Chinese sausage, which is widely available from Asian grocers and online, is sweet, rich, and enticingly smoky. I add it to steamed rice with strips of omelette and a few baby veg stir-fried with soy. – Yotam Ottolenghi
My secret with kale is to add lots of sweet or sharp flavours to offset some of that grassy intensity. – Yotam Ottolenghi
I love dishes that feature the various shades of a single colour, making you stop to check what’s in there. – Yotam Ottolenghi
Buckwheat, like Marmite and durian, is a seriously divisive foodstuff, so it needs a seriously capable defence team if it’s ever going to make it on to most people’s dinner tables. – Yotam Ottolenghi
Small okra pods have a much more attractive texture than large ones, which, when cooked, can be gloopy, stringy and totally spoil a dish. – Yotam Ottolenghi
Leeks are normally given the job of flavouring other things, such as stocks and soups, but I find their creaminess and sweet, oniony flavour very satisfying. – Yotam Ottolenghi
Cobnuts have a fresher flavour than any other nut I know of and go very well with autumnal fruit and light cheeses. – Yotam Ottolenghi
The difference between a bland tomato and great one is immense, much like the difference between a standard, sliced white bread and a crusty, aromatic sourdough. – Yotam Ottolenghi
Way back when I was a junior pastry chef, I’d bake loads of muffins every morning, as many as 120 or so, while operating on autopilot. – Yotam Ottolenghi
In certain European cuisines, vegetables are cooked a long time. I take the term ‘al dente’ and use it for vegetables. – Yotam Ottolenghi
A well-made salad must have a certain uniformity; it should make perfect sense for those ingredients to share a bowl. – Yotam Ottolenghi
Panko are the elite of the breadcrumb world because they stay so crunchy and light. – Yotam Ottolenghi
I have been cooking with preserved lemon for years, using it left, right and centre, but I am still far from reaching my limit. – Yotam Ottolenghi
I keep returning to the combination of artichoke, broad beans and lemon. The freshness of young beans and the lemon juice ‘lifts’ the artichoke and balances its hearty nature. – Yotam Ottolenghi
I have a terrible tendency to lick my fingers when I cook. So much so that I got a telling off from my pastry teacher years ago, who said it would hinder my prospects. – Yotam Ottolenghi
Tiny quails may not seem as impressive as a mammoth turkey, but there is something refreshing about a spread of individual birds on the Christmas table. – Yotam Ottolenghi
The natural sweetness of leeks, with their soft, oniony aroma, makes them the perfect winter comfort food. – Yotam Ottolenghi
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. – Yotam Ottolenghi
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! – Yotam Ottolenghi
Most British cheeses are now vegetarian and are labelled accordingly. However, French and Italian manufacturers still tend to use rennet. – Yotam Ottolenghi
I am sure that in the story of Adam and Eve, the forbidden fruit was a fig and not an apple, pear or anything else. – Yotam Ottolenghi
Dried porcini add a substantial, deep flavour to otherwise more neutral vegetables. I use them in risottos, mashed roots and winter soups. – Yotam Ottolenghi
