Another gem from the Ottolenghi cookbook that didn't get a picture in the final version. Would be great made with Jersey royals; they are now in season! The recipe is on page 63.

Somewhere between a mash and potato-mayonnaise salad, this dish is satisfying both warm and ambient. Adjust the seasoning and the amount of horseradish to suit your sensitivity (re-check once it has cooled down).

Sorrel is not always available. Instead use rocket, or actually any soft herb, and a bit of lemon juice. Horseradish sauce or wasabi paste (beware, it’s strong) make good alternatives to fresh horseradish. Again, taste and judge how much you need.

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Watch Sami make our sweet and spicy beef and pork pie for channel4 online.

Have a look at the recent visit of Chicago based ABC journalist Steve Dolinsky at Ottolenghi Upper st and other London attractions, including the world's best 50 restaurants awards.

I am normally good with criticism. I actually like it. I welcome any comment about Ottolenghi’s food, my style, the level of execution, clarity of recipes… the more the merrier.

There is only one kind of comment that really gets to me, and it is part of a growing trend that I find both annoying and silly; these are comments about the health attributes of certain dishes.

I particularly refer to a letter to the Guardian’s weekend magazine by a reader from Cardiff complaining about the amount of fat that went into a broccoli pie recipe I published a couple of weeks earlier.

This reader, as many others self-appointed guards of the nation’s welfare, don’t trust that people are smart enough to make the right decisions about their diet. He can’t imagine that someone would be responsible enough to have a small slice of the rich pie, along with a green salad, to create a perfectly healthy and delicious lunch.

I actually suspect that delicious doesn’t come into the equation at all here, that this type of criticism comes from people that don’t really like food.

I wish all this energy would instead go to the enjoyment of great food, whatever it may be.

Have a look at this.

Another recipe from our cookbook that didn't get a proper photograph.

This is not your usual meat pie. It is rich, sweet and spicy, and looks impressive yet rustic when served whole at the table. Take it on a picnic or serve warm with a salad of mixed bitter leaves.

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James Phillips, a Kiwi, a coffee aficionado and an ex-shift manager at Ottolenghi Islington, has just opened Dose, a lovely and personal coffee shop near the Barbican.

I went there with Basia a couple of weeks ago to wish Jimi and Marketa, also an Ottolenghi person (she is still with us, luckily!), lots of luck with their new venture and taste Jimi's incredible coffee.

Dose is the sort of place that London misses terribly but is so common in Australia and New Zealand, an independent food or drink outlet where individual entrepreneurial spirit and love of anything food related is written on the walls.

Jimi would talk to anyone who walks in about his love affair with coffee, about espresso as an artisanal craft, about embracing coffee as seriously as wine.

Mind, it is a small place and does mostly take-away.

The coffee at Dose is supplied by Square Mile Roasters, a London based company that supplies our Islington branch. Their coffee is ethically sourced, carefully roasted and delivered in reusable buckets. Their blend changes with the seasons to ensure that it is always fresh and representative of the best coffees around.

You can also get some home-made sandwiches at Dose and little sweet bites to go with the delicious coffee.

Jimi with his girlfriend Helen

Hurry up and and sign up for our next set of hands-on cookery classes. To do this, please call or email Leiths on 020 8749 6400 or info@leiths.com. A class costs £125.

The spring classes are all full now but you should be able to find places on the following dates:

September 5th
Lamb kebabs with pine nuts, tahini sauce, warm butter and parsley
Roasted potato wedges with paprika and garlic
Tomato and cucumber salad with quinoa, lemon, coriander and spring onion
Fresh berries with orange blossom cream

October 17th
Mezze
Roasted aubergine with a sharp salsa of walnut, pomegranate and coriander
Fried sweet potato with rosemary and sage
Butterbean mash with lemon juice, garlic, spring onion and sumac
Char-grilled courgette with balsamic vinegar reduction, basil and caprini freschi
Roasted red peppers with garlic, lemon and fresh oregano

November 14th
Salsify, pecorino and watercress salad with caper vinaigrette
Whole pan-fried red mullet
Bulgur and cauliflower tabbouleh with red onion, pomegranate, celery, lemon
and sweet spices
Poached quince with star anise, blackberries and vanilla ice-cream

December 5th
Whole quail stuffed with pork, pine nuts and herbs, braised with dried apricots and tamarind
Saffron couscous with butter and chervil
Kohlrabi and white cabbage slaw with lemon zest, tarragon, dill and sesame seeds
Baked pears in white wine and cardamom, served with crème fraiche

The Easy Cakes of Ottolenghi

‘food that is closer to the source … emanating from genuine instincts’

In his salad days of skins and caves, man
gave chase. He slaughtered buck, swallowed
the heart. He knew adrenaline, hauled woman

after woman by the hair. That’s all gone.
Now there’s money and a new ache every day,
sags in unexpected places, a loss of collagen

and desire. Hunger’s always knocking
at the edges, just the tongue that’s jaded.
The waitress leans into the table:

Sorrel sir, or salsify? The soft salt melt
of sea-bream, halibut, a thrill
of salsa, quince and pomegranate.

