Ottolenghi: The Cookbook (Hardcover)

by Yotam Ottolenghi (Author), Sami Tamimi (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Brand-new, cutting-edge cookbook from one of the UK's most popular and stylish deli-restaurants

About the Author
Yotam Ottolenghi's path to the world of cooking and baking has been anything but straightforward. Having completed a Masters degree in philosophy and literature whilst working on the news desk of an Israeli daily, he made a radical shift on coming to London in 1997. He started as an assistant pastry chef at the Capital and then worked at Kensington Place and Launceston Place, where he ran the pastry section. Yotam subsequently worked for Maison Blanc and then Baker and Spice, before starting his own eponymous group of restaurants/food shops, with branches in Notting Hill, Islington and Kensington.

Sami Tamimi’s intimate engagement with food started at a tender age, whilst watching his mother prepare Palestinian delicacies at their home within the walls of Arab East Jerusalem. His first job was as a commis chef at the Mount Zion hotel in the city. He thereafter investigated some of his culinary passions, including the food of Yemen, Morocco, Egypt, Persia and even the Eastern European Jewish communities. In 1997 he moved from Tel Aviv to London to work at Baker and Spice, creating a unique traiteur section with the strong identifiable flavours of the Middle East. In 2002 he teamed up with Yotam to open Ottolenghi.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ebury Press (December 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0091922348
• ISBN-13: 978-0091922344
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 7.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,808 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, December 29, 2008

By	emily - See all my reviews

Great book with original recipes. Lots of tasty salad-type dishes, just like their shops in London. Amazon never seems to have it in stock. Tip: order it from Amazon.uk; it's roughly the same price.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great recipes, could have been more user friendly., February 16, 2009

By	pripen "pri3" (Portland,OR USA) - See all my reviews

I am a fan of Ottolenghi recipes. I follow their Guardian column 'The New Vegetarian'. I find their recipes fresh, modern, bright and fun. So far I have tried couple of eggplant recipes, pistachio cookies and baked okra. All came out great. Their recipes in Guardian-online are fun as well.
Having said that, I wish they had serving suggestions in this book for recipes. It would also help to have some sample menus, specially for someone new to Mediterranean cooking.
I live in US and as such the book is cumbersome to use because of metric system used throughout. I don't mind that much, but it would have been nice to include a conversion table somewhere. Hopefully, there will be a US edition soon, but I could not wait for it to come out.
The book is beautifully laid out and the pictures are very tempting.
Overall, I like the book a lot.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Modern English with a big touch of Middle East, February 22, 2009

By	ML (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This books starts with the Modern English cuisine and adds a Middle Eastern touch. This works very well and the recipes produce very tasty food. The end result is far removed from any traditional English cooking, except for the cakes and puddings, which for some reason are quite traditional.

Somewhat similar (but without the Middle Eastern touch) is Skye Gyngell's books.