Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love

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Drizzle one-third of the lemon-maple butter over the pudding and serve warm with the extra maple butter and creme fraiche alongside.

What I thought: I was having some friends round for dinner, and had planned – in conjunction with my housemates! – to cook just one or two recipes from the book. As the process unfurled, however, we added more and more dishes into the mix, unable to resist the enduring temptation of an Ottolenghi veggie feast. Transfer to a large, lipped platter and drizzle over half the tahini sauce and all the chilli oil. Sprinkle with half the pitta and serve warm, with the extra tahini and pitta alongside. Put the potatoes into a medium saucepan for which you have a lid, and pour over enough water to cover by about 4cm. Season with two teaspoons of salt and bring to a simmer on a medium-high heat. Turn the heat to medium, cover and cook for 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. Drain and, when cool enough to handle, peel and discard the skins, and roughly crush the flesh in a large bowl to give you a lumpy mash.Pat dry the salmon and sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, combine the za’atar and sumac. Place the salmon skin-side down, and sprinkle all over the top to create a crust. You can tell a lot about a person from what they keep stashed on ice. This is what we always have to hand. Set aside 100g of the beans in a medium bowl. Put the remaining beans, 600ml of water and one teaspoon of salt into a medium saucepan on a medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes, or until the beans are nicely softened and warmed through. Keep warm on a low heat until ready to serve.

Ottolenghi served as a pastry chef at three London restaurants: the Michelin-starred Capital Restaurant, Kensington Place, and Launceston Place in Kensington New Town. In 1999, he became head pastry chef at the artisanal pastry shop Baker and Spice, where he met the Palestinian chef Sami Tamimi, who grew up in Jerusalem's Old City. [11] Ottolenghi and Tamimi bonded over a shared language— Hebrew—and a joint "incomprehension of traditional English food". [12]Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together the tahini, garlic, 2½ tablespoons of lemon juice, a good pinch of salt and 100ml of water until smooth and quite runny.