Ottolenghi's Plenty: Deliciously Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London

Nancy in Tacoma: So far, everything I've made out of this book has been fantastic. Looking forward to trying more!

Canada on Oct 03, 2023

Juliette Moody: I’ve got quite a few recipes pegged to try great vegetarian cookbook

United States on Sep 12, 2023

V: Great book, filled with yummy recipes

Australia on May 12, 2023

TheGremlins: I bought this 9 odd years ago and for most of the years it served as an art food book, I’d get it and admire the photography and recipes then it would be put away. I eventually made the leek fritters first (turned out well). Years on I made the Winter Couscous and have made it numerous times since (a keeper), also the paella (keeper and made numerous times since). A crowd pleasing moment occurred in the last few weeks after making The Very Full Tart, I had so many compliments it seems like this is now going on the family’s ‘can you make that tart again’ request. So this is my thank you review to Ottolenghi for providing me with some gorgeous recipes that are absolute keepers for me now to be enjoyed time and again. Thank you x

United Kingdom on Mar 17, 2023

Rjay: The recipes that you can manage to make taste great. Distinctive and tasting like you were at a superb vegetarian restaurant. But the preparation of the dishes is not easy. That specifically refers to my wife and I, who lack culinary skills and only have a small galley kitchen. We don't want to purchase a large quantity of some rare herb or other ingredient that has little chance of ever being used again. That's why we ended up making only 3 dishes since we purchased the cookbook 6 months ago. You'll need more culinary skills than our novice level to prepare most fair. I read through many of the recipes and they all sound great if you're a vegetarian you'll likely be exceptionally pleased. One recipe we did make was an outstanding was a fig and goat cheese salad with arugula and balsamic dressing. We were lucky we had pomegranate molasses syrup that I purchased on a whim at a farmers market years ago for $16 and never used. But it would have made little sense to go and seek a bottle, if I could even find one, just to use 1 Tsp. in the salad dressing. But it was a great salad and we made it 3 times before fig season ended. We still have almost a full bottle of the syrup. So not...

United States on Dec 04, 2022

nikiniki: I bought this book in 2014 for my husband for Christmas and also have the kindle version of it too. It is a really great cookbook but some of the recipes look easy but they seem to have been made more complicated than they need to be.

Yesterday I made the stuffed onions and honestly the length he goes to to create them is overkill. I simplified the steps and got a great result. I don't grate tomatoes and just used regular tinned chopped tomatoes and instead of using wine with the broth I used broth on its own. They came out perfect and everyone loved them. The sweet potato cakes were also easy and tasty but again I simplified them by putting the sweet potato in the oven and just scooping out the insides and mixing it with the suggested ingredients. He does tend to use castor sugar in most of the recipes but I just left it out and also lots of salt but I left that out too.

The main ingredients in the majority of the recipes include fresh herbs, white cheeses such as feta or goats cheese as well as lemons or limes and yoghurt.

I think this is an excellent book for quirky and unusual cooking ideas and I am happy with the choice of recipes. There really is...

United Kingdom on Oct 06, 2017

M. Alex Loayza: I came across this book from a newsletter I am subscribed to from Sur La Table. So I went over to Amazon and ordered myself a copy.

I am not strictly vegetarian/vegan, but I have tried to cut out meat out my diet as much as possible, so I am always eager to try out new and interesting vegetarian recipes. This book satisfied those needs

who is book is for IMHO:
-intermediate-level cookers, I wouldn't say this book is for beginners who have very little cooking knowledge. None of the recipes are super hard by any means, but a few of them are a little time consuming and might require a decent amount of cooking skills.

-people who have access to a large variety of ingredients and aren't bothered by having to pay a little extra for certain ingredients. There are some ingredients, mostly spices, that I've never heard of before in this book, I tried to seek out some of them at the grocery store but to no avail, I've been able to find substitutes for most of them however.

As for the $$$, some of the ingredients in these recipes can be a little pricey, such as some of the spices, like saffron, expensive mushrooms, certain cooking oils, and that blasted creme...

United States on May 15, 2014

Purpleamethyst: Over the last few years my family has started eating less meat and we all feel better for it. It's difficult to find decent (mainly) vegetarian books, most contain the ubiquitous stodgy lentil loaf and broccoli quiche and too much cheese! In contrast Ottolenghi's book has a much fresher approach. If you love herbs and zingy flavours that burst in your mouth, this is the recipe book to try. Everything I've cooked from it has been really tasty; at the weekend I made a 2 course meal for a vegetarian friend (no desserts in this book so we had ice cream after as our 3rd course) and she loved it.

I agree with other reviewers that there are a lot of ingredients in the recipes and some are hard to come by, but most things are available in my local sainsbury's. The recipes also work if you substitute ingredients, e.g, one herb for another does change the taste slightly but results are still good, so don't be afraid to tweak things. Due to the number of ingredients it isn't an everyday book for those on a budget. I am trying to save money myself but I can still afford to cook at least one recipe a week from this and if you grow your own herbs you will save even more.

Since I...

United Kingdom on Aug 16, 2011