Plenty

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With his fabulous restaurants and bestselling Ottolenghi Cookbook, Yotam Ottolenghi has established himself as one of the most exciting talents in the world of cookery and food writing. This exclusive collection of vegetarian recipes is drawn from his column 'The New Vegetarian' for the Guardian's Weekend magazine, and features both brand-new recipes and dishes first devised for that column. The book is not vegan, but I think many of the recipes could be veganized easily. And the vegetarian dishes are pretty restrained on the animal products. A new wave of Ottolenghi fever (and fervor) is about to hit and, thank goodness, there’s no cure. I suggest you simply give in to it, replenish your spice pantry, gather your vegetables, grains and legumes, and celebrate big-time.” Heat the oil in a medium saucepan on a medium-high flame, then fry the onion for eight minutes, stirring often, until soft and caramelised. Add the curry powder, chilli flakes, garlic and ginger, and fry for two minutes more, stirring continuously. Add the lentils, stir through for a minute, then add the tomatoes, coriander stalks, 600ml cold water, a teaspoon of salt and a very generous grind of pepper, and leave to heat through.

Jonathan Lovekin's food photography is splendid, if not exactly ground-breaking. (Is there ground to break in food photography?) Yotam Ottolenghi’s sweet potato and puy lentil croquettes. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay This cookbook is so full of ZING and OOMPH that it can hardly be contained on the shelf, it buzzes and fizzes and sizzles and clamours to be taken down, lovingly caressed, and drooled over. Also I wouldn't recommend using more than one of his recipes for one meal, unless you have an entire day to prep and plate everything and your kitchen timing is exceptional. Most of the ones I've tried are slightly complex--with the "Lentils with Broiled Eggplant" for instance, you are doing a fairly simple dish in 3-4 stages using stovetop, oven, and mixing several things at different times.You might be tempted to think the obvious – that only veggies would. But Ottolenghi has the palate of a discerning omnivore and embraces so many flavours that it’s entirely possible everyone will... Chef Yotam Ottolenghi outdoes himself with the follow-up to his famed book Plenty. Expect even bigger, bolder meatless recipes.” Another true revelation: the roast parsnip and sweet potatoes with cherry tomatoes and a caper vinaigrette, five stars for that one. And also the lentils with Gorgonzola and semi-dried tomatoes, that could turn into my new version of soul food.

Everything just looks so good! I will say I didn't like the Roasted Parsnips and Sweet Potatoes with Caper Vinagrette as much as I anticipated, mostly because it was a little sweet for me. We had two roasted already sweet vegetables, which has the effect of concentrating the sweetness. Ottolenghi then adds some sweetner in the vinagrette, which I thought unnecessary. Also, much as I love the idea of capers with this meal, it seemed like gilding the lily. It's hard to make the argument for further dressing roasted vegetables, already so easy and so good. Small quibble. It was great cold, maybe even better. The dishes range from “okay” to “pretty tasty”, but not “OMG-I’m-gonna-make-this-every-week” tasty, and some list ingredients that are as easy to find in a grocery store for common mortals as bottled teardrops of a 13-week-old unicorn harvested at the second full moon of the year while wearing a pink tutu. I am also not willing to sell my house for some saffron. Visually stunning photographs of gourmet vegetarian faire! While on vacation, I attempted to take a photo of some food we were enjoying. Much to my surprise, I had a great deal of trouble! I now have a new appreciation for food photographers! Anyway, it's a beautiful cookbook with delicious sounding recipes. It's the kind of recipe book I would use on the weekend or when I have bags of time as the recipes are very detailed. Eggplant with buttermilk sauce - Blah! Boring. It couldn't decide whether it wanted to be sweet or savory! Recipe said to roast eggplant at 200-degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. I had to read it twice! I've never roasted anything at 200-degrees! Sure enough after 40 minutes the eggplant was still thoroughly uncooked! Sauce was quite runny, didn't look like fabulous illustration!

Discover the recipe behind the culinary hero’s success

And as a personal criticism: dude suggests cilantro on everything. EVERYTHING. Look for his defensive suggestion on cilantro fitting fine into any/all Italian cuisine. Cilantro appears again without mention in a Japanese-inspired recipe for soba noodles. Absolute madman. Asparagus has begun to appear on the market stalls now - Asparagus Mimosa - makes that satisfying pee smell. Put the eggs in one bowl, the flour in another and the breadcrumbs in a third. Take the patties from the freezer and one at a time roll them first in the flour, then the egg and finally in the breadcrumbs, to coat, then leave at room temperature for an hour, until partially defrosted. It’s essential they defrost, or they won’t cook through before the crust starts to burn (if you don’t want to fry them at this point, store them in the fridge for up to 24 hours, so they’re ready to fry when you are).