Ottolenghi FLAVOUR

This is an inspiring book, not only from a methods perspective but combinations of ingredients and why didn’t I think of that moments, aubergine dumpling parmigiana, such a great idea, I’m doing that today with regular meatballs too....dumpling roulette! Swede I tend to mash and roast only but now will definitely be making the steak and gnocchi. I’m growing celeriac and now have 3 new recipes that I can’t wait to make! Spookily I had purchased mushroom growing kits earlier this week before the book came out, so glad I did! Lots of new recipes for mushrooms, baked ragu looks amazing. I am also a massive onion fan and to have new recipes I have not tried (and I have tried a lot) is great.I really like how this book is organised as quite often you find yourself fancying something smokey or charred or acidic or sweet, to have the recipes organised this way really helps.I really liked that at the end of the book there is a guide to which recipes can be done quickly, for a dinner party, in one pan etc so you can go straight to something you need and the flavour bomb guide to take you back to some of the dressings and sauces quickly, there are several dressings from previous books that we do all the time....so to have the quick reference is really helpful.I will come back when I have tried more of the recipes, the problem I am having is which to do next, so many I like the look of!So I have tried the aubergine parmiagana, and the comment was “the best tomato sauce ever” and I have cooked a lot of tomato sauces! The ingredients were roughly the same as other sauces I have tried, the method wasn’t, so must have made the difference. I have now also used this same tomato sauce recipe for pizza topping and a pasta salad, by stopping after first stage of the tomato sauce...3 for 1 recipe, inspired by the method, it works really well.Spicy potatoes with the tahini dressing were a big hit, and I used the dressing again with the cucumber salad. I chucked in an avocado as there was one in the fridge which was not in the recipe, but it went well, I might throw in some microherbs next time too.The roasted cauliflower in chilli butter was delicious, the method of roasting the cauliflower worked better than other recipes I have tried. I like the suggestion of roasting a chicken with this butter too, that is next on the to do list.

Packed full with very interesting and delicious recipes - using lots of fresh herbs.

I was really looking forward to getting this book and I have not been disappointed. I like that it uses a lot of the same ingredients in the recipes. Please do not be put off by the ingredient lists, they create delicious recipes! It even inspired me to try cooking with tofu for the first time.So far I have cooked are Hasselback beetroot with lime leaf butter, Curried carrot mash with brown butter, Asparagus and gochujang pancakes, Sweet potato in tomato, lime and cardamom sauce, Fusion caponata with silken tofu, Giant couscous and pumpkin in tomato and star anise sauce, Miso butter onions, Romano pepper schnitzels, Aubergine dumplings alla Parmigiana, Noor's black lime tofu, Cabbage with ginger cream and numbing oil, Super-soft courgettes with harissa and lemon, Cauliflower roasted in chilli butter.The cauliflower, Miso butter onions, and the caponata dishes are my favourites so far and we have cooked them several times. If you are not a fan of tofu, the caponata is really nice alongside steak, prawns or even as they suggest with a cheese toast or on cheese on toast. The numbing oil is a regular staple in our fridge to drizzle top of various foods.

We resolved to cook every recipe in Flavour during 2024. We are up to five of the ninety-nine recipes. Most also have an accompanying recipe for salad or a side dish. My wife and I often cook together and we enjoy our time in the kitchen.Ottolenghi doesn’t even offer a suggestion for how long the recipes will take to prepare. All have taken between one and three hours, so far. And then there are the dishes.Pictured is “Bkeila, potato and butter bean stew.” It took two cutting boards, a Dutch oven, a sauce pot, a frying pan, and a soaking vessel to prepare. I realize Ottolenghi has an army of sub and sous chiefs, and doesn’t have to worry about dishes, but we do and there are lots of them.By the time we plate the food, we tend to be a bit tired and maybe a bit grumpy, but WOW! The tastes and how the foods titillate all your senses makes it worth while.I recommend this cook book, but with the caveat — so far this book is the slowest, most tedious food I have ever cooked.

Love all Ottolenghi's books and this is my new favourite

Fabulous recipe book.

When I ordered this I'd noticed a lot of reviews expressing disappointment at the recipes for being either too complicated or too 'side-dishy' or just not appealing....and was curious. This is the first Ottolenghi book I've bought and it is wonderful. I've made the portobello mushrooms, which are out of this world, several of the festive dishes....everything so far has been incredible, and of what I haven't tried yet, half or more are on my to-try list. So I am baffled by what seemed to be widespread disappointment though obviously everyone's tastes are different. I think of this book as more of a special occasions/weekend book - the kind of delicious that you definitely want in your life but maybe isn't health enough for every day - I combine it with some simpler staples from Dan Beutner's Blue Zones Kitchen (I have a few issues with that book but that's another story).

