friederike's Reviews
31 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 31Sort by: Title 
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Ottolenghi: The Cookbook
By Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi
Ebury Press - 2010
Almond and Orange Florentines : page 227
Quite nice, but chewy, which I didn't like (and hadn't anticipated). Other actually liked it a lot, or at least they said so (DH's aunt actually exclaimed "Oh, that chewyness, it's just perfect!", causing quite some laughter - the word she used in Dutch - taaiheid - usually has rather negative connotations).
That said, they were really easy to make and complemented our dessert of Kahlúa Chocolate Mousse and Orange and Szechuan Pepper Ice Cream perfectly. Other recipes we (re-)visited today: Lavender Lemonade, Apple Pie with an Almond Crust, Black Ravioli with Snapper and Prawn and Fig-Stuffed Roast Pork Loin with Fig and Balsamic Jam.
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Hello, calories!
Let me make this clear - although the recipe says 'Serves 4 as a starter, or 2 as a main', you do not want to serve this as a main course.
That being said, it did actually have some interesting aspects to it. The main problem was that nearly every single step (and there were many of them, problematic in more than one sense) involved the generous use of oil or butter. And aubergines being aubergines, it's not like the oil will disappear again.
The gnocchi were very interesting, but far too large. I replaced the pine nuts with roasted crushed hazelnuts - definitely use either, they add much-needed crunch. What is more, the gnocchi are very cheesy by themselves and I definitely wouldn't serve them with oil-soaked aubergines - though I could imagine that they work well with something crunchy, low-fat and possibly slightly salty. Perhaps a roasted baguette? And smaller portions! Make it finger food! The gnocchi are served with a sage butter sauce - a really nice addition, in spite of the butter. Even more reason to cut out the aubergine.
All in all, this dish reminded me much of the Aubergine and Zucchini Rolls with Cream Cheese I made last year - same story, too much cheese, too much fat, too large portions. The sage butter reappears in the Nutty Butter Sauce with Sage, Pork Steaks with Lemon and Sage and Agnolotti dal Plin with Butter and Sage.
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It's difficult to rate this recipe appropiately. We couldn't get any butterbeans so we used broad beans from a glas instead. Unfortunately, the beans tasted slightly sour - really not something to blame on the recipe, though. If we manage to get proper butter beans we'll give it another try. I also suspect that frozen broad beans might have been nicer too.
Then, we prepared the dish on tuesday, intending to eat it on wednesday, and only managed to do that on thursday; it might have been nicer when the herbs were really fresh. And last - six garlic cloves is just too much, unless you really don't care for all the other ingredients.
On the plus side, the dish had a prep-time of five minutes, and you can even serve it as a simple dinner (although it then only serves 2-3, not 6).
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Very delicious, but:
-- definitely not enough for four persons as a main dish (though I'm not really sure that was ever the intention) - it was more something of a light meal
-- I only vaguely estimated the amount of cauliflower we used, so may be it was my fault, but to my taste it could have used more spice
-- and while we managed to get them nice and crispy from the outside, they were very soft on the inside. May be we just used too much cauliflower?
In any case it tasted wonderfully and was a nice different idea for veggies. The lime in the yoghurt was slightly too strong, so be careful with the lime (both zest and juice).
Edited 14 April 2011:
I made them again, and I don't know what made such a difference, but they were not crispy AT ALL. Soft and fluffy, but not really what you would want a fritter to be like. I kept asking myself whether I might have forgotten the flour last time. Hmm. I also added some more spices, but that produced a slight imbalance so I added another garlic clove with good effect. We served them together with the Chicken and Orange Salad, a nice pairing that served 3 well enough.
Edited 16 April 2011:
I made them again, this time with only ca. 40g flour - they weren't really a lot crispier, but still nicer in texture. What made a difference in crispness was the temperature of the oil - the higher the crisper. Also, usually I add just a bit of salt. Today I added 1 tsp and they were quite salty but in a positive way, and I also felt it added to the (imagined) crispness. Next time I'll probably use 3/4 teaspoon salt in the fritters next time, and a bit in the yoghurt. And use less lime juice than indicated!
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Very nice in taste, though quite work-intensive, mostly due to the fact that you need to grill the asparagus and all those thin slices of courgette in quite a lot of batches.
It wasn't excellent in taste, although I have the suspicion that that was because we mixed it a tupperware and took it to work. It ended up tasting oily and not very fresh. Also, we used goat's cheese as we couldn't get hold of manouri - I think goat's cheese is too soft, and I would really like to try manouri!
