Ottolenghi Simple Read online

  Copyright © 2018 by Yotam Ottolenghi

  Photographs copyright © 2018 by Jonathan Lovekin

  All rights reserved.Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  www.crownpublishing.com

  www.tenspeed.com

  Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Originally published in Great Britain by Ebury Press, an imprint of Ebury Publishing, Penguin Random House Ltd., London.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

  Names: Ottolenghi, Yotam, author. | Wigley, Tara, author. | Howarth, Esme, author.

  Title: Ottolenghi Simple / by Yotam Ottolenghi, with Tara Wigley and Esme Howarth.

  Description: California : Ten Speed Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

  Identifiers: LCCN 2018020229 (print) | LCCN 2018022680 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Quick and easy cooking. | Make-ahead cooking. | LCGFT: Cookbooks.

  Classification: LCC TX833.5 (ebook) | LCC TX833.5 .O88 2018 (print) | DDC641.5/12—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018020229

  ISBN 9781607749165

  Ebook ISBN 9781607749172

  v5.3.2_r4

  prh

  Contents

  Introduction: Ottolenghi Simple

  Brunch

  Raw Veg

  Cooked Veg

  Rice, Grains, and Pulses

  Noodles and Pasta

  Meat

  Seafood

  Dessert

  SIMPLE Meal Suggestions

  Feasts

  “Ottolenghi” Ingredients

  Index

  Acknowledgments

  There are all sorts of ways to get a meal on the table, depending on the sort of cook you are. One person’s idea of cooking simply is the next person’s culinary nightmare. For me, for example, it’s about being able to stop at my grocery store on the way home, pick up a couple of things that look good and make something within 20 or 30 minutes of getting home. My husband, Karl, on the other hand, has a completely different idea of what “simple cooking” is. If we’re having friends over on the weekend, he’ll want to spend a good amount of time beforehand, prepping and cooking as much as he can so that very little needs to be done when our guests are around.

  There are other ways, too. Esme, who led the recipe testing for this book, prefers to be in the garden on the weekend rather than kitchen-bound. Her idea of simple cooking is to put something in the oven on a Saturday morning and leave it simmering away, ready to be eaten four or five hours later. Tara, on the other hand, who led the writing, can’t really relax without knowing that a meal is basically ready a full day before it’s due to be eaten. Sauces are in the fridge, stews are in the freezer, veggies are blanched or roasted and ready.

  Whatever our approach, it all looks effortless and easy when friends and family come to eat in our respective kitchens. This is only because we’ve worked out the way that suits us to make cooking simple, relaxing and therefore fun. It’s different for everyone. This idea, then—that there’s more than one way to get a meal on the table and that everyone has a different idea of which way is simple—is what Ottolenghi SIMPLE is all about.

  And, no, for anyone wondering, Ottolenghi SIMPLE is not a contradiction in terms! I know, I know: I’ve seen the raised eyebrows, I’ve heard the jokes. The one about the reader who thought there was part of a recipe missing as they already had all the ingredients they needed in their cupboard. Or the one that goes, “Just popping out to the local shop to buy the papers, milk, black garlic, and sumac!”

  I hold up my hands, absolutely. There have been lists to make and ingredients to find but, truthfully, there’s not a recipe to my name that I feel sheepish about. Cooking, for me, has always been about abundance, bounty, freshness, and surprise. Four big words to expect from a plate of food, so a single sprig of parsley was never, really, going to cut the mustard. The reason I’m so excited about Ottolenghi SIMPLE is that it’s full of recipes that are still distinctly “Ottolenghi” but are simple in at least one (but very often in more than one) way.

  To build on the different definitions of simplicity for different people, Tara devised a clear and practical color-coded system. The beauty of Tara’s system is that it allows you, once you’ve figured out what kind of “simple cook” you are and for what kind of “simple occasion” you are cooking, to select the recipes that are right for you. Those bright colors are really there to help you plan meals and then make them, with minimum hassle and maximum joy.

  short on time

  With your ingredients in the house, your knife sharp, the oven on and the decks clear, these recipes will take less than 30 minutes to get on the table. Noodles and pasta dishes come into their own, with their short cooking time, as does fish, which is so often quick to cook. Meat can be speedy as well, though, with things like lamb patties and chicken schnitzel needing very little time in the pan. Raw vegetable recipes will nearly always be quick to make, as are half the brunch dishes, which is what you want when cooking in the morning.

  The short-on-time recipes are the ones I eat for supper during the week and the recipes I feed friends for brunch on the weekend. They’re the dishes that can be made so quickly and easily that, sometimes, I end up making five or six at once so that my plans for a simple meal turn, inadvertently, into a big feast.

  10 ingredients or less

  I thought that imposing a limit of 10 ingredients or less on my recipes was going to be a big challenge, but it was actually the biggest thrill. The temptation to add layer upon layer of flavor and texture is one I often happily fall for, but knowing that I couldn’t do that here was a form of liberation.

