Fun
Yotam Ottolenghi’s Fresh, Beautiful Food
Dear Kay,
Here’s a quick interview from The New Yorker Radio Hour.
Jane Kramer talks with Yotam Ottolenghi, the Israel-born chef whose love of fresh food and complex, Middle Eastern flavors is fascinating whether or not I have a jar of preserved lemon in the house.
His cookbooks are among the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Wow.
Ottolenghi: The Cookbook
Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes with London’s Ottolenghi
Jerusalem: A Cookbook
Sweet: Desserts from London’s Ottolenghi
I’m especially intrigued by his forthcoming book, Simple (preorder now for delivery in October), where he admits that his long lists of ingredients may be hard for some home cooks (like me!). Simplified Ottolenghi may just be the ticket.
To cool and amuse you this weekend, here’s Ottolenghi’s recipe for Watermelon and Feta Salad with Marinated Olives and Preserved Lemon. Thing that makes me happy: basil and mint leaves sprinkled on top.
And—incredible—I have a jar of preserved lemon in the house, sold to me by Trader Joe’s irresistible Fearless Flyer. I’ve been waiting for a destiny for those little lemons.
Love,
Ann
Was just going to say “Trader Joe’s has them!”, when you beat me to it. This food sounds great.
Although, the vinegary taste of those lemons doesn’t compare with homemade using the alt recipe of: slicing small wedges, kosher salt-sprinkled and left overnight in a pan, then packing away very tightly into jars with resulting juice and topping off with good olive oil. Wait a week. Tip: delete pits to avoid bitterness, and use organic lemons with thinner skins.
Delightful! And worth it for the gefilte/grandma line alone.
Ditto!
An alt on the alt? Scrub lemons, cut not all the way through into quarters, lengthwise, dump a tbs of Kosher salt into the center, jam into an appropriate size very clean jar. When as many are jammed in fill with more lemon juice to cover. This takes a lot of lemons. Knowing someone with a tree, and too many lemons, is really handy.
Cover loosely, keep in a cool place for a couple days. A little fermentation will happen but obvious mold means throw it all out, materials were not clean enough or salty enough or sufficiently acidic. Refrigeration with the lid on the jar follows. No oil, you do not want anything anaerobic going on. Keeps forever and the peels become clear and soft. Delicious in a myriad of goodies.
He always acknowledges his collaborators, Sami Tamimi and Helen Goh, but the ads for his books give all the attention to him. Jane Kramer mentions Helen goh. But the ads should do likewise.
What a wonderful interview, and wonderful information! Thank you so much, Ann, for bringing this to us. I had never heard of Yotam, or of preserved lemon. If you make that watermelon and feta cheese salad let us know how it comes out. I already like the combination of watermelon and cottage cheese. This recipe sounds so much more exotic. Bon appetit!
SUPER GOOD, LET ME TELL YOU! I’ve had it without the olives, and with chopped up fresh mint leaves. Perfect summer salad.
His Jerusalem cookbook is really good – I’ve made a chicken kebab-type recipe from it and the spice rub was next level good (but not as good as the accompanying tahini sauce recipe)……
Deb Perelman over at Smitten Kitchen has simplified some Ottolenghi recipes to tide you over until October. I particularly like the pasta and eggplant thingy. (Probably not the technical title. Search for Ottolenghi at http://www.smittenkitchen.com.)
I’ve been a big fan of Ottolenghi’s for a few years already. I keep returning to certain recipes over and over again, such as Chicken with caramelised onion and cardamom rice from “Jerusalem”.
And if you’re a very adventurous cook, “Nopi”, of the same name as his restaurant near Piccadilly, is a real but oh so delicious challenge, with recipes such as Twice-cooked chicken baby with chili sauce and kaffir lime leaf salt. Even better, taste it at Nopi when you’re next in London, barely 5 minutes south of Liberty’s on foot. But make sure you book in advance!
I meant, of course, baby chicken and not chicken baby. Ottolenghi may be a meat eater but he doesn’t, as far as I know, do recipes in human babies!
I’ve been to the Ottolenghi Islington a few times and everything is DELICIOUS. Well worth popping in if you’re in the area. The most interesting thing is how room temperature things like salads are, and how much better they taste for not going in the fridge. The recipe books are a super accurate representation of his style.