Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

There are some great positive reviews of this book that are detailed and informative. I bought this book at least a year ago without reviewing it. Having tried several recipes, I've come back to review it briefly. I enjoy cooking but consider a meal incomplete without meat or dish as the principal flavour. Wanting to broaden my repertoire and provide some really alternative options for preparing vegetables (particularly those I don't usually include in my typical grocery list) I turned to this book. I go to it every time I want to add something interesting for my guests or when I'm producing something for a pot luck party. What this book compels you to do is combine flavours you wouldn't think to put together. The best thing about this book for me is that the ingredients are generally available from the big four supermarkets. An occasional trip to a speciality store is sometimes called for, but I don't begrudge going out of my way for the result. I always thought I hated beetroot, but stunning images of roast red and golden beetroot salad changed my mind. This salad is sweet and refreshing. I love beetroot! Who knew I liked Jerusalem artichoke until I bought it having seen a simple soup recipe for this. Figs with pecorino and honey is sublime. I've never ventured towards a fig in my life, until I picked up this book. The fact is that the recipes are generally simple, no great culinary skill is required ,just the best (preferably seasonal) ingredients and perhaps some beautiful crockery for displaying your creations. Most of the recipes are carefully detailed in 6 steps or less. Where there is photography as you would expect, the dishes look amazing. What's great is that you have some shots of dishes as they are displayed in their London restaurant, stacked beautifully on large, brightly coloured platters irresistibly salivating the palette. If you can recreate this for your guest you won't go wrong. The best discovery is that I really like foods I've never liked the look of and changed my view that meat is the carrier for lifting bland vegetables. Since buying this book, there have been two further publications by Ottenlenghi and an interesting tv series. I intend to work my way through the recipes here (meat and fish included in this cookbook) then treat myself to further delights in due course.

As usual, excellent book by Ottolenghi.

Love this book and enjoying using it. First Class delicious recipes..

For some reason this book sometimes gets lumped in the "middle eastern food" category. Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi may both have been born in Jerusalem, and there's the occasional recipe from that part of the world (chicken with sumac, za'atar and lemon is as middle eastern as it gets) but the recipes here owe much more to the delicatessens and patisseries of Italy (where do you think the name "Ottolenghi" comes from?) and France than to the east. I would say that there's nothing really spectacular presented in this book, nothing for that special dinner party to impress your friends. Having said that, much in here may still seem quite exotic to many Britons, even in this age of widening culinary horizons. But everything in here is relatively easy to make, and not many hard-to-source ingredients. It's mostly the sort of thing that you could provide for an informal lunch or dinner with friends or could do as an everyday 'family' meal for yourself - good, honest and flavoursome food. The book is presented in handy format; a single recipe will be on a single page, so no flicking back and forth (a common annoyance in many cookbooks when actually cooking a recipe in the kitchen - too many cookbooks are laid out by art departments whose staff probably never cook); its size and shape also lend itself to easy kitchen use; and the nowadays obligatory blurry arty photos of staff and customers in the restaurant are kept to a relative minimum compared to many cookbooks, but on the other hand the photography of many of the recipes is welcome.

I have this book which I bought from the restaurant in Islington London... People always comment how lovely my food is when I use the recipes so as a gift I like to get my close friends a copy of there own You can not go wrong with the easy recipes and you soon start making up your own versions ...great gift ...

