Book review: Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi

Plenty More
Yotam Ottolenghi
Ebury Press, £27

Published in 2010, Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty opened up a world of impressive meat-free dishes. His methods of making vegetables the main event have won many fans, even among hardy meat lovers.

Plenty More picks up where Plenty left off, with 150 vegetable-based dishes that are bound to inspire creativity. In the meantime, Ottolenghi has encouraged many a chef to contemplate new ways with carrots. As he says: "Overall, more and more confirmed carnivores, chefs included, are happy
to celebrate vegetables, grains and legumes."

Although not a vegetarian himself, his name has become synonymous with mouth-watering meat-free dishes. Where in Plenty he divided sections by vegetable, Plenty More

Recipes such as lightly stewed broad beans, peas and gem lettuce with Parmesan rice provide bright flavours with a technical twist - in this case the inclusion of lettuce in the stew.

Other notable braises include sweet and sour leeks with goat's curd and currants, and an Indian ratatouille that includes the ingredient most hated by chefs in The Caterer's Revelations column - okra. He urges "all okra-phobes to give them one more go" if they've been traumatised by the "overcooked, soggy or slimy version".

Each recipe offers a slightly different take on flavours that may be familiar. He updates his weekend breakfast classic - shakshura - with a new take on aubergine potato and tomato, fried with tahini and herbs and including the all-important poached egg. Other recipes - like sweet potatoes with orange bitters, aubergine cheesecake, and crushed carrots with harissa and pistachios - will tempt experimentation.

With ever more exotic vegetables and grains available, Plenty More offers a route into making the most of every ingredient, with new perspectives on familiar flavours, the techniques to exploit them, and creative combinations that are sure to inspire.

By James Stagg

If you like this, you may enjoy these

• Plenty, Yotam Ottolenghi
• Honey & Co: Food from the Middle East, Itamar Srulovich
• Hummus Bros. Levantine Kitchen, Christian Mouysset