Agnolotti with braised brisket, mushrooms, cavolo nero and gremolata by Will Cowper of OTTO Brisbane

Will Cowper of Brisbane’s OTTO explains his love of Italian food and a special filled pasta dish he’s famed for.

Will Cowper, head chef of OTTO Brisbane. Picture: Nikki To

A lot of chefs wander. From country to country, city to city and job to job. It’s a mobile trade. But some actually stick around.

Will Cowper, who runs the kitchen team at Brisbane’s OTTO, is one of the latter.

In fact he really has worked for only two restaurants in his entire 15-year career. Cowper started cooking as an apprentice in 2005 at OTTO Sydney, did a quick stint at Canberra institution Ottoman Cuisine, before heading back to his hometown and his old kitchen at OTTO in 2008. And there he stayed, kind of.

In 2015, Cowper was promoted to his first head chef position launching OTTO Brisbane.

“After spending most of my career working up through the ranks at OTTO on Woolloomooloo Wharf, I jumped at the opportunity to be the head chef position at Fink’s first interstate restaurant,” says Cowper, referring to the restaurant group that includes Quay, Bennelong and Firedoor, among others.

And there he has stayed, rewarded last year with relocation of the restaurant from indifferent CBD office tower premises to the purpose-built riverside site that had been Stokehouse Q. Now we’re talking.

“I’ve always favoured Mediterranean cooking; my mother is Greek, which undoubtedly has something to do with it.

“But I love to look at old-world Italian recipes, find out what’s at their core and what can I do with them; what I can take away or add to put a fresh spin on a particular recipe and make it something guests will enjoy.”

While Italian cooking is deeply rooted in tradition, he says, there are so many variations and nuances between the regions, and changes that have been made over the decades, that make it a really interesting cuisine.

“It’s not all old-school methods and red sauce.

“We take Italian inspiration, pair it with amazing Australian ingredients and use them to create what we think is an Italian cuisine to suit the Queensland climate – specifically with the backdrop of the Brisbane River in South Bank.

“I feel really lucky to have two homes – Sydney, where I grew up, and Brisbane, where I’ve lived for six years now – and it’s allowed me to develop close relationships with local producers, and the smaller the radius those ingredients are sourced from, the better.”

Cowper describes his approach as simple: source the finest ingredients and let them speak for themselves.

The backstory

This dish of handmade filled pasta, he says, is highly representative of who he is as a chef: his love for Italian cooking; the celebration of seasonality and provenance; and the fact it is “comfort on a plate”.

Agnolotti is a type of pasta typical of the Piedmont region made with small pieces of pasta dough in sheets, folded over a filling of vegetables or meat; in this case, brisket.

“Agnolotti is one of my favourite pasta shapes because the little pockets (created from pinching the dough) catch the sauce,” Cowper says.

“I always have a filled pasta on the menu but it’s perfect for the home cook; there’s nothing more soothing than hand-making pasta and this one, while you’ll certainly feel the satisfaction of mastering the shape, won’t be your undoing.

“Also, the actual braising of the brisket is incredibly comforting,” the chef adds.

“So many people are afraid of brisket as a cut because they simply don’t know how to cook it; it needs to be low and slow. Just enjoy the process and don’t hurry this beauty along.”

The produce

“When I arrived in Brisbane in late 2015 I struggled to find the best of the best local produce,” Cowper says. “It seemed so much of it used to go from Queensland or far north NSW down to Sydney and then maybe come back up again, and I just couldn’t understand why.”

In January 2017 Cowper found the solution he was looking for with beef when he started working closely with what he describes as one of the “best producers in the country”, Rangers Valley, a New England Tablelands beef feedlot that specialises in Black Angus and various Wagyu crosses.

“The feed mix of wheat, barley, and corn is carefully composed to ensure healthy weight gain,” he says. “Patience is important since the cattle are on site for the better part of a year. In saying that, your butcher should be able to source good cuts of brisket; simply ask them for a 100 per cent Black Angus, with a marble score of 3+ is always a good option.”

The method

Brisket comes from the breast section of the animal, under the first five ribs. It is a large cut that is sold boneless and usually is quite a hefty size. Because cattle do not have collar bones, the muscles that make up the brisket cut support about 60 per cent of the body weight, which requires a significant amount of connective tissue.

“The meat must be cooked correctly to tenderise it,” Cowper says. “This flavour-packed cut is often cured or smoked, but it’s also one of the best cuts for braising and slow cooking – you just simply have to know how to treat it so that the collagen in the connective tissues gelatinises, resulting in a tenderness.”

His firm advice to all who tackle his dish: don’t be intimidated: “It may look like a few components but they all feed into each other. Just pour yourself a glass of something delicious and relax into the recipe. It won’t trick you up.”