JUST WHAT SHE WANTED

La cocina de Y Ottolenghi es fabulosa. Dus recetas son exactas. Es un autor muy honesto

Ich liebe Ottolengi und habe bereits Simple, Jerusalem und co. - also für alle diesig gern vegetarisch Essen ist das Buch sehr zu empfehlen. Habe jetzt schon ca. 7 Gerichte ausprobiert und bin sehr zufrieden. Kein Schnickschnack…Rezepte sind gut auf den Punkt gebracht!

Very interesting recipes.

ottime ricette per quei vegetariani in famiglia

For fans of Plenty and Plenty More, embrace Flavor, a book that Ottolenghi describes as Plenty Three.EDIT: I'm adding the following comment on cooking times a day after I posted my initial review. A reviewer below mentioned that in the whole book there are only 5 recipes that can be produced in under 30 mins. I disagree.Just in the first 12 recipes alone, there are 6 recipes that have a cooking time of 30 mins or less, and the prep for all of those recipes is speedy, with some ingredients being prepped during the cooking time. Yes, there are recipes that have multiple steps, and long cooking times, but this is not advertised as a recipe book specifically for those who need to get dinner on the table in 30 mins. There are plenty of other books out there that offer that. However, a quick scan shows a number of recipes that do meet that bill. For example, Noors Black Lime Tofu. The tofu is tossed in cornstarch and fried for 6 mins, while the tofu is frying throw the onions and garlic in a food processer. Fry that for 10 mins. Add the spices etc and cook for another minute. Add water, simmer for 6 mins. Add the tofu to the sauce and toss in the spinach, serve straight from the pan and dinner is done. The One Pan Orecchiette Puttanesca cooking time is just 14 mins if you boil the pasta while the sauce is reducing, then stir together.. Some of the more labor intensive recipes you might like to save for the weekend but there are weeknight healthy and delicious sounding recipes in this book.Flavor contains 100 recipes, which are almost all vegetarian sometimes vegan (45 recipes) that occasionally dabbles with fish sauce and parmesan, eggs and dairy. Yotam offers substitutions for various ingredients where possible such as light soy sauce for fish sauce.At the start of the book, Yotam lists the 20 ingredients that he considers essential to this book. He is not suggesting that you rush out and purchase them all right away (if you don’t already have them, you will likely want to stock most of them anyway, after trying these recipes) He describes these ingredients are being the essence of the book. These ingredients have been used to enhance, draw out and accentuate, they are umami rich, many of them are aged, and all have complex layers of flavor.These 20 ingredients are: Aleppo Chile (Gochugaru Korean hot pepper flakes are suggested as a substitute) Ancho chile, Anchovies packed in olive oil, black garlic, Persian dried black lime (he suggests that regular lime could be used, but to me, Persian lime has a scented, earthy tang that really is a different thing entirely from fresh lime) Cascabel Chiles (ancho as a substitute) Dried Whole Chipotle, Fish Sauce, Gochujang paste, Ground cardamom, Hibiscus flowers, jarred butter beans (canned are acceptable but jarred is preferred) Mango Pickle (not chutney) Masa Harina, Miso (preferably white not sweet white) red bell pepper flakes, rice vinegar, rose harissa (regular harissa can be substituted, I would like to add that culinary rose petals can also be crushed and added to harissa, and these can be found at World Market or online) Shaoxing Wine, Tamarind Paste.The book is divided into three main categories. Process, Pairing and Produce.Those categories are further divided intoProcess: Charring, Browning, Infusing, AgingPairing: Sweetness, Fat, Acidity, Chile HeatProduce: Mushrooms, Alliums, Nuts and Seeds, Sugar: Fruit and BoozeFinally we have Flavor Bombs which is a two page spread, showing all of the condiments that are in the book with the corresponding page number (see my photo) Butters, oils, salsas, mayonnaise, sauce, pickles, salts and spiced nuts.Each chapter begins with an essay on that subject which covers the subheadings. I love this, as I read cookbook like novels and here, each method and the equipment used, and a run down of some of the recipes and how they embody the method used, is described in detail with some cute, cartoon-like line drawings.Process for example, has 12 pages describing the processes and benefits to Charring, Browning, Infusing and Aging before we get to the recipes.Here are a selection of four recipes from each chapter (please see the corresponding photo)The Process ChapterCharring: Iceberg Wedges with Smoky Eggplant CreamBrowning: Hasselback Beets with Lime Leaf ButterInfusing: Chilled Avocado Soup with Crunchy Garlic OilAging: The Ultimate Roasting Pan RaguThe Pairing ChapterSweetness: Coconut and Tumeric Omelette FeastFat: Stuffed Eggplant in Curry and Coconut DalAcidity:Noors Black Lime TofuChile Heat:Saffron Tagliatelle with Ricotta and Crispy Chipotle