Recipes

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This warming spiced rice is a definite show-stopper, the kind of meal you’d make for a special occasion. We toyed over including this recipe in the book, laborious as it is, but, in all honesty, Noor wouldn’t have it any other way. Rice, she believes, deserves to be prized and treasured – taking centre stage at many a family table – and so, make this one as a weekend project, a feast of feasts, a real cause for celebration. Yes, it takes time, but here’s a promise that it is oh-so-worth-it.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

These mustard croutons, adapted from those in Suzanne Goin's inspiring book Sunday Suppers At Lucques (Alfred Knopf, 2005), are a brilliant thing to have to hand and to sprinkle over gratins and salads. If you'd rather not make them, you'll need something else to perk up the soup: a teaspoon of rose harissa or some other savoury chilli sauce, swirled into each bowl before serving, would do the job perfectly well.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This salad is a unique combination of textures, flavours and colours. Feel free to double up on the pistachio pesto and store it in a sterilised jar in the fridge; it’ll keep for a week and works really well stirred into pasta or alongside steamed vegetables or fish.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

It was a little moment of revelation, I remember, when I first combined roasted cauliflower and raw grated cauliflower in the same dish. So different from one another, but working so well combined. This is lovely as it is, served as part of a spread, or spooned alongside some roast chicken or lamb. Don’t throw away the leaves of the cauliflower here. They’re lovely to eat, roasted and crisp, or grated raw as you would the rest of the cauliflower. If you want to get ahead, roast the cauliflower up to 4–6 hours in advance. Keep at room temperature and then just combine with the remaining ingredients when ready to serve.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

A pickleback is a shot of whiskey, followed by a shot of pickle brine, and it is a delight for pickle lovers. This spiced apricot and carrot brine turns into a kombucha-like drink that is perfect for a New Years Eve pickleback. It can be eaten (and drunk) straight away but is even better once it’s had a week for the flavours to merge into the brine. You’ll need a glass jar or heatproof container that holds about 1 litre. If you don’t have a powerful blender, soak the cashews in boiling water for an hour to help soften them.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

There are two warring camps at Ottolenghi over the vital issue of … carrot cake. Helen Goh and Sarit Packer, who are always on the lookout for new ideas and some earth-shattering recipes, like their carrot cakes dense and fruity. We prefer them light and fluffy, like this one. So far the issue hasn’t been resolved – there’s just a tense ceasefire. Watch out for the next Ottolenghi cookbook: if the balance of power shifts, you might find a totally different carrot cake.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This is a super quick and simple salad which is very versatile. Eat it warm or room temperature, as a side or for a picnic. It’s completely vegan, but would go great with some grilled manouri or whipped feta.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

A silky sauce, crunchy fried pork and copious amounts of black pepper combined with a very short cooking time makes this traditional carbonara the perfect indulgent midweek dinner. As a twist, we have added 3 optional toppings here so you can customise your own bowl. Use the dukkah to sprinkle on top if you like or combine the chilli flakes and za'atar together if you like a bit more of a punch.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

Caramelised white chocolate is exactly that: white chocolate that’s been caramelised until it tastes of fudge, toast, brown butter and malt all rolled into one. Heaven. It is on the pricey side, but is readily available online. Don’t worry if you can’t get any, though: any white cooking chocolate will also work here. The raw cookie dough can be made up to three days ahead, rolled into balls and kept in an airtight container in the fridge, ready to be baked whenever the mood strikes.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

The aptly named candy beetroot is as sweet as candy and its flesh is made up of beautiful, alternating red and white rings. To take advantage of this, you can slice it thinly and use raw in salads – once cooked it turns a uniform mellow pink. If you can't find it, use golden or normal red beet instead (or a ­combination of all three). Yuzu is a citrus fruit originating from east Asia. Its zest and juice are used to add a fresh aroma to various Japanese dishes, including soups. I'd describe the flavour as a combination of lime and mandarin. You can get the juice and powdered dried skin from Japanese specialists – try mountfuji.co.uk. If you are unable to get your hands on it, don't worry – just use a bit of lime juice instead.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

