Notes about Recipes in this book

• Pearl barley risotto with watercress, asparagus and pecorino

  • Jane on June 07, 2017

    This was fantastic. It takes about an hour start to finish but quite a lot can be prepared ahead. I ignored the odd instruction to cook the barley for 30 mins then use the same pan for the next stage. Much easier to use 2 pans and save 30 minutes. It's the spinach & watercress purée that really elevates this dish. The asparagus/pecorino salad on the top also makes it something extra special.

  • Dishyrishie on January 02, 2017

    Delicious, nutty, rich but light. Can prep a lot of it beforehand. So good.

• Butternut squash with ginger tomatoes and lime yoghurt

  • IvyManning on November 09, 2015

    Overly complicated recipe has you roast squash @425 convection and then slow roast tomatoes for over an hour. I easily streamlined the recipe to fairly good results. The cardamom-lime yogurt is nice. Reminds me of biryani without the rice. Hope the rest of the recipes in this book aren't such a pain in the ass.

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on November 12, 2017

    Agree with IvyManning, not an easy recipe. Takes a lot of time, but taste was good. Maybe making this again. Two ovens might be a solution!

• Green salad with sumac, red onion and allspice

  • Gio on February 07, 2016

    Although I have all of Chef Ottolenghi's cookbooks and have cooked many recipes from each, this particular salad didn't thrill me as much as others have. Nothing was substituted, and the recipe was followed precisely. I enjoyed the individual components, but thought the dressing was just a bit too harsh, even though the greens ought to have been able to handle it.

  • Melanie on October 05, 2015

    Great salad. Easy to make - onion is lightly pickled for an hour or so before mixing with the salad leaves and serving. I substituted rocket for watercress and loved the result. Served with slow roast lamb shoulder and roast potatoes. Great to cut through the richness of the dish.

  • Rutabaga on September 26, 2017

    I'm not sure what to make of this salad. My husband liked it, and even my six-year-old wanted some. To my taste, I used too much dressing for the amount of salad (I did not weigh or measure, but just used some "wild and spicy" mix from the farmer's market), but the real issue was the taste of allspice, vinegar, and onion, together with some dill that happened to be in the salad mix. To me, the flavor was so strongly reminiscent of pickled herring that I couldn't get the sense that I was eating vinegary fish out of my mind. As much as I like pickled herring on occasion, this was not what I was aiming for with this salad. Ultimately, I would go very lightly with the allspice, and use a gentler hand when dressing the salad, tasting as I go to avoid overwhelming the salad with the taste of pickled onion.

• Lamb meatballs with warm yoghurt and Swiss chard

  • KarenS on February 28, 2017

    Wonderful flavors, and the egg+cornstarch trick kept the yogurt sauce deliciously thick, napping the meatballs beautifully. I used toasted sesame seeds instead of pine nuts and oven 'fried' the meatballs while I made the sauce.

  • TrishaCP on January 08, 2018

    We doubled the sauce and that was a good call. The sauce was great and I loved the pop of pomegranate at the end.

  • cathinchley on October 13, 2015

    Realistically 3 meatballs per person is sufficient for a serve, particularly as you are having something else on the side. We made a double recipe and got 55 meatballs. Although the recipe states the pomegranate seeds as optional, they really cut through the yoghurt to balance this dish perfectly.

  • cultus.girl on August 28, 2016

    This is a lovely recipe. Rave reviews. We only had two meatballs each and that was ample with a side vegetable dish and salad.

  • MmeFleiss on June 05, 2017

    I agree with sosayi that doubling the sauce gave us the right proportion of meat to yogurt sauce. Delicious, but more time consuming than I had anticipated.

  • sosayi on April 07, 2017

    The meatballs freeze beautifully, so making extra is a great idea. Once you have that done, this comes together really quickly for an easy weeknight dinner. I'd also recommend doubling the sauce. Addicting!

• French beans with freekeh and miso

  • okcook on January 07, 2016

    Yes, my grain was also a little wet. I boiled it for the recipe instructed 20 minutes and it was not done. Another 15 and still a little hard so I left it to sit with the lid on the pot for about two hours and then evaporated off the remaining liquid. Caution, those shallots are spicy! Read the recipe ahead because the dressing it a little involved. Great textures and flavour. It made a nice lunch with a bowl of soup. Makes around ten 100 grams portions. We ate 200 grams each and that was plenty to eat at one sitting. Around 100 kcal/100 grams and 6 grams of protein.

  • RosieB on November 14, 2015

    Really tasty salad with lots of textures happening. My freekah was a bit wet but the dressing disguised this. Miso is obviously the flavour of the moment.

• Burnt spring onion dip with curly kale

  • RosieB on February 06, 2016

    Great dip and easy to put together. I would never have thought of charring spring onions. I decided not to do the kale and served it just as a dip.

  • Frogcake on October 22, 2016

    Have made this several times. This dip is quite delicious on its own. Will make this again for sure!

