Recipes

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

These can be snacked on as they are, at room temperature, or else served with a green tahini sauce and some extra herbs. These fritters are a bit of a fridge raid, using up whatever herbs you have around. As long as you keep the total net weight the same and use a mixture of herbs, this will still work wonderfully. The batter will keep, uncooked, for 1 day in the fridge. Alternatively, pile the fritters into pitta bread with condiments: a combination of yoghurt, chilli sauce, pickled vegetables and tahini works well. You’d just need one fritter per person, rather than two

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

Nothing says peak summer more to me (or rather Jake, from the test kitchen) than reaching for an ice cold peach ice tea. A quench at its peak after a day spent gardening. Hence the name, ‘The lawnmower’. The base of this recipe is a peach shrub, a vinegar spiked cordial. This is a great technique for preserving fruits or berries when they are at their most abundant, so experiment to your heart's desire. Makes about 400ml of peach shrub, along with the strong green tea to make the drink

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

There’s a bit of work involved here, but this is a glorious dish to delight any hummus lover. Separating the quail into breasts and legs is a little tricky, so ask your butcher to do it if you’re unsure (use the carcasses for stock or gravy). Another option is to use boneless chicken thighs, and adjust the cooking time according to their size. You’ll need four long metal skewers (or wooden skewers soaked in water for 10 minutes).

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

We came up with this soup when asked to contribute a seasonal recipe to the Royal Horticultural Society's flower show at Hampton Court Palace. It involves a bit of work but the result is, quite fittingly, majestic.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This super quick soup is perfectly comforting for cold wintery days. A good quality stock is a great base to start from. Use vegetable, chicken stock or dashi stock powder which is a great store cupboard item. If you like, swap the cabbage bean sprouts for whatever leafy vegetables that you have at hand, like cavolo nero, spinach or chard. Dry shitake or fresh shitake mushrooms work very well here too if you have them.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

A delicate but zesty light lunch.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

One of the beauties of this dish lies in the exciting contrast between the hot, juicy tomatoes and fridge-cold yoghurt, so make sure the tomatoes are straight out of the oven and the yoghurt is straight out of the fridge. The heat of the tomatoes will make the cold yoghurt melt, invitingly, so plenty of crusty sourdough or focaccia to mop it all up with is a must alongside.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This will be nostalgic for anyone who automatically defaults towards this dish when ordering a Chinese takeaway. There are all sorts of variations in the way the batter and sauce are made, but this one, I find, just seems to taste better every time I make it.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

‘Tahdig’, is a Persian word which translates literally to ‘bottom of the pan’ and is used to describe the crispy base layer of rice formed whilst cooking. Making a perfect tahdig is a real skill and requires a bit of practice! This tahdig is a meal in itself, in the middle of the rice is a parcel of trout which is wrapped in spinach and gently steamed in the centre. It’s fun to eat and makes a show-stopping centrepiece for a dinner party. Be sure to allow time for soaking the rice and saffron.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

Pasta Bolognese: so many of us grow up on a particular version which then becomes the ‘normal’ against which all others are measured. Anyone whose default is an Italian or Anglophone take on the dish will be delighted by ‘Helen’s Bolognese’. Adapted from a noodle sauce in Carolyn Phillips' book, 'All Under Heaven', it gets a lot of its depth and deliciousness from doubanjiang – a spicy bean paste made from fermented soya beans, broad beans and chillies. It is a key ingredient in a lot of Sichuanese food and readily available in Asian grocers or online.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This traditional school-dinner dessert gets very special treatment here with the flavours of hazelnut and plum, which pair wonderfully with a simple maple- and lemon-infused custard. I like to eat both the cake and custard at room temperature, but you could warm either element, or both, if you prefer. The plum jam can be easily swapped with another jam, and if you don’t have hazelnuts, blanched almonds would also work well.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

The best potatoes are the ones with properly craggy, golden edges and fluffy interiors that soak up whatever you throw at them. These get the hawaij treatment, using the paste like a curry paste, coating the potatoes twice during cooking so the spices build up in layers, creating this gorgeous caramelised crust.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

We all know someone who makes the most incredible chicken sandwich - usually involving some secret spice blend or mysterious frying technique. This is my attempt at creating my own mythical sandwich: hawaij-spiced chicken that's warming without being heavy, tucked into soft flatbread with a herby slaw that cuts through all that richness. It comes together in about an hour, most of which is just letting the chicken marinate while you get on with other things.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

Every childhood has its go-to meals - the ones that appear like clockwork in the weekly rotation. One of those meals, for some, was Chicken à la King. Here, our Hawaij spice paste transforms an old-school favourite with its warming blend of cardamom, cumin, and turmeric - spices that have been used for centuries across Yemen and the Middle East. The grated carrots catch all that sauce, golden raisins add little bursts of sweetness, and the whole thing comes together in less time than it takes to set the table. It's perfect for a quick midweek dinner for two, or easily doubled to feed the whole family. Just make sure there's plenty of rice for soaking up that glorious sauce.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This glorious cake is our favourite picnic food – tinned mackerel, potato salad and boiled eggs – all rolled into one. It’s best made a day ahead, so it has plenty of time to set in the fridge, but four hours should do the trick, if need be.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This is great served spread on bread with flakes salt on top or anchovy slices. If using for cooking then it pairs well with roasted fish and shellfish.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This is a great side to have in your Christmas repertoire, because it’s just a case of mixing everything together and baking, giving you plenty of time to do other things.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

The flavour of halva works brilliantly in an ice cream. Once you try it, you'll keep coming back, even skipping the chocolate sauce and peanuts. Together, they create a rich, nutty treat reminiscent of a deluxe Snickers ice cream. Avoid drowning it in chocolate; a light drizzle is plenty. If you're using an ice cream machine, churn it a few hours ahead or even better, the day before. No machine? Opt for the classic method: make custard, freeze without churning, adding halva halfway. It's perfect for immediate serving, but be warned, it can firm up quite a bit by the next day.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

My favourite pantry ingredients are those that deliver above and beyond the sum of their parts. The sweet and smokey blend does just that. Drizzling honey over grilled halloumi is a tried and tested recipe for success. The sweet and smokey blend here is the cherry on top, bringing a bold warmth to this sweet, salty, summer-y dish. The skewers will be even more special over the barbeque. Serve as part of a mezze style lunch or dinner.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

If you want to get ahead, both the chive cream and butter can be made the day before, leaving you just the sweet potatoes to grill on the day.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This is the dish Patrick Dempsey’s character tells Renée Zellweger’s Bridget Jones that he would have brought her on their imaginary second date in Bridget Jones’s Baby. ‘From Ottolenghi,’ says Dempsey, ‘delicious and healthy!’ And easy, we might add! What sounded like a bit of product placement on our part was in fact no such thing. The recipe didn’t even exist on our menu, so this is a retrospective acknowledgement.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This was a wintry addition to the menu at our restaurant, ROVI. We bake the cabbage for hours, then grill it with cheese until everything is intensely soft and seductively unctuous. Get ahead by braising the cabbage the day ahead, before finishing it under the grill.