The first thing to note is that Yotam's Ottolenghi's latest cookbook Flavour is not, despite his name being the only one on the front cover, the sole author. One of the world's best-known celebrity chefs, YO needs no introduction, and you can browse his website here. But Ixta Belfrage, OTOH has transitioned from 'member of the Ottolenghi test kitchen team' to co-author. Thanks to her Latin American heritage, a childhood in Italy and her years in Ottolenghi's kitchen, she has an eclectic approach to cooking, which you can see from some of her recipes at The Guardian. (And, BTW, she lived in Australia for three years, and was no doubt influenced by our eclectic cuisine as well.)

The cookbook, a generous 300+ pages with full colour photography for every recipe, is about technique. While vegetables take centre stage, it's not a strict vegetarian or vegan cookbook. In the Introduction, YO explains his flexitarian approach which is intended to appeal to the widest group of vegetable lovers possible.

My own approach to vegetables has always been pragmatic and inclusive. If you want to win more people over to the veg camp, there is no worse way to go about it than demand that they go cold turkey (excuse the pun.) If an animal-based aromatic ingredient (we are not talking prime cuts of meat here or a bluefin tuna steak) does an outstanding job at 'helping' a vegetable taste particularly delicious, I will definitely use it for the benefit of those who are happy to eat it. At the same time, I will also offer various alternatives to animal products (and dairy products, whenever I can) so that everyone can join in.

This flexitarian approach to cooking and eating acknowledges the diversity of the people we are and the variety of choices we make. From the 100 recipes in the book, 45 are strictly vegan and another 17 are easily 'veganised'. (p.9)

The Introduction is followed by Flavour's 20 Ingredients. You don't have to have them all, and you reproduce many of the recipes without them, but they capture the essence of this book, its particular spirit. These ingredients include various chillis, exotics such as black garlic and black limes, a type of flour called 'masa harina' (used to make many Latino dishes), hibiscus flowers and Shaoxing (a wine fermented from rice). He's very particular about the brand of butter beans to buy, and enthusiasts who don't care about food miles can get them delivered to Australia from here.

After that, the book is divided into three sections: Process, Pairing and Produce.

PROCESS is about enhancing flavour with charring, browning, infusing and ageing. There's quite a lot of yada yada about these four processes, which is worth reading but not reproducing here. It's covered adequately here anyway. Enticing do-able recipes include:

Charring

• Calvin's grilled peaches and runner beans. It's made with goat's cheese, almonds, honey and mint and could be served with any number of proteins as a main. You can see what it looks like here.


• Iceberg wedges with Smoky Aubergine Cream. After a lacklustre year in 2022, the eggplants are earning their place in the vegie patch, and this Aubergine Cream made with yoghurt, lemon juice and mustard looks amazing. I fancy it with tuna.


• Hasselback Beetroot with Lime Leaf Butter: You can find the recipe here, but for me, it's the Lime Leaf Butter that's pure genius. We have a Kaffir lime tree, which The Spouse uses to cook a very nice Vietnamese chicken dish, but I reckon the addition of the Lime Leaf Butter would make it sublime. (Yeah, not very Vietnamese, but still...)

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/03/04/flavour-2020-by-yotam-ottolenghi-and-ixta-be... ( )

das ist toll

EnSabores, Ottolenghi y Belfrage renuevan los cánones de la cocina vegetariana y la llevan a un nivel superior. Dividido en tres partes, donde se explican métodos culinarios como el braseado, los cuatro emparejamientos básicos de las verduras entre ellas y la gama de intensidad de sabor, esta obra desvela cómo explotar el máximo potencial de las verduras de cada día para crear una cocina extraordinariamente sabrosa.

Sus más de cien recetas, acompañadas de impactantes fotografías, harán las delicias de los seguidores de Ottolenghi y de todos los amantes de las verduras.

I give up. I am sick of having black drawing across text making it illegible.

I borrowed the e-book from OverDrive. ( )