The twist

As many of us will have noticed, the price of beef prime cuts has gone through the roof. Now is a good time to expand your repertoire. “Brisket is not an expensive cut; in fact, some may turn their noses up at it and consider it as a secondary cut,” Cowper says. “But when the produce is good and it’s handled in the correct way (both in the breaking down of the animal and how it is cooked), the cut itself is a huge factor in creating the flavours and textures of this dish.”

The price

$35 for entree or $55 for a main at OTTO Ristorante.

Get ready to tuck in to Will Cowper’s agnolotti at home. Picture: Nikki To

The recipe

AGNOLOTTI, OTTO RESERVE BRISKET, MUSHROOMS, CAVOLO NERO, GREMOLATA

NB: This can be served as an entree or main with five pieces per person should you be serving four.

Ingredients

For 20 pieces agnolotti (see below)

100g gremolata (see below)

confit garlic (see below)

50g pecorino

150g mushrooms (pine or slippery jacks or shiitake)

1 bunch cavolo nero

100ml white wine

50g salted butter

Agnolotti dough

500g 00 pasta flour

150g whole eggs (about 3 large eggs)

125g egg yolks (about 10 yolks of large eggs)

Make a well with the flour in a large bowl. Whisk the eggs and place in the well. Stir the eggs into the flour, with a fork first, and then with your hands. Knead the pasta dough with your hands until it is smooth and workable, not too soft, and not too hard. Knead the dough with the heel of one hand, pushing it away from you and folding it back towards you. Do this for 5 minutes, wrap the dough with cling film and rest to side for 15-30 minutes before rolling out.

Brisket

500g brisket

1 x small carrot, diced

1 x small brown onion, diced

1 stick celery, diced

1 small leek, diced

2L veal stock (source from any good deli)

400ml white wine

¼ bunch thyme

1 sprig rosemary

2 cloves garlic, smashed

1 tsp black peppercorns

Heat a large pot until smoking. Add a little oil and seal the brisket on both sides. Remove the brisket once golden and keep aside.

To the same pot, add the carrots, onion, celery and leek in that order making sure to make each golden brown before adding the next. Add the thyme, rosemary, garlic, peppercorns and cook until you can smell the aromas of the herbs. Place the brisket back in the pot and add the white wine, reduce by two thirds. Cover the brisket with veal stock and bring to the boil, once boiling turn down to a low simmer and cook for about three hours. Make sure to skim any fat from the top every 15 minutes.

Once the brisket is tender remove from the pot and place in a mixing bowl. Strain the stock through a fine chinois, keep 500ml of stock for the final stage and reduce the rest by half for the mix. With the warm brisket follow the steps for the mix.

Brisket Mix

500g braised brisket

50g eschalots, diced

125g bone marrow, smoked

50g grana padano, grated

¼ bunch thyme, picked

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

50g salted butter

200ml brisket stock

4 cloves garlic, confit (see below)

Cook the eschalots in a pot with the butter, make sure not to colour. Add the eschalots to the brisket and add all the other ingredients. Mix thoroughly until all combined and allow to cool.

Gremolata

1 bunch parsley (finely chopped)

2 lemons (zested)

1 clove garlic (finely chopped)

100ml extra virgin olive oil

Place all ingredients into a bowl, mix well and put in the fridge.

Agnolotti

Roll out the pasta into sheets of 2mm thickness and around 30cm in length.

Using a tablespoon place a full spoon dot of your filling in 5cm intervals along the pasta. Ideally you should fit 5 per pasta sheet.

Carefully fold over the pasta and push down to seal, making a tube. Trim away any excess pasta.

Use your fingers to pinch between the filling to seal and create pockets.

Fold the pasta forwards to make a flap then use a pasta wheel for a fluted effect or a sharp knife to separate each pocket.

Place on a tray with baking paper and put in the fridge until ready to cook.

Confit garlic

4 cloves garlic

100ml olive oil

Place garlic in olive oil and simmer on lowest possible heat for approximately half an hour until soft. Put aside until making the sauce.

Sauce

In a large pan add the olive oil from the confit garlic and cook the mushrooms for two minutes, once the mushrooms are half-cooked add the confit garlic and crush with a fork. When the mushrooms are cooked deglaze the pan with white wine and add 250ml of brisket stock and reduce.

To cook the agnolotti, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil and cook for 2-3 minutes. Using a spider remove the pasta from the pot and place in the sauce. Add the chopped cavolo nero and cook for one minute before adding the butter. Toss the agnolotti and melt and combine the butter to the sauce and serve.

Finish with a teaspoon of gremolata for one serve spread over all the agnolotti and grate some pecorino.