Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

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And those who are looking to elevate their vegetarian or vegan cooking will definitely find new ideas that can expand their cooking horizons and inspire new levels of taste and texture. The gorgeous photos used liberally throughout the entire book will entice and encourage all readers to try new recipes for their meat-free nights or side dishes.

He was born and raised in Jerusalem, the son of an Italian father and German mother and had always been expected to follow his father into the world of academia. However, when Yotam first came to England in 1998 he took an unexpected turn, and aged 30 decided to indulge his lifelong love of food by studying at the Cordon Bleu. My favorite recipes were the salads. I love a good salad and there was such a variety. Some of them had ingredients that I would have never thought to put together. Even days after finishing the book I catch myself thinking “oh, I could make a salad with … Sami moved to London in 1997 and worked at Baker and Spice as head chef, where he set up a traiteur section with a rich Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean spread. In 2002 he partnered with Noam Bar and Yotam Ottolenghi to set up Ottolenghi in Notting Hill. The company now has four stores and two restaurants, NOPI and ROVI, all in central London. These are the sources of our impulse. It is this profusion of overwhelming sensations that inspires our desire to stun with our food, to make you say “wow!” even if you’re not the expressive type. The colors, the textures, and finally the flavors that are unapologetically striking.Yotam began his career as a chef in the pastry department of The Capital Restaurant in Knightsbridge, moving on to become head pastry chef at Baker and Spice. It was here that he met Sami Tamimi, a Palestinian chef with whom he created ‘Ottolenghi’. It started as a small stylish deli in Notting Hill, but soon became a phenomenon. Following the publication of his first cookery book ‘Ottolenghi’, which drew on the inspirational and innovative food served at his chain of delis, his success went global. This isn't a cookbook for the beginning chef. Many of the recipes are advanced, most of them require extra preparation time, and a great deal of them use ingredients that aren't easily accessible. Spicy, sweet, and punchy, baked fresh and served warm, this is the sort of starter that can precede almost anything. The generous sour cream base and the lightness of the puff pastry carry the sweet potato easily without the risk of a carb overdose. Serve with a plain green salad.

However, what makes lemon and garlic such a great metaphor for our cooking is the boldness, the zest, the strong, sometimes controversial flavors of our childhood. The flavors and colors that shout at you, that grip you, that make everything else taste bland, pale, ordinary, and insipid. Cakes drenched with rose-water-scented sugar syrup; piles of raw green almonds on ice in the market; punchy tea in a small glass with handfuls of mint and sugar; the intense smell of charred mutton cooked on an open fire; a little shop selling twenty types of crumbly sheep and goat’s milk cheeses, kept fresh in water; apricot season, when there is enough of the fruit lying around each tree to gorge yourself, the jam pot, and the neighborhood birds. Summarises all the cool sauces, marinades and dressings that can be made in batches and stored for later use to spice up other meals. Once the broccoli is dry, toss with 3 Tbsp of the olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Place a griddle pan on high heat and leave for 4 to 5 minutes until smoking hot. Grill the broccoli in batches on the hot pan, turning to get grill marks on all sides. When ready, transfer into a bowl.And that flavor expansion works particularly well here, in the chef’s most technique-focused work yet. Flavor, you see, could just be used as a recipe book—but if you only use it that way, you’ll be missing out. Long chapter introductions teach cooking technique (browning, braising, aging, infusing) and offer advice on pairing flavors, as well as how to coax texture and oomph out of some of the chef’s favorites: mushrooms, nuts and seeds, alliums. Instead of just demonstrating how to properly perform these techniques in the safe confines of beloved recipes, Ottolenghi and Belfrage invite us to own these methods and branch out, delighting us with cross-cultural flavor combinations along the way. Pairings of ingredients can also add depth of taste, from adding sweetness to the Butternut, Orange and Sage Galette to adding acidity to Rainbow Chard with Tomatoes and Green Olives. Adding fat can add flavor to Kimchi and Gruyere Rice Patties, and chili heat can add pungency to the Spicy Berbere Ratatouille with Coconut Sauce.