• Eat Your Books

  Read an interview with Yotam Ottolenghi in The London Evening Standard where he talks about Plenty.

• IvyManning on September 13, 2012

  I love the look of this book, and the ideas, but as always it's best to follow your instincts in the kitchen. I made the roasted portobellos with Tallegio and was not thrilled. Ottolenghi doesn't remove the gills or stems from the mushrooms, so the dish tasted muddy. He also uses a vast quantity of sundried tomatoes, which overwhelmed everything else in the dish. The Tallegio was a nice touch, but that much of any strong cheese just overwhelms the nostrils! Recipe fail this time, though other recipes in this book did better.

• lisapopp on December 30, 2010

  I completely agree with the other comments- this may be the first book that I cook cover to cover. I received it for Christmas- 5 days ago- and have already tried 6 of the recipes, with 2 more planned for tomorrow. My only note would be that I cut out some of the butter and used a little less oil (because some of the amounts seemed outlandishly large for everyday eating) but everything still tasted divine. If I could eat the Ultimate Winter Couscous and Stuffed Onions every day I would.

• Nik on December 29, 2010

  This is my favorite cookbook of 2010! This summer I made the Green Gazpacho almost every week and the Barley and Pomegranate Salad became a staple on the holiday table - so pretty and a lovely chewy/crunchy contrast. I could eat my weight in Leek Fritters dipped the green, lemony sauce! I might just end up cooking everything in this book.

• Slynchie on June 22, 2010

  I love this book. For the first time in years I am cooking my way through each and every recipe. This has brought me back to a range of vegtables and pulses that I had sadly wandered away from (cauliflower, broad beans, lentils, broccoli). Luckily I have easy access to a wide range of the spices/veg used - living close to some great Turkish/Cypriot shops. Might be a bit irritating otherwise....

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Brussels sprouts and tofu

  • jaelsne on December 01, 2017

    Absolutely delicious-as others have mentioned, it uses a lot of oil. I'll cut back next time.

  • Jane on April 12, 2014

    This a recipe I could easily have passed by but I happened to have Brussels and tofu to use and up came this recipe in my search. It was surprisingly good and I will definitely make it again - next time with the mushrooms which I didn't have. It did use a lot of oil so I halved it and I thought it was fine. I didn't add all the marinade at the end as my chilli sauce was quite hot (I didn't use sweet sauce as I'm trying to cut out sugar - I also skipped the maple syrup). Even with my changes I thought this was a really good, healthy dinner.

  • Cheri on March 09, 2015

    We liked this, it surely is comfort food for us. Also used Trader Joe's sweet chili sauce in the marinade. Tofu pressed and then marinated for 24 hours. Don't think it needed that long in the marinade. I felt the texture of the tofu could have been firmer, overall and agree with cilantrolime, may try baking next time. Also did not include mushrooms this time (didn't have them), but I'm sure they would be a nice add. Overall liked the flavor palate Cut down on oil quantity. Served over steamed basmati rice. Filling and satisfying. Will make again.

  • oddkitchen on January 19, 2013

    Quick, easy, very flavorful and tasty. It does use a lot of oil, which I believe could be reduced. Most of the cooking is done in one pan, making cleanup relatively easy. Good for a weeknight meal, and the leftovers are also quite nice.

  • Zosia on January 15, 2018

    This is as delicious as everyone else has said but does call for far too much oil. I dry fried the tofu first and then used only about 3tbsp oil to cook the other ingredients. I had only dried shiitake mushrooms which were a little rubbery in this but they did add good flavour.

  • cilantrolime on August 22, 2014

    I used sweet chili sauce from Trader Joe's. It's not very important. It was very tasty and relatively easy, but frying marinated tofu makes a lot of mess. Maybe I'll try baking the tofu next time.

  • rubytuby on August 23, 2015

    I love this dish. It's very flavorful and the brussels sprouts are delicious. The recipe calls for 5 oz of firm tofu. I use a normal-sized package of extra firm tofu, which is 14 oz, and then double the amount of the first five ingredients for the sauce. I don't think it would be enough food with just 5 oz of tofu

  • clcorbi on November 18, 2016

    Very good. I didn't give the tofu enough time to get crispy because we were impatient to eat--won't make that mistake again. This is a lovely stirfry, the brussels sprouts are phenomenal.

  • urmami on August 22, 2016

    I love this recipe and make it at least a few times every fall and winter. To cut down on oil, mess, and time, I use the extra-firm tofu from Trader Joe's, which (as promised) is so firm it hardly requires any draining, and don't fry it - just cut into cubes and stir in at the end. The sprouts have enough crunch and the sprouts enough flavor to make up for crispy fried tofu edges. I think the mushroom funk is pretty important to the dish, but it's not necessary to use shiitakes; I generally use whatever kind happen to be on hand (usually cremini) and they do the job just fine.

  • Bwolfe2 on February 26, 2017

    This is easy, quick and delicious!!! One of the best tofu recipes I've tried.

• Lentils with grilled aubergine

  • Tommelise on July 10, 2011

    A very good recipe. The roasted tomatoes and carrots go well with the lentils and spice. The dish is a favorite of our (vegetarian) daughter with the grilled aubergine for dinner. But if we are out of aubergine the lentils are equally good as a side dish and in the lunchbox the next day.

  • annapanna on October 19, 2013

    Very good! The lentils cooked as described in this recipe had a wonderful flavour. I also found it very filling, we will be making this again and again I am sure. If the aubergines are not big I would suggest adding an extra one.

  • Margaretsmall on October 23, 2013

    Made this last night, and enjoyed it greatly. I grilled the eggplant over a gas burner until the skin was blackened then finished it off in the oven (figured that since the oven was on anyway for the vegetables I might as well use the energy). I added some bok choy to the vegetable/lentil mixture at the last moment for a bit more greenery. I'll make this again.

  • MelanieG on March 16, 2018

    Brilliant. Tasty lentils with or without aubergines.

• Spicy Moroccan carrot salad

  • consortiumlibrary on May 22, 2017

    My current favorite carrot salad; the spices are well-balanced and exciting, without being over the top. It's excellent with grilled fresh halibut. Will definitely make again, as modified. With Yotam's recipes, including this one, we consistently prefer less cinnamon, more spice, and oil-cooked (vs water-cooked) vegetables. Used more green & yellow onions; jalapeño & red Fresno chiles; 1/4 tsp cinnamon; and parsley instead of cilantro (only because didn't have cilantro). After onion was caramelized, I stirred in raw julienned carrots and cooked 2 min over med high, until carrots were crunchy but not raw. Forgot yogurt! Next time...

  • SilverSage on May 11, 2015

    Fabulous! I also subbed out lemon zest for the preserved lemons, and I didn't have any green chiles, so I added a bit of harissa. Perfect foil for my tangine of short ribs, prunes, dates & olives.

  • DKennedy on December 28, 2017

    Had this at Amy's when she hosted Mah jong. Excellent. I will want to make it for myself. She served it with another salad from the Red Rooster cookbook - also fabulous. See Rutikazooty's notes below.

  • TippyCanoe on May 11, 2015

    Terrific. I had no preserved lemon so used a bit of grated rind. The spices were perfect.

  • L.Nightshade on June 04, 2011

    We really liked this salad. I made it when I made the lamb and apricot tagine from AMFT, thought the salad was better than the entree. I used whole baby carrots instead of slices. I added the spices part way through the onion saute as I think that really releases their aromas. I served the yogurt on the side. This recipe is rather similar to the Moroccan carrot salad in the ENYT Cookbook, with less time needed for marinating. I liked them both.

  • Melanie on October 04, 2014

    I served this with the suggested freekeh pilaf - they worked well together and I appreciated the addition of yoghurt to this dish. There is a long list of ingredients but it is easy and worth making.

  • michalow on November 03, 2012

    Very flexible recipe, delicious lots of ways. Haven't made it with preserved lemons yet, but used lime juice once and chopped fresh lemon another time. Both very tasty.

  • Yildiz100 on September 07, 2015

    This was my first time using preserved lemon, and unfortunately, I don't think I care for it. If I make this recipe again, I'll sub something else salty, like olives or capers. I reduced the cloves by half because mine were freshly ground and very strong. Next time, I think I'd reduce the cinnamon a little as well. I tried this both hot and cold and I strongly preferred it warm. I am on the fence as to whether or not I would make this again.

  • KarinaFrancis on November 02, 2014

    This was a nice side dish to serve with a tagine. I didn't have any preserved lemons, I think the dish missed them.

  • lhkelsey on July 21, 2014

    Super! A great way to use carrots from the garden. Kind of out of my comfort zone, and i loved it!

  • br22 on August 02, 2014

    Delicious. The contrast between the room temperature carrots and the cold yogurt is wonderful. The flavors blend together really nicely and it's visually beautiful, too.

  • stephengk on May 28, 2017

    Great side for a barbeque

  • ithyt on October 05, 2015

    6.15 660g. Had warm - delicious.

  • lizbot2000 on June 03, 2017

    Great side for a barbeque

  • Rutikazooty on December 28, 2017

    10 minutes for cooking carrots does not leave them with crunch. Just a warning to check at 5. Based on reviews I used 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Nice blend of spices.

  • finebec on May 01, 2017

    Had the preserved lemons and used fresh carrots (with their green tops) yet I found it did not have the drama in the mouth of many of his other dishes. Will try again, this time with farmers market carrots when they become available as so many of you recommend it.

  • StoicLoofah on March 24, 2018

    Nice side dish. Maybe a lot of work, but it does make a ton of carrots. Don't boil for 10 minutes. Check it from maybe 5 minutes

• Chard cakes with sorrel sauce

  • consortiumlibrary on July 09, 2016

    Bottom line: loved the chard cakes but the sauce wasn't great (too grassy). Might try sauce again made with full fat yogurt (I used 0%) and 60g sorrel instead of 90g. For cakes, used 1/2 chard & 1/2 kale, Panko for breadcrumbs, and Cantal for cheese. Also added 1.5 c yellow onion, sautéed in olive oil with salt & pepper, 1 T minced garlic, & 1 t Aleppo pepper. Also breaded cakes w Panko to make nice crispy crust. To prevent cakes from falling apart, shape, bread, and refrigerate for at least 30 min before frying. Update: To leftover patties, added half and half, water, and fontina, and mixed well over medium heat to make creamed greens. Cracked egg on top of greens, covered pan, and cooked until whites set and yolks runny. So good!

  • caitmcg on October 31, 2015

    A wonderful recipe. The chard cakes are really all about the greens, and with the punch of salty feta, are plenty flavorful on their own. The leftover sorrel sauce found its ideal match in avocado, a pairing even better than with the chard cakes.

  • RuthGo on March 06, 2015

    This was DELICIOUS. My cakes didn't hold together particularly well but it didn't matter. The cakes were delicious, sauce is yummy and they're great together. Will definitely make again.

  • cilantrolime on July 08, 2014

    Nice sauce. Easy to make. We ate it with grilled vegetables.

  • stephengk on May 28, 2017

    One of my favourite versions of fritters. Great way to use chard. Sauce is very good. When didn't have sorrel subbed combination of watercress and rocket. Lovely with Salmon

• Roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes with caper vinaigrette

  • Jane on June 06, 2017

    I followed the recipe exactly as I always like to do that the first time I make a recipe (though like other reviewers I used less oil). I wouldn't leave the skin on the sweet potatoes again unless they were a thin-skinned variety. I had to remove the skins off the wedges as they were inedible. It's definitely the dressing that makes this more interesting. I added half a finely chopped preserved lemon as I thought that went well with the capers. I like stephengk's idea of serving this with halloumi.

  • Laura on December 01, 2011

    Pg. 16. This was really good, and even better on the morning of the second day for breakfast! And I'm looking forward to more leftovers for dinner tonight -- this does make an enormous quantity. It's quite a versatile recipe in that you can basically use any root vegetable in this dish. I did stick with the parsnips and sweet potatoes because I had a lot of both and needed to use them up. I really liked that none of the vegetables burned; the cooking times and temperature seemed to be about perfect. The amount of olive oil seemed excessive to me, so I did halve the amount that was tossed with the vegetables. In the future, I would add the garlic cloves separately. To cut down on fat, I might also skip the vinaigrette, although not the capers -- they're a really nice addition. I did not add the sesame seeds.

  • ComeUndone on May 20, 2011

    One of my favourite way to enjoy parsnips. Incredible mix of flavours. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wscwong/5669866147/

  • TrishaCP on June 27, 2013

    This works exactly as advertised in perking up roasted veg with the acid hit of the vinaigrette. Really wonderful dish.

  • eliza on January 31, 2017

    A nice mix of veggies, capers, and sharp/sweet dressing. I used less oil. Liked it.

  • eselque on August 04, 2012

    I used cauliflower, yellow onions, and sungold tomatoes. The cauliflower only needed to roast for about 20 minutes, then another 10 with the tomatoes. It was delicious.

  • twoyolks on February 09, 2017

    This is just roasted vegetables with a caper-heavy dressing. I don't think the vinaigrette really added that much and the selection of vegetables was merely fine.

  • KarinaFrancis on December 25, 2017

    This was a hit at the Christmas table, especially with the silver fox who has just “discovered” sweet potato. I used white and gold sweet potato and left out the parsnips, and agree with previous reviewers, the dressing really makes it. Next time I’ll use a bigger pan so the veg really roast. We had leftovers last night as a salad on a bed of rocket. (Photo)

  • Rutabaga on March 30, 2014

    This combination of rich roasted vegetables and lemony vinaigrette was incredible. While we aren't big fans of sweet potatoes (except as fries or tempura), I decided to try it with the vegetables as written in the recipe, and both my husband and I loved it. Getting to squeeze the soft roasted garlic on top is definitely a bonus. This would also look gorgeous as a holiday vegetable dish, and the vegetables are very appropriate for winter.

  • stephengk on May 28, 2017

    Served with fried halloumi. The sweetness of the dish worked well with sharp tangy cheese. Have subbed carrots for sweet potatoes.

  • raybun on January 31, 2017

    Another rave review here. We loved this, and the capers managed to go unnoticed by the suspicious 9 year old. I added a small squash that needed eating to the mix. I will bookmark this recipe in my 'favourites' file.

  • finebec on May 02, 2017

    My first impression was of a good simple recipe made unusual by the addition of the garlic heads. Then I made it in a Cuisinart roasting pan and became something else again, something excellent. I would however swap the parsnips for another vegetable. They are an acquired taste. And one member of my family has just not acquired It.

  • StoicLoofah on January 13, 2018

    Really enjoyed this recipe. I think it was my first time cooking with parsnips, and I liked them. I made it on a baking sheet with my silpat down, but there was a ton of liquid that came off of it and ran everywhere. Next time, I think I might try turning on convection to see if it crisps up the vegetables differently

• Roasted butternut squash with sweet spices, lime and green chilli

  • Jane on October 30, 2014

    About half way through making this I started to have doubts. There was a lot of cardamom on the butternut squash and I wondered how it would work with the sharp limes and the yogurt tahini sauce. I really shouldn't have doubted Mr Ottolenghi - he came through again with a wonderful combination of flavors that I could not created on my own. The longest part of the prep was getting all the seeds out of the cardamom pods and removing all the bits of the shells. But you must crush the seeds yourself - using ground cardamom would not work here. This didn't take anything like 2 hours - more like 40 minutes. As you can see from the photo, it's pretty with the orange squash and 3 different shades of green from the limes, thinly sliced green chile and cilantro/coriander.

  • Breadcrumbs on July 26, 2015

    Highly recommended by beetlebug on CH. Her review is here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/1012789?commentId=9657719#9657719

  • schambers on December 29, 2012

    My new favorite way to eat pumpkin. The freshly ground cardamom is important.

  • twoyolks on December 22, 2015

    I ended up using a delicata squash as it's what I had. I'd prefer to peel the squash in the future as the skin just made the texture unusual. The chiles seemed out of place as they provided occasional sharp heat.

  • Yildiz100 on April 29, 2018

    I peeled the squash before roasting and didn't really watch the time, just roasted to my liking. I also omitted the cilantro. It was a lot of cardamom and I enjoyed it on the squash but the process of grinding it was so overwhelmingly fragrant (never knew cardamom could be so like menthol) thay it almost put me off the dish. Next time around I would probably use a teaspoon of already podded seeds which would at least make the process faster. The final dish was really delicious in any case. The lime pieces are absolutely essential to cut the richness of the rest.

  • dinnermints on April 12, 2015

    This was really delicious, and I found it to be a fairly quick recipe (for an Ottolenghi recipe, that is). I also used a kabocha squash = time saved not having to peel it. The sauce wasn't runny enough to pour; next time I'd add more water or would add some chicken broth. I served it as a main dish over a bed of red rice with some home-canned tuna on the side.

  • Barb_N on October 02, 2014

    I played fast and loose with this recipe- subbing Kabocha for butternut squash, and skipping the chiles, cilantro and lime slices. I also sprinkled on the crispy chickpeas from Smitten Kitchen before adding the yogurt tahini sauce to make it more well rounded for the vegetarian in the house. Very nice flavors but still time consuming- even with the shortcuts it took me almost 2 hours to get dinner on the table.

