Book description
Ottolenghi is one of the most iconic and dynamic restaurants in the
country. Its unique blend of exquisite, fresh food, abundantly
presented in a cutting-edge, elegant environment, has imaginatively
redefined people's dining expectations. For the first time, Yotam
Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi are publishing here their superb sweet and
savoury recipes.
Yotam and Sami's inventive yet simple dishes are inspired by their
respective childhoods in West and East Jerusalem but rest on numerous
other culinary traditions, ranging from North Africa to Lebanon, Italy
and California. The 140 original recipes cover everything from
accomplished meat and fish main courses, through to many healthy and
quick salads and suppers, plus Ottolenghi's famous and delectable
cakes and breads.
Ottolenghi: The Cookbook captures the zeitgeist for honest,
healthy, bold cooking presented with flair, style and substance. This
painstakingly designed, lavishly photographed recipe book offers the
timeless qualities of a cookery classic.
Yotam Ottolenghi's path to the world of cooking and baking has
been anything but straightforward. Having completed a Masters degree
in philosophy and literature whilst working on the news desk of an
Israeli daily, he made a radical shift on coming to London in 1997. He
started as an assistant pastry chef at the Capital and then worked at
Kensington Place and Launceston Place, where he ran the pastry
section. Yotam subsequently worked for Maison Blanc and then Baker and
Spice, before starting his own eponymous group of restaurants/food
shops, with branches in Notting Hill, Belgravia, Islington and
Kensington. He opened the restaurant NOPI in Piccadilly in 2011.
Sami Tamimi's intimate engagement with food started at a tender age,
whilst watching his mother prepare Palestinian delicacies at their
home within the walls of Arab East Jerusalem. His first job was as a
commis chef at the Mount Zion hotel in the city. He thereafter
investigated some of his culinary passions, including the food of
Yemen, Morocco, Egypt, Persia and even the Eastern European Jewish
communities. In 1997 he moved from Tel Aviv to London to work at Baker
and Spice, creating a unique traiteur section with the strong
identifiable flavours of the Middle East. In 2002 he teamed up with
Yotam to open Ottolenghi.
