Plenty More: Vibrant Vegetable Cooking from London's Ottolenghi Hardcover – October 14, 2014

Fantastic book! I have four of Ottolenghi's books, and I’d have a terrible time picking a favorite. This and Plenty are vegetarian. Jerusalem and Ottolenghi are omnivorous. All are wonderful. He’s absolutely the best with produce.

Pictured below:
1) Pink Grapefruit and Sumac Salad – p20. This is such a crisp and refreshing salad. This was supposed to be an even showier pink and purple dish, but my grocer doesn’t carry purple Belgian endive. Maybe you’ll be luckier. Penzey’s carries sumac if your store doesn’t.
2) Eggplant with Black Garlic – p158. This is my favorite in the book so far. So deliciously earthy and rich. If you haven’t bought black garlic before, the head feels very soft, similar to when you roast it. You want soft, but not defeated feeling.
3) Fava Bean Spread with Roasted Garlic Ricotta – p222. Divine spread! The fava beans take some mindless time to skin, but it’s not difficult at all.
4) Tomato and Roasted Lemon Salad – p54. This is fabulously fragrant! The lemons are blanched and then tossed in olive oil, a little sugar, salt, and chiffonaded sage, and roasted a bit. The pairing of that lemon with tomatoes, pomegranate, onions, and herbs is absolutely magical. I adore this salad.
5) Tomato and Watermelon Gazpacho – p90. Such a refreshing combination! I never would have thought about pairing those, but it makes sense. I always put a pinch of sugar in my marinara to balance the acidity.
6) Carrot and Mung Bean Salad – p169. The beans are flavored with a cumin, caraway, fennel oil, with garlic and vinegar. The carrots are slightly sweetened and caramelized. The sharpness of the feta rounds it out so nicely. Great salad!

Interesting....How people pick up certain new cookbooks, and immediately fall into two distinct camps. Some rave about it; some immediately start to complain. How can their opinions differ so significantly? "Plenty More" will be one of those books to cause immediate awe or swift disapproval. From working with the book for several months now, I know this book warrants a five-star rating, and that the majority of readers will feel the same. Same as the ratings and reviews for Ottolenghi's book "Plenty": Most will rave, and a few just will not want to--or will not have time to--tackle the chore of dealing with many of the ingredients on fairly long ingredient lists. This book is very much like "Plenty", except Ottolenghi has broadened his experience, looked--and leaped--forward and taken on new flavors and ingredients.

Those who criticize will claim that it contains hard-to-find ingredients, some unfamiliar techniques, unusual combinations of flavors, unfamiliar foods and flavors, long ingredient lists....and that will be very true for most home cooks. But those who get excited about this book, those whose hearts will start racing when they browse through the pictures and pages on the "Look Inside" feature on this product page, will ask and declare:

Isn't that what a fabulous, ground-breaking, cookbook is supposed to do? Is that not what you should be looking for in new cookbook?" I say, "Yes!" Bring on the new flavors and combinations, expose me to the unfamiliar, help my family to embrace new taste sensations.

So I tell myself, and I'll suggest the same to you: Step outside of the box. Get outside of your comfort zone. Start making some outstanding vegetarian dishes.

And this great chef, with his great idea-producing staff, will help you take that (sometimes/somewhat) uncomfortable step forward. This book will provide guidance, coaxing, reassurance to help you retrieve your comfort zone, while expanding your palate and taking on new dimensions as a home cook. Practice makes perfect: The first time you look at a recipe, you may see it as a long list of ingredients. The second time you make the recipe, all the pieces fall into place and you realize it was not hard to accomplish. Suddenly, you'll realize you have another fab veg dish under your belt.

(On the other hand, if your lifestyle does not allow you to tackle daily trips to the market and long ingredient lists, it may not be the right time for you to indulge in this book. You will either consider the book a challenge, or you will say the book is not right for you right now, and pass it by for the time being.)

So, if you choose to take on the challenge, prepare yourself: If you pick up this much-anticipated, worthy, brilliant book, you will be:

--getting very cozy with cilantro: Forty-seven recipes in this book use cupfuls upon cupfuls of cilantro. (I know there are a lot of you out there who will have a difficult time with that...)

---Working on your produce manager to start supplying basil, dill, tarragon, chervil, all the herbs, year-round, just like he does for parsley and cilantro. This chef uses huge, copious amounts of herbs and a large variety of spices. The spices are easy to find, it's the fresh herbs that you find at the store, two or three sprigs in measly little clear plastic bags for big bucks--that will not do for the recipes in this book. (I'm going to have to beef up the plants in my veggie gardens, but even that will not take care of the dill and basil I will need off-season....)