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Absolutely a great dish! The broccoli was fresh, crunchy, slightly smokey, and packed with flavour. It tasted nice both hot and cold, and you can also eat it with your fingers (if you don't mind them getting a bit oily). We used one chilli only, which made it nice and spicy but not too hot.
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I hadn't expected to like this combination as much, especially dill and capers seemed weird but worked very well. Goes well with (and is similar to) Chargrilled Broccoli with Chilli and Garlic.
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Really, really delicious! We had this as a main dish at DH's aunts place last night, and it was great! It seemed a little complicated to make, but it was absolutely worth the effort.
One caveat though: its supposed to be a main dish for 6-8 persons. There were only five of us, and it was just enough, though afterwards we all felt quite full (I guess chickpeas are very filling, more than you'd expect at first).
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Very delicious! It's an enourmous portion, seems to be for 6-8 servings at least. Also, the herbs wilted as soon as we added them, as the couscous was still hot - try to add them at last moment.
Served with Organic Salmon with Red Pepper and Hazelnut Salsa and Chargrilled Broccoli with Chilli and Garlic - while all dishes are very nice, the combination wasn't really a hit. The couscous was very much an autumn dish, the salmon felt more like a spring-dish, and the broccoli disappeared somewhere inbetween...
Funny enough, the same applies to our dessert: both the Tarte Tatin and the Fior di Latte Vanilla Ice Cream were great on their own, but not a great match.
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Crumble : page 279
This is one of my to-go-recipes for crumble - the other one being a crumble for traditional German fruit cakes. I used this crumble for the Fennel, Cherry Tomato and Crumble Gratin, and it was really good, and I can imagine that it works equally well in sweet dishes.
Edited 24 June 2013:
I used whole-wheat flour this time, but that didn't work that well as it wouldn't turn into a dough (or at least flakes of dough); I had to use nearly the double amount of butter to make it work.
Edited 5 November 2013:
I tried whole-wheat flour again. This time I only used one third whole-wheat and two thirds plain white flour, and I added about 2-3 tsp cold water, and that worked really well.
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Cucumber and Poppy Seed Salad : page 20
Really really nice and very quick to prepare. I think it was the addition of the coriander that made it special. The poppy seed was nice to look at, but it didn't really make any difference in taste, I felt.
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Fennel, Cherry Tomato and Crumble Gratin : page 53
Excellent, just excellent! It was easy to make, good to prepare in advance, and everyone loved it and had extra helpings! I really enjoyed the contrasts between the cream's silkyness, the tomatoes' juiciness, the fennel's distinct flavour and the crumble's salty crunchy texture, a perfect mix!
Edited 7 September 2012:
Hmm, not quite as good this time around. Could have been partly my fault, partly not the right tools.
My fault: I used the whole cup of cream (250ml) instead of just 200ml - it seemed such a waste to throw away that little bit of cream, but that could have been the reason why the crumble remained quite soggy.
Tools: I think last time I used a metal 22 x 30 cm baking tin, this time I used a ceramic 25 x 31 cm baking tin - the former was probably better, because the surface was smaller and the gratin therefore was higher, meaning that the crumble had to cover less surface and didn't have as much chance to touch the cream.
Also, don't be afraid to cut some of the fennel into smaller pieces if you're afraid they might be too big.
We served this as a main meal, with Individual Apple Pies to follow.
Edited 10 May 2014:
I forgot to add the cream entirely last night, but I hardly noticed (well, it was a bit different, but just as enjoyable as usually). Now if you can substitute the butter in the crumble with something else (coconut oil?), you could even turn this from vegetarian to vegan.
Edited 11 July 2014:
I forgot to add the cream AGAIN! I also used frozen, defrosted crumble we still had leftover from the last time. It was pretty soggy, and even an extra 15 min baking time didn't really change that. I'm afraid that it didn't help either that the crumble contained 1/3 whole wheat flour. Next time I might just use it frozen and see what happens.
Edited 25 June 2017:
We haven't made this dish in quite a while - we seemed to like it less and less. The soggyness of the crumble was one problem, but the crumble also often ended up being a little too sweet, and the fennel undercooked. So this time we used less sugar and more cheese in the crumble (sorry, not sure how much), and cooked the gratin covered for over an hour, and uncovered for over half an hour, and that did the trick.
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Very, very nice. I had problems tasting the beans and mangetouts, though, as the taste of the oranges, garlic, and to a lesser extent the hazelnuts was slightly dominant. The preparation is really easy, too, as there are only a few things to do and you can easily prepare everything in advance and just assemble the salad when needed.
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Green Tahini Sauce : page 272
I'm not normally a fan of Tahini, but this was fairly interesting.
