.
‘With these plant-based recipes most of the core ingredients are locally grown in the UAE which is really important to me,’ he says. ‘As a chef, no matter which part of the world you are in, building dishes around local produce is something that we should all embrace.
‘Great vegetable-centric recipes, using all the different aspects of the fresh produce, minimising waste in the process, and cooking over flames while incorporating delicious pulses and spices, all adds up to creating dishes with really great flavours.’
Here Russell shares three of his favourite vegan recipes with The Ethicalist for you to impress your guests with at home…
Russell Impiazzi’s Heritage tomato tartare with whipped avocado, ‘gazpacho’-style dressing, and sourdough crackers
PREP TIME: 30mins COOKING TIME: 10 mins SERVES: 2
• 500gms local organic tomatoes
• Sourdough loaf (place in the freezer for an hour before needed so it is easy to slice thinly when it’s a bit frozen)
• Baby herbs for garnish
FOR THE DRESSING
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• ½ small jalapeno pepper, minced
• 2 to 3 drops of Siracha chilli sauce
• 1 tbsp capers, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 tbsp chopped chives
• 100ml Olive oil
• Maldon salt for seasoning
Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and stir together.
FOR THE AVOCADO PUREE
• 1 avocado
• 1 small red chilli, chopped
• 1 small shallot, chopped
• 1 lemon (for juice)
• Salt and pepper
Peel and dice the avocado and then place in a bowl with the finely chopped shallot, half the red chilli diced and the lemon juice. Mash together and leave for half an hour for the flavours to get to know each other! Then pass through a fine sieve so you’re left with an avocado puree. Whisk it up and season to taste.
For the ‘gazpacho’-style dressing
• ½ cucumber, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 small shallot, diced
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 50ml red wine vinegar
• 200ml olive oil
• Maldon salt and pepper to season
Add all the ingredients into a blender and blitz into a paste. Pass through a fine strainer into a jar and chill in the fridge.
Prepare the tomatoes by bringing a small saucepan of water to a boil. Have an ice bath (ice cubes in a bowl of cold water) ready nearby. Score a small ‘x’ at the bottom of each tomato and place it in the boiling water for about 20-30 seconds.
Remove the tomatoes and place in the ice bath to stop them cooking. When cool enough to handle, peel the skin and then quarter and remove the core and seeds (keep these and put them in a container in the freezer to use for another dish) from the tomatoes. Reserve the skins from the tomatoes – dehydrate and blitz into a fine powder and use later as a garnish.
Carefully dice the tomatoes and place into a strainer to let some of the excess liquid strain for a few minutes before placing the diced tomatoes to a medium mixing bowl. Add in the dressing and season if necessary.
Place the sliced sourdough in a preheated oven to crisp up.
Using a ring mould, if you have one, place the tomato tartare in the middle, garnish with the baby herbs, pipe a few drops of the avocado around the plate, and plate the gazpacho in a small jug. Arrange the sourdough crackers on side.
Spiced lentil croquettes with josper roasted cauliflower
prep time: 20min cooking time: 15min serves: 4
For the lentil croquettes
• 100gms celery / leeks / carrots / onion – all finely diced
• 10gms garlic, chopped
• 3gms fresh thyme
• 500gms cooked lentils
• 5gms cumin powder
• 5gms coriander powder
• 5gms all spice
• 15gms tomato paste
• 100ml vegetable stock
• 100gms vegetable suet
Sweat down the vegetables and garlic until they’re soft. Add the fresh thyme, cooked lentils, and the spices and cook together for 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook for a further 5 minutes. Deglaze with the vegetable stock and continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated. Add in the veg suet and mix thoroughly. Place the mixture on a tray and allow to cool. Once cool enough to handle, mould into croquettes that are 30 to 40gms in size.
For the zero waste bbq cauliflower
• 1 small whole cauliflower including the leaves and stems
• 100ml olive oil
• 200ml pickling liquor
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper
Remove the green leaves from the cauliflower and wash and dry. Deep fry until crispy, then season with salt. Trim the stems and thinly slice. Add pickling liquor to a bowl and place them inside for at least 15 minutes before serving.
