Exploring a Cookbook: FLAVOR by Yotam Ottolenghi

I have cooked from several of his other books, Jerusalem and Plenty most frequently. I picked this one up early in the Pandemic and for no particular reason, it's just sat on the shelf.

Part of the intro states "These recipes are about getting big flavors on the table in much less time and with, proportionately, much less work."

I am looking forward to seeing if I believe that to be true. These will be rated on a scale of 1-5. 5 being "easy-peasy, no problem to prepare on a weeknight and/or full of flavor". 1 being "holy cow, don't even think about doing this on a weeknight and/or not worth the trouble flavor-wise."

If you have this book, please comment. Let me know your favorites and/or dislikes. Better yet, cook along with me and post here.

I began with a dish that is a side, not a main - White Bean Mash with Garlic Aioli.

In my opinion, this dish requires some advance planning and breaking up of tasks if making/serving on a weeknight. Alternately, it could be made on a weekend to be served up to a few days later.

Ingredients:

Dry Cannellini Beans
Onion
Garlic
Rosemary
Thyme
Green Chile
Olive Oil
Dijon Mustard
Anchovy Fillets
Lemon Juice
Dill
Aleppo Chile Flakes

I soaked the beans on Tuesday. Wednesday I made the garlic oil, cooked and pureed the beans, and made the aioli.









Tonight I brought everything up to room temperature, dressed the 1 cup of reserved cooked beans and assembled everything.





How was it?

***sigh***

A solid "1". It was visually appealing and I did enjoy the contrasting textures. Surprisingly, what was lacking was FLAVOR. Despite ample seasoning and a day to meld in the refrigerator, nothing popped. Overall it was pretty flat. Jonathan didn't like it at all. Audrey and I ate our portions but not enthusiastically. I tossed the leftovers, which I almost never do.

Hopefully, it's all uphill from here. I am planning to try an entree next.

The Ultimate Roasting Pan Ragu

I was very intrigued by this recipe.

In the prelude he states their mission was to create the best meatless ragu and that it took quite a bit of R & D. "There's no denying the list of ingredients is long, but these are all here to give the ragu it's fantastic umaminess." OK, I'm always up for umami.

Ingredients:

Carrots
Onion
Oyster Mushrooms
Dried Porcini Mushrooms
Garlic
Plum Tomatoes
Olive Oil
White Miso Paste
Rose Harissa - Not something I'd ever heard of much less had on hand. I thought about leaving it out but caved and Amazoned it the day before.

Tomato Paste
Soy Sauce
Cumin Seeds, crushed
Dried Lentils
Pearl Barley
Vegetable or Chicken Stock
Coconut Cream
Red Wine (I had an open bottle of Primitivo Di Manduria)
Water, Salt & Pepper

Veggies are chopped fine in batches via a food processor. Or, of course you can do it by hand. Sometimes I'm in the mood to flex my knife skills, this time I opted to go the machine route. The recipe is time consuming enough in terms of oven time, so I wanted to get the veg prep done ASAP.

The chopped veg go in a roasting pan along with the olive oil, miso, harissa, tomato paste, soy, & cumin seeds. You roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, stir, and roast another 20 minutes. Here's what it looked like at that point:


Reduce oven temp to 375 degrees. Then, add lentils, barley, stock, coconut cream, wine, water and salt & pepper.


Cover tightly with foil and roast another 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes. Then rest for 15 minutes.


This sauce is recommended with pasta, polenta, or as the base for shepherd's pie or lasagna. I opted to toss it with pappardelle.


Due to oven time, this is not something I would consider making on a weeknight. So I'm rating this one on effort to flavor.

Ultimate? I can't say that I have much to compare it to but this was pretty darn tasty. I eat vegetarian about 95% of the time. I'm not into processed imitation meat so this style of cooking is right up my alley. Rating this one a "2".

LynnB wrote:The Ultimate Roasting Pan Ragu

I was very intrigued by this recipe.