ShallotsThe Produce ChapterMushrooms:Broccoli with Mushroom Ketchup and NoriAlliums:Olive Oil Flatbreads with Three Garlic ButterNuts and Seeds:Tofu Meatball KormaSugar: Fruit and Booze Tapioca Fritters with Orange Syrup and Star AniseI have listed a range of recipes from main courses to side dishes.In the process chapter for example Charring has 7 recipes, Browning has 11 recipes, Infusing has 8 recipes and Aging has 9 recipes. In that chapter every recipe has a corresponding full page sized photo or even a two page photo spread, sometimes multiple photos on a two page spread. Additionally, there are a number of photos of Yotam and Ixta cooking.This brings me to a bit of a gripe. I know that the majority of cooks like a photo of every recipe, and many people find it hard to get enthusiastic about a recipe with no photo, but this seems to be overkill at the expense of the amount of recipes in this book.Plenty had 120 recipes to 288 pagesPlenty More had 150 recipes to 352 pagesFlavor has a mere 100 recipes to 317 pages.Admittedly, the chapter essays take up some of this, but I never thought I would say this about a cookbook, but the photos are overkill. While I enjoy the photos of Yotam and Ixta cooking, these could have been reduced in size to half or even quarter page photos.The two page spreads of a single recipe, for example the Hasselback Beets, could have been reduced in size to a single page to make way for another recipe.Noors Black Lime Tofu has no less than three full pages of photos. A photo of the tofu in the pan with the paste, then a photo of the spinach being added to the pan, then a photo of the spinach being stirred in, then a photo of the spinach almost completely stirred in and almost wilted, and then a photo of the finished dish with spinach wilted satisfactorily.This type of photo series could have been kept for recipes that were a bit more complex, such as the home made Saffron Tagliatelle. That recipe has no photo at all and could really have used a series for people who have never made pasta before. Instead the two page spread has been used for the Saffron Tagliatelle dish with Ricotta and Crispy Chipotle Shallots. And in that instance the photo series shows the already made Tagliatelle on a tray, then it being cooked in water, then it in the pan with the parmesan being added, then its in the pan with the parmesan added now, and then a full sized photo of it in the pan with the crispy shallots on top.There always has to be a gripe, but for me this is a pretty big one. If I was the editor I would have said one photo only per recipe unless a difficult technique really needs to be shown and add more recipes in place of all the rest. The book is pretty, but beyond a photo of each finished dish, the rest of the photos are just eye candy and most of the extra photos of the type I described above, are not what I would consider helpful or even particularly interesting. Personally, I would prefer more recipes.Another area which I think had some room for expansion was the Flavor Bombs page. While it is helpful to show all the condiments etc on one page with the recipe page number listed, and in the intro to each recipe there are some ideas on how else to use one of the Flavor Bombs I think this could have been fleshed out a bit more.For example, if you have leftover Fenugreek Marinade from the Curry Crusted Rutabaga Steaks it is described as keeping for two weeks and can be used as a base for curries or for marinating vegetables or different meats. Perhaps this could have been expanded to say mix with yoghurt and serve with grilled chicken, or to marinate chicken before grilling (I don’t know if that would be good, just riffing here) but if I am going to make double or triple of a condiment I would love a handful of simple ideas sketched out, to start me off on the journey of what else I could do with these Flavor Bombs beyond a line or two on the recipe page. But perhaps that is just nit picking. There are some ideas, I just want more, more, more!Gripes aside, the recipes themselves sound great and I will be cooking through this book, as I have done with all of Ottolenghis other books.Fans of Ottolenghis will want this book, so I am preaching to the converted here but it is always nice to read an extensive review before purchase even if you pretty much know you are going to purchase a book.Newbies, this is a pretty vegetable book with some very interesting recipes. You can't go wrong with this book or Plenty or Plenty More if you want to expand your vegetable repertoire. Or Ottolenghis other books if you also want interesting recipes that include meat and fish.I am happy to have this book and I will post an update when I cook from it (I pre-ordered it and just received it today)If this review was helpful to you, please click the helpful button. It always gives me a huge kick to see that my reviews were helpful to other like minded cooks. You might also be interested in my other cookbook and ingredient reviews and my ideas lists of kitchen tools etcHappy cooking!