I began cooking during primary school when an injury kept me out of sports and most of all other (fun) activities with friends for quite a while! On Sundays, while my brother was playing soccer, my mom called me up and "employed" me as "First Risotto Officer" - my job was to continuously stirring the risotto - for 20 minutes! Even though I really started out as "commis", doing jobs like stirring the risotto, I grew to like cooking.
For a long time, all my signature dishes had quite a traditional appeal, e.g. fresh pasta with a lemon-olives sauce. I would have called my style "pan-european, traditional cuisine", predominantly Italian / French.
About 4 years ago, we then received a cooking book from Yotam Ottolenghi from my now parents-in-law for Christmas. What a gift! At first, I also thought, yeaah, I will browse through it, try a few recipes and then it will end up in the shelf...!
Nope - we turned into Ottolenghi aficionados.
Yotam Ottolenghi - food style and cooking books
First a few words about Yotam Ottolenghi. Ottolenghi is a Israeli-English chef, living in London. He actually started out with a different career, studying comparative literature before turning his ambitions upside down and moving on to study French cooking at the well reputed "Le Cordon Bleu" in London.
What do you need to know about Ottolenghi's cooking style?
First, you have to get familiar with a few key ingredients of Ottolenghi from the Middle East - Za'atar, Harissa, Pomegranate molasse, black garlic and the list goes on! Don't get scared, most of the ingredients, you nowadays find in a well-sorted supermarket. And I tell you, it's worth the search and money.
Overall, Ottolenghi's cuisine draws on his roots in Isreal and often foregrounds vegetables. Even though his books are not necessarily vegetarian, vegetables often take a center stage in the recipes of Ottolenghi - next to its abundant use of the aforementioned Middle Eastern spices and ingredients. My wife and I actually quite cut back on our meat consumption - not on purpose - we just cook Ottolenghi!
Which book of Ottolenghi should you buy?
I don't want to give a full literature of Ottolenghi's books. I just want to highlight my three favourite books:
With this book, it all started. I already got attracted to the introduction (rarely happens) where Ottolenghi writes about Jerusalem food, it's history, passion and the specific products. All illustrated with remarkable pictures.
Jerusalem features all kinds of recipes, from vegetables to soups, to meat, to fish and sweets/desserts.
Enclosed a few of my favorites from Ottolenghi's Jerusalem:
Lamb meatballs with barberries, yoghurt and herbs Never really tried to make lamb meatballs so far - and I think I was not the only one as our butcher was also not really familiar with this request. But well worth it - it's a treat! Especially the sauce is so savoury, so rich with the shallots and dried figs!
Burnt aubergine & mograbieh soup You may wonder what mograbieh is? It's a form of little pasta balls. If you don't find it, just replace it by fregola, the Sardinian equivalent. This hefty soup makes a great dish, especially now when it's getting colder outside! I tell you you won't miss meat for a second!
It didn't took as long and we were heading out into the city to buy a further book of Ottolenghi. Again, it features again quite a broad selection of recipes, encompassing vegetables, meat & fish and bread & desserts.
Enclosed a few of my favorites from Ottolenghi's The Cookbook
Roast chicken with sumach, za'atar and lemon Combines two key ingredients of Ottolenghi - sumach and za'atar. Will make you look differently at the classical roasted chicken! In addition, it's fairly easy to prepare; a dish you can also consider when having guests as you can prepare it in advance and then just put it in the oven for roasting. I don't like to be away all the time when having guests - this works well with this recipe.
Broiled Mackarel with green olive, celery and raisin salsa Ottolenghi also pairs well with fish recipes. Sounds kind of like conflicting and way too many flavours...! But I tell you, it works - you will get a wonderful tasty fish dish out of it!
Simple It's one of the newest book by Ottolenghi. In this book, Ottolenghi strives for recipes that are still distinctively different (or Ottolenghi) but are simple in at least one way (e.g. speedy preparation, short list of ingredients etc. We are again quite happy with our latest addition! We actually often cook 2-3 recipes and then eat it as mezze.
Enclosed a few of my favorites from Ottolenghi's Simple
Brussels sprout with burnt butter and black garlic Brussels sprout is not really a highly ranked vegetable with quite a lot of people. But if you like it (I do!), then this will be an amazing recipe. One important note: You really have to use black garlic (in its essence, it's fermented garlic cloves), regular garlic won't do the job!
Pappardelle with rose harissa, black olives and capers An easy pasta dish, not much time to prepare. But also a distinctive pasta dish - mainly attributable to the harissa! One of our favourite recipe's when we return home late from a day in the mountains skiing.
A few final words
With Ottolenghi, we discovered vastly different flavors and combinations. It's quite a journey but well worth it. In our case, one of the outcomes is also a reduction in meat consumption. As said, not on purpose, the vegetarian recipes are just so dazzling.
The books also make great Christmas gifts. After all, that's the way it started out with my wife and myself. I made it a Christmas gift for my Mom and my sister about two years ago and both use it on a regular basis as well!
Which book to buy then as a Christmas gift?
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