Yotam Ottolenghi Quotes

Chipotles, which are dried jalapeno peppers, give out a terrific smoky flavour - they're warm, earthy and usually not too spicy.

Chefs don't use white pepper just to avoid spoiling the whiteness of pommes puree or bechamel. It has a more peppery aroma, with sharpness and sweetness, too.

Good asparagus needs minimal treatment and is best eaten with few other ingredients.

Every era has its own list of ingredients that are considered exotic and then, 15 years later, they're not.

Take your average couscous salad, and it's almost always a sloppy mush, no matter how much attention has gone into getting flavours in there.

You don't need a machine to make pasta: a rolling pin and a fast hand can create a smooth, if thick, sheet.

Souffles don't deserve their reputation as potential disasters.

Manouri is a Greek ewes' milk cheese that's light in colour and texture. It's fresh and milky, and goes well with other subtle flavours.

I just don't tend to cook eggplant at home.

It's well worth making your own harissa, but there are some very good commercial varieties.

The moment to tell my barber I was gay just never came up.

The Guardian's 'Word of Mouth' blog bridges the gap between blogging and serious food journalism.

The emotive power of hummus all over the Middle East cannot be overstated, being the focus of some serious tribal rivalries.

My secret with kale is to add lots of sweet or sharp flavours to offset some of that grassy intensity.

Pizza was made for television in so many ways: it is easy to heat up, easy to divide and easy to eat in a group. It is easy to enjoy, easy to digest and easy-going. It is so Italian!

There's nothing more marvelously wintery than orange root veg mash; some butter is all it needs.

Barley and mushroom is a soothing combination. It's mainly a textural thing, with the barley both gently breaking and enhancing the mushroomy gloopiness.

Some heat, some spice and plenty of citrus are the building blocks of many North African fish dishes.

On many occasions, an informal buffet and casual seating offer a little more intimacy than a loud gathering around a big table.

Hardly any of my most memorable meals have been eaten in a restaurant, and definitely none in one of those fancy marble-floored, polished-silver establishments.

A lemon, boiled whole and blitzed, makes a useful base for all sorts of dressings.

Food that's served at the table in a paper parcel always creates a remarkable culinary moment when opened, because the package is full of aromatic steam from the lightly cooked ingredients inside.

Chickpeas are one of my favourite things to serve with chorizo or lamb meatballs; they also work brilliantly as the quiet partner in a vibrant alphonso mango salad.

Going out for a meal, especially for young urbanites, is less about socialising over enjoyable food than about enjoying food as a way to socialise.

There is nothing like a good old recipe. If it has lasted, then it is good.

On some subconscious level, I've been prejudiced against turnips, parsnips, swedes and other roots. Do they taste of much? Are they really special? How wrong I was.

I adore recipes that make use of one cut of meat or a whole animal to create a complex dish, loaded with flavour.

Middle Eastern cuisine has the same depth of ingredients and processes as other cuisines. They just haven't had as much exposure.

You can really taste the difference between a shop-bought and a good homemade mayo.

I now understand how varied the world of cultivated rice is; that rice can play the lead or be a sidekick; that brown rice is as valuable as white; and that short-grain rice is the bee's knees.

The tang of tamarind is a great way both to flavour and lighten up slow-cooked savoury dishes.

As is always the way with pancakes, the first hotcake to come out of the pan will probably be a bit misshapen. Just scoff it, and carry on with the rest.

One of the troubles with food is that people take themselves too seriously. This is why I'm very happy for people to change my recipes, alter them, replace one ingredient for another.

These days, meals are more open to personal preferences. People like to serve themselves.

Chana dal are skinless dried split chickpeas used in Indian cooking. They have a great texture and delicate flavour.

Panko are the elite of the breadcrumb world because they stay so crunchy and light.

Kibbeh comes in all forms, but most feature bulgur and meat.

Agave nectar is a good substitute for refined sugars. It has a relatively low glycaemic index, which means it doesn't cause quick rises in blood sugar levels. It also has a nice, mild flavour.

Braising eggs in a flavoursome, aromatic sauce is all the rage. It is warming and comforting, ideal for the morning when you are not normally up for a great culinary challenge.

Tahini is fantastically versatile, its deep, nutty flavour a harmonious match with roasted vegetables, grilled oily fish or barbecued meat.

My all-time favourite classic use of ricotta is in gnudi: fluffy, cheesy dumplings of almost ethereal, feathery lightness.

Though not a true cereal but a fruit, buckwheat seeds resemble cereal grains and are often used in a similar way to rice, barley, bulgar or quinoa, usually as a side dish.

My maternal grandmother made fantastic ox tongue with velvety roasted potatoes. She cooked sweet red cabbage and lovely cauliflower with butter and bread crumbs.

Pot barley takes longer to cook than pearl, but an overnight soak in water will speed things along. It's a robust grain that, if overcooked, won't collapse but will become more tender.

Infants have around 30,000 tastebuds, only about a third of which survive into adulthood, so a child's sensitivity towards extremes of sweet, sour and bitter flavours is heightened.

Vegetarian and frugal it may be, but the chickpea is one of the most versatile ingredients you could keep in your cupboards.

One Indian-inspired favourite of mine is mashed potato mixed with lemon juice, breadcrumbs, coriander and chilli, shaped into patties, fried and served with chutney and yoghurt.

As with lemon juice, the more sorrel you use, the more it has to be balanced with something sweet, starchy or creamy - it's a yin-yang approach to cooking that I find rather calming.