In the prelude he states their mission was to create the best meatless ragu and that it took quite a bit of R & D. "There's no denying the list of ingredients is long, but these are all here to give the ragu it's fantastic umaminess." OK, I'm always up for umami.

Ingredients:

Carrots
Onion
Oyster Mushrooms
Dried Porcini Mushrooms
Garlic
Plum Tomatoes
Olive Oil
White Miso Paste
Rose Harissa - Not something I'd ever heard of much less had on hand. I thought about leaving it out but caved and Amazoned it the day before.

Tomato Paste
Soy Sauce
Cumin Seeds, crushed
Dried Lentils
Pearl Barley
Vegetable or Chicken Stock
Coconut Cream
Red Wine (I had an open bottle of Primitivo Di Manduria)
Water, Salt & Pepper

Veggies are chopped fine in batches via a food processor. Or, of course you can do it by hand. Sometimes I'm in the mood to flex my knife skills, this time I opted to go the machine route. The recipe is time consuming enough in terms of oven time, so I wanted to get the veg prep done ASAP.

The chopped veg go in a roasting pan along with the olive oil, miso, harissa, tomato paste, soy, & cumin seeds. You roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, stir, and roast another 20 minutes. Here's what it looked like at that point:


Reduce oven temp to 375 degrees. Then, add lentils, barley, stock, coconut cream, wine, water and salt & pepper.


Cover tightly with foil and roast another 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes. Then rest for 15 minutes.


This sauce is recommended with pasta, polenta, or as the base for shepherd's pie or lasagna. I opted to toss it with pappardelle.


Due to oven time, this is not something I would consider making on a weeknight. So I'm rating this one on effort to flavor.

Ultimate? I can't say that I have much to compare it to but this was pretty darn tasty. I eat vegetarian about 95% of the time. I'm not into processed imitation meat so this style of cooking is right up my alley. Rating this one a "2".

Editing because I failed at my own rating system. I meant to give this a “4”. It was very good, but not great. It also looks a lot more dry in the picture than it actually was.

Going to try a tofu dish sometime next week…

This sauce looks interesting but, as you point out, seems like a bit of work. Do you think a large batch could be made and frozen, or would the recipe not lend itself to that? I feel like I would be more inclined to do this if I felt like I could get a few future meals out of it.

Northcenter Joe wrote:This sauce looks interesting but, as you point out, seems like a bit of work. Do you think a large batch could be made and frozen, or would the recipe not lend itself to that? I feel like I would be more inclined to do this if I felt like I could get a few future meals out of it.

Hi Joe,

I used a little more than half of the ragu for 1# of pappardelle and did freeze the remainder. I’m thinking I’d like to try it next with some type of polenta.

That is a really interesting ingredient list. Would you say the texture was similar to a Bolognese sauce? What was the dominant flavor in the end?

- zorkmead

zorkmead wrote:That is a really interesting ingredient list. Would you say the texture was similar to a Bolognese sauce? What was the dominant flavor in the end?

- zorkmead

Hi, yes, the texture was definitely similar, as was the aroma. I would say it had a bit more “earthiness” due to the lentils.

Thank you for replying and sharing your thoughts - this thread is really interesting!

- zorkmead

Going to London in June and will be stopping @ a couple of his places.

Jazzfood wrote:Going to London in June and will be stopping @ a couple of his places.

Friends of mine were recently at NOPI on my recommendation, they were quite pleased.

Have main room and the next pm w/Fergus (it's my bday). We'll check out one of his deli's as well. I like his books and only realized a few days ago he's in London (where we're going) so made the res. If you have more intel, pls dispense.

zorkmead wrote:Thank you for replying and sharing your thoughts - this thread is really interesting!

- zorkmead

Thanks for engaging - I appreciate it!

Last week I made "Noor's Black Lime Tofu."

