Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love

Product Information

What’s it about? OTK: Shelf Love is a recipe book that will teach you to fall in love with cooking intuitively from your cupboards and pantry, fridge and freezer. By cleverly using your kitchen finds, you’ll put a flavoursome, Ottolenghi-level dinner on the table any day of the week. Make the topping: heat the oil in a small frying pan on a medium-high heat, add the sliced garlic and the pine nuts, and cook for 60–90 seconds or until lightly golden. Add the spices and a tiny pinch of salt, and remove from the heat immediately. Set aside. With ‘Make it your own’ suggestions and swap-outs, and space to jot down your own notes, this cookbook is all about embracing rule breaking and putting your own stamp on every dish. Time and fuss-saving tips, simplified ingredient lists, and cravings-inducing photography ensure you’ll never be short of inspiration again.

Set aside 100g of the beans in a medium bowl. Put the remaining beans, 600ml of water and one teaspoon of salt into a medium saucepan on a medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes, or until the beans are nicely softened and warmed through. Keep warm on a low heat until ready to serve. Whether they're conjuring up new recipes or cooking for themselves at home, the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen team do what we all do: they raid their kitchens. But then, they turn whatever they find into approachable creations with an 'Ottolenghi' twist. To make the crispy onions, finely slice a couple of onions into thin rounds, toss with two tablespoons of cornflour, then fry in hot vegetable oil in about three batches, for four minutes per batch, or until golden. This warming spiced rice is a definite show-stopper, the kind of meal you would make for a special occasion. We toyed over including this recipe in the book, laborious as it is, but rice deserves to be prized and treasured – taking centre stage at many a family table – so make this one as a weekend project, a feast of feasts, a real cause for celebration. Yes, it takes time, but it is oh so worth it. Drizzle one-third of the lemon-maple butter over the pudding and serve warm with the extra maple butter and creme fraiche alongside.No one -- except for myself -- seems to like Brussels sprouts in my house but when I serve the Brussels Sprout and Parmesan Salad w/ Lemon Dressing no one complains! This recipe has the home cook prepare the Brussels sprouts in two ways: raw and roasted. The raw sprouts get thinly shaved, while the others are roasted whole until well-browned. Then the Brussels sprouts are mixed with thinly sliced kale leaves, sliced red onion, basil leaves, and toasted hazelnuts. It's the dressing, made from lemon juice, garlic, mustard, and Parmesan cheese that really makes the salad (my mouth waters at the thought of it!). If you’re thinking about buying the book (which is why you’re likely reading this review), you should know a few things: I will caveat my review by saying that I am a fan of Ottolenghi and had a number of his other cookbooks, which I love to read as much as cook from. the book is a small, flexibound format
2. don’t worry, there is still at least one (but usually several) photo of every recipe
3. the book will not fit in with your other Ottolenghi books
4. because it’s not meant to.

ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: Boston Globe, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Epicurious, Serious Eats What I thought: I was having some friends round for dinner, and had planned – in conjunction with my housemates! – to cook just one or two recipes from the book. As the process unfurled, however, we added more and more dishes into the mix, unable to resist the enduring temptation of an Ottolenghi veggie feast. With both grilling and roasting, there is a lot of heat involved. My top tip for you is not to make this on a boiling hot day, like I did, unless you enjoy sweltering over the stove. That minor gripe is the worst thing I can say about the whole experience though; the process was pretty simple and the end result irrefutably delicious. The blitzed, char-grilled vegetables were faintly reminiscent of romesco and made an unexpectedly creamy pasta sauce that felt hearty enough for autumn, yet light enough for an unseasonably hot day. The roasted aubergine added some nice texture, and the tahini dressing, with lemon juice and garlic, added some zing and set the whole thing off nicely. Needless to say, I will definitely make this one again. Make the chilli oil by putting the oil and chilli flakes into a small frying pan and placing it on a medium heat. Cook for four minutes, then add the paprika and remove from the heat. Set aside.

If you want to get ahead, make the day before and keep refrigerated, loosening it with a splash of water to serve, if needed. Yotam Ottolenghi is the restaurateur and chef-patron of the four London-based Ottolenghi delis, as well as the NOPI and ROVI restaurants. He is the author of eight bestselling and multi-award-winning cookery books. Yotam has been a weekly columnist for the Saturday Guardian for over thirteen years and is a regular contributor to the New York Times. His championing of vegetables, as well as ingredients once seen as 'exotic', has led to what some call 'The Ottolenghi effect'. This is shorthand for the creation of a meal which is full of colour, flavour, bounty and sunshine. Yotam lives in London with his family. www.ottolenghi.co.uk @Ottolenghi Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Toss the pitta with the za’atar, two tablespoons of oil, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper, and spread out on a medium baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for 12 minutes, tossing halfway, or until golden and crisp. Set aside to cool. Put the potatoes into a medium saucepan for which you have a lid, and pour over enough water to cover by about 4cm. Season with two teaspoons of salt and bring to a simmer on a medium-high heat. Turn the heat to medium, cover and cook for 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. Drain and, when cool enough to handle, peel and discard the skins, and roughly crush the flesh in a large bowl to give you a lumpy mash.