  • StoicLoofah on January 28, 2018

    Wasn't a fan. The butternut squash was still pretty crunchy even with an extra 5 minutes of cooking, and I didn't think the spices, limes, chile, and sauce melded together very well. I would also recommend peeling it ahead of time.

• Sweetcorn polenta

  • Jane on June 16, 2017

    I have made the polenta before but not with the eggplant. It is much better with both. As we all know from the notes, don't add the cooking water to the polenta otherwise it is too loose. I liked the eggplant sauce. 100ml of oil was enough to fry it.

  • Breadcrumbs on August 26, 2013

    Part 1 of 2: Although I didn't have time to make the eggplant sauce and, I had an execution issue with the corn, this was still the best tasting corn dish we've ever eaten! My Polenta looks nothing the polenta pictured in the book. The texture of my polenta was ridiculously loose, more like a thick soup. I know where I erred. At the point where you remove the corn from the pan with a slotted spoon, the book instructs you to reserve the cooking liquid. The book then instructs you to add some of the water into the food processor bowl if the corn mixture becomes too dry during processing. None was needed; my mixture was loose. The book says to add the processed corn back into the "water pan". I debated whether to pour out the water but I figured if YO wanted you to put it into a "dry pan" he'd have said so. Why mention the water if you'd poured it out...right? Wrong! I stirred, I simmered, I raised the heat and stirred some more but try as I might, I had corn soup vs polenta. Con’t.

  • Breadcrumbs on August 26, 2013

    Part 2 of 2: Nevertheless, this was bar none, the most delicious corn we've ever eaten. The sweetness was remarkable and the salty bursts of feta added a perfect balance and, a welcome textural element. One other thing I wanted to mention was that my 6 ears of corn yielded 2.5 lbs of corn. In the recipe YO notes "you want to have 1.25 lbs. Also worth mentioning, this was the first time I used the Fine Cooking Bundt pan method (link below) for removing kernels from the corn cobs and it worked like a charm! I further simplified my clean up by lining my Bundt pan with a compost bag so the pan didn't even get dirty. http://www.finecooking.com/videos/how... Photos here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/781960#8286138

  • okcook on August 14, 2013

    The sauce is delicious. I was sceptical about flavour development with such a short cooking time but cooking the tomato paste for two minutes with the eggplant over fairly high heat really made the flavour robust.

  • bgood on July 12, 2011

    This is a 2 step recipe but the eggplant sauce makes it perfect. Good quality feta is not out of place here.

  • Emily Hope on July 30, 2011

    This is really great. A bit of work, as all of their recipes are, but worth it. The salty-sweet polenta with feta contrasts well with the acidic notes in the sauce. My only issue is that it could use more textural contrast--next time I might cook down the tomato sauce separately and add the sauteed eggplant toward the end of cooking time. Definitely company-worthy.

  • ncollyer on August 16, 2014

    Excellent dinner for a cool summer evening, with a crisp green salad. I roasted the eggplant at 400 degrees for 15 minutes just tossed in a olive to coat and then continued with the sauce directions . It was delicious. Did not miss all of the oil. Akso used half the feta, which was enough of a counterpoint to the sweet corn.

  • Bloominanglophile on September 12, 2013

    Ok, this was my first time to "Ottoleng", as it were. I was very pleased with this dish, and found it quite doable for a weeknight. Thanks to Breadcrumbs for the heads-up not to add the pureed corn back to the water in the pan! Even then, this took awhile to cook down and is the most time-consuming step of this dish. I found that 4 good-sized ears of corn gave me 1 1/4 lbs. of kernels. I also "milked" the cobs with the back of the knife and added that to the pureed corn (don't add the milkings to the water to cook the kernels). I also used Japanese eggplant, which doesn't need to be peeled as the skin cooks down nice and soft. I used the full amount of oil, which the eggplant absorbed, but then surprisingly released as it cooked down (drained off almost half of the oil used)--I didn't know eggplant would do that! I served this with the Parsley, Radish and Celery Salad with Capers from Simon Hopkinson's The Vegetarian Option.

  • Bloominanglophile on September 12, 2013

    Part 2 to my original posting: I found that 4 ears of corn served my family of 3 quite nicely. To serve 4 I would definitely use the full 6 ears of corn, and increase the butter by a tablespoon. I also didn't use the full amount of feta (maybe 5 oz.) which worked out just fine, so I would increase it to the original 7 oz. (if serving 4). I used 4 large Japanese eggplants, and the resulting sauce was enough to top 4 servings of polenta.

  • dinnermints on September 05, 2016

    Nice take on polenta. Also thanks to Breadcrumbs for nixing pan water and bundt pan tip, and to ncollyer - I also roasted the eggplant, which I drizzled with a couple of tablespoons of oil. I was surprised how flavorful the sauce was for how little time it took to put together. I made a separate sauce with roasted mushrooms instead of tomato for my husband, and that was also delicious.

  • Rinshin on September 09, 2016

    I did not particularly care for this. The corn tasted very sweet when processed to a mash. I found that strange since I love the taste of fresh corn. The texture was like eating instant oatmeal. I did not add back the water to the corn as that would have made this mash much more loose. I much prefer regular grits to this. The eggplant mixture was ok but nothing too exciting either. I should have added some kind of acid ie vinegar or citrus to perk up the eggplant mixture.

  • ldtrieb on June 30, 2017

    Way too sweet for me, my husband had seconds. Corn is just not Corny anymore . I don't know why I even made it as I don't like corn soup. I think I'll make pancakes with the leftovers. The eggplant was good but all that fresh oregano is like perfume. I know this is negative but I love 99% of Ottolenghi's recipes, it's me not him!

  • cilantrolime on July 09, 2014

    I cheated and served the eggplant sauce over grits. Very easy, and it was quite good! Will make again.

  • WFPLCleanEating on August 25, 2016

    I only made the polenta part of the recipe and enjoyed it a lot. I was glad I had read Breadcrumbs note about not adding the water in the pan. The British version of the recipe was less ambiguous "Now return the corn paste to the pan with the cooking liquid". I didn't because my corn paste was already very loose - if I had added the water it would have been soup. I plan to make this again with the eggplant sauce. - Jane

  • raybun on April 25, 2017

    I just made the polenta part of this recipe. It was very well received by the, suspicious at first, family. The feta gave it a nice tang and it paired perfectly with his cod cakes in tomato sauce from Jerusalem.

• Quinoa salad with dried Iranian lime

  • Jane on May 18, 2011

    Or rather Quinoa salad without dried Iranian lime as I didn't have any (and to be honest have never owned any). But the photo on page 247 was so appetizing I just had to make this, even without a key ingredient in the title. I didn't have mixed basmati and wild rice either so I used basmati with the quinoa. I thought this was really good - the caramelized sweet potatoes, the mint, sage and oregano, the crumbled feta all provided a flavorful contrast to the rice and quinoa. I thought it made a lot - more like 8 servings than 4-6. I will definitely make this again and will try to source some dried Iranian lime before that - anyone know where to get them? I served this with Roast chicken with sumac, za'atar and lemon on p.122 of Ottolenghi and Green bean salad with mustard seeds and tarragon p.196 of Plenty.

  • Delys77 on August 02, 2012

    Pg 245 Tonnes of great flavour in this very wholesome and hearty grain salad. The combination of grains works perfectly with toothsome brown rice, chewy quinoa, and tender grains of basmati. I left out the sage as I'm not a fan and the resulting combination of herbs was very nice. Do be careful of burning the garlic as the bitterness would easily permeate the whole dish. My one note of caution is the dried Persian limes, I found some and put them through the food processor and it was extremely messy, and very challenging getting 2 tb out of my limes. I think a touch of Sumac and a good squirt of lime juice would work very well and would eliminate the hassle of making the lime powder.

  • Rutabaga on April 27, 2014

    There is a beautiful mix of flavors in this recipe - salty feta, sweet potatoes, nutty grains, and the sour funk of the dried limes. Our local Middle Eastern grocer had whole dried limes, which were easily pulverized in the Vitamix. I made my own mix of wild and basmati rice. Of course, the wild rice needed much more time to cook, and I had not so cleverly thrown them in the pot together. But in the end, it worked well even with the extra crunchy wild rice.

• Green couscous

  • Jane on June 01, 2011

    I thought this was a fantastic side dish. So much flavor in all those herbs, arugula (rocket), green onions, chilli. It really is a lovely green color too. It is rather time consuming preparing all the herbs but the end result was definitely worth it.

  • sfcarole on August 14, 2015

    Very special! I had a box of Lundberg Brown Rice Couscous in the pantry that I wanted to use up, so decided to try it in this dish. Perfect. We served it as part of a vegetarian meal, but it would go great with any grilled meat or fish.

  • IvyManning on June 16, 2013

    Beautiful recipe. Fragrant and not at all boring.

  • girlogirl on April 03, 2013

    Also great if you swap the couscous for quinoa. Of 6 people over for dinner 4 asked for the recipe!

  • mummybunny2005 on July 24, 2013

    Love this! I made it as a side salad with fried chicken (left out the rocket/arugula as I didn't have any and just upped the parsley in its place) and there was a tiny bit left over. Although the texture was of course a bit mushy the next day the flavours were even better.

  • VineTomato on June 10, 2017

    Have made this several times, love, love, love it. I seem to like it more than other people, so perfect to make on a Sunday evening for lunchboxes during the week. I normally serve with some grilled chicken and yoghurt cucumber.

• Farro and roasted pepper salad

  • Jane on January 01, 2013

    I made this with orzo since I didn't have any farro. It was great and I think you could use the recipe for just about any grain/pasta. The dressing is quite sweet from the honey but it works well with the peppers, olives, onions and feta. I will definitely make this again.

  • ComeUndone on September 01, 2010

    Quite good. Big flavours and keeps well. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wscwong/4766208268/

  • TrishaCP on July 29, 2015

    Really flavorful salad. I was a bit stingy on the honey (probably about half of what was called for), and the combination with the red peppers and smoked paprika was just perfectly intriguing. I used farro, and it either didn't absorb the dressing very well or there is too much dressing in the recipe, because I left behind quite a bit of liquid after spooning it out. I recommend adding the dressing to taste.

  • Delys77 on February 10, 2016

    I had intended this to be my first attempt at farro but I was home a bit late so I had to modify the recipe. I added 2 cups cooked short grain brown rice that I had left over and used jarred roasted peppers. The rice worked very well and the peppers were adequate. I didn't find it too sweet but that is likely due to the slightly bitter roasted peppers. I also decided I wanted to make it a bit more substantial so I added about 3 cups of arugula that I chopped. I know I made many modifications but we loved this salad and I'm sure we would also have loved it in its original form.

  • k.a.g on June 22, 2013

    This was the first time I have used farro, and I really enjoyed it. I found the salad a bit sweet as well (will probably omit the honey next time), which I think was because of the sweetness of my red peppers, but overall I thought the combination of flavours was intriguing - another one of those Ottolenghi dishes where you think, just anther little bite won't hurt...!

  • Rutabaga on March 13, 2016

    Last time I made this, I believe I used an alternate grain instead of farro. This time, I had farro on hand, so used it, but did find that, as TrishaCP noted, it didn't absorb the dressing as well as I had hoped. I cooked the farro for just 30 minutes, and it probably needed more time, as it was a little more toothsome than I'd prefer. Other than that, this is a wonderful salad with a great blend of strong flavors, and pretty straighforward to make. I simplify things by roasting my peppers under the broiler (much faster than the half hour Ottolnghi suggests is necessary for charring them on the stove) and whisking the dressing together directly in the salad before before adding the other ingredients.

  • LizzieLozza on July 08, 2017

    Second attempt - Added three roasted and cubed sweet potatoes. Used bought roasted red peppers and aubergines from jars in Lidl. Then added mixture of dill, basil and mint. Used same amount of dressing but with half the lemon. Nice for weekend lunch with meats, cheese, bread etc. Served with Anna Jones beetroot and walnut dip.

  • raybun on June 12, 2017

    Very tasty, made with pearl barley and I added some fresh corn and arugula. I loved the smoked paprika & honey dressing.

• Freekeh pilaf

  • Jane on April 10, 2012

    This was tasty but it wasn't a meal on its own. It really needs some protein alongside, a chicken breast or lamb chop which I know defeats the object of cooking from a vegetarian book. The freekah was very chewy after its allotted cooking time - next time I'll give it another 10 mins (and therefore add some more stock). The addition of fresh herbs at the end gave it a flavor boost it needed. The contrast with the lemony garlic yogurt was also a good touch.

  • Melanie on October 04, 2014

    I liked the different textures and flavours in this pilaf. I agree with Jane's comment below that this should be served as a side dish, not the main.

  • Rutabaga on October 06, 2016

    This was another dish that I enjoyed, but my husband and five-year-old were less impressed. It really depends on whether or not you like chewy whole grains. The gentle onion, spice, and herb flavor is really a nice match for a wide range of meals. I served it with leftover black garlic yogurt sauce from the Eggplant with Black Garlic recipe in Plenty More.

  • anya_sf on September 04, 2017

    I had never cooked freekeh before, but enjoyed this dish. Made it as a side dish with lamb. Did not make the yogurt, as I served tzatziki on the side. I used chicken stock instead of vegetable, substituted dill for mint (there was already dill in the tzatziki), and omitted the pine nuts. I thought the freekeh needed an extra 5 min to simmer, but otherwise the directions worked. Tasty.

• Green bean salad with mustard seeds and tarragon

  • Jane on May 18, 2011

    Loved this though I must admit to missing out a few ingredients - nigella seeds (didn't have them), red onion (too pushed for time), tarragon (didn't feel like it) and baby chard leaves (which were optional anyway). But the ingredients I did use - French beans, snow peas, green peas, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, garlic, lemon zest made for a really refreshing, tasty vegetable dish. I served this with Quinoa salad on p.245 and the Chicken with sumac, za'atar and lemon on p.122 of Ottolenghi the Cookbook.

  • mziech on September 01, 2012

    liked the other Ottolenghi recipes I tried better. Strong tastes of lemon zest en coriander seeds, which I thought were too powerful. Tarragon taste was nice though.

  • DKennedy on May 18, 2018

    Enjoyed this salad at Amy’s house. Though the salad has no astringent agent, the seeds create a refreshing flavorful balanced dressing, flagging so I can make at home. Amy used a TJs power green bag in place of chard. Excellent! Served with a side of French feta.

  • michalow on January 04, 2013

    mangetout = snow pea

  • mharriman on November 20, 2017

    Great way to incorporate three green vegetables in one salad. We liked this but it was made without nigella seeds, without tarragon, without red chile pepper, without chard leaves. The cost would add up if you don’t have all the listed ingredients (14) on hand, and I decided it wasn’t worth it buy all the ingredients for a weeknight salad side dish. It was good with the lemon zest, mustard and coriander seeds, and garlic.

  • Penchantforproduce on November 29, 2014

    Reduced oil by 1 tbsp and omitted nigella seeds. I also softened the red onion in the microwave to reduce its punchiness Otherwise made as directed. My haricot vert were cooked in 2.5 mins. I disliked the tarragon and will sub for cilantro next time, otherwise it was great.

  • e_ballad on December 25, 2016

    Loved this. I did substitute spring onions for red onion & used Aleppo pepper instead of red chilli. Packed with flavour & remarkably for an Ottolenghi recipe, not too many steps! The recipe in the book is easier than the weblink as it uses grams rather than cups as its measure (2 cups of green beans??).

• Sweet potato cakes

  • Breadcrumbs on April 19, 2015

    p. 32 - The recipe was ok but not at all remarkable. YO notes he's modified the original recipe he tasted at a small cafe in Tel Aviv. Perhaps I'd have preferred the version that caused him to fall in love with the dish but this one was pretty bland IMHO. I used 3 Thai bird chilis in the mix and the heat was still muted by the sweetness of the potatoes. I think where this recipe disappoints is in its texture. When we think of potato cakes we tend to think of latkes or fritters that are nice and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. While you can get some nice caramelization on these cakes, they are still just mashed potatoes and there isn't enough flour (and no egg) in the recipe to give them a texture beyond that of mashed potatoes. The yogurt sauce was pretty plain as well. I wouldn't bother making these again. Photos here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/781946?commentId=9529726#9529726

  • FJT on January 03, 2013

    So simple to make and extremely tasty. Thought I'd overdone the chilli, but the yoghurt-based sauce was extremely good at counteracting it and a crisp green salad provided texture. This was a real crowd pleaser!

  • Barb_N on April 30, 2015

    These are very adaptable. I have made these twice in recent weeks- once as written, and once I added millet for some whole grain nutrition and body in place of the flour. As Breadcrumbs noted, these have a mild flavor unless you amp up the seasoning. The second time I added cumin, cayenne and coriander. I also gussied up the yogurt sauce.

  • ithyt on October 05, 2015

    9.15 Kids love - next time try with red kumara - orange went a bit mushy.

  • bcransto on November 15, 2015

    I've made this 3 times. The first was 5 stars. Blown away. The second I tried to go more healthy with small amt of veg oil instead of butter and low fat greek yogurt. It was 3 stars. I made it again with the butter and full fat sauce and it was 4 stars, very good but lacked the magic of the first time. I agree with Breadcrumbs, this recipe needs to be tweaked and amped. It really shines if the cakes are fried crispy, following YO's tip to make sure the edges of the patties are very uneven. I recommend tasting the potato mixture, I bumped up the sweetness with a little sugar. Same for the sauce...needed more cilantro and a little more lemon for the tang.

