A Glimpse into Yotam Ottolenghi’s SWEET Home

If you were to resurrect my long expired teenaged years, my utter devotion to David Cassidy would be revealed. I hear the clicking of keyboards D a v i d  C a s s i d y being typed into the Google search engine (be sure to look at photos from the 70’s – dreamy right?) The memories of my teen self with hairbrush in hand singing backup to “I Think I Love You” into the bureau mirror – those were the days. Yotam Ottolenghi is my chef equivalent crush.

Recently Alice Hancock of the Financial Times* visited Ottolenghi in his home where “presentation is paramount”.  Sharing personal tidbits of his life, photographs of his garden and home as well as his favourite thing – a gorgeous chopping board made of swamp kauri gifted to him by a friend – the glimpse into his life is an enjoyable trip. A photo of his kitchen gives a tease of his cookery books. I hope to be able to include Ottolenghi and his collection in more detail in my Cookbook Collection Stackup posts in the future (see a link on the stackup post to the Happy Foodie website about Ottolenghi’s collection).

While the main purpose of this post is to share the Financial Times’ article, I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you a bit more about Sweet. As I stated to a friend recently, I haven’t anticipated anything to this degree since the divorce of my first husband. 

Sweet is written with pastry chef Helen Goh and is stunning with full page coloured photographs, extensive detail contained within each recipe and as promised recipes that bring the exotic flavors that define the Ottolenghi empire. Jessie, a friend, has asked “is it all yoghurt” – no Jessie, there are very little recipes that even contain yoghurt in this book – four in total. 

Broken down into categories: Cookies and biscuits, mini-cakes, cakes, cheesecakes, tarts and pies, desserts, and confectionery – the book ends with baker’s tips and notes and ingredient information. Immediately upon opening Sweet, after the Preface and Introduction, you are greeted by the first recipe – Custard Yo-Yos with Roasted Rhubarb Icing – I love getting right down to business. Recently, Darcie shared The Guardian’s sneak peek into the book featuring ten recipes and I hope to make the Middle Eastern Millionaire’s Shortbread that is indexed on our site in the next few days – tahini caramel – yes!

Other recipes that are calling to me include Lemon and Blackcurrant Stripe Cake, Pineapple and Star Anise Chiffon Cake, Lime Meringue Cheesecakes, Chai Brûlée Tarts – and every other single recipe – even the fruit cakes. Therein lies the scope of magic that is Ottolenghi – where fruitcake is a must make recipe.  I am working with the UK publisher in hopes to bring you a full promotion as soon as we are finished indexing the title.

I started a group on Facebook to work our way through this book come join us – also once the index is up be sure to upload photos of your creations at Eat Your Books as well. I also hope to periodically prepare roundup posts here at Eat Your Books sharing all your creations from this masterpiece.

The Sydney Morning Herald shared a wonderful piece on Helen and Yotam which my friend Maree shared today along with this piece on Good Food. I’m sure the food news is going to be exploding with stories and we will try to keep you in the loop on all of them. 

*Update since I’ve published this article – I’m told that the link to the FT article hits a paywall but that didn’t occur for me and I don’t have a subscription. Darcie shares that if you Google “Ottolenghi Financial Times” a link will come up without a paywall.