  The most thrilling thing of all, though, was the achievement of this for so many recipes without ever thinking that a recipe was in any way lacking. I can’t see myself becoming a herb apologist in the future (green things make me happy!) and there’s never a dish I regret squeezing lemon over—but, absolutely, less can be more and abundance can still be achieved with fewer ingredients.

  So what have I left out that might have otherwise been there? One or two different herbs are used instead of three or four, for example. One type of oil or salt or variety of chile was shown to be enough. Some ready-made spice mixes—such as curry powder or Chinese 5-spice powder—were a great alternative to grinding and combining a host of individual spices. A dish was bold enough not to need the teaspoon of sugar, clove of garlic, or half teaspoon of dried mint or tomato paste I might have otherwise added. Rather than using vinegar and lemon, I’d use just one and increase the amount.

  With the exception of harissa, though—one of my absolute pantry must-haves—and one recipe that has a tablespoon of sriracha in its dressing (see the prawn recipe on this page), I decided not to rely on ready-made chile pastes, such as Thai green or red curry pastes. There are some really good pastes available but, as freshness is so important to me, I’d rather make a simple quick curry paste of my own, using a few key ingredients, than use an ingredient-packed ready-made version.

  Ingredients I haven’t included in the number count are: salt, pepper, water, olive oil and—in a handful of recipes—garlic and onion.

  make ahead

  Ottolenghi food is all about freshness. Herbs and leaves don’t like to sit around after they’ve been chopped or dressed. A lot of baked things like to be eaten soon after they come out of the oven. There are all sorts of ways, though, to get ahead with the me
al you’re making without compromising on how fresh it is.

  Many things, such as spreads and sauces, dips, and dressings, for example, are happy to be made a day or two ahead and kept in the fridge, ready to be warmed through or brought back to room temperature before serving. The freezer is also your friend. It’s often as easy to double the amount of a pasta sauce or stew that a recipe calls for, for example, as it is to make the amount you need for one meal. That way you can just freeze half, have your next meal ready and waiting, and feel disproportionately pleased with yourself in the process.

  It’s not just about getting food into the fridge or freezer the day or week before, though. Making ahead also includes all the ways you can get ahead by a few hours on the day you’re prepping for a meal, so that a dish is ready to be assembled when it’s time to eat. Nuts can be toasted, batter mixed, stuffing prepped, grains cooked and refreshed, vegetables blanched and dried, or even (in the case of wedges of eggplant or squash) roasted in the oven and brought to room temperature. These are all things that can be done hours (or even the day) before. Herbs might not like to be chopped but the leaves can certainly be picked from the stems in advance. Just cover them with a slightly damp paper towel and keep them in the fridge, unchopped.

  With meat, a lot can be done in advance. Meatballs can be made up and rolled (ready to be cooked when needed) or even seared in advance (ready to be warmed through before serving). Chicken thighs or beef sirloin can be marinating a day or two ahead of when you’re ready to cook. Slow-cooked stews can be made a day or two ahead and then, again, warmed through before serving.

  Desserts, as well, can very often be made ahead. Ice creams sit happily in the freezer, many cakes and most cookies keep well in an airtight container, and fridge cakes take up residence in, well, the fridge. Other times it’s about elements that can all be made in advance, ready to be put together before serving (the cherries and crumble and cheesecake, for example, in the cheesecake on this page), leaving a minute’s worth of assembly to do before a knockout dessert is brought to the table.

  The joy of make-ahead recipes is that, with the knowledge that most of the work is done, you can then actually be in the moment when it comes to serving and enjoying a meal. Having friends and family over is as much about hanging out together as the food that you eat, and there shouldn’t be a big gap between the relaxed fun of planning a meal and the reality of making it happen. People don’t go to their friends’ house expecting food to be served à la minute and checked at the pass. That is what restaurants are for. If you’re someone who likes to plan and get ahead, don’t turn into a crazy-person chef the night your friends are coming over for supper.

  pantry

  What people have in their cupboard depends, obviously, on what they like to cook and eat. The fact that my cupboard shelves are always home to a tub of tahini, some green tea, and dark chocolate does not, I know, mean that anyone else’s are going to be.

  That being said, there are a few things I’ve assumed you will have on hand. If a recipe relies on them, then it will be seen as pantry-led. These everyday ingredients are:

  everyday ingredients

  Olive oil

  Unsalted butter

  All-purpose flour

  Large eggs

  Garlic

  Onions

  Lemons

  Greek-style yogurt

  Parmesan (or pecorino)

  Herbs

  Dried pasta

  Rice

  Canned beans (lentils, chickpeas, lima beans)

  Canned tuna and anchovies

  Salt and pepper

  You might still have to pick something up—a piece of fresh cod, for example, for the dish of chickpeas with flaked cod (this page) or some spinach leaves for the gigli pasta (this page)—but my thinking is that you’ll be able to stop by just one shop on the way home rather than have to write a long list or go out of your way.

