Cookbooks: Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

It’s possible that the reason Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty (Chronicle Books) was such a huge and instant hit when it was published in the UK last year is because, in many ways, it is the sort of book that can define an age. Chef and food writer, Israeli-born Yotam Ottolenghi, seems absolutely of his moment.

More than a decade ago Donna Hay introduced food so minimalist it seemed almost to prepare itself. By comparison, Ottolenghi seems the anti-Hay. It’s not that his food is complicated, exactly, as much as it is involved. Many recipes include multiple processes and long lists of ingredients. The food is healthful, flavorful and beautiful, but even just reading the book, you don’t get the idea that any of this will make itself.

That said, don’t think you need to be an expert level chef in order to take a run at Plenty. It would be helpful to know your way around a kitchen and to not be intimidated by semi-exotic ingredients. And if you are a vegetarian, so much the better because Plenty is a vegetarian cookbook, even if the chef himself is not.

The book comes partly from “The New Vegetarian” column Ottolenghi has been writing for the Guardian since 2006. Ottolenghi says the newspaper asked him because his London restaurant, Ottolenghi, had “become famous for what we did with vegetables and grains, for the freshness and originality of our salads, and it only made sense to ask me to share this with vegetarian readers.”

The 120 recipes in Plenty are organized by ingredients: Roots, Funny Onions, Mushrooms, Brassicas and so on. This makes for a surprisingly coherent cookbook. And it seems especially sensible in a book based on vegetable matter.

In the growing season, I find myself regularly faced with a surplus of wonderful things from my friends who garden and who know I enjoy the challenge of doing something interesting with the things they produce. Boxes of organic chard, zucchinis, beans and other things too lovely to consider wasting. At those times, Ottolenghi’s organization will make the most sense. With an armload of leeks and Ottolenghi’s book, I might make Leek Fritters, or Fried Leeks or I might even be inspired to toss some into a stunning Caramelized Garlic Tart.

Eggplant gets a complete examination and tomatoes have probably never had it so good, especially in Ottolenghi’s Tomato Party, a stunning salad designed to “make use of as many as possible of the infinite types of tomatoes that are available now.” Some are cooked a little, some a lot and some are raw and all are tossed with fregola and couscous. It’s actually quite a simple dish but mind-blowingly good.

Plenty is just as good as everyone has been saying it is. This is vegetarian food as you always dreamed you’d find it. But do prepare to roll up your sleeves.

Spring is Sprung: Nettle Chocolate Chip Biscotti

Stinging nettles offer the first peeks of green after winter’s grey-brown. They offer a promise, but not without bite. This year, a nasty cold raged through our house days after I saw the first spiny shoots. I hastened to make a healing broth, adding finely chopped baby nettle leaves to the tonic right before serving. They are so full of everything you need to recover from winter, that cold didn’t stand a chance once I’d hit it with a mittfull of nettle leaves.

By now, in my neck of the woods, the nettles are beginning to grow tall and strong. I pluck only the very tender tips of the plant, and only in the brightest part of spring. When first picked, they smell exactly as they look: bright green and filled with promise.

The problem in our house is that, even though we know stinging nettles are super good for us, no one here likes them very much. It’s something about the fine fuzz on the leaves. Even though even light cooking takes the sting out, the fuzz is unpleasant to certain palates; mine among them. I do a very finely chopped creamed nettle-type of dish that I don’t mind very much. It’s inspired by the Austrian preparation of spinach that my mother used to do: very finely chopped nettles are added to a roux (in this case, equal amounts of butter or olive oil and flour) with water as needed and seasoning to taste. This creates a bright green paste that is slightly evil-looking, but surprisingly delicious.

These Nettle Chocolate Chip Biscotti are about as far opposite of that evil green gruel as can be imagined. If you like biscotti, you’ll love these: and never mind if you like nettle or not. Even though I use quite a bit, you can’t taste anything beyond a slight and pleasant earthiness.

Nettle Chocolate Chip Biscotti

3.5 cups unbleached flour
2.5 cups sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup chopped, boiled nettles, with liquid squeezed out
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 300F.

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in food processor. Blend dry ingredients. While processor is running add eggs, then nettles. Blend until ingredients are roughly blended. (Some of the flour mixture will appear bright green, some will be pale but moist from the eggs.) Turn out into a large bowl. Add chocolate chips and mix until roughly blended and holds together when packed. If the mixture does not hang together, beat another egg and add it to the mixture a very small amount at a time until the a dough forms when handled.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and form a large ball. Separate into two even pieces and form a log from each, about 1-inch high and three or four across. Pack each log portion very tightly, to remove excess air or cracks. Transfer to a heavy parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the logs are dry and firm. Remove to a wire cooling rack and allow to stand for up to half an hour, until logs are cool enough to handle. Using your best bread knife, cut the logs into 1-inch pieces and transfer to a baking sheet. Reduce heat to 265F and bake for 10-15 minutes, turning the biscotti halfway through baking.

