Yotam Ottolenghi Quotes
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I like to add something unusual to a dish.
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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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Beetroot is a great salad ingredient, especially when still warm; the colour ain't bad, either.
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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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Stereotypical vegetarian food looks gray and brown.
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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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What makes maftoul worth celebrating is that it's so easy and forgiving to cook.
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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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Salbitxada is a sharp and lightly sweet Catalan sauce that's traditionally served with calcots - spring or salad onions, grilled whole, make a good substitute.
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Custard is controversial: what makes it a custard, how best to cook it and, crucially, is it to be eaten or put in a pie and thrown?
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Most of my recipes start life in the domestic kitchen, and even those that start out in the restaurant kitchen have to go through the domestic kitchen.
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Yogurt sauce, as you may have noticed by now, is a regular presence in my recipes - that's because it has the ability to round up so many flavours and textures like no other component does.
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Souffles don't deserve their reputation as potential disasters.
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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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Halva works brilliantly in ice-cream.
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For my money, celery hasn't got a mean bit of fibre in its body, and we all need to start being much nicer to it.
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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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Dad likes my food, but he probably thinks it's too busy. He is a wonderful cook but only uses three ingredients. My mum rips out my articles and makes my recipes.
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Kirmizi biber has a sweet aroma and can vary in spiciness.
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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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There is a unique freshness when eating buckwheat noodles cold with plenty of herbs and citrus acidity. I can't think of any better use of chopsticks on a hot and sweaty evening.
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Swiss chard is undervalued in Britain. It's a great substitute for spinach and keeps its shape well.
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Chickpeas are one of my favourite things to serve with chorizo or lamb meatballs; they also work brilliantly as the quiet partner in a vibrant alphonso mango salad.
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Vegetarian and frugal it may be, but the chickpea is one of the most versatile ingredients you could keep in your cupboards.