I have been a fan of the Upper Street sit-in branch with my girlfriends for years and never got bored of the endless flavour combinations of veggies and salads, let alone cakes. I decided to get the cookbook despite my first impression of the lay out, and I am very pleased i had. (amazon's is far cheaper than the shop's copy). In 2 weeks I already done these recipes: - Cranberry/ choc cookies, except i replaced the berries by 150g of dark chocolate to suit my needs:) It was a delight and the 30 cookies were gone in less than 3 days, there are only 2 of us at home!!! The oats make it so hard to resist having less than 5 at a time!!! Moorish and easy to make. very crusty, not chewy. - AUBERGINES with TAHINI sauce and OREGANO marinade: Tahini sauce can be made in smaller quantity to avoid waste, and is like a lighter hummus. Aubergines were delicious and I had to adjust the sizes of pieces to avoid them drying out too quickly in oven. -BEANS WITH ORANGE/HAZELNUTS: very easy to make, taste so refreshing and healthy. - CHICKEN BREASTS WITH HONEY/HAZELNUTS: Cooked for 2 people (unlike recipe for 4) but used same amount of marinade and still needed more. My boyfriend who doesn't even like cinnamon liked it even more than I did! - JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES &POTATOES: Well, the taste was fab but the side effects were not known to us and unfortunately the farting that followed might not be what one needs to keep the passion alive. So I recommend not to do it for guest or first dates!!!! BeWARE!!!! - As I write this, I am baking the pistachio shortbreads. Not easiest of steps, but they looked like they should be on the tray. Will taste them in 30 minutes. - BROCCOLI WITH CHILI & GARLIC: so easy and so like the ones in the shop. A must for lazy days. Takes minutes. Voila my friends, next week I am making the delicious (tried in the shop) MACADEMIA CARAMEL CHEESECAKE!!!! Got all my ingredients today for it at waitrose. florence, London. 32.

As far as I'm concerned, this book has everything. The recipes are really unique, as well as being achievable for someone like me who loves cooking at home but doesn't quite feel capable of using any advanced cooking techniques just yet. The results are so delicious and beautiful that they give the illusion that you're a brilliant cook who thinks outside the box. Haha! The vegetable section in the first part of the book makes vegetables taste like I never thought possible, and has enough in it to make the book well worth buying for vegetarians like me. There is also a meat/fish section and a to-die-for baking section. I've cooked some of the recipes and can't wait to try out the rest. The brioche pizzas were yum (2 guests asked for the recipe), the macaroons in 3 flavours divine (my mum ate virtually a whole box of the peanut caramel ones), the mushrooms with cinnamon & lemon were absolutely bursting with flavour, the asparagus, courgette and manouri salad - mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I stumbled across this cookbook without ever having the pleasure of visiting the shop (next time in London - it will be my first stop!). I bought it for the soup and salad recipes which seemed like tasty and healthy lunch options and I wasn't dissapointed - in fact every recipe I tried turned out beautifully. My biggest surprise was the recipe for focaccia. My father is from Liguria so I have been spoiled by the best focaccia in Italy and have tried many times to make it at home. What intrigued me about this recipe was that is wasn't just a list of ingredients mixed together - it was a process that included steps that appeared to be tricks of the trade - maybe just what was missing from all my other attempts. Well - I have now made focaccia at least 20 times - each one turning out perfectly - whether using fresh or dry yeast and with the gentle addition of some whole wheat flour - which I use at about 1/3rd of the total. Just for this recipe alone the book was worth every penny however I hope to work my way through each page!!

Nicely bound, clearly printed with well explained recipes and lots of mouth watering photographs.

Ottolenghi siempre me sorprende con sus recetas. Son estupendas.

Bellissimo libro foto molto accattivanti, per gli amanti del genere anche le ricette sono fantastiche

This book is beautiful - the food, the photos, the design and the passion for fresh, healthy, delicious food of the authors. Some of the ingredients are a little harder to find in Japan, but many of the recipes have ingredients that are easy to source. The salads and cakes are my favourites. This is one of those rare cookbooks that you actually want to read, not just flip to the recipes. Highly recommended

I bought this book because I was cooking from Ottolenghi's Plenty, which I love for its creative combinations of vegetables, herbs, and spices. This second book, based on dishes prepared at the authors' London restaurant, also named Ottolenghi, is equally superb. I started with the broccoli salad because I adore broccoli and because the authors noted that restaurant customers picketed when it was removed from the menu. I love it! Parboiled and charred broccoli dressed with garlic and pepper and the oil they're cooked in. Just exquisite! I have owned and cooked from many notable cookbooks over the years, and this is the first that really enchants my primal tastebuds. One can really taste what one is eating, and appreciate the different ingredients. The recipes are stunningly creative. I am just fascinated!