• Marinated buffalo mozzarella and tomato

  • Breadcrumbs on May 30, 2011

    p. 126 I’m a sucker for a lovely photo and this book is chock full of them! In addition to a beautiful picture, Ottolenghi notes this is probably one of the simplest, yet finest starters you can offer. . . . Sold! I’ll make that!! As promised, prep is super-simple.I was delighted to find that Costco has started selling buffalo mozzarella imported from Italy – for a song I might add! The marinade is full of fresh, vibrant flavours and aromas and together, this dish is like having a lovely plate of sunshine. The additional herbs and lemon zest take this beyond the traditional Caprese salad and really do make this something special. I’d highly recommend this recipe and will most definitely make it again.

  • Astrid5555 on May 16, 2016

    I will never ever eat a Caprese salad any other way! This is one of the best starters I have had in a very long time. Who would have thought that fennel seeds and lemon zest could elevate this dish to something really outstanding!!!

  • cilantrolime on August 17, 2014

    This is possibly the best starter I've had ever! Made with bufala mozzarella from Costco and served with crusty bread and good tomatoes from farmer's market. Didn't have fresh oregano so I substituted with dry oregano (much smaller amount). Turned out great.

• Asparagus mimosa

  • Breadcrumbs on May 08, 2011

    p. 182 Another enticing photograph in the book and, some lovely looking asparagus at the market was all it took to convince me to try this recipe. I love eggs and asparagus together and the idea of inviting some capers to the party had me salivating!! This dish comes together fairly quickly. Eggs are hardboiled and grated. Asparagus is boiled to cook then drained, drizzled w olive oil and sprinkled with capers, salt, pepper and the grated eggs. That's it, you're done! I think this would make a lovely starter however tonight I served it as a side dish w some bistecca style grilled steaks. We really enjoyed this dish and would be happy to have it again. A perfect spring dish and, now I’m two for two w this book!! Photos here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/781958#6522075

  • anya_sf on June 26, 2017

    This is a very simple, delicious version of a classic dish. Super quick and easy to make.

• Char-grilled asparagus

  • Breadcrumbs on May 30, 2011

    p. 182 - Picked up some lovely fresh-picked asparagus and had to give this recipe a try. I used garlic-infused grapeseed oil from NOTL which was just wonderful. The sweetness of the asparagus worked beautifully with the smoky flavours from the charcoal grill and the subtle tang of the feta and lemon zest took this dish from good to great. A definite winner that we'll happily serve again. YO suggests fresh ricotta as a sub for the feta so will have to give that a try. K had second helpings!! 'Nuff said!

  • MelMM on April 02, 2012

    Very simple and very delicious. Asparagus is delicious on the grill as it is, but the feta adds a nice touch, and the lemon zest really works to bring the dish together into something greater than the sum of its parts. I used grapeseed oil for the initial toss with the asparagus pre-grilling, and olive oil for the final drizzle.

  • L.Nightshade on June 04, 2011

    Mr. Nightshade made me promise to do this one again. We got asparagus at the farmer's market, a lovely feta from the cheesemonger, some lemon zest and olive oil, that's it and you've got a wonderfully flavorful dish. The recipe in the book is overshadowed by the photo of the other asparagus dish.

  • twoyolks on June 26, 2015

    This was basically grilled asparagus with a lemon vinaigrette and some feta. The feta came closer to over powering the asparagus instead of complementing it.

  • Rutabaga on May 04, 2016

    We all loved this dish. I broiled it rather than grilling, as that was more convenient. I sprinkled smoked Maldon sea salt over the asparagus, and topped it when goat cheese in place of the feta so it wouldn't be too salty. The goat cheese was wonderful - not too overpowering, it created a silky warm sauce for the asparagus.

• Soba noodles with wakame

  • Breadcrumbs on May 31, 2011

    Soba Noodles with Wakame – p. 188 As I looked through the ingredient list for the sauce in this recipe I just knew we would love it and, I was wrong, we loved it!! This is a soba noodle salad w cucumbers, wakame and chopped herbs. It makes a perfect summer meal or side dish and I’m delighted to have some leftover for lunches. The sauce is made by mixing together rice vinegar, lime juice and zest, ginger, chilis, sugar, toasted sesame oil, peanut oil, sweet chili sauce, garlic and salt. Everything is tossed together and topped w the toasted sesame seeds and herbs. YO also suggests radish sprouts however there were none to be had in my neck of the woods. This dish is an explosion of flavours and texture truly a delight. I wasn’t sure how mr bc would feel about the wakame but he loved it. So glad to have discovered this recipe, I’d highly recommend it. Definitely a favourite from the Ottolenghi collection. Photos here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/781958#6576411

  • meggan on May 15, 2016

    We did not love this. It needed more dressing than the recipe called for.

  • mbeedles on January 20, 2016

    This is the first Ottolenghi recipe I had tried, but it won't be the last! It was perfect for a spontaneous Sunday lunch, as I had some wakame in the pantry that I needed to use and happened to have the other ingredients on hand, along with fresh herbs from my garden (apart from the radish sprouts). My other family members don't like chilli. So, I substituted the sweet chilli sauce with cranberry sauce and put sliced fresh chillies in my own bowl. Using pure buckwheat soba noodles and rice breadcrumbs I was able to make this gluten free. The dish was light and delicious and worked brilliantly for leftovers the next day.

• Warm glass noodles and edamame beans

  • Breadcrumbs on May 11, 2011

    p. 198 A lovely sweet, salty, spicy, sour noodle salad that was the perfect accompaniment to our grilled Asian chicken. We really enjoyed this dish and I’ll happily recommend it. I was a bit nervous about the acidity in the dressing since the quantity of lime juice far exceeded the quantity of oil so I incorporated the lime juice slowly until the flavours were balanced. All told I likely used 3 limes. We especially enjoyed the salad warm and I’m hoping it will stand up to a quick re-warm for lunches. Very nice indeed

  • Delys77 on February 24, 2012

    Pg 198 I should have read breadcrumbs comments before starting this dish as I was also worried about the amount of acidity from the tamarind and the limes. I ended up cutting the lime back to two but I honestly think that was still a little too much. Overall I liked this dish but I would tweak it by dropping the lime to 1 or 1.5 and then increase all the herbs by about 25%. Finally I would up the soy to 1 tb and add 1 tsp of sesame oil. Might repeat with these changes since it is very healthy, comes together very quickly, and will be very good with the modifications. I also added baked tofu to make this a whole meal.

  • Rutabaga on April 05, 2014

    I was very happy to find this recipe featuring edamame, making it something that can be quickly whipped up primarily with pantry and freezer ingredients. The tamarind sauce is excellent, just adjust the sour, salty, and sweet flavors to taste. The second time I made it, I made the mistake of using this rice stick noodles, which do not cook in a flash like cellophane noodles! Fortunately, I was able to salvage the dish by adding some water to the pan to cook the noodles, which overcooked the edamame.

  • rubytuby on August 23, 2015

    I didn't think this was worth the effort. The sauce was too sour and the flavor just wasn't as good as a lot of Ottolenghi's other dishes. I also made the mistake of buying edamame still in the shell and it took forever to shell them.

  • clcorbi on May 18, 2017

    Add me to the list of those who think this sauce was too sour. My BF made this and used the full 4 lime's worth of juice, and the flavor was WAY too acidic. I would imagine somewhere between 2.5-3 limes would have been more suited to our taste. I also don't think the combo of cellophane noodles and edamame is very successful, since the edamame basically all sank to the bottom of the noodles, and were very hard to mix in. I will say that the noodles mellowed out the next day for leftovers, and tasted better cold. I mixed in some nutritional yeast to try and combat the acidity, which really helped. The fresh herbs are also very nice here.

• Celeriac and lentils with hazelnut and mint

  • Fiona on August 14, 2013

    This is delicious - I haven't used celeriac much before, now this recipe has become one of my favorite ways to serve lentils. Usually serve with small piece of hot-smoked salmon.

  • lizwinn on December 24, 2010

    This was fabulous. Fussy to make, yes, but worth every bit of effort. Got rave reviews by our friends and family. Very "meaty" and substantial, though vegan.

  • lorloff on March 20, 2018

    Excellent way to serve lentils. The celeriac is perfect with it and the hazelnuts and hazelnut oil is brilliant. We served it with poached salmon at a dinner party and it was a real hit. We cooked the celeriac in lemon water to keep it from turning brown and it added to the taste.

  • RosieB on July 23, 2011

    Yes, I made it too. It was a great combination and not too challenging. A great addition to our vegetarian favourites.

  • Margaretsmall on August 27, 2013

    I agree, very good. Made a few modifications, not because I thought I could improve it, just what I had on hand. A leek was lurking in the fridge so I softened it in a little oil before adding the lentils. No hazelnuts, so I used almonds. In deference to my waistline I omitted the hazelnut oil (which is not to be had in my supermarket anyway) and finally stirred some rocket through to add a bit of green. But Yotam must take credit for this, which I'll definitely make again.

  • dinnermints on June 13, 2017

    Good. I cut the olive oil out entirely, and used some rutabaga in addition to the celery root.

• Shakshuka

  • Laura on October 29, 2014

    Pg. 87. Made this for dinner last night. As I do with all Ottolenghi recipes, I significantly reduced the amount of oil to about 1/4 cup and that was plenty and the finished dish was not at all oily. I also used canned tomatoes as I didn't have any fresh. Except for the time-consuming process of slicing the onions and peppers, this comes together very quickly and is quite simple. The biggest problem I had was that some eggs were a bit overcooked. The saffron seasoning was key -- it gave a wonderful flavor to the whole dish.

  • adrienneyoung on May 29, 2012

    This is utterly delicious. Oily, but delicious. Can also be served with sausages.

  • darcie_b on September 29, 2016

    I added some feta but otherwise followed the recipe and found it to be quite delicious.

  • Tyelperion on February 19, 2013

    Agree that this was delicious but too oily (and we have a pretty high tolerance for oily food generally!) Next time I will at least halve the amount of olive oil called for, perhaps even reduce by 2/3.

  • stockholm28 on August 29, 2013

    Delicious. I've probably made this a dozen times. This recipe is great in the summer when tomatoes and peppers are abundant. I love the spicy sauce.

  • Rinshin on January 14, 2014

    Wonderful egg recipe full of bold flavors. I normally do not use the full amount of oil called for in recipes and I used less than half of oil and it worked just fine.

  • Rinshin on December 12, 2016

    Made this again. Like the last time, I reduced the amount of oil to half and cooked a little longer than the recipe instructions adding water occasionally to keep the saucy consistency. Instead of cayenne, I added aleppo pepper this time. Not traditional but served with cheesy polenta. I love this recipe.

  • VineTomato on June 10, 2017

    One of the best shakshuka recipes I've made

  • sarahawker on August 08, 2016

    Loved this for a low carb breakfast. Very flavorful. I did reduce the amount of oil to 1/4 cup and it was very good. I too overcooked the eggs the first time, next day I heated up 1/2 cup of the tomato mixture and immediately cracked an egg over the cold mixture, by the time all was heated I had a perfectly cooked egg, maintained a runny yolk.

  • mamacrumbcake on September 26, 2017

    This was quite easy and good but I think it would be ok to cut back a bit on the oil. Don't be afraid to salt this until it is seasoned well.

• Savoy cabbage and Parmesan skin soup

  • Laura on December 30, 2015

    Pg. 104. This was ok, but nothing special. I couldn't find Savoy cabbage, so used Napa cabbage instead. I pureed the soup in my VitaMix to a 'nubby' consistency and added the grated parmesan. The sauteed cabbage and red pepper added texture to the soup. I wouldn't make it again.

  • Rutabaga on December 09, 2014

    This is a good way to make use of Parmesan rinds. Aside from the savoy cabbage, the remaining ingredients are ones many will likely already have on hand. Because I had a collection of rinds to use, I added 9 ounces of rind to the stock rather than only three. This gave the soup a definite Parmesan flavor, enough that I decided not to grate any additional on top.Since I was out of caraway, I used nigella seeds instead, and I substituted homemade chicken stock for the vegetable stock. The texture is very appealing when left a little rough and loose.

• Swiss chard, chickpea and tamarind stew

  • Laura on March 26, 2014

    Pg. 148. Made this for dinner last night and followed it exactly as written except that I served it over long-grain basmati rice and accompanied it with Greek yogurt and chopped cilantro. With the rice, it was a complete meal. It's quite simple and doesn't take very long (well, except for the time to cook the beans). The tamarind provides a tangy note and the caraway adds a pleasant infusion of its flavor through the whole dish. My husband really liked it; I liked it but didn't love it -- although I did love how healthy and easy it was.

  • saladdays on March 08, 2014

    An interesting mix of subtle flavours and textures, the chickpeas contrast well with the chard. I used tamarind paste instead of the pulp which cut down on one process and canned chickpeas which shortens another. A good midweek, meat free supper.

• The ultimate winter couscous

  • Laura on December 12, 2011

    Pg. 262. This is a really luscious dish. I made it exactly as written with the one exception that I substituted dried cranberries for the apricots because that's what I had. We really enjoyed this dish and look forward to leftovers tomorrow.

  • Emily Hope on December 15, 2011

    This recipe was quite simple and tasty--I like the approach of cooking it in the oven, makes it easy and flexible. The end result was a bit on the sweet side, even with the parsnips left out and swapped for turnips (didn't have parsnips). A dollop of yogurt on top helped. The couscous was a bit dry as written--a bit more liquid needed (I used whole wheat, don't know if that would make a difference). I put some harissa in the veg stock to be used for the harissa--tasty. Also melted the butter in the boiling water before pouring over couscous.

  • debkellie on June 13, 2017

    I loved this .. it is an explosion of flavour as Bwolfe2 says ...and that was using my home made (read mild) harissa.. excellent - and so easy .. looks complex from the ingredients but please do give it a try!

  • michalow on December 17, 2017

    I'd eaten this dish before I cooked it myself. Delicious, but on the whole a bit sweet for my taste. So when making myself, I reduced the sweet spices (half the star anise and cinnamon) and replaced the pumpkin with broccoli (added at the same time point). Very satisfied with the result! I used 1 Tbs of butter instead of 3 in the couscous and it came out just fine.

  • Delys77 on October 11, 2013

    Pg. 262 Followed as written except that my Israeli Couscous was bigger than average so I cooked it according to the package directions, and I left out the apricots as I don't usually like sweet and savoury together. The roasted vegetables are lovely with the buttery couscous, and there is a slight heat and lovely preserved lemon flavour which makes the dish that much more interesting. I would actually up the harissa and the lemon a bit next time.

  • annapanna on February 24, 2013

    The list of ingredients is quite long and this made me put off trying this recipe for a while. I don't usually have cinnamon sticks, star anice or preserved lemons at home so I had to buy them especially to make this dish. Still, I figured I could use the rest in some other Ottolenghi recipe. We really enjoyed this, I followed the recipe to the letter except that I couldn't find parsnips, so I used celeriac. The result was a bit too spicy for my taste (although my husband thought it was ok) so next time I'll add less harissa. Also, I will leave out the dried apricots as I don't like their consistency. Maybe I'll try using cranberries as someone else suggested.

  • Bwolfe2 on January 26, 2017

    I was given this cookbook when it was first published. It was beautiful and I read all the recipes but thought of it as more coffee-table book than workhorse recipe book. The aclaim on this site provoked me to prepare a recipe so I pulled it out and tried this one. I was blown away. A friend shared it with me and replied on first bite "it's an explosion of flavors." Yep. And all unique but beautifully blended. This was my first experience using preserved lemons and harissa. Both were easy to find. The harissa I used in moderation based on reviews of the recipe. This will become a family favorite as well as a company-best!! Delightful.

• Tamara's ratatouille

  • rodillagra on February 02, 2015

    http://www.flyingfourchette.com/2012/06/14/tamaras-ratatouille/

  • ComeUndone on August 21, 2011

    Good vegan main course with bold flavour purely drawn from the vegetable. Bonus is being able to use up so many items in the produce drawer in one go. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wscwong/6066256049/in/photostream/

  • Delys77 on February 04, 2012

    Pg 74 This recipe takes about 1.5 hours and involves a good deal of chopping and layering compared to other ratatouille recipes Ive tried. Overall the flavour was quite nice and it is quite healthy but the lack of herbs leaves it a little flat. Perhaps next time you could do a touch of thyme or basil to lift it a bit. The approach does yield lots of flavour from the vegetables.

  • astrobubble on November 18, 2013

    Its absolutely gorgeous, but if you are short on time you really can cut a few corners in the process and still end up with something gorgeous. Its bold and colourful. I made it at a dinner party and people still comment that it was the freshest ratatouille ever.

  • Nichill on August 19, 2017

    We only really had the standard ratatouille ingredients, so I skipped the squash and beans. The method was great, straightforward, and produced delicious results on a weekday evening.

