{"id":245811,"date":"2025-11-02T12:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T01:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.russh.com\/?p=245811"},"modified":"2025-10-31T14:56:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T03:56:51","slug":"ellie-bouhadana-recipe-mchamar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.russh.com\/ellie-bouhadana-recipe-mchamar\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellie Bouhadana shares her recipe for Mchamar (a Moroccan herb, egg and potato pie)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who claims to know good food in Australia, knows the name Ellie Bouhadana\u00a0. She cooks with an effortless kind of cool \u2013 the kind that comes from knowing exactly what a dish needs and nothing it doesn\u2019t. As the chef formerly behind Hope St Radio\u2019s ever-evolving menu, she\u2019s built a reputation for cuisine that feels intuitive, ingredient-led, and deeply satisfying. Her approach is equal parts rustic and refined, drawing from classic techniques and familial dishes, but always with a fresh, unfussy touch.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s handmade pasta, slow-cooked meats, or bright, seasonal vegetables, Bouhadana’s food is about connection \u2013 simple plates that bring people together. And now, post-Hope St she’s been taking her new cook book Ellie’s Table<\/em> abroad through kitchen takeover at some of the globe’s most coveted tables. From Caf\u00e9 Deco in London to WINE IS FINE ! in Athens \u2013 her kitchen takeovers are a glimpse into her world, where good produce and good instincts lead the way.<\/p>\n

Below, Bouhadana\u00a0 shares a recipe from her most recent takeover at Napier Quarter in Melbourne. With a menu titled \u2018Endless Summer\u2019\u00a0 \u2013 inspired by a chance encounter between Bouhadana\u00a0 and Napier owner Dan Lewis on the island of Sifnos, Greece in the summer of 2024 \u2013 she was invited to take up residence in the Napier guesthouse, located above the restaurant and served her menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner for one week. Bouhadana worked with various Australian makers on creating one-off pieces for the residency, such as personal aprons and kitchenware sourced from vintage materials, as well as wheel-thrown satin stoneware ceramic pieces to serve specific dishes in.<\/p>\n

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Morning began with hand rolling semolina grain to make freshly steamed sweet cardamom couscous, served with yoghurt, honey and berries for breakfast (a dish inspired by her Moroccan father’s favourite snack). The evening menu was inspired by a Parisian couscous house she ate at last summer in France, inviting guests to enjoy a \u2018couscous royale set\u2019 \u2013 fine semolina and water rolled between her palms (much like you would for fresh pasta dough) and then steamed three times over boiling broth. This swells the grain and turns it into fluffy fresh couscous. The royale served with harissa, braised vegetables, chickpeas and broth, as well as lamb cutlets with sauce vierge, Moroccan baby meatballs and padron peppers.<\/p>\n

Simple but impactful plates of food, anchored by the best local ingredients, infused with heart and soul. Food which takes root from the rich flavours and diverse background of her mixed Jewish heritage, her father Sephardic from Morocco and her mother Ashkenazi from Germany and Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n

The residency embodied the abundance and sunny hedonism of Ellie\u2019s time spent chasing the warmth across both hemispheres \u2013 from sojourns in Rome, Paris, Marseille, Athens and New York, to the fading light of this Melbourne summer season. It was a celebration of food with feeling, food for people to have fun eating, \u201cfood from memory and food from home\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ingredients<\/h3>\n

Mchamar – Moroccan herb, egg and potato pie<\/strong><\/p>\n

Makes one pie, cut into 8 pieces<\/em><\/p>\n