Be careful, it looks quite runny even when it isn't - I thought my Tahini in itself was liquid enough, so I didn't add any water - it went quite dry actually. I added 120 ml water and thought it was too runny, but by the time I was ready to use it it looked quite solid again.
I used the required 1/2 teaspoon salt but slightly less than 80 ml lemon. It seemed to be ok as sauce, but in combination with the fish DB thought it was slightly too salty and could have used more lemon instead.
And use plenty of parsley in the sauce, it's really worth it!
I made this sauce to use it for the Pan-fried Sea Bream with Green Tahini and Pomegranate Seeds - looks beautiful!
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Grilled Aubergine and Lemon Soup : page 91
Very nice! We had this soup as a starter at DH's aunts place last night, and we really enjoyed it! I might not serve it as a main dish, especially not two days in a row (at home for the two of us, we usually cook a 4 servings dish which we eat for two days), but as a starter it was wonderful!
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Very, very nice! As often the case with chicken, ours wasn't done when it was meant to be done, so we had to put it back in the oven for another 10-12 minutes. I'm normally not a fan of grapefruits, but in this salad I found they were actually quite nice! DH thought that using rocket salad only was possibly a bit boring; we might consider mixing it with another, similarly peppery salad next time - perhaps watercress?
Also, seconding QueezleSister that you can probably get by with half the amount of sauce, and that it's a bit of a pity of the maple syrup. This is actually the second time I made this; the first time I used a very cheap, maple-flavoured carob syrup which I was quite happy to get rid of, but that lack of quality didn't seem to have any effect on how good the sauce was. (Disclaimer: even the second time I only used a maple-flavoured syrup, but one that tastes relatively authentic to me. But then again, I'm not Canadian, so what would I know? :) ).
I could also see this as a very fancy appetizer or side dish, if you use only half the amount of meat.
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Lemon Meringue Tartlets : page 259
What's not to love about lemon meringue? And Ottolenghi's recipe is trustworthy as always.
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My SIL served this for her birthday last week, and it was absolutely divine! Very delicious both hot and cold, very juicy and aromatic - I could eat it every week! Absolutely recommended!
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Mascarpone Cream : page 278
So easy, and so delicious! We had this cream as a part of the Tartlets with Fresh Berries, and I can only recommend everything about it.
The Mascarpone Cream was both easy and quick to whisk up, and tasted heavenly. Can be used with any other kind of tartlet or dessert in general (eg. just fruit with Mascarpone Cream? Chocolate Cream with Mascarpone Cream? Whatever, let your fantasy run loose).
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Absolutely brilliant! The salmon was very juicy yet very crispy on top (don't put the salsa on the fish, put it next to it!), the salsa was delicious, fresh and garlicky with an extra crunch from the hazelnuts. And the salmon could easily hold up to these strong flavours!
Edited 18 September 2012:
We made it with wild salmon this time, though maybe not 100% PC, I prefer commercially bred salmon as it's fatter and therefore both full of flavour and less prone to dry out. Also try to use fresh peppers if you can, it really makes a difference.
Served with Couscous with Dried Apricots and Butternut Squash and Chargrilled Broccoli with Chilli and Garlic - while all dishes are very nice, the combination wasn't really a hit. The couscous was very much an autumn dish, the salmon felt more like a spring-dish, and the broccoli disappeared somewhere inbetween...
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A spectacular dish! It looked really brilliant (as does everything sprinkeled with pomegranate seeds, admittedly), and it was both easy to prepare and delicious too. What else can you say?
I didn't award it a 5 star rating because I thought it wasn't more than just delicious in taste, though DB tells me definitely would have gone for 5 stars.
I'm a little surprised at the title - the instructions were very clear in that the fish was supposed to be baked in the oven - no pan used at all.
We used home-made Green Tahini Sauce (really easy to prepare!) and served it with a Bacon, Egg and Spinach Salad from Olive: 101 Quick-fix Dishes - taste- and stylewise not a brilliant match, but quick and easy enough to suit us.
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Peaches and Speck with Orange Blossom : page 13
Really really delicious!
The main problem was actually that the individual ingredients were too large to take one of each in every bite. On their own, the ingredients are nothing special - instead, this dish thrives on the combination of all these very different flavours. My main piece of advice would therefore be to cut all ingredients into smaller pieces.
Other than that, there are just minor issues to mention. We used rosewater instead of orange blossom water (because we didn't have the latter), but it worked very well. Grilling the peaches (as opposed to using them raw) made them look very nice, but I'm not sure that it really added anything, except for some extra work. The speck was good, but there was too little of it.
