Yotam Ottolenghi Quotes
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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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I have yet to meet a carnivore who doesn't love a sausage roll.
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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.
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One of the troubles with food is that people take themselves too seriously. This is why I'm very happy for people to change my recipes, alter them, replace one ingredient for another.
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A lemon, boiled whole and blitzed, makes a useful base for all sorts of dressings.
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A well-made salad must have a certain uniformity; it should make perfect sense for those ingredients to share a bowl.
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When it comes to cooking pasta, the first essential is to make sure you have a big enough pot: it needs room to roll in the water while cooking.
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Sea spaghetti looks like dark fettuccine and has a similar texture - you can get it in health food stores or online.
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Small okra pods have a much more attractive texture than large ones, which, when cooked, can be gloopy, stringy and totally spoil a dish.
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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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Barberries, or zereshk, are tiny dried red fruit with a tremendously sharp flavour. They come from Iran, where they're used to add freshness to rice and chicken dishes.
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Apart from its famous healing properties, manuka has a strong, woody flavour.
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Seasonality in winter doesn't have to mean sleep-inducing, stew-like, starchy casseroles.
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Too many books are full of recipes that aren't doable at home. They are purely aspirational. They are quite frightening, even for me.
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I love my garlic press; in fact, it is probably my one true desert island gadget. But I'm happy to put it aside whenever the smell and sweet taste of slow-cooked garlic is called for.
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Having grown up in the Middle East, eating beans for breakfast always seemed like a bizarre British eccentricity.
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A great fig should look like it's just about to burst its skin. When squeezed lightly it should give a little and not spring back. It must be almost unctuously sweet, soft and wet.
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Plums are a good substitute for gooseberries.
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The natural sweetness of leeks, with their soft, oniony aroma, makes them the perfect winter comfort food.
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Sweet potatoes are ideal for lazy days: just bake, then mash and mix with yogurt, butter or olive oil.
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I have been cooking with preserved lemon for years, using it left, right and centre, but I am still far from reaching my limit.
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I have a terrible tendency to lick my fingers when I cook. So much so that I got a telling off from my pastry teacher years ago, who said it would hinder my prospects.
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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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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.