Margin Notes: Plenty More

Plenty More: Vibrant Vegetable Cooking from London's Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi

The hotly anticipated follow-up to London chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s bestselling and award-winning cookbook Plenty, featuring more than 150 vegetarian dishes organized by cooking method.

Yotam Ottolenghi is one of the world’s most beloved culinary talents. In this follow-up to his bestselling Plenty, he continues to explore the diverse realm of vegetarian food with a wholly original approach. Organized by cooking method, more than 150 dazzling recipes emphasize spices, seasonality, and bold flavors. From inspired salads to hearty main dishes and luscious desserts, Plenty More is a must-have for vegetarians and omnivores alike. This visually stunning collection will change the way you cook and eat vegetables. 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm a huge Ottolenghi fan, so I grabbed this cookbook from the library for the winter holiday, went to the market, and dove right in.

The photography is beautiful--and helpful. Since many of his recipes try new ingredients or are a dish I'm not familiar with, the photos are not just gorgeous, but super helpful. Those recipes without a photo were skipped right over (only 3 weeks with the library book!).

The cookbook is all veggies, and as an ex-vegetarian, I really loved that it managed to encompass so many different kinds of foods--roasted, steamed, sweetened, etc. It was a great showing.

While there are some outlandish ingredients (barberries?) some are just a little exotic / something I don't always have on hand and easy to find (pomegranate molasses, whole mustard seeds).

The head notes are fun and thoughtful--I loved the notes on Ruth Reichl particularly because I recently read one of her memoirs.

The instructions are easy to follow, which is nice. As always in an Ottolenghi recipe, there are lots of elements, which I'll talk about below. I didn't mind, but I did put aside significant time to try these. They're REAL cooking.

3 recipes I've tried so far:

-The root vegetable pie, I actually just made the filling and served it over basmati rice, as he suggested

This was DELICIOUS. In fact, I just had the last bit for lunch at my desk and couldn't believe how well the flavors and colors stood up to a couple days in the fridge. I loved the mix of root veg with the curry flavors. The sweetness of the root veg really evened out the curry nicely. The flavor made this recipe a keeper. The time it took t chop everything was a lot, but it was worth it. I chopped potato, onion, crushed garlic, chopped parsnip, carrot and herbs... I watched an episode of Elementary while cooking this dish! It ended up being just delicious. A perfect main course and great leftovers.

-The Brussels sprout risotto

I made this as suggested and to the T. No altering here! It was good, but it was really time-intensive. And I don't usually fry, so that was an added element here. The ingredients were pretty normal, nothing crazy. The shredding of the sprouts I might do in a food processor next time, that was a little time intensive. It was a typical risotto with a great addition of lemon rind (I accidentally ate a piece, very floral...) and shredded sprouts, and fried sprout quarters. The cheese added was blue, I used Trader Joes and I think the recipe would have benefited from something a little more exciting. It was good, but the dishes and time meant it was a one-time dinner. Not making that again. Also, it made a TON of risotto, so best made for a crowd of 4+ Risotto isn't so great left over...

-The honey roasted carrot with tahini yogurt

Yum--unexpected and delicious. The coriander and cumin seeds were a little tricky--I have them, but not as seeds. Otherwise, pretty normal ingredients unless you don't keep tahini on hand. Again, lots of chopping, but just do it as you're watching a show and you're good to go. I really enjoyed this.

There are a bunch more recipes I'd like to try, I flagged them... might just need to invest in this cook book for my shelf!

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