  • Tiganna on August 19, 2017

    A lot of chopping, but not too difficult and very tasty, even though I had to leave a few elements (squash, parsnip) out. I really liked the textures and overall taste. One to repeat.

• Yogurt flatbreads with barley and mushrooms

  • ironsteph on September 11, 2012

    I have not made the barley and mushroom part, but the whole wheat yogurt flatbreads (made with greek yogurt) have become a staple for me: they are easy, delicious, and go with many other things. Fresh bread always makes a meal better.

  • okcook on January 08, 2014

    Just made the mushroom/barley mixture. Wonderful. So earthy and I can totally see using another grain. I did toast my barley before cooking for some added richness. It would make a great side for all kinds of meats/salads. It reheats really well too.

  • eliza on January 12, 2016

    I only made the flatbreads, added zata'ar spice blend, and rolled them as thin as possible. They were pretty good.

  • jaxstar84 on October 30, 2012

    These will be my go to flatbreads from now on! Soft with a great flavour, they're not as plain as other flatbreads, and with the mushrooms on top, it's amazing. I love this recipe. So simple but SO delicious. I used brown rice instead and it was great.

  • k.a.g on June 02, 2013

    In response to Donnakay - my edition says to roll the flatbreads out to 2mm (more like 1/16 of an inch!).

  • annapanna on March 10, 2013

    I thought the flatbreads turned out a bit dry, maybe I made them too thick? The mushroom-barley mixture was quite nice. I had some leftovers the next day and I thought it tasted even better then.

  • Donnakay on December 29, 2012

    The recipe says to roll the discs out to 1" thick. That can't possibly be right. 1/8" thick is more like it.

  • StoicLoofah on February 26, 2018

    Definitely roll the flatbreads out a lot more than 1 inch. I think rolling it out to at least a 9 inch diameter and maybe more depending on your preference. if you don't use clarified butter, lean more heavy on the vegetable oil than butter or else it will get very dark.

• Soba noodles with aubergine and mango

  • vinochic on February 23, 2012

    Good recipe. I used less oil though, and next time i will probably cut back on the sugar just a bit.

  • bgood on November 09, 2011

    Make sure soba are al dente, they go soft very quickly

  • TrishaCP on August 13, 2017

    Interesting treatment for soba noodles, but a bit too time-consuming to prepare without the usual Ottolenghi taste payoff (in my opinion). I also roasted the eggplant to lighten the calorie load (maybe that's why I'm not as thrilled by this one!).

  • monicahorridge on July 23, 2013

    Very very tasty, perfect for a lunchbox. It was quite fiddly, though, and took longer to cook than I was expecting. In future I'd make it for dinner with extra left over for lunch.

  • pistachiopeas on May 25, 2015

    I really love this recipe but everything seemed a bit "wet."

  • cilantrolime on July 06, 2014

    Tasty and interesting. Probably my current favorite noodle salad. Not very healthy though, as the fried eggplants soak up a lot of oil.

  • JLDuck on January 04, 2018

    Fiddly to make but worth the effort. I cooked the eggplant very quickly and drained on kitchen paper. It was not oily. Also I made sure that the noodles were relatively dry before completing the dish.

  • finebec on May 01, 2017

    To save time and calories I roasted the aubergine, using the method on page 114 of the American Ed., Eggplant tricolore. I recognize I lost the crunch quality that he likes in his dishes. Mango was a Tommy Atkins mango, from South America that I carefully ripen myself using the paper bag and Apple method. It been declared the best dish yet out of this cookbook by my family.

• Avocado, quinoa and broad bean salad

  • vinochic on July 29, 2014

    a bit garlicky but very good.

  • mziech on May 28, 2012

    Delicious fresh salad. Crispy. Ingredients combine well.

  • soleilune on June 02, 2012

    Pretty tasty! Great way to use up the fava beans from your CSA box. Cut the recipe in half and it scales well for two people for lunch.

  • Rutabaga on June 12, 2016

    This is a tasty vegan salad - I didn't even miss the cheese. For the chile flakes, I used a couple teaspoons of Aleppo pepper. I made the salad a few hours ahead of time, but waited until just before serving to add the avocado and greens.

  • Hannaha100 on May 25, 2017

    This is exactly my kind of salad. Worst part is shelling the broad beans. Didn't quite have the right ingredients so used cucumber for radishes and spinach for cress (no garlic). Feel like a bit of a dope for not realising you could segment lemons like oranges... Will definitely make this again.

  • tekobo on June 26, 2016

    June 16 Maybe reduce the amount of oil. Tasty and peppery with the radishes

• Burnt aubergine with tahini

  • Foodo on May 11, 2012

    An excellent dish! I didn't have any Pom seeds, and it was still an outstanding recipe, I can't wait to make it again.

  • wcassity on December 16, 2012

    Amazing! The pomegranate seeds make it special, give it interesting texture. Very rich, garlicky.

  • PinchOfSalt on September 04, 2014

    Wow. Really really good. I have made this a number of times. The dough blade in my Cuisinart food processor is great for doing the mixing. Do not attempt this recipe using only the chopping blade. The texture and appearance are all wrong. (Who would have expected such a huge difference?)

  • clkandel on July 31, 2014

    This dish is delicious. I don't like baba ganoush, so wasn't sure about this recipe, but the pomegranate molasses adds such a different taste profile. I'll be making this again.

  • VineTomato on June 10, 2017

    Amazing version of a kind of baba ganoush. Have made it a number of times.

  • a2cook on July 29, 2017

    Fabulous! My mouth is watering right now just thinking about how good this was. Tried to save some for leftovers, but ended up sticking my head in the fridge and eating the rest of it. Next time, double or triple the recipe.

• Royal potato salad

  • SheilaS on June 26, 2017

    I loved this. So simple, just potatoes tossed with pesto and soft boiled eggs but so delicious!

  • Brieforme on January 10, 2015

    Best pesto ever

  • Lsblackburn1 on May 28, 2018

    This is one of my dinner party go-to’s. I double the amount of potatoes and keep the rest the same and it seems to work. I also skip the eggs. I know they’d make this even more delicious but I’m lazy and this is so easy to make ahead of time without them.

• Baked eggs with yoghurt and chilli

  • SheilaS on June 26, 2017

    I made crispy fried eggs instead of cooking them in with the greens in the oven. I loved it!

  • trufflemutt on December 31, 2011

    I made this on the stove top and just covered the pan to finish cooking the egg. The recipe seems to simple to be good, but the yogurt is a perfect pairing.

  • L.Nightshade on May 22, 2011

    I made this with spinach and sorrel. While the spinach turned bright green in the pan, the sorrel immediately turned brown. I think that a 300 degree oven is too slow, at least when you turn the eggs into a cold dish for baking. But I had difficulty with the eggs anyway, by the time the whites had solidified, the yolks were a bit overdone. But still delicious. I used piment d'espelette with chile flakes and sage in the butter. Very tasty. I'll be happy to try this again with arugula (if my market ever again decides to carry it).

  • meggan on November 13, 2014

    Made this with baby kale and over salted by mistake. It would have been a cholesterol filled delight if I hadn't.

  • snarkattack on July 08, 2015

    says to use smoked paprika and chilli flakes if kirmizi biber isn't available.

  • rmardel on July 19, 2013

    I've made this in the oven, as written, and on the stove top and tend to do it on the stove top more frequently as it seems simpler and I have more control. Delicious either way.

• Okra with tomato, lemon and coriander

  • ComeUndone on September 01, 2010

    quick easy seasonal sidedish

  • serasyl on September 11, 2011

    The recipe doesn't specify...if you're using the tiny frozen okra, are you supposed to thaw it first, or just throw it in the oven still frozen? My bag actually says for best taste DO NOT thaw first, but then the only cooking instructions it gives I think are for boiling, so that's not quite the same.

• Sweet potato wedges with lemongrass and crème fraîche

  • ellabee on March 19, 2013

    p.26. Maybe it's because I used the option (mentioned in the recipe) of mashing the chopped lemongrass with salt in a mortar, but the result was a bit too salty for my taste, and I didn't even use full recommended amount; next time barest pinch. Still delicious, and will make again. The roasted sweet potatoes are excellent with or without the dip as a side to a Thai yellow curry. The amount of dip in the recipe would suffice for about twice the number of potato wedges. At 400F, the sweet potatoes took more like 40 minutes to brown; would go with 425F next time. Online link: http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/sweet-potato-wedges-with-lemongrass-creme-fraiche-shop

  • TrishaCP on April 19, 2017

    These were delicious. I peeled the potatoes in spite of the direction not to do so (personal preferences) and cut them as indicated. I needed about 5 additional minutes of cooking time to get them the color that I wanted. I agree that blitzing the lemongrass is the way to go. I didn't add salt to the dipping sauce, just to the potatoes, and I was happy with that choice. I did sprinkle on additional chile flakes because my fresh chile was quite mild.

  • L.Nightshade on May 22, 2011

    The dipping sauce can be made while roasting, but I made it early to let the flavors mix and mingle a bit. 3/4 cup creme fraiche is combined with 1/2 lemongrass stalk, very finely chopped, zest and juice of two limes, one inch of ginger, grated, and 1/2 tsp fine sea salt. I chopped the lemongrass VERY finely but it still felt gritty in the sauce. So I put the completed sauce into a tumbler and hit it with an immersion blender. Perfect. Tasty and oh so fragrant! When the potatoes are done (and cooled a bit) they are sprinkled with a diced red chile and 1 cup of cilantro. The dipping sauce is served on the side. This was an easy, tasty dish, nice for an appetizer or a side. It's quite colorful on the plate as well. The recipe for the dipping sauce makes quite a bit.

  • Tyelperion on February 19, 2013

    I read the note below and grated the lemongrass and the ginger on a microplane grater which worked really well too. Delicious combination of the cool tangy dip and the caramelised sweet potato wedges - we didn't have any fresh chili in the house so left out the sprinkling at the end and didn't miss it.

  • Frenchfoodie on April 10, 2017

    Unexpectedly lovely. Dipping sauce roughly double the quantity needed for the potatoes but lovely over accompanying rocket and cucumber too. Blitzed the lemongrass in my powerful mini dry/wet grinder and it was lovely and smooth. Didn't use salt in hope baby would like, she didn't but we didn't miss it either.

  • agoicoe on March 01, 2018

    I made this and it was tasty. I am not absolutely crazy about sweet potatoes, but the dipping sauce is fantastic. I would make this again, but perhaps roast something more than sweet potatoes.

• Leek fritters

  • ellabee on January 22, 2014

    p.36. Very good. Looking forward to trying the sauce with mint in addition to cilantro and parsley. I just used one large egg, separated, beating the yolk well before combining with the other batter ingredients (also, like others, didn't bother with the self-rising flour). To make these less of an undertaking, do more than half the work a day ahead: get the vegetables cooked and mixed with the spices, and mix up the sauce. Then the day of it's more or less like making pancakes. Update: Leftover sauce is outstanding as garnish for roasted red pepper-tomato soup; the soup brings out the cilantro and tones down the garlic.

  • Melanie on September 27, 2013

    Very tasty. I would have been happy to eat all of the fritters myself! I substituted mint as I didn't have any fresh parsley at hand. Instead of blending the dipping sauce I chopped the ingredients finely. Use 1tsp baking powder.

  • michalow on April 30, 2012

    calls for self-rising flour

  • michalow on June 23, 2013

    Fantastic. I dramatically reduced the fat (about 3 Tbs. olive oil + 2.5 Tbs butter, plus the oil to fry), added an extra egg white, and was happy with the results. I made them smaller than recommended, and they cooked through nicely, fluffy in the middle, crispy on the outside. I subbed mint for the cilantro in the sauce and served with curried chickpeas. Lovely.

  • Delys77 on November 07, 2012

    Pg. 36 The sauce that he recommends as an accompaniment is absolutely delicious and would go very well with any number cut veggies. The fritters are also very tasty, with the distinct flavour of leek and shallot, the extra crispy bits made me think of onion rings. Also, the seasoning is just right, with several interesting spices. My only challenge was they they were a little doughy in the middle. This might be the result of having them sit in the warming drawer, being slightly underdone, or just too big. I think next time I will make them a bit thinner, leave them to cook a little longer, and keep warm on a rack in the oven so that they hopefully stay crispier.

  • annapanna on March 01, 2013

    I didn't use self-rising flour as I didn't have any, and there is already a tablespoon of baking powder in the recipe. I don't think that made any difference. It takes quite some time to prepare these and I am not sure they looked like all the work that went into them. They were pretty good though, especially the sauce, which is actually quick to make. One could also make them much smaller to share with a larger group of people.

  • helenevans on February 09, 2014

    Love this recipe. Have taken it as a vegetarian main meal to dinner parties and it really impressed. The flavours are great and the sauce really makes it

  • ElianeW on January 19, 2018

    I love these. Could eat all on my own easily. Which would be really bad obviously. So delicious.

  • StoicLoofah on January 21, 2018

    Delicious. I got 3 leeks weighing ~1.3 lbs untrimmed and ended up with 9 oz trimmed, so I had to substitute an onion to make up the difference. Make sure you have enough. You can halve the sauce and still have plenty. I also used an immersion blender to make that, which seemed to work fine. Make sure that the oil is hot before you put your first fritters in

• Crusted pumpkin wedges with soured cream

  • ellabee on December 25, 2013

    Couldn't be simpler; festive looking and delicious.

  • Rutabaga on March 30, 2014

    I made this with squash wedges because we had some squash that needed to be used and I had all the other ingredients on hand. We really liked the topping, but I feel the squash ended up a little overcooked for my taste. Perhaps I would have liked it better with the pumpkin, as listed in the recipe.

• Mixed vegetable paella

  • caitmcg on October 31, 2015

    This is a pretty great dish that has been a crowd pleaser. I've made a few ingredient switches due to availability or preference: Frozen artichoke hearts in place of jarred, roasted piquillo peppers in place of red peppers, frozen edamame in place of broad beans. I've made it with Italian rices (arborio or carnaroli) in place of Spanish, and that's worked fine.

  • Melanie on September 27, 2013

    Very tasty, make this one again.

  • Delys77 on January 27, 2012

    The overall flavour of this dish is very nice with a bit of heat and a nice smokiness, and the addition of the sherry gives it a slight sweetness that works very well. It is very healthful and works very well as a vegetarian main. There are a few tweaks required however. Firstly the rice took closer to 30 minutes, which might have been due to the early addition of salt, either way maybe salt the dish at the end and give it a bit more time. Also the olives didn't really work, so maybe rinse them first to remove some salt or perhaps leave them out.

  • bloodking on September 07, 2013

    I love to serve this for dinner parties. I like to "oven-dry" the tomatoes according to the recipe on p.222 for this recipe too.

  • annapanna on February 17, 2013

    We really liked this. I didn't have paella rice so I put Carnaroli instead, which is the one I usually use for risotto. I thought 20 min was enough, it probably really depends on what type of rice you use. Also, as broad beans are out of season I used dry ones I had bought in Italy. They are very practical because the shell is already removed before drying them, they are called "Fave spezzate". I soaked them overnight and cooked them for 15 min before adding them to the paella. Finally, I couldn't find smoked paprika at our shop, so I put a little dried chipotle,. I'll try to get hold of some real Spanish paprika for next time, as I think we will make this again.

  • VineTomato on June 10, 2017

    Amazing dinner party dish if you have vegan or vegetarian guests. Have made this several times and it is always very well received. Make sure to shell the broad beans, that makes a big difference.

  • adelina on August 30, 2015

    I really liked it but the kids were not really into it. My husband wished there was meat in the paella. So I'm not sure if I'll stick with vegetarian for the next time.

  • JLDuck on October 05, 2017

    Fabulous recipe. I cooked the rice a little longer and it worked.

  • stephengk on May 28, 2017

    Perfect on its own but also makes excellent starch/veg side for meats/fish

  • lajaxon on May 10, 2016

    This recipe has been a success multiple times for dinner guests who aren't vegetarian...very flavorful and easy to make!

  • sosayi on October 06, 2017

    Can't believe I haven't reviewed this! It's my go-to Paella recipe. Balance of spices and flavors is just perfect. I do routinely make adjustments, though. I use a jar of canned whole tomatoes (not fresh) and frozen edamame (not broad beans). I also regularly add chicken (sauteed and mixed in) and/or shrimp (nestled on top), as well as lemon wedges wedges (also nestled on top, they get molten and fabulous by the end). And, the biggest change, as I feel the rest are minor, is that rather than cooking it stove-top for the whole time, I finish it in a 350-400 degree oven once the liquid is added. Cooks in the same amount of time, but it seems to cook more evenly this way.

  • anya_sf on April 12, 2017

    This was disappointing. I used calasparra rice, which called for 4 parts water to 1 part rice on the package. First I tried the method in this recipe (2 parts water), but had to add a lot more before the rice was tender and it took an extra 15-20 minutes to cook. Pouring boiling water over the fava beans did not work either - had to actually boil them. Flavor was OK in the end, but we ended up adding some chorizo on top.