Then dessert: the easy cakes of Ottolenghi
drip their syrups, glisten in the night, secrete
fresh tones of apple, grenadilla, rose.

Jacqueline Saphra, an award winning poet, an Ottolenghi fan and "a woman that thinks too much," according to Sami, has written this smart-and-witty poem after attending our cooking class in December. She promises to write more.

Just back from a fantastically inspiring short trip to Tokyo with Noam. We went to check if this is really the new food capital of the world. And we came back with a resounding YES.

We were totally blown away by the simple food we had at small sushi joints and local izakayas (the equivalent of a British gastro-pub, but nothing like it, really).

But what was the most impressive were the food halls in the basements of the big department stores. There was nothing to prepare us for the abundance of pastries and prepared foods, for the rivers of knowledgeable and excited shoppers, for the quality and beautiful packaging... for the foodie's heaven that these places are.

We will be back.

Tsukiji market

The view from our hotel room. Unfortunately, we could only afford one night

Plastic food

Real (?) food

Japanese sweets

Noam outside Yabu Soba, greatest soba noodle restaurant in the world, at least in our mind

Take a look at this blog. We couldn't have asked for more. Thanks Keiko

All the Ottolenghi's were this year, as usual, victims of Christmas madness - customer orders, last minute rush, wrapping up for the a 2 day break...

No matter how much we prepare for it, we always seem to be running frantic: ticking off orders, checking serving instructions, making more gravy (why is there never enough gravy?), running out of mince pies.

The head chefs and shop managers were, by the end of it all, a little bit like zombies in a horror film: slow , dark eyed and running round in circles. Still, they all did an incredible job.

Here's just a few images:

Richard Learoyd, the amazing talent that took the pictures in our cookbook, has given us all the images to keep. Here's one that didn't make it to the book, plus the recipe that did.

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As always, during the festive season we have a huge range of gift options, all home-made Ottolenghi products. On top of those, you can get a meal voucher or a signed copy of our cookbook, both wrapped with a red ribbon... so there you go, a bit of promotion on the blog shouldn't harm anyone.

To create you own unique “Ottolenghi Selection” we give you a bag, tied with a ribbon and padded with red tissue (see photo below), to fill up with our goodies and give as present.

Here's just a few options:

Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, signed and wrapped copy - £25.00
Gift token or lunch/dinner voucher (you decide how much)
Mince pie - £2.00
Ottolenghi Christmas cake (made with the best fruit and lots of alcochol)
small - £14.00, medium - £22.00, large - £44.00
Machiavelli Panettone
classic - £16.00, chocolate - £17.00, marrons glacé - £18.00
Christmas shaped gingerbread biscuits - £4.20
Shortbread snow flakes - £4.50
Double chocolate and hazelnut biscotti - £3.50
Amaretti biscuits - £4.90
Spicy grissini sticks with chilli and chive - £4.80
Chocolate macaroons - £7.50
White or dark chocolate brittle - £4.80
Mini chocolate or raspberry meringues - £4.90
Elizabeth David’s tomato and pimento chutney - £4.95
Cranberry and apple relish with orange and ginger - £3.90
Seasonal jams - £3.90
Mixed spicy nuts with chilli and rosemary - £4.80
Seasonal fruit cordial (to prepare hot or cold) - £3.90

Contact any of our shops by email or phone and we'll get this ready for you in no time.

Happy Sweet Christmas!

Just had a first glimpse at the Christmas food supplement that Sami and I wrote for the Guardian. It looks absolutely delicious.

This exquisite 20-pager will feature our take on Christmas food, including smoked aubergine and yoghurt vol-au-vents; sumac marinated baby chicken stuffed with lamb and bulgar; sourdough, green chilli and feta stuffing; roasted pumpkin with chestnut, cinnamon and fresh bay leaves (see photo); meringue, morello cherry and rose roulade; drinks to match the food and so much more!

Out on the 6th of December.