Yotam Ottolenghi Quotes

Brussels sprouts are misunderstood - probably because most people don't know how to cook them properly.

I use the confit principle for chicken thighs. I season them with herbs and garlic, let them marinate, and then cook them in chicken fat.

A lot of people who want to cook with less fat are surprised by that. You can cook vegetables in a little water in a covered pan and then throw the fat into the residual liquid to coat them.

Jerusalem artichokes have a great affinity with nuts. I love them with chopped walnuts or almonds, lemon juice, garlic, herbs and plenty of olive oil.

In certain European cuisines, vegetables are cooked a long time. I take the term 'al dente' and use it for vegetables.

Steaming maintains some of the aubergine flesh's texture, which doesn't happen if you cook it in any other way.

I love to roast vegetables - carrots, fennel, and so on. I also love to mash or puree pretty much any vegetable!

I don't overcook, because you lose what's good in the food.

No vegetable exists which is not better slightly undercooked.

The addition of vinaigrette to freshly roasted vegetables gives them a freshness and juiciness they don't normally have; the acidity brings out new shades of flavour, too.

I'm particularly fond of boned chicken breasts with a little garlic under the flesh and cooked in a casserole for 40 minutes with a jar of olives, some cherry tomatoes and a spoonful of olive oil.

I'll cook a batch of brown rice or quinoa and keep it in the fridge, so when I get hungry, I can easily dress it up with olive oil, lemon, and salt and pepper, and then add veggies.

I love to make a one-pot meal - think stir-fry but in the French Fricassee. I start with what takes the longest to roast and then add vegetables, fresh herbs, and starch until the meal is complete in one shot.

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

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.

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

Cook ingredients that you are used to cooking by other techniques, such as fish, chicken, or hamburgers. In other words be comfortable with the ingredients you are using.

I always have a good quality extra virgin olive oil. A cheap quality oil will end up cheapening your dishes. And I love sweetening my dishes with maple syrup. It has a bit of a bitter kick at the end that works wonderfully in savory dishes.

Greek yogurt with some olive oil stirred in can transform many dishes.

If my cuisine were to be defined by just one taste, it would be that of subtle, aromatic, extra-virgin olive oil.

Celery leaves are an underused ingredient, most likely because supermarkets sell mostly leafless stalks.

Brussels sprouts are really quite versatile.

There's no way I'm going to stand up for bad ingredients. We love seasonal ingredients. It's a false dichotomy to say that modern cooking is at odds with that, but some people want to have a great ingredient and no technique.

Salad can get a bad rap. People think of bland and watery iceberg lettuce, but in fact, salads are an art form, from the simplest rendition to a colorful kitchen-sink approach.

The secret is to cook the aubergines the day before and let them dry of all the oil they drank in cooking. When you cook aubergine, they eat a lot of oil. It can be very heavy.