A caveat - I did not follow his preparation method for the tofu. I am not a fan of pan-frying/deep frying tofu on my stovetop. Unless Mr. Ottolenghi's going to swing by later and do the cleanup, I'm going to do my usual oven baked, no-mess method: Toss previously pressed tofu cubes in olive oil, soy sauce, and cornstarch. Spread out on a sheet pan lined with nonstick foil. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, turn over and bake 15 more minutes. FYI, I used 2 tablespoons of oil total while he called for 2 1/2 cups of sunflower oil for stovetop frying.

The rest of the recipe was prepared to his specifications. Well, with one more exception, *see below.

Ingredients:
Apple Cider Vinegar
Sugar
Red Onion
Sunflower Oil (I didn't use this.)
2 blocks Extra-Firm Tofu
Cornstarch
Yellow Onions
Garlic
Olive Oil
Cumin Seeds
Dried Black Limes - (I had these on hand. An acquaintance from Iraq tipped me off to this ingredient years ago. We were discussing a soup I had made and he suggested adding a couple of these to the pot next time. I find them a welcome addition in many middle eastern-style soups/stews.)
Tomato Paste
Water
Black Pepper
1 cup chopped Parsley (*I left this out. I just couldn't imagine it's purpose here. Possibly a mistake on my part but I'll live with it.)
Baby Spinach

Step one is doing a quick pickle of the thinly sliced red onion.



Next, prepare the tofu, which I have described above.




While your onion is pickling and your tofu is frying/baking, he instructs you to get out your food processor and mince the yellow onions and garlic. This was a case where I felt the machine was unnecessary so I did it by hand. This mixture gets sauteed in olive oil for about 10 minutes.



Next, add the crushed cumin seeds, ground black lime powder, and tomato paste. After a few minutes add water, sugar, salt & pepper.







Simmer about 6 minutes then add the tofu, followed by the spinach in increments, stirring until wilted.



Serve with rice or warm flatbreads. I went with jasmine rice.



Serve topped with the pickled onion.



This was good, but not great. A solid "3". Enjoyed it, but I won't rush to make it again.

LynnB wrote:Last week I made "Noor's Black Lime Tofu."

A caveat - I did not follow his preparation method for the tofu. I am not a fan of pan-frying/deep frying tofu on my stovetop. Unless Mr. Ottolenghi's going to swing by later and do the cleanup, I'm going to do my usual oven baked, no-mess method: Toss previously pressed tofu cubes in olive oil, soy sauce, and cornstarch. Spread out on a sheet pan lined with nonstick foil. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, turn over and bake 15 more minutes. FYI, I used 2 tablespoons of oil total while he called for 2 1/2 cups of sunflower oil for stovetop frying . . .

LOL! I really like how you made this your own, both in technique and ingredients. That said, you don't think the parsley would have added anything or changed the dish? I find it pretty potent, especially flat leaf in that quantity.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

LynnB wrote:Last week I made "Noor's Black Lime Tofu."

A caveat - I did not follow his preparation method for the tofu. I am not a fan of pan-frying/deep frying tofu on my stovetop. Unless Mr. Ottolenghi's going to swing by later and do the cleanup, I'm going to do my usual oven baked, no-mess method: Toss previously pressed tofu cubes in olive oil, soy sauce, and cornstarch. Spread out on a sheet pan lined with nonstick foil. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, turn over and bake 15 more minutes. FYI, I used 2 tablespoons of oil total while he called for 2 1/2 cups of sunflower oil for stovetop frying . . .

LOL! I really like how you made this your own, both in technique and ingredients. That said, you don't think the parsley would have added anything or changed the dish? I find it pretty potent, especially flat leaf in that quantity.

=R=

I’m sure it would have changed it. I just don’t care much for warm/hot parsley unless it’s completely puréed/blended. For this recipe he has you rough chop it and stir it in with the tofu prior to adding the spinach. I didn’t think I would like the texture/mouthfeel. Solely a personal preference. Would love to hear from someone who made the dish with the parsley. Who knows, perhaps something magical happens and the dish would have been elevated to a “5.”

LynnB wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

LynnB wrote:Last week I made "Noor's Black Lime Tofu."