• Crushed new potatoes with caper berries, pink peppercorns and roasted garlic

  • RosieB on November 14, 2015

    Delicious! As with a lot of the Ottolenghi recipes, there are a lot of steps and different elements which give a fantastic complex dish. The potatoes had a delicious garlic flavour from the garlic infused oil. Lots of parsely and mint gave a freshness and the pink peppercorns a nice zing. Definitely make again.

  • joneshayley on February 21, 2016

    Complex but worth the effort. pink peppercorns and mint really make the dish.

• Roasted pork belly with crushed butternut squash and apple and walnut salsa

  • RosieB on November 14, 2015

    This was a great dish even though somewhat involved. It took 4 hours to cook in various stages. Definitely not a set and forget. The pork had the most amazing crackling and the meat was tender and delicious. The butter nut squash was bit sweet for my taste but the miso gives a good hit of flavour. The best bit was the walnut and apple salsa. Just delicious. I would make this again. I served this with two other dishes from Nopi reviewed separately. I would not do that again as there was too much going on in the kitchen. I felt like a masterchef contestant!

  • MmeFleiss on June 20, 2017

    We loved the flavors, although the skin lost its crunchiness after we added all the liquid in. I might cut the skin off next time and broil it separately.

• Roasted carrots with coriander seeds and garlic

  • Melanie on October 05, 2015

    Another easy side dish - carrots are roasted with crushed coriander and honey. Very simple.

• King prawns with Pernod tarragon and feta

  • Delys77 on April 06, 2016

    This definitely has a lovely restaurant quality to it with the rich sauce and lovely herbs. I just felt it was lacking some acidity. Lots of lovely layered flavours but not as well balanced as I usually find with Yotam's other recipes.

  • Lzeleny on February 24, 2018

    Exccellent. Great for guests

• Spiced pork neck with physalis relish

  • ntt2 on November 28, 2015

    This is not Ora NECK, it's pork roast!

• Steamed haddock with sesame bagna cauda and cavolo nero

  • meggan on June 06, 2017

    The bagna cauda sauce was delightful but I probably could have cut it in half as I have about 2 cups left. Might be good on chicken or perhaps tossed with roasted veg. Also I might reduce the sesame seeds slightly as they lent a little too peanut buttery a taste.

• Twice-cooked baby chicken with chilli sauce and kaffir lime leaf salt

  • Dishyrishie on March 18, 2017

    Prepare this a couple of days ahead. First you make the master stock. Then you cook the chicken. then you cool it. Then you bake it. It's not complicated, just needs planning. BUT the results are worth it. One of the most delicious dishes we've eaten in a long time.

• Saffron Chase

  • Yildiz100 on November 11, 2017

    I like the idea of a cocktail with saffron but in this one the saffron is kind of overwhelmed by the elderflower liqueur. It is tasty enough but a bit sweet for my taste and I probably won't repeat. (Should be noted that I used Saint Germain and Tanqueray, rather than the Chase brand elderflower and gin.)

• Soft-shelled crab with sweet black pepper sauce, okra and cinnamon pickled cucumber

  • rmardel on June 10, 2017

    cinnamon pickled cucumber was fabulous. It was worth making the dish just for this. The okra was also good. I felt the sauce overpowered the crab, but I'll see what else it works with before making a final judgement.

• Lamb rump with vanilla-braised chicory and sorrel pesto

  • PeterC on January 20, 2018

    The marinade for the lamb worked well to flavour and tenderise the meat. However I am not convinced by the vanilla braised chicory or sorrel pesto. The sorrel had a tart, bitter flavour akin to grapefruit which did not work well with the sweet dessert-like notes of the chicory which also had an underlying bitterness. I probably had the ratio of sorrel to the other pesto ingredients wrong and put too much on the plate but all these powerful flavours detracted from the lamb.

• Burrata with blood orange, coriander seeds and lavender oil

  • joneshayley on February 17, 2018

    very easy and delicious. An impressive starter for a dinner party

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on February 08, 2017

    Made it a couple of times now, supereasy and delicious. Looks very pretty on a simple white plate.

  • bwhip on January 13, 2018

    Excellent. Wonderful, simple dish. The flavors just pop, and the creaminess of the burrata is divine.

• Black radish, red chicory and apple salad

  • NikkiPixie on March 03, 2016

    One of the best salad dressings I've ever made.

• Vine leaf beef pie

  • IsaSim on April 26, 2016

    Appears under "Grape leaf beef pie" in my Canadian edition. Very flavorful, I used the beef bone marrow as suggested. Next time, I will cut the size in half for our family of three (some got tired of the leftovers).

• Tomatoes with wasabi mascarpone and pine nuts

  • Rutabaga on August 21, 2016

    This recipe gets points for serving summer tomatoes in a way that is definitely different, yet still very easy to prepare. The wasabi flavor was pretty pronounced, so I might decrease it slightly just to allow to herbs to shine a little more, but I enjoyed the contrasting textures and flavors.

