Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

Featured Recipes from Ottolenghi Download the recipe for Figs with Young Pecorino and Honey Download the recipe for Pistachio and Rose Water Meringues “This is simply wonderful cooking...modern, smart, and thoughtful. I love it.” —Nigel Slater, author of Tender and Ripe “Ottolenghi and Tamimi have a genius for adding intrigue to every dish, for making spices and herbs surprising, and for combining flavors that draw us in and warm our hearts. Each recipe in this book has the mark of originality and the power to inspire.” —Dorie Greenspan, author of Around My French Table Yotam Ottolenghi is a seven-time New York Times best-selling cookbook author who contributes to the New York Times Food section and has a weekly column in The Guardian . His Ottolenghi Simple was selected as a best book of the year by NPR and the New York Times ; Jerusalem , written with Sami Tamimi, was awarded Cookbook of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals and named Best International Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation. He lives in London, where he co-owns an eponymous group of restaurants and the fine-dining destinations Nopi and Rovi. Sami Tamimi is a partner and head chef at Ottolenghi and co-author of Jerusalem: A Cookbook. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Our food impulse xa0 We wanted to start this book with the quip, “If you don’t like lemon or garlic … skip to the last page.” This might not be the funniest of jokes, but, considering lemon and garlic’s prevalence in our recipes, it is as good a place as any to start looking for a portrait of our food. Regional descriptions just don’t seem to work; there are too many influences and our food histories are long and diverse. True, we both come from a very particular part of the world—Israel/Palestine—with a unique culinary tradition. We adore the foods of our childhood: oranges from Jericho, used only to make the sweetest fresh juice; crunchy little cucumbers, full of the soil’s flavors; heavy pomegranates tumbling from trees that can no longer support their weight; figs, walnuts, wild herbs.... The list is endless. xa0 We both ate a lot of street food—literally, what the name suggests. Vendors selling their produce on pavements were not restricted to “farmers’ markets.” There was nothing embarrassing or uncouth about eating on the way to somewhere. Sami remembers frequently sitting bored in front of his dinner plate, having downed a few grilled ears of corn and a couple of busbusa (coconut and semolina) cakes bought at street stalls while out with friends. xa0 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. xa0 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.-------------------------------------------------------------------xa0 Sweet potato galettes \ makes 4 xa0 Spicy, sweet, and punchy, baked fresh and served warm, this is the sortxa0 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. xa0 xa0 3 sweet potatoes,xa0 aboutxa0xa0 12 oz / 350 g each 9 oz / 250 g puff pastry orxa0xa0 ½ recipe Rough puff pastry xa0xa0page 280 1 free-range egg, lightly beaten 6½ tbsp / 100 ml sour cream 3½ tbsp / 100 g aged goatxa0xa0 cheese 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds 1 medium-hot chile, finelyxa0xa0 chopped 1 tbsp olive oil 1 clove garlic, crushed 2 tsp chopped flat-leaf parsley coarse sea salt and freshlyxa0xa0 ground black pepper xa0 xa0 1 Preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C. Bake the sweet potatoes in their skins for 35 to 45 minutes, until they soften up but are still slightly raw in the center (check by inserting a small knife). Leave until cool enough to handle, then peel and cut into slices 1⁄8 inch / 3 mm thick. xa0 2 While the sweet potatoes are in the oven, roll out the puff pastryxa0 to about 1⁄16 inch / 2 mm thick on a lightly floured work surface. Cutxa0 out four 2¾ by 5½-inch / 7 by 14-cm rectangles and prick them all over with a fork. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper, place the pastry rectangles on it, well spaced apart, and leave to rest in the fridge for at least half an hour. xa0 3 Remove the pastry from the fridge and brush lightly with the beaten egg. Using an icing spatula, spread a thin layer of sour cream on the pastries, leaving a ¼-inch / 5-mm border all round. Arrange the potato slices on the pastry, slightly overlapping, keeping the border clear. Season with salt and pepper, crumble the goat cheese on top, and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds and chile. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pastry is cooked through. Check underneath; it should be golden brown. xa0 4 While the galettes are cooking, stir together the olive oil, garlic, parsley, and a pinch of salt. As soon as the pastries come out of the oven, brush them with this mixture. Serve warm or at room temperature. Read more