A caveat - I did not follow his preparation method for the tofu. I am not a fan of pan-frying/deep frying tofu on my stovetop. Unless Mr. Ottolenghi's going to swing by later and do the cleanup, I'm going to do my usual oven baked, no-mess method: Toss previously pressed tofu cubes in olive oil, soy sauce, and cornstarch. Spread out on a sheet pan lined with nonstick foil. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, turn over and bake 15 more minutes. FYI, I used 2 tablespoons of oil total while he called for 2 1/2 cups of sunflower oil for stovetop frying . . .

LOL! I really like how you made this your own, both in technique and ingredients. That said, you don't think the parsley would have added anything or changed the dish? I find it pretty potent, especially flat leaf in that quantity.

=R=

I’m sure it would have changed it. I just don’t care much for warm/hot parsley unless it’s completely puréed/blended. For this recipe he has you rough chop it and stir it in with the tofu prior to adding the spinach. I didn’t think I would like the texture/mouthfeel. Solely a personal preference. Would love to hear from someone who made the dish with the parsley. Who knows, perhaps something magical happens and the dish would have been elevated to a “5.”

Gotcha. You have to make it comfortable for yourself. And yeah, that'd have to be some damned magical parsley to alter it that much . . . kind of reminds me of a Grateful Dead show I once attended!

=R=

I definitely think it would’ve added a freshness component since it called for a whole cup—I would probably have subbed fresh celery leaf (especially Chinese celery—I often use that in place of parsley) or even cilantro. Without something like that, I think it would be a very different dish.

What else do you use the Black dried lime for? I had never heard of that ingredient until I read about it in this thread!

- zorkmead

zorkmead wrote:What else do you use the Black dried lime for? I had never heard of that ingredient until I read about it in this thread!

- zorkmead

Personally, I use them as seasoning in some soups & stews. You can leave them whole and then remove them before serving, the same way you might use a whole cinnamon stick or cardamom pods. Or, you can grind them to a powder and sprinkle that in. It has a tang similar to sumac but with a bright, citrus-y finish.

Last night's dinner was Chickpea Pancakes with Mango Pickle Yogurt.

Ingredients:

Pancakes:
Olive Oil
Fresh Curry Leaves
Minced Ginger
Garlic
Green Chile (I used Finger)
Green Onions
Chickpea Flour
Cornstarch
Baking Powder
Sparkling Water
Apple Cider Vinegar
Ground Cumin
Garam Masala
Salt

Mango Pickle Yogurt:
Greek-Style Yogurt
Fresh Mango
Hot Mango Pickle
Lime Zest
Salt

Sunflower Oil (for frying the pancakes)
Lime Wedges

You begin by frying the curry leaves in the olive oil. This is to flavor the oil and to have the leaves as garnish. Drain the leaves on paper towel.


Use the flavored oil to gently fry the ginger, garlic, chile, and green onions. Let cool.

While that mixture is cooling, combine the chickpea flour, cornstarch, baking powder, sparkling water, vinegar, cumin, garam masala, and salt. Stir in the cooled onion/ginger mixture and let rest for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, make the yogurt mixture by stirring all the ingredients together.


When I returned to the pancake batter it was very thick.

As he states it should be pourable, I wound up gradually adding quite a bit more sparkling water. Over the course of making the pancakes, I would say about 3/4 cup.


Final instructions were to "Divide the pancakes among four plates, spoon the yogurt alongside, and top with the crispy curry leaves. Serve at once with the lime wedges on the side." In the intro to the recipe he also recommended serving these with soft-boiled eggs. Always a sucker for an egg add-on, I went with his suggestion. We also had some herb salad at the table.


Audrey and I enjoyed this a bit more than Jonathan. The star of the show was the Mango Pickle Yogurt. I loved the combo of the diced fresh mango with the hot pickle. The pancakes were mildly spiced. We wound up topping them with the yogurt and herb salad, squeezing lime juice over and then mixing in the egg.

