We chat with Ottolenghi and co-author Ixta Belfrage about their latest mouth-watering cookbook, Flavour
What makes Flavour so special?
Flavour is a celebration of wonderful, versatile vegetables, and how to build flavour with them. But it is not only a collection of beautiful recipes, but an approachable deep dive (and yes, we realise those words don’t usually go together) into how to create flavour bombs, and crucially why they work. We’ve done this by highlighting the processes that enhance vegetables, what you can pair them with to draw out distinct qualities and the sheer depth of flavour that some vegetables naturally possess that allows them to play starring roles.
What are the most versatile and adaptable vegetables?
All vegetables are versatile and adaptable, and can be enjoyed raw, cooked and in all shapes and forms. In Flavour a very good example of this is kohlrabi. Most people have only ever eaten kohlrabi raw, which we love (see our Kohlrabi ‘noodle’ salad) but we also love it cooked. There are three recipes in Flavour which ask you to roast kohlrabi (Potato and gochujang baked eggs, barley, tomato and watercress stew and Berbere ratatouille). Roasting the vegetable turns it into an irresistibly sweet and soft version of itself.
How has your approach to cooking vegetables changed since Plenty ?
It’s not so much that the approach has changed, but that there are now new influences in the Test Kitchen in the form of Ixta – who brings with her knowledge of Brazilian and Mexican cuisine and ingredients and Noor – who brings with her a natural flair for cooking the food of her native Bahrain as well as the Middle East.
What are your favourite dishes in the book?
Our favourite dishes in the book change every time we look at it - but our core favourites are the Miso butter onions, the Spicy mushroom lasagne, the Sweet and sour brussel sprouts with chestnuts and grapes and the Turnip Cake.
What are your staple ingredients, always to be found in your fridge / pantry?
It’s a fairly long list, but we couldn’t live without olive oil, tomato paste, dried chillies, tahini, soy sauce, za’atar, miso, parmesan, anchovies, lemons and garlic.
Ottolenghi's Cookbooks: Which Ones Are On YOUR Kitchen Shelf?
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1 Yotam and Sami Tamimi's inventive yet simple dishes rest on numerous culinary traditions, ranging from North Africa to Lebanon, Italy and California. | |
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2 A collection of 120 vegetarian recipes featuring exciting flavours and fresh combinations that will become mainstays for those looking for a brilliant take on vegetables. | |
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3 Yotam and Sami go on a journey to explore the flavours of their childhood, flavours that made Ottolenghi what it is. | |
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4 Picking up the (carrot) baton from Plenty, Plenty More opens the window even further onto the ever-expanding world of vegetables, grains and legumes. | |
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5 Includes over 100 of the most popular dishes from Yotam’s Soho-based restaurant NOPI, written with its head chef Ramael Scully, who brings his distinctive Asian twist. | |
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6 In his stunning baking and desserts cookbook Yotam and co-writer Helen Goh bring the Ottolenghi hallmarks of fresh, evocative ingredients, exotic spices and complex flavourings. | |
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7 Bursting with colourful photography, Ottolenghi Simple showcases Yotam’s standout dishes that will suit whatever type of cooking you find easy. | |
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8 In this stunning new cookbook Yotam and co-writer Ixta Belfrage offer innovative vegetable dishes that deliver brand-new ingredient combinations to excite and inspire. |
Credit: Ottolenghi Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi & Ixta Belfrage (Ebury Press)