Like brown rice, black rice is unmilled, and it is the dark outer husk that makes it so nutty and chewy. It's also why it takes longer to cook than many other rices.

Herbs deserve to be used much more liberally.

Date syrup is a natural sweetener that has wonderful richness and treacly depth; I drizzle it over semolina porridge.

The main distinction for fresh chillies is whether they are red or green, the difference being one of ripeness.

The unlikely combination of potatoes and pasta does appear in some Italian recipes.

Yoghurt cuts sweetness and richness, tempers spice, and makes a dish sing.

Having grown up in the Middle East, eating beans for breakfast always seemed like a bizarre British eccentricity.

How can something that's 95% water be so divisive? Alone among vegetables, the poor, innocent stick of celery elicits the most vicious attacks.

Most British cheeses are now vegetarian and are labelled accordingly. However, French and Italian manufacturers still tend to use rennet.

TV chefs are not responsible for people's consumption of fibre; this is not our job.

If I am honest, my food is actually quite far removed from both the food of my mother and my father.

Dried porcini add a substantial, deep flavour to otherwise more neutral vegetables. I use them in risottos, mashed roots and winter soups.

Sorrel adds a unique grassy sharpness to salads and dressings, but it can be hard to come by.

Sweet potatoes are ideal for lazy days: just bake, then mash and mix with yogurt, butter or olive oil.

When I cook a meal, I like to serve things one by one and keep them separate. I get that from my father - he's such a purist. Some people even put their desserts on the main plate. It's just wrong.

Shimeji are those odd-looking clusters of small mushrooms you often find in so-called 'exotic' selections at the supermarket. They have an appealing firmness that is retained during light cooking.

Leeks, like other oniony things, reach a certain peak when fried. It's the subtle sweetness that suddenly becomes evident and works so well with their creamy texture.

Polenta is one of those ingredients that in many homes spends its days at the back of the kitchen cupboard, on the 'no one knows quite what to do with it' shelf.

Yogurt sauce, as you may have noticed by now, is a regular presence in my recipes - that's because it has the ability to round up so many flavours and textures like no other component does.

I've been accused of having very long ingredient lists, and I guess there's some truth in that.

Some breakfast cereals only come into their own as children's party treats: what are cornflakes and Coco Pops for, if not to clump together with melted chocolate and spoon into a cupcake holder?

When it comes to the battle of the molluscs, cephalopods win tentacles down.

A great fig should look like it's just about to burst its skin. When squeezed lightly it should give a little and not spring back. It must be almost unctuously sweet, soft and wet.

I used to love fine dining, but I lost my appetite for it to a degree because sometimes it is too much about the effort and too little about the result.

People don't know how good cauliflower is, because they always have this image of cauliflower cheese - awful, sticky, creamy and rich.

Vegetarians in general don't like me.

Lebanese mezze, Cantonese dim sum and Basque pinchos have all evolved over years and are designed to make sense together.

Recipes can be incredibly vague where chillies are concerned.

Swiss chard is undervalued in Britain. It's a great substitute for spinach and keeps its shape well.

Stuffed vine leaves tend to burn and/or stick when you cook them. To avoid this, use a heavy based pan lined with a few layers of second-rate leaves.

Miso makes a soup loaded with flavour that saves you the hassle of making stock.

Tossing doughnuts, fritters or fried dumplings in fennel sugar adds grown-up complexity without diminishing the indulgence factor.

Verjuice may not be the easiest thing in the world to find, but you should be able to track some down in good delis and online.

For me, the end of childhood came when the number of candles on my birthday cake no longer reflected my age, around 19 or 20. From then on, each candle came to represent an entire decade.

The only way reliably to gauge the heat of any particular chilli is to cut it in half, so exposing the core and membranes, and to dab the cut surface on your tongue.

New-season lamb shoulder, cooked pink, is the perfect platform for a mixture of fresh and cooked herbs.

For people who think of chicken as the meat choice of those-who-don't-really-like-meat, brining a bird will be a revelation.

The teaching thing, the one where I have to impart my knowledge, is probably what comes the least naturally to me because I'm an absorber of things.

I don't do guilt. Whatever I do, I do it happily.

I tend to mean what I say: in life, generally; in recipes, certainly.

For those, like me, who can't rely on being given a home smoker this Christmas, you can build your own approximation with just a roll of tin foil and a big wok or pan for which you have a lid.

One man's trash is another man's treasure, and the by-product from one food can be perfect for making another.

I'm a firm believer that the world should be your oyster when you're cooking. People should open themselves to other cuisines - there are a lot of hidden secrets all over the world.

Tagliatelle comes from the word tagliare, meaning 'to cut.' Tagliolini are simply thinly cut tagliatelle.

Popping broad beans out of their skins can be therapeutic, but it isn't everybody's favourite waste of time.

In vast parts of the world, people don't eat meat.

When it comes to cooking pasta, the first essential is to make sure you have a big enough pot: it needs room to roll in the water while cooking.

Most fish require a short cooking time, but cephalopods are the exception to this fishy rule. As with some cuts of larger land beasts, the longer they're cooked, the more tender they get.

Cobnuts have a fresher flavour than any other nut I know of and go very well with autumnal fruit and light cheeses.

Tel Aviv is the most exciting place to eat in Israel.

Poaching white fish in moderately hot oil guarantees soft-textured flesh and allows you to prepare a sauce calmly, without the usual panic about overcooking the fish.

A great ratatouille is one in which the vegetables interact with each other but are still discernible from each other. The trick is to cook them just right: not over, not under.