Ottolenghi
I don’t normally write about restaurants here, but since one of my favorite restaurants recently released a cookbook, I decided it’s time to give them a mention. I discovered Ottolenghi a few years ago when I spent one wonderful summer in London. Ottolenghi makes the kind of food I want to eat every day – overflowing platters of the freshest local vegetables (and some meats) with assertive and interesting flavors that hint at the Arab and Israeli roots of the two owners, but suggest so much more through their innovative use.
The restaurant is, quite simply, gorgeous. The bright, natural light and simple design are the perfect staging ground for the bold, colorful platters of food on display along one wall. The tables are largely communal. You pay by the number of dishes you’d like to try-choosing from whatever is on display. The restaurant is also know for fabulous desserts, which hold court in the front window, enticing passersby with huge, pillowy meringues, dark chocolate brownies and a wide selection of tea cakes. We only discovered Ottolenghi towards the end of our time in England, (and it would have been beyond our budget to go more than once), but boy am I glad we went.
What I am even happier about is that in 2008, founders Sami Tamimi and Yotam Ottonlenghi published a cookbook. Now I can eat Ottolenghi food whenever I want! If there has ever been a cookbook that I’ve thought of just cooking my way through, from page 1 on, it’s this one. This cookbook makes me want to start eating more meat, just so I can taste all the carnivorous recipes. It makes me wish I had a lemon tree, so I could use this favorite ingredient of theirs at its peak. It makes me wish I had a huge family to share the dishes with-an excuse to make several all on one night. But since I don’t eat much meat, and lemon’s don’t grow too well in Boston, and my friends and family are rather dispersed, I’ll have to just recommend the book, and a few recipes to all of you out there. One tip if you’re going to get this cookbook–have a scale on hand. All the measurements are metric (it being published in Europe) and it’s far easier to just weigh out the ingredients as they suggest rather than converting everything to silly cups. And find a store nearby that sells Middle Eastern products. If you can’t make the dishes that call for pomegranate molasses, you’re missing out.
I’ll start by including one that I made this week to give away as holiday treats to friends. This recipe is emblematic of what I love about the Ottolenghi style–the innovative use of Middle Eastern ingredients–cardamom and pistachio, in this case–to make a delicate, simple and delicious bite. Enjoy!
Pistachio Shortbread
- 8 cardamom pods
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 25 g ground rice
- 240 g all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 35 g powdered sugar
- 60 g shelled pistachios
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
Remove cardamom seeds from pods and grind in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. With an electric mixer, combine the rice, flour, cardamom, salt. powdered sugar and butter until they form a paste. Don’t overmix. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a log about 1.5 in. wide. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Finely chop the pistachios. When the dough is chilled, remove from the plastic and brush with the beaten egg. Roll the dough in the pistachios, wrap back in plastic and chill for another 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 300. Remove the dough and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Place dough on a parchment lined baking sheet at least 1 inch apart. Sprinkle with the granulated sugar and bake about 20 minutes. They should just start to turn golden but not be too dark. Remove from oven and cool on a rack. They’ll keep in a sealed container up to a week.