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Pre-baked Tartlet Cases : page 255
You shouldn't necessarily expect this to be a seperately listed dish; however, the instruction listed are somewhat more elaborate than usual. One thing I did miss is why you should do whatever you are told to do, eg. brush the tartlet tins with a layer of melted butter and leave to set in the fridge before filling with pastry - according to my SIL, this is to ensure that the come out easier (and/or remain crisp).
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Were you surprised? I was. Actually, I was afraid we were having to order pizza tonight. We didn't; we decided to serve it next time we were having a dinner party. It looks great, it sounds daring, and it is actually quite delicious.
The basis of this salad are the lentils (this one time green lentils for us, unfortunately), and the combination of lentils, spinach, dried sour cherries (we used dried cranberries, delicious!) and red wine vinegar is marvellous! The bacon and the gorgonzola add an extra dimension, once in a while; but this is where you need to become careful, as you can better use slightly less bacon and gorgonzola as instructed. Also, check the amount of salt you add to the lentils, and tear the bacon and gorgonzola into small pieces.
Edited 2 April 2011 to add:
We have since made this salad on two different occasions, both times while having a party - people really enjoyed the salad. I have the idea that if you prepare it a couple of hours in advance and also add the spinach, the different flavours mellow down a bit - a good thing in this case :)
Edited 10 May 2011 to add:
For a vegetarian edition, substitute the bacon for salted cashew (or other) nuts. Or do what I do when there are several guests of whom at least one vegetarian: offer both seperately on small plates, right next to the salad.
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Brilliant! The chicken was tender and juicy (and it didn't matter at all that I left it in the oven for a little longer), the sauce was full of different flavours and textures, soft and crunchy, sweet and flowery and spicy, just brilliant.
One little point: You are first told to chop the hazelnuts roughly, then to make a paste of the nuts together with honey and rosewater - this won't work, at least not with what I call roughly chopped hazelnuts. Chop them finely, but don't grind them.
We served this with Baked Vegetables with an Aubergine Sauce and plain couscous, and it went together extremely well.
Edited 21 November 2013:
We served this dish to guests in June, and it went horribly wrong - the chicken wasn't cooked, and it took ages until it was. So gave it another try last night, and we ended up with a total roasting time of 1 hr 20 min. Just like in June, we used chicken legs. I'm not quite sure what we used the first time we made this; I suppose it might have been thighs. Will have to test that some time.
I served the chicken with a salad, and a couscous flavoured with cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, salt and raisins - basically this was a nice idea, but because the hazelnuts, honey and rosewater in the chicken, the main dish is already slightly sweet, so it's better to use something less sweet than raisins.
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This was really delicious! The burnt aubergine was the key ingredient, don't omit or substitute it, even if burning the aubergine seems tiresome! I also liked the sesame and nigella seeds; however, I couldn't have cared less for the pumpkin seeds.
Served with Celeriac and Lentils with Hazelnut and Mint. For four, the portion size is a bit on the small side; don't eat if you're having an important meeting the next day, or serve for a date - the sauce pretty garlicky.
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Roasted Red and Golden Beetroot (Salad) : page 63
Very nice, although something (chervil? the combination of chervil with syrup?) produced a hint of a liquoricy flavour - euw. Everyone else really enjoyed it, though.
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Shortcrust Pastry : page 281
Very good pastry, worked very well. We made sweet tartlets filled with apples, raisins, almond slivers, and honey, and savoury ones filled with Braised Shallot Confit (which were nice, but not terribly exciting). I noticed that they didn't need all the water, and that they weren't properly baked after the time given, they needed at least another 15-20 min. Otherwise a good recipe. Use a food processor, if possible.
Edited 14 March 2015:
This is actually one of my best recipes for shortcrust pastry.
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Very delicious, and a good choice for a packed lunch. The salad was tasty and well complimented by the sauce, without any ingredient being dominated.
A few small remarks: the tofu doesn't pick up the marinade very well. If possible, let it marinate a little longer, and also make sure the tofu is well drained to prevent the liquid from being thinned down. Also, the tofu breaks easily, so arrange it in a single layer for the marinade, or keep basting the tofu. Last, we added an extra chilli to the sweet chilli sauce, a good idea if you like things spicy.
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Sweet Pastry : page 281
What should I say? It worked really well, as usual for Ottolenghi.
I found that one tablespoon of water was plenty already, and may not even have been necessary.
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Tartlets with Fresh Berries : page 258
Excellent! Really, really delicious, and as easy as, well, pie! I didn't make them myself but had them at my SIL's and watched her finish preparing them (which is also why I took the photos with my mobile, not the camera). They were great to prepare, the tartlets came out easily and without breaking, the cream was very easy to make and really delicious, and what can you do wrong with berries?
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