Host Robin Young speaks with famed chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi about his new cookbook, “Ottolenghi Simple Too,” which he wrote with Verena Lochmuller.
The book features recipes with few steps geared towards busy lives.
Book excerpt: ‘Ottolenghi Simple Too’
By Yotam Ottolenghi
Chaya’s saffron yogurt hake
• Serves 4-6
• Prep time: 20 minutes
• Cook time: 15 minutes
This makes a colorful impact placed in the middle of a dinner party table, thanks to the saffron. Thank you, saffron! Thanks also to our test kitchen colleague Chaya, who developed this dish. It’s got Chaya written all over it: generous, sunny, and loved by all.
Take a moment to slice the lemons as thinly as you can—the aim is for them to almost melt on top of the fish. Serve with the spiced roasted potatoes (p. 204) or any potatoes.
Ingredients
¾ tsp saffron strands
2 hake or cod fillets, skin on (2 ½ lb/1.2kg)
1 ¼ cups/360g Greek yogurt
2 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
1 lemon, very thinly sliced (1–2mm)
½ oz/15g thyme sprigs
½ tsp cumin seeds, lightly crushed
7 tbsp/100ml olive oil
fine sea salt and black pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 500°F.
2. Add the saffron to a small frying pan on low heat for 1 minute to warm up slightly. Take off the heat, add 3 tablespoons of water, and set aside to bloom for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, place the fish, skin side down, in a large roasting pan and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper.
4. Mix the saffron and liquid with the yogurt, garlic, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Reserve a
quarter of the mixture for later and use a spoon to generously cover the fish with the rest. Arrange half the lemon slices on top of the fish, with the rest nestled around the fish in the pan. Scatter the thyme and cumin, followed by a good grind of pepper. Drizzle with the olive oil and bake for 12 minutes, until some of the lemon slices and thyme are slightly charred and the fish is tender and flakes easily when pressed.
5. Serve with the reserved yogurt on the side.
Butternut “parmigiana”
A classic parmigiana—made with slices of eggplant, layered with cheese, and then baked—is hard to beat. This take might not have the parmesan (or, indeed, the eggplants) but it echoes the flavors and textures and has the advantages of being made in a fraction of the time, assembled in one dish, and also very much hitting the same spot. Serve with butter lettuce salad (p. 230).
• Serves 4
• Prep time: 20 minutes
• Cook time: 50 minutes
Ingredients
1 large butternut squash (about 2 ¾ lb/1.3kg), unpeeled, halved lengthwise, and seeds
removed
7 tbsp/105ml olive oil
4–5 plum tomatoes, grated and skins discarded (heaping 2 cups/380g)
1 tbsp tomato paste
⅛ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground cumin
⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp granulated sugar
½ cup/25g panko breadcrumbs
1 garlic clove, crushed to a paste
2 tsp za’atar
4 oregano sprigs, plus a few leaves for garnish
4 ½ oz/125g taleggio (or brie or mozzarella), thinly sliced
fine sea salt and black pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Cut each squash half into 3 long wedges and arrange them in a large roasting pan. Rub all over with 2 tablespoons of the oil, ½ teaspoon of salt, and a good grind of pepper. Bake for about 35 minutes, until browned and cooked through.
3. In a small bowl mix together the tomatoes, tomato paste, spices, sugar, 3 tablespoons of the oil, 2 tablespoons of water, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs, garlic, ½ teaspoon of za’atar, and 1 tablespoon of the oil.
5. Remove the squash from the oven, then pour the tomato sauce around it and nestle in the oregano sprigs. Lay the cheese evenly over the squash, sprinkle with the breadcrumb mixture, and drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Return to the oven for 10–15 minutes, until golden and bubbly. Sprinkle over the remaining za’atar and oregano leaves and serve.
Breakfast potatoes
This is a combination of two great Spanish potato dishes: patatas a lo pobre (poor man’s potatoes) and huevos rotos (broken eggs). Traditionally both fried, here we bake—not to be virtuous; it’s just easy. One sheet pan, one mandoline (if you have one, it makes light work of slicing the potatoes and shallots), and you have easily fed a crowd.
• Serves 6
• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Ingredients
2 lb/905g Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled and thinly sliced
2 red bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced (1⅓ cups/200g)
4 oregano sprigs
3 large shallots, thinly sliced (1 ¾ cups/200g)
1 head of garlic, top ½ inch/1cm removed
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
⅔ cup/160ml olive oil
6 large eggs
fine sea salt and black pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Put the potatoes, peppers, oregano, shallots, garlic, paprika, and olive oil on a rimmed baking sheet (about 18 x 13 inches/46 x 33cm), along with 1 ¼ teaspoons of salt and plenty of pepper. Mix together well and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, turn everything over, and bake for another 30 minutes (turning the vegetables over again halfway through), until the potatoes are soft and jammy and the peppers and shallots are frizzled. Remove from the oven, squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins, and fold them into the roasted vegetables.
3. Crack the eggs into a bowl, season with a pinch of salt and some pepper, then lightly break with a fork—just enough to burst the yolks. Create a few small pockets in the potato mixture, then pour in the eggs. Return to the oven for 5 minutes, or until the eggs are just cooked through.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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