Author Topic: Ottolenghi Recipe Sharing (Read 28953 times)

diablita · « **on:** December 30, 2014, 10:22:13 PM »

Since several of us have Ottolenghi cookbookes now ('bou received Plenty and Mags Plenty More and I have Plenty and Jerusalem) I was thinking it could be fun to make some of his recipes and share the experience in this thread. Maybe others have his cookbooks, too?

what do you think?

caribougrrl · « **Reply #1 on:** December 31, 2014, 07:35:02 AM »

This is the first time in a long time that I've been so excited about a cookbook that I know I will cook from*. I'm in!

*I got the NOMA cookbook for my birthday, and I love it. The essays are really good, the photos are beautiful. But I am not going to be cooking from it... it's like the Abstract Impressionism and Experimental Jazz of cookery.

merigayle · « **Reply #2 on:** December 31, 2014, 07:51:04 AM »

he has been on the Martha Stewart radio show i listen to and seems really interesting.

srsly · « **Reply #3 on:** December 31, 2014, 11:38:04 AM »

Quote from: caribougrrl on December 31, 2014, 07:35:02 AM

This is the first time in a long time that I've been so excited about a cookbook that I know I will cook from*. I'm in!

Yes, same here. The recipes in mine sounded and looked delicious. I love veggies but I had no idea what to do with them. This cook book will be the one that would change my dinner and lunch menus. I will be making each recipe from page one, hoping that I can find the ingredients for each of them.

diablita · « **Reply #4 on:** December 31, 2014, 08:14:18 PM »

FUN!!
you're going in order Mags?

I'm going to make the hummus from Plenty tomorrow. I make it all the time though. Maybe I'll pull another recipe to make tomorrow night as well. will report back...

diablita · « **Reply #5 on:** December 31, 2014, 08:46:14 PM »

Amazon has previews of all of the books, so you can see at least some of the recipes in each if you want to play along but don't have any of his cookbooks.

diablita · « **Reply #6 on:** January 01, 2015, 10:44:25 PM »

So I tried the Yogurt Flatbreads with Barley and Mushrooms recipe this evening from "Plenty". It did not go well.

I had a couple of issues going in: the only nice mushrooms at the local market were sliced baby bellas (not whole button), there were no shiitakes at all and they didn't have quite as many dried porcinis as I needed. But I knew I'd work around that. Then the recipe called for a small amt of preserved lemons which I didn't have so I attempted Bittman's quick 'preserved' lemon method with 1 lemon.

My main issue was that I got an SOS call from a friend this morning whose husband had an emergency that called him out of town (friend's teen on life support in another state), she was coming down with something and was looking for a playdate for her son. We were so happy to oblige. But I had less concentration for the recipe when we returned from hiking.

I dumped the water from the pearled barley before realizing it needed to go into the mushroom ragout to create a stew. And then while distracted I dumped the bowl of most of the 'preserved' lemon instead of the little bowl with the tiny bit that was supposed to go into the recipe.

It tastes like a giant lemon. I picked it all out but the acid acts fast.

So instead I put the mushrooms away, left the dough in the fridge and will go out and get more mushrooms tomorrow to hopefully counter-balance all that lemon. And then I'll do the recipe again another day because it has potential.

diablita · « **Reply #7 on:** January 01, 2015, 10:44:55 PM »

Now I have 2 1/2 cups of dried garbanzos soaking to make his hummus tomorrow. I've made it before, it's delicious.

Dagstag v 2.0 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 02, 2015, 09:48:32 AM »

Who or what is Ottolenghi?

Run Amok · « **Reply #9 on:** January 02, 2015, 12:35:11 PM »

He's a chef.

'bou and I both made this one to great reviews.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Black-Pepper-Tofu-365129

It was quite a process. Chopping 8 peppers, and 12 shallots, and crushing 12 garlic cloves, and chopping 3tbs of ginger, and griding 5 tbs of peppercorns-- phew! that's alotta prep work!

Next time I'd toss the ginger and garlic in the food processor. Then pulse in the peppers and shallots. Everything cooked down, so I don't think you really gained anything by sticking to precise knifework in this case.

