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.
7,936 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
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 20256705
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 20259645
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 2025866
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 20252,4555
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 20257,3413
Other pages you may also like
The "pith" of the cauliflower
When using cauliflower in a recipe, there is a lot of preparation work at the beginning: removing the leaves, taking the tops or florets, etc. It's a bit tedious, but in the end you're left with the best of the cauliflower, ready to be used in your recipe.February 5th 202214 K4.9
Small, regular pieces
When we cook, bake or pastry, we often have to cut food into small pieces, often cubes, to incorporate them into a recipe or preparation. How do you get regular pieces fairly quickly?November 28th 202011 K4.5
The return of the "Norman hole"
You maybe know the "trou normand", this old gastronomic custom typically French which consists in taking a (small) glass of calvados, generally between the last course and the dessert? It's something that seems a bit anachronistic nowadays, having a glass of an alcohol of more than 60° in the...December 18th 202114 K4.8
Beans in primeur
As I write this, it is the beginning of the short season for fresh beans. If you've never made them before and you're just starting out (and that's a great idea) you'll find that it's a bit time consuming to prepare, you have to shell them once, remove the beans, scald them to remove the skin (and...June 4th 202214 K
Should asparagus really be cooked in bunches?
You'll probably read recipes here and there explaining how to cook asparagus "en botte", i.e. in a small package (the famous "botte"). Is this really the right way to cook asparagus?May 22th 20247,7195
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.