I had a leftover pancake with the small amount of unused yogurt for breakfast today because I am a fan of savory breakfast. The yogurt was even better on day two. Definitely a keeper condiment.

This is do-able on a weeknight as long as you start out organized and multi-task along the way. Giving this one a "4" out of "5".

Hit on a real winner last night - Potato and Gochujang Braised Eggs.

Ingredients:
Russet Potatoes
Kohlrabi
Gochujang Paste
White Miso
Garlic
Olive Oil
Salt
Eggs

For Sauce:
Lime Juice
Gochujang Paste
Olive Oil
Chives
White & Black Sesame Seeds


Prepping the potato & kohlrabi.


Tossed with the paste, miso, garlic, olive oil & salt.


Oven baked for about 25 minutes.


Eggs added.


Covered and baked about 8 minutes, then drizzled with sauce.


Plated up.

This could easily be done on a weeknight and truly brought big flavor. We all loved it.

Looks like a really cool variation on Shakshuka. I've got some kohlrabi coming my way later this week. May have to give this a try. Thanks!

=R=

So, Tofu Meatball Korma.

Prepare to get your blender dirty. And your food processor, mortar & pestle, box grater...

You will toast, crush, pickle, puree, saute, bake...

The intro states "If you don't have time to make the meatballs, you could just make the sauce to serve with roasted cauliflower or sweet potato."

I knew I was in for a ride here. Let's see if it was worth it.

I did a little prep on Saturday - made the pickled red onions and did some slicing, chopping, mincing.

Began the rest of the process around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday and finished at 7 p.m. Granted, I was working at a leisurely pace and some of that was just cooking time.

Hold tight for the ingredient list:
Red Onion
Lemon Juice
Salt
Cashews
Blanched Almonds
Olive Oil
Brown Button Mushrooms
Extra-Firm Tofu
Garlic
Silken Tofu
Tahini
Soy Sauce
Panko
Cornstarch
Green Onions
Cilantro
Cardamom Pods
Cumin Seeds
Coriander Seeds
Onion
Ginger
Green Chile
Cinnamon Stick
Turmeric
Plum Tomatoes




Uncooked "Meatballs"


Cooked "Meatballs"


Sauce


Plated with basmati rice.

End result: it was tasty. Enjoyed it. Work to reward ratio was not great though. Despite my griping above, I did enjoy the process and found the whole recipe interesting, BUT, I doubt I'll do it again.

Hi,

As much as I like Ottolenghi books, they are not for everyone.

I almost crashed and burned my cookbook club when I submitted one for our meeting. The biggest complaint was so many ingredients.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

As much as I like Ottolenghi books, they are not for everyone.

I almost crashed and burned my cookbook club when I submitted one for our meeting. The biggest complaint was so many ingredients.

Regards,
Cathy2

The recipes can be complex, but often you can break them down into several preps, some of which you can use on their own.

That dude can do amazing things with vegetables (putting tahini all over them, for instance).

Iceberg Wedges with Smoky Eggplant Cream

I made this for dinner last Thursday. Huge winner! Everything I look for in a salad - contrasting textures, crispy and creamy at the same time.

Eggplant Cream:
Eggplants
Lemon Juice
Garlic
Greek-Style Yogurt
Dijon
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Crunchy Bits:
Olive Oil
Almonds
Sourdough Bread - (I cheated and skipped making my own breadcrumbs. Just used panko.)
Pumpkin Seeds
Salt
Chile Flakes

Salad:
Iceberg Lettuce
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Parmesan
Rainbow or Breakfast Radishes - (Fresh Farms did not have so mine were just standard.)
Avocados
Chives - (didn't look good this week so I used some green onion tops.)

In the main body of the recipe he has you put the eggplant on a well-greased grill pan on high heat and char it, turning, for 45-50 minutes. He specifically instructs you to make sure to ventilate your kitchen.