It's scary-- but it all comes out nice & balanced! Yum!

I'd like to mix in some sichuna peppercorns to the mix next time. They have kind of a "numbing" heat.

diablita · « **Reply #10 on:** January 02, 2015, 02:15:06 PM »

Here's a cute article on Ottolenghi and one of his chefs and co-authors, Sami Tamimi

I love it that Sami has Palestinian roots. I've read a few articles that show that the two have a personal and working relationship that has nothing to do with the political conflict going on, as it should be.

diablita · « **Reply #11 on:** January 02, 2015, 02:19:19 PM »

In the meantime, I made the hummus part of the hummus and ful recipe and as always, it's very delicious.

Here is the recipe posted by a food blogger:
http://joanne-eatswellwithothers.com/2013/06/recipe-hummus-with-ful.html

I didn't make the ful. Instead we'll eat the hummus with pita chips tomorrow.

diablita · « **Reply #12 on:** January 02, 2015, 02:21:03 PM »

I found many of his recipes here:
http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes

I have made the Asparagus with Capers and Egg and it's delicious: simple and delicious. I would only make it with really good in-season asparagus.

Run Amok · « **Reply #13 on:** January 02, 2015, 02:41:44 PM »

also, here: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/yotam-ottolenghi-recipes

and here: http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?search=ottolenghi&x=0&y=0

and here: http://www.yummly.com/recipes/ottolenghi

and here: http://www.yummly.com/page/ottolenghi

diablita · « **Reply #14 on:** January 02, 2015, 03:00:14 PM »

I'm taking a pear and Parmesan salad to our friend's house for Shabbat (along with challah) and was planning to make a Dijon vinaigrette.

I had all of the ingredients in hand for his lemon and maple dressing (from one of the links above) so made that instead. It's delicious! I did add the Dijon mustard.

diablita · « **Reply #15 on:** January 02, 2015, 03:01:16 PM »

Dagstag v 2.0 · « **Reply #16 on:** January 02, 2015, 04:52:40 PM »

I'll have to check out this character...these recipes sound delicious!

srsly · « **Reply #17 on:** January 03, 2015, 12:32:54 AM »

Quote from: diablita on December 31, 2014, 08:14:18 PM

FUN!!
you're going in order Mags?

I'm going to make the hummus from Plenty tomorrow. I make it all the time though. Maybe I'll pull another recipe to make tomorrow night as well. will report back...

I thought that i would, then I saw that each chapter is organized to certain types of dishes. For example, the first chapter is all about tossed salad. The next one, IIRC, is about simmered stuff, then roasted stuff, and then noodles or pastas, etc.

So I decided I will be making a dish from each chapter in order. I'll start with making some pomegranate molasses for the dressing of a tossed pomegranate salad that involves three types of tomatoes (the very first recipe in the book). But I'll probably use only two kinds (grape tomatoes and plum) since the tomatoes are available only in the summertime.

BTW I noticed that the serving quantities of most of the recipes are rather large. I'd have to halve them unless I'm expecting company.

RA, I will make that tofu dish you posted when either of our kids comes to visit. Thanks for sharing.

Run Amok · « **Reply #18 on:** January 04, 2015, 12:05:06 AM »

This one looks good. Maybe I'll try it this weekhttp://origin.stag.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cauliflower-Cake-51254830

caribougrrl · « **Reply #19 on:** January 04, 2015, 03:27:49 PM »

we had some people over last night and I made the tempura from Plenty as a starter... mostly because I wanted to try the very unusual sounding cardamom-cilantro-lime-y dipping sauce

the batter as written was way too thin, even for a tempura, so I had to bolster it with additional cornstarch and SR flour, but otherwise the recipe worked perfectly (including not using a thermometer for the deep fry)... the sauce was delicious... at first I thought I couldn't taste the cardamom, but interestingly it really came out with the beet root tempura

if I'd seen the Guardian publication of the recipe: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/11/seasonal-vegetable-tempura before I made it, I would have put nigella seed in the batter, that would be astoundingly good with the sauce

at any rate, mixed veg tempura and cilantro sauce:

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Author Topic: Ottolenghi Recipe Sharing (Read 28953 times)