Have a look at our seasonal and fantastically delicious Christmas party menu - perfect for office parties or any large group of celebrators.
Make sure you tell us well in advance. Just call Basia in Islington.
Have a look at our holiday menus. We offer them every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas to make life a little bit easier for our customers.
Just let us know in advance, and we can get it all ready for you for the big day!
Mike Britton, zealous assistant manager of Ottolenghi, Belgravia, wrote this wonderfully colourful account of his recent visit to Alba, the capital of white truffle. Thank you, Mike
A truffle snuffle
As my train from Genoa chugged slowly into the beautiful hills and valleys of the Piemonte region in North West Italy, I cast my thoughts forward to the weekend, where I would be attending the famous Alba truffle festival.
My very good friends, Neil and Richie, have owned a house in this area for a year now and not only do I get wonderful company (including the lovely Helen) when I come here, I get tremendous food.
Piemonte is famous for the king of the fungi world, the rare Alba white truffle (aka Magnatum Pico).
In all honesty, I knew very little about this strange blobby fungus, aside from the fact it is either black or white and was snuffled by pigs. I had sampled both but only as oil. So with great excitement and buoyed with Italian enthusiasm I embarked on a little mission of discovery!
We set off for Alba on the Saturday morning. Neil had read of a famous truffle breakfast, ‘il ouvo con tartufo’. This was baked eggs with shaved white truffle. After several attempts we found a restaurant that could produce this for us, even though they had never heard of it!
Out came the baked eggs and the waitress delicately shaved raw white truffle over the top. A special ultra fine shaver is used. I would describe the flavour as delicate, yet quite overpowering; garlicky, oniony and much more. Combined with a light Venetian Prosecco we had made a successful start to the day.
Next up was the ‘piece de resistance’, the truffle market. To sell your wares here, one must have your products inspected for quality, size and taste and be awarded a special license.
Upon entry we were given a glass and two vouchers for a free glass of red and white wine of our choosing. The day just got better!
The smell is the first thing that hits you. It’s quite overwhelming. Apparently, the truffle gives off an aroma that contains chemicals that are similar to the sex pheromones of a male pig. This is why female pigs were traditionally used to snuffle them out. Unfortunately they were so attracted to them they often tried to eat them! Specially trained dogs (Tabui) are now used and the ‘white diamonds of the kitchen’ are spared. With prices knocking 3000 Euros a kilo I can quite understand the need for change!
Each seller or Trifulao tries to entice you to their stand by offering a sniff of their finest truffle. Not being a female pig, I resisted, leaving me hundreds of Euros heavier.
The second part of the market was given over to promoting other delicious items the region is famous for. First stop, naturally, the wine stands. My lack of Italian language skills seemed not to matter here. I just held out my free tasting glass, put on a big smile and enjoyed its new contents. A quick ‘Molto Bene’ at the end and swiftly on to the next stand. The local vineyards specialise in Dolcetto, Barbera, Nebbiolo and the renowned Barolo grape varieties.
By now with red cheeks and a slight swagger, the wine had encouraged me to buy things. I had acquired Torrone (local hazelnut nougat), some gooey double cream gorgonzola (again a regional speciality) and several bottles of Barbera to accompany our truffle pasta supper. The passion of the vendors is seriously infectious.
Outside the truffle market, in the streets of Alba, were hundreds of stalls loaded with locally farmed products. The abundance of fruit and vegetables, all slightly misshapen and vibrant in colour, screamed ‘put me on your dinner plate’. All the producers were from the local Langhe region and are proud of their traditional, organic and eco-friendly farming methods. The slow food movement (Which has its origins in Bra, a town just a few miles from Alba), is most certainly at work here. You could walk down any street in a Piemontese town and not see a branded high street food store.
So as we observed a flag-waving medieval marching band and a parade of vintage cars from a beautiful piazza in the centre of Alba, Neil, Richard, Helen and I reflected on the zeal of the Albese and their passion for all things food. We raised a glass full of bubbling Prosecco and thought how lucky we were to be somewhere so special. Salute!
From the Ottolenghi cookbook, here's one of our favourite recipes that unfortunately didn't get a picture.
Try it as a side dish at your Christmas table or as an original picnic salad.
Just back from a scrumptious weekend in Istanbul, where the six of us from Ottolenghi – or, otherwise very closely associated – ate our way through heaps of burek, baklava and beyaz peynir (the famous salty white cheese).
The best food we had was in simple, unassuming street stalls or basic restaurants, where the greatness of Ottoman food is evident in its simplicity yet strict adherence to tradition. The combination of flavours of Arab, central Asian and Balkan cuisines produces the most inspiring dishes.
Here’s a few of our favourites:
Kanaat Lokantesi in Üsküdar for simple home-style cooking and the best stuffed vegetables.
The Egyptian spice market that sells much more than spices, or actually, everything and anything you never knew you needed.
Balikci Sabahattin restaurant in Sultan-Ahmed for the freshest and, literally, the most delicious fish in the world, or as Itamar calls it, the Temple of Love.
The best burek we had at Asli Borek on Buyuk Postahane Caddesi, just off the spice market.
Namli, a shop full of Turkish magic selling and serving Ottolenghiesque style salads and much more. You must buy their tahini, halva and many cheeses!
At Hamdi Et Lokantasi we had the best lamb kebabs we have ever tasted, and that’s quite something.
We also visited Muzedechanga, where we sampled some amazing modern Turkish cuisine and got lots of tips from the lovely owners, Tarik and Savas.
The Food Programme on BBC Radio 4 are running a short series of programmes about chefs and their key ingredients. Listen to Yotam and Sami talk about cauliflowers.
Take a look at this. The Ottolenghi cookbook has been voted book of the month for August in this popular American website.
Seems like the book is making some waves across the pond and it makes us very proud!
Photo: Keiko Oikawa
I spent my lunch hour yesterday with a huge bunch of people I didn't know. Why? Well, I was invited to a lunch in St. James's Park that kick-started a campaign by Paul McCartney and his family to encourage us to eat less meat.
I don't often do campaigns. But I think that this one just makes sense. It makes sense to eat a little less of something that is so labour intensive and contributes dramatically to the total green house gas emissions. It makes sense to think of meat as something special, less of an every-day triviality.
Especially, it makes sense because there is so much else out there!
Have a look at the Guardian's recent dinner for under a fiver series, where I feature a couple of easy and economical recipes.
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.
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.
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.