However, in the prelude to the recipe there is another option. "If you with to avoid all that smoke in your kitchen and hate the sight of a thick layer of charcoal on your grill pan once you're done, here's another method: Preheat the oven to 475, then rub with a little oil, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cut-side up, and roast until soft and very well browned, 40-45 minutes." Yep, I did this.


Prepped Eggplant


Roasted Eggplant

Can't seem to get away from the food processor with these recipes.

Eggplant Cream


Crispy Bits


The wedges are quite thin - 12 from 1 head of lettuce. I found it easier to eat than your standard wedge salad. A solid 5 out of 5 for this one.

Last night I made Za'atar Cacio e Pepe for dinner.

Ingredients:
Bucatini
Salt
Unsalted Butter
Za'atar
Black Pepper
Parmesan
Pecorino
Olive Oil
Marjoram Leaves (optional) - I did not have/use this.

This was a very uncomplicated, straight-forward recipe. The bulk of the work was in grating the Parmesan and Romano as fine as possible on my box grater.

I thought the Za'atar was a welcome addition to the black pepper and cheeses. Following his method exactly yielded a restaurant quality sauce.

Once plated, he instructs you to finish with olive oil, marjoram (if using), remaining za'atar, and a small pinch of salt. I didn't use the olive oil because I thought the sauce was plenty rich and a perfect consistency as it was.

Very delicious, we all enjoyed it.

This is really inspiring - this is the 3rd recipe in this thread that I really want to try now (the first was the ragu and the second was the iceberg salad with eggplant cream).

Thanks for posting!

- zorkmead

LynnB wrote:Last night I made Za'atar Cacio e Pepe for dinner.

Ingredients:
Bucatini
Salt
Unsalted Butter
Za'atar
Black Pepper
Parmesan
Pecorino
Olive Oil
Marjoram Leaves (optional) - I did not have/use this.

This was a very uncomplicated, straight-forward recipe. The bulk of the work was in grating the Parmesan and Romano as fine as possible on my box grater.

I thought the Za'atar was a welcome addition to the black pepper and cheeses. Following his method exactly yielded a restaurant quality sauce.

Once plated, he instructs you to finish with olive oil, marjoram (if using), remaining za'atar, and a small pinch of salt. I didn't use the olive oil because I thought the sauce was plenty rich and a perfect consistency as it was.

Very delicious, we all enjoyed it.

Looks and Sounds fantastic, my wife is a huge Cacio fan. I made it successfully once, and everytime afterwards it's clumped up...so I quit making it.

Based on the success of last week's pasta, I decided to try another. Tonight we had One-Pan Orecchiette Puttanesca.

A bit of chopping involved but over-all this came together pretty easily. I really enjoyed the combination of flavors and didn't miss the anchovy at all.

Ingredients:
Olive Oil
Garlic
1 can Chickpeas
Hot Smoked Paprika
Cumin
Tomato Paste
Salt
Parsley
Lemon Zest
Capers
Green Olives
Cherry Tomatoes
Sugar
Caraway Seeds
Orecchiette Pasta
Vegetable or Chicken Stock
Water
Black Pepper

The other members of my family thought it was a bit too spicy for them. Next time I will use 1 teaspoon hot smoked paprika and 1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika instead of 2 hot.

Tonight I made Chilled Avocado Soup with Crunchy Garlic Oil

It's been awhile since I've made a cold soup. It's usually been a riff on Gazpacho or Cucumber-Yogurt.

Here's the ingredients:

1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
2 garlic cloves
1 1/4 cups frozen peas
2 large, ripe avocados
1/2 cucumber
1 lemon
1 2/3 cups cold water
1 small green chile
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon chopped dill


The soup base, blended - peas, avocado, cucumber, lemon zest, olive oil, salt & water.


Making the Crunchy Olive Oil


Garnish of Diced Cucumber, lemon juice, chile & salt.


Finished Crunchy Olive Oil


All Garnishes Ready


Finished soup.

Nicely layered flavors. Relatively easy to put together. I served with toasted, buttered, ciabatta. We enjoyed this and I will make it again.