Plenty: Delicious and Colorful Vegetable Dishes from London's Ottolenghi

L. Machado: Livro óptimo! Adoro

Spain on Oct 18, 2023

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

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

ThatsWhatJenniSaid: I am always on the prowl for the latest and the greatest cookbook. Everyone has their preferences and I lean toward cookbooks that feature fresh ingredients, gourmet preparations and presentations, and an international flair.

I picked up Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi with these criteria in mind about a year ago when it was making the rounds as the hot new vegetarian cookbook. The author is originally from Israel and so of course middle eastern culture, ingredients, and technique heavily influence his repertoire. He owns a restaurant in London and for several years he wrote a column for The Guardian press on vegetarian cuisine. Pretty good for a chef who isn't actually a vegetarian. He became well known for his creativity with fresh vegetables and the recipes laid out in Plenty are those that have appeared over the years in his Guardian column.

The cookbook itself is beautiful. The cover art (a shot of a row of roasted eggplants dressed with a yogurt pomegranate sauce) is appetizing and inviting and the book has a soft, thick, and durable cover. The recipes are organized according to main ingredient (a chapter on...

United States on May 20, 2013

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