  • luluf on October 17, 2017

    I read Sosayi's note and decided to try this. We were staying at a beach house that had a double sized old electric frypan which turned out to be the perfect way to cook this. It was delicious and my vegetarian adult kids loved it. I used frozen edamame beans and jarred artichoke hearts and put the lemons in with the other ingredients at the end with the frying pan lid on

• Very full tart

  • caitmcg on October 31, 2015

    A fantastic tart, but needs to be baked in a deeper-than-standard tart pan, or perhaps a springform, or all the ingredients will not fit. I used evaporated milk in place of cream in the custard, and that worked fine.

  • mziech on August 31, 2012

    really nice vegetable tart, takes mote than 1.5 hours to make (baking the vegetables, blind baking the pastry, and finally baking the tart) but worth the effort. Sweet potato is very subtle, not too sweet. Recommended.

  • michalow on January 01, 2013

    Plan ahead -- as noted by mziech, veggies must be roasted, onions caramelized, and crust made and blind baked. Several of these steps can be done a day ahead. I used half and half instead of cream; there's plenty of fat in this recipe already. With all the effort, I thought this would be a one-time affair, but this is beautiful and delicious, and I'd do it again. Makes about six servings.

  • clkandel on October 09, 2016

    I made this using puff pastry and baked it in an oblong dish. I also substituted butternut squash for the sweet potato. And since I didn't have ricotta on hand, I just used the feta. It came out delicious!

  • thennek on August 22, 2013

    Time consuming but worth the effort as the result is delicious. The aubergine does not need this length of cooking and I would recommend peeling the skin after cooking.

  • Alro9 on March 28, 2014

    The roast vegetable to filling ratio is high. I made two tarts in the end. This was delicious though, despite the 3 stage prep.

  • Rutabaga on September 06, 2014

    Wow! So delicious! And rich, considering the use of heavy cream, cheese, and the all-butter pastry crust I made. But because it is loaded with roasted vegetables, it still counts as healthful, right? I left out the sweet potato and filled the tart to the brim with the other vegetables. Perhaps the pie plate I used was a little small for the filling, which took at least 45 minutes to cook completely. The tart was so full prior to baking that the cream overflowed and ran down the underside of the crust, but if anything this probably contributed toward the tastiness of the finished dish. While roasting the veg and baking the crust take some time, they involve little effort and are easily done in advance.

  • JLDuck on December 02, 2017

    I increased the feta as I did not have ricotta. Worked a treat. A very delicious tart and as noted by others worth the time it takes to make.

• Tomato party

  • caitmcg on October 31, 2015

    I had great tomatoes, but I thought this was a bit dry, and could have benefited from more of a dressing.

  • anniemac on September 27, 2015

    I initially made it because of the name, but have made it several times since because it's good and adaptable. I have added diced and sauteed zucchini, and diced cheese, and it's always good.

  • Rutabaga on March 30, 2014

    OK, I partly like this recipe because it's called "tomato party". But really, what's not to like? Make it only when you can get a good variety of fresh, local, peak season tomatoes, and it really will be a party!

  • a2cook on September 12, 2016

    The first time I made this, it was so good, I woke up craving it the next day. So, I made it again, and then again the next day. Yes, I made this 3 days in a row. It's that good! Very simple to make, healthy, and adaptable (I didn't have enough tomatoes on day 3, so I added roasted red onions using the same brown sugar + salt and pepper + balsamic + olive oil treatment as the tomatoes). A+ recipe!

  • Gwynnifer on October 05, 2016

    Fantastic. Bump up balsamic. Add sun-dried tomatoes. Try adding parsley. More filling than you imagine.

• Kisir

  • smtucker on January 02, 2014

    Loved this! Used tomato paste to sub for the purée. 400 grams of bulghar serves at least 8, not the four listed on the recipe page. Served in Boston lettuce cups. NYEve 2013.

  • michalow on December 31, 2012

    The sweet of the onions, the heat of the chiles, and the tang of the pomegranate make it really, really hard to stop eating this. Love it atop some crisp salad greens.

  • annapanna on April 07, 2013

    Lovely. I put one clove of garlic instead of two, and as usual I needed twice the water for the bulgur to become tender. I couldn't find pomegranate molasses anywhere I'll have to try online. I wonder whether the taste changes much when they are added? Anyway, it's still really good even without it.

• Jerusalem artichokes with manouri and basil oil

  • amraub on January 29, 2012

    Makes a lot of oil. Substituted goat cheese for manouri.

  • meggan on November 21, 2012

    This has been a hit in the past. Everyone loves fried cheese! I used haloumi.

  • oddkitchen on January 19, 2013

    Good, but not great. The 5 elements of the salad take multiple steps each to make; you will need about 2 hrs. from start to finish, and you'll produce a lot of dirty dishes along the way. I might make this again in a truncated form (roast tomatoes in oven alongside artichokes; simple vinaigrette; no endive; chop the sliced cheese into chunks before frying).

• Watercress, pistachio and orange blossom salad

  • amraub on January 14, 2012

    Light and refreshing.

• Cucumber salad with smashed garlic and ginger

  • KarenS on September 18, 2011

    We quite enjoyed this salad. The garlic and ginger flavors were very pronounced, not at all subtle, though the vinegar effect was mild, so I would consider it a salad rather than a pickle. I used a mature Asian cucumber, so I scooped out the seeds after halving it, which meant there wasn't very much accumulated liquid. I'll definitely make this again next summer.

  • Delys77 on March 05, 2012

    I think the flavor of the Garlic and ginger overpowers the salad a bit and there is too much onion for my taste. I don't think I wil repeat as written, but might try again and ease the throttle on the garlic, ginger and onions because the dressing is nice and the technique is fun.

  • Yildiz100 on May 24, 2014

    After making this several times, I've found that my favorite variation is to make the dressing exxactly as written, but exclude all but the cucumber from the salad ingredients.

  • lajaxon on May 10, 2016

    Garlic flavor was very strong. Next time I will use less garlic or drain the salad before serving to cut the sharpness of the raw garlic. Otherwise, a nice, fresh tasting salad with ingredients typically in the kitchen.

• Tomato, semolina and coriander soup

  • okcook on January 07, 2013

    I didn't use all the semolina called for because I thought it would be way too thick, so I used 1/2 of the amount called for and it was just about right. I wouldn't make again, not very flavourful.

  • Rutabaga on May 20, 2014

    Of all the recipes I've tried so far in Plenty, this is the only one I wouldn't make again. As the other commenter noted, it is quite bland. Admittedly, I added more semolina than called for, as I decided to just finish up what I had on hand, so I'm sure it turned out thicker than intended. But even had the consistency been thinner, I don't think that would have fixed the issue, and I didn't find the texture of the semolina very appealing when cooked this way.

  • stephengk on May 28, 2017

    Warming and filling. I did use some good bouillon powder and extra seasoning. Think neeed this boost.

• Coconut rice with sambal and okra

  • lorloff on August 16, 2014

    Absolutely fantastic. Be careful with the fresh peppers. Taste the so that the dish does not get too spicy. My husband and I love spice and nothing was too hot for us on Bangkok. We tasted the fresh red peppers and only used 3. The dried peppers we used were medium hot dried pasilla peppers. They rate 3-4 on Mark Millers chili poster chart. I also had fresh poblano peppers from the farmers market that I cut into about the same size as the okra and added to the end of the sauce cooking process so that they were just cooked when I added the okra at the end. I also added about 3-4 tablespoons of the tamarind soaked pulp sand used fresh tamarind that I found I. The market. I took fresh tamarind. Peeled 4.5 oz. took out the hard stings soaked the pulp and seeds in water for an hour. Put the water pulp and seeds In a food mill. I then removed the hard seeds by hand and ended up with a thick tamarind pulp. I found the technique for the tamarind in fine cooking and it's available online

  • lorloff on August 16, 2014

    I also cooked the coconut rice in the rice cooker

  • mziech on March 31, 2012

    Delicious, ate this as a light supper (is actually a breakfast dish). Added some tomatoes to the sambal. Takes less than 30 minutes to make.

  • lilham on May 16, 2012

    I have made this plenty of times with courgette, as okra is a little hard to come by where I live. I would imagine you can use green beans too. I cook the coconut rice in a rice cooker, making this a very simple weeknight supper. Served it with simply grilled chicken or fish, drizzle with plenty of sambal from this recipe.

• Caramelized garlic tart

  • RosieB on May 14, 2015

    I have made this tart three times now. It is so delicious. There are a lot of garlic cloves to peel but I used the method of cutting both ends off and then shaking them in a bottle. They were done in no time. I used the purple garlic which caramalised beautifully but did not give me much syrup. I made it recently for a lunch served with an Ottolenghi salad of french beans, mange tout and hazelnuts. My guests went back for second! They all loved it.

  • Emily Hope on November 18, 2010

    This was absolutely delicious. As I recall, I found the instructions for caramelizing the garlic a bit confusing--I ended up cooking it for longer than the recipe says to get the rawness out, and didn't really end up with any sauce as they say there will be. Nevertheless, a pretty spectacular veg entree and worth the effort (and calories). Served for a dinner party with starter of Deb Madison's sungold soup, side of long-roasted tomatoes and peppers (a good match), an arugula/fennel/walnut salad, and David Lebovitz's ginger cake.

  • mfto on August 08, 2011

    p 38 US - the online recipe at the Guardian is slightly different from the one in US edition - Martha Stewart has the recipe at http://www.marthastewart.com/344169/caramelized-garlic-tart along with a video of Chef Ottolenghi making the tart.

  • debkellie on March 17, 2015

    I used some great new season garlic which had giant cloves (size of a shallot). It caramelised beautifully and was just the right texture, but the puff pastry case seems a little redundant, adding nothing other than flakiness (and extra fat). Next time I'll substitute a sour cream shortcrust, yes there will be a next time.

  • oddkitchen on January 07, 2013

    I couldn't agree more with Emily Hope's note: a spectacular veg entree that's worth the effort and calories. Our tastebuds lobbied hard to convince us to eat the whole thing in one sitting (thankfully, we resisted -- and enjoyed leftovers for the next day's lunch).

  • Rutabaga on November 09, 2014

    Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I found this tart in need of some tweaks to reach its full potential. The garlic cloves I had were very large, and even cut in half they didn't all caramelize fully. To get them like in the book photo, sautee them until nicely browned before adding water for the second time. The tart was also incredibly rich, and while my three-year-old loved it, I found it a little much. Maybe half-and-half, or even whole milk, could be substituted for the heavy cream? As noted in the directions, I tore both cheeses into chunks, but it would be better to grate the hard cheese, as the chunks did not melt into the filling. Due to time constraints, I had to cut into the tart while it was still fairly hot, which meant the filling was practically liquid. I also used just one large duck egg, and baked it in a nine inch pie plate rather than a tart pan, which may have affected the set. I used pie pastry instead of puff pastry, which was a reasonable substitute.

  • MmeFleiss on January 14, 2015

    Spectacular, but very rich. You really can only eat a little at a time. The random mouthfuls of caramelized garlic was always a pleasant surprise.

  • coryelizabeth on June 06, 2017

    Hate to be the contrarian here, but I thought this was just okay. The tart is quite rich -- almost too rich -- and the garlic fades into the background. This recipe is also quite time-consuming: it took a ton of work to peel the garlic alone. A nice dish, but not for when you're very hungry (it's too rich to eat much in one sitting) or want a simple dinner.

  • raybun on June 18, 2017

    A great tart for summer and picnics. Paired with a salad it's a substantial meal. Easy to make ahead too.

  • finebec on May 02, 2017

    Made the recipe from the Guardian original version with Caramelized squash and got kudos. The grown-up kids named it the best dish they ever had. Definitely big bang for the buck. Agree with earlier comments that the richness makes it go along way in terms of the number of portions.

• Aubergine with buttermilk sauce

  • mziech on November 10, 2011

    made this a few times for guests. easy recipe, can be prepared in advance, and guests are always impressed, recommended

  • Astrid5555 on May 05, 2016

    Lovely recipe for company, great presentation, got rave reviews!!

  • Rutabaga on March 30, 2014

    What a beautiful presentation, and it tastes good, too. Do use large eggplants; I chose smaller ones, as that's normally what I prefer, but after roasting them this way there just wasn't enough flesh left, so in this case bigger is better.

  • mzgourmand on April 28, 2018

    I feel out of step as well: I found this recipe somewhat bland too. Worse, I've made it twice and had it also at a friend's and the eggplant itself the recipe's method using never resembles the picture. I make a lot of eggplant-based recipes and am able to achieve a lovely, melting eggplant texture, just not with this recipe, even when substantially extending cooking times. My spouse, however, did enjoy the dish.

  • LayDi1 on May 03, 2016

    I only use Greek yoghurt instead of the buttermilk so it is less liquid. Great recipe: easy, very tasty and beautiful!

  • Boffcat on February 18, 2017

    I feel a bit out of step with my fellow reviewers, as I have to confess I found this a little bland!

• Beetroot, orange and black olive salad

  • TippyCanoe on May 11, 2015

    Absolutely delicious. The combination of the citrus, olives, and the bitter treviso is incredible with the beets.

  • WFPLCleanEating on September 17, 2016

    This was a lovely salad - very pretty and fresh tasting. I don't think I have ever seen red chicory in the USA so I was going to use radicchio then couldn't find it (found it later in the wrong fridge drawer). But the salad was still great without it. Mix it up at the last minute so the beets don't stain the orange segments. - Jane

• Black pepper tofu

  • TrishaCP on June 27, 2013

    This was pretty great. I halved the recipe, and used 2 Fresno peppers, de-seeded as the chiles, and the recipe could have used a tad bit more heat. I finely ground my pepper and that worked for us. I also skipped the butter for much less peanut oil for the aromatics, with just about a teaspoon at the end for some flavor. Since I've been obsessed with Malaysian food and therefore cooking a lot of it, I actually had all of the soy sauces on hand and they did contribute a wonderful depth of flavor to the sauce. (Sounds like from others that the dish works without them though.) Finally, maybe the best part of the dish was the wonderful pieces of garlic, which basically caramelize and get really sweet and tasty.

  • meggan on April 04, 2012

    This recipe is unbelievably good. It is pretty peppery but you can always reduce the amount. The cornstarch fried tofu has a lot of other applications too.

  • Bloominanglophile on July 09, 2016

    My daughter and I loved this dish, but my husband didn't dig the amount of pepper in the recipe--might take it down to 3 Tbsp. next time I make it.

  • chawkins on April 02, 2013

    Excellent with significantly reduced amount of butter. I halved the recipe, and used the specified amount for everything with the exception of the butter and the fresh red chiles. Instead of the suggested 5 1/2 tablespoon of butter, I only used 1 tbs and in place of the 4 mild fresh red chiles, I used two very hot dried ones, would have been better if I only used one. Surprisingly, deep frying the corn starch dusted tofu cubes did not produce a lot of splatter

  • MaryCunningham86 on April 26, 2014

    My favourite tofu recipe, and one I cook again and again. I love how spicy it is, and leaving the peppercorns slightly coarse gives the sauce a nice texture. Like other notes, I use nowhere near the amount of butter specified in the recipe, and add a little peanut oil. I also lightly steam vegetables (broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, snow peas, cabbage - whatever I have really) and add that at the end along with the tofu.

  • oddkitchen on January 18, 2013

    I made this with about 5 Tbsp olive oil instead of the called-for 11 Tbsp butter and thought it was fine. If you don't have light or sweet soy, don't sub with regular "dark" -- the saltiness will be unpalatable.

  • VineTomato on June 10, 2017

    Brilliant recipe. If you are not convinced by tofu, try this.

  • Zosia on April 16, 2016

    Even made with half the chiles and pepper, this is a fiery hot dish and I felt that the lovely caramel flavours of the sauce were overwhelmed by the level of heat. Like some others, I replaced all of the butter with just a few tbsp of oil.

  • Barb_N on August 21, 2014

    The technique for tossing the tofu in cornstarch (cornflour) before sautéing changed my life- it is the only way I do it now. That said I much prefer other sauces to this pepper which is admittedly not my thing.

  • Alfazed on August 09, 2015

    Extremely good! Recipe calls for a stupefying amount of butter; sadly it was not as good with less. Something about the fat coating the tongue makes the pepper really work, so I am working on other replacements for butter. I like to add eggplant (cooked like the tofu in a little corn starch), and red bell peppers for color.

• Bánh xèo

  • TrishaCP on June 27, 2013

    This was very tasty- you can really just use this recipe as a jumping off point and add whatever vegetables and other stuffing you would like. Pay attention to the instructions on thinning the pancake batter again after mixing- I think I must have added another 1/2 cup of water and it was still a bit too thick. Also, I love enoki mushrooms, but raw enoki per the recipe didn't appeal to me, so I just grilled them for a bit.

  • crandall57 on May 30, 2017

    The sauce is wonderful. The pancakes delicious. Loved this dish. It was great with all the vegetables, but we veered away from the vegetarian version. We cooked ground pork then added gochujang, sambal, fish sauce, soy sauce, and a little brown sugar. We put the ground pork in the pancake along with all the other recipe ingredients. Pretty tasty.

  • julesamomof2 on August 19, 2017

    This took forever to make what with all the chopping and herb picking. I chose to use regular mushrooms and I sautéed them as that seemed more appealing to me. My pancakes were thicker than I think they were supposed to be, we could not fold them over without breaking them. All in all, a lot of work and nobody loved them. I may try a more authentic recipe next time.