Remember: the longer the second bake, the sturdier, harder and drier the cookie will be, so adjust this to your own taste.

A Wedding Meal Without Compromise

In one of those odd turns of fate that life hands us, during a full calendar of wedding catering in the summer of 2010, we at Foodisima prepared not a single wedding meal that included meat other than -- in certain cases -- some wild and sustainably caught salmon.

We did some beautiful weddings, too. They were mostly gorgeous affairs that included white dresses, rented tuxes, perfectly turned-out bridesmaids, elegant cakes and weeping mothers of the bride. In short, from the outside looking in, they were mostly somewhat traditional, beautiful weddings. And the food we prepared for these weddings was beautiful and, in some ways, traditional, as well. That is, looking at the food what you would see is elegant, well-prepared and served wedding fare.

Foodisima Catering & Chef Services have always prided ourselves on local food that is, as much as possible, handmade. We make our own stocks and sauces, our own breads. Our polenta begins with cornmeal and when we serve scones or sorbets (and a lot of other things!) they are made by hand.

Over the years, our own awareness of local, organic food has grown to the point where we are very sensitive of carbon footprints, not only for ourselves but for our clients: we recycle, of course (doesn’t everyone?), but we also expend a lot of effort thinking about how we can not only reduce our own waste, but that of our clients, as well. It turns out that if you think like that long enough and hard enough, it trickles down into everything you do. Which, one way or another, led to the summer of 2010: all those weddings. No meat.

In the middle of what I think I will look back on as a watershed summer, Chelsea Clinton got married. And it happened that while I was busy preparing stocks and sauces and dressings for what would be a mostly vegan wedding, I was hearing about how Clinton -- who is vegan -- would be serving some vegan cuisine at her wedding, but also organically raised beef. The thought of this very prominent vegan serving meat at her wedding sort of appalled me. After all, this would be her day. Well, her and her (presumably also vegan) groom. If you can not, on that very special day, ask that your friends and family respect your choices, when can you? The rationale I heard (though admittedly not from Clinton herself) was that people have traditionally offered vegetarian options at carnivorecentric weddings, so why should vegan weddings not offer meat for attending carnivores? And my answer to that is... well, it’s different.

It isn’t that we at Foodisima don’t like meat or have a problem with it. In fact, aside from the watershed wedding thing, we prepared meat for a lot of other types of functions last summer. We don’t mind doing it and we do it very well. Also, if you want meat at your wedding -- if that’s part of your personal design brief for your special day, or even if it’s just that you always dreamed of filet mignon at your wedding, or chicken kiev, that’s just what you should have. But if what you really want is a different kind of wedding, well... nothing need stand in your way.

See, here’s the thing: for many people, their wedding will be the largest party they ever host. And it’s meaningful, this party. It represents a new beginning, in a way. And the birth of a new aspect in a special relationship. A whole new day. A party like that -- an important party, heavy in symbolism and sharing -- should stand for something. Especially if the wedding couples have made choices of conviction in their lives.

And here’s the other thing: even while I was hearing about Clinton’s compromise at her own wedding, I knew from experience that it was a compromise not worth making. And why? Because by that point I had helped create a special and meaningful day for several vegetarian couples and had watched while guest after guest not only ate happily of the vegetarian and vegan food on offer, they raved about it: this including grumpy looking uncles and obviously meat-eating dads. That’s because we’ve discovered that really good vegetarian and vegan celebration food is not about what isn’t there. It’s truly about celebrating what is.

Somewhere during that watershed summer -- somewhere between Chelsea and eight or ten happy brides -- I came to a place of conviction about what a wedding meal should look like. Truly, it can take many forms: it can be a stand-up affair, with luscious tidbits handed round by cater-waiters. It can be five courses beautifully served while the wedding party sips and toasts. Or it can be a bountiful buffet. But whatever it consists of, it should reflect the convictions of the wedding couple, whatever they happen to be.

This is your special day. The most special day ever. It need not be a day for compromise: it’s the day that will take you forward into the next phase of your life. Having that day -- and that beautiful party -- perfectly reflect your beliefs is not too much to ask.

Cookbooks: Veganize This! by Jenn Shagrin

In a very general sort of way, I dislike books like Veganize This! (DaCapo) because, rather than celebrating all that can be really wonderful and freeing about the vegan lifestyle, it serves to make what is an alternative way of eating seem like a freakish aberration to be gotten around. The subtitle tells that story: “From Surf and Turf to Ice Cream Pie: 200 Animal-Free Recipes for People Who Love to Eat.” And, fair enough: there are people for whom vegan choices are entirely social or moral and who miss what they no longer have.