--Going out to search for barberries. (And if you can't find them there are substitutes to use until you convince your produce manager to stock them. (Sometimes sour cherries, or dried cherries or dried cranberries and lime.)) You will also be looking for umeboshi plums at your Asian market.

--Finding a greengrocer that is willing to provide you with baby endive, baby plum tomatoes, purple sprouting broccoli (no regular broccoli in this book), black garlic, sorrel, sprouts, seeds and many more. (Maybe you live in an area that has access to this type of produce, but a majority of us do not have that luxury.)

--Embracing bitter flavors (not excessively bitter, but complimentary bitter. I don't want to scare you off....It is usually in the form of brassicas, other greens and some root vegetables.)

I'm not talking extremism here, because there is a gentleness, a coaxing, involved in these recipes; nothing in excess (well, except the herbs); just an invitation: What can a bit of bitter green hurt you? What can cups of beautiful herb leaves hurt you? What can a new tart berry, or any new ingredient hurt you if it is done as a complimentary flavor? What can bold, lively colors hurt you?

Did you like his first book "Plenty"? You will be so pleased with this new one! Ottolenghi got you to get comfortable with veggies in his first book; in this one he helps you own them. He--and his restaurant co-workers--have blossomed, and surged forward, and taken charge of the vegetable world; legumes and beans and eggs, too. They revel in it and cozy up to all the possible flavors--then help you to do the same.

Measurements are in both US/Imperial and metric. Page layout is easy for the eyes to follow. Type style and size are easy on the eye. Photos are many and superior (in all ways).

There are too many great recipes for me to start calling them out. I suggest you take a browse through the "Look Inside" feature on this product page. It shows you many salad recipes from the "Tossed" chapter of the book. Coming so near to November and American Thanksgiving and everybody's Holiday Season, I could not help but picture so many of these beautiful dishes as part of a Holiday table. Plenty that can be made ahead of time, and they are stunning to behold.

Here are more of my notes, if you still can't decide whether or not to add this to your collection: (You know you can stop reading any time, don't you?)

Simple, beautiful, luscious:
--Celery salad with Feta and Soft-Boiled Egg, with lemon segments, capers, chiles and cilantro.
--A touch of fish sauce on pomelo.
--Quinoa included in salads: Tart apple and celery root with lemon, chile and cilantro; cannellini beans with parsley, mint, scallions and lemon.

Worth the price of the book:
--The technique of beginning to caramelize sugar, then adding halved fresh figs, then continuing the process. He does it in a non-stick pan. Does it with oranges, too.

**I received a temporary download of this book from the publisher. Having it in hand for the past few months, I will have to let it go now. But I will be putting a book order together soon, and this will definitely be on my list! EDIT: I purchased this book from Amazon, and you can see the "Verified Purchase" tag at the top of this review.

If you liked Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi, this book is more of the same fare. If you are not familiar with the old book I would strongly advice you to buy it instead of this book. It has more freshness and novelty. If you end up liking the first book, then you can buy this book. This book requires a slightly larger number of ingredients so it is not a good first buy. What ingredients am I talking about? Just to give you an idea: dakos, curry leaves, sorrel stems, turmeric, pandan, yuzu, gem lettuce, black garlic, and Kaffir lime leaves. If this is too much for you, then go to his previous book and use more "standard" ingredients like arugula, quinoa, sour cherries, mirin, dried, seaweed, and star anise.

The book is vegetarian but don't let the skinny vegetarians scare you off. I like meat, but find this book fantastic. No need to have meat every day when you have such tasty vegetarian fare.

I give the book four stars, because it is not the best book of Ottolenghi and I have all four of them. Here is a summary

Ottolenghi - first book, was very nice, but has kind of been superseded by the two subsequent books (four stars)
Plenty - my favorite (five stars)
Jerusalem - nice, but not really special. (three stars)
Plenty more - this book, also nice, but less nice than Plenty (four stars)

Maybe this is not for everyone, but it sure is for me. I love cooking. Vegetarian food has always been a bit of a challenge. Having guests rave over vegetables is a real accomplishment for me. The photos are beautiful and inspiring. I love all of his books, but this is my all time favorite! Yes, there are some ingredients I did not have. Is that not the fun of cooking? Incorporating new ideas and flavors into my meals- yay! (Iranian limes hard to find? Hello, go to Amazon and they will be at your front door in no time.). I agree with a prior reviewer. If you preview the book on line you will know right up front if the recipes are too involved for you. Personally I can not get enough of this book. Just brilliant!