  As well as these everyday ingredients, there are 10 “Ottolenghi” ingredients I’m assuming you won’t have in your cupboard already, which I’m urging you to go out and buy. Simple cooking is often about injecting as much flavor as possible into a dish in a way that is quick and easy. These are some of my favorite little flavor bombs to help you to do that. They all have a long shelf life and are used again and again throughout the book.

  “Ottolenghi” ingredients

  Sumac

  Za’atar

  Urfa chile flakes

  Ground cardamom

  Pomegranate molasses

  Rose harissa

  Tahini

  Barberries

  Black garlic

  Preserved lemons

  For more on what these ingredients are, where to find the best version of them, and why they’re so good to have in the cupboard, see this page.

  What you have in your cupboard changes, of course, according to the season. A dish of roasted mushrooms and chestnuts (this page) is something you’ll be able to magic up around Christmas in a way that you couldn’t in the less festive months.

  Pantry recipes are also meant to be versatile. My fridge-raid salad dressing (this page), for example, uses the herbs that needed to be used up when making the recipe, but it’s going to work as well without the tarragon and with a bit more basil, if that’s what you have. The chocolate fridge cake (this page) is about as robust as a dessert can be. I’ve suggested the dried fruit, chocolate flavor, and alcohol I like to add to the mix, but start with what you have in your cupboard and take it from there. There’s something particularly satisfying about making a meal out of what you already have around.

  lazy

  Lazy cooks are busy off doing something else while the meal is making itself. These are the slow-cooked stews simmering on the stove while you’re in the garden, the whole head of celery root you leave to roast in the oven for hours, the chicken legs that have been marinating overnight and now just need to be transferred to a baking dish in the oven and left to cook. All the work has been done beforehand, to ensure that the dish gets the flavor it needs, but then it’s up to the combined forces of heat and time to do all the work.

  These are also the one-pot or one-sheet pan dishes, low on washing up, high on ease, and big on flavor: the vegetables mixed with one or two things—carrots with harissa, for example, or mushrooms and chestnuts with za’atar—tipped onto a sheet pan and simply roasted.

  These are the cakes that need no baking and the rice dishes that can be put into the oven in a baking sheet and forgotten about. These are the dishes that fill your house with smells, don’t fill your sink with washing up, and allow you to get on with those jobs you never seem to get around to—or, alternatively, to delight in the possibility of actually being lazy and returning to bed with the paper.

  easier than you think

  Easy cooking, like simple cooking, depends on what kind of cook you are. One person’s idea of easy is different than the next. Making your own bread, for example, is either something you grew up doing or, on the other hand, have never even contemplated. Pastries, ice cream, labneh, custard—they’re all the same. Sometimes the simplest things—getting couscous or rice perfectly fluffy or an egg perfectly boiled—can floor one. The “E” recipes in this book will show you how much easier dishes can be than you think.

  Other recipes that fall into this category are the ones that look or sound a bit restauranty but are actually super easy. The burrata with grilled grapes and basil (this page), and the Trout tartare with browned butter, and pistachios (this page) are examples. These both read as though they should be served in a high-end restaurant, but you’ll be amazed by how easy they actually are. Don’t be intimidated, also, by recipe names that have French or Italian words in them. Confit, carpaccio, and clafoutis all sound like you should only try the recipe if you’ve been to cooking s
chool, but it’s all just a ruse!

  This is true of all cooking, really. Notwithstanding words in languages you might not speak, if you can read you can cook, and if you know what kind of cook you are—a make-ahead cook or a short-on-time cook or a whatever-I-have-in-my-cupboard cook—then things will be simpler still. None of us are one set type or the other, of course; we are all sorts of different cooks for all sorts of different occasions and times in our lives. My hope, though, is that for all those who want their food to remain abundant and bold but the cooking of it to be simple, the Ottolenghi SIMPLE structure here will be a kitchen liberation.

  a note about ingredients, make-ahead recommendations, and oven temperatures

  Unless otherwise stated: All eggs are large, all milk is whole, all weights in parentheses are net, all salt is table salt, black pepper is freshly cracked, parsley is flat-leaf, and all herbs are fresh. Onions are white, olive oil is extra-virgin, and lemon and lime pith are to be avoided when the zest is shaved. Onions, garlic, and shallots are all in need of peeling, unless otherwise stated. Preserved lemons are small. Belazu rose harissa has been used throughout the book; different varieties and brands of harissa vary greatly from each other so the instruction to increase or decrease the amount needed is always given. Flour is measured by scooping the cup into the bin and leveling with a knife.

  When a recipe (or parts of the recipe) can be made ahead, estimates are given for how far in advance this can be: up to 6 hours, up to 2 days, up to 1 week, and so forth. Different conditions will affect how long something lasts, though—how long it has been kept out of the fridge, how hot the kitchen is, etcetera—so make-ahead recommendations must be weighed on a case-by-case basis as to whether something is still in good shape to eat. When instructed to keep something in the fridge, if made in advance, it will be best eaten once brought back to room temperature (or warmed through) rather than eaten fridge-cold.