WOLF’s fresh take on Italian Street Food, exciting new ideas & lemon chicken recipe

WOLF offers something a little different in form of Italian Street Food, served from their permanent store on St Paul’s Street, in the heart of Leeds’ Central Business District.
Following numerous Italian holidays and a love of the local cuisine founders Tim Entwistle and James Hoole were inspired to launch WOLF, to bring a taste of Italy back to the UK and offer something unique, healthy, tasty and fresh with a modern twist and local ingredients.
We interviewed Tim Entwistle to find out what makes them different and what future plans they have in store. They also shared with us their delicious ‘Lemon Chicken Pesto Salad’ for those who are still hanging onto summer!
History of WOLF – where did it all start and how did it get to where it is now?
WOLF was born out of a passion for Italian street food, following countless trips to Italy! We had a desire to create a new fresh and healthy dining experience that allows our customers to experience Italian flavours in minutes on their lunch break.

Where did the ideas of the dishes come from?
Street food carts in Italy inspired our dishes. We have adapted our recipes by putting a modern twist on traditional Italian street food, whilst still creating incredibly authentic Italian taste.
I notice that your website mentions your beef being from British Farms any local to Yorkshire?
We source our meat from a variety of northern farms, the closest being in Cumbria. However, we are constantly looking for new local farms to help reduce our carbon footprint. All of our fresh veg and deli items are supplied by Reynolds, who source from approved local growers and suppliers.

There is an emphasis on your food and ingredients being fresh – how do you achieve this?
Our food is freshly prepared every single day! We work very hard to ensure that you are able to taste all the ingredients used in our dishes, therefore the preparation is just as important as the ingredients. Our meat is marinated for 24 hours, allowing the flavours to infuse into the meat.
What is your most popular dish?
In Leeds, our most popular dishes are our pizzas and piadas – think Italian wraps with spaghetti, meat or vegetables, hot sauce and salad. You can customise your dish with all of the ingredients/toppings that you like. Interestingly, at our different locations, different dishes top the charts – for example, in Chiswick, our salad boxes are extremely popular. We love seeing how our different customers have their own unique tastes, up and down the UK!

Will you be at any street food events around Yorkshire this year?
We are definitely considering making an appearance soon – we just want to make sure that we find the right fit!
Any news in the pipeline that you would like to share with our Yorkshire audience?
At WOLF we are very keen to promote how healthy and fresh our food is and we are working hard on a new ‘grab and go’ range that will feature our WOLF protein boxes, new Italian salad and baguettes range. Plus, we have a truly unique corporate delivery offering called WOLF in the Office, which is a must try for all business lunches!

WOLF’s Lemon Chicken Pesto Salad with Homemade Pesto

Ingredients
Serves Two
Lemon chicken
2 Chicken breasts
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Squeeze lemon juice
½ clove of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme
1 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Basil Pesto
½ clove of garlic, chopped
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 good handfuls fresh basil, leaves picked and chopped
1 handful pine nuts, very lightly toasted
1 good handful Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Extra virgin olive oil
1 small squeeze lemon juice
1. Marinate the chicken by placing the lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper in a large bowl and mix. Place the chicken pieces in the bowl, coat each side with the marinade and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
2. Preheat oven. Place the chicken in a layer in a baking dish. Reserve the rest of the marinade. Cook for 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through, juices running clear. Have way through turn the chicken over and baste with the reserved marinade.
3. Meantime make your basil pesto. In a small food processor or with a pestle and mortar bash the garlic with a pinch of salt. Lightly toast the pine nuts to release their flavour but don’t brown them. Once ready add them to the garlic with your basil leaves. Add the Parmesan and slowly add the olive oil until you reach the consistency that you want. Season to taste.
4. Once your chicken is ready cut it up if you wish and mix it with your basil pesto dressing, then place it on a bed of salad ingredients of your choice such as seasonal mixed leaves cucumber and tomatoes. Toss all ingredients together. Enjoy!
Open 7am – 3pm Monday to Friday WOLF is a perfect spot for breakfast or lunch.
Visit WOLF’s dedicated page here for all the details.