• Chicken pastilla

  • Rutabaga on November 12, 2017

    This pastilla packs in incredible flavors. There's so much going on, yet it all comes together in a harmonious whole. It is also very rich, and quite filling. Although it takes a fair amount of work, it's not difficult, and the work can easily be spread out over several days. I made the chicken filling two days ahead, then cooked the spinach several hours in advance, and finally put the whole thing together in about 10 minutes before popping it in the oven. It took much longer for the chicken sauce to reduce than Ottolenghi notes in the recipe, but perhaps this was because I used canned tomatoes. The one thing I omitted was the powdered sugar, as that just didn't appeal to me. Instead, I sprinkled over a couple of pinches of the spice blend from the Persian love rice recipe from this same book. While I won't be making this often, it was well worth the effort, and a great idea for a centerpiece dish for a special dinner.

• Persian love rice with burnt butter tzatziki

  • Rutabaga on November 12, 2017

    I simplified this dish by serving it as a pilaf straight from the pan, leaving out the grape leaves. While it still takes some work to prepare the spices and other ingredients, the dish comes together pretty quickly if you prepare the various components in advance. The taste is subtle yet complex. I really love the mix of tart barberries and lightly sweet mulberries, the crunch of the nuts, and the fragrant spices. The burnt butter tzatziki is also excellent. The browned butter gives it a nice, unexpected umami flavor. My one-year-old even liked it, although only on plain rice.

• Pan-fried mackerel with fresh coconut and peanut salad

  • MmeFleiss on June 20, 2017

    Fabulous salad. I would make it again by itself for other Southeast Asian meals.

• Jerusalem artichoke soup with hazelnut and spinach pesto

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on December 30, 2017

    Very delicious soup, very suitable for a Christmas dinner or fancy dinner with friends.

• Pistachio and pine nut-crusted halibut with wild rocket and parsley vichyssoise

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on November 12, 2017

    Delicious. Not too difficult. Tasteful vichyssoise.

• Pepper-crusted beef sirloin and fennel salad with pecorino and truffle

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on March 10, 2017

    Delicious! Made this twice so far, will definitely make it more often. Beef was perfectly cooked on the inside and very the crust is very flavourful.

• Baked chocolate ganache with spicy hazelnuts and orange oil

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on April 16, 2017

    Made this once, the tastes together were wonderful. The consistency of the baked chocolate ganache was good. I did use store bought clementine oil. Would recommend this for a special dinner with friends or a romantic date.

• Lemon sole with burnt butter, nori and fried capers

  • clcorbi on August 02, 2017

    I was looking forward to trying this recipe out all week, and wow, it didn't disappoint. Five stars! We halved the recipe for two people and used boneless hake filets rather than whole fish. I also didn't grind up my nori, just chopped it finely. Otherwise, I followed the recipe as written, and we loved it. The sauce is an absolute flavor bomb. It would make anything taste good, I'm pretty sure. This is a dish that should definitely be served with rice or crusty bread so that you can sop up all the delicious sauce. It's also so fast, I can definitely see repeating this on many weeknights to come. Especially since I now own a large amount of nori. Yum!

• Bourbon-glazed spare ribs with smoked corn salad

  • anya_sf on May 23, 2017

    I followed the recipe exactly. It takes several hours, and has many steps, but nothing is difficult. The ribs benefited from simmering in the glaze (final step), covered, longer than the 7 minutes called for; an extra 20 minutes helped tenderize and coat them with the glaze better. The smoked corn was initially overly smoky in flavor, but by the time we ate the salad (maybe 40 min later), most of the smoky flavor had dissipated. My family couldn't tell. So next time I wouldn't bother smoking the corn, but would just steam or boil the corn for a few minutes. The ribs and corn were both delicious and complemented each other nicely. I think I could do without the crunchiness of the Szechuan peppercorns in the glaze. Also, it uses A LOT of bourbon (which cooks way, way down) so it's kind of expensive to make. So I'm not sure I'd make the rib recipe again. The corn salad was really light and refreshing with all the herbs and the light vinaigrette. I would definitely make that again.

• Food52

  All through June, our Cookbook Club will be focused on Yotam Ottolenghi's repertoire, and we hope you'll join us.

  Full review

• Food52

  For the cook who: Used to work in a restaurant Reads through the entire recipe, multiple times and many hours before getting started.

  Full review

• Kavey Eats

  The book is an utter joy right from the start. The voice of it is extremely loving, and slightly teasing, telling of the differences in approach between Scully and Yotam...

  Full review

• San Francisco Chronicle

  Best Cookbooks of 2015: Like his other books, the recipes aren’t for the faint of heart or those pressed for time....In true Ottolenghi - and Nopi - style, it’s unlike anything we’ve seen.

  Full review

• Food52

  Entertaining menu including comments re recipes from this book.

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• Eater

  It's best to think of Nopi as Ottolenghi, Advanced Edition: still a perfect dinner party inspiration, but aimed at someone who likes to pretend they're on an episode of Top Chef while cooking at home.

  Full review