  • rubytuby on August 23, 2015

    The sauce is fantastic and the flavor of all the fresh herbs combined was really nice but I didn't think it was worth the effort. This probably took me close to two hours with all the prepping of the veggies. The recipe says it serves 4 but I only had 3 people and it wasn't enough food. I would make the sauce again and put it on something else.

• Green gazpacho

  • TrishaCP on May 24, 2016

    I first had this at my friend's house, and we've made it since to raves. It just tastes really fresh and bright and depending on your choice of chile, spicy. I significantly reduced the oil here (probably from 1 cup to 1/3 cup) and that worked just fine.

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on July 03, 2017

    Very easy and nice. Our chili was not fierce enough, so we're going to look for another type! Other than that it was very good and refreshing. Oil can be reduced enormously, as mentioned in earlier note.

  • finebec on May 28, 2017

    We found, as did many on http://leitesculinaria.com/75544/recipes-green-gazpacho.html, that the ingredients had to be blended in several stages. We used an handheld liquidizer and chose to combine all the liquids and add them to the chopped ingredients in our largest mixing bowl After that was liquidized (stopping the machine after 60 second so it took 3-4 goes), we fed in the nuts and leaves, again several goes. It makes an enormous amount, approx. 12 cups. Not as "drama in the mouth" as other recipes of his but very very good

• Fried butterbeans with feta, sorrel and sumac

  • TrishaCP on June 04, 2016

    This is one of the those special Ottolenghi recipes where the flavors are just so interesting and almost unexpected. Many sour ingredients are included (lemon juice, sumac, sorrel), but they are all just balanced out so well with the other flavors in the dish. My beans (judiones) didn't really brown, likely because I didn't add the butter. I only had cilantro available so used that as my herb component- but I can only imagine how fantastic this would be with more of the herbs- especially dill.

  • L.Nightshade on May 22, 2011

    Limas in the US edition. I had some limas in the freezer left over from a Persian recipe that required them. So I didn't go the soaking and boiling route, just used the frozen. After the beans are cooked they are lightly fried in oil and butter. Near the end of cooking, garlic, green onions (I used purple spring onions), chopped red chiles, and sorrel strips are added and sauteed briefly. The mixture is seasoned with salt. Before serving they are topped with lemon juice, feta, sumac, sorrel chiffonade, and other fresh herbs (I just used chervil). Olive oil is drizzled over. The flavors here are so interesting. The sumac and sorrel combination brings a lot to the dish, the dash of lemon juice brings everything out. I loved this dish. And, truth be told, I don't even like lima beans!

  • jessekl on February 29, 2012

    Made this with black-eyed peas and it was fantastic.

  • clkandel on February 04, 2013

    I used beet greens instead of the sorrel. It was great.

• Socca

  • TrishaCP on June 27, 2013

    This is a delicious combination, with the earthiness of the chickpea flour pancakes, the sweetness of the cooked onions and the tang from the cherry tomatoes. I also like how all of the components to this dish can be cooked ahead of time, with assembly right before serving.

  • Astrid5555 on September 06, 2012

    Delicious topping but not sure about the dough base. Maybe my chickpea flour was rancid or I'm just not into it. However, I will definitely use the onion-tomato topping for a regular pizza again.

  • FJT on November 19, 2012

    Lovely recipe - naturally gluten-free and so easy to make. The chickpea flour taste may not be to everyone's liking ... but the more topping you have, the easier it is to disguise this! I like to add goat's cheese.

• Mushroom and herb polenta

  • TrishaCP on June 27, 2013

    So, I think there are two ways you can go with this recipe. One way, the "as is" way, is to include the truffle oil, which probably tastes amazing with the Taleggio and the mushrooms. (He calls for mixed, but I used baby portobellos, boring but what I had on hand, and they were fine.) However, I didn't use the truffle oil, because the reason I made this recipe was to take advantage of the fact that my chervil came back in my garden, and that my thyme, rosemary, and tarragon are also still going strong. The second way, which was how I made it, the herbs shine through (I think their flavor would get blown out by the truffle oil) and I loved it. (Tarragon was the strongest flavor.) Either way, be careful of the salt- both cheeses add quite a bit to the final dish, and depending on the type of stock you use, your polenta may not need it. But this dish was very good if you are a cheese and mushroom lover.

  • twoyolks on January 20, 2016

    This was much better than what I expected it to be. The vegetable stock is non-traditional in polenta but, combined with the butter and parmesan, worked really well. The mushrooms were also quite good. I'd probably cook the mushrooms longer than I did to get them a bit more caramelized. I did use truffle oil but I added a lot less than was called for. It complimented the mushrooms well without overpowering them.

  • Bloominanglophile on October 03, 2014

    I love polenta, and really enjoyed this version with all the herbs. I did read TrishaCP's comments (thanks!), and also decided to eliminate the truffle oil. Other changes I made: chicken stock instead of vegetable stock, a bit less parmesan, and shavings of Fontina instead if 4 oz. Taleggio. My mushrooms consisted of a mix of button, cremini and shiitakes. I served this with the Marinated Pepper Salad with Pecorino.

  • annapanna on February 03, 2013

    I made this as described, including the truffle oil which gives a nice touch, but I left out the parmesan, because I don't like it. We enjoyed this polenta, but for my taste there were too many different herbs. If I make it again I will just choose one or two.

  • Barb_N on October 28, 2014

    I used homemade chicken broth and herbs from my container garden (now indoors)- this gave me all the umami I needed. Then I topped the polenta with a melty-stinky cheese (a Saint Alban?) so I skipped the truffle oil. As it's almost November I had hardy herbs- parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (really). Served with sauteed spinach for aa simple meal.

  • rubytuby on August 23, 2015

    I love this recipe. It's easy to adapt to make it simpler. I usually just make the polenta in one pot, cook the mushrooms and herbs in another pan, and combine them at the end. I don't bother with the Taleggio or broiling it at the end. I use truffle oil if I have it, but it's not necessary, and I often use dried rosemary instead of fresh. I haven't been able to find chervil in the grocery store so I don't use that either. This is a great warming, comforting meal on a cold night.

  • clcorbi on October 27, 2017

    I thought this dish had nice flavor, but neither of us really loved it as much as others have seemed to. I did make a couple of changes--I omitted the truffle oil and chervil from the mushroom mixture, and substituted sage and a bit of nutritional yeast (to add some umami that was lost from the truffle oil). I also cooked the polenta in chicken stock rather than vegetable. Otherwise, I followed the recipe as written. I thought the polenta was really luscious cooked this way and would make that component again. My issue with the dish as a whole is just that the textures were so one-note. I might have preferred serving the mushrooms (which were amazing) on a crisp flat bread or even over squares of pan-fried polenta, just to get some textural variation.

  • StoicLoofah on April 09, 2018

    Very tasty. Skipped the truffle oil and used veggie stock. Mix the garlic and herbs into the polenta well: it's easy for the garlic to clump and look just like the polenta.

• Stuffed portobello with melting Taleggio

  • trufflemutt on December 31, 2011

    I'd like to try this again using oven dried tomatoes in place of sun dried. The sun dried tomatoes available here were sharp and over powering when used in this dish.

  • bching on June 11, 2016

    I agree that the sun dried tomatoes were too intense for this dish. Thanks to trufflemutt's note, I reduced the quantity and still found their taste and texture jarring. If I ever make this dish again, I might add some diced fresh tomato.

  • Colleen01 on September 20, 2014

    This is absolutely delicious. The combination of taleggio & mushroom is amazing. I can't wait to make again

  • agfloyd on November 09, 2016

    Just a heads up that the online recipe linked here is different from the book's, which calls for onion rather than fennel and also calls for fresh tarragon.

• Saffron cauliflower

  • trufflemutt on December 31, 2011

    Tried this recipe for Christmas dinner. It was a bland and uninspiring use of cauliflower.

  • monicahorridge on January 16, 2014

    I used about half the amount of saffron, and added some za'atar. It was lovely! Made plenty and I had it in wraps all week. The onions in particular were delicious.

  • thennek on July 05, 2013

    Disappointing. Oven temperature too high? Sultanas burnt. Suggest lower temp for shorter time add sultanas half way.

  • rainfields on January 08, 2014

    Tasted a lot better after a day. Mellowed out the saffron soapy taste, red onion cuts out the sweetness of sultanas. Delicious, good alternate to roasted cauliflower

  • stephengk on May 28, 2017

    Maybe the way I prepared it but was bitter tasting

• Herb-stuffed tomatoes

  • trufflemutt on December 31, 2011

    The stuffing for the tomatoes wasn't bad, but they turned out a bit bland.

  • Astrid5555 on September 03, 2016

    As mentioned by the other reviewer, nice stuffing, not so sure about the combination with the tomatoes. Quite quick to make though and nice as part of several mezze.

  • stephengk on May 28, 2017

    Light dish but really substantial flavours

  • StoicLoofah on May 24, 2018

    Pretty meh about the recipe overall. It's mostly pretty onion-y. Take his suggestion to put the goat cheese at the top, and maybe it would be better

  • MelanieG on March 17, 2018

    I bought big juicy beefsteak tomatoes so doubled up the recipe as I wanted it to be a vegan main meal highlight- but still needed to make more stuffing. These were excellent and I will definitely make again. Shame no recipe given for all the tomato insides you don't need for this one! For those who think it is bland I'd suggest adding some feta cheese to the stuffing.

• Courgette and cobnut salad

  • L.Nightshade on May 22, 2011

    Zucchini and Hazelnut in the US edition. Sliced zucchini is oiled and charred in a hot grill pan, then tossed with balsamic vinegar and cooled a bit. Then basil leaves, toasted hazelnuts and parmesan cheese are added. I chose not to add the additional olive oil at the end, and I completely forgot to add the hazelnut oil. Hazelnut oil would have added an extra layer of flavor, and I will add it next time, but the dish didn't suffer much by it's absence. We loved this. The tastes come out at room temperature, so it's easy to put together in advance of serving.

  • Melanie on October 04, 2014

    Easy and delicious (great summer flavours). I substituted hazelnuts for the cobnuts and simply used a fry pan for the zucchini.

  • Juli on February 25, 2017

    Delicious! So simple, yet super-complimentary flavours. I used hazelnuts, and didn't have any hazelnut oil, it was still fresh and delicious. A wonderful recipe to use lots of those courgettes out of the summer garden this year.

  • Rutabaga on April 02, 2014

    This is a great, easy salad, just the right balance of flavors and textures, perfect for summer. I just use a standard frying pan as I have no grill pan. It may not look as pretty, but it does the trick.

• Smoky frittata

  • L.Nightshade on June 04, 2011

    Cauliflower florets are blanched and then fried in a skillet until golden on one side. Then a mixture of eggs, creme fraiche, mustard, smoked paprika, chives, and cheeses are poured into the pan. The recipe calls for a mix of smoked scarmoza ("often called smoked mozzarella") and cheddar. Scarmoza was not available in my town, so I used a mix of smoked red cheddar and fresh mozzarella. This was a good frittata, but I would not be likely to serve it again for breakfast or brunch. But that is just me, as I don't really go for most of the brassicas in the morning. I'd love to try it with the scarmoza the recipe calls for, but I'd make it as a tapa, probably. Alternately, I'd make this for breakfast, using all the same ingredients but substituting potatoes for the cauliflower.

  • eselque on August 07, 2012

    Replaced cauliflower with broccoli.

  • Delys77 on February 04, 2012

    Pg 96 This is a delicious and different frittata. I used the smoked mozzarella and it was fabulous with the cauliflower. I added an egg as my cauli was large and served for lunch. The overall texture is good but cut the cauli into relatively small florets. I agree that it would be a great tapa or even main with a good salad, which would offset the richness.

  • twoyolks on October 02, 2014

    The cauliflower should definitely be in smaller pieces in the future. The taste was a bit reminiscent of a hot dog with cheese (the combination of the smokiness, paprika, and cheese flavors), but in a good way.

  • Yildiz100 on March 10, 2018

    Really delicious. It needed about 4 extra minutes in the oven to set in the middle. Used 1/2 tsp table salt and it was just right. I replaced the chives with a bit of parsley for color. I had parsley on hand and I can never taste chives anyway. I used the scarmorza but would use smoked cheddar when I can't get my hands on the former. Cauliflower was a little hard for my taste but probably because I sauteed it for less than 5 minutes because one side was already nice and browned. Next time around try browning both sides to get the cauliflower more thoroughly cooked. Probably not a good idea to extend the parboiling time since the cauliflower might then fall apart during the sautee stage. This comes together surprisingly quickly and easily. Great entree for a weeknight.

  • clkandel on January 24, 2017

    I made this with garlic cheddar cheese, but the paprika still gave the dish a great smoky flavor. Adjust the amount of cauliflower based on ending up with a single layer for the size of the pan you'll use. Again, depending on your pan size, may need to adjust the number of eggs or add some cream or milk to the egg mixture.

  • thekitchenchronicles on August 01, 2017

    This frittata is amazing- it's so smoky (smells like a barbecued potato chip) which actually makes it taste meaty and hearty. As others have said, you may have some leftover cauliflower so you can fit it all in a single layer. I wrote it up here: http://www.thekitchenchronicles.com/2017/07/31/smoky-frittata/

  • Colleen01 on September 21, 2014

    Absolutely delicious. Will definitely make again - though I will cut the cauliflower into smaller pieces next time.

  • Lepa on July 31, 2016

    Delicious. This is the dish I make when we entertain for brunch. The smoky taste almost tastes like ham!

• Pear crostini

  • L.Nightshade on May 22, 2011

    Sourdough bread is oven-toasted, then topped with a paste of ground pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Grilled pear slices are layered on the toast with goat cheese (my cheesemonger steered me towards a lovely bucherondin), then warmed in the oven for a few minutes. When done they are topped with fresh chervil, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Outstanding. Good fruit, good cheese, a little herb, a little nut, how could it go wrong? This is an easy first course for a meal, even for a dinner party.

• Watermelon and feta

  • L.Nightshade on May 22, 2011

    This salad excited every one of my taste buds. It is as easy as can be. Chop up some watermelon. Crumble some feta. Cut a few thin slices of red onion. Toss in some basil leaves. Drizzle olive oil and voila! It's sweet, salty, sharp, herby, refreshing, and oh so pretty! I know I was pushing summer, but I had a mini seedless watermelon that turned out to be crisp and sweet. I ground some pepper over it, as it seemed to call out for that (and I think I see pepper in he photo also). Fairly complex flavors for such an easy-peasy dish.

  • pushka on July 27, 2011

    Really refreshing and light, so easy to make and tasty even with a ropey watermelon. Perfect starter for a summer lunch in the garden with friends.

  • stephengk on May 28, 2017

    Fresh and simple. More than sum of its parts. Great summer starter/salad

• Lettuce salad

  • L.Nightshade on May 22, 2011

    I had a spring mix of lettuces, and some purple spring onions, but other than that I followed the recipe. I agree with the "exploding with flavour" description. I loved the tomatoes roasted with thyme, I could have eaten an entire plate of them. Mr. Nightshade, however, felt the dressing was too lemony, and consequently the salad too tart. No accounting for taste!

  • KarinaFrancis on February 01, 2015

    easy and very pretty with the contrast of the red and white against the green lettuce

  • Rutabaga on February 18, 2015

    This is a great salad for winter when you're missing summer tomatoes. I used Pomodoraccio semi-dried tomatoes (even using the tomato oil from the jar in the dressing), which are a splurge but have an amazing, rich tomato flavor and almost melt in your mouth. I left out the radicchio since I didn't have any on hand. My salad did turn out a little salty, probably because of the salted capers. Be sure to rinse them very thoroughly if you are using salt packed capers, or season the dressing sparingly. Using 20 radishes as called for seemed like overkill, however; I scaled down the salad to make two large portions, but only used four radishes and found that to be enough.

• Marinated pepper salad with pecorino

  • Astrid5555 on March 01, 2013

    This one is a keeper! Letting the peppers marinate overnight is key. Substituted arugula for watercress and added grilled prawns for a more festive starter.

  • Melanie on November 05, 2014

    Another winner. This was great to prepare in advance to take to a friend's house for last minute assembly (don't mix everything until the last minute). I made a few substitutions based on what was on hand - baby spinach for watercress and parmesan for pecorino. Will make this again.

  • Bloominanglophile on October 03, 2014

    As luck would have it, the store that ALWAYS has watercress didn't have it when I needed it--so I subbed baby spinach, which worked just fine. Everything else was according to the recipe, except I probably used a bit less pecorino than stated (I just shaved it until it looked like enough on the salads). This is delicious, and paired nicely with Mushroom and Herb Polenta, which he recommends.

  • KarinaFrancis on December 25, 2017

    I really liked this even though I subbed rocket for watercress. I also think I was a bit mean with the pecorino, next time I’ll add more. Was a good Christmas recipe because it could be made ahead and assembled last minute. I’ll make this again. (Photo)

  • Colleen01 on September 20, 2014

    Now my favourite salad of all time. I substituted parmesan for percorino (as that's what I had in the fridge). The recipe states that it serves 2 as a starter but I found it easily served 3

• Sweet winter slaw

  • Astrid5555 on December 26, 2017

    Took this to my mum‘s for boxing day lunch. Despite leaving out the macadamia nuts due to allergies and substituting oranges for the other fruit, since this is what I had on hand, this was one of the best slaws I have had in a long time. Highly recommended!

