Yotam Ottolenghi Quotes
-
Yoghurt cuts sweetness and richness, tempers spice, and makes a dish sing.
-
Jerusalem artichokes have a great affinity with nuts. I love them with chopped walnuts or almonds, lemon juice, garlic, herbs and plenty of olive oil.
-
Chermoula is a potent North African spice paste that is ideal for smearing on your favourite vegetables for roasting.
-
A well-made salad must have a certain uniformity; it should make perfect sense for those ingredients to share a bowl.
-
As with lemon juice, the more sorrel you use, the more it has to be balanced with something sweet, starchy or creamy - it's a yin-yang approach to cooking that I find rather calming.
-
Brunch, for me, is an extended breakfast that should be enjoyed whenever you have time properly to engage in cooking and eating.
-
I have yet to meet a carnivore who doesn't love a sausage roll.
-
You don't need a machine to make pasta: a rolling pin and a fast hand can create a smooth, if thick, sheet.
-
The difference between brown and white rice is that the former is not milled. With the outer bran and germ intact, the rice is therefore chewier and nuttier.
-
I used to have a very unmediated experience of food but, because of the recipe testing, I've lost that now. I can't switch it off even when I'm on holiday.
-
How can something that's 95% water be so divisive? Alone among vegetables, the poor, innocent stick of celery elicits the most vicious attacks.
-
Going out for a meal, especially for young urbanites, is less about socialising over enjoyable food than about enjoying food as a way to socialise.
-
The smells of slow cooking spread around the house and impart a unique warmth matched only by the flavour of the food.
-
Fresh egg pasta is traditionally served in the north of Italy with butter, cream and rich meat sauces, whereas dried pasta is more at home with the tomato- and olive oil-based ones of the south.
-
Food was always important in my family, but I didn't think of it as a vocation until a later point in life.
-
I like to add something unusual to a dish.
-
If the British Isles had an official vegetable, it would have to be the potato.
-
Some days, just occasionally, when I've had just one too many chickpeas, drizzles of olive oil or chunks of feta, I crave a return to the sushi-filled joints of Tokyo.
-
Amaranth, the world's most nutritious grain, is available from health food stores.
-
Small okra pods have a much more attractive texture than large ones, which, when cooked, can be gloopy, stringy and totally spoil a dish.
-
Stuffed vine leaves tend to burn and/or stick when you cook them. To avoid this, use a heavy based pan lined with a few layers of second-rate leaves.
-
It's well worth making your own harissa, but there are some very good commercial varieties.
-
A lemon, boiled whole and blitzed, makes a useful base for all sorts of dressings.
-
When I cook a meal, I like to serve things one by one and keep them separate. I get that from my father - he's such a purist. Some people even put their desserts on the main plate. It's just wrong.