Throw everything into one pan on your camping stove - less washing up, more eating. Japanese curry blocks (like Golden Curry or Java) do all the hard work for you: deep flavour, minimal fuss. Swap in whatever veg you have. And while the soft eggs are optional, you’ll be glad you made the effort when that yolk hits the sauce.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This is a take on the famous southern US shrimp and grits. If you buy the prawns with their shells and heads on, use those to make your own shellfish stock. You can get ahead by making the sauce well in advance, but don’t cook the prawns and polenta until you’re ready to serve.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This dish is inspired by one of our dishes on the menu at ROVI and our restaurant in Geneva. If you can get your hands on some, this dish also works wonderfully with fresh bergamot; just zest and juice the whole fruit to give you 2 tbsp of juice.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This dish is one for the autumn months, the sunset shades of squash, orange and honey adding warmth to your table. Blitzing olive oil with orange peel is a quick way to infuse the oil used here without having to heat it up or wait very long. Trust us when we say that what makes this dish so memorable is the added details.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This comforting pie makes for a great celebratory centrepiece, and a refreshing alternative to a nut roast. It benefits from being assembled the day before, giving it a good amount of time to set in the fridge before baking. You can also cook it in advance, just reheat at 175C for 20 minutes before serving.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This dish celebrates the colours of autumn thanks to the orange butternut squash, the golden custard and the fiery red chilli and orange rayu. It’s perfect for a festive brunch as it’s filling enough to keep you going until the big feast, and special enough to really feel like you’re celebrating. Serve this with some lightly cooked greens, if you like.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

There are two beautiful recipes here. You could just make the butter bean purée and keep it in the fridge for up to a week – it's a handy sandwich spread. Or you could also prepare just the dukkah, an Egyptian condiment that will easily keep for a month in an airtight container and can be used to sprinkle over salads, rice and almost anything else. We would make both, though: they're best when put together. The spice and crunch of the dukkah give the purée heaps of character.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This pickle is super special on its own: keep a jar in the fridge to spoon on to a jacket potato or spread inside a cheese toastie. Be sure to start making the recipe the day before, leaving the pickle to settle in the fridge overnight (the flavours only improve with time). Here it’s served with yoghurt, to be eaten as a mezze with flatbreads, but this is optional. Use a dairy-free yoghurt to keep it vegan.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

We prefer to use buckwheat groats for this batter, rather than buckwheat flour: they have a more intense flavour, as well as a more interesting texture. Pickle the onions the night before serving, if you can: their flavour and colour will both get more vibrant with time. If you want, top with a fried egg, though if you do so, you won’t need the extra ricotta to serve.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

For a vegetarian holiday feast, this will make an impressive side. It’s also something to have once you’ve maxed out on all things roasted and rich and all you yearn for is to be left alone with a bowl of something nourishing and fresh.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

Black garlic has a highly concentrated taste: liquorice meets balsamic meets the absolute essence of garlic. It’s a quick way to inject a huge amount of flavour into a dish. Get everything chopped and ready for this dish before you start, but don’t cook it until just before serving: you want the sprouts to be eaten fresh from the pan.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

Aubergines are, for us, the gift that keeps on giving. For all the aubergines that we've grilled, roasted, charred, steamed, peeled, fried, blitzed and sliced in my life, there always seems to be some new way to cook them or a new combination of flavours to pair them with. Here I look pop them on bruschetta. If you don't use gas, it might be better to burn the aubergine under a hot grill for 1 hour, turning every 20 minutes. And the pomegranate molasses adds a depth hard to replicate.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

This is a grown-up twist on the humble rice pudding that involves toasting and grinding some of the rice and sprinkling it on top for added texture (it’s also a great topping for yoghurt or ice-cream, incidentally). If you don’t have pudding rice, use any rice you have to hand such as basmati or jasmine.

Yotam Ottolenghi · Ottolenghi.co.uk

If the flavours of autumn could be rolled into one, this meringue roulade would be the result: warming cinnamon, burnt honey, sweet apples and tangy orange come together to make a dessert fit for the festive season. Make sure all your individual components have completely cooled before assembling – you don’t want to create any excess moisture in the roulade. Get ahead by preparing the apples and cream the day before, keeping them refrigerated until needed.