  • hillsboroks on February 12, 2016

    Fun blend of flavors that really put pizazz into coleslaw. Easy enough to make for a weeknight dinner but pretty and unusual enough to serve at a company dinner. I couldn't find macadamia nuts so subbed in pecans and they worked really well. I also subbed kiwi fruit for the papaya and their flavor melded well with everything else. Just as odd kitchen mentioned this makes a big bowl of slaw but I am looking forward to the leftover slaw in my lunch tomorrow.

  • oddkitchen on December 30, 2012

    Terrific blend of flavors; slightly finicky preparation. The caramelized macadamia nuts make the dish. Be warned that the recipe as written produced an enormous quantity of food, serving 8 people two side-dish-sized servings.

  • lizabetina on January 01, 2018

    Lots of chopping and prep but worth it. You can play around with the ingredients and it still works - I don’t put quite as much mango and papaya in as the recipe asks for. The caramelised macadamia nuts are amazing, and very tempting just on their own too!

• Figs with basil, goat's curd and pomegranate vinaigrette

  • Astrid5555 on September 02, 2012

    This one is a winner! Very quick and easy to make. Use the best figs you can get and make sure you have a creamy goat's cheese.

• Surprise Tatin

  • eliza on February 11, 2018

    Really good and very easy to make. I used a combo of potatoes and eggplant in mine along with the tomatoes, onions and cheese. I had to reduce the amount of cheese substantially since about 30 g was all I had. I imagine it would be very rich with all the cheese, but we found the reduced amount to be enough. Mine turned out of the pan perfectly, much to my surprise!

  • Alro9 on April 21, 2014

    Very good, different take on tart tatin. I have previously tried Beet and onion versions as savoury versions of the usual apple, but this was better, mellow flavoured and delicious. I used a soft goats cheese because it was what I happened to have in the fridge and served it with a broccoli, courgette and raddish salad with a tahini dressing.

  • cadfael on March 04, 2014

    Beautiful presentation! I substituted half old cheddar for half the goat cheese because my hubby doesn't care for an overly strong goat cheese flavour. But it wasn't strong and next time I will use the entire amount Tasty

  • Rutabaga on March 30, 2014

    Wow! This was tasty, and easier that I thought it would be, due to the upside-down way of putting it together so that the tart bakes with the pastry on top. You can also prepare it in advance, then pop it in the oven when ready, making it a great dinner party option. I wouldn't make it too often, only because it also happens to be very rich.

• Broccolini and sweet sesame salad

  • eliza on July 19, 2016

    I liked this salad and it's a great way to use beans and snow peas from the garden. The dressing is nice, however I do like my own tahini dressing better (adapted from The Cook's Garden book), so I will continue to make that dressing for this salad. I omitted the nigella seeds.

  • michalow on January 04, 2013

    mangetout = snow pea

  • LouiseStaley on October 15, 2012

    This is truly spectacular. Tender crisp greens with a creamy dairy free dressing. This is definately a keeper.

  • Yildiz100 on February 08, 2015

    I loved the texture, but he dressing was just a bit sweet for my taste.

  • oddkitchen on January 13, 2013

    Delectable. Addictive sweet/savory vegan dressing. Recipe is also on the Guardian site. Groundnut oil=peanut oil

  • KarinaFrancis on September 26, 2017

    Loved it! I felt healthy and virtuous with every bite. Easy to make on a weeknight and its really delicious too. I added some roast chicken to make it a meal. Totally agree with the previous reviewer who suggested asparagus would be nice too, I think this will be on high rotation over summer

  • lajaxon on May 10, 2016

    Nice way to have a lot of tasty greens with a different and very flavorful sauce/dressing. I used less honey than suggested.

  • clcorbi on May 18, 2017

    I didn't end up loving this salad as much as everyone else, but it was due to a serious user error--I used broccoli rabe rather than broccolini, and the bitter flavor just doesn't work well here. I'd be willing to give this another try with the correct veggie. I also think asparagus could be really nice here. I will note that the dressing turned out quite thick for me--I thinned it out with a bit of sesame oil, which was nice.

• Chickpea sauté with Greek yoghurt

  • rglo820 on January 12, 2018

    The yogurt makes it. I sometimes shy away from chard since it can be kind of fussy to prep if it needs to be thinly sliced, but I appreciated blanching it whole and then just coarsely chopping it. A fried egg is a nice addition as well.

  • Melanie on July 14, 2014

    I was pleasantly surprised by this - tasted good reheated for work lunch, paired with yoghurt & sumac. I roughly doubled the recipe, although think used closer to triple the quantity of chickpeas (used tinned). Very good, will make again.

  • Delys77 on February 04, 2012

    Pg 211 Very healthy and nutritious with good colour and texture. Flavour wise I added much more lemon to the dish and the yogurt and it pepped it up nicely. Overall a nice veggie dish with good protein from the legumes.

  • twoyolks on November 01, 2014

    This was quite good. The Greek yogurt provides a nice richness to compliment the chickpeas, carrots, and Swiss chard. This was particularly good wrapped in a whole wheat pita with the yogurt spread throughout it.

  • imaluckyducky on October 21, 2014

    Pg 211 5 stars! Holy cow this is good. Carrots offer a nice sweetness to the nuttiness of the chickpeas, the tang of the yogurt, and the body provided by the olive oil. Doubled the garlic and added half a TBs more of cilantro and mint. Will make a double batch next time, as it holds well for lunch the next day. Longest part of the recipe was separating the stalks from the leaves, but I got this all done in under 40 minutes.

  • ksg518 on September 26, 2016

    This is wonderful. Like many Ottolenghi recipes, the ingredient list seems odd but it all somehow comes together in the end. I love the addition of caraway, which gives the final product a heartier taste than it might have otherwise.

  • Rutabaga on February 03, 2015

    I made this for the second time, but with a few changes based on what I already had at home. This meant using rainbow chard, pinto beans instead of chickpeas, lemon pepper instead of caraway, and no mint, but extra cilantro and a little arugula. Still, I think it was true to the spirit of the original, very bright and fresh. Yogurt with olive oil is the perfect topping, making the dish richer and more filling as a main course.

• Green pancakes with lime butter

  • lilham on April 12, 2012

    Baby friendly finger food, and went down well with my little 1 yo. I wonder if a drizzle of lime juice and a small cube of butter will be an acceptable substitute to the lime butter. I used only half the lime butter Ottolenghi has you made in the recipe. I ended up stirring the left overs into blanched spinach.

  • coryelizabeth on February 15, 2018

    These came together quickly but lacked the dramatic flavor of an Ottolenghi recipe. The lime butter was tasty, but the pancakes overall were meh. I agree with the idea of them being nice finger food; they're just not a great centerpiece for a meal.

  • MADCH82 on May 25, 2017

    But bland unfortunately...

• Castelluccio lentils with tomatoes and Gorgonzola

  • lilham on January 12, 2014

    I used puy lentils for this which is a suggested substitute. I also used parsley instead of chervil. This dish took a bit of planning ahead because the tomatoes need to be slow cooked for 1.5 hours and the lentils for about 20min. Otherwise it is a fairly hands off dish. The resulting salad is delicious. Definitely worth making.

  • Hellyloves2cook on April 29, 2013

    Pg 222 Just a few little components to make up prior to assembly of this delicious salad. Easy to make. I didn't get all the herbs. Dill not around so just used parsley and chives. Packed with flavour and a definite repeat.

• Stuffed cabbage

  • elisarose on January 05, 2013

    I made this as directed and unfortunately the wine in the sauce overwhelmed all the other flavors. The filling was tasty before I stuffed it into the cabbage leaves.

  • Dauniika on June 05, 2014

    This was a very involved and drawn out recipe for an underwhelming end result. The filling was yummy pre-baking but the baking process kind of ruined it.

• Barley and pomegranate salad

  • mummybunny2005 on July 24, 2013

    I really liked this. Might do a little less vinegar next time as the smell was a little overpowering but otherwise it's great.

  • annapanna on March 22, 2013

    This was one of the prettiest salads I have ever made, but taste was just ok. A bit too crunchy. I am not sure I will make it again

  • mgwalter on April 14, 2014

    Thought it was rather boring. Don't think I'll be making it a second time, but it sure was easy to make.

• Lemon and aubergine risotto

  • SWS on December 11, 2013

    This dish didn't come together until right at the end but turned out utterly delicious. Quantities are not over generous.

  • snarkattack on April 15, 2015

    The aubergine prep is the hardest and fiddliest bit, so make sure you set aside a lot of time for it - will try again but grill/roast aubergine rather than charring it over gas burner.

  • Beckiemas on April 09, 2017

    Love this - so full of flavour. Two of us finished it off for dinner. Charring the eggplant on the stove was fiddly, but we had a beautiful smoky flavour in the risotto.

  • ksg518 on August 27, 2015

    This is amazing. Agree with previous review that grilling or roasting the eggplant is the better approach. Using my gas burner worked but created a big mess. I also agree the quantities are not overly generous. Three of us devoured the entire recipe so I think it would only work for four as a side dish. My cubed eggplant didn't get crisp, perhaps because my pan was too crowded. Nonetheless, this will get made again and again.

  • rubytuby on August 23, 2015

    This is so full of amazing flavor. It's a great spring or early summer meal and easy to put together once you get the hang of burning the eggplant, which is absolutely delicious.

• Chickpea, tomato and bread soup

  • Franci on November 03, 2011

    Not bad. My mom really enjoyed it, I thought it was ok. Used one celery stalk and some celeriac, less wine, cooking water from the chickpeas instead of veg. stock. No pesto.

  • AOski on August 04, 2012

    Pretty good. I added the fennel fronds with the other spices.... Why let them go to waste!? I puréed a bit of the soup to make it even stewy-er...

  • twoyolks on January 18, 2017

    This was nice but it wasn't particularly special. It tasted similar to any other rustic, Italian-ish vegetable stew.

  • Vegan.mum on August 28, 2013

    Delicious! We love this soup & it's quick and easy to throw together.

  • Rutabaga on April 09, 2014

    It's easy, it can be made in advance, and it's fun to eat things with pesto. This soup is great to throw together for a simple family supper. I like the idea of pureeing some of it, so may try that next time.

• Steamed rice with herbs (or, actually, herbs with rice)

  • HazukaPie on April 11, 2016

    My feeling is that you could substitute other herbs, even spinach, and certainly don't need ALL of the herbs call for (10 cups of herbs: 1.5 cups of rice!). But I did use the proportions in the recipe and it was indeed delicious. The cooking method was very interesting.

  • Rutabaga on May 04, 2014

    I really enjoyed this dish, but it was not my husband's favorite - too "grassy" in his opinion. Yes, you need to be a big herb fan - specifically of dill, parsley, and most of all cilantro - if you want to make this dish as written. Even with four bunches of cilantro, stems and all, I still didn't have the full finely chopped six cups called for in the recipe. Fortunately it's easier to buy large bunches of parsley and dill around here, so I only needed one bunch of each for the requisite two cups per herb. Since I don't have a food processor, prepping the all these herbs was a real labor of love. Following the technique outlined in the recipe, the rice turned out perfectly done, and the potato crust on the bottom was excellent (I used a Yukon gold). I would definitely make it again, but with far fewer herbs, in hopes that my husband could then appreciate it as much as I.

• Mushroom lasagne

  • FJT on September 13, 2015

    Delicious! I paired this with Ottolenghi's tomato and pomegranate salad from Plenty More and that cut nicely through the richness. Not quick but I prepped this the day before my dinner party and just had to make the salad on the day.

  • dvajefink on August 27, 2011

    Love this recipe. If you love mushrooms this will be a favorite in your house!Definitely a special occasion meal, very high in fat.

  • Brieforme on January 23, 2015

    Amazing but very rich and definitely not a quick meal. Also rather expensive with all that cheese and mushrooms. A special occasion dish.

  • Bwolfe2 on January 28, 2017

    This is quite delicious but almost three hours from prep to table. We thought it to be the sort of entree that could be served at a party to meat eaters without any complaints. Other reviews state that doing the prep the day before is helpful to reduce the time. I didn't make the fourth layer of noodles rather spread the sauces and mushrooms more liberally between three layers. This is worthy of making again.

• Caramelized fennel with goat's curd

  • FJT on November 28, 2012

    Oh, this is so good!! Beautiful flavour and textures ... this ne might be on our Christmas menu.

  • michalow on December 31, 2012

    Amazing. And I haven't even added the goat cheese yet, which can only make it better.

  • Miquette on March 12, 2013

    Insanely good! Will lower the temperature a little next time as the butter began to burn while browning the fennel. I wiped out the pan and added some fresh butter/oil before adding the sugar and fennel seeds and caramelizing over med-high.

  • e_ballad on November 07, 2016

    So so good. Will happily double the recipe next time. Incredibly tasty, with so many flavours & textures in one simple dish.

  • Starrysky on July 10, 2017

    Very very good! The combination of fennel and goat cheese is a winner!

• Saffron tagliatelle with spiced butter

  • FJT on November 11, 2012

    Wonderful recipe - I adapted my normal gluten-free tagliatelle recipe to include the saffron and turmeric and it worked so well with the spiced butter and the pine nut / herb garnish. I will use less butter next time I make this, but we'll definitely make it again.

  • cilantrolime on July 08, 2014

    Very tasty and easy! I used store-bought tagliatelle though. It reminded me a lot of burmese noodles like nan-pyar-thote. But this is a lot easier and is meat-free.! Next time, instead of pine nut and basil, I'll try to toasted chickpea powder, cilantro, sliced shallots, and lime juice.

• Itamar's bulghar pilaf

  • Melanie on September 27, 2013

    This tasted really fantastic, I served it with Ottolenghi's leek fritters. I substituted quinoa for the bulghur wheat - increase cooking time and slowly add more water.

  • michalow on February 18, 2013

    Pretty good, although not as delicious as the other bulgur recipe in this book (kisir). To my surprise, I didn't particularly care for the pink peppercorns here. I would leave those out next time, and crush the coriander seeds a bit before adding. Worth making again with a few tweaks.

  • annapanna on March 22, 2013

    This was good and very easy to make. I used fresh currants, ground coriander and ground pink pepper. The Bulgur took a bit longer than 20 min, and required adding a bit more water too. Ideal for lunch at work.

  • Rutabaga on June 01, 2014

    Mine turned out a little on the wet side; perhaps, as I was using fine and nor medium bulgur, I should have used a little less water. But otherwise, it came together very well. Since the only pink peppercorns I could find were quite expensive, I substituted white ones. I liked the peppery crunch of the whole peppercorns, but it's not to everyone's taste, so coarsely crushing the peppercorns and coriander would be a nice option. The spice is really needed to balance the sweetness of the dish.

  • finebec on July 31, 2017

    A family favorite from a family being subjected to my Ottolenghi obsession. Small White onions proved hard to get so I used a large Bermuda instead. BTW the Itmar in question is the co-chef owner of Honey and Co, Also a London-based Israeli operation. There's a cookbook with the same title as the restaurant.

• Mixed beans with many spices and lovage

  • AOski on August 04, 2012

    Really nice Indian flavor...and easy!

• Asparagus vichyssoise

  • michalow on April 21, 2013

    Samphire is not called for in the US edition of this book.

  • ksg518 on June 05, 2017

    This was a little blander than I expected but I may try it again. I may have had less than the one pound of asparagus the recipe calls for so if I make it again, I'll up the asparagus to over a pound. I used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock. The lemon zest is a must.

• Garlic soup and harissa

  • Delys77 on May 27, 2013

    Pg. 46 Comes together easily and is one of the better garlic soups I have had. The flavour or garlic is definitely present but the herbs and shallots make for a very nuanced soup. I would repeat.

  • Yildiz100 on February 08, 2015

    This has a really fantastic flavor, but this is a very light soup. I think I will probably reserve it for when I am not feeling well and don't have much of an appetite. It's probably the best thing I can imagine eating when you have a cold.

• Aubergine tricolore (and more)

  • Delys77 on May 21, 2014

    Not a winner for us. He doesn't have you salt the eggplant to remove any of those bitter juices, plus the salsa of sorts isn't meant to be seasoned, plus the balance between the tomato and the pepper seemed a bit off to me. On the whole not something I would repeat.

• Grilled vegetable soup

  • Delys77 on January 09, 2013

    Pg 115 The soup is a good canvas but it did need some aggressive seasoning. I added the juice of a whole lemon and a touch of green tabasco to add sourness and heat at the same time. Once seasoned nicely it is a good soup, with a slightly smokey flavour from the grilled vegetables and toothsomeness from the lima beans. I might cut back on the lima beans a little in the future as I found there were a few too many.

  • dinnermints on July 22, 2016

    I agree with Delys77 - the soup needs a lot of seasoning. I added a bunch of preserved lemon, and it sort of helped, but then that effect was dulled when I added the limas (although I liked those, wouldn't decrease). I did the U.S. version which is broiled, and it might have been better grilled. But I wouldn't make this again. I've cooked a ton out of Plenty More and Jerusalem to fantastic results, but have heard mixed things about Plenty, and I think this is the first thing I've made out of it. It doesn't exactly make me want to use it more. I wish it had the more specific measurements of his later books, as I've heard is that proportions are often off in Plenty.

