This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...
To find out more...
Do you know Yotam Ottolenghi?
Do you know Yotam Ottolenghi? Maybe not, in which case let me tell you a little about him.
8,384 4.8/5 (13 reviews)
Keywords for this post:ChefLondonGreat BritainIsraeliVegetablesRecipesLast modified on: December 19th 2020
Do you know Yotam Ottolenghi?
He's an Israeli chef, but based in Great Britain and trained at the Cordon Bleu in London, in the French style, and late in life, his first profession being literature.
You may never have heard of him, but he's a star in England, comparable no doubt to Cyril Lignac back home. Perhaps someone who knows the UK well could comment on this comparison?
So famous, in fact, that his London restaurant is mentioned in the dialogues of the film "Bridget Jones's Diary", where Colin Firth talks about inviting Bridget to eat there.
The funny thing is that the dish he mentions in the film didn't actually exist on the menu, but the chef cleverly added it in a personal version, and it's now something his customers often ask for.
Why am I telling you about him? Because his cuisine, his recipes and his books are astonishing in their simplicity, and especially in their frequent use of vegetables, which are revisited in a beautiful way.
I first heard about him on the excellent France-Inter program "On va déguster", where he was praised by female listeners, and I later stumbled across his book "Simple" last Christmas (back in the days when we could all gather at our grandparents' house without any danger to them), which was under the tree for my sister - yes, I'm telling you about my fascinating life :-)
So this book, I freely admit, blew me away. As a fan of vegetables, no pun intended, there were lots of very, very appetizing recipes.
I started, as I think we all do, to take photos of a few of the recipes I liked, and then after 15 or so I thought it would be better to go and buy it in a bookshop...
In fact, it doesn't revolutionize anything, but it does have a knack for using all kinds of vegetables (but not only) in surprising combinations of spices and cooking techniques, which I think are often very successful.
The influence of his Mediterranean, even Middle Eastern, culture is evident in his recipes, with spices - sometimes little-known (to me, at least) - such as zaatar, olive oil, lemon, herbs and others, often used to great effect.
His sauces are also rather atypical, often raw, no cream, but unusual combinations like tuna, parsley (whole) and capers, to accompany baked potatoes for example.
If I had to make one small criticism, it's his desserts, at least in the "Simple" book (I don't know about the others), which aren't exactly transcendent, but after all noboby's perfect.
I suggest you go and browse through her books at your favorite bookshop, now we can, to get an idea, maybe you'll be won over too?
You may never have heard of him, but he's a star in England, comparable no doubt to Cyril Lignac back home. Perhaps someone who knows the UK well could comment on this comparison?
So famous, in fact, that his London restaurant is mentioned in the dialogues of the film "Bridget Jones's Diary", where Colin Firth talks about inviting Bridget to eat there.
The funny thing is that the dish he mentions in the film didn't actually exist on the menu, but the chef cleverly added it in a personal version, and it's now something his customers often ask for.
Why am I telling you about him? Because his cuisine, his recipes and his books are astonishing in their simplicity, and especially in their frequent use of vegetables, which are revisited in a beautiful way.
I first heard about him on the excellent France-Inter program "On va déguster", where he was praised by female listeners, and I later stumbled across his book "Simple" last Christmas (back in the days when we could all gather at our grandparents' house without any danger to them), which was under the tree for my sister - yes, I'm telling you about my fascinating life :-)
So this book, I freely admit, blew me away. As a fan of vegetables, no pun intended, there were lots of very, very appetizing recipes.
I started, as I think we all do, to take photos of a few of the recipes I liked, and then after 15 or so I thought it would be better to go and buy it in a bookshop...
In fact, it doesn't revolutionize anything, but it does have a knack for using all kinds of vegetables (but not only) in surprising combinations of spices and cooking techniques, which I think are often very successful.
The influence of his Mediterranean, even Middle Eastern, culture is evident in his recipes, with spices - sometimes little-known (to me, at least) - such as zaatar, olive oil, lemon, herbs and others, often used to great effect.
His sauces are also rather atypical, often raw, no cream, but unusual combinations like tuna, parsley (whole) and capers, to accompany baked potatoes for example.
If I had to make one small criticism, it's his desserts, at least in the "Simple" book (I don't know about the others), which aren't exactly transcendent, but after all noboby's perfect.
I suggest you go and browse through her books at your favorite bookshop, now we can, to get an idea, maybe you'll be won over too?
Lasts posts
Pre-calibrated pastry dough
When making pie dough (shortbread, shortcrust, sweet...), it's always a good idea to make a lot at once, and then divide it into pieces, which you can freeze. I've already pointed out the mistake not to make, which is to form a ball before freezing. It's difficult to roll out afterwards because...March 9th 20265555
Butter vs. grease
We often read in a recipe where a pastry is put into a mould that, just before pouring, the mould should be buttered or greased. But what's the difference between these 2 terms?December 1st 20252,8405
Getting out of the fridge early
Very often when you're cooking, you need to take food or preparations out of the fridge, to use them in the recipe in progress. There's nothing tricky about this: you just take them out of the fridge and use them, usually immediately, in the recipe. But is this really a good method?November 24th 20251,8195
Who's making the croissants?
When you look at a bakery from the outside, you naturally think that in the bakery, the bakers make the bread, and in the laboratory, the pastry chefs make the cakes. It's very often like that, with each of these professions having quite different ways of working, but sometimes there's also one...November 23th 20251,649
Oven height
When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.October 8th 20255,7135
Other pages you may also like
The 3 kinds of meringue
Meringue – what could be simpler? Just beaten egg whites with sugar added. This makes a fairly stiff mixture which can then be cooked in a cool oven to create those lovely, light confections. But in the world of professional patisserie, meringue comes in three different kinds. Even if the...June 14th 201366 K4.5
Vitamin C against blackening
You've probably heard of this tip: to prevent fruit or vegetables from turning brown or black, simply add or sprinkle lemon juice over them. It's very effective, but why does lemon juice have this effect?July 14th 202310 K 15
The beautiful story of the croissants
As you may have already noticed, cooking, baking and pastry-making are full of stories or legends, usually very romantic, about this or that product or recipe. This is often the case for named recipes, for example tarte tatin, peach melba, paris-brest and many others, but it also applies to very...October 10th 201820 K5
The cake and the raisins
When you bake a cake, like a cake or pound cake, you may have already encountered this thorny problem: How to make sure that the raisins, or the candied fruits, or any other small filling, do not fall to the bottom of the pan during the baking process?May 31th 201916 K4.7
Cleaning endives
If you buy your endives elsewhere than in supermarkets, and in this case the best is of course from a market gardener, he or she is the one who planted and harvested them, in this case you will have endives full of earth or sand, depending on where they were grown, which is normal and reassuring, we...March 24th 202027 K4.6
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.