Yotam Ottolenghi Quotes
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A lemon, boiled whole and blitzed, makes a useful base for all sorts of dressings.
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Many people struggle to make hummus that lives up to their expectations at home, and recreating a favourite brand or the stuff from your local deli is almost impossible.
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I now understand how varied the world of cultivated rice is; that rice can play the lead or be a sidekick; that brown rice is as valuable as white; and that short-grain rice is the bee's knees.
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If the first bite is with the eye and the second with the nose, some people will never take that third, actual bite if the food in question smells too fishy, fermented or cheesy.
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Rice and vermicelli is a common combination in Arab and Turkish cooking - it has a lighter texture than rice on its own.
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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.
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I'm a firm believer that the world should be your oyster when you're cooking. People should open themselves to other cuisines - there are a lot of hidden secrets all over the world.
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I enjoy meat, but I can do without it.
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Apart from its famous healing properties, manuka has a strong, woody flavour.
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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.
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Date syrup is a natural sweetener that has wonderful richness and treacly depth; I drizzle it over semolina porridge.
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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.
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Take your average couscous salad, and it's almost always a sloppy mush, no matter how much attention has gone into getting flavours in there.
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Taleggio is the perfect cheese to melt over a warm dish.
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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.
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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.
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Turkish cuisine is, to my mind, one of the most exciting and accomplished in the world.
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The moment to tell my barber I was gay just never came up.
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On many occasions, an informal buffet and casual seating offer a little more intimacy than a loud gathering around a big table.
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It's hard to beat the rough texture of steel-cut oats, with their slight resistance against the teeth.
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If the British Isles had an official vegetable, it would have to be the potato.
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For me, the end of childhood came when the number of candles on my birthday cake no longer reflected my age, around 19 or 20. From then on, each candle came to represent an entire decade.
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Almost every culture has its own variation on chicken soup, and rightly so - it's one of the most gratifying dishes on the face of the Earth.
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These days, meals are more open to personal preferences. People like to serve themselves.