• Quesadillas

  • jaxstar84 on October 30, 2012

    Delicious - but next time I would amp up the flavours in the beans, that would make it amazing!

  • moniquerose on November 12, 2013

    Made this without the bean paste as I didn't have beans on hand (no black beans at supermarket, and realised I had none in the cupboard when I got home...). The salsa was lovely, really nice and fresh - I added extra lime juice to mine (recipe calls for juice of 1/2 lime, I added juice of whole lime). Not a big fan of toasting the quesadilla with sour cream inside already. I didn't like the texture of the cream after being heated. Other than that a quick, easy and tasty meal.

  • clcorbi on February 20, 2017

    Delicious. My boyfriend especially loved these. We don't have a grill pan so we quickly fried them in a very hot skillet. I also did not add sour cream to the quesadillas but rather served it alongside. The bean mixture was a bit cumin-y for my taste, but then again, I am not a cumin fan so that's just personal taste.

  • JackieBurke on January 09, 2017

    My copy of Plenty falls open at this page (have made it so many times). We heat them on a charcoal BBQ. They're always perfect, especially the salsa. I don't bother making black bean sauce anymore (used to but find Desert Pepper black bean dip works just as well). And commercial tortillas near enough

• Mee goreng

  • sharifah on October 15, 2014

    Cilantrolime, I compared this recipe with another mee goreng recipe that I have from another book 'Malaysian Hawker Favourites'. The soy sauce amount looks right, but this recipe should have also included shallots, garlic and shrimp paste for a more authentic taste. He used sambal oelek which usually contains vinegar (this will change the taste), and he used ground coriander and ground cumin which is more Middle-Eastern than Malaysian. My two-pennies worth.... :-)

  • sam2118 on July 11, 2013

    Very adaptable recipe: Substituted fresh udon for egg noodles, Napa cabbage for bok choy and julienned zucchini for the bean sprouts. There is a fair amount of prep work, but the results are delicious.

  • cilantrolime on October 14, 2014

    I found this to be quite bland compared to mee goreng I had in Malaysia. Is there a typo for the amount of soy sauce? It calls for 2 tsp of soy sauce and 2tsp of dark soy sauce. I used 2 tbsp each and didn't find that to be too much.

  • vfsalom on August 25, 2015

    @sharifah, Plenty is a vegetarian cookbook, hence no shrimp paste.

  • clcorbi on February 05, 2018

    We found this to be incredibly bland and not really worth the effort. I even added shrimp paste since I had some, and I know the recipe traditionally uses it. Would definitely not repeat.

• Chard and saffron omelettes

  • veronicafrance on December 20, 2011

    We made this with some red chard. It looked a mess when served, but it was really delicious -- I loved the combination of flavours, very unusual. Quite quick to make too. I don't know why it's listed as a starter, we ate it as a main course.

  • twoyolks on June 12, 2015

    This was quite good. I'd probably cut back a little on the lemon juice in the future as it was a bit strong. The tang of the creme fraiche really went well with the eggs and greens. I'll second that it looked messy and the omelettes themselves started to fall apart but it worked anyway. I substituted marjoram for dill and it worked well.

• Egg, spinach and pecorino pizza

  • twoyolks on June 08, 2016

    This was really quite good. The flavors all worked very well together. It's not quite a pizza and not quite a flatbread. It's doughier than most pizza and was closer to a focaccia in texture.

• Asparagus, fennel and beetroot with verjus

  • meggan on March 22, 2014

    The dressing was too sour for my taste.

• Spiced red lentils with cucumber yogurt

  • Bloominanglophile on January 26, 2016

    This was delicious even without the curry leaves (hope to locate some eventually). I also didn't have fenugreek and couldn't bring myself to use 1/3 cup of butter in a dish serving 2-4 people. I'm sure it would be luscious with that amount instead of the 2 TBPS I used! I served this with Indian-spiced Cauliflower and Potatoes and naan.

• Broccoli and Gorgonzola pie

  • shewolffe on April 04, 2017

    I'm not very disciplined at following recipes so ended up adapting this recipe a bit. I had no tarragon, so just omitted it, and it tasted lovely. I didn't measure any ingredients, but used what seemed about the right amount for the long thin tart tray I wanted to use. It included a couple of leeks and about 3/4 of a large head of broccoli. I whisked up a couple of eggs with some rich creamy milk and poured this over the top of the leeks, broccoli, gorgonzola before topping the pie with strips of pastry (I didn't have quite enough to make a pretty top). The final result was absolutely delicious - eaten hot on the first outing and then at room temperature for lunch the next day. As expected, really good combinations of flavours from Ottolenghi.

  • Rutabaga on March 30, 2014

    Rich and filling, with the mustard giving it just a little kick to offset the cream, this tart is a fun way to pair broccoli and blue cheese. My filling turned out a little runny, but maybe I just needed to let it set longer before cutting into it.

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on March 05, 2017

    Delicious. Thanks to the previous review I didn't add water to the leeks. Also made an open pie top to let steam come out during baking. Pie turned out wonderful and without soggy bottom!

• Mushroom ragout with poached duck egg

  • beeah on March 04, 2013

    Absolutely worth the effort.

  • rubytuby on August 23, 2015

    It's very heavy on mushroom flavor, which is great if you love mushrooms, but not so great if they're not your favorite

• Green lentils, asparagus and watercress

  • snarkattack on June 10, 2015

    First time attempted substituted asparagus for broccolini, parsley for sage (probably best to use more astringent herb as parsley substitute?). Rather than using food processor, just chopped 'pesto' ingredients as finely as possible.

• Cabbage kohlrabi salad

  • Egle.L on November 05, 2012

    http://tastespace.wordpress.com/2011/08/13/ottolenghis-cabbage-and-kohlrabi-salad/

• Crunchy pappardelle

  • Yildiz100 on July 17, 2016

    This was fine, but the extras in this recipe (gremolata and toasted panko) didn't really improve the dish, only created more work. I will stick to my no-recipe mushroom cream sauce pastas.

  • Sandiegolemons on September 12, 2017

    This goes under Do Not Do Again. My first one star out of five rating for a recipe by Ottolenghi. I wonder if he even tried this or it was just filler?

  • MsMonsoon on December 11, 2017

    Uses lots of pots and pretty time-consuming. Tasty dish but you wouldn't think the finished product should take that long to prepare. The mushrooms and wine, and the touch of sugar with the cream, all combine to make a satisfying flavor. Don't skip the panko with lemon zest, garlic and parsley. It really adds something -- garlicky goodness, citrus brightness and some crunch. (Toasting the panko was key, too. It smelled wonderful.)

• Stuffed courgettes

  • Donnakay on March 28, 2013

    courgettes = zucchini

  • Rutabaga on March 30, 2014

    I think this recipe would be pretty good. I say "would" because I over cooked mine, making the zucchini waterlogged and mushy. The filling was still good, but I think part of the difficulty was that I used some old long-grain rice that I needed to finish, and it took too long for the rice to cook.

  • JLDuck on December 16, 2017

    I partially (5 mins) cooked the rice so there were no unwanted gritty bits. I also used very fresh courgettes which may help reduce the mushiness effect. It was very tasty.

• Puy lentil galettes

  • Donnakay on March 28, 2013

    I used the puff pastry cups (all they had that day) which were very quick, but didn't hold as much. Delicious!

• Cardamom rice with poached eggs and yoghurt

  • MissQuin on January 21, 2015

    it was too hot to turn the oven on so instead I cooked on stove top - once water added to rice I bought it to boil, put lid on and simmered for 10 mins, then took off heat and left to sit for another 10 with lid on. Worked perfectly.

  • anya_sf on September 06, 2017

    I cooked it on the stove on the lowest temperature. The rice stuck to the bottom of the pan slightly, but the lime juice (and a bit of extra hot water) released it. Per the recipe suggestion, I added more vegetables for a more substantial dish (red bell pepper, zucchini, spinach, peas). I served it with tzatziki rather than plain yogurt, as I had some left over. I did not have curry leaves, so I used kaffir lime leaves. Despite the vast quantity of fresh herbs, I found the seasoning lacking, needing more salt, plus I added some harissa. I did not really enjoy the texture of the whole spices; would prefer ground. Overall, this was just so-so.

• Poached baby vegetables with caper mayonnaise

  • Margaretsmall on November 03, 2013

    I didn't like this at all. The vegetables took much longer to cook than suggested, and tasted mainly of lemon and olive oil. I didn't make the mayonnaise, that would have been too much oil for comfort.

  • StoicLoofah on January 19, 2018

    It was okay. Best part was the mayo for us. We had to cook the veggies longer than it called for, and the poaching liquid didn't impart much flavor.

• Hot yogurt and broad bean soup

  • VineTomato on June 10, 2017

    I cooked this many years ago and remember it being terrible. Now looking at the receipe again it looks delicious. Maybe I didn't shell the broad beans. Do I dare try it again?

• Caramelized endive with Gruyére

  • cgal on December 26, 2014

    Replace the Gruyère by taleggio or camembert

• Lemon and goat's cheese ravioli

  • Rutabaga on November 23, 2014

    This is probably one of the simplest homemade ravioli recipes, but the combination of goat cheese, lemon, and fresh pasta is hard to beat. The pink peppercorns are, I think, what makes it special, so use them if at all possible. I used fresh oregano instead of tarragon, and found that to be a good match. I used a ravioli form to shape the pasta, which leaves a very narrow boarder around the filling. Because of this, about a third of the dough remained after I had used up the filling. Still, the finished ravioli served three adults as a main course with a few leftover. And extra pasta dough isn't a problem - I can use it to make fettuccine tomorrow!

  • raybun on June 28, 2017

    We loved these! Now I did cheat a bit as I found a pack of wonton/ dumpling wrappers in the fridge that needed using up. I did hunt down the pink peppercorns though, and they really took this dish to the next level. I used lemon thyme as the 3 stores I went to were out of tarragon. I have made a note to make these again with the homemade pasta, as we really loved the flavour combination.

  • bwhip on March 26, 2017

    This was my first time making pasta, and it turned out great! A fair bit of labor, but absolutely delicious results. Not difficult, just time consuming. Flavor and texture of the pasta was great. The blend of the lemon, peppercorns and tarragon was really good. I'll definitely make it again.

• Pasta and fried courgette salad

  • Rutabaga on August 24, 2015

    I made this recipe again today; sadly, it had been a few years since I last made it, even thought it's a wonderful salad. I did run into a few issues to avoid for the future. First, using the blender to pulverize the herbs and oil simply did not work for me. The quantity was too small. After some struggle, I gave up, and finished the pesto off in the mortar and pestle. Also, I used green chickpeas in place of the edamame, as that was what I had on hand. It wasn't a bad substitution, but we definitely prefer the edamame, which has a stronger presence in the salad and offers a welcome crunch.

  • pistachiopeas on June 28, 2017

    Made this again and we both really loved it, again, maybe even more than last time. I didn't mind frying the zucchini either. Smitten Kitchen points out that not much of the oil gets absorbed by the zucchini and looking at the pan, I'd agree.

  • cilantrolime on July 06, 2014

    The first time, I followed the recipe exactly. It was tasty, but I hated frying zucchini. Then I made it again a couple of weeks later. I used very nice small yellow summer squashes from the farmer's market. I roasted the zucchini slices in the oven, in a single layer, with a little oil sprayed on top. It came out wonderfully. Roasting brought out the sweetness in the zucchini. I omitted the mozzarella and didn't miss it. Lemon zest and juice are essential though.

• Scrambled smoky duck eggs on sourdough

  • Rutabaga on November 11, 2014

    Delicious! This is a simple recipe with lots of flavor that is easily adaptable. I used chives instead of green onion, a couple of very ripe yellow tomatoes, and one canned chipotle in adobo instead of rehydrating dried ones. As I do with chicken eggs, I added some milk to the duck eggs before scrambling them, but found their texture to be exceptionally soft and creamy, so perhaps this was unnecessary. And while I love cheese, it's nice to find a hearty, filling egg dish that doesn't rely on it.

• Purple sprouting broccoli with rice noodles

  • Rutabaga on April 26, 2016

    Personally, I was underwhelmed with this dish. The sauce is good, but the rice noodles were bland and gummy, even with the sauce. I realize this isn't really the fault of the recipe - it may just be the particular noodles I chose (1/2 inch wide ribbon noodles from a frozen packet) - but I think this dish would work better with rice. I would also chop the sprouting broccoli into bite size pieces prior to cooking. Chopped peanuts are a good addition to give the dish a little protein, too.

• Two-potato vindaloo

  • ldtrieb on April 23, 2015

    Love this, used canned tomatoes and did not have a red pepper, used pepper vinegar at the table. Garnished with cilantro. No other notes yet but some rated this 3 stars, I would make it 4 if I knew how!

  • patioweather on April 09, 2018

    A good bit of work but we thought it well worth it.

• Quinoa and grilled sourdough salad

  • janeths on August 03, 2014

    Really like this. We have a glut of cucumbers in the garden this year so think we'll be eating it again soon!

  • Lepa on August 30, 2017

    I make this once every summer and always enjoy it. The really standout part of this salad is the toasted bread, which is oiled and salted before toasting. This step makes the salad extra tasty!

• Mango and coconut rice salad

  • JLDuck on October 14, 2017

    I am not a devotee of rice salads. This recipe could change that. It is fantastic!

• Stuffed onions

  • rubytuby on August 23, 2015

    I didn't like this very much. I just thought it tasted strange and wasn't filling enough to make a meal.

  • StoicLoofah on March 26, 2018

    We loved this recipe. You can serve maybe 4 people with it. We only needed 3 onions for it.

• 'Mixed grill' with parsley oil

  • rubytuby on August 23, 2015

    Surprisingly delicious for just being vegetables and parsley pesto. You can really use any veggies, doesn't need to be what's listed in the recipe.

• Parsnip dumplings in broth

  • raybun on May 14, 2017

    This is the first Ottolenghi recipe I haven't loved . I was definitely underwhelmed by this dish that I followed to the letter. It was too mild for me and I felt the texture of the dumplings was off. The broth smelt fantastic but didn't have much flavour either ?? I'm really surprised! Nothing a fresh baguette and a lump of Roquefort couldn't fix...

  • finebec on May 01, 2017

    Outstanding, both broth and the dumplings. Found the following things made a difference: skimming off the oil in the beginning; using the fresh as possible celery root

• Fried leeks

  • finebec on May 02, 2017

    The leeks that I find it in my market, a Whole Foods in an American University town, do not lend themselves to this recipe. Too much dirt to cut in the way he asks. Does anyone have a technique they would like to share to get around this?

  • finebec on May 02, 2017

    The red pepper sauce, however, is a outstanding addition to my condiment made by myself collection. Keeps for several week sin the fridge. Probably would keep longer if it would last that long. Has increased the number of salad eaters in our family exponentially. Whilst I have your attention, let me recommend the pepper sauce for the pecorino salad in this book, which works for us the same way.

• Broad bean burgers

  • finebec on May 10, 2017

    In US, Sadaf frozen broad beans aka favas are already peeled, a great time saver, and are very flavorful. I encourage use of this recipe if you can avoid the peeling process. These are the tweaks I will try next time to get a better texture: a. mash the potatoes when hot and soft, on their own b. blitz the broad beans in a food processor to get a smoother texture, but holding back some beans for hand crushing c. make smaller patties to get more in pan at once, using largest possible pan d. drain on paper towel. uncharacteristically, YO does not give any instructions for type of pan. I used a cast iron and found it worked well. as he does not present an image of it, would love to see someone's photo of it.

• Food52

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

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• Food52

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• What's Gaby Cooking

  I’ve talked about Yotams books before and it just wouldn’t be right to do a cookbook round-up without including his. He’s a culinary genius in my opinion and his recipes are top notch.

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• Food52 by Mario Batali

  The 2011 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks vs. Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain

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• Food52 by Susan Orlean

  The 2011 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks wildcard winner vs. The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cooking Manual

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• Food52 by Gabrielle Hamilton

  The 2011 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks winner vs. Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table

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• Food52 by Peter Kaminsky

  The 2011 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks winner vs. Simon Hopkinson's The Vegetarian Option

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• Food52 by Christine Muhlke

  The 2011 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks winner vs. Harvest to Heat

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• Fine Cooking

  Each chapter focuses on a single ingredient and offers recipes (some simple, others complex) that deliver exquisite surprises... It’s twists like these that will keep you coming back for more.

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• Oregonian

  It is precisely this breezy, multicultural approach to cooking that makes Ottolenghi's book so contagiously appealing.

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• The Kitchn by Faith Durand

  ...looking for vegetarian meals, or just more vegetables? Want to get inspired by bright, interesting food? This book, folks, is the nearly magic answer...Just trust me, and go buy it.

  Full review

• Nord1jus

  The book is beautifully shot by Jonathan Lovekin (who also does Nigel Slater's books) and Yotam has added many new recipes as well as revising all the Guardian ones.

  Full review