Anyone who claims to know good food in Australia, knows the name Ellie Bouhadana . She cooks with an effortless kind of cool – the kind that comes from knowing exactly what a dish needs and nothing it doesn’t. As the chef formerly behind Hope St Radio’s ever-evolving menu, she’s 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.

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

Below, Bouhadana  shares a recipe from her most recent takeover at Napier Quarter in Melbourne. With a menu titled ‘Endless Summer’  – inspired by a chance encounter between Bouhadana  and Napier owner Dan Lewis on the island of Sifnos, Greece in the summer of 2024 – 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.

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 ‘couscous royale set’ – 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.

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.

The residency embodied the abundance and sunny hedonism of Ellie’s time spent chasing the warmth across both hemispheres – 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, “food from memory and food from home”. 

Ingredients

Mchamar - Moroccan herb, egg and potato pie

Makes one pie, cut into 8 pieces

• 2 onions, sliced in half then finely sliced
• 3-4 medium potatoes, boiled in salted water until fully cooked through but not falling apart
• ½ bunch fresh coriander
• ½ bunch flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, finely chopped
• ½ cup rocket
• 1 tbsp yoghurt
• 10 whole eggs, whisked
• 1 tsp cumin ground
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil,
• flaky salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 8 anchovy fillets (optional, to serve)
• mix of rocket, parsley and dill dressed with a lemony vinaigrette (optional, to serve)

Method

1. Heat the butter and 2 tbsp olive oil in a heavy-based or cast-iron saucepan over a low heat. Add the onions, season with a generous pinch of salt and stir, then leave them to cook slowly for about an hour until they are very soft and caramelised. Be patient; let them go slowly until golden.
2. Cut the potatoes into rough chunks, about the length of your thumb. Mash half of the potatoes into a rough heap. Add them to the pan with the onions. Gently stir mixture, and adjust the heat so the oil bubbles a little and the potatoes just start to colour. Turn off heat.
3. In a blender, blitz the coriander, parsley, rocket, yoghurt, 2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp of water until smooth and green. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Beat 10 eggs with the ground cumin and a big pinch of salt. Quickly mix the warm onion and potato with the eggs (don’t stop mixing until fully incorporated otherwise the residual heat will cook the egg), then gently mix the blended greens through. Taste and season further if needed.
5. In a non-stick fry pan with a lid, pour 2 tbsp of olive oil into the pan and warm over a medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the egg mixture to the pan and flatten the top with a spatula. Cook gently for 5 minutes.
6. Insert a rubber spatula and run it around the edges of the pie to make sure it will slide easily from the pan. Cook for a further 5 minutes.
7. Run the spatula around the edges of the pie again. The top will still be slightly runny. For this part work fast and with confidence. Place a thick kitchen towel on the bench. Place the hot pan on top of the towel. Place a plate large enough to cover the pan face-side down over the pan. Pick the towel and pan up in one hand, and place your other hand on the top of the plate. Carefully but quickly flip the pan and plate over so that the pie is now inverted onto the plate.
8. Add another tbsp of olive oil to the pan, and carefully shake the pie back into the pan, use the spatula to help push if you need. Cook for another 3 minutes, then slide the pie onto a clean plate.
9. Serve the pie in triangular slices, warm or at room temperature. I like to place an anchovy fillet over each piece along with a bright, lemony rocket and herb salad.