My own approach to vegan and vegetarian cooking tends to be one of celebration for what is rather than intense focus on what isn’t. And there are lots of cookbook authors who agree with that approach: increasingly, their beautiful books become more and more available.

Actress, comedienne and vegan chef Jenn Shagrin has a different approach and her book seems to celebrate food in disguise as other food. Vegan Veal Chops with Sunchoke Caponata. Tofu Scallops. Even Vegan Twinkies. Shagrin uses a small arsenal to fake her way to delicious results: her recipes tend to be heavy on seitan -- a wheat gluten-based meat substitute -- as well as several commercial ingredients.

Now all of that said, Veganize This! is clear, well laid out and the recipes are easy to follow. If you’re the kind of vegetarian who misses your meaty treats but is no longer comfortable eating meat products, Veganize This! is for you.

Wedding Catering on Galiano Island

After a full summer of wedding catering on Galiano Island, followed by a quieter but still busy fall, we’ve settled in for a peaceful winter. The events we’re doing right now are smaller and less stressful -- yoga retreats, corporate shindigs and the occasional film industry event in Vancouver -- but it’s difficult not to miss the excitement of a wedding and being a central part of someone’s special day.

We have already taken bookings for weddings in 2011 and even one for 2012, even though 2012 still seems so far away! Still, it is important to do your legwork and homework as far in advance as possible. You want to be certain you find a caterer you feel comfortable with and who makes you feel confident they will deliver the meal you’ve been dreaming about.

Foodisima catered eight weddings in the summer of 2010. One of the things that really came home to me as we worked our way through a fun and busy summer was the fact that providing the catering for a wedding is so much more than making sure the food is on time, as ordered and delicious. For a lot of people, the meal associated with their wedding is the largest and most important party they will ever host. It’s essential that the caterer not lose sight of that: that they stay focused on being part of the team that will render wedding dreams.

I realize that some of that sounds ethereal, but it’s not really. It means working with the wedding couple for months before the big day, thinking through menu possibilities and permutations. It means being ready for bridal melt-downs (though I feel lucky not to have seen one yet, I’m always ready for the eventuality!) and pitching in when details outside of the kitchen have been overlooked.

Weddings are special. It’s different than any other type of catering. A corporate dinner for 100 just can’t compare to a wedding dinner for the same number. People are happy, laughing. Love is in the air and everyone comes prepared to have a good time.

If you’re getting ready for your wedding on Galiano Island, we’re looking forward to talking with you. We anticipate another summer of love and laughter, perhaps playing a part in your special day. ◊

Note: we created the menu above at left for one of the weddings we catered during the summer of 2010. This is a special service we provide, including one for each of your guests as well as a few extra for your scrapbook or wedding album.

Cooking for Isaiah: Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free by Silvana Nardone

It seems that, over the last decade or so, even the simple act of feeding ourselves has gotten to be a lot more complicated. I’m sometimes undecided: was it just that we all suffered in silence -- or at least in ignorance -- when we were kids? Or are we all just more vulnerable these days in a world gone mad with GMOs and other attacks on our delicate systems? Whatever the case, gone are the days when whole platoons of people could relax in the comfort of their “meat and potatoes” preferences. Lately it seems everyone I speak with is dealing with some sort of food sensitivity somewhere close to them. And as anyone who has dealt with these sort of issues knows, anything from a simple (and increasingly common) peanut allergy to lactose intolerance or gluten sensitivities can wreak havoc with a whole family.

This is just what Silvana Nardone had to deal with when her 13-year-old son, Isaiah, was diagnosed with food sensitivities to gluten and dairy. Nardone was forced to rethink every aspect of the way her family ate. The book that resulted from this exploration of whole new food worlds, Cooking for Isaiah (Sprig) could well be life-changing for less talented chefs in a similar position.

“I am not a doctor,” Nardone writes in her introduction. “I am not a nutritionist. I am not a trained chef. I am not a food scientist. I am just a mom who wants to feed her kids.” While all of this is undoubtedly true, more things are true, as well. For instance, unlike a lot of non-chef moms who “just wants to feed her kids,” Nardone is the founding editor of Every Day with Rachel Ray (in fact, Ray writes the introduction here). She’s also a cooking instructor and food consultant and the co-author of Saveur Cooks Italian. However, her understatement is your big gain. Cooking for Isaiah is anything but the floundering amateur chef mom’s attempts at getting dinner on the table. Cooking for Isaiah is simply stuffed full of recipes anyone could feed anyone. Beautiful food, simply prepared, gorgeously presented, lucidly shared. All of us should be as lucky as Nardone’s Isaiah.