An easy pasta with flavour-bomb of XO sauce that many don’t know about

Ellie Bouhadana, former head chef at Melbourne’s Hope St Radio, shares her secret sauce for pasta. From the upcoming June issue – including the Rich List – out on May 31.

Jill DupleixFood writer

May 24, 2024 – 5.05am

Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Subscribe to gift this article

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.

Subscribe now

Already a subscriber?

“Nothing should be bland,” declares Ellie Bouhadana. The chef and cook book author brings the full force of her mixed Jewish ancestry, first-generation work ethic, intuition and “undue confidence” to season every dish. “Food will taste so much better if you cook exactly what you want to eat and what excites you,” she says.

What often excites her is pasta, such as the cavatelli with squid shown here, coated in a sauce of white wine, garlic, chilli and tomato with the flavour-bomb of XO sauce. “It’s like a little chef’s secret,” she says. “There are so many ways to add deep, deep flavour that people don’t seem to know about, and XO is one of them.”

Ellie Bouhadana’s cavatelli with squid and XO sauce. Lucia Bell-Epstein

For three years, Bouhadana has been head chef of Melbourne’s Hope St Radio, described by The Age Good Food Guide as “a rambunctious, multitasking celebration of food, wine and music”.

What was an indie radio station broadcasting out of restaurants now has a permanent home in the Collingwood Yards art precinct, complete with bar and restaurant. Diners sprawl in booths and around fire pits in the courtyard.

Cook what excites you, says Ellie Bouhadana. Lucia Bell-Epstein

Fancy chef cooking would have been incongruous here, and Bouhadana knows it. Instead, her cooking skills were channelled into making pasta by hand, hanging her own yoghurt and baking pillow-light focaccia, all of which now appear in her first book, Ellie’s Table.

Writing it was the catalyst for her leaving Hope St Radio in May for a more nomadic chef life of pop-ups, travel and writing.

“I love food with a sense of family, as if you are dining at my house,” she says. “Warmth and generosity are the elements that make a meal memorable.”

Hope St Radio, 35 Johnston Street, Collingwood. hopestradio.community

Cavatelli with squid and XO sauce

Degree of difficulty ★☆☆ | Serves 4

At the restaurant, this is made with fresh cavatelli. Substitute with a good-quality dried cavatelli or gnocchi sardi, and cook to the maker’s instructions.

Ingredients

160ml extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 small shallot, finely chopped
pinch of chilli flakes
1 tomato, cut into wedges, then halved on an angle
pinch of sea salt flakes
grind of black pepper
30ml white wine
1 tablespoon XO sauce (shop-bought is fine)
60ml water
450g cavatelli pasta
2 large fresh squid (about 500g), cleaned

Method

To make the sauce, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a wide frying pan over low–medium heat and fry the garlic, shallots and chilli flakes until golden and fragrant. Add the tomato, sea salt and pepper, and stir as the tomato releases its juices, about 3 minutes.

Pour in the white wine and simmer for 2 minutes. Add XO sauce and water, and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Add a little extra water if dry. Pour the sauce into a bowl and set aside.
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, and season well with salt. Cook the cavatelli until al dente, following the packet instructions.

To cook the squid and pasta, slice the squid into rough pieces, 2-3cm in size. Heat remaining olive oil over medium-high heat, add the squid and sear until just cooked, about 3-4 minutes.

Reduce the heat slightly and return the XO and tomato sauce to the pan, along with 30ml of the pasta water, stirring to emulsify. * Simmer gently for 2 minutes.

When the pasta is cooked, lift it out of the water with a sieve, and transfer it directly to the frying pan along with another 30-60ml pasta water. Stir energetically with a wooden spoon to emulsify, and simmer for 2 minutes over medium heat, until bubbles form around the sides of the pan. Add another splash of pasta water if too dry, and keep tossing until silky. Serve straight away.

Recipe from Ellie’s Table by Ellie Bouhadana, Hardie Grant Books.

The Rich List issue of AFR Magazine is out on Friday, May 31 inside The Australian Financial Review. Follow AFR Mag on Instagram.