SimpleThe Life
Yotam Ottolenghi’s latest book, Simple, brightens weeknight meals with his signature bold flavours
What do people want in a simple recipe? For some, it’s a list of fewer than10 ingredients or a meal put together with basic pantry items. Others want a recipe that can be put on the table in less than 30 minutes or a meal they can simmer slowly while they tackle other tasks.
That’s what famed British-Israeli chef and recipe columnist Yotam Ottolenghi found while putting together his seventh cookbook, Simple ($42, Appetite by Random House), which was released last month in North America. Longtime devotees of Ottolenghi’s cooking praise his use of bold flavours and Middle Eastern and Mediterranean influences (he loves pomegranate molasses as much as Rachael Ray loves EVOO), but even fans joke
that his recipes can be complex and use ingredients that require a search team to locate. For example, in his dessert book, Sweet, I made candied rose petals to garnish a cake.
“I thought it was time for people who didn’t only want to cook Ottolenghi food on a weekend or for a special occasion to have the opportunity to make my food,” says the Jerusalem-born chef who was in the Star’s test kitchen to make a tofu and green bean dish from Simple. “What I’m trying to promote through this book is that there isn’t one way of cooking simply.”
Throughout the book he, and collaborators Tara Wigley and Esme Howarth, indicated the type of ease for each of the 130 recipes with the SIMPLE acronym. “S” means “short on time”: rice and pastas, meats that just need a quick sear or a raw vegetable dish that can be put together in under 30 minutes. The “I” symbol means 10 ingredients or less. “M” is make-ahead. “P” means made with pantry staples such as olive oil, eggs, onions, canned beans and tuna. “L” stands for lazy, the set-it-and-forget-it stews, one-pan meals or overnight marinades. “E” is “easier than you think,” dishes that sound complicated but are easy to assemble, such as a trout tartare with browned butter and pistachios.
The idea for the book started a couple of years ago when the Guardian (home of Ottolenghi’s recipe column) asked him to do a supplement of easy recipes. “I wasn’t going to take any existing recipes and try to modify them because you get quite attached to them,” he says. “I’d rather start fresh and work with things that I like to do at home, little shortcuts or tricks that I didn’t think were worthy of publication. I have two little kids so I make a lot of pastas. One of them has chickpeas and zaatar, which they love.”
Other recipes in the book include baked potatoes stuffed with tonnato, an Italian condiment of anchovies, canned tuna and mayonnaise, then topped with a fried egg; a hot and cold dish of blistered tomatoes spooned over yogurt with lemon zest; soba noodles with avocado, lime and cardamom with a poached egg; and lamb and feta meatballs spiced with cinnamon and herbs and finished with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses.
Even though the recipes are meant to be simple, Ottolenghi isn’t holding back on the heavy use of spices, acids and juxtaposition of textures that make his recipes a refreshing sight for home cooks who may be tired of grain bowls and steamed vegetables. Like his other six books that introduce readers to less mainstream ingredients, in Simple he suggests stocking your pantry with what he calls “Ottolenghi ingredients”: 10 flavour-boosters such as black garlic, ground cardamom, tahini, sumac, zaatar and preserved lemons that do the heavy lifting, giving simply cooked dishes a richer flavour. Within the GTA, head to Middle Eastern and Mediterranean grocers such as Arz and Adonis in Scarborough to source these ingredients.
“We limited the special ingredients to 10 so that you’re going to use them more than once in the book,” he says. “Some ingredients are naturally complex so if you throw something like preserved lemons in a stew or salad, all that natural fermentation with the salt and lemon really brings up a lot of layers of flavours, so you save yourself time from making those your- self.”
Tofu and Haricots Verts with Chraimeh Sauce
Star Tested
This hearty dish, which also happens to be vegan, is perfect for easy entertaining and exemplifies the book’s goal of creating easy recipes without sacrificing the bold flavour combinations that Ottolenghi’s cooking is known for. Chraimeh is a spicy tomato-based sauce from North Africa and lifts any dish with its combination of zesty lime, hot paprika and warm caraway. In the book he writes that the sauce can be doubled or tripled, and be made ahead of time and refrigerated for a week or up to a month in the freezer to cut down on prep time for future meals. The sauce also works well with chicken, fish, as well as a dip for bread. 1 tbsp (15 mL) caraway seeds
1 lb (450 g) green beans, washed and trimmed
1/4 cup (60 mL) vegetable, canola or sunflower oil
14 oz (400 g) firm tofu, cut into small bite-sized cubes and patted dry 1
tsp (5 mL) kosher salt, plus more to taste
6 finely minced and crushed garlic cloves
2 tsp (10 mL) each hot paprika and ground cumin
1/2 t sp ( 2 mL) ground cinnamon
3 tbsp (15 mL) tomato paste 2 tsp (10 mL) granulated sugar
1 tbsp (15 mL) lime juice
1cup plus1 tbsp (265 mL) water
3/4 cup (180 mL) cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
1 lime, cut into four wedges, for serving In a small skillet over mediumlow heat, toast caraway seeds until fragrant and lightly toasted, careful not to burn, about 1 minute. Transfer to a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder and lightly crush but do not pulverize. Set aside.
In a medium-sized saucepan over high heat, bring water to a rapid boil. Boil beans for 5 minutes, or until tender, but not soft. Drain and rinse beans thoroughly with cold running water. Set aside.
In a large skillet over mediumhigh heat, heat1tbsp (15 mL) oil. Add tofu and 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt. Fry until tofu is golden-brown and slightly crispy, about 5 minutes. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Remove tofu from pan and set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together crushed caraway seeds, garlic, paprika, cumin, cinnamon and 3 tbsp (45 mL) oil.
Heat large skillet on mediumhigh heat. Add garlic and spice mixture. Fry for 1 minute. Add tomato paste, sugar, lime juice and 3/4 tsp (3 mL) salt. Stir to combine. Add water to make a thin sauce. Bring to a simmer and stir frequently until it begins to slightly thicken.
Add green beans to pan. Toss for a minute, allowing sauce to further thicken and coat beans. Transfer beans and sauce to a serving platter. Toss in tofu and cilantro. Serve immediately with lime wedges and steamed rice.
Makes 4 servings.