Ottolenghi Love

It was recently announced that Ottolenghi's Jerusalem was the Cookbook of the Year at the Guild of Food Writer's Awards. Last night as I was searching for inspiration of what to cook for dinner, I came to the realisation that the three books by Yotam Ottolenghi are on highest rotation at my house.

It started quietly a few years ago with the self titled Ottolenghi, published in 2008. Even though I didn’t know the restaurants in London, it soon became clear that they would be somewhere I would like to visit very much.  

I was totally drawn to the beautiful, fresh food and the gorgeous photos of dishes sparkling with pomegranate seeds.   I sat up in bed and marked page after page, trying to decide what to cook first. I don’t remember what I did cook first but I know I dazzled my friends with the Marinated Lamb with Coriander and Honey (p104).  The combination of flavours, sweet and sour, transforms the lamb into something totally delicious.  Next, was the Roasted Aubergine with Saffron Yoghurt (p29), scattered with pomegranate seeds and dressed with a golden saffron yoghurt dressing, it is one of the prettiest and tastiest dishes I have cooked.

My Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Fresh Figs (p26)

What followed was a frenzy of cooking, we took the Ottolenghi book on our summer beach holiday with us.  We already had a good supply of sumac, saffron and zatar but went out and bought pomegranate molasses, sour cherries, quinoa and mograbiah, a larger version of israeli cous-cous.  We chopped, we baked, we cooked from this book and still we couldn’t get enough of it. I read the introduction, something I admit I rarely do with a cookbook, and discovered the fascinating history of the two chefs behind the Ottolenghi restaurants.  Yotam Ottolenghi grew up in Jerusalem, the son of German and Italian parents.  Sammi Tamimi was raised in the old city of Jerusalem, a small closed space, home to Muslims, Arab Christians and Armenians.  Two men from two different worlds in the same city.  Their young lives crossed paths many times and finally they both arrived in London and after lots of discussion they decided to open Ottolenghi the restaurant. The rest is history.

Sammi Tamimi (left) and Yotam Ottolenghi 

Since 2006 Yotam Ottolenghi has been a regular contributor to the Guardian, writing a column called The New Vegetarian. In 2010, a collection of recipes was published from this column in Plenty.

We went on another family holiday and cooked a record seventeen dishes from Plenty in less than a week. We cooked Sweet Potato Cakes (p 32), Quinoa and grilled Sourdough Salad (p128), noodles (Warm Glass Noodles with Edamame Beans), soups (Hot Yoghurt and Broad Bean), salads (Barley and Pomegranate) and polenta. After several trips to India, I have developed a fondness for spicy, savoury breakfasts so my favourite was the Coconut Rice with Sambal and Okra (p230).

Plenty is an excellent vegetarian cookbook, organised by popular ingredients with chapters on the Mighty Aubergine, Green Beans, Brassicas, Pulses and Tomatoes. It may not be for everyone but we love it a lot.

In 2012 Jerusalem was published. It was our best selling cookbook for the year, no small achievement given that it was published in September. Jerusalem is a homage to the city of Sami and Yotam's birth. There are fabulous photos of daily life in the city along with recipes that demonstrate the vibrant mix of people that make up this city's population.

Once again, it is hard to choose my favourites but I have had big successes with the Chermoula aubergine with bulgar and yoghurt (p 59) and Hummus Kawarma (lamb) with lemon sauce (p118). I think the most dazzling triumph was with the Maqluba (p 127), which is a big savoury pie made with layers of tomato, fried eggplant, chicken, fragrant spices and rice which are cooked all together in a pot and then tipped out like a cake onto a serving platter. This is definitely something to cook for a gathering of friends, there is nothing like the coos of appreciation to make you feel pretty pleased with your effort.

For those who are time poor, or not inclined to cook, there is always the DVD of Ottolenghi's Mediterranean Feast a brilliant four part series that recently aired on SBS.

It looks like it might be time to overcome my fear of baking and try the Pistachio and Rosewater Meringues or book a ticket to London to try this sensational food first hand.