Now break down the cauliflowers into florets. Blanch in boiling water for five minutes with the vegetable stock (which adds flavour) – keep the water as you will use it for the spinach puree. Remove the florets. Brush the florets with olive oil and place them on the BBQ to give them a lovely smokey flavour.
For the spinach puree
• 200gms locally grown spinach leaves
• The remaining elements from the cauliflower
Blanch the spinach leaves in the boiling vegetable stock, cook for two minutes and refresh in iced water.
Add the remaining elements of the cauliflower (stems and offcuts) to the stock. Once soft and fully cooked, remove from the heat, add the spinach and put into a blender to blitz into a puree. Season well.
For the black garlic puree
• 10gms vegan butter
• 10gms flour
• 100ml almond milk
• 25gms black garlic, whole
Melt the butter and flour together in a pan over a medium heat. Add the milk and bring to boil to make a vegan béchamel sauce. Add the black garlic, place the mixture into a blender and blitz to a fine puree. Pass through a fine strainer and allow to cool.
For the tempura batter
• 300gms tempura flour
• 125ml soda water
Prepare a light batter with the flour and soda water. Roll the croquettes in a dusting of plain flour, dip in the batter and deep fry until crispy at 180 degrees for approx 6 minutes.
To serve, place the spinach puree in the centre of the plate, and add the cauliflower followed by the croquettes. Place the crispy cauliflower leaves and pickled stems on top, then finish with a few small drops of black garlic puree.
Roasted broccoli with herb ‘butter’ and black garlic
prep time: 15 mins cooking time: 30mins serves: 4
• Whole broccoli
• ½ bunch tarragon
• 1.5 litres vegetable stock
• 200gms vegan butter
For the leek, spinach and broccoli puree
• 1 small whole leek
• 100ml olive oil
• 200gms vegan butter
• 200gms spinach
For the carrot puree
• 4 medium carrots
• vegetable stock
• 150gms vegan butter, diced
For the tempura
• vegetable offcuts – onions / leeks and carrots
For the pea oil
• 100gms green peas
• 100ml vegetable oil
• A few chervil leaves
• 50gms black garlic puree
Broccoli
Remove the florets from the broccoli, and cut the remaining stem in half. Infuse the tarragon in the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Blanch the florets in the stock and refresh in an ice water bath. Place the vegan butter into the stock and whisk it in to make a rich creamy-style stock. Blanch the stems in this stock.
Leek / spinach / broccoli puree
Take 2/3rds of the leek – dice and then sauté in a pan over a medium heat with the olive oil and the vegan butter. Cook until soft, before adding the spinach and cooking down the mixture for a further 2 minutes.
Finally, add in the cooked broccoli florets, season well with salt and pepper and remove the pan from the heat. Place the mixture into a blender and blitz down to a fine puree.
Carrot puree
Wash the carrots and dice. Place the carrots in a pan and just cover them with the vegetable stock. Add the vegan butter and season with salt. Bring to boil and cook until soft – most of the stock will have cooked into the carrots. Place into a blender and blitz down into a smooth puree.
Tempura
Make a batter with tempura flour and soda water. Take the offcuts of carrots and the remaining leeks, dust in the flour and place in the batter to deep fry until crispy, usually around 2-3 minutes.
Pea oil
Blanch the peas and refresh in ice water. Drain and blitz in a blender with the oil and the chervil leaves. Allow to rest for 10 minutes and fine strain.
Place the cooked broccoli stem on a chargrill, and heat all the purees in separate pans over a medium heat. To serve, spoon the green puree onto the middle of the plate and arrange the charred broccoli on top. Pipe the carrot puree around the dish. Arrange the tempura on the stem and drizzle with the black garlic puree and pea oil.
To try Russell Impiazzi